A/N: Episode 257.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE: WINGS OF DESPAIR

Kyoka had grabbed onto Seilah's hand, lifting it up. "Along with your soul..." She muttered as a blue glow surrounded her and Seilah.

"She's absorbing Seilah-sama's power? How much is that power worth? How much?" Franmalth questioned. "Although that's my ability..."

"Face is going to activate!" Happy exclaimed.

"What should we do?!" Lily questioned.

"We'll just have to stop it." Erza responded.

"Get Kyoka! She has almost all the information!" Minerva informed.

"Please! Erza!" Mira pleaded.

"Yeah." Erza and Kyoka both said in sync.

Erza soon requipped into her Armadura Fairy Armor. "I swear I'll stop Face." She promised.

"I'll destroy the enemy for Zeref's sake." Kyoka declared.

Erza charged forward with her sword raised in the air. "I swear I'll stop you!" She declared.

"You're too late." Kyoka said.

"There's still time!" Erza shouted, slashing her sword as Kyoka blocked it.

"Er...za..." Mira muttered.

Erza and Kyoka were battling it out as Minerva and the Exceeds watched anxiously. Kyoka struck her claw at Erza, causing her to get sent back as she dodged an attack from Kyoka.

Erza then struck a kick at Kyoka, sending her rolling on the ground before Erza sent a slash at her. The two had a stare off as Kyoka grits her teeth.

"Impressive." Minerva complimented.

"Fro thinks so, too!" Frosch agreed.

Mira smiled weakly before she winced in pain. "Mira, are you okay?!" Happy questioned worriedly.

"Yes..." Mira responded.

"Come to think of it, weren't you with Lisanna?" Happy asked.

"We ran into a little trouble." Mira replied.

"Trouble?" Lector repeated.

"What the...?!" Elfman questioned as he was holding onto Mira and Lisanna.

"What happened?" Lisanna asked.

Mira opened her eyes. "Hey! Over there!" Jet called out suddenly.

"The enemy!" Droy exclaimed.

Multiple Lummy's soon appeared. "What the heck..." Jet started to say.

"...are they?!" Droy finished.

"What are they laughing about?" Warren questioned.

"How many are there?!" Elfman asked.

"They're annoying..."

One of the Lummy's attacked Jet and Droy.

"Ow!"

"Are there any hot guys in your guild?" Lummy asked Warren.

"Look right in front of you." Warren pointed to himself.

"Was she mass-produced?" Elfman wondered, standing up.

Seilah stood up in the midst of the chaos and left.

"This girl..." Mira started to say.

Elfman and Lisanna kicked the multiple Lummy's out of the way.

"Leave this to us!" Lisanna informed.

"Go after her, Sis!" Elfman added, referring to Seilah.

"Will she be okay?" Lily questioned.

"Jet, Droy, and Warren are there, too." Mira responded.

"Why are we putting a lot of stock in those three?" Happy asked.

Erza held her sword up, making Kyoka chuckle. "There you go, Erza. As I thought, you are like me." Kyoka claimed.

"What the...?" Erza suddenly said, hearing a sound in the distance.

"What is this?!" Minerva questioned.

"What's that noise?" Happy wondered.

"Lector..." Frosch muttered.

"I-It's okay." Lector tried to reassure him.

"What the hell is going on?!" Franmalth asked.

Doranbolt breathed heavily as he had teleported Wendy, Carla, Orion, and Raden. "Are you all right, Doranbolt?" Orion questioned in concern.

"Yeah." Doranbolt answered.

"That cube thing broke into pieces and crashed to the ground." Carla noticed.

"Everyone's still inside!" Wendy informed. "Warren-san, too... He must... be..."

Wendy suddenly collapsed to the ground, getting Carla, Orion, Raden, and Doranbolt's attention.

"Hey, Wendy!" Orion called out.

Wendy began to pulsate violently.

"Wendy! Hold on! What's wrong?!" Carla asked.

"Wendy!" Doranbolt shouted before he noticed the strange sound. "What's that sound?"

Laxus was knocked out as his head rested on Juvia's lap. Juvia touched his face. "He needs immediate medical treatment." She informed.

"Damn you, Laxus. You overdid it." Natsu claimed.

"But thanks to that, we have this." Gajeel raised Laxus's coat in the air.

"Demon's blood..."

"Take this to old lady Porlyusica, Levy." Gajeel instructed.

Levy nodded. "Okay. Laxus and the others can be healed with this, right?" She asked, taking Laxus's coat.

"Um... Where is Gray-sama?" Juvia questioned.

"He became incredibly powerful." Gajeel answered.

"Incredibly?" Natsu quoted.

"Yeah. He's different now. It was like the Ice Magic was rippling right under his skin." Gajeel said, recalling what had happened.

"Anti-Magic particles?!"

Juvia recalled what had happened after she defeated Keyes.

"I'm sorry, Gray-sama. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"It's better this way. Thank you."

"Gray's father..."

"I can finally go to heaven, thanks to you. And you stopped Face's activation."

"Juvia is..."

"Don't say anything. Take care of Gray."

"I wonder what happened." Lucy said, glancing at Natsu.

"Well, he went off somewhere right away." Gajeel stated as Natsu stood up.

"I see..."

"What do we do now?" Sebastian questioned as Natsu sat back down.

Natsu suddenly widened his eyes. "What's wrong, Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"I bet he doesn't like to hear that the ice bastard suddenly powered up." Gajeel replied, making Sebastian snort in amusement.

Natsu's body began to shake. "Gajeel... Can't you hear it?" He questioned.

"Huh?" Gajeel spoke in confusion.

"What are you talking about, Natsu?" Sebastian asked.

Natsu turned around, a horrified look on his face. "That voice..." He muttered as Gajeel widened his eyes.

"What?"

The ground soon began to tremble.

The trembling of the ground soon got Sting and Rogue's attention. "This is..." Mard Geer mumbled to himself.

"What the hell is it?!" Sting wondered.

"A voice?" Rogue questioned.

"This is unforeseen. It's coming..." Mard Geer muttered.

The noise got the rest of the Fairy Tail members attention.

"Was this mighty 'demon' lured here?" Mard Geer wondered. "Or has it come in pursuit of Zeref?"

"That voice! I'd never forget it!" Natsu exclaimed.

Acnologia soon appeared in the sky.

"Acnologia!"

Somewhere else, a fiery volcano exploded, revealing Igneel.

"Then the time has come?"

Acnologia continued to fly through the air as he fired a large blue blast from his mouth, causing multiple explosions.

"It's Acnologia!" Cana exclaimed.

"What?!" Romeo said.

"Acnologia! That... thing?!" Wakaba asked.

"It blew up Tenroujima Island!" Macao recalled.

"Founder! Help us!"

"That despair... is coming for us... again..." Cana muttered.

"Acnologia..." Erza mumbled.

"What?!" Kyoka said.

"Wendy! Wake up! What's wrong?! Wendy!" Carla yelled as Wendy continued pulsating.

Carla glanced up at Doranbolt. "It can't be..." He muttered to himself.

"It's coming!"

Natsu, Gajeel, and Sebastian began to pulsate violently.

"Natsu? Sebastian?" Lucy questioned in concern, crawling over to them. "Hey. Are you both okay? Natsu... Sebastian..."

Lucy touched both of their shoulders with her hands, only to find the both of them were scorching hot. "Hot!" She complained.

"Gajeel, too!" Levy informed.

"The Dragon Slayers are reacting to Acnologia?" Juvia questioned.

"Natsu... Sebastian... Gajeel!" Lucy exclaimed.

In the Black Sun guild hall, Jade suddenly collapsed to her knees, using a nearby table for support as she also began to pulsate. This grabbed everyone's attention.

"Jade!" Helena exclaimed, rushing over to her.

"Are you okay?" Anna asked in worry.

"What happened?" Zane questioned.

"We don't know! She just collapsed all of a sudden!" Helena responded.

"Jade, can you hear us?" Cyana asked.

Jade didn't respond to her guildmates as she clenched her chest tightly.

Sting and Rogue were also pulsating violently, clenching onto their chests as if they were in pain.

"This is..."

"What's going to happen? Even I can't tell." Mard Geer commented.

Acnologia soon fired another blue blast, making more explosions as he then roared loudly.

"Here it comes!" Lisanna warned.

"That's Acnologia?!" Warren exclaimed.

"Are we gonna die?!" Jet questioned.

"Don't give up! We can't give up!" Elfman declared.

"Run!"

"We can't all gather together!"

"Carry Freed and the others!"

"Scatter as much as possible!"

"Crap..."

Acnologia created more explosions, roaring once again as some Fairy Tail Mages flew in the air due to the impact.

"I don't believe this!"

"This impact is just from the thing circling around?!"

"Is this the end of the line?" Macao wondered.

"We're goners!" Vijeeter exclaimed.

"What did we do to deserve this?!" Cana tears up. "Dammit!"

"I see. It's after END." Mard Geer said as Acnologia continued to cause destruction. "Is it afraid of END? Has it come to destroy that before making its comeback? Interesting."

Acnologia got ready to fire another breath attack.

Natsu, Sebastian, and Gajeel continued pulsating violently as Sebastian soon heard a voice.

"Sebastian..."

Sebastian widened his eyes.

"It seems the time has come."

Sebastian gasped. "Atlas!" He shouted as Natsu had shouted, "Igneel!" at the same time.

"I have faith that you can help Igneel's son defeat END."

"Igneel! Why can I hear Igneel's voice?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"I can hear Atlas's, too." Sebastian added.

"Natsu? Sebastian?" Levy asked.

"What's wrong with Natsu-san and Sebastian-san?" Juvia questioned.

"Igneel and I will both do something about Acnologia."

Bright yellow lights soon appeared from Natsu and Sebastian's bodies, making Lucy widen her eyes.

"Dad... Why did you leave?!" A younger Natsu shouted.

Natsu and Sebastian both continued to clench their chests tightly.

"Atlas! I'm here for training!" A younger Sebastian called out, but frowned upon seeing that Atlas's cave was empty. "Dad?"

Natsu and Sebastian both let out screams as the intense heat that came from them shoved Lucy, Levy, and Juvia back a few feet while Gajeel just watched.

"I apologize for everything, Sebastian."

Both Igneel and Atlas Flame appeared from Natsu and Sebastian's bodies.

"We've both been inside of you all this time." Igneel revealed.

"This isn't the time to tell you everything. Igneel!" Atlas Flame exclaimed.

Igneel and Atlas Flame both flew up into the air, slamming their heads into Acnologia.

"Live, Natsu!" Igneel shouted.

Igneel and Atlas Flame both let out roars as Acnologia roared back before the three dragons crashed into each other.

"Is this... a dream?" Juvia wondered.

Igneel and Atlas Flame continued ramming into Acnologia as Natsu and Sebastian watched.

"Dad..." Natsu and Sebastian choked out, tears streaming down both of their faces.

A/N: Yes, Atlas Flame will be aiding Igneel in his battle with Acnologia, but he won't die like Igneel does.

Thanks for reading!

~ Kaleb.