Honestly, I might have been able to upload this a couple weeks ago, but I like to proof read and make sure that I get most of the spelling errors fixed before posting. And I've been to busy to do that until recently. I'd say I look for grammar issues too, but I am not entirely sure I have proper grammar as it is. So I tend to just leave that aspect alone, outside of punctuation issues. Anyway, I'll give the disclaimer and jump right on into the story.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail. I do not own these characters. I do not own this story idea, at least not entirely. Then again, someone else may have had the same ideas I did. Eh, how about I don't own anything in this story. Is that good enough for a disclaimer?
Chapter 20.
Earning New Epithets (Part 2)
The non-dragon slayer members of Fairy Tail watched the battle that Hibiki's connection with Blue Pegasus' airship allowed him to share with awe. The four dragon slayers were still holding back, though only a select few of them could tell. But it was still amazing to watch them working together to fight the Lightning Dragon.
"If they pull this off, I want them to make a team."
Makarov muttered as he watched Cana block an attack meant for Gajeel, while Natsu charged in to distract the dragon, so that Wendy could reapply her enchantments on the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"They would make quite the powerhouse team."
Gildarts had to agree. Though the Crash mage didn't think the dragon slayers would go for it. Gajeel seemed to like doing his own thing. Plus Natsu and Cana had to worry about Koharu, who was still too young to be taken with them for jobs.
But their talking was interrupted by Erza.
"Do either of you know why none of them have used Dragon Force yet? Natsu once told me it was the most powerful skill a dragon slayer had."
Having talked with Selene as she was teaching his daughter, and helped Natsu train with his Gildarts was the one to answer.
"Cana hasn't learned enough dragon slaying magic to use it yet. According to Natsu, Wendy hasn't yet learned to activate it on her own and can only do so if given a sufficient power source first. Gajeel, I'm not sure, but he's probably waiting for Galvanduros to weaken, like Natsu is. Dragon Force will give them an incredible boost to their power, but until they get used to using it, it will put a strain on their body that limits how long they can use it for."
Having seen the state that Natsu was in after using it against Jellal, Erza could only nod at that.
Turning their attention back to the image Hibiki was projecting the two of them were just in time to see Galvanduros slammed into the ground once more, this time by someone that caught the Re-equip magic user off guard.
-XXxxXxXxxXX-
"Saw this thing attack you guys on the news and thought you might need a hand."
The voice of Laxus called out to the dragon slayers.
Wendy had a look of confusion on her face as she'd never met Laxus before. Gajeel was glaring a bit, given how things went the last time he had seen the blonde. Cana was smirking as it seemed Laxus had finally pulled his head out of his ass. And Natsu let out a chuckle.
"Well I'll give you points for the dramatic entrance, but you're a bit early."
The second generation dragon slayer snorted at that as he turned his body into lightning and jumped down to stand beside the pink haired man.
"Clearly you've gotten stronger since last time. But since this is my element, I hope you don't mind me butting in."
Laxus replied as the dragon finally managed to pull himself out of the crater that Laxus' attack forced it to make.
"Since we've got Sparky here with us now, maybe I can back you up in busting through this bastards scales then Salamander."
Gajeel said before dashing forward.
Honestly it probably was a good idea. Wendy and Cana both were lacking the power to punch through Galvanduros' scales like Natsu was. Having Laxus take over the group defense since he could completely negate the Lightning Dragon's element was a smart move for them.
"Iron Dragon's Secret Art, Karma Demon: Siege Fist"
The dark haired man cried out as he threw a punch. As his arm moved it transformed into an absolutely massive drill that lanced through the air to crash into Galvanduros' side before making the dragon cry out in pain.
"Du unverschämter Wurm! Ich werde dich zerstören!"
Galvanduros roared out as he tried to stomp on Gajeel. But the Iron Dragon Slayer was saved as Natsu jumped up and used his "Fire Dragon's Volcanic Impact" right at the knee joint, causing a horrific cracking sound as the limb twisted and became limp.
Snarling the Lightning Dragon tried to unleash aroar of his on the two of them, only to be stunned when it was tugged completely off course and into Laxus' mouth, before the blond dashed forward. Since they were the same element, Laxus channeled his magic into his fists, but didn't activate any spells. As none of his attacks were being used, the magic was instead simply reinforcing the bones and muscles in his hands along with increasing his punching power.
Catching Galvanduros under the chin with an uppercut, Laxus had to smirk as Gajeel took advantage of the opening he'd created.
"Iron Dragon's Secret Art, Karma Demon: Spiral Blade"
Jumping and transforming everything from the waist down into a giant Drill, Gajeel collided with one of Galvanduros' limbs tearing through it in a very gory fashion. But it left him open to a counter attack, as the colossal dragon let out a quick discharge of lighting from it's talons that were on the arm that now hung limply at his side thanks to Gajeel's attack.
"You ain't zapping anybody with me around!"
Laxus taunted, dashing in and eating the attack before it could harm the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"Sky Dragon's Rending Storm Talons" Wendy attacked, unleashing six blades of air directly at Galvanduros' face in a bid to distract the dragon long enough for her to reapply Arms, Armor, and Vernier on her fellow dragon slayers.
"Moon Dragon's Moonlight Blade" Cana intoned as she unleashed a blade of moonlight to block the tail swipe that had come at her and Wendy. Of course because she was so focused on blocking the tail, she didn't see the uninjured arm coming towards her, sharp talons ready to slice the two females to ribbons.
Luckily however, Laxus did. Jumping in front of them and grunting as the force pushed him back a few feet.
"Damn this thing hits hard." He muttered, before digging his fingers in as deeply as he could. The muscles in his upper body bulged from the effort, but he managed to do something that had everyone, even himself and the dragon dumbfounded. Through pure raw strength he managed to pick the massive dragon up and toss it away.
"Not bad sparky!"
Gajeel complemented while Natsu took his turn at taking advantage of an opening.
"Earth Dragon's Pulverizing Fist"
The dragon slayers were all treated to the sound of all the air in Galvanduros' lungs leaving his body, as thanks to Laxus' throw and Natsu's speed, his attack landed on the dragon's chest, just as it was rolling back onto it's feet.
But the pink haired man was forced to dodge as Galvanduros retaliated with a roar. One that was weaker than it's previous roars.
'Either we've managed to hurt him a hell of a lot more than he's letting on, or Galvanduros is trying to get us to lower our guards.'
He thought to himself as Wendy unleashed another Sky Dragon's Cyclonic Hammer directly onto the monster's back and distracting the dragon long enough for Cana to make a move. Jumping up to get as close as she could to the his face, she calmly took a breath.
"Moon Dragon's Moonlight Palm"
A blast of moonlight escaped from Cana's open palm, point blank into Galvanduros' eye. The recoil threw her back a bit, but she was caught by Natsu who made sure they landed safely.
"You good?"
"Yeah."
Just as he set Cana back down on her feet, a sound of pure rage tore through Galvanduros' throat before the air became charged as he tried to unleash an enormous storm of lightning from his body to hit them all at once.
"Sky Dragon's Secret Art, Shattering Light: DīvusBreeze Armor!" Wendy cried out activating her ultimate defense enhancing spell. It activated just in time to protect them all as the dragon slayers all cried out, blinded by the sheer amount of lightning poring off of Galvanduros' body.
"Shit that hurt."
Gajeel groaned out after the dragon's attack died down. The moment his mouth finished moving he face planted into the ground, unable to keep fighting. But his eyes were still open and he was still breathing, so they knew he wasn't dead at least.
Even Laxus was bruised and suffering from electrical burns, panting heavily despite having devoured as much of the lightning as he could. Cana and Wendy were also in rough shape, though neither of them were anywhere close to as bad off as the Iron Dragon Slayer.
Natsu was covered in electrical burns as well, but he was in the best shape of the five, as he growled at the dragon for daring to harm those he considered to be under his protection. For daring to harm his fellow den members and his mate.
"Ich sehe, das ihr Insekten noch lebt. Zumindest dafür muss ich euch loben, jetzt werdet ihr aber sterben."
Galvanduros commented, as he took wing once more, intending to finish them off with a breath attack.
'Shit! Gajeel's barely conscious after that. Wendy's expended a lot of magic and probably won't be able to keep up. Cana's still new to her Moon Dragon Slayer magic and isn't used to fighting at this level. Even Laxus is in rough shape. I'm gonna have to give it all I got.'
Natsu thought to himself before pushing forward to stand in front of his mate.
"You've done great so far. But leave the rest to me. Get Gajeel and Wendy out of here."
The brunette wanted to argue. But she had seen the same things Natsu had. Without Wendy's support she was more of a liability than actual help at the moment. Biting back the urge to say no, she nodded.
"You better come back to me, you hear?"
"This bastard ain't taking me down."
Nothing else was said. Cana moved to help Wendy with getting Gajeel out of the battlefield and Natsu let out a roar of anger before flaring his magic as high as it would go, creating a pillar of power around him.
What he didn't know was that his power was reminding Galvanduros of Igneel so much, that the dragon completely focused in on him, ignoring Wendy and Cana entirely as they finally managed to get Gajeel up off the ground. In fact Galvanduros ignored even Laxus as he moved to help them carry the Iron Dragon Slayer away.
When the pillar of magic finally died down, Natsu was standing in Dragon Force, but it was so unlike his previous version of it, that only the dragon in front of him knew what was going on.
Normally he would have his eyes become reptilian slits, his finger nails and canine teeth elongated slightly, and his body would be covered in scales. Said scales were an earthy toned reddish orange that slowly shifted through a gradient to become crimson red once they reached his torso. All of that was still true.
But now? He hadn't felt them growing in, or popping out from his body, but suddenly he had some small horns on his head, and a tail. One that if he bothered to turn around and look at, it would remind him of Igneel's.
"Du wirst also einer von uns. Anscheinend habe ich es Ihrer kleinen Gruppe zu leicht gemacht. Es besteht eine Chance, wie gering sie auch sein mag, dass Sie diesen Kampf gewinnen. Also sag es mir, Junge. Wie heißt du?"
Natsu just glared up at the Lightning Dragon.
"Ich bin Natsu Dragneel, Sohn von Igneel, dem Feuerdrachenkönig, und Thronfolger des Drachenkönigs."
a pleased grin came to Galvanduros' face as he gave a respectful bow and landed on the ground in front of the Fire Dragon Slayer. While he could care less, Natsu had earned the beasts respect. Enough so that the Lighting Dragon was willing to put itself on the same level as him.
-XXxxXxXxxXX-
"Since when could that flame brain do something like that?!"
Gray practically screeched when they saw the new form that Natsu's Dragon Force had taken.
"Good question. But a better question, what the heck is he holding?"
Lucy wondered, pointing out that Natsu had a weapon of some sort in his right hand.
It took a moment for the weapon experts that were present to identify it, but Erza explained that it was a glaive. Though she and Gray both commented that it wasn't a normal looking glaive. The shaft of the weapon was a little more than a third of the length it should be, and the blade was slightly longer than normal. Yet it was still about half the size it should have been.
It did look menacing though. The shaft was a deep black color, and appeared to be smooth. Though there was a section that had a dark tan colored leather wrapped around to help with griping it. It had a lot of silver material at the base of the blade. That material was shaped and patterned into a dragon head with it's mouth wide open, from which the blade extended, which like the shaft was black, though the blade was less shiny. Etched into the flat of the blade was a pattern that made it seem as if the dragon head was breathing fire along the blade. The flame like pattern was glowing crimson.
(A/N: Swordsman Natsu is kinda over used, and I'm not a fan of axes as weapons. So I decided to give him a glaive. I wanted him to use it one handed though, as I just can't see Natsu using a true glaive. So really it's a short spear but with the blade of a glaive rather than a spearhead so that he can still slash with it)
"Does Natsu even know how to use a weapon like that though?"
Levy wondered, though her attention was quickly captured by the approach of Cana, Wendy, Laxus, and Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer seemed to have regained some of his energy as Wendy carried them through the air and towards the ship.
It took them a few minutes, but eventually the slayers all landed on the deck. They could see that she was exhausted, but Wendy cast a quick Troia on the other slayers and promptly threw herself into a chair to rest. Of course the slayers had heard the question as they approached, and the dark haired dragon slayer was the one to speak up and answer the blue haired girl.
"Yeah, Salamander can use that thing. He and I forged that glaive specifically so he could use it and still be able to use most of his regular spells while fighting."
"Not to mention Gray and I did work with him on fighting with a weapon."
Erza chimed in though her attention was still on the video relay that was showing her pink haired guild mate.
"We can play the questions game later. For now, let's watch the rest of this fight and cheer Natsu on."
Makarov ordered.
As it was the guild master that said it, they all went quiet and turned their attention towards the video. Except for Cana who first made her way over to Mira and made sure her daughter was alright. It wasn't because she didn't trust Mira to keep Koharu safe, so much as it was she wanted her daughter in her arms so that they could wait for Natsu together.
-XXxxXxXxxXX-
Despite his anger. Despite the fact it was still a precarious situation for him. Natsu was grinning. He just couldn't help it. His adrenaline was flowing, and he was fighting something he didn't have to hold back against. He finally was fighting something he could truly go all out against.
If he were to be honest, it was kind of humbling though. After all, Galvanduros was still matching him even after all the wounds it had taken. Even after all the injuries he and his fellow dragon slayers had given the monster. Yet the dragon was still able to fight him.
Granted his Dragon Force and the weapon in his hands were making things a lot more advantageous for him.
"You are one tough son of a bitch, you know that?"
Natsu muttered as he used his glaive to deflect the talons that were slicing towards him, before swiftly thrusting out to score another hit on the dragons arm. To his surprise Galvanduros chuckled and replied in the human tongue.
"As are you. Granted I would expect no less from the son of my rival."
The Fire Dragon Slayer was forced to jump back to avoid being impaled when the dragon turned it's head and tried to impale him with one of it's horns. Dashing towards the side with the limp and useless arm, Natsu channeled his magic into the glaive.
"Fire Dragon's Scorching Edge" Glowing with the same white flames as he'd been using, Natsu used both of his hands to swing his glaive, and smiled savagely when it easily finished what Gajeel's attack had started and completely removed the limb.
Galvanduros couldn't help but release an earth shaking wail of agony. But that didn't mean the dragon was unable to force the pinkette to move away, rather than press his advantage.
"The fact you can discharge your lighting from any part of your body is rather annoying."
The dragon slayer commented, as he ducked under a stray bolt of lighting. His instinct, as well as his senses told him that he could have taken the hit, as the dragon's attacks were far weaker now than they had been before the massive burst of lightning that had taken Gajeel out of the fight. But he didn't want to risk it.
This time the Lighting Dragon didn't respond. Instead he forced the Fire Dragon Slayer to jump over his tail once more, only to swiftly maneuver his glaive to block the claws that raced towards him. Unfortunately, while he was able to prevent being cut into pieces, he was still in the air and had no way of bracing against the attack. So he found himself being swatted into a tree before a storm of lighting bolts were launched at him.
"Fire Dragon's Blazing Fang" With a slash of his glaive, Natsu sent out a burst of flame to counter the lighting bolts.
'I may be far, far stronger than last time I used Dragon Force, but I still can't maintain it for long. I've got to wrap this up quickly' He thought to himself as he twisted his body to dodge being impaled on the end of Galvanduros' tail.
Stomping on the ground harshly he caused an earthquake with his "Earth Dragon's Quaking Stomp" hoping he could use it as a distraction.
The entire Island shook from the force of his magic as a dozen spiky pillars of stone rose up to impale Galvanduros' underbelly. Of course the dragon reacted quick enough so that they were only just able to break through his scales, rather than tear into him as they would have otherwise done. But it was enough to make the monster lose sight of Natsu for just a moment.
'This is it. If I don't kill him with this last attack, I'm dead.' He thought as he channeled the last bit of his magic into his glaive once more. Springing into the air, He started to rotate his body. After the third spin, he growled out "Volcanic Dragon's Plasmic Edge!"
The moment he finished speaking is body turned once again and he unleashed a blast of plasma. Which really shouldn't have been possible, as despite the fact his flames were white hot, they still weren't hot enough to be anywhere near as hot as the sun itself. Not to mention the stones created by his Earth Dragon Slaying magic are non-conductive to electricity and have no magnetic properties.
But somehow, he was able to pull the errant electrical charges in the air into his attack, using them to alter the molten slag his attack would have created into a form of plasma.
-XXxxXxXxxXX-
"How the?" Laxus mumbled to himself as he watched the screen showcasing the video of the battle after he and the others left Natsu to finish the fight against the dragon. It was so incredible to see that he couldn't even finish his sentence.
Not that they could really see much as the moment his attack was unleashed it flared bright enough that it blinded whoever or whatever it was that was observing Natsu's battle and relaying it to them through Hibiki's link.
"If the reporters you guys are protecting up on your airship are streaming this back to the mainland, then I've no doubt that everyone will agree Natsu deserves his rank as a Wizard Saint."
Master Makarov told the Blue Pegasus mage that was on their boat with them.
"No kidding. They might even argue that he should be higher up in the ranks after seeing this."
The dirty blonde replied. It really was stunning to see Natsu unleashing so much power, for all of them. But as he'd fought along side Natsu when their guilds teamed up to deal with Oracion Seis, he was able to pull himself together rather quickly. 'Trust a Fairy Tail wizard to go above and beyond expectations. And trust that Natsu will do so in such a way as to make the impossible possible' he thought to himself.
Makarov smirked at Hibiki's reply. The younger man wasn't wrong that people were probably going to argue about it. And they were going to be right. While he wasn't sure if all of the dragon slayers would get a boost thanks to having been in the fight for at least part of it, Natsu for sure was going to receive a massive boost to his power. Enough so that he wasn't certain who would win between himself and Natsu anymore.
"It looks like we're about to see the results of Natsu's attack."
Erza pointed out as color slowly returned to the screen.
Natsu was on the ground on his back, his glaive stuck in the ground beside him. His Dragon Force had faded. The keen eyed dragon slayers all were able to see the steady rise and fall of his chest.
If he were to sit up, he'd be facing a gargantuan crater that looked deep enough that they could put the Fairy Tail guild hall inside it thrice over. In the center of that crater was a smoking, and heavily charred husk.
"Holy -" Gray started to say, but cut himself off, as he remembered that Koharu was nearby and that Cana and Natsu would murder him if he cursed in front of her. Well, at least until after she started speaking. Both parents had admitted that they just didn't want her first true word to be a swear.
But they all knew what he was going to say. It truly was absurd to see. Natsu's last attack had completely disintegrated Galvanduros' head, shoulders, remaining arm, and his wings. There was literally only half of the beasts body left.
Making a quick decision Makarov turned to face his guild members.
"Alright. Our S-class trials are hereby canceled. Erza if you would please go and give Natsu basic first aid before bringing him back to the ship?"
The redhead nodded before using her Re-equip magic to switch into her Black Wing Armor as it allowed her to fly the fastest out of all her armors that granted her flight. Wendy tilted her head, confused as to why Erza was going to be the one to treat Natsu, when she was the healer.
Seeing that, Makarov gave the blue haired girl a soft smile.
"Wendy, you've expended a lot of magic today. Just rest and recover alright? Erza might not be as adept at healing as you are, but she does have a fair bit of medical knowledge."
"Okay master."
Nodding he turned his attention back to Fairy Tail as a whole.
"Now then. As I was saying. Our S-class trials have been canceled as we were interrupted. However after the fight we just witnessed, I think we can all agree that Natsu deserves the promotion yes?"
All of them, even Gray, nodded at that.
"Good. So there won't be any arguments about that. But Natsu was already being tested differently from the rest of you. However from the results of the few trials we managed to finish, I have a general idea of how the rest of the exams were going to go. As such I'm going to make a rather unique call here."
He paused and took a deep breath before looking around at his wizards.
"Gray and Freed. The two of you are going to be what is known as 'Provisional S-class'. What that means is you are allowed to take S-class quests. But two of our S-class wizards must approve of you taking that quest, or you must get an S-class to agree to tag along on that quest."
"So the only difference between a Provisional S-class and a regular mage is that if two S-class wizards think we can handle the quest, we can take on an S-class request on our own?"
The green haired man tried to confirm.
"Yes. Now outside of Natsu who has special circumstances this year, I can only promote one of you to S-class. However, given the three I was already leaning towards just from the two tests we managed to finish were the two of you and Gajeel… Well... I didn't want you to feel like his participation in the fight against that dragon was why he is the one being promoted to S-class this time."
"I understand."
"Even if it was, I'd say he earned it. I'm not sure if I'd even be awake right now if I were in his shoes for that fight."
The two Provisional S-class replied.
Gajeel however didn't say anything. Sure it was nice that he was an S-class again, considering it was the rank he had when he was part of Phantom Lord. But really the rank wasn't all that special.
Then Makarov turned his attention to his grandson.
"I appreciate the fact you came to help. It seems your time away from the guild has done you some good."
"Honestly? It really has. Being out on my own like I am, it's let me breathe again. I don't feel like I'm trapped in your shadow anymore. I don't feel like everyone is comparing me to you and wondering if I'll be able to fill your shoes when you retire."
"You've also grown a lot stronger too. That dragon fight wasn't the greatest showing considering the elemental match up. But even as worn out as you are, I can still sense it."
But what the guild master didn't say was that there was a chance that the second generation dragon slayer was about to gain even more power.
Of course their talk was interrupted by the return of Erza, who had a rather heavily bandaged Natsu slung over her shoulders.
"Master, I suggest we rush back to Magnolia and have Porlyusica handle healing Natsu this time. I did what I could, and with Wendy being as exhausted as she is, Porlyusica is our best bet for getting Natsu back to 100% before the end of the week."
The redhead reported as she gently handed Natsu over to Gray and Freed, who had offered to carry him to one of the beds so he could rest more easily.
"I'd offer for you to use the Christina so you could get back faster, but since we've still got a bunch of reporters that we're escorting. I doubt they'd give any of you a moment of peace. I can however forward a message to the Magic Council with your decision in regards to who was promoted this year. At least then you don't have to worry about making the report yourself."
Hibiki offered, reminding them that the Blue Pegasus mage was still present.
"That would be appreciated, thank you Hibiki."
Makarov thanked him with a smile. But before the dirty blonde could return to his own ship, he paused as he received a telepathic message from one of his fellow guild mates.
"It seems Ren and Eve want me to let you know, the reporters are already working on their news articles, and that several of them have already suggested giving the dragon slayers new titles."
Gildarts chuckled at that.
"Oh yeah? Well I don't know about the other slayers, but I do know that Natsu would rather it be a surprise."
"Eh, I don't care one way or the other."
"Me neither."
Laxus and Gajeel commented. Wendy was already asleep, and Cana had followed Gray and Freed so that she could at least sit with Natsu even if he was resting.
"Alright then. I'll just leave the new epithets for you to read in the news later then."
Natsu's glaive is roughly 42 inches long from the tip of the blade to the butt of the shaft. If it helps picture a claymore sword but in reverse. Meaning the blade is the same size as a claymore hilt and the shaft is the length of the claymore blade. Except not quite as long as a claymore since those things are between 47 and 55 inches in length.
Now this is much, much shorter than a true glaive. Because glaives are polearms, meaning they're meant to be two handed weapons. In fact glaives are supposed to be more like 95 inches from the tip of the blade to the butt of the shaft. But as I said when I introduced the idea, Natsu is going to wield it one handed so it needs to be small enough that he can do so comfortably. As it's both shorter and weighs less than a claymore, I figure he should be able to wield a glaive that long with one hand as if it were a one handed spear. Which now that I think about it, is kinda what I was going for. Except a spear is for thrusting attacks, not slashing or slicing attacks.
And now for the German used in the chapter.
German:
1. Du unverschämter Wurm! Ich werde dich zerstören!
2. Ich sehe, das ihr Insekten noch lebt. Zumindest dafür muss ich euch loben, jetzt werdet ihr aber sterben.
3. Du wirst also einer von uns. Anscheinend habe ich es Ihrer kleinen Gruppe zu leicht gemacht. Es besteht eine Chance, wie gering sie auch sein mag, dass Sie diesen Kampf gewinnen. Also sag es mir, Junge. Wie heißt du?
4. Ich bin Natsu Dragneel, Sohn von Igneel, dem Feuerdrachenkönig, und Thronfolger des Drachenkönigs.
English:
1. You insolent worm! I will destroy you!
2. I see you insects still live. I must commend you for that at least. But now you will die.
3. So, you're becoming one of us. It seems I was taking your little group too easy. There's a chance, however small it may be that you will win this clash. So tell me young one. What is your name?
4. I am Natsu Dragneel, son of Igneel the Fire Dragon King and heir to the throne of the Dragon King.