Using the speed of her Black Wing Armor, Erza flew forward, aiming a slash towards the powered up Rugal. Unfortunately for Erza, Rugal had easily dodged the incoming slash, and pulled his arm back, slamming it into her exposed stomach, causing her eyes to widen. Rugal then turned, landing a powerful roundhouse kick to her side, sending Titania away. "Like I said…You cannot defeat me in my own world…"
"That's what you think!" Skye exclaimed as she swung her Claymore at Rugal once again, but he dodged by moving to the side, allowing the blade to create a crevasse in the ground. "No!" Rugal swung his katana with the intent to kill, but Skye decided to abandon her trusty blade for a few seconds so she could dodge the hit, rolling off to the side. "Ugh…"
Now in her Giant's Armor, Erza reared her large fist back, throwing it to Rugal's head, but Rugal quickly dodged this as well, now allowing a portal to appear in front of Erza, allowing her armto go through it. "What…!?"
"Look out!" Skye exclaimed as she ran forward picking her Claymore off the ground and swung it at the somewhat distracted Rugal, almost landing a hit, but he just barely managed to evade the slash. This allowed Erza to pull her arm back before the portal closed on it, and stand next to Skye. "I have an idea…"
"What is it?" Erza asked while keeping her attention on Rugal.
"Jump into the air, I'll take care of the rest," Skye replied.
"Alright…" Erza nodded, changing once again into her Black Wing armor, and took off into the sky.
"Perfect…" Skye then placed her hand on the ground, using her Blue Lightning Magic; she sent a surge of this paralytic lightning through the ground, sending it towards Rugal.
"Lightning Magic…one of those is a diversion…" Rugal looked up, noticing Erza on standby, so he quickly figured out that the lightning was most likely going to leave him open for a few seconds. He swung his katana at the air, sending a large wind slash towards Erza while the blue lightning struck, shocking him in place. "W-What…What kind of lightning is this…I can't move anything…?"
Erza shifted her body to the side, avoiding the incoming wind slash. Once she saw that Rugal was open, she dove forward, blade held back, and performed a simple slash across Rugal's chest, causing Rugal to stumble back after. "He's still standing…!?" Erza thought, surprised that someone could take such a slash and still stand.
"No way…!" Skye's eyes widened just a little, but she kept her guard up.
"It was a nice attempt…" Rugal said as he straightened himself up, ignoring the pain from the gash on his chest. "But I'm afraid that you'll have to do much better than that if you want to defeat this Tartaros Mage…" Rugal then raised his arms, creating a portal under Skye; this portal slowly dragged Skye under, despite her attempts to claw her way out. "I must commend you for your team work, however…so, as a reward for getting this far, I will show you the Endless Abyss…"
"Skye…!" Erza quickly rushed over to Skye, just barely grabbing onto her hand, attempting to pull her up.
"And just as I thought, you left yourself open…" Rugal chuckled slightly as he reared his katana back once again, slashing it against the air as forcefully as he could, sending a massive wind slash through the air towards the distracted Erza and Skye. Erza managed to pull Skye out of the incoming abyss, but before she could react to the wind slash, it slammed into both requip mages, sending their now bloodied bodies tumbling across the ground of the alternate dimension, a bloodcurdling scream escaping the lips of both females. "I'll ask you once again, do you wish to give up and receive a painless death?"
"N-Never…" Erza replied as she pushed herself up, blood dripping from her sides. A bright light appeared around her body as she entered her Lightning Empress Armor, holding the spear tightly, sprinting towards Rugal.
"S-Same here…" The brunette, Skye, said as she stood up slowly, pointing her had forward, shooting another surge of blue lightning towards Rugal.
"You won't get me with that trick again…" Rugal smirked confidently as a portal appeared in front of him, taking in the blue lightning. Rugal then opened a portal above him, but it was angled at Erza, now shooting the blue lightning towards her. "This was fun…but I'm afraid I have other matters to attend to…"
"You fell for it…" Erza whispered with a smirk. Erza swung her electric spear at the incoming Blue Lightning, allowing that, and the regular electricity to surge around the spear, much to Rugal's surprise.
"W-What?!" Rugal's eyes widened once he realized the trap he had fallen for.
With a battle cry, Erza jumped forward, stabbing Rugal in the chest with the spear; only seconds passed before the electricity discharged into Rugal's body, causing him to release a scream of pain. Erza then pulled out the spear, and Rugal fell to the ground, unconscious. This caused his dimension to faded, returning the three back to Tartaros Castle. "H-He's defeated…"
"There you are…" Taya said as she walked into the room, glancing over Erza and Skye. "What happened to you two…?"
"Rugal…" Skye replied, pointing to the unconscious Rugal.
"He was always a trick one…" Taya replied as she looked around. "I've been unable to find anyone, it's like their S classes just vanished…"
"Well, you're bound to find someone over there…" Skye said as she pointed to the three pathways that led into/out of the room.
Erza changed back into her regular armor with a single sword on her person. "Let's split up then…"
.
.
"Chelia, snap out of it!" Cynthia shouted as she threw a flaming punch at Chelia, but the sky god managed to dodge, now throwing her own leg at Cynthia's side, but Cynthia jumped back, just barely avoiding the hit.
"There's nothing to snap out of…" Chelia replied as she quickly spun around counterclockwise, causing a ring of black wind to expand and strike Cynthia, Wendy, and Meredy, sending them all away from her.
"This can't be the same girl from the Grand Magic Games…" Meredy exclaimed as he quickly stood up, though a little dizzy. Meredy raised her hand, causing multiple blue blades to appear around her; she then threw her arm forward, sending the sensory blades at Chelia.
Chelia swiped her arms down, creating a wall of black wind with an outward force in front of her, deflecting the sensory blades away from her. "I got you!" Cynthia said as she slid to a stop to Chelia's right, throwing a flaming hook at her face. The hit landed with Chelia's cheek, not only leaving a burn mark, but it caused Chelia to stumble back a few steps. "Now stop playing games!"
"This isn't a game…" Chelia replied with a sort of monotonous tone as she spread her arms out, only to cross them into an X, sending multiple blades of black wind towards Cynthia.
"Watch out!" Wendy exclaimed as she puffed her cheeks out, unleashing a quick Sky Dragon's Roar on the incoming blades, managing to destroy them before they struck Cynthia. "Chelia, this isn't funny…"
"She's not joking around…" Meredy replied to Wendy. "She's really serious…"
"Holding back won't do us good here, Wendy. We have to fight!" Cynthia replied as she jumped forward, aiming a dark red flaming kick towards Chelia, but Chelia countered with her own attack, bringing up a quick gust of black wind to deflect Cynthia's kick elsewhere. "And she has to snap out of it before we really hurt her!"
"Sky God's…" Chelia started as her cheeks began to inflate.
"Watch out!" Aira cried out.
"Bellow!" Chelia called out, unleashing a raging current of black wind towards the three females, but they all managed to dodge the attack just in the nick of time.
"Roar of the Omega Fire Dragon!" Cynthia shouted, unleashing her own funnel of dark red fire at Chelia.
Chelia quickly crossed her arms, taking the brunt of Cynthia's roar, not allowing herself to show any signs of pain. She then ran forward, her arms extended, and when she reached Cynthia, she twisted her torso in a clockwise motion. "Sky God's Dance!"
"Fudge…" Was the only thing Cynthia had to say as the spiraling vortex of black wind literally shot her up into the air, and into the ceiling.
"Cynthia!" Wendy shouted out, but taking her attention off Chelia was a mistake as Chelia unleashed a Sky God's Boreas in her direction, engulfing the sky dragon before shooting her into the wall.
"This isn't good…" Meredy had a sweat drop form on her head. "She's literally showing no mercy…" Meredy then formed yet another sensory blade, but instead of sending towards Chelia, she ran forward with it, swinging it multiple times at the corrupted Sky God slayer, only managing to graze Chelia at a few points, but the grazes were effective since they did damage her.
Cynthia landed on the ground with a thud before sitting up, watching as Meredy held off Chelia. "Wait a second…" Cynthia narrowed her eyes, noticing Chelia's injuries, which was weird. "She…She hasn't healed herself yet…and she's had plenty of chances to…What's going on here!?"
.
.
An explosion of black flames destroyed a portion of the castle. When the smoke of the explosion cleared, Zancrow was seen with a confused look. "What…? Where'd they all go!? They were just here a second ago…?" Zancrow continued to look around, only to notice Orga standing a ways away from him. "Who the hell are you?" He asked in a demanding tone as he pointed a finger at Orga.
"Lightning God Slayer of Sabertooth!" Orga replied with a shout. "We've come to rescue Yukino, so tell me where she is this instant!"
"…Who?" Zancrow just blinked a few times, shrugging off that and everything else after. "Lightning God slayer? You don't look fit to be a God Slayer; I saw your performance in the Grand Magic Games. You lost to the fire Gecko."
"That isn't important right now! I want to know where Yukino is!" Orga shouted.
"Ha! Like I'd tell you!" Zancrow replied as black fire ignited on his hands. Though he didn't know where Yukino was or who she even was, Zancrow just wanted a fight, since he was robbed of one by Twilight Zone. "Flame God's Iron Knuckle!" Zancrow exclaimed as he rushed forward, swinging his fist at Orga's midsection.
"Gh…!" Orga didn't expect any answers to come easily from Zancrow, so he allowed his black lightning to surround his fist, and he met Zancrow in the middle, the black fire and lightning booming throughout the room. Orga managed to land some hits on Zancrow, which caused his midsection area to go somewhat numb, the flame slayer ignored the lack of feeling and continued his assault. Zancrow swung another black flaming fist at Orga's face, which connected, causing Orga to stumble back.
"Ha!" Zancrow grinned, continuing his onslaught as he threw a punch at Orga's stomach, chest, and finished it off with a flaming roundhouse to Orga's side, sending the lightning god slayer rolling into the nearby wall. "Is that all you have to offer!"
"Of course not!" Orga replied as he stood up, using his knuckle to rub his chin. Black lightning then sparked around his body, quickly focusing around his forearms. "Lightning God's Particle Cannon!" Orga threw his hands forward, throwing a powerful burst of black lightning towards Zancrow, the ground it traveled over splitting open.
"Heheh…." Zancrow merely grinned at the incoming attack; this was something he had been wanting to try ever since he witnessed the birth of the Black Sky God, which was created by Chelia harnessing the Black God Slayer magic Diana had given her, and since he saw Natsu enter his Lightning Flame Mode. Plus, Zancrow was crazy enough anyway. Zancrow merely entered a boisterous laughter as the Lightning God's Particle Cannon collided with him, causing an electric explosion.
"Laughing in the face of defeat…takes all kinds I suppose…" Orga said as he shook off what he could of the burning sensation from Zancrow's attack. "He didn't give me any answers however…" Orga sighed, but before he could go any more, he saw that the lightning from the explosion began to shrink, as though it were funneling off somewhere. "What…?"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Zancrow's laugh shattered the silence as he ate Orga's Lightning God Slayer Magic, black fire and lightning flaring and sparking wildly around his body as he laughed. "Oh, this power is excellent…!"
"He ate it…!?" Orga took a step back, but fortunately for Orga, it seemed that Zancrow wasn't paying attention to him anymore.
"Time to try this new power out!" Zancrow grinned before allowing the black fire and lightning to surround his fist. "Iron Knuckle of the Lightning Flame God!" Zancrow slammed his dual elemental fist into the ground, shattering it as though it were frail brittle, also causing an eruption of black lightning and flames to erupt from the spot, the sheer force of it blowing Orga away. "HAHAHAHAHA!" Zancrow continued to laugh, blowing a hole through the Tartaros Castle wall, making his way out to cause destruction. "With this power I will be unstoppable!"
Orga sat up while groaning, rubbing his head. "Oh…That isn't good…"
.
.
"Ugh…What's going on…?" Heather asked as she regained consciousness slowly. When she awoke, she saw that she was outside the runes, next to Kairi, Mirajane, and Skye. "What…what are you guys doing here…?"
"We came to help you and Luke out but…" Kairi started as she pointed to the battle currently under way.
"Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Luke exclaimed as he swung his dual coated fist at Blake, who quickly blocked the hit by bringing up his forearm. Luke quickly jumped back, allowing ice and lightning to cover his leg as he swung it quickly at Blake, who jumped back, but the kick shattered the ground under. "Ugh!"
"Luke, what are you doing?!" Skye shouted as she banged on the runes blocking the way, unable to get through them. "You can't win that fight!"
"…I think he knows that…" Mirajane replied as she leaned against the wall to support her injured leg.
"Then why is he still fighting…!?" Skye asked, looking towards Mirajane for an answer.
"Don't you see it?" Diana asked while she swung a weak kick at Luke, but the kick itself was still powerful, so the force sent Luke tumbling across the ground. "He's buying you time to escape, and you're wasting it. Then again, it's not like it matters in the end…"
"G-Gah…" Luke picked himself up slowly, swaying from side to side as he struggle dto keep his balance. "Man…You guys are stubborn…"
"You think we'd just leave you?" Kairi asked.
"I wasn't talking about you guys…" Luke replied to Kairi. "I meant these assholes who think they can call themselves my parents."
"Oh?" Diana raised a brow, somewhat amused. "We're the stubborn ones?"
"Yup…very…" Luke smirked slightly as his cheeks began to puff out, fire and lightning swirling around his cheeks. "Roar…"
"He's asking for it…" Blake chuckled as his own cheeks puffed out, white energy forming around it. "White God's…"
"Blake God's…" Diana followed up as her own cheeks puffed out, black energy forming around her cheeks."
"Of the lightning flame dragon!" Luke exclaimed as he threw his head forward, unleashing a large funnel of fire and lightning towards the duel god slayers.
"Bellow!" The two god slayers exclaimed, sending a vortex of black and white energy that ended up merging into a unison raid halfway through at Luke. The black and white bellow clashed with the lightning flame roar, easily overpowering the roar, and slammed into Luke, creating a massive explosion. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, Luke was face down on the ground, motionless.
"Luke…!" The three females of White Eclipse mumbled under their breath, their eyes wide from shock.
.
.
Lucy, Yukino, and Happy (who was carrying an unconscious Sherry) ran into a room with four entrances. When those three stepped through the corridor, a set of runes popped up, preventing them from going back. "More runes…" Lucy groaned.
A few seconds later, an injured Erza made her way through a separate corridor, arriving in the same room as those three, a similar set of runes popping up. "Huh…? Lucy!"
"Erza!" Lucy's eyes lit up with excitement at the sight of seeing her friend. "Where are the others?! Has Natsu come back yet…?! I heard he's…"
"Dead?" Byron asked as he walked into the room with his Explosive Hammer. "Yup, it's true, I did see it myself."
"It's that guy again…" Lucy narrowed her eyes at Byron.
"I don't care if you have Natsu's scarf, I refuse to believe he was beaten that easily!" Happy shouted.
"You don't have to believe it; you'll see it for yourself when I kill ya!" Byron replied, wasting no time in slamming his hammer on the ground, creating chain of magic circles that reached Erza, Lucy, and Yukino; the magic circles then unleashed violent explosions that uprooting the ground.
"Watch out!" Yukino exclaimed as she, Lucy, Erza, and Happy dove out of the way.
"Happy, keep Sherry safe!" Lucy exclaimed as she went to pull out a key. "Gate of the Maiden, I open thee! Virgo!" With that, Virgo appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Is it punishment time, Princess?" Virgo asked.
"No!" Lucy pointed over at Byron. "Take him out!"
"As you wish, Princess," Virgo nodded before drilling into the ground.
"Eh, I heard about that one…" Byron thought to himself as he watched Virgo dig into the ground, however Erza wasn't going to allow him to think of any counters as she rushed forward, swinging dual blades at Byron. "Whoa now!" Byron shouted as his Explosive Hammer vanished, and he requipped into his own swords entering close combat with Erza. The two mages were evenly matched as Erza parried most of Byron's slashes, defended against the others, and just dodged the rest, and of course, the same held true for Byron. "I see you've gotten better!" Byron smirked, but his smirk vanished when he felt the ground under him literally cave in, causing his leg to fall in a hole. "What the shit!?"
"It has been done, Princess," Virgo said as she appeared next to Lucy.
"Nice job, Vigro!" Lucy said while giving a thumbs up.
"Tch…!" Byron grunted as Erza swung a vertical slice, but he managed to parry Erza's sword away, and aim a slash at her, but she dodged it by jumping back a few feet. Byron quickly pulled his leg out of the hole Virgo created, now realizing he was standing on thin ground. "Hn…"
"Gate of the Heavenly Scales, I open thee! Libra!" Yukino exclaimed as the gravity manipulating spirit appeared. "Libra, increase the gravity on him!" Libra nodded, and in the next instant, Byron was crouching down due to the increase in gravity.
Seeing this opportunity, Erza changed into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, flying up into the air as she summoned a wheel of swords above her. "Blummenbalt!" Erza pointed her arms forward as she sent the swords hurtling towards Bryon, only to charge after the swords with two of them in her hand, ready to slash at him.
"Gravity, huh…?" Byron chuckled as a heavenly glow appeared around his body. He changed into his Gravity Suit and Gravity Hammer, using his Suit to lightning the gravity around his person. "Try this!" Bryon exclaimed as he swung his hammer to the left, changing the trajectory of the incoming swords to Lucy, Virgo, Yukino, and Libra. Byron then swung his hammer at the incoming Erza, but she quickly moved to the left, only to find that the swung was a feint, and the gravity drew her in, which left her open to a powerful swing that sent her into the nearest wall.
"Princess, watch out!" Virgo exclaimed as she quickly used the chains around her arm to swat some of the swords away, but she wasn't able to get them all, so one stabbed her in the stomach, causing her to wince. The other swords cut Lucy, Yukino, and Libra.
"V-Virgo! Go back for now, you did need to rest…" Lucy nodded as she forced gate closure on Virgo.
"You too, Libra…" Yukino stated as she forced a gate closure on Libra. "I don't have any magic left…"
"Shame…" Bryon chuckled as he slammed his hammer on the ground, increasing the gravity tenfold, bringing Lucy, Yukino, and Erza to their knees.
"I-I can't move..!" Lucy shouted as she struggled to move.
"N-Neither can I…" Yukino struggled to say.
"Happy…?" Lucy attempted to look over at the blue exceed, but it seemed he was having trouble attempting to lift off.
"This was fun," Byron said as he walked over to the first girl, Lucy. He raised his boot as a heavenly glow appeared on it, just requipping into one Power Boot. "But, I gotta do what I gotta do, right?"
"No…stop…!" Yukino pleaded.
"Oh, don't worry, you'll be next!" Bryon grinned at Yukino before turning to Erza. "And you, I'll enjoy what I have planned for you…" Byron then turned his attention back to Lucy, and brought his foot down, but before he could, a fist slammed into his face; not just any fist, a flaming fist. The impact causing Byron to fly back, but he used his suit to regain control of himself. "Who the hell?! W-Wait…that's not…possible…!"
In front of Lucy, there he stood. His black vest wavering slightly as he landed on his feet, a noticeable small scar on his chest, but he stood, glaring at Byron. "I told you I'd make you pay…"
Lucy looked up at the person who saved her, only for her eyes to widen with surprise and delight. "Natsu…!"
"NO! I KILLED YOU!" Byron shouted.
"Almost," Natsu admitted as his mind flash backed to the part where Byron threw his weakened body off the cliff.
{Flash back}
The last thing Natsu saw was himself falling to the ground, but the last thing he felt was something grabbing onto him. He blacked out shortly after. When he awoke, he noticed a bandage wrapped around his chest, and an exceed sipping some tea. "Huh...?"
"Oh, you're awake!" Hiruka grinned as he stood up, spreading his wings.
"You're..." Natsu started as he tried to put his finger on the name of the exceed before him.
"Daryan's exceed, yup, yup!" Hiruka nodded. "You see. Tartaros is currently making their move, and your guild has already gone off to fight them! Yeah, you've been out for that long, you're lucky I was flying to Magnolia when I noticed your battle! You lost, by the way, that's a shame...And your scarf was taken too..."
"You talk a lot..." Natsu said as he stood up, ripping the bandages off. "He's gonna pay..." Natsu nodded as he looked around, starting to sniff the air, picking up on Lucy's scent. "There we go..."
"I'll head back to Magnolia, you go and kick some butt, aye?" Hiruka asked as he started to lift off into the air.
"Aye!" Natsu nodded, darting off towards Tartaros Castle.
{End Flashback}
"Now..." Natsu cracked his knuckles, his orange flames flaring around his body. "It's time to pay you back...100 times over..."