A/N: Here we go- the final showdown between Tartaros and Fairy Tail is here, and we finally get to learn the truth behind Rachel's origins. This arc has been a blast to write, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Fortunately for you guys, that does not entail the end of this story just yet- just this arc. Today, we celebrate two years of a story that I have long enjoyed creating, and you guys seem to like (crazy to think that I've been writing this story longer than my kids have been alive).
Be ready for lots of references to Dragon Ball Z, Super, and Abridged! Also be on the lookout for a crazy plot twist, because I have been so looking forward to seeing how you all handle it. Also, let me know what you think of Rachel in her Destroyer form (this month's cover image). You can get another good look at Raykai on my Instagram, the_red_swordsman.
Read, review, and most importantly, enjoy!
P.S. Be on the lookout for my new story, Your Hero Academia, coming to Fanfiction April 4, 2020.
War of the Underworld Arc: Chapter 7
Answers
Begin Song: No More (cover by Friedrich Habetler)
"This is amazing," Raykai said as he examined his combined form. "The cold powers of the Demon Slayer merging together with the raw ferocity of a Super Saiyan in this one body…" His attention was drawn to an explosion that occurred at the base of the mountain, out of which erupted a furious Mard Geer.
"No matter what tricks you manage to conjure, I will draw out your last breath into a scream of agony!" the demon vowed, his eyes mad with hatred.
"Trick?" Raykai laughed, spreading his arms wide as if in an invitation for the demon to embrace him. "This isn't a trick, Underworld King. This is the endgame, and you're all out of contingency plans."
"I have plans within plans that would boggle your feeble brains!" the demon snarled as Raykai floated up in the air in order to be on a level field with his enemy. "You have barely begun to scratch the surface of my machinations!"
"If that's true, then why are you getting so worked up?" the Fairy Tail wizard shot back. "Let's be real here. When your fight against Kaidon first started, you were calm, composed. But the more that your plans were thwarted, the more irrational you became. You put all your dragon eggs in one basket, and the dragon slayers got to 'em first. Now your back's up against the wall, and you know you're about to die." Adding a sinister smirk, Raykai told the enraged monster, "Try not to worry too much about it. After all, there's no need to be afraid of the inevitable."
"It is you who will die, at the claws of the perfect combination of Zeref's wrath, and the might of the dragon race!" Mard Geer howled.
"Weren't the Etherious already supposed to be the ultimate creations?" Raykai taunted him.
His enemy grit his teeth, the whites of his eyes tinged with red from hate while the floating wizard gazed upon him condescendingly while he assumed a defensive stance. Before Tartaros' leader could say anything, Raykai preempted him by shouting, "Let's go!"
Mard Geer let out a furious howl and unleashed his curse of thorns from his hand, prickly vines shooting out by the hundreds to try and ensnare Raykai in a crushing grip that would rend him in half. The fusion smirked before blasting off at the speed of sound, his demonic enemy in hot pursuit as he tried to catch up to his quarry.
As soon as he noticed the vines beginning to actually come close enough to grab him, he decided that it was time to change gears. Laughing while he slapped away a few vines and putting on an extra burst of speed to put some distance between him and his enemy, Raykai turned back to face the winged menace with a confident smile. "Now it's my turn," he declared. "Takeover: Golden Demon Soul!" Flexing his muscles, he channeled the power that he had hidden away throughout his body, chilling the air around him while turning his hair, guild mark, and demon slayer emblem bright gold, even as his eyes changed to an emerald shade that spelled trouble for the Underworld King.
Mard Geer didn't even slow down in his approach- he shoulder-checked Raykai before kicking him hard enough to shatter Castle Crocus down to its foundations, sending the fused wizard hurtling toward the ground. In spite of this, Raykai did not lose his smile, merely placed two fingers on his forehead, and then disappeared. "Is that all you got?!" he taunted Mard before smashing him with a hammer fist into the earth, gouging out another wound in the already-destroyed landscape.
Raising his hands above his head, Raykai bellowed, "Ice Demon HAILSTORM!" A gold magic circle blazed to life in front of him, even as the air around his body dropped even further in temperature the instant that he began to hurl countless frozen etherion projectiles of the same color into the pit. His sensitive ears picked up on a scream of agony coming from within the crater, so he redoubled his efforts, pouring more and more of his power into the attack, until the land below him was coated in demon-slaying ice spikes.
Mard Geer roared as he felt his body being destroyed and rebuilt again and again, but he managed to force himself to use his power amidst the agony, conjuring a force field of raw curse power that he was able to use to escape from beneath the deadly ice storm. Flexing his claws, he screamed his hatred for the humans that dared to strike him as he rose up in the air to meet Raykai, who ceased his magical assault once he realized that his target had gotten out from under the ice.
As they began to trade blows once again, they moved so fast that anyone watching would have only seen afterimages of the fighters themselves, their strikes pummeling the air with shockwaves intense enough to shake the lands once again. For a few seconds, it seemed that they were evenly matched in speed and stamina, but Gorun's years of experience in hand-to-hand combat soon gave Raykai the upper hand, and he smashed Mard Geer away with a savage kick that gave him breathing room.
And a few breaths was all he needed to chant, "Ice-make: Freezing GALLICK GUN!"
"Ragh! Dea Yggdrasil!" Mard Geer spat as he hurled a counter blast.
"Feels like Gorun's goin' to town up there!" Natsu laughed as he brained Tempester with a kick that he called 'Fire Dragon Scorching Talon', due to the blue flames and massive difference in attack power from his usual foot strikes. As he backpedaled, the demon found himself confronted by the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"I thought that was Fullbuster up there," Gajeel grunted as he took one of Tempester's cursed attacks in the form of boulders falling on his head on his head before punching back and sending the demon reeling toward Natsu, who had an Iron Fist ready for him.
"That's a potara fusion you're sensing," Azura grunted tiredly as she exchanged blows with Torafuzar in his Etherious form. Apparently remaining in her goddess form was beginning to take its toll on her, unused to the power as she was. "Kaidon and your ice wizard must have used the earrings, probably to take down the head demon." Curling her lips up into a smirk, she added, "Even with the power of Super Saiyan 4, he still needs help to win his battles."
"You're not doing too hot, yourself!" Cana grunted as she hurled a lightning card at Keyes, which had next to no effect on the ghostly necromancer. When she realized that it had failed, she cursed and shouted, "Come on! What's it take to get this guy?!"
"Azura had no issue striking him," Juvia pointed out. "So why don't your cards work, especially after they've been enhanced with etherion?"
"Because while the red star of the heavenly body scorches the heathens of the underworld, mortal man instills no fear in the hearts of the dead," Keyes answered them blankly.
"…What?" Cana demanded.
"I think he's telling us that Azura's powers hurt him because she wields divine magic," Juvia warned her companion.
"Ah, screw that noise!" the brunette said angrily. "If I could just figure out how to go Super Saiyan, this'd be way easier! But for some reason, I can't turn on the blond!"
"Going Super Saiyan the first time isn't the same as just powering up!" Azura grunted as she grappled with her enemy in the background while Juvia held Keyes back with a Water Nebula. "At least, not for Universe 7 Saiyans!"
"Then what?!" Cana shouted back as she unleashed ice cards that froze Keyes over, at least for the moment. "What do I have to do?!"
"The greatest power manifests from a need, not a desire!" Azura reminded her. "Now quit playing around and put that skeleton in a body bag, where he belongs!"
"Oh yeah?" Cana grinned. "If you've got such a good handle on things, why are you still fighting your demon?!"
"Because I have to avoid blasting you idiots in the process!" the Saiyan girl shot back. "But fine, how about a countdown?" Silently, she added, I think his wards are just about done in, anyway. If they're not, Kaidon will never let me hear the end of this.
Glaring at Torafuzar, who was waiting for her next move, she clenched her fists and growled, "Five." Rushing at him at top speed, she ducked under his mighty fist and used his own weight to throw him over her shoulder before driving her elbow painfully into his stomach, cracking the metallic armor that his skin had become. "Four."
"What the-?!"
"Three!" Releasing his wrist, she slammed his head with a devastating kick that sent him crashing into a pile of rubble, where he was buried alive. Without pausing, Azura began walking toward the mound of rocks while charging a Kienzan behind her back. "Two."
The rubble exploded, admitting Torafuzar into the air, while he glared down at his enemy with renewed determination. Before he could say anything, however, Azura gave him an unsettling smile and said, "One." Whipping her arm out from behind her back, she sent the Kienzan flying at his head faster than a Super Saiyan can blink.
The demon tried to avoid the attack, but he was just a shade too slow to avoid it. The whirling energy disk sliced into the Dragon Cry Shard that was embedded in the place of one of his teeth, shattering it. With the protective field of the dragon's magic dispelled, his head was immediately cut into horizontal halves, dropping his body to the ground.
"Ha," Azura grinned as she sank to her knees, her power spent. "I win."
"Dammit, Salamander!" Gajeel complained as he noticed Torafuzar's body hit the ground. "That Saiyan chick wasted hers' before we did! You're making the dragon slayers look bad!"
"Me?!" Natsu shouted as he avoided ice-cold flood waters from Tempester. "You're the one that's too slow! How's about you let a real slayer finish this guy off?!"
"No, you're just not paying attention to what you're hitting!" Gajeel shot back. "If you could actually hit him, we mighta been done already!" He and Natsu began to squabble back and forth in front of Tempester, much to his growing irritation.
"I have better things to do with my time than indulge childish behavior from you delinquents," he muttered as he raised his claws to face them. "Sizzle and scorch. Kaboom." Lightning blasted down from the sky to strike down the arrogant wizards that impeded his path. The two were quickly swallowed in the brilliant yellow flash and concussive force of the thunder, leading Tempester to dust off his hands with great contempt, glad to finally be rid of the annoyances once and for all.
"Man, this guy thinks he knows how to throw lightning?"
Tempester stopped at the sound of Natsu's voice as the dust began to clear, revealing two shadows lurking in the smoke. "That's not…"
"We should introduce him to Laxus, see if he doesn't learn something," Gajeel said as the two of them walked out of the blast center, both of them looking more amused than hurt.
"Nah, we don't have time for that," Natsu said with an evil smile. "He's the one that we need the blood from to cure the Thunder Legion."
"I'm surprised you actually remembered that," Gajeel laughed. "Guess we can't leave our guild mates hanging while we duke it out. How's about we finish this?"
"Sounds good to me," Natsu replied as he gathered his hands at his side. "I've got just the move to roast him for good."
"Then I'll get the blood," Gajeel said as he turned one of his arms into a wicked-looking sword. "Don't you forget that I let you have this one, got it?"
"If you truly think to destroy me, I suggest you consider your options very carefully," Tempester warned them. "Although my comrades once possessed the ability to regenerate their bodies, I alone possess the power of immortality. No matter how many times you break me, I will rise, again and again, until you fall dead at my feet."
"Bull," Gajeel shot back. "Laxus did you in with three punches is what I heard."
"He destroyed every cell in my body simultaneously, which caused my flesh to die," Tempester admitted.
"Then I've heard all I need to hear," Natsu said with a bright spark in his eyes, and a blue-white flame in his hands. "Now, Gajeel!"
"Black Iron Dragon Blade!" the older dragon slayer roared as he smashed into Tempester with a speed that betrayed his bulk, stabbing the demon through the heart and splashing Gajeel's arm and pants with purple blood. "Eugh, that reeks!" he grunted as he fell over backwards while Tempester recoiled, trying to hold his stomach together until his body repaired itself. "It's all you, Salamander!"
"Like I don't know that!" Natsu said cheekily, summoning the last vestiges of his magic power into his hands.
"Piss off and finish him!" Even as Gajeel scrambled to get away, his draconic armor softened and became tan skin again as the last of his magic power left him.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art," the fire wizard growled as he locked eyes with Tempester, whose eyes widened as he realized that the Dragon Cry was no longer working to repair his body like it should have been. Natsu thrust his hands forward and shouted, "Crimson Lotus KAMEHAMEHA!" Blue-white fire that closely resembled the coloring of the original technique scorched the ground as Tempester was incinerated by the hellish flames, which continued all the way out, above the horizon, and into the starry sky. So complete was his destruction that the bane particles contained in his body did not even have a chance to escape the remnants of his flesh, for there was nothing that was left of him in the world of the living.
When Natsu released the technique, his body reverted back to his human appearance, his hands smoking and his body radiating heat comparable to a blacksmith's furnace. "I think I know how Cana feels after she's drank too much…" he groaned.
For once, Gajeel didn't disagree with him.
What do I need to ascend?! Cana thought desperately as she struggled against Keyes' bindings.
Having decided that he was done playing games with the two girls, the necromancer had conjured shadowy tentacle-like appendages from the depths of his body to ensnare and squeeze the two wizards like melons ready to pop. Even Juvia's water body was unable to pass through, likely because of bane particles that made up Keyes' body.
"How tragic, two unloved maidens destined to descend into the underworld before their time," Keyes said mockingly. "Perhaps when I show your bodies to the ones that scorned you, they will realize the true depths of your anguish before you passed on." Evil laughter accompanied a wave of breath that smelled of rotting flesh and catacombs.
It was enough to make both of the girls feel sick and enraged at the same time. As she felt the rage stirring in her gut, Cana felt something else- a spark, a flicker of a flame that was just waiting to burst into a raging inferno. It just needed fuel, and the power that she so desperately needed would be within her grasp. What do I need to become like Gorun?!
"Even if… Son Gorun is a fool…" Juvia grunted, struggling to get enough air to speak. "He is… not… vindictive! He is… someone…! Who looks out… for those he loves!"
Begin Song: Battle of Deku (by Yuki Hayashi)
"But he turned the only love you could have known away from you," Keyes reminded them. "Why should you care what he thinks?" Even as he spoke, he absorbed Juvia into his body, as to keep her corpse fresh for later experimentation. The girl struggled viciously against this, but in the end, she was no match for him.
"Juvia!" Cana cried out.
"I'd be more worried about yourself right now, child," Keyes told her with a gruesome smile. "Now, I believe that we were discussing something along the lines of your inconsequential existence in comparison to your superior wizard?"
Cana's head felt like it was going to pop off of her shoulders, but she managed to grunt out, "Gorun's… a total… ass! But he… saved… my life! Because he… saw… something worth… preserving!" A gold magic circle began to flicker into existence beneath her feet, though she did not notice it.
Keyes frowned as he noticed the light, though, and he brought Cana's face a little closer to his, only to be alarmed when he noticed that her violet eyes had changed to rich green. "This is…"
"I hated him…" Cana groaned as she saw spots dancing in front of Keyes' face and her vision started to dim from the lack of oxygen. "But I… was wrong! He's a good… man! So… I'm gonna prove to him…! That I was worth… saving!" The magic circle blazed with a steady light now, and Cana's hair began to drift upwards as it alternated between gold and brown.
"No!" Keyes shouted suddenly, bringing his staff back to strike Cana in the head, and break her neck. "You will not- huh?!" He found that his limbs were no longer responding to his commands, and that his tentacles had stopped writhing as well. "What is this…?"
"You made a mistake, trying to absorb me into your body," Juvia's voice echoed from within his stomach. "By assimilating the water that contains my soul, you gave me control of your body… and I won't let you hurt my friend!"
"Juvia?" Cana grunted as she managed to gasp in a lungful of air, the tentacle gripping her throat loosening ever so slightly.
"Do it, Cana!" the water mage cried out. "Gorun trusted you to use his strength! Show him something beyond!"
The brunette smiled wolfishly as she felt new power flooding throughout her body with the return of air to her lungs and the resurgence of her resolve. "Okay…" she grunted. "Here goes…!" Heaving in another breath, she shouted to the sky, "Takeover: Saiyan Soul!"
Keyes' tentacles were incinerated with powerful ascension, and he recoiled from the harsh light generated by the rushing etherion. Cana remained hovering in the air where Keyes' had held her prisoner, a wolf's smile on her face as she raised her right arm toward the heavens. "This one's for Gorun, and for all my friends in Fairy Tail," she told him as the stars above them began to shine brighter than before. "Gather! O river of light, guided by fairies! Shine now, that I may vanquish the wicked!"
"What?!" Natsu grunted from where he lay nearby, recognizing the magic power that was gathering. "Isn't that the spell sealed at first master Mavis' grave?" He had seen the spell used once before, years ago in the battle with Grimoire Heart. Lucy had explained to him that Cana was only able to use it once as a borrowed spell from the grave of their founding master.
So how was she using it now?
"Where did you learn to wield such a complex spell?" Keyes demanded. "Only Makarov of Fairy Tail is recorded as being capable of casting the spell among your guild's number. Even he struggles to cast it!"
"I had a little help learning it a while back," Cana replied as she aimed her fist at her enemy. "The first master is nice like that."
"You wouldn't dare!" Keyes exclaimed. "I still hold your friend hostage! If you obliterate me, she will perish as well!"
"That's nice of you to be concerned about her, but you're wrong!" the card mage shot back with a wild look in her eyes. "Spells like Fairy Law and this one only affect anyone that the caster deems to be an enemy!" A ring of light materialized around the demon, trapping him in place as the despair of the situation finally began to dawn on him.
Desperate, he tried to play his last card. "Kill me, and the last Demon Gate, the man known as Silver Fullbuster will fade away with me!" he cried. "Your friend, this girl's beloved, will lose his father all over again if I am not alive to preserve his mind and body!"
Cana hesitated, but only for a second. "Gray's father died almost twenty years ago," she growled, rage planted by the power of the Super Saiyan blooming in her heart. "And how dare you try to use him as bargaining chip against us?!"
"His mind and body may remain, but his soul departed long ago!" Juvia added. "In your cruelty, you denied his bones a place to even rest properly! To let him continue as he is now would be an even greater cruelty on our part!" Keyes struggled against her control, but she held him stubbornly in place. "Do it!"
"No!"
"Fairy GLITTER!" Cana screamed, bearing down on the skeletal demon with the full force of the sun, moon, and stars, all amplified by the might of the Saiyan race.
Raykai, knowing that he would get nowhere with the beam battle, abandoned the contest and leaped skyward, over the demonic curse blast. Aiming straight for his enemy, he smashed his heel into the demon's shoulder, who retaliated by grabbing his leg and throwing him away after abandoning his own technique.
Mard Geer let out a roar that sounded reminiscent of both his own voice, and the wrath of a dragon on the hunt. His body transformed yet again, the red-blue crystal substance that coated his wings spreading across his body until his claws were sharper and his armor was harder than any diamond.
"That ain't good," Raykai muttered right before he socked the demon in the jaw with all of his might, only managing to make the demon angrier as he punted him up toward the stratosphere. In response, he conjured a crimson red magic circle behind himself and shouted, "Takeover, Fallen god Soul!" The utterance changed his appearance once again, shifting the gold parts of his body to the scarlet shade of saiyan divinity. His eyes became twin rubies that glittered with cold fury as the temperature around his body went from frigid to subzero in less than a millisecond.
When Mard Geer crashed into him from below, Raykai caught his fist and froze the limb on immediate contact. Smashing the ruined limb at the elbow, the fused warrior flew backwards to give himself room in anticipation of a retaliatory attack, which turned out to be a wise move on his part. While his limb began to regrow, Mard Geer unleashed another storm of thorny vines, which he managed to weave around long enough to conjure the magic circle needed to fire off another Hailstorm at the demon, which countered his vines and then pierced his body, drawing blood in multiple places.
When he wrapped his wings around his body to shield himself, Raykai kicked him back down toward the ground. They were so high up, though, that Mard had enough time to heal his wounds and get his feet under him in order to be ready for the fused fighter's next strike. Seeing this, Raykai decided to take a slightly different approach this time, flying around the sky at sonic speed in a random pattern, too fast for Mard Geer to predict where he should send his vines next, but just close enough that the demon didn't lose sight of him for more than a few seconds.
After what seemed like a solid minute of this, Raykai appeared in front of the demon with a vicious smile on his face. "Ice demon…!"
"No!" Mard spat, extending his claws to point at the boy and unleash a burst of white-black curse power.
"Soul Shield!" A thin sheet of blood-red ice appeared between the two of them, absorbing Mard's attack and then spitting it right back at him. The resulting blast knocked the Underworld King back a few steps while the mirror faded away, and Raykai laughed. "Nice, right? That spell lets me reflect any curses that you conjure back at you. I'd think twice about trying to throw any more of those at me."
Mard Geer was beside himself with fury, so much so that he could hardly think straight. "Then I'll rend you into a thousand bloody scraps with my claws!" he screamed in a strangled voice. "Begone, you loathsome creature!" Up above, the stars seemed to glitter with delight at the violent spectacle that they had been witnessing that evening.
"Nah," Raykai answered before he teleported in front of his enemy and started pummeling him at a breakneck pace, forcing him back mile by mile. Seeing the demon's inability to fight back, he laughed again and asked, "What's the matter? I thought you Etherious were supposed to be the ultimate lifeforms, the incarnation of Zeref's wrath! But you can't even keep up with me, can you?!"
Kicking out at the demon's leader so that his body was planted firmly in a boulder, Raykai extended his open hands out in front of him and shouted, "This is it! Super Slayer Secret Art!" Clenching his fists and letting the divine energies flow freely, he roared, "Ice Demon HELLZONE GRENADE!"
Mard Geer looked up as he sensed a monstrous magical presence descending upon him, and at first, he did not understand what he was seeing. It seemed as though the stars were now glowing brighter, almost as if they were coming closer to-
"No…"
What he had first taken to be glittering stars were actually thousands of miniaturized magic circles that were now spamming razor-sharp projectiles made up of divine demon-slaying magic. Before he could even scream, he was buried by a multitude of these shards, the first few hundred breaking against his body as the power of the Dragon Cry shielded him from harm, but the reserves of magic were running low, having spent many hours constantly protecting and regenerating the body of the Underworld King. The godly ice magic finally proved to be too much for the wards to handle, and Mard Geer died before he could even cry out for Zeref to come and save him.
Raykai waited for several silent moments, tense from the anticipation of yet another trick from the resourceful demon. But as the seconds crawled by, and he sensed nothing in the way of magic or cursed energy, he slowly let out a long breath that released frost into the air in front of him. "And stay down," he muttered as he released his transformation.
It was a solid ten minutes before he appeared in front of Sting and Rogue, who were initially startled by his presence, but soon calmed down when they realized who he was. "I'm glad to see that you both made it out alive," he told them once both parties had been caught up to speed. "Are either of you wounded?" He had reverted to his base form, as he did not wish to freeze anyone that came close to him by accident.
"Nothing permanent," Rogue answered.
"Hey man, I gotta ask, where's the vest and baggy pants?" Sting asked as he looked Raykai up and down with a puzzled air about him.
"Different fusion technique," the icy saiyan replied. "Yes, it's more powerful than the one I taught you, and no, I'm not telling you how it works. Be happy with the Metamoran method I taught you, and leave it at that."
"Buzzkill," Sting grumbled, but he objected no further.
"How are the others?" Rogue asked their friend.
"Don't know yet," Raykai answered as he reached for Gorun's scouter. "Gimme a sec." Tapping the com button, he waited for a few seconds before he got ahold of another device and said, "This is Kaidon and Fullbuster, checking in. Who's still alive?"
"I've still got Rachel's scouter," Wendy replied almost immediately. "The exceeds are all here, as well as Erza. We're safe, and Kyoka was… defeated by Erza. We'll rejoin you all soon, once we find out where the rest of our guild went." As she cut the connection, Raykai realized that most of their guild members, the Strauss siblings and Éclair included, were still missing.
"So you did use the potara," Azura answered next, sounding winded. "We're all alive, some more than others. I've got some good news and bad news for Kaidon, though."
Raykai stiffened in place at the ominous tones in her voice, but he asked in a perfectly level manner, "What happened?"
"Kinana got blasted by Jackal," Azura told him quickly. "That's the bad news. The good news is, that ring he made her works. We thought we might have lost her for a minute, but her body is mending itself, slowly but surely."
Raykai breathed out a large sigh of relief before he muttered, "Good to know, I guess. At least tell me you got the bastard that did this."
"Yeah, that part's gonna be tough to explain…" Azura said hesitantly, which struck Raykai as very odd. Azura never sounded uncertain, no matter what the situation.
"Did you not get him?" he asked a little more harshly than he meant to. It was Gray's cool head that was keeping Gorun's traits from sending Raykai blasting off to find his future wife.
"Oh, we got him all right," Azura muttered. "It's who got him and how she did it that's gonna be hard to wrap your head around."
"Will you quit talking in riddles and just tell me?!" Raykai demanded.
"No," Azura said, making a vein pop out on the fused wizard's forehead. "I don't know the whole thing myself, but I heard enough from Rachel to know that this is going to be one interesting conversation for Kaidon. Look, don't come over until you've diffused- this is something that my cousin needs to hear for himself, without anyone else around." Something in her tone told both parts of Raykai's identity that he should drop the subject for now.
"This had better be worth it," he grumbled. "Fine, if we're going to play it like that, at least tell me that we got the blood we needed to cure the Thunder Legion."
"Salamander and Blacksteel saw to that," Azura confirmed. "Cana is already flying back to the guild hall to deliver the sample to that healer. She nailed Super Saiyan, by the way."
"She did?"
"It didn't last her for very long, but with some training, you might have yourself a pretty decent wizard among our numbers," Azura replied. "Now, while we're waiting for your fusion to time out, start evacuations for our comrades. There's no telling how many of them were wounded with all of us gods and devils making war in these mountains."
"We'll help," Sting offered as Azura cut the connection.
"I appreciate it," Raykai nodded. "By the way, where are your exceeds? I thought that you never travel anywhere without them?"
Rogue and his partner gave each other a flat stare before the shadow wizard answered, "They tried to copy us when we fused without our knowing, but they got it wrong."
Raykai doubled over laughing for a good few seconds before he managed to get out, "Fat or skeleton?"
"Fat," Sting sighed. "We told 'em not to try it, but Lector's pretty stubborn when he wants something."
"And Frosch wasn't exactly taking it seriously, or so the fusion told us," Rogue added. "Since he was too heavy to even fly properly, we had to leave them behind."
"That's hilarious," Raykai chuckled, holding his bruised sides in a futile attempt to avoid hurting himself in the midst of his merriment.
"Yeah, yeah, real funny," Sting muttered. Standing up from where he had been sitting, he reached for something that he had stashed among the rubble, and retrieved a thick book, one that Raykai immediately recognized as the battered tome that Mard Geer had been carrying around. "Before I forget, we found this after we offed Jiemma. I didn't really know what it was, but I figured that you might."
"That's…" Raykai's eyes widened as he saw the lettering on the spine, and he snatched the book away from Sting faster than they could blink, startling the dragons slayers as he gripped the binding so tightly, one would almost think that he was trying to crush it. "E.N.D." he breathed in a low voice. "Silver… Gray's father dedicated his life to killing the demon sealed away in these pages. Now that he's gone, that burden passes on to his son."
"Wait, that thing holds a demon?" Sting asked, surprised. He and Rogue had suspected as much, but… "Why is this one so special?"
"It's Zeref's most powerful creation," Raykai answered. "Supposedly, it's the only thing in existence with enough power to kill its master. The issue facing Tartaros, and now us, is that it's completely invulnerable to magic of any kind. Just by looking at the thing with Gorun's scouter, I can tell that even I wouldn't be able to break it."
"Seriously?" Rogue asked, sounding stunned. "I just saw your battle with Mard Geer- even from afar, I could tell that you hold enough power in your body wipe out the world in its entirety."
"Wrong," Raykai said as he looked up from the tome to meet the shadow wizard's gaze. "With power like mine, a slip of my concentration could obliterate an entire constellation from the sky." His claim shocked his friends, but this came as no surprise to him. So he elaborated, "That's the reason that fusions like me don't unleash my full power right off the bat- I have to get used to each new level of strength before I can ascend again without risking the accidental destruction of a continent, or even a planet. As Fang, you know well that a secret art cast without precise control could obliterate a country."
"You make it sound like we could take out Acnologia," Sting said with a cocky grin.
That smile faded when Raykai said, "I doubt that. Based on tales that I've heard of his strength, he could lay waste to the entire world in a day, if it so pleased him. The only reason that you all live is because of his mercy, such as it is."
"You really believe him to be that powerful?" Rogue asked, appearing thoroughly unsettled.
"The joined warrior speaks the truth," a new voice said, coming from the group's collective left. Even as they turned to see who was speaking, the book in Raykai's hand vanished, only to reappear in the hands of a newcomer. "Hello, everyone," said a young man with raven hair and eyes. "Thank you for taking care of my book- it's precious to me."
"Your book?" Raykai asked, his eyes going wide as he realized who was standing before them, dressed in black robes with a white sash. "Zeref."
"Holy crap," Sting cursed as he and Rogue took up fighting stances next to Raykai. "That's the Black Wizard?"
"He certainly gives off an unsettling air," Rogue said grimly. "Exhausted as we all are, I don't like our chances."
"Don't worry about me," Zeref said with a charming smile. "I'm not actually here to fight- this time. If you survive the oncoming calamity, though…" His expression took on a sinister air as he added, "Don't expect any mercy from me the next time we meet."
"Why the goodwill now, though?" Raykai demanded, his eyes flicking down toward the book as he wondered if he was fast enough to take it from the cursed wizard without triggering the death curse of Ankhseram. Privately, he thought, If I was still in my god form, it would be a snap, but there's no way I can transform without him knowing that I'm about to make a move.
"You did me a favor by disposing of a failed creation of mine," Zeref shrugged as he glanced at the frozen tundra that had killed Mard Geer. "One good turn deserves another, or so I've heard. Personally, I've never believed in the goodness of mankind."
"Then why exercise it now?" Raykai asked sharply, still trying to gauge his chances of success.
"I don't really know," Zeref confessed. "Perhaps it is a fleeting madness on my part. But if you really wish, I could kill you all now. It wouldn't be difficult for me, even for this strange warrior that wields divine magic. Just like the higher powers that cursed me…" His eyes flared red as he aimed a hand at Raykai, muttering, "Yes, just like the one that inflicted this horrible existence upon me… One of you must pay for the crimes of the gods…" Before he could cast any magic, he doubled over and clutched at his head, as if he were in agony. "No…" he groaned. "It's not yet time…" Without another word, he vanished, just before Raykai's hand could close around the binding of the demon's tome, the fused wizard having moved just a hair too late.
Raykai swore explosively when he realized that he had failed, and he kicked at a nearby boulder that splintered from the casual strike. "This blows!" he seethed. "Just when I had Silver's wish in my hands!"
"Dude, that was Zeref," Sting said in a placating manner. "He can kill anyone with a look, if the legends are true. We're lucky he didn't turn us into ash right then and there!"
"I don't want luck, I want that book back!" Raykai seethed. Even so, he knew that wouldn't happen just by wishing for it, so he muttered, "Let's start looking for the others. To himself, he added, "What I wouldn't give for a set of dragon balls right now…"
Over the course of the next hour, Raykai and the twin dragons worked to find all the missing members of Fairy Tail, and take them home in turns. The fusion tried on a few different occasions to go see Azura's group, but she always insisted on him turning away until he had become two people once again. This continued for some time, but eventually, the fusion was out of patience.
He confronted Gorun's cousin on the rubble mound that overlooked the place where Natsu and the others were resting, saying, "Look, as far as we know, this might be a permanent thing! It's been an hour, now let me through!" He had tried to remove the earrings in order to separate them, to no effect.
"And I'm telling you, only Kaidon should be around for this!" Azura said stubbornly. "This isn't any of Fullbuster's business unless my cousin says so of his own individual will!"
"Azura, I swear to Shenro-!"
There was a rush of wind, a flair of light, and Gorun and Gray stood separate once more, both of them scowling. Azura smirked at the two of them before saying, "See? A little patience next time might be in order."
"Oh yeah, patience is a great virtue to have after you tell me that my fiancée is lying in a mini-coma!" Gorun said angrily as he stormed past his cousin. "Way to be a real family member, Genora!"
As he went by, Gray kept his frown fixed on Azura as he muttered, "You should've let us through. I'm set to be his best man at the wedding- he trusts me."
"I know that, but would you have let anyone else help you in the battle against your father?" Azura asked him pointedly. Raykai had filled them in on what happened between Gray and Silver after they had disappeared over the scouter.
The ice wizard's jaw clenched, but he said nothing in the way of a rebuttal.
"Thought so," Azura nodded. "Trust me, this isn't something that Kaidon is going to want an audience for."
Gorun leaped over a few more piles of rubble before he found Kinana, unconscious and lying next to Rachel, who was looking down at the young woman with a great concern. "You're here?" he asked as he walked up to the pair, startling the smaller girl.
"Y-Yes," she said nervously as he came to sit by his future wife. "I just woke up a few minutes ago." When he had asked earlier about why Kinana and Rachel had not been given senzu beans, Azura explained that they only had three of the original ones left, and that they should be saved for emergencies.
Gorun nodded as he gripped Kinana's hand, sensing for her life force, and sighing with relief when he found it to be steady and slowly growing, indicating that her body was on the mend. Her frame was bandaged with bloody wraps in some places, and he could see bruises dotting her skin, but she did not appear to be in mortal danger. Turning to Rachel, he said, "I heard that you were the one that killed Jackal."
"I was," she said as she avoided his eyes, squirming uncomfortably in place.
Her attitude puzzled him- when they had first met, she seemed friendly and open. Later on, during the battle with Tartaros, she had portrayed herself as strong and confident. Now he saw none of that self-assurance, and it was as though his very presence frightened her for some reason that he couldn't fathom.
Frowning a little, he told her, "I just wanted to say 'thanks'."
"For what?" she asked him, her eyes still fixed on Kinana's pale face.
"A few things," he told her. "Stopping Elfman from blowing up our guild hall, helping Wendy defeat a Demon Gate and stopping the initial Face bomb, killing Jackal, and just helping us all in general."
"You're welcome," she said shyly. "I was glad to do it."
"I do have some questions, though," he told her.
Rachel took in a deep, shuddering breath, and then released it as she turned her face to meet his gaze directly. "I know," she said in a small voice. "I'm ready to answer."
"Okay," he said as he marshalled his thoughts. "Are you a Time Patroller?"
"No," she said with a shake of her head.
"But you're a time traveler?"
"Yes."
"Why?" This time his voice was a little sharper, and she flinched at the change in tone.
"Because I come from the end of time in Universe 17," she answered softly. "Because my parents sent me away to make a better life for myself."
His eyes widened in surprise, and he nearly forgot his next question. "The end of-? How far in the future do you come from?"
Begin Song: Might*U (by Yuki Hayashi)
"Some billions of years," she answered with a small shrug. "Honestly, I don't know exactly how long lies between now and the end of time. I avoided tripping the alert of the Time Patrol when I came back by wearing this." She held up her right hand, which bore the time ring that Kinana had noticed before. "This and my potara earrings were both made by Super Shenron to be the perfect design. The earrings work until my fusions will it otherwise, and the ring allows me to travel forwards or backwards in time without creating new branches in the timeline. Since it's similar to the rings that the Supreme Kais use, Conton City doesn't know about it. And any changes that I make in the past don't affect me as long as I keep it on me."
Gorun, despite his history in the Time Patrol, had no choice but to be impressed by the girl's parents. They definitely went through a lot of trouble to save their daughter, he thought as he pondered his next inquiry.
When he was ready, he asked, "Why did you come to help us?"
"My mother gave me the chance to do so," she answered. "If I didn't, approximately one year from now, Earthland would be erased from the galaxy."
Gorun's eyes widened, and if he had been standing, he would have surely fallen backwards from the shock. "The planet-?! Why?! What happened?"
"I think it'll save time if I just tell you the whole story," Rachel said as she shifted to get a little more comfortable on the rocky ground. "One year from now, Beerus the Destroyer will return to visit Fairy Tail in search of a candidate for a new god of destruction- not as a successor for him, though. When the six additional universes were inadvertently brought back by Android 17's wish, their kais and destroyers remained in oblivion, as Zeno had destroyed them all separately from the universes themselves. So to maintain balance in the restored dimensions, the two Zenos decided to have the current gods of destruction and creation seek out and train worthy candidates to manage them."
"Let me guess," Gorun said dryly. "Beerus came and wanted me to do the job."
"Your mixed heritage made you the best candidate, in his mind," Rachel nodded. "You refused initially, but after he threatened to destroy Fairy Tail, you relented and agreed to undergo the training. The angel of this universe, Burbon, trained you in an advanced Hyperbolic Time Chamber for an unknown length of time. All I know is that when you emerged, you were a fully realized Destroyer. Even so, you never forgot your friends in Fairy Tail, for whom only a week had passed.
"While you were reuniting with Kinana, who you had already married, Beerus appeared to oversee your final test." She paused before asking, "Do you know what the final test for a god of destruction is?" When he shook his head in the negative, she answered her own question by saying, "They have to erase the world that they call home, in order to prove that they will destroy without bias."
Gorun's eyes widened again, and he felt sick to his stomach. "Don't tell me I-"
"You didn't," Rachel said with a negative shake of her head. "Beerus did." When all Gorun could do was stare at her in silence, she explained, "He got impatient with you, and so he obliterated Earthland so that you would have nothing to hold you back from being this universe's Destroyer."
Gorun's horror quickly turned to rage as he grit his teeth and clenched his fist. "He would," he growled. "Damn that scrawny cat, he would."
"You weren't entirely alone, though," Rachel told him. "You managed to save your wife, and thanks to the ring that you had given her, she was able to live throughout the eons alongside you. But in all that time, neither of you forgave Beerus, nor did you never forget your home."
"I'm assuming that somehow I planned to get my revenge on him?" Gorun muttered as he stared down at his hands, missing the worried look that took over Rachel's face once again.
"In a way," she said in a slightly trembling voice. "You and your wife planned carefully for billions of years on how you might avenge your friends, but you never had the chance to fight Beerus head-on, as conflict between the Destroyers is strictly prohibited unless it's in the Null Realm, and Beerus wasn't foolish enough to go there with you." Taking in another shaky breath, she said, "So you hatched another plan. If you couldn't avenge your friends, you would go back in time to prevent Beerus from ever coercing your younger self into becoming a Destroyer, and if necessary, kill him."
"Wait a minute," Gorun said, his eyes going wide again as he looked at Rachel, who squirmed in her seat under his scrutiny. However, what he said next completely threw her off. "Did I convince your parents to let me train you, solely to kill Beerus? That's messed up!"
"What? No!" the girl said, a little red in the face. "That's not it at all!"
"Then why are you here?"
"Because mom sent me here!" Rachel cried as she pointed a stiff finger at Kinana.
The implications of that statement took some time to sink in for Gorun, and when they did, he went pale as a sheet as he realized who was sitting in front of him. "Y-You're my… Our…?" He clutched at his long hair in distress as he sputtered, "But I- Why would I-? My own child?"
"When mom got pregnant with me, you knew that the end of time was approaching," Rachel said in a subdued, dull voice. "So you did the only thing that you could think of to keep me safe. Mom gave birth to me in your Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and raised me there, training me to use my powers from the time that I was an infant. Because of my kai genetics, and the effects of the chamber, I think, I grew up very slowly."
"You were- How old?"
"We were in there for something like twelve thousand years," Rachel replied, causing Gorun to visibly flinch. "Mom taught me everything that she could about ki, divine ki, and lastly, temporal and god of destruction magic." The Saiyan boy blinked in surprise at the last part, so the girl added, "She basically taught me anything that she could to ensure my survival once I got back here, just in case I was ever discovered by a Time Patroller or deity."
"Y-You know Destroyer magic?"
Rachel nodded once, slowly. "I can't sustain it for more than a few seconds, but yes. I'm the goddess of destruction that you would have sensed before."
That explains those strange energy signatures that I felt earlier, Gorun mused to himself. Out loud, he could barely make himself say, "So I… didn't… send you back in time to fight Beerus?"
"Not really," Rachel said with a negative shake of her head. "The items that you were saving to use against Beerus were given to me by Mom, so that I could escape to the past, whenever and wherever I wanted."
"So you chose to come here?" Gorun asked, feeling a little relief at the fact that he hadn't more or less sent his daughter on a suicide mission.
"Yes," Rachel nodded firmly. "Mom always talked about Fairy Tail, and how happy you both were there… I wanted to see it for myself, and if possible, to preserve it for the sake of your happiness."
"For us?"
Rachel nodded, tears glistening in her eyes as her voice became shaky again. "I hardly ever saw Mom smile, and… in every picture that I ever saw, you always looked so sad… I never saw you smile, not once. Actually…" As the first tears fell from her eyes she sniffled, "Up until that day in Magnolia… the day that we… I had never seen you in person."
Gorun was speechless. Twelve thousand years, and I never thought to visit her?! I wasn't there for her?
As if she could hear what he was thinking, she wiped at her eyes and said, "You sent Mom and me into the chamber the same hour that the universe died. What was millennia for us would have only been minutes for you."
"But that day, in the street…" he stuttered. "That was the first time…"
"That we ever stood face-to-face?" Rachel finished for him as the tears spilled from her eyes anew. "Yes." Her shoulders began to shake as she said, "It was all I could do… once I realized who you were… to keep a straight face. My whole life, I wanted to meet you. But Mom warned me that if I did come back, I… I couldn't tell you who I was until after the battle with Tartaros was over! You needed to be able to fight them without me distracting you! But at the same time, I wanted to be close to the both of you, so I…!"
"That's why you were at Fairy Tail so often," Gorun said numbly as Rachel began to cry into her hands. "You were just trying to spend time with Kinana and me." Despite the claim she put on her age, he realized that she was still a child at heart.
"I know you probably don't feel anything for me," Rachel sobbed. "You haven't even married Mom yet, and you haven't even thought about having children, either. But now I come along and-!"
Rachel let out a gasp as Gorun moved swiftly to pull her into a strong embrace, where she could cry into his shoulder, her tears mixing with the blood from his injuries, but neither of them cared about that. "You came all this way, just to see your father?" he asked her quietly. "To help him fight a battle that you didn't have to risk your life in? Don't you dare say that I feel nothing for you, because if nothing else, you are Kinana and my child, and I am so proud of you, for doing what you have done." As she began to cry harder, he smiled just a little bit and added, "Doesn't mean that this whole thing won't be a little strange, but if you're here to stay, then Kinana and I will gladly spend all the time with you that you want. After all- it sounds as though we have until the end of existence."
Despite the laughter in his throat, and the surge of inexplicable affection that he felt for this poor child from the future, another emotion stirred in his heart at that moment: rage. Right then and there, he swore that he would do whatever was necessary to thwart Beerus when he came to ruin the peace that he had worked to keep on Earthland. I'll make a future where she can live in peace, he vowed.
"Welcome home, Rachel." Both Saiyans turned to look at Kinana, who was smiling weakly at the both of them from where she lay.
"Momma?" Rachel gasped.
"You're awake?" Gorun asked her as they moved to check on the wounded girl. "How long-?"
"I heard her story," Kinana said softly as she looked straight at Rachel, who was trembling from raw emotion. "You have your father's nose," she giggled.
Looking at the girl with a renewed perspective, Gorun smiled a little bit and said, "She's got your hairstyle, but her eyes are from her great-grandfather."
Rachel touched her face just underneath her eyelids and moved her lips without making any sound a few times before she said, "I never knew that- why I had blue eyes, since you and Mom don't have them."
"Trunks?" Kinana asked Gorun, who nodded in affirmation.
Then his smile widened and he gripped Kinana's hand more firmly, and he said, "We have a daughter, Kinana." Turning his smile toward the Saiyan girl, he added, "And she's as pretty as her mom."
Rachel flushed with embarrassment, smiled, and then hugged her father again, even tighter than before. "Thank you, Papa," she squeaked out. After a moment of a tearful embrace, Kinana managed to sit up and add herself to the family reunion, by which time there were no dry eyes among them.
"She's their kid?!" Lucy yelped while everyone else just stared at Azura like she had just grown a tail like her cousin. Yukino and her had split once they realized that the danger was past, and that Lucino was no longer needed.
"A little louder, why don't you?" Azura snapped, causing the blond girl to flinch. She had just finished explaining the situation- as far as she understood it- to the rest of the gathered wizards. When Rachel had gone ballistic in her Destroyer form, Azura was the only one that had really paid any attention to the girl's shouts. As far as the others were concerned, her screams were just more background noise amid the already-loud battle that had raged around them. Having been accustomed to shouting amidst life-and-death battles since she was nine years old, Azura tended to pick up on more details than even accomplished wizards like Erza would have caught on to.
"This is a lot to process," Yukino murmured. "Like, how do they have a kid the same age as Wendy and Romeo?"
"Time travel, at a guess," Azura shrugged.
Gajeel eyed her suspiciously before saying, "If that's the case, how come you and Gorun ain't freakin' out about it?"
"You guys are usually way more uptight about this kinda stuff," Natsu agreed.
Azura pursed her lips before she said in a thin voice, "I'm not a Time Patroller anymore, so it's not my business, really. Whatever else there is to this mystery, we'll have to wait and see what Kaidon's family says about it." There was an awkward pause that followed her statement, as everyone was naturally curious to know more about Rachel and what her presence meant for all of them- after all, the last time that they had met a time traveler, the city had been invaded by dragons.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm totally beat," Gray finally said as he stretched his stiff muscles. "I'm gonna head back to the guild hall and see how Laxus and the others are doing. Anyone else coming?"
"Me," Lucy grunted as she got to her feet.
"Same," Romeo added while he followed suit. One by one, the exhausted wizards forced themselves to their feet and started staggering toward Magnolia, looking forward to a period of rest after all of the fighting.
That's when a roar boomed across the night sky. Everyone that heard it froze in place at the sound of death approaching, and the members of the guild that had fought on Tenrou Island trembled with fear. It was the wild shriek of the wild monsters from the night, the hiss of serpents, and the thunder that shook the earth all intertwined into one terrible noise.
"No way…" Gajeel breathed as he looked back toward the moonlit horizon.
"Man, I wish my ears were lyin'," Natsu grimaced.
"What is that noise?!" Romeo asked as the sound blasted across the country again.
"Only one thing roars that loud, and I'd hoped that we'd never see it again," Gray said with gritted teeth.
"We're so dead!" Lucy cried.
"What is that?!" Azura growled, her hands clapped protectively over her sensitive ears. "Feels like my eardrums are gonna explode!"
"That's the dragon of the apocalypse!" Gajeel shouted to be heard over the noise. "It's Acnologia!"
Amid the horrible roar, Gorun and Rachel were huddled over Kinana protectively, fearing an oncoming enemy attack. "Any idea what this is?" Gorun asked his daughter, who immediately nodded.
"It's the black dragon, Acnologia!" she shouted in order to be heard. "He came because he sensed the dragons that Wendy conjured, but since they're gone, he's come for the dragon slayers!"
"Any idea of what we should do?!" Kinana grunted, her wounds flaring painfully.
"I can drive him off, but there's something I need to do, first!" Rachel said as she made Gorun back away from her and Kinana. "I'll be back in a minute, see if there's any senzu beans left!" With that, the two of them were gone.
"Wha-?! Seriously?!" he shouted at the sky. All right, I'm gonna kill that stupid dragon for ruining that moment!
"Kaidon!" He turned around to see Azura landing next to him, a familiar satchel in hand. "Where's the kid?"
"She's taking Kinana somewhere safe," he answered as he held out his hand. "How many left?"
"Three," she muttered as she pulled out the green beans. "Lucky us."
"It'd be luckier if we could use some on our dragon slayer friends, get a couple of fusions going," Gorun replied as he took one of the morsels and swallowed it, feeling his power return and his wounds wash away. "Oh well." Now that he was sensing for it, he could feel an outrageously strong magical presence heading their way at a frightening speed.
Azura nodded and swallowed her own piece, then asked, "So, how did it go?"
"With Rachel?"
"Yes."
"Did you know?"
"It was kind of hard not to figure it out when she pulled a Vegeta and beat the ever-living daylights out of the demon that hurt her mother," Azura shrugged. "Mazel tov."
"Would it have killed you to-?!"
"Attention, all allies of Igneel!" Rachel's voice in their heads startled the two of them enough that they stopped arguing. "The time draws near, but do not act just yet! Conceal the dragon soul for this battle, and allow me time to explain further when the fight is over! As a time-walker, I give you my word that I will drive him away today, for we will need your strength at a later date! For the sake of your children, I urge you to wait!"
"Was that Warren's magic?" Gorun wondered aloud as they felt the connection sever.
"Forget that, what was she talking about?" Azura asked with a frown. "Who is Igneel?"
"Natsu's foster father," her cousin answered as he uncoiled his tail from around his waist in preparation to absorb blutz waves from the moon. "He's the Fire Dragon King, but I have no idea what he has to do with any of this."
Before Azura could voice her thoughts, Rachel reappeared in front of them, looking tired. "I'll explain that whole thing later, I promise. Right now, we've got about thirty seconds before Acnologia shows up to blow us all to kingdom come."
"Last one," Gorun said as Azura tossed her the senzu bean. "Let's make it count."
"Thanks, Papa."
Grinning at his daughter as she took the last magic bean, he caught the stink eye that Azura was giving him, and he gave her an exasperated look. "What?" he asked. "I'm allowed."
"You're going to be even more insufferable than before, aren't you?"
"Up yours, Genora."
"Papa, Auntie Azura, we don't have time for this," Rachel said as she uncoiled her own dark tail from around her waist and gazed up at the moon. "He's almost here." As if to punctuate her statement, Acnologia roared again, sounding much closer this time.
"That damn noise is really pissing me off," Gorun growled.
Azura, on the other, hardly seemed to notice the oncoming dragon, and was instead staring at Rachel with a blank look. "Did you just call me-?"
"Heads up!" Gorun shouted as he pointed at the sky, where an entire section of the stars had suddenly gone dark. As Azura followed his finger, they beheld a dragon of titanic proportions. His underbelly was white like dried bones, but the rest of him was pitch-black with blue, swirling patterns decorating his natural armor.
"Anyone want the first shot?" Gorun asked as magic circles were conjured above all three of them.
"Shut it, Kaidon, we all know we need to work together," Azura growled as she prepared to tap into her goddess form. "Don't rub salt in the wound."
"Ha! If I did that, I wouldn't be paying you back for all the familial love that you've given me!" he shot back.
"Are you two always like this?" Rachel asked them worriedly.
"Yes."
"Oh, jeez…"
Begin Song: Find Your Sword in this Land (by Yuki Kajiura)
"Don't worry about it," Gorun smiled brightly as he gazed up at the moon once more. "Let's get this show on the road. Takeover: Primal Saiyan Soul!" This time, instead of going through the process of shifting from one Oozaru form to another, his body instantly morphed into the shape required to sustain the power of Super Saiyan 4.
"Takeover: Saiyan god Soul!" Azura shouted, her hair and eyes blazing with crimson light. While not as powerful as the Super Saiyan variation that Gorun was utilizing, it was still her best form to use for the occasion. With the transformation's healing abilities, it also increased her chances of survival against the monster.
"Takeover: Primal Saiyan Soul!" Rachel shouted. Concentrated moonlight obscured her for a moment, but when it was gone, her body had aged so that she appeared to be nearly as old as her father. Like him, her clothes were a mix of grey and purple, and the fur was blood-red, but she was more slender than his transformation made his body. Also, unlike his torso, which was completely bared, she was clothed with bindings similar to Erza's Clear Heart outfit.
"Alright, let's stop dawdling," Azura declared as she took to the air, both of her comrades flying after her. "I call his head!"
"Genora, no!"
"Genora, YES!"
The instant that they got close to him, Acnologia opened his maw, where pale blue light shone from between his powerful teeth. Instead of trying to counter the oncoming breath attack, the three Saiyans shot up past his face before reversing their trajectories in order to deliver a triple axe kick to the back of his head.
Much to their alarm, the monster hardly budged, except to look back up at them with a white eye and a low, rumbling growl that was far more ominous than his roars had been.
"Scatter," Gorun muttered. The three of them shot off in different directions before Acnologia could disembowel them with a blindingly fast swipe from his claws. "Shoulda gone for his stomach!"
"Oh right, like it's my fault that he didn't die from one hit!" Azura shouted angrily.
"Look out, wing attack!" Rachel warned them.
Sure enough, Acnologia flapped his wings mightily, sending blue magic blasts in every direction, forcing the three of them to scatter even further. Gorun scowled angrily when he saw this- the longer that they were separated, the better chance that Acnologia had to pick them off one by one, not to mention that their friends could get caught up in the crossfire. They needed to end this, and fast.
Jamming his fingers at his forehead, he teleported to be next to Azura, followed a second later by Rachel. "Let's go, Genora!"
"We're way ahead of you!" Azura shouted as they beat a hasty retreat, hoping to lead Acnologia further away from Magnolia, and their friends. Fortunately- or unfortunately- for them, he took the bait and gave chase. Even so, they were all faster than him, and they managed to put a few miles between themselves and him before they all stopped in place and turned around to face the oncoming dragon, all of them taking different stances as magic circles shone in front of them. Gorun held both hands in front of him, while Rachel held up both of hers' by her head, and Azura kept hers' by her ribcage.
"Final…!"
"Gallick…!"
"Kamehame…!"
"HAAAA!"
The three beams, yellow, purple, and blue, all shot away from them and merged into one massive blast that was big enough to swallow Acnologia whole. So it was to their surprise and dismay that he powered straight the beam without even slowing down and scattered them like windblown leaves.
Of the three of them, Rachel had managed to dodge the best, so she was relatively unhurt. In comparison, Gorun and Azura had both suffered severe lacerations on their legs and stomachs in addition to who-knew-how-many broken bones. The sudden pain and mental backlash from being overpowered so easily caused them both to revert to their base forms, and now neither of them were in shape to continue. Unfortunately, it was highly unlikely that Acnologia was going to give them a choice in the matter.
Already he was circling back around with his jaws open wide, probably to eat them. In a panic, Rachel did the only thing that she could think of. "Papa, Azura, give me all of your energy, right now!" she cried.
Neither of the Saiyans hesitated to obey- they both knew that whatever Rachel was planning would be more effective than anything that they could manage in their pathetic states. Two orbs of pure etherion immediately passed from them into Gorun's daughter, and a purple magic circle appeared over her head. In a flash of violet light, she transformed again, taking on her Destroyer form in order to face Acnologia in a last-ditch effort to keep everyone safe.
As Azura and Gorun fell toward the earth, Rachel shot toward Acnologia like a purple comet, even as the dragon readied a breath attack that would obliterate her from existence. With narrow eyes and the powers of her family rushing through her blood, the girl grit her teeth before she suddenly changed directions, avoiding Acnologia's attack at the last possible nanosecond, sending the beam off to crash somewhere in the ocean.
Hope that doesn't come back to bite us later, Rachel thought as she shot up toward the dragon, who was turning in midair to swipe at her with his left leg in a backhanded motion. Here goes!
Mustering every ounce of divine energy stored up in her body at that moment, she conjured a house-sized orb of Destroyer magic and hit Acnologia's leg with it. "HAKAI!" The black dragon roared his defiance as he felt the magic crash into his leg, threatening to eat away at his existence.
They shoved back and forth for five seconds that seemed to last a lifetime before they both broke off the contact. Rachel fell back toward the earth, her body no longer able to sustain the power that she had summoned. Acnologia roared in fury as his foreleg was slowly disintegrated, until he gripped at his shoulder with the other leg and tore the limb out of its socket, casting it away from himself to prevent the spread of the destruction being done to his body.
The limb was erased from existence before it struck the ground, and the black dragon was flying off into the night sky, still bellowing his anger and confusion as he departed. Rachel, seeing this before she lost consciousness, closed her eyes and smiled peacefully. I saved Papa and Momma, she thought contentedly. And all their friends, too…
Mataras: Well...? What'd you think?
Rachel: How is it that Destroyer wasn't able to obliterate Acnologia?
Mataras: There will be a very clear and concise explanation for that next chapter, promise.
Gorun: I... still have questions.
Mataras: Yeah, I kinda figured you would. That's why we'll have an epilogue! ...And a couple of filler chapters after that, just so people have time to process-
Azura: You're stalling!
Mataras: My laptop committed suicide this week, sue me! I've got a new one coming in soon, and the next chapter will be coming out at the beginning of May, scheduled!
Rachel: You can't catch a break, can you? And on top of that, you're starting a new story? ...Again?
Mataras: Hey, you get to be judgmental until you've had more screen time.
Gorun: We're all judging you.
Mataras: Fair enough, so I'll just say that I really, really like My Hero Academia, and I wanted to have some fun with it. That, and the whole COVID thing has left me with a fair amount of free time. Also, Mineta needs to not be there, so...
Azura: Okay, that's acceptable.
Gorun: Agreed.
Rachel: I concur.
Mataras: I knew I liked you. Mind sending our readers off?
Rachel: Next time on Saiyan Tail- Our Guild
Azura: Isn't this the part where the guild dissolves for a year?
Gorun: Not if I have anything to say about it!
Next time on Saiyan Tail...
Gorun, having just completed his report of what had gone down during the battle against Tartaros- including the revelation that Rachel was his and Kinana's daughter from a ruinous future- was stunned and hurt to learn that the guild master intended to sever the bonds that held their family together. So it was that the new Wizard Saint set his jaw and said, "Forgive me, Master, but I can't just accept that you want to disband our guild, just like that. Especially when we should be celebrating together."
"Celebrate what, exactly?" Makarov asked sternly. "The fact that the entire council is dead? That a dark guild nearly obliterated our town just to get to us? That we only just managed to stave off the very forces that we sought to challenge?!"
"How about the fact that we did triumph, in spite of the odds stacked against us?" Gorun shot back. "That despite all the awful things that Tartaros has done, we were victorious in the light? Is a win against evil not worthy of celebration?"
"It is, Gorun, but the truth of the matter is that together, we have made too many enemies to keep each other safe any longer," Makarov answered tiredly. "I cannot, in good conscience, keep my children together when I know that it will only lead to them being targeted again. The name Fairy Tail must disappear if its members are to be spared the wrath of those that bear a grudge against them."
"I refuse to accept that," Gorun said stubbornly. Indicating Rachel, he added, "I will not reward my daughter's quest to see the Fairy Tail that the others and I worked so hard to defend with a hollow victory. She came to find her mother, me, and our entire family, when she could have gone anywhere else in all of creation. And I didn't shed every ounce of blood and sweat that I had to give in defense of this guild, just to have it scattered to the wind when you felt that the danger suddenly became too much for us to bear."
"The decision is out of your hands, my boy," the old wizard said sternly. "As guild master, I order you to abide by the decision."
A sad smile twisted Gorun's mouth as he said in a bitter tone, "It's something of a contradiction, Makarov, when you claim the title of 'master' over a guild that you intend to destroy."
"It is no contradiction when it is the final order given to the guild," Makarov replied with gritted teeth. "You may be a wizard saint, Gorun, but in the final hours of this guild, you will still show me the respect that I am due as your elder."
Gorun was silent for a few moments before he unfolded his arms and said in a hard voice, "No."
Saiyan Tail Profile
Subject: Raykai
Fusion Technique: Potara
Counterparts: Gray Fullbuster and Son Kaidon
Conception/Author's Commentary:
Alright, so after I'd solidified Narun as a metamoran fusion for Gorun and Natsu, how could I help but be curious about what kind of fusion our saiyan runaway and his icy comrade would make? Enter Raykai- one of my first attempts at drawing a dragon ball art piece, and a lot of fun to throw at angry demon kings.
I had a lot of fun making subtle differences and similarities between him and Narun, much like how Gray and Natsu can be in relation to one another. For example, while Narun has fun taunting his enemies, Raykai gets straight down to business, though they both are pretty damn snarky.
In regards to their combined powers, I initially entertained the idea of having their energies being completely incompatible, forcing the fusion to use either one magic or the other, instead of combining them. This is due to the fact that Gray's magic is demonic in origin, whilst Gorun's comes from the divine. However, since the demon-slaying is ice meant to destroy its source of origin, I decided that their powers would actually work together pretty well.
Known Techniques:
-Ice-Make Magic
-Ice Demon Slayer Magic
-Etherion Magic
-Divine Etherion Magic
-Ice Demon Hailstorm: a move inspired by Gogeta's Stardust Fall. After putting some distance between himself and his opponent, Raykai unleashes innumerable demon-slaying ice shards enhanced with etherion, spread out over a wide area. When combined with Raykai's Super Slayer technique, the damage it caused was sufficient enough to cause Mard Geer's body to destroyed several times before his regenerative abilities could completely catch up, though eventually the demon was able to escape the attack's range of impact.
-Ice Demon Soul Shield: a move inspired by Gogeta's Soul Shield. The user conjures a thin sheet of perfectly smooth demon slayer's ice that reflects offensive curse power back at the enemy caster.
-Ice Demon Hellzone Grenade: a secret demon-slayer art inspired by Piccolo's Hellzone Grenade. The user conjures hundreds to thousands of ice demon-slaying circles in the air, above or around their target, leaving them idle until they are all simultaneously activated. The result is similar to an Ice Demon Hailstorm, but with either much further reach, or much more precision, as this move was shown targeting Mard Geer alone.
Known Transformations/Enhancements:
-Super Slayer (Golden Demon Soul): A transformation with nearly identical mechanics to the Golden Dragon Soul, this techniques imbues all of the caster's ice-type magics with extra etherion, making the spells much more potent than normal. The eyes of the caster turn green, and the hair becomes gold like a super saiyan, in addition to the demon-slaying mark and ice spells glowing the same color. When used, the air becomes comparable to that of a cold winter's night. The power level multiplier is x75 that of the user's base form.
-Super Slayer god (Fallen god Soul): This form utilizes both divine and demonic energies, both with a single purpose- to obliterate any dark forces that stands against it. This combination proves so potent that- despite being nowhere near Vellrey's level of strength- Raykai was able to completely overwhelm Mard Geer, who had retained the majority of the Dragon Cry's power for himself. When activated, the air around the user becomes so cold that anything in the immediate vicinity is frozen solid, as show when Mard Geer attempted to strike Raykai, but wound up losing his arm to the cold. The eyes, hair, and demon tattoo all become a bright red, as does the ice that user casts. The power level multiplier is x2800 times that of the caster's base form. It is unknown as of yet whether or not this form possesses the healing properties of a super saiyan god.
Equipment/Items Used:
-Blue Potara Earrings
Accomplishments:
-Killed Mard Geer, the leader of Tartaros, and de facto head of the Baram Alliance
Stats:
-Power: 10/7
-Speed: 7/7
-Technique: 8/7
-Intelligence: 7/7
-Cooperativeness: 6/7
Fun Facts:
-As the first potara fusion to be shown with matching guild marks, it is revealed that his type of combination mixes the two emblem colors to make a new one, instead of keeping one color as the primary, and the other as an outline (i.e. Fang's guild mark is black with white outlines)
-Raykai's guild mark is a turquoise blue, and located on his right pectoral muscles
-Raykai was the second fusion conceived in the writer's mind after Narun