Hello again, people! Well, as I promised, here's the new chapter!
For those who wrote a review:
Guest x2: Thanks people.
epicly weird: Actually, I can hardly imagine Natsu saying something like that…
Isana Yashiro, EndlessChains, Astroman1000, InflatedChimp, BlackDragonShinigami, R.N.C: Many thanks for your words people, I'll keep up.
Dragon King Acnologia: Thanks for big review! Glad to hear your opinion.
Meazm: Thanks, man.
Rajo: Yes, that's right. Though, I wouldn't say people was acting like an asses towards Lucy, just a bit more rough, but that's was mostly Natsu's influence as he wanted her to show her potential faster.
abhishekbssn, FanFictionHunter: Thanks for waiting people, and thx for review.
As many people were asking for it, here's the 'official' ranking of Fairy Tail mages.
I'm giving two rankings: first – ranking that was actual right after Phantom Lord arc (it was actual during chapter 16). Second – current rankings, which will be actual at the end of this chapter.
Okay, here it is, ranking of recent past.
1st: Makarov
2nd: Gildarts
[A/N: Honestly, deciding who's stronger among the two of them ain't easy so their places in ranking were decided according to guild's hierarchy, not combat power]
3rd: Laxus
4th: Natsu
5th: Erza
6th: Mystogan
[A/N: Honestly, measuring his actual power is quite difficult since he got quite little screen time, even considering Edolas arc, his only real fight was against Laxus, but it was just a warm-up, and I was unimpressed.]
7th: Mirajane
[A/N She's just returned, so I'm afraid she was the weakest S-class of that time]
8th: Gray
9th: Raijinshū team (In that order: Freed → Bickslow → Evergreen)
10th: Elfman
11th: Cana
12th: Lucy
[A/N: At that moment she still had no Loke as spirit, without him she's weaker than Cana. With Loke she'd stronger than Bixlow]
13th: Biska
14th: Alzack
[A/N: I think they're equal but Biska's girl with big breasts so I gave her a higher position]
15th: Loke
[A/N: Though losing his powers, he was still capable of something…]
And that's how it was right after Phantom Lord arc. Many things have changed since then; current rating will be right at the end of this chapter.
Now, Let's proceed. As I promised, the real fights start here, also, here's what I promised at the end of the previous chapter… but don't expect some cliché here.
Chapter updated 15/12/2016
Chapter XXVIII – Demonheart
…
December 11, X784, 18:00, Worth Woodsea's depths.
Due to short December days, woodsea already sank into darkness. Skies were almost clear, but distant light of stars was outshined by creepy pillar of black light, which was eliciting streams of darkness magic around itself.
(With Erza and Sin)
"How far away we are from Gray's position?" Erza asked. They just finished dealing with 'Naked Mummy' guild, and Erza decided to go towards Mirajane's team (Mira, Gray, Lyon, Shelly), as they probably were the closest ones.
"About 900 yards I think," Sin replied. "Wanna me to ascend and scout from above?"
"No," Erza shook her head, "Let's try to keep the low profile, I bet here's much more dark mages, like those monkeys, lurking around here somewhere."
"By the way," Sin landed on star dragon slayer's shoulder, "Are you sure that it was a good idea to let Natsu take Wendy with him?" Boney creature wondered. "Is it safe?"
"What?!" Erza was very surprised to hear something like that from Natsu's oldest friend and magical familiar, surely no one could protect Wendy better than Natsu.
"That's not what I'm talking about," Sin shook his skull, "I'm not worried about her physical safety, not at all."
"What do you mean then?" Erza stopped and looked at Sin, who still was sitting on her left shoulder.
"Do you remember?" Sin asked. "Our talk, about two or three days after we returned from Clover, after that incident with Lullaby?"
Flashback. July 12, X784.
Quiet summer evening. Erza was looking into the window, breathing in the late evening air, waiting for Natsu to finish with something in library. At that moment, Sin landed on her shoulder. "Erza," Boney creature said, "We need to talk…" His voice sounded quite mysterious.
"What is it?" Erza asked. Honestly, she wasn't in best mood due to her recent meeting with Jellal (in form of Siegrain) and that false 'legal trial', and right now she just wanted to relax a bit.
"It's about Natsu," Magical familiar said. "Honestly, I shouldn't be the one to tell you about such a thing, but I don't think Natsu himself would tell you about that, he's a proud man…" Boney creature thought for a moment, "Nevertheless, since you two are engaged and our team probably going to do difficult missions together… I guess you should know."
Sin's voice sounded seriously, and Erza became worried a bit. "Go on," She looked at small boney dragon.
"I've learned about that during our journeys. We've been through many fights, and it seems that in normal conditions Natsu can fight using only about 80% of his full capabilities, at maximum."
"Well, if opponent is weak, none's going to fight at full power," Erza replied reasonably.
"Yes," Sin agreed. "But let's imagine the situation when your opponent is very strong and dangerous, so dangerous that you have to fight against him with everything you've got. When lives of those you hold dear are at stake, for example. In that case you will fight with 100% of your power, maybe even 110%, right?" Sin assumed. "Yet, even in such a case, you still will be you, right?"
Erza looked at Sin in confusion, she couldn't understand what he was talking about.
"For Natsu that is not possible," Boney dragon continued to explain, "I don't want to dramatize, saying something like 'he needs to throw away his humanity', because… well, he never had humanity in the first place… anyway, it is something like that. It is called 'controlled hysteria', to achieve 100% of his combat potential Natsu needs to completely focus on destroying his enemies."
"What it means, exactly?" Erza asked still in confusion.
"It means that when he is cornered by a powerful enemy, he'll stop seeing him as anything but enemy. He'll stop seeing living being behind that enemy. He will attack with intent to kill, completely submerging into battle, fighting like there will be no tomorrow if he loses. Don't get me wrong," Sin clarified, "He won't lose his cool, not at all… rather his blood will lose its warmth…"
Flashback End.
"Well, when I killed Jellal…" Erza tried to say, but Sin interrupted her.
"No, that's incomparable. Jellal was beyond any salvation, and Procellion was an immense threat to entire world order, you had crystal clear understanding of that, as well as Natsu. But our current situation is different," Sin explained. Erza haven't seen Natsu's fights against Nelliel and Laxus so she couldn't compare situations, especially the latter as Natsu first tried to curse his soul and then tried to kill him, thrice.
"Right now, we are all scattered around, and Natsu feels big pressure as an alliance commander. He might feel himself cornered by the very situation itself. Though, even if only Oración Seis core members are actually dangerous, there are a lot of lesser dark guilds. And if those minor dark guilds continue to interfere, wasting his time, he won't be able to help his allies. That situation may push him over the edge, beyond which mercy doesn't exists. And if that happens, those unlucky fools might feel all his horrible power in full measure…" Sin explained. "Honestly, I care little about dark guilds member, but I'm not sure that Wendy should see what's gonna happen to them…"
"Let's hope it just won't come to that…" Erza said a bit worriedly.
(With Gray, Lyon, Mirajane and Sherry)
"How far away we are from those ruins that Hibiki showed us?" Gray wondered as his team was walking through the forest. Unlike others, they didn't meet any minor dark guild members on their way.
"About a mile from here, I think," Lyon replied, "It seems that among all other teams, we are the farthest from meeting point…"
"Yeah, and Blue Pegasus team was the closest one," Mirajane said with narrowed eyes, "Ain't that convenient?" Probably it wasn't the case – those ruins really seemed like a good meeting point, but still…
"That weird light's really creeping me out…" Sherry complained, "Is it okay to stay exposed to it?"
"I don't think that this light is harmful by itself," Lyon replied, "But we should…"
"Look out!" Mirajane suddenly shouted. Team members barely managed to leap away as bubble-like, almost transparent projectile hit the place where they just were, creating an explosion of unknown nature.
"What's happening?!" Sherry screamed.
"Look, up there!" Lyon pointed to the sky.
"What the hell is that?!" Gray couldn't understand what exactly he's seeing right now. It seemed like a big serpent of some sort, with bat-like wings. And someone was standing on it…
"YAAHH!" "UGHH!" "GAAH!" Sherry, Lyon and Gray screamed one after another, as all three got quite strong blows to their bodies, and all three were knocked down to the ground.
"Not so fast," Racer's voice said from behind.
"Satan Sōru!" [Satan Soul] Mirajane performed her take over just in time to block Racer's attack, this time, however, she barely made it, as if he became even faster than before. At this same moment, another projectile hit the ground near she-devil, shockwave hit her and knocked down. "Ugh!" She yelped.
"You're fast, and fast is good, but for you it's better to slow down," Racer said, as he again tried to hit Mirajane, and she barely avoided his attack.
"I can hear it… you're trembling…" Cobra sneered as he descended, standing on his snake, which appeared to be able to fly. "We owe you a great debt…" When Cobra descended and Racer stopped for a moment, it was possible to see some gold-colored glowing stripes on Racer's neck and Cobra's arms.
"We need to deal with them quickly, Cobra," Racer said to his fellow guild member, "We won't have time for that after Nirvana fully awakens…"
"Fully awakens?!" Sherry shouted, "Then this light isn't Nirvana?!"
"This light only a harbinger that signifies Nirvana's coming," Cobra replied, "But you won't be here to see its majesty…" As he said that, the guy again breathed out another transparent bubble-like projectile, forcing the group to scatter around, but after that they all were again attacked by Racer.
"Mira!" Gray shouted, "We need to split these bustards up!"
"You're the only one among us who can fly," Lyon agreed with his fellow ice mage, "We can take care of this one!"
Mirajane looked at Gray and his group. Honestly, she wasn't sure about that but she has no much time to think as Cobra again attacked her and rest of the group with bible-like projectile. "Alright, I'm counting on you!" She-devil shouted, as she spread her wings and soared into the air.
"Not so fast!" Racer roared and dashed after Mirajane.
"Aisu Meiku: Ranpādo!" [Ice Make: Rampart] Gray created a huge wall made of Ice incredibly fast, and Racer smashed into it at full speed. "Use your own advice…" Gray growled. He was breathing heavily, creating such a huge wall wasn't easy.
"You… you have interrupted my running…" Racer said darkly, standing up.
"Shut up," Lyon cut him off rudely, "We are your opponents."
(With Natsu, Wendy and Carla)
"Quickly, Wendy, Carla, let's go!" Natsu ordered. He just finished dealing with dark guild that ambushed him. "Lucy and others should be somewhere toward that direction."
"Wow…" Wendy was amazed that Natsu defeated entire dark guild, alone. "Natsu-san, you're incredible…"
"You can praise him later," Carla shushed at her friend, "C'mon!"
Suddenly, Natsu heard another telepathic transmission from Hibike. 'Natsu-san! Can you hear me!?' Since Natsu couldn't reply himself, he looked at Wendy.
Sky dragon slayer realized what he wants. 'Yes, Hibike-san! Natsu-san's hearing you!' She mentally replied.
"Ask him about their current situation," Natsu addressed Wendy. Girl did as he asked.
'I'm not sure,' Hibike replied. 'As far as I know, Mirajane-san's group has met two members of Oración Seis and now they're fighting. Also, seemingly Jura-san met another enemy; in addition, it looks like Lucy-san has been separated from her group. Nelliel-san's looking for her right now, but she's been attacked by a dark guild under Oración Seis control. Currently, I can't locate Lucy-san. Me and my group…' Suddenly, connection was lost.
"That's quite unfortunate turn of events…" Natsu's left eye flased with dark blue light, "They're acting more aggressively than I've anticipated…" Mirajane, Gray and Jura already met some members of Oración Seis, Lucy's whereabouts are unknown, and remaining Oración Seis could be anywhere…
Natsu looked at creepy pillar of black light. "I guess using magic against those minor guilds is just a waste," He thought aloud. "I can't end up with half of my magic spent on trash when real enemies appear," He said as his sword, Gladius Terminus, appeared in his hand. Sword's blade glinted, reflecting black light of Nirvana.
"Don't worry," Natsu looked at Carla and Wendy, who were looking at him a bit worriedly as they too heard Hibike's report. "We will complete our task, no matter what… follow me."
(With Mirajane)
Battle between She-devil and Cobra was heating up. "Ebiru Ekusupurōjon!" [Evil Explosion], She-devil combined her hands together, gathering dark-red colored sphere between her palms, and expelled a powerful beam from it. Magic beam shot towards with tremendous speed, but Cobra's flying serpent flew aside, easily avoiding the attack.
"Fearful Devil Mirajane…" Cobra smiled, "If you think that ou can protect those people from me than feel free to try, I won't let you help them, we'll capture your precious friends…"
"Gray and others doesn't need my help to deal with that slowpoke!" Mirajane snorted, raising her hands for another attack, "You and your freaking scum will never get any of us!"
"Oh, I guess you misunderstood," Cobra smiled again. "When I said 'capture your friends', I didn't mean that sorry bunch down there," He pointed down, where Gray and others were fighting against Racer. "Nirvana… is alive. She has her own consciousness, sort of. We all serve Nirvana now. It increased our powers, in exchange we should capture two specific enemies alive. Others are subjects for elimination, including you!" Cobra breathed out another bubble-like projectile, which flew towards Mirajane and exploded near her, hitting her with ultrasonic shockwave.
"What?!" Mirajane quickly recovered.
"Just what you heard," Cobra said. "Nirvana wants 'the one whose hair is as scarlet as blood that flows' and 'the one whose eyes are as crimson as a dying sun', I guess you know who I'm talking about…" Maroon haired guy sneered. "No one cares what will happen to the others."
"Hmpft!" Mirajane snorted. "I don't know what happened to you, but even if your powers grew up a bit, it's still not enough to defeat those two. Or you forgot that Natsu squashed you like a little pest?! You have no chances of winning against neither of them… no to mention that none of you will get a chance to fight with them directly. I'll finish you off here and now! Dākunesu Sutorīmu!" [Darkness Stream] She extended her hand forward, creating a dark purple magic seal. Multitude of hands, composed of dark energy, appeared from the seal, and tried to grab Cobra. Though, he avoided them all, as if he knew where and how they will attack.
"No matter how much I would like to have a rematch," Cobra smirked evilly, "Nirvana and Zero will take care of those two by themselves. Our task is to prevent you from interfering…"
"What?!" For the first time since their battle began Mirajane looked really serious, "Who's that Zero!?"
"I guess he told it to all of you," Cobra replied, "He's the true master of our guild, Oración Seis. Brain was just a mere shadow of him…" As Cobra spoke out, Mirajane clenched her fists. "Oh, that's more like it," He sneered again, "Let's have some fun!"
(With Natsu, Wendy and Carla)
"Wendy, get a hold on yourself," Natsu advised to young dragon slayer. "Don't forget that you are Metsuryū Madōshi [Dragon Slayer] magic wielder, your magic directly linked to your mental condition. You're wasting your mana just by worrying without reason…"
"Stop oppressing her!" Carla intervened. "Your constant lectures ain't making it easier for her, either!"
"My 'lectures', as you called them, may save her life once," Natsu replied indifferently.
"I'm not worried," Wendy replied, smiling a bit uncertainly, "I believe in you, Natsu-san!"
"You believe in me?" Natsu looked at her with irony, "You recognized me as your god that easily?"
"Ah?!" Wendy's eyes widened in confusion.
"What the heck are you saying?!" Carla lost her temper, but her indignation was left without response.
"I just want her to be careful with words," God slayer said. Natsu, Wendy and Carla continued to walk through the dark forest, towards last known position of Jura's team, because, according to last report, they were separated and now were having troubles finding each other. Natsu's team haven't met anyone during last ten minutes… but that was too good to last long.
Many shadowy figures appeared from the forest, there was about sixty ~ sixty-five of them. "Natsu-san! Look!" Wendy exclaimed as she instinctively stepped closer to Natsu, "Another dark guild!"
"So many of them!" Carla also seemed scared.
"Wendy," Natsu said indifferently, "At your age, you should've learned to distinguish opponents' power…"
"Ah?" Wendy looked at Natsu in confusion, though not only the meaning of his words confused her, these words sounded so cold…
"Wendy, they all – trash," He said, raising his sword. Fssshhuuhh! Natsu swung his sword, creating a light-blue shockwave in form of a crescent moon. Shockwave uprooted several rows of trees, where dark guild members were hiding, burying them under tree trunks and clods of earth.
Wendy looked at that with her eyes wide-open. Carla also could hardly believe her eyes; white kitty looked at Natsu, "Didn't you say that you should be saving your magic?"
"Magic?" Natsu asked emotionlessly, "I wasn't neither spell nor Senmei Saikō [Sure-kill Shot], it was just a swing of my sword…" God slayer replied simply as Gladius Terminus glinted again.
"…" Both Carla and Wendy didn't know what to say.
Suddenly, a few uprooted trees were thrown away, as someone appeared from beneath them. It was a quite tall woman, with messy blue hair, dressed into light-gray coat. "You!" She yelled, "How dared you to do this to my guild?! For that, I am, the guild master of 'Vampire's Fang' will kill you!"
Seemingly that woman was a head of that dark guild, one of many under Oración Seis control, and her orders were all the same – keep Natsu from helping his friends.
"Natsu-san!" Wendy looked at god slayer worriedly, "What are we gonna do?"
"Wendy," Natsu placed his hand on girls' shoulder, but she didn't felt warmth of his hand, "I already told you – you should learn to evaluate your enemies. This one…" He pointed at woman "…she's also a trash," Natsu removed his hand from Wendy's shoulder.
"Try this!" Woman shouted, "The secret technique of our guild, Vampiric tou…" She suddenly stopped casting and her magic seal disappeared, she just remained standing with her mouth wide open.
Natsu again placed his hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Wendy, Carla, c'mon, we have no time to waste," He said.
"Wait… what?!" Carly seemed surprised, "You want to just ignore her?!"
"She won't disturb anyone anymore," Natsu replied, "C'mon, Wendy…"
The truth was that Carla's eyes couldn't see what happened, but Wendy's dragon eyes saw everything. Sky sorceress felt that Natsu removed his hand from her shoulder right at the moment when woman began to cast her spell. She saw that Natsu, with immense speed, dashed towards that woman, stepped behind her, hit her with his sword right through her spine (she heard the sound of breaking vertebras), and after that he returned back and again placed his hand on Wendy's shoulder. All that happened within a second…
Thanks to that Natsu forced Wendy to follow him, she couldn't see how woman's light-gray coat became red over her stomach, though Wendy's dragon ears heard how gravely wounded body fell on the ground.
"Our mission is critical – failure isn't an option," Natsu said passionlessly, still holding to Wendy's shoulder, "Everyone who'll try to interfere will be annihilated."
(Few minutes earlier, with Lucy)
"What's going on?!" Lucy screamed as she was staring at her own half-naked body from aside, "Hey!? What are you doing?!" blonde screamed as her duplicate removed her panties and threw it into the river.
"I'm just fulfilling your wish," Another, now fully naked Lucy replied. "Isn't that your secret fetish, to let other people stare at your naked body? Nirvana surely can reveal humans' darkest desires… Ummmm," She elicited a moan as she squeezed her own breasts.
"Stop it!" Lucy screamed, "Stop doing it with my body… with your body… I'm… I don't understand anything!" Blonde was close to panic, it seemed as if she is losing her sanity.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Female's voice said.
"Okay!" Eliciting a cloud of dark smoke, fake Lucy turned into two indigo-colored twin stellar spirits, both with golden markings on their stomachs. "Pi-ru! Pu-ri!"
"A stellar spirit?!" Lucy's eyes widened in shock. At that moment blonde heard steps behind herself. She abruptly turned around only to see Angel approaching her.
"Hello there, Lucy-chan!" She smiled, "Say hello to Angel-chan."
"An Oración Seis?!" Lucy exclaimed. Instinctively, Lucy put back on her clothes and clenched to her keybag.
"These little cuties are Gemi and Mini; twins with the power to flawlessly replicate a human's appearance, abilities and thoughts… twin spirits, Gemini…" Suddenly, Angel's smile became quite bloodthirsty "…My poor spirit that was banished by that brute with a sword!"
Suddenly, Lucy realized something "How!?" Blonde asked in shock. "That spirit was destroyed! And Nelliel confiscated all of your keys as well!" Actually, right now, Angel was dressed in panties only, as Nelliel also destroyed her outfit. However, most of her body was covered with some gold-colored markings, exposing her curves but covering intimate places. And obviously she had no keys with herself.
"Don't you dare to call that name!" Angel roared as her smile disappeared. "That bitch humiliated me and took my keys… but that's no longer the matter. Now, those punks of yours can stare at my body as much as they like, but, most importantly, thanks to Nirvana, I no longer need those pathetic Seirei [Stellar Spirits]! Now I can create Kyōrei [Spirits of Madness]! The exact copies of stellar spirits, but they're made purely of Nirvana's power! I can create copy of any stellar spirit I ever had, and I no longer need keys… Let's have some fun, Lucy-chan."
Lucy looked at creepy pillar of dark light, then at her opponent. 'Nirvana… Seems it not only can make good people bad and vice versa. For those who are heavily grounded in darkness… it can make them even more dark. And I'm all alone here…' Slight shiver ran along Lucy's spine. 'But that's not the time to give up! Of course I'm not even close to Nelliel-san's level… but I have to protect my guild!' With suddenly found determination, Lucy prepared for battle. "Open, gate of the Archer, Sagittarius!" Lucy summoned the archer spirit. "Sagittarius! Shoot!" Lucy ordered.
"Yes ma'am! Hello! Hello!" Archer spirit reported and raised his bow.
"Gemini!" Angel commanded, and twin stellar spirit suddenly turned into Lyon Vastia. "Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo!" [Ice Make: Shield] Lyon-spirit outstretched his hand and created an ice shield, which deflected all arrows.
"What?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.
"Before they were banished, real Gemini managed to get information about few members of your so called 'alliance'," Angel said.
"Aisu Meiku: Īguru!" [Ice Make: Eagles] Gemini-Lyon created several eagles made of ice and sent them to assault Lucy and her spirit.
"No problem, ma'am!" Sagittarius reported, as he shot down all ice birds. "Hello! Hello!"
(With Natsu, Wendy and Carla)
Natsu suddenly stopped and looked to the north-west. "Wendy, can you feel it?" He asked, though he, most likely, asked himself.
"I can feel strange magic from there," Skymaiden nodded.
"Let's go check it out," Natsu decided, "Thread lightly…"
"Hey, what about Jura-san's team?!" Carla exclaimed.
"Maybe that is Jura-san himself or someone from his team…" Natsu speculated, though Jura's team in principle had to be in other direction. "Due to that accursed pillar of light I cannot say what type of magic is being used, so we have to take a look," God slayer added, "Let's go."
(With Lucy)
'It seems that Sagittarius isn't effective against that doppelganger!' Lucy thought as none of Archer's arrows managed to even scratch False-Lyon's shield. "Sagittarius! Forced gate close!" Lucy forcefully closed archer's gate.
"My deepest apologizes! Hello! Hello!" Horse-like spirit saluted and disappeared.
"You know, Lucy-chan," Angel said, "I have little time to play with you. Now when Nirvana has been found, I must hurry…"
'No! It's not only about me!' Lucy thought, 'She's poses a danger for entire alliance! I have to stop her!' Blonde looked around. Suddenly, she got an idea, 'Water! Thankfully, we're right by a river! I have water to work with!' Lucy grabbed another golden key, "Open, gate of the water bearer! Aquarius!"
Spirit of water bearer appeared right above river. "Go get her!" Lucy screamed, "You can take me out as well, I don't care!"
"You don't even need to ask…" Aquarius snickered.
"I don't even…?" Lucy gulped slightly.
"I'm gonna beat the crap out of the lot of you!" Crazy spirit bellowed, gathering huge amount of water.
"Ha ha…" Angel just smiled. "Come! Madness of the sands! Shadow Scorpio!" Angel didn't use key or something she just raised her hands. With dark glare, a humanoid spirit with scorpion-like tail, made of dark steel, appeared near Angel.
"We are! Yeah!" Dark Scorpio shouted. He looked like normal Scorpio, but wore black and red clothes, his steel plates were also darker.
"What the hell!" Aquarius shouted in fury.
"Ah, yes…" Angel said lazily. "Scorpio is your lover. I'm sorry, but thanks to that green-haired bitch I couldn't summon the real one. But I'm sure you can have some fun with this one instead…"
"How dare you?!" Aquarius bellowed. Seemingly, by summoning this fake Scorpio, Angel greatly offended real Scorpio's lover. "You little bitch, be gone!" Aquarius released a huge wave of water.
"Scorpio!" Angel commanded.
"Hell yeah!" Scorpio released a huge wave of black sand, which was equal in size and power to Aquarius's water. Black sand absorbed all the water, effectively neutralizing water bearer's attack.
"AAUUUGH!" Suddenly, Aquarius screamed in agony as lover half of her body was bit off and consumed by a huge ice tiger. With half of her body gone, Aquarius disappeared, turning into blue dust. Being focused on Angel and Shadow Scorpio, neither Lucy nor Aquarius noticed that Gemini were still there, still in form of Lyon Vastia. Lyon created a tiger made of ice that ambushed water spirit and banished it.
"Aquarius!" Lucy cried desperately.
"See, Lucy-chan?" Angel asked. "I even can summon two shadow spirits at once…" At that moment False-Lyon sent another ice eagle into Lucy. Blonde cowered her face but force of impact knocked her down and Lucy fell into river.
"Gah!" Lucy appeared above water surface, gasping for air.
"Are you ready to die, Lucy-chan?" Angel asked casually. "I'll kill you by my own hands," She added as she waved her arms and both shadow Scorpio and shadow Lyon-Gemini disappeared.
'This is… the end?!' Lucy actually was scared now. 'Aquarius was my strongest spirit… no, wait!' Suddenly, ray of hope glinted in Lucy's heart. 'That's not quite true! I have one more trump card!' Lucy raised her key, "Open! Gate of the Lion! Loke!"
With flash of golden light, Loke appeared from Seireikai [Celestial Spirit World]. "Your prince is here… It's been a while, Lucy," Loke smiled.
"Loke!" Lucy cried desperately, "Please! You've got to defeat this woman, or the guild, everyone…"
"Leave it to me," Loke said confidently, looking at Angel.
"Ah, so you're still up to some play…" Angel smiled darkly. "And Lion's spirit, no less. Well then, I have a special spirit just for that case…" She raised her hands. "Come! Madness of sorrow! Shadow Aries!"
"Long time no see… Loke," Dark Aries said emotionlessly. She looked like normal Aries but her 'fur' was dark gray and horns were dark orange. Face expression wasn't shy but completely emotionless.
"Shadow Aries…" Loke mumbled in disbelief.
"Don't… Don't tell me…" Lucy mumbled. Loke told Lucy his story, and Lucy knew that conflict between Loke and Karen Lilica started because she was treating Aries badly. Which means that Aries was Karen's spirit. Which means…
"Yes, that's right," Angel confirmed with smile. "I was the one who killed Karen. Key of Aries was just my spoil of war."
"That's just… just…" Lucy mumbled.
"No worries, Lucy," Loke calmed down his owner. "I know that this isn't the real Aries, but it's not that important anyway. My task here is to protect you, I'm not here to take revenge on this woman. Don't look down on me, Lucy. For that is… MY PRIDE!" Saying that, Loke rushed to attack dark Aries. Two spirits clashed in battle at full strength.
"This should be entertaining…" Angel said.
"Loke, please! Win this!" Lucy clenched her fists.
Battle continued for about three minutes. Powers seemed equal, but after some time, Loke slowly started to get the upper hand. "Mmmm… I suppose that even in her shadow form she isn't really a match for the combat specialist Leo… Ah, well. I'm running out of time anyway." Angel raised her hand, "Come! Madness of steel! Shadow Caelum!"
At that moment, laser-like, dark red beam pierced through both Loke and dark Aries.
"AUGH!"
"NGUH!"
"Ahaha! A perfect shot!" Angel laughed.
"This is the fate of madness…" Dark Aries said emotionlessly and disappeared.
"Lucy… I'm sorry…" Loke whispered and turned into golden dust.
"This is it, Lucy-chan…" Angel said, pointing her laser cannon at Lucy, "I'm afraid you won't be able to use your big, strong Loke for a while…"
Lucy froze like paralyzed. 'She shot right through her own spirit… but of course, it's not real… and Loke…'
"Don't worry, I'll take care of your spirits. After your death I'll take your keys and create the shadow copy of every spirit in your collection," Angel smiled. "Farewell, Lucy-chan!" Angel's laser shot into Lucy, landing a direct hit. Powerful blast lit up the surroundings and Lucy's burned body disappeared under water. "Damn…" Angel swore. "And how I'm supposed to find her keys under water?" She asked herself as she moved towards the place where Lucy has been seen for the last time.
'Is this… the end of me?' Lucy asked herself. Her limbs weren't moving, she was sinking into dark waters of river, her sight went dark.
'Second time, isn't it?' Another voice asked.
'Who's that?' Lucy asked weakly.
Suddenly, environment changed. Lucy couldn't feel water pressure anymore, surrounding became much brighter. Lucy opened her eyes. She was sitting on lush summer grass, under bright sun. She looked around and realized that she's in Heartfilia mansion's garden. "Where am I?" Lucy asked in confusion. "Is this… my home?"
"You don't remember?" Someone asked from behind. Voice sounded similar to Lucy's but not exactly like hers. She abruptly turned around. In front of herself Lucy saw a girl with face and body like her own, but her skin was a bit more tanned, her hair was jet black and much longer, her eyes were gloving with dark violet light. Though, her most distinctive features were pretty big cat-like ears and three long, cat-like tails. Her ears and all three tails were of the same raven-black color as her hair. She could be described as extremely cute, if not for the aura of imminent danger, radiated by this nekomata-like person. "This is place where you've born, Lucy…" Girl said. As she opened her mouth, the girl demonstrated pretty large canine teeth.
"Who… who are you?!" Lucy exclaimed in confusion, "What am I doing here?!"
"You're in your subconsciousness, obviously," Girl replied. "Why it's looking like this… well, as I told you, because you have born here."
"That's… that's not right…" Lucy replied, she was still confused, but tried to understand what's going on here. "When I was born, father and mother just bought this land, that mansion was completed about three years after my birth… or so I've been told by okā-san!" Lucy was sure about her memories.
"Wrong, Lucy. I was born before mansion was built. You have born here, when the mansion already has been built," Girl said.
Lucy was looking at black-haired nekomata-girl in complete confusion, "Wha… what do you mean?"
Instead of an answer, the girl pointed towards garden. There, Lucy saw a beautiful blonde-haired woman with lush breasts and milk-chocolate eyes – her mother – Leila. She was sitting on grass, reading a book. Near her was sitting blonde-haired, three-years old girl – Lucy herself. "Don't you remember? How boring were those stories about celestial spirits?"
"What?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock, she was even a bit angered. "Mother's stories never were boring, I always admired Celestial Spirits!"
"Really?" Girl wondered as she pointed at little Lucy. Kid definitely was bored, as she was thoughtfully looking at mountains and clouds.
"Hey, Lucy, are you listening?" Leila called for her daughter.
"Ah?" Kid quickly perked up, "Yes, okā-san!"
"You're not interested?" Leila asked. She was smiling, but Lucy noticed barely seeable sadness in mother's eyes.
"N… no, I'm very interested!" Kid said cheerfully…
"…"
"This is about how you've born Lucy. This was the first time when I lied… I was admiring okā-san, and I couldn't stand to see even a tiny bit of sadness in her eyes…" Girl explained. "I didn't want to lie to okā-san, I wanted that lie to be the truth… But, unlike her, I was never interested in celestial spirits…"
"W…wait…" Lucy's voice trembled… "Then you are… me?!"
"Yes," Girl replied simply. "I'm the one who betrayed my own feelings and lied to okā-san, to make her happy, to became her heiress as a Celestial Spirit Wizard. My feeling was so contradictive that it the end, when we were about five years old, it resulted in developing of a whole new personality as I literally split myself in half. I'm the one who created you, or, more likely, who abandoned you, and hid behind your back, in darkness… And I was planning to spend our entire life in that darkness, leaving everything to you."
One minute of silence.
"Then… then why are you staying in front of me now?" Lucy wondered.
In return, dark-haired Lucy smiled sadly, "Because I don't want to die…" She replied.
"What?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Do you remember the Tower of Paradise?" Dark-haired Lucy asked. "When that crystal pierced our body and killed us, I realized… I realized how weak we actually are – the only way we could save Erza was to sacrifice ourselves. I'm not blaming you for being weak, it is only natural – you've born from my weakness; no way you could be strong. I am very sorry, Lucy…"
"I'm not weak, I just have to train more!" Lucy tried to protest.
"No Lucy, it doesn't matter. Because you're only a part of me – you can't use our potential in full measure. We've got more than enough of proofs: death at Tower of Paradise; being defeated by Freed's hands…"
"Wait!" Lucy suddenly realized something, "When I lost consciousness… That was YOU who defeated Freed back then?!"
"Not exactly," Dark-haired Lucy replied. "Back than it wasn't my conscious but mostly my instincts that took over our body. But that's no longer matter. What is matter now, is that we're dying. Again…"
"So what are you gonna do?" Lucy wondered.
"I will fight!" Dark-haired Lucy declared. "Back then, in Tower of Paradise, after our resurrection we've absorbed the Demon's power. Since then, here, sitting in dark corner of our mind, I subconsciously was learning to use them, in case I'd have no choice but to return one day. And that time has come, I will no longer be hiding behind my imagined self (she meant Lucy)." Dark-haired Lucy looked at Leila, "I'm sorry, okā-san, but I am not a celestial spirit wizard. I'm going to walk my own path; I will fight, using my own methods!"
Lucy looked at her other self with saucer-wide eyes. "You… we… absorbed demon's powers?!"
"I understand how absurdly all that sounds, Lucy," Black-haired counterpart said, "But this is why my appearance changed… I'm afraid that magically-induced personality split is far beyond my understanding… I guess I'll be needing to consult Majutsushi [Magister] Bloodfallen-sama, after all. But one thing I do know for sure. I have to take back control over this body and let demon's power to repair the damage, or we both will die… and I'm afraid that no one will resurrect us this time."
Another minute of silence.
"All… alright…" Lucy finally mumbled. "Let's say it's true and you are actually the real me. But what will happen to Fairy Tail? Do they accept us like that?"
"I don't know," Black-haired Lucy admitted. "But I'm not afraid. If they won't accept the real me – there are many other guilds. In the end, joining Fairy Tail was your dream, not mine… Though, I'd like to stay, if possible. Maybe even the one with demon's hearth can find her place there…"
Suddenly, world of Lucy's subconsciousness began to fall apart.
"Seems that our time is up," Three-tailed Lucy said.
"Wait!" Lucy screamed as she realized one more thing, "If you're taking over, then what'll happen to me?!" Though, answer to that question came by itself as blonde-haired Lucy started to fade out, becoming half-transparent. "I… will… disappear…?" She whispered with blank eyes.
"Don't you worry…" Dark-haired Lucy said. "You won't disappear completely. Now, as I no longer need you to hide my lie… now when I'm ready to walk my own path… we will become a single whole once again…"
Lucy was about to cry, but… for some reason, she suddenly felt some tranquility. Right, she's not going to disappear – her consciousness, memories and feelings – all of that will re-merge with the rest of herself, the nekomata-like girl in front of her. Two of them will finally become the one whole, at long last. She suddenly felt as if she actually was waiting for that moment for a long time. "I… I understand…" Almost completely transpired Lucy smiled as she outstretched her arms, and her black-haired counterpart took them. "Good luck to you…" Blonde-haired Lucy whispered and completely disappeared, turning into golden dust, which flowed right into black-haired Lucy's hands and merged with her.
"Farewell, Lucy," Black-haired girl said, looking at her hands, which were still glowing with golden afterlight. "From now on… I am Luciferona!"
"Lucy-san!" Wendy cried as she saw Lucy being hit by the energy beam. She, Natsu and Carla appeared right at the moment when Angel shot into Lucy. Wendy and Carla tried to run for help, but suddenly, Natsu grabbed both of them, not letting them go.
"Hold on!" He ordered. "Something's going on…" Even Natsu wasn't sure what's happening exactly, but the moment Lucy disappeared under water he suddenly felt something familiar, linked to very dangerous events of recent past.
Angel felt Natsu's presence. She turned around and looked at him. Seemingly, she had no intentions to fight with god slayer right now, and she was looking for a way to retreat, but suddenly…
Bright violet flash lit up the water surface from below. One moment later, a large glowing sphere of violet light emerged from water and exploded, creating a massive shockwave. Angel was caught into shockwave and thrown towards the shore, where she crashed into big tree. As light perished, it revealed a woman standing in river. She was dressed into short black jeans and dark gray tank top. Her face was Lucy's, but her skin was a bit more tanned, she had very long jet-black hair and dark violet eyes. She had no ears and tails though. [Her appearance now was quite similar to that of Akeno Himejima from HS DxD]
"I am back… at last…" She said. Her voice sounded like Lucy's, but a bit differently. It has some high, iron notes. Girl climbed on boulder in the middle of the river and looked around. She noticed shocked Angel, then her sight fell on Natsu, Wendy and Carla.
"Natsu-san… what is going on?" Wendy asked in confusion, she and Carla seemed completely bewildered.
"Is… Is that Lucy?" White cat wondered. Natsu didn't reply anything, he was carefully observing situation, as that mysterious girl was looking straight at them.
"Ha… Haha… Hahahahaha…" Suddenly, Angel laughed hysterically. "You're too late!" She shouted, as she turned towards Natsu and pointed at him. "Look! She was consumed by Nirvana!" Angel stood up and made several steps towards new girl. "Come, Nirvana is calling! Let's…" Member of Oración Seis couldn't finish her phrase as black-haired girl created a sphere of dark-violet energy in her left hand and threw it into Angel.
Angel leaped aside, barely avoiding powerful electrical discharge. "Hey, what the hell are you…" Again, she couldn't finish her phrase, forced to avoid another dark-violet charge.
"I will collect my toll… in blood…," Black-haired girl said to Angel. Then she turned towards god slayer. "Magister Bloodfallen-sama," She said with slight bow, "I'm asking you to not interfere. I promise to explain everything, but you have to leave her to me, I shall punish her myself…"
Natsu didn't reply anything, he continued to observe the situation. Angel, on the other hand, was infuriated. "What did you say, bitch!?"
"Your blood will boil…" Luciferona's eyes flashed with dark violet light. She raised her arms to the sky, and shackles, made of dark violet energy appeared on her wrists, with torn-off chains attached to each shackle. Chain-like belt, made of the same dark violet energy, appeared on her waist. Finally, a collar, made of dark violet energy, appeared on Luciferona's neck. Collar and belt were connected by a single chain, stretching along girls' spine. And the last addition to her slightly changed appearance were cat-like ears and three cat-like, raven-black tails. "Sōko no Yumi [Azure Rift Bow], I summon thou!" She shouted and negative energy flashed in Luciferona's left hand, forming a large magical bow, six feet long – bigger than girl herself. It has semi-double bow ark, aggressive spiky design, and bowstring made of pure dark violet energy [A/N look in the footnotes to this chapter for reference picture].
Without saying anything, Luciferona aimed her bow at Angel and pulled a bowstring, creating an energy arrow. "Makeru no Kado!" [Negative Gate] She shot an arrow, as it flew forth for about thirty feet and 'blossomed' into power seal, about five meters in diameter. Seal 'opened', revealing some horrible demonic "face". "Face" opened its mouth and breathed out a powerful blast of negative energy. Everything happened within less than a second, energy blast was strong enough to devastate a large part of river's shore. Angel was caught into explosion and thrown into the river. However, while enemy was still in flight, Luciferona launched forth a chain, that was attached to the shackle on her right hand, still holding the bow with the left. Chain stretched out and wrapped itself around disoriented white-haired girl's neck. Then chain quickly shortened, pulling Angel to Luciferona. When enemy was close enough, jet-black haired girl sliced Angel's abdomen with one of bow's outstretched spikes.
"YUAAHHH!" Girl screamed as she got a laceration on her abdomen and, at the same time she was attacked with a strong discharge of negative energy as multiple void rifts mangled her skin. Blood spurted from her mouth and all over her body, as several ribs were broken. Force of discharge threw Angel into river.
As Wendy and Carla were watching that battle as entranced, Natsu was observing Luciferona's combat style. "Interesting… An archer-mage? That's rare…" He said. "It seems like a mix between ability type and holder type magic… She definitely used her ability type power to equip those… accessories. They're not sado-maso-like attributes, these chains and shackles are external power conductors, which she uses for her holder-type abilities. Same with her bow…" Natsu was explaining, though it doesn't seem like Wendy and Carla were listening at all…
And elemental nature of her attacks… Void – the most ephemeral of all ten elements, the opposition to Thunder. Thunder – the energy that, according to theory, created all life. If thunder is the yang energy in its most raging form, then void is its yin counterpart, the most volatile form of yin energy. And now that volatile void energy has been brought down on Angel, one ruthless attack after another.
Few moments later, Angel appeared above water surface, eliciting fountain of water. Definitely she wasn't done yet. She raised her right arm, "Come! Madness of the sands! Shadow Scorpio!" Then she raised left arm, "Come! Madness of sorrow! Shadow Aries!" Seemingly, despite Angel herself destroyed Shadow Aries earlier, she could create another shadow copy. "KILL HER!" Angel wailed hysterically.
Obeying her command, two shadow spirits prepared their magic. Scorpio and Aries simultaneously created two power seals, creating large amount of black send, and dark gray mass of wool-like substance, respectively. Two powers mixed with each other, creating a tornado-like stream (it was sort of a Unison Raid between two spirits), and that huge stream rushed towards Lucy.
"There are more… so many more…" Luciferona said silently. She raised her bow and it shot another energy arrow, right into the sky. As arrow reached the designated altitude, it quickly turned into huge power seal above Lucy, "Sanji no Me!" [Eye of Disaster] Power seal began to spin, quickly creating a dark-violet cloud around itself, not a thundercloud but a void cloud, which immediately began to shot down negative energy charges. Large violet energy balls, mixed with black, lighting-like discharges, it looked more like meteor shower. Of course, all that happened within a mere second, Luciferona's spell bombarded and completely obliterated dark spirits' attacking spell, as well as spirits themselves, vanquishing them and heavily altering the riverbed.
"Hmm… Her destructive power is of a top class, no doubts," Natsu commented dark Lucy's power, "But there's something strange about her spells… they look more like summons than direct invocations…"
While Angel was still in shock that her spirits were overwhelmed and destroyed so easily, Luciferona continued her attack. She shot another arrow, aiming right beneath Angel's feet, "Kyōfu no Tsubasa!" [Dread Wings]. Big power seal appeared right beneath the enemy, creating three dozen of big hellish purple butterflies, which began to swirl around Angel, ripping her flash with their wings.
"AAAUUUUUGH!" Angel's scream of agony could be heard for hundred yards away.
"Scream, scream louder… let pain purify you…" Luciferona again shot forth her chain, which elongated and wrapped itself around Angel, who was still attacked by hellish butterflies. Raven-haired girl sent a negative charge through thechain, once again harming Angel. White haired girl was wailing in agony.
"And it seems that this girl is an accomplished sadist…" Natsu noted to himself, though he wasn't blaming her. However, time was short so he wanted this girl to end her show. "Hey!" He called for a black-haired girl, "Majin-chan, our time is running out, we have a job to do. Finish her!"
"As you wish, magister," Luciferona released Angel from her chain as butterflies disappeared. She once again pulled the bowstring, creating another energy arrow, and shot into the water right in front of herself, "Shinryakusha no Yami!" [Dark Invader]. Huge power seal appeared right on river's surface. Like before, seal opened like some sort of a gate, and huge figure emerged from it. Figure was about fifty feet tall and looked like a dark violet, female fallen angel with ripped wings clad in void energy. In her arms she held huge scythe. Everything happened within a second – dark magical avatar swung her weapon and smashed heavily wounded Angel with tremendous force, eliciting powerful shockwave, huge wave of water, and sundering all surroundings, even forcing Natsu to use his magic to shield himself, Wendy and Carla from consequences of the impact. Big wave threw already defeated Angel into the air, as black-haired girl raised her bow once again, but this time she didn't create an energy arrow, but, seemingly, summoned an arrow made of the same black material as the bow itself.
"Oh, come on… You're kidding, right?" Natsu said as if he didn't want to believe his eyes, yet it was exactly what he was seeing.
"Hissatsu: Riu Nēru!" [Certain Kill: Rending Shot] As girl released the bowstring, the arrow flew forth, turning into high-caliber black-violet shell. Shell reached the target area and exploded, lighting up the dark skies, as Angel's body has been thrown away via the ballistic trajectory. Golden marks on her body, granted by Nirvana, were wiped out. Considering the amount of damage she has sustained – she's probably already dead, but even if she survived due to some miracle – she won't survive the fall from such an altitude in her current condition. In any case – right now there is no doubts – any threat, posed by Oración Seis member codenamed 'Angel', has been neutralized.
Natsu looked at black-haired girl, who just destroyed one of the 'revived' members of Oración Seis. She was walking towards the shore – her bow, chains and shackles already disappeared, just as her ears and tails. As she almost reached the ground she collapsed on all four – seemingly, damage that she suffered while still being Lucy, placed considerable burden on her. She managed to crawl out of river and leaned on tree trunk, which was uprooted by one of her own attacks.
Though it doesn't seem like she used her full power, with the exception of her last two attacks, which definitely were A-rank spell and the same ranked kill-shot, respectively, Natsu saw enough to evaluate girl's overall strength. She wasn't powerful enough to challenge him or Erza, however, girl's strength definitely could rival that of Mirajane or Gajeel. However, most interesting thing about this girl was that she definitely wasn't using Mahō [Magic] for her spells, she was using Jahō [Wicked Weave], the same type of power that Natsu was using with his now lost left arm.
Natsu approached black-haired girl and she raised her violet eyes to look at him. Wendy and Carla were hiding behind god slayer's back. "I guess I owe you some explanation, am I?" Luciferona asked.
"You think?" Natsu wondered with some faint irony. Natsu could see souls of living beings. And judging by her soul alone, that girl was 100% Lucy – it was the same soul as she has when they met for the first time. Also, this girl had Lucy's body and face features. She even, against all odds, retained Lucy's inborn attribute – abyss – the mix of darkness and void. However, her eyes now were amethyst-colored, she had completely different haircut and slightly different voice (though that may be just a side effect from her recent 'rebirth', and it may revert to normal). Her new spells set is a peculiar one – she uses darkness incantations to summon void constructs – i.e. she's still a summoner, but now she has more direct control over her summons. Also, it now perfectly fits her attribute. And those three tails and ears – they weren't visible right now but Natsu knew that those features are still there – this girl is simply hiding them via her powers.
"That should be an interested explanation, majin-chan…" Natsu noted, as the reason that girl was using Wicked Weave instead of Magic seemed more or less clear – it seems that this girl isn't a human but high ranked devil. And not like those fake devils made by Zeref, but the real one, Majin-class [魔神].
But that wasn't all about that girl. Natsu knew that when he saw those cat-like ears and three tails, and he became even more confident now, when he came closer and took a good look into girl's violet eyes…
"Majin-chan…" Girl smiled slightly. 'It seems I have to earn the right to be called by my name one more time…' She thought, though she wasn't discouraged. 'Well, then I guess I'll start with introduction,' She looked at god slayer. "Magister Bloodfallen-sama, pleased to meet you, my name is Luciferona…"
(With Gray, Lyon and Sherry)
"Aisu Meiku: Ēpu!" [Ice Make: Ape] Lyon shouted, creating a huge gorilla made of ice.
"Ningyōgeki: Rock Doll!" [Doll Attack: Rock Doll] Sherry made a golem made of rock, same thing she tried to use back then on Galuna island.
"Aisu Meiku: Aisu Hamā!" [Ice Make: Ice Hammer] Gray created huge hammer made of ice.
At the same time, all three were attacking Racer with their creations. Sundering blows were shaking surroundings, however, neither of three mages managed to hit Racer.
"Damn! I can't hit him!" Gray growled in frustration, Racer was easily maneuvering between their attacks.
"Calm down! He's at four o clock!" Lyon shouted. Racer just appeared on the right, and Lyon tried to predict enemy's movements. Sherry saw him and tried to hit him with her golem's fist, but at the last moment Racer abruptly turned to the left and avoided her attack.
"Darn!" Sherry exclaimed.
"Concentrate, every one!" Lyon shouted. "If we concentrate, we should be able to get him!" Suddenly, Lyon took off and threw away his coat.
"Concentrate, huh… Right!" Gray agreed as Fairy Tail's ice mage threw away his T-Shirt. "Let's do this, Lyon!"
"Fire on my signal! And don't hold back!" Lyon commanded.
'Why are they stripping?' Racer thought as he even slowed down for a moment.
'Why are they removing their clothes?!' Sherry's cheeks blushed as she saw two ice mages half naked.
"Now, fifty meters, straight ahead!" Lyon shouted
"Got him!" Gray prepared his magic.
"Aisu Meiku: Aisu Gaizā!" [Ice Make: Ice Geyser]
"Aisu Meiku: Sunō Doragon!" [Ice Make: Snow Dragon]
Gray created massive mountain with immense speed, as huge ice dragon curled around it. Speed of their spell was astonishing, but… moving like a flash, Racer avoided both ice geyser and Ice dragon's fangs.
"Whaaa?!" Gray seemed shocked.
"He just got even faster?!" Sherry screamed in panic.
However, eyeing Racer's running, despite also being shocked, Lyon suddenly noticed something, as his sight fell on birds flying afar. They also were flying with astonishing speed.
"Over here!" Racer suddenly attacked both Ice mages from behind, sending them flying into different directions.
"UGH!" "GAH!" They screamed as they crashed onto the ground. While they were flying, Racer ran around them twice. Smash! Racer ran towards Sherry and climbed on her stone doll.
"Augh!" Girl screamed as she got a hit into her abdomen, she was thrown out of her stone golem and doll crumbled. "Ough…" She moaned as she fell on the ground. 'So strong… So this is one of the Oración seis…' Sherry thought trembling, trying to get up. 'No!' She suddenly remembered, 'Mirajane-san defeated him almost effortlessly! Does that mean… that… it is not he who's strong…but we are just that weak!? Three of us can't defeat him alone!' And that was dangerous thoughts… under that black light from Nirvana…
"Damn…" "Shit…" Lyon and Gray slowly were standing up.
"You punks couldn't hit me if you spent your whole lives trying," Racer sneered. "I got my magic empowered by Nirvana so I could defeat that bitch that humiliated me…" Racer's defeat from Mirajane's hands seemed to be really humiliating for him. "But for the likes of you… I don't need this additional power. None of you can keep up with my speed, I'll kill all of you using my own powers."
Racer looked towards pillar of black light. "Nirvana will emerge soon. Then… it's time to finish you off… maybe after that I'll have a chance to kill that demon… if Cobra haven't finished her off already…"
"What did you say…" Gray clenched his teeth angrily. "Don't even think about touching Mira again, I will…" Suddenly, Lyon placed his hand on Gray's shoulder.
"Calm down, Gray," Elder pupil said. "Listen to me…" Lyon glared at Racer darkly, "…I have found his weakness." Lyon leaned towards Gray and began to explain something in whisper.
"Hmm?" Racer narrowed his eyes.
"What?!" Gray's eyes widened in surprise.
"You heard me…" Lyon said quietly. Then, suddenly, he shouted loudly "So I don't need you!" Saying that, Lyon encased Gray into ice, which grew into extremely high pillar, uplifting Gray on the very top of it.
"Lyon! What are you…!" Gray screamed but Lyon just ignored him.
"You just stay there and watch!" Lyon announced.
"Lyon-sama, what are you doing?!" Sherry screamed in shock.
"Fighting among themselves?" Racer asked as he watched Gray being encased into the ice.
"Don't get me wrong, okay?" Lyon said casually. "I'm not this guy's pal or anything. We just happened to study under the same master," Lyon smiled boldly, "That's all."
"But… Lyon-sama…" Sherry mumbled uncertainly… "Why do you…"
"No complaining, Sherry!" Lyon shouted. "Lamia Scale is taking the glory here! C'mon, let's do this together!" White-haired boy seemed quite confident.
"Of… Of course!" Sherry exclaimed, seemingly word "together", said by Lyon, highly motivated her.
"Dear… dear…" Racer sighed. "Your overconfidence is about to lose you this battle!" He dashed forth towards Sherry and Lyon. "Though no matter… It is not like you had any chance in the first place!"
"Ningyōgeki: Uddo Dōru!" [Doll Attack: Wood Doll] Sherry used her magic to enliven one of Worth woodsea's corrupted trees, making horrible wooded golem. "Get him!" She ordered her doll to smash the enemy.
"Ha! Too slow!" Racer easily avoided doll's attack and smashed his right arm into Sherry's chest, sending her crashing into her own doll.
"Aauugh!" Girl screamed as she got hit, she smashed into her doll and made a hole in it with her own body. Due to force of the blow, she collapsed an all four and almost lost consciousness. Her wooden doll crumbled.
Lyon, however, continued to ran, ignoring that what just happened to his comrade, for some reason he tried to provoke Racer to chase him. "Hey, over there!" Lyon called for an enemy mage.
"Slow! Slow! Slow!" Racer shouted, chasing for Ice mage. When he almost caught up, Lyon turned to him.
"Your fatal weakness is that you have practically no offensive ability!" Ice mage proclaimed. "It doesn't matter how fast you are if you don't have the power to take your opponent down!" As he shouted this, Lyon took his casting stance, "Aisu Meiku: Hejjihoggu!" [Ice make: Hedgehog] With this spell, Lyon surrounded his entire body with hundreds of ice spikes.
"Wha…?!" Racer suddenly stopped right in front of Lyon. Indeed, if he'll try to hit him directly right now, he will just wound himself.
Lyon continued to run away. "What's wrong? Use your speed you're so proud of and come and get me!" Ice mage smirked, still running. "Maybe it's time to show me that vaunted new power that Nirvana bestowed upon you?!"
"Hah!" Racer snorted. "I already told you – I don't need Nirvana's power to defeat the likes of you! I haven't showed you the limit of my own power yet! "Gia Chenji: Reddo Zōn!" [Gear change: Red Zone] For a second, red magic seal appeared beneath Racer's feet and his body was glowing with red aura. After that, he dashed after Lyon with at least doubled speed.
"Wha…?!" Lyon was shocked as within a few moments all his ice spikes were destroyed. Racer was moving so fast that he could easily broke all spikes from the safe angle. Then Racer made some distance between himself and Lyon, and charged at Ice mage with full speed.
"GUAAAH!" Lyon received devastating blow into his abdomen, and flew forth head over heels, spitting with blood.
"You really thought I'd use my full power from the get-go against nobodies like you?" Racer smiled evilly. "I'm saving my power for fight against your leaders! And you… you all just need to die!" Lyon tried to stand up but Racer chased after him and kicked him with devastating blow, "Where do you think you're going?!"
"OUGH!" Lyon screamed again as he crashed into tree. Yet again, he tried to stand up…
"Lyon… sama…" Sherry whispered. She was very worried and wanted to help, but she was barely conscious and couldn't even stand up.
Lyon again stood up and tried to run away from enemy, but to no avail. "Aww… C'mon! What happened to all that attitude of yours?!" Racer laughed, as he smashed his fist into Lyon's face.
"Ugh!" "Augh!" "Gah!" Lyon only could scream as Racer continued to beat him, though after every blow Lyon was standing up and trying to run away.
"How far is he going to take this?!" Sherry was close to panic, she couldn't stand seeing that one-sided beating.
"GUUUAH!" Lyon screamed loudly, spitting with blood again, as he got especially powerful blow. He flew forth and crashed into a big tree, almost losing his consciousness. Racer stopped running, approached Lyon, took out a small knife and pointed it at ice mage's throat.
"You said that I don't have the power to take my opponent down?" Racer asked with dark face expression. "All that I need to kill my enemy is a simple knife." Knife's edge was less than inch away from Lyon's throat. "With the speed I possess, I can slice your throat open before you have a single chance to cast a single spell." Racer looked up, "I agree, that bitch humiliated me by surpassing my speed, but I was simply unprepared. Too bad I won't be able to have a rematch with her, most likely she's already dead. But for you… Look, it's nice to be able to get hot-headed and overconfident at your age, but you picked the wrong opponent…"
"Agh… ugh…" Lyon was breathing heavily.
"I am an Oración Seis. Six demons. Six prayers. Six that were chosen by Nirvana to carry its will. Those who seek to disturb our plans… find only death…"
But suddenly, Lyon smiled. "I knew it…" He said. Racer seemed surprised. Lyon explained, "When I saw those birds in the distance flying at an incredible speed… I got the feeling… I've figured out the secret of your magic…"
"What?!" Racer really seemed surprised and even confused a bit.
"I agree, Mirajane-san is an astonishing mage. But she defeated you simply using brute force, or rather, sheer speed. But I understand now… your magic doesn't allow you to increase your own speed at all. It slows down the sensation of time for your opponent… or rather, for everyone within a specific radius. In other words… all you've been doing is slowing me down…" Despite his injuries, Lyon seemed victorious. "And since your magic range is limited, the moment someone sees you from outside that range… all your speed is stolen away!"
At that moment, Racer realized everything. He turned towards the ice pillar that Lyon made to 'rid of Gray'. Fairy Tail mage was long ago freed from ice, and stood with huge bow made of ice, ready to shoot.
"Wha...?" Racer yelled, "You… you separated me from him on purpose, so that…!?"
"Suddenly, all looks crystal clear," Gray said, targeting the enemy.
"But from that outrageous distance! He can't possibly hit me!" Racer seemed shocked.
"He will…" Lyon smiled. "When the members of Fairy Tail are trying to accomplish something they really care about… they're unstoppable!"
At that moment Gray released the huge ice arrow, filled with huge magical energy. But suddenly…
"NOO!" Racer shouted as golden marks on his neck began to glow. At that moment, the ice arrow, that was flying at tremendous speed, drastically slowed down, now its velocity was just about five feet per second. Racer ran towards approaching arrow, and simply pushed it aside, easily altering its trajectory. Now magical arrow was heading somewhere into the forest. Staying far away, atop of the ice pillar, Gray couldn't comprehend what happened. Lyon also was shocked.
Racer turned back to Lyon, and now his face expression was really angry. "You…" He growled. "To think that because of the likes of you I had to use Nirvana's powers… Yes, you correctly guessed how my own magic works, but now… with Nirvana's magic… I can actually slow down everything I want within my radius. Humans, objects, spells, even time itself!"
Lyon gulped… he was completely worn out and wasn't prepared for that. Racer, on the other hand, now seemed completely serious…
"It's time to end this," Racer said. "And now I don't even need this," He threw away his knife. "To kill you, I'll simply slow down everything around myself, including you, and then I'll hit you in the head. Difference between our speeds will be so big that my simple kick will tear off your head!" And seemingly Racer has no more desire to play around.
Everything happened like in a flash. Lyon saw how dark yellow light engulfed enemy's body and Racer began to accelerate. His leg flashed like a dark yellow lightning… than he saw another flash, something glinted right in front of his eyes… a metallic glitter. A splash of blood covered Lyon's sight… 'So much blood… is it my blood…' His thoughts were so slow, almost everything in front of him was red, '…or not… I still can think… wait… it's not blood… it is… hair… so long and so beautiful… a whirlwind of hair, as scarlet as blood… and these two silver lights… they're eyes… the eyes of an Angel, a real one…'
Suddenly, time's flow returned to normal. Lyon raised his eyes. He saw Racer's leg, which froze in about an inch away from his head. On Racer's body was a burned wound, from his right collarbone to his left upper hip. Actually, Racer was just sliced in half. Near him stood a girl, with shining silver eyes and long, beautiful scarlet hair. In her right hand she held bastard sword – Astrum. Racer's body fell on the ground, his upper-right body half rolled aside for about one meter. Since sword's blade was engulfed with plasma, wound was burned so there was no blood. Racer's eyes remained opened and his face expression was so shocked…
"You're okay?" Sin asked as he came closer to Lyon. Ice mage was deeply shocked so he just barely nodded.
"Good," Erza nodded as she examined Lyon's body with her shining silver eyes. She turned around and looked at Racer's sliced corpse. She leaned to Racer's face and closed his eyes. "That's all I can do for you. You and your accomplices have gone too far, I won't allow anyone to hurt my comrades," Silver-eyed dragon slayer declared as her sword disappeared into her magical space. Seeing that Oración Seis member definitely tried to kill Lyon, Erza didn't hesitate and attacked with full force.
Titania turned back to Lyon, seemingly she wanted to ask something, but suddenly, ground began to shake as dark light began to fade out. Nirvana has awoken…
Footnotes:
www_deviantart_com/art/Calibration-ready-202956738 – use this picture as reference to Luciferona's weapon, replace "_" with "."
Spell List:
Metsuryū Madōshi – Dragon Slayer
Senmei Saikō – Sure-kill Shot
Seirei – Stellar Spirit
Kyōrei – Spirit of Madness
Seireikai – Celestial Spirit World
Mahō – Magic
Jahō – Wicked Weave
Ebiru Ekusupurōjon – Evil Explosion
Dākunesu Sutorīmu – Darkness Stream
Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo – Ice Make: Shield
Aisu Meiku: Īguru – Ice Make: Eagles
Sōkyūrai no Yumi – Azure Thunder Bow
Makeru no Kado – Negative Gate
Sanji no Me – Eye of Disaster
Kyōfu no Tsubasa – Dread Wings
Shinryakusha no Yami – Dark Invader
Hissatsu: Riu Nēru – Certain Kill: Rending Shot
Aisu Meiku: Ranpādo – Ice Make: Rampart
Aisu Meiku: Aisu Hamā – Ice Make: Ice Hammer
Aisu Meiku: Aisu Gaizā – Ice Make: Ice Geyser
Aisu Meiku: Ēpu – Ice Make: Ape
Aisu Meiku: Sunō Doragon – Ice Make: Snow Dragon
Aisu Meiku: Hejjihoggu – Ice make: Hedgehog
Ningyōgeki: Rock Doll – Doll Attack: Rock Doll
Ningyōgeki: Uddo Dōru – Doll Attack: Wood Doll
Gia Chenji: Reddo Zōn – Gear change: Red Zone
And that is it for chapter 28. Now, as I promised, current ranking among Fairy Tail members.
1st: Makarov
2nd: Gildarts
3rd: Laxus
[A/N: He was defeated recently, but that wasn't a completely fair one-on-one battle, besides, Natsu lost some of his power in that battle, so by now Laxus is still 3rd]
4th: Erza
5th: Natsu
[A/N: Sorry to say it, but that's how it is now, due to aforementioned reason. They're pretty close to each other, but Erza is stronger now, since she now has access to kill-shots, as Natsu's ability to perform them weakened, due to arm loss. Also, his most advanced spells also became weaker a bit, due to same reason. But don't worry, it's not the final ranking of the current arc]
5th: Mirajane
6th: Mystogan
7th: Gajeel
8th: Luciferona
[Numbers 5 through 8 also actually almost equal, you can place them in random order (I've placed them according to their age)]
9th: Gray
10th: Freed
11th: Juvia
12th: Bickslow
13th: Evergreen
14th: Elfman
15th: Cana
And that's how it is right now. But things will change again soon.
Next chapter also will be dedicated to preparations before the main showdown. See you soon, people.