Nirvana was pointed towards Seven's Castle. By King's command, Spade was to fire upon it to test something. Either Seven as a nation would fall today, or the Queen knew what was most important. Queen Vena stood at the roof of Seven's Castle, taking note of the beam of light shimmering in the distance. She had a hand placed on the hilt of her sword. "Alright, King. I'll play your game." She waited for a few seconds, and she felt the rumble of Nirvana in the distance as it fired outward. A widespread beam of destruction shot forward through the sky, aiming directly towards Seven's Castle!
Vena only had one choice. This was precisely why she stayed at the Castle, in case something like this happened. She bent her knees and propelled herself forward. She planned to meet the beam halfway! But despite her impressive physical ability, she wouldn't make it on her own. That's why, halfway through her leap, she made use of her Summoning Magic, summoning a gigantic minotaur by her side. "Thank you for your assistance!" She said to her summon, using its strength to propel herself forward at an even faster rate! The beam from Nirvana was rapidly approaching now, and she unsheathed her sword, a violet aura wavering around the blade. "Form 4: Scattering Petals!" She swung her sword a few times, only to clash with the beam in the air. It was a fierce struggle as the people of Seven watched their Queen fight to protect them.
"Queen Vena!"
"Hold fast!"
"You can do it!"
Vena could barely hear her people cheering her from down below, but she could feel it. This was her duty as Queen and she would see it through. The beam of Nirvana split apart from the point of impact, scattering in separate directions due to Vena's technique. Still, the beam was incredibly powerful. Vena was capable of withstanding it for a time, before it exploded onto her. She took the brunt of the impact and started to fall from the sky, half of her body taking the most of it. She was met with a soft landing, as the minotaur she summoned caught her, and the people began to cheer.
"Queen Vena did it!"
"Is she okay!?"
"Hah...I'm fine..." Vena said with a pained smirk. "I did promise that no harm would come to you all, did I not? I intend to keep that promise for as long as possible." She then looked up at the sky, knowing the wizards from Fiore were likely engaging King as they spoke. It was strange...she was putting her faith in a bunch of people she'd never even met before. Yet, she felt confident in their chances of victory. Besides, she still had hope that Seven's own will would manifest against King in some way... "Well, Fiore...it's time to show the world what you're really capable of..."
.
.
"Nirvana has been confirmed fired at Seven's Castle." Heartless reported.
"And the results?" King questioned.
"The castle still stands. It appears that Queen Vena put herself on the line to deflect the beam." Heartless said.
"HOHOHOHOHO!" King had a good laugh about that one. "Just as I expected! She knew her place and stayed still like a good girl. She knew better than to try and defy me. This is only just the beginning!"
"She's quite strong, would you not agree?" Heartless looked to King. "If she had approached us, I wonder..."
"You have no need to wonder about anything. As long as Joker is present, the strength of any individual matters not." King stated confidently. "The rulers of these nations may be powerful, but Joker is stronger still. All that remains now, is to clean up the trash loitering about in our base."
.
.
{Time before Nirvana Fires: 10 minutes}
Boom! A large explosion shook the south eastern leg of Nirvana. Kairi and Ceaser flew back, skidding across the floor on their feet. "Damn it!" Kairi shouted, wincing in pain from her injuries. A smoke cloud filled the center of the room, and when it dispersed it just showed Mirajane standing tall, one hand her hip with a sadistic smile.
"What's the matter…~?" Mirajane spoke out in a condescendingly sweet manner. "Is this all the Angel and Egyptian takeover mages have to offer?"
"I'm getting sick of this shorty's attitude!" Ceaser shouted while lunging forward, the large blade in his hand reared back. "Stop messing around!" He exclaimed before swinging his blade down at Mira's head, but she caught the blade before it hit in her hand, her smile only widening. "Stop messing around, you say? Very well~" She obviously twisted the meaning Ceaser had behind her words. The demon placed quickly reared her hand back, electricity flowing. Before Ceaser had the chance to react and draw back his sword, she swung a devastating haymaker towards the mage's chest, sending him flying back into the nearest wall. "You asked." Then she looked to her side, noticing a ring of light magic around her. "Wha…?"
"Angel's Halo!" Kairi exclaimed, moving her fists together to have the ring suddenly constrict Mirajane. "There we go! Now then, snap out of this already! We don't have time to be fighting like this!" The angel pleaded, but her words didn't seem to get through Mirajane's ears. Instead, Mirajane was more focused on breaking out of the Angel's Halo, which she was just about to do. "Tch!" Kairi spread her hands apart, causing the Angel's Halo to explode in a brilliant bright light. Mirajane was sent flying back, but she recovered with a flip, wings spread out. She approached Kairi at a high velocity, slamming her knee into the mage's gut. Kairi's eyes widened and she was thrown back into a wall, Mirajane's heel now pressing against her chest.
"How befitting of an angel…" Mirajane spat venom at Kairi, pressing her heel even harder against the pinned female's chest, looking like she was ready to impale slowly if given the chance. "Under the heel of a demon."
"Yah!" Ceaser charged forward once again, aiming his sword at the back of Mirajane's head, but she backhanded the blade away, swinging around to roundhouse Ceaser's head. It was a direct hit, and Ceaser was sent flying backwards until he hit the ground harshly on his back.
"Uhn…This is going to be much less entertaining than I thought if things continue like this…" Mirajane said with a slight shrug. "Oh well, not everything can be fun."
.
.
"I wonder what that shaking was earlier…" Rylo said while adjusting his top hat.
"It shouldn't matter too much," Evanee replied while keeping her head forward, staring at the apparatus before them. "We don't have all that much time left so let's get to destroying this thing. Everyone should be at their positions by now."
"Oh, I'm so sorry…" Spade said while walking into the room from another entrance.
"I didn't know a little lost dog would show up here." Evanee spat towards Spade, though there was a slight smirk on her face. "If you're as smart as we've been told, you should know there's no chance that you'd even get past Rylo."
"Are you saying you're gonna leave all the heavy lifting to me…?" Rylo asked with a slight chuckle. "Either way, it's in your best interest for you to stay out of our way on this one, Spade Magnes. We've got everyone ready, there's no way you or that Minerva chick can stop us in time."
"You think I'm worried about that?" Spade let out a chuckle. His reaction clearly confused Evanee and Rylo. "Oh, I can see you two are a little in the dark about this entire thing. Allow me to enlighten you." He then snapped his fingers, showing the lacrima screen of Mirajane vs. Ceaser and Kairi. "See that?"
"What the hell is that Fairy doing!?" Evanee grit her teeth in annoyance. "She's on our side! I didn't think someone so annoyingly sweet would be this incompetent…"
"She's turning on us…!?" Rylo asked.
"Not willingly, obviously," Spade replied with another chuckle. "It seems you're in the dark about Nirvana's other powers. It's simple, really. This magical behemoth has the power to warm the personalities of mages, completely turning them around!"
"So that shockwave earlier was that process?" Evanee asked herself before coming to a conclusion. "What about that noise earlier as well? You shot the cannon, didn't you?"
"Heh, I did." Spade nodded.
"Who was the target?" Evanee narrowed her eyes.
"You wish to know?" Spade slowly walked around the open room. "Fine, I can tell you. I took aim at Seven's Castle! King thought the Queen would pose some sort of issue, or he simply wanted to tell her to stay put. Based on the result, she was good and stayed right at home."
"It doesn't seem like your leader to focus on what's not in front of him," Rylo commented.
"In truth, King has much more foresight about this than you'd think!" Spade shot back. Besides...he didn't want to admit this aloud, but his only role in this grand operation was just to follow orders. He really didn't have much of a choice in that regard.
Growing bored of this conversation, Evanee spoke up, cutting straight to the chase. "Alright, that's enough of trying to stall us."
"Huh?" Rylo looked towards Evanee with a confused look.
"He's stalling us, Rylo," Evanee replied while keeping her eyes on Spade. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Oh my, you're smart. Not as smart as I, but with a little work you could get there!" Spade taunted, not phased that the Twilight Zone ace saw through his ruse. "It doesn't matter what you do, there's only about 10 minutes until Nirvana fires!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Evanee responded to Spade with a sinister grin curling onto her lips. "The least we can do is take out one of Dealer's lackeys. The effect shouldn't last long, especially if we take out the one who issued it, correct?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Spade shouted while entering a stance. He had a determined look about him, much different than all of his usual expressions. "You're not going to take me down now. I can't allow it!"
.
.
"Chelia-san, please calm down!" Melanie pleaded while running for her life. Chelia too was affected by the pulse Nirvana let out earlier, which in term brought up her dark side that came from the Black God Slayer magic within her body. Sadly, Chelia was beyond talking at this point like Mirajane.
"Sky God's Boreas!" Chelia exclaimed while rearing her hand back, gathering a large accumulation of black wind. She then threw her hand forward, unleashing the mass into a sharp spiral that raced towards Melanie.
"I don't want to fight you! We're on the same side, right!?" She said once again before turning on her heel, cheeks puffing out. "Water Dragon's Roar!" She quickly exclaimed, unleashing a high pressured beam of water from her mouth. The roar clashed with the Boreas, resulting in a small explosion. Melanie used the explosion as cover to place her hands on the ground. She used Plant Magic now, roots spawning from the ground to wrap around Chelia's limbs constraining her movement.
"Gah…!" Chelia groaned, attempting to pry herself out of the vines. "Let me go!"
"Not until you snap out of this!" Melanie protested, crossing her arms with a huff. "We didn't come here to fight each other! We came here to stop this thing from hurting everyone, don't you remember!?"
"Grrr…" Chelia only growled before looking down, letting her hair cover her eyes. "Fine…" She then lifted her head up, unleashing a Sky God's Bellow almost immediately.
"Wahh…!" Melanie crossed her arms, taking the full force of the Sky God's Bellow and was eventually thrown back, hitting the nearest wall with a groan. "Ugh…"
.
.
"Meeeeen!" Ichiya, along with the Trimens, ran around in a comical manner from an evil Jenny. She was affected by the Nirvana shift, and Blue Pegasus couldn't bring themselves to fight her. "Jenny, please snap out of this! I do not like the shift in your parfarm!"
"I don't think she can hear us, Ichiya-san!" Ren said while hightailing it. Jenny was in her Electrical Beast takeover, a machine with the power to manipulate Lightning and Light magic. Various beams of said magic followed the group of four across the room, causing bright explosions along the room.
"Stop moving!" Jenny shouted out in a frustrated manner, sending continuous blasts of lightning and light magic towards her fellow members.
"Hibiki, do your sweet talking to her or something!" Eve suggested.
"I'm not entirely sure that'll work…" Hibiki admitted. "This isn't the first time this has happened between us…but I'll give it a shot!" The male then turned on his heel, giving Jenny his sweetest smile ever. "Jenny, my sweet…" She wasn't having it, Hibiki was immediately zapped by a bolt of lightning, leaving him fried to a crisp, his hair frazzled. Hibiki coughed and fell over, twitching somewhat in a comical manner. "Didn't…work…"
.
.
"Lightning Demon's Screech!" Taranis exclaimed, unleashing a blast of potent lightning towards Minerva.
"Hmph…" Minerva shrugged off the attack and placed her palm out; using her War God Magic to encase the Screech in a sphere, which shortly vanished after.
"Where'd it go…!?" Taranis asked while looking around.
"Behind us!" Alexander shouted, turning on his heel along with Taranis. The Screech shot out, and both mages leapt in opposite directions to evade it. By the time Alexander and Taranis turned to face Minerva again, she was gone. "What…?"
"You never were fully observant with your surroundings…" Minerva commented while appearing beside Alexander, swinging a roundhouse at his temple that was a direct hit. Alexander grunted and hit the floor. Taranis came in with an electrical fist, but Minerva grabbed his wrist before the attack could connect.
"No way…" The demon grunted, trying to pry his arm away, but Minerva wasn't letting go.
"It's only fitting that trash helps trash…" Minerva scoffed before throwing Taranis at Alexander, causing the two to get stuck among one another. She then moved her hands in a circular motion, conjuring up a large statue with intricate designs. "Yagdo Rigora!" And the summoned statue created a very powerful blast that engulfed the two mages, and shook that particular leg of Nirvana.
"Gah…" Alexander panted heavily. He used some of his own magic to protect Taranis and himself from the attack, but it was much stronger than he remembered. He was unable to defend against all of the attack, so the pair took some damage as a result. "Don't get too cocky yet. That always seemed to be your fatal flaw. Is that why you left Sabertooth?"
"Is that why you left?" Minerva replied, not allowing the question to get under her skin as Alexander intended. She then swiped her hand, sending a blade of her magic towards the two mages.
Taranis used his Lightning Body to increase his speed. As a bolt of lightning he zoomed over the blade and aimed his shocking elbow towards Minerva's face. She blocked it, but slid back a few feet from the force. Her forearm was bruised from such an attack, which made her scowl slightly. "You're up." The demon stated before back flipping, allowing Alexander to come into view, magic wrapped around his fists. He and Minerva began to exchange blows, causing small magic shockwaves to boom out. Some of his hits managed to land, while some of Minerva's hits also began to land.
"Do you honestly think you can put me down in ten minutes, or even at all?!" Minerva exclaimed.
"I didn't come this far for nothing, witch," Alexander dryly replied.
.
.
{Time until Nirvana fires: 6 minutes}
Kairi and Ceaser stood side by side, both panting heavily from the damage dealt to them by Mirajane. They were having a hard time keeping up with the demoness, and it wasn't good considering they didn't have that much time left. "What do we do…?!" Kairi asked.
"You could just lie down and let me finish you off…all this squirming around of yours has really gotten annoying…" Mirajane replied with a slight scoff.
"Shorty is puttin' up one hell of a fight…" Ceaser admitted. "I don't like the idea of this, but we still have one option left. I can only control this for about 5 minutes…but it's better than nothing."
"What are you…?" Kairi asked, but she went quiet shorty after and let Ceaser go to work.
A magic seal appeared over the large male once again, replacing his Horus takeover with something completely different. He resembled the infamous Anubis statue, golden cuffs appearing around his wrists, along with a robe to complete the outfit. "Takeover: Anubis."
"That must be your strongest form…" Kairi mumbled before watching Ceaser take a step forward.
"I'm getting sick of this!" Mirajane cupped her hands together, gathering a sphere of dark magic. She then threw her hands forward, unleashing the beam of dark magic towards Ceaser.
"Heh…" Ceaser held his hand out, 'catching' the blast in his palm. The blast then turned into dust, leaving Mirajane and Kairi speechless.
"It turned to ash!" Kairi gasped. "Wait! Don't touch her!"
"It only works if my hands touch," Ceaser reassured Kairi before sprinting from his current location, leaving a large crater in the floor in his wake. Mirajane swung as he neared, but he ducked and landed a sharp roundhouse to her side, causing her to fly back. Mirajane caught herself, but before she could make a move Kairi flew in to her side in her Lucifer takeover, following up with a powerful light magic coated fist, sending Mirajane into the wall.
"Lucifer and Anubis working together…I didn't think I'd witness the day," Kairi chuckled a bit. "Of course, Lucifer is stronger…"
"I don't think so, shorty!" Ceaser replied, but they didn't get much farther in the conversation as Mirajane flew in in her Sitri form, grabbing both their heads as she flew by, dragging their bodies across the floor with a sadistically sweet smile.
"Oh, I'm going to make sure you both feel that!" Mirajane exclaimed with a laugh.
.
.
"How am I gonna break this thing..." Flynn said, using his speed to kick at one of the spheres within Nirvana. "Hitting it like this isn't working..." Flynn was pacing around, quickly trying to find some way to shatter this orb. The others were trusting him to do this, so he had to think fast! "Maybe I'm going about this all wrong. Instead of trying to strike it down like this, I need to gather as much speed and power as possible for a single decisive strike. I hope that works...!" He had a plan...now he just had to make it work.
.
.
Time until Nirvana fires: 3 minutes.
"Tick tock!" Spade taunted Evanee and Rylo. "Time's running out!" He placed two magic seals in opposite sides of the room, causing the gravity and geomagnetic balance of the room to shift in his favor, making it difficult for the two Twilight Zone mages to move as they saw fit.
"This is annoying more than it is difficult…" Evanee admitted while trying to walk, but everything in the room made that the most difficult task.
"Tch!" Rylo leapt forward, aiming a flying kick towards Spade. Spade blocked the hit, and ended up facing Rylo in close combat. Rylo's break dancing-style fighting did give him some advantage over Spade, but the dealer mage was adamant in blocking critical hits, much to Rylo's annoyance.
"We've been keeping tabs on you all for a while! It's only natural I know how to counter your fighting style!" Spade exclaimed as two blades appeared as his arms. He took two slashes at Rylo, though both were barely a miss. The last one as a direct hit, but the magician crossed his arms to soften the blow as he slid back.
"Evanee!" Rylo shouted.
Evanee took aim towards the sphere in the center, gathering a large sum of her raw magic in her palm. "This is it." She then fired the beam of magic towards the sphere, but Spade wasn't having it. He shifted the gravity slightly, and though it didn't affect Evanee that much, it was enough. Her aim was slightly shifted and she ended up missing, which only caused her to growl lightly. "You son of a…"
"I told you, it won't be that easy! 1 minute and counting!" Spade exclaimed, grinning as Nirvana began to tremble from the power it was gathering, the cannon beginning to warm up to fire once again. "You're not gonna stop it! It's too late now!"
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Rlyo turned, only to see that the sphere had gathered enough magical energy.
.
.
"Oh, look at that…" A heavily damaged Mirajane turned on her heel, leaving Kairi and Ceaser on the ground. "It looks like you weren't able to beat me in time…" It was then that another pulse rang out, causing her eyes to widen. Nirvana undid its own effect to increase the potency of the cannon it was about to fire. "What…happened…" Mirajane gripped her head, stumbling from side to side. She turned to see Kairi and Ceaser getting up, eyes widening. "What did I do…!?"
"Oh, you're back…" Kairi scowled, rubbing her arm. She then kicked Ceaser to force him out of Anubis, since his time was running out anyway. "We have to stop that thing, remember?!"
"R-Right…!" Mirajane cupped her hands together alongside Kairi, forming a sphere of dark magic and light magic. The two unleashed the unison raid towards the sphere, though it didn't break on impact. "It's not enough!"
"What now!?" Kairi grunted, pouring as much magic as she could into the attack.
"You're a rude shorty, you know that…!?" Ceaser groaned while entering Horus once again. He flew forward, and with all his might he slashed his large sword. His added effort was just enough for the sphere to shatter. "One down…! Come on, shorties! It's all on you!"
.
.
"Just a few more seconds…" Minerva snickered towards Alexander and Taranis, who were panting somewhat while standing in front of the sphere that was gathering magic.
"We can still do what we need to do…" Alexander glared at Minerva, gathering magic around his hands.
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', guy?" Taranis nudged Alexander.
"Of course…" Alexander nodded. "Hit us with your best shot then. I'm sure we can survive."
"My, my…" Minerva could detect the confidence in Alexander's tone; something she would have to knock down a few pegs. "I believe I will…" She then formed a sphere of her magic in her palm, rearing it back. "Ih Ragdo!" She threw the sphere forward, well expecting the pair to dodge, and they did. BUT! The sphere hit the Nirvana power unit, causing it to explode on contact. "…Shit."
"I never said beating you was a part of what we came to do…" Alexander smirked victoriously.
.
.
"Are you okay…!?" Chelia asked Melanie, though she was also injured so she couldn't say much. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened…!"
"It wasn't your fault…" Melanie said while standing up. "We have to take this thing out, let's hurry!"
"Right!"
The two females inhaled, unleashing their respective roar and bellow upon the sphere, destroying it on contact.
.
.
.
.
"Why does my head hurt…" Jenny staggered back and forth. It took all the Trimens to make sure didn't fall over.
"Ichiya-san, can you handle it?" Ren asked.
"Of course!" Ichiya nodded, pulling out a small tube of his perfume. "Watch Trimens, the power of my parfarm!" He inhaled the scent, and suddenly the small male bulked up incredibly in size and in muscle mass. Though it looked disturbing, it was certainly effective. "MEN!" He then swung his large fist towards the sphere, and just like seven years ago, he broke it with ease. "HA!"
"Amazing!" Hibiki nearly dropped Jenny while watching Ichiya's feat in awe.
.
.
"Let's try this again…" Evanee aimed her palm towards the sphere, gathering magic within it once again. She fired, and Spade once again tried to interfere.
"Not this time!" Rylo exclaimed, using Spade's focus on Evanee to his advantage. Rylo aimed his top hat towards Spade, unleashing a funnel of flames in the mages direction. It was enough to get Spade's attention and get his guard up.
"No…!" Spade shouted, guarding against the flames while sliding back, watching in horror as Evanee shattered the final sphere. They were all destroyed within seconds, leaving Nirvana's cannon to power down for good once again. "NO!"
"Now that that's over…" Evanee cracked her knuckles, glaring towards Spade while slowly walking towards him. The intense change in gravity and geomagnetic force didn't even bother her now; she was walking so casually towards Spade it began to scare him. "You're next."
.
.
Happy: "Why do I feel like we've just missed something important?"
Natsu: "Doesn't matter! We still have to beat Strong!"
Wendy: "And we still have to beat Diamond!"
Diamond: "I won't let you get any farther! I won't! I won't!"
Selene: "Whoa, what's up with her now…!?"
Next time: Heart of Diamond!