Two Hearts, One Wish Chapter 9, a fairy tail fanfic

Previously:

"In other words, this giant is powered by the four elements. If we can defeat all of the Element 4, we can stop the magic!" she tells her brother.

At hearing this, he perks up. "Really?" he asks excitedly.

"Hurry! The remaining two should be somewhere inside the giant!" Mirajane exclaims, trying to get her brother to quickly find the others.

"R-Right!" he stutters, before turning to run back into the transformed guildhall. Mira follows close behind to help search.

"My power… it's being sucked out…" is all Natsu can manage to say between his cries of pain. Happy stands there grief-stricken, knowing that if he tries to fly in now his magic will get drained as well leaving them both powerless. He can only really save Natsu after he has been drained of his magic. And that fact tears him up inside, wishing there was something more he could do to help.

"Natsu!" screams Happy, powerless to do more.

"Damn it all…" Natsu croaks out as his skin starts turning green.

This man, who was able to put happiness in her heart and has given her the greatest gift that she could ever receive, now became almost god-like in her eyes. As her poor mind couldn't handle the situation anymore, Juvia passed out at the sight of his almost supernaturally good looks. Before her mind went black she decided that she would worship and protect this man, her love, for the rest of her life.

Erza makes it back inside the guildhall, no longer needing or wanting me to help support her. I honestly feel the same way, I would much rather bear the pain of walking on my own than have someone act as a crutch. She stops a few feet in and slowly moves her head from side-to-side as if surveying the damage inside. I take a seat on the table that she was on just moments ago to ease my pain. It wasn't until I was up and moving about that I realize how injured I really am. Thinking back at why I'm injured makes me grow steadily angrier. I grit my teeth and clench my fists. Those bastards, if I can get my hands on either one of those Phantom wizards, I swear I'm going to make them pay.

The sound of a wood splintering crash from nearby brings me out of my thoughts and I spin to see Erza's metal-clad hand embedded in one of the tables. When did she Requip? Pushing aside my resentful thoughts, I hurry over towards her to make sure she didn't injure herself further.

"I can't just stand here like some helpless child as the rest of my guild is doing everything they can to fight!" her low tone of anger slows my steps. Well, looks like she is as angry as I am at those bastards. Really wish I didn't lose the translator. Not knowing what she is saying is so annoying. Seeming to sense my presence, Erza turns to face me with anger in her eyes.

"I'm going to go help Natsu and the others. I know what you're going to say and it doesn't matter. This is my family and I'm going to do everything I can to help save them. Even if that means I die." I tilt my head in confusion, wishing that I was able to pick up more than Natsu's name.

I stare into her eyes and I can see that whatever she said that she is completely serious about this and will not waver. I think she wants to fight. My own anger at my helplessness to protect the people I call family flares up. I feel the same way she does, I want to fight and to protect them with everything I have.

My conviction firm, I clasp a hand onto her shoulder and say, "I want to fight with you." After a fleeting moment of confusion crosses her face, it hardens into the confident, no-nonsense expression that is normal of Erza. It seems that she understands my intent if not my words. Not breaking eye contact she nods in agreement and we both share a small smirk.

As one, we turn to face the beach before marching quickly out of the guildhall once more. My body aches with pain, but I push it aside to focus on what may be laying ahead. Soon I hear cries of our guild members calling out to us, pleading something unintelligible. Their pleas went unheeded. As a Shade makes its way towards us, Erza summons a sword and slashes it to pieces without stopping her purposeful stride. Very quickly we reach the edge of the beach and I look up at the massive giant.

"So…. How do we get up in that thing?" I ask of Erza. Without saying a word, she Requips into a black armor with wings that are very reminiscent of a demonic look. I shudder in fear and turn to look away from her as I gather up my courage. Dammit, why does it have to look like a demon? She looks at me and out of the corner of my eye, I see a look of understanding on her face. She takes an armored hand and covers my eyes so I can't see anything. I close them and her hand moves away.

"Now what?" Is all I'm able to voice out before a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and suddenly I'm in the air. My throat closes in fear as the wind blows against my face and I can't touch the ground. My eyes open with the shock and the only sound I was able to make was a small whimper as I see how fast we are approaching the front of the building. Realizing we are about to crash, I shut my eyes again as a small shriek escapes my throat.

FUCK! I scream out in my mind. A loud crash is accompanied by the pain of my body landing on a hard surface. I feel myself rolling for a while before coming naturally to a stop. I stay where I am, feeling stunned by the quick succession of events. A small groan catches my attention and I open up one eye slightly to see the world wobbling around dizzily.

"What the hell?" I croak out before clearing my throat. Within seconds the world steadied itself and I feel brave enough to open both eyes. Looking around I see a broken window with a trail of broken glass that leads to me. That's one way to make an entrance… I carefully place my hands on the floor and go to push myself to get back on my feet. Pain stabs through me, greater than before.

"I'm going to feel that one in the morning," I comment to myself. Finally standing up on unsteady legs, I turn to see Erza already marching purposely down a hallway. I grumble nonsensical words under my breath to vent out the slight frustration I feel due to the redhead not waiting up for me. With a bit of a lurch and a limp, I follow after her hoping to catch up. After two separate hallways that took much longer than I would have liked to walk down, I started to yell at Erza's back.

"Any chance can you please slow down to let me catch up?!" Feeling more than a bit irritated by now. I can see her figure jerk to a stop and start to turn towards me before she stops again. It almost looks like she tilted her head to listen to something. Just as I'm opening my mouth to ask what is going on, she suddenly takes off like a flash.

I stop in surprise, my jaw flapping uselessly and no sound leaking out of it. Soon my shock changes into full-blown frustration. I growl wordlessly as I start limping along again, faster than before. Determined to catch up and give Erza a piece of my mind.

Happy covers his eyes with his paws, not wanting to believe that Natsu has lost. A loud meaty thwack catches his attention and he lifts his head to gawk in wonderment. As if sent by the gods, Erza has appeared at the very last second and saved Natsu before the Airspace spell could be completed. His greenish skin turns back to its normally slightly tanned hue.

As Aria is knocked back by a flying kick to his face, he quickly disappears again. Erza lands softly in a crouch and tries to sense where Aria can be before he attacks again.

Happy jumps high into the air while shouting gleefully, "Erza!" He is waving his paws like crazy from pure joy that Erza has rescued Natsu from the same fate as their Master. Natsu is also glad that she saved him before he realizes that Erza, who is heavily injured from defending the guild from Jupiter, is here.

Fighting.

"Hey, is it okay for you to move with that injury?" he calls out in concern. For despite how terrified he is of her anger, she is still a big sister to him and he cares very much about her well being. Erza stands up quickly while turning towards Natsu and Happy with an angry glare on her face. Immediately frightened, Happy and Natsu cling to each other thinking for a moment that they are the ones she is angry with.

"Erza's angry!" Happy shouts out in terror. The wind wizard of Phantom Lord reappears again just a few feet further behind Natsu than where he was when he got kicked.

Ignoring the antics of her guildmates, she asks them in a serious tone, "He's the one who did that to the Master?"

"Erza Scarlet?" Aria asks in surprise. "How sad," he says with a grin that doesn't match his words. "For me to have the head of not only Salamander but Titania as well!" he almost crows gleefully.

Erza's glare hardens as her voice deepens from her anger, but yet stays calm as she states, "So you're the bastard who laid hands on him." Her voice then cracks like a whip, causes the other two Fairy Tail mages to flinch from fear. "He's like a father to us!"

"Erza!" Natsu calls out worriedly. Despite being at the wrong end of Erza's strength before, he knows that Aria is not a pushover in power and she is already weakened from her injuries.

The large man in green starts to chuckle in amusement. "Since I get to actually face Erza then I suppose I have no choice, but to fight seriously!" He says in a happy manner. Those words make Natsu's blood run cold as he stares at Aria in disbelief. The dragon slayer fought against the wind mage with everything he has and here Aria claims that he wasn't even being serious. It is like Natsu was just a warm up exercise for the large man.

Natsu didn't like this feeling of weakness, not one bit. His fists clench in frustration that he couldn't even land a hit on the enemy in front of them. As he spoke, Aria moves his hands up from their attack position and towards his face. With a quick flourish, he takes off the bandages around his eyes. Opening them reveals purple eyes that dilate in size and that gain a strange white X symbol in the middle within a couple of seconds.

"Come, Titania!" Aria taunts. A wind coming from the man blows throughout the hall and disturbs the dust. It swirls around, showing more of where the air currents are going than blocking the Fairy Tail mages' view. The man in a green cloak hunches down as he calls out loudly, "Activate the Airspace of Death, Zero!" As he gathers the power to cast the spell, Aria explains what it will do to them once it hits.

"This Airspace will consume all life within it!" He states proudly before increasing the power output and causing the wind within the hall to become a raging gale. Erza stands like a statue, unfazed by Aria's threat and show of power. Natsu has to brace himself against the wind as it proves much stronger than he expected. He raises one hand to help protect his eyes from the stinging dust while Happy is barely holding onto his scarf to keep from flying away in the wind.

"This isn't good at all!" the little cat cries out in fear.

"Magic that consumes life?" Erza questions in a calm, but hard voice as she summons a sword to her hand. "How? How can you take people's lives so easily?" she asks Aria harshly while pointing her sword at him with an outstretched arm. "You villain!" Erza growls out.

Unperturbed by the questions, Aria exclaims, "Now, let's enjoy this!"

"Erza!" Natsu screams out in fear as Erza charges forward. Her eyes reflect the determination and fury that is within her.

"Can you withstand this Airspace?" Aria asks haughtily as he stands still, waiting for Erza to fall prey to his spell. With a sudden movement and a yellow glow, he activates the life draining magic. Erza ducks her head to avoid getting blinded by the flash of light as she continues in a headlong rush towards the strongest of the Element 4. She swings her sword back with a two-handed grip to prepare to slice anything in front of her.

Letting out a guttural cry of anger, she swings her sword as hard as she can in front of her to cut away at the magic. The pressure of air created by the mighty swing cleaves through the Airspace of Death, allowing her to safely get closer.

Startled beyond anything he has ever felt before, Aria utters a loud, "Impossible!" before continuing with, "She's slicing through the Airspace?!" in dismay. Still using mighty swings, Erza cuts her way through the wind magic to get ever closer to Aria. When in range, Erza jumps high enough through the Airspace to be above Aria's spell. A glow surrounds her as she Requips into a ball gown-like armor with 2 pairs of angelic wings. Two swords are in her hands, crossed at the blades.

Bringing both swords back until her arms are crossed at the elbows, the armored redhead yells out, "Heaven's Wheel!" As she slices the air in front of her, a multitude of swords that are summoned from the attack rain down on Aria in a furious fashion. Still stunned from the fact Erza was able to slice through his Airspace so easily, Aria doesn't even have a chance to dodge the powerful attack.

The wings of her armor allow Erza to glide past Aria almost instantly just as he is hit the by another powerful slicing attack made by her as she cries out in fury, "Blumenblatt!"

With a strangled cry, he falls to the ground defeated. In a manner of a few seconds, Erza Scarlet, otherwise known as Titania the Queen of the Fairies, defeats the last of the Element 4. She glides softly to the ground, with her back facing Aria.

In a mixture of joy, shock, horror, and awe Happy cries out, "She beat him in one hit!"

Natsu cries out, more in fear than anything else, "Erza's dangerous, that's for sure!"

"The likes of you should never have been able to beat the Master." Erza calmly says to the Phantom Lord mage, her back still facing his prone form. "Your days of glory will be wiped out, starting now," Erza growls out with a look of hatred rarely seen in her eyes as she turns to look at Aria.

"T-The sadness…" is all he manages to mutter out before falling unconscious. Seconds later, the entire building starts shaking violently, and a feeling of falling accompanies it. The movement is not enough to trigger Natsu's motion sickness since it has been fortified with the special tea.

The glow of Erza's magic surrounds her as she changes back into her normal shirt and skirt before falling towards the floor. Natsu, who has been making his way to Erza, rushes forwards and catches her before she hit's the floor.

"Erza!" he shouts out in worry twined with fear that she might have pushed herself too far as he cradled her body next to his in a protective manner. "Hey!" he cries out loudly, trying to get her to wake up. Not long after the shaking has stopped, the cheerful tones of the Phantom Lord speaker system sound off. Natsu tightens his hold on Erza, who has still to awaken, as he glares at the roof towards where José might be.

"Attention all you from Fairy Tail." José's voice rings out sounding very pleased. "Please listen carefully to this voice." he requests almost in a sing-song manner.

"What's this?" Natsu aggressively growls out.

"It's Master José!" Happy exclaims in disgust as he too glares at where the voice seems to be coming from. A pained filled feminine scream sounds out from the system, causing the blood of the everyone who heard and recognized the voice to run cold.

"We have captured Lucy. So we have accomplished one of our objectives." José's voice rings out happily. His voice lowers slightly and becomes gruffer but doesn't lose the note of joy in it, "Thus we have one final goal that remains to be fulfilled. To slaughter the lot of you! Disgusting brats!" At this pronouncement, Natsu is snarling in rage.

"Damn him!" Natsu growls out, barely holding his fury in check. Only his worry over Erza's condition keeps him from taking off to rend José and every other Phantom Lord mage he can find limb from limb. Struggling, he works to push his anger and instinct to fight for those who are precious to him aside.

"Damn it! Lucy's been…" he can't finish the sentence, the fire within him burning hotter to match the heat of his fury. With a sharp intake of breath, Erza manages to wake up.

She weakly looks up at the dragon slayer who is holding onto her and whispers out, "Natsu…" The sound of her voice breaks through Natsu's rage and relief washes over him with the knowledge that she is awake.

"Erza!" he calls out anxiously. He is greatly troubled by how weak she looks. She looks even worse than after defending against Jupiter.

"Unleash…" she whispers to the fire mage. Struggling some, she manages to continue. "…your power!" He looks down at the redhead in shock, wondering what does she mean by his power. "You have…power… sleeping within you…" Erza tells him, having to pause often to take a breath, but finding it easier to talk the longer she is awake.

"Believe in yourself… Breakthrough… And call it forth!" she commands of him in a demanding tone. Natsu can only stare as he holds onto to her, not daring to speak or even move. "Now is the time… Protect Lucy… Protect the guild!" she commands, her voice growing stronger with her desire to get the message across to Natsu. She takes a deep breath before yelling, "Go, Natsu! You're the one who will surpass me!"

Natsu's teeth become clenched as a flurry of emotions rage through him due to Erza's words. Almost every emotion he has ever experienced, only stronger than he has ever felt in his life, swirls inside causing a storm to build within his soul. Unknowing whether to laugh, cry, scream in fear, or roar in anger or a mixture of them all, he stays quiet. Natsu gently leans Erza against a ruined wall and stands up straight and tall. As the storm continues to build, so does Natsu's magic in response.

His vest and scarf start to flutter from the force of his magic leaking into the air and soon his whole body is on fire. Something snaps within and a roar tears its way out of Natsu's mouth. He throws back his head while his flames explode in size and fury. As they burn, they almost take the shape of wings that are spread out wide. The flames continue to grow hotter and larger as he continues to vent out the storm of emotions in an ear-splitting roar. Erza looks on in relief, glad that Natsu was able to tap into the power she knew he had in him all along.

"Hey! What's the matter?" Gray calls out in shock and worry as the water mage on the ground suddenly seems to pass out. He turns and quickly stands up next to her prone form, unsure of what to do or how to help. The woman has been going through so many emotional twists and turns, he is kind of scared that he might say or do something to set her off, again.

"Hang in there!" he shouts. "Hey! Hey!" he says trying to wake her up, too scared to actually touch her. He kneels next to her to at least make sure that she is breathing, and finding that she is, he lets out a sigh of exasperation. He shakes his head slowly when he notices the look of joy on her face.

"Now, what could have caused her to look so happy after losing?" he mutters to himself.

"Gray!" More than once voice calls his name. More than a little surprised, he looks over to see Mirajane and Elfman running towards him.

"Elfman!" He calls out towards his friend before continuing in a confused voice, "And Mira too?" As they approach, he stands up to properly greet them. The two siblings come up on the other side of Juvia, so all three surround her unconscious body.

"Is this the third Element 4?" Elfman asks of Gray before also asking in a puzzled voice, "Why does she look so happy?"

"Beats me. Maybe she's having a nice dream." Gray says nonchalantly, really not wanting to discuss the battle he just finished having when he has no idea how or why Juvia has acted so random and weird throughout it.

"Only one left!" Mirajane says excitedly which catches Gray off guard. Seeing his confusion, she quickly explains before he has time to ask. "If we can defeat one more, we can stop Abyss Break." Elfman continues the explanation knowing that like him, Gray will need a more details to understand what his sister is talking about.

"The Magic Giant moves using the power of the Element 4." he says calmly.

Mirajane jumps in to exclaim excitedly, "We can still make it! We can do it!" The two guys nod in agreement with Mirajane as they too believe that they now have a chance to stop it. "Let's hurry!" she says, now completely serious. The guys nod again and all three of them take off towards the nearest opening to get inside.

Using one of the skylights that were broken during Gray's battle, they hop in to run deeper within the giant. A few minutes of searching for the last Element 4, Mirajane remembers an important detail about Aria. She stops suddenly, which Gray and her brother do as well as soon as they noticed she stopped.

"What is it, nee-chan?" Elfman asks in concern.

Mirajane gives them both a deadly serious look as she tells them, "When we meet Aria, we must be careful about his eyes."

"His eyes?" Gray asks in puzzlement.

"Yes." she nods gravely.

"What about his eyeballs?" questions Gray in curiosity.

"Aria usually has his eyes closed. By closing his eyes he suppresses the overwhelming magical power he possesses, it seems." She explains in an earnest manner.

"What?" her brother exclaims in surprise, never hearing about someone with so much magical power that they have to suppress it.

Mirajane continues on, "Anyways, if you find Aria, beat him before he can open his eyes! If he opens them, you will lose any chance at victory." At her words, the realization of how serious this is sinking in the minds of the two young men. They lock gazes with one another as both their fear of failure and determination to not let failure happen shows up in their expressions.

A glow catches their attention and Mirajane looks out the nearest window to see what is going on now. A terrified scream tears out of her throat and both men hurry over to see what has distressed the older woman so. As soon as the men look out of the window, their breath catches in their throats. The magic circle for Abyss Break has finished and is about to activate.

They were too late.

A choked cry escapes from Mirajane as the two guys just stand there in silent grief. Then shockingly, the circle shrinks until it disappears. All three of them gasp in disbelief. Before anyone of them could say anything, the giant starts to shake violently.

"What's this? Is this Natsu's doing?" Gray demands while looking around wildly.

"It stopped!" Mirajane cries out in relief. "Abyss Break had been terminated!"

"Seriously? That means…" Elfman trails off as he bites his tongue by accident.

"The power of the four elements has been cut off!" Mirajane finished joyfully. They stumble to their knees as they brace themselves against the shaking that increased dramatically as the transformed guildhall crashes to the ocean below. Looking back out the window, it can be seen that the giant is falling as it has lost the power to keep itself upright.

Less than a minute later, although it seemed much longer than that, the shaking stops. Unsteadily, the three get back on their feet to see everyone on the beach, cheering. Mirajane squeals with joy as Elfman picks her up and swings her around, laughing all the while. Gray stands there smiling at the antics of the siblings.

For a while, everyone's hearts have been lightened as the last of what seems to be threats are now neutralized. Until the cheerful tones of the Phantom Lord speaker system sound off.

"Attention all you from Fairy Tail." José's voice rings out sounding very pleased. "Please listen carefully to this voice." he requests almost in a sing-song manner.

A pained filled feminine scream sounds out from the system, causing the blood of everyone who heard and recognized the voice to run cold.

"We have captured Lucy. So we have accomplished one of our objectives." José's voice rings out happily. His voice lowers slightly and becomes gruffer, but doesn't lose the note of joy in it, "Thus we have one final goal that remains to be fulfilled. To slaughter the lot of you! Disgusting brats!"

Silently, the three friends stare at each other, the horrible realization that they aren't finished with Phantom Lord just yet. Now Lucy needs to be rescued from their clutches, and this time, she might not be able to escape before help arrives.

They nod in silent agreement before running quickly down the halls, knowing that they have to join up with Natsu if they have any chance to save Lucy. They race down the hallways looking for any sign of the dragon slayer. As one, they stop as they sense a large source of magic somewhere ahead of them.

"Natsu…" Mirajane whispers before rushing headlong in the direction that the source of magic was coming from with the two guys not far behind. They eventually make it to a large room that has been royally trashed. A sure sign that Natsu was here. A quick survey shows that the dragon slayer wasn't there anymore, but a surprise did turn up.

"Erza!" Mirajane cries out in shock, as she sees the redhead sitting on the floor looking worse for wear. She was propped up against a pillar and lifted her head when she heard her name.

"Erza!" Gray yells in shock, not expecting to find her here, especially with how heavily wounded she is.

"Looks like there were some fireworks here too," Elfman states as he observes the state of the room since he was the last to enter.

"It's you guys," Erza says with relief as she relaxes against the wall.

"When did you break in?" Gray demands loudly.

"You shouldn't even be standing!" Mirajane exclaims worriedly right on the heels of Gray's question. Elfman stays vigilant in case more Phantom Lord mages decides to show up and attack. He notices something that the other two have missed when they first entered.

"H-Hey!" he calls out to catch his guildmates' attention. Gray and Mirajane turn to look at what Elfman has found. The sight of the strongest mage of the Element 4 laying prone on the ground catches them by surprise.

"Aria?" Mirajane says in shock. Realizing what this means, the three turn to Erza in awe.

"You actually fought with wounds like that?" Elfman asks in amazement.

"What were you thinking?" Gray scolds. He pauses before adding, "Which means…"

"You defeated Aria?" Mirajane finishes Gray's trailing question.

Erza looks up at them with a bemused expression before answering in a soft voice that they haven't heard from her in a long time, "I never wanted you guys to see me so weak like this…" She smiles gently at her family before looking down and closing her eyes. "I guess I still have a long way to go." The redhead declares in a casual manner as if defeating such a powerful mage while wounded so badly isn't an impressive feat.

A cold, noxious aura enters the room and sends unwelcome chills down everyone's spines, including Gray's. The sheer amount of magical pressure heading towards them terrifies the group.

"What's that?" Gray asks hesitantly, fearing he already knows the answer.

"That's…" is all Mirajane can say as the foreboding feeling grows.

"I sense death!" Erza exclaims, not used to feeling this overwhelming aura of doom.

"What is this feeling?" Gray asks, deeply troubled by the turn of events.

Elfman shudders as he comments, "It sends chills down a Man's spine!"

"The malice is palpable!" Mirajane says with a shudder. A soft clapping noise coming from behind the group startles them and they swiftly turn around to see José with a sardonic smile on his face.

"My, my. I'm quite impressed, my Fairy Tail Wizards…" He says slowly and calmly in that perpetually smug voice. He is standing at the other end of the hall, his magic visibly rolling off of him in a purplish black haze. "To think I would be able to have such fun… I would never have dreamed it." he continues, his voice now turning mocking as he regales the Fairy Tail members with an icy glare that his smile doesn't reach. He spreads his arms out as if to encompass the entire guild hall.

"Destroying Jupiter, taking down the Element 4... And even bringing my Magic Giant to its knees!" A frenzied look graces his face and his tone matches his expression.

"Master José!" growls out Erza in anger. Elfman has a scared expression on his face as just by sensing José's magical power, he knew that he was completely outclassed and had no way to win if he had to fight.

"This guy is Phantom's master?" Gray questions in awe and fear. Mirajane puts her hand over her mouth and looks like she is about to become sick.

"How can magic feel so… evil? I feel nauseous just standing near him!" She exclaims, as her face pales.

"Now, I must thank you for the fun you've given me." José intones in a voice speaking of generosity. They might have believed him if it wasn't for the malignant aura of his magic and the cold glare of hatred in his eyes.

"Elfman!" Gray cries out as he jumps in front of the girls, bent over in a defensive position.

"Right!" The larger male grunts out as he also jumps in front of the girls at the same time Gray does.

José glares coldly at mages in front of him and waves a hand in front of his face as he says to himself, "I'll enjoy this…" Hand up, his magic starts to form and increase in power. Gray and Elfman immediately go on the attack, hoping to stop whatever nasty spell José is about to cast. They jump towards the leader of the Phantom Lord guild, and his magic activates into a yellowish color as they approach.

"Wait, don't be hasty!" Erza screams out in warning, but it is too late. The boys attack and José activates the spell.

"Absurd!" he calls out disdainfully at the weak attacks coming towards him. His magic changes color and dozens of purple-black forms streak across the hall, a majority of them hitting Elfman and Gray. Overwhelmed by the sheer power of the spell, they are flung into a far wall of the room and crash land hard onto their backs. José did cast a spell before attacking the two males, what they don't know was that it wasn't aimed at them.

Outside, the Shades that have been constantly besieging the Fairy Tail wizards on the beach suddenly stop attacking. They fly up into the air, congregating into one large group. They merge together into a swirling dark purple sphere and the sphere grows as more Shades join in. It grows until it is almost the size of the Fairy Tail guildhall and eyes appears on the mass of magic. Six long black arms also appear, wiggling around in a creepy way.

As the wizards on the beach try to understand what is going on the blob of magic raises its arms and punches the Fairy Tail guildhall. Everyone is stunned at the sight. Their beloved guild, their home, is being destroyed right before their very eyes. Screams of pain and despair sound off across the beach. A few quick-witted mages start to attack the mass of magic and the others quickly join in.

"Elfman, Gray!" Mirajane screams out in fright. A noise behind her catches her attention and she turns with a gasp. Erza is in a kneeling position, trying to stand up again to fight. Ignoring the females, José sweeps his arm over the area where the guys landed and a golden glow appears before erupting into an explosion. Again, helpless against José's power, they are blown backward unable to defend themselves.

This opponent was no joke. The force of the explosion even knocks back Mirajane who wasn't in the line of fire. The blast was strong enough that it knocked out both guys and Mira in one shot. Her anger and determination to protect her friends give Erza not only the strength to stand, but to charge towards José. Seeing the redhead approaching rapidly towards him, José extends an arm in her direction and a swirling mass of magic blasts out from his palm.

Erza's reflexes kick in and she is able to dodge the attacks as she continues her headlong rush towards their enemy. Jumping into the air, she changes into her demonic looking armor that allowed her to enter the giant along with Krysti. With an enraged yell, the redhead tries an overhead swing of her sword, hoping to strike José. The guild leader was able to dodge nimbly to the side, completely avoiding her attack.

A quick change in grip and Erza turns the overhead slice into a horizontal one that aims for José's neck. He ducks quickly and grabs onto Erza's arms before the armored woman can mount another attack. She realizes in shock that she can't get out of José's grip. He is either just too strong, or she is just too weak from her earlier battles. Knowing that he has Erza firmly in his grasp, his ever-present smile becomes slightly crazed.

With a powerful throw, the leader of Phantom Lord tosses Erza into the air and away from him. Using a piece of rubble as a step, she is able to recover from the toss and not suffer any more wounds as of yet. Flipping in mid-air, she lands lightly on the ground in a kneeling position. Calmly they both stand back up, José looking quite bored with the exchange and Erza looking quite angry.

"You," José says in a bored tone to match his expression. "I'm pretty sure you took a direct hit from Jupiter," he states. A hint of irritation can be heard in his voice when he asks, "How is it you can stand?"

"Strong, courageous, beautiful… It will be such a pleasure to destroy you, girl!" José cries out with a manic expression now on his face.

"Leave Erza alone asshole!" a voice harshly growls out. José barely turns his head to get a look at the newcomer.

Lucy flies into a wall and lets out a choked cry of pain as gravity takes over and pulls her to the ground with a thud. She lies there weakly, her body crying out in pain from being abused so harshly. Her abuser, Gajeel, reacts his pillar arm from where it hit the blonde girl as he lets out a hum of appreciation.

"Not too bad a sound." he compliments as he holds his fist at face level as if admiring the strength in his arm. Lucy whimpers out in pain as she struggles not to pass out. Looking down at her quivering form, he lowers his arm as he gives her a half amused and half disappointed look before complaining, "But man, what a lame reaction…"

"Gajeel, don't you think you should stop now?" asks one of the lower ranking Phantom Lord mages who made it to the Giant control room for safety. As he talks, Gajeel gets an annoyed look on his face as he turns partway to look at his fellow guild member better. "You keep doing this, and it'll be serious trouble!" the less powerful mage continues in a pleading tone.

"But I'm bored." the Iron Dragon Slayer whines in a dismissive manner. Gajeel turns away and his expression hardens some. "The master sure is cruel." Gajeel continues as he raises his other hand up at face level.

"Making me watch over the girl like this, and going to deal with the flies himself." Gajeel activates his magic and his upraised hand turns into his signature metal pillar while a grin of anticipation crosses his face. He walks towards Lucy, almost leering down at her prone body. Imagining the pain he is going to inflict on her.

"What's the harm in doing this to pass the time, huh?" he asks casually as if he was just suggesting to play a harmless game.

"Stop it." the same mage barks out. "If the master finds out, he won't let you off so easy!" he warns the larger man. Growing annoyed, Gajeel swings his arm to the side and extends the pillar to hit the complaining mage full on in the face. The force of the blow forces him back and pins him against the wall.

"Shut up," Gajeel commands with a hint of annoyance in his voice and a look of anger on his face. "Maybe she's some noblewoman or something, but to me, she's nothing but Fairy Butt trash." Gajeel releases his magic and gestures toward Lucy with his arms widespread. "And even if she's a woman, she's still a Wizard. She should be prepared for this when she joined a guild." he states simply.

"But you're going overboard." another wizard complains. "What a waste…" he trails off thinking about the money they could lose if she died from Gajeel's actions.

"Master's gonna be pissed, big time." chimes in a nearby female mage, hoping to help drive the point home.

Gajeel turns toward them with one hand on his hip and a bemused expression as he replies flippantly, "If that happens, I'll blame it on you guys." He then laughs at their expense, knowing their master will most likely believe him and doesn't care if José doesn't.

"What a jerk…" the two mages mutter in unison as the dragon slayer turns back towards their prisoner. Lucy still hasn't moved from where she has fallen, unused to the amount of physical pain Gajeel is putting her through.

"But man, how stupid." Gajeel lightly complains as he crosses his arms over his chest while staring down at Lucy. Almost as if she senses his gaze, she slowly starts to pull herself up onto her hands and knees.

Ignoring her movements, Gajeel continues in the same tone, "Now that they know she's rich, the Fairy Butts are frantic to get her back." At hearing his words, Lucy lightly scoffs as she lifts her head painfully to lock eyes with the Dragon Slayer of Phantom Lord. Her reaction catches Gajeel's attention and he focuses more intently on the blonde woman in front of him who is making her way up to a standing position. She has one hand on the wall next to her to gain additional support as she had trouble standing.

"You guys really are complete idiots," she states in a breathy voice, still recovering from her earlier beating. "So pitiful… I think I'm tearing up." she continues with a cocky attitude. Gajeel lets out a noise denoting his curiosity as the rest of the occupants in the room look on in horror.

"What is she thinking?" the male mage that Gajeel didn't hit questions softly. He looks on in disbelief that their prisoner still has the strength and stupidity to talk back to Gajeel.

"She's provoking Gajeel." the female Phantom Lord mage answers back, quickly grasping the situation. Lucy locks eyes with Gajeel while giving him a look of complete confidence.

She continues on mockingly, "Phantom Lord? The rulers of spirits? What a joke! I'm not scared of you at all!" She proclaimed that last sentence loudly as if she hasn't just been beaten up.

"Is that so?" Gajeel questions softly with an unreadable expression on his face. Without warning, he punches Lucy in the gut so hard with one of his pillar arms that the wall behind her turns into rubble. Teeth clenched, she refuses to let out a cry of pain as she is caught between the wall and the pillar.

"You got some balls bluffing in a situation like this," he said louder and in a slightly admiring tone. "I must say that's not bad…" he continues before retracting his arm and letting Lucy fall down to the ground again. She lands on her knees with a gasp of pain before falling forward.

She catches herself with her hands while Gajeel keeps speaking, "But, you see… What I want to hear isn't your backtalk. I want to hear you scream." he says informatively. Lucy trembles with the force of holding back her cries of pain, not wanting to give into the sick bastard's pleasure.

Getting slightly frustrated with her stubbornness, Gajeel says more harshly, "You don't start yelling and there's going to be trouble."

Lucy pushes herself up a bit to look at Gajeel again while wrapping one arm around her stomach where she was hit before asking, "Then why don't you try killing me?" She taunted. "You do that, and you'll be in bigger trouble." Lucy threatens with that confident look still in her eyes.

"Oh?" Gajeel calls out as a manic gleam enters his eyes and appears on his face. "Well, that sounds interesting," he calls out in an interested tone. "Let me hear it," he demands in a quieter, but a more excited voice.

Lucy intones imperiously, "Fairy Tail would never forgive you. That's the kind of guild they are! You'd be shivering under the shadow of the world's scariest guild every day… For the rest of your lives!" she almost shouts out the last part. Awestruck at her bravery, the rest of the mages in the room look on unable to tear their eyes away from the spectacle.

"That sounds like fun, too." Gajeel rumbles out with a hard glare aimed at the entirely too confident, in his opinion, blonde. An evil grin graces his features as he shouts, "Let's try that out!" He has both of his arms turn into pillars and form an 'X' in front of him. He jumps up high, planning on using the force of his falling body to add extra damage on the already beaten up girl.

Fearing for their payout, one of the Phantom mages yells out Gajeel's name in hopes of halting his attack, but to no avail. Gajeel changes his mind in mid-jump on how he wants to attack Lucy and so then changes his leg into a pillar to land an extra-hard stomp onto her body. He cackles maniacally, enjoying the pain he is about to cause to one of his enemies.

Lucy looks on as Gajeel descends, too wounded to even try to dodge. When Gajeel gets close to Lucy, the floor in front of her quickly cracks open with red light seeping through. The Dragon Slayer looks on in surprise as he continues to descend right towards the cracking floor. A fire appears through the cracks that erupt into a full-blown conflagration that envelops the attacking mage.

The rest of the mages in the room hears an enraged roar coming from the fire. A loud thwack is then heard before Gajeel is flying out of the fire like he has been hit. He recovers before hitting the ground and lands in a kneeling position as he continues to slide back from the force of the hit. He stares at the fire, entirely not amused.

The fire swirls like a tornado from where it has burst out from the floor before it explodes and spreads out to the sides. It takes the shape of two giant wings as the enraged roar sounds off again. Blasts of hot air explode from the flaming winged figure as the rubble of the floor is burnt up in the incredible heat.

Gajeel looks on with a look of anticipation as he calmly states, "I knew it." Excitement grows in his voice as he says, "I noticed your smell!"

Lucy looks on in relief and happiness as she makes out the figure within the inferno. "Natsu!" she says softly in joy at seeing one of her dear friends.

The fire still raging with the storm of emotions released from within Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer bellows out, "Gajeel!" in rage. One could almost hear the bellow of an angry beast echo with Natsu's voice. In response, Gajeel starts to chuckle lightly.

"Its so easy to lure you out, Salamander," Gajeel says mockingly as Natsu is still surrounded by his fire.

"That's 'cause you keep playing dirty, Iron Dragon!" Natsu retorts in a much calmer voice than before.

"Natsu!" Lucy cries out softly with the relief evident in her voice. Her look of joy is quickly replaced by a startled expression as she stares at Natsu's form.

"Lucy, get back," Natsu tells her gently, in a manner very unlike the way he usually would be just before a battle. His focus is entirely on the dragon slayer before him.

"Gajeel!" calls out one of the other Phantom Lord mages, wanting to know what Gajeel wants them to do.

The Iron Dragon Slayer gets into an attack stance as yells back to his guild members, "Stay outta this!" A look of anticipation and excitement appears on his face as he relishes the thought of having a good fight. Impatient to battle, Gajeel leaps into action as he charges Natsu head-on. In response, the pink-haired mage breaks off the cyclone of fire and concentrates it in his fists.

"Bring it!" Yells out an enraged Natsu as he too leaps towards his opponent. With a roar, they clash with Gajeel sending out a pillar arm towards Natsu. In return, he dodges the attack before grabbing hold of the pillar and using it to swing Gajeel around. After using the swing to gather momentum, Natsu lets go of the pillar which sends Gajeel flying backward towards a wall.

The larger mage hits the wall with his feet as he lets out a grunt from the impact. The wall itself crumbles around Gajeel's feet, a testament to Natsu's strength. Not giving Gajeel time to counterattack, Natsu follows close behind and launches a high-powered flaming punch. Gajeel has just enough time to lift his pillar arm to use it as a shield to protect him from the attack. As Natsu's fist connects, an eruption bursts out sending flames, dust, and hot wind blasting across the room obscuring the view.

The blasts end up way too close to the Phantom wizards for their comfort. They run away screaming about how they don't want to get dragged into the fight. Gajeel busts out of the cloud of dust and smoke with Natsu following not far behind with his fists still on fire. Surprised, Gajeel is open for attack in which Natsu doesn't hesitate and punches the Iron Dragon Slayer right in the jaw.

Gajeel is sent flying back across the football field-sized room and he crashes into the wall in an explosion of dust. As the dust quickly clears, the larger dragon slayer is still in the crater of the wall rubbing at his cheek with his thumb and lets out a pained grunt. Natsu landed on the floor and concentrates his magic towards his feet to push off and jump high into the air which catches Gajeel's attention as Natsu yells out his next attack.

"Talons of the Fire Dragon!" the pink haired mage cries out while his feet remain on fire. Using the fire to propel him, Natsu goes in for an overhead ax kick which Gajeel is unable to dodge and is barely able to block with his transformed arm. As the attack hit, another explosion of fire occurs which pushes Natsu backward and consumes Gajeel. Lucy takes this all in with a stunned expression. The ferocity of the Fire Dragon Slayer's attacks overwhelms her, as she has never seen Natsu fight while this angry before.

A familiar high-pitched voice catches her attention, "Lucy, are you okay?" With a start, Lucy turns to see Happy running to her with concern written all over his face.

"Happy!" she cries out in joy at seeing the little blue cat. She smiles gently at him before softly answering, "Yeah..." The smile on her face quickly fades as she turns back to watch the fight between the two slayers.

Turning to see what she is looking at, Happy asks, "What's the matter?" She looks on as clouds of dust and smoke choke the air. Natsu angrily strides toward Gajeel with all intents and purposes of beating the absolute crap out of him.

"I never saw Natsu like that." Lucy hesitantly admits.

"Aye. Neither have I." Happy agrees with a solemn nod. The blue cat then puts his paws on his hips in a confident manner and a look of fierce pride overtakes his features. "But Natsu is really powerful right now." he strongly states. Lucy quietly looks on, knowing that Natsu can fight and take care of himself but still is worried about her friend and the outcome of this fight. Using his hand to help crack his neck, Gajeel takes on an easygoing posture.

"You're sure acting uppity, trash." the Iron Dragon Slayer says with the airs of someone who fully believes that they are better than those around them.

Natsu heatedly snaps back, "Same to you! You beat Lucy up…" Gajeel's look of self-satisfaction doesn't budge an inch which causes Natsu's ire and fist to flare up as he continues, "So I'm gonna bend that face of yours and turn it into iron filings." Gajeel gives the rival dragon slayer a shit-eating grin as he rotates his arm around in a circle to help stretch out the muscle. He lets out a more sinister laugh as his grin deepens to one of anticipation.

"Sounds like fun. Try me!" he calls out excitedly, hoping to finally get a really good fight out of this. As one, both the mages run at each other, planning on knocking the other back with a well-placed punch. They both hit the other once, then twice. The two at equal levels of power. Gajeel goes for a longer distance attack by sending out his left arm as a pillar to hit Natsu. The fire mage, in turn, dodges the attack with a flip and lands on the iron pillar in a handstand.

Using this, he pushes off with his arms to head towards Gajeel with the intent to kick him in the face. With startling speed, Gajeel retracts his left arm and changes his right one into a blade before slicing at Natsu twice before the Fairy Tail wizard could land the kick. Flipping backward through the air, Natsu extends one of his arms to catch himself and flip into a recovery position with his back facing Gajeel. Frustrated anger is now etched into Natsu's face as the enemy keeps heaping more and more surprises into this prolonged war.

"What's that dangerous looking thing?" he almost growls out, his expression unchanging as he looks back to give a hate-filled glare towards the larger male. As Natsu looks back, he can see the new configuration of Gajeel's arm better. It's a long, and fairly thick, sword that has extra spikes along the edge of the blade that gives the whole thing quite a nasty look.

"Sword of the Iron Dragon." Gajeel answers simply before continuing on in a much prouder tone. "There's nothing that won't be cut to shreds when hit with this!" As he speaks, the spikes start to rotate around the blade edge with greater and greater speed until they are nothing but a blur. A noise not unlike a chainsaw accompanies it.

Gajeel's voice deepens with a more sinister note, "I want to test how well this cuts on you, Salamander!"

Not threatened at all, Natsu replies back cockily, "That ain't nothing!" Lucy and Happy, on the other hand, are very threatened by the blade.

"What's that?" She cries out the question, fearful for Natsu's life.

"It's Iron Dragon Slayer Magic!" Happy tells Lucy in a fearful, yet smart alec way. Lucy is so worried for Natsu that she doesn't even notice that Happy yet again insulted her, albeit unintentionally. With a crazed grin, Gajeel jumps high into the air while laughing manically aiming to slice the pink-haired man in half. Natsu jumps backward to avoid the hit and the blade buries itself into the floor.

The hit was so powerful that the floor broke apart almost as in an explosion and the nearby Phantom mages get caught up in the blast. They yell out their complaints in getting caught up in the battle that they are trying to avoid, but the two slayers pay them no mind. Gajeel pulls his blade out of the ground and swings it towards Natsu's retreating form to use the pressure wave to push him even further back.

He laughs maniacally again before crowing, "Can't stop it now like you did before, huh?" He jumps towards Natsu and swings again and again with the smaller man nimbly dodging each slice. "I thought you said it ain't nothing!" Gajeel taunts as he chases after Natsu across the floor. At one point, Natsu lands in front of the other Phantom mages which causes the two to pause the battle again.

"You actually move pretty well there." the dark-hair man compliments.

"Same to you," Natsu replies curtly. Gajeel releases the blade form of his arm with a smug grin.

"That last time was just the preliminaries, after all. Let's finish this, Salamander!" the Iron Dragon Slayer urges, really wanting to get a proper fight in, not these little warm up matches. Natsu wipes some dirt off his nose, the same angry expression has yet to leave his face.

"Now I'm fired up, you scrap-iron bastard!" Natsu practically spits out. Lucy, who is watching safely from the sidelines worries about how the battle will turn out since both fighters are able to transform their bodies to have the quality of dragons. Both of them are extremely powerful in their own right, but to have the two of them battle each other, who knows what will happen. As the two dragon slayers stare each other down, a green magic circle appears under Gajeel's feet. As everyone watches, they can see that his skin turns metallic and scaly.

"I will destroy you!" Gajeel proclaims as he stares wildly at Natsu. Happy and Lucy are surprised beyond belief at this transformation, never even guessing that Gajeel could do this.

"His body!" she gasps out in fear, the normally intimidating man is now even scarier looking.

"Scales of the Dragon." Happy guesses correctly.

His transformation finished, Gajeel rushes towards Natsu even faster than before while shouting, "Hard Fist of the Iron Dragon!" He then punches Natsu who is able to get his forearm up in time to block the attack. Another magic circle is activated as Gajeel's fist made contact and as a result, Natsu is sent flying backward. He flies through the group of Phantom Lord mages that he was in front of and is buried in the wall behind them as the mages dodge the flying wizard as they complain about being part of the fight.

Gajeel's eyes seem to glow red with his immense pleasure of giving his enemy such a hard blow. He laughs at Natsu's plight as in Gajeel's mind, the battle is about to be over. Getting out of the wall, Natsu lands on the ground in a crouched position while clutching the arm he used to block. It is already bruised and swelling from the hit, which says something about Gajeel's strength since no other attack from any other Phantom mage has caused that much damage to the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"That made a nice sound," Gajeel says, quite pleased with himself.

"Natsu was bruised with just one hit?" Lucy almost whimpers, as one of her hands covers her mouth as she starts to shake in fear.

"Those scales are made of the hardest iron." Happy informs Lucy with a serious tone. He watches the battle closely, waiting for a chance where he might be able to help Natsu. Impatient, Gajeel uses his increased speed to get close to Natsu and catch him off-guard. Just as he reaches the Fairy Tail mage, he gives Natsu an uppercut right to the chin which causes Natsu to fly across the room in another direction.

Following close behind, the dark-haired male gives Natsu a right hook to send him in another direction before he could recover from the uppercut. With a crazed smile and laugh, Gajeel goes for a devastating kick which Natsu was just able to duck under.

The pressure wave alone from the kick raises up a line of dust and cracks the floor. It hits where Happy and Lucy are and almost sweeps Happy away with it if he didn't catch a hold of Lucy's shirt at the last moment.

"No way! That's the air pressure from his kick?" she cries out in awe and disbelief as she has to use both hands to keep her short skirt from showing her underwear.

"Those iron scales have doubled the strength of his attacks!" Happy cries out while trying to keep from being blown away. In retaliation, Natsu lights his fist up and goes to punch Gajeel right in the face. The Phantom mage doesn't even try to dodge the attack and takes it square on the chin. He chuckles at Natsu's shocked and angry face.

"These iron scales render all your attacks to be powerless!" Gajeel gloats. Gritting his teeth for a moment, Natsu can't hold back anymore and throws himself backward with a cry of pain. With the dust and wind settled, Lucy and Happy can watch the battle better. They can't help but notice how Natsu's attacks don't affect Gajeel anymore.

"Oh no! His defense is upped?" Lucy questions herself in worry. Also worried, Happy cries out Natsu's name. The Fire Dragon Slayer in question starts rolling on the ground in pain from how much it hurt to hit Gajeel's scale covered face.

In a poor attempt to keep some of his dignity intact, Natsu cries out, "It doesn't hurt! It doesn't hurt, damn it!" even as he is rolling on the ground and screaming out in pain. This display causes Lucy and Happy to feel partly embarrassed at their friend's antics in the middle of an important battle. Annoyed by the rather childish screaming, Gajeel appears in front of Natsu as the pink-haired man stood back up.

"Shut up already!" Gajeel angrily shouts at Natsu before head butting him back to the ground. The floor cracks under the pressure of the blow. "That's enough pretending you're okay!" the larger male yells out before driving a newly clawed hand into Natsu's back. Or so it would have been if Natsu didn't quickly dodge the attack. Although he wasn't quite quick enough and he lost a part of his vest with that last attack.

Sliding to a stop nearby Natsu shouts back, "You clanky bastard! I'll blow you away!" With that, Natsu pounds his fists together in the beginning of his signature breath attack. At the same time, Gajeel also starts up a breath attack which shocks Lucy and Happy, who didn't realize that Gajeel could also use a breath attack just like Natsu since the two had quite different attacks until now.

The fire and metal breath attacks meet in the middle and cause another explosion-like pressure wave to fill the entire room. Happy is barely able to catch Lucy's hair in time to be kept from being swept away and it takes all of his strength just to hold on. Lucy doesn't even pay attention to her skirt, she is too focused on keeping upright throughout the blast which doesn't happen and she gets blown away.

Some of the male Phantom mages still in the room notice Lucy's skirt flying up and showing off her underwear. Being the perverts that they are, they become completely entranced at the sight and then promptly get blown away as well. The wave was so strong that it tore a giant hole in the outside wall so the guild and town can be seen clearly.

The sudden intrusion of sunlight brightens the dim room considerably and more of the actual damage that the been dealt in the room can be seen. Gajeel stands with his back facing the opening, so mainly his outline could be seen by the other dragon slayer.

"It looks like the difference in the two dragons is obvious now, Salamander." Gajeel proclaims calmly and confidently, quite different than he was just a moment ago. As the dust settles again, it can be seen that Gajeel's clothing has taken a hit, and is missing a large chunk of the torso.

"Even if your flaming breath can wipe out enemies," Gajeel continues almost magnanimously with his arms outstretched, "against iron, it doesn't even make a scratch. But my breath of iron blades has torn your body to shreds." Hearing this, Lucy and Happy turn to look at Natsu as they were watching Gajeel as he spoke. The sight that met their eyes caused both of them to gasp and almost start crying.

There Natsu stands, legs spread wide and clutching onto his left arm as it hangs as if broken. But that isn't what causes the two to be so upset. It's the fact that Natsu's body is covered in metal shrapnel that is embedded in his body and he is bleeding from a multitude of places. Faith in his surrogate father courses through Happy as he makes his way to stand protectively in front of Lucy who landed against a wall during the blast.

"He's… Strong!" Happy declares, completely confident in Natsu's ability to prevail despite how the situation looks currently.

Natsu lets out a bit of a laugh and smiles at Gajeel in a cocky manner as he retorts, "Not a scratch, you say? Sure you're not a bit groggy?" Just a bit after saying that, a visible crack appears in the scales along Gajeel's face. The Iron Dragon Slayer is astonished, never before has his scales even been slightly damaged, and here this weak piece of trash was able to crack it. Hope surges through Lucy as she also notices the crack in the armor.

"My flames aren't just any fire! The flames of the Fire Dragon destroy everything!" Natsu states with a shout. He takes off his very tattered vest since it is almost completely destroyed. So besides the scarf, he is basically topless. Activating his magic, Natsu is suddenly engulfed in flames.

"If you don't get serious, I'll crush you to pieces, Gajeel the Iron Dragon! Enough with feeling each other out!" Natsu proclaims in a lower, gravelly voice.

"Sounds good to me!" Gajeel crows out in delight as he also activates his magic. The force of his magic surrounding him completely destroys what was left of his coat, so he too is bare-chested. The other Phantom wizards that are still conscious can only gape in disbelief that the heated battle so far has yet to turn serious between the two slayers.

"They're Dragon Slayers." Happy proclaims, still full of unwavering faith.

"Incredible…" Lucy first says, full of awe at their power. She trails off as she notices something. "and wait, why did they strip?" she questions more to herself than anything while feeling awkward.

"Come'ere, Gajeel the Iron Dragon!" Natsu says calmly even though his expression is anything but calm while his magic still swirls around him.

"There isn't enough room in the sky for two dragons! I'll drop you, Natsu the Salamander." Gajeel declares with a manic grin. With a nonmagical roar, the two hurdle towards the other with their fists extended. The power of the collision breaks the already weakened room down even more as more and more cracks appear all over. With a sudden blast of magic, the two launch themselves high into the air like missiles.

They flew up so high that they looked like small dots in the sky. Natsu was so focused on beating Gajeel that he doesn't even notice the combined forces of José's Shades attacking the guild hall. All the wizards left in the partly destroyed room follow the progress of the two slayers as they still continue to go up higher into the sky.

They both use their magic to propel themselves high into the air for a proper sky battle between dragons. They trade blow for blow, each not wanting to give an inch to the other. Powerful strike after powerful strike, they pummel each other. The force of the pressure waves from the attacks alone is almost enough to keep them airborne. All the others below could make out were flashes of light as magically enhanced punches made contact.

After what seems like minutes, the two finally fall down and they land on top of the roof of the disabled giant. They rush towards each other as soon as they touch down and engage in a massive head butt. They push against the other, trying to make the other give way. They jump back, before jumping forwards again to continue attacking. More flashes can be seen, but the fight can be seen clearly now and it leaves the audience below in silent awe.

Kicks and punches are still being traded with neither side wanting to give ground. They land on top of the massive stone spike that adorns the head of the guildhall giant. So much power was put into the attacks the slayers used, that the spike breaks off from the pressure wave alone. Unluckily for the spectators, that spike just so happens to be right above them. They scurry around trying to find a safe place to be at in the room.

Luckily for them, this room was huge so even with the section destroyed by the spike, there is still more than enough space that hasn't been completely destroyed. The two slayers land in the room with the others along with the spike. They survey each other and gauge how well their attacks damaged the enemy. Breathing heavy, the two males work on recovering their strength and magic so the fight can continue.

"Gajeel's getting beaten down!" says the only female Phantom mage in the room with great surprise. Never has anyone from Phantom Lord seen someone who could fight evenly with Gajeel. Much less someone who could possibly be even stronger than their Dragon Slayer.

"No, but look! Salamander's also out of breath!" replies one of the remaining male Phantom mages. And indeed it was true. Natsu is breathing much heavier than Gajeel, the fight with Aria and Totomaru drained a lot out of the Fire Dragon Slayer. An odd clanking sound is heard and quickly Natsu notices that Gajeel is eating metal! Understanding what is happening immediately, Natsu grows angry and starts hopping in his anger.

"That's so not fair!" He shouts out, extremely frustrated. "Don't eat by yourself!" Natsu commands, wishing there was some fire around that he could eat as well. Gajeel just stays kneeling on the floor and continues chewing up the iron scraps on the floor.

"Shubab!" Gajeel says with a mouthful of metal. Lucy and Happy look on while feeling flabbergasted that the Iron Dragon Slayer actually does eat metal like how Natsu eats fire to regain his magic and stamina. After a couple of mouthfuls, Gajeel finishes eating.

"Now that I've eaten, I'm all revved up!" the dark-haired slayer cries out victoriously.

Still feeling cheated that Gajeel got to eat and he didn't, Natsu almost screeches out, "Don't copy me!" It seems like an insult that Gajeel even talks about getting energized after eating just like Natsu does. Just as if he has to prove how much magic he recovered, Gajeel throws back his head and roars as he unleashes a lot of magic to power himself up.

"What? He's suddenly full of energy?!" Lucy gasps out, not quite understanding what is going on.

"Dragon Slayers can restore their energy and power up by eating their respective element!" Happy explains seriously. Hearing this, everything clicks with Lucy why Natsu is always wanting to eat fire. Before she thought it was just some odd thing he did since fire doesn't hurt him at all.

"Then Natsu needs to eat fire!" Lucy cries out with hope, but sudden realization hits and despair falls on the two. "That's right…" she trails off, as the hope disappears just as quickly as it came.

"Natsu can't eat his own magic flames!" Happy finishes the thought that they both are sharing.

"But… What should he do?" Lucy asks of Happy, hoping that maybe he has an idea. Finished powering up, Gajeel turns so his side is facing Natsu and he raises his right arm high into the air.

"I'll tear you to shreds!" Gajeel promises, all excited that he is about to end this battle and be the victor. He lowers his arm so his hand is pointing straight at Natsu before calling out his next attack.

"Spears of the Iron Dragon! Demon Poles!" He shouts out as the magic circle activates and dozens upon dozens of spear-like metal poles are shot out at Natsu. The attack was so fast that Natsu wasn't able to dodge and so he takes the attack head on. Too tired to even block, Natsu screams out in pain as he gets hit with the spears.

"Fire, fire… Did I have a fire spirit?" Lucy mumbles to herself as she goes searching for her keys. A memory comes back which causes her to gasp. Her keys were back at the street where she was kidnapped and Krysti was so mercilessly beaten up.

"Oh yeah, I lost my keys," she says sadly, feeling helpless without her Spirits to be there to help her. The attack finally ending, Natsu falls down to the ground and lays there prone and unmoving. "The only one I have on hand is the new one Sagittarius. I haven't made a contract yet since I promised Krysti that I wouldn't make one without her to be there to see it." Lucy says softly.

"I'm sorry Krysti, I know you will understand, but this is the only chance we got!" Lucy's voice grows in volume and strength as the determination to help Natsu floods through her. As Lucy's resolve is solidifying, Natsu slowly and painfully pushes himself upright to continue the fight despite how the odds are against him.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits! Now! O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the Gate!" Lucy calls out strongly as her magic activates in a golden halo around her. "Gate of the Archer, I open thee! Sagittarius!" A cloud of smoke appears and a tall figure can be seen within. The snorting head of a horse bursts through the smoke and a male voice can be heard.

"Horse!" the figure cries out as he emerges from the smoke. A grave looking male with dark hair wearing a horse costume appears. Over the costume, a white shirt, green vest, red bolo tie, and yellow and black vertical striped puffy pants are seen. Sagittarius is carrying a shiny silver bow and a quiver of red-fletched arrows on his back.

He salutes in the direction that he is facing and announces, "I am here! Moshimoshi." Not what she was expecting at all, Lucy tries not to be rude and let the spirit see her disappointment by putting on a fake happy face.

"Look, he's here!" she says stiffly. Happy, on the other hand, has no qualms and immediately points out the most noticeable feature.

"And wearing a horse suit!" he shouts out in surprise.

Pushing aside her feelings about how he looks, Lucy addressed the Spirit, "I'll explain the details later! Can you shoot fire?" she asks of him quickly.

Happy, who like his surrogate father is almost always hungry, looks at Sagittarius with a slightly dreamy expression and mummers out, "Horsemeat…"

Sagittarius turns to the side and looks up towards the ceiling as he answers, "No. For I am an archer, as it were!" He then salutes while not taking his eyes away from the ceiling as he says, "Moshimoshi!"

"R-Right…" Lucy agrees, feeling deflated at the fact that her only chance to be of help has gone down the drain.

"Where are you saluting to?" Happy asks, feeling kind of awkward with the strange Spirit's actions. Despite focusing on the battle with Gajeel, Natsu is able to hear everything that Lucy and Happy are doing.

"Lucy! It's dangerous, so get back!" he cries out, not wanting her to be hurt any more than she already has. Lucy looks over at Natsu in surprise as he called her name.

"A-Aye!" she shouts back as she quickly grabs a hold of Sagittarius and proceeds to pull him away from the fight.

"Moshimoshi!" the horse-suit wearing Spirit calls out as he gets dragged further away from the action. When far enough away, Lucy lets go and fall down onto her hands and knees in woe.

"I'm so useless!" she cries out to herself, feeling upset and powerless to do anything to help. Happy reaches a paw out in her direction and tries to encourage her.

"Now now, look on the bright side." he starts off. Lucy feels even more dejected as Happy has nothing else to add.

"As it were!" Sagittarius interrupts as he looks off to a random direction and salutes again.

Crouching down, Natsu engulfs himself in his flames as he shouts out, "Here I go!" before pushing off from that position to fly towards the Iron Dragon Slayer. "Edge of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu shouts out as he goes on the attack again. He rams into the other man's stomach with his head while still on fire. Gajeel barely even moves an inch from that attack which leaves Natsu feeling shocked and dismayed.

"Don't have any power on an empty stomach?" Gajeel taunts the pink-haired man before swinging one of his arms to knock Natsu into the ground by his feet. The blow was strong enough to make Natsu bounce back up into the air. Changing his other arm into a metal pole, Gajeel drives it into the back of Natsu's head and breaks the floor where it landed.

"Then eat some iron!" Gajeel then commands the other dragon slayer. To make sure Natsu does what he wants him to, the Iron Dragon Slayer then extends the pillar to push Natsu face first across the floor so hard that it leave a furrow across the floor.

Lucy looks on, helpless and frightened for Natsu's life. Her hands cover her mouth in an attempt to keep herself from screaming. Even Gajeel's guild mates look on aghast at the slayer's power and actions. After pushing Natsu through the room, Gajeel swings him around and tosses him into some machinery that lines one side of the room.

"I've got no more use for you," Gajeel says casually, just like he isn't beating someone to within an inch of their life. Natsu falls lifelessly to the ground, his energy spent. "Disappear, trash!" the larger male commands. Happy and Lucy can barely watch this one-sided battle. The last blow sends Natsu towards the edge of the room where the first big hole in the wall was made.

"I don't want that!" Lucy says so sadly, as she is on the brink of crying. "I couldn't stand Natsu losing!" she knows that if Natsu loses, then no one left would be able to stand against the other Phantom mages. Natsu represents the indomitable will of the guild and if he is defeated, there is no hope left. Gajeel cackles happily, enjoying the sound of despair in Lucy's voice and the sight of the unmoving form of the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Take a look at what's happening to what you're trying to protect!" Gajeel merrily tells the other male. Opening his eyes, Natsu lifts his head a bit to see what Gajeel is talking about. The sight of the giant Shade destroying his home while his friends stand around helpless to stop it sends yet another bolt of rage through the man. Yet, all his magic is used up and no matter how furious he is, he can't muster up the strength to act on it.

Happy and Lucy stares in horror at the destruction that Phantom Lord is causing. Another punch by the giant Shade and the entire guild hall crumbles into a pile of rubble. Gajeel tilts his head back with closed eyes as he laughs in absolute victory at the apparent defeat of the Fairy Tail mages.

Natsu, pushing himself up higher with his hands, looks on in horror at the sight. Unbidden, memories of the first time he came to the guild and more flood through his mind. Even the townsfolk who evacuated to a safer location gasp in horror at the sight of the guild being demolished. Gritting his teeth, Natsu starts to shake with indescribable wrath at the destruction of his home, the friends who been injured, his helplessness.

No longer concerned with how tired and injured he is, Natsu uses the rage within him as fuel to push himself upright until he is standing. Thinking about how each of his family has been physically, mentally, and emotionally tortured by Phantom Lord has spurred his anger into new heights. Slowly, he makes his way towards Gajeel while his friends look on.

"Natsu… Enough, Natsu…" Lucy softly cries out, too emotionally drained to do more. "If… If they have me, then…" she tries to bargain as tears start to form in her eyes. She can't handle seeing him push himself like this, seeing the guild destroyed, and utter despair on the faces of her friends. All of it is tearing her up inside when this entire mess is because she ran away from home.

"Lucy…" Happy calls out to her as he rests a paw on her calf. She looks down to see the little blue cat crying as well with his teeth gritted. "Natsu hasn't given up yet." he continues. Almost trembling from grief, she looks on to watch as Natsu continues to fight.

"Your guild has fallen. You lose!" Gajeel says nonchalantly as he leans against one of the machines lining the wall. Hearing him say this, Natsu bring a fist back with all intentions to punch the gloating Phantom Lord mage right in the face. Before he could strike, Gajeel backhands Natsu in the chest and knocks him further on down the room and into one of the other machines. Natsu slides down from where he landed until he is sitting on the floor, supported by the machine. His head flops forward quickly followed by his body and he crashes face first into the ground.

Lucy completely covers her face as she starts to cry. "Any more of this, and I…" she can't even finish what she is trying to say through the sobs. She doesn't see that Natsu is struggling to push himself up again. Approaching him at a steady pace, Gajeel plans on beating up the other man until he can't even move.

"Stay down already, Salamander." he calls out, starting to get a little annoyed at the tenacity of the pink-haired guy. "I really hate holding back, you see… I don't know what might happen to you." His love of utter dominance over others shines brightly in his eyes, almost as if they are glowing.

"Destroying Jupiter, battling fiercely with the Element 4... He used up too much magic power!" Happy cries out, knowing in his heart that Natsu could win if he fought Gajeel before those other battles. "If only he could eat some flames, Natsu wouldn't lose to anybody!" Happy shouts out, angry at the unfairness of it all.

I grumble silently to myself at the unfairness of it all. Dang magically enhanced kids. Able to run with no troubles even with injuries. Don't know how to listen and wait for others as well. Now I got to wander these halls by myself and who knows what all is in this building. Erza and the others better be ok, or Phantom is going to pay.

I growl low in my throat at the thought of the pain and anguish the girls that I consider my little sisters went through. I almost snarl in devilish delight at all the pain I want to put those two Element 4 mages that took Lucy. Oh, they will pay… I finally make it down to the end of another hall when the floor beneath me starts to shake. Already unsteady on my feet, I painfully crash down onto my knees as my stomach feels like its trying to climb up my throat.

The sensation of falling accompanies it, and now panicked, I throw myself to the floor with a cry of pain of hitting my broken nose on the floor. Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok! I chant as a mantra in my head. Worried for the rest of my friends and family that are in here, I close my eyes and pray that they will be alright.

Not long after it started, the falling stops with another jarring shake and pieces of the ceiling rain down on me. I stay there, laying on the floor until I'm certain that the building is stable before stiffly and painfully pushing myself upright again.

"Geez, what the hell is going on around here?" I ask myself. Looking around, I find that I'm at a T-intersection and have to choose left or right to continue. As I think of which way to go, a cheerful tone sounds off from somewhere above me. A male voice sounding very pleased with himself starts talking.

"Attention all you from Fairy Tail. Please listen carefully to this voice." he requests in a sing-song manner. A pained filled feminine scream soon sounds out from the system, causing my blood to run cold. I heard that voice earlier when Mira was taken.

I recognize that scream.

"We have captured Lucy. So we have accomplished one of our objectives." the man's voice rings out happily. His voice lowers slightly and becomes gruffer but doesn't lose the note of joy in it, "Thus we have one final goal that remains to be fulfilled. To slaughter the lot of you! Disgusting brats!"

Before the end of the message, I'm shaking in pure unadulterated rage. How dare they… HOW DARE THEY! The raw anger I feel begins to overwhelm me when something makes itself known to me. I don't know what it is, but it feels warm and familiar. I can feel it calling out to me towards the left. I am not sure how I know this, I just do.

It slowly starts to calm me down and I only hesitate for a second before following this feeling. Very far away, I can see an archway that leads to a room. So limping along, I make my way towards the opening and the whatever is calming and calling to me. Before getting very far, the feeling goes away leaving me cold and feeling slightly empty. Getting worried now, I pick up my pace somewhat to try to get to the room sooner.

As I get close to the opening, I can feel shaking and hear booms like explosions coming from the room. Screams of pain and terror from familiar voices coming from within urges me to move faster. My eyes widen as I stumble onto a scene that horrifies me. Some smarmy looking guy is casting magic at Gray and Elfman and is tossing them around like rag dolls.

My gasp catches in my throat as I see Erza charge in headfirst against the guy. She runs quickly towards him, and the guy extends an arm in her direction and a swirling mass of magic blasts out from his palm. Erza's reflexes kick in and she is able to dodge the attacks as she continues her headlong rush towards this enemy. Jumping into the air, she changes into her demonic looking armor that causes me to shudder again at the sight of it.

With an enraged yell, she tries an overhead swing of her sword in an attempt to strike the guy. Unfortunately, he was able to dodge nimbly to the side, completely avoiding her attack. A quick change in grip and Erza turns the overhead slice into a horizontal one that aims for his neck. He ducks quickly and grabs onto Erza's arms before she can mount another attack.

Erza just stands there like she is frozen. Awe and worry start building up in me again while seeing her like this. Even when injured badly she can still move like this... she is amazing. She's like Xena! The ever-present smile on the guy's face becomes slightly crazed. With a powerful throw, he tosses Erza into the air and away from him.

Using a piece of rubble as a step, she is able to recover from the toss and not suffer any more wounds as of yet. I let out the breath I was holding in relief that she isn't injured any more than she already is. Flipping in mid-air, she lands lightly on the ground in a kneeling position. Calmly, they both stand back up with the mystery guy looking quite bored with the exchange and Erza looking quite angry.

"You." He says in a bored tone to match his expression. "I'm pretty sure you took a direct hit from Jupiter," he states. A hint of irritation can be heard in his voice when he asks, "How is it you can stand?"

"My friends strengthen my heart!" Erza proclaims loudly as she holds her sword in an outstretched hand, unwavering. "For those that I love… I'd throw away this body!" she declares in utmost certainty. Man, if only I can understand what they are saying. But whatever it is, Erza sure is looking confident despite it all. I'm so proud to be her friend.

"Strong, courageous, beautiful… It will be such a pleasure to destroy you, girl!" he cries out with a manic expression now on his face. As they are at a standstill, I look over to study this guy on the floor in front of me. Kinda tall, with red blackish hair in a high ponytail, ugly long face, eyebrows and mustache that reminds me of a spider, and a blue military-like outfit.

His voice… I recognize it from the speakers. He was there as Lucy was getting hurt! The anger surges up inside of me, faster and more powerful than before. Its almost like its taking on a life of its own.

My vision begins to turn red as I growl loudly in fury towards him, "Leave Erza alone asshole!" His head barely turns to study me as I stand there holding onto an archway for support.

"What's this?" he asks, unconcerned. "Another piece of trash that needs to be taken out?" I stand there still snarling at this monster in front of me. I don't know who he is, but he is definitely at least partly responsible for these atrocities against my friends. Without warning the entire building starts shaking again. What the hell is going on? My knees, which were already unsteady, give way and I fall painfully onto them again. I let out a hiss and hold onto the archway for balance until the building stops shaking.

"Our dragons have run quite amuck." the smarmy git says, surprisingly clearly despite the noise. Now if only I can understand what he is saying... Below, Erza is standing with her sword held up in both of her hands while breathing heavily.

"It doesn't seem like you accounted for Natsu's battle strength. He is just as powerful as I, if not more so!" Erza pants out. I perk up at hearing Natsu's name. Is he doing this? Seriously? Damn, I figured he was strong, but to make this big hunk of stone shake like this? And he wants to get stronger!? I almost whistle my appreciation at the display of my roommate's strength. Erza changes the position of her sword as she spoke, now having the point aim right at the smarmy guy's waist.

"Enough with the modesty, Titania Erza. Your magical power is indeed amazing. I have never met a wizard who could hold out against me for so long." says Smarmy as he lifts a hand up to shoulder height with his palm facing the ceiling. So he knows who Erza is, but why did he call her Titania? I thought her last name was Scarlet? The shaking within the building slows down until only faint rumbles are heard. I let out the breath I been holding in, glad that the place isn't falling apart yet.

"If you hadn't taken damage from Jupiter, I suspect we may have had a better match." Smarmy continues. I caught that one, Jupiter. What does the largest planet in the solar system have to do with this?

"I can't stand Makarov having a wizard this powerful in his or in any other guild." Smarmy goes on. This guy likes to talk, and I think I heard him say Makarov. What about our Master is he saying? I unsteadily get up off the ground, sighing slightly in relief at getting off my knees. I watch as Smarmy closes his hand in a fist and brings it over in Erza's direction.

I feel a sense of dread at that action and I can't help but shout out, "Erza! Look out!" Smarmy looks my way with a look of displeasure and I give him another snarl in return. Erza uses this distraction to charge right at Smarmy, but before she gets close he extends a finger and something small whizzes forward and knocks her back all the way across the room.

"Erza!" I shout out in fear. Xena or not, she is still heavily injured! A cloud of dust hides her from view as I feel my throat constrict with worry over her wellbeing. Smarmy's voice catches my attention again.

"Do you understand why I didn't finish Makarov off before.?" Ok, now I'm sure he mentioned Makarov. Smarmy's fist opens and five small purple orbs form at the tip of each finger. Those orbs don't look right and the feeling of dread in my gut increases. The orbs grow in size as he keeps talking and I can see swirls of black laced within the bright purple. That magic just looks... wrong. I don't know why, but that's how I feel.

The ground in random areas in front of Smarmy suddenly explode like something invisible has hit it, and Erza jumps up out of the cratered wall where she was in what would be an impossibly high jump if not for magic.

The maroon-haired man raises his hand to follow Erza as he shouts, "Despair!" He said that like it was some sort of attack. Just after he shouts, the wall just above a stained glass window exploded just where Erza was less than a second ago. Oh shit, it was!

Erza lands on the ground closer to Smarmy before jumping sideways closer to where I am. I was just able to make out a small purple lightning bolt arc from Smarmy's hand to the ground just where Erza landed before her jump towards me. More dust explodes up and obscures my vision of what is happening.

"Be careful, Erza!" I yell out at her as I lean further into the room. She looks over at me and nods before jumping out of the way of another blast that I could feel the wind from. The magic blasting out of Smarmy's hand gets brighter and more noticeable the more he uses it. I feel my rage start growing by leaps and bounds when I see that as he follows Erza's movements, that he has no qualms about hitting my friends who are laying comatose on the ground.

"It was to put him in despair!" Smarmy's voice sounds out in the building and his attacks against Erza stop. I aim my glare at him. "When he wakes up and sees his beloved guild and beloved guild members destroyed... How will he feel?"

Smarmy pauses to chuckle before continuing, "Crestfallen, I'm sure." As the air clears of dust, I see Erza standing sideways to offer Smarmy a smaller target to hit while aiming her sword at him with one hand. I can see a look of anger on her face at Smarmy's words. What did that rat bastard say? Something in his demeanor changes and instinctively, I press myself closer to the archway. I shake in anger feeling the need to do something to help, but I don't know what I can do.

"I will destroy that man with despair and sadness that is never-ending. I will not let him rest! He'll suffer, and suffer and suffer some more... Until the end of his days!" Smarmy declares, his voice lowering and becoming more harsh and menacing. What is he threatening? A flash of red passes in front of me to show Erza charging at Smarmy again.

"You villain!" she cries out. She sounds mad, what the hell did he say!? She slashes at him and I feel my eyes widen. Where the hell did he vanish to? Magic lets you teleport as well? The redhead stands motionless at the spot where she slashed her sword. I look around and gasp as the image of Smarmy fades into view from behind Erza.

"Phantom Lord was always the number 1 guild. We had the most powerful magic, the most talented people, and the most money in the country. But in these past few years, Fairy Tail has suddenly gotten powerful. Erza, Laxus, Mystogan... Those names were heard even in our city, and rumors of Salamander spread throughout the country. And at some point suddenly Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail became the two signature guilds of this country." Smarmy says all this with the same damn calm tones as most everything he is saying, and I can't help but feel that I'm missing some important information here.

Smarmy's voice becomes harsher as he says, "I don't like it. Especially when your guild was once crappy and weak!" to Erza. That tone leaves a real bad feeling in my mouth. Fear for my friends wars with my anger of what he and his buddies have done to my friends. My focus was burning a hole in Smarmy's back, so when Erza suddenly flashes in front of him to slash her sword, I jerk back in surprise. Good god, she is fast!

"Silence!" she shouts out. and I'm left in awe at how fast these two are. Is this just their honest to god speed, or is this something augmented by magic? If I'm stuck in this world long enough, would I too get to be this fast and strong? Smarmy stops on top of a rubble pile with Erza standing below him in a defiant manner with her sword point still aimed at him. I hear the anger in her voice and my own anger grows with it. Whatever the bastard said, it wasn't good.

"Are you saying you started this war all because of some petty jealousy?!" she angrily calls out. Smarmy's facial expression hardly changes, but suddenly I get this feeling that he is looking down at Erza like she is a piece of trash that he, a king, is granting her a high honor by talking to her. This attitude riles me up even more and I can feel my stomach burning from my pent up rage. Something also tells me that this guy has some sort of insanity issues and my mind urges me to be cautious even though my heart is telling me to tear this man apart.

"Jealousy? Of course not! I wanted to show everyone our superiority!" Smarmy says in a way that just makes me snarl. I do not like this man. I keep an eye on his upraised hand, wary of what other types of magic he could use with it.

"What a... what a worthless reason!" Erza almost growls out before she jumps in Smarmy's direction. His face loses that annoying smile and I stand by that archway grinding my teeth. If only I was able to call upon some magic! I might be able to help, even something small. If I could distract that guy just long enough...

I can barely see Erza's movements, yet Smarmy is able to dodge her blows effortlessly. My eyes narrow when I notice something. That piece of... His eyes are closed and he is still dodging her strikes!? How crazy powerful is he?! Erza's movements become even more of a blur and I'm left feeling in awe of her speed and swordsmanship. I got to get her to teach me... Smarmy is still dodging all of her strikes and not a single scratch appears on his form. I grit my teeth in frustration at this.

At one point when she lunges past him, he throws out his hand and a spray of purple magic spews out. Her sword gets knocked out of her hands and my breath is caught in my throat. A magic circle appears in front of Smarmy and three creepily laughing black skulls shoot out with trails of purple magic. They wrap around Erza's form and constrict around her. Her scream makes my heart twist painfully as red lightning sparks out from the magic surrounding her.

"ERZA!" the scream tears out of my throat at her pain. Fear for her overriding everything else. The smug look on Smarmy's face leaves a distinctly unpleasant taste in my mouth.

"I've long had a distaste for your guild, so the trigger to go to war was but a trifle. A request to return the first daughter of the Heartfilia Konzern," he says looking overly confident. As my anger grows, I can feel my hands shaking. My body feels like its overheating and I my vision starts to turn red again.

He continues, "A daughter of one of the richest families in the country in Fairy Tail? How big must you get before you're satisfied?!" His voice gets harsh at the end and he slightly lunges towards the trapped redhead. The lightning increases and so does Erza's screams. I have to do something...

My mind almost blank with rage, I roar out, "STOP! Let Erza go you smarmy bastard!" Smarmy turns to look at me in displeasure, and before I know it, my hand releases the rock that I didn't realize that I picked up. Slowly I start to move forward into the room. I'm shaking so hard that I'm in danger of falling over. Smarmy's eyes narrow at my approach.

"Your guild is filled with nothing but pests. Every time one is crushed, more show up out of the woodworks," he says almost dispassionately.

"KRYSTI! Get out of here!" Erza shouts out while struggling against the magical bonds. For me everything is muffled, so even if I could understand I wouldn't be able to hear. Everything within me is so hot that I feel like I'm about to melt, but I don't care. Only the safety of my friends and the maiming of this guy in front of me matters. As he turns to look at me more, his hand moves forward and I see Erza screaming once more.

Too much.

There was too much heat in me and seeing Erza scream once again in pain has made something snap within me. My heat inside becomes heat outside of my body. My head lifts and my eyes close involuntarily. The heat I'm feeling doesn't hurt, but it continues to get hotter as my fury of the entire situation increases. I have to tear this guy and his cohorts apart to protect my friends. That is the only thought in my mind until I lose consciousness.

Back on the beach, the members of Fairy Tail who are fighting to protect the guild hall stop their fighting as fire bursts out of the robot on the beach. They look on in awe as the fire pours out of every opening like there is an inferno set off in every room of Phantom's guild hall. The fire spreads and almost covers the entirety of the building and figures can be seen jumping into the ocean. The fire lasts about 30 seconds before it tapers off, leaving a partly charred building behind.

"What in heaven's name is Natsu doing?" Macao mutters to himself before he sends out another attack against the giant shade. The rest of the guild shakes off the awe at the fiery display and get their minds back to protecting what's left of their home.

Just as Happy's cries of despair end, a whooshing noise quickly roars to life causing everyone in the room to stop what they are doing. Gajeel, who is holding Natsu up by his ever-present scarf, looks around in annoyance.

"Now what?" he spits out, getting more than irritated that something is keeping him from absolute victory. Before anyone could answer, a wave of fire shoots into the room and completely engulfs it. The regular Phantom mages are screaming in pain as the fire burns them and there is no cover to protect them from the flames.

Lucy and Happy both scream out as the fire surrounds them as well, but soon stop as they realize that there is no pain. For them, it feels like a warm summer breeze. They look on in awe as the flames dance around licking at everything but there they stand, unharmed.

The roar of the fire doesn't drown out the cries of agony from the others who are being burnt and Lucy shudders at the terrible noise. With her vision obscured, she doesn't see that when the flames swarmed into the room, Gajeel dropped Natsu to bring an arm around to protect his face.

"I don't know what you did Salamander, but these measly flames aren't going to pierce through my armor!" Gajeel cackles in victory, the light of the fire enhancing the crazed look in his eyes. A different whooshing noise is heard and the fire clears out of the room. Lucy and Gajeel look to where the sound is coming from and they see tendrils of fire going right into Natsu's mouth.

Most of the fire is gone from the room by the time Natsu stops eating. His stomach bulges from how much of the flames he inhaled before just as quickly going back to normal. He lets his head hang down while he stands with a very wide stance as he lets the flames revitalize his supply of magic.

"That hit the spot," he says after letting out a happy chuckle. As the fire restores the pink-haired man's energy you can see his fatigue lifting. Realizing what is going on, Gajeel makes a mad dash towards Natsu in hopes of being able to put the beat down on him again before the Fire Dragon Slayer can attack.

"Don't get all full of yourself just cause you ate some fire!" he shouts out in frustration. Quite upset that his moment of complete victory has very well been snatched away from him, Gajeel leaps into the air and throws a punch aimed at Natsu's head. Just as it nears contact, Natsu turns his head to give the Iron Dragon Slayer a pissed off look. Within a split second, before Gajeel's fist makes contact, Natsu throws an uppercut in the larger male's direction and he is enveloped by flames.

"All right!" Lucy cheers out in happiness. Glad that her friend is finally able to truly show off his power.

"Now he's at full power!" Happy also cheers, confident in Natsu's ability to kick ass. The power from that full powered flame punch knocks Gajeel into a house-sized piece of debris leaving a sizeable dent in it. Not only did Natsu's punch make Gajeel's body dent the stone, but it pushes the stone back as well.

Lucy lets out a horrified gasp as the dragon slayer's fight brings them close to the Phantom mages that were still in the room. Or rather what was left of them. They look like lifeless husks, blackened beyond recognition. Seeing this causes a shudder of fear to go through her body at the thought of something powerful enough to do this to people. Natsu's voice drags her attention away from the unmoving forms of the Phantom mages.

"Levy, Jet, Droy, Gramps, Lucy, Krysti, my friends, and Fairy Tail..." Natsu says solemnly, the same pissed off look still on his face as he hasn't moved since he punched Gajeel.

"Roar of the Iron Dragon!" the dark-haired man shouts out as he plans to mow down the Fire Dragon Slayer with another spray of metal. Natsu turns his body to brings both of his hands up to block the attack. The light catches his eyes to give them a demonic red shine just before the attack hits. After a few seconds of letting the attack hit him, Natsu throws his arms into the air in such a way that it breaks off the breath attack.

"No way! He deflected my breath with just his bare hands?" Shock and confusion run rampant through the Phantom Lord Dragon Slayer. Never has anyone he ever fought come close to that amount of power. Natsu stands there as the wind leftover from the breath attack whips the ends of his scarf around. He may be battered, bleeding, and bruised, but he stands tall and confident, knowing that soon the battle will be over.

"How much do you gotta hurt others before you people are satisfied?" the Fire Dragon Slayer asks calmly. The light reflecting off of his eyes glow ruby red with his magic and shows the anger barely hidden beneath his calm exterior.

"Impossible! I couldn't...To someone like him... To trash like him..." the Iron Dragon Slayer trails off, not wanting to admit defeat even though he knows deep down that he is about to have his ass handed to him. His senses are reeling that a weak mage as the Salamander was just a moment ago could suddenly be so much more powerful after eating fire.

Gajeel, who believed that all of Fairy Tail was completely weak and pathetic, is having a hard time coping the there are mages who are stronger than him. HIM! The only mage he ever met that was stronger than him was the leader of his guild who is a wizard saint! So how can there be others who are even stronger? How?!

At a slow walk, the pink-haired man slowly makes his way to his opponent. Magic in the form of fire explodes out from Natsu as his rage bubbles back to the surface and shows on his face. Lips curl back with a snarl to reveal all of his fangs, veins throbbing on his forehead, eyes wider than ever as his pupil shrink. If it wasn't for the fact that Natsu doesn't kill, Gajeel would have been literally ripped to pieces from Natsu's rage.

"I'm going to pay you back for everything! I'll show you that picking a fight with Fairy Tail was a mistake!" the Fire Dragon Slayer calls out, his voice getting lower and more gravelly which makes it all the more menacing. Lucy silently nods her agreement with Natsu's words. Phantom has brought them so much pain for no valid reason at all that a lesson needed to be taught.

She looks on, arms crossed and with hardened eyes at what is about to happen. At hearing Natsu's words, Gajeel felt a stab of anger. That last punch must of been a fluke, there is no way that a pathetic weakling like Salamander could ever beat a top-notch wizard like him.

"Who the hell do you think I am? You trash!" Gajeel shouts his frustration out as his magic explodes around him with a bright green glow not unlike how Natsu's fire is surrounding him. Without warning he launches himself into the air, aiming to lay a beat down on the other dragon slayer.

"Hard First of the Iron Dragon!" the larger males shouts out as he cocks back a fist to knock the piece of Fairy trash off his high horse. Natsu lifts his fist up to meet Gajeel's head on and surprisingly, Salamander's fist isn't covered by magic. The shockwave from their fist colliding causes sparks to fly in the air. As if reading the other's mind, they both activate their magic while their fists are still connected. A huge shock of pain spider webs up Gajeel's arm as his defensive scales start cracking from the pressure of Natsu's magic.

I am... the strongest... Gajeel thinks, not wanting to admit even in his own mind as his biggest advantage in the battle is breaking up. Flames almost pure white wrap around Natsu's body as he lets his rage fuel his magic.

"This is the end for you!" the Fire Dragon Slayer grounds out in that same low, gravelly voice from before. "Blazing Fire Dragon Fist!" Natsu roars out as he cocks back his other fist and those white flames surround it. Before Gajeel can even blink, Natsu has already rammed his fist into the larger males face and it knocks him back. Jets of fire hit Gajeel like sledgehammers and they keep hitting him continuously. The Iron Dragon Slayer is getting hit so hard and so fast that he is just floating in the air as he is being pummeled by Natsu's magic.

"This is for Levy, Jet, Droy, Nab, Macao, Gramps, Erza, Lucy, and Krysti!" Natsu shouts out and lands one last punch on the Phantom Lord mage. Gajeel flies up into the air before landing hard on the ground halfway across the room. He is knocked almost unconscious, unable to stand up against the force of the enraged Fire Dragon Slayer. Natsu's flame surrounds him in a fiery display of dominance over the other dragon slayer as he lets out a dragon's roar of victory.

"And this is for destroying our guild!" He roars out, not completely done with the mage. He throws another punch and his fire shoots out in jets to pummel the other dragon slayer some more. As Natsu continues to thrash Gajeel and sends him flying around like a rag doll, he also intentionally destroys the building they are in.

The damage is so intense that even José's Shades, who broke apart from the giant Shade to attack the wizards again, stop their attack to watch the damage to the guildhall. If the member's of Fairy Tail were impressed by the display of fire exploding out of the giant, they are even more in awe at this. Finally finished beating up Gajeel to make his point, Natsu lets him fly over a pile of rubble and out of sight. As more holes open up in the giant on the beach, the members below recognize the light of the magic escaping from it.

It's the fire of Natsu, Fairy Tail's very own Fire Dragon Slayer. Despite all the trauma, mental and physical, that the members left on the beach had to face, their friends came through. The odds were stacked against the Fairy Tail mages, but with the strength of their friendship and trust within one another, they have pulled through.

They have won.

As they cheer for their friend, the head of the giant slips down to crash into the ocean below, exposing most of the damage within the room the two dragon slayers battled to the sun above.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouts out while looking for the fire mage in the rubble. As soon as it started getting dangerous to be within the guild hall, Happy picked up the blonde and whisked her high into the air where it was safe.

"Natsu!" Happy also calls out, wanting to find where his best friend is at.

"Natsu!" Lucy calls out again before she sees the pink-haired dragon slayer standing at the edge of a drop and looking down to where Gajeel has landed on a floor below.

"Natsu won!" cries out Happy in happiness.

"That d-damn... tra..." is all the Phantom dragon slayer can say before he passes out completely. Gajeel's scales have been obliterated showing how bruised and beaten up he really is.

"Now... we're even," Natsu says wearily just as he falls backward to rest from the insane amount of magic that he let loose in such a short amount of time.

"Natsu!" Lucy cries out in worry as she sees him fall to the floor flat on his back.

He cracks open an eye and with a lopsided grin, looks up at the blonde before saying, "I can't move right now..." Happy and Lucy just floats there in the air looking down at Natsu with a smile on their faces, glad that this battle is finally over.

"Sheesh, you really overdo it. You know that?" Lucy asks him as Happy flies them closer to the dragon slayer. Tears of relief and happiness form in her eyes as she looks fondly upon her friend.

With a giant grin on his face, Happy confirms, "Aye! He's Natsu all right!" In response, the pink-haired man closes his eyes and grins as wide as he can, happy that his friends and family are finally safe. He chuckles lightly, glad that it is all over and that he properly paid back Phantom Lord for the assaults on his home. Lucy and Happy laugh along with him, their hearts and minds no longer burdened by the oppressive shadow of their defeat.

Unfortunately, they forget about one last player in the battle against Phantom Lord. The strongest one of them all.

José.

RoboticGaming asks: Where is the second OC? You know the boy in the first chapter.

Well, the boy from the first chapter isn't an OC. Also, he has already made an appearance in the story. I'll be making it more obvious who it is as the story progresses. And for those who don't guess it, I do have planned to outright answer that in a later chapter.