"Dark Rondo…" Midnight called out in a monotonous voice, pointing his fingers towards Natsu yet again. The beam of dark magic spiraled towards the Salamander, cutting through the ground it traveled over.
Natsu lit his right hand up in flames, dashing recklessly towards the incoming Dark Rondo. "Fire Dragon's…" Just when it looked like Natsu was going to swing at the incoming beam of dark magic, he instead leapt over it, pulling his arm back. "Iron Fist!" Natsu swung his arm towards Midnight, but due to the Reflector magic, Natsu's fist hit the floor, shattering it easily.
"You don't learn…" Midnight spoke with a slight smirk, looking as the Dark Rondo he fired made a turn around and aimed towards Natsu's back this time. "It's a shame you won't in time."
"Heh…" Natsu merely smirked. He knew it was coming. He used his arm in the ground to push himself into a roll, rolling behind Midnight, causing the Dark Rondo to head straight towards its caster.
"Fool!" Midnight exclaimed, using his Reflector Magic to reflect the Dark Rondo into the nearby wall. While he was doing that, Natsu slammed a fiery fist into the back of Midnight's skull, causing the dark mage to stumble forward a few steps, turning around while doing so. "How did you..?" There was no time for questions, as Natsu continued his assault with a fiery high kick, but Midnight was quick enough to block the strike with his left forearm, gathering darkness magic on his right hand and sent that towards Natsu's face, which ended in a direct hit. Natsu stumbled back himself, yet he had a wide grin on his face.
"Erza told me that you can't reflect two things at once…" Natsu said while his dragon flames flared around his body.
"As true as that may be…" Midnight began while dusting himself off. "That was a lucky break. You won't receive any more free hits like that starting from this point onward. Now come, I've prepared a nice death all for you…"
"Heh…" Natsu's grin changed into a smirk. "Let's go. I'm fired up!" After that, Natsu broke into a sprint, creating two orbs of fire on both of his hands. He then took to the air, raising both hands above his head to merge the two small spheres into a larger one. "Dazzling Blaze of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu then hurled the large sphere at Midnight…but it really wasn't at Midnight himself; it was aimed at the floor in front of Midnight, which caused an explosion and a smoke cloud. Natsu immediately dropped down to the ground and ran through the smoke, aiming another fiery fist at Midnight's face. The distraction proved to be useful, as Natsu scored a direct hit to Midnight's face, but Midnight wasn't having any more of this.
"What did I just tell you?" Midnight asked while gripping Natsu's arm with both hands, using Natsu's momentum against him to flip him onto the ground. Midnight kept a firm hold of Natsu's arm and raised up his boot, beginning to stomp on Natsu's chest a few times, causing a grunt to escape from the dragon slayer's lips. "Now, just hold still while I crush you with the sole of my boot!"
The stomping continued for a few more moments before Natsu puffed his cheeks out, unleashing a near point blank roar at Midnight. Might was fast enough to lean back and avoid the incoming fire, but this left him open for Natsu to retaliate. Natsu spun around while coating his feet in fire, slamming his flaming foot into Midnight's hip, causing the mage to step to the side. Natsu then sprang up, slamming an uppercut into Midnight's chin with as much force as he could muster. It was a powerful combo, and Midnight took a step back as a result. "Got'cha!"
Right after Natsu exclaimed that, Midnight swiped his hand across his chest, catching Natsu with in a distortion of air. "Spiral Pain." Natsu was lifted off the ground. The only thing Salamander could do was shield his body while the distortion blade cut away at him, cutting through his clothing and skin (yet his scarf remained unharmed as it always managed to).
"Gh…" Natsu grunted as the attack finally stopped, panting somewhat from the moderate damage his body received. "Is that all…?"
"Will you stop talking…?" Midnight let out an annoyed sigh while pointing his fingers forward once again, unleashing yet another Dark Rondo towards Natsu.
"There we go…" Natsu mumbled to himself while charging the Dark Rondo once more, flames flaring around his body, the intensity higher than before. He then pushed himself off the ground, charging head first towards the dangerous dark magic. "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
"Your reckless tactics will not work a second time!" Midnight exclaimed with a wide grin as Natsu was putting himself right into Midnight's hands. "Now die!"
Natsu kept his charge strong, nothing but confidence rushing through his body. At the precise point of impact, Natsu spun his body around in a screw-like fashion, his side just grazing the Dark Rondo while picking up momentum from it. "Gwahh….!"
"What…!?" Midnight's eyes widened. He had no time to react as Natsu slammed head first into his gut, causing him to roll across the ground before picking himself up, panting heavily from such a blow. "You…"
"Heh…" Natsu immediately jumped back, entering a fighting stance. "I'm just getting' started!"
.
.
Laxus sped around the office room with his Lightning Body, circling around Cobra who seemed to have no trouble following his movements. "Let's see if ya can stop this one!" Laxus exclaimed while rising into the air, pointing his hands down at the poison slayer. Laxus shot down multiple bolts of lightning towards Cobra.
"It doesn't matter how fast your movements are…" Cobra said while jumping from side to side, avoiding each bolt of lightning Laxus fired off. "If I can hear it coming, it's useless!" Cobra then used Laxus' own words against him, gathering the sound in his palm. "Be destroyed by the sound of your own voice; Sound Wall." After that, Cobra merely snapped his fingers. A wall of sound just collapsed right on top of Laxus, causing the lightning dragon to hit the ground. "Oh, I'm not finished yet…" Cobra then held his hand out, creating a magenta colored magic seal before him. "Poison Dragon's Scales." From the magic seal, a plethora of poisonous scales rocketed out towards the downed Laxus.
"…Hrn…" Laxus shrugged the hit off like it was nothing. He then focused on the incoming poisonous scales, which he responded to by activating his Lightning Body once more, zipping to the side and away from them. His plan was to strike Cobra from behind using his overwhelming speed, but first, he was going to fake him out. Laxus pulled his arm back, quickly approaching Cobra.
"I can hear all of your thoughts…" Cobra merely replied while pulling his own fist back, poison engulfing his fist. Suddenly, time went in slow motion for Cobra as Laxus' speed suddenly increased. (He got faster...)
Laxus' fists would then connect over his head, which would slam atop Cobra's head, the force nearly sending Cobra through the floor. "Jaw of the Lightning Dragon." Laxus wouldn't stop there. He jumped back, holding his hands up as though he were holding a javelin, forming his Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd. Without wasting much time, the S class lightning dragon threw his hand forward, unleashing the halberd towards the downed Cobra, looking to maximize the damage done.
Cobra was in a crater in the floor after the vicious Jaw attack by Laxus. He didn't stay down, though. He heard Laxus' next movements, more so the electricity condensing in one spot. Cobra quickly got up, crossing his arms. "Poison Dragon's Guard…" A thick wall of poison appeared in front of Cobra just as the Halberd stuck. An electrical and poisonous explosion occurred, causing a purple smoke cloud to fill the room.
"Hm…" Laxus grunted somewhat, staring hard into the smoke. He was waiting for it to die down a little bit instead of charging in blindly.
"Sound Palm…" Cobra whispered while using the loud "crack" and "boom" sounds from the aforementioned explosion to his advantage. He held his palm forward, unleashing a powerful burst of Sound Magic that tore the office apart, striking Laxus directly in the process. Laxus flew through the nearest wall; now back into the hallway where he started. The Laxus shaped hole in the wall allowed the poison filling the room to leak out and fill the hallway now. "See now…?" Cobra asked while standing in the hole, pulling his arm back. "It's hopeless to fight against someone who knows your every movement!"
"You're just annoying…" Laxus replied as he stood up, rolling his shoulders while ignoring the pain that was in his body. He then used his ability to summon lightning from anywhere to his potential advantage. Suddenly, a bolt would strike up from below Cobra's feet. But Cobra heard this coming, and quickly jumped off to the side, avoiding the large bolt completely. "Case 'n point…" Laxus grunted. He was starting to get annoyed with Cobra. Very annoyed.
"Ones the cobra lays its eyes on something…" Cobra began in a low, yet sadistic tone of voice as he began to walk around the hallway, allowing the mist from the office nearby to slowly drain into it. "..That target becomes its new prey. The Cobra never allows its pray to escape. Its poisonous jaws will clamp down until the prey stops resisting, fully understanding the hopelessness of its situation. Laxus Dreyar, you are my prey, and I won't let you get away."
.
.
"This will be the perfect evaluation test…" Future Rogue grinned slightly before his body took the form of a shadow, quickly traversing the hallway to Adam's position in the zig-zag motion. "Now come!"
"Hmph…" Adam merely scoffed at the shadow coming his way. "You're the who raised by Skiadrum, hm…?" Without any incantation or movement, an ice pillar would suddenly shoot up from the ground in attempt to halt Future Rogue's movements. To Adam's slight surprise, F. Rogue merely phased through the pillar, continuing on his way quickly. "Interesting…"
In the next second, Future Rouge appeared behind Adam, his hand pointing towards the ground. "Shadow Dragon's Eruption." A powerful eruption of shadows occurred on Adam afterwards. When it faded, Adam's shirt was ripped, and there were only a few marks on his body. "Impressive…"
"You tore my only suit…" Adam growled while turning around, his icy cold glare staring into Future Rogue's soul. "Do you know how long it took Aira to make that suit? I only have one size." Adam reared his fist back, throwing it right to Future Rogue's chest. The impact was incredible, enough to send the future slayer into the nearest wall and almost through it.
"Oof…" F. Rouge grunted after such a hit, surprised nothing was broken. Perhaps he was more durable than he thought, or maybe Adam was just softening him up for later. Either way, he was not going to let this stand in his way, and he was going to keep moving. He puffed his cheeks out, gathering a mass of shadows in his cheeks. "Shadow Dragon's Roar!" From his mouth, a large funnel of shadows.
Adam merely brought up once arm, using that to defend against F. Rouge's attack. He did wince, since it was Dragon Slayer magic hitting him head on, but he only slid back about an inch or so during the attack. There was a small bruise on his arm, but that was about it. "…Now it's my turn…" Adam began to inhale, a light blue magic seal appearing before his mouth.
"Oh boy…" Was the only thing Future Rogue had to say before covering up.
Adam threw his head forward, unleashing Dragon's Roar. Not a dragon slayer roar, but the roar of a dragon. He did hold back, knowing he could destroy the building and he didn't want that. The roar of ice slammed into Future Rogue, blowing him down the hallway quite a bit. After the roar, Adam wiped his mouth, licking his lips after. "Heh…"
"Whoa…" Skye blinked repeatedly at Adam's strength. It didn't look like he put very much effort into the scuffle, yet she was still amazed.
It wasn't long after that Future Rogue came back, bruised all over from Adam's roar, yet he smirked anyway. "Perfect…just as strong as I had hoped…"
"Still standing? Resilient human…I'll give you that much." Adam admitted with a nod. "I'm done playing around, so if you come at me again I will feast on you."
"I'm not worried…" Future replied with a widening smirk. "You see…I've been looking for something to get my plan of becoming the Dragon King back in motion since I've been brought back to this time…and I believe you have given me the perfect kick start…"
"He wouldn't…" Skye mumbled with widening eyes.
Future Rogue pointed a hand out, and then it began. "Dragon Manipulation…activate."
For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Then, it hit Adam. His eyes widened as he began to resist the magic that was trying to take control of his brain. "Y-You…?! What are you…!?"
"You will be the first dragon to join my dragon army!" Future exclaimed with a widening grin. "It is useless to resist! Seven dragons were under my command, what makes you think you're anything special?!"
"Grrr…." Adam growled while taking steps away from Future to widen the distance between them. He wasn't going to let his mind be controlled by some lowly human.
"I can do this all night…" Future exclaimed while pushing out more of his magic to grasp control of Adam's mind. "Adamantine…the Frozen Dragon. I am your new master…and you WILL bend your knee to me…"
.
.
Queen Ophiuca pointed her hands forward, creating snakes form nothing but thin air which quickly slithered towards the three females, Lucy, Yukino, and Angel. "Jump…!" Lucy exclaimed with a slight panic, and all three females jumped in opposite directions to avoid the incoming snakes.
"Ophiuchus!" Yukino attempted to call out to her spirit. "You have to stop this! Calm down!"
"Keep shouting, Yukino…!" Lucy urged Yukino to keep reaching out to her spirit. "If you keep calling out to it, it will surely respond to your call! Heartless' grip on Ophiuchus isn't as strong as it looks!" Lucy then turned to Angel, who seemed to be digging around in her pockets. "Angel! Why are you just standing there?! Help us!"
"I refuse to help until someone tells me what exactly is going on!" Angel replied with a huff. She was really being that girl right now.
"Are you serious?!" Lucy groaned, almost wanting to pull out her hair from how difficult Angel was being. It didn't really seem like Angel had a reason for not helping out aside from the fact that she didn't want to. "Why not!? This is dangerous and we could use your help!"
"I told you, I don't know what's going on! How am I supposed to pick a side here, hmmm?" Angel responded to Lucy.
"IT'S TRYING TO KILL US!?" Lucy shouted at the other female.
"Maybe it's trying to kill you two and I'm just the unlucky bystander caught up in this!" Angel replied with her own shout.
"Oh for the love of…" Yukino groaned before turning to the both of them. "Will you two just stop fighting!? We're in the middle of a life and death situation here!" Yukino turning her back was a bad idea. Ophiuca charged right at Yukino, the immense weight and momentum behind the snake charmer assisting in the massive damage dealt. Yukino let out a cry of pain before rolling across the floor.
"It's not my fault she's being stubborn about it!" Lucy replied before yelping out in panic at the hit Yukino took. "Okay, you know what? Stand by if you want. I'm not going to stand by and watch Yukino get killed by her own spirit! You're free to do whatever you want!" After that, Lucy pulled out one of her golden keys. "Gate of the ram, I open thee! Aries!" A bell chime occurred, shortly after came Aries, who shyly tugged on the bottom of her dress. "Aries, hold it off!"
"O-Okay…! I'm sorry…!" Aries exclaimed before pushing her arms forward. "Wool Bomb!" Suddenly, a large cloud of pink wool appeared out the Snake Charmer, keeping her in place.
"Okay, now we can think of a plan…" Lucy said as Yukino walked over.
"Aries…?" Angel blinked a few times as she suddenly remembered something from the past. It was a faint memory, but it was still there. Something in her head clicked. and though it was something faint that much was certain.
"What do you suggest we do…?" Yukino asked, panting somewhat lightly. "It's the strongest spirit out of the golden keys…"
"I'll make sure Aries keeps a solid hold on it," Lucy replied with a firm nod. "Meanwhile, you try to talk some sense into it. I know it's not impossible to get controlled spirits back…"
"Right…thank you, Lucy-sama…" Yukino gave a nod and began to walk forward, completely unaware of the magic charging within Queen Ophiuca's eyes.
"Gorgon Eye…" Ophiuca grumbled before tilting her head up, unleashing a massive eye beam from her eyes. The beam tore through the wool with ease, striking Aries, Lucy, and Yukino in one fell swoop, burning most of the material on their dresses away.
"I-I'm sorry…" Aries weakly said before fading back to the spirit world.
"W-What was that…?" Lucy coughed a few times, struggling to bring herself to her hands and knees.
"I-I don't know…" Yukino replied with a few coughs of her own. "I've never seen that before…" It was a heavy hitting attack, that's for sure, and it was really bad for the pair to have been hit by it directly. "Ugh…" Yukino looked up, her eyes widening. Ophiuca was relentless, not giving the two time to rest or recover as it charged forward once again. "S-Stop…!" Yukino crawled in front of Lucy, standing there protectively in front of the celestial blonde. "Ophiuchus! Stop!" Words fell on deaf ears. The charge was not stopping. Yukino closed her eyes and just awaited the incoming pain.
"Go, my angels…"
"Huh…?" Lucy too was awaiting the brutal pain the direct charge would've brought, but there was nothing. Her eyes then widened at what she saw. Small angels clashing with Ophiuca, slowly pushing it back. This stalemate continued for a few moments before both sides decided to pull back, now a decent distance away from each other. "Angels…?"
"How pathetic…" Angel said while taking a few steps forward, standing in front of the downed Lucy and Yukino. She looked over her shoulder, giving a slight look of disgust. "What the hell are you two still doing down? If we're to defeat this disgusting creature, it's going to take all of us."
"Sorano…!" Yukino's eyes lit up, a wide smile appearing on her face. "Do you remember…!?"
Oddly, Angel remained silent towards Yukino, avoiding the question alltogether. She then turned around, tapping her foot impatiently. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and get up before I down you two permanently."
"How bossy…" Lucy mumbled before standing up, standing beside Yukino and behind Angel.
"Good…" Angel gave a nod before holding her arm up. "Now, you will all witness the true and beautiful power of my angels…"