The Swords and the Fairies continue their battle against each other. Ichigo is up against Ulquiorra and Chad has unleashed his power against Nnoitora. In his full demon form, Chad was able to actually get Nnoitora to experience something he hasn't felt in a long time….fear. Chad stood faced with Nnoitora and he couldn't stop shaking.

"What the hell? Am I actually afraid?" Nnoitora said.

"There's nothing wrong with feeling it." Chad said. "Fear is part of being human. It's good to know it so you know how weak you are."

"Did you say weak?" Nnoitora said as that fear turned to rage. "I am not weak! I am the strongest!" He got back up to attack, but Chad acted faster. He grabbed Nnoitora and shoved him to the ground and build up magic power around his fist as it began to crackle.

"Diablo's Sacrifice." Chad shoved his fist down and pounded Nnoitora right in the chest and left a giant skull crater in the ground. Nnoitora's life flee from his body as his body fell back and rested against the ground and ended his way of destruction for good.

"Flames of Redemption"

Chad has proven to be victorious against Nnoitora. Though, he wished he hadn't had to take his life, but it had to be done. Chad undid his form and changed back to his human form. That was when all his injuries returned and so did the pain. He had no choice, but to rest against something and try to catch his breath.

"Sorry, Ichigo. I won, but I won't be able to help you any further." Chad said. Five of the swords remain, but the fight isn't over for there was still the generals and Aizen himself.

….

Nagato

Nagato and Pegasus continued their fight against the Submitter, Zommari. However, he was living up to his position as one of the Eight Hollow Swords.

"Shooting Gallant!" Pegasus shot out a barrage of light blasts from his fists, but Zommari moved to the side and avoided them.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Nagato tried with his flaming fist, but Zommari held up his hand and blocked it. He kicked Nagato back with Igneel and Lilly gathering around.

"Are you alright?" Igneel said.

"I think so, but this guy is strong." Nagato said.

"Lilly, how's your magic power holding up?" Pegasus asked.

"Don't worry about me. Just stay focus on the battle." Lilly said.

"Nagato, you doing okay….Pinky?" Pegasus said.

"My hair is not pink! It's a light shade of red!" Nagato said. He was always sensitive about that.

"Interesting." Zommari said and gained everyone's attention. "Celestial spirits are used as tools for humans, but you actually show concern for her."

"Humans like Lilly and her mother aren't like the kind of humans you're thinking of." Pegasus said. "They love us spirits and treat us like equals."

"So let me ask, what would you do if you killed your master?" Zommari said.

"What?! I would never do something like that." Pegasus said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but quit your talking and let's finish this fight." Nagato said.

"Such a short temper." Zommari said. "However, you're not fighting at your full capacity. So I will force it." Zommari's eyes changed and began to glow.

"Eye Magic! Don't look into his eyes!" Pegasus warned as he placed his arm over his eyes and they all tried to look away.

"Too late." Zommari said. All of them opened them, but saw nothing really happened.

"I don't get it. What did he do?" Lilly said. For whatever reason, Pegasus grabbed Lilly by the neck and lifted her up with him trying to choke her.

"Pegasus, what are you doing?" Nagato said.

"I'm not doing anything. I can't control my arm." Pegasus said. He noticed that something was on his arm. It looked like some sort of sun mark. "What is this mark on my arm?"

"Submission Eyes, my specialty." Zommari said. "Anything these eyes see place that mark on them and it's under my control, even if it's just a body part. You were lucky to move your arm when you did. If it was placed on your head, your entire body would be under my control."

"Stop it!" Nagato ordered.

"Lilly, close my gate before anything happens." Pegasus said.

"Okay." Lilly said as she reached for the key. "Close, Gate of the Pegasus." She tried swiping the key, but it wasn't working.

"That won't do any good." Zommari said. "When this is used on a celestial spirit, their gates cannot be closed."

"You're kidding." Pegasus said.

"I'm not stopping there." Zommari said as he turned his eyes to Igneel and did something different. The ground around Igneel was marked with the same symbol and a timer for five minutes came up. "Submission Eyes: Detonation." The timer started counting down. "As soon as the timer reaches zero, that area will detonate."

"Igneel, get away from there." Nagato said as he grabbed Igneel and tried to pull him away, but Igneel hit some invisible wall.

"Hey, what is this?" Igneel said.

"I'm afraid no one can leave that area and don't think about devouring the explosion, Dragon Slayer." Zommari said. "Flames won't erupt, but pure magic power will. There's nothing for you to devour and he will still be injured by the explosion even if you could. Also, with her being that close, your sister will get hit as well. You're only chance is to beat me."

"You coward! Let go of them right now!" Nagato demanded.

"You want to save them? Then, you'll have to face me." Zommari said. Nagato was becoming filled with rage like when Fairy Tail fought Panther Growl. Flames erupt around him and his left arm was covered in flames with his bandages burning off and he was gaining movement.

'Nagato can use his left arm now. He's only been able to do that one other time.' Pegasus thought. 'It would seem he needs to reach a certain level of rage to do that. Let's hope it's enough.'

'I don't know if I can beat this guy by myself, but the only way to save Lilly and Igneel is to fight.' Nagato told himself and went to attack as he struck Zommari and felt the attack.

"Yes. That's more like it." Zommari said and gave Nagato a palm strike against his face.

"Nagato!" Igneel shouted in concern. Nagato looked back and saw he had less than four minutes.

"Keep your head in the battle. Don't worry about us." Lilly said. Nagato slid against his feet and was about to kick him, but Zommari raised his leg and blocked it. Nagato kept trying to attack him, but even with his flaming arm and rage, he wasn't getting an inch against Zommari. While they were fighting, Zommari was acknowledging his power. 'His strength…..'

"Let my brother and sister go!" Nagato demanded as he kept attacking.

'His intensity….' Zommari analyzed. 'He's worthy of the dragon slayer name, but that won't save him.' Nagato wasn't getting anywhere against Zommari and time was running out. Nagato looked away to check the time, but Zommari struck him with his foot in his stomach. "You should know not to look away." The rocks around them started to float around by Zommari.

"Telepathy!" Pegasus said. Zommari had the rocks smash against Nagato and sent him into the air.

"Nagato!" Lilly shouted.

"No!" Igneel shouted. Nagato pulled himself together and put his hands together.

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Nagato tossed the ball down on Zommari and caused an explosion and thought he had him. Nagato waited to see if he was done for, but Zommari was able to withstand the power. Nagato didn't know what else to do.

"Your power is impressive. Show me more of it." Zommari said.

'It's no good.' Nagato thought. 'I know I can beat this guy, but I don't have the time.' The clock kept ticking and there wasn't much left. Nagato didn't see what else to do as he raced over to his siblings.

"What are you doing?" Igneel said.

"Are you running away?" Zommari said, but Nagato wrapped his right arm around Lilly and put the flames out of his left arm and had it placed around Igneel. "Stand and fight. It's the only way you can save them."

"I'm sorry." Nagato said. "If I was as strong as Dad, I can beat this guy, but I'm not."

"But you can still win" Lilly said.

"I know, but I made a promise. Don't you two remember what happened…..when I lost movement in my arm?" Nagato said. They both did and that day helped bring the three of them closer together.

…

Flashback

When Nagato was thirteen, he went on his first job by himself and he failed. When that happened, Nagato entered a state of raging fire and rage that he had no control of himself that he ended up hurting Igneel. Nagato was so mad at himself that he grabbed one of Erza's sword.

"Nagato, what are you doing?!" Natsu said and Nagato struck his own left arm with it. It wasn't enough for his arm to be cut off, but he couldn't move it again after that. Thanks to Wendy, Igneel was safe and healed, but Nagato needed to see a professional. Natsu took him to an old member of Fairy Tail named Porlyusica who specialized in medicine and lives in the woods.

"What happened to his arm?" Porlyusica asked. Nagato sat on a bed as she examined his left arm with him covered in bandages.

"It was struck by a sword." Natsu said, refusing to add that Nagato did it.

"Well, this might be trouble. The connections from his arm to his brain have been severed and he won't be able to move his left arm with it like that." Porlyusica said. "We could try surgery, but I don't have the experience or knowledge for something like this. The only other option is amputation and replace it with an artificial arm."

"Whoa! That's pretty serious." Natsu said.

"Dad, can we just….go home?" Nagato said and from his tone, he was still upset.

"That might be a good idea. This is a big decision and you shouldn't be hasty." Porlyusica said. Natsu agreed and he and Nagato headed back to town. Nagato trailed behind Natsu, but Natsu stopped to talk to Nagato.

"Nagato, I know this is scary, but Lilly told me you couldn't control yourself." Natsu said. "You shouldn't be beating yourself up over this whole thing."

"I should." Nagato said and began to cry. "I could have killed Igneel. What kind of brother am I? I don't know what I'm suppose to do now." Natsu walked over to his crying sun and pressed him against his chest.

"You use this as inspiration to get stronger and gain better control." Natsu said. "That way you or anyone will never hurt Lilly or Igneel again. It's your job as the big brother to protect them." Nagato continued to cry in his father's chest as he let all that has happened changed him.

…

The Guild

Natsu told the news to everyone. When Lucy heard, she hasn't let go of Nagato and hasn't stopped crying on his shoulder.

"So unless he goes with either of those options, he'll never be able to use his arm again?" Gray said.

"That's what granny said." Natsu said.

"You think he's ever going to be okay?" Erza said.

"I'm not sure." Natsu said. Lilly and Igneel heard and they felt horrible for their brother. This was the day his entire life was affected forever.

….

One Month Later

An entire month has passed and nothing has really changed for Nagato. He had his entire arm wrapped in bandages and he just kept it on the table to look at. Ever since the incident, he hasn't stopped thinking about it. A younger Ichigo went over to talk to him.

"Nagato, you've been down in the dumps for a long time. How about we head out and cheer up." Ichigo offered.

"No thanks." Nagato said as he got up and walked away. All the adults were worried about him.

"You know, this is similar to what happened with Elfman and Lisanna." Gray said.

"I bet if he was here, he would say "striking your own arm as punishment is so manly." Gajeel mocked and got a few laughs. Nagato headed into town as he was walking with his despair.

"Maybe it be better if I just disappear." Nagato whispered.

"Nagato!"

"Big bro!" Nagato turned around and saw Lilly and Igneel running towards them.

"What are you two doing here?" Nagato said.

"I just talked to Mommy. She's going to teach me how to use Celestial Magic." Lilly said.

"I want to learn that and Dragon Slayer Magic." Igneel said.

"That's great, but why run all that way to tell me that?" Nagato said.

"We wanted you to know right away because we want to be stronger than you." Igneel said. Nagato tried to resist his temptation to laugh.

"Well, you still have a long way to go before that." Nagato said.

"Nagato, we know you want to protect us. We want to learn magic so we can protect you." Lilly said and it brought tears of joy to Nagato's eyes. That was when Nagato vowed to protect his brother and sister at any cost and that vow helped bring them together for they wanted to protect him just as much. This day helped Nagato redeem himself.

End of flashback

…

"I made a promise to protect the both of you and I'm not going back on it." Nagato said as the clock had only seconds left. "I won't let you two die." The clock hit zero. Magic power was released and detonated. With no flames to devour, Nagato couldn't stop it.

"Lilly! Nagato! Igneel!" Pegasus shouted before he was forced back to go to the Celestial Spirit World. The explosion settled away, but Zommari was amazed. The three of them were still in one piece. Igneel and Lilly were alive and got up, but Nagato was still down.

"Nagato? Nagato, wake up." Lilly said, but he wasn't moving. Zommari was able to see what happened.

"Amazing. He was able to devour the magic and absorbed the ethernano, but it looks like it was too much on his body." Zommari said. "It's time I ended this." With the only fighters out of commission, Lilly and Igneel are defenseless.

…

Natsu's Team

The four members continued to fight Aizen. Aizen came to a stop when he sensed a change in magic energy.

"That's interesting." Aizen said.

"What is it this time?" Natsu said.

"Can't you feel it? Your children are in danger." Aizen said and that put him on high alert. "Your oldest is down and the others are helpless against Zommari."

"Our children?! Nagato is down?!" Lucy said.

"No!" Natsu said as he went to save them, but Aizen teleported in front of him. "Get out of my way!"

"You knew what you were getting into from the start. All your members are going to die." Aizen said. This time a fairy was taken down before a sword. Does this change the tide of the battle?

…

Ichigo: In our guild, we listen to our emotions and see the world differently. Some might say we're being illogical, but that's because they don't cherish life. I always thought we could influence anyone to think like that, but Ulquiorra doesn't see things like that.

Next Time: Black and White

Ichigo: It's one insight against another.