CH26: Firefight

All of the golems were either immobilized, or destroyed altogether. But the wizards had another problem on their hands now. Before them was mind controlled Zancrow who was about to attack them.

"Now, take them down!" Ferrous ordered.

Zancrow leapt into action and attacked the nearest member of his guild, Cana. He grabbed her face with his hand and began to burn her. Painfully Cana yelled but managed to break free of the God Slayer's hold by slipping her leg behind Zancrow's, and pushing him over it causing him to land on the floor. She looked herself over and saw some minor burns all over her beautiful flesh. Her flimsy bra was all but totaled exposing more cleavage than normal and her white jacket had been reduced to only the sleeves.

"Zancrow! Snap out of it!" Natsu yelled.

That got his attention. With lightning speed Zancrow was in Natsu's face and he sent a devastating blow to his gut. Natsu was sent flying but he recovered quickly as he flamed up and took his battle stance.

"What is wrong with you?" The Dragon Slayer asked.

Zancrow was once again before Cana. He grabbed her by the hair lifting her up off the ground and tore off what remained of her bra leaving her topless. He then slithered his tongue over her exposed nipples and started to bite them much to her discomfort.

"Nothing's wrong with me dragon breath. Ankhseram just reverted me back to how I was back on Tenrou Island. I feel it, he reawaken the evil within my heart, the evil I have been suppressing since Makarov gave me a chance to join your pathetic guild. You have no idea what it's like, seeking vengeance for seven years only to fail when the opportunity finally arises. And due to that failure I was then forced to join the guild that humiliated and took everything from me. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this." He then tossed the card mage aside and stared Natsu down.

"What would Erza think if she saw you right now?"

Zancrow became furious. "YOU DON'T GET TO SAY HER NAME! She had her chance with me and she blew it. Now I'm free to do what I've always wanted. I can screw any women I want. I could take over the guild if I wanted. But most of all, I'll have my revenge against you!"

The atmosphere intensified and Ferrous stood on the side smiling at the whole ordeal.

"Zancrow, I knew you have always wanted to get even but I thought we were past that. We took you in, made you one of us even after everything you've done. Did you forget that?"

"I'll tell you what I've never forgotten. My humiliating defeat by your hands. You! A Dragon Slayer! I am above your stature now and always!"

Zancrow lunged at Natsu and their fists collided generating a mixed blaze of black and orange.

…

"We need a plan of attack. As long as Zancrow is under Ankhseram's influence, it will be extremely difficult to finish our mission. He is part of our guild, and we will not leave him behind until he is back to normal. Wendy, your magic can heal wizards. Can it free him of this mind control?" Gajeel asked

"I honestly have no idea. I doubt my Dragon Slaying magic will have any effect on a God Slayer, much less the hold of a literal god."

"You have to try. It's our only chance of getting our comrade back on our side."

Wendy nodded in agreement. When she was finished healing Cana, she would then focus all her attention onto the Flame God Slayer.

…

Zancrow launched a bombardment of fireballs at Natsu. He of course had no choice but to dodge due to the hierarchy of Dragons and Gods. While Dragon Slaying magic has no effect on God Slayers, Dragon Slayers are very vulnerable to God Slayer's divine attacks.

Once he was out of harm's way, Natsu charged at Zancrow hoping to close the gap between them. Since his fire attacks would have no effect on the God Slayer, his only chance was to beat him in physical combat.

But Zancrow knew what he was trying to do so he made sure to keep his distance, occasionally taunting Natsu. He would zone in and out of Natsu's reach often landing a blow on him on top of his fire attacks.

"How does it feel to be completely helpless against me?"

"I don't feel that way at all. It's all part of the challenge." Natsu replied with a smirk. He looked over to where Cana was. Around her were Wendy, Gajeel, Lucy, and the Exceeds. Gajeel seemed to be pointing at Wendy and then did a flattening fist motion which seemed to register in the Dragon Slayer's mind as "knock him down."

Natsu got the message. He put his hands together and conjured up his attack. "Fire Dragon, Brilliant Flame!" The attack then went straight towards Zancrow.

"Are you seriously that dense?" Zancrow questioned Natsu's stupidity and braced himself for a nice, hot meal. However when Natsu's attack was a couple feet away from the God Slayer, the attack dispersed into multiple attacks hitting everywhere but Zancrow. All around the God Slayer were pillars of smoke where the attacks hit and he couldn't see anything.

"What the…"

(BOOM)

From behind him came a devastating blow which knocked Zancrow from his pedestal to ground level where Natsu then landed on top of him catching him off guard.

Natsu then placed Zancrow into a headlock hold. His arms went under the God Slayers and wrapped around his head keeping him at bay.

"Wendy NOW!"

Immediately white aura surrounded the target area where both slayers were. Zancrow began to scream in agony as the seal on his forehead began to flicker almost as if he was struggling for control. Natsu had his work cut out for him. In addition to keeping Zancrow immobilized, he also had to make sure that he stayed within Wendy's healing spell.

"Nice try morons, but it won't work."

With a burst of his flames, Zancrow broke free of both the healing spell, and Natsu's wrestling hold. Natsu was knocked back while Wendy suffered the shock of having her spell broken. Gajeel just stood there shocked at what he had witnessed.

"The hold on him is too powerful. My magic alone cannot break it." Wendy said.

"No way. Then what are we supposed to do?" Gajeel asked.

"Perhaps if you were to strain his focus, weaken him some, maybe I could break the bind. I have no chance helping him while he's at full strength."

Gajeel cracked his knuckles and morphed into his iron form. "Now that I can do. I owe that punk a beating anyway. Oye, Natsu! You hear that. We need to beat some sense into Zancrow for Wendy to successfully complete her spell."

"Got it!"

Both Dragon Slayers were fired up and ready to tag team Zancrow. But their confidence wavered as his backup arrived. Off to his left was Ferrous.

"If you fools think I'm going to merely allow your scheme to take place without a little pushback, you're sorely mistaken."

Ferrous himself then dawned into his Iron form making Gajeel look like he was made out of paper mache. Every square inch of his body was enveloped in pitch black iron reinforced with rivets in certain key places. Above all else, he was covered in spikes much like his golems were.

"Now this is a fair fight." Ferrous smirked as Zancrow flamed up as well.

Fairy Tail's mission seemed all but lost at this point. They were staring down two powerful God Slayers, and every second they spent fighting them, Ankhseram came closer to his goal of possessing Laxus.

(CRASH)

From above the throne room came a dismantled Iron Sentry that seemed to have been sliced up with a blade. Following close behind it was Erza still in her Blackwing armor.

"ERZA!" Everyone shouted with excitement.

Zancrow was less than pleased to see his ex-lover and Ferrous wasn't too happy either.

"Erza, keep Ferrous busy while me and Gajeel take on Zancrow."

"What?"

"Just trust us Erza, he's not himself right now." Natsu said.

Erza looked over the Flame God Slayer and saw a grin on his face. This grin was pure evil and on his forehead was a branding. Her eyes widened as she realized that both the God Slayers possessed the mark. She looked at Zancrow with sadness before she reequipped into her Wingblade armor.

"I leave him to your then. If you kill him though, I will make sure you suffer the same fate."

Natsu shuddered at her threat.

"You can't possible expect to beat me you red haired skan…"

Erza launched Ferrous into a nearby pillar while she looked unamused.

"What the…"

Zancrow also looked stunned. But he had no time to worry about his brother in godhood as Natsu and Gajeel launched a unison attack against him. Both the Dragon Slayer's fists collided with Zancrow's ribcage and he also was sent into a nearby pillar.

"That was a cheap shot." Zanacrow seethed.

"Plenty more where that came from. We're going to get you back by any means necessary."

"Even if it kills us!" Natsu blurted out.

Gajeel anime sweatdropped. He didn't remember death being an option that he would choose.

"Fine then. Let's go Dragon Hunters."

Natsu nodded at Gajeel and both went charging toward Zancrow.