Well, here we are everyone! This is the 2nd to last chapter of this arc. I have to admit, originally we thought it was going to be much shorter. 5 chapters at most...But we realized that if we just kept to cannon, things would be...well odd. Natsu wouldnt be able to have a real fight since Bambietta would hae just fought him again, and everyone else would have just had a battle offscreen...It would have been boring!
Here, the changes we have added have allowed for some early character growth and development. Not just for Bambietta, but for Erza and Liltotto as well. Even juvia to an extent.
That said, we've learned a bit from this arc. From here on out, we likely wont have huge chapters for one on one battles. They just take too long with little plot progression. We'll find a way to better balance ourselves as the story goes on though.
In the meantime, we have quite the epic chapter this time around. Why's that? Well why dont you give it a read and find out!
I really would appreciate it however if you guys left a review to tell us what you thought of the chapter. After all the hard work we put into it, we would REALLY appreciate it. Reviews are ultimately what gives us a good chunk of our motivation, so please, let us know what you think!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach of fairy tail. Those belong respectively to Tite Kubo and Shounen jump and Hiro Mashima and Weekly shounen magazine. This is just for fun!
In memory for Ed Blaylock, the voice actor of Jose porla, King bradly, and many other roles. You will be missed. Rest in peace.
The best laid plans had fallen apart and Liltotto Lamperd could not have been more upset.
No, upset was not the right word. Not at all. Watching a plan fall apart was something Liltotto could handle. It came with the job of being the tactician amongst her friends. She had long since accepted that nothing had a one hundred percent chance of success. There were always gambles that had to be made. There were always stakes on the line.
This was different, however. All she had wanted was to defeat the Element Four. To take down an opponent and move on to assisting one of her new friends in defeating their chosen enemy if the battle was still going on, yet none of that had happened. Liltotto and Wendy Marvell had needed the assistance of an unexpected source, Fairy Tail's victory having been assured thanks to the sudden arrival of what Liltotto thought was both lightning and arrogance personified.
Yet she had taken the situation for what it was. Even if Laxus Dreyar had been unwilling to admit it, it had been Wendy's words to him from earlier that had drove him to stave off his lesser impulses and aide his guild. So that, as far as Liltotto was concerned, was a win for the Sky Dragon Slayer she had brought into battle with her.
Yet now had things taken a turn for the worse. Laxus was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, twin holes burrowed through his torso by meticulous and cruel bolts of magic. The one responsible for the attack was standing before Liltotto and Wendy now, power and malice radiating off of him in equal measures.
This was no member of the Element Four. This was no Bount or Soul Reaper. This was Jose Porla, the guild master of Phantom Lord and one of Fiore's Wizard Saints. That was in part why Liltotto was not capable of being upset at her plans falling apart.
She was simply too consumed with fear to allow any other feeling into her heart.
"I suppose there's no need to ask which of you is willing to fall next," Jose said, his darkened eyes staring at both Liltotto and Wendy. "Not when I can simply kill you both!"
Liltotto could feel it, a terror far beyond her own. It was obvious who it belonged to, Wendy clearly shaking at the sight of the enraged guild master standing. That was enough to push Liltotto past her own concerns. She had gotten Wendy into this situation and it would be up to her to get her out of it. So Liltotto tensed up every muscle, each and every fiber of her being prepared to fight what was no doubt a foolish battle. It was so unlike her. "I guess Bambi isn't the only one Fairy Tial has been rubbing off on..."
Liltotto could see dark magic forming within Jose's hands, so she followed along. A bow began to assemble from magic particles, forming in Liltotto's hand. However, she knew that she would have to go to further lengths if she hoped to keep Jose busy long enough for Wendy to escape. No, she would have to hold him longer than that. Liltotto could feel it, Laxus' energy signature. It was weak, but it was proof that he was still clinging to life. "Wendy, take Laxus and get away as fast as you can!"
"As if I'd let her escape," Jose hissed through grit, smiling teeth. "She was my first target after all. So allow me to-"
"Oh yeah!"
The room shook quite suddenly, dust and debris spilling out past Liltotto, Jose and Wendy. The whole lot of them look to the side and noticed what had happened. The wall farthest to them had been torn asunder, shattered stone and splintered wood strewn about. Lying upon the debris was one Sol of the Earth, while standing victorious over him was Fairy Tail's own Elfman Strauss.
"Now that's how a real man wins a battle!" Elfman shouted as he raised a monstrous right arm into the space above his head, his hand curled into a fist. "Take that, Abyss Break!"
"I'll be damned," Liltotto whispered. "My plan counted on him needing help, and he's here to help me out? Bambi's never going to let me live this down if she finds out."
"What the heck happened here?" Elfman asked as he took notice of Liltotto and Wendy, as well as the downed and bloodied S-Class wizard. "Laxus?"
Then did Elfman take notice of Jose Porla, the guild master's maddened expression catching his eye. A shiver ran down Elfman's spine, but he did his best to ignore it.
"What's this?" Jose turned his gaze, his attention momentarily focused on Elfman. "Another fairy has come to die?"
"Hey, Elfman," Liltotto said, a question on her mind. "Would a real man fight a psychotic Wizard Saint that's out of his league so that his guildmates could get away?"
"Heck yeah he would!" Elfman quickly answered as he turned to look at. "Why do you ask?"
Elfman was left to blink in confusion, the space where Liltotto, Wendy and Laxus had been only moments before completely empty. If Elfman strained his eyes, he almost could have sworn that he could see a faint, white outline of where they had all been just a moment before. Regardless, he took no offense to that. It was more than clear that Wendy was scared and Laxus in need of help.
"Laxus..." Elfman felt a moment of rage consume him then and there. "He may be a bit of a jerk, but he's more of a real man than you'll ever be, Jose Porla!"
"Is that a fact?" the guild master asked, his devilish smile never leaving his face. "No descendant of that damned Makarov could ever hold a candle to me! I won't allow it! Not his kin by blood or any of his dear Fairy Tail children! I am going to kill each and every last one of you!"
"You're a damned monster," Elfman said, his expression growing colder.
"That's rich," Jose hissed. "I'm being called a monster by a pitiful beast who killed his own sister."
Elfman flinched, his heart rate suddenly spiking. "You..."
"Oh, yes; I've heard it all," Jose continued. "The story of a foolish fairy who couldn't control his own Take-Over magic. And in the end the beast he unleashed killed dear Lisanna."
Elfman tried to keep himself calm, but it was a losing battle. "How... How can you know of that?"
"Oh, it's simple," Jose explained. "Makarov was so distraught by that series of unfortunate events that he even went so far as to call a meeting with his fellow guild masters and the Magic Council itself. I could have sworn he was on the verge of stepping down from his position as the third guild master of Fairy Tail, thinking he had failed."
Elfman's rage suddenly shifted to something else: despair. "I... I did that?"
"It's a shame Makarov simply didn't do that," Jose continued. "We wouldn't be standing right here in the center of this conflict if he hadn't. But I suppose my own foolishness is to blame."
"What... are you talking about?" Elfman asked.
"He was simply so distraught," Jose continued. "But the other guild masters and I talked him away from his despair. So tell me, Elfman Straus, who's the true monster here, the man who nearly drove his guild master into retirement or the man who talked him out of it?"
"That's..." Elfman noticeably flinched, something that gave Jose a sense of perverse joy. "You of all people... helped Master Makarov?"
"Perhaps I simply wanted to keep up appearances among my contemporaries. Or perhaps I simply didn't want Makarov to feel despair that I wasn't responsible for. Or did I..." The skin atop the bridge of Jose's nose wrinkled slightly, as if a the Wizard Saint had been lost in his own thoughts for a moment, a haze covering his eyes. It was gone in an instance however, the manic expression once more covering Jose's face. His voice boomed once more as well. "I suppose that random act of foolish kindness has smiled upon me this day! Now I can slaughter all of Makarov's dear children and throw it in his face!"
Elfman's confidence had wavered, the memory of Lisanna having consumed him for the moment. However, he knew he had to push past that. "I won't... let you..."
"Don't be distraught," Jose hissed through grit teeth, his eyes becoming consumed by darkness. "Soon you and all your guild mates will be reunited with dear little Lisanna. Isn't that... a mercy?"
"I promised myself that I would never allow Mirajane to cry again, but... Lisanna would cry as well if she met us all so soon. If she saw Mira and me on the other side, if she saw that Natsu and Happy had died... it would break her heart." Elfman's confusion slipped then, Jose's threat awakening something within him. Energy began to flow around Elfman, a magic circle forming before him. All the while did Elfman roar, his scream one of utter defiance. "I won't allow you to bring tears to the eyes of either of my sisters!"
The magic energy of Elfman's pushed against Jose, forcing his crimson cloak to flutter behind him. The Wizard Saint simply stood his ground then, his darkened eyes simply staring into the golden light that had engulfed Elfman. "A Full Body Take Over? This must be the power that allowed you to defeat Sol. And... the one that killed Lisanna."
"Damn you!"
The light around Elfman suddenly burst apart, completely blinding Jose. However, when the light faded, the Wizard Saint found himself staring up at a monstrous beast that measured nearly three times his own height. Twin horns had burst forth from Elfman's head, matching the jagged protrusions that had seemingly burst forth from his shoulders. Green, scaly skin gave way to a dark brown fur, ending at last with talons at the end of each of Elfman's fingers. It was a truly imposing sight, the face of the beast especially, but Jose simply held his ground.
Elfman's maw opened, his fangs falling into view. "I won't allow you to hurt a single member of my guild ever again!"
Jose simply continued to grin, dark magic swirling around him. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
The members of Fairy Tail had been on edge ever since the conflict with Phantom Lord had begun. The damage done to their guild hall had seemed dire at the time, but the escalation that had occurred since then had seemingly trivialized the matter. It had simply been one nightmare scenario after another since then. From Levy's injuries to Makarov's defeat, from the Jupiter Canon to the Abyss Break. Now, however, were those who bore the mark of Fairy Tail beginning to feel at ease. Perhaps none more so than Bambietta Basterbine.
"I feel good," Bambietta said as she stood side by side with Lucy Heartfilia. The attack of Jose Porla's Shade magic had seemingly died down, but that was not all. The two of them both could also see that the magic circle of the Abyss Break had seemingly vanished, leaving behind nothing but an unmoving Super Mage Giant Phantom. "I got the Explode back, the Abyss Break was stopped and me and my bestest buddy drove away a bunch of creepy shadow monsters."
"Bambi, let's not forget everyone else present. I think we all pushed Jose back." Lucy was feeling some relief as well, but it was tempered by concerns. Despite all that had been said to her, there was still a part of her that accepted the blame for this situation. She wanted it to simply end, to keep her new family safe from the consequences wrought by the family she shared blood with, so she had to hope that this was truly the end of the conflict with Phantom Lord. She wanted that, but she was unsure of it.
"I know, I know," Bambietta said as she began to relax. "Three cheers for Fairy Tail and all that. But... I totally beat up a ninja. Rare is it you get to say that in this day and age, so I'm going to be keeping that thought as my happy place."
It was not entirely true. Oh yes, Bambietta would remember well the severe beating she had dished out to Hanza Nukui, but she also understood that her flippant attitude was not being entirely honest. Her happy place was Fairy Tail, as well as one member in particular.
"Hey, Lucy," Bambietta said, the Quincy moving closer to her. "When this is all settled, I was hoping maybe we could... talk later."
"Huh?" Lucy had not been expected Bambietta of all people to suddenly sound unsure of herself and withdrawn. If the wizard had glanced down, she would have taken notice of Bambietta nervously digging her heels into the ground and shifting her feet about. "Sure, we can do that. Is something wrong?"
"Well, no," Bambietta said, her eyes glancing off to the side. "It's just, I was hoping we could talk because... Because..."
Despite her awkward manner of speech at the moment, Bambietta was getting riled up inside. How could this be so hard? She had always been so much more forthcoming and up-front about her desires in the past. Sometimes way too forward if Liltotto's criticisms were to be believed. So why was she having trouble spitting it out now?"
"Because..." Bambietta repeated, the Quincy unable to get to her point. "It's because..."
"Because she loves you!"
Bambietta's whole body momentarily flinched, her eyes going white for a moment. Had the world itself grown impatient and simply spoke on her behalf? No, that could not possible be it. After all, she recognized that voice. Bambietta turned around slowly, almost relieved not to have to awkwardly share eye contact with Lucy after her complete failure at broaching a certain subject, and could see Happy flying towards her.
"Stupid cat might be able to get my point across better than I can," Bambietta muttered under her breath.
Beneath Happy walked three individuals, two of Fairy Tail and one formerly of Phantom Lord. The lot of them looked bloodied and battered, but were seemingly overjoyed. Particularly of note was Juvia Lockser. Bambietta could see that she was sticking very close to Gray, the water mage clinging to his arms. Bambietta half expected Juvia's eyes to turn into hearts the way she was swooning over him.
"Okay," Bambietta muttered once more, "maybe I just need to be like her. That might be the ticket..."
"Oh, no." All Lucy could see was the injuries upon Natsu, Gray and Juvia, the wizard knowing that they were the results of the battles they had waged on her behalf. "You guys, I'm sorry..."
"For what?" Natsu suddenly asked in return, his voice as loud as ever. "I don't know about the human popsicle here, but I haven't had as good a rumble as that in months! 'Sides, we came, we saw and we kicked their butts, so what's there to be sorry about?"
Lucy nodded, though she was a bit concerned still. "I suppose you've got a point."
"Darn straight he does!" Bambietta shouted as she moved close to Lucy and draped an arm across her shoulders. The Quincy pulled Lucy in close, all the while bringing up her other hand and extending out her index and middle fingers. "Victory, am I right?"
"No."
"Huh?" Bambietta saw Liltotto suddenly appear amidst the Fairy Tail group, Hirenkyaku no doubt having been employed. "Lil, what's-"
Bambietta stopped her question. She could see that Wendy was close by Liltotto's side, the Quincy holding her tightly around the shoulders. The Dragon Slayer looked scared, but there was something else that caught Bambietta's eyes. Liltotto was holding on to Laxus Dreyar's ankle, the S-Class wizard clearly being dragged behind her. Worse, there was a blood staining his shirt and a trail along the ground behind him.
"Say, Lil," Bambietta whispered, the Quincy wondering if this was why Wendy was scared, "I know this guy was a real jerk earlier, but if he showed up to help, you really shouldn't have put an arrow through his chest. Especially not in front of poor, impressionable Wendy."
Liltotto was many things, calm and collected normally being two of them, but they went out the window at times like this. She was not capable of grace under extreme pressure, no matter how hard she tried. "I didn't freaking do this to him, Bambi! God! It was Jose freaking Porla!"
"Oh." That was all Bambietta could say. Rare was it that Liltotto lost her temper, leaving Bambietta unsure of how to even respond. "Lil, I'm sorr-"
"I have..." Laxus suddenly gasped. "Two holes... in my chest..."
"Sorry!" Wendy knelt down beside Laxus beside Laxus, the Sky Dragon Slayer beginning to use her healing magic. She tried not to look at the wounds, but kept her hands hovering over them. "Mister Laxus, I'm so sorry, but... thank you for saving me."
Laxus said nothing. Whether it was because he was too injured still or because he had no idea what to say to the young girl who's pleas had forced him into action against Phantom Lord, neither Bambietta or Liltotto could tell.
"Bambi," Liltotto whispered as she leaned towards her fellow Quincy, "I do have a confession to make."
Bambietta raised an eyebrow to that. What she had to say in response was drenched in concern. "What?"
"I may have... kind of injured Laxus a bit," Liltotto replied. "We kind of used Hirenkyaku down a few flights of stairs, so I can't say for certain if he banged the back of his head on any of them."
"Lil," Bambietta sighed, "this was an accident, right?"
"Hey," Liltotto shot back. "It's not my fault that Phantom Lord has marble stairways."
"Hate you..." Laxus grumbled. "Hate you both..."
"Okay!" Bambietta shouted as she slammed a her right fist into her left palm. "So all that's left is we need to go stomp a mudhole into another guild master and this whole silly mess will be behind us!"
"Bambi," Liltotto interjected. "No. Just no."
"What?" Bambietta glanced at Liltotto. "You and me smacked down the Chicken Fangs guild master together and I totally wrecked the one from Eisenwald all on my lonesome."
"Bambi," Liltotto said, her patience fraying slightly. Her panic was still overtaking her after all. "We're not dealing with the average guild master anymore. You realize that, right? Wizard Saint. On par with Makarov."
"Yeah," Bambietta said with a shrug. "After all this dumb ass has down, I don't think anyone could consider him a saint, let alone a wizard one."
Liltotto was too concerned with the situation to even consider dropping her face into the palms of her hands. Fear would do that after all, something she was sure that As Nodt would be thrilled to here. Assuming he was reborn in this world. No, more than that. Liltotto took a deep breath. Assuming she lived long enough to meet him here.
"Bambi," Liltotto whispered. "You didn't feel his power up there. It was like looking into an empty pit. So cut the flippant bullshit and take a look up their with your senses."
Bambietta let Liltotto's comment slide, knowing that she was quite clearly worried about something. "All right, fine, I'll- The hell is that?"
Before Bambietta could even reach out to sense Jose within the mechanized guild hall, she saw something tear through the structure of the machine itself. A monstrous beast, a massive one at that, was flying through the air.
"Oh, come on!" Bambietta shouted as she summoned her bow. "First a Bount, then a Soul Reaper, Arrancars and a ninja... and now Jose's throwing a freaking Hollow at us? Didn't he hear about how freaking awesome I was in Clover recently?"
Bambietta took aim with her bow, ready to strike down the monster before it could even hit the ground before her. She hesitated for a moment, the whole situation last less than a blink of an an eye for most.
"Wait, there's no mask..."
"Bambi, no!" The Quincy felt someone gripping tightly to her arm, so she turned to face them. It was Mirajane Straus, the woman looking like she was on the verge of tears. "Please, that's Elfman!"
"That's him?" Bambietta glanced back up at the monster as it descended towards her. "Okay, I take back anything I ever said about him. Dude looks like a boss."
Then did Elfman hit the ground hard, the monster rolling off his back and into a crouch. All the while did he keep his eyes looking up at the Phantom Lord guild hall, as if he was focusing on something. Liltotto, meanwhile, had to agree with Bambietta's assessment. She had clearly underestimated this man. He had defeated Sol of the Earth and taken what no doubt was a brutal hit from Jose just now.
"Brother!" Mirajane shouted as she ran towards him. "You... you did a Full Body Take Over? Then that means..."
"It's all right," Elfman replied, his tone one full of savagery that seemed held back at bay. "I... I have full control. So please don't cry. I can't... let that happen ever again."
Mirajane nodded, the silver haired woman wiping away any errant tears on her face. "Elfman..."
"I won't let this Jose or this power ever hurt anyone in my guild ever again," Elfman said, his mantra sticking with him.
"Really, child of Makarov?" a voice shouted from the sky above. "What did I tell you about promises you can't ever hope to keep?"
Bambietta looked up then, as did everyone else. There in the sky stood Jose Porla. No, that was not it. He was not defying gravity. Beneath his feet where several Shades, the lot of them holding him aloft as servants would a king. They floated down towards Fairy Tail, allowing Jose to remain unmoving as his descent continued. He simply looked down at the wizard with a sneer of contempt upon his face, his arms folded across his chest as his red cloak billowed through a faint breeze.
"All of you have been a thorn in my side for far too long," Jose said as he floated mere inches above the ground. He at last stepped down, his dark boots standing atop solid grounds. The Shades vanished then, as if they never existed at all, leaving Jose alone to stare down his most hated enemies. "However, I will give you one last chance to walk away from this encounter. Hand over Lucy Heartfi-"
Jose never managed to finish his demand. His voice cut short as something hit him in the face. He reached up then, his hand wiping away the spittle that was on his cheek. His expression lessened, his wicked smile fading for a more nondescript appearance.
"I thought we already unanimously told you to go to hell," Bambietta said, the Quincy having finished spitting literally in the face of a Wizard Saint. "Your guild's a wreck, your big dumb robot is kaput and you're just a big prick standing before us all alone. And you still want to come after Lucy? No way, Jose. So how about you just step off?"
Liltotto felt her heart seize up in her chest. "We're so dead."
"Is that your final answer?" Jose asked, his impassive expression remaining static.
Bambietta was about to speak up again, the Quincy just how she had become the voice of Fairy Tail in this encounter, but she quickly found that she did not have to be. The entirety of the guild was quick to lend their voices to her, a collective roar of defiance directed at Jose. From Natsu Dragneel to Levy McGarden, from Elfman Strauss to Cana Alberona, from Reedus Jonah to Laki Olietta, they were all ready to stand against the mad Wizard Saint.
Then there was Liltotto. She was quiet and concerned, awful memories lingering at the back of her mind. This man was nowhere near the strength of Yhwach, but his power was still a formidably one and it frightened her. Just making contact with it earlier had left her in a state of unease. Yet, despite that, she knew what she had to do.
She shouted in defiance of the Wizard Saint as well.
"To think that I would have to sully myself with fools such as this," Jose said with a chuckle. His eyes suddenly darkened, his lips curling back into a smile. "So be it! If you will not subject yourself to my mercy, then I will not permit any of you to live a moment longer."
The power of the Shades began to flow around Jose's right hand, forming and coalescing up the length of his arm. His fingers spread far and wide, as if accepting the gift the darkness was to bestow upon him, the power it could grant.
"Each and everyone one of you damned children of Makarov will be punished with death!" Jose threw his arm forward, a beam of violet light issuing forth. It was his a technique that Jose was known and praised for far and wide, a technique he had long perfected: the Dead Wave. It flew towards the lot of Fairy Tail wizards, leaving them all to be caught in its wake.
"Oh, shit." Bambietta was quickly swept up in the attack, as were all those she now called her guild.
Jose's lowered his right arm, the Wizard Saint watching as his power dissipated, smoke taking its place. It billowed up from the ground, slowly fading from sight. That allowed Jose to see something that truly pleased him. Those who called themselves Fairy Tail were on the ground, wounded and weak. It was far more gratifying than even he had expected. To see Makarov's guild in such a sorry state brought pleasure and joy to Jose's dark heart.
However, much to the Wizard Saint's irritation, he saw something. None of his chosen victims were dead. He could see there chests heaving, a sign of continued breathing. Worse, he could hear their ragged breaths. That, however, was not the end. He could see several of the Fairy Tail guild members beginning to rise to their feet. That, in turn, disgusted him. It sickened him to the core.
Bambietta, however, simply looked about. She could see that many of her comrades were still done, the fight having been beaten out of them. Elfman's back was bloodied and scorched, the man having used his monstrous body to protect Mirajane from the attack. He was barely moving, his breaths clearly ragged, his will to fight perhaps spent. Laki and Macao were down, as were so many others. All Bambietta could see standing besides herself were a select few, Natsu and Gray among them. "Did he just... take out two-thirds of us with just one attack?" Bambietta asked as she took in the carnage. "Well... fuck."
"I told you what we were dealing with," Liltotto said as she began to rise, "but did did you listen? No, you had to go and spit in a Wizard Saint's face. Why don't you go and tug on his cape next?"
"Okay," Bambietta retorted, "Meni would never let you live it down for that."
"What?" Liltotto asked. "He's got a blue suit and a red cape."
"You know damn well how much those comics meant to Meni," Bambietta replied. "She'd never let you hear the end of it for the injustice of comparing this dick to Superman."
"We're going to die, Bambi," Liltotto whispered, her tone breaking any sense of the levity her kinship with Bambietta brought about. "He's going to kill us all."
"Yeah, well..." Bambietta looked to her side. Wendy had been clear of Jose's attack, the Sky Dragon Slayer far and away in her attempt to heal Laxus. She could see that Lucy and Levy were struggling to stand back up from Jose's attack, leaving a spark of anger to form within the Quincy. She looked towards Jose then, her lips curling back into a wild grin befitting a woman who had once challenged the Soul Society itself. "I've died worse ways!"
Bambietta leapt forward, twin orbs of the Explode forming within her hands. She threw them both out towards Jose, all the while knowing full well that they could not harm him directly. She wanted to kill him so very much, the Quincy's gut feeling letting her believe that both Makarov and Erza would understand under the circumstances, but Bambietta knew she could not do it so simply.
Instead did she allow the Explode to infect the portions of the ground to the left and right of Jose. More importantly, twin stones that lay atop it. They burst apart immediately, the explosive force that Bambietta was able to generate just as she hoped it would be. Twin plumes of smoke kicked up almost immediately, which was exactly what she wanted.
Jose furrowed his brow for the briefest of moments, his vision obscured. However, he kept his fractured composure as best he could. This was, after all, a nuisance at best.
Bambietta, meanwhile, circled around the Wizard Saint, using Hirenkyaku to conceal any unnecessary sounds of movement. She was unwilling to let Jose hear any more footsteps than needed after all. All she wanted to do was take advantage of her ability to sense his presence, something he himself could not do in turn. In mid-step did she bring her bow into existence, taking careful aim at the center of the smoke.
One shot, that was all she needed to kill or critically injure Jose. Either it would end here or bring this closer one step closer to an end. Whatever the result, Bambietta would be satisfied to some extent.
She let loose the solitary arrow of light into the obscuring smoke, hoping to hear a cry of pain. However, what Bambietta heard instead was something else. It was Jose's laughter.
The Wizard Saint had raised his hand up quickly, catching the arrow of solidified light within his fingers alone. The power of Shade magic encircled his hand, protecting him from harm. He looked at Bambietta than, the illumination of her own arrow first piercing the fog, then dissipating it.
"It is just as Hanza told me. You, just as he and my other new subordinates, can sense magic even when you cannot see. A true talent, but not one that can overcome my years of experience." Jose's voice suddenly cracked, his face shattering into a hellish smile. "Stupid girl! You and all your so-called family have no hope! You are nothing more than insects fighting a dragon!"
Bambietta shrugged off any concern, preparing to fire another bow. She did not get the chance however, another voice calling out with passion.
"Well, that suits me just fine! Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Jose turned quickly, raising his left arm up by the elbow, a wall of Shades bursting forth as if from the ground itself to shield him. It was not a moment too soon, a torrent of flame smashing into the defense almost immediately.
"Salamander," Jose said as the flames died down, his barrier doing the same. He could see Natsu standing not a few yards from him, the young man running the back of an arm across his mouth. "Your flames are impressive, but it doesn't matter in the slightest. None of you have a chance in hell of defeating me. Not one!"
"We'll see about that!" Natsu lunged for Jose then, bringing a fiery left fist to bear. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Jose saw the attack coming, the Wizard Saint quick to evade it. A simple movement of his feet and he had been able to sidestep Natsu's attack, the flames of his hand simply flickering in the air a few scant inches from Jose's face. "Impressive, Salamander, but ultimately futile."
"That so?" Natsu spun around, managing to do a backwards flip so as to better propel his next attack. "Fire Dragon's Claw!"
Jose took notice of the attack, ready to dodge it as he had just before, yet he could not. His feet were not moving. Worse, they felt cold.
"You aren't going anywhere, pal!" Gray shouted. The mage was down on his knees, one hand planted firmly against the ground. From his fingertips did a trail of ice extend, one that simply ended at the base of Jose's feet. It had moved clearly upwards then, having solidified around the Wizard Saint's ankles. "Natsu, take him!"
Natsu was glad to oblige, his upwards motion still in effect. He was ready to hear the impact, to feel Jose's jaw against his foot, but nothing happened. No, all that Natsu felt was his world stay upside down, his scarf falling before his face.
"Pitiful." Jose stood firmly, his right hand grasping firmly around Natsu's ankle, leaving him to hang upside down. The barrier of the Shades were around Jose's hand, allowing him to ignore the power of Natsu's fire almost entirely. "Did you really think your flames could drive away my darkness?"
"Natsu!" Gray prepared himself to attack next, panic setting in. "Ice-Make: Cannon!"
"As for you..." Jose turned around quickly, firing off another blast of his Dead Wave at Gray. It was enough to make the young man switch gears, once more returning to a crouching position and throwing his hands to the ground. "Ice-Make: Shield!"
The frozen barrier burst forth from the ground before Gray. Unlike before, this time he had been at the ready to defend anyone and everyone from Jose if need be. The Dead Wave struck the ice wall right after its creation, leaving Gray to grit his teeth.
"Come on," he hissed. "Hold!"
It did not. No, it simply could not. The ice began to crack, violet light piercing through. Then it was entirely through, leaving Gray to be caught in the blast. He screamed for the second time in the last few minutes, once more the victim of the Dead Wave's power. His ice barrier had cut it down, but not nearly enough. Gray hit the ground hard then, his body incapable of responding to his desires to fight further.
"Damned fool," Jose very nearly spat out in disdain. "No one dares to attempt blocking one of my attacks. Learn your place!"
Jose prepared to fire yet another Dead Wave at the downed Gray, staying only his hand when a familiar face stepped between him and the Fairy Tail wizard.
"Master Jose," Juvia said, holding her arms out to her sides, "I beg you, stop this insanity."
"Juvia?" Jose lowered his hand for a moment. Her looked at her with his darkened eyes, for the briefest of moments questioning himself. "Move."
"I will not," Juvia said. "My beloved Gray does not deserve your wrath. Fairy Tail does not either. So why... why are you going this far?"
"You betray me?" Jose asked, his tone growing cold. "Just like Totomaru? And for... love? Before I found you, you were nothing more than a rain woman who brought despair to all around you! To yourself! I moved you past that! I made you one of the Element Four, Juvia of the Deep! I gave you a home!"
"And look what you've done to it!" Juvia at last shouted, her eyes briefly looking past Jose and towards the remains of the broken machine that had once been his guild hall. "Please, Master Jose, just stop. You're actions are destroying Phantom Lord just as much as they are Fairy Tail! So please stop this for all our sakes."
Jose could feel it then, drops of rain falling upon his body. He could see it as well, darkened clouds having formed in the sky. It was not long before the scattered rain drops became a downpour, leaving the battlefield caught in the storm that Juvia's sorrow had wrought.
Those of Fairy Tail held both their tongues and there fists, even Bambietta and the overturned Natsu. They had to hope that Juvia could potentially end this crisis here and now. As much as both the Quincy and the Fire Dragon Slayer were itching for a battle, they were willing to see how this would play out.
"Juvia..." Jose's eyes returned to their usual shade, the dark energy no longer flowing outward. He closed them both then, becoming silent. His expression remained composed, his mouth closed and its corners hanging low.
"Master Jose?" Juvia tentatively asked. "Let's just apologize. I'm sure that the Magic Council and Fairy Tai-"
Jose cut Juvia off with a whisper that was very nearly drowned out by the rain. "The number one guild of Fiore apologizing... to Fairy Tail?" Jose's eyes opened, the dark energy once more blazing outwards from them. "You have turned against me just as Totomaru had! Juvia Lockser, you will suffer the same fate as that traitor!"
"Wait, did that guy left me to go talk to you?" Natsu asked, his eyes going white with annoyance. "Man, we were supposed to fight Kusaka together!"
"Master Jose," Juvia said, the woman deeply concerned. "What.. happened?"
"You..." Liltotto whispered, her worries from earlier coming to the surface. "You didn't..."
"I gave him what all traitors deserve," Jose answered. "Death."
The rain only intensified then, Juvia's expression growing solemn. "What?"
"He dared to fight against me," Jose continued. "So I split his belly wide open and left him in a pool of his own blood so I could deal with all of you personally."
"No..." Liltotto dropped to her knees then. This was precisely what she had been worried about when it came to Totomaru. However, it went deeper than that. Images played out across the Quincy's mind, of a king sitting upon his throne, one that was drowned in the shadows. She could see him so vividly, even now. She could recall the agony she had felt at the time; she could recall the sound of her own blood splashing against the stone floor. Most important of all, Liltotto could remember dying. Dying at the hands of the man who given her a purpose, just as Jose had done for both Totomaru and Juvia both. "We're... all going to die..."
There was nothing but silence throughout those who surrounded Jose, Juvia among them. Even Bambietta was at a loss for words. There was an anger building within her, something Phantom Lord itself seemed very good at provoking, but she could not focus on it entirely. She was infuriated at the prospect of a guild betraying one of its own, just as she had been with Eisenwald, but now she had something else to keep her preoccupied: the sight of watching Liltotto break down and succumb to her own despairs.
"You bastard!" Natsu Dragneel, however, was not one for being calm under the circumstances. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"
The flames consumed Jose then and there, the Wizard Saint having not had a chance to either properly defend himself or let go of Natsu to slip away. He did so after being struck, however, and he leapt away. His dark blue clothing was charred, smoke pouring off it. His cloak was no different, yet it was intact. Jose simply smiled despite the momentary pain, the guild master laughing it off. "Why the rage, Salamander? Totomaru wasn't even from your accursed guild!"
"That don't make a different to me, pal!" the Dragon Slayer shouted as he pulled himself up to his full height. "He was in your guild and that's how you treat him? That's how you were going to treat Juvia? Far as I'm considered, you don't deserve to be a guild master or a Wizard Saint!"
"Is that so?" Jose asked, almost curiously. "I was commanding this legendary guild before you were even a youngling, Salamander! Within my veins flows the blood of the founder of Phantom Lord! There would be no Phantom Lord if not for the Porla legacy! Our wills determine its future, not the fools who would dare defy it! Not you or the traitorous members of the Element Four!"
"Master... Jose..." Juvia was at a loss for words, the wizard barely able to recognize the man who stood before her know. This was not the Jose Porla who had brought her comfort when she had been at her lowest, this was simply a monster who had cost her her home, who may have killed Totomaru and who had hurt Gray. None of it would stand, even if it would require her to do something she had never imagined herself capable of. Her body of water having reached a boiling point, steam began to burst out from Juvia herself. "Water Slicer!"
"How dare you!" Jose swung out an arm then, a legion of Shades slipping into the space between him and Juvia. They were cut apart almost instantly, but another swath of the shadows took their place, completely breaking down Juvia's attack before it could even make contact with the guild master. It surprised Jose, that Juvia could force him to defend not once but twice, but he also knew what she was capable of in an enraged state. Still, he was no stranger to that sensation. "Is this how you repay me, Juvia of the Deep? No, Juvia the traitor!"
Juvia knew her master would attack and she was ready. Her body would simply shift to water the moment he made a move and she would remain unscathed. He, however, would not. Her counterattack would do what it needed to. It would cut him down. It had to.
Jose, however, knew full well what his famed water mage was capable of. Her strategies and tactics had been honed under his tutelage and leadership after all. She would simply turn to water and allow any attack he would launch to go right through her. That was hardly a conundrum however. This standoff she was trying to force would not go in her favor. Jose would not allow it to.
A Shade burst into existence behind Juvia, giving neither herself or anyone around time to react to it. From its right hand, specifically one finger, did a thin beam of dark magic issue forth. It struck Juvia directly in the back, the energy tearing through her physical form and out through the front of her torso.
"This can't... be..."
"Ah, Juvia. Your defensive capabilities are impressive, and no doubt you would have simply rendered my Dusk Piercer ineffective, but only if you could see it coming." Jose watched as his former guild member dropped to the ground, her eyes wide with shock. He had brought her done with the very same technique he had used not once but twice against Laxus earlier. "But do not fret, traitor. Despite your transgressions against me, Phantom Lord will always remember your services. You and Totomaru will both be missed."
"You piece of shit!"
Jose turned quickly, his attention having been diverted from Juvia. The woman from earlier, Bambietta Basterbine, was upon him. Her face was consumed in a snarl, her eyes blazing with fury. Her sword in hand, the Quincy swung down at Jose. Lost in her rage, she had one goal in mind: to cleave him in half from top to bottom.
"First you and the Dragon Slayer," Jose simply hissed as he caught the sword between the palms of his hands, the edge of the blade a mere inch from his head. "Jose and Totomaru are traitors to my guild and I will punish them as I see fit! You have no right to ju-"
"Shut the fuck up!"
Bambietta pushed one foot off of Jose's torso, letting go of her sword as she did so. Yet as her fingers slipped away from it, an orb of magic slipped out from her palm and infected the weapon. It exploded almost instantly, the blast engulfing Jose's upper body and silencing him for a brief moment.
Bambietta watched as Jose took a step back, the Quincy summoning another sword. She did not much care for sacrificing a weapon, but it was simply a matter of forging another one from the magic particles around her. It would have to do if she could not simply infect Jose's wretched self and detonate him.
"Please be dead, bastard." Her rage subsiding, Bambietta very nearly bit her tongue. "Oh, I hope Wendy didn't hear any of that..."
"Nice move, Bambi," Natsu said as he moved up towards the Quincy. "I'm starting to think we got a shot at winning this."
"Damn," Jose muttered as he waved away the smoke. He glared at Bambietta and Natsu both, a rage glowing with his eyes. "You two dare to cause me harm? Then I shall return that indignity upon you both a thousand fold!"
Jose prepared himself to attack, to launch a volley of his dreadful power, but he quickly back-peddled. An axe cut into the ground, leaving dirt and debris to be kicked up. Jose could see it then, a bull-like man turning to glare at him.
"Sorry, Miss Lucy," Taurus shouted. "I won't let him moove out of the way again!"
"Damned pest! Away with you!" Jose attacked almost immediately, his hand sweeping out. Explosions of dark energy rung out around Taurus then, the Dark Pulse spell forcing the Celestial Spirit to cry out in pain before fading away into the realm he called home in an attempt to recuperate. Then did Jose turn on Lucy then, his eyes flowing with an enraged power. "I suppose your father's contract never said what I had to bring you home unharmed."
Turning his back entirely on both Bambietta and Natsu, Jose began to raise a hand up to attack the frightened Lucy with. That was enough to infuriate both the Quincy and the Dragon Slayer. They leapt at Jose then, screams of defiance echoing forth from their longs.
However, their attacks never hit. Both fighters found themselves caught then, twin hands of darkness gripping them tightly. "What the hell is this?" Natsu screamed as he looked about, catching sight of a massive orb of pitch-black dark behind him, red eyes peering out from the center, nearly a dozen arms continuing to sprout outwards from its mass.
"Damn you!" Bambietta screamed, the Quincy trying to wiggle free of the creature. "Lucy!"
"Hold them still, my Shade," Jose said as he simply kept his focus on Lucy. "As for you, you've brought this upon both yourself and your guild." He brought one finger up, pointing towards one of Lucy's knees. "Yes, this should do nicely. I wouldn't want you kicking all the way to your father."
Jose prepared himself to use the Dusk Piercer, but was caught off guard when he felt a hand clasp down upon his wrist. "Sorry, man, but what self-respecting ladies man would let you go and do something like this?"
Lucy looked on, catching sight of a particular wizard having taken hold of Jose's arm and standing in his way. "Loke?"
"Well, I'll be damned," Bambietta grunted, the Quincy trying to break free of the Shades' arm with Blut Arteria. "I guess he's not all that bad of a guy after all."
"After all," Loke said, the man grinning, "making ladies weak in the knees is my job. So step off, Jose."
Lucy stared blankly at the two wizards. "Oh."
Bambietta could only blink in dissatisfaction. "Seriously?"
Natsu, meanwhile, was all for his comrade in arms. "Kick his butt good for me, Loke!"
"Take you damned hand off me, child of Makarov," Jose said, his disgust as Loke's actions leaving him grow more enraged with each and every second.
"Sure, if you say so. But don't blame me if you regret it." Loke made certain to pull his hand away from Loke, the wizard doing a quick chant. "O Regulus, grant me your strength!"
Loke's hands and feet became engulfed in the golden light of the Regulus magic, leaving him in a position to strike. He launched his right fist towards Jose's face, intent on striking him down. However, much to his consternation, the Wizard Saint simply evaded his attack.
"Most impressive," Jose said in an honest tone, all the while continuing to dodge each and every attack, never missing a beat. "I've never see a Caster magic quite like this. Tell me, where did you learn it?"
"Wow, and here I thought a Wizard Saint would know about every kind of magic!" Loke taunted, all the while keeping up his offensive. "How about you hold still? That way I'll knock some sense into you!"
"You are just another brat of Makarov's after all," Jose said. "If so, then I will end this!"
Jose was quick to move then, his offense as nimble as his defense. His hand launched upwards, cloaked in darkness, and it caught one of Loke's glowing hands tightly.
"Your light can never hope to drive away my darkness," Jose sneered. "However, the reverse does not hold true!"
Jose's other arm swung out to the side, dark magic drawing around it preparation for a Dead Wave. The orb formed in his palm and he brought his hand forward.
"We'll see about that!" Loke was unwilling to let himself be caught point blank by the attack. To that end did he slam his free fist into the orb, the light of Regulas colliding with the darkness of the Dead Wave. "Jose Porla, I won't let you... you..."
Loke could feel it then, a certain lightness to his body. Worse, he could see his arms both growing transparent, his fist losing the magic of Regulas around it.
"No..." Loke muttered under his breath, realization dawning on him. "Damn it, not now!"
"The hell?" was all Bambietta could say in regards to the oddity before her, the Quincy momentarily giving up on her struggle against the Shade monster.
"Loke?" Lucy was equally confused. "Are you all right?"
Jose was no less confused, however, he simply did not care. Whatever was happening, it was a means to an end. "Allow me to conclude your resistance!"
Jose pulled his arm in more towards the center, Loke's resistance having fading as much as his body and magic appeared had, and fired the Dead Wave directly at his chest. The wielder of Regulas cried out in agony, his body flying back and skidding across the ground.
"And now..." Jose turned his attentions to Lucy, only to be interrupted. Catching sight of an attack coming towards himself, Jose brought up a barrier of Shades. A series of sharpened cards, having spun about like shurikens, harmlessly bounced off it. "Brazen upstart!"
Jose spun about, firing a blast of the Dead Wave. Cana Alberona was quick to dodge it at the last second, the woman throwing another series of cards. Once more did Jose keep his shield up, leaving the attacks to merely ricochet off of it. Yet as the cards hit the ground, they detonated. Smoke and debris kicked up, forcing Jose to push it aside with a wave of both his arm and a series of Shades.
"Such insolence!" the Wizard Saint shouted. "To think you could fight me with such parlor tricks!"
Jose stepped forward then, intent on taking down Cana one way or another. Yet, as his right foot stepped back down on the ground, he caught sight of bolts of lightning bursting up from three cards that he only then noticed.
"Not my fault you couldn't keep your eyes on the prize," Cana said as she held in her hand three particular cards. "Now, for my next trick..."
The trap that Cana had laid down when Jose had been distracted by the smoke kicked in, electricity coursing through Jose's body. The Wizard Saint roared in pain, his teeth clenched together. "Damned fool!"
Despite his muscles convulsing as they were, Jose was still able to drag his arm into the air, another Dead Wave issuing forth. It struck Cana dead on, throwing the wizard to the ground. She hit the dirt and rocks hard and was left breathing but unmoving. Her consciousness interrupted, her cards lost their affect, the lightning fading away.
"And so two more fools have fallen." Jose took a deep breath and looked towards Lucy once more. "I suppose you and I both should thank them however. They gave me a chance to think clearly. I can't bring fame and glory to my guild by bringing a wounded woman to her father, now can I?"
Jose was mad, that much had been made certain, but to Lucy it appeared so much worse now. He instability was frightening her now more than ever, his unimaginable powers only adding to the terror. "You... You're..."
"And if I can't hurt you..." Jose turned his gaze up at his monstrous Shade creation, the beast still holding both Bambietta and Natsu securely. "Perhaps I can convince you with... other methods."
Jose swung his hands back and forth, utilizing his Dark Impulse spell against both his targets. Explosions came into existence around Bambietta and Natsu, causing them to scream in pain while the Shade beast that restrained them remained unharmed. For both the pain was unimaginable, but what was worse was hearing Lucy's voice above the detonations. "Stop it! Please, just leave them alone!"
"Of course I will," Jose said, the man pausing for a moment. "Just as soon as you surrender yourself to me."
Lucy hesitated for a moment, her voice cracking. All around her were members of her guild, her family, and each and every one of them was wounded, all thanks to Jose. All thanks in part to her. She could not allow this to go on any further. "I..."
She would give in, she would submit to Jose's demands. Both Bambietta and Natsu knew that, but they could not allow Lucy to give in to it. So they did all that they could while held prisoner by the Shade beast. They used the only weapon they still had at their disposal: their voices.
"Don't you listen to him, Lucy," Natsu gasped. "Me and Bambi can take anything this creep can dish out, so don't you dare give up on account of us."
"Yeah," Bambietta added, her voice speaking up beyond the pain she felt. "This so-called saint is nothing "to us. Hell, I've known doggies who could blow me up better than him. So do your worst, jackass!"
"Fairy Tail ain't gonna give in to you no matter what you do!" Natsu screamed, his defiance matching Bambietta's own.
"You miserable cretins!" Jose screamed as he returned his attention to both Bambietta and Natsu, forcing them to endure a rapid succession of the Dark Pulse spell. "Die! Die! Die, you worthless trash!"
Lucy was still in a panic, but she knew she could not simply abide by Jose's demands. Especially not after what both her friends had said. Fairy Tail was fighting for her and she had to fight for it as well. So Lucy began to reach for a Celestial Spirit Key, knowing she had to bring out someone, anyone, to get Jose to stop torturing those she cared for.
However, Lucy was not the only one to feel that way. Liltotto was still on her knees, having watched the entire affair of the battle with utter despair. Jose's power was terrifying, his strength an unstoppable force to those who bore the mark of Fairy Tail. It only dredged up awful memories, her recollection of hers and Giselle's battle with Yhwach fresh in her mind.
Now, however, was something cutting through the fog of despair. The screams of torment that belonged to those she considered close to her were clawing at her mind, taking hold of her attention and not letting it go. Fear gave way to pain, forcing her to look beyond the despair that Jose's power had inflicted. Natsu's agony was her agony. Bambietta's suffering was her suffering. One she adored, the other she loved, and Liltotto remembered well what she had vowed to do when the chance to make up for past mistakes had come to her.
"Never again..." the Quincy whispered as she slowly began to rise up to her feet. "And not him..."
Liltotto began to draw on all the magic around her, from the environment itself to the powers of her fallen comrades. It began to form and coalesce within herself, giving life to the inner strength she held inside her soul. She took one single deep breath, then allowed herself to scream.
The magic around Liltotto exploded outwards, a column of faint, blue light shooting up into the cloudy sky. It too joined her scream, the very sound of the column echoing her fury. From it did twin beams spread outwards, as if forming a cross. Its power radiated towards all those who could lay their eyes upon it, the light almost blinding. It was enough to catch even Jose's attention, the Wizard Saint turning his gaze upon the translucent cross.
His torturing of Bambietta and Natsu having ceased, Jose could only express his confusion. "What is this?"
"Oh, that's simple," Bambietta answered, the Quincy speaking despite blood slipping out from the corner of her mouth. "It's your angel of death, bastard. I just wish I could be the one who's about to dish out the pain."
The light faded as quickly as it had been born into the word, leaving Jose and all around him to stare at Liltotto. The young woman was hovering in the air, her feet dangling above the ground. From her back had two small wings of pale, blue light sprung forth, a matching halo above her head.
"Interesting." That was all Jose had to say at first, the wizard firing off a Death Wave at Liltotto. It struck her dead on, leaving the Quincy to do a flip in the air. She was quick to right herself, however. Liltotto's feet hit the ground and skidded across it for a brief moment, but she was quick to launch herself off it and towards Jose himself. "Very interesting."
Jose fired off another Death Wave, having noted that the transformed Quincy could not resist its strength still, but this time it did not go as he had hoped. Liltotto's mouth opened up wider than Jose ever imagined possible, his dark magic quickly consumed. Liltotto had lost known of her momentum, the Glutton having protected her from harm and kept her from having to dodge.
"You hurt Bambi... You hurt Natsu..." Liltotto's massive jaws spread out further, her voice bellowing from deep within her mouth. "I'm going to devour you whole!"
"Go ahead and try!" Jose screamed in defiance, the power of his Shade magic at the ready. It flowed around his entire body, forming an orb of protection, a barrier that he could only barely peer out through the darkness of. Liltotto's jaws bit down on the barrier then, taking Jose off the ground almost entirely. Both he and the enraged Liltotto flew backwards, the Quincy driving the Wizard Saint away from the others and towards his own guild hall.
Those of Fairy Tail simply watched on as the angelic Quincy slammed Jose through the stone wall and out of sight, the lot of them caught off guard by Liltotto's Voll Stern Dich. All save Bambietta, who knew precisely what it was capable of. It made her jealous, yes, but she also knew that some day that power would be hers again as well. She had already regained the Explode, so that was the next step.
Though first she and Natsu had to free themselves of the Shade beast. Bambietta struggled against it, trying once more to use Blut Arteria despite leverage not being on her side.
"Wow," Natsu said, the Dragon Slayer struggling as well, though completely mystified by Liltotto's transformation. "Looks like she's got a fire in her belly now."
Bambietta continued to fight against the Shades' grip, only sparing Natsu the briefest of replies. "Let's just hope she can get Jose in there, too."
For Jose Porla what he was facing was unthinkable. He was the proud master of the greatest guild that Fiore had ever known in its history. He was one of the esteemed members of the ten Wizard Saints. How then could he be challenged by a single, solitary member of Fairy Tail? It was happening now, leaving him to question the reality he found himself in.
Yet, as he was pushed back, his barrier protecting from the debris around him, Jose knew he had no reason to be surprised at the above. He would have expected this potential from one of Fairy Tail's S-Class wizards. Erza, Laxus, Mystogan, Gildarts or Makarov; any of them he would have expected a challenge from. However, to have this happen from an unknown, from a potential neophyte, was unfathomable. Yet it was happening.
Jose was finding himself receiving a true battle from the one he had come to recognize as Liltotto.
"Damn you, child!" Jose could see his barrier was cracking, the Quincy's teeth breaking through, and it left him concerned. How could this possibly be happening? Yet, despite his cracking composure, he was able to react. The barrier of Shade magic opened behind Jose, allowing him to leap away and land on the floor. He found himself back in the grand hall of his Super Giant Mage Phantom, but that interested him little. Instead he watched as Liltotto's jaws shut, destroying the magic orb that had been there once before. Bursts of dark energy spilled out from between her teeth, the mouth stretching back until it had return to its original size and form around Liltotto's face. "What in the hell kind of wizard are you?"
"I'm not wasting time on that question," Liltotto said simply. "So just die and let me gobble you up."
Liltotto lunged at Jose once more, this time the Quincy making certain to dodge the next beam of Shade magic. Twice had she already consumed it, the bitter taste leaving her stomach churning. There was a limit to how much she could consume a darkness such as that, leaving Liltotto to have to resort to other methods. She surrendered herself entirely to her Voll Stern Dich as she closed the distance between herself and Jose, her fist colliding with his face. The Wizard Saint lost his footing, his body twisting around from the hit. Blood shot out from his mouth then, staining the carpeting of the guild hall.
Her physical attributes had been enhanced greatly by the activation of her holy form, leaving Liltotto with the opportunity to end this now. So as Jose fell back, she made certain to move around him, greeting him as his face twisted about. She swung out her closed right hand, intent on ending the Wizard Saint if need be. He simply had to fall and give her the opportunity to devour him with no barrier between them.
Unfortunately for her, Jose was no simple foe to defeat like that. His instincts as one of the ten great wizards in the land took over, allowing him to react to the punch before it could land. He tilted his chin up, a great wall of Shades springing up from the floor upon his command. Liltotto's fist struck the newfound barrier instead of Jose himself.
"Nice try, child of Makarov, but- What?"
Jose did not get the chance to finish his bold declaration. Liltotto's fist burst forth from amidst the darkness, striking Jose in the face once more. The Wizard Saint was thrown back, the side of his face striking the floor and skidding across it. Still, he was fast to counter his unexpected movement. A Shade formed upon his command, grabbing Jose and pulling up from the floor quickly. It set him down on momentarily unsteady legs, leaving Jose to glare at Liltotto.
"You miserable brat! How dare you? How dare you?"
Liltotto did not respond in words, the Quincy feeling that she had no time to bother. She was not Bambietta, after all, and taunting meant little to her. However, there was another reason she simply wanted this battle over with. So she leapt at Jose once more, prepare to strike him once more. Yet Jose was quicker to respond this time, a Dusk Piercer flying out from one of his fingers. It struck Liltotto in the shoulder, cutting through flesh and bone, but she did not allow it to deter her. Her face remained impassive, the Quincy ignoring the pain. Feeling it did not matter. Causing it did. As her body circled around from the attack, she summoned her bow and took aim. Her sights set on Jose, she began to draw upon the magic all around her once more, his as well, and allowed a glowing arrow to form.
Jose took pause, knowing he was unwilling to risk the attack striking him directly. Confidence was with him, the pride of a Wizard Saint, but he was not so foolish as to take unnecessary risks. He would defeat this attack in a manner befitting his title. Quickly did he swing an arm up, a barrier of Shades appearing before him. It was not a moment too soon, as Liltotto let loose her arrow.
It was then that Jose learned precisely what he was dealing with. It no simple arrow composed of magic he was dealing with. No, a burst of light fired forth from the bow. It was perhaps not as powerful as the blast of a Jupiter Cannon, but the scope of the attack was closer to that than what Jose had expected from a mere archer. The blast struck the Shade barrier immediately, redirecting the power along its edges. Jose could feel the energy whisk by his sides, the energy leaving him baffled. If it had struck him dead on, he could scarcely imagine the results.
Worse, he could see the light beginning to shine through his Shades, the barrier beginning to crack. His heart seizing up for the briefest of moments, Jose knew he could not simply escape out the sides. The energy had him pinned. His rage growing at the indignity of it all, Jose threw up his arms one at a time over and over again, summoning Shade barrier after Shade barrier. Over and over did they rise up, filling the gap between Jose and the barrier that was failing.
Then did the first shatter, Liltotto's attack bursting through it and striking the next. Over and over did it go, the blue energy coming every closer to the Wizard Saint until at last he could see the light beginning to pierce the last barrier he had made, the one only a foot away from his face.
"Damn you..." Jose crossed his arms across his chest, forcing a legion of Shades to appear and swarm around him, forming a cocoon. "Damn you!"
Laxus Dreyar was not fond of how this day had been going. He had come to Fiore not of the goodness of his heart, but because he had been guilt tripped into the matter of fighting Phantom Lord. At least that was what he kept trying to tell himself. Now he had been rendered ineffective in the battle, the guild master of the rival faction having brought him closer to the brink of death than he could recall ever being. It was shameful and frustrated for a wizard of his caliber to be reduced to this. Worse, he was left to watch on as those he deemed weaker than him carried on the fight.
All because he had decided to help a scared little girl.
Now he was looking to that girl for assistance, Wendy Marvell using his powers as a Sky Dragon Slayer to heal the wounds to his chest. Laxus simply lay there, Wendy's glowing hands hovering over his chest. The pain was lessened, but it was still there. "You got to hurry, kid. The rest of those losers don't stand a chance without me..."
"I'm sorry, Mister Laxus, but I've never dealt with wounds this bad before." Wendy tried to keep a stiff upper lip, the young girl having spoke the truth. This was so much worse than anything she had seen in Cait Shelter, but that was not the worst of it. "This is all my fault. If you hadn't tried to protect me..."
"That was my choice, so don't go apologizing to me," Laxus interrupted. "But I do ask that you give this your all. Otherwise you're probably going to have to clean up even nastier injuries before this battle is over. No way that pipsqueak can take down Jose."
That was when it happened. Laxus and Wendy were both caught off guard as a brilliant beam of light flew out of the Phantom Lord guild hall. It was enough to illuminate the rain soaked battlefield. Then the light was gone as quickly as it had come, a man falling from it and hitting the ground after a few yards. Shattered dark magic was all around him, slowly dissipating. What truly caught Laxus' attention was the identity of the man.
It was Jose Porla.
The Wizard Saint was clearly worse for wear, his uniform in ruins, his cape ragged and worn. Must catching of all, however, was the bare arm that hung limply by Jose's side. The sleeve itself was gone, leaving behind a charred and bloodied arm. If Laxus had not known any better, he would have sworn it must have been broken.
"What the hell?" Laxus shouted. "That little twerp did all of that to him?"
"Please be quiet," Wendy pleaded. "I can't concentrate when you're screaming like that."
Liltotto hovered out of the guild hall and towards Jose. She could see that she had wounded him greatly, but it vexed her so. He had survived her attack. That was irritating enough in its own right, but the fact that she had only managed to damage an arm was the worst part. She had been hoping for at least some destroyed internal organs, if not complete and total incineration. "Those damn barriers."
Yet it did not entirely bother her. She would have to try again, or perhaps devour him as she had considered earlier. That no doubt would worry her new family, but she would do anything to keep them safe. To keep Bambietta safe.
"What an impressive foe you are, little one," Jose said, a Shade appearing before him and lifting his arm up. The constructed creature began to shift in appearance, forming a dark cast that bound the broken limb to Jose's arm. He raised his right hand up, clenching it into a fist as his eyes darkened with black magic once more. "To think that I would be backed into a corner by the likes of you! That I would be forced to use my full power! Very well!"
"Full power?" Liltotto had heard it well, her annoyance suddenly building. She could not let that happen. She was more than holding her own now, but it was not going as well as she had hoped either. To let Jose ascend to a greater level of threat would be foolhardy. To prevent that, she flew towards the wizard, intent on stopping him before the situation could escalate.
Yet then did she suddenly feel her body scream in pain. Her eyes bulged out, the Quincy coughing up blood. Her wings flickered for a moment, leaving her to hit the ground and skid across it.
"Damn it," Liltotto muttered as she pulled herself up into a crouch. "Not now... Not now, damn it!"
Liltotto screamed as her tiny wings and halo glowed more fiercely than every before. She once calm demeanor faded, a look of hateful intensity cast towards Jose. Then did she fly towards him again. Yet, just as her worst fears predicted, the Quincy's wings and halo both faded from sight complete, leaving her to fall to the ground once more..
"Lil!" Bambietta did not know what was going on, but it left her in fear.
Liltotto pulled herself up to her knees, her body feeling as if it was on the verge of breaking. This was exactly what she had feared was going to happen. Where she had come from, the Voll Stern Dich was a force to be reckoned with. Here it was no different, but something had changed. Now there was a trade off to that power, one Liltotto had discovered when she had initially used it in service of the Chicken Fangs. The pain was temporary, the fatigue as well, but Liltotto knew that would not matter.
For Jose Porla was standing before her know, looking down at the kneeling Quincy. "You have fought valiantly, young one. To have given a Wizard Saint of my pedigree such a battle... For that you should be rewarded."
Jose slowly brought up his right hand, his fingers moving past Liltotto's face. She looked to the side, her eyes glancing at her fellow Quincy. Liltotto knew what was coming, an experience she had suffered through once before. The last time she had been alone, her only ally already dead. Now, however, could she take solace in knowing that Fairy Tail was with her. That Bambietta was there to see her until the very end. Still, nothing could stop Liltotto from shedding tears.
"Bambi," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Damn it..." Bambietta looked on, still caught in the hands of the Shade. She could not use her sword or her bow. The Explode was denied of her, her hands held firmly against her body. All she could do was scream. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"That's right. Struggle." Jose had taken notice of Bambietta's actions. "It only intensifies my Shade's grip upon you. So shout all you want. It will change nothing."
"The hell it won't!" Natsu was no different from Bambietta, the Dragon Slayer resisting the Shade's grip as best he could. "Fire Dragon's Roa-"
Natsu never had the chance to finish the incantation for his attack. Another arm from the Shade reached out, its hand wrapping around his jaw tightly.
Jose did the same, the Wizard Saint roughly pulling Liltotto's face back so she would face him,. He then pressed his index finger against her forehead. "For your efforts," Jose said, his calm face suddenly giving way to a cruel smile, "I will grant you a painful death!"
Liltotto closed her eyes, trying her best to face this moment with whatever dignity she could. If she could manage that against Yhwach, then this would be no different. Yet, much to her surprise, the embrace of death did not seem to claim her.
"What?" Opening her eyes quickly, Liltotto could see Jose leaping away from her, Shades underneath his feet pulling him far and away. Then, without warning, did Liltotto's world turn upside down.
There was a flash of ebony and crimson before her eyes, the blur striking the ground that Jose had once occupied. Whether it was a miracle of an act of mercy by an unseen god, Liltotto did not know. All she could see was the burst of magic all around her, the ground erupting upon impact. It was an almost frightful sight, yet Liltotto could feel none of it. No, the flash of movement was quicker still, it turning to shield her. Liltotto felt herself pulled away then. As she felt herself move upwards into the rain-filled air, Liltotto watched over an armored shoulder as the battlefield erupted into chaos, the explosion of magic only dying down a few minutes later.
"Liltotto Lamperd," a voice that was commanding of the respect worthy of a warrior born began to say. "Are you all right?"
Liltotto felt the wind kick up around her, as if she and her savior were descending back to the ground. The Quincy looked from the shoulder then, taking in the comforting expression of the one who had come to her rescue. "Erza?"
The wizard landing gracefully upon the ground, holding the Quincy tightly with one arm, the other gripping the hilt of a sword tightly. "What you did was worthy of our guild," Erza said softly as she gently placed Liltotto down and against the side of rocky outcrop. "However, I ask that you never do something as risky as that again."
Liltotto's eyes began to gloss over, her image of Erza beginning to blur. The Voll Stern Dich had taken quite the toll on the Quincy, leaving her to drift into a state of temporary darkness. "Er... za..."
Liltotto was unconscious then, leaving Erza to begin to rise back up to her full height. "Rest now, Liltotto. And leave the rest to me."
"Titania Erza!"
The S-Class wizard spun around then, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the crazed Jose Porla. The guild master was looking clearly overjoyed at the presence of a new challenger, something that left Erza sick to her very core. This was no game, no sick perversion of combat that anyone should enjoy. This was nothing more than fight to the bitter end, a fact that Jose had made very clear with his actions.
"Jose Porla," Erza said calmly, the woman trying to keep any rage buried deep within. "This does not need to escalate any further. I implore you, one of the ten Wizard Saints, to fulfill the obligations of your title. Let us find a peaceful end to this altercation you have initiated."
"Come now, child of Makarov," Jose retorted, Shade magic swarming all about him. "You and I both know what my answer will be. Why else would speak of peace yet stand before me as a lady of war clad in that suit of Purgatory Armor?"
"So be it." Erza steeled herself for what was to come, the wizard taking hold of her sword's hilt with both hands. She spun it around until at last it was brandished at the vile Wizard Saint. "Jose Porla, I will bring an end to your madness no matter what it takes!"
"Promises, promises." Jose flung his left arm in an arc, igniting a volley of the Dark Impulse spell. "Can you fools do anything else but make impossible declarations?"
Erza braced the Purgatory Blade before her, holding it tightly. The sea of Dark Impulse explosions rung out against the side of the weapon, forcing it to shake, but that was all. Her eyes pearing out from over the edge of the sword, Erza could see Jose following up his first attack with the Dead Wave. Erza was quick to respond however, the wizard leaping up and over both the attack and Jose. As she came down, she held the hilt of the Purgatory Blade with both hands. She was aiming to strike Jose from behind, to bring him down at any cost.
Yet, much to Erza's annoyance, a wall of Shades formed. The Purgatory Blade began to cut through them, but it was slowed. As the darkness was cleaved downwards, Erza could see Erza's glowing right eye staring at her. It was followed up by another Dead Wave then, one that struck the Purgatory Blade head on.
The force of the attack, blocked as it was, was enough to throw Erza back. The wizard's armored feet dug into the ground and tore through it until her momentum slowed.
"Still you stand," Jose sighed. "I suppose I should expect nothing less from one of Fairy Tail's very best. It's a shame then, Erza, that you are not able to come at me at your full strength. This would truly be a battle worthy of legend then."
"You're not in the best of shape either, Jose Porla," Erza said, the wizard preparing herself for another of the Wizard Saint's attacks. It was a simple matter. As it stood now, she knew she could not afford to make the first move in an engagement. She had to allow Jose to attack first, then respond with proper defense and counterattack.
"Yes," Jose hissed through grit teet, the wizard trying to keep his mind off the broken arm held tightly against his chest. "That insolent comrade of yours surprised me, Titania. I suppose miracles can happen, but never twice. You will hold no surprises for me."
Jose raised his left hand, ready to attack.
"I, on the other hand..."
Erza kept her body steady, prepared to defend against another attack from Jose. Yet then did she catch a slight movement in the corner of her eyes, one that caused a momentary chill running across her skin and for the hair upon the back of her head to raise up slightly. Even hurt and and tired from a previous battle, Erza's warrior senses were still as sharp as ever. She spun around then, her Purgatory Blade cutting through a hand of concentrated darkness.
She saw it then, an injured arm flowing back towards a massive Shade that held Natsu and Bambietta both. They were struggling, yet neither could escape its grasp. As Erza pivoted to face Jose Porla once more, she cut her blade through the air. The Purgatory Blade had no ability but to cut. There was no magic behind it save for its physical prowess.
That, however, was enough. The air itself was pushed forward then, becoming a blade of such force that it tore through the Shade, splitting it in two. So, as Erza glared at Jose, the Wizard Saint could see both Bambietta and Natsu landing on their feet, now free.
"What must I do to be rid of you pests once and for all?" Jose snapped then, the Wizard Saint watching as both the Dragon Slayer and the Quincy moved by the side of Erza. "I suppose I must hold back no further. You've brought this upon yourselves, children of Makarov! I will no longer allow you any pleasantries in this battle!"
Both Bambietta and Natsu raised eyebrows at that statement, the both of them sparing quick glances at the carnage that Jose had left in his wake so far. The Dragon Slayer then gave voice to what the both of them were thinking. "He's kidding, right?"
"Focus, the both of you," Erza commanded. "For Fairy Tail, for our guildmates and for Master Makarov, we must end this here and now. We face a mad Wizard Saint. As much as it pains me to say it, show no mercy or hesitation. If the opportunity presents itself, we must strike to kill for all our sakes."
Bambietta watched Natsu allowed his fists to become wrapped in flames, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Jose. Bambietta prepared herself as well, her sword appearing with her hands. "You're speaking my language, Erza."
"I know." That was all the S-Class wizard had to say, her tone wavering slightly. This was not the kind of battle she wanted her comrades to ever find themselves in, but there was no choice in the matter. "For Fairy Tail."
The trio of wizards lunged for Jose then, the Wizard Saint attacking with the Dark Impulse spell. Bambietta and Natsu scattered to the sides, continuing their advancements, while Erza simply charged through the explosion, a roar of defiance echoing from her.
"Damn you all!" Jose brought her arm in front of his chest, crossing it over his broken one. A barrier of Shades appeared all around him then in a perfect sphere, one that quickly found itself under attack. On one side a short sword, on another a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist. Then, from the front, the massive Purgatory Blade. Jose watched from within as his shield struggled against the three attacks, slight cracks starting to form. "When will you all understand that your pitiful resistance is futile?"
"Sorry, pal," Natsu shouted, his fire beginning to burn hotter, "but in case you haven't noticed, we're slow learners!"
"But we are quick on the uptake when it comes to figuring out how to kick your ass!" Bambietta shouted. "So how's about we have a little math quiz and remove your shield from the equation! Everybody, step back!"
Slamming her free hand against the Shade barrier, Bambietta unleashed an orb of her power. It quickly infected the Jose's shield with the Explode, leaving it to burst apart. Only Jose bore the brunt of the blast, the others having heeded Bambietta's advice and moved back.
However, now that the shield was gone, Natsu was the first to attack once more, his one good arm at the ready. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Fiery knuckles dragged across Jose's face, the Wizard Saint's head twisting to the side due to the force. His legs buckles however briefly, yet he did not fall. Bambietta and Erza both were prepared to attack then and there, yet they stopped when they saw a worrisome sight.
Natsu was crying out in pain. Trace amounts of blood flew out from between his fangs, his eyes once filled with determination now widening in shock. The flames around his fist faded, but there was another source of magic that had replaced them. Five sets of thin, dark beams were piercing through Natsu's torso, all of them projecting from the hand that belonged to the broken arm held against Jose's chest.
"Both of our arms are injured, Salamander," Jose whispered. "However, I can still use magic properly with mine."
Erza's world felt a little darker then, a wizard she had all but grown up with falling to his knees, blood staining his chest and stomach. Memories overwhelmed Erza for the briefest of moments then, of Natsu constantly picking fights with her, to her teaching him how to read. She could see the glassy look upon his eyes, only to watch as he was thrown aside by Jose's Dead Wave attack. For as long as she had known Natsu, he had always been ready to meet the next challenge, even if it was far beyond him. Even if he was defeated, he never lost his drive or his focus.
This, however, was different. Jose was out of the league of anyone left standing. He was wounded, yes, but so were all of them. So as Jose threw Natsu aside with another incantation of the Dead Wave, Erza did not see a fellow wizard taken down. No, she saw her family. She saw another with him she had been raised alongside. All of them, everyone laying beaten on the ground. It was as if she had been transported back to a time in her life she would never have wanted to experience ever again. Perhaps it would not have been the case if her battle with Jin Kariya had not dragged her buried past up to the surface, but now her mind was falling further back, of a village and its inhabitants being laid waste to by an unforgiving force.
That was why this had to end here and now.
"Jose!"
Erza dashed forward then, leaving Bambietta in shock. The Quincy could not recall a time she had sensed such a rage from Erza, from the woman who had quelled her fury back on Galuna Island. Deep down did Bambietta reveal one thing to herself then and there, that the sensation was almost as awe inspiring as it was frightening.
To a Wizard Saint of Jose Porla's stature, however, it was just another attack he would have to face. So summoned into his hand of the cold, dead night, a spell had learned in his youth but rarely gotten the chance to use in this day and age of being a guild master. He would have thanked Erza Scarlet for providing him with the opportunity if he had not intended to end her life with it.
The pitch black power of the Void Sword within his palm, Jose parried the Purgatory Blade with all the strength he could muster. Power exploded against power, yet it was plain to see for Jose that he was not winning the clash. The weapon born of his Shade magic was great indeed, but the Purgatory Blade was beyond its scope. Worse, he could only wield his sword with one hand, while Erza was in the position of holding it steady with both. While having an broken arm had allowed Jose the unorthodox change to defeat Natsu Dragneel, it wold not assist him here.
He relented then, leaping back as he commanded a Shade to come into being. It grabbed him by the shoulders, flying away so as to give Jose more distance between himself and Erza. However, as he landed on his feet, another individual appeared before him.
"Surprise, dumb ass!"
Bambietta was on Jose then, Hirenkyaku having gotten her in close. Her sword clashed with Jose's own, the Quincy hoping to cut him down alongside Erza. Bambietta was no different from the S-Class wizard now. She had had more than enough of both Jose and Phantom Lord. She had been determined to end him earlier if need be, but there had been something holding Bambietta back then. She had been at least a little worried about how those of Fairy Tail would react to her decision.
However, things were different now. Erza had made it quite clear, that they were fighting for their very lives against Jose. That was music to Bambietta's ears, a comfort to her heart. This was the kind of battle she truly lived for. After all, the truest form of a fight was one in of kill or be killed, one in which you would die if you lost. She had fought for many varying reasons since coming to Fairy Tail, yes, but this was the purest form of it to Bambietta. So, as weapons clashed, the Quincy lost herself in the fight in a manner in which she had not since she had last set foot on the grounds of the Soul Society. She had been granted permission to kill by a superior and she would take it for all it was worth.
Yet following through that boon was something that Bambietta could see would not be as easy as she had hoped. Jose was wounded but he was far from weak. Bambietta's weapon was clearly not on par with Erza's own, as the Wizard Saint was parrying her attacks with ease. That was fine, as Bambietta knew what she could do that he could not.
"Parry this!" Bambietta threw out an orb of the Explode, catching Jose's Void Sword immediately. The weapon detonated right away, the dark magic splintering outwards before fading. "And now it's your turn!"
Bambietta stepped to the side with Hirenkyaku, the Quincy having noted the surge of determined power behind her. Erza rushed into close combat with Jose then, swinging the Purgatory Blade in a horizontal manner. Unfortunately, it did not hit home. Jose summoned yet another wall of Shades, this one completely obscuring him from view. The sword struck the dark barrier and began to gnaw through it.
"Yeah, let's try this again." Bambietta threw a fragment of the Explode forward, igniting the barrier. "You can't hide, Jose!"
The Purgatory Blade unobstructed, it cut through the explosion and the smoke that had once been the barrier, leaving Bambietta satisfied. Yet Erza was not. She had felt resistance against her blade within the attack, but she knew she had not cut through Jose himself.
When the smoke cleared, that much was obvious. All that stood before her was a dark reflection of Jose himself, an immaterial Shade cut in half.
"What?" Bambietta cursed herself then, the Quincy having not kept a lock on Jose's magic during the last few moments. She had been so focused on Erza's own, having never expected her to attack in the manner that she just had, that the Quincy had not kept her focus on the enemy himself. "Where the hell is he?"
"Child of Makarov!" Jose himself suddenly tore threw his own Shade reflection, the Wizard Saint having been behind it. He lunged at Bambietta, his fingers wrapping tightly around her face. Bambietta struggled to pull away, but his grip was fierce and her leverage suspect, leaving her unable to use Hirenkyaku. "You're bothering me!"
Bambietta was about to shout at him as best she could, but she could not even afford a moment of muffled cursing. The Quincy scream then and there, as Jose fired off the Dead Wave directly against her face. As the magic struck her point blank, Jose let go of Bambietta. The attack sent her sailing back, Bambietta crying out all the while.
"Now then," Jose said as he turned to face Erza, "you're all that's left, Titania."
This situation was nothing less than a nightmare. Lucy's confidence had wavered earlier, but Fairy Tail's resolve had bolstered it then. Now, however, it was faltering once more. Her friends had fought a valiant battle against Phantom Lord. They had conquered the Jupiter Canon and vanquished the Abyss Break. They had defied the power of the Super Mage Giant Phantom and laid waste to any enemy that Phantom Lord had sent against them. They had beaten back the odds and rallied after Makarov's defeat, but now things were clearly different.
Jose Porla had entered the battle and he was personally taking all of Fairy Tail to task. Each and every guild member present had thrown their best at Jose, Liltotto catching him by surprise with a unimagined power, yet they were all dropping one by one. All for Lucy, all for Fairy Tail.
Now had both Natsu and Bambietta fallen, the latter having flown past Lucy after attack she had taken. Her heart racing, Lucy had turned to run to her. As Bambietta landed on the ground, her body kicking up a cloud of dirt, Lucy knelt by her side. "Bambi! Bambi!"
Jose's dark magic faded from around Bambietta's head, revealing her face to be both bloodied and bruised. Yet despite it all, the pale blue light of her defensive Blut ability coursed through her veins. "I love being a Quincy, but... damn." Bambietta furrowed her brow, her eyes blinking for a minute as the blurring faded and she looked up at Lucy. "That jerk could have hit me hard enough that I'd be seeing double or triple right now, but no..."
"Bambi?" Wendy was staying by Laxus' side, trying to heal his horrific wounds, but still did she look towards the chaos in horror. Bambietta was hurt now, the woman who had given her a home in Magnolia bloodied. "Bambi!"
"Damn it," Laxus grunted, his chest still screaming in pain. "You gotta get me back on my feet, kid."
"I'm trying!" Wendy screamed the words then, her anxiety finally overwhelming her. Her voice grew softer almost immediately after, the Sky Dragon Slayer sobbing. "Everyone's dying around me and I can't fix any of it..."
"Don't be talking like that, Wendy," Bambietta said as she struggled to sit up, Lucy helping her do so. "We're going to win this thing and go back home, okay?"
Despite her bravado, Wendy could see that blood was dripping down from the gashes on Bambietta's face, staining her white jacket and cape. She began to fidget then, her hands slowly beginning to moving away from their place a few inches atop Laxus' wounds.
"Wendy, forget about me and just keep healing that jerk."
Wendy had not expected Bambietta to notice. "But-"
"Much as I hate to admit it, he'd be better by Erza's side than me... And besides, I've got plenty of fight left in me. Don't... let how bad I look fool you." Bambietta began to rise up to her feet, trying to pull away from Lucy. Yet, much to her annoyance, she fell back. "Oh, damn it all."
"Bambi, you can't..." Lucy said, the wizard trying to hold her up as best she could.
"The hell I... can't..." Bambietta suddenly felt her breath catch in her throat, an onslaught of wind throwing itself against her. No, that was not all. She could feel power radiating from both Erza and Jose, their strengths clashing. Erza's blade of pitch-black metal, no doubt expertly forged, was clashing again and again with the sword of crackling darkness that Jose wielded once more. Every blow altered the air itself, forcing it to blow outwards from the battle. That, however, was not the end of it. Bambietta could see it clearly, the falling rain that Juvia's despair had caused; not a drop of it was making contact with the two wizards. The sheer force of their colliding attacks was keeping the water off then, forming a bubble of concentrated, empty fury about them both.
This was the strength of Fairy Tail's own Titania Erza. This was the power Jose Porla possessed, that of a Wizard Saint. They were of legend, leaving Bambietta stunned. It was nothing less than awe inspiring, even to a Quincy who had fought both for and against those who fancied themselves gods in the realms of the living and the dead of another world.
Now, at last, did Bambietta understand the hesitation that Liltotto had experienced earlier.
Erza Scarlet could feel her muscles body, her very body screaming at her to relent. She was throwing all that she had at Jose Porla, the wizard relying solely on the one thing she could hope to best him with: overwhelming power. Yet it was true what the Wizard Saint had said, that neither of them was at their best. Whether or not Erza could have bested him then was an unknown to her, but what she did understand was that she could only last so long wielding the tremendous power of the Purgatory Armor and its matching blade. Her spirit was unrelenting, yes, but her body could only support it so long.
It upset Erza, though not as a slight against her power. She was after all facing one of the ten greatest wizards in all of Fiore. No, it was simply that after all it had come down to, she did not have the power to protect all that she held dear from the hatred that had been targeted towards it.
That hatred, meanwhile, was in rare form. As Jose countered and parried, as he lunged and attacked, his voice threatened to drown out the clashing of metal against magic. "Fall, damn you! Fall!"
Another rain clearing collision occurred, one that left both Jose and Erza to step back. Only now, as a brief respite in their battle had occurred, did the rain begin to fall onto them both.
"To think that Makarov would have wizards this capable," Jose hissed. "That he would even be able to lure to his side both Totomaru and Juvia... It confounds me! I am the master of the greatest guild in all of Fiore! No longer will I hear how you lowly fairies could ever be our equals!"
Jose lunged for Erza then, the Wizard Saint bringing his Void Sword forward. It was met once more by the Purgatory Blade, Erza glaring into Jose's eyes. She had swung the weapon around with her right hand, managing to keep the Wizard Saint's own at bay. Yet then did she cry out in muffled pain. Her hand was flaring up in agony, soon joined by her entire arm. The Purgatory Blade was let go then, blood spraying out from between the thumb and index finger of Erza's hand, as well as from the back of her elbow. Through it all was a Dusk Piercer spell, own of Jose's own fingers having extending out away from the hilt of his sword during the clash.
"As your diminutive pest cost me an arm, so to have I taken one from you," Jose said with sadistic glee, his voice all but obscured by Erza's cry of pain. "And now, Titania, this shall end!"
Several Shades formed around Erza then, all under Jose's masterful control. They took hold of the S-Class wizard, restraining her as best they could. She struggled of course, her screams of pain converting to a roar of defiance. Still, her struggle only gave the Shades more power.
"Now then," Jose said with a eerie calmness coming over him, "Lucy Heartfilia..."
Jose held his arm up up, leaving the Void Sword to vanish from sight. Instead he took full control of the Shades, forcing them to encircle around and cling to Erza even more tightly. He at last looked towards Lucy, his eyes cold and dark.
"I offer you one more chance," he said. "Up until now, I have been acting with mercy and restraint. Come with me now, Lucy Heartfilia, and I will continue to do so. If not... the deaths of all Makarov's beloved children will be on your head!"
"You..." Lucy knew there was nothing else she could do. She gently lay Bambietta's upper body on the ground and began to stand. "You give me your word?"
"Of course," Jose replied. "On my honor as a Wizard Saint."
"Lucy, don't..." Bambietta coughed up. "You and me both know he'll just kill us all anyway."
Erza knew that as well, the ensnared wizard unwilling to let things end in this manner. With Jose's attention diverted, she began to use her Requip magic in the one way allowed to her now. Her body and armor were of no more assistance, but there was one thing a Requip specialist always had, her weapons. A sword appeared in the air several yard behind her then, one held up by the magic dominion she held over it. Its pointed towards her then, ready to move at speeds only a weapon from the Heaven's Wheel armory could obtain. Her body and the Shades kept it hidden from Jose's sight, even if he were to turn his attentions back to her. It was simple and easy, the decision Erza had made.
The sword would pierce through her torso as she was held aloft and cut directly into Jose Porla's skull.
So the sword began to accelerate upon Erza's instructions, yet she felt no pain, nor did she see Jose die with her own last moments of life.
All she heard was another cry out from behind her. Twisting her head back, Erza could see Jin Kariya, the Bount's back to her. Pierced through it was the Heaven's Wheel Blade, his hands clasped along its side and fighting to hold it back.
"Kariya?" Erza could not believe what she was seeing.
"Titania, what are you doing?" the Bount asked, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth as he dropped the sword to the ground. "Is this what your master would have wanted for you? Don't tell me you hope to make it up to your old friends by saving your new ones like this."
Kariya was next to fall then, the Bount laying in a pool of his own spreading blood.
"What was it you said to me?" Kariya gasped. "That we all can die at any time, but we must live to face any past sins? Then... live..."
Erza's eyes widened then, the unthinkable having happened right before her eyes. "Kariya!"
"How foolish," Jose said, his attentions brought back to the situation right before him. "Even he has betrayed me. And yet, his actions were a boon..."
Jose glared at Erza then, his maddened intensity leaving him unable to put his plans to the side. All he could focus on was the realization of what had almost happened.
"A child of Makarov even dared to consider herself a worthy sacrifice to cause my death? You, Titania Erza, will be swiftly and justly punished with the death you crave!"
Jose could only bellow in his rage, the Shades that held Erza responding in kind. Power coursed through them then, pouring all of the Wizard Saint's manifested malice directly into his target. Erza screamed in response, her very existence caught in absolute agony.
"Die! Die! Die!" Jose was lost to his fury then, the wizard allowing his hatred to get the better of him. "Die and give the Heartfilia family fortune to me!"
"What?" Despite her agony, Erza was able to speak up against Jose. "You're doing this... for something as petty as money?"
"Don't act like you didn't know!" Jose screamed, the Wizard Saint blasting Erza with the Dead Wave spell. "Phantom Lord has always been the greatest guild in all of Fiore! That was until your generation came along! Fairy Tail wizards beginning to eclipse my own in notoriety and fame! Even then, I knew we were superior! The Porla family fortune that my ancestor, Geoffrey, amassed was just the start! So many successful job requests led Phantom Lord to becoming the richest guild! It was all your generation left me to take pride in! But now, with you having access to the Heartfilia family fortune, I knew I would lose even that to Makarov! So don't you dare label my desires as petty!"
Jose's voice hit a crescendo then, dark power flowing all around him.
"I will not allow Fairy Tail to fortify itself with the money from that brat's family!" the Wizard Saint roared. "I will never allow your guild to stand above my own! Not now and not ever!"
"You fool," Erza whispered at first. Despite her pain, she could not help but smile down upon Jose. "Your obsession with who is superior and inferior has blinded you to the truth. Lucy never spoke of such things to us. She lives in a simple apartment, she fights by our side. She fights with us, laughs with us, cries with us. She's just another wizard in our guild. To us, she has always simply been Lucy of Fairy Tail, not of the Heartfilia family."
Jose simply glared at Erza while she continued.
"Your chosen trigger for this war? The heir to the Heartfilia's riches? That's all you see her as, but... you know nothing of Lucy Heartfilia or Fairy Tail! You've never seen her tears and you know nothing of her!"
Jose simply remained unphased. "I suppose I will find out in time then, yes? After all your guild has done to mine, I will need much more than a simple reward to repair the Jupiter Canon and the Super Mage Giant Phantom. But I suppose I was going to go this route even before that..."
Now it was time for Erza to stare at Jose with anger. "What?"
"Did you really think I would simply let Jude Heartfilia give me a reward in exchange for his dear daughter?" Jose laughed. "I'm going to bleed that fool's riches dry for her! I will take everything the Heartfilia family has to bolster Phantom Lord for generations to come! No one will stop me then! Not you, not Makarov, not the Magic Council and not even the king of Fiore!"
"You," Erza cursed, "you're insane! You'll never be able to-"
"No more words," Jose interrupted. "Please... just die!"
Erza screamed once more, the torturous powers of the Shade magic once more coursing through her.
"He's going to kill her." That was all Laxus could say as he watched the nightmare that Jose Porla was responsible for. Whether he liked her or not, Erza was apart of the guild he had been apart of his entire life. "He's going to kill her and then all of us and I can't... do a damn thing about it like this!"
"I'm sorry!" Wendy cried, the situation truly overwhelming her, tears pouring out from her eyes. "I'm sorry!"
Lucy and Bambietta were not different, the two of them left in despair as Jose continued to torture one of their own. "I..." Lucy was lost within herself at first. "I have to let him take me..."
"The hell with that," Bambietta twisted her body about, one hand pressing against the ground and she tried to push herself up. Despite the haze of memories from before, she knew well what Erza had done for her. She had brought her to Porlyusica. She had been as much a part as her second chance at life as the old woman had been. There was no way she would allow Erza to die like this. "I'm... going to kill that damned Wizard Saint no matter what it takes..."
He blood falling from her face and to the ground, Bambietta forced herself up on to her unstable legs and turned to look at Jose. Her eyes shone with an intensity befitting one who had spent an entire existence standing in the way of the personifications of death itself. She took one step forward, her body very nearly pitching forward, but she did not let it stop her from taking another step. She summoned her bow into her hands, preparing herself to attack.
"I've already lost two homes," Bambietta whispered to herself. "I'm not going to let this bastard get away with taking a third from me..."
Bambietta raised her bow up high, taking aim as she prepared to create an arrow of light. She knew full well what was going to happen now. She would attack and Jose would respond in kind.
"Better to die on my feet," Bambietta said as she surrendered herself to the future she knew awaited her. "Even in death, this world is an improvement for me..."
Wendy could hear it well, her Dragon Slayer senses allowing her to hear what Bambietta probably wanted no one else to be privy to. It was not intentional, no, but she could not help but act on it regardless. "Bambi! Don't talk like that! This is my home now too and you're a part of it! So please... I know you'll win!"
Bambietta looked back over her shoulder, her expression carrying nothing but a realization that the end was nigh. Yet, when she saw Wendy's pleading eyes and the tears rolling down her face, that stone cold acceptance began to be chipped away at.
"I..." Wendy's face quivered a bit, her eyes growing narrower, as if she was trying to put on a brave front. "I believe in you!"
Bambietta's cold eyes began to widen, a new form of realization dawning on her. She could not help but blink for a moment. She whispered then, knowing Wendy would hear it with her keen senses. "Thank you."
Bambietta could not help but smile then, her teeth on clear display. To anyone else it would have been a frightful expression indeed, her eyes lighting up with a desire to engage in violence. To Wendy Marvell, however, it was a welcoming sight.
Bambietta took careful aim then, an arrow coming to life. This was reckless and foolhardy, she knew that much, but now she did not care. She had a plan, as desperate as it was. Bambietta focused the totality of her true strength into that single arrow, infusing with it the energy of the Explode itself. That would no doubt shake Jose up upon impact. It was something at least. Enough to distract him long enough for Wendy to finish healing Laxus. Enough to allow Bambietta the chance to free Erza.
They were Fairy Tail's best chances in ending this battle, something Bambietta was willing to concede. If all she could be was the one to pave the path to their victory, then she would gladly accept that honor.
Yet then did Jose tilt his head slightly away from Erza, a single darkened eye staring at Bambietta. It left the Quincy's heart to pause for a moment, his intimidating power allowing fear back into Bambietta's heart.
Bambietta proceeded to shut it out the only way she knew how: by being as loud and boisterous as possible.
"Now I know what you're thinking!" Bambietta shouted, her wild grin never faded. "Can the hottest Quincy commodity in the whole wide world one-shot a Wizard Saint with one hell of an arrow? I'm game to find out if you are, Jose!"
"Same here!"
The unexpected happened then, Bambietta watching as a hand took hold of her own, right over the bow. It was a familiar one, the pink Fairy Tail emblem on it a tell-tale hint. "Lucy?"
Lucy's left hand took hold of the arrow that Bambietta had forged, holding it alongside her own hand. She looked at Bambietta then, a warmth in her smile. "Bambi, this is my guild, too. So I'll follow your lead if you'll follow mine."
"I don't think that's how it works, but... let's kick logic to the curb!" Bambietta took the lead as Lucy offered, the Quincy continuing to draw from all the magic around her. She could feel Lucy's energy then, the power of a Celestial Spirit Wizard mingling and mixing with her own.
That was when Lucy took the lead. She focused on the magic that was flowing to Bambietta, trying to make contact with the merger. It was tenuous, but she could feel it. She honed in on it completely then, the energy producing both a magic circle beneath their feet as well as above their heads.
"A Unison Raid?" Jose's indifference in the two quickly gave way, the Wizard Saint summoning on the dark arts that were his to command. The Shade magic flowed around him, strengthening both itself and its master. "You can't dare to manage it, fools!"
Bambietta felt the power around her, the Quincy impressed and awed by it. It was more than she could have every imagined creating in this moment. Yet there was something else. Lucy's will was pervading the shared magic, leaving Bambietta to wonder if her own emotions were flowing through it.
"A Unison Raid, huh?" Bambietta took note of that. She understood then what Lucy had meant before. "I think we can work with this."
"Yeah," Lucy replied as she and Bambietta looked towards Jose with stark determination. "For Fairy Tail..."
Both voices came together then, the arrow glowing with a brilliance Bambietta had never been prepared for. "Magic Fusion... Celestial Fireworks!"
Both Bambietta and Lucy's hands let go of the arrow, the weapon of light firing forth. It burst apart with devastating force, a light radiating around it as its power continued on its trajectory. Jose was quickly to respond, the Wizard Saint firing off a massive bast of the Dead Wave to push it back.
His darkness was merely absorbed into the light, its existence denied. "Impossible!"
Jose pulled all the Shades he could towards himself then, the darkness enveloping his body in layer after layer of barriers. The power fueled by both Bambietta and Lucy struck his outstretched hand then, forcing his feet to skid across the ground.
"No!" Jose shouted, his fingers digging into the magic power with hatred and determination. "I will not... fall! Not to scum like you! I..."
Jose fell back then, the blue and gold light overwhelming him completely. Explosions began to suddenly ring out throughout the row of magic, each and every one throwing Jose back and forth. The Wizard Saint's Shade armor began to break apart bit by, leaving Jose to watch as one good arm became exposed, the blue cloth tearing off underneath as more blasts burst out around it.
"I... I am... one of the Wizards Saints! I... I will not... not..."
"Goodbye."
Bambietta watched as the magic power that she and Lucy had summoned forth began to fade. The Quincy felt exhausted then, more than she could remember being in a long time, yet she did not allow herself to fall. Lucy was leaning against her now, the Celestial Spirit Wizard clearly drained as well.
"Lucy..." Bambietta said as she held her tight. "We.. we did it."
"Yeah," Lucy said as she turned her head up, looking into the Quincy's eyes. "we really did it."
Bambietta smiled in response, a comforting one so unlike the manic glee from earlier. Despite her exhaustion, her heart was beating hard, the Quincy unable to keep her emotions in check in the state she was in. "Lucy, I freaking lo-"
Bambietta's eyes suddenly went wide, blood suddenly trailing down from the left corner of her mouth. Her body pitched to the left, falling away from Lucy. "Bambi!"
"L-Lucy..." Bambietta clutched at her side, blood pouring out from a hole that was right above her waist. More blood spilled out from the other side, something having pierced her through from one side to the other. "Just... run..."
Lucy turned then, watching in horror as the last of the power she and Bambietta had summoned fading into obscurity. Standing in its wake was one solitary figure. Jose Porla stood there, his good arm raised up, its index finger still extending outwards. His cloak and jacket were gone, his upper body stained with blood. His hair was was ragged around his battered face, yet what was most unnerving was the lack of the toothy grin that had seemed rare to leave his face. Now he seemed nothing less than truly enraged. His eyes were flashing with darkness, his lips curling back as he began to scream.
"You damned fairies... have hurt me more than I had ever dared imagine possible. I see now what I must do. There is no room for clemency or humanity when dealing with your stubborn pride. I must... kill all of you outright!"
Laxus stared on from where he was, the lightning wizard looking to Wendy. "How much longer, kid?"
"Two... two minutes," Wendy cried out. "I think!"
Lucy felt nothing less than utter despair seize her heart, the wizard dropping to her knees beside the bloodied Bambietta. She could see Erza still hovering in the air, the Requip wizard's screams once more filling the air as Jose's Shades resumed punishing her.
Then there was Jose himself, the wizard walking towards her. "Lucy... Heartfilia... You have pushed me this far... I don't your father's reward anymore... To hell with the Heartfilia fortune... I just want to see you dead like the rest of your damned guild!"
Holding nothing he had left back, Jose fired off the Dead Wave directly at Lucy. Yet, much to both his and Lucy's surprise, it was destroyed as a bolt of golden light pierced through it.
"My magic!" Jose screamed in surprise. "That's not... not..."
Jose's rage suddenly faded, his cruel smile of uninhibited and perverse joy spreading across his face once more.
"Makarov!"
Erza's eyes widened then, the wizard ignoring her pain. "Master..."
Bambietta forced herself to roll over on to her back, her hand never leaving the side of her wound. She titled her head as much as she could and was greeted with a welcome sight that confirmed what Erza and Jose had both said.
Makarov Dreyar and Porlyusica were standing not a few yards away, the two of them having locked their eyes with Jose's own. "Jose Porla, you have bathed yourself in the blood of many. My children and your own. This cannot go on any longer."
"I knew you and that witch would beat out Aria's magic," Jose laughed. "I was counting on Makarov! I wanted you to find your family like this! Only then would I kill you!"
"Silence yourself when I am speaking," Makarov very nearly spat out. "This was between you and me. It always have been. We should have settled this as Wizard Saints, but we have dragged our families into this conflict like incompetent parents!"
Jose could hear the anger in Makarov's voice and, as much as he wanted to battle his rival, he knew that he was in no shape to win such a battle. "Makarov, you wouldn't dare face me yourself! If we were to fight now, it would be a calamity upon this kingdom!"
"So be it," Makarov countered. "I will bring a calamity if it is to protect my children as well as your own from you!"
For the first time this day did Jose Porla feel fear. He had known Makarov would come back from the brink of death that Aria had condemned him to, but this was much too soon. He would need something to tip the scales in his favor thanks to the condition he was in. That then was why he brought forth a legion of Shades. Each and every one took hold of the injured and broken members of Fairy Tail, just as they had Erza. Wendy, Laxus and Liltotto were no exception. Some even took hold of Juvia and Kariya.
"You detestable monster," Porlyusica chided. "You would dare hold them hostage?"
"I dare anything!" Jose screamed. "Now then, Makarov... I suggest you level our playing field. Hurt yourself. Cut off one of your limbs, waste your magic. I don't care what, but if you don't bring yourself to the level I am at now, I'm afraid that I will simply have to crush the life out of your precious children!"
"Jose Porla," Makarov said, his tone solemn and controlled. "We are both Wizard Saints. Our power was destined to help lead the next generation of wizards, not to harm them. The man I once knew was worthy of that, but now you are nothing more than a monster. I will give you to the count of three to release those who will succeed us and surrender."
"Don't play games with me, Makarov!"
"Three..."
"I will not concede to an inferior guild!"
"Two..."
"Not to you or anyone else!"
"One..."
"I will kill them all, Makarov! I swear I wi-"
"Fairy Law."
Light burst out across the entirety of of the battlefield, washing over it completely. Bambietta could no longer see at first, the Quincy wondering if she was staring into the heart of the sun itself, but the brilliance beyond the dawn was nothing but comforting.
All those around who bore the mark of Fairy Tail, as well as Juvia and Kariya, became roused by the magic, as if lifted from the edges of darkness. The Shades around them were annihilated immediately, yet the light of Fairy Law seemingly guided the freed individuals back to the ground gently. Liltotto smiled as she found herself beside Bambietta, the two looking eyes.
"It's so..." Liltotto began to whisper.
Bambietta smiled. "... Peaceful."
Then, as soon as it had appeared, the light faded. As it did so, Porlyusica moved beside the fallen wizards, looking to check up on them. Makarov, meanwhile, simply walked towards Jose. The maddened wizard was still on his feet, but he seemed frozen in place. His one good arm was up before his face, his expression nothing but frozen horror. "Ma... ka... rov..."
It was all Jose could manage, his body unable to respond to his movements for the time being, his magic reserves seemingly drained. He did not know what arcane magic it was that Makarov had used against him, but it was nothing like anything he had seen before. He had considered himself Makarov's equal if not his superior, but in his utter defeat it had been made clear to Jose that there was a world of difference between himself and Makarov.
"You spoke as if I did not believe you would resort to killing all of them," Makarov said as he stared up at his rival with bitter distaste. "I hope that I have made it very clear that I did."
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen is how you end an arc villain! THAT is how an arc villain SHOULD go down. By putting up one hell of a fight! I couldn't just let makarov just come on in and beat him like he did in cannon, no I wanted to show you readers just how fucking STRONG a wizard saint is at this point in the story. Right now in cannon, sure, their really nothing, but they SHOULDN'T be! Their the top ten strongest wizards in the country! And in this story, Jose is number 7, with Jellal as 6th, and Makarov as 5th.
However, as strong as Jose is, had Erza, or Laxus been at full power when this had happened, the battle would have been more to their favor. In a 1 vs 1 battle, they could force Jose's hand, but in their current conditions, this was the best they could muster. Hell, Bambietta is the least damaged out of everyone who had a major fight. She's the only one really at full power. Everyone else is REALLY tired and beat to shit.
However, there was ONE person who was more than capable of giving Jose his match. Liltotto lampard. I figured having her being stronger than Bambietta would make for an interesting dynamic(NO ONE saw it coming. XD), and while thats no longer the case in their base forms, Liltotto in her voll stern ditch is very, VERY powerful. Not as powerful as Laxus, but she's NOT someone you want to mess with when she goes all out. A good comparison to her strength level would be Mirajane in her standard satan soul.
But here's the thing. The quincy power ups have ALWAYS been used in either huecco mundo, or soul society. Once there, a persons body is made of Reshi. Soul reapers are like this by default, but Quincy have to be in a spiritual world for that to be the case. However, in earthland their bodys are NOT made of Reshi. They have physical bodies...and their bodies cant handle that kind of power. It's either too draining, or their bodys take damage from the strain of having THAT much power all at once.
Now eventually, this is a weakness they will try to overcome, but for now, the voll stern ditch is for extreme last resorts for Liltotto.
Also, yes I DID have to have Bambietta and Lucy use the unison raid...because shipping.
But now me dear readers, we only have ONE chapter left for us for this arc. One final chapter. Once that's out, we have one more planned and then we're going to be on Hiatus. ABout 6th months, since I dont want our writer to reach burn out. I hope you all understand.
Anyways, before I go, I'm just going to leave you all the MPF's of this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter though, and I cant wait to see what you all have to say about it!
Levy: 370
Lucy: 500
Cana: 1230
Elfman: 1000
Loke (Weakened): 1070
Elfman (full take over:) 1407
Grey (Wounded) 800
Juvia (Wounded) 776
Natsu (Wounded) 1050
Natsu (Flames of emotion, wounded): 2300
Erza (Purgatory armor. Tired) 3500
Bambietta: 4000
Bambietta (Extremely wounded): 900
Jose: 7200
Jose (wounded): 5000
Kariya (on his last legs): 900
Liltotto: 1500
Liltotto: (Voll Stern Ditch) 8495
Unison raid: 4300
Makarov: 10,000
Fairy Law: ?
