Chapter 72
Memori Mori
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Magic"
Flashback
Location / Date / Time Skip
Natsu and Gray charged at the demon side by side, who merely opened his wings, unleashing a swarm of vines at the two. The two unleashed their elements and cast aside the attack, only for Mard Geer to appear above them. Clutching their heads, he plucked them off the ground before flying away.
"Let go of me right now!" Natsu shouted.
"The time has come for you to see what lies beyond the gate." Mard Geer declared. "The end of the road for those who encounter demons." Flying through the hole, he slammed them on the side and they cried out. "I will savior every moment until even your existence is torn away."
Below the flying demon, Sting jumped back from an arm thrust and glared at his former guild master. "It was your fault… you're the one who dragged her into this…"
"That excuse of a girl was completely useless." Jiemma declared. "I had such high hopes of utilizing the power of the demons to strengthen her magic, but she wasn't ready and choose to remain weak."
"She's your own child!" Rogue snapped back.
"Child, you say?" Jiemma questioned, punching the Shadow user back. "She's nothing! The only thing she was ever going to be good for was continuing my bloodline."
"TAKE THAT BACK!" Sting punched him hard in the head, sending him sliding back.
"…Is that all you have?" Jiemma chuckled before a palm strike blasted Sting in the face. He then waved his hand and cut Rogue out of a shadow before slamming him into the ground. "As long as I'm alive, you'll never have my guild."
"We… don't want your guild…" Rogue gasped out. "We want our guild back. The way it was when we were a team."
"Only the weak believe that crap!" Jiemma slammed his boot into his back, making the Dragon Slayer gasp in pain. "A real leader knows that strength is the only thing that matters. But you ruined that with your weakness."
"You might see it that way…" Sting declared, forcing himself up. "But I don't. Showing compassion is a strength, a power unlike anything you could ever understand. Abandoning your comrades when they need you, that's true weakness."
"We know it's not going to be easy, but that's the kind of guild we want to build." Rogue added, pushing the boot off his back. "A true guild."
Both threw a punch from either side and Jiemma blocked both. "A truly strong guild!? I've never heard of something that absurd!" Jiemma laughed back. "The word 'strongest' only exists for one being! And that's me!"
"You're dead wrong." Sting declared. "A guild like that exists and it's nearby… We were lucky to meet such an honest guild."
"ENOUGH!" Jiemma flexed his muscles and blasted the two back. "Only one person can be the strongest! Relying on others is the very definition of weakness! You fools are the ultimate weaklings!"
"Even if we are, we're living for the sake of someone else! Learning to love another as a reason to stay alive!" Sting shouted back.
"We'll become strong just like Fairy Tail!" Rogue added as the pair gathered their elements around them.
"I've heard enough!"
"We'll stitch the wounds you crafted shut-" Rogue declared.
"With a bond of black and white!" Sting finished before lines of Shadow and White magic punctured the demon.
"White Shadow Dragon's Rough Silk!"
Both pulled on the lines and Jiemma cried in pain as his necklace shattered. "Impossible…" He gasped out before collapsing to the ground, covered in wounds all over the body.
The slayers panted before they dropped to the ground. "The rest… is up to you two…" Sting said before they fell over to the ground.
Natsu and Gray roared before they grabbed Mard Geer arms and flipped over, punching the demon in the face with their elements. The explosion of fire and ice caught Mard Geer off guard and forced him back before throwing a kick that punted Natsu back.
He flipped over and unleashed an inferno from his mouth, forcing Mard Geer back. "Ice Devil Rage!" He turned around and was meet with a torrent of ice that froze one of his wings.
Pulling his hand back, the Underworld King gathered a large amount of Curse energy. "Dea Yggdrasil!" A massive chunk of vines fell down from the sky, aimed squarely at the Slayer duo. Fire and ice punches struck the trunk over and over until it cracked into a thousand shards.
"Ice Make: Gungnir!" From the frozen shards, Gray crafted a massive spear and shot it into the sky.
Mard Geer moved to the side and the attacked missed, onlu for it to crack. Turning around, he found Natsu above him, having hitched a ride inside the spell. "Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" A massive ball of fire hit his face and sent him crashing into the ground.
Natsu landed next to Gray as the dust was blown away with a flap of the wings. "How the hell do we hurt this guy?" Natsu questioned in annoyance.
"If my magic could just hit him…" Gray mumbled.
"You've entertained me, humans." Mard Geer confessed before throwing an open palm. Black mist started surrounding the two before it latched onto the two. "A long time ago, magic was born. Then Master E.N.D. created a new power: curses. In this new world, Curses are superior in all aspects. Fall in to Purgatory. This is the ultimate Curse I've devised for one purpose!"
The power started glowing before the pair screamed in horror. "The memory of death. Memori Mori!" An explosion of wailing sounds blasted the two upwards. "To kill an immortal, I must destroy the concept of life and death. Those hit by this curse are neither alive or dead. They merely vanish.
"Their future becomes nothing…" The blast faded as chunks of stone fell to the ground. Mard Geer looked out over the destruction and returned to his normal form. "I have completed the ultimate Curse, Memori Mori. With this, once E.N.D. is revived, I'll be able to kill you, Zeref."
Staring out over his handy work, Mard Geer widened his eyes in shock as the ground erupted. Black markings coated half of Gray's body as he and Natsu barely stood after the attack. "This can't be… He's some kind of half demon. Is this Silver's doing?"
"Natsu…" Gray mumbled as he started falling over. "Finish… this guy for me…" He hit the ground as Natsu eyed Mard Geer.
Anger in his eyes, Natsu charged Mard Geer as he returned to his Etherious form. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He shouted, only for Natsu to punch the demon as hard as he could, fire blasting the Underworld King back.
He crashed into a wall and the stone shattered behind him, much to his shock. "Where did all this power come from?" A knee strike hit him in the face, and that's when he noticed the scales on Natsu's face. "Could this be… Dragon Force!?"
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" Natsu shouted from a chunk of stone, fire erupting around him. "Hidden Fire Form: Crimson Lotus - Phoenix Sword!" He burst upwards and speared Mard Geer right on the gut, making both gasp in pain.
Roaring in anger, Mard Geer grabbed onto Natsu's head and started flying straight towards the ground. "Once I've vented my rage, you won't even have a corpse to bury!"
"…Unbelievable…" Natsu mumbled. "That was all I had and you're still going. Not to bad."
"Be GONE!"
"Thing is, I have faith too." The pinkette shouted.
Mard Geer glanced down and found the Ice wizard standing, a frozen bow in his hand. "Ice Devil Zeroth Destruction Bow!" Firing the bow, the attack hit Mard Geer in the chest before it exploded, ice jutting out of his back and front. Natsu and Mard Geer crashed to the ground, sliding apart.
"We did it…" Natsu said as the mark on Gray's arm faded.
"It's not over…" Gray declared. "Not until I destroy E.N.D."
"Oh yeah! That book…" Natsu started crawling over towards the tome. "Igneel asked me to take it to him."
Gray reached down and picked it up. "I said, I'm destroying it." He declared.
"Cut the crap!"
"Now who's screwing around?" Gray questioned, holding up the book. "This thing made Tartaros and the strongest demon in Zeref's book. All the more reason to get rid of it, don't you think?"
"I promised Igneel…" Natsu growled, pushing himself up. "Gimme the book!"
"No." The two glared at each other before the ground started shaking. "The hell?"
"It can't be…" Natsu mumbked. "Face…"
Mard Geer chuckled on the ground, catching their attention. "I should never have doubted Kyouka's brilliance…" He said. "Magic will disappear from the continent. The world of magic will end today."
Lucy crashed to the ground as her body lost all of its strength. Lisanna dropped to a knee as her cat features faded away, returning her to her normal clothing… or lack there of. Mest quickly threw his coat over her to save her modesty. "The ethernano's weaking…" He stated.
"This feeling…" Wendy mumbled, worried about the panic happening in the world.
With Mard Geer
"This is only the beginning." The Underworld King declared. "The disappearance of magic will eventually become 'emptiness' and END shall resurrect feeding off that energy. And when the strongest Etherious rises, you humans shall no longer have the defense you call magic."
Natsu was forced to a knee as he glared at the demon. "Damn it!"
Up in the sky, a bellowing roar scared everyone before Acnologia crashed onto the ground. He pushed his head up, only for a red claw to press against his neck. "Do not give up, humans!" Igneel shouted, turning to the sky. "All is not lost."
Far away from the battlefield, the Christina flew around a Face pillar. "What the hell is up?" Ren complained. "We couldn't destroy this thing, even with our cannons."
"And we're losing magic fast." Hibiki added. "What do we do boss?"
"MOVE IT!" A voice shouted around them, forcing Jenny to look around the window.
"What is that?" She questioned as the white object flew closer at them.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Ichiya shouted as the ship dodged, letting the object crash into Face… and completely obliterated the pillar. "Wha-what was that!?"
"Some kind of bird?" Jenny questioned as the dust settled, revealing a large, four-legged Dragon. The white body, which appeared to be covered in tissue similar to bird feathers, rather than scales. The feet resembled bird talons as well. The head was covered in what appears to be fur and the skull is somewhat broad and flat. The fur extends down the neck and to the upper chest region.
"A dragon!?" Eve shouted.
Gajeel collapsed to the ground and Nicholas convulsed upwards, both gasping in pain. Sting and Rogue did the same in a mix of confusion. Far away, their dragon parents crashed into Face again and again, destroying them. "The dragons you have freed are dancing in the skies of Ishgar today!"
Igneel roared in triumph as Mard Geer went wide eyed in horror. Natsu smiled at his dad as the six dragons roared over the land.
Arnighte charged forward and crashed into the last pillar, sending it crashing to the ground. Standing over the head, he roared in triumph as the skull crumbled to dust. "We've stopped E.N.D.'s resurrection…" Igneel declared, unaware that the humans were cheering in victory.
"Defeated…" Mard Geer mumbled in horror.
Across the ground, Sting and Rogue were still in a shock of the revelation. "Weisslogia's still alive…"
"As are Drusta, Skaidrum, Metallicana and Grandeeny." Igneel declared. "We've all been iside you Dragon Slayers… or rather, sleeping inside you due to a sealing spell."
"Oh yeah, I didn't hear about that, ya know!" Natsu shouted at his father. "Why the hell were you in me!? I don't remember eating you!"
"There were reasons for that." The dragon declared. "The forst would be so we could stop you from transforming into dragons like Acnologia did. The second-" His claw was pushed off the massive beast as Acnologia forced himself free. "We'll finish once I deal with him! Get that book!"
The two monsters took to the sky as Natsu turned to Gray, still clutching the demonic tome. "I made my own promise. I'd kill E.N.D." He declared, his hand never leaving the book.
Above the battlefield, the two beasts crashed into each other head first. "To sop the Dragon Slayers from transforming, you hid inside those filthy creatures…" The Black Dragon growled.
"What more do you want, Acnologia!?" Igneel shouted. "The end you fear is no more!"
"Fear? Me?" Acnologia mockingly repeated. "Fear is for the likes of humans or the abominations of Zeref's books. I am Acnologia, the king of the dragons!"
"You were once human yourself." Igneel reminded his foe as the two crashed into each other head first. "We won't let Natsu and the others become like you!"
Gray's hand was suddenly empty as the book was pulled away. "This book belongs to me…" All five slowly turned their heads as footsteps crept closer and closer. "So I'll be taking it back. It's really important, you know."
"Zeref…" Mard Geer mumbled in shock.
One more chapter and then we are done with Tartaros, but it's a hell of a chapter left. Seriously, what happens next is such a gut punch that it STILL hurts to this day. Seriously, Hiro Mashims is one sick fuck for what he did.
Beta read by General Feng Xiang
