Hello, everyone. It's been awhile, isn't it? Almost a year has passed since my last update for this story. Many things have happened since the last update, I was quite busy, besides, I got many other thoughts, which made me to write other stories, as I couldn't overcome a very hard author's block, which I ran into, working on this chapter. However, seems I finally made it.
Thanks to everyone who wrote a review, and for waiting for an update.
Since it was long ago, I don't think it's suitable to write a 'review answer' section, instead I'll share my general thoughts, which, I hope, are going to cover most of the questions.
SPOILER WARNING! SKIP NEXT SECTION IF YOU'RE ONLY WATCHING ANIME AND NOT READING MANGA!
Okay, in general I want to say that Fairy Tail's continuing to disappoint. One cliché after another… Natsu is Zeref's brother… It's just a facepalm, nothing more. Anyway, we have what we have, and no one can change it. As such, I want to make a few clarifications, I don't think they're the spoilers.
1. In my story, Zeref and Natsu aren't relatives, not at all. Since Zeref isn't the main villain in my story it's not that important, however, Zeref's cliché-filled past actually plays in my favor as it will be easy to adjust his past to match my story.
2. A year has passed, yet nothing changed. Characters are still the same – no one matured even a bit. Same brawls, same clumsy Lucy, childish Natsu, who's still afraid of the same Erza. It's just pathetic... It wasn't like that in 'Rave Master', there characters were definitely growing and maturing. What's wrong with you, Mashima-sensei? Anyway, I won't do the same mistake, my characters will grow accordingly.
3. We finally got the explanation why Natsu and Gajeel couldn't pass through Freed's runes during Fighting Festival arc – they actually came from the past, so technically they're 400+ years old, that raises a lot of questions about Freed's runes and how exactly they are determining the subject's age…
4. This situation also fits my story nicely, for example, Natsu's Heavenly eyes can't see dragons inside other dragon slayers, aside from Erza, because their souls were stolen by Acnologia, so they have no souls that Natsu could see.
5. It still makes Erza a special dragon slayer, as she, unlike others, has a dragon's soul inside herself. Virtually, you can call her Andromeda's jinchūriki.
6. And about another God slayer. I've already developed the character's concept and origin, however, I feel like the only proper place to introduce him is GMG arc.
SPOILERS ENDS HERE
Now, let's proceed. I remember that I promised to do something with Lucy in this chapter, however, it already became quite big, and I was eager to publish it today, so you need to wait for the next one. Don't worry, I've already started to write it, most difficult task was to create this chapter, which is kinda 'bridge' leading away from canon.
Chapter updated 14/12/2016
Chapter XXVII – Victory is mine!
…
Flashback, about ten months ago, at one of Natsu and Erza's secret dates.
"Wait, Natsu, which magic can actually be counted as Black Arts?" Erza interrupted her husband when he was telling another old story.
"Kuroi Geijutsu [Black Arts] isn't a type of magic. It isn't even a combat style, it's more like a philosophy. Techniques that defy the very laws of nature, so dangerous that history itself tried to cross them out of existence, they all could be called Kuroi Geijutsu," Natsu replied. "You already could have heard about some examples – Seikatsu Mahō [Living Magic] that allows creating monsters from nothing. Shi no Mahō [Death Magic] that allows exterminating life not from just people but from the land itself."
"Your magic also is a type of Kuroi Geijutsu?" Erza asked a bit worriedly.
"Of course," Natsu replied as if it was nothing special. "That blue energy I'm using – it's called an 'ultra-cold quantum gas,' therein the majority of the particles has a high energy, formally its temperature is below a naturally unreachable point of absolute zero. I'll skip the details but it allows me to lower the temperature of surrounding space immensely fast. Another technique allows me to bind a soul of living being to this world, preventing it from reaching the realm of the dead, instead foredooming it to roam in this world eternally…" Erza shivered, in her opinion no one deserved such a horrible fate, probably even Jellal… "However," Natsu added, "Unlike my god slayer spell, my black arts aren't magically based."
"What you mean?" Erza wondered.
"I mean exactly what I've said," God slayer replied. "To conjure my black arts spells, I use a chaotic energy that is called Jahō [Wicked Weave], the energy that was used to power up the Tower of Din…or rather, its Seven Guardians…"
December 11, X784, 13:20, master Bob's mansion.
Searches continued for about an hour, yet alliance team didn't find anyone, seemingly the Seirei [Celestial Spirit] was controlled from afar, and enemy mage did manage to retreat.
As expected, Ichia proved to be completely useless, despite he survived the enemy's attack. He was ambushed from behind and didn't see the attacker, though it's easy to speculate that destroyed celestial spirit was the actual attacker. "Lucy," Natsu addressed Fairy Tail's celestial spirit mage, "Any ideas about which Seirei that could be?"
"No," Lucy replied. "However, I want to say that I…" Seemingly she was intending to kick up a row about Natsu's attitude towards her beloved celestial spirits, however…
"Lucy," Mirajane placed her hand on blonde's shoulder and looked into her eyes with devilishly sweet smile. "We're in the middle of a situation here, so just answer the question, and if you can't, shut the fuck up, please," Lucy almost cried from such an insult, but no one really cared.
"Hey, take it easy," Gray tried to stand up for Lucy, but he was ignored as well.
Natsu slightly shook his head, "Anyway, since the enemy's spy has been neutralized, we can finalize our plan," He looked at Nelliel.
"Wait, what?!" Hibiki exclaimed, as few more people looked at Natsu in surprise. "Our plan has been compromised, we should call this mission off and develop a new strategy!"
"Call off?" Natsu asked with a clear 'you're an imbecile' undertone. "Now, when our enemies know that their plans were discovered, they will throw all their resources to reach their goal as fast as possible. This is our only chance to stop them, and I'm finding it quite displeasing that I should waste my time explaining such an obvious thing," Trimens all were offended, but no one stood up for them.
Nelliel stepped forward. She explained about her findings while she was scouting around here, including the tainted area in woodland, and approximate disposition of enemy's scouts.
"Very well," Natsu nodded, "No doubts, we lost our element of surprise, so we need to adjust our plan slightly. They will be waiting for us, so splitting up isn't an option…"
"He really likes the sound of his own voice, is he?" Nelliel asked, however, Erza didn't hear her question as she was looking at Natsu with excitement. 'Really nice couple,' Dreamwalker facepalmed.
"…As such, we'll go to the woodland all together. If we'll find that 'Nirvana' ahead of them – they won't be able to ignore us and continue hiding. They put too much efforts into this to let us have that 'Nirvana', whatever it actually is."
"Sounds good, Natsu-dono," Jura raised his hand, "But what makes you think that they'll try to stop us. Due to incident with Ichia-dono, they probably aware of that we don't know what 'Nirvana' is and how to use it. They can hide and wait till we're gone…"
"Natsu's right, he's a downer," Sin commented, sitting on Mira's shoulder and she-devil nodded slightly.
"Yes, but we might just destroy this 'Nirvana'," Lyon suggested.
"How?" Ren wondered, "We can't use Cristina anymore…"
"Cristina?" Erza stepped forward with her eyes closed. "We don't need any airship, *I* will destroy Nirvana." For a few second it was a dumb show as everyone's attention was focused on silver-eyed dragon slayer. Mirajane's cheeks became a bit pink due to indignation, Sin facepalmed, others were… puzzled, to put it mildly.
Of course, after some thinking it is pretty easy to understand what is going on here. Among his multiple talents, Natsu possessed an ability to very naturally put other people under his supervision. Brilliant-minded, cool-headed, and very charismatic, he could easily make people believe that he knows what he's doing. And now she couldn't help it – she wanted to prove to everyone – she's his consort not by mistake but because she's a good match for him. Preliminary planning wasn't her strong side, but this beautiful young woman could offer other talents…
"Are you out of your mind?" Nelliel said aloud that what other people here were thinking.
"Not at all," Erza replied surprisingly calm. In prior time, she could be easily angered when others were questioning her abilities, but, seemingly, she really grew up a little. "And it's strange to hear it from you, as you are well aware of my capabilities, and three months have passed since our last meeting face to face. Do you think I was making felt boots all this time?"
"Ooohhh…" Mira, Sin, Gray and Lucy sighed simultaneously as Erza continued to use Natsu's enunciations.
Blood-haired girl kept her composure, "If air bomber can destroy that 'Nirvana', so can I."
"She's so bold and unpredictable, yet so reliable… and so pretty. What a lucky man I am…" Natsu whispered to himself.
"Birds of a feather…" Dream dragon slayer sighed as she of course heard Natsu's whisper, which he, no doubts, wanted her to hear.
"Very well then, it's decided," Natsu's announced. "We'll march into the forest, crushing everything on our way, and, if it will be necessary, we'll lure out core members of Oración Seis by attempting to destroy their goal, Nirvana." He used his telekinetic powers to open the mansion's door. "You four," Natsu looked at Blue Pegasus members, including Ichia, who was healed by Wendy while others were discussing their plans, "I guess there's no more need to explain the usefulness of a medic in the squad?" Natsu looked aside, "Lucy… and you, jo-chan," He pointed at Shelly, "You two and these four," He again pointed at Blue Pegasus delegates, "You will be protecting our medic, following us in rearguard. Protect her with your lives, if she is to fall but any of you will manage to survive, I'll fix that myself."
"Who do you think you are?!" Trimens shouted in chorus.
"I don't want to do anything with her!" Shelly and Lucy cried simultaneously, pointing at each other.
None of them was heard, however, as Natsu addressed sky dragon slayer directly, with slightly softer voice, "Mmm… Wendy, right? Avoid danger by any means necessary. Help with your support techniques if needed, but avoid direct engagement, be ready to help the wounded."
"Ok… Okay! I'll do my best!" Young girl vowed with sudden determination, seemingly she's very helpful by her nature.
"Why he's bossing around here? You ain't obliged to fulfill his orders, Wendy!" Carla snapped, but skymaiden didn't hear her as she was assigned with her preferred role.
"Lead the way," Natsu turned to dream dragon slayer.
December 11, X784, 14:15, Worth Woodsea.
Nirvana's location seemed to be not too far from Bob's mansion, after about 45 minutes of running, team reached the edge of the forest. "Hey!" Natsu called for Nelliel as he slowed down. She turned around and saw Natsu making some circular move in the air with his right arm. Dream dragon seemed to understand what he wants as she nodded and disappeared.
"What's going on?" Mirajane asked Natsu as she and others caught up with him.
"We're on the edge of enemy's territory, if there's a trap – the best place for it is here somewhere," He explained, "Slow down and be on your guard, everyone…"
Several minutes after, as a confirmation of Natsu's guess, several explosions happened at both sides of the road, along which alliance team was going. "Look out!" Jura shouted, but Natsu remained calm and composed. He drew out his sword and made a full circle slicing move, sanding a round shockwave, suppressing explosions' blastwaves and destroying boulders that was flying towards his team.
"So predictable…" Natsu noted indifferently as he saw several people approaching through the dust, as dust cloud couldn't hide their souls from god slayer's heavenly eyes.
"What's happening?!" Lucy cried worriedly.
"Princess! Stay close to me!" Ren shouted.
"I'll hold your hand!" Eve vowed.
"May I carry you in my arms!" Hibiki asked. All three gathered near blonde as if to protect her.
"Idiots!" Carla intervened, "You've been told to protect Wendy! Wendy?!" White kitty turned around only to find skymaiden hiding behind a big boulder, "Stop hiding there!"
"Don't worry, for the sake of love, I won't let anyone hurt you!" Shelly announced.
At this moment, dust dissipated and revealed six people approaching alliance's team. "So, some maggots… have gathered…" Said a tall tanned man with skull-like staff.
"You! It's all because of you!" White haired girl, dressed in white feather-like dress, cried. A large bruise on her left cheek could be seen, "You'll pay for that!" Natsu knew that she's a celestial spirit mage, no doubt it was her spirit that Natsu put out of commission. And seemingly, it was considered as a failure, for which someone punched her in the face.
"We prefer to finish our job as quickly as possible," Guy with Mohawk-styled hair and unnaturally long nose noted, "But you people are in our way."
"Are you trembling with anticipation?" Maroon-haired man asked with smirk, "I can hear it…"
"Money makes a person stronger, right?" Asked a square-shaped guy, "Let me tell you something good, in this world money is everyth…"
"Just shut up, Hoteye!" Cobra and Racer rudely interrupted him.
"Nothing personal… But you will regret waking me up," Said a guy with two-toned hairs, who was sitting on flying carpet.
Natsu just sighed, "So dull… Just because you're members of a "top" dark guild, you think that you're not as weak as others?" Natsu pointed his sword at Cobra. "If so, come, I'll fix your childish worldview." Seemingly, Oración Seis were quite confident in their ability to defeat alliance team on their own as Natsu didn't notice around any member of minor dark guilds under Oración Seis control. "Proceed as planned," Natsu turned to alliance team.
"Do it!" Brain ordered his people to attack. Racer dashed forward, clearly aiming at Natsu who was standing in front of everyone. However, before he could hit anyone he was intercepted by Satan-Mirajane as she caught his leg and threw him away, but before he could fall, she dashed after him with immense speed and smashed him to the ground.
"Pathetic… No one can match Jane in terms of sheer speed," Natsu noted.
"Ahh!" At the same time, Angel suddenly yelped as her dress made of feathers was sliced from behind, together with her belt, with a keybag on it. Sliced dress fell on the ground, leaving the girl in her panties only, as someone took her keys.
"Ooooo!" Ichia and Trimens shouted excitedly as they saw a topless girl but they couldn't enjoy the view for long as Angel got a devastating ultrasonic blow to the back of her head, which send her crashing to the ground and knocked her out. As a holder mage, her durability seemed pretty low.
"I have no idea why, but she hates girls like you," Natsu commented as Nelliel appeared above Angel's body, holding her keys.
"I see it, you see!" Hoteye used his Ekitai Jimen no Mahō [Liquid Earth Magic] to liquefy the earth beneath Gray and Lyon's feet as two were advancing on him. "With money, not even love is needed, right?"
"Stop speaking nonsense and shut up!" Lyon shouted as he placed his palms to the liquid ground, "Freeze!" Lyon used his Hyō no Mahō [Ice Magic] to freeze the ground, thus preventing himself and Gray from sinking into it.
"Ah, I see!" Hoteye exclaimed as he prepared to use his special eyes to aim next spell, "But you see, I can see it!"
"Shut up!" Gray shouted, using his own Ice Magic to create a prism-like ice object right in front of Hoteye.
"Ah! I can't see!" Hoteye screamed as his magical sight was multiplied by a prism and sent back to his eyes. He was blinded.
"Aisu Meiku: Sunō Doragon!" [Ice Make: Snow Dragon] Lyon used one of his signature spells as snow dragon bit the enemy by massive jaw and launched him into the air.
"Aisu Meiku: Aisu Kyanon" [Ice Make: Ice Cannon] Gray used his own signature spell and shot a massive cannonball in Hoteye while the latter was still in midair. Ice cannonball hit the target and exploded, heavily wounding the enemy.
"Aisu Meiku: Īguru!" [Ice Make: Eagle] Not giving the enemy any time to recover, Lyon launched huge ice eagle into Hoteye, which attacked enemy mage from above, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Aisu Meiku: Hanmā!" [Ice Make: Hammer] Probably that was already unnecessary, but Gray made a huge hammer made of ice and smashed his enemy, knocking him out completely.
"What the hell!" Brain exclaimed as second mark on his face disappeared, when Hoteye, just like Angel before him, was defeated. He didn't have much time to think though, because he was heavily pressured by Jura, yet he noticed the tendency of battle. "This guy… he knows a lot about us. Who the hell is he?!" Seemingly, Brain recognized Natsu as the alliance team commander and noticed that he lured each member of Oración Seis to fight the most inconvenient enemy.
As a confirmation, Racer just crashed into the boulder after receiving Darkness magic-enhanced blow from Mirajane. No matter what his magic was – was he accelerating himself or slowing down his opponent, it's still not enough to match Mirajane's devilish speed, not to mention surpassing it.
"And you call yourselves "Six Demon Generals…" Natsu looked at defeated Racer. "She's the real demon, and you are just a bunch of jokes."
"My prayer… is to be faster… than anyone…" Racer moaned, standing up. "I'm not done yet!" He suddenly roared as he dashed towards she-devil, tearing his suit apart and revealing several explosive lacrimas tied around his body. "As a member of Oración Seis, I cannot allow myself to suffer defeat! A LIFE FOR A LIFE!"
"Idiot," Mirajane said, as she used her demonic claws to slice off Racer's belts with explosive lacrimas and throw them away, at the same time knocking him out completely with elbow blow. Lacrimas exploded far aside, not doing any damage to anyone.
"Impossible!" Brain bellowed as third mark disappeared from his face.
"Senjin no Dogō!" [War God's Howl] Natsu breathed out a massive crimson energy stream in form of tornado-like blast, which exploded right in front of Cobra, as he tried to attack Mirajane while she was busy with Racer. "What do you think you're doing? I'm your opponent," Natsu stood in front of maroon-haired guy.
"Tch…" Cobra snorted as Natsu raised his sword. God slayer swung his blade in attempt to hit Cobra, but latter dodged. "Ha! No matter how fast you are, I can hear you!" Maroon-haired guy sneered. "You cannot hit me!"
"Are you sure?" Natsu asked, as he was looking at Cobra's sleeve with cut on it, and slowly growing blood spot. "Let me guess, are you asking yourself 'how this could happen'?" God slayer asked with indifferent voice. "I believe you actually heard that, but was unable to understand what exactly you're hearing. Language were speaking now isn't my native," God slayer explained. "Even if you can hear my thoughts, mere mortal like you cannot understand them. Besides, my eyes are able to foresee all of the moves performed and adjust my attacks accordingly. As well as your ears that can hear – my eyes can see. I can see the entirety of the future, and it is but a simple matter to change it…" Cobra was already growling angrily but Natsu still couldn't settle down, "Isn't it frustrating? To face someone with similar abilities? Well, I said so, but only similarity between us is the ability to predict opponent's future moves, in every other way I'm far superior to you…"
"Shut up!" Cobra roared, ordering his snake to attack Natsu. Surely, Natsu could dodge it, but he just used his left hand to block the attack. Of course, snake bit it. "Ha!" Cobra snapped, "Even if it's just an arm, Cubellios' poison will kill you outrig…" But he didn't finish his phrase as Natsu didn't scream or anything, but continued to look at his opponent with emotionless gaze. 'What the hell?! This hand, I can't even hear it… Wait, I can't hear it at all?!' Suddenly he realized the truth about Natsu's left arm, 'It's artificial!' If only Cobra could hear Natsu's thoughts, he'd realized it much earlier, but… "Cubellios! Get back!" Cobra shouted, but too late, as Natsu smashed his magic-covered fist into snake's snout, sending her crashing to the ground as both snake's fangs remained plunged into Natsu's prostatic left arm. "You'll pay for that!" Cobra roared, seemingly preparing to use his secret Dragon slayer powers.
"Oh, just be silent," Natsu said indifferently. 'Alright, I'll smash him with a spell with large damage radius,' Natsu thought but only thing Cobra heard was 'Ista licet, E'volo occillo illum per amplus cercis iniuria cantio'. Of course, he didn't understand anything. Though, a moment later he realized the overall meaning of what he just heard…
"Senjin no Anshinshō!" [War God's Dark Nova] Natsu launched large bat-like projectile, aiming it right at the spot beneath Cobra's feet. The latter heard it, and jumped up to avoid it, but it was not far enough – he was caught into explosion radius and got a lot of damage, so it already wasn't matter – could he hear Natsu's movements or not. God slayer jumped up and smashed his fist into already defenseless enemy, "Senjin no Saiken!" [War God's Crushing Fist] Cobra flew crashing into his own snake, rendering both utterly defeated. 'Hmm… Am I imagining things or this snake also has a soul?' Natsu thought, looking at defeated two. 'Anyway, I can deal with it later.'
"Cobra?!" Brain yelled as fourth seal disappeared from his face. "Midnight! Do not lose! No matter what!"
"Useless…" Natsu said. "As a best bounty hunter in this country, I have the access to many information sources, including confidential ones and even not quite legal, so I've learned quite a lot about you people. But even so, this one was keeping a low profile, so my information about him quite negligible. Well, this is why *she* is his opponent…"
Right now, being severely beaten up, Mitnight could barely stand up. Using her unsurpassed analytic skills, Erza pretty quickly figured out the nature of Midnight's space-twisting power. Yes, she got a few bruises and missed a few spells, but all in all she was alright. Right now she ex-quipped her swimsuit, and assaulted her enemy in melee. Using her 'Drive' self-improvement spell, Erza could easily dodge any attack using the ground beneath her feet or air around her as twisting it into proper state requires time. Using her own clothes to attack her was impossible either, it was just a plain swimsuit, after all. And his Kutsusetsu [Reflector] magic was ineffective against living body itself, as with many other space-time magic types.
"Am I… lost…?" Midnight croaked in disbelief. "No… not defeat… anything but that… If I lose… Father will abandon me…" He whispered, standing up. "I have dreams… Can you see dreams as well?" He smiled suddenly. "Even if it's not time to sleep yet, you're going to see a nightmare," As Midnight said that, he began to transform into huge, horrible creature, while all surroundings sank in darkness. However…
"Seiryū no Yokusen!" [Star Dragon's Wing Flash] Erza smashed Midnight with two streams of plasma.
"WHAT!?" Brain couldn't believe his eyes. "Midnight used his most powerful technique, how she was able to recognize his illusion so easily?!" And as he asked that, just for a moment, he saw Erza's face, both of her eyes were closed shut. "It can't be… Blindfolded?!"
"Oh, but of course," Natsu noted from aside, with his heavenly eyes he clearly saw what happened. "I admit, his illusions are quite interesting. Unlike common illusions, which affects opponent eyes' retina or optic nerves, he uses his space-control magic to twist light around opponent. Thus, even if you have some feature that renders common visual techniques useless, like special glasses or something like that, that guy's illusions will still work, because he affects surroundings, not visual perception…"
"But if she'll close her eyes completely, then no matter how much he'll twist the light, she can't see it anyway!" Brain realized what happened. "But to think that she managed to execute so rapid attack without seeing her opponent?!"
"Do not underestimate dragon slayer's hearing," Nelliel noted calmly. "His breathing, his heart beating… Hearing it all, it's quite easy to pinpoint his exact location…"
"And while he was using his reflector to twist the light, he couldn't use it to reflect Erza's magic attack. He himself dug his own grave…" Natsu finished explanation.
"Father… I… just wanted… to sleep…" Midnight moaned, losing his consciousness as fifth seal disappeared from Brain's face.
"Impossible… Midnight, even you…" Brain mumbled in disbelief.
"This is just how much you overestimated yourself and your bunch of whelps," Natsu noted. "Victory is mine. Jura-san, please hurry up and finish him, there are still a lot of things we need to do."
"Natsu-san! He's amazing!" Wendy said in admiration. "The Oración Seis were defeated, and none of us has even been harmed…"
"Except for him…" Carla added arrogantly, pointing at Ichia.
"It's over," Jura proclaimed. No matter how much Brain tried, none of his spells even touched the one of Ten Wizards Saints. Natsu, Erza, Mirajane, Nelliel, Gray and Lyon, all gathered around him, preparing their magic.
"Hah…" Brain sneered, lowering his staff. "Very well… I surrender. To think that legal guild would defeat Oración Seis so easily… You're real pain in the ass…" He looked at Natsu, as he dropped the staff and put his arms behind his head.
"That's my line," Natsu said as he approached Brain and smashed his staff with his boot. Staff wailed, slightly shocking everyone but Natsu, who remained completely emotionless. "Not a chance…" He said, eyeing staff's remains.
"Wait…" Lucy mumbled in awe, "You want to say that… this is the end… for the one of three strongest dark guilds?!"
"Yes, we've managed to score an easy victory," Jura said, "And this is thanks to Natsu-dono."
"Yeah, if he wouldn't notice the spy earlier, we could have had much more troubles," Mirajane agreed. "They could take us by surprise, sabotage the air ship…"
"And your information about our enemies was precise, either; without it our battles would be much more difficult," Lucy nodded.
"You didn't participate in any battle," Carla noted acidly.
"No need to thank me, I'm just doing my job," Natsu bowed slightly, "Ensuring alliance's victory, that is."
"He's so humble!" Wendy said with admiring sight.
"Humble?" Nelliel growled silently. "His arrogance knows no bounds. He just said that without him we'd have no chances of victory at all…" However, Dreamwalker seemingly was the only one who heard that this way as others get to apprehend the enemies.
"If you think I will tell you anything about 'Nirvana', think again," Brain said defiantly.
"Oh?" Natsu looked at him with his left eye glowing with dark blue light. "If I'd need any information from you, you would be telling me everything you know… And you will, as soon as we find the exact location of Nirvana, I'll use my Ketsueki no Myōrei [Blood Order] ability on you, and then we'll talk…" Natsu mentioned his ability that he used on Shelly back then, on Galuna island.
December 11, X784, 15:55, Worth Woodsea's depths.
Every member of Oración Seis was tied up, and each one of them received a 'gift' from Natsu, in form of magic-suppressing collars, the same he used on Erza's old friends during 'Tower of Paradise' incident.
"Remarkable things," Brain noted. "Clearly not like those clumsy things that council dogs are using…" He was only one who was walking on foot as others were piled up on Midnight's flying carped and were still out cold. Natsu ignored him, however, fact that Brain's still in good mood was slightly bothering him. Besides…
"Erza," Natsu caught up with his wife, who was a vanguard, walking ahead of everyone. "How often I'm telling you that you have the best ass in this world?"
"At least five time per day," She replied with mixed feelings. She was proud of course, yet she thought that time like this isn't suitable for such talking.
"Alright. However, despite you have the best ass in the world, I still think that you should be dressed up by now," He noted casually. "I won't mind you showing off, but those guys' eyes are going to bleed if they won't stop staring at you with such an exertion." Erza was a bit too excited watching as everyone ware admiring her husband, so she just forgot that she's wearing only swimsuit now. And despite here, in the depths of the forest, was pretty cold, she didn't notice anything either due to boiling plasma inside her.
"Couldn't you say it earlier?" She-dragon hissed, ex-quipping her normal clothes as her cheeks slightly flushed from embarrassment. "Who was staring at me?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Everyone," Natsu replied as if it was nothing special. "But don't bother yourself, they'll get their dose of punishment without your intervention…" Indeed, Mirajane was steaming with rage, Shelly was watching at Lyon with very dark gaze, and Nelliel was watching at Trimens with explicit killing intent. "Besides, losers like them can never hope to get a woman like you, so let them at least look a little…"
"Seriously, Natsu…" Erza sighed, "You're the only one who can make me happy and angry at the same time…" Yet, she smiled as Natsu gently touched the tip of her nose.
"It's here," Nelliel announced. "I guess you all can feel that foul magic from here. No doubt, you can find its source without me. Since our enemy has been defeated, I'd like to return to the guild, I have someone to take care of…"
"What's the urge? Haven't you left your daughter with ex-colonel Jiraiya? She should be safe with him," Natsu noted.
"That's not her safety I'm worried about…" Dreamwalker replied with grim face expression. "You're well aware about his literature work, are you?"
"Don't worry, we just need to secure the place, since our enemies were defeated, we can use an aerial bomber to destroy it," Natsu said. "Besides, you want to get your share of bounty for these screws, right?"
"Alright, but let's hurry up, okay?" Nelliel urged him.
"You… you have a child?" Lucy asked in disbelief. Nelliel wasn't hiding her daughter's existence anymore, but it was the first time when Lucy and others, aside from Natsu and Erza, heard about it.
"Yes," Dreamwalker replied proudly.
Natsu glanced at his wife. Seemingly, he thought that as she heard that, she may start to argue about kids again, however, she seemed distracted a bit. "What's wrong?" God slayer asked.
"Extraneous smells… a lot of them…" She-dragon replied. Natsu looked at her questioningly. "No, I mean, foul trees, dead earth, fungus, swamps, that much I can expect from such a place. But those smells… they belong to humans… a lot of different smells."
"Well, this is not unexpected," Natsu replied. "We all know that Oración Seis has a lot of lesser guilds under their control, and I already warned everyone to be ready to get ambushed. In addition, according to my sources, none of those lesser guilds has anyone capable of posing any threat to our team, even half of us here is more than enough to deal with them all together. However…" Natsu slightly lowered his voice, "No doubts – they all are well aware of Oración Seis defeat, I could expect them all to run away in panic… Yet, they're still poking around here…"
"That is what I can tell according to my senses…" Erza nodded. "Have they been actually told to expect our victory? Seems unlikely…"
"Yeah, Oración Seis members seemed truly shocked, suffering crashing defeats one after another, even that one," Natsu nodded towards Brain. Nevertheless…"Jura-san," God slayer approached a fellow Wizard Saint, "Tell your people to be on alert," He said quietly. "I have a strange feeling that something's wrong here…"
Jura just nodded and headed towards Shelly and Lyon, without asking anything, seemingly the guts of experienced wizard was telling him that their victory was too good, even considering Natsu's brilliance. "Sin," Natsu called for his familiar, "You've been awfully quiet since our victory over Oración Seis. What's on your mind?" He asked when boney dragon landed on his shoulder.
"I'm not sure…" Sin replied. "It's just… I have a faint feeling… a familiar one… somehow…"
"Strange feeling? Couldn't you be a bit more specific?" Erza asked acidly. "Uh? What's wrong, Natsu?" She noticed that Natsu's face expression became strained after Sin's words.
"If Sin has any feeling, it's already bad, not to mention a familiar one. Do you remember where he came from?" God slayer asked.
Erza gulped, of course she remembered. That little tour over Tower of Din, which she experienced inside of Nelliel's trap, and personal meeting with one of its guardians, those events were more than enough for her to become worried even due to simple mention of that place. "You think…" She asked uncertainly.
"I have no reasons to think that this 'Nirvana' somehow related to Tower of Din, however even if they have something in common by occasion, somehow similar tech for example, then we should prepare for the worst…" Sin replied cautiously as Natsu nodded.
"Okay, this is the place," Nelliel's voice drew everyone's attention. "It should be here somewhere, however, I was scouting around here for three days, but couldn't pinpoint its exact location."
Natsu glanced at Brain, "And, just as I thought, he too seems to not know where exactly Nirvana is and how to unseal it, or whatever. However…" Natsu's eyes flashed with crimson light, "From here, I can find it…" And, for the first time since he was captured, Brain seemed worried.
"This way," Natsu said, looking around with his glowing crimson eyes. "I can see faint flows of magic that originates from that direction."
Alliance team walked about 500 yards, following Natsu, until they ended up in front of a huge purple tree. "So, this is… Nirvana?" Mirajane wondered, "A magical tree?"
"No," Natsu shook his head. "Tree's just the tip of something much bigger, something that was buried underground. However, it doesn't concern us," He added.
Erza summoned a big backpack from her magical space. "Here, take these lacrimas," She said, opening the backpack.
"Spread out and secure the area, use the same team setups we used in the mansion. When you're sure that the area is secure – mark the location with this lacrima crystals, 250 yards radius around this tree, magical bomber will use them to shoot accurately. You," Natsu addressed Ichia, "Order your airship to annihilate everything here and let's hope it will be enough to destroy 'Nirvana' as well."
"Ha! Do you maggots really think that a mere bomber is enough to destroy Nirvana!?" Brain shouted. However, there was no steel confidence in his voice, seemingly he was a bit afraid that if they're going to bombard long enough, even Nirvana might…
Team split up to four parts: Trimen and Ichia; Lyon, Shelly, Gray and Mirajane; Jura went with Lucy and Nelliel; Natsu stayed with Erza, Wendy and her feline comrade. They proceed to place lacrima markers. Prisoners remained with Natsu, all but Brain were 'stockpiled' near the purple "Nirvana tree', the latter was forced on his knees near them.
Suddenly, Natsu heard Wendy's shout, "Natsu-san, look!" Natsu turned around and saw that Brain stood up and now was running towards the big rock on which a huge three was growing. His hands were still tied and Natsu's collar was still locked on his neck, so it wasn't clear what are his intentions.
"Hey, hold it right there!" Erza shouted, but Brain ignored her and tried to climb the rook as he seemingly wanted to reach tree's roots. "I said stop!" She ordered again but was ignored once more, so she made a deep breath, seemingly intending to unleash her breath attack. In fact, Brain exhausted his use and was no longer needed anyway, so she decided to knock him out and not bother with him any longer.
"No, wait!" Natsu tried to stop her, but too late.
"SeIryū no Hōkō!" [Star Dragon's Roar] She released her breath attack and landed a direct hit, Brain fell down on the ground, barely conscious (he was worn out during the battle against Jura). Other defeated members of Oración Seis were scattered around by the blastwave. "What's wrong?" She looked at Natsu, who tried to stop her.
"No… nothing…" Natsu replied. Honestly, he couldn't logically justify any reason why he tried to stop her, actually, it was just a weird feeling that he still may need the enemy being able to answer some questions.
"Hey, there's something going on!" Carla suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Brain.
"Now you will know the true terror…" Brain croaked as last mark on his face disappeared and his body began to shine. At this moment, several tentacles, made of gold-colored energy, appeared near every member of Oración Seis, entangled them and dragged underground, as if the ground suddenly became liquid.
"What is this?!" Natsu was quite surprised, but he got no time to even take a closer look. Out of blue, a huge and powerful ray of black light [A/N: Yes, I know it sounds stupid, but that's how it was in manga] bursted out of the ground, consuming 'Nirvana tree' and the rock on which it was growing. When light appeared, it also elicited a powerful shockwave, which threw Natsu and his teammates into the air and away from the light's source. "She-cat, grab Wendy!" Natsu ordered as he and other member of his team appeared in mid-air, at quite high altitude, "Sin, take care of Erza!"
"I know it myself!" Carla shouted indignantly, she was quite offended when god slayer called her 'she-cat', of course he forgot her name the moment he heard it.
"Wait, what about Natsu?!" Erza shouted worriedly as Sin caught her in air.
"Don't worry," Boney dragon said calmingly, "You know as good as I am that fall even from such a height isn't enough to seriously harm Natsu. Besides, you know what they say – if you lose somewhere, there will be a gain elsewhere. In his battle with Laxus, Natsu lost his arm, which was very unpleasant loss, but he also learned new ability as well, look!" As Sin said that, Natsu turned into a flock of crimson ravens, which quickly traveled towards ground and Natsu reappeared.
"Oh!" Erza exclaimed with relief. "Nice… I want something like that too!"
"Natsu-san, what's going on?! What happened?!" Wendy asked as Carla brought her to the ground. Sin, with Erza, landed nearby.
"Not even a slightest idea," Natsu admitted, observing the ray of light. "Only thing I can say for sure – this light is full of some wicked magic, which effect I can't predict from here."
"But why is this happening in the first place?!" Carla asked, "Has Nirvana been unsealed?!"
"I'm not Natsu, but I have a guess on my own…" Erza sighed heavily. "Remembering my experience with dark cult, I think that it is possible that to remove Nirvana's seal, human sacrifices were needed. Humans, which can use magic."
"Ah?!" Wendy seemed scared as Erza mentioned sacrifices.
"I think," Erza continued to explain her theory, "When Oración Seis learned about our plan to cease their operation, they were intending to use us as sacrifices, however, since they were defeated, Brain provoked me to attack him, so he could use his own guild as sacrifices, sorta last resort…" She looked at Natsu guiltily, "…I'm sorry… kinda…"
"Too late to cry," Natsu tousled her hair, "Our teammates, no doubt, were scattered all around here, in deadwood. We need to reunite with them…" He didn't finish his phrase as he suddenly heard a voice in his head.
'Natsu-san! Erza-san! Wendy-chan! This is Hibiki! Can you hear me!?' Hibiki's voice sounded in aforementioned people heads.
'Em, Hibiki? Immo, nos scio audire vos,' [Um, Hibiki? Yes, we can hear you]' Natsu thought in response, it's good that Hibiki reintroduced himself…
'Eh? Excuse me?' Though, of course, Hibiki didn't understand anything in Natsu's answer.
'He confirmed that we can hear you,' Erza intervened, as she stood with facepalm, 'Sorry, but his thoughts are too complex for generic humans, I'll be speaking for both of us…'
"Um, for all three of us," Natsu corrected his wife, as little boney creature was sitting on his shoulder with dumb grin, "Sin's skull is 'impenetrable', no telepathy can touch his mind…"
"Nasty, both of you…" Erza grunted.
'Anyway, I've managed to pinpoint the location of every member of our team,' Hibeke informed.
'Is everyone alive?' Erza requested a report.
'We are alight,' Jura reported. He and Nelliel were fine, only Lucy stood nearby, with her face distorted by pain, rubbing her butt, her landing seemed to be quite harsh.
'We're okay… almost…' Gray's voice said. He and Lyon managed to utilize their molding magic to ensure relatively safe landing, though Mirajane and Shelly crashed into one another, getting some light traumas.
'We're fine also,' Hibiki said, 'I'm sending everyone a terrain map, so you can see others' positions.' As he said that, a map appeared in front of each other's sight, with flashing dots, marking team members' locations.
"Not good… some are much farther away from Nirvana than we are…" Natsu said. He, Erza, Wendy, Sin and Carla were pretty close to light's source, but others were thrown for more than a mile away. "…and how that idiot managed to land that far away?" He added as dot marked 'Ichia' appeared to be almost two miles away, and separated from others.
'I cannot sustain that map for long, so I'm asking you to remember your current location and plot a route there,' Large, flashing dot appeared on map. 'It should be a good place to regroup and discuss our further plans, it's some sort of ruins of an ancient city…' Someone suddenly interrupted Hibiki.
'It's called "The Shrine of Maidens",' Someone said. 'The holy place of ancients Nervits, who build that place to hear their Gods, the people who created Nirvana as well…' Natsu recognized the voice, it belonged to Brain, however, enunciation was different.
'Who's that?!' Lucy asked.
'I'm the master of Oración Seis guild, Zero,' Voice introduced himself.
'Master of Oración Seis?!' Mirajane exclaimed, 'It wasn't Brain?!'
'You're really annoying bunch of kids…' Zero continued to speak. 'Though, I really surprised that there's another Archive user, aside Brain,' Zero noted.
'So, this is how Oración Seis learned about Nirvana in the first place, through the Archive!' Hibiki realized.
'Nevertheless, you destroyed my guild. As a master, I'm requesting compensation,' Zero declared. 'The six demons generals have been reborn, now they possess power much greater than before and they're looking to destroy you and everything else. When all of you will be dealt with, I will use Nirvana to annihilate everything in this world. Live long enough and you will see the beginning of the end…' As he said that, Zero interrupted transmission, excluding himself from Hibiki's telepathic network.
'What the hell was that?'
'Zero?! I thought there was only six of them!'
'What he meant saying the six demon generals have been reborn?!'
People seemed shocked with what they just heard. 'Hibiki, look!' Suddenly, everyone heard Eve's worried voice.
'What's happening?!' Erza asked.
'We're under attack!' Hibiki reported. 'A lot of them, they're carrying 'Wailing Spirit' guild crests!'
"One of dark guilds under Oración Seis control," Natsu clarified.
'I'm off! I'll try to reconnect with all of you after we'll deal with these guys!' Hibiki shouted and transmission was interrupted.
December 11, X784, 16:45, Worth Woodsea's depths.
(With Natsu's squad)
"What is going on here?!" Carla asked indignantly.
"I wish I knew…" Natsu replied.
"He said that six demon generals have been reborn," Erza said, "What he meant by that?! Weren't they consumed by Nirvana or something?!"
"No idea," God slayer replied. "But no matter what happened with them, my collars should keep their magic completely locked. It's not some cheap toy you can easily remove…"
"Wait, wait, who's that Zero anyway?!" White kitty asked.
"I don't know," Natsu admitted. "Never heard about him, which means he either kept really low profile… or he never left any witnesses…"
"Heeeck!" Wendy yelped, gaining reproaching sight from her feline comrade.
"His voice sounded very similar to Brain's," Sin noted.
"Yes, but… Maybe he *is* Brain, after all, maybe it was just a bravado of some sort?" Erza speculated. "But then, if he's actually the same person, he still used magic to intervene into our communications, and that means, your collar…"
"On the other hand, they may be some relatives, it would explain similar voice but different speech patterns…" Sin suggested alternative explanation.
"What may happen if they've found the way to remove or disable… those things of yours?" Carla wondered.
"I'm telling you, it's not possible," Natsu replied emotionlessly. "However… I they somehow really did find a way, then we really are in trouble…"
"But… Natsu-san," Wendy asked uncertainly, "You and others, you defeated them quite easily last time…"
"Yes, and this is our problem," Erza replied.
"Information, Wendy," Sin said, "The first principle of battle."
Girl was looking at three in confusion, so Natsu decided to explain. "When met them for the first time, we knew about their powers, but they had no clues about ours."
"As such, Natsu organized battle in the way that we could exploit opponent's weaknesses, at the same time using our strong sides against them," Erza informed as she took Natsu's hand.
"However, at the same time, we exposed our powers to them," Sin explained.
"And now, when we are all separated and disorganized, they have a chance to use the same tactics that we used against them," Natsu finished explanation. Wendy seemed very worried now.
"However, knowing this, we can go to help who is at most disadvantage," Titania looked at her husband. "What would you do in this situation?"
"Alright…" Natsu thought for a second. "Alright, if that's the case, I would definitely have sent Racer to deal with molding mages, Gray and his old friend…"
"Why?" Wendy wondered.
"Molding magic probably is the most diversified type of magic. Technically, it's limited only by mage's imagination. However, it is also one of slowest ones to execute. Someone who relies on speed has a lot of ways to avoid such spells or even prevent them from being cast," Was Natsu's answer.
"Same goes to Shelly," Erza added, "Her puppets are quite slow…"
"Now, Angel, no doubts, will go after Lucy. In current situation, she's probably the weakest among Oración Seis, and she must find a way to increase her combat power before she'll try to go against anyone else. Obvious way to do so is to eliminate Lucy and get her keys," Natsu continued to explain his theory.
"Eliminate?!" Wendy exclaimed.
"Seirei no Mahō [Celestial Spirits Magic] seems to be the most 'inspired' magic, but in reality, it's probably one of the most cruel types of magic," Sin clarified. "It's easy to claim keys, but claiming spirits is a different story. Simply defeating another celestial mage isn't enough, you need to kill him or her in order to break contracts. Only then you can negotiate your own contracts…"
"But Lucy-san is with Jura-san and Nelliel-san," Wendy said, "They won't allow anyone to hurt her…"
"True," Natsu agreed, "But here's several ways to separate them…"
"Is that blonde really so weak on her own?" Carla asked with slight annoyance.
"No," Erza replied quickly, "She wouldn't be on this mission if she hasn't been considered strong enough."
"Agree," Natsu nodded. "Normally she's a crybaby, but under pressure she performs pretty good. However…" Natsu sighed, "She really has a soft spot for celestial spirits, and I'm not sure that she'll be able to fight against another celestial spirit mage normally… Besides, despite that half of ecliptic Zodiac keys are in Lucy's possession, she's really lacking combat experience. Lucy's first real battle happened less than half a year ago, but Angel was a rogue mage for years…" Natsu decided to omit the speculations about Lucy's attribute for now.
"But weren't Angel's keys confiscated?" Sin wondered. "How then she will fight?"
"No idea," Natsu shrugged, "But if she won't use celestial spirits than it would've definitely played in Lucy's favor."
"You said you're bad with names, yet you seem to remember our enemies' nicknames pretty well…" Carla noted.
"I was studying them beforehand," Natsu replied indifferently.
"What about the rest of those Oración Seis?" Erza asked.
"The guy I fought against, Cobra… he most likely will go against Mirajane. She's fast, but if he can predict her moves, even her speed won't be enough. Besides, since he can hear thoughts – he might try to exploit her mental condition…" Natsu speculated.
"What's wrong with Mirajane-san?" Wendy wondered.
Natsu looked at her with evaluating sight. "Perhaps I'm not the one to tell you about it, but since we're in middle of situation here… Mirajane's younger sister perished in battle, several years ago…"
"Ah?!" Wendy's eyes widened in shock.
"Three years she struggled to overcome her grief-induced depression, if enemy will learn about it somehow – he may try to open that old wound," Sin added.
"That's so low, but that's what we should expect from such an enemy," Erza concluded.
"It's not only that," Natsu noted. "She's living her life not only for herself, but for her sister as well, at least that's how she thinks. I noticed that after incident in that tower, after her battle against the assassin. She realized that she's really endangering her life being that reckless, and she not only has a brother to take care of, but also her own life that she should live for both herself and her sister."
"All of Fairy Tail mages are so arrogant…" Carla mumbled, but others ignored her.
"As such, she became more careful during battles. Carefulness isn't a bad thing, but if you're too careful, you may just become hesitant. Her attacks patterns became easy to read, thus, even without ability to see future moves, you can predict her attacks, but since Cobra can see future moves… it might be a real problem," Natsu concluded. "Of course, enemy don't know all of that, but even so, Cobra's ability to predict moves is enough to send him against Mirajane…"
"What about others?" Sin wondered.
"Well, that fat guy with liquid ground magic will be sent against Jura," Natsu speculated. "Jura's strong, I doubt he'll defeat him alone, but their magical abilities are opposite, so Jura may stick in long and pointless battle. And the last two, most likely, will be sent for mopping-up, to eliminate Blue Pegasus team, for example, virtually even all together they're no match for anyone from Oración Seis…"
"It's all so complicated…" White kitty thought aloud.
"Carla, what are you saying?! We should go for help!" Wendy exclaimed.
"Shhhh," Erza shushed at sky sorceress and her cat, "Natsu, we're not alone here…"
"Look, they're the guys that was trying to steal Nirvana, right, Zatō nii-san?" A huge guy, who looked like a crossbreed of a gorilla and a Frankenstein, asked when he came out of forest.
"I'm surprised that they made it this far, don't you think, Gatō nii-san?" Big guy with afro-like haircut said in answer. At this moment, more than half a hundred of mages appeared on trees around Natsu and his squad, all they had something monkey-ish in their appearance.
"H…hey…" Carla looked around worriedly, "We're surrounded!"
"Look, they're the guys that was trying to steal Nirvana…" Gatō tried to ask one more time.
"You already said it, Gatō nii-san!" Zatō interrupted him.
"Really, Zatō nii-san?" Gatō wondered.
"Entire guild of imbeciles?" Natsu was slightly taken aback by the sight of enemies around him, they seemed too stupid to fit into his worldview.
"Them! This is them!" Suddenly, a short, bald, dark-skinned guy began to scream, pointing at Natsu and Erza. "They're from Fairy Tail! It's all because of them!"
"They're friends of that molly who broke our operation in Acalypha?" Gatō asked, "We're the servants of Oración Seis, from Naked Mummy guild."
"Let's have some fun!" Zatō raised his fist.
"We have no time for this!" Erza exclaimed.
"What we're gonna do?!" Wendy seemed scared a bit.
"There's much more of them than six!" Carla was scared too.
"Erza, I'll take these two and we'll look for Lucy," Natsu informed.
"Understood," Erza replied, "Good luck!"
"I'll stay with Erza," Sin said, "We'll try to find Gray."
"Alright," God slayer replied, as he grabbed Wendy and Carla, and turned into flock of crimson ravens, which rushed right through the wood, knocking over 'Naked mummy' mages.
"He thinks that she alone can defeat us?!" Zatō asked indignantly, "You guys dare to look down on us?!"
"We're the servants of Oración Seis, from Naked Mummy guild," Gatō said again.
"We got it from the first time," Sin replied, as he was floating above Erza, "You just raised the bar of idiocy to the brand-new level…"
Dragon slayer didn't reply anything as her body began to glow with plasma.
Natsu, Wendy and Carla reappeared about 250 feet away from where they left Erza and Sin. This spell was effective but expensive, so it couldn't be used to travel long distances.
"World… is spinning…" Wendy moaned as she and Carla were dazed with this way of travel.
"Pull yourselves together, our people need our help," Natsu urged his comrades.
"Wait, why you didn't take them with us?!" Carla asked worriedly. "You left her alone to fight against the entire guild?! There are more than fifty of them!"
Suddenly, powerful blast shook the surrounding area. "Now it's less than twenty-five I guess," Natsu commented, "Don't worry about her."
"Erza-san… is amazing…" Wendy said in awe.
"Yes, she is…" Natsu smiled slightly. "But we have no time to stay here," He turned to Wendy, "Our people need us, let's go!"
"Yes sir!" Wendy replied, as before, she found determination in herself when Natsu mentioned that someone's need help.
"Hey, don't rush it!" Carla tried to warn Natsu and Wendy, but they ignored her and ran ahead. However, as soon as Natsu made only few dozens of steps he stopped abruptly, looking around.
"Oh, come on…" He said in slight annoyance.
"What's wrong, Natsu-san?" Wendy asked, though, answer came right after. Many wizards appeared from forest, seemingly they were from another dark guild under Oración Seis control.
"Hey, look! Isn't this guy the one of Ten Wizards Saints?!" One of dark mages asked loudly.
"If we kill him, glory will be ours!" Another one replied.
"What is going on here?!" Carla asked as she, Natsu and Wendy were surrounded, there was about 70 dark mages against them.
"Do you remember what I said back then, just before those monkeys-like fools appeared?" Natsu asked quietly.
"Y..yes…" Wendy replied uncertainly, unlike Natsu, she was quite worried being surrounded by that many hostiles.
"Well, I guess you noticed that, explaining our teammates… specialties, I missed some people, particularly, Erza and myself?" God slayer continued. "Well, that's because we, slayers, we have no explicit weaknesses. We're good in both fast and power combat, at close and long range. It is also applying to Nelliel as well. As such, I don't think that enemy's planning to send anyone against us to do one-on-one battle now. Most likely, they're planning to defeat others in convenient one-on-one fight, and after that they'll try to overwhelm us with their quantity…"
"Why are you telling us all of that now?!" Carla asked.
"Because this is what's going on now," Natsu replied. "They're going to keep throwing these fools at us to keep us busy, to make sure that we won't come for help to our allies…"
"What we gonna do?!" Natsu's words made Wendy very worried.
"We don't have much choice, this is their territory, they know this forest better than we are, so they'll just keep chasing us if we'll try to avoid battle. We have to deal with them now, it shouldn't take long…" God slayer informed.
"But what about others?!" Carla exclaimed. "You said it yourself, if we don't come to help…" Natsu interrupted her.
"I just said that battles will be quite challenging for them," He replied. "I never said that their defeat is foregone. Even facing the most inconvenient enemy, our people still have a good chance of claiming victory on their own," Natsu said, as he calmingly touched Wendy's shoulder. "No one would send incapable mages for such a mission… well, aside from Blue Pegasus… those guys aren't weak believe me. For now, let's just clean up these fools…" Natsu's eyes flashed with crimson light.
(With Jura, Nelliel and Lucy)
Just as Natsu's team, Jura's squad was ambushed by a dark guild. Those guys seemed to be using some sort of 'live picture' magic, it seemed similar to Reedus' Pikuto Majikku [Pict Magic], and they possessed some collaboration options. Just now, they used spell named Unison Pict: Wyvern, which created magical forest wyvern, very similar to the real one.
"Why I'm always getting into such a mess?!" Lucy cried, running from huge beast.
"Shut up!" Nelliel growled, she seemed quite tired from Lucy's complains.
"Look out!" Jura warned as beast flew above and prepared for breath attack. Wyvern made a deep breath, and sent down a huge fireball. "Gan Tetsu Heki!" [Iron Rock Wall] Jura created large rock formation from the ground, in shape of cylindrical pillars, which formed a thick wall. Fireball crashed into Jura's wall and exploded. Wall proved to be durable enough to dissipate the flame, however, blastwave was strong enough to sunder the surrounding. Small rock, on which Lucy stood, cracked, blonde lost her balance and slipped down, rolling head over heels along the steep bank, and finally fell into the river.
"Help!" She screamed as fast river's flow began to drag her away, along the river's course.
"Lucy-dono!" Jura noticed that blonde's in trouble (as usual), but he couldn't help her as there still was a wyvern above his head.
"This thing pisses me off! Muryū no Shūsen!" [Dream Dragon's Swing] Nelliel channeled magic into her sword and swung it around, sending ultrasonic shockwave towards the beast. Attack was strong enough to slice the wyvern in half, and beast disappeared.
"So much for our wyvern!?" Dark guild mages all screamed in fear, seemingly they didn't expect it to be defeated, not to mention with one blow. "It was our strongest technique, does it even matter what we do next?!"
"Even though they be fake, I cannot forgive those that use living things so thoughtlessly…" Jura said darkly as ground began to shake as he released his magic power, making all dark guild members to tremble in panic. Powerful blast shook the surrounding area as Jura took out all of them with one attack. "Nelliel-dono," Jura addressed the Dreamwalker, "Can I ask you to go look for Lucy-dono?"
"What?! Why me?!" Nelliel tried to protest, thought it was quite obvious that with her enhanced senses she could find Lucy much easier than Jura.
"More dark mages might be lurking around here, Lucy-dono may need help," Jura replied. "Besides… I sense a great magic power. Its source is closing in, from the west."
"Could this be one of Oración Seis?! Did they really return?!" Dreamwalker sensed some disgusting smell, "It smells horrible…"
"Please, go find Lucy-dono," Jura asked again. "No matter who it is, I won't let him go any further!"
"Are you sure, Jura-san?" Nelliel asked uncertainly. Jura just nodded.
"Alright, good luck," Dreamwalker said and ran along the river, still complaining, "That blonde's just helpless, why they brought her along at all?!" They may be working together now, but the fact that she still considers Lucy as weak and spoiled girl didn't change.
However, as she just ran for about 200 yards, Nelleil stopped as she heard a lot of people approaching. In no time, she found herself surrounded by members of another dark guild. All of them had some bat-like features in their appearance.
"Idiots, I have no time for this," Nelliel said calmly and used her magic to disappear. She tried to continue to run, but just as she disappeared, dark guild's members took out some sort of magical fifes, and began to shoot at Nelliel some cone-like magical projectiles. "What?!" Despite she definitely was taken by surprise, dragon slayer didn't hesitate, she quickly turned around, "Muryū no Hōkō!" [Dream Dragon's Roar] She countered enemy's magic with her roar, destroying their projectiles and taking out several enemy mages. Remaining dark mages were glancing at each other, but seemingly wasn't speaking.
"You, little bunch of…" Dreamwalker growled. Actually, dark mages were communicating, they were just using ultrasonic frequencies, but Nelliel's ears could hear their talking. "You think you can defeat me using my own magic…" She seemed really offended now, "All you fools are doing is just pissing me off! I'll teach you a lesson!"
For some reason, usually calm and composed Nelliel got quite angry. Seemingly, that operation was taking much longer than she expected, as she no doubt wanted to return to her daughter. However, it is all seemed just like Natsu said – minor dark guilds just were doing everything they could to keep slayers busy, allowing Oración Seis members to act freely…
(With Lucy)
"Caugh… Caugh… Ah… Ah…" Lucy was breathing heavily as she finally reached the shore. River course widened, making a small lake, river's flow became less intense and Lucy finally made it to the ground. "I thought… I'm going to drown…" She still couldn't catch her breath. "Where am I?" She asked herself, looking around. She saw a pillar of black light, and it was on her left, but before she fell into the river, it was on her right. Seemingly, river dragged her for about a mile. "I… I'm completely lost!" She realized in panic, "What I'm gonna do?!"
It required one minute for Lucy to calm down. "Okay… I'll… I'll just go back along the river, sooner or later I'll return to the place where I was…" She decided. She stood up and began to walk, slowly, twitching with every noise, she really was scared. Besides, she was shivering from cold as her clothes were soaking wet. "No, I can't go on like this," She decided. Lucy looked around, instinctively ensuring that there are no men nearby, and took off her T-shirt and jeans shorts, leaving herself topless, in panties only, and began to squeeze water from her clothes. "It's… so cold in here…" She shivered again.
"I hope no one is peeping on me right now," Another Lucy said. "It would be so embarrassing if someone sees us like this," She also was in panties only, standing beside Lucy. "However, secretly, you want someone to see you like this, aren't you?"
"No way!" Lucy protested, "That's nonsense…WHAT?!" She suddenly realized that she's speaking with her own self, which is standing beside her. Second Lucy had the exact same appearance, aside from claw-like golden markings on both sides of her ribcage.
"Nonsense?" Another Lucy smiled, "At least be honest with yourself… we know what you think… as we are YOU…"
Spell list:
Kuroi Geijutsu – Black Arts
Seikatsu Mahō – Living Magic
Shi no Mahō – Death Magic
Jahō – Wicked Weave
Seirei – Celestial Spirit
Seirei no Mahō – Celestial Spirit Magic
Ekitai Jimen no Mahō – Liquid Earth Magic
Hyō no Mahō – Ice Magic
Aisu Meiku: Sunō Doragon – Ice Make: Snow Dragon
Aisu Meiku: Īguru – Ice Make: Eagle
Aisu Meiku: Aisu Kyanon – Ice Make: Ice Cannon
Aisu Meiku: Hanmā – Ice Make: Hammer
Senjin no Dogō – War God's Howl
Senjin no Anshinshō – War God's Dark Nova
Senjin no Saiken – War God's Crushing Fist
Ketsueki no Myōrei – Blood Order
Kutsusetsu – Reflector
Seiryū no Yokusen – Star Dragon's Wing Flash
SeIryū no Hōkō – Star Dragon's Roar
Pikuto Majikku – Pict Magic
Gan Tetsu Heki – Iron Rock Wall
Muryū no Shūsen – Dream Dragon's Swing
Muryū no Hōkō – Dream Dragon's Roar
Well, this is it for now. Finally, the time has come to bid our farewell to Lucy… see you in the next chapter – Demonheart.