"I see…" Hisui nodded slowly as she was filled in on all the events she missed while being forced to travel with Lucius. "I've missed out on quite a bit…I do hope everyone is okay…"
"They're tough, so they'll be fine!" Lucy sat on her knees and gave Hisui a smile. "I'm just positive the others will be glad to see you. We've been worried sick about you all day…" Right after she spoke, she spotted the tower of Cynthia's flames rising off in the distance. "Ah! That's Cynthia!"
"You think she's saved?" Levy asked with hope gleaming in her eyes.
"Without a doubt." Lucy nodded. "I know those color of flames anywhere. Just then, several quakes occurred in the castle and everyone looked up. "Looks like they finally made it!"
"Tch…" Gajeel grit his teeth in annoyance, arms crossed. "Can't believe we got held up by that stupid white coat guy…"
"Who are those people?" Ultear asked. "They've appeared various times throughout the isle from what the others have been saying…"
"They said they were Commandants from the Pergrande Kingdom…" Lucy let out a heavy sigh. "And all of them have been after me all day…excluding that Brax guy, but I don't know what his deal is…he killed his own comrade right in front of us and was fighting another one…"
"Sounds like Pergrande has a bunch of infighting going on." Levy pursed her lips. "But I don't get why that involves Lu-chan."
"Hopefully this means they'll leave me alone now..." Lucy groaned. Being pursued all day left her in a sour mood, to say the least. "But I was also thinking about how strong they all were. Luke and I could barely beat that Wes guy, and he was ranked #13. Without Yukino's help, I don't think we would've won. As for the others, it's taken so much effort just to beat them. You've really saved our skin against them, Ultear."
Between taking out Laura, being instrumental against Xen, and her aid with Lucius just now, Ultear was definitely a saving grace when it came to dealing with tougher Commandants. "I'm just doing my part." Ultear
"This is very strange…" Hisui crossed her arms. "Once we get off this island I believe I'm going to have to have a conference with the King of Pergrande…"
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"You…" Dhegensea wiped his cheek while staring at Natsu and Gray in utter disgust. "You'd actually strike me over ending the life of a vile traitor? One who doesn't even deserve to live life? One who was fated to die here?!"
"If anything, you're the one responsible for all of this." Natsu said while pounding his fists together. "I've been looking for a chance to punch you since yesterday, and that felt really good."
"Likewise." Gray merely gave a nod, a cold aura emanating from around his body. "We're bringing this to an end."
"Y…You two are idiots…" Mii winced in pain, placing a hand on her side while staring up at Natsu and Gray. "I…I don't…even deserve to live…"
"Just try to stay out of the way." Gray replied.
"I'm only upset you didn't let me get the first hit in." Natsu said while looking over Dhegensea's injuries. Mii did all that? She was stronger than he thought.
"I can't even move…" Mii rolled her eyes.
"You humans DARE challenge the Dragon King!? To challenge Fate itself!? You will pay for you impudence!" Dhegensea's wings sprouted from his back and he crossed his arms, daring Natsu and Gray to come at him. That was a dare they accepted without any hesitation.
"I'll burn you to ash!" Natsu roared while dashing forward, arm reared back as flames ignited around his entire body. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu swung his flaming fist at Dhegensea's chest, but the Black Dragon King merely blocked, letting out a scoff after.
"You're memory is shoddy. Don't you recall how this went yesterday?" Dhegensea prepared to strike Natsu, but was interrupted by an arrow of ice nearly striking him that he had to avoid by swaying his body to the side. "…!?"
"Ice Make: Super Freeze Arrow!" Gray had a trio of arrows at the ready on his bow, now having two after just firing one. Gray continued to fire the other two arrows in rapid succession, each one having an explosive icy impact with whatever it came into contact with. This forced Dhegensea to take into the air to avoid being frozen.
…But because Dhegensea's attention was on avoiding Gray's attacks, his focus left Natsu, wo was now moving in from above with a large blaze of fire over his head. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu swung his arms down, unleashing the gigantic blaze at point blank range. The fiery explosion caught Dhegensea and sent him rocketing down to the ground, a cloud of smoke forming from impact. Natsu landed and peered into the smoke, knowing full well that wasn't enough to put him down.
Dhegensea lunged from the smoke and slammed his palm into Natsu's chest before following up with a rising uppercut, unleashing a twister that sent Natsu soaring into the broken ceiling with a pained yelp. "Black Dragon's Spiral!" Natsu landed harshly on his back, taking a few moments to recover, but Dhegensea already set his sights on Gray, darkness engulfing his claw as he flew towards Gray. "Black Dragon's Claw!" The Dragon King brought his claw down on Gray's chest, inflicting a deep gash that caused the Ice Maker's eyes to widen….before he completely shattered into harmless pieces of ice. "A clone!?"
"Never fails…" Gray smirked, now appearing behind Dhegensea while placing his hands on the ground. "Ice Make: Gungnir!" From the floor, a gigantic spear of ice launched up in attempt to impale Dhegensea. The Dragon King took to the sky and flew up to outpace the rapidly approaching spearhead…and he did so, stopping just a few feet before the spear hit him.
"Heh…" Dhegensea grinned, but the smile was soon wiped clean from his face.
The ice around the spearhead shattered, revealing Natsu who was ready to blast of. "C-Cold…!" He remarked before lunging forward with flames wrapped around his feet. "Talons!" Natsu slammed his feet right on Dhegensea's skull, sending the dragon king back down to the throne room. Natsu then shifted his body and allowed flames to coat his entire body as he rammed himself headfirst into Dhegensea's stomach, merely speeding up the process. "And Swordhorn!" CRASH! Natsu slammed Dhegensea into the floor once again and hopped away to be at Gray's side. "Heh, how's that?"
"We're just warming up too." Gray smirked.
Just then, several spheres of darkness formed around the two Fairies with no warning, immediately closing in on them. "L-Look out…!" Mii cried.
"Heh…" Natsu and Gray merely grinned. Natsu extended one arm out, creating a searing wall of flames on Gray's side. "Burn!"
Gray mimicked Natsu's action, crossing arms with his fellow guild mate as a wall of ice shot out from Natsu's side. "Freeze!" The action of the two fairies incinerated and froze the spheres of darkness into nothing.
"What…" Dhegensea grit his teeth silently before playing it off. "Well, well…this isn't as boring as I thought it was going to be. Your power is vastly different than it was beforehand…I wonder what changed it, though that doesn't matter so much, since you're going to meet your end here."
"These two…" Mii mumbled while watching Natsu and Gray charge at Dhegensea once again. The battle was going better than she originally thought it would, but it was still going south. Dhegensea was simply too strong for Natsu and Gray, and even if they didn't realize this yet, Mii was well aware of this face. But…she couldn't help but admire how they were trying anyway. Putting forth all their might in trying to fight against him…their mentally wasn't going in expecting to win…it was going in because they HAD to win.
"Secret Art!" Natsu exclaimed. "Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Punch!" With this cry, Natsu began unleashing a barrage of high speed flaming punches aimed at various spots on Dhegensea's body. Gray was right beside Natsu, unleashing relentless punch after punch with no letting up. Dhegensea crossed his arms to soften the blow of the punches before finally deciding he had enough; a black pillar erupted from around him, pushing Natsu and Gray away with force, causing them to roll along the floor behind they both hopped up and charged once again.
"There's no way they're going to win…but they're still giving it their all…" Mii muttered while staring around the room until her eyes landed on the Sacred Gem just a few yards away from her. "The source of Dhegensea's power…" Mii's mind played back to when she was tricked into having the island fall to the ocean with the Gem's power, and to when she used it just moments ago to try and take out Dhegensea on her own. She siphoned its power…that meant she siphoned power directly from Dhegensea as a result. "If they're giving it all they got…then I have to, too…" Decision was made, Mii placed her hand on the ground shakily and brought herself to her hands and knees, coughing heavily from the over exertion on her body. "S-Shit…come on…move…damn it…"
"Night Slash!" Dhegensea slashed the air twice, sending two slashes of darkness racing across the room towards the Fairy Duo.
"Ice Make: Shield!" Gray threw his arms out, a shield of ice appearing before him and Natsu. It was useless against Dhegensea's attacks; the two slashes cut right through the shield and struck the two of them, sending them rolling across the floor before coming to a halt.
"Time to put an end to this!" Dhegensea began to inhale, darkness swirling around his lips in a small vortex. "ROAR!" Throwing his head forward, Dhegensea unleashed his roar upon Natsu and Gray, the pitch black darkness shooting out across the sky.
"…!" Mii's eyes widened upon seeing Natsu and Gray consumed by Dhegensea's roar. "N-NATSU! GRAY!" She shrieked, which only then reminded Dhegensea that she was in the room.
"Oh, you're still here…" Dhegensea scoffed.
"…For someone that doesn't seem to care that much about their own life…you sure seem to care about other people's…" Natsu said with a grin while standing up tall after Dhegensea's roar, bruised but still standing.
"You tend to shout when you really mean something…" Gray said with a smirk of his own, though it was directed towards Dhegensea. "Looks like even a liar can tell the truth sometimes, huh?"
"I-I…" Mii's eyes lowered and she bit her lip. Looks like she could show concern for others after all. "It's all my fault everyone's in this situation…I should've just played this differently."
Natsu merely shook his head and ignored Mii's pity party for now and turned his attention to Dhegensea. "So, Gray…ready for round 2?" As he spoke, flames erupted from around is body once again…but this time lightning was added into the mix. Lightning Flame Mode was activated as Natsu stared down the Dragon King.
"Of course." Gray nodded; the devil slaying tattoo spreading along half of his body, hair spiking up and a purple chilling aura began to emanate from his body.
"You humans are rather persistent, aren't you?" Dhegensea shook his head, letting out a heavy sigh. "Very well. I am THROUGH playing around with you. This time I will be sure to end it!" After he shouted, the entire island began to rumble violently. "…?"
"W-What was that…?" Mii questioned.
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"Did anyone else feel that Earthquake…?" Lyon asked the others.
"That wasn't an earthquake…" Gaia's tone dropped. "The earth doesn't move like that…"
"Look, in the sky!" Milliana pointed to the large magic seal floating above the isle. "I-Is that thing gathering magic…?"
"Wait a second…" Ace's gaze lowered. "That's no ordinary magic seal…that's…"
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"Hibiki-san, what is that!?" Jenny shouted. "Is it what I think it is…!?" With everything that was happening in this final stretch of the isle, the one thing they were concerned about completely slipped their minds.
Hibiki gave a solemn nod, gritting his teeth as he couldn't bear to look. Instead, he just displayed a timer so everyone in the isle could see…and it read four devastating digits: 00:00. "I'm afraid it is…we've run out of time."
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Siegrain sat in his office, keeping a lacrima of the timer and the isle in front of him all day. While it seemed to those in the island like a long day, to Siegrain the day went by in the blink of an eye. When the timer finally hit 00:00, he stood up and shook his head. He could tell they were fighting hard, but they weren't fighting fast enough. "You've failed to keep your end of the bargain…" Siegrain said while walking over to the Etherion Cannon controls. The other Council members were there watching man himself preparing to unleash the cannon.
"C-can't we give them a little more time!?" Doranbolt asked. He couldn't bear thinking about if Wendy or the others weren't on the island. "I'm certain they're wrapping up...!"
"You heard the rules, Doranbolt." Correll replied. "They had all day. It's been all day. That was the agreement."
"But!" Doranbolt tried to object, but Siegrain held his hand up to silence him.
"This won't be a lot of paper work, will it?" Odin asked.
"None at all." Siegrain replied while placing his hand on the button. "I'm afraid you've run out of time. It was nice knowing you all." He pressed the button, activating the Etherion Cannon. The magic seal floating above the isle unleashed a massive beam that was more than capable of destroying an entire country, and all of it was focused on the single island with nothing in between it…
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Next Time: The Eternal Sword.