And finally back with another chapter with our favorite bunch of mages!
Thankfully writing this one didn't give us too much trouble, it just took a bit of time to release because we'd get interrupted a lot, but it's done now, so enjoy!
"Hey, I found something. Think this'll help?" Lucy said as she picked up something that had been stuck in a nearby tree, the group having been searching for clues to where the Gore Magala might be. The item in question was revealed to be what looked like a scale, a black colored one at that…and one that seemed almost powdery too.
"I think you might have found something, yeah," Will mused, noticing the black bits. "Careful not to breathe any of that stuff in. Not sure how much it'll take to get the Frenzy Virus, but better safe than sorry."
"Right. Still…I don't see any other scales like this. How can we use this to help us find the monster?" Lucy frowned.
"Not a problem!" Natsu grinned as he went over to her, and before she could stop him, started sniffing the scale.
"Oh for the love of-." Marcus deadpanned as he palmed his face.
"Fucking idiot I swear." William added with a sigh.
"Is… is he for real? Even after the warning you guys gave him?" Kyle asked, blinking several times… and then blinked again when Natsu didn't seem to be affected as he pulled back and hummed "He's fine too?!"
"Well… either the pollen or whatever it is on the scale was too little… or… you know what they say about idiots." Saito said with a dry laugh.
"Ah… yeah that could make sense actually." Tony sweatdropped.
"What do they say about idiots?" Happy asked with a clueless tilt of his head.
"Nothing important." Lucy said with a sigh.
Natsu hummed, sniffing the air, before he grinned after a bit.
"You found it?" Erza asked, somehow having remained calm through it all.
"Think so yeah." Natsu said with a grin, before he started running on ahead.
The group was quick to follow him as he kept using his nose to guide them, until they saw…
"Well, that's not the Gore." Marcus said, peeking out from behind a rock as he watched a Rathalos wildly attacking some animals and tearing them apart.
"That Rathalos has a serious temper," Gray frowned.
"No, take a look at its mouth," Saito said, and the group did so, noticing the black 'breath' coming out of its mouth.
"This Rathalos is infected with the Frenzy Virus," Will frowned. "It won't let us just pass by if it sees us."
"So either we avoid it completely or we fight it now," Louise frowned. "Which should we do?" she asked, seeing as there was no guarantee they wouldn't encounter it again later.
"Fight it now." Marcus said "We need to take down all infected monsters we see on the spot. Letting them get away could potentially be bad."
"Can the infection spread from one monster to another?" Kyle asked in worry.
"I don't know, but I don't feel like finding out." Marcus shot back, already preparing his driver.
"Let's make this quick then. The last thing we need is an Apex potentially happening," Will agreed, readying his own driver.
"Welp, guess we're officially Monster Hunters today," Tony shrugged as he got his driver ready as well, all three of them transforming with a 'Henshin!'.
The group didn't waste time and got out of cover, the Rathalos seeing them and immediately letting out a roar which made Saito, Louise, Lucy, and Happy recoil from the volume, while the others managed to stand their ground. Good thing too as the Rathalos didn't hesitate to shoot a fireball at them.
"DEFEND, PLEASE!"
The barrier quickly came up, stopping the attack from the Rathalos as Wizard had quickly scanned his Ring. However, even with the fireball stopped, the Rathalos quickly took to the air, already fully aggressive.
The Rathalos knew what it wanted to do, it was going to show all why it was the king of the sk-
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Wizard said, having quickly switched to the Bind ring…the chains now wrapped around the Rathalos's legs…and the three Riders were grabbing on to the chain.
"As a certain ninja would say…GET OVER HERE!" Rouki said as the three pulled, the Rathalos finding itself abruptly grounded and…oh hey, it was surrounded by a group of mages who already had their magic ready.
One completely one sided beat down later…
"Welp… it's dead for sure." Kyle said, his hand still sparking a bit after he'd made sure to spear some lightning into the Rathalos's heart and fry it from the inside.
"That's one down then. Just need to find the Deviljho and Gore Magala to be sure… also, who's good at harvesting parts here?" Wizard asked.
"I do it regularly myself." Erza said, already moving to the corpse and starting to inspect it for anything she could take from it, before she suddenly chopped off the head of the dead Rathalos and started cutting it up further.
Rouki was staring at her for a moment, before he leaned over to Beast "Is it just me or is that kind of hot?" he whispered to his fellow rider.
"Man you're really down atrocious for her aren't you?" Beast deadpanned at him.
"When I know what I want, I go for it…within reason," Rouki chuckled.
"So basically its gonna take her actually saying no or being spoken for before you give up?" Lucy asked as she leaned in close.
"Pretty much." the rider nodded.
Lucy hummed at that, looking at Erza "Well… I'll try and help you out… especially because I kind of want to know if being confessed to could fluster her." she added with a grin.
"Reasons aside, thanks for the help," Rouki said a bit bashfully.
"Though since we're on the topic of crushes…" Beast trailed off, deliberately looking over at Kyle who'd started to help Erza strip the Rathalos of parts.
"Ah, yeah… I'm gonna give him a chance." Lucy said with a smile "He seems nice enough honestly, so why not?"
"Well, hope it works out for both of you then," Rouki said encouragingly.
"I'm done." came Erza's voice.
"Oh, that wasn't- Wait what the hell?!" Beast said in shock as he turned to look at Erza… wearing a full Rathalos armor (specifically the Rathalos S Armor for blademasters) set "Since when did you have that?!"
Erza blinked "Since just now actually."
"You made a freaking armor set in just a couple of minutes?! How the hell?!" Beast asked incredulously.
"Having to repeatedly go to the Blacksmith would take too long, so I learned how to use my magic to expedite the process," Erza shrugged. "As long as I have the right materials, it's easy enough to do by now." she explained as the materials in front of her started to float up as she held a hand out, taking one a new shape until she was holding a Red Wing Greatsword.
"...well, that definitely gives you extra benefits from hunting monsters," Beast blinked.
"Explains why she goes on so many of those jobs," Saito commented from where he'd seen that happen.
With that little distraction done, the group continued onward, Natsu once again using his nose to try and lead them to where the Gore Magala was. The whole time the group was on guard, ready in case any more Frenzied Monsters were to show up, but thankfully nothing so far. In fact, it was arguably MORE creepy that there was nothing, as if everything alive had ran away within the area.
"It's really freaky… you'd think we'd come across some smaller monsters at least." Louise said with a frown.
"Considering there's a Deviljho around, the other monsters probably ran away from their self-preservation instincts kicking in." Kyle said thoughtfully, before pausing when they heard a pair of roars further up ahead "Something tells me we're nearby."
"We might be about to face two at the same time from the sounds of it." Saito said with a frown "Anybody got any plans?"
"Well, we COULD just let them fight it out if they're facing each other, attack whichever one remains." Marcus said with a shrug.
"Too risky right now." Kyle said "They could cave in the mines below us, or cause an avalanche from the mountains above if they get too rowdy."
"...okay, so we HAVE to stop them," Lucy gulped. "Any suggestions on how to fight them? I've literally never fought anything worse than Ghouls at this point."
"Well, for a Deviljho, don't get pinned down. You do NOT want that spit to get on you," Kyle said with a wince.
"Does it actually…?" Lucy gulped.
"Yes," Erza said without hesitation. "I've had to replace an armor or two because of those," she admitted.
"Okay…so what about the Gore?" Lucy asked, dreading what a Juvenile Elder Dragon would bring to the table.
"Well, you know about the Frenzy Virus, but the thing is the stuff it uses to spread it is just incidentally spreading it. What they're really for is to give it a form of echolocation. Once its spread enough of it…it'll be able to clearly 'see' its surroundings and well…that's when it gets pretty aggressive. Good news though, there's a pretty easy tell. It'll unfurl a pair of feelers on its head which look weirdly like horns. When that happens, break them to force it back to its previous state," Will explained.
"So, hit its head hard when the horns come out, got it." Natsu said seriously.
"Well, since flamebrain will probably be focusing on the Gore a lot, I guess I'll go for the Deviljho… is that thing even weak to cold though?" Gray wondered.
"Eeenope. Least effective thing against one even." Kyle said, scratching his head a bit as he chuckled awkwardly "It'd actually be best for me to focus on the Deviljho while pinky there focuses on the Gore from the sounds of it. And you can support from afar since…"
"They'd probably fuck me up." Gray sighed. "Fine, guess I've got no choice. At least I can make long range stuff with my Ice Make." he said… while taking off his coat, before Rouki elbowed him and he pulled it back on in annoyance.
"Long range support would be really helpful actually. Seriously a Gore and a Deviljho. Most people probably wouldn't survive that kind of combo," Saito sighed.
"Well, no point complaining I guess," Rouki sighed. "Let's get going."
The source of the roars got closer and closer till eventually they found the source. In a clearing, one one side stood the massive, t-rex like form of a Deviljho, purple mist coming from it's mouth as it roared, clearly under the effects of the frenzy virus, and standing across from it, roaring as well, was the dragonic, black scaled shape of the Gore Magala.
"There they are," Saito whispered from where they were standing, the monsters having not noticed them yet.
"Then let's get them now! I've been waiting for this!" Natsu grinned, before he charged straight at Gore Magala, quite literally fired up.
As expected, his little shout drew the attention of both monsters…who proceeded to roar at the sight of them.
"I swear to Mashima this guy's a dumbass." Wizard muttered, shaking his head in annoyance.
"Nothing to do but work with the momentum he's started," Beast sighed as true enough, despite the roars, Natsu managed to reach the Gore Magala first and hit it with a flaming kick, knocking it back a bit.
"In that case…" Kyle said, standing up and breathing in deeply, before letting loose a loud roar "Lightning Devil's Rage!" he shouted out as he fired a large ball of dark pink electricity at the Deviljho, hitting it right in the face.
The two of them quickly continued their attacks, forcing the two monsters away from each other…though neither monster was willing to be handled that way for long, evident by their counter attacks. The Deviljho swung its large trunk-like tail, forcing Kyle to block…but with its size he was still sent flying, the Deviljho soon running after him, clearly not happy to stop at just that. Similarly, Natsu was forced to dodge when the Gore Magala countered with its breath attack, the fire dragon slayer evading most of them, but one was fired a bit faster than the others, causing him to take one to the face, causing him to tumble back.
"You guys ok?" Happy asked from up in the air.
"Mostly." Kyle said, shaking his head a bit.
Natsu coughed a bit, considering his face looked a little singed, but he soon grinned "Just fine buddy!"
"Starting to think what they say about idiots applies," Saito sweat dropped.
"Okay, what IS that saying?" Louise asked, looking a little annoyed.
"Idiots can't get sick," Saito said simply, deciding it was better to just tell her rather than her hounding him later.
Louise blinked, looked at Natsu who literally had the supposedly deadly pollen around him and seemed perfectly fine. "...I find myself believing that," she said dryly.
"Putting that aside, everyone into position!" Wizard said as he charged straight for the Gore Magala.
"Well, we have a job to do," Gray shrugged, quickly creating a couple of launchers which he quickly started aiming at the monsters, firing when nobody was in the line of fire.
"Time to try this on now then." Beast said, holding up a brand new ring, the image on it yellow in color, featuring a lightning bolt "Thanks for that lightning earlier Kyle." he muttered a bit, looking over at the devil slayer before he slid the ring on his finger before he inserted it into his belt.
"THUNDER, GO! SH-SH-SHOCK!"
As he held his arm out, a magic circle appeared, passing over his arm, leaving a yellow mantle with an electricity like pattern on the fabric covering his arm, before he decided to add the Chameleo Mantle on his other shoulder as well.
"You're going to deal with us till the others are done!" Beast growled, raining electricity on the Gore which roared in anger.
"Stick to the plan! We'll keep this thing pinned down till the Deviljho is beaten, and then we'll finish it off!" Wizard said.
"Or we can just kick its ass now!" Natsu added as he slammed a flaming fist into the Gore.
"We could, but we HAVE to make sure this thing is dead. Anything less and we might just be setting up for an even BIGGER problem!" Wizard shot back, opening fire with his gun, before quickly using Defend to block an attack from the Gore, before they immediately returned fire.
Meanwhile, with the Deviljho the others had joined in on the attack…in various ways. Surprisingly Lucy found one of the most useful ways to help.
"I legit forgot Virgo is great for making pitfall traps like crazy," Saito sweat dropped as the Deviljho was struggling to get out of yet ANOTHER pitfall that Virgo had made under Lucy's command.
"I'm just glad I REMEMBERED I heard somewhere that pitfalls were a common trap in hunting monsters," Lucy sighed.
"Brains and beauty huh? That's just lovely." Kyle said with a grin.
"Yeah, I'm just awesome, aren't I?" Lucy grinned, happily accepting the praise.
"Lucy's getting a big head!" Happy chuckled as he floated overhead.
"Nobody asked you!" Lucy shot off, right as the sound of the Deviljho breaking free from the pitfall was heard, to which it was promptly knocked aside by a hammer to the face courtesy of Erza.
"Stay focused! This isn't an enemy you want to turn your backs to!" she ordered.
"Don't need to tell us twice!" Saito and Louise shouted as Louise fired a spell at the Deviljho, knocking it back further…right into another pitfall trap.
"You've gotten faster at explosions." Saito said with a bit of a grin.
"It's the easiest spell to practice since I just need to focus on my old magic type without even saying a word." Louise admitted with a shrug "Anyway, time to bombard it. Etativel!" she said before she started to fly up overhead and fired more explosions down onto the Deviljho.
Saito laughed nervously "Man she's scary sometimes." he said, before he grinned "But she's not the only one who's gotten better." he said as a pair of swords appeared in his hands, before he started to blitz around the monster, slashing at it and avoiding it's bite.
"I get the feeling these two have been practicing plenty," Rouki mused before he summoned up the Roulette Lance and spun it's wheel quickly.
"BLAZE! LANCE STRIKE!"
"Alright, let's turn up the heat!" Rouki grinned, before charging in with his lance while it was set ablaze.
The Deviljho saw him coming and with a snarl dark red energy built up in its mouth which it fired at him, however Rouki didn't stop and holding his lance forward he charged right into the attack, his lance struggling but ultimately pushing through the powerful attack. He grunted as he kept pushing through slowly regaining momentum before eventually breakin through, hitting the Deviljho squarely in the jaw, causing it to roar in pain as its ensuing struggles managed to free it from the pit trap it was in. Even so, it quickly got back up and glared angrily at them.
"This thing isn't going down!" Lucy gasped. She'd heard Deviljhos were durable but this was nuts.
"We need something to put it down once and for all," Kyle frowned. "Alright, step back everyone. I'm gonna go all out and I'd hate for you all to get caught in the new crater that's gonna be here!"
"Wait what?!" was the general reaction coming from Lucy, Louise, and Saito.
"Actually I think I might have something that'll work better and not completely tire one of us out," Gray spoke up.
"Oh… well I wanted to be epic but fair enough." Kyle said with a shrug. "What you got in mind?"
"One Dragonator coming up. I just need everyone to hold it in place till I'm ready," Gray said as he began the process of this Ice-Make. He had to make sure the ice was VERY sturdy if he wanted to get the effect he was aiming for.
"Alright, leave the Deviljho to us," Erza nodded as she hefted the hammer she was using and leaped into the air. The Deviljho was ready to move…but promptly found itself in another pitfall that Virgo just dug right underneath it, causing it to fall in, and thus unable to evade a skull crushing blow to the head. Of course, even taking that kind of damage, the Deviljho roared and countered with its breath attack, forcing Erza to back off, but giving Kyle the opening to hit it with another Rage spell, the force ripping it out of the pitfall, but it quickly got back up, just in time for Saito to start blitzing it again, the monster roaring angrily as it tried to snap at him.
As that was happening Gray focused on making the Dragonator as fast as he could, and before too long he had it ready, taking on the form of what looked like a battering ram…but it had a mechanism to fire forward, and it had one BIG spike with smaller spikes on it. "Its ready! Get out of the way!" he shouted, and waited a split second to fire.
The moment he shouted that, everyone got out of the way, which was also what they were in the middle of doing anyway as the Deviljho was swinging its large tail. The Dragonator fired, and by the logic of…comedy(?) the Deviljho had its rear facing the Dragonator spike right as it hit.
"...well…that Deviljho isn't gonna hurt anyone…for a few months at least…" Rouki winced, an expression everyone shared as they watched the twinkle in the sky from where the Deviljho had abruptly learned to fly from the sheer pain of getting well…that…in the rear.
"So uh…we should probably help the others. I can imagine they want to make sure when we put down the Gore, we put it down well," Saito said after a moment.
With that everyone quickly regained focus and shifted attention to the Gore…who was being pelted by attacks. It was honestly a wonder they hadn't already killed it by accident by now.
"Take this!" Natsu roared as he slammed his foot into the Gore's head, breaking off its feelers/horns and forcing it back to normal. So far this thing was tough, but nothing he couldn't handle.
"Here's the finishing touch then." Wizard said as he took out his Kick Strike ring, Beast doing the same.
"Time to turn it into a full course meal!" Beast added with a grin as the two activated their rings, before they jumped into the air together, pulling into a… well…
"Double Rider Kick!" the two shouted together as they slammed feet first into the Gore, sending it flying back, hitting a rocky cliff.
The Gore roared in pain, right before a part of the cliff broke off and crushed it underneath, the monster struggling for a bit before going silent.
"Guess we ended up killing it after all," Wizard mused, right as the others rejoined them.
"Looks like you three finished up nicely," Erza chuckled a bit.
"Yeah, and now you got a fresh Gore Magala for some materials. Might as well go for it," Beast chuckled.
"Not if I have anything to say about that!" came what sounded like three voices speaking in unison, right before several magic bolts came down, forcing the group to evade.
"Who's there?!" Kyle was the first to shout, the group looking to the source and saw…
"Another Phantom?" Rouki blinked. "Is he one of the Goetia?"
"That would be correct!" the Phantom smirked. Like most other Phantoms, it had a humanoid shape, its body appearing like it was covered in sharp scales, almost like a dragon even, with wings on its back… though sitting on the shoulders were three heads. That of a griffin, a wolf, and a demonic looking human head.
"You're… actually, I got no clue." Beast said lamely after a moment.
The Phantom clicked its teeth, before speaking in a trio of voices again "I am Buné, you ignorant fool. This Gore Magala is very helpful to my plans you know. I was planning on using its frenzy virus to stir up monsters all around to drive Gates into despair."
"Well then, good thing we stopped it then," Wizard glared. "You're not going to be driving anyone into despair while we're around!"
"Oh I know. That's why I'm going to change that!" Buné snarled.
"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Saito challenged.
"...you did NOT just say that…" Beast groaned. True enough…
"THIS army!" the Phantom declared, before firing a blast of energy at…the Gore Magala?
The attack hit the Gore, its body lighting up for a moment as electricity surged through it. At first nothing happened…before its body twitched, claws starting to move especially as the Phantom destroyed the rocks pinning it down.
"Oh you've gotta be shitting me!" Rouki said in worry as he took a step back.
"Did he just revive it?!" Lucy asked in fear as she hid behind Kyle.
"I think he just did worse than that." Wizard said, feeling nervous… which spiked up when he saw the scales start to crack "Shit! It's molting!"
"It is… but it's only on one side!" Beast realized as only half of the Gore's body was suddenly maturing, the previous scales falling off to reveal a more golden color.
"So… what does that mean?" Kyle asked, seeing what looked like a half elder dragon regaining its bearings slowly.
"Chaotic Gore Magala. Not as strong as Shagaru Magala, but still something to be worried about." Rouki answered.
"You forgot the part where these things are more violent than a Shagaru," Wizard said. "But at this point killing it is going to be a mercy."
Right as he said that, the Chaotic Gore Magala let out a roar of anger…and pain as it began lashing out and attacking everything nearby.
"I would have preferred an actual Elder Dragon, but this will do. Try and survive this," Buné smirked as he was clearly content to just let the monster do the dirty work for him.
They would have responded, but they had to deal with the Chaotic Gore Magala, which was now attacking them in a frenzy, thrashing about with barely any real aim.
"What's wrong with this thing?! It's like it's just trashing and lashing out!" Gray said, making an ice shield in front of himself.
"It is! The half-molting isn't the most pleasant experience for it." Saito answered.
"It's basically a berserker that only knows pain and is going to die soon whether we kill it here or not. The only question is how much damage it might cause by then," Rouki frowned, feeling a bit bad for the thing.
"Then as Marcus said, we should put it out of its misery," Erza frowned as her armor glowed and was quickly replaced with a new set of armor… though this one looked more like a simple dress with butterfly wings on her back, and even a ribbon in her hair.
"Cute." Rouki said as he stared at her a bit.
Then the cute look was kind of ruined by the weapon she'd picked, namely a sword and shield clearly made from Rathalos parts, with the sword quite literally glowing red with heat. Of course Erza clearly didn't care much about matching or not as she quickly charged forward, meeting one of the Chaotic Gore Magala's strikes with her shield before stabbing her sword forward, the heated blade stabbing into it and causing it to recoil in pain. However, it quickly recovered and started wildly firing its breath attack, spreading more of its virus.
"Watch out! You don't want to get infected!" Saito gasped as he quickly jumped back, while Louise made an explosion to blow away the pollen.
"Let's deal with this thing quickly then!" Gray frowned, creating ice to try and capture the Chaotic Gore Magala, but it immediately started thrashing and broke through the ice like it was nothing.
"I got this!" Natsu shouted, leaping forward with a grin… only to get slapped into the cliff with a tail swipe.
"Yeah, that was bound to happen." Beast sighed a bit, before he switched out his electric ring for his flame one and quickly activated it.
"FIRE, GO! BU-BU-BU-BURN!"
The electric mantle was quickly replaced with a red one with a flame pattern, before he whipped out the chameleon tongue from his other mantle, now wreathed in fire. Aiming quickly, he lashed out at the Chaotic Gore Magala, hitting it several times with the flaming tongue, but all that did was draw its attention to him, and it didn't waste time lunging for him. However, he acted quickly and used Chameleon's power to seemingly turn invisible, leaving the Chaotic Gore to land where he used to be, looking honestly surprised, which was the opening Rouki needed to strike it with his lance, which was on fire as he'd rolled a fire element.
It roared in anger and quickly began thrashing again, making it so none of them could get near it easily. It continued to thrash before it abruptly shifted its attention and lunged at a random target, which just so happened to be Lucy who gasped in surprise. Fortunately Virgo acted quickly and tried to stop the Chaotic Gore Magala, popping up between it and her summoner…only for the Gore to lash out with its claws and at a speed and force that well…let's just say it was a VERY good thing Virgo was NOT human, as the spirit was forcefully desummoned.
"Oh no you don't!" Louise shouted as she fired an explosion, knocking the Chaotic Gore away before it could resume its attack.
"Th-thanks, Louise," Lucy gulped thickly, feeling a little weak in the knees from the close shave.
"I got it this time!" Natsu roared, blazing with fire as he managed to land a powerful punch on the Chaotic Gore, sending it skidding back further, but it quickly regained its bearings and with a roar, released more of its pollen, this time it was a veritable storm of pollen that they could barely react to.
As expected everyone (except Natsu) started coughing from the pollen hitting, making it harder for them to breathe, and their bodies felt heavier. "What (cough!) happens to (cough!) people that get hit with this?! (hack!)" Lucy managed to struggle out.
"(hack!) Good news, (cough!) we shouldn't die from the virus! (cough!) But this just made it easier (cough!) for the big guy to do the job! (hack hack!)" Rouki gasped, the Riders' armors doing nothing to stop the virus.
"Great (cough!), but why is (hack!) flame brain the only one (cough!) not affected?!" Gray choked out seeing as Natsu was the only one NOT showing obvious signs.
"Who cares? That means I can kick its butt!" Natsu grinned as he charged forward again, this time actually being mindful of some of the Chaotic Gore's attacks, allowing him to evade most of them, but even as they fought the Chaotic Gore was spreading more and more of its pollen, the area soon feeling like hours were passing in seconds.
Naturally that also meant everyone was feeling even MORE sluggish. The worst so far was Louise who was already starting to look faint from the increasing exposure. "Dammit… (hack!) at this rate (cough!) we won't be able to move (hack!) let alone fight (hack! hack!)" Erza gasped out.
"We'd probably (cough!) be dead already (cough! cough!) if not for Natsu…(hack!)" Lucy choked out. The situation was…getting REALLY bad at this point.
'Dammit, what do we do?!' Wizard thought in his mind as he kept practically hacking his lungs out.
"I might have… one plan."
'Dragon?' he thought in surprise, before diving into his mental world, soon standing in front of Wizardragon 'What do you mean?'
"I've been building up power for a while now… and I have enough." Wizardragon spoke.
'Enough for what?' he asked in confusion.
"Reach out your hand, and you'll find out." Wizardragon said with an amused chuckle, confusing him further, before back in the real world, he started doing just that, reaching out ahead of him… and clutching his hand.
And a massive gout of flame erupted up around him.
He gasped suddenly, feeling the pollen all burning away as he hacked a bit more "Fuck… never wanna do that again." he said, before realising he could feel something in his hand, opening it up and gasping in surprise.
"Oh what now?" Buné said in annoyance as he looked at the large flame surrounding Wizard.
Wizard let out a chuckle, pushing himself to his feet "So.. finally time for the next level then, huh?" he said, grinning behind his helmet, before he held up what he was holding.
The Flame Dragon Style ring.
(Play "Just the Beginning" by Kamen Rider Girls)
"Well let's do it!" he said, replacing the ring on his finger as he activated his driver, before flipping down the glasses on the ring and bringing it to his waist.
"FLAME! DRAGON!"
Holding a hand out, his magic circle appeared next to him, but this time powerful flames were emanating from it as a burning, smaller version of Wizardragon flew out of it, circling him as the ring passed over his body, changing his armor.
"BOU-BOU, BOU-BOU-BOU!"
His cloak changed, going from black to a burning bright red, his chest not depicting a design like a dragon's face in the center, four red gems just below his neck, his shoulder pads larger and with large red gems inside of them. His helmet was mostly the same, but with a golden piece in the center of the forehead now, and a silver piece right in the center giving him what looked like dragon horns coming off the helmet.
Holding up his hand, Wizard snapped his fingers, before an explosion of flame engulfed the whole area.
"Hah! Now why would you kill your own friends?! Stupid ringed mage!" Buné said with a laugh.
"Not quite." Wizard spoke, as within the flames, the others were getting up in shock "I can choose what I burn with these flames, after all, they're MINE." he said, grinning "Hey Natsu! Eat up!"
"Hell yeah!" the dragon slayer said, before he started breathing in, sucking up a large portion of the flames with a grin, before it practically exploded off of him a moment later "Yeeeeah! I'm all fired up now!"
"Now that's what I'm talking about." Beast said with a grin, before quickly switching out his Chameleo Mantle for his Falco Mantle "Perfect time for a power up bro!"
"And I fully intend to put it to good use," Wizard nodded. "Let's finish this BEFORE it drags on more than necessary!" he said as he grabbed the Copy Ring before scanning it on his weapon, creating a second one allowing him to dual wield.
"Let's kick its ass!" Natsu grinned as the three soon charged straight for the Chaotic Gore.
"Huh…should we help them?" Saito blinked.
Gray looked at the fight…and noted that this time around with Wizard's controlled flames burning up all the pollen before it could affect anyone…the Chaotic Gore was having a LOT harder of a time. "I think they'll be fine," he shrugged.
"Still, be on guard," Erza said.
"Oh we got that covered," Kyle mused as he and Rouki found their eyes wandering to a certain Phantom who was clearly starting to look much less confident.
Back with the fight, the Chaotic Gore was having a bad time as its pollen was repeatedly burned up, leaving it wide open to various strikes and blows. Of course it wasn't completely defenseless as it still lashed out wildly with its attacks, but at this point the three of them had more or less gotten used to its rough attack pattern, letting them adapt.
"Don't let up!" Wizard said, swinging his twin, flaming blades down on the Chaotic Gore, leaving a pair of burning gouges on its side.
"I think we've almost got it!" Beast added, sending out his own flaming slash as he fanned the flames using his Falco Mantle.
"And this time it's gonna stay down!" Natsu added, punching the Chaotic Gore square in the head, the impact causing it to rear back in pain while breaking its horn as well.
The Chaotic Gore let out an enraged roar but it was clear it was getting close to its last leg. With that in mind, Wizard grabbed a new Ring, one depicting a dragon breathing fire. "Time for the finale," he said as he scanned the ring.
"CHOINE! SPECIAL! SAIKYOU!"
A magic circle appeared in front of him a moment later, a flaming Wizardragon flying out of it and around him, before slamming into his back, and right there on his chest, the Drago Skull appeared with a roar.
"Dragon Breath!" Wizard shouted as the Drago Skull started breathing out an intense stream of flames on the Chaotic Gore.
"Have some of this too!" Natsu shouted as he took a deep breath before roaring out "Fire Dragon's Roar!" as an equally intense burst of fire joined the Dragon Breath, with Beast grinning as he used the winds from his Falco Mantle to fan their twin flame breaths.
Up on the cliff, Buné growled in anger as he saw the flames clearly bringing the Chaotic Gore to an end "I suppose I'll cut my losses." he said in anger, about to turn and leave.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Came Rouki's voice, causing him to turn around with a gasp, seeing both the Rider and Kyle leaping at him, the wheel on the Roulette Lance coming to a stop as it picked a new element.
"TSUNAMI! LANCE STRIKE!"
"Have some of this!" Rouki shouted as he thrusted the lance forward, a powerful torrent of water surging forth and pushing him back towards the cliff as he crossed his arms in front of himself, the pressure suddenly cutting off a moment later.
"Is that all you've got?!" Buné asked in annoyance.
"Naw, he's just prepping you!" Kyle said with a grin as lightning sparked on his fist "Lightning Devil's… Infernal Fist!" he shouted as he slammed a punch right into the Phantom… who was shouting in extreme pain as, thanks to being dripping with water still, the electricity had no problem being conducted through his body as he was sent backwards from the force of the blow, starting to fall off the cliff… only for his eyes to widen as Kyle got above him in the air, electricity sparking off his leg now "Lightning Devil's… Penalty Ax!" he shouted as he slammed an ax kick straight down into Buné's stomach, sending him crashing down to the ground as he was shocked even more.
"And now for the final touch!" Rouki said as he jumped up higher while taking out a new ring depicting a snake on it, scanning it onto his Driver.
"JORMUN! GO! JOR-MUN-GAN-DR!"
The magic circle passed over him, leaving a dark silver breastplate with the face of a serpent on it adorning his chest, while a dark blue cape hanged off his shoulders, going down to his waist as he swung his Roulette Lance around, before aiming it straight down… and it suddenly started to extend rapidly, almost moving around like a snake as it raced down to the earth, even growing in size, as Buné barely had time to move as he saw it reach him right as the head of the lance was starting to look more like that of a snake.
"Oh-!"
And it slammed right into the ground… and a loud gulp was heard a moment later, before the lance started to shrink back down to normal, no traces of the Phantom left in the small crater.
A moment later the two of them landed on the ground, right as the Chaotic Gore was clearly finally dead, the flames slowly dying down.
"Well… that was an interesting day for sure." Kyle said, before he eyed Rouki's lance "How did THAT even work though?"
"Eh… magic's bullshit I guess." Rouki said with a shrug, and Kyle couldn't really refute that.
"Job well done I guess." Wizard said with a sigh of relief.
"Here's hoping the next one isn't as hectic as this." Beast snorted.
"You kidding me? I want an awesome fight like that again!" Natsu said with a grin, earning… several sighs from the others.
Just another day for Fairy Tail.
And that's the chapter!
Yeahp, the debut of Flame Dragon.
To be fair, it wasn't actually originally planned, but then we thought the Gore turning into a Chaotic Gore because of the Phantom's interference would be interesting, and warrant an upgrade as well.
Also, another of Rouki's capes right at the end, and Beast showing off both the Fire mantle he got a while back, and a brand new electric one as well.
And Kyle showing off why he's a high ranked monster hunter as well.
... oh, and another member of Goetia is down.
Yes, I know, he didn't get to do much, but Buné was never meant to be a fighter, so it's understandable he didn't last long when he suddenly got hammered with multiple attacks.
Still, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and see you all next time!