A small line of explosion shook a section of the city. The Pterobronic flew above Wendy, Cynthia, and Mason opening its mouth to unleash explosions spheres of magic upon the three, though it was just missing with every shot. "This is starting to get a little ridiculous!" Cynthia shouted, turning on her heel along with Wendy, the two dragon slayers standing side by side. "I'm done running around this place!"
"Right!" Wendy nodded, puffing her cheeks out. "I'll make the first strike! Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy threw her head forward, unleashing a spiral of high powered wind from her mouth towards the large bird-like creature. The Pterobronic brought its left wing up in front of his face, defending against the Sky Dragon's roar with ease. "G-Gah…It blocked it!"
"Well, now it's my turn!" Cynthia exclaimed, rushing forward with fire engulfing her fist. She lunged forward, pulling her fist back. "Iron Fist of the Omega Flame Dragon's Roar!" Cynthia was about to swing, but the Pterobronic swung its wing at Cynthia, knocking the small girl away. "Guh!" She grunted, flipping and catching herself on her feet just barely. "That hurt…"
"Watch out!" Mason said, pulling out a slingshot. He fired off the sling shot, a magic seal appearing in the shot's line of fire. The pellet traveled through the seal, turning into an iron ball. The pellet hit the Pterobronic in the forehead, causing its head to tilt back. "Ha! A direct hit!"
"Now for the follow up!" Wendy exclaimed, jumping into the air with her arms spread out. "Sky Dragon's Wing Slash!" She threw her arms forward, unleashing multiple whirlwinds towards the bird. But, the Pterobronic wasn't having any of it, and opened both wings, spinning around in such a way that it deflected the attack elsewhere into a few buildings. "N-No!"
"People are still inside there…!" Cynthia growled, clenching her fists as her flames turned a little darker. Though the buildings struck were empty, the fact that bystanders were in danger due to Jack's work angered her. "I'm gonna teach that kid a lesson…" She grumbled while fire flared around her mouth. "Roar of the Omega Flame Dragon!" She bellowed, unleashing a funnel of dark red flames towards the Pterobronic, landing a direct it on its chest. The birds let out a screech of pain, sliding back a few feet as a result. Cynthia stopped her roar as she needed to breathe, but she smirked at the large burn mark now on the bird's chest. "H-Heh!"
"Look out!" Wendy exclaimed, tackling Cynthia to the ground with haste. The Pterobronic slammed its tail onto the ground, causing a shockwave to rip through the ground.
"Wah!" Mason narrowly avoided the shockwave by hitting the ground. "This thing is insane…!"
"You okay?" Wendy asked.
"I'm fine…" Cynthia nodded with a smile.
"I'm fine too, yeah, thanks for asking…" Mason grumbled.
"This is a tough bird…" Cynthia grumbled, standing up on her feet with Wendy. "It's gonna take a heavy blow to fry this thing for good…"
I'm sure we can take it out if we attack together!" Wendy nodded. "A unison roar, just like before!"
"Ah, you're right!" Cynthia nodded.
"What are you two talking about…?" Mason asked while rubbing the back of his head.
"Just watch!" Cynthia exclaimed, puffing her cheeks out. "Roar…"
Wendy followed suit, her cheeks puffing out. "Roar…Of the Sky Dragon!"
"Of the Omega Flame Dragon!" Cynthia roared in time with Wendy, a spiral of Omega Flames and Sky merging together to form one roar, now rushing through the air towards the Pterobronic. The dual roar slammed into the chest of the monster, causing a loud cry of pain to escape its mouth before it exploded into nothing. "Whew…"
"We did it!" Wendy let out a sigh accompanied by a grin.
"Hm…" Cynthia looked up at the timer in the sky. 50 minutes remaining. "We have to get to Jack, quickly." She stated.
"You're right…" Wendy nodded. "Let's go together."
"Of course!" Cynthia grinned. "I guess we can't just leave you here, Mason, so you can come too," Cynthia said.
"You guess?" Mason tilted his head, giving the slightest of frowns.
"Oh, cheer up!" Cynthia replied with her grin still remaining. The three teenagers were about to cross a crossroads when multiple walls of Wicked Flames popped up, immediately separating the three. "GAH!?"
"Wicked Flames…!" Wendy gasped. "What's the meaning of this?!"
"A trap?" Mason asked.
"Grah…" Cynthia grunted, attempting to eat the flames, but even she was unable to do so." Great…we're all separated now."
"Then the only thing we can do is make it to Jack as quickly as we can!" Wendy exclaimed. "We'll meet up later, I'm sure of it!"
"Right…Stay safe, you two…" Cynthia said before splitting off with the other two, now making her way towards Jack's location as quickly as she could.
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"Hm…" Jack grunted as his visor beeped a few times. "What is it now?" He groaned to himself, not feeling the want to check but he had to anyway. The list of monsters he brought popped up, and the Pterobronic and the Fenrir's pictures became X'ed out. "No way. They actually managed to beat two of them…? Hrm…" Jack then decided to check his map once more, checking the various locations of the city. Some people were running through the city like Erza, Laxus, Natsu etc., while others were in battle. What surprised Jack was the arrival of Spade, Diamond, and Strong. "What?! What the hell are those three idiots doing here?!" Jack let out an annoyed sigh, crossing his arms. "You know, I don't even care…they're smart enough to get out of this situation if they have to, but that doesn't even explain why they're here in the first place…"
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Meanwhile, in Ace's secret base…
"Hm…" Ace was toying around with his computer, trying to look up something, but came up short. "Tch…nothing, still. Hm…I can't help but feel like something's off…but I'm sure they'd contact me right away if something was wrong."
"Your senses have dulled." Daigo appeared in the blink of an eye, causing Ace to turn around.
"Daigo!?" Ace's eyes widened and he immediately shifted into his Acid Armor, pointing his sword forward. "How the hell did you get in here!?"
Daigo held his hands up. "I have no quarrel with you, Ace. I'm here to deliver a message."
"...A message, huh? From who?" Ace lifted a brow.
"Heartless." Daigo said while adjusting his tie. "Ever since the battle in Era, Lady Heartless has been recovering. She's nearly reached a full recovery, however...she is not well enough to the point she could stop the coming spectacle."
"Stop beating around the bush already." Ace narrowed his eyes.
"Jack has made his move." Daigo said plainly. When he did, Ace's eyes were in shock. "The imprisonment of Tia has finally gotten to him. His rage will spill over Magnolia and leave it a burning wasteland as we speak."
"No! This is the worst outcome!" Ace was rushing to his teleporter, only to find that it wasn't working.
"Before you blame me for that...he's already sealed off the city with his Wicked Flames." Daigo said. "Strong, Diamond, and Spade went after him to try and stop him. I don't know if they'll make it in time. Which mostly means that his fate falls on Fairy Tail's hands."
"..." Ace clenched his hand into a fist. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have let Tia been arrested...but what choice did I have!? I should've been stronger. If I could've taken her and Jack with me...!"
Daigo folded his arms behind his back. "...Will you blame yourself if anything happens to Jack?"
"..." Ace looked away.
"...Then you best hurry. It's a long run from here." Daigo held a card out, and a heart shaped portal appeared. "Nobody wishes for harm to come to Jack. But when he's like this...there is little that can stop him. I too hope that his flames of rage are quelled, rather than snuffed out entirely." And then he stepped through the portal, allowing it to close behind him.
Ace was now alone with his thoughts, but he wasn't going to be standing around doing nothing. No, he had to hurry to Magnolia to try and stop Jack if he could. "If Tia loses Jack...no! I won't think like that. I'm not gonna let anything happen to him..."
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"Rah!" Gajeel grunted, swinging his Iron Dragon's Sword towards Spade. The lightning mage easily countered by swinging his red electric blade towards the iron sword. Red sparks flew off from the collision, and both jumped back. "He's not bad with a sword…" Gajeel smirked to himself, looking over his shoulder to see that Levy was already on the move with an attack.
"Solid Script: Fire!" Levy exclaimed while writing the word fire in the air. The words set ablaze then traveled towards Spade with the quickness.
"Gravity Slash!" Spade shouted, swinging his blue blade downward. An invisible wave of gravity traveled forward, slicing through the "FIRE" sent by Levy.
"Oh no…!" Levy gasped once Spade nullified her attack.
"Now it's my turn!" Spade grinned, multiple magic seals appearing before him. "Now, take this! Missile Barrage!" After he said this, a multitude of red and blue missiles shot out towards the duo.
"Tch!" Gajeel scoffed before morphing his left hand into an iron lance, a green magic seal appearing as he pointed it forward. "Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!" A barrage of iron lances shot out from Gajeel's lance, colliding with the missiles sent by Spade, explosions resulting in the process. A large smoke cloud formed from the explosions, causing Gajeel to cease fire until he could see Spade. "Can't seem 'em…"
"Me neither…" Levy commented, keeping her eyes on the smoke. "But still, keep your guard up…who knows what could happen…" After a few seconds, the smoke slowly started to clear, but the first thing the two saw were two missiles, both colliding with them for an electrical explosion. "Wah!"
"Gah!" Both Gajeel and Levy were blown back by the missiles, rolling across the street before coming to a stop, red and blue sparks dancing off of them. "Lucky shot…" Gajeel scowled, slowly bringing himself up after the hit.
"T-That didn't hurt…" Levy said to herself and she brought herself up, shaking her head. "We have to do this! Solid Script: Iron!" She wrote the words out, but nothing happened immediately after.
"Hm?" Spade raised a brow, expecting something like the fire from before, but there was nothing. "Really now? Is that the best you can…" Before he could finish, the words IRON dropped onto his head, quite painfully at that. "Grk!" Spade's eyes widened, standing there in a daze as the heavy words landed on him.
"Not bad, shrimp!" Gajeel grinned before punching his arm forward, morphing it into an Iron Pole. "Iron Dragon's Club!" The pole rushed towards Spade, striking the electric scientist right in the chest, causing him to tumble away by rolling across the ground. "Giheh!"
"Ugh…." Spade grunted as he finally came to a stop, picking himself up off the ground slowly, scowling towards both Gajeel and Levy, then glancing at the timer. "Hm…This is starting to get a little annoying. I don't have the time to waste playing with you two…"
"We can say the exact same thing, so get outta the way!" Gajeel shouted, taking a step forward.
"Sorry, but it is imperative I get to Jack before you can get near him," Spade replied, bringing up his electric blade once again. But this time something different happened; a blue magic seal appeared above both Gajeel and Levy, letting off a rather light rain.
"Eh…?" Gajeel blinked. He expected this rain to have some other sort of property, but it was just regular rain. "Rain?"
"Rain…?" Levy blinked a few times before her eyes widened immensely. She caught Spade's plot and just in the nick of time. "Gajeel, get down!" Levy then tackled Gajeel, just as Spade sent a red thunderbolt in their direction.
"Drat, I missed!" Spade groaned in annoyance.
"Water conducts electricity, and he just covered us with water!" Levy explained to Gajeel.
"Hm…" Gajeel nodded, standing up after. He couldn't deny that the maneuver was a smart one, but as if he was going to admit such a thing aloud. "This is starting to become rather tedious…we have to end this quickly…"
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"Swingin' for the fences!" Strong exclaimed while whipping his club towards Gildarts. Gildarts brought up his arm to defend against the swing, but the power behind it caused him to slide back a few feet, but he didn't take too much damage. "Resilient old man, aren't ya!?" Strong commented.
"I get that a lot." Gildarts merely replied before digging his hand into the ground. Once he got a good grip, he lifted up a large boulder the size of a house above his head. Without another word, he threw the large boulder towards Strong. While the boulder flew, he extended his hand, shooting out a white net of disassembly magic behind it. The net wrapped around the boulder and broke it apart into smaller, but still large chunks.
"Clever old fart…" Strong mumbled while gripping his club. He swung at what he could of the boulder chunks, but the other chunks struck him, causing him to stagger back a few steps, bruises appearing on his body. "Okay, that was cute…" Strong said while rotating his arm. "But now it's my turn…" Strong was ready to swing, but stopped. Why? El Rayo snuck behind him and gripped him for a suplex. "W-What?!"
"LUCHA!" El Rayo shouted, a magic seal appearing on Strong's head as El Rayo actually managed to suplex Club Strong. The magic seal was a part of El Rayo's Impact Magic, meaning the impact was much stronger than it would normally be. After the successful attack, El Rayo jumped back, pleased with his work.
"Ouch!" Strong grunted, rubbing his head after impact. "Did you just suplex me?"
"I did," El Rayo replied.
"I'm gonna need you to NOT do that again! I could feel my IQ drop from that impact!" Strong shouted, flailing his arm in an almost comical manner.
"Are you sure you had IQ that COULD drop?" Gildarts questioned, snickering to himself at his own little insult.
"I take offense to that!" Strong shouted, now beating his club onto the ground in a childish manner. The temper tantrum caused the ground to tremble violently, causing El Rayo and Gildarts to almost lose their footing.
"W-Whoa…!" El Rayo shouted, attempting to keep his balance but found that was slowly become less and less possible.
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"Here it comes!" Luke said while the Brutal began its head first charge towards him and Lucy. Luke's fist met with his palm as a cold wind surrounded him. "Okay, here we go! Ice Make: Freeze Lancer!" Luke then threw his arms forward, unleashing a large plethora of ice lances towards the charging bull. The Brutal, however, merely kept its charge, breaking through the lances and didn't even slow down. "Crap..!" Before the horns of the Brutal could reach Luke, he rolled hard to the side, letting out a sigh of relief after.
"Gate of the Maiden, I open thee! Virgo!" Lucy brought forth a sliver key, and from it her maid appeared, giving a bow.
"Is it punishment time, Princess?" Virgo asked.
"N-no!" Lucy shook her head as a comical sweat drop appeared on her forehead.
"You're spirits are very colorful…don't know if I've pointed that out…" Luke commented.
"Everyone comments on it…" Lucy let out a sigh before getting serious once again, pointing towards Brutal who was turning around from the charge at Luke. "Take care of that thing! Er…somehow!"
"As you wish…" Virgo nodded, taking a step forward while the Brutal began to charge towards her.
"What's she gonna do against that hulking mass of tough hide and horns?" Luke asked while getting ready in case things with awry.
"Allow me." Virgo said with a nod before transforming into her alternate form, the hulking mass of a hideous maid.
"OH GODS." Luke covered his eyes from the sight.
Virgo stuck her hands out, gripping the bull by the horns, stopping its charge completely. "I will not allow you to lay a single hand on Princess."
"It doesn't have hands!" Lucy commented, but appreciated the sentiment anyway.
Virgo then hurled Brutal towards the ground, causing it to land on its side. After that, Virgo returned to her normal form, giving a bow. "That form is highly exhausting…I haven't used it in ages. I'm returning home, now, Princess." And with that, Virgo returned to the Spirit World.
"WELL…" Luke coughed before turning his attention back to Brutal, who was slowly managing itself up. "Oh, no you don't!" Luke puffed his cheeks out, electricity sparking around him. "Lightning Dragon's Roar!" Luke then opened his mouth, unleashing a torrent of lightning towards the bull. It was a direct hit, and the bull cried out in pain before absorbing the electricity, causing Luke to stop. "Huh?"
"That doesn't look good…" Lucy pointed to Brutal's horns, which were sparking with light blue electricity. In the next second, the Brutal pointed its horns forward and unleashed a powerful burst of electricity towards the two landing a direct hit on them both. Both Lucy and Luke let out a shout of pain before hitting the ground roughly, groaning from the electricity. "Ngh…"
"Damn…" Luke winced in pain before bringing himself up to a knee, panting somewhat. "That really hurt…We better do something about this thing and fast…"
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Diamond threw a right hook towards Selene's face, but the diamond slayer managed to avoid the strike with a backflip, her cheeks puffing out in the process. "Diamond Dragon's Roar!" She exclaimed, unleashing a funnel of small, yet sharp diamonds in Diamond's direction.
"That won't work!" Diamond exclaimed, slamming her hands into the ground, causing a diamond wall to pop up in front of her, shielding her from the roar.
"You clearly don't remember who I am…" Selene said with a scowl, walking over to the diamond wall only to take a bite out of it. "And these diamonds are low quality…" She commented, sounding more like a food critic than anything else.
"Grrr!" Diamond growled. "How dare you have the nerve to speak to me like that!? I won't stand for it!" Diamond then pointed her hand forward, a green magic seal appearing on her palm. "Go away!" She shouted, unleashing a powerful burst of wind from the magic seal, the force strong enough to blow Selene away.
"Tch!" Selene bit her tongue to keep the shout of pain in. With a flip, she caught herself on the ground, a little disoriented from the attack, but that didn't keep her from noticing something. "You don't seem all that into this…" She said aloud, somewhat speculating on the matter, but she wanted to see how Diamond would react to the statement.
"Eh? What are you talking about?" Diamond asked, rushing towards Selene for close combat, throwing a combination of punches at kicks aimed for all over the opposing diamond user.
Selene covered her fist in diamond, meeting her opponent halfway. The two often clashed, though their blows managed to either miss or land somewhere. "You aren't trying as hard as you were back then! Why is that?" Selene asked once again, ducking an incoming punch to counter with a roundhouse kick to Diamond's stomach, causing the Dealer mage to stagger a step back.
"I'm just trying to get through you and get to Jack," Diamond replied with a serious expression.
"I'm trying to do the same thing," Selene responded, keeping her eyes trained on her opponent.
"You don't know what's going to happen…" Diamond started, then shook her head. "Wait, what am I telling you this for! I'm going to wipe the floor with you and your insignificant diamonds!"
"I don't need Sensei around to beat you, you know…" Selene replied while sliding into a stance.
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Jack's eyes wandered to the timer yet again. Only 20 minutes passed, and there was still no one near him. This pace wasn't fast enough, and he was quickly growing bored. "I'm bored…" He said to himself before getting an idea. Something to make things more interesting. He snapped his fingers, creating the lacrima screen above. Everyone and everything stopped, looking up at the screen. "Man, you guys are so boring!" Jack shouted, over exaggerating his expression to make his point. "Maybe I've given you a little too much time. 1 hour seemed like just enough, but I want things to speed up and I want them to speed up now. So…" The 40 minutes on the timer then cut down to 20 minutes. "20 minutes left! If you can't reach and beat me by then, consider this town history!"
"20 minutes!?" Mirajane's eyes widened. She tried to stand, but she was more or less drained from the hit she took earlier.
"NATSU! WE HAVE TO HURRY!" Happy shouted, arms flailing around in a panic.
"Grr…! You're not going to get away with this, Jack!" Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs while running down the streets.
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Natsu: "Only twenty minutes left?! That bastard! I won't let him get away with this!"
Gajeel: "Tch, we're still stuck dealing with these idiots who don't want to move!"
Wendy: "If only we could contact Ace, or someone!"
Erza: "Don't worry; I believe I've found the solution to that problem…"
Next time: The Race Against Time!