Chapter 10
WHOOSH! Suddenly a broadsword flew through the air and landed between the two mages, startling Jellal and causing his focus to waiver, freeing Mason from the flames.
Mason looked up to find Erza standing at the doorway, her hair up in a ponytail and her chest bound by bandages. "Good to hear." She said raising her Katana and taking a combat stance. "If there's nothing left to save than I won't make the mistake of trying."
"Ugghhhh…." Mason groaned as he climbed back to his feet, dusting dirt and ash off his chest. "What the hell are you doing here…" He said with growl.
"Right now it looks like I'm coming to your rescue." This was a tone from Erza that Mason hadn't heard in the short time since he reconnected with his old, for in this moment Erza was deathly serious.
"You need to evacuate, the magic council is about to blow this place to bits." Mason took a battle stance as magic energy began to surge through his body again, causing the mess of white hair atop his head to spike upwards. "Now that I've heard it for myself, that my old friend is gone. There's no reason to hold back anymore." Mason flipped up his tattered black hood over his face and vanished in thin air.
A gruesome smile formed across Jellal's face. "Fool! Your magic power is surging! even if I can't see you, I can still sense you." Jellal's eyes darted across his throne room as he tracked mason's magic energy.
"PHANTOM DRAGON!" Mason called out, still invisible.
"There you are." Jellal smirked as me crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"STRIKE!" Mason became visible again as his foot, cloaked in magic energy, was planted dead center where jellal crossed his arms. Magic sparks erupted from the collision but neither combatant gave an inch. Mason's attack began to stall out, but in a latch ditch effort he swiped his foot up, breaking jellal's guard.
"What the?" Jellal stumbled backwards as Mason disappeared once again. "Huh?" Jellal's eyes grew huge as a broadsword appeared out of nowhere headed straight for his face, and he was just barely able to duck under the blade in time for it to fly over head.
"I told you to leave." Mason groaned as he became visible.
"Shut up." Erza replied as she readied her katana. "It's time to fight."
"I for one have had enough of the both of you!" Magic energy began to surge to Jellal's hands. "You two never should have returned. This tower will be your graves! Take this!" A massive, two handed blast of magic energy was shot directly at Mason and Erza.
"BARRIER!" Mason called out creating a shield of magic energy that managed to stop the energy blast.
"HAAAAHHHHH!" Using the opening, Erza charged forward with her sword aimed at Jellal. The blue haired wizard blocked Erza blade by charging his hand with magic power and catching the sword.
Mason meanwhile charged an energy blast out in front of him with both hands, while Jellal struggled with Erza. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S CANNON!" An enormous energy wave consumed Jellal and sent him crashing into the wall behind his throne resulting in a plume of smoke.
"Keep your guard up, I have a feeling that things are far from over…" Erza said almost on cue as magic power began to erupt from the area where Jellal had crashed, and two eyes glowing with evil began to peer out of the smoke.
"Damn it!" The dark mage called out. "You're really starting to grow irritating!"
(With Brosnan)
"I'm Serious!" The Magic Councils Head Captain snapped at the Fairy Tail wizards. "The Council has ordered an Etherion strike on the tower, if you're here when that happens you along with the tower will be completely vaporized." The brunette glared.
"I don't think you understand." Gray folded his arms. "We aren't going anywhere without our friends."
"You tell her my love!" Juvia cried out.
"I don't have time for this." Brosnan sighed as she lifted her giant sword up over her shoulder. "I'll just drag you out, even if you're unconscious."
The Fairy Tail wizards broke out into a cold sweat at the thought of another confrontation.
"Yes ma'am!" Wally, Sho and Millianna stood up and saluted the soldier.
But the Fairy Tail wizards were still upset about this turn of events, so Brosnan took upon herself to try and cheer them up. "Look, I'm here looking for a friend of mine too. If I find your buddies I'll do everything in my power to get them out safely. Look I can't guarantee anything except that if you stay here, you'll never see your friends again." Not exactly words of encouragement but she got her point across. "Their is a Magic council ship waiting outside that will provide medication and food and a trip to the mainland."
"Right!" The civilian wizards all nodded in agreement and all of them made their way to the magic council ship.
"Mason…." Now alone Brosnan lowered her head in thought. "You better still be alive…. So that I can kill you!" With that the young girl bolted down one of the towers many hallways.
(With Mason)
"PHANTOM DRAGON VANISHING FIST!" Mason who had obtained a few more bruises since we last saw him, fired a punch at significantly more beaten up jellal knocking him to the ground. "Ha.. Ha… Ha… All these years, everyday, I've prepared myself for this fight and even though I'm running low on magic power, I still always thought it'd be harder than this."
"It's not done yet." Erza stepped up holding her katana as she made her way over to the beaten Jellal.
"Wait what are you doing, he's beaten!" Mason called out, confused by his friends action.
"If you lock him up, he'll just escape again. He's got connections in the magic council, his brother for instance. I will end things here, for Sho and Simon and Wally and Millianna. For you, and for myself. Today the nightmare ends." Erza raised up her sword as Jellal struggled to sit up.
"You can't do that! That's not justice!" Mason objected.
"How many sacrifices do you think it took to build this tower, where is the justice for all those people. Don't try to stop me!" Erza's emotions where all over the place, but she knew she had to do what she thought was right. Mason on the other hand wasn't thinking so clearly.
"HAAAHHH!" Erza began to swing down with her blade causing Jellal to flinch, but the tip of her sword was stopped just short. "What?" That's when Erza realized she wasn't able to move as veil of purple energy surrounded her body.
"Stop!" Mason called out, his hand stretched out as he tightened his telekinetic grip on Erza. Mason flung the girl across the room pinning her against a wall.
"Ugghhhh…. What do you think you're doing?" Erza groaned as she struggled to free herself.
"I won't let you kill him…. You can't.." Mason tightened his grip more as emotions began to flood in.
"Let me go! You heard him, he's not the Jellal we once knew, not anymore. We have to do what's right." Erza argued but her reasoning wasn't quite getting through.
"Just let me think! I can't do this right now, dammit! The reason I became a soldier was so I could be strong enough for when the this time comes, but if I'm not strong enough to do this now, what the hell was the point!?" Mason began to panic and his grip on Erza began to loosen. Just as this was happening Jellal had regained his footing and crept up behind the Dragon Slayer and draped his arm across his shoulder.
Mason looked back to find Jellal smiling, just like he did when they were young. Causing even more confusion to overcome him. "Well, well. I suppose I should thank you, and also apologize. What I said was wrong, it turns out after all these years we are still friends." The dark mage said as he continued to smile. "The fact that you would defend my life even at the expense of the remainder of your magic power has truly shocked me and is a gesture I will never forget, but unfortunately the matter of our being friends changes very little." Jellal said as he jabbed the weakened Mason in his side, knocking him unconscious. "I can't have you, or anyone else get in my way."
Erza was freed from her Mason's spell and regained control over her body. "Mason!" Called out before charging at Jellal, sword in hand. "How could you!"
Jellal simply knocked Erza away with a blast of magic. The blue haired wizard then grabbed the unconscious Mason off the ground and dragged him over to one of the many windows.
"Jellal! Don't!" Erza cried out as she tried to climb back to her feet, but she was too late.
"I'm sorry Erza, but there is no sacrifice too great when it comes to achieving true freedom." Jellal declared as he flung Mason out from the top of the tower, sending his body crashing down into the water below resulting in soft SPLASH.
(With Brosnan)
The Head Captain of the Custody Enforcement unit sprinted down a long corridor of the evil tower as the Etherion threat drew ever closer. Suddenly a small magic circle appeared by the girl's ear getting her to stop.
"Brosnan! You have to evacuate immediately the council won't give us anytime! We have three minutes to get to a safe distance, we have to leave now!" Tyson's voice emanated from the magic circle.
"No way, I'm not leaving without him!" Brosnan answered as she continued down the hallway taking time to catch her breath.
"Have you tried to contact him?" Tyson asked.
"Yes, but he's not answering. He probably dispelled his communication circle." Brosnan felt herself becoming lost in the elaborate tower, she was no longer ascending and had come to stop.
"Then I think we have to cut our losses, I'm sorry. We have to think about the safety of the civilian wizards we have on board, that's our job." Tyson scolded. "The boat is too your left, we're leaving now."
Brosnan stood still for a minute as she evaluated her options in her brain, eventually she put aside her emotions to do what was right. "Fine!" She said, letting her facade fade slightly using her Golden Eye magic, she blasted down the wall to her left and found the Council Boat waiting for her in the surf. She looked back to the tower one last time and became choked up for a brief moment. "You damn idiot!" at that was the last thing she said before leaping from the tower and landing on her feet on the bow of the ship. "What are you waiting for, we have to get out of range now!" And just like that she regained her commander personality and was back to barking orders.
The council ship immediately started making distance, and it seemed they were just in time. As soon the boat cleared one hundred meters the Etherion was fired. An enormous blast of magic energy rained down from the sky, completely consuming the Tower of Heaven in the beam. Causing massive shock waves and tidal waves to surge around the Island, but as the blast subsided the exterior of the tower had been vaporized, leaving a massive lacrima charged by etherion blast.
(Mason's POV)
I remember that I was blacked out, everything was dark, then I felt a strange surge like a WHOOSH! Then I woke up and I was wet. Before I could figure out where I was or what was going on, a massive wave of water crashed on top of me and pushed me down to the bottom of the ocean. I struggled to climb back to the surface for air, my chest felt was being crushed. I thought I was going to die before I reached the surface, but I just barely made it. "HUUUHHHH! ACK! ACK!" I was able to cough the water out of my lungs. I looked around to see that the Tower of Heaven was gone, replaced by a giant lacrima crystal, the R-System.
"Crap!" I began to swim towards the towering crystal. Jellal planned to use Erza as a sacrifice and now that the R-System was complete there was nothing stopping him from activating it. Luckily the tower wasn't too far away and I was able to make landfall in only a couple of minutes, the problem was that my magic power had been severely depleted and there was only one thing left to do.
"Ughh…" Just the thought of it gave me shivers, but Erza needed me. I opened my mouth and began to inhale. I took no more than second as magic energy began to seep from the crystals into my mouth. This wasn't the power absorbed into the tower by the Etherion blast, because eating that would incredibly stupid and probably kill me this was the negative energy left behind by the souls that went into building this damned tower. If I had to describe the taste, it would not be pleasant. Cold, bitter and sour. The texture is extremely slimy, like overcooked spinach or squash that had gone bad. Regardless of how it tasted, that magic power was just what I needed.
Power rushed through my body, this tower is filled with so much hate and sorrow that its super concentrated and now it was time for action. "PHANTOM DRAGON CANNON!" I pointed my hands at the grown and fired a powerful blast of magic power that rocketed my body into the air so that I could use my levitation to carry myself the rest of the way. "I'm coming Erza, so please be alive!"
(A top the tower)
I landed at the top of the R-System to find Natsu and Jellal hand been battling, but I could feel an enormous amount of magic power in the pooling into Jellal and vicious killing intent radiating from my old friend. Strong winds began to converge above Jellal and my shadow started to move towards Jellal as he prepared to cast his spell, I was familiar with Black Magic and I immediately recognized it as Death Magic.
Before I could make a move Erza, who I was relieved to find was still alive jumped in front of Natsu to stop Jellal's attack. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying but it looked to be that Erza was pleading with Jellal, but at this point even I knew there was nothing left to reason with.
I moved to intervene, but I was too late.
"HEAVENLY BODY MAGIC! ALTAIRIS!" Jellal released his spell, a massive ball of shadows surrounding a bright light.
"NOOOO!" I call out but there was nothing I could do, I was to late and because of what happened next is on me.
At the last second my old friend Simon jumped in and took the force of the attack head on. I couldn't hear exactly, but I know what she said as she screamed. There is one sound I remember hearing incredibly clearly, the thud as simon's body hit the cold ground.
"Simon!" I rushed to my friends side.
"Mason? You're alive?" Erza asked, but I didn't answer. There were more pressing matters at hand.
"DRAGON SLAYER FORBIDDEN ART! REAPER!" I chanted and my hands became cloaked in magic energy and I was able to plunge my hands into Simons chest where I started searching around for something. "Come on… Come on!"
"What are you doing?" Erza asked as she knelt down next to me, her eyes still watery.
"I'm trying to grab onto his soul, if I can grab it I might be able to heal it. But it's too watery!" I felt myself growing frustrated in the crisis. "I can't get a grip on it, it's literally slipping through my fingers!"
"Mason…" Simon put his hand on my arm as he looked me in the eye. "It's okay." I took the hint and stopped the spell, and looked down at my old friend. My heart sank because I knew this would be the last time. I wanted to say goodbye, but nothing came out but it wasn't me who Simon wanted to say goodbye to anyway.
"Erza…" Simon called out in a weak voice as death crept closer.
"Simon… Save your strength." Erza lifted his head up and lowered her own down to his.
"Erza.. You were the only person who made me smile." He started to smile, in his final moments.
"Simon… Don't die on me.. Simon!" Erza called out, but Simon closed eyes and would never open them again and tears began flowing from Erza's single organic eye. "NOOOOO!"
"HA! HA!" Jellal began to laugh. "HA! HA! HA! HAAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA! What an incredibly foolish thing to do!"
That bastard! Jellal continued to monologue but I was too furious to hear him, I swore at that point I would kill him. Anger began to boil in my soul and my magic power started to surge through my body. I could feel my hair start to spike up, without even a command my Phantom Drive had been activated. I was prepared to end things, when I felt an even more intense surge of magic power nerby.
"SHUT UP!" Natsu smacked Jellal with unbelievable force, knocking him into a large crystal across the crystal
"AAAHHHH!" Jellal cried out in pain as he crashed.
Then I discovered the source of the power spike, Natsu held a chunk of Ethernano left over from the Council's attack. He lifted the glowing rock to his mouth and began to bite at it. His eyes changed a light blue color and magic power surged through his body. "RRAAAHHHH!" He slammed his arms down on the ground resulting in a wave of magic that Jellal managed to dodge. Natsu then began choking on the magic rock.
"How could you be so stupid!" Erza cried out as Natsu began to flail and struggle. "Ethernano is made out of all types of elemental magic it could poison you!"
Natsu continued to cry out in pain before Jellal started to mock him. "What an idiot. Did he really think he could power up by consuming elements other than his own. It'll certainly make my job easier if he kills himself."
It's certainly a risky move, but I don't know if it's as terrible of an idea. If the Ethernano was killing him, then Natsu's magic power would be dropping but its not. Natsu's magic power was rising fast.
"GGRRRAAAAHHHH!" Natsu growled as his body was consumed in plume of flames. His eyes began to glow red and his skin began to harden and it turned to scales all along his arms and down the sides of his face.
Natsu bolted, like a living fireball, he kneed Jellal in the face. I've never seen a wizard move that fast. "You made Erza cry!" Natsu slammed Jellal through the at least seven floors of pure crystal. "I made a promise that I can't break! Hurt her again and I'll kill you!"
"I've read this somewhere before." I said immediately recalling the countless books I've studied on Dragon Slayer Magic in the Magic Council library.
"What are you saying?" Erza who was still sitting next to me, exhausted physically and emotionally.
"Their only legends, and all the passages I've read about this are ancient but I guess it's real. Not quite a Human, not exactly a Dragon. This is the pinnacle of Dragon Slayer Magic, the Dragon Force." I explained. The next thing we knew, Jellal rocketed up out of the crater that Natsu had buried him in cloaked in a veil of golden magic. Natsu hot on his trail, leaping from rock to rock with superhuman speed.
Natsu caught up and slammed his fist into Jellal's stomach, forcing him to spit up a mouth full of saliva.
"I'm destined to create a land of Freedom!" Jellal was desperate, this was the end. Natsu had him significantly out matched. All Jellal had left was his drive and sheer determination to spur him on, it's good to see that some things never change. "I know this because in my darkest hour Zeref called out to me! There's a reason I'm the only human who can hear his voice! Because I am the chosen one! Once lord Zeref is resurrected we'll worked together to achieve true freedom!"
"And you're gonna do that by taking away everyone else's rights!" Natsu screamed back as he dodged a barrage of magic attacks.
"If that's the way it has to be than so be it!" Jellal created a massive golden magic circle. "I could care less about feeble minded fools like you."
"He's gonna cast the Abyss Break!" Erza panicked. "Don't do it Jellal, you'll destroy the tower so many died to create."
"This tower means nothing! Now that I've done it I can build another in half the time!" Jellal prepared to fire. "Lord Zerefl! Your time has come!" But before he could complete his attack, Jellal flinched in pain.
Natsu's body was consumed by flames that took the shape of a Dragon. "You'll never be free as long as you let that spirit possess you! Free yourself!" Natsu collided with Jellal ending in a devastating punch.
Jellal landed in a smoking crater and fell completely unconscious, where as natsu landed triumphantly on his feet. "Hehehe…" He chuckled as he looked back over to Erza, who ran over to catch him.
"Well looks like a happy ending." I said, but I really need to learn to watch my mouth.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The tower began to shake and glow. "This is bad." I said.
"What do you mean?" Erza asked, she was carrying Natsu over her shoulder. "What's going on?"
"The tower is going to explode!" I stated, I knew this because I dealt with some magic criminals who overcharged a lightning lacrima once, it exploded and the power surge affect lacrima power in the entire city so there's no telling how big the blast radius could be for a lacrima this size.
I made my way to the circular lacrima at the center of the tower and placed my hand on it and remained silent.
"What are you going to do?" Erza asked. "Woah?" I lifted her and Natsu into the air using telekinesis so she couldn't put up a fight.
"I have to activate the R-System, then I'll discharge the built up energy upwards so that it doesn't hurt anyone." I said, not making eye contact.
"What are you crazy!" She yelled at me, she tried to struggle but didn't have enough energy to break free of my spell. "To activate the R-System you'll need a-"
"Sacrifice" I answered for her. "I know." I activated my Drive, significantly increasing my magic power, before placing my hand deeper into the giant sphere changing its color from blue to purple. "I should have enough magic power to do it…"
"What are you saying?" Erza grew a bit more panicked. "At least let me help you!"
"I'm a soldier, it's my job to lay my life on the line to protect civilians." I lifted the two of them into the air and levitated them over to the edge of the tower. "Take care of Natsu for me will ya? The world needs the Dragon Slayers. Also forget about that jerk Jellal, you deserve better than that." I smiled as I tossed them into the ocean, I trust they'll make it to safety. Then I stared back at my reflection in the lacrima and prepared myself for what I had to do. "Well, here goes nothing."
I went deeper into the lacrima, my entire arm and then my leg. It had absorb most of my torso when it finally started on my head. "It was fun while it lasted, so long Fairy Tail." When the last bit of my head entered the Lacrima I blacked out.
(In Lacrima)
It was cold in the lacrima, but everything felt smooth. Kinda like floating on the surface of water. It was hard to think, but eventually I knew I was still conscious. Then I heard a sound.
DRIP DRIP DROP DRIP DROP DROP
It was rain… I opened my eyes to see dark skies overhead and rain falling all around me. I was able to look down where I saw a graveyard. There gathered was my team, Tyson Amber, Julie and Brosnan. Guess Lahar couldn't make it, jerk. Also in the crowd was Natsu and Erza. There weren't a lot of tears, everyone was pretty somber… respectful. There was a blue cloth with the Magic Council symbol draped over a casket ready to be placed in the ground and given the context it wasn't hard to guess whose funeral this was.
"Not too bad huh, even though you were a total idiot most your life you still managed to make a couple friends." I said… to myself. "I guess I oughta pay my respects too. Do you have no regrets? No. Are there things you still wanted to do? Yeah. I will say one thing though, you did your best and had some fun along the way." I looked down at Brosnan who wasn't crying at the moment but her eyes were certainly red. "Now that was a missed opportunity you dumbass, but whatcha gonna do now."
"Well that's all I got… Let's go wherever we're going." I called out above my head, but not surprisingly (seeing as I was talking to no one) received no answer. Rather a massive shadow, the silhouette of a Dragon passed over head. "Is that?" But before I could answer I felt something grab onto my hand and I was pulled towards it. "What the?"
(The Tower of Heaven)
"HUUHHH!" I took a deep breath as my head was pulled out of the lacrima followed by the rest of my body, before I fell to the floor of the crumbling tower. I looked up, confused, to see a familiar blue haired face. "Jellal?"
It was Jellal who pulled me out of the Lacrima and then helped me onto my feet. "I'm sorry…"He said with his head lowered, he was unable to make eye contact with me. "I was blinded, confused for so long and suddenly I can see again, clearly. I know that doesn't excuse what I did, but at least let me be the one who fixes this mess." Before I could answer Jellal stuck his arm into the giant crystal changing its color to gold. "I'll take care of this, now go!"
"No!" I answered, this chain of events was making my head hurt but there was one thing clear. "You're right, this sudden change of heart doesn't make things okay. But you said it yourself earlier today, even after all these years I'm still your Best Friend." I said as jabbed my arm into the lacrima making half of it change to a purple color.
"I don't know that I said Best Friend exactly, but let's go with that. Teamwork!" Jellal nodded and we both began to poor magic power into the sphere. The colors merged and a rainbow spiral began to circle around inside. Soon the whole tower began to blow a bright rainbow color and the tower fired a massive blast of magic energy into the sky, resulting in a blinding flash.
(Later)
"Ughhh…." My head felt like it was splitting in half, it was incredibly painful but that meant one thing. "I'm alive… Where am I? I remember being pulled into the lacrima then it's just blank." I tried sitting up, when the ground beneath me began to wobble and shake and I immediately grew sick. "Nooo….." I groaned sickly. "I'm on a boat…."
(End)
