Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Chapter Thirteen: Jura Vs. Wrath

Road outside Magnolia

The Wizard Saint Jura stared down his opponent. He'd been told by Makarov through his messages of what the Seven Deadly Sins looked like but even he had to admit that this being was a spectacle to behold.

Wrath stood over the fallen Ichiya, a hulking brute. He looked every bit the demon that Makarov warned him about. Though his eyes were hooded, Jura could see glowing red eyes peeking through the darkness, ash white hair spilling down his shoulders, heavily contrasting against the black armor he wore.

"Step away from Ichiya-dono," Jura demanded.

"Fine," Wrath grunted as he moved away from the defeated Blue Pegasus member. "He was weak anyway. They were all weak," he spat as he held his broadsword, blood dripping the edge. "Fifty years in slumber and I find myself in a world of weaklings."

Jura's brow furrowed. If he had any hair on his head it would've stood up on end from the dark vibes that the demon was putting off. He slowly started to walk sideways, the two combatants circling each other. Both of them stared intently at their opponent, each daring the other to make the first move. "You'll find your overconfidence to be your undoing," Jura replied harshly.

"Funny. That's exactly what the master of Quatro Cerberus said…before I choked the life out of him," Wrath taunted. "First those Fairy Tail cretins, then the Cerberus whelps and now these Pegasus reprobates," he gestured to Ichiya's fallen team. "I've yet to find someone capable of giving me a worthy fight. But," his burning eyes at Jura's imposing figure. "Perhaps you might be good for a warmup."

Jura stopped sidestepping and took a fighting stance, readying his strength. "We shall see who is the warmup, demon!" he defiantly said. "I am Jura, of Lamia Scale and I will not fall to the likes of you."

Wrath tilted his head back as he appraised Jura. Though Jura couldn't see his face, he could've sworn the demon was giving him an acknowledging look. "I am Wrath. And you," he held his sword in both hands and took a stance. "shall know the pain of my sword, Crimson Tide."

For a moment, the whole world stood still as the combatants faced off, neither moving a inch. Jura flexed his muscles as he prepared his Earth Magic, tensing up like a predator ready to pounce.

A second felt like an eternity and yet when that second ended the whole earth seemed to shake as Wrath made the first move. With speed that contrasted his heavy form, the massive demon lunged forward, his sword held high while he moved, ready to cut the Wizard Saint in half with one fell swing. Jura moved away at the last second, his reflexes sparing him the fate of bifurcation and he skidded backward. The area that the sword touch exploded, debris raining in all directions from the mighty blow. Holding up a hand, he gathered his strength and assailed the demon with earth. "Hrmph!"

The ground beneath Wrath opened up, pillars of earth shooting up around the demon in its wake and forming spears, shooting at Wrath to perforate him. With a single armored hand, Wrath smashed a spear with his fist, jumping out of reach of the others through the window he created. Jura braced himself as the black demon rocketed towards him, the tip of his sword pointed right at his head. Wrath buried his sword in the ground, making the area explode all around him from the force of the blow. The flying debris obscured Jura's vision and he only had but the briefest of moments to see Wrath's next attack coming, summoning a pillar of earth to block the attack.

'Such speed!' Jura noted as he dodged the sword by a hair. 'He is no mere demon. He fights not like a Wizard but like a warrior.' He held up another hand and summoned a barrage of boulders from the earth. Wrath cursed as he was bombarded by Jura's attacks. He kept his arms up and let his armor protect him from the worst of the attacks. Jura pressed his attack by calling back the boulders. "Try and slash this!"

"Guh!" Wrath cursed as he became buried in an avalanche of boulders, the rocks coming at him too fast for him to block. Soon he became entombed in the rubble.

Jura borught his hands together, ready to finish off the demon once and for all. "Supreme King Rock-"

Boom!

Out of the rubble erupted red spears. Jura summoned a rock wall to block them. He first thought that it was enough to protect him but he saw cracks form from his side of the wall and immediately jumped out of the way before the spears broke through. He turned and saw Wrath's hulking figure in the middle of the large crater that emerged from the geyser of spears. 'No…not spears…' he noted as he took another look. 'Blood.' It made sense to Jura. A demon of Wrath who used a sword that constantly emitted blood from it would almost certainly hold power over it. 'This will not be so easy.'

Wrath himself was thinking the same thing. He looked down at his black armor and saw the dents in it, knowing that he was in for a real fight this time. He swung his sword in a wide arc, sending a wave of red blood into the air. "Sanguniem pluviis."

The blood turned into a wave of red spears and rained down on Jura's head. The Wizard Saint held up his hands and summoned rock walls to protect him from the barrage. He saw the demon speed towards him and clenched his teeth. He made a fist and puched the air. "Rock Fist!"

The fallen boulders all came alive again to form a giant rock fist and launched towards Wrath. The demon scowled behind his cowl and swung his sword, destroying the fist. Jura took the opportunity to get out from behind his shelter to flank the demon. "Take this!" he shouted, creating a massive rock fist above demon. "Raaaaah!" He brought his hand down and smashed the giant fist into Wrath. Jura panted as he struggled to get his breath. "So fast and so strong. I haven't faced an opponent so strong since Laxus-dono. In fact…"

The ground beneath Jura's feet rumbled, giving him no warning before a geyser of burning hot blood erupted beneath his feet, catapaulting him into the air. Another rumbling sound came from the rock fist and out shot Wrath, shooting towards Jura.

Even off the ground, Jura was no weakling. He held out his hand and summoned a pillar of earth, landing on it. He then used a new trick, covering his arms in rock and hardening it to its limt. He jumped off the pillar and met Wrath head on. Jura's protection kept his arm from being cut in to when he blocked the strike with his arm. The Wizard then aimed his next attack at Wrath's face, only for the demon to grab it before the strike could reach him. "You're quite good," Wrath noted.

"As are you," Jura replied. "Such a shame one as strong as you is corrupted to the core."

"Corrupted?" Wrath barked. "I was always filled with rage from the start. I merely embraced it. Like this!"

Letting go of his sword and letting the heavy weapon fall to the ground, Wrath balled his fist and socked Jura in the chest. The man coughed blood as he felt ribs crack. Steeling himself, he returned the punch with one of his own, this time his attack hitting Wrath right in the face.

Gravity decided to remember it was there and the two men fell to the earth. Landing on his feet, Jura knew he couldn't let Wrath return to his sword. "I'm ending this, here and now!" he declared. He had no idea how much longer he could keep this up and had to end the fight before exhaustion took its toll. Putting his hands together, he summoned a whole hoard of rock fists. "Rahhhh!"

Wrath's burning red eyes started to smolder as the demon concentrated his power. He held up his hand and Crimson Tide shot up and sped towards its master, much to Jura's shock and horror. Griping his bloody blade, he stabbed his blade into the ground. "Mare Rubrum."

In front of Wrath erupted red blood, creating a huge wave. The rock fists came into contact with the wall of blood but melted as soon as it touched it, the blood as hot as magma.

Jura's eyes widened as the wave of blood neared him. He could dodge it but…"Ichiya-dono!" He realized that if he didn't do something, the Blue Pegasus members would be killed. With all the speed his body had left he barreled towards the fallen Wizards.

Wrath watched as his foe disappeared in the wake of his attack. This time it was he who was panting and fighting to get a second wind. He had to admit, this was the most entertaining fight he had since waking up. "Starnge, I though him capable of avoiding such a slow attack. Hmm?"

He saw a huge barrier in the distance. When the wall crumbled to pieces, it revealed a panting Jura, his bald forehead shining from the sweat beading off of it. If only that was the reason for his struggle for breath…

"Pathetic," Wrath spat when he saw Jura's burned arms. "You could have saved yourself, yet you foolishly put yourself on the line for those beneath you."

Jura's brow furrowed in anger. "There is no such thing as weaker or stronger. The only difference between us is conviction." He ignored his burned arms and brought his hands together. "For the sake of my friends, I will destroy you." Focusing all of his power, he launched his final attack at the demon.

"Rumbling Mt. Fuji!"

The demon was caught off guard and caught in the eruption of power. "Grahhhhhhh!" His black visage disappeared in the midst of the torrent of power that shot up out of the ground like a volcano.

Seeing the demon disappear, Jura dropped to his knees, fighting to breath. He'd forced away the pain of his burned arms by sheer force of will but the exhaustion brought it back. He looked up and saw no sign of Wrath emerge from the crater that replaced him and breathed a sigh of relief. "It's over," he panted. He turned to the wounded member of Blue Pegasus. "I must see to Ichiya-dono and the others. Wendy-dono of Fairy Tail and Chelia should be able to-"

Jura stopped in his tracks when he felt the ground rumble.

"It's over? Oh I agree."

Whirling around, Jura gaped when he saw Wrath emerged from the crater, his black armor smoldering. Clutching his bleeding sword, Wrath grinned beneath his cowl. "It's time to end this…"

"How?" Jura gasped, putting up a defensive stance. "How can you still be alive?"

"A man can survive anything if he's stubborn enough," Wrath replied. "Or to be it more bluntly: rage is a hell of an anesthetic." He held up an arm and smiled. "Since you've gotten so serious, I suppose I should as well…"

Jura gasped when he noticed something about Wrath's arm. In the wake of his last attack, a piece of black armor had been blasted away, revealing the skin beneath. "Impossible!"

The air shuddered as fire erupted from Wrath's eyes. "As a reward for giving me a good workout, I'll show you my true form!"

Later…
Fairy Tail Guildhall

Lyon paced back and forth, the worry plain on his face. "Lyon, calm down," Gray told his friend. "Jura's fine. I mean, it's Jura we're talking about."

The white-haired man stopped and sighed. He knew that his friend was right but he couldn't fight the feeling that something was wrong. "He should be here by now. Both him and the Blue Pegasus group should be here. The fact that he hasn't…"

Behind him sat his teammates, Sherry and Chelia. Both of them looked as worried as Lyon was.

Sitting in his usual spot, Makarov took a long puff of his pipe, the look on his face grim. "We have to assume the worst. Jura's a levelheaded man. If he thought that Ichiya and the others were in danger, then he most undoubtedly would have found trouble."

Laxus scowled. "Yeah but this is Jura we're talking about. He's practically a one-man army. Take it from someone who's traded fists with the guy."

Lyon sighed and nodded "I suppose you're-"

"HELP!"

Every head in the guild turned to see four men shamble into the room. Erza gasped when she saw the state the group was in. "Ichiya!"

The members of Blue Pegasus could barely stand. Ren shouldered his friend Eve, bleeding from the wound Wrath gave him. "Please…help Master Ichiya and Jura!" the man pleaded.

"REN!" Sherry screamed, running to her husband's side. "Chelia! Wendy! Come quick!"

Lyon and Chelia ran to them, but their most pressing concern lay with the man that Ichiya was carrying. "JURA!"

The man was barely breathing. Covered in blood, most of it his own, Jura's eyes flickered open, the briefest indicator that he was still alive. "What happened?" Lyon demanded. "Who did this?!"

"Wrath," Ichiya wheezed. Setting Jura down, his muscular body wilted away to his normal form. "It was the demon Wrath. We were no match for him. Jura saved us but even he fell."

Natsu's team was stunned. They felt after taking down Envy and Lust that separately the demons could be taken down. But to see Jura, one of the strongest Wizards in the continent, reduced to clinging to every breath as if it was his last, was shocking. Erza processed the situation before she realized something critical.

"Wait a minute…where's Hibiki?!"

To be continued