Chapter 27: A Pyrrhic Victory

A/N: Hello there! The end of Battle Week is in sight! And today is the main event! NATSU'S TURN TO FIGHT! Shout-out to WierdRoseAmy for favoriting my story! And special thanks to my devoted readers and reviewers in sashaXmafuyuFOREVER and ken106348, you guys are always reviewing my story. You guys rock! Now hit the imaginary gong and let the last fight begin! Enjoy!

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Start of battles (Natsu POV)

'Finally, the wait is over! Now who is gonna fight me? Oh! I hope I get Laxus and Gray and Gajeel! OH! Can't forget about Gildarts or Jura! That would be fun! Might actually have to go all out if that's the case. Been a few years since I had to do that, not since me and Lucy took out that entire battalion of magic enforcement led by Lahar, now that was fun! I better not get master though, I'd rather not have to fight him just yet, at all if possible. I may hate him right now, but he's still my second father, I wouldn't want to kill him. But hey, a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.' I stop thinking to myself as I hear footsteps, at least five of them, and they are coming fast. 'OOOOOOOHHHH! Here they come! Well time for the show to begin! Yoooosh! I'm all fired up!'

I look and see two people come in first, Elfman and Mirajane, '… what? Why are they here? Still upset about Lisanna? She nearly killed one of their nakama but hey they could care less, obviously. They might not make it through today.' I look again and see Laxus and Gajeel enter next, 'Ok, this will be fun now, I should get a good workout here.' Then I see one final person enter and I immediately feel my stomach start to churn, 'Master. So he came too… This fight will be interesting, I wonder he didn't come alone?'

"Oh, are all of you here to fight me? I must say I'm flattered, though I don't see why Elfman and Mirajane are here, I could crush them just by glaring at them. Hahaha!" I say as I begin to laugh evilly at the duo, their faces gaining a scowl that is deepening by the second. "Aw, something the matter? Still a little mad about Lisanna? I don't know why, you heard what she said, she nearly killed Lucy all because she was jealous. I thought this guild valued nakama over family? Right master? That is why you excommunicated your own son right? A danger to the guild, you said. So where is that treatment now?" I ask pointedly and see master look down in immediate understanding at part of the reason I'm doing this. The loss of the value of nakama was the theme of the guild now.

"YOU KILLED HER THOUGH! She may have been guilty of a serious crime but you killed her in cold blood! Where is the justice in that!" Yelled Mirajane, her voice shaky at best, the emotions of the day getting to her.

"Pfft, justice and fairness, two things I was never shown. If you are so upset then come, fight me to prove your beliefs! Prove to me that you have not forgotten what had made Fairy Tail strong!" I challenge them and they begin to take their stances.

Mirajane and Elfman didn't waste any time as they came charging at me. I want to show my power so I simply release some magical energy and glare at them. They stop running and fall on all fours, clearly feeling the pressure.

(POV Change to Makarov)

I look up finally and prepare for battle, but am surprised by Mira and Elfman charging at Natsu, completely forgetting the plan. 'Damn them! They let him get into their heads and have completely forgotten the plan!' But then I was even more surprised as I felt Natsu release his magical power and almost suffocate from the pressure he exudes. 'My gods! This how strong he is now? He's on a completely different level, he could be on par with the gods of Ishgar! When did he get this strong?' I continue to watch as Mira and Elfman fall and feel the pressure of his power and eventually pass out, 'He… he really did it. He knocked them out just by looking at them! My gods what did I create by sending him away?' I wonder as he finally controls his magical power and relaxes.

"See told you I could knock those two out just by looking at them. They were really pathetic though. Is that really what passes for S-Class nowadays? Hey Gajeel I heard you're S-Class now. You any stronger yet? Or did you max out at steel shadow dragon? Was Tartaros your prime? Or have you improved since then?" He asks mockingly and I see Gajeel relatively unfazed by his taunt. 'Good I need him to stay calm. He's the X-factor here. If he can stay calm and stick to the plan we should be able to win.' "What cat got your tongue? Hahaha, as cool as steel now? What did Levy finally tame the mighty steel dragon? Are you her bitch now metal-breath? Oh, you're face says it all! You are so totally whipped! Hahaha! Who would have thought the great Kurogane, tamed by a mere bookworm who looks like she's twelve? Hahaha, this is way too funny, wait till Lucy hears about this, she'll have a riot!"

'Stay strong Gajeel, do what you do best, steel yourself to his taunts.' "Shut up! No way I'm whipped by Levy! I am in charge in our marriage! Now enough talking! Let's fight!" Gajeel yells and I feel ok with this result, 'At least he didn't lose it and charge at him blindly.'

"Ok, have it your way, but hey Laxus or should I say seventh master? Yeah I heard you were going to be master starting tomorrow. But let's see if you are worthy of that title! Come! Let's dance!" Natsu says and suddenly, he is in front of us.

He lights his fists on fire and punches Gajeel in the face sending him flying into a tree a few yards away. Then he turns on his heel and roundhouse kicks Laxus with foot that is on fire, sending Laxus the other way and into a rock a few yards away as well. Then he jumps and kicks his leg out at me. I saw it coming though and grow in size to be about the same height as Jura and block the kick, or at least try to but am sent back a few feet. He doesn't stop coming though and charges at me again, this time kicking me in the leg so fast I don't have to react. He then sweeps me off the ground using his leg and jumps above me and kicks me as I fall, sending me into the ground with a crash. He uses his fire to stay floating, like jetpacks from his hands, and lands next to the crater I created when I crashed into the ground. I groan and am saved by further attacks as Gajeel and Laxus reappear and try and take Natsu by surprise. But they are too slow as Natsu simply slips between them and allows them to crash into each other. I get up and join them, growing again to at least triple the height I was at, and try and crush Natsu under my hands. But once again he's too fast and he simply dodges all my attempts and then jumps up in front of my face, and with a fist ablaze he punches me in the nose. Normally my size negates a simple punch like this from doing damage, but his punch is strong enough to send me flying into the wall, nearly destroying it.

'Damn, he's way too fast and strong! I can barely see him move and almost have no time to react. How am I going to fight him?' I ponder as I shrink back down to a normal height and prepare for his next assault. I watch as Gajeel and Laxus attempt to fight him in their normal modes. "Oi, Gajeel, Laxus, stop wasting time and go into your full battle modes already! There's no time to waste anymore! We must go all out now!" I yell to them and they obey my demand and power up, Gajeel turning to steel and Laxus letting lightning exude from his body.

They then charge in again, but this time are much faster and are able to make Natsu have to dodge. They begin throwing punches but none of them seem to connect as Natsu simply dodges them, without moving from his spot. He crosses his arms now and continues dodging, yawning as well. 'My gods, just how slow are we to him? They haven't landed a single blow on him, not even one has grazed him yet!' I begin to worry until finally Laxus connects with a right hook to Natsu's jaw, causing his head to snap backwards.

But he still doesn't move and simply brings head up, a smirk on his face as he says calmly, "Thank you, may I have another? Hahaha sorry Gōsuto had to use that line though! Now where were we?" He looks at us and says, "Oh yeah this. Ok time to fight back now that I'm awake."

'He was sleeping?! He dodged all those attacks subconsciously? How is that even possible? How did he do that? I must help them!' I begin to run back to them as I had been simply walking and watching, trying to find a pattern to his fighting. I found none. 'Damn, he so unreadable it's impossible to find his fighting pattern now. Before it was all just straight attacks, now he's a lot more well rounded. We're gonna have to wait him out, wait for a chance and not miss when we get it!'

I watch as Gajeel and Laxus back away trying to create some space, 'Yes, good idea, he is a close range fighter, distance is the key here.' Then I watch as he lights a single finger, and points it at us. The flame begins to fly towards us and when it nears us, it suddenly explodes and we are sent flying back. 'WHAT?! He has attacks that use range? What in the world? Who trained him to be so strong? Where did he hide all those years? What really happened?!' I wonder until I hit a rock and keep flying through it until I hit the wall. 'DAMN! What an explosion to send us this far away! How did he just do that?'

I groan as I peel myself off the wall and look to where Gajeel and Laxus are, they themselves up and looking for Natsu. 'Where did that boy go…'

I am broken from my reverie as Natsu appears and immediately attacks Gajeel, sending him flying into Laxus. I charge in and expand my fists and catch him off guard as he was admiring his work on Gajeel and crush him with my fist. 'Yes! A clean hit!' I think as I see him simply get up and turn towards me. Then he is already in my face and begins unloading punches on me, though for some reason not as fast as before. I still am not fast enough however and he uses me as a punching bag for a solid minute before he grabs my enlarge hand and throws me into the charging Laxus and Gajeel. Gajeel dodges and turns his skin into steel dragon scales. They meet and begin trading punches, both landing blows and making the first true exchange of blows we had had today. They separate and Gajeel yells, "Steel Dragon's Sword!" And his trademark sword appears and he charges swinging the sword at Natsu. Natsu dodges each swing and eventually just grabs the sword with his bare hand. He swing Gajeel up and then throws him down into the ground, his hand still a sword.

Laxus then charges in and yells, "Lightning Flash!" and I am blinded by the light momentarily as is Natsu, at which time I can make out Laxus as he lands an uppercut on Natsu and follows with a right hook to his jaw. Then Laxus kicks Natsu in the gut pushing him back a bit. Raising his fists, he yells, "Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder, plunge from the heavens and reap destruction!" 'His Raging Bolt technique. He's getting serious now.' I watch as Natsu who was stunned for a moment smirks at his choice in attack, and simply eats the lightning.

"What? Forget I am also a fire-lightning dragon slayer? Hahaha!" He laughs at our stupidity and I curse myself, 'DAMN! How could I forget that? Laxus gave him the lightning for fuck's sake! We are in a real bind right now, I might have to use the last resort…'

"Nope, just distracting you." Laxus replies coolly as suddenly Gajeel appears and yells, "Steel Dragon's Roar!" and hits Natsu dead on. Natsu is sent flying in the air and hits a tree and crashes through it, before he hits a wall finally stopping his momentum. He hits the ground, but has no time to get up as suddenly Gajeel is on him, Laxus not far behind. Gajeel yell, "Steel Dragon's Sword!" and stabs downward with his sword, 'NO! Wait Gajeel! You don't have to kill him!'

But my worries go for not as Natsu gets up, avoiding the sword and yells, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" and unleashes his roar at point blank range, hitting Gajeel with the full force. Gajeel only the time to bring one arm up and get a partial block of the roar and is flung backwards towards where I have just arrived at. I grow a bit and catch him before he gets too far away and set him down so he can rejoin the fight.

"Thanks master. Now come, Laxus needs our help, lets go!" I nod as he pumps us up and we join Laxus as he begins to trade blows with Natsu but is failing miserably, Natsu clearly ahead. 'Damn, just how weak are we compared to Natsu? We can barely even hit him right now. This has to end! Now!'

I begin to prepare to use Fairy Law, but the Laxus finally yells, "That's it! I have had enough of this! It's time to go all out!" And he releases some more magical energy and I am taken aback by it. 'He was holding back? And this much? What was he thinking? He should have been going this hard from the start!' Laxus then charges at Natsu and unleashes a barrage of attacks so fast I can barely even see most of the punches, the only noticeable thing I see are Laxus's shoulders moving as he throws his punches. Laxus is faster now, too fast for Natsu as he begins to use Natsu as a punching bag for a few minutes. He steps back and unloads an attack with all his strength and sends Natsu flying, Natsu not stopping until he hits something. I notice that Laxus is no longer standing nearby and that's when I notice what Natsu hit, he hit Laxus. Laxus had used his lightning body and beaten Natsu to the spot he sent him to, and had been waiting for him to arrive. He caught Natsu and then slammed him into the ground, using his fists like a hammer to do it. He then picks Natsu back up and begins using him like a punching bag again and continues for a solid minute and a half before he stops and yells, "Lightning Dragon's Roar!". He hits Natsu with his roar at point black range, but unlike when Natsu did it to Gajeel, Natsu didn't block him and took the full force of the attack. Natsu was being held by Laxus so he took the full force of the attack, and this time he can do nothing but take the full force of the attack. When the attack finishes, Laxus stands over him, smirking, "You thought you were so tough, but hey never let the dragon be the measuring stick of how strong you are. Just because you were raised by a dragon means absolutely shit, It's all about what you have in your heart. Too bad for you, you sold your heart away for revenge. And what has that gotten you? Nothing, except the ire of the strongest guild in all of Fiore. And my ire as well. I hope you like prison, cause that's where your going. Hey Gajeel restrain him using your steel, and if he wakes up, knock him back out. He was annoying the first time, don't want to have to deal with him again."

I look at and Laxus and smile, he really has grown up. "Hey Jiji," I hear my name and see Laxus looking at me with a smile on his face, as he says, "We did it Jiji!"

"You haven't done shit." I hear a familiar voice and I cringe, as my stomach churns at the voice. I turn and see Natsu, completely unharmed standing there… wait what? "Surprised? Hahaha! What never fought a psychic projection before? C'mon not even you master? You're so old I thought you would have done so by now. But oh well, I just cant believe you guys fell for it! Hahaha, what a bunch of idiots! My plan worked to perfection!"

Back to when the three were hit by the explosion(POV Change to Natsu)

I stifle a yawn as I watch the three I'm fighting fly and hit the wall, almost breaking them in the process. 'Aw man these guys suck! I can't even go all out yet! I expected more from these three, especially Laxus. Luce said he was stronger now, but I can't even tell. How pathetic, I wonder if Luce's done yet? Probably not, she probably had to kill someone, probably Gray because he's an exhibitionist. I know I would. Damn exhibitionist, he probably could put up a better fight than these losers.' I sigh and hatch a plan, 'That's it! I'll have some fun with this! I just hope my psychic projection doesn't suck, that was always Luce's thing, she is the smart one after all.' I focus and then feel the projection come to life and he looks just like me. "Yooosh! I didn't fuck it up! Ok other me, here's the plan. Since I only gave you half my strength, you should be evenly matched, so go and fight them, but don't kill them. I will do that if I have to. But have some fun! These guys are idiots so it's time to have some fun! Oh and if you lose I won't care, I'll have fun watching them try and beat me! Good hunting!" I watch as the other me goes off and I find a good tree and relax a bit, watching the battle unfold before me, laughing as I saw their futile attempts to beat the other me. It was truly pathetic.

Back to present (POV Change back to Master)

'No way, we fought a psychic projection! That was why he was slower… But how much of a gap was there between him and the real thing?' I ponder and then ask, "Natsu, just how much power did you give the projection?"

"Hmmm, about half of my power. Yeah it was exactly half, that's how strong projection can be, any stronger an it would become unstable. That's why Jellal sent his projection to Era, he couldn't risk any one coming to the island and fighting his projection, the projection would have lost." I hear his explanation and my heart drops, knowing just how much of a gap there was.

I refocus and ask, "Natsu, if given the choice, would you hurt everyone in the guild or come down with a sickness?"

He looks at me questioningly and then shakes his head, before replying, "Hurt the guild, because of what you guys did. I'll never forgive you guys, nor do I wish to, you guys put me through hell and back all because of the words of an emotionally unstable spirit. I was ready to kill most of you then and there but I waited for today. Now my revenge is almost complete and I didn't have to kill every last one of you! Great news for you guys! The only bad thing is…" He pauses as we look at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish his thought. What he said when he did finish his thought scared me, "I am going to have to rearrange some faces! Hahaha, hope you guys didn't really care about looks, although in Gajeel's case there would be nothing to do, it was ugly enough as it was. Hahaha! Now time to end this thing."

I watch as he begins to walk forward, towards us and I begin to panic in my mind. 'Oh my gods. He is far too strong to deal with normally. And far too gone to bring back from the darkness. It's time to atone for my sins and my failures. I will use Fairy Law and defeat him! Laxus, I'm sorry it had to come to this but it must be done.' I step forward and grow large, to a size necessary to perform the spell and say to Gajeel and Laxus, "Stand back. I will end this battle in one move. Now get back and allow me to perform the move. Distract him if you feel it necessary, which it is so yeah buy me some time." I get into the stance necessary and begin to channel all my remaining magic into my palms. "Natsu, I'm sorry it has come to this, but it must be done. I only wish I could have listened to your story all those years ago… Then we would not be here. Please forgive me and know I did not wish to do this." I finally feel the magic that is necessary in between my palms and open my eyes and yell, "Fairy Law, Activa…" I suddenly feel all the magic leave me and I feel nothing else, s the world goes black.

(POV Change to Laxus)

I begin to exchange blows with Natsu, the real Natsu this time, and I feel the power of Fairy Law near it's completion. I look at Natsu who waits until he hears gramps words and his eyes go wide and his face pales. I smirk knowing he knows what's coming, but that smirk leaves my face as suddenly I am thrown into the ground, Gajeel on top of me now. I watch as he charges at gramps and I can feel Fairy Law nearing it's completion, 'Come on Jiji! Hurry up!' I see and feel that the spell is ready and watch as he opens his eyes, 'Just in time! It's over!' He yells out the command for the spell, "Fairy Law, Activa…" He never finished as suddenly a hand shot out from his back, piercing his heart and I can see his heart, still beating in someone's hand before it is burned to ash. I look as gramps shrinks back down to his normal size and I can see who is behind him.

"And I'm sorry that it had to come to this, master. I really am." Natsu says and pulls his arm out from gramp's body. I feel so numb and shocked that he was not fast enough and that he is now dead, 'No… He cant be dead…he can't be...' "NOOOOO!"

(POV Change to Mavis)

I watch as the scoreboard lights up saying that Lucy had won. 'How unsurprising. She was too strong, especially for just Gray and Gildarts. Although the fact that she killed Juvia is shocking. I would never had pegged her as a killer. But hey her reputation as "Hell's Angel" wasn't exactly a good one, so I shouldn't be that surprised.' Then the scoreboard lights up again, 'So soon? So we lost huh…' Then it's lights goes back to normal and I gasp audibly feeling my heart drop along with everyone else there with us. The scoreboard now read: Score: 4 – 0. Death Count: 3. Those Dead: Warrod Sequen, Juvia Fullbuster, and Makarov Dreyar.

"Noooo… This can't be…" But it was, it was the sad reality of the day Natsu Dragneel had killed Makarov Dreyar, and had truly fallen to the dark side.

(POV Change back to Laxus)

"NATSU! YOU BASTARD!" I yell and Gajeel charges along with me.

We both are surprised however as Natsu is front of us and is smiling at us. He then grabs us by the throat, and begins laughing, "Hahaha! You guys can't even touch me. You guys would be lucky if you could knock me back two feet. When I was trying, you weren't even able to touch me. You two are terrible excuses for mages. Laxus you disappoint me the most, I can feel the power within you but yet you didn't use it today. Now I am using about eighty five percent of my power to keep you guys from escaping, and earlier when I knocked out Mirajane and Elfman I was going about sixty percent. You guys aren't anywhere near ready to face me. I'll give you guys a year, come find us in a year, and challenge us again. But don't come if your not ready, I don't like my time being wasted, those who waste my time usually end up like master over there. So get stronger and be ready. Just to show you how much you need to grow, I'll knock you guys at full power. Ready?" I then feel his magical energy, and I nearly suffocate at the pressure and then feel my head crash into Gajeel and I feel my skull crack from the blow. I do not black out, however, and I feel the blood trickling down my head. I reach out to Natsu as he turns to leave and he looks back and is a bit shocked that I am awake. He regains his composure and smirks at me, saying, "This is what I was talking about! You see you had more power than you knew, you could eventually make a decent opponent. Not any time soon, but maybe in a year… Yeah, yeah a year and we could fight one on one. But until then remember, remember who brought you this pain, and use it as your motivation." And after that I feel his fist hit my head, and as I feel it crack I also lose consciousness and pass out. Remembering what he said, the entire time I was unconscious I began to plot my revenge and knew it wasn't a total loss today, I now knew who my goal should be and how I should get there.

(POV Change back to Natsu)

I stand up from making sure Laxus was out cold and walked over to the exit, and I see Luce standing there, waiting for me. "So, we won huh?" She asked me.

"Yes, but it was only a pyrrhic victory. I had to kill master." I said. "But it had to be done, come on, since there is no master until tomorrow, Lumen Historie will be easy to steal. Let's get the others and pick up the spoils of victory." I walked out with Luce and we walked out hand in hand, finally able to relax, we had won, but at a great cost to Fairy Tail.

(POV Change back to Mavis)

I watch as the scoreboard lights up again, but I already know what it will say. 'Not even a single battle was won. This is bad, and not only did we lose every battle, but we lost our pride. This day will go down as the lowest day in Fairy Tail history, the day we lost our pride, our master, and we lost our way.' The scoreboard finally went back to a reasonable volume of light and it read: Winner: Natsu. Score: 5 – 0. Battles Over. Death Count: 3. Those Dead: Warrod Sequen, Juvia Fullbuster, and Makarov Dreyar. Total Time Elapsed: One Hour.

'We barely lasted an hour, how weak were we compared to them? I have much to ponder.'

"Warrod, Precht, Yury, Makarov, come we have much to discuss." I said as the founders and the only other true master walked off and we left the area, soundly defeated.

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A/N:…It's finally over. The final score: Ronin 5 – Fairy Tail 0. Wow, that was long, almost five thousand words. But that was really fun to write! This was totally one sided but hey, when you can't even quantify a guys power, what do you expect? And the death count was at three exactly, so no over under needed. Surprised that it wasn't? I was just trying to fool you guys into not thinking that there would be three deaths exactly, and I think it worked. Also if any one is wondering, Padre and Madre's spells were all in Spanish, so no Llama does not mean the animal, but flame instead(It sounded wrong but that was what I was told so yeah). Also I'm taking tomorrow off so I can rest and recharge my batteries, so don't hate me! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, REVIEW, AND REVIEW! ADIOS!