"This is his ship…?!" Cynthia asked as she stared up at the grounded Grimoire Heart Ship.
"It doesn't look like it's changed at all…" Lucy said quietly.
"Is he on board, Natsu?" Gray asked as he turned to Natsu, he sniffed the air. After a few seconds, Natsu gave an affirmative nod.
"Yeah, the bastard's up there alright," Natsu pounded his fist into his palm as a wildfire appeared around his body. "I hope he's ready for another lesson!"
"Nothing's going to keep me out of the fun this time around…Gieheh…" Gajeel couldn't help but grin as he thought about the fight.
Seeing her fellow team getting excited for the fight, Juvia gave a nod. "Juvia is ready."
"I'm ready too!" Wendy shouted.
"Then let's go!" Natsu grinned, and then he, along with the others, jumped high into the air, and onto the ship, wasting no time in running inside, where Hades was waiting.
"So…you've returned…" Hades said as he crossed his arms, eying the group of seven in front of him.
"You haven't learned!" Natsu said as he wasted no time with the small talk. Instead, the salamander jumped high into the air, forming two spheres of fire in his hands, which he brought over his head, forming a large sphere of fire. "Dazzling Blaze of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu hurled the sphere forward towards Hades.
"I've learned from my mistakes…" Hades replied as he quickly jumped to the side, avoiding the Blaze as it struck the floor, creating an explosion.
As soon as Hades dodged, Cynthia leapt into the air, clicking her legs together as she spun around, red fire surrounding them in the shape of a drill as she rushed towards Hades. "Omega Fire Dragon's Drill!"
"What?" Hades turned, only to see Cynthia coming towards him, however he wasn't left with any time to dodge, so he took the hit full own, sliding back across the ground from the force.
Wendy quickly puffed her cheeks out, and snapped her head forward after about a second, a light blue magic seal appearing in front of her as she unleashed a sky blue hurricane towards Hades. "Sky Dragon's Roar!"
Lucy quickly pulled one of her keys out, holding it forward as the tip of the key gave off a bright gold light. "Gate of the Golden Bull, I open thee! Taurus!" With a confident moo, Taurus rose from the ground. "Merge your attack with Wendy's!"
"Anything for you and your nice body, Lucy-sama!" With a nod, Taurus jumped forward, swinging his axe around Wendy's roar, much like with Scorpio's Sand Buster technique. Taurus then swung his axe down at Hades.
"Unison Raid…?" Hades looked towards the axe, seeing little time to dodge such a thing, but he jumped to the side, avoiding the brunt of the attack, but he was still hit nonetheless, rolling to the side.
"Iron Dragon's Hard fist!" Gajeel jumped forward, his arm covering in his iron scales as he pulled it back then threw it forward at Hades. But, Hades jumped back, allowing Gajeel's fist to hit the floor, breaking it apart easily. "Where do you think you're going!?" Gajeel held his other arm out, morphing it into an iron pole, which he then slammed into Hades' side, forcing Hades to move to the side, leaving him open to yet another attack.
"Ice Magic Sword! Ice Bringer!" Gray jumped forward with two large heavy artillery swords with both of his hands, then slashed Hades across the chest with both large blades. Gray fell to his knees after, smirking from the direct him.
"Water Cane!" Juvia used her water body to her advantage, extending her arm forward as it turned into a whip of water, which she used to slam Hades back into the ground, creating a dust cloud.
"HAH!" Cynthia grinned cheekily at the rate of successful attacks. "That wasn't so hard!"
Juvia eyed the dust cloud carefully, unsure if Hades was finished from those attacks. "…For some reason Juvia thinks it wasn't that easy…"
When the smoke cleared, Hades was seen standing; without a single new mark on his body. They completely failed to add to whatever damage Hades sustained before. This shocked Cynthia, Juvia, and Gajeel, but Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, and Gray knew how powerful Hades was. The only thing they found surprising about it was that they have been training since the seven year freeze in their power was established, yet even with all of that, Hades was unharmed. "That should be enough warm up exercises, yes?" Hades asked as if he hadn't even been attacked at all.
"We're just getting started!" Natsu shouted as his body flared up intensely once more, and he lunged forward head first. "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
"I can see nothing has changed within seven years," Hades said as he shifted his body to the left, allowing Natsu to pass him. But, Hades created the chains, wrapping them around Natsu's feet, then swung Natsu around towards the group of six, forcing them to jump back before Natsu was rudely slammed into the ship's floor, creating a small crater. "In other words, you haven't learned a thing."
"Taurus!" Lucy shouted.
"Of course! MOOO!" Taurus brought his axe up, and swung it down towards Hades, but Hades merely pointed a finger out, and fired a piercing bullet into Taurus' chest, defeating the bull spirit instantly, causing him to turn into golden fuzz as he returned to the Spirit World.
"Oh no…!" Lucy started to pull out another key, but before she could summon the spirit, Hades wrapped his chains around her and started to swing her around, causing a yelp to escape Lucy's lips.
"Iron Dragon's Sword!" Gajeel jumped up, bringing is spinning saw blade of a sword down on the chain, severing it, freeing Lucy in the process. But his action did not go unpunished, as Hades used his free hand to create yet another chain, swinging Gajeel into the freed Lucy, thus creating a crater in the wall.
"Omega Fire Dragon's Talons!" Cynthia jumped up, her foot blazing with red fire, aiming it towards Hades' head, but Hades brought up his forearm, blocking the hit with relative ease, causing Cynthia to jump back.
"Sky Dragon's Claw!" Wendy jumped forward just as Cynthia jumped back, leaving Hades with no time to avoid the incoming punch to his chest, causing him to slid back just a little bit, but he counter the punch by swinging his leg at Wendy's side; the force sending her flying away.
"Radiant Blaze…!" Cynthia jumped into the air, merging to spheres of red fire in her hands, creating a larger sphere within seconds, to which she hurled forward. "Of the Omega Fire Dragon!"
"Hm…" Hades held his hand out, creating a purple magic barrier which absorbed Cynthia's blaze, converting it into darkness magic, and immediately sent it back at Cynthia; the resulting explosion shaking the ship slightly as Cynthia hit the wall in the back.
Gray quickly placed his fist into his palm, and then threw his arms forward as a blue magic seal appeared in front of him. "Ice Make: Hammer!" From the magic circle, a large ice hammer shot out at a violent velocity, speeding towards Hades. Hades had no time to react to the blow, so the hammer struck him in the stomach, forcing him back a few feet, but he caught himself, finding that this game was getting a little boring for him now.
"Your skill has improved, I will admit…" Hades said as he pointed his hands forward, now using his bullet magic as he began spraying piercing bullets everywhere. "But you should already know that I dance with magic!" Hades began laughing sadistically as his bullets began to strike his opponents.
Juvia stared at the bullets incoming, a tiny smirk forming on her lips. "Juvia's body is made of water! Those bullets won't…!" Before Juvia could finish, a bullet struck through her watery shoulder, causing a yelp of pain to escape the water mage's lips. But, before anyone else could head to Juvia's aid, the spray of bullets got to them sending them rolling across the ground just from the force of it.
Gajeel allowed his iron scales to cover his body, but he quickly found that Hades' bullets had no problem cutting through his defenses, also damaging him in the process. "D-Dammit!"
"These stupid bullets…!" Cynthia's body flared in darkened red flames as she grew annoyed with the constant bullet fire. She then puffed her cheeks out as a darkened vortex of red fire surrounded her mouth. "ROAR…" Upon seeing this, Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy followed suit, fighting through the pain of the bullets striking their body as they began to puff their cheeks out. "Of the Omega Fire Dragon!"
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
"Sky Dragon's Roar!"
The four roars merged in the middle, creating a funnel of fire, iron, and wind, which slammed into Hades, running through the backside of the ship, spiraling out for a few seconds before dying down. When the smoke from the attack cleared, the ship had a large hole in its back, but Hades stood up, damaged from the attack, but nothing near as much as the group was expecting. "Is that all you have right now?" Hades asked.
"W-What the hell is this guy!?" Gajeel asked with widened eyes.
"He took that like it was just a slap on the wrist…!" Cynthia gasped. Hades pointed his finger out, gathering a large amount of magic energy as a single, yet large bullet formed on the tip of his finger. Without delay, Hades fired off the Explosive Shot towards the four dragon slayers.
"Watch out!" Gray jumped forward, spreading his arms out as he created a large rampart of ice in front of them. "Ice Make: Rampart!" The rampart was a strong form of defensive, but to Hades' bullet it was nothing more than mere practice. The bullet broke through the ice and struck Gray directly, sending him in the wall, and hit the ground in KO.
"G-GRAY-SAMA!" Juvia's eyes widened at Gray's defense, which caused something in her to start boiling. Juvia stood up slowly, ignoring the pain in her arm as her latent power began to show from Gray's defeat. "Water Slicer!" With her rage increasing, Juvia sent sharp blades of water in Hades' direction. Hades didn't respond verbally; instead he kept his hand pointed, firing a single shot. This one shot pierced through Juvia's attack, and struck her in the chest, causing her eyes to widen as she collapsed to the ground, also in KO.
"J-Juvia!" Cynthia's jaw dropped, and then she turned to Hades. "H-How strong is this guy…!?"
"Too powerful…" Gajeel said to himself.
"I believe the time for playing around is over…" Hades said as he pointed both of his index fingers at the group, merging two explosive bullets together to create and even larger bullet.
"T-There's no room to dodge that…!" Lucy shrieked.
"Goodbye, Fairy Tail," Hades said as he fired off the shot. Before the shot reached the group of five, a gray magic circle appeared, creating a large mirror in front of them. "WHAT!?" The bullet bounced off the mirror, then flew back at Hades, landing a direct hit, sending Hades flying back, but he managed to catch himself. "Who dares…!?"
"Having a bad day, amigos?" Luke asked as he and Heather jumped down from the ceiling of the ship.
"Luke!" Lucy shouted in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" Natsu asked.
"This guy thought it was okay to mess up White Eclipse; and since Heather and I weren't there when he did, it's only right we return the favor!" Luke replied.
"I see you've lost some people already…" Heather said in reference to Gray and Juvia.
"Welp, let's make this quick, eh?" Luke asked with a smirk.
"White Eclipse mages?" Hades raised a brow. "I thought I defeated all of them…no matter…"
Luke allowed fire and lightning to cover his body, bringing a shock to Hades as it reminded him of what Natsu had. "Let's dance, old man!" Luke reared his fist back as he charged Hades. "Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!"
"Copy mage?" Hades said in almost surprise. But when Luke swung, Hades swayed to the left, avoiding the punch, and landed a punch of his own at Luke's jaw, sending the copy mage flying back.
While Luke provided the distraction, Natsu entered lightning flame, Gajeel entered Iron Shadow, and Wendy entered Omega Flame sky, now seeing that they had the chance to do so. "Heh, nice distraction," Gajeel shouted over to Luke.
"Yeah…sure…" Luke groaned slightly.
"Poison Dragon's Scales," Heather held her hand out as a magenta magic circle appeared, releasing high speed volley of poisonous scales towards Hades.
"A poison dragon?" Hades held his hand out, allowing the scales to enter the purple barrier, thus transforming the poisonous attack into darkness magic. Hades fired the sphere of darkness magic back at Heather. Though Heather had enough time to allow poisonous defensive scales to cover her body, lowering the damage of the sphere, but the sphere still hit heavily, so it sent Heather rolling across the ground.
"Gate of the Lion, I open Thee! Loke!" Lucy held out yet another key, this time releasing her most trusted spirit, and member of Fairy Tail; Loke.
"Nice to see you again, Lucy," Loke said with a smirk. "So, this is the one who attacked Fairy Tail?"
"That's right!" Lucy replied with a nod.
"I see…" Loke rubbed his wrists for a few seconds before his fist began to shine, activating his Regulas. He then dashed towards Hades, throwing fist forward, but Hades caught it with ease.
Wendy jumped into the air, raising her arms high, and then swung them down, unleashing red fire and blue wind down towards Hades. "Omega Flame Sky Dragon's Wing Slash!"
"What…!?" Hades released Loke's fist, and the spirit jumped back, allowing Hades to take the wing slash, feeling damage behind that. Before Hades could do anything else, Gajeel slammed an iron pole merged with shadows into Hades' back, sending Hades tumbling forward. When Hades looked up, he noticed both Cynthia and Natsu coming down with their fist pulled back. He had no time to react as the two slammed their fists into him, resulting in an explosion that blew everyone back.
"Did we get him!?" Cynthia asked as she looked through the smoke.
"How's that for stronger, you bastard!" Natsu said with a grin. But, Natsu's grin faded as the smoke cleared. Hades was STILL standing, though it was clear he suffered damage from the assault. "W-What!?"
"How durable is this old twig!?" Gajeel shouted.
"There's no way anyone should be able to stand up to that…" Luke growled.
"Copy mage…" Hades sent his sights on Luke as he thought to himself. "It would be troublesome if he happened to get ahold of my spells…" Hades made direct eye contact with Luke, and that's what sealed the fate of the Copy mage. "KYAH!" Hades let out a loud shouted, and Luke's eyes widened. The next thing everyone knew, Luke exploded, and his body flew back, near lifeless on the ground.
"L-LUKE!" Heather immediately ran over to the fatally injured copy mage, crouching down after.
"W-What just…!?" Gajeel looked on in shock.
"D-Dammit…" Luke groaned loudly. "I-I can't move…"
"Don't speak…" Heather demanded.
"Is that what Holorugium-san protected me from last time…?" Wendy asked.
"That's insane…" Cynthia said quietly. Wendy then rushed over to Luke, placing her palms over his body as a sea-green light emitted, and she began to heal the copy mage. She wasn't going to bring him to normal status, but just enough to where he wouldn't be in critical condition.
"Do not bring that mage back into his battle…" Hades ordered, pointing his finger out as he fired a piercing shot, right through Wendy's chest, putting healer in near critical condition herself.
"W-Wendy!" Natsu and Lucy shouted.
Cynthia's eyes just widened as Wendy was attacked. Of course, the bullet was too fast for her to react to, but seeing Wendy go down like that made something in Cynthia's head snap. It was as if her rock just shattered. "W-Wendy…" Dark red flames then started to surround Cynthia's body, starting to flare wildly.
"C-Cynthia…!" Lucy said in shock. She, along with the others knew what was happening, but they didn't have any way to stop it. With a loud scream, dark red flames towered up, easily destroying the ceiling and towered into the sky. In her rage, Cynthia ended up tapping into the power of Dragon Force once again.
"Oh…" Hades said in a slightly impressed tone. "So this is the legendary Omega Fire Dragon…" Hades then shook his head disapprovingly. "Adding a weapon of mass destruction to the guild…that is not the Fairy Tail I know…" Cynthia's eyes turned a blazing red as the flames died down, now flaring wildly, uncontrollably around her body. She then turned towards her own group, taking a few steps forward.
"Shit, this isn't the time for her to go crazy…" Gajeel said with a low growl.
"You can't be…serious…" Luke said quietly as he looked over to Wendy, who was basically unconscious.
"A mistake is eventually named experience…but this is one mistake where there is no experience to be gained. I never imagined a member of Fairy Tail would turn in the midst of battle and take out their own comrades," Hades sighed. He was amused, yet disappointed at the same time.
A few moment of silence passed before the tension in the air seemed to lift, and Cynthia opened her mouth to speak. "What are you looking at me like that for…?"
"W-What!?" Natsu was in surprise at first, but then he smirked, realizing what was going on. Cynthia closed her eyes, and reopened them slowly, showing her normal, sky blue eyes, and the flames seemed to flare a bit differently now. They were still as intense as mentioned before, but this time they were tame.
"S-She's in control…!" Lucy said with a large grin.
Cynthia looked over towards Wendy, a frown appearing on her face. She then turned around, facing Hades, who was slightly intrigued now. Cynthia slowly made her way over to Hades, every step taken leaving a miniature crater underneath her feet. "You said a true mistake leaves one with no experience…?" Cynthia asked in a low, threatening tone. "You're right about that…you're first mistake was attacking Fairy Tail…but you just don't learn, do you…" When Cynthia got close, she pulled her fist back, and then threw it at Hades, the force sending him flying back, almost unable to catch himself, but he managed to do so with a look of shock on his face.