Chapter 230: Fairy Tail Strikes Back!
"I'm going to make you pay for this Erza Scarlet! I will make every waking moment for you pure agony" yelled Kyoka in an angry tone as she stood against Erza. Erza was panting with exhaustion, her body still sore from the torture that Kyoka subjected her to. No matter what Erza did to Kyoka, she would keep coming back for more. Kyoka's curse magic was overwhelming, but Erza would have to find a way to preserver.
"I will never lose to someone like you demon" responded Erza as she assumed a battle stance, gripping her sword as she waited for Kyoka to strike. Just as Kyoka was about to respond, approaching footsteps were heard as Erza and Kyoka sensed a large amount of magical power. Coming out of the shadows was a figure with black wings, who was wearing a sinister smile. The figure stood next to Kyoka as she started to speak to him.
"Lucifer I heard that you had your hands full with that annoying Angel" stated Kyoka surprised to see Lucifer here. Lucifer laughed while looking mockingly at Erza as he started to speak.
"It didn't take me long to take him out" responded Lucifer in a mocking tone. Erza's eyes went wide with horror at these words as she stared to speak.
"N-no that can't be true" responded Erza in a shaky voice, hoping that Lucifer was lying. Lucifer let out a mocking laugh before he started to speak.
"It is very true. Dante Strauss was no match for my power, and I was able to easily kill him" responded Lucifer in a mocking tone before he laughed at Erza's misery. Seeing the horrified and heartbroken look on Erza's face, Kyoka started to speak.
"Hahaha this is too perfect, that face shows so much pain and suffering" laughed Kyoka in a mocking tone loving the fact that Erza was heartbroken with this news of Dante. As Kyoka continued to laugh at Erza's misery and Erza stood still with a look of horror on her face, Lucifer stepped forward and started to speak.
"Let the image of you slain companion be your last thought Erza Scarlet before you join him" stated Lucifer in a mocking tone as he pointed his palm towards Erza and gathered his magical energy. Erza could not move from her spot, frozen with heartbreak as she thought about how she failed to protect the man she loved. As Lucifer charged up his attack, Erza accepted that this was it. Suddenly Lucifer aimed his open palm towards Kyoka and fired his magical attack. Kyoka was taken completely by surprise as the beam of holy and dark energy tore through her stomach, making her collapse to the ground.
"What?! Lucifer what do you think you are doing" asked Kyoka in a pained tone as she clutched her gaping injury. While he gathered more of his magical energy, Lucifer started to speak.
"Sorry to disappoint you but Lucifer isn't in control" responded Lucifer with a smile before he fired another powerful blast of magical energy. The powerful blast of magical energy crashed into Kyoka, who screamed in pain before the floor beneath her collapsed. As the smoke from the resulting blast started to vanish, Erza watched the entire scene in front of her with shocked eyes. Seeing that he could not sense Kyoka's magical power anymore, Lucifer figured she was either dead or escaped. Turning around to face Erza, Lucifer started to speak.
"I'm certainly glad to have run into you Erza when I did. You really looked like you needed help back there. Are you okay" asked Lucifer in a concerned tone as he observed the many injuries across Erza's body. Erza was confused as she started to answer.
"I d-don't understand. Why would you help me" asked Erza in a confused tone. Flashing a kind smile towards Erza, Lucifer started to speak.
"That's a silly question Erza. I helped you because we are guild mates" responded Lucifer with a kind smile. Suddenly Erza realized what was happening as she took a step forward and started to speak.
"D-Dante, is that you" asked Erza in a hopeful tone. Smiling at Erza, Dante nodded his head as he started to speak.
"Yes Erza, it's me" responded Dante with a kind smile. Taking another step forward, Erza felt relief flood through her body as she started to speak.
"How is this possible? Kyoka seemed to think you were an ally" asked Erza in disbelief.
"The form you see right now is actually the tenth demon gate, Lucifer. Luckily for me Lucifer wasn't a demon, he was an angel. Using my takeover magic, I gained the ability to take his form" responded Dante with a smile. Erza nodded her head in understanding as she started to speak.
"I see, that certainly explains why Kyoka let down her guard around you" responded Erza.
"Yah, it was a close fight I had with Lucifer but thinking of how everyone in the guild needed me, I was given the strength to win. In this form I have never had so much power" responded Dante with a smile. As Dante spoke he could feel what little magical energy he had left slowly draining away as he maintained his Angel Soul Lucifer form. Reverting back to his normal form, Dante continued to speak.
"Although the magical power it uses is unreal" responded Dante in an exhausted tone as he breathed heavily. Now that Dante was in his normal form, Erza could see just how damaged Dante was. Gasping with horror at how badly injured Dante was, Erza closed the distance between them and guided him to sit down while she started to speak.
"Master! You look bad" stated Erza in a panicked tone as she looked at Dante's injured body. Dante was breathing heavily; every part of his body was screaming at him in agony. The banges wrapped around Dante's hands were soaked with his blood, beneath the banged were Dante's mangled hands. Erza could see purple splotches across Dante's chest, showing his broken ribs. The most horrifying injury to Erza though was Dante's badly bruised face, blood was seeping out of a gash in his head. Giving Erza a weak smile, Dante started to speak.
"Ouch that hurts my pride. Come on Erza I think I still look handsome" responded Dante in a joking tone despite his entire body screaming at him in pain. Erza still had a worried look on her face as she started to speak.
"This isn't the time for jokes master, we need to get you to Wendy or Sorano quickly" responded Erza in a worried tone, it was clear that Dante was barely holding on to consciousness. Taking a moment to calm his breathing down, Dante started to speak.
"N-no first we need to have you healed Erza. You look pretty bad yourself" responded Dante observing the many injuries across Erza's body. Erza felt affection for Dante surge through her body at his words. Despite the fact that Dante was horribly injured, his first concern was her instead of himself. Still Erza knew that Dante was in far worse shape than she was as she started to speak.
"Don't be stupid master. It's clear you are much worse than I am. I will be fine for now, but we need to stop your bleeding at the very least" responded Erza seeing the blood seeping from Dante's head while his hands continued to bleed as well.
"O-okay maybe you're right" responded Dante with a pained smile. Just as Erza was about to respond to Dante, they both heard a voice call out to them inside their heads.
"Greetings Fairy Tail. For those of you who don't know who I am, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mard Geer, the leader of Tartous" called out the voice inside Dante and Erza's head. Looking around Dante and Erza didn't see anyone close by and figured that Mard Geer must be using telepathy to speak to them. Dante and Erza focused as the voice inside their heads continued to speak.
"I must say that I am impressed with how far you've gotten. To think that so many demon gates would fall, but in the end you're struggles are for nothing" stated Mard Geer in a mocking tone. Dante as about to question what Mard Geer was talking about when the entire room he and Erza were in started to shake. Looking around, Dante started to speak.
"W-what the hell" asked Dante to Erza as the shaking increased in force. As the entire room rumbled, Dante and Erza watched as strange tendrils shot out of the ground while Mard Geer continued to speak.
"None of you will live to see tomorrow. Alegria" stated Mard Geer before his voice went silent. Dante and Erza watched the strange tendrils continued to shot out of the ground. Suddenly the tendrils latched onto Erza, who started to speak.
"What is this" asked Erza as she struggled to free herself but could not succeed. Dante watched in horror as Erza was completely enveloped until she was morphed into a frozen statue.
"EZA" yelled Dante as Erza was trapped in whatever spell Mard Geer just unleased. After another moment the rumbling stopped, and all was silent. As Dante inspected Erza, a thought occurred to him.
"Wait a minute, why wasn't I trapped as well. The tendrils went straight for Erza but ignored me completely" asked Dante to himself as he weakly stood up. Looking around Dante could see that he was completely ignored by the spell that Mard Geer had just used. Figuring that maybe he wasn't targeted because he had Lucifer's soul inside him, Dante continued to speak.
"The spell must have been confused by me and thought I was an ally" stated Dante to himself as he started to walk out of the room. Dante felt bad for leaving Erza behind, but he needed to find this Mard Geer and put a stop to this spell if he wanted Erza to be freed. As Dante walked through the silent hallway, he found that everywhere had been morphed by the Alegria spell.
"Dammit, was everyone swallowed up by this spell" asked Dante in a worried tone as he slowly walked forward, moving as fast as he could with his injures. Just as Dante contemplated being the only member of Fairy Tail left, a wall near him exploded as Dante stumbled backwards. Standing up on weak legs, Dante watched as a familiar figure stepped out of the hole in the wall.
"This is my lucky day. At first I thought I wasn't going to get my revenge thanks to this annoying spell but then I ran into the man I want to kill the most" stated Minerva in a sinister tone. Dante swore to himself thinking that this was the last thing he needed right now as Minerva stood in front of him with a killing intent in her eyes. Taking a good look at Minerva, Dante grit his teeth in anger as he started to speak.
"Minerva are you really so obsessed with power that you would become a demon" asked Dante as he gathered what little magical energy he had left. Dante knew that he couldn't let this fight drag on too long, he needed to end it quickly. To Dante's knowledge he was the only one that survived the Alegria spell, he had to deal with Minerva so he can take down Mard Geer and save free everyone.
"It doesn't matter what I become, as long as I have power I don't care what sort of darkness I fall into" responded Minerva with a smile as she readied herself for battle. While Dante knew that he needed to beat Minerva quickly so he could rescue his guildmates, he could not help but feel pity for Minerva. Using his gathered magical energy, Dante transformed into his Angel Soul Gabriel form. Flexing his hands that were not injured in this form, Dante started to speak.
"If you really believe that then I feel sorry for you" responded Dante as he spread his wings wide. These words made Minerva seethe with rage as she yelled back at Dante.
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH! I NEED TO BE POWERFUL" yelled Minerva as she rushed towards Dante. Using his wings, Dante flew into the sky above Minerva in order to avoid her direct assault. Minerva had anticipated Dante dodging her attack by flying into the air and quickly fired a powerful blast of dark energy towards Dante as she continued to shout at him.
"WE ARE NOTHING ALIKE! SO DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME" yelled Minerva as her magical attack rocketed towards Dante. Unable to produce a shield due to his low magical energy, Dante used his arms to shield himself from the incoming attack. Grunting with pain, Dante weathered the attack. Once the attack was finished, Dante spread his wings and flew quickly towards Minerva. His fist crashed into Minerva's who meet his punches with her own.
"You're wrong Minerva" responded Dante as he jumped back from Minerva. Hovering in the distance air some distance away from Minerva, Dante continued to speak.
"You are more alike than you think" stated Dante before he gathered his magical energy.
"WE ARE NOTHING ALIKE" yelled Minerva as she started to gather her magical energy. Pointing his open palm towards Minerva, Dante started to speak.
"We are alike, we both seek power" responded Dante as he then fired a powerful beam of holy energy towards Minerva. Minerva responded by firing a beam of dark energy towards Dante, the two attacks crashed into each other. As the two attacks battled for dominance, Dante continued to speak.
"The difference between our desire for power is in the intent. You want power for yourself, I want power to protect everyone that I love" stated Dante as he picoted every one of his friends and family that were depending on him. Thinking of everyone, Dante felt a surge of magical energy flow through him as he increased the force of his magical attack. As Dante's attack started to overwhelm Minerva's, Dante continued to speak.
"As long as you fight for only yourself, you will never beat me" yelled Dante as he poured even more magical power into his attack. Dante's attack overwhelmed Minerva who grunted in pain as the holy energy crashed into her. In her demon form the holy energy dealt even more damage as Minerva was sent crashing into the ground some distance away. As Minerva was struggling to stand back up, Dante was suddenly on top of her. Delivering a strong punch to Minerva's face, Dante shouted at her.
"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF! IT'S NOT TO LATE! THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE WAITING FOR YOU TO COME HOME" yelled Dante with conviction in his voice. Minerva paused at these words as she noticed Dante did not move to attack her again despite her being completely open. Dante's words cut straight to her core. Could someone like her still have a home?
"W-what are you talking about?! There's no home for me" responded Minerva, some of the anger gone from her voice. Sensing that he was starting to get through to Minerva, Dante started to speak.
"Of course, there is. Have you forgotten about Saber Tooth? Everyone in Saber Tooth is waiting for you to come back home" responded Dante as he reverted back to his normal form as a show of good faith towards Minerva.
Minerva was stunned as Dante willingly went back into his badly injured form; she could now easily kill him. Despite the fact that Dante was giving Minerva the perfect chance to attack, she could do nothing but cry as she processed his words. For serval moments Minerva sobbed as she considered all the mistakes she had made up to this point. Would everyone at Saber Tooth even accept her back after everything she did, after willingly being turned into a demon? As Minerva was thinking these things, a large celestial light erupted.
"What the hell, that's celestial spirit magic. Is Lucy still free" asked Dante as he stood up from Minerva and looked in the direction of the large celestial light. Dante was shocked when he saw a towering warrior, the magic that surrounded him was undoubtedly Lucy's.
"Since when did Lucy get a spirit like that" asked Dante in awe as he watched the celestial spirit cut into the Tartous base with celestial magic. Dante felt the ground shake as he watched the Alegria spell around him vanish. As the giant spirit started to do battle with who Dante assumed was Mard Geer, Dante started to speak out loud.
"Incredible, Lucy actually did it. Everyone should be free now" stated Dante in awe that Lucy would be capable of something like this let along avoid the Alegria spell. The giant spirit battled with Mard Geer for a short time before the magic binding the spirit to this dimension faded away. Once the giant spirit was gone, Dante could hear Mad Geer's angry voice fill his head.
"I've had it with you insects, this ends now" shouted Mard Geer in Dante's head. Just after Dante heard these words, Mard Geer appeared in front of him and fired an attack. Dante narrowly jumped out of the way before he realized his mistake. Turning his head towards Minerva, Dante shouted at her.
"DAMN! MINERVA" yelled Dante in worry as he watched the attack crash into Minerva who was still laying on the ground. The ground was torn apart as Mard Geer's attack collied with Minerva. Swearing to himself for forgetting about Minerva for a moment, Dante transformed into his Angel Soul Gabriel form. Dante wished that he had enough magical power to assume a stronger form, but this was the best he could do. Just as Dante was about to start his battle against Mard Geer, he noticed two figures behind him as a familiar voice started to speak.
"We came just in time to save you my lady" stated Sting with a smile as he carried a shocked Minerva in his arms. Dante smiled as he looked at the twin dragons of Saber Tooth.
"Damn I'm glad to see you two" stated Dante with a smile, relieved that he would not have to fight Mard Geer alone in his weakened and damaged state.
"We came to help as soon as those girls from your guild showed up to request our assistance" responded Rouge as Sting carefully set Minerva down on the ground. Dante smiled at these words, Ruby and the others had really come through for them.
"It doesn't matter how many of you there are, the end result will be the same. Soon the Faces will be activated, and all magical power will vanish from this continent" responded Mard Geer with a smile. Hearing these words Minerva spoke up, saying that it was impossible to control that many Faces all at once. Dante and the others were shocked to then learn that the Faces could still be activated through the necromancer demon controlling the dead body of the former chairman. Knowing that time was a factor, Sting stepped forward as he started to speak.
"Dante take Minerva and stop the Faces. Rouge and I can deal with this loser" stated Sting with a confident smile. While Dante disliked the idea of leaving Sting and Rouge alone to handle Mard Geer, he knew in his state he would likely be a hindrance. Nodding his head, Dante figured that the Twin Dragons of Saber Tooth could take care of themselves. Lifting Minerva up and supporting her on his shoulder, Dante smiled at Sting as he started to speak.
"Sure thing, I leave him to you then, but it would be rude of me to leave without giving you a gift Sting" responded Dante with a smile as he gathered his magical energy. Aiming his open palm towards Sting, Dante yelled his attack.
"Heaven's Ray" yelled Dante as he fired a powerful beam of holy energy towards Sting. Sting smiled as the holy energy collided with his body. The holy energy caused no harm to Sting who inhaled the energy.
"Thanks for the grub. Now I've got a fire in my belly" responded Sting, feeling his magical energy become exponentially stronger as he absorbed Dante's holy attack. While carrying Minerva bridal style in his arms, Dante flew in the other direction in search of the former chairman so they could put a stop to the Faces activation.
"I hope you don't mind me carrying you Minerva, it's faster this way and we don't have any time to waste" stated Dante in a tired tone. He was running really low on magical energy, but he had to push himself to maintaining his Angel Soul form for as long as he could. Minerva nodded her head in understanding as she started to speak.
"I don't mind, just go as fast as you can" responded Minerva with a slight blush on her face. Minerva knew that she should be focused on the task at hand but looking at Dante while he carried her in his strong arms, Minerva thought how she didn't notice before how handsome he was.
End of Chapter 230