Much progress has been made. Three of the control towers have been taken care of and only two remained. Even Hades has met his end, but before he departed, he warned Natsu and the others that they have until sunset to shut down the two remaining control towers or the king of the underworld will rise. Meanwhile, Gajeel was riding his way over to the control tower. His target was just outside Magnolia as he drove through the woods, but there was a different reason he was going to fight.
'I'm coming for you, Levy.' Gajeel thought as he kept driving. 'And until I do….' A rock was coming up and he just smashed right through it. '….nothing will stop me. This actually reminds me of when we first met. Back then, I was out on my own and living on the streets. People feared to get near me, but you were the first to be kind to me. You brought me to Fairy Tail. I'm not going to let a heart as pure as yours be tainted by darkness.' Gajeel pulled over by a cliff and found the tower. "So that's where you are." Gajeel jumped from the cliff and continued towards the tower. "Levy! I'm here!" He saw the doors opened up with Levy coming out.
"I've been waiting for you, Gajeel." Levy said. She was acting like a completely different person. "It's not nice to keep a lady waiting."
"Levy, what happened to you? Who did this to you?" Gajeel said as he got off his bike and walked towards her.
"You did, Gajeel." Levy said and Gajeel didn't understand. "After all, I'm just an annoying bug that just kept getting in your way." He was starting to get it now. It was the last thing he said when he saw Levy.
"I was wrong to say that. I took your kindness for granted when you only wanted to help." Gajeel said. "I'm sorry."
"It's too late for sorry now, Gajeel." Levy said. "There's only one thing left for us to do and you'll have to face me if you want to save the world." Gajeel knew that the only way to get to the tower was to get through her. He didn't like it, but he to do it and perhaps it would save her.
"Fine! If beating you means I get the real Levy back." Gajeel said as he placed on his duel disk. Levy created the energy barrier that formed an owl.
"So let's duel!"
….
Natsu
After defeating Hades, Natsu and the others made their way out of the lab. As they head up, Natsu and Wendy's marks were starting to glow.
"Another duel is starting." Natsu said.
"It's Gajeel. I can feel him." Wendy said.
"Hey! I just realized something." Lucy said and they were all ears. "We never found out who holds the mark of the owl. So why did Gajeel go after that one?"
"Hm. That is a good point." Erza said. "Perhaps he knows something we don't. It doesn't really matter. All we need to know is that he has to shut that tower down or else the king of the underworld will rise."
"She's right." Gray said. "We only have until sunset to bring those last two towers down sunset is only hours away." All of them understood that, but none of them were aware of the challenge he was facing.
…
Gajeel
"Ladies first." Levy said as she drew her card. The duel was starting and they both had 4000LP. "I summon Solid Script Water to the field." A fancy dressed blue lady with the word water spelled in that element came on the field with 600atk points. "I place one card facedown and end my turn."
"My turn!" Gajeel said as he drew his card. "I'll end my turn."
"That's it? You didn't even summon a monster or play a face-down." Levy said. "I hope you're not going easy on me. It's my turn again!" She drew her next card and saw what it was. 'This card!'
…..
Flashback
Levy was just transformed into a servant of darkness, but she was still her normal self and locked up. She was wondering what was happening to her.
"What do they want from me?" Levy said as she was scared out of her mind. "Why are they doing this to me?"
"You don't need to be afraid." She heard a voice, but she couldn't see who or where it was coming from. "Just look in the cards and all will be clear."
"The cards?" Levy questioned as she pulled out her deck. She saw one of them was glowing and when she pulled it out to look at it, Levy's mind faded away and the dark powers she was given took hold of her.
End of Flashback
…..
'This card will help me and bring Gajeel down.' Levy thought. "I summon Solid Script Fire in attack mode." Another lady in red with the word 'FIRE' in flames came up with 800atk points. "Next, I'm activating Script Improvement. This spell doubles the attack points of all Solid Script monsters." Water had her attack points at 1200 and Fire got hers to go up to 1600.
"This is going to hurt." Gajeel said.
"You should have defended yourself when you had the chance." Levy said. "Fire and Water, attack him directly!" Water was the first to attack as she splashed Gajeel and Fire followed suit as she unleashed a fireball and burned Gajeel with his life points going down to 1200.
"It all worked out because now that I took damage, I can summon Karma Demon Iron Spiral!" Gajeel said. A demon figure with a drill for legs and both his arms came on the field. "His attack points aren't known, but that's about to change. His attack points become the total amount of the damage I took." His monster's attack points went up to 2800.
"So is that really why you didn't play anything? Oh well. I place one face-down and end my turn. That means that my monster's attack points return to normal." Levy said as her monsters lost power.
"My turn!" Gajeel said as he was about to draw. 'I have to get through to the real Levy, but I can't let her take me out early. I've got to defend myself.' He thought and drew his card. He drew a trap. 'This card will help bring out the real Levy if I play it right. If I don't, I'm done for.' "I summon Karma Demon Iron Sword." Another demon figure with a sword for a right arm came up with 1600atk points and the sword was running like a chainsaw. "Iron Sword, take down Solid Script Fire!" His monster jumped up and was about to strike her down.
"Not so fast. I play the Erased Correction trap." Levy said. "By sending Water to the graveyard, I can stop your attack and your battle phase ends." Water was released and a force field blocked Gajeel's attack.
"Whatever. I'm just playing a face-down and that ends my turn." Gajeel said.
"Another pathetic move." Levy said.
"Levy, you've got to snap out of it." Gajeel said.
"Sorry, Gajeel. The Levy you knew is gone." Levy said as she drew her next card. "I think it's time to put an end to this now. I'll have you see things my way since you don't really want to fight. You don't need to worry much longer. This card opened my eyes and allowed me to use the power I have. I activate Translucent Light!" A light shined down on Gajeel and his monsters and he was in pain.
"What's happening?" Gajeel asked.
"Translucent Light is what had cleared everything for me." Levy said. "First, this trap deals 200 points of damage for every monster on your field. Since you have two monsters, you'll be dealt 400 points of damage." Gajeel felt the light burning him and his life points dropped to 800. "There's more to this trap."
"What do you mean?" Gajeel said, but everything around him was changing. The trap was creating some sort of illusion. He was standing in the sky and when he looked down, he saw a city destroyed with seas of lava. "What is all this?"
"This is your world." Levy said.
"My world?" Gajeel said.
"Yes." Levy said. "By losing the duel, you've opened the way for the darkness to take over. Those who held the dragons failed and you accepted the power. You stand above all."
"I do?" Gajeel said. He looked at himself and saw he was changing. He was wearing dark clothes, the same his enemies have been wearing, and his mark was turning to the same as Levy's owl mark. "Isn't this all you wanted, Gajeel? To stand above others? To not fall behind while many others move ahead?"
"Yes." Gajeel said as he was starting to fall to what Levy is telling him. Levy knew him so well that she was having him use his desires to submit to the darkness. In the real world, Levy had her trap activated and ready to make the vision a reality.
"That's right." Levy said. "This is your future. Thanks to Translucent Light, it makes your monsters useless to protect you. That means that Solid Script Fire can attack you directly." Her monster formed a fireball as Gajeel's monsters became transparent and left him vulnerable. "It's over, Gajeel. Step forward to the darkness. Give yourself in and have all tremble in your power." Hearing her say that had Gajeel snap out of it.
"No." Gajeel said. "The real Levy would never want something like that. She would want a world where everyone is living peacefully and that's the world she'll get." He broke free from the illusion and was back at the duel. "I activate the Harsh Decisions trap. I can use this when you activate a card effect. In order to use this trap, I need to send one of my monsters to the graveyard. So I'll toss my Iron Sword." He discarded his card and the monster vanished. "With that, I can destroy your trap and make my Karma Demon Iron Spiral a possible target." The trap was destroyed and the light faded away.
"I don't understand." Levy said. "How could you not want that? I know you, Gajeel. You want to stand above everyone else because you're afraid that everyone will move on without you."
"You're right. That might be what I want, but I know that's not what you want." Gajeel said. "You don't want a world where everyone is suffering. That's the darkness, Levy, but I know the real you is in there. When I saw that you became one of these guys, my eyes became wide open. I don't want any great power if it means I don't have you."
"Me?" Levy questioned.
"Come back to me, Levy." Gajeel said. "You need to break free from the darkness and became the kind person I know you are." Levy was struggling on the inside, but she was still resisting everything Gajeel was telling her.
"No." Levy said. "The Levy you know is gone. This is who I am now. The vision you saw will happen and you can't change that. It's the future as soon as you lose this duel. It's written in stone….or should I say iron." He didn't believe that. Gajeel was fighting as hard as he could to save Levy. Will he be able to bring out the real her or will the both of them be lost in darkness?
"You can say whatever you want, Levy." Gajeel said. "Just know that I'll keep fighting….until…I get you back!"
To Be Continued…