Time has almost run up. The D.E.C. is drawing closer to Magnolia and even after Ivan was beaten, it still won't stop. Nine members of Ten Rave have been defeated, but Dusk still remains and he is the strongest out of all of them.

"We're almost at the tower." Ichigo said. He was with Orihime and Hachi as they headed for the tower and they were close.

"It's strange. We haven't met any resistance." Hachi said.

"Maybe Master Erza and everyone else already defeated them." Orihime said. They all hoped the same thing. They ran, but Ichigo came to a stop and that caused the others to stop as well. "Ichigo, what's wrong?" Ichigo could feel it. He feels a dark power and it draws closer.

"Dark vs. Dark"

"Be on guard. We're not alone." Ichigo said. Orihime was scared, but Ichigo and Hachi were on guard.

"Look out!" Hachi said and pushed Ichigo and Orihime out of the way as a dark black blast came and shot right through him.

"Hachi!" Orihime shouted. The wound wasn't fatal, but it did look severe. "That attack came so fast. I didn't even see it coming and Hachi didn't even have time to put up a barrier." Ichigo turned to see where that attack came from, but no one was around.

"Come out and fight us." Ichigo said. That invitation was taken as Dusk came out from hiding in the shadows.

"I was aiming for the other man, but at least I hit someone. Sadly, he's still breathing." Dusk said.

"I know you. You're the one who goes by Dusk." Ichigo said.

"Yes and I'm glad I found you, Night Spirit Slayer. I've been wanting to fight you when I saw your power." Dusk said.

"Ichigo, look." Orihime said as she pointed to her hair pins in Dusk's vest.

"You have something that belongs to my friend and she would very much like to have it back." Ichigo said.

"I don't think so." Dusk said as he patted the hairpins. "It was thanks to these that the D.E.C. is even moving and they still hold great power. I much rather have this power for myself."

"That isn't going to happen. I'm stopping you and this cannon." Ichigo said.

"Then, you better hurry." Dusk said. "I say in about another twenty minutes, we'll be close enough to Magnolia and the cannon will destroy that town."

"Magnolia?! They're aiming for our guild?" Orihime said with dismay.

"There is no way we're going to let you get away with that." Ichigo said.

"I like to see you try and stop me." Dusk said as he was animating his dark magic power. He stored it in his hand and shot it at Ichigo.

"What a joke. That's not going to work on me." Ichigo said.

"Ichigo, get back. Something isn't right about his magic." Orihime said, but it was too late. Ichigo got hit and he was blown back by the attack.

"What happened?" Ichigo questioned.

"Don't tell me that's all the mighty spirit slayer can take." Dusk said.

"Not even close. Now that it's dark out, no way I'm going to lose." Ichigo said. He took in a deep breath and the night air flowed right into Ichigo's mouth with dark trails inside. "Night Spirit's Howl!" Ichigo shot out the dark blast, but Dusk didn't look the least bit concerned. The attack hit and caused a massive explosion.

"Did you get him?" Orihime said.

"Yeah. There's no way he could have withstood that." Ichigo said.

"You think so?" Both of them didn't know what to think as Dusk walked out and he wasn't harmed at all.

"H-How….did you withstood against that?" Ichigo said.

"Darkness has no effect on me." Dusk said. "You're up against someone who's much higher up than you. I am the Darkness God Slayer."

"A god slayer?!" Orihime said.

"Orrihime, run." Ichigo said as he walked past her.

"What?" Orihime said.

"Take Hachi and get out of here!" Ichigo shouted as he turned back to face her. "Things are about to get ugly. It's too dangerous for you to be here."

"I can't just leave you." Orihime said.

"You don't have a choice. You can't use your magic and Hachi can't fight." Ichigo said. "You've got to get out of here while you can and meet up with the others. I'll handle him." Orihime didn't want to leave, but she could see in Ichigo's eyes that he was afraid, but of what might happen.

"Alright, but please be careful. Promise me that you'll win and come back." Orihime pleaded.

"I will." Ichigo promised. Orihime grabbed Hachi, but he actually weighed a ton. It took all her strength to just drag him away.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but I'm not suppose to let any of you escape alive." Dusk said as he aimed at her and was ready to strike her down.

"No you won't!" Ichigo said as he went on the offense. He struck Dusk, but Dusk blocked it easily with Ichigo's magic flowing right out.

"Ichigo!" Orihime called out.

"What did I just say? Get going." Ichigo said. Orihime did what she was told and dragged Hachi away. Dusk lifted his foot and kicked Ichigo back, but he wasn't going to back down.

"You honestly think you can take me on alone? Darkness has no effect on me, but my darkness will damage you." Dusk said.

"You think I care? I don't. I'll find some way to beat you." Ichigo said. "Night Spirit's Moon Fang!" Ichigo unleashed his fang attack, but Dusk held up his hand and was able to block it.

"You'll have to do better than that." Dusk said. "We are known as god slayers for a reason. We have the ability to slay gods, those who created our world. You can't possibly defeat someone who has the power to slay those that made everything that exists."

"Confident aren't we? We'll see about that. Give me your best shot." Ichigo said.

"And you think I'm confident? I'll show you that you are out of your league." Dusk said as he made a circular motion of his hands over each other. "Darkness God's Silent Strike!" He formed a dark orb and thrusted his arms with the orb shooting rays. Ichigo got hit by them and was hit to the ground.

"This guy is strong." Ichigo acknowledge, but he wasn't going to go down that easily.

"Your nightmare is only the beginning." Dusk said as he shot out another blast of darkness and caused an explosion. Ichigo jumped and was about to strike down on Dusk, but Dusk held out his arm and blocked it. He grabbed Ichigo's arm and tossed him back to the ground. "I'm not even sweating and I already have you beat."

"Not yet you don't." Ichigo said.

"Perhaps I should end your life now so I can go after all the rest." Dusk said. "Everyone else might have been beaten, but that just means more for me. Their lives will be lost with those in that town of yours."

"You take pleasure in killing innocent people?" Ichigo said.

"That's right just as I will with your friends." Dusk said. "I think I'll start with that girl you just told to run." That struck a nerve with Ichigo as he gave him a death glare. "She seemed very important to you and I know you Fairy Tail wizards are close to each other. I can imagine the look on your face when you see her severed head."

"Bastard!" Ichigo screamed. He tried to hit him again, but Dusk blocked it with his bare hand.

"When are you going to learn that you can't…." Dusk didn't finish as Ichigo managed to hit him across the face and push him back. Dusk wipe his mouth and was stunned. "You actually hit me!"

"You're not going to lay a hand on her or any of my friends! I'm ending your terror here!" Ichigo claimed

…

The Tower

Everyone else was meeting at the bottom of the tower and was in the center of the cannon. The members of Cherry Sakura and Blue Pegasus saw Erza and Natsu arrived.

"Natsu and Erza, you made it." Shunsui said.

"Yeah and we took care of Ivan." Natsu said.

"Who?" Muramasa asked.

"Ivan was really the guild master of Ten Rave. He was once a member of Fairy Tail long ago before he converted to the dark side." Erza said. "After that fight, there should only be one member of Ten Rave remaining."

"Where are Ichigo, Hachi, and Orihime?" Nel said.

"Hopefully they didn't run into trouble." Harribel said.

"A little help." They all looked and saw Orihime struggling to drag Hachi much further since she went through most of her strength.

"Orihime!" Erza called out as they all ran to her side.

"What happened to Hachi?" Nel said.

"We were attacked by that Dusk man." Orihime said. "Ichigo's fighting him right now, but he's powerful. He's actually a god slayer."

"A god slayer?!" Natsu said.

"We've got to help him." Erza said as she went to help.

"No, we can't. I think Ichigo would rather face this opponent alone." Orihime said. "Besides, we have less than twenty minutes before we reach Magnolia."

"You're right." Erza said. "As much as I want to go help Ichigo myself, we need to stop this thing. Look around. There has to be something here." All of them agreed and got to work on what they could.

…

Ichigo

Ichigo continued his fight against Dusk as he used one attack after another, but Dusk was blocking each one.

"Darkness God's Shrieking Wind!" Dusk thrusted his hand against Ichigo and created a black sound wave that pushed him back. Both of them decided to take a deep breath in.

"Night Spirit's Howl!"

"Darkness God's Bellow!" Both of them used their breath attack and the two collided and caused a great explosion that canceled the other out.

"Damn. I can't seem to get anywhere with this guy." Ichigo said.

"You're just out of your league." Dusk said.

"We'll see about that." Ichigo said and decided to stop holding back. He took another deep breath and fed on the night air. "Spirit Slayer Secret Art! Black Moonless Night!" Ichigo swung down with his best move and the arch came down on Dusk.

"Is that the best you can do?" Dusk said as he held up his hands and caught it. Dusk opened his mouth and sucked in and started feeding on the attack. Ichigo didn't know what to think for no one has ever done that before. Dusk was even able to eat the whole thing.

"No way. No one has ever withstood that before." Ichigo said.

"If that's your full power, I'll return the favor." Dusk said and jumped right into the sky with his back against the moon. He held out his hands and darkness started form around and created a giant black orb.

"What is that thing?" Ichigo said.

"God Slayer Secret Art! Eclipse Shadow!" Dusk shot out the dark orb and there was nowhere for Ichigo to run. The attack came down and caused great destruction in the area that it was covered in the dark power. The entire area was destroyed by it. Dusk landed down and saw Ichigo was knocked out and he wasn't sensing anything from him. "The Night Spirit Slayer has fallen."

…

The Tower

"How's Hachi?" Harribel asked as Nel had him against the wall and tried to help his injury.

"Not much better, but at least he's alive." Nel said.

"There doesn't seem to be a way to get in the tower. Let's look at the top." Erza said. Orihime could barely focus with her mind on Ichigo.

"Are you worried about Ichigo?" Muramasa asked. "I fought Ichigo myself. I know he can win."

"I know, but that doesn't help me settle." Orihime said. "I just feel like I need to be by Ichigo's side."

"Hello. Can anyone here me?"

"That voice! Nanao, is that you?" Shunsui asked.

"Yes, Master Shunsui. I'm speaking to you through telepathy. Listen up because I think I found a way to stop the D.E.C."

…

Orihime: I can't believe what can be done when you have people work together when you don't even know each other that well.

Ichigo: That's how it works in a guild. That can work even when you're from two separate guilds.

Orihime: It's amazing how much can be done.

Ichigo: You just need to put your heads together

Ichigo: Next Time: Seven

Orihime: Add this to the list of reasons being in a guild is so much fun.