AN: Thank you Goku275 and MDM11. MDM11, I'm still planning to end this fanfic with the current arc. After that, I plan to write three one-shots that I outlined while working on this story; one for DanMachi (Bell/Haruhime), one for Black Clover (Gauche/Grey), and one for Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun (Iruma/Clara).
For now, though, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
"Purgatory Dragon's Blazing Inferno!" yelled God Serena furiously, unleashing a stream of flames from his left hand. "Gale Dragon's Flurrying Moonflowers! Cavern Dragon's Earth Collapse!"
With a swing of his right arm, the Spriggan produced several cyclones with winds that could cut apart steel. Following that, he slammed both hands onto the ground and caused the surrounding land to erupt explosively.
However, Gildarts proceed to shatter all of these spells to pieces with Crush. The flames were extinguished, the tornadoes blown apart, and the violent destruction of the ground halted. This only made the Historia angrier.
"How can you keep splitting my magic!?" screamed the Spriggan. What infuriated God Serena the most was that, even as he increased the speed of his attacks, the Fairy didn't show the slightest concern as he broke apart the spells. "I'm supposed to be Fiore's strongest mage, not you!"
"What a pity," said Gildarts as he closed the distance between the two of them. "I would've liked battle you when you were alive. I could've seen if my training had paid off."
The Fairy pulled back his right arm, imbued it with a large amount of his magic, then punched the Historia with enough force to send him flying away. God Serena didn't stop until he smashed into the base of the hill atop which Fairy Tail's guild hall rested, at which point the Historia's body shattered and dissolved into Ethernano.
Incidentally, the 'training' that Gildarts referred to had begun after the chaos caused by the Eclipse Gate. With the looming threats of Zeref and Acnologia, the latter of whom had previously defeated the Fairy, Gildarts felt the need to get stronger for the first time in years.
Plus, it was clear to him that Natsu was steadily closing the gap in their strength. It just wouldn't do for Gildarts to sit by and let that happen. No, he would make it as difficult as possible for the dragon to surpass him.
For people who loved fighting as much as the two of them did, it was best way that Gildarts could acknowledge and show his respect for Natsu's growth.
"Do you seriously think that limiting my sand is enough to defeat me?" asked Ajeel rhetorically. The Spriggan jumped into the air, gathering his sand for an attack. As he did so, he pressed an arm against the Jutsu Shiki barrier, confirming that it also kept him from exiting. "Raml Sayf!"
Blades of sand rained down upon the Thunder God Tribe. Because of the direction it flew in, none of the sand exited Freed's barrier.
The Fairies gathered together, allowing Bickslow to block the barrage by shifting his puppets into X Formation. Once the attack ended, Bickslow used Baryon Formation to fire an energy beam at the still-midair Ajeel.
"I am one of Emperor Spriggan's shields!" yelled Ajeel. The Spriggan gathered his sand in front of him, using it to block the Fairy's spell. Some of the sand was heated into glass by the beam, but most of it remained. "It would be a disgrace to His Majesty if magic of this level could affect me!"
"How about magic of this level!?" retorted a voice to Ajeel's left. He turned and saw the remaining two Fairies in the air just outside of the barrier.
Evergreen (the speaker) and Freed had gotten there thanks to the latter using his Dark Écriture to teleport them while the Spriggan was distracted by Bickslow's attack. Evergreen pulled off her glasses as she spoke, preparing to take out Ajeel with her Stone Eyes.
However, recognizing that she was about to use Eye Magic on him, the Spriggan used some of his sand to blind the Fairy. Ajeel hadn't gathered any sand in the air outside of the barrier for his Raml Sayf (as he wouldn't have been able to hit the Fairies, who were inside the barrier at that time), so he was forced to sacrifice some more to do this.
The three mages landed. Before the Spriggan could attack them with sand already outside of the barrier, Evergreen and Freed moved back inside, the former turning around as she did so that the Jutsu Shiki would remove the sand in her eyes.
"It seems that our first strategy has failed," thought Freed. "It was a bit of a long shot, though, to hope that one of the Spriggan 12 would be defeated so easily. However…"
"You are quite loyal to Zeref, aren't you," continued the Fairy out loud. "The three of us can sympathize, what with how we feel toward Laxus. But, that blind loyalty of yours will just bring about suffering and regret, exactly as it did for us."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" rejected Ajeel, scowling as Freed's word caused his doubts to come flooding back. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Ant Lion Pit!"
The ground beneath the Fairies transformed into a pit of quicksand, immediately swallowing them whole.
While using one hand to cover his eyes, Jacob threw several invisible knives at Cana. The Fairy, prepared for the Spriggan's magic, responded by throwing the Prayer's Fountain card on the ground the moment she saw him reach for a weapon.
Streams of water erupted from the Magic Card, filling the air with water droplets. As a result, the outline of Jacob's throwing knives became visible and Cana was able to dodge them.
"Minerva already told me about your tricks," boasted Cana as she pulled out her next card. "Now, have a taste of this!"
When the Fairy threw her Magic Card, it glowed and split into four cards of the same size. These cards continued on course toward the Spriggan, then transformed in a puff of smoke once they got close. The four cards became an equal number of sexy, bikini-clad women who hugged Jacob.
"How shamelessly lewd!" cried the Spriggan, blushing and squirming in the embrace of the Sexy Lady Card. As he struggled, too embarrassed to use his full strength, Cana prepared her next spell.
"Thunderbolt's Fate!" shouted the Fairy, using a combination of the Lightning, Lovers, and Reverse Tower cards to electrocute Jacob.
"Aaaah!" screamed the Spriggan, dropping to his knees. Between his building rage and the dissipation of the Sexy Lady Card's effect when the lightning struck, he was able to look up and glare at Cana without getting flustered.
"I am getting sick of your guild!" yelled Jacob. "The debauchery your members show… killing August and Bloodman… I'll eradicate all of Fairy Tail, starting with you!"
Ajeel glared at the ground where the Fairies were buried. Even with them silenced, the tumultuous emotions remained in the Spriggan's head.
"My words truly must have struck a nerve."
Ajeel turned toward the voice, giving a look of disbelief. Before him was the full Thunder God Tribe, alive and unburied.
"Otherwise," continued Freed. "You would not have forgotten so quickly that I could teleport us with my Dark Écriture. I suppose that, like we did, you have begun to doubt the rightness of the one you are loyal to."
"You're wrong!" rejected Ajeel vehemently. He threw a storm of sand blades at the Fairies, which they dodged. "His Majesty is the only one who can stop Acnologia!"
"We thought the same about Laxus leading Fairy Tail," stated Evergreen. Sprouting wings with her magic, she took to the sky and rained down blasts of explosive dust on Ajeel. "We thought that our guild was weak and that only he could restore Fairy Tail's former glory. But we were wrong."
"Die!"
The Spriggan threw more of his sand swords at Evergreen, who flawlessly maneuvered her way through the assault. He didn't spare any thought for defense, simply tanking the exploding powder as he concentrated on shutting up the Fairy by killing her.
"All we did was hurt everyone," said Bickslow. The usually enthusiastic mage spoke in a somber tone. "Our friends… ourselves… even the person we thought we were helping. If we really wanted to show our loyalty to Laxus, we should've told him how wrong he was and brought him back onto the right path by kicking his ass ourselves!"
"Shut up!"
Ajeel furiously launched a fist of sand at Bickslow, which the Fairy dodged casually. He, Freed, and Evergreen (who landed and retracted her wings) walked toward the Spriggan.
"Die!" yelled Ajeel, not bothering to wonder why they had stopped moving around. The reason why became clear a second later, though, when the Spriggan discovered that there was no sand left in the Jutsu Shiki barrier. He had wasted it all in his berserk rage.
Filled with a sense of defeat, Ajeel dropped to his knees and began to cry.
"Emperor Spriggan… under him, we've always won without a single loss. We've always been the strongest. But now, so many of us have lost. August is dead! August! *Sob* And His Majesty doesn't even care! Is he just going to discard all of us for what he wants!? Will my squad survive this war!? My grandfather!? Following Zeref's plan, how many of us our going to die!?"
Even as Freed dropped his Jutsu Shiki, Ajeel kept on sobbing. His will to fight against Fiore was gone.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Cana threw Explosion Cards at Jacob, only for the Spriggan to take them out mid-flight with his gun. He then proceeded to shoot at the Fairy herself, nicking her right arm and causing her to drop several Magic Cards.
"Summoned Lightning!" exclaimed Cana, holding up the Heaven, Reverse Death, and Mountain cards with her left hand. A dozen bolts of green lightning shot at Jacob.
Realizing that he wouldn't be able to shoot down all of the bolts, Jacob dodged the attack. At the same time, the Spriggan turned himself invisible to sneak up on his foe. Pulling out a knife, he slowly approached the Fairy.
Jacob watched as Cana looked back and forth around herself for any signs of him, muttering as she held several Magic Cards in her left hand. He made sure to only move when she was not looking his way. Despite his rage, the Spriggan remained patient.
Jacob approached the Fairy from the direction of the cards she had dropped when he shot her. Cana would be least likely to expect him to come from that direction because of the danger of him stepping on a Magic Card and setting it off.
"But such a risk is nonexistent for an assassin of my caliber!" asserted the Spriggan mentally. Fittingly, it was at that moment, that several of the fallen Magic Card began to glow in a circle around him.
Unfortunately for Jacob, Cana had expected him to try a sneak attack. So, when she activated her Summoned Lightning earlier, the Fairy also primed the Heaven, Reverse Death, and Mountain cards among those she dropped for a trap-oriented version of the spell that activated once it detected Magic Power within the circle of cards.
As green lightning electrocuted the Spriggan, causing him to drop his invisibility, Cana whirled toward and held out her right arm.
"…to perish the fangs of evil!" finished Cana, finishing the chant that she had started after her opponent had vanished. Jacob had fallen for her trap hook, line, and sinker. "Fairy Glitter!"
The power of one of Fairy Tail's three great magics rained down on the Spriggan unmitigated. Once the spell ended, he simply collapsed, his body blackened and smoking.
"But… my revenge…" murmured Jacob, barely clinging to consciousness.
"Get over yourself," Cana told him bluntly. "This is a war, one that your empire started. You don't have the right to complain when people start to die. Just be happy that we aren't the type to kill, otherwise you and a lot more of your comrades would be dead."
"…"
The Spriggan couldn't retort her words. Not when the Fairy was right about his hypocrisy. All Jacob could do was feel shame and regret as everything faded to black.
Omake
"Run for your lives!"
"He's a monster!"
"Aaaaaaah!"
Alvarez soldiers let out screams like these as they got knocked around by Gildarts. The soldiers were fine giving up their lives if it meant wearing down the enemy, but it was clear to all of them that fighting Gildarts just be throwing their lives away. The gap between them was simply too large.
"Cana! Where are you!? Your dad beat God Serena! Impressive, huh!?"
The worst part for the Alvarez soldiers was that their enemy wasn't even focused on them and they were still useless against him.
AN: Three more Spriggan down… Wall, Bloodman, Neinhart, Invel, Brandish, DiMaria, Irene… Seven to go!
I can't really think of anything else to say, so that's all for now. Bye!