Chapter 19

Igneel and the other dragons land on a plateau overlooking Dragonfall Castle. It is truly massive castle, meant to house both dragons and humans alike. Today though, it is inhabited solely by humans. Outside the castle is an army of soldiers, ready to strike at the dragons at a moments notice. A single woman makes her way up the plateau to meet with them.

This woman has long green hair and wears a helmet that gives her the vague appearance of a bird. Erza recognizes this woman as Kyoka, one of the most well recognized generals in the kingdom.

"By order of King Rung, you are to turn back and leave this place." She tells the group, "The only one permitted beyond this point is Erza Belserion."

"And what if we don't want to leave?" Mard Geer asks her.

"Then you forfeit your lives."

"Why does father want mother dead?" Erza asks.

"As if I know." Kyoka replies, "I'm just doing as I'm told."

Zeref steps forward, not wanting to waste anymore time, "Allow us passage. Even you know that what Rung is doing is wrong."

A wicked smile grows on Kyoka's face as she tells Zeref, "That isn't for me to decide, but if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you will get!"

Zeref simply stares back at Kyoka with a blank expression. It's clear that he is not intimidated by her in the least.

"This isn't something you want to do." Zeref replies ominously.

"Oh please, even someone like you should know how fruitless it is to fight against the Army of Dragnof!"

Zeref is unaffected by Kyoka's words and steps closer to her, "I'll give you five seconds give us passage."

Kyoka folds her arms expectantly.

"Five." A magic power begins to well up within Zeref.

"Four." Zeref brings his hands together and summons forth a powerful spell.

"Three." More magic is poured into the spell, and as Kyoka begins to show signs of worry.

"Two." The magic begins to radiate off of the orb between Zeref's hands. The magic blows around everyone and Zeref's hair begins to change to white.

"One." Zeref claps his hands together and releases his spell. A blinding light covers the battlefield as Zeref speaks the spell's name, "Spriggan Law."

Natsu, Erza, and the others cover their eyes as the light envelopes them. It is an odd feeling they have. The magic is familiar, yet different and they can't place their finger on why. A massive amount of magic washes over everyone on the plateau harmlessly, yet it fills everyone with a sense of awe and fear.

When the light dissipates, everyone present, minus Kyoka, who is facing away from her army, gasps in shock. Kyoka turns slightly to see what is surprising everyone and gasps. Before her, the entire army lays on the ground in defeat. It is bloodless, yet no soldier is left standing to fight.

She turns back to Zeref to see he is panting heavily, "I warned you."

Kyoka is at a loss for words and all she can do is stare on in shock.

Zeref turns to his allies and instructs them, "Get to the castle. Mard Geer, stay here with me. I'm going to need your help."

The dragons slowly nod in understanding. They knew Zeref could handle himself in a battle, but they never imagined that he would be THIS powerful. This level of magic is on par with dragons. They follow his instructions and gather up the remaining humans and take flight. Kyoka is still in too much of a stupor to try and stop them.

"What kind of spell was that?" Mard Geer asks.

"One that should not be taken lightly. I'm going to need you to deal with Kyoka while I deal with the other one."

Mard Geer raises an eyebrow, "What other one."

Zeref turns around to a rock formation behind him, "You can come out now, Dimaria."

A blonde-haired woman in a skintight blue suit steps out from behind the formation with a cunning smile. She saunters up to Zeref and Mard Geer moves to intercept her. Zeref throws his arm out in front of him, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

"It's been a long time, Emperor Spriggan." She says.

"Let's just get to it." Zeref replies.

Mard Geer raises an eyebrow. He had never heard of an Emperor Spriggan, he had also never heard of the Spriggan Law spell.

Seeing his assistant's distraction, Zeref reminds him, "Kyoka."

Mard Geer swipes his hand behind him and fires a thorn back towards Kyoka. At that moment, Kyoka is launching herself at the two, having finally broken from her stupor. She just narrowly avoids Mard Geer's attack.

"Alright wanna just cut to the chase? Then, I'll cut you to ribbons!" Dimaria snaps her finger.

An instant later, Dimaria and Zeref's position and appearance drastically change. Zeref is further away from Mard Geer and Kyoka. His hair color has returned to its normal black and he is bleeding profusely from several places. He is crouched over a badly beaten and unconscious Dimaria.

"Spriggan Law…took a lot more out of me…I expected no less from you." Zeref falls on his back and stares up at the sky and then at Mard Geer and Kyoka, "Right, you two haven't even started."

The two remaining combatants stare at Zeref and Dimaria in shock. Just a moment ago they were fine, minus the exhaustion Zeref felt after using Spriggan Law. But now it is like they had a full on battle in an instant. They have no idea who the blonde woman is, but for her to injure Zeref that much is a surprise to both of them.

"Well, I guess that just leaves us." Mard Geer says, turning his attention back to Kyoka.

"It would appear so."

Kyoka crunches her fingers. She is wearing some kind of metal gauntlet with sharpened fingers. She dashes at Mard Geer and swipes at him. He feels her magic enter him as she draws closer. He quickly dodges out of the way. He winces as the displaced air hits him. Kyoka follows up with another swipe, but this time, Mard Geer summons a large thorn from below to intercept her attack. She cuts through the thorn, but it quickly becomes too thick and stops her attack.

Mard Geer jumps back and gets some distance, "Well, this is going to be interesting."

Thank you for reading!

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