It was Loke first. Crossing the distance rapidly, he glowed with the light of Regulus, blinding their opponents. For the spider, having eight eyes and no way to blink became a problem and it bucked and reared, screeching in pain
Sagittarius fired, eight arrows for eight eyes. The spider vanished, letting its owner fall to the floor with a startled cry of pain. Then, the Pisces duo was upon them, attacking with their blades. Lyria screamed as the mother brutally cut her hair to get at the woman beyond. Neither dark mage was a powerful close combatant and were quickly overwhelmed by the fish spirits.
Then the celestial spirits just vanished. There was a moment of hope that the girl had run out of power. But the truth was that she banished her spirits in order to conserve her power. She clasped hands with Gemini, the only spirit remaining.
"Survey the Heaven, Open the Heaven...
All the stars, far and wide...
Show me thy appearance...
With such shine.
O Tetrabiblos...
I am the ruler of the stars...
Aspect became complete...
Open thy malevolent gate.
O 88 Stars of the heaven...
Shine!
Urano Metria!"
The two dark mages were engulfed by the blinding light of the stars. It was overwhelming, devastating, and they were vanquished, along with a lot of stonework. Gemini returned to the celestial world and Lucy staggered, falling to her knees. She didn't think she'd ever used her magic quite as vigorously as she had in the last few minutes.
"Wow, Lu-chan." Lucy turned around to see that Levy had pulled herself up, resting her back against a piece of masonry that had fallen over. She was blushing, staring at Lucy with something that looked akin to hero worship. "I always knew that you were super strong."
"Don't be silly," Lucy replied, kneeling next to her friend so as to check her injuries.
"I'm okay," Levy said dismissively, trying to wave her away.
"You were unconscious," Lucy retorted.
"Only for a minute," Levy countered hotly.
"Stop wriggling and let me look you over!"
"Stop it, I'm fine! I don't need you to remind me how weak I am!"
"You were hurt protecting me! It's my fault that you're injured!"
The two women were glaring at each other, but suddenly all of their anger collapsed. It'd been a stressful few minutes. Lucy sat down next to Levy and let the smaller girl rest her head on her shoulder. They didn't say anything for a while, their laboured breathing the only sound in the cavernous hallway.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't support you properly," Levy said at last. "I'm not as strong as you are."
"I'm sorry that I didn't figure a way out of that web faster. I let you get hurt."
"I'm not made of glass, Lu-chan! I'm a Fairy Tail mage too, you know."
"Yeah, but Gajeel will be angry with me now," Lucy said, wiggling her eyebrows.
"W-what!? Why would he be angry?" Levy cried. Lucy smiled as Levy tried to cover up some of her injuries in a ham-fisted manner. Worried about someone worrying about you?
"Don't be an idiot, Levy-chan. It doesn't suit you. Gajeel's been your dark knight for a while now, hasn't he? He doesn't like you getting hurt."
"You know why," Levy said sadly. "It's because he feels guilty for hurting me, not because he cares about me."
Lucy snorted. "Sure. Because he gives Jet and Droy the same level of concern."
"I-I…don't say confusing things!" Levy huffed and folded her arms in the most adorable pouting expression ever. Lucy giggled, but suddenly had a face full of blue fur, hugging on to her and weeping.
"Lucy! I got lost so many times!" Happy cried. "I'm so glad that you're okay!"
"I…can't…breathe!" Lucy panted, managing to pry the exceed from her face. She smiled to see her friend again. "Are Natsu and Gajeel alright?"
"I don't know. The last thing I saw was Lily going to check on them. But they're both too stupid to know when they're outclassed. Nothing can possibly defeat those two!"
"Oh no?"
The trio snapped around at the baritone voice. Garren advanced out of the gloom, dragging a semi-conscious Gajeel behind him.
"Gajeel!" Levy screamed.
"Shorty…run…," he croaked.
"No!" Levy shouted, staggering to her feet. "I won't leave you again like on Tenroujima! You told me to stay by your side!"
"Strong enough to beat Gajeel," Lucy mumbled. She was all out of energy, and even if she was fresh, she'd used up so many spirits. Who did she have left? Cancer and Scorpio. She couldn't summon Aquarius unless…
"Levy, give me some water!" She shouted. Levy nodded in understanding, producing the word 'water' before Lucy. She jammed the key in. "Open gate of the water bearer: Aquarius!" Lucy dearly wished that she could summon Scorpio for a unison raid, but she was all out of power now. This was it.
Lucy and Levy cried out as a jar hammered into their heads.
"You summon me from a word!?" Aquarius exploded. "Is there no limit to your stupidity?"
"This is serious! He's going to kill us!" Lucy shouted back. Aquarius turned back to look at the large man, dragging the slayer behind him. She ground her teeth.
"No one abuses my owner but me!" She shouted, summoning a vortex of water. Garren tutted in disappointment and threw Gajeel in the way. He was struck by the water and slammed into the far wall. As Lucy cried in dismay, Garren howled, catching the three women and Happy in the ebon blast.
"N…no," Gajeel mumbled from his position. He could see that Aquarius had been banished and the two girls were badly hurt. At least the fight with him had reduced Garren's magical power and the damage of his attacks. Lucy looked to be unconscious from damage and exertion, but he could see Levy moving slightly. He had to help her! But he couldn't get up. He was so badly hurt and had no magical power.
"Damn it, Salamander!" He shouted at the ceiling. "You make it look so easy! But…I'm not like you!"
Levy looked up blearily as Garren's hand descended, catching her by the throat and hefting her into the air. She struggled feebly against his iron strength, frightened out of her mind. This man had beaten Gajeel! She wasn't in the same league! She was at least three leagues out of his league!
"Don't take this personally, little girl," Garren rumbled. "I take no pleasure in causing you harm."
"And yet you do it anyway," she responded more boldly than she felt.
"I can see why you like this one," Garren called back to Gajeel. "She's got a lot of guts. Which is ironic, since she's so small. How hard would I have to press to snap this neck? It feels like I have to try not to snap it!"
"I'm stronger than I look," Levy replied with a small smile. "I could take you out with one spell. One word."
"Oh?" Garren's smile deepened. "Now, you've interested me. I am powerful enough to defeat Gajeel. What do you think that you could possibly do to put a dent in me?"
Levy's trembling hands raised and waved in Garren's face as she cast. Garren raised a brow as nothing happened.
"You miscast."
"No, I made the word behind you."
"You expect me to fall for that one?" He shook his head. Ah well, no harm in looking. He turned to see that she had in fact summoned a word, but not next to him, next to Gajeel. Ah, so she'd summoned iron to recharge him. Perhaps the cleverest move she could have made, really.
Wait…it was a little way away, but wasn't that word too long to be iron? And it was black, not silver. He squinted, trying to read backwards. She'd written…shadow.
"Thanks Shrimp," Gajeel grinned. "You're always thinking faster than me."
Since the magic games, Gajeel had tried to seal the shadows again, but he'd never succeeded. But now…Shrimp needed him! He sucked in the word shadow like a refreshing drink, feeling the power surge through him. But it wasn't enough for him. This man was hurting Shrimp! He needed more! More! Darkness rushed inwards towards Gajeel like a flowing river.
"He's eating all of the shadows in the ruin," Levy noted with satisfaction.
"But this is a huge underground building! It's filled with darkness!"
"Gihi," Levy stated simply. Levy wasn't really sure what happened next. One moment she was in Garren's grasp and the next she was cradled in Gajeel's left arm, his right extended in the space where Garren had been. Only now, there was a huge trail into and through the wall. And the next wall. And the next.
"Gajeel," she whispered, looking up into the face of the iron-shadow dragon. He was terrifying and…thrilling! His hair was rising on invisible wilds, his eyes now colourless and vague. His skin was hard and metallic and his grin wild and feral.
"You alright?"
"Yes," she said quietly.
"I'll be right back."
Garren was picking himself up slowly as Gajeel came for him again. He howled, but Gajeel simply vanished into ethereal shadows before rising out of the ground, dealing a tremendous uppercut to Garren's jaw. The god slayer slammed through the ceiling, revealing a second floor. A moment later Gajeel hit him again, returning him through the floor.
Garren spat blood and staggered to his feet. Where was the bastard? He span, feeling a presence behind him. Gajeel grabbed his throat, leering like a daemon of the warp.
"You hurt her, you bastard. I told you what I'd do to you."
"She's weak. The weak die, right?"
Punch. Three walls. Punch. Two walls. Punch. Floor. Punch. Ceiling. Punch. Three walls.
"The job of the strong is to protect the weak," Gajeel declared loudly to his grovelling opponent. "I might be strong, but that woman is a thousand times more precious than me. She is the light that saved my soul from the darkness. She has the strength to forgive any wrong. I will not let you hurt her, not even to insult!"
"Heh. Not bad at all. Metalicana will be pleased."
"Shut up."
"He taught you to be strong. He was afraid that the one lesson you'd missed was the worth of other human beings." Garren coughed loudly, blood staining the floor. Gajeel was about to relent when the god slayer surged to his feet and opened his mouth at point blank range. "Iron God's Howl!"
"Pitiful," Gajeel stated as the cyclone abated. Garren took two steps back in abject fear. "Iron-Shadow Dragon's Roar!"
Gajeel obliterated several rooms with that one shot, plus a considerable chunk of the mountain. Daylight streamed in through a hole in the ceiling as random chunks of stone and debris collapsed here and there. Gajeel wandered over to his beaten opponent, his power fading.
"Go on, finish it," Garren gasped.
"I would. I hate you, frankly. You're the same sort of asshole that pops was." Gajeel slouched, falling onto his ass. Jeez, he was tired. "Beat me or die. Tch. Metalicana had the same fucking sink or swim policy. 'Hey Gajeel, there's a group of bandits!' Then he'd just throw me into the group and hope I survived. Bastard."
"He wanted you to be strong."
"But I wasn't."
Garren's eyes widened and he turned his head to stare at the dragon slayer, who was sullenly looking out at the sun blazing through the gap in the ceiling.
"All of the strength that I obtained never got me anywhere. Sure, I was the king of a group of retards. Big deal. Salamander's strength eclipsed mine. Then there was Laxus, that fucking asshole. Mira. Erza. Gramps. My strength was meaningless. I was nothing more than a street punk with a mean right hook. Goddamnit, I was nothing!"
A moment passed as Gajeel sat on his anger.
"Not until I joined Fairy Tail. They…don't you fucking dare tell them this…made me a hundred times stronger. And still I languish behind Salamander. In fairness, he's got his second origin, but still, it's annoying."
"He sounds like an older brother to you."
"Don't you fucking start! I'm older than he is damn it!" Gajeel snarled. "Oi, so you've met my dad. You know where he is now?"
"No, I only met him a long time ago."
"Thought so. Damn, he's got a weird way of showing that he loves me."
"We're not the hugging type," Garren replied with a faint laugh.
"Asshole. I can't forgive you. I don't mind you killing me, but you dragged my nakama into it. You dragged Levy into it."
"Levy? Is that her name?"
"Well, I don't use it much. I prefer Shorty."
"She is pretty short," Garren conceded.
"I know, right? She has to reach up to tie her shoelaces!"
"Gihihihi!" They laughed together. Oh man, Gajeel would have to remember that joke and tell it to Shrimp later! Gajeel's smile faded and he became serious again, remembering that she was hurt. And this bastard had done it. He looked over at him, rage glaring in his crimson eyes.
"I forgive you, you old twat."
"What? You just said…"
"I know. But if I couldn't forgive you for hurting Levy, I'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world. She's probably already over it and wanting me to have some kind of father-son bond with you." Gajeel looked away. "Damn it, but I can't match her strength. I still wanna kill you."
"Make your mind up. Are you forgiving me or hating me?"
"Thinking's not my strong suit. I trust my nakama to do that for me."
"Pah. I don't need your forgiveness. I've done my duty. Metalicana can be proud that he's raised a strong son. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna just lie here for a few days. Please don't let me swallow my tongue." Garren's breathing lightened and Gajeel realised that the old bastard must have slipped into unconsciousness. About fucking time.
"Fuck you," Gajeel hissed, dragging himself along on his hands since he didn't trust his legs to hold him. "I've gotta check on my girl."