AN: Thanks NinjaFang1331, AliceCullen3, and Goku275.
You know, as I'm writing this story, I'm starting to understand how difficult it is to juggle the spotlight between a bunch of characters. I've learned quite a bit from writing this (mainly about the things I need to improve upon), and I hope to learn even more.
"Nekōsoku Knight!" yelled Millianna, expanding her magic-nullifying aura into a wall to shield Lucy, Yukino, Sorano, Minerva, Hisui, and Arcadios from Zirconis's humiliating magic.
Behind her, Hisui returned Yukino's keys before Minerva teleported her and Arcadios to a safe distance. The knight chief would stand guard over the princess, keeping her safe during the fight. This duty would normally fall to Arcadios's knights and Hisui's guards, but they ran away after their clothes were destroyed by Zirconis's first 'attack.'
(Incidentally, Arcadios was already plotting to give his subordinates very strict training once the crisis was over.)
"Dark Écriture: Destruction!"
"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!"
"Baryon Formation!"
The Thunder God Tribe threw some of their strongest spells at Zirconis. The dragon's only reaction was to scratch where they hit, not registering that he had been attacked.
"It seems that dragons are as strong as the legends say," observed Evergreen.
"Laxus is the only one of us who can harm it," stated Freed.
"Then we'll just have to use our magic to support him and distract this beast!" said Bickslow.
Meanwhile, Millianna's group was coming to a similar conclusion. They all knew that the Thunder God Tribe was powerful, so Zirconis brushing off those spells made it clear that only a dragon slayer stood a chance.
"Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!" shouted Laxus, flinging a polearm composed of electricity at the dragon. It struck his right forearm, cracking his scales and drawing a few drops of blood.
Unlike his comrades' attack, Zirconis reacted to this strike. He looked at the injury, then at Laxus. He brought a hand to his chin and stroked it.
"Hmm… I don't go after men because of how bad they taste, clothes or no clothes, but I think I'll kill you anyway. Otherwise you'll keep interrupting my meal as I try to eat these women."
Zirconis removed his hand from his chin and slammed it down on Laxus. The dragon slayer turned to lightning, flitting through Zirconis's fingers.
"Oh no you don't, pesky little fly," insulted the dragon, raising his hand back up. "Even if you move around a bit, I'll still swat— Ack!"
While Zirconis had been focusing on Laxus, Lucy had summoned Loke and activated Star Dress: Leo. Minerva then teleported the two in front of the dragon's face, where they unleashed a blinding light (hence his cry of shock). Bickslow and Evergreen caught Loke and Lucy as they fell to the ground, using magical dolls and wings respectively.
Freed, Millianna, Minerva, and Yukino followed up by using Jutsu Shiki, Nekōsoku Knight (morphing the arms into a dozen Nekōsoku Tubes), Territory Drain, and Libra's Gravity Change to pin down the disoriented dragon's legs. As Zirconis started to recover, Sorano summoned the angel Barakiel to fire another beam of light into his eyes, preventing him from breaking free long enough for Laxus to act.
"Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist!" roared the dragon slayer as he appeared directly before Zirconis's face. The Fairy punched the dragon in the nose, breaking several scales and causing it to bleed.
"Raaah!" bellowed Zirconis, forcefully ripping his limbs out of their bindings. His injury was only superficial, but the amusement was gone from his face. "Alright… now I'm angry!"
"Sky Dragon's Wave Wind!" cried Wendy, throwing a tornado at Atlas Flame. Though her original role in the group was to use her Enchantments (especially Dragon Slayer Seal) to provide support for the others, it had quickly become clear that she was their best option for fighting this dragon.
Kagura and Risley primarily used Gravity Magic-enhanced close combat, which was ill-suited for their fire-clad foe. Araña and Beth's magic produced flammable materials (threads and vegetables), an equally bad matchup. Even Flare's Crimson Hair just got burned up by Atlas Flame's magic.
F-Blaze and Ultear might be able to fight the dragon, but Wendy wasn't sure. The two of them had stayed back when the battle began, and the discovery that she was the only potential combatant kept the Sky Dragon Slayer from asking them why they had done so.
"How disappointing," stated Atlas Flame as Wendy's spell hit the dragon, only disrupting his fiery coating and scratching his scales. "You call yourself a dragon slayer, yet this is all you can do. Hell Flame Dragon's Roar!"
"Ile Armor! Deus Corona!" chanted Wendy, increasing her defense and elemental resistance as the hell flames raced toward her. However, before they could burn the Fairy, F-Blaze appeared before her, sucking up the fire.
"My flames… eaten by a puny human!?" exclaimed Atlas Flame, growing angry. "Who do you think you are!?"
"I'm Blaze Dragneel, a Hell Flame Dragon Slayer!" declared F-Blaze. She activated her Flame Form, an inferno engulfing her body. "My dad is Natsu, a Fire Dragon Slayer! His dad is Igneel, the Fire Dragon King! And my teacher… my teacher was… is an older version of you!"
"Igneel's granddaughter… my student…" Atlas Flame paused at F-Blaze's words, frowning. As unexpected as they were, the dragon could tell that what she had said was not a lie. The fact that hell flames surrounded the girl further supported her claims.
"I see…" Atlas Flame finally spoke. "Although I do not know what circumstances led to Igneel taking a child or me teaching you, it is clear that you are telling the truth."
The dragon bowed to F-Blaze and continued speaking. "I am truly sorry for attacking your comrades."
"No biggie," replied F-Blaze, undoing her Flame Form and grinning. "Although, if you want to make it up to me, I have the perfect idea how, Uncle Atlas."
As F-Blaze explained her idea to him, Atlas Flame gave his own smile, both for the idea and because Igneel's adorable granddaughter called him 'Uncle Atlas.'
"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" exclaimed Laxus, unleashing a stream of electricity onto Zirconis. The dragon tried to retaliate, but Lector flew the dragon slayer away while the others distracted Zirconis by attacking with their magic. Then, Laxus struck with another spell. "Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!"
This hit-and-run tactic — Laxus attacking Zirconis, an Exceed relocating him, and the others distracting the dragon — had developed shortly after Zirconis become more serious. Luckily, the dragon began fixating on Laxus (embarrassed at being harmed by a human) and hadn't bothered targeting the other Fairies or Sorano.
Unfortunately, as the dragon slayer started casting his next spell, they all discovered that Zirconis hadn't completely lost himself to rage.
"Lightning Dragon's—"
*Thwack*
Zirconis's tail slammed into Laxus as he appeared behind the dragon, slapping him into the ground. The others looked on in horror as Zirconis cackled and stomped on the dragon slayer for good measure.
"Hahaha! If you want to catch somebody off guard, you shouldn't keep on attacking them from behind! You become predictable like that!"
"Laxus!" cried the Fairies, distraught.
"Now, should I eat you or just kill you?" asked the dragon tauntingly. He brought his right claw down, preparing to skewer the human. "You might not be a woman, but a dragon slayer is a rare treat. Yeah, I think I wi— Ack! Seriously!? My eyes again!?"
Zirconis cried out as, yet again, he was temporarily blinded. Unlike last time, his eyesight was stolen not by a flash of light, but by giant rose branches made of ice stabbing into his eyes.
"Ice-Made: Rosen Krone!" declare Ultear as she arrived at the battlefield. Beside her was Wendy, who had enchanted Ultear's last spell with the power of a dragon slayer.
"Wendy?" went the Fairies, surprised and confused.
"Ultear?" added Sorano, incredulous. "Did you two defeat your dragon already!?"
"Well, not exactly," replied Wendy sheepishly. "F-Blaze sort of… recruited him to our side. The two of them are off fighting another dragon, while the two of us came here to help you guys out."
"You definitely have some good timing," commented Yukino. "That dragon, Zirconis, was just about to kill Laxus."
"Huh!?" squeaked Wendy, taking a good look at her fallen comrade. She had been so focused on the dragon that she hadn't noticed precisely who he was about to kill. "Do-does that mean I have to beat a dragon that was strong enough to defeat Laxus!?"
"Hahaha!" laughed Zirconis, having recovered from the previous strike in time to hear Wendy panicking. The dragon had been able to avoid any significant damage to his visions, though a small trail of blood leaked out the bottom of his left eyeball and onto his cheek. "A dragon slayer and a girl, albeit a puny one. What a delicacy!"
"Hey! Don't underestimate her!"
Zirconis turned his head, looking at the one who spoke. Laxus.
"Wendy is one of my guildmates… a member of my family," spoke the dragon slayer, struggling to his feet. "So don't you dare look down on her! She will defeat you!"
"Laxus," whispered Wendy, touched by his words. Her momentary nervousness disappeared.
"Take this," Laxus told Wendy, gathering a high concentration of lightning in his hand and throwing it at her. "All my remaining Magic Power. Punish that dragon for attacking us."
Understanding his intentions, Wendy swallowed the bolt of electricity and let Laxus's power flow through her. Sparks began to crackle around the Fairy.
"Lightning Sky Dragon Mode!"
Kagura swung her sheathed blade down on a draconic creature, accelerating the strike with a touch of Gravity Magic. The monster was split in two, the halves collapsed on either side of her.
"Pleiades!" shouted a voice that the Mermaid recognized immediate. Her head snapped in the direction of the speaker, who was raining down several beams of light on some more dragon-like monsters.
"Jellal," mutter Kagura, intense feelings welling up inside of her. Previously, these emotions would have been nothing but anger and sorrow, his face reminding her of Simon's death. Now, what she felt was far more complex.
After Atlas Flame joined their side, the group had discussed what to do next. Well, Mermaid Tail, Wendy, and Ultear discussed what to do next, as F-Blaze rode Atlas Flame to the closest fight. The idea had come up that Mermaid Heel, lacking the power to harm a dragon, join the fight against the draconic monsters.
Then, Ultear (who would go with Wendy to the second-closest battle due to her immense Magic Power and versatile magic) mentioned her comrades and things went to hell. When Kagura grew angry at the mention of Jellal, Ultear revealed a shocking truth to her.
Jellal was brainwashed. He was not in control of his actions when he killed Kagura's older brother, or for any of his other crimes. It was all Ultear's doing.
Kagura had been struggling to process this information since learning it — barely reacting to her guildmates as they entered the struggle against the dragon-like monsters — and seeing Jellal's face definitely didn't help. The flames of hatred, fanned for years, could not simple be extinguished in a few minutes, which also made the Mermaid feel ashamed now that she knew Jellal didn't deserve her animosity.
Adding to her complex emotions was the reluctance to simply redirect all of these negative emotions toward Ultear. Kagura's clash with Erza earlier, mixed with this discovery about Jellal, had shown her how unhealthy her desire for vengeance was.
She could call it justice for those who died. She could say that she didn't mind destroying herself to erase evil from the world. But the truth was that she just wanted to hurt the one who hurt her, at any cost. Even if… even though it meant hurting others in the process, including innocent bystanders who only seemed involved because of how blind Kagura's fixation on revenge had left her.
"Besides, if Simon knew that his little sister was wasting her life on revenge, he would be sad," thought Kagura, cutting apart another monster as it charged at her. "I'm not sure how I feel about Jellal or Ultear, but I do know one thing… Once this fight is over, I'm going to be spending more time with my guildmates, doing things that make me happy. For Simon's sake, and for my own."
Omake
Princess Hisui and Arcadios watched in awe as the members of Fairy Tail and Crime Sorcière fought against the dragon Zirconis.
"…And we trying to kidnap two of them," she muttered self-deprecatingly. Between the guilt the princess felt at manipulating her country's people, the seven dragons that emerged from the Eclipse Gate, and the power Fairy Tail was displaying now, Hisui deeply regretted her decision to carry out the Eclipse Project.
AN: Originally, I was going to end the Zirconis battle this chapter. But then the section ended up going on longer than expected and I didn't want to cut anything, so I decided to end with Wendy getting a power-up courtesy of Laxus. I guess that will happen next chapter instead.
See you then (figuratively speaking, obviously). Bye!