Journeys of the Dreamer: Nakama United

by UnitedOsprey1991

Family is Stronger Than Blood. What is Man? What is Magic? In Book 2 of the Journeys Series, the Guardians head to the Land of Fiore. But in the world of Magic, its the march of technology that threatens everything. The Guardians must enlist the help of the famous Fairy Tail guild. Can they find the guardians in this world? T. Read Riders of Aura first. Pairings inside.

42. Heaven and Hell: The War Against Tartaro

OSPREY…SWOOSH

UO: Let's hope it doesn't take a year to update this
Natsu: LETS KICK SOME ASS
Erza: bops him on the head Don't get ahead of yourself, there is so much in front of us!
Drew: And you know what they say about plans and the enemy.
UO: Indeed. Normal disclaimers apply

"Speech"
Thoughts
Time change and location
Monster Speech/Belt/Super Mode
Attacks/Spells/Techniques

Chapter 42: Heaven vs Hell! The War against Tartaros

(Play Star Fox Mission Briefing)

Rewind to the day before the end of the last chapter, Late Morning. (The first part of the chapter will contain flashbacks to this scene. When its Italics it's the Flashback)

A computer screen flickered on as Drew stood in front of everyone in the dining room. "Good morning. Hope you're all rested and ready, cause we're about to go right into the lion's den. Thanks to Max and Friedrich here, and their drone camera, we have at least a decent idea of what to expect. Max?

The young boy pressed a button and a 3D image of the river heading upstream was revealed. "I was able to get close enough to the Miracle Eye base before something started to jam the signal. But for the purposes of our mission this is a good starting point."

As each segment was mapped out, a blue arrow was placed at the edge of the map symbolizing where they were anchored while a giant Green X blinked at their destination. In between were hundreds, perhaps thousands of yellow x and red xes all the way up to their anchorage.

"That's…a lot of troops," Lisanna gulped. "Did they prepare for us?"

"Chances are there were survivors from the mine, they know we're coming. Though I think something like this was long expected, given how deep some of these defense works are," Friedrich noted.

"It looks daunting, but i think if we take each section one step at a time we can get through this," Erza stated firmly, her tone not putting the more skittish members at ease.

"Exactly. So the idea is we have three airboats, two on board. Misty I assume you can surf the water?" The red head nodded. "Great. So, first step, the minefield and first line. Any suggestions?

Gabby raised her hand. "I can launch arrows with an electrical charge to clear the lines. But speed might be the key here. We can't waste time with the first line."

"You want to ride with Ash, then?" The two nodded. "Alright then, once the mines are set off, we'll push forward."

Pause flashback (In the present scenes play Area 6 from Star Fox 64)

Orion was on the front of her airboat, standing in front of the .30 cal as she held up her arrow. Aura in the boat to her left immediately charged it up and she aimed skyward.

Zodiac on the boat on her right with Friedrich piloting nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

Orion nodded and poured more energy into the arrow before raising it and firing, the arrow streaking through the air.

"Lets go," Zodiac ordered, the airboats roaring to life. Moments later, explosions rocked the river as the electrified arrow found its mark. The airboats quickly broke through the wreckage followed by the main ship. As they raced forward, they saw more boats and even some ground troops begin to fly in.

"So what happens when we get people coming after us?" Gajeel grunted.

"We will try to take care of as many as we can, but there's a good chance we have to let some of them pass. And that's where those on the ship will pick them off," Drew said, pulling up the ship's schematics and highlighting six spots on the ship, three on each side of the deck. "Six of us will be firing from these gun emplacements. If they get on the ship, snuff them out."

Zodiac started flinging fire balls at the group approaching, which prompted Orion and Lupus to start firing as well from the .30 caliber guns on their boats. The two marksmen easily picked off the first wave, but with the amount thrown at them, some inevitably got through. It was here that Pleiades and Draco led the defenders that stayed on the ship to fight back with their magic and the emplaced weapons, firing at any that came close to the ship. In a fit of brilliance, Pleiades split Mutsuraboshi's chains up into separate links and fed them like a belt into the gun she was on. Each chain link fired off like a cannonball striking their opponent before flying back and reconnecting with the end of the whip like an endless conveyor belt.

Meanwhile Draco in his Sapphire form was firing condensed water shots into the water. While not as precise as his partner, the kick up from the shots impacting the water was enough to upset the boats balance, knocking them into the water. Draco then charged up Urvan and pointed it upwards. "Sapphire Dragon's Cloudburst Crasher!" The watery blast flew up into the sky above their opponents before exploding, sending cannonballs of of water crashing down on the opposing boats, blowing them up or sinking them in the process. "That's what you get for messing with Fairy Tail!" Draco roared, giving Pleia a high five as they cleared the port side.

Over on the starboard side, Lupus fired a burst of icy shots from his gun, the bullets impacted and exploded in a burst of ice on impact knocking their targets into the water. Seeing their allies being picked off, some decided to take the initiative and land on the ship, trying to pick off the shooters. Only for Argo to drop down from above and kick one off. He parried another slash and fired three lightning infused kunai at another mage zapping him off the ship.

"Stay off our ship, you maggots!" The pirate Rider demanded as he cut through another. As he did so, a chakram ricocheted off the deck, then the wall before phasing through Argo and finishing off the group in front of him. It disappeared into a purple portal and appeared on the other side of Lupus, striking two more and knocking them off. Argo felt something land on his shoulder, before hearing a low cry as Kyokan kicked another off the boat. "Oi, that was my kill!"

"This isn't about kill scores. We are on a mission!" Kyokan snapped, firing an Astral bolt at a trooper trying to climb a board. "Focus on preserving this ship. We still have a long way to go!" She hopped up to the pilot house, where Onyx and Kusa were manning the wheel. "Status?"

"We're almost through this part," Onyx told them as he adjusted the course. "The next part might decide if can survive with the boat intact."

Kyokan looked through the screen to see a clear river as they started to turn. Once the turn was complete, they spotted the next set of defenses. Onyx smirked knowing the plan for this section.

Rewind

The map on the table moved up to a series of towers marked with several Xs between them. "Next we have several towers with numerous guards and other mages here. We're sitting ducks with those gun positions set up."

"Then perhaps we can attack from above them?" Erza suggested as she pointed to herself and Mira. "We can take flight and attack from the sky. No one should be able to reach us from there.

"That can work. I can have drones with you, flying around to give you guidance," Max added helpfully.

Dawn of all people raised her hand too. "I've been working on an idea with my Mega form and my gems. I can sweep through the river and cause confusion for Ash, Drew and Misty to clean up the survivors."

"You sure you got this?" asked Ash.

"No need to worry!" she replied, grinning with cheery determination.

Present time

Up in the sky, Aquila was flying high above the ship on the starboard side, her Heavens wheel form gleaming in the sun alongside several hundred swords. On the port side, Cygnus, decked out in her Sitri form was mirroring her actions, waiting for the signal.

"Cygnus, Aquila, Hanabi! Bring the rain!" Zodiac ordered.

Aquila nodded, and with a powerful gust of wind, she charged into the fray, her blades rocketing behind her. The troops in the towers were focused on the relatively slower moving boat and thus were caught off guard as the blades tore through the towers, their opponents screaming as they fell into the river, the debris falling on top of them. Meanwhile Cygnus charged up a Soul Extinction spell. Above her, several more orbs formed and began to spin around around her. With a thrust, the orbs descended like a black rain on her targets. The screams of troopers and guild members echoed through the valley as their defensive networks were melted as if they were ice.. She then continued her charge, firing off beams of magic on anyone surviving

On the water, Hanabi leaped off her boat and pressed a button on her wrist. "Execute MEGA EVOLUTION!

MEGA!

Her armor glowed and became surrounded by a pink sphere. When it burst, her armor had transformed, becoming sleek and magenta, with two jets on her legs and a pair of wings on her back. Her leg, arm and chest armor contained shiny reflective material that glowed with ethereal light as the sun was reflected off them. Floating down and quickly activating her rockets, she sped ahead, her aura condensing into four orbs as they orbited around her.

"STARLIGHT SUNDERING!"

She began to spin, her orbs spinning with her. In a blink of an eye, four lasers shot out from her constructs like a laser show. The first group soldiers stood no chance as the lasers sliced clean through them, causing them to collapse into a steaming heap. Wasting no time, she immediately summoned two Light Screens that spun with her, reflecting the lasers back into the fray. Those on the water who survived the first barrage were then at the mercy of the second, explosions and fire filling the river.

Zodiac whistled as he watched the destruction from all three as they sped through the smoke. "Okay, we got some deadly ladies. Wow, that was amazing."

As his boat cleared the smoke, he was caught off guard by three survivors suddenly leaping onto his boat and causing him to lose his balance. Cursing his luck, he blocked the first one's charge before stabbing him and throwing him off the boat past the propeller. The other two tried to take advantage of it by attacking while his back was turned. The first one swung at the Rider, only for him to easily parry and push it back. The second took advantage and tried to fire a spell at him, only for Friedrich to fling a nail into his hand. The scream of pain was enough to distract his friend, whereupon Zodiac kicked him back and placed Osceola against their skull and pulled the trigger. Both were dead the moment they hit the water as the Rider recovered.

"You alright?" Friedrich called out.

"Yeah. Zodiac to all Riders: keep your guard up, there's bound to be more," the Guardian ordered, checking his body for wounds while setting up to pick off the stragglers.

At Tartaros Headquarters, meeting hall

A blond, dog-eared man stormed into the hall, growling. "What the hell? I thought our attack was in a couple of weeks!"

Yuzan, who was speaking with Mard Geer as they watched a map, cries of pain echoing through comms. "It appears, our enemies decided to preempt us. We need to scramble our defenses."

"How many are we talking about? An entire division?"

"No," a beautiful, purple haired woman spoke up. She was dressed in a blue leopard-print kimono, which was opened to reveal her large breasts and pale, almost chalk white skin. Above her hair were two devil horns that jutted out several inches. "It appears to be a single squad of about 15 to 20. But they have blown past our first two defensive lines without much effort. Master Mard, what shall we do?"

Mard Geer hummed as he watched his alliance being dismantled entirely and efficiently. "If they get past the Bends, they have a straight shot towards the canyon defenses. Jackal!" The blond haired man looked at him. "Take control there, order the men towards the forest beyond. Sink them!"

Jackal grinned and headed towards the gate that would teleport him to where he would take up watch. As he departed, Mard looked over at the purple haired woman. "If they make it to the woods, I want you and Kyouka to make them regret being born."

Kyouka nodded and went to find her partner. Yuzan glared at Mard. "These Riders are not a joke. Can your demons end them before we do?"

Mard grinned. "Even if they get past Jackal, we have Seven more Demon Gates, and me, they can't possibly beat us all and survive."

Yuzan grinned, loving the confidence, but deep down, she knew that the Riders were no joke. If they weren't stopped here, they could easily get stronger and more resources, a prospect that would complicate future plans. If it was obvious that Tartaros was going to fall, she needed an exit strategy.

Maybe this Zeref Mard worshiped would be a good investment…

Back on the River

The Riders were keeping the same torrid pace from before, save for a brief slowdown to check for damage. As they blasted through another squadron, they spotted a large group up ahead and the river starting to bend sharply. Zodiac grinned and looked over at Triton who was gathering her magic.

Rewind

As the map moved forward to the bends, Max chimed in. "With that amount of bends and defenses we will be lucky to have a working ship." As he said this, everyone turned to Misty, who was already smiling. "But if we have a way to go straight ahead?"

"Fancy doing some geography changes?" Friedrich asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm about to tame this river!" The red head giggled, her teeth turning shark-like.

"And if there are survivors, we drown them," Ash finished.

Resume

Seeing the Water Guardian starting to glow, Zodiac got on the comms. "Pull back, wait for the wave to pass, then move in. This is gonna be a big one!"

All the boats slowed down as Triton continued to charge. Then, in an instant, she dropped into the water. The river slowed to a crawl as the energy swirled around where she had sunk, before swiftly rising high above the trees. The Guardian rose to the top like a sinuous viper, her arms spread out, the water obeying her command. With a wave of her hand, the wave pushed forward, taking care to limit the damage to the trees on the shoreline. Like an expert surfer, she rode the water, making it higher and higher, until it reached 20 feet tall. The defenders watched as the water retreated from their shore ine and looked up to see the towering wave. Most had enough time to scream before the wave crashed down onto them, drowning them. The wave continued, crashing through the small isthmus that formed from this river, doing what would take months or years, mere seconds to do. The wave spread around the newly made course, setting off any of the planted traps.

When the survivors gathered themselves, they found themselves at the end of a pair talons Columbia dive bombed those caught in the trees. Her sharp talon sliced through them like butter, prompting further screams as the boats raced past them. The largest group that survived, ones that saw the wave cresting over the trees, prepared to fight the invaders. Only to see Aura and Zodiac already charging up attacks. Aura's power built up before sending it into the air. With a clap and drop onto his ship, he shouted. "ZAPDOS HAMMERDROP!"

Eight massive Lighting bolts dropped into the water, striking the boats and those on the shore with thousands of bolts of electricity. The survivors watched in horror as Zodiac clapped his hands and thrust them forward. "BURNING HANDS!" The air ignited as the wave of fire cut through it like it wasnt there. The fast moving flames absorbed all sound as firework like explosions consumed the rest, the lack of mercy shown by the Riders on full display. The boats dashed through the flames, unphased by the destruction.

Zodiac looked over at Aura and Triton. "Talk about bringing the hammer down, that was epic!"

"Guess all that training's paying off," Friedrich nodded. "But these are the scrubs most likely. Do we know who the big targets are?"

"I did some research before we deployed to rescue you guys," Onyx spoke up. "They are led by the Nine Demon Gates. Fitting, considering Tarturus is one of the names of hell and the Underworld. Guild master we couldn't find but he's supposedly the Underworld King."

"Nine Demon Gates, they must be really strong!" Aquila commented

"Fuck them! You see what we did? Those Gates won't stand a chance!" Argo boasted.

The team proceeded further up the river, slowing down as their current threat had abated. But as they traversed the river they noticed that the defenses were not as expected.

"Something's wrong…they should have been here," Orion muttered.

"What? Oh come on! I wanted to kick ass!" Draco moaned.

"Maybe they just pulled back to the canyon," Columbia pondered.

Ace who had been looking ahead to said canyon via a drone picture saw something that shocked him. "The canyon…it's abandoned too!"

"Wait what? How the hell did they move that fast?"

Zodiac let the chatter clog the radio for a few moments, understandable that their plans were thrown off. "Enough!" His authoritative voice cut through the chaos. "Look, there's an old adage. 'No plan survives first contact with the enemy.' We have been causing more chaos than normal. So maybe they figured that would be saving their stuff for the fortress. Let's just stay focused."

End previous song

Everyone reluctantly calmed down and started to keep their eyes peeled on the shoreline and the air, their bodies tense, the grips on their weapons tightening. After about 30 minutes, they approached the canyon that would lead towards their destination. When the river started to open up, Zodiac held up his hand. "Kill the engines." He quickly got on the gun and started scanning the area. Everyone else started to focus as well, with the Aura users ramping up their Aura sense, the fliers trying to pick something out in trees.

In said trees, Jackal frowned. He had used his Curse, 'Bomb,' to lay out a minefield in front of the only entrance to their base. The plan had been to damage the boats and when they were panicking, to swoop in and cause some pain to these interlopers. But for some reason they stopped well short of the line and were looking for something. He grinded his teeth, cursing them internally at the fact that they could think ahead like this. Seeing they weren't moving, he simply crouched down and waited for his chance.

Unknown to him, above his head, a small flying mechanical object had seen his yellow hair and zoomed in on him. Ace, at the controls, was on the radio. "Got one, 2 o clock, moving closer to the riverbank."

Zodiac nodded silently and kept scanning the sky. "Wait for my signal…don't give away the game yet…" he muttered.

"What's the signal?" Draco asked.

"You'll know it," Zodiac whispered. After a couple more moments, he started to turn in the direction Ace called out. Once he was lined up, he took a deep breath. '3…' He gripped it harder, sliding his thumbs over the buttons. '2…' He watched the others start to train in on where he was pointing. '1…' He pressed the buttons. The .30 caliber rounds ripped through the trees, followed by several other bursts of fire and weapons.

Jackal cursed as his position was lit up. Suffering a few shots to the chest, he ducked out of the way of several swords and other magical attacks as he raced out onto the water.

"Heh, you got me good, but your gonna have to do better than that," he boasted, the wounds closing up. "You want to get to our headquarters, you gotta go through me, Jackal!" As he said this he waved his arms. A series of explosions went off in front of the Riders, throwing up water into their faces. He immediately charged at the nearest boat, which happened to have Hanabi and Sirius, two Riders who were not even close to handling the explosives that he was using.

HYDRO PUMP

The mage was blasted back by a pissed off Water Guardian. He skidded off the water's surface and wiped his chin. "That was a good hit girly-" He was cut off by a much bigger impact that as Draco in his Emerald form came from above and cracked Urvan into his head sending him into the water.

"Draco! What are you doing?" Zodiac demanded.

"Get the boats going! Me and Pleia can handle him!" As he said this, Pleiades landed on the water in her Aquarius form, floating above it.

"Draco! Don't be stupid!" Aquila ordered.

"Aquila We got this!" Pleiades countered.

Cygnus was about to comment when out of the corner of her eye Columbia dive bombed him. "Columbia!"

"EAGLE DIVE!" She shouted crashing into the Tartaros mage. For her effort she did managed to knock him back but not off his feet. He recovered and watched her fly back and above her allies.

"You're not going anywhere!" Jackal snarled, waving his arm as a serious of explosions rocked the water, hitting the larger ship.

Those on board felt the impact as the boat shook violently. "Fucking hell!" Argo cursed his motion sickness trying to rear its head.

"Damage report! Where did we get hit?" Onyx asked.

"Fuck! Got a couple of hits over here!" The dragon slayer shouted back quickly looking

"Got some damage here! Let me see…nothing below the waterline yet!" Kyokan called back.

"If there are bulkheads, seal them up!"

Jackal frowned as the bigger boat kept moving. If the ship escaped their trap, they would pose a bigger issue for their operations, since the river ran straight to their base."You're tougher than I thought. Let's even the odds a bit. SOLDIERS, ATTACK!"

Out of the woods, several hundred soldiers appeared, some with water based abilities, some having rockets, while others flew out of the woods, ready to strike from above.

Start: Star Fox 64 Boss A

"This is where you meet your end, Riders!" He declared as he charged at Draco.

"Bring it!" Draco roared, mirroring him and running full tilt until finally they clashed, axe against claw. The collision between the two rocked the area, kicking up several waves that threw everyone off balance.

Out in front of the ship, Zodiac fired his gun, finding his mark on many water based troops. As he continued to fire, he heard a sound he dreaded.

CLICK! CLICK!

"No, not now!" he begged, trying to pull the charging handle back, but it proved impossible to move. "FUCK!"

"Gun jam!?" Friedrich asked, firing off several nails at the incoming swarm.

"Fucking jammed!" Zodiac confirmed as he snapped off several bolts of fire from his hand at their more confident opponents. "Fired too much, the barrel warped! …Fuck I could have absorbed the heat" He saw everyone else trying to fight back, with the numbers starting to add up. "Friedrich, make sure this boat survives for the next five minutes! I have an idea how to get us out of here!" He ordered as he tore the ammo box off and started to hover over the river. "Don't die on me!"

"Better people than them have tried!" Friedrich laughed beginning to tap into his many abilities.

Zodiac flew towards the first boat, striking several soldiers with his sword before landing on the boat with Sirius and Hanabi.

"Hey girls, need some help?" He joked, slashing a fish hybrid clean through.

Hanabi fired off more lasers from around her, bouncing them off the water and the light screens he summoned. "Wouldn't hurt if we can get out of here! How are we gonna break through?"

"Working on it!" Zodiac called out, getting into the engine and going for the fuel line. Slicing it up so that it started leaking, he placed a small bit of magic over it. "Alright, abandon ship!" he ordered, grabbing Sirius who squeaked and taking off, firing one last shot at the throttle.

Hanabi immediately rocketed off the boat while Sirius hung on tight, Zodiac flying behind her. Once sufficiently far, he held his hand up and clenched it. The boat, heading towards a large group of soldiers and mutants, promptly exploded in a large fireball, sending the group scattering through the air. Those not killed immediately by the first explosion were caught in a second one as, unknown to everyone but Jackal, he had indeed set an explosive trap to catch the larger boat, the water shooting up in a massive spray.

The two explosions caught the mage's attention as the other traps went off. "You Riders are so annoying! We made that trap for you!" Jackal snarled, his claws glowing.

"Look who's talking!" Draco retorted, "TORNADO DRAGON CLAW!" He hefted up Urvan, which was beginning to glow green and spun around, disturbing the air and creating a massive maelstrom around his weapon before swiping at him. The glowing slash disrupted the ar in between Draco and his opponent, causing the demon to be surrounded by cutting winds. But to their dismay, the wounds were already closing, sealing up with a hiss.

"What the…? How are you doing this?" Draco asked, confused, as the wounds sealed up with a demonic hiss.

"You like it? Our bodies can heal from any wound. You're not gonna beat me like this, especially with those ladies of yours!" Jackal laughed.

This boasting proved to be a mistake, however, as he felt Pleiades's metallic whip bind him tightly before he was lifted into the air. As he was lifted up and then snapped loose, Columbia swooped in, her feathers already flying like sharp blades, digging into his skin, her talons gleaming as she thrust them forward in her dive to kick him back down, causing him to bounce off the surface.

"Fucking hell! You bitches are something else!" He growled as his wounds healed. "How about we bring some fireworks!" Several small orbs blinked into existence on their armor popping miniature stars, before exploding like fireworks. While Draco and Columbia only took a few explosions. Unfortunately Pleiades screamed as her armor and weapon exploded with miniature, fireworks dancing across her body.

"Pleia!" her companions cried out.

"Like it?" Jackal taunted as the celestial mage was forced onto her knees. "Call that a deterant against touching me. And to make sure you can't do anything…" He raised his hand and suddenly, Pleiades was surrounded by a large, glowing sphere, signifying he had lit a fuse. "I'd suggest you give up…or your precious princess will turn into stardust!"

Draco was about to make a comment when he noticed Pleia, despite her injuries, not looking scared to be in her predicament more like she was already planning something. "Let her go and I'll make your beadown quick." He demanded, his magic flaring to life as he gripped his weapon.

Jackal laughed. "Say goodbye then!" He moved to activate his curse, then he felt his world go white. In his boasting nature, he didn't see Pleiades flick her hands, creating two portals, one under her and one underneath Jackal. Once he activated the bomb prison, she just swapped their positions as the bomb glowed a bright white.

BOOOOM!

The explosion shook the area, shaking trees and causing massive waves to rock the ship, forcing Sirius and Triton to steady the ship. Up above, Cygnus heard the big explosion and briefly looked behind her. "Pleia!?" She blocked a spear that was aimed for her side and shot the attacker in the head. "Pleia, Draco, Colombia! Are you three alright?"

"We're fine, we might have bought some time to get out of here!" Colombia replied as they started to fly down, Draco carrying Pleia after she escaped her prison.

"Colombia's right, we're good to go!" Zodiac ordered as he helped Hanabi back onto the boat. "Onyx! Get us out of here!"

Onyx up in the wheelhouse nodded and started up the engines again as Draco and Colombia flew back to the boat, the Wood mage quickly starting to heal the Guardian..

"Pleia? What happened?" Hanabi asked as she joined in the healing. Cygnus had landed as she asked this and

"Bastard got some ability to plant explosives on people that touch him. If he weren't dead, I'd put him six feet under!" Draco growled.

As they entered the canyon, a large roar echoed through the area. "What the fuck he's still alive?" Draco screeched as they headed towards the stern. Out of the smoke and water, a large canine like figure raced out of the splash, though his appearance had drastically changed. He was much larger now, covered in yellow, singed fur. His face had taken on more canine appearance, similar to his namesake with a longer nose and long pointed ears. The frothing mouth and the fury in his eyes completed the hound from hell look.

"YOU'RE ALL DEAD!" He screamed, swiping both arms up in a rage.

Two dozen explosions rocked the canyon walls, sending boulders of various sizes crashing down towards the ship. With little room to maneuver, there was only one choice.

"Orion! Lupus! Help me shoot down the rocks! Onyx, Triton, Argo, keep us off the walls!" Zodiac ordered, leaping to the top of the ship.

Orion watched the boulders fall, calculated each shot and fired off arrows steadily. The smaller rocks were blasted into harmlessly-sized fragments instantly as those shafts pierced through them with deceptive weight. However, the bigger rocks kept falling even after splitting in half and using some trick shots to split them up further. Lupus and Zodiac, seeing this, unloaded everything they had from their guns, the latter firing off multiple clips in short succession and the former setting his own weapon to full auto.

Below deck on the starboard side, Triton raised her hand and a wall of water rode up the canyon, pushing the ship back into the center of the channel. Then she had to do it again as some of the debris found the water and forced them back to the side she just pushed away from.. "Onyx! Keep us off the damn wall!s"

"I'm trying! The rudder can only move so much so quickly," Onyx snapped back. With the size of the ship, it was hard for it to respond quickly, but he was doing his best.

On the bow, Argo was doing double duty, shouting out where to turn and clearing out obstructions. Firing off several iron bolts, he spotted a sharp bend. "We're going left!"

Onyx cursed and spun the wheel as hard as he could, Triton raising the water to keep them off the canyons. The horrible screeching from a scrape against the stone confirmed they couldn't stay off it completely, as some of the wood and railings broke off into the currents.

Draco stood up, wobbly after the loud screech and began to levitate. "C'mon, we need to finish this asshole!" He launched himself towards Jackal, who laughed at the Dragon Slayer and met his fist with his own.

Pleiades slowly sat up, which got Cygnus to try to hold her down. "Pleia, you're hurt, we got this."

"No, I need to finish this!" The Guardian brushed her off as she limped over to the railings and flung Mutsraboshi's chains at the cliffs. Pulling herself to the wall, she had to think quickly as Columbia and Draco attacked them together. "How am I going to fight him in the air?"

"Let me at him! We are in a canyon!" Scorpio replied. "I can dig through the earth, leap on the rocks."

Pleia nodded and swapped out Virgo's key for the Sand Spirits and inserted into her belt.

SUMMON: SCORPION

The armored maid outfit instantly blinked off, as her armor shifted into the Scorpio's armor. She quickly ran along the top of the canyon and used Mutsuraboshi to cross the crevasse, further away from the main fighting, a plan forming in her mind.

Draco and Columba meanwhile continued to strike the stronger demon as he raced along the wall. Their aerial advantage allowed them to avoid the worst of the explosions, but being unable to deal lasting damage was starting to annoy them both, Draco in particular as he started to punch harder. "Fucker, just go down already! WIND DRAGON'S HOWLING FIST!" The wind magic swirled around his ignited fist and smashed into the demon, dragging him along the wall. "Fuck you!" he growled and then unleashed several punches onto the demon as if he were a ragdoll

Jackal, despite his previous cocky demeanor, snarled in pain as the wind-enhanced punch ripped into him, tearing off fur and skin as the attacks tore through his body. He barely got a hand up slap his opponent away, miniature explosions dancing up the offending arm in response to the damage taken, forcing Draco to let go. As the demon crawled out of the rock, there were serious burns and cuts caused by the wind enhanced flames. Even though he had gotten bigger and evolved, his regeneration was noticeably slowing down, as if all the previous damage was starting to make a difference

"You…maggots! You think you can beat me? Beat the Demon Gates? You'll need more than just a little fire and some pea shooters will kill us!" Jackal snarled, his face partially melted and glowing angrily. He raised his arm and the air around Draco and Columbia started to distort and spark with electricity. The size of the distorted air meant that even if they flew away, they weren't going to be able to avoid it all, as they started to back away towards the canyon.

"Feel your world crumble,GAH!" As he was about to activate the magic, he felt large stab in his back, the large blade piercing his stomach. "Wha-" He coughed looking back. Pleiades, having hidden in the canyon wall, had leaped out while Jackal was distracted and got a critical blow in the lower abdomen.

"Don't! EVER! HURT MY FRIENDS! She yelled, lifting up her sword and swinging him back towards Draco. Draco was ready with a large fire twister surrounding his arm. Jackal felt something in his face break as the punch connected, the twister only adding to the burning pain.

"GAAAHH!" He screamed, only feel sharp claws dig into his skull. Columbia, swooping up behind and embedding one of her talons into his face. The other talon kicked him higher and higher into the sky. One last kick sent him spiraling back right to her partners, who were already readying their final attack. She quickly flew behind them and inserted her Dove ring into her belt and turned it the opposite way

FINALE! WIND DRAGON KICK STRIKE! SAIKO~!"

GATE OPEN: SCORPIO!

BEAST STRIKE! DOVE! DOVE! DOVE!

"Demons, Shadows, Hellspawn! I don't care who I face! No One messes with my Guild!" Draco roared as the wind swirled into a maelstrom. He felt Mutsuraboshi and Jungle Respite wrap around his arms and instinctively ignited his fists and swung forward, the two female Riders riding the massive gust of wind, their feet glowing silver and green.

"SCORPIO STING STRIKE!"

"JUNGLE BEAST CRASH!"

With a loud cry, both Riders shot through the air, crashing through the Demons chest, causing blood to blast out and ignite in the air. Not wasting time, they pulled Draco forward, his foot surrounded by a maelstrom of flames and sharp wind.

"FIRE DRAGON'S TORNADO KICK!" He roared, the wind propelling him like a rocket towards the demon, who could only watch his death appear in a blinding flash, as the kick burst through his head. Seconds passed before Jackal glowed bright red and he screamed in pain as he blew up in a spectacular explosion. The three Riders fell briefly before Columbia flapped her wings and gently flew down. Draco quickly righted himself and caught Pleiades before flying back down to the canyon.

End Song

The trio found their friends in an area of calmer water that they anchored off of, with everyone frantically looking for damage and repairing the best they could in the limited time they had.

Mira, her helmet currently removed, saw them land and rushed over. "You beat him?"

"It was nothing we couldn't handle," Natsu grinned as he placed Lucy down and removed his helmet.

Lucy winced as she landed, however, and started hopping on her leg.

"Lucy?" Lisanna gasped. "Was there more than what we saw?"

"I think I took some extra hits down there, ow ow," the blonde hissed as she deactivated her helmet and sat down, wincing as she stretched out her leg. The Wood mage began to heal her ankle. "Damn it, he really turned my weapon against me."

Drew walked up to them. "Anything wrong?"

"That guy could plant explosives everywhere. We're lucky we've got great healers," Lucy explained, to Lisanna's blush.

"Get Friedrich to look at your injuries and make sure they're all cleaned up," Drew ordered, scanning everyone else.

"How's the ship?" Natsu asked, swallowing some bile.

"We…took more of a beating than expected, but its still working. Im more worried about underneath. If the keels busted we're screwed." Misty chose this point to come up. "Yes?"

"The keel's fine, but there's some below water line damage. We were able to get it repaired but shipwrights we aren't, at least Gajeel isn't yet," the redhead replied showing a projection with areas outlined in red, with some areas in yellow.

Natsu stood up wobbly. "Let me and Lugnuts look at it." He tried to take a step only to fall against the wall, as Lucy and Lisanna helped him sit down.

The fire guardian knelt down and patted Natsu's shoulder. "You are going to rest, because this fight is far from over. That is an order, understood?" He asked, but a noticeable edge in his voice brooked no argument.

Natsu wisely shut up, as Drew actually had a point. Meanwhile, Lisanna, having never heard Drew that frustrated before, tried to defend her boyfriend as she sprang up. "Hey! We just took down one of their Demon Gates, cut us a little slack!"

"That slack is getting you to rest!" Drew growled, standing up and reminding her how tall he was even at this age. "We are in a freaking guild war and I'm going to make sure every one of us gets home safely!

Before Lisanna could respond, Mira gently patted her shoulder. "He's right. Once we destroy these guilds, we can go home and actually act like a guild…not a militia."

Lisanna sighed and leaned against a wall. "What happened to our guild? We didn't used to be like this."

"You got caught in our war, and now you're learning that war sucks," Drew replied without turning around and walked away, passing Tori who looked at him concerned. Whatever anger the Fire Guardian had had cooled off as he smiled and patted the healer.

"Is he normally this mad?" Lucy asked asked as Tori sped up her healing.

"No, it's just the circumstances. He's the commander of this team, but he's feeling overwhelmed and he does not handle stress well. For what it's worth, he knows you did a great job, he's worried about you…about all of us," she said looking up at the wheelhouse.

In the wheel room, Drew scanned the map ahead, with positions and defenses highlighted and crossed out. However, what concerned him was the big blob of darkness underneath the big red X on the map. "Max, can we get anything clearer?"

"No…we're gonna have to go in blind, sorry," the young Engineer rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Drew gently laid his head down and groaned. "Damn it, this is what I was afraid of. First chance you get, you figure out how to see through this." Max only nodded and scribbled down some notes.

"What are we gonna do? They definitely know we're coming now," Friedrich asked.

Drew raised his head and then stood up. "I guess it's time I revealed my little projects."

"What projects?" Erza asked, entering the room with the others.

Drew smirked and held out his hands. A magic circle similar to the redhead's Requip materialized in a red and gold circle. and started to extend across his hand. "Just some toys I came up with while Tinkering."

Everyone stared at the weapon in his hand with big bulging eyes as it was placed on the table with a loud clang, neary splitting it in two. Ash was the first to speak and turned to Friedrich. "So this is what you two were working on so secretly."

Friedrich smirked as Drew began to explain the gun and the ammo. "This wasn't all me, this was mostly his idea to begin with."

Flashback to before Nirvana

Drew sighed as he cleaned Osceola and Renegade. He really wanted to use them more, but finding the right ammo was hard. He could get the .357 magnum ammo for Brave, but the .45 ammo that the 1911s used was non-existent, forcing him to supplement it with his magic.

Finishing the cleaning, he leaned back and closed his eyes. He knew what weapons in his world could do. If they were to be brought here, the results wouldn't be pretty. Then he thought about the weapons from various movies and games he had seen. Things like RPGs, laser blasters and the like. He hadn't realized it until his hands were already moving that he was assembling something. Looking down, he was surprised to find a design for a small handgun. The mere fact he could draw this well was shocking enough, but the amount of detail was already beyond what he could do normally.

"I know that state anywhere," Friedrich spoke up, startling him. "Tinkers sometimes go on autopilot when they're making things." He approached the drawing and looked at it. "Glock 17?"

"I wanted to start small and I needed a way to make ammo for Osceola and Renegade. And well…"

Friedrich hummed. "Well, you don't have the equipment yet, but I can fabricate the materials you need. So what would you need?"

Drew closed his eyes. "I need…brass for cartridges, gunpowder to fill them. I need…vises, a toolbox, stands, something to set the sights, a welder. And eventually I'm gonna need a rifling bore."

As he spoke, Friedrich started putting charges into making the various tools he needed. Hammers, drills, molds, metals, all of the tools needed to start making the weapons. He also formed another forge area that connected to it, awaiting to be lit with his flames. "Piece of cake. Those are all mundane materials, so making them should be child's play."

Drew stared at the materials, his mind racing through the possibilities he could do now. Friedrich looked over his shoulders. "A word of advice…don't limit yourself by assuming you're limited to real life weaponry or mechanisms. Tinkers can make absolutely ridiculous things as long as it's part of their specialization. However, in order to reach those, you might need to create special tools. And to make those tools, you might need to make more tools. With Tinkers, it's always a matter of time and resources."

Drew nodded and remembered weapons that could fit in hand and started a smaller handgun. But like anything, the first creations were not exactly the best as he held up a piece of slag as a result. "Well, Edison didn't get it right the first time." He sighed, smelting it back down.

The next two days were him getting better and better with his creations, until finally he could say he could create not only copies of his handguns, but the modern weapons that were found around the world, shortly before leaving for the Nirvana mission.

After Baron Nashor mission

Gabby yawned as she walked down the hall, dressed in oversized shirt and panties. She had wanted to wake up next to Drew, but the Guardian was no where to be found. She looked around until she spotted a second door that looked like the entrance to Friedrich's lab. Opening it, she gaped at the sight. She looked like she was in a gun shop as she spied heavy equipment up throughout the room. On a table were various sized bullets, from smaller 9mm and .380 ACP to the famous .45 ACP and even .357 Magnum. Further down she could see some rifle size bullets as well, being around Drew long enough she could recognize the famous M1 Garand clip of 8 .30-06 ammo. At the end of the table was Drew tapping powder into a set of cartridges before he placed them on a stand to

"Drew?

The Guardian looked up, his hands moving in a practiced rhythm. "Morning, Gabby."

"What is all this?" She waved her arms around.

"My Bud came in. I'm a Gun Tinker. Been making ammo for our weapons. Can I see your gun?" He spoke without pause, not looking up from his project.

Gabby blinked and went back to her room, returning with her rifle. "Um, may I ask why?

"Well, two things. One, there might be an issue with the trigger if I read some of the forums right. Two, I can rechamber it to an ammo that I can make more of, if you want. I think it's in….308? No, some sort of Magnum." He wondered aloud.

"So…how long have you been doing this?"

"Since before Nirvana. Friedrich's been helping out a bit," He began to disassemble the rifle. "Been doing the smaller stuff first, the bullets and other materials. Haven't gotten to making full-sized weapons yet."

Gabby watched dumbfounded as he took apart the weapon with skill and then rolled away to make the new trigger. "Um…okay…so, you do have a bud."

"Yep," he said.

"And you've been making these for how long?"

"Two weeks…Friedrich gave me materials. Once I was cleared from the concussion, I was back in here. So about that chambering?"

"...not at the moment, maybe later," Gabby answered as she watched him work. After a few moments, she walked up and hugged him. "Thank you."

Drew smiled and continued to work.

Post Edolas during training

"What do you think?" Drew asked, holding up one of his creations. It was a pistol not unlike Osceola and Renegade but it was lighter and a bit more compact. "Glock 19. Perfect for side arms." He fired at a tree and got a good grouping of bullet holes.

Friedrich nodded. "That'll do, especially after your first few duds."

"Thanks, been wanting to wait for a bit before I went to rifles. I know one or two of our Rider weapons that need an update. Mortar is based on a Springfield, so I either need to rechamber it or make it a semi auto. Milo is fine, the M1 was and still is a good weapon. Urvan might need a more reliable barrel. Condemnation I could redo somehow, maybe make it a multi barrel design.

Friedrich grinned as Drew began a mutterstorm over all the weapons he could designs. "One step at a time, gun nut. I bet you could create magical rounds now."

"Wait, like incendiary and ice rounds, like Lupus?" Drew asked surprise,d. "So I can go into video games too?"

"Like I told you, Tinkers are only limited by their imagination. If you wanted to, you could make Star Wars weapons, or even modify the hell out of other weapons. You ever played Ratchet and Clank?"

"...Only the third one. You think we can get them going?"

"Eventually!" Friedrich grinned. "When we're done, Erzas gonna be jealous of your armory.

End of flashback, a couple hours later

The large contingent of the combined Miracle and Tartaros force were nervous. Word had reached them from observers that one of the Demon Gates had fallen, as well as a number of their comrades on the river. They had been hastily regrouped in the woods, arranged into defensive lines that hopefully would slow down their foes enough to allow the leaders to finish the job. With the numbers they had on hand, and their comrades reinforcing them in the castle. they felt they could stand a fighting chance.

That was until the lookouts on the river spotted the enemy ship and opened fire. The ship barreled through their attempts to shoot as it made for their docks. A panic shot through the defenders as they realized what they were trying to and started to flee. For some, it was too late, the ship barrelling through the rank. crushing those that were too slow, catapulting the rest into the water. The momentum carried onto land, riding a large wave before it came to settle about 10 yards from the shore, enough to beach it, but not far enough that it would be hard to remove it.

A few moments passed as the Miracle Eye and Tartaros troops scrambled to fix their defensive positions. As they approached the ship, they heard several loud steps echoing through the ship. In the shadows of the ship, Zodiac's eyes glowed as he stepped forward, clad in his Viscount form. In his hands was a long machine with 4 metal tubes…which began to spin rapidly as he hefted it up.

One of the demons said what was on everyone's mind. "Sweet…mother of…SHIT!"

(Begin: The Trooper by Iron Maiden)

The barrels spun up and in an instant the gun was lit up as the bullets raced out of the barrels at a blistering pace. In seconds, what was the first line of defense was nothing more than blood and dust as Zodiac spread the damage around like a firehose Once over the shock, those not in the way of the spinning barrels of death quickly tried to find shelter from the death raining down. Those with wings flew above and dove at him. Only to bounce off several pink and purple shields as he let off the trigger. Thanks to the modifications to this gun, the barrels were cooled off and didn't fire as fast to burn through all the rounds,

Behind him were Hanabi and Kyokan in their mega forms. Kyokan was more purplish blue compared to Hanabi's Mega form, but wore a more flexible latex over her body to compliment the boosters on her body. They quickly leaped up and landed on a platform and fired off several beams and astral strikes towards the aerial opponents, adding to the blood and shadowy dust.

As the massacre happened, one of the surviving Miracle Eye leaders tried to rally the troops. "They are just government dogs! Form up and *BANG!* He found out the hard way what happens when you get a bullet straight through their skull.

Back on the ship, Orion chambered another round and reset her aim. With Ace as her spotter, their mission was simple: remove the leaders while Zodiac distracted the grunts. Said soldiers were made their jobs easier by shouting over the carnage, something that she was able to pick out even with the constant hail of bullets. Thanks to ear plugs and some Aura training to protect herself, she could still hear clearly who she needed to shoot as Ace called them out. Once the last leader was dead, Orion radioed in. "All clear."

Zodiac grinned as the gun revved up again. "Time to bring in the big guns. Go get em!" Out of the bowls of the ship, the other four Guardians and Friedrich leaped into action, their weapons drawn, magic flaring. Draco landed first to the left, the shockwave kicking up the survivors into the air before unleashing a massive spray of fire from his mouth at those still charging, or beginning to panic. Those who were thrown into the air felt Mutsuraboshi's sting. Pleia segmented the whip, each silvery blade, shining in the setting sun, bringing death from above as she landed next to her partner.

On the other side, the river came alive as Triton pulled the water from the mighty river and swamped their side, sweeping them into a maelstrom. Aura, with his blade crackling with electricity, blinked out of sight, flash-stepping through the twister before rising to the top like he was Zeus Raising his hand to the sky, the clouds condensed into a spiral above him.

"GREAT THUNDER!" He called, throwing his hand down. Out of the clouds he formed, a giant lighting bolt struck the ground in a massive burst of electricity, electrocuting and burning any survivors. The two lovers landed together as their opposition washed away in the tide.

Friedrich grinned as he marched through the carnage, jangling a set of long nails between his fingers. He spotted the first line of demons and Miracle eye members and swung, flinging the nails out, where they vanished with a supersonic boom and streaks of light, piercing through the enemies, and dragging them away like ragdoll. Another nail pierced the defenses that some of their opposition was hiding behind, punching through a vital component, before two more finished off and stragglers, zigzagging wildly in the air to perforate each and every one of them until none remained.

Zodiac glanced around the carnage and nodded. "Hell of a good start. Form up, there's no way they won't take this lying down!"

The Riders quickly grouped together, with Argo, Lupus and Onyx leading the front and Ace and Aquila in the skies.

End Song

Miracle Eyes base

The remaining Demon Gates watched the carnage in shock. A gray, spiky-haired demon with four arms slammed a fist on the table. "I thought Fairy Tail was supposed to be full of bleeding hearts, not fucking monsters!"

"Well not all of them are monsters, but they might have the two biggest with them at the moment," a skull faced wizard in a checkered robe spoke.

A large yellow one eyed creature laughed. "Their souls will be delicious! I can't wait to eat them!"

Mard Geer raised his hand. "You will get a chance. They are not far from our main line. Kyoka, Seilah! Show them why we are invincible!"

The two female demons nodded and marched out. Kyoka motioned over to a rabbit eared scientist. "Any updates on Jackal, Lammy?"

Lammy shook her head. "Whatever they did to destroy him, he's gone. His regeneration isn't kicking in. I would need to retrieve whatever's left."

"What about the rest of our men?" asked Seilah.

"With how many we've lost, it's going to take time to recreate the army, even with Yuzan's help," despaired the demonic bunnygirl, gripping her hair in frustration.

"Then we need to slow them down," Kyoka deduced as the two began to run out of the base. "We will show them,"

"That humans are," Seilah smirked

"The inferior species!" they echoed. With that, they stepped out onto the balcony, their wings growing from their backs and arms before they flew up and away from the castle, the air shaking as they approached the sound barrier.

In the Woods before the base

The Riders had found the second layer of defense and this time they were forced to play more strategically as they cleared each section. As Zodiac reloaded his pistols, he felt a magic bullet graze the tree he was behind. "Damn it! Kusa, see if you can't loop around and use the trees behind them!"

Kusa nodded and put her hand against the tree she was taking cover behind. The tree reacted as they sprang to life, her aura fueling their movements. Those in the back screamed as the branches and ent-like figures crashed through the back lines and pincering the forces.. Onyx seized the opportunity she provided and raised his hand, slamming it down on the ground. "ROCK TOMB!" The earth rumbled as earthen spikes erupted from its surface, sending their targets flying, which made them easy prey for Aquila and Ace.

With their opponents sufficiently distracted, Zodiac ordered everyone to move up, magic flaring as flames, leaves, stars and ice mixed together in a maelstrom of organized chaos. In the air, Ace was fighting through the stunned crowd of monsters and their flying opponents, shooting down any that flew above Hanabi and Kyokan. As he dispatched two more fliers, he checked his HUD. "Looks clear to keep moving," he began. Before he could fly down, the radar picked up two more objects. "We got two more incoming at…almost Mach 1?" he said in confusion.

"...I'm Sorry, did you say Mach 1?" Zodiac asked, shocked.

"I'm checking- OH SHIT!" Ace screamed as he ducked a laser beam that would have probably taken his head off. "FUCK! I got two inbound and they just fired at me!" He turned on his jets and fled in the opposite direction.

"Ace, are you alright?!" Kusa panicked.

Ace looked back and watched his opponents fly closer with cocky smirks on their faces "I'm being chased by two devils with magic coming off them like a tidal wave. I think they're part of the Gates!" He poured on the afterburner to get out of the ara fast.

Aquilla, hearing this, finished her opponents and took off. "Ace, I'm on my way!"

Zodiac got back on the radio. "Ace, Aquila's on her way, where are you?" As he said this he stabbed another grunt and used its body to block a couple of shots

"Two miles at 105 heading, at 3000 feet. I was following the river to look for their base.I saw towers that looked like where they were coming from, head Northeast, you can't miss it." Ace replied as he turned around and chopped his arm. "AIR SLASH!" Four sharp waves of air sliced through the air, the aura infused attack streaking through the air.

Kyuoka giggled as the attack seemed to bounce off, looking none the worse for wear. "Little boy think he's cute, trying to fight us~"

"Perhaps we can have some fun," Seilah seductively licked her lips.

Ace gulped. "Uh, guys! I need an adult!"

Zodiac blinked. "That was not a call I expected today, just hold on! Aquila's not that far away!"

Cygnus after hearing this and blasting two more opponents, unfurled her wings. "I'm moving to back them up!" She called out taking off.

"Damn it," Zodiac cursed firing off several bolts. He turned to the only non Rider, the bodies around him showing he did not need any help. "Friedrich see if you can't help them! Or at least get Ace out of there!" He ordered as he through a large wave of fire to clear out a path.

Friedrich fired off another railgun blast. "On it! Dont worry about us! Just keep moving!" He replied rushing after Cyngus.

"You heard him, just keep moving, Orion, Columbia your on Anti Air, lets Go!" Zodiac ordered. He saw Kusa looking to bolt after Friedrich. "Ace will be fine, we need to go now!" He shouted.

Kusa nodded reluctantly and started to run with the rest the group.

In the air, Ace was still trying to out fly his opponents as they barreled towards him. "Just got to hold on for a bit longer." He glanced behind them and saw the two demons with manic grins, their claws gleaming with magic. As they got closer, Ace suddenly cut off the jets and dropped below them. So concentrated on trying to hit him, the two demonic women over flew him as he landed on a current of air. Bouncing off it, his wings opened up to reveal two missile pods. "SIDEWINDER CIRCUS!" A barrage of supersonic missiles launched from the pods, splitting off to hit the two Demons as his armor's targeting system guided them in.. With the missiles' speed, they couldn't react fast enough as they exploded near their midsection, hot shrapnel cutting through their skin and throwing them off balance.

"FUUUCK!" Kyouka screamed as she started to fall towards earth, her wounds healing with a hiss, shrapnel melting or falling away.

Seilah growled as her eyes glowed. "You'll regret that, little boy!" She charged towards Ace and took a swipe at him.

He blocked the swipe, but then his body screamed in pain as the resulting scratch felt like a hot iron scraping his skin.

"Like my little party favor?" Seilah taunted. "My Curse allows me to enhance anything. From my strength…to any of the senses, including the feeling of pain!" She grinned as sharp feathers launched from her arm and impacted his chest. The armor took most of the blow, but he could feel a coupe of the claws scrape his body. But whatever his armor protected him from was moot as Seilahs magic caused those wounds to flare up. His screams of pain echoed through the radios, which with everyone on the same frequency, they could all tell he was in serious pain

"Ace! Come in! What's going on?" Zodiac demanded.

Over the group coms, Kusa was starting to panic. "I'm going back!" She announced preparing to bolt from her hiding spot. She had to leap back when several dark orbs nearly hit her, pinning her down.

"Kusa! Stay with us!" Aura shouted back. "Ace already has help on the way!"

"Aura's right, we can't let our feelings slow us down, we got this!" Triton assured her.

"Cygnus, Aquila, ETA!?" Zodiac demanded.

Aquila was streaking through the air, her gaze focusing on the sounds of the combat. Once she saw an explosion, she picked up speed and got back on the radio. "I see them. Ace! On the count of three, drop out of the sky and head towards the rest of the group!" she ordered, reaching for one of her armor trinkets.

Ace nodded as he stared defiantly as Seilah slowly rose to join them. "Such an enjoyable sight. I wonder how your friends are going to enjoy watching us pick your body apart," Kyouka grinned maniacally.

"3…"

"And when we're done, we might get a new toy out of it, while we take down your little guild.

"2…"

Ace smirked through his helmet. "My friends don't need to worry about you taking down my guild.

"And why is that little boy?"

"1…"

"Because you won't be around to see it through!" He boasted as his engines cut out and he dropped. Seconds later a cyclone of wind and blades surrounded the two demons as they cut into them, their wounds from the missile attacks not healed yet as the metal sliced through both. As this was happening, Ace had dropped into the treeline and bugged out using the treeline as cover.

"Who the fuck did that?" Seilah gasped. She watched as Aquilla rose up to join her, her Adamantine armor form gleaming proudly. Thanks to her bud, she was able to repair it and make it lighter and useable as one of her Aquila forms.

"Your opponent is us," Aquila declared.

"Us?" Kyouka asked. Her response was several dark beams striking from the shadows of the canopy. Then a large nail pierced into her gut, the impact knocking her off balance. She saw the nail embedded in her side and pulled out the nail with a hiss, letting her regeneration factor kick in. She followed the trajectory of the shot to see Friedrich finally catching up to the two flying Riders.

He squinted up at her. "Really? All that and you're healing it already? Damn, looks like I'll have to take things a little more seriously."

Seilah growled as she coughed up some dark looking blood dripped out of her mouth. "Two vs. three? Seems a bit unfair!"

"Bah, like you'd say anything if you were one of the three," Friedrich grinned.

"Guys, I don't know about the dark haired woman's abilities, the other girl can do some sort of enhancement and it can be anything…cough…including pain," Ace warned as he raced through the trees.

Aquila raised her sword. "We were ordered to remove you at any costs. You shouldn't be so cocky."

Kyoka licked her lips."You'll look great UNDER MY HEEL!" She shouted, her claws sharp. The two clashed, claws against shield, sword against hardened feathers. As they clashed, Seilah grew more frustrated and activated her curse, before striking again, finally getting through her shield. Though the claws didn't penetrate, the scrapes did get Erza to grunt in pain. her high pain tolerance pushed to the limits

But even as the demon struck hard, the eagle Rider wo stood firm and swiped her sword across the demons chest. it was a decent gash, making the demon grunt in pain. The slight freeze allowed her to spin and fly back.

"Grrr, that sword is getting annoying!" Kyoka growled and rocketed toward her.

"Well then, how about this?" Aquila grinned as she finished her spin. Instead of a sword in her hands, it was now a long rifle which was point straight at the demons chest.

*BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANGPING* The 8 shots fired into Seilahs chest, the magical rounds blasting holes into her opponent's torso before the ping signaled the end of the barrage.

Kyoka screamed as the bullets ripped through her, black and green blood dripping from her closing wounds. "What…What the fuck was that?"

"That was you underestimating our guild," Aquilas snapped as she reached down and grabbed one of her keys, swiping it into her bracelet.

PIERCING! TAKE FLIGHT!

Her armor shifted from the heavier blue and white armor to a more silvery and olive green color, while her helmet took on a more knightly appearance. In her hands was a massive jousting lance, almost as long as she was tall. Swinging it with one arm, she pointed at Kyouka. "You will not leave this battlefield alive!"

"My thoughts exactly!" Kyuoka snarled, charging in again.

In the trees, Seilah swiped through the air, the lumber falling to her path of destruction. As she cut each tree, her prey, Cygnus had to jump out of the way. Cursing her luck, she fired off several shots as she fell back to another larger tree. Looking towards Seilah, she took a deep breath and reached down to her belt and pulled out a card, this one depicting multiple images of her and opened the clip in her gun to insert it.

COPY VENT

Seilah smirked as Cygnus charged forward, and she swiped at the closing Rider. Her expression changed as her opponent split into two before her and danced out of the way.. As she tried to fight the two clones, two more appeared out of the ether, then four, leaving a total of eight sword bodies against one. Seilah swiped at her opponents desperately but the numbers were overwhelming as the blades sliced her body, green blood starting to leak from her wounds. While their demonic forms gave her regeneration, there was a limit on how much they could do and it was starting to show. She finally punched one of the bodies, revealing it to be a clone and flew away.

"You think you're so tough?" she barked. Her instincts screamed at her to move and she listened intently, leaping out of the way. A second later, a laser blast hit where she was standing, leaving a smoking crater.

Off to the side, Friedrich tch'd as he held up his weapon, a gold and blue blade with a laser shining out of the center. "Reflexes're better than I hoped for. Nothing for it, then." He charged after the dark haired demon and swung viciously at her, slashing clear through the trees behind her when she dodged.

"Ahh, May won't be happy about this…but a Rider like her can easily fix a little deforestation!" Friedrich quickly raced towards where the demon landed, his beam weapon burning a large gash through her stomach as it hissed through the air.

"GAHHHHH!" Seilah screamed as her regeneration kicked in, her demonic energy working overtime to heal the damage. But the more energy she used to heal herself, the less she had to fight back. At least…she thought. In this form.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Friedrich charged at her. She was able to get her arms up, however the heated plasma still burned through her arm almost severing it as she tried to fly away.

"Tch, should have clipped your wings," Friedrich grumbled. He noticed the sizzling of her skin. "Not liking my light show? he taunted as Cygnus landed next to him. "Do you want her or should I?"

Before the Rider could respond, they could hear a small giggle, then outright maniacal laughter. "You…humans…your a disease, your magic is the poison that burns this world. You don't deserve to breath the same air as us the Demons of Tartaros! You think you can defeat us? Hahahaha don't make me laugh, you haven't even seen my true form!"

"True form?" Friedrich asked, eyes narrowing.

Cygnus though frowned as her Satan Soul activated, her armor and taking on a more devilish appearance. "Something's not right, this magic, it's overflowing like a volcano."

"You want to finish me off? Then let me show you my power, Macro. I can take control of anyone, or ANYTHING, just by saying the magic word…but you see, there's one more thing it can do," Seilah said as her body began to glow with ominous purple flames.

"Feel your despair! MACRO!" Seilah screamed her body exploded in a blinding flash, blowing down trees and shielding her from view as both Friedrich and Cygnus covered their eyes and brace themselves.. When the flames died down, Seilah's body had drastically changed. Gone was her kimono, reduced to the sleeves that flared out into two pair of dark blue wings. Her upper body was bare, revealing her skin had taken a dark grayish almost concrete tone with black tattoo markings dancing up her skin. On her legs, her hakama pants had developed another another set of gray wings, contrasting Cygnus' white and black. Her horns had grown several inches, truly giving her the devilish appearance.

"Like what you see~?" she purred. "I'm gonna enjoy your screams before we take your heads and show them to your friends!"

With a roar she charged at Cygnus and Friedrich again, both ready for round 2.

Up in the sky, Kyouka and Aquilla continued to clash, both showing signs of battle. The demon's skin was glowing bright green as her skimpy avian form showed multiple, slowly healing wounds. Despite them she was grinning like a maniac as she viewed her opponent. Aquila's armor had seen better days, with chipped, deep gashes across her chest. The Rider herself was starting to show exhaustion as she panted.

"Not so tough, Kamen Rider, are you?" Kyoukagrinned, wiping her mouth. "We are demons from hell, you think you can beat all of us? Dont make me laugh. Aquila growled, which was replaced by yelps of pain as Kyuoka's eyes glowed purple. "Feel that pain? That's what's gonna happen to your friends. That blonde looks like a screamer…and I bet that little ballerina would look so good with a bloody smile." This got four slashes quick stabs with one actually piercing through her back.

"And I won't let you hurt them!" The Eagle rider snarled, puling the sword back and went on the offensive again, her attacks getting more and more desperate.

Kyouka smirked she dodged each desperate slash. "And you know what's the best part…?" Suddenly, Aquila felt all sound stop around her, as if someone cast a silence spell over her hears. "I can take away all sound, your taste, your sense of touch." As the demoness spoke, Erza felt her world start to disappear, her senses vanishing one by one, until she couldn't hear Kyouka's taunting. But she could feel the pain inflicted on her body, each slash carving through her armor before her body slammed hard into a large, flat surface, driving the air from her lungs.

'Lucy…Dawn…I can't let…her win…I can't see…can't feel…oh gods, is this…what Jellal felt?' She wondered frantically. 'Where is she? Where's my weapon?' In her blind panic, she could not feel the weapon in her hand, nor that she was wildly swinging at her opponent from where she lay on the ground.

"This is fun, little fairy. If your friends could see you now!" cackled Kyouka. She raised up her whip, ready to give Aquilla a mortal blow. Aquilla's bracelet, which was already pushed to its limits, was preparing to demorph her and potentially find its way to Zodiac.

'No…I can't fall here…' Erza begged internally her mindscape slowly going dark as her body began to numb. She felt the specters of death start to pull her down, the shadows consuming her soul. 'Someone…' Just as she reached out, someone grabbed her arm.

"You're not dying here." a disembodied voice spoke directly into her ear. "Don't you want to live?"

Erza heard the voice and paused, wondering who on earth could be talking to her, considering the situation. But as she continued to fight her cursed state, someone was pulling her out of the darkness of death. Not wasting her chance, she reached out,to grab the offered hands, the darkness seemingly fleeing at whoever was saving her

As she landed and caught her breath, she looked up and was stunned at who she saw. "S-Simon?"

"Hey there, Erza. You're not dying on me, are ya?" the dead man asked, smirking.

"...It…it feels like I am. I cant see or hear anything…I can't let my friends down! I need to win!"

Simon grinned. "Is that all…you've got all the power, you need. But I can see you might need a bit of helping hand," He said as he helped her up,

"How? Your dead!"

"Hasn't stopped me before. Now, just focus on fighting, I think that little gift that ancestor of yours gave ya might help." At this she felt his spirit hover over her, her senses beginning to return as the slowly approaching whip descended on her.

"Yes…let us…win…and hopefully…seErza smirked.

Simon laughed as she felt herself exit her mindscape, just in time to hear her opponent gloating.

"Time to kill a birdie!" Kyouka laughed and aimed a whip at her eyes. Right before impact, Aquila snapped up to catch it, inches from her face and crushing it like paper "WHAT!?" she screamed.

Aquilla slowly stood up. "You underestimate me." She yanked on the rope, causing Kyouka to snap towards her, where she was grabbed by the throat and slammed to the ground. "You underestimate my friends!" She grabbed her sword and began to stab at her, Simon's visage guiding her strikes and getting several good strikes in. "YOU UNDERESTIMATE FAIRY TAIL!" She flipped the sword into her gun form and fired the full clip. The first six shots struck her chest like lightning bolts, drilling into vital organs, only missing the heart because of her opponent's desperate twisting.

Kyouka was barely able to dodge the seventh shot, and then kicked the last one away. She flew back desperately, blood dripping from her wounds, which were not closing as fast as before. "How…I sealed everything off. You shouldn't be able to see me, hear me! What the fuck are you!?" She screamed.

Aquilla held up her arm, her bracelet glowing bright red as she brought up a pendant with two glowing eagles wings. "I am…Aquilla…a Rider of Fairy Tail! And I won't LOSE!" She jammed it into the belt and with a loud roar slid it across the bracelet's slot, letting out a loud battle cry.

SPREAD YOUR WINGS! COMMAND THE SKY! ALTAIR! GET READY TO FLY!

She was surrounded by a large maelstrom of magic, causing Kyouka to be pushed back from the force. A small distance away, Seilah was preparing to strike Cygnus when she felt her body flinch as if her death wa coming and braced herself for the shockwave. Meanwhile, Cygnus and Friedrich felt the wave but they didn't feel the need to move, as if the wave recognized them.

Further away, as the Riders took a small break to catch their breath, they all felt the wave impact them.

"What the hell was that?" Draco asked.

Zodiac, though, turned in the direction of the wave and smiled. "You felt that, Friedrich?"

A moment later, the inventor got on the radio. "Yeah, I felt that. Is that good for us?"

"Oh yeah, that is probably one of the best feelings you will ever feel, the power of a Temple form The Rider grinned, looking towards Pleiades, Argo and Lupus. "I think our friends will be fine. Ace, how are you holding up?"

"I've been better, but I can keep going," the young flier answered, his sister still trying to dote over him. "Kusa, I'm fine!"

"You were half dead when you arrived," she countered.

"I've taken worse!" the younger Rider complained.

"No excuses!" Kusa growled in a way only older siblings knew.

"Oi! Sibling fight later, Call of Duty assault now!" Aura snapped.

"I am surprised Delia lets you play that," Zodiac grumbled as they headed into the hornets nest.

Back with Aquilla, the maelstrom died down, the damage that she had sustained disappeaing across their newly revealed form.. The first thing Kyoka noticed was, instead of the normal bronze and red, her armor had turned teal, matching the sky above. The armor itself had gained several segments that curved around her body like a jigsaw puzzle. On her back were two crystalline wings, formed of the same material as her armor. Despite her previous wounds, she looked fresh as if the entire days actions had never happened.

In the distance, an Eagle Cried out, its normal cry replaced with a proud sound as it flew the sky. "With this power, my limit is beyond the sky! In this form! I am Kamen Rider Aquila! Altair!" she bellowed, the overwhelming magic flowing through her forming a longsword out of the air.. "And this sword tells me, your time is at an end, demon!"

Kyouka, still shaken from the unleashed magic, held her five sharp whips at the ready. "Call yourself whatever you want! I don't remember the names of corpses!" she yelled, snapping the whips forward.

Unknown to her, some of her magic was still affecting Aquilla, specifically the eyes and ears. But Simon grinned as he ghosted over her. "Let me be your eyes and ears. Kill this bitch!"

Aquilla nodded as parts of her armor broke away, revealing a skin tight bodysuit of a similar color. At once, the five whips came down to strike her, aiming for her exposed body. The segments quickly spun around and blocked each strike as fast they struck. Seilah growled as the whips casually bounced off the armor plating, her speed increasing in desperation, mirroring what had happened only minutes prior. The Rider merely began to float forward, her spirit guardian guiding her with positive reinforcement. Once she was close, she swiped the air across her and Seilah. The winds, commanded like an orchestra, suddenly picked up and the demon was blasted with near hurricane force gusts, her wings struggling to keep up with the much faster gale. In the process, she did not see the plates from Aquilas armor come from behind and slash through her armored skin. Aquilla paid it no mind as she sent everything she had at her, her wings reflecting the setting sun as they blinded her.

"GAAHH!" Kyuoka screamed, her healing unable to keep up with her wounds, her body wracked in pain as the Knight paid her no mind.

Nearby, Seilah, whose wings had lost several feathers thanks to the double team, heard her partner's cries of pain. "Kyouka!?" She called back, barely able to block Cygnus's strike, her arm burning from the power behind the cut. Then she felt three impacts through her stomach, the force blasted her through the sky before she crashing into a tree, the nails holding in her place without going through the tree. The demon frantically tried to pull the nails out, grunting in pain as she tried to find any leverage to grasp them. But Friedrich was smart with his placement: one was speared deep into her upper right thigh, another was embedded in her left shoulder, just below the joint, possibly shattering it, and the third had passed through her left hip. The positions of each nail meant even without Flechette's Sting power enhancing the weapons, it would be very hard to remove them.

"I've seen Capes do worse than you could ever even dream up. That little possession trick was nothing I haven't seen before." Friedrich told her, reaching into his coat for more nails. "But it's a shame I won't be able to copy your powers right now." He glanced towards Cygnus, who merely popped the magazine of her weapon down and pulled out a card. This one had her symbol on it, but it was gold on a black and white background.

FINAL VENT

Seilah tried desperately to break free as a white and black swan appeared behind its master. The Rider flipped onto it as it took flight. It began a long arc, picking up speed as it climbed before it leveled out, with Seilah in the crosshairs.. As she charged, the air ignited around both Rider and bird, creating brilliant, black and white flames.

"CYGNUS SHADOW KICK!" she shouted as she leaped forward, the swan attaching to her and giving her more speed. Seilah could only scream as the Rider tore through her body, leaving a large cross shaped hole through her middle. A moment later, as Cygnus landed, the demon blew up in a tremendous explosion. Turning back, she watched as the demon fell to the ground, surprised that she survived, but it was clear she wasn't going to last long.

The Rider approached the dying demon with a purpose. "I told you, you weren't going to win," Cygnus said emotionlessly. With a tiny bit of her Soul Forging, she reached into her deck case and pulled out what appeared to be a blank, reflective card, before throwing it at the demon. The card hit her head, creating a magical vacuum. The vacuum muffled Seilah's screams as she was pulled into the card before it flew back into the Rider's hand. Looking at it, Mira watched coolly as it transformed into a dark purple card with Seilahs normal visage in it, the word SEILAH written across the border.

Hearing the explosion, Kyouka snapped around and saw the remnants of her partner being absorbed into something that was scooped up by Cygnus. "NO! SEILAH!" The distraction allowed Aquilla a critical opening, striking her stomach, head, legs, the blades becoming blur until she was swarmed in a twister of shards. As the twister spun into its max form, Aquila held up her Altair trinket in one hand and then her bracelet in the the air before she slid it through, getting a satisfaction grinding sound.

FINAL FLIGHT! FLY THE SKIES! ALTAIR!

Out of the air, she formed two white longswords with black pommels. With a shout she charged into the twister, slashing through the demon once, then twice then four times, her speed making after images as she cut through them. After she passed through a fifth time she reached the top of the storm and held it up to as the setting sun gleamed off her armor. "ALTAIR BLADE STORM!" And with a final push she blinked through the demon, landing an instant later on the ground in a crouch.

Kyouka hovered in the air for a second. before she screamed and exploded in a massive magical fireball. Aquila blinked as her vision began to return, getting Simon to chuckle. "Great job Erza,"

"Simon…"

"Don't go dying on me. I don't want to see you again until you're old and gray, remember?" the spirit told her fondly, beginning to fade away. "Tell Natsu that I support your relationship…and if you ever see Kagura again…tell her her big brother misses her." As he drifted away into the ether, it felt almost like a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"Erza!" Cygnus called out, flying in and hugging her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…a lot better than I've been in years. Come on, we still have a mission to finish," she said briskly, while Friedrich began to patch them up.

Miles away, the other Riders heard two explosions as they finished fighting their way into the castle. Everyone stopped for a moment when they heard them.

"Was that Erza?" Pleiades asked.

"Probably all three," Triton commented.

A moment later, Zodiac got a message.

"Two demons down, moving to join, will be there soon."

He gave a brief acknowledgement, then turned to everyone else. "Two less headaches, they'll be with us soon." Unseen by everyone, Pleiades and Columba felt their tensions ease, knowing those two were okay. As they approached the doors, like the canyon before, the courtyard was abandoned, except for a large video machine that began to play, showing a black haired man in a green robe and armor.

"It seems I underestimated you Riders. But no matter, you won't win in the end. We still have Five Gates and we also have a secret weapon. I would highly suggest you give up while you still have your lives. For the reign of END will-" Whatever was going to be said was cut off as Zodiac grabbed the machine and punched it, crushing it into uselessness. He then hefted up his sword and pointed down the hall

"No restrictions…no mercy…we end this threat or we dine in Hell!" Zodiac ordered as they all began to rush deeper into the castle, more dangers and threats awaiting them.

End of chapter

UO: Well it took over a year. But here it is…. Hopefully 43 won't be as crazy.

New forms

Aquilla Altair: This is Erza's form, which she received from her temple after beating Pyrrha (ducks tomatoes). Her armor is sky blue instead of bronze, and her main weapons are the shards that can detach, fly and attack at her will.

The name Altair is named for the brightest star in Aquilla's constellation, the 12th overall. Yes, this is the same name as the first protag in Assassins creed. In fact, the Arabics called it the Eagle Star. In non-game facts, it's one of three of the Summer triangle, the other two being Deneb in Cygnus and Vega in Lyra. In most stories, Altair is an eagle, hence Aquilla being the eagle constellation. In the Chinese story, The Cowherd and the Weaver girl, Altair is the Cowherd.

Also in light of the Eclipse on April 8th 2024 that came up, another term can be explained. Syzygy, Lucy's upgrade form, is when three celestial objects align. This is what happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon line up.

NS: I'm pretty damn sure I told you that when I first came up with it…

UO: Considering how much we do, it's very hard to remember everything

Preview

The Riders dive into hell to fight the gates, however the King is ready for blood and will do everything to end the Riders

Next time: End of Tartaros! We'll see you in…

OSPREY…SWOOOSH