This chapter shouldn't have taken this long to get out, but between a vacation to see family and my attention being elsewhere it just kinda ended up this way. Not to mention I've been having issues just logging in over the last few days. Apologies for the wait!

Enjoy!

Winter stared down in shock at the dissolving body of Archos, golden blood dripping from her cheek where she'd been splashed. Her eyes drifted over to Thanatos, who was laying on his back laughing.

"I did it," he wheezed, "I killed that son of a bitch." Winter's eyes hardened as she watched him, hands tightening into fists.

"What you did is ruin everything!" She shouted. Using her returned strength, she lunged at Thanatos and punched him in the face. Her hit was punctuated by the Circle around them rumbling. "Why are you doing this?! You'll kill billions!"

"I'm returning the world to it's rightful order!" Thanatos replied, staring up at her manically. She couldn't tell if his expression was because he was fanatic, or because Archos had broken his mind. "Soon the wrongs will have been corrected!" Winter hated the look in his eyes. It was like he knew better, like he was looking down on her.

"Don't speak down to me!" She shouted, grabbing him by his shirt and lifting him up. "I may have failed to protect Archos, but I'll return the favour by killing you!" Thanatos just laughed at her. Winter was too lost in her fury to notice his hand fly into the neck of his shirt and pull out a medallion, which he gripped tightly. Just as he did so, his body dissolved into nothing, and Winter was left with nothing to punch to relieve her anger. This was just perfect. Now what could she do?

Looking around, Winter watched as the existence of the Fifth Circle began to wither away. She still needed a way out of here, and currently she didn't have it. Just before she started to panic, a portal appeared before her, glowing white. She raised an eyebrow at it suspiciously, but when the Circle started to fade she realised she didn't have an option.

Taking a deep breath to steady her shaking hands, she leapt through the portal.

"That's another one!"

Damien's eyes widened when he heard Hades' voice reverberate around him. "Three have fallen! Three to go!"

"Xisplate who was it?!" Damien asked, flying around a blast from Hades sceptre.

"...Archos," the demon replied. Damien sighed a selfish sigh of relief that it wasn't a friend of his that died. "We're halfway to Zomrus waking up. And then...Then I fear it will be too late."

"You don't get to give up on me yet, you bastard!" Damien shouted as he shot towards Hades, raising a clawed hand to take his head off. Hades obviously blocked it with the staff, a blast of magic flying out of it at him. He whirled around the blast and managed to kick the man in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. "Not until we're sure it's too late!"

"...Yes, you're correct. I apologise. If it helps you at all to relax, both Meridia and Mortavius have changed sides. Meridia has allowed her power to be sealed, and Mortavius sided with your friends." It did help him relax to know that both Bella and Gin were, at least temporarily, safe.

"Who else?" Damien asked. He kicked up into the sky of the Circle and aimed his hands at Hades, blasting one o his biggest attacks at him he could. "Who else do you think will switch sides for survival?"

"Quinxotic I know will," Xisplate replied. "She cares too much about her takeover wizard to risk dying. As it stands now, her Circle is just Gray Fullbuster beating the shit out of Nemesis. Zoka is too good-natured to kill Orga, so he will switch if things get bad. No one else will unless the situation turns dire." Damien clicked his teeth in annoyance at this. Counting Xisplate himself, that was only five Demon Lords not looking to die. With three already dead, was it not dire enough?

"And no word from the big man upstairs?" He asked as he dodged a gigantic bone hand that erupted from the darkness, trying to grab him. "Nothing at all?"

"Anhkseram has not spoken for many centuries," Xisplate replied, a hint of sadness in his voice. "He does not intervene unless things are going badly, either. I suspect he will remain out of this unless all of us perish. Then he will have no choice but to face his brother."

"...What happens if he has to do that?"

"The dimensions themselves will be torn to shreds. You needn't worry Damien. If that ever comes to pass, you and I will have been destroyed."

"I can't believe this!"

Erza stopped and jumped back as the entire Circle shuddered around her, the web of wires shaking and singing a melancholy tune.

"How?!" Akirelys voice demanded, "how have three of my siblings fallen?! How did we let it get to this?!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" Jellal asked, still being controlled opposite her.

"It means my siblings succeeded three times," Hypnos said. Erza cast an irritated glance over at the Child of Nyx, who had been following her and trying to goad her into assisting him. "We've killed three Demon Lords." Erza had hoped that wasn't the case, because that was worse case scenario. On the plus side, it made her decision much easier.

"Probably shouldn't have mentioned that," She said, raising her blade. "Because you helped me make up my mind!" With this she flung herself towards Hypnos, but the man fled through the web of wires with a laugh.

"Sorry, but direct combat isn't really my thing," he said. "I hope you excuse me while I search for the Core of this Circle." Erza growled at this, but not before Akirelys let out an exhale.

"I can't believe it's come to this," he moaned. "Jellal, have your body back." Erza turned ad saw her husband's body buck a little, as though the strings holding him had been snipped. "Go and stop that little punk. None of us want me dead."

"Are we on his side now?" Jellal asked, rubbing his wrists as though the wires had chaffed him.

"Do we have a choice?" Erza asked as she twirled her blade. "If he kills Akirelys, it's horrible news." Nodding at each other, Erza took off after Jellal using Meteor, both of them flying through the wires after Hypnos. The Child laughed again, this time making the wires shake.

"Sorry, but this marital spat hasn't ended." Before either of them could reply, a massive glowing pair of red eyes burst from the wires ahead of them, glaring down at them angrily.

"Jellal don't look!" She shouted, averting her eyes. It was too late, though. She could feel the magic burning in her one real eye, taking root in her mind.

"Sleep Magic: Sleep Walker." Hypnos' voice echoed around them. All at once, Erza's body felt like lead. She could feel her consciousness receding into the back of her mind, sleep beginning to take hold. Her grip on her sword began to slip, and she almost lost her balance on the wire she'd been balancing on.

However, as it had countless times before, Erza's artificial eye saved her. Magic that activated through the eyes had never worked fully on her, not for as long as she could remember. Using what little resistance it gave her, Erza requipped into a dagger and drove it into her forearm. The pain ignited her nerves and her brain lit up, chasing off the sleep trying to claim her. It only lasted for a moment, but that was all it needed. The dagger in question was made from the same material as her Nakagami Armor set, which was infused with Magic Canceller to dispel an opponents magic.. As soon as the blade pierced her skin, the stone's effect raced through her veins, purifying her the longer she kept it there. Doing this drained her own magic considerably, but she needed to stay awake. She couldn't succumb to Hypnos' spell, not if they wanted to win. Once the spell had been expunged from her system, Erza removed the dagger and exhaled loudly, trying to steady her shaking hands. It wasn't easy, stabbing yourself. The resulting adrenaline was making her entire body thrum with excess energy.

"Jellal?" She asked shakily, rubbing her hands. "Did you avoid the spell?" He did not reply, so Erza turned to look over her shoulder.

He had not avoided it.

Jellal had been right behind her, and had no immunity to such spells. As such, he'd been too slow to close his eyes or turn and had been caught. Now he stood as still as a statue behind her, swaying slightly as he breathed. Erza barely even breathed as she watched him, ready at a moment notice to defend herself if she had too.

"Jellal," Hypnos' voice came from somewhere in the distance, "Defeat her." Erza once again counted her lucky stars that she had spared so much with Jellal, as he instincts forced her arms up to block a kick he aimed at her chest. Erza pushed him off and jumped backwards, requipping into her Flight Armor. The cheetah print armor was the only way she could match Meteor's speed.

"Jellal, are you in there?" She asked warily as he circled her, blinking all over the place. "I apologize in advance, handsome, I might have to knock a few of your teeth out." He offered her no response, so she assumed he was fast asleep. As he circled her, she weighed her options. There was absolutely no way she could outrun him. She knew Jellal's Heavenly Body Magic let him move faster than she could ever hope to, even with her Flight Armor. As if that wasn't bad enough, his magic also had insane destructive power. She had no room for going easy or making errors, or her husband might end up killing her.

"Suppose you aren't gonna try and help me, Akirelys?" She asked aloud, getting no response. Sighing in irritation, Erza raised her rapier and honed her hearing. She needed to move quickly, lest Hypnos somehow manage to kill the Demon Lord. How he'd do that, she didn't know. But she couldn't risk it. But how could she out-speed Jellal? Unless...

Taking in one more deep breath, she sprung into action.

On Jellal's next pass, Erza flew into his path and raised her rapier. His head jerked in her direction, eyes still closed. Erza unleashed the full speed of the Flight Armor, stabbing dozens and dozens of times with her rapier in a matter of seconds. Jellal didn't have to worry, obviously, as Meteor was faster. He dodged her strikes and blinked backwards. Giving him no time to breath, Erza requipped into her Lightning Empress Staff and aimed it at him, unleashing a bolt. He swatted it aside, but when he did it confirmed Erza's hypothesis.

He was slow.

Jellal was asleep, and as such his reaction time and power had been dampened. He was still more than fast enough to cause trouble for her, but not so much that she wouldn't be able to defeat him. Her stabs from earlier had left scraps on his hands where he'd been forced to block, and he'd nearly been struck by her blast. She could win this.

"Sorry again, Jellal," she said as her form began to glow. "But I really don't have the time to spend here with you." Requipping again, this time Erza used her Heaven's Wheel Armor. Once she had, she opened the floodgates to her inventory and summoned hundreds of bladed weapons, all of them aiming their blades at Jellal all at once. He did not respond to her show of strength, obviously, but she could tell he had tensed somewhat. He must have sensed what she was doing.

Wasting no more time, Erza aimed her hand at Jellal. The weapons responded to her will and flew after him, all blades aimed squarely at him. Or at least, that was the idea she wanted to plant in Jellal's head. She was obviously not trying to maim her own husband, but he didn't have the mental capacity currently to tell that she wasn't trying too. If she could throw enough weapons at him to throw him off balance, she could strike him with her dagger and free him from Hypnos' control.

Jellal blinked in and out of sight, the weapons chasing him in and out of the web of wires as he flew. Erza kept her senses honed in on him, not letting him escape for even a second. The wires made it even harder for Jellal to dodge her, and there was more than a few times he nearly impaled himself dodging a wire. But she was working him into a corner without him realising. She had another wave of weapons coming from behind him, and another on his opposite side. He would be cornered in only a moment.

Jellal burst out of the darkness near her, all the weapons giving chase. Erza requipped into her Purgatory Mace, ready to whack him over the head to incapacitate him.

She didn't get the chance.

Jellal raised his hands above his head, and magic began to gather there. At first she thought nothing of it, but her eyes widened as all of her weapons started to gravitate towards it. The magic transformed into a black orb, and her stomach dropped.

Altairis.

It was the spell that Jellal had killed Simon with, all those years ago. It was a spell that generated a massive gravitational force, one so strong it pulled it even light and shadows. Her weapons didn't stand a chance, all of them circling the spell helplessly.

Jellal then turned, and hurled it at her.

Erza barely had time to requip into her Adamantine Armor before the spell and weapons crashed into her, the clanging of metal on metal combined with the crushing force of the spell overwhelming her senses. She remained unscathed thanks to the sheer defense the armor provided, but she was knocked off guard by seeing Jellal use that spell again. He used this opening to his advantage, getting close as she lowered her shield and delivering a devastating punch to her face.

Erza flew back and bounced off of countless wires, eventually managing to catch and right herself. She had to time to relax though, as beams of light crashed through the canopy of wires above and raced right towards her. She just barely managed to avoid them by requipping into her Flight Armor again, but it had been close. She needed a strategy to get close and negate this spell. But how?

She had no time for this, she needed to stop Hypnos then seal Akirelys!

Steeling herself, Erza opened her inventory again. She hadn't had need of this armor in many years, but now was as good a time as any. Her armor morphed and transformed, the cheetah print clothes transforming into a blue gown. Her hair was split into twintails, held up by diamond shaped pins. Underneath the gown was a skin-tight black bodysuit emblazoned with golden runes, which glowed as her magic came into contact with them. A golden staff spawned in her hand as well, which she gripped tightly. In her other, she gripped the hilt of the Nakagami Dagger.

Her Celestial Armor.

She had crafted this armor set many years ago. It was one imbued with both Jellal and Simon's Heavenly Body Magic, giving her access to it. This was the only way she was going to be able to keep up with Jellal. Use his own spell against him, and better, while he slept. She needed to end this, and quickly.

Looking up, Erza gathered the new magic around herself and used Meteor, shooting up through the wires back towards Jellal. He looked caught off guard by her speed, nearly taking a hit from the staff. She didn't let up on her assault, using Meteor's speed to swing her weapons at unforeseeable speeds. Jellal seemed to know he needed to avoid the dagger more, as he took a few hits from the staff just so he could jump away from the blade in her other hand. Growling, Erza tried to reach out and grab his arm, but he kicked her away and blasted her with light. The pain from the blast was dulled thanks to her armor, but it still sent her careening downward.

Erza righted again and looked up, trying to find Jellal. She didn't have to look very hard, as a bright light behind him illuminated him. She was thankful for it, until the light got brighter and brighter.

"There's no way this prick is casting Sema," she grumbled under her breath.

As if to answer her, the Circle began to rumble with power. The sky, if it even existed here, opened up to reveal a massive meteor descending downwards. Erza watched it quietly for a moment, sighing as she returned her staff to her inventory.

"Why is it always me, breaking meteors?" she asked no one in particular.

In her hand she held the De-Malevo-Lance, the one she had used so many years ago on Galuna island to shatter the Moon Drip barrier around the island. She hadn't had many uses for it since, but occasionally she did. Like now.

"If I had a hundred Jewel for every time someone important to me hurled a Meteor at my face," she hissed as she aimed the weapon upwards. "I'd have TOO MUCH JEWEL!"

Powering the weapon's thrusters with Heavenly Body Magic, Erza released the lance. The blade flew upwards, rocketing right towards the meteor as fast as it could. The lance buried itself directly into Sema's surface, boring a hole into it like a knife cut through butter. Erza watched for a few seconds, waiting.

It didn't take long for Sema to explode outwards, the magic that had created it dispersing as it flew in all directions. Through the explosion she could see Jellal, who had been forced to dodge the lance as it flew straight for him.

Now.

Erza used Meteor again, getting behind Jellal as he dodged the lance. As the weapon flew away, Erza grabbed Jellal's arm and wrenched it towards herself, driving the dagger's blade into his hand.

"Gah!"

Jellal's eye's shot open the moment she drew blood, recoiling from her as she took the weapon away.

"Good," she said, returning it to her inventory, "you're awake."

"I am now," he agreed, rubbing his hand. "That was a weird experience. It felt like a lucid dream I had no control over." He cast a look around, furrowing his brow. "That kid get away?"

"Yeah," she answered, moving to catch the lance as it bounced off wires and fell towards her. "We need to find him and stop him."

"That you do," Akirelys' voice boomed, startling them. "I'll say, this boy is a nuisance. Whatever blade he's using hurts me even if he only slices my wires. That's a problem."

"Where is he?" Jellal asked. Akirelys laughed.

"Here, let me help you with that." Before either of them could ask what he meant, Erza's entire existence was hurled through space at a speed she had never felt before, stopping just as fast as it began. She nearly fell into Jellal, but was able to stop herself before that. Looking up, she saw that they had been placed directly into Hypnos' path, who was watching them warily.

"I had hoped it would take you longer to wake him," he noted.

"Your intel is out of date if you really thought that," Erza replied. "Now, let's do this the easy way. Drop the blade Akirelys mentioned, or I'll make you. Only chance."

"A chance?" Akirelys asked voice booming around them. "Oh no, Erza Scarlet. He has no chance. Here, allow me to facilitate the fight for you."

Before Erza could ask what he meant by that, her neck and arms were pierced by wires.

She tried to free herself, but it was to no avail. As soon as the wires punctured the skin she had lost control of her own body. More wires shot for you, piercing her behind the legs and in her back. Jellal tried to smack some away, but he was tossed aside like a ragdoll.

"I thank you for exposing your skin, Scarlet," Akirelys said, "your armor was making it oh so difficult to take control of you." Grimacing, Erza used as much strength as she could manage to look behind her. The wires connected to her all conversed into a wooden cross, one resembling the kind used to control actual puppets. She didn't get to voice a complaint before her body was flung towards Hypnos, her arms raising above her head to swing a sword down on his head. Hypnos blocked by pulling his own blade out from beneath his cloak, one that hummed with red energy. When the blades connected, Hypnos' seemed to hiss.

"That must be the blade," she noted as she examined it. Not needing to actually think about the fight made it much easier to talk and plan, she found. "How are you hurting Akirelys with that?"

"Can't you tell?" Hypnos asked. He pushed her back and swung horizontally, but she was pulled backwards. "Who does this blade remind you of?"

"Remind me of?" Erza asked. She stared down at the blade for a moment, thinking. As she examined it, she sensed magic pulsing off of it in waves. Her eyes widened when she realised whose it was. "Nashi?"

"Indeed," Hypnos replied as he twirled the blade in his hand. It hummed as he did so. Erza spared a thought to wonder how he did this with his eyes closed. "I'm sure you recall we extracted her power before you got her back, yes? What do you think we did with it?"

"Created a weapon capable of destroying immortal beings," Jellal said, having appeared behind Hypnos. The Child tried to swing for him, but Jellal nailed him in the face with a fist, knocking the sword from his hands. Erza wasn't able to turn her head and watch it fall, but she could tell it had disappeared beneath the wires below them.

Hypnos did seem concerned by this. He turned his head towards Jellal, whose eyes widened and he jerked away from the Child as fast as he could. Hypnos took advantage of this opening by flying down after his blade, disappearing into the void below.

Before Erza could ask Jellal what had happened, she was flung by her puppeteer after Hypnos, pushing through the wires after him. She reached him just as he had reached the blade, bringing her sword down on top of him. Akirelys' control of her was lacking, and she missed when Hypnos dodged out of the way, managing to grab his blade as he did so. Erza's head was wrenched to the side and caught a glimpse of Hypnos bringing his blade up, and slicing through a web of wires.

A roar of anger reverberated around them, nearly deafening Erza as she tried, and failed, to cover her ears. Hypnos swung again and again, more of the wires being severed and hissing like they were being burned alive.

"Kill him already!" Akirelys shouted, making Erza launch towards him. His anger made his control even worse, Erza stumbling around like a child was pulling her strings.

"Just release me, you moron!" She shouted angrily, "or do you want to die?!"

"Don't threaten me, human!" Akirelys shouted. He made Erza swing wildly, missing everything as Hypnos was able to dodge out of the way. Jellal finally joined them from above, but his eyes were elsewhere. Erza caught a glimpse of him speeding past her, and a second later the tension in the wires controlling her disappeared. Her limbs came back under her own control, and she could move again. Turning, she saw Jellal had turned his arm in a saber of light and sliced through the cross where the wires were connected. Without wasting a second, Erza turned and sped towards Hypnos, who looked surprised to see her moving better.

"You shouldn't play around with a blade like that," she warned as she got in close. Hypnos swung, but having control of her own body back made it all too easy. When he swung, she ducked into his personal space, between himself and the blade. Curling her hand into a fist, she punched Hypnos square in the mouth, then drove her elbow into his. Hypnos fell backwards with a weak grunt, both hands empty again.

Without missing a beat, Erza turned and caught the sword before it fell. In one swift motion the blade disappeared, Erza moving it into her Requip inventory. Now Hypnos would never get it back. Turning her eyes upward again, Erza smirked when she saw Hypnos in a sleeper hold from Jellal, gurgling as he tried to get free. Soon enough the Child of Nyx stopped resisting, his arms going limp. Jellal then tossed him into a web of wires nearby as she jumped up to join him.

"Good work," he said. "That was annoying."

"Good job knocking him out," she replied. "What made you flinch earlier?"

"He opened his eyes to look at me," he replied as he crossed his arms. "Since his eyes hypnotised me before, I figured that was his trick. Had to look away before he got me again." Erza nodded along at this explanation before looking around warily.

"Now we just have to deal with Akirelys," she said. Silence followed this, the Demon Lord not saying a word. After what felt like eons of silence. A sigh echoed around them.

"No, you don't," he said. "This is beyond a simple soul now. Zomrus is pulling all of our strings. Three Demon Lords have already fallen. This situation has to be avoided before we can do anything else."

"So can we seal you?" Jellal asked.

"Don't get any funny ideas," Akirelys shot back. "I'm not siding with you; I'm simply siding against Zomrus. No one manipulates The Puppeteer. We'll get back to our old situation once this one has been dealt with."

Silence came after this, no one saying a word. Erza waited to see if Akirelys had more to say, but he apparently didn't.

"So now what?" She asked, looking towards Jellal. He shrugged and took a deep breath.

"Now we wait, I suppose," he said. "And hope no other Demon Lords die this day."

Orga had been waiting for what felt like forever, because he could still see no invader.

The Demon Lord of this Circle, Zoka, had transported him so he could protect his Core. The Core in question was a little ball of light above a brazier behind him. Apparently, someone was here to destroy it, but he'd not seen anyone so far. Was this just a ploy to get him to not do anything? He was giving it five more minutes before he gave up and started using the sealing runes on the Core.

"I'd advise against that," Zoka's voice echoed.

"Why is that?" Orga demanded.

"Because then I will be forced to intervene. And I can't risk that." There was a beat of silence. "But no, I cannot lie Orga. We are in deep trouble."

"Are we now?" Orga asked as he crossed his arms. "Who is we, exactly?"

"Three Demon Lords have fallen," Zoka replied. Orga was stunned in momentary silence, trying to come up with a snarky response. "I cannot be allowed to join them, or else Zomrus will awaken. If three more fall he will wake in his chains, and when that happens, we will lose any chance at victory. You must stop the invader. What comes after can wait."

"Well why didn't you start with that?" Orga demanded irritably. "Now I'll stay here as long as I need to."

"You don't need to wait much longer," Zoka replied. "He's already joined us."

Orga's eyes widened as he returned his eyes to the area in front of him. Standing before him was a well-dressed young man, one with slicked back black hair. His features were unremarkable, but his eyes were unnerving. They were as black as midnight, and seemed to go on forever. Like two dark pools of water with no bottom. It was odd, making eye contact with him.

"Hello Orga Nanagear," the man said, voice smooth. "It seems we were fated to meet here."

"That so?" Orga asked. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but your fate is to get defeated and lose." The man hummed at this, closing his eyes in thought.

"No, I don't believe it is," he replied. "I will destroy that Core behind you. It's my duty. My destiny, if you like."

"Enough talk," Orga replied. He stretched his arms into a memorable position, outstretched before him. His arms crackled with black lightning, an orb of electricity forming between his hands. "Lightning God Slayer's 120mm Thunder Cannon!"

The resulting attack exploded from Orga's hands and exploded against the man, a thunderclap booming In the sky of the Circle. Orga watched the smoke with mild interest, wondering how much of the man was left.

He made a face when he saw his opponent standing just as he had been, a crater now beside him.

"A powerful attack," the man noted. "However, it was fated to miss."

"I don't miss," Orga replied, "which means you must be using some sort of magic." Orga quickly ran through his options before grimacing. "I think I figured it out now. This will be annoying."

"Oh? And what have you figured out?"

"You won't shut up about fate," Orga replied, "which means you must be manipulating fate itself." The man smiled at this; a creepy expression given his eyes.

"Excellent work, Orga," he said as he stretched his arms out. "I am Moros, Spirit of Fate. And as I already told you, I am fated to destroy Zoka."

"Yeah?" Orga asked, "well, fate has a habit of never working out like you want."

I gotta be honest, I've been increasingly dissatisfied with these chapters, but maybe that's just me. I dunno. I hope you enjoyed, please leave a review!