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.

54. Grand Magic Games XII

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to 200 reviews! This story would be nothing without all of your support, so thank you all for that.

Altajir95 (ch 52): Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

Altajir95 (ch 53): Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Xian and Natsu was a character dynamic I thought would be interesting, and I really enjoy writing their interactions. As for the exposition given by Future Cana, I figured that even if Future Luke had to die, I could make him go out in a blaze of glory, killing a number of dragons in his final act.

Dupont21: That is a valid point actually, but I don't want to spoil anything, so we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

Rumjunkie: To be fair, you can only show so much during the first chapter, and I have deviated from canon in a fair number of places afterwards.

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As one could imagine, Gajeel's awakening of his new Iron Shadow Dragon Mode took many in the stands by surprised, but it also impressed them even moreso. They also reached the general consensus that Dragon Slayers were known for defying any and all logic and common sense when it came to their use of Dragon Slayer magic. In any case, they also all reached the same agreement: This battle was far from over yet.

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With the battle itself…

"I don't believe it… you became an Iron Shadow Dragon?!"

"You're damn right I did, and the top billing on the name is how you know that you're dealing with me. Now let's do this." Gajeel's smirk grew even wider as he dropped into a stance "I'm more than ready to end this."

"Your confidence knows no bounds even now, especially now." Shadow Rogue was quick to regain his composure as he let out a chuckle "This is an impressive feat, that's something I can't and won't deny. But the situation remains the same, I have to strike you down here and now. Shadow Dragon SLASH!" Shadow Rogue cloaked his hand in dark energy and swiped it forward at Gajeel, only for him to disappear into the ground 'He disappeared? No, he used his new form to become one with the shadows! Filthy arrogant wretch, how dare you use my own magic against me." he glanced up to see a shadowy figure trailing along the roof of the hallway they were fighting in "Predictable and pathetic." he whipped around towards Gajeel and tried to hit him with an attack, only for him to disappear "What?"

"And you call me pathetic. Iron Shadow Dragon CLUB!" Gajeel struck Shadow Rogue from behind using an iron club coated in dark energy, sending him stumbling forward.

Shadow Rogue was quick to recover and disappeared into the shadows, with Gajeel chasing after him along the ground, the two of them clashing along the ground as they kept hurtling forward at full speed 'This is absurd, he shouldn't have even been able to absorb my shadows, let alone use them so effectively!'

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It should come as no surprise that everyone was left in even greater awe as the battle continued to unfold between the two shadow wielding Dragon Slayers, though it did become apparent that since the two of them were in their shadow forms, they couldn't tell them apart, which made it more difficult to keep track of how the battle was unfolding.

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Meanwhile, back with the two shadow dragons…

"Alright, I think I've instilled more than enough fear in you. I say it's about time for you and me to wrap this shit up." gritting his teeth, Gajeel suddenly reached into Shadow Rogue's shadow, grabbed him by the front of his robe and yanked him out, then dealt him a swift fist to the jaw that sent him flying high into the air.

"I don't understand, how can this be?!' Shadow Rogue was left hurtling into a nearby building, his mind racing 'He's able to outmaneuver me as a shadow, he pulls me out of my own shadows so easily, and he's able to send me flying without batting an eye?! I never would've dreamt he would become as powerful as this!' he tried to retreat by merging with the shadows and making a get away, but he didn't get very far.

"Like hell I'm letting you get away, now say goodnight!" Gajeel bolted after Shadow Rogue, yet again pulled him out of his shadow form, and then hurled him into the air "I'm about to end your entire fucking career! Iron Shadow Dragon ROAR!" he let out a roar and unleashed a large and powerful wave of energy, engulfing Shadow Rogue in the explosion that followed. Once the blast died down, Gajeel was left panting heavily as his Iron Shadow Dragon Mode subsided, and he returned to his normal form "That's another point for Fairy Tail. Though I gotta admit, that one took a lot more out of me than I thought it would. Thunderclap wasn't kidding, those Dual Element modes are draining as fuck.'

"Um… Well okay then, I guess that's it ladies and gentlemen. It looks like Rogue is down for the count, so that means the winner is Gajeel! I think I speak for everyone when I say that what we just saw was truly a sight to behold, and that victory gives Team Fairy Tail another point, bringing their current score to a total of 50 points. Team Sabertooth is still in the lead however, with a total of 55 points, but just a few more wins for Fairy Tail and this could all come to an end very soon."

"Yeah yeah, good to know with all that math and shit." Gajeel rolled his eyes, but his gaze soon hardened when he heard a sinister chuckle ring through the air "What the hell?"

"A bitter defeat, but one to learn from I suppose." the voice of the Shadow rang through the air, and it let out a chuckle "I suppose I held my expectations for Rogue too high, given the level that he's at right now."

"So what the hell is your deal?"

"Nothing you need to know of right now. All you need to know is that his time will come, and I'll make sure he shows everyone in this whole wretched kingdom how powerful he is, and why he's someone to fear." and with that, the Shadow figure emerged from Rogue's body and promptly slithered away from the scene.

"Um… okay then."

"Please stop!"

"Huh?" Gajeel glanced ahead, and his expression dulled slightly "Oh, it's just you."

As it turns out, Frosch was standing in front of Rogue with his arms stretched out and tears streaming down his face "He's hurt really bad! Please don't kill him!"

"Is that what this is about?" Gajeel crouched down to Frosch's level "You don't have to worry, the fight is over and that's not my style."

"O-Oh… okay…"

"Frosch…" a soft voice rang through the air.

Frosch glanced back to where Rogue where was coming to, and he was quick to rush over to his side "Rogue you're okay!"

"Of course I am."

"Fro was so scared!" and then Frosch started sobbing while being comforted by Rogue.

"I'm sorry, I never meant to upset you."

"Hey pal." this was when Gajeel got his attention.

"Hey… Wait, why am I in pain? I lost, didn't I…?"

'You mean he doesn't remember the fight? Then there's that shadow… there's definitely something screwed up going on.'

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After the events of the battle between Gajeel and Rogue, the announcers and those in the stands were left to try and calm down a little bit from the excitement. Mavis however, she was left as concerned as Gajeel was about the appearance of Rogue's shadow, given the evil intent and the amount of magic power it held and granted to Rogue when it was in control.

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Meanwhile, with the Rescue Team…

"Dragon Sword Style: Iron Hammer!" with his sword thrusted into the ground, Luke was quick to unleash a powerful surge of electricity that sent a number of Royal Army soldiers flying backwards "Dammit, this isn't getting us anywhere. We're wasting too much time fighting them in the same spot, spread out and try and divide them! It'll be faster that way!"

"Way ahead of you. Storm Force!" Bolt morphed Shatterstorm into its trident form and hit a group of soldiers with a large blast of wind, sending them hurtling down one end of the hallway, and he promptly chased after them.

"You guys know what to do, divide and conquer and meet back up once you've taken care of the rest of them!" and that was enough to prompt the others to split up.

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Meanwhile, with two Regulus users…

"Would it kill you guys to back off? We don't have time for this!" Loke unleashed a barrage of attacks on a group of soldiers, with Lucy (still clad in her Leo Star Dress) fighting them off right by her side "I think we're gonna have to send them blasting off against like Team Rocket. Do you wanna do the honors or should I?"

"I put the effort in, I might as well put the training to good use. Regulus Impact!" Lucy took a breath and pointed one of her arms forward, and she unleashed a golden colored blast of magic energy, hitting the soldiers and sending them flying, only to falter when she noticed something else, and her expression dulled slightly "Aw crap."

"What's the matter?"

"Take a look."

"Alright boys, haul me in!" as it turns out, this was when Uosuke of the Hungry Wolf Knights came onto the scene, being carried by a large group of soldiers.

"...Oh god dammit."

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Meanwhile, with the Sky Dragon…

"Come on child, we have to move!" Carla flew through a section of the hallways with Wendy by her side, a group of soldiers following hot on their heels "I have to say that for soldiers of the Royal army they're a fairly motly crew, but that works well for us. Do it now!"

"Right! Sky Dragon ROAR!" Wendy turned on her heel and unleashed a powerful tornado from her mouth, hitting the group of soldiers dead on and sending them flying back, only for a series of vines to burst out around her "Oh no, not again!"

"Hey there cutie, you missed me didn't you?" this was when Cosmo suddenly burst out from the ground and gave a smirk "It's so good to see you again, though I think it's safe to say that this will be the last time."

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Meanwhile, with the love interest and her future counterpart…

"Okay, I imagined this going differently." by this point, Cana found herself and her counterpart from the future back to back among a large crowd of soldiers "I didn't expect so many of them to follow us here. You got any ideas?"

"We shouldn't have come this way to begin with." Future Cana muttered quietly "But I guess there's no use in dwelling on that now, so I guess there's only one thing to do."

"Fight our way out?"

"In the way that only Fairy Tail would." she pulled out a deck of cards from her cloak, with her present counterpart doing the same "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking Wind Edge and explosion combination."

"I'll do wind, I've seen more than enough explosions first hand."

"Fair enough. You go first."

"Okay. Magic Card: Wind Edge!" Future Cana threw forward a card that summoned forth a large wave of wind.

"Magic Card: Explosion Burst!" Cana threw forward a card that promptly detonated in a fiery explosion, engulfing all of the soldiers, only for the explosion to quickly be subdued by a large wave of purple papers surrounding them "Oh god, don't tell me. Seriously, the timing literally could not be worse right now."

"There's no such thing as bad timing when it comes to justice." this was when Kamika appeared in front of the two of them "You were incredibly foolish and arrogant to believe that you could best the mightiest executioners in the kingdom so easily."

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Meanwhile, with the main character's Exceed…

"You guys really wanna keep doing this? Because I've got no problems with going up to you all and busting a few heads." Bolt was met with a soldier charging at him from behind, so he kicked him in the face without looking back "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. Alright then, that seems like a pretty valid law of the universe. Thunder Burst!" he morphed Shatterstorm into its axe form and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning, engulfing the soldiers in the great explosion that followed, only to feel the ground beginning to liquify beneath his feet "Aw fuck no, we are not doing this again."

"Sploosh to the sploosh, you think you're going somewhere?" this was when Neppa rose out of the ground and shot a smirk at Bolt "Bet you didn't think you were gonna see me again now did you cat boy?"

"More hoping thanthinking to be honest."

"Hate to break it to you goddamn pussycat, but I still got a job to do, and you're not gonna get rid of me that easily."

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Meanwhile, with the main protagonist…

"Dragon Sword Style: Thunderous Blade Dance!" Luke gripped the hilt of his sword and unleashed a swift barrage of lightning-enhanced slashes that electrocuted a large number of soldiers, sending them flying and knocking them out cold, but then his gaze hardened further as he sniffed the air and picked up a certain scent "Looks like things just took a turn for the worst for us."

"You are correct about this guild wizard." this was when Kama made his way onto the scene, his gaze hard and unwavering as ever "I understand what it is that impels you, and I know that even the likes of criminals know what it means to have resolve. But with that being said, I have to carry out my obligation to the court. For your crimes against the kingdom, I will be collecting your head."

"You're right about one thing, a solid understanding of resolve is pretty much universal. I know you're just doing your job, but I've got a job of my own to do. Seriously though, no offense but I really don't have time for this." Luke tightened the grip on his sword "So if you won't get out of my way on your own, then I'm gonna have to finish this fast."

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As the battle between the Rescue Team and the forces of the Royal Army raged on, Arcadios had donned what was known as his White Lily armor and was searching for Princess Hisui in order to confront her, since her plans regarding the Eclipse 2 project was contradictory to the information given by the woman from the future, and he believed that the latter was the one that was telling the truth.

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Other battles in the Grand Magic Games themselves were taking a turn for the worst. Despite the fact that Gajeel had just scored a point for their guild, Fairy Tail was beginning to struggle in their batles, which mainly refers to Erza being toyed with by Minerva, since she appeared to be too injured to fight back properly. But this did nothing to dampen Erza's spirit, and she continued getting back up regardless of her injury.

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Meanwhile, with the main protagonist of this fic…

"Dragon Sword Style: Iron Hammer!" Luke thrusted the blade of his sword into the ground and unleashed a surge of electricity that blew a large group of soldiers away, and then he ripped his sword out of the ground and used it to block a strike from Kama's scythes "So you weren't just bluffing before, one of your blades is capable of negating magic."

"Indeed it is, and all of my abilities are used for the sake of carrying out justice, and ending the lives of sinners for the kingdom!" Kama started attacking Luke with both of his scythes, only to be met with Luke "I have heard many tales about your feats across the kingdom. The word is that you stand with loyalty to Fairy Tail rivalling even the most patriotic of soldiers, but you had once abandoned them. Tell me, why did you shirk your sacred duty?"

"I'm not a soldier, but I do know loyalty. As for why I left… I had my reasons, but looking back at that, it's still not something I'm proud of by any means."

"So what then, did you feel that your organization had lost its moral compass?"

"Nothing of the sort. If you have to call it something, call it a journey of redemption, and it led me to swear to fight on behalf of my guild and everyone in it for as long as I live. Everything I do is to do right by my friends. As long as I can do that, you can throw as many soldiers or fellow executioners as you like at me. The fact is that I'm gonna beat all of them, find the rest of my friends, get the hell out of here and do what has to be done, and that's all there is to it. You can keep getting in our way and slowing us down as much as you want, but I swore that I would do whatever it takes to protect my guild, and that's what I plan to do." and so the two of them clashed their weapons again, scythes against sword, neither one of them backing down.

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Within the arena, the fight between Laxus and Orga was interrupted when Jura made his presence known to the two of them, and it was quickly noted by Ooba (the master of Lamia Scale) that the two of them didn't have a chance against them. Orga was quick to go first and dared Jura to try and withstand his Lightning God Slayer Magic, in order to prove that the title of Wizard Saint was more than just for show, a dare that Jura accepted without hesitation. Despite the devastating attack that was Orga's Lightning God Charged Particle Cannon, not only was Jura able to block the attack with ease, he also took Orga down entirely with a single hit to the face, earning a point for Lamia Scale. Laxus was left shocked by this, along with many others, though Ooba was not, since she claimed that Jura may very well be the strongest human mage in the kingdom, given that he was now the fifth ranked Wizard Saint, and according to her, the four highest ranking Wizard Saints, known as the Four Emperors of Ishgar.

Jura then went on to say that he had wanted to do battle with the grandson of Makarov for a long time, though Laxus was quick to counter this and say that at the moment, neither of them held any titles and were nothing more than two men, and he charged at him. Jura was able to knock down Laxus with ease in the same fashion as Orga, but to his surprise, Laxus was able to get back up and dealt Jura a brutal lightning-enhanced fist to the face, staring their battle off with a brutal display of ferocity from both sides.

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Meanwhile, with the princess…

With the final battles of the Grand Magic Games about to come to an end, Hisui and Darton took the opportunity to discuss the activation of the Eclipse Gate, and how all of it depended on whether or not the warning she received from the time traveller would come true. All they could do now was wait and see.

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Meanwhile, with a few former competitors…

"Ow…" by this point, Milliana lay sprawled out on the ground near Kagura's unconscious form, unaware of something moving around underneath her cloak "Why do I feel like something fuzzy is stuck to me? Did my tail snap off or something?"

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As the main event progressed, Laxus was able to pick himself up and counter the fierce attack he received from Jura, much to the surprise of almost everyone present, with the dramatic battle between the two of them finally beginning with overwhelming ferocity. Those in the stands didn't waste any time in praising how Laxus was able to match Jura's power, Makarov being among them. Mavis was quick to note how everyone would continue to grow, including those that would live in the next generation.

Despite having a tough time in his battle with Jura, Laxus thought back to Natsu, as well as his signature phrase (that he had a fire in his belly), and claimed that he would defeat Jura, which led to the beginning of their next round.

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Meanwhile, with the Rescue Team…

"Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Dome!" with the Rescue Team having reunited, at least for the most part, Luke thrusted his sword into the ground and erected a dome of electricity around himself and the others "Okay then, evidently suggesting that we split up under the pretense of "divide and conquer" was not one of my better strategic moves."

"How many of these guys do you think there are?" asked Lucy.

"Enough to wear us down if this keeps up for too much longer, and chances are I'm probably gonna need a recharge at some point."

"The exit can't be that far from here." Bolt pointed out "However far it is though, I think we'd better stop screwing around and bust through these guys and fast."

"Just make sure to remember that we're not our for blood, don't go charging at them like a crazed bull no holds barred."

"Do I look like fucking Natsu to you? I don't need to go on the warpath to take out these idiots single handedly! Thunder Burst!" Bolt morphed Shatterstorm into its axe form and unleashed a powerful blast of electricity, sending the surrounding soldiers flying in numerous directions "And now that I've proven that point, I think it's about time for us to start making the donuts."

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Meanwhile, with a battle between monsters…

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: ROARING THUNDER!" following a brutal offscreen battle, Laxus (now covered in wounds) let out a primal roar and hit Jura at point blank range with a massive blast of electricity.

"Incredible… well done…" Jura gave a smile approval as the blast proved to be enough to bring him down, leaving him to crash to the ground in a heap, leaving Laxus tired and badly wounded, but triumphant.

"Yeah, they weren't kidding about you being a monster…" Laxus spat out some blood as he fell to one knee in exhaustion.

"It's incredible, absolutely incredible ladies and gentleman! Jura has finally been defeated, and by another Lightning Dragon Slayer no less! Laxus wins the battle and earns another 5 points for Team Fairy Tail, bringing their total to 55 points! That means they're now tied with the team from Sabertooth!"

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Meanwhile, with the two on two battle…

"I don't need to, now I can take both of you down at the same time!" Natsu gave a feral grin as he pounced forward, inten on finishthing this fight with his own hands.

"As overconfident as you ever were, but I will commend you for putting aside your pride enough to rely on teamwork." Xian wasted no time in blocking, dodging and weaving around the series of fire-enhanced attacks "You would be wise to remember this though: As a wise master once said, what you know is dangerous to your adversary, but what you think you know is dangerous to you alone." he attempted to hit Natsu with a Palm Strike, only for another ice lance to hit him in the back, ripping part of his gi and drawing some blood from the wound, forcing him to retreat a short distance.

"Take your advice you freaking hypnotist."

"You mean hypocrite."

"That too!"

'Evidently this was a team effort. Using Gray's cage made of continuous ice spears, they were able to sharply cut down my range of movement, and now he can hit me with a greater amount of accuracy than before. A cunning strategy I have to admit, because without a greater freedom for movement, I'm having more difficulty competing with his raw power. This would make my Total Concentration Chi mode nowhere near as effective, because every time I end up hitting one of those ice spears it's going to damage me further. Lyon what about you, are you okay to continue fighting?"

"I swore to defeat Gray and free my beloved Juvia from his hold, and I will never back down until I see that happen! Ice Make: Turtle Shell!" Lyon took the opportunity to charge through the Cryo Cage, using his ice make to form a turtle shell on his back to protect him, and he made a quick beeline towards Gray "I think we both know that you're not as skill as I am, but you're definitely as persistent as you ever were!"

"You seriously think I don't have any skills of my own? Go ahead and give it a shot, see how that shit goes." Gray shot him a smirk, though internally he was cringing 'Shit this is bad, I can't attack him or fend off any of his spells while I'm keeping this cage active, and it's hard enough to maintain as it is.'

"This is for Juvia! Ice Make: Eagle!" Lyon sent a barrage of ice eagles hurtling forward, and they were about to break through the cage and attack Gray, when…

"Fire Dragon BRILLIANT FLAME!" this was when Natsu blitzed in front of Lyon and hurled a large ball of flames towards him, eradicating his barrage of ice eagles with ease and engulfing him, sending him tumbling backwards in a scorched heap.

"Golden Jaguar Claw!" with his arm coated in golden energy, Xian blitzed forward and was able to hit Natsu with a brutal palm strike, sending him hurtling into one of the ice spears holding the cage, causing him to cry out in pain "You both fought with honor, but I'm afraid this is where it has to come to an end. Soaring Dragon Strike!" he attempted to land another uppercut to the jaw, only to be met with a surprise.

As it turns out, that surprise was Natsu catching his fist while coating both of his own arms in his flames "Keeping this freaking ice cage up is Gray's job, and it's mine to burn you to a crisp and knock you flat on your face. You're not the only one who's got someone worth fighting for in this game. Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" he launched one of his flaming fists into Xian's gut, sending him skidding back a short distance.

"So you finally realized what you were doing wrong. The fact that I was so calm in contrast to your usual demeanor was getting under your skin, and that was giving me an advantage over you in this fight. Once you learned to calm down and think, your mind became clear and you could see my attack coming."

"I don't know about any of that, but I know Lisanna hates it when I get too fired up and start to lose my head too much. She said she wants me to draw a line, so I did. Now let's do this, I've got more asses to kick!" and so he advanced forward, pushing Xian back with a swift barrage of fire-enhanced attacks "Fire Dragon Iron Fist! Talon! Wing Attack! Sword Horn! Flame Elbow!"

"Will you hurry the hell up?!" Gray barked at him from where he was struggling to hold up the Cryo Cage "I didn't do all of this so you could keep screwing around, this thing isn't easy for me to keep up! If you're gonna shove a flaming fist up the guy's ass, hurry up and do it before I lose control of this thing!"

"I got a better idea, how about you shut the hell up and hold it already so I can!"

"Then again, I suppose the more things change, the more things stay the same." Xian let out a sigh as he listened to their exchange 'Evidently Gray Fullbuster won't be able to keep up his spell for much longer, so unless Natsu decides to hit me with his full power, I just have to evade and defend myself and outlast them, and then Lyon and I can team up again and-'

"I'm ending this now!" Natsu hit Xian with another flaming fist that sent him stumbling back into another ice spear that struck him in the back, wounding him further "That was for Lisanna, and this one is for all of Fairy Tail! Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus: FIRE DRAGON FIST!" with a mighty roar, he struck Xian with a rapid and continuous barrage of fire-enhanced punches as he pushed him further and further back, until the Cryo Cage subsided and he sent him flying high into the air, leaving Natsu panting heavily, tired but triumphant as he gave a smirk of satisfaction "And that's why… you don't fuck with Fairy Tail…"

It took a moment before Xian crashed back to the ground in a scorched and exhausted heap, but he lifted his head and gave a small bitter smile "So it seems your plan worked… and you put aside your rivalry for the sake of victory… well done…"

"I get what you're fighting for, but you're not the only one who's got some shit on the line in these games, and that's why I'm gonna keep fighting."

"You mean it's why we're gonna keep fighting." this was when Gray stepped forward and let out a sigh of his own "Took you long enough to take him down. Seriously, I only stepped in because you couldn't take this guy down without some help from yours truly."

"Some help you were ice prick, you kept pussyfooting around and stabbed me in the back with that thing!"

"It only hurt you because you were too brain dead to move out of the way!"

"And spekaing of such foolishness, it's about time for us to finish this." it was at this moment that Lyon made himself known to the two of them.

"Oh yeah, you're still in this."

"So callous and unconcerned, just like you are with Juvia. You continue to string her along, truly your heart is as cold as your magic! You're going to pay for that!"

"...You wanna run that the hell by me again?"

"You heard me! Truth be told I'm honestly relieved that Juvia isn't fighting in the games today, because that way she can't be forced to align herself with the likes of you! And now she'll get to see my dedication to her along with my superiority to you! Ice Make: Water Serpent!" he then summoned a large serpent made of ice that hit Gray dead on and sent him hurtling backwards at full speed.

"There is a fine line between devotion and delusion." Xian breathed a sigh from where he lay sprawled out on the ground, only to suddenly find himself being hoisted into the air "What are you doing?"

As it turns out, Natsu was now carrying the wounded form of Xian on his back and walking away from the scene "What? You said you wanted to get to her didn't you? So I'm gonna go ahead and take you there."

"You would do that so willingly?"

"That's the thing about Fairy Tail. Friends or enemies, we don't abandon someone in need. Like I said, I get what you've been fighting for." he glanced over at the Domus Flau colosseum in the distance "I got Lisanna after all."

"What about our companions? I'm defeated, but you're essentially leaving your friend to battle against Lyon on his own. Aren't you the least bit concerned about that?"

"Your guild is gonna lose this one. Gray is a pain in the ass and a stripper, but he's not gonna go down like such a wimp. Now shut up and come on, I'm taking you to her."

"Natsu…" Xian's eyes widened slightly at this, but he gave a small smile "Thank you for this, truly."

"Forget it. Let's just go and watch Erza kick some ass."

"Another incredible display folks, and with it the tag team battle has officially turned back into a one on one, or rather a different one on one. Fairy Tail is definitely on fire, no pun intended, and just earned another point, bringing their total to 56! This finally puts them into first place alone, but how long can they hold it for?"

All the while, Gray watched as Natsu and Xian left the scene "Yeah sure, leave me to clean up another one of your fuckups. Whatever, you want me to finish this, then fine. Come on Lyon, you and me right here and right now!" he charged forward at full speed, only to be stopped in his tracks as he lurched forward in pain.

"Ice Make: Lion." as it turns out, Lyon had struck him with his Ice Make: Lyon spell square in the gut "Aim for the weakspot on your opponent and hit it with everything you've got. Ur taught us that one, and I gave you a reminder of it on Galuna Island didn't I?"

"At least now hearing you user he name doesn't make me wanna bash your teeth him. I mean I'm still gonna do it either way, but still…"

"I'll admit that I'm far from proud of my actions from back then, but I'm not the same person that I was before. But that's the difference between then and now. Back then I mostly liked to hear myself talk, but now I intend to fight. You and me, the battle between students of Ur to see who did the better job of taking her teachings to heart, and to see who earns Juvia's heart."

"Okay seriously, again with that shit! When the fuck are you gonna get it through your stupid spiky head that she's not into you, and she's not even in your guild?!"

"Well evidently you don't show any interest in her, so either make a move or stand aside and let a true gentleman profess his feelings for her!"

"...Can we just beat the crap out of each other now?"

"Is that your answer to everything these days?"

"Have you met the people in Fairy Tail?"

"...Fair enough. Let's do this then."

"As if you had to ask." and so the two of them charged forward, slamming their hands togehter to create a series of ice spells.

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Meanwhile, with the battle between queens…

Due to the injuries to her leg she received from saving Kagura earlier, Erza was left struggling to get up and continue the fight against Minerva, but at the same time she expressed the rage that she felt towards her for the way she tormented Lucy, Kagura and Milliana, and how she enjoyed it so obviously, only for Minerva to continue attacking her with sadistic pleasure. However, as she finally reached the limit of her patience, she began to counter Minerva's attacks as she released the power of her Second Origin, which she had been hiding all along, but now she was releasing its full power, which allowed her to don the Nakagami Armor.

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Meanwhile, with another offscreen battle…

"Ice Blade: SEVEN SLICE DANCE!" following a brutal offscreen battle, Gray (covered in a moderate amount of wounds) coated his arms in blades made of ice and ripped through Lyon's ice serpent, dealing him a series of strikes to the torso and one or two to the face, sending him crashing to the ground in an unconscious heap. With the battle appearing to be over, Gray let out a sigh as he fell to one knee in exhaustion "For the last fucking time, Juvia isn't part of your guild and she's not into you, and there's gonna be a cold day in hell before I let you get your hands on her. And chances are she's gonna go nuts when she hears this. Fuck, what the hell have I gotten myself into?"

"Looks like thanks to the efforts of Gray Fullbuster, the Lamia Scale is out of the running, which puts them at third place for the overall games with 49 points! Fairy Tail on the other hand, they appear to be truly unstoppable! At the moment they're sitting right at the top with a grand total of 57 points!"

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Meanwhile, with the battle between queens…

A large cloud of dust and smoke filled the air, but it quickly cleared away to reveal Erza, now clad in a new suit of armor with a large halberd in hand "This is the Nakagami Armor, one of the most powerful in my arsenal. There's nothing that can save you now."

"This… This won't be enough to stop me!" Minerva tried to hit Erza with a quick blast of magic energy, engulfing her in the explosion that followed, only for the smoke to clear to reveal that it didn't do any damage, courtesy of Erza slicing through it with ease "No, that's not possible. You could never rip through my magic so easily!"

"I can now, in case it wasn't obvious."

"But it doesn't make any sense!" You should be out of power, you shouldn't even be able to stand up!"

"In preparation for the games, myself and a few others had our Second Origins awakened, during which we had two choices. We could either use it in order to receive a massive boost in magic power, or we can wait until the right moment to unleash the Magic Power of our Second Origin in order to gain an advantage in the battle. Most of them chose the former option, but I opted for the latter. I've been keeping this power under wraps until the right moment. It's how I've been able to don the Nakagami Armor, which is notoriously known to consume magic power at a rate that no wizard has been able to utilize it for the past ten years. However, if anyone were to don the armor in question, then they would become a force without equal and conquer all that stand agains them at least based on what I was told by Levy when she explained all of this to me." her gaze hardened furiously "Besides, it's like I told you before. I'll keep standing as many times as it takes, until I put you in the dirt."

"No, stop…" Minerva started backing away, the fear evident in her eyes.

"And now I will have my revenge."

"Stay back… you won this… let me go! Mercy!"

"Do you honestly expect to receive mercy after everything you've done? Did Lucy get any mercy from you? Did Kagura? What about Milliana? What gives you the right to expect any, especially from me?"

"Get away… Get away from me!"

"This battle ends now! Nakagami STARLIGHT!" Erza gripped her halberd and thrusted herself towards Minerva, swinging the weapon with brute force and cutting the space before them, delivering a devastating damage to the target.

"And just like that folks, the battle between queens has come to an end! The queen of the Fairies has just defeated the queen of the Tigers, aka the leader of the Sabertooth team, and earned a solid five points for the Fairy Tail team, bringing their total to 62 points! I guess we now know which one of them stands as the truly regal one! All hail the queen of the Fairies, Erza Scarlet herself! All but two of the participating guilds are out of the game entirely, so the question still remains: Will Fairy Tail be able to win the day without losing a single member? Looks to me like we're about to find out, so don't you dare look away now!"

With the battle over for the moment, Erza let her Nakagami Armor disappear, and she breathed a sigh as she fell to her knees in exhaustion "Levy was right… the amount of magic power being consumed by the armor… it truly is staggering…"

"Not like you to get down on one knee like that. You're a lot scarier when you tower over the rest of us like that."

Erza glanced back to see Natsu make his way onto the scene, carrying Xian on his back "I take it that you were successful as well? Good, that means we're that much closer to winning. What are you doing here though?"

"Doing this guy a favor." he jerked a thumb at Xian on his back as he set him down and gave a feral grin "There ain't nothing stopping us now, we're gonna keep kicking ass and win this whole damn thing. Now I've got a hell of a fire in my bely!"

"Don't let yourself get too overconfident, I think it's been stated numerous times that you tend to let that get the better of you." Erza let out a sigh, but then she gave a small smile "It is rather extraordinary though, considering that we're so close to winning this entire tournament when we started in dead last. The others must be overjoyed to hear this. We still have a fair amount of work to do before we can celebrate though."

"It's not like there's a ton of guys left, we can take them down no problem."

"From what I know so far, Quatro Cerberuys-"

"Quatro Puppy."

"-has already been defeated, the same with Blue Pegasus and Mermaid Heel, and if your arrival here is any indication, that means that Lyon should be the only one left from Lamia Scale."

"Gray's taking him down now, he might be an icy bastard but he's not gonna go down as easy as that."

"Agreed. That leaves the team from Sabertooth, so let's think about this. Or I will anyway. Let's see, Rufus was the first one to fall after his battle with Gray, and Gajeel defeated Rogue not too long ago. Orga lost during his battle with Laxus and Jura, after Jura blocked his spell and took him down with one blow."

"Shit, I knew the old guy had some moves but that's fucking insane."

"He's the fifth ranked Wizard Saint for a reason, no one can deny his power. Laxus was able to defeat him though, and I defeated Minerva. Like I told you, all of the other guilds have already been defeated except for Sabertooth, and they only have on member left."

"You mean Sting." Natsu let out a growl as his fists ignited with flames "I've been wanting to take a shot at him, and now I'm finally gonna get the chance to. Plus we're gonna win it either way, so what better time to than now?"

"It's actually not as certain as I'd like to believe it is. You know what the score is right now don't you? We're ahead of Sabertooth by 7 points. If Sting does somehow manage to survive and beat all five of the members of our team, that means he could still pull ahead of us and make just enough to win the games."

"You're seriously wasting time thinking about that? Come on, there's no way that he'd be able to beat all five of us."

"Not if we were at full strength, but we are covered in wounds and we're running considerably low on magic power. It's not as easy as any of us would like to believe."

"...You're seriously second guessing our chances now?" Natsu gave another feral grin "Take it easy will ya, it's not like we're dealing with the end of the world or anything. We already dealt with that in Edolas. We've dealt with a hell of a lot worse crap than this before, and we've still got all five of us left in it. Besides, you guys aren't even gonna need to fight. I'm just gonna go ahead and sniff out Sting, and then I'll take him down before any of you get the chance. This win is all mine!"

"I'm just saying that we need to be practical in this situation." Erza let out a sigh, but then she gave a small smile "But you're right though. We've never backed down from a fight before, and I can guarantee that none of us intend to start now." it was then that the two of them glanced over and noticed a firework going off in the distance "You see that?"

"I can smell it, that's definitely him."

"He's probably trying to signal us. You go on ahead, I just need a moment to recover my strength and take care of my leg, and then I'll be right behind you."

"Don't bother showing up, I'm gonna be done before you get there." and so Natsu promptly took off in the direction of the signal.

Once they were gone, Kagura opened an eye and glanced over to where Xian was kneeling next to her "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you show up only after I'm defeated in battle. You always did know how to pick the worst moment to show up."

"Saying this is the worst is a matter of perspective." Xian gave a small shrug "But as a wise man once said, when we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change."

"...Part of me did miss those provers of wisdom, though in a certain sense, they also sickened me at the same time, in a way that I was never really able to explain. My masters once said that the desire for vengeance, whether it's justified or not, can and will consume anyone that travels along that path. It corrupts and destroys people."

"And there it is. Any other proverbs you wish to force on me?"

"Proverbs, no. I do have one other thing to say however." he reached towards Kagura and pulled her into a gentle embrace "I missed you."

"...Don't try to talk me out of my mission, or give me some false sense of hope or closure."

"I'm only sorry I wasn't able to bring myself to give it to you sooner."

And that was enough to make Kagura break down in tears as she buried her face in Xian's chest, the two of them sobbing together in silence.

Erza watched this exchange from a short distance away, and using her sword as a crutch in order to support her injured leg, she quietly limped away from the scene.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and the moon was shining brightly over the skies above Crocus.

Sting sat alone by the water fountain in the center of the city, his eyes blazing with determination and resolve "This worked out just as well as I had hoped. I'm more than ready for you guys, go ahead and come at me Fairy Tail!" he took a whiff of the air and gave a smirk "I figured you were gonna be the first one to show up… Natsu."

Sure enough, Natsu made his way onto the scene, his gaze hard and unwavering "You don't seem too surprised by that."

"I'm really not. Truth be told I'm kind of disappointed that it took so long for me to get the chance to fight you like this. You're the one I've wanted to fight all this time, so I could defeat you with my bare hands and show the whole world that I'm better than you. But now, standing in front of the greatest hero from my childhood isn't as exciting as I was hoping it was gonna turn out to be."

"Stop running your mouth already, we're here to beat the crap out of each other right? I can fight you one on one, so let's do this."

"Where's the fun in that? With all the injuries you've got, one on one would turn out to be boring as fuck."

"Don't think I'm gonna go down that easy."

"I never said you would, I'm trying to treat you and the others with the respect that you earned from me over the years. Besides, you're not the only one that's looking for a fight."

"Yeah, pretty much everyone else is." Natsu paused as he took a sniff of the air, then scowled as he glanced in a certain direction "Just fucking great, it had to be Gajeel."

Sure enough, this was when Gajeel made his way onto the scene, covered in wounds and dried blood and munching on a stray piece of iron in his hand, but otherwise he looked raring and ready for a fight "Yeah yeah, like I give a shit what you think Salamander, but you're not the only one here that wants to beat the shit out of someone. The only difference is that unlike the two of you, I had a chance to refuel on the way here. For the record though, if anyone's gonna be the one that takes you out for good, it's gonna be yours truly. But aside from that, I'm just here looking for a fight, and to find out for myself what this new power of mine can really do once I'm a full strength. If you could do it then I should be able to do the same, and now we're about to see how much power it can really put out."

"Yeah well, I don't give a rat's ass about any of that. Just let me take care of this guy and stay the hell out of this, you got it?"

"Not a chance in hell, you're not the only one that's itching for a fight. Besides, I still owe him for the thrashing that I got in the fight with them yesterday. Plus you can tell that he's not in the mood to fuck around anymore, and frankly neither am I. As much as it sucks, I think the two of us are gonna have to fight him as a team. You and me against him."

"Hey not a chance in hell, I'm gonna take this guy down on my own! Besides, I'd never team up with a douchebag like you so stay the hell out of it!"

"Will you shut it and use your head for a second? Look at us and then look at him, does it look like either one of us can take him down on our own?" it was then that a massive column of light and an intense burst of energy drew their attention, also sending both of them skidding back a fair distance in the process.

When the light subsided, it revealed Sting still sanding before them, only now his body had been covered in white markings, indicating that he had entered Dragon Force "Like I said, I'm trying to treat you with the respect you deserve, and that's why I'm gonna go all out right from the start and take you and all the others down together with my bare hands!"

"Yeah, that pretty much proves my point." Gajeel glanced over at Natsu "As far as I'm able to tell, that's a fucking powerhouse out for blood if there ever was one. If we wanna win this game once and for all, we're gonna have to bring this bastard down right here and now. Even if the others to show up at some point, how do we know they're even gonna be able to fight? You gotta drill it into your thick skull already Salamander, the fact is that the two of us might be the only ones left that can stop him."

"...Alright, so tell me something else." Natsu shot a dull look in his direction "When the hell did you become so up for teamwork and all that stuff?"

"Blow it out your flame hole, I can team up with or beat the crap out of whoever the hell I want whenever the hell I want!"

"Here I thought you said to me awhile back that the sky wasn't big enough for two dragons together."

"Yeah you're damn right I did, but if there isn't room for two dragons, then there sure as hell isn't room for three of them."

"Fair enough. Just so we're clear though, this is the only time that I'm ever gonna team up with you in a fight."

"Trust me, this ain't fun for me either. You and I are gonna settle the score once and for all when this is over."

"Good enough for me." Natsu paused, then with a primal roar he activated his Lightning Flame Dragon Mode "You ready?"

"Give me a second." Gajeel paused, then with a primal roar he activated his own Iron Shadow Dragon Mode "Now I'm ready."

"Good, now let's do this!" the two of them charged towards Sting and suddenly blitzed out of view at high speed, resulting in a rapid explosion.

The smoke quickly cleared to reveal Sting, having stopped both of their attacks using his bare hands alone, a confident smirk quickly spreading across his face "Oh yeah, now this is getting a hell of a lot more interesting."

"It makes me wanna puke to say this, but…" Natsu gave a smirk "What do you say we show him what Fairy Tail is made of?"

"I say, we get this shit done already." Gajeel gave a smirk of his own, and then the two of them began their renewed assault, blitzing towards Sting at full speed with a rapid series of combined attacks.

"Go ahead and give me everything you've got, I can take it!" Sting's smirk only grew wider as he began dodging and blocking their attacks "Now hurry the hell up and come at me! White Dragon IRON FIST!" he hit Gajeel in the gut with a fist infused with white energy, sending him flying back a short distance.

"Iron Shadow Dragon SWORD!" Gajeel morphed one of his arms into a sword infused with dark energy.

Sting weaved his way around the attack, then turned his attention towards Natsu as the two of them started trading even blows, only to be met with a fist coated in flames, followed by a sudden burst of electricity that burned the side of his face "You son of a-"

"Lightning Flame Dragon FIRING HAMMER!" Natsu rapidly engulfed his fist and forearm in a mix of lightning and flames and slammed it into sting's torso before he could react.

"Iron Shadow Dragon CLUB!" Gajeel blitzed onto the scene and morphed his arm into an iron club coated in dark energy, and he promptly hit Sting in the side of the head, which sent him hurtling backwards a fair distance, and then the two of them blitzed towards him.

"Fine, if that's how you wanna play, then I say bring it!" Sting let his body surge with magic power as he started fending off a combined assault from both Natsu and Gajeel, dodging and weaving around a numbero of attacks, though he was quick to lose his patience with this and leapt back a short distance "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: HOLY NOVA!" with a blast of magic energy condensed into one hand, he hurtled himself forward and slammed his fist into Natsu's gut, letting the blast send him flying back a great distance.

"Iron Shadow Dragon ROAR!" seeing that Sting was momentarily distracted, Gajeel blitzed in front of him and unleashed an immense blast of magic enrgy from his mouth, with Sting being sent flying back as a result, with Gajeel quickly chasing after him.

Sting continued hurtling backwards until he managed to stop himself in the middle of a street, and he quickly wiped the blood from his lip "Not bad, I can see why Rogue was so interested in you all this time."

"Oh just wait, you haven't seen anything yet." Gajeel gave a smirk as he covered his body in a set of iron dragon scales "I've still got plenty of tricks up my sleeve."

"Like what?"

"Like this! Iron Shadow Dragon Lance: Shadow Logs!" Gajeel stuck out an arm and fired a barrage of iron spears coated in dark energy into the air, and then with a wave of his hand he sent them hurtling downwards.

'Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!' Sting was quickly forced to go on the evasive, dodging and weaving around the black iron spears, though a few were able to hit and landed a series of gashes along his arms, face and torso, and it was then that he lost patience "You know what, fuck it! White Dragon HOLY RAY!" he held out a hand and unleashed a rapid barrage of white energy beams in order to cancel out the black iron spears, though he was still left bleeding considerably from the attacks he already took, and he took a few seconds to catch his breath, until…

"Lightning Flame Dragon IRON FIST!" Natsu blitzed in front of Sting and dealt him a brutal lightning and fire-enhanced uppercut to the jaw, sending him hurtling into the air, and then he pounced upwards in an attempt to land a follow up attack.

"White Dragon Talon!" Sting slammed a hand onto Natsu's chest, branding him with a stigma and giving him a chance to land a smash attack to his head, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap "That's one down, now for-"

"Iron Shadow Dragon Chains!" a set of black chains suddenly wrapped around Sting from behind, courtesy of Gajeel as he swung him towards him "Iron Shadow Dragon CLUB!" he then morphed an iron club infused with dark energy, and he slammed it into Sting's face and sent him crashing to the ground and hurtling throughout one of the streets, still being bound by a set of chains keep in mind.

"You little- I barely even need a second to break out of this, and then I'm gonna-"

"Lightning Flame Dragon SWORD HORN!" Natsu suddenly burst towards Sting and hit him dead on with a fire and lightning-enhanced headbutt, and he started inhaling "You're gonna need a hell of a lot more than a second to deal with this one!"

"Don't think thst's gonna work, I know every spell you've got and I can-"

"Iron Shadow Dragon DOME!" Gajeel suddenly slammed his hands together, and a large black metal dome encased both Natsu and Sting "Stop fucking around with him Salamander, take him out already!"

"What?!"

"As if you to ask! Lightning Flame Dragon ROAR!" Natsu let out a massive primal roar, and with it came an enormous destructive blast of fire and lightning, the ensuing explosion being contained by the metal dome, only for it to be blown to pieces by the blast and for Natsu to be sent hurtling backwards in a scorched heap as he spat out a small amount of blood.

When the explosion subsided and the smoke cleared, Sting was left covered in burns all over his body, and he fell to his knees and coughed up a considerable amount of blood "Dammit… How the hell did this happen…"

"Because you underestimated us…" Natsu staggered back to his feet and gave a smirk "Just like all the others… you don't wanna underestimate Fairy Tail…" then he suddenly fell back, only to feel a large hand yank him back up.

As it turns out, it was Gajeel pulling Natsu back to his feet 'Looks like he caught on pretty fast. I used that iron dome to trap Sting in there so he wouldn't be able to escape, and then Salamander hit him with a full power attack, the dome magnifying the amount of damage that abstard got, but Salamander got hurt too in the process. It was a pretty risky move sure, but it looks like it paid off. Maybe he does have a brain somewhere in there after all. Don't go passing out yet, the only person that gets to knock your lights out is gonna be yours truly. You pass out here and there's no way in hell I'm ever gonna let you hear the end of it."

"Go ahead and try it, I'll just kick your teeth in once I come to. Besides, the fact is that I'm the one who brought him down, and now I'm gonna go finish the job. Stand back and let the real Dragon Slayer finish the job." he was met with a club to the head that sent him crashing to the ground.

"I've had enough of your bitching for now, so stand back and let me do this. You've had more than your fair chance to show off as it is." so on that note, Gajeel made his way forward and stopped in front of Sting, his gaze hard and unwavering "You got anything you wanna say to me or Salamander before I finish this?"

"I'm not done… not yet…" Sting spat out a little bit more blood and slowly forced himself to get back to his feet "I refuse… to back down…"

"So you still got some fight left in you?" Gajeel gave a smirk "Good, I doubt any of us would want things to end like that. It doesn't matter what guild you come from or what side you're on, the fact is that Dragon Slayers don't quit. Ever."

"I spent years waiting for this moment… The chance to show you I'm better than you… and the chance to you… just how strong I've become! I'm gonna do it for Lector!"

"And just like that the fire in your eyes just became annoying as fuck. You think you've got the fight in you to back up that talk?"

"Of course I am, I'm more than a match for either of you, and for anyone else on your team or in your entire fucking guild! Losing Lector because of that bastard Jiemma brougth me pain, but with that pain came a level of new power that I never even knew existed! For Lector, for my best friend, for the one that's always believed in me, I'm gonna beat you and everyone else on your team and win this whole fucking thing!" with a mighty roar, Sting's Dragon Force surged back to life "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: HOLY NOVA!" he slammed a Holy Nova blast into Gajeel's chest and sent him hurtling backwards in an explosion, and then he followed up with an even bigger blast.

"Shit, shit, shit, SHIT! Iron Dragon SHIELD!" Gajeel was able to rebound just in time to find the Holy Nova hurtling forward at full speed, and he summoned an iron shield to stop the blast in its tracks, though he quickly started getting pushed back as his Iron Shadow Dragon Mode faded out of existence "Don't just sit there like a fucking corpse Salamander, get your ass over here and help me!"

"How about you shut your own fucking hole and stop telling me what to do!" Natsu let out a snarl as he made his way forward, his Lightning Flame Dragon Mode having also faded away by this point "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" with as much magic power as he could muster, he summoned a large spiralling torrent of flames that clashed against the Holy Nova, though he was quickly sent skidding backwards, with Gajeel following as his shield started to crack.

"Put more power into your spell!"

"Why don't you try putting more power into your shield and shutting your fucking hole before I burn a new one through you!" the two of them kept skidding back, and both of their spells were about to give out, when…

"Ice Make: Shield!" an ice shield suddenly erupted in front them just as Gajeel's metal shield finally gave out, potecting them from Sting's Holy Nova "Sorry to keep you waiting, but better late than never and all that good shit right?"

Gajeel glanced over to see Gray standing before theme, his arms spread out in order to hold up the ice shield "And where in the fuck have you been all this time?!"

"I've been fighting off Lyon going apeshit on me about Juvia, eventually I just decided to lock him in some bunker I found and bolted here. Anyway you guys go ahead and take the lead, I'll stay here and back you guys up."

"Say what?" Natsu shot a dirty look at Gray "Who the hell said that I wanted to work with you again? We literally just went over this-"

"And we're gonna go over it again, now shut up and listen. We've been pushing ourselves as far as we can go this whole time, but you know as well as I do that the three of us are gonna have to work together if we wanna get this done. If we fuck up now, everything we've worked so hard for over the past few months isn't gonna mean a damn thing."

"It isn't gonna mean a damn thing either way." Sting drew their attention, a smirk spreading across his face "You showed up all the way here just to get defeated like the others. That works for me either way, because now I get to show just how much stronger I am! Now you're about to wear witness to the awakened power of a Dragon Slayer!" he broke off from his Holy Nova blast and let out a primal roar, and with it came a massive surge of white energy that began to push the others back.

"Dammit, he's focusing an insane amount of magic power now."

"Looks like he finally got the fuck out of his own head." Gajeel let out a low growl.

"I guess all the shit he was talking before was more than just talk, the amount of power that he's putting out now is freaking insane. I hate to say it, but the way we are right now, even the three of us together isn't gonna be enough."

"You said you wanted to settle the score between us before, didn't you?" Natsu shot a glance over at him "I figured if you'd want anyone to take me down, not that they could, it would have to have been you."

"What of it?"

"I figured you'd wanna keep your word instead of backing out like a coward, and Juvia doesn't like a coward now does she?"

'...So that's the route he's going with this. Yeah well, I doubt Happy or Lisanna would ever let you live it down if you gave up either, because I sure as hell wouldn't, and neither would any of the others in Fairy Tail. We've got our reputations to maintain in the guild right?"

"You being so smug all the time makes me wanna punch you more than anything else in this entire freaking world, but right now I'm kind of grateful for it."

"You two done with that sentimental crap yet, or are you gonna go ahead and kiss and make up for the big screens?" Gajeel asked dryly.

"I'm definitely gonna punch you if you bring that incident up again." the three of them turned their focus forward as they let their magic power explode outwards, shattering Sting's wall of white energy in the process

"So this is it then, the final round." Sting gave a smirk as he watched his wall of energy dissipate in front of him, then let out a primal roar as he burst forward, with Natsu and Gajeel both meeting his charge, and the three of them began to trade even blows 'Not gonna lie, I never really thought I'd see the day that the three of them would work together. But that just makes it that much more exciting for me. White Dragon TALON!" he grabbed Natsu by the arm and stuck a hand onto his chest, branding him with a stigma "And now for-"

"Iron Dragon CLUB!" Gajeel morphed his arm into a club and slammed it into Sting's face, forcing him to release Natsu from his grip and sending him skidding backwards.

"Bring it on you son of a-" Sting was about to pounce forward, only to see them both break off to the side, and his expression dulled slightly at what he was seeing "Aw crapbaskets."

"Ice Make: Super Freeze ARROW!" Gray hit sting dead on with an arrow made of ice, sending him hurtling backwards "Ice Make: LANCE!" he then followed up with a barrage of ice lances forward, hitting Sting and sending him crashing into a nearby clock tower, which prompted Natsu and Gajeel to charge after him.

"Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" Natsu hit Sting on the left side with a fist coated in as many flames as he could muster.

"Iron Dragon HARD FIST!" Gajeel coated his arm in a set of iron dragon scales and slammed it into Sting's right side.

"White Dragon HOLY RAY!" Sting spread out his arms and unleashed a Holy Ray barrage from each hand, blowing Natsu and Gajeel away and allowing him to make a beeline towards the ground "White Dragon HOLY BREATH!" he powered through Gray's barrage of ice lances and hit Gray dead on with a breath attack, sending him tumbling back in a heao.

"Iron Dragon Shield!" Gajeel rebounded from the rubble and slammed his arms together as they morphed into a shield "Get ready Salamander, I'm about to chuck you at him!"

"Fine, just do it and I'll do the rest! Fire Dragon SWORD HORN!" Natsu jumped onto the shield and ricocheted off of it like a platform, then hurtled down towards Sting and landed a brutal fire-enhanced headbutt, sending both of them hurtling into the ground and leaving a deep crater from the impact "What the hell was that about showing off what an awakened Dragon Slayer can do?"

"It was stuff like this. White Dragon TALON!" Sting slammed a claw onto Natsu's chest, branding him with a stigma and paralyzing him briefly "White Dragon ROAR!" he let out a roar and unleashed a beam of white energy, hitting Natsu at point blank range, sending him crashing into a nearby building.

"Iron Dragon SWORd!" Gajeel pounced towards Sting and sent him crashing back to the ground with a swift slash across his torso, leaving a large gash as blood began seeping from it rapidly "Dammit Salamander, get the fuck over here so we can finish it!"

"What the hell do you think I'm doing!" Natsu suddenly pounced towards the two of them as he began breathing in "Fire Dragon…"

"Iron Dragon…"

"ROAR!" the two of them unleashed two simultaneous breath attacks that hurtled towards the ground, towards Sting, at blinding speeds.

'I can do this… just get out of the way of these breath attacks, and another Holy Nova should take them both down for good…' Sting gave a smirk as he prepared to move, but stopped when he noticed Gray making his way towards them just as Laxus and Erza arrived on the scene, and time seemed to stand still for him, and his bravado quickly faded 'I don't get it, why the hell am I hesitating? All of them are bruised and beaten, they're on their last legs. Natsu and Gajeel, I just have to dodge it and then they're done, but with the others, they would probably fall over if I just blew on them. Get a grip dammit! You've come so far, you've fought so hard, so why the hell are you losing your nerve now?! All I have to do is dodge a blast, fire another one, and then beat the rest of them, and you'll have done everything that milady told you to do. You'll finally get the chance to see Lector again! Yes, you have you do it for him! You have to get moving! I've grown so much, and realizing how much I care about Lector have driven me to gain so much more power than I ever thought possible! All of them are weak, they don't have anything! I have what it takes to win this!' he tried to force himself out of the crater, but instead he just rolled over to see the roars coming towards him, and then they struck, engulfing him in the ensuing explosion that followed.

It was only after this that Natsu and Gajeel landed on the ground in two simultaneous heaps, and the former shot a glance over at the latter "Like I said before… this is the only time… I'm ever gonna team up with you… and it's over now…"

Sure enough, the smoke cleared to reveal Sting lying on his back in the crater, now covered in even greater burns, and he looked resigned to the turn of events "I can't do it… Whatever power it is you guys have… I can't beat it… I give up…"

"And there you have folks, it's finally over! With a grand total of 63 points, the winner of the Grand Magic Games over the year X791 is FAIRY TAIL!" this announcement could be heard all throughout Crocus, along with the jubilation of the crowds.

"So that's it… it's over…"

"Yeah, it is…" Natsu spat out some blood to the side, then glanced over at Sting "What the hell was that at the end there?"

"What do you mean…?"

"You didn't even try to dodge it at the end there. You looked like you just accepted it, like you just gave up. Why'd you just give it up after everything?"

"I… I was so sure that I'd win… That was all I would have to do, and then I'd get the chance to see him again… But then all of a sudden, I saw you guys together and it was like I just lost all of my hope… I don't know why exactly, but I know I don't have the same level of strength that the rest of you do, and I guess I felt like I didn't deserve to see him. Not yet."

"...I know what you're saying."

"You do?"

"Yeah. This whole time, it's like you're me, or like a giant asshole version of me. You kept mocking how much we cared about our friends, like you thought it made us weak, and then when you finally understood that it was what made us strong, you tried to use it like it was some kind of weapon, and you even screwed over a bunch of your teammates and comrades just so you could show it off."

"I was doing it for Lector, but you're right. I saw you guys together, you were all beaten within an inch of your lives, and then I realized that I didn't know a damn thing about being a real friend or any of that. I used it like a weapon, when it's so much more than that."

'Just like when I fought Luke back on Tenrou Island, and he showed off his Dragon Force and basically forced me to give up. I learned about getting over and accepting my fears, but he's gotta learn about accepting friends and knowing that power isn't the answer to everything.'

"I just… didn't really earn the right to see him again. Not yet at least."

"Maybe not." Erza limped her way towards him, using her sword as a crutch to support her leg, and she gave a small smile "But you still have a chance."

"What do you mean?"

"See for yourself." she gestured to something behind her.

Sting followed her gaze, and then he froze at what he saw "No way…"

"Hey Erzy!" as it turns out, Milliana was standing a short distance away, holding a certain sleeping Exceed in her arms.

"Lector!" Sting didn't waste a second as he tried to scramble forward.

"What the-?" Lector's eyes slowly opened and fell on Sting, and that was enough to make him scramble out of Milliana's arms and into Sting's waiting embrace "STING!"

"Oh thank god, you're really okay!" Sting held Lectory in a tight embrace, the two of them sobbing together in a mix of joy and relief.

"Yep, all's well that ends well." Natsu gave a grin as he and the others watched the reunion taking place, and then his grin turned more feral "A bunch of friends reunited, and FUCK YEAH WE JUST WON! I'M ALL FIRED UP NOW!"

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As was previously mentioned, the entire audience in the Domus Flau colosseum, including the fellow members of the Fairy Tail guild in the stands, were left screaming and cheering (and even crying in the case of those that weren't on Tenrou Island) in a mix of joy and relief over the victory they had just received. However, there was still the sense of foreboding hanging in the air around them.

Due to the result of the games having been predicted, with Darton by her side, Princess Hisui gave the command the Eclipse gate be brought to the surface.

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Meanwhile, with the Rescue Team…

"Hey quick question guys." Luke ducked underneath one of the soldiers attempting to stab him and threw him over his shoulder "Does anyone know what time it is right now?"

"No idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was night by now." Cana gave a shrug "There's a pretty fair chance that the games are over, and it's more than likely that the others are all getting drunk to celebrate whether we win or lose. We do that for a lot of stuff when you think about it."

"That's irrelevant right now, even if it is entirely true. But you're right though, there isn't a single doubt in my mind that the others pulled it off and won, and that means we can't afford to waste any more time in here. The last time I checked, we had a dragon invasion to prevent and a kingdom to save. We gotta get out of here and meet up with Makarov and the others, we have to warn them about the Eclipse before it's too late. We'd better pick up the pace."

"You heard the man, let's go wreck some shit!" Bolt promptly morhped Shatterstorm into its large broadsword form "Time to show them what the Excalibur: Strike of Ascalon can do up close and personal!"

"A little bit too far man."

"Sorry."

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The screams and cheers of the audience in the Domus Flau could be heard for miles around, and I mean that in a literal sense.

"Well I'll be damned." Gray let out a low whistle "You can literally hear those freaking banshees all the way from here, it's pretty incredible without a doubt. I bet if they crank it up any louder than the ground is gonna start shaking. Anyone wanna make bets?"

"Try making them shut the hell up first and we'll see." Gajeel muttered "All the noise is giving me one hell of a migraine."

"FUCK YEAH WE WON!" Natsu on the other hand, he was cheering and hollering louder than any of the others, and breathing fire all the while for emphasis "SUCK ON THAT ONE ALL YOU JACKASSES THAT MOCKED US! FAIRY TAIL IS NUMBER ONE!"

"I rest my case."

"Now don't be like that." Erza gave a small smile as she patted him on the back "He and the others are all cheering as a way of celebrating, it is quite the momentous occasion. I bet that the master and the others are beside themselves with joy and excitement."

"Or getting drunk as fuck like all the others." Laxus commented dryly, but then he gave a smirk of his own "But putting the old geezer aside, this sure as hell makes up for the whole guild and everyone in it getting humiliated for the past 7 years."

"Especially if the crowd in the colosseum is anything to go by. It does serve as solid evidence though, to the fact that Fairy Tail is back with a vengeance, and that we're still the strongest guild in the kingdom even after all these years. It's just too bad we can't be with the others to celebrate this win at the moment."

"Tell me about it, I'd love to see the looks on their faces."

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Meanwhile, with a defeated Dragon Slayer and his Exceed…

"Fairy Tail was able to claw its way all the way from a last place start to a first place upset, and I don't think anyone is complaining about that. Also make sure not to forget, the upstart guild had originally been split into two separate competing teams! Even without the participation of one of their strongest mages in Luke Drako, it was an amazing sense of solidarity and teamwork that had allowed Fairy Tail to claim the victory in the end. All three of us are in agreement that they deserve this win, especially given the show they put on."

"Yeah, Fro thinks so too!" Frosh didn't waste any time in cheering along with the others "Fairy Tail is super cool isn't it?"

"They're something special, I knew that much from the beginning. But only now do I really understand why." Rogue breathed a deep sigh "I know that we just lost, but honestly, I feel a lot happier now than I have in a really long time."

"That's good Rogue."

"Yeah. Hey Frosch, listen."

"Yeah?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I think it's about time I start following the example that Luke had set for me so long ago. To be the kind of person that cares about his friends, about protecting them more than anything else, because that's where true strength lies."

"Rogue… Fro is with you every step of the way!"

"Glad to hear it. Maybe we can look at the rest of Fairy Tail as an example."

"Fro thinks so too, especially the pretty blonde fairy Lucy!"

"...Oh god, Sting is never gonna let me hear the end of this when he finds out."

"I think it's safe to say that the Games this year had too many impressive battles for us to keep track of all of them. Let's go and see which one Mato found the most memorable- Oh wait, he's gone. Oh well, maybe he had to take a leak or something- Crap, I didn't mean to say that part into the mic! Anyway my personal favorite would have to be Luke's battle with Jura back on the first day. Either that or when Erza took on the 100 monsters."

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Meanwhile, with the victory team…

"Hey Natsu, everyone!"

Natsu and the others glanced up to see Lisanna flying through the skies in their direction in one of her "Hey Lisanna, you see how a Dragon Slayer kicks some a- I mean hide?" he caught her as she dropped to the ground and returned to her human form, and he promptly spun her around in a joyous hug.

"And just like that, this got nauseating as fuck." Gajeel commented dryly, earning a few looks from the others "Well it is, I'm calling it like I see it. But anyway, I guess that's the end of this whole thing."

"The games themselves yes, but there still is the celebration." Erza pointed out "All that's left to do until then is regroup with the others and take care of our injuries. That shouldn't be anything too bad. Take my leg for example, it should be good as new after a few days."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but something feels off." Laxus jerked a thumb back at Natsu and Lisanna "It feels kind of weird not having him hollering and making noise like a Bon Jovi concert."

"Hey I don't mind it." Gray gave a shrug "Frankly I think it's kind of nice to be able to hear myself think around him for once. Gotta give it to Lisanna, she's the only person who can make him shut the fuck up without tying him down and gagging him."

"Hey I got no problems coming over there and kicking your-" Natsu's angry rant was promptly cut short by Lisanna pressing her lips against his, which he quickly melted into.

"I rest my case. Still though, kind of weird not having Luke around to celebrate, especially since he did so much in the games before today."

"You do have a point there." Erza let out a sigh "And by the way, did anyone else notice their signal flare going off at any point?"

"Nope, but I've been keeping an eye out for it this entire time." Laxus told her "At least except for when I got knocked flat during my fight with Jura."

"What about the rest of you?"

"I didn't see it, but I'm not worried." Gajeel gave a shrug "Thunderclap is a lot of things, the fact that he's one of the few of you that actually likes my music being one of them, but he's sure as hell a powerhouse, the same with the She Devil. They probably tore through the army and the lot of them are on their way here right now."

"Perhaps, but something feels off about this."

"It's nothing they can't handle."

'Signal flare? What the hell is all of that about?' Sting raised an eyebrow, having overheard their entire conversation "Hey tell me something guys."

"Oh I know you ain't talking to me jackass, I'm more than game to kick your ass all the way across the kingdom!"

"Sorry but, what happened to Luke? How come he wasn't in the fight today?" he was met with a tense silence from the rest of the group "What, did something happen?"

"He had something more important to take care of, and that's all you're gonna get out of the rest of us." Laxus told him flatly, then glanced up in the direcion of the Mercurcius castle 'You had better make it out of there in one piece, or else there's no chance any of us are ever gonna let you live it down.'

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Meanwhile, with the Rescue Team…

"Sky Dragon ROAR!" Wendy breathed out a wind-based breath attack and sent it hurtling foward at full speed.

"Gonna do this Naruto style! Terrain Effect: Gravity Zone!" Uosuke held up two fingers in a hand sign and used his gravity magic to redirect Wendy's blast "Hate to break it to ya kid, but it's gonna take a lot more than that for you to be able to haul in this catch! Now let me kill yall and get it over with, I'm way too hungry for this!"

"Paper Blizzard: Purple Dance!" Kamika summoned a barrage of small purple-colored pieces of paper and sent all of them hurtling forward.

"Seriously, you're going with this crap again?" Cana let out a groan as she found the papers beginning to cover her body and leave her immobile. "Come on already, we don't have time for this crap!"

"Okay then, what do you say we try and spice things up? How about I start by shredding your clothes! Or whatever it is you're wearing. Paper Shuriken!" she fired a barrage of shuriken made of paper.

"Seriously, you have to go that route? What happened to the whole executioner thing?"

"Storm Force!" Bolt suddenly blitzed in front of Cana with Shatterstorm in its trident form, and he fired off a blast of wind that shredded the paper shuriken "I hate to break it you like this you goddamn Konan reject, actually no I don't, but there's only person that's gonna get to see her naked, and it sure as hell isn't you!" he was met with a series of odd looks from the other members of the Rescue Team, and even a few soldiers "What?"

"Do you have any idea how wrong that sounds?" Lucy shot an incredulous look at him.

"What, I never said that it was gonna be me either." he shot subtle glance over at Luke, then glanced back towards Lucy, and he smirked as he watched her jaw drop "Oh yeah, now the stars have aligned in your head."

"Enough of this, now die you ugly brutes!" Cosmos sent a barrage of vines hurtling towards the group, only for them to be blown away by another Storm Force blast.

"Shut your hole already you Poison Ivy reject, we've got more important things to deal with than you idiots."

"I told you to die!"

"Not gonna happen."

"He's right about that, you're gonna melt instead! Sploosh to the sploosh!" Neppa slammed his fist into the ground and unleashed his Acid Pillar technique, only for them to be blown away by yet another Storm Force blast.

"I'm done screwing around with you, we've got more important things to deal with, like saving all of your ungrateful asses!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, and frankly I don't give a damn, but the fact is that you and your group are gonna be hanging out with us for the rest of your short life!"

"It's gonna be a lot shorter than you think if you don't get out of our way!" Luke let out a snarl as he continued clashing with Kama "Just move already and we can sort this out later."

"That will never happen, the fact is that your time is up." Kama let out a snarl of his own "Just give up and surrender, and I give you my word that your ends will be swift and as painless as possible. That is the only course of action in which you don't suffer, because not a single one of you will leave this place alive."

"Would it kill you to at least hear us out?"

"There is nothing to hear out. I am a sworn peacekeeper of the kingdom of Fiore, and those of you that threaten the peace must pay the ultimate price."

"We aren't threatening anything, we're trying to protect the kingdom and its people and we're running out of time, but you're so dead set in your ways that you can't see that!"

"Save your efforts to reason with me, I know all too well that a criminal will say anything if it means that they have a chance to escape justice. Any words you offer are meaningless."

"Yeah I'm starting to see that with you, but a wise man once said that actions speak a lot louder than words."

As this exchange was going on, Future Cana was growing more and more restless 'This is bad, this is really bad. We can't let them trap us in here like this, we've gotta do something to get the hell out of here soon, or it's gonna happen all over again… He's gonna die right before my eyes all over again, and just like last time I'm powerless to stop it…'

"Cana!" Luke's sharp tone drew the attention of both the present and future versions, and he gave a small gentle smile "Don't go losing hope now. This is all gonna work out, so just keep your cool and have a little bit of faith in your friends, okay?"

"...Right."

"Good. Now let's get this over with, we've got a kingdom to save."

'Luke's attempt to provide optimism and comfort in this dire situation is admirable, but there are other concerns at the moment.' Carla frowned in thought 'This future version of Cana told me that in her time, we were in the castle when the disaster happened. We were able to escape from our prison, but even if we aren't behind bars, the fact is that all of us are still trapped inside the castle, so we're in just as much danger as we were before.'

"Go forward men, don't show these criminals any mercy!" this was when a large group of soldiers arrived on the scene, armed and ready for a fight.

"Regulus Impact!" Loke sent another group of soldiers flying with a golden blast of magic energy, though now he was covered in cuts and bruises and left panting heavily "You guys are gonna have to wrap this thing up."

"And by us you don't mean you, so where the hell are you going?" Bolt shot a raised eyebrow in his direction.

"Sorry about this, but my own magic power is about to run out. If I stay now then I'm gonna be a huge liability to the rest of you, so I need to go back and recharge. Make sure you all stay safe and I'll be back to help when I can!" Loke gave the Fairy Tail finger symbol, and then he was gone in a golden flash.

"Well fuck, that makes things a hell of a lot better."

"Of course someone had to say it, and I figured it was gonna be you." Luke shot a dry glance in his direction, then turned towards the others "Lily, take Happy and Carla and get out of here, find the others and let them know what's going on! You've got the battle form and the stamina to get through the soldiers in front of us!"

"Understood, we'll be back as soon as we can!" Lily flashed into his adult form, grabbed onto both Happy and Carla and took off running through the crowd of soldiers, only for a surge of energy to send them crashing to the ground "Dammit, that one again!"

"Oh no you don't!" as it turns out, it was Uosuke using his gravity magic to pin Lily and the others to the ground "You ain't going anywhere you hear?"

"You don't understand, time is running out for all of us!"

"You mean just for you, none of you are getting out of this castle alive, you got me?"

"Oh you got that right, but you aren't getting out of here alive either." an unfamiliar voice rang through the air.

"What's that?" Uosuke glanced back at the sound of the voice, only to be met with what looked like dark crimson flames engulfing his feet, as well as several soldiers "Hey what gives, it's like I got caught in somebody's net!"

'How strange, it's as though those flames are holding them down, but who's the one casting this spell?'

"Now burn." the voice came again, and then Uosuke and several soldiers were suddenly engulfed in the crimson flames entirely, causing them to scream in pain.

"What the hell?" Luke broke off from where he and Kama were clashing, and his eyes widened as he saw what was happening to the soldiers 'What the hell is that, it's nothing like any fire magic I've ever seen before, and this scent… it bears traces of a dragon's scent. But what the hell does it mean? Everybody get back!" he quickly grabbed onto Cana, both the present and future versions, and leapt out of the range of the crimson flames before they could be engulfed.

"Just stay calm and hold still, I'll find a way to save you!" Kama tried to use one of his scythes to cancel out the flames, only to suddenly find himself engulfed as well "No, this can't be how our tale comes to an end! We of the Hungry Wolf Knights, bested by mere flames! Please forgive us for our failues princess!" and then he and the other Hungry Wolf Knights, along with the rest of the soldiers, were all incinerated by the flames with barely even a chance to scream, leaving only piles of ashes in their wake.

"What… What the hell just happened?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Future Cana was left just as dumbstruck as the rest of them "I've never seen anything like it, this didn't happen in my time!"

'What the hell is going on? And this scent… why is it so familiar, but at the same time it feels so different…'

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Meanwhile, with Crime Sorciere…

"I've got it!" Jellal suddenly bolted to his feet as the realization dawned on him "Everything just makes sense to me now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Quake shot him a raised eyebrow from his place hanging onto Noah's shoulder.

"To think that we never realized it before now, but all this time the truth has been right under our noses. This version of Cana told us that she arrived on the fourth of July, but it was actually just before midnight on the third."

"Which means that she can't be the source of that magic power we've been picking up for the last few years." Noah finished for him "At least if she only got here a few days ago."

"Agreed. The taint of Zeref that we've been sensing for the past 7 years was coming from within the Eclipse Gate, there's no doubt in my mind about that."

"We're dealing with an actual person though, so it's different."

"The Eclipse Gate is a product of the Book of Zeref itself, and like all others it means that its use comes with a heavy price. All of those who use it bear the trace of his power."

"Hard to believe that once I only cared about finding Jishin, and now I'm trying to save the world or some shit with the rest of you."

"You guys are starting to freak me out." Meldy looked rather uneasy as she took Quake into her arms.

"You think the rest of us don't feel the same? We've gotta stay focused on the task at hand though, there's too much at stake to let our focus slip right now."

"Noah is right." Jellal turned to face the rest of them "If we're assuming that this Cana from the future has been completely honest with us, that she came into our time on the third just before midnight struck, then it raises a question."

"If it wasn't her, then who did you see before then?"

"I don't know, but whoever I saw on the evening of the third, it wasn't her, and that can only mean one thing."

"You're saying that there's someone else that used the Eclipse before she did. This just took one hell of an unexpected turn. We'd better get down there and warn Thunderclap and the others before they get blindsided and end up in some deep shit."

"So you really think there's another person from the future here?" asked Meldy "But how are we supposed to find them?"

"It's not gonna be that hard to figure out, they're gonna be drenched in Zeref's magic power from the way they used the Eclipse gate."

"This situation may be even more grave than any of us could've anticipated." Jellal noted "We know for a fact that Cana came back in order to try and save us, but the question remains."

"Why is this newcomer here then?"

"I don't know, but honestly it doesn't matter right now. We gotta warn Thunderclap and the rest of them before shit turns sideways in the most colossal way possible."

"I think it's safe to say that it already has." a new voice drew their attention.

Noah glanced over to see a figure with a head of orange hair shaped like rabbit ears, a wheel of eight blades on the figure's back "Huh. Well you showing up here is convenient as fuck."

"Are you complaining?"

"Nope, I'm just saying. The more powerhouses we have on our side for this the better, now let's get moving. Like I said, Thunderclap and the others are in some deep shit."

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Meanwhile, with a knight in shining armor…

As everything else was happening, Arcadios met up with Hisui outside of the palace and took the chance to question her about. Hisui responded that she wished to first eliminate that she had been told about, as opposed to the likes of Zeref, given the former was currently approaching. After being told this, Aracdios suddenly placed his sword in Hisui's hands and aimed the blade at his neck, claiming that he would end his life for doubting her if her words were proven true. When he was asked what he was talking about, he told her that the person he met from the future didn't have any knowledge of how to stop the upcoming apocalypse, only that they had arrived to warn their friends. Though Hisui claimed that the person she met knew everything, as well as how to stop them, Arcadios claimed that the woman from the future wouldn't gain anything by lying to her friends. Hisui was left shocked when she heard this, and she told him that the person from the future she met was a man.

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Meanwhile, with the Rescue Team…

'What the hell is going on?' Luke glanced around as he took in the scene before him, his mind racing 'How did things turn out like this? First we're fighting for our lives trying to get out of the castle and warn everyone about an army of dragons invading, and then the next thing I know the soldiers and knights all suddenly go up in flames, literally! And… Hold on a second you guys, something isn't right about this."

"There's pretty much nothing that isn't right about this." Bolt pointed out dryly, his gaze growing harder "But you're right, and there's someone coming this way."

"Yeah, and the scent they're giving off… its feels kind of familiar."

"I figured you'd be the first one to figure it out Luke." the rest of the flames cleared away, which allowed a new figure to step forward, clad in a large and tattered black cloak over a black jacket with long sleeves, a black undershirt, baggy black pants and a pair of dark brown high calf boots adorning his legs, a hood covering his face "I never did really give you much credit back then for being one of the calmer and smarter ones in our guild."

"Our guild?" Luke's gaze hardened as he moved to grip the hilt of his sword, but then he froze as a sudden realization dawned on him 'He smells like a dragon, he uses fire magic, and there's no way anyone can mistake that voice… Don't tell me…'

"A certain fire dragon once said that fire is more than just destruction, that it represents energy and life. It can be both, and as such it can reach beyond the present, to both the future and the past, and into the hearts of all it touches. I have to say that it is good to see all of you again after so long."

"It can't be… Natsu?"

Sure enough, the figure pulled down his hood to reveal a certain familiar head of pink hair, though the hair was now shaggy and overgrown, and there was no trademark scar draped around his neck "It's been a hell of a long time since anyone called me that. Most of the people that I run into, the ones that are still alive anyway, just call me Salamander. Well either that or… no, I don't wanna bring that up just yet. But you're right, you guys once knew me as Natsu Dragneel." he was met with looks of stunned disbelief from the others that were present.

"But there's no way." Wendy was the first one to voice her disbelief "How could you possible be our Natsu?"

"Time travel is a bitch, I learned that one the hard way."

"You mean that you came from the future too?" Future Cana glanced over and shared a look with her present counterpart 'So that means I'm not the only one. Does that mean he came to warn the others about the Eclipse like I did?'

"Yeah, believe me when I tell you it wasn't easy to get the freaking thing working."

"You seem a hell of a lot different than you were before, if the way you just torched all the knights and soldiers is anything to go by." Luke removed his grip from his sword and turned to face him fully, his gaze hard and unflinching "But it does raise the question. Why did you come back in the first place?"

"It's not that big a deal, I just wanna use the Eclipse. If we know how to tap into the magic power it has, it can save all of us."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lucy.

"You already know that it can be used for time travel, but it can be used as a magic super weapon they call the Eclipse Cannon, and that's the only chance you have of taking out the entire army of 10,000 dragons."

"So then it's really possible." Future Cana muttered quietly "We really do have a chance to stop them and win this."

"Yep, it pretty much makes things nice and simple, and that's not pretty often these days, in this time or in mine. Be glad you got me on your side."

"It's not gonna be that simple though, is it?" Luke drew his attention "Because one thing that you never did get is that it's never that simple."

"I wanna say it is, but you're right. The time I came from is about 7 years in the future, and the world that we knew pretty much went to hell and got shat on. The dragons destroyed everything and rule over the ashes, they took what's left and turned it into a fucking playground, made up of the blood and bones of anyone and everyone that was in their path."

"That bad?"

"It's even worse than what I'm telling you, this is the lighthearted version of it. In the time that I come from, not even 10% of the humans there are still alive. An even bigger kick in between the legs is that the Eclipse gate we have there only has about a fraction of the magic power that yours does, so basically that means that this is the last chance for humans to survive. We have to stop them now or die trying. I wanna say that we just open the gate and blow them to hell, and that's what we would've done, but we couldn't."

"Something else happened didn't it?"

"You always did catch on fast." Future Natsu, or Salamander as I'm going to refer to him for the duration of his appearance, let out a bitter chuckle, but then his gaze turned hard "About 7 years ago for me, at some point around this time for you guys, something happened. Someone in my time stopped the Eclipse 2 from getting turned on."

"But why would they do that?" Bolt shared a glance with Luke 'something definitely doesn't feel right about this.'

"It's because of what that one person did that the gate stayed close, and the people in my time got butchered by 10,000 dragons. Me and the other Dragon Slayers gave it everything we had, the version of Luke from my time actually managed to kill a bunch of them, but now I'm the only one of them that hasn't been killed. It's because of that one person that let most of the humans in my world get slaughtered like fucking pigs! So I came back to save the people that died becuase of them, by finding the one that did it… and killing them before they can."

"And that one sentence is more than enough to make me doubt any chance of you actually being the Natsu we know." Luke immediately pointed his sword at him "The Natsu that I know would find another way instead of just pouncing for someone's blood. You should know that there's no need to kill this person in cold blood. You could just explain it to them."

"Don't you think I would do that if I thought I could? I've learned a lot of stuff in the past 7 years, about the world and about myself, and the big thing they have in common is that whoever you are, you can't change your destiny. You can punch it and breath fire at it all you want, but you can't even scratch it. Even if I did manage to persuade this person somehow, they would still end up being the one to stop the Eclipse. That's not something they have a choice in, and they might as well have never had that choice to begin with. I never wanted to accept it, but there's no power in the world that's stronger than fate… not even friendship or love. I learned about that the hard way. The living are still here, but the dead are gone forever. The one that closed the Eclipse gate before is always gonna do the same. As long as they're alive, there's no chance that it's not gonna happen again."

"Assume that I believe any of what you just said, even though it really raises my doubts more with each word you spew out." Luke's grip on his sword tightened "You still haven't told any of us who this person is that you're talking about to begin with."

"...You really wanna know?" Salamander let out a low growl as his fist was suddenly ignited with crimson flames.

"Yeah, we all do."

"Fine. It's you… Lucy Heartfilia!" he suddenly unleashed a wave of flames that hurtled forward in the direciton of Lucy faster than most of those present were able to react.

Luke didn't waste any time as he tried to flash in Lucy's direction to protect her, until…

"Get down!" Future Cana suddenly bolted in front of Lucy and pushed her out of the way, only to take the fire blast right to the chest, sending her hurtling to the ground in a scorched heap as a result, much to the horror of everyone present.

"Cana!" Luke was quick to bolt to her side and caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground, with everyone else rushing to her side, and he glanced over at Salamander 'He was so fast, even I was barely able to follow his attack. Just how powerful is he?'

"So there's two of them." Salamander frowned as his flames subsided 'Does that mean I'm not the only one who travelled back to this time?'

"Cana!" Lucy quickly knelt down in front of her "Please just hang on!"

"Listen to me…" Future Cana spat out some blood and glanced up at Lucy "You never closed the gate… I know you didn't… you would never…"

"I know, and I promise you that I never will, no matter what. But why the hell did you just jump in front of that attack like that?!"

"Why do you think… You remember Tenrou Island?" she gave a small bitter smile "I put you in danger because of my own selfish obsessions… I swore from then on… I was gonna do whatever I could to protect you… Besides, you're part of the past… If you guys die, then that means I might as well die too… In some strange way, dying is the only way I can live…"

"Don't talk like that, you're gonna be fine." Luke tightened his hold on her and glanced over in the direction of Wendy, only to see her downcast expression, and he felt his stomach churn, and he looked away.

"You know, it's kind of funny… After everything that happened in my time… I never thought I would get the chance… to die in your arms… In some weird masochistic way… it sounds kind of comforting, at least to me…"

"Stop talking like that, you're gonna pull through. Remember what I always say? That I don't want to imagine a Fairy Tail without you, or a world without you."

"Yeah, I know… but you know as well as I do… this wound is too deep… Even Wendy won't be able to do anything…" they glanced over to where Wendy was beginning to sob "There's no need to cry, it's okay… I never thought that I would get the chance to see all of you again… especially you… I got to see you one last time…" she glanced up at Luke and smiled "And knowing that I got to see you again… that's enough for me… to make up for the hell that I've been through in my time…"

"Stop talking like you're gonna die." Cana knelt down next to her future self, her teeth grinding furiously "You're gonna make it."

"No I'm not, and you know that… we both know that I'm not the version of you that everyone knows… I'm from a different period of time… a whole other world… You've got nothing to be upset about…" she reached over with one hand to grip Luke's, and then used the other hand to cup his face "You've got another version of me in this time… and she gets to keep living with the rest of you… So you don't need to be sad…"

"You know that's not how we do things." Luke glanced down at her, his hair covering his eyes in that typical ominous way "It doesn't matter if you're from a different time or a whole different world, the fact is that when you're one of us you always will be, and that's never going to change no matter what." he gritted his teeth.

"I know… I don't wanna go either… but it's not up to me… But first… you mind moving around a little bit… so I can see your guild mark?"

"Yeah, yeah sure…" Luke shifted himself slightly so that the guild mark on his left arm would be visible to her "Like this?"

"Yeah, bringing in the nostalgia full force…" Future Cana's smile turned somewhat bitter as tears started streaming down her face "And one last thing… I know how you feel…"

"You… You do?"

"I do. Your future self, my version of you, said it to me before he died… I never got the chance to tell him this but… I feel the same way… and I always will…" she glanced over at her present counterpart as she said this, then turned back towards Luke "Don't forget that."

"I won't. And I promise you, I won't let your sacrifice be in vain. I'm gonna protect the future and everyone else."

"Of that… I have no doubt…" Future Cana gave one last smile, before her eyes closed and her body slumped as she fell still. She was one, and that realization was enough to make most of those present break down crying.

"Dammit!" Salamander broke the silence by slamming a fist into the wall next to him, resulting in a loud splintering crack "It wasn't supposed to happen like this! It was only supposed to be the one that closed the gate!"

"Didn't you hear a single fucking word she said?!" Cana, now the only version, promptly rounded on Salamander in a rage "Lucy didn't close your goddamn gate, you just tried to fucking waste her and- You goddamn murderer!"

"Go ahead and say that as much as you like, but I know what's gonna happen. She did it before and I know for a fact that she's gonna do it again."

"Will you shut the hell up?!" Lucy rounded on Salamander in her rage and grief "I'm not gonna close the freaking gate! Why the hell do you keep accusing me?!"

"Becuase I know what's going to happen because I fucking know all of you! The gate is gonna be closed, and there isn't a goddamn thing anyone can do to stop it as long as you're still fucking breathing! I don't know what Cana's future self was thinking and it doesn't really matter right now, the fact is that every choice you think you have was decided by fate. I know what your destiny is, and the only way to stop it is-" Salamander was cut off by a sickening squelching noise, and he promptly spat out a fair amount of blood.

As it turns out, the cause of this was Luke, standing directly in front of him, his eyes burning with pure unbridled rage with tears streaming down his face, his body surging with magic power and electricity as he thrusted his sword further and furher into Salamander's gut "I think I speak for every single person here when I say, you've done more than enough talking for a fucking lifetime, this one and yours!"

"It figures you're the one to try and stop me…" Salamander gripped the sword and tried to pull it out of his gut, and he gave a bitter smirk "I didn't doubt it for a second."

"Nor should you." Luke yanked the sword out and wiped off some of the blood along the blade, and his gaze hardened as his magic power soared "I made her a promise… I'm gonna protect the future and everyone in it… and the first step to doing that… is ripping you to shreds!"

Final Results:

1st: Team Fairy Tail: 63 points

2nd: Team Sabertooth: 55 points

3rd: Team Lamia Scale: 49 points

4th: Team Mermaid Heel: 42 points

5th: Team Blue Pegasus: 29 points

6th: Team Quatro Puppy: 15 points

A/N:

This chapter presents a mix bag of events. On one hand, the Grand Magic Games themselves finally come to an end, with Fairy Tail finally coming out on top and reclaiming their rightful place as the number one guild in Fiore. On the other hand however, things take a turn for the worse when a second visitor from the future makes his presence known, and within just a few moments of his debut, his first act is more than enough to put Luke of all people on the warpath. This arc is about to reach its climax.

In case it wasn't obvious, I gave the final confrontation with Sting a pretty sizable overhaul in this story. I get what they were going for in the original, but since Natsu is actually competing in the games in this fic, not only did I finally have the long awaited confrontation between him and Sting, I also got to have him teaming up with Gajeel for a two on one battle, and even better, I got to showcase something that I've been wanting to see for ages: Dragon Force vs the Dual Element mode, and in this case, I got to do both by having Natsu (in his Lightning Flame Dragon Mode) and Gajeel (in his Iron Shadow Dragon Mode) team up against Sting (in his Dragon Force), with a little bit of Gray and the others at the end.

Yep that's right, instead of Future Rogue, in this story I decided to have the second time traveller and antagonist of the arc be Future Natsu. I have to be honest, when I was going into this, I had never even considered going this route. I had fully planned to go with Future Rogue like in canon, which is why I had set up a sor of mentor and mentee relationship between Luke and Rogue. But then I got a guest review back when I was still working on the Tenrou Island arc, asking if I could make Natsu the evil one instead of Rogue. I thought this was a pretty interesting idea, and after I consulted a friend of mine on it (the same friend that introduced me to Fairy Tail in the first place), I decided to go ahead and do it. Oh and for the record, unlike in canon he actually did kill those soldiers and the Hungry Wolf Knights. I thought it would add more weight to the entire situation, and make the debut of Future Natsu, or Salamander as I'll be calling him, way more foreboding and menacing that way. Combine all of that with the fact that he killed Future Cana, and it's also enough to make Luke of all people go on the warpath.

Before I wrap things up, I want to thank all of you for getting this story to a total of 200 reviews! This has only happened with one of my stories before. When I started this story back in June of 2019, I never anticipated this story becoming as popular as it did, but now it's become my most popular story of all time, and it's thanks to all of you.