A large explosion erupted from the Grimoire Heart airship, rocking the ship violently as the battle between the Omega Fire Dragon and the Grimoire Heart master raged on. With Dragon Force active, Cynthia was able to strike back against Hades with greater efficiency than before. Cynthia flipped over, allowing her dark red flames to flare intensely as her signature fire trailed from her arms, and she jumped forward slashing Hades with her wings of fire. "Omega Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" Cynthia cried out.
Hades let out a surprised grunt of pain as Cynthia's attack landed, sending him skidding back across the ground, but he then threw his arms forward, sending white chains that latched onto Cynthia's shoulders. Hades then used his immense strength to swing the girl around wildly before slamming her into the ground, rocking the ship slightly. "What is this power…!?" Hades thought to himself as Cynthia stood up after the slam.
"They look even…" Loke said as he watched the battle, prepared to jump in anytime if he had to.
"She's stronger than that…" Luke groaned slightly, attempting to move, but Heather made sure he wasn't able to. After what he saw several months ago, he had a feeling that Cynthia could do more, as much as he honestly didn't want to admit it: she was pretty strong. "She can dig deeper…"
"I don't think that would be the best considering how carried away she can get…" Lucy said softly. She was worried. She knew Cynthia's magic power was devastatingly powerful, but...in terms of experience, Hades had several lifetimes of it compared to Cynthia. As hopeful as Lucy was, she knew that against Hades, pure power just couldn't be enough.
"Cynthia…" Wendy groaned softly as she regained consciousness, but she was only able to watch the fight continue.
Cynthia flipped forward, swinging her foot down on Hades' head, but he managed to block it by bringing his forearms up, but the ground beneath him cratered immensely. "She's relatively even…"
"Stubborn old man…" Cynthia mumbled under her breath, then jumped back, but that was her mistake, as Hades immediately started to use his bullet magic, his hands in a position as if he were dual wielding two guns, and unleashed a flurry of piercing bullets towards Cynthia as she flipped back, catching the girl off guard. "Gah…!" Cynthia swayed her body to the left as she dodged a few bullets, but a few others managed to run right through her arms, but she managed to keep pushing through. In order to stop the assault, Cynthia snapped her fingers, creating multiple dark red magic circles around Hades, catching him off guard slightly as the seals unleashed red fire that exploded on him, creating dust cloud. When the dust cleared, Hades was still standing, and he had visible marks on his body.
"You're on a higher level right now than anyone else I've come across…" Hades said. "Perhaps among one of Makarov's strongest…but, I believe that is enough warm up exercises, don't you agree?"
"You said that last time…!" Cynthia snarled as she clenched her fist tightly.
"I have a good measure of your power now, little girl," Hades said as he pointed a finger out, charging up an explosive shot on the tip of his fingers. "But I wonder…" As Hades started to speak, the small bullet on the tip of his finger started to grow in diameter. "If you can survive against an attack such as this?" Hades clicked the trigger, sending the explosive shot hurtling in Cynthia's direction.
"Ack!" The size of the attack caught Cynthia off guard, but she managed to snap back into it quickly, forming to sphere of dark red fire in her hands. She then raised her hands over her head, combining the two spheres of fire together to create a large sphere of dark red flames. "Dazzling Blaze of the Omega Fire Dragon!" Cynthia hurled the sphere forward, clashing with the explosive round Hades fired off. The two attacks fought for dominance, but they were even and eventually exploded. The force of the explosion was so great it forced the two combatants and the spectators flying back.
"Gah!" Natsu rolled before hopping back to his feet, panting slightly from his magic consumption earlier. "Dammit…if I had just a little more magic…"
"Same, Salamander…" Gajeel grunted as he panted somewhat.
"There's gotta be something we can do to help her…" Heather mumbled.
"This is really annoying…" Cynthia mumbled as she stood up straight. But, as she looked around, she noticed an Amaterasu formula around her. "W-What is this?!"
"Cynthia look out!" Lucy shouted. But it was too late for the young girl. The Amaterasu formula exploded around the young girl, creating a sphere of darkness around her, kicking up a massive wind.
"All who are hit by this formula lose all their magic power; furthermore, they lose all power in their limbs," Hades simply said as the sphere started to vanish…and when it did, Cynthia was not standing. Hades, and the spectator's eyes widened as Holorugium kept Cynthia safe from harm. "What the…?"
"H-Holorugium!?" Lucy shouted.
"I can only do this one, Lucy-sama," The clockwork spirit replied. "Thank you! She says," Holorugium said to convey what Cynthia was saying. The clock spirit then vanished and Cynthia stood on her two feet.
"Doesn't that only happen when the level of danger is extremely high…?" Gajeel asked Lucy.
"Yeah…" Lucy replied with a simple nod.
"WHERE WAS THAT WHEN I ALMOST DIED!?" Luke shouted.
"My turn!" Cynthia replied, rearing her head back, her cheeks beginning to puff out as a vortex of darkened red fire started to swirl around her mouth. "Roar…" Cynthia then snapped her head forward, unleashing a massive funnel of dark red fire racing towards Hades. Cynthia's roar utterly destroyed the ground it traveled over, ripping through the ship as it slammed into Hades, going out at least two miles into the distance. When the roar faded, Cynthia panted slightly, grinning at the finally downed Hades. But this didn't last for long; Hades stood up slowly, quite damaged from Cynthia's last attack. This action caused Cynthia to gasp with widened eyes. "W-What!? How is that possible!?"
"You think you are so powerful because you have the power to destroy Fiore if given the chance, yes? Well, you have to learn, little girl…there is always someone stronger…" Hades replied as he stood up, acting as though he was undamaged from the attack, but in reality he was quite damaged.
"S-Someone stronger…?" Cynthia repeated…but then she fell to her knees, gasping for air, completely exhausted as her flames died down. "A-Ah…"
"W-What's wrong with her!?" Natsu asked.
"Oh? I thought you were going to defeat me? Is something wrong?" Hades asked in a slightly condescending tone.
"I-I can't move…my…body…" Cynthia then fell onto her stomach, unable to move.
"W-What's going on!?" Gajeel asked.
"Wait..." Loke started.
"Did she get hit by that attack after all!?" Lucy finished.
"Oh, well, it appears your mistake has been made clear…" Hades said as he pointed his fingers forward, charging up the finishing explosive shot. "You overestimated your own ability. You've never encountered someone who can clash with you at your strongest. And now..."
"Ngh..." Cynthia grit her teeth. She couldn't believe this. She had all this power, and even then, at this moment...it wasn't enough to protect anyone...?
"What are we gonna do now…?" Lucy asked.
"C-Cynthia…" Wendy stood up slowly, but she was barely able to stand, so she hunched over, panting heavily as a result from her earlier injury.
"Hey…" Luke started, his voice somewhat weak sounding than before. His voice caused Lucy and the three dragon slayers to look at him. Luke then pointed into the sky, smirking victoriously as he pointed to a ball of shadows, a ball of lightning, and a ball of fire floating in the air. "You three look pretty hungry…so…with the power vested in me…Dinner is served!" Luke threw his hands down, sending the ball of shadows to Gajeel, the ball of lightning to Natsu, and the ball of flames to Wendy. The three dragon slayers consumed the element and grinned as a magic circle appeared under their feet, their magic power restored as magic energy started to emit from their dual modes, causing the ship to shake.
"Now that I've eaten…" Natsu said with a smirk as his lightning flame aura started to flare and spark wildly. "I'm all fired up!" Natsu reared his head back, his cheeks puffing out, and his stomach inflating as he gathered all the magic energy he just attained from Luke; Gajeel and Wendy did the same and this action caused Hades' eyes to widen.
"What…!?" Hades shouted slightly. "Tch!" Hades moved his hands in a circular, counterclockwise motion, creating dark sphere within the empty space. "Grimoire…"
"Not so fast!" Loke jumped forward, jumping through the window left open by the three dragon slayers preparing their attacks. Loke slammed his fist into Hades' jaw, providing an efficient opening for the dragon slayers to do their thing. "Alright you three!" Loke then jumped back, receiving positive cheers from his owner.
"Nice job, Loke!" Lucy said happily.
"Poison Dragon's Scales!" Heather, not wanting to feel left out, shouted, a magenta magic seal appearing in front of her as she unleashed poisonous scales that struck the off guard Hades, injecting the deadly virus into his system, thus making any attempt to dodge pointless.
Natsu reared his head forward, unleashing a massive tunnel of fire and lightning towards Hades, roaring out, "Roar of the Lightning Flame Dragon!"
Gajeel followed suit, unleashing a funnel of iron shards and shadows towards Hades, merging with Natsu's lightning flame roar, all while shouting, "Roar of the Iron Shadow Dragon!"
And finally, Wendy unleashed her dual roar of the blue wind and red fire, combining it with the two roars mentioned before, creating a powerful unison raid that left no time to evade. "Roar of the Omega Flame Sky Dragon!"
"N-NO!? I LOST AGAIN!?" Hades thought to himself as the roars came in. With no time to dodge or counter, the Grimoire Heart leader had no choice but to take the full force of the triple unison roar, which exploded once it made contact with him. When the roar dispersed, Hades was unconscious on the floor, signifying that Fairy Tail and White Eclipse claimed victory over Hades.
"RAAAAAAAH!" Natsu let out a roar of victory the moment Hades collapsed. This was the second time they were able to defeat Hades. But it was just as difficult as the last time, if not more.
"We did it..." Luke let out a heavy sigh, wincing heavily as well.
"What a pain that turned into..." Heather said while helping Luke onto his feet. "Are you alright?"
"I'm breathing." Luke said with a slow nod.
Wendy rushed over to Cynthia, helping her onto her feet. She was just as injured, but she knew that Cynthia could use the help. "Let me..."
"Wendy..." Cynthia frowned. She could hardly move after getting hit with that spell. It took all she had just to stand up.
"We should...call the Council as soon as possible..." Lucy said while sitting down. She didn't feel like moving and she was a little worried Hades might get up again...
.
.
Nearby, the woman known as Heartless and the girl with the name Little Queen watched the altercation. They held up strange tubes that proceeded to absorb the lingering ethernano within the air. But the amount wasn't as much as they would've liked. "Hm..." Heartless furrowed her brows. Even with all that conflict, they weren't able to get much out of it.
"We didn't get a lot." Little Queen stated, violet eyes turning to Heartless. What do we do now?
"I cannot call it a waste of our time, but I would've liked if we got more out of it." Heartless admitted, but that was out of their hands. "King will want a report on the situation at least."
"Okay." Little Queen nodded. "But wow...Fairy Tail looks so...cool?" She said. "The way they all fought so hard because their guild mates were attacked..."
"You shouldn't say those things." Heartless shook her head. "Least of all in the off chance King should hear you. They will likely be our enemies in the future."
"Oh." Little Queen seemed a little dejected, but she nodded slowly. "Okay..."
"Come now, Little Queen. We should leave before we are spotted. I doubt we'll be getting much magic in the coming days." Heartless said while spinning on her heel and turning around. A heart shaped portal appeared in front of her and she stepped through it. Little Queen took a few steps forward and glanced back at Hades' airship. Shaking it off, she stepped through the portal along with Heartless. Grimoire Heart was defeated, there was no longer any reason for them to stick around. And even then, this was only the first phase of the dark cloud that threatened to cover Fiore...