"Natsu-san…" Sting muttered to himself while looking up. King secretly broadcasted the confrontation with Joker so all of Fiore could see. "I remember Joker…but I didn't expect him to have so much power. I can feel it from here…"
"Don't doubt them!" Romeo scolded Sting for even having the slightest doubt in Natsu and the others. "They made it that far. All they have to do is beat Joker and it'll be over, right? King can't do anything on his own!"
"I hope you're right about that, kid…" Sting said with a slight chuckle, patting Romeo on the head. "Natsu-san's got this…"
"That's Joker…?" Leon asked with few blinks. "He was holding back on me that one time, huh…?" That was something Leon didn't like admitting or hearing aloud. He clenched his hand into a fist, a faint hiss of acid emitting. "He's lucky..."
.
.
Natsu lunged towards Joker, a red magic seal appearing on his elbow. "Fire Dragon's Elbow!" Flames quickly shot out from the seal, boosting Natsu forward at an incredible and nearly unavoidable speed. Joker brought up his forearm, blocking Natsu's strike with ease. Though Natsu just put more effort, causing another burst of flames to try and overtake Joker. "Grrr…."
"You're wasting your strength!" Joker then used his pure might to shove Natsu backwards, sending the Salamander rolling across the floor. But Joker had little time to relax; in came Erza in her Flight Armor, slashing away at Joker with the quickness and the precision. Joker brought up his forearms to protect against Erza's slashing, eventually finding an opening despite her quick movements. Joker grabbed Erza's arm after a slash, leaving her completely open.
"Ngh!?" Erza's eyes widened, but before she could do anything else Joker slammed his foot into her stomach with a Spartan style kick, sending her flying back with a yelp of pain.
"Carla!" Wendy exclaimed as she ran forward, a white light emanating from her body. "Arms, Armor, and Vernier!" She gast this spell, boosting everyone's combat capabilities; against a monster like Joker, they were going to need the increase! Carla flew behind Wendy and began to lift her into the air. "Cynthia!"
"On it!" Cynthia extended her arms up, allowing Wendy to grab her and lift her into the air. Carla used all her strength to fly the duo as high as she could before letting them go. "Omega Flame…"
"Sky Dragon's…"
"BLISTERING HEATWAVE!" Both girls threw their arms down, unleashing an overpowering heatwave at Joker. Joker crossed his arms and grit his teeth, beginning to sweat profusely as the heatwave began to take effect.
"Ice Make..." Gray quickly slid his fist into his palm, throwing his hands forward as a blue magic seal appeared. "Hammer!" From the magic seal, a hammer made of ice quickly shot out and slammed against Joker's defensive position, causing him to slide back just slightly, all while the heatwave was still up.
"No way…!" Diamond's jaw dropped at Fairy Tail's teamwork. "Even with the heatwave up he can still use ice magic…!"
"Grah!" Joker let out a battle cry, throwing his arms out to his sides. A powerful shockwave dispersed all the magic in his direction. He still had not a single scratch on him despite all attacks aimed.
"No way, still nothing!" Lucy grit her teeth.
"Our new move didn't work!?" Cynthia said with an annoyed tone after she and Wendy landed.
"Didn't I already tell you? You have no chance of defeating me!" Joker exclaimed with a laugh. "But you can try all you want!"
"Hey…I just noticed something…" Wendy said, ending up catching everyone's attention. "He was sweating during the heatwave…lacrima don't sweat….er…right?"
"Oh, that?" King replied in a nonchalant tone. "There's an easy explanation for that, my dear child. I needed a DNA sample so Joker could take the form of a human and have human-like qualities. So, when Ace was the strongest member of the organization at the time, I used his. So in short…you could say that Ace and Joker are brothers, bound together by similar DNA."
"B-Brothers?!" Strong's jaw dropped.
"That explains why he was able to control Ace…" Erza nodded slowly.
"I didn't think that would be relevant…but here we are…" Ace said with a soft, but pained chuckle.
"Good…" Natsu replied while using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. "You're like Ace, huh? Then that just means you're almost human…which means we can beat you."
"…" Joker's eye twitched from Natsu's statement. "I don't know who you THINK you're calling human…" He then pointed his hand forward, turning it into the shape of a Gatling gun. "Missile Barrage!" Joker then began to fire missile after missile in a rapid fire fashion towards the group of six.
"Wah!?" Happy flailed, hiding behind Natsu.
"I got this!" Lucy said while taking a step forward, two keys already in hand. "Gate of the Archer, Gate of the Ram, I open thee! Sagittarius! Aries!" A bell chime echoed throughout the room; the archer and the ram both appeared, and Lucy was quick to give them orders. "Sagittarius, shoot down as many of those as you can! Aries, smother Joker with wool!"
"As you wish!" Sagittarius saluted before whipping out his bow and arrow, matching Joker missile for missile. A large cloud of smoke appeared from the constant collisions.
"I-I'm sorry!" Aries cried out before throwing her hands forward. "Wool Bomb…!" And suddenly, a cloud of pink wool appeared around Joker in attempt to smother him; this did cause the Missile Barrage to halt.
"Tch…what is this…" Joker waddled through the wool, eventually breaking through it with ease. However, he was just a second too late in his free. Natsu lunged from the smoke with heavy coated flamed fist.
"Fire Dragon's Firing Hammer!" Natsu shouted while swinging his fist at Joker's cheek, which was a direct hit. Joker's head snapped violently to the side from the blow. Natsu pushed off Joker, allowing Gray for a follow up.
"And…" Gray began while lunging right after Natsu, spiked ice appearing on his leg. "Here's another!" Gray swung his leg at Joker's opposite cheek, sending his head snapping in the opposite direction.
"Haaaaa!" Erza was last; she came through in her Giant's Armor, using all her physical might to slam her fist into Joker's chest. The blow was strong enough to knock Joker off his feet and send him flying into the nearest wall.
"That's how it's done!" Cynthia said with an enthusiastic tone.
"They knocked Joker back!?" Spade spoke with pure astonishment. They had just barely been able to do so themselves, but watching Team Natsu at work...
"Excellent work, you two!" Lucy praised the two spirits.
Joker removed himself from the wall, rolling his neck as if nothing happened. "I do hope that's not all you have to offer…" He said with a condescending tone. "You'll never be able to harm me that way."
"Don't play it off!" Natsu said with a widening smirk. "Look at you! You've got marks on you. That means you can take damage, and if you can take damage, you can be beaten."
"Your attitude is starting to anger me…" Joker spoke as he drew his hands back, dark red magic beginning to accumulate in his palms.
"That move…!" Lucy's eyes widened; she recognized the motion and knew exactly what was coming.
"I'll protect you!" Erza spoke to all of them. A bright light surrounded her body and she stood protectively in front of the group in her Adamantine Armor.
"A-Are you sure…?!" Carla asked.
"Positive." Erza replied in the most serious tone she could muster.
"Here it comes…" Diamond looked away; she couldn't bear to witness what was about to happen.
"Dread…LAZER!" Joker exclaimed, throwing his hands forward so the spheres of magic could mere into one, which turned into a gigantic beam of powerful magic that nearly covered the entire room, and it was all heading right for Erza. It slammed against the Adamantine Armor, while the rest of it curved around since it couldn't strike the others.
"E-Erza…!" Lucy cried out. Erza was having a hard time, but she was holding out.
"G-Go!" Erza demanded.
"Happy!" Natsu shouted.
"Aye, sir!" Happy flew in and lifted Natsu above the blast radius.
"Carla!" Wendy called for her Exceed once again. Carla lifted Wendy up, who lifted Cynthia up as well.
"I can't keep doing this! You're both heavy at the same time…!" Carla pointed out.
"Just drop us when Natsu goes!" Cynthia nodded.
"Ready, Natsu?!" Happy questioned.
"Let's go!" Natsu roared. Happy threw Natsu headfirst, and the Salamander allowed flames to cover his body as he dove right towards Joker. "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
"Huh!?" Joker looked up; he was so focused on his Dread Lazer he didn't even notice Natsu. A fiery explosion occurred on impact, and Natsu leapt back. Suddenly, he was locked in close combat with a burned Joker. Natsu focused more on dodging, throwing in a few punches whenever he could; it's not that he didn't want to be defensive but Joker wasn't giving him much of a choice.
"Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Wendy dropped down along with Cynthia, aiming an upside down kick with fierce winds following behind it.
"Twin Talons!" Cynthia flipped, aiming an axe kick with blazing dark red flames for Joker's head. Joker looked up, taking his attention off Natsu to block the two hits with one arm. The two females flipped back and decided to take Joker on together. "Iron Fist of the Omega Fire Dragon!"
"Sky Dragon's Claw!"
The two girls aimed a lot of hits at Joker, but he blocked them or flat out avoided them with ease. He the side stepped as they both swung at the same time, grabbing the back of their heads. "Annoying children. Go take a nap." He then slammed their heads together harshly and threw them off to the side, leaving them to writhe in pain on the floor with massive headaches.
"Ouch…" Cynthia groaned.
"You took your eyes off me!" Natsu yelled while throwing a blazing haymaker towards the back of Joker's head, but Joker leaned his head to the side, causing Natsu's eyes to widen. Joker grabbed Natsu's arm and flipped him onto the ground, raising his boot.
"And this is where…" Joker began, but something wrapped around his arm. "Hm…?" He turned, only to see that Lucy wrapped her whip around his arm. "Pathetic…" With a slight tug of his arm, he managed to drag Lucy across the floor.
"Gray…" Lucy choked out in pain.
"What?" Joker looked around, but he couldn't see Gray.
"Ice Make: Cannon Burst!" Gray shouted from above; he held the same Ice Cannon that he usually made, but the blast of ice was much larger. It raced towards Joker and exploded on impact, covering some of the floor in ice. Gray landed, waiting to see the results of his attack. When the smoke cleared, Joker's arm was frozen solid. "Eh…"
"Worthless…the lot of you…" Joker sighed and flexed his arm, shattering the ice with ease, leaving Gray wide eyed.
"Roar!" Natsu suddenly exclaimed, unleashing a point blank funnel of flames from below Joker, but Joker jumped back and avoided it. He then turned, spotting Erza coming in with her Heaven's Wheel Armor, spinning around a multitude of blades while slashing at Joker.
"Circle Sword!" Erza yelled, clashing with Joker every so often. But with his bulky arms, he was able to block her slashes with very little trouble.
"This isn't good…" Diamond mumbled. "They're throwing everything they have at Joker but it's not working…!"
"I told them to turn back…" Ace grunted, struggling to stand, but he still couldn't. "Damn this body sometimes…"
"Gigaton Pillar!" Joker stepped on the ground, creating multiple magic seals on the floor. Soon, large pillars rose from the ground, cutting everyone off. One appeared under Erza and struck her in the gut during her assault on Joker, causing her to lose her breath and take a step back. Joker then aimed a powerful roundhouse kick towards Erza's skull, sending her rolling across the floor until coming to a stop, semi-conscious.
"Erza!" Lucy's eyes widened as she rushed over to Erza. "Are you okay?!"
"Just fine!" Erza exclaimed. "We need a bit more power! If we can do that...!"
Natsu leapt into the air, cupping his hands over his head. A gigantic fireball soon formed within his hand. "Dazzling Blaze of the Fire Dragon!" He hurled that fireball like a meteor towards Joker at incredbile speeds. Joker brought a single arm up to block the hit and it exploded against him, creating a thick cloud of smoke. Natsu dropped down and began to rush towards Joker, flames ignited around his fist. "Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!" He swung towards Joker, but Joker's fist launched from the smoke and clashed with his own.
"Did you think I wouldn't see you coming!?" Joker reared his free hand back. "Gigaton Impact!" A heavy punch slammed into Natsu's stomach, and with a roar, Joker turned that punch into an uppercut. This sent Natsu flying backwards.
However, Natsu did not fly back far. Gray leapt into the air, ice covering his arm in the form of a large gauntlet. "Ice Make: Vambrace!" As Natsu flew past him, he grabbed Natsu's leg, spun around, and hurled him directly towards Joker once again!
Natsu was flying around, but thanks to Gray, he was able to regain his bearings. With the newfound momentum, he quickly snapped back to Joker as his legs were coated in flame. "Fire Dragon's Talons!" With his speed and momentum, he was able to slam his leg across Joker's face for a flying kick. Joker's head snapped to the side as Natsu flew past him.
"Gh...!" Joker grunted, taking a step back from the impact. In the time it took him to recover from this, Wendy and Cynthia were already on him once more, diving at him from above.
"Sky Arrow!"
"Fire Arrow!"
The two girls were side by side, slamming their feet into Joker's chest for a fierce impact. Joker held his ground and intended to strike the two girls down, but they backflipped, which caused an explosion of wind and omega flames to nearly blow him back. Joker staggered back a few steps, but the assault wasn't over! Gray was already sprinting forward with a solid blade of ice in his hands. Joker clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it down on the ground. This was going to create a Gigaton Pillar directly under Gray to throw him back.
"Now!" Lucy exclaimed. Aries was still on the field and she threw her hands out, creating a cloud of wool in front of Gray. Gray jumped onto this, using the wool as a springboard to avoid the Gigaton Pillar, and launch himself at Joker.
"Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" Gray swung his sword down at Joker, who brought his hand up to clasp around the sword before it could touch him. It was cold, but he wasn't going to allow Gray to get the best of him. "Tch...!"
"I don't know why you though this would be easy!" Joker opened his palm, preparing to blast Gray, but at that moment, an arrow struck it. "Gh...!" It was Sagittarius, all the way in the back. He continued to fire arrows upon Joker, who was stuck dealing with Gray. Joker had to release Gray's sword, and Gray took this opportunity to drop down and slash Joker across the chest, a trail of ice following the slash. "I've had enough of this!" Joker swiped his arm to the side, sending a crimson trail of magic towards Aries and Sagittarius, striking them both directly. The damage was so severe they were forced to return to the Spirit World.
"Ah...!" Lucy gasped. Joker was already moving towards Lucy at high speeds now.
"You are the weakest link, so you will crumble first!" Joker clenched his hand into a fist and prepared to strike Lucy, but that's when Erza moved in. She was in her Flight Armor, with her Neptune's Sword in one hand, and Sonic Sword in the other. She slashed at Joker several times, trails of water following each slash. "Sonic Claw!" Joker was nicked by her attacks, but he was still capable of following her movements. Erza slammed her Neptune's sword into the ground, creating a twister of water.
Lucy saw this opportunity. "Gate of the Water Bearer, open!" Lucy placed her golden key into the twister of water, and from it, Aquarius emerged with a bell chime, annoyed as always. "Please...!" She knew Aqaurius was about to get on her case, but she really needed her help right now!?"
"You know better than to..." And as Aquarius spoke, Joker kicked her into Lucy. The two fell onto the ground with a thud, and this succeeded in winning Aquarius over. Now she understood why Lucy was in such a hurry. "Okay, you bastard. That's how you want to do it!? THEN TAKE THIS!" Aquarius used her jar to absorb all of the water that Erza created, and then threw it at Joker twofold in the form of a tidal wave! "TORRENT!"
"What...!?" Joker braced himself for the water that crashed down on him harshly. It was potent and almost enough to sweep him away, but he managed to hold his ground despite that.
"That'll teach you to mess with me!" Aquarius snarled. Lucy's safety was important too, of course. But she'd be damned if this asshole tried his tactics on her!
This, however, was exactly what Erza was opening for. She leapt into the air with her Black Wing Armor, and held her Lightning Lance. The spear was charged with lightning and she threw it towards the tidal wave, causing the electrical shock to explode outward. It completely paralyzed the Submerged Joker. "Now!"
"Freeze!" Gray threw his hands forward, emitting as much ice as he could in this moment to freeze the water, and Joker over. It worked, but he knew it wouldn't for very long. "Natsu!"
"THIS IS IIIIIT!" Natsu dove down in an effort to finish this off. "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus - Fire Dragon's Punch!" Natsu was upon Joker with a flurry of high speed punches. Each one connected, over and over, in Natsu's fury of everything that Joker did to Fairy Tail and other people. The final punch was one across Joker's face, which shattered the ice that held him, and threw him into the wall once more.
"..." Heartless said not a word.
"Did that get him...?" Cynthia asked while panting heavily. The answer to her question was known as Joker emerged. He had clear signs of battle damage on him, but he did not show any signs of slowing down. "Ah...!"
"Even after all that...!?" Lucy gasped. Joker's magic power was still so high...
"I admit, together, you create an impressive force. But that will still never be enough to defeat me. No matter how strong you think you are together, I will always be stronger. I believe it's time for this little game to end…" Joker said while drawing his hand back, gathering a large amount of magic in his hand.
Spade's eyes widened immensely at Joker's spike in magic. "Move! Move!"
"RED GAIA!" Joker threw his hand forward, unleashing a one handed, but extremely powerful Dread Lazer and Erza and Lucy, consuming them within the beam before they could react.
"LUCY! ERZA!" Wendy and Cynthia screamed at the same time, rushing over to assist them, but there were two magic seals on opposite ends of the room; these magic seals circled the area of the room while unleashing quick beams of the same destructive magic as Dread Lazer, and the two girls, along with Carla and Happy, were caught within it.
"Look out!" Gray shouted.
"No!" Natsu yelled, rushing over to make sure they were okay.
"ERASER!" Joker exclaimed at the top of his lungs, finishing off his attack with a large red upward explosion that consumed most of the room. The force was so powerful it began to blow Strong, Spade, Diamond, and Ace back, all four of them letting out surprised yelps of pain from Joker's sheer power. When the explosion died down, the group of Fairy Tail mages were on their stomachs, heavily damaged and unconscious…not moving. Aquarius was long gone at some point as well, forced to return to the Spirit World due to the sheer power Joker possessed.
.
.
The power of Red Gaia Eraser was strong enough to cut the Lacrima communication for a few seconds. Everyone's eyes widened in utter silence when the comminution came back on, seeing the Fairy Tail group down. "N-No…!" Romeo refused to believe it.
"Get up…!" Sting grit his teeth.
.
.
"You didn't just incinerate them…?" King asked in a curious tone. "Red Gaia Eraser has the power to do more than just that, you know."
"Oh, I know..." Joker replied with a nod. "But I want the others to see this when they come charging in with gusto. To know that we cannot be stopped no matter what happens…"
"Brilliant idea! Ho ho ho ho ho!" King laughed, and laughed...and laughed.
"…" Heartless remained silent, though her eyes were averting the downed mages.
"W-We can't win…" Diamond slowly arrived to the realization with widened eyes. As long as Joker was around, there was no defeating Dealer; it was impossible. They came in with determination, only for it all to be smacked down by this single man. All while King laughed loudly in the background.
"Do you see now, Fiore!? Even your strongest cannot defeat us!" King let out a boisterous laugh. "Simply lay down any ideas of rebellion you may have and just surrender. You'll make it easier that way, trust me. You made a mistake standing against me, Ace."
"I..." Ace had one eye clenched shut.
"Like…Hell….." Natsu groaned weakly, catching everyone's attention.
"What!?" Joker turned, eyes narrowing as Natsu began to move.
"I'm not….letting you win…here…" Natsu brought his head up, slowly pushing his body up while keeping a glare on Joker and King. "We've come too far…to lose you to bastards."
"Natsu…" Ace muttered.
"You've made a lot of people cry…" Natsu stated. His mind flashed back to when Joker "killed" Lisanna. He could remember all the sad faces at the funeral. The crying from Elfman, Mirajane, Cynthia, Wendy, Lucy, everyone. "You've hurt a lot of people…you even hurt your own comrades for what…!? That alone is enough of a reason to take you down…!" Natsu then brought himself to a knee, breathing heavily. "That's why!" He then slammed his fist into the floor, flames covering his entire body. But also, lightning began to spark around his body. (Cue Dragon Force playing) "I don't care if you're twice as strong as me…ten times as strong…or even 100 times stronger than me…For the sake of the people you've hurt…I'LL TAKE YOU DOOOOOOWN!" Natsu then lunged forward with incredible speed, slamming a Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer at Joker's speed. The power was enough to send Joker staggering back a step. Natsu wasn't done there; he aimed a lightning flame roundhouse to Joker's skull, flipping into the air shortly after. "I'M NOT FINISHED YET!" He then began to inhale, lightning and flames swirling around his mouth in a vortex. "ROAR OF THE LIGHTNING FLAME DRAGON!" Natsu unleashed the massive funnel of lightning and flames down towards Joker, consuming him within the flames. Natsu flipped back and landed on his feet, heaving heavily. The smoke cleared from the roar, and Joker was seen still standing, but he was clearly damaged this time.
"YOU…" Joker nearly exploded with anger.
"Dumbass…" Gray said while bringing himself to his feet.
"So you admit that this attempt is foolish?" Joker asked Gray, which only caused the ice make mage to laugh.
"Hell no!" Gray replied. "I'm calling him a dumbass because I'm not letting him steal the glory of taking you down all for himself!"
"We're not done yet…!" Lucy shouted, managing to bring herself to her feet, though she was hunched over. If Natsu was going to stand up, she sure as hell was going to do the same thing.
"Not by a long shot!" Wendy declared, her hair flickering from blue to pink. Suddenly, red fire and blue wind began to swirl around her body. She entered Omega Flame Sky mode, giving Joker the determined stare.
"We aren't letting you win…ever!" Cynthia ignored all the pain in her body. Scales of earth began to appear around her ankles, wrists, and on her shoulders, entering Omega Earth Flame mode. "We still have magic to use and until it's gone, we're going to keep fighting!"
"I agree…" A bright light surrounded Erza's body once more. She was using the power of her Second Origin to put on the Armor of Nagakami, holding the spear tightly in one hand. "You'll now witness the true power of Fairy Tail's might!"
"Is this Fairy Tail's true power…?" Ace questioned internally as they all managed to stand up and bring out their hidden power.
"JOKER! CRUSH THEM! DO IT NOW!" King shouted, practically jumping out of his throne to yell.
"You annoying insects!" Joker exclaimed while drawing his hands back, gathering high levels of magic once again in preparation for another Dread Lazer. "I'll crush you where you stand!"
"Fairy Tail! Let's go! This time it's for real!" Natsu exclaimed while leading the charge against Dread Joker RR. This was going to be the real final battle.
.
.
Joker: "I don't understand! What is it that allows you to defy my power!?"
Natsu: "As long as we've something to protect, there's no way in hell we're letting you bastards win!"
Lucy: "That's right!"
Happy: "Aye, sir!"
King: "It matters not at this point…I always have one more trick up my sleeve just in case. The game's already won!"
Erza: "It's not over until we say it is!"
Next time: Sacrifice!