Hello, everyone !

I'm back with the eleventh chapter :D

The final battle is here, folks~

Enjoy reading !

Disclaimer: My deepest gratitude to Mashima Hiro for bringing this wonderful Fairy Tail alive.


There was no light in the Omegalpha, tribute to its name as the dark dimension. Once Team Natsu entered the dimension, the vortex quickly closed, leaving the six of them floating in the dimension. It wasn't pitch black as they could see their surroundings, instead it was as if they were floating in the midnight sky without the stars.

"Now, where is she?" Gray asked.

"I can't sense any magic." Erza commented.

"How do we find her, then?" Wendy wondered.

"Can you feel anything, dude?" Gray asked.

Natsu shook his head. "I can't smell anything either."

"Well, this is a problem." Erza muttered.

"Welcome, Team Natsu." Lucy's dark persona's voice suddenly vibrated through the entire dimension.

"Where did that voice come from?" Gray looked to his left and right.

"Did you come here using the key of the Celestial Spirit King?" Lucy's dark persona asked.

"Got any problem with that?" Gray retorted back.

"What a very kind-hearted king!" Lucy's dark persona chuckled delightfully. "But then again, he has never been one to refuse helping others."

"Whatever!" Natsu cursed. "Just show yourself, damn it!"

"Where's the fun in that?" Lucy's dark persona chuckled. "Come to think of it, should we play a little game of hide and seek?"

"I ain't playing with you!" Natsu growled. "Give me back Lucy's soul!"

"So impatient." Lucy's dark persona clicked her tongue amusedly. "But, oh well. Destroying you would make crushing Lucy's soul far easier, so I have to take up that offer."

As soon as she said that, another black vortex suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Step inside, Team Natsu." Lucy's dark persona invited. "Let's settle this once and for all."

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Natsu hissed and stepped into the vortex.

Team Natsu was being brought to another part of the dimension, where Lucy's dark persona was waiting. Beside her, stood another mysterious dark hooded figure. Behind them, there was a small cage where a yellow orb—Lucy's soul—was floating inside. Four dark tendrils were crawling through the cage's gaps trying to touch the orb, but it quickly retreated upon feeling the glow.

"That must be Lucy's soul!" Carla pointed.

"It's shooing off the dark tendrils!" Happy said.

"It won't hold on for long!" Natsu said. "We have to get it back before those dark tendrils engulfed it!"

"Wait… Who is that hooded figure?" Gray squinted his eyes.

A thought came into Wendy's mind and she furrowed her eyebrows a bit. "Could it be that's…"

"Kurohei." Erza voiced out Wendy's suspicion.

"Thank you for freeing me, Fairy Tail!" The mysterious dark hooded figure who turned out to be Kurohei lifted up his hands in praise and grinned. "Just a bit more… Just a bit more and I can rule the world using the power of this dark dimension!"

"What a pair of lunatics." Carla commented.

"Are you sure about that, Kurohei?" Erza asked. "Are you aware that she is just using your dark magic to fuel her own?"

"Oh, I'm aware of that, of course." Kurohei replied. "But it's under a mutual agreement. We both need to destroy this girl's soul, after all."

"Why?!" Happy demanded. "You have nothing to gain by destroying Lucy's soul!"

"I have everything to gain by destroying her soul, blue cat." Kurohei's tone was full of delight. "Don't you see how brilliant her soul is? By destroying it, I can absorb the currently strongest Celestial magic and use it to control the dark dimension! If you want to control the dark, first you have to extinguish the light!"

"No matter what, I'm taking Lucy's soul back." Natsu lowly growled and lit his fists ablaze.

"Kurohei, guard the cage." Lucy's dark persona stepped up. "I don't care how, just destroy that soul as quickly as possible."

"You can count on me, E.N.D." Kurohei agreed. "Ah… Even though Lord Zeref is no longer here, but I get to work with his greatest creation! This is another way of my dream comes true!"

"Get Lucy's soul!" Natsu told his teammates. "I and Happy will fight Lucy's dark persona!"

"Aye!"

The rest of the team instantly nodded. "Leave it to us!"

Gray wasted no time and launched his attack. "Ice Make: Lance!"

Kurohei thrust his hand forward and one of the dark tendrils swatted Gray's attack away. The other three tendrils were still trying to touch the orb and Lucy's soul glowed every time it got close.

Kurohei snapped his fingers and another dark tendril crawled through the cage's gaps.

"Asshole! Get away from her!" Gray cursed.

"Fools!" Kurohei mocked back. "This is the dark dimension! There is no limit to my power here! You cannot defeat me!"

"Don't you dare underestimating Fairy Tail mages!" Gray said. "Ice Make: Saucer!"

Kurohei swung his hand, creating a wall of darkness in front of him to block Gray's spell. The two spells butted each other for a few seconds before Gray's ice spell shattered.

"HAHAHA!" Kurohei laughed delightfully. "DO YOU SEE MY STRENGTH? I AM KUROHEI, THE—"

His words were abruptly cut, however, when Lucy's dark persona crashed onto him.

"E.N.D!" Kurohei shouted in surprise. Her cheek was a bit sizzling, the after effect of taking Natsu's blazing fist dead on.

"Nice punch there, Salamander." Lucy's dark persona chuckled. She then looked at Kurohei and slightly furrowed her eyebrows. "Get that cage away from here, Natsu's fire might radiate power to that soul."

"Understood." Kurohei nodded.

He flicked his hand, maneuvering the dark tendrils to wrap itself around the cage. He then hurriedly floated away, the cage was following closely behind him.

"Get back here!" Erza called out and the rest of Team Natsu chased him.

They floated quite far away, until they were no longer in Natsu's sight. Natsu gritted his teeth as he starting to feel restless because he could no longer see his mate's soul. But he believed in his friends and he focused his mind to the opponent in front of him.

Lucy's dark persona looked similar to the way he saw himself when his team was on the mission to retrieve the Dragon's Cry. The way her skin was covered with red scales with two protruding horns on her head. How her fangs and her claws were prominent. She had changed so much and there was no longer remaining features of the Lucy Heartfilia that he loved. The only thing that she shared in common with the Celestial mage was her voice.

Even if she looked totally different, but her voice was still the same. Listening to his mate's voice while looking at a totally different face made Natsu's heart stung in pain.

Natsu's fists blazed brighter and Happy clenched his small paws on his back. Even though he could float in this dimension, Natsu still trusted Happy to carry him so he gained a better maneuver in air. For him, no one flew better than his Exceed partner.

Knowing that Natsu would only grow stronger with each passing by minutes, Lucy's dark persona decided that it was time to bring out everything she got. She closed her eyes and stretched out her hands, allowing the darkness around her to engulf her like a pupa.

"Natsu…!" Happy squeaked, fear started to creep into his heart.

Natsu silently gulped, a bad feeling also started creeping into his heart. Whatever Lucy's dark persona was about to do, he knew he wouldn't like it. The darkness around her was too thick and her demonic aura grew even stronger.

The next second, the darkness dissipated. Both Natsu and Happy were at loss of words, their eyes were widened. There were no significant changes on her features, accept now she had a pair of red dragon wings. Flames erupted from within her, and shiver ran down along Natsu's spine as he recognized the flames. The same flames which engulfed him during his fight against Gray when they were in the middle of a war against the Alvarez Empire.

The flames of E.N.D.

"E.N.D…" Happy muttered under his breath, his paws were shaking terribly as he recognized the enemy in front of him.

If Lucy hadn't rewritten the Book of E.N.D, then Natsu… Natsu would have looked like that…

"This form is not perfect yet, child of Igneel." Lucy's dark persona—who had awoken her E.N.D form—said, her voice was no longer the same. The only thing that made her Lucy was gone. "But this will be enough to kill you. When Lucy Heartfilia's soul is crushed, then I will awake in my complete form."

The disappearance of Lucy's voice from his enemy broke all lingering attachment in Natsu's heart. The one he was facing right now is no longer sharing any common features with his mate. He grinned in amusement and set his fists ablaze again.

"Guess today's my lucky day, then." Natsu said.


"You cannot defeat me, puny mages!" Kurohei smirked as he waved his hand and another wave of darkness shattered Gray's ice spell. "I am unbeatable in this dark dimension!"

"Oh, shut it." Gray muttered.

"What to do?" Wendy asked. "None of our attacks are working on him!"

An idea suddenly popped into Erza's head. "If the darkness is where he draws his power from, then all we need to do is shine some light." she requipped out of her Heaven's Wheel Armor. "Requip! Morning Star Armor!"

The sudden bright light emitted from Erza's armor dispersed the darkness around them. Kurohei wailed in pain, smokes sizzled from within his hood as his eyes were hurt from seeing Erza's light spell.

"Puny fairies!" Kurohei hissed. "Playtime is over! Let the darkness swallow you!"

Kurohei thrust his hand out and the cage containing Lucy's soul floated onto his palm. Even though the dark tendrils couldn't even get close to the soul because of its brightness, but Kurohei looked fine. His other hand skillfully maneuvered the dark tendrils to wrap around the cage without getting it too near to the soul.

The tendrils then started to pull the cage, trying to break it apart.

"Hey, that's Lucy's soul, mister!" Carla protested. "Let her go!"

"Shut it, cat." Kurohei growled. "I no longer can wait. I need to destroy her soul so that I can rule this entire dimension!"

"I don't understand." Wendy said. "As a dark wizard, why would you need Lucy-san's soul? Why is it necessary to destroy her soul?"

"Because she's the one who's compatible with my magic." Kurohei said. "I've been waiting for a soul like this for 300 years! A soul that is compatible with mine, a soul that can release me from the book!"

"Are you saying you were trapped in that book?" Wendy asked confusedly. "I thought you wrote it."

"Yes, I did." Kurohei said. "To be more precise, I used a spell to turn my own body into magic power and sealed it inside of that book. All for the sake of finding the one who is strong enough and compatible with my magic, so that I can destroy their soul and absorb their power to become even stronger!"

"You're waiting for a wizard who lives in the period of time rich with Ethernano." Erza concluded.

"Just like the 400 year plan!" Gray said.

"Exactly!" Kurohei said gleefully. "And after waiting for 300 years, I finally found the one!"

"Do you think E.N.D will let you live after you destroy Lucy's soul and set her free?!" Carla taunted.

"I'm sure E.N.D will reward me!" Kurohei taunted back. "She wouldn't able to achieve any of this if it weren't because of me! She will grant me power and I will rule the world with Lord Zeref's greatest creation!"

"Alright, that's it." Erza summoned her Morning Star Armor's swords. "We'll be taking Lucy's soul back with us."

"You cannot defeat me!" Kurohei laughed. "You are too weak!"

"We'll see about that." Erza said. "Second Origin: Release!"

Following Erza, Gray also activated his Ice Devil Slayer mode and Wendy activated her Dragon Force.

"Wh… What kind of magic power is this…" Fear started to creep into Kurohei's heart. But he quickly shook that fear away and thrust his hand forward. "Darkness! Swallow them into the eternal abyss!"

A huge wave of darkness then appeared from Kurohei's behind, ready to swallow his enemies. Kurohei then snapped his fingers and the wave started to collapse from above them.

"Give it your all at once!" Erza shouted and brought her two swords together. "BEGONE, KUROHEI! PHOTON SLICER!"

Gray drew out his bow and arrow made out of ice. "ICE DEVIL'S ZEROTH DESTRUCTION BOW!"

"DRAGON SLAYER'S SECRET ART!" Wendy spread out her arms, entrapping Kurohei within a barrier of wind. She then moved her arms in a counter-clockwise direction, allowing the wind barrier to contract inwards towards Kurohei. "SHATTERING LIGHT: SKY DRILL!"

The combined attacks broke through the giant darkness wave, heading straight to Kurohei. Wendy's wind flew the cage containing Lucy's soul away from his palm. In a moment of panic, Kurohei flailed his hand to grab the cage back. But Gray's ice arrow and Wendy's wind drill struck his chest dead on before he could do that, mortally wounding his body. Erza's energy blast then dispersing all of the darkness around Kurohei, effectively burning his soul with its bright light.

"GYAAAAAAA!" Kurohei wailed in pain and then disappeared into nothing.

"Lucy-san!" After deactivating her Dragon Force, Wendy then gently used her wind to bring the cage onto her hand and held on it tightly. "Thank goodness, Lucy-san…"

Gray also deactivated his Ice Devil Slayer mode while Erza requipped back into her usual armor. They then stared at the empty darkness, sighing in relief simultaneously. But they couldn't enjoy the moment for too long because they suddenly felt a sudden shake all over.

"Now what?" Gray said. "Please don't tell me the darkness brought Kurohei back or something like that."

"It's starting to collapse." Erza remembered Loke's words. "Let's go, we need to return to Natsu."


"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"It won't work, Natsu Dragneel!" E.N.D easily dispersed Natsu's spell. "I am E.N.D! I am you! Your power won't work on me!"

"You are not me!" Natsu growled back. "I am human!"

"Of course." E.N.D chuckled. "Lucy made it come true. You only destroyed the demon seed, but it was her who completely severed your ties as a demon."

"Give her back to me!" Natsu demanded.

"I won't." E.N.D retorted. "I have to destroy her soul in order to inhabit her body and be whole once more."

Just then, a sudden gust of wind blew past them and their surroundings shook a little.

"That weakling!" E.N.D growled in irritation.

It didn't take a genius to understand what E.N.D meant. Natsu smirked. "Guess your little pawn failed."

"He's not worth it!" E.N.D said. "It seems that I am the only one who can crush her soul properly."

"Not if I destroy you first right here right now!" Natsu lunged at E.N.D. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

"I've told you, you cannot defeat me!" E.N.D easily countered Natsu's punches. "Your flame is not something that can hurt—UGH!"

E.N.D was thrown back by a fist that landed on her cheek. She winced in pain but furrowed her eyebrows as she noticed something.

Natsu's flame was burning stronger than before.

E.N.D knew exactly the limit of Natsu's power and also how unlimited his power would be once he jumped over the limit. She also knew that Natsu was, in fact, more than capable to burn her with his own flames. When they were still together as the original E.N.D, she received the knowledge of his power better than anyone else.

After Lucy rewrote the Book of E.N.D and completely severed their ties, E.N.D could only analyze Natsu's power through Lucy's eyes. She was no longer able to daily gouge how far Natsu's power had developed.

But, she was E.N.D. Her form might be different from when Zeref created her, but she was still nonetheless E.N.D. She didn't patiently wait for all this time to be defeated by a mere human. No matter what, she was determined to reemerge as the greatest demon Zeref had ever created.

E.N.D set her fists in her own flames and lunged at Natsu. They quickly exchanged attacks one after another, landing punches and kicks on the other party non-stop. But E.N.D's power started to overpower Natsu's, her punch on his stomach threw him several feet back.

"Natsu!" Happy worriedly called. His arms were starting to get tired too, but he refused to let go.

They would win against E.N.D together.

"Like I said, Natsu Dragneel, you cannot defeat me." E.N.D chuckled. "Your power is too weak."

"Shut it." Natsu growled back. He then called every bit of his power from deep within him, setting his fists ablaze with a flame that was a shade darker.

E.N.D recognized that flame. "That's… Fire Dragon King's flame!"

Natsu opened his mouth and released his spell. "FIRE DRAGON KING'S ROAR!"

E.N.D crossed her hand instinctively to defend herself, but the flame was too hot for her to bear. She was thrown back, both of her hands were sizzling. She bit her inner cheeks to bear the pain and lunged back at Natsu.

E.N.D cursed inwardly. How could she forget the fact that Natsu possessed the only flame that could rival her own!

Zeref created E.N.D in hopes that Natsu could receive Igneel's flame which would make his little brother strong enough to kill him. Now that E.N.D is no longer a part of Natsu and as Zeref's creation, the only thing that could destroy her is the Fire Dragon King's flames.

"No! I won't lose!" E.N.D's red eyes blazed with determination.

"I'm taking Lucy's soul back with me!" Natsu's own dark green eyes also blazed with determination.

Their two blazing fists clashed with each other, both Natsu and E.N.D poured every ounce of their magic to destroy the other party. Happy clenched Natsu's coat as tight as possible, gritting his teeth through the crazy heat emitting between them. If it weren't for Natsu's heat, Happy was sure he would already be roasted from E.N.D's flames.

Natsu's immunity to fire never ceased to amaze him.

And the battle's tide started to turn to Natsu's side.

"You cannot defeat me!" E.N.D growled. "No one can defeat me!"

"Give me my mate back!" Natsu growled back, all of the muscles in his body contracted to give himself a boost of strength.

His fist started to overpower E.N.D's.

"EAT THIS, E.N.D!" Natsu roared and set his whole arm ablaze. "FIRE DRAGON KING'S DESTRUCTION FIST!"

"NO!" E.N.D wailed. "I AM THE STRONGEST DEMON OF THE BOOK OF ZEREF! I AM E.N.D!"

"BURN TO ASHES, BASTARD!"

E.N.D could no longer hold her fist against Natsu's, her hand flailed away. Natsu's blazing fist then landed on E.N.D's cheek, setting her entire body in his flames. E.N.D screamed in pain while Natsu poured out every inch of his remaining magic power to burn her. His flames soon overpowered hers, allowing his magic to burn E.N.D's soul.

"NO!" E.N.D wailed. "NO! NO! NO! I AM E.N.D—"

E.N.D couldn't finish her words, however, because her soul then completely disintegrated. Natsu stared at the emptiness while his chest was moving up and down in rapid motion due to exhaustion.

He did it.

E.N.D is no more.

"You did it, Natsu! You did it!" Happy squealed in happiness.

Natsu smirked back at his partner. "Yeah."

"NATSU!"

Natsu looked over to see his teammates floating closer to him. Wendy kept holding the cage containing Lucy's soul tight, before giving it to Natsu. Natsu gently took the cage and closed his eyes. Her soul is finally back with him now.

Rumbles filled the dimension and a vortex opened itself right in front of the team. E.N.D and Kurohei's destruction caused the dimension to be unstable, allowing a crack to appear as a way out.

Natsu smiled and whispered to the soul. "Let's go home, Luce."


Done !

Whew, I've never been an expert in writing battle scenes, so I was a bit struggling in this chapter. I hope that wasn't a boring one… ._.

What do you think ?

Don't forget to leave your reviews and/or flames :D