A/N: Episode 250, Opening 20.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT: ERZA VERSUS MINERVA

Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Juvia had a stare down with the four demons in front of them. "Face is kaput. Your flying HQ crashed. You guys are fresh out of tricks." Natsu claimed.

Silver smirked. "You... No... It can't be..." Gray mumbled.

"He's the guy who froze the giants' village!" Natsu exclaimed, pointing at Silver. "And he froze me, too!"

"Wuss." Gajeel insulted.

"Shut up!" Natsu shouted at him, offended.

"Anyway, that dude's smell... resembles yours." Gajeel told Gray.

"The same parfum as Gray-sama?!" Juvia exclaimed.

Gray widened his eyes as Silver charged towards him in a flash of purple light.

"Gray!" Lucy called out.

"I'm taking this one." Silver informed.

"What?!"

In a flash, Silver teleported away with Gray in tow. "Gray-sama!" Juvia shouted.

"They're gone?!" Gajeel questioned.

"'Taking' him?! What a crude thing to say in front of Juvia!" Juvia exclaimed.

Keyes was behind Juvia. "Very curious..." He thinks to himself.

"Looking away must mean you're confident in yourselves. But your doom is right here." Tempester claimed as Natsu, Gajeel, and Juvia turned around.

"Twirl." Tempester said as tornadoes engulfed Natsu, Juvia, and Lucy.

Gajeel stomped forward, covered in iron scales. "Like a little breeze would work on iron! Iron Dragon's Club!" Gajeel shouted as Torafuzar blocked it from hitting Tempester.

Natsu sent a flaming kick at Keyes who disappeared.

"Water Slicer!" Juvia shouted, aiming her attack at Keyes in which he dodged.

"What the hell is with this one?!" Gajeel asked as Torafuzar struck him again.

"A water wizard? This is curious, too." Keyes thought as he attacked Juvia.

"Gajeel! Juvia!" Natsu called out in worry as the two skidded on the ground.

"Everyone!" Lucy exclaimed.

Natsu appeared from the dust. "No problem! Let's go!" He shouted.

"Yeah!" Gajeel agreed.

"Where did you take Gray-sama?!" Juvia shouted.

"Come." Tempester challenged.

Natsu, Juvia, and Gajeel leaped into the air. "It's not over yet." Keyes thought.

Lily looked around. "What's going on here? Am I totally separated from the others in this calamitous situation? Pathetic for me... And I can hear the intermittent sound of lightning strikes! On top of that, I even lost my kiwi emergency rations. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad!" He soon spotted kiwis.

"Are those kiwis?! Or... Not kiwis! They're iron balls!" Lily exclaimed. "I'm so famished that I mistook them for kiwis... Sheesh! Still, they're littered all over the place here. Artillery shells or something?"

Lily soon spotted Happy. "Happy! Are you okay? Good to see you. I was separated from Gajeel..." He trailed off as Happy turned around, a mushroom was on his head, causing Lily to scream in shock.

"At first I thought being sucked into the wall saved me, but now I've got this thing..." Happy explained.

"I... I see." Lily replied.

"What should I do? Carla's gonna hate me!" Happy said.

"No. I have a feeling that it doesn't look bad, depending on how you look at it..." Lily stated.

Happy turned to him with sparkles around him. "Really?!" He asked.

Lily sweats. "Maybe... Probably... For sure..." He replied.

Happy deadpanned. "It looks like what it is, an Exceed mushroom growing out of my head. Oh, no, it's like I brought a side dish for dinner tonight..."

"You can't just take it off?" Lily questioned.

"No."

Lily held up his sword. "We'll see. Don't move. If you move..."

Happy screamed in fright. "Use another method!" He exclaimed.

Lily then tried to pull the mushroom off. "It hurts! It hurts-hurts-hurts-hurts!" Happy complained as Lily continued pulling on it.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow!"

"Well, I give up." Lily said.

"Does it look cool?" Happy asked.

"No comment." Lily answered.

"I wonder what Carla will say when she sees me like this." Happy said.

The 'mushroom' turned out to be Franmalth. "The Hell's Core explosion shrunk me down, but I used my Curse Power to make myself be absorbed! Now I just have to wait for the cats to meet up with their comrades. That is, wait for the opportunity to turn the tables on them!" Franmalth thought.

"Hey, Cana! Come here!" Macao called out.

"That cube thing was destroyed while we were unconscious." Cana said.

"Where are we?" Macao wondered.

"South of Magnolia... or thereabouts, I think." Cana replied. "Come to think of it, where's Master?"

"He said he was gonna drop by the guild."

"But the guild must've been smashed to smithereens."

Makarov was rushing towards the Fairy Tail guild hall as he ran through the destroyed Magnolia. "This breaks my heart... Even Kardia Cathedral, the symbol of the town..." He thought before he continued running.

"The second master's last words... 'It isn't over.' 'Release the light'... eh?"

Makarov looked up at the ruined Fairy Tail building.

Wendy soon began to stir as she jolted awake. "Where are we?!" She asked.

"Wendy!" Carla exclaimed in relief.

"Carla!" Wendy said. "Huh? We... were caught in the explosion..."

"What about Face?! What happened to Face?!" Wendy shouted.

"It was stopped."

Wendy and Carla turned to see Doranbolt. "Doranbolt-san!" Wendy said.

"Thanks to you two." Doranbolt finished.

"He whisked us away to safety the instant it detonated." Carla explained.

"Just barely." Doranbolt said.

"Then..." Wendy trailed off.

"Let's be friends again." Wendy said.

"Of course!" Carla agreed.

"Carla!"

"Wendy!"

Doranbolt smiled. "We're alive!" Wendy exclaimed, hugging Carla.

"Yes! That's right!" Carla said as they both sobbed.

"Thank you, Doranbolt-san." Wendy thanked him.

"Actually... um, this is hard for me to say... Nothing is over yet." Doranbolt claimed, making both Wendy and Carla widen their eyes.

Happy and Lily were still walking. "Is there really no way to get this off?" Happy questioned.

"If you forced it, maybe spores would scatter. You might get mushrooms sprouting all over your body then." Lily replied.

"I don't want that..." Happy mumbled.

"At any rate, something the Underworld King said stuck with me..." Franmalth said, recalling Mard Geer's words.

"The Face Project is proceeding according to plan."

Franmalth then realized something. "The reason Face's projected location was way off... Don't tell me... a time lag?!" He thinks to himself.

Carla lifted Wendy into the air as Wendy looked terrified. "No..." She thinks to herself.

A bunch of Face's were in front of her.

"There's more than one Face!" Franmalth thought.

"This many..." Wendy trailed off.

"I've confirmed about 2,000 Face devices..." Doranbolt said.

"This is..." Mard Geer began to crack. "...the real identity of the continent-wide Magic pulse bomb."

"After we worked so hard to destroy one of them... to find this many now... It's all over..." Carla muttered.

"Don't say that, Carla." Wendy interrupted. "I don't want to despair anymore." A green glow came from her hand. "I've decided that you and I are going to live, Carla."

Wendy chops her hair off. "Wendy!" Carla exclaimed in shock.

"I'm not going to whine or shed any tears. Everyone is fighting. So I'm not going to give up, either!" Wendy declared, making Carla nod.

Erza was still trading blows with Minerva. Her and Minerva clashed heads. "Minerva, you..." Erza started to say.

"I am Neo-Minerva." Minerva claimed. "I have been reborn... as the ultimate wizard!"

Erza's blade soon shattered. She leaped forward and tried to send a kick towards Minerva.

"Territory!" She called out, trading places with Erza and kicking her instead as Erza crashed onto the ground.

"Come, let's have some more fun, Erza..." Minerva got cut off as Erza punched her, sending her flying as Minerva easily caught herself.

Minerva gritted her teeth in anger as Erza dodged her attacks. "I am... I am the ultimate..." She started to say.

"What do you think you're fighting?!" Erza punched her to the ground.

"Shameful... Deplorable... Why are you so weak?!"

Minerva widened her eyes as she recalled what Jiemma had said to her.

"P-Please forgive me! Please forgive me, Father!" A younger Minerva pleaded.

"You plead for forgiveness? My stupid daughter!" Jiemma insulted before slapping her across the face.

"I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" Minerva cried out.

"Don't you understand that I despise begging for forgiveness? Are you a weakling? Sabertooth has no need for weaklings. Do you understand what I'm saying... Minerva?" Jiemma asked.

Minerva lets out a scream, charging at Erza. "I am..." She started to say.

"As you are my daughter, you must become strong. I eliminate the weak. Even if its my own daughter."

"I..."

A younger Minerva was trying to catch her breath. "If you have enough time to draw a breath, you have time to move! Attacking is everything! Even if you are inferior in strength, always forge ahead! That is how the strong, how champions are born!" Jiemma instructed.

Minerva soon got attacked by the guild member she was fighting. "Stand, Minerva! Stand now or I will see to it that you never stand again. Do it, Fingers." Jiemma ordered.

Fingers went to attack her again as Minerva leaped into the air. "You're naive!" Fingers claimed, appearing behind her.

Minerva used her Magic as she traded places with Fingers, sending a kick to his back.

"Absolute Dominion... Territory?" Jiemma questioned more to himself.

Fingers sent another blast at Minerva who traded places with him once more and his attack hit him instead. Minerva was trying to regain her breath.

She looked over and saw Fingers laying on the ground, defeated.

"I'll help you!" Minerva offered.

"What are you doing? Will you not finish him off?" Jiemma asked as Minerva looked at him. "The defeated is weak. The weak is a worm. Worms need no sympathy. Just think about trampling them."

"But Fingers is a comrade in the guild..." Minerva argued.

"'Comrades' are an expression of the weak. If you are my daughter, set your eyes on something more important. Make the heavens roar. Make the land seethe. Silence the ocean. That is Sabertooth." Jiemma said.

"But..."

"If you cannot do it, I will." Jiemma extended his hand. "Begone."

A purple sphere engulfed Fingers as Minerva watched in horror. She then collapsed to her knees and cried.

"How could you?" Minerva sobbed.

"Don't cry." Jiemma ordered as Minerva continued to sob. "How long are you going to keep this up?! Tears are the height of weakness! How many times must I say it before you understand?!"

"Please forgive me... Please forgive me... Please forgive..."

"I... must be strong!" Minerva exclaimed.

"Minerva!" Erza shouted.

"I am going to leave you here. Abandon your weak heart, your tears, everything. In this forest full of savage beasts, only death awaits the crying weak." Jiemma began walking away. "You may return home when all your tears have dried up."

Minerva was near a waterfall. "Please forgive me... Please forgive me... Please forgive me..." She mumbled repeatedly.

"Become strong! And you call yourself my daughter?!"

"I eliminate the weak! Trample them!"

Multiple crocodiles charged at Minerva.

It was soon daytime as the crocodile beasts were knocked out. "Make the... heavens roar... Make... the land seethe. Silence the ocean. That is..."

"That is Sabertooth."

"...Sabertooth." Minerva mumbled.

"Wake up!" Erza yelled, punching Minerva again. "Your inhuman conduct at the Grand Magic Games... I don't condone it, but I can understand it. Wasn't it all for Sabertooth?!"

Minerva stayed silent as a dark shadow casted over her eyes. "Minerva... This fist that punches you is crying. It asks, 'Does this battle mean anything?'" Erza asked.

"I know... I know. So..." Minerva trailed off as she looked up at Erza. "...kill me with your two hands."

Erza widened her eyes in shock. "I am weak. I fell into the darkness because I am weak. I cannot live with this body any longer... Please." Minerva said.

Erza walked closer to her. "You are you. I'm sure someone is waiting for you to come home. Don't forget that." She said.

Footsteps were soon heard. "This is why humans are weak." Mard Geer spoke up as Erza turned, her eyes widening upon seeing him.

"When you talk of life or death, you rejoice. Quite an ugly sight." Mard Geer claimed.

"Who are you?!" Erza questioned. "Wait... I've heard that voice before. The Underworld King, Mard Geer!"

"How disappointing. I thought we disposed of the trash, but it has come back up. The damned Celestial Spirit King and his meddling... Luckily, we have a little time. Enough time for me to take out the trash, anyway." Mard Geer claimed.

"Are you the master here?!" Erza asked as Mard Geer soon attacked both Erza and Minerva.

"What is this magic?!" Erza wondered.

"One at a time." Mard Geer said as his power headed straight for Minerva.

"Minerva!" Erza yelled.

"Escape, Erza..." Minerva thinks to herself.

Erza was thrown back as three silhouettes appeared from the dust.

"Talk about a close call."

"We made it in time."

"Still late, though."

Sting had Minerva in his arms. "We came to pick you up, my lady." Sting said.

"Long time no see!" Lector exclaimed.

"Your guild is Sabertooth." Rogue informed.

"Fro thinks so, too!"

"Yo, Erza! You look like you could use some help!" Lucas greeted.

"Sorry we weren't here sooner." Ace apologized.

"I see a guy with a nasty look in his eye. Is he the enemy, Erza-san?" Sting questioned.

"Tremendous pressure is coming off of him..." Rogue commented.

"Come on, my lady and Erza-san, please take a break." Lector said.

"We brought lunch." Frosch added.

"I'm sure someone is waiting for you to come home." Minerva recalled Erza's words in her head, making her tear up.

A/N: Okay, I lied. It's only going to be Lucas and Ace who show up for now. Atlas and Natsumi will appear to rescue Natsu, Sting, Rogue, and Lucas when they're fighting Mard Geer.

Should Natsumi and Gray fight together against Mard Geer? I kind of like the idea of two Devil Slayers fighting against a demon but I don't know if you guys would want that.

Thanks for reading!

~ Kaleb.