The Rise of a Warrior: Fairy Tail

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Luke Drako, S-class wizard of the Fairy Tail guild, the true Lightning Dragon Slayer, student and son of the Lightning dragon Kaminari. This is his story. The story of a Dragon Slayer trying to find his place in the world, and make one hell of a strong team along the way. And with any luck, he just might win the heart of a certain brunette card mage. OC x Cana. Read and review.

32. Edolas VI

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yep, the war in Edolas is reaching its climax, and it's gonna be one hell of a fight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and the skies of Edolas had turned from a pale green to a dark shade of blue, similar to what one would experience in Earth Land, but the situation was growing more grim by the moment.

With the lacrima island getting closer to crushing Extalia, the Exceed Imperial Guards inform the Queen and the elders about the situation, revealing that Nichiya and most of the other guards had been turned into a lacrima and were being held captive, and while the elders expressed surprise and outrage about the news, the guards also informed them about the riot being caused in Extalia by the arrival of Wendy and Carla.

Upon hearing this, the queen Shagotte stood up and decided to face the wizards from Earth Land herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The lacrima island was hurtling towards Extalia, getting faster by the second.

Happy was particularly freaked out by what was happening "Hurry Gajeel, use your Dragon Slayer magic to shatter the lacrima and turn everyone back, do it now!"

"I can't do it cat, there's no time for that now." Gajeel told him flatly "This thing is getting faster by the second."

"What? Oh man this is bad, this is really really bad!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with our heroes…

"Come on guys, let's go!" Luke and the others continued their charge towards the giant lacrima island "Don't forget that if we can't stop this then everyone we know in Fairy Tail, not to mention the rest of Magnolia, is as good as dead. Give this thing everything you've got!" and so the Legion creatrue slammed straight into the floating island, but it only seemed to be slowing it down somewhat.

"You have to give it everything you've got!" Coco told it, which prompted it to push harder, though it didn't make much of a difference.

"Dammit this is bad, we're barely slowing it down. It has too much mass and momentum going for it."

"So what do we do then?" asked Lucy.

"I have one idea, but it's pretty risky. If I use my Thunder Drive then maybe I can hit it with a blast of lightning strong enough then I might be able to stop it."

"But wouldn't that risk damaging the lacrima? Wouldn't that hurt everyone?"

"Maybe it will, but I don't think we have another choice in the matter. The way I see it, all I can do is aim low and hope for the best. Thunder Drive!" with a surge of power, Luke activated his Thunder Drive and charged at the island at full speed, unleashing two simultaneous surges of electricity from both hands to try and stop its momentum, but he only managed to slow it down a little bit.

"Hold on Luke, real man never lets his friends take on such a huge burden alone! Full Body Takeover: BEAST SOUL!" Elfman activated his Full Body Takeover and promptly joined the stuggle.

"Hang tight Luke, you're not the only one that's fired up!" Natsu let his flames surge wildly as he did likewise, the three of them combining their strength to push back on the island and slow its descent, but nowhere near enough.

"NATSU!" that was when Happy soared down towards them, but stopped in his tracks when he met up with Natsu face to face "Natsu… I'm sorry… I didn't…" he was met with a certain trademark smirk.

"Come on buddy, quit it with the waterworks and just come and give us a hand."

"...Aye sir!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gajeel heard this little exchange from his place atop the island and gave a smirk "Sorry about this furball, but we're gonna have to take a raincheck on the fight for now." and he started making a beeline.

"Hey!" Lily rounded on him in a rage "Don't you dare run from me!"

"Just hang tight, we'll finish this. I just need to stop this thing first, then I'll beat the crap out of ya soon enough!"

"You're such a fool, once it's begun there's no way to stop it! This is the end, Edolas is about to change forever, and none of us are going to live to see the aftermath of such a change!"

"That's where you're wrong, none of us are dying. You're coming with me to Fairy Tail when this is over, cause you're gonna be my cat even if I have to drag you there!" and so he promptly leapt off the edge of the island.

Lily could only watch him go in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke and the others continued struggling against the island "We're getting closer to collision, if any of you are holding back for whatever reason, push it to the max and do it NOW!" his magic power began surging wildly just as a crash could be heard. When the dust settled, Luke was pushing further than all of the others combined, given the fact that, based on the dragon scales covering his body, he had activated his Dragon Force "Don't give up, none of you fucking dare give up! We can still push this thing back!"

"Leave it to you to act as the moral booster." Gajeel suddenly leapt down and started pushing along with them.

"What the hell are you doing here Gajeel, you're supposed to be turning the others in the lacrima back to normal! Get the hell back up there!"

"Hey shut the hell up Thunderclap, if you wanna deal with the angry black cat then go ahead and do it!"

"You know what fuck it, we don't have time to worry about that! If you're gonna push then just fucking push already!"

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?!"

"Dragging on this conversation longer than necessary, now shut the hell up and push!"

This was when Lily looked down to see Coco joining in on the effort to stop the lacrima from colliding with Extalia "Coco what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Lily! Oh thank goodness, you're still in one piece!" Coco gave a smile of relief "That's such a relief, who needs eternal magic power when you can have eternal smiles?"

"What sort of nonsense is that?! You have to get out of here right now Coco, these people will never be able to stop the destruction of Extalia!"

"Don't push yourself you goddamn cat!" Luke suddenly let out a massive surge of electricity from his body "If there's one thing I've learned in the past two years, it's that when you have something you need to protect, nothing stands in your way, no matter who or whatever it might be!" this left Lily somewhat taken aback.

'Such conviction in determination… it seems he and his counterpart are more similar than I had anticipated, and it appears I've underestimated these Earth Land wizards.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in Extalia…

The Exceeds in Extalia finally took note of the lacrima crashing into their island, but they were still confident that their queen would save them. Realizing what was happening, Wendy promptly apologized to Carla, only for her to claim that it was too early to give up and try to warn the Exceeds again. Growing annoyed with her, one of the Exceeds suddenly threw another rock at her, only for Nabi to shield her, claiming that throwing rocks can be dangerous, and because they refused to listen to Wendy and Carla, Extalia was about to be destroyed. The Exceeds promptly started arguing with him, claiming that they still had the Queen to save them. Nabi was about to reply, only to be interrupted by the arrival of the Queen, much to the clear surprise of everyone present. Shagotte was quick to explain to everyone that Extalia was in danger and that they could not escape their fate, which was why she decided to tell everyone the truth. As she removed her robes and jewelry, Shagotte revealed to everyone that she was a mere Exceed, not actually a queen or a god, and that she only had one wing, before she apologized to the rest of her fellow Exceeds, as well as Wendy and Carla, for deceiving them, and along with the elders, she began to explain her story.

The Exceeds, in reality, were weak and fragile creatures who were treated very poorly by the humans, which caused the elders to make up the story that their queen was a God, a story that would plant fear into humans and self-confidence to the Exceeds. At first the humans didn't believe them, but using Shagotte's unique power of precognition, the Exceeds were able to tell when a human was going to die, causing the humans to fear the power of their god. Upon hearing this story from the elders, most of the Exceeds began to cry in disbelief, while Carla simply dismissed this new information and confronted the queen, mainly because she was angered by the fact she was ordered to kill her friends. Nabi tried to explain, but Shagotte interrupted him by throwing a dagger in front of Carla, claiming that she was the cause for Carla's pain and bowed down in front of her, ready to accept whatever punishment Carla saw fit.

Carla picked up the dagger, and the Exceeds began to cry over the potential loss of their beloved queen. Shagotte told the Exceeds to go, claiming that Extalia was going to die, and that she was going to die with it. Carla then began to approach Shagotte, just as the Exceeds expressed their desire not to leave the side of their queen. Carla arrived in front of Shagotte, but rather than strike her down, she just thrusted her dagger into the ground. With tears freely streaming down her face, Carla began to encourage her race to stand up and fight for their country, and with the determination needed to protect her homeland, she unleashed her Aera and blasted off towards the lacrima.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The struggle against the force of the giant lacrima continued, though it didn't seem to be going very well.

"Come on, come on, COME ON!" Luke and the others continued pushing against the lacrima with all the strength they had "Do whatever it takes you guys, use every ounce of magic power you can muster! I can't give up, I gained the power I have no to protect all of them, and there's no way I'm going to let it go to waste!'

"Need a little bit of backup?"

Luke glanced back to see Noah flash onto the scene a few feet away, with Bolt climbing off his shoulder "Nice to see you guys gave enough of a damn to stick around, now can you give us a hand?"

"You already know why I'm here Thunderclap, don't be coy with me."

"Right right, just grab on."

"Not a chance, we both know that pushing against this thing isn't gonna do much more than wear you out. I came prepared though, but I'm not gonna crush you guys to do it. When I make the call, I want you guys to break away from that thing and take the beast lower. Got it?"

"Alright, I'm trusting you on this."

"Good." Noah raised his hands into the air, and suddenly an absolutely massive makeshift meteor the size of the island itself rose up from the ground "NOW!"

"GET BACK!" Luke broke away from the island and dragged the others away as well, being sure to deactivate his Dragon Force as well "DO IT NOW!"

"RIGHT! Dragon Slayer Secret Art: PLANETARY DEVASTATION!" less than a second later, with a massive surge of magic power, Noah hurtled the massive meteor towards the lacrima island, slamming into it and stopping it from advancing, though he seemed to be under great strain as he did so.

"So… you basically copied that move from Naruto?"

"Other anime have a hell of a lot of potential for creating new Dragon Slayer spells, give this a try once we get back home and I swear to god you don't be disappointed." Bolt told him.

"We'll talk about that after we survive."

"Which isn't looking as likely as I had hoped, I'm slipping on this thing! Help a brother out for fuck's sake!" Noah barked at them.

"Hold on, I'm coming to help!" this was when Carla soared onto the scene and started pushing forward on Noah's meteor.

"You actually came back?"

"I don't care what anyone says and I'm not giving up, I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect Fairy Tail and Extalia! I can't just watch my homes be destroyed!"

'...Huh, looks like this cat has some guts going for her after all.'

"I won't just sit by and do nothing!"

"Looks like you've got something going for you after all." Bolt promptly joined in on the struggle, with Natsu, Happy and the rest following right behind him.

Luke glanced down at him and gave a small smile "Good to have you back with me little buddy."

"Good to be back lightweight."

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" this was when Nabi charged onto the scene and slammed into the meteor headfirst.

"Why are you here?" Carla shot him a look.

"I want to protect my home as well, your courage was what inspired me! And I'm not alone in that regard either!" this was followed by all of the other Exceeds, as well as Wendy, suddenly bursting forth from Exalia to join the fray.

'They came… all of them…'

"Exceeds aren't afraid of protecting our land with our own paws, our beloved queen was more than willing to give her life for the sake of protecting the kingdom of Extalia and all of the citizens of it! But on top of that, you and your friend went out of your way to risk your lives to try and save us from ourselves."

'Nabi…'

"Here it goes!" Wendy called out to all of the Exceeds "Everyone get ready to push with all your might!"

'Wendy…'

"Now let's go!" and so Wendy and every single Exceed joined in the struggle, pushing forward on Noah's meteor with all their strength. Well, all but one Exceed that is.

Lily watched the struggle progress, his expression unreadable 'To think the day at last came where all the people of Extalia came together as one. If this were them on the day that I was exiled for saving a human child, such a thing might only remain a dream.'

"Your majesty!" the elders looked on in horror as Shagotte suddenly gave out and started falling towards the ground.

"Hold on!" Lily rushed into the fray and caught her before she hit the ground, shocking the other Exceeds and earning a smirk from Gajeel "I have to ask your majesty, has the day come where you've grown weary of lying?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that." Shagotte looked away "I'm sorry I hurt you." she looked up as she felt his tears fall down onto her.

"You know, no matter how much I tried to convince myself to hate it, the fact is that Extalia is still my homeland."

"Lily…"

"But it doesn't matter now, even with all of the Exceeds working together there's no way of stopping it. Please forgive me, this is all my fault. It didn't have to happen, I could've stopped the humans, but I didn't do anything!"

"Listen to me Lily, you don't have to worry. I'm quite certain that your words are going to reach them."

"Your majesty…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"PUSH IT!" Luke and the others, along with all of the Exceeds, continued pushing on the massive meteor, forcing the island back bit by bit "JUST KEEP PUSHING! We can do this as long as we all stand as one united front! We're not going to let this be the end of us, and there's no way any of us are giving up! Giving up isn't an option, not in Fairy Tail!"

"Thunderclap is right on the money!" Noah poured some more of his magic power into his makeshift meteor "If there's one thing you can count on from Fairy Tail, it's to stand even when the entire fucking planet says that it's impossible!"

"About time someone got it, Fairy Tail knows how to find a way no matter how high the cost might be. Now PUSH!" this was followed by a sudden surge of green magic energy erupting from the island with the lacrima, allowing them to push it back even further "This is it! Come on everyone, GIVE IT YOUR ALL! ONE FINAL PUSH!" they gave it one last push, and before they knew it, they had pushed the lacrima away from Extalia. Once it was done, Luke breathed a sigh of relief as he powered down "Well that was fun."

"I've gotta give it to you Thunderclap, I didn't think we'd actually be able to do it. I mean stopping an island with a huge-ass crystal the size of a fucking mountain with just ten people and an army of cats?"

"We probably wouldn't have been able to if you hadn't shown up, not without some serious plot armor anyway." this was followed by a massive green light shining down from the skies above them, blinding everyone present.

"Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me, what now?!"

"Brace yourselves!" Luke and the others were forced to shield their eyes, and only when the light dissipated did everyone open their eyes "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm pretty sure everything isn't supposed to look like polka dots, but other than that."

"You might want to get that checked out. There's a reason I need glasses you know."

"I'll keep that in mind- Holy shit check it out." Noah pointed at the island, only for everyone to see that the lacrima had vanished without a trace, and the Dragon Chain Cannon.

"It just up and vanished. But what happened to everyone inside it? Does that mean they… you know?"

"I don't have a clue."

"You don't have to worry, everyone inside the lacrima is safe and sound."

Luke and the others glanced up, and their jaws all dropped "Mystogan?"

Sure enough, Mystogan stood above the rest of them on top of a Legion "I'm sorry I took so long to come here, but I needed time to recover, and finding an adequate Anima vestige in order to restore everything took longer than I was hoping for. I never would have been able to make it in time without all of your efforts, and for that you have my gratitude."

"So that means everyone inside the lacrima is back to normal?"

"Yes they are, by passing back through the Anima again the lacrima will return to its original form in Earth Land. At long last, it's finally over."

"So we did it, after all the struggles and hardships, it's finally over."

"Yeah, and thank fucking god for it." Noah fell flat on his back on top of the Legion with a huge sigh of relief, earning a few odd looks "What? Physically I'm fine, but spending three whole days with the likes of Salamander, the kid, the Animal Girl, the She Devil and the three talking cats? That gives a whole new meaning to the word draining."

"Uh huh. Going back for a second, what the hell did you mean by She Devil?"

"Oh. That. Right. Shit. Okay here's the thing, you're probably not gonna be to thrilled about hearing this, but you remember that chick you were telling me about?"

"Yeah…?" Luke felt a sharp chill go through his spine

"Yeah, you're not going to be thrilled about this. I know I'm not, I mean I smacked your shit hard enough to knock some sense into you."

"Quit beating aroudn the bush, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Well…"

While that awkward as hell discussion was going on, Mystogan turned his attention to one of the Exceeds as he removed his hood and revealed his face "Lily, you once saved my life long ago, and now I'm glad I could return the favor to you today."

"Yes." Lily wiped away his tears and gave a small smile "And I cannot begin to thank you enough for that… my prince."

"The thing is that she's- Wait a second, I'm gonna stop right there." Noah cut off what may have earned an angry rant on Luke's part and turned to Lily "What the hell do you mean prince?"

"I mean the long lost prince of Edolas has at last come home, and now-" Lily was unfortunately cut off by a sudden blast of lightning through his chest from behind "Prince…" and then he was left falling towards the ground.

"What the fu-"

"Lily no!" Mystogan could only look on in horror.

"Okay seriously, what the fuck was that?"

"I have a horrible feeling I know where that came from." Luke told him grimly "Just take a look and see for yourself."

Sure enough, at that moment, Tempesta came flying up to the group with Shatterstorm in hand, with Byro right beside him with a sinister smirk, both of them riding a Legion a single tear flowing down the cheek of the former 'I'm sorry Lily. Take them all down, use any force you deem necessary."

"...Aftershock, I think we'll have to table this discussion for now. I think I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"Good enough for me." Noah shot a glance over at him "Hey just out of curiosity, can you use teleportation magic?"

"I dabble in it a little bit but I'm not that skilled with it. Why?"

"Apparently the Fairy Tail of this world has some kind of plan to bring him down, but in order to do it we're gonna have to get him close to it."

"...Oh, I think I get it."

Tempesta looked down at Lily as he hurtled towards the ground, his expression stoic and unreadable "To think you would forget your debt to the king and betray his orders so easily. I almost made the same mistake once, and if I had gone through it then it would've cost me dearly."

"Sounds like he's got one hell of a backstory."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Lily no!" Shagotte tried to rush down to help Lily, only to find herself being held back by one of the elders "No let me go, we have to do something to help Lily!"

"We can't Shagotte, it's too dangerous." the elder told her.

"Please!"

"Don't worry your majesty, I'll go down there and take care of him for you!" one of the Exceeds promptly rushed down to aid Lily.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thunderclap." Tempesta looked up at where Luke was being carried by Bolt, his expression unreadable "It must be fate for us to meet like this, and I say that because I lack any other legitimate reasons."

"No arguments here." Luke drew Raiden from its sheath "So what do you say we just skip the witty banter and get down to business?"

"On that we can agree."

"That's enough Luke, allow me to handle this." Mystogan held out a hand to Luke to stop him, then turned face Tempesta "I've had enough of this pointless bloodshed Captain Tempesta. I order you to stand down immediately, by order of the prince of Edolas."

"You claim to be the prince?" Tempesta dropped his weapon, earning a glare from Byro.

"I am."

"Silence!" a voice full of malice echoed through the air, followed by a maniacal laugh "You claim to be the prince? Don't make me laugh! You don't deserve the title, because I never thought of you as my son."

"So it's you."

"That's the voice of the king." Byro gave a sinister smirk "The true ruler of this world, a right you don't have."

"You have some nerve boy! You can't just run off for 7 years and then expect to be welcomed back as if nothing happened. Do you think you could ever fool me? I know you've been in Earth Land sealing all of the Anima portals. You're a traitor to the kingdom of Edolas, and as such you must be punished for your actions."

"And apparently this is happening now." Noah commented dryly "Anybody know where the hell he's coming from?"

"I want to say he's close, but the echo effect makes it hard to tell." Luke pointed out "Enough beating around the bush, come out and face us like a man."

"Silence Earth Land wretch, how dare you speak to the king of Edolas in such a way?"

"Enough." Mystogan turned to face the Royal troops "Your Anima plan has failed, I must ask that you surrender peacefully. You have no reason to fight anymore."

"What a ridiculous notion, who said I need a reason to fight?" this was followed by a surge of green energy from within an ancient colosseum beneath them.

Luke and the others were forced to brace themselves for the shockwaves 'This is bad, I can already feel the magic power building up in the air.'

"But this is not just some simple fight, no this is retribution, this is the extermination of all would dare to oppose their king!" a metallic sphere rose up from beneath the ground.

"Looks like some kind of magic weapon, and judging from how he's acting, I'd say we're in for one hell of a fight." Luke promptly raised Raiden in front of him.

"Really, cause it looks more like an egg to me." Noah pointed out "And I think it's about to hatch or something."

"Come on man, it doesn't look like- Holy crap it totally does."

"Since you and your meddlesome friends insist on standing in my way, I have no choice but to wipe each and every one of you from this plain of existence, regardless of who or what you may be!" the mysterious device began to rise up from the ground.

"Father, please." Mystogan tried to plead with him, though to no avail, as his cries ended up falling on deaf ears.

"Silence! I am not your father, I am the king of Edolas! All I have to do is dispose of all of you here and now, and then I will no longer have to worry about you sealing my Animas in Earth Land! I'll be free to create another giant lacrima and fuse it with the Exceeds, and then limitless magic power will belong to me!" the device finished unravelling, revealing its true form: a massive mechanical dragon that Faust commanded "Try as you might, you haven't a hope in hell of stopping me! I am the king, and my power is absolute!" the dragon's roar echoed for miles around.

Luke suppressed a cold sweat dripping down the side of his face "Can you guys feel that, all of that magic power that thing is radiating?"

"We all can, and we recognize that form." Shagotte told him grimly "It's something we had hoped would we would never have to see again."

"Dorma Anim?"

"The Dorma Anim." Mystogan was quick to elaborate "From the ancient language of Edolas, it mean Dragon Knight. It's enhanced dragon armor."

"That thing is supposed to be a dragon? Well it definitely looks like a dragon, I have to give him credit for that."

"What are you kidding?" Noah let out a snort "As far as I can tell, it looks a hell of a lot more like a Megazord reject than anything else."

"Hey it looks closer to the real deal than any of the dragons from Game of Thrones."

"Have you ever even watched that?"

"I've seen pictures, but I've never tried watching it. I mean maybe if they had it on Netflix or something."

"They've got it on HBO NOW, give it a shot when we get back to our world. But stop after you finish season 7, season 8 is an absolute shit show."

"I'll keep that in mind, at least if I ever subscribe to HBO NOW. But anyway we'll deal with pop culture TV featuring incest later, what area we dealing with here?"

"Like the prince said, that's the Dorma Anim." explained Coco "It's an enhanced armor made from a special anti-magic lacrima known as Wizard Canceller, and it's bad news for us because our attacks won't have any effect on it!"

"Yeah okay, that sounds pretty bad."

"It is. The king must be inside the Dorma Anim."

"Which also he's controlling its every move."

"Huh, looks like a one man Megazord." Noah was met with a dry glance from Luke "Hey come on, we all know they're a thing."

"Yeah but I thought we shelved the pop culture references."

"Enough of this worthless prattling! As your king, I order you to capture the Exceeds at once!"

"Yes sir!" the soldiers on their various Legion beasts advanced forward.

"There's little time, fly for your lives!" Mystogan called out to the Exceeds, causing almost all of them to flee in a panic.

"Forget it, there's no way you flying furballs are getting away! Magicalizing cannon is charged and ready!" one of the soldiers aimed a cannon at the Exceeds.

"Now FIRE!" Byro hissed at them, which prompted them to fire their cannons, causing every single Exceed hit by the cannons to be turned into cat-shaped lacrima that fell to the ground with various loud thuds.

Shagotte was horrified by this, and had to be held back by one of the elders "Hurry, you have to fly away before it's too late!"

"No my queen, we have to flee from here. It's too dangerous." the elder told her.

"Everyone please, you must try to stay strong!"

"After them, do whatever it takes!" Byro gave the order.

"...You heard the man, do whatever he wants, the usual." Tempesta gave a sigh as he charged forward.

"Yes sir!" was the simultaneous chorus from the soldiers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke and the others were quick to regroup on the back of Coco's legion "Okay guys, so let's sum up the situation "Alright then, I think it's safe to say that shit just turned sideways in the most colossol way."

"Not the most colossol." Noah pointed out.

"Solid reference." the two of them fist bumped.

"But in all seriousness, do we have any sort of gameplan right now?" asked Cana.

"More or less. You guys focus on protecting the remaining Exceeds from the Royal Army for the time being."

"What about you?"

"I'm gonna give it a shot at taking down Tempesta."

"Word of advice though, don't let your guard down with that one. He's definitely been able to hold his own against you so far."

"I'll keep that in mind." Luke glanced over at where Natsu hanging onto the side of the Legion in obvious agony, being comforted by Lisanna "I've gotta hand it to you Natsu, I though you would've given out from riding this thing but you're hanging in there. Nice work. I've gotta ask though, did you have Wendy cast that Troia spell to help you with your motion sicnkess?"

"For fuck's sake…" Natsu's cheeks bulged slightly "Why would I get nautious when I'm not even riding on a vehicle? This guy is lending us a hand, how can you be so cruel?"

"Because I can see you're about to upchuck and spew all over us like some kind of busted fountain. Good lord, I've been spending too much time with Gajeel and his new BFF. But in the meantime, we still need to focus on finding a way to take down the Dorma Anim, so frankly I'm open to suggestions."

"I wouldn't go near that thing if I were you." Coco told him "Your magic is useless against that thing."

"Yeah I know, maybe if we can find a weak spot on that thing or something."

"For now all we can do is dodge its attacks." Mystogan told him "We must do what we can to protect the Exceeds since they're completely defenseless right now."

"I guess it's all we can do now, let's get moving." and so the Legion set off.

"You think you'll be able to dodge me? We'll see about that, for I intend to obliterate anyone and everyone who dares to stand in my way! I won't allow a single human to escape from my wrath! Now BEGONE! DRAGON RIDER'S ROAR!" Faust let out a massive roar of magic power from the mouth of the Dorma Anim.

"Oh crap."

"Everyone get back!" Mystogan flew in front of them on his own Legion and used his magic staves to protect them from the blast.

"Well that's convenient, thanks for the save Mystogan."

"Mystogan? Don't tell me that's the name you chose for people to call you in Earth Land, your name is Jellal."

"...Your father isn't much of a people person is he?"

"No time for wisecracks Luke, you need to get out of here while you still can." Mystogna told him firmly.

"What about you, you gonna be okay on your own like this?"

"Forget about me, I'll be fine. Three Layer Magic Circle: Mirror Water!" Mystogan promptly performed a number of hand signs and created three magic circles that reflected the Dragon Rider's Roar back at the Dorma Anim.

"Nice work."

"I can see why this guy earned the title of an S-class wizard." Noah commented "You think that got him?"

"I think we'll know once the smoke clears."

Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, both Faust and the Dorma Anim were still standing like nothing had even happened "Goodness, that actually tickled."

"Yeah that figures, it's not even scrathed. I shouldn't be surprised, nothing is ever supposed to be that easy."

"Of course it's not that easy, for now you're beholding the unrivalled power of the great Wizard-Canceller! You can attack with every ounce of strength you may possess but it won't do any good, the Dorma Anim is impervious to all forms of magic! Dragon Rider's Roar!" Faust unleashed another Dragon Rider's Roar, hitting Mystogan dead on before he could react and blowing him clear off his Legion "And just like that, the mighty prince has fallen so easily! I'm sure he'll very easily feel right at home, being forced to crawl around with the other pests!" and this was followed by the Royal Army continuing to.

"Beast Arm: Stone Bull!" Elfman activated his stone arm and tried to fire off some stone projectiles, only for the Legion to swerve to avoid another attack from the Dorma Anim, screwing up his aim "God dammit, a real man can't work under these conditions. What the hell am I supposed to do?" this was followed by several more Exceeds being turned into lacrima by use of the Dragon Rider's Roar.

"Yes, such a beautiful sight before my very eyes! Just you wait, I'm going to turn every last Exceed in existence into a sparkling lacrima!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As a result of the chaos being caused, a good number of Exceeds were resorting to trying to hide out of sight, though a good number of them were considerably biased "I say leave it to those wretched humans, only they would dare to come up with such a horrible contraption!"

"The one who turns the heavens to black and brings destruction with it." Shagotte muttered loud enough to get their attention "The creature of nightmares known as the Dorma Anim, or the Dragon Knight. Legend has it that long ago the Dorma Anim was used to attack Extalia, and it nearly resulted in the destruction of all of Edolas in the process. The humans were horrified by the results, and as such they chose to ban the usage of it and seal it away forever, and yet here it is again after all this time."

"But I don't think I understand, how did that thing nearly destroy all of Edolas?"

"I don't know all of the detais, and I doubt any of the Elders do either. However, the legend does say that the moment this world lost the majority of its magic was when the skies were first turned black as night by the Dorma Anim."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tempesta looked down at where Lily had fallen, a single tear falling down his cheek 'Forgive me my friend, for you were one of the few who understood the situation I find myself in, as I've been for the past two years. Whether you're an Exceed or Fallen, you deserved a much better fate than this.'

"Just pathetic, to think I expected more from him." Byro let out a loud scoff, his tone filled with malice "To think that he had fallen from a single attack, but I think it's safe to say you're quite different in that regard. You would make a worthy knight in the world that's yet to come."

"What do you mean by the world that's yet to come?"

"Oh come now Captain Tempesta, I mean the utopia of everlasting magic power that we've been striving for all this time. Whether they be commoners from various towns and villages or citizens of the Royal City, it won't matter. Only those deserving will survive and be able to obtain what we all desire."

"And yet I can't help but wonder, will Edolas survive what's yet to come?"

"What's the matter? Come now, you're usually overflowing with that unwavering resolve of yours. This isn't like you."

"All I did was ask an honest question."

"You have nothing to worry about. After all, if you're being possessed by a fear of death then I would be more than willing to accomodate you."

"That's what I'm counting on."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with our heroes…

Cana and the others were forced on the evasive by the attacks of the Dorma Anim "Dammit this isn't getting us anywhere, how the hell are we supposed to fight him if he keeps forcing us to dodge his attacks?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we can keep it up for very long at the rate we're going with right now." Lisanna told her.

"Yeah I kind of figured that out, anybody got any ideas?"

"I did figure we could use someone as a decoy to distract the dragon, but unfortunately the cat version of Ichiya isn't here." Bolt was met with a few odd looks "Yeah I know, he's got a counterpart here too. It's as fucked up as it sounds. Also, you know we're missing about five of ours right?"

"Wait what?" Cana and the others looked around and noticed the absence of five certain members of their party, specifically the five Dragon Slayers "Oh. Oh crap."

Faust let out a mainiacal laugh from within the Dorma Anim "Now do you see, this is what happens to all who dare to defy their king!"

"We'll see about that you lunatic! Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: Divine Thunderclap!" this was when Luke blitzed in front of him and raised up a hand, which he used to guide a massive bolt of lightning down and struck the Dorma Anim, obviously having an effect as a result "Now how do you like that?"

"No it can't be, this shouldn't be possible! The Dorma Anim shouldn't be affected by their magic attacks!"

"Yeah well here's the thing, we're the exception. NOW!" this was followed by him being joined by Noah and the others, all readying simultaneous attacks "Do it!"

"Mountain Dragon…"

"Fire Dragon…"

"Iron Dragon…"

"Sky Dragon…"

"ROAR!" the quartet of Noah, Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy all let out four simultaneous Dragon Roars, the force sending the Dorma Anim skidding backwards a great distance.

"You wretched little filth, how dare you do this to me!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever lets you sleep at night." Noah leapt down into the remains of the colosseum, with Natsu and the others joining him "Not too shabby guys, though extra props to the kid."

"Thank you for that Noah, but I'm pretty sure the three of you can cause a whole lot more damage than I am."

"I don't doubt that."

"I know I'm gonna give him a good beating." Gajeel cracked his kunckles "That old fart is going to pay for what he did to my cat."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself Black Steel."

"So it was you responsible, I should've figured as much."

"Yeah you really should, I mean if Dragon Slayer magic can turn the lacrima back then why shouldn't it be able to hurt the giant Megazord too?"

"That was my theory too." Luke dropped down next to him "I figured Dragon Slayer magic would do something to him, but I had to try a spell in order to confirm my hypothesis. Nice work on coordinating the simultaneous roars though."

"I learned a lot from my guild master, even if he is a fucking psychopath. So what now, do we all attack him five on one for shits and giggles?"

"Tempting as that sounds that's not the plan, I'm gonna have to leave it up to you and the other three. I'm gonna have a little heart to heart beatdown with my counterpart."

"And the furballs?"

"Cana and the others are making sure that they're gonna be alright. As for dealing with this thing, I think it's safe to say that there's no one better to fight a dragon than those who were trained from birth to defeat one. The fact is that the Dragon Slayers are the only chance we have of standing against the Dorma Anim. Until then, I leave it to you." and with that, Luke suddenly disappeared in a flash.

"Cheesy as that might be, Thunderclap was right on the money." Noah shot a look at the others, then turned to face their objective with a confident smirk "So how about it, who's ready to wreck some shit?"

"Might as well." Natsu muttered "I'm not too thrilled about teaming up with Gajeel, I hated teaming up with Gray before and that was like a year ago."

"No time for whining, you two can beat each other to bloody pulps after we rip that old bastard out of his cockpit and put him in his place. Sound good to you?"

"Works for me, I'm all fired up now."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Do you truly believe that? I would love to see you try."

"Trust me you old fucker, you will."

"And I'll be lending all of you a hand. Oh swift wind that speeds through the Heavens, Vernier!" Wendy cast an enchantment that summoned three blue magic circles underneath the feet of Noah and the others.

"And just like that my body feels like as a feather, weightless as a jellyfish swimming in the ocean, all the DBZ Kai references and all the good shit. Salamander, Black Steel, go with the frontal assault!"

"Right!" so with their bodies glowing from the Vernier spell, Natsu and Gajeel both burst forward at full speed, the two of them easily dodging a Dragon Rider's Roar "Oh hells to the yeah, we're really flying now!"

"Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" Noah summoned a large wall of earth to defend himself from the Dragon Rider's Roar.

"How could they be moving so quickly? Dammit, I can't lock my targets on them!"

"NOW!"

"Fire Dragon BRILLIANT FLAME!" Natsu attacked the Dorma Anim using a two-handed blast of fire.

"Iron Dragon Lance: DEMON LOGS!" Gajeel fired off a barrage of spears made of iron.

"Fire Dragon IRON FIST!"

"Iron Dragon CLUB!"

"Mountain Dragon Molten Spears!" Noah summoned forth a barrage of spikes from within the ground, colliding with the Dorma Anim and exploding on impact, the force causing it to stumble back slightly "So much for the ultimate weapon and all that bullshit."

"Dammit, I don't understand what's happening here! Their attacks shouldn't have any effect on me! Why is the Dorma Anim taking damage?"

"Maybe it's just not as tough as you make it out to be. But in all seriousness, the fact that this thing is taking so many attacks proves its durability. Hey kid!"

"I know what you're thinking, just hang on! I call upon the, the skyward claw to claim the heavens! Arms!" Wendy cast another enchantment on Noah and the others, engulfing them in blue magic circles.

"So what are we looking at now?"

"This enchantment is meant to enhance the attack power of whoever it's used on."

"Good to know, I was wondering how long it would take to crush the old guy. Who's ready to wreck some shit?"

"Nonsense, how is it their attack power has increased all of a sudden?"

"Are you not listening? Guys, wreck his shit. Mountain Dragon ROAR!" Noah hit the Dorma Anim with a Dragon Roar.

"Fire Dragon Talon!" Natsu attacked the Dorma Anim with a fire enhanced kick.

"Black Steel!"

"I'm on it! Iron Dragon Sword!" Gajeel turned his arm into a sword and slammed it into the side of the Dorma Anim, the force of all three attacks damaging the Dorma to the point where it was actually noticeable.

"How can this be? It's her, it must be! You're done for you little brat! Launching Dragon Rider Missles!" Faust promptly set his sights on Wendy and fired a barrage of seeker-missiles aimed at her.

"Dammit, kid get out of the way!"

"Don't worry, I can handle this! Vernier!" Wendy was quick to cast Vernier on herself, increasing her speed and allowing her to run, only to find that they were tracking her, and then she suddenly tripped on a piece of debris.

'So they're tracking missles, and apparently when she face-plants, she does it from three different angles. Good to know. Kid get down! Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!" Noah slammed his hands into the ground, causing an earth dome to cover Wendy, protecting her from the explosions that followed as a result of the missiles colliding with the dome.

"You saved me, thank you Noah."

"In all honesty kid, out of the three of you Dragon Slayers, you annoy me the least, so at the very least I'll make sure you don't get hurt. The other two, while I don't think they can afford to lose any brain cells, especially Salamander, what's a little more brain damage going to do to them that hasn't already been done. Take what you can get from me."

"And you try and stop me you little bastard!"

"I think we'll see about that. Mountain Dragon Uprising!" Noah summoned two earth pillars from the ground beneath the Dorma Anim and blowing it off its feet "If anyone is getting shot in the head it's going to be you old geezer."

"You're grading on my nerves you little pest!"

"Yeah yeah, you're not the first tyrant I've pissed off." Noah glanced back, only to see two more missiles closing in on Wendy "Dammit, I missed two of them. Salamander hurry up, take them out!"

"I'm on it!" Natsu charged at the last two missiles, only for them to stop in mid-air and suddenly burst into flames, earning a maniacal laughter from Faust.

"There, now do you see? It's long past the time you lowly wizards learned your place on the pecking order, you couldn't slay a dragon if it lay down before you!" but then he actually opened his eyes, and his jaw dropped at what he saw "What?! That's impossible! He's eating the flames from the Dragon Rider Missiles?" then he looked back to see Gajeel munching on his tail "And why is that one eating the tail of the Dorma Anim? Are these two out of their minds?!"

"That's kind of subjective when you think about it." Noah pointed out dryly.

"So is eating that stuff." Natsu let out a cough "I'm gonna be honest, those were some of the worst flames I've ever tasted."

"I know the feeling, all of the earth in this world is so fucking dry."

"Same with the iron too." Gajeel leapt down next to them "Nasty stuff all around, but all things considered…"

"Now I've got one hell of a fire in my gut."

"Hey!" Natsu shot him a smirk "You trying to copy me or something dude?"

"Well it does have a catchy ring to it, not as catchy as pretty much every song in Phineas and Ferb but still."

"This is ridiculous, am I supposed to believe that all wizards in Earth Land are as powerful as this?"

"More or less, we're the exception though."

"No wonder they call that thing a dragon." Natsu muttered, earning a two simultaneous scoffs from Noah and Gajeel.

"Pull your head out of your ass Salamander. That thing's not a dragon, it's just an old man hiding inside a tin can that shoots missiles. And fires explosions from its mouth. Either way, most powerful weapon in Edolas my ass."

"He's out here alone." Wendy pointed out "That means he doesn't have any of his guards around to protect him, so all we have to do is take that thing down."

"You're not gonna hear any arguments from me."

"So these are the Dragon Slayers… such power… I will not rest until I have all of that power for myself!" and then the Dorma Anim started surging with magic power, causing a black aura to engulf it.

"Okay, wasn't expecting that. It's summoning more magic power and pulling it into the armor, it must be pulling it from the atmosphere."

"All I have to do is capture the Dragon Slayers, and then I'll be able to start my Anima plan all over again. No, what am I thinking? They're weapons, I should simply secure them and their magic power for myself! If they happen to get damaged in the process, then so be it!"

"You know we can hear everythin you're saying right?"

"Silence! I shall rob the four of you of the will to fight, and you'll be begging me for the mercy that you'll never receive! Witness the power of Dorma Anim: Black Heaven!" the Dorma Anima suddenly changed from a silver color to a black color, and the blades on its arms grew in numbers and in length "I've got all of you now!" the Dorma Anim burst forward and thrusted one of its blades into the ground, the force enough to send the four of them flying in different directions.

"Moutain Dragon TALON!" Noah burst forward, his leg hardening until it was like rock, and he slammed a kick into the side of the Dorma Anim, the force sending it skidding back a great distance.

"Not bad, but you'll have to do better than that!" the Dorma Anim smacked Noah away and sent him flying into the colosseum wall.

"Ow."

"Dammit, that's not good." Gajeel muttered "He hit that thing with a full force attack and didn't even scratch it."

"Now you can all feel it can't you? This absolute magic power, there's no word to decribe it other than spectacular! Don't bother falling to your knees and begging for your worthless lives, stay right where you are so I can watch you tremble in fear and agony! You have no chance of stopping me, I'm the one dragon you cannot slay!" he thrusted his sword into the ground, sending out a shockwave that sent Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy flying and screaming in agony."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Mystogan was quick to reunite with Panther Lily, claiming that the Dorma Anim would have to be left up to Natsu and the others since there was something else that he had to do, and he would need Panther Lily's help to get it done.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the B-team…

Bolt and the others looked up at the sight of more and more Exceeds being caught and turned into lacrima by the Royal Army "This is bad, they're getting more of them every minute, and the Royal Army has almost caught up with them."

"I can't believe there's so many of them." Cana muttered "What the hell are we supposed to do about this?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"I know the answer to that." Luke blitzed onto the back of the Legion "There's only one thing we can do and that's stop them before it's too late."

"You're not going in alone Luke, I'm gonna fight beside you and do whatever you can, and I'm willing to bet the others will do the same."

"Yeah, here's the thing about that. I've got a prior engagement."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm what that means Exceed." this was when Tempesta floated up in front of them on top of his own Legion, with Byro right behind him "I've been waiting for you all this time, and now we're face to face once again Thunderclap."

"Call it a hunch, but I think I know what this is about Tempesta." Luke glanced around to see several other Legions surrounding them while he leapt onto Tempesta's "You're trying to land an ambush the others while you go for me, is that about right?"

"That's one way of looking at it."

"Fair enough. Hey Coco, have your Legion take us the hell out off here!" so the Legion promptly took off, only for it to be hit by a stray blast of magic energy, sending the beast hurtling towards the ground "Guys! Dammit, Bolt you and the others get them! I've got business to attend to."

"Way ahead of you, leave it to cats with wings to save the day!" so Bolt promptly soared down to save the others, with Happy and Carla following his lead.

"Lisanna, you too!"

"Right! Take Over: Animal Soul: Wings!" Lisanna promptly summoned some wings and quickly caught Elfman before he hit the ground "I've got you big brother."

"Good thing for variety, but I think it's safe to say I don't have the time or patience to dwell on that at the mometn." Luke levelled his gaze on Tempesta as he drew Raiden from the sheath at his side "So how about you and I go ahead and pick up where we left off?"

"Don't think I'm doing this for fun." Tempesta promptly morphed his Shatterstorm into the form of a katana, then turned his attention to Byro and the other soldiers "You get clear of this so we can fight without having to hold back, and have the men head to the surface."

"But of course." Byro gave his usual disgusting laugh, then departed onto the back of a different Legion, leaving Tempesta and Luke alone.

"Now then, it's just the two of us."

"Let me go ahead and warn you now, I have no intention of holding back against you." Luke told him flatly.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from someone with my face." and so the two of them charged at each other, their swords clashing violently and producing shockwaves and small surges of electricity.

"I think it's high time for us to finish this once and for all."

"On that we can agree. Storm Force!" Tempesta summoned the trident form of Shatterstorm and unleashed a powerful blast of wind, sending Luke flying off of the back of the Legion, and he promptly leapt off after him "Hurry up and get to the surface men, I'm going to take care of this one myself!"

"Yes captain!" and so the soldiers and the other Legions promptly flew off to follow his orders, but not without Byro giving him a rather menacing smirk.

Tempesta landed on the ground a short distance away from Luke, and he looked around at their new surroundings "It seems as if we've landed in the ruins of one of the ancient cities of the Exceeds. Seems like a fitting place for a duel to the death."

"On that much we can agree at least. Thunder Drive!" Luke promptly activated his Thunder Drive, his body surging with electricity "Until this whole ordeal started, the thought of someone with my name and my face causing suffering to Fairy Tail was unbearable and absolutely unthinkable."

"I don't intend to explain myself to you, and I don't expect you to understand my reasons either way. All you need to know is that I have a mission, and I've come way too far to give up on that now." Tempesta morphed Shatterstorm into its katana form and charged at Luke, the two of them meeting in the middle, their blades clashing in a violent confrontation.

'I have people to protect…'

'...and that's why I can't afford to lose under any circumtances, even if I end up dying because of it!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the fallen heroes…

The group had crashed with their Legion somewhere in the desert outside the Royal City, and it was far from painless.

Cana was the first one to actually vocalize the pain "Okay… that hurts… I'm pretty sure I broke something… in every part… of my body…"

"No objections here…" Bolt let out a groan of agony "It could've been worse though, we could've dog piled on Elfman like everyone else did."

"Yeah that is true, but in the meantime where the hell did Luke end up?"

"Take a look for yourself." Bolt pointed up at the floating island above them "Last I saw, he was going toe to toe with Tempesta up there."

"Huh. Good to know."

"Yep. Also, get the hell down!" Bolt tackled Cana and pushed her out of the wat just as a barrage of energy blasts started raining down "Yeah, I guess it didn't take as long for them to find us as I had been hoping, but I guess a guy can dream."

"Yeah well not in this case, for crying out loud it's like these guys are coming out out the woodwork. How many of them are there?"

"Enough to have us surrounded, I guess the only thing we can do is fight them. And also run for our fucking lives!" Bolt was quickly forced on the evasive, along with Happy and Carla, in order to avoid the magicalization cannon wielded by several of the soldiers.

"All of you get behind me! Magic Card: Wind Barrier!" Cana fired off a barrage of magic cards that formed a barrier of wind, surrounding herself and the others.

"Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" Elfman charged forward and started firing off a barrage of iron projectiles, blowing a number of soldiers backwards "Start answering us like real men, why are you after Bolt and the others?"

"All of the escaping Exceeds have been captured and turned into lacrima." one of the soldiers told him, earning various horrified looks as a result "The three of them are the only exception at the moment, now make our jobs easier by surrenduring and becoming magic power for the rest of the kingdom!"

"Back off! The Exceeds are living beings just like the rest of us, are you so obsessed with gaining power that you don't care about something like that? Animal Soul: Cat!" Lisanna then activated her cat form and started clawing her way through various soldiers "You people need to learn how to respect the value of life and all living creatures! You can't kill someone just because you want what they have, not while Fairy Tail is protecting them!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, on the ruined island…

The battle between Luke and Tempesta raged on ferociously.

"Dragon Sword Style: Thunderous Purge!" Luke slashed through the air with Raiden and pressed his hands to the blade, causing a bolt of lightning to rain down on Tempesta.

"Shatterbolt!" Tempesta leapt out of the way of the lightning bolt and fired forward a large orb of electricity.

Luke leapt out of the way of the attack, though still received some minor burn marks across his left arm as a result 'He's getting more agitated and eratic, it's as if he's starting to lose his composure, but why?'

"Thunderous Tempest!" Tempesta morphed Shatterstorm into a dual-bladed spear and fired a bolt of lightning from one blade, followed by a stream of water from the other blade.

'So he's using both lightning and water in this state? Well in that case… no, I'd better save that for when I really need it. Lightning Dragon DEMOLITION FIST!" Luke fired a massive fist made of pure lightning at Tempesta.

"Thunder Burst!" Tempesta summoned his axe, and with one clean stroke he cut right through the Dragon Slayer spell.

'So that axe is able to cut through my attack?'

"You have an impressive skill set, but it's nowhere near enough! Storm Force!" summoning his trident, Tempesta struck Luke with a massive blast of wind and sent him flying through several ruined buildings "I've got you now!" and so he charged after him.

"Thunder Drive! Lightning Dragon TALON!" Luke activated his Thunder Drive, and then immediately after he dealt Tempesta a lightning-enhanced kick.

"How did you-?!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in the Edolas Fairy Tail…

The members of the Edolas Fairy Tail had gathered for a meeting in their guild hall, in the same random desert it was located in.

Mira was quick to kick things off, with Edo-Noah standing by her side "We have to hurry and save the Exceeds, I met with the Gajeel of this world on my way back and he told me that the Royal Army is capturing all of them and turning them into lacrimas."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Edo-Wendy "I mean that sounds like a pretty ballsy move, even by their standards. Can we trust Gajeel?"

"You can think whatever you want about him, but you can't deny that his information is always accurate. But seriously listen, we have to help them. The Exceeds and the Fairy Tail wizards from Earth Land are in serious danger, the Royal Army wants to wipe them out and take over this entire world! Are you really willing to just stand around and do nothing while that happens around you?"

"Well no, but…" Edo-Natsu looked up at her nervously "I mean the Royal Army has all kinds of magic power at their disposal now, I mean we don't stand a chance against them when you think about it."

"But-"

"He's right." Edo-Erza told her "We already have a hard enough time dealing with them without any added power. I don't want to be the source of any negativity here, but we wouldn't stand a chance against them."

"Guys… Dammit this is getting us nowhere, how the hell am I going to get them to work with me on this?'

This was when Edo-Droy decided to open his mouth "I know, why don't we just wait until the Exceeds and the Royal Army are don fighting. That's gonna be the perfect time to attack since they'll be so exhausted from fighting already, and then we can swoop in and give them the thrashing in the way that only Fairy Tail can."

"I have to admit Droy, by your standards that's actually not a bad idea." Edo-Juvia shot a glance in his direction "They do say to strike while the iron's hot, but at the same time perhaps we should consider trying to cozy up to the Royal Army. This is our only chance, if we side with them they'll be indebted to us and they'll no longer see us as their enemies. Think about it, it would be nice to not have to live in constant fear of them."

"Yes that's absolutely brilliant!" Edo-Gray suddenly popped up in front of her "You're so smart my beloved Juvia, and you have the face of an angel!"

"Stay the hell away from me you creep, and would it kill you to give a girl a little bit of space for crying out loud?"

"Forget it, that's out of the question." Edo-Noah stepped forward, his tone firm "The fact is that the king is drunk with power to dangerous proportions, so even if we were to side with the Royal Army, what actual guarantee is there that we would be in his good graces?"

"He's right about this and you know it." Mira stepped back up to the plate "We can't try to make peace with them, the fact is that they can't be trusted. Even if we were to side with them, what would stop them from turning on us at any second? Droy's suggestion isn't going to work in this situation either. The king isn't going to wait around either, as soon as he finishes with wiping out the Exceeds he'll move onto his next goal. He's going to usher in a horrific age of darkness and tyrannize all of those who oppose him. I'm telling you that this is the only chance we have to save ourselves. If we're going to survive this then we have to take him down once and for all, and the only way to do that is for humans and Exceeds to work together."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dragon Slayers vs Dorma Anim…

The battle against the Dorma Anim had taken a turn for the worst, seeing how Faust had been able to send Noah and the others crashing to the ground in bruised and battered heaps "You're all absolutely pathetic, you don't stand a chance of defeating me!"

"Oh for fuck's sake, will you shut up already?" Noah promptly swallowed the rubble in his mouth and pulled himself back to his feet "During my time here in Edolas, I've seen a lot of people suffering because there's no magic power, but now I want to know why their lunatic of a ruler seems to be more than capable of stuffing himself with the stuff until he bursts."

"Oh come now, you would be hard pressed to find a king who hasn't imposed a tax on his people at some point, because that's how monarchy works my boy. The Dorma Anima always requires a constant influx of magic power, so as such that power is gathered from all over the world. That's why it was sealed away, it's considered a forbidden weapon. Now that I've activated it, this entire world is depending on my victory!"

"And we're supposed to believe a word that comes out of your hole because? Just admit it you miserable old fucker, you don't give a shit about what happens to this world and that's why you're so cool with stealing all of its magic power."

"He's right…" Natsu pulled himself back to his feet, his flames burning bright "One of the reasons I joined Fairy Tail was to help others. Just how many people did you have to kill and make suffer to get the power you've got now? People like you make me sick!"

"No arguments here Salamander. But if we're gonna be real here then I'm just gonna say, this entire fucking planet is a massive pile of shit, the same level as Teen Titans go in my eyes, but the people here still deserve better than to live under the thumb of someone like you. You're nothing more than a mad dog that deserves to be put down, and you're looking at just the guys to do it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Edolas Fairy Tail…

Edo-Natsu shived with hys typical level of fear "Maybe this whole thing isn't such a good idea after all, I mean don't you think it's for the best to just mind our own business and let the rest of them duke it out?"

This was when Edo-Alzack decided to speak up "You know he's got a point, going to war is the last thing I want. Personally I'd rather stay here and cuddle with Bisca."

"Yeah I agree myself." Edo-Bisca started grinding against him "I don't think we should get involved in this, it doesn't have anything to do with us."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Edo-Noah rounded on them in disgust "When the hell did all of you turn into such cowards? It doesn't matter how fine things are right now, once the king is done wiping out the Exceeds he's going to come for us next."

"Trust me Noah, we all know that's a possibility." Edo-Erza told him gently "We know all too well of that possibility, but there's no way we'd be able to take on the king of this world and his entire army."

"Fuck… Levy give me some details."

"Here's the thing about that boss, we're running low on magic power right now, and in fact we're almost out." Edo-Levy told him flatly "We've only got enough left in this thing to make the warp one more time, so if we do decide to join the battle…"

"Then that means there won't be any turning back." Edo-Noah glanced back at Mira, the two of them locking eyes but saying nothing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Earth Land wizards vs the Royal Army…

"Open, Gate of the Lion, Loke!" Lucy whipped out a certain Zodiac key and promptly opened the gate.

The gate opened, and Loke appeared before them "How's it going Lucy, you miss me? Actually I think the small talk can wait, hold that thought. Regulus!" and with his body glowing with golden magic power, he started blitzing through the soldiers with ease.

"Beast Arm: Stone Bull!" Elfman activated his Beast Arm and started firing a barrage of stone spikes from it, hitting several soldiers.

"Animal Soul: Rabbit!" Lisanna activated her rabbit form and used her enhanced speed to blitz through several soldiers of her own.

"Magic Card: Summoned Lightning!" Cana hit a number of soldiers with a barrage of lightning from her magic cards, electrocuting them severely.

Unfortunately, just as it seemed their numbers were starting to dwindle, the second wave of soldiers came onto the scene "Ready your weapons men, and FIRE!" and they promptly started firing a barrage of magic bullets.

"You've gotta be kidding me, now they've got magic bullets."

"Cana get down!" Bolt swooped in and shoved Cana to the ground before a magic bullet could hit her from behind, and he ended up taking the bullet himself.

"Bolt no!" Cana caught him before he hit the ground 'Okay good, he's still alive.'

"Oh shit, I accidentally hit one of them." one of the soldiers swore "I've gotta be more careful, we need them in order to turn them into magic power." now that was enough to earn him the wratch of a pissed off Cana.

"You sons of bitches value power more than you do like? That's it, Luke may not prefer violence, but shit is about to be wrecked. Magic Card: Scorch Storm!" Cana threw four cards, hitting four of the soldiers, which caused them to suddenly be evaporated in simultaneous columns of flames.

"Regulus Impact!" Loke blew through half a dozen soldiers in one shot, then knelt down and picked up Bolt, then handed him over to Cana "I've got these bastards covered, hurry and get him to safety."

"Way ahead of you Loke, I owe you one." Cana clutched Bolt close to her chest and quickly ducked behind a large boulder "Just hang tight, we'll get Wendy over here to heal you up as soon as we can okay?" she was met with a groan "Good enough for me." but then she looked up to see two massive Legion creatures looking over them "You've gotta be kidding me, you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Edolas Fairy Tail…

Edo-Noah stepped up to the plate and spoke out to everyone in the guild hall "It's time for us to make a decision, are we going to help the Exceeds or not?" he was met with silence from everyone in the guild hall.

"Guys…" Mira let out a sigh as she stepped forward "I don't know what else there is I can say to change your minds, but… Please! The Fairy Tail wizards from Earth Land, they're out there risking their lives fighting against the Royal Army! The Earth Land versions of Natsu, Cana, Lucy, Noah, Elfman, Lisanna, all of us! Look I know this is a painful subject, but two years ago, before he left the guild Luke, the Luke of this world, told me something that's never left my mind since. He looked me in the eye and said that when you have power, you shouldn't use it for yourself, you should use it to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves!" this caused everyone to flinch "You all used to live by this rule, but when he left, apparently your fighting spirit left too. Now answer me this, are we going to left them get slaughtered on the battleield like a pack of animals, or are we going to lend them a hand? The future of this entire fucking world is at stake! That world's version of Noah, Luke and everyone else are still in it even now, and if they can finds the strength to keep going then why shouldn't we? I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm so fucking sick of always running away from my problems! I say it's more than past the time for us to stand up to the Royal Army! We have to gather the strength to fight, we have to face our foes head on! Because that's what it means to be a wizard of the Fairy Tail guild! Now are you in, or are you out?" she was met with silence "Fine, go ahead and stay here if you want, but I'm not turning my back on the people of my Fairy Tail. Satan Soul!" with a black surge of magic power, Mira was engulfed in a black light. When it dissipated, her appearance had changed drastically, including various demonic features and even a tail "I'm going down there to do whatever I can, the rest is up to all of you." and she promptly burst out of the door to the guild hall, disappearing from their sight in a matter of seconds.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The battle against the Royal Army had taken a turn for the worst.

Cana and the others found themselves pinned to the ground by the Royal Army, spears pointed at them should they try to move 'Dammit this is bad, there are too many of them! If someone is going to perform some kind of miracle, now would be the time!'

"Darkness STREAM!" this was when Mirajane burst onto the scene in her Satan Soul form, her body radiating black energy, and she fired off a barrage of tendrils made of dark energy, each of them grabbing one of the Legions and throwing them away across the horizon "Looks like I made it just in the nick of time."

"Looks like you're not the only one either." Cana looked back to see what looked like a massive tree sprouting out from the ground, a tree with a very familiar symbol on the front of it "Looks like it doesn't matter the world, they always know how to crash a party in style."

"And at the last second too. I'm going to be honest, I'm surprised they actually came. But I guess even in Edolas, Fairy Tail has enough heart and spirit to go around."

Sure enough, the Edolas Fairy Tail guild hall rose up from beneath the ground, and when the smoke cleared, Edo-Noah and the rest of the Edolas Fairy Tail were standing on the scene, their magic weapons barred and the lot of them ready to fight "Hey assclowns, you recognize us? I say it's high time we earned some good old-fashioned payback."

"You're not going to make some kind of one-liner about the power of camraderie are you?"

"Me, no. The others, probably. Sorry we took so long to get here, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing right?"

"I think that's a matter of opinion, but we'll take what we can get."

"Fair enough." Edo-Noah glanced back at the others "Just think of it this way, if a bunch of psychopaths from Earth Land can stand up to them then why can't we?" he quickly turned his attention back to Mira "So how are the others, they gonna be alright?"

"Unlike you guys I got here just in the nick of time, they're all okay so you just have the others focus on the fight."

"Duly noted."

Cana took this moment to meet her counterpart "So you're the me of Edolas?"

"Yes, I suppose I am." Edo-Cana studied her counterpart for a moment "I must admit, I'm surprised a woman such as myself could be dressed in such a scandalous fashion."

"What, you mean this? This is nothing, there are women back in my world who wear even less than this."

"Such a thought is inconceivable, but I suppose it is their choice." Edo-Cana promptly used a wand to smack a soldier behind her and blow him to the ground.

"Open minded at least, I guess it could be worse even if I am dressed as some kind of southern belle."

"Two of Cana huh?" Edo-Juvia was in the middle of strangling two soldiers, their heads being smashed violently against her cleavage "Well it could be worse, just imagine if I had to deal with two of Gray."

"Sounds ominous."

"Oh just look at those men." Edo-Gray had hearts in his eyes "I'm so jealous of them!"

"Why the hell would you say that?"

"My beloved Juvia makes me weak all over my entire body, oh what I wouldn't give to be in their position right now?"

"Wait wait wait wait wait, you mean you have the hots for Juvia here?" this proved to me more than enough to make Cana burst out laughing, firing a card at a soldier behind her as she did so, which led to him being evaporated by a bolt of lightning.

"Oh my." Edo-Cana put a hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry, it's just…" and cue more hysterical laughing.

"Such a scandalous young lady."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with other Fairy Tail wizards…

"Beast Arm: Black Bull!" Elfman slammed his arm into the ground, sending a few soldiers flying in time to save Edo-Elfman "How the hell can you be me? Sitting on the ground crying is one of the most unmanly things I've ever seen!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry…" and then Edo-Elfman started crying.

"Be a real man dammit!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Edo-Alzack and Edo-Bisca charged onto the scene with their guns ready "Well how about it my hot pistol, are you ready?"

"You bet I am my love gun, we can't let ourselves get outdone." Edo-Bisca told him "What do you say?"

"No arguments here, I say it's time for us to hit them hard and fast!" so they promptly started shooting at the soldiers full force "Now you're getting hit by the power of our love, so we say yee-haw!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jet and Droy were standing back to back trying to look tough, but unlike their counterparts from Earth Land, they were actually succeeding "I hope you bastards are ready, you're about to see the power of the great and mighty Team Shadowgear!"

"Alright you two!" Levy suddenly popped up in front of them "Now let's make sure that we show up Lucy and shove it up her ass!"

"Oh hells to the yes, now we're gonna make them wish they had never pissed off the strongest team in Fairy Tail! You punks don't have anything on us!" they started tearing into the soldiers in front of them using plant-based and speed-based magic respectively."

Coco had leaned up against a tree to deal with her exhaustion and wounds, and she looked on in awe at Jet's prowess with roller skates "Wow, he's actually even faster than me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Soul Extinctor!" with her Satan Soul activated and magic power surging, Mira launched a two-handed blast of dark magic power, vaporizing at least a dozen soldiers on the spot, which saved Edo-Lisanna and Edo-Elfman at the last second "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah we're fine sis, don't worry." Lisanna assured her.

"Okay, good." Mira looked down and cringed visibly 'Oh yeah, Satan Soul, hideous demonic transformation, Earth Land magic. Shit. Okay I actually do have a good explanation for this, you see I-"

"It's okay Mira, we've known for a long time now. We all have."

"You… You did?"

"Noah told us everything after Luke deserted the guild. I guess we just wanted to have some more time with our big sister. You're smart and strong, and your spirit has never wavered, just like our Mira. But it's okay, there's no more need for any secrets."

"I… I know I shouldn't have lied to you guys, but…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bolt observed the progress of the battle from where he was leaning against a rock, trying to stop the bleeding from his wound 'Gray's head over heals in love with Juvia, Elfman is a blubbering wimp, Erza is actually sweet and friendly and not intimidating in the slightest, but to top all of that off, Jet and Droy are not only actually somewhat intimidating, but they're supposed to be the strongest members of the guild? Lord, and I thought the Fairy Tail back in Earth Land was all kinds of fucked up. But then again I guess we're lucky, if they didn't show up when they did then we'd probably be dead right about now. But I guess no matter what the world is, Fairy Tail is full of loveable dipshits that always fight for what's right.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in the Exceed city ruins…

Tempesta found himself skidding backwards until he stopped himself on the edge of the island, and when he looked down his eyes widened at the sight of the Edolas Fairy Tail fighting against the Royal Army 'Well I'm be damned, it actually happened. Fairy Tail finally decided to stand up and fight as one against the Royal Army.' he looked down and he couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight 'You've done what I couldn't Mira, Noah.'

"Lightning Dragon Talon!" Luke blitzed towards Tempesta and dealt him a lightning-enhanced kick to the side, sending him tubmling across the ruins of the city, and then he promptly charged at him.

Tempesta blocked the charge and Luke's sword using the katana form of Shatterstorm "I guess I let my guard down didn't I?"

"I honestly expected more from somebody with my face." the two of them unleashed two simultaneous blasts of lightning that sent both of them flying backwards, Luke finding himself on the edge of the floating island in place of his counterpart "I never expected the two of us to be this evenly matched."

"I feel the same way, but don't think that's going to last for too much longer. I can't say for certain about you, but I still have one final trump card to play." with a column of golden-colored light, Shatterstorm was transformed from its katana form to a new form, a large broadsword with a wide blade and a golden hilt "This is the ultimate form of Shatterstorm, the most powerful weapon in this world, Excalibur, forge by the greatest swordsmit in all of Edolas and granted to me by the previous master of the Fairy Tail guild, back when I was still a member."

"You really want to go there?"

"I've been there for almost half a decade. Your eyes can see through evil malice, your mouth utters only truth. Your heart is filled with passion and conviction, and your blade shall smite all evil. This is the code by which I was taught from my childhood, and since then I have yet to forget a single word of it."

"And yet here you are, turning your back on that code, betraying the Fairy Tail guild and everyone in it."

"I don't expect you to understand, but past events prompted a change. All you need to know is that with this blade in my hand, I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself!"

"...I see, I guess there's no use trying to talk you out of it."

"You guess correctly."

"So be it then, I think it's time for us to finish this." Luke placed Raiden back in its sheath and removed his shirt, revealing the Fairy Tail symbol on his left arm, and with a quick primal roar he engulfed himself in a golden column of light. When the light subsided, there he stood with golden-colored dragon scales covering his entire body, his magic power surging with electricity around his body "This is my most powerful ability known as Dragon Force, the final form a Dragon Slayer can take. I spent over a year training to master this for one sole reason: to protect the people of my guild. Now that you're showing me your strongest blade, it's only right that I show you my strongest form. What do you say we go ahead and decide which one of them is stronger?"

"I think there's only one way to find out."

"I suppose there is. Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: ROARING THUNDER!" and so with all of the magic power he could muster, Luke charged forward as a massive blast of lightning built up in one hand.

"EXCALIBUR!" Tempesta met the charge himself with his Excalibur sword pointed forward and unleashing a massive surge of lightning magic to match his opponent.

The force of the collision was enough to destroy the entire island they were fighting on, leaving the fate of both combatants to be determined.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, on the ground…

The battle against the Royal Army continued raging on.

Edo-Noah tore through one soldier after another with his scythe, but his head snapped up along with several others at the sight of the island exploding 'So much residual power, there's only one weapon I know of that can cause that kind of destruction. Looks like Luke saw the need to bust out Excalibur. I can't wait any longer, I have to know for certain. Mira, what's the verdict?"

"He said it at least five times whenever I've seen him." Mira told him flatly "I think it's safe to say this is for real."

"That's what I thought. Can you take her there?"

"Just hang tight, I'll get here there before either one gets killed." Mira looked around, but found that the person they were looking for wasn't there "Okay, where the hell is Cana? The one from Earth Land I mean."

'God dammit, is she really going to do something that stupid? And Luke, what the hell did you get yourself into?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Flashback- 2 years ago)

Tempesta strapped Shatterstorm onto his back and was about to head out, but stopped when he noticed Edo-Noah standing in front of the doorway "Hey."

"So you're going out on another long-term job huh?" Edo-Noah guessed.

"Someone has to keep up the funds for this guild, but I know you can take care of things while I'm gone."

"But this one is going to be a long one, you'll be gone for awhile this time around."

"Yeah probably."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"Be realistic Noah, do you have any idea what you're saying? It could be up to a year before the job is done, and if you did go with me then that would mean Lucy would be put in charge of the guild, and I think we both remember what happened the last time that happened."

"...Oh yeah, that's true. But still, if you end up going out on your own then lord only knows what's going to happen to the guild. We're struggling to survive as it is, we've already lost half our members, and if you go then-" he was cut off by a smack to the face.

"Chill out a little bit, you know you really should give one of Erza's brownies a try. I don't know what's in them, but every time I have one all the tension just drains out of your body. But think about this, putting the guild aside, what's the one thing I care about doing more than anything else in all of Edolas?"

"That's an obvious one, protecting Cana."

"Exactly, and since I still have a responsibility to the guild somebody has to stick around and keep her safe right?"

"Yeah I guess."

"Look I don't trust many people with something as important as this, and I'm trusting you with it my friend."

"I know, but seriously you've gotta be careful out there yourself. The Royal Army wants your head more than most of the others in Fairy Tail, and if anything happens to you…"

"Yeah I get what you're saying. Look how about this, if anything goes wrong then I'll send you a certain code phrase."

"What, like some magic words or something?"

"If I know I can't win in a certain situation on my own and there's nobody around to give me any backup, I'll say this phrase to you exactly. You ready?"

"Go for it."

"I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself."

"I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself? Seriously dude?"

"It's over the top as hell, if anyone would ever dare to go that far then you know they're either in serious trouble or there's something seriously wrong with them."

"...Huh. That actually makes a lot of sense."

(Flashback end)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The island was completely destroyed by the impact.

Tempesta was sent falling with some of the rubble, his Shatterstorm having been reverted back to its basic axe form by the blast 'Unbelievable, to think he was actually powerful enough to defeat my Excalibur.'

Luke found himself in a similar situation as he leapt from one piece of rubble to another 'I didn't think he would be able to blow me clear out of my Dragon Force. The shockwave from the impact must have caused the island to become unstable."

"And to make matters that much worse we're both low on magic power. But I can't afford to lose this fight or any other, not when I have so much at stake."

"Look at yourself, you're pouring blood out by the gallons. You can't keep going like this or you won't survive."

"Shut up!" Tempesta spat out some blood "I hope you're ready, because I'm about to win this fight, even if I have to die to make it happen."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The battle against the Dorma Anim was not in the favor of the Dragon Slayers.

Faust looked down on Noah and the others and continued laughing maniacally "Take a look at yourselves, you're just wasting energy and running yourselves into the ground! You don't have a chance of defeating myself and my Dorma Anim, I have complete control over every ounce of magic power in this world and I have every right to use it however I see fit!" he started firing a barrage of magic energy blasts.

"Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!" Noah formed an earth dome around himself and the others to protect them from the onslaught "At least the lunatic I have to work for is willing to share the benefits of his delusional goals with the rest of us, that's more than you can say! If you think you can't be hurt while you're crammed inside that thing then don't even bother moving while we come in there to tear you apart! Salamander hit him now!"

"Right! Fire Dragon ROAR!" Natsu promptly struck the Dorma Anim with a fire-enhanced roar attack, only for it to not even scratch the shield "Fuck!"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to waste your magic power? I hate to think how much your attacks may be affecting my own supply."

"Don't even try to delude yourself old man, I don't belong to anyone, and neither do the rest of them! Mountain Dragon Molten Spears!" Noah summoned some spears from within the ground infused with molten properties, each one slamming into the Dorma Anim and exploding, sending it skidding backwards.

"It's only a matter of time now, all of your magic power will belong to me! Your lives and your power are my spoils of war!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The battle against the Royal Army was raging onwards.

A thoroughly pissed off Cana grabbed one soldier by the front of his armor "Tell me the fucking truth, do you and the rest of these soldiers honestly think you're doing the right thing here?"

"I don't know how to answer that!" the soldier was squirming in fear.

"It's not that hard a question, answer me!"

"Come on Cana, don't be so hard on him." Lisanna called her off "He and the others are just following orders, I'm sure there are plenty of soldiers who oppose the Royal Army, but they're forced to fight because they know the king will have them killed if they don't."

"You think I don't get that? Of course I do, but they don't even seem to care about who they kill as long as they get what they want."

"Looks like you and our version of Luke have a lot in common." Edo-Noah suddenly popped up next to her "Tell me something though, are you and he actually a couple or what?" he was met with the sight of Cana blushing a deep shade of red.

"Where the hell did that come from, we're just friends and guild mates!"

"Whatever lets you sleep at night. Hey by the way, where the hell is my counterpart at right now anyway?"

"Last I saw he was with Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy fighting against the king. Don't worry about him though, that lunatic doesn't stand a chance against the likes of four Dragon Slayers."

"If he's fighting my counterpart then he's as good as dead."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The island was in ruins, battle between two counterparts was still struggling onwards.

Luke watched as Tempesta struggled back to his feet "You've put up a great fight so far, and I can see how much dedication and power you truly have going for you, but you can't keep things up like this any longer. If you keep going like this then you're going to get yourself killed for sure."

"I know…" Tempesta spat out some blood "But I can't give up… and besides… even if I do die here… I doubt anyone will miss me… At least she will live… so if I do die… then I'll have to take you with me…"

"What do you mean she, who are you talking about?"

"Don't piss me off… anymore than… you already have…" Tempesta pulled Shatterstorm back into his hand.

"You're not going to bother using one of its other forms?"

"I'm more than a match for you as I am now!" Tempesta charged forward and promptly brought down Shatterstorm repeatedly, swinging it in a wild fashion.

'This guy doesn't have any real power behind his attacks anymore, the way things are going he might as well be running on fumes.' Luke drew Raiden from its sheath and swatted Shatterstorm out of Tempesta's hand with ease, then dealt him a simple kick to the chest that quickly sent him tumbling backwards in a heap 'He's struggling to get up now, whatever strength he had before has all but faded away.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with a certain someone…

Edo-Cana slowly and carefully made her way through the rubble of the ruined city, her mind drifting with every step she took 'Luke… For as long as I've known you, you were always so gentle and kind, brimming with optimism, conviction and compassion. When we first met you made a vow to me that you would protect me for as long as you lived, but back then you hadn't realized that your vow would become a curse, one that brought you so much suffering. For two years, you've lied to yourself and to this entire world for my sake, and you wounded your own heart beyond repair. And now you've even resorted to fighting yourself and so many innocent people. Please I beg of you my beloved, free yourself of me.' she continued to make her way forwrd, her every move being watched by a small lizard creature 'Please don't betray everything you believe in!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm not done… I can't be done…" Tempesta grabbed onto a piece of rubble and used it to force himself back to his feet "This world… will survive… and so will she…"

'To think he was able to withstand all of that.' Luke's eyes narrowed slightly as he returned his sword to its sheath 'He's running on sheer willpower now.'

"I still have… fight in my… you never cell short… a wizard from Fairy Tail…" he ripped off his shirt, revealing the Fairy Tail guild mark on his chest "One kick like that… it was lucky to even tickle me…" he let a few fists fly forward, only to be sent flying by a kick, but he forced himself back to his feet again "I'm not finished… not yet… not by a long shot…"

"You have to stop this, you may have the will to fight but your body can't keep up. What could be so important that you have to throw your life away like it's nothing?"

"You said it before… you got as strong as you did… to protect someone you hold dear… I get that… a lot better than you think… As long as that person survives… then I'll die with a smile on my face…" he grabbed Luke by the arm, only to be blown away by a quick surge of lightning magic "Not yet… I can't lose… not yet…"

"Luke please, you have to stop this before it's too late!" as it turns out, Edo-Cana had made her way to the battlefield, watching in horror and anguish from atop a small plateau, much to the clear horror of Tempesta. "You don't have to kill yourself like this anymore!"

"It's too late, this fight is over. He said he was willing to die in this battle, and I can assure you blood will be shed." Luke drew Raiden from its sheath again, and he slowly pressed two fingers along the blade of the sword "At the very least, I can let you die in battle like any warrior of great honor. Dragon Sword Style…"

'So this is it…' Tempesta closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable 'As long as I know she'll be safe… At least I could keep my promise… but the things I did to do so… I've always hated myself for that… In the end, I'm just one more failure… another broken fool… I'm sorry Cana, I'm sorry Fairy Tail… I'm sorry to everyone I've hurt… Perhaps with my death I can atone for all the sins I've comitted…'

"Thunderous PURGE!" Luke rained down a blast of lightning from the skies above… but not on the expected target.

Tempesta whipped around very slowly (given his condition) to see Edo-Cana throwing herself from a cliff, a shadow looming over her 'Is that it… Does that mean?'

"Yeah, I could smell the thing all along." Luke jerked a thumb to the side, and a massive bolt of lightning rained down on the shadowy figure, striking it and causing it to screech in agony, revealing its true form of a hideous lizard creature.

'So that means it's over… she's safe…' Tempesta shed a single tear of joy 'It's over… It's finally over…"

"I'm afraid that's not the case my boy?"

Tempesta looked over, and his relief instantly turned to rage "Byro…"

Sure enough, Byro floated down onto the scene on top of a legion, his disgusting smirk never leaving his face "So it would seem you saw through my little deception. Tell me, how did you figure it out?"

"Dragon Slayers have heightened sense." Luke told him flatly "When she got within a mile of our battle I could smell that creature looming over her, I was able to piece it together pretty quickly that she was being held hostage and that forced my counterpart to act."

"I see. Well it doesn't matter now, Tempesta failed miserably so that means she's outlived her usefulness. A nice round of flame liquid should do the trick." Byro pulled out the flame liquid and prepared to incinerate Cana's unconscious form with it, only to find himself bleeding profusely from the stump where his arm used to be "Wh-What the-?!"

As it turns out, it was Tempesta who did that deed, holding the katana form and standing on the severed hand in question, holding Cana's form in his arm "Not going to lie, that felt way better than it should've."

"But… But you were lying on the ground in a heap!"

"Funny thing about that, rage can make you forget all about that stuff, if only temporarily, and as long as you have a decent goal, and right now mine is making you suffer." he turned his attention over to Luke and gave him a grateful smile "In all honesty, part of me never thought this day would come. You freed us both from the curse that bound us."

"You wretch, you dare to stand against me like this you traitor!"

"Shut up you worthless sack of shit, I'm no traitor because my loyalty was never with you in the first place." Tempesta turned back to Luke "Hey listen Thunderclap, as grateful as I am, I have to ask you to let me handle this. Now I can finally take revenge on the man responsible for murdering my parents, the master of Fairy Tail, and my tormenter."

"Normally I frown upon killing of any kind." Luke stepped back a fair distance and promptly took Edo-Cana into his arms protectively "But then again, this isn't my world so I don't think I have a say in it. Do what you think you need to."

"Good enough for me, I can't tell you how long I needed this!" on that note, Tempesta blitzed out of view and underneath Byro, and with a quick surge of lightning he sent him flying right into the air, and then he took to the air and started blitzing through Byro left and right in a zigzag formation back and forth until he was high in the air "This is for my parents, my master and for every single person I've had to kill because of you! Double Lightning QUAKE!" he finally drove his blade into Byro's chest, sending him hurtling towards the ground in a very explosive fashion "And just like that, you can accept every ouce of my rage. And now, it's over…" and as if a switch were flipped, he fell to his knees and coughed up a large amount of blood before he started to fall over.

This was when Luke blitzed onto the scene and caught Tempesta, then gently sat him on the ground next to Edo-Cana "So how about it, we're both still alive after all."

"And I barely have the strength left to move. I fought with every ounce of power I had, but in the end it wasn't enough. I guess you win over me Thunderclap."

"I don't really think it's fair to say either of us won, the fact is that you and I are the same, whether it be in face, in power or in heart."

"Yes… Yes I guess that's true." he looked over at the sound of a soft moan.

Edo-Cana slowly opened her eyes, and she began tearing up at the sight before her "Luke…"

"Hey Cana, I'm back. Sorry I took so long."

"It's you… Luke… my beloved…" she immediately buried her face in his chest.

With the happy couple finally reunited, Luke glanced over to see Edo-Noah rushing towards the scene "Don't worry it's over, he's back on our side and that creepy old guy from the Royal Army with the horrible laugh is dead."

"So how did you figure it out?" asked Edo-Noah "Did Mira ever tell you about it?"

"No I'm a little bit shaky on the details, but I could tell during our fights that his heart just wasn't in it. Plus he kept saying that he was more powerful than the king himself, so that meant he was either mad with power, or he was being forced to act like this against his will."

"You knew it all from the beginning?" Mira let out a sigh "But you were fighting with everything you've got."

"Yeah well he was literally killing himself both physically and emotionally for the woman that he loves, so I figured it was the least he could do to help him out and give him a fight worth remembering."

"...Why the hell am I not surpirsed?"

"Because it's me we're talking about. And for the record, you and I need to have a good long talk when this is over."

"Yeah, I already had a fairly awkward one with Elfman and Lisanna. Speaking of which, what are you going to do now that that's wrapped up with?"

"I'm leaving the rest of these stooges up to you and the others, for now I'll go and join my fellow Dragon Slayers in the fight against the king. After all, if you cut off the head of the snake then the rest should easily fall as well."

"Right, we can take it from here."

"Good, now give them hell and show them why not to piss off Fairy Tail." and so Luke promptly disappeared in a flash.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the meantime, Mystogan lead Panther Lily to the chambe that created the Anima portals in the first place, and once there he revealed his plan to Panther Lily: his intention was to put the Anima in reverse and rid Edolas of any and all magic remaining, in order to stop the war once and for all.

A/N:

And with this chapter, we see the sixth act of the Edolas arc, and the final battle is finally underway. Looking back, I actually might be able to finish it with the next chapter after all, completing my original plan of having the Edolas arc only cover 7 chapters.

So yes, the reason Luke Tempesta was aligned with the army in the first place was because Byro had been threatening Cana. I know this might seem like I'm sort of defanging a major antagonist of the arc, but at least it gives him a good reason for why he does what he does, which is more than could be said for Knightwalker. Don't get me wrong, she was badass, but in terms of personality, she was honestly kind of one-dimensional.

For those who caught that, yes Noah's Planetary Devastation Dragon slayer spell was meant to be a reference to Naruto. Personally, I grew up with Naruto since it was the first anime I ever saw, before even the likes of Dragon Ball. Even if I sort of grew out of it and got bored with it (which also explains the lack of updates on my Rise of a Warrior: Naruto: Shippuden fic), it still holds a special place in my heart, and it always will.