He won!" Wendy cheerfully exclaimed after watching Natsu defeat Apollo Flame. Things were finally beginning to look up with Fairy Tail's undefeated streak against Hyde's cast. Though, Wendy had one eye shut from the amount of magic that was beginning to flood into her body. "I-It's only a matter of time now!"

"Hm..." Hyde mere nodded at Apollo's defeat. "Interesting maneuver by your friend...Terribly risky, however. But, it paid off in the end, so I suppose I cannot say much more abut it. The god of the sun defeated by a mere fire mage. Heh..."

"H-He's not just a fire mage!" Wendy shouted. "He's a dragon slayer and a Fairy Tail wizard!"

"Hah..." Hyde chuckled before replying. "He only won because Apollo's final attack granted him the use of Dragon Force. An interesting addition to the script on their part, that's for sure. But, without that immense boost in power, Natsu would have lost. And he was dangerously close to losing even with it, though Apollo didn't get the chance to show that..."

"That's not true! Natsu won because-" Wendy started in clear objection to Hyde's claim.

"I wasn't finished," Hyde said in a slightly annoyed tone. "Apollo is the strongest out of my personally selected cast. Augria is second, while the others just fall into place. It was sheer luck that things worked out the way they did for Natsu, as for your other members."

"Be quiet! They won because they-" Wendy began, but Hyde quickly cut her off.

"Yes, yes, you just keep spouting that..." Hyde replied in a dismissive tone, checking the magic gauge linked to the machine. "Oh, there we go...it should be finished warming up now..."

"W-Warming up...?" Wendy asked, but her question was quickly answered. She fell to her hands and knees while letting out a shriek. Blue wind and red flames appeared around her body as she was forced to enter Omega Flame Sky to hold the amount of magic pouring into her body. "N-Ngh...!"

"Finally..." Hyde said with a nod of approval. "The magic you wasted on attacking me has been restored, and now the magic flowing into your body is greater than it can normally handle, which is why your body responded by entering your dual mode. "Now...let's see how long it takes to possibly take it all one step beyond..."

"G-Guys...hurry..." Wendy struggled to whisper while writhing around inside the transparent sphere.

.

.

"Natsu!" Happy exclaimed, immediately running over to the dragon slayer, whose scales receded. "Are you okay?!"

"Never better!" Natsu shouted as he hopped back onto his feet, though he wobbled a bit because he was a lot more exhausted than he thought he was. "Gah..."

"Do you have any idea how dangerously close that was?!" Lucy shouted at her partner, letting out a loud huff after.

"I wasn't actually thinking about it..." Natsu replied as he crossed his arms, giving Lucy an oblivious look.

"Once again he acts without thinking..." Carla sighed, placing her paw on top of her head.

"He managed to pull it off though, so we can't discredit that." Pantherlily said with a nod before turning to the door, watching Apollo's lock on the door shatter. "There goes another lock…"

"Maybe the door will actually break this time!" Cynthia exclaimed as she rushed to the door, throwing another series of dark red flaming punches towards it. Each fist hit the door, but as before, it didn't budge. "UGH! Wendy is on the other side of this! I need it to open!"

"There's got to be something we can do…" Carla said while pacing around, back and forth.

"Gajeel and Juvia are the only ones left who are still fighting…" Lisanna said while looking towards the two lacrima screens.

"They're taking too long!" Natsu said while walking over to the door, igniting his body in flames.

"How much magic do you have left?" Lucy asked.

"Enough to break down this door!" Natsu replied while throwing a series of intense flaming punches at the door alongside Cynthia, a loud "BANG" emitting from each punch from the two fire dragons. "Fire Dragon's Punch!"

"It's not gonna budge…" Carla sighed, but she had to commend the two for their hard efforts. It was then that another elevator opened up, and everyone turned to see who it was. It was the wounded Erza, who limped out of the elevator in nothing but her still bare minimum clothing.

"Erza..!" Lucy exclaimed while limping over to the requip mage. "You made it!"

"Sorry it took a while…" Erza replied. "Knightwalker is really stubborn…"

"Did you manage to incapacitate her?" Pantherlily asked while crossing his arms.

"Unfortunately, the best I could do was make it into the elevator before she could," Erza replied with a slight nod, wincing somewhat after because of her injuries.

"I see…" Pantherlily sighed. "I was hoping I would be able to question her on how she got here and why she's working with Hyde of all people."

"Are Gajeel and Juvia still fighting?" Erza asked while turning to the screens.

"We can only hope they don't take too long…" Mirajane said while tilting her head to the door. "Wendy's beyond that door, but we can't break it. We have to wait until all the fights are done…"

"If I know Gajeel, I know he'll make it just in time. Same with Juvia." Pantherlily gave a firm nod, staring intently at the lacrima screens displaying Juvia vs. Brachio and Gajeel vs. Augria.

.

.

Tristan walked around the halls of Black Phoenix, pondering a few events that took place days before. "I still don't understand…"

"What's on your mind?" Hikaru asked while popping out from seemingly nowhere.

"Oh, hello, Hikaru-san…" Tristan said with a nod. "I've just been thinking about what happened during the tournament…"

(You mean the tournament we should've won?) Ola asked while walking into the room, a slightly annoyed expression on her face as she cut her eyes to Tristan.

"Sorry, Ola-san…" Tristan said with a nervous smile. "She was a powerful opponent."

(It's not your fault.) Ola said while waving a dismissive hand. (And I'm just…a little…competitive…)

"I could tell you were trying not to strangle someone when Fairy Tail won…" Hikaru said while crossing her arms. "Anyway, what were you thinking about, Tristan?"

"That man named Hyde," Tristan replied. "From what I gathered, everyone who encountered him was unable to land a single strike on him. All of our attacks just went through him."

"Are you wondering what his weakness is…?" Hikaru asked while raising a brow. "His magic is quite tricky and unique…but I'm certain he has a weakness. Everyone does. I noticed something odd when I attacked him while you and Leon were dealing with him…"

.

.

"Water Slicer!" Juvia exclaimed while swiping her hand in the water several times, sending multiple waves of water in the shape of scythes towards Brachio. Unfortunately for the aquatic mage, the beast was swift in Water. With gracefully swimming ability, Brachio avoided each and every Water Slicer Juvia send, now countering with his own attack.

"Fin Slash!" Brachio exclaimed while swimming forward, aiming to slash Juvia with his sharp fin, but he passed right through the water mage due to her Water Body spell.

"Attacks like those won't work on Juvia!" Juvia exclaimed while whipping her arm back, turning it into a whip of water. "Water Cane!" After shouting this, Juvia threw her arm forward, whipping Brachio across the face, causing him to swim backwards. Juvia seemed to gain the advantage in this fight because she was in water and had Water Body active at all times. She continued to whip her arm around in attempt to whip the seabeast again, but every strike after the first turned into a horrible miss, much to her annoyance. "Tch…!"

"Water Body, ah yes, I haven't forgotten…" Brachio said while gaining a large distance between himself and Juvia. "I have something for your little spell…" The beast then lunged forward, speeding through the water with his mouth wide open. "Aqua Fang!" Once reaching Juvia, he bit down, catching the aquatic mage in his teeth, causing Juvia to let out a shriek of pain.

"W-What…!? Why isn't Water Body…?!" Juvia asked as she tried to pry herself from the powerful grip of Brachio.

"Magic nullifying fangs!" Brachio replied as his jaw clenched down harder on Juvia. He grinned as he saw his prey attempting to escape from his grip. "There is no escape!"

"Ngh…!" Juvia grunted before pulling her hand up, allowing a small cyclone of water to surround it. "Water Punch!" Juvia shouted rather desperately, aiming powerful punches at Brachio's face and eyes in attempt to get him to release. Brachio grunted in annoyance before finally release, swimming back to gain some space.

"Gh! Annoying…!" Brachio groaned while shaking his head. "No matter…"

Juvia held her sides, wincing in pain as she continued to tread water. Her sides were throbbing but she had to keep going. She placed her left hand forward, aiming it towards Brachio. "Water Force!" She swiped her hand after exclaiming this, causing the water to push Brachio off to the side, buying her a little more time to recover. "Now…" Juvia swiped both of her hands towards each other, right over left. This created two waves that rushed towards Brachio from both sides. Her goal was to restrict his movement with this move.

Brachio recovered from the Water Force rather easily, now noticing the incoming waves rushing towards him from his sides. He shook his head, almost feeling insulted by the waves. "Is that the best you can do…?" Brachio raised his fins up and threw them down, creating a tidal wave three times the size of the waves Juvia made. They overpowered the Double Wave and raced towards Juvia. "Big Wave!"

Juvia was caught off guard at the side of the wave, which ended up washing her up. She wasn't damaged, but the force of the wave crashing on her caused to spiral around in the water before she slowly caught herself, feeling slightly dizzy. She shook off her dizziness and glared towards Brachio. "Juvia knows this match will be a stalemate…Water doesn't affect either of us. You cannot stall Juvia."

"Well, well…" Brachio said with an impressed tone. "You figured out I was stalling? That's only partially true. You see, I DO intend on bringing you under, but at this rate, we'll be here for hours, and I want to actually defeat you from start to finish."

"Juvia will end this battle as quickly as she can then…" Juvia said while ignoring the pain in her sides, keeping her eyes on Brachio. "With one more attack, Brachio will be defeated!" Juvia spread her arms at her sides, rotating them counterclockwise. A blue magic seal then appeared in front of her, unleashing a vicious whirlpool that raced towards Brachio. "Wings of Love!"

"Heh…" Brachio chuckled as a mass of magic energy gathered in his mouth. "If you're going to stop holding back…then I think I should too…" Brachio pointed his head forward and opened his mouth, unleashing a beam of lightning. "Thunder Breath!"

"Lightning?!" Juvia's eyes widened considerably. Lightning, every water mage's worst nightmare, was now racing towards her while she was in her element. The Thunder Breath cut through the Wings of Love, and struck Juvia. The electrical charge flowing through Juvia's body was increased due to the fact her body was made of water and that she was in water. The damage was essentially quadrupled, and she couldn't take it. Juvia let out a scream of pain as the Thunder Breath continued, only to stop seconds before Brachio stopped the attack. Juvia's eyes closed, and she started to sink into the depths of the water as electricity surged around her body every few seconds.

.

.

"J-Juvia!" Lucy's eyes went wide with fear and panic at Juvia's condition.

"N-No…!" Lisanna gasped as she watched the water mage sink into the depths of her very own element.

"What…?" Cynthia turned, eyes widening at Juvia's state. "No!"

"Dammit Hyde!" Gray shouted with anger as he clenched his fist. "We have to do something?"

"What can we do…?" Happy asked with a worried expression.

"We believe in her, obviously," Natsu said.

"R-Right…!" Lucy nodded. "That's how I was able to get back up…!"

"We've come this far…I'm sure she won't let us down…" Mirajane said while keeping her eyes on Juvia.

.

.

Juvia could feel herself sinking into the abyss of darkness. Was it over for the aquatic mage? Despite her condition, she twitched. Her hand began to twitch afterwards. She then began to will herself back into this battle. Even with all the damage she'd taken, she was planning to keep fighting, because it wouldn't be right to give up after coming so far. "J-Juvia…will not…"

"Hm…?" Brachio blinked as he observed Juvia beginning to make a recovery. Not only this, but it began to rain on the surface of the water, causing Brachio to look up. "Rain…? In a place like this…?"

"Juvia will not lose…!" Juvia screamed out, causing the water the two were in to spiral around violently. Her latent power was now beginning to show itself. Juvia raised a hand over her head, generating a large vortex of water. "Water Nebula!" Juvia threw her hand forward, unleashing a massive column of water towards Brachio at an alarming rate.

"Still got some fight left in you!? Fine, I'll make sure to bring you under myself!" Brachio exclaimed while throwing his fins up, sending a massive wave towards Juvia's Water Nebula. "Big Wave!" The wave, much to Brachio's surprise, was overpowered by the Water Nebula, which slammed into him, sending him spiraling around in the water. "Grah!?"

"Water Slicer!" Juvia yelled, swiping her hand multiple times in the water, sending larger scythe's of water towards Brachio.

With an annoyed growl, Brachio swam forward, showing off his expertise in water by evading each and every Water Slicer sent at him. He then opened his mouth wide, preparing to bite down on Juvia once again. "Aqua Fang!" The orange Lochness lookalike clamped down on Juvia once again, catching the water mage in his magic nullifying fangs.

"Ah…!" Juvia let out a yelp of pain as Brachio bit down on her midsection once again. She could feel his crushing grip get stronger with every second, and she could feel her ribs starting to crack as a result. She had to do something now if she was going to make it with the others. She raised her left fist again, allowing water to swirl around it. "W-Water Punch!" Juvia swung her fist towards Brachio's face once again, but the same move didn't work twice. Brachio released Juvia just as she swung and avoided the hit, now moving in once again with a stronger bite, catching Juvia's arm and her midsection once again in his grip, causing Juvia to let out another yelp of pain. "N-No…!"

"This is the end for you…!" Brachio said while clenching his jaw tighter, attempting to snap the water mage in two with his powerful bite.

"Juvia still has….One hand left…!" Juvia struggled to bring her right hand up, palm facing Brachio's face. "Water Beam!" A large beam of water shot out from Juvia's hand, causing Brachio to fly back through the water. Juvia held her arm, which she pretty sure was dangerously close to being broken along with her ribs. The aquatic mage panted heavily while looking towards Brachio, quickly pondering her next move to finish the battle.

"You've done well…" Brachio said while hiding a heavy pant, playing it off while lightning began to surge around his mouth. "But I'm afraid things end here! Thunder Breath!" Brachio threw his head forward, unleashing another beam of electricity towards Juvia.

"Ngh…!" Juvia crossed her arms, bracing herself for the incoming Thunder Breath. It was a direct hit, and the electricity caused her the same anguish it did before, causing her to let out another scream of pain. After the attack subsided, she was hunched over, staring at Brachio with blurry vision, on the edge of blacking out. "N-Not yet…Juvia has a job to do…." Juvia dropped her arms, panting heavily. She clenched her fist as water began to spiral around her lower body. Not just her own water, but water from around her as well. The water level began to lower as Juvia's lower body turned into a sharp cyclone of water.

"W-What…!?" Brachio looked around, starting to panic as the water began to lower. Without water, he wouldn't be able to move at all, so he had to act fast. "Thunder Breath!" He fired off yet another beam of electricity towards Juvia, but this time she dodged it by moving to the side, much to Brachio's fear. "N-No!" The water continued to drain until there was none left. Towering over Brachio was a large jigsaw of water around Juvia's lower body. Brachio was beached, so he couldn't move. All he could do was stare at what Juvia created from the environment and her own power.

"Water Jigsaw!" Juvia shouted at the top of her lungs, heading in one direction, and one direction only. Brachio's. The mass of water lifted up and shredded the floor it traveled over, making the sea beast desperate once he saw the power of what was coming towards him.

"Thunder Breath!" Brachio exclaimed once more, shooting yet another beam of lightning towards Juvia's Water Jigsaw to possibly destroy it. But, the opposite happened. The water was so strong it was actually absorbed into the Water Jigsaw, causing electricity to flow around it, strengthening it. "G-GAH!?"

With a battle cry, Juvia rushed forward, and slammed the Water Jigsaw into Brachio, not even stopping after that. As with Juvia, Brachio took double damage from the lightning attack, letting out a scream of pain while Juvia continued to travel forward until she slammed Brachio into the wall. The attack continued for a few seconds before it finally dispersed. The water flooded back into the room and Juvia landed on her back. She tilted her head to see what became of Brachio. Brachio exited his takeover and returned to his normal form, X's in his eyes to show his defeat. "Juvia brought Brachio under…" Juvia then smiled to herself, giving her body a little time to rest before moving forward.

.

.

"She did it!" Lucy jumped for joy, only to wince after because of her injuries. "Ow…" After that, Brachio's lock on the door shattered.

"Only one left!" Gray exclaimed.

"Gajeel, you better hurry up!" Natsu shouted at the lacrima screen as though Gajeel could actually hear him. "If you don't I'll come down there and finish in half the time!"

.

.

"Is that all of them…?" Luke asked while looking around. It had been a while since Ace's group engaged combat with the lacrima based on their magic.

"I think so…" Ace gave a nod. "Weird how all those things had your magics…"

"You're telling me!" Luke said in an annoyed tone. "How dare those things copy my magic!? Who does that?!" Everyone just gave Luke a blank stare, but he was oblivious as to why. "…What?"

"Never mind…" Selene said with a face palm, dragging her hand down her face after. "Are we going to go inside now?"

"I don't think they need the help…" Ace said while waving a dismissive hand. "I think they're doing just fine now."

"They better be at the top then…" Taya scoffed. "I'm not playing back up for any Fairy ever again." And in her annoyance, she thwacked Ace on top of the head. "That's for dragging me here, you idiot."

"Ouch…!" Ace held his head after it was hit, letting out a laugh after. "Everyone does a little better with reassurance right? I'm sure that's what they needed, after all!"

"I don't get you…" Rylo said while tilting his head, deciding to dust off his top hat after.

"At least it's all over now, right?" Aira asked while taking a seat.

"Seems so…" Leon replied while looking around, keeping his guard up. He could tell it wasn't over just yet.

On the cliff nearby, Tia clenched her hands into fist from pure annoyance and anger. She turned to the machine which stopped producing lacrima. "Piece of crap…!" She kicked the machine, destroying it in a single blow. She then took a breath in, and a breath out. "I should've known this is how it was going to be from the very start…" A heavenly glow appeared around Tia's body as she requipped into her Queen's armor, holding her scepter with one hand. "If you want something done right, you do it yourself…"

.

.

Gajeel and Augria slid back from each other, both somewhat damaged at this point. Gajeel kept a smirk on his face while Augria had a huge grin. "Come on, what's wrong?" Gajeel asked in a mocking tone, gesturing the Unstoppable Charge to come at him. "Where's that Unstoppable Charge you were talking about?"

"Heh…" Augria grinned, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at Gajeel. "You are quite persistent…I underestimated that, and this battle as begun to drag on…It appears we are the only two fighters left."

"That so?" Gajeel raised a brow before his smirk grew even wider. "Gieheh…Guess I got too caught up in playing around." His expression then turned serious as a green magic seal appeared on his left arm, changing it into his Iron Dragon's Sword. "Alright, I'm going to end this here and now!"

The wheels on Augria's chariot of a lower body began to rev up. An insane grin appeared on the General's lips as his arms dropped to his sides. "Since you've asked for it so much, I'll show you! It's time for the Unstoppable Charge!"