One's Road to Remembrance

by Insane Dominator

For 4 years, a lone guy has been suffering from memory-loss, and can only remember his name: Craig Crius. The 4 years have been very unfriendly, and in turn has become rather desolate. With the help of Cana Alberona and from Fairy Tail, Craig will endure horrific hardships, take on dangerous tasks, and unleash power he never knew he had in order to understand who he was. OCxCana.

63. The Blood That I Shed

Another drop of blood slipped from the base of Craig's chin. His eyes still held shadows over them, unable to give a clear view of his pain for all the monitors broadcasted to see. There he was, at the mercy of a reaper-like god and at death's door. His body had stopped moving, so it was hard to tell if he was even conscious or died while standing.

Thanatos glared down with a smirk, wily and holding all four blades up. He had but little to say to Craig, so little that it hardly came out. "It's over…Craig Crius."

Craig still was unable to move or seemed like it at least. Hell broke loose and went full-force on him, and for all of Fiore to see, the Grand Magic Games had become a two-way bloodbath. If nobody had any power to stop Craig before, they had no hope now. Even Makarov was looking distraught at the sheer level of power.

"That power…" He thought for a moment to Craig's past, how he was in giant mechanisms one day, and by a few days if not a week later, he's fighting somewhere else. "How is Craig able to contain himself around this much power?"

"Unreal." Levy shuddered. In front of her, Pantherlily swallowed another lump.

Carla gazed up at the screen in horror. "This can't be…"

"Is Craig, really…?" Happy trailed off. He was too petrified to finish.

Elfman was holding onto Lisanna in fear of what become of them. Even though he was a man, he was barely keeping himself up, even if Mirajane was beneath his burly arms, too. Asuka had long since been hidden away by Bisca while Alzack was huddling them both. Natsu and his team were glaring up with gaping mouths, petrified upon seeing the impalement that Craig suffered. His blood was everywhere, and it soaked his abdomen so much that it was like he bathed in it. Erza was shaking in frustration and anguish at the same time, her disbelief surmounting all resolve. She's never felt such a prominent level before that it left her paralyzed. None of the other contestants nor could the patrons trapped inside the shield for that matter hold even two candles to the enormous magical pressure, it was staggering. But if that wasn't enough to scare them, the fact that Craig – Fairy Tail's solemn lifeline before – was all alone, and virtually helpless as he was punctured like a pushpin into a wall.

The one who seemed to be taking this the hardest was clutching her fists tight against the balcony. Her veins in her arms were showing as her eyes glued to the screen. She was mortified upon seeing Craig cut into, and her anxiety only skyrocketed. Her eyes were misty before, but she couldn't help but feel like chocking. His pain to her was far greater than anything before, but now it was her turn to understand his pain to see loved ones suffer before her and forced into submission.

With Craig subdued and on a knee, his body was frozen and stiff. Prometheus overlooked from the distance and turned towards Thanatos once more. "Satisfied?" he asked tiredly.

Thanatos scoffed as he turned around. "Hmph, maybe just a bit."

"I believe that I made myself perfectly clear. I asked that you left nothing more than a few good scratches."

Thanatos started walking slowly. "Right, and that's what I did. Just a few."

Aphrodite pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why am I not surprised?"

"How unfortunate for us." Penthos grumbled. "You have to achieve repentance for your karma, Thanatos. That is the cure for your undoing."

Thanatos sighed heavily. "Alright, fine. Maybe I went a little over the top, but I left you a few limbs intact. That's what you wanted, right?"

Prometheus raised a brow. "Well I can see where you're coming from with this, however…" he shot a glance at Craig's body. "If he isn't breathing, it's your fault."

Thanatos turned his head away in chastised shame. Of course he felt a little guilty of going overboard and leaving his friends with barely any left, but the objective was all the same. They all wanted Craig dead; some more than others apparently, then again, even gods can get greedy in their deeds dealt with.

"Why don't you go clean off your face, while we clean up your mess that you've made. Now…" Prometheus smirked calmly. He readied himself to advance a step towards Craig, the golden boot ready to take that first step. But as he leaned forward, he was held back by a gasp from his own throat. His eyes widened upon inspection. The three other godly entities looked ahead with vibrant shock of their own, each casting some form of gasp of their own.

"What is it?" Thanatos questioned.

SHING!

A sword's end pierced the ground. The sound reverberated through the air like a loud boom. Thanatos' head bobbed forward, and he looked straight ahead while feeling something grow from behind. He could feel some sense of lingering, smelly aura beginning to erode, but not in a good way. Slowly, he turned around to get a glimpse from the corner of his eye, and he saw what made the other fellow gods go wide-eyed.

Using a sword as a cane, Craig's body slowly arose back onto its two feet. There was a black shadow completely overcasting the forehead and eyes, leaving a bloodied mouth as the only thing visible. It slowly parted, the fangs forming a malicious smirk.

"Heh."

Thanatos whipped around in an instant, facing Craig once more.

Whipping his head high into the air, Craig showed his eyes sharper than any blade. He began to laugh, almost roaring in a ridiculous but also exasperated manner. His smile was so wide that the blood dripped from both sides like two small rivers on a map. His cackling roars were like a sign of sanity having been left. It was so loud that it could've been heard through the trenches and cleared land of what used to be Crocus.

Thanatos couldn't believe his eyes. "What the hell…?"

Craig shot a wicked smile at Thanatos alone. "What was that about finishing your own business?" he harshly sniped.

Everyone in the entire audience couldn't believe what they were seeing. Some gaped their mouths while others were at a loss for words.

"No way! Is he still serious?!"

"How in the heck is he still standing?!"

"His body is pierced, shouldn't he be lying down or something?!"

"That can't be right!"

Nobody could believe it, not even the most capable of mages could understand. How could someone who was so level headed be looking so insane. Lyon and Jura looked up as they recounted facing him, and yet he seemed to be at piece, but at times spiteful. Exactly what was he, and why he was so tumultuous, that's what only served to scare them more. Fairy Tail looked up in confusion as well, and that went double for the misty-eyed brunette.

"Impossible…" Thanatos denied. "How in the heck are you even standing?"

Craig shot sharp leers at him and his allies, leaving them petrified. "Check for pulses when you want to really try and kill someone!" he barked. His eyes narrowed as he pulled his sword out of the ground, he held it beside him with a tightened grip. "As long as I can still stand, I can still fuck you up. Now…where were we?" He picked his mouth blade up and clutched it beneath his teeth, biting hard to make sure it stayed in.

Thanatos raised a brow. His teeth began to grit as he saw the look in Craig's eyes. For some reason, they were red, like a devil. Last he and everyone else checked, he had blue eyes, so why was his eyes different, and what was this bizarre pressure pulsating from him? These two questions were left unanswered by the furrowed brow of Craig, sharpening the energy around him. Whatever was going on, they didn't like it.

As the four gods clustered together readied themselves, Thanatos raised a scythe in front of them, getting their attention. "You all stay there." He sounded like he was threatening them.

"Thanatos, no." Janus berated.

"I said stay there and shut up!" he lashed out. "This fool just doesn't know when to quit. I'm putting him on his knees…even if it means cutting them off."

Prometheus showed disappointment in the turn of events. He closed his eyes and lowered his head, ultimately choosing not to squabble about his growing ambitions. "Then consider yourself his, but you're not our concern anymore." He denounced.

"Like that matters now." He scoffed.

Craig's heart rate was going at rapid succession. He was pulsing blood so fast that he was getting an adrenaline rush. His veins were pulsing with so much power and thrill., not just for the lust of life and death combat, but something else, something that he's been feeling swell up all day – Chi.

All his spiritual energy was rushing from the breaths he took in, filling the gaps in his strength. His chi level only served to rise as he was on the ground before, conserving his strength. He had to ignore the pain. He was. He had to focus on only two things: Fighting and breathing. As long as he breathed, every puff of air inhaled was energy for his body. He breathed in and out, his body still for a moment like a statue as the chi flowed into his veins, almost like it was natural. His eyes intensified but a little.

"Go…" a familiar voice announced.

BOOM!

It happened so fast no one kept track, Craig swung his dark red sword to the side, sending a chi-infused wave of energy horizontally. Thanatos ducked at the last second, allowing an invisible wave to keep flowing out. It eventually reached the other gods behind, earning unheard slashes across their faces. They all grunted as they fell backwards harshly. Janus' body staggered back some, being able to stand still, but his claws covered the glass fracture in the dome that was his brain.

Thanatos closed the gap almost instantly. He glared up at Craig and brought his upper left arm down to slash. The attack missed, albeit barely, as Craig leaned back, but only to a degree. A gash spilled in his shoulder, spewing his red liquid. And yet he still smiled in thrill, ignoring the pain. With the distance so limited, Craig went and kicked his right leg into Thanatos' chin. The force from the kick only made his head move up, gazing to find a projectile coming down like a guillotine. In a desperate attempt to shake him, Thanatos instantly leaped backwards, dodging the downwards slash by the blood red sword of chi. The force behind his slash followed across the ground in a linear pulse wave. As Thanatos landed, he looked ahead as it closed in on him.

BOOM!

A large-scale explosion of dust shook the earth. Everything around Thanatos rung like bells as a dust trail followed him in his deep slide backwards. His feet shuffled along the floor, his body getting a weak cut along the upper left arm. As he grunted in pain in the skid, another swipe was heard, this one across. A horizontal wave dissipated the dust, given by Craig's chi-filled arm flowing ahead meters on end in a familiar arch. With open clearance, Thanatos and Craig bolted across the ground, each bringing their weapons back; Craig growled wickedly as he zeroed in.

Another rampaging explosion happened, but this one was of black and gold. It roared out violently amongst the gods again, the eruption being felt from even the smallest distance away. Its shockwaves stretched out towards Mercurius once more, this time, the shockwaves pulsated enough to where the walls cracked, and some parts of the castle vanity chipped off and was vaporized within the fast-scaling winds.

As the shockwaves rampaged, everyone could feel the ground beneath them vibrate violently once more. Looking at the monitors, they saw nothing but spiraling chaos in a godly cyclone. Orga and Rufus were unable to speak with such words to describe the way they felt.

At the explosion's top, zooming up at high speed was Thanatos. He jumped at such a fast rate that he was almost mistaken for a jet.

As he soared up, the massive explosion suddenly split into diced pieces. The diced parts swirled into compressed spheres and corrupted into fireworks. The bursts of explosions happened around Craig as he looked up, smiling as his blood boiled. He felt no pain, but he kept breathing normally. That was his stabilizer.

As the explosions dissipated below, Thanatos crossed every one of his blades to make a frame. He aimed the center at Craig straight below, smirking and narrowing his eyes. A dark gold glint flashed and screamed out violently, as a massive dark golden blast exerted ripples all throughout the sky. The blast continued towards Craig, looking like a vaporizing sun ray.

Craig glared up and smirked on. With red eyes zeroed in on the target, he brought his arm back and then forward, shooting chi into his sword for a Humming Pointer. The attack's tip touched the laser, bisecting it around him and vaporizing the earth all around him. He didn't move an inch as the ground all around was reduced to sheer ash. The rumbling and magnitude rivaled that of a subatomic earthquake, sending shockwaves of earth and dark gold streams across the land like water. Everything that they touched as it expanded into the depths of the mileage they covered was vaporized, including the base of Mercurius. The whole castle's base and floor was reduced to thin air, leaving the whole castle itself to crumble into sheer nothing. Its dust and decapitation was broadcasted, and no one was more horrified than the royal family itself. Their own home was destroyed in less than thirty seconds, and on top of that, the streams of chaotic energy went wild pass that, vaporizing waves of debris throughout the other half of Crocus.

As the dark gold beam dissipated, it revealed Craig in the middle of a dust cloud. He was in the line of sight as the silhouette of Thanatos dropped from the open hole in the sky made, and that only served to make him smirk wider.

Thanatos came crashing down with two scythes in a single slam, parried by Craig's two swords embraced in chi swinging up to block. The weapons met as the land again ruptured in anguish. Torrents of dust and rock blew from beneath their feet. The flattened earth diverged into dunes that spilled in different directions from the pressure the land took from the force. Within the dust flying, the two entities flying back from each other slid, their weapons pulled back.

"HYAH!" Craig swung his mouth blade, forcing Thanatos to duck.

"HRAH!" The god swung his lower arm, cutting Craig's abdomen across lightly. His shirt tore some more, revealing more of his aged scars.

Nevertheless, it was a hostile frown against a red glare with a fanged smirk.

The two were back and forth, one swipe against one slash, in no conscious order of course. Craig breathed in and out with every movement he took. He slashed repeatedly, spinning and pivoting, while parrying relentless blows by the superior. Thanatos got several good cuts in, some deeper than others. The grazing and the slashing against Craig's upper body wasn't enough to an extent to catch some cuts. His shirt was torn so much within the dodges and the reeling that the sleeves were spliced off. Evidently, Thanatos' four scythes found some way or another to get slashes into the sides of his legs or across the shins, but Craig kept fighting with a battle-lust look on his face.

When Craig raised his blade and leapt, time slowed down as Craig's red eyes bored into Thanatos. 'What the hell?' He raised a scythe as time sped to normal for a single second, parrying Craig. 'His body is bleeding!' Craig's feet touched the ground and swung the mouth blade, colliding with two scythes at once. 'He's the one dying!' Finding an opening, Thanatos swung again, the lower right scythe snaring the last of Craig's shirt, revealing his scars, tattoos, and many various scales and marks. 'And yet…this guy keeps on fighting…' Time flashed again as Craig's chi-embraced dark red sword landed a successful blow diagonally across Thanatos' chest. 'How is he blocking out the pain?!'

Craig adjusted the hold on his blood red sword, infusing chi into his fist. He landed a powerful Smash into his nose, making it crack along the bridge. The god of death went sliding back along the ground in a harsh recoil, getting his lower two scythes to drop anchor and make him stop several meters away.

When he looked up, he saw Craig's chest going in and out calmly, inflating and contracting. He could see Craig lowering his head to an angle to give a harsh glare, red eyes with black eyeliner starting to fade in again. For the oddest part, the pulsating force he was feeling was making Craig look more and more bloodthirsty. It didn't make sense. It couldn't. It was inconceivable at best.

Prometheus and the other gods were watching with sheer awe as Craig stayed completely still, his red eyes glowing as his distilled form was drenched in long gashes of blood. He was stiff, crisp, and with every inhale, he looked calm, but at the same time menacing.

Thanatos narrowed his eyes. Twitching almost. 'I don't get it…just fighting like that really make him clear-headed? His moves…they're all controlled, not wild and impulsive, but his demeanor, he was striking out of adrenaline. Just…just…' His anger was starting to rise up. He couldn't take it anymore. His four scythes lifted into the air, beginning to shimmer a dark gold gloss along its shimmering edges.

The gods could feel their ally's angst growing. They knew what was coming next.

"You…are you actually ENJOYING THIS?!" The god of death snapped. "Does fighting like this really make sense?! You're just a sick fool who doesn't even know how to die the right way! Well let me REMIND YOU!"

He bolted ahead, making large amounts of dust explode behind. The land shuddered as his boots clanged against the ground, his four arms reeled back for an insidious assault. As he drew closer, his eyes narrowed.

Craig returned the favor in kind. His red eyes began to glow, his blades crossing. As he moved his two blades across his mouth blade lightly, he grazed the chi energy across them, making erratic movements while noting the interception to come.

At long last, time slowed down as Thanatos leapt into the air, his blades up and poised to slam. While Craig got a foot back and had his swords ready.

"DIE!"

"GRAAAHH!"

With a roar like Slayos, Craig's thrill and chi-filled body slashed, while the godly man before him crashed down.

---

Craig was at a complete loss for words. What exactly was he feeling right now, he wasn't sure if it was supposed to be pain being delayed or his mind going back into the void of thinking. Both cases happened before, but neither were good. He's been in the darkness before. Sure, he stood on his feet after getting impaled and punctured before, but that was against mortals. There were armies that he suffered stabs and arrows from in legs and in vital areas, and he kept a constant in the fighting until he almost dropped dead.

'I can't back out like this…I can't. I won't!' He tried to move his knees again, but the strain he was feeling was starting to sink in. His sliced thighs felt like heavy stone. 'I can't move my legs, and everything's getting hazy…am I starting to fall over?' He felt light breezes against his face, his hazy blue eyes catching a glimpse of dark gold boots beginning to turn away. Oddly enough, he couldn't hear them.

His heart was pumping blood as his head started to hurt. It was far from a migraine, but his adrenaline was starting to pick back up. 'I'm not…through yet.' He started to twitch his middle finger. 'If it takes me forever…I'll do whatever it takes to keep as many people as possible alive to see tomorrow!'

Of course he wasn't dumb. He was wise enough to know his sheer will would bring him back to his feet, that he knew. But the fact was that his physical strength wouldn't help against the gods. He needed to focus and get all his chi centered. Once his eyes began to close, his breathing began to expand and contract. As painful as it was, his breathing was beginning to settle.

As before, he started to breath slowly to block out the pain. He stayed absolutely silent, trying exceptionally hard to hold himself down and clear his head. He held his physical body down and silenced his throat. With seeing nothing but darkness, seconds drew into chi waves that he was seeing and breathing. He started taking in chi from the air, relaxing his veins like they were going through a cooling system. It was like a spiritual grave that dug deep, so deep that it was hard to tell if Craig was going into the afterlife again, or taking in chi to where he fell into the ravines of them once more. As he held himself in control, his body was starting to ease, his cramps, and everything that was hurting was fading like his drifting. The mind; defying laws of gravity; deepening into reality's dimensions. He was conscious to where he breathed that it was like every breath was a dive deeper into chi. He was hearing many things that people could consider the possibilities delusional. For some reason, he was hearing wind sweeping, the heartbeats of men and women in the colosseum. He was hearing it all. He felt their emotions; fear, anxiety, anguish, scarcity, dread. Negativity that clouded their minds and holding them back. The world that Craig was feeling was like a distant realm that seemed as unreal as the one he was dwelling in, one of no pain, but the nothingness itself. No thinking…nothing…to where serenity to the mind was fueled by the lungs and veins that stayed quiet and mobile.

"You're getting deep, brat." A dark, demon-like voice echoed through the void of chi he was going into. "You've been this deep before?"

Craig had a feeling of to whom the voice resonated from, but he thought not. "No."

"Didn't I tell you before, you weren't there yet. So what makes you think you're getting anything out of nature now?"

"Not for nature. Not from it, and not against it. With it." He clarified defiantly. His eyes closed even in the void, passing more wavelengths. "Slayos…"

The voice was hollow for a moment, silent as the void itself. His chest continued to take in the tranquil exotic scent of the air, his veins and body refreshing itself.

"…you're a persistent human being." The void suddenly zoomed inwards, diving into a random line of red chi that was opaque as a fading ghost within the web. He dove in and flowed through its streams, making the thin thread brighten. He once again appeared before the bewildering presence of the black-scaled dragon, his eyes turning towards Craig. Their demonic appeal only served to intimidate, but instead of that, Craig flashed a simple smile.

"What are you so happy about?"

"Nothing." Craig chirped. "…well, it's nice to see you not chasing me off yet. That's gotta count for something. Someone happy?"

Slayos' eyes narrowed. "You think so?" Pulling a fast one, the gargantuan monster's glare shrunk, dilating towards Craig as he released his pressure. The magma domain ripples with its crippling magnitudes, primordial essence being released.

The invisible force was forcing Craig back, but even though there was no ground and was basically a spirit, Craig continued to stare Slayos dead in the eye, his own glare full of fortitude but calm. 'No, not this time.' The young man closed his eyes with furrowed brows, his spiritual mind now quelling and breathing. As the essence tried shoving him away, he continued to breath in the clear, exotic air. It was strong. Almost sharp. Sharper than the most sickening of blades. As it filled his veins, he could feel the power as he stayed completely still. The outside force was being drawn, accepted into his body.

As the energy dissipated, Slayos' glare served to lighten up. "…Tch, looks like the brat's finally grown up."

Craig was feeling the power surge exponentially from Slayos' burst. It was grand; way more than usual. He looked down at himself, seeing the energy flow through his veins. 'This is Primordial Essence. I can feel my veins get warm. Is this Slayos' strength? It's sharp…and molten.'

The bloodthirsty dragon slowly blinked, raising his head to show his many sharp fangs going forward. "Looks like you're starting to get around now. About time you get off those training wheels. Now we can get to the real fun."

"And this 'fun' is what, exactly?"

Slayos began to smirk. "You'll find out. If you're really going to take in this Primordial Essence, then maybe I should give you a little heads up…you might feel a little exhilarated."

Craig smirked back. "A bloodbath…typical."

Slayos' mouth parted. "Ha! Then let's see what power is in you can do after so long." The dragon went quiet and glared at Craig. He stayed absolutely silent as the man remained in the sealed realm. Craig closed his eyes, allowing his body to take in the sharp feel around his skin cells. As his veins coursed with blood and chi, his eyes began to reflect that of Slayos, albeit weakly.

The eyes flashed open, the rejuvenated feel of small Primordial Essence finally reached.

---

A cyclone of blade-like winds transcended throughout the area. Everything from the ground up was enveloped in a maelstrom of slashing shockwaves that expanded outwards. The dust itself was unable to be kept intact as it was diced to shreds. Janus had to get before his comrades as the slashing attack prompted a forcefield. He put it up, protecting them as the ground diced to bits.

The clouds surrounding the eye of the storm were circling around slowly. The atmosphere churned as the roaring waves were like jets that simmered through the airspace. The roaring soon dissipated, leaving a few flashes to glint in the atmosphere before showing a blank space.

In the center of a seep, deep caved-in crater, the slashes were too much and left open crater a hundred feet lower. The diameter was more than a quarter-mile wide and standing several feet apart from one another was Craig and Thanatos. The god was panting, while Craig's chest heaved in and out, albeit slowly.

Suddenly, a few more gashes appeared on Craig, spewing blood from another cut along his ribs, the side of his head, and on the right base of his neck.

"Oh crap!" Natsu gasped.

Levy and many girls gasped with hands over their mouths. Many others were petrified in great fear to show anymore emotions. It was like they had already shut down and were disbelievers in the wind.

"Craig…" Cana muttered.

Craig stayed in place, staying completely still so as not to draw any vessels to pop open. He had to stay careful, for the flow that was going through his body wasn't lasting long. The adrenaline settled, but he kept breathing to draw the chi in naturally.

Thanatos was noticing how Craig was standing still, despite how bloodthirsty he was a moment ago. He could still be the dominant red glare he gave off, the black slits meaning business. His eyes narrowed in growing disgust. "What's wrong with you?" He questioned. "What's this freaky gig you've got up your sleeve. It ain't like that god armor from before, that's for sure."

Craig continued to clench the sword in his mouth, but he started to speak as he put the sword in his right arm out.

Thanatos stayed quiet.

"…it's been a while, but the feeling's starting to come back to me." He said. "This feeling, it's…clean. Like the air itself is like a renewed vapor entering my lungs. I didn't think I had this in me before…"

"What are you yapping about?" Thanatos questioned, patience wearing thin. "How did you get so much stronger all of a sudden?"

Craig glared feral daggers. "Nothing even explaining could help with. Now do you wanna shut up and fight, because I'll be more than glad to return the opposition."

Thanatos gripped his staves tighter, growling beneath his throat. "Even when you're ribbons, you're a nuisance. How in the hell are you even standing? Don't you feel any kind of pain at all?"

Craig's teeth didn't change formation, even inside the mouth blade. "Like I said, it's adrenaline shooting through my spirit." His eyes began to glow. "Now shut up and finish what you started!"

Prometheus and the three other gods were looking at him like he had gone mad. In a way, he had. 'What is he thinking?' Prometheus questioned. 'Is he baiting Thanatos? I know Thanatos can be impatient, but even he…'

'This doesn't feel right? This isn't magic we're sensing.' Janus thought.

'I can't sense his presence even when he's right in front of us. It's like he's blending into nature itself.' Penthos speculated.

Aphrodite looked at the battle with a leery disposition. Even her beauty was seeing a face full of fire within the glowing red eyes of the monster of Ragnarok. Something about those feral slits was like hearing a grotesque growl from within her own mind. 'This strange pressure…'

Thanatos was feeling something very wrong. When he was looking at Craig, all he could see was his glowing red eyes and the black pigment around the eyes. It was very strange, but the energy he gave off made him all the more menacing. There was some odd aura that was building around Craig as he was starting to swerve his arms around to gather and force chi in the growing silence. His patience was at an end. He had to beat Craig, with whatever strength he had left.

"Alright…come and get me, moron!" In a hysteric bolt, Thanatos zipped into Craig at lightning-fast pace. He instantly reappeared in front of him, blades ready to swing with full might. "Time to die!"

Craig's eyes narrowed. Instantly his blades crossed, and his chi waves began to flow into all the blades by remote control. With little to no movements, by letting the veins flow the energy within the grasps, he was charging invisible chi essence into it all.

"DIE!"

Once more, the glowing gold blades slashed, while the red blades crossed. In a bright flash, a wave of blood spilled into the air as time began to slow. Craig was in a slash position while Thanatos was in the same boat. Both contenders slid to a stop against their heels. They didn't move, not for the longest time. Eventually a side had to relinquish, and slowly. A superficial cut grazed up Craig's arms, barely.

Blades suddenly shimmered, fragments of the four scythes breaking apart into pieces at Thanatos' feet. The god was unable to move, his body having been frozen and glared ahead. There was a weak grin forming upon his face. "…heh…y'know…I was hoping I'd cut you in half all by myself. I was pretty desperate, wasn't I?"

Craig's eyes glanced to the side as he reached for his sheaths. He began to put one sheath at the end of each sword, slowly drawing them in. "Don't be…" he said, slowing them to a snail's pace. "You had friends over there, but you were pretty serious in finishing our fight. You satisfied?"

A stinging sensation went up on Thanatos' gut. It diverged into three lines, with one over the head and two slanting over the pectorals. With his hair covering his eyes from view, he snickered. "I'd be a lot more satisfied if I'd won…" He joked. "I don't know how, but you always have the dumbest luck out of your little body shields and luck."

Craig didn't smile, instead, he finished the shimmering closing. "…yeah. Some mortal I am…" At last, they closed tight.

"900 Demon Caliber – Bloodlust Blitz!"

The clanging of the guards against the scabbard echoed all throughout the area, like a gunshot that vibrated loudly through the ears of many. As the sound reverberated, the torrential blood spilled from Thanatos. The demonic god's three stinging slits opened up clean through his entity. His head ad two shoulders split open like Xixen did back in Tahunga, but with thanks from the chi infused into the blow. The force of the attack finally downed the god, his blood spouting like a geyser or pop bottle exploding. The red-dripping knees fell to the ground, the body slowly falling forward until it landed on the stomach. The thud stained the floor with red, and the splintered remnants of the god remained in quiet solace.

Meanwhile, the crown he once wore finally dropped to the ground, clanging quite loudly. It shimmered to a stop on its side, soon falling upright with cracked accents engraved in it.

The four remaining gods were at a complete loss for words. It was inconceivable. It was foolhardy at best. Even Prometheus had parted lips. The fact that Craig beating one of them was unrelated to what they imagined completely, but cutting into the god was next to impossible. It was hardly done. Only dead or people that were once dead were able to harm him, and of course Craig fit the bill, but even that shouldn't have dealt that fatality. Whatever they felt before, that must have been the reason.

"Tha…Thanatos…" Aphrodite muttered in disdained horror.

Janus had nothing to say about the matter, but if the blue bead beeping indicated anything, it would be guilt.

Penthos' head went down. "I warned him, karma would come to the fortunate."

"So it has." Prometheus sighed. He looked at the shredded corpse that was behind Craig, what was Thanatos just a minute ago now stained in red. "Thanatos always did imagine a humbler manner of passing on. He was always so amused with bragging about 'how cheap it'd be to not die bathed in the blood of your enemy'." He looked at the scene with a wrist to his hip, looking more than a little displeased. "At least he went out the way he did." He turned towards Craig, seeing him putting his swords away. "I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this…but I guess congrats are in order."

Craig lazily turned his head over his shoulder at Prometheus. The red look in his eyes began to fade away, the sea-blue hue beginning to slowly return. As Prometheus went on, the lining around the eyes began to slowly fade as well.

"I congratulate you on defeating Thanatos and giving him his desired outcome, but I am also obliged to say how disheartening this is. He was my colleague. Have you no shame?" By the tone in his voice, it was more of modesty than guilt.

The hue in Craig's gaze had finally simmered down. He was glaring at his opponent while doing his best to stay absolutely still. He needed to conserve himself if possible. His body still profuse in the bleeding, which didn't serve to keep himself up at all. "…never needed shame." He scoffed.

"That so?" Prometheus reached his gauntlet out. The fingers stretch, making a small glint. A compressed rainbow flame shot like a laser from his palm, shooting at unprecedented speeds. Craig's head was the target, but he had so little time and so little conscience. In a hurry, he instantly dropped, getting only the top streaks of his slicked black hair. As he dropped to the ground, his locks reducing to cinders, the beam went on into the distance here Mercurius was once held. It vanished for a moment before a bright rainbow flash created a hazardous pillar of rainbow flames. Its diameter was large, encompassing half, if not more than, a mile. It roared violently, leaving everyone to mistake it for a large beacon miles away. It beamed up to the swirling skies, managing to expand the hole a little more. The entire residence imprisoned were once again caught in the shuddering that was the explosion. The insidious roaring of compressed bright flames was almost blinding to where some refused to look away.

"Unreal." Elfman muttered as the pillar faded away.

"You mean…Craig has to deal with four more of those?" Mirajane exasperated.

"The idiot's done for out there! He can't be serious about fighting in that state!" Gray denied. Beside him, Juvia wasn't able to express herself. She was still looking at the blood Craig was bathed in.

With the lack of blood that was in his body and getting out, Craig had to make do with closing up whatever wounds possible. Rolling onto his side with a tremendous headache. His eyes rolled back as he reached for his jacket still wrapped around his waist, his signature one. The brown sleeves were tied below the chest area, encompassing the two massive blood marks, as well as a few longer streaks. At least he stopped the bleeding, but he could only lazily roll to the side, facing his enemies like he was trying to get out of bed.

Prometheus was preceded by his three remaining colleagues. "Then perhaps you'll learn humility in another way. You killed Thanatos. Clearly that is another reason to vanquish you from existence." Prometheus mused, this body now starting to envelop in a rainbow aura. His cape started to shift about with the growing flow of gravity. "This wasn't personal, but I'm afraid this now is."

"It's been personal from the very beginning. Why else would you come here just for me?" Craig argued.

The smirk on Prometheus widened. "That's fair. Seems there's trash that needs to be picked up after Thanatos' party. Shall we?"

"Undoubtedly." Janus said.

"With fortunate circumstances, I atone to this." Penthos added.

Aphrodite's eyelids were half-open. "Let's just get this over with."

The energy all four was finally beginning to compress. The ground beneath them was beginning to palpitate, like it had its own heartbeat. One vibration. Two vibrations. Three vibrations. It was flowing through the ground and thumping against Craig's damaged ear. When he heard enough vibrations, his gaze went towards the sky. The black clouds were beginning to widen further, the hole in the middle starting to widen even more. He knew what was coming next as the ground pulsed loudly, this last pulse actually making his being palpitate with it.

Prometheus frowned, hands spread out ahead as the golden aura around him began to ignite. "Now then, time to get serious." He and his colleagues erupted into powerful enigmatic lights that beamed in various lightshows. A rainbow light was upfront, enveloping the leader, as opposed to the purple light around Janus, and the black light encasing the feathered misfortune bringer. An orange light cared to enrapture Aphrodite to finish the ensemble. All four godly lights began to intertwine, summoning forth a raging cyclone of magic from the atmosphere. The dome of swirling magic of varied colors was raw, untamed power that would've vaporized regular mages if they were too close. Fortunately for Craig, he was just meters outside the quaking light's radius, leaving only string dust storms to hit his face, much to his fatigued chagrin.

The magic in the air suddenly spiked as the radius expanded just a little. Craig slouched his way up, lazily – if not dazedly – scooted backwards. He fell onto his bottom, leaned back to look tiredly up at the monstrous magical energy that was dissipating. In fact, his face showed displeasure as the energy was the least if his concerns.

Inside the fading light, four new figures revealed themselves in fading black silhouettes. To everyone's utter terror, their bodies were shaking profusely. Those like Jura and Gildarts were backing up a step, the magic felt before having grown 4 times in sheer potency. They could've sworn many hearts stopped beating already. Some of the audience had already blacked out.

"Is that…?" Lucy trailed off, only for Wendy to pick up.

"I think it is."

"This ain't happening, man! This ain't happening!" Nobarly panicked.

"No way! They can transform, too?!" Bacchus shouted.

Kagura was staring up at the screen, a horrid disposition over her eyes. "Inconceivable…" she said as she held a hand over her mouth.

"Are we really gonna die?" Millianna shakily questioned.

"No. We can't really die, can we?" Risley tried to deny out of fear, but the situation was too much for everyone to possibly take.

"Men…" Ichiya trailed off in his voice, the difference this time around being no sparkles around his face. The Trimens and Jenny were behind him, watching with raptured fright.

The monitors showed the transformations, the magical levels far above the scales. If scales were made, they would've been off the charts by massive margins. The fact that everyone felt a heavy gravity weighing on them was a clear sign.

The magical vapor dissipated away, leaving only the four figments to stand tall with mixtures of smirks and indescribable expressions. There they were, the four enemies that were Craig's past in Valhalla. He tried to get back to his feet lazily, standing before the 100% true forms that each of them possessed now.

Janus iron-like figure had the beads flash, while the wings of Aphrodite flexed once to give off yellow sparkles. Black, shaggy feathers ruffled off of Penthos, while Prometheus' gauntlet was held up, the base of a rainbow ember burning in his palm. The leader's lenses shimmered within the flame, deflecting the rainbow to cascade his eyes from Craig.

Craig's head rang loudly as he was starting to feel lightheaded. He had a funny feeling what was happening next was spelling either defeat or hallucinations. A tired smirk grew on his face, fangs showing. "You done being showoffs yet?" he wearily swayed left and right, his smirk ever so bloodthirsty.

Cana's eyes narrowed as she looked up at the screen. Her worries were at a peak already, but at this point it was just misty eyes fogging up her vision. "He's lost his mind." She mourned.

"That depends, are there anymore bags of tricks up your sleeve?" Prometheus countered.

Craig spread his feet apart, his hazy eyes sending sharp leers at them. His body went still as he tried to ease himself.

"This seems like overkill if you ask me." Penthos complained.

"Well if you ask me, I consider this a little honorable pat on the back." Aphrodite shrugged, flicking a lock on her shoulder. "After all, when was the last time we've used these forms?"

At her sultry voice and form, every man watching the monitors, once again, feel under her spell. This time, they were all having hearts in their eyes, looking hypnotically at the seducing-killer.

"The gates to the netherworld await for its newcomer. Let's not keep this gate open for reasons unwarranted." Janus insisted.

Prometheus smiled. "I suppose you're right." He sighed. "There was so much more I wanted to say, but in all honesty, I think my patience now has been undermined enough." He took one more step closer towards Craig, watching him look at them with a deluded, animalistic gaze. The very look itself was disgusting, but the way he acted was also less than endorsing at best. "You know, it's ironic."

Craig grunted beneath his throat.

"I'm the god who stole flames to be given to the people. You'd think they'd know gratitude behind motives. And yet I find it a little morbid knowing I stole flames this time again…to kill people. It's ironic, wouldn't you say?"

"Either you let the fish swim free, or eat it up. I'm not offering any sympathy or thanks for what you did."

Prometheus chuckled. "I was a gracious god, I didn't mind. But that was back then. I stole flames from the halls of Valhalla, and then I got flames from Helios. These flames are the Flames of Rebirth, if you recall. There's no need to explain. I want to see Earthland live on, but if you won't accept your gold back, then you'll have to accept flames that'll turn the impure to ash."

"Heh…at least it's fire."

"Oh, so you want gold now?"

"Just saying, gold is nice and all, but even if we got rich because of it, it would only spoil the thrill of life itself." Craig explained.

"Huh?"

"What is he saying?" Penthos questioned.

Craig spouted a quick sough, getting some blood out of his throat. "I'm saying…*cough*…that I know where you're coming from, and where it would've gone. I told you before in Valhalla, your race would've ended up extinct no matter what you did. Melt gold and make people spoil themselves, that'll leave a good impression." He snarked. "*cough* And if people knew the picture of heaven was a palace that looks like something out of a nightmare, they'd only feel grief. Way to crush dreams buddy, somebody should really give you the award for worldly impact, for ruining imagination!"

Prometheus furrowed a brow in annoyance. "…hehe, you really are a piece of work, aren't you?" He reached his arm out at Craig, getting him on guard. A quick energy surge built up before the ground behind him exploded into a sea of rainbow fire. The flames roared like a blistering inferno, hot as one included.

Craig whipped his head around and looked up in sheer surprise at the wall of fire. It was probably miles long, with its length reaching from the space in the mountains towards the other end of Crocus. The large combusting defense even stretched as far as a few hundred feet up. It was a godly wall that would incinerate anything that touched it, even air itself.

"I knew it." Craig rebuffed. "You are showoffs."

Penthos stretched his wings out and kicked a talon into the ground, shooting him upwards. With an angle, he cawed as he unleashed a simple gust. Black winds surged from his feathers that ruffled through its wake towards Craig. The exhausted man was instantly tripped as the black gust aimed for the legs. A sharp pain in his knee cap caused him to feel shock shoot up towards his head, gaping wide and eyes dilating. He fell onto his knee cap, making it pop loudly through its thud.

The misfortune god continued to hover over the ground. "The power of my misfortunes is too great, even for a dumb luck mortal such as yourself."

Aphrodite smirked. "Too bad…"

"Huh-?!" Craig looked up with one eye open, seeing the two huge hearts on her wings starting to glow bright. They emitted immense light waves, being so bright they were like two beacons in the shapes of hypnotic hearts. Craig covered up as the light waves were like piercing sting rays. He remembered this before, and it vaporized other gods. With nothing to shield him from the light, he was forced to swiftly remove his jacket, stretch it out, and use it for a makeshift shield to fend from the skin-burning light. Even now, his body was feeling like it was freshly baked from the sun.

"You know love hurts." Aphrodite teased within the bright light.

Janus was next. The generator-like core brightened, and the three beds at the base of the visor shined. Suddenly, a small, ethereal veil appeared around Craig.

He looked up, realizing he wasn't sting anymore, for the least part that is. He wrapped the jacket around his chest again as he looked at the veil, noting how it was translucent than having jail bars.

"My true form's cage has ethernano destroyer cells moving at hyper speeds." Janus explained. "Touch it, and your body part shall disintegrate. Any lingering cells won't be able to absorb magic either."

"And now, this is where we part ways, Craig." Prometheus snapped his fingers.

Craig stood in place and looked ahead. Suddenly, the walls started to slowly move over the ground. Dirt was being churned as the enhanced small barrier around Craig began to move across the land, slowly inching its front wall towards him. Craig began to back away, but when he started to, he looked back to see that the dome was forcing him into the sea of perpetual flames.

'They've got me cornered!' He had to think on his feet, and that was exactly what he did. He hurriedly leaped back towards the posterior end of the dome that was closer towards the flame, giving himself some room and remained in place as he stayed still. His hazy yet dizzy mind was still working, meaning he was still alive at least. That counted for something.

The group watched him reach for a single sword, seeing him grip the hilt tightly with a shaking wrist. "It would appear that he is still willing to resist." Janus figured. The others said nothing in compliance to this.

"HRAH!" With a devilish cry, Craig slashed at the dome's front, where the blade was a distance enough to hardly graze it. The near-contact slash quickly receded back into the guard, clanging loudly. With the sound instantly bellowing, the chi-induced slash made a weak but noticeable tear in the dome.

Janus and the other gods were in shock at what they were seeing, and it wasn't to their liking. Nevertheless, they made do with what they had.

Sucking in his pierced gut, Craig crouched and closed his eyes. He slipped through the barrier's front and tightened his muscles as he bypassed the edges of the tear he made. As he met outside air again, he involuntarily collapsed and slammed on his side.

The wall of fire suddenly morphed its shape behind him, transcending molding and sucking in from the sides. The currents of fire zoomed inwards towards the center to make the fire grow. It morphed into a pillar of towering flames that went up several hundred feet with a large base.

Craig looked up, his body incapable of moving any longer. 'Damnit. I can't move. There isn't…enough blood…'

A black gleam shot down to attack Craig. His aching sides stung when a pair of large talons gripped his sides and squeezed. Though hardly much pressure, Craig's mouth gaped massively in distorted hoarse pain.

Penthos frowned morbidly as his wings spread once again, taking flight with Craig in his grasp like some dead catch. He ascended a few meters off the ground to face the burning pillar, ready and willing.

"Pushing your luck this far has karma stake her claim. You'd be wise to submit." He said.

Craig's breath hitched and closed his throat. As he was seized well and ready to be thrown in, he lazily grabbed the leg of Penthos. He felt practically numb hanging on, but a loose grip was all that he needed.

Penthos proceeded to throw Craig in, but didn't account for his hold. "Huh-?!" The god found himself held on by a swinging body that twisted and threw the bird-like man towards the ground. The god's momentum was completely against him and crashed into the ground with a thud, with a hampered Craig falling down and slamming onto his side as well.

Once again, red began to stain the ground, Craig's eyes dilating out of the lack of sense he was feeling. He felt nothing, and it wasn't because of the chi flow. No, this was his own body failing him. 'I…I can't move anymore. Damn…it…' He took raspy, long breaths that filled his lungs with as much air to relieve the aching stress pouring inside of him.

Prometheus gave a blatant stare before cocking a brow. "You're a persistent person, even in death you know?" He snapped his fingers, dissipating the immense rainbow wall of fire behind Craig. With free air, that left Craig with some room as he laid sprawled on the ground. "I've underestimated you and humanity's stubbornness before, but even when you're bathed in blood, I don't know if I should consider you even human to begin with or just a folly of a devil."

Craig couldn't respond. His body was getting numb as his breathing grew erratic.

Penthos slowly got back up, shaking his head a little to shake away his shock. "Persistent."

"Not persistent. Determined." Janus corrected.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Whatever. Aren't they the same thing?"

"No matter the case, these games are starting to wear at my very patience." Prometheus said in a low growl. It was loud and clear that his tolerance was starting to grate against the mental bedrock one might say. He started his path for Craig with light steps, grating ash beneath him. "Look, simpleton, the truth hurts, but you can't silence the truth forever. At some point, it'll spread like a disease, and whatever happens must have an action to counter that reaction. So why can't we gods be in this world?" he questioned with unsound anger. "It's basically discrimination; a segregation that has broken bounds long ago, yet no one dares to make the gap shorten. We've lost our home, so where else can we go?"

A hand pressed against the ground, getting Prometheus to silence himself. The god looked in surprise as Craig was still on his side, breathing heavily and looking like he was fresh out of a bloodbath, but the way he looked was still of defiance.

"You think I don't know that?" he said swiftly before resuming his long-term breathing. The air was quiet as Craig tried to keep up his bitter breathing. "…If I'm being frank…I couldn't…care less."

"What?" Prometheus inquired.

"I couldn't…give a fuck…even if you paid me…" he labored. He lazily slouched up, his position cross-legged and hands lazily resting on his thighs. Despite everything fading in and out, he glared ahead with upmost vigilance. "Yeah, sure, go ahead, live amongst us for all I care. That ain't why I'm killing ya…you started this against me…and you think humans need tending to…well not all of us are like babies…so if you ask me, that's a stupid obsession."

The calm god's eyes began to dilate. It was clear his shock was beginning to overwhelm his judgement. He had no words to say to him.

"I said a lot of things back in Valhalla, and I know you remember them as well as I do…" His head raised, showing his meek, shaky glare. "So go ahead and try to kill me, see if the end results are what you'd wanted. You'll only wind up in another Hell again."

"You insolent…"

"All high and mighty you guys sure are, but making Earthland your own Valhalla without our consent, you haven't got the right. Gods you may be…but what would you know of mortal needs anyway?"

Seeing the stunned look on all their faces was practically priceless. They couldn't believe their eyes. Even when he was about to die, as his blood sweated, they were looking at Craig like he was mortally insane. In a sense, he was. He could've been talking out of delusions, but it didn't matter at this point. The four remaining gods glared ahead, the ground around them beginning to vibrate with a growing pressure.

"You really are a very deplorable human being." Prometheus sniped.

Craig dazedly smirked. "I don't go down without a fuck…" His head lowered as the strength in his neck was beginning to decimate upon itself. The last thing he could see was rainbow spiraling flames in the gauntlets of the baffled Prometheus. His eyes began to close, allowing darkness to be his only field of vision. 'Well this is just fantastic. Oh well. Had a good run.' He mused to himself. 'But I don't fall back on my damn word. Gotta screw these guys over, just one more time. I need just one more little push, but I can't move even. I know what Slayos gave me was a small fraction of the Primordial Essence, but my body's so wiped, that's gotta be an aftereffect. If I try again, I might really…'

"Craig Crius!" Prometheus drew his arm back, compressing spiraling rainbow flares into the gauntlet.

The air was feeling warm to Craig, though it could also be his head playing tricks on him. Despite this warm feeling, he was going through to the end. He kept legs crossed as the air grew warmer and warmer. 'There's no choice. I'm gonna save Brownie, even if it kills me in the end. Sorry Cornelia, but I'm gonna get daring here, again…' With those final thoughts, the image of a small Cana and a motherly smiling Cornelia faded in the clouds f his mind. The darkness that was his mind was hollow as he stayed absolutely still. He was dwelling into the realms in which he could see and feel the chi once again. There was an abundance of it practically everywhere, and it was all going in various streams like water. For the second time now, Craig's spiritual entity was hearing the strange noises, the chirping of birds miles away, to the flowing water of a river in the far east. He could feel the emotions of despair and anguish once more; these emotions of doubt and terror strong for a certain someone who pissed him off quite frequently.

'Brownie…'

In his own realm, Slayos' red eyes were beginning to widen a little. He could feel the chi all around him stirring. The magma-like domain was distorting. His head turned to look around, his senses starting to twist and turn.

In darkness of other thoughts, strange but deep voices belonging to more creatures were rumbling.

"This power…"

"The chi is intensifying…"

"Is the boy finally in touch with nature again?"

"About damn time he absorbed enough chi into that fleshy body of his!"

As Craig continued to sense and feel the chi draw into his form, all the noises of tranquility and despair was flowing into the ears. It was energy that was pouring into him was starting to echo with these new voices. He could feel a varied amount of strong, pure chi slowly seeping through the wavelengths that his non-Ethernano body was taking in. The feeling was very sharp, if not exotic. He could feel that within these enigmatic voices, there lied odd but empowering strength. They felt oddly…familiar.

Rather than fight the feeling, he allowed himself to take in all these voices with such vibrant energy. Slayos had given him a very small taste of the true art of chi, but now that he was able to do so, he was sensing familiar threads of power that drew in. He stayed absolutely still as he took in one breath after another, the temple that was his physical body going silent once more.

"Begone!"

The loud, shrilled voice of Prometheus ran wild through the air. He punched hard, sending a beaming, laser-like flame at Craig's still form. Time slowed down gradually as the attack was launched. It beamed over the ground like a flashy meteorite traveling over the planet. It was shimmering with a flaming trail towards the target. Dirt was vaporized beneath, and dust itself turned to smoke as it drew near.

With time slowing down, all of those watching were on the edges of their seats. They all were having distilled panic at the intense magic and the horror that was to be Craig's demise.

Cana was feeling her body grow cold as she leaned over the balcony. It was like she was frozen, and by no means could she feel anything other than incoming grief. Her gritted so much as her eyes dilated, small misty eyes appearing as she felt flashes of Craig about to perish unfold. 'What's…happening….?'

Her mind was racing back to past events. When she saw Craig about to be struck by the incinerating blow, it was like something snapped. In her field of vision, she saw a vague image of a tinier version o Craig, crying out as he shoved Cornelia away while a strong-looking tornado was carrying him off. The two images of Craig and the boy that she saw was unsettling, but what she instantly saw between the two was the black hair and those sea-blue eyes.

She gasped, her eyes dilating at the horrific realization. The two boys, even though it wasn't much, she knew something was off there. It was what distracted her though from watching the attack close in on Craig.

The energy that was drawing towards Craig and coming from ahead was something he could sense clearly. His body just needed one final push. As his form laid completely still, the monstrous vibe resonating from within the chi waves went through his nostrils. The power he was feeling course through his veins. The bizarre pigment around his eyes returned, and when his eyes opened the red eyes returned. The bizarre pressure once again returned to the atmosphere, and at the instant the attack was meters away, the regained strength from the superficial force was reached out to.

Time slowed down, Craig closed his eyes one last time as his heart rate, though rapidly flowing, began to feel the flame's tip graze his fingers. It was all the subconscious chi that was resonating that helped move the arm, and the fingertips began to ripple with chi. The sensation was like surges of electricity flowing through Craig's body, and it was only one jolt after another with every nanosecond that passed. As his arm naturally bended it around, the rest f his body began to pivot and turn into the attack that he was bending around himself. His cross-legged form pivoted to a heel facing away, soon to shoot up in an angle within ever-still time. The flames followed his fingertips in grace, the chi that touched him being absorbed by his entity. His whole entity crackled with electrical and spiritual impulses coinciding within. The chi flowed like water in ways that couldn't be tamed by anyone but the body of Craig, and it was being taken in, and the power and the heat were spiraling with the flames.

The scariest part was that his fingertips were barely touching the flames. It was like he was guiding them with the chi and bending it into a cocoon all around him. It swirled in a rainbow blaze, yet it was silky, like water. Nobody saw inside as Craig's eyes kept shut as he allowed the motions to go on.

The pigment around his eyes darkened as he kept absorbing the chi, the energy revitalizing his being. It was like everything, even sounds outside the swirling fire, was gathering centerfield. He could hear the many animalistic growls of eight beasts, and Slayos' snarky growl. He saw a vast amount of locations and sensed the chi of others through the land.

'This feeling…' His body kept bending chi, regaining strength. 'My strength…' He could feel his body become light. 'This energy…I…'

Images and chi began to flow with his blood, his heart beating at such a pace that it was hardly able to keep up. The bending of the rainbow wall without even touching and using simple chi, to where he could hear and feel everything. He heard grass growing, to the vibrant energy in mountains. His chi energy went so far that within undisclosed mountains, he bypassed a fog, leading to an all too familiar place. The energy grew lively, yet tranquil. He saw the face of Sama as he was meditating cross-legged, the elderly master opening his eyes.

Just as Craig felt and saw it, so did Sama. He smiled. "…took your sweet time."

Craig's eyes flashed wide, a glint resonating from his being. Suddenly, a thunderous gravity wave resonated from him, dispelling the intense rainbow flames. The intense pressure had a familiar appeal to that of the gods when they were emitting magical pressure, but his pressure was different. It was silent.

"What?" Janus gasped.

"What happened?" Penthos took a step back.

Aphrodite followed. "Did he just bend the fire and…?"

Craig stood in place as the ground's rainbow embers surrounded him in a ring. With his upper body cut and torn like ribbons, even immense flows of power went through him. Craig's entire being was upright with the strength to at least stand. He glared ahead, his eyes still closed, but his face was a little different. For the most peculiar reason, his eyelids had a darker pigment to them, but on the very edges were golden pointed outlining. His face also had two black lines that looked like darkened scars beneath the cheekbones and ended beneath the eyes. Otherwise, his eyes opened up, revealing that his eyes were a full blood red, with feral slits for sclera. The outline of the eyes, however, was gold.

Even though nobody could feel it, there was an ominous pressure around Craig. His glare was fixed forward as he opened his mouth, releasing a loud, bloodcurdling roar that had the airspace distort with every vibrant note running like shockwaves through the air. It stretched for miles on end, far out into the mountains beyond the reaches of Crocus.

All of Fallen Prometheus looked ahead with shock. Whatever was happening, they didn't like it, and they sure as hell knew that it wasn't in their favor. "What…is that?" Prometheus questioned.

Craig took a step forward, glaring ahead at his adversaries. He could see the chi within their bodies, almost like vein networks. It wasn't just them, but he could feel all the chi throughout the land. He saw the tainted, the scared, and the flabbergasted levels of the chi everyone had. 'I can see everything.' He thought. 'This chi…it's all throughout the air…and I can see it without closing my eyes! This…this is Primal Force.'

His patience at an end, Prometheus angrily reached out. "Whatever you're intending, it won't work!"

Craig looked solemnly at him. Prometheus unleashed a large volume of rainbow flames at him, same as before. This time, however, Craig swiped his arm, and the entire attack shockingly bended at his command. The chi in his line of sight went sliding left, dragging the blaze far out to the south. There it faded in the distance. It disappeared for a moment before blinking. It erupted into a dome-like blaze far out, making the ground a distance shudder and rumble.

Once again, Fallen Prometheus was at a loss for words.

"He…" Prometheus couldn't finish.

Penthos looked ahead angrily. "This is impossible! He has no magic to begin with! How did he even control the attack without having to be touched?"

Janus looked dead into Craig's eyes. "…wait, something isn't right."

"What?" Prometheus gasped.

"His eyes, they're different. Something happened, but I cannot sense ethernano from him still. He's still off my radar."

Aphrodite glared ahead with angst. "Then if it isn'y magic, what in the heck is making him like that?"

Craig raised a fist before him. He held it carefully, if not clutched it tight. He felt the chi willingly compress around him, and he wasn't bending or doing any sort of movements to erect the flow. 'All the chi in the air, it's willingly expanding my attack range. I can bend and dispel without moving much…?' His foot stepped back, his fist balling. 'Alright then, let's see what other kinds of damage I can do!'

"HNGH!"

Craig punched the air before him, looking like he wasn't hitting anything. Not even a second later, the chi smashed against Prometheus' face. The god felt a great pin in his chest armor, his time slowing down as a part of it chipped off. He slowly gagged loud moment before shooting backwards several meters, tumbling along the ground to a stop along his side.

Once again, nobody was left without profound shock.

"Woah! You saw that?!"

"He just knocked that guy for a loop without even touching him!"

"But I thought he was a fist fighter and swordsman! How is he even doing that?"

The guild was without any words to back up their shock. They've never seen anything like it before. Craig on his feet after bloodied was one thing, but with a revitalized look no less. The oddest part of it all was that they could hardly sense a thing coming from him, yet what was the pressure exactly?

Cana was a mix of relieved and overwhelmed at the same time. The state of shock she held when she connected a few dots of the two males was still evident. And yet, seeing Craig before her was leaving her with shock boiling to a crisped point. The shock soon channeled to a gasp, one that rattled her bones.

Craig's fist kept balled as he lowered it. Even now, when the chi was released, it was almost instantly replenished. He wanted to realize more of how his attack capacity and strength multiplied, but the time for questions had to come and go at another point in time. He glared ahead, focusing his chi all around him for another strike.

Prometheus arose to his knees, gagging his blood from his mouth. As he coughed up, bit by bit, the blood spilled from his maw. He craned his head towards Craig, his eyes showing wear and anger. "You…"

Craig stepped forward. "I don't threaten when it's easier to get to the point, but this time, I mean it when I say it…" He slowly pulled out his dark red sword. In his eyes, upon unsheathing, invisible chi manifested as he raised the blade. "I am going to pound you into the ground!"

Aphrodite sassily swayed her hips as she moved in front of the group. She smirked as she glared ahead with her wings spreading. "Let's see you say that when you're vaporized!"

Craig and Aphrodite squared off for a brief second, glaring glinting lasers.

"HAH!" The goddess spread her arms, releasing another vaporizing blinding light in all directions. Craig parried that with one fell swoop of the blade swinging downwards. The slash was crisp and sharp as ever, but mere milliseconds, the light waves beaming at him literally bisected. The invisible slash wave went through the right, passing a startled Aphrodite and to the bare lands behind her.

The light eventually dissipated within the goddess's surprise. With her stiff as stone, the shock finally caught on. The left wing, the ground behind her, the mountain, even the clouds in the sky…all bisected.

The heart on her wing literally broke in half, the outer part of the elegant, beautiful wing sliced clean off, and on top of that, a massive, long trench shattered into the ground and spread for miles to where a single, thick mountain in the distance roared with such shock as it was cleaved clean in two. And the chi flow didn't stop there. It went to the skies. The large eye to the sky grew a massive slit into it leading beyond the mountains. It was like the sky literally split in half.

For the umpteenth time, everybody was completely thrown for a loop. Gildarts, who was capable of breaking mountains for himself, was completely blown away by the feat. Practically everyone gasped in sheer horror at the sight, from just one casual swing.

Craig kept his sword down as Aphrodite began to get overwhelmed in her own shock. The goddess crippled to her knees as he left wing jerked about haphazardly like a twitching leg. The pain she screeched was strong.

Janus looked shocked at the sight. 'He...he just cut through light itself!'

"That power…" Penthos trailed off.

Craig used his thumb and tapped the sword back into the scabbard. He looked back ahead in silence, his glare ever so diminutive.

"Cretin!" Penthos spread his wings again, flapping to take flight. "You humans always push your luck! Now you've gone too far!" The avian man kept his course skyward and looked down at Craig. He brought his wings back and unleashed a powerful black gust. The hazy attack went at Craig, but the man in Primal Force did nothing more than keep feet spread and swirled his arms about. The energy in the whirlwinds were actually drawn into his arms like river streams. They went inwards and looked like they were molding into something new. Once again, the gods were rendered speechless.

"No way…"

Craig fully bent the winds into compressed chi blades, and did so without any signs of wavering. He did the movements so much easier than before, and his eyes narrowed. He faced Penthos upwards and crossed his arms to make an X.

Prometheus gasped again and reached out. "Don't let him get further! Janus!"

The armored tin can-like man reached out. "As you say!" His three beads at the corners of his visor shimmered brightly before releasing a powerful energy.

Above Craig's head, another sphere was made that swiftly expanded downwards, but Craig's senses were far sharper. He felt the chi over his head and turned his body sideways and spun. He twisted and landed on his two feet in a crouch, the black wing blades dissipating as the ethereal burning prison diced into segments.

"This can't be…" Janus exasperated. "My prisons, they block out any and all ethernano and dissipate magic! How did he do this trickery?!"

Craig kept his glares ahead with a solid frown. 'I was able to use the natural chi to mold and change the properties of that attack. I wonder…' He glanced down at his right hand, folding in his fingers. As if second nature, chi compressed into invisible, distorted blades that were long and dense. 'Yeah, this is more like it.' Without anymore hesitation, he darted ahead at rapid speeds, hurrying with what pace towards Janus.

Janus grunted as he saw his target coming right for him. "You won't get pass me!" He reached out and summoned another ethereal barrier around him and his allies. The four grimacing in the wide dome were safeguarded while Craig closed in, kicking up dust as his deep treading carried him along.

Once close in range, Craig took a leap inwards, crying out as his invisible natural chi blades slashed open and slit in the barrier. The impenetrable extra defense meant nothing as Janus stood there in complete shock. Craig crossed his arms and bolted in for him.

"Energy Arts - Furious Slice Crash!"

Craig slashed both his arms, creating a distorted X that expanded. The entire attack sliced straight through, with Janus only served to screech in pain for just a second. Moment following, Craig slid to a stop with arms out to his side. As he looked away, Janus was seen looking fine for a moment, but as a second passed, the chi slash finally broke through. A large X-shaped crack appeared in front of the generator-like core, and the whole body twitched. The god of sealing sealed his own fate as he dropped to his knees. "Im…possible…" Those last words were spoken before the visor turned dark, the beads no longer glowing. The god who had intense sealing institution suddenly sliced into four segments as the X expanded into a surge towards the shoulders. The entire entity fell into disarray like a robot would, and the pieces clanged again the ground, for to bear witness to.

Prometheus looked in complete disbelief at the sight. It was unbelievable, yet it happened. He looked up with a gasp, seeing the dome-like shield he made beginning to flicker. It flickered once, then twice, and began to rapidly succeed until at last it started to fade like a ghost. It dissipated downwards, fading into the ground as the body parts of Janus were also flickering to inexistence.

"Sorry." Craig apologized. "You can play defense all you want, but if you can't find it in you to find offense, then don't bother undoing the shields from your heart."

Over Domus Flau, the barriers were starting to flicker. The ethereal cage Team Fairy Tail was in was starting to flicker away, as was the huge dome encompassing the mountaintop was finally disappearing.

"Wha-?!" Lola looked up with other commentators. "The barrier!"

"It's lifting!" Yajima exclaimed.

"It's…it's actually going away?" Mato shakily wondered. He was still so distraught over his beloved city being ripped to shreds.

Slowly, the shield vaporized, and the ethereal bars containing Team Fairy Tail was finally downgrading to thin air. With the barrier having finally lifted, Natsu stepped out, looking around to see that he could finally breathe fresh air again.

"Woah…it's gone?" he wondered. Realizing the scenario, he looked up at the monitor, he and the other freed folk were seeing Craig go toe-to-toe with the three remaining gods. Anyone could've leaved right now, but the battle of cataclysmic proportions was happening.

Arcadios stepped up and swiped his arm. "Everyone! Listen up! Do not leave just yet! We have patrols centered in and outside of Domus Flau's exits! Remain calm!"

Irony was a crucial role here. It wasn't that anyone heard him per se, but it was the fact that every single person wouldn't move. They knew that if whatever was to happen involved going outside when they knew something would explode, they'd best not take their chances.

"Natsu!" a voice called.

"Huh?" The Dragon Slayer turned around, shocked to see the elderly master and the whole guild coming about to congregate. "Gramps!"

Makarov looked up towards him. "Are you alright?"

Erza nodded. "Yes, we're fine."

Gajeel cracked his neck. "Man, that was a pain."

"At least we're able to move freely in a wider range now, that's one thing to be sure about." Laxus confirmed with arms crossed.

"Tch, true that." Gajeel smirked.

"GRAAAH!"

Onscreen, everyone turned towards the sounds of the animalistic roar of Craig. Their undivided attention was set on him as he continued to square off solemnly against them.

Natsu balled a fist. "Alright! Enough small talk! Time to do what we do best!"

"Natsu! No!" Makarov backed off.

"Huh?! But why?!" he barked.

"Are you having a death wish, fool? These fellow creatures Craig is facing, they're not human!"

"Yeah, so?"

Sorry, kiddo, but I'm with the old man on this one." Gildarts frowned.

Natsu went wide-eyed at his ally. "Wait, what?"

"I know, but did you even pay attention? That Magic Power…" he shot a glance at the screen to show Craig squaring against the other three. "And that look in Craig's eyes…I hate to say it, but I think we're better off in here where we can at least save our own skins."

Natsu stomped. "That's a load of crap!"

Erza sighed.

"I just know we can take them all on now! Okay, sure, Craig did a number on them, but how in the heck am I supposed to just accept this?! Craig's done all the work, and we have nothing to show for it! It's time Fairy Tail stepped in and did some damage to those three freaks of nature!"

"And just how exactly do you propose we do that?" Makarov challenged.

Natsu fell short of words. "Well…"

"Whatever is happening right now, this is Craig's fight. If those fellows are indeed fallen gods and are after him alone, us staying out of this business is the best course of action."

"But…"

"Yeah, I'm with you there." Laxus said. He glanced up at the screen, seeing a zoomed-in feature of Craig's adrenaline rising again. His eyes were different, but the look was dreading. "That face of his is the sign that I needed."

"I'll say. He looks like he's gone animal." Gray said. Beside him, Juvia worried.

"But if magic really has no effect on these guys, then how is Craig able to hurt them?" she wondered.

"Beats me." Alzack answered.

"But it sure looks helpful to him. I've never seen anything like it." Bisca said. "It's like…something about him is different."

Erza looked up at the scene, her eyes showing astonishment still at the raw Magic Power all three gods still had. It was terrifyingly huge still, even when two were already dismantled. She could feel her spine tingle from the pressure still roaring like a fighter jet.

Natsu's fists were balling harder than ever. He glared up at the screen as he seeped daggers into his eyes. The blood on Craig was dried up, but the battle was searing with power even he wasn't at yet. It left him with a bitter taste. "I can't just sit by like this…!"

"If you get caught in another blast wave like the others have, what then?" Makarov wondered. He looked up at the battle onscreen, showing his own sense of pride being hampered. He sighed. "I hate to say…but we have no place in a fight like this. Everyone, stand down."

Natsu was furious to say the very least. He was glaring daggers at Craig as he looked like a madman causing rampage, and what made it all the more degrading was that he was killing like it wasn't an issue. Sure, Natsu had his fair share of fights, but he was best at roasting foes than straight up gutting them to pieces. This challenge was just passed up, and even if he was indeed terrified, he wanted to face that. But even if he did, charging in like he did with just his regular strength, it would leave him in a fate no worse than Jiemma. Ultimately, he looked away with angst. "…damnit."

Cana looked up at screen as well, her eyes showing worry as she folded her arms. She was holding back whatever trembles possible.

---

Craig hunched over and made a stomp. He darted ahead at a slower, but heftier rate, hence his loud, primeval roar. He closed in on Penthos, but the god wasn't taking chances. He ascended into the air, making a small gust as he did. Craig stopped in place and thrust a palm out, deflecting the misfortunate gust all around him. High up, the avian-man cawed as he spread his wings. Black shockwaves exploded from his body, yelling with all his might. The atmosphere rattled as a pillar of darkness erupted in place, shattering the ground in a booming exertion.

With Janus now, Prometheus and Aphrodite were unable to cover up from the misfortune shockwaves. The cape began to tatter as the winds took parts of it from Prometheus, and Aphrodite's hair blew wildly in her own face, causing her to recoil with several weak curse words.

As Penthos expelled a sinister amount of magical pressure, he looked down, glaring to see that the base of the huge pillar still had Craig in its epicenter. He was looking up like nothing was happening. 'He's not breaking?'

As he looked up, it was more like he was pounded by a waterfall than anything else. Normally, Craig or humans wouldn't handle such magical energy upfront, but Primal Force unlocked his body in some way. 'I'm actually enduring this. It's like it doesn't hurt much at all…'

'What kind of transformation did he go under?' Penthos thought. 'It's as if he's become…a god. No, that can't be right, this has to be a farce in some way. It wouldn't make sense. No human should be withstanding this much raw god power upfront.'

Craig pivoted and swirled his arms around. With a loud huff, the chi bended the pillar's base in an omnidirectional wave. The black rippling energy went straight out over him. Prometheus and Aphrodite stood a ways away, but were completely shocked as they lost ground within the shockwaves coming for them. Both screamed out as Penthos' misfortune was brought upon them.

"GAH~!" Prometheus and Aphrodite fumbled along the grounds, the likes of gods having turned on them so fruitlessly.

Penthos stopped unleashing his power, the pillar of shrilled black fading from the open hole in the sky. The roaring of the energy continued to bellow like a fighter jet passing over. Penthos spread his wings and tried to circle around, looking for another opening to see if he could strike. He knew it would be best if kept out of his sword range and fists.

Craig didn't have to move. He could see Penthos' energy curving around. It was a stream of chi that he could now bend. "I meant what I said…" He pivoted around, facing the arching Penthos. He began to move his arms about, as if he was bending water.

Penthos began to feel his body feel a drag. "W-woah…the wind…!"

With him bending his chi, Craig faltered Penthis for a few seconds. With him in the air, he glared up and charged for wavering god. He pulled back and swiftly send out another sword. Unsheathed, it slashed vertically upwards for Penthos, sending more chi force through the air. The right wing of the bird was struck, making a loud burst and black feather-like scales to chip off. The damaged god began to falter, cawing loudly as his wing started to fall off, albeit not so clean as the trajectory as off. He grimaced in bloodcurdling pain as he fell down, eyes dilating as his right wing fully detached. 'My luck…'

Craig sheathed again and went heading towards Penthos again. He pulled back a fist, crying out as he reeled it forward.

'To be bested by a mortal like this…this couldn't have been anything more than…'

WHAM!

With an earth-shattering pulse, Craig's fist connected with the god's head. The shockwave went clean through the armor, bones, and insides. The impact made a ripple that went through the ground, kicking up some debris and small rocks to clear way.

Penthos went flying off, white being sought in his field of vision. '…my own misfortune.' With that grievous note in his mind, the god tumbled head first into the ground, doubling, if not tripling over and scraping his braindead matter into the ground. He made one final rise until smashing into the ground with a deadly plummet. His fall this time made him embed into the earth. The dust cleared away to eventually show the god lying on his back in a crater embedded with him in it. His mouth was gaped as his eyes were devoid of pupils.

Prometheus looked in deep wallow as he saw yet his third comrade fall before the destroyer's might. "Penthos…"

The god's corpse blackened into sheer pitch darkness. A hollow wind flowed by, the corpse fading into the winds like black sand. The particles themselves faded into the night sky, carrying the misfortune away with the tide.

Craig watched with a straight face as Penthos passed on. He then turned towards the two remaining gods, a frown forming. Though serious it was, there was no anger behind them.

Aphrodite glared at him, showing her own sense of insecurity. "You…" Her teeth gritted out of anger. "You…you…!" With a scream of undetermined anger, she pushed her arms forward and unleashed a monstrous volume of raw Magic Power. It went blitzing across the land towards Craig, enough density to cut and power through even raw magical cannons. The massive volume headed for Craig, making a white light zoom in towards him. All he did was take one look, and he spread his feet apart.

"You know, love is a fickle thing." He spoke.

Aphrodite's eyes widened at the sound of his voice. She watched as Craig began to move his arms in opposite circular motions. The motions were once again drawing the horrendous expanse outwards. To make things even more shocking, he wasn't even touching it physically. He was bending it using the invisible chi only he could see and feel, and it was compressing into a small orb of white before him.

Shocked again, she backed off from her attack and stepped away. As her wing continued to twitch, she was gasping for fine breath as her disbelief mounted. Craig bended the attack in full, with swift motions to make sure that it surged into the compression. "No…this isn't right…"

"Aphrodite…" Prometheus said.

"Nobody breaks the law but me!" Craig shouted.

What he said threw Aphrodite in confusion. "What law?"

"The law of breaking faces! Like yours for even thinking of fucking with people when you're taking their will!"

Aphrodite's anger spiked. With what she could, she angrily opened her right wing, unleashing a shrilling array of lights. The intense blasts of light with every vibrant radiance possible. The instance the light was unleashed, Craig was channeling the actual light into the compressed hemisphere. The atmosphere's intense rays of brightness was all compressing into Craig's palms.

Craig was making sure whatever he was doing, it was to leave his palms burning. As he molded the chi energy of the light, it still seared with power of hot rocks to the touch. Still, thanks to Primal Force, the damage and pain he was feeling was dimmed to a low degree to where it was numb. He kept molding the light rays onto the sphere, making the object give off a bright glaze so vibrant that Craig shut his eyes as he pictured and mended the chi.

"How dare you rob us of our home!" the goddess snapped. "Are you man or monster?! Because if you just took away the truth and our hearts, then you're nothing but the foulest monster corrupted from hell!"

Craig smirked. "How'd you guess? Reading a magazine? I thought it was obvious."

Aphrodite had lost her patience. She crouched ahead and went for Craig. Her eyes were glowing bright with red, the pupils dilating in pink. "It isn't up to you to decide the fates of these humans!" she angrily shouted.

"You're right…it's THEM!" He pushed out with all his might. "Energy Arts- Bide Exploder!"

The small hemisphere right before Craig had a daunting glint in it before the ground beneath split into a massive trench. The trench itself was annihilated and buried over with falling dust as a thick, bright beam of Magic Power went coursing through the atmosphere. It bolted onwards, the span being as tall as a three-story building at the base and expanding to the size of Domus Flau outwards. As it traveled towards Prometheus and Aphrodite, the latter was in the direct line of the attack, while Prometheus was blown away by the searing light's shockwaves. As his screams were hollowed out by intense roars of the wind, the lady's hair shifted as she stood in place, her red eyes staring at the bright light that was her own magic. She was so in shock she wasn't able to move.

"Aphrodite~!" Prometheus exclaimed.

The goddess looked at her incoming magic, the bright radiance trancing her. It was so serene, if not deadly. As was the beauty of life itself. A small smile coursed itself onto her supple lips as light glistened and stung on the sugary lip balm. 'So this is the beauty of life…how vexing…'

A straight line of light beamed into the Crocus compounds. Everything within a searing instant instantly stopped moving, as if the blast transparent itself from reality. In a split second, the entire confines of Crocus, even to parts that weren't annihilated quite yet, were all enveloped in the roaring destruction that was light. The beautiful, blinding light seared everything within its wake, the ground decimating several times over into a voluminous, orbital light dome that roared with thunderous intake. The shockwaves went outwards, beaming clean through the mileage that severed the link to the mountains. Craig held his ground as the intense waves hardly budged his now strengthened form. He glared ahead as mountain bases were dented inwards by the shockwaves of the goddess' blast.

Minutes went on, and the deafening eruptions of light continued surging. It was beginning to dissipate, but otherwise maintained a stable energy through the airspace. The light actually glistened before some fragments were gone.

"Gnnngh…" Moaning, Prometheus tried to get up, but found it rather hard with pieces of his body once again chipping off. The god was looking ahead and went wide-eyed. He gasped as he saw the level of turmoil. His ears wee still ringing, so all he heard was constant buzzing for a few moments before coming to his senses. He slowly got back up, looking at everything like snow he had never seen snowfall before. The weakened god was stupefied as his head ached. Not a single rational thought came to mind as he looked at the twinkling lights in the sky. They were like stars.

"Feels hazy, doesn't it?" a voice called in the distance.

Prometheus turned around, meeting Craig with great shock. He could see the morose look he had going for him, too.

"This isn't run of the mill for me either you know. It ain't easy seeing people who are willing to follow you die for your cause." His brow furrowed. "They follow you until their days end, that's something I know they never regret. That's loyalty for starters…not that others would know."

Prometheus' glare hardened as he looked like he was blowing a fuse. "So, an eye for an eye, huh…?"

"Wasn't my idea. I just rolled with it."

"I see…so this was the feeling when Maponus died buying you and Alator time to get to Yggdrasil." He looked down with a despondent smile. "So this is human emotional pain, huh? Feels hard to swallow."

"Believe me, I knew that from the beginning." Craig admitted. He folded his fingers together, making prolonged invisible chi blades. He stood face to face against the last god.

Prometheus shared his own morose smirk. "…hmph. The irony, huh? One man…one god…yet we gods just depend on you, and we beseeched you without you even knowing or caring. It's like you worship devils themselves."

"Devils, angels, man, fish, poorly baked goods or other dishes that give you cholesterol issues, the hell with all that bull. Whatever you believe in, as long as you enjoy it and see it through with a resolve, any of those things can look like a saint. Hell, I got wisdom from a pineapple when I was trekking through an abandoned island one time." Craig snickered at the memory. "That pineapple sure knew his stuff."

"Wisdom of the years beyond a god's lifespan…you truly are something, Craig Crius. I respect that. So…" Prometheus slid a foot back, holding his gauntlets back to grasp something invisible, too. It began to mold into a rainbow flame making the shape of a blade. "So, in respects to the thrill of fighting that you ever so feel, and to the fallen for both our sides, let us make this not just for the sake of Earth Land's fate, but alas…ourselves."

Craig's eyes narrowed. "Duly noted."

Prometheus plunged ahead at rapid speed, the ground breaking into cracks upon his spring towards his target with the bladed flame on his side. "The people need someone to look up to! They need someone who can provide, and make them feel secure to survive! And what can you do?!"

SHLING!

Prometheus gasped in shock as time slowed down. His eyes widened when his rainbow, wavy blade was stopped cold by odd, distorted blades of pure chi by Craig crossing his arms to make an X. The flames didn't even erupt, nor did they even break the ground beneath. It was, in essence, absorbed.

Craig's blood on his forehead continued seeping over his eyebrows, making his eyes look hazy to read. When he lifted his head a little, he gave a most frightening glare.

"You wanna know something?" Craig said. "I. Really. Freaking. Hate…People!"

He broke the collisions, making Prometheus step back. The god regained footing and looked back as Craig slashed again. Time for him once again slowed down for an instant, giving him what was a brief flash of Craig back in the halls of Yggdrasil. He saw him slashing the same motions, making him gasp.

"People are lazy! They complain about lives they have! They suck! They have absolutely NO sense of direction and can't even use common sense because they don't even know how to even play fair!" Craig parried and slashed away at Prometheus with no let-ups. The assault was a lot of pivoting and twisting, and he slashed away at his flame blade. The strangest part was that slivers of the flame were constantly absorbed into the flow of the chi blades, although some embers were still grazing and searing Craig's elbows within the pivots. Some embers even grazed the arm hair, but all that did was burn it off, leaving the skin bare. "People can't even pick up themselves! They are helpless, careless, arrogant pricks who always just gloat about how great they are, when really they can't even do anything more than just screw the other over some stupid personal matters that ends up getting others involved in their business! They are, without repercussions, a disgrace to ourselves and the world, and don't even take responsibility…and how freaking dare you make me say all these freaking things!" He slashed diagonally, splicing the rainbow blade into nothing but thin embers.

Prometheus was staring ahead in fathomless woah. What he saw was a blade that even human fire is unable to burn away; fire he gave to them. Yet his flames were brushed away by this man who was using nature itself as his power. 'This man…'

With the gap closed, Craig's entire body drew a lot of chi within the atmosphere and in the body towards the fist. The air was distorted, but just barely. "And you know what?! Let the pieces fall!" The fist tightened, compressing the chi. "Because whatever happens, what changes needs to be made is up to them! If they die from not learning mistakes, then so be it! Either you learn or you neglect, and I say…!" He brought the fist down on Prometheus' chest. The impact created a menacing shock that ran deep through the body. "YOU AIN'T MY GODS!"

The thunderous shock made Prometheus gag blood as the impact drove him deep into the ground. The leveled earth beneath began to multiply in magnitude.

"Energy Arts – Supreme Force Drive!"

All the chi that compressed into the body escalated into a full-blown impact. The fist that connected to the heart of Prometheus ran deep into the earth. A small crater with Prometheus at its base depressed a little. The small but deep shockwave ran so little out that it was like nothing but a small dust wave erupted. But for the likes of the armored god, all of the shock meant for the outside world was into his whole body. He could feel his magic corrupt from the chi, its exotic but overpowering, hot feeling ravaged every vein and vessel in his body.

Craig slowly removed his fist and arm from the chest area of the godly armor. It slowly lifted to reveal the damage dealt, and it was nothing more than a dent where the heart was, yet armor doesn't bend that deep. The place where the heart lied was completely broken, like the dreams people carried, and of Craig's own bittersweet resolve. He frowned as he looked down at Prometheus, whose hazy eyes were shaking out of shock.

The fatally wounded god gagged blood that went from the side of his lip. He lifted his head weakly, giving Craig a dazed look.

"Looks like…you've won…" his head dropped with a thud. "Again."

Craig looked down at his bloodied shoes, meekly grinning. "…hmph. Hoo-rah."

"It seems that no matter what I do, it just isn't enough." He said tiredly. "I try to do good, but you humans always find a way to stop me from giving my blessings. I suppose the real blessing here was the disguise of Valhalla gone. And even that wouldn't have been enough. You humans…you're so…greedy, and…pushy…"

Craig looked down at his dying adversary. He gave a meek stare, which curved the lips into a half-grin. "…yeah. Like I said, we don't know who or what to believe in once our sources are gone. Maybe you were right, maybe it'd be better if people looked up to someone worth revering, but that isn't me. I'm no king, and I'm no god…I'm just…" he looked up towards the sky, pondering exactly who or what he was. Even through his 4 years, he never truly figured out the real answer to that. He became a lot of things to get that truth, sacrificing his own humanity just for that solemn answer. He went to great lengths to get his memory back, but even in the end, was it worth it? He still didn't know the full story yet, but he wasn't going to give up so easily.

"I'm just…Craig Crius. Nothing more…nothing less."

As his strength faded and darkness began to surge, Prometheus meekly grinned. He seemed satisfied, despite the mistakes he's made. He was an avenger for the good, as was Craig, but both took separate paths to do so. One side took from his own by force, while another fixes mistakes by breaking a few rules and giving no damn. They were both rebels, and that was something they mutually respected.

"…I think…maybe we gods and humans are alike after all…" he mused. "'Leave the world to its own messes', as you said back in Valhalla…but also said 'Don't be afraid to stand up for other's problems if they can't handle it alone'…"

Still looking up, Craig smiled. "…That's what a rebel does. Mingle where he doesn't belong."

"…and dig graves so deep that they bore into Hades' world…he really was…a better ruler by accordance...than Odin…"

The voice fell silent on Craig's ears. A wind swept by, making the blood on Craig's face sting. When he looked down moments later, he saw that Prometheus was gone. There was no body, nothing just spectacles that were once his. The glasses stayed in place for a short while, shimmering while the clouds above faded away. When the clouds once brought on by gods was gone, the spectacles also faded into dust, scattering into the winds that grazed Craig's cheek as it passed on.

Craig remained looking down, his eyes showing mourn. "…who knows, Prometheus? Dancing with the devil is always a risk we take…when we want to make a better world than we live in."

At long last, the struggle was over. The entirety of Crocus was nothing more than a former battleground where god and man had finally settled their score. It wasn't man's magic that slayed god, no, it was the god's own powers that caused war. The nature of the world defied this logic, and it went deep into one man to cast out this tyranny once and for all. The spiritual force of nature was truly a terrifying force indeed.

Fairy Tail – 78

Fallen Prometheus – 76

At this point, everyone had forgotten about the competition at hand. Crocus was bare rock now, but the few who looked up at the scoreboard were starting to realize what had just happened. Fairy Tail was starting was beginning to catch on, and some of the guild members started to tear up. Some began to smile, but for the most part, all were left to realize it. Craig – singlehandedly – defeated the very literal gods of the Grand Magic Games.

"It…It…IT'S ALL OVER!" Lola exclaimed, a bright smile with tears on his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Let it be known! The winner of this year's Grand Magic Games; this man who went out of his way to do the crazed! Craig Crius!"

Out on the battlefield, Craig gave one massive stomp one the ground before unleashing a bloodcurdling roar up into the atmosphere. All his teeth were shown as he exerted what was his most primal roar yet. The air literally shook as he roared on with density of a dinosaur. The bellows and his head craning was sheer indication.

"I don't believe it!" Sherry gasped.

"He…HE ACTUALLY WON?! ALL BY HIMSELF?!" Obaba screeched with a pale face.

"The guy actually beat gods…" Bacchus was cross-legged on the ground and looked up with an unnerved expression. "The guy is seriously whacko."

"He broke through godly magic and armor…and all with his bare fists." Chelia was nearly falling over. Even if she tried, she doubted she could've done something like that against five gods at once.

Rogue was staring up at the screen in disarray. Besides him was a petrified and scared Frosch. Sting sat beside Lector as the former was getting his wounds patched up and mended to. They looked up at the monstrosity that dared to stand in their way, and he looked so formidable at first, but now…he was in a completely different league.

"Rogue." Sting said.

The Shadow Dragon Slayer turned towards his ally. "What, Sting?"

"I think…we were over our heads on this one." He admitted bitterly.

Rogue looked down and grinned. "That's putting it mildly."

"Well I'm just glad you both are still alive." Lector said.

"Fro thinks so, too!" Frosch happily cheered.

Rogue looked at his Exceed with a soft smile, petting his head. "Yeah. We all are, thanks to him."

Sting looked down and closed his eyes in sickened amusement. "…heh, well isn't just great. Looks like we got a lot of thinking over to do, aye Rogue?"

"Yes. Though, let's just hope Milady and the others can keep up. I doubt complications will be scarce within our ranks now."

Sting rubbed his blonde hair. "Ugh, man this is gonna be a pain…"

With Fairy Tail, everyone was still at a loss for it all, but it seemed to have made sense to them. They've managed to win not just the Grand Magic Games, but on this very night, as the stars twinkled above, they were alive and still stood tall thanks to Craig. The most broken, most insensible, rebellious, and most distant – if not hostile – member of the guild, and saved all of them from annihilation.

"He…he did it." Macao gasped.

"No way. That's crazy." Romeo muttered.

Blue Pegasus was in on the shock. "Man. It would seem we live to dazzle another day, gents. Though red velvet sprayed far from one man's blade, the shimmering was brighter than the sun that blazes into the darkness of souls. Suppose we owe this to Fairy Tail once more."

"That Craig sure is something else." Ren nervously smirked.

"I'll say." Eve chirped.

Hibiki put a hand to his chin. "Well, suppose I'll have to jot this down in the archives. I'm sure everyone's gonna have a good long look at all this."

Jenny sighed. "Good grief. What a day this turned out to be."

Kagura was staring up with a tamed expression. She saw the malicious maw of Craig, yet he was a tamed beast…sort of, yet within reason. He was bloodthirsty but sought no vengeance. Whatever he saw, he was powerful. Too powerful. No wonder she didn't stand a chance, especially when he sliced the sky. Ultimately she closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"Huh, Kagura?" Millianna questioned.

'It looks like strength he had come from his past, but from the strength of his enemies. He still forgives the sins and turns their malice against them for doing so, like he did to me…' As she was raptured in her thoughts, a half-grin appeared on her face. 'I'll have to rethink about this and train harder! I allowed my very strength to turn into my own weakness!'

Cana was looking up at the screen, her eyes beginning to mist even harder. She wiped the tears from the corners with her arm and looked back up, a happy, toothy grin plastered on her face. That boy from that brief flash, he also had sharp teeth, like Craig now. There was no telling the difference anymore, but as much as it twisted her own heart, the tears just kept coming. She was just so happy, and this emotion was what contorted her own fabrication with everything she knew about him. "Craig…"

On the battlefield that was Crocus reduced to sheer ground zero, Craig's roaring volumized. The intense roaring cackled into laughter, so much that the very laughter wasn't sane. All the adrenaline he felt was rushing through his body, and he uproariously let it all out.

"GAHAHAHAHAHA!" It was nothing but a madman's laughter of joy. It bellows all throughout the land, and those seeing it on the monitor could feel their spines still rattle as the energy within his laughter was bloodlust. The question of sanity was once again up for grasps.

As Craig let out all his adrenaline in the laughter, his eyes began to slowly fade back into proper pigment. The markings on his face began to fade away, his red eyes full of blood starting to fill with blue. Soon enough, he was finally back to himself, and his laughter was still going on.

"You…you're all okay…" He wheezed through his laughs. "Good…now you can all go act like crabs and scuttle for all I…care…" The words he was speaking began to dial down as his laughter began to expel the air from his lungs. With Primal Force now deactivated and used up for now, his body had to suffer the cost. He knew using the imperfect form before was painful, but he was sure he was going to…

As he fell forward, his eyes began to slowly close. The last images in his darkening mind were turning into those of Cornelia…and Cana. Both smiled at him, and all he did as he fell forward…was smile wide. Weak tears began to form as he descended to terra firma.

'I did good…didn't I…' he told himself. 'I kept her safe…for once…someone I love…can live…for just one more day…'

THUD

The body of the bloody and ripped Craig remained silent as it laid on the ground. Craig felt no pain, for he felt no pain at all. Was he alive? Was he dead? He didn't know. All he was aware of was seeing black everywhere, but within it, there was the continual sound of nature.

His lone body laid on the red ground, silent as a grave in the center of destruction and barren fields…just as how he had woken up 4 years ago.

---

In the magma chambers of the chi realm, Slayos' eye were wide awake. He glared with the slits shortened to make him look even more menacing, like a demon. His eyes flashed as he could feel his blood boil, his adrenaline pumping with satisfaction at the scene. He was looking so excited, and nothing disappointed him right now.

The fangs he had chattered, his head raising up to look at the eternal flow of magma skywards. His wings, though stifled by lack of reflexes over the years, managed to slowly unfold. They expanded greatly outwards, so large that they were almost four, if not five times his own body span.

"Craig…" He opened his mouth wide, the red, bloody gems all over his body beginning to resonate with his power. The nine gems he carried on his chest, abdomen, tail, back, and horns, were all shimmering brightly. He released a bloodcurdling shockwave from his mouth as he released his loudest roar after so long. It even went as far as reached the darkness in Craig's mind.

'Sl…Slayos…'

"Yes, that's Craig Crius. Well done…" the bloody red and black dragon snickered weakly as his voice faded in his mind, as if vanishing like a ghost from his past. All that was heard last, were mere, small words, but hard to make out.

"You've been pushy…what dumb luck you sure have, dunce."

---

Well here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the second to last chapter of One's Road to Remembrance. Before I get to the final chapter, I just wanna say thanks so far for all f those who tagged along for the entire ride. I know this story was far from rich, and far from excellence, but I did what I could to make the plot twist and turn if and whenever convenient for the sake of Craig. Really, let's be real here. I wasn't the best at thinking this through to the end. Honestly, I wasn't sure where this was going, but I buckled down with what I could and counted my blessings before I ran out. Making Craig develop just a little fir the sake of Cana was something sweet and tender, and now what will happen now that Cana's memories were triggered and now remembers Craig? What did you think of Craig and his relearned Primal Force now? The schematics for Primal Force was essentially like a simile to Sage Mode from Naruto, with familiar principles, but with slightly more bendable pizzazz for Craig.

Depending on how I am able to work it out, the odds are perhaps around Saturday, if not the likelihood of Monday. Case and point, the end of February as I lastly guesstimated. I still hate the fact that these chapters took up 1 week each, but that's what happens when you write like 16-20K rather than 10-12K now. Believe me, once this story is over, I'm going to be rethinking how I will make my future stories more…shorthanded for the number of words and time. Of course, no promises.

The final chapter is next, so what will behold, and what will become of Craig, that is, if he is still alive to see Cana again. So, if by a few days go around, tune in, thanks for being an OCxCana fan, and favor and leave those reviews!