I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.
XenoLucifer: Yeah, I thought it would be fun, so I figured why not. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that no one has commented on it before now.
Ragnas Bredvolts: Hey no need to rush yourself on these things, take as much time as you need to. Yes, Lightning Sea King Dragon Mode. It's common knowledge that water is highly capable of conducting electricity. If you like that, just wait until you see what I plan to have Luke bust out during the Tenrou Island arc. Yes, I can imagine that Luke would be made about Jellal actually killing someone who once considered him a friend. As for Ikaruga, well to be honest I never really thought much of her. She was there to give Erza some character development and she did her job, that's all there is to it. In the end, Luke was the one who defeated Jellal, but I promise you Natsu and Gray will be getting their fair share of the spotlight when we start with the Battle of Fairy Tail next chapter, and we finally get to have a look at the other user of Lightning Dragon Slayer magic in this story. That's all I have to say for now, I hope I continue meeting your expectations, and you have a nice day as well my friend.
Ragnas Bredvolts (Again): Yeah, as much as I love writing Luke's character, it's going to be interesting to have him on the sidelines this time around. Bickslow vs Loke was sort of a challenge to write out, but for the record I did some research on that and he is still capable of using the Regulus, just not at full power. Erza vs Evergreen, that one is pretty straightforward when you think about it. As for Freed, well let's just say I have the perfect person to go up against him to make up for the absence of Mira and her Satan Soul. It won't be Lisanna though, I mean I did consider having her do it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wouldn't really work. As for Natsu and Gray vs Laxus, yep that's going to be the final showdown of this flashback arc. However, I can't include a "Frozen Flame Dragon Mode" as you called it because Gray doesn't use Dragon Slayer Magic. But regardless, I hope you like what I bring to the table. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well.
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"In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."
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Erza bolted through the streets of Magnolia as fast as she could, her mind racing 'I can't waste any time, I have to find Laxus and the others before it's too late.'
"Hey Erza." that was when a few random civilian got her attention "That's one hell of a crazy getup you've got on. You know we saw a bunch of guys from your guild fighting a little while ago, you think you could ask them to stop wrecking the town?"
"Oh, well please don't be too hard on them. They're just preparing for the big parade and they're letting the excitement get to them, you know the usual for our guild."
"I don't see what that has to do with fighting."
"I promise, it will be a show you'll never forget."
"I'll take your word for it then, just try to clean up after yourseles okay?"
"We will, I promise!" and then she promptly ran off again.
"Well at least she's polite."
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Erza continued running through the streets in search of the Thunder Legion, only to be forced to evade a sudden barrage of magic energy blasts 'I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that this is the one I run into first.'
Sure enough, Evergreen was standing on a rooftop in front of Erza, looming over her and looking down on her with a look of overconfident disdain "My my, now that is odd. I do seem to recall turning you into a statue. Well I suppose it doesn't matter, this gives me a legitimate excuse to torment you further."
"So you're picking a fight with me then?"
"You're quite the irksome one, and they call you Titania, the Queen of the Fairies? Well that's nothing more than a farce, I'm the true Queen of the Fairies."
"I think we'll see about that soone enough!" Erza promptly requipped one of her swords and charged at Evergreen at full speed.
Evergreen dodged every stroke Erza fired at her, leaving her to slice through a water tower instead "We have a score to settle don't we?"
"This saves me the trouble of having to hunt you down I suppose, the sooner I defeat you the sooner the others will be turned back!" Erza charged at her again.
"Aren't you quite confident." Evergreen attempted to use her Stone Eyes magic on her.
"That won't work on me again!" keeping her left eye shut, Erza fired a barrage of slashes from her sword.
Evergreen dodged Erza's attacks and retreated back a short distance "So that heinous artificial eye actually works in your favor, if that's the case then why don't we see if you take a liking to my Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!" she fired off a barrage of magic energy needles.
Erza charged through the barrage of energy needles, cutting through any that were hurtling towards her.
"Try again." Evergreen summoned her wings and flew higher into the air as she fired another barrage of magic needles.
"You coward!" Erza charged after her across the rooftops, cutting through every magic needle being fired directly at her as she did so.
"You're quite adept at deflecting my attacks now aren't you? But I'm just getting started, so I wonder if you can handle twice as many!" she fired an even greater barrage of needles with even greater ferocity.
Erza flashed her swords all over the place to deflect as many energy needles as she could, but a few of them were still able to graze her.
"From this day forth I shall be known as Titania, for I am the true Queen of the Fairies!"
"I think we'll see about that!" Erza requipped some swords onto her feet in order to deflect twice as many needles as before, eventually managing to fight her way forward and throwing them with her feet.
"What in the-" Evergreen wasn't able to react as the swords pierced through her dress and pinned her "Uh…"
"Putting aside your personal character for the moment, you're still a member of Fairy Tail just as the same as everyone else so if you wish to call yourself Titania then feel free to do so. I don't even know who gave me that name in the first place, nor do I care. But now onto more pressing matters, if you cease with this madness and turn the girls back to normal then I give you my word that I will not harm you."
Evergreen took a moment to regain her overconfident facade "You're being a bit naive now aren't you? I'll have you know that my Stone Eyes grant me another ability as well."
"Which is?"
"Remote Control." that was enough to make Erza freeze in place "Drop to your knees and bow before me, if you refuse then I'll use my power to topple your precious little statues and shatter them into pieces!"
"...I see. Well in that case… Requip!" with a flash, Erza promptly Requipped out of her Gothic Lolita outfit… and into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, with dozens of swords hovering overhead "I must admit Evergreen I'm actually quite impressed, I never thought you would be the kind of person who would sacrifice her life for her ideals. If they must be shattered then I will have no other choice but to collect your soul in retribution for their demise."
Evergreen let out a shallow gulp as she began to sweat profusely in fear, and she eventually let out a scream of terror… only to receive a fist smashed into her face in a comical fasion.
"Let this be a lesson, if you're going to bluff then do it right."
"...Alright, you win."
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With a flash, the stone bodies of Lisanna and the others returned to normal, alive and well but highly confused "What… What happened to us? I can't remember, I mean I was backstage but then…"
"Lisanna you're okay!" Natsu pulled her into a tight hug, with Happy promptly flying into her chest sobbing 'Thank you Erza, seriously.'
"Check it out." Gray jerked a thump up at the scoreboard up on the barrier "Evergreen vs Erza, the winner is Erza and Evergreen has been KO'ed."
Makarov gave a smirk of triumph 'Well Laxus it would seem that you're all out of hostages now boy, you can't continue with your game now can you?'
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Meanwhile, with Laxus…
"You failed me…" with a rage filled snarl, Laxus slammed one of his fists into a nearby pillar out of pure frustration "I put my faith in you Evergreen, I trust in you and this is how you return the favor, I come to find out you're weaker than Erza? Dammit!"
"You shouldn't be surprised." that was when Freed appeared behind him "Titania is far more capable than you believe her to be, Bickslow or myself should've been sent after her instead."
"...Why the hell are you here when you should be fighting?"
"Because the game is as good as over now, without any hostages we can no longer force the hand of the Master-" Freed was silenced by a furious glare and a blast of lightning being fired in his direction "What are you doing?"
"This fight isn't over, not by a longshot. If you don't want to follow me then you can just go ahead and get lost, there's no place for weaklings in my Fairy Tail."
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Cana frowned at what she was being told by the others "He called it the Battle of Fairy Tail? It sounds to me like Laxus really outdid himself this time around."
"At any rate it's over now." Makarov told them "I only played along with his foolish game because your lives were in danger, but now that you're all safe I have no intention of indulging him any further than I already have."
"Master, we can't let him get away with what he's doing." Lisanna pointed out "What he's doing isn't only dangerous, but it's hurting a lot of people."
"Oh you don't need to worry about that, when I see him next I'm going to give that boy a punishment that he'll never forget. He should know better than this, you can mess with me but you can't mess with my guild."
"Hey now hold up a second." Natsu cut off his angry rant "He took Lisanna as a hostage and that's fucked up, but now that that's over with there's no real problem in finding out who's the strongest, so I say we should keep the battle going."
"...Okay speak for everyone here, what the fuck are you going on about?" Gray shot him a look of disbelief.
"Hey for all anybody outside knows we're all just fucking around trying to have some fun for the festival, so let's give them what they love us for and go at it. What the hell are we waiting for, we have me and Gray and enough chicks here to start a brawl so let's get to it!"
"Absolutely not!" Makarov rounded on him in a comical rage "Don't even think about doing something so stupid you nincompoop!"
"I've been stuck to this naked asshole building up pent up energy for almost a day and a half and I've been stuck in here for almost 2 hours, if I don't try to burn something then I'm gonna fucking explode!"
"Give it a rest you moron." Gray smacked him upside the head "You're always looking for an excuse to pick a fight."
"So you don't wanna go at it?"
"Of course I want to bash your skull in, but we have to deal with Laxus first."
"Hey if he wants a fight then he can just come here and fight us himself, either way I need to punch something!"
"You know Natsu, I don't think it's really nice to beat up on girls, especially when they're your friends." Happy pointed out.
"A girl, a guy, a friend, an enemy, I don't give a crap really."
"Hey, keep this up and I'm going to fight you!"
"Screw that Happy, you and Lisanna are the two people I'm not fighting. Gray and pretty much everyone else, I'll blast them in the face."
"You wanna go Pyro?!" Gray rounded on him.
"You're damn right I do Stripper!"
Cana observed their spats from afar, as well as the look that Lisanna was giving Natsu, and so she let out a heavy sigh and downed a bottle of wine 'This doesn't help.'
"You drinking and completely ignoring those two going at it, looks like I came back at just the right time."
Cana glanced over to see Loke entering the guild hall "Yeah, right after all of the chaos settles down."
"Sorry, I was out on a job but I rushed back when I got this seriously bad feeling that something was up. Looks like everything died down though."
"Yeah."
"You're thinking about Luke aren't you?"
"...I'm gonna need a lot more than just regular wine."
"That answers that." Loke looked towards the entrance of the guild hall, only to see the barrier covered by glowing red Rune symbols "Um, hey you guys I'm no expert on Rune spells or anything, but I'm pretty sure that isn't supposed to happen."
"Well that's just great, don't tell me he's up to something else."
"Well if he does then he's going to have to fight all of us this time around."
The red Runes materialized in front of them and took on the appearance of a massive skull, with the voice of Laxus coming through it "Can you hear me Old Man? The rest of you had better listen up too."
"What the hell do you want?" Natsu snarled.
"It looks to me like thanks to Evergreen getting beaten by Erza, one of the rules has gone out the window. That's fine, I'll just compensate for that by adding a new rule. In other words, since I would hate to have to end the Battle of Fairy Tail so early I've decided to activate the Thunder Palace."
That was more than enough to leave Makarov in a mix of fear and rage "Are you completely out of your mind Laxus?!"
"You have 1 hour and 10 minutes left, if you think you can win then you'd better get moving already, unless you're ready to hand the guild over to me now Master." and with one final arrogant laugh, the Rune skull dissipated.
In an instant, Makarov's fear and rage turned into absolute rage "THIS GAME HAS GONE ON FOR LONG ENOUGH BOY, WON'T ALLOW YOU TO DRAG INNOCENT PEOPLE INTO THIS-" his fear subsided as he clutched his chest in pain.
"Gramps are you okay, what the hell is going on?" Gray and Natsu quickly caught Makarov and gently lowered him to the ground "Someone go get his medicine, Natsu and I will take him to the infirmary."
"Just stay with him for now, I'll go get his medicine!" Lisanna quickly rushed off towards the infirmary.
"Gramps can you hear us, just hang in there."
"Hey what the hell did he mean by Thunder Palace?" asked Natsu.
"I don't have a clue, but seeing how freaked out Gramps got I doubt it's anything good."
"Hey you guys, take a look outside!" Loke pointed out the window of the guild hall.
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A few minutes later, on the roof of the guild hall…
Natsu, Gray, Loke and the others gathered on the roof of the guild hall and found several lightning lacrima floating above the city "What in the hell are those things?"
"They look like some kind of lightning lacrima, which means that Laxus is the one who stuck them up there." Gray told him "They're floating all over the city, and sure they may not look dangerous but they're overflowing with lightning magic, which means that this could get seriously ugly."
"So this is that Thunder Palace thing Laxus was talking about?"
"Yeah, and it's surrounding Magnolia."
"But if those things are filled with lightning and he uses that spell then…"
"Yeah, it'll fry everything in the range of its effects, and everyone caught in it will die."
Natsu looked up at the lightning lacrimas, then back at Happy and Lisanna, and the vein in his forehead began throbbing as his body started radiating flames "I'm not letting that happen. Put up an ice shield around them."
"What the hell are you thinking of doing?"
"Blowing those things all the way to hell and back."
"..For once I like the way you think. Ice Make: Dome!" Gray slammed his hands together and summoned an ice dome covering Lisanna, Happy and the others "Go for it."
"As if you had to ask. Fire… Dragon… ROAR!" with a mighty roar, Natsu breathed out a powerful blast of fire at one of the lacrimas, incinerating it on the spot in a blaze of glory, wiping it from existence "That's one down, a fuckload of them to go."
"The problem is, you can't reach all of them from here."
"Doesn't mean I'm not going to try." but it was in that moment that Natsu was suddenly struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, causing him to cry out in agony before falling to the ground, now charred significantly, and he let out a weak cough "What the hell just happened?"
"If I had to guess, I would say that Laxus is protecting those lightning lacrima using some kind of Body Link magic. You just destroyed the thing so Laxus ensured that you would get fried because of it. To dumb it down, if you try to blow up another one of those things then you'll just get fried again."
"Dammit!" Natsu slammed his fist into the barrier "What the hell are we supposed to do if we can't blow those things up? That's our specialty!"
"If we can't stop them then the only thing we can do is take out Laxus before he can set those things off."
"But the problem is that you guys are still stuck here." Cana pointed out.
"Don't remind me, but either way that means we'll have to leave it up to you guys. But in the meantime, some of you should search for Laxus and some of the others should help the people evacuate just to be safe. Bickslow and Freed are still out there though, so be sure to be careful when you do."
"Right, I'll go work on evacuating the citizens." Loke quickly rushed off, with Cana, Bisca and Happy following right behind him.
"I never thought I'd see the day where one of our own would turn on us."
"Tell me about it." Natsu muttered "This is almost as fucked up as this dream I had awhile back about you turning on us and helping this loud mouthed crazy chick build some kind of fake dragon and try to level Magnolia."
"...Why the fuck would you dream about something like that?"
"I don't know, I was high on jerky that night. Still though, I was pissed at first because he tried to use Lisanna but how he's crossing the line!" Natsu leapt over the railing and slammed face first into the barrier "Dammit you fucking coward, if you wanna be the Master so bad then why don't you come here and fight Gramps for it yourself! When I get the hell out of this barrier I'm gonna make you pay for this!"
"Natsu give it a rest!" Gray pulled him backwards "That's not gonna do anything, just call the hell down for a second!"
"I can't calm down, he's gotta pay but I can't do anything to stop him! I hate this fucking invisible wall!"
"Wait a second…" Levy studied the wall for a moment, until realization dawned on her "This is an enchantment!"
"We already knew that Levy, what's your point?"
"I mean it's a kind of script magic, if that's the case then I might be able to break the spell and free Natsu from it so you guys can fight."
"Wait a second, can you do that? Seriously?" asked Gray.
"I should be able to at least try, and when I do the two of you can go track down Laxus."
"And what about the handcuffs?"
"I know I told you guys that they're keyed to my magic power, but even if I released it it would take at least a few hours for them to be released." Lisanna told him.
"Dammit!"
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Laxus barked out a laugh over his own pride "How the fuck do you like that one you pathetic old geezer? Now everybody in this entire fucking town is my hostage!"
This was when Freed finally found his voice again "I think you're taking this too far."
"Too far huh? Not a chance, I'm going to decide just how far is too far! This is a fight to the bitter end, and that means it won't end until one side is completely wiped off the face of the planet!"
"We can still win though Laxus, we don't need any hostages. Please, just stop this before you go too far."
"...Why the hell are you even still here, shouldn't you be out hunting down the other Fairies along with Bickslow? The old man is counting on Erza, so I'll be sure to take care of her myself, and the same goes for Mystogan. In the meantime you can deal with Cana and that cowgirl chick from that western continent, I don't need either of them in my Fairy Tail. Go ahead and just take them out."
"But even if they are our enemies now, we're still in the same-"
"WHEN I GIVE YOU AN ORDER YOU HAD BETTER DO WHAT THE FUCK I TELL YOU TO DO!"
"...We've chosen our path now haven't we? We've passed the point of no return, so now there is no turning back. As you wish Laxus, I will follow you no matter where that road may end up taking me. If you wish for me to exterminate them then so I shall, but keep in mind that their blood will be on your hands."
"Like you said, there's no turning back for us now. It's time for us to sieze the victory, not wallow in the remorse, Freed the Dark."
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Levy was going through one book after another in an attempt to find the solution to undoing the barrier that Freed set up "Let's see, if I can break down the logue letter sequence data into component blocks and then pinpoint the terms used to make up the rules then that leaves me with L-O-S-U. Okay, now if I can convert that into geel grammar."
"You really are something else." Lisanna commented "We're speaking the same language but I honestly can't understand what you're saying. Then again, it doesn't really help that I've always hated studying."
"Wait hold on a second, that's it! The L and S are nothing but bluffs, that means the key code must be Arth!"
"Um, okay…"
"Just hang on, I promise I'll get Natsu and Gray out of here. The two of them might be the only ones who can take down Laxus."
"I know they can. I hate to ask, but can you make sure they get out okay? I need to go and make sure that Elfman is okay."
"Go ahead, I can handle this no problem."
"Thank you Levy, truly." and so Lisanna promptly bolted out of the guild hall as fast as she was able to, her mind racing 'Elfman, please be okay.'
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Cana and Bisca bolted through the streets of Magnolia searching for Laxus, but having little luck in that regard "Dammit, I don't know where else to look."
"Is there some place in the city that he has some sort of serious attachment to, like a brooding spot or something?" asked Bisca.
"Well we've known each other for a long time, a good chunk of which was Luke trying to challenge like and getting his ass handed to him, but with the way he's been acting for the past few years I don't have any sort of clue as to what he's thinking."
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Happy flew after Loke as he ran through the streets of Magnolia "Why can't we just warn everyone over the guild's loudspeaker?"
"You can thank Laxus for that." Loke told him "There's some kind of enchantment on it that prevents anyone from using except for the Master, and that's only if he decides to surrender the guild over to Laxus. Looks like they worked really hard to stab their friends in the back, so either way I guess we'll just have to warn people about all of the crap they've been causing on our own."
"Actually that reminds me Loke, I think maybe it would actually be for the best if we didn't tell them about all of this."
"Why do you say that?"
"There are a ton of people from other towns here for the Harvest Festival, in other words the town is jam packed and everyone is all worked up."
"Of course they're all worked up, they're all worried about those weird things floating in the sky above the city."
"That's what I'm saying, and they'll be even more worried if they find out that those things are filled with lightning magic, so they might end up panicing and hurting each other."
"...Yeah you've actually got a good point, you know you're actually a lot smarter than people give you credit for Happy."
"Yeah!" this was when some certain magic dolls floated down next to him "You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for Happy!"
"Oh crap, Happy get down!" Loke pulled Happy into his arms and took to the rooftops to protect him from the oncoming barrage of magic energy blasts "Those things are Bickslow's minions, which means we've found one of the Thunder Legion."
"Hey what's up Pretty Boy?" that was when Bickslow floated down in front of them "Looks like someone's really been getting into the whole cosplaying gimmick."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"You ever read manga dude? You look amost exactly like Ichigo from Bleach, only somewhat cooler."
"Well at least you have good taste, but I think it's safe to say neither of us are here to do some smalltalk. Where the hell is Laxus?"
"Now why would I answer that Ichigo Kurosaki?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki! Ichigo Kurosaki!"
"Yeah you know it! Alright babies, now it's time for you guys to tear it the hell up!" he had his magic dolls fire a barrage of energy blasts.
"Happy take cover!" Loke tucked and rolled through the barrage while making sure that he was preventing Happy from getting blasted by the magic dolls.
"You know it's too bad, normally I would go easy on you considering I know things about you no one else does, but this here is a war and losing is simply not an option for us."
"Let me just tell you this now Bickslow, if you think the Master is going to let you get away with this then you have another thing coming!"
"The master can go and suck it for all I care, by the time this whole thing is over Laxus will be the new master of the Fairy Tail guild!"
"In your wet dreams you sick creep, and you know something these flying things of yours really get on my nerves! Regulus Gattling Impact!" Loke fired a barrage of energy punches into the air, firing blasts at each of the magic dolls, obliterating them right on the spot.
"No not my poor babies, first you got blasted by Alzack and now you've been blown to pieces by this chump! My poor babies, I'm so sorry for putting you through this!"
"You're the only one to blame for this, you shouldn't have turned against your friends. Now's your chance if you want to surrender, I'm not going mame a fellow member of the guild but I still won't let you hurt any of the others."
"No, now what am I gonna do? My poor babies… Psyche!" Bickslow shot them a maniacal grin as a green blast of energy soared right past him from behind.
Loke was barely able to get out of the way, though he did take a significant shot to his left shoulder from the blast 'That was way too close for my liking, if he had hit me full on then I might have been in pretty bad shape. What the heck fired that blast anyway?'
"You see for me this is a hell of a lot more than just some toy shop, for me this is a full on armory!" Bickslow levitated a large number of toys into the air by his side.
"You mean you're controlling the toys?"
"Nope those things are just tools, you can go ahead and break as many of these things as you want to. What I really control are souls!"
"You can't be serious!"
"I'm totally serious, my Seith magic allows me to move souls between objects and then use them to fight for me. Take a quick look at this for example." in an instant he had one of the toys he was controlling snatch the sunglasses right off of Loke's face
"What the hell, give me those things back!" Loke found himself and Happy being forced to dodge the oncoming barrage of toys being shot at them from every direction.
"Hate to break it to you Kurosaki, I'm afraid this little game just went right into the sudden death round! But you don't have to worry, I'll be sure to take real good care of your soul. Baryon Formation!" he had five toys spin around in mid air in the shape of a pentagon "And now, attack!" he had them fire a massive green blast of magic energy at Loke.
'I'm only going to have one shot at this. Regulus Fist!" Loke channeled as much magic energy as he could into his fist in an instant, a powerful golden light flowing outwards and clashing with the blast Bickslow's toys had unleashed, creating a shockwave that sent him and Happy flying backwards a short distance, but he managed to stop himself and caught Happy before he could be sent flying too far 'That was even closer than before, I can't take this one too lightly, especially not when I'm on borrowed time as it is. I guess now all I can do is try to make amends for not being able to fulfill my contact with Karen, which means that I'm done holding back against you now Bickslow."
"Well what the hell do you know, I guess my hunch was right after all. You really are a Celestial Spirit, I've been keeping your secret all this time and you thank me by trying to blast me to kingdom come?"
"So you were able to figure it out then? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, if you have the power to control souls then that should mean, at least in theory, that you have the ability to see them as well."
"You're damn right I can, looks like we've a spirit among our ranks that tried to be human and fit in among the crowd because your master died. You trying to repeat history or something?"
"I'm trying to avoid that to be honest, spirit or human I'm still a member of Fairy Tail and that's all the reason I need to take you down. I'm not letting you hurt any of them."
Bickslow let out a maniacal cackle "Is that so? Oh that's just rich, you've never beaten me before, and for the record I was always going easy on you, you pathetic little lion cub! Hey come on babies, let's give him a good old fashioned beating like any Fairy Tail wizard could and should! Babies, go for it!" he sent his toys forward at full speed.
"I may have let my master die because of a stupid mistake I made, but even despite the crimes I've committed I'm not letting you or the others go on with this for any longer!" Loke ripped off his jacket and threw it to the side "You know you're not that different from her, at least you pretend to care about your spirits, but you still use them as shields."
"They're not shields you idiot, they're my babies and they're more like swords!" Bickslow then started firing blasts of magic energy from each toy in every direction.
Loke was forced to dodge and weave his way around every blast 'First I have to do something about those toys, once they're out of the picture Bickslow is going to be open for a full power attack. O Regulus, lend me your strength!" a golden aura of magic energy began surrounding his body as the toys started closing in on him, and in an instant he was able to blitz through every single one of them faster than the eye was able to see "Exiled from the Celestial World or not, I'm still the king of the Zodiacs and now you're about to see exactly what that means!"
"You realize that it's totally pointless, those are souls man. You can't hurt them, you can destroy their bodies but I'll just move the souls into something else. You know what that means, it means that I get new babies!" he summoned another barrage of toys under his control and fired them forward.
Loke blitzed through all of them with ease "You could send thousands of those things and it won't make any difference. Regulus Gattling Impact!" he blitzed through the next barrage of toys and slugged Bickslow across the face, forcing him back a short distance.
"Hot damn, you're quite the feisty Soul Reaper aren't you?"
"I know you're just saying it to screw with me, but I'm not a Soul Reaper dammit! Besides you're nothing, even Happy is stronger than you."
"Hey what the fuck man, you take that back!" Bickslow was met with a kick straight to the face, forcing him back a short distance again "Oh crap, now I guess it's time for me to bust out the big guns." so he removed his helmet, cracked his neck and his eyes flashed open "Yeah that's right asshole! Figure Eyes!"
Loke was forced to shut his eyes and turn away 'No matter what, I can't let myself look into his eyes. Every member of the Thunder Legion has some kind of special power they can use in their eyes, Evergreen can turn people to stone with hers but if I look at Bickslow then I'll just end up turning into one of his creepy dolls. He'll take control of my soul.'
"So you knew to look away, you're smarter than I gave you credit for." Bickslow had the toys under his control blitz through Loke from every angle, forcing him on the defensive due to the use of the Figure Eyes.
'I can't attack if I can't see, but no matter what I have to keep my eyes closed.'
"Hey what the fuck dude, my Possession and Figure Eyes combo is unbeatable and you mean to tell me you won't even give it so much as a look?"
'He's getting me from every angle, but it's still better than being turned into one of those creepy dolls of his. There's only one chance I'll have to take him down, I have to wait for the exact right instant and hit him with everything I've got. I'm just going to have to trust my instincts for this one. Feel the wrath of the Zenith of Regulus, Lion Brilliance!" in an instant, he summoned a massive bright light across the battlefield.
"Oh god dammit my eyes, what the hell did you do to my eyes?!"
'Now's my chance, I have to charge up a full power attack while he can't guard himself against it!'
"Not a chance, I'm not going to let you beat me!"
"I know I may not be the man or spirit that I used to be, I may still be banned from the Celestial World for my crimes, but now that I'm a part of Fairy Tail I can try and do as much good as I can with the time I have left. Here's the thing about spirits, we're not like your little dolls. Our love makes us stronger! REGULUS IMPACT!" using all of the power he could, Loke summoned a massive blast of magic energy that took on the appearance of the head of a lion and shot it forward at full speed.
Bickslow could only cry out in pain as the blast made contact, the force launching him halfway across the city of Magnolia.
"And that's how we get things done!"
"KAPOW!" Happy cheered for him "Way to go Loke, you really showed up who's boss!"
"Thanks Happy. Hey just out of curiosity, did you happen to hear anything I said to him during our fight?"
"No, I just stuck some rocks in my ears because I didn't want to listen to Bickslow going on and on like that. Why, did you confess to having an affair or something?"
"No no, it's nothing like that." Loke slumped against the side of the rooftop and breathed a sigh of relief "I'm pretty exhausted after that, I think I'm gonna rest for a minute and then I'll go see if I can track down Freed or Laxus."
"Just hang in there, using that much power would take a lot out of anybody."
"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right. I guess I really am getting weaker, I must look pathetic to you don't I Karen?'
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Gray looked up at the scoreboard on the barrier and let out a low whistle "Holy crap, I didn't expect Loke to be such a badass."
"You've gotta be fucking with me." Natsu muttered "Who would've thought pretty boy could actually fight like that?"
"Hey I know damn well that he's tough as nails, why do you think he and I made that pact for when the next S class trials come around?"
"But he's just some playboy that tried to hit on Lisanna!"
"Well they can be tough!"
"Yeah right, like I've ever heard of anything like that before!"
"Are you serious?"
"Think about it, you've heard about the story of the playboy and the hare?"
"It was a tortoise you idiot!"
"Yeah and the tortoise lost every time!"
"No he didn't, they raced once and the tortoise won!"
"They raced at least a dozen time after that and the hare one every single time!"
Levy was forced to tune out their squabbles as she worked to figure out the secret to releasing them from the barrier "I still don't get this part at all, if only there was some way for me to just reword it. Come on Levy, you have to think." she wracked her brain for a moment, until the realization dawned on her "That's it!"
"What's it?"
"I need to look at these two styles of grammar like the tortoise and the hare and translate them at two different rates! If I take the integral number of synchronized letters in a single pass and transform them into geel grammar, and then translate that into logue then… Yes, finally it worked!"
"Hells to the yes!" Natsu and Gray high fived each other, then went back to glaring at each other, and at the handcuffs.
"Just give me a second you guys, I need to rewrite the enchantment. This is it you guys, when I get through with this the two of you are going to join the Battle of Fairy Tail. I hope you guys are ready."
"You bet your ass we're ready! It's time for us to start putting out some payback."
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Elfman slowly opened his eyes and found a familiar face looking over him "Lisanna…"
Sure enough, Lisanna sat next to him looking over him, her gaze filled with worry and a slight mix of relief "Thank goodness, I was really worried about you. You got hurt pretty bad in your fight."
"I'll be fine, I'm just glad you're back to normal."
"I'm so sorry for everything big brother, really I am."
"What the heck are you apologizing for?"
"Because… Because I'm just useless as I am… it's the truth…" tears started streaming down her face "I still can't do anything to help you… I'm so sorry…"
"No one thinks you're useless, least of all me. Your smile is what lifts the spirits of everyone in the guild, it makes us think of the good things and forget about all of this crap where we have to fight each other. Come on Lisanna, please just stop with the tears."
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Cana and Bisca bolted through the outskirts of Magnolia as fast as they could "Hey tell me something Bisca, do you have any idea as to how long we've got before the Thunder Palace is activated?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say we have about 30 minutes." Bisca told her.
"Good to know, but you know I never pegged Laxus to be such a coward. So much for the Battle of Fairy Tail, he has everyone else go at it while he's hiding in some corner. But the question is, which corner?"
That was when a barrage of runes floated overhead, along with a familiar voice "Laxus is saving his magic energy, it would be foolish of him to fight Master Makarov if he was at less than his full power." the runes descened onto a rooftop, revealing Freed in their place.
"Freed, so you're the one behind the enchantments."
"That is correct." Freed disappeared in a spread of runes again.
"Freed you son of a- get back here!"
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A few minutes later, further outside the city limits…
"Dammit, where the hell did he go?" Cana and Bisca raced into the rocky landscape surrounding the city, only to end up getting trapped in one of Freed's enchantments "Oh great, not another one of these things."
"What the heck does it say?" asked Bisca.
"I think it says that only the wizard who proves herself to be the strongest will be permitted to leave this barrier."
"That is correct." that was when Freed appeared on the other side of the barrier in front of the two of them "The victor will then go on to battle me, feel free to begin when ready."
"Come on Freed, if you're really looking for a fight then you don't have to go through all this trouble because I'm more than willing to take you on right here and right now. What's the matter, are you scared? You don't think you're man enough to handle both of us? You've never been much of a real man, have you?"
"The truth of the matter is that I would prefer not to sully my own hands."
"You're such a rat!"
"Call me what you will."
"You're unbelievable." Bisca muttered "I can't believe you would make your friends fight each other like this."
"Friends you say? To be perfectly candid, I would personally prefer to see Cana emerge as the victor between the two of you. As for you Bisca, you once disgraced the name of the Fairy Tail guild for the sake of personal gain, and as such you can't be trusted. There's no telling when you may choose to exploit your status as a Fairy Tail wizard for the sake of personal gain all over again."
"Like you have any room to talk!" Cana let out a scoff.
"Sorry about this, but I don't have any other choice. Requip sniper rifle!" Bisca promptly summoned her sniper rifle.
"Hold on Bisca, what the heck are you doing?"
"You said your name is Freed right? Just tell me, if one of us goes down will you keep your word and fight the one that's left standing?"
"I assure you, I will stand by my word." Freed told her.
"I see, that's good to hear."
"Bisca you can't do this!" Cana protested "If we go at it you're just giving this creep exactly what he wants!"
"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Bisca aimed at one of the Thunder Palace lacrima floating above them "Target locked on."
"What the heck are you doing?"
"You'll see soon enough. Stinger Shot!" she promptly fired a single shot at the lightning lacrima, destroying it in an instant.
"What the heck are you thinking, that will fry you!"
"If he wants one of us to emerge over the fallen body of our opponent then I'll give him what he wants, but there's no way I'm harming one of my friends." and in that instant she was promptly hit with a powerful blast of lightning as a result of the Body Link magic, causing her to cry out in agony as she hit the ground with a loud thud, and the barrier sealing them in disappeared.
"Bisca what the hell were you thinking?"
"I broke the enchantment spell… that's good… it means you're free now…"
"But you didn't have to go and do something so reckless!"
"I just wanted to prove… to everyone in the guild… that they didn't have any reason to doubt me… I care about all of you… the Fairy Tail guild is my home… and it always will be…"
"I never doubted you Bisca, you're one of us now and you always will be. You're part of the guild so you're part of our family. Fairy Tail is lucky enough to have such an amazing wizard in its ranks."
"Do you mean that…?"
"Yeah, I mean every word of it."
"That's such a relief… Thanks for that…" then she fell still and lost consciousness.
"Bisca no!"
Needless to say, Freed was taken aback by this 'I can't believe this, she chose to sacrifice her own life in order to save her friend?'
"...You want to go Freed? Well let's go." with tears streaming down her face, Cana pulled out a few magic cards, ready to begin the battle.
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Natsu and Gray, stull handcuffed together, looked out over the city of Magnolia from their place perched above a rooftop "Dammit there's way too many people, I can't pick up Laxus' scent with them around."
"It doesn't help that we're stuck on the rooftops either." Gray pointed out "But don't forget about what Levy told us, we can't risk getting caught up in one of Freed's enchantments."
"Yeah yeah I know, but either way we're totally giving Laxus what he deserves. But this is still a one time thing."
"Until we get these things off."
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Elfman was now being supported along the riverside by Lisanna "Hey come on Lisanna, you know I'm still a man and I have enough in me to walk on my own."
"It's fine, really." Lisanna assured him "After all, if my big brother needs a hand then I don't mind helping him at all."
"Thank you-" their conversation was cut short by an explosion a short distance away.
As it turns out, that was where Freed was still battling against Cana "You seem to be forgetting a basic rule of combat."
"And what would that be?" asked Cana.
"No matter how powerful the spell may be, it's ultimately worthless if they're incapable of hitting your target."
"We'll see about that! Card Magic: Heaven: Reverse Death: Mountain: Summoned Lightning!" Cana fired a barrage of lightning from her magic cards.
"Dark Ecriture: Repel!" Freed used his Dark Ecriture magic to reflect the lightning barrage back at Cana, engulfing her in an explosion that destroyed part of the bridge.
When the smoke cleared, Cana was revealed to be mostly fine, but she had a few minor burns and she spat out some blood "Dammit…"
"You're tougher than I gave you credit for, your magic power and perseverence are a true testament to your many years of service to the guild."
"Listen to me Freed, I want you to take back all of that crap you said about Bisca."
"I will not. Dark Ecriture: Pain-"
"Animal Soul: Cat!" that was when Lisanna rushed onto the scene and clawed Freed across the front before he was able to react, sending him stumbling backwards a short distance "Just hang tight Cana, I'm here to back you up."
"Not likely. Dark Ecriture: Pain!" faster than she was able to react, Freed hit Lisanna with a rune on the waist, causing her to scream in pain before she fell to the ground with a thud, completely out cold "A sneak attack while I was preoccupied with a duel, I expected a lot more from you."
"What the hell was that?" Cana let out an outright snarl.
"That was how I deal with interference."
"How dare you?!" Elfman snarled from his place a short distance away.
"I'm sorry Elfman but you've already been defeated by Evergreen, and as a result you are not allowed to rejoin the game."
"You wanna bet?"
"I have no intention of betting, I'm simply reinforcing the rules as Laxus wishes."
"We're still in the same guild!" Cana protested "We shouldn't have to fight each other like this!"
"We might have been once, however the true intention of this game is to resctructure the guild itself, to break our meaningless bonds. Any enemy of Laxus is my enemy as well, and as such they will be dealt with without hesitation."
"I have no intention of letting that happen!"
Freed and the others glanced up to see a new figure appear on the scene, and his almost permanent frown deepened "Erza."
Sure enough, Erza dropped down onto the scene in her Black Wing Armor "All this time I had been searching for Laxus, but instead I find you preparing to shed the blood of your fellow guildmates, which makes you just as bad as him, if not worse."
"As I stated earlier Titania, any enemy of Laxus is my enemy as well, and as such I shall deal with them without hesitation."
"...I see, so that's how it is then. Very well, if you insist on turning your back on all of the principles that Fairy Tail holds dear, then I shall show you no mercy. REQUIP!" with a massive flash of light, Erza promptly requipped into a new suit of armor, this one being pink and complete with a matching set of swords.
Freed was taken aback by the sheer power the armor seemed to be radiating "What… What is this remarkable level of magic power?"
"You're about to find out!" Erza blitzed forward and brought down one of her swords, resulting in a quick explosion.
"Dark Ecriture: Wings!" Freed burst up from the explosion by summoning a pair of wings using his runes and took to the skies.
Erza quickly propelled herself into the air and charged at Freed as she attempted to cut her down with her swords, eventually managing to slash him across the front, the force sending him crashing to the ground.
Freed recovered and flew a fair distance away, his mind racing 'Her power is far greater than I had anticipated.'
"That won't be enough for you to escape from me." Erza suddenly blitzed behind Freed in an instant "This is the most powerful armor in my arsenal, Armadura Fairy. The armor that bears the name of our guild to symbolize my pride in being a member of Fairy Tail. And it's what's going to end your part in the Battle of Fairy Tail!" she charged at him and attacked with a swift barrage of slashes from her sword.
Freed was almost immediately forced on the defensive and retreated to a nearby canyon "I know a few forbidden spells of my own that should be capable of competing with even the likes of you at your best! Dark Ecriture: DARKNESS!" with a mighty roar, Freed cast a rune spell on himself that caused him to take on a hideous demonic looking form, one of his fists easily matching one of Erza's swords in an instant, resulting in the two of them trading a swift barrage of even blows, clashing across the skies of the canyon before taking their clash into a nearby underground cave.
"Fairy Surge!" Erza blitzed in front of Freed, placed a hand on his chest and blasted him with a surge of green energy, sending him crashing through the walls of the cave.
Freed found himself on the ground with Erza looming over him 'So it's true, her power is unlike anything I've ever seen with the exception of Laxus. I had seen some of her exploits firsthand, but I would never have thought that even Erza was capable of such a level of power. Your power is far greater than I expected, I will admit that I underestimated you, but I can't afford to lose this game to you! Darkness Breath!" he summoned a black tornado that blew Erza clear out of the cave they were fighting in "Darkness Flash Bomb!" he summoned a ball of dark magic energy and rammed it straight into Erza, sending her crashing into the river nearby "Was that enough to finish her?"
Almost in an instant, Erza burst up from beneath the watery surface with only a few scratches from the blast "Not enough, not even close."
'She was able to take that attack like it was nothing, just how powerful is she?'
"This battle has gone on long enough, now I'm going to end this! For the pride of the Fairy Tail guild! FAIRY BURST!" with a massive burst of power, Erza unleashed one of her most powerful attacks, engulfing Freed in the massive explosion that came with it, which was visible for miles around for all of the people of Magnolia to witness.
When the smoke cleared, Freed was still alive but he was seriously wounded by the blast, and he had returned to his human form, with Erza looming over him 'There's no way, I don't stand a chance against such unbelievable power… Go on, finish me. That is what you would do to an enemy of the guild wouldn't you?"
"...No, not with you, and not like this." Erza promptly dropped her swords and requipped out of her Armadura Fairy armor.
"I don't understand, why did you stop? Why did you not finish me?"
"Because there's no point in fighting this battle."
"You can spare me your false pity Titania, just finish me off." this was followed by Cana showing up on the scene with Elfman, Lisanna and Bisca.
"I'm not going to do that, despite the fact that you've made a few bad choices we're still comrades of the same guild. That means that we have to work together, we celebrate together and we grow together, and we're always there for each other, through the good times as well as the bad."
"No you're wrong, Laxus is the only true ally I have!"
"But it doesn't have to be that way. Listen to me Freed, we've all been your friends and comrades since the very beginning, there's nothing wrong with having one person that you trust the most even amongts your comrades, it's in the nature of humans and wizards alike, but that doesn't mean you have to shut out the rest of your comrades. We're all part of Fairy Tail, and because of that we're more than just fellow members of a guild. It means we're all part of the same family." she gripped his hand "All you have to do is reach out and there will be someone willing to take your hand and guide you on the path of life, I promise. You'll never forget that the connection is there, all you have to do is let yourself see it. You're surrounded by people who care about you and trust you, people who are willing to help you grow stronger both as a wizard and as a person."
"Titania… Erza… I…" Freed was barely able to find the words as tears started streaming down his face "I never… I never wanted it to come to this…"
"I know you didn't, none of you did. How about when next year's Harvest Festival comes, we all just enjoy it together in peace."
"Yes… Yes I would like that…"
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Mystogan continued calmly making his way through the streets of Magnolia, only to stop when he saw an update on the enchantment scoreboard 'Freed vs Erza, the winner is Erza.' he gave a small smile underneath his mask 'I should expect no less from you Erza, but the battle isn't over yet. There is still one enemy to deal with.'
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"Freed, vs Erza, the winner is Erza. Yeah that shouldn't come as a surprise." Natsu muttered "I mean leave it to her."
Gray nodded "Yeah tell me about it, for once I'm not complaining about her being terrifying as fuck."
"If she took down Freed then that means there's only one left, I hope you're ready Laxus because we're coming for you."
A/N:
And thus we conclude the second act of the Battle of Fairy Tail. The Thunder Legion has been defeated, and now only one enemy is left: Laxus himself, with our two heroes of this arc (Natsu and Gray) both coming for him, ready to put aside their differences and beat the crap out of him for everything that he's done.
In case it wasn't clear, the little exchange between Natsu and Gray where they were talking about the "loud mouthed crazy chick trying to build some kind of artificial dragon" was meant to be a jab at the Daphne arc. All I can say about that arc is, thank fucking god it was only filler.
To make up for the absence of Juvia in this arc, I decided to give her role, as in the role of the new female member of Fairy Tail that people have a somewhat valid reason not to trust, to Bisca. For those who saw episode 203, Mulan Rouge, she was an immigrant from another continent who claimed to be a member of Fairy Tail in order to harrass people in a town as she pleased, but Erza put a stop to it and eventually invited her into Fairy Tail. Granted Erza was forgiving of Bisca after hearing about her circumstances, but considering how cold Freed was to Juvia for being a former member of Phantom Lord, I can imagine that he wouldn't be so forgiving of Bisca right away.
One of the hardest things to write out in this chapter is how Bickslow was defeated differently from in canon, seeing how he's fighting Loke and Loke alone, and there's no Lucy involved this time. But at the same time, it did give me the chance to expand on Loke's current level of magic power, seeing how he's been exiled from the Celestial World for about two years now, but he's still powerful enough to beat the ever loving crap out of Bickslow. Also, the constant jabs Bickslow makes about Loke looking like Ichigo from Bleach, not only do I see them as funny, but they're also true.
Something else that I had to consider was how Freed was going to be defeated, since in this fic Mira is absent so I couldn't have her use her Satan Soul to defeat him, so I decided to go for the next best thing: have Erza defeat Freed using what may very well be her most powerful armor, as well as my personal favorite out of all of those in her arsenal: Armadura Fairy. Come on, as far as I know she's only used it in two battles in the entire series. I believe armor deserves a hell of a lot more love than it gets.