Chapter 15: Deliora Resurrection and Death
Below the temple
Deliora roars out reverberating through out the island causing Natsu and Sakura to gasp in shock.
"Finally, the time has come!" Zalty yells.
In the temple
Erza, Lucy, and Happy arrive inside just as Deliora roars.
"What the heck was that voice just now? Or wait, was that even a voice?" Lucy questions.
"Maybe it was your stomach growling, Lucy." Happy humorously says while holding his stomach as he looks at her. Lucy annoys by the comment and turns her head, squinting her eyes at the cat.
"Even when I know you're joking it still ticks me off." Lucy says.
"Maybe it was this Deliora we're dealing with?" Erza says.
"Wait, you don't mean… that it's been resurrected!?" Lucy cries out in horror.
Happy turns his head and spots the purple magic circle of the moon drip passing through the floor of the temple and quickly points it out to the others. "That light! It's the Moon Drip!"
Deliora roars again, scaring Lucy even more as her eyes widen in fear.
"There it is again." Erza says in a worried tone.
"Lucy, you should really eat something." Happy says as he now stands on a large piece of rubble while pointing at Lucy who grits her teeth in anger and looks back at him with her hands to her hips.
"How about I feed you to a rat?" Lucy says.
"Deliora may be able to roar, but the Moon Drip ceremony still continues. Which means its resurrection isn't yet complete." Erza states and runs off. "Come with me!"
"But Deliora's below us." Lucy tells her.
"If we can break up the ceremony we can still halt the progress! Hurry!" Erza responds and Lucy and Happy follows her to the top of the temple.
Below the temple
Zalty stares at Natsu as he smirks at him.
"Damn it! I ain't got time to waste… I'll finish you off quickly!" Natsu says as Sakura continues using Ice Beam to keep Deliora frozen as possible. When suddenly, Natsu is hit on the side of the head by a flying orb knocking him to the ground.
"I can manipulate this as well, Salamander-kun…" Zalty says as he swings his left arm around, seemingly control the crystal orb with his movements.
"Just try me!" Natsu yells as he stands back up on their feet. Zalty sends the orb towards Natsu who jumps towards it with a flaming punch, smashing the orb into pieces. However, the orb rebuilds itself and flies into Natsu's stomach sending him up into the air. "It fixed itself again!" Natsu says in pain.
"Natsu!" Sakura calls out who happens to see it.
"I can control the time of objects. In other words, I can return the crystal to a time before it was broken." Zalty explains.
"Time? I can't believe that." Natsu says as he stands up again holding his stomach.
"Time Ark is a magic that has been erased from history. In other words, it's one of the Lost Magics. Next. Shall I progress the crystal's time into the future?" Zalty asks sarcastically as he sends they crystal ball towards Natsu again, striking him multiple times from all direction as he cries out in pain.
"Natsu!" Sakura yells out, unable to help him due to trying to keep Deliora frozen.
Natsu manages to strike the orb with another fire fist, destroying it only for it to reform together and slams into the back of his head, causing Natsu to bulge his eyes out.
"It won't work." Zalty says sending it towards Natsu again who throws another attack at it, but this time the orb stops in front of his fist.
"It stopped!" Natsu exclaims with widened eyes.
"I can also stop its time, see."
"But it looks like it won't work on humans." Natsu points out.
"Well, don't you have sharp eyes. It is accurate to say that it will not work on living creatures. That is exactly why I cannot simply reverse time on the ice that is Ul." Zalty explains.
"Honestly, I don't get you. So you're going to resurrect this thing, only to let Lyon defeat it? Lyon might be happy with that, but what's in it for his friends?" Natsu questions.
Meanwhile, Deliora attempts to break free from the remaining ice but is unable to as Sakura is still sending it with Ice Beam but it is not much effect as the unfrozen part breaks the ice away.
"Who knows? I only joined them all quite recently." Zalty replies.
"Then what about you? What are you really after?"
"Oh my… I can't slip anything by you, can I? Hahaha! Retei-sama… or rather that spoiled brat could never defeat Deliora in the first place!"
"Wait, that's really dangerous! So you'd defeat it yourself?" Natsu asks.
"Of course not. I want it to make it mine. There exist techniques to control even immortal beasts. It would be incredible for me to control such awesome power, do you think?" Zalty yells.
"How stupid. Sorry I asked." Natsu says with a disappointed look on his face for some reason, confusing Zalty.
"Huh?"
"I wanted it to be a plan that's gonna get me really fired up to stop!"
Hahahaha! You still do not understand. There will always come a time when one needs power." Zalty says.
Natsu then lights his fists on fire again. "And when that time comes, I'll believe in my own power, and the power of my friends. The wizards of Fairy Tail!" Natsu exclaims as he pulls back his fist.
"That ego will lead to your destruction." Zalty says not believing in what he said as he raises his right hand to the ceiling. "Ceiling! Speed your time and crumble!" Zalty summons a white magic circle above his head as the ceiling above begins crumbling down, the debris falling right towards Natsu.
"Each and every one of you are screwing up this island for your stupid reasons! And I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
"Can those wild flames capture my Time Ark?" Zalty questions.
Natsu jumps up towards Zalty, avoiding the rocks that crashes onto where he stood. Zalty then a large amount of crystal balls towards Natsu.
"Time Ark, Time Pork, whatever! Get the hell off this island!" Natsu yells and envelops the crystal balls in flames, creating an explosion and making Zalty unable to see Natsu. "Oh yeah, I can manipulate time too." Natsu says and he appears through the smoke. "The future!" Natsu coats his fists in fire as he is drops down towards Zalty. "One second from now I'm gonna blow you away!" Natsu slams his fists into Zalty's face, sending the man flying down towards a rock as he screams in pain, impacting hard on the rock which destroys it.
On top of the temple
Erza strikes down Toby as the wizards lets out a last dog-like cry as he falls to the ground.
"All right! Now the Moon Drip will stop!" Lucy says as the purple light and the magic circle disappear.
"Wow, he was doing it by himself." Happy says.
"Too late! The ceremony's already over!" Toby yells out, causing Erza to gasp and a green light shine onto the spot where the purple magic circle once appeared. Exploding outward into a massive beam of green light as it shines down through the temple.
Below the temple
Sakura is thrown off flying as Latias protects her from getting hit as the green light impacts into Deliora, completely freeing the demon which breaks free from the rest of the ice.
"Oh no…" Lucy says at the top of the temple as she has a horror look on her face.
Gray who just arrived in the cave after fighting Lyon, looks up in shock at seeing the demon. Natsu, Sakura and Latias are a few feet away in front of him as they look up at the demon. Gray bends down and picks up some water into his hand, looking at it as it falls through his fingers back into the water.
"Ul…" Gray mutters with a sad look on his face.
"Gray! You're here?" Natsu asks as he hops over to him as Latias carries Sakura to him.
"Natsu! Sakura!" Gray calls.
"We've got no choice now. Let's destroy this thing!" Natsu says.
"We have to stop it before it could leave this island." Sakura says.
The four then hears a low chuckling coming from behind Gray and look to see an injured Lyon. His clothes are torn, slowly crawling towards them with a crazed look on his face.
"It's impossible for you! I will… defeat it!" Lyon states but at the condition he is right now, he can't do anything.
"Lyon…" Gray calls.
"In order to surpass Ul, I will be the one!" Lyon says as he begins to laugh crazily.
"You can't! Not in the condition you are right now." Sakura says.
"Sakura's right. Looks way more impossible for you. Stands back already!" Natsu tells him.
Deliora lets out another roar and Lyon looks up towards it.
"Finally we meet again… Deliora!" Lyon says as he begins to push himself slowly back up. "The one monster that Ul was not able to defeat… I will… defeat it… with my own two hands!" He then begins to walk slowly towards the demon. "I am… going to… surpass you!"
Before Lyon could do anything, Gray light chops on Lyon's neck, sending him back onto the ground.
"Enough, Lyon." Gray says as he steps into the water and walking towards Deliora. "Leave the rest to me." Gray stops and then gets into the pose for Iced Shell.
"Gray!" Sakura calls out.
"I will seal Deliora! Iced Shell!" Gray yells as he begins to cast the spell again.
"Don't do it, Gray! Do you know how long it took to melt that ice? You're just repeating history! One day I'll melt it and challenge it again!" Lyon yells.
"This is the only way. Right now, this is the one thing that can stop it!" Gray yells back and suddenly, Natsu step in front of him. "Natsu!" Gray calls out in shock as Lyon is also shock by Natsu's action.
"I'll fight it." Natsu says.
"Move, Natsu!"
"Us too." Sakura says as she stands next to Natsu and Latias in front of her.
"Not you too, Sakura! Both of you! Don't get in my way!" Gray yells.
"I stopped you before 'cause I didn't want you to die. Maybe I didn't get through to you? If you're going to use that magic, then do it." Natsu says.
"Natsu…" Gray calls in surprise.
"Gray, don't waste your life that Ul sacrificed herself. If she didn't, you wouldn't have met us and Fairy Tail." Sakura says as she gets ready to mega evolve Latias.
"Sakura…"
Deliora roars again.
"IT'S SO LOUD! MY EARDRUMS ARE GONNA BURST!" Toby yells in pain at the top of the temple as he covers his ears as Lucy and Happy screaming out in terror in front of him.
Deliora then throws its fist towards them.
"DODGE IT!" Gray yells at Natsu and Sakura.
Not listening to Gray, Natsu throws his flaming fist.
"We're not gonna give up 'till the end!" Natsu yells as he collides into Deliora's fist, flaming fore back into Natsu while green electricity surges backwards from Deliora's fist. Flames envelope Natsu who cries out as he attempts to overpower Deliora. Just then, cracks appear on Deliora's arm when suddenly, an explosion erupts from its wrist. Lyon gasps, confused by what just happened as then the entire body of Deliora begins cracking, Gray gasps in shock as then Deliora's cracked body begins to crumble to pieces.
"What? That wasn't me…" Natsu says also surprised as he looks at his fist.
"What's going on?" Sakura asks.
"Y-you're kidding me…" Lyon says in shock as Deliora's head breaks off from the rest of its body. "It can't be, no way!" Deliora's body continues to crumble apart as everyone looks on it shock. "Deliora was already dead…" Lyon says in anger as he clenches his fists.
Top of the temple
Happy and Lucy run to the edge of the temple.
"Look at that." Happy points out
"That's…" Lucy trails off as the water streams out through the holes in the temple.
Below the temple
For ten years, it's life force has been sapped by Ul's ice… All we saw was its last moments…" Lyon says as he slams his fist into the dirt and tears begins to appear in his eyes. "I can't compare… I can never surpass Ul!" He says as the tears begins streaming down his face.
"Your teacher is pretty amazing." Natsu says.
"You're right." Sakura agrees.
Gray is still shocked by what just happened, as tears begins streaming down his face, thinking back to what Ul said to him.
"I will seal your darkness."
"Thank you very much… Teacher…" Gray says as he covers his eyes.
Natsu gives off a wide grin as Sakura smiles at gray. A few minutes later, Lucy and Happy arrives as Lucy waves her arm Happy flies into Natsu arms, hugging him while Natsu turns around while hugging him back, causing Natsu to see Erza behind him as he screams in terror and attempts to run away, but is grabbed by the scarf as tears appear in his eyes.
Lucy looks over to see Gray helping up Lyon having a sad look on his face while Gray has a smile on his knowing that Lyon will be returning to his old-self again.
On the beach of the island
Oh yeah! It's finished!" Natsu cheers as he and Happy raise their arms into the air.
"Aye, sir!" Happy agrees.
"Really, I wasn't sure what was gonna happen there for a bit. But Ul-san's really quite amazing!" Lucy says.
"Yeah, your teacher is really amazing, Gray." Sakura says and Latias cheers.
Natsu is jumping up and down as stars sparkle around Lucy's head and Gray lies back against the rock.
"Now we all manage to finish an S class quest!" Natsu yells in joy.
"Yippee!" Happy cheers.
"Do you think we can go up to the second floor now?" Lucy wonders.
However, a quick glare from Erza stops all the cheering instantly. Sweats runs down everyone's face as Natsu, Happy, and Lucy look at her with dropped jaws, Gray clenches his teach in fear, and Sakura hugs Latias.
"Oh crap! We're gonna be punished!" Lucy cries out in fear as she holds her head as her eyes are widen.
"Before that, you have something to do, remember? Wasn't the real point of this job to save the villagers who have been turned into demons?" Erza questions.
"Eh?" Lucy says as she looks at Erza.
"The S class quest is not over yet."
"But Deliora's dead, so won't this stop the curse?" Lucy asks.
"No. The source of that curse what not Deliora. The tremendous magical power of the Moon Drip has caused disaster to befall the people. The fact Deliora has now crumbled would have not improved the situation."
"Oh no…" Lucy says in horror.
"Then we'll hurry up and cure 'em!" Natsu says.
"Aye sir!" Happy agrees as he and Natsu high five.
"But how do we do that?" Gray asks.
"Gray's right…" Sakura says and then Gray thinks of something and turns around to Lyon who is sitting back against the rock a few feet from them.
"Hey, Lyon!" Gray calls out.
"Let me tell you, I have no idea." Lyon says.
"Say what?" Natsu questions.
"'What'!" Happy repeats.
"Wait, if you guys don't know, how else are we going to…"
"Three years ago, when we came here there was a village on this island. But we did not interfere with the villagers. And they never came to see us even once." Lyon explains cutting Lucy off.
"Three years… Not once?" Erza questions.
"And wait, the Moon Drip would have landed on the ruins every night. So it's really strange that they'd never come to investigate." Lucy says.
"And there remain a number of questions about the effect the Moon Drip has on people's bodies." Lyon adds.
"Wait… are you trying to say that it's not your fault?" Natsu questions.
"Think about it. We've been under the same light for three years." Lyon says.
"That's true! You're right!" Lucy exclaims in shock realizing it as well.
"Be careful, they're hiding something." Lyon says.
"But why would they hide something." Sakura says.
"Either way, this is a job for you guild people." Lyon says as he looks away.
"Oh I don't think so! You're the one who destroy the…" Natsu doesn't finish the sentence by Erza squishing his cheeks together.
"That's enough." Erza tell him
~Flashback~
Top of the temple
Erza, Lucy and Happy listen to what Toby has to say about why him, Sherry and all the other people were here to help Lyon free Deliora.
"Sherry, and all the other people who had their families taken from them by Deliora. And that's why wh all cooperated with Lyon. We thought that if it's Lyon, he'd be able to defeat Deliora. He would finally be able to get revenge for us." Toby explains.
~Present~
"They have their own version of justice. There's no need to criticize what they did in the past. Let's go." Erza says as she releases Natsu's cheeks and begins walking away.
"Go? But how are we going to lift the curse?" Natsu asks.
"Who knows…" Erza replies.
As everyone leaves, Gray looks back at Lyon who gasps in shock but glares at him.
"What are you looking at?" Lyon questions.
"Go join a guild somewhere. You'll gain friends and rivals, and I know you'll find a new reason to live." Gray says.
Lyon gasps in shock again and looks away. "Pointless… just go already." Lyon says, not noticing Gray's smile.
The village storage area
"Huh? It's deserted." Happy says as they see the entire storage area is devoid is life, not a single villager is seen.
"So everyone was here?" Natsu asks.
"Because the village is gone."
"But, why did everyone vanish?" Sakura questions.
"Hey!" Happy yells out.
"Anyway, I'm going to get some medicine." Gray says as he walks into one of the tents.
"You've all returned? There's a problem." The group turn to see one of the villagers. "Please, hurry to the village!"
At the village
In front of the group they see the village is returned to normal. The crater is gone and all the buildings and walls are back up as if it never happened and the villagers are happy at the same time confused how it happened.
"What's this?" Lucy questions as she and Happy are shock and confuse as well.
"I thought the village was all messed up yesterday!" Happy says.
"It's back the way it was. How the heck? Almost as if time has been reversed…" Natsu says as he knocks one of the buildings.
Lucy sees this before looking away with embarrassed look on her face as her eyes are closed.
"It's all fixed up now, so it'd be better for you not to touch it." Lucy says.
Natsu gets angry and looks at her as two tick marks appear beside his head. "Say what?! What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Exactly what I said." Lucy says letting out a sigh.
"Time?" Sakura says, thinking about what Natsu just said. When she and Natsu look at each other and realize something. Both of them remembers Zalty, imagining as he let out his laugh.
"Was it him? Couldn't be… Maybe he had a change of heart?" Natsu says.
"Maybe…" Sakura says.
Then Natsu and Happy turn away with a sheepish grin on their faces.
"Whatever!" Natsu says.
"Aye sir!" Happy agrees.
"I guess we'll never know." Sakura says as Natsu and Happy walk away.
"Huh, you okay with that?" Lucy questions and then turns remembering something. "Oh yeah, our bags!" Lucy begins running towards the building where their belongings were. Along the way, Lucy stop upon seeing the village chief back at his son's grave which also back to normal. "I see Bobo-san's grave is back to normal too. Thank goodness." She says and walks over.
The village chief hears her coming and turns his head to her. "It was all of you who returned the village to normal, yes?" Moka asks.
"Um, that's not…" Lucy tries to explain and Moka stands back as he turns towards her.
"I do appreciate it. However, Wizards! How long exactly until you destroy the moon, huh?" Moka asks in a serious face as he leans towards Lucy, forcing her to lean back as sweat runs down the back of her head.
The others walk over to her as Erza speaks. "Destroying the moon will be a simple task."
"Huh?" The others say.
"Hey, did she just say that with a straight face?" Gray asks.
"Aye… Well, that's Erza for you." Happy says.
"However, I have something I want to clarify first. Will you gather everyone?" Erza asks.
~A few minutes later~
Everyone has gathered at the front of the village, Erza stands in front of them as the Wizards, Sakura and Latias stand back behind her.
"Let us review. You all appeared in these forms after the moon turned purple. Correct?" Erza asks.
"To be precise, it's only when that moon comes out do we look like this." Moka says and Erza begins walking to her right.
"And considering what we've heard this has been happening for the past three years, yes?" Erza asks.
"Yes. It was probably been that long."
"However, the Moon Drip has occurred on this island every night for those past three years. You should have been able to see the light falling on the ruins every night." Suddenly, Erza steps on the revived pit that Lucy made falling into it. "Kya!" She screams as she hits the bottom of the pit causing Natsu and the others to shudder in shock and fear at what just happened.
"The pitfall was also resurrected!" Happy says.
"She just said, 'Kya!'" Natsu points out as his eyes are wide and a blush on his face.
"That was really cute." Gray says quietly also has a blush on his face.
"Lucy then pops up behind them with sweats flying from her face in fear. "This is not my fault! This is not my fault!"
Some of the villagers has sweat on the back of their heads as well as they look at the hole. Erza crawls out of it and stands right back up as it nothing had happened.
"Therefore, was it not the most suspicious place on this island?" Erza asks.
Two of the villagers in front of her turn pale, completely taken back how she shrugs it off.
"She acting like nothing happened."
"She's tough…"
"I don't understand why you never investigated." Erza finishes.
All the villagers begin murmur and look at one another with sweats on their faces.
"It is tradition in this village never to go near those ruins." Moka says.
"But this no time to be bound by tradition. You've had victims, and just look at the amount of the reward for the guild…" Lucy points out.
Moka is lost for words trying to think how to explain it to them, but he looks down at the ground.
"Will you please tell us the truth?" Erza asks.
"W-we don't really understand ourselves. In truth we've tried to investigate those ruins many times. We never use weapons, but we took them up. I trimmed my sideburns perfectly and we headed towards those ruins…" Moka says.
"What does your sideburns have to do with this?" Sakura quietly questions.
"But we couldn't get near. As we walked towards the ruins, before we knew it, we were back at the village gate! We cannot come close to those ruins!" Moka says.
"What does it mean? You can't get near them?" Lucy asks.
"We all went inside them, no problem." Natsu says.
"We didn't tell you because we thought you wouldn't believe us." One of the villagers say.
"But it's true. No matter how many times we tried to go there…"
"…Not a single villager has ever set foot in them."
"How is it possible?" Sakura wonders.
"I thought so." Erza says.
"Huh?" Lucy says wondering what she meant by that as a question mark flies from Natsu's head.
Erza begins walking forward as a pink smoke begins to emit from her body before it is surrounded by pink light and disappears revealing her normal clothes.
"Natsu." Erza calls catching Natsu's attention. "Come with me." She says as she finishes requipping into one of her armors, Giant Armor. "We're going to destroy the moon!"
Natsu chuckles as his eyes and grin widens in excitement.
"E—H!" Lucy, Happy, Gray, and Sakura cries out with their eyes widen as Erza has a serious look on her face. Meanwhile, pink eyes glowing through the forest, watching the wizards.