Natsu slammed his flaming fist into Byron's face, knocking the requip mage a step back. Natsu followed up by spinning around, slamming another heated punch into Byron's punch; in fact, the combo was just a flurry of relentless punches all aimed for Byron's midsection and face, and Byron was too shocked by Natsu's presence to even begin a counter. Natsu finished off his combo with a heavy lightning flame haymaker, swinging it into Byron's chin, the force sending Byron into the wall. "I'm just getting started!" Natsu roared.
"Natsu!" Lucy stood up, standing side by side with her partner. "Let me help! I still have some magic left!"
"Heh, I wouldn't have it any other way…" Natsu grinned, and he and Lucy shared a high five.
Erza smiled at the sight of their team work, standing up with just the cloth around her breasts, the pants, and a single sword in her hands. "I'll wait for the perfect moment to strike…"
"I'll keep watch over Sherry…" Yukino nodded.
"Aye, you can do this!" Happy exclaimed.
"Just like old times…" Lucy chuckled.
"Gah…" Byron forced himself up, requipping into his Explosive Hammer once again. "I'll kill you!" Byron slammed his hammer on the ground, sending a chain of explosions towards the Natsu and Lucy.
"Heh…" Natsu merely grinned at the incoming explosions, taking the first step forward. Before the explosions fully reached him, he opened his mouth and ate in, his stomach inflating as a result. "Oh…thanks for the meal…"
"W-What!?" Byron's eyes widened at the sight of Natsu eating the explosion. "What the hell!? How did you!?"
"Now that I've eaten…" Natsu's grin widened as an aura of lightning and flames erupted from around his body. "I'm all fired up!" Natsu placed one foot on the ground, and when he dashed forward, the ground under said foot crumbled due to the strength he used to kick off.
"Not so fast!" Byron exclaimed as he changed his hammer for his Power Boots and Gloves, rearing a fist back, but as he did so, Lucy wrapped her whip around Byron's arm, holding him in place. "E-Eh?!"
"Natsu, now!" Lucy yelled.
"Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu roared as he slammed his fist into Byron's nose, the impact causing a shockwave to boom out. Byron flew back, hitting the nearest wall, also causing it to crumble on him.
"UGH…" Byron groaned as he stood up slowly, wobbling. "I…I said I'll kill you….!"
By that point, Erza had already jumped forward, her sword raised over her head as she made her way towards Byron. Before Byron had the chance to react to what was happening, Erza slashed her sword across his chest in one fluid motion, sliding to a stop behind the now fallen Byron. "It's over."
"We finally beat that guy!" Happy exclaimed.
Natsu walked over to Byron and dug in his pockets before pulling out his scarf, and wrapped it around his neck, letting out a content sigh. "Now it's over."
"Not yet…" Yukino stated as she lifted Sherry up.
"Oh right…we still have to find the others!" Lucy started to worry. "I hope they're all okay…!"
"Let's make our way our first…we're not in any condition for a large fight…" Erza nodded slowly. "If we can find Wendy or another healer on the way, that would make things different, but for now…"
"I agree…" Yukino nodded in agreement.
.
.
"Sora sees something!" The pink-haired shadow mage walked over to the black hole in the corner of the room.
"What's that…?" Horoki took a puff of his cigarette, following behind Sora. He peered down into the black hole, noticing that two hands were sticking out. "Hm? Help me with this."
"Okay!" Sora nodded, and the two mages grabbed the hands, pulling up. After a few minutes of pulling, Horoki and Sora managed to pull out Kiora and Maggie.
"Ah, about bloody time…!" Maggie groaned. "That script wanker is going to get a Lava Curtain next time I see him."
"I already called dibs on cleaving off his head!" Kiora replied.
"Too bad, he's mine!" Maggie shot back.
"Oh yeah!?" Kiora shouted, and then jumped at Maggie, the two females making a comical smoke cloud as they began to argue.
"...Kiora-chan! Maggie-chan!" Sora said while throwing her arms up excitedly.
.
.
"You look like you've seen better days…" Rylo chuckled somewhat as he and Taranis supported Evanee to the exit.
"I have…" Evanee replied. "That Karma replaced my magic with something I can even use right now, and then some other person came and killed him, so now I can't even get my dragon slaying magic back…"
"You're not a dragon slayer anymore…?" Rylo blinked a few times, caught off guard by the news.
"And I can't even use my magic right now…" Evanee replied; she was quite livid, but she wasn't going to take it out on Rylo. Taranis, maybe.
"Oi, what a crazy day…" Taranis said. "At least Sammy and Melanie are safe…all we have to do is get out now…"
.
.
"Do you three really think you have a chance against me…?" Ur asked as she gazed at Gray, Lyon, and Ultear, all three of them down to at least a knee.
"D-Damn…I didn't think she'd be this powerful…" Lyon grunted.
"I'm not…giving up…" Gray said as he forced himself to stand.
"You should give it up before I really have to do something…" Ur replied.
"Gray…" Ultear winced slightly, unable to move from her current position.
"I have to do this…" Gray said as he bent his knees. "Second Origin…!" As Gray shouted this, the second magic container in his body Ultear unlocked was activated. A large blade of ice twice the size of the original completely covered Gray's right arm, while another large blade appeared on his left arm's elbow. Gray then dashed forward with the blades, spinning while he aimed seven powerful slashes. "Seven Sided Dance!"
"What..?" Ur was obviously surprised by the activation of Gray's Second Origin but she held her ground as she formed two of her own ice blades on her arm and other arm's shoulder. "Ice Blade…!"
"Heh…" Ultear smirked, now seeing what Gray went for. Ur had fallen for a trap, and Ultear used her magic to make Ur's ice blades vanish, now leaving her completely open to the incoming attack.
"What!?" Ur exclaimed, but it was too late for anything else. Gray slashed once, twice, thrice, four times, five, six, and the seventh, landing behind Ur as if he'd phased through her, landing on his knees with his arms crossed. Ur fell over and the ice vanished on Gray, but he was crouched with a smirk. "Heh…"
"Did we…do it…?" Lyon panted somewhat, glancing at Ur to make sure she was down.
"I-Impressive…" Ur said as she stood up, wobbling slightly from the previous attack, but she was more or less okay, minus the noticeable cuts on her body.
"You can't be serious…!" Lyon shouted.
"W-What? I put everything I had into that attack..!" Gray exclaimed.
"You've certainly grown…all three of you…" Ur didn't say this with a sarcastic tone, it was a tone of sincerity, but this in no way meant she wasn't evil. "Perhaps after you train a little harder, you all may be able to defeat me…but I won't make it easy for you, you brats…" Ur turned around, making her way to the front of the castle. The battle was over between Ur and her children were over, but there were no winners…
.
.
"Luke….get up!" Heather exclaimed with obvious worry in her voice.
"They're strong…" Mirajane said as her eyes narrowed at the pair of god slayers just smiling at their downed son.
"You three are next," Diana said as the runes started to vanish.
"I'm not up for another fight…" Skye whispered to the other females.
"This isn't good…" Kairi mumbled.
"Oi…" Luke coughed, his body slowly stirring.
"…Still kicking, are we?" Diana asked while crossing her arms.
"You know…" Luke started as he slowly made his way to his feet, teetering from side to side. "You guys are assholes…You come in...cause trouble with my family…kidnap members…and think everything's okay after…? You thought I was kidding when I said I was going to make you pay for your actions, huh…?" As Luke spoke, an uproar of magical energy erupted from his body, shaking the entire area. "Well let me tell you one thing…" Half of Luke's body started to turn pitch black, while the other half turned a holy white, leaving everyone watching speechless. "White Eclipse is my family…and you brought harm to them…and now I'll show you what happens when you hurt those I care about!"
"W-What is that…?" Skye asked with widened eyes.
"W-Where did you get that power…!?" Blake asked as he took a step back.
"Copy Cat…Actually…no…right now…I'm the Pseudo God Slayer…All thanks to you…So let me reward you!" Luke replied as he held his hands at 12 and 6, a black and white magic circle appearing before him. This magic circle spun around in a clockwise motion, spinning faster and faster with each rotation. "What goes around comes around! Laser of the Black and White God!" The magic circle unleashed a powerful spiraling laser of black and white energy, the ground it traveled uprooting and getting destroyed as it traveled forward. The laser slammed into the two god slayers, but it didn't even stop there, it ripped through the wall and continued to travel, going out of the castle and traveling a good mile or so before the attack died down. When it was over, Blake and Diana were on the ground unconscious from the attack, and there was a gaping hole in what used to be a wall. "That's…the power of White Eclipse…" Luke grinned victoriously, throwing his fingers up in a W before his little transformation wore off, and he fell forward, but Heather and Kairi caught him before he actually fell.
"You idiot…" Heather shook her head.
"I won…I did win right?" Luke asked as he looked at his downed parents.
"Yes, you won," Kairi replied. "Don't scare us like that."
"Sorry…" Luke replied as he stood up on his own. "Oi, Mirajane, you look like you've seen better days, heh…"
"I have enough magic to go Halphas, maybe even Stiri…" Mirajane replied while giving an innocent smile. Luke's power was impressive, and she didn't want to spoil his victory, but if he kept that up...
"…Hahaha…" Luke gave a nervous laugh before walking to what used to be the wall. "How about we just take this and loop around to the front?"
"That works," Kairi nodded.
.
.
"Rah!" Cynthia exclaimed as she threw a flaming hook at Chelia's cheek, but Chelia dodged by jumping back, sliding across the ground to a stop. "This is getting stupid now…" Cynthia groaned as she stood up straight.
"Chelia, we need to get through and rescue Aira-san!" Wendy replied.
"I can't let you through…" Chelia replied. "I've been told not to let anyone through…"
"Since when did you start listening to dark guilds!?" Cynthia asked. "This is really idiotic of you!"
"I started listening when I accepted the darkness…" Chelia replied as a dark aura surrounded her body along with her dark wings. "Since then…I've chosen this path…and there is no going back…"
"What is she talking about…?" Cynthia just blinked a few times.
"This might have something to do with the Grand Magic Games…" Meredy replied to Cynthia. "She lost control of herself that one time…"
"That's no reason to pack everything up and go to Tartaros!" Cynthia replied.
"Chelia…" Wendy started as she took a step forward, but Chelia took a step back.
"I can't turn back…" Chelia replied, but this time there was a hit of sadness in her voice. "I've been consumed by the darkness…now I must follow through…"
"There's always light…!" Aira shouted over to Chelia.
"N-No…there isn't…not for me!" Chelia placed her hands over her ears, trying to block out the constant talking.
"There is and you know it!" Wendy exclaimed. "If you really believe what you say is true, why are you doubting yourself?"
"S-Stop it! Shut up!" Chelia replied as the dark aura around her body exploded, causing the wind to pick up in the room.
"W-what's going on now!?" Meredy asked.
"I don't know…!" Cynthia replied as she let her dark red flames flare around her body.
"I'll destroy you all….!" Chelia shouted as she puffed her cheeks out, black wind and pitch black energy forming around her mouth. "Bellow of the Black Sky God!" Chelia threw her head forward, unleashing a pitch black vortex of wind towards the three females.
"Meredy, stand back!" Cynthia ordered as her own cheeks puffed out. "Omega Fire Dragon's Roar!"
"Omega Fire Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy exclaimed as she and Cynthia unleashed two raging vortexes of red fire, mixed in with wind from Wendy, at the Black Sky Bellow. The two attacks clashed for a brief second before entering a stalemate which ended with a large explosion, blowing everyone back. "Gah…!"
"Ngh…" Chelia gripped her head as she fell to her knees. "Why…."
"She's having some sort of inner conflict…" Meredy stated as she stood up slowly.
Wendy made her way over to Chelia, extending her hand. "Chelia…let me help you…"
"Wendy…" Chelia looked up at Wendy's hand, but she shook her head after, letting out a scream of pain as a vortex of darkness appeared around her, blowing Wendy back a few steps.
"Chelia!" Wendy yelled.
"What NOW!?" Cynthia growled.
"She's trying to fight the darkness!" Aira exclaimed.
"She's not going to make it…" Meredy stated.
"Then we have to help her!" Wendy replied as she gave Meredy a nod.
"Yeah! You can make sense links, right? Make one between Wendy, Chelia, and I! That way she can feel our emotions!" Cynthia shouted.
"That's too dangerous!" Meredy replied; she wasn't shooting the idea down, but she was afraid it would go wrong. "That darkness is powerful…if you two can't overcome it, you'll be sucked into it as well…"
"Well, if we DON'T do anything, it's a guarantee that she'll never make it out! We have to try!" Cynthia exclaimed.
"We can do this…!" Wendy pleaded.
"Okay, okay…" Meredy let out a sigh before making a sense link between Cynthia and Wendy. "Now, just think about Chelia, and I can make the link between you three…" The two girls nodded, putting all of their positive thoughts onto Chelia, which allowed Meredy to create a link between the three girls.
"Whoa…! All that negative energy…!" Cynthia closed an eye. "We can do this…Chelia, come on…! You can make your way out of this!"
"I-I can't…" Chelia replied, losing faith in herself as the darkness pulled her in. "I can't go back…not after what I did…"
"What about Lamia Scale?" Wendy inquired. "They miss you! Even we miss you!"
"Yeah! Wendy and I did nothing but worry once we heard about you leaving Lamia Scale! And if we're worried, just image how they feel…!" Cynthia continued. "Wendy, this might not be working…"
"I have an idea…" Wendy grabbed Cynthia's hand, and then ran forward into the vortex of darkness, much to Meredy and Aira's surprise.
"What are you two doing!?" Meredy screamed.
"Recusing Chelia apparently?" Cynthia replied as the two girls noticed the slowly sinking Chelia. "Pull!" Cynthia groaned as she and Wendy began to literally pull Chelia out of the darkness. The process was slow, but after a few minutes, the two girls pulled Chelia out of the darkness quite literally, and the vortex faded, and the runes keeping Aira trapped vanished.
"Whew…" Cynthia sat down, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.
"You two…" Meredy let out a sigh of relief before cutting the link between the three girls, sitting on her knees after. "Don't scare me like that…"
"Sorry…" Wendy gave a sheepish smile to Meredy before falling on her back. "Chelia…?"
"You…" Chelia started, completely baffled at how far Wendy and Cynthia went to save her.
"You're welcome…" Cynthia said with a lazy smile.
"You guys are amazing…" Aira grinned as she placed her hands over Cynthia and Meredy, a sea green light emitting from her palms as she began to heal the two girls. Before she could finish, the room they were in started to shake from a nearby explosion, sealing the exit with debris as a result.
"Huh!?" Wendy's eyes widened at the debris covering the room, and that the room was still shaking. "What's going on…?"
"That must be Jackal…" Chelia said as she sat down, just giving up. "I guess he couldn't help but cause an explosion to bury us in here…"
"Bury!?" Cynthia shot her glance at Chelia. "What do you mean!?"
"This room is one of the lower ones…the only way out is that entrance…" Chelia replied.
"But…you're still in here! Aren't you apart of this guild…?" Aira asked.
"I erased my Lamia Scale mark…but I didn't get another one after that…" Chelia replied. "So we're stuck here…"
"Are you seriously just giving up!?" Cynthia asked as she walked over to Chelia, placing a hand on her shoulder and shook her a few times. "How can you give up after what we just went through?!"
"It was nice…but after what I did, I don't think I deserve a second chance…" Chelia replied.
Fed up, Cynthia drew her hand back, and slapped Chelia across the face, shocking Wendy, Aira, and Meredy. "You're kidding me, right?! After all you've done?! You're the reason I got a second chance! Chelia Blendy, you better stand up right now or else I'll…I'll…!" Cynthia could feel herself tearing up as she spoke, but she kept shaking Chelia.
"….You really make it hard to say no….." Chelia replied with the tiny smile tugging at her lips. Cynthia then stood up, and swiped her hand once, sending a blade of black wind at the rubble in front of the door, shattering it. "There!"
"Let's hurry!" Aira exclaimed.
Meredy looked up at the ceiling, noticing it was caving in. "We're not gonna make it…!" Just then, a large piece of the ceiling fell down, but Chelia was the one who stopped it, emitting a large amount of magic energy as she did so just to keep herself from being crushed.
"Chelia!" The three females shouted.
"G-Go…! I can't hold this thing forever…!" Chelia replied.
"But you're in terrible condition!" Aira protested. "At least heal…"
"I didn't heal in the fight because I couldn't…my heart was too dark for me to do so…but now's not the time to think about that, just GO…!" Chelia demanded.
"C-Chelia…" Wendy started as she took a few steps back, eventually running off with the others.
Now knowing that her friends were safe, a slight smile appeared on Chelia's face. "At least I found my way again…" And with that…crash, the ceiling collapsed.
.
.
From afar, Hyde watched the entire thing between Chelia, Wendy, Cynthia, Aira, and Meredy. "Hn…that wasn't exactly how it was supposed to go…but the end result is the same…so I suppose it doesn't matter…"
.
.
Outside the castle, everyone had just regrouped. Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Twilight Zone, White Eclipse, and the members of Crime Sorciere, all met outside the castle. "Is everyone here?" Jura asked.
"Looks like it…" Erza replied. "Nice job everyone!" Erza nodded as she pointed to the ruined Tartaros Castle.
"I'm here, hold on!" Takeru exclaimed as he walked out of the castle with Sting and Rogue over his shoulder.
"Sting, Rogue…!" Yukino placed her hands over her mouth. "What happened?"
"I guess they were fighting, and Rogue's shadow took him over. I beat him, though."
After Takeru spoke, Jellal walked out with Kagura over his shoulder unconscious. "Sorry for the wait…"
"Jellal…" Erza was slightly surprised to see the heavenly mage, more so when she saw Kagura.
"So, we win, right?" Natsu asked with his usual grin.
"Tch, I knew he wasn't dead…" Gajeel scoffed at the sight of Natsu.
"Everyone's not here..." Cynthia sighed.
"What do you mean…?" Selene asked. "This is everyone…?"
"Chelia…isn't going to make it…" Wendy continued for Cynthia.
"Chelia was here…!?" Sherry asked as her expression changed. "Where was she…!?"
"She was in an underground part of the castle…that's where I was rescued…." Aira stated, and after she did, there was a slight tremor.
"W-What was that…?" Gray asked, but Wendy, Aira, Meredy, and Cynthia just looked away.
"C-Chelia…she saved us…" Cynthia replied.
"And it would be a shame if that all went to waste…" Daityas said as he walked from the castle's front doors, grinning menacingly.
"Dait…" Kuro started.
"You're all in a large group, you idiots couldn't have made this any easier…" Daityas chuckled.
"What's Dait planning?" Maggie asked as she watched from the roof of the ruined castle.
"Dait wants to kill the little fire dragon, see?" Tobias said as he walked into the scene, a scar on his side from Hyde's previous attack. "After that, he wants to bring her to life again, so we can have a dangerous asset on our side…"
"Interesting…" Maggie replied.
"You're to blame for all of this…" Natsu said as his lightning flame aura appeared once again. He charged forward, rearing his fist back, and threw it towards Dait, and Gajeel moved in with assistance. Daityas easily blocked the hit by bringing up his forearm, grinning. "Wha…?"
"I didn't even feel that hit him…" Gajeel mumbled as he and Natsu jumped back.
"Kehehe…" Daityas chuckled, but before he went any farther, the clouds in the sky opened out, and five figures flew down above the castle, glaring down at the mages below. "Oh…"
"Who…?" Rylo blinked a few times.
"This is the place…" Layanna said as she used her real angel wings to fly in the air. A halo was above the angelic requip mage's head, signifying that she was still indeed, dead, to an extent.
"There you all are…" The general of the four angels said with a tone of distaste. "You filth are responsible for the darkness spreading over the land…."
"Whoa, what's going on here?!" Zalen asked.
"Oh…this should be fun to watch…" Daityas chuckled before sneaking his way back to the castle, though none of the angels noticed or cared if they did; they were only focused on the legal mages.
"The balance between light and darkness has teetered greatly, because of you!" Zihark, the second in command shouted.
"And that means it's time we set things straight, which means we must wipe out all traces of darkness in this land, and the next, so it won't spread!" Lucifer added, a grin on his face.
"We've been fighting DARK guilds though?!" Kairi shouted.
"Shut your trap!" The general, Sirius, ordered. "My four angels, it's time for the reset!"
"The reset?" Ultear was having a hard time understanding what was going on.
"You four, head to the biggest city, which is where we shall begin. I believe it's named Crocus. As for the rest of you…" The four angels nodded and flew off in the direction of Crocus; while this happened, The General held his arm out, and a large lance appeared in his hand, glowing with holy light. "It's judgment time for all of you!" The General then swung his lance forward, unleashing a rain of holy light on the mages below.