Battle of Crocus Pt. II

The screams were no longer echoing, that much was certain to Wendy as she tried desperately to heal the wounds of a Fiorean soldier whose pain was very much understood by the young dragon slayer. Her hands shook as the soldier applied as much pressure as he possibly could while she healed him, an action she desperately advised him to do once she removed the sword that was lodged into his stomach. The teen had seen severe wounds before, nothing new to her, but the chaos of the battle and the nauseating stench of blood were dizzying her so much that she couldn't keep her focus. Through it all; however, she could feel him drifting away as his eyes began misting over or perhaps she was looking at her own reflection who began to spring tears. In all the time she had been a healer, Wendy had never had a person die under her care and yelled frantically for the soldier to keep conscious to stay awake long enough for more help to arrive.

"It's...alright young one..." The soldier began in short breaths as his coming end drew nearer, "It's my time...please protect the innocent..." His breaths turned to short gasps before his head lulled to one side and the pressure he'd been keeping on his wound disappeared entirely.

Wendy froze as the light in his eyes faded and the tiny pelts of liquid on her arm came in a greater frequency, until she finally cried out in sorrow for the life that was lost in her arms. Her mind was clouded with the only clear thought in her mind was that she failed. She let another life slip through her fingers when there could have been something she could have done for him, but the blood he lost was just too much. It was then that she took notice of the all the dead, a number of their enemies and creatures scattered about but what really got to her was those of her allies. Laurel had claimed that he hadn't lost a single civilian, but he kept the fact that a number of his men had perished before he left for the castle and while he was away.

The young dragon slayer was in plenty of battles with great consequences to life itself, many hanging in the balance at times, but the gruesome reality of war had never truly dawned on her. The war against Alvarez had been brutal, but not once had she seen death on such a terrible level before and it only made her sick to her stomach to know what lives are lost in war. Men both young and old, those who barely lived their lives to those who have quite possibly have something to live for were dying around her so needlessly from an enemy without cause. She didn't know the reason as to why they were attacking, didn't know what they were gaining from killing people and didn't know how many more lives were going to be lost before it was over.

As Wendy continued to cry over the soldier's corpse, she had let her guard down and an enemy soldier had began making his way towards her. His blade was at the ready, no remorse visible under his helm for the desire to kill the young girl though he knew the threat she possessed. A healer, in any battle, is a target priority for they will only prevent the fall of their enemies and prolong a fight until his own soldiers were worn out and injured to the point of being a liability. Her role in this battle circumvented both her age and gender, for she willingly joined the fray and should understand what it means to fight against the Empire.

The soldier stood over her, his blade overhead where he'd make a simple strike that she wouldn't feel much pain before her body would hit the floor. A quick death for the young girl was all the mercy he'd show his enemy, he wasn't a complete monster to let her suffer like the soldier who died underneath her hands. As it came down, his sword was flung from his hand as another girl rushed him, her quick movements disarming him and that's when he noticed her white hair and cat ears. He was about to call her a traitor to the Empire as the cat people were under their rule until the last thing he saw was a black shoe kicking in his visor before the world went black.

"Child why did you just sit there!? You were almost killed!" Carla exclaimed as she hugged Wendy as hard as she could, for even the stoic Carla had feared the worst if she didn't make it in time. The last thing she ever wanted was to lose Wendy in this terrible battle, she had no purpose of being in.

"B-But Carla, I...I couldn't save this man!" Wendy wailed as her conscience began to way down on such a horrible fate she could've prevented if only she was stronger with her healing magic. "I should've trained harder before something like this could ever happen!"

"It's okay young one, it'll be fine." Carla stroked her hair as she kept a lookout in case they were ambushed. "I know how much this pains you Wendy, but you must understand that the situation has probabilities we can never anticipate. Sometimes we will fail to do what must be done because we didn't see it coming"

"But we knew how terrible a battle like this would be!" Wendy couldn't forgive herself for failing to save the Fiorean soldier's life and couldn't find within herself to claim her actions as everything she could have done.

"My dear Wendy I know the reality of everything hurts you, but even we both knew that it was impossible for such a thing not to happen." Carla said as she tried to reason with the girl to get back into the fight. "In our current circumstance something like this is bound to happen, but no matter had happened just now or later on, I have no doubt that everyone won't see you differently for it."

"But I will..."

"Tis true that you must live with this fact, but you must also understand that if you hadn't taken action to ease this brave man's pain then his sacrifice to stop those vile men from attacking the innocent people would go without appreciation while he was still with us." Carla said as Wendy gave it thought and held back the rest of her painful tears. "My dear Wendy your actions and willingness to save his life is an acceptable thanks to him as he no doubt believed that he meant something to you and what we are fighting for. Terrible things may happen, but we must move forward and look to a brighter future."

"Y-You're right, I need to tough it out so that everyone else can live a happier life." Wendy wiped away the remaining tears and Carla smiled as she saw a new resolve in the blue haired teen, of course she knew it would still weigh in her heart but the innocent lives were at the forefront of it.

"That's my girl, now let's go and show them what it means to be Fairy Tail mages protecting our people!" Carla exclaimed as she had grown to take great pride of being a member of the rambunctious guild; however, the urge of bravery had been shadowed both figuratively and literally as an ogre stood over them and a club raised high in the air.

"Iron Dragon's Sword!" Gajeel roared as he struck down the approaching ogre through its center as the crimson blood covered his bladed arm leaving the young teen and Exceed in shock of how easily he killed the beast with no remorse. "These bastards don't want to stay down for long."

"Gajeel, you killed it..." Wendy said through her surprise or even horror as her dragon slayer kin didn't seem the least bit phased. "How could you do it so easily?"

"Hate to break it to you kid, but I'm no stranger to killing and if these things keep coming then there won't be any choice left for you either." Her fellow dragon slayer replied as he launched a wave of clubs to bring down a group of goblins rushing at him. "As much as I know you'd hate this, you're gonna have to take their lives to save many more. Whether it's human or one of these creatures, kill them to save the many hiding in safety behind us."

"I...I understand." Wendy replied solemnly as she launched her Wing Attack to topple a pair of ogres advancing on a fallen soldier who was quickly dragged away to safety by another one.

Wendy, like any Fairy Tail mage, hated to take lives be it a human or otherwise and to this day still felt a small pang of guilt when she thought about killing her first person when she would try to save someone dear to her. As for Gajeel, he hated to bring the hammer of truth down on the young teen and knew that amongst those in Fairy Tail, besides Asuka, she was as pure as they get and didn't want to taint her with the sin of killing. He had done it for years when he was left with no other choice and could deal with it without having it weigh on his conscience, but he wanted to keep Wendy as pure as possible. But they were in a battle that literally meant life or death if you hesitated and protecting the innocent and his guild mates mattered to him, so he had to take the kid gloves off Wendy and have her face the fact that this was her only way of surviving.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!" The tremendous force of his iron filled roar cut, slashed and punctured every bit of the monsters in front of him leaving only ghoulish husks in its wake, but instead of more creatures to face he was met with dozens of armored soldiers in outdated armor speaking a strange dialect.

Gajeel believed that his show of ferocity would leave them fearful and have them retreat to regroup or something, but when they lined up in formation with what numbers they had, he was left confused. It wasn't long until they began their charge and the iron dragon slayer knew that they weren't going to back down as easily as he thought. He reformed his hands into clubs and prepared to take them head on, making sure to make quick work of them as he could hear the sounds of approaching footsteps behind them. With a smirk he rushed them, sending the first three soldiers flying away and knocking one down with a perfectly aimed kick to the head as the man fell forward in an unconscious heap.

The line gave way and they all surrounded the dragon slayer as groups of three all attacked at once when the opportunity arose, however they were quickly knocked out before even laying a scratch on him. The attackers grew in number with each attack group until he was blind sided and two of the enemy soldiers plunged their swords into his body. Gajeel momentarily froze as he could feel the familiar cold steel graze his iron stomach, intestines and lungs while watching the smug smiles on the two men's faces as they thought they had achieved victory. The long haired man allowed them to revel in their supposed success before chuckling and watching the fear grow in his enemies eyes as he pulled each blade out of his body. Pulling their weapons from their hands, his smile grew even wider as the fear seemed to be etched so cleanly on their faces as there was no doubt that they've never met someone who could survive two swords plunging into them.

"Gihi, you better hope you have something better than that." He chuckled darkly as he stuck both blades into his mouth and began eating them until all that was left were the hilts. "Hope there's a universal understanding when I say you're fucked."

Their terror became evident as they tried to back away from him, some even dropping their weapons and shields before the red eyed man launched a wave of Demon Logs at them. He cracked his fists when he noticed another group of them coming and internally hoped he was ready for a buffet to come straight at him. It would just take some effort on his behalf not to kill so many of them as he couldn't help but feel Wendy's eyes on him, no doubt still trying to process the fact that he admitted to killing people before. Although a different situation was happening nearby with his faithful partner Lily who was still in his smaller form wielding his sword.

The black furred Exceed jumped in front of a small crowd of people who were cornered by the same armor clad men that Gajeel fought, but their reactions were of mock fear. They all pointed and laughed at how a small bipedal cat wielding an equally small sword was standing against them, a large group of men. A smirk appeared on Lily's face as he was consumed in a puff of smoke and transformed himself into his original form, the smirk still present as the laughing ceased when the soldiers looked up at his large frame and his blade that was easily twice his size. The large panther effortlessly dispatched the foolish soldiers that didn't react in time and quickly escorted the civilians to safety before more of the enemy arrived and all this happened before the gaze of Captain Laurel.

In all his years of service for the royal crown and the mages he had fought against when tracking down the multiple R-systems before the Etherion was fired on the real one, Jose Laurel had never seen such strength and combat tenacity as he did watching the two dragon slayers of Fairy Tail and their cats bring down dozens of enemies in just a single blow. When this was all over he would continue to keep his post at the capital of all things, but he wouldn't mind it one bit as he finally was able to relive his old past of combat and watch the greatest fighting prowess that was a Fairy Tail mage.

He had disdain for mages on a number of personal reasons he really didn't want to delve into as he continued to fight off beastly creatures he could only think of as a type of goblin left and right, but he couldn't come to hate the ones that were saving the innocent and his men right in front of his eyes. This was their battle as well and for once, he held respect for mages that were putting their very lives on the line with each new wave of goblins, ogre like beasts and soldiers that came at them. He had always inspired his men to continue on no matter the difficulty, but for the first time since his years as a private, the resolve from the Fairy Tail mages was becoming his inspiration to make sure that the city he called home was defended and that these bastards were sent packing.

"Come on men, this is our homeland and we won't allow some foreign army to take it away from us! Show them the powerful might of Fiore's royal army!" Laurel shouted as he took charge against a group of enemies, his position as captain bringing forth the fact that the highest ranked member around them was ready for battle and wouldn't back down for it. His cry brought a fire in them to show that they too are brave in the face of danger.

His men knew about his personal opinion of mages for what they did to his old company and him, but Captain Laurel's disdain for mages didn't deter him from magic, it was simply towards the wielders he held it against. That is why he used magical items himself, case in point being his armor that is imbued with a powerful rune that allowed him to deal greater damage if he was struck by an enemy, which was useful as the damage he would sustain from a regular attack would be shaved off into his own attack. This protected both his life and gave him strength to beat his opponent, however it had its limit of how much damage could be shaved and wasn't as effective against magic that didn't take much of a solid form. This had explained why he bore burns on him. In any case, thanks to the armor he was capable of dispatching groups of enemies on his own, but he had to remain cautious as his head was the only area that was unprotected by the rune's enchantment.

Laurel longed for a battle like this for years and though he didn't enjoy the fact that his men would perish in this battle, it didn't stop the adrenaline pumping in his veins as he faced four soldiers on his own. Although it was quite a different experience to actually be fighting alongside recognized magic users instead of fighting them on an opposing front, but he wasn't complaining.

The battles were underway as explosions, cries of pain and guttural noises that would give any being nightmares echoed throughout the empty streets that Erza ran through alongside Captain Peony and a new batch of troops following behind them. They followed alongside Natsu, Captain Iris and his new batch of troops towards the continuous lighting strikes and went their separate ways when they needed to split off in their respective directions. Erza's group made their way east to cut off the constant flow of troops heading towards the arena as it would give Gajeel and Wendy's group some breathing space as she was more than positive that Laurel's men were exhausted.

Even so, something continued to bother Erza as they ran through the streets when it came to how the area's layout was. She had taken notice of where fires had singed the ground in a manner to stop something from escaping, like a firewall of sorts and from which little to no signs reveal any fighting happening. Just a few pieces of ripped cloth here and there, but no further blood shed and it raised questions in her head concerning what had really happened here.

"I must say that it is an honor to fight alongside the legendary Titania." Peony said as he looked over towards Erza who gave him a curt nod. The sandy blonde haired man had a gleeful smile and his personality, that Erza had been shown so far, showed that he was rather cheery given the circumstances and had yet to reveal any signs of anger or rage.

"The pleasure is all mine, but I doubt I'm worthy to be classed as legendary." Erza replied as the sounds of fighting could be heard and it grew louder with every street they passed.

"Are you kidding? Amongst my men and I, you are like a war goddess that we are all grateful to have fighting alongside us in the defense of our beloved capital." Peony said as it seemed like he had stars in his eyes and Erza felt the oddest sense of familiarity between him and a certain flirty spirit contracted to Lucy.

"Well, so long as you protect one another, I shall make sure not one will be lost." Erza replied as the lives of others rested in her hands, both in the support troops and to those at the arena.

"Yes Ma'am!" Was said in unison from everyone including Peony as their spirits grew stronger and their pace quickened to the sound of battle.

As they rounded the final corner of the street they heard the fighting coming from, they were met with a sight that sent rage into each of their hearts. The men now bore witness as their fellow soldiers were being beaten to death by the small goblins, ripped apart by the ogres and cut down by the enemy soldiers while the others continued to fight for their lives not far from them. Erza noticed how Peony's expression soured and could see the formations of true anger on his face as he drew his sword from its sheath, his armor shining with a blue hue as magic surged through it and looked over towards Erza.

"On your command Goddess, we'll march into battle with you." Peony looked towards his men as they all began to equip their weapons and set up their shields, ready for when they would rush into battle.

"Please, just call me Erza." She said as she pulled a sword from her pocket dimension, swinging it swiftly before throwing straight at an ogre's head that was holding up a wounded soldier, dropping him once the blade embedded itself into its target. "Now move out everyone!"

"Sorry Goddess not happening." Peony cheekily said as he raised his sword in the air. "Alright, you heard her men, let's go!" He said as he charged forward next to Erza as his men began shouting their battle cries, gaining the enemy's attention before most of the ogres and goblins were cut down by the newly arrived troops.

The requip mage presented herself before the real enemy and not the creatures, though she hadn't expected to see such outdated armor used in such a dangerous combat situation like they were in now. The enemy soldiers in old armor looked at Erza with exasperated eyes as they began to speak to each other in an unknown dialect before a man in a more customized armor pointed towards her and yelled what she believed to be commands. No sooner after that did the men begin to charge at her, but Erza was prepared and pulled out another blade in her free hand as she fought off the soldiers attacking her with ease. They fell like flies before her might and it didn't take much for her to know that the one she believed to be their commander was sweating bullets at how graceful she was dealing with the multitude of his men he was sending at her. Making space between herself and the new group of soldiers, she decided that it was time to bring out her abilities to show how outclassed they were.

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel!" The enemy soldiers looked on as the woman's body in front of them shined brightly before the armor she was wearing changed completely.

What used to be a standard chest plate with pauldrons that they recognized as armor was now a breastplate that exposed both the cleavage of the red head's ample bosom with a large metal flower over it and her toned stomach. The blue skirt she wore, which they had found odd to go into battle with (even if they wore something akin to one) was replaced by a long billowing skirt that had metal plating covering most of the upper area beginning at her waist. Her brown boots had been replaced with thick greeves that were adorned with wing-like attachments at her ankles, large metal wings that seemed to be made up of individual blades that varied in length protruded from her back completed with a winged headpiece.

Some of the men amongst the enemy troops gazed at her with lust filled eyes and awaited their spoil of war once they defeated her as she was more than likely going to be servicing them for the rest of her youth. They of course were nothing but lecherous men that Erza herself thought lowly of and her entourage of devoted royal guards were more than happy to exterminate them just by the quick glance the red head gave to them. Still, there were those who were momentarily stunned by the display before them and the requip mage could see the signs of uncertainty within them as some of the royal guards began to group up behind her in anticipation of her command to attack.

Surprisingly amongst all the chaos around them, everyone who was fighting had given them space and nothing seemed to be willing to interfere. Erza stared them down with a cold calculating eye and the first move was that of the older looking soldiers who dropped their weapons and bowed their heads in an apologetic manner before turning around and running for their lives shouting something they couldn't understand. It was strange to her for an enemy to do such a thing instead of holding their ground, but she let them go for the meantime and pointed her blade at those who remained.

"Whether you understand me or not, heed my warning for this shall be the only one I'll give you." Erza called out in a commanding tone as her allies formed a guarding stance beside her. "Surrender now or prepare to face my wrath!"

The enemy merely looked at one another before sadistic grins formed on their faces and commenced the charge against the redhead and her followers. Needless to say, it was a one sided battle once she called upon her Circle Sword and blitzed the enemy as they were no match for her. Of course taking down the commander and holding his unconscious form in her fist gave the desired effect she expected as the soldiers began to panic at the sight of their fallen superior.

This in itself had given Erza enough information about the enemy's tactics, the human ones for that matter, as the creatures seemed more to do whatever they wanted unless instructed by the soldiers. She stood gazing at the battle around her as the enemy's forces began to dwindle into unconscious or dead heaps around her, until a blue beam of magic shot passed her and embedded itself into a hostile archer a few meters away. The redhead looked towards Peony as he was the one who had shot the beam, bringing his hand down as he smiled cheerfully at her as he quickly made his way over to her.

"That guy thought he could take a pot shot at you from that distance, good thing I saw him first." Peony said as his armor still hummed from the magic he poured into it, gaining Erza's interest as it may be similar type of advancement armor like the one's she had.

"It was a good shot captain, was it you or the armor that produced the beam?" She asked deflecting a sword strike away from her and knocking out the soldier with her gauntlet covered fist.

"Oh you noticed, this armor actually helps me boost my abilities and gives me a way to change the sizes of my beams." He explained as he fired off three more beams from his fingertips. "I mostly dabble in light magic, but I've learned how to imbue my own strength to it and is the reason it appears blue."

"You must be very talented to achieve such a thing." Erza commented as she telekinetically launched the dropped weapons of the fallen enemies into a large group of ogres charging at them.

"I thank you for the compliment Goddess, but it's nothing in comparison to what you can do." Peony replied , this time allowing his magic to be infused into his sword as he sent a slash of magic forward when he swung his sword. "My family has seen the feats you've accomplished so they understand why I hold you in such regard."

"You lead your men well Captain, continue to do so and I will bring you all back to your families." Erza said requipping into her flight armor and blitzing towards an unsuspecting group of archers, effectively taking them down before they caused serious damage to the troops.

"I don't doubt your word Goddess." Peony said, mostly to himself, as he charged off to support of few of his men that were trying to fend off a group of goblins that were toying with them as they dodged their attacks.

As Peony, his forces and Erza fought what some of his men claimed as a horde of creatures, he had noticed that the human opposition of all of this was beginning to lessen and only stragglers from the previous battle at the beginning were making their way towards the arena. For as long as he'd been a captain, the enemies tactics boggled Peony's mind as most of the soldiers relied heavily on their commanding officer to keep ranks and work as a group. All the fighting they were doing now felt to chaotic on the enemies behalf as all of his men were very capable in supporting each other as a team where the others fought without any direction. Though he was glad to have Titania on his side as her overall power was worth a battalion of his men, which was a much needed thing as some of the previous Fiorean soldiers needed to be taken to healers. Her graceful movements, her calculated strikes and her precision with her blades were just like her remembered them being when he witnessed her defeat that monster his village decorated on of its horns for her.

His men call him a fanboy, but that's what they pretty much were in comparison to other groups of the military. A large collection of impressive soldiers and major fanboys for the Great Titania of Fairy Tail, though he knows to keep it relatively quiet around the missus. An odd thing to be thinking about as he defeated another foe with his blade and pierced the hearts of four more goblins with his light magic before a corporal came up to him.

"Sir, the enemy seems to be pulling back. It's mainly these creatures left, but a good portion of our men can finish them up." Peony thought it through and decided that it was best to press the attack now that the enemy is in retreat.

"Corporal, find the second lieutenant and tell him that he and two squads will remain here to finish off the remainder of these...monsters. I'll take the rest of the men alongside the Titania and press our counter attack."

"Yes, Sir!" The corporal turned on his heel and went off to relay the orders, while Peony looked off towards the south as he couldn't help noticing the odd purple forms that had been dropping towards the ground underneath the lightning storm that other Fairy Tail mage had created.

With the eastern part of the city secured, Erza and Peony have halted the flow of soldiers heading for the arena although neither of them know why the enemy has retreated from trying to overcome this position. The eastern team have decided to press forward to gain further ground and if possible, meet with Natsu's group at Laxus' position for one final push to drive them back. The only thing standing in their way now is two more areas left to secure and the giant structure Arcadios had mentioned being the culprit of the continuous flow of enemies, but something about it brought about a similar question amongst those who know about it...

Where does it lead to?