The Heir Of The Exiled Chapter 14: For Blood And Honor, a fairy tail fanfic

Good morning people (or good 'your local time of the day')! Here I'm with my new chapter. Since there will be no new manga chapters during this week and a next one, I can't complain about manga, so here's just a new chapter for my story xD

Thanks everyone who left the review, I'm glad to know readers' opinion.

Answers for the reviewers:

DragonSlayer96: Thanks man. I really tried to make a good OC, glad you liked it.

The Dark Dragen, Silent Reader 6100, Toaneo07 Ver2.0: Many thanks people, I'll try to keep up!

DarkKnight96: Patience please, it will happen soon enough xD

DraXXter: At your service xD

Steam Powered Crow: Actually, it will be the opposite (about your guess), you'll see.

FanFictionHunter: Tower of Din will be mentioned much more than once. Actually, it's kinda keystone for the story.

Mira-san: Thanks. To be honest it's the only female character I know to fit this role. I use characters with prototypes so it'd be easier for readers to imagine them.

Now, let's proceed. This chapter is the middle of Phantom's arc. It contains all the side battles, but also some original episodes, for example here is the tiny preview for Tower of Din. Three major battles (yes, three) and battle between Jose and Makarov will be in the next one. Good reading.

Chapter updated 6/12/2016

Chapter XIV – For Blood and Honor

…

August 28, Year X784, 7:45, town of Magnolia, Fairy Tail guildhall's basement.

The road from Oak Town took the entire night to cover, and most of the guild members spent the night in the train. Master Makarov has been delivered for treatment to Porlyusica-san's treehouse. The old lady explained the situation about Makarov to Alzack and Bisca and then kicked their asses out of her house with a broom, forcing them to return to the guild. Other guild members went there straight from the station.

Master's recovery would require some time and all were depressed because of yesterday's defeat. To be honest, right now Fairy Tail was a very pitiful sight. The dusty old cellar was filled with beaten up people and gloomy faces. Only eleven guild members were mostly unharmed: members of team Natsu – god slayer himself (plus his familiar, who doesn't count) and his bride – also Lucy, Gray, Elfman, Cana, Loke, Reedus, Alzack, Bisca and Laki. Everyone else got injuries of varying severity:

"Ugh…" "Fuck…" "Argh…" "Shit…" "Ouch..." "Son of the…" – these were the most commonly used words in the guildhall right now. Most people had their limbs and/or heads and bodies bandaged.

Everyone's mood was below the plinth:

"I can't believe we had to retreat!"

"So degrading!"

"Dammit!"

"At least we got some revenge on them…"

"Natsu got revenge… while we were running like beaten pups…"

"Yeah… besides, he just smashed their regular members…"

"True… those who were really responsible got away…"

"And that was not their HQ, either…"

Some people were retaining a fighting spirit:

"This is their headquarters," Macao pointed at the place on the map, "If we attack them with long distance magic from the high ground to the southwest…"

"We're bringing as many bomb lacrimas as possible!" Wacaba exclaimed angrily.

"Bring some powerful magic sheets from the storage for the holder mages!" Max requested. However, despite their spirit still being strong, bodies were weakened…

Lucy was sitting on the barrel near the temporary request board, barely holding in her tears; a sense of guilt was burning inside her. "What's the matter? Still uneasy?" Gray asked casually.

"No… It's not that… It's just… I'm sorry…" Lucy stuttered, looking into the floor.

"Well, it's the fate of rich Ojō-samas to get chased," Elfman stated with a stern look, "And it's a men's duty to protect them!" He added with pride.

"Don't say things like that!" Gray growled at the Take Over mage.

"Sin," Lucy called for the little boney dragon, "Natsu figured out that I actually ran away from home, did he?" The blonde remembered how easily the god slayer found out about her origin.

Sin nodded, he was sitting on the edge of the request board, "Of course."

"Yeah… it's almost impossible to hide anything from him…" Gray scratched his head, "Fortunately, he's not interested in others' dirty clothes."

"I wasn't trying to hide anything from anyone…" Lucy said, still looking into the floor. "After I ran away from home, I just didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to leave everything behind…" Lucy looked at Sin, "For a full year, he never showed any interest in his runaway daughter. And now he suddenly wants me back? My father went to such terrible lengths to take me back… Why?"

"I'm not Natsu, yet I can try to guess…" Sin replied. "You hit seventeen recently, so now you're of marriageable age. Apparently, there is a good opportunity for political marriage has appeared…"

Lucy gave Sin a sad look, it seemed that actually she had somewhat similar thoughts. "He's the worst!" She cried through gritted teeth as tears began to well up in her large eyes. "But... when you get down to it, it's originally my fault for running away from home, right?"

"That's not true! Your father is the bad guy here!" Elfman tried to cheer up Lucy.

"You idiot!" Gray yelled at the big guy.

"I mean, Phantom!" Elfman quickly corrected himself, making a stupid smile.

"Yes," Sin agreed, "It never was about you, Lucy. It was just an excuse. They wrecked our guild and harmed our friends, so now we'll fight for blood and honor, and it has nothing to do with some old fool who wants to sell his daughter in exchange for a profitable contract."

"Sin!" Gray barked at the boney creature as blonde whimpered quietly, hearing Sin's words.

"Oh, sorry Lucy, I've gotten too carried away…" Skeletal creature apologized.

"No, you're right…" Lucy whimpered again. "So, you think that things won't go back to normal even if I go home?"

"Of course not. Besides, even if it would, that is still the stupidest thing to do. No one's ambitions are worth foredooming yourself for an unhappy life full of sadness," Sin replied.

"Thank you, guys…" Lucy gave them a faint smile through tears.

"He's right, now you're a mage of Fairy Tail," Gray added, "And there's a rule – no matter who you are – Ojō-sama or a commoner – Fairy Tail's sorceresses marry only for love, but you already know it, right?" The Ice mage nodded toward Erza, who was sitting with Natsu at the table in the far corner of the cellar.

However, the conversation at that table was not about the wedding, not at all…

"If only… If only I went with him… instead of fooling around with that stupid green-haired bitch…" Erza said in frustration "…pathetic… it's my entire fault! I shou…"

"Enough!" Natsu cut her off mid-sentence, he sat across the table from her. "I know your love for torturing yourself, but I won't let you, it's my privilege now."

Even in their current situation Erza couldn't hold it in and smiled a little then scoffed, "Ecchi…"

"The warchief gave us a direct order, none of us had a choice but to comply," Natsu continued, "Besides, master is much more experienced mage than we are, so if he didn't notice a trap, how could anyone of us help him?" Okay, he exaggerated a bit – both he and Erza possessed some enhanced senses, unlike their master, and they probably could sense Aria's presence early and Erza knew it, but still she felt a bit easier.

"Thank you…" She whispered, squeezing Natsu's palms, thanking him for that she has his palms to squeeze… She knew, of course, that one day this salmon-haired sadistic boy will request some sort of compensation for it, and it will be a very kinky sort of compensation, so she'd better be ready for it… but now isn't the time for such thoughts. Erza looked around "Damn… we have so many injured…"

"Does not matter…" Natsu replied, "Most of them are useless anyway." It was a rude and cruel statement, but the truth is always rude and cruel. Erza sighed, actually she knew as good as Natsu that, even when completely healthy, most of the Fairy Tail mages would not be a match for the Element Four, Phantom's Dragon slayers and, especially, Jose. Apart from Natsu and Erza, only Gray and maybe, just maybe, Elfman and Cana could oppose enemy's senior mages somehow.

Suddenly they both heard the sound of breaking glass. It seemed that Cana finally managed to contact Laxus and, unsurprisingly, he refused to help, and, apparently, in quite a rude manner, since Cana smashed the communication lacrima. Now she was steaming with fury. Also, according to her magic cards that were scattered all over the floor, she wasn't able to find Mystogan.

Erza stood up, went to Natsu and sat on his lap, pressing her forehead to his. Natsu felt her trembling a little. God slayer could understand her unease. According to the guild rules – the person, who was the S-class mage longer than any other, remains in charge in the master's absence. Actually, Erza won't mind to be in charge, but… leading the team, which consists of several skilled mages (and Lucy) is one thing, but now she suddenly became an acting guild master of a guild that is on verge of a complete annihilation. Phantom Lord came not for Lucy, they came for blood and they'll come again, that's for sure.

The situation was almost desperate. Their hope that someone would come to help faded away. Natsu and Erza discussed possible scenarios many times, both were able to soberly assess their opponents. Mistogan's absence could be tolerated – even without him it's possible to take out the Element Four, Gajeel and Nelliel. But what to do with Jose?

Master Makarov certainly can deal with him, but he's out of commission. Laxus has a fair chance against the Phantom Lord master, but he appeared to be a complete asshole. And Gildarts… well, no one actually thought about him – he might be on the other side of the continent now, may be even farther. And Natsu and Erza themselves… Together they probably have a chance, but no way they'll be allowed to fight Jose right away, without exhausting themselves, fighting through his subordinates first.

"What shall we do, Natsu?" Erza asked quietly. That was the question that Natsu was asking himself for the last three hours.

"About ten weeks ago, while you were on your four-week mission, I took a request to exterminate a gang of robbers and capture their leader. They occupied an old fort, three days long journey to the south-east from here, on the train and then on foot. I took them out but the building remained mostly intact. Not many people know about that place, I think we can hide there until master recovers…" Natsu suggested. Erza could feel how hard it was for Natsu to say those words. No, he was fine with tactical retreats, but what he suggested now was just a stampede.

"You're suggesting to leave the guild behind and run?" Erza asked emotionlessly.

"I'm suggesting to leave the building and save our guildmates…" Natsu replied.

Erza let out a heavy sigh, "This is hard to take in… How could such a thing happen? Less than two days ago I woke up happy. Yes, I'm worried about my friends, which are still in the tower with that bastard, of course, but… I was happy. And now I have to announce that we're going to abandon our home? I can imagine what's going to happen when I say it..."

"Want me to announce that?" Natsu asked.

Erza sighed again, "No… At least one of us should keep his face. I already lost their respect yesterday… huh?" She suddenly looked at the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked.

"Someone opened the guildhall's door…" Erza replied, making Natsu to prick up his ears too. Now the ears of she-dragon could hear that someone barefooted was walking on the wooden floor. Then this someone started to walk down the stairs and the entire guild gasped in shock when they saw who it was – it was Mirajane. She walked unsteadily, with visible efforts.

"N…nee-san?!" Elfman stuttered.

"Mira-san?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.

"Are you completely out of your mind?" Natsu asked with some sarcasm as he dashed to her and caught her body, just in time, because her legs refused to hold her weight any further and she began to fall. She was dressed in a hospital gown, which was already dirty – it seemed like she fell several times on her way here. Her face and limbs were covered with heavy bruises and those who didn't see her after the attack were shocked.

"What the fuck you doing?!" Erza exclaimed, looking at platinum blonde in shock. "Mirajane, listen – it's not a big secret that I don't mind to see you suffering from time to time, but what you're doing now is just an insanity!"

Actually, Erza's statement shocked the public even more, but Natsu ignored it. "Jane, what happened? Why did you come?"

"No one… came to visit me… since yesterday…" She replied with a weak voice, "I was worried… thought something… went wrong…" She looked around the guildhall, gaining a confirmation of her worries.

"Right…" Natsu replied. True – they left Lucy to watch over Mira and others, but she was kidnapped, so no one visited the hospital during last 24 hours. "It seems to be your family trait to run from hospitals…"

"Well, something went wrong – we got our asses kicked, but we can talk about it later, because you're going straight back to the hospital, right now!" Erza ordered.

"Wait Natsu… many wounded… I want… to help…" The blue-eyed girl tried to say.

"You yourself need help, in all meanings, by the way," Erza replied. "Elfman! Take her back to the hospital and warn the personnel that they should watch over her!" The acting guild master commanded.

"Actually, wait a minute…" Natsu suddenly spoke out, "Is the local hospital safe? Maybe we should take her and… Levy's team with us?"

"What are you talking about?" Gray wondered, "Take her with us… Where? Natsu, Erza?"

But Erza just shushed at him. "Shhh! Did you feel it?" She asked, looking upward.

"What is it?" Sin wondered, the whole guild gathered around Mira.

"This," Erza replied, "The ground is shaking…"

A few seconds later not just Erza but everyone was able to feel the vibrations of the earth. "Regular intervals… I don't like it…" Natsu said, placing Mirajane on one of the tables. "You two!" Natsu looked at two random guild members. "Watch over her!" And he rushed outside, as did everyone who was able to move freely. Noise was heard from the seaside, so they came out using the back door… and their jaws dropped as one as they saw THIS…

"WHAT IS THAT?!" All Fairy Tail mages chorused as they saw Phantom Lord's HQ, walking over the bottom of the gulf, towards the coastline, on six mechanical legs – six legged walking guild – Phantom Lord! Phantom's banners were waving on the wind…

"The guild… is walking?!" Wakaba yelled in shock.

"Is it… Phantom?!" Macao asked with the same shocked expression.

"I never imagined… they'd attack us like this…" Erza gasped in disbelief…

"I didn't anticipate… such a scenario…" Even Natsu seemingly was caught off guard.

"What shall we do?!" Max and Warren screamed simultaneously, trembling in fear.

"Maybe I shouldn't have kicked his balls…" Lucy thought aloud, shaking all over.

Jose stood on the open balcony, looking at the coast and Fairy Tail wizards. As the guild stopped and sat down on the water, he gave an order: "Prepare the Mahō Shūsoku Hō: Kihoshi [Magical Convergent Cannon: Jupiter]"

"Jupiter?!" Erza screamed in horror, she overheard him even from such a distance, "This is bad! Everybody, get down!" Erza knew that they have no chance to evacuate the wounded in time. "Natsu, I can't stop it!" Also, she knew that her Za Naito [The Knight] spells became too expensive now – Jupiter will burn out all of her mana before its charge will be neutralized if she'll try to use her Adamantine Armor, "What are we gonna do?!"

"Like in wedding vows – we're going to share all good and bad things," Natsu replied. "And we'll use a little help, Gray!" The god slayer called for the ice mage, "We need your help, get here!"

Without further ado Gray dashed to Natsu, "What do you need me to do?"

"Stand here," Natsu pointed at some point to the right of himself. "I'm going to divide the charge, and you and Erza have to counter it with your magic," Gray's eyes widened a bit as Natsu continued, "I know it sounds insane, but this is our only chance, you have to give it everything you've got. If we fail – the guild hall will crumble and bury alive all of our wounded."

"Obliterate them!" Jose gave an order.

"They're firing! Ready yourself!" Erza shouted as she heard Jose's order.

All Fairy Tail members were shocked and terrified as Jupiter's barrel started to shine:

"What are they doing?!"

"Don't tell me they're gonna try to stop the attack!"

"They may be strong but this is…"

"You're gonna die!..."

"Silence!" Cana's yell interrupted the panicked wails. "We have no choice but to trust them!"

The enemy's cannon fired its charge. A powerful, blinding ray of pure energy shot toward Fairy Tail.

Natsu raised his sword: "Shinunoru Tōryūgi: Mōi no Sōtai" [Death Knight Combat Style: Fury of the Frost Emperor] Deathfrost magic engulfed Natsu's blade, extending it further, forming a larger magical blade, which Natsu held in front of himself.

Erza stood behind and to the left from Natsu. Instead of using her 'Adamantine Barrier' to block the enemy shot, she decided to counter it with her dragon slayer's spell:

"Night sky of the south…

Night sky of the north…

Come to my aid, fulfill my wish…

Falling star I want to unleash…

Seiryū no Keishō! [Star Dragon's Comet]" She made a huge sphere of pure plasma, which shone even brighter than Jupiter's beam, and aimed it forward.

Gray stood behind and to the right from Natsu. "Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo!" [Ice Make: Shield] Gray used a proven method, making a large, flower-like shield made of ice in front of himself. All other Fairy Tail mages covered their heads and faces in horror.

As planned, Jupiter's beam clashed with Natsu's sword and was divided into two halves by Gladius Terminus's blade, enhanced with deathfrost power, forming two lesser streams. Natsu's spell not only divided Jupiter's ray, but also neutralized part of its energy.

Erza successfully countered her part of the ray with a plasma ball as Gray managed to hold his shield, constantly channeling additional magic into it. Soon, Jupiter's beam dried out with a blinding flash. As their spells disappeared, all three mages fell on their knees, panting. When the smoke cleared, the guild building and all Fairy Tail mages appeared to be unharmed.

"Whoa… They stopped it…"

"They saved us…"

"Amazing…"

"But it wasn't easy…"

By the way, in all the panic and turmoil no one noticed the spell that Erza used to counter Jupiter's charge. Natsu neutralized about 35% of enemy shot, Erza about the same amount and Gray took everything that was left. Erza took more because Natsu was unable to hold his sword exactly in the middle of the ray.

"Impressive…" Jose's voice was broadcasting through megaphones on the guildhall's walls. "But how much magic do you three have now, after taking Jupiter's charge head-on? Very little, I think… You don't stand a chance. Hand over Lucy Heartfilia, right now!" Jose ordered angrily.

"You out of your mind, Jose?!"

"Where in the world would you find a guild that offers up its nakamas to an enemy?!"

"Lucy's a member of our family!"

Gray, instead of yelling as everyone else did, stood up and showed his middle finger to Jose and soon entire guild, aside from Natsu and Erza, joined him in sending this gesture to Phantom master. "Get the fuck outta here Jose, this is the only answer you'll get from us!" Ice mage shouted.

"You won't get anything from us!" Erza added as Natsu remained silent.

Lucy stood in the middle of everyone, unable to hold back her tears, caused by a surge of emotions – she was burning with guilt but was very thankful to everyone who stood up in her defense.

"I see…" Jose growled silently, infuriated by Fairy Tail's 'reply'. "Then we'll fire an even bigger and stronger Jupiter!" He bellowed into the megaphone, "Now struggle in this fifteen-minute terror until it's reloaded!"

As Fairy Tail mages heard Jose's words, their hubris dropped significantly.

"What?!..."

"Jupiter?!"

"They're going to fire it again?!"

"Shit… Maybe we went a bit overboard with these fingers…" Gray mumbled.

At this moment, multiple soldiers, more than fifty, jumped out from Phantom guild's windows into the gulf and swam toward the coastline.

"Wha…?! Their soldiers are coming out?!"

"No way! Aren't they just going to fire Jupiter?"

"No mercy…"

"Feel the pain, Fairy Tail! You have two choices: get killed by my soldiers or die by Jupiter!" Jose's voice announced via the broadcasting system.

"Impossible… Is he going to kill his men with Jupiter as well?!"

"He's just threatening us… he won't fire…"

"Yes, he will…" Cana said. "That's Jose's magic, Shiēdo [Shade]. They're not humans, they're just ghost soldiers that Jose created," Cana turned toward the senior mages. "Okay guys, now what?"

"Natsu, can't you just blow up this guild like you did in Oak Town?!" Gray asked.

"If I could I'd done it before they fired," Natsu replied, "Look at these distortions around the guild building – this is a magic shield, and not a simple one, according to degree of distortion…" The god slayer pointed at enemy guild.

Natsu looked at Erza – they both knew that evacuation was no longer an option. Now they have to fight. "We gotta do something about Jupiter," Erza said, "It's our top priority, we'll think what to do about Jose later. If we can't destroy it from outside then let's do it from inside."

"Okay. Cannon's barrel is made of magic-resistant alloy, but Jupiter is powered by a massive power core, it is the easiest way to destroy such a cannon," Natsu informed.

"I'm with you," Gray stepped forward.

"Destroying the Jupiter is the task for the real man!" Elfman also volunteered.

Erza looked first at Elfman, then at Cana, "Can you stand the ground while we're inside?"

"Yes. Loke and I will strengthen our defenses here, go," Cana replied.

"All right!" Loke agreed.

"C'mon then, no time to waste," Natsu said. "We have to break through these shades first. Gray, can you make a stair so we could climb to the barrel from water?"

"Piece a cake," Gray replied.

"Okay, let's go!" Erza ordered. The Four Fairy Tail mages rushed toward the coast, jumped down into the gulf and… disappeared with a green flash.

"Hey!?" Cana exclaimed, "What happened?! Where did they go?! Sin!"

"What's going on?!" The little boney creature asked in surprise as he flew closer to the coast.

"That's what I'm asking!" Cana shouted as everyone stood as if paralyzed. There were no signs of Erza, Natsu, Gray and Elfman.

"14 minutes left…" Wakaba mumbled in shock.

"Oh… It seems your brave had-to-be saviors fell right into our trap…" Jose said through the broadcasting system with false regret, "Who's gonna save you now, Fairy Tail? Hand over Lucy, NOW!"

"Trap?!" Several of Fairy Tail mages screamed in shock at the same time.

Lucy's heart wrung with pain and fear, but suddenly, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the guildhall. Lucy turned her head only to see Mirajane. She was still weak and dressed in the hospital gown, but her face was expressing some desperate determination. "Mira-san! What are…"

"Lucy, come this way!" Mira said, suppressing the weakness of her body by the force of her will. "We have a hideout! Let's stay there until this war is over!" Loke turned around as he overheard the girls' talking.

"No!" Lucy protested, "Didn't you hear?! Natsu's team fell into a trap! We have to help them!"

"My brother is with them!" Mira shouted back, "Lucy, you think it's easy for me to go away while I have no idea what happened to him?!"

Lucy gulped, "But… but… Mira-san, it's my fault that all this is happening!"

"No, Lucy," Mira looked at the stellar mage, "No one's thinking that way. Jose fired Jupiter knowing that you're here, without hesitation. He knew you could die. You're just a bonus objective for him." Mira explained as she dragged Lucy into the guildhall's first floor, only the Lord himself knows where she found the strength to do it in her current condition. "We're fighting to honor all those who were defeated, for the honor of our guild, and to protect you…"

The truth in Mira's words made Lucy look to the floor sadly as Mira waved her hand, using Nemuri Shūmon [Sleep Spell] on the blonde. The blue-eyed girl caught Lucy's falling body, placed it on a table and started to undress her. She took Lucy's skirt, tank top and sandals.

'Oh my God, Lucy!' Mira thought as she saw Lucy's laced underwear while she was undressing her – may be her clothes were pretty common, but Lucy's lingerie definitely was that of an Ojō-sama… 'For whom are you so dressed up? Don't tell me… you have a boyfriend too… Scarlet bitch has Natsu, Bisca has Alzack, Cana has… many guys, if you too have someone then I'm the only lonely girl in this guild?!' Yeah, Mira forgot some other girls, and Bisca and Alzack weren't a couple yet, but people usually see only that what they want to see when they're pitying themselves… 'Mira, focus! You can sort this out later… if you'll survive, of course…' With these contradictive thoughts, Mirajane put on Lucy's clothes then dressed the blonde in her hospital gown. Then she called for one of the mages. "Reedus! Get here, quickly! I need your help!" The big fellow rushed into the guildhall.

"Mira?! What's going on?!" He asked.

"Quickly, we can't let Jose have Lucy, take her to the hideout!" Mira ordered as she brought the sleeping Lucy to the main guild entrance.

"Oui!" Reedus replied, following Mirajane. He quickly drew a carriage, driven by two white horses, on his own huge belly, and used his Kaiga no Mahō [Painting Magic] to transform the picture into a real carriage with real horses. Then he boarded the carriage, holding Lucy in his hands, and rode away.

When he left, Mira used Henshin no Mahō [Transformation Magic] to assume Lucy's appearance. 'Lisanna, I wasn't strong enough to protect you, but I swear – I won't let anyone to become a victim of my weakness ever again! I'll protect my friends in any way I can!' With this noble vow, Mira returned to the guildhall. "Damn… It's hurt…" She moaned as she sat on bench, she was covered with bruises all over.

In the backyard, Cana tried to decide what to do next. She didn't understand how team Natsu was caught in a trap or where they are now, and there were only 13 minutes left until Jupiter's next shot. "Sin!" She called for Natsu's familiar. "Pick me up! Deliver me to that barrel!"

"Are you insane?!" Macao yelled in shock, "You actually wanna try to destroy Jupiter?!"

"Cana cool down! You're gonna face the Element Four and Dragon Slayers!" Wakaba tried to reason with her.

"I don't care! I'd rather try my chances there than sit here and wait for obliteration! Sin, let's go!" Cana ordered.

"Okay! Hold on!" Sin replied. He grabbed Cana with his boney claws and soared into the air.

"Alzack, Bisca, hold our ground!" Cana added as Jose's shades were climbing onto the shore.

(Inside the magic trap, with team Natsu)

"Gray, Elfman! Can you hear me?!" Natsu called for his team after about half a minute of examining the environment.

"Natsu?! What happened?! Where are you?!" Gray's voice called from somewhere, it sounded like from a cave or other indoor place with echo.

"Gray, listen carefully! Soon our realms will become completely separated and you won't be able to hear me any longer!" Natsu spoke very loudly. "We're inside of some sort of a pocket in space, whose layout was created based on your memory! To get out from that pocket, you two should find something that does not fit into what you remember! It may be anything, but should be like a relatively large object. Its size is comparable to a human, destroy it and the pocket will be broken!"

"Natsu what is this magic?!" Elfman's voice sounded as if from far away.

"I'll explain later!" Natsu yelled back. "Just find the object that does not belong to your memories and destroy it! The place you are now will collapse by itself after some time, but we have no time to wait for it!"

No one replied so it seems that their dimensional pockets now were completely divided. Now Erza could talk to Natsu. "Natsu, what's going on? What is this magic? This looks like… Tower of Heavens! Though, only partially…"

"This magic is called Kioku no Ami [Trap of Memory]," Natsu replied. "It entraps a single person into a separate space-time for a short time – basically it works just like the ex-quip, but it stores people instead of stuff. However, like with the most types of magic, its effect is much lower when it is used on living beings. This space can't exist for long, maximum for six or seven minutes, and can be easily broken from inside – you just need to destroy the Yōseki [Keystone] of the space, which looks like a bright sphere in the middle of black nowhere."

God slayer continued, "Because of that, this spell was modified to take the appearance of a place from entrapped person's memories, to hide the keystone beneath imaginable layout. There is still one crack in this spell however – keystone should be created together with the trap, before targeted person could be entrapped, so keystone takes the shape of the object from caster's own memories. Usually this spell uses good memories, to make entrapped person unwilling to leave the space until it collapses by itself…"

Natsu looked around and continued as Erza listened to him in confusion, "However, I think now we are facing Nelliel's version of this trap… this is not good. It managed to entrap not one but all four of us, though it was divided into two separate time-spaces, and I have no idea how long it can exist by itself. Moreover, it was made from our most vivid memories, regardless of the content…"

"Insanity… I never heard about such a magic…" Erza mumbled.

"Because it's counted as obsolete. It requires a lot of magic and during the last few thousand years much more effective traps were invented, I have only read about this magic in old books. However, Nelliel is a Ushinatta Mahō [Lost Magic] wielder…" Natsu clenched his fists. "Damn, this is bad… ironically, it's especially bad because we were not separated but were entrapped together…"

"What do you mean?" Erza inquired. She was curious as to why Natsu thinks that this is bad to be trapped together with her… She actually was glad that she is not alone in this creepy environment from her past.

"Because it makes the task of finding the keystone much harder. Look around us – half of this environment is Tower of Din," Natsu pointed at the dark stone walls made of black marble. "But the second half, apparently, is the place from your memories," Natsu pointed at white granite wall. "Since we should find an object that doesn't belongs to our memories…"

"Alright, I got it," Erza nodded, "I never was in Tower of Din, so I can't say what actually belongs to your memory and what is not, and the same goes for you…" Erza looked at her wristwatch, "Damn! Only twelve minutes left until Jupiter's shot and we've stuck here…"

"I bet right now Gray and Elfman are wandering near the cave where Lisanna died, mixed with the ruins of Gray's hometown…" Natsu speculated, looking around. "Well, I doubt this place can exist for long, even if it's Ushinatta Mahō version…"

"But if it can exist for more than seven or eight minutes – our guild is done for! C'mon Natsu, we have to get out of here!" Erza exclaimed. "Damn you Nelliel! If this is a trap, then she prepared it beforehand… Could it be that they really were anticipating that we'll deflect Jupiter's first shot? And it means she was hanging around here, preparing the trap…"

"Yep… We messed it up… We underestimated Phantom, just like our master did…" Natsu sighed.

"C'mon, let's go!" Erza shouted and they rushed to find a keystone. However, it won't be an easy task – both of them have a lot of vivid memories…

(Back to the real world, with Cana and Sin)

"Sin, fly there!" Cana pointed at the cannon's muzzle. "I think that's the easiest way to get to the core – through the barrel!"

"As you say," Sin replied and hovered right in front of the muzzle. Cana climbed into the barrel and started to crawl toward the power core as Sin followed her. "Wow, it's quite a long barrel…" Lil Dragon noted.

At last, they reached their destination. "Whoa…" Cana whistled, "I've never seen anything like this before… Is that a lacrima?" She pointed at a large sphere with four harnesses of thick power cords connected to it. The lacrima was surrounded by a complex machinery.

"Yeah, I think this is the lacrima that gathers magical power," Sin replied. "The magic convergent cannon is a weapon that emits compressed magic energy instead of bullets."

"Okay, I got it," Cana said as she jumped down into the power core room. "Then it means that all we have to do is to destroy this damn thing," She pointed at the lacrima.

"I won't… let you do that…" Someone said, it was the voice of a young man, and he spoke slowly, lazily, confident in his powers.

"A guard?!" Cana exclaimed. She actually hoped that, in their arrogance, Phantom left the core unprotected. "Ah, no matter, I can't let anyone stand in my way!" She stated, preparing her cards.

A young man with two-toned hair, dressed into a long, orange reddish gi-like cloth, appeared from the shadows. It was Totomaru of Conflagration [Romaji – Taika no Totomaru] "It's you that's the one… getting in our way…" He said in the same lazy manner. 660 seconds remaining…

(Inside the magic trap, with Natsu and Erza)

To be honest, in normal conditions, Erza wouldn't mind a brief tour over the legendary Tower of Din, she heard some stories about this place from Natsu. But now, in their current situation, the last thing she needs is wandering inside Natsu's memories, especially when it mixed with her own…

Yet, whilst Cana and Totomaru were preparing to fight each other, she and Natsu continues to wander inside their memories, literally, just as Gray and Elfman. "What is this place?" Natsu asked as he opened the door to some room, which obviously belonged to Erza's memory.

"Overseer's office," Erza replied as she looked inside the room with disgust on her face. "One of the first rooms that we have captured when the rebellion started. Look at these chairs… those scums spared no expense to gratify their fancies… No, this room looks proper, let's see the next one." They were forced to run around, from one room to another, checking everything. Rushing with it was not an option – they could miss the keystone.

They already checked seven rooms, and they were all from the Tower of Heaven. But now they stood in front of large double doors, this one was obviously from Natsu's memories. "Damn… I think I remember what's inside…" Natsu whispered as he cautiously opened the door.

"Why are you whispering?" Erza asked, also in whisper.

"To not awake something unwanted. Sorry, practice…" Natsu replied, "You're about to see why I had to be quiet here…" They entered the huge chamber, illuminated with numerous torches, which were burning with creepy blue flames. In the middle of the room was a large stone ring, similar to Stonehenge. In the middle of the ring, a large octahedron stone was floating, shining with blue light. About two dozen of large fleshless ghosts were swirling around the stone. The walls were decorated with ornaments, shaped like giant demons' faces. Suddenly, one of the faces opened its eyes, which flashed with blue light, yawned, and returned to its sleep. "See?" Natsu asked.

Erza was so stunned with this surrounding that she even forgot about the situation in the real world, "Natsu, what the hell is this place?!"

"This place is called the Chamber of the Watchers," Natsu answered, pointing at a runic inscription on the wall, "I spent a whole day here, but, to my shame, was unable to understand its purpose…"

"Scaring people to death?!" Erza suggested as several ghosts merged with each other, making a larger ghost, and flew out of the room through the wall. She was very-hard-to-scare girl, but this place was sending shivers up her spine…

"Hmm… Everything looks proper…" Natsu mumbled as he examined the room, ignoring Erza's shock. "Wait, what's this?" Natsu asked as he pointed at a little cave in the corner of the room, which clearly shouldn't be here.

"Huh?" Erza came back to her senses and managed to divert her eyes from the faces on the wall. "This is… the escape tunnel… that we tried to use when…"

"When that worm Shô didn't find the courage to admit his guilt and you lost your eye because of that?" Natsu finished her phrase; it seemed some of Erza's memories were mixed into this room.

"Yeah…" Erza confirmed. "Damn, it's even weirder to see it with such an environment…"

"Okay, let's go to the next room then, we have to hurry," Natsu said.

"Oh, right! Damn place, I even forgot about reality…" Erza agreed, forcing herself to not to look at the creepy floating stone with ghosts swirling around it.

(Back to the real world, with Cana and Sin)

"Burū Faiyā!" [Blue Fire] Totomaru launched a stream of blue flame at Cana. Unlike normal flame it was very cold and could turn a target into one large frostbite.

"Wind, Reverse Empress, Sun: Haretsu! [Rupture] Cana combined three cards and threw them at Totomaru, making a zone of extremely low pressure, which started to pull surroundings inside. It sucked in Totomaru's fire, effectively neutralizing his spell. "Heaven, Reverse Death, Mountain: Samoendo Raitoningu! [Summoned Lightning] Cana combined another three cards to summon green lightning bolts to strike the target.

"Faia Uōru!" [Fire Wall] Totomaru made a wall of green flame in front of himself that dissolved Cana's magic. "Not bad, but my green flame has the capability to deflect enemy's magic," The fire mage explained.

"Joker: Iryūjon! [Illusion]" Cana threw a single card at Totomaru.

"I said my green flame can dissolve magic… did I not?" The Phantom mage sighed but Cana's card didn't reach the flame and made a sparkling flash, as suddenly a large image of completely naked Mirajane appeared in front of enemy mage.

Totomaru made a step back from unexpectedness, as he didn't notice that Sin spat a ball of blue energy on the floor behind him and froze it. Totomaru slipped and fell on the floor, banged his head and ass, pretty hard.

…

Back at the FT guild hall, Mira suddenly sneezed. 'Huh? Did someone mention me?'

…

"Nice idea Cana," Sin commented.

"Thanks," She replied, "But please, don't tell anyone about this card…"

"What a vile trick!" Totomaru exclaimed, standing up and rubbing his head and ass.

"You're one to talk about vileness, Phantom!" Cana yelled.

"We have to capture Lucy!" The fire mage shouted back, "I'm just doing my job!"

"Just as I am. And my job is to save my friends! Let's continue, shall we?" Cana smiled a little. 420 seconds remaining…

(Inside the magic trap, with Natsu and Erza)

"I really hope that Gray and Elfman are already out of this trap…" Natsu said. They had no success in finding the keystone. Erza just finished examining the large torture chamber from her memories, which was even creepier than the real one since it was lit by creepy torches from the Tower of Din. "Oh, right… Brace yourself sweetie, this room isn't the top place for a dinner…" Natsu said as they came to another double door from the Tower of Din.

"Go ahead, just hurry…" Erza sighed, she was ready for anything… but not for this. She jerked away as a skeletal, six-legged, horse-like creature ran past her before spreading its ripped dragonfly-like wings and soaring into the air. A few seconds later, the horse smashed into the wall and crumbled to pieces. However, before Erza could be shocked, the horse restored itself and ran in a different direction as if nothing happened.

"This is the Hall of Bones," Natsu said, pointing at a large whirlwind of bones in the middle of the room. Several bone piles were around the room, bones were of different sizes, shapes and even colors. The whirlwind was constantly producing horrible skeletal creatures, which were taking two or three steps before crumbling as their bones were sucked back into the whirlwind. Right now, Ezra was eyeing a monster that had seven thoraxes, thirteen legs and more than two dozen of arm-like limbs… oh, and five skulls of different shapes and sizes. The creature took a few steps and then crumbled, of course, since such an abomination simply cannot exist.

"I feel a bit sick…" Erza admitted. She has a very strong stomach, but such abominations could make sick anyone, also her sensitive nose was greatly offended by the smell of rotting bones.

"As far as I managed to understand – this place is some kind of a prototype foundry. This whirlwind constantly creates different creatures. Those, which are able to exist, are free to roam here, those which unable to exist – will crumble and send back for reprocessing. I spent two days here but didn't learn anything useful to me… Okay, this room seems just as I saw it back then," Natsu concluded.

"Natsu… may I talk to you… outside please…" Erza said through her palm, as she was struggling to not to barf.

"No," Natsu smiled, he realized that she wants to express her opinion about his 'adventure' in the Tower of Din. "We're in the middle of a situation here, you can scold me later."

"Grrrrr…." Erza growled in frustration but she couldn't object – he was right, they still have to find a way to get out of here, she followed Natsu who ran to the next door.

(Inside the magic trap, with Gray and Elfman)

"Damn… such a vile magic…" Elfman shivered a little. "Everything looks so real…" The big guy said as he and Gray were running across ruined town, mixed with some rocky mountains with a cave system.

"Yeah… and it's so confusing…" Gray agreed.

Actually, there was nothing remarkable, just a destroyed town and mountain landscape. "How much time do we have?" Elfman asked.

"Very little," Gray replied. "Five minutes, maybe less…"

Elfman looked around desperately, "Please, help us!" He shouted as he looked at the white Zentopia Church cross on the roof of the damaged town hall, which was half-buried in the rock because of memories mix.

"Huh?" Gray looked at the cross as he heard Elfman's prayer, "Wait a minute… It should be made of bronze and on the roof of the church!" Gray pointed at town hall's roof. "This one is fake!"

"Um? You mean it's that... err… keystone?!" Elfman asked.

"Yes! Aisu Meiku: Ransu! [Ice Make: Lance]" Gray created several lances made of ice and destroyed the fake cross with it. Immediately, the fake world around him and Elfman crumbled, but they appeared not in the gulf, where they were when the trap was triggered, but at Magnolia's marketplace.

"What?! Where are we?!" Elfman asked in shock.

"Look!" Gray pointed toward the gulf, Phantom's guild building could be seen even from here, "C'mon! We have to return to the guild!"

(Two minutes earlier, inside the magic trap, with Natsu and Erza)

Once again, they stood in front of black, glossy metallic door, which definitely could open another 'chamber' of Tower of Din… Erza was absolutely sure that she doesn't want to see what's inside, but, naturally, she and Natsu had no choice.

The God Slayer opened the door. "Oh, here it is…" He pronounced, and his voice wasn't as indifferent as usual, he sounded somewhat enthusiastic. They entered into a relatively small chamber – about 170 feet in length and 100 feet in height, and that looked like some sort of a laboratory.

"This is Reapers' Factory," Natsu announced. "Look," Natsu pointed at two huge vacuum flasks, which were connected to each other with multiple wirings, also flasks were connected to lacrima-like crystals and complex machinery.

Inside of each flask was one gray, rotting, disgusting ghoul. Ghouls were wailing and hitting the flasks from inside, trying to break free. Suddenly, lacrimas above both vacuum flasks began to shine. At the same moment, ghoul in left flask began to dissipate into gray particles, as ghoul in right flask began to 'boil' – his body began to twist and blister as dark cloud enveloped him. Both ghouls were wailing three times louder than before.

Within fifteen seconds, the 'reaction' was complete – a ghoul inside of the left flask disappeared as dark cloud around a ghoul inside of the right flask dissipated, revealing red-skinned, rotting, even more disgusting ghoul than previous one.

Erza was looking at it with her mouth agape. "Natsu… what… the hell… is this?!"

"This is a monster fusion laboratory," Natsu announced. "As you saw yourself – this device can be used to commit 'monster fusion reaction' – monster inside of the left flask will be sacrificed as monster inside of the right flask will be empowered with sacrificed monster's features and abilities," God slayer explained as red ghoul was 'teleported' out of flask, while two ghosts appeared instead, again, one in each flask. "I spent here about three days, and even wrote down some 'recipes'…" Natsu added.

"What for?!" Erza exclaimed in shock.

"Just in case," Natsu shrugged.

"What case!? Listen, you…" Seemingly, Erza's patience finally ran out and she took a deep breath, intending to express all of her thought about Natsu's 'adventure' in that tower, but, suddenly, the fake world around Natsu and Erza started to crumble to pieces.

"Okay, I see. Our space pockets were separate but there was only one keystone for both spaces, and it was on Gray and Elfman's side," Natsu guessed.

"Nice work guys!" Erza exclaimed, thanks to that she forgot that she was intending to scold Natsu… for now. With bright green flash she and Natsu appeared… at Magnolia train station! "What?! Where are we?!" Erza shouted in confusion as a crowd of passengers was staring at them in shock.

"We're at the train station," Natsu recognized the surroundings. "We're at the opposite side of the town!"

Erza looked at her watch, "Four minutes! C'mon, we have to go back! Seikō Kudō! [Starlight Drive]"

"Sentō Chūkaku! [Combat Core]" Both mages used their self-enhancement spells and dashed toward their guild.

(Near the Guild Building)

Fortunately, Magnolia's marketplace was not too far from Fairy Tail's guild building, Elfman and Gray arrived to the guild. They literally broke into the building and ran through it, almost knocking over Mirajane, who was hiding here, pretending to be Lucy.

"Gray, Elfman! Are you two alright?!" She asked.

"Sorry Lucy, no time!" Grey replied as they ran out through the back door.

"Gray! Elfman! What happened to you two?! Are you two alright?!" Alzack shouted when he saw the two mages has finally returned. He and other Fairy Tail mages were fighting against Jose's shadow soldiers in the last effort.

"Yes!" Elfman replied, "Natsu and Erza haven't returned yet?"

"No," Bisca replied.

"Damn! Alzack, how much time left until the shot?!" Grey asked.

"Two minutes! Cana went there to try to stop the cannon!" The cowboy-mage replied.

"Fuck! Without Erza and Natsu, we can't block another shot. Elfman, come on!" And without needless words the two mages rushed toward the phantom guild building to try to prevent Jupiter from firing.

(Near the Jupiter's power core, with Cana and Sin)

"Heaven, Wind: Uindo Ejji! [Wind Edge]" Cana threw two cards toward Totomaru, unleashing a massive wave of wind at him. However, he countered her spell:

"Reddo Faiyā!" [Red Fire] Totomaru made a stream of red flame that burned Cana's magic. "My red fire is a high temperature flame that can be used to re-route air currents," He explained. He was quite calm, already thinking that he has won this fight. He was struck by several of Cana's spells but the damage was not too severe. Cana, on the other hand, was quite worn out. Initially she was on par with the Phantom's S-class mage, but eventually he managed to get the upper hand. Cana stood panting, she got multiple burns and several cuts since Totomaru also used his sword.

"Orenji Faiyā!" [Orange Fire] Totomaru shot a stream of normal flame at Cana, which produced an explosion on contact. The card mage avoided the direct hit, but the shockwave threw her to the ground. "Give up!" Totomaru demanded. "Maybe Master will have mercy on you…"

"I'm already fed up with Phantom's mercy!" Cana growled.

"Cana, there's 60 seconds left!" Sin shouted, as the lacrima, which he used to hide from Totomaru, started to shine.

'Okay, now or never!' Cana thought as she pulled out the entire deck of the Major Arcana and threw it at the enemy mage. However, Totomaru noticed that there was no enchantment on these cards, so he simply deflected them with sword.

"You've already run out of magic? These cards were not even magical…" He smiled – victory was in his hands. "Okay, before I end this fight with my rainbow flame, I'll let you see the end of your guild by Jupiter's shot!" The fire mage said as he raised his arms. 30 seconds left.

"We won't make it in time!" Gray shouted desperately as he saw that Jupiter's barrel began to shine. He and Elfman were swimming toward the enemy guild as fast as they could, but it was obvious that they were already too late…

'We'll be too late!' Natsu and Erza thought at the same time, they were rushing through town at high speed, knocking over the passersby.

"No! Jupiter is firing!" Macao yelled.

"Damn, it's my fault, I had to go with her!" Wakaba shouted.

All Fairy Tail members stood in fear, watching the cannon's shining barrel.

"That's it for you, Fairy Tail!" Totomaru announced, but Cana suddenly smiled.

"You're right, that's it!" She pulled out her last card and cast a spell "Reverse Joker: Chēn Riakushon! [Chain Reaction]" Cana threw it into the lacrima as Totomaru finally noticed that all cards that he deflected were plunged into the charged power core.

"No!" He yelled, but he noticed the trap way too late – Cana's card exploded, provoking a continuous explosion around the power core, compromising its integrity. The power of the blast destroyed all the machinery inside the core chamber as the explosion ruined part of the guild's exterior and the cannon's barrel fell into the sea.

"Nicely done, Cana!" Sin cheered as the smoke partially dissipated. 'She knew that she couldn't outmatch this guy in battle, so she used his arrogance to make him inattentive and destroyed the cannon… Well done.'

"Woo-hoo!" "Look!" "The cannon is crumbling!"

"Unbelievable, she did it!" Wakaba exclaimed.

"Barrel of a best booze is on me, Cana!" Macao shouted.

"All right!" "Jupiter has been destroyed!" "Never underestimate a Fairy Tail's sorceress!"

"Now we have nothing left to fear!" Bisca shouted. "Annihilate the enemy!" And with double determination the Fairy Tail mages rushed into battle against Jose's soldiers. It was possible to notice that even those who were wounded yesterday left the cellar and now were fighting against shades alongside the others, in process of forces.

"Ugh… Master will be mad at me…" Totomaru mumbled as he observed the remains of Jupiter. "Well, at least I defeated my enemy!" He turned to Cana, who had no strength left. "Sorry, nothing personal. Maybe master will spare you after we destroy your guild..." Cana could only watch as Totomaru raised his arms, gathering flames of different colors. "Reinbō Faiyā!" [Rainbow Fire] But when he was ready to release his spell, Sin appeared behind Totomaru, while he was busy with his casting, and lifted him in the air. "Hey! Put me down!" The fire mage demanded as his limbs were suddenly covered with ice. "What?! Hey!? What is this?!" He screamed as his whole body was encased in the ice block. Sin released Totomaru and a big beast's claw caught him.

"If you're man…" Elfman shouted, throwing Totomaru up, through the ceiling "…fly to the heavens and become a star!"

The fire mage, still encased in ice, made a hole in the ceiling and flew away, screaming, "What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Thanks, guys…" Cana said, still breathing heavily, "Good timing."

"Don't mention it," Gray replied with a smile, "So, that is what's left from Jupiter? Nice work there…"

"You're a man, Cana!" Elfman approved.

"No, she's not," Sin noted, "Alright people, now you have to find the guild shield's power source so we can get rid of this thing."

"Can you take it from here, guys? I need a bit of time to catch my breath…" Cana said, wiping sweat from her forehead. "I'm going back to the guild and try to help the others to fight off the shades," Cana said as Sin grabbed her with his boney claws and lifted her in the air, "But where's Natsu and Erza?"

"No idea," Gray replied as he and Elfman were looking around, trying to find an exit from the room. "Even if they have already escaped from the trap, they might appear far from here. I and Elfman had to run here from the town's market…"

"What a vile trap…" Cana mumbled as Sin carried her toward the shore through the hole made by Totomaru.

In the guild control room, master Jose stood near the window. "So, these disgusting bratty children got their spunk back…" He clenched his fists. Jose haven't anticipated that Jupiter will be destroyed, not after Natsu's team was successfully entrapped into Nelliel's trap. "Start up the Giant!" He ordered.

(Near the Guild Building)

Natsu and Erza felt a great relief as they saw the destruction of Jupiter, yet they continued to run, without slowing down. Just like Gray and Elfman, they broke into the building and ran through it, but when they were running past 'Lucy', they both stopped and stared at the blonde. Erza sniffed the air and Natsu just looked at her with his heavenly eyes as the girl took a few steps back, giving them a nervous smile.

"This won't work," Natsu noted indifferently.

"You really need help…" Erza shook her head and both slayers ran out to the backyard.

"Nice talking to you!" Mira exclaimed in frustration.

Fairy Tail continued their fight with Jose's soldiers. "Natsu! Erza! What happened?!" Alzack asked as Sin placed Cana on the shore.

"I'll explain later," Natsu replied. "What's the situation?"

"Well, Cana dealt with Jupiter, but we still have Jose and his soldiers," Sin reported.

"You dealt with Jupiter? Nicely done Cana," Erza approved.

"Hey, I'm a Fairy Tail wizard too – I know how to destroy stuff!" Cana smiled. "Gray and Elfman are inside, they…" Cana became silent as Phantom's guild moved again. The guild rose above the water.

"Huh? It moved again?!"

"What are they planning to do this time?!"

"They are retreating?"

The Fairy Tail mages were watching as if spellbound as the enemy guild slowly take a vertical position and its legs and body started to transform. In one minute, the enemy guild turned into a giant.

"Behold, Fairy Tail!" Jose announced through the broadcasting system, "This is Super Mage Giant Phantom Mk. II! Prepare to meet your end!"

"Wh…what on earth is that?!" Cana asked, looking at the giant as if entranced and sweating all over.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Mirajane looked at the giant through the guild hall's window.

"A giant?!" Loke mumbled in shock.

"That's just not serious…" Natsu shook his head in disbelief.

"One crazy thing after another!" Erza could barely believe her eyes.

The giant started to move toward the coast. Inside, Gray and Elfman had to split up, to find guild's power source faster, but right now, they were bouncing like balls at the tennis court.

"Ough! What the hell is going on?!" Gray yelled after he crashed into a wall.

"Let me go, damn thing!" Elfman demanded. He crashed into a knight's armor and was now trying to remove the knight's helmet from his head.

On the shore, Fairy Tail members were trembling with fear.

"It's moving!" Max yelled.

"That thing is going to trample our guild!" Warren panicked.

"Concentrate on the enemy in front of you!" Cana ordered. Jose's shades were still attacking Fairy Tail.

"We'll stop it, c'mon, Natsu!" Erza shouted, but before they could move the giant stopped, after taking just a few steps.

"Now what?" Natsu wondered as the giant raised his 'arm'. To his surprise, the giant began to draw something in the air.

"What's that… writing…?" Max asked uncertainly.

"This… this is…" Alzack stuttered in fear.

"It's a magical seal!" Cana yelled in shock, "This building thing is a mage!"

"WHHAAATT?!" Almost all Fairy Tail mages yelled in unison.

"This… this seal… is Abisu Bureiku! [Abyss Break]" Mira was trembling in horror. "Isn't that one of the forbidden spells?!" (A/N: Actual spell name is Rengoku Saiha, lit. from KanJI – Purgatory Rending Crush).

Suddenly a shockwave knocked over several guild members and Jose's shades – with their 'Core' and 'Drive' spells still active, Natsu and Erza rushed toward the enemy guild.

"Such a huge seal… this is bad!" Loke exclaimed, "The dark blast will destroy everything all the way to Kardia Cathedral!"

"What are we going to do?!" Wakaba asked in fear.

"We have to keep these shades away from our guild! Natsu and the others will stop it!" Bisca replied, shooting at shadow soldiers. Right now, Erza and Natsu were climbing up the giant's 'leg'.

"Pst! Cana! Sin!" Mira called for them from inside the guild.

"Lucy? What are you doing here?" Sin wondered why she's not fighting with the others.

"I'm Mirajane. I sent Lucy to the hideout," The blonde replied.

"Mira?!" Cana exclaimed "In your condition?!"

"I'm fine!" Blonde said indignantly, though it was a lie, she could barely stand. "Sin, where's Elfman?" She asked.

"Still inside the giant," Sin replied. "They split up and are now trying to find the guild's power source."

"Split up!?" Mira exclaimed in shock "Why?!"

Both Cana and Sin were surprised with Mira's reaction. "Because they can find the power source quicker this way…" Sin explained the obvious thing, in his opinion. "According to drawing speed, we have less than ten minutes before this seal will be completed, so they have to hurry."

"No! Elfman can't be on his own!" Mira shouted, clenching the wooden windowsill. "Elfman can't fight alone! You should know that too, Sin! Why didn't you bring him back?!"

"Easy Mira," Cana tried to calm her down. "Elfman can take care of himself. He took part in the fighting before."

"No… It's one thing to go up against soldiers…" Mira said as she stepped away from the window, "But if he finds himself up against the leaders… The way he is now…" She looked at the floor as sad thoughts stormed her head.

"Mira, listen. I know you and Elfman both were terribly hurt," Cana said seriously, "But Elfman is trying hard to keep moving forward…"

"Some time after the funeral… he even came to Natsu and borrowed some books about Take Over magic. Natsu said that it was not what he needed, yet gave him the books he asked for…" Sin added, "You know how much he hate studying, but he really wants to become better…"

Mira sighed deeply, 'They're right, aren't they? Natsu became an S-class mage after that… Elfman worked hard to become better as well… But I… I just buried my head in the sand and tried to hide from this world behind the bar counter…' Mirajane clenched her fists. 'Natsu… Elfman… I, too, should be…' With this suddenly found resoluteness, Mirajane, still under her disguise, threw open the window and climbed out to the back yard.

"Huh?! Mira!" Cana exclaimed.

"Hey! What are you…" Sin tried to ask but Mira ignored them and ran toward the shore.

"Lucy?!" Laki asked in shock.

"Stay back! It's dangerous here, they're after you!" Wakaba warned the blonde.

"Get back, Lucy-chan!" Warren exclaimed.

But Mira ignored all of them and stood up in front of the giant with her arms outspread. "I'm the one you're after, right?!" Mira yelled as loud as she could, shocking everyone. "Stop attacking the guild right now!"

"Lucy?!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Get back!"

'That should buy us a little time!' Mira thought.

In Phantom's control room one of the guild members looked at Mira through binoculars. "Master! That's..."

But Jose just frowned and took the microphone. "Disappear!" He demanded through broadcasting system, "You little wretched imposer!"

'No way!' Mira was shocked and deeply disheartened.

"I knew it right from the very start that Lucy wasn't here." Jose announced – it was hard to say, whether it was the truth or he actually just noticed the deception, "There's no way that the person who was targeted would be sent to the frontline."

"Damn!" Cana cursed as she saw that Mira's plan failed and the giant continued to draw the magic seal.

'I'm… completely useless…' Mirajane thought as tears came to rim her big brown eyes, which again became deep-blue as her transformation wore off.

(Inside the Phantom Lord's giant)

Natsu, Erza, Gray and Elfman continued to look for the giant's power source.

'What a weird love for doors and corridors these pathetic humans have?' Natsu thought as his frustration was growing, since he had no success in finding anything, aside from empty corridors and countless doors.

…

Erza sniffed the air, 'Damn, how can I smell out the power source if I have no idea how it actually smells?!'

…

"Okay, I'd better look from outside!" Gray decided, as he too had no success in finding anything.

(With Elfman)

"Uoooogh! The man, Elfman, will protect Fairy Tail with his life!" Elfman shouted as he was running through the weird room with flowerbeds. "But, seriously, what a crazy room!"

"Salute!" Someone's voice called from behind Elfman. He turned around to see a slim, green-haired man, dressed into a dark-brown suit with a monocle on his right eye. He literally stuck up from the floor with his feet melded to the ground and arms outspread in welcoming gesture.

(Fairy Tail back yard)

"Don't worry Mira, Elfman can fight…" Cana tried to cheer up Mirajane. "He's a wizard of Fairy Tail too." However, it didn't ease Mirajane's worries.

"Don't you think we have to make a run for it?" One of the Fairy Tail mages asked, "That magic seal looks almost complete"

"You want to leave the guild behind?!" Cana asked angrily.

"Ah, no…" The man corrected himself. It's good that no one knew that Erza and Natsu were about to evacuate everyone.

"There are people fighting for us in there!" The drunkard pointed at the giant. "We have to believe in them and protect the guild in any way we can!"

Mira still stood in front of the giant, consumed by her worries and sad thoughts. 'Elfman… You're in no state to be fighting…' Too late she noticed the giant's shadow around herself. "Ahhh!" She cried as a giant's hand grabbed her, clenching her body between its fingers.

"Mira!" "Mira-chan!" "Hold on!"

"Attempting to deceive us… I don't think I like you, girl," Jose noted through the broadcasting system. "I think I'll just smash you to pieces, slowly…"

"Augh…" Mira just moaned, she was still weak after her crucifixion by Nelliel, and now this…

"Mira!" Cana cried in fear for Mira's life, "Natsu! Erza! Gray! Elfman! Hurry up and stop the giant!"

(With Elfman)

"I'm Sol of the Earth, you can call me Monsieur Sol, I'm the member of the Element Four," The man in a brown suit introduced himself, playing an ape, as usual.

"What a great timing!" Elfman said, throwing off his sleeveless coat, "You can tell me how to stop this giant!" He raised his right arm and cast a spell "Bīsuto Āmu: Burakku Buru!" [Beast Arm: Black Bull]

"Oh? Are you sure that just one arm will be enough?" Sol asked, leaning to the right; he seemed to be very flexible. "It seems the rumors were accurate, after all…"

"Huh?" Elfman wondered.

"I know all about you… No, more than that, my head contains details pertaining to all the mages of Fairy Tail," He said, giving Elfman quite an idiotic grin.

Elfman looked at him angrily before attacking him, yelling, "Don't you ever stop talking?!" Elfman swung his beast arm but Sol dodged the attack and Elfman smashed his arm into the floor.

"I do believe you have a younger sister, yes?" Sol asked while he was upside-down, in mid-air before casting a spell "Sāberu Dansu! [Sable (sand) Dance]" Elfman was surrounded with the whirlwind of sand, which greatly reduced his field of vision.

"Where did he…?" Elfman couldn't see the enemy through the sand.

"Rosshu Konseruto!" [Roche Concerto] Sol appeared two dozen meters away from Elfman and launched a barrage of massive rocks at him.

"Aug! Ugh!" Elfman took several hits and fell on his knees, breathing heavily.

"A while back, you underwent a full body take-over, but it went wrong… You ran wild…" Sol mocked Elfman with a disgusting smile, "Your precious little sister sacrificed her life to stop your rampage… Isn't that right?" Elfman eyed his enemy with growing anger as he continued to speak, "And the trauma that resulted from that incident has prevented you from being able to perform a full-body take-over ever since…"

"Bīsuto Āmu: Sutīru Buru! [Beast Arm: Steel Bull]" Elfman roared in fury and attempted to attack Sol once more but the slimy guy literally merged with the floor, avoiding the attack and appearing behind Elfman. The white-haired mage tried to hit Sol again but he dodged and then wrapped himself around Elfman's arm, using the peculiar structure of his body.

"Salute!" Sol said as his face appeared three inches away from Elfman's.

"Ugh… What a disgusting guy…" Elfman growled, looking into Sol's face.

"Non, non, non! This is nonsense with three 'non's!" Sol said some senseless phrase.

"Why don't you get off me, moncher Sol?!" Elfman demanded angrily, trying to remove the enemy from his arm.

"It's 'monsieur', actually!" Sol replied before quickly unwrapping himself from Elfman's arm and slamming his boot into Elfman's face.

"Ugh! You bastard!" Elfman shouted and again tried to hit Sol with his beast arm. Once again – Sol dodged. "If you're a man, then fight me fair and square, fist to fist!"

"If I'm a man, you say?" Sol asked, appearing behind Elfman and smashing his feet into Elfman's back. "Non, non, non. I cannot let that pass. You have no rights to question the manliness of others, you – trash who killed your own sister. Sāberu bāsuto! [Sable (sand) Burst]" Sol sent a wave of sand toward Elfman, knocking him over.

'That guy… he's way stronger than he looks…' Elfman thought, gathering his magic. 'I have no choice but to do it!' Elfman prepared to use a full-body take over, but suddenly, Lisanna's image appeared right before his sight and his magic power vanished. "Ugh…" Elfman fell to his knees, clenching his arm.

"Hmmmmm… You should avoid attempting that which you cannot achieve!" Sol shouted, as he rushed toward his weakened enemy. "It would appear your power has fallen drastically thanks to that attempt! Voila!" Sol smashed his leg into Elfman's abdomen.

"AAGHH!" Elfman was thrown back as blood flew out from his mouth.

"Hmmm… As a gentleman, which every real man should be, it is only right that I should end this with my most powerful spell, Purattoru Sonaato! [Plâtre (plaster) Sonata]" A giant fist made of plaster appeared from a magic seal and punched Elfman, smashing him into the guild's outer wall, making a large hole in it and eliciting a big dust cloud. "This is the power of the Element Four," Sol commented.

Lying on the edge of the breach, almost defeated, Elfman managed to hear someone's moans. He barely opened his eyes, only to see his elder sister, clenched between the giant's fingers, "Wh…what is this?"

"El… Elfman…" Mira moaned, looking at her brother. She trembled in the giant's hand.

"NEE–SAN!" Elfman bellowed as he recognized his sister.

"Oh… Your older sister, in other words. That woman out there, would she happen to be the famous Mirajane-sama, once feared as 'She-Devil'? Another pathetic sight…" Sol noted as he came closer to the breach. "I'm afraid she's currently being punished for attempting to deceive us. She should be smashed apart any moment now…"

"R…run… Elfman…" Mira moaned weekly.

"Nee-san! The hell do you call this…! Let her go right now!" Elfman yelled but Sol just stepped on the back of his head.

"Stop it! It doesn't matter what happens to me! But just leave Elfman alone…" Mira cried through the pain.

"I'm wondering…" Sol said, "Shall I spare you? Shall I let you go through it all again… Such a pity… Losing first your younger sister and then your elder sister right before your very eyes…" The earth mage snickered, "And that is all because you're an impotent wizard who does nothing but spout bluffs about manliness!"

"Elfman! Run! Please!" Mira cried desperately as tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"Wh… Why…?!" Elfman growled with his head still pressed down by Sol's boot. "I swore that I'll never see your tears ever again, Nee-san… So why are you crying?!" Elfman quickly rose to his feet, pushing Sol away as his magic power suddenly increased, "WHO WAS IT THAT MADE YOU CRY?!" Elfman started to perform a full-body take over.

"No, Elfman! You mustn't! You can still only use a single arm!" Mira cried desperately.

"She's right…" Sol said a bit nervously.

But Elfman ignored both of them as he built up his magic. "Lisanna died… all because I was too weak…"

"That's not true!" Mira cried.

Again, Elfman ignored her words, "I don't want to feel that way ever again!" Elfman roared, "Now I finally understand your words, Natsu! I too want to become a strong man, someone who can protect my guild and my sister! Bīsuto Sōru!" A shining light engulfed Elfman as a large, purple magic seal appeared beneath him as he released his spell.

"No… This is…" Sol mumbled in fear.

"Furu Bodi Teiku Ōbā: Bīsuto Sōru!" [Full Body Take Over: Beast Soul] Mira exclaimed in awe. Elfman turned into a huge beast with horns and large claws, and proceeded to attack the enemy.

"No way! Purattoru Sonaato!" Sol created another giant fist made of plaster and sent it at Elfman, but the Beast King smashed it into pieces and rushed toward the enemy mage. Sol had no chance to dodge this time and was smashed into the floor as Elfman continued his assault with a flurry of blows.

"Augh!" "Ugh!" "Ouu!" "Gah!" Mirajane could hear the screams of Sol's beating by Elfman. When he latter has finished with the former, enemy mage was unconscious, unrecognizable because of the severe beating, and utterly defeated.

"Elfman…" Mirajane gingerly called for her brother. One second later Elfman, still in beast form, appeared from the hole in guild's wall and started to make his way toward Mirajane, over the giant's arm. "Hey… Elfman…" Mira shivered in fear. "Can you hear me?!" But Elfman just ran toward her, on all four, without saying a word. "You… you haven't lost all the reason again, have you...?" Mira asked as the Beast loomed over her. "Elfman…" The Beast extended his arm as if to reach for her and Mira closed her eyes, afraid that Elfman was going to hit her, but he just unclenched the giant's fingers and hugged his elder sister, as gently as he could in this form. "Huh?!" Mira wondered.

"I'm sorry, nee-san…" Elfman said in a mournful voice. "You probably never wanted to see this face ever again… It was all because I couldn't control this form properly that… Lisanna…"

"You're lucid…" Mira was still shivering from shock.

"…But there's nothing else I could do. I had to become stronger, or I couldn't protect you, or Fairy Tail," Elfman finished.

Mira finally smiled, "It was never your fault that Lisanna died. Back then, too, you were…" But Elfman interrupted her.

"No, nee-san, it was my fault. And now I have finally accepted it," He said. "Three years ago, Natsu gave me an answer, but only now did I understand what he meant."

"Huh? What?" Mira was amazed.

"We never told you but… right after Lisanna's funeral I ran away from the hospital, it was impossible for me to stay there… I wanted to see you but you weren't at the graveyard nor at home or in the guild. Even for me it wasn't hard to figure out where else you could have…" Elfman didn't noticed it but Mira blushed, just a bit. "I went to Natsu's hotel room. He didn't let me in, said that he won't let me wake you up with my loud crying. But before he sent me away, he said these words to me: 'Do not deny the obvious – it was your fault. Remember well this feeling – this pain, suffering, humiliation and shame. Then ask yourself – do you want to feel all of that again?' I ran away then, cursing him and his heartlessness… But he was right, and now I finally realized… I can live with this guilt. Now I can truly move on, working as hard as I can to never experience those feelings again…"

"Oh Natsu…" Mira sighed, "He just can't keep his mouth shut, can't he…" She smiled. He was her best friend for a reason. "So, this is why he said that running from the hospital is a family trait…" Elfman's Take Over wore off as Mira pressed herself to his chest. "Thank you, Elfman, both of you… Oh?!" Suddenly Mira noticed something.

"Nee-san? What's wrong?" Elfman wondered.

"The giant. The speed at which he's drawing the seal… It's become slower. I wonder why…" Mira replied, observing the giant Mk II. 'The four-elemental forbidden spell… Abyss Break… Four elements… fire… water… air… earth… OH!' Mira turned to her brother so abruptly that he almost fell from the giant's arm. "Elfman, how many of the Element Four are left?!"

"Huh?!" Elfman was a bit shocked by the unexpected question, "Uhhh… There are two left… I think…"

"As I thought. When you beat this guy up, the giant's movements became slower," Mira explained. "In other words, the giant's power source is the four elements! If we defeat all of the Element Four, we can prevent the spell!"

"Really!?" Elfman was amazed.

"Quickly, Elfman! They must be somewhere inside this giant!" Mira ran toward the hole in the wall.

"Wait, don't you need to go back to the guild!?" Elfman asked in shock – he couldn't understand how she was able to move, not to mention the running.

"And how should I do it?!" Mira asked indignantly. "Shall I jump down? Besides, I'm the one who figured out how to stop the spell, so I have the right to be here!"

"Ok… okay…" Elfman knew that it was useless to argue with her now…

"Whew… It looks like Mira is all right…" Cana let out a sigh of relief, looking at Mira and Elfman, then she fell to her knees from exhaustion.

"Cana!" Makao shouted, obviously worried about her.

"D-Don't worry about all that!" She shouted back, forcing herself to stand up again. "The important thing is the enemies right before us! We must protect Fairy Tail!" There were still plenty of Jose's shades.

'She's pushing herself too hard…' Macao thought, looking at Cana, 'But honestly, I wonder why is it… all the women in our guild are so damn strong…' Macao smiled proudly.

…

"Damn! How big is this guild?!" Erza asked herself – she still hasn't found anything that might be a power source.

…

"This thing didn't look that big from outside…" Natsu had no success, either.

(With Gray)

"Hmm? Rain?" Gray wondered as he climbed toward the Phantom guild's roof through a large glass hatch (it was a window while the guild stood horizontally), "Was it raining before?" Gray was sure that the sky was clear just a few minutes ago.

"Drip drip drop…" Gray saw a young girl, approximately of the same age as himself, with long blue hair and dressed in a navy-blue coat with a fur shawl as well as Cossack-styled hat. She held a large pink umbrella. "Yes, Juvia, the woman of the rain, of the Element Four. Drip drip drop…"

"Element Four…" Gray mumbled, examining the girl.

"To think that you could defeat two of the elements… However, Juvia and Aria are not to be taken lightly," The girl noted calmly.

"Sorry, but it doesn't matter if you're woman or even a child…" Gray replied, looking straight into her eyes, "I don't go easy on anybody who hurts my nakama." He didn't notice though that Juvia's cheeks blushed a bit.

"Y-yes… I have lost… this battle… Farewell!" The girl turned around and headed away, freaking Gray out.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Gray screamed with his jaw dropped to the floor. "What the hell is with that?!"

'Ahh… Juvia…are you somehow afflicted?!' Juvia asked herself, holding a hand to her heart. 'Why is my heart beating like this?!'

"Hey you, wait up!" Gray shouted, chasing after Juvia, "You can damn well stop this giant!"

'I must make him mine!' Juvia clenched her fist. 'Juvia, there's no turning back, I want him!' She turned around abruptly and cast a spell at Gray, "Uōtā Rokku! [Water Lock]"

"Glug!" Gray gurgled as he was entrapped inside of the bubble of water. While he floundered in the water his shirt swung open and bandages around his abdomen became visible. Actually, his wound, made by Leon, had already healed during the last six weeks but he decided to wear these bandages one more week just in case. But Juvia wasn't aware of it – she panicked when she saw the bandages.

"Oh no! He's injured! Whatever shall I do?! I must release him quick or…" She cried, twitching as if she was electrocuted.

While Juvia was panicking, Gray build up his magic. "Aaaaaarrgh!" Gray froze the water bubble and shattered it to pieces.

'He… he escaped Juvia's water lock using his own power…' She looked at Gray with widened eyes. 'Juvia was so sure that her Water Lock could never be broken… This is the power of an ice wizard? Exquisite! Water and ice… It's like we're bound by fate!'

"Huh… You got me good there, didn't you…" Gray growled, he thought that it was a planned surprise attack. He started to remove his shirt, preparing for combat.

As she saw this, Juvia's heart rhythm rose to about 150. 'Wh… why?! Why he is removing his clothing?! M-my heart… My heart is not prepared for this…'

While Juvia tried to decide what to do, Gray used his spell "Aisu Meiku: Ransu!" [Ice Make: Lance] Gray created multiple lances made of ice that he aimed at his enemy. Ice lances impaled the girl at several points, mutilating her body. But, to Gray's shock, she stood like nothing happened, only her face's expression became sad.

"Juvia's body is made of rain itself. Yes… drip drip drop…" She explained, looking at Gray almost mournfully as her body restored its form. 'Just now, he's assaulted me… Yes, this man is an enemy…' She thought before looking at Gray. "Torn apart by strife, that is their tearful fate! But Juvia won't lose her heart! Farewell, sweet flower of my forbidden love! Suiryū Sanha! [Water Slicer, KanJi reads: Water Stream Rend Kill]" Juvia swiped her right arm, sending scythe-like blades of water at Gray.

"What the hell are you saying?!" Gray yelled, dodging the water blades. "Argh!" One water blade hit the target, almost knocking Gray over. He quickly recovered 'Okay… six weeks of training, let's see what they're worth…' "Aisu Meiku: Senpu!" [Ice Make: Battle Axe] Gray created an axe made of ice and swung it around, slicing Juvia's body in half, but again, she stood as if nothing happened. "Tch… She's a tough one…" Gray hissed.

"Try again and again but nothing will change…" The girl said imperturbably. "It is impossible for you to defeat Juvia. There is still time for you to be saved. Juvia request that you bring Lucy to me. If you do so, Juvia will speak with our master and convince him to withdraw."

"Quit saying screwed up things! Both sides came too far now to just stop fighting!" Gray replied. "Lucy's our nakama. I won't hand her over even if I die!"

Juvia dropped her umbrella and grabbed her head in panic. 'Even if I die?! No! Lucy! Rival in love!' She started to cry, freaking Gray out again with her extremely weird behavior. "AAAAHHH!" She yelled in sudden fury as her water started to boil. "Juvia cannot forgive this! Juvia will never forgive Lucy!"

"Ahh! Boiling water!?" Gray was forced to cover his face from the steam. "And why's she mad at Lucy?"

Shierā! [Sierra; no idea about the origin of this spell's name] Juvia transformed her entire body into a stream of boiling water and rushed toward Gray.

"Aisu Meiku…" Gray tried to cast some spell but the stream of boiling water struck him, interrupting the cast sequence. Gray got several burns as Juvia turned around for another sweep. "She's fast! My Zōkei Mahō [Molding Magic] can't keep up with her?!" Gray exclaimed, barely dodging Juvia's other attack. 'I've gotta buy myself some time!' The ice mage thought as he rushed toward one of the roof's glass hatches. He jumped down through it, smashing the glass as the water witch followed him.

Once he was on the floor, he quickly raised his hands and made a shield: "Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo!" [Ice Make: Shield] He made a large flower-like shield above his head to protect himself from the boiling water. But, to his shock, the shield started to melt. 'Wha…?! No way! It withstood Jupiter's attack but I can't hold her!?'

"Juvia's jealousy is boiling over!" The water witch screamed as Gray was able to see watery lineament of her face through the melting shield.

"What the hell?!" Gray was freaked out again, 'Where does the jealousy come from?!' A few moments later Gray's shield failed and he was struck with the boiling stream. 'So hot… My skin's been burned!"

Juvia made another sweep and now Gray's whole body was inside the stream of boiling water. It dragged Gray along, smashing him into the ceiling. The water made a hole in the ceiling and launched gray in the air.

"Why you…!" Gray tried to figure out a way to handle her. "I just need to get in one good shot and freeze her!" Gray overturned in mid-air and put his hands into the boiling water "Freeze!" Gray channeled his magic into the water and it started to freeze it, together with Juvia, who was part of the stream.

'Impossible! Juvia's boiling water was… frozen?!' The water witch thought as her watery body was frozen and encased in ice. 'And of all things…' Her cheeks blushed.

"Heh…" Gray smiled before he realized that when he froze her, he accidentally grabbed her breast, "AAAAHH! No! I wasn't…!" Gray tried to justify himself in panic.

'Juvia is mortified…' She thought, deeply embarrassed, 'As things stand… trapped in this ice…'

"Sorry!" Gray exclaimed, apologizing, as he released her from the ice, quickly removing his hand from her chest.

'He released me from the ice?! But why?!' The water witch thought, sitting on her knees and looking at Gray with widened eyes. 'He's so kind!'

"L-let's start over with this!" Gray suggested, still freaked out because he accidentally pawed her.

"That won't do…" Juvia replied sadly as she rose on her feet. "Juvia cannot find it within herself to hurt you…"

"Huh? You can't hurt me?" Gray wondered, "You mean you've realized that you've got no chance of winning?"

"Juvia is stronger than Lucy…" The water witch continued, "Juvia could protect you…"

"What's your problem with Lucy," Gray asked. "She's your old school days rival or something?"

"No… Well… I…" Juvia stuttered. She tried to find the words to express her feelings but it took too long, so Gray lost his interest in the conversation.

"Man… Isn't this rain getting a little heavy?" Gray looked up at the dark-gray clouds.

"Juvia is irritated!" The girl grabbed her head.

"This rain really sucks…" Gray mumbled but Juvia twitched as if she was slapped.

'This man… He's the same as the others…' Her disappointment and rage about Gray started to boil all over again. "You're just the same!" Juvia's fury boiled once more, even hotter than before.

"What now?!" Gray looked at her with annoyance, he started to get tired from her fickle behavior. "If you're coming – make it quick!"

'Juvia has no more need for love!' Once again, the water witch turned into a stream of water and rushed at Gray, encasing him in a boiling stream.

"Just gotta freeze it again!" Gray tried to freeze the water but his attempt failed this time, "What?! The temperature is even higher than before?!"

As Juvia was remembering all the bad treatment she had gotten because of her magic, which brings rain, her rage boiled more and more. 'Juvia is one of the Element Four! A mage of Phantom!' She threw Gray out of the water and turned around for another attack. "Shierā!" [Sierra] She prepared to deal a powerful blow with the water stream.

"I'm not about to lose!" Gay bellowed, gathering all his powers, "Not to a goddamn phantom!" He extended his arms, waiting for the water stream to approach. "AAAARRRGGHHH!" Gray met the water and used all his power to freeze it. And he succeeded – not just the water but even the rain drops turned into ice. Gray canceled Juvia's spell, knocking her out of the water stream and forcing her to regain her human form.

'He even froze the rain?! What incredible magic power!' The water witch thought, helplessly falling down.

"Aisu Meiku: Aisu Gaizā!" [Ice Make: Ice Geyser] Gray slammed his fists into the floor, creating a large magic seal, to make a tower of ice spikes that impaled his enemy, while she was still in mid-air. Juvia let out a loud scream of pain as spell struck her and she fell on the stone roof, defeated.

'Juvia…lost…?' She thought, staring at the skies in shock, unable to move.

"How's that? Your fever gone down a bit?" Gray asked, smiling a little. He knew that this girl was extremely weird, but she is not evil.

'Huh?' Juvia thought as clouds started to dissipate and she was able to look into the blue sky for the first time in her life. "The rain… Has stopped…"

"Ahhh, it finally cleared up!" Gray said with a smile, looking upward.

'So… This is the blue sky… How beautiful…' The water witch thought as the sun was reflected in her eyes.

"So… You still want more?" Gray asked with bold smile. Hearts popped up in Juvia's eyes as she again misinterpreted Gray's words and passed out. "What a weird girl…" Ice mage scratched his head.

"Gray!" Someone's voice called for him from behind.

"Elfman? Mira?! What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be resting?" Gray was surprised to see Mirajane there.

"Stop asking that already!" Mira replied resentfully, "I'm fine!" Okay, that was a lie, it was pretty difficult for her to move, not to mention running, but, unlike Erza, this blue-eyed girl with angelic smile was a devilishly good liar.

"Is this the third member of the Element Four?" Elfman asked, looking at Juvia. "She's lying there with a weirdly happy expression on her face…"

"She's the weirdest person I've ever met…" Gray replied.

"Just one left," Mira noted. Gray looked at her questioningly so she explained, "If we just defeat the last Element Four member, we can stop the Abyss Break!"

"It turns out this giant and the spell are powered by the Element Four themselves," Elfman added.

"We can still make it guys!" Mira said with determination, "We'll definitely succeed!"

Down on the shore, the Fairy Tail mages were all nerves, continuing their fight against the shades.

"It's been way more than ten minutes, and that spell still hasn't been activated…" Max noted, looking at the seal.

"Ahh! This is driving me crazy! When's it gonna end?!" Nab exclaimed nervously.

"Hey… This giant… Isn't it moving more slowly than before?" Laki asked, observing the giant's movements.

"Natsu and the others must be desperately doing everything they can to slow it down in there…" Cana said through clenched teeth. "We can only pray for their success… and protect our guild from shades!"

(With Natsu and Erza)

However, Erza and Natsu still had no success in finding anything.

"Got something?" Natsu asked as he accidentally ran into his bride while exploring the enemy guild.

"Nothing," Erza replied. "No machinery, no people, nothing at all. It seems as if they avoiding us on purpose…"

"I can't understand – the power source – it should have a massive magic energy signature, yet I can't feel it at all…" Natsu expressed his concern.

"Something is very wrong here…" Erza agreed.

"Okay, I guess we have no choice but to continue our searches – maybe the others had more success, the Abyss Break seal is still incomplete…" Natsu suggested.

"All right, let's go!" Erza said and they ran in different directions.

"Foolish fairies…" Nelliel's voice said as Natsu and Erza left the room. "I'm wondering – how long they're going to run around here before they finally understand?" She added as Gajeel approached her.

"Gi hi hi… Trash's fate…" The Iron dragon laughed at his enemies. "Anyway, I'm off for the girl. Master wants you to keep them busy until my arrival."

"No problem," Nelliel replied.

(With Gray, Elfman and Mirajane)

"His eyes?!" Gray asked, all three were running alongside one of the corridors inside the enemy guild.

"Yes… Aria always keep his eyes closed. Apparently keeping them closed is the only way he can keep his immense powers under control." Mirajane replied, they were talking about the last of the Element Four.

"What the hell?!" Elfman shouted.

"At any rate, if we run into Aria, we have to defeat him before he opens his eyes!" Mira added, "If he does that, we may lose all hope of winning the battle!"

"How sad…" Someone's voice called, making all three to stop. Suddenly, in a whirlwind of air currents, an extremely tall and massive man, dressed in a dark-green coat, appeared right in front of them.

"I'm called Aria of the Sky. The pinnacle of the element four. I have come to slay the fairies," The man announced, taking a combat stance.

Spell List:

Madō Shūsoku Hō: Kihoshi – Magical Convergent Cannon: Jupiter

Shinunoru Tōryūgi: Mōi no Sōtai – Death Knight Combat Style: Fury of the Frost Emperor

Seiryū no Keishō – Star Dragon's Comet

Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo – Ice Make: Shield

Shiēdo – Shade

Nemuri Shūmon – Sleep Spell

Kaiga no Mahō – Painting Magic

Henshin no Mahō – Transformation Magic

Kioku no Ami – Trap of Memory

Yōseki – Keystone

Ushinatta Mahō – Lost Magic

Burū Faiyā – Blue Fire

Haretsu – Rupture

Samoendo Raitoningu – Summoned Lightning

Faia Uōru – Fire Wall

Iryūjon – Illusion

Aisu Meiku: Ransu – Ice Make: Lance

Seikō Kudō – Starlight Drive

Sentō Chūkaku – Combat Core

Uindo Ejji – Wind Edge

Reddo Faiyā – Red Fire

Orenji Faiyā – Orange Fire

Chēn Riakushon – Chain Reaction

Reinbō Faiyā – Rainbow Fire

Abisu Bureiku – Abyss Break

Bīsuto Āmu: Burakku Buru – Beast Arm: Black Bull

Sāberu Dansu – Sable (sand) Dance

Rosshu Konseruto – Roche Concerto

Bīsuto Āmu: Sutīru Buru – Beast Arm: Steel Bull

Sāberu bāsuto – Sable (sand) Burst

Purattoru Sonaato – Platre (plaster) Sonata

Furu Bodi Teiku Ōbā: Bīsuto Sōru – Full Body Take Over: Beast Soul

Uōtā Rokku – Water Lock

Suiryū Sanha – Water Slicer

Aisu Meiku: Senpu – Ice Make: Battle Axe

Shierā – Sierra

Zōkei Mahō – Molding Magic

Aisu Meiku: Aisu Gaizā – Ice Make: Ice Geyser

Well, this is it people. Chapter fourteen has been completed. I hope it was enjoyable. Do not forget to leave a REVIEW! A lot of reviews will encourage me to work faster! See you in the next chapter – The skies are too small for all of us!