The defenders of Magnolia spread out across the edges of the city, watching the perimeter for signs of their invaders.

Natsu stood at his perch at the top of the tree near his house. Listening. Smelling. Vibrating with anger.

He had never been so angry in his life. He didn't want to accept that his friends, most of them life-long, were dead. Hell, he'd tried to kill Gray how many times? Of course, he'd never been serious. Still, he couldn't let go of the belief that somewhere out there, his friends were still alive. Even he had to admit though…they were likely in deep danger.

That was the first strike.

He thought about Crocus. It was the capital city of Fiore. Completely destroyed. The castle. The Grand Magic Game grounds. The apartment that Lucy used to live in during the year he was away. It would take an army of some magnitude to bring Crocus to its knees. Sting would never let it fall without a fight. He worried for Yukino and Sera, even though he knew they were inside the mountain fortress. Fairy Tail had not heard word on the status of the occupants of the hide out. But Crocus was destroyed. Leveled. Gone.

That was the second strike.

And now the demon forces thought they were going to try to take out Magnolia? Fairy Tail? Lucy? His baby?

Three strikes…you're fucking out!

He caught the scent of demons on the wind long before they came into sight. He let out a low whistle. Warren nodded, relaying the information to the other guild members.

He twisted the wedding ring on his finger, forcing himself to wait. He wanted the demon forces to walk into the traps Fairy Tail had spent months laying out. Adrenaline coursed through his blood as he waited. But he had to force himself to quell the itch. He remembered that the remnants of END still coursed through his veins. He'd only called on the excess strength once, when he was battling for Lucy's key. The extra boost in power was exhilarating…too exhilarating. Too much like the time that END had actually managed to take Natsu over when they were still one. He'd become power-hungry…murderous. He didn't want that to happen again. END was gone, but like Hisui had told him so long ago: You can't really get rid of what composes you. He'd realized just how true that was when he'd called on END's strength that one time. It had taken several minutes to calm down. That could never happen again.

Lucy. Lucy composed him. Beautiful, sweet Lucy. Who would be very, very angry at him for abandoning her now. He'd tried. He'd tried to sit on the backburner and let everyone else handle the crisis. Mavis knew how hard he tried. He'd been struggling with it for months, continuously choosing Lucy and the baby over the battles at hand. He hoped she understood that that was why he had to be out here. To protect what he loved the most.

He wasn't the only one. All the mages who had been passed over for the mission to hell were now somewhere in the trees surrounding Magnolia. Mira. Laxus. Elfman. Bisca and Alzack. It turned out, they all had to make a stand anyway.

A commotion interrupted his thoughts.

Wendy and Romeo were flying across the field, Happy and Carla carrying them with Pantherlily flying slightly behind, "They're coming!"

Pantherlily transformed into battle mode, the small group settling in the trees beside Natsu.

"The minute it gets too hairy," Natsu said to Romeo, "You take Happy, Carla and Wendy and get the hell outta here, got it?"

Natsu's self-proclaimed apprentice nodded, making Wendy blush as he added, "I'll protect her with my life."

"I can handle myself," Wendy hissed at Natsu, "I'm a Dragon Slayer too!"

"You're a squirt," Natsu teased, "Now shh…here they come."

The first demons entered the forest surrounding the town, crashing loudly. It was almost immediately that the carefully laid out lacrimas started going off. Freed had set lacrimas of every kind out there: lightning, entrapment, ice, water and fire, you name it. Seemingly, they were quite effective too as screams rang throughout the forest.

"So many…" Wendy whispered, watching the floods of demons storming the forest, "Natsu, as many lacrima as there are, there's too many! They're going to break through the first perimeter."

"We planned for that," Natsu whispered back, "Just watch."

Natsu remembered the afternoon he'd borrowed Virgo. He had her build hole trap after hole trap. Rope traps swung some demons high into the air. A fire wall shot up from nowhere, denying the demons entrance. Electric fences zapped other demons, frying them to a crisp. Spear fences shot up, impaling victims all over the forest. It was a brutal massacre, but it took out a good amount of their foes. Knives flew through the air as demons stepped on other traps. Wendy paled, understanding now why the villagers weren't allowed in the forest for the past several months. She watched the numbers drop.

"THIRD LINE READY!" they heard Freed yell from the trees. Catapults emerged at the treeline, armed with rocky boulders, "THIRD LINE AIM!"

They waited. Most of the demons hadn't cleared the second perimeter yet. They didn't have to wait long though. The demons were getting angrier and angrier, preparing long range attacks of their own.

"THIRD LINE FIRE!" Freed yelled. The catapults released, sending large boulders toward the demon army.

Natsu pulled back his fist in a YES motion. Another effective attack. The boulders crushed hundreds of demons.

"RELOAD!" Freed yelled.

The mages in the background hurried to reload as demons starting crossing the line again.

"There's still too many!" Wendy panicked, "Natsu, what's the 4th line? Please tell me there's a 4th line.

"Moshi moshi!" Sagittarius greeted as he joined them in their tree, "Allow me to help!"

He pulled back his bow, placing a dozen arrow in it and letting go. Crack shots. Every last arrow. Sagittarius reloaded.

"Where did you come from?" Natsu whooped excitedly as other spirits appeared, immediately launching attacks.

"We've successfully evacuated Crocus," Sagittarius informed him, "And so our next duty is to help at the front lines."

Aries launched a net of wool a mile wide. The demons were struggling to get through it.

"I'm sorry!" she quipped.

Natsu shot a Fire Dragon's roar at it, making the net catch on fire and burn some of the demons.

"So some of you are here and some are with Hargeon?" Romeo asked.

"Yessir!" Sagittarius launched another arrow attack.

Loke was shooting off Regulus Fireworks. The catapults had reloading, flinging more rock boulders at the intruders. Natsu lit some the of boulders on fire, causing the them to explode as they smashed into the ground.

"They're still coming," Romeo said, almost in awe, "My Mavis…how many are there?"

"DRAGON SLAYERS – GET READY!" Laxus yelled out.

The Dragon Slayers nodded to one another, climbing down their trees and assembling a line of their own. Laxus, Wendy, Erik and Natsu started their advance. The Royal Guard appeared out of nowhere beside them, suddenly strengthening their small group into a viable force that might compete with the demon army's numbers. The Thunder Legion, Mirajane, Elfman, Bisca and Alzack jumped down from their trees. Pantherlily, Loke and Aries joined them. Saggitarius continued firing arrows from the tree tops. The idea was to prevent the demonic army from coming anywhere near Magnolia. That meant taking the battle to the forest. They powered up, releasing Dragon Roars at the same time. Demons still burning in Aries' wool net disintegrated. She didn't waste time, forming a second net immediately.

Natsu could feel his blood boiling. He concentrated on remaining calm.

"CHARGE!" Laxus yelled.

Battle cries from both sides rang out, echoing in the forest.


From the top of a hill nearby, Omicron let out an evil cackle, watching the remainder of his forces veer off to the other side of Magnolia. Fairy Tail's heaviest defenses were engaged in battle on the East side. That meant the West was theirs for the taking.


The Celestial King was watching several Seeing Pools at once. The battle at Hargeon. The battle in Magnolia. The mages stuck in the tunnels of Fairy Tail, specifically his Hisui. The demonic force, plunging their way through the defenses on the West side of Magnolia.

"They're going to get to Magnolia," Atria dead-panned, "There's no one to stop them once they break through the barriers! Hisui!"

The king nodded solemnly, "That appears to be their angle, yes."

"We should pull her out," Atria was saying, "We should bring her back here. It's the safest place in the universe right now."

"We can't," the King said solemnly, "Our forces are tied up trying to protect two different battle grounds."

"So what are we going to do?" Atria asked, catching the gleam in the King's eye.

"I will stop the forces at the West Gate," the King said, "I will protect our daughter and as many people as I can."

She grabbed his arm as he turned away, forcing him to look at her, "Then I'll go with you."

He nodded, remembering just how powerful she was from the battle where Lucy released her, "I think you need to make an appearance first. It's time for Hisui to…remember some things."

A flash of light blinded the empty Celestial realm as the couple disappeared – destination…Magnolia.