I'm so lazy to be honest with my uploads so I just want to finally say that I'm definitely am not consistent and I won't be ever again. I may upload tomorrow, next week, next month, maybe even two months, so I just wanted to warn you guys on that update. I really tried being consistent, but shit hit the fan and I have no time now. Sorry for the lame excuses I've been giving you guys since forever. Okay, time for chapter 39, please enjoy
Erza's P.O.V.
I've been carrying gray for a while now and I'm starting to get tired of his dead weight. I set him down quickly when I heard a noise. We were close to the tree in the middle of tenrou island. I felt a presence here so I called out to it.
"I know you're here, show yourself." A figure came out from behind a tree and I then noticed the immense magic power emitting from this man. I certainly did not know this man so he must be with grimoure heart. He chuckled and took a step towards me. I looked to gray and saw him still holding his leg wound. "Gray..." I whispered. He looked up at me and I could we the nervousness and pain staining his features. "get out of here. I don't doubt he would use you as an advantage to get to me in some way." Gray nodded and stood up. He had trouble, but managed. This man waited patiently as I talked to gray which was odd.
"Good luck erza," he walked away and as he turned to leave I heard him mutter something under his breath. "Don't die..." I smiled a small smile and turned to this mysterious man again. My features hardened at him emotionless face.
"It was wise of you to let him get away with his life still intact."
"Who are you?" I asked the man. He didn't saved under my glare and direct questions.
"I am azuma, or the seven kin of purgatory. Today will be the day you and your comrades die." I would never let that happen. This man seemed a hundred percent serious.
"You won't get away with this." I requipped into my heavens wheel armor. He smiled as I transformed.
"I guess we're getting serous." He seemed to have melted into the ground and came up from behind me and took a swing. I barely dodged before sending swords his way. He gracefully dodged my swords, then managed to grab one and send it back to me. I then realized that I was at full power while the tree was down.
After we battled for a while longer with neither of us gaining a clear upper hand, Azuma comments that he and I are the same, in that we both pursue strong opponents to fight.
I reply "I only needs the strength to protect my comrades."
Azuma then states "You fight honorably, erza, which means Grimoire Heart will run out of time."
He then activates his Lost Magic, and uproots the Great Tenrou Tree which had bestowed upon all Fairy Tail members magical strength and protection from death which results in weakening all of Fairy Tail's Magic Power, except for mine.
Azuma then tells me "Your friend's lives are on the line so show me if you have enough power to protect them."
"Why am I the only one not affected by your damage to the Tenrou Tree? " I asked him when I realized that I was still at full power.
His reply being "I want to fight you when you're serious."
"I will defeat you no matter what, if you'll return the guild's Magic Power." pure determination was written on my face. He contemplated for only a minute before replying.
"I promise i will do that, but I don't like these tactics you're using." He states rather bluntly.
I attack using the Heaven's Wheel Armor again and Blumenblatt which is easily blocked by Azuma, who proceeds to use Folium and Ramus Sica to attack me. I then switch to my Flight Armor which allows me to land a hit, but on my second attempt, Azuma defends himself, captures me, and uses his Tower Burst to injure me. After this, I requip to a sarsi and a single sword. I then charge at Azuma using my Demon Blade: Crimson Cherry Spell, but Azuma is easily able to ensnare me before i get to him and he uses the Terra Clamare to defeat me. Azuma grins and declares that I have been defeated.
Much to his surprise, not only do i survive, but i manage to get back to her feet despite being heavily wounded and continues the battle, even beginning to cut him. He tries to hit me once more with his Cry of the Earth Spell which was an explosion spell to finally put me down, but then I start remembering my friends, strengthening my resolve and I come out of the explosion straight for him. At first Azuma looks shocked that his ultimate attack has no effect on me but then realizes Fairy tail must be my reason because I have unquestionable loyalty and faith in fairy tail and my friends that make up fairy tail.
he compliments that we are a splendid guild. I hit him with a powerful sword slash, defeating him and ending the battle once and for all.
After his defeat by me, Azuma lies on the ground, battle worn, and I then notice his body is transforming into a tree.
He states "it is a side effect of overusing my Lost Magic. As promised, i will return everyone's Magic Power to them."
I then ask him "Do you of a man named jellal?" Azuma looks surprised before nodding.
"I do, he is a sad man who has become obsessed with the idea that Zeref's ghost exists and that has lost all sense of reason." He pauses before asking me if I knew him. I say nothing to him, looking away from him in obvious turmoil. "I apologize that it happened to him. It was Ultear's plan to posses jellal. She did it to get into the Magic Council to take their eyes off of Grimoire Heart." He then goes "Ultear is a truly frightening person."
"Why are you pursuing Zeref so heatedly?" Azuma looks over to her in understanding. As if my question is one he asks himself too.
"It is so we can get closer to the very first Magic in the world, the source of all Magic." I was taken aback by the terrifying news he just told me. The very first magic? Zeref holds all that powerful magic?
"What would happen if you find the source? Azuma simply smiles.
"Jellal dreamed of Paradise." Azuma tries to explain further but is completely transformed into a tree. She looked at him new form in frustration and confusion. What does that all mean? What does this mean for fairy tail's future? I got down on one knee and thanked azuma quietly before standing up, with the help of my sword, of course.
"Time to go and find gray then."
...
Gray's P.O.V.
I decided to go left as I came up to a fork in the road. I seemed lost and my side was spilling blood fast. I needed to find mira, lisanna, anyone! I then saw a blur figure running towards him, but was obviously slower due to something on their back. My vision was starting to go blurry, but made out her features. Juvia.
"Great." I said sarcastically, but smiled anyway. What erza said to me really stuck. She gently dropped the thing on her back and limped to me.
"Gray-sama!" She squeezed me tight, but gently, if that was possible. She apologized with tears running down her face, talking like my wounds were her fault.
"Wait wait wait, what are you talking about?" She looked up at his face, her face bloody and beaten with big fat tears running down her face. I looked into her shiny, red, puffy eyes and felt my heart jolt. It started to beat faster and faster until she eventually noticed. She panicked.
"Gray-sama, did I hurt you so bad that your heart is not beating right?" She put her ear against my chest to listen. It started to beat faster and he couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from my chest. Ears burning, I looked at her wounds which matched mine.
"What are you saying? Why do you the same wounds as me?" She looked away from me.
"Meredy," she pointed at the unconscious girl behind her. So that was the thing on her back. "She has linking magic that linked me and her together so we fought for a while when she added you in the link. There should of been a pink glowing bracelet on your wrist," she pointed to her wrist and went on. " Anyway, she was about to kill herself before I stabbed myself to stop her from killing you. " That's where that pink heart thing came. The tears, she was the one crying...crying for me? Juvia then falls to the ground, unconscious as well, just when meredy seems to wake up.
Ultear shows up and brings Zeref. "Meredy, there has been a change of plans, we're leaving." She starts laughing as she looks at me. I then remembered what ultear had said to me and I hardened my gaze. She told me a story about Ur that she seemed to make up on the spot. She declares that if everything goes smoothly, she'll get rid of both Hades and me in one swift action, she says This right in front of me, like she could be so cocky. This seemed to surprise Meredy.
"Why do you wants to fool Master Hades?"
Ultear replies that "So Zeref can be mine alone."
Before she can have a chance to fight me, Ultear notices Juvia unconscious on the ground. Ultear makes a sword appear.
"I'll kill the woman."
"No!, You don't have to, she's unconscious and not hurting anyone." Ultear does not listen and swings her sword at Juvia's neck. Just when Ultear's blade is about to hit it's target, ice stops the movement of her sword and I get right on front of juvia's unconscious body, and moving Juvia out of Ultear's way. I didn't believe a word Ultear had said from the start, rather i pretended to agree with her to figure out her motives.
"I swore to never use Iced Shell again because I wants to walk the path where he can live with my comrades." Ultear seemed to realize that I'm not a simple-minded fool as she thought.
She mutters "I didn't really want to fight with you because you're Ur's beloved student. You're chosen to be killed in the cruelest way!" and starts emanating power as she tells me that she's the head of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. "The likes of you is no match for-" I punched her with ice covered fists.
Ultear quickly gets up from being punched down by me and orders Meredy to take Zeref to the "escape point". While I'm distracted with seeing if the just-woken Juvia is fine and chasing after Meredy, Ultear kicks me in the face. She slams her orb into me and I counter with Ice-Make: Lance. However, using her Arc of Time, Ultear simply makes the ice evaporate. She does the same thing with my next attack.
"I learned my Magic specifically for killing Creation Mages like my mother" that statement enraged me. As Ultear sends more orbs my way, she has my ice shield evaporated and she makes a direct hit.
"Ur had always been thinking about you!" I yell and begin to attack her with my fists. Ultear easily overpowers me in hand-to-hand combat.
"Are you resorting to physical attacks because your ice is rendered useless? " she asks smugly.
"I'll strike her down with ice, as it is Ur's Magic.
She confidently responds with "I cannot be defeated by his ice, no matter what form you make it, it all has the same future." Ultear is then surprised when I slice the side of my torso, causing myself to bleed. I then charge towards her.
"I'll seal your darkness!" Ultear attempts to use Arc of Time on my ice, but it doesn't work. I was about to use my own frozen blood to defeat her. I land a direct hit with Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance. With ultear down, she compliments my thinking, then tells me her past and why she does and did the things she does. She tells her about how she thought Ur betrayed her and how much she suffered. He uses the distraction to his advantage.
I cast Ice-make: Gungnir and lands a direct hit on Ultear, with a large pillar of ice with Ultear inside emerging from the water. I float to the surface, and with both of them rather immobile.
I tell her a story Ur once told me. "Ur had felt a light shining into her heart when you were born and she dreamed a future full of hope for her." The ice holding Ultear shatters, and as she falls.
"I want to go to the Ultimate Magic World and return myself to the time before I hated my mother." She cries as she reveals that she just wanted to be with her mother one more time. Later, I bring Ultear to rest by a stone. I tie my shirt around my waist.
"The battle is far from over." I stated.
"You can't win against Hades"
"I know, but I need to make myself useful and assist my friends." Ultear uses her Arc of Time to return Tenrou Island and the Great Tree back to their original state, thus restoring all of Fairy Tail's Magic.
My mind didn't waver the whole time.
Welp, hope you all enjoyed. I will admit that I had help with the story line from Wikipedia so I just wanted to credit that. Don't know when I'll have the next chapter out so I hope this one will do for now.