Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Hunter x Hunter or any of the other media sources I get characters and other proper nouns from for this story. Enjoy!
Nexus HWR 23 Lily and Gajeel:
"Die, you stupid cat!" Chimpsquito swung down both arms and slashed his scythes at the dark figure slashing back at him.
The red broadsword slashing at Chimpsquito shrank down into a shortsword. The one swinging it transformed into a sixth of his usual height, and white wings popped out of his back that flapped hard enough to keep up his speed. Panther Lily sped between the slashing scythes of the Chimera Ant that had to lean its head back quickly as Lily jabbed for the face.
As Chimpsquito leaned back, his long purple tongue shot out of his mouth with a stinger on the end of it. The muscular hairy beast had four thin clear wings fluttering behind it unlike Lily's small feathery ones. The Ant also had a long thick monkey tail, though the tail opened up at the end with a stinger poking out and whipping around for Lily's side where the Exceed just started to dodge to.
Lily's glowing right red eye darted over to the edge of his faceplate. The mechanical parts to the Exceed that changed sizes when he did reacted quicker than the flesh of the cat man himself. Lily's body twisted around in the air as he was mid-dodge of the tongue stab, and he tossed his sword into his left hand while moving the right in the way of Chimpsquito's tail. The point to the Chimera's tail stabbed into Lily's right arm, and sparks flew from the Exceed who was thrown violently across the air.
In his small state his arm might have still been hard enough to protect him, but he was too light and got thrown aside by the force of the Chimera Ant's attack. Lily hit the ground and rolled, bounced, and then transformed into his full figure while putting both hands on the hilt of his sword. Chimpsquito had flapped all his wings and shot after Lily. A white veil surrounded the creature that used its Nen and coated both of its scythes in dark purple flames. Lily's eyes narrowed at the sight of such fire, reminding him too much of the flames of a young boy he had not seen for two years. Romeo! "RAAA!" Lily's sword extended three times its size as he slashed upwards, and the Ant's eyes bulged. The flames pushed upwards off the top of his scythes, changing their direction to slash both down in the way of Lily's sword.
The red sword on its slash upwards coated in a dark purple aura of its own. Armament Haki wrapped the Exceed's weapon, and the scythes only pushed against it for a second before the steel cracked. "Ook?" Chimpsquito grunted, right before Lily's slash shattered his blades. The Exceed leaned forward, stomped his right foot between Chimpsquito's legs, and he swung upwards as hard as he could. The Ant's tongue shot out of its mouth and the tail whipped around Lily's body again. Lily twisted his chest so the metal plate replacing his right pec blocked the enemy's tongue, though the Ant had learned by now and attacked Lily's left side with the tail this time.
Sqlch- SLASH! Lily winced when the tail pierced his left side. He did not slow the speed of his slash upwards though. The Ant thought he would be forced to dodge or block with one hand. Blocking would have at least slowed the speed of his uppercut. Lily did not slow though. He did not take one hand off his hilt. And he did not dodge. His sword slashed through the thick muscles in the front of Chimpsquito's torso, and it ripped into his neck and up through his chin, into the screeching mouth of the chimp-like Ant's face, slicing its extended tongue off with blood spraying out of it.
Chimpsquito flew backwards and tumbled across the ground. Lily saw the beast still moving even after such a devastating strike. He ran forward, but he wobbled and reached his left hand to his side and gripped around his rib cage. The Ant's tail had been ripped out of him forcefully when Lily slashed that hard, but it had pierced deep in the instant before Lily finished his attack. He took slower steps towards the twitching form of a Chimera Ant that grasped at its chest and then flipped over onto its bloody stomach, trying to flap its wings to get out of there. It felt the vibrations on the ground just behind it and turned his head. "Wa-wa-chgurgh, gah- GAH!" It tried to shout 'wait,' but it just choked on its own blood and managed an extra loud raspy grunt that sprayed blood up a second before Lily stabbed his broadsword down all the way through Chimpsquito's head this time. Then he tore the sword down and made sure to slice the Ant in half vertically.
Panther Lily had fought enough Chimera Ants in his life to know not to let his guard down until it no longer gave any indication of life. Each one of the Ants' anatomies were different, and it was impossible to tell where one's brain or heart could be, or if it would even only have one of each.
Lily stepped backwards from his victim and finally lowered his weapon. He reached up to sling it across his back again, but he winced at the movement and reached back for his left side in pain. "Shit," the Exceed growled. He turned and staggered over to a rock that looked to make a good seat on this rough Scorched wasteland. The land between the Land of the Chimeras and former Fire Nation territory was entirely up for grabs after Sozin's death. Lily figured it was a good place to go and try to help the most vulnerable; save the ones most likely to be enslaved next. He only discovered that the destroyed landscape was already devoid of innocent life.
Lily opened up a capsule and grabbed some medical supplies that he had brought with him. The black cat-like muscular figure over six feet tall grimaced when he looked through his stuff. Throughout that fight, he was already nursing two separate injuries from earlier in the week. He stared at his thin roll of bandages that would not be enough to wrap around his whole torso at this size. He shrank down to a foot tall and winced at the movement, but he got to work cleaning the wound and wrapping the white bandages around his torso. Nearly out of food too. Need more anti-infection ointment too. I feel bad. At least I had one more antidote. Lily felt himself getting dizzy. He wondered if the tail of his enemy was laced with poison. He opened the antidote he brought with him and chugged it, then fell backwards on his back on top of the boulder.
His small round ears twitched. The Exceed sat up and popped a pair of wings out his back. He jumped in the air and flapped his wings, avoiding the dark creatures that emerged out of the cracked ground around his rock. They had beady white eyes that stared up after the Exceed who flew away with only one glance back. Lily did not look to the Heartless that he slipped away from though. He focused on the body of the Chimera Ant he was leaving behind. He imagined their conversation before the fight to the death. "All land north of the Cataclysm is under the Ant King's control! Ook ook." I thought it was exaggerating at first. The Ants have always been cocky, but I don't think he was lying about Shinkoku.
"The King subjugated them just yesterday, after his eradication the day before of the Frost Giants who again tried to deny his rule. They met swift retribution. Ook! Ooga!" Lily grit his teeth. They left Shinkoku already. She wasn't still there. Maka said they were going south. They wouldn't have stayed! "Eradication?" Lily remembered the one word he asked for clarification of. The smirk on Chimpsquito's face had sealed his fate, if Lily had still held any reservations about killing him. "Genocide. Total extinction. They should have learned to kneel."
The entire race of Frost Giants. Ymir included. I know that they were weakened already in a war with Terminus, but Shinkoku? Even Android 17 was said to fight to a stalemate with Asura and Yasha. The Ant didn't say that they were exterminated too though. Just "subjugated." What does that mean happened to Shinkoku? I cannot believe it was a peaceful affair.
Still, their defeat marks the end of the last pocket of non-Cooperative control north of the Cataclysm. Even the Magic Kingdom is just part of 17's territory, technically. He's the least hands-on but still exerts the control of a High Lord over them. They're actually probably really happy they accepted 17 as a High Lord right now, since it sounds like the Ant King sounds would have shown up to destroy them next. Lily flapped his wings and winced, and he flapped them again and winced.
Even with a small body and smaller wound, the wound was proportionate to his size. He closed his eyes tightly shut and stopped flying for a moment. I can't stay here. Lily admitted it to himself but bared his teeth after the thought. I need a safe zone. Not just a city, but a city outside of Cooperative control. Any cities around here will have Ants hunting me after my actions these past few days. Chimpsquito could smell Ant blood on my hands.
Lily put his hand on his side and patted the bandaged wound again. He did not feel any effects of poison anymore, so he was grateful for that last antidote. He reminded himself how it was the last one though, along with his lack of other supplies, and his lack of funds. That Ant was stronger than I thought. I always think that though. Am I really no stronger than a grunt? Lily's eyes shifted from his bandaged wound up to the metal chest piece that did not cover all the scars on his torso. Some of those ancient scars extended over the middle of his chest, cutting through the black coat of fur and showing the results of his torture at the hands of his old owners.
Had Gray never freed me… Don't think about that. Lily closed his eyes. His red right eye opened back up first and scanned the air ahead of him for enemies. His right metal fist curled first. My actual body can't keep up. The parts I got from the Resistance are stronger than I am. Lily cursed his own weakness. If I had someone else with me. Someone to help repair, and wrap wounds, even just support members to keep up supplies! Anyone. A partner-
A face appeared in Lily's mind. He bit down even harder. The Exceed flying through the air just started shifting his flight pattern to the south. He knew he needed to get out of Ant territory, but he slowed down while facing south towards the Resistance. The face of the man he saw was covered in piercings. He had long spiky black hair. A smirking expression on his face that Lily used to feel a different way about. Gajeel, Lily thought. He remembered another Fairy Tail mage who had shown up that day at the location he had been enslaved in. Gajeel convinced Gray to join the Resistance after that. It was a coincidence alone that the three of us met up that day. I could not stay with the Resistance though.
When the ceasefire was called at the end of the Second War of the Gods, Lily recalled in a dark way that his expression matched. He stopped flying in the direction of the Resistance. His eyes just narrowed accusingly back towards them. When they all called for calm, and to "just wait some time" until they could recover, only Tatsumi refused to sit idle. Only he refused to let slaves suffer at the hands of our enemies for another minute without us doing anything. So we had to leave the Resistance.
Lily stared down at his fists. Was it all for nothing that we left? We saved people! But, what Maka said… How many did we send to the Saiyans? How many did we get to Shinkoku?! Was it all pointless?! Lily felt like screaming out in rage. He seethed heavy breaths through his teeth instead to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention. He had to close his eyes though in pain while imagining the faces of his comrades and the grateful slaves they had rescued for over a year and a half. The mission had felt so important every day he was a part of it. It felt so worthwhile. Right now, it just felt empty.
You could have come with me. No! I didn't want him to. Lily reminded himself in anger. He shook his head around fast and snapped his eyes back open. He grunted but started flying south again, as there was nowhere else viable for him to go. Gajeel isn't the man I thought he was. He left them all to die! All of my people…
FD + 7
"Let's go, Lily!" Gajeel Redfox yelled. A massive toothy grin spread over his face as the black cat flying him through the air dove at the army ahead of them.
"GO!" Lily yelled encouragement at his partner who he released fast. Lily threw Gajeel into a giant robot monster with a huge glowing red circle in the center of its body. It had a circular form with a long spinal region sticking off it down to two shorter legs. Wires flung off of those legs wildly and planted into the ground, ripping it apart when the legs lifted up on each step. The two massive arms of the hundred foot tall metal monster also had glowing red circles at the ends of their cannons that they had instead of hands.
The landscape was on fire. The sky was darkened by black clouds and full of smoke. A bloodied Super Saiyan on the cracked earth pushing against the foot of a Mechasm coughed up blood when the wires swinging off that leg planted into the ground around him and pulled the leg even harder to his stomach. In the distance to the north, south, east, and west, huge walls rose up to show how deep the ground in this portion of Nexus had sank due to the chaotic war. Son Gohan dug his fingers into the metal leg of the Mechasm that his body was halfway under, and he ground his teeth while his golden hair flickered black and then back to gold again.
Gohan tore through the steel, but the metal of the Mechasm's leg turned into a fluid near its sole. That liquid metal poured back into the places where Gohan ripped through. Then the new steel hardened even more against Gohan's flesh, ripping through his purple gi that was already in shreds from the past week of constant fighting. The kid who could not keep up Super Saiyan 2 into this fight could now no longer even keep up Super Saiyan form at all. But Gohan gasped out a breath of relief, and his hazy vision focused on the spiky-haired Dragon Slayer who slammed into the front of the Mechasm and opened his mouth wide.
Gajeel chomped into the robot that staggered backwards and pointed both arms in at the mage. Gajeel chomped again and again, devouring the metal skin of the Mechasm in such a way that other giant robots around the burning landscape turned towards them. The red circles on the front of their bodies stopped firing huge red beams down into the land around them. Other fighters struggling to handle the Mechasms' attacks felt a moment's reprieve as dozens of them turned on Gajeel.
The one that the Iron Dragon Slayer started to devour pointed its glowing red cannons inwards at the man on its own chest. It needed to fire before Gajeel could get into its internal components, and it needed to do it fast since Gajeel was eating quicker than its own repairs could replace the lost skin. The red glows got brighter, but Gajeel just smirked as he saw the flash of black in the corner of his vision. Lily's body transformed full-sized in mid-flight and he slashed at the Mechasm's arm that had started glowing brighter slightly before the other one. That arm knocked down and outwards a bit, so that when it fired the red beam, it hit the other arm across the front of its body rather than hitting Gajeel. The red beam ripped through its own opposite elbow and tore that arm off, while Gajeel dove into the torso of the Mechasm and just chomped his way through the body of the monster and straight out its back.
Gajeel spun around while falling head-first out the back of the stumbling Mechasm that now had a tunnel dug straight through it. Gajeel gulped down all that unique metal and felt his power surge. His chest puffed out as his head tilted back. "IRON DRAGON SLAYER'S… ROAARRRRR!" Gajeel blasted a cone of silver and black out of his mouth that expanded so much it engulfed most of the Mechasm's enormous form. It lifted the beast off its stumbling legs and tore the wires that tried to dig into the ground to keep itself planted. Gohan watched in awe as that mage who did not feel this powerful a minute ago fired an attack strong enough to tear the Mechasm to pieces.
Gajeel laughed and held his arms out, getting caught under his armpits by the Exceed that swooped down to catch him. Their eyes darted around and Lily said in some concern, "They're all focused on us now."
"Good! Let's take them all out!" Gajeel yelled. He felt good, but even the Dragon Slayer's confidence wavered as the Mechasms all charged their attacks and aimed at him from the span of a hundred square miles. Deep in the smoke and fog in all directions between them and the far walls, they saw glowing red eyes and beams pointed towards them. Lily flapped his wings as hard as he could and swooped down, dodging around beams as they came flying at the two of them with such power in them that they both knew it would not be good to get hit.
Some of those beams that passed them hit sections of the battlefield where other combatants thought they had a reprieve. Screams rang out around the devastated landscape that made Gajeel's grin wipe from his face. His eyes darted back to their most powerful ally who looked like he was no longer able to get up, as Gohan just coughed up more blood after only getting to one knee. The kid's head was bowed and his hands flattened on the floor below his face. His hair flickered blond a few times but just went dark again.
"Gajeel!" Lily yelled.
Lily pushed off Gajeel who was too heavy, and he went one way while Gajeel went another. The beam was too fast this time. Unlike all the other super thick ones, it seemed like a Mechasm somewhere figured out that their maneuverability was too great and so it fired a thinner, faster beam at them. Pushing Gajeel away meant the beam passed between them, both Lily and Gajeel feeling an intense heat as the attack went by. Lily had to arc back towards the Dragon Slayer though and speed up even more as other beams came flying. Gajeel had fallen closer to the ground, and Lily grabbed him by the back of his vest and tried yanking upwards-
BOOOM! The red domed explosion below and behind them caught the two fleeing mages and sent them flying with smoke coming off their bodies.
They roared out in pain and hit the ground in agony. Other screams continued to echo around the land. Gohan rose his bowed head and curled his palms into fists on the hard surface below him. This deep below what was normally Nexus' surface meant the rocky ground was far harder, but the twelve year old boy's fingers still dug through the rocks as his hair started flaring brighter yellow again. "Do it. They need you. Come on! Don't let them die!" Gohan screamed at himself in anger, struggling back up to both shaky legs and then screaming out. His golden aura flared. His hair shot back up into a single golden spike, even as blood spilled between his teeth. A massive red beam flew straight at him as one of the Mechasm's saw that enemy rise…
"Damn! Looks like you could use a hand?"
Gohan rose his shaky gaze up from the beam flying his way. He took his eyes off it, because the end of that attack just froze in space. Gohan's teal eyes lifted and he stared at a young man in a white t-shirt who had a raggedy red cape flapping behind him. The teenager looked barely older than Gohan himself, but he had a look of confidence on his face that Gohan was stunned to see. Wait a second. That's, that's the one Dad talked about. He called him… "Tet-suo?" Gohan asked.
Tetsuo had some scratches and bruises visible on his body too. He laughed and then grinned in an even more cocky way to hear his name from that Super Saiyan below him. He did not know who the kid was, but apparently his name had already become famous enough around this world in the past week that the boy knew of him. Tetsuo had fought alongside other Super Saiyans though. He had seen enough spiky golden hair to know that this guy was just like Trunks or Goku, and yet he did not feel afraid of the humongous robot monsters that all aimed towards him after Tetsuo managed to stop one of their beams.
Tetsuo's smirk turned deadlier. He curled both hands at his sides outwards and started raising them up. His arms started to shake, and the entire world around them trembled too. Wires holding the closest Mechasm's legs to the ground ripped apart. Their legs lifted into the air or just ripped in half as Tetsuo forced their bodies upwards. Then he curled his elbows in which pulled those closest Mechasms towards him. Some were over a mile away when he lifted them up, and he yanked them hundreds of yards in a second… before slamming his arms fully extended. "HAAA!" Tetsuo screamed. The Mechasms went flying ten times faster than they just got pulled towards him, as if Tetsuo had been winding up a coil and then released it.
The Mechasms slammed into others of their robot race and exploded when those others were in the middle of firing red beams. Their bodies ripped apart on the collisions and sent pieces of metal flying everywhere. Some beams still flew at Tetsuo or people on the ground nearby, and Tetsuo slammed a hand down after pushing it out. He curled his fingers from where he floated up in the air. His curled fingers looked like he was digging, and Tetsuo ripped up hundreds of tons of earth and put walls in the way of the beams. The walls of stone were so strong that they did not get blown apart and sent flying in all directions, though some chunks still broke off and scattered to injured people on the floor. Those boulders got just above some terrified people's heads- and then they froze in place. The tons of debris just hovered away from the weaker people and lowered down safely. Tetsuo manipulated the entire landscape telekinetically.
He started laughing while turning his body side to side. The fifteen year old easily dodged beams of red light flying at him out of the smoke. Then he curled his hands in the directions the attacks came from, shattering more Mechasms. He tore them apart. Piece by piece he exterminated the Mechasms that had created such carnage and destruction.
"Now that," Lily said after staggering over to Gajeel's side from where he landed. He dropped onto his butt in his small form and crossed his legs while panting heavy breaths. Gajeel was sitting in the same fashion and just breathing heavily while looking up at the same teenage kid. "That is some power," Lily admired and shook his head in awe of it.
Gajeel grunted. He acknowledged what Lily said but did not feel that great about it. Even that guy has some marks on him. Are there guys even stronger than this kid out there? This world. It's fucking crazy. Gajeel stopped panting and lifted his lips into a small grin again. His gaze shifted to the corner of his eyes and he looked down at the panting cat sitting there with his eyes fluttering. Gajeel put a hand down on the top of Lily's head and pushed down on it in a way that had the gruff black cat grumbling back at him. Then Gajeel just pulled towards himself and let Lily's head rest against the side of his left leg. Lily grumbled again but then closed his eyes, as exhausted as anyone after the past week that had been nonstop action just like this.
I'm glad I found you, Gajeel. None of this makes any sense, but it's good to know you're here. Partner.
If Lily's here, that means Levy is too. Juvia and Natsu and everyone else. We all vanished from the Guild Hall and appeared here. Gajeel tilted his head back and stared up through the dark smoke above and imagined the three suns or multiple moons he had seen above this world. Wherever we are, I'm going to find her. You hear me? Gajeel grinned menacingly as he imagined his blunette's face. I'm coming for you. You're not escaping me that easily.
FD + 13
"Gajeel! We have to protect them!" Lily yelled off to his left at the Dragon Slayer.
Gajeel was already running towards a large group of people who were surrounded on all sides by the attacking Aragami. "A little busy over here," Gajeel growled. He spun his body around and looked like a tornado of silver that ripped into the flesh of a giant sparking tiger-like monster, only for that beast to turn and slash a claw into the Dragon Slayer who had to cross his arms and protect himself from the beast.
The monsters did not look any more powerful than most Gajeel and Lily had been fighting over the past two weeks. There was something different about the Aragami though that made it so only certain weapons worked against them, most of the time. It left Gajeel's attacks dull against the hard skin of the monsters, and Lily's sword was failing to strike through them either. Gajeel spotted a young woman getting dove on by an angelic-looking monster that opened its jaws to reveal several terrifying rows of teeth that went against the appearance of the winged glowing figure.
"Damn it!" Gajeel roared as blood splashed up from the woman who screamed as she was pinned down.
"Gajeel!" Lily yelled. "The Exceeds! Help me!"
Gajeel turned his head and looked past the tall black cat whose white wings shot out of his back and flapped as hard as Lily could make them. Panther Lily dove under the slashing claw of an attacking Vajra. The tiger-like monster that was several times the size of a tiger and sparking with lightning missed the Exceed and turned to follow after it. Lily slashed his sword and parried a claw coming down at the back of the light-blue Exceed also in Battle Mode just like Lily was. Clank!
"Took you long enough," Samuel remarked. He did not turn his head to his comrade of the old Zentopia Legion Corps. The former comrades from Edolas floated away from each other. Lily rose his sword, and Samuel lifted his glowing claws, while dozens of smaller Exceeds who could not go into Battle Form themselves just huddled together in a circle on the ground. The tiny cat-like Exceeds were terrified. The sky was full of flying Aragami that had killed any of them who tried escaping above. Running from this group had also left several Exceed bodies in the near distance from them where they had been picked off.
"Iron Dragon's Talon! Iron Dragon's Claw! Iron Dragon's… STEEL JACKHAMMER!" Gajeel bounced off the Aragami he just plowed into the ground. He watched in rage as it dragged itself back up onto all fours. Ten Aragami dove at him. Others sprinted his way. Humans screamed out behind him as they were devoured and killed by the monsters who his attacks did so little against. "Dragon Force," Gajeel snarled. Blood spilled out of wounds on his bare back that his shirt had long been discarded from. He had blood all over his left leg and right arm too, but both those injured limbs and his other two lost the color to them after he snarled those words.
Scales rippled down Gajeel's limbs and turned them silver. His body got harder right as claws and teeth slashed into him. An Aragami chomped down on Gajeel's head, and its teeth shattered on his neck that it tried to bite off. Gajeel opened his mouth while his head was fully inside of that flying angelic monster. A beam of magical power shot out his throat and tore a hole through the back of the Aragami that started to disintegrate after the powerful attack.
"Finally," Gajeel growled. He froze though. His eyes bulged and he turned his head sideways, looking back to the group of people he had come to save. Holy shit, Gajeel stumbled as a claw hit him in the back, and then he winced as a scythe slashed across his left calf. He dropped to his left knee and looked down at his calf that blood spilled from even though he was wrapped in iron scale armor. Can I do this?
Everyone was dying. Gajeel heard other screams and a yell of his name. He spun his head and shot back to both feet. The Aragami chasing and diving on him became confused for a second before spinning after where the blur had vanished to. Gajeel's right arm turned into a ten foot long spiked club, and he swung that arm forward and extended it, "IRON DRAGON'S CLUB!" His arm extended and slammed into the cheek of the Vajra before it could bite down on Lily's sword arm.
Gajeel sent the monster flying, but Lily yelled out towards his partner, "Save them! I'm fine!"
He was not fine. There was another Aragami diving at him that Gajeel tried swinging his iron club to the side at. Extended as far as it was though, it was too heavy and clunky to swing as fast as he needed to. The diving winged Aragami had a red glow around its round body and white wings. It grabbed Lily with its smoking talons that dug into the Exceed's muscular shoulders and ripped through flesh. Lily swung his sword up, and the red sword chipped. Metal flew from the blade that could not break the skin of the monster.
"Save them! Gajeel!" Lily yelled at his friend. He looked to the other side of the group and saw a claw rip through Samuel's red cape.
The teal Exceed known for his intellect did not turn around, he just called out, "Claw Beam." A blue beam shot through the back of his tearing cape as the cat figure pointed his claw backwards and pierced the monster slashing at him. The attack came as a surprise to the beast as the cape masked where he was aiming. Samuel was protecting all the members of his race who he had found and gathered. Even as he bled from twenty wounds, he took down one of the Aragami that Lily himself had not been able to kill yet.
Gajeel raced towards the group of Exceeds. Samuel heard their voices screaming at his back, and he turned after hearing Lily's voice getting farther away too. Blood spilled from Lily's wounds as he was carried off. Gajeel slammed his hands down into the ground as he approached, and giant Iron Clubs shot out of the surface all around the circle of Exceeds. The clubs blocked them off from the Aragami and even sent some of the monsters flying, caused some to screech as they were hit in the air, and the Exceeds had a moment reprieve. Gajeel sprinted to one of his Iron Clubs that was planted out of the ground diagonally, and he charged up it so fast he picked up dust from the ground below that engulfed him for a moment, only for him to shoot out of it like a silver bullet into the sky.
"No! Gajeel! Save them!" Lily screamed at his partner who was leaving the other Exceeds unprotected.
Gajeel had to trust in Samuel and the barriers he had put up though. "I'm not letting you go that easily!" Gajeel yelled out, grinning madly as he swung his arms out to the sides. "IRON DRAGON'S: WING ATTACK!" Gajeel swung his arms up at the fleeing Aragami trying to drag Lily away to eat him. Gajeel grabbed it by the thin legs its talons were connected to, and Lily winced then roared out in pain himself as Gajeel tore the beast's claws from his muscles. "Fly us!" Gajeel yelled. "And we'll protect them, partner!" Gajeel yelled out encouragement for his comrade.
"NO!" Lily screamed out though.
Gajeel's eyes bulged and his grin dropped. He was looking upwards as he shot towards Lily and attacked the Aragami that now dove back towards them. He knew he had to focus on that Aragami though rather than whatever was happening behind him, because Lily certainly was not going to. Gajeel reached forward and pushed Lily out of the way as the Exceed tried diving down straight past him.
"Gajeel!" Lily screamed in anger at his partner, only to yank his body backwards after turning sideways. A beam of red light shot through the space between where Lily and Gajeel were falling away from each other. Gajeel reached up his left hand and caught a talon that the beast swiped down at him, and the Dragon Slayer twisted his body and flung the massive beast down to the ground. Lily was not watching his attacks on the Aragami anymore though. Lily just screamed out in rage, "RAAAAA!" while tears splashed from the sides of his face.
A black blur flew down in the middle of Gajeel's iron clubs that had only worked to keep the Aragami out for a few seconds, before becoming the opposite of what Gajeel intended them to be.
Gajeel dove down at the Aragami he slammed into the floor, and he put all of his power into every strike in order to tear this one apart too. Physical force can't kill them. Magic can though. Gajeel glared down at the disintegrating body of this Aragami that he finally figured out how to kill. When he turned his head towards the sound of Lily's screaming voice, his mind blanked just like the Exceed's had a few seconds earlier.
A tiny hand of a pink Exceed cat reached between the Iron Clubs that he had pierced out of the surface. Gajeel's walls were too strong and too close together. When the Aragami dove in from above or jumped over the walls, the Exceeds had become trapped. Gajeel flew at his own walls and shattered them with the force of his collision, but the carnage had already become so bloody. Lily finally caught up to Samuel by killing one of the Vajra himself. His eyes were pure white just like Gajeel's were.
A claw here. A talon there. A beam of light and a burst of lightning. Thirty minutes went by before the remaining Aragami had either scattered, or been killed. Some of their bodies lay on the ground. Others had broken apart after death for some reason. Most corpses on the ground around them were not of the monsters that they had been fighting though. Blood soaked the only two who remained standing when the waves of enemies were defeated.
Some of it was their own blood. A lot of it was. They could barely stand on their shaking legs that were covered in injuries. But they had gotten off lucky. It was too much for most people. Most Exceeds too. Even Samuel, another Exceed warrior who could transform into Battle Mode, lay slumped with his back propped up against a broken iron club. Lily had rested him there at some point and told him to hold on, but Samuel had stopped speaking to him. As the battle ended and Lily looked towards his friend, he saw no movement from Samuel. No sign of breathing at all.
All their allies and enemies were dead. Gajeel and Lily stood with their backs to each other. Both of them were panting heavily. Most of the dead Aragami lay with metal stakes through their bodies pinning them to the ground. Some others had deep slash marks from the rabid Exceed who felt like he had lost his mind during that rampage. Neither of them could say anything as they just stood there panting exhaustedly and wondering if it was actually over.
No more Aragami came though. The fight had ended. And Lily's head bowed after he looked towards Samuel's motionless body. Blood soaked his fellow Exceed, just as it did all the mangled cats' bodies laying around them. "Why didn't, you save them?" Lily whispered.
"Huh?" Gajeel thought he heard Lily's voice but thought he must have heard incorrectly. "What, was that?" Gajeel growled with a glare sideways and back at his partner who glared back at him in far more fury.
"You were right there!" Lily yelled. "You should have protected them!"
"Well I came after you-"
"I told you, to save them!" Lily yelled. He panted heavier again and clenched his teeth to keep from coughing. Lily closed his eyes and thought of the sight of the Exceeds getting slaughtered while Gajeel flew the opposite direction. While his best friend ignored the plight of his dying people, to come after him instead. "I was fine," Lily whispered. "I- I would have been fine!"
"There was nothing we could have done," Gajeel stated firmly. "I know it sucks. We couldn't save any of them- we were weak! Too weak," Gajeel growled even angrier at himself as he said it. Too many people had died right in front of him today. I'm not just not the strongest. I'm a weakling! How could I fuck this up so badly?! "Damn it," Gajeel hissed.
"You went after the humans first," Lily muttered.
"Ehh?" Gajeel was feeling shitty enough as it was. He rose his head and glared at the Exceed who was even taller at the moment and stood straighter himself while glaring right back at the human. "Yeah, I did. And you went for the Exceeds."
Lily ground his teeth as that was a fair point. He shook his head though and looked away, "But after the humans were dead! You should have protected them. You had started killing these things already! Why didn't you save them?" Lily growled while turning back and glaring into Gajeel's soul.
"I made a choice," Gajeel snapped. "That's it. I made a choice-"
"I wouldn't have made the same one," Lily growled at him.
There was silence for a second. Gajeel stared back into Lily's eyes and saw that the Exceed was not lying. The Dragon Slayer ground his teeth in anger, then he wondered, "Is that so?"
"I accept danger. I was risking my life, and you ignored it to come after me. Making me responsible." Gajeel's eyes widened for a second at the anger and agony in Lily's voice sounding so guilty. "You put those deaths on me, Gajeel. Because I got grabbed and needed to be rescued. Why did you do that? How could you do that?!" Lily roared.
The Exceed leaned his head forward and glared down into Gajeel's eyes from a foot away. Gajeel did not have an answer for his partner though. He was not the kind of emotional person to be able to formulate a response. He did not think Lily had the kind of character to lose it like this either after a fight gone wrong. He just did not know what to say. Why did I save you? Don't you, understand that? Gajeel looked back at Lily and furrowed his eyebrows as he wondered if the Exceed really did not understand why he chose Lily over the others.
Lily needed an actual answer though. Not just a silent confused and annoyed look. So he could not take that silence as a response. "I misjudged you, Gajeel." Lily's voice was cold. Gajeel had treated the lives of his people as unimportant. Left them to fend for themselves while surrounded by monsters. Lily glared hatefully into Gajeel's eyes that only filled with more anger himself as he felt that Lily's hatred was misplaced and unfounded. The blood-soaked men turned away from each other in rage… a moment that Gajeel would regret for years to follow…
Present
Samuel, Wendy, Romeo, Tatsumi, Shoji, Mine… Gajeel. Lily's thoughts were so depressed as he thought of the names of his lost comrades. When he got to Gajeel's name though he only kept the solemn look for a second, before his lips twisted down at the corners. Not Gajeel. He's fine. He found Levy! Why did I think his name?!
Lily shook his head around and then lifted his gaze to glare back to the distant south. I have to go talk to Numbuh 2 again. My enhancements aren't strong enough to do this on my own. Lily's red eye focused on the horizon and gave him some optics like an HUD in a helmet that he did not need to wear. The Exceed flapped his wings hard and sped off again with his mind full of dark thoughts of the past. The Edolas of this world was destroyed. Most of the Exceeds never made it there in the first place. Those who did never made it out.
No one can survive on this world. It's an evil place. Full of monsters. But the slavers are just men. Most of them, are just humans. Disgusting people who enslave and torture. Do things worse than I thought possible! Romeo is in their hands. So many people are in their hands! "RAAAAAAAAAA!" Lily screamed as he flew through the sky even faster. I need to get back here as soon as possible. Once I've healed. Once I've improved my specs. I will only spend a short time in Resistance territory. Then I return. One last time. To save as many as I can.
It's too difficult. And frustrating. Lily's eyes closed and he bowed his head while flying as fast as he could. Water filled his one real eye and spilled through the crack of his eyelids. That I don't have any comrades anymore.
A/N Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading! One last chance to guess what the next arc will be. Chapter 24 of Heroes Will Rise will follow another of our cast... after another Sora chapter to start it off lol. It's how I've been going about structuring this month apart. A chapter of some other character outside our usual cast for 23,21,19. Then 18.0, 20.0, and 22.0 following the Adventures of Sora and Cass Parts 1-3 (though Cass left Sora after Kaguya convinced him for that betrayal last time), and then the rest of 18, 20, and 22 followed the Sylar Arc, Zodd Arc, and Finding Index Arc. Guess which arc 24 will be! Today I also want to remind my readers about some scenes that they may have forgotten from the distant past that I referenced in this chapter:
-First is the obvious in that Gajeel and Lily are not together in the present, but I have shown that they've seen each other before on Nexus. When Lily and Mine were freed from slavers by Gray's team, Gajeel showed up with Tatsumi and the Resistance shortly after that. Gray would leave Zoro's squad to join the Resistance instead. I also showed in Glynda's flashback that Tatsumi was a Resistance Commander who did not go back to that meeting because he was too busy fighting, and so when a ceasefire happened to end the Second War of the Gods, Tatsumi refused. That's why we saw Tatsumi's group off trying to free slaves from the Capital while the Resistance is back down south dealing with other conflicts. Lily was one of those who went with Tatsumi, like Mine, rather than stay with the Resistance. Importantly, when Lily saw Gajeel in that slaver compound after he was freed, it was clear that something had already happened between the two of them based on the reactions in that flashback. Just reminding everyone of some backstory here and set-up for these characters.
-Secondly, I had a scene a long, long time ago. Back in the original Nexus. When Gohan was thinking about Tetsuo and how Tetsuo saved him from the Mechasms, and he even considered joining Tetsuo after that. But how a few days later after what happened on the Day of the Cataclysm, Gohan knew something was really wrong with Tetsuo. We haven't seen much of the Cataclysm day yet but have heard it referenced many times. This time we get that Mechasm flashback! Lol it was really a throw-away line at the time in Gohan's thoughts, but it made sense that those would be villains who Gajeel would actually do really well against considering them being robots. They are only briefly mentioned in Wakfu as backstory for the Eliatropes (Yugo's race) fighting against them in some ancient war between powerful races.
-And finally the Frost Giants. When Goku first met Saiyans on Aebrith, Apragus, Bora, and Dobaka were fighting Terminators. Those Terminators had snuck into a meeting between Saiyans and Frost Giants before blowing up and killing everyone. Goku saved the three Saiyans he found who took him back to the Saiyan Mountains. Anyway! These were just a few short scenes that were mentioned a long time back so might have been forgotten considering how long I've been writing this for. Hope you remember the scenes now or at least just like more of the world-building around them. I'm going to make a quick list below, then respond to reviews after that!
-Oh, I've also referenced Edolas a few times on this world. About Edo-Natsu and Edo-Lucy, and Mystogan... We'll find out more about them, someday! XD
Wakfu: Mechasms (they were mentioned as some ancient enemy race of Yugo's people and looked like giant evil robots)
Akira: Tetsuo
DBZ: Gohan, Trunks, Goku
Akame ga Kill: Mine, Tatsumi
Fairy Tail: Levy, Lily, Gajeel, Samuel, Exceeds, Edolas, Romeo
Boku no Hero Academia: Shoji
Codename KND: Numbuh 2
God Eater: Aragami (the reason they're so hard to kill is because in the show/game you need to use God Eater weapons to kill them)
Hunter x Hunter: Chimera Ants, Meruem
Asura's Wrath: Asura, Yasha, Shinkoku
-Alright! Long Author's Note this time, but now finally time for reviews:
Smlluffy67 chapter 150 . Feb 18
I was just listening shiny teeth and me from fop It got me wondering is chip alive on nexas because I'm sure if you ever decide to give timmy some sort of break he's the guy to go to for music
Hahaha I actually saw that episode not long ago. FOP is on Netflix so I've been watching a couple episodes, ngl. XD It's an interesting idea about Ozpin's revival. By having him be killed back in the 2nd War of the Gods too, it definitely leaves the option up for him to have already reincarnated or that he'll do it soon. Interesting predictions... no spoilers though! Thanks for reviewing!
Espada-001 chapter 150 . Feb 15
Hello again. I don't really have much thoughts for this chapter since it was mostly a review for Robin. As for Robin wanting to be a hero, she could probably say that to Luffy's face and he'd probably just say, "Sure but I get all the food you get." XD
On a side note for Glynda. I did think of another reason you could have for her wanting to retire. Maybe you could have her watching over Ozma's four daughters. I'm certain that once Ozpin/Ozma found out people from the past were brought to Nexus he would have been desperate to find them. And since the four girls showed a talent for magic at a young age hiding them away in the city of magic would probably be a good idea.
Just a thought on my end. Well I hope you have a good day and I look forward to seeing the next chapter!
That would be an interesting topic for Robin to bring up to her captain. I could see that reaction! XD Also another cool idea about Ozpin/Ozma. I remember that flashback episode where we find out about Ozma and Salem, and their kids. It's an interesting thought, and maybe we'll learn more about his death and Glynda's past in later chapters! Hope you had a good few days, and that you enjoyed the new chapter!
Limit-Breaking chapter 150 . Feb 14
Huh, was not expecting that but now that I think about it, I do recall something about the three kings conspiring together in some way or had a meeting of some sort.
Though I guess it also confirmed my suspicions that Goku is recognized probably cause he kept flying around the world and participating in big battles and saving people the moment they all were transported to nexus.
But I was not expecting that he fought the majority of the high lords and even spared some of them. Though I did crack up when Goku appeared and aizen just left, I assume he was defeated by Goku much earlier on, before aebrith lol.
If i had to guess i assume thanks to ki and using his other senses rather than just using sight to best aizen.
Though it definitely explains why they know of him on aebrith, defeating the majority of the resistance enemies will definitely leave an impression. Though I do think it would be funny if gray mentioned every high lord to goku and Goku being like oh yeah I fought that one, also that and that one as well. Just annoying gray XD.
Cutting the review a bit again. I do appreciate the long ones though! Lot to talk about so I'll go in order. Yep! We did see Meruem, Zeref, and Aizen conspiring together in a flashback back during the War of the Saiyan Mountains chapters. We also saw Bardock and Zodd there conspiring with them, with all three Kings plotting the end of that First War of the Gods. We also saw in Numbuh 4's flashback some of the collateral damage from that war, as KND Island Base was destroyed just during a battle between Saiyans and Kryptonians. Goku defeating Aizen was brought up back when they were all on the Thousand Sunny traveling to Aebrith. He told Gray about it to Gray's annoyance lol. Vegeta killed the Espada 2 (Baraggan), while the other Z fighters all fought Aizen's allies too, and Goku defeated Aizen. He showed off a scar he got when Aizen stabbed him, but Goku grabbed the blade after that in the way that Ichimaru Gin did in the show, as Aizen's one weakness is when someone is holding his blade how he can't use his illusions. It's the same way Tien beat Aizen which we saw in a flashback Kakashi was telling Goku and Sasuke about a few chapters back when he talked about how Tien died. Tien already knew how to do it from that last time. Another thing was how did Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta not sense these fights going on? Well we know that Goku showed up in the Third War of the Gods, but it's not like it says he knew there was a war going on. He just went and fought strong fighters. What I also referenced a few times earlier in this story are the buoys that surround Aebrith with Power Blocking technology in them. Right when they were installed, the Z fighters flew over when they couldn't sense those people but got told by Tien how they were being set up to protect them from monsters. Goku also told the Resistance that they were leaving Aebrith to Tien so that he could train and get stronger, while really ChiChi just made him and Gohan stay put back in Pao. And finally Vegeta, was a single father raising Trunks on his own after the death and memory loss of Bulma. Yamcha retired after the fight against the Legion of Evil where he lost a leg. Krillin got captured by Lelouch. That Legion of Evil chapter you mentioned as well, and that was going on at the same time as the First War of the Gods. So why weren't the Z fighters off over on Aebrith? Well, there were still apparently a ton of enemies on Awul that were strong enough that they were occupied at the time. Darkseid, Lord Chilled, Zodd, Sinestro and Zoom, Black Adam, Arcosians and other Kryptonians. It was a massive battle that we saw. Zodd left Awul after Tetsuo won that battle (with a lot of collateral damage), and it's shortly after that that he shows up in Aebrith and kills King Vegeta in the conspiracy with Bardock and Meruem. So yeah they may have felt those other Saiyans and Kryptonians, but there were more powerful Saiyans and Kryptonians on their own continent who they were preoccupied with. As much as Aebrith has seemed like this bigger threat in the present since Meruem defeated the Saiyans, back during the First War of the Gods, it seems like Awul had stronger fighters on it. The Super Saiyans, Zod and Superman, etc. The Z fighters got pretty messed up in a lot of their fights too including that one up against the Legion of Evil. Vegeta was also really injured after it, which is why he wasn't able to hunt down Tetsuo right away, giving Future Trunks the time to get Matt Parkman to go erase Pao Town's memories of Bulma. A lot was going on. So when stuff happens in the past of Aebrith and our cast of Z fighters didn't always show up to save them or take part, well it's like Goku said when his friends all got mad at him back at the Wizard King's castle. He's not always going to be there to protect them. They have to deal with their own problems while he's not around. And the whole world has learned that lesson by this point. ALRIGHT! Wow that was a long review. But Nexus is such a massive story of like 3+ million words spanning the past 8 years, so there's a lot of stuff to talk about. XD Glad it's got you engaged to have so much stuff to think about! Hope you enjoyed the new update. And thanks for another great review!
-Thanks everyone for reading, 'til next time!