Natsu's head was reeling and it felt like a hand was simultaneously crushing his heart and squeezing his lungs leaving him incapable of breathing normally.
The man responsible for Erza's torment was still alive.
So not only was Jellal able to hurt Erza still, but according to Brain, the leader of Oracion Seis, Jellal knew the location of Nirvana and was going to lead them to it. His appearance had completely thrown a wrench in their plans to find whatever the hell Nirvana was before the bad guys did.
The dragon slayer sneaked a sideways look at Erza who was standing a bit apart from the wizards surrounding Wendy as she told her story. Even when she was wearing her usual armor he could tell that her body was tense. She was standing stiff, her back as straight as it could go, shoulders squared, and the muscles in her arms and legs twitched with the need to pummel something.
Natsu like to think that that something was Jellal's face, but knew there was a real possibility that the red head wanted to attempt to rescue her once childhood friend like she tried at the Tower of Heaven. If he hadn't known it wouldn't do him any good to point out the dozens of reasons why he thought it was a bad idea he would have. But the pink haired male just couldn't bring himself to hurt Erza in anyway, and he knew that that was exactly what he would be doing if he made a move to change her mind and make her feel guilty for the boy she still cared about.
But knowing that it would hurt his mate didn't make it any easier for him to not tear the forest apart until he found the blue haired bastard so he could kill him for real this time.
Natsu had a hard time trying to focus on their new strategy as he tried to control his anger. He hardly heard the explanation that involved splitting into groups of two again and trying to find Nirvana before Oracion Seis could. He did vaguely catch mention of the defeat of three more members. Although it did explain the more battered appearances that some of the group was sporting.
Not that he needed to hear everything to understand what was going on. And he thought it even pointless to try. It was clear that Oracion Seis was going to win this race. The alliance was going to be choking on the cloud of dust left in their wake. There was just no way they could get there first.
Not when that bastard was going to lead them straight to it.
Natsu had no chance to point out the futileness of their plan. A pillar of black light rockets above the trees and he knows that Jellal has already led the last two members of Oracion Seis to Nirvana.
Before anyone can react, fiery wings burst into existence on Natsu's back and the pink haired dragon slayer had shot off in the direction of the column of light. He knew that that was wear he would find Jellal. He was going to get there first and put a stop to him once and for all before Erza could meet him again. He wasn't going to let that bastard anywhere near his mate.
The light disappeared, replaced with a monstrous sized structure that resembled a city with spider like legs. One stone leg lifted, moved, and thundered back to the ground and the city on legs started moving. And it was moving really fast for a giant stone city.
Natsu was grateful that he could fly faster than the city, which he guessed was the Nirvana that Oracion Seis was looking for although he didn't know what any dark wizard guild would want with an ancient crumbling city that could move. Unless they wanted a base that could relocate, but that thing would be pretty hard to hide.
The dragon slayer landed in a crouch on one of the many towers that dotted the city's landscape. For all the posturing Oracion Seis had displayed and the dire warnings given by the Master, this is not what he had expected Nirvana to be. Natsu had imagined Nirvana as a powerful weapon, sealed away because it was too dangerous, capable of wiping cities off the map.
He did not expect some city-spider hybrid.
But all that was beside the point. He needed to find the leader of Oracion Seis. Brain? Was that his name? To be honest, Natsu didn't care, but clearly he had to be the one controlling this moving city and where it was going. And he instinctively knew that wherever Nirvana was headed, it was for Brain's nefarious purposes.
He tilted his head back and stuck his nose in the air. With a little bit of magic and enhanced senses, Natsu would be able to sniff out the general location of the man commanding the moving fortress. It was another new thing he had noticed he had gained since the Tower of Heaven fiasco. Apparently, being a true dragon slayer meant being able to know a person's identity by the scent of their magic alone. And that was rather easy. Every wizard's magic had its own distinct and unique scent, and even if Natsu couldn't remember the name of the person the scent belonged to, he never forgot the magic's scent itself and would recognize it if he ever stumbled across it again.
While he had never scented Brain's magic before, there were only three other wizards on the city besides himself, so one of the three unknown scents he would pick up would have to be him. Then all he would have to do is go investigate each scent and take out Brain and then he could focus his attention on finally getting rid of Jellal.
Natsu studied the two unknown scents, there was just no way he could have forgotten the one that belonged to that blue haired bastard, trying to reason which of the two was most likely Brain's. He didn't want to waste any time with Midnight. He knew next to nothing about him aside from second hand reports about how he could deflect all attacks while sleeping. He wanted to find Brain, beat him into next week, and then hunt down Jellal and hurt him ten times as bad as he hurt Erza.
Finally deciding to follow the scent that made him scrunch his nose more (in the belief that the scent that smelled the worst belonged to the leader of Oracion Seis because only the strongest evil wizard would have such a foul scent), he was completely caught off guard when a voice sounded in his head, even if it was vaguely familiar as one of those weird guys from Blue Pegasus. Natsu barely managed to keep himself from falling off the roof of the tower he was perched on.
"Everyone, we believe that Nirvana is heading for Caitshelter. Although we don't know why, it is the only thing in the path so it must be Oracion Seis's target. In order to stop Nirvana we need to destroy the six lacrima crystals that power it. There's one located in the base of each of the legs."
"Not a problem. Give me ten minutes and this thing will come to a screeching halt." Natsu promised.
"Unfortunately for you Natsu," Hibiki continued, "all six lacrima have to be destroyed at the same time. So you need to pick a lacrima to destroy and wait for the first five of us to catch up so that we can stop Nirvana before it reaches Caitshelter."
"Fine then, I'll take the first one."
Other voices chimed in staking claim on the different lacrima.
"I've got two." Said Gray.
"Three." Lucy.
"I shall handle number four with the power of my parfum." Why on earth was Ichiya among the five members closest to Nirvana?
"I guess I should take five. But I don't think I could destroy it. I don't have any offensive spells." Wendy apologized.
"Don't think like that Wendy. You are a dragon slayer. Of course you can destroy some stupid lacrima that powers a walking city out to wipe your guild off the map." The Alliance's other resident dragon slayer assured the younger one. "You have the power to do so; you just need the confidence and the courage."
"I'll take the sixth."
Natsu's heart skipped a beat. While logically he knew that Erza would have been the first one to race after him, he had held onto the hope that she wouldn't come and chance running into Jellal. How on earth was he supposed to keep her from running into him in a city so large where he had only the vaguest directions of where the guy was? How was he supposed to keep him from Erza if he had to take out Brain and a lacrima in order to stop Nirvana.
"Alright then, Natsu heads toward the first lacrima and wait for my signal which will be given when all six of you are in place. And Natsu, try to keep a low profile. It will be easier to deal with the last remaining members of Oracion Seis if Nirvana is out of commission."
Hibiki temporarily shut down communication so he could fully monitor the six wizards assigned to take out the lacrima.
The pinkette, however, was not in any mood to sit around and wait. The whole point of getting here first was to take care of this stupid city that should know it was a city and should therefore be incapable of walking and deal with Jellal before Erza could happen across his path. With the knowledge that he couldn't take down the wandering building on his own, he set out in search of Brain. There was no way that that man wouldn't try to stop them from interfering. If Natsu could take him out, there would only be Midnight left to stop them. And while his ability to deflect attacks would make it very hard to fight him, it wasn't something he was worried about considering the guy was sleeping and not attacking them.
So he stuck to his original plan to find Brain and began to follow the scent he believed belonged to the leader of Oracion Seis.
He was quite surprised to find his target in one of the chambers that housed the lacrima, even more so the lacrima he was supposed to destroy. Brain stood below him with his back to him, standing like a soldier with hands clasped behind his back.
'Heh, I'll be killing two birds with one stone.'
"I've been expecting you."
Natsu blinked. He certainly hadn't been expecting that. "Why?"
"The first true dragon slayer since the first one." Brain said casually, not actually talking to the pink haired dragon slayer. "Are you aware of the power you possess?"
Natsu was about to tell him that of course he knew, it was his powers, when Brain continued.
"So much power, capable of killing a dragon." The pinkette gulped nervously. He would never kill a dragon. Not after Igneel had taken him in and raised him like a son. He could never bring himself to harm a dragon. Not that he could anyway since no one knew where the dragons went seven years ago.
"I would never kill a dragon!" He roared.
Brain turned and gave him an evil smile. "But you will, little dragon slayer. Do you know the true power of Nirvana?"
Natsu blinked at the unexpected change in topic. Brain continued.
"Nirvana is legendary magic. It has the power to reverse light and darkness. It was created thousands of years ago by the Nirvit to keep peace amongst humans. But those stupid people didn't understand how to truly use Nirvana. When the city began to take on the darkness from humans it affected the people living there, and the city fell into chaos. All the negative energy fueled Nirvana."
Natsu was beginning to feel a little anxious. He didn't come for a history lesson. He was going to beat the living daylights out of this guy and stop Nirvana.
"And I'm going to use the power of Nirvana on you, little dragon slayer."
Natsu's eyes widened. Use it on him!
"I will use Nirvana to switch your light to darkness. Then you will fight for me. You will destroy the Caitshelter guild where the fools who could stop Nirvana hid. After that you will find Acnologia and kill him."
The pinkette felt horror at the mention of Acnologia. Igneel had taught him about the Black Dragon. He was a monstrous dragon, the largest of them all, the reason why his was called the King of Dragons. Acnologia is infamous and feared by all other dragons and dragon slayers. He single-handedly wiped out an entire country. He was the only dragon that never passed down his magic to a wizard. Acnologia slaughtered humans like they were insects and wasn't against treating his own brethren in the same manner.
But Acnologia had disappeared, his whereabouts were unknown. And this pyscho wanted Natsu to somehow hunt down the most feared beast in existence and challenge him.
Natsu fought to think through the fear and dread that threatened to overpower him. He had time before Brain tried to brainwash him into joining him and his self-destructive take over the world plot. If he was capable of turning him dark with Nirvana, he would have done so immediately instead of detailing his plans for world domination. That meant that Nirvana wasn't able to do so now. So all Natsu had to do was defeat Brain and destroy Nirvana.
'Well, it looks like the plan hasn't changed at all.' Natsu thought, a feral grin forming. His original plan to beat Brain, find Jellal and take care of him and be back in time to deal with Nirvana was still in operation. Only now he had a personal reason for fighting the leader of Oracion Seis.
Because no one was going to make him kill a dragon. Even if it was the most feared dragon in the world that terrorized dragons and humans alike. Natsu would not be forced to do anything against his will.
And Brain was going to learn that the hard way. The painful way.