A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter!

Enjoy!

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: RESCUE TEAM VS. THE EXECUTIONERS

Inside the plant, Wendy opened her eyes. "Huh? What's happening to me? What is this? I can't move!" She said to herself.

"Beautiful dancing doll, it's a skeletal flower that blooms in blood." Cosmos explained.

"Hold on, Wendy! I'll get you outta there right away!" Natsu claimed before he tripped on a plant.

Cosmos laughed. "What a klutz!" She insulted. "It's too late. The girl will be digested and the execution will be complete."

"Not as long as we're around!" Carla claimed.

"Don't go over there. It's too dangerous!" Happy warned.

"But be at ease. After she's digested, she'll be reborn as a beautiful flower." Cosmos narrowed her eyes.

"What?!" Happy said as he imagined Wendy as a flower.

"Stop it!" Carla exclaimed.

"What's wrong? It seems your partner is in a pinch." Knepper claimed.

"Lily, I'll go. You take care of this guy." Mira said.

"Yes. Count on it." Lily stated.

"If we team up, it'll make defeating this guy a lot easier." Ace suggested, making Lily nod in agreement.

"Don't count your chickens!" Knepper taunted.

"Come and get us with your colors!" Lily declared.

Knepper's fist got covered in purple acid. Both Lily and Ace dodged his attack before Lily sent him back.

"I'm on my way, Wendy!" Mira shouted.

Mira was in her Sitri form as she blasted Darkness Magic before flying forward. "Huh. Not bad." Kamika complimented.

"Quite beautiful." Cosmos added.

"Wendy!" Mira exclaimed, breaking the plant and releasing Wendy. Fera quickly reacted and pulled Wendy out of the plant.

"Mira-san! Fera!" Wendy said.

"You did it! I knew you could!" Lucy cheered.

"Wow..." Yukino muttered.

"Can you stand?" Fera asked, holding onto Wendy.

"Yes. I'm fine." Wendy reassured.

"All right!" Natsu exclaimed.

"That's Mira-san?" Yukino mumbled to herself.

"Hey, everyone, don't you think she kind of looks like Lisanna?" Mira asked.

"Now that you mention it..." Lucy trailed off.

"Who's Lisanna-sama?"

"She's my little sister."

"What?!" Cosmos said in shock.

"This magic is..." Kamika realized.

"Take Over... She uses fantastic magic."

"That's Mirajane's other form!" Carla noticed.

"Satan Soul!" Happy said. "Inside of her is the strongest wizard, Mirajane Sitri!"

Mira smirked. "Certainly, that girl is..." Arcadios trailed off.

"That's right! The former S-Class Wizard, Mira-san!" Lucy finished. "When she uses Take Over, we've got nothing to fear!"

"Well, I fear Mira!" Happy claimed.

"Yeah. She may be the scariest person here." Carla commented.

"Freeze all of them!" Kamika shouted.

"Not today!" Natsu shouted, letting out his breath attack.

"We've got them on the ropes!" Lucy said as plants soon appeared behind Lucy, Yukino, and Arcadios.

"Lucy!"

"We got this!" Ace reassured as both him and Lily sliced at the plants, keeping them from attacking the three.

"Those cats are using swords that can change its size."

"Seems like we've got an all-out battle now." Lily claimed, resting his sword on his shoulder.

"Hey, big cats! I'm gonna melt you down to size!" Knepper claimed.

"Just try it!" Ace exclaimed.

"I'm gonna cut you down the middle!" Lily added.

Kamika raised a piece of purple confetti. "Confetti... Purple Dance!" She called out.

Purple confetti soon appeared on everyone. "What the...?!" Natsu stated.

"I can't move!" Mira exclaimed.

"Is it this paper's fault?!" Lucy wondered.

"It's Anomalous Conditions Magic!" Fera informed.

"Purple paper is the god of binding." Kamika said.

"And now we can do a beautiful combo, Grow Flow!" Cosmos called out as a plant with a blue tip sprouted up and opened.

"It's huge!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Is that a plant?!" Wendy questioned.

"Summoning-type magic?!" Lucy added.

"Feast on the criminals' lives." Cosmos said as the wind began to pick up and they began to go into the air.

"We're being sucked in!" Lily said.

"Getting away? Oh, well, you don't have what it takes to beat me anyway." Knepper claimed.

"Bastard!" Lily stated.

"Yukino!"

Mira grabbed onto Yukino. "Wendy!"

"Right! I'll free your bodies of paralysis!" Wendy said. "Anomalous Conditions Healing Magic... Laser!"

Everyone's bodies soon began to have a green glow. "We're glowing..." Lucy noticed.

The purple paper disappeared. "It worked!" Natsu said.

"All right, I can move!" Lily said.

"But now that!" Lucy informed, referring to the plant.

"What do we do?!" Lily asked.

"Only one thing we can do! Destroy it!" Natsu answered.

"Okay!" Everyone agreed.

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu shouted.

"Wait! I have a bad feeling about this!" Lucy stated.

An explosion soon appeared as Hisui was looking out towards the stadium.

"Is that true?!"

"We just received the report!"

"That sounds promising."

"We don't need to worry anymore!"

"Princess! The Garou Knights went in to execute the criminals!"

Hisui soon turned around at the mention of the executioners, a worried look etched on her face.

"No one can escape them!"

"They're the kingdom's strongest executioners!"

"All of my plans are backfiring." Hisui clenched her gloved fist. "Please be safe, Arcadios."

Back in the Hell Palace, Natsu sat up from the destruction. "We fell another long way." He muttered. "Hey! Is everybody okay?!"

"It seems that shockwave scattered everyone. But my knights are highly capable. None of your people will live to go home."

"If Lucy and I get separated here, what's the point anymore?" Natsu asked. "Sorry, but I need to put off our fight. Although I guess you won't go for that, huh? I'll ask your name at least."

"I don't give my name to criminals."

Fera and Wendy were walking together. "Everyone! Where are you?!" Wendy called out.

"It seems whatever Natsu-san did separated everyone." Fera noticed.

"What should we do? I don't see signs of anyone else." Wendy stated.

"Beautiful..." Cosmos appeared on a plant, getting Fera and Wendy's attention. "No. Sweet rather than beautiful. But I'm going to execute you."

Lily and Ace came face to face with Knepper. "Dammit! I got separated from everyone. Stupid of me!" Lily scolded himself.

"Now we gotta deal with this guy." Ace stated.

Knepper laughed. "Right now, neither Lucy nor Yukino can use their Celestial Spirit Magic. We have to settle this quick and then go off to help them!" Lily said as Ace agreed with him.

"What's that? Huh?" Knepper taunted as his bottle glowed. "Settle this quick?"

"Lucy! Yukino! Where are you?!" Mira called out. "This is no good. It looks like I'm totally separated from them."

Confetti soon fell as Kamika appeared behind Mira. "You need to be paying attention." Kamika said.

"Kamika-san, is that right? Do you know where my friends went?" Mira asked.

"Yes, I know. To the afterlife." Kamika replied.

Happy was falling down some rocks. "Ouchie..." He muttered.

"What is this? Jeez..." Carla mumbled.

"Natsu went overboard!" Lucy whined.

"I wish I could say I'm surprised. But after hearing some things about him, I'm really not..." Drake commented.

"I wonder how far we've fallen." Carla said.

"Is this Hell Palace too?" Happy questioned.

"Are we separated from everybody else? That can't be good, right?" Lucy asked.

"And of all things, for the ones who can't use magic to end up together..." Carla replied.

"I can use magic, but if we're attacked, then we're screwed." Drake stated.

"Without our keys, we can't summon Celestial Spirits." Yukino pointed out.

"Let's search for the others." Happy suggested. "If we don't meet up with them, we'll be..."

Happy began to get raised in the air. "Happy?" Lucy questioned.

"What are you playing at?" Carla asked.

"I'm not playing! My body is floating on its own!" Happy replied as they spotted it was Uosuke's doing.

"Him!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Caught you-tai!" Uosuke claimed.

"I'm not a fish!" Happy said.

"Tai? Liar!"

"I'm a cat! How can you see me as a fish?"

"You're hiding fish!" Uosuke said as a fish appeared from Happy's backpack.

"Cut it out! That's for my lunch!" Happy shouted as Lucy, Yukino, and Drake sweat dropped.

"What's with that guy? Even among those executioners, he's high-spirited." Lucy commented.

"The same level as Happy!" Carla said.

"But..." Yukino trailed off.

"W-What?!" Happy questioned.

"Release!" Uosuke released Happy, causing him to let go of his fish and being sent to a wall.

"Happy!"

"What's he doing?!" Carla wondered.

"I'm Uosuke the Executioner!" Uosuke introduced himself.

"That's a lovely name." Lucy commented.

"I think we can win this even without magic!" Happy claimed in irritation.

"Could be..." Carla muttered.

"Saying things like that... is gonna make me mad." Uosuke said.

"Hard to hook him..."

"But we may be able to beat him yet. He seems like the weakest link." Lucy stated. "Yukino, can you fight?"

"Yes. I've been trained for combat, even without magic." Yukino responded.

Drake took out his rapier. "I'll aide you two the best I can." He said.

"N-No. Don't do it!" Arcadios warned, causing Lucy, Yukino, and Drake to turn around.

"Arcadios-sama..." Yukino mumbled.

"You mustn't fight him! He's... Uosuke is... a terrifying wizard who doesn't even leave behind the bones of the people he executes." Arcadios said.

"That?" Lucy questioned, not believing it.

"You're making me mad!" Uosuke claimed.

"Jeez. I knew Natsu was wreckless, but not that wreckless." Lucas mumbled to himself as he walked next to Sting.

Sting chuckled. "Are you really surprised though?"

Lucas hummed. "Good point." He took a look around. "It seems we got separated from the group. We should go look for everyone else."

"Yeah." Sting agreed.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Lucas and Sting turned around as they faced Soren. "Kama-san won't like it if this mission fails. I'll make your execution quick and painless." Soren claimed.

Sting and Lucas got into a fighting stance. "Looks like we'll have to get by this kid first." Sting stated.

"Give us your best shot." Lucas smirked challengingly.

"Life is fleeting. Sing of your crimes." Kama said.

"I don't remember doin' anything bad, though..." Natsu stated.

"Put your hand on your heart and look back on your past. I'll give you time to recall your sins."

"Man, you're pushy. I said I don't remember us doin' anything wrong." Natsu claimed.

Back at the stadium, Makarov's body twitched in irritation. "What's wrong, Master?" Romeo asked.

"Nothing. For some reason, I just recalled all the letters of apology I've written. Come to think of it, we've caused our share of problems here and there." Makarov replied.

"Where is this coming from? Don't bring that up now!" Bisca informed.

"What's a 'letter of apology'?" Asuka asked innocently.

"You don't have to know just yet." Alzack responded.

From the God Pegasus stands, Kaiba hummed to himself. "We haven't heard anything since the Rescue Team left. I hope they're okay." He mumbled.

Rialle smiled. "I'm sure they're fine." She tried to reassure him.

Bella nodded in agreeement. "Besides, they got Lucas and Sting with them. All we have to do is be patient." She added.

"If we win here, we'll have an audience with the king and explain everything." Olga reminded before looking at the screen. "The match hasn't progressed."

"That's because the imperial capital is huge, and there aren't many people left." Rosaline explained.

"And only the strong ones managed to get by." Izumi said. "Running into the wrong opponent could suddenly put the team at a disadvantage, so they're probably being careful."

Millianna was peeking through the wall. "No one's here. Okay, okay..." She looked at the scoreboard. "That being said, it's suddenly down to me and Kagura-chan! And the odds are totally against us. What should I do? Maybe I should look for Kagura-chan and team up with her..."

Millianna then noticed a cat nearby. "A cat! Come here, kitty-kitty-kitty! So cute! Come here, I said!" She exclaimed, unaware that Minerva was watching her.

"Criminal, are you prepared? It's time for your execution." Kama said.

"I got no choice then. The only way to get by you is kickin' your ass!" Natsu claimed, getting into a fighting stance as Kama took out his swords with Natsu barely dodging on time.

"This guy..." Natsu trailed off as he leaped into the air.

"Why do you dodge me?" Kama questioned.

"It's the normal thing to do!" Natsu answered.

"I'm only after the heads of criminals." Kama claimed.

"You're a scary son of a bitch." Natsu commented.

"No. A criminal like you who doesn't recognize his own sins is what's scary." Kama stated.

"Are you still harping on that?!" Natsu asked, charging forward.

Knepper slammed his acid-covered fist on the ground as Lily and Ace were able to dodge just in time. "What's wrong? Weren't you gonna cut me in half?" He taunted.

"Magic acid is a pain in the ass. I can't defend it with my sword!" Lily said.

"True. We are at a disadvantage." Ace agreed.

"My acid can melt anything! Soon enough, those swords will be puddles!" Knepper stated.

"Is the source of this magic the contents of that bottle? Although it doesn't look like he's gonna run out... Anyway, Ace and I can't win this if we don't get close!" Lily thinks to himself.

"Melt! Melt!" Knepper exclaimed as both Lily and Ace hid.

"You don't know when to give up! But prepare yourself... for execution!" Knepper slams his fist on the ground, melting it as Lily and Ace leaped into the air, ready to strike at him. "Are we playing hide-and-seek?!"

"Even when you're at a disadvantage," Lily began.

"you should use that to your advantage!" Ace finished.

"You're naive!" Knepper insulted as the ground split. "Petty tricks don't work on me. You can't run or hide! And now Knepper-sama is going to melt you!"

Red confetti surrounded Mira. "I remember you. The Demon, Mirajane. You used to be an S-Class wizard, right? But you're totally different from the rumors I heard. I heard you were extremely strong and scary." Kamika said.

"I don't understand. You can use all this multi-colored magic and you're an executioner?" Mira questioned.

"What? You're going to lecture me instead of fight? That's pretty cheeky for a criminal. I'm going to give you the rough treatment before sending you to the other side." Kamika claimed while smirking.

Plants charged forward at both Wendy and Fera, causing them to leap into the air and dodge. "I'm Cosmos. What's your name, beautiful criminals?" Cosmos introduced herself.

"I'm Wendy Marvell!"

"Fera Mandibula!"

"Oh, those are lovely names. I'll remember them. Even after I execute you, Wendy-san, Fera-san." Cosmos claimed.

"That's not going to happen. I'm also a Fairy Tail wizard." Wendy said.

"After we take you down, we're going to look for everyone else." Fera concluded.

Cosmos laughed. "Then I shall also fulfill my duty as an executioner." She stated as roots grew around Wendy and Fera.

"What is this?!" Wendy wondered as plums soon appeared. "D-Dried plums?"

"Too bad! They resemble dried plums, but they're different. They're magical fruit, so fill up!" Cosmos said.

The plums soon attacked Wendy and Fera. "Oh! Maybe you hate sour food?" Cosmos guessed, causing Wendy to halt in her tracks.

"N-No. That's not true. I love... dried plums!" Wendy replied.

"I'm glad to hear it! I love things that taste sour, too! Incidentally, this fruit is ten times more sour than dried plums." Cosmos informed, taking a bite of the plum.

"Ten times?! It's that sour?!" Wendy exclaimed.

Cosmos lips puckered. "I can't get enough of this sourness!" She stated. "Here, you try one, too! Come on! Come on!"

"Wendy, pull yourself together!" Fera told her.

Uosuke stomped on the ground. "Topography effect! Lava zone!" He called out. The ground trembled before turning red.

"Something's coming!" Lucy informed.

"Yes!" Yukino nodded.

"Be on guard!" Drake warned.

"Carla..."

"What is this? The ground is..." Carla looked around.

"...burning?!" Arcadios finished.

The ground soon split, causing lava to appeared through the cracks as Drake, Lucy, and Yukino were separated.

"Yukino! Lucy! Drake!" Arcadios called out as he got separated as well.

The three of them hung onto one of the rocks. "Shit!" Drake cursed.

"There they are!" Carla noticed. "Hold on!"

"We're on our way!" Happy added.

Uosuke caught Happy and Carla. "He caught me again!" Happy exclaimed.

"I'm not a fish either!" Carla complained.

"Topography effect! Gravity zone!" Uosuke shouted, sending Happy and Carla to the ground.

"Happy! Carla!" Lucy cried out.

"Body's... heavy..." Happy managed to get out.

"Is this gravity-manipulating magic?" Carla wondered.

"Yukino, Drake, hang in there!" Lucy told them.

"Okay! But if we put some muscle into it, I think the rock is going to give way." Yukino informed.

"Criminals will be executed and not even their bones will be left behind-tai!" Uosuke exclaimed.

"Lucy! Yukino!" Arcadios called, watching from a separate slab of rock.

Lucy, Yukino, and Drake's boots began to burn. "What do I do? I can teleport Lucy and Yukino using my portals, but every rock is sinking into the lava! There's no safe place to land them!" Drake noted.

"Stay alive! You two are our only hope!" Arcadios claimed.

"Arcadios-sama..." Yukino muttered.

"You're talking about that again at a time like this?!" Lucy scolded. "Sorry, but I'm not going to help you with that!"

Arcadios began to walk forward. "Eclipse won't work without both of you. For that sake..." Arcadios stepped into the lava. "...I would gladly pay with my life!"

"What are you doing?!" Lucy questioned.

"Are you stupid? You'll die!" Drake exclaimed.

Arcadios continued to walk through the lava towards the three of them.

A/N: Another chapter is completed!

Thanks for reading!

~ Kaleb.