Natsu:
They were holding hands again. What a day. Sophia was walking along next to him, intently focusing on smelling out intruders. He watched as she sniffed around her and cocked her head to the side, listening to the faint yells in the distance. She suddenly stopped and changed direction, barrelling off the path and towards the sound of a giant explosion. She began to run, and Natsu increased his speed to catch up to her. She stopped abruptly when she reached the clearing, causing Natsu to run straight into her again. They went tumbling forwards, a tangle of limbs, again, and rolled to a stop in the middle of a swarm of enemies, who had all stopped to watch the spectacle unfold.
"Sophia-san! Natsu-san!" Wendy called out cheerily, thankful that they were there to help. She was exhausted from her loss to Azuma, her limbs battered and bruised. Carla and Pantherlily were worse for wear as well. Pantherlily was barely able to hold off the attackers. The two dragon slayers leapt up in front of Wendy, ready to fight.
"What happened here?!" Sophia called out as she knocked over a wave of bad guys. She turned and eyed Wendy's wounds warily.
"We met one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. They're the strongest members of Grimoire Heart…"
Sophia's eyes widened. "We ran into one of those."
Sophia turned away from the girl to drop kick a particularly large attacker, but popped back up again and said, "I bet you did great!"
Wendy smiled at the older mage's kindness, but she felt weak and defeated.
Natsu glanced over at the two female dragon slayers, sensing something big was coming. He dove towards them as a man with a mane of yellow hair rose up over the edge of the cliff.
He glanced around the clearing, eyeing the Fairy Tail mages scornfully.
"Enough! That's enough!" he ordered the grunts around him. Two ran up to him as he landed on the dirt and gave him a quick thanks, yelling, "They're pretty strong!"
The man's eyes flashed in anger.
"What did you just say?"
"I-I said they were pretty s-strong, Zancrow, sir."
Zancrow glared down at the poor guy with malice coming off of him in waves.
"THEY'RE THE ENEMY! WE ARE THE STRONG ONES. IF THEY'RE GIVING YOU TROUBLE, YOU SHOULDN'T BE A PART OF GRIMOIRE HEART!"
As he yelled the last words, a wall of black flame rose up and crushed the remaining enemies. Natsu's eyes widened and he screamed in anger, "THOSE WERE YOUR ALLIES!"
Zancrow acknowledged his presence for the first time.
"I have no need for weak allies."
Natsu's eyes darkened.
"I'm gonna make you eat those words, bastard."
Zancrow smiled, up for a challenge.
"Bring it on, pink boy."
Natsu scowled, rushing forwards, his fists aflame, as he yelled, "REAL ORIGINAL!"
Zancrow didn't even flinch. A wall of flame rose up and met Natsu and he smirked. He began to suck it in, but realized something was wrong with this flame. It clawed at the inside of his throat and rubbed it raw. He clutched at it, retching.
"You've met your match, Dragon Slayer. These are God Slayer flames."
"Natsu!" Sophia called, running across the clearing towards him, not seeing Zancrow at the bottom of the hill until it was too late.
"FIRE GOD'S BELLOW!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as she approached. A wall of black flames shot towards her.
Kain Hikaru:
Kain Hikaru sat under an old oak tree, the cold of the bark soothing the bursting blisters that covered his torso. He clutched the doll to his chest, mumbling an incantation under his breath. The red hair had somehow remained intact during the fiery assault. He sat the doll on the ground, still muttering the enchantment, as a magic circle began to appear around the puppet. It glowed purple, illuminating the doll in a horrific light that spooked even Kain himself. He raised his arms high above his head as he finished, the circle complete. The doll glowed the same purple as the circle had, and suddenly shot a beacon into the air before all the light suddenly dispersed, leaving Hikaru alone in the dark woods once more.
Sophia:
The wall of black flame rushed towards Sophia. Her body tensed and she began to leap into the air, towards Natsu, to avoid it, but halfway through, she felt her legs give out underneath her and her body fell to the ground like a weight. She landed next to Natsu, who had recovered enough to worry about her. She noticed a faint purple glow around her before her eyes shut heavily and Natsu's panicked face disappeared from sight. She felt an incredible burning sensation before she sank into darkness. She heard a yell escape someone's lips and then she felt weightless. Whose voice was that? She knew it, but everything was so foggy she couldn't even place it. She felt like she was sinking in a pool, her limbs heavy and painful, before she lost consciousness, the voice still echoing around in her head.