A pillar of fire and stars.
The first thing that greeted the dragon slayers when they got to Earthland was a rapid pillar of fire and stars. Luckily, they were all able to dodge quickly and the six of them stood atop different roofs of destroyed houses. Looking around, none of the others seem to be around and they could only assume that they were with Usami and Ushin at the moment. From the looks of the sky, it had only just passed midday on Earthland and lucky for them, Lucy and the twins hadn't left Crocus yet.
Lucy's roar soon dispersed and when the dragon slayers turned to the direction in which the roar came from, they could sense her aura and smell her scent not too far from them. They were unsure whether she had sensed or even noticed their presence, but if they wanted to have the advantage, they would have to get moving before Lucy got to them first. With that in mind, they all nodded to one another and began moving quickly. Jumping off the roofs they stood on and ran towards Lucy, following the sound of her roar.
Hearing the approaching threat, Lucy's whited out eyes turned to face the direction of the dragon slayers. Before the group of mages exited the portal, Usami and Ushin had commanded her to kill and destroy anything that would dare try to get in her way. The destruction and busts of magic she let out serving as a signal to Acnologia, whom they know would not allow dragons except himself to roam the world. They didn't care if the chaos dragon knew what Lucy was, what mattered was that he came.
Heeding her master's orders, Lucy's eyes squinted as she saw the small dots that was the dragon slayers' bodies and opened her mouth. This time, iron and shadow gathered as she let out an Iron Shadow Dragon's Roar. Natsu, Sting, Laxus and Wendy ducked for cover while Gajeel and Rogue recognized their own elements in her attack. They stood their ground and began to take a deep breath. Lucy's roar splitting into two a couple of meters away while the two took in their own element.
When the golden dragon realized that her attack hadn't made a hit, she closed her mouth. Once the coast was clear, the four other dragon slayers came out of hiding. They smirked towards Gajeel and Rogue while watching them have one tasty looking meal from the looks of it. The roar dispersing as the iron and shadow dragon slayers wiped their mouth in satisfaction for the meal. The taste of the shadows and iron fitting their taste buds.
"Now that's what I call some iron." Gajeel said as he let out a little burp.
"Dude, it looks like you just had the best meal of your life." Sting said as he slapped Rogue on the back.
"I basically did." Rogue simply replied.
"You guys say that, but her fire is definitely the tastiest." Natsu declared.
"I know you just ate her roar, but it does sound like you just ate her spit or something." Wendy said, sweatdropping.
"Please don't say it like that, Wendy." Laxus said, a nauseous look appearing on his face.
The six were soon brought out of their joking atmosphere when another roar came from Lucy. They stared towards her with narrowed eyes, the ground shaking which meant that she was moving. Moving towards them. If they allow Lucy to get to them, it'll be all over. They had to get the upper hand on her. They had to tackle her together before she got the chance to roar at them at such close range. After all, she had the power of eleven elements to her will.
Yes, the six of them could counter her whenever she used one of their respective elements and somehow cancel the attack. But that would also use up a lot of magic power, it would even be a miracle if they were to come out of a counterattack with just a few bruises. Wendy was there to help them, but she could only heal a finite amount of times. And though Lucy's mind has been locked away, that doesn't mean her instincts as a dragon are gone. She could just stick to using a different element altogether. It was too risky for them.
Another explosion could be heard from Domus Flau. The dragon slayers turned to see ice, floating swords, dark blasts, rock pillars, wind and celestial magic in between each explosion. It was obvious that the others were fighting Usami and Ushin there, and they were fighting hard. It's up to them to make sure that they do the same. It wasn't just the everyone else counting on them... Lucy, somewhere deep in the darkness, was also counting on them.
They began to run again, hearing the Dragon Empress roar one final time before raising her wings high. Natsu had thought that she was going to take flight, but to his surprise, Lucy brought down her wings sharply which caused a large burst of air to go through the area like a wave. The six took cover behind some destroyed rubble, revealing themselves when they heard a battle cry and a cry of pain from Lucy. Natsu's eyes widened in surprise as he looked from his hiding spot to see someone punch Lucy on the cheek.
"Like I'm just going to let you blow me away like that, you overgrown lizard!"
Wendy's eyes widened upon hearing his voice and also peeked from her hiding spot, seeing Cobra cast a Poison Dragon's Sharp Horn on Lucy. The maroon haired criminal then jumped away from the golden dragon, casting a Poison Dragon's Roar which Lucy just blocked with her wing alone. It made sense that the poison didn't affect her, she was Lunaria's student after all. Once his spell was done, Lucy attempted to stomp on him using her foot but Cobra just dodged and stood atop a destroyed building.
"Cobra's still here!?" Natsu exclaimed, the poison dragon slayer smirking as he could hear him.
"Hey Natsu!" He called as loud as he could so that the dragon slayers could hear him. "I found this guy a couple of hours ago! Seems like it didn't come from the Eclipse like those other dragons from before! Help me slay this one, will ya!?"
"Cobra, don't you dare kill her! Ya hear me!" Natsu cried back as he began speeding towards Lucy and the seventh slayer using his fire.
"Not like he could've on his own anyway." Laxus muttered as he ran.
Gajeel had heard him and nodded. "Got that right."
When the six met up with Cobra, Lucy growled as she surrounded her fist with water and lightning, raising it so that it was levelled with her head. Even without knowing the attack she was casting, it was obvious that it would cause harsh injuries. Laxus could attempt to withstand the lightning, but if he were to get mixed up in that water, he would still be electrocuted as the result. Wendy then used her magic to bring seven of them into the air, dodging Lucy's attack.
Once her attack vanished, Cobra looked to Natsu with a raised eyebrow. "Her? What the heck are you talking about?"
"Listen Cobra, that isn't just some plain old dragon!" The fire dragon said, pointing to Lucy. "That's Lucy and I'm sure you heard her announce just who she is when those other dragons came to help out."
"You're telling me that this mad, insane, golden dragon, is the Athena and so-called Dragon Empress?" The maroon haired man asked with a tone of sarcasm.
"Well when you say it like that..." Wendy replied as her voice trailed off.
Lucy took their lack of movement as a chance to attack and stomped her foot to the ground again, using her nature dragon magic to cause vines to grow rapidly towards the seven dragon slayers. Gajeel began to slice them with his Iron Dragon's Sword while Laxus tried to keep many paralyzed by electrocuting them. Sting and Rogue slashing away at the growing vines so that they do not touch their bodies. The golden dragon just stomping the ground again to throw them off balance and out of concentration.
"Listen, whether you believe it or not, that dragon is Lucy and I'm not going to let you slay her! Understand!?" Natsu said in a harsh tone as he regained his footing. "She's being controlled by some crazy twins and we're going to distract her while the others defeat those crazy twins so that she can get back to her senses!"
"No matter what, we have to make sure that the Athena stays put here!" Sting shouted.
"If she flies off, it's over for Earthland as we know it and everything will be destroyed!" Rogue added.
"Sounds to me that killing her would be so much easier..." Cobra mumbled, which Natsu unfortunately heard.
The fire dragon slayer grew hostile and grabbed the poison dragon slayer by the collar of his shirt and pulled him close, threateningly. "Though I know you can't slay her, try to and I will make sure you pay once this is over... got me?"
Wendy, Gajeel, Laxus, Sting and Rogue were shock by Natsu's words. They had never heard him sound so terrifying in any of their lives, in fact it was just way too out of character for him. Cobra could even feel a chill down his spine as he watched Natsu's fire surround them, burning Lucy's vines from the extreme heat so that they couldn't reach them. He was serious. No doubt about that. And knowing Natsu's strength, he would definitely be left running for his money.
The poison dragon slayer raised his hands in defeat and understanding, nodding as Natsu's grip on his shirt loosened, the pink headed slayer letting out a sigh as he turned to Lucy's dragon body yet again. Channeling his fire to his feet, Natsu jumped away from the others and practically flew over Lucy's head, the golden dragon's anger rising as he landed on her back. Lucy would've taken flight in order to get him off, but was interrupted when Laxus and Wendy came at her at rapid speed.
They both attacked her with a Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist and a Sky Dragon's Wing Attack, the golden dragon raising her arm to block the attacks from harming her. When Laxus realized their attacks proved useless, his eyes widened as Lucy just pushed him away with great force, his body colliding with a bunch of rubble that would definitely leave a bruise somewhere. She let out a cry again, pulling her head back as fire and celestial magic gathered at her teeth. Natsu's eyes widening as he peeked from behind her neck.
"Duck for cover! She's going to roar!" He yelled as the other nodded and ran for their lives.
When the pink headed dragon slayer realized that the others wouldn't be able to hide in time, he looked down at his palm and turned it into a fist, gnashing his teeth as he realized there was no way for him to not attack Lucy. As much as he didn't want to hurt her in any way, Natsu had no choice if he wanted to bring her back. When this was all over, he was sure to apologize to Lucy about attacking her. Though, he had a feeling his blonde partner would be the one apologizing like hell.
"Sorry Luce... Hopefully this won't leave a bad bruise on your back." He thought as he lit both of his fists on fire in order to create two large fireballs and then jumped in the air so that he could have some range in order for his spell to have great affect on Lucy's dragon body. "Fire Dragon's... Brilliant Flame!"
"How dare you!"
Meanwhile, with Gray and the others, they weren't exactly faring well against Usami and Ushin. In fact, the mages were quite annoyed at the fact that Usami seemed to be the back up of Ushin, even though their main target was the silver haired woman. When they found themselves at the arena, the first thing the group of seven heard was the twins' insane laughter and then suddenly vines of thorns rose from the ground, nearly impaling their bodies if they hadn't dodged.
Erza then requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor, Yukino summoning Cancer (though Lucy's spirits all agreed this was just a temporary thing, Lucy was still their master) and Kagura using her sheathed sword to slice the vines. Mira then transformed into her Satan Soul while Lyon and Gray got into their positions. Jura standing in the back to sense any incoming spells. Fairy Tail had already relayed the twins' information that Future Lucy gave them, so there was no room for underestimating the villains.
Unfortunately for them, Usami and Ushin got the surprise on them as the blue violet headed man shot out two of his chained sickles from a far range. Luckily for the mages, Jura was able to block it with one of his rock pillars while the twins dropped down from wherever they were hiding and landed at top the elongated piece of earth. Yet, before the could gloat or taunt, Erza took the opportunity to shoot two swords their way and dash straight for the twins behind her swords.
This resulted with the both of them just barely dodging at the sudden swords and Erza, the blades cutting off a piece of the silver headed woman. She outwardly cursed at the scarlet haired mage and brought forth more throned vines to rise from the ground, beckoning them to get in Erza's way to block her swords. But the S-Class mage just summoned a few more swords before instantly slicing the vines and thorns apart.
Then, once the arena was clear, Gray and Lyon took this as their turn to cast an Ice Make Lancer and Ice Make Eagle attack to separate the twins. Gray's lances heading straight for Ushin while Lyon's eagles went straight for Usami. The blue violet headed man jumped back as he held his sickle tightly and sliced Gray's lances and his sister jumping back after summoning her vines to block the path of the ice eagles. The others taking this as their chance to divide and conquer.
"They're separated!" Mira announced as the group got into their respective groups like they had planned with Arhad and Ava. "Four to Usami, the rest with Ushin! Let's go!"
Erza, Jura, Mira and Kagura went straight for the angered woman while Gray, Yukino and Lyon surrounded Ushin. The brunette swordswoman dashing straight for Usami with her sword still in its sheath. But Usami just dodged quickly, countering by sending a kick to Kagura's left cheek. And since the both of them were from the future, their power was something else, which sent Kagura skidding back while the other three ran forward to clash. Mira sending a dark blast to her foe.
Yukino had summoned Loke and Pisces, they were to be back up while Gray and Lyon battled Ushin up front. They seemed to be faring well against him (in comparison to Usami, Ushin's brashness resembled a certain pink headed dragon slayer enough for Gray to predict his moves to a certain extent) but Yukino couldn't help but wish she could do more. Though she is fully aware of Lucy's true power as the Dragon Empress now, she couldn't help but think about how strong Lucy was with just her celestial spirits alone.
But before she could dwell on how inexperienced she was at the moment, Yukino snapped herself out of her self-pity. She was not about to allow herself to wallow in sadness about how she should be more like Lucy. The blonde herself had told her that it didn't matter on how much of a superior celestial mage one was, what mattered was how one treats their spirits. The bond Yukino had with her spirits was the same as Lucy... and that was enough for her to get stronger.
The celestial mage nodded to herself and lent a little bit more of her power to Loke and Pisces, that way they could keep up after Gray and Lyon attack so that they could create some opening for the two ice mages. "That's right... so long as I have my spirits next to me... I will get stronger!" Yukino thought with determination coursing through her veins. "Let's go! Leo! Pisces!"
"Roger!" The two spirits replied as Loke ran forward after Lyon fell back to catch his breath, jumping above Ushin to land a Regulus Kick on his back. Pisces turning into their human forms and striking Ushin with a strong water attack.
"Right behind you!" Lyon shouted as he casted an Ice Make Dragon.
Gray smirked as the water attack got him an opening. Though Juvia is more persistent about them getting into a relationship, more times than one did Gray admit that his and her magic were quite compatible. Thus, he could use any water related spell to his advantage. When Pisces casted another water spell, similar to that of Juvia's Water Nebula attack, the raven haired man brought his hands together and got into his stance. Taking a breath before casting his spell.
"Ice Make... Ice Wave!"
The stream of water began to freeze into solid ice, and while Ushin was distracted by the raining water hitting him at a rapid speed, his eyes widened as his whole body was trapped with thick solid ice. He couldn't even move his wrist so that he could use his chains and sickle to somehow chop the ice off of him. Also... he couldn't even deny it, but the ice was definitely making his temperature drop slowly. Though it wasn't the time to think of such thoughts, he dreaded the idea of having a cold when the fight was over.
Back with Usami, the silver haired girl was becoming quite annoyed by the fact that she had the unfair advantage against her opponents. She knew what they were trying to do after all. It was plainly obvious. Once they defeat her and Ushin, Lucy would go back to normal and there goes their plan to take over Earthland. But she was not about to let that happen. She would rather die that allow their plan to go to waste. Not after all their hard work. It wasn't like they could go back in time again. Future Lucy had been their ride.
After being blocked by Jura, attacked by Kagura, her thorns sliced by Erza and nearly being blown to bits by Mira, Usami thought it was best not waste even more energy in this pointless fight. Considering that her own twin brother is currently being frozen in ice, she didn't want to wait until these pesky mages were defeated to commence their conquer over the world. So, she summoned as many vines of thorns as she could, creating a thick forest of vines to throw the mages off.
Once that was dealt with, she took Ushin's sickle and sliced off the ice holding his body with ease, the blue violet headed man grateful to his twin from preventing a cold to settle in his system. Ushin took Usami by the hand and threw a chain through a clearing of the thorny vines and brought them to a high place. While the group of seven sliced the thorns at a rapid rate, Usami quickly used her magic to summon Lucy. Raising her hand high above her head whilst looking to the sky.
"Dragon Empress come to me!" She called in a loud voice for Lucy and the dragon slayers to hear. "Regardless if a pesky flea is on you or not, that's enough play time! Take flight and eliminate those dragon slayers now!"
The mages and the dragon slayers all gasped as Lucy's roar could be heard where she stood, the golden dragon spreading its wings out wide. With one straight motion, Lucy flapped her wings downward and brought herself in the air, the gust of wind that followed her wing movements blowing the slayers away. Natsu, who had literally been on her back fighting, stumbled with the sudden movement and fell off of Lucy before landing hard on the remains of a broken house.
Gajeel, Laxus, Sting, Rogue and Cobra gnashed their teeth in annoyance and disappointment, Wendy was just straight disappointed at the fact their plan was failing, as they watched Lucy roar loudly. Likely to be announcing the short countdown to absolute destruction made by the same girl who would do anything to keep her nakama safe. The irony with it all was just terrible. No matter what the dragon slayers did, the control Usami had on Lucy did not falter even once.
When Natsu recovered from his fall, he rubbed his head in pain before looking up at Lucy with desperate eyes and gnashed teeth. He refused to accept the situation. He wanted for just one sign that Lucy was still in there, fighting to be freed from her mind prison. No... he believed that Lucy was still fighting for her freedom. The fire dragon slayer still refused to accept the fact that he would have no choice but to use Dragon's Redemption in order to stop Lucy from destroying what she tried so hard to protect. Their home.
He clenched his fists, his body shaking as he shook his head in refusal. A stream of tears falling from his face, evident of his denial. "I don't believe this..." He muttered before looking up at Lucy's blank dragon eyes in desperation and determination. "YA HEAR ME LUCE!? I KNOW YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN UP YET, SO I AIN'T GIVING UP EITHER! SO HURRY UP AND COME HOME!"