EverFlawless: Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoy the story so much, but I really don't try to foreshadow more than I believe is necessary. For the record, no I have no intention of pairing Lucy with God Serena or Noah. Yes, I ship NaLi, Gruvia, Jerza and GaLe, but NaLu is just way too overdone in my eyes. Don't worry though, I have no intention of leaving Lucy without a pairing to call her own, but the one she'll be paired with isn't going to show up until after the 7 year time skip. I don't blame you for wanting to know the ships, especially Luke and Cana, since I love writing out the interactions between them. All in all, I'm glad you love the story so much, and I hope I continue to satisfy you in the future.
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"Dammit Jellal, get the fuck out here!" Natsu continued running through the thick forest of the Worth Woodsea at full speed, his mind racing "When I get my hands on you I'm gonna make sure you stay dead this time, you hear me?! I don't care what I have to do, I'm gonna make sure you never hurt Erza again- Wait what the hell is that?" he screeched to a stop and slid his way down the side of the path when he noticed Gray apparently floating unconscious in a nearby creak, fully clothed "Yeah I'm telling you, the nose always nose. Hey Gray pull the stick out of your ass, this is a weird place to take a nap and I would know. What happened to that Kid Flash ripoff, what did you kick his ass already?" he received no reply "Hey Gray get up." still no reply from him "Do I have to roar in your face like the Hulk or something? Because I'm not gonna say yes or no, mainly because I'm still afraid Lisanna is gonna pop up in front of me and chew me out for cursing, I still have the scars from last time she did that." he pulled Gray out of the water, albeit with some strain "Dammit dude you've gotta lay off the water, what the hell have you been doing with Juvia? Would you get the hell up already, I'm in a hurry."
"Yeah yeah, I'm getting up." Gray pulled himself to his feet with a snister smirk plastered across his face.
"Uh, hey dude you okay?"
"Oh yeah, I'm doing just fine." Gray pulled on a nearby rope, revealing that they were standing on a raft, much to Natsu's horror.
"What the hell how did you hide a raft down there?!" that was all Natsu was able to get out, before the motion sickness kicked in.
"Talk about a whole new level of pathetic. Poor Natsu, your motion sickness is going to be the death of you. I have to admit though, I never thought you would be such a pushover."
"What the hell… do you think… you're doing?"
"What does it look like?" Gray stomped down on Natsu's head "I'm sick and tired of having to deal with a worthless piece of crap like you. It's time to face the reality, there's just no way that fire and ice can mix. I've had enough of your bullshit, I think it's high time I end the so called partnership we have going." he summoned a lance made of ice in his hand "As far as I'm concerned, this goodbye is long overdue." he prepared to skewer Natsu on the spot, only for the ice lance to shatter in his hand "Alright, whoever's there get the hell out here and show yourself already!" he fired a barrage of ice lances into the forest, only for them to be shattered almost instantly by a rapid barrage of arrows.
As it turns out, that came from Lucy and the rest of her current party, as well as the newly summoned Sagittarius "You mind telling me what in the name of hell you think you're doing to him?"
"It would appear that we foiled his foal play." Sagittarius noted.
"Yeah, just in time by the looks of it."
"Yay… good timing Lucy… 8/10 on the shots…" Natsu gave a thumbs up, then leaned over and tried not to hurl.
"Oh for crying out loud Natsu, I know you're motion sick because you're a Dragon Slayer but watching you nearly puke after saying my name is killing my self esteem! And for the record, no I don't want you to shoot him Sagittarius. Not yet anyway. As for you Gray, what the hell do you think you're doing?! Seriously, what the hell is the matter with you?! I don't care how much you and Natsu might wanna beat each other's brains out, or lack thereof but that's really too easy for him, you're taking this way too far!"
"Oh shut up already." Gray let out a scoff "Could any of you be any more irritating than you are right now? Just do the world a favor and mind your own business, I'll deal with the rest of you once I make sure there's one less Dragon Slayer in the world, so just keep your little mouths shut until I get to you."
"What the hell is- Hold on a second, is this Nirvana? Has that thing already switched one of us to the dark side?"
"The dark side? This isn't Star Wars…" Natsu was writing on the raft in agony "Why the hell… won't it stop? It's wobbling… it's swaying… I want off…"
"How the hell are you still sick when it's not even moving?"
"Hang on big buddy, I'm coming for you!" Happy made a beeline for Natsu, only to be encased in a block of ice by Gray, leaving him to hit the ground with a thud.
"What the hell is your problem Gray? You know damn well that's not how you're supposed to treat one of your friends?!"
"Oh please." Gray let out a scoff "It doesn't matter if Happy's able to fly, the fact is he can only carry one person. He doesn't have any real skills when it comes to combat. That's really all the info that I could get from Gray, at least in regards to what Gray has on the little pest."
"Gray you're not making any sense at all, what the heck has gotten into you?"
"If I had to take a guess, then I would say that Gray has become the first victim of the magic power of Nirvana." Hibiki noted "He switched to the dark side. You know now that I think about it, that does sound like something out of Star Wars."
"I wouldn't know, I've never watched any Star Wars stuff. Except for the Family Guy parody episodes."
"Gray had plenty of info on Lucy too." Gray noted "She's still a fairly new member of the Fairy Tail guild, she's definitely easy on the eyes, and he likes the entire package."
"Uh… should I be hearing this?"
"She can be as hotheaded as Erza is, maybe even moreso, but aside from that she's hiding a pure heart. She's a Celestial Wizard too, and that makes things really interesting." and so he promptly fired a blast of ice in Lucy's direction.
"Get back!" Hibiki suddenly blitzed in front of the group and used his Archive magic in order to shield them from Gray's attack "Looks like my initial guess was wrong, that's not Gray. I can tell for a fact that you're just an imposter, so you can drop the act already."
Gray studied Hibiki intently for a moment "Accessing information on Hibiki, a member of the Trimens of the Blue Pegasus guild, ladies' man. No further details available. Well that wasn't too helpful."
"Oh please, enough of this." Carla let out a scoff "We're wasting what little precious time we have dealing with this nonsense, I wish they would just incapacitate this fool so that we could get to Nirvana already."
"Wait a second, that's it!" Lucy felt the realization hit her "Only those with emotions waning between good and evil can switch to the other side, so there's no way that could be Gray, since he's almost always as cool as they come! Alright start talking, who the hell are you?!"
"So you finally caught on did you?" Gray let out a chuckle, and then in a puff of smoke he was gone, and in his place was Lucy.
"What the- Is that me?! You've gotta be kidding me!"
"Yeah, you're not fooling us." Hibiki pointed out dryly "You don't honestly think you're fooling any of us do you? We all know for a fact you're not the real Lucy, so you might as well just go ahead and show us your true form."
"Oh I'll show you, and I think you're going to find that I'm just as every bit real as that bimbo over there." so on that note, the fake Lucy then proceeded to lift up her top, revealing the contents underneath, causing Lucy to scream and for Hibiki and Sagittarius to get freaked out like only a pervert would.
"...Yeah it's official, looks like you were right when you said they were real."
"I HATE BOTH OF YOU!" Lucy promptly kicked them away.
"How pathetic." Carla let out a scoff "Come now you floozy, think about the kind of example you'll be setting for Wendy."
"But that's not me, I mean it is but it isn't! Why the hell does this kind of stuff happen to me all the time?!"
"Hate to break it to you, but it's only going to get worse from here on out." the fake Lucy shot a wicked grin at the real one "You see, now I know for a fact exactly which keys you're carrying with you. You actually had an audience with the Celestial Spirit King? How the hell did some pathetic noob like you get the honor? No you know what, it doesn't mater. Anyway I want you to listen up Sagittarius. Take them out, show no mercy."
"What do you-" before he knew it, Sagittarius had shot Hibiki with one of his arrows, sending him crashing to the ground "What the- Did I do that?"
"Hey!" Lucy rounded on him in a rage "What the hell did you do that for?! She's the enemy, remember?"
"I… I'm so sorry my lady, but tis not I. My body is out of my control!"
Lucy quickly turned her attention to Hibiki "Hang in there for me, you're going to be alright, I promise." then she turned her attention to the fake "Tell me something, how the hell are you controlling Sagittarius?!"
"It's not that complicated." the fake Lucy shot her a wicked grin "I'm an exact copy of you, and that means your spirits are forced to follow my orders."
"Spirits aren't just puppets for you to control!"
"Forgive me Lady Lucy and Sir Hibiki, I'm fighting her with all of my strength, but I cannot control it!" despite his efforts, Sagittarius was forced to fire a barrage of arrows, which were deflected by the shiled Hibiki was using to protect them.
"Carla listen to me, take Wendy and get out of here as fast as you can! Take her and get here somewhere safe!"
"It's about time, I was just waiting for you to say that!" Carla grabbed onto Wendy and promptly soared off into the sky.
"Sagittarius listen, I'm going to close your gate so you can take a break. Don't worry, I know it's not your fault."
"Forgive me Lady Lucy, I regret I cannot aid you further." and so Sagittarius promptly disappeared as his gate was closed.
"Now then, where were we?"
"It's about time." the fake Lucy promptly whipped out a key of her own "Now open, gate of the Archer! Come back Sagittarius."
Sure enough, at that moment Sagittarius reappeared in a puff of smoke "I'm happy to jump back into the fray- Wait a second, how did you-? This cannot be, by what means have you summoned me?"
"Don't bother sweating the small stuff and you'll get to live a lot longer. All that matters now is that I've summoned you, and that means you have to do whatever I tell you to do."
"I shall not betray my charge, no matter what you say."
"Oh really, well what do you say we put that theory to the test? Put it right in the middle of the back of that white cat." she pointed at where Carla was still flying Wendy away."
"I can do no such thing?"
"What's that?" she shot him a terrifying look "Are you seriously disobeying an order from your master?"
"You may share her appearance and abilities, but comparing yourself to Lady Lucy is an absolute travesty upon her name, so I shall not obey you!"
"Yes you can do it Sagittarius, keep fighting her!" Lucy urged him.
"Please I beg of you my lady, send me back!"
"Okay then. Closing, gate of the Archer!" she tried to, but nothing happened "Uh, okay that's not supposed to happen."
"Actually it is." the fake Lucy shot the real one a wicked smirk "Don't tell me you forgot that I was the who summoned Horse Face? Only the wizard who summoned a spirit is able to force it back."
"No…"
"Enough wasting time. Shoot that cat out of the sky already, I don't have all day!"
"I think that's quite enough of that." that was when she showed up, the woman in question being none other than Angel of the Oracion Seis "I think it's best if we don't waste precious energy, wouldn't you agree my precious pets?"
"As you wish." the fake Lucy disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing two small blue figures in her place.
"Please forgive me Lady Lucy, I shall endeavor to be much stronger than this the next time we meet." Sagittarius promptly saluted Lucy before he disappeared.
Angel shot Lucy a wicked grin "Hello Lucy darling, tell me, how does it feel to gaze upon an angel?"
"Oh please, get real lady." Lucy let out a scoff "I'm pretty sure I'd much rather be blind right now."
"Is that so? Well I'm sure that can be arranged. Have my pets been entertaining you up well until now? I'm actually quite fond of their little trick, and I believe you know them as the Gemini twins. I must say though, Celestial Spirits make the best toys."
"You're a Celestial Wizard too? That makes me wanna puke. I'm confident that I won't fall to the dark side, and I doubt Miss Psycho Swan is gonna be fighting for truth and justice anytime soon either, so at least I don't have to worry about the trickery of Nirvana right now. Hibiki is in bad shape and Natsu is down for the count too, so that means that right now all of it is in my own hands. Lucky for me we're next to a river, and wherever there's water, there's Aquarius.'
"You know, the Gate Keys you have in your possession would make a lovely addition to my collection, so why don't you just hand them over now or else you're going to be wearing a lot of red."
"There's no way I'm handing over my keys, not to the likes of you!" Lucy promptly whipped out a certain key.
"So be it then, time to get lost you two." Angel promptly sent the Gemini twins away by closing their gate.
"Alright, here we go. Open, Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"
Sure enough, in a flash of light and a mighty wave, Aquarius made herself known "Alright alright, what the hell do you want?"
"I want you to wipe her out, I don't care if you have to take me with her."
"That's just what I was planning to do."
"What the- What did I ever do to you?"
"Every last asshole here is going to drown!"
"WHY?!"
"Now open, Gate of the Scorpion!" Angel promptly pulled out a key of her own "Scorpio!"
'Wait a second, what did she say? Okay, this is probably gonna be bad.'
Sure enough, from within the portal emerged a humanoid figure with red and white hair, and a scorpion tail "I was born to be wicked!"
'Yeah, this is gonna be bad.'
And then things got weird when Aquarius suddenly grew lovestruck, as in with hearts in her eyes and everything "Oh my, Honey Bunches of Hunk!" this left Lucy, and I'm pretty sure the entire fandom, particularly freaked out.
"Well what do you know, it's my Mermaid of Delight Aquarius herself. Why don't you back that wicked tail up for me."
"Oh you have no idea how much I've missed you love muffin."
This was when Lucy finally found her voice "No way, please don't tell me that Scorpio-"
"Yep you've got that right, he's my boyfriend."
"...So many questions!"
"You know I've heard a lot about you." Scorpio shot her a smirk "Finally getting the chance to meet the wizard of my Blue Bombshell is pretty wicked."
"Okay… So what exactly has she told you?"
"Listen up blondie, and listen good!" Aquarius promptly used her death glare on Lucy "I'm only going to say this once, if you want to keep breathing then you won't even think about trying to embarrass me in front of my Scorpio or you're gonna suffer, we clear?"
"...Crystal. Yeah it's official, when I do die it's gonna be because of her.'
"Sounds pretty wicked awesome to me. Sorry Angel but I'm taking my lady out for a night on the town, you've got this right? No rest for the wicked." Scorpio promptly wrapped an arm around Aquarius and they disappeared in a flash of light.
"What the-"
"Go for it you two, have fun." Angel nonchalantly waved them off.
"Wait a second, you can't just leave me here!"
"Okay seriously, how have you survived this long without having an understanding of exactly how the Celestial Spirits relate?" Angel promptly dealt Lucy a brutal kick to the jaw that sent her crashing into the river "There's no way in hell a novice like you can beat me."
'Dammit this is bad, how am I supposed to beat her without my strongest Celestial Spirit to back me up? Wait a second, she's not the only powerhouse I can call on. Open, Gate of the Lion!" on that note, Lucy burst up from beneath the watery surface and opened a certain gate.
Within a matter of seconds, Loke had made himself known on the scene "Hey there, looks like your handsome prince has arrived."
"Loke listen up, we have to beat this chick or the guild is gonna be in serious danger."
"Sounds easy enough."
"Well now, you really are a slow learner aren't you?" Angel let out a chuckle as she pulled out a Gate Key of her own "Why don't I give you another lesson in compatibilities? Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries!"
'No… it can't be…'
Sure enough, at that moment Aries appeared in a puff of smoke "I'm sorry Leo, I hope you can forgive me."
'Aries…'
Lucy was horrified by what she was seeing 'How she did get her hands on Aries? I thought she was one of Karen's spirits… I can't ask Loke to fight a dear friend of his.' she promptly rounded on Angel "How the hell did you get your hands on one of Karen's spirits?"
"It's not that hard to figure out." Angel gave a shrug "Who do you think was the one who put her six feet under, and as they say to the victor go the spoils. Truth be told she really wasn't much of an opponent, she tried to open two gates at once when she barely had enough energy left to stand up, so frankly the fool practically handed her keys over to me. It worked out pretty well, but I wish she would've put up more of a fight. So many Celestial Wizards have lost their lives and spirits to me, by this point I've stopped counting, so frankly you're just going to be another pitiful stone on the trail of misery I've paved."
'Oh god no…'
Unfortunately, this was the nail in the proverbial coffin that supposedly sent Hibiki to the dark side of the magic force of Nirvana 'Karen… how could she fall to someone like this? This woman… This monster who calls herself Angel… She took my love away from me… She was murdered by one of her own… a Celestial Wizard… I hate them… I hate all of them… They will pay…' lucky for all of them he snapped out of it in time 'No don't, this is exactly the kind of thinking that allows Nirvana to change people! I can't give into my hatred! I have to try not to think about it!'
"You finally get to see each other again after all this time, and now you're gonna be forced to fight each other?" Lucy slowly pulled out Loke's key "No way, there's no way I'd force you to go through with something like that."
Loke quickly stopped Lucy from closing his gate "It's alright Lucy, I don't need you to protect me from this. It's true that Aries and I had once been friends, but now that we have new Celestial contracts, it's our duty to fight for the wizards we made them with."
Aries nodded firmly "That's right, I may owe my life to you Leo, but in this instance you are my enemy. So for a Celestial Spirit…"
"It's a matter of pride!" and so with attacks readied and waiting, the two of them charged at each other.
Lucy could only watch in dismay as the battle unfolded 'This isn't right…'
Angel was less than concerned about the battle unfolding "Well what do you know, the two of them are actually fighting. Not what I was expecting, but then again who would I be to stop a good show from unfolding?"
"Stop it… Friends shouldn't fight… Please stop… I'm begging you…" by now Lucy had tears streaming down her face, watching in utter and helpless despair as Loke was slowly but surely overpowering Aries.
"Huh, well this isn't working out quite the way I was expecting to, I never thought she would end up fighting a combat oriented spirit. But then again, it's not like me to worry, mainly since I never go in unprepared. Open, Gate of the Chisel, Caelum!" she summoned a spirit that looked like a metallic sphere "I've got some targets for you, are you excited? As soon as Aries is able to stop Leo in his tracks, I want you to do what you do best." and on that note, the sphere morphed into a cannon and promptly shot both Aries and Leo through the chest, causing both of them to cough up blood and her to burst out laughing "Okay now you see, now that's what I like to call TFS levels of entertainment."
"Loke… Aries… no…"
"I'm so sorry Lucy… I failed you…" Loke started fading away.
"Your wizard cares for you…" Aries pretty much had the same problem "I wish that I was so lucky…"
"Until we meet again…" they both reached out to each other, only to disappear a mere second before.
Angel shot Lucy a confident smirk "You see darling, now that's how you pull off using multiple gates. Looks to me like I've put your most powerful spirit out of commission for a good long while."
"You… You disgust me…" Lucy's expression of stunned horror gradually twisted into malice filled rage.
"Oh come on now, you're not actually crying are you? It's not like they actually die, all you'd be doing is wasting your tears."
"Maybe they don't die but they do feel pain, it's not like they're a bunch of mindless dolls for you to play with! A real Celestial Wizard would treat their spirits with respect! Now open, Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!"
With a wave of her key, Taurus promptly appeared on the battlefield "Moo to the moo!"
"Gemini." with a wave of her key, Angel summoned Gemini back onto the battlefield.
"Making Lucy cry was the worst moove of your life, get ready for a rodeo full to the brim with pain- Moo?"
As it turns out, Gemini had turned into Lucy again and, rather than flash Taurus like the pervert he is, she went for the other end "Come on you kobe beef stud, why don't you come on and get some?"
"I'm totally in the mood for rump roast!" Taurus went charging at Gemini like a perverted moron, only to get literally batted away by them using Caelum as a bat, sending him blasting off again like Team Rocket.
"And just like that he's blasting off again."
"Taurus no!" unfortunately, by this point, Lucy was feeling her magic power give out on her, and she promptly fell to her knees "What… already?"
"Yep, I'm afraid so." Angel gave a shrug "You might as well face it, the fact is that you're simply outgunned and I have much more power at my disposal than a mere novice such as the likes of you."
"No way…" Lucy was promptly swatted aside by Gemini, sending her tumbling backwards in a heap.
"Poor thing, you really shouldn't beat yourself up over the matter. Oh come on Gemini, don't stop now. I think she needs more pain."
"You…" Lucy struggled to get back on her feet and shot a glare at Angel.
"Hey knock it off with the staring, you're getting on my nerves."
"I want you to release Aries from her contract."
"You're kidding right, why the hell would I do that?"
"Karen tormented her, she broke her on almost a daily basis. She deserves to be happy, but that won't happen until she's free." this actual seem to get Gemini thinking, only for them to end up striking Lucy again.
"Tell me Lucy my dear, what do we say when we want something from someone? Well, I'm waiting."
"Please, I beg of you… Just let her go… She should be with Loke, and we can make that happen for them… You can do whatever you want with me, but please just release Aries so that she can find her own happiness."
"What, and do it for free?"
"You can have anything you want, except for my spirits. You can even take my life."
"My my, isn't that such a generous offer. Alright then Gemini, why don't you go ahead and collect for me."
"I…" Gemini slowly raised their weapon, only to hesitate.
"What are you waiting for, hurry up!"
"It's strange, but I can hear a voice… It's inside my head…" hearing of Lucy's unwavering compassion for spirits, tears started streaming down their face "No… I can't… She loves us, and she's willing to give up her life for us… We envy her spirits…"
"Why you little- Get out of my sight!" Angel closed the gate and sent Gemini back in a moment of rage and disgust "You're going to suffer for that, I'll make sure of it as soon as this one is out of the picture!"
Lucy was about to start feeling relieved, but then she felt a certain someone grab onto her by the neck "Wha… Hibiki…?"
"No way that's awesome, your friend switched sides in the middle of a fight?"
"What…?"
"Just relax, this might feel kind of funny. I'm gonna use Archive to teach you how to use Hyper magic." Hibiki released his grip on Lucy's neck and slid his hands up to her temples, and his hands started glowing "This is a oneshot deal, so you'd better make it count!"
"What the… all of these spells in my head… all at once… Wait a second Hibiki, I don't know if I can take it!"
"Talk about a close one… I was flirting at the edge of light and darkness for a bit there, but then the love you feel for Celestial Spirits drove every hint of darkness away from me… If there's one person I know can make this work, it would have to be you…"
"Enough of this, Caelum finish them!" Angel gave the order, which prompted Caelum to transform into a machine gun just as the downloading into Lucy's mind finished.
"I have faith in you Lucy…" with his job done, Hibiki allowed himself to fall back.
"Finish her!"
With the download complete and before she could realize what was going on, Lucy started casting a new spell "Oh stars far and wide that embody the heavens, by thy radiance reveal thy form to me. I implore you oh tetrabiblos, ruler of the stars, let your unrestrained rage flow."
Angel was considerably taken aback by what was happening "What the hell is this, I've never seen this spell before. Don't just float there you idiot, hurry up and shoot her!"
"With the 88 heavenly bodies, shining! Urano Metria!" and so with the incantation for the spell complete, Lucy unleashed the spell, summoning the 88 constellations for an absolutely massive blast of magic power.
Angel could only scream in agony as she was struck by the oncoming attack despite her attempts to defend herself.
It was only after the spell was complete that Lucy fully regained awareness of her actions and surroundings and found Angel falling into the river "What the hell happened? Did I win?"
"Yay." Hibiki gave a thumbs up and a small smile 'I never doubted for a second that you would be able to do it, well done Lucy.'
"So… does that mean I win? Where did everybody go? Oh crap, Hibiki, Happy! Natsu are you alright?" she was met with various comical groans of agony "Oh man, they're all in really bad shape."
"Not so fast blondie!" Angel burst up from beneath the water with a psychotic grin plastered across her face as she morphed Caelum into a cannon "There's no way in hell I'm gonna lose to you, members of the Oracion Seis don't lose!"
'Dammit this is bad, but I don't get it. It feels like all my strength has been drained from my body, but how did it happen? Why does she look like she fought a tornado head on.'
"I don't care if I have to use every ounce of power at my disposal, I swear I'll send you straight to the grave!" Angel fired a blast of magic energy at Lucy from her cannon, only for it to swerve around her, much to her unyielding rage "What the… How could you have missed… You damn traitorous little son of a-" and then her cannon promptly disappeared.
Lucy looked back to see Natsu floating away on the raft, still incapacitated as a result of his motion sickness "Hang on Natsu, I'll be right there!"
'So this is it…' Angel found herself falling back, the last of her strength having disappeared along with Caelum 'You want to know what I prayed for? What I wanted more than anything in the world was to vanish into the heavens like an angel, pure and white…' and then she promptly disappeared into the river 'But I keep ending up all wet!'
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"Hang on Natsu, I'm coming!" Lucy made her way through the river after Natsu's raft as fast as she could, which really wasn't anywhere near fast enough "Dammit, the thing is moving way too fast! Come on Natsu I need you to pull yourself together, I know you can do it! I just need you to reach out to me!" she reached out her hand to him, and luckily he was able to grab it "Yes, I've got you!" but then they got swept away into some rapids "Oh for the love of god, where the hell did these rapids come from?! And things are about to get worse, aren't they?" she looked up at the waterfall a short distance away "Yeah that figures, just my luck. Well in that case, only one thing to do I guess." so on that note, she promptly grabbed onto Natsu as the two of them went over the waterfall.
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Meanwhile, in the Oracion Seis hideout…
Brain's head snapped up as he felt some more of the markings disappear from his face "This is impossible, it cannot be! Not only Racer, but now Angel has also been defeated? Mark my words my children, I shall avenge both of you and make your foes suffer! It's only a matter of time before the light of this world comes crashing down!" of course he hadn't realized that Angel was still alive.
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Meanwhile, with the actual main character of this fic and his talking cat with wings…
By this point, Luke was bolting through the forest of the Worth Woodsea at full speed with Bolt clinging onto his shoulder, his mind racing "This is bad Bolt, this is seriously bad. I honestly never thought Jellal would come back."
"It's not like it's that big of a deal though." Bolt pointed out "I mean all you had to do was use your Lightning Sea King Dragon mode and you wrecked him, take it seriously and he'll only last a few minutes tops."
"Maybe but that's not important, if he gets his hands on Nirvana then we're all gonna be in some serious trouble, as in Dragon Ball levels of trouble." Luke shot a quick glance back "I guess you noticed it too Erza."
Sure enough, Erza ran up alongside them, her expression rather pale "I assumed that the dark power we were all sensing was Nirvana, but I never expected Jellal to be involved."
"I don't think any of us did really."
"I don't understand how that could be possible, nor do I understand how he could've ended up in here of all places. I just… I wish I knew what I was supposed to be feeling right now."
"I wish I could answer that Erza, I really do. But even if I could, I doubt anything I said would really satisfy you. Let's forget about that for now and just focus on the task at hand."
"Right."
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En route to Nirvana's current location, Hoteye was in the middle of explaining to Jura how its magic actually worked, and that the bad things he had done were all for the sake of finding his younger brother, but Jura had helped him to see the light.
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At the same time, Ren was in the middle of a confrontation with Midnight of the Oracion Seis, but he quickly found that no matter what he did, none of his attacks had any effect on him whatsoever.
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The sun was setting over the skies.
Wendy had regained consciousness, but was brooding and sulking over the choice she made to heal Jellal "I don't know Carla, maybe I shouldn't have joined the alliance."
Carla was quick to scold Wendy for her attitude "Come on now child, stop beating yourself up like that. It wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was."
"You're playing with fire Wendy, Nirvana could change your heart at any moment."
"The truth is I'm just a coward, I left Lucy and the others instead of just staying to fight alongside them."
"You know as well as I do that if you had stayed then you would've only gotten in the way."
"You see, I shouldn't have even come."
"Don't you dare say that, keep in mind that if you hadn't been there then we would've ended up losing Luke for sure."
"Yeah I guess, but the Oracion Seis found Nirvana because of me."
"Is it really all that bad child? I can sense that a small part of you is actually happy that you get to see Jellal again, though I cannot understand why. Would you care to explain exactly who he is to you? You said something about owing him your life, but I'm confused. If he's so important to you then why have you never bothered to mention him before now?"
"It's nothing personal, it's just that it never came up. I first met him about 7 years ago, not long after the Sky Dragon Grandeeny disappeared. I went looking for her and I eventually ended up meeting him, and he told me he was on his own too and asked me if I wanted to join him on his journey. We ended up travelling together from that day forward, we didn't know where we were going but I don't think either of us really cared. We travelled together for a few months, and he always looked after me. But then one day he started acting strange, he mentioned something called an Anima, and then he decided that we shouldn't travel together anymore, saying that it was too dangerous. I didn't want to, but once we got beyond the forest we were in, he left me at the Cait Shelter guild, and I've been there ever since."
"So then what happened to him after the two of you parted ways?"
"That was the last time I ever saw him, but I did hear rumors every now and then. First there were people saying there was a member of the council that looked like him, and the most recent ones were all about how he had been doing these incredibly evil deeds. That's so silly, he would never think about doing such horrible things. I wonder, do you think he even remembers me anymore?"
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Meanwhile, near Nirvana…
Luke and the others made their way closer to where Nirvana was being unleashed, but then the former stopped their party in their tracks "He's up ahead, I can smell him. This is it Erza, are you sure you can face him?"
"I'll have to either way." Erza told him flatly "As grateful as I am for you looking out for me, now isn't the time for you to try and shield me from reality."
"I know that damn well, now let's go."
"Right." so they made their way forward to where Jellal was standing near the core of the magic being unleashed, with Erza being too stunned to speak.
Luke spared a quick glance back at where Cobra was hiding 'If I had to guess then I would say he didn't expect me to survive his poison, though he probably did sense me coming. He'll try and stop us from taking down Jellal before Nirvana is fully activated, so we'll have to ready oursevles for a fight.'
"Jellal."
"Erza…" Jellal slowly looked up to meet her glare.
"Now tell us, how did you end up here?"
"I… I cannot answer that question. Erza… who is that?"
"What?"
"I have no memories to call my own, and yet I can remember that name." he suddenly grabbed his head "I have no knowledge of who I am or where I came from… Can either of you tell me, do either of you know? At least tell me who Erza is. Please, if you know then I need you to tell me."
"Jellal…"
Luke spared a quick glance over at Erza to see the tears brimming in her eyes 'His memory has been wiped clean? I wasn't expecting that.'
"Jellal…" Erza started slowly walking towards him, her gaze hardening further with every step she took.
"Stay back, stay away!" Jellal suddenly fired at Erza with a blast of magic energy, though it did little more than leave a slight mark on her face.
"Fine then, if that's the case then you come to me. I'm the person you're looking for."
"So then… you're Erza?"
"She is." Luke told him calmly "And I am Luke. You are Jellal. There was once a time the two of you were close friends."
"We… We were?"
"We were." Erza confirmed it, her expression still stoic "However, that was from a time before you became derranged, you desecrated the dead, you hurt many of the people that I hold dear to my heart, you destroyed the Magic Council and you killed Simon." her face slowly twisted into suppressed rage "Let me make this clear, if you even dare to think about trying to forget about the pain you've caused, the people that you've hurt, I swear I'll take my sword to your heart and engrave it there! Now come to me, face the atonement for the crimes you've committed!"
"I… I did that to people I called my friends?" tears started streaming down his face "What have I done?"
Luke and Bolt watched the exchange between them from the sidelines in silence 'The look in his eyes, he's being sincere about this.'
"Please no, tell me it's not true. Tell me, how can I make amends?"
'It doesn't even feel like we're dealing with the same person.'
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Meanwhile, with our washed away heroes…
Lucy's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, only to find her wounds treated and her clothes replaced with a new outfit "Okay… first question, who treated these? Second question, who changed my clothes?"
"I thought garments from the Celestial World would suit you." Virgo was quick to get her attention "As for who dressed you, that would be me."
"Wait a second, Virgo?!"
"At your service Princess."
That was when Natsu bolted upright "Okay, so now where the hell am I?"
"I also took the liberty of providing Sir Natsu with a matching set of clothing."
"Cool as that is nevermind that now, where's that weird light thing?" Natsu looked over at where the light from Nirvana was shining high into the air "Woah."
"Indeed."
"Well we're definitely closer." Lucy noted "But it looks a lot different compared to what we were seeing before."
"Yes, the light emitting from that spot changed from black to white while the two of you were unconscious."
"I wonder what it means."
"Son of a-" Natsu's vein started throbbing comically, but then he just let out a sigh, which freaked Lucy out, and then he shot her a grin "Hey Lucy, thanks a ton for saving my butt back there."
"Yeah sure, don't mention it. I just hope that the others are doing okay, even if we did somehow manage to take Angel down she was only one of six."
"Speaking of which, where the hell is Happy? And now that I think about it, wasn't one of those freaks from Blue Pegasus with you, and wasn't a certain blonde supposed to stay with Luke and the others?"
"I was, but we got split up after you charged off like a crazed bull!"
"Well then why the hell are wasting time standing around when we should be running towards the light?"
"Did you say it like that on purpose."
"Maybe, you don't know what I do."
"...That explains so much."
"I'm happy I could serve you Princess, until next time." Virgo promptly bowed to the two of them and then left.
"Wait Virgo hold on a second! That's right, I never summoned her. She must have crossed over using her own magic power, but does that mean I'm all out of mine?' Lucy jumped when she heard a rustling in the bushes, only to relax slightly when she saw Xian reveal himself "Oh it's just you Xian, hey I'm glad you're okay and all but did you have to scare me?"
"Wait a second…" Natsu stared long and hard at Xian for a moment, until the realization dawned on him "Yeah I knew it, you remind me of Iron Fist!"
"You wanna run that by me again?"
"Look I saw this Spider Man cartoon that showed this chi user or whatever, and I swear this guy has been making."
"...It scares me how your brain works sometimes. Anyway Xian, what are you doing here and where are the others?"
"I can sense him." Xian's aura was slowly flickering between gold and black "I can sense the energy of the one who brought death and destruction everywhere he went… he is dead because of this man, and her life has been ruined ever further… I cannot allow this to stand…"
"Get the hell down!" that was when Gray burst onto the scene and tackled Xian to the ground, causing his darkening aura to subside "Sorry guys but I think he might be possessed, first he punches me out talking about how I disrupted the balance or something, and now he's talking about how the evil one is back and ruined her life or something. He's been acting seriously out of it even since that light showed up, not to mention Erza took off awhile ago to find out what that's about. Have you guys seen anything?"
"Well I know I have, and I know that I owe you a kick in the icicles for that crap you pulled on me earlier." Natsu snarled at him, his tone bitter.
"Come again?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about."
"Take it easy Natsu, in case you hadn't noticed before that wasn't the real Gray doing all of that back there." Lucy told him.
"Doesn't matter, I wanna kick him in the icicles either way."
"You see, it's things like this that make me wonder how Gray survived being in the same guild as a bunch of lunatics like you."
Lucy and the others whipped around and their eyes widened "Lyon!"
Sure enough, Lyon limped his way out of the bushes, carrying the unconscious form of Racer over his shoulder, only there was one glaring different about him "Yes yes I'm alive, although I would've thought you guys would have more faith in me than that."
"I had faith in you." Gray pointed out "You might not look it but you're tough as fuck, and I can only say that about Craig Robinson. Though not gonna lie, there is one thing about you I wasn't expecting."
"Oh, you mean this?" Lyon looked down at the stump where his left arm used to be, covered in dried blood "Yes, that was far closer than I was hoping for it to be. Even after I tried to put some distance between us and the lacrima bomb strapped to him, I spent every ounce of magic power I had left trying to keep the blast at bay. I was able to do so, but at a cost. It took me awhile to recover and treat the wound before I ended up bleeding out."
"Sounds like you had as rough of a time as the rest of us did." Lucy noted.
"Speaking of which Salamander, where the hell did you find that get up?"
"Why is that?" Natsu gave a cocky smirk "You jealous?"
"Do you actually hear some of the things you say?" Lyon just rolled his eyes and glanced over to where Xian was lying on the ground "I didn't expect you to lose control of yourself so easily over something like this."
"I-I know…" Xian pulled himself to his knees as a dark energy emerged from his body and quickly evaporated "I'm truly sorry for all that I've done… when a Chi warrior's balance is distured, the actions they commit and the emotions they go through are almost entirely unpredictable."
"Looked to me like you were being possessed by something, so I guess that had a fair part in it too."
"Yeah, no kidding." Lucy muttered "But now we're running out of time."
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Erza continued her staredown with Jellal, her mind racing 'Jellal…'
"Erza listen up." Luke quickly got her attention "As much as I hate to interrupt, we have some unwanted company." he jerked a thumb back.
Sure enough, this was when Cobra chose to reveal himself from his hiding place "Alright listen up Jellal, if you've lost your memory then that explains why I wasn't able to hear your thoughts up to this point, but now I've got a whole slew of questions for you to answer."
"I was wondering when you were going to reveal yourself."
"So you noticed, I guess I should be impressed but I'll get to you soon enough. Anyway Jellal, I want to know how it is you were able to track down Nirvana. But even more than that, I want to know how the hell you broke its seal."
Jellal breathed a long sigh "While I was still unconscious, I found myself hearing a voice that stated that it must have Nirvana. It's strange, but when I woke up I some how knew precisely where to find it. Somehow I could also sense how incredibly dangerous and powerful it is, and so I made a decision to break the seal on Nirvana, in order to obliterate it." this was met with various stunned looks.
"How exactly do you intend to destroy something like that?" asked Luke.
"I rigged this monstrosity with a self destruction circle, so it's only a matter of time before Nirvana crushes itself."
"What?!" Cobra was quick to rush forward and try to stop the self destruction, but he found himself having very little success 'Dammit, this is bad. I've never seen a magic circle with this kind of complexity before, if I can't find a way to stop this then we'll lose everything! Alright start talking Jellal, tell me how to disarm it or I'll beat it out of you!"
Rather than give the answer, Jellal stumbled forward slightly and started coughing "Erza… it's strange, but whenever I hear that name a calm sensation washes over me… Cheerfulness, kindness, fierce unwavering loyalty." he looked up at Erza and gave a smile "I have no doubt in my mind that you will continue to despise me, believe me when I say that I don't blame you for such a thing. I would most likely feel the same. If I am truly one you called a friend once, then I cannot allow that hatred to keep robbing you of your freedom." a complex magic circle suddenly formed on his chest.
"But… What are you saying?" Erza finally found her voice again.
"I'm sorry that my actions have caused you to suffer. I promise you, I intend to do everything I can to make it right. Be free from hatred Erza, escape from your past." Jellal started to fall back into the white light "I will take your pain and your sadness, all of it. Such things cannot shackle you anymore."
Luke and the others stood on the sidelines, watching in disbelief, though the former was more composed than the others 'He's seriously going through with it, he's sacrificing himself just like that? It seems weird to think that this is the same guy I fought in the Tower of Heaven.'
"Erza, I bid you farewell." Jellal allowed himself to fall back onto the ground, supposedly accepting his fate.
"JELLAL!" in a move that shocked everyone present, Erza rushed towards Jellal and yanked him up by his coller, only to see the self-destruction square on his chest spreading "Don't do this, don't you dare do this!"
'Dammit, this is bad.' Cobra gritted his teeth 'If Jellal goes down, then he's taking with him the only way to shut down the self destruction circle!'
"Listen to me Jellal, you can't do this! I won't allow you to die like this! You have to atone for the sins you've committed! It doesn't mean anything if you die now like this, ignorant of what you've done! You need to own your guilt, and you need to live! JELLAL!" tears began streaming down her face.
At this, Jellal's eyes snapped open, and he gave Erza a small smile "Erza, please don't cry. You have no reason to." this caused her tears to stop flowing "Yes… you're a good person."
"Jellal, come on you have to pull yourself together!"
"He's not the only one." Luke turned to face the new arrival, dropping into a combat stance as his hand rested on the hilt of his sword as he motioned for Bolt to hide "Hate to interrupt again guys, but we've got some more company."
Sure enough, that was when Brain revealed himself on the scene "What could be the meaning of all of this foolishness?"
'So the leader finally decides to reveal himself.'
"A magic circle of self-destruction."
"You can thank Jellal for that." Cobra told him "We've gone through all this trouble to bring about Nirvana, and this idiot is trying to destroy it!" he was met with only a smirk.
"Spare me the hysterics Cobra, keep in mind that I don't answer to the name Brain by mere chance. Tell me, do you know how I came to be called that? I once worked at the Bureau of Magical Development. During my tenure there I produced hundreds of spells, including those designed to bring destruction, such as this one. I still hold that knowledge within my mind to this very day." he made his way toward the light of Nirvana "In fact, I was the one who taught you how to use them, or have you forgotten Jellal?" he looked down at him "You mastered it in record time too, but you wanted to take it further. So it seems that he's placed himself under one as well, he intends to take the disarm code with him to the grave then does he?"
"Hate to break it to you Brain, but I don't think he's gonna be travelling down memory lane with you. Sorry, but it looks like all of that ethernano wiped all of it out." Cobra was met with only a laugh from Brain.
"Is that so? How comical. No matter, we have no further need of his assistance. I know how to nullify the magic circle in question, quite simply actually." and so with but a simple wave of his hand, Brain nullified the magic circle of self destruction with ease.
"Hot damn, nice one." Cobra gave a smirk.
"You tried your best Jellal, but now Nirvana is finally under my control!"
"You're forgetting one thing." Luke stepped forward with his sword Raiden drawn, both his body and the blade crackling with electricity "Both Erza and I are still here and standing in your way, and we're not moving anytime soon."
"It matters little Dragon Slayer, very little. Now then, arise Nirvana and reveal your true face to all!" this caused the ground beneath all of them to begin to give way."
'Dammit, this is bad!'
"Yes, yes it's about damn time!" Cobra's face had pretty much lit up like a Christmas tree "Yes, I can hear it! The sound of the future, the sound of light crashing to the ground!"
Erza could only look on in horror as Jellal fell into the light below "No, Jellal!"
"Erza hang on!" Luke quickly grabbed her by the arm with one hand, his other hand firmly holding onto Bolt as they were flown above the carnage unfolding."
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It didn't take long for Wendy and Carla to notice the carnage unfolding "This is bad, I think it's getting worse."
"Quickly child, we have to get to safety." Carla told her.
"No Carla, we can't!"
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Lyon and the rest of the group looked on in awe and dismay at the sight unfolding "So it looks as though our mission was a failure."
"HOLY SHIT!" Natsu had pretty much exploded.
"And of course, your reaction is the most over the top."
"I hope it's not as bad as it looks." Gray muttered.
"Hate to break it to you Gray, but I'm fairly certain it is."
"And once again, Luke and Erza are caught in the middle of it."
"This is fucking insane." Natsu muttered "It's like this is the second most dangerous thing I've ever smelled!"
"What the hell do you mean second?"
"Have you seen Lisanna angry?"
"Dude, it's still up for debate about whether or not Lisanna can even do angry."
"Oh yeah she can." this was followed by the true form of Nirvana bursting up from within the ground and destroying the ground above it "Yeah this is a definite second, but it's still got nothing on her."
"What the hell is this thing? It's going everywhere, and it doesn't even feel like magic. Does that mean this is Nirvana?"
"I don't know, but that really bad feeling is coming back again." Lucy muttered.
"Yeah you said it." and then the ground from beneath them burst up to reveal another portion of the body of Nirvana bursting up from beneath them "What the hell did I tell you?!"
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Wendy quickly found herself being blown high into the air by all of the chaos unfolding, only for her to be caught by Carla and flown above it into the air "Carla!"
"It's alright child, I've got you." Carla assured her.
"Thanks." but then they noticed something in the distance, which turned out to be the massive form of an ancient city "Wait Carla, look over there! Do you see that?"
"I do, but… could that be Nirvana?"
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"YES!" by this point, Brain was basking in the glory of his triumph "Yes, at long last I have finally obtained it, the ultimate weapon to extinguish light! The legendary reversal magic in all of its glory, Nirvana! Those near sighted guilds will cling to their piety, their fellowship and their trust! But now, such things will be stripped of their meaning!"
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Meanwhile, with our heroes…
At the same time, Luke was holding onto the side of Nirvana, with Erza and the others hanging onto him for dear life "You guys doing okay?"
"Given the circumstances, we could be a lot better." Erza looked down at Jellal "Listen to me very carefully Jellal. The magic circle you placed on yourself before, I need you to undo it this instant. You have duty and it requires you to stay alive."
"But, I failed…" Jellal looked down in shame "I wasn't able to stop Nirvana, and now the world is doomed."
"Yeah yeah we get it." Bolt grabbbed Jellal by the hair "We get the shtick, you've got red in your ledger and you need to wipe it out."
"What?"
"I get it, Black Widow reference, nice." Luke caught Bolt in a quick fist bump, and then he helped Jellal to his feet "Anyway you're wrong about that, if there's one thing I've learned in my time at Fairy Tail, it's that there's always hope. Take a look over there." he jerked a thumb over at a comotion in the distance "Natsu and the others are making their way here as we speak, and when they show up you know that things are gonna get crazy."
"In a good way or in a bad way?"
"Yes. Anyway, my point is that as long as we still have breath in our lungs, all of us keep hope alive inside our hearts. That hope is what guides us on the road of life, so that's exactly why you have to live."
"...You're right. I will. Now let's go, um…"
"Luke, the name is Luke Drako. You might not remember this, but I was the one who defeated you last time we met. Anyway let's get moving you guys, we have work to do."
"Right." Jellal accepted the hand being held out to him by Erza.
"Of course, knowing what Natsu is like, he'll probably try to punch the thing until it gives out, so we should probably get moving. You know what hold that thought, I should probably go do some damage control. Bolt let's get moving, Erza and Jellal you better guys get to work." so on that note, Luke grabbed onto Bolt and wound up soaring off into the distance.
Jellal shared a look with Erza, in which they both nodded and promptly set off on foot as fast as they could.
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Meanwhile, with Natsu's party…
Gray and Lucy glanced back, but neither were amused to see Natsu already beginning to wretch further down from them "Oh for fuck's sake, you've gotta be kidding me! Of all the times for you to start getting sick, there's no way in hell you could do it now!"
"I'm sorry…" Natsu tried to hold it in, to his obvious pain "I can't help it…"
"Well you've gotta try dammit!"
"This thing's moving… from one place to another…"
"It may be moving but it's not like it's a vehicle! Don't think of it that way you idiot!"
"I… Hey yeah, you're right!" Natsu bolted to his feet and started stomping his way up the path… but he only got about 10 feet before he felt it again "Nope, you're wrong and it hurts like a mother fucker."
"Just think of it like a giant octopus, being on the back of a giant animal doesn't hurt you like that does it?"
"An octopus in the woods is all kinds of wrong?"
"Don't try and make sense out of a giant Transformer robot moving around in the middle of the woods turning people to the dark side of the Force!"
"That fucks up so many franchises… But you're right Gray, all I have to do right now is get my mind at ease." but then Nirvana started walking "Woah…"
"For fuck's sake you idiot, just stay alert!"
"I know what I'm doing icicles, this is a piece of cake!" and then Nirvana took another step, which sent Natsu comically falling into the Worth Woodsea below, until…
"Coming in hot, just hang tight!" lucky for him, that was when Luke soared down towards him with Bolt carrying him and he grabbed Natsu while he was still in mid air "Sorry I'm late, but I'm back and better than ever."
"You're damn right you are, now hold on while I hurl." he then proceeded to hurl over the Worth Woodsea.
"Oh joy, first I take a blow for Erza and get bitten by a poisonous snake, then I have to watch you puke up yesterday's lunch and whatever Lisanna did to you all over some random forest in the middle of what I think is the apocalypse. Anyway if you're done, then just hold on for a quick second." he motioned for Bolt to take them back up, and once they were high enough he promptly flung Natsu back onto the leg of Nirvana next to Gray and Lucy "Just hold onto him for the time being and head in there so you can see what it's like on the inside, Bolt and I are gonna take it all the way to the top."
"Got it!" so on that note Gray and Lucy promptly grabbed Natsu and dragged him with them as they went inside Nirvana.
Now on their own, Luke and Bolt promptly soared up the legs of Nirvana until they came across something very interesting "Woah, wasn't expecting this."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Bolt muttered "It looks like some kind of creepy old city like something you would probably seen in Game of Thrones."
"Put the references aside for now, not only can I sense their magic power but I can smell both of them too."
"We go in?"
"Oh yeah."
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Cobra looked around the top of Nirvana and shot a smirk at Brain "I've gotta hand it to you, you actually pulled it off. You got us Nirvana, a city that's been long dead brought back to life after all this time. How about you Cubellios, don't you think this is amazing?" he was met with a hissing from his snake.
"Yes, indeed it is." Brain let out a chuckle "Behold Cobra, take a good long look at the world that now spreads out beneath our feet. An entire city, unshackled from time and from the Earth itself. This is the true form of Nirvana, and from this seat of power, I can move this city to anywhere I see fit!"
"Is that right? Well I'm sure you've got somewhere in mind, so where the hell are we going from here?"
"I know exactly what our first target is going to be, in the form of a certain guild hall."
"So we're starting with a bang then are we?"
"Indeed we are, it shall be the first of many lights to be extinguished." Brain held up his staff and a perimeter of magic circles surrounded them "The time has come Nirvana, the time for you to begin your march has come to us! Transform my darkness into light!" but then he noticed something descending from above "What in the-"
"Lightning Dragon TALON!" that was when Luke descended from above with a lightning enhanced kick that missed Brain only by a few centimeters "Hate to break it to you guys, actually no I don't, but I'm putting the breaks on this thing."
"Dammit, the lightning dragon!"
"If you thought that poisoning me was enough to keep me from protecting my comrades, then you're in for one hell of a rude awakening! Lightning Dragon ROAR!" Luke breathed out a powerful blast of lightning.
"Dammit!" Brain was forced to use his magic to shield himself "Don't waste time Cobra, stop this wretched fool at once!"
"I hear you, Cubellios do your thing!" Cobra quickly sent his snake forward.
"Not this time!" Luke grabbed onto Bolt and allowed himself to be flown out of the way of the snake's attack "I'm not one of those people who fall for the same trick twice."
"We'll see about that!" Cobra blitzed in front of Luke and aimed claw attack at his face, only to be met with a fist to the gut and a kick to the face that sent him flying backwards, only for him to be saved by Cubellios, which had apparently sprouted wings "And for the record, you're not the only one who has a few tricks up his sleeve."
"...Okay, not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting the flying snake."
"And I wasn't expecting you to be puking your guts out when you're riding your cat, I thought vehicles made you sick or something."
"It's different for animals compared to actual vehicles, besides you can't upchuck if you've got nothing in you to chuck."
"So what then, you have to stay in the air while Nirvana is moving because being on there during that will make you hurl?"
"Weren't you listening? I've got nothing in me to hurl right now. All I have to do is take down you and the Grand Hancho down there, then stop this giant Death Star reject."
"You're gonna need the luck of the devil to do that."
"I'm pretty sure the term is luck of the Irish."
"You mean that one Disney movie? Whatever, my point is that there's no way in hell you're gonna get near Brain. Bring it on so called Lightning Dragon Slayer."
"Bring it on, I'll take care of you before I go for the Brain. Bolt, let's go." Luke promptly soared ahead towards Cobra, then suddenly made a beeline towards Brain himself 'I can't waste too much time on him, take off the head and the rest of the snake will fall with it.'
"Not so fast!" Cobra quickly tried to attack them using Cubellios' tail, only for Luke to leap above it at the last second "If you wanna get to Brain, then you're gonna have to go through me first, and there's no way that's going to happen."
'Dammit, not only are his reflexes fast but it's like he knew what I was going to do.'
"The magic I use allows me to hear your movements before you even make them."
"So you can basically read minds?"
"Call it whatever you want, but I say we have some fun."
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By this point, Wendy and Carla had returned to the ground of the city of Nirvana, due to the exhaustion the latter was dealing with "I'm sorry that was so hard for you Carla, I wish I could help out more."
"Don't worry about it child." Carla waved it off "We made it here, and we managed to do so mostly in one piece. But tell me, now that we've arrived what exactly is it that you plan for us to do? You're trying to find Jellal up here aren't you?"
"No I'm not!"
"Be honest with me child."
"...Well in a way, I guess I sort of am, but this thing does have to be stopped, so now that I'm here maybe there's something I can do about it to make that happen."
"Maybe…" but then Carla noticed something that froze her to the core "No…"
"What is it Carla, is there something wrong?"
"I don't know… I mean I could be wrong, but…" she wandered her way towards the edge of the city "Please don't tell me it's going where I think it's going."
"What do you mean, where do you think it's going?"
"If it continues to travel on the same course it is now, then very soon it will trample right over the home of the Cait Shelter guild."
"Wh-What?!"
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Meanwhile, back at the fight…
Luke continued his mid air battle against Cobra, his mind racing 'This is going nowhere, even if he can't land a hit on me it doesn't mean anything if I can't get him either. Clearly he has an advantage if I continue fighting him in the air like this, but can I risk my motion sickness by fighting on the ground?'
"He's clearly more used to fighting in mid air than we are." Bolt pointed out "But we're gonna have to take him down quickly if we wanna get to fighting the Grand Hancho."
"I know that all too well Bolt, so are you ready? We're gonna have to give these guys a beat down and stop this Death Star reject right in its tracks."
"Right."
"Okay, so let's do this."
"Well now, this oughta be a riot." Cobra let out a chuckle "It ought be a great way to keep me entertained while we make the trip over to our next stop. Come on Thunderclap, why don't we get this fight started already?"
"As if you had to ask. Believe me when I say this, you're in for one hell of a fight."
A/N:
And thus we move into the third act of six for the Oracion Seis arc, with two of the Seis now out of commission, one in the middle of a heated battle against our own main character, and one of the seis having switched sides due to the influence that comes with Nirvana. In simple terms, 3 down, 3 to go.
In regards to all of the Star Wars references: Come on guys, there's no way none of you were thinking of that too. I mean seriously, I never even watched any Star Wars stuff, unless you count the Family Guy parody episodes, and I totally get the reference in there.
Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to reevaluate my opinion of Ichiya and his lapdogs, aka the Trimens. While Ichiya's face haunts my dreamns and I do still consider Ren and Eve to be annoying, I actually do like Hibiki. He seems pretty cool to me.
For the record, when Natsu is talking about Xian, he's referencing the Ultimate Spider Man cartoon. I know it's gotten a considerable amount of hate, but it's honestly one of my favorites, and in all seriousness, Xian does remind me of Iron Fist a great deal. I don't know why, he just does.
So yes, while Lyon does survive the explosion of Racer's lacrima bomb, but at a serious cost: losing his left arm, which adds a new level of suspense and tension to the overall arc, something that Fairy Tail tends to lack at times.
Yep, while this chapter might end on a cliffhanger, it's setting up for a showdown between Dragon Slayers. Luke vs Cobra, Lightning vs Poison.
Now then, before I conclude these notes, I want to go on record and thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited or followed this story since its first chapter back in June of 2019. Since then, this has officially become my most popular story of all time! I could never have reached this milestone without all of your support, so thank you all for that.