Alright, at long last – here it is people – the new chapter. It's been a while, to say the least, but, as I told before – story isn't dead.
Few notes before we begin:
1. I don't know about you people, but me – Fairy Tail manga, as it is now, it's just driving me nuts. One cliché after another… This is one of the reasons why it's difficult to write.
2. Second. Though I stopped reading it regularly after Sun Village arc, I'm aware about how FT ended, more or less, and this is the main reason why I've stopped writing this story for a while – I was thinking what to do with all that mess.
3. Third. After almost two years of thinking I came up with this – during last several months I've partially rewrote and updated all chapters of my story. The main goal I wanted to achieve – to completely 'untie' Natsu from Zeref. For example, just as many people were suggesting, I changed his last name but that's not the only change. Second goal was to make Natsu more 'solid': while I was writing my story, Natsu's character has changed a lot, and, honestly, without clearly visible reasons. As a result, almost every conversation with Natsu's involvement was rewritten, as well as many of his decisions, so Natsu from chapter I and Natsu from chapter XXVIII would no longer have looked like two different persons.
4. Fourth. The last goal was to diversify Natsu's and Erza's combat styles. Every fight with their involvement has been rewritten and/or expanded with new spells, as well as several other scenes (like one with Nelliel's trap).
Summarizing everything aforesaid – about 25% of the story has been rewritten, especially early chapters (I – XX). Was it good or bad thing to do is another thing, but I had to do this, that's for sure. Is it enough to re-read the entire story from the beginning – that I cannot say, not that its general content has changed a lot, it's up to you to decide. But if you don't want to be confused with some remarks (for example – why Erza has no Nakagami Armor) – I'd suggest to re-read ;-).
Now, something else I want to write – my plans for nearest future.
Okay, probably most of you won't like to hear it, but I'm not going to focus fully on this story, I'm intending to continue writing my "Butterfly Effect" story as well (Infinite Stratos franchise). My goal is to catch up to canon (its translated part, at least), that shouldn't take long as I'm already at the end of chapter VI (only nine were translated until now).
After that I'm gonna focus on Heir of the Exiled. About my other stories, like BotSD… I don't know what to do with them as current Fairy Tail development has ruined all my plans.
Well, this is probably all that I wanted to say for now, and again, story isn't dead. Still, Fairy Tail turned into a complete mess, but at least I don't have to rewrite anything all over to 'untie' Erza from Irene. More likely – regarding my story – this is what I would call an irony of faith...
Oh, yeah... Acnologia is the dragon of magic... /facepalm.
By the way, whilst I was rewriting combat scenes, I've introduced conception of spell ranking, so I think I should probably give some explanation. I know that, theoretically, the best solution would be to name the rank for every spell used, but I'm just too lazy to do it for more than 200 spells, so I'll just name a few examples from Natsu and Erza's arsenal, you can use them as references to guess the rank of other spells used. Here we go:
Senjin no Saiken – War God's Crushing Fist – Simplest of Natsu's basic spells, enough to destroy typical house's wall – E-rank. Spells weaker than this one are F-ranked and doesn't even worth of being mentioned here.
Seiryū no Yokusen – Star Dragon's Wing Flash – a bit more advanced than previous, but still basic Erza's spell, strong enough to completely destroy typical townhouse – D-rang.
Senjin no Yōshihō – War God's Proton Cannon – one of Natsu's standard spells, capable of destroying six – seven typical houses in a row with one attack – C-rank.
Seiryū no Keishō – Star Dragon's Comet – more advanced Erza's standard spell, strong enough to blow up about twenty townhouses if they're caught in explosion radius – B-rank.
Metsujin Ōgi: Ketsusei Manjinyō – God Slayer's Secret Art: Blood Star: Ten Thousand Blades Dance & Metsuryū Ōgi: Tengoku Shōgiken – Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Heaven's Kingdom: Sword of Justice – Natsu and Erza's (respectively) expert-level spells. Considering their current power level (Nirvana's arc) they are strong enough to one-shot mediocre Zeref's devil (like Lullaby) – both are A-rank spells.
Seiryū no Kōhaisoku – Star Dragon's Devastating Breath – 'Roar'-type attack, empowered by 'Dragon Force' mode – B-rank.
Metsujin Ōgi "Shitsuyō Totsugeki" Ketsusei Ryōkōken – God Slayer's Secret Art: Relentless Assault: Blood Star: Phantom Queen Sword & Metsuryū Ōgi: Kitamune Hikari: Tengoku Rakugesei – Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Aurora Borealis: Heaven's Kingdom: Falling Star – Natsu and Erza's (respectively) master-level spells, strong enough to fight even the most powerful enemies – S-rank. Requires 'Avatar' or 'Dragon Force' mode to execute, for now.
Eru Auera: Warifumi no Keishō – El Auela: Runic Crystal – Erza's master-level runic magic. When executed at full power (in 'Dragon Force' mode) this rune is capable of annihilating Magnolia-sized town. Town's center will be incinerated by rune itself, resulting shockwave will do the rest – S-rank.
Now, another thing that was introduced in renewed story – 必殺 – Certain Kill class techniques. Their distinctive difference from spells – they are magically empowered physical attacks, as such – anti-magic countermeasures are ineffective against them. Only certain types of mages can perform them (requires advanced magic school), and only those who possesses appropriate equipment. By now – only four characters (at least among those who were introduced) are capable of performing that class of attacks.
Few examples:
Senmei Saikō: Shinyōbu – Sure-kill Shot: Mystic Dance – Natsu's 'weakest' Certain Kill-class attack. Even being weakest it's still a D-rank technique, which is potentially deadly to low-class mage or monster, because power, capable of destroying a typical townhouse is concentrated within a dozen of fulminant strikes of very sharp blade.
Senmei Saikō: Chiretsusan – Sure-kill Shot: Ground Deathblow – Generates concentrated, cumulative, directional shockwave, which is capable of tearing a wounded mid-ranked Zeref's devil in half, B-rank.
Senmei Saikō: Jūrokuya: Kiru – Sure-kill Shot: Sixteen Nights: Murder – C-rank technique, which uses enough mana to perform C-ranked spell, channeled into sword and concentrated into one, decisive blow.
Senmei Saikō: Jūrokuya: Yabu – Sure-kill Shot: Sixteen Nights: Devastate – S-rank technique, capable of destroying even the most powerful enemies.
Now, just for comparison, I'll name ranks for a few non-slayers' spells:
Wakaba's Smoke Crush, Macao's Purple Net, Laki's Wood Make: Violent Approach – these are good examples of spells capable of something, but mage of Natsu's level can disperse them with mere wave of his hand, so in real battle they are just good-for-nothing F-ranked spells.
Mirajane's Soul Extinction is a good example of non-slayers B-ranked spell.
Hōritsu – The Law – and its modifications – Fairy Law & Grimoire Law are S-rank spells.
And so on and so forth. And one last thing – World Reconstruction Magic: Universe One is a maximum-ranked, M-rank spell.
Well, this is all I wanted to say for now. Sorry, but there will be no review answer section this time – there are just too many of them. I hope I'll be able to answer your questions in next chapter, I don't think it'll take another two years to write chapter XXX…
Chapter XXIX – Sacred Spark
…
December 11, X784, 18:45, Worth Woodsea's depths.
(With Natsu, Wendy, Carla and former Lucy)
"Magister Bloodfallen-sama, pleased to meet you, my name is Luciferona…" Black-haired devil introduced herself.
"That's a long name…" Natsu slightly shook his head. "Alright, Lu… Rona, let's hear your story." [Rōna (狼娜) means 'graceful wolf'] "And since we're short on time – try to expound only main facts," God slayer added.
"As you wish, magister," Jet-black haired girl nodded and started her tale.
Luciferona explained everything as quickly yet minutely as she could, including her contradictive thoughts about her wish to become Leila's heiress as a celestial spirit wizard. She held nothing – she knew that it is very important to persuade this man (i.e. alliance commander) that she isn't some imposer (though 'imposing' isn't possible in front of those crimson eyes). Also, it was important to prove that she's still on alliance side, she's still determined to complete their mission, and that she didn't simply go nuts.
"Well, that actually explains a lot," Natsu concluded, as he heard Luciferona's story to the end. He remembered that Lucy's body seemed somehow wrong after she was resurrected. It seems that, when Natsu and Erza accidentally re-used R-system to bring Lucy back to life, not just her personality but also her body was split in half, as if to match her personality split. That's also explainable – R-system was constructed by Jellal to resurrect a demon, after all. So, girl's 'imagined self' – Lucy – retained human's body. On the other hand, her 'real self', the one who now calls herself Luciferona, apparently, got the body of a devil [魔神 – Majin], which was slumbering in some sort of space-compressed pocket inside Lucy's body, making it to look 'wrong'. But now, when Lucy merged with Luciferona, her human's body lost its means of existing and simply disappeared, as majin was released and took her place. Or at least that was Natsu's theory.
And all that also explained why Lucy's smell changed, as Erza mentioned it right after she was resurrected, and why guild crest's color has changed. By the way, about guild crest – this time she didn't lose it, it was at the same place where it was on Lucy's body, and of the same color – dark violet crest on her right hip, about nine inches above knee joint. That was strange, but seemingly, guild crest was somehow transferred from one body to another (probably when two girls merged into one), and Natsu couldn't understand how exactly it happened, but that definitely was quite a fortunate turn of events, as it will make convincing others that this girl is still Lucy a bit easier.
"Alright, that works for me," Natsu decided as he gave his hand to the girl to help her stand up.
"Thank you," Girl bowed elegantly, giving one more little proof that, less than hour ago, she was Lucy, who was raised as a genuine Ojō-sama (by the way, Luciferona's moves seemed much more refined than those of Lucy as she wasn't pretending that she's a commoner).
"Hey, wait, wait, wait!" Carla shouted. This entire time while Luciferona was explaining the situation, she and Wendy were hiding behind Natsu's back, not knowing what to say, but seemingly, white kitty gathered a few thoughts. "What you mean 'it works for you'?! She's a demon! She said it herself, and you're okay with that?!"
"What's wrong with being a demon?" Natsu asked, making she-cat's jaw to fall on the ground. "Five months ago, we were on island with entire village inhabited by demons. They were low-ranked, but that doesn't change the gist, besides, they were our clients. Moreover, quite a lot of Okā-sama's servants were devils of different kinds, and they were, and probably still are, serving faithfully, I grew up among them," Son of Morrigan aka the 'Great Dark Queen', reminded. "If each time when you hear a word 'devil' you're imagining that trash, made by Zeref, then there is a problem with your erudition and narrowness of your way of thinking, and nothing more."
That was a nail in the coffin, as sharp-tongued Carla never suffered so crashing defeat in a verbal duel. And while the white she-cat was steaming with anger, not knowing what to say, Wendy sniffed the air, "Luciferona-san smells just like Lucy-san…" Sky dragon slayer concluded.
"But of course," Natsu nodded, that was expected. "However," He turned to Luciferona, "You will be watched for some time, I expect your understanding in that matter, just in case…"
"You want to make sure that I won't be driven insane by demonic power?" Black-haired girl asked.
"In particular," Natsu confirmed, "Unprepared human consciousness may become messy. There's actually a special term for that – 'enravishment' – it describes situation when someone inherits some ancient, powerful bloodline and becomes too carried away due to its power, to the point of losing sanity. Though, you were preparing for a few months, I'd like to make sure that it was enough. And, by the way, don't go announcing to everyone left and right that you've 'born anew', stick with the idea of magic-induced transformation. Aside from me, my spouse and Gajeel, no one in our guild will be able to notice the difference, even Makarov… though, we probably shall notify him. As for the others – your decision to change haircut and eye color via magic is none of their business. You saw yourself what happens when commoners learn the truth about your nature," God slayer added, nodding towards Carla, who felt another surge of anger as she now was used as a 'bad example'. "And hold off calling yourself by your new name for now, we'll find a good excuse as to why you decided to change it a bit later," Natsu added.
"I understand, magister," Luciferona just nodded. "By the way, since you already saw a lot of devils… maybe you can say what kind of devil I am now?"
Natsu was a bit surprised, "You can use A-ranked abilities, but you don't know what are you now?"
"I'm sorry," She replied with apologizing tone, "There are still a lot of things that I do not understand…"
Natsu remembered that, when Erza just got her Star Dragon Slayer's powers, she also could use them, even without basic understanding how it actually works. Here's probably the same situation. "Well, according to that what I saw by now, your sub-type is Waima (歪魔) – 'Warped Devil'. Pretty rare kind, I have to say, as your main ability – space distortion, so instead of direct invocations you're 'summoning' your magic, distorting it into different shapes. By the way," Natsu remembered about something, "About that bow of yours – you have no idea how and from where you got it, right?"
Luciferona shook her head, "I'm sorry," She apologized again.
'Great,' Natsu thought. 'To find new swords for Erza we've spent three months, traveling all over this continent, and a huge pile of money, and after that we had to sacrifice an invaluable historical place. But that freeloader just thought 'I want a nice bow' and got it… at least it seems so…' Honestly, there was a lot of possibilities as to how and from where exactly Luciferona summoned her weapon, but God slayer was unwilling to think about that now.
"You don't want to ask about your ears and tails?" Natsu looked at her with his right eye closed.
"Ah…" Luciferona sighed as she actually showed somehow embarrassed face expression, "I'm already feeling myself like a fool, so asking more weird questions…"
"No, actually not asking important questions is foolishness," Natsu cut her off, "And that is really important, because, as it seems to me, you've partly inherited some features from the beast, whose body was used to resurrect you."
Initially, Natsu thought that those ears and tails are just a side effect of her new magic and she attains them, releasing her full power. But as he continued to watch over girl's battle, he realized that his initial idea was a wrong one, because, in particular, Luciferona's magic has nothing to do with cats or necomatas. As such it probably means that she inherited some bloodline and that changed her body permanently. And Natsu became even more confident about that when he looked into girl's dark-violet eyes – her pupils weren't cat-like – they were round, which is a characteristic of large cats, tigers in particular. Her ears contours are too smooth for a cat, either. Besides, she has three tails, not two, like bakenekos, nekomatas and other related beastmen tribes' members. And all that gave Natsu an idea – Luciferona actually inherited the bloodline of Procellion's original tribe – Snow Sacred Tiger – a powerful bloodline indeed. Of course, the detailed conversation will take many hours, so it should be postponed, but Natsu decided to tell her very basics right now. 'Really now… warped devil that inherited a powerful magical beast's bloodline… it should be quite interesting to observe how she'll grow…' God slayer thought.
"We'll have detailed conversation later, but now I'd like to note that you probably should not hide those features," Natsu said as he looked at the black-haired girl.
"Really?" Girl asked in slight surprise.
"In our world of magic, when wizard is learning some new magic types, it sometimes can change his or her body," Natsu replied. "It's not common but there's nothing special about it, either. You've decided to learn new magic type, and it slightly changed your appearance, there's no need to hide it. Even one of former members of magic council experienced that, if I remember correctly (Natsu meant former councilor Michello). On the other hand, if you're hiding them – people will think that you actually have something to hide…"
"I understand, magister," Luciferona nodded in sign that she agreed with Natsu's reasonings as her ears and all three tails appeared from thin air. Those fluffy and cute, tiger-like ears on girl's head quickly captured Wendy's attention.
"That's better," God slayer nodded. "By the way," Natsu said as he turned towards forest on the other side of the river, "You're still hiding there for what reason? Come over here already," He called for someone.
Two or three seconds later, with bright green flash, Nelliel appeared fifteen feet away from Natsu, as Wendy almost jumped from unexpectedness – seemingly her eyes haven't evolved enough to see in infra-red specter so she couldn't see the dream dragon slayer while she was invisible. Nelliel was delayed by dark guild, so she only arrived here just in time to hear Luciferona's question 'what kind of devil I am now?'. And of course, she got a few questions, to put it mildly. "Well, care to explain – what the hell is going on here?" She asked as her hazel-colored eyes were focused at 'new' Lucy.
But no one managed to say anything, as, suddenly, ground began to shake as pillar of black light began to fade out. Nirvana has awoken…
"It seems our time is up…" Natsu said, looking at disappearing black light. "We'll talk on the way, where's Jura-san?"
"We were separated when blonde fell into the river. I went to look for her and Jura-san stayed to fight one of Oración Seis members… wait!" Nelliel interrupted herself, "Who is this!?" She asked, pointing at black-haired girl with Lucy's face and smell.
"I told you – we'll speak on our way, we need to find Jura-san quickly, let's go!" And Natsu started to run along the river's upstream, pulling Wendy along. Luciferona followed him.
"Hey! Wait!" Carla shouted but she was ignored, so she had no choice but to follow Natsu and Wendy. And, naturally, Nelliel also was out of options…
About fifteen minutes earlier
(With Hibiki)
Boom! An explosion uprooted several trees as severely beaten Hibiki fell on the ground. "It… cannot be… with one attack…" Blue Pegasus mage croaked, unable to move.
"What is wrong with you?" Disappointed voice asked as Midnight appeared from the wood. He looked just as he was before, only his eyes now were glowing with golden light. "You're so weak… Are you even a mage?" He asked, approaching already defeated Hibiki. "Ah, that doesn't matter in the end… I have my orders…" He said darkly.
(With Ichiya)
In the meantime, while dramatic battles were raging across all of the Worth Woodsea, under the creepy light of Nirvana, Ichiya was captured by the dark mages, once again proving that he's an idiot. Relatively small dark guild, with about only twenty-five members, managed to caught him effortlessly. He was thrown away pretty far when Nirvana's light emerged, and, despite he survived the fall – he was knocked out. When he finally regained consciousness, he found himself carried somewhere by four men, with his hands and legs tied to the wooden balk, as if he's a pig, prepared to be roasted.
"So, I will forgive you… but only this time… be thankful for that you all are alive, kids…" Ichiya said with "dandy's" voice, despite the signs of pretty rough beating on his face "…so please… let me go!" He begged plaintively.
"Shout your mouth, old fart," One of those who was carrying Ichiya replied with annoyed voice.
"I'm only twenty-nine years old!" Ichiya exclaimed resentfully.
"Enough of this, you fool," Another man barked.
"Alright, so you really want it…" Ichiya said, again with "dandy's' voice, "Then I'm not going to joke around anymore! Let's fight fair and square – one on one!" He demanded. "You, youngsters…"
In reply, he only heard annoyed sighs.
"It seems I've underestimated you," Ichiya continued, ignoring the fact that no one interested in his speeches. "Well, when kids are against me, I simply can't go all out. Experienced hawk hides his talons…"
"Shut up, moron!" Entire guild shouted at him in chorus.
"Why the hell we're carrying him in the first place?" One of dark mages asked in annoyance.
"Let's get rid of him," Another one suggested.
"You all should listen to your superiors!" Ichiya reminded with sententious voice.
"Angel-sama's magic was interrupted," One of dark guild members reminded.
"Ah, you mean that doppelganger that she was using?" Another one asked.
"Yeah, it seems something went wrong," First one replied. "So, boss ordered to bring anyone of those guys for questioning."
"Alright… Let's go quickly then," Third dark mage said.
"Meeehnn…" Ichia called for help weakly.
(With Eve)
At the same time, somewhere else, Eve was running and jumping between the woods, dodging enemy's magic. "Howaito Fyuri!" [White Fury] Without stopping, Eve extended his right arm forward, with his hand open, and then placed his left hand on his right forearm. This prompted a medium-sized snowstorm to be generated from his right palm, which he aimed at the enemy. Without even looking back to see – did he manage to hit the target or not, Eve continued to run. After making several more steps he turned around and shot his spell one more time, then turned around again and continued to run.
However, two seconds later, some invisible force struck him, and Eve flew forth head over hills, eliciting a cloud of dust. As he stopped, he was lying in dust, face down, as Midnight stood right behind him. "The hunt continues…" The member of Oración Seis said calmly, lowering his arm.
"Who… is this guy…" Eve mumbled with trembling voice. "My magic… didn't hit him at all…" Blonde guy's eyes were filled with horror.
"Huh? Still alive…?" Midnight asked, eyeing the trembling member of Blue Pegasus guild with his glowing eyes.
"YUAAAGH!" Eve's scream could be heard for hundreds of feet away.
"Don't expect mercy from me…" Midnight said darkly.
(With Mirajane)
"Hah… hah… hah…" Mirajane was breathing heavily, looking at her opponent, who already seemed victorious. She sustained a lot of damage and her manapool was already half-dry. Her enemy, on the other hand, was completely healthy and ready to continue the battle.
Unfortunately, everything was happening just as Natsu has foreseen.
Remembering her reckless fight against Ikaruga, Mira was acting carefully, trying to not expose herself, and using defensive tactics – avoiding Cobra's sonic attacks (power, bestowed upon him by Nirvana) and waiting for an opening. That was her first mistake as enemy started this fight very aggressively, attacking her continuously, shooting spells hit and miss. Cobra also got his naturally enhanced reflexes further 'upgraded' by Nirvana.
Mirajane thought that it plays in her favor as sooner or later he'll spent all his mana. But that appeared to be a vain hope as Cobra's flying snake, Cubellios, exhaled the cloud of poison, which Cobra consumed, finally revealing his last secret – that he's a Doku no Metsuryū Madōshi [Poison Dragon Slayer], the secret, about which even Natsu wasn't aware of. As Cobra said that he is no longer needs to hide it, he continued to attack Mirajane with doubled aggression, now using his entire arsenal of magic – sonic shells and Poison Dragon Slayer's spells.
And, as if aforementioned advantages weren't enough, it appeared that Mirajane's 'basic' demonic form, which supposed to be immune to all types of poison, ain't completely immune to Dragon's poison. So now, very potent poison was seeping deeper into Mirajane's body, weakening her even more, and making the poor girl to suffer.
And of course, though unintentionally, Mirajane revealed information about Lisanna, as she was reminding herself that she must live no matter what, for her now deceased sister's sake. Of course Cobra heard that, and used that information to mock Mirajane several times, angering her more, thus making her moves even more predictable.
So, summarizing everything aforesaid, that 'battle' was ultimately a one-sided beating – Mira was on edge, suffering from multiple wounds and severe poisoning, with her magic on wane, as her enemy was healthy and full of power.
"Dokuryū no Kibo!" [Poison Dragon's Scales] Cobra swung his arm, generating a very large number of scale-shaped masses of poison, which he rapidly sent flying at the target in consecutive reprises. Mira managed to avoid almost all of them, yet the last one hit her left leg, causing her to scream in agony. "Ha ha…" Cobra laughed. "And this is all you've got? Seeing how easily you dealt with racer in our previous fight, I was expecting much more… Have my powers really grown that much, thanks to Nirvana? Or you weren't anything special in the first place, and you managed to perform that well only because you were given a really 'convenient' opponent?"
Mirajane didn't reply anything, her strength was already failing her, and she just couldn't spend anything for pointless talking.
"Dokuryū no Sōga!" [Poison Dragon's Twin Fang] Cobra moved his arms forward in a cross, forming a very large amount of poison in two massive waves shaped like fangs, which he sent forth to attack Mirajane with great blunt force. Once again, she didn't manage to avoid the attack completely.
Worst of all – Mira couldn't strike back. Not because she had no mana – actually she still had some, but she just couldn't think of what else she can do as she already used her entire arsenal of spells, but none of them managed to hit the target – Cobra could easily predict all of her moves. And she couldn't change her demonic soul to another, either, because in that case the poison will become much more deadly.
"I tell you what," Cobra decided to mock her one more time. "Since you 'have to live no matter what' – I got a proposition for you: if you will turn around now and fly away, with all that demonic speed of yours, as far away as you can – I'm not going to pursue you, I give you my word on that!" Cobra laughed again, of course he knew that Mirajane won't going to abandon her friends.
Demon only growled in frustration and pain, but suddenly, Cobra looked somewhere aside. He was staring that way for a few moments, and after that he facepalmed. "I can't believe this…" Cobra mumbled, still facepalming, thanks to his ears he knew that Mira ain't going to attack him yet – actually she was a bit interested to know what happened. "Angel… how did you manage to lose? Even with powers, bestowed upon you by Nirvana. Were you always that weak? Or you just picked up a wrong fight again?" Cobra was speculating, he seemingly somehow managed to know that Oración Seis member codenamed Angel was defeated, and now he was thinking about reasons for that, "Probably just a bad luck…" In the end, he decided that Angel just ran into one of slayers, against who she had no chances, even though she got new powers from Nirvana.
By Cobra's mumbling, Mirajane figured out that one of 'revived' members of Oración Seis has been defeated once again.
(With Ren)
"What's the matter?" Midnight snickered as another Ren's attack didn't even touch him.
"What the hell is going on?!" Ren growled in frustration. "My magic… It can't even touch him…" In response, he only heard Midnight's mocking laugh. "Damn you!" Ren bellowed, preparing his magic, "Kūki Mahō: Eariaru Shotto!" [Air Magic: Aerial Shot] Ren used his air magic to shatter the ground and pick up several rocks, using the air. Then he shot these rocks, aiming at the enemy. However, despite Ren used his spell almost point-blank, none of his rocks hit the target. "What?! I've missed again!?" He shouted in disbelief. "Guaaah!" Suddenly, Ren screamed as he was struck by some invisible force. In fact, it was just a compressed air, but it was so thick that Ren felt as if he's been struck by a concrete slab. "Swine…" Blue Pegasus mage croaked as he began to fall, "Why…?" He whispered before he fell on the ground and lost consciousness.
"So boring…" Midnight complained. "But orders are orders. With this small fry out of the picture, we can finally focus on our primary targets…" He smiled to himself. By the way, just as Cobra, Midnight also learned about Angel's defeat. But for some reason, he wasn't worried at all…
(With Mirajane)
"Dokuryū no Hōkō" [Poison Dragon's Roar] Cobra quickly gathered and released poison from his mouth in the form of deadly, poisonous stream, which Mirajane barely managed to dodge as her speed was reduced considerably due to poisoning. "Well, it seems you're not going to run away…" Oración Seis' mage sneered, as he once again stopped his assault. "That's very noble of you… as well as foolish, because your sacrifice isn't going to change anything. You know, I would really let you go if you'd decided to run… but that's no longer an option," Cobra declared.
Oración Seis' mage raised his arm, gathering large amount of his sonic magic, preparing to create another sonic shell. At the same time, he made a deep breath, preparing to release his poisonous roar-type attack. Seemingly, he decided to combine those two attacks and finish off his enemy and be done with it.
But suddenly, Cobra canceled both spells as his eyes widened in disbelief. "It… cannot be…" He mumbled, seemingly he was shocked "…Racer… You to?!" Unlike Angel's, Racer's defeat really shocked Cobra for some reason – seemingly he had a lot of confidence in his victory. But, most importantly, saying that aloud was a mistake, probably the first one that Cobra made since the beginning of his battle against she-devil, as she finally heard something really encouraging.
'Gray… won!' Mirajane thought. Of course, she didn't know that it wasn't Gray who defeated Racer, neither it was anyone from his team. She didn't know that if Erza wouldn't have interfered – Lyon would've been killed, and, most likely, both Gray and Shelly would've shared his fate. But right now, any of that wasn't matter. Important thing is – Gray's opponent fell, and threat to alliance forces has been reduced significantly.
She-devil smiled to herself. 'What a fool I was…' She thought, ignoring the fact that Cobra could hear her thoughts. 'Can I really call myself an S-class mage? After all those thoughts?'
"What are you mumbling out there?" Cobra asked, as of course he heard all of Mira's thoughts. "Ah, doesn't matter – I must hurry now…" It was a truth – since they already lost two men – remaining Oración Seis mages must quickly gather their forces. They still have three powerful enemies – three slayers – to defeat, and if they will gather together – 3 vs 4 battle may be challenging… At least that was how Cobra thought. He again raised his arm, gathering large amount of sonic magic, preparing to create sonic shell, at the same time making a deep breath, preparing to release his poisonous roar-type attack. Besides…
In mid-air, they couldn't feel it, but ground all around them began to shake as pillar of black light began to fade out. Nirvana has awoken…
'I'm sorry, Lisanna…' Mira was still thinking, ignoring what was happening to Nirvana, as, thanks to alliance victory over Racer, she finally found determination, which she was unable to find during all this long and quite painful (for her) battle. She remembered her own words that she told to Gray, back then, on the ship, when they were returning from Tower of Paradise: '…If my friends will be in danger… I'm not going to spare myself…' The promise that she actually broke, hesitating during all this fight. 'I guess we aren't so different after all, my beloved imōto [younger sister]… I hope I survive… But if not – we at least be able to scold each other, for our recklessness, in person…' Mira smiled again as she prepared to summon another soul – the one she sworn to herself to never use again, because last time it almost killed her.
And then, when Cobra was ready to unleash his magic… "Satan Sōru: Beresu!" [Satan Soul: Beleth] Once again Mira turned into three tailed demon with burning demonic wings, holding a huge scythe.
"This won't work!" Cobra declared. "I still can hear you… farewell, demon!" He shouted as he released her magic.
In reply, he only got a scornful look from Mirajane. "Rei Kyōdatsusha!" [Soul Reaver] Mirajane activated her spell, and then, with loud clap, she simply disappeared.
"What?!" Cobra's eyes widened in shock as he saw that his spells missed the target, which wasn't there anymore. Then he quickly looked down, only to see a deep, burned wound on his abdomen. He heard everything – that Mirajane is going to dash to the right to avoid his spell, and then to attack him. But, for some reason, he heard her thoughts after all that already happened. And then he realized everything, "Im… Impossible… Faster than sound?!" He suddenly realized the nature of that loud clap, in fact it was a so called 'sonic boom…' "You broke… the sonic barrier?!" He simply couldn't believe that such a thing is possible at all. That was the legendary speed of she-devil?
Now Cobra could hear Mirajane normally again. He knew that she's floating right above him, holding to her scythe. He could hear everything – her muscles, her thoughts, her heart full of anger, but he couldn't do anything – previous blow into kidney area almost paralyzed him.
Booooom! With horrible power Mirajane smashed her boot into Cubellios' snout, knocking the flying serpent out with one blow. And then she-devil raised her scythe again. She wasn't mowing fast – in contrary, she was moving slowly, gathering all her remaining strength for the last attack.
"AAAARRGH!" With deafening scream Mirajane plunged her scythe into Cobra's back, propelling him toward the ground with tremendous force as his knocked-out serpent followed him. Clash! Oración Seis mage crashed into the ground. He was utterly defeated and, most likely, killed. Mira couldn't see it from where she was, but golden markings on Cobra's neck also disappeared – he lost all the powers, granted by Nirvana.
But even before Oración Seis mage reached the surface, Mirajane's scythe, which was plunged into his back, disappeared, as well as Mira's own transformation. Her manapool was completely dry now. And as she lost her wings – she began to fall…
"So high… I don't think I will survive the fall from such an altitude in my condition…" She mumbled. "Well, at least it will be a painless death…" She added with a smile of doomed one. Of course, she didn't want to die, not at all. She wanted to live so much… But seemingly, that's no longer an option – ground was closing very fast… "Well, I guess I'll see you soon… Lisanna…" Mirajane whispered as veil of blood clouded her vision.
"Not a chance!" Scornful female's voice snorted as Mira suddenly understand that someone's holding her in hands. Clap! Mira heard that the one who was holding her landed on the ground. She only could guess what's going on via sounds, she couldn't feel anything due to poison-induced numbness of her body. The veil of blood was no longer covering Mira's sight, as it appeared to be not blood but blood-red hair, and that someone, who was holding her body, just removed her scarlet hair from Mirajane's face.
"You really… hate me… are you?" Mirajane asked as even talking started to become difficult, "You couldn't… at least… let me die… painlessly…?"
"Oh, damn you, at least once, can you just shut that mouth of yours!?" Erza asked in frustration, still holding Mirajane in her arms. Scarlet-haired dragon slayer looked around, to make sure that no one's looking at them, and then, something unbelievable happened as Erza leaned down and… kissed Mirajane.
Flashback, about one minute ago.
Erza's eyes noticed the aerial battle from afar, so she ordered Sin to find Natsu and, most importantly, Wendy, as quickly as possible, as she herself dashed towards Mira and her enemy.
"What?! What you mean 'she will die'?!" Erza asked as she was talking with her 'inner voice' aka Andromeda. Starbinder recognized the magic, which Cobra was using, and explained its nature to Erza – that it's not just a poison. Right now, a deadly virus is coursing through Mirajane's body, killing her slowly but certainly. "And there's no way to save her?!"
'IF YOU DELIVER HER TO GRANDEENEY'S HEIRESS – THEN SHE WILL BE ALRIGHT, OF COURSE,' Andromeda replied, 'BUT HER TIME IS VERY SHORT, YOU WON'T MAKE IT IN TIME. OF COURSE, THERE'S ANOTHER WAY – IT WON'T HEAL HER, BUT VIRUS WILL BE NEUTRALIZED, THAT WILL GIVE YOU AN ADDITIONAL TIME YOU NEED…' Starbinder added, and explained what exactly Erza has to do.
"WHAT?!" Erza exclaimed as she stopped in her tracks. "No way I'm gonna do that!" Blood-haired girl retorted furiously.
'WELL, THAT IS WHY I SAID THAT SHE WILL DIE…' Andromeda noted mockingly.
"Arrrrr!" Erza growled in frustration as she now was cornered. Of course she can't let Mirajane die just because a method, suggested by Starbinder, was extremely disgusting…
End of flashback.
So, before girls' lips met, Erza bit her own finger and sucked some amount of her own blood, and then she released a lot of her bloodied saliva into Mirajane's mouth.
When Erza broke up their 'kiss', her face seemed disgusted as never before, as Mirajane's face seemed shocked as never before. "Swallow it!" Erza ordered as she grabbed Mira's mouth and forced her to swallow all of her saliva and blood.
"What the fuck… was that?!" Mira was so shocked, as if her entire world went upside down. But then she started to feel burning heat inside of her body. "Ah! What… you've done…! It scorches! Ah! Auuuch! AAAAUUUUGH!"
Mirajane's heartrending scream could be heard throughout the forest. In about thirty seconds Mira regained her senses. "You… you just a consummate sadist!" Snow-haired girl cried, pain was so intense that she couldn't withhold her tears. "Torturing the dying woman!"
"Shut up already!" Erza growled in annoyance, as she still was carrying Mirajane towards place where she parted with Lyon and Sin. "You're not dying, you foolish blonde. Thanks to my blood that you've consumed, your body started to produce a special type of Ig-D and Ig-G …"
"Produce what?" Mira asked with widened eyes.
"Immunoglobulins… Don't ask, I have no idea what it is, but it seems I have it, and now you have it too, so thanks to it, virus in your body has been burnt down. It won't heal you but now I have enough time to take you to Wendy," Erza explained. To her surprise – Mira felt that numbness of her body lessened a bit. "Now…" Erza's eyes flashed with white light "…if you tell anyone about what happened here, I swear – I'll kill you!"
"If anyone will learn about that what happened here – I'll kill myself!" Mirajane exclaimed. Both girls were well aware about number of rumors, which may pop up if someone would learn about their 'kiss'. "And stop carrying me like that, I'll die from shame if anyone will see us!" She-devil demanded, actually Erza was carrying her bride-style, and since she now could move a bit, Mira began to wriggle, trying to break free.
"Stop it!" Erza demanded.
"Let me go, you, half-sane bitch!" Mira couldn't settle down.
"I've just saved your life, probably twice, and this is your thankfulness?" Erza asked with sigh. "Give it up already, I won't succumb to your childish provocations. Even you should've noticed that I'm no longer interested in our 'rivalry' anymore."
"I did notice…" Mirajane replied with sigh as she finally calmed down and stopped twitching. "It's just…" She sighed again "…You know, our constant quarrels and brawls ware a good way to went out some steam. I think I was missing it during last three years… I guess I was just trying to make up a leeway…"
"Hah…" Erza let out an ironic snicker. "You know, when you just… well, became yourself once again, it felt… nostalgic, as I think of it now. But we cannot put back the clock. In atmosphere of rivalry, you can improve your skills faster, I won't argue with that… but now I have Natsu," Erza smiled to herself, "And I can measure my own progress, comparing myself to him…"
"I know," Mirajane replied with deep sigh. Of course she knew that the tomboyish, pugnacious, red-haired girl from three years ago does no longer exist. She's a grown up, married woman now, and her priorities changed a lot. And of course, Mirajane had no problems with that fact itself – her problem was that she couldn't find a switch that will shift her own consciousness. Besides – Erza was also right about that their rivalry exhausted its use for her – she now has Natsu and they can pursuit each other in their goal to grow stronger as mages. Mirajane herself, on the other hand… She likes Gray, but can he provide enough challenge as a mage?
Seemingly, she-devil's thoughts reflected on her face. "Hey, don't make such a face, it makes me feel myself guiltily for some reason," Erza noted with ironic smile.
"Up yours, sunshine…" Mira replied with weak smile, causing she-dragon to laugh. None of them said anything else, as they both already spoke out all that needed, but, all in all, it was the first normal talk between two S-class girls since the battle against Phantom Lord.
(With Jura)
And again, just as Natsu foresaw it – Jura really was fighting against Hoteye. And of course – since latter now was Nirvana's servant – his personality remained as it was – he still was grounded in darkness.
Gantetsu no Chū [Iron Rock Pillars] Jura used his spell to create several stone pillars, and tried to crush his opponent between them.
"I see it, you see!" Hoteye used his Ekitai Jimen no Mahō [Liquid Earth Magic] to liquefy the stone pillars, made by Jura, "With money, everything is possible, right?"
And again, just as Natsu has foreseen – Jura was dragged into a long and pointless battle. Nirvana, seemingly, didn't give Hoteye any new powers, instead he got his own power strengthened and mana reserves significantly increased, as well as his already high physical durability. And his task, most likely, was to bound one of Ten Wizards Saints, to not let him help the others.
However, there were no doubts – Hoteye has already learned about that three out of six members of Oración Seis were defeated once again, and he seemingly got new orders as he, still fighting off Jura, was slowly retreating towards the fading dark light.
During their long and annoying battle, Jura several times tried to talk to member of Oración Seis, but each time in response he could hear only some nonsense about money and that he can 'see' something.
'Damn, he's definitely going somewhere!' Jura noticed Hoteye's intentions. 'I have to at least stop him, he cannot be allowed to continue his way!' But, suddenly…
"Hissatsu: Riu Nēru!" [Certain Kill: Rending Shot]
"Shitsugeki: Suishōgiri!" [Deathblow: Emerald Star slash]
"Senmei Saikō: Chiretsusan!" [Sure-kill Shot: Ground Deathblow]
At the same time, Luciferona, Nelliel and Natsu attacked Hoteye with their respective, A-ranked kill-shots. Taken completely by surprise, Hoteye got direct hits from all three attacks. Power, bestowed upon him by Nirvana, saved him from being ripped to shreds, but horrible power of the blow sent him flying through the forest, crashing trees with his body, as he disappeared into the darkness. And, despite Nirvana's power partly protected him, he now lost it as golden markings on his body were wiped out.
"Sorry," Natsu said. Though he was apologizing, his voice was as indifferent as usual, "I don't like attacking people on the quiet, but our situation is critical…"
"Natsu-dono? Nelliel-dono? Wendy-dono? And… Lucy-dono?" Jura seemed surprised as he recognized Lucy's face, but blonde looked completely not like she was when they were separated, in particular, she wasn't blonde anymore. And those tails of hers… Also her clothes and her eyes changed. However, just as Natsu said – Jura didn't notice that Luciferona was a devil – only mages with very special senses could notice the difference. Besides, and that is a bit ironic – the higher devil's rank – the more he or she is human-like – the harder to see the difference (that does not apply to false devils, like those made by Zeref).
However, Natsu had no time to explain anything, as ground shaking began more intense – pillar of black light almost faded. Few seconds later there was especially strong jolt as black light disappeared completely… and after that, nothing happened.
Ground stopped shaking, and forest once again became silent and sunk into darkness. Everyone, including Natsu, were puzzled, quite a bit. "And… that's it?" He spoke out aloud what everyone was thinking about.
But again, there was no time to think as Sin appeared from the forest. "Natsu, there are heavily wounded people in our team – we need Wendy's help, urgently," Without further ado a little boney creature informed.
"Any casualties?" Natsu asked quickly.
"Not yet, but will be if we won't hurry!" Sin urged his 'boss'.
"I'm ready to help!" Wendy stepped out, without hesitation.
"Alright, Jura-san, I'm sorry but we'll have to discuss the situation later," Natsu addressed the fellow Wizard Saint and the latter nodded – Jura knew that if there are wounded – helping them takes priority. "There are still two members of Oración Seis somewhere out there, so we all are going together. Sin – lead the way," Natsu ordered and whole group ran after little boney dragon.
December 11, X784, 20:35, Worth Woodsea's depths.
"Well done, Wendy," Erza thanked a young girl, "Thank you very much. Thanks to you – all our wounded are okay now!"
"I… I haven't done anything special at all…" Wendy smiled humbly as Erza rumpled her long, dark-blue hair. It took almost an hour to heal Mirajane and Gray's team. The former took most of the time – poison (or rather, virus) really did a lot of damage.
With green flash, Nelliel appeared near Wendy and Erza. Titania looked at her questioningly, but Dreamwalker only shook her head in response. "I couldn't find any of them in surrounding area, and I'm afraid that I cannot pick up the scent of neither of them as well," Dream dragon slayer reported.
"Same here…" Erza sighed, "Here are too many side smells…" Entire alliance team have gathered together once again… all but members of Blue Pegasus guild – seemingly they were all defeated pretty far away from here.
"I am completely pathetic…" Mirajane complained, as she and Gray were sitting a bit aside from the others. "If Erza wouldn't interfere, I would've been a breathless corpse by now…"
"At least you managed to defeat your enemy, in one-on-one battle," Gray said darkly – his mood was even worse than Mirajane's. "But we were fighting with that Racer guy three against one, and if Erza wouldn't appear when she did – Lyon would've been killed, and me and Shelly would've shared his fate for sure…"
"I lied…" Mirajane admitted, out of blue. "After we've returned from that Tower of Paradise, I said that I'm alright… But that wasn't true. When I fought against that woman, Ikaruga… Not during the battle itself, but a few days after it, remembering those events, I suddenly realized that, for the first time in my life, I actually was on the verge of death… Even when Elfman has gone wild… there still was a chance to escape somehow…" Truth to her words – Lisanna's actions during that incident is another story….
"Is my magic really suck so much?" Gray asked himself. "Both me and Lyon… Neither of us seemingly had a chance against that guy… Or it's not our magic… but we are who suck so much? Erza… I saw it all from afar – she didn't use any of her dragon slayer's spells… With one swing of her sword, she literally sliced Racer's time-slowing field, and with second, she sliced the guy himself – not even time itself could stop her. My eyes could barely keep up… And I… I was completely helpless."
Sitting there, both Mirajane and Gray were just spitting out their complains, not actually even listening to one another. Ice mage glanced towards silver-eyed dragon slayer – she now was talking to 'Lucy', whose appearance has changed drastically. Luciferona, with Natsu's help, explained almost everything about herself, including the story about personality split (Natsu told Luciferona that she shouldn't tell that part of her story to everyone, but Mira and Gray were exceptions). Only part of the story that was omitted was about that Luciferona isn't a human anymore. But even without that – her story was remarkable and even shocking… But right now, Gray and Mirajane's own problems were much more important to them.
"I didn't feel anything like that neither when Elfman has gone wild, nor during the battle against Phantom Lord," Mira continued to mumble. "But after battle against Ikaruga… something broke down inside of my mind. I realized how much I want to live… and how much I'm actually afraid to die. And when I realized how strong that Cobra guy was, that he's more than capable of defeating me… fear almost paralyzed me. For example – when I realized that my first form doesn't grant me complete immunity from poison – I knew that I need to change it… but I was afraid that it may become even worse…"
"On the other hand – even the real master of Aisu Meiku no Mahō [Ice Make Magic], Ur – she couldn't defeat Deliora…" Gray still was thinking about his magic "…only thing she could do is to seal him off, sacrificing her own body. Natsu, on the other hand, turned that huge demon into forcemeat with one attack… This is the difference between our powers as mages? Or it's difference between our magic schools? Or both…?"
"That's a rather depressing atmosphere around them…" Luciferona noted, as majin, she seemingly got an ability to literally see human's emotions, and right now she actually was looking at dark 'clouds' around Gray and Mirajane.
"What did you expect?" Natsu asked, "They both failed miserably. Gray knew that his magic is unsuitable to fight against fast opponent – he was reminded about that twice recently – when he fought against Fakuro and then against Evergreen. In both cases he won mostly thanks to fortunate concourse of circumstances, and he knows that. Yet he did nothing to fix that flaw. He thinks that my spouse has nothing better to do but save him and his friends, which are as incompetent as he is? Or that I will always assign him to fight some 'convenient' enemy?"
"And what about her?" Erza asked, meaning Mirajane. But Natsu didn't reply, he just turned away and looked somewhere aside. His silence spoke louder than any words, though – seemingly, Natsu was assuming the possibility of Gray's team failure from the beginning, so their fiasco was very displeasing, but not completely unexpected. However, God slayer seemingly had faith in Mirajane's abilities – he knew that battle will be difficult for her, but Natsu believed that she'll win, without being brought to death's door herself.
"Enemy wasn't much stronger, Mirajane-san almost lost not because of the difference in her and enemy's combat capabilities, but because she has become a milksop," Luciferona expressed her opinion.
Erza's eyes widened in slight shock. For dragon slayer's own surprise – the fact that Lucy is a majin now didn't confuse her too much, but fact that she's no longer Lucy but another girl with completely different, quite uncompromising personality, was much harder to adapt to.
Natsu didn't say anything – seemingly he agreed with Luciferona. "Her magic has returned, but Jane herself is still flinging between her contradictive thoughts…" He commented.
"Nelliel-san, do you want something?" Luciferona asked as she turned to Dreamwalker, who has been looking at her almost since the moment when she returned from her recon mission, about ten minutes ago, and majin could bear it no longer.
"Ah, no, it's just…" For some reason, Nelliel got embarrassed a bit.
"What is it?" Black-haired girl wondered.
"Well," Nelliel hesitated as even her cheeks flushed a bit. "Those ears of yours… can I touch them?" She suddenly asked.
"What?!" Luciferona's eyes widened in surprise due to unexpected request.
"I'm… just curious…" Dream dragon slayer admitted humbly. Looking at that, Erza just rolled her eyes as Natsu thought that, maybe, that stoic warrior actually has a thing for fluffy stuff?
"Well, you can, but be careful please…" After some thinking, Luciferona agreed, probably for the sake of a team spirit "…they're quite sensitive…"
"What a good timing for that…" Sin, who was sitting on Natsu's shoulder, shook his skull, as Luciferona yelped quietly when Nelliel pulled her tiger-like ear a bit stronger than needed.
December 11, X784, 20:50, Worth Woodsea's depths.
In any case, aside from representatives of Blue Pegasus, every member of alliance team has been found and healed.
Aside from Nelliel and Fairy Tail members, no one was informed about Lucy's case – they all were told that her physical appearance changed due to side effect of her secondary magic overuse, when she thought against Angel. Since here were no summoning magic specialists, no one could say that this is not possible. And no one here knew her well enough to know that she actually had no secondary magic, or to decide something about her personality. As for Nelliel… there a few ways to make sure that she'll keep all things quiet.
Right now, however, team still had a lot of things to do. First – two members of Oración Seis still were lurking around here somewhere – they have to be found and neutralized. But most importantly – Nirvana.
When pillar of black light just disappeared and everything stopped – that was quite a confusing event. Even Natsu had no idea about what happened. He only could speculate that since four of Nirvana's 'disciples' were defeated and their connection with Nirvana has been severed – it simply couldn't get enough power to completely 'wake up'. But that was just a speculation.
Of course, the missing Blue Pegasus members also were an issue, but splitting up again to look for them – Natsu ordered to forget about that. Remaining members of Oración Seis and Nirvana's 'mystery' – these two tasks definitely take priority. Not everyone agreed to that (in particular – Carla, and Wendy too – though, she wasn't complaining, she just seemed worried), but most of the team, including Nelliel and Jura, agreed that they have to deal with Nirvana first.
So now, team once again gathered near the rock, on which that huge purple tree was growing. Source of now gone pillar of light was here.
"Natsu, I don't think that we should take any more risks. Let's just wipe this thing out," Erza expressed her opinion. She thought that her and Natsu's powers are enough to destroy that Nirvana, whatever it actually is. If needed, they also can ask for Jura, Nelliel, and, in case of severe need, even Luciferona's help.
Natsu approached the rock, on which huge purple tree was growing. He never was a big fan of blind actions, but with their lack of information – probably there's not much choice. Even if they won't be able to destroy that Nirvana – they may damage it just enough to lure out the remaining members of Oración Seis. Natsu turned around and looked at his spouse, he was about to agree with Erza's plan. And then…
Everything happened within a moment. Magical ropes, made of golden energy, shot right from the rock, and in a blink of an eye, Natsu was bound by those ropes. No one could understand anything, even Natsu himself – he didn't see any threat, he didn't feel any magic – he was taken by complete surprise. And then those ropes pulled him back, and he literally sunk into that rock, from which ropes were shot, as if it was some liquid. He didn't even scream – last thing his team saw – an expression of complete confusion in his eyes. Next moment he was gone.
"Natsu!" Erza screamed in shock as she saw what just happened. She dashed towards the rock, inside which her beloved Natsu just disappeared.
"Don't get close, you moron!" Nelleil screamed as she pounced on Erza, knocking her off her feet and both girls rolled head over heels for almost thirty feet. Nelleil's timing was impeccable – just when she knocked Erza down, another set of golden magic ropes shot forth from the rock. If Nelliel didn't do what she did – scarlet-haired dragon slayer would've been captured as well. In her fury, Erza probably couldn't avoid that trap.
"Let me go!" Erza demanded as now she was held by Dream dragon slayer, she was furious and panicking at the same time, her thoughts were at complete disarray. Nelliel was about to say something, to ask Erza to calm down or something else that scarlet-hair girl obviously couldn't do. But…
"Che… What a nuisance you are…" A scornful voice said from above. As everyone looked at its source, they could see Midnight, who was standing on one of the branches of that creepy purple tree, which was growing atop of the rock, where Natsu just disappeared. He was looking at Nelliel, so, seemingly, his phrase was meant for her. "But that's no longer matter, it seems that we actually don't need both of you. That guy alone seems to be more than enough, his essence alone is more than sufficient to power up Nirvana!"
"""What!""" Several voices asked at the same time. The only one who was completely uninterested was Erza. Using that distraction, she threw Nelliel off of herself and jumped on her feet. But just when she was about to pounce at Midnight and tear off his head – Thundering noise shook the surroundings. At the same time, earth beneath alliance team's feet started to crack all over – this time Nirvana truly was awoken…
December 11, X784, 21:05, Worth Woodsea's depths.
Nelliel slowly stood up. When large ancient city, with six huge pipe-like legs emerged from the ground, entire alliance team was once again scattered all over, so now Nelliel was alone. Not even looking at a spider-like city, which now was marching somewhere, dream dragon slayer looked at herself – thanks to several battles, to necessity to save Erza, and to that she was thrown away when Nirvana emerged, her white clothes were all dirty now. "Alright… You little useless slunk imbecile… You really done it now…" Her dragon-like pupils widened a little as her eyes flashed with turquoise light. When she was speaking, her massive canines could be clearly seen. "I'll show you what the word 'nightmare' really means…" Nelliel hissed and disappeared with the flash of green light.
And that's it for now. Not the biggest chapter, I know, but I just couldn't wait any longer, it's already been a long while. I'm really sorry that this update took almost two years – I really had to handle a lot of distractions.