Natsu and the rest of the group stared down the approaching battalion as Natsu eyed the enemy group, looking for a weakness in the formations structure to exploit, he found it, the three soldiers in the middle were limping, as if they had injured their legs and the fell behind the ones around them, it was miniscule but a blow to those three would shatter the formation instantly.
"Berthold, Break the Middle!" Natsu shouted over the sound of the marching enemy force.
Berthold seemed to pick out what Natsu had as well, charging forward he swung his massive shield around in a wide arc, slamming it into the weakest part of the enemies front, Natsu darted behind him jumping into the air and using the large man's shoulder as a spring board to follow the soldiers he had scattered with the blow, Natsu spun in the air, slicing through the four closest to him in seconds, Planting his feet on the fifth's chest he buried the blade in its arm as it began to fall, before pulling the blade back and launching himself from the body, it slammed into the remainder of the line with a thunderous crash as the line shattered, leaving a crumpled mess and very few of the armored group remained standing, That's when Natsu a change, it seemed as if the group that remained were standing in attention and had no intention of fighting further, Natsu eyed the remaining demons carefully, there was a crackle of thunder and Natsu's head whipped up before he threw himself backwards, as shard of black lightning struck the ground where he had been standing sending dirt, bits of armor and stone hurtling outwards, Natsu crossed his arms over his head as an chunk of Metal flew into his side, he let out a pained groan as he hit the ground and rolled a few more feet before sliding to a stop.
Natsu pulled himself to his feet unsteadily, placing a careful hand on his right side, he felt moisture, looking down her realized the metal had embedded itself into his skin and was drawing blood, he could barely move at all, he stared at the point where the lightning had struck.
A large metal suit stood resolutely in the crater as it eyed the seven people who surrounded it, The black expanse of armor seemed to move and swirl like mist, spike protruded from the shoulder and the helmet was like a large beasts mouth, the teeth closed over the occupants face obscuring it completely from view, he eyes glowed a deep crimson red watched them, the large sword in its hand looked as though it should be held by both hands, the figure held it effortlessly in its left hand.
Berthold was the first to snap out of the initial shock of the blast, launching himself at the figure as his shield morphed into his massive hammer, pulling it over his head he brought it down, a loud clang rang out around the crater as the figure battered the weapon away, Raising his right hand he slammed it into Berthold, sending the large man hurtling into the stone away from him.
"It's Futile," The figure hissed "None of you possess the ability to defeat me."
One of the armored soldier's stepped up behind the figure, placing his fist on his chest he bowed "Your orders, master?" The thing hissed out in a breathy whisper.
"I am sending you to the Capital, I will deal with the Seven myself." The figure responded, his right hand enveloped in deep angry looking purple lightning and he raised it into the air.
"At your command, Master." The soldier hissed in its breathy tone, before it shifted into what resembled a black wisp of smoke, before it flew into the air and hurtled north, towards the capitol, it was quickly followed by hundreds like it even more coming from the forest itself.
Natsu struggled to his feet and clutched at Karite desperately, despite everything happening he focused on the figure in front of him, he seemed oddly familiar, Natsu knew he had met the man behind the armor before.
The two glowing ors of red light turned to him "Hn, Hn, Young Master Dragneel, you always had potential, who would have thought you would surpass your predecessor so quickly."
The voice, Natsu's eyes widened as he put it together, he had met this man when he gained his fourth star as a hunter, he had met all Seven of the sons of the Hierarchy. They had not seemed strong at all when he had met them.
"The only one of you who has truly reached his potential is too injured to fight," The Figure laughed "I was hoping for a little bit of a challenge."
"What do you mean, Potential!?" Grey demanded as he glared at the suit of armor.
"You are the embodiment's of traits just as we are and only one of you have become the true embodiment of his weapon." The figure taunted.
"Oi," The figure turned to the voice with a inquisitive glance "What was that about me being too injured to fight?" Natsu asked, his tone had changed, it was like it was devoid of all human influences, it was flat and almost menacing. His head was lowered and his eyes were darkened as he stepped toward the suit of armor, pulling the Scythe around himself so the tip hovered slightly above his shoulder, he raised his eyes to meet the armored figure, the cold glare that followed froze the words in Grey's throat, he had never seen that look from Natsu.
This is what it means to become the embodiment of your weapon? In Natsu's case its…Death.
Natsu gritted his teeth, before falling onto his knee "Damnit." He let out in a whisper.
"It was almost a convincing bluff," The figure closed its fist producing a menacing popping sound "But you will be unable to entertain me, All of you are going to die."
There was a light thud in front of Natsu, which caused him to raise his head, Grey widened his stance resolutely and glared at the suit in front of him "Tell me one thing before I tear you apart, What do you embody?"
The figure laughed "You honestly believe you will defeat me, Valor," He hissed Grey's attribute with a venom "Very well, My name is Pride, as you can likely guess, that is what I embody."
Grey's eyes narrowed and he darted forward, Pride shifted slightly before blocking the spear, raising his right hand again the same angry purple lightning from before formed around his fist, Grey's eyes widened as he shifted his body, before he was sent hurtling back beside Natsu.
"Grey, Stay down, you heard what he said, you can't win." Natsu informed flatly.
"And you can't even stand," Grey responded as he rose to his feet "I swore I would never let you overtake me, remember?"
"So you blocked?" Pride noted as he looked at the pair of swords in
Grey's hands.
Natsu tilted his had to look at the black-haired boy in front of him, Grey's swords shifted back to the large dual-bladed spear he had wielded first, he spun it in his hands and embedded one of the blade's into the ground before widening his stance, Grey closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Oh, Interesting," Pride smiled expectantly behind his mask "You are going to attempt to catch up, Good luck…Child."
Grey's eyes snapped open, his irises glowed a bright light blue, He reached out his left hand and gripped his spear tightly as he let out a intimidating cry, Gritting his teeth as the ground shook around him, the air quivered and blew outwards waving his hair around as the gold of his gauntlet spread,, moving over his shoulders and slamming together with a metallic clank and locking together, three pieces of metal folded around his head, covering his face completely, only the blue glow of his eyes was seen behind the mask, The armor was smooth and it glowed slightly as the gold covered his body, he stared Pride in the face unfalteringly.
Pulling the spear from the ground "You should have ended me when you had the chance, Pride." Grey said clearly, his voice mimicking Natsu's clearing of its human influences, it was cold like steel and just as smooth "It's over."
Pride cackled manically "That's what you believe, he threw his right hand as if to punch, the lightning crackled forwards clouding the Area around Grey with dust.
"You may have caught up to Death, But you are still weak Valor!" Pride hissed, before letting out a surprised gasp.
Grey's free hand glowed a bright gold, as he stood where the attack should have landed "I dislike repeating myself, Pride. Your dead." Grey disappeared, Pride had barely enough time to pull his weapon up to block Grey's first strike, Grey spun the weapon in his hands, unleashing and endless flurry of strikes the Pride struggled to keep pace with as it seemed the strikes would break into a gap, the weapon shifted in Grey's hands the pair of swords following up the spear seamlessly, Pride gritted his teeth as he tried desperately to stave off the wave of blows flying towards him, the swords shifted back into a spear as Grey spun the sound of metal breaking could be heard as Grey pressed the spear forward, Ending the strike behind Pride, the black swirling metal that was pride's sword clattered in the ground a few meters away.
"You are even faster than your predecessor, I look forward to our next battle." Pride groaned out, before his physical form disappeared and he took the form of the smoke that had taken the soldiers before, Launching into the air and disappearing.
The armor slowly receded back to the Gauntlet on grey's hand, he turned back to Natsu with a smirk, before his eyes grew heavy and he fell, Rikimaru darted forward before the man hit the ground and propped him up.
"Hey, Grey, you alright?" Rikimaru asked urgently.
"He's fine, Just exhausted, the first time is always the hardest." Natsu groaned, as he leaned back against the stone wall of the crater with a wince.
"Are we all capable of that power?" Ayame asked as she joined them.
"If you find the key to it, yes." Natsu groaned out.
Berthold groaned as he sat up "What happened? Where did the black armored fighter go!?" He shouted suddenly.
"Grey got him," Rikimaru responded "You should try not to move."
Natsu pulled the chunk of metal from his side and inspected the wound, it wasn't as deep as he thought it would be. He sighed and let his head fall back. Two down, five more to go he thought to himself calmly.
A/N: So, how'd you like it? I know I have been away from this story for awhile, but not much I can do a lot happened in the last few month's! The Next chapter will be a Christmas special of NFF (Natsu's Flirtatious Feline) So anyone who reads my other stories has a bit of warning, Happy Holiday's to everyone reading and I will see you in the next one!