Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned something like that?
Beta Reader: volfwildman
Cover Art by KegiSpringfield
This chapter was meant to come out this morning. I don't know what happened but all I know is that I uploaded the chapter before I went off to work but apparently there was an error or something that caused it to fail. Didn't even know this until iiDarkReaperz left a review asking about it, thanks for that man. Just got home from work and about to try and upload this chapter.
(3rd Person Battle POV)
"Purgatory Armor"
The second Jellal had declared his intentions to hurt her brothers Erza reacted instantly. The Requip mage's entire body was surrounded by a bright light that swiftly faded to reveal the redhead now in a new set of armor.
An aura of power was expelled from the new black and bronze armor. It wasn't just the way the armor looked that caused this either, being full of black metal spikes, but due to the powerful magic that the armor held. This was Erza's most powerful armor for a reason. Power and defense were raised to insane levels and just being around the armor could cause weaker people to keel over. Along with the armor was a large spiked mace that looked like it could behead a person with just one swing.
With a shout Erza raced forward with the mace raised ready to strike as Natsu joined her, his fist already lit up with fire. Bishop paused for a moment to glance at his siblings but other than that he stood his ground as they rushed Jellal. And how did Jellal react to this?
He just grinned as he held out his hand.
"Dark Rondo"
A flicker of darkness appeared before Jellal's palm before dozens of ghastly faces made of dark magic exploded out of it as they rushed forward. Natsu stopped his running and jumped to the side to avoid the rush of darkness only for the faces to turn mid-air and slam into him anyway. Bishop did nothing as the spell quickly made its way towards him but when the first of the faces hit him they only went right through him as the illusion that had been Bishop's form faded. As for Erza?
The second the dark magic got near she swung her mace and obliterated the faces that had tried to assault her as she continued her rush. Several of the faces went around her and then swiftly u-turned into her back but the results were minimal as the armor took the spell with ease. It didn't take long after that for her to get within reach of her target and jump forward into an attack with her mace.
"Meteor"
Just as Erza's mace was descending downwards toward Jellal a golden aura burst out of him and he flew back from the weapon at high speeds. Just as the Requip mage landed back on her feet and before she could react Jellal flew to her side and rammed into her. The Fairy Queen grunt as she swung once more at her old friend only for him to once more fly away from the strike.
This was the one weakness of the Purgatory Armor. It offered a high raise in both attack and defense but did nothing for speed. This was usually not a problem for Erza who could react fast enough on her own to hit her opponents. Sadly though the speed that Jellal gained from Meteor was far too much for her normal reaction times.
The hit and dodge routine repeated two more times before Erza tried a different tactic. Just as Jellal was about to once more hit her the Requip mage slammed the mace into the ground. The result was an explosion of stone and dust as the ground gave way. Jellal found himself slamming into a large piece of stone before he could stop his flight. Once he did stop he was met with dust obscuring his vision on all sides as he turned back and forth trying to find his opponent.
In the end, it was Erza who found him.
Before Jellal could react the dust to his right departed as Erza appeared with her mace already in midswing. The shock of this lasted a second for Jellal but that was all the Requip mage needed as he brutal mace slammed into the Heavenly Body mage's side and sent him flying.
However, before he hit the ground Jellal was able to right himself in the air as he floated just above the ground that he had about to slam into while glaring at Erza. The hit from the mace hurt him more than he would like to admit even though his golden aura took a good bit of the blow for him. But just as the blue-haired man was about to launch himself into another assault on his old friend someone rushed him from behind.
"Fire Dragon's Claw"
Jellal turned his head just in time to see Natsu slamming his fire propelled foot into his side. Unfortunately for Natsu though, unlike Erza's mace, his attack was mostly eaten up by the golden aura. Before the Dragon Slayer could propel himself away the Heavenly Body mage quickly turned and grabbed him by his face.
The second after the grab Jellal flew down and slammed the back of Natsu's head into the floor. After this, he swiftly let go of the hurt Slayer and turned back towards Erza who was closing into him with her mace once more ready to strike. Said mace never found it's target as the blue-haired man flew up a bit and out of range of Erza's reach. Once up there he held out his hand once more as he prepared to use his Heavenly Body magic.
"Jiu Leixing"
Jellal's magic formed behind him as nine different swords were from out of lightning. With a single swing of his arm, the nine swords launched themselves towards Erza. Said woman was about to dodge out of the way before she realized that Natsu was recovering on the ground behind her. If she moved out of the way then the sword would hit her little brother and so she was forced to face them just as the Insane man planned.
But even forced to face the attack Erza wasn't going to just take it. As the swords closed in on her she swung her mace and slammed it into all of them in a show of expert mace handling. This little victory didn't last long though as magical lightning that made up the sword channel itself through the metal of the Requip mage's mace and into the mage herself. Even with her Purgatory Armor helping her she gasped out in pain from the electric assault on her body.
Jellal let out a cackle at the pain he saw on Erza's face as she foolishly defended the attack for her little brother. Sure Erza could keep up with Jellal but for as strong as Natsu was he was still an A-class mage against an S-class mage that was strong enough to be a part of the Wizard Saints. The Heavenly Body mage was sure that her Little Brother could do nothing but weigh Erza down in this fight. But in his arrogance, Jellal had forgotten something.
Erza had a Big Brother as well.
"Greater Illusion: Symphonia of Blades"
Before Jellal's eyes, several dozens of different style swords appeared all around him, each pouting right towards him. Not a second after they blinked into existence did the blades shoot forward and try to stab their target. The Blue-haired man cursed as he flew through the section that had the least amount of sword. His golden aura did nothing as the weapons passed right through him and he felt the illusion force him to feel the pain of several sharp points stabbing into him.
Even when he was out of the all-encircling mass of blades he still had to run. Several of the swords followed him as they moved in rhythmic patterns towards his body. As the Heavenly Body mage flew away from the dancing blades he tried looking for the culprit behind their appearance. This was proving to be difficult as all the weapons had spread out all over the top of the tower and as a result when Jellal dodge one he was forced to dodge another that was in that direction as well, his speed doing little with most of the air taken up by the mass of illusionary swords.
In the end, he didn't have much time to look as he found himself forced to fly out of the way of a very real sword that had been launched at him. Turning to look down Jella saw Erza glaring up at him with several real blades floating by her side, each ready to launch themselves at him. Beside her was Natsu with his fist lit up with fire once more as he prepared a spell.
"Fire Dragon's Raging Embers"
Natsu started throwing punches left and right as small fireballs erupted from his fist with each punch. Erza also started in her assault as she threw sword after sword at Jellal. Soon the entire sky was filled with fireballs along with both real and fake swords.
Jellal quickly found himself forced to play the game 'what hurts the less' as he flew through the air while he was assaulted. The sky was simply too full of things for him not to hit something. After a few seconds, he decided the fireballs were the things that did the least amount of damage to him so when forced to fly into something he would always choose the Dragon Slayer's attacks.
As this was happening Jellal didn't just simply dodge but was working up a spell of his own. It took longer than he would have liked as he was forced to put most of his focus on the mass assault but eventually he completed the spell. After taking a second to put himself in a spot where he wouldn't be hit for a few seconds he stopped and flung his arms out words in a t-pose.
"Sol"
The golden aura that surrounded Jellal rapidly expanded and exploded outward as it slammed to everything on the top of the tower. Erza was able to tank the attack, for the most part, thanks to her armor but Natsu was thrown backward from the spell. The small army worth of illusionary swords blinked out of existence as well. Soon the massive wave of gold disappeared and all that was left of it was the aura surrounding Jellal.
Said mage was swiftly looking around for the true target of his assault and after a few seconds found him. Near the edge of the top of the tower was a recovering Bishop who was slowly standing up from the attack. Jellal didn't give the Illusionist a second as he flew quickly towards that man and rammed into him.
Or at least Jellal tried to ram into him.
Instead of slamming into something Jella found himself flying straight through Bishop. The Insane man turns around just in time to see what he had thought was Bishop fading away. The Heavenly Body mage floated, confused as he thought for sure that he would get the real Gatekeeper. He was quickly snapped out of that confusion though when he heard a shout.
"Greater Illusion: Tempest of Lighting"
Lighting exploded out of nowhere as it went everywhere. Jellal shouts out in pain as he felt his nerves short circuit under the effects of the false lighting. The Illusion didn't last too long but the pain made it feel much longer for the Blue-haired man. Sadly for him the second that the spell ended he found himself face to face with an angry Erza.
Before he could react Jellal found himself once more on the receiving end of Erza's spiked mace as he was sent flying off the edge of the tower. It didn't take long for the Dark mage to catch himself though as he swiftly flew back up in anger.
Jellal had not expected this much trouble from the three Fairy Tail mages. He thought Erza would put up a good fight but ultimately fall while the other two would easily be taken down. While Natsu hadn't been much trouble for the Heavenly Body mage Bishop was another story. Jellal wasn't even sure that he'd been able to hit the Illusionist at all. So with anger clouding his judgment he flew back up to the top of the tower before pausing just as he saw Erza.
With an angry scowl, Jellal held out his palm once more. Darkness started to gather in his palm as it heavily contrasted the golden aura around the man. After three seconds the spell was ready for use.
"Dark Mass"
The sphere of darkness that had formed in Jellal's hand quickly started to expand. Once it was the size of a human it seemed to burst and separate into several dozen tentacle-like masses that launched themselves in Erza's direction.
Erza dodged some of the tentacles and promptly smashed her mace into the ones that had still found their mark. Two were able to dodge the mace and slam into her, but without the force of the dozen other tentacles, there was very little damage from the attacks. However, Jellal found himself distracted from his failure when he noticed that one of the tentacles that had gone off to the side hit something.
Bishop had been running around the top of the tower under Vanish for most of the fight. When Jellal had used Sol he had been hit but thanks to his Ring of Defense the damage wasn't too much. He had taken the opportunity to dismiss his swords and turn some of another magic from them into a new illusion. The illusionist had even gone as far as to create another fake him to lure Jellal in. Afterward, he had simply been keeping out of the way as he waited until his next opportunity to strike.
Sadly for Bishop though he had run amok of some bad luck. He had gotten closer to Erza after she had sent Jellal off the tower so when said man reappeared and sent a spell in Erza's direction the Illusionist had scrambled to get out of the way of the attack. But even with help from his Ring of Haste one of the tentacle-like masses was able to hit him with enough force to lose concentration.
Realizing the predicament, he was in Bishop quickly stood up and made to escape once more under the cover of his Vanish. But Jellal wasn't about to give the Illusionist an inch as he pointed his still held out hand towards him. The Heavenly Body mage's golden aura brightened as his magic pooled and his spell completed itself.
"Pleiades"
Six beams of light shoot out of Jellal's back before flying upwards. They didn't go up long before they turned back down and raced towards Bishop. Erza, who had been watching this, prepared for the attack before she realized that it wasn't meant for her as she shouted out a warning to her Big Brother.
Bishop swiftly turned to look at the quickly approaching beams as he poured Ring magic into his Ring of Haste. The first two beams he was able to get out of the way but the third caused him to misstep to get out of the way. With little choice, the Illusionist threw himself to dodge the four but left himself open to the last two. Unable to activate his Ring of Defense in time the man was forced to power through the full force of the two beams of powerful magic.
Jellal let out a laugh at finally getting a confirmed hit on the Illusionist. Said laugh didn't last long as he was forced to dodge a thrown sword from Erza. The blue-haired man frowned for a second before grinning once more and rushing Erza with his Meteor. The Requip mage prepared for the ram but at the last second Jellal simply went around her and zoned into his true target.
Bishop had once more gotten up. Despite only two of the beams hitting him, it felt like he'd been run over by a car. He could already feel the bruises forming as he stood. It was only a second after he stood that the Illusionist noticed the approaching Jellal and silently cursed as he poured magic into his Ring of Defense as he was rammed into.
Even with his magical ring Bishop found himself being flung across the tower from Jellal slamming into him. After quickly gaining his bearings he noticed Jellal was once more floating up in the air as he had both arms stretched out towards the Gatekeeper. Not liking the look of what his opponent was doing Bishop prepared to move has the Heavenly Body mage cast another spell.
"Grand Chariot"
Bishop was confused for a second as nothing was shot out from Jellal. Said confusion didn't last long though when he noticed something in the sky. Looking up the Fairy Tail mage saw seven beams of light rocketing down from the sky towards him. The Illusionist jumped back from the attack but noticed that none of the beams were heading towards him, just the area around him.
As each of the beams hit the floor Bishop kept up his guard even in his confusion. Said confusion didn't last when he noticed that the spots where the beams had hit burst out in a blinding light as a line of magic connected each of the spots. Before the Gatekeeper could react the weird connected series of lights brightened for a second before exploding.
Bishop let out a shout of pain as he was caught in the explosion and fell into the new hole in the ceiling that the spell had created. Erza and Natsu let out shouts of alarm at their disappearing brother. They couldn't do anything to help though as Jellal was once more attacking Erza after taking one of his opponents out of the battle.
Natsu, who had up until now been hanging back from a battle he was quickly discovering was out of his league, growled at the Jellal. With rage blinding his thoughts he rushed forwards to help his Big Sister.
All of them soon forgot about the fallen Bishop.
(Bishop's POV)
I couldn't help the groan of pain that escaped my lips as I sat up. I had luckily at the last second been able to use my Ring Magic on my Ring of Defense to tough through most of the damage from the explosion. But with how powerful the spell was I still took a good bit of damage. I knew from my research that the Heavenly Body magic was powerful Lost magic but I had underestimated just how powerful.
It didn't help that unlike most of my opponents Jellal knew better than to give me a chance to act. Cana had once said that the way I fought could be described in one sentence. 'If someone gives you an inch Bish, you take a goddamn mile.' Even I couldn't refute the truth of what she said.
After a few seconds, I stood up and examined the room I was in. It didn't take long to realize I was in a throne room, the big throne was a dead give away for that. Just in front of the throne, I saw a viewing lacrima that I assumed Jellal used to view things throughout the tower. I was just about to try and find my way back up when I noticed another lacrima next to the throne, a controller lacrima.
My eyes narrowed a bit as I stepped forwards to examine the orb to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough, I saw a view of the Tower of Heaven from up above. It didn't take much guesswork to find out that this was the lacrima that controls the Etherion. After a moment of hesitation, I put my right hand onto the orb.
I was somewhat overwhelmed by the sensations running through my mind as I took in the full scale of the magic nuke. I noticed that most of the controls were locked and could not be used but I also noticed some kind of auto unlocking magical program in the lacrimal that seemed to be unlocking all the different walls of security that was built into the thing. As much as I hated to say this I was impressed by how much progress the program had made in such a short amount of time.
I felt my eyebrows raise when I noticed that the magic connections between the lacrima and the Etherion was unlocked. I could tell that if prompted I could start drawing magic from the Etherion to use. Instantly all kinds of ideas formed in my head I took in the full scoop of just how much magic was in the weapon. But most were forgotten as one idea popped into my head and stayed.
While working on my Greater Illusion I had also been working on other types of Illusion that I thought I could make. Most didn't work as I wanted and were abandoned or absorbed into my Greater Illusions but one particular type of illusion showed a large amount of promise but I found myself stumped on it after a while. It wasn't until the fight with Mammon though that I started making progress once more with the knowledge of how to bend the Inbuilt Rules of magic.
In the end, though I found that while I theoretically had the control needed to magic this new illusion I surprisingly didn't have enough magic. I, someone with around ten times that amount of magic that a normal mage had, didn't have enough magic for a spell even with the Bond between me and my magic reducing that amount. It was rather shocking, to say the least, and showed me just how powerful this type of illusion was to need that much.
With that roadblock, I had tried to determine just how much magic. In the end, I found that I couldn't really determine just how much I needed to cast the illusion. So with a sigh, I had just joked about needing enough magic to… power the Ehterion.
And now I had that amount of magic in my hands.
Instantly the logical part of my mind argued against trying the illusion. I had never been able to test it without the right amount of magic. I didn't know the drawback or anything like that. When I had first started using my Greater Illusions I had problems with the strain of the spell and had to practice before I could bear it without much problem. After a few more seconds of thought, I decided to put the lacrima back and head back into the fight.
I paused when I heard Natsu let out a horrid yell of pain from above.
My eyes snapped up towards the hole I had fallen from as I felt anger start to build in me. I still wasn't quite used to the emotion but I found myself welcoming it as I imagined just what that Blue-haired bastard was doing to my sibling up there. After a moment my eyes snapped back to the Etherion lacrima still in my hands.
The logical part of me still yelled at me that it was a bad idea but I found myself not caring.
(3rd Person Battle POV)
"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn"
Natsu's entire body was engulfed in flames as it rocketed towards Jellal. Said man just grinned and stopped his assault on Erza to meet the charge head-on as both of them rammed into each other. The Heavenly Body mage was surprised when his opponent didn't instantly get knocked back from the ram and even started to push him back. The flames of the Slayer we're even starting to burn him.
Upon seeing the Dragon Slayer put up a good fight in his rage Jellal knew instantly that this was a problem he needed to nip in the bud now. The Blue-haired man stopped holding back and pushed on in full force and sent Natsu tumbling back as he instantly lost the struggle. With that done Jellal paused as he held out his hand and prepared a spell.
"Clear Heart Clothing"
Jellal's eyes widened as his head whipped around to see a swiftly incoming Erza. Said Requip mage now had a new enchanted piece of clothing on. It consisted of some simple red pants along with a large amount of bandage wrapping around the woman's bust. Instead of a massive spiked mace, she now had a katana.
This clothing was like the Purgatory armor in that it maximized attack but unlike the scary-looking armor, it offered no boost to defense but rather a massive increase in speed. Fast enough that Jellal couldn't react in time and felt the sword slam into him. Luckily enough for the Heavenly Body mage, his golden aura blunted the sharp weapon but could not do much for the massive amount of power behind the strike.
This time Jellal did start tumbling along the ground as his golden aura vanished from his loss of concentration. Despite this, the Dark mage didn't take long to get up as he turned back towards Erza who was now guarding a recovering Natsu. Despite the hit, Jellal kept his cool as he spoke, "I've never seen this armor Erza. Did you have it saved for a rainy day?"
Erza glared at her old friend as he spoke, anger swelling with each word even if they held no value to her. Said anger was swallowed as she spoke, "No Jellal. I've had this outfit for a few years. Just never felt comfortable enough to use it since it's not technically armor."
"Oh?" Said Jellal as he gave Erza a small mocking smile, "I'm honored to know that you feel comfortable enough to wear it around me. Glad to know you value our friendship so much."
Erza's glare intensified at Jellal's words as she practically spits out her next words. "You are no friend of mine anymore you Bastard! I don't know what happened that day but the Jellal I knew is dead. You're just wearing his body!"
Jellal actually looked and felt offended by her words. It was one thing to say that he had turned evil or something but to say that he wasn't himself? That got under Jellal's skin more than he would like to admit. The man's smile gained more of an edge to it as he spoke, "That so? At least I'm not an idiot that gave her opponent time to prepare."
"Darkness Cage"
With an upward swing of Jellal's hand tentacles of dark magic erupted from the ground around Erza. With little warning, Erza wasn't able to react in time and soon found herself trapped in a sphere of powerful dark magic. The Requip mage gritted her teeth in pain as she tried and failed to escape her prison.
"Erza!" Shouted Natsu who had just gotten up.
With a snarl of rage, the Dragon Slayer turns towards Jellal. Natsu took a deep breath as he poured magic into his lungs and prepared for his signature spell.
"Fire Dragon's Roar"
From Natsu's mouth poured out a mass of fire magic. The torrent of flames swiftly made its way over to its target who in response simply held his palm out to the sky. Gravity seemed to shift around Jellal as the space around him started to twist into a center point above his hand.
"Altairis"
The raging flames that were about to hit their target shifted at the last minute and started to flow upwards. Natsu watched in horror as one of his most powerful attacks and bits of debris were sucked up into a quickly forming black orb on top of Jellal's palm. It soon grew to be almost as large as a person before it stopped sucking everything in.
Jellal grinned at the look of fear on Natsu's face and the look of despair on Erza's. This spell was more than enough to kill the Dragon Slayer twice over. With a wicked expression on his face, the Insane man made to throw the mini black hole.
Only to stop when he felt a massive wave of magic hit his senses.
Jellal along with Erza and Natsu turned to look right at the stairs that lead up to the top of the tower and found the source of the magic. Bishop stood there as the space around him seemed to be blurring and shifting. A massive amount of magic could be felt coming from him as the Illusionist crafted his illusion. Jellal looked on in confusion that soon turned to pure fear when he saw the Etherion lacrima in the Gatekeeper's left hand.
Instantly Jellal turned to throw his spell at his opponent but just before he could he felt something slam into his mind. Most illusions that targeted another's mind tried to slither its way in quietly but this was like a tidal wave slamming into a cardboard wall. Jella's mental defense crumbled under the massive power and weight of the illusion that was hitting as before the man's eyes the world around him blurred and changed as Bishop finished his spell.
"Life's Illusion: Worl-"
And just as suddenly as it appeared the pressure on Jellal's mind vanished. Confusion entered everyone's minds as they wondered what had happened. But said confusion turned to horror for Natsu and Erza as they looked at Bishop.
A horrific pained expression on his face.
And blood pouring out of everywhere.
AN: I had planned to have the entire fight take up one chapter but I kept adding things that either I thought of or something that a reviewer mentioned and ended up having more content to write than I realized. Speaking of that It was thanks to a review that I realized I had a chance to give a small sneak peek at what I planned for Bishop's 'nuke' option will be. As for what 'Life's Illusion' type of magic does I'm afraid that I'm keeping it under lock and key until Bishop is able to successfully cast it which is a good bit away from now. That said I hope I gave enough hints for some people to figure it out, not like it's that original in all honesty.
Volfwildman still couldn't actually Beta this chapter as still hasn't gotten a new laptop. This weekly shout-out goes to Strongraider101 for his amazing review and for pointing out that Bishop could try and use the Etherion lacrima for something. Once that idea got into my head I knew I just had to implement it in the story.
I'm am really tempted right now to start casually writing a Final Fantasy 10 story right now. About a week ago I was looking through my old stuff and found the ps2 version of the game and was flooded with nostalgia. After buying the remaster of it I've been playing it off and on this week while I wasn't writing or working. I have no plans to write any other story besides Life's Illusion but I feel like it would be nice to once in a while write a bit for a different story for fun and without a deadline, just uploading when I feel like it. Leave a review and tell me how you feel about this... and while you at it you might as well review this chapter.
Have a great day.
P a treon . com (slash) BETAsatchel