Hades challenged Natsu to a duel and Natsu accepted without a care for the danger. Gray went separate from the others to find someone so that left Natsu with the girls. Natsu's in a tough position with his life points at 200 and having his Dragon girl at 1500atk points and a useless trap. Hades had 2050LP with his Underworld Lord at 3000atk points and two active traps, Amaterasu Formula and Darkened Imperial. Hades also decided to tell them what happened around ten years ago with a surprising fact that Jellal was once his student.

"You can't be serious. Jellal was your student?" Erza questioned.

"I speak the truth." Hades said.

"So what does that mean about now?" Natsu said. "Is Jellal really working for you? Did he set us up?"

"In order for you to truly understand, we'll have to go back to the beginning." Hades said. "As I told you before, I lead a research team about the legend of the dragons and that legend led me here. We happen to be standing in my very lab. It wasn't long that a wealthy family learned what I've been studying and I learned that they shared a connection with the legend."

"The Fernandes family. Jellal's family." Erza claimed.

"Yes. They had a young heir and that heir was Jellal." Hades said. "In exchange for supplying finances and assistance to my research, I became an educator to Jellal. He was a bright young man for someone his age. With help from the Fernandes family, my research led me to conduct energy experiments."

"That must be where the control towers come in." Lucy said. "Ultear told us that the towers original purpose was to stabilize the energy from your experiments."

"That is correct." Hades said. "To avoid this affecting the city, I built those towers with the city's permission. Soon, I discovered great power and to harness that power, I created the dragon cards you all are using."

"You created Igneel and the other dragons?!" Natsu said.

"I did and they end up being the keys for the towers as well." Hades said. "For I soon discovered that the energy I discovered was the light energy of the dragons and the rainbow dragon itself. However, for every light, there is darkness. It wasn't long after that I discovered something. It was the dark energy from the underworld. As a researcher, I had to learn more about it."

"You couldn't just leave it alone?" Natsu said.

"No, I could not." Hades said. "I soon found myself drawn to it. It was as if the darkness was calling to me. So I gave Jellal the dragon cards and that's what brought us here."

"So Jellal is working with you! He followed your instructions and brought us here." Natsu said.

"Jellal did follow my orders, but it was not orders of darkness. It was the orders from the last shred of humanity I had." Hades said.

…

Flashback

Jellal, from ten years ago when he was a young boy, was running through the halls of the research lab. Alarms was going off and he needed to find Precht to find out what was going on. Jellal entered the main room and found Precht was there.

"Dr. Precht, what's going on?" Jellal asked.

"Jellal." Precht acknowledge as he turned to face him. He seemed to have a crazy look in his eyes. "Normally, I would tell you to run, but I'm glad you're here. You're the only one who can help me."

"Help you with what?" Jellal said.

"I don't have much time." Precht said. "Light and darkness are battling inside me, but I can feel myself being pulled towards the darkness. I feel like that's where I belong." Precht placed a case on the ground and slid it to Jellal. Jellal opened up and saw the seven dragon cards with a bunch of papers.

"What is this?" Jellal said.

"Take that information with you, Jellal. All will be explained." Precht said. "Find those who are worthy of the dragons' power! Do it so our world can survive!" Jellal didn't understand, but he did what he was told. He closed up the case and ran. "Now, the darkness shall be free from the seal." Precht activated a self-destruction system and caused the place to fall to pieces and the story began.

End of Flashback

…

"So what happened ten years ago wasn't an accident. He did all of it on purpose." Lucy said.

"This also explains how Jellal knew all this." Erza said. "He knew all of this was coming because he had access to all of Hades' information. He must have been spending the years preparing for this day."

"There's one thing I don't understand." Natsu said. "If Jellal had the cards, how did we end up getting them?"

"From what I've heard, Jellal let fate guide the way." Hades said. "He released the cards into the wind and fate led them to you. How did you end up getting that Igneel card? Did you buy it in some store?" Natsu looked down at his deck and remembered that day well.

"It was a birthday present around the time I started dueling." Natsu said.

"Jellal did just as I told him to." Hades said. "I told him to find those who would possess the dragons and he did. Well, he found at least five of them."

"That's right." Lucy said. "I keep forgetting that there's suppose to be seven, but we've only met five."

"It was destiny that brought you your card. I felt I belonged in darkness because I was destined to be there." Hades said. "Just as you were destined to hold the power of a dragon and face me."

…

Gray

Gray continued his search for the person he believed he saw, but there wasn't a sign of that person anywhere. Gray was starting to think whoever it was long gone.

"I'm just wasting my time. I need to get back to the others." Gray said. He was about to turn back, but he looked ahead and he saw Jellal was there standing in front of an elevator, but he looked a little banged up. "Jellal?" He managed to get Jellal's attention.

"Gray. If you're here, that must mean Natsu is facing off against Hades." Jellal said.

"What are you doing here?" Gray asked as he walked over to him.

"Just saying farewell to someone I know." Jellal said as the elevator opened up. "Tell Natsu I'll be waiting." He stepped in and the elevator closed up.

"Wait!" Gray said as he banged on the door. "Wait where? What are you talking about?"

…

Natsu

"I don't really get what you're talking about, Hades." Natsu said. "All I know is that you've admitted you're guilty for everything. Someone has got to stop you and that someone is me. If you should have just left that darkness alone, none of this would be happening."

"It was my destiny such as your destiny to face me." Hades said. "Now on with the duel. It's still your turn."

"You got it." Natsu said. "I'll activate my Protective Instinct spell to switch my Dragon Girl in defense mode." Dragon girl changed modes with her having 1000def points. "So as long as she remains on the field in defense mode, she can't be destroyed and I won't take any damage."

"Perhaps, but it's only a matter of time until I break that spell." Hades said and he took his next turn. "That time would be now. I activate Underworld Whirlwind. In order to use this spell, I must bring the attack points of my Underworld Lord to zero." His vulture's attack points dropped to zero. "Doing so will allow me to destroy one card on the field. I choose your Dragon Girl." A gust of wind was shot out and she was destroyed. "Since I'm unable to attack, I'll end my turn and my Underworld Lord's attack points return to normal." Vulturis' strength returned to it. "Also, since it's your next turn, my Darkened Imperial trap is no longer in affect. That means you're free to use your traps."

"My turn!" Natsu said as he drew his next card. "I'm just going to place one card facedown and end my turn."

"He's putting his entire defense on a couple face-downs?" Wendy said.

"I sure hope he knows what he's doing." Lucy said.

"Have you accepted your fate?" Hades said.

"Come and find out." Natsu said.

"Very well!" Hades said and drew his next card. "Go forth my mighty beast and destroy him!" Vulturis powered up the energy in its beak and attacked.

"I play Rescue Fire!" Natsu said. "So now I can bring a fire attribute monster out on the field, but it has to be level four or lower. I summon Fire Dragon Winger." Winger shot out on the field and had 1000atk points.

"How's that suppose to save you? My attack is a direct one." Hades said.

"That's why I'm using my other trap: Nova Driver!" Natsu said. "I'm sure you remember what this does, but since you're at an old age, I'll remind you. By sacrificing a monster on my field, I can block your attack." Winger vanished and the attack was blocked. "Since Fire Dragon Winger was a pyro type, I'm allowed to take any card from my deck and add it to my hand."

"All you're doing is postponing what fate has sealed for you." Hades said.

"We'll see about that." Natsu said as he took his next turn. "I'm activating my Emergency Flare. This spell allows me to special summon another monster from my deck, but it has to be level four or lower. I think I'll summon Sala-Flame." A large lizard covered in flames came on the field with 1400atk points. "He won't be staying for long. Thanks to his special ability, he counts as two monsters if I use him to summon a dragon. So I'll sacrifice him to summon Igneel the Fire Dragon!" His lizard vanished and in his place came Igneel.

"Why am I not surprised?" Hades said. "Either way, it doesn't matter. As long as I have Amaterasu Formula, you can't attack me with a monster whose original attack points are less than my Underworld Lord's."

"We'll see about that." Natsu said. "Sala-Flame has one other ability. If he's in my graveyard when I have a dragon on the field, I can block an attack once a turn. So go ahead and attack with your Underworld Lord. As long as I have Igneel on the field, I'll block those attacks."

"We'll see." Hades said and he drew his next card. "I activate Trap Exchange. By sending a spell or trap on the field to the graveyard, I can take another one in my deck and place it on the field. I'll dispose of Amaterasu Formula to place one card facedown. As a little insurance, I'll place another face-down to end my turn."

"Why would he get rid of his trap that was protecting him?" Wendy said.

"Those two traps must do something if he's willing to throw away that trap." Erza said.

"There is no chance of you winning." Hades said. "It is your fate that you lose to me."

"What's with all your talk about fate and destiny?" Natsu said. "Why do you keep talking about that?"

"It figures a simpleton like you couldn't understand that our lives have been controlled." Hades said.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Natsu said. "No one controls me. I became part of Fairy Tail by my choice. I have the friends I have because of my choice."

"No." Hades said. "We are all given the illusion that we have freewill and make our own decisions. That's nothing more than a façade. We are all controlled by destiny from the moment our lives are formed. Every choice we think we have has been decided by fate. We are nothing more than puppets. I was destined to be part of darkness. You were destined to hold one of the dragons. None of it is just some random act. Failing to understand that will be your downfall."

"Yeah right. Don't listen to him." All of them turned around and saw Gray as he jumped into Wendy's barrier.

"Gray?" Natsu said.

"Don't listen to him, Natsu." Gray said. "Look, there's no way of knowing if something like destiny really exists. Let's say that it doesn't. That means that all the actions are based on our decisions. Let's say it does. Perhaps that is what brought Hades to where he is, but it also brought us to where we are. It brought us to Fairy Tail and it helped us came together as irreplaceable friends. Either way doesn't matter. He's just using it as an excuse to make up what he did. Just finish this guy already!" Natsu never expected Gray to speak like that.

"He's right!" Lucy said. "Natsu, I didn't know how I was going to get to Fairy Tail until I met you. I don't know if it was by chance or actually fate, but it's what helped me brought me here. I say that no matter what happens to us, it leads to good things and bad things. He's just saying all that to throw you off your game. So don't listen to him and win this!" Natsu could see what they were saying. Hades was just using destiny and fate to bring out the bad side of the situation, but Natsu isn't going to put up with it.

"You know what, Hades, I don't really care about all that." Natsu said. "I don't care if I'm here by destiny or my choice. I'm here because of what you've done. You can say whatever you want, but you can't change the fact that we're here right now because of you."

"Just as I thought. There's no way a simpleton like you can understand." Hades said.

"I told you that I don't care!" Natsu shouted. "You attacked my home. You hurt too many people. You hurt my friends!"

"And what will you do about it?" Hades taunted.

"I'm going to make sure you never hurt anyone ever again!" Natsu screamed as he drew his next card.

"That might be hard to do once I activate my traps." Hades said. "The first is Arcane Nemesis. Now, when either of us attacks, your monsters' attack points drop to zero. With Demon's Eye, if a monster has it's attack points reach zero, it will be destroyed."

"That doesn't matter to me." Natsu said. "I play Reckless Destruction! Since I have a monster with at least 2000atk points, I have to discard all the cards in my hand." He sent his last card to the graveyard. "Doing so will allow me to destroy one monster on your field and you take damage equal to that monster's attack points!"

"What?!" Hades said.

"This is the end for you! Igneel, destroy Vulturis!" Natsu said. Igneel built up a ton of fire power and unleashed the blast of fire at the bird and completely destroyed it in a huge explosion with all of Hades' life points dropping to zero.

"I admit defeat." Hades said as he was starting to fade away. "However, this isn't the end. If you fail to shutdown the remaining towers by sunset, the king of the underworld will rise." That was his last warning before Hades turned to dust.

…

Fairy Tail

With Vulturis destroyed, everyone inside was free, just like all the others. This time, everyone in Fairy Tail with Macao was free. All of them returned to the guild and were wondering what happened. Makarov knew.

"Natsu saved us!" Makarov said.

…

Natsu

Natsu walked back to his friends and they were all proud and amazed that Natsu beat Hades.

"You did it, Natsu! Hades is gone!" Lucy said.

"Nice work." Gray said.

"That's what he gets for all that he's done." Natsu said.

"Natsu, it is impressive, but we can't celebrate." Erza said. "Didn't you hear his warning? If we don't shutdown the last two towers, the king of the underworld will rise and we don't have much time."