Energy claws from Hybria collided with Craig's single dark red sword he had unsheathed in less than a flash of a second. A loud clang echoed as a small shockwave sent a layer of dirt around in a perfect circle, leveling the terrain in a small radius.
With their proximity close, their eyes glared heavily into the other. They snarled heavily before the shock of their interception finally made them slide away from the other. They both left dirt flying on both sides and then they briefly glared at each other again before Hybria made his next move.
"Craig Crius, take this! Cataclysmic Earth!"
He slammed both his cyan palms together and then thrust them into the ground. The ground all around rumbled with heavy magnitude and went up and down like ocean waves. The ground then broke apart, unleashing blue roots from below. As they all went to strike Craig, he only kept the one sword out as he adjusted his grip.
He brought his arm around and slashed horizontally, passing and bisecting straight through a number of roots. He showed no hesitation as he ran ahead and disregarded the falling roots on either end. When he got to a point, he used a falling root as a stepping stone and sprung up into the air.
"What?!" Hybria shouted.
Clenching his open left fist, Craig drove himself down onto Hybria. "Smash!" A ferocious punch was driven right into the side of Hybria's face, causing the recipient to gag as he shot backwards, sliding along his back into the dirt while Craig landed without so much as a flinch.
Makarov's eyes widened. "My word…he's that strong?"
"He's actually pushing that guy back on his own?!" Gray exclaimed.
Erza looked hesitant at the screen that showed the battle. "Craig Crius, I remember your power full well. You are truly a force to be reckoned with." She bitterly admitted.
"You can quit showing off ya bastard!" Cana berated the monitor. "Prancing around like that ain't funny!"
The dust cleared and Hybria arose from the ground. His arm blades glowed and elongated into long blades once more. The beast of a man roared out and lunged like a rocket after Craig. In response, Craig kept the one sword out and pivoted. He slashed right into the left arm blade, making a stale clang sound once more. Wind went past them as their forces were seemingly even, much to Hybria's ill-will. He brought his right arm blade around and aimed for Craig's bare neck. "Say goodnight!" Hybria was so close, if not for when Craig turned his head, opened his mouth, and snapped his jaws straight down onto the energized arm blade, stopping it in its tracks. Hybria recoiled back a small step from the pain of Craig's bare teeth denting through his offense. Craig saw his opponent in trouble and took the chance needed; the beast bit down harder and made Hybria lose momentum, and then stomped on his cyan abdomen hard, shoving him back several feet.
Hybria wiped the dirt and drool from the sides of his mouth and narrowed his eyes. "You've improved drastically over the years. You've truly impressed me."
"I don't need your pity." Craig scowled. He flicked his wrist and the dark red sword twirled swiftly and he caught it with an adjusted grip. He ran ahead and thrust forward. "Humming Pointer!" With a swift yet lethal jab of the tip of his sword, Craig thrust and missed as Hybria dodged with a great jump. The impact left by the attack pressed onwards, leaving a deep crevice inside of a thick rock pile. The brute force was something that even Erza couldn't accomplish; what she was witnessing was not of compressed air slashed like she does…that was all pure skill!
Hybria brought his tail around as he descended and drove it down. "You know us well, which is why you must die!" He slammed his tail down onto Craig, and yet all the recipient did was hold up an arm and blocked using the titanium armband on either arm. The most impressive feature was that he applied little movement and didn't even have his arm budge upon impact.
"How?! What sorcery does thou wield?!" Hybria exclaimed.
Craig's eyes cascaded upwards as they were at a stalemate still. He sheathed his dark red sword, leaving him bare-handed. "We've fought before. Surely you don't think I'm dumb enough to forget your fighting style, right?" When he saw Hybria sneering in disappointment, he was right on the money. "You think you're superior…" He grabbed the tail once more. "You're no different than scum who waddle in the dirt!" With a violent motion, he drove Hybria by the tail into the earth, making it thud, as well as left the desolate earth cracked.
Hybria's vision was partly hazy, leaving him to space out. His disoriented state left him open.
"Smash!"
A violent punch from Craig across his face sent him sliding off into a nearby pile of rubble, crashing his back against the debris and to fall into the dust.
There was still shock hanging among the alliance. Craig was showing up Hybria without much of a fight. They all witnessed Natsu only dealing so much, but Craig's display was uncanny to them.
"Is he seriously that brutal?" Macao questioned.
"No kidding! He's punching and slamming the brains out of that guy!" Wakaba exclaimed.
"Whoa, that guy's insane!" Warren baffled aloud.
"Man. His parfume is sharp." Ichiya stated.
"Those sharp teeth are what scare me." Hibiki admitted, taking a brief break from gathering data from his Archive Magic. "If he can beat him, then we'll have the advantage."
"What fortitude." Jura praised.
Craig kept a steadily gaze towards the dust cloud as it was starting to settle. It was mere seconds away from showing the condition of Hybria before the ground gave off a small magnitude. The pulsing dilated to a heavier level, and Craig was too late. '…oh no!' The ground beneath him broke apart, giving way for a giant blue serpentine dragon made up of blue roots to shoot up and send Craig skyward.
"Crap! This sucker's got some fight in him!" He grunted in midair.
The dust settled and Hybria was standing. "Thou existence is a nuisance! Why must you interfere?!"
As the Dragon Root attack's mouth opened up, Craig adjusted in the air. "Why?!" He tucked in and his body somersaulted as the Dragon Root's snout struck him, the momentum causing him to roll towards the neck and untucked, making him run along the humungous root as its head dove back into the ground.
"I'll tell you why! Because sacrificing others' lives to appease does not make it okay! There's many bystanders who don't deserve a fate! They have lives of their own to enjoy without the need of fear to drive them forward or backward!" He jumped from the root and descended down, rolling in the air like a bowling ball and gaining heavy momentum. "Humans and life on Earth Land isn't something you can just exterminate for satisfaction! Sky Sunder!"
Hybria brought an arm blade forward brimming with Magic Power. The blade met Craig's axe kick that had an overwhelming momentum riding on it. A shockwave rippled outwards, making a crater from where Hybria stood.
While in their standstill, Hybria retorted. "Thou speaks nonsense! This is all for the good of thy masters!" He and Craig both backed away and slid off several to a harsh halt on their heels. "The food chain is always being argued, and Essence is the only key to that solution. With him, thy shall have all bow and accept their fates. Food is a necessity to life, is it not? You wouldn't wanna go hungry, especially when there are so many mouths to feed? With Essence, Earth Land shall have plenty!"
"That's nothing but rubbish spoken to by Amaren." Craig yelled.
"Silence! Thou is not allowed to say his name!" Hybria lunged forward with his energy claws formed. He rushed and slashed at Craig, but his strike missed when he ducked.
"Too many good people fell to that horrid creation, and now you'll pay the price! Soaring Pain!" Craig fired a blitzing uppercut, but Hybria reeled his head back and dodged. Craig and Hybria then jumped away for some distance, and that was where Hybria made his move.
"Then prove thou wrong! Cataclysmic Earth!" He slammed his palms into another and slammed them into the earth, making more waves of earth rumble and giant blue roots eroded from the earth to attack Craig.
Craig opened his mouth, the lacrima Happy had on showing all of Craig's sharp teeth. He reached for the gold sheath and unsheathed both ends. He put the golden blade into his mouth, and then pivoted as he drew both the dark red and blood red swords. In a swift and violent twist and spin, he sliced right through the roots coming his way.
"Spiral Dragon Slice!"
With a swift pivot, he spun in and split apart roots into shambles, even though they were ranging from three to ten feet in thickness.
"He busted through all of that?!" Gray exclaimed.
Erza's eyes showed equal disbelief. "And without even a beat of sweat. His style is uncanny."
As roots fell like building blocks toppling down, Craig closed the gap between them and slashed with the mouth and dark red sword, severing the battle armor Hybria's upper body had. The hybrid screeched out in pain as he felt some cuts along his chest, but persevered and used the close proximity towards his advantage.
"Impudent fool! Life Maelstrom!"
Hybria exerted a strong swell of energy that made blue leaves materialize. The raging tempest of blue energy leaves stretched out into a raging tornado that was too close for Craig to escape. The tornado shot Craig into the air with no balance, screaming as he still had the blades in hand. He fell down as the severe tempest dialed down and fortunately landed on his heels and slid back a few feet; the blood red and dark red swords being used as anchors.
"You're so annoying!" Hybria's arm blades reactivated again and lunged after Craig.
Craig got the swords out of the ground and glared back at Hybria as he looked desperate to take him down. If Craig needed a finishing move to rip him apart, it may as well be now. 'I gotta finish this psycho up. There's not enough time before Essence moves on towards another place.' He brought his head around, hauling the mouth blade with him. 'This better work or I'll be more pissed than ever.' He swung his head upwards, releasing his grip and sent his mouth blade twirling into the sky. He reacted fast and slid his left foot back for support as Hybria appeared in front, swinging his right arm blade around.
"End of the line for thou!" He declared.
"Pal-!" Craig's jaws were shown, and with them were his razor-sharp teeth. "You got things backwards!"
In a swift motion, Craig snapped his jaws on the arm blade, his fangs piercing through it like it was a pea pod. His vicious bite completely ripped into the arm blade in full, and when he jerked his head off to the side, the arm blade was ripped off. Everyone watching never saw something so drastic and so brutal in one go; a feature involving the mouth was especially scary that it almost made Ichiya's nose cringe.
Hybria screamed in agonizing pain as the energy dissipated, revealing the little protrusion that was the small remnants of his arm blade having red. The arm blade in Craig's mouth shrunk to an organic knife, dripping red from one end. He swished his head around violently and tossed it aside like a rag doll.
"My god…I think I'm gonna be sick." Laki clutched her stomach to suppress the urge to gag.
"He ripped off a part of his anatomy with his bare teeth?!" Carla exclaimed.
Lily sweat dropped. "Gee, talk about vicious set of jaws."
Hybria dropped to a knee and mulled over the pain in his arm, leaving him grunting with heavy anxiety as he was failing. "You fool! What have you done?!" He screamed in pain.
Craig glanced up just as his mouth blade was spiraling back downwards, thankfully above himself. He looked up and opened his mouth. "This!"
He caught the mouth blade with his teeth, against startling everyone. They all then watched as Craig then left them with another shocking display. Thrusting the left side of the mouth blade and his two other swords, he punctured and pierced Hybria's back, making the recipient go wide-eyed as everything went hazy for him. Blood sprinkled a bit from the swords from piercing through.
Hybria got to a second knee, his energy completely gone. His breathing was stable, despite the overwhelming levels of pain his inside were feeling.
"Oh man…" Natsu muttered.
"It's just like Solidaster." Happy recalled the tale and how he witnessed the cataclysmic brawl of Craig against the slave dictator. Craig suffered so many bloody cuts and gashes, and yet this was no different. He was at it; showing why even the bravest should fear him.
He yanked his swords out and stared down at Hybria. He was fortunate to leave him still intact – for the most part. He didn't get the lungs, but he was aware of a human's vital, and how vital they were. Without even bothering to clean his swords, Craig then walked slowly behind Hybria as he was clutching his abdomen in pain. He had his two swords pointed to the ribs, and he hunched over so his mouth blade's right blade was at Hybria's neck.
"You lose." Craig told. "Now listen up, you're given two choices here: You can tell the impetuous pyro and his cat what they want to know about Essence and save your life, or I can cut you up." He wasn't joking, and his tone proved it. Craig was dead serious, and everyone heard it full well through the three big monitors.
Despite the pain inflicted onto him, Hybria had to see himself through. As a 'king', he owed it to his brethren to keep feeding Essence, but betrayal was out of the question. He valued his life, and as long as Essence is alive, he shall live to that purpose.
His distraught gaze was up towards Craig, his bloodshot eyes making him look deranged when it was really fatigue. "You really wanna know?" He asked between exasperated gasps. "You all really wanna know?" He turned towards Natsu and Happy, his bloodshot eyes looking at them. He looked reluctant and desperate at the same time.
"Essence, is a parasite. Forged by Amaren himself. He, thy mighty Essence, has been our true king! The master we have longed for! With his guidance, he will purge this land, and the world. Life shall be reborn into the afterlife, and thy ethernano eater shall consume the lives embedded into all mages!"
"Ethernano eater?" Natsu questioned.
"Thy great Essence, the magic and ethernano devourer. Anything within his path, let alone around him…shall not even live. All life with ethernano within it shall not even be bark or skeleton!"
Happy's eyes widened in shock. "But ethernano is in all living things!"
"Exactly." Hybria began breaking down in a hysterical laughter. "Trees, great people who look up to, everything has ethernano! No one shall be safe from his hunger! Essence dare not even be neared by any, for they shall have ethernano embedded into their lives sucked away! You're all food…FOR THE GREAT ESSENCE! GAAHAHAHAHA!" His maniacal laughter brought shivers into everyone's spines. The light if the information sunk into their heads. The ethernano eater will instantly suck them dry, which explains no forest life anywhere around the area. The situation had gotten far more drastic.
Hybria laughed so much and had no conscience over what he was doing that he finally fell over and gave in, falling unconscious from fatigue and injuries.
Craig retracted and sheathed all of his blades. He had a steadily gaze down at Hybria for a brief time before the roots holding Happy and Natsu suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving them free as bird. As much as they would love to celebrate, they were far from okay from what just happened. They all instead cascaded their glances up towards the sky, where a pulse ran through the second shield. Craig stared up as the top of the dark gray dome disintegrated, and then remainder of the shield began to follow along and piece off into thin air.
Once the second shield reached the alliance, they were all bewildered by the change in events. Many were cheering, but the more serious and focused members were still stuck on the information gathered on Essence.
Makarov ignored the cheers of his guild and stared outwards towards the open skies. 'Essence…an ethernano eater. Does this mean that no matter what, we can't even get close without getting our magic and lives snatched away?' There were so many questions revolving around this new piece of information; Magic was a part of their lives, and since it's what makes them alive, that means they have little options against this new threat.
"Master?" Erza asked, seeing as how the Master was contemplative.
"Given this new information, I think we'll have to take a different approach." He said.
"Alright, the second shield is down!" Elfman shouted.
"Now that was awesome! Scary, but awesome!" Gray praised.
"You're awesome to me always, Gray!" Juvia wooed.
Lucy grew out of her initial horror and nervously cheered. "Uh, yay…I guess."
Cana crossed her arms underneath her breasts. "Well, well, well, looks like Cranky's useful to us after all. That slippery fanged prowler just found a way to escape what he knows and instead gave us a secondary source. Witty, annoying and despicable as his need to crush bone, but witty."
Natsu beamed at Craig with a smirk. "Say, thanks a lot…" He then frowned. "But that doesn't mean you're off the hook. What kind of freak are you?"
Craig turned his back from Natsu, staring with no casual indifference, rather he had intense focus on what defined him. Maybe he was a freak, but that he took on a more personal level than what anyone had imagined.
In what was around metric tons of debris and shambles of remains of the capital of Enca, there were two figures seen, both having unstable cracks of light and dark respectively. A shadowy man and Hilt both interlocked hands and tried shoving the other back, but no matter how hard they tried, they only served to exert more pressure from the other.
Ignoring the leaks of darkness emanating from the cracks on him, Chrios sneered at Hilt. "Why don't you give it a rest!"
Despite his arms looking all rotten from the Zeldoron force being overwhelming, he persevered through the pain. Hilt angrily and heroically pushed back, gaining momentum against the much taller man and turning his arms bright, causing a sharp hiss to come from Chrios.
"Stop this! NOW!" Chrios demanded. "Our powers are even!"
"You're right, Chrios, they are!" Hilt grunted as he lost momentum again. "BUT! I have to ask you…what would happen if you got a dose of both positive and negative energy at once?"
Chrios raised a brow as more cracks ran over his shadowy body. "Then…WHAT?!"
Hilt raised his head. "Craig, fellow, DO IT!"
High in the air, Craig was looking down. "ADIOS! LOSER!" With his genetics comprised of both Zeldoron and Excalon, that meant double, perhaps triple the force that either side could've displayed. Craig alone was able to wipe out his entire army of darkness soldiers, and the only way to get them back to who they were was to finish Chrios.
His mouth opened up, revealing a bright purple energy spiraling. The dragon head on his front opened up, and a larger energy sphere spiraled. The massive jaw wings he had aimed downwards and had two huge spheres conjuring energy as well. All four huge beams had a high frequency engine sound to it. The bright purple spheres lit up the pitch black sky, making a bright purple sun.
The bright light was stinging Chrios's eyes. The Zeldoron module he had stolen back was flickering on and off haphazardly, and the energy was so massive from Craig that it made the module both Chrios and Hilt had rattle and flicker uncontrollably.
"No! What have you done?! HILT, NO!" Chrios protested.
Hilt smirked. "…see you later…Chrios."
A massive shockwave bellowed all across Enca's dark skies, being seen from the shores of southern Ishgar. The bright purple shockwave was accompanied by all four beams launched by Craig and amplified by combining into a single massive beam that may very well rival that of Etherion. To an extent that is.
Chrios screamed in agony as the cracks on his body increased, while Hilt smirked.
"Craig…a job well done."
Normally it takes negative energy to harm Chrios, and positive energy for the respective end, but fused together can amplify the levels to catastrophic measures, and that meant…
A huge shockwave and explosion encompassed all of everything beneath the pitch black coverage in the sky. Craig watched from above as the land beneath quaked and got blown away. From afar, it was a huge dome of bright purple that sent tons of dust rattling in a circle into sea.
The rupture and the explosion soon faded, and as the dust was disintegrated, it revealed that the debris from the battles fought with Craig and Hilt against the army was leveled completely, leaving only bits of dust and ashes. The people who were victims of Chrios's dark influence weren't surprisingly dead, but rather the dark and unhealthy dread on their skins was burned off, reverting them back to who they were beforehand.
While they were all confused, they had recalled what happened and seemed joyful to be themselves once more. It was awkward really how they just rejoiced in the little debris left.
Meanwhile, exhausted and falling from the sky. Craig's conscience gave in, and he descended at high speeds. He was nothing short of what soon became a purple asteroid and fell straight down as the pitch black skies gave way to the bright sun overhead, making everyone's eyes lit up in joyful spirits further. They completely disregarded what was falling in the process.
Falling to a barren location, Craig thudded and made the location nearby sound like a dynamite rupture happened. The ground shook slightly from the impact, and miles away from the leveled capital was a huge crater. Craig was steaming in the center of the crater, and because of his increased endurance, he was still alive, albeit barely able to move.
Craig lurched and turned over. His body had felt pain before, but the exhaustion and strain was just far too much. He couldn't move, and the dragon head and jaw wings had small cracks.
Despite the pain, Craig half-grinned. "Yaaa~y. We won." He groaned before completely passing out.
It had been hours before he recovered, and despite that massive jolt of energy he used draining anymore power from him, he did have the strength to move around. Getting out of the crater and walking around, hauling his long tail and wings like he was dragging them, he looked around for any signs of his ally, Hilt.
"Hilt? Hilt?" He called out, but no answer. He looked towards another direction. "Hilt!" He yelled. "He said that the energy should only affect the Zeldoron…right?"
His eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the midst of some debris still intact from the shockwaves and explosions. He slowly walked on over with little energy but heavy curiosity. His claws brushed away some wall and some fallen stone, revealing what were two gray boxes.
The modules, and they seemed lifeless. This brought Craig to a curious level as he gently got both up in his two hands.
"Huh…? The modules? But why are they-!" His heart skipped a beat when his hands reeled back when both gray boxes fell apart and hit the ground, falling to small pieces, but upon hitting the ground was reduced to shattered glass.
Craig's eyes widened. "What the…" His eyes widened further upon realization. "Oh my god." He slowly sank to his spiky knees. "What have I done?" He looked around, more frantic than ever. "Hilt?! Hilt?! This isn't a game! Come on!"
He looked down at the module fragments, shifting around for answers. The lone piece that was still intact was a lens, from the Excalon module. It emitted a strong blue light, blinding Craig and making him hiss. There was a frequency emitting, and Craig looked back as the blue light resonated from a lacrima inside of the lens.
"A lacrima?" The lacrima sparkled upon his voice, and a hologram appeared in the blue light, showing Hilt as part Excalon. The image startled Craig.
"Hello, Craig." The message started.
"Hilt?" Craig asked in disbelief. It was a recorded message; hence the lacrima inside of the lens. 'Did he leave that there just for me?'
"If you're watching this, then that means we've won." Hilt's recorded person said. "Congratulations. You're probably wondering why both modules were destroyed, am I right? Well…that was all you." He sounded bold, but proud nonetheless. Hilt's message chuckled some before he continued grinning. "You thought that only the Zeldoron module would wound up being destroyed by its own force, but that was only a theory."
Craig remained wide-eyed within the duration of the ongoing message.
Hilt frowned. "Look…the truth is, Phil and Cassidy realized that when those directly affected by the module are linked to the modules themselves, it shares the same link. They also foretold through the DNA research that Chrios and I were…unstable. It'd only be a matter of time before both our bodies gave in. This was a one-way trip." His head hung low. "I'm sorry."
Craig's heart sank, but he remained silent.
"Look, Craig, please try and understand why I did this. I may have been a rather ambitious fellow, but I can see that modules such as these should never have been forged. A legacy is meant to be remembered, not to bring disaster to a new generation. You, Craig, you are that new generation. Your new DNA coding of both Zeldoron and Excalon fused into one has developed a hybrid theory. You must live to tell this tale. I would love to have tons more research and study as much as I can about what events you've been through, but…there's only so much a single person can take. Experience isn't a bad thing, and I've had far more than my fair share indeed. These are my words of thanks to you."
Craig's lips quivered while small drips of tears ran down his face.
"Thank you, for opening up my eyes that brawn must be accompanied by brain, that strength also needs intellect. Both are needed with another, and the Ying-Yang for both means with one going down, so does the other. The Zeldoron and Excalon are gone…but a legacy remains." Hilt smiled. "And so, you're the living evidence Craig. That's right. Keep up a skip in your stride ol' fellow, and make sure to have more adventures and crackerjack stories to tell!"
Hilt smiled with a salute. Craig returned the recorded message's sign of respect and saluted, all before the image finally faded away, finally bidding farewell to Hilt.
Craig hung his head how, silently crying over the bold sacrifice made today.
The bittersweet victory of that day, as still fresh in Craig's mind. The following painful surgery of splicing out the DNA an anatomical features was probably the physical pain followed by the mental pain of Hilt's sacrifice. Craig had nothing against him. He wasn't selfish; ambitious is given, but not selfish. It was nobody's fault. What happened was in the past, and the legacy of that tale was Craig himself.
He suddenly punched the side of the valley opening out of frustration. The memory was so bitter that he exerted it into the valley wall, leaving a large indent.
"Whoa!" Natsu and Happy jerked out of shock of Craig sudden raging outburst.
Craig, having settled down after that small frustrated release, turned his head and growled low. His attention was drawn towards the small dome in the distance - the third and final shield. His blank and hollow stare was followed by a stale silence by him. Without so much as bothering to look at Natsu or Happy, he embarked with a trudge in his walk, like a wild hunting dinosaur, making his walking sturdier.
"Hey, hold up! Get back here!" Natsu protested. "Who said we were done with you!"
Happy turned towards Natsu with remorse. "Natsu, don't." He insisted.
Natsu clenched his fists, almost shaking. "He insulted Fairy Tail, not treating us like family again. I ain't having that fly."
"He can seriously kill you. You saw what he did to that king." The Exceed's attention was drawn towards the third shield. "Besides…"
Natsu's attention began to waver from Craig as he left them to be. The Dragon Slayer looked on as he saw the pitch black third shield not too far from their point. He knew Happy was right, and Craig's violent treatment towards them would have to be settled later. Refocusing, he looked back at Happy, finally giving a grin. "Yeah, you're right. We gotta regroup and get that last shield down."
Happy smiled again. "Aye, sir! We'll break that third shield and take down this ethernano eater!"
As the two made their declaration, Craig kept on trudging through the barren domain, his thudding footsteps churning gravel. There was no voice telling him to stop from Natsu. He thought Fairy Tail and the alliance could honestly stop the incoming Essence. If only they realized the literal hell that beast can bring to everyone. Craig just continued on his path towards the pitch black dome, seeing as how it was being drawn ever so closer.
The last king had a very slow stride. He saw what transpired, and he was by no means pleased with the results of another fallen brethren. It was frustrating to say the least to know their efforts were being dwindled down to their last lines of defense for their 'holy hero'. Amaren's desire to cleanse the world was what drove them up to this point in time. There was no point of return for them, and Threshol was the last king to drive his beloved Essence ahead.
'Do not worry, oh great Essence. You are untouchable; you are the undefeated by any mere man. No mage in this realm is safe from your hunger.' Threshol thought as he gazed up at the pitch black dome. It was only a mere mile in diameter all around. He turned back ahead and continued walking along, his stride growing longer. His golden staff was raised into the air. "We shall move forward!"
Inside of the pitch black dome, there was a gargantuan beast at least a hundred feet tall. His yellow eyes showed no signs of emotion, but a continuous hunger to fill his desires. The beast let out a blood-curdling roar that could be heard from outside the third shield and stretch for miles.
The hollow roar made Craig lift his head up with widened eyes, as did the confused alliance members. They all felt shivers run through their spines when the roar vibrated through the ground.
Essence took a step forward, and the third shield was slowly making way from its spot and thus began to move on towards another spot, heading further into Fiore territory. Absolutely nothing was stopping it.
Makarov turned towards Master Bob. "Master Bob, have you any indication on our next plan of action?" He asked through Warren's reestablished link.
Bob had a perky and happy smile. "Oh, sure! There's only that one meanie left, right?"
Obaba was spinning fast as she led the charge through what was the confines of the second shield. "Let's not waste anymore time! Let's go get 'em!"
"Lead the way." Lyon followed behind his Master, accompanied by Jura and everyone else.
All forces initiated mobilization once more. Fairy Tail was charging in, but Makarov was less enthusiastic because he was weary. This power they were facing, it was untouchable by Hybria's wording. While he was frantic on the inside, the best course of action for him was not to dwell on the aspects of Essence, but rather stay focused on defeating Threshol, the final king.
Cana advanced with her guild, heading onwards towards the final shield. "Alright, now that Cranky's got us a ticket inside, let's kick some ass! For real this time!"
"Do you really call him that?" Gray sweat dropped.
"Shut up. He is." Cana barked back. "He irritates my soul."
Gray looked ahead with an unfair gaze. "Yeah, I'm in the same boat. That guy ain't getting off that easy, not after knocking me down a few pegs from a while back." He couldn't lie when the remembrance of the bite into the shoulder still stung a little.
It had been only a little less than an hour when all of the allied forces had regrouped with Natsu and Happy. The duo were given words of honor for trying, despite the credit belonging to Craig; but seeing as how he was gone and possibly took no crap from them, they thought it was best to have the matter be praised for by Natsu and Happy. With them settled in and given a synopsis of the new strategy, they all doubled their efforts on defeating what was the last king. By defeating him, they can all then focus on the third shield, and then they shall break that and the mighty Essence shall feel their wrath, at least to Natsu's perspective. While they all did agree, some lingered on the announcement made of Essence. How were they to fight a beast that can reap their lives along with the ethernano and magic inside of them? Did they really have any way of offense against such a thing? So many questions on what to do next and so little time.
"Hurry everyone." Hibiki said through the telepathic link. "My scanners are picking up bad vibrations. It's the third shield."
"The third shield?" Lucy questioned as she jogged with everyone else.
"What of it?" Wendy asked.
"It's actually…moving." He said. "The third shield is moving at 7 mph. It's heading right for us." All eyes widened in light of what was happening. They never saw it coming, because reality hit them hard when they saw a pitch black dome ahead of them through the valley, and it was closing in, seemingly growing closer. Hibiki's Archive Magic showed a monitor of them west and the dome east, both sides even at the same speed.
"I see, so then we'll have less time to formulate a strategy." Erza said. "And what of the third king?"
"His signature is close. He should be right on top of him." Hibiki announced.
Jura ran along with his fellow guild mates. "Let's hope by defeating him, the third shield shall invariably collapse."
"Let's not get our hopes up." Yuka stated. "The first shield was powered by generators, and the second shield made humans unable to cross through and was by means of Organic Link Magic. Who knows what this shield is powered by."
"Yuka's right. We can't put our bets on defeating the king and hoping the shield shall fall." Lyon stated. "Everyone, be on guard!"
As they all advanced on towards the third shield, the proximity was starting to dwindle bit by bit. The group of near three hundred again sped right into the fray, but they did not account for an abrupt tremor that came out of nowhere. The shockwaves made the churned gravel turn and palpitate.
The vibrations and tremors were not accompanied by a roar like last time. The shockwaves rattled harder than before, causing a majority of the alliance members to fall to their knees due to loss of balance.
Nearby, the shockwaves could be felt pulsating underneath Craig's feet. He stopped his trudge towards Essence and the third shield and turned around. His stare was heavy and towards west, where he recognized the presence of Threshol. Which greatly – and as mostly everyone does – piss him off. Looking back at the pitch black dome that wasn't too far. He stared harder, emitting a low but harsh growl, as well as baring his sharp teeth. He then turned away and heading back towards the direction he ventured from, drawing his blood red and dark red swords.
Dust blew in a single direction, catching everyone in the alliance staring at a figure within the dust. The red-robed king had appeared, taking a step towards them. His golden mask was far more intricate compared to Ore and Hybria, and he also looked pretty irritated to say the least.
"Thou has made it this far; to that, I congratulate thee." He announced. "It has never been achieved that thy second shield has been vanquished. Hybria had done his best, but alas it is my turn to step in for thee."
Mirajane stared at Threshol with just as much angst as any other member. "You care to explain yourself?"
"Yeah. Like why are you in Fiore? Let alone want to purge the world?" Lisanna argued.
The bottom of Threshol's staff hit the ground, making another boom sound. "Thou is too ignorant or unaware of what is really happening. There is much more at work here than what thou anticipates."
"Like what?" Makarov growled.
Threshol gave a small pause before speaking. "Is it not obvious? You Fiore bunch are more ignorant than what thou thought."
Natsu grew angry at the statement. "What was that?" He threatened.
"In this world lies poverty, souls and classes who cannot agree and always end up on the bottom of the food chain. They're easily manipulative for any means of food or money to go by. This world has a terrible plague, does it not?" He raised his staff into the air, where the bulbous tip gave off a weak light. The Magic Power that was starting to release from him was starting to worm all around, making those such as Jura and Erza again feel themselves hold back the urge to shiver. His Magic Power had an extreme potency, especially for someone who was alone. "Thou takes pity on them. Ore, Hybria, and I too have succumbed to such levels. We were nothing more than poor beggars who barely afford our own meals with the little jewel we can scrounge for…" The small pebbles around him were starting to levitate a little. "But Amaren was like a father, who took us in. He opened our eyes to desperation that was not us, but what the whole world had been suffering. He wanted the classes extinguished, for everyone to understand and feed and provide for the other. To do that, he plagued Earth Land with the great Essence. He shall feast upon all life since every living thing, even plant life, has ethernano. The despair brought shall make every single person relish and unite, only to suffer their gruesome fate altogether! Long live the great Essence!"
He slammed the bulbous end of the staff towards the ground, unleashing a super strong explosion that sent seismic shockwaves in a perfect circle. Dust sprouted like a bomb went off, whisking up everyone and all were caught in a gruesome maelstrom.
Within the turbulence, Cana screamed as everything was but a dirty haze. Scrapes of dirt and rock flew all around, and with what resistance she managed to sustain, covered up and was caught scraped and hammered by flying bodies and miscellaneous material.
When the turbulence settled, the brunette fell onto her back, among the rest of the alliance as they fell on various others and sustained more or less injuries. The weaker or more expendable members had been dealt severe dizziness or sustained mild injuries. It was well to say almost half were instantly incapacitated from that tempest of a shockwave Threshol had unleashed.
"I'm~ spinnning~!" Obaba groaned with spirals in her eyes.
Toby, barely able to move, groaned angrily with the Master having fallen on his back. "Get off of me! That fall really hurt!"
Lyon sat up, groaning as he rubbed the back of his head. "Ugh. What vulgar strength."
Jura got up onto a knee, trying to stand. "Shockwaves. He can manipulate the potency of them. That's extremely powerful-!" He was cut and sent soaring along with everyone else when another blast wave was made by Threshol, as he did not leave them any room to recover.
Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Fairy Tail were all blown away by another shockwave emitted. They were all caught in another storm of dust and strong winds, such force that rattled the fine gravel in the ground over the few miles that roamed.
Cana tumbled onto her side with heavy grunts as she sustained even more bruises and scrapes. The side of her head ringed like a gong from the blast. When she came around, her hazy vision blinked on and off, catching the image of Threshol several meters away. With what balance she could sustain, she got to her feet.
"Damn you." She grunted.
Several more members of various guilds sluggishly got up, including the core members of Fairy Tail. They felt all strained from the various blast waves created, but they supported one another as they stood alongside Cana. They had some strength left, and they were gonna use it against Threshol.
"We're not scared of your shockwaves!" Natsu declared as he was supported by Erza.
"Easy." She insisted. Her attention then drew towards her opponent. "But he is right. We're not done here; not by far."
His staff pointed towards the standing members of the three guilds, Threshol showed valiance. "I shall stand alone if it means fending for thy beliefs. Amaren and the great Essence shall uphold their legacy. Come at me!"
Not far behind, Craig was running with sturdy steps, running through the churned gravel with heavy stomps. His mouth opened up, bearing another primal roar that bellowed outwards as he charged on after his foe ahead.