"My, you're actually REALLY annoying…" Kiora grunted while using her scythe to parry Erza's slashes. The embodiment demon leapt away, throwing her scythe up in the air to place her fist in her palm, a thin shadowy aura appearing around her lower body. "Shadow Make: Lance." A seal appeared in front of Kiora, unleashing sharp lances of darkness in Erza's direction, aiming to swarm her from all angles.
"I don't believe you have any room to talk…" Erza shot back while skidding to a halt on her current charge, now bringing her swords to her sides. When the shadow lances closed in on her, she began to slash and deflect them. Her speed was impressive, but a few of the lances managed to slip past her defense and graze her body, creating small gashes, but they weren't anything she couldn't handle in the long run. Once the assault of lances finished, Erza decided it was her turn; a bright light engulfed her body as she entered her Heaven's Wheel Armor. She took to the sky, forming a ring of blades around her. "Circle Sword!" Titania flew forward, the blades around her spinning rapidly, creating a sharp circle that threatened to chop off Kiora's head.
"You shouldn't be talking," Kiora replied in a snarky tone. There was no time to evade what was coming, so she used her Embodiment Curse to create a golden, unbreakable shield on her arm. She held the shield forward, allowing the swords to clash with it. Erza saw through this ruse and instead focused her efforts in deflecting Kiora's arm away. The demon wasn't expecting the force to shift, so her arm was forced over to the side by the rotating blades. "You bit…!" Before she could finish, Erza landed a clean slash across Kiora's midsection. The ravenette grunted and staggered back, blood dripping from the wound. An irritated growl escaped the demon as she stood up straight, ignoring the gash. "…ch." Kiora snapped her fingers, causing the wounded Cerberus to stand. The beast then began to charge towards Erza, causing her attention to turn to that.
"Tch…!" Erza changed into her Giant's Armor, preparing the take on the charge head on. She managed to hold off the three-headed beast, sliding back quite a few feet with two of the three heads snapping their jaws at her. "Grrr…" Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something; a bright white light coming right towards her. She leapt back as a powerful beam of light nearly struck her, the explosion causing her to tumble across the ground before coming to a stop, parts of her armor broken, exposing some of her skin. "What…!?"
"The Cosmic Serpent…" Kiora spoke with a slight smirk as a large, white snake slithered to her side. The serpent held its mouth open, generating a sphere of light in its mouth.
"You won't get me again with that!" Erza said while preparing to lunge out of the way, but she found her feet stuck to the ground. "Huh..? I can't move…?" She frantically looked around until she spotted Sora not too far away. "The child…"
"You hurt Kiora-chan…" Sora said with a twisted smile slowly appearing on her lips. "So…Sora wants to play a game with Erza…Erza's shadow is now Sora's to control! You don't move unless I say so!" Just to illustrate her point, she would cause Erza's own shadow to betray her, creating a shadow spike from Erza's shadow to pierce the red head's body from an exposed part of her armor. Erza's eyes widened, but she couldn't hunch over or anything.
"Grah…!" Erza let out a small yelp of pain.
"What a good girl, Sora!" Kiora clasped her hands together, praising the young child with a widening grin. "Now then, Orborous…if you would be so kind…" The serpent fired of large accumulation of light magic in its mouth towards the defenseless Erza, who could do nothing but watch as he raced towards her.
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"This is one hell of a hassle…" Diamond groaned while sneaking around the corner with Heartless, Daigo, Spade, and Strong. "Demons…"
"They are pretty weak, though…" Daigo pointed out. "Strength in numbers is meaningless if the numbers are weak…"
"Maybe so…" Spade said while tapping his chin. "But there are a lot of demons…even if they are easy opponents, the energy going towards dealing with them can be spent dealing with the leaders of this assault…Everyone will get wore out eventually."
"We could just leave the demons to the aces…and Strong?" Diamond suggested.
"I can do it!" Strong flexed.
"Better not risk it…" Heartless sighed before instantly going quiet. She could hear footsteps not too far away, and they sounded like regular footsteps. "Sssh…" The Ex-Dealer members all froze in place as Zeref happened to cross paths with them. "Shit….."
"What's this…?" Zeref raised a curious brow at the Ex-Dealer members. "Oh….you're all members of that Dealer organization. You know…you have your leader to thank for this part. Attempting to control something far beyond his grasp…"
"Power drove him mad…" Heartless admitted. "But we've nothing to do with that…" As she spoke, she silently ushered for the others to make their leave, and though they started to, Zeref caught on quickly.
"I don't recall giving you permission to leave…" Zeref stated, causing the group to freeze in fear. "You were all part of his operation, were you not? In that case, you're all just as guilty as he is…" A dark aura began to surround the Death Wizard, red eyes locking onto them.
"He looks angry…" Daigo said while taking a fearful step back.
"This isn't looking good…" Spade growled slightly. There wasn't anything they could do against a wizard of Zeref's caliber; the strongest mage ever.
"Perish…" Zeref said while placing a palm forward, a somewhat transparent dark sphere forming. He then sent it towards the group with no hesitation.
"Dammit!" Diamond acted without thinking. She lunged forward, allowing the sphere of Death Magic to strike her. Normally, a shockwave would've occurred and spread the effects to everyone else, but it didn't. Diamond flew into a nearby building, her skin pitch black as she laid motionless on the ground.
"DIAMOND!"
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"Grah!" Ultear and Meredy rolled across the ground, their bodies covered in cuts and bruises, while Marde had not a single mark on him. "Damn…he's so powerful…we can't land a hit on him…" Ultear groaned while standing up, hunched over while taking deep heavy breaths.
"I suppose this is all humans have to offer in the end…" Marde said with a slight shrug. "I'm not surprised by this result…You are insects, after all. The only place you deserve to be is right under my boot."
"Ugh…" Meredy stood up shakily, just barely being able to stand. "My sensory magic is difficult to get a hold on him…He's just a walking shell with no emotion…"
"I've no need for trivial matters such as emotions…" Marde replied while taking a few steps forward "But if this is your best, then I believe this is the curtain call for you two."
"Wait," Ur said as she walked forward, standing a fair distance away from the trio. "Marde-sama…allow me to take care of them."
"Mother…!?" Ultear's eyes widened at the sight of Ur; she remembered their last run in during the attack on Tartaros.
"Hm…?" Marde raised a brow, glancing at Ur for a moment before shrugging lightly. "Fine by me…do whatever you wish. I've spent enough time dealing with the trash anyway…" He then turned and began to walk off. "I have other matters I need to attend to anyway."
With Marde gone, Ur looked towards Ultear and Meredy. "Gray and Lyon aren't here…? Oh well, I suppose you'll do for now, daughter of mine…"
"UI…" Meredy slowly glanced at Ultear, a look of worry crossing the pinkette's face.
"Tch…" Ultear took a step back; she knew how powerful Ur was, and even though her magic was made specifically to counter Ur, she learned last time that the fight would still be an uphill battle. "I don't need them to take you on. You pulled me from the darkness…now, Mother…I will pull you from the darkness, even if it's the last thing I do…!"
"I hope you can back up your words, "dear"," Ur said as a cold mist began to surround her body. "Because if you don't, I'm afraid it will be the end for you right here."
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Kagura used her Gravity Change to decrease her weight, appearing as light as a feather. She used her newfound speed to rush down Daityas with multiple slashes. Daityas was fast enough to keep up with Kagura, side stepping every so often while a few slashes managed to graze him, merely cutting his clothing and not much more; his demon skin was thick and allowed him to take hits most demons would not be able to. "My, is that all the ace of Mermaid Heel has to offer?" He questioned in a mocking tone before grabbing Kagura's wrist on an incoming swing, quickly throwing her down to the ground. Hell's flames gathered around his fist, and he prepared to strike Kagura down, but Jellal came in with Heavenly Body magic wrapped around his fist, clashing with Daityas for a brief second before both parties leapt back. "Hm…"
As Jellal flew back, he grabbed his arm with his other hand and straightened out his palm, unleashing a large beam of Heavenly mage towards Daityas. "Heavenly Palm!"
Daityas was prepared to move, but he found that he was much heavier than he usually was. "What…?" He glanced at Kagura for a split second, recognizing that she employed her gravity to weigh him down. "No matter…" Daityas brought up his forearm, allowing that to take the full force of the Heavenly Palm. Daityas held his ground, but there was now a bruise on his forearm from the attack. "A bruise…? Well, well…"
Kagura then leapt up, attempting to decapitate Daityas with a quick, sudden movement. Daityas caught onto this and brought his hand up, catching Archenemy just before it struck his neck. Kagura's eyes widened in surprise as Daityas managed to keep up with her agility. "What…?"
"You shouldn't play with sharp objections…" Daityas' grip on Archenemy increased; Kagura attempted to pull her sword away but Daityas clearly outclassed her in physical might. The blade started to crack under the pressure Daityas was putting it under. "You could really hurt someone, you know…?" With one squeeze, the blade was crushed, the steel broken and dulled, but the tip still remained as sharp as ever. "….!" Kagura was speechless. Her pupils shrunk as complete shock took her over. Before she could come to her senses, Daityas reared his fist back and slammed it into her chest, causing her to fly back and slide across the ground before coming to a stop slowly. She had some trouble breathing, and it was no doubt Daityas easily crushed some of her ribs with one punch. "…" She held the hilt of her broken sword in her hand, still unable to believe what just happened.
"Kagura…!" Jellal clenched his fists before crossing his arms over his head. The shadows of all things nearby were drawn towards him, forming a black orb that began to rapidly grow in size. "Altairis…" Jellal muttered under his breath before glancing at Kagura. "This…was the spell I used that killed Simon, Kagura…"
Upon hearing Jellal say that, Kagura's eyes widened once again, but this time complete anger took over. She growled lowly, bringing herself to a knee before standing completely. "What…?"
"HA!" Jellal threw the sphere forward, sending it rocketing towards Daityas. It collided with the demon king, creating a large explosion that crushed the ground within a few yard radius. When the smoke cleared, Daityas was still seen standing tall, a few more small bruises covering his body.
"…Simon?" Daityas questioned as if the powerful attack didn't faze him one bit, as it didn't. He dusted himself off yet again, choosing to ignore the small bruises on his arm. "Oh, that's cute. I happen to have his soul rotting in hell as we speak. You wish to join him, Jellal? No matter how you look at it, all the good you do now in your life will never make up for the years of hell you put him, and all those other people through in the Tower of Heaven. There is no repentance for you. Simon was pretty pathetic anyway…"
That was it. Those words drove Kagura over the edge. Her hatred for Jellal shifted temporarily towards Daityas. She gripped the hilt of her blade and lunged forward, aiming to plunge it into Daityas' chest. "DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT SIMON!" She plunged the sword right into Daityas' chest, the blade pushing deep into his body.
The King of Hell growled lowly at Kagura's audacity to run up and stab him like that. He staggered a single step, blood dripping from his mouth. He gripped Kagura's wrist with one hand, and pulled out Archenemy with the other, his blood coating the blade. "I see you didn't heed my warning…" He then crushed Archenemy in his hand, causing small pieces of the blade to harmlessly fall to the ground, shortly after this he back handed Kagura so hard she flew from his grip and right into Jellal, the two hitting the base of a building. "I'm done toying around with you two…" He snapped his fingers, and right on cue a large horde of demons appeared on his call. "Have fun toying with these demons. I have other matters to attend to." He then began to walk off, a few seals appearing around his body to erase the bruises and the slight stab wound. After he walked off, runes appeared, sealing the way he came from.
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"This is quite the mess…" Trinity said as dark purple poison coated his fist. The demon slayer reared his fists back and slammed them into the ground, sending a shockwave of poison outwards, blowing the demons away while the poison corroded away at them. "Though I'm not surprised my brother would pull such a stunt, especially while blindly following that human…"
"These demons are nothing but spawns…" Taranis said while puffing his cheeks out, unleashing a Lightning Demon's Screech upon a small group of demons, electrifying them to dead before a small explosion occurred. "We could just take all of them out! It won't be an issue!"
"I agree…though things are going smoothly at the moment…we must keep our heads up. This is war, after all…" Alexander allowed his War God magic to take form around his hands. With one swipe, he caused a powerful shockwave in front of a line of demons, blowing them away with ease.
"Something tells me that will be easier said than done…" Jura said while making a few various hand signs, causing multiple Iron Rock Fists to rise from the ground, striking down any nearby demons before they could get any closer. Those that did manage to get close to the Wizard Saint got a taste of his brute force; Jura quickly swung his hand down, delivering a swift chop to the demon's head, sending it hurtling into the ground so hard pieces of rock began to rise up. He then used his magic to take control of the shards of earth, shooting them forward to pierce demons who were far away from them. As he finished this up, Taranis, Alexander, and Trinity could only watch Jura's actions in awe.
"He might be worse than these demons…" Taranis gulped, having the flashback of his encounter with Jura during the previous Grand Magic Games. "Because there's no way a human can be that strong…"
"He is certainly a forced to be reckoned with…" Trinity had no problems admitting this. "Now then…in order to deal with these demons, we need to deal with those in charge. I can smell the commanders around, likely in the form of Daityas' group, and not the Nine Demon Gates."
"Take them out, and the number should grow smaller. I see…" Alexander nodded in understanding. "A common tactic. Though morale isn't exactly applicable to demons, I imagine the numbers will begin to wane little by little. Excellent. Now, let's see if this is a theory is true."
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Pandora floated above the city, looking down every so often to see the mages fighting the demons. Though the mages were doing well against the demons, it would only be a matter of time before they fell. "Hmm…yes…all is going exactly according to plan so far. Lord Zeref's plan is all…" She paused, holding her head in slight agony. "Ow…" Her reaction speed was on a dime, however. She brought her lance forward and deflected an incoming bullet aimed for her chest. "Hm..?" Glancing down, Pandora spotted Reve down below. The accuracy of his shot from all the way down there was quite impressive. "Oh…"
"She blocked it…" Reve sucked his teeth before taking aim once again.
"I'm surprised she saw it coming…" Zalen said while adjusting his glasses. "That's some reaction time…"
"She won't get away again." Reve requipped another pistol in his hand, now beginning to unload bullet after bullet towards Pandora.
"Ah…humans attempting to struggle against a higher power…" Pandora spoke quietly while spinning her staff around, easily deflecting the bullets Reve fired towards her, though one did manage to barely graze her shoulder. "…!" It was around that time that she realized she was being set up. A bullet from a sniper floating in the air behind her was aimed for the back of her skull. She shifted quickly, allowing the bullet to miss. "An above average human…interesting." She pointed her spear down, a light forming at the tip. The ground around Reve, Zalen, Waiston, and Kuro shattered, causing them all to split apart. "Unfortunately, I don't have time to deal with you."
"H-Hey, we're not done yet!" Waiston puffed his cheeks out, gathering a large amount of magic in his cheeks. "Ice Dragon's Roar!" He threw his head upward, unleashing a large funnel of ice in Pandora's direction.
"Ah…" An annoyed sigh escaped Pandora's lips. She twirled her lance around once before pointing it forward, unleashing a blast of fire to clash with Waiston's roar, resulting in a large explosion. She then snapped her fingers, commanding a horde of demons to surround the White Eclipse originals. "There…Now if you'll excuse me, I must go find Prometheus. We have an appointment." With that, she casually floated off elsewhere.
"Hey…!" Kuro shouted, but a wall of runes suddenly appeared in front of him, halting his progress. "What the…!?"
"Rune magic…they're cutting us off!" Reve exclaimed.
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"Yah!" Lucy drew her arm back, unleashing her whip to lash at several demons. Considering that her whip wasn't particularly meant for damage, it just showed her how weak these demons were. "These demons aren't strong at all…but there sure are a lot of them…" The celestial wizard planned on conserving magic for the time being, but a little help was nice. "Gate of the…" She began, not aware of the demon attempting to claw at her backside.
"Lucy-sama, look out!" Yukino exclaimed, rushing in with a flying kick to the demon's side to kick it away.
"Y-Yukino!?" Lucy turned, her eyes wide as she realized her back was saved.
Yukino entered a fighting pose, looking back to Lucy with a side glance and a nod. "Are you alright…?"
"I'm fine, thanks…" Lucy nodded. "How about you?"
"I'm fine too…I had a little help…" Yukino said while nudging her head forward. There was Shadowlore, lunging from demon to demon with swift strikes from his wolf claws. "Though he can be a little creepy, he's a big help."
"Hey, I heard that!" Shadowlore shouted with a comical tick mark on the side of his head. With the coast clear, he then rushed over to the ladies and gave a bow. "Though, I'm happy to be of assistance to you lovely ladies. My payment is one day from each of you."
"I think I'll have to decline on that…" Lucy said with a sheepish smile.
"So, this is where you were…" Ruika said as her heels clicked along the ground, one hand resting on her hip.
"Ah…!" Lucy and Yukino's eyes widened upon setting sights on Ruika.
"Eh…?" Shadowlore blinked, having no clue who this woman was. "Who's this?"
"Ruika of Tataros, the Celestial Spirit Demon," Ruika formally introduced herself. "But I'm not here for pleasantries or formalities. I'm here for the 13 keys."
"Again with this…!?" Yukino brought a hand to her key ring, glaring towards Ruika. "You aren't taking our keys!"
"I won't be interfered with this time," Ruika said with a slightly dark aura appearing around her. She brought forth one of her own keys, a sliver glow appearing from the tip. "Gate of the Knight, I open thee. Orion." A bell chime sounded, and the spirit, Orion appeared in front of Ruika, holding his sword and shield.
"I'm here for you, Ruika-sama!" Orion said with hearts in his eyes towards the demon.
"Last time I was careless…" Lucy said while holding her key ring closely to her. "She stole Aries first…then my entire ring…"
"PFFT!" Shadowlore failed to suppress the laugh. "She stole ARIES?! The lamb!? PFFT!"
"I grabbed the wrong one, okay…" Ruika's eye twitched in annoyance. "Orion, take care of him."
"As you wish!" Orion saluted.
"I'm sorry, you won't be taking care of me that easil…" Before Shadowlore could finish, Orion smacked the male with his shield, sending Shadowlore into the sky before twinkling off into the distance.
"There is no Dark Phantom to save you this time…" Ruika said while focusing her glare on Yukino and Lucy. "And even if you beg for mercy, you won't receive any from me. I'm done playing nice with you two."
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"I see…" Freed said while examining the wall of runes in front of him, Laxus, Bickslow, and Evergreen.
"What's with these runes?" Evergreen asked. "Can you get rid of them?"
"I can…but it would take far too long…they're set up all over the city, meaning while we were in the palace partying, these runes were being set down." Freed explained.
"Is there any other way to get rid of them?" Laxus questioned. "I don't like this idea of dealing with a maze of a city while everyone is in danger."
"Yes…" Freed nodded, now reading what was inscribed on the runes. "These runes will be dispelled whenever a commanding demon has been defeated."
"So in other words, we gotta take out those in charge to clear up tis city, huh?" Bickslow rubbed the back of his head. "They sure do like to think of this like a game…"
"Well…" Laxus started while lightning began to surge about this body, his patented cocky grin appearing on his lips. "If they want to play a game, how about we show them how Fairy Tail plays? I'm sure it's about to get real fun for them once we start."
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"Fireball!" Tobias snapped his fingers, a red magic seal appearing before him to unleash multiple fire balls towards Levy and Lisanna.
"Solid Script: Water!" Levy quickly wrote the words water in the air, sending the liquefied mass towards the fire balls, resulting in a steamy collision, both attacks fizzing out. "Lisanna!"
"Right…!" Lisanna morphed into her Tigress form, using the speed to dart through the smoke and reach Tobias, but by the time she was on the other side he was already gone. "What…!?"
"Surprise!" Tobias shouted from above, slamming the heel of his boot into Lisanna's cheek, sending her spiraling away across the ground. He then turned to Levy, snapping his fingers once again. "Stalagmite!" From the ground under Levy, sharp stalagmites popped out, throwing the script mage off balance and onto the ground.
"Gah…!" Levy winced, pushing herself to get up.
"We're not finished yet!" Lisanna exclaimed, now entering her half-bird takeover. With her sharp talons, she began to rapidly kick at Tobias. Though he did manage to keep up with her strikes, they did manage to cut his skin.
"Gah…! You pest…!" Tobias growled in annoyance before leaping back, requipping his sword in the same instant. "Devil's Inferno!" He swung his sword down, creating a flaming shockwave that raced towards the two Fairy Tail wizards.
"Watch out!" Lisanna shouted while quickly flying towards Levy, lifting her up and into the air to avoid the shockwave, dropping her after. "He's strong…"
"Very…" Levy said while panting softly. They were quite damaged while they only managed to get some damage on Tobias.
"What's the matter? Running out of steam already?" Tobias mockingly questioned while snapping his fingers, causing the demons trapped in the runes with the civilians to advance slowly. "Maybe this will give you a little more incentive."
"S-Stop!" Levy pleaded.
"Then try harder!" Tobias snapped his fingers once more, creating a blue seal in the sky. "Blue Sphere!" From the sky, a large sphere of water dropped onto Levy and Lisanna, exploding violently. The pressure of water was enough to blow them away, struggling to stand.
"Solid Script….Hole…" Levy pushed to fingers forward, causing the words to travel and make a hole under Tobias, which he fell through. "And…Iron…" She dropped the large words on the trapped Tobias' head, causing a large bruise.
"Ow!" Tobias growled, crawling from the hole while dusting himself off. "That's it!" He gripped his sword and swung it towards the ground, creating a large insignia beneath the two females. "Ground Dasher." The ground suddenly erupted with multiple, large stalagmites repeatedly rising from the ground. The two females were about to be caught in the attack, but two figures swept them off their feet before injury was sustained. "Huh…?"
"Didn't I tell you to keep you were I could see you, shrimp?" Gajeel asked while setting Levy down, and while Elfman placed Lisanna down.
"Gajeel…! Elfman…!"
"Gihehe…sorry we're late…"
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Next time: Demons Might!