A/N: Merry Christmas, fellow pursuers of the fun that is fan fiction! Today, I present to you many gifts, including this chapter, a new installment in The Red Swordsman: Shattered Fragment, and the beginning to a sequel for my very popular story, Fire Sword! For those of you that have read the Fire Emblem x SAO crossover and wish to continue the adventure, go to my home page and look for Fire Sword: Shrouded Destiny.
Now for this chapter itself, we have a full day of action, some unexpected twists, Cana finally getting to show us what she's got along Natsu's infiltration team, and a brand-new fusion (which you can see has replaced the cover image for the week that this chapter goes live), though some of you have already seen her and know who she is if you follow me on instagram at the_red_swordsman.
Now let's have ourselves a proper Saiyan Christmas, complete with lots and lots of screaming and butt-kicking!
OP Song: Blizzard by Daichi Miura
P.S. If anyone spoils the new 'Broly' movie for me, I will be absolutely livid.
Magic Battle Nexus Arc: Chapter 10
Grand Magic War
The first phase of Mavis' plan had gone off without a hitch, Gorun saw. Rufus' initial attack to knock their team out of the competition from the start had failed exactly as the first master had predicted, causing him to become agitated and confused. According to their strategist, he was more than likely to beat a retreat in order to gather his wits, but there was also a sizeable chance that he would stay right where he was, possibly to try again.
The Saiyan boy was acting as back-up and support to whoever needed it, while the others acted as attack units in the first master's plan; though he expected that he would likely be needed for the confrontation with Jura as a safe measure. He had proven that in a contest of brute strength, his etherion blasts were stronger than Jura's geokinesis. However, the man did have years of experience that Gorun didn't, and as he well knew, one should never underestimate a lifetime's worth of memories while fighting dangerous opponents.
Right now, though, Rufus was the issue to deal with. After engaging his barrier technique to cancel out the bolt of lightning sent by the Sabertooth wizard, he shot forward, not even bothering to engage the Kaioken. "Tyrant Lance!" he shouted, sending forth a small blue energy beam from his right fist.
Rufus avoided the technique, leaping down from the rooftop he had been on, and running down a shadowed alleyway. Gorun scowled for a moment, then decided to let him go. This was the outcome the plan called for, so he would allow the man to escape for now. He'll get his soon enough, Gorun reminded himself with a smirk. For now, he would keep an eye on the power levels scattered about the city, waiting for his turn to fly into action again.
At the entrance to the castle, Cana was smirking at the two sleeping guards, snoring loudly as she put away the magic card she had used to charm them to sleep.
"Don't you think that was a little overboard?" Wendy asked as they leaped over the gates and into the castle gardens, Future Lucy requiring Natsu's assistance to do so. "When they wake up, they'll raise the alarm and the entire palace will know that we're here."
"Nah, I doubt it," Cana replied cheekily. "One of the side effects when they wake up is that they forget the last few minutes before they get knocked out. They won't even remember that we were here."
"And from the way that they were complaining about how bored they were, I'll bet that they wind up thinking they fell asleep on their own," Mirajane added. "It's not unheard of."
"I say we stop worrying about it and get a move on!" Natsu growled. "Yukino and Lucy aren't going to rescue themselves!"
"Yes I am," Future Lucy grinned weakly, causing the other girls to laugh.
Quatro Kerberos was quickly eliminated, followed shortly by Blue Pegasus, half of them being accounted for by Gajeel, who was clearly enjoying being in a fight for the first time since he entered the games. Gray provided him some backup, but they quickly went their separate ways. Erza accounted for Jenny, though Ichiya was eliminated swiftly by Jura when they encountered one another.
Gorun stayed in an irregular orbit above the city, keeping an eye on proceedings, but conserving his magic power as much as possible. Mavis had explicitly ordered him to wait until a threat appeared that one of his teammates could clearly not handle on their own. This went against his natural instincts, of course, but he knew of Mavis' reputation as a strategist, thanks to a conversation with Levy a few days back. So as much as he hated sitting on the sidelines, he paid heed to her words.
He frowned as he noticed Gray seeming to struggle against Rufus on one of the lachryma screens floating around the city. However, before he decided to rush to his teammate's aid, he gauged their power levels. When he did, a smile was quickly brought to his face as he dropped his fingers from his forehead.
"You must be a glutton for punishment," Rufus said in a bored tone as he blasted Gray away from himself yet again.
"Nah, I think I've had enough of being tossed around," Gray replied with a cold grin as he ripped off his shirt. "So lemme show you something that you've never seen before."
"Hmph," Rufus smirked, as he pressed two fingers to his temple. "Whatever you can throw at me, I've already memorized."
"No, you haven't!" Gray roared with new purpose in his voice as he assumed his ice-make stance. "Because you can't memorize what only belongs to me! My memories will defeat yours!"
"Ha!" Rufus scoffed. "Your power only allows you to create things out of ice. You cannot give them form like I can. And my memory is perfect."
"Wanna bet?" Gray retorted, his smile growing ever wider as he suddenly raised his right leg up and held it there, leaving him standing only on his left. "Cos if that's right, you gotta know what's coming next."
Rufus frowned, the stance striking a chord in his memory, a recent event. But what was this man trying to do? If it didn't register as dangerous to him, then it could only be some kind of last-ditch effort by a desperate competitor, a final throw of the dice, as it were. "You're bluffing," he finally shrugged, preparing his own spell to counterattack.
Gray's fist opened up, but he left it resting in his palm, a white light shining from his now-open hand. "Ice make…" he growled before thrusting his hands forward, leaving them as open palms while he screamed, "Freezing Gallick GUN!"
Rufus was flash-frozen the instant that the beam touched him, a look of shock on his face. The section of the library behind him was also frozen over, courtesy of the powerful technique copied and then slightly altered by the Ice wizard's personal spin. Gray wasn't done, either. "Now, feel my Ice Bringer!" he bellowed as he slashed at the frozen man with twin swords, causing an explosion of shattering ice that forced Rufus to fall where he stood, making him the first member of Sabertooth to go down during the final day of the Grand Magic Games.
"I told ya," Gray said as he caught Rufus' hat and placed on his own head. "Fairy Tail wizards never lose to the same guy more than once."
Outside, Gorun was watching one of the lachryma screens with his jaw hanging open. "Since when could he do that?!" he sputtered. "I didn't teach him that move!"
Back at the arena, everyone was looking at Kinana again, who looked just as surprised as they did. "He didn't learn it from me!" she said.
"I know," Mavis told the girl. "I taught it to him." Now everyone, Kinana included, looked at the first master with shock and awe.
"How could you teach a magic you've never used?!" Makarov asked, his eyes wide. "Was this a part of your strategy?!"
"Yes," the small, serious girl nodded. "I got the idea from watching Narun in action. I thought that if everyone could have a spell similar to one of Gorun's attacks, we might give our opponents a nasty surprise, seeing as they were incredibly potent in battle. So taking what I've seen of him in action, specifically the spells that he used while in combat, I was able to come up with techniques for each Fairy Tail wizard competing, except for Erza, and some of those that went to rescue Lucy and Yukino."
"Why not Erza?" Kinana asked curiously. "Is it because her magic doesn't allow for direct energy projections?"
"No," Mavis replied with a single negative shake of her head. "I didn't come up with a spell for her to learn because she already had something she was working on. I merely helped her complete her project."
"That's awesome!" Romeo grinned excitedly. "Now we're sure to win!"
"Yes, that's what I was aiming for," Mavis said with a small, yet still serious, smile.
"So last time you guys were taken to the dungeons?" Natsu asked Future Lucy in a hushed voice as they dashed around a corner just in time to avoid being spotted by a pair of soldiers.
"Yeah," she replied in the same lowered tone. "But that was when we were arrested alongside Colonel Arcadios. This time, it seems like Minister Darton is keeping me and Yukino in a suite not too far from here. Unless your nose says otherwise?" She glanced back at the fire wizard for confirmation.
"It's kinda weird, cos I can smell you right here, but yeah, I can smell you and the new girl further down the hall, too," Natsu confirmed.
"Wow, I hope my nose is that sharp someday," Wendy said wistfully.
"While normally I discourage you emulating the Salamander, enhancing your senses is a worthy goal to pursue- but perhaps it's better left for after we make it out of here," Carla reminded her friend.
"I wonder how Gray is doing in the games…" Juvia mumbled gloomily.
"Ha!" Natsu chuckled. "Frosty is fine, and so are the others! Just you wait, we're gonna be back in time for the victory party!"
"Let's hold off on that until after the dragon swarm is dealt with," Mirajane said with a nervous smile. "And we'd better get Lucy and Yukino out of here if we're going to be at full strength when they come."
"I agree," Pantherlily nodded. He was peering around the next corner, but now he brought his face back to look directly at the others. "There are a dozen guards at the end of the hallway, protecting one door. Not only that, there are surveillance lachrymas watching them in the event of an intruder."
"So we can't even knock out the guards like we did at the entrance," Cana muttered, frowning in annoyance. "I could blow the lachrymas without much noise, but someone would still notice."
"I think our best bet is to get in and out as fast as possible, but destroy the lachrymas first," Mirajane offered. "At least that way, they don't have recorded proof that it was us."
"Dibs on the guards," Natsu grinned evilly.
"I'll cast a speed-enhancement spell on all of us before we go," Wendy said softly, a green light emanating from her body. "Vernier." Immediately, everyone present felt lighter than before, as if the gravity pulling them toward the ground was reduced to a mere suggestion instead of a law of nature.
"I'll take out the lachrymas," Cana said as she reached for her cards. Looking down at the black-furred exceed, she asked, "How many are there?"
"Two, one at each upper corner of the door," he answered immediately, grabbing his size-changing sword. "Thirty meters away, give or take."
She nodded, her brow furrowing as she concentrated on sending her cards on the imagined path. After a few seconds, she looked at the others and nodded once before grabbing two cards and flinging them around the corner. Two seconds later, they heard a pair of explosions and shouts of alarm from the guards on duty.
"Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" Natsu bellowed as he dashed around the corner, casting waves of fire at the men standing between him and the door. They all went down instantly, none of them having resistance to magic attacks that a mage would possess. The fairies all ran past them, Wendy muttering something in the way of an apology to one of the groaning men while Natsu kicked open the door that led to Yukino and Lucy's room.
They found the pair inside, both of them looking up at the rescue party with wide eyes. "That was faster than we expected," the silver-haired girl remarked.
"And quieter, except for the explosions we just heard," Lucy added as she rose up from a comfortable-looking bed. "Seriously, I'm surprised that half the castle isn't on fire right now!" The room they had been confined to looked like a high-end apartment, a marked improvement on the prison cell she had been thrown into in her timeline, the Future Lucy thought idly. At least we shouldn't have to worry about the Palace of Perdition this time… I hope.
"Man, this place is way nicer than your apartment, Lucy," Happy grinned. "Maybe we should just leave you here so you can have it all to yourself without me and Natsu to bother you."
"Eh, turns out we didn't really need the rescue, so if you wanna leave, you can," Lucy shrugged dismissively. "Truth is, Yukino and I could have broken out at any time we wanted. We were actually taking a nap until you guys decided to show up."
"Gee, you're welcome," Natsu deadpanned. "And if you could've escaped so easy, why didn't you?"
"Didn't wanna take all the fun out of your day," Lucy giggled at her friend. "But since you're here and ready to rescue us, what do you say we give it a shot, Yukino?"
"I think that would be wise," the other celestial mage nodded as she slipped a gold-trimmed ring onto her right pointer finger. "I would rather we get used to this new arrangement sooner, rather than later, and risking something going wrong." As she spoke, the others noticed that Lucy was putting on an identical ring, though she slipped it onto her left pointer finger.
"Hey, what's the holdup?" Cana called over her shoulder from where she was standing guard at the door. "Are we going or not?"
"Lucy and Yukino are being weird!" Happy called back.
"Well then tell them to stop it! I can hear guards on their way!" the card mage shot back irritably. "And they might have some wizards with them!"
"Oh dear, that was fast," Mirajane laughed nervously.
"Fusion… HA!" Blinding light erupted from the room, obscuring all those in it from view.
A squad of knights came dashing around the corner a few moments later, stunned to see all of their comrades reduced to groaning, smoking heaps. The captain looked up to see a single figure striding forward from the room, their gait steady and confident.
It was a young woman dressed in a white vest with blue trim that left her midriff bare, a pair of silver-colored cloth gauntlets on her wrists, white, flowing pants topped with a blue sash, and a pair of white boots. Hanging from the folds of the sash was a small brown pouch that looked like it might hold a small vial or some other such object. Her eyes were brown, and her hair was colored silver with blond highlights streaking through her twin tails. On her right hand rested a pink Fairy Tail mark, outlined in silver.
"Wow, you guys sure know how to make a mess," she smirked as she eyed the downed soldiers. Her voice was strange- like that of two individuals speaking in perfect harmony, but coming from a single source.
"Someone wanna tell me what's going on here?!" another voice shouted from behind her, inside the room.
"Where are the two girls that were being detained?!" the captain demanded hotly.
In response, the girl in front of him raised an eyebrow and asked, "They were being detained? I was under the impression that Minister Darton had invited them here for their own 'protection'. Now they're under arrest?"
"It's above my paygrade to pay attention to the semantics," the soldier shot back. He leveled his spear at the woman as he noticed several figures gathering inside the doorway, growling, "Now where are they?"
The girl in front of the door shrugged and replied, "Frankly, they've decided that it's none of your business. We'll just be going now." So saying, she reached for the pouch at her waist.
"Take them into custody!" the captain shouted, his men rushing forward at his command.
"Not a chance!" the girl shouted back, whipping something golden out of the pouch. "Resonate! Gate of the Lion!" There was a burst of golden light, and when it faded, the girl had settled into a fighting stance, though her appearance remained the same as before.
"Now I'm really confused," Natsu muttered as he came out of the door, followed by the rest of the rescue team. "What're they doin?" Seeing them, the soldiers hesitated, though they kept up the charge toward the wizards.
"Watch and you'll learn, Natsu," the girl said with a smirk as she drew back her right wrist. "Regulus… IMPACT!" She shot forward, her fist colliding with the closest soldier's face. The resulting explosion of light decimated the rest of the squad, leaving the path clear for the group of wizards to flee. "All right!" she cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "This magic rules!" As she turned to face her companions, they could now see the mark of the Zodiac Lion on her left hand, opposite to where her guild mark rested.
"Seriously, what's goin' on?!" Natsu screamed, grabbing at his head in frustrated confusion.
"Lucy and Yukino did the same thing as you and Gorun during your fight with the Twin Dragons," Cana explained wearily. "Gorun must've given you the rings when the army showed up at the bar, right?" She addressed the last part to the fused celestial wizard.
"Yeah-huh!" she chirped in response while holding up a 'victory' sign. "Name's Lucino-the ultimate Celestial Wizard! Now let's blow this joint!"
"Wow, she's like the Edolas Lucy with how she acts," Wendy said as the girl took off down the hall, apparently eager to get out of the palace.
"Kinana did mention that this kind of transformation does create a new personality," Juvia said thoughtfully.
"We can analyze it later," Cana snapped, taking off at a run to catch up with their comrade. "Otherwise, she'll end up being the one that'll have to rescue us."
"Yeah!" Natsu grinned, his fists blazing. "I'm all fired up!"
Gorun had ceased his irregular flying habits and landed on the ground in a rural area, seemingly at random. However, the decision to go to ground was anything but random. This should be the place, and I'm on time, he thought as he glanced around at the cross-street that Mavis had told him to go to once the fighting had stalled out.
His sensitive hearing picked up on a noise coming from the rooftops to his right, and the power level approaching could have hardly belonged to a stray cat. Turning to face that direction, he engaged his barrier technique just before a small, pink-haired figure leaped off the nearest roof.
"Sky god Boreas!" the girl cried, sending a cyclone of black wind to smash into the energy barrier.
Gorun grunted with the surprising amount of effort it was taking to keep up the shield, but he held his ground. As soon as the attack cleared, he lowered the shield, though he kept on his guard as he raised his eyebrows at the young girl, Sherria. "Solid power, and not an awful attempt at a sneak attack," he told her. "Against most people, that would have worked."
"Yeah, but you're not most people, are you?" Sherria grinned fiercely at him from atop a lamppost. "You went toe-to-toe with Jura, after all. Lyon's still pretty shook up about it."
"Technically, I beat Jura, if we're counting the MPF contest," Gorun grinned back. "So what makes you think that you'll win against someone strong enough to take on a Wizard Saint?"
"I've never gone up against Jura, so I don't know how I compare," Sherria shrugged. "What I do know is that I'm in it to win it for love and Lamia Scale- so that means I'll take down anyone who stands in the way of that, even if it's you! Sky god Roar!"
"Masenko!" Gorun knew there wasn't enough time to charge up a proper Kamehameha, so he settled for the quicker, piercing attack. The two energies collided, but instead of cancelling each other out, Sherria's attack overwhelmed his and continued on to smash him into the street-painfully.
"Augh!" he cried out as he felt his leg wrench as he went tumbling down the road. What the hell?! He thought, beginning to feel a trace of panic. This girl's power level is nowhere near Jura's! How is she beating me down so easily?!
There was little time to contemplate the issue as Sherria began to press her advantage, sending cyclone after black cyclone at him, grinning gleefully the whole time.
Back at the arena, Mavis was frowning heavily. "This isn't right," she muttered. "By all accounts, Gorun should be handling her easily."
"Instead, he looks like he can barely hold his own against this girl," Makarov muttered worriedly. Up until now, it seemed as though there might be no one in the contest stronger than the alien boy. The fact that Sherria was gaining a rapid upper hand was distressing indeed. "Is this girl from Lamia Scale really stronger than him?"
"No," Mavis said with negative shake of her head. "If she were stronger than Gorun, Wendy never would have had a chance against her. Something else is going on, but I just can't put my finger on it…"
"Oh no!" Kinana gasped, a thought occurring to her.
"You know something, Kinana?" Makarov asked her, looking at the girl, who had gone pale indeed.
"I… I think so," she nodded. "Sherria is a god slayer, right? Her magic affects beings of divine nature more than regular people?"
Makarov frowned thoughtfully, recalling his own encounter with a god slayer. "Having been on the receiving end of that kind of magic, I can tell you that it hurts regular folk just fine, my dear," he told her.
"Hold on a sec!" Romeo interjected before Kinana could reply. "Gorun told us that he used to work for a god, right?!" When the two masters exchanged a glance and nodded, the boy asked, "Well, then… Is it possible that Gorun's a god of some kind, too? That would explain why Sherria's attacks are hurting him so much!"
Both Mavis and Makarov's eyes widened as they exchanged glances. "Given everything the boy has told us about his past, I suppose it's not impossible…" the old man said aloud with a hint of renewed awe and fear of the boy.
"No!" Kinana all but shouted, stamping her foot for extra effect. "That's not it at all!"
"Then why are the god slayer's attacks affecting him so badly?" Mavis asked, even as the lachryma-vison screen showed Gorun managing to finally get in a hit with a Double Sunday.
"Well, he's not a god, per se," she told them. "But he's been trained by gods and is descended from people who have mastered god energies! I'm saying it's possible that while he's not divine by nature, he might have some traces of their energy within him because of his upbringing!"
"Hmm…" Mavis mused as she stared back up at the screen, which showed a now-healed Sherria laughing merrily at Gorun as he was caught up in a black wind funnel. "It's possible, but I suppose we won't know until we ask Gorun about it. Regardless, this might slightly change the journey, but our destination remains the same, so to speak."
"First master?" Makarov asked curiously.
"Gorun's job here is to stall Sherria long enough for Lyon and Gray to show up, at which point, the boys will take down Lamia Scale's wizards," she explained. "I was expecting Gorun to be able to hold Sherria off at his leisure, but I believe that he will pull through for us."
"Am I the only who noticed he's not using his golden takeover form?" Macao asked critically as he watched the fight. "What gives?"
"I asked him not to unless there was an emergency," Mavis answered. "The Saiyan Soul spell makes him too aggressive, and we risk him derailing the plan if he uses it unless there is no other option."
"Well, it looks like he might have to," Wakaba said with a wince as they all saw Gorun eat gravel for the sixth time in as many minutes. "Things aren't going his way."
"He'll pull through," Elfman said encouragingly. "That guy's a real man!"
"Go, mister Gorun!" Asuka called out, her voice tiny in comparison to the giant take-over wizard. "You can do it! Beat her up!"
"Well, this has been fun, but I think it's time to wrap it up," Sherria said cheerily. She was standing a few yards away from Gorun, who was on all fours, struggling to get to his feet while bleeding and bruised. He was sure that he had at least two broken ribs, maybe more. "You put up a really good fight, but honestly, I'm thought you'd be harder to take down."
"I'm not down yet," Gorun growled, pushing past the pain while wiping blood from his brow as he stood up.
"Yeah, but I get the feeling that if I hit you with one more good hit, you won't be bothering Lamia Scale anymore," Sherria replied, chipper as ever. "Time for the finale! God Slayer Secret Art!" She whirled like a dancer, hands over her head, black feather-like apparitions appearing and multiplying in her palms as she twirled happily.
Gorun's eyes narrowed as he realized that she was right- if she did indeed strike him with that spell, he would be out of the competition. For the first time in years, he felt the impending dread of one who knows their defeat is imminent. Forgive me, Master Mavis, he thought bleakly. Maybe there's another way, but for the life of me, I just don't see it right now. All of this went through his mind in less than a second.
"Gathering: Clouds of Heaven!" Four black wings appeared in front of Sherria, and from her hands spewed forth dark feathers that shot out in a circular pattern that would plow directly into his chest if it hit.
Letting out a wordless scream of pain and determination, he willed the familiar golden magic circle to appear beneath his feet. Etherion burst from his body like a tidal wave, disrupting the god slayer's attack, causing the condensed feathers to lose their cohesive attack formation. They scattered and faded out of existence as Gorun stood up straighter, ignoring the pain in his chest as he glared at his opponent with green, angry eyes.
"Whoa, I was wondering if you were gonna do that!" Sherria giggled, though inwardly she squirmed at the sight of the rage in his gaze. Before he had seemed friendly enough, if determined to defeat her. Now, however, it seemed that he held nothing but fury in his heart.
"I suppose I should apologize in advance," he said, his voice carrying a slightly harsh cast to it now. "See, in this form, I always lose a little bit of my ability to reason, and that's when I'm in good health. Crummy as I feel right now, well…" A cold smile stretched across his face. "Let's see how well you stand up to a Super Saiyan when he's backed into-"
He suddenly paused mid-sentence, cocking his head and looking past Sherria. "Hmm…" he mused, his eyes narrowing again. He blinked, and suddenly those scary green orbs were locked back onto Sherria, causing her to take a pace back nervously. "Something's come up," he said, raising his pointer and middle fingers to his forehead. "We'll continue this when I've taken care of business."
"Hey!" Sherria exclaimed. "You're just gonna run out on the fight?! That's so lame!"
Gorun shrugged in response. "This is more important than our little scrap," he told her stiffly. "But I'll be more than happy to take you on again when I get done with this." And maybe it'll give me time to figure out why your magic is causing me so much trouble, he added to himself.
"What's so important that it can't wait?!" Sherria demanded, feeling rather miffed.
Gorun's cold smile returned, sending shivers down the girl's spine. "Vengeance," he said before he disappeared.
"No, no, no!" Mavis cried. "What is he doing?! He's supposed to be distracting Sherria! Where'd he even go?!" The little girl was in tears, her plans having come apart in the span of a few short seconds. First, Kagura had appeared to challenge Erza instead of Minerva, which went against Mavis' calculations. Then, Gorun had gone Super Saiyan. As if that weren't enough, Minerva had appeared to briefly fight the two swordswomen before managing to blackmail them into fighting each other in order to try and rescue Millianna, seeing as the Sabertooth woman had the girl in her clutches. Now Gorun had apparently abandoned his part of the plan altogether! It also didn't help that Gajeel's fight against Rogue was currently featuring a sudden reversal of fortunes, and not in Fairy Tail's favor.
The whole thing was a mess, Mavis thought as she buried her face in her hands.
"Er, First Master?" Makarov's voice did not sound encouraging. "You… might want to see this."
I don't want to look, she thought stubbornly. I don't want to look, I don't want to look…
She looked.
"Now, if you ladies don't mind, I'll be watching from a… safer distance," Minerva smirked cruelly.
"There'll be some distance, but it's not safe anywhere," a low voice growled from behind her, causing her to stiffen with surprise. The next instant, she was flying with a massive pain in her back from where Gorun had smashed his foot into the lower part of her spine. The two women watched her fly, both of them wide-eyed at the speed and brutality of the blow that had sent her soaring while they had both been barely able to put a scratch on the arrogant woman.
"Erza, take care of this one," Gorun ordered coldly as he eyed his target with a strange gleam in his eye. "Minerva is mine."
Noticing the injuries covering her comrade, Erza started to say, "Are you sure you can-"
"I'll be fine," Gorun grinned, but it was not his usual, friendly smile. There was something disturbing about the way he was smiling now, Erza thought. "After all, my people grow stronger the more intense the battle becomes."
Then he was gone in a blur of golden light, leaving the two sword maidens to their duel.
"Well, at least he went to help Erza," Makarov muttered as they watched the scene unfold. "That's something, right First Master?"
"I'm not so sure that he went to help Erza as much as to fight Minerva," Mavis replied, having regained her composure. "And I don't like the way his energy feels right now. It's becoming… darker, more convoluted."
"Well, he did seem to have it out for Sabertooth," Laki said, the normally quiet wood-make wizard speaking up for once.
"Which it precisely why I arranged the plan so that he would have minimal contact with them," Mavis explained. "His only encounters should have been with Rufus at the beginning, and Sting at the end. I suppose I underestimated his desire to get revenge for Lucy and Yukino."
"It's not just that," Kinana said quietly. "He's… in pain, confused. That fight with Sherria might have messed with his head more than we originally thought."
"You think that him nearly losing to the god slayer threw him off enough to abandon the plan?" Macao asked dubiously. "I mean, the kid's kind of a hothead, but he's usually a lot more careful than that."
"I know, but think about it," Kinana urged. "He's spent most of his life being in control of any fight that he comes across. Now that something's come along to force him to realize that there are still things he doesn't have control of- not to mention the whole time travel thing that's been going on, which he has a bad history with- it's no surprise that he's feeling on edge."
"That's putting it lightly," Mavis said solemnly. "I'm almost afraid for this Minerva woman, knowing what Gorun is capable of."
"I am afraid for her," Kinana admitted. "Because I don't think any of us really know what Gorun is truly capable of."
He caught up with Minerva as she managed to get to her feet, fury etched into her face. "You dare lay hands on the Queen of Sabertooth?!" They found themselves in one of the rural areas of the city, though the streets were plenty wide to allow for heavy traffic flow- or in this case, dodging potential energy blasts.
"Yeah, I dare," Gorun snarled, his energy blazing. "But if you prefer, I can take a more hands-off approach. Kienzan!" The destructive disk whirled toward his enemy at blinding speed, narrowly missing taking off her head, and instead slicing off a good chunk of one of her braids and more of her raven locks.
Now she was positively scarlet, fuming as she snapped her fingers, smiting Gorun in the chest with an energy burst. "You will pay dearly for the humiliation you have inflicted on my guild!" she screamed.
"Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you!" Gorun roared, his rage fueling his body past the pain of his broken ribs. He took flight as Minerva began setting off explosion after explosion around him, zigzagging all round her and retaliating with bursts of etherion every few seconds. Eventually, he stopped this pattern and shot straight up, smirking once he reached a safe height. "That should do it," he muttered.
"Do you really think you're safe up there?!" Minerva sneered at him. "My spatial distortion magic can reach you anywhere!" She raised her hands and began to cast a new spell.
"And what makes you feel safe down there?" Gorun snarled back. "I would say you should have seen this coming, but I suppose you weren't here on day one of the games." So saying, he gestured at all of the glowing points of light that were surrounding Minerva.
She had just enough time to register that each of the hundreds of lights were miniature magic circles before Gorun bellowed, "Hellzone Grenade!" Then the energy blasts came to life, engulfing Minerva in a cloud of dust and fiery light. All the while, Gorun could be seen laughing from above, until the explosions ceased, and the dust began to settle.
"Had enough?" he chortled.
"Quite," a voice from behind him hissed. Then there was a blinding pain in his back that went through to the front of his stomach.
"Gorun!" Kinana screamed while everyone else grimaced or looked away around her. Minerva had used her magic to punch a hole through Gorun's stomach, on the right side below his ribcage. The boy immediately coughed up blood and began to fall, unable to maintain the concentration necessary to stay in the air.
Bisca gathered the distraught girl into a hug as she began to tremble, seeing her boyfriend so badly injured. I don't know what's been worse, seeing him starting to lose it, or watching him get run through like that, the gunslinger thought with a grimace. I'm almost starting to wish that the First Master hadn't let him compete if this is what's happening to him.
"Please be okay…" Kinana was mumbling into Bisca's shoulder. "Please be okay, please…"
"Now this is more like it," Minerva laughed as she walked up to Gorun, who was struggling to breathe through the pain. Raising her foot extra high, she brought it down on his wound, causing him to scream in agony, bringing a dark smile to her lips. "Ah yes, crushed in the dirt beneath the boot of the strongest wizard from the strongest guild," she purred as he writhed in pain. "Lovely."
"Ach… head…" he groaned, barely audible.
"Is that a surrender I hear?" she chuckled darkly, leaning closer as if to try and hear him better. "Speak up, then. The judges need to be able to hear you if you're going to give up."
"I said…" he grunted, drawing in deeper breath to try and support his words. "You're… dead." The next thing Minerva knew, Gorun had grabbed her hair that was dangling next to his face and used it to jerk her head into his fist hard enough that there was an audible crunch that heralded her nose breaking. She screamed and recoiled, reflex tears blinding her for a moment.
Gorun used that moment to slip a senzu bean out of his pocket and crunch on it quickly before swallowing and feeling the healing effects wash over him, as well as the increase in strength he could feel from a significant zenkai boost. There was no denying it- Sherria and Minerva had wounded him far worse than anyone ever had before. However, it was now going to work in his favor.
Despite the debilitating agony he had been subjected to, Gorun had managed to remain in his ascended state, and now that he was stronger than before, the air around him seemed positively aflame with golden energy.
"You… You bastard!" Minerva screamed at him. "You've brought shame on Sabertooth for the last time!"
"Your guild was swamped in shame the minute your father took control of it," Gorun retorted. "My guild at least has always been honorable, true to their word." The golden energy began to condense, whirling around Gorun in a tornado-like pattern, growing faster and more intense by the second.
"Ha!" Minerva laughed through her shattered nose. "A guild incapable of casting aside the chaff is unworthy to call itself number one! You're nothing but a group of injured animals licking each other's wounds, waiting for the hunters to come and slaughter you in your den!"
"Then welcome to the jungle," Gorun growled, a golden magic circle appearing beneath his feet, much like his Saiyan Soul spell. However, in addition to casting golden light, this one crackled with electricity. "But, if you think to find easy prey here, you will only find a grave with your name marked on it- because those people that you call animals are my family. And will protect them until my dying breath!" The magic circle beneath his feet exploded with brilliance, accompanied by a raging, primal roar.
When the light died down, Gorun had changed. He still had the golden hair and aura, but now his locks stood up even straighter, and electricity crackled along and around his body. His eyes were still green and filled with anger, but where before they had been filled with white-hot fury, now they froze his enemy with cold rage.
Gorun wasn't screaming about how he wanted revenge, or trying to defend his guild's honor. He wasn't trying to slander Sabertooth or Minerva. As a matter of fact, now that the magic circle was gone, he wasn't making a sound.
All the way across Crocus, back at the stadium, everyone in Fairy Tail was looking at the static-filled screens with wide eyes. The reason wasn't because of the blurry image, or even because of the look in their comrade's eyes.
"Oh no…" Kinana said in a small voice. "He actually did it."
Every single one of them could feel Gorun's magic power easily from the length of a city away, and the pressure he was giving off was frightening.
From inside the castle, the rescue team paused as they all looked out a window at the city outside. All of them could feel Gorun's energy rising, dwarfing everyone else in the city.
"Wonder what got him so fired up," Natsu wondered with an impish grin. "Bet he's having an awesome fight right now."
"Keep your head in the fight here, hotshot!" Lucino reprimanded him as she used Taurus' strength to backhand a royal guard into his companions. Apparently one of the perks to having so much celestial magic at her disposal was that she could 'resonate' with the spirits contracted to her counterparts in order to use their powers without even summoning them, which helped her to conserve her magic power.
And right now, it seemed like they would need all the power they could get. They hadn't made it a hundred yards when a full platoon of soldiers appeared to bar their way. Each of the Fairy Tail wizards had sprung into action, easily decimating the first wave of soldiers.
But for every man they knocked out, it seemed like three would rise to take their place. Their progress had been reduced to a slow crawl throughout the afternoon, and none of them had been contacted by Warren, even though they were behind schedule.
Mirajane mentioned that this was likely due to some kind of telepathic interference, but it didn't really matter. The bottom line seemed to be either they beat half the royal army, or they would all end up in a prison cell. I hope our friends are having more luck in the games, the she-devil thought as she knocked out a squad of soldiers with a swipe of her claws.
"Ready to die?" Gorun asked, his voice rougher and colder than ever before.
"You… you think you can kill me?!" Minerva demanded, trying to sound more haughty than terrified, and not doing a very good job.
Gorun seemed to ponder her words for a moment, then answered, "There's nothing to think about, Minerva. I'm going to kill you. End of."
"Let's see you try when you have another hole in your stomach!" She screeched. "Lo hoset! Lo hosetia!" She thrust her hands in front of her, a dark rainbow-colored beam emerging from her palms like a technique all too familiar to the Saiyan boy. "Ilda rogue!"
"Actually, it's pronounced; Kamehameha!" he snarled. In his newly ascended state, it took less than a second for Gorun to gather the energy necessary for a ki wave strong enough to shred her hasty attack and send her rolling down the street.
"Ungh…" she groaned as she got to her feet, noticing with growing horror that the boy was walking slowly toward her, unhurried, unconcerned. Now she finally bothered to realize just how vast the differences between their powers actually were. Before, he had been stronger, though not by enough for it to be a clear advantage. Now, he was more than twice her equal.
This wasn't going to be a hunt, or even a battle, she realized. It was to be a slaughter. "What are you?!" she demanded, her voice cracking with fear.
"This is what is what you get when a Super Saiyan ascends again," Gorun replied, knowing his words would mean nothing to the stricken woman. "But for simplicity's sake, we call it 'Super Saiyan 2.' And it's what's going to send you to the grave, Minerva."
"S-Stop!" the woman cried, eyes wide with terror for the first time since she had been a child.
"No," said the demon with golden hair and green eyes. "I told you, didn't I…? I warned you when you tried to break one of my friends… That this would only end when I put you in the dirt!"
"No, please!" she begged. "You've won! Let me go!" She was close to tears, but she hardly noticed. All she cared about was escaping the entity that seemed to personify strength itself, the monster that was raging at her, preparing to end her life.
"I will not!" he shouted, energy flaring even brighter. "I will have recompense for your guild's crimes against Yukino and your actions against Lucy! I. Demand. BLOOD!" Energy pooled between his hands as he stopped walking, forcing her to literally shield her eyes against what would be her end.
"Kame… hame…" he intoned.
Acting on instinct, Minerva did the only thing she could think of to save herself. Throwing up a wall of her magic between herself and Gorun, she willed another energy sheet to appear behind him. Now if he fired that massive laser of his- which was sure to be even stronger in this newly ascended state- he would only hit himself. A dark, cruel smile graced her lips as she realized that even on the brink of defeat, she would turn this around and seize victory for her guild- the only way it could have ever possibly have ended.
That was her last thought before Gorun vanished from her line of sight.
"HA!" She heard him bellow from right behind her.
It was the last thing she heard before a titanic blue laser enveloped and vaporized her along with several miles of the city itself. The blast continued all the way until it took off the peak of a mountain range several days' journey away in a brilliant explosion that lit up the early afternoon sky.
When the light faded and the dust settled, there stood Gorun among the rubble of several homes, businesses, and the street itself. He spat on the ground and muttered, "Good riddance to bad garbage."
Not so far away, Rogue was actually too busy being distracted by a newly powered-up Gajeel to notice Gorun's elevated strength. His eyes widened as he beheld the Iron Dragon Slayer's skin hardening into black metal while his eyes glowed an ominous blue, even as shadows seeped from his lengthy hair.
"Iron… and shadow?" he breathed.
"Hehe…" Gajeel chuckled darkly.
Elsewhere in the city, Laxus was gasping for breath as he exchanged blows with the Wizard Saint, Jura. Scorch marks and torn-up sections of stone littered the block, a testament to their fierce battle.
He was reaching his limit, but that didn't matter to Laxus. All that mattered was defeating his opponent for his guild, the family that had given him a second chance that he didn't deserve. He would take anyone down for them, be it a god Slayer or a Wizard Saint.
Reaching deep within himself, Laxus summoned forth every last bit of power that he had, zipping a half a block away from his opponent before skidding to a stop, his eyes fixed on the bald man, who grinned fiercely at him. All right, First Master, the blond man thought. Time to see if this spell of yours does the trick.
He slammed his wrists together, palms facing out toward Jura, charging his magic power as fast as he could into a single attack. Lightning blazed from his palms, flying wildly in all directions, and causing Jura's eyes to widen.
"But that's-!" he began, but he got no further.
"Lightning Dragon's FINAL FLASH!" Laxus bellowed, sending all of his power at the Wizard Saint in one devastating, overwhelming onslaught. It wasn't quite the spectacle that Gorun had given when he blasted the Magic Power Finder, but there wasn't a lot in it.
Jura was immediately overwhelmed, the lightning engulfing him, electrocuting him unceasingly, mercilessly, until darkness claimed his mind. However, just before he passed out, he managed to smile and say, "Well done…"
"I surrender to you, Erza," Kagura said heavily, her sword falling from her hands. The young woman was defeated, mentally and physically. But amid the whirling tempest of emotions in her heart, her shoulder registered the gentle contact of the mighty flame-haired woman's hand standing above her.
"Someday soon, we'll talk," Erza promised her.
"Say goodnight!" Gajeel shouted as he yanked Rogue out of his own shadow and tossed him skyward. "Iron Shadow Dragon… ROAR!" A shrapnel-laced shadow beam rivaling Gorun's Super Kamehameha in size shot after the dark Dragon Slayer, swallowing him in pain and darkness until the light of consciousness left his eyes, and Gajeel was left standing victorious.
Didn't even need the First Master's fancy spell, he thought with a weary grin as he released his new power, swaying slightly as he realized just how exhausted he really was.
"Well, look at that…" Gorun mused as he stared up at the scoreboards that displayed the remaining teams' scores.
Current Score of the Grand Magic Games, Final Day
Fairy Tail: 68 pts
Sabertooth: 50 pts
As the scores stood, Fairy Tail had won. The games weren't officially over until one team stood on the field, but there was no way that Sting- the only person left in the competition that wasn't a Fairy Tail wizard- could make up on that score, even if he somehow managed to beat Gorun and his comrades.
The last point scored by Sabertooth had been Minerva's, as a very beaten Millianna had popped back into existence once Gorun had killed the woman imprisoning her. Since she had been captured and beaten into such a condition by the Sabertooth woman, the point gained for defeating the cat-girl was awarded to the corresponding guild posthumously.
Upon seeing the beaten girl- and the brown exceed that had appeared with her- Gorun had reverted back to his base form and gotten them to a safe place so that they could recover from their ordeal. Then he dusted himself off and took off to find Gray.
He had found the boy struggling to hold off Lyon and Sherria, but with his arrival, they quickly turned the battle around. Gray and Lyon were too evenly matched, and Gorun still couldn't make sense of why Sherria's magic affected him so badly, so they quickly switched opponents at the first opportunity.
Gorun swiftly overwhelmed Lyon with his Super Saiyan form and a Big Bang Attack that reduced his ice-make magic to snowflakes. Gray flash-froze Sherria so she couldn't heal herself before sending her flying with an ice-make cannon.
Now they stood examining the scoreboard and exchanging grins like schoolboys. "Guess we should find the others so we can hunt down Sting and wrap this thing up," Gray suggested.
"Or we can follow the signal that he's giving us," Gorun countered, pointing up at the shining white symbol of Sabertooth that stood out in the night sky. As soon as Gray was looking at it, he added, "For the record, I was gonna say he was there."
Gray just laughed as they began their trek towards where the White Dragon Slayer was waiting for them, knowing that their friends would be there to join them.
Back at the coliseum, Kinana found herself crying wordlessly. If anyone had asked why she was crying then, she would not have been able to give them a definite answer. Maybe it was because she had just seen how dangerous Gorun could be when he was backed into a corner. Perhaps it was because he wasn't the one lying dead on the battlefield.
Maybe it was a combination of the two.
"Fire Dragon ROAR!"
"Sky Dragon Wing Attack!"
"Eat a Sand Buster, chumps!"
The group had found themselves backed against a wall, but they were making the army pay for it dearly. Soldiers, mages, even a specialized executioner squad all came to challenge them, and each of them met the same fate- winding up as beaten mess on the floor.
Lucino had really proven to be a surprise powerhouse, holding her own alongside Natsu and Mirajane in terms of destructive abilities. She also proved to be a lot more self-confident than either of her counterparts, bordering on arrogant, not to mention somewhat antagonizing as she egged Natsu on to see which one of them could take out more soldiers, a challenge which the fire wizard eagerly agreed to.
Cana, Juvia, and Wendy mostly provided support to their comrades as they fought their through the palace while the exceeds remained on standby, waiting to whisk the first of them to fall out of danger if the situation called for it. Where they would fly to if their comrades were wounded was anyone's guess, but they would cross that bridge if they came to it.
"Man, these guys don't give up!" Cana complained after a particularly large group of soldiers met their defeat at Natsu's flames and Lucino's arrows, courtesy of her ability to use Sagittarius' bow.
"Hah! Bring 'em on!" Natsu crowed, apparently having the time of his life. "I can do this all day!"
"That it, hotshot?!" Lucino teased him with a big grin. "I can go all week!"
"So, you really wanna go down swinging?" Gorun asked with a raised brow as he stared down Sting. The White Dragon Slayer had waited for the five fairies to gather, saying that he would fight them all at once.
"I haven't got anything left to lose," the blond slayer growled, his blue eyes narrowing. "I've already lost Lector forever- thanks to you guys, I'm never gonna see my best friend again."
"Whoa, whoa, back up," Gray said with a frown. "We didn't do anything to your cat. I don't know what your deal really is, but if you're gonna go picking fights with our guild, you should have a better reason than something made-up."
"There's nothing made-up about this!" Sting shouted angrily, clenching his fist at the ice-make wizard. "If I had secured the win for Sabertooth, then Milady would have returned Lector to me! But with the way the scores are now, it's impossible! You went and got too far ahead on the board, and now Lector's gone forever!" Tears were threatening to spill from his eyes as he shouted the last part at them.
"Okay, you need to cool it," Gorun said sternly, his brow now bent downward in a frown. "One, Minerva isn't in any condition to be holding hostages; I eighty-sixed her myself. Two, Lector is the brown cat, right?"
Sting recoiled as if struck before he asked, "You… What did you do to milady?"
"Eighty-sixed her?" Gorun repeated with a questioning inflection. "Is that not a common phrase around here?"
"Minerva is dead," Erza told Sting bluntly. "She was holding a friend of mine hostage as well- Gorun rescued them both."
"Your friend is alive and well," Gorun affirmed. "I left him with Erza's friend since he wasn't in any condition to get around on his own yet."
"Y-You…" Sting said, falling to his knees. "Lector's alive?"
Erza and Gorun nodded before the redhead's eyes widened slightly in surprise and she nudged the Saiyan boy with an elbow. Following her gaze, Gorun grinned slightly and walked up to Sting, dropping to one knee in front of him.
"Hold off on the waterworks for a minute, pal," he said as the dragon slayer looked up hopefully at him. Without another word, Gorun extended his right arm and pointed off to the side, indicating a grinning Millianna, who was holding a sleeping brown exceed in a blue vest.
"Lector!" Sting cried out, but this time the volume of his voice came from joy instead of anguish.
In less than a moment, he had his best friend, safe and sound once again.
Only minutes after that, he surrendered to the other wizards.
The Grand Magic Games were over, and fireworks began shooting into the sky all over the coliseum to celebrate that Fairy Tail had risen to the top once again.
Unfortunately for the rescue team, they were still too busy being swarmed by soldiers to notice anything other than the fact that it was nighttime outside. The royal army truly seemed endless, and even Natsu and Lucino's attacks were becoming smaller and more simplistic as they strove to fend off the soldiers sent to capture them.
"I don't… have much left in me," Wendy gasped as she stepped back behind Mirajane, who wordlessly beat back the two men that were moving to engage the little girl.
"Same here," Cana panted, sweating as she reclaimed some of her tarot cards that were flying through the air. "I seriously thought that they'd have run outta guys by now…"
"I'm beginning to run out of moisture to work with," Juvia said, looking every bit as exhausted as the others. "I need a source of water soon, or else I won't be able to attack without dehydrating myself."
"I don't mind a good brawl, but we're on a time crunch!" Natsu growled. Looking over his shoulder at Future Lucy, he asked, "How long do we have?"
"I don't know exactly, but not long," she replied, face drawn and pale with fear. "If we don't rejoin the others soon, it'll just be a repeat of last time!"
"Then we blow 'em all away in one shot!" Natsu snarled. "Cos I am not making you live through that crap again, Luce!" The girl gasped slightly at his use of his fond nickname for her, but he was too busy with the fight to notice her reaction. Instead, he turned to their card mage and said, "Yo, Cana!"
"What's up?" she asked heavily.
"Hit me, Juvia, and Wendy with the good stuff!" he grinned. "We're ending this now!"
"What are you planning now, hotshot?" Lucino asked him as she dropped a few of the men down some holes she had created with Virgo's powers.
"Ace card," he grinned.
"More like a joker, but he's not wrong," Cana said with a tired grin as she readied three magic cards. "All right guys, after this I'm gonna be out of steam. Make it count!" She flung the cards in the air, each one heading for a different wizard.
The one that went towards Natsu exploded into a raging inferno. The card that came to rest at Wendy's feet erupted into a cyclone. Juvia's card whirled above her a few times before a cloud formed above her, and she became drenched in rainwater. Cana maintained consciousness just long enough to see each of them absorb their respective element before darkness claimed her. She fell into Pantherlily's large arms with a satisfied smile, proud that she had been able to give her all on behalf of her friends.
"I've got her," he assured the others. "She's just tired from using too much magic."
"Thanks, Lily," Mirajane smiled, the expression a strange one on her demonic face.
"All right, let's do it!" Natsu laughed, wiping away embers from his mouth.
"I guess now's as good a time as any," Wendy grimaced, raising both of her hands above her head, wind whirling and congealing over her palms.
"I suggest we all attack one after the other- Wendy first, then Natsu, then me," Juvia said, her brows bent downward in fierce concentration as she placed her right pointer and middle fingers against her forehead.
"Seriously, what's going on?!" Lucino demanded.
"The First Master gave us some cool new spells to use," Natsu grinned, placing his hands by his ribs, a ball of fire quickly coming to life between his palms. "Check it out- now, Wendy!"
"I'm on it!" Wendy exclaimed as a new wave of soldiers came charging down the hall. Flinging her arms forward so that her palms faced the oncoming men, she shouted, "Sky Dragon Double Sunday!" Two magic circles appeared before her, one in front of each hand, and blasted forth twin tornados that bowled over the reinforcements, sending them flying back the way they had come.
However, from behind them were coming even more soldiers. "Aw man!" Wendy complained.
"No worries, kid, I got this!" Natsu cackled, the orb at his side growing larger and brighter. "I've been wanting to try this one since Gorun first showed us!" He settled into a deeper stance before thrusting his hands forward, an orange magic circle appearing before him as he bellowed, "Fire Dragon KAMEHAMEHA!" An orange pillar of dragon fire shot out, racing over the unconscious bodies of the men they had already defeated before crashing into the leader of the new wave of enemies. An explosion rocked the palace, frying all of the men where they stood, though the fire and heat went away just before becoming lethal.
"Hahahaha!" Natsu crowed. "That was awesome!
Noticing a lack of new soldiers, Mirajane reverted back to her human form as she turned to the rain woman in their party. "Guess you can hold off on your attack, Juvia," she said, relief evident in her voice.
"Not yet," the bluenette said, her voice strained. "There's still… someone coming. And I can sense… they have a great amount of power."
"In that case, the minute they come into view, blast them with everything you've got so we can finally get out of here," Mirajane said warily.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a dark, echoing voice. Seconds later, the group was surrounded by shadows that reached up and swallowed the unconscious soldiers, leaving the Fairy Tail wizards alone in the hallway.
"What the hell…?" Natsu gaped. "Who's there?!" He directed his shout down the hallway that he had just blasted, where the shadows seemed the deepest.
"You better show yourself unless you want a face-full of Leo's light!" Lucino added hotly.
"My, my, what a cold reception for someone who's only trying to help," the voice said as the shadows began to recede, even as a man stepped out of them.
He was tall, with mostly dead-white hair, though a shock of raven locks did obscure the right side of his pale face. The eye that was visible was blood-red, with black arcane markings outlining the orb. He was dressed in black and white topped with a red vest.
"Wait a sec…" Natsu said with wide eyes as he finally recognized the scent of the person in front of him. "Rogue?"
"The Sabertooth guy?!" Happy exclaimed.
"Why is he here?!" Carla demanded.
"Hello, everyone," the man said with a grim smile. "We have a lot to discuss."
Gorun: I'm surprised we finished the entire final day in one chapter.
Saiki: I'm surprised you actually went and killed Minerva.
Gorun: Oh please, this all based on shonen jump worlds- no one stays dead!
Mataras: Light Yagami, Simon, Ur, an entire planet full of Saiyans, Master Hades, I got more.
Saiki: Why couldn't I have been written by one of those people? There's more than a few people in my series I could do without.
Gorun: Wait, so is Minerva actually dead, then?!
Mataras: You lasered her at Super Saiyan 2, you tell me.
Gorun: Oh jeez... I feel like this is gonna come back to bite me.
Mataras: Probably, but right I'm a little more concerned about the people that are gonna try and crucify me for 'nerfing' SSJ 2. So I'll just say this in my defense: Power levels are inconsistent bullcrap!
Gorun: Why give the transformation, then?
Mataras: Oh come on, what kind of DBZ story would this be if I didn't throw in a new transformation every now and again? Also, you gotta admit you looked pretty cool. So, there. Merry Christmas!
Gorun: We'll see you all again on New Years, 2019!
Saiki: There you will see the war begin in earnest.
Mataras: Next time on Saiyan Tail- Eclipse!
Next time on Saiyan Tail...
Hisui's jaw set in a firm line, even as the massive doors to Eclipse finally finished opening. "I did what I had to for the good of the kingdom," she said stubbornly. "With the energy inside that gate, we can save our kingdom from the oncoming dragons."
"Like hell you can!" Gorun shouted, his attack nearly done charging. "I'm blowing this gate to dust, and then you're gonna answer to the Magic Council for using a spell from the book of Zeref!"
"Gorun!" Lucino cried, her face as white as a sheet as she moved away from the fallen colonel, towards the Saiyan boy and the Eclipse Gate. "You need to destroy the gate, now!"
"I'm charging the attack as fast as I can," he grunted, even as a yellow ball congealed in his palms. "I'm nearly there, what's the rush?!"
"Grandpa Crux- one of Lucy's spirits- just passed me a message!" the fused girl said urgently. "He says that there's no possible way for this thing to be weaponized! It's just a gate that connects points in time!"
"Ya don't say?!" the ascended Super Saiyan replied pithily. "Can you tell me something I don't know?"
"This is no time to be a smartass!" she shot back. "The eclipsed full moon is messing with the inner mechanisms, forcing it to lock onto a single point in time!"
Gorun didn't bother to wait for her next words- he had a pretty good idea of what they were going to be. Besides, he was done gathering energy, which meant… "Stand back!" he bellowed, the orb in his hands swelling to burst. "Final Fla-!"
BLAM!
In an instant, the energy in his hands was snuffed out as a large, scaly forearm burst out of the gate and crashed into the boy, sending him flying through several dozen rows of bushes, and out of sight.