Chapter Fifteen
1,510°
A/N: I rewrote chapter 14 before coming back into a fresh chapter, go read that first if you haven't already.
"This wasn't exactly how I imagined this would go down," Natsu muttered, dodging roars of iron and torrents of rain.
It would be easy to overpower and force them both into submission, but he wasn't convinced that they would survive something like that, and he didn't get a sense of evil from the blue-haired woman that he did from the other Phantom Lord mages.
She was nuts, but not an evil person, he couldn't bring down his raw power on them, lest they succumbed to it.
"You thought this would be easy, just because you've got a reputation as this big hot shot, huh? We barely scratched the surface in our first tiff, this time you'll find that I won't be stopped so easily," Gajeel told him, his red eyes sharp and focused on the fight, evading the few strikes that Natsu sent his way.
"Come on Salamander, stop playing around, we both know that you're plotting something but I can't get serious until you do." The Iron Dragon Slayer complained.
"Very well, hope you can swim." Natsu laughed as he brought his knee to the bricks, slamming a fist down beneath and forcing fire to blast throughout the cannon. Everything beneath them erupted as it exploded and fell away from the main body of the guild hall, plummeting to the sea below.
Natsu had just enough time to force a spire of fire beneath him, propelling almost the entire way to the remaining stone of the guild hall, desperately grasping onto the lowest bricks, only just managing to grab on before he too fell to the deep below.
"That crazy lady is quite peculiar," he mused to himself, slowly climbing up the bricks.
"There's good in her heart. I can't fight Gajeel properly if she's hovering around. Can't wait to tell Gray about it though." He laughed quietly.
"Natsu!" he heard a voice calling him. It sounded distant like it was echoing off of a corridor made of tin cans.
"Salamander!" The voice called out to him again.
"What?" he asked flatly, confused that someone could even know where he was.
"I tagged you with one of my magic cards, it was supposed to be a precaution but now Erza wants to speak to you." The voice explained.
Magic cards? The woman that accused him of stringing up the blue-haired girl was carrying some cards that she'd been speaking into, was that what was happening here?
"Listen, I'd love to have this conversation face to face where you can explain all about this tagging business, but I'm currently trying not to fall off of this guild hall and this conversation is sapping my focus with every word exchanged, so please, can this not wait until later?" He pleaded.
"No, listen." This time it was Titania's voice, one that he knew straight away.
"Did you not just hear what I said?" He asked rhetorically.
"Something has happened to the master. He was coming to try and stop you from doing something drastic and possibly harming the people of Magnolia by accident." Erza began.
"My dear lady," he said with an over-the-top gasp, "I would never do such a thing. I am as a valiant knight, sworn to protect and serve the people." Natsu rattled on, continuing his climb.
"Natsu, Levy and Gray have both told me that they've seen you… incinerate, some of the Phantom Lord mages." Erza responded after a brief moment of silence.
"Wow… Narcs."
"Natsu, if you continue down this dark path then I will find ways to punish you!" She said in all but a hushed whisper.
"I love it when you talk dirty to me, Titania" he responded suavely, clutching the last brick before he reached an alcove that would allow him entrance to the guild hall.
"Natsu! That is entirely inappropriate! Besides, Cana can hear every word we say!" She gushed, sputtering her words.
He could almost feel the heat of the blush in her cheeks, knowing just how easily he could fluster her.
"Oh, so your only hangup is that the brunette is listening in? I'll make a mental note to only say the filthy stuff when it's whispered in your ear." He added, trying his best not to laugh and give the game away.
There was silence, for longer than he'd expected.
"Titania?" He asked in a low voice, looking around the room he'd found himself in. It was bare, with nothing in the way of decoration, just a cobblestone room that had two large alcoves leading in.
"She, uh, she froze. Good job buddy." The first voice told him, presumably the brunette called Cana.
"You sneak around here with such little grace, anyone else might think you came here with bad intentions." A solemn voice reached his ears, only for him to look up and see a young man with white hair, leaning against the doorway, looking down with a fascinated expression.
"That sounds bad, should I get Happy to bring someone to help you?" Cana asked, unsure if that was something that would even be necessary given what so currently knew about him.
"No need. My attempt at stealth has clearly not worked, time for plan B." Natsu responded casually.
"What's plan B?" Cana asked, looking up at the guild where she and a few others had rallied outside the Fairy Tail guild hall, trying to keep Phantom Lord's mages from getting inside.
Her answer came in the form of an enormous explosion rocking the guildhall where it stood poised in the sea. The ground beneath their feet quaked with a shockwave from the sheer force that came with it.
"I must admit,' Natsu smiled as he stepped through the carnage and rubble. The entire structure had been thrown into chaos with walls and rooms giving way, collapsing as the damage spread out, even after the flames died out.
"It's fairly rudimentary but still one of my favourites. Plan B, or as I like to call it, plan blow shit up." He mused, looking around to see what he could find.
What he found was an incredibly unimpressed master of Phantom Lord sitting cross-legged on a large high-back throne made of stone. On either side were several mages, all of whom stood out amongst the several dozen Natsu had seen so far.
Gajeel was at the forefront of the group, squatting on his heels simply staring at Natsu like a predator.
The blue-haired woman stood off to the side, swaying slightly.
High above them, stooped on the rafters in a rather peculiar way, was a large man who resembled a boulder more than a human, wearing an obnoxiously pale green overcoat.
"Sorry fellas, I was looking for the toilets but as it turns out, this entire place is a literal shit hole," Natsu remarked, sparking the ire of several of them.
"Natsu Dragneel." Jose Porla said, sucking his teeth, mulling the name over.
"There was so much potential for the Salamander. I've heard stories that predate even my reign. They say you fight like a demon."
"So they say." Natsu shrugged, stepping forward, welcoming the combat.
"I'm afraid that this is where your legend ends. It truly is a shame that you can't see the good right in front of your eyes." The Phantom Lord master added.
"Right now, there's little good to speak of. Only ants about to be caught under the gaze of the sun." He said, holding his hand out to the side, creating a floating ball of constantly revolving fire that swirled around like a small sun, raising the temperature in the room to new heights.
The air became almost too thick to breathe, and even that hurt the lungs of those unfortunate enough to be caught near the Salamander.
Without prompt, the large man above splayed his hands out, hitting Natsu was some kind of unseen wall. It was faint but he could feel the difference in current across his body. Was it wind being thrown against him? The spherical mass of flames in his palm began to blow away.
"But can you keep it up? The water woman will evaporate before she can get near me, Blacksteel will melt, and you, you will be turned into nothing more than a pile of ash, just like the other idiots that tried to fight me." Natsu stated, raising his free hand and snapping his fingers.
The whole beam the man had been standing on splintered into a thousand pieces and slowly fell, each burning up into nothing more than black specks, but the man was not among them.
Instead, he'd appeared right in front of Natsu, his hands still splayed outward, the wind force becoming considerably stronger.
"Fire Dragon Talon!" The swipe came in fast, closing the gap between them in an instant, catching the man across the throat, sending him hurtling back with a spray of blood littering the air as he went.
By the time he hit the ground, he was already dead from being completely opened up at the throat.
"One," Natsu said menacingly.
The other member of Porla's posse that appeared before him stepped forward, throwing hand signs erratically.
Huge chunks of the broken brickwork all rose and battered Natsu, enclosing him in a rubble tomb.
They heard the distinct sound of fingers snapping before the earth mage was engulfed in the white flames, extinguishing his life entirely.
The rocks fell away to reveal Natsu standing unscratched, but this time with all traces of humour gone.
"Two." He added.
Next, he marched on Gajeel who was only too eager to finally have his turn. His iron skin spread across, providing as much protection as he could muster before they clashed once more.
Roars echoed and filled the air as they fought more like animals than men, punching, kicking, scratching, and biting at one another wherever they got the chance.
There was something so primal that had arisen between them. No longer was there a need for words when their body language spoke volumes, this was finally a true encounter between two Dragon Slayers.
"No!" The crazy blue-haired woman shouted, materializing between them with her arms wide, "I won't let you harm him, he's a good man, he isn't evil like the others." She pleaded, earning a curious gaze from the Dragon King.
"The ice mage, he spoke of you, enchanted by your beauty. He asked me, if I saw you again, to tell you that he's waiting for you, down by the beach." He told her, straight-faced as ever.
"My… My darling really said that?" She asked, gazing out of the gaping side of the guild hall.
"He's playing you Juvia, my dear. Ignore his words and help Gajeel to kill him." Porla tutted with a stifled yawn.
"I don't know if anyone would describe him as a darling, but yes, he really said that. He won't be down there forever though, it's now or never." Natsu assured her.
A few seconds of silence reigned over them before she disappeared, leaving the faintest trace of moisture in the air.
"Is that true, or are you just playing her, Salamander?" Gajeel asked with a sneer.
"I mean, he's probably down there somewhere. Sure isn't ready for whatever her deal is though. I'm almost sad that I won't be able to see it. Nevertheless, she's innocent of the crimes of this guild, I could not harm her, nor would I." He explained seriously.
"You, I will throw around to my heart's content, but she gets a free pass, I just needed her out of the way so that I can do plan B." Natsu grinned wildly.
"What's plan-"
For the second time that day, a collective of Fairy Tail mages watched in worried awe as another massive explosion rocked the now barely standing Phantom Lord guild hall.
A light and powerful aura came from within the guild hall.
"Master?" Erza asked, looking down at the adoptive grandfather.
"Does that brat know nothing about subtlety or diplomacy!?" Makarov demanded incredulously.
"Want me to… Intervene?" Laxus asked, unsure of what he could do right now.
"No, some things I have to do myself, now I think it's time that I go and have a chat with Master Porla. I'm feeling much better, and I think we have our notorious friend to thank for that." Makarov grumbled, making his way down the street towards the ensuing carnage.
The dust and smoke filled the air inside the now largely ruined Phantom Lord guildhall. In the midst of it all lie an unconscious Dragon Slayer.
Gajeel, having taken almost the entirety of the blast, was completely out cold. Despite the iron Dragon Slayer's best attempt to defend, nothing could have stopped Porla from feeling some of it.
"Three, sort of. He'll recover." Natsu shrugged, never once taking his predatory stare away from the guild master.
"You really are a monster, well deserving of the multitudes of titles that follow you, but I am a wizard saint, do not presume to think that this will go anything like what you've experienced so far." Porla threatened, standing from his crumbling throne and allowing his power to run free.
"You won't get the chance, Jose." Master Makarov's voice echoed around, and the weight of his power fell upon them like gravity itself.
"Oh, the old man's got something hidden up his sleeve." Natsu hummed, watching as Makarov came gracefully floating through the open wall.
"Makarov, you can't seriously be coming here expecting an easy resolution. You know that it's forbidden for two wizard saints to fight one another, the results would be devastating, and this town has suffered enough. Hand over the girl and this will be all over with." Porla reasoned, his eyes turning black with a hint of gold shining within.
"I'll give you the same choice that I give my brats. You get until the count of three to kneel before me and apologize for your crimes. One." Makarov began to glow with a dazzlingly bright light emanating all around them.
Natsu wasn't entirely sure that he was safe.
"I'd rather die than kneel before a washed-up has-been like you." Porla snarled.
"Two." Makarov continued, ignoring Porla's argument.
"His countdown is so much more menacing than mine, I should take notes," Natsu muttered, watching with crossed arms.
"Enough of this, let's skip the games Makarov, there's only one way this ends!" Jose shouted, summoning hundreds of shades, all rapidly dashing through the air to try and overwhelm Master Makarov.
As powerful as Makarov was, he couldn't perform any kind of spell of that scale with so many enemies surrounding him. Natsu rushed in, placing himself between the shades at the master of Fairy Tail.
"Purgatory." His voice came out as no more than a whisper but in that moment it might as well have been the loudest thing in the world.
The room tilted beyond sense, the walls and floors were covered in layers of a thick crimson liquid that oozed around like weeping blood. Geysers of fire broke through the ground in random places, enshrouding them in a visage of a dark place. One by one the shades all died off, succumbing to the fire and darkness that the attack had brought.
"Time's up. Fairy Law!" Makarov summoned the grand spell, and a truly enormous magic circle appeared in the sky high above, showering them with light.
Natsu felt like parts of his body were on fire in the worst way imaginable. The entire spell was steeped in holy magic. Even though it wasn't directly aimed at him, it was doing enough damage that he'd been thrown to the ground, writhing in pain.
The attack had gone straight past the dragon slayer and instead found purchase in the demon within.
E.N.D frenzied, desperate to get out, to escape from this burning light.
He could only fight back against it for so long, this was a level of pain and suffering that he hadn't felt in centuries at least. His very soul was being flared and rendered out by Makarov's spell.
Just as the light was fading from the attack, so too was Natsu's vision. With one last futile attempt, he fell to the ground, the visage of his Purgatory spell disappearing along with his consciousness.
His body had given up, but his mind was one shared by two extremely powerful aspects, and now they were about to have their first real showdown in a very long time.
Natsu could feel the power behind E.N.D's metaphysical restraints beginning to slip. Here, in the depths of their subconscious, they were on an almost level playing field.
There he was, lounging around behind the veil of fire, simply watching, waiting for Natsu to do something.
"I don't suppose that you want to just play nice for once?" he asked.
E.N.D's gaze narrowed, his eyes shooting an insulted glare.
"You waste time frolicking with these mortals while we could be finding Zeref. These people aren't worthy of our time, if I get the chance, I will render this entire continent to ash, ridding you of these distractions." the Demon stated.
"No, you will not." Natsu told him rather flatly, "That geezer's spell was painful for me, but I felt that it was excruciating for you. If he tried to target us with something like that, you'd be thinking twice."
"It would be an incredibly painful death," E.N.D nodded, "For him."
"Then," he added, clearly with more in mind, "One by one, all of Fairy Tail, then the rest of this pathetic world."
"You cold motherfucker." Natsu said, hardly surprised by E.N.D's threat to destroy the world.
"You've worn out your welcome here, begone from my prison," E.N.D told him, being the last word spoken before Natsu's consciousness was ejected from the depths of their mind, forced back into the darkness that he'd succumbed to.
A/N: Is there anything in particular that you want to see happen in this story? Let me know.