Hello, everyone, One Half here! The update for the THotE is finally arrived!
And again, I must apologize for that this chapter won't be a conclusion for Nirvana's arc as I've promised earlier. I had to split this chapter in half, because managing a more-than-20k-words-long chapter would've been a real headache. Still, this one should be quite interesting, I hope.
Answers for the rewievers:
Rajo: Thanks a lot for being my reader. I agree, machineguns and missiles do seem out of place in this world of magic, and this is exactly why they're here – Nirvana is the hive of insanity, after all. And I assure you – the idea of magical beasts, high-grade magical items (and even spellbooks) will get further development.
And good beta would be nice of course, but considering my spontaneous schedule, I probably have no chances to get one.
Woolf: Many thanks, here's another update.
Bachi the cat, Red the Kid: Hmm, I'm seeing such suggestions from time to time… well, I don't think that romaji spells/honorifics are mandatory for my fanfic, so I'll consider dropping it starting from the next arc.
Kel000: Too abrupt changes would've ruined the experience.
Meazm,patriciatres0: Thanks people, I'm glad that you're still with me!
RKingQway: Huh, here's just two of them… and they're not really original, TBH.
erasenpai946: To be honest – I'm in a slight conflict about GrayXMira thing, but leaving her lonely seems much worse. FT universe really lacks decent male characters, but introducing a battalion of OCs doesn't seem like an adequate solution.
MMcDizzle, TheRedAbyss, Crimson Dragon Armageddon, ThatSkeletonGuy: Many thanks for your support people, it's very important, believe me.
For all: Remember, if you really want to ask something – PM me, I usually answer within a week.
I hope I didn't skip anyone. Now, let's proceed with the story, we're almost there!
Chapter XXXI – The Awakening
December 11, X784, 21:30, Northwestern Mountain ridge.
(With Erza and Sin)
"Look, it stopped!" Sin pointed at the huge walking city as it finally went silent.
"Damn, we were right," Erza growled as she looked some way towards the west, at the other side of a wide river, which now was separating Nirvana and northwestern mountain ridge, "That thing is really aiming at the Cait Shelter!"
Indeed, the six-legged city was looming over the river, slightly tilting forward, as its embrasure, that looked like a huge hatch and was located in the fore-part, was definitely aiming at a small village with the Cait Shelter guildhall in the middle of it, on the other side of the river.
"Not that it actually changes anything," She-dragon shook her head slightly, her top priority was to save Natsu, and to do this, she needs to get to the city anyway. "Sin, quickly, help me to get up there! I'll scrap that tower in the middle of the city – I bet the control center, or something similar to it, should be up there."
"Aye aye, ma'am!" Sin replied as he quickly picked up Erza and soared into the air, and quickly headed towards the 'King's tower'. Within 30 seconds they've reached the tower's summit. Atop of the tower was a wide, round square, with two circles of high columns, one row surrounding the entire square, and other, smaller one, surrounding the inner square.
Being held by Sin, Erza now was floating above the tower's summit. She looked down, and then opened her mouth, gathering magic. "Seiryū no Hōkō! [Star Dragon's Roar]" She released her breath attack right at the middle of summit's square. With this attack she wanted to test the tower's structural integrity. Erza was a very smart girl, she never had intentions to destroy the tower, attacking it head-on; her idea was to use her piercing-type attack to make some sort of a vertical orifice in tower, and then to send her 'Supernova' spell into that orifice to cause an internal explosion, which will be much more destructive than attack on the outside. Good plan, however…
Suddenly, all columns of the inner circle got twisted, becoming thinner and longer, bending inside, and making some sort of a dome above the square's center. Erza's spell hit the dome and exploded. Several columns cracked but none was destroyed. Erza narrowed her eyes – that what just happened was within her expectations. Someone, an enemy, was here, protecting the tower. At the same time, several tentacles, made of golden energy, shot towards Erza, seemingly in attempt to bound her, just as it has previously been done with Natsu. But, unlike Natsu, right now she-dragon was well-prepared for that – her body produced several tendrils of plasma, and all of the golden tentacles were burned away in an instant.
"Sin, release me," Erza commanded. Lil skeletal creature unclenched his hind claws an Erza landed on the tower summit's square. Immediately, several of nearby columns got twisted, becoming thinner and longer, and attempted to attack her. But just as those columns got near her, Erza performed a circular leg swing, with her foot being covered with plasma, and all of those columns were obliterated. Just as Sin released her, Erza used her Seikō Kudō [Star Drive] spell, and with her speed and strength drastically increased those columns were no threat for her. "Show yourself!" She demanded, as she could feel someone's presence somewhere around here.
"Impressive," A familiar man's voice sounded as one of the columns began to melt down and transform, quickly taking shape of a man. His appearance was quite similar to that of a Brain, but with a few differences. His hair was wavier, his eyes were blood red, his skin was of a much paler color, as his outfit seemed as a military officer's outfit of some sort. And this man seemed quite full of himself, as he looked at Erza with arrogant smirk. He was the master of Oración Seis guild, and Brains alternate personality – Zero.
He, seemingly, wanted to say something, but Erza was not in the mood for idle chatter. "Seiryū no Yokusen!" [Star Dragon's Wing Flash] She created two streams of plasma and attempted to smash Zero in between of them. However, several ghastly spirits appeared around Zero and Erza's spell clashed with them, incinerating those spirits but both plasma streams were neutralized. At the same time, several dozens of those ghastly spirits emerged from columns around the 'King's square'. Seemingly, these ghastly spirits are able to 'possess' material objects and take full control over them, including their shape and even structural features.
"No wonder that Nirvana wanted to capture you as well – you're good," Zero said, still maintaining that insolent sneer on his face, "But not good enough! Sōkyoku no Mu! [Capriccio of Nil]" Zero shot a ray of shining darkness toward Erza. Zero's spell was very fast, but that was not nearly enough to match dragon slayer's speed, not when she's empowered by her 'Star Drive' spell. With reverse somersault she dodged Zero's attack. But ray of darkness twisted and turned around, targeting the dragon slayer once again. Erza avoided that attack as well, but again the ray of darkness twisted and headed straight at her. "Ahaha! Don't think that my magic is the same as Brain's!" Zero laughed, looking at Erza, who was forced to continuously dodge his spell.
And that wasn't a bravado – Zero not only had much better control over his magic – his spells' power also was on a different level. After she dodged Zero's spell, a dozen or so times, Erza decided that she can't continue like that. She concentrated magic in her palms and turned around in attempt to block the enemy's spell. Zero's spell clashed with Erza's improvised energy shield, causing a large magical flash. Two magical powers struggled against one another, but finally Erza managed to dissipate Zero's spell, though, she's been thrown back for several tens of feet and her palms now were covered with scratches.
"Taking a piercing spell head-on was quite reckless of you," Zero said as insolent grin on his face grew wider, "But still, it seems you will be able to entertain me for a while…"
Erza, who haven't uttered a single world since Zero's appearance, remained silent. Just when she came here, she already prepared herself for a long and exhausting battle.
December 11, X784, 21:35, Northwestern mountain ridge.
(With Mirajane, Gray, Wendy and the rest)
"Look, this is our guild over there!" Carla pointed at her and Wendy's guild, on the other side of the river, at the bottom of the mountain ridge.
"Curse that thing!" Mirajane hissed, looking at the six-legged city, which was looming over the river, slightly tilting forward, "It really is intending to attack the Cait Shelter!"
"Look! Over there, atop of that tower!" Hibiki called for the others, pointing towards 'King's tower'. "There's something going on up there!"
There were still about three kilometers between Nirvana and alliance team's improvised transport, but even from here several bright flashes atop of the tower could be seen. "Someone's fighting over there?!" Lyon exclaimed.
"It's Erza's magic!" Gray shouted as he recognized those white flashes. "And I bet she's fighting against that punk, Zero!"
"Quickly, let's get up there and help her!" Carla suggested. However, her words didn't find an immediate support, in contrary to her expectations. Seemingly, everyone here now was assessing their capabilities under current circumstances. As she noticed that, Carla's enthusiasm also waned a bit.
Everyone here went through very difficult and exhausting battles, aside from Jura, whose fight was long and pointless, but not too difficult. But the rest of the alliance team went through the wringer. Blue Pegasus team got their asses kicked pretty badly by Midnight (not to mention that Hibiki's combat capabilities always ware quite low due to peculiarity of his magic, in the first place). Lyon, Sherry and Gray exhausted themselves in battle against Racer, and all of them have suffered a lot of damage. Mirajane burned out all of her mana in her fight to the death against Cobra, and right after she almost died due to a deadly viral infection.
Yes, Wendy used her spell to help the team to recover some stamina, but magic cannot completely replace an adequate rest, mostly due to mental exhaustion becoming an issue, and that you can't fix with some simple spell.
As such, while their manta-like, ice-earth flying transport was approaching Nirvana, all passengers were thinking – will they be able to actually help Erza, or, in contrary, they actually will make her task much more difficult?
"I think only Jura-san should join that battle…" Mirajane finally said aloud what everyone here was thinking about.
"Yes," Jura nodded, he seemed pretty confident. Well, the title of one of the Ten Wizards Saints ain't given for nothing.
FLASH! Suddenly, a bright magical sphere appeared straight ahead, and it quickly headed towards the alliance team. "Gan Tetsu Heki!" [Iron Rock Wall] Jura hasn't been caught off guard, as he made a solid earth wall to block the offensive spell, but alliance's manta had to drastically slow down, mages aboard it barely managed to stay on that thing. However, even before that glowing orb of magic collided with Jura's wall, magical seals began flashing all around the alliance team, assaulting them with flurry of different spells.
"What's happening?!" Sherry cried in panic as magical manta jolted due to her losing concentration.
"Get us down!" Mirajane ordered as, Jura-san aside, a quite battered team could not defend itself and support magical manta's existence at the same time. Within a few moments the ice-earth manta descended to the ground and disappeared.
"Hold on!" Wendy exclaimed as she covered her feline companion with her hands.
"Aisu Meiku Shīrudo! [Ice Make: Shield]"
"Ningyōgeki: Ganningyō! [Doll Attack: Rock Doll]"
"Kūki Mahō: Kūkiatsu Chin! [Air Magic: Pneumatic Cushion]"
Without need to support their magical aircraft, alliance mages now could defend themselves. Gray, Sherry and Ren, respectively, used their magic to help Jura to defend the team's position while others were looking around, trying to learn – who are their enemies at this time. Though – that task wasn't too difficult – enemies were right in front of them, or rather, all around them, a *lot* of enemies.
"What is going on?!" Eve screamed as defensive spells were barely holding under the flurry of attacks from more than a hundred of enemy mages, which could be seen appearing from the forest, "Who are all these people!?"
"Wendy, look!" Carla's voice cut the air as she pointed somewhere to the right.
Skymaiden looked at that direction and yelped, "Ah! Those two… and others… they all were defeated by Erza-san!" Really, those two were quite remarkable persons – Zatō and Gatō – two monkey-like imbeciles, leaders of the Naked Mummy dark guild. Natsu took her away so she couldn't see the "battle's" conclusion, but she could imagine that the entire guild has been beaten up miserably.
"Hibiki, look, that's those guys from Racer's guild!" Eve also recognized several of attacking mages, which were using magical bikes. Blue Pegasus team met them after alliance's forces got separated.
"I've already met those people," Jura noticed several mages, who attacked him earlier, and whose specialty was a painting magic.
"What is going on!?" Ren growled in frustration, "Haven't we already dealt with all of them? Is that possible that they've already recovered?!"
It's been a bit more than two hours, and it's quite unlikely that those dark guilds, whose members mostly are trash of different kinds, have a lot of mages, whose magic is similar to Wendy's. No, they probably don't have even a few. Yet, hundreds of dark mages, which were already defeated recently, are advancing on alliance team's position right now.
"No… there's something wrong with them… look at their faces!" Skymaiden, who possesses an enhanced sight, noticed some anomalies. And, as enemy mages were closing, others also began to notice that there's something very wrong with those "dark wizards".
Their eyes were slightly glowing with golden light. Some golden marks of different shapes could be seen on their bodies. Their movements were… jagged somehow. And none of them ever said anything – only a low growling could be heard from those people. Those mages… they didn't come here due to anger or thirst for revenge, nor they came here to fulfill their duties to Oración Seis. All of them now were driven by pure madness.
"This… this is bad…" Carla mumbled in fear, "Wendy, all of them are under Nirvana's control!"
"Ah!?" Wendy yelped but her voice had been muffled with Ren's loud coughing as he fell on knees and his protective spells collapsed – his manapool's gone dry.
"Gan Tetsu Heki: Rensa! [Continuous Formation]" Jura quickly waved his left arm and extended his Iron Rock Wall, immediately closing the gap in perimeter's defense, that appeared when Ren's spell crumbled.
"Ouch!" Shelly screamed suddenly as her Rock Doll heavily jolted – Lamia Scale's sorceress also reached her limit. Big, stone, golem-like construct begun to crumble under enemy's relentless assault as Shelly fell on the ground, barely holding to her consciousness.
Jura waved his right arm and again extended his Iron Rock Wall, replacing Shelly's crumbled doll. Now Jura was forced to protect three fourth of defensive perimeter around the alliance's team. Aside from his Iron Rock Wall: Continuous Formation, only Gray's flower-like Ice Shield was still standing.
"I'm sorry, Jura-san…" Lyon grumbled darkly. In his battle against Racer he spent much more mana than Gray, besides, due to his type of Hyō Zōkei Mahō [Ice Molding Magic] peculiarity, his shields are more taxing than Gray's.
"Don't worry, you've done everything you could," Jura replied. The one of Ten Wizards Saints seemed fine, at least his breathing was normal, though he began to sweat – seemingly even for him it wasn't easy to hold on against so many of enemy mages.
"Everything I could wasn't enough…" Lyon growled angrily, definitely he was very unsatisfied with his own performance.
Jura didn't hear Lyon's grumbling, but Gray did. "This is not the right time for this!" Fairy Tail's ice mage shouted at his former co-pupil, but that really didn't take much of an effect.
"They're still coming!" Eve shouted desperately as more and more members of various dark guilds under Oración Seis control were appearing from the forest.
"No, wait!" Mirajane suddenly exclaimed, "They're not coming at us!" True to her words – only the first wave of dark mages continued to attack, advancing on team's position, those who came later didn't join them, they were heading elsewhere.
"They're going to Nirvana!" Lyon pointed at six-legged city, at the top of which another bright magical flash just blazed, indicating that the battle at 'King's tower' is still raging. "We cannot allow them to interfere! Aisu Meiku: Īguru! [Ice Make: Eagles]" Lyon made about two dozen of large birds made of ice, and sent them to attack the closest group of enemy mages. However, despite of their zombie-like appearance, Nirvana-controlled dark mages quickly responded, and used their magic to cast counterspells. Only two ice eagles broke through, crashing into their targets, knocking them off from feet. However, even those two quickly stood up, and continued their way towards Nirvana, as if nothing happened. "Shit!" Ice mage swore, ignoring the young girl nearby, but in current situation no one seem to care.
As such, right now, here were members of a dozen of dark guilds, which makes it more than half a thousand of dark wizards (about 700), driven by madness. About two hundred fifty of them were continuously attacking alliance's team, while the rest of that swarm (more than four hundred) were heading towards Nirvana, like an obedient flock of sheep.
"Damn, it seems, after all, I am going to die today…" Mirajane grunted as she summoned those little bits of magic that she managed to recover after her battle against Cobra, "Satan Sōru! [Satan Soul]" She performed her basic Take Over spell, as she has no mana to use anything more advanced, though even this Take Over she summoned mostly thanks to sheer willpower.
"Are you insane?!" Gray's eyes widened in shock, "In your current condition…"
But Mirajane cut his speech off, "Not now! We have to hold them off, that girl already got her hands full, without that trash!"
"I'll help!" Wendy announced as she raised her right arm and chanted a spell, "O fresh air that fills the heavens… Daini no Fū! [Second Wind]" She created a sky-blue power seal above her head, as the same-colored light engulfed everyone around her, restoring their physical strength and stamina.
"Mirajane-dono is right," Jura agreed, "They shall not be allowed to approach Nirvana."
"We must stop them, at all costs…" Lyon rolled up his sleeves.
"Yes…" Ren grunted as he stood up. Until now he was on his knees due to exhaustion, but thanks to Wendy's spell he felt a bit better.
"Ren, you have no magic left, what are you gonna do?!" Eve asked worriedly.
"I'll fight with my fists if I have to…" Ren replied darkly.
"Ren, calm down, you won't help anyone with this attitude," Hibiki placed his palm on a teammate's shoulder, "There are other ways to help." Hibiki's magic isn't of much use in direct combat, so he definitely knows how to restrain himself.
"First, we have to get rid of those morons attacking us, c'mon! Aisu Meiku: Taiga! [Ice Make: Tiger]" Lyon used his magic to conjure a large tiger made of ice and sent it straight into the crowd of enemies.
"Satanikku Burāsuto! [Satanic Blast]" Mirajane extended her palms and sent a dark-violet ray of darkness magic right into the middle of enemy's formation.
"Howaito Fyuri! [White Fury]" 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 closest group of enemies.
Boom! Crash! Smash! Several magical explosions shook the surrounding area, as several dozens of insane mages were knocked down.
"All right, it's working, they cannot evade multiple attacks!" Lyon exclaimed, preparing another spell. It seemed that, even in their condition, they still have the upper hand against those weaklings, "Let's wipe them out!"
"No, wait!" But Mirajane's voice suddenly stopped him, "Look!"
Just as dust from those explosions dissipated, knocked out dark mages began to wake up and getting back on their feet, in a very unnatural way, as if there were strings bound to their limbs, and someone was pulling them.
"Something… something is not right!" Wendy pointed at dark mages, "I feel their lives fading!" She announced. As a healer, she probably could feel such things.
"Wendy-dono is right," Jura confirmed skymaiden's worries. "They are using their own life force to empower their magic, resist our attacks and endure the damage from our spells…" He explained, barely hiding his disgust with such methods.
"They were driven completely insane…" Hibiki shook his head.
"Then… what we're gonna do?!" Wendy asked worriedly. It seems that with every sustained attack, the life of those mages, controlled by Nirvana, will be fading rapidly.
"We'll do what we decided to do…" Gray said with dark expression on his face, still supporting his flower-like ice shield, protecting alliance team from enemies' attacks together with Jura. Sky sorceress bit her lower lip, but no one found proper words to ease her anxiousness. "Sorry, Wendy, but if we'd have to choose between them and stopping that monstrous thing – we don't have a choice at all…" Ice mage concluded.
"We'll stop them, at all costs!" Mirajane announced, conjuring another spell.
Time and location unknown.
(With Natsu)
"You will regret the moment when my pathetic sword didn't let your soul to fall in hell when it had a chance," Natsu laughed, looking at Jellal's attempt to get close to him. Using his heavenly body magic he avoided a headless horsewoman's attack, but a 30 feet-tall skeletal being (wraith), wearing a hooded shapeless garment, appeared out of nowhere and hit Jellal with its giant scythe. Despite his great speed, blue-haired guy couldn't avoid that attack and crashed into the ground.
At that moment, a bright blue ray of light pierced the air, heading straight at Natsu. That was his treacherous sword, Gladius Terminus, that attempted to pierce him at immense speed. But Natsu didn't even move a finger to evade or deflect that attack. When distance between Gladius Terminus and Natsu was about 20 feet, sword began to slow down drastically, and completely stopped in just six feet away from the god slayer. From aside it seemed as if the sword plunged into some very viscous substance. A moment later, some silhouette started to appear around the sword. In fact, it started to seem as if the sword pierced a woman-like ghost, made of crimson energy, who was wearing goth-like clothes and two sickle-like weapons.
"It was an ancient legend from a far-eastern land," Natsu said, looking at the sword that betrayed him, which pierced a chest of a ghostly lady and now was completely immobilized. "The matriarchal Kingdom of Shinoku developed a ritual, which allowed them to revive their warrior-priestesses in form of ghosts, that were completely immune to any form of physical attacks. Swords or rocks, both of natural origin or made by magic – doesn't matter – they could block any kind of such attacks. The strongest of those ghostly warriors were called Reikonki no Shinoku [Spirit Princesses of Shinoku]. No idea – was that legend based on real facts, or it was a complete fiction – but that doesn't matter – in the world of willpower, my will can make real anything!"
As Natsu said that, the ghostly crimson princess exploded, throwing the Gladius Terminus away. Due to powerful explosion, a small crack appeared on the blade.
But of course, despite already endured beating, nor the sword neither Jellal were even close to being defeated. "You scum, shut up!" Jellal bellowed, infuriated by Natsu's attitude, it seemed as if a god slayer doesn't feel himself threatened at all. "Tentai Mahō: Ankoku no Rakuen! [Heavenly Body: Paradise of Darkness]!" He put his arms together, conjuring a huge black orb, and sending it at Natsu. That was the same spell that Jellal used atop of Tower of Paradise, when he tried to finish off Erza, but killed Lucy instead, [Altair].
At the same time, Gladius Terminus made an arc-like swing, sending a crescent moon-like shockwave at God slayer.
But again, Natsu didn't move a finger. A headless horsewoman, made of crimson energy, charged at the black sphere, made by Jellal, and pierced it with its jousting spear. Black sphere exploded, destroying the headless warrior.
"Legends says that, during their lives, dullahans were noble knights, who were forced to betray their lords and/or comrades due to certain circumstances. Compelled to commit crimes and other evil deeds against their hearts and souls desire, those noble warriors cannot rest in peace after they die, driven by desire to fight for freedom of their wills and actions…" Natsu explained, as a new headless horseman, armed with two jousting spears this time, began to form out of crimson energy beside god slayer. "But that's not true at all. Dullahans were artificial creations from the very beginning, just as their more powerful variants. Made mostly of common skeletons, zombies and ghosts, with minimum amount of rare 'ingredients' required, dullahans became quite a popular replacement for golems, among the practitioners of dark arts at least…"
At that moment, a 30 feet-tall skeletal being, wraith, wearing a hooded shapeless garment, appeared on the right from Natsu and made a broad swing with its giant scythe, creating a crimson shockwave, which countered the Gladius Terminus' crescent moon-like attack. Clash of two magical attacks gave rise to a powerful shockwave, but large hooded creature stood on its way, shielding Natsu and leaving him completely unaffected.
"Undead creatures… with all of their advantages, like immunity to poisons and diseases, mind affecting effects, inability to feel pain and hunger… every type of undead has a deadly weakness. Zombies can be incinerated with fire, skeletons can be crashed with rocks, dullahans can be cleansed with water… and ghosts can be obliterated with lightning. However, those ghosts, whose hatred and pain are strong enough to withstand the fury of thunder, won't be destroyed but will be tempered with it. First evolving into wights, and, after second stage of tempering, into wraiths and banshees, those former ghosts will become incarnates of suffering and doom, as their attacks are aimed at souls, not physical bodies as their own ethereal bodies no longer have lightning vulnerability…"
"Can you just shut your damn mouth!?" Jellal bellowed, he's been extremely angered with Natsu's 'lections' about different creatures, which seems to be completely out of time and place. Though, mostly he was angered not with lectures themselves but with Natsu's completely indifferent demeanor – the god slayer didn't seem as if he's in the middle of a mortal combat – he seemed as if he was telling a story to kids who are playing in the sandbox.
That was the fundamental difference between Natsu and Jellal. Jellal's hatred toward the god slayer and his spouse was still burning with hellish flame, but for present Natsu – Jellal seemed just like a distant past.
"What's wrong?" Natsu asked with derisive tone, "I'm telling you all of this so you could understand into what, you imbecile, got yourself into. By associating with Procellion, first, and now with my treacherous sword, you've stepped into the world that your tiny mind will never be able to comprehend," God slayer said arrogantly. Though, Natsu actually could back up his claims.
As Jellal looked up, he noticed that the crimson sky above became darker but partly lost its color, turning dark gray. In contrary, two dark moons were becoming brighter, gaining colors – one moon was gaining shades of red and second one – shades of blue. The number of groups of men and women, which were fighting between themselves on the background, also became noticeably lesser. Instead, some ghostly shadows began to lurk around. Even with his quite limited understanding he could make a guess – as he and Gladius Terminus are fruitlessly struggling against the God slayer, Natsu's will is slowly taking over this world.
"Oh, you did notice, after all?" God slayer asked with the same derisive tone, as if he heard Jellal's thought. "I'd suggest the two of you to take this fight seriously, because when I'll conquer this world – I'll evaporate the both of you…"
December 11, X784, 21:45, Northwestern mountain ridge.
(With Mirajane, Gray, Wendy and the rest)
"Damn, why are they so tenacious?!" Eve exclaimed desperately, "We cannot stop them like that!"
"Shut up and focus!" Mirajane shouted, "It doesn't matter – can we stop them or not – we have to!" Though, she herself was putting a bold face on a sorry business – she-devil already spent all of her mana that she managed to recover before this fight, now she was supporting her Satan Soul spell with sheer power of her will alone.
To force them to stop using their life force to empower their magic and defenses, those Nirvana-controlled, insane dark wizards must be brought to the brink of death. Alliance team managed to neutralize a few dozen, but there were still more than half a thousand of them.
Jura and Gray were barely holding defenses – even for the one of Ten Wizards Saints it was quite difficult – nor he neither Ice Mage could divert some of their concentration to go on offensive.
Wendy (and Carla) couldn't use offensive spells, as well as Hibiki. Shelly and Ren completely exhausted their magic. To that moment, Eve also used up almost all of his mana. As such, it was up to Mirajane and Lyon to defeat that entire horde of enemies… No one could actually say – how exactly the two of them are still capable of using spells, since their manapools should've been completely dry by now – as if they really are using their will instead of mana to conjure spells.
However, even though they still could use spells somehow, the effectiveness of their actions was questionable, at best. "Look!" Wendy pointed to the left. Alliance's mages looked that way, only to see that dark mages already reached one of Nirvana's legs-pipes, and began to climb on it.
'Curse it, what shall we do!?' Even Mirajane began succumbing to despair, and this time it had nothing to do with Nirvana's influence. According to that she could see from such a distance – Erza and her opponent, whoever he (or she) is – are evenly matched. If those creeps will be allowed to join their fight – nothing good will come out of it.
'We must do something!' Gray clenched his teeth. He was about to ask Jura if he can hold team's defensive perimeter alone so ice mage himself could join the attack, but then…
"Shitsugeki: Sōyōhōshi! [Deathblow: Blossom Collapse]" A multitude of emerald-colored sword's afterimages, resembling an emerald chrysanthemum, appeared in the middle of crowd of enemies. Swoosh! With sibilant sound, multiple greenish lines were drawn in the air, scattering away about fifty dark mages, wounding them severely (the unluckiest few lost their limbs).
"What a pitiful sight…" A bit apathetic voice said as a tall girl with long, turquoise hair appeared out of nowhere, right beside Wendy. "You can't even handle such a trash?" She added, not looking at anyone in particular, though she definitely was mocking Mirajane.
"Shut. Up." She-devil growled silently, though she couldn't say anything else, since Nelliel was right.
"Mureru no Shōsui! [Flock of Woe]" Another female's voice shouted, as huge flock of butterflies (approximately one thousand of them), made of dark violet energy, spawned near Nirvana's pipe-leg. Those butterflies scattered around, chasing dark mages that were climbing on Nirvana's leg. Dark wizards felt the threat and took countermeasures, so more than half of those butterflies were destroyed, but about 400 managed to break through, hooking on dark mages, 5-6 per one mage. Then all of those butterflies exploded, causing a mayhem, and throwing down quite a lot of enemies. A black-haired girl with three cat-like tails could be seen, standing on one of nearby tree's branches.
And while the alliance mages were looking at fiery explosions in amazement, Nelliel knelt and addressed sky sorceress. "Wendy, tell me, is there a limit to how many times you can restore our strength and stamina with your magic?" Dream dragon slayer asked.
"Ah?" Wendy looked at Nelliel in confusion, but her feline companion replied instead.
"Yes," White cat nodded before elaborating, "I mean, Wendy's restoration magic has no diminishing returns effect or something, but that magic only restores body. Mental exhaustion continues to accumulate, and due to that, people, whose stamina was magically restored, will be getting tired much faster after each use of magic."
"It's just like Carla said," Wendy nodded, confirming cat's words. "Continuous use of stamina restoration spell can actually make people sick," She added, lowering her head, "I… I'm sorry…"
"Wendy, why are you apologizing!?" Carla lost her temper. "How many times do you think you've used your healing magic in just this one evening already?! Some of us here owes you their lives!" White cat couldn't calm down as she looked at Nelliel, "She can't do anything else than this! To start with, this girl…"
"I see…" Nelliel cut Carla off. "Well, you really don't have anything to apologize for. Rather, it is we are, me in particular, who must apologize… apologize for that, despite everything you've already done today, we still need your help…" Dreamwalker looked into skymaiden's eyes "…please, help us defeat the enemy."
"Eh?" Wendy's eyes widened in surprise.
"We must stop this madness," Nelliel waved her hand around, "And for that – we need your help…"
"But… I…" Wendy mumbled uncertainly.
"You can do that," Nelliel continued to encourage sky sorceress, "Our Metsuryū Mahō [Dragon Slayer Magic] is an immensely destructive power, which is meant to fight against dragons to begin with. Consume the air… no, the sky… the heaven. Just like myself – you have power of a dragon inside you, and now we desperately need that power."
"The power of dragon… inside me…?" Wendy mumbled uncertainly, but Carla noticed in surprise that skymaiden clenched her small fists. Blue-haired girl abruptly turned around and looked over the river – there was her own guild – Cait Shelter. At that moment Nelliel disappeared with emerald flash (she said everything she had to), but Wendy didn't even notice that.
"Are you really gonna do that?" Carla looked at her partner, she never saw Wendy like that.
"Yes! It is to protect my own guild!" Young girl exclaimed, taking a deep breath, calming down her mind. Then she turned towards closest group of insane mages, that again came too close to one of Nirvana's pipe-legs. "Please! Grandeeney! Lend me your power! "Tenryū no Hōkō! [Sky Dragon's Roar]" Wendy breathed a hurricane-like blast at her target, which shook them down from that leg and scattered dark mages around.
Time and location unknown.
(With Natsu)
Clang! Cling! Ching! With sharp metallic sounds, Natsu was parrying his (former) sword's attacks. In his left hand, made of crimson energy, he was holding a sword (also made of energy), which looked like a Qing Dao [one-edged Chinese sword]. Its blade was about 3'8" long, so this definitely was a two-handed weapon, but Natsu seemed quite comfortable operating this sword with only one hand. Gladius Terminus and Jellal's attacks' intensity was growing as battle continued, so he himself finally had to join the battle, as his creatures could no longer hold back his enemies. But by now – that was it. Jellal was occupied with four crimson creatures, while Natsu stood still, simply parrying (not dodging) Gladius Terminus's attacks, spawning additional crimson creatures from time to time – since the beginning of this battle Jellal and Natsu's former sword couldn't make him to move an inch from the spot where he stood when the battle began. That's pretty pathetic performance, to be honest, especially considering their claims.
Suddenly, with bright flashes, two moons above further changed their colors. From aside it seemed as if those two moons, which were like closed eyes before, both opened abruptly, revealing pupils, and irises of different colors (one crimson and one dark blue). Now those two eyes on the skies were looking down on the ground, where men and women, which were fighting among themselves, were completely replaced with strange creatures, which were lurking in darkness.
"Augh!" Female-like voice screamed as Gladius Terminus fell on the ground. The light emitted by the blade became quite dim as blade itself now was cracked all over. Seemingly, she got a backlash as her ties with world of will that she created were weakened.
"Your time's almost up…" Natsu noted, as his eyes flashed and two eyes-moons in the sky flashed as well, "Soon you will be forgotten!"
"Noooooo!" Jellal suddenly bellowed as he used his Heavenly Body magic to break away from four monsters, made by Natsu's imagination, and rushed towards the sword. In the next moment he grabbed it. Natsu could intercept him, but for some reason he didn't try to do anything. "I won't let it to end like this! I must have my revenge!" He screamed, raising Gladius Terminus.
"You're an imbecile," Natsu replied emotionlessly. "She rebelled against me, yet you think that she'll allow a mere mortal to hold her hilt?" He asked.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!" Is a confirmation to Natsu's words, Jellal let out a horrible wail of agony as a very thin steel threads bursted out of Gladius Terminus's hilt and pierced Jellal's arm that held the sword. Seemingly, those thread almost instantly reached his heart through his veins and began to entangle it, making a blue-haired guy to scream in horrible pain. About five seconds have passed and Jellal stopped screaming, his hand now seemed attached to sword's hilt via those metallic threads. He raised his head and looked at Natsu, Jellal's eyes now were glowing with a dim white light.
"To be honest, I was expecting you to take over his body long before that moment," Natsu said, looking at blue-haired man, who now was completely under Gladius Terminus's control. "But it seems that you actually do have some honor, in opposition to my expectations. For that – I am sorry," God slayer admitted. "This one, on the other hand, completely matched my expectations – he still didn't understand anything, despite everything that transpired during the destruction of R-System and after it – he didn't understand how different the world of mortals is, comparing to the world where you and I exist…" God slayer pronounced as he snapped his fingers and all four of crimson energy creatures dissipated – he no longer had any need of them. "He brought this upon himself – your pride wasn't an empty bravado – that I must admit. However, in my eyes you are still a traitor and nothing more. For that you will pay…" God slayer concluded, raising his crimson sword as he finally was holding its hilt with both arms.
Jellal, now possessed by Gladius Terminus, raised the sword itself, seemingly preparing for its final assault. Definitely, the sword's spirit greatly underestimated Natsu, just as the god slayer himself said at the very beginning of this battle. Sword's spirit couldn't imagine that Natsu will be able to do whatever he likes inside of sword's own 'World of Will' and will be able to take over that world, let alone take it over that fast, fighting against sword's spirit and the soul of a relatively powerful mortal mage, all at the same time. In minutes, if not seconds, this world will be taken over completely and both Gladius Terminus and Jellal's spirits will be at Natsu's mercy – and there definitely will be no mercy. As such – it is now or never – victory or oblivion.
"Hyōkenbu: Hyō Majin Saiboku! [Ice Sword Dance: Ice Devil Incision]" Possessed Jellal shouted and rushed forward as Gladius Terminus began to glow with cold blue light.
Natsu didn't recognize this technique. He only heard about its parental style's [Ice Sword Dance] existence once. And that surprised him a bit. As much as he could remember – Ice Sword Dance was created and developed by a clan of water and ice spirits, which were (still are?) ruling over the huge underground lake. And that was a pretty powerful clan since they developed a sword technique to the extent that even Natsu heard about it. But what actually surprised Natsu – how Gladius Terminus learned about it? Not from his mother – her weapon of choice are polearms (trident, in particular). Actually, Morrigan never mentioned – where she actually got this sword from (didn't think that such information has any importance?) and Natsu had no time to ask before his departure. Besides, that style actually meant to be used with short sword by female combatants of low stature. Gladius Terminus' blade is too long for that style and Jellal is too tall. One weird thing after another, but Natsu had no time to think about that now.
"Senmei Saikō: Jūrokuya: Naizō! [Sure-kill Shot: Sixteen Nights: Eviscerate]" Crimson energy sword in Natsu's arms suddenly blackened as it stopped emitting any light at all as Natsu kicked the ground.
CLLAAASH! With horrible sound of metal clashing against metal, Natsu and his opponent exchanged blows. "Hmph, not bad, after all," God slayer snorted as his sword made of energy, and both of his arms (one made of energy and the real one) fell on the ground. Possessed Jellal's last attack left him literally handless. But Natsu didn't seem scared or saddened or angered. In contrary – he seemed a bit amused – after all – this is just the world of will – physical damage sustained here won't be carried over to the real world, and with power of Natsu's mind he can endure any other consequences.
"AAAARRRRGGGHH!" Jellal, on the other hand, let out a wail of horrible agony. Sword in his arms, Gladius Terminus, crumbled to pieces, releasing its control over blue-haired man's spiritual body. But he was unable to enjoy his regained freedom even for a moment as a strange white-blue energy began to tear him apart from inside, causing that unlucky would-be terrorist to scream even more horribly. Finally, Jellal's body exploded with bright flash.
"Now!" Natsu shouted, seemingly to himself, as both of his eyes flashed with bright light. At that moment, the world around Natsu got twisted and began to shrunk with immense speed, spinning around the remains of Gladius Terminus and Jellal.
December 11, X784, 21:50, Nirvana.
Once again Natsu was all alone, floating inside of a spherical prison, made of some glass-like material. The sword that pierced his chest disappeared, not leaving any wounds. Instead, a sphere of pure white energy, about three inches in diameter, was floating in front of Natsu. That was all that left from Jellal and Gladius Terminus. As their consciousnesses were completely erased, that sphere was an untapped power of their souls. "Don't worry, you two," Natsu said, addressing the sphere. "I'll put your power into good use," He added as he grabbed the sphere with his right arm (which was on its place in the real world), put the sphere right into his own mouth and swallowed it.
December 11, X784, 21:55, Nirvana, King's square.
"What a persistent scum…" Erza hissed as she avoided another Zero's attack. She's been fighting here for almost half an hour, but all this time battle was locked in a stalemate. It didn't seem that Zero was holding back, rather it seems that he's playing for time, at the same time hiding some tricks in his sleeve. That was getting on Erza's nerves as she had no idea what he's up to.
Dragon slayer, on the other hand, also wasn't showing everything she's got. First – there were too many distracting thoughts in her head. She was concerned (very much) about Natsu, about others in her team, she still had no idea what enemy is plotting, etc., etc. Second – Erza couldn't get rid of a feeling that she's being watched by someone else. She got a weird feeling that here's somebody else, a weak but very dark presence somewhere around there. Erza was worried that if she'll go all out against the enemy in front of her – she'll just get backstabbed.
"What's the matter?! Is this all you've got?! Where's your dragon's power?!" Zero mocked Erza as he launched a large umbrella-like blast at Erza, "Rakuen no Mu! [Cadenza of Nil]"
"Seiryū no Hōkō! [Star Dragon's Roar]" Erza countered Zero's spell with her dragon's roar. Two spells collided, producing a powerful shockwave.
However, before the smoke from that blast dissipated, Zero appeared from it with another spell ready, "Senkyoku no Mu! [Rondo of Nil]" Dark magic with horror-stricken faces were swirling around Zero's hands and he fired it at Erza.
"Seyryū no Kudatsume! [Star Dragon's Crashing Claw]" Erza covered her right foot with plasma and swung it, countering Zero's spell. Bam! Zero's spell has been shattered, but since Erza used a melee-type spell to counter enemy's magic she got thrown away for several tens of feet.
"Come on! I don't believe that power of the dragons that used to rule this continent is just this level!" Zero laughed at his opponent.
Erza clenched her teeth, barely holding her fury. During this battle Zero mocked everything she respects and/or holds dear – Natsu, Fairy Tail, dragons, even her parents she never even knew. But she couldn't succumb to his provocations…
Suddenly, Nirvana jolted. No, the six-legged town didn't move, but it elicited a burst of energy. "Oh, it's finally the time?" Zero sneered evilly as he looked somewhere to the ground. Erza also looked that way as she got a bad feeling about all of this, as her enemy definitely was looking at Cait Shelter's guildhall. What for Zero been waiting?
"Don't get distracted!" Sin shouted – he tried to remind Erza to stay focused but his warning came just a moment too late.
"Jūryoku no Mu! [Gravity of Nil]" Zero shouted as he smashed his palms to the ground. At that moment, the gravity beneath Erza's feet was greatly amplified, but not only that – gravity's direction had been reversed. Erza flew away as if she's been shot out from cannon.
"Erza!" Sin shouted as he rushed after the dragon slayer, but she flew away so fast that even he couldn't catch up with her.
"Augh!" Erza screamed as she fell on the ground, about half a mile away from Nirvana. "Ugh! Ough!" She screamed several more times as she was rolling head over heels on the ground due to inertia, before she finally crashed into a huge tree, "Argh!"
"Erza, where are you!?" Sin called for dragon slayer. No, he wasn't worried about her life – the fall by itself, even from such a height, is not enough to seriously harm her. That was painful and extremely shameful, since she's been thrown away like a useless trash, but nothing more than that.
"That damn piece of shit…" Erza growled, slowly getting back on her feet.
"Pull yourself together!" Sin called the dragon slayer to calm her down as he found her in the forest. "I'll get you back there in no time… huh?!" Suddenly, Sin's little body jolted as it elicited a bright flash of dark blue light, and after that the dark blue flame, that is covering Sin's skeletal body, began to burn much more intense.
"Huh? Sin? What's going on?" Erza asked as she looked at little boney creature in confusion.
"My curse has returned…" Lil creature replied, he seemed even more confused than Erza "…that means… huh? Wait, he wants to speak to you," Sin flew closer to dragon slayer.
"What? Who wants to speak? What the…" She didn't understand anything, but Sin ignored it as he now was floating just five feet away from Erza. Suddenly, one of lights (the right one) that was floating inside of Sin's empty eye sockets became crimson and little boney dragon addressed Erza with Natsu's voice:
"Erza, what the hell are you doing?" God slayer's voice asked, with pretty insolent tone.
"Natsu!?" Erza's eyes widened in shock as she was still trying to realize what's happening, "Where are you?! Are you alright?!"
"Does it seem to you like I'm alright?" Natsu replied through Sin, still with that insolent and sarcastic tone, it seemed as if he's provoking his spouse, "How much time are you intending to waste on that fool up there?"
"What?! How dare you!?" Erza's raised her voice as Natsu's provocation seemingly hit the mark, "Listen, you! If not for your incompetency – nothing of that would've happened! Can you even imagine how I felt seeing you being captured and then not knowing what happened to you?!"
"I admit, that was biggest, or may be second biggest blunder in my life," Natsu admitted honestly, "But that doesn't change the fact that you've been messing around with that clown for half an hour, before being thrown away like an old drunkard form a bar." No doubts – he was telling all of this on purpose, trying to infuriate his wife as much as possible.
"Damn, you saw that…" Erza lowered her head, "Wait, how did you call me?!" She exclaimed furiously as meaning of Natsu's words reached her mind.
But Natsu didn't reply, instead he informed his spouse: "Don't worry about that another presence – she can't leave the insides of Nirvana – just deal with that Zero scum."
"You know what that presence is?!" Erza asked in surprise.
"Don't concern yourself with that now, c'mon, stop fooling around – get back there, finish off that imbecile, smash that damn thing and get me out of there already!" Natsu said and Sin's right eye became dark blue again.
"Fuck you!" Erza swore, despite she knew that Natsu can no longer talk to her through his familiar, "Just you wait until I get my hands on you, insolent…"
However, despite now she was spitting curses toward her husband, in fact Erza felt herself wonderful. No, much better than wonderful – a great weight fell off her mind, and last remnants of Nirvana's influence disappeared together with it. Natsu is alive and well, more or less, considering the situation. Actually, an emotional lift of that magnitude she felt only twice in her life – when Natsu proposed to her and when the two of them exchanged their wedding vows. Now Erza's goal was set as straight as possible.
"Okay, Sin get me back there and…" She began to say but stopped as the dragon slayer heard another voice, in her own head this time.
"ERZA, WAIT!" Dragon queen's voice called for her, "YOUR HUSBAND-LOSER CAN WAIT A COUPLE MORE MINUTES – FIRST YOU MUST PROTECT THE GUILD OF THAT LITTLE GIRL! THIS HUGE THING IS PREPARING TO FIRE!"
"What!?" Erza couldn't suppress her voice as she looked at Nirvana. The torrents of energy began to gather around its embrasure, that looked like a huge hatch and was located in the fore-part of the city. It was aimed right at Cait Shelter's guildhall. Definitely – Zero was playing for time as he was waiting for this moment, looking for an opportunity to get rid of Erza so she won't be able to interfere. "What shall I do?!" She cried desperately. If Cait Shelter will be destroyed – that will be a horrible failure!
"DON'T PANIC!" Dragon queen ordered, "USU MY POWER TO STOP THE ATTACK!"
"Huh? Can I?!" Erza asked, surprising Sin as he couldn't understand who she's talking to.
"YES, I BELIEVE YOU CAN USE MY… NO, YOUR FULL STRENGTH WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES," Dragon queen confirmed. Dragon Slayers' capabilities depends heavily on their emotional conditions, and now, Erza's condition was best in months, "COME ON, YOU ARE MY HEIR, ERZA, AN IMPERIAL PRINCESS OF DRAGON KIND. YOU MAY NOT LOSE UNDER THIS STARRY SKIES!"
December 11, X784, 22:00, Cait Shelter's guildhall.
All members of Cait Shelter guild gathered near the master's seat, crying and cringing in fear. They obviously were thinking that there's no more hope for them.
"Master?!..."
"Nooo!"
"It's all over!..."
They were screaming desperately. Only master Roubaul seemed calm. "Why do you clamor so?" He wondered, looking at Nirvana gathering energy for the attack, "This is our fate. The reckoning for our Nabura heavy sins…"
"Finally! Perish before me!" Zero laughed maniacally, looking down from the edge of King's tower and feeling the massive amount of energy that Nirvana was gathering for shot.
In the forest nearby, the Alliance team was still fighting the insane mages from various lesser dark guilds. With timely arrival of Nelliel and Luciferona they've managed to defeat about 350 of them, yet about the same number was still threatening the team. However, they stopped fighting for a moment as they all saw a huge energy vortex around Nirvana's weapon.
"They're not… firing Nirvana?!" Mirajane screamed in horror.
"Nooo! Stooooop!" Wendy cried desperately, seeing her guild being a target of that huge thing.
SWUSH! Suddenly, something that looked like a silver lightning passed right in front of the alliance team.
"Huh!?"
"What?!"
"Ah!?"
No one seem to realize what was that… except for Nelliel. She traced that 'lightning' and now was looking at a scarlet-haired girl, who stood right in front of Cait Shelter's guildhall. That was Erza, of course. Large platinum scales were decorating her forehead, temples and cheeks, her shoulders, elbows, thighs, shins and ankles (maybe somewhere else but it couldn't be seen through her clothes). Her eyes were glowing with bright silver light, and now her head was crowned with three pairs of neat golden horns, arranged in two rows, from forehead to vertex.
Nirvana fired a huge energy beam at Cait Shelter. Erza made a deep breath, "Seiryūkō no Kōhaisoku!" [Holy Dragon Empress' Devastating Breath]
A/N: Both kanjis 星and 聖 have the same romanization – 'sei' – so 'seiryū' can be translated both as 'star dragon' and as 'holy dragon'.
Two massive energy beams, pale gray from Nirvana and bright white beam from Erza, collided in mid-air, creating an unforgettable light show, which lasted for about ten seconds. When light dissipated, the Cait Shelter's guildhall appeared completely unharmed.
"What?! It missed!?" Inside of Cait Shelter's guildhall, everyone seemed confused, even master Roubaul seemed surprised.
"What happened!?" Zero seemed shocked – he could barely believe his eyes, "You… you deflected Nirvana's attack!?"
"Deflected? No," Erza replied with low, echoing voice, "When you deflecting the attack of such power, you have almost no way to predict where it will go, so your allies may get harmed. I've simply suppressed that attack with my own attack of the same magnitude," She explained.
"WHAA…..?!" Almost all members of the Alliance team shouted in chorus, except for Luciferona, who just smiled lightly, Jura, who was still busy holding defenses against the insane mages, and Nelliel.
"And just when I thought that I've finally overtook those two…" Dream dragon slayer helplessly spread her hands, "I guess having an equal partner really helps out, huh?"
"Erza-san is magnificent!" Wendy exclaimed in admiration.
"Humph!" Carla just snorted, but in fact she was extremely thankful to Erza.
"Wendy, don't get distracted!" Nelliel's voice called for skymaiden, "It's not over yet!"
"Right! I'll help protect my guild too!" Wendy replied with renewed enthusiasm, making another deep breath, "Power… More power of heaven…"
However, the most shocked one here was Zero. He actually thought that maybe it's time for a tactical retreat, but within those two seconds while he was thinking, Erza already appeared on King's square and now she was standing just five feet away from him. Boom! Erza smashed her feet in Zero's face. "Argh!" With hoarse scream Zero flew backwards, plowing a deep furrow in King square's pavement.
"You wanted to see the true power of the dragon? I'll show you," Dragon slayer announced.
Zero quickly got back on his feet and looked at Erza again. He noticed changes in her appearance. And he was knowledgeable enough to understand what's going on. 'Dragon Force! Dragon Slayer's final form! That magic power is said to be the same power that dragon has. The power to destroy everything! Destroy…' In other situation, a thought about destruction would've amused him, but now he's facing someone who countered Nirvana's full power with single spell, so it's not the time for extraneous thoughts.
However, even like this he underestimated his opponent, because while he was examining changes in Erza's appearance, she drew four runes right beneath his feet, Ai Warifu: Tōkai no Keishō! [Ai Rune: Hidden Crystal] Despite it was the same spell that she used against Gajeel, now spell's effect seemed completely different (because this time Erza did everything properly). Four runes made a square cage, composed of white-purple energy, which quickly shrunk, threatening to crush Zero in between of its energy rods, and then exploded, launching enemy into the air, ripping his clothes and leaving several severe burns on his body.
"GAAAAHHH!" Zero screamed as he fell on the ground, smoldering all over.
"Your time is up," Erza noted as magical vortex began to gather around her, she definitely was preparing to use a powerful spell.
"Good… very good…" Zero said with very dark expression on his face. Erza definitely managed to wipe off his insolent smile. "Then I'll give you the best naught, with my utmost magic!" He announced, gathering a huge amount of darkness magic, with golden sparks mixed into it. "This is the end of history before me! It's the beginning of a new world of nothing! Open, the Gate of Wraithwail!" He shouted, summoning a great number of dark phantoms, which were engulfed with golden energy (the 'insane people of nil'), unleashing all of his own and Nirvana's powers simultaneously.
But Erza doesn't seem worried with that disgusting spell. "The likes of you can never achieve a true victory. True victory is achievable only if you have someone to celebrate it with. Comrades… family… loved ones… Lonely and pathetic people like you always will be finding themselves on the junkyard of history – the place where I'm going to send you now."
"We'll see about that!" Zero shouted with sneer, "Vanish! To the far beyond naught! Sōseigeki no Rei! [Regenesis Zero]" He unleashed a swarm of insane phantoms at Erza, which rushed at her with intention to draw her into the world of nil. The skies above Nirvana blackened due to a huge swarm of phantoms, "Insane travelers of nil! Devour her existence! Make her disappear under the name of Zero!"
"And that is exactly why you could never win, from the very beginning," Erza said as she absorbed all magic from that energy vortex that was raging around her. "In your world of nothing victory also doesn't exist. Metsuryū Ōgi: Tenaigoku Jōshōsei! [Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Heavenly Empire: Rising Star!]" Erza made a step forward and the entire Nirvana shook under her feet. She elicited an extremely bright flash, and all phantoms, which were about to engulf her, wailed in horror, as that blinding light began to erase them from this world.
"What?!" Zero screamed in shock as he saw his phantoms being erased at immensely fast rate. "That blinding light is… erasing my magic meant to erase everything!?"
"RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGHH!" A blinding light around Erza formed a huge apparition of a dragon that let out a deafening roar as all of Zero's phantoms were wiped out as dragon slayer rushed forth at immense speed.
Zero, now covered with cold sweat, finally realized that it is impossible for him to win this. 'To defeat a dragon… you must be a mage of the same strength as the dragon… this is the true… dragon slayer!'
Erza stomped the ground with her right foot, sending her magic through it and causing an underground explosion. It sundered the entire King's square and launched Zero into the air. Then she jumped up to him, with her feet and fists charged with star magic and, still in the air, attacked Zero with a continuous barrage of blows, each of which produced a powerful blast. Then she rose her arms, charging her hands with all available magic, and struck Zero's body with both hands. The flash from her blow lit up the skies to the very horizon, as streams of star magic, created by her blow, formed the huge Kanji '光' [Light] in the sky. Zero's body flew forth and crashed into the already damaged King's tower, completely sundering it with immensely powerful blow.
"GWWWAAAAAAHHHH!" Zero screamed in agony, but screaming was the only thing he could do – he already sustained an immense damage. But that definitely wasn't the end of it.
While she was beating him, Erza managed to draw a rune all over Zero's body, and now was the time to activate it, "Soru Auera: Senmyō no Keishō!" [Sol Auela: Vivid Crystal] For a moment, Zero's body shone like a star that fell on the Earth, the entire forest has been lit up as if now was the midday. Zero didn't scream as he probably no longer had vocal cords – yellow mark of Nirvana disappeared from him as his body quickly began to dissipate, turning to dust. He was definitely done for, but Erza didn't stop her assault – in the end, Zero never was her target – her true aim was Nirvana itself.
Still in mid-air she turned around, preparing for her attack against the six-legged city… and then, something unusual happened. A glow covered entirety of Erza's body, but not the usual blinding glow of stars, but soft one, warming light of golden shade. It could be described as 'divine' light. At the same time, the shade of Erza's hair changed slightly, as it was shifted toward orange. For some reason she smiled kindly, seemingly to herself, and raised her arms, conjuring a spell:
"The peak of heavens beyond the shining light,
I'm calling for your endless might!
Open the heavens – it's time for thee to shine,
And for me to get back what once was mine!
Time to banish the bringers of woe,
Let the flame of my passion to burn once more!
Culmina Caeli: Solem Aeterna! [Peak of Heavens: Eternal Sun]"
As she finished her incantation, a large actogram, the diameter of which was even bigger than of Nirvana, appeared in the sky and broad ray of 'divine' light fell down on six-legged city. An already battered city couldn't withstand the attack of such magnitude. Its legs were torn off almost simultaneously, as city itself fell on the ground with horrible sound and began to crumble.
"Gan Tetsu Heki: Rensa!" Jura used almost all of his remaining powers to conjure a massive wall made of solid earth to protect the Alliance team from the shockwave, elicited by a falling city. The good thing, however, was that this shockwave wiped out all of the remaining insane dark mages.
"This is…"
"Am I seeing things?..."
"For real?..."
"Is that even possible?..."
Many of the Alliance's team members – Gray, Lyon, Shelly, Ren, Eve and Hibiki – they just couldn't comprehend what happened, watching the crumbling Nirvana with wide eyes.
Jura didn't say anything – he just wiped away sweat from his forehead and inhaled the air several times, catching his breath. Holding defenses against hundreds of dark mages wasn't easy even for one of Ten Wizards Saints.
Carla and Wendy couldn't care less about that, now the two of them were hugging each other, shedding tears of joy – their guild has been saved!
Mirajane looked at those two with smile, but then turned back to crumbling city – she had a bittersweet taste in her mouth. Of course, she was glad about destruction of Nirvana, but, on the other hand… 'There is an entire abyss between us now…' She thought, looking at Erza, who just destroyed the entire Nirvana, while Mira herself almost died, fighting just one member of the Oración Seis…
"Erza-san fulfilled her promise, after all," Luciferona smiled, remembering Erza's promise to destroy Nirvana, since they couldn't use magical bomber for that. Unlike Mirajane – Luciferona had no depressing thoughts – she was aware of her own, newfound potential – and it's up to her to unleash it.
"So… this is the power of an Heir of a Holy Dragon Empress, Andromeda the Starbinder?" Nelliel muttered to herself. Now, she definitely did her homework, learning some things about Erza… though, legends about Andromeda weren't among rarest. Right now, thought, Nelliel thought that she probably has stayed in a man-haters' camp for too long and maybe time has come to find a new boyfriend? Erza definitely couldn't fight that fiercely if it wasn't about her loved one. Though, Nelliel herself already has her beloved daughter, Luminel, to fight for. Then her new man should be the worthy sparring partner, though finding such a man won't be easy, especially since he also will be a new father for Luminel…
"MEEEEEEHN!" A piteous scream cut through the forest. That was Ichia, who hasn't been incinerated by Erza's last spell due to some miracle (or because spell wasn't aimed at living beings to begin with). The building on which he was hanging all that time collapsed together with Nirvana, but since he was still tied to that wooden rod – he couldn't join the Alliance team on his own, so now he was lying near the crumbling Nirvana, and looked extremely pathetic.
"BOSS!" Trimens exclaimed in chorus as all of the rushed to free the so-called 'Ace of Blue Pegasus'.
"Finally… It's over…" Erza let out a sigh of relief as her Dragon Force wore off. The last spell she conjured – she was a bit concerned about that as she couldn't understand what she just did and how. No – she didn't lose consciousness or control over her body or something like that – she just felt a huge surge of inspiration… at least this was how she felt it. However, she can sort that out later, right now there's more pressing concern – Natsu. By now he should be free. She just needs to find him among these ruins. However…
"No, it's not over yet," Sin said as he now was hovering near Erza, "Look…"
Erza quickly looked to the direction Sin was pointing at, and saw something weird. Beneath the crumbling city – there was a layer of strange, dark metal. The more parts of the city did crumble – the more parts of dark metallic construction have been revealed. Now it looked like a huge disk (its diameter was about half in size of Nirvana), with disk's edge glowing with pale yellow light.
"What the hell is that?!" Erza asked in awe.
"A prison," Sin replied casually.
BOOOM! Suddenly, the disk elicited a shockwave, throwing down from itself the remains of Nirvana's stone city buildings, and, under the shocked gaze of everyone who was still conscious, the disk (which actually looked like a classic UFO) began to takeoff, slowly gaining altitude.
Erza felt despair. She used almost all of her mana to destroy Nirvana. Yes, she probably can replenish her magic (the skies above are clear and starry), but she felt herself extremely exhausted mentally. That is unlikely that she'll be able to enter the Dragon Force mode again, not right now. How she's supposed to fight with this?! But…
"Don't you worry," Sin noted, still with the same casual voice, as if he perfectly knew what she's thinking about right now. "You no longer need to do anything, just watch, we'll take it from here." As he said that, he soared into the air and flew towards the mysterious disk.
December 11, X784, 22:10, Nirvana's 'core'.
SHATTER! With the loud sound of shattering glass, Natsu destroyed the glass-like sphere where he's been held prisoner. "At last…" God slayer whispered as he landed on metallic floor. He looked at his new, nameless (for now) sword. It looked like a Qing Dao, which was almost four and half feet long (with hilt) and had a half a feet broad blade. Lower edge was sharpened from the tip to the hilt. Upper edge was blunt, except for the central part, that looked like saw teeth. Natsu made this sword, using the Gladius Terminus powers, after he erased its consciousness. But this new blade had nothing to do with the original, beautiful and elegant katana. This sword, the so-called Dragon Dao, had only one purpose – making a bloodbath.
"Not bad at all," Natsu nodded to himself as he examined the blade with his emerald-colored eyes, which he inherited from his mother. Though, his eyes' color quickly changed as his power began to manifest itself – now indigo-blue lightnings were dancing in his eye sockets.
Natsu looked at his new blade for a few more seconds, and then his sight moved to the arm, that was holding that sword. His left arm. That one looked just like his right. Natsu could even feel the weight of the blade with it. He could feel his fingertips clenching the sword's hilt. It's been four years since the last time he could feel anything with his left arm, except for the searing pain from cursed flames, of course. No, in fact that hand wasn't made of flesh and blood, it was made of a living metal of sort. But still – that hand was warm, like a real one would've been. Natsu could feel everything with it, as with the real one. That was HIS OWN hand, better than the real one. Six big runes were engraved on that hand, and now all six were glowing with ice-blue light.
Natsu nodded to himself with satisfaction. Then he slowly shifted his gaze towards the farthest side of the room where he now was. He slowly raised his sword and pointed with it to that side, "Using my own powers, you have caused a lot of harm to my friends, comrades and my loved one. Now it's my turn to use you for some experiments. No hard feeling, alright?"
In reply for Natsu's question, two pale-yellow eyes flashed in darkness.
A/N: I named this chapter "The Awakening" because here Erza truly awoke her dragon force, Wendy awoke her will to fight for what she holds dear, Natsu woke up from his imprisonment and Nirvana finally awoke its true form.
A/N: Erza's incantation by me.
Spell List
Gan Tetsu Heki – Iron Rock Wall
Gan Tetsu Heki: Rensa – Iron Rock Wall: Continuous Formation
Aisu Meiku Shīrudo – Ice Make: Shield
Ningyōgeki: Ganningyō – Doll Attack: Rock Doll
Kūki Mahō: Kūkiatsu Chin – Air Magic: Pneumatic Cushion
Hyō Zōkei Mahō – Ice Molding Magic
Aisu Meiku: Īguru – Ice Make: Eagles
Aisu Meiku: Taiga – Ice Make: Tiger
Satan Sōru – Satan Soul
Satanikku Burāsuto – Satanic Blast
Howaito Fyuri – White Fury
Tentai Mahō: Ankoku no Rakuen – Heavenly Body: Paradise of Darkness (Altair in anime)
Shitsugeki: Sōyōhōshi – Deathblow: Blossom Collapse
Mureru no Shōsui – Flock of Woe
Metsuryū Mahō – Dragon Slayer Magic
Daini no Fū – Second Wind
Tenryū no Hōkō – Sky Dragon's Roar
Hyōkenbu: Hyō Majin Saiboku – Ice Sword Dance: Ice Devil Incision
Senmei Saikō: Jūrokuya: Naizō – Sure-kill Shot: Sixteen Nights: Eviscerate
Sōkyoku no Mu – Capriccio of Nil
Rakuen no Mu – Cadenza of Nil
Senkyoku no Mu – Rondo of Nil
Jūryoku no Mu – Gravity of Nil
Sōseigeki no Rei – Regenesis Zero
Seikō Kudō – Star Drive
Seiryū no Hōkō – Star Dragon's Roar
Seiryū no Yokusen – Star Dragon's Wing Flash
Seyryū no Kudatsume – Star Dragon's Crashing Claw
Seiryūkō no Kōhaisoku – Holy Dragon Empress' Devastating Breath
Ai Warifu: Tōkai no Keishō – Ai Rune: Hidden Crystal
Metsuryū Ōgi: Tenaigoku Jōshōsei – Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Heavenly Empire: Rising Star
Soru Auera: Senmyō no Keishō – Sol Auela: Vivid Crystal
Culmina Caeli: Solem Aeterna – Peak of Heavens: Eternal Sun
And this is it for now! See you again people, and don't forget to write a REVIEW!