I am sorry it took me this long to finish this chapter. It was a bit difficult to write, what with the pressures of my job that i have to maintain now. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 9

A gust blowing into the hall through the collapsed walls was the only noise. The spectators watched with bated breaths as the Dragneel brothers stood facing each other. Was fate really so intricately and dramatically written that everything had led up to brothers facing each other in combat? This situation seemed too coincidental to have occured randomly. A higher power was definitely at play, it seemed like. A higher power that would put kin against kin.

Natsu watched Zeref through his fluttering scarf as the wind picked up, and Zeref watched him calmly back, no apprehension or fear on his handsome face, only a mild lingering smile.

"I will take him on alone." Natsu muttered as he clenched his fists.

Zeref nodded in agreement. "That will be the safest approach to this battle." He turned his head towards the spectators. "Please do not interfere. It is for your own good. Ankhseram's curse has made sure that no living being can touch me and still retain their existence. This is so I remained forever alone. You'd turn to ash the moment you touch my cursed skin. Natsu here…" he looked at his brother again, an expression of endearing affection on his face, unfit in the situation the two were in. "My brother is the only undead amongst all of you. He can survive touching me. It's almost as if fate wanted this."

The watchers of the fight exchanged worried glances as the possibility that they could help Natsu against this leviathan adversary faded before their eyes. Not one of them trusted Zeref's word on what he had just revealed. For all they knew, he could be trying to limit the number of his adversaries to just Natsu. But it was also true that he had told them nothing but the truth until now regarding Natsu's story. Also, it probably didn't make a difference to Zeref whether only Natsu fought him or all of them did. He could probably destroy all of them alone. So he was probably being truthful.

But if Natsu was known to be anything, he was a character that could turn around fate. He had a certain quality within him that could turn the tide of the battle, no matter who he faced. They trusted that quality of Natsu right now, and stayed put. Putting their faith in Natsu Dragneel was easy, and that's what they did.

Natsu turned to glance at his friends, and at Erza. He managed a bright smile. "Lend me your power, all of you. Be with me in spirit."

Erza felt her heart race, as the unfavourable possibility that Natsu wouldn't return from this battle severly unharmed crossed her thoughts. She grabbed the end of her blue skirt and pulled anxisouly, hoping to all gods that she could recite the name of to aid him in battle. Ankhseram was one of them.

Natsu unclenched, and then clenched his fists again, and shut his eyes. Wind swirled around him, and pieces of rubble were picked up in the air. Dust kicked up from the floor, and some people covered their eyes. Erza stood still though, her weary eyes fixated on Natsu lest she missed something. She wasn't even going to blink throughout this fight.

A hot aura surrounded Natsu, and the temperature slowly pervaded into the rest of the room. It was the familiar soothing and bright aura that was usually associated with him. The wounded and tired bodies of everyone that filled the room felt a current of relief run through them. Somewhere, that relaxing hue of sensation strengthened their belief in Natsu.

Slowly, a ripple began at the tips of Natsu's fingers, and red scaley skin crawled up his fingers and hands, engaging the exposed parts of his body, creeping up his face and turning the left side of his face a draconian shade of red. Spikes and horns emerged from his body, tearing through his clothes, and his feet turned into massive talons and his hands into fearsome claws. Erza noticed for the first time that his body would produce spikes and horns from different sites each time he transformed. Fiery wings erupted from his back, and a muscular tail flashed behind him. He was slowly cloaked in a bright red energy.

Natsu's transformation was complete. It seemed that he had pushed his limits further than before, and had reached a near perfect dragon force this time for the first time, breaking the last record. His power was felt across the room, and it was as awe-inspiring and mesmerizing as always.

Zeref felt the same cascade of emotions bubble up within him as the rest of the watchers. Maybe even more so as it was his own brother that he was watching. Pride welled up within him.

"You've grown strong." He muttered through a smile. "I had heard of your conquests, but it is a baffling spectacle to bear witness to your strength first hand. But… you have to push yourself further. You can't defeat me where you stand right now."

Natsu growled in a deep voice, before suddenly disappearing from his position. Zeref's eyes widened for a while before Natsu suddenly appeared right before him, mid air, almost as if he had teleported, and swung his heavy dragon leg across Zeref's face, causing a visible shockwave in the air and the ground around them to spread.

For a moment it seemed as if the time had frozen, before it resumed and Zeref spiralled at mach speed outside of the hall, collapsing the wall behind him. The remnant energy travelled around, and kicked up more dust and stones from the ground. The spectators covered their eyes again, and when they opened them, Zeref had already vanished, and Natsu vanished from before their eyes. It was clear that Zeref had been flung outside the hall and Natsu had followed behind him so fast it appeared that he had teleported again, just like the last time.

Zeref rocketed through the winds, the sound of him cutting the air ringing in his ears. He plummeted through more walls of the already burning and collapsed houses littered on the streets of Magnolia, and finally planted into one. Dust settled down and the fine sound of debris scattering filled the air.

Birds chirped frantically after the disturbance. The Dragneel rested in the hole he had created in the wall for a while, after which he pushed himself out of the indent and planted his feet on the ground. He looked around, a bit dazed, and slowly gathered his intelligent consciousness back. He dusted his robes, and thought about the wild assault his younger brother had just laid on him. It must have been enough to kill an average mage, but the thing was that Zeref was… inevitably immortal. He was cursed to walk the earth forever, hungry and in pain, reliving his darkest moments time and again. That was his penance for loving his brother.

Speaking of Natsu, he appeared next to Zeref again, and before the Spriggan could even react to his presence, Natsu planted a fist deep in his flat stomach, sending shockwaves spreading out from their positions again. Zeref, eyes widened as this time he felt something very akin to pain for the first time in his life after almost 700 years, rocketed back in the direction Natsu had struck him in. Collapsing some more walls in the process, he flew again, and it took him a while to realise that he had ended back where the fight had started–the Fairy Tail guild hall. He rolled on the ground from the momentum and slowly came to halt before the spectators. This time, his mind was dazed and shook enough for him to lay on the ground for several minutes, almost hanging within the border of consciousness and not.

Natsu appeared in the hall again, panting heavily. Exhaustion had started to cave in. He knew that under normal circumstances he could have held his imperfect dragon force for longer, but he was expending more than required amount of magic energy into each movement that he was committing, thereby spending his dragon force more than usual, his panting and aching muscles as a result. At that moment, he cursed himself for not having perfected his dragon force completely before his fight with Zeref, which would have allowed him to hold that form indefinitely.

He knelt on the ground as exhaustion conquered his body, and he could feel his magic reserves running out faster than ever.

Erza felt worry shiver up her spine as she saw Natsu kneeling on the floor. She knew instantly that he was overdoing it, and the faintest thought of himself exhausting himself to death crossed her mind.

"NATSU STOP!" She cried out to him, but was held back by Laxus as she tried to enter the battlefield.

Natsu growled as he tried to push more and more magic reserves of himself into use. He knew Zeref wasn't done yet. How could he? He was fighting one of the strongest dark mages of all time. Erza's voice rang somewhere in his ears, but he couldn't pinpoint where she exactly was. The exhaustion was working a number on his directional awareness.

Zeref, who was lying on the floor, slowly got up and dusted his robes. He wandered his eyes over to Natsu, and realised that his brother was almost at his limits.

Beyond a pang of sympathy for Natsu's weakened form that he visualised, he was overcome with glee. His prediction had come true. Natsu wasn't strong enough to harm him in the state that he was in. Zeref couldn't feel anything, even though Natsu had been giving it his all. Pain was a desire he had longed for forever since being smited, but this one time, he was thankful that he wasn't afflicted by it. If Natsu could have overcome him in his base state, his plan wouldn't have been fruitful.

Natsu growled, before coughing painfully and belching blood over the floor before him. He felt a burning sensation crawl up the inside of his throat, and knew that his dragon force was causing deep ulcers in his system.

Somewhere in his exhausted and confused mental state, he heard another worried cry from Erza, calling out his name. But again, he was too disoriented from his exhaustion to pinpoint the exact location that she was in. He felt as if his four directions had fused. Would looking at Erza fill him with newfound power right now? Or would her worried and hurting expressions make it harder for him to prevail in the situation he was in?

Zeref smirked as he dusted his hands. It was time to initiate his plan.

"That isn't enough, Natsu. You need a greater power to overcome me." He declared. "Looking at your state, that greater power is out of your reach at the moment… but I know how you can call it forth."

Natsu growled at his brother, wondering what he was talking about. Then it hit him. Etherious. Was that Zeref's plan all along? Just thinking of that demon filled Natsu with dread. Why was Zeref so insistent on letting it out? What purpose could he possibly fulfil by fighting the demon?

Whatever the case was, Natsu wasn't letting it out to fight Zeref. He knew he was almost at his limits, but darkness was a place he wouldn't go to, even if he died. He wouldn't fall to that level of desperation. That demon was bad news. He couldn't afford to hurt his friends again under the demon's control.

Zeref knew. "I know you don't want to let Etherious out." He kept his gaze on Natsu as he walked sideways and to a position where he was facing his little brother straight. "But right now, he is the only thing that can save you, and your friends. I am immortal, Natsu. You need Etherious to harm me, if at all."

Natsu exhaled angrily. Somewhere within the frustration that he was going through, there was a semblance of defeat. Defeat not because he was physically exhausted to fight Zeref, but because he knew what Zeref was saying was true. He needed a greater power to fight this battle. But was that greater power Etherious? Or did he have a greater power within himself? If he let out Etherious, would he again lose control of his senses and body?

"NO!" Natsu shouted, facing the floor as he knelt. "I am not letting your demon out. I will fight you using my own power. I can still fight you…"

He exerted as he pushed strength into his arms and legs and tried standing. As soon as he had erected himself halfway, he collapsed on the ground again.

Natsu released a breath through his clenched teeth, and felt his morale spiral as he saw droplets of blood sprinkled with his breath stain the ground before him.

Zeref watched Natsu plainly, and pulled his left sleeve back. The time had come.

Erza focused her eyes on Zeref. Why was he pulling his sleeve back? As his skin was revealed, her question was answered. He was exposing a tattoo made of black ink around his forearm. She narrowed her eyes as she couldn't understand what that was about, until she heard a small gasp from Polyurischia, followed by a similar expression of shock from Levy. She looked at them, and found them intently staring at the tattoo over Zeref's arm, with widened eyes. Erza's heart sank as she knew those expressions of fear and terror weren't good news for Natsu.

"What is it?" She asked Polyurischia. "What's on his arm??"

Polyurischia's mouth hung agape, her lips never to meet to answer Erza's question. Her mind went places, but all those places brought back pictures of doom and terror. Erza then looked at Levy, as she was the only other person that seemed to have understood what the matter was, and was similarly staring shocked and confused at Zeref.

"Levy? What is it? Tell me!" She urged frantically. "What do those marks on his arm mean? Are they runes for a powerful spell? Is Natsu in danger? That writing is Zerefian, right? Can you understand it?"

Levy's lips quivered, and her entire body stood in shock, a testimony to the absurdity of what she was seeing. She could definitely read what was written on his arm, and the information she had received about Zeref's past, his book, and Natsu's reanimation came flooding back to her.

"That's… that's where it was?" She muttered to no one.

Erza narrowed her eyes as Levy's muttering made no sense to her. She stole another glance at Zeref, and then looked back at Levy.

"What are you talking about? Levy, what is that?!"

"It says…" Levy gulped. "It says…. Etherious."

Erza stood silently as she gauged the meaning of what Levy was uttering, but it still made no sense to her. Why would Natsu's other name be scribbled on Zeref's forearm in Zerefian? As soon as that question had hit her mind, the answer to it somehow found a way as well. Zeref had written spells in his book to create his demons, and Natsu—or Etherious, was one of his demons.

Erza looked back at Zeref, who slowly put his right index and middle finger over the engraving over his left arm.

"That means…" She spoke, but in the absolute shock and morbid surprise that enveloped her mind, she couldn't finish that train of speech.

"That means Zeref wrote the spell that created Natsu on his forearm." Polyurischia finished Erza's statement.

Erza's eyes widened. She had already understood what was happening, but Polyurischia saying it out loud maybe put things into perspective for her.

Zeref then shut his eyes as he muttered some words.

Erza watched the scene before her dumbfounded. Why did Zeref write Natsu's reanimation spell on his own body? Was it to keep his brother close to him? Was it because Natsu was special to him? Was it because Natsu was his first demon and he hadn't come up with the idea of a book at that point? Was the reason something much more nefarious?

Zeref quit his muttering, and opened his eyes as he smiled.

"This is my first reanimation spell that I ever wrote, Natsu. It's you. Your true self. The form that you need to defeat me. I couldn't activate it until the first seal within you had been broken. That's why I sent that demon after you, that broke the seal within your left shoulder. Now, your transformation is within my grasp."

Erza kept her anxious gazes dotted on Zeref as her mind slowly came up to the realisation of what Zeref was upto.

"He… he can trigger Natsu's transformation with the writing on his arm… that's what he's doing…" she muttered.

Sooner than the last few words had escaped her lips, the tattoo around Zeref's arm started to glow. A small light surrounded Zeref, and seemed to reach out to Natsu's kneeling form before him.

As she watched, Erza could now place everything in order within her head. She remembered that Zeref had sent those two demons to steal those documents from the citadel of guilds, who Natsu fought off. That's when the first seal within Natsu was broken. How could she forget? It was right after fighting them that Natsu had partially transformed into Etherious–his alternate self. She wondered why Zeref had waited this long to trigger Natsu's transformation. Was it because he needed to be close to Natsu for it to work?

Shivers crawled down her spine, as she realised that she was about to witness Natsu's alternate form again. She remembered the dread and hopelessness that had filled her when she had first witnessed it. And how wouldn't she be afraid? Etherious was doom incarnate. Was she going to meet Etherious again? Was Natsu going to be snatched away from her? Was the demon's control on Natsu going to be even stronger this time?

It wasn't long before Natsu started to feel the effects of Zeref's spell on his body. It began with a horrible bone breaking ache of his entire being, and a putrid feeling of something cursed and impure breaking out of him. Natsu clenched his fists as nausea filled him, scratching the surface of the concrete slab he was resting his hands over. He emanated a low growl as whispers filled his head, and strange sensations took hold of him. It felt as if a million hands and fingers all poked his skin and prodded at his body, and a million tongues spoke cryptic phrases in his ears. His growls turned into a scream that grew louder as the horrible experience seemed to reach a boiling point.

His shrieks of pain and misery were heartbreaking to his friends and colleagues that stood by and watched, knowing that once Etherious broke out of Natsu, the war was over. Zeref had won. It was only a matter of time before they witnessed it. Is this where they all would embrace their ends? Is this where their story finished?

In the darkness before Natsu's shut eyes, morphed faces and figures started moving and dancing. Natsu saw the true face of evil before him. If there was evil in this world, this was it. Ugly colours exploded before him, red, green, pink, brown, violet… the darkest shades of every colour that had ever existed. The colours marched and danced, fading in and out, mixing and matching, creating newer colours that Natsu had never known before. Natsu was spiralling into a dark void whence there was no return. This was it. All his struggles, all his promises, all his battles, his relationships… all came to a halt here. He was about to lose himself to a power so dark and disturbed that there was no chance of him ever returning from that. Never again would he see his friends. Laxus, Gajeel, Gray, Mirajane, Elfman, Cana, Makarov, Gildarts… Never again would he see Erza.

The colours before Natsu all merged together and formed white. A white background. Serene, calm and beautiful. Birds chirped somewhere, and a cool breeze swept up off the white floor. Meadows filled with blooming flowers… clouds, skies, trees, rivers, mountains, valleys…

Somewhere, he heard a faint echo of Zeref's snide and proud voice.

"Soon… Natsu. Soon shall we both meet our fates…"

But Natsu couldn't see him. He looked around, and all he saw was sceneries of beauty and nature. Almost as if that white world resisted Zeref. As if there was no place for Zeref in that bright and illuminated space. Was Natsu already dead? Was he in heaven now? His body felt at peace, and the aching joints that had originated as a result of Zeref's spell subsided slowly. In that peace and quiet, he heard a voice call his name.

"Natsu…"

He stared blankly at nothing as he felt that he recognised that voice.

"Liana…?" Natsu whispered.

He opened his eyes, and suddenly he was back in the guild hall, on his knees, facing down. His tears wet the floor before him. The relieving sensation from that voice was gone, but so was Zeref's control on Natsu. He slowly stood up, watching his hands as confusion filled him. It appeared as if Zeref's magic was kicked out of him by that sensation. What was that powerful experience just now? It couldn't have been Zeref. This sensation in particular was separate from the one that Zeref was exuding. It seemed to counter Zeref's influence, for one. Now it was gone, but had taken Zeref's vile magic along with it.

Zeref watched Natsu stand up. He narrowed his eyes that had been filled with glee until now, and showed confusion for the first time since the duel had begun. He watched the glowing tattoo around his arm turn black again, and knew something was wrong.

"What…?" He mumbled, looking at Natsu, and the brothers exchanged confused glances.

Zeref couldn't understand what was going on. "What's protecting you? What is this power? It's like…. It's like you have a protective aura around you… like a charm. What is this powerful spell?" He asked frantically.

To him, for a moment, it appeared as if Natsu was covered in a brilliant glow that almost seemed to blind Zeref as the latter watched. Zeref brought his hand before his face to protect his eyes from the flash. Then, as soon as he focused his vision over his brother's eyes, particularly his left eye, his arms fell limp to his sides. Horror consumed him as he had a partial answer to why his magic had failed.

"That eye…. Your left eye…. Where did you get it? It's not yours..." Zeref huffed.

Natsu slowly brought his hand to his left eye to feel it. As far as he remembered, his left eye belonged to him. Then it hit him. The recent happenings all fell atop his memory like a wall of bricks. Zeref was correct. That eye didn't actually belong to Natsu.

That eye was… the one that Liana had replaced. She was concerned that as long as the demon's eye still remained in Natsu, he would be at a greater risk of being taken over. Was that replaced eye the reason that Zeref couldn't call forth the demon? Did Liana… protect him somehow? Is that why Natsu had heard her voice just now?

"No…. No…. This can't be it… that eye…. It belongs to…." Zeref muttered as he seemed to be swimming in absolute shock, and swallowed the rest of the sentence before he could finish it.

Natsu's friends watched as their friend straightened himself, while Zeref seemed to be beyond himself with dread. What had just happened? They remembered the last time Natsu had transformed into Etehrious. He didn't look anything like himself. Did the spell fail? What was this eye Zeref was talking about? What was this 'protective aura' that Zeref was going on about that Natsu seemed to have? A lot of questions went unanswered for them. But, somehow, someway, one thing was concrete. Natsu was fine.

Salamander stood silently as he was unaware of what to do next. He was fine. Etherious hadn't been called forth. But he still had no way to fight off Zeref. Zeref was correct. Natsu was too weak to fight him.

Then suddenly, as if a sign from above, he was reminded of something. Just like his eye that was gifted to him by the temple of One that he had just used, he had another gift. From the temple of Ankhseram.

He quickly grabbed at the bandages that covered his left arm, and pulled them off. They slowly fell to the ground, revealing his black shiny arm to everyone. To Zeref.

The Spriggan stared long and hard at that black arm that connected with Natsu's torso at his shoulder. He knew almost immediately that it was prosthetic. When did that happen? How and when did Natsu lose his arm? When was it replaced by… whatever that was? How did Zeref, who had been keeping accurate tabs on his brother for so long, was not made aware of this?

Suddenly, Zeref's breathing fastened. Breath seemed to escape his lungs themselves, and coil in his throat as a deep and impending feeling of doom and defeat set heavy in his chest. What was this feeling? Was it… fear? Was Zeref really still capable of feeling fear? Did he still have a human side left in him? After so many years living as a walking and breathing artefact of a curse by a God, he had not expected that he could feel anything human at all.

With the undesirable fright and shock that that feeling brought him, there was a rush of adrenaline and exhilaration that he hadn't felt yet in a long time. Those were remnants of his human psyche that he realised were still buried somewhere within him, being excavated at that very moment.

But what was bringing them out? Was it that arm? What was so frightening about a prosthetic arm on his brother's body that was causing such an unexpected reaction from him? Then it hit him.

He knew that black shiny material from someplace. He had seen that exact texture before. That shine. That jet black smooth surface. That scent of wetted soil that the arm brought along with it when it was revealed. His words hung stuck in his throat as he tried to speak.

"No… it can't be… Ankhseram? That wax…. It belongs to him…." He muttered, as a feeling of inescapable damnation filled him crown to boot.

His palms started to sweat, and his eyes reddened in wrath and frustration. How could he ever forget about him? Ankhseram was the entity that had cursed him in the first place. That was the god that took peace away from him. The god that destroyed his life. The god that was responsible for abandoning him with an eternity filled with pain, thirst, hunger and fear. That was the god that punished him just because he wanted to bring his dear brother back to life. He was responsible for all his sufferings, present and past.

And now that God was infecting his brother? His own blood? His own creation?

The gathered mages that watched Natsu reveal his arm from under the bandages gasped in shock and curiosity. They had all known that Natsu's arm had been replaced with a prosthetic one after he had managed to subdue that demon that had taken hold of him, or the demon that was his alternate form, as they now knew better. But in the heat of the war and battle, they had completely forgotten about it.

Now it all made sense. They all now knew why Zeref was so angry and frightened. Ankhseram held special power over Zeref. Ankhseram was the source of all of his twisted powers and abilities, but Ankhseram would be the one responsible for taking it all away as well. Ankhseram was the only being that Zeref was said to be afraid of. Thus his reaction at the moment.

Fate was a fiendish entity indeed. Not only had it placed brother against brother, blood against blood, and put on display their battle whose roots had originated since ancient times, but it also had provided each of the brothers with powers and abilities from the same one God–Ankhseram. Was that God himself behind this peculiar thread of destiny?

Levy watched Natsu's arm, and repeated something that she remembered reading in Ankhseram's temple.

"The Spriggan did as he pleased, but farther he was from his whims, as thence descended the Black God and put upon him a curse terrible. As long as the Spriggan lived, forever he shall be weak to the one that held the will of the Black God in his hands."

Natsu was the one that held that will of Ankhseram now.

Zeref breathed heavily, so heavy in fact, that his chest rose and sank visibly. His mouth frothed red with blood as a horrible look pierced his until now youthful and handsome facade that was plenty to strike fear into the toughest of warriors. He looked no different than the creatures from his book at that moment.

In a hoarse and deep voice, the older Dragneel brother growled and cursed the Black God. "First… you took away my home…. My family… you took away Mavis from me… you took away every chance of redemption I had left… you took my peace and pleasure..."

Zeref then exclaimed in a voice that was difficult to comprehend considering how inhuman it sounded. "And then… you took my brother away from me for a third time?"

His fingers twitched as a magnitude of rage that he hadn't felt in a long time filled him. Black magic started to swirl around him, and lifted rocks and rubble off the floor and thrust them around. The ground began to quake, and a horrible feeling of heaviness and suffocation filled the air.

The mages that watched were forced to cover their faces as debris filled the air, and some of them tumbled to the ground as the floor shook under the infinitely horrible and potent aura that Zeref's anger was exuding.

Erza kept her eyes open and had them fixed on Natsu for as long as she could, even though strong gusts of wind and all kinds of debris were flying towards her with enormous force. She didn't want to let Natsu out of her sight for even a second. She didn't want to lose him. She didn't want him to go away from her for even a small moment. But when the poisoned winds and darkness that were being expelled out of Zeref got too much to bear, even Erza's determination was forced to submit, and she shut her eyes and faced away.

Natsu clenched his left fist, knowing that there would be no better chance than right now to strike at Zeref. His brother was seeming to have lost all touch with reality at the moment, having been completely pushed to the brink of madness. Who once was a simple man that loved Natsu to no extent was gone, and what was left was a tortured and punished shell that was better off finished and be liberated from his eternally painful curse. Natsu pushed magic through his black arm, and expelled black flames through it. He cloaked his entire left arm in black flames, and dashed towards Zeref. The latter was distracted by his rage towards the world, and towards Ankhseram. Natsu jumped across platforms that rose up off the ground due to Zeref's magic, dodged massive pieces of boulders that were flung at him, and finally ended with his arm rocketing through Zeref's chest.

He had expected to feel some resistance when striking Zeref, but was awed and shocked when his arm felt like it had passed right through the resistance like a hot knife through butter. He opened his eyes and looked at what his arm was passing through, and felt a mixture of joy and dread when he realised that he had pierced Zeref's body and managed to impale him with his black arm. Zeref coughed out blood all over Natsu, and then there was silence.

The disorder and chaos inside the guildhall suddenly came to a halt. Zeref's incensed scream that had been going on throughout the entire event had ceased as well, and silence filled the air, only interrupted by the noises of a few pieces of rubble that fell to the ground. The mages kept their faces covered as smaller pieces of debris still hit them. Soon, they slowly opened their eyes.

Other than a variedly and immensely destroyed and uprooted guildhall before them, with the ceiling and the walls collapsing even as they watched, nothing else was of note.

Erza slowly stood straight, and walked a few steps ahead, scanning the surroundings for Natsu, but finding nothing at the spot where she had last seen the two brothers standing.

She desperately looked around, hoping to find any semblance of one of them, but nothing was witnessed by her tired and weary eyes.

"...N-Natsu?"

Liana looked up from her rosary as a strong gust of wind filed into the temple. The shrine was built at the very top of the mountain, and rain and lightning filled the air outside. The gust of wind had managed to extinguish all but one candle that was lit before her. She looked up at the statue of her goddess, One, half of it obscured in the darkness, rainwater dripping from the marble architecture.

She stood up, and pinched the candle before her with her fingers, putting it out as well.

"It's time…" she said, her voice quivering.

She quietly lay herself on the altar before her. Tears filled her eyes and seeped down the side of her face onto the marble platform of the altar. Fishing in her robes, she brought out a blade. With shaky hands, she pressed the tip of it against her chest.

Long had she awaited this moment, preparing, readying herself, and yet, she felt as if she wasn't strong enough. But choices before her eyes had dwindled to nothing but this. This was the way. This was the path. This was the plan. She gripped the wet hilt of the blade with both her hands to stabilise her shaky hold.

As another blast of lightning and thunder raked the sky, she pushed the cold metal into her heart.

Tears and blood flowed out of her being, and stained her white robes and the white marble under her. In her final moments, all she held before the quickly extinguishing vision in her eyes was…

"Natsu…" she muttered. "Wait for me…"