A Quincy's Fairy Tail

by Goshinzilla

Bambietta Basterbine finds herself a stranger in a strange new world. Separated from the life she once knew as a Stern Ritter in the employ of the Vandenreich, she will now have to find her place in the kingdom of Fiore. However, what the volatile Quincy never expected was to discover her salvation within the guild known as Fairy Tail. Now has a page on TV Tropes!

95. The Battle For Fairy Tail

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is it. The last stretch of The Battle of Fairy Tail.

Much like the Tower of Heaven, it's been a long time coming. I've had this battle done for over a year now, but I've come back to it to make changes, additions, and so on for several months until it wound up in its current form. I even had Ankoholic come back to help me out with certain sections on this, and it's currently the longest chapter in this story to date. Callous and Sorarocks came back to edit, with the former even writing a short but great segment in this chapter as well.

Needless to say, I'm quite happy with it, and I eagerly look forward to your reviews on the subject.

But… Things are not as chipper as I hoped they would be when I post this.

When I wrote this chapter, I never could have imagined that I would be posting it in a world where Akira Toriyama was no longer with us. Dragon Ball, while not my absolute favorite anime, was one that gave me countless precious childhood memories, and has left a profound mark in how I approach fight scenes, both as a writer for this story and how I judge them in anime.

I, along with many of you, and countless mangaka, owe the world to this man. So much of what we love was inspired by his work. Fairy Tail, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, One Piece, G Gundam, and so much more. Hell, more so than others, Bleach wouldn't have existed if not for Akira Toriyama encouraging Kubo to try again with Shuiesha. This STORY wouldn't exist without his contributions. BAMBIETTA wouldn't have existed if not for this man.

I wouldn't have met many of my best friends without him.

Or any of you dear readers.

Words truly aren't enough to express my gratitude towards him.

Thus, while it certainly wasn't planned this way, I would like to consider this chapter a tribute to the man. Fitting, with this being the final battle for the 'Battle of Fairy Tail.' Anything less grand simply wouldn't suffice.

I look forward to hearing what you all feel about this chapter. As a bit of a personal challenge, let's see if we can break a record and get 30 reviews for this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or fairy tail. Those belong respectively to Tite Kubo and Shounen jump and Hiro Mashima and Weekly shounen magazine. This is just for fun!

---

"Come on, Wendy, there isn't a moment to waste!"

"I know, I know!"

Wendy Marvell had been quite fortunate despite the current situation she found herself in. As the Battle of Fairy Tail waged on, more and more of their allies had either outright lost or had taken a significant beating during the course of Laxus's mad attempt to usurp Makarov as its rightful guild master.

Bambietta had been her first priority, and thanks to the plethora of explosions she had used against Freed, locating the quincy had been remarkably simple. However, just as she had found her and begun administering first aid, Bambietta tasked her with something that gave her pause: saving the lives of Erza Scarlet and Master Makarov. Luckily for her, the strongest woman in Fairy Tail had been relocated back in the guild hall, where Makarov also lay. As Bambietta would have said, it was hitting two birds with one stone.

However, as she and Carla made their way inside of the guild hall, Wendy noticed the trail of blood that had led upstairs. She couldn't help but flinch at just how much she saw. She would not let the sight slow her progress, however. She steeled her nerves and ran up the guild's guest room, only for the dragon slayer to gasp.

There, on one of the beds, lay Erza's unconscious form. Wendy almost gasped. She had never seen one of Fairy Tail's strongest reduced to such a state before. She looked so weak. She wasn't alone, though. To Erza's left sat a girl about Wendy's age with light maroon hair and yellow eyes with bizarre, star-shaped pupils. She glanced at Wendy for a moment when the dragon slayer walked in, but almost immediately returned to staring at Erza's prone form. Across from her, Miss Porlyusica tended to what must have been a wound on Erza's arm.

In that case, that's where I'll start, Wendy thought. She made her way to the other side of the bed, eager to help, then froze. This time, she did gasp.

Miss Porlyusica was not tending to Erza's arm. She was tending to what remained of Erza's arm. Erza's right arm, formerly the image of strength, now missing several inches from itself. Wendy could not help but stare at the stump, as much as it horrified her.

I know Bambi said it was bad, but I never could have imagined it was anything like this… Wendy stood there in shock before she shook her head. No, I can't let myself get overwhelmed by all this. Erza needs my help!

Both Porlyusica and the young girl glanced over towards her, with the elderly pink haired woman's worried expression easing up slightly as Wendy walked in. "Good, you're here. I've only been able to stop her wound from bleeding out any more than it already has, but I need you to help reattach her arm."

"R-reattach?" Wendy asked. She had never been forced to do something like that before. To be honest, she wasn't sure she could even do that.

The young girl in the room nodded. "Yeah, the arm's right over here!" Then, acting without a single care in the world, she grabbed onto Erza's removed limb as it sat on a nearby counter before she placed it casually on the same bed as Erza, her attitude fairly chipper despite the fact she had just picked up a discarded limb. "You can fix it, right?" She asked casually, like she had just asked what Wendy's favorite food was. It was kinda unnerving to be honest.

"I can try," Wendy said before she moved towards Erza's arm and placed the limb right next to the stump, placed her hands over the wound and began to work her magic. Truth be told, Wendy felt an almost unbearable amount of pressure as she tried to heal the scarlet-haired mage. Erza meant a lot to the people in the guild, herself included. She was a pillar of strength, and a reliable friend that everyone could rely on. Even Bambi seemed enamored of her. To fail here and now would be akin to failing the whole guild.

Wendy's brows drew together in focus. No, I can do it! Wendy chastised herself. I have to do it! Me and Bambi and everyone else fought so hard to bring her back to the guild! I can't let her down, I just can't!

Fortunately, it seemed as if all of Wendy's fears had been for nothing, as Erza's arm had been patched back to the stump where it belonged, practically looking good as new. Both Wendy and Porlyusica let out a sigh of relief, while the young girl let out an excited cheer.

"Hurray, you did it!" The young girl exclaimed before she grabbed both of Wendy's hands. "He was right, you really are a great healer!"

Wendy couldn't help but tilt her head in slight confusion. "He? Who are you talking about-"

"I'm back with some medical supplies, but from the sound of things it looks as if you've already gotten things under control," a masculine voice spoke up as Wendy could hear his footsteps as he made his way upwards.

"You're a little late," she could hear Porlyusica accosting the voice. "Wendy has already arrived."

The door to the resting room opened up, as a young man with blue hair, brown eyes, and a distinct red tattoo opened up the door "Well, that's good. I suppose that means the worst is over for Erza then I take it?"

For Wendy, it was surreal. This was a man who, aside from his attire, looked identical to the one who had helped her out during one of her greatest times of need. Twice, in fact. Were it not for the clothes and the ever so slight difference in their scent, she wasn't so sure she'd be able to even spot the difference between them.

But, why do they look so similar? Wendy couldn't help but ask herself. Did Jellal just so happen to have an identical twin that she hadn't known about? Maybe he's just–

"Ahem!"

Wendy promptly turned her head as she looked at Porlyusica, the elderly woman giving her a slight glare. "Wendy, I need you to focus," Porlyusica spoke up as she glanced down at Master Makarov. "I've only just barely been able to stabilize this old fool's condition, but it could worsen at any time. Wendy, I'll need you to restore him properly. If we're lucky, you may even be able to get him back into the fight before it's too late."

Her attention brought back to the task at hand, Wendy nodded before she ran over to Makarov's aid, putting her healing magic back to work once more. However, as she began her healing, she looked back up towards Porlyusica.

"Miss Porlyusica, have you seen Levy? I swore I had her scent when I was heading back to the guild, but I haven't seen her at all."

Porlyusica gave Wendy a small but reassuring smile. "Oh don't you worry about her. I've sent her off on a very important errand."

Now she could only hope that someone would be able to put an end to the ambition of Makarov's grandson to an end in case Makarov truly was on death's door.

---

"Ok, ok, look. I know that getting our ass kicked by Laxus wasn't exactly on our itinerary for the Harvest Festival. It's going to be a real pain in the ass, but that's just how the cookie crumbles. So, let's go in there, get this the hell over with, and maybe, if we're lucky, Lucy will give us a special present as thanks once this is all over with. Ok, deal? Deal!"

Bambietta Basterbine wasn't exactly talking to anyone in particular while she stood outside of Kardia cathedral. If anything, she was just trying to hype herself up for the battle to come with Laxus. This was going to be an uphill battle and she knew it. At least with Ikaruga, Jellal, and Jose, she had some kind of support, but here? She was going solo, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

The quincy looked at the cathedral one last time, letting out a sigh of annoyance, before she quickly put her battle face on, consisting of her usual cocky grin and battle hungry eyes. She had an appearance to keep up after all, and a title to live up to.

After all, the "Star Knight" of Fairy Tail never showed fear.

Then, with no more hesitation, Bambietta kicked the doors of the cathedral wide open before she strode inside. "Oi, jackass," She shouted. "You and I got a score to settle! So, how's about you and I put an end to this Battle of Fairy Tail nonsense once and for all!"

Her designated foe sat at the opposite end of the cathedral, the stairs leading up to the church's massive pipe organ to be precise. The S-class mage looked up to meet her gaze. "Huh. Never would have thought you would be the first one to make it here. That reclusive bastard must be dragging his feet." He leaned his head against his fist, smirk firmly in place. "Hell, I would have expected it to be either Erza or Natsu, but I guess those two losers couldn't even manage that."

Losers? Bambietta bristled at his words but pushed the feeling aside. "They did their part. Now, it's time I did mine. Besides, I wouldn't be so dismissive of me if I were you." She jerked a thumb towards herself and grinned. "I'm the one who took down your right-hand man. So, it's only natural I worked my way up to the head honcho!"

"I admit, I didn't expect you to defeat Freed," Laxus admitted before he frowned. "But that just means that he and the others were weak in the end. Compared to me, the rest of the Thunder Legion are a bunch of cannon fodder!"

Bambietta's expression quickly turned cross at his words. Freed had displayed such intense loyalty to Laxus, and now, this dickhead was just tossing him and the rest of the Thunder Legion under the bus. Like they hadn't fought tooth and nail for him. Like they didn't mean anything.

The leather of Bambietta's glove creaked beneath her fist.

"Hard as it might be for you to believe, I used to be in a similar situation to yours," Bambietta told him. "In my old 'guild', me and my friends formed a team called 'The Bambis.' Yeah, I know, I know, not exactly the most original of names. That's beside the point. Back then I used to be the strongest member of the group and by a pretty large margin to boot. I was pretty much their de facto leader. Sure, I didn't exactly get the same kind of respect you do, but when it came down to it, I was the one in charge because in the end, I had all the power. But you want to know something?"

She glared at Laxus. "I never once cared about how strong they were as long as they stood by my side! Because all I ever wanted from them was to be my friends! Yeah, we've hit some really, and I mean really, nasty bumps on the road we call friendship, but with the exception of one bitch in particular and one I just haven't found yet, we've all made amends, and our bond is stronger than ever! So as one leader of a team to another -"

As Bambietta's reiatsu began to swell up around her, a powerful pressure filled the entire cathedral, cracking the floor where she stood. The former Sternritter pointed her right pointer finger at him and she gave him a nasty smirk. "I'm going to kick your ass!"

Laxus simply glanced over at Bambietta before he began to chuckle. "Oh really? You're going to kick my ass? As if! You couldn't even make me move off my seat, let alone beat me!"

"Oh yeah?" Bambietta remarked as she formed her bow in her hands. "We'll just have to see about that then, won't we!?"

(Song of choice: All of you, Get burned, 51 seconds in Gurren Lagann)

Bambietta leapt up into the air and unleashed five Helig Pfiel at Laxus, but the lightning mage remained true to his word and he remained in place. Instead, a bolt of lightning shot out from his body, dispersing the arrows before it shot towards Bambietta.

"Ah shit."

Noticing the incoming attack, Bambietta used Hirenkyaku to avoid the blast, landed on the ground and used hirenkyaku to close in on Laxus, firing arrow after arrow towards his location. Yet, much like before, each and every one of them was blasted away by lightning.

Laxus sneered at the approaching quincy, not worried in the slightest, sending another bolt of lightning traveling through the ground towards Bambietta. The quincy barely avoided the attack, using Hirenkyaku once again to skate away before she continued her charge forward.

"Come on now, I'm hardly even trying here," Laxus mocked her as Bambietta continued to try to fire a barrage of holy arrows his way, only for his lightning to continue to block her assault, while he remained firmly seated atop the cathedral's stairs. "At least try to make this a little interesting for me!"

Alright, fine! If arrows aren't going to work– Bambietta thought, quickly changing her weapons form of a bow to her trusty sword. Then we'll see how well this prick likes getting cut by my blade!

As Laxus casually emitted yet another bolt of lightning from his body, the quincy jumped over the attack and held her weapon high above her head. "You're wide open, jackass!" Bambietta screamed, swinging the blade down at the mage, hoping to land her first real hit right there and then. However, mere moments before her blade was about to make contact, a blast of lightning shot from his body, blocking her blade and sending her back, her feet skidding across the ground.

"Damn it!" Bambietta growled at her failed attempt, but before she could debate her next move, Laxus had already shot out three more electric blasts. The quincy deflected the first two with her sword and leapt back to dodge the third and landed on her feet. Five more bolts of electricity headed her way, Bambietta narrowed her eyes at the onslaught. She deflected the first one to the left with her sword, then the second to the right, but the third bolt of lightning proved to be just a bit too fast, slamming her right in the chest. The quincy let out a cry of pain but managed to fight through the pain to narrowly avoid the remaining two. She smirked, believing that she had actually managed to mostly avoid the onslaught, only for two more to suddenly appear, zapping her midair, sending her crashing to the ground.

Bambietta groaned as she rose up, grateful that she had activated Blut Vene just before the moment of impact. Well shit. All of that effort and I still haven't even gotten the son of a bitch to get his ass off of the ground, let alone score a hit. Aw man, this really is gonna be one of those long dragged out beatdowns I get myself into, isn't it? Oh, PLEASE don't tell me I've found myself another Jellal!

Laxus sneered at Bambietta, the quincy having ended up right where she had started, right back at the cathedral's entrance. "Oh, come on now, there's no way that's all you can do! I know it would have taken a lot more than that to take Freed down!"

Bambietta glared at Laxus and prepared an orb of "The Explode" in her right hand. "You want to see how I beat Freed? Fine!" She had been hoping she could have at least forced Laxus out of the cathedral before she had used her more destructive techniques,wanting to avoid damaging it as much as possible...but it had become very clear that just wasn't going to be an option.

Sorry Mom, but it looks like I'm going to have to end up busting this place up a bit.

Bambietta tossed the orb at Laxus, the S class mage simply fired off three bolts of lightning towards her and her attack. However, the moment the orb and the lightning made contact, a massive explosion rocked the entire cathedral, shattering all of its stained-glass windows.

As the dust began to clear, Laxus tried to locate the quincy, only for her to appear right above him with another orb of the Explode ready in her hand. Laxus fired off several more bolts of lightning just as Bambietta tossed her attack at him. Yet another powerful explosion erupted within the cathedral, the attacks canceling out one another.

However, just as Laxus tried to locate Bambietta yet again, the quincy used Hirenkyaku to appear right in front of him. Using Blut Arterie to power her next strike, Bambietta swung her sword against Laxus's chest, forcing him to form a lightning-like coating around his body just before the blade struck, blocking with his right arm. The cut was shallow, Laxus's right arm bled only slightly thanks to his quick thinking, but the force of the blow had been enough to move him off from his spot and up several steps, pushing the lightning mage just a few feet away from the pipe organ.

Bambietta grinned, her gaze focusing on the wound she had just inflicted. "Well, what do ya know? Looks like first blood goes to me," She placed her right hand on her hip, "What was that you said earlier? That I wouldn't be able to get you to even move? Well, looks I did a little more than that. But if you want to test that theory again, then by all means, let's go another round."

Her smirk only increased, pointing her blade right at Laxus as their eyes met. "I'm just dying to prove you wrong again."

Laxus glanced over the cut on his arm, then back at Bambietta before he chuckled. "Well, I'll be damned. I guess you're not just all talk after all. That's good! I was afraid this whole thing was about to start getting boring!"

Lightning began to crackle around his entire body, smirking all the while. "Those little firecrackers of yours pack more of a punch than I thought they would. But that's not gonna mean jack shit if you can't even hit me!"

"Can't even hit you?" Bambietta repeated before she rolled her eyes. "Look buddy, I've fought Candice more times than you've slept with her and a Wizard Saint who's fast as a falling meteor, so you're going to have to move a lot faster if you want to impress-"

(Song of choice: Jaaku no Tsuchi Oto, Fairy Tail OST)

Before Bambietta could even finish her sentence, Laxus burst over to her with his lightning and slammed his fist into her stomach, knocking the wind out of the quincy and sending her flying away. Bambietta's body rolled against the ground, but it wasn't long for her to quickly get up to her feet.

Ok, that was definitely worse than Candi's. Way, way, way worse! Bambietta thought before she attempted to throw several orbs of "The Explode" towards Laxus. However, the grandson of Makarov was easily able to move around the series of explosions, appearing behind her with a crackle of lightning and kicked her to the other side of the cathedral.

Crying in pain while she flew through the air, Bambietta quickly formed her bow and narrowed her eyes, hoping an increase of numbers would help turn the tide. "Licht Regen!"

Having uttered the name of her technique, a barrage of over 1200 arrows hurtled towards Laxus. However, rather than simply dodge out of the way, Laxus burst through the rain of blue light, his lightning protecting him from the pesky arrows before he landed a powerful punch against Bambietta's cheek, and then another to her stomach, lightning coursing through her body.

The quincy cried out in pain from the shock, and tried to swing her sword down at Laxus, but he easily leapt above the attack and grasped both of his hands together above his head and slammed them down on Bambietta's, smashing her to the ground and through the floor, leaving only her legs exposed. The quincy groaned, preparing to pick herself back up, but Laxus had already grabbed onto Bambietta's left foot and picked her off the ground. He was just about to toss her around like a ragdoll, but Bambietta wasn't about to go down so easily, forming an orb of "The Explode" into her left hand and tossed it at Laxus.

The orb connected as Bambietta switched to Blut Vene to protect herself, her explosive attack forcing Laxus to let go of her, forcing him to stumble back, slightly scoffed and bruised. "There's a lot more where that came from!" Bambietta shouted as she prepared another explosive orb in her hand, only for Laxus to grab her by her face and slam her to the ground. Bambietta screamed into Laxus's hand as she tried to kick at him repeatedly, but she could scarcely budge him without Blut Arterie. Then, before she could make the switch, he began to channel electricity through his hand, giving her a full body electric shock.

Bambietta screamed, the pain much greater than anything she had suffered during any sparring session she had with Candice. However, despite this, she was able to concentrate just enough to grab hold of her sword and swung it at him. Unfortunately, this time her quincy blade only clanged harmlessly against his lightning clad skin.

Laxus sneered while he held the quincy down, her screams intensifying. "Oh, come on, I thought you said you wanted to be S-Class? Well, you're not even close to fitting that bill if your body can't handle something like this!"

"Will...You...Piss off!?" Bambietta screamed, forming an orb of the Explode in her hand and attempted to throw it at his face, only for him to let go of Bambietta and jump back, dodging the attack as it soared through the air and destroyed a huge chunk of the cathedral's ceiling.

Bambietta took a second to catch her breath before she used Hirenkyaku to try to rush towards Laxus, reiatsu focusing into her blade. She swung it at him once more, but the grandson of Makarov simply ducked underneath the strike and punched her away. Snarling with frustration, Bambietta tried to use Hirenkyaku again to attack him from the left, shooting out several orbs of "The Explode". Unfortunately, just before the moment of impact, his body transformed into electricity, circling around her to give her a powerful kick to the back.

Bambietta scowled and intensified her usage of Hirenkyaku, trying to take a page out of one substitute shinigami's book, with multiple afterimages of herself beginning to surround Laxus, one after another firing an orb of 'The Explode' at him. Certainly, something like this would throw him off, right?

Laxus, however, could only smirk, using the lightning that flowed around him to dodge around Bambietta's barrage. "Ha! You call that high-speed movement!? Let me show you what real speed is!"

Just as Bambietta prepared to chuck another explosive orb at Laxus, he appeared right in front of her and gave her a nasty uppercut, sending her up into the air only to blitz past her and punch her hard to the ground. However, his assault didn't end there, zapping right to her side mid decent and kicking her in the waist, sending her spinning through the air.

"Oh, fuck this!" Bambietta screamed before she twirled around and tried to throw another Explode orb at Laxus, but the lightning mage was nowhere to be found. "What, where did he-"

"What's wrong? Looking for someone?".

Bambietta's eyes shot open as she heard Laxus's voice behind her, quickly using Hirenkyaku to get some kind of distance. It was a futile effort, Laxus giving chase almost immediately and giving her a lightning enhanced right hook, her body skidding across the ground.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, owwwwwww!" Bambietta cursed, picking herself off the ground. Ok, note to self, do NOT turn Blut Vene off! Mother fucker hasn't even started using any spells and I'm already in a world of hurt! She glanced over towards Laxus, his cocky grin still as present as ever, prompting her to clench her fists.

Damn it all, I knew this would suck, but I didn't think he'd be able to outspeed Hirenkyaku of all things! Bambietta cursed. Man, this really IS just like Jellal all over again!

Well, that wasn't exactly true. While Laxus was certainly fast, he wasn't quite as fast as Jellal was, thankfully. That, however, didn't make the situation she was in any less perilous. Was victory even possible? Was she just fighting a losing battle?

Bambietta shook her head to dissuade those disparaging thoughts. No, no, no! Come on, focus. There's gotta be a way to catch this asshole off guard so you can take him out. He might be faster than you, and punches and kicks really, REALLY hard, but I can at least hurt him with my Schrift. If I can land a solid enough hit with it, then maybe…

However, upon hearing her opponent chuckle at her, Bambietta couldn't help but let her anger get the better of her, scowling. "And just what's got you in such a good mood, asshole?" She spat.

"Oh it's nothing, really. It's just that this little battle of ours is proving that I was right!" Laxus told her, his sneer increasing. "You're supposed to be one of our potential S-Class mages and this is the best you can do!? I'm not even close to going all out and I'm still kicking your ass! I can't believe Erza actually thought you were good enough for a title, let alone the promotion! The "Star Knight" of Fairy Tail? What a joke!"

(Song of choice: Vergil Battle Theme 2, Devil May Cry 3 Special Edit)

"Fuck. Off." Bambietta snarled before she grit her teeth. "That title was something she gave to me after we went through absolute hell together! The pain we went through. The suffering of the friend we almost lost, it was an utter nightmare!" Her fists clenched in fury, reiatsu building up around her. "I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand what it means to have a friend do something for you out of the goodness of their own heart! She and I fought tooth and nail in that hell hole and that was her way of thanking me! So don't you dare tell me that she made a mistake!"

Laxus chuckled. "You want to shut me up? Then how's about you come over here and make me?"

"Oh I will!" Bambietta declared as her reiatsu intensified and Blut began to activate around her legs. She had hoped, foolishly so in hindsight, that she wouldn't have to use this power again given the risks associated with it…but Laxus was giving her very little alternative.

Now it was time to show him what she could really do.

"Blitzrakete Schritt!" (Lightning Rocket Step)

Bambietta took off with a burst of speed and punched Laxus across the face, forcing his feet to skid across the ground with Bambietta dashing towards him yet again. She tried to slash at him over and over with her sword, but Laxus smirked, blocking her flurry of blows, before he deflected one of her attacks with his left arm and punched her away. However, Bambietta soon sped around him and kicked him in the back of the head, forcing him to use his arms to stop himself from hitting the ground.

Shit, I didn't think she could go that fast! Laxus thought, only to sense the quincy rapidly approaching. He transformed his body into lightning and dashed away, Bambietta stabbing her sword down through the floor where he had just been moments ago.

"Get back here!" Bambietta shouted, speeding towards him.

Laxus charged at her in turn, blade clashing with lightning empowered fist. Bambietta's legs buckled from the strike, but she managed to hold her ground and tried to aim her left palm at Laxus's face and shot of an orb of "The Explode". However, Laxus transformed into electricity once more to avoid her attack, and appeared behind her, rearing his lightning clad fist back to land one of his own.

"Oh no you don't!" Bambietta screamed as she quickly spun around, an orb of 'The Explode' forming in the palm of her right hand. Her explosive orb clashed with his lightning clad fist, blasting the two away from one another. However, Bambietta was far from finished and quickly took off from the ground, attempting to swing her sword at Laxus yet again.

Laxus bent his body over as Bambietta tried to strike at him and slammed his fist across her face. Bambietta could feel the lightning course through her body for a moment, but she fought through the pain and fired off an explosive orb around his chest, detonating it just a few inches short of his body and used her increased speed to escape the blast radius. The grandson of Makarov shouted out in pain as the explosion hit him, his body covered in minor burns. However, despite this, he smirked. "Well, at least now I'm starting to see why Freed had such a hard time dealing with you. But this still isn't anywhere close to being enough to beat me!"

"Oh will you just shut up with that high and mighty attitude of yours!?"

Bambietta tried a follow up strike with her sword, but Laxus's body transformed into lightning to shoot above her and prepared to fire down a bolt of electricity. However, Bambietta was quick to respond, and simply fired off an orb of "The Explode" at his attack, each one canceling the other out.

The two let out a defiant battle cry as they rushed at each other above the ground, Laxus using his lightning clad arms to keep Bambietta's sword at bay while she continued the attack. She may not have been doing any damage now, but all she needed was to create an opening that would allow her to hurt him properly with 'The Explode' to turn things around. Bad as things looked, victory was not an impossibility.

However, as she thrust her blade forward in an attempt to strike Laxus in the chest, he moved to the left and slammed his elbow to the back of her neck, sending her crashing to the ground. Bambietta was far from finished, however and rocketed off from the ground to fire off multiple orbs of the Explode towards didn't seem all that concerned, smirking as a dozen orbs of lightning launched out from his hands to intercept her explosives, each one canceling the other out. Then, having stopped her barrage, he shot towards her and tackled her to the ground. Bambietta snarled and placed the palm of her right hand on the right side of his face, preparing to activate "The Explode", only for him to release her from his grasp, vanish from her sight, and kick her in the back once again.

"You really think I'm going to fall for that trick again?! As if!" Laxus shouted before he thrust his hand out at Bambietta. The quincy spun around midair, trying to reorientate herself, only for her to bring up her sword to block the oncoming strike just in the nick of time, her body sent flying through the air as a result.

He wants something new! Fine, I'll give him something new! Bambietta thought and stopped her momentum, focused her schrift around the edge of her blade and swung her weapon in the direction of Laxus.

"Explodierender Schnitt!"

A bright shockwave fired off from her sword as she swung it at the lightning mage, the ground beneath the attack eroding as it traveled over it. Laxus smirked and simply shot off another lightning bolt, expecting his lightning to cancel out her attack like it had several times prior. But this time, however, things were different, her technique managing to pierce through his lightning and hurtle towards him.

"What!?"

Thinking on his feet, Laxus crossed his arms together to block the attack, but the moment her attack connected, a series of small explosions ran across his arms, forcing him to grunt out in pain. In spite of this, Laxus smirked as glanced over at Bambietta before he looked at his injured arms, each of them covered in minor burns. "Tch, not bad, but you'll have to do better than that if you-"

"Atomic Blast!"

A torrent of explosive energy hurtled towards Laxus, forcing him to jump up to avoid the oncoming attack, the ground beneath the blast having been completely destroyed. His eyes widened at the destruction, sensing the power behind the technique. Well, I'll be. That one probably would have hurt if she actually landed it. But that won't mean anything if she can't even hit me!

Bambietta charged up more reiatsu into the palm of her hand, preparing to fire off another 'Atomic Blast', but Laxus wouldn't allow her that opportunity. With a bolt of lightning hurtled towards her direction, Bambietta had no choice but to move out of the way, jumping into the air, only for Laxus to appear right behind her and punch her in the back of the head, hurtling her downward. Bambietta cried out when she felt her back crack against the floor, but before she could properly recover, Laxus grabbed the quincy by the head and slammed it through the nearby wall of the cathedral, his lips curled upward into a cruel grin.

"Come on, I thought you said that you were going to make me pay!" Laxus mocked Bambietta , removing her head from the wall, only to slam it through another section of the cathedral."I was expecting a lot more out of you after you beat Freed, but if this is all you can do then I'm sorely disappointed in the both of you!"

The quincy's head was removed from the wall once again, only for him to throw her to the ground and slam his foot onto the back of her head, forcing her to cry out, lightning engulfing his body and course through her own. "You may have gotten a little faster with that move of yours, but that's hardly anything I need to worry about. I haven't even had to use any of my spells yet!"

"Rrrrrrrraaaaaaggggghhhhhhh!"

Bambietta let out an angry scream and concentrated her reiatsu around her body and blasted it outwards, forcing Laxus off of her as a series of small explosions surrounded her body. She snarled at the lightning mage as he landed on the other end of the building and lifted up her right hand in the air, her power beginning to concentrate around the palm of her hand.

"Feuerregen!"

A continuous stream of explosive orbs fired off from her hand as they littered the cathedral, filling the floor with countless holes. However, despite her attempt to carpet bomb the entire building, Laxus managed dodge his way through the attacks, his lightning body allowing him to evade through the strikes with little difficulty.

Seeing him approach through her barrage of explosions, Bambietta took off into the air, Blitzrakete Schritt giving her the speed necessary to properly dodge out of the way when he punched where she had once been. Laxus quickly turned on a dime, however and sped towards her, cocking his right hand back to punch her, but Bambietta managed to block the strike with her sword, arms shaking from the strain.

Bambietta tried to appear behind Laxus once more with her newly increased speed and tried to slash him across the back, but much to her shock and horror, Laxus turned around and caught the blade with his right hand and punched her across the face. Sent flying through the air once more, Bambietta fired a countless onslaught of explosions at her foe only for her to lose track of him once more. Her eyes darted around, trying her damndest to locate him before she sensed his presence right above her. She swung her sword at his incoming punch, allowing her to just barely block the attack.

Damn it! Even Blitzrakete Schritt isn't fully letting me catch up! Bambietta realized as she tried to rush in with another strike with her sword. Unfortunately, the lightning mage was able to just narrowly avoid her blade as he pivoted his body to the left, his speed still superior to her own in spite of her increase.

Laxus sneered and shot a bolt of lightning at Bambietta, forcing her to block with "The Explode" yet again. However, before she could debate her next move, Laxus appeared in front of her and began to wail on her with a series of punches. Her body was racked with pain, unable to keep up with his unyielding barrage, her cries of anguish filling the entire cathedral. She let out one last angry shout, trying to slash at him one last time, only for Laxus to knee her in the stomach.

Blood burst out from her mouth, but she was given no chance to recuperate, Laxus punching her across her left cheek and sending her flying only to appear behind her and punched her hard on the back of her neck. Bambietta let out a cry mixed with fury and pain, spinning around midair as she attempted to swing her blade at him one last time, but Laxus disappeared behind her yet again and he gave her a powerful punch behind her head.

Bambietta felt her body flying through the air, but she quickly regained control of her trajectory as her feet hit against one of the church's walls. She tried to speed up towards him with hirenkyaku, but he met her halfway through her dash, grabbed onto her throat and slammed her against a nearby wall, cracking it.

"What, is that it? Come on, I was expecting a lot more from you after all that big talk you were giving!" Laxus told her and punched her on the face once more, eliciting another cry. "Looks to me like you were full of nothing but hot air after all!"

Laxus punched her yet again, this time on her chest as a sickening crunch quickly followed suit as he cracked her ribcage. "The whole guild is full of people like you these days! Big talk with absolutely nothing to back it up!"

The S class mage continued to wail on Bambietta, the quincy quite fortunate that she had decided to turn off Blitzrakete Schritt in place of Blut Vene once she had been caught in his grip. However, while the damage was considerably lessened, the pain she experienced still forced her to cry out from every punch. Then, before she could attempt to free herself, lightning coursed through her body, and an increasing numbness began to spread along with it, making any sort of movement on her part that much harder.

Laxus took a moment to look at the battered and beaten quincy in his grasp, smirkng. "Things will be a lot different in my Fairy Tail. Once I take over, I'll take out any one that hinders us as a guild! No more destructive idiots or drunken slobs! No more mages from guilds that tried to destroy our home, and absolutely no more weaklings that drag the guild down!" Laxus' demeanor only grew more crazed as he continued his rant. "That's why the old man should just call it quits and leave the guild in my hands! Once I take over, I'll make Fairy Tail-

*Pft!*

Laxus stopped his rant when something small, wet, and sticky hit against his right cheek. He brought a hand up towards it and narrowed his eyes. Had…had she actually spat on him!?

"Make Fairy Tail what? Better than it ever was? What a load of bullshit," Bambietta weakly spoke towards Laxus as she glared down at him. "You're not going to save the guild, you jackass, you're going to destroy it."

Weakly, the quincy clenched onto the hand that held her up high. "Remove anyone that's a hindrance to the guild? Sounds to me that you're just going to kick out the people you don't like! Yeah, we have some members that do some stupid ass shit, I'll give you that. Heck I'm willing to wage I'm probably one of them at times! But they are also willing to fight tooth and nail for anyone in the guild!"

She attempted to give Laxus the most determined look she could muster at the moment, her eyes piercing into his own. "You don't give a damn about anyone in this guild but yourself, not even your own damn team! So I don't want to hear another word about how great your Fairy Tail is gonna be! Because as far as I'm concerned it would no longer be Fairy Ta-"

"Shut up."

An intense bolt of lightning shot throughout her entire body, forcing Bambietta to let out an ear-piercing scream. It felt as if every inch of her body was frying, easily among some of the worst she had felt in both of her lives. Finally, the electricity faded away, and her body slumped. Yet, despite this, her eyes still glared at Laxus, the fire in her eyes still burning bright.

Laxus chuckled at the sight. "You're still conscious? You're a tenacious one, I'll give you that much. But it should be pretty clear now that you don't stand a chance in hell. Still, you've impressed me enough that I'm considering keeping you around."

Laxus's expression only grew more crazed as he continued. "So, as long as you get on your hands and knees and beg for forgiveness, I just might let you and that girlfriend of yours stay in the guild if ya do. So, what do you say?"

Bambietta's response was quick to the point as it was short. "Go…fuck yourself," She weakly muttered. "I'd sooner die than be in a guild run by you."

For a moment, Laxus's cocky exterior briefly gave way to one of surprise, before it swiftly turned into one of manic fury. "Well, if that's how you feel, that can be easily arranged!"

Before Bambietta could attempt some sort of clever retort, she felt the grip of Laxus's hand tighten around her throat, forcing her to scream yet again. However, it was short lived, her airflow quickly restricted. Instead, the only sound that she could make was nothing more than choked gasps. The quincy tried to kick herself free as best she could, but as Laxus continued to choke her, she could feel her strength leaving her body fast. In fact, she was positive that if it wasn't for Blut Vene, he might have already crushed her windpipe.

Oh my god, is he actually trying to kill me!? Bambietta feared. She had known the battle against Laxus was going to be a painful and arduous one, but she never once considered the possibility that he would actually try to kill her. Had he really fallen that far?

No, no, I can't let it end like this! Bambietta screamed internally while her struggles began to weaken even further. I have to win, to make sure Fairy Tail stays Fairy Tail! So Lucy, Wendy and all of my other friends still have a place to call home! Come on, come on, break free damn it!

But try as she might, Laxus's grip had stolen most of her breath, her arms going limp as the rest of her body was only able to twitch in resistance. If things continued like this…She was done for.

Laxsus's crazed expression intensified as he felt the life drain from his opponent. "It's no use trying to break free! Once I'm done with you then the rest of the guild will see just how pointless it is to resist! Then I'll finally be-"

*Bam!*

Only for a green and yellow blur to appear right behind him and land a powerful blow to the side of his head, his grip around Bambietta's throat releasing completely as he was sent careening away to the top of the cathedrals staircase.

Bambietta, meanwhile, couldn't help but cough and wheeze once she felt the tight grip around her throat finally cease, the quincy doing everything she could to catch her breath. To her surprise, she felt a supportive arm around her right shoulder before a familiar and soothing voice called out to her.

"Easy there Bambi, easy. Just take some deep breaths. You're gonna be alright."

Bambietta's eyes shot open, recognizing the voice almost immediately. She looked towards her rescuer, and sure enough, the one who had saved her life was none other than a familiar blonde, clad in a green, plant-like armor. As their eyes met, she gave Bambietta a small smile and offered the quincy her left hand.

Bambietta grasped it, though she couldn't help but utter her name with surprise.

"L-Lucy?"

---

"So what exactly do you have in mind to stop that thing? Because frankly I think we're shit out of luck."

"Oh come on Gajeel, we can't just give up because things seem impossible. I'm positive Liltotto has something in mind if she brought us all here."

"Tch, yeah right. I'll believe it when I see it."

Meanwhile, while Bambietta Basterbine had been busy dealing with the mad Laxus, Liltotto Lampard, Gajeel Redfox and Levy Mcgarden had all gathered up in the center of Magnolia with one singular goal in mind. To protect their fellow guildmates and the citizens of Magnolia from the Thunder Palace.

Liltotto had, admittedly, been much more focused on Erza's rapidly diminishing reiatsu a mere ten minutes ago, the quincy running as fast as she could towards the famed Titania, only for Levy to call out to her on her way to the guild hall. The blue haired mage had been quick to fill her in on what she, Bambietta and the two reigai had missed out on, particularly the information regarding the Thunder Palace.

Liltotto had certainly noticed the floating lacrima prior, but she had put any questions she had at the time about them to the side, focusing more on what she felt was the more important task. Locating and defeating Freed Justine to free Master Makarov. Now, however, her priorities had shifted. With Freed defeated and the rest of her allies saved and sensing Wendy by Erza's side, this was now the most important thing she could do.

After all, winning against Laxus would have been pointless if the Thunder Palace was allowed to activate unabated.

Destroying all of the Lacrima in itself was hardly the issue. Lichet Regan would more than suffice in allowing her to hit each and every one of the targets. Rather, it was the organic link that bound all of the Lacrima was the real problem. If she were to destroy even just one, Liltotto knew she'd take some significant damage. Destroying them all at once? That would undoubtedly kill her, even with Vollstandig.

Fortunately, she had been quick to formulate a plan around this, which was exactly why Gajeel and Levy stood by her side.

"Alright you two, listen up. Out of everyone left standing in "The Battle of Fairy Tail, I'm the only one left who has enough power left to target all of those Lacrima and isn't caught up fighting that prick at the moment. Now, as you're more than well aware, shooting just one of those things is a huge risk, let alone all 200 of them."

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Uh, yeah. No shit. We were there when the first one got shot. So what are ya gonna do? Just shoot and try to outrun them with Hirenkyaku?"

Well, I'm surprised he actually remembered the name of that technique. Liltotto thought before she shook her head. "No. With how many there are and how widespread they are, there's no way I'd be able to outrun them all. I'd be lucky to avoid even a third of them to be honest. No, if we're going to pull this off, then I'm going to need your help."

Liltotto turned towards Gajeel to give him her full attention. "I'm going to need you to make as big a lightning rod as you can with your Iron Dragon Slayer magic. Even though they're magical, the lightning should still have the similar properties as the real thing. If we're lucky, it should be able to absorb all of the lightning and I'll live to see another day."

Gajeel couldn't scoff at the idea, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, that would be a great plan if I hadn't fought that Espada guy to save the little squirt. I've got hardly enough in me for a normal Iron Dragon Pillar, let alone something like that."

Liltotto nodded. "I'm well aware of that. That's where Levy comes into play," She turned her attention towards the solid script mage. "Since you haven't fought anyone yet, then you should have almost all of your power available to you. I want you to make as big and large of a script of Iron as you can so this lug over here can fill himself up and give him the power he needs to pull this off."

Levy slowly nodded, still looking at the quincy with mild concern. "Alright, but what if it doesn't work? Then what?"

Liltotto gave her a small smile. "Well…then it'll have been nice knowing ya."

Levy gasped. "Absolutely not! Lil, we almost lost you back at the tower! I can't just -"

"You have to!" Liltotto screamed, interrupting Levy and surprising Gajeel. Having their complete attention, she continued. "Look, it's not like I'm doing this because I've got a death wish. Pretty sure the vampire incident a few months back got that out of my system good and proper. Not to mention actually dying is an experience I'd rather not go through again. I know now better than ever that if I were to die, then it would irrevocably hurt the people I care about more than anyone else. I don't want to die. Not anymore. But if I have to make the choice between my life and all of my friends in Fairy Tail, then I won't hesitate for even a moment. If I were to live while I lost everybody else…then life wouldn't even be worth living anymore."

Levy reached out to Liltotto, the bookworm perfectly understanding how Liltotto felt. "I...I know how you feel. Like, really I do. But there has to be another-"

"We're running out of time!" Liltotto shouted, the petite woman gripping her fists, her emotions took over. "We don't have the luxury to think of something else! Listen, I'm going to do this with or without your help, because I'm not going to place my life over the guilds! So you can either help me out, and I might die, or I can go it alone and I will die," She looked solemnly at the two of them. "So, what's it going to be?"

The bookworm simply stared at Liltotto, unsure how to respond. Everything she was saying made sense, but even so… could she really go along with such a plan?

Gajeel, however, had already made his decision. "Welp I guess that settles that. Come on shrimp, serve me up the best Iron you can. I'm going to need it if I'm going to pull this off."

Levy faced Gajeel, her mind still rife with indecision. "How can you agree to that so easily!? If we fail then-"

"It's what she wants, isn't it?" Gajeel interrupted her. "Look I ain't exactly happy about this either, but she's right. We're running out of time. At least this way she has a chance of getting out of this alive, and I say that's hell of a lot better than none. Besides, if this is how she's going to go out, at least it'll be on her terms. Trust me when I say most people don't get that kinda luxury. I say we let her take it."

Liltotto smiled slightly at the dragon slayer. "Thanks for cooperating, Gajeel. I'll be putting my fate in your hands."

Gajeel chuckled as he crossed his hands. "Gee-hee. Don't you worry about a thing. I'll make the best damn lightning rod you've ever seen!" He then glanced over towards Levy before he gave her a smirk. "Well, what's it going to be, Shrimp?"

Levy stared at the two of them before she closed her eyes. "Well, looks like I can't exactly talk either of you out of this. Fine, I'll do it." Her eyes then shot open as she prepared her spell. "Now make it count, and don't call me shrimp! Solid Script, IRON!"

Four large iron letters shot out from her hand, as they landed in front of Gajeel. The dragon slayer quickly went to work devouring the iron word right before him, gobbling it up in less than a minute. He then smirked as he looked back at Levy.

"Well, shit! That's some of the best damn Iron I've ever eaten. Well, time for me to return the favor!" He then slammed both of his hands into the ground before he let out a mighty shout. "Iron Dragon's Lightning Rod!"

The ground beneath him began to crack and shudder as a massive iron pillar shot up about 100 feet into the air, just as Liltotto had hopped. She quickly formed her bow and sensed the location of each and every one of the lightning rods and drew the string of her ethereal weapon. "Licht Regen!"

A barrage of arrows shot forth from Liltotto's bow, each of them hurtling through the sky before they separated and shot out towards their targets. Normally, Liltotto would have never been able to perform such precise control over Licht Regen, but fortunately, with her number of arrows having been reduced down to a sixth of its maximum capacity, along with the stationary nature of her targets, it had allowed Liltotto the concentration needed to achieve the precise results she desired.

Now the question was would she survive the attempt?

Her aim has quickly proven true, as each and every single one of her arrows hit their target and smashing the lacrima to pieces. However, in almost an instant did the organic link activate, with each orb firing off its own bolt of lightning towards her.

Liltotto closed her eyes, bracing herself for what was to come. There would be no point in trying to run away or use Blut Vene to defend herself. She had known from the very beginning just how risky of an operation this has been. All she could do now was simply stand by and wait.

*CRACKOOM!*

Liltotto's eyes lit up as she glanced upward, her lips curling up into a smile. Sure enough, each of the lightning bolts had hit Gajeel's massive lightning rod. She, the rest of Fairy Tail, and all of Magnolia's citizens, would live to see another day.

"Gajeel, you did it!" Levy shouted out with excitement, but just as she ran towards him to give him a hug, Gajeel gave her a horrified look before he shouted at Liltotto.

"It's too much, it's not gonna hold! RUN!"

Liltotto's eyes shot open when Gajeel's iron pillar instantly disintegrated, with 100 lightning bolts hurtled towards her direction as result. Knowing that she couldn't possibly hope to dodge them all at such close range, the former Sternritter activated Blut Vene as a last-ditch defense, hoping that against all odds that it would allow her to survive.

However, this was a futile effort, and she knew it. Her eyes closed then, as visions of Natsu, Erza, and Bambietta filled her mind.

Sorry guys, I-

"Solid Script: IRON!"

Liltotto gasped when Levy's voice rang through her ears, with now only two bolts of lightning striking her. The quincy rolled across the floor as she was hit, her skin covered in burns and scrapes, but that was the least of her concerns. Fighting through her pain, she could see where the remaining bolts of electricity traveled, hurtling towards Levy Mcgarden and the iron word she had summoned forth.

For a moment, she had hoped, foolishly so, that the iron would hold. It was not to be, however, as only half as only half of them were stopped and absorbed by her spell as the rest of them heading straight towards the blue haired mage.

"LEVY, NO!" Liltotto shouted as the bookworm gave her a tearful smile. This was bad and both of them knew it. There was absolutely no conceivable way that the blue haired mage could survive what was coming towards her. The most Liltotto could do now was look down at the ground, unable to bring herself to watch her friend sacrifice her own life for hers.

Well, I guess this is it, huh guys? Levy thought as the lightning hurtled towards her. Time seemed to slow down for her, allowing her to take note of Gajeel running towards her as fast as he could, his hand outstretched. She appreciated the effort, she really did, but it seemed in the end, her last-ditch effort to save her friend would result in her own death. Well…she supposed there were worse ways to go.

" Guess I couldn't pull off a miracle after all, huh?" She said softly, her own tears trickling down her face. "I-"

"Did somebody say, miracle!?"

Just a mysterious, yet all too familiar voice called out to them, a broadsword with a star shaped hilt had been thrown between Levy and the incoming lightning. The sword's metallic properties absorbed the lightning before its blade embedded into the earth.

Then, just as suddenly as he had cried out, did one Gerard Valkyrie land right in front of his sword, the weapon bursting with deadly amounts of electricity as it flowed throughout the ground and began to travel down the street of Magnolia. The member of the Schutzstaffel gripped onto the handle of Hoffnung, struggling to pull it out as the electric current began to flow through his body. The quincy grit his teeth, focusing his mind to the task at hand, and began to slowly yet surely draw out his blade from the ground despite the voltage flowing through him.

"By the Schrift…granted to me…by his Majesty..." Gerard muttered before he thrust Hoffnung up into the sky, the lightning shooting up and into the sky as he let out one magnificent cry and his hair and cape bellowed in the wind.

"I HAVE THE POWER!"

The electricity warped and swirled around him as it continued to flow out into the sky, until at long last, the power within had finally faded. The quincy stared into the sky before he began to let out a boisterous laugh. "Ahahaha! Well done members of Fairy Tail, well done indeed! Your acts of bravery were truly outstanding to behold! Sorry for 'Stealing your Thunder' so to speak,' but I simply couldn't stand by and watch you perish after such a powerful and awe-inspiring display of comradery!"

Liltotto could only stare at the muscular quincy, resisting the almost overwhelming urge to roll her eyes. Ugh, even after all this time, he's still a freaking boisterous DORK. God. The worst part is, unlike Bambi, he doesn't even know he's making a bloody fucking reference. Honestly, he's way too much.

However, as her eyes trailed over towards Levy as Gajeel continued to run over towards her, she couldn't help but smile slightly. Still…I guess I'll let it slide this time.

Gajeel finished running over to Levy, the dragon slayer gasping for air as he did. "Hey, you alright?"

Levy weakly nodded her head, surprised she was still amongst the living. "Yeah I…I think so."

"Ok, good," Gajeel said before his expression quickly changed from worry to fury. "Then what the hell were you thinking!? You could have died, you idiot!"

Levy's gaped bed she scowled. "Well, I couldn't just sit here and watch her die either, now could I!?" Levy retorted …only to remember just who she was yelling to, the blue haired mage shrinking down slightly. "I…I just had to do something; ya know?"

Gajeel flinched slightly at her response, before he scoffed and turned around. "Yeah well, you did a little too much if you ask me. Don't be so reckless next time, alright!?"

Levy blinked, surprised at Gajeel's current attitude. He had seemed like a loner ever since he had arrived at the guild. The only ones he had seemed to have anything remotely resembling a positive interaction with, at least to her knowledge, were Juvia and Totomaru. Yet, here and now, he had displayed genuine concern for her well-being.

---

"You…Through with me now? Cause I got things to do."

---

She let out a silent gasp, as she quickly recalled how he had tried to save her moments prior, and the incident several days ago against one of Laxus's own lightning. The desire to quarrel with him vanished then, as she simply smiled and she held both of her hands behind her back. "Sure. I'll try to remember that next time. Still, thanks Gajeel."

The Iron Dragon Slayer simply scoffed at her words, not bothering to look back at her. "Yeah, right. Whatever. See what I care if you get hurt next time," He then glanced over towards Gerard. "Hey, big guy! If you want some real fun, I know about a strong asshole who could use a real kick in the ass!"

Gerard shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot. I've taken far too much damage from all that lightning to hope to fight anymore. Much as it shames me to admit it, I've done all that I can."

Bull! Shit! Liltotto screamed internally, the former Sternritter using all of her willpower to not yell those very words out loud. Your schrift's whole schtick is getting stronger the more you get hurt! Can't fight anymore my ass!

She had already found it incredibly hard to believe that Lile Baro of all people had been taken out of commission from one of the Lacrima when she had been informed earlier, but she had simply chalked it up to him either not activating his own Schrift in order to protect Bisca or the fact that he was possibly as weakened as she and some of her friends had been. It was a stretch certainly, but at least it was plausible.

Now it was becoming abundantly clear that the two members of the Schutzstaffel were up to something, but what that was she had yet to ascertain. Certainly, gaining their trust was part of it, but if they wanted more, then surely assisting them in the here and now would only strengthen their goal... right?

Regardless, she chose to not voice her objection. Right now keeping him and the rest of Yhwach's entourage on their good side was far more important than simply prying where she best shouldn't. For now, all she could do was simply stand by and observe.

"Hey, what about you?" Gajeel asked Liltotto. "You quincy can take quite a beating and still keep going. Ya gonna go fight that asshole?"

Liltotto glanced down at her own body, thoroughly burned and bruised from the three bolts of the Thunder Palace she had withstood before she shook her head. "No dice. Thanks to Blut Vene, I'm alive despite being hit by three of those damn things but it's taking everything I can to just stand. Hate to say it but I'm fucking done. If I were to go over there now, I'd just get in the way."

"Wait a minute, if neither of you guys can continue fighting, then who's going to deal with Laxus?" Levy asked with concern. "Erza's already lost and Mystogan and Mirajane aren't going to be able to beat him unless they were at their best, and while I was able to prevent most of them from hitting her, Lil got really hurt by those Lacrima, so who's going to take him down?"

Liltotto gave her a smirk as she sensed the three powers that were over in Kardia cathedral. "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that. We've got our favorite explosive, short tempered, perverted nerd and her girlfriend already on the job."

She could only hope now that the two of them could actually pull it off.

---

"L-lucy? What are you doing here?" Bambietta asked the celestial mage, the blonde quickly pulled her up to her feet.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to help," Lucy answered. "I couldn't just sit by and let you fight Laxus all by yourself, ya know?"

Bambietta gave her a small smile in return before she shook her head. "Lucy, I appreciate the save, I really do, but Laxus is too strong for you to handle, even with that new fullbring of yours. You need to get out of here now before -"

"Absolutely not!" Lucy shouted, surprising Bambietta.

The celestial mages grabbed onto Bambietta's right hand with both of her own. "Bambi, look. I know you're trying to keep me safe, and that's sweet, really. But I refuse to just stand by and watch you get hurt if there's something I can do to help! Besides, it's not looking like you're going to be able to win this on your own."

She looked the quincy right in the eyes. "When Phantom Lord tried to take me from the guild, you and everyone else fought tooth and nail just for me. Back then, I really couldn't do anything. I mostly just kept to the sidelines, and I hated it. But things are different now, so it's time for me to return the favor!"

The blonde looked at her own guild mark as it covered Bambietta's own. "Besides, this isn't just a fight for you or me, it's a fight for the entire guild! I know how much Fairy Tail means to you and you know how much it means to me. We're both a part of this family Bambi. So I'm not going anywhere."

She let go of Bambietta's hands and took out her sword from her shield, glaring at Laxus "And last but not least, I won't let anyone get away with hurting you. Not even one of Fairy Tail's strongest."

Bambietta simply stared at her girlfriend's back, both greatly touched and even inspired by her words. It was honestly really nice, seeing her girlfriend being all gung-ho about going into a fight. Even so, some worry remained. "Are you really sure about this, Lucy?" Bambietta asked her. "He's strong. Like, really, really, strong."

"You're right. I couldn't hope to possibly beat him on my own," Lucy said before she turned around and gave Bambietta a confident smirk. "But we can!"

Bambietta's eyes widened ever so slightly, her lips curling upward. Tch, there I go letting my fear get the better of me yet again. While she still wasn't entirely kosher with the idea, Lucy was right. As things stood, Bambietta had no chance at defeating Laxus on her own. Not to mention that the future of her home, her, no, their family, was at stake here. If it meant that they had a shot at bringing everything back to normal, then it was a risk she'd have to take.

As Laxus fully got up to his feet and dusted himself off, he turned around to see just who had kicked him in the first place. At first, he tilted his head in confusion, before he burst out laughing. "What, you!? You're the one who actually hit me back there!? Here I thought I had something to worry about, but it's just one of the new weaklings the old man let in. Hell, you're the reason Phantom Lord trashed our guild in the first place!"

"That wasn't her fault, you prick! You can blame her old man and that prick Jose for that!" Bambietta shouted. "And furthermore, no one gets to talk about my girlfriend like that and gets away with it!"

"Yeah, and I don't take kindly to people who beat up mine!" Lucy added. "So I'm going to make you pay for what you put Bambi and the rest of the guild through, tenfold!"

Laxus cackled at their threats. "Oh please! Do you really think adding another weakling into the mix is gonna make a damn difference!? Are you really so stupid enough to try again after all that!?"

"Oh, we're not going to try to beat you Laxus-." Bambietta said as she took a step forward, a grin on her face, her confidence heightened thanks to the Celestial Mages presence.

Lucy took a step forward as well, with a cheeky grin of her own as she and Bambietta brandished their swords almost in unison. "We will defeat you!" Lucy proudly finished for her girlfriend.

Laxus's sneer turned into a frown, his eyes boring at the two of them, irritated by their newly found confidence. "Bring it."

(Song of choice, Reverse situation, Naruto Shippuden OST)

Then, almost as if they were in perfect sync, did Bambietta and Lucy kick off from the ground as they dashed towards Laxus. The lightning mage simply stood there and fired off countless bolts of lightning at the pair, his arms folded. While he doubted Bambietta would fall so easily, he was certain he'd be able to take out the blonde. Far as he was concerned, she wasn't worthy of him putting in any real effort. However, as the onslaught of lightning bolts came towards the pair, each and every single one of them was deflected by the pair with their respective blades. What!?

Despite initial appearances, the two of them weren't using their swords to protect themselves from the oncoming strikes. Rather, just as each bolt of lightning approached Lucy, Bambietta would sprint in front of her to deflect any lightning headed her way, with Lucy doing much the same for Bambietta. No, they weren't simply protecting themselves with their blades, but rather, each other.

Their teamwork was beginning to pay off, the two of them quickly gained ground towards Laxus. The self-proclaimed strongest wizard in all of Fairy Tail snarled as the two of them came closer and closer, the magic surrounding him intensifying. "Tch, alright, let's see how you two pushovers handle this!"

Sensing that he had increased the power output of his attacks, Bambietta appeared in front of Lucy and tossed an orb of the Explode towards Laxus, stopping one of his attacks right in its place. However, when the dust cleared, four more bolts of lightning hurtled towards Bambietta, leaving her little time to form more explosives to protect herself.

Luckily, she wouldn't have to, a bunch of thorny vines shot up from the ground in front of Bambietta and formed into a large makeshift garden hedge, blocking the attack.

Bambietta glanced behind her, taking note that Lucy had plunged her sword into the ground, no doubt producing the vines that had protected her. Well, that's a pretty handy trick. Way to go Lucy! The quincy thought and gave Lucy a brief smile.

Lucy smiled right back. Looks like I made the right call training with my fullbring and making some new moves when we got back from Akane Resort. She had put some good amount of time into understanding her new power during her spare time, and now it was about to be put through a trial by fire. The ivy thorns held against the onslaught of electricity for several seconds until they completely disintegrated.

However, they had more than done their job, Bambietta and Lucy taking the opportunity to run to the sides of the defensive hedge, each of them running onward in a different direction. Soon enough the two of them had ended up at the foot of the flight of stairs Laxus stood atop of, continuing to deflect the bolts of lightning as they climbed up the stairs.

Laxus narrowed his eyes at the two female mages before he cocked his arm back with an especially powerful bolt of lightning. "Tch, you annoying gnats! Go down already!"

The large lightning bolt hurtled towards the pair of them as it traveled through the ground, destroying the once pristine stairs. However, just before the attack could connect, Bambietta used Hirenkyaku to grab Lucy and move the both of them right out of the way of the lightning's trajectory. Thinking on her feet, Lucy quickly took her vine whip out from her shield and wrapped it around one of the cathedral's pillars as their feet made contact with the wall. Using the added strength of her fullbring, Lucy managed to spin the two of them around to dodge yet another bolt of lightning, swinging around the pillar before the pair crashed into Laxus, each of them kicking him in the stomach.

Laxus grunted in annoyance, the attack knocking him back a few feet, only to transform into lightning and bolt towards them, his fist cocked back as he prepared to punch down at Lucy. However, Lucy's shield and Bambietta's blade blocked the attack in unison. With reiatsu building up around the pair, the two of them cried out and collectively shoved him back, taking him by surprise.

Wait, what!? Laxus panicked as they took off charging at him once more. The two women swung their blades down in a synchronized swing, forcing Laxus to block with both of his arms. The blades slammed into his lightning clad arms, and while the cuts they left were relatively minor, the sheer force behind the blow of their hits sent him back several more feet.

This is insane, how the hell are they pushing me back!? Neither of them is even S-Class! Laxus raged, with Bambietta and Lucy running in yet again. Are they really just that good of a team!? Laxus transformed his body into lightning and moved back even further, wanting to create some distance between the pair, only to circle behind the pair and blasted a bolt of lightning at Lucy, the S class mage planning on taking out the weakest link of the new tag team.

"Oh fuck that shit!" Bambietta cried out and tossed an explosive orb at the attack, stopping it short of connecting with her beloved before both she and Lucy came charging in. Laxus snarled as he burst forward, his lightning cloaking his entire body, as the three of them crashed.

Lightning arms clashed with swords as the three of them continued to battle through the cathedral. However, to the surprise of the three of them, it was Laxus that was losing ground. Slowly yet surely, as Bambietta and Lucy continued to wail at him with their swords, the grandson of Makarov was forced to take a step back, then another, and another.

Laxus blocked Lucy's sword with his left arm as she tried to swing it across his chest, while Bambietta tried to aim at his neck, his right arm moving up just in time to stop the attempt. The sword strikes themselves were hardly hurting him. Not much worse than paper cuts really. But while he was only taking minor damage at most, he had yet to have landed a single hit on the pair of them while he had been left totally on the defensive.

It was, to say the least, infuriating!

"Enough!" Laxus shouted and swatted the two of them away with a powerful wave of electricity, forcing the both of them back and landing his first real hit on the two of them. "I will not be humiliated by a bunch of the old man's rookies! I've been in this guild far longer than you could ever hope to be, you damn-"

"Shut up!"

Both Bambietta and Lucy managed to close the distance and slammed their swords' against Laxus's chest, forcing him to cry out in pain. Lucy knelt down and landed an upward kick on Laxus's chin, sending him up into the air where Bambietta met him above with Hirenkyaku and blasted him from behind with her 'Explode', the attack burning his back. As he hurtled towards her girlfriend. Lucy made her move, wrapping her thorny vine whip around Laxus's waist and swung him around several times, until he finally crashed to the ground just below the staircase.

The lightning mage growled in fury while he rose up, only for a barrage of orbs of "The Explode" to hurtle towards him. His eyes widened and leapt above the attacks, only to hurtle down at the two of them with enhanced speed, appearing right behind Bambietta, his right hand cocked back to strike her down with his fist.

"Oh no you don't!"

It was not to be, however, Lucy's whip wrapping around his fist, the blonde struggling to rear it back with all her might to prevent him from landing a devastating hit on her girlfriend.

Laxus turned around and snarled at her, preparing a bolt of lightning in retaliation. "You stupid bitch, I oughta-"

"Don't you even think about it, asshole!"

Before Laxus could turn around to defend himself, Bambietta had already swung her sword across his chest with Blute Arterie, cutting him diagonally across the chest. The S class felt the sharp pain run through his body, but Lucy's whip remained firm around his wrist, allowing Bambietta to continue to wail on him with her sword. Laxus managed to block the attack's over and over with his left arm, but the damage was starting to accumulate, even with his lightning protecting his body.

Snarling in rage, Laxus channeled a powerful current of electricity through Lucy's whip, electrocuting her and finally freeing his right hand. Bambietta screamed out Lucy's name, but before the quincy could do anything, he grasped onto Bambietta's throat. "Alright, no more games!" Laxus shouted right before he began to punch at her stomach repeatedly. Bambietta let out a scream as she endured his assault, trying her best to aim her right hand at Laxus's head despite the pain she was in, only for him to grab her hand and grip onto it tightly.

"What's wrong, is the pain too much for ya? Well, is it!?" Laxus screamed as he prepared to send lighting throughout her entire body. "Well too bad, because I've got a lot more in store for you then tha-"

"Get your hands off of my girlfriend!"

Laxus turned around just in time to drop Bambietta to block Lucy's next strike with both of his arms. The attack was stronger than expected, bending his knees as the ground beneath shattered, all the while Lucy gave him a scornful gaze.

"I can't believe that someone like you is actually a member of Fairy Tail!" Lucy shouted right before she took another swing. Laxus dodged out of the way of the attack, the sword emitting a shockwave that left a large hole to the wall behind him. Laxus sped around Lucy and tried to slam his fist against her body, but the blonde had managed to bring up her fullbring's shield just in time to block his attack, her determined gaze, while strained, still remaining.

"Fairy Tail is supposed to be a place where anyone can belong! " Lucy cried out, swinging her sword at Laxus, forcing him to block the attack with his left elbow. "A place where your past doesn't matter, where you can find a new beginning!" Lucy continued, her sword continuing to clash against his lightning clad arms. "A place that feels like home! A family! And all you've done is tear it apart!"

"I don't expect a newbie who hasn't even been around for a year to possibly understand how I feel!" Laxus yelled, grabbing onto Lucy's sword with one of his hands and punched her in the stomach, forcing her to bend over in pain. Laxus then clasped both of his hands together and he brought them down on Lucy, slamming her to the ground where she cried out, only to pick her up by her blonde locks.

"You think you get to talk about what Fairy Tail is supposed to be like, huh rich girl?! Don't tell me what Family is supposed to be!" He began to repeatedly punch at Lucy's stomach, her fullbring's armor only offering up so much defense as she began to scream. "My father used to be a member of the guild until the old man kicked him out years ago! You want to talk about family!? Then tell me why gramps decided to kick him out in the first place! What did 'family' mean then?! Huh!?"

Lucy looked at Laxus with a strained, but still determined glance. "I don't know why Master would have done such a thing…But I've been in the guild long enough to know that he'd only do such a thing if it was for the good of the guild!"

"Good for the guild!? Far as I'm concerned, he hasn't done anything good for the guild in the last three years!" Laxus told Lucy and slammed his fist onto her yet again, electing yet another cry of pain. "All he's done since he kicked my old man out is promote weaklings into S class and let a bunch of nobodies into the guild! So that's why when I take over, my first order as guild master will be to take out pathetic weaklings like-"

*Kaboom!*

Laxus felt a powerful explosion slam into his back, causing him to let go of Lucy as he stumbled a few feet. Lucy fell to the ground, but she quickly grabbed her sword and swung it at Laxus, forcing him to block with his right arm. However, just as he had, Bamietta slammed her knee onto the back of his head. He spun around to strike her, but she had already vanished. Snarling, Laxus grabbed onto Lucy and tossed her through where one of the window's had once been in the cathedral, trying to locate Bambietta.

"Alright, where did you-"

"Atomic Blast!"

Laxus quickly turned around towards the sound of her voice, Bambietta now standing in the middle of the cathedral. A massive blue torrent of energy had fired out of her hands and hurtled towards Laxus. Knowing it was best he counterattacked, he raised up his right hand into the air and clenched his fist as a massive orb of lightning began to form above him.

"Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder, plunge from the heavens and reap destruction! Raging Bolt!"

The two spells' clashed, shaking not just the cathedral, but the surrounding streets as the energy between the two of them spiraled out of control. However, as the two clashed, Laxus's lightning began to slowly yet surely overcome Bambietta's attack.

"Shit, not good, not good!" Bambietta exclaimed, still trying her best to empower her attack during this desperate struggle. Right now she needed something, anything, to give her an edge and land her attack!

Laxus let out a short laugh as his lightning continued to slowly overwhelm Bambietta's spell. "Did you really think you had what it took to overpower one of my spells!? Please! You're ten years too green to even think about something like that! Now feel the wrath of my lightning and-"

"Lucy Kick!"

Laxus's eyes widened as Lucy's voice resounded in his ears, the grandson of Makarov having foolishly forgotten that Lucy was still in the equation. Just as he turned around, the heel of her foot slammed into his face, before Lucy quickly leapt back. While the attack had done little more than annoy him in terms of damage, it had also completely broken his concentration over his spell. Seeing her chance, Bambietta increased the power behind her "Atomic Blast", allowing the spell to overpower Laxus as it shot towards him.

"Shit!" Laxus swore, bringing up his lightning barrier as the attack connected. However, Bambietta's attack was simply too strong and slammed into Laxus's body. He let out a loud scream, his body burning from the attack, the torrent of blue energy sending him further and further back until at last, his body slammed against one of the cathedral's walls and sent him right through it before it finally pittered out.

Bambietta grinned, more than satisfied with the results of her and Lucy's team up. She had been extremely lucky that the gap between her and Laxus, while quite noticeable, wasn't that large. Nor, thankfully, did he possess a magic that more or less nullified her schrift, or Blut like Ikaruga had. It was no doubt thanks to these factors that had made the inclusion of Lucy all the more important, and allowed the two of them to finally turn the tide of battle in their favor.

"Bambi, you did it!" Lucy shouted with an absolutely ecstatic look on her face as she ran over to the quincy and gave her a tight hug. "I just knew we could beat that jerk if we worked together!" Admittedly, it had gone far, far, better than she had expected, but she certainly wasn't going to complain!

The quincy enjoyed the embrace, truly she did, but she was quick to push Lucy away. "Lucy, as much as I would love for that to be the case, I'm afraid it's gonna take a lot more than that to take that prick down." Bambietta informed her.

Lucy's expression quickly went from joy to one of worry, holding one of Bambietta's hands. "Really? Well, I guess it would feel a tad bit too easy if he just went down after a few hits." She almost wanted to chastise herself. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy.

Bambietta chuckled. "Still, I'm pretty sure he's gonna be really hurting after getting hit by an attack like that. If we just keep on wailing on him and work in sync like we have, then I'm positive we can have this shit done before dinner!"

Lucy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's show that guy what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail! I don't care if he is S-class, no one should be allowed to get away with, well, all of this."

Bambietta chuckled a bit. "True, ain't no one denying that," She dusted herself off, only to give her girlfriend a teasing grin. "So…Lucy Kick huh?"

Lucy blushed at Bambietta's teasing remark. "Hey, lay off. The name's a work in progress, alright?"

Bambietta just shook her head. "No, no, no. It's good. It's very...you," She touched her head against Lucys and closed her eyes. "And that's just how I like it."

Lucy blushed at Bambietta's words and looked like she wanted to say something else, but before she could, she noticed Bambietta's expression change from jovial to serious. Lucy quickly turned around to see why, as Laxus Dreyer slowly walked down from the hole Bambietta had just blasted him through.

Needless to say, he was not pleased.

(Song of choice: Prelude To Destruction, Fairy Tail OST)

The S-class mage had certainly seen better days. His purple shirt and jacket had been completely shredded, and his body filled with all sorts of scrapes and bruises. But despite the fact he was no doubt feeling the sting of his injuries, Laxus didn't appear to be wincing in pain at all. No, it wasn't pain that Bambietta saw on his face, it was fury.

"You, stupid, irritating, little pests! Did you really think all of that was going to be enough to take me down!? Did ya? Well I hate to disappoint you, but the only thing you two have done is really piss me off!"

Laxus ripped off the tattered remains of his shirt, revealing his toned chest and his black guild mark along with a tribal looking tattoo that extended to his left shoulder. The look of fury on his face began to give way to one of manic glee, his eyes going completely while his muscles began to bulge in size, with scale-like patterns forming around his arms, and electricity began to build up around him until it formed into a massive sphere as he let out a mighty shout.

Bambietta and Lucy's eyes shot wide open as the entire cathedral, no, the entire street began to shake from the overwhelming power Laxus was emitting from his body. The former stern ritter broke into a nervous sweat as she sensed Laxus's power grow further and further.

"Ok, not good!" Lucy exclaimed. She had planned on fighting Laxus more certainly, but she had never expected he still had more power under his sleeve.

Oh this is bad! This is really, REALLY bad! Bambietta dreaded. From what she could tell, Laxus's power had already eclipsed that of Ikaruga, and the former sixth Wizard Saint Siegrain and continued to build up more and more. If anything, it was approaching Jose Porla's level.

No…it surpassed it.

Just as noticeable as the increase in power, however, was the nature of the lightning now surrounding him. Prior to this, it had seemed relativity contained, not spiraling out of control like it was now. There was something more primal about this lightning, something familiar, but just what that was she couldn't tell. Regardless things had most certainly gone from bad to worse, and if he was allowed to get to full power…they'd lose.

Oh, fuck that! Bambietta thought and she quickly made her next move, quickly charging up one of her most powerful attacks in her hands. "Atomic Blast!"

The blast of blue energy shot out towards Laxus, the quincy hoping that if she just hit him with her signature attack yet again, she could hopefully put an end to the fight once and for all!

However, before Bambietta's blast had the chance to connect, Laxus had bent himself back as a bright yellow magic appeared in front of his mouth and condensed itself into a small orb.

"Lightning Dragon's-"

Bambietta and Lucy's eyes shot wide open, the quincy realizing exactly what those words meant as her demeanor quickly became one of horror. "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me! Don't tell me this prick is also a Dragon Slay-"

"ROAR!"

Almost as if to answer her question, Laxus finished calling out the name of his attack, the tiny orb blasted out into a massive wave of lightning and completely took over Bambietta's Atomic Blast with little resistance. Seeing how her girlfriend was on the losing end of the attack, Lucy plunged her sword into the ground and a massive wall of thrones shot up from the ground in between Bambietta and the oncoming attack. However, Lucy's defense fared no better than Bambietta's attack, the lightning disintegrating the thrones almost instantly.

"Oh shi-" Bambietta swore, only for the blast of lightning to engulf both her and her girlfriend. The roar flashed throughout the cathedral, until the light finally died down. There was now a massive hole where the two had once been, with traces of electricity sparkling around its edges.

With absolutely no sign of either Bambietta nor Lucy.

Laxus started at it for just a moment, before he began to cackle. "Hehehehe. AHAHAHAHAHA!" He bellowed out. "Finally! Now with those two pests down away with, the old geezer won't have any other choice but to hand the guild over to it's rightful mast-"

"'Gah! This is really tight,' she obnoxiously complains."

Laxus's laugh came to an abrupt halt, his eyes quickly glancing upwards towards the direction of the new voice, only for his crazed expression to give way towards one of confusion. "What the hell?"

There, standing upside down on the Cathedral's ceiling, was a massive grandfather clock with a small face consisting of slit eyes and a thin, twirly, mustache-like mouth. However, what truly grabbed his attention wasn't the clock itself, but what was within the clock. It was there that Bambietta and Lucy lay, their bodies squeezed together within the confines of the clock.

The clock then descended from the ceiling and opened up its doors, allowing the two women to stumble out. Lucy looked back at the clock and gave him a smile. "Thanks for the save, Horologium. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't protected us." She then blinked. "Wait, you can do this? Since when?!"

"Since always," Horologium answered. "I was switched into automatic emergency action mode."

Lucy stared at him, thinking back on several past encounters when this little ability would have been useful, such as her encounter with the guild master of Death's Head Caucus, Dyspute. "Um, I get the feeling that I've already been in some emergency situations though..." She replied dryly.

"Those did not meet the emergency level that I had set, I'm afraid," Horologium told Lucy.

Lucy nodded. "Well, I guess it is what it is. Thanks a bunch, Horologium."

Bambietta glanced over towards the hole where they had been moments before, eyes widening at the power she sensed from the technique. "Yeah, seriously. No way in hell Blut Vene would have held up against that." She gave the clock spirit her full attention and smiled. "You're a real lifesaver. Literally."

The clock gave them a nod, well as much as he could, given his body structure. "I'm just glad that I could be of assistance. However, I'm afraid I can only ever do this once a day. From here on out, you'll be on your own."

"That's perfectly fine, you've done more than enough already," Lucy told him. With that, the sentient clock vanished from the cathedral, leaving it to just the three of them once more.

Laxus glared at the two of them, electricity sparking around his body once more. "Well, I hope you two enjoyed that extra minute of life that damn clock managed to give you, because I promise you, neither of you will be walking out of this cathedral alive!"

"Tch, says you!" Bambietta said, brandishing her sword at Laxus once more. "All we gotta do is just keep kicking your ass and we've got this in the bag! You're a dragon slayer? So what? I've already beat up Gajeel to a bloody pulp, and you'll be no different!"

However, while outwardly her confidence was lively as ever, the same could not be said for her internal thoughts. Laxus's power had grown quite considerably upon the activation of his dragon slayer magic. It had already been a hard fought battle with just his normal lightning, but this?

As much as I hate to admit it…our chances at victory are starting to plummet.

Still, that didn't mean that either of them had any intention of giving up, the two of them shared each other a brief glance before Lucy grasped onto her hand and nodded. Bambietta smiled back and the two let go of the other's hands to brandish their weapons, each of them letting out a defiant cry as they charged forward.

(Song of Choice: Need To Be Strong, Naruto OST)

Or at least, that had been the plan. After only running a few feet, Laxus sped over towards the both of them, grasping each of their heads and slammed them both down to the ground. The two of them cried out, and Bambietta tried to prepare an orb of "The Explode" in her right hand, but Laxus quickly tossed her away with a lightning enhanced throw, the element still electrocuting Bambietta as she was sent hurtling away.

Lucy tried to swing her sword down at Laxus in an attempt to free herself, but her blade bounced off harmlessly against the lightning that clad his body. He slammed his foot down on her stomach as hard as he could and Lucy let out a cry of immense pain as Laxus sneered at her, his foot grinding against her stomach. "See? This is what happens when a weakling enters a fight they have no place in!" Laxus told her as he stomped on her again. "They get crushed!"

"Get the hell off of her!"

Laxus turned around when Bambietta came hurtling in like a rocket and tried to swing her sword down at him, but Laxus grasped onto the sword blade with his right hand and tightened his grip around the blade, shattering it. The quincy gasped, only for Laxus to knee her in the stomach and follow up with a punch to the face, forcing her to roll across the floor.

"Bambi!" Lucy cried out, trying to swing her sword at him once again, but Laxus sent out a bolt of lightning out of his hand, sending a powerful shock through her body and eliciting yet another painful scream.

Laxus smirked at Lucy's pain until he felt the lightning aura surrounding his body suddenly combust. He took a few steps forward, his back slightly scorched as he glared at Bambietta. The quincy tossed two more explosive orbs at him, but Laxus's body transformed into lightning, shooting into the air and right in front of Bambietta and slugged her hard across her left cheek, then her right, before he grabbed her by the head brought her face down to his knee. However, just as he was about to inflict more damage, Laxus felt a slight twinge of pain around his right wrist as Lucy had wrapped her Fullbrings whip around it, trying, yet failing, to get him to let go of Bambietta.

"I won't let you lay another hand on her!" Lucy screamed.

With a casual flex of his arm, he forced the celestial wizard off of her feet and yanked her right towards him, allowing him to grab her by the face and slammed the two female mages together. Both Bambietta and Lucy cried out as he let them go, only to then toss a bolt of lightning at the two. Her protective instincts kicking in, Bambietta pushed Lucy out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack as she cried out.

"Bambi, no!" Lucy shouted, leaping to the side and wrapped her whip around Bambietta to promptly yank her out of the way of the attack. As Bambietta crashed to the ground, Lucy gave her a worried glance. "Bambi, are you-"

But before she decided what to do next, Laxus appeared right in front of Lucy and punched her to the ground. Lucy cried out from the pain, and he grabbed onto her left ankle and swung her around, slamming Lucy's body into Bambietta, who had gotten up to her feet and attempted a sneak attack from behind. The both of them rolled across the ground, but just as the two of them got back up to their feet, Lucy was blasted by another bolt of lightning forcing her to roll across the floor. Bambietta snarled and leapt up into the air and aimed her right hand at Laxus, her hand forming a large orb around it.

"Feuerregen!"

A countless barrage of explosions fired out from her hand, but Laxus slammed his fist at the ground and a massive bolt of lightning shot across the ground and tore through her assault.

Bambietta quickly moved out of the way, shooting off several orbs at Laxus, but Laxus quickly ran through the assault, dodging and weaving through her barrage. He tackled Bambietta, grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her body into the ground, forcing her to cry out as her head made contact with the hard floor. She struggled to get up but before she could try to break free, Laxus lifted her up only to slam her down on the ground over and over.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Bambietta swore internally each time Laxus repeatedly slammed her down to the ground. Yup, things are definitely not going according to plan! She had known from the start things weren't going to be easy. Hell, she had expected a bit of a beatdown from the very start of the fight. But the revelation that Laxus was a Dragon Slayer was one that had completely taken her off guard. Did anyone else even know about this? She doubted it. Natsu would have likely mentioned it at some point if it was public knowledge, and Candice hadn't even remotely implied it.

Well, that's one hell of a secret to keep! Bambietta thought as he slammed her to the ground yet again. How the fuck does that even work!? Last I checked you had to have been trained by a dragon in order to learn it, and they haven't been seen for years! So, either this prick somehow met a dragon without Makarov ever knowing, or there is some serious bullshit going on here!

The quincy began to focus her reiatsu into her right hand, creating a particularly powerful orb of "The Explode" while she tried her best to focus despite the pain. But luckily for me, he's the Lightning Dragon Slayer, not the Explosion Dragon Slayer!

Just as Laxus tried to swing her down yet again, Bambietta tossed her explosive orb at Laxus's face. The orb connected to the lightning that surrounded his body before it combusted, forcing Laxus to finally let go of Bambietta and took several steps back. The quincy landed on her feet, reformed her sword and began to flow her reiatsu through the blade to utilize Explodierender Schnitt but Laxus had recovered from her attack much earlier than she had anticipated and threw a lightning enhanced punch, shattering her quincy blade yet again and slamming onto her chest, cracking some of her ribs.

Bambietta flew across the cathedral until she landed on her feet and snarled, quickly reforming her sword yet again and slashed her sword at Laxus, firing out an arching orange shockwave towards the Dragon Slayer. "Explodierender Schnitt!"

Yet, as the attack hurtled towards Laxus, the grandson of Makarov simply smirked before he let out a mighty bellow as a magical circle formed around his mouth.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

Much like her atomic blast, the torrent of electricity blew through her attack with ease. Bambietta's eyes shot wide open as she tried to evade with Hirenkyaku, but just as she attempted to move, the wave of lightning enveloped her entire body.

The quincy screamed as the electricity flowed throughout her body, her Blut Vene completely overwhelmed by the immense power of the attack. Yet, to her surprise, the immense pain she had experienced quickly gave way. She couldn't feel any pain at all, bizarrely…in fact, she couldn't feel anything except for an all-consuming sensation of numbness. As the quincy crashed to the ground, Bambietta tried to move her arms to pick herself back up, only to find that she couldn't, her arms not responding to her demands at all along with the rest of her body.

No! No, no, no, no, no! Bambietta panicked, desperately trying to pick herself back up. But while the mind was willing, the body was not, leaving her completely defenseless. No, not completely. She had just the technique for something like this. No, it's fine! All I gotta do is just concentrate and use Ransotengai! Then I''ll be able to-

However, before she could even attempt the technique, Laxus fired another bolt of lightning at the quincy. Finding herself still unable to move, the electricity warped around her body, acting like some sort of binding. Bambietta's eyes shot open as her body's control began to come back to her, but despite her newly found freedom, she found breaking the bonds that enwrapped her was next to impossible, even with the aid of Blut Arterie. Worse yet, every time she tried to escape, her efforts were met with a painful shock.

Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit! Bambietta cursed. Now she was really in for some trouble. No matter how much she tried, the electricity that had formed around her body simply would not budge. Dread settled in as the realization that despite her best efforts, there was almost nothing she could do to break free.

True, she could use her innate ability as a quincy to break down the electric bonds, but that would undoubtedly take time, more than she'd have a reasonable time to do so. Skaverei would have resolved this issue instantly, but as she was now, she'd be lucky to break free in fifteen minutes.

The only real option she had left would be to use "The Explode" on the bonds, but with how tightly bound the electricity was to her body, the blast from her own attack would no doubt leave her in just as bad, if not even worse, situation than she was in now. Her battle with Komamura had proven that much. No matter how she spun it, she was at the complete mercy of Laxus Dreyer.

Unfortunately, it seemed that he had none to give as he concentrated lightning in his left hand. "Well, well, well. Looks like I've finally got you right where I want you," Laxus sneered while he looked down at the quincy, the lightning in his hand only intensifying. "You've been a real pain in my ass ever since you joined the guild, you know that? You're almost always talking a big game about how strong you are, but everytime when it really matters, you always come up short! It doesn't make you look tough, it just makes the rest of the guild look weak!"

He cocked his hand back and the electricity began to swirl around his hand, his manic grin somehow getting worse as his pupilless eyes glared down at her. "But that's why I'm going to nip this problem in the bud right here, right now! Now die!"

Bambietta closed her eyes and braced herself, fearing the oncoming strike that would more than likely do just what Laxus had described. No, I don't want to die! Not like this! Not to some prick who thinks he's doing the guild a favor! The whole point of fighting is that you want to live! That you don't want to die! So come on, move! Move!

*CLANG!*

Bambietta's eyes fluttered open, surprised by the lack of pain. She managed to glance upwards to see just what had prolonged her execution, only for her eyes to widen. There was Lucy, her girlfriend struggling to hold back Laxus's fist with all her might with her shield. Letting out a determined battle cry, Lucy shoved Laxus back, his feet skidding against the ground before he snarled at Lucy.

"You!? Just stay down already, you damn pushover!" Laxus shouted at Lucy. Just how the hell was the stupid rich girl still in the fight!? He was positive that he had taken her out with that last attack.

"Lucy… Please, you have to get out of here," Bambietta tried to warn her. "He's…He's too strong. You can't beat him on your own. Go get help and then maybe we–"

"No way!" Lucy shouted at the both of them, her hands clenching around her sword and shield. "If I leave you alone with him, then he'll kill you! I couldn't live with myself if I let you die just because the fight was getting hard! You never gave up on me during Phantom Lord, so I refuse to give up on you!"

The fullbringer pointed her sword at Laxus, glaring at the dragon slayer as tears began to trickle around her eyes.

"And you! What the hell is wrong with you?! You fought with us against Phantom Lord too, didn't you? So why are you doing this?!"

Laxus scoffed. "I'm not going to waste my words on some rich girl newbie. You two don't understand a damn thing about the guild."

"Fairy Tail is my home!" Lucy cried. "It's the closest thing to a home I've had in seven years! It's a guild so full of life that its members can get into fights every day and clean up the mess afterwards, close as can be. It's a guild that will welcome in a useless, inexperienced celestial spirit mage and fight for her, tooth and nail, not even half a year later. It's in a town full of wonderful people, people that have no place in this stupid battle of yours!" Lucy's grip tightened on the hilt of her sword, the sword itself beginning to shake as she continued. "And you want to take all that away, Bambi too, because... Because we're too weak? Because she's annoying sometimes?"

"Hey."

Lucy ignored her. "You keep going on and on about the guild, how this is all for the guild, but that's not even remotely true, is it? Even when you helped against Phantom Lord, you didn't come back to help the guild. You only came back because you couldn't stand the idea of another guild defeating Fairy Tail, the guild you were in, isn't that right? All this time, it's all just been for yourself."

A stormy expression settled over Laxus's face. Lightning crackled around his fists. "You don't know a damn thing, newbie. You better quit while you're ahead."

Lucy flinched, but she kept going. "You've known Natsu, Gray, Erza, and the others for way longer, and you're willing to pit them against dark mages, to willingly put them in danger, just to soothe your ego with this 'game' of yours! The master…" She swallowed. "The master is bedridden right now because he couldn't handle the stress of his own grandson doing something like this!"

That caught Bambietta's attention from her place on the ground. "Master Makarov is...?"

Laxus simply stood there, silent, shadows over his eyes.

Lucy swept her sword to the side in exclamation. "You don't even care about the Thunder Legion, people who are supposed to be your friends! They fought for you, they believed in you, and their sacrifice doesn't mean anything to you?"

This time, Laxus lifted his head to glare at her. "Shut up..."

The atmosphere felt thick. Between her hands and the air, Lucy wasn't certain which was trembling more. Even so, she kept pressing. "I bet Candice doesn't mean anything to you either!"

"Shut up!"

"You don't care about anyone!"

"SHUT UP!"

(Song of Choice: Jujutsu Sorcerer, Nobara Kugisaki)

"I won't!" Lucy declared defiantly. Her body glowed with a glimmering light, hair billowing in the wind as her magic swelled to greater heights. Her fullbring turned white, the hems of her armor turned yellow, and she charged forward. She let out a mighty shout, swinging her sword down on Laxus. The dragon slayer chooses to block the attack with both of his arms, his feet skidding back ever so slightly. With another shout, she pushed again, finishing her swing and letting loose a shockwave. The cutting blast dug into Laxus and forced him back several feet before he dispelled it with a harsh gesture from both of his arms. Lucy grimaced, hoping her attack would have done much more than that. Nevertheless, the grip on her sword remained firm, and she rushed headlong into battle.

Laxus smirked. Really? That was it? He had expected so much more after her little power up. If that was the best she had, then the newbie was even more pathetic than he thought. He was about to say as much when he felt a slight sting on both of his forearms. He looked down, and his smile faded. Right there, against his lightly tanned skin, two thin, red lines stood out. Mocking him.

His teeth ground together. The cuts were hardly even noticeable, and they didn't really hurt, but the fact that this, this nobody managed to wound him at all was inexcusable. He snarled, "Alright, you really want to go, rich girl!? Fine! I'll be more than happy to knock your ass out in front of your girlfriend before I finish her off!"

Laxus charged forward at Lucy, attempting to punch her across the face, but Lucy's newly empowered fullbring had enhanced her reaction speed just enough to block the attack with the flat of her blade, her arm's buckling and her knees bending. Lucy let out a defiant cry and tried to swing her massive sword down at Laxus but the lightning mage vanished from her sight, only to kick her from behind. The blonde rolled across the ground and stopped her momentum with her sword, only for her to gasp and jump out of the way as a bolt of lightning struck where she had once been.

As Lucy got up and went for another charge, a volley of lightning bolts had fired towards her, but the celestial wizard didn't let that deter her in the slightest. She swung her blade at the oncoming attacks, each one crackling into the ground as she deflected them as she continued her charge.

She attempted to swing her sword down at Laxus, but the dragon slayer jumped over the attack and kicked her across the face. However, as Lucy's feet skid against the ground, she had thrown out her whip around Laxus's waist and yanked herself forward and slammed her foot into his stomach. Laxus cried out from the unexpected blow but quickly recovered, grasping both of his hands together and slammed them down onto the back of Lucy's head, forcing her face to smack against the pavement below.

Lucy let out a pained cry, but just as she attempted to pick herself back up, Laxus kicked her head, sending her rolling across the floor. However, Lucy recovered much faster than Laxus had expected, and she quickly leapt into the air to avoid another one of his bolts of lightning and swung her whip down at him. The grandson of Makarov smirked at the attempt, however, and surged forward, dodging the whip and slamming his fist on Lucy's face.

Lucy crashed to the ground and glared up at Laxus only to swiftly lift up her shield, blocking a downwards stomp that shattered the ground beneath her. Lucy grit her teeth, struggling against Laxus's foot, before she swung her sword with all her might at the grandson of Makarov. A burst of white light shot out from her blade, sending him up into the air with a new shallow cut running across his chest. Laxus was quick to respond and shot down, forcing Lucy to leap out of the way of his punch as it bore into the ground.

Seeing an opportunity for an attack, Lucy wrapped her whip around Laxus, and a bunch of vines sprouted from her weapon wrapped around Laxus. Laxus snarled as he attempted to rip them off with his bare hands, but the vegetation was persistent as it continued to grow all over him, his body getting continuously pricked with thorns. Quickly getting fed up with Lucy's technique, Laxus let out an electric current around his body, frying the plants that had begun to wrap around him and through Lucy's whip.

Lucy let out a sharp cry as electricity flowed throughout her very being. It was easily one of, if not the most excruciating feeling of pain she had ever experienced, yet, Lucy did not give in. Instead, despite the pain she was in, she ran forward, trying to swing her sword down at Laxus, but he managed to dodge out of the way of her attack and punch her hard across the face. Lucy cried out as she stepped back, only for Laxus to grab onto her face and slammed the back of her head down on the ground, cracking the granite before he tossed her up into the sky and blasted her with lightning yet again.

"Damn it, just stay down already you annoying gnat!" Laxus shouted as he continued to blast her with lightning. However, Lucy had managed to orient herself just enough that she could use her shield to defend herself from the onslaught of electricity and hurtled down at Laxus, swinging her sword down across his chest and forcing him to back away.

"Never! Fairy Tail is my home, and I won't let anyone destroy it, even if they are the master's grandson!" Lucy declared and swung her sword down once more. Laxus sidestepped the attack before he brought his fist down at Lucy, but the celestial wizard was able to spin around just in time to block his fist with her shield and slammed the pommel of her sword onto Laxus's face.

Laxus snarled and tried to punch at her, but Lucy managed to block the strike with her shield before she countered with her sword, forcing Laxus to parry it with a lightning enhanced punch that knocked her back. Lucy grit her teeth and went back in, leaping over one of Laxus's strikes and swung her sword. The dragon slayer spun around just in time, blocking the sword only for Lucy to bash him across the face with her shield.

Temporarily dazed as he was, Lucy let out a mighty shout and began to slash at Laxus with it again and again. Out of it as he was, he could only manage to just barely block the attacks for his forearms, the ground underneath shaking and giving way as he fell to his knees.

What the hell!? Laxus couldn't believe this, his body shuddering from each strike she unleashed. The newbie was supposed to be a nobody, a weakling that dragged the guild down with her presence. Yet, somehow, here and now, she was managing to eclipse even Freed's strength, bringing him down to one knee. Where did this power come from all of a sudden!?

"I'm not going to give up, no matter how much it hurts, and no matter how much pain you put me through!" Lucy screamed as bright light began to enshroud her sword, intensifying with each passing second. "Because that's what a real member of Fairy Tail would do!" She swung the blade down, and a massive arching blast erupted from her sword.

Laxus's eyes shot wide open as the attack hurtled towards him and tried to cancel it out with his lightning. However, it simply wasn't enough, the torrent of white light quickly overpowering his own magic. "Tch, damn it!" Laxus shouted and transformed his body into lightning, dodging the massive attack and appeared behind Lucy. He slammed the palm of his right hand against her back and a bolt of lightning shot out and sent her flying across almost half of the cathedral.

"Lucy!" Bambietta screamed. The quincy frantically tried to escape her binds, but despite her best efforts to break the construct, the electricity kept her bound,

Lucy fell to the ground in a heap, panting. Try as she might, she just couldn't find the strength to get back up again. Laxus wasn't willing to give her a moment's rest, however, and raised up his right hand as lightning began to course around his hand and a great sphere of electricity formed above him. "Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder, plunge from the heavens and reap destruction! RAGING BOLT!"

"Lucy, run!" Bambietta screamed at the top of her lungs, urging Lucy to get out of the way, but Laxus had already fired off his spell as the massive sphere of electricity hurtled towards Lucy.

The blonde's eyes widened, but there was simply no way she'd be able to simply run away from the technique. The bolt of lightning struck home, forcing Bambietta to cover her eyes, both from the intense light and from the fear of seeing her girlfriend being fried right before her eyes.

The intense light died down, and Bambitta opened her eyes, only for her jaw to drop and her heart to skip a beat. Lucy was nowhere to have been seen where the lightning had struck, a massive scorch on the ground where she had once been. Tears began to form around Bambiettas eyes, the quincy assuming only the worst.

However, her fears were quickly alleviated when Lucy appeared right beside Laxus with a flash of green, surprising both Laxus and Bambietta and swung her weapon hard against his back, along with a blinding blast of white light, sending him rolling across the ground. Lucy blinked several times, quickly glancing around her. "Hey, wait a minute, how did I get over here?"

Bambietta's fear quickly gave way to a grin as she looked at her girlfriend with renewed vigor. "Aw hell yeah! You just used Bringer Light!"

Lucy looked back at Bambietta, her face filled with confusion. "Bringer...light? What's that?"

Bambietta smirked. "High speed movement technique, kinda like my Hirenkyaku! But that's beside the point, I'll tell you more about it later! If you just keep using that then we might be able to-"

"THAT TEARS IT!"

Before Bambietta could warn Lucy, and the Celestial Spirit wizard herself realized what happened, Laxus appeared right in front of her and grabbed her by the throat, threatening to crush her windpipe right there, only to slam her to the ground, breaking the earth underneath.

"No!" Bambietta screamed. The quincy refused to do nothing but watch as her girlfriend was slammed again into the ground. Her arms struggled against the electric confines that bound them, her muscles screaming from the volts being pushed through her system as punishment, but no dice. They just wouldn't break. Even so, she grit her teeth and kept trying. She had to do something, anything, to come to Lucy's aid!

But despite her best efforts, despite how desperately she wanted to escape, it was no use.

She could only lay down...and watch.

(Song of Choice: Never Meant To Belong, Bleach OST)

Lucy choked out a gasp. She couldn't breathe. It felt like all of the air had been forced from her lungs when her back hit the stone. She tried to swing her sword, but Laxus easily caught her wrist. Then, with a powerful chop to her arm, promptly snapped it and the bone underneath. She screamed.

"Lucy!" Bambietta yelled, fear reaching new heights as got up to her knees, only for the bindings to electrocute her, forcing her to fall back down. "No! Lucy! LUCY!"

Lucy continued to cry out in absolute agony, before Laxus slammed her face down onto his knee, breaking her nose. She kicked at his stomach several times, fighting through the pain, but Laxus wasn't having any of it. Wreathed in lightning, he tackled her to a nearby wall, her back cracking against the wall, bending her spine, only to grab her face and slam her head against the wall.

"Did you really think you could beat me by yourself? Huh, rich girl!?" Laxus demanded before he began to electrocute Lucy, forcing her to let out another painful wail while she was pinned against the wall. Lucy could feel tears fall down her face as the pain intensified, her attempts to kick Laxus away lessening as the pain flowed through her. "What an absolute joke!"

The electric current that flowed through her body soon faded, but just as it had, what felt like a freight train smashed into Lucy's left side with a sickening crunch. For a moment, Lucy froze, the sudden shock to her system rendering her silent. When she tried to take a breath, however, she let out another muffled scream into Laxus's hand.

"Honestly, you piss me off even more than that dumb broad lying over there!" Laxus yelled at her, electricity flowing around his body while he punched the blonde again and again. "At least she actually tried to fight against Jose! But you!? All you ever did was use those damn spirits to fight for you! You never got into the thick of things until the very end, because you needed everyone else to fight your battle!"

Another sickening blow, and a pained scream followed as Laxus continued his rant. "So you've got a new power that lets you fight like the rest of us. So what!? You're still just as useless as you were back then. Nothing's changed. You're just some rich girl playing pretend at being a wizard!"

His rage swelled. "Worst of all, you didn't even come here to play the part! The only reason you even came to Fairy Tail was to get away from your old man! And what did that bring? Oh, right, the war with Phantom Lord!"

He watched long enough for the young woman to take in a shuddering breath before he sent yet another current of electricity through her body, forcing her to scream once more. Laxus continued on with his tirade. "We lost our guild hall because of you. Our home. Our reputation! All because you couldn't handle the rich life?" He scoffed. "What a load. So what if your old man never paid attention to you? That's why you ran away? All you did was throw the world's most expensive temper tantrum, leaving Fairy Tail to foot the bill. And you have the gall to consider yourself one of us?"

"I… am…" She weakly declared.

Laxus scoffed. "Please. Far as I'm concerned, you never belonged here, and once I'm guild master, you never will!"

As Laxus continued on with his brutal assault, each punch and blow to Lucy's body, eliciting some kind of pained response from her, Bambietta could only watch on in abject horror in her bonds. She was trying everything that she could to break through, the quincy not stopping despite her best efforts. She had to do something, anything to stop watching this horror show that was playing out before her eyes.

But despite her desperate attempts, despite how hard she tried, despite how much it hurt to watch her girlfriend be tortured before her eyes… It simply wasn't enough. She was trying to use her ability to absorb the energy of the world to try to break down the bonds that held her as fast as she could but each and every single one of Lucy's cries shook her to her very core and broke her concentration.

Come on! Come on, come on, come on, come on! Bambietta screamed in her mind. You have to break free, you have to! Lucy needs you! Come on, break! I need these damn things to break! Break, damn you! BREAK!

Laxus paused in his assault to admire his work, holding Lucy's limp form before himself. Breaths escaped her in stilted hiccups, and electrical burns painted her entire body. His lips curled upwards into a cruel sneer. "What's wrong, newbie? That all you can take? 'Cause we're just getting started."

"You monster…" Bambietta growled, her eyes boring holes into the back of his head. "You're dead, do you hear me!? When I get out of this, you're… I'll…!"

Her body went completely rigid then, her muscles all but impossible to move as her guild mark glowed with a bright light. Her eyes snapped towards it, as she quickly put two and two together.

Damn you, Makarov!

No doubt her intent towards killing Laxus had activated his seal, much like it had when she planned to do the same with Evergreen hours prior. Her rage soared for a moment, cursing out Makarov as she tried to desperately move her muscles to resume her struggle.

Only she couldn't. She tried, and tried, and tried, but no matter how much she so desperately wanted to help her love, her body simply wouldn't listen to her. She couldn't so much as struggle now, let alone break free. There was simply nothing she could do and as she heard Laxus punch Lucy in the stomach one last time…

She broke.

"STOP!"

The dragon slayer did just that, his punch stopping just short of impacting against Lucy's stomach. He didn't even bother to so much as turn his head, but it was clear that he heard her plea.

"Please… No more," The quincy begged. She didn't care anymore. She didn't care how pathetic she sounded, or her own pride. None of it, none of it would matter if she lost her. "I'll do whatever you want, just please…don't hurt her anymore." She sniffled. " I'll do anything you say, anything! So I'm begging you…Just let her go."

The dragon slayer dropped Lucy to the ground, the woman landing in a heap and for a moment, Bambietta believed her words had actually managed to reach the dragon slayer. Lucy, meanwhile, attempted to pick herself up with her unbroken arm, only for Laxus to slam his foot onto Lucy's right cheek, forcing Lucy to shriek out in pain as electricity coursed through her body once more.

"NO!" Bambietta screamed. She thrashed against her bindings, to no avail. "Laxus, please!"

Lucy could feel her right cheekbone beginning to crack as Laxus grinded his foot hard and harder against it, the sneer on his face only intensifying.

"Oh, don't go crying now. I'm just getting started!" Laxus declared, his body enshrouding itself with lightning as the electrical flow began to flow into Lucy once more. Her squeals of pain grew only wild and more frantic, her very tears evaporating from the electricity as she frantically tried to pry herself free. Then, after several eternally long seconds of utter agony did her torture finally stop, leaving her to whimper from the intense pain from it all.

Bambietta thrashed against her bindings. It was no longer fear that tore at Bambietta's very being. Not anymore. Yes, watching her beloved being tortured before her very eyes was akin to some of her worst nightmares coming to life. However, with every scream Lucy let out, with every punch Laxus had given her, and with every single insult he threw her way, an entirely different feeling grew within Bambietta until it overwhelmed her completely, her fear and sorrow spiraling out of control into something else entirely.

"See what I mean? You're too pathetic to be a mage, let alone a Fairy Tail wizard!" Laxus spat as he glared down at Lucy. "Look at you. Crying on the ground and whimpering like a dog. A real wizard would rather die than be reduced to a crying mess! You–"

"You son of a bitch…"

(Song of choice: Kage and Rasetsu, Hunter X Hunter 2011 OST)

Laxus's eyes widened, the grandson of Makarov completely taken aback by the sheer vitriol he had heard uttered his way. He glanced behind him, only to discover it had come from none other than one Bambietta Basterbine. With ragged breaths, the quincy slowly rose to one knee, her bloodshot gaze transfixed on the enemy before her.

He would pay.

He was going to pay.

She was going to make sure he suffered for what he had done!

Bambietta snarled, "I won't let you get away with this, you bastard!"

The air grew thick, the task of even drawing a breath made difficult. Laxus stared at Bambietta, transfixed by her intense gaze, only breaking out of it when he felt a strange sensation in his legs. He glanced down in disbelief.

They were shaking.

He shook his head, unable to believe it. What!? There's no way that I'm actually afraid of this weakling!

*Crack!*

His gaze shot towards the sound. A piece of granite had snapped off of the ground, the adjacent tiles soon following suit as cracks spiderwebbed through the floor. Laxus let out a small breath to ease his tension, then caught himself. What was wrong with him? The ground was simply succumbing under the pressure of this pathetic loser's temper tantrum, all because she couldn't control her spirit energy. In other words, it was nothing to worry about. He was jumping over nothing.

Nothing then suddenly became something when Laxus returned his gaze to his opponent and noticed that the ground was not the only thing succumbing to her power. His spell, the ropes of electricity that should have kept this persistent bitch dealt with for as long as he damn well wished, was finally beginning to give against her efforts. However, the rope wasn't merely straining against her newfound efforts. Rather, bit by bit, the electricity began to erode, small bits and pieces slowly burning off its length.

"That's impossible," he murmured in disbelief. I don't get it! Nobody except for Gildarts and the old geezer should be able to break out of those! And this pressure, it almost feels like I'm getting scolded by the old man! Is this seriously all because she's a little mad about her girlfriend!?

Almost as if to answer that question, a heavy pressure began to weigh down on him, shaking the entire cathedral. "I will make you suffer for what you did to Lucy, do you hear me?" Bambietta spat. "I'm going to make you pay!"

The ground beneath her continued to crack and shatter, her hair flowing in the air. A flash of red sparked around her feet, building more and more until it manifested into an intense ruby-red aura of reiatsu swirling around her body, the debris flowing along with it before swiftly disintegrating. Bambietta rose to her feet in spite of the seal, her unflinching gaze sending a sharp chill down his spine.

Laxus couldn't help but take a step back, an unexpected shiver running down his spin. Just what the hell is this girl!?

"No matter what it takes… I swear, no matter what it takes…" Bambietta uttered as her red aura only continued to intensify, swirling around her in a chaotic vortex. The surrounding brick and granite seared from its touch, the air itself sounding like it was screaming from the contact of her reiatsu as a strong gust of wind began to emit from her body. The entire street no, the entirety of Magnolia itself shook and shuddered, before, at long last, the bonds that held her, alongside Makarov's seal, completely disintegrated. Two, narrow, bright ruby-red wings of reishi burst from her back, the ground beneath her shattering as she shouted out at the top of her lungs.

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

(Song of choice: The Guardian, Jam Project)

Laxus gawked at the quincy, his confidence momentarily faltering at the sight of Bambietta's transformation, only for his cocky demeanor to return in full. "So, you've got wings now, huh? So wha-"

*BOOM!*

Before Laxus even realized what had happened, a powerful red blast hit him in the chest, blasting him off of Lucy as he cried out. His feet skid against the cathedral's floor, still feeling the burning on his chest, and glared at Bambietta. "Why you-"

"LAXUS!"

Almost as if an explosion had been set off under her feet, Bambietta soared over towards Laxus and punched him hard in the stomach, forcing him to hunch over in pain. However, Bambietta was merciless, and proceeded to punch at him again and again, his head moving to and fro as each of her punches forced his feet to skid across the floor.

Growling with fury, Laxus punched Bambietta, sending her back several feet, only for her to soar back at him, dodge a bolt of lightning fired her way, grab him by the throat, and toss him against one of the cathedral's pillars.

Laxus felt the back of his spine bend as he had been thrown against the hard marble, and glared at Bambietta. "Why you-"

*BOOM!*

Another explosion hit him, blasting him through the pillar and forcing him to tumble across the ground in a heap. Snarling, he blasted towards Bambietta and attempted to strike at her, only for the quincy to dodge underneath the strike, grab Laxus by the throat, and take off flying upward, the two of them promptly crashing through the ceiling of the cathedral and soaring high into the sky above.

Lucy, in spite of the immense pain she was in, could only watch on with awe, as her girlfriend, no, her guardian angel, had come to her rescue. "Bambi…"

Laxus did not share the sentiment. He tried pulling her hand away, but when her grip did not weaken in the slightest, he scowled.

"Damn it," he spat. This was absurd. He let himself be caught off-guard by this sudden increase in power. He had heard about this from Candice, some transformation called quincy: Vollständig, but only the short one should have been capable of it. Even so, there was no way he was going to let this nobody manhandle him like this.

Higher and higher into the sky the two went, Laxus had had enough. He grabbed her arm with both of his hands and tried to crush the offending appendage. When that didn't work, lightning concentrated around his entire body, finally forcing her off of him. Laxus glared at her, lightning flowing around him. "Tch, you may have gotten a bit stronger, but don't let that power up go to your head, I'm still far-"

"Get back here!"

The moment Laxus heard her hate filled cry, Bambietta already slammed her fist against his chest, an explosion combusting between the two of them and sending each back several dozen feet. However, Bambietta almost instantly recovered and soared back towards him, completely unfettered by the recent injuries caused by her own attack.

Laxus snarled, only to notice Bambietta attempting to kick downwards at him. The dragon slayer transformed his body into lightning, managing to evade the attack and promptly backhanded her to the ground, forcing her to roll across the street. However, this only served to further infuriate the quincy, Bambietta letting out a furious yell in defiance and instantly flew back towards him.

"You bastard!"

His eyes widening, Laxus raised up both of his arms to block her incoming attack, but the force of her punch was much more than he expected, his body hurtling away when yet another explosion had been left in the wake of Bambietta's strike. Laxus attempted to slow himself as he soared through the air, trying his best to locate the quincy best he could.

"LAXUS!"

Laxus looked upwards just as Bambietta came crashing downwards on him from above and threw another punch. Laxus blocked it with both of his arms, only for Bambietta to then grab his arms and move them out of the way before she slammed her forehead against his face. Laxus let out a quick shout, only for her to repeatedly slam her head against his again, and again, and again. The dragon slayer engulfed himself with electricity, forcing her to let go, only to immediately spin mid air and kick him in the stomach, creating yet another powerful explosion and sending him hurtling to the outskirts of Magnolia's border.

"Gragh!" Laxus snarled as he flew through the air, unable to stop his momentum. "Don't think this means anything, you damn– GURK!"

But before the dragon slayer had the chance for his back to even hit the earth, the infuriated quincy appeared right above him in the air and slammed both of her feet down on his chest, crashing Laxus into a nearby mountain. Laxus coughed up his own blood, his ribs cracking from the sheer force of the attack as ground beneath them erupted in a massive explosion that shook all of Magnolia.

But even this was nowhere near enough to satisfy the enraged quincy, the woman crying out in fury and began to wail on Laxus with a brutal onslaught of punches, each one leaving a small but potent explosion that continuously ravaged his body.

Laxus cried out, as pain unlike any he had suffered during his tenure as an S-class wizard rang throughout his body. The explosions hurt Bambietta as well, the blow back hitting her own hands, but Blut Vene had gone a long way to mitigate the damage.

As for the pain? She couldn't have cared less.

The only pain that mattered now, was his.

More and more she continued to wail on Laxus, each of her blows sending him deeper and deeper into the mountain. Then, once the two had borrowed their way into its center, Bambietta reeled back her fist, only to fling it downward with a roar of anger.

*BOOOM!*

The mountain exploded with a burst of red energy, leaving nothing in its wake save for Bambietta Basterbine and Laxus Dreyer. The dragon slayer lay prostrate on the ground, covered with burns, only for Bambietta to slam her right foot atop his chest, embedding him the remains of the mountain. She slammed it down on him again, and again, and again, each one digging him deeper into the ground.

Yet, despite the beating she had just given the dragon slayer, Bambietta's rage was far from satisfied. She knelt down, her right hand reaching for his neck, eager to squeeze the life out of him.

"Get…off!" Laxus demanded, his eyes snapping open and slamming his knee onto Bambietta's stomach, knocking her off of him and allowing him to quickly get up and punch her across the face. Not wanting to give her a chance to fight back, Laxus punched her head once more, the round beneath Bambietta shattering as her head was knocked back.

However, the quincy seemed to completely ignore the pain of the recent attack and proceeded to grab onto Laxus's wrist when he went in for another punch. She snarled, her fingernails digging into his arm and drawing blood before she spun him around several times until she finally tossed him through a dozen trees.

Laxus crashed through the forest, tree after tree, until he managed to come to a stop, feet landing against the bark of one of the trees. Lightning surrounded his body and he took off hurtling towards the enraged quincy…only for Bambietta's right hand to fill his vision and grasped onto his face, slamming the back of his head into the ground.

Then, before Laxus could even register what just transpired, she flew above the ground, forcing his head to travel through the earth, his pained wails only slightly muffled. Lightning surged throughout his body, enveloping Bambietta but her grip remained firm, unwilling to let go in spite of the pain he was inflicting. Finally, after she had her fill of dragging his face through the earth, she lifted Laxus up, formed an orb of "The Explode" in her left hand and slammed it onto his chest where it detonated.

The dragon slayer let out a pained shout as he soared through the air once more, using his magic to stop himself mid air. He let out a furious snarl and fired several bolts of lightning at Bambietta in retaliation. However, the quincy flew through the barrage and punched him in the face, his body soaring up even higher in the air before she flew up and quickly followed it up with a kick to his waist where it ignited in a bright explosion.

Snarling as he hurtled through the sky, Laxus tried to once again blast Bambietta with his magic, but Bambietta flew through the onslaught of lightning yet again and drove her fist into Laxus' stomach, forcing him to cough out, her eyes blazing with hate glaring into his own.

She did not unleash "The Explode", not this time, instead using her momentum to bring his massive frame up and over her own before she began to wail on his stomach, her fists repeatedly slamming into him, each one knocking him up higher and higher into the air until she vanished from his vision and an orb of reishi slammed into his back, sending him to the ground with a loud thud.

Laxus groaned as he attempted to lift himself up from the ground, but before he could make any sort of progress, Bambietta's foot slammed against his face, borrowing his face underground.

"Graaaahh!" He screamed and tried to lift his head off the ground, only for Bambietta's foot to slam him even further into the earth.

"What's the matter? Don't like being put in your place? Put where you belong?" Bambietta swore as she ground her foot against Laxus's head even more. "You're going to pay, you hear me? I'm going to make sure you pay for what you did to Lucy ten, no, one hundred fold!"

"Go to hell!"

A massive bolt of lightning shot out from Laxus and slammed into Bambietta, forcing her off of the dragon slayer and her feet skidded against the earth. Laxus soared over to her before she could recover and kneed her on the stomach and swiftly followed up with a uppercut, sending her body hurtling towards the air. Laxus burst forward, trying to press his advantage only for the quincy to lash out by slamming her knee to his chin, sending him sailing up into the sky with explosive force.

Bambietta watched him slip away once more, her eyes narrowing. She raised up her right hand, multiple orbs of "The Explode" forming around each of her fingers. They fired off, each of them striking Laxus one and after another, buffeting him higher and higher into the air. Her powers may not have been what they had once been, no longer able to force his body to explode directly, but he would at least suffer from the power of the explosions themselves.

And yet...

"Tch!" Bambietta grit her teeth in frustration and flew above Laxus once more. That. Had. Not. Been. Satisfying. Enough.

More.

He needed to suffer more.

However, Bambietta knew just how to fix that and stopped her ascent above Laxus just as he righted himself midair. Laxus and Bambietta's eyes met, but before the dragon slayer could make his next move, multiple orbs of "The Explode" formed beneath her wings and flung her wings forward and shot off a volley of deadly blasts towards him.

"Aw shit!"

Concentrating lightning around his body, the dragon slayer took off at top speed. The moment the explosive orbs hit the ground, a series of explosions littered the landscape, shaking the land itself like an earthquake.

Eventually, the smoke and dust settled and all that remained was a barren wasteland. It was almost as if the entirety of the section of the forest they had found themselves had been completely, totally, and utterly wiped off the face of the earth, filled with man sized craters

Laxus couldn't help but gape at the display of power he had just seen. "That barrage… That was more powerful than a Jupiter Cannon! How on earth is she generating that kind of pow–"

"I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!"

His attention brought back to the matter at hand, Bambietta appeared right in front of him and performed a spinning kick aimed at his face. Laxus barely blocked the strike with both of his arms, the ground below littered with a series of lesser blasts from aftershock of her reiatsu. He snarled and focused lightning around his fist right before he punched the quincy hard across the face.

"You think you can win now just because you've gotten a little stronger!? As if!" Laxus told Bambietta as he bolted behind her and kicked her up into the air. Using his lightning once more, he appeared right in front of her and clasped both of his hands and slammed them down right onto Bambietta's head, the quincy crashing onto the ground while he focused the lightning around his right hand.

"You still have a long way to go before you've reached my level, newbie! Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder, plunge from the heavens and reap destruction! Raging Bolt!"

The massive orb of lightning shot towards the quincy, but rather than simply avoid the attack, or even counter with an explosion of her own, Bambietta had instead chosen to simply fly towards it, the gigantic construct of electricity quickly enveloping her body Laxus smirked at the sight. Certainly that should have finished her off.

"Tch, idiot. The hell was she thinking trying to-what!?"

Much to Laxus's horror, however, Bambietta soared through the lightning and grabbed onto his face, taking him higher into the air once more. The palm of her right hand fired off blast after blast onto his face, forcing him to cry out in agony. Laxus repeatedly punched the side of her head in a desperate attempt to get her to let go, but despite his best efforts Bambietta's grip held firm.

"Enough!"

Shouting out in anger, Laxus concentrated a great amount of lightning around his arm, slamming hard as he could against the side of her head and finally forced her off of him, her entire body engulfed by electricity.

Bambietta was far from undamaged, her body covered with all sorts of new scraps, bruises and burns. Yet, when she glared at Laxus, it was apparent that any pain she felt meant nothing to her. Instead, more orbs of "The Explode" formed under her wings and she flung them towards, unleashing an onslaught of the explosive orbs..

Eyes widening, his entire body transformed into lightning, dodging and weaving through the onslaught as he attempted to make his way towards her, his body turning back to normal the moment he appeared right behind her and prepared to punch her on the back of her head.

Yet, before the blow could be struck, a series of explosions surrounded the quincy, blasting Laxus back several dozen feet, his body was covered in new burns. Snarling with rage, the dragon slayer attempted to fire off a volley of lightning orbs at Bambietta, only for her to retort with a barrage of her own, littering the sky with yellow lightning and bright red explosions with the pair flying back above Magnolia itself.

Laxus flew right in front of her and punched Bambietta hard as he could across the face, only for Bambietta to swiftly retaliate with a punch of her own. Blood erupted out from Laxus's mouth when his chest was hit with yet another explosion, only for Bambietta to give Laxus a swift uppercut, sending him up higher into the sky. She soared above him, and unleashed an explosive orb right onto his back, hurtling him back downwards.

Engulfing his body with lightning, Laxus stopped his descent and attempted to soar upwards towards Bambietta, but the quincy had already hurtled down towards him, grabbed onto his face, and prepared to unleash an orb of "The Explode" right over his mouth. Realizing what was about to happen, Laxus's body transformed itself into lightning to escape her grasp and tried to strike Bambietta from behind, only for the quincy to unleash yet another series of explosions around her, forcing him back.

Laxus quickly bolted up from the ground and into the sky above, glaring at the quincy. "Not bad..." Laxus hissed, trying to ignore his predicament through talk trash. "This almost...could qualify as pain...but tell me-"

"You want pain, you thunderous shitstain?"

Laxus's eyes widened, the quincy having managed to slip past his guard once more. He spun around, hoping to block her next attack, but it was too late, her fist already slamming into his abdomen.

"Then have your fucking pain!"

'The Explode' erupted then, bathing Bambietta and Laxus in it both. She felt the pain, but she let it throw her back high into the air, satisfaction cutting through the discomfort her own power had caused. It had done worse, so much worse in the past, all thanks to another self-righteous jackass, but this time…

This time, she'd win.

"You're not immortal, you're not a god of death, Laxus Dreyar," Bambietta thought, glaring at him with contempt. "You are just a pathetic piece of shit, and I'm going to run you down!"

Laxus groaned, the dragon slayer having found himself buried deep in the ground yet again. His eyes narrowing at the quincy, he took off with a bolt of electricity, before the two were at an even level, almost face to face despite the vast difference in their height.

"Don't think this is over, you hear me!" Laxus shouted. "I-"

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

Laxus intermediary found himself blasted back several times, each blast buffeting him through the air before he let out a shout and enshrouded his entire body with lightning and blasted towards Bambietta. However, just as he attempted to fire off a bolt of lightning at her, Bambietta soared above his attack and slammed the heel of her foot onto the back of his head. She promptly spun around to deliver another, forcing Laxus to spin around in the air as blood erupted from his mouth yet again until he righted himself mid air and rushed back towards her.

The two shouted out at the top of their lungs as they continued to exchange blows, the shockwaves destroying all of the windows of the town below as its citizens ran for cover. But they didn't care. For Bambietta and Laxus, there was only one thing on their minds.

For the Grandson of Makarov, it was the desire to eliminate the weak and feeble members of Fairy Tail that had pushed him to this point to begin with! From the destruction that Lucy had wrought onto the guild, to the ever increasing number of weaklings that had joined their guild, he was a necessity to cure Fairy Tail of the cancer that had begun to form inside of it.

For Bambietta, she simply wanted to make the dragon slayer pay for what he had done to Lucy! To make him scream, wail, beg for forgiveness, cry for mercy and then…

Laxus managed to slam his knee onto Bambietta's stomach, but the quincy quickly retaliated with a punch across his face. She tried to follow up with another strike, but Laxus vanished from her sight and tried to punch down at her head. However, just before the moment of impact, Bambietta's right hand shot up and grabbed his fist, the quincy not even giving him so much as a glance.

"What!? How on earth did you-"

*KRA–KOOOOOOMMM!*

Before Laxus could even finish asking Bambietta his question, a massive explosion filled the sky rocketing Laxus through the air in an out of control spiral. After finally managing to fully right himself mid air, his lightning keeping him afloat, Laxus panted and wheezed. At the rate this was going she was actually going to beat him.

No, with how things were starting to look…she was going to kill him.

"No. No, no, no! I won't allow this to stand, do you hear me!?" Laxus declared, lightning swirling around his entire body. "All of my life I've only been seen as Makarov's grandson! No one saw me as anything else! So I became strong as I possibly could so people would know me for one thing! My indomitable, and undeniable strength! It's practically my identity, and I won't let some damn new upstart like you take that away from me!"

The dragon slayer bent back, lightning beginning to form around his mouth before he finally lurched forward, a massive bolt of lightning flowing towards Bambietta as he unleashed his spell.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

Bambietta remained silent as the onslaught of voltage blasted towards her. She had no intention of dodging this time, however. Instead, she formed an orb of "The Explode" into each of her hands before she held them both above her head, combining them into a gargantuan orb of energy twice the size of her own body.

"Ultra Explosion."

The two attacks clashed over the skies of Magnolia and a massive blast, one far greater than any thus far, erupted in the sky. Magnolia itself shook as if it were caught in a powerful earthquake, the buildings that made up its city straining from it all.

As the dust that filled the air began to clear, both Bambietta and Laxus floated midair. Fortunately for the both of them, neither attack had managed to reach the other, their respective techniques canceling the other out. However, whereas Bambietta simply continued to glare at Laxus, the dragon slayer could only stare at her, aghast.

"I…I don't…I don't understand…WHERE DID ALL OF THIS STRENGTH COME FROM!?" Laxus demanded. Laxus knew, he knew from Candice the night prior, that only Liltotto should have been capable of utilizing the transformation right before his very eyes. If Bambietta could have, then surely she would have used it before her damn girlfriend had shown up to bail her out.

So why? Why did this power have to appear now of all times!?

"..."

Bambietta said nothing, the quincy not wanting to even give Laxus the satisfaction of a response.

This, however, only infuriated Laxus even further. "This means nothing, do you hear me!? Nothing! It's going to take a lot more than this to bring me down! I can take a lot more than this!"

Once again, silence.

"Tch, fine, be as quiet as you want," Laxus scowled. "In the end, I'll just kill you and then the guild will belong to me!"

Little did Laxus know, however, just how much Bambietta rage was festering and growing in size, her mind presently consumed with one single vision.

Lucy.

Lucy, convulsing under the power of Laxus' magic. Lucy, screaming in pain, writhing in agony. Lucy, being punished because someone did not think she was worthy of the family she had found. All because of the opinions of someone who thought he knew better. Who thought he understood the guild better than anyone else did. Someone who perverted everything it meant.

Someone who wanted to make it a cold, derelict hell where the strong ate the weak.

Where cruel monsters would thrive and become even crueler in turn.

Where someone like her father would have thrived.

Where people like Sternritter E would find a home.

Not somewhere where the Star Knight of Fairy Tail would.

"Lucy..."

Bambietta could see it still, hear it, the love of her life writhing in excruciating pain.

And the flames of fury that it had kindled burned brighter than ever before.

(Song of Choice: Unleashed, Asura's Wrath OST)

"Laxus..." Bambietta's arms wrapped around her torso, fingers digging into her palms as she leaned forward. She began to whisper, shaking slightly as she tried to force the image out of her head.

"I'll kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you..."

Bambietta leaned her head back, seeming to have reigned herself in for a moment, only for her eyes to snap open and the wings of her vollstandig, roiling with energy, expanded and extended outwards to their original size, burning brighter than ever before.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Before Laxus knew what had happened next, Bambietta's fist slammed into his left cheek engulfing him in a powerful explosion and sent the dragon slayer careening through the air. This was not the end, however, as Bambietta flew right under him, and with a loud shout, slammed her knee onto his back, sending him upwards into the sky with yet another blast.

Laxus stopped himself mid air, his eyes narrowing in on the rapidly approaching quincy speeding towards him. He raised up his arms, preparing to block the incoming attack, only for her to blitz past him, his eyes just barely able to perceive her movement.

Snarling, he turned around, struggling to keep pace with the quincy with his eyes, electricity concentrated into the palm of his right hand. "Take this!" Laxus shouted, tossing the bolt of lightning where the streak of red was heading…only for Laxus to feel the unexpected impact of one of Bambietta's feet slamming into his waist, followed by a potent explosion that sent him careening away.

Laxus, while initially confused, soon came to a horrifying realization. I don't believe it! I wasn't seeing her, I'm only seeing where she already was!

Bambietta snarled as she watched Laxus hurtle through the air. Her teeth grit together almost to the breaking point. It wasn't good enough. Not by a long shot.

"I'm not done with you yet, you rat bastard!"

Bambietta lunged at Laxus, speeding past him as a red blur as he spun out of control.

"And I won't be until you lie dead at my feet!"

She struck out, slamming one of her heels directly into Laxus' stomach, an explosive burst erupting upon contact and causing him to cough up blood and spite

However, Bambietta noticed something fall away from his face alongside them.

A faint crackle of lightning.

That faint crackle was joined with a torrent of electrical death from Laxus' mouth, the blast aiming right for Bambietta herself. However, it hit nothing, firing off into the distance as the quincy quickly moved out of the way in the blink of an eye.

"Damn you!" Laxus cursed, still unable to keep track of Bambietta's movements, the wizard whirling his body around as he attempted to do so. "Get back here you coward! I'll make you–!"

A sound akin to that of a firecracker and the red streak that flashed before his eyes had been Laxus's only warning before Bambietta slammed her fist into his cheek, cracking his jaw bone and then slamming her knee hard into his gullet once again.

"You'll do nothing but die!" Bambietta declared before she whipped around the wizard at full speed, putting some distance between them and rose up high into the air with countless orbs of "The Explode" forming around her wings before she flung them forward.

Another explosion hit him, then another, then another, and another and another. Bambietta was merciless as she continued to blast away at Laxus, not giving him so much as a chance as to fight back. Instead, she simply roared with unrestrained fury as she blasted away at him.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

A powerful blast of electricity shot out from the continuous burst, destroying the orbs she had fired forth. However, just as the blast of electricity was about to engulf Bambietta, her wings glowed brighter as she clenched her fist, before she flew through the blast, cocking her fist back and throwing it forward.

The knuckles smashed into Laxus' face, causing his attack to cease, his teeth crashing together with a sickening crunch as his skull fractured. Bambietta let blut arterie flow through her, giving strength to her hatred, and she twisted her fist to the side, feeling the knuckles drag across Laxus' face. His head twisted with the force of it all. However, that was not the end. With Bambietta as she was, in the state she had fallen into, the void of rage that had consumed her, it never would be.

Not till she snuffed the life out of him.

The Explode began to spark into existence, small orbs over each of her knuckles.

And detonated.

*KABOOOOOOM!*

Laxus screamed as his body was engulfed in a fiery blaze before he was sent flying away, heading towards the ground at a forty-five degree angle.

Unfortunately for him, however, she had much more in store for him.

Bambietta sped off, the quincy flying right underneath him and kicked him back up into the air, only to fly past him and send him back down. She created an Explosion orb in the palm of her hand and threw it down onto his chest, burning him once more. He hurtled downwards, but yet again did Bambietta soar past him, and sent him up high into the sky once more with a strong kick to his back.

This was no longer a fight. It was a beating. Right now, the self proclaimed strongest wizard of Fairy Tail was completely and totally helpless, his body battered and beaten along the skyline of Magnolia like a ping pong ball in a slot machine, the ruby red streak of Bambietta's reiatsu filling the sky.

"Look at you!" Bambietta shouted, catching Laxus from the right with an explosive fist.

*BOOM!*

"All that big talk..." Bambietta said again, appearing to strike him from the left.

*BOOM!*

"...And now all you are is dust in the wind!" Bambietta blasted his jaw from below with an explosive uppercut, flying up to meet him above.

*BOOM!*

"You're not even worthy of your title as one of the guild's strongest!" Bambietta hissed before she punched Laxus hard across the face one last time, breaking his nose as blood flew from his face s he soared through the air. "You're just a dead man walking!"

"No…Not now…not now…Not after coming so close!" Laxus swore before he finally stopped his momentum with his own lightning, the grandson of Makarov glaring right back at Bambietta. "I won't let you-"

However, his eyes shot wide open when he noticed over countless explosive orbs hurtling towards him in all sorts of different directions. He tried to deflect the onslaught with his own electricity, but his lightning, fast as it was, simply wasn't fast enough and he was bombarded by the destructive spheres of reiatsu.

The smoke generated from the explosion cleared, and Laxus emerged from it all. He was covered from head to toe with new burns, alongside with the injuries he had already sustained.

Had he not focused his magic entirely on defense and remaining afloat she would have killed him.

And that realization sent him over the edge.

"Enough!" Laxus snarled with rage. "I've humored you weakings long enough! I'll just finish off you and everyone else in one move!" Laxus declared and clasped both of his hands together. He could scarcely believe he was being forced to actually use this spell. Almost all of his training since Phantom Lord had been spent trying to learn this technique. An absolute last resort. The fact that this damn newbie was forcing him to go this far was nothing short of ludicrous.

Still, as long as it brought him victory, so long as he could see his vision in creating his Fairy Tail, nothing else mattered. He smirked at the quincy as he prepared to unleash his ultimate spell. "Now then, let's see how you like getting hit by Fairy La-"

"Spiral Atomic Blast!"

A massive wave of red energy with a swirling vortex shot out from Bambietta's hands as she uttered those two words, the attack hurtling towards Laxus. His eyes shot wide open, knowing that he couldn't use his ace in the hole before her attack would connect. Quickly changing tactics, he unleashed a barrage of lightning, several dozen bolts clashing against Bambietta's destructive wave of power. It was all for naught, however, as the lightning was quickly, completely, and totally overwhelmed by her attack.

"No! This can't be happening! It just can't!" Laxus shouted and increased the lightning that enshrouded his body for an absolute last ditch effort for defense. However, as the mighty blast met with his lightning clad defense, it became abundantly clear that this simply would not be enough. Laxus grunted with effort as he tried to dislodge himself free from the attack but as the attack pushed him up higher and higher, he soon quickly realized there was nothing he could do but take the brunt of the attack.

"Damn you, Bambietta, damn you-"

*KRACK-00000OOOOOOOOMMMMMM!*

An explosion filled the sky, the clouds themselves clearing from the sheer force of the blast, leaving the entirety of Magnolia's skyline completely sky blue. Her anger at long last having begun to subside, Bambietta couldn't help but pant and wheeze as she felt the sudden burst of power from her body completely vanish, the quincy hurtling towards the ground.

Nevertheless, despite her hurtle to the ground below, she couldn't help but smile. "Go…Burn…In Hell… You…Jackass."

Both fortunately and coincidentally for Bambietta, her and Laxus's final clash had just so happened to have brought them right over Kardia Cathedral and just as she crashed through the roof, Lucy, in spite of her injures, used her unbroken arm to fling her whip to break Bambietta's fall.

Lucy looked down at the exhausted, and thoroughly battered quincy and gave her a weak smile. Yes, the pain of her broken arm and the rest of her body had yet to vanish, but Lucy was more than willing to push that aside for the moment. Right now Bambietta needed her, and it seemed as if she had somehow managed to beat the odds and finally defeated Laxus once and for all.

"You really are amazing, you know that Bambi?" Lucy asked Bambietta and she weakly made her way towards her.

Bambietta blinked several times, surprised that Lucy was able to even stand up despite the immense pain she was no doubt in. Yet she had managed to overcome that pain…all for her.

She gave the blonde a small yet sincere smile before she chuckled, despite her own injuries. "That's what I kept trying to tell everyone. Honestly, it's about damn time I was able to live up to my own hype," She then smiled back at Lucy. "I guess all I needed was a little motivation."

Lucy shook her head. "That's not true. As far as I'm concerned, you've always lived up to your own hype…well, ok, mostly. But I mean it! You've always been considered among Fairy Tail's strongest outside of the S class, and now…"

Bambietta smirked. "Yeah, yeah, I finally took that bastard down a peg or two. Who knows? Maybe Master Makarov will just skip the formalities and make me S class here and now-"

However, before Bambietta could finish her sentence, something had crashed through the roof and right onto the cathedral floor, smashing the stairs that led right up to the cathedral's massive pipe organ. The two female mages stared right towards the source of the debris, but as the smoke cleared, their eyes shot open. Lucy let out a horrified gasp and covered her mouth, while Bambietta simply looked down, dejected.

"Damn it…You really are one tough son of a bitch, aren't you Laxus?"

Slowly yet surely, the dragon slayer walked out of the newly created hole he had left in the wake of his crash. His entire body was covered in burns, and he panted with exhaustion. It was clear to all present that while Bambietta's final attack had not defeated Laxus, it had done more than a number on him. Had there been anyone else left in the guild to deal with the Grandson of Laxus, victory may have been at hand, but as things stood…

Victory was out of their reach.

(Song Of Choice: Fairy Law, Fairy Tail OST)

"That's…does it. I'm absolutely through with playing this game!" Laxus shouted as he slowly began to build up power. "You two losers. Erza, Mirajane and Mystogan. The old geezer. Those weaklings in Fairy Tail…And the pathetic people of Magnolia! YOU'RE TIME IS OVER NOW!"

Lightning began to build up around Laxus and course through the floor as he clasped both of his hands as pillars of light burst through the floor. A bright light began to form in his palms, as Bambietta began to sense a very familiar energy beginning to emit from Laxus.

"This…this power. It feels like…that spell Master Makarov used to defeat Jose!" Bambietta screamed as her fear reached new heights. No, he wouldn't dare! If he used that spell, then everyone in Magnolia is going to die!

She tried to move as best as she could, but her body was simply too tired to move. Lucy could only watch on in utter horror, before she held Bambietta as tightly as she could, shielding the quincy with her own body. She was well aware that this would probably amount to nothing, but if this were to be their last moments together…then she wanted to do all that she could.

"Lucy…" Bambietta murmured. It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what just what the blonde was thinking. There was no point in trying to run. The spell Laxus was preparing would no doubt catch Lucy even if she had tried to run. There was simply just…nothing they could do. Weakly, Bambietta held Lucy around her arms as tears welled up in her eyes.

Atleast…at least I get to spend my last moments with you. Bambietta thought as her tears began to flow. "Lucy… I love you." She muttered weakly, as she tried to hold her as best she could in her current state.

Lucy slowly nodded her head, as her own tears began to fall. "Yeah… Me too Bambi…It's been real fun."

The two women looked each other in the eyes for a few moments, before they locked lips. If this was to be it, if this truly was the end… then this was how they wanted to go out. Together, in love.

"LAXUS, you shitstain! Just what the fuck do you think you're doing!? Huh!?"

Bambietta, Lucy and Laxus brought their attention right towards the front of the cathedral where the brazen voice had called out. The sound of footsteps followed as Candice Catnip slowly limped her way inside, the quincy glaring at the dragon slayer. "So, that's it huh? You've gotten your ass kicked so badly that you've decided "fuck it, I'm just going to kill everyone!?" I thought you were a man, not a child throwing a tantrum? You're just gonna rage quit!? I thought you were the kinda man who would stand his ground and finish what he started! Or is this the 'strength' that you thought Fairy tail needed! That's not the Laxus I know!"

Laxus snarled at Candice, his eyes glaring at the quincy. "And just what the hell would you know about it!? Huh!? You don't know me-"

"Bullshit! I didn't just sleep with you, we had a moment! I probably know you better than Freed does! I told you before that surrounding yourself with 'Yes men' doesn't help you grow as a person! Hell, I'm pretty sure aside from Makarov, I know you better than anyone else in the whole guild, and I sure as hell care more about you more than your old man ever did!" Candice screamed at him.

Laxus simply blinked at her, the quincy looking down at the ground. "Surprised? I asked Makarov about your parents because I never see them around. And, ya know…I wanted to meet them. Because I was…considering our future together."

"Candi…" Bambietta whispered, surprised to hear that she had truly taken things with Laxus this seriously.

Candice continued. "Hearing about what your old man did to you, I can't even begin to imagine the shit you went through. But that doesn't give you an excuse to keep a chip on your shoulder and lash out! If you want to lash out, be angry, fine but make sure it's on your terms! Don't drag unrelated people into dealing with your shit! When you don't want to deal with life, you grab destiny by the horns and tell it to go fuck itself! That's what I did and I never looked back."

She then slowly limped over to Laxus and walked past Bambietta and Lucy and stood right in front of him. "This isn't the destiny you want for yourself. Hell, this isn't the kind destiny anyone should want. Maybe you were just a whiny bitch the whole time and that's egg on my face. But if you're really the man I think you are, the man I thought I knew, a real man, then don't do this. Because if you do…You're not gonna just kill Bambi. Or Lucy. The first person you're gonna kill…is me."

She weakly outstretched her hands to both sides as her eyes stared into Laxus's. "If I mean anything you, fuck if I meant anything to you, you won't do this. You're the first person I opened up to for a long time. Not with Friendship but with love…an emotion that I thought I would never feel again. An emotion I never wanted to feel again. Not until…"

She began to cry then, the quincy unable to contain her tears as they, but she continued to speak nevertheless. "Laxus…I'm begging you. Your Candi is begging you. Don't do this."

Bambietta's jaw was agape. Bambi knew two things about Candice. The first was that Candice did not beg. As long as she had known her, the green haired quincy had never begged, her pride simply wouldn't allow it. The second thing was that when situations called for it, Candice was a master of theatrics and could call upon crocodile tears when she had to. However, Bambietta had gotten the hang of knowing when she was crying to get something out of someone. But this…this was real. To see Candice, one of her best friends crying like this…it was surreal.

This was it. Her all or nothing gambit. She had seen enough of Bambietta's battle with Laxus up in the sky above to know about his 'secret' about being a dragon slayer. While she had been hurt that he had withheld yet another secret from her, it more importantly meant that even if she had any power to fight him, her Schrift would have been next to useless. The only option she had now, her only path left to her to end this madness…was his heart.

The light in Laxus's hands only grew more and more intense, but Candice stood her ground. She would not run. Not now. If this was how it was all going to end, then she was at least going to go out doing what she could for Bambietta. She had already failed her once..and she refused to ever do it again. All she could do now, was simply close her eyes and hope beyond all else that she had managed to reach him..

But it appeared it was not to be.

"You think I care if you're the first to go!? I couldn't care less!" Laxus shouted as the ground began to shake and shudder. "Once I use this spell, this will be the dawn of a new era for Fairy Tail! I'll rebuild everything from the ground up and I'll form the ultimate guild! One so powerful, all will tremble in our name! FAIRY LAW! "

Everyone else within the cathedral braced themselves for the bitter end. The warmth of the light covered their bodies and expanded outwards, stretching out far beyond the cathedral and out towards the outskirts of Magnolia. Then, finally, at long last the light faded, the spell finally cast.

Bambietta, Lucy, and Candice slowly opened their eyes once the warmth that had flooded over them finally faded away. Much to their surprise, they didn't feel the least bit different. In fact, it was almost as if the spell had never been cast in the first place. The trio looked up towards Laxus, and they each took a collective gasp at what they saw.

Laxus had remained right where he had, his hands still in the position that had cast Fairy Law. But there was a key difference between the man they had been dealing with ever since the battle had begun, and the man right before them. Tears. Tears were streaming down Laxus face as he looked at the three of them, his eyes completely filled with sorrow before he choked out his next words.

"I'm…I'm so sorry. I…I didn't want this to happen!" He cried out, the lightning mage seeming like a completely different person. Bambietta, Lucy and Candice quickly shared themselves a look of confusion as Laxus continued. "Please, you have to hit me with your best attack now! Before she takes over again!"

"Wait a minute. She? What are you talking abou-" Candice began to question only for her eyes to shot wide open. Emberella had practically told her plain as day what her final plan was! To completely, totally and utterly control the Fairy Tail guild with her own mental manipulation magic! Had she done the same to Laxus before all of this!? Now everything was starting to finally click together! She had so many more questions she wanted to ask, so many things she wanted to say, but ultimately, her heart had won out as she spoke how she felt plain as day.

"I…I should have known," Candice uttered as tears fell down her eyes. How had she not come to this realization sooner!? Here she had found the new love of her life, yet the minute he had fallen under control, she hadn't any doubt that he had simply used her. A strange mixture of emotions surged through her, her mind unable to concentrate at simply one. Joy at the knowledge that Laxus hadn't betrayed her, regret that she hadn't noticed sooner and made that cunt Emberella suffer…and anger at herself for not knowing sooner.

"How…are we still alive?" Bambietta asked Lucy, the celestial wizard looking just as confused as herself. "I mean I'm not complaining but how?"

"I honestly don't know," Lucy replied.

"I think I can answer that for you."

All eyes fell upon the new voice as Freed Justine slowly walked in, the man in just as bad as a condition as Candice was. He glanced over towards Bambietta and Lucy before he continued. "His true feelings seemed to have interfered with the spell. Emberella's control over him prevented any of the dark mages from dying, but it seems as if Laxus's own will had prevented the deaths of countless innocents."

Freed smiled at Candice. "I think it's because you were here to interfere at the last moment that Laxus was able to break free. For that, I am truly indebted to you." He too had felt immense guilt for not noticing the writing on the wall far sooner than he had, but it seemed that in the end that everything had worked out. As long as that was the case…nothing else really mattered. Even if his true feelings for her were more than they were for him.

Candice began to smile as she tried to reach out towards Laxus "L-Laxus…I-" Candice reached out, trying to offer a comforting hand toward his way, until, unexpectedly, a bolt of lightning had shot out from his body and slammed both Candice Freed right in the chest, forcing the two of them back and hitting their backs against the wall. Both of their bodies fell to the ground where it slumped. Conscious, but unable to move.

"Candice, Freed!" Laxus cried out as he gripped at the sides of his head as a dark aura began to swirl around him. He looked over towards Bambietta and Lucy, his face filled with desperation. "You two! Please, I need you to knock me out! I won't be able to hold her off for much longer!"

"But…but we're spent," Bambietta weakly muttered, the quincy feeling such shame knowing that despite how close they were to victory, it ultimately meant nothing. "There…there's just nothing we can-"

"You're Fairy Tail mages, aren't you!?" Laxus shouted at the two of them, surprising each at his acknowledgement. "If you're really part of this guild, if you're a real member of Fairy Tail, then you won't let something like that stop you! I've seen what you two can do! I've seen enough to know that you can do this, I know you-"

Laxus's voice was completely cut off then as his pleading face had quickly changed to his manic persona, the dragon slayer glaring at the two of them. "Well well well, I don't know what kinda trick you two just pulled, but I won't let that stop me from finishing you two off!" He then smirked, preparing to cast Fairy Law…only for his eyes to widen. "Hey…what gives…why am I out of so much magic!?" He demanded. He was certain he had more than enough to cast Fairy Law at least once, so what the hell had happened!

"He… Must not be able to remember the last few minutes," Lucy stated before she looked down at Bambietta. "If he can't cast Fairy Law, then that means he's really low on magic!" She then extended her hands towards the quincy, smiling. "That means we can do this! Together!"

Bambietta stared up at her girlfriend's hand and cheerful smile. A part of her was completely doubtful of what she had just said. Sure, Laxus had just used up a ton of his magic, but so had they. They both probably only had enough power for one last spell. The odds of them winning were next to zero.

"But they're not actually zero, now, are they?" A voice offered from inside her.

Bambietta blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden words. Her suspicions were confirmed when she looked past Lucy and saw a younger version of Yhwach, the one who had appeared to her twice before during times of need. To little surprise, no one else could perceive his presence. To far greater surprise, everyone and everything else seemed to be frozen in time, stuck in place and desaturated. Everything besides them.

"Remember this well, Bambietta. I hate wind. It howls in here, too. When you are moody, it becomes breezy. When you are sad, the cold wind blows... I can't stand it. Can you understand? How horrible it is to withstand such gales when you are all alone in an empty world? In order to prevent that from happening, I'll lend you whatever power you need! If you can trust me, I won't let one gust of wind carry through your soul! If you would just have faith in me… No, not just me."

The inner manifestation raised up his left hand, showcasing a sky blue Fairy Tail guild mark, plain as day. "But the rest of your guild as well. Because you are…"

As his last words hit her ears, the manifestation of Yhwach vanished from her sight, prompting Bambietta to grab onto Lucy's hand. As Lucy began to bring her up, Bambietta's lips slowly creaked upwards into a smile. "You're right, Lucy. We can do this. Because I am… No, because we are… Members of Fairy Tail!"

(Song of Choice: Fairy Tail theme, Fairy Tail OST 1)

Laxus sneered at the two of them, lightning began to build up around him and concentrated into his left hand before he cocked it back. "HA! So you two can still stand despite all of that huh!? Well it hardly matters! If I can't use Fairy Law to kill you, then I'll just use my strongest Dragon Slayer technique instead! You two still don't stand a chance in hell!"

"Yeah, maybe we don't," Bambietta said as she took a step forward, the quincy gathering what power she could into the palm of her right hand. "But a member of the guild once told us that a real Fairy Tail mage never gives up, despite the odds!"

"We fight together no matter what kind of obstacle stand's in our way! If a foe beats us down, we'll just rise up to the occasion and beat them ourselves!" Lucy added, her left hand clenching over Bambiettas as she added her own magical power to their clasped hands.

"Tch, that's nothing more than a bunch of bullshit weaklings use to convince themselves that it's ok if they get beat up!" Laxus delcard as his lightning began to focus onto both of his arms, forming into a massive trident before he tossed it as hard as he could at the pair. "Now die! Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!"

But rather than cower in fear as the mighty lightning spear hurtled towards them, Bambietta and Lucy simply shared a glance before they began to focus their power into one last attack. As their aura's began to swirl around their held hands, a golden green like energy formed. The two of them cocked their hands back until their magic began to form into a massive Heilig Pfeil, just as large in size as the trident Laxus had thrown.

They closed their eyes as the last of their power surged into the arrow, and then, as they thrust their hands forward in unison, they cried out the name of their spell.

"Magical Fusion: Celestial Fireworks!"

The two magical weapons clashed against one another, the ground beneath them instantly shattering and ceasing to be. The entire cathedral shook and shuddered, Laxus glaring at the two of them with every intention to finish them off once and for all!

"Do you two really think you have what it takes!? I'm the strongest member of all of Fairy Tail!" He boldly declared. "It doesn't matter if there were ten, a hundred, or even a thousand of you! I can't lose! I'LL NEVER LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!"

"AND NEITHER WILL WE!" Bambietta and Lucy screamed in unison.

"You think just because you're strong that means you can decide the future of the guild, but that's not what the guild is about!" Bambietta shouted. "It never has been!"

"It's a place for people to go when they have nowhere else to go! A place for outcasts! A place where anyone can call home!" Lucy added.

"What could you two possibly know!?" Laxus demanded. "Fairy Tail is my guild. I've lived here all my life. You two haven't even been here a year!"

Bambietta simply smiled, memories of her time in the guild filling her mind. Of when she first met Levy, Lucy, Natsu, Erza, Wendy, and so many more of her friends. All of the time they spent together, laughed together.

The time she spent with her family.

"How long someone's been in the guild doesn't mean a thing," Bambietta began. "Strength doesn't mean a thing. A family cares about each other, regardless of strength, or reputation!"

"The guild doesn't care about how long you've been here!" Lucy added, preparing herself for one final push. "It doesn't care about strength, looks, past, or wealth! All it needs…"

Bambietta braced herself as well. "All it needs…!"

Then, the pair screamed in unison. In words, heart, and soul, they gave one last cry of defiance.

"All the guild needs, all the guild cares about… Is everyone in it!"

Then, as if in response to their overwhelming desire to win, the arrow of golden-green light smashed through Laxus's own and slammed into the dragon slayer as he held out his arms in an attempt to hold back the Unison Raid. He let out a mighty shout, the attack pushing him further and further back, the S-class mage trying his damndest to hold the spell back as best as he could.

"No…I can't lose! I won't," Laxus shouted as his footing slowly began to give way. "It's impossible!"

But reality, it seemed, had other plans, as Laxus's footing finally gave way, the unison raid slamming him through the massive pipe organ of Kardia Cathedral and leaving a huge hole where the wall once stood. Once the attack had finally subsided, the two weakly peered out of the hole as best they could.

There lay Laxus, the self-proclaimed strongest member of Fairy Tail laying on his back. For several seconds they stared, worried beyond comprehension that he would somehow pick himself back up once and for all. The dragons slayer's chest rose up and down, indicating at the very least that he was still alive…but remained still otherwise.

Bambietta and Lucy glanced at each other, as Lucy's grip remained firmly over Bambietta. Tears flowed around her eyes before she finally spoke. "Is…is it over? Did…did we finally win?"

Bambietta looked over at Laxus, her eyes narrowing as she tried to sense his spiritual pressure. After a few seconds, she gave Lucy a tired look and she smiled. "Yeah…Yeah it's over. For real this time. We…we did it."

Lucy gave Bambietta a weak smile as the grip on her girlfriend's hand began to slip. "Oh…thank goodness." She then promptly fell onto her back, her face filled with utter elation as she panted and breathed.

Bambietta for her part could only glance over towards Laxus before she too fell onto her back. The quincy weakly muttering her next words. "Well thank god, it's finally freaking ov-"

"Not…quite."

Bambietta wanted to practically scream at those words as a new set of footsteps made themselves known in the cathedral. Everyone present glanced up weakly towards the sound of the voice, as none other than Emberella weakly limped inside.

"Oh…you have got to be kidding me," Candice muttered as she gave the woman responsible for all of this the most hateful of glares she could muster. "Jade shot your fucking eye out and you fell into a river! How in the hell are you not dead!?"

"Seriously, what the fuck?" Bambietta weakly added. This is fucking bullshit! Just let this shit end already! END! ENNNNNNDDDDD!

"Oh yes, my dear 'daughter' very nearly did kill me. Of that, there is no mistake." Emberella spat as she continued to make her way inside of the cathedral. "Fortunately for me, I was able to grab hold of a nearby dock before I finally sank to a watery grave. After that, all I needed was some willpower to pull myself back up and put an end to this once and for all."

Emberella's facial expression quickly became manic as she began to cackle. "I wasn't sure if I'd be able to follow through with my plan after all with how little magic I had left, but with everyone as weakened as they are, I should be able to force myself into all of your minds and take complete control once I'm fully rested! Soon you and all of Fairy Tail will be under my command and there isn't a damn thing you can-"

Only for a massive fist to slam into Emberella from behind. The dark mages body spun through the air before she crashed against a nearby wall, her eyes completely white as her mouth was left agape, a small trail of blood dripping out. Completely, totally, and utterly unconscious.

"No. There will absolutely be no more fighting for today. This madness has dragged on for long enough. And as long as I remain master of this guild… Neither you nor anyone else shall so much as harm another hair on any of the heads of my children."

There stood Master Makarov, the guild master of Fairy Tail making his way towards the center of the cathedral. He quickly glanced over towards Laxus's unconscious form, his face briefly taking on a more pitiful expression before he looked over at the rest of his guild, giving them a small yet reassuring smile.

"Rest easy, now. The Battle of Fairy Tail is now officially over. You have all done more than your fair share."

Bambietta looked over at Lucy, the blonde crying out tears of joy, then briefly over towards Candice and Freed, the both of them slowly limping over towards Laxus. Bambietta simply fell back into her back, and simply uttered the one word she could think of that perfectly encapsulated how she felt.

"Hallelujah."

---

And so there we have it. The Battle of Fairy Tail has finally concluded. Was the final battle everything you hoped it would be? I sure hope it was. I have spent several months coming back to this chapter to fine tune it even long after it was originally finished just to ensure the highest level of quality possible for it.

Candice's role may not have been what some of you may have expected, and may have preferred for her to have fought in instead. I do understand this sentiment, but…Well, Laxus is a lightning dragon slayer. If she had shown up to help them fight him all she'd really do is just make him stronger. Thus, I felt it best she was used in a way that truly make her contribution worthwhile, preventing Fairy Law from going off.

Which, to be clear, it would have due to Emberella's control over Laxus if not for Candice's intervention.

(Oh, and don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that clash I foreshadowed in the basement below Fairy Tail, you'll get that, I promise. )

So, with this being one of the longest chapters in this fic thus far, I figured I'd issue you dear readers a challenge. Can we get 30 or more reviews for this one chapter alone? I don't intend to do another early chapter release, I'm just curious to see if we can manage it.

At any rate, I sincerely look forward to hearing what you all felt about this battle, so please do let me know.

MPFS:

Bambietta: 4,350

Bambietta Blitzrakete Schritt: 5,700

Lucy Fullbring: 3,500

Lucy, Empowered by emotions: 5,400 and climbing

Laxus: 6,000

Bambietta and Lucy (Working together): 6,500

Laxus (Dragon Slayer Magic): 8,500

Bambietta (Incomplete Vollstandig): 8,750

Bambietta (Rage Boost + Incomplete Vollstandig): 9800

Potential Bambietta complete Vollstandig: 12,250

Bambietta Sklaverei Vollstandig Zofiel: ?