Natsu coughed as the poison Cobra let off started to invade his respiratory system, but he managed to stand stall since it was only a little bit. Natsu formed an orb of electricity in one hand, and an orb of fire in the other. Natsu jumped into the air, holding his arms apart before bringing them together. "Dazzling Blaze of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu formed a blaze of fire and lightning over his head, and then hurled the sphere towards Cobra.
"It doesn't matter how strong your attack is," Cobra said calmly, dropping from the floating platform he was on and onto the one below. Natsu's attack exploded on a platform while he was unharmed. "If it can't hit, it's worthless."
"Omega Flame Sky Dragon's Radiant Hurricane!" Wendy shouted, causing a large red magic circle to appear under Cobra. She then started to cough slightly from the poison entering her system. "What is it with me and poison…?" Wendy coughed.
"Tch, I can hear everything!" Cobra replied, jumping to a floating platform to the side just as the magic circle unleashed a large flaming hurricane. "Your attacks are useless against me!"
"Secret Dragon Slayer Art!" Natsu jumped in the air, appearing right in front of Cobra with an orb of fire and lightning in his hands once again. "Lighting Crimson Lotus Blade!" Natsu spun around, aiming the powerful attack towards the poison dragon slayer.
"Poison Dragon's Guard!" A thick wall of poison appeared in front of Cobra, blocking the attack. However, Cobra underestimated Natsu's power just a bit, so Natsu's attack blew through the poison guard, sending Cobra back onto a different platform. He suffered damage from the mere shockwave and blowback of the attack, and he knew that Natsu's strength was not to be underestimated. Cobra had the advantage, but attacks like that would quickly flip the situation against him. That's why he had to end this fight as fast as possible to avoid that. "Tch…I won't make that same mistake twice…"
"Omega Flame Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Wendy jumped from above Cobra, red fire and harsh winds surrounding her leg; Wendy quickly swung her leg down at Cobra, who crossed his arms to soften the blow of the attack, grunting just lightly from the force of it. Wendy jumped back, puffing her cheeks out, unleashing a quick, yet powerful Omega Flame Dragon's Roar towards Cobra at the close range. Cobra knew it was coming, but he didn't have too much room to react after Wendy jumped back, so he formed a weak Poison Dragon's Guard in front of him, but it wasn't enough. It still punched through, and Cobra took his fist hard hit. It struck him directly in the chest, causing him to slam into a nearby wall, hard.
"Gh...!" Cobra snarled. He could hear what they were doing, but the power Wendy held was much stronger than he anticipated. He grit his teeth as he was covered in burn marks from the attack.
Natsu took advantage of Cobra jumping back, lunging at the poison dragon with his fist pulled back, fire and lightning surrounding it. "Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!"
"Poison Dragon's Iron Fist!" Cobra pulled his arm back, a thick poison forming around it as he threw his fist at Natsu's, the two meeting in the middle, causing a large shockwave that boomed throughout the entire area, the force so powerful it blew both dragon slayers back onto different platforms.
Natsu started to cough as his body went numb, and from the poison invading his immune system slowly, but surely. "D-Damn…I don't know how much longer I can keep this up with this poison floating around all over the damn place…"
"M-Me too…" Wendy panted, coughing every so often. "B-But I can't let him win…We need to beat him so we can go up and rescue Cynthia…!"
"Wendy, I have a plan…!" Natsu grinned slightly, looking over at Wendy as he started to whisper something. Cobra just stood there, wondering how stupid Natsu could possibly be because Cobra was hearing everything. "NOW!" Natsu jumped in the air, puffing his cheeks out as he aimed at Cobra.
"Right!" Wendy also jumped into the air, right next to Natsu, puffing her cheeks out. "Omega Flame Sky Dragon's Roar!"
"Roar of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu and Wendy opened their mouths, unleashing their respective powerful roars, the two roars eventually fusing together for a very powerful unison raid. Not only this, but the two were going to alter the roar's direction if Cobra were to dodge.
"You idiot!" Cobra heard every single detail of Natsu and Wendy's planned, and jumped in the air, over the roar as he landed on a platform way behind Natsu and Wendy. "I can hear everything!" Cobra then lunged forward, gripping the back of Natsu and Wendy's heads, immediately cutting of their unison raid as they let out a shout. "There's one thing you forgot! You can attack everywhere but behind you!" Cobra then slammed Natsu's head into a platform harshly, causing a large smoke cloud. As for Wendy, he slammed her against the wall as they fell, then threw her onto a platform, forcing Wendy out of Omega Flame sky as she laid on her back, wincing.
"N-No…how could it not work…" Wendy coughed, sitting up slowly as her body started tingling.
"Because I could hear everything you planned on doing before you even did it," Cobra replied, gripping Wendy by her neck, pulling his hand back as a thick poison aura surrounded his free hand.
"W-WENDY!" Natsu attempted to move, but his body finally chose to succumb to the current numbness, making him unable to do so.
"N-NO…NOT HERE!" Wendy's eyes widened as tears started to form in her eyes. "NOT NOW!"
"Don't worry, you'll be seeing each other again very soon…" Cobra replied, throwing his arm forward.
"E-ERIK! STOP!" A voice from the bottom of the room shouted.
Cobra immediately stopped, his eyes widened at the sound of the voice. He dropped Wendy and looked around. "T-That voice…!"
"Erik…?" Natsu blinked a few times, unfamiliar with Cobra's real name. Kinana made her way up the floating platforms to Cobra's level as quickly as she could, stopping when she saw the three.
"K-Kinana-san?" Wendy panted heavily, tilting her head to look over at Kinana. "W-What are you doing here…how did you get here…?"
Kinana shook her head, ignoring Wendy for the time being as she looked at Cobra. "Erik…don't do it…"
Cobra stared at Kinana, amazed that he was able to see her again, but then her question shocked him. "I was told to use force on whoever got in my way, she was in my way, so I have to-"
"No you don't!" Kinana objected, extending her left arm out to her left. "You don't have to do this!" Cobra opened his mouth to speak, but Kinana interrupted him before he could even say a word. "Listen to her thoughts about Cynthia…then think about what it felt like when…"
Cobra blinked a few times, doing as his old friend told him to do, and closing his eye as he listened to Wendy's thoughts about Cynthia, then compared those thoughts to his own memories, letting off a gentle sigh after. He was just doing what he was told; in actuality he didn't want to kill Wendy; Natsu maybe. "…."
"Erik…Why don't you help them…?" Kinana asked with a hopeful tone.
"Help…/them/? That's not my job…" Cobra replied.
"You can…" Kinana said in a sweet tone. "At least one mage…? Please…?"
"Tch..." Cobra sighed before turning around, jumping on the platform Natsu was on, and threw him over to Wendy. "Fine…just this one time…I suggest you leave this room as soon as possible…I can hear an annoying voice coming…"
Wendy placed her hands on Natsu's body, a gentle light emitting from her palms as she healed Natsu's wounds. After Wendy finished, she inhaled the air around them to make herself feel better. "Kinana-san…?"
"I'll be fine here," Kinana replied.
"Oi…thanks…" Natsu nodded over to Kinana before hopping to the stop of the room with Wendy, finally making progress as the two ran off.
"Thank you, Erik…" Kinana said with a soft smile.
"Don't mention it…seriously, don't…" Cobra replied.
.
.
"S-SHIT!" Cana felt the burning sensation of Maggie's whip around her throat, unable to reach for her cards as the lava mage had Cana and Warren in a dangerous situation.
"L-Let us go!" Warren attempted to struggle free from Maggie's grip, but he was unable to do so.
"Oh, don't worry, I'll get go…eventually," A sadistic smirk appeared on Maggie's lips as her grip only tightened.
"D-Dammit…!" Cana screamed out, but her scream was cut off by Maggie's increasing grip.
"Sssh, love…it'll all be over soon…" Maggie said in a hushed tone, watching as the two fairies fell onto their knees, struggling for air; before Maggie could continue with her enjoyment, two pillars of earth wrapped around her body, constricting her movement. "T-The hell is this!?"
"Massive Card Explosion!" Several cards flew to Maggie, staying suspended in the air around her, glowing brightly before exploding, causing Maggie to release her grip on Cana and Warren, who gasped desperately for air. Jack walked from the corner, smirking widely. "You two okay?"
"It's you…" Cana grabbed her deck of cards, standing up along with Warren.
"That's right! Jack Royal's here!" Jack grinned, his cheeks pink from the alcohol he consumed from wandering around aimlessly in the tower.
"Jack Royal…?" Warren blinked a few times. "Oh right...!"
"He's a mage from White Eclipse," Cana replied. "And not too bad a drinker…"
"You…bloody…" The explosion caught Maggie off guard, and she felt a few of her bones broken from the attack. "Those stupid popsicles…" Maggie clenched an eye shut as she used the wall to support her.
"My turn now!" Cana smirked, throwing a few cards on the wall beside Maggie, snapping her fingers as a similar explosion happened; not quite as strong as Jack's but strong enough for Maggie to let out a scream of pain, falling over to the floor in KO once again. "Heh!
"That was too close…" Jack replied, examining Maggie's body. "She could've done some serious damage if you didn't hit her just then…"
"What are we gonna do if she wakes up again?" Warren asked, looking over at Jack.
"I think this should do…" A magic circle appeared on Jack's feet, and he stepped on the ground, causing pillars of earth to appear, wrapping themselves around Maggie's unconscious body. "That should do…hopefully…"
Maggie, however, snapped back awake with a grin. Her body melted into a pool of lava, using this to slip away from Jack's confinement. She reappeared before the three with an annoyed smile. She cracked her lava whip arm once, smacking all three wizards to knock them down. "Don't think so, loves."
"Oh shit...!" Cana cried out. This was bad!
Maggie was about to move in and finish them off, but the gravity around her body suddenly intensified. "W-What now...?! She growled, turning her head back to see the cause of this.
"Not a single step closer." That came from Kagura Mikazuchi. She used her Gravity Change to ensure that Maggie could not move a single step.
"Kagura-!?" Cana's eyes were wide. How did she get here!? Why was she here!?
"I'll crush you if you try and move again." Kagura drew her sword, as if she wasn't about to try and kill Maggie then and there.
"You think you're so high 'n mighty, don'tcha?" Maggie snarled. Despite this, however, she knew with her injuries that trying to fight someone as strong as Kagura would end badly for her. Lyon, Gray, and Waiston did manage to inflict noticeable damage on her body, so anything more was bad news. "Fine...you get your way today. I'll leave."
"Leave? You don't get to leave." Kagura drew her sword and proceeded to lunge at Maggie, thrusting the blade through the woman's chest! However, Maggie's Lava body made the blade pass right through without consequence, much to the woman's surprise. "What...!?"
"Tsk tsk. You're lucky. On any other day, your pretty little head would be mine...~" Maggie cooed as she used Kagura's gravity to her advantage, sinking into the ground as a rapidly disappearing pool of lava. Nobody could question it, and by the time they could, Maggie was already long gone. "...Tch..."
"Well...wasn't that a close one!" Jack laughed it off, wincing at the burn mark on his body.
"How can you laugh at a time like this!?" Warren groaned. That was more damage than he ever wanted to deal with in his life.
"We're alive, aren't we?" Jack asked.
"Barely..." Cana grimaced and looked up to Kagura. "I'm not gonna complain, but why are you here?"
"I came to help." Kagura replied while sheathing her sword. "Although it seems I am a bit late. I don't know how much help I can be now, but I arrived at a good time."
"No kidding." Cana rubbed the back of her neck.
"...Something does seem off though." Kagura took a few steps forward. "Mermaid Heel received a letter a few days ago stating something would happen today. I thought it was a meaningless threat and sliced it to nothing. But then...something actually did happen."
"Huh...?" Cana blinked.
"You mean...somebody knew that this was going to happen!?" Warren's eyes were wide.
Kagura nodded in response. "Yes. And now I wish I had taken that letter more seriously." Kagura looked up at the ceiling. A little girl was in danger. But while she had faith Erza and Fairy Tail could save her, she could not help but think how this situation might have been avoided if things were different...
.
.
"W-What the hell is that…?" Kiora eyed Selene in her Diamond Shadow mode curiously.
"She ate my shadows…WHAT'S WITH EVERYONE CONTROLLING MY SHADOWS LATELY!?" Takeru blurted out before realizing that this was actually a good think. "Wait…"
Selene didn't marvel at her new dual mode just yet, instead she wanted to see if it would be able to be of use. Selene opened her mouth; a vortex of black diamond's forming around her mouth. "Roar…" Selene threw her heard forward, aiming right for Kiora and Sora. "Of the Diamond Shadow Dragon!" Selene unleashed a black vortex of diamonds and shadows towards the two female mages.
"Shadow Make: Shield!" Kiora conjured up a shadow wall in front of her and Sora, Sora using her Shadow Manipulation Magic to expand the shield, making it stronger. Selene's roar slammed into the shadow shield. The shield held for a few seconds before shattering, blowing the two Tartaros mages back a few feet. "Shit, that's some power…"
"Guess it's my turn…" Takeru smirked, half of his body turning jet black as the other half remained its normal color. "White Shadow Dragon Mode…"
"Shadows?" Sora only grinned, not seeing the two Dragon Slayers as an immediate threat since she had control over the shadows, though the young girl wasn't 100% sure she could control everything the two Dragon Slayers could throw at this point.
"Holy Blast!" Takeru charged up a sphere of light energy in his hand, and then hurled it over at Kiora and Sora.
"What?" Sora's eyes widened, surprised that the shadow dragon slayer could use more than shadow dragon slayer magic, so the light magic caught her off guard as it exploded, sending her back a few feet.
"Watch it!" Kiora shouted, placing her fist into her palm as a black magic circle appeared. "Shadow Make: Lance!" Shadow lances launched from the magic circle towards the two Dragon Slayers. Sora used her shadow manipulation to increase the size and power as they rushed forward.
"White Shadow Dragon's Roar!" Takeru threw his head forward, firing off a large funnel of white and shadow energy, clashing with the lances for a second before overpowering them and rushing towards Kiora.
"Nothing to worry about!" Kiora placed her arm out, using the arc of embodiment to conjure up the unbreakable shield, allowing the roar to make contact with his harmlessly; however Kiora was pushed back just a few inches. "Tch…"
"That shield is a problem…" Aira groaned, looking around the room for any possibility of taking out that shield. She smirked slightly, looking towards the ground.
"Hey, Selene," Takeru said, a smirk forming over his lips.
"What, Tak?" Selene asked, looking over at Tak.
"Unison Raid?" Takeru asked, his cheeks puffing up once again, slowly.
"Heh…" Selene smirked, puffing her cheeks out. "Roar…"
"Sora, get behind me. After this attack we'll finish them off here," Kiora said.
"Okay, Kiora-chan!" Sora happily stood behind Kiora and her unbreakable shield.
"Of the White Shadow Dragon!"
"Of the Diamond Shadow Dragon!" The two Dragon Slayers released their roars, the two of them merging in the middle and rushed towards Kiora and Sora.
"Black Hurricane!" A large black magic circle covered the area just behind Kiora and Sora, causing a hurricane to shoot up from it, easily destroying the ground behind the two Tartaros mages, causing Kiora to lose her footing.
"W-Wah!" Sora held onto Kiora, not wanting to fall.
"S-Shit…!" Kiora stumbled back, causing her to lose focus on her unbreakable shield. Horrible time on her part as the unison roar slammed into her and Sora, causing Kiora to fall back into the pit the hurricane created, most likely heavily damaged, near the point of KO. Sora didn't fall in the pit, but she was lying face down on the ground, not as damaged as Kiora, but pretty damaged.
"W-We did it!" Aira grinned, falling to her knees from magic consumption.
"D-Damn…" Selene exited her Diamond Shadow mode, falling onto her back. "T-That was rough…"
"Tch…" Takeru leaned against the wall for support, exiting out of his White Shadow mode.
Sora stood up slowly, wobbling to keep her balance as she glared up at the three mages. "You hurt Kiora-chan..." Her eye twitched as her head tilted in a creepy manner.
"S-She's still moving...!?" Aira gasped.
"Let's...finish...this...game," Sora grinned slowly, giving the three worn out mages an innocent look.
"S-Shit..." Selene moved to take a step back, but she was unable to because her shadow was stuck to the ground. "M-My shadow...!"
"M-Mine too!" Takeru snarled, attempting to break free from Sora's control.
"I-I can't move...!" Aira groaned. Before any of the three mages could do anything else, their shadows rose from the ground, and started to attack the mages by throwing wild punches at them. "A-Ah!"
"W-What the hell is going on!?" Takeru shouted, covering up to protect himself from his shadow's brutal assault.
"O-Our shadows are attacking us, that's what!" Selene replied, allowing her diamond shield to cover her body as her shadow mercilessly attacked her. The other shadows from the room started to come together, starting to form a large demon in behind Sora, who still had that innocent, playful, yet sadistic look on her face.
"This is fun, right?" Sora asked slowly, her grin widening.
"T-There's no way we'll be able to take much more of this...!" Aira squealed from the pain.
"Fun!" Sora said, slowly walking forward with the demon of shadows behind her. Before Sora could move any farther, several golden waves of gravity exploded around her, weighing her down. "W-What?"
"Woo!" Cygnus flew through the wall, a grin on his face. "Glad to see I didn't miss anything!"
"Cyg?!" The three mages shouted.
"What about that spider!?" Selene asked, feeling relieved that her shadow stopped attacking her and the other two.
"Oh, it went down easy; catching up was the hard part," Cygnus replied. "I stopped to get a meatball sub on the way."
"Of course..." Takeru groaned.
"So, this little girl's been giving you trouble?" Cygnus turned to look at the heavily damaged Sora. "Yeesh, put a number on each other, didn't you?"
"Careful, Cyg!" Aira shouted, panting heavily.
"I got this!" Cygnus smirked, running towards the weighed down Sora.
"Shadow Manipulation!" Takeru shouted.
"Shadow what?" Cygnus looked back to look at Takeru; as he did so, his shadow rose in front of his and aimed a harsh punch to his jaw, causing him to step back. "W-What the hell!?"
"Sora controls the shadows!" Sora grinned, even though she was unable to move due to the heavy force of gravity, she obviously didn't need to. Sora's shadow spread out in front of her, forming a large spike that rushed towards Cygnus.
"Well...that's pretty unlucky..." Cygnus rolled out of the way of the incoming spike, watching as it returned back to Sora. "For you," Cygnus smirked.
"Huh?" Sora moved her eyes to look up at Cygnus, confused by his sudden confidence.
"Eclipse Trigger..." A white aura' surrounded Cygnus as he entered the third state of his God Trigger. "Try it now!" Cygnus said, slowly walking forward as his cheeks puffed out.
"Sora will!" Sora attempted to manipulate Cygnus's shadow to halt his movement, but nothing happened. the demi-god continued moving forward, causing Sora's eyes to widened. "W-What?! Why can't Sora...!?" Sora looked at Cygnus's feet where his shadow was suppose to be, only to gasp when she realized something. Cygnus didn't have a shadow.
"Heh..." Cygnus opened his mouth, sending a large wave of gravity towards Sora, the gravity's power greatly increased due to his Eclipse Trigger. "Gravity God's Bellow!" Sora was still weighed down from the gravity before, so she extended her shadow to form a wall in front of her, but it was a feeble effort as the Gravity God's Bellow easily broke through the wall, sending Sora through a wall; KO'ed.
.
.
"Kiora? And Sora too?" Aiden hit the wall once again, his anger starting to rise at the failure of Tartaros. "What the hell is going on here!? UGH!" Aiden decided he had seen enough, so he went over to the control panel for the Omega Fire Cannon.
"N-No! Please don't fire it again!" Cynthia pleaded.
"Shut up!" Aiden replied, making sure the coordinates were set. "This time, Magnolia Town."
"N-NO! NOT MY HOME!" Cynthia pleaded once again, whimpering as the cylinder hanging above her body started to glow, the tower letting off a low hum that echoed throughout the building.
"YES, YOUR "HOME!"" Aiden cackled before regaining his composure. "I don't know where that came from...Anyway...FIRE!" The cylinder sparked unnaturally before shorting out, exploding after. "W-WHAT THE!?"
"F-FIRE!" Cynthia opened her mouth, inhaling the flames from the explosion. "I can do this...!" Cynthia attempted to break herself free, but she quickly found that even this time it was to no avail. "D-Dammit..."
"What the hell happened!?" Aiden looked at all the lacrima screens he had planted around the tower, unable to see anything out of the ordinary.
.
.
Lily had his sword drawn, smirking at the destruction of the Omega Fire Cannon's main source of energy withdrawal. "Good eye, Happy," Lily said with a smirk.
"AYE!" Happy grinned, feeling proud that he was the one who led Lily and Carla to the cylinder's controls. "This means that Cynthia won't be used as ammunition anymore!"
"Now we can focus on getting to the top," Carla nodded, crossing her arms. She was frowning, though. Wendy was so beside herself...and she felt even worse now realizing she was so distrusting of Cynthia for no reason.
"Carla...?" Happy tilted his head. "Do you need some fish?"
"No!" Carla snapped while shaking her head. "I'm worried about Wendy! And I'm worried about Cynthia...I was so rude to her because she was hiding something. I didn't think it was safe for her to be around Wendy. And now look what's happened." This was her fault, she felt like. If she was nicer to Cynthia...if she didn't ice her out...
"You were only concerned." Lily said with a slow nod. "If you want to make up for how you've acted before...then you should keep helping everyone rescue her. Then you can apologize to Cynthia."
"And then you two can be friends properly!" Happy added.
"Friends..." Carla paused for a moment. But she then nodded. Cynthia was important to Wendy, so Carla was going to do everything she could to save her! "Yes...that's right. I'll do that."
.
.
Gajeel and Horoki slid back from one another. Gajeel was panting softly, bruised even with his iron scales covering his body. Meanwhile, Horoki revealed his magic: Warrior Takeover. He had a great sword slung over his shoulder while donning a gladior's outfit. He was a little bruised like Gajeel, but it was clear he was the one winning this exchange. "What's the matter, Black Steel?" He then looked over his shoulder, where a wounded Juvia was standing behind him as well. "And you, Rain Woman? Did joining Fairy Tail make you two go soft?"
"Gehe..." Gajeel spat some blood while cracking his knuckles. "Soft? Not at all. We're just warming up, ain't that right?"
"Right!" Juvia nodded. Horoki hit hard, but she wasn't down just yet. "Juvia will not lose!"
"That's the spirit!" Gajeel said with a wide grin.
"Hah..." Horoki let out a small laugh. "Okay. I'll play with you two a little more. Don't be upset at how this game ends, though."
.
.
Lucy slowly walked Luke through a hallway, limping with every step she took due to her leg injury. Luke's breathing was light; she could barely feel his chest moving. Unfortunately, Lucy herself wasn't in a very good position. She was exhausted from magic depletion, her injuries were slowing her down, and she was fighting to stay conscious. "J-Just a little bit longer…" Lucy mumbled to Luke. A few minutes passed before Lucy stopped at the middle of the hallway, spotting a girl with black hair on one side and white hair on the other approached her. The female also had one blue eye, while the other was black and red. "W-Who are you…?" Lucy asked.
"Lucy Heartfilia?" The female asked, reaching to her side as if she was grabbing something.
"Y-Yes…who are you…?" Lucy asked once again.
The female pulled out a celestial spirit key, a dark grin sewed onto her lips. "My name is Ruika Celestia, and I've come for your keys."