Chapter 14: Natsu's Comeback

Natsu jumped towards with flames surrounding his right leg. The fire dragon slayer raised his leg overheard for a flaming kick straight at Jacob. However, the other assassin blocked the incoming attack. though it did burn his left cuff. The Twelve was quite surprised by the kind of magic Natsu used. "Flames, huh?" Jacob lowered his arms and smirked at Natsu as he pulled back his arm. "I'm fired up."

Natsu took great offense for someday using one of his catchphrases. "Hey man, don't go stealing my line!" Jacob delivered a powerful blow to the fire dragon slayer and sent him away. As Natsu was headed toward one of the guild's support beams, he flipped his body around and landed on the beam feet first. Natsu then kicked off it and made it back to Jacob. He gave Jacob a strong gut punch, but it wasn't enough. As both were falling on the floor, the Twelve wrapped his right arm around Natsu's neck and grabbed his sash. Jacob used the fall to his advantage and slammed Natsu onto the floor. He recovered and was mad at what his enemy did. "Hey, don't trash our guild hall!"

"Funny coming from you," Lucy thought with a sweatdrop.

Natsu quickly realized that Jacob was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd he go?"

Unknown to him, Jacob was behind Natsu and about to deliver a surprise attack when... "Shadow Make: Black Whip!" A shadow whip reached over to the Twelve and struck him. The attack blew up Jacob and became visible to everyone.

Usagi used this chance and gathered electric power around his sword. "Sword Magic: Lightning Flash!" He quickly dashed towards the enemy with lightning speed. "Sword Magic; Lightning X-uction!" He did another X-sword slash attack leaving an X mark on Jacob's torso causing him to scream in pain.

Natsu was surprised where Jacob was. "How did you get there!?" He was also more surprised by what Usagi did. "Hold on, Usagi, did you gather magic in your sword?"

Usagi chuckled. "Yes, I learn of Sword Magic, Mavis gave some advice and I took it. I also have other moves I can use, but for now, that's all you get."

Natsu gave a pouty face. "Aw, I want to know more!"

"Natsu!" The fire dragon slayer turned to Akame who gave her a serious look. "Listen to me; he has the power to hide his presence. It must be some kind of stealth magic he's using. I doubt your sense of smell can find him. However, I can. Just leave that part to me and Usagi will finish him off."

Now it made more sense to Natsu as to why he couldn't find Jacob before. He smiled at his guildmate brightly. "Oh, that's awesome! That sensing aura thing really must become handy, right?"

Everything went silent for a few seconds. Akame had a shock of disbelief while Lucy facepalmed about what Natsu did. "Idiot, don't say that out loud!"

Usagi sighed. "Oh no..."

Happy wasn't too concerned though. "That's Natsu for ya!"

Only Jacob seemed happy to know what his enemy revealed to him. "Sensing my aura, ain't that interesting. That explains how you were able to find but now that won't work anymore." He disappeared in front of everyone once more.

Natsu frantically looked for their enemy, but, again, he couldn't find any trace of him. He turned to look back at Akame. "Akame, can you sense his aura or something to tell where he is!?"

Unfortunately for them, Akame couldn't. "I...I...can't. He's concealing his aura now." That wasn't the only thing that shocked her the most. "He was able to learn to hide his aura so fast." She was able to do that herself including the old enemies from her world too. "However...I can use my Observation Haki to detect his presence, strength, and emotions." She carefully focused her Haki..." She sensed a faint presence. "Natsu, in front of you about a few inches away!"

Natsu took the assassin's word and did the same strong gut punch he did before.

"Huh, how did she find me!?" Jacob did the same trick he did before as well as crashing them both on the floor.

"Shadow Make: Black Whip!" She whipped the whip at Jacob's back which struck him hard.

He jumped away and vanished again. "Crap, he did it again!"

Lucy had another idea and took it out of her Golden Gate Keys. "We still have to find him and finish this fight! Loki!"

Her key flashed a bright light and Loke appeared next to her. "I'm on it!" He grabbed his left arm and a bright light shined from his body. "Shining Radiant!" The light shined throughout the guild and Jacob was revealed. "Loki didn't waste any time coming over to him. "There you are!" The light enveloped his body and delivered a punch straight at Jacob.

The Shield didn't need another nuisance in revealing him. "This guy might be a problem." He pulled back his right arm and flung it forward which created some kind of boom that sent Loki away and crashed into one of the tables.

Lucy expressed concern for her spirit whereas Loki was confused as to what happened to him. "What was that right now?"

Jacob chuckled a little as he spread his arms apart and sent a multitude of invisible attacks at Natsu, Lucy, Akame, and Usagi. Natsu pushed back while Lucy, Usagi, and Akame tried to shield themselves as best they could from the attacks. He had quite the sinister expression he was showing. "I hide...see all...I sent away...snuff out...those are the things my magic can do." He ceased his attacks and turned to Natsu. The Twelve made a throwing gesture and Natsu put up his arms to block it, but instead, multiple hits struck Lucy.

The fire dragon slayer, Usagi, and Akame were worried about their fellow guildmate. "Lucy!"

Jacob just found their concern amusing to him. "Did you think I was throwing something at you, I was cracking a whip behind me."

Akame rushed at Jacob with her shadow swords ready to cut him down. She swung her swords at him, but he easily moved around to keep out of their reach. "A bit weary, ain't ya?" Akame didn't care about that and jumped high into the air with her right leg raised. Jacob gasped out of worry when he saw how Akame's skirt swayed and saw the position she was currently in. In a strange move, he closed his eyes and looked away. Akame was confused by his move but saw this as an opening. "Now's my chance!" She flipped over and flew down with her feet downward. "Shadow Rifle Kick!" She delivered a strong kick using both of her feet.

Jacob growled in pain while he was pushed back a little from Akame's attack. "He scowled at the other assassin and disappeared. Jacob reappeared behind AKame with his back facing hers. Akame quickly swung her leg but as expected Jacob caught her attack and threw her causing her to crash into Lucy and both girls fell on the floor.

Natsu growled at what his enemy did to his friends and charged at him. "You jerk!" Jacob vanished again and reappeared behind the fire dragon slayer. He then grabbed the top of the pinkette boy's head. "Let me show you what the hell is like." He grabbed Natsu's arm and forced him onto the ground. "Akame and Lucy became worried.

Usagi was about to help the fire dragon slayer when he noticed some strange about the girl's clothes. "Lucy, Akame, your..."

Lucy and Akame's clothes were beginning to fade away much to Loki's enjoyment.

Natsu was just confused while Lucy started to freak out about what was happening to her clothes. "W-wait...what's going...why me!?" Akame wasn't even embarrassed at the least and she was confused as Natsu was. "How do you like that, I made their clothes invisible!" Natsu didn't feel that affected by seeing his friend in her underwear.

Lucy didn't know how much embarrassment she could take. "When Leone stripped off my top in front of Neptune and his men along with those other pirates...it was awful!" She whimpered blushing red and looked back at Loki. "Cut it out, return my clothes!"

Loki had other ideas. "How about you make her clothes invisible forever?"

The celestial wizard just had enough of him. "Alright, that's it, go home!" And upon command, Loki vanished from the battle.

Mavis was completely baffled at this scene and she looked in Usagi's direction. "Usagi...are you okay?" She saw something unusual about him or rather his head which his ears were covering his eyes. "Did you wrap your ears around your eyes?"

"Y-yes...it shames me to say but...I get a little...a little...weird when I see the bare skin of women even female minks too," The rabbit mink stuttered. "If they're wearing a bit of bikini or clothes, it's not a problem, but...you know..."

"Now this is hell, don't you think?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah, it is for me!" Lucy protested but then she saw Akame wasn't even phased in about the situation. "Akame, don't you feel embarrassed by this?"

Akame looked over at the other girl with a calm expression. "Not at all, I'm quite comfortable in my underwear. It's rather fortunate Leone isn't in this kind of situation she has a strong disdain for wearing bras." That wasn't something Lucy needed to know, but, it would explain her choice of attire. What's worse, Sanji and Brook would find this beautiful as Loki did.

Natsu still wasn't understanding the kind of torture he was supposed to go through. "You got some weird torture of hell, buddy."

Jacob was appalled by Natsu's response. "What do you mean by that, mate? There are two girls half-naked, don't you feel embarrassed by this, doesn't feel hellish!?"

The fire dragon slayer still didn't get it this wasn't the first time he saw Lucy in her underwear and even a few times he saw her naked. "Well, I don't know, it's not like she wears any clothes anyway. As for Akame, well..." He had to admit he's never seen Akame naked before. "She's alright, I guess."

Lucy took offense to Natsu's statement about her. "I wear clothes all the time Natsu!"

The Twelve Shield growled at Natsu's response. "You're saying that this doesn't bother you in the slightest!?" He looked towards the rabbit mink. "Bunny rabbit, do you find this hellish!?"

Usagi didn't say a word. "What was that, I didn't hear you." He was playing dumb, but, Jacob didn't realize it and the reason why... "Wait..." Lucy and Akame noticed something strange about him.

"Why are you looking away like that?"

Jacob's face was embarrassed as well and blushing red. "It's obvious...I mean I can't just look at you two girls like that, can I?" His body was shaking too. "This technique is like a double-edged sword because it puts me and my opponent through anguish and torture!"

Lucy thought his reasoning was ludicrous but to Akame, it made some semblance of sense to her. She remembered how he reacted during her previous attack. "I suppose that in the position I was in, he might've caught a glimpse of my underwear and that's why he looked away." She never encountered an enemy like Jacob who considered himself to be a gentleman. He's not a pervert she'll give him that.

Then Natsu came up with a brilliant idea. "Don't underwear and other clothes off! Please, don't make us see your boobies!" Lucy was taken aback by the fire dragon slayer's words and Akame became further confused.

Usagi heard this and was confused too.

Happy went up to the blonde's ear and whispered into it. "I think we should play along with him." Lucy was reluctant, but, she could see how to use this situation to their advantage. Meanwhile, Mavis was beginning to notice something.

"My god, what kind of sick people are you, you would strip in front of us!?"

"Whoa, Lucy, you're butt-naked!"

"I don't care, I can show my body whenever I want!"

"It's so indecent!"

"Oh my, your boobs are so soft!"

"Don't stop, Natsu!"

Usagi's face was turning red entirely. Jacob was about to have an absolute meltdown, freaking out and screaming like a maniac than before.

Akame wasn't understanding what was going on in front of her. "What exactly am I looking at here?" She had been through countless life-and-death battles but Akame had never seen this kind of situation before. She didn't even know how to react to it.

Jacob growled as he decided enough was enough. "Ahh, that's it, I'll just get straight to the killing!" He raised his hand and pointed up ceasing the spell, he opened his eyes realizing what he had just done.

Lucy's and Akame's clothes became visible again. The celestial wizard's right leg began to glow brightly. "Regulus..."

"Natsu had a toothy grin and flames surrounded his leg. "Fire Dragon's.-"

They both kicked the Twelve in the face at the same time. "Lucky Kick/Talon!"

Their attacks pushed him away, but he wasn't through just yet. Akame rushed towards him and pulled back her arms. "Shadow Make: Fist Gatling!" She threw a barrage of punches at Jacob. Every part of his body was struck.

Usagi dashed towards Jacob while drawing one of his swords. "Sword Magic: Lightning Flash!" Once he got in close. "Rabbit One Sword Style: Rage Spike Slash!" He delivered an upward slash at Jacob's torso.

After the attack ceased, Jacob looked back at all four of them with an intense fury in his eyes. "You brats, you made this grown-up very angry!"

Mavis began to realize something after seeing Natsu and Lucy's display. "I know what to do! I know how to take down Zeref!"

Jacob kicked into high gear and headed straight to Natsu. He raised his left leg and kicked the fire dragon slayer, but he managed to put up and crossed his arms to block. However, the force behind the attack was enough to push him back. Almost at the same time, Lucy gathered light in her right fist and ran toward the Twelve. Jacob turned his body and kicked Lucy down to the floor. Natsu was struck again and again.

Akame took out her shadow swords. "Shadow-Make-" She gasped as she saw Jacob disappear and felt a strong blow from above land on the right side of her face. Akame crashed heavily into the guild floor and Jacob landed without a problem.

Usagi realized what combat skills the enemy was using. "So, this guy knows martial arts."

Natsu grinned. "Not bad."

Suddenly, Natsu, Akame, and Lucy felt a flurry of powerful attacks pummeling all over their bodies. Akame could feel the dramatic increase in the attack's strength.

Lucy fell to her hands and knees while crying out in pain. "Where is he!?"

Natsu growled. "Come on, show your face!"

"You punks, there's more pain in the world than you know!" Jacob landed a heavy attack on each Fairy Tail member and they each fell to the floor. "Your one hundred guildmates in the wait, now, it's time for them to die." He vanished and reappeared again. "Now, we crossed the line where violence is the only option."

Lucy had a sudden thought after hearing Jacob's words and remembered something. "Wait, your friends!" The other assassin looked at the blonde. "What?"

"One of your allies is here, Brandish was here too!" Lucy explained.

"Was she?" Jacob brought his hand up in front of his face and an orb appeared above his palm and looked inside the orb and gasped at what he found. "Brandish and that bloody wanker of hers, if Dimaria caught wind of this, she'd never let me hear the end of it!" Little he did know that Lucy was pulling out another of her golden gate keys and smirked.

Then Brandish and Marlin appeared lying on the floor in front of their comrade. "Stupid..."

"You're here too!?"

Marin stood up and was more glad to see him again and was grateful to him. "Thank you, man, that place was so not chill!"

"Thanks, man that place was so not chill!"

Everyone saw another Marlin including the real Marlin. "Hey, you're still my luck!"

"Star Dress: Gemini!" Behind the second Marin, Lucy changed into her Gemini Star Dress and it was Gemini that took the form of Marin.

They both popped out from the copy's side. "Piri Piri!"

Natsu, Usagi, and Akame were impressed with what Lucy had pulled off, but, Marin had a different opinion about it. "This is way too creepy! F-minus!"

Happy thought of another suggestion. "I think Brandish would've made a good choice." Mavis thought otherwise. "Gemini can't take the form of anyone else that's stronger."

Lucy smiled at the idea she had in mind. "True, but I had another reason for doing this."

"Space Commadment Activate Piri Piri!" The space around everyone began to light up and surrounded everyone.

Happy remembered what happened last time when something like this happened. "Won't Gemini disappear too?"

"And, I'll lose this dress too," Lucy's smile didn't leave her face. "But, that's alright with me."

Jacob realized what was going to happen. "My transport, no!"

"This will render all spatial magic ineffective and it'll get our friends back..." Multiple figures began to appear out of thin air.

"Glad to be out of there!"

"We're saved!"

"Well done!"

"You need a hand, Lucy!"

"Yeah let's rock!"

"Miss Lucy, I'm so happy I could bawl my eyes! If I had any eyes...Yohohohohoh!

Even Mavis was impressed by what Lucy had just pulled off. "Marvelous! That is brilliant, Lucy!" The blonde gladly took all the praise everyone gave her for what she'd done.

Out of all of them, Akame was the happiest. She had to admit what Lucy did was brilliant. She had taken advantage of Jacob's leverage. Then Lucy looked at Akame. "Akame, take my word, no matter what, we fight together that includes you and Usagi."

Akame nodded and Usagi smiled in response.

Jacob saw he was outnumbered and quivered nervously, but he regained his composure. "Enough of this bloody nonsense, to hell with the lot of ya!" He brought his hands together however he felt something off. "Squishy..."

He saw that his hands were holding Happy's head tightly. "Owie..."

"You got a lot of nerve for what you did to the First Master." Makarov was beyond furious with Jacob and pulled his right arm back. "So, today was "Respect for the Aged" like you said, right?" He threw his arm forward and it expanded dramatically. His giant fist punched Jacob through the back of the guildhall and sent him flying through the air. "SO YOU SHOULD RESPECT YOU HERE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE!"

Mavis was quite saddened hearing those words. "I know I've been around more but I'm technically still in my twenties..."

Natsu was freaking out about the damage the Guild Master was doing to their home. "Hey, don't trash our new guildhall!"

He felt Makarov push his entire body with his other enlarged hand and was still enraged. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU!" Makarov threw Natsu out of the guild and the fire dragon slayer screamed out in terror. However, he quickly realized he was catching up to Jacob and smiled while the other assassin felt fear.

Warren still didn't know why their master threw Natsu out of the guild in the first place. But Max and Vijeeter had an idea. "That's nutty strategy."

"But, it's reasonable, though."

"Yes, we fixed this place, we don't want to trash the guild too," Romeo added.

Both Natsu and Jacob went over the lake far from the guild and that gave the fire dragon slayer the perfect chance. The water underneath them instantly dried up from the heat Natsu was giving off.

"He's drying up the lake!" Cana pointed it out.

"That's crazy!" Brook, Max, Warren, and Romeo exclaimed in unison.

Akame could hardly believe it herself.

Fire burst out of Natsu's entire body and burned strongly around him. "MODE: FIRE DRAGON KINGS!" The intense heat from his magic burned through Jacob's suit and was proving to be too much for him to handle. Fire surrounded Natsu's right fist as he pulled it back and struck Jacob with overwhelming power. "FIRE DRAGON KING'S DESTRUCTION FIST!" Natsu's attack proved to be the final blow to Jacob as he skidded across the now dry lake bed but his underwear until he stopped and no longer moved. The members of Fairy Tail cheered at their victory as another member of the Spriggan Twelve was defeated.


M

Jackal and Syka were getting close to the battle in the South, where Dimaria's soldiers were still fighting against Fairy Tail's army.

"Looks like we arrived in time," Jackal chuckled with a psycho grin. "Hope those Fairy Tail and their stupid pals are ready for hell once more."

Syka cracked her knuckles. "Yes, I hope to cause more pain with my Venom."


Akame's Observation Haki has been awakened and she's learned it.

Hope you all like the chapter, find out what happens next.

End of chapter