Chapter 39

Evowizard25- I'm thinking of having her travel alone with Erza or someone else to some faraway village to get some sagely advice from someone that's similar in personality to her in the past. Though I'm also thinking of maybe having her lose because of her anger and that costs someone else. I don't know. Still up in the air.

Undead3- I'm not pressured at all, honestly. I understand the want for new characters to show up beyond the Sisters of Twilight, but I also understand that showing more Warhammer races now will only just derail the entire plot. In fact, I remember reading some other fanfics that I lost interest in because the authors brought in the other races either too early or they added them in just because.

Makarov

East Forest

The Fairy Tail Guild Master couldn't help but exhale as he took in the environment around him. East Forest was indeed a wonderful place to live in. Its tranquil environment with beautiful creatures everywhere that meant no harm to him was a sight to see for the old human. A far cry from what he normally had to deal with his guild. Porlyusica choose a good place to have a home. It's a beautiful place to live in. Not to mention there aren't as many chances of her being visited by humans, something she despises greatly, as there would have she lived in Magnolia with everyone else. Aside from Diederick, Naestra, and Arahan of course.

Taking a deep breath, Makarov felt the urge to just stay here for a little while longer, but Makarov squashed that urge down. His guild needed him right now and he wasn't going to leave them to fight a war that he helped start. Righteously so, but he still helped bring war upon his children and he was going to end it now.

As he thought of who else helped start this war, Makarov couldn't help but feel both disgust and sadness. Disgust for the likely reason behind this war and sadness because they let their hatred and jealousy of Fairy Tail to blind them of other ways to surpass Fairy Tail.

"Jose, you could have been a role model for generations." Thought Makarov with sadness. Not at the man himself, but at the loss of such a powerful wizard over something as insignificant, yet also powerful, as jealously. "But you squandered it by being jealous of Fairy Tail. And now that jealously has poisoned and darkened your mind. You weren't a good man when we first met, but you weren't the fool you are now. In some ways, I pity you, but I will not let that pity affect my decision to end this war." As Makarov continued to think over the Phantom Lord Guild Master, Porlyusica came out of her house with his official Guild Master robes.

"Finally deciding to do something, you old fool?" Asked Porlyusica as she walked behind Makarov with his neatly folded clothes.

"Not yet." Said Makarov with regret after turning towards the old doctor. "Though the medicinal concoction you provided me has healed my body to a considerable degree, I still need a bit more time to regain my energy. I'll need as much of it as possible if I'm to face Jose." Porlyusica scoffed at that. She would have liked for him to stay here a full day. Both for her own benefit and his own, but he's right. This war Fairy Tail had right now needed to end before more innocents are harmed.

"Then you'll need these." Said Porlyusica as she handed Makarov his clothes freshly washed and dried. "It wouldn't do for you to face Jose in simple robes, yes? Nor that ridiculous outfit you wear most of the time."

"It's stylish and you know it." Said Makarov as he looked at his clothes. Porlyusica must have cleaned them up for him while he was recovering. "Thank you for doing this, Porlyusica. You always were a big help, whether it be on a job or doing domestic work." Although it was intended to be a compliment, Porlyusica pulled on Makarov's ear, making him wince.

"Insinuate that I'll be good as a housewife again, and you'll get a good whooping from me." Said Porlyusica in annoyance before letting go. Grumbling as he went somewhere to changes, Makarov hoped that his children were doing alright without him.

Meanwhile

Arahan and Naestra

"Mirajane! Elfman!" Thought Naestra as she saw Mirajane trapped between two stones and a massive, furry monster with horns beating up a well-dressed human to submission. Both Naestra and Arahan were running all around the castle of Phantom Lord in search of Mirajane, fighting off whatever Phantom members they came across until eventually, they reached outside to see what they're seeing now.

To the ignorant, that thing was just a monster that appeared out of nowhere, but Naestra knew that monster was Elfman. She knew it within her heart that it was indeed Elfman, who used his magic to conduct a full-body takeover, the same magic that made him kill his younger sister, Lisanna.

Arahan, either not knowing or caring, notched an arrow on her bow and prepared to fire it at the monster that Elfman was now when Naestra stopped her.

"Sister, no!" Yelled Naestra as she stayed her sister's hand. Glaring at Naestra, Arahan was about to yell at her when they both heard a roar. Turning around, they both saw Elfman finish beating up the man and roaring out in the sky in victory. Soon, he was finished and was looking at Naestra and Arahan with pupilless eyes. It was this that made Naestra realize that the monster fully took over Elfman and that he had no self-control anymore.

"No." Said Naestra as Elfman roared at them and jumped right at them. Getting out of the way, the elven sisters watched as Elfman landed near them and roared at them. He then charged after Arahan and tried to kill her, but the Elf just dodged his attacks before counterattacking with her spear, which she drew out in place of her bow. As Elfman attacked her again, Arahan avoided it again before stabbing Elfman in the chest, causing him to roar out in pain as Arahan dug his spear deeper in his chest. Arahan was about to pull it out and stab Elfman with it again when Naestra pushed her away from her spear, causing her to let go of her spear.

Landing on the ground, Arahan glared at her sister and was about to yell at her when she saw Naestra pull the spear out of Elfman and tossed it aside, away from Arahan. She then looked at Elfman as clutched his wound, blood pouring out of it. Seeing this, her eyes softened and tried to speak to Elfman.

"Elfman, I know you're in there." Said Naestra as the beast that was Elfman looked at her in rage. "I know that you have the strength to beat the monster that you have absorbed. I know this because you are one of the strongest members of Fairy Tail. Not in pure strength and skill, no, but in the heart. You care for everyone in the guild, even the undesirables, like Laxus and his Thunder Legion. You may drive people in annoyance with your continuous talk of what is manly and what is not, but that's because you wish for them to strive to become like you or better people. The type of people that care for their fellow guildmates and will do anything to keep them safe, even if it means losing your humanity to do so." She then caressed Elfman's safe, shocking her sister and Elfman. "This monster form of yours could have been the reason that Lisanna is dead, I do not know if it is or not, but it doesn't matter. You captured that monster, not because you wanted it's power, but because you wanted to protect your sisters from that monster's wrath all those years ago. You and your sister told me so long ago." Elfman's eyes widen as he remembered that conversation.

Years Ago

"So that's why you took over that monster?" Asked Naestra as she looked at Elfman as he cried, causing her to embrace him. The two were conversing alone with each other in the Strauss home. Naestra was doing her usual sessions of counseling with the remaining two Strauss siblings to help them move on from their sister's death and right now she was doing Elfman. "You wanted to protect Mirajane from that monster's wrath."

"Yeah." Said Elfman as he nodded in confirmation. "It was either that or let that thing kill Mirajane. I couldn't let that happen and I couldn't do anything else to help out, so I used Take-Over magic on it. It worked but…"

"You don't need to say anymore, I know the rest." Said Naestra as Elfman broke down in tears again as he remembered how he killed Lisanna.

"Mirajane must really hate me for it." Said Elfman. "I killed our younger sister. How can she ever forgive me for it?"

"She doesn't blame you, Elfman." Said Naestra. "She blames herself. I know because she told me." Looking at Naestra in shock, Elfman asked her what she meant by that. "She blames herself for being so overconfident in taking an S-class mission with you two. She let her confidence and pride get the best of her and it cost her the life of Lisanna. She doesn't blame you Elfman because the same outcome would have happened to anyone else, she brought with her besides Gildarts at the time. That someone would have died, and she'll have to live with the knowledge that it was because of her confidence and pride that it made cost someone their life. The fact that it cost her the life of her youngest sibling and made the other commit sororicide just worsens that wound, Elfman. Believe me, whatever pain you're feeling is less than what Mirajane is feeling." She then let go of Elfman before talking again.

"She'll need more than one person to be there for her, Elfman." Said Naestra with a sad smile. "She'll need more than just what I and the rest of the guild can offer her. She'll need the forgiveness of her remaining sibling to help her move past this tragedy. One of her own makings. For what's more powerful than having the forgiveness and love of her last remaining blood relative that considers her as family?" Elfman just looked at Naestra before steeling himself.

"So you mean I have to be the bigger man, right?" Asked Elfman, causing Naestra to nod.

"Yes." Said Naestra. "It's time for you to become the big man that everyone teases you to be and become the pillar that Mirajane needs right now." Upon hearing that, Elfman slowly nodded before speaking up.

"Okay…Okay! I'll do it." Said Elfman, causing Naestra to nod approvingly before she got up from the couch the both of them were sitting on.

"Good, now let's get you something to eat." Said Naestra. "You must be starving."

Present

Remembering all this caused Elfman to restore his self-control and soon pupils formed in the eyes of Elfman's monster form, assuring Naestra that Elfman was in control again.

"Elfman, are you okay?" Asked Naestra as she looked at Elfman in the eye, causing Elfman to look at her.

"Naestra." Said Elfman slowly before grunting in pain and kneeling down as his wound squirted out blood. Seeing this, Naestra helped Elfman keep pressure on the wound. While she got something to patch the wound, Elfman looked at her, relief feeling him that she wasn't harmed in any way. "I…I didn't harm you or anything, did I?"

"No." Said Naestra as she brought out some bandages from a pouch attached to her waist. She soon began tending to Elfman's wound. "You attack my sister and I, but we dodged all your attacks. My sister is the one that did that wound to you."

"And don't you dare to complain to me about it." Said Arahan as she came over to Elfman's vision with her bloody spear in tow. "You were out of control and tried to attack us. It was self-defense."

"Sister." Warned Naestra but she was interrupted by Elfman.

"It's alright, Naestra." Said Elfman as she finished patching his wound. It'll stop the bleeding, but he needed a real doctor for some real treatment. "It wouldn't be manly if I whined, right?" Naestra sighed before nodding in agreement. With that, Elfman remembered his sister and suddenly began to panic. "Mirajane! Is she…"

"She's alright, Elfman." Said Naestra, calming Elfman down. "You went for us first. She completely safe. See." The two then looked at where Mirajane was, yelling out in worry for both her brother and Naestra. Seeing Naestra waving her hand around with Elfman next to her, caused Mirajane to sigh in relief.

"Thank god they're safe." Said Mirajane in relief. She was really worried that Elfman committed murder again, only this time it was someone they considered to be a mother over a sister. Seeing that Mirajane was safe, Elfman transformed back to normal before grunting and laying on the ground.

"Man, that bastard Sol used my own memories against me and used my sister as well." Said Elfman in anger as he remembered that bastard Phantom Lord member that he faced prior to all this.

"The man you faced?" Asked Naestra.

"Yeah." Said Elfman. "Tried to make me feel guilty over killing my sister. He wanted me to suffer, but then Mirajane cried, and I just lost it."

"You used a full take-over to beat him as a result." Said Naestra, causing Elfman to nod.

"Would have probably killed Mirajane too if it weren't for you." Said Elfman as he clenched his fists in anger. "Again I would have killed my own blood and I would have to deal with all the guilt again."

"No, you wouldn't have." Said Naestra with confidence as she kneeled before the white-haired man. "You're stronger than you were back then. You would have been able to control yourself. Even if you weren't, Mirajane would have been able to snap you back in control of yourself. Believe me, I know. The love between siblings is a powerful thing, even more so when they're the last of your blood or when you grew up together." Elfman gave her a look before nodding in understanding.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Said Elfman before getting up. "I need to save my sister. You two go on without us. We need to stop that giant robot from casting that spell." Naestra nodded in agreement before looking up to see the robot still casting the spell. As she did, however, she noticed that it was casting at a slower pace than before.

"The monstrosity is casting the spell slower." Said Naestra, catching both Arahan's and Elfman's attention.

"Hey, you're right." Said Elfman as he looked at the spell being cast. "It's a snail's pace compared to what it used to be."

"What's the cause for it?" Asked Arahan as she raised an eyebrow while her sister tried to think of the reason for this. Eventually, she had a theory.

"Elfman, how many of the Element Four did you, Gray, and Natsu defeat?" Asked Naestra as she turned to face Elfman. The man scratched his head as he tried to remember.

"Well, we beat the fire guy and now I beat that jerk right now so that leaves…two more." Said Elfman as he remembered.

"I see." Said Naestra as she looked at the spell still being cast. "Is it possible that they're powering the machine?"

"Well wizards can provide their magic power to power up machines if the right magic is used, so it's entirely possible." Said Elfman as he remembered a lesson with Mirajane about magic before, back when they were young.

"I see, then taking out the remaining two should be our top priority." Said Naestra. "That spell cannot be allowed to be completed. The devastation of an Abyss Break of that size will be…catastrophic."

"Agreed." Said Arahan. "However, I think Jose has another contingency in mind if we do defeat them all. Even if he doesn't, we'll still be weakened from our fight with his elite wizards to fight him."

"Indeed." Said Naestra as she came to those conclusions with her sister. "But we have no choice in the matter. The citizens of Magnolia, not to mention our Guild, depend on us." Both Elfman and Arahan nodded in agreement at that before they all took off for their respective assignments. Meanwhile, Gray was currently on another section of the robot, trying to find either Jose or any of the Element Four, when the sky suddenly turned gloomy, and rain began to pour around him. Stunned at this sudden change in weather, Gray soon spotted Juvia coming towards him with a stoic expression on her face, umbrella in hand. Steeling himself, Gray glared at the woman as she introduced herself.

"My name is Juvia Lockser." Said Juvia as she looked at Gray. "I'm one of the Element Four. While you may have defeated two of our ranks, the remaining two will not be so easily defeated."

"We'll see about that, lady." Said Gray as he stared at her coldly. "And don't think that I'm going to go easy on you just because you're a girl." The two stared down at each other before Juvia suddenly blushed and turned around.

"Well then, I give up. You win. Goodbye!" Yelled Juvia as she walked away, shocking Gray.

"What the hell!?" Demanded Gray as his eyes bulged at seeing this, not believing this at all. "Come back and fight me!" Unbeknownst to him, Juvia's heart beat rapidly increased as she thought of the ice mage to the point that she didn't know what was wrong with her.

"What's wrong with me?" Thought Juvia in embarrassment. "It's like a thunderstorm is beating in my body while at the same time my body heats up at the thought of that black-haired hunk." While Gray was trying to figure out what the heck was going on, he wondered how Lucy was doing.

Meanwhile

Lucy screamed as she dodged an attack from Gajeel that was meant for the orange lizard that came to her rescue.

"Hey, can you guys take the fight outside!?" Yelled Lucy as she hid behind a crate as the orange lizard and the Iron Dragonslayer kept fighting each other. "I'm still here along with a few others!" Despite her annoyance at the two fighting with her still around, she couldn't help but be in awe of the lizard being able to fight the Iron Dragonslayer to a standstill. He wasn't using any magic in his attacks, using simple glass bombs and a blowpipe, yet he was able to avoid Gajeel's attacks with ease and make it look so easy too. Granted, she heard of similar stunts with Naestra and Arahan before, but to see it from another person left her in awe of them. It also made her feel guilty as it made her feel even more useless than before. Here was a magicless person fighting in her stead when all this fighting was her fault along with her father's. It made her feel useless and it angered her.

Regardless of how Lucy felt about herself, The two fighters around her continued on fighting, oblivious or simply not caring about the destruction that occurred from their fight.

Oxyotl dodged another attack from Gajeel Redfox before counterattacking with a shot from his blowpipe, which bounced harmlessly against Gajeel's coat of iron surrounding his entire body. The fight between them was interesting, to say the least.

When Gajeel saw the strength of Oxyotl's darts when they hit his comrades, he knew that he needed to avoid them and if not put up a defense that prevented them from entering his bloodstream. So, he magically covered his entire body in iron. Only his eyes and hair weren't covered in iron. The move made most of Oxyotl's darts useless. As a result, Oxyotl resorted to just dodging Gajeel's attacks until he found a way to defeat the Iron Dragonslayer. Which honestly was working well, much to the annoyance of Gajeel. Watching as the lizard dodged another of his attacks by ducking, Gajeel yelled out in annoyance.

"Oi!" Yelled Gajeel as he glared at Oxyotl. "Would you stop dodging and actually fight!? You can't beat me! So, why don't you stop wasting my time and stand still so I can pummel you." Saying nothing, Oxyotl finally thought up a strategy to defeat Gajeel. It required quick thinking and planning, but if he pulled it off, he'll give this Dragonslayer a much-needed lesson in humility.

Dodging his iron fist attack, Oxyotl charged at the Dragonslayer, much to the shock of both Gajeel and Lucy.

"Whatever." Said Gajeel, not caring whatsoever about this at all. "Makes things easier for me." Gajeel then transformed one of his hands into an iron pillar and sent it flying towards Oxyotl. The lizard dodged the attack with ease before grabbing a glass orb from his sash and tossing it straight towards Gajeel's metal-covered chest. The glass orb broke upon impact and its contents spilled all over Gajeel, a green goo that began to sizzle and melt Gajeel's iron skin, making him yell out in pain.

"The fuck!" Yelled Gajeel as he tried to wipe off the goo from his chest, causing more pain to him as his hands touched the green goo. Eventually, it all dissolved away on its own, but taking the iron around his chest and hands. Once that was all gone, he looked around to find Oxyotl to no avail.

"That was a cheap trick, you fucking lizard!" Yelled Gajeel as he reformed his iron skin again. Just before it could fully reform around his chest, a dart was shot at his exposed skin before Gajeel's iron skin could cover it all up. Giving a grunt, Gajeel ripped off the offending dart and tossed it aside. Upon doing so, he immediately felt woozy and weak in the knees. Realizing that he'd been poisoned, Gajeel growled.

"Fucking cheater." Said Gajeel as he fought against the poison that was flowing through his systems. "Can't face me like a man so you resort to cheap tricks like this to win." Instead of hearing that lizard's voice, Gajeel heard the sounds of the blond bimbo's voice and it enraged him. He was about to give her an Iron fist to the face when he spotted a bunch of metal around the building they were in, scattered all around as a result of his fight with Oxyotl. Smirking in victory, Gajeel ran towards the metal as much as he possibly can with the poison in his systems, which were slowly shutting down his systems, before grabbing some and eating it, much to Lucy's shock.

"The hell!?" Yelled Lucy as she saw this happening. Before she could figure out what was Gajeel doing, the orange lizard that was fighting Gajeel appeared before her and began to flee with her in tow.

"Hey!" Yelled Lucy as the lizard led her away from the warehouse. "Reedus is still in there! We can't just leave him!"

"You cannot remain there any longer, warm-blood." Said Oxyotl as he continued to lead Lucy away, his grip and strength stronger than what Lucy thought for such a small and frail-looking individual. "That Dragonslayer is too powerful for you to handle and he must survive, otherwise I would have killed him by now. He must survive along with the others stop to help deal with the true enemy. The true enemy to all life." With that, he then let go of her and told her to run, even though she can't understand him. Pointing away from the warehouse, Oxyotl watched as Lucy looked at his finger before glaring at him.

"No way!" Yelled Lucy as she glared at Oxyotl. "I'm not running away anymore. This is all my fault and I'm sick of not being able to help everyone else in something that I brought on them! I'm going to help and you're not going to stop me! Even if I don't have my keys, I'm still going to help fight!" Oxyotl just gave her a slight look of annoyance at her before taking something from a pouch attached to his waist and tossing it towards her. Catching it, Lucy looked at the object she caught and was shocked to see that it was her celestial keys, which she lost after she was captured by Phantom.

"You had these with you all this time!?" Yelled Lucy in annoyance as she realized this. "Why didn't you give them to me earlier so I could help you fight?!" Before Oxyotl could even speak, the two heard a loud bang and looked to see a figure bursting out of the warehouse from before and landing in front of them. It was Gajeel, fully rejuvenated from the metal he ate.

"You're going to pay for that stunt earlier, you dumb lizard." Said Gajeel as he looked at Oxyotl with a deranged look on his face. "Because no one tries to use a cheap trick on Black Steel Gajeel and lives to tell about it." Oxyotl just stayed silent and readied himself for a fight along with Lucy, who already brought out a gold key to help Oxyotl in fighting against Gajeel. Just before anyone could duke it out, they heard some yelling from behind Lucy and Oxyotl. Turning around, Lucy gasped when she saw an orange-haired young man with a green coat running towards Lucy. It was Loke, a Fairy Tail wizard and its resident womanizer. He always was freaked out whenever she was nearby for some reason, and it left Lucy confused about it. Erza had explained that it was because he once dated a celestial wizard and it ended in disaster, giving him a deep fear around them. Given how he reacts to Erza, Lucy guessed that the celestial wizard was someone similar to her in terms of personality. Or someone into bondage according to the rumor mil and Loke wasn't having any of that.

Regardless, Lucy was relieved to see he was coming to help out. That made things much easier for her and the lizard with her, whoever he was.

"Sorry, I couldn't get her sooner." Said Loke as he caught up to Lucy and Oxyotl. "But it took awhile to figure out which safehouse Reedus brought you to. Anyway, I'm here now, so let's take down this chump down now." He then placed his free hand around a ring on his right hand. Lucy just smiled at that before glaring at Gajeel, who just smirked at them all before transforming his hands into swords.

"The more the merrier I say." Said Gajeel with confidence. "And this time, that lizard isn't going to get the best of me. I'm not as stupid as people make me out to be." Oxyotl, who was still quiet, remained so before bringing out another glass globe from his person. Looking at Lucy with one of his eyes, he motioned with his eyeball to the glass globe in his right hand.

Once she saw this, she understood what Oxyotl wanted to do. She wanted to tell Loke what Oxyotl wanted to do, but she knew that he would only hear it, his enhanced hearing was similar to Natsus' after all and his hearing was second to none. She just hoped Loke can figure out the plan on his own.

She was about to summon out a spirit when they all heard a massive boom nearby, catching all of them by surprise. Turning around to the source, they saw thunderclouds being formed around where Fairy Tail was along with Phantom's robotic castle with occasional lightning coming from them.

"What the hell?" Asked Lucy upon seeing this, confused. The weather was perfectly fine just a while ago. There can't be thunderclouds around now. Loke, however, knew what the cause is for those thunderclouds and it left him both relieved and worried, more so the latter.

"It's Laxus." Said Loke in worry. "He's here." Normally, Lucy would have been relieved as she knew Laxus was a member of Fairy Tail and one of their S-class mages, which meant he was on par with Erza in strength if not more, but the worried tone from Loke left her slightly worried as well.

She then heard yelling from Oxyotl and so turned around to see Gajeel coming towards her and Loke with his sword arms. Screaming out in panic, Lucy jumped out of the way as Gajeel swung at her. Loke did the same but cursed Gajeel while doing so.

"Hey, you complained earlier about the lizard taking cheap shots!" Yelled Lucy as she glared at Gajeel as he turned around with a smirk. "It's fine when you do it!?"

"Shut up and just fight!" Yelled Gajeel as he charged again. This time, however, Oxyotl was his target. The lizard, anticipating this, jumped over Gajeel and was about to hit him with the glass globe in his hand when Gajeel sent an iron pillar from his leg at Oxyotl, forcing him to avoid the attack lest he die from the iron pillar attack. Landing on his feet, Oxyotl looked at Gajeel as he laughed.

"Told ya I'm not as dumb as people make me out to be." Said Gajeel with a smirk. "Now, if you're done being a chicken, let's get to actual fighting!" With that, Gajeel engaged the two Fairy Tail wizards and the Lizardman in a true fight, eager to fight again, but this time on more favorable grounds.