"Tch!" Cygnus attempted to make some way out of the rope that sealed both his movement magic. He then had an idea. He attempted to bring his sword over, but that was no use either.
"I have to help him…" Marlene said to herself, looking at the blade on the floor. Rebellion was not too far away from her, but the problem was she couldn't grab it. She went to grab it, but her body was preventing such a thing from happening by rejecting blade. "But I can't…!"
"It's no use!" Marta laughed at Cygnus' attempts to free himself. "All magic is sealed! So your stupid sword over there is just a regular blade by now! Completely useless!"
"Regular blade…?" Marlene blinked and reached out to pick the sword up again. Now, she was able to, but her form with it was horrible. She didn't know how to use a sword, let alone hold one. Plus, it was so heavy she had a hard time lifting it up, and it was as big, if not bigger, than she was. "It's so heavy…How does he hold this…?"
"Now then, it's time to bring this to and end!" Marta grinned, bringing out her lacrima computer once more. She decided to take this situation lightly and sat down on her knees, happily humming a tune to herself.
"Don't take me lightly!" Cygnus shouted.
"Meh," Marta barely replied, not really acknowledging Cygnus. After a few minutes, a multitude of rockets appeared behind her, all pointing towards Cygnus. "There we go!"
"Oh." Cygnus blinked.
"H-Here I go…" Marlene struggled to lift the blade up to a height where she could start running with it. She could cut the rope; she had to.
"Adios, Demi-god!" Marta shouted while the rocket all launched towards the dangling Cygnus.
"Cygnus…!" Marlene squeaked, and when she made it to the rope, she actually let out a small battle cry, cutting through the rope with ease. By this point, the rockets were already upon the two, but a bright light appeared from Marlene's body, pushing the rockets away before dissipating into nothing.
"W-What just happened?!" Marta stood up, gazing at the disappearing rockets in shock.
"That's quite the sword arm you got…" Cygnus said to Marlene with a smirk, standing upright on his feet.
"Thank you…" Marlene took a seat on the floor, panting heavily from the small rush of adrenaline she felt. It was a rush alright, and she began to wonder how the others felt when they began fighting. "Your sword?"
"I'll take it from here." Cygnus nodded, taking his sword in his hands. "Oi, oi…"
"G-Gah!?" Marta clenched her hands into fist, clearly livid at the events that just occurred. "You…you little…! I didn't think you would be any trouble at all!" She shouted towards Marlene.
"That's your problem, then." Cygnus said before planting his sword in the ground. "Sure she can't fight, but she's still a member of White Eclipse. And you don't go underestimating the strongest guild in Fiore…" He smirked, and with that, he was off, gravity and poison coating his fist. "Now, it's time for ME to finish this!" Within a few seconds he was within arm's reach, and began unleashing a barrage of incredibly powerful punches on Marta, all aimed towards vital spots. "Eclipsing Demon!"
Marta let out a grunt of pain each time Cygnus struck her. The final blow caused her to skid across the floor, hunched over and panting heavily. "You little upstart…!" She then pulled out her computer again, typing on it. "I'm going to end you both right no-"
"I don't think so!" Cygnus slammed his hands on the ground, causing a crushing force of gravity to smash Marta straight into the floor, creating a crater in the process. "I win." Marta was face down, unmoving. Cygnus claimed his victory with a thumbs up. "Never mess with White Eclipse."
Marta, however...wasn't down for long. She crawled her way up, snarling as her laptop was only one button press away... "This...is a draw..."
Before she finished, a powerful kick slammed her into the opposite wall. Now she was really down for the count.
"Sidney-san!" Marlene exclaimed at the sudden appearance of the ghost mage.
"What!?" Cygnus groaned, walking over to Sidney with Marlene. "Sidney, I had that! I literally won!"
"Did you now…?" Sidney asked. He then turned and began to walk off with Marlene, just tilting his head up slightly.
"Eh…?" Cygnus looked up, only to see that Marta had more rockets ready from the ceiling, which all happened to be aimed at Cygnus. A second later and Cygnus would've been on the ground with Marta for a painful draw... "…Oh. Wait, I don't trust this one…" Cygnus walked over to the KO'ed Marta, pulling out one of her own ropes. He then proceeded to tie her up and carry her. "There we go." Just before the three reached the door, blue flames appeared in front of it, revealing Daityas. "Shit."
"Who…?" Marlene started, unaware of whom Daityas was.
Sidney's eyes narrowed towards the king of hell, preparing to strike if necessary. "What do you want…?"
"Ah, so she is here after all…" Daityas said while calmly walking around the three White Eclipse mages, mainly observing Marlene. "I heard a few people had been taken by these "Wizard Hunters" so I had to come see for myself if it was true. At first I wondered why someone with no magic whatsoever would be a target, but then I realized who that target was."
"Huh…?" Marlene blinked a few times, looking to Cygnus and Sidney.
"You didn't answer the question," Sidney stated in a tone that said he didn't have much patience left.
"Just watch." Daityas said before snapping his fingers, causing Marlene to erupt in Hell's flames.
"Shit…!" Cygnus exclaimed.
"…!" Sidney knew he couldn't do anything, so he just watched. Soon, a bright light appeared from Marlene once again, pushing the Hell flames away from her person. "Hm…?"
"Ugh…" Marlene felt rather woozy at this point, swaying from side to side. "I feel dizzy…"
"Interesting, isn't it? That magic item of hers is really something." Daityas asked with the slightest of smirks before vanishing in blue flames once again.
"What the hell was that about!?" Cygnus asked.
"I feel dizzy…" Marlene said before collapsing, but Sidney just picked her up over his shoulder and walked off without a word, Cygnus following.
"We still have to find Saeko," Cygnus stated.
"I know," Sidney replied rather shortly.
.
.
"LEON!"
"Gah…!" Diamond let out a yell, mustering up enough energy to conjure up a diamond structure to stop Leon from falling into the black hole. Leon hit the diamond pillar, holding onto it for dear life. "G-Geez…Making me waste on my magic on you idiots…!"
"We appreciate it," Hikaru said with a smile before deciding that it was finally time to escape these vines. The frosty goddess of Black Phoenix showed her flexibility, maneuvering in such a way that allowed her to escape the grasp of the vines, now gripping them to prevent herself from flying into the black hole.
"Okay….You're flexible…" Diamond blinked.
"Very…" Tristan commented with a slight cough.
"So now what?!" Diamond asked. "If you haven't noticed the black hole is still there!"
"He said it was a part of him, I think…" Hikaru responded. "Leon!"
"On it!" Leon nodded, poking his head around the diamond structure. He opened his mouth, creating a green sphere. "Acid Dragon's Wave!" Aeon threw his head forward, unleashing a powerful wave of acid from his mouth to the black hole. The acid was sucked into the black hole, and nothing happened.
"Excellent plan!" Diamond exclaimed with clear sarcasm.
"Wait for it…" Hikaru said with anticipation.
"GAAAAH!" Marx let out a high pitched scream before the black hole cut off, and he returned to normal, writhing around the floor in pain. "WHAT DID YOU DO!? IT HURTS!" While Marx was shouting, the vines dispersed.
"It was a bluff…just as I thought…" Hikaru nodded.
"A bluff…?" Diamond raised a brow. "How in the hell could you figure that out!"
"It wasn't as strong as he was making it out to be…but he knew if he made it any stronger he would risk self-injury, and he's not far gone enough to risk that…he's only a child, after all." Hikaru explained.
"Looks my acid did its job…" Leon said with a slight smirk.
"I believe it's time to put an end to this…" Tristan said while rolling his shoulders.
"Since none of you want to take the initiative…" Diamond groaned somewhat before raising her arms above her head, a cold wind surrounding her body while a snowflake appeared above her hands. "Diamond Dust Hailstorm!" The mage then threw her hands forward, unleashing a blizzard of ice and diamond shards upon Marx, who couldn't dodge.
"My turn!" Leon said after Diamond's attack landed, acid forming in his palm. He slammed his palm into Marx's back, uttering the words "Acid Palm" which caused acid to shoot from Leon's palm and send Marx flying right to Hikaru.
"The Ice Dragon's Dance." Hikaru said while her ice covered her fists and legs. She then, quickly and painfully, began a beautiful "dance", striking Marx with her limbs. This continued for a few more seconds before Hikaru ended with a high kick to Marx's chin, sending him flying into the air.
"I'll end this!" Tristan exclaimed while jumping into the air, a blade of steel forming in his hands. "Steel Make: Sword!" And with one downward slash, Marx was finished. He exited his alternate form and hit the ground KO'ed. Tristan landed, panting just a little bit afterwards. "It's over."
"Are they all that strong…?" Leon asked.
"Seems like they aren't a bunch to mess around with lightly…" Tristan said with a nod. "What should we do with him and that other one?"
"Hm…" Hikaru thought for a moment before getting an idea. She turned to Diamond with her usual smile. "Diamond, will you offer your assistance to us once more?"
"W-What?!" Diamond shook her head. "Don't be stupid. The only reason I decided to help you was for my own benefit. That's the only reason I decided to help out those other girl's too."
"You know, it's really not a good thing to lie to yourself…" Hikaru replied.
"E-Eh…?" Diamond was really confused now. "I'm not…"
"You helped us without a second though, right?" Tristan asked, referring to Diamond's actions within the battle.
"Only because you saved me…I don't want to owe you anything, understand me!?" Diamond shouted in reply, but it didn't seem to fool anyone.
"You know…I don't think you have a bad bone in your body." Hikaru said in a soft tone, causing Diamond to take a step back. "You don't want to be in Dealer, do you?"
"…..That isn't…" Diamond started to say.
"Why don't you leave Dealer and come with us?" Leon asked. "You saved my life, so I owe you one! And you're actually really nice!"
"W-What are you saying…!?" Diamond inquired yet again.
"Join Black Phoenix"
.
.
The Elemental Cyclone was never ending. Cain admired his work as it brought forth screams of pain from Erza. It was only a matter of time now. "Any second now…" Cain tapped his foot rather impatiently, but stopped when a bright light began to surge from the innards of the Cyclone. "What…?" The tornado dispersed, revealing Erza in something never seen before. IT was like her Heart Kruz armor she always wore, but different. There were multiple colors plastered all over the armor, each representing an element. Her skirt was a bright rainbow-ish color, and her boots remained black; her weapon of choice was a dual sided lance with a grip on the middle. "W-What the hell…!?" Cain took a step back, unsure what he was looking at now. "There is no record of this in Marta's information book…!"
"That's because I've never had to use it before…" Erza replied, twirling her lance around before stabbing it into the floor. "Elemental Empress Armor…"
"So I've forced Titania to bring out a new toy, huh?" Cain grinned before pointing his hands forward. "Lovely, I can't wait to break this one too! Tornado Shot!" Green magic wheels appeared on Cain's hands, unleashing a volley of small, but powerful tornadoes towards Erza.
Erza brought her lance forward, allowing lightning to surge around it. She dashed forward, literally slicing through the tornadoes with ease. "Lightning Cyclotron!" she then exclaimed, unleashing multiple beams of lightning towards Cain.
"Tch!" Cain grunted, immediately using his earth magic to bring up a wall of earth to negate the lightning. "It'll take more than that to defeat me!" After Cain spoke, Erza just slashed through his shield, now spinning her lance in place.
"Rexcalibur!" Erza shouted, causing her lance to unleash strong winds towards Cain. These winds not only pushed Cain back, but slashed through him, causing audible grunts of pain to escape his mouth.
"Gah…" Cain fell to a knee already. He didn't take too many hits, yet he was already exhausted. "Just as strong as expected…It's to be expected, I suppose…"
"Are you ready to give up?" Erza asked while pointing her lance right in Cain's face. Her expression gave the impression that she was not afraid to take it a step farther. "Tell me where Lucy is."
"O-Oh my…" Cain wasn't sure if this was a bluff or not…but he honestly didn't want to push Erza too much farther, because he knew it could end bad for him. Plus, he had some other plans in store which would hopefully go smoothly despite everyone's probable defeat. "Alright, alright…you win…" Cain stood up slowly with his hands up while Erza kept her lance on Cain. "Just look…" Cain snapped his fingers, bringing up a lacrima screen that contained Natsu vs. Bass and Aeon. "Oh…"
"What…?" Erza's eyes widened just slightly. "That's Lucy…but…"
"It appears the famed Salamander is about to meet his end by the hands of Bass and Aeon…" Cain chuckled.
"Where are they!?" Erza demanded an answer.
.
.
Sting and Rogue were now in their respective drives, panting somewhat as they glared at the somewhat injured pair of Yumia and Yukia. "These two are starting to get on my nerves…"
"We can say the same for you!" Yukia huffed. "Shall we?"
"We shall!" Yumia replied, pointing her hands forward. "Bubble Blaster!" A magic seal appeared before the water twin, unleashing a beam of bubbles towards the Twin Dragons.
"Fire Spiral!" Yukia exclaimed, sending a spiral of fire towards the bubbles sent by her sister. Normally, the two attacks would just cancel out, but in this case, the fire merged with the bubbles to creating a unison raid. The bubbles circled around the spinning fire. "Unison Raid!"
"What the…?!" Rogue gasped slightly before puffing out his cheeks. "Roar…"
"Roar…" Sting followed suit, gathering his magic in his mouth. "Of the White Dragon!"
"Of the Shadow Dragon!" The twin dragons let out their respective roars, clashing with the Twins' unison raid. The clash resulted in an explosion that blew both parties back and kicked up a large amount of smoke.
"Eek…!" Yukino used her arm to block the wind from the explosion.
"Come on, Sting-Kun! Rogue!" Lector shouted.
"More smoke…" Sting stated in an annoyed tone.
"Keep your guard up…" Rogue cautioned.
"In an instant we echo, and our hearts meet…"
"What the…" Sting started, but before he could finish, Yumia and Yukia slashed both him and Rouge in an X formation, leaving the two in the center of the X.
"Impact Cross!"
The X then exploded, causing a "Gah!" to escape the lips of both dragon slayers who flew back into the wall after.
"Sting, Rogue…!" Yukino covered her mouth with her hands after the attack.
"Been awhile since we busted that one out…" Yukia said while panting.
"It's over now though, right…?" Yumia asked while turning around, only to see Sting and Rogue side by side with a mixture of their magic between them. "Oh."
"White Shadow Dragon's Fang!" The two dragon slayers exclaimed, sending the concoction of their magic towards the twins. This resulted in a large scale explosion that blew one side of the warehouse away completely. When the attack subsided, both twins were still standing, but heavily damaged.
"Still standing…!?" Lector said with shock. "No way!"
"These two are durable…" Yukino pointed out.
"We're so dirty now…" Yukia groaned. "Covered in blood and dirt…I can't go on like this!"
"It's time to retreat!" Yumia nodded, and with that, she took her sister's hand and fled the scene.
"Hey, wait…!" Sting blinked before giving it a rest. "Well…that's over…"
.
.
"Natsu! Natsu!" Lucy cried out her comrade's name over and over, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Now that that's over…" Bass said while dusting his hands off, making way to the three females.
"Stay away!" Aira exclaimed, pointing her finger up, creating a black sphere on the very tip of it.
"Ah, ah…" Aeon snapped his fingers, activating his dispelling magic. This caused the sphere on Aira's finger to shatter like glass.
"Ah…!" Aira flinched as her sphere broke, but she wasn't planning on letting the two hunters anywhere near Lucy and Saeko. "I don't care how strong you are, you aren't touching them!"
"We'll just take you too then!" Aeon exclaimed with a somewhat twisted grin. The more the merrier.
"Natsu…" Lucy closed her eyes, hoping her voice would get through to Natsu before it was too late.
Inside the inverse black hole, it seemed as though Natsu was down for the count. He couldn't hear or see anything…until he saw Lucy's face for a split second, calling his name out. It was at that very second that his eyes snapped opened; he wasn't done yet. "GWAAAAH!" A fiery aura exploded from around Natsu, causing the black hole to shake.
"Wait, what?" Aeon turned around at the violent shaking of the black hole. "No…"
"That's not possible…" Bass growled lowly.
"WE'RE NOT DONE YET!" Natsu roared out just as the black hole exploded, but not at all how it was supposed to.
"He broke out!?" Aeon's eyes widened, yet the females just grinned.
"It doesn't matter! We'll just finish him again!" Bass exclaimed, pointing his hand in the air to unleash another Meteor Light.
"Max Speed!" Happy exclaimed, knocking Bass' hand off of balance. Bass unleashed the Meteor Light, but it hit the wall instead of Natsu.
"What?!" Bass shouted, glancing at the small blue exceed who poked his tongue out at him.
"Natsu, do it now!" Happy yelled to his partner right after.
"Fire Dragon!" Natsu began while jumping into the air, fire blazing furiously around his arms. "Crimson Lotus!" Natsu spun his arms counterclockwise, creating an amazing force with such power to catch and push the two Wizard Hunters away, creating a fiery explosion in the process. Everyone not involved in the action had to take some form of cover from the intensity of the explosion. After the attack was over, Bass and Aeon laid on the floor with white eyes, completely KO'ed. Natsu panted, but he gave a victorious smirk afterwards. "Now we're finished."
"Natsu that was amazing!" Lucy hopped up, hugging Natsu tightly. "Thank you, thank you!"
"You don't have to thank me!" Natsu replied, hugging Lucy back. "Happy, how did you get here?" Natsu then asked.
"We made it!" Cynthia said with a sigh of relief, walking in with Wendy, Carla, and Laxus. "Whew…"
"In the nick of time, it seems…" Carla nodded. "Is everyone okay?"
"Oh!" Aira smiled brightly towards the cavalry. "Hello!"
"Seems ya didn't really need our help…" Laxus shrugged.
"Now we just have to find the others and we can get out of here!" Lucy nodded. "I hope they're okay…"
"I smell a lot of people in this place…" Cynthia pointed out. "Is that Cygnus and Sidney I smell…? Along with a few others…"
"Maybe we should head to the front and see?" Lucy suggested. "I think that Cain guy said he can see everyone and everything from the foyer or something…"
"Worth a shot!" Wendy nodded, giving a warm smile.
.
.
"Oh." Cain blinked at the complete string of losses he and his Wizard Hunters suffered.
"Did you expect that to go differently?" Erza asked with a brow raised, finishing up her job in tying up Cain.
"I did actually…" Cain said while groaning, finding Erza's rope work a little too tight. "You know I can hardly breathe, right…?"
"You can still breathe so I don't see a problem," Erza replied before dusting her hands off.
A few minutes later, Cygnus, Sidney and Marlene walked in the main room seeing as it was the only real exit to the warehouse. "Oh, looky here…" Cygnus said with a slight grin towards Cain. "Got a present for ya." Cygnus then threw the now awake and tied up Marta down at Cain's side.
"Watch it…!" Marta scowled at the gravity god.
"Two more!" Natsu exclaimed, throwing the tied up Aeon and Bass right onto the pile.
"Guh…" Aeon grunted once hitting the floor, attempting to free himself from his binds.
"We came empty handed, sadly…" Sting and Rogue said while walking in from another door.
"Not completely," Yukino replied to them with a smile.
"That only leaves…" Saeko said, but she didn't finish as the members of Black Phoenix and Diamond walked in, throwing Weavel and Marx into the pile.
"My, that's quite a pile…" Erza said with a slight chuckle. "Weren't there two more…?"
"The twins?" Lector asked. "They ran away! They couldn't handle the awesome power of the twin dragons!"
"Hmph…" Upon hearing Yumia and Yukia's escape, Cain couldn't help but smirk slightly. It seemed they were not all truly defeated after all.
"So we win, right?" Cynthia asked.
"I don't really recall you doing anything…" Sidney pointed out.
"Well…" Cynthia started, but stopped afterwards.
"So…?" Hikaru turned to Diamond, a brow raised. "Have you thought about accepting our offer…?"
"Well I…" Diamond started, rubbing her arm in a shy manner. Suddenly, the room darkened somewhat.
"You aren't seriously thinking about this, are you?" Joker's voice rang out across the room, causing everyone to be alert.
"That voice…" Natsu's expression suddenly changed as he looked around.
Just then, Joker appeared a few feet away from the Black Phoenix group, his arms crossed as he glared at Diamond. "Well, Diamond."
"JOKER!" Natsu roared immediately, wasting no time in charging forward towards the ace of Dealer. Before Natsu could reach Joker, Heartless appeared before him.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to interfere with this…" Heartless stated while raising her hand, causing a wall of transparent hearts to appear. Natsu slammed into the wall and bounced back.
"Heartless!" Lucy glared towards the demon, immediately bringing her hands protectively over her keys to shield them.
"This is between Joker, Diamond, and those of Black Phoenix…" Heartless stated. "I won't allow you to interfere."
"You sure don't mind sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, though…" Cygnus stated.
"Joker…I!" Diamond started to defend herself, but her nerves took over and she had no idea on what to say.
"You're embarrassing yourself and Dealer by getting kidnapped like this," Joker stated in a threatening tone. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I-I…" Diamond was a mess; she began to trip over her words now.
"Answer me when I speak to you." Joker brought arm back, preparing to back hand Diamond, but before he connected, Leon stopped the hit by placing both hands out, pushing against Joker's might. "Hm…?"
"L-Leon!" Aira couldn't help but worry over the acid dragon. "Why are you…?"
"She's not a bad person…" Saeko explained. "I think Black Phoenix knows this."
"I don't have time for such nonsense…" Joker easily managed to bat Leon away into the wall.
"Leon-san!" Tristan cried out after Leon was hit. "You…!"
"His power is off the charts…" Hikaru said in a slightly worried tone, which certainly set uneasiness into Tristan.
"I see now…" Joker nodded, taking his eyes off Diamond and placed them on Tristan and Hikaru. "You must've done something to her, is that right?"
"We've done nothing." Tristan replied, ready to strike if need be.
"Then explain why Diamond was thinking of defecting from Dealer?" Joker asked, his arms held at his eyes. He wasn't hiding anything, especially the magical build up occurring. Everyone who knew Joker knew what he was about to do.
"Oi!" Natsu shouted at Heartless, rushing her with a barrage of flaming punches, Cygnus oddly at his side with his own barrage of gravity enhanced punches. "Let us through!"
"I thought I told you…" Heartless said with a slightly annoyed tone, swaying to the left and right, avoiding the assault by both mages easily. She then dropped down, slamming her palms into both Natsu and Cygnus' stomach, sending them flying away. "No one will be past here."
"She's the one who took your keys…right…?" Yukino asked Lucy.
"Mhm…" Lucy nodded. "She could take your keys too…but you're fine as long as you don't summon them…"
"So there's not much we can do here…" Yukino sighed.
"White Dragon's Punch!" Sting shouted while jumping, aiming his white magic infused fist towards Heartless' face. Heartless stopped the blow with the inside of her arm, deflecting the punch away from her with ease. "Nani…?" Before Sting knew it, Heartless easily threw him across the room, keeping position.
"She's so strong…" Cynthia said while looking at Heartless.
"Alright, time for you all to stop embarrassing me…" Laxus said with a smug grin, arrogance off the charts now. "Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is." Laxus continued while taking the walk to Heartless, standing a few yards away from her now. Within the next second, Laxus activated his Lightning Body spell, flying towards Heartless with his fist pulled back. When he reached the demon, he threw his fist forward towards her face. His fist was caught by Heartless' palm; Laxus was stopped cold.
"She stopped him…!" Wendy gasped.
"Look again." Sidney pointed out.
"Huh…?" Wendy blinked, looking once again. She then saw it. "Hey…She…"
"She moved a few inches," Sidney replied.
"Laxus Dreyar…" Heartless mumbled. "You defeated Spade, correct?"
"I'm about to add one more to my list." Laxus replied smugly.
"Hmph…" Heartless gripped Laxus' arm with her other hand, and proceeded to toss him away.
"Not lettin' ya get away with that on me!" Laxus replied, flipping while activating his lightning body once again. He sped towards Heartless yet again, this time aiming an upside down kick towards her, but this once was block as well. However, a small crater appeared under her feet from the force of the kick, and she winced just slightly.
"You know, Sidney…" Cygnus started. "You can just go in there and take her out…"
"I know," Sidney responded. "But I'm not interested in the small fries of the organization. My target is Joker." Sidney explained, looking at Joker from beyond the clear barrier.
"Oh…I see…" Joker nodded to himself. "Perhaps it was your presence then that has caused this. I've heard hanging around too many people of a certain type causes their habits to rub off on you."
"Maybe you should get out of your own head and see the reality?" Hikaru asked in her usual tone, but Joker wasn't having any back talk.
"Perhaps you should get out of your own head, Hikaru Frost. You are all stains upon Earthland, and you need to be eradicated." Joker responded as red spheres began to form on his hands.
"Ace told us about this…" Hikaru replied while keeping her eyes locked on Joker's. "You destroy those you deem weak and ill fitted to survive…You don't allow the weak to bloom into something strong. We can certainly handle ourselves; we are not weak."
"But you are weaker than I," Joker stated bluntly. "It is a miracle I've let those who I've come across live. Anyone who is weaker than I should not be allowed to walk Earthland, aside from those in Dealer, and even then there are some exceptions to that. This is a monster eat monster world, and while the weaker monster may be able to put up a good fight, it will always lose and be eaten."
"That guy's pissing me off…" Natsu said while clenching his fist, flames blazing around it just from how livid he was.
"Now then, enough drabble…" Joker pulled her arms back, throwing them forward shortly after. The red spheres merged together to form his signature move: Dread Lazer. "Dread Lazer!" The lazer broke through the floor as it raced towards Tristan and Hikaru.
"Steel Make: Fortress Walls!" Tristan shouted out, creating 14 walls of pure steel to shoot up from the ground one after another. The Dread Lazer hit the first wall and broke through, then began to tear through the others with no trouble.
"Those walls won't hold…" Sidney stated. Sidney was right. The only wall that held any type of resistance was the last one, but that too was broken, and the Dread Lazer continued on its way.
"Watch out!" Cynthia cried out. But it was too late; a large explosion occurred on the other side of the barrier. "No..!"
Tristan and Hikaru were both awaiting the impact…but oddly felt nothing. "What…?" Hikaru blinked and looked up, only for her eyes to widen somewhat in surprise. Diamond took the blow for them, heaving heavily with her now critically damaged body.
"Diamond-san!?" Tristan asked in surprise.
"No way…" Leon barely spoke out above a whisper.
Heartless turned her head, eyes widening upon seeing who the Dread Lazer hit. "Diamond…!"
"Gotcha!" Laxus shouted, slamming his electrically coated fist into Heartless' jaw, causing her to stagger back.
"Hm…?" Joker merely raised a brow at Diamond's actions. "Diamond Ice, explain to me why you just did that?"
"They…saved me….so I…don't plan on…owing them…anything…" Diamond replied, swaying from side to side. Everything was blurry, and she was surprised herself that she could even muster up the strength to talk.
"I see…" Joker gave a nod, turning his back after. "Very well. It appears you Black Phoenix mages got lucky for the day. The next time we meet, you won't be so lucky."
"Don't you dare turn your back on us!" Leon shouted, suddenly entering a fit of rage as his Acid Drive activated. "You just injured your own nakama and you don't have the nerve to even check to see if she's okay?!"
"She's still standing, is she not?" Joker asked while looking over his shoulder to Leon.
"That's not the point!" Leon roared, lunging forward to Joker with to spheres of acid forming on his hands.
"Leon, no…!" Aira exclaimed with worry, but her words couldn't reach Leon.
"Acid Dragon's Corroding Beam!" Leon roared, his rage fueling his attacks. He threw his hands forward, unleashing two beams of acid that raced towards Joker.
"Insolent…" Joker sighed as the two beams of acid were coming his way. A green explosion occurred on his location, but he wasn't even there when it happened. He then appeared behind Leon, fist raised. "You've got a long way to go before you can even touch me, worm." Joker then drove his fist into Leon's skull, causing Leon to hit the floor. The impact shook the entire warehouse after. Leon was KO'ed.
"Leon!" Aira nearly screamed with worry.
"Hmph…" After that, Joker vanished.
"D-Dammit…" Diamond fell to her hands and knees, but even that, she could hardly support herself. "Idiot…Why would you…show concern over me…I'm not…even a good guy…"
Heartless dispersed the barrier, making her way over to Diamond. "Don't try to talk." Heartless demanded, now ignoring the legal guild members in the area, hoisting Diamond up.
"Ugh…" Was the only thing Diamond managed to say before eventually passing out.
"We'll be meeting again shortly…"\ Heartless stated, snapping her fingers after. This caused Gemini and Taurus to return to her in their altered forms: Taurus Fire and Gemini Spark.
"Again…" Lucy clenched her fist as she was helpless to stop her spirits from leaving her again. With that, Heartless vanished.
"Leon!" Aira immediately ran over to Leon, along with Wendy. Both healers crouched down and extended their palms to Leon, beginning to heal his injuries.
"How could one punch do so much damage…" Wendy thought to herself while healing Leon's injuries.
"Does anyone want to explain what the actual fuck just happened?!" Marta yelled, attempting to flail about in the rope.
"Oh yeah…forgot you guys were there…" Cygnus shrugged.
Suddenly, the front door was kicked open. Mason jumped out, a confident grin on his face. "Have no fear, Mason is here!"
"And a few others…" Roy coughed while walking in with Satoshi, and another member Azur. He then blinked once spotting the tied up hunters. "Wait…the fighting is already over!?"
"Well I'll be…" Satoshi chuckled just slightly. "Looks like there was nothin' to worry about after all, eh, Roy?"
"Well that's no fun…" Azur mumbled.
"Aw, look at that!" Marta literally could not help but squee. "Is that little Roy! All grown up!"
"Shut up." Roy replied before turning his attention to the other mages. "You all did this?"
"That's right!" Natsu grinned, pounding his fist into his palm. "We all took these guys down!
"…" Satoshi's lip immediately curled in disgust when he realized that Natsu, Sting, Rogue, Wendy, Laxus, Leon, Hikaru, and Cynthia were all dragon slayers. "…Dragon Slayers."
"…You got a problem with us?" Laxus immediately asked, picking up the tone of Satoshi's voice.
"I'd appreciate it if ya kept your distance, Dragon slayer…" Satoshi replied to Laxus.
"Does he have something against Dragon slayers…?" Cynthia asked.
"I don't know, but I know he better take that tone somewhere else…" Natsu replied.
"Now, now…" Roy said while standing between Satoshi and Laxus. "Let's not get too rash now, yeah…?"
"Can I ask really quick why you thought it would be okay to bring a kid here…?" Erza asked Satoshi.
"I'm 16!" Mason replied to Erza.
"It's still dangerous." Erza responded.
"Ya say that and yet ya brought two young ones?" Satoshi replied.
"They just sorta…appeared, to be honest." Cygnus said.
"Right here…" Cynthia sighed.
"Anyway, let's just get these guys outta here…" Roy said, walking over to the tied up hunters. He then stopped, hearing a footstep hit the floor from across the room. "Huh…?"
"There's one more…" Hikaru stated, somewhat glaring at the direction the noise was coming from.
"With all the excitement we never got the chance to feed him…" Weavel stated.
"Oh, this should be interesting…" Cain chuckled.
An abnormally tall male walked out of the hallway. Black hair, black eyes, black suit, black everything minus skin. "I never got my food…" The male said while rubbing his stomach. "I'm very hungry…"
"Your food is right over there!" Marx exclaimed with a sinister grin. "All those wizards! See, we brought you a buffet!"
The male smirked, licking his lips at the sight of the wizards. "Oh…You all never disappoint…"
"Who's this guy?" Mason asked with a brow raised.
"Shit." Was the only thing Roy had to say.
"There is but one of us you have yet to capture…" Bass said with a smirk.
"Rajaron."