Out of all the worried the group had, the most distraught was Lamia Scale. They recalled their last encounter on the first shield just after they had used a very powerful unison assault on a single spot. It was only after that the enemy reinforcements gained up on them, and the yellow robed king's magic overwhelmed them. The thought of his Gold Magic encasing their numbers in solid gold was staggering to Obaba. She was getting dizzy from the remembrance, especially since she's been spinning.
Jura looked more than a little uneasy. "He was one of the flaws in our plan. He anticipated us as before."
Makarov extended his arm out ahead. "Right. Everyone, remember the plan! Fairy Tail, charge on! Everyone else, break down that shield!" On his call, Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus had begun their charge around the gold statues of soldiers while Fairy Tail's numbers went blitzing after the culprit.
"I call dibs on him first! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Without any warning or second thought, Natsu took a huge leap and cloaked his fist in flames. He went sailing down and landed an explosive punch, but to his disbelief the yellow-robed king had a gold gauntlet stuck out and blocked with not even a budge.
"Futile is what though calls your efforts." He said. "I, Ore, shall make your miserable attempts drop like golden riches."
A point-blank explosion of sparkling gold energy exerted between him and Natsu, sending the Dragon Slayer flying and tumbling away into gold statues of other soldiers and allies alike.
"How's about this! Ice-Make: Hammer!" Gray made a huge hammer of ice overhead and brought it down onto Ore, but all the king did was aim his arm upwards and the ice suddenly materialized into solid gold. He stopped it with one hand. "No way!"
Ore stretched his fingers apart, sending the gold hammer at Gray, slugging him and sending him flying onto the solid gold ground.
"Now, Taurus!" Lucy shouted.
Behind Ore, Taurus had a giant axe over his head. "MOOOOOO! For Miss Lu~cy, I'll make you take a rodeo of pain, moneybags!" He brought his axe down, but in a flash of gold, he blinded Taurus and made his attempts miss by a few inches from the left, hitting the ground but not even scratching.
"Yeow! My eyes! So bright!" Taurus yelled.
Ore looked back and shoved Taurus with a single hand, sending him sliding along the golden ground and smashed into several statues and toppled them over like bowling pins.
"Taurus-!" Lucy's eyes widened when Ore suddenly exerted another golden like and extended his arm out at Lucy, sending a beam at her feet and she was sent flying.
"Hang on!" Happy flew at high speed and got Lucy as she was in the air. He circled around high above while Lucy grunted.
"Thanks, Happy." Lucy thanked.
"Persistent." Ore fired more golden beams, this time a more solid gold than energy. The beam raged through the air, following and tilting as it tried hitting Lucy and Happy, but Happy's maneuverability made it harder than what it really was.
Lucy's eyes widened. "Happy, look out!"
"Huh-?!"
The solid gold beam got Happy's left wing, encasing it in solid gold. The intense weight of the gold made Happy lose balance and he dropped like a rock. He and Lucy screamed as they plummeted below.
Levy rushed to their aid. "Hang on! Solid Script: Slide!" Using the letters of "SLIDE" written out, the letters arched to make a curved, cushioned slide. Happy and Lucy landed on the slide and tumbled down the cushiony letters until they landed softly on the "E". They both groaned as Levy rushed on over.
"Are you guys okay? How's your wing, Happy?" She asked.
"Aye. I've felt better." He mumbled. "It feels like my wing just gained as much weight as Lucy."
"Thanks, Levy-wait, what was that, cat?!" Lucy snapped.
Natsu blazed on ahead with a Fire Dragon's Sword Horn with Erza lunging ahead in her Black Wing Armor. Ore made no attempts and instead extended his arms out.
"May you two shimmer in the riches of despair! Glittering Somber!" Another beam of gold energy was fired at them, blazing like a missile. Both Erza and Natsu shifted and dodged, and the beam brushed past them and exploded upon hitting the golden ground.
Natsu rushed from the left. "How's about you put your money where your mouth is! HRAH!" Natsu bashed his head against Ore's side, making him shoot off in the opposite direction towards Erza.
"Moon Flash!"
Slashing in a cross formation, she passed Ore and the king's grunt could be heard. The glints from her attack faded, and Ore hunched over, looking distraught…or so they thought. Erza looked back to see her opponent glaring back, his eyes glaring through his mask. "But how-?!" Her thoughts aside, she noticed a heavy weight in her arm. Looking down at her swords, they were a solid gold each. Her eyes widened further. "He turned them to gold?!"
"Impudent scoundrels. Tis not the gravity of the situation weighing down on thy shoulders?" Using her shock to his advantage, he blasted Erza with a golden blast of energy, landing a direct and catastrophic blow.
"Erza!" Natsu shouted as he saw Erza slide away on her back.
"Let a real man take this thug down!" Elfman glowed, becoming his Beast Soul Take Over. He ran up towards Ore as brought a monstrous fist back. When he shot it forward, Ore unleashed a bright golden light that blinded Elfman.
"GAH!" Elfman was unable to see and was left open as Ore fired a golden energy beam into Elfman, making him fly back.
"You!" Appearing from above, Mirajane in her Satan Soul Take Over emerged. She had a hostile look and her hands had dark orbs. "Hands off my siblings!"
Ore looked up and saw a swift devil approaching. He put a long sleeved arm overhead and Mirajane's palm struck the forearm with dark sparks. "Evil Spark!" She discharged dark lightning onto Org, clouding him up in her vicious discharge.
Cana smiled. "Now we're making progress! Everyone, let's put him on the ropes!" She held up her cards and brought them back for aiming. "Let's get rid of this royal fool!"
"YEAH!" Everyone cheered. On her mark, the brunette lead the charge with magic heavily embedded into her tarot cards and fired them like projectiles. Macao and Wakaba fired their biggest volumes of purple fire and smoke respectively. Everyone else did their part and fired massive blasts of magical attacks. Juvia fired a hot blast of water while Gray fired ice. Lucy got Sagittarius to fire arrows, and Wendy and Gajeel fired roars.
Ore's eyes grew stale when he saw the incoming magic blast. 'My brethren, I must beg for your forgiveness…but this I must do. I do value my life, as I must for the legacy passed onto us by Amaren!'
In a bright flash of gold, he disappeared and dodged the coming assault. The assaults continued in, shaking the solid gold ground. The attacks passed over many statue heads and soared into the first shield, making a huge rattle echo from the combined volume.
Everyone's attacks made a giant explosion, making smoke exert from the first shield. It came to be a shock to them when they actually saw that the shield was actually cracked. The shield wasn't broke, but cracked nonetheless.
Natsu smiled. "Alright!"
"That's how it's done!" Gray cheered.
Jura looked on with a smile. "Well done."
"Meeen." Ichiya said.
Juvia looked content. "We damaged the shield, despite how much of our Magic Power was exhausted."
Makarov looked satisfied but then he recounted a flaw. He suddenly looked shocked. "Everyone, stay on guard!"
Everyone looked around, somewhat confused. When a golden light was emanated from afar within the numbers of the group, they all recognized the Magic Power.
"Though has been noble with their misdeeds, so shall ye be banished within gold! Golden Age!"
Erza looked towards Natsu as the golden light was getting brighter. Her worries increased as Ore's eyes glowed and he clapped his hands up front, sending a shockwave of pure gold in all directions.
"Natsu!" Erza rushed ahead and she became a bright flash herself.
"Ice-Make: Shield!" Gray hurriedly made a bright blue shield that solidified into ice. Him and Juvia both took cover behind it.
The golden light encompassed everything, which was sought over a large area. When it faded away, Ore was seen with a stale face behind his mask, looking on as he was in the center of a golden museum of statues. Not only was the ground covered in a thicker layer, but the dead trees and everyone else, no matter whom, was nothing both within a layer of gold. The allies were all pure gold, leaving them in shocked poses and ones that left them to cover up.
Ore smirked. "Thy conviction has outweighed the course of actions against them yet a second time. Their flaws within valor do not appeal to thou ambition. Amaren and Essence shall thus remain at peace." He looked back up at the shield, seeing the crack. "With Amaren to be watching over us, we cannot fail. The shield has taken a toll. Within 24 hours, all shall be right again. Essence shall feed on this country's abundance of Magic. And not shall a single misstep be taken. Sacrifices were made along the way, and that is what we must continue to make, but at thy own life. Mistakes as those won't count as a forgiven transgression. For the mighty Essence!"
"How about for the loads of crap we give!"
The sudden shout from afar, catching Ore's attention. "What is this?" He looked baffled when he saw four figures emerged. His eyes widened in disbelief as the revealed figures were the only ones who were successful in blocking his spell. "Thou is without words! How?!"
Natsu was right besides Erza, who was in her Adamantine Armor and successfully shielded Natsu from turning him into a statue, but at the cost of her large shields turning solid, heavy gold. Gray and Juvia were in the same boat, with Gray's shield becoming solid gold and sparing him and Juvia.
The four were lined up in front, looking steadfast at Ore. Natsu's glare rivaled that of a dragon's. "So you think Fiore and everyone is nothing but food to this thing you're talking about? What a load of crap."
"It was one thing that you declared war on us…" Erza started.
"But turning our comrades into gold is another. You're asking for absolute zero mercy buddy!" Gray barked.
Juvia nodded in agreement.
"So, you dare defy the will of Essence? Then I'll make sure that your lives are forfeited!" Ore declared.
Natsu ran on ahead towards Ore. "We're not food to anything, or anyone!" He fired a vicious display of punches and kicks at Ore as the king was blocking and dodging with little movements involved. "We're not tools! We're living beings who have dreams of our own! Something you won't ever take away from us!"
He threw another punch, but Ore blocked and grabbed Natsu's arm as Erza came around in her Heaven's Wheel Armor. He pivoted and through Natsu into Erza, slamming both into the solid gold earth. Ore spiraled in place and his open palms emitted a sparkling gold wave that went in all directions. The energy wave expanded and pushed all four back several feet in a raging slide.
"Juvia!" Gray shouted.
"Right!" Juvia regained her ground and summoned a serpentine river that shivered and swayed through the air towards Ore. Gray applied his Ice-Make, freezing the river and making a smooth slide. He followed through first, with Juvia following behind him. They both slid along the slide and went towards Ore.
Ore wasn't looking pleased as he made a massive amount of gold in the shape of a spear. "Glory Arrow!" He fired large bullets of golden energy at Gray and Juvia as they slid along and off towards him. They slid about along the spiraling slide with momentum to keep them from getting hit by the attack as massive fragments of the slide were destroyed.
When the slide stopped and reached the ground, Gray and Juvia lunged ahead at Ore with a close distance between them.
"Ice-Make: Cold Excalibur!"
"Water Jigsaw!"
Weaponry of ice and compressed blades of water became a volatile blur for Ore as both attacks were so fast and powerful. He was sent flying with cold ice and gashes from the pair, with Gray and Juvia passing him.
Ore thud against the cold, gold ground, making him gawk at the shock running through his back. He could feel a lot of stress within the injuries sustained. He looked up as he was on the ground, seeing Natsu overhead with a massive fireball.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" He threw the fireball down onto Ore.
In response, he held out both arms overhead. "Have at thee! Glittering Somber!" A blast of gold energy fired with shrilling intensity. The attacks collided in the air, conducting a powerful array of gold fire sprinkling with embers all throughout the sky.
Ore's eyes widened when a figure emerged from the fiery gold in the sky. It was Erza, and she had the face of a warrior who had a fire in her eyes. Following her were several swords.
"Blumenblatt!"
She passed her opponent, slashing him with valor. Following her were her swords that past him as well. Ore grunted as the swords' sharp edging made contact with him, but time seemed to have slowed down gradually as his eyes flashed gold.
A harsh, blinding light exerted from him, and Erza looked away for a few brief moments, leaving her to be open.
"Erza, look out!" Gray yelled.
"Erza, let me help!" Juvia swiped her arm, summoning a pressurized stream of water just as the glint faded. Aiming at Erza were all of her swords that became solid gold. Juvia's stream of water swamped the swords in time and made them hit the ground and not Erza.
Erza looked back at Juvia. "Thank you." She glowed, and this time became what was her Morning Star Armor. "Your magic is most cumbersome! HRAH!" She went and slashed away at Ore as he, again, blocked and dodged her sword swipes with relative ease. When Erza's sword hit his gauntlet, it turned into solid gold. Using the proximity, she planted a kick to his abdominal area.
Ore yelled out as he stumbled back. When he regained proper footing, he was met with Natsu's fist to his mask, making him shoot backwards into a statue of gold, his back right in the elbow. The action made him gag and falter to a knee.
"Looks like we got him on the ropes! Let's nail him some more!" He yelled. "Let's get everyone back to normal!" He puffed his cheeks and fire began to surge. "Fire Dragon's Roar!
Erza requipped the gold sword for a spare one and static light began to charge up within both swords when put together. "Photon Slicer!"
"Water Nebula!"
"Ice-Make: Lance!"
The surge of all four attacks went beaming at Ore in one go. The violent torrent of all the attacks were drawing closer, and yet the shocking part was that as Ore was up on his feet, he looked like he was growling.
Gold energy swelled like crazy around him. 'For Essence…' He was encased in a strong fluctuation of golden light. "This shall not come to pass!" A pillar of gold light erupted from where he stood, and all four attacks were met with the golden pillar but ended up dissipating. Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief as their attacks were wiped away like that. The golden pillar dissipated, and the residue energy manifested into a golden sphere in his open palms that faced the other. "Now, relish in thou unholy punishment!"
A pure, solid gold beam was fired directly at Gray and Juvia. The power was so intense that it was making the ground shake. The beam had more potency than the other beams, similar to the one that turned Happy's wing into gold.
"Gray! NOO!" A heroic act was displayed just then, as Juvia pushed Gray out of the way of the blast. Gray fell onto his back and watched as time slowed down again. Natsu and Erza showed just as much horror as Gray did when Juvia reached out towards him before being engulfed in the beam.
All three were in horror of what happened. Gray's eyes dilated when the beam dissipated, showing Juvia was in a gold statue in the same movement from when she was reaching out towards Gray. The momentum of her statue did not settle, and she fell over onto her side with a booming thud.
"JUVIA!" Gray's yell echoed through the air, bellowing out.
"Join her, feeble commoner!" Ore gathered the same level of energy and blasted Gray with one hand, the solid gold beam getting his attention as his reaction time was all but fatal. Distraught from what happened, Gray was engulfed in the same golden beam.
"Gray!" Natsu yelled out helplessly. Erza showed just as much horror as she tried holding Natsu back by the shoulder.
The beam dissipated, revealing the shirtless Gray in the same gold. His contours were all the same, and he was but a kneeling statue looking towards his right with horror.
Ore then turned towards the duo before him. "Now, who shall succumb to thy own golden retribution?"
Natsu glared darkly at Ore, a fiery pain in his eyes. "You bastard!" He growled. "I'm gonna melt all that gold off of you, and then you're next!"
Erza requipped, this time into her Purgatory Armor. She held her mace to her side, a hardened glare on Ore as he opposed them both. "You had the audacity to turn our friends into mindless statues. Your magic in nothing short of dirty riches, fitting for scum like you."
Ore's eyes glared daggers back. "Thou has fortitude, and such names do not describe thee. I am pure, as is the will of my brethren and the mighty Essence." He reached out towards them both, his gold gauntlets glimmering with golden energy. "Thy judgement shall cast you into gold! Glittering Somber!"
He fired another golden blast of energy at the two. They jumped and dodged the energized attack and Erza raised her spiked mace overhead. Ore looked up and reached to grab. Upon contact, Erza's mace was stopped cold, the intense momentum sending a shockwave all around that made nearby gold statues fall over. Immediate contact tuned the mace into pure gold.
"Time for me to get a little payback for that stripper!" Natsu slid underneath Ore and crouched beneath, igniting his arms. Ore's gaze turned downwards when he saw Natsu's becoming a vortex of spinning fire.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
In a vicious display, he passed Ore as rotating lashes of fire scorched his robe, leaving cindered markings as he was caught in midair. Natsu looked back in a flash as Ore was suspended in his eyes. "Do it now!"
Her strength showed no bounds. Erza held up the mighty gold mace, her will surpassing the mace's mass entirely. Erza had a vicious look as she lunged at Ore.
His eyes were wide. 'This strength…though shan't accept such foolhardy creatures besting him like this again!'
Erza swung her mace from the side with the force to crush pillars. To her shock, Ore clenched his left fist and backhanded Erza's golden mace, making a vivid gong sound rattle with a shrill frequency. The redhead was left bewildered as Ore used his right gauntlet and made a golden sphere.
"Glory Arrow!"
Erza slammed into the gold-covered ground, yelping as she was bombarded with a vicious barrage of heavy and massive golden bullets. Each shot was like taking a punch by a Vulcan; painful.
"Erza!" Natsu lunged angrily after Ore, his eyes dilating as he saw Erza defend using her golden mace as it was denting heavily from each shot. He took a massive leap with a fist coated in fire. "You leave her alone, ya bastard-!"
Ore did a sharp turn and his heavy gauntlet clutched Natsu by the face, putting pressure on his skull. A powerful squeeze made Natsu grit his teeth to choke on his pain.
"Natsu!" Erza yelled. She managed to get to her feet, but she felt fatigue from the injuries sustained.
"Perhaps thou does not understand." Ore said low. "Thou has only one destiny – to perish before Essence."
Natsu's screams were muffled within the confines of the light emanating from Ore's grip. The light got brighter and made the air dense. Erza watched in horror as a golden light completely enveloped Natsu and left her heart to stop at the sight of him being turned into gold. Ore sneered with no remorse as he released his grip from Natsu's golden statue. His statue was of his face in anguish, his legs looking frantic while his arms were overhead, trying to get the arm to let go. Ore let his hand back away and stood stoic and put his finger up to Natsu's gold-crusted forehead. He only poked Natsu by just a little, making his statue fall over with a thud.
"Child's play." He scowled.
A sudden pair of feet left the round and sprung at Ore. Erza looked mad as she flashed and requipped into her bandages and hakama, wielding two katana at once. "I'm gonna make you pay!" She yelled.
She unleashed a vicious display of slashing with her swords, violently cutting his robe into shambles. Ore thought little of his attire as he held his gauntlets up to block. Her katana clanged against the armor and immediately turned to gold.
Still, she kept fighting on with the golden blades.
"How dare you take my friends away! How dare you take him away!" She spatted out angrily. She continued slashing as Ore made little movements and blocked.
"That novice was but a mere fool. Everyone can make thy own decision in their time of living, but their ends are never merciful. Thy knows well of such tragedies, and he dared and defied the inevitable end." When Ore said 'he' he had a vile venom to his tone.
Erza's katana was blocked by a golden gauntlet. "What are you talking about? Tell me!"
A point-blank explosion of gold light erupted from in between Erza and Ore, making the ground shake. Erza slid back from the smoke cloud, barely keeping foot but managing to keep high alert as there was a golden glint within the smoke cloud. She lunged right and dodged a sphere of solid gold energy that exploded in the distance, still unable to dent the ground.
Erza tightened her grip as she watched the smoke settle and sprung back into the fray, her golden katana colliding with his gauntlet once more. Both were at a stalemate as his tough armor and Erza's strength were leaving them in place.
"So tell me, who is this Essence you speak of?" Erza demanded.
"Though is not worthy of even mentioning his magnificence!" Ore growled. "His greatness has a quench for life, and as long as we serve under him, shall we never give no other thought but damnation to novices such as yourselves. It's the end of the line for you!"
He brought his left arm back, which had a solid gold energy within it. Erza's eyes were wide and she had little to no room to react. With her hands full of golden katanas, she couldn't possibly grow a limb to deflect. 'Natsu, I'm sorry…'
An explosion of fire erupted behind Ore, making him yelp out and dissipate his Gold Magic. His grunted was well heard from Erza as she jerked back and remained confused. "What…?"
Ore hunched over and looked back. Shock ran all over and his eyes widened in disbelief. "It can't be…"
There stood Natsu, with his trademark smirk. His scarf shifted in the winds and he punched his palm. "Hey, mind if I step back in?"
"Natsu?" Erza's voice had a glimmer of happiness as well as obvious shock. Seeing Natsu there, it was like her prayers were answered.
"Thou can't believe this act! How could you have escaped your golden prison?" Ore demanded. He looked behind Natsu, seeing what appeared to be a bubbly file of gold in a liquid form. Hurriedly connecting the dots, Ore felt a tinge of disbelief fall upon his shoulders. 'He has done the unthinkable. He actually melted off the gold?!'
"How's about some fresh air in those statues! HRAH!" Natsu sent an uppercut to Ore's chin. The impact actually made chunks of his mask crack and piece off as he was sent overhead. The king thudded hard against the ground, and his back felt yet another blistering pain.
Natsu stood right by Erza's side, looking at her smiling face. "You gave me a scare there." She chastised.
Natsu sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Heh, sorry about that."
Ore got right back up to his feet, albeit with a struggle. As he finally got upright, a half-dozen of cards came flying in from his left. They exploded upon contact, with Ore using nothing more than the tattered remains of his yellow robe to defend. While effective, he did slide back several feet.
A smirk was seen from yet another individual. "Hey, mind if I crash yer royal party?"
Erza grew more surprised than before, seeing a familiar brunette enter the fray again. "Cana!"
"Thy own numbers are dwindling. This is not what is to transpi-GAH!" Ore was smacked in the back of the head and felt a harsh pain flow.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" Declared what was the more shocking appearance out of all of them, it was someone who no one saw coming, especially in the three's case. It was Master Bob, and he looked perky again after landing that smack to the head.
"Why hello darlings~!" He greeted.
"That circus clown?!" Natsu exasperated.
"Master Bob, this is most a surprise again." Erza admitted. She turned towards Cana. "Hold on, how did you escape your gold statues?"
Cana grew a widened smirk as she winked. "Thanks to these dolls." What she held up was a tarot card with the sexy ladies on it. "Good thing I anticipated that little shockwave. I made a little wall of them to help by myself some time to recover."
Looking over Cana's shoulder, Erza and Natsu sweat dropped when they saw a concave shield, or perhaps a half-dome, of busty ladies in bikinis in solid gold. The image was hard to grasp, but it was the purpose that counted the most.
"Then…?" Erza looked at Master Bob with inquiry.
Bob put a hand to his cheek. "H'oh, little ol' me? My Magic just let me slipped right on out of that hunk of a prison. I have to say, I didn't look too bad in gold."
Cana raised a brow at the crossdresser. "Phasing Magic. Can't say I didn't see that coming."
"Enough skullduggery!" Ore's voice boomed, getting their attention yet again. His body gave off a vibrant glow, signifying his magic acting up again. A large sphere of Glory Arrow was materialized again. "Though shall suffer thy consequences for disrupting Essence himself in his eternal feeding!"
Cana flashed some cards. "Not if we have a say in it! Prayer's Fountain!" She slammed the card down onto the ground, where huge streams of water shot violently at Ore, landing direct blows that made him gurgle with each pressurized blast dealt with.
"Natsu! Erza! Hit him hard!" The brunette yelled.
"NO!" Ore yelled.
Erza and Natsu lunged ahead. One had two golden katana and the other had searing fire pouring out of his body. The red and pink-haired duo yelled out as they were shooting like rockets. A massive heap of flame converged into Natsu's fist and Erza crossed her blades.
As they closed in, Ore's eyes dilated with the fixation of a dragon and knight coming at him. "This…can't be! Forgive me my lord! Forgive me, oh mighty Essence!"
"HRAH!"
"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
Both slashed violently at Ore, not only passing him, but leaving a glimmer of golden flames in their wake. The two posed and huffed while Ore's scraped and torn body was sent flying. The brutal intensity of their combined efforts made him tumble through the air until slamming his back into the crack of the first shield. The harsh impact made a thunderous echo. Ore's mouth hung open as the cracks finally gave in, finally shattering and having him fall onto his reinforcements awaiting behind the first shield as they looked baffled with their first line of defense shattering.
"The first shield has been penetrated!"
"This is bad! And Lord Ore has been defeated!"
"All reinforcements converge towards the east! We have a breach! The first shield is down!"
As Ore laid on the ground, surrounded by the reinforcements, all of the gold-crusted figures and statues among them began to fade back to normality. The ground was returning to being dirt, and the dead trees returned from their golden paralysis as well. Simultaneously, everyone turned into gold had begun returning normal, with all of the gold becoming nothing more than thin air. Gray and Juvia could finally breathe again after their prison also limited their oxygen.
"Aw, my head." Gray grunted, putting a hand onto his head for comfort.
"Gray, darling!" Juvia said with a skip of a heartbeat.
Gray looked up and looked just as surprised. "Juvia?"
Juvia nodded with a loving smile. "It seems that we're no longer trapped in gold…" She closed the distance with herself and Gray, embracing him with hearts in the background. "But I wouldn't mind if we shared a statue!"
"So creepy! Get off!" Gray yelled.
Happy stretched his paws and wings. "Aw yeah! Back in business!"
"Nice work!" Lucy grinned.
"I was gonna lose oxygen there. Nice save." Hibiki congratulated.
Elfman put his hands above his head. "Aw yeah! Real men are gonna run this show now!"
Everyone's confusion and bafflement turned to cheers as they caught onto what happened. They all turned their attention forward as the breach in the first shield made the whole perimeter disintegrate into thin air. All reinforcements behind the first shield looked annoyed as their first shield went down like that. They didn't show much surprised since it happened before. The same should happen as before.
"Forward!" One yelled. The soldiers behind the shield all ran ahead. They were the same numbers as those outside the shield, and that was nothing more than bad news.
Natsu huffed. "Damnit, that guy made me exhaust so much power."
"Agreed. I'm almost completely out of Magic Power." Erza mentally had to scold herself for being so careless and wasteful in her requipping, but they did put a dent in the enemy's forces by taking Ore down.
Cana, along with the alliance, didn't have much reinforcements either. Everyone, once again, had exhausted their Magic Power quite a bit. The combined efforts did crack the shield, but only Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus had a fair amount of magic to dwindle the numbers to a degree.
"Oh dear, we can't give up now." Bob said. "These hot-blooded fools need to know their place!"
"Master Bob is right! Everyone, advance at all costs!" Jura yelled, despite him exhausting quite a bit of his own magic.
Everyone charged again towards the reinforcements, albeit with scrapes and dirt from their first go-round earlier. Once again, they all engaged with a vicious display of magic, with Gray and Juvia using their power and completely turning the tables on several consecutive numbers at once. Erza and Natsu both remained close towards one another as they engaged the enemy.
Cana threw more tarot cards embedded with her magic at the enemy, causing an explosion. "This is getting tedious."
"Our numbers are lower than before, Master! We might need to back out again!" Sherry protested as she dodged a bludgeon.
"Grrrr! Everyone keep spinning!" Obaba yelled while she herself spun like a top. "We came this far, so let me at them!" The small, old woman let out a battle cry as she spun in a straight line through many numbers at once, making them fall over.
"Sherry, follow the old hag's example, won't ya?" Lyon called out to her as he used his magic and made a geyser of ice sprout up beneath many soldiers, including those trying to get up from being toppled over my Obaba.
Sherry looked perky again at Lyon. "Yes, my love!"
Toby slashed, Jura summoned more rocks, Ichiya pummeled away, and many more were entering the fray once more. They were all seemingly even, though the advantage belonged towards the enemy, and the soldiers began to outnumber them all soon. Each mage was starting to get cornered, which was nothing more than a bad omen.
As a soldier raised his staff to puncture Master Makarov from behind, the old Master looked back and saw what was coming down onto him.
"Master!" Lucy yelled.
A vicious whoosh sound brushed past Makarov as his eyes caught a blur. The staff was sliced into little bits, and the soldier's body had several heaping cuts as he fell over. Following him were many more as blades crossed and many fell over.
"Dual Guillotine!"
In a violent display, Craig zipped through many of soldiers, leaving two long slash marks with the mouth double mouth blade and one blade in each hand. Weaponry was slice into chunks and soldiers spilled hints of blood through their open cuts.
Among the many allied members that were shocked was Fairy Tail. They saw a lot of bodies fall in so little blows. Craig's figure was barely noticeable until many soldiers fell over, bits of blood sprinkling. As Craig passed them all, he only kept his eyes forward and dared not to look back a t the carnage behind him. Instead, he kept his sights forward as he pivoted and spun forward like a funnel with blades.
"Spiral Dragon Slice!"
Another raging torrent of men went flying off with several large cuts in their skins. They all fell either consecutively or simultaneously. It was a vicious display that no one saw coming from the four-bladed beast of a man.
"He's knocking them down in one go?!" Macao exclaimed.
"Om my god! He's slicing them through like they were tissue paper!" Wakaba exclaimed, seeing another set of twenty fall in a single Spiral Dragon Slice.
Craig pivoted and sprung in a circle in place, slicing up weapons and leaving heavy cuts on fallen men. "Hell is where you guys are going! Essence isn't going anywhere!" He brought his head back and the mouth blade followed. He swung his head back around and the mouth blade spun violently like a saucer as it flew with heinous momentum from the swing. It sliced through so many numbers straight forward, blazing through bludgeons and sword like they were wood. Men fell over like bowling pins with either torn up limbs or blood-coated parts layered all around. Again, Craig dared not look down at the blood red and passed them all. He slid underneath his rotating mouth blade and stuck a hand up, grabbing up and stopping it in midair. He jumped and put the hilt back into his sharp-fanged mouth and dove back into the frenzy.
It was a revolting site. The blue-robed and red-robed man had straight faces as they watched from a cliff high above the mountains. They watched in front of the second shield as their forces were spilling blood, and not of the enemy's. The most brutal site was within: Craig.
"My lord, he's back." The blue-robed man scowled.
"Yes, so it seems." The red-robed man growled low. "And it would appear that his little party is backup to him. Thy lord Ore shall not be in vain. His efforts were valiant, and we swear to make sure justice be sought onto thou sullied heart!"
The red-robed man raised his staff in the air. "Amaren! Essence! You shall have your wish of vengeance yet! The poor soul has escaped his fate from before., and dare not shall he do so again!"
The blue-robed man yelled up towards the sky. "Amaren! You have led us thus far! Let us quench your need to slay the unforgiveable! All of those who dare oppose shall be fed to Essence!"
"For the great Essence!" They yelled in unison.
They looked back down briefly as their numbers were starting to get overwhelmed by Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and Lamia Scale, but mostly due to Craig as he was like a raging primordial beast prowling with a purpose. They angrily scowled down at him as they watched him pass and strike down a straight line of men as he used another Spiral Dragon Slice.
With the sites seen, they both turned their backs and entered the dark gray second shield, phasing through into it like ghosts.
New chapter up. I decided to make this chapter more Natza and spare some more hilarity and nagging between Craig and Cana for later on.
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