Chapter 40
alerx09- Some tense. Others friendlier. And others that are indifferent with each other. Depends on how often Oxyotl is around the Fairy Tail crew.
TaleBearer42Day- No one of note yet. If you're referring to the Fairy Tail world, then it's, at the moment, Vilitch the Curseling with Warriors of Chaos. Wulfrick is out of the picture right now, but maybe later when Chaos is fully around, and if I decide he's even worth adding in over other characters.
Also, I got a question for you all. Does anyone want unique Tzeentch units in this fic? If I recall correctly, Tzeentch didn't get anything from the End Times like the other Gods. (Khorne got Wrathmongers and Skullreapers and Nurgle got Blightkings.) Does anyone want Tzeentch unique units? I'm thinking of doing variations of the Doom Knights in Total War Warhammer 3 (Great game by the way, though I recommend getting it later when more patches are done for it and Immortal Empires comes out because apparently, the game is buggy as hell, even though I seem to only encounter just one bug and it's a minor one. Even if it isn't, I don't recommend getting it as the campaign encourages turtling at the moment while you do the campaign goals, which is antithesis to what Total War is mainly about.). Like those guys do so much for me as both the Daemon Prince and Tzeentch, I got to add them in because of the number of times they helped me win a battle. Plus they're just awesome all around.
But if anyone has ideas, I'm willing to consider them. Currently, I have an idea of some anti-wizard Chaos Warriors whose purpose is to drain them of their magic and act as a conduit for Tzeentch wizards and, of course, kill them. Another is some sort of long-range artillery daemon that's inspired by the Soul Grinder of Tzeentch. Speaking of which, is anyone not okay with the Soul Grinder being implemented. Because I've heard people didn't like that the Soul Grinder was added into Total War because it looks to 40k. I'm fine with it as it just looks cool. (That and the fact they all bring so much to all the Daemon factions.)
Gray
Gray had been fighting the woman called Juvia, who was pissed off for some reason after he mentioned Lucy, when a bolt of lightning came crashing down between them, interrupting their fight. Gray was about to comment on this when the lightning stopped, revealing Laxus.
"Laxus!" Yelled Gray in shock upon seeing the S-class mage. He thought that he refused to help them regarding Phantom Lord. Did he change his mind?
Rather than even acknowledge Gray, Laxus turned to face the shocked Juvia and simply scoffed.
"This one of Phantom's S-class mages?" Asked Laxus before sneering. "Pathetic. What's even more pathetic is that they managed to get the upper hand on us. Fairy Tail has really gone downhill, huh?"
"Laxus." Started Gray, but wasn't able to say anymore when Laxus suddenly launched a bolt of lightning on Juvia, making her scream in pain. Soon, she was on her knees in pain. Gray, in awe of this, as she gave him a hard time, was then horrified when Laxus sent more lightning against her, causing her to scream out in even more pain than before.
"Laxus, stop!" Yelled Gray as he saw this. "You're going to kill her at this rate!"
"Why the fuck should I care?" Asked Laxus as he kept electrocuting Juvia as he walked towards her. "This bitch thought it was a good idea to dare take on Fairy Tail. To join such a weak and pathetic guild as Phantom over something like Fairy Tail!" He then brought down his foot on Juvia's head and began to repeatedly stomp her down. "Not like we would ever take someone as weak as this bitch into the guild! Not if I was in charge!" Gritting his teeth as Laxus continued his assault on the poor woman, Gray finally had enough and created a bazooka out of ice before firing it at Laxus. Too busy assaulting Juvia in addition to never thinking that Gray would ever do something so stupid against him, Laxus stumbled back a bit as the blast of ice hit him in the back and sent him a few feet from Juvia. Turning around at Gray holding the bazooka, Laxus glared at the ice wizard.
"You got some nerve doing that to me." Said Laxus with gritted teeth. "This bitch helped humiliate Fairy Tail and you're going to help her!?"
"After what you pulled, yeah!" Yelled Gray as he got into a fighting stance with Juvia weakly looking at him, shocked at Gray's defense of her. "She may be the enemy, but that doesn't give you permission to go and assault her like that! We're Fairy Tail! We should be better than that!"
"*Scoffs* The old geezer's ideals are going to be the death of this guild." Said Laxus before gathering lightning in his palms. "Since you want to piece of this, I might as well give it to you." Gray felt a tinge of fear as Laxus gathered up more lightning and gave him a death glare. Throughout his time in Fairy Tail, never once did he incur the wrath of Laxus, at least personally. He wasn't Natsu, who was always eager to fight the lightning wizard to prove himself, regardless if he can actually beat him or not. He was very keen on staying alive, thank you very much. But when he saw Laxus' assault on Juvia, Gray pushed past his self-preservation instincts and got ready to fight Laxus. Juvia may be an enemy right now, but there's no way he's going to let her be tossed around like that by Laxus.
The two Fairy Tail wizards were about to do battle with one another when an arrow landed between the two, stopping their battle before it even began.
"Stop this at once!" Yelled Naestra as the elf and her sister made their way towards both Laxus and Gray, in between, them was a Phantom Lord member. The two were traversing through the robot castle when they heard thunder and lightning outside. Their senses telling them that something was amiss, the two went outside and found the culprit for the lightning. Stopping just a few feet from Gray, Naestra looked at Laxus and spoke. "Laxus, what is the meaning of this?! Why were you and Gray about to fight amongst yourselves?" Before Laxus could even speak, Gray spoke up first.
"This bastard was assaulting this Phantom mage!" Yelled Gray. "And I don't mean just defeating her! I mean actually beating her up when it was clear that she was beaten! He was about to kill her too! I had to do something!" Upon hearing that, Naestra looked at Gray and instantly knew that he was telling the truth. Looking at Laxus, Naestra demanded to him to explain himself, to which Laxus just scoffed.
"I don't have to explain anything to you weaklings." Said Laxus as he looked at the other three Fairy Tail members with disdain. "Especially not something as stupid as this." He spat at Juvia one more time before teleporting away in a flash of lightning, his task done. Now he had other Phantom Lord weaklings to beat.
"You bastard!" Yelled Gray in disdain and hatred as he looked at the thunder clouds above them. As he continued to glare at the clouds, he heard some whimpering from Juvia and looked to see her trying to get up but couldn't. Seeing this, he went over her and laid her down.
"Hey stop it, you idiot!" Yelled Gray as he looked at Juvia in the eyes. "You're going to hurt yourself at this rate!" Juvia just looked at Gray in the eyes as well as saw how beautiful his black eyes were. Enthralled with them, Juvia stayed still as Gray checked her body to see just how to hurt she was. Naestra and Arahan, meanwhile, walked over and helped him out. Well one of them.
"Laxus did significant damage to her." Said Naestra as she examined Juvia. "She won't be able to move without pain for a while."
"So, she's not a danger to any of us?" Asked Gray, causing Naestra to nod.
"Yes. By the time she's able to fight again, the battle will be over and likely the war between our guilds." Said Naestra, certain now that Laxus was here. He should tip the scales for them nicely.
"Would be over now if that idiot just came sooner." Said Arahan as she thought of Laxus. Gray couldn't help but agree with that statement, though he certainly disagreed with Laxus' methods. Looking at Juvia, Gray asked her to surrender, which she refused.
"I can't just surrender to you." Said Juvia with a glare, despite knowing that she was unable to fight. "Phantom is my home just as Fairy Tail is to you. To surrender to you is to dishonor the name of Phantom altogether. After everything they did for me, giving me a home and giving me friends, I can't let them down. Not even when it's clear that I can't continue fighting." Gray felt himself grow angry at that. How could she actually consider Phantom Lord a home? He was about to yell at her when Naestra spoke up.
"I understand that method of thinking, child." Said Naestra, preventing Gray from speaking. "More than you think. That is why I ask for your forgiveness." Before Juvia could comprehend what Naestra said, the black-haired maiden quickly knocked her out with a simple punch to the face.
"Whoa." Said Gray as he saw this. Never did he think that Naestra would do that to a wounded person. "Was that…necessary?"
"Yes." Said Naestra. "The robot we're on top is currently casting an Abyss Break spell and it's powered by the Element Four. Meaning to stop it from casting the spell, we need to take out the Element Four. I assume she was one of the Element Four, yes?" When Gray nodded, Naestra gave a sigh of relief. Even if the girl wasn't, she still would have done so as loyalty like hers was something that can't be easily convinced to surrender and they don't have the time at the moment to convince people to do so.
"Good." Said Naestra as she got up and gently positioned Juvia so that she was laying on her back as comfortably as she can possibly manage. "With her down, that leaves one more Element Four to defeat. And Jose as well. With those two down, victory is all but assured for us." Gray, upon hearing that, nodded before speaking up.
"Should be easy if we all gang up on both of them before they know we're there." Said Gray. "Though I doubt that would be the case." Both Naestra and Arahan agreed with that statement. Jose must know that three of his most elite wizards fell to them. He must be getting desperate or, at the very least, know that he was to confront them now lest the morale of his guild plummets from these losses. And given his status as Wizard Saint, they doubted he was someone they can defeat in a head-to-head fight.
"Let's regroup with Natsu." Said Naestra before getting up. "Hopefully, he's fine and isn't in too much trouble."
Meanwhile
Laxus
"Damn bitches." Thought Laxus as he defeated a bunch of Phantom Lord cronies with ease. "And that stupid ice mage too. Getting in my way and calling me a coward. I'll show them. And when I become the next Guild Master of Fairy Tail, those three are going to be the first ones that I kick out, along with a whole of bunch of other weaklings. I don't need magicless people in my Guild or anyone that gives mercy to those that humiliate Fairy Tail." After taking down the last one of the Phantom Lord weaklings, Laxus thought of how he was forced to come here when he had better things to do than clean up the messes of his idiot grandpa, who is too weak to clean up the messes that he drags the Guild into. Like finding true wizards with true strength and convincing them to join Fairy Tail.
Freed, a member of his personal guard, the Thunder Legion, found such wizards and they were in the middle of convincing them to join when they got the stupid call from Naestra. And when Arahan called him a coward and that he was the one dragging Fairy Tail's name to the ground and not the weaklings in it, he was beyond pissed. Not just for being called a coward, but because she did it in a public place. It got people talking about him, which he always hated when it's done behind his back, even more so when Naestra, whose regarded by many as one of the most reasonable and restraining members of Fairy Tail in all it's history, backed her sister up. It really pissed him off. So much so that he actually destroyed the Lacrima crystal he was using to communicate with them.
After Freed paid for the destroyed Lacrima to the owner, the Thunder Legion and Laxus went to their rented room in the hotel they were staying in and discussed on what to do on what Naestra and Arahan said to Laxus.
Evergreen and Bickslow believed that they should ignore the two sisters. That they shouldn't care what they said about Laxus. Freed, however, argued that they should heed their words, much to Bickslow's shock. His reasoning was that, because of the reputation that Naestra has over all other members of Fairy Tail, including Makarov with the general populace of Fiore, her words will influence others a great deal about Laxus. That her disapproval will cause even greater issues for them than anything the other Fairy Tail members can say about them. He also pointed out that, if anything, they can use this as a way to convince others that Laxus is right. That Fairy Tail is weak and needed to change if its normal members can't do anything without assistance from their most powerful mages. Convinced by Freed's words, Laxus decided to head back to Magnolia on his own. If he wanted to use this as a means to help his case, he may as well do his best to improve his case in the change of leadership. Hence, he was here alone. And, needless to say, he was disappointed with how weak the Phantom Lord wizards were.
He always knew they were weak, his grandfather always said that Phantom wasn't even close to matching Fairy Tail in strength, but he didn't think they were this weak. God, it made the rest of Fairy Tail look pathetic that they were losing to these losers. Fairy Tail really needed to change and if Makarov won't do so soon, then he'll be forced to take matters into his own hands. For now, though, he had to clean up the mess that his grandfather and his guild.
Scoffing at the weaklings of Phantom Lord, even spitting on one of them, Laxus marched onwards, eager to take down Jose and end this whole charade right now.
Meanwhile
Lucy
"Loke!" Yelled Lucy as she saw Gajeel sent Loke flying into a food cart, sending fruits and vegetables everywhere as a result. Laughing out loud, Gajeel soon shut up when Oxyotl hit him with a barrage of darts from the back, burning through his iron skin before retreating to avoid retaliation from the Iron Dragonslayer. Lucy, seeing Gajeel was distracted by Oxyotl, summoned Taurus and had try to attack Gajeel in the back while he was distracted with the lizard.
"Moo!" Yelled Taurus as he heaved his axe over his shoulders. "Anything for you miss Lucy and your glorious body!" Without any more words, Taurus charged at Gajeel. It would have been a good tactic and may have worked on a lesser foe, but Gajeel was a Dragonslayer and so heard the Celestial spirit coming towards him. Thus, he whirled around and hit Taurus with a hand-turned Iron Pillar, sending Taurus back a few feet and crashing into the ground. But the spirit got right back up and glared at Gajeel. He then charged at Gajeel and did battle with the Iron Dragonslayer. As the two exchanged blades at each other, Oxyotl saw an opportunity and took it.
Owing to his centuries of experience in the arts of stealth, Oxyotl managed to get behind Gajeel without him knowing and fired a few poison darts against his iron skin armor. The darts, much like those before them, weren't able to deliver their contents into Gajeel's bloodstream. However, that wasn't their purpose. Instead, they were to melt through Gajeel's iron skin so that Oxyotl can deliver the killing blow.
Unfortunately, Gajeel must have known this as well, as he turned his free hand towards Oxyotl before turning it into an iron pillar and sending it flying towards him. Oxyotl tried to dodge the attack, but Gajeel sent out smaller, but still dangerous, iron pillars from the main one. Oxyotl managed to dodge most of them, but one of them hit him square in the chest and sent him flying towards Lucy. Yelling out in horror at seeing her ally get hit, Lucy caught him as he was sent flying towards her, sending them both to the ground.
"Oh, you're heavy." Said Lucy as she tried to lift Oxyotl up to no avail. As she was trying to do so, Gajeel managed to beat Taurus, turning his right hand into a sword before slashing him with it. With his last opponent defeated, Gajeel walked over to Lucy with a cocky smirk.
Things went a little more annoying than Gajeel would have liked, but he managed to get his prey. Now all he has to do was deliver her to Jose and he'll be done with her. As he walked over to her, Lucy glared at him, causing Gajeel to laugh. What did she think that'll do? As he went in to grab her, Oxyotl suddenly turned around and tossed a glass vial at Gajeel before firing his blowpipe at him. The blow dart hit the Dragonslayer in the throat, causing him to take a step back as he never expected the lizard to still be able to fight. That, however, left him open to the glass vial that Oxyotl threw. Tossed around his face, the glass vial broke and its contents splashed all over his face. Though there was still iron around his face, his eyes were not covered and thus were affected by the sludge that the vial contained within. And that was unfortunate as the moment the sludge touched his eyes, Gajeel screamed out in pain.
"The fuck!" Yelled Gajeel as he held his face in pain. "What the fuck is that shit!?" As Gajeel was taking a few steps back in pain. While he was doing this, Oxyotl got up from Lucy and used his blowpipe as a fighting stick, striking at his neck. The surprisingly durable blowpipe managed to crack Gajeel's iron skin by quite a bit before the lizard followed up with another hit that broke it. With his opponent's armor now broken, Oxyotl delivered the killing blow.
Loading up a new dart as Gajeel reeled from the attack, Oxyotl fired his loaded blow dart at Gajeel, striking Gajeel's vulnerable neck, injecting its contents into his bloodstream.
At first, the Dragonslayer felt nothing from the attack, but soon he felt himself go dreary and began to feel his strength sap away. Glaring at Oxyotl, who was being approached by Lucy, he spoke up.
"You…fucking…bastard." Said Gajeel before losing consciousness. Watching the Iron Dragonslayer slump to the ground, Lucy gasped out in shock, thinking he was dead.
"Did you kill him?" Asked Lucy as she cupped her mouth in shock. Oxyotl just turned towards her and shook his head, making her sigh in relief. Gajeel was a bastard, but even he didn't deserve death. At least to her. With that gone, she looked at Oxyotl and smiled. She didn't know who he was and what his intentions were when he helped saved her, but he, at the very least, deserved some thanks for helping her out.
"Thanks for everything." Said Lucy with a big smile. "If it weren't for you, I would have been a goner." Oxyotl just looked at her for a moment before leaving. Seeing this, she asked him for his name. Instead of answering, Oxyotl just turned invisible before Lucy's very eyes and was gone in an instant. Eyes wide in shock at this, Lucy didn't know what to say when she heard Loke groaning. Remembering about her fellow mage that fought Gajeel with her, Lucy quickly went over to him to check up on him and see if he needed any assistance. As she did so, she heard a loud booming sound. When she looked around for the source, she saw a bright light coming from Phantom's giant robot castle. Even though she shouldn't know who was responsible for that light and sound, she knew in her heart that it was Makarov responsible for both of them and that the war between Phantom and Fairy Tail will soon be over.
Meanwhile
Makarov
"Jose!" Yelled Makarov as he busted right through Phantom Lord's throne room, where Jose was, glaring at Makarov as he glared right back, both men full of contempt for the other.
"Makarov. You recovered much sooner than I anticipated." Said Jose, hiding his shock and horror at seeing Makarov recover so quickly. He really didn't need this right now. Not only were most of the Element Four defeated, by low-ranked Fairy Tail members no less, but one of Fairy Tail's most powerful members was here and was currently trouncing the other members of his guild with ease. Gajeel hasn't reported in concerning the Heartfilia girl. And now he had to deal with a fully healed Makarov as well. Can things get even worse for him?
"I can thank an old friend for that." Said Makarov as he walked towards Jose. "Now, I'll give you one more chance to give up this foolishness and I'll show mercy. If not, then you'll live to see the consequences of your actions. Both by my hands and those of the council." Instead of being scared or concerned, Jose just laughed.
"So when it's convenient for you, you'll turn to the Magic Council for aid? Pathetic." Said Jose as he got up, ready to face Makarov. "The Magic Council will be of no threat to me. Not when I'm through with you and you're entire guild." Makarov narrowed her eyes at that before readying himself for a fight. The two stared down at each other before rushing towards each other and a clash of light and shadows began to show up on the very top of Phantom Lord's castle. This caused the combatants of Fairy Tail outside the castle to stop fighting and see what was going on. That was a mistake as several shades took advantage of the distraction and drained them of their lifeforce by phasing through them. Many wizards fell because of this, which the shades took advantage of by fusing together with each other to form a larger version of the shades. While the remaining Fairy Tail wizards were in shock at this, the giant shade went straight for the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. To the horror of the still active Fairy Tail members, it began to attack the damaged Guild Hall. Once the horror was gone, the remaining members tried to stop it from destroying the Guild Hall, desperately trying to stop it from destroying their home.
Meanwhile
Gray
"This should be sufficient enough for now." Said Naestra as she finished patching up Juvia from her injuries caused by Laxus. After Laxus left, the three stayed behind to tend to Juvia's wounds. Arahan argued against it, saying that they don't have the time to do so, but Naestra and Gray were adamant on it. Thus, they went back inside the castle/robot hybrid in order to tend to Juvia. Using resources that she had with her, she healed Juvia as best as could, much to the annoyance of Arahan. Seeing one of the patched wounds that Naestra did, Juvia looked at Naestra and thanked her.
"Thank you." Said Juvia, unsure of what else to say. "I…I never thought that you would do something like this for an enemy of yours." Gray narrowed his eyes upon hearing that. How could she possibly think that Fairy Tail would not give mercy to their enemies? Naestra just smiled at that and spoke.
"Mercy is something that is a privilege to be sure." Said Naestra as she spoke to Juvia with kind green eyes. "But even those that have committed heinous crimes deserve to be given mercy. For it's one of the things that separate us from the truly irredeemable. You, on the other hand, are neither. You just a simple soldier following orders. You didn't commit the deeds that Blacksteel Gajeel did to us. You just fought us and nothing more."
"Yeah." Said Gray, finally speaking up. Juvia looked at Gray and her heart skipped a beat. He was just so handsome. "What Laxus did was beyond cruel and he should be punished for what he did to you. It's not right for a Fairy Tail mage to be so cruel to even the most sadistic and cruel bastard out there. That's not what Fairy Tail is about, even to its enemies." He then eyed Juvia's blue eyes. "Even if you are the enemy, you don't deserve to be hurt that much by anyone in my guild. Even Gajeel doesn't deserve what Laxus did to you. If I had the choice to let Laxus do that to you again or fight him in order to stop him, I'll stop him in a heartbeat. Even if it ends with me getting beat up by that bastard, I'll still do it because that's what a member of Fairy Tail should do. To fight against injustice, no matter what. Even if it means fighting another Guild member." Juvia widened her eyes at that, stunned and moved by Gray's speech. Naestra gave him a proud smile while Arahan rolled her eyes, though behind her annoyance was a hint of pride for Gray.
So moved by Gray's speech that Juvia's heart began racing. Just the mere sight of Gray was enough to accelerate her heartbeat significantly. She wanted to be with him. To be his love. To make babies with him. She wanted him as her boyfriend. If she wasn't sure before, she was sure now. She was in love with him.
Eyes turning into hearts, Juvia was about to confess her love when the entire castle shook, sending debris and dirt everywhere.
"What the hell!?" Yelled Gray as he felt this. "What's going on?" One of the women was about to speak when they all heard a loud booming voice.
"Jose! Stop this pointless war now!" Yelled a loud booming voice before being followed by an explosion. Everyone with even a fraction of knowledge of Fairy Tail knew who that was.
"It's Makarov." Said Naestra, stunned at hearing the Guild Master of Fairy Tail was up and about as she heard what happened to him the last time Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail clashed.
"He recovered quickly." Noted Arahan in surprise.
"Yeah, but this is great." Said Gray with a smile, also shocked but also happy that Makarov was back. "Now we can end this war now!" Both sisters and Juvia had to agree on that. Both Guild Masters were members of the Ten Wizard Saints, meaning they were roughly equal to each other in strength at least. Hopefully, Makarov's injuries from before won't affect his fight against Jose too much. If they do, both Naestra and Arahan hope that he can exhaust Jose enough to make him easy to defeat for everyone else.
"Let us hope that as well." Said Naestra before she got up. "For now, we must press on. There's still one more member of the Element Four that we have to defeat. After that, we have to help Makarov with Jose."
"That is if Laxus hasn't defeated the remaining member yet." Said Arahan as she and Gray followed Naestra, leaving Juvia behind. Juvia, meanwhile, was looking at Gray's back with heart-shaped eyes. He was just so handsome. In the meantime, in another part of the castle/robot, Laxus was walking upon the fight between Natsu and the last member of the Element Four. Scoffing at this, Laxus crossed his arms as he launched a bolt of lightning against the last member of the Element Four, right when Natsu was about to land a hit on him.
Meanwhile
"You think this will be over soon?" Asked Daxter to Diederick as the two watched the battle between the two guilds escalate further between each other now that Makarov returned to the fight. The two had been watching the whole fight between Phantom and Fairy Tail from a safe distance along with everyone else. Diederick, still worried for his mothers, couldn't help but wonder if they were all right against this many magical opponents.
"I think so, though I don't think there will be a winner after all this." Said Diederick. "I just heard that the Magic Council sent a detachment of Rune Knights to Magnolia. They'll be here within the day." Upon hearing that, Daxter winced in pity for both Guilds.
"Ouch. Those guilds will have a lot of explaining to do when the Rune Knights get here." Said Daxter, knowing just how much the Magic Council disliked Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. One for all the collateral damage they do and the other for their skirting around the legality of the law.
"I heard that." Said Diederick before resuming his watch of the fight, praying his mothers were alright. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the boys and those around them, Oxyotl was looking at Diederick intently. Hidden so well that not even the most skilled wizard can detect him. Eyes moving rapidly, Oxyotl recalled the visions he had concerning the boy.
Visions of him becoming the Three-eyed king. The thirteenth Everchosen of Chaos. The bringer of Woes. And the herald of the End Times. He can remember well the vision of the armored Chaos Warrior that the boy will become if he fell to Chaos. Of him slaughtering all those he once loved and called family. Of him leading the greatest host of Chaos since the time of Be'lakor and Asavar Kul. And, perhaps most devastating of all, destroying not one but two worlds through his leadership of the followers of Chaos.
With but a simple dart, Oxyotl can stop all that from happening. Just a simple murder and none of that will come to pass. It's what he's done countless times before since returning to the physical plane and even now his instincts were telling him to take the shot and prevent the thirteenth Everchosen from ever coming into existence.
But, for one reason or another, Oxyotl stayed his hand. He allowed the boy to continue his existence. Why only the lizard knew and he wasn't going to share them with anyone but those he trusted, which were few in number. Thus, without anything to say, Oxyotl departed. His job in Magnolia finished. Now, he had another job to attend to.