Minerva watched the entirety of Sabertooth vs. Jimena from around the corner of an almost destroyed building. She was actually nervous to try and interfere if Sabertooth really needed help. What got her the most, though, was the fact that everyone was actually waiting for her to come back. Despite the evil she did, everyone in Sabertooth wanted her to come back. She fought back the small tears that began to water her eyes. She couldn't face them, and didn't think she deserved such forgiveness. She turned and slowly began to walk off. "…."
"O-Oi…" Sting called out. "You can come out of hiding, now. He's down for good."
"Who are you talking to, Sting…?" Orga said while rotating his arms. He was gonna be sore after all of this was over.
"We know you've been watching the entire time…" Rogue said while taking a seat on the ground. "Come back to us."
"Huh…?" Yukino seemed just as confused as Orga and Rufus.
Minerva let out a sigh before revealing herself, looking down shamefully at the ground. "I see you've all become stronger…" She spoke quietly. "I'm not afraid of him, though."
"Lady, you're alright…!" That was the first thing Lector had to say, a wide grin following his statement.
"Fro is happy to see Lady is back!" Frosch placed his hands together.
"W-What…?" Minerva was taken aback at their reactions.
"We've been worried about you, you know…" Rufus said while tipping his hat in respect for Minerva. "I remember the last time we saw you. We thought you'd perished within the dragon attack. Luckily, we were wrong."
"You all idiots, you know that…? Worried about me for all this time…" Minerva glanced to the side. She couldn't believe this. She walked out on them out of shame, and yet... "Worried about me…"
"Heh…" Sting stood up, walking over to Minerva to put an arm around her, giving a toothy grin. "Of course we were worried! You are still a member of Sabertooth after all! So come on home, we've been waiting!"
"But…" Minerva tried to object. She did push Sting's arm from around her. "Don't get so comfortable."
"No buts," Rogue said with a slight chuckle. "But first, we have to make sure we can survive this crisis…"
"We will, don't worry about that." Sting said with a firm nod. "We all will." What nobody noticed was that Jinemma was slowly standing back up. The sound of this did catch Sting's ears, and he turned at the last second. He saw Jimmera lunging towards him with violent intent. "W-WH-!?"
"STING!"
"YOU'RE DEAD!" Jimmea howled, but he was stopped as a beam of territory pierced through his chest. He stopped in his tracks and looked at where the beam came from. "Y-You...!"
"My, my." Minerva felt her confidence come back in full swing. "They saw that dreams come true someday. I never thought mine would so soon. I was hoping to do this for so very long."
Jinemma scowled, blood pouring from numerous open wounds of his body. The beam of territory was still piercing him, but he slowly trudged through it, much to Sabertooth's surprise. Minerva, however, tilted her head in amusement. "Another failure to stain my name. I thought I raised you better than that! You were weak and were defeated by Titania, and how you crawl back to Sabertooth!?"
"You raised me poorly." Minerva spat. "But I did what I needed to survive. All of the torture, the abuse, and everything in between. You turned me into your perfect little warrior princess. But that's the thing father. People grow up and change. I've decided to become stronger. I've also decided that you are no longer needed in this world. You will die as a pitiful excuse of a man, while I become one of the strongest around. Without you."
"MINERRRRVAA!" Jinemma howled at this disrespect, thrusting his arm forward to release a blast of territory in Minerva's direction. With her free hand, she created an orb of territory, allowing his attack to merge and bolster her own. "W-What!?"
"This magic...will only belong to me now." Minerva threw this orb of Territory towards Jinemma, watching as it consumed him with a violent explosion. When it faded, Jinemma was down...and he wasn't getting back up again. Minerva let out a sigh of relief. "I feel like a large weight has just been lifted off my shoulders. I feel incredible!"
"T-That's our lady..." Lector said with a sweat drop. Minerva was just as scary as he remembered!
"But she's on our side again!" Sting quickly said. Now Sabertooth was really back in action!
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Bang! Bang! Bang! Various gun shots blasted across the southern portion of the capital. Reve unleashed bullets upon bullets on the demons, but they weren't going down no matter how many times he shot. It was really starting to irritate him. "Don't these things die…!?" He shouted in irritation. He realized his mistake shortly after and calmed down, now taking stead aim at the incoming demon. "Bang…" He clicked the trigger from his pistol and unleashed a single bullet, aiming right for the skull. His prediction was somewhat correct. The head shot was highly effective, but the demon didn't go down immediately. It fought death for a few minutes, unleashing beams of raw curse power towards the gunslinger. "Shit…" Reve was more than fast enough to evade the beam, and the demon died right after. The annoying part of this was that there were still many more demons left roaming around the city.
"It's like there's an endless supply…!" Kairi (in her angel takeover) exclaimed. She raised her hands, creating a bleach colored magic seal above her. From the seal, meteors of light began to rain down upon the demons, which only left moderate damage in the end.
"The more we kill, the more that seem to arrive…" Draco spoke while white flames covered his arms. He raised an arm and punched the ground, causing an eruption of white flames to rise under a horde of demons. Though the burns were severe, the demons could clearly handle it. "Tch…these things just don't know when to die…" The anger within began to boil in the blaze mage.
"Keep your calm, Draco," Zalen warned. "These demons are mindless creatures…if you don't keep your cool you may leave yourself open."
"He's right…" Kuro said with a nod. "We just have to keep fighting and push through!"
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"Gah…!" Meredy and Juvia flew back until they hit a building, which broke the second they hit it. "Ungh…" Meredy groaned, lifting herself up slowly while panting heavily. She was beginning to run out of magic and it didn't help that Rustyrose wasn't going down. "D-Damn it…"
"Meredy…are you alright…?" Juvia questioned while bringing herself to her hands and knees.
"I'm fine…" Meredy replied, shooting a glare towards Rusty.
"You two are quite the annoying pair of gnats…" Rustyrose began to show signs of fatigue, but he was intent on fishing the pair of females before he fell. "That's fine…I'll just swat you down…"
"I didn't want to have to do this…" Meredy stood up quickly before forming a sensory link on her wrist, quickly flicking it forward to create a link onto Rustyrose. "Sharing senses with you is the last thing I want!"
"…!" Rustyrose was temporarily thrown off guard by the link coming his way. The link soon formed on his wrist, which allowed him and Meredy to share senses. "You brat..! I never enjoyed this magic of yours." He then snapped his fingers, using his magic to conjure up what would be impossible. He removed the link from himself and shifted it onto Juvia, much to their surprise. "And now: Sword Strike!" A single blade appeared in front of him, which launched right towards Juvia. The blade pierced right through Juvia's chest and her Water Body. It was a sensory blade, meaning both Juvia and Meredy were affected by it.
"Ah…." Juvia gasped as the blade vanished, falling right back to her face on the ground, struggling to keep herself conscious.
"Agh…" Meredy also fell, since they both now shared senses. "N-No…Agh…."
"Don't you see now?" Rustyrose said while adjusting his glasses. "Feelings only bring pain to each other. I don't see how you could actually grow attached to those people…what good does it do again? Ah, I suppose there's no point in asking a corpse…any last words?"
"You won't have your way, Rustyrose…" Meredy panted heavily, still bringing herself up to her feet along with Juvia. "Having feelings only makes someone stronger…"
"And the feeling that shines the most is love…" Juvia continued. "Juvia won't be dying anytime soon…because she has to live for the ones she loves!" Little did Rustyrose know that Juvia and Meredy's shared feelings made the literal and figurative bond even stronger.
"What a load of utter shit…" Rustyrose sighed. "That's enough, I've heard enough! It's time to bring this to an end!"
"We couldn't agree more…" Meredy glanced at Juvia, who nodded. The two females placed their hands together, a bluish-pink aura appearing around them. "This is where we finish this!"
"Hai!" Juvia nodded, focusing what she had left to this finishing blow.
"Enough of this rabble!" Rustyrose pointed his arm forward, using his magic to shift it into a powerful cannon. "Magna Cannon!" From the cannon, a powerful mortar of fire shot out which would explode violently upon contact.
"Let us show you…" Meredy began.
"The power of love!" Juvia finished. Both females then pointed their hands forward, creating a large column of water that spun around rapidly, the incredible force drawing everything nearby in and ripping it apart instantly; it held sensory blades on the inside, radiating with power.
"Magulitiy…Nebula!" The column of water was thrown forward, absolutely tearing across the ground it traveled over. It made short work of the Magna Cannon, now on a direct line towards Rustyrose.
"W-What…!? No! This can't be…! GAAAAAAAAH!" Rustyrose stood wide eyed as the vortex grew closer and closer; the next thing he knew, he was engulfed within the water and sensory magic, letting out a pained scream When the vortex was over, Rustyrose's unconscious body hit the ground, glasses shattering a few feet away from him.
"Ha….haaaa…" Meredy sudden felt very proud of her accomplishment. Something she wouldn't have been able to do several years ago. "We did it…!"
"Yeah!" Juvia and Meredy then proceeded to hug each other in a victorious fashion, before they both fell on their backs, using the time to catch their breath. "Juvia hopes…Gray-Sama will be proud to hear this…" And she quickly dozed off to her own imaginary world, leaving Meredy to chuckle softly.
.
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Hisui, Toma, and Arcadios were at the border of the northern part of the city, just near the palace. There were a large group of castle soldiers doing their best to fend off the demons. So far, they were playing the defensive role rather well, which was better than nothing. "Come on…!" Hisui attempted to raise the morale of the soldiers. "We mustn't let a single one of them escape no matter what!"
"She's right!" Arcadios exclaimed. "Fight with all you can. But if it looks rough, pull back. We won't have any casualties!"
"Right!" The soldiers shouted while continuing the fight with the demons. Though things began to look bleak for them quickly; a single swipe and most of the soldiers were down already.
"Oh no…" Hisui gasped, preparing for the worse. She didn't notice the demon attempting to strike her from behind.
"Princess, look out!" Arcadios noticed and quickly shoved Hisui away while drawing his sword, clashing with the demon. The stalemate only lasted a few seconds before Arcadios was pushed back, landing on the ground. "Gah…!"
"Arcadios!" Hisui rushed over to the knight, leaning down to check if he was okay. "Are you hurt?!"
"I'm fine…" Arcadios replied. Although he said that now, things weren't looking too good for them overall. The demons were starting to overtake them.
"Oh dear…" The short old king began to feel the situation reach dire straits. Toma was losing hope...
"Sky Dragon's Roar!"
"Omega Fire Dragon's Roar!"
The two roars merged halfway, clearing out a large section of the demon army that had the soldiers in danger. Wendy, Cynthia, Carla, Lucy, and Flare ran up after. "Ah, Princess!"
"L-Lucy…you're all okay…!" Hisui let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks goodness…"
"How's the situation looking?" Carla asked.
"The numbers are smaller…but the power keeps increasing. I'm worried we won't be able to fend them off any longer once they become too powerful for us to handle…" The King explained.
"This isn't a good situation…" Lucy grit her teeth. "There's got to be something we can do to take these things out for good…"
"L-look out!" A soldier exclaimed, warning Lucy about the demon attempting to blind side her.
"Blondie! To your left…!" Flare warned.
"Huh…?" Lucy turned to her left, eyes widening as the demon was just about to complete an attack on her. "Ah…!"
"Ha!" Tia quickly stepped forward, using her scepter to block the slash. She then used her strength to push the demon back, following up with a high pressurized beam of water that pushed the demon back into the small horde it came from. Tia turned to look over her shoulder and looked at Lucy. "You have to keep your guard up at all times! I thought you knew that!"
"Tia…!" Lucy brought a hand to her chest, letting out a slight sigh.
"Hmph…" Flare silently huffed.
"Wicked Inferno!" Jack threw a purple flare into the center of the demons, creating a horrific purple blaze that incinerated everything within its radius.
"And Jack-san!" Wendy clapped her hands together.
When the blaze cleared, the demons were still standing, but were heavily damaged. "Oh you've gotta be freakin' kidding me…" Jack snarled.
"These demons are troublesome…would you care for some assistance?" Tristan asked while walking in with Hikaru. "I cannot let the Princess' life be in such danger…"
"I agree…you all may be strong, but these demons are something of a different nature…" Hikaru spoke calmly.
Before anyone else could do anything, Erebus appeared with a slow clap. "My, my…what a party we have going on here…this goes beyond my wildest dreams, heheh…"
"And you are…" Tristan said while getting his sword at the ready.
"Erebus…the demon of nightmares. A pleasure, human scum," The demon gave a bow, followed with a false smile.
"Another one…" Cynthia got ready to fight, baring her teeth at the demon.
"Lu-chan….!" Levy ran in with Happy in her arms, only to stop short once seeing Erebus. "Oh you can't be serious."
"Why would you run into him again!?" Happy flailed.
"Oh, what a funny coincidence…" Erebus shrugged. "Either way…if you want to save your friends, you're going to have to defeat me…"
"What do you mean by that…?" Lucy questioned.
"He's trapped several people in sleep!" Levy exclaimed.
"Ah, ah…" Erebus wagged his finger. "Don't spoil the surprise. If you wish to learn more…meet me in the throne room of the castle." And he was gone, just like that.
"Did anyone else feel the crazy strong aura coming from that guy…?" Cynthia asked.
"I felt it…" Hisui nodded. "We can't let him do as we please…if he has people trapped, we must save them."
"We can't go anywhere with the soldiers in danger…" Lucy grimaced.
"Don't worry, Cynthia and I will take care of it, right!?" Wendy looked to Cynthia, who nodded.
"Right! You guys go on ahead; we'll hold them off here!" Cynthia pounded her fists together, causing her red flames to flare around her body once again.
"Thank you both…we'll be back…!" With that, Hisui and the others left for the palace while Wendy, Cynthia, and Carla remained to clear out the demons.
.
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Natsu rushed Zeref with a flurry of flaming punches, not wanting to give the Black Wizard even a second to brief. Zeref was lighter on his feet than the Salamander expected however. Zeref weaved through most of the punches delivered while others only managed to graze him. "Dammit, hold still!" Natsu growled in annoyance. He was about to switch things up when Zeref suddenly grasped his wrist and hurled him to the ground. "Gah!"
"You'll have to try harder than that…" Zeref commented.
"Shut up!" Natsu's feet lit up in flames. He spun quickly, aiming his foot towards Zeref's ankle, but Zeref stepped back to avoid it. Natsu continued his spin before pushing himself off the ground, aiming his flaming feet towards Zeref's head. "Talons!" The axe kick was blocked, but the ground under Zeref shattered; the pink haired slayer leapt back before lunging forward once again, aiming a powerful blow for Zeref's chest. "Ha!"
"Again…" Zeref side stepped the blow, countering with a powerful strike to Natsu's chest which forced him away. "You have to do much better than that if you even want to think of defeating me…are you capable of even doing so, because I don't think you are yet, Natsu…"
"The Seven Stars will pass your sentence, Zeref!" Jellal shouted from above, floating right in front of the Grand Chariot constellation he created while Natsu was distracting Zeref. "Heavenly Body Magic: Grand Chariot!" The seven stars unleashed beams of heavenly body magic down towards Zeref, each one creating a large explosion upon contact. Jellal stared into the large cloud of smoke, waiting to see the results. When the smoke cleared, the only thing really damaged was Zeref's clothing. The wizard himself hardly had a scratch on him. "W-What!? Impossible…!"
"Hm…" Zeref paused for just a moment, thinking about what just occurred. "You know, Heavenly Saint…I felt that one. But your power alone will not be of any use to you in the end…my defeat can only be brought about by…" Before he could finish, Natsu slid in from Zeref's blindside and landed a heavy flaming haymaker to his cheek, causing Zeref to slide across the ground a few feet with another burn mark on his cheek.
"Don't take your eyes off me, you asshole!" Natsu exclaimed, and then turned up to Jellal for a more comical exclamation. "And watch where the hell you're firing those things you bastard! Do I have to come up there and kick your ass again!?"
"This is going to be harder than I thought…" Jellal outright ignored Natsu and instead focused on Zeref. "Wait, NATSU!"
"HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME!" Natsu began a small tantrum on the spot, frantically stepping on the ground to gain Jellal's attention. "Tch, whatever! He turned to face Zeref, only for his eyes to widen immensely. While Jellal had his attention, Zeref unleashed a wave of Death Magic towards Natsu that was rapidly approaching. "Uh…!"
"Don't take your eyes off me…That's what you said, right?" Zeref questioned with a sad smile, the wave of death magic reaching the point where dodging it was impossible, and Natsu was the only one in its path to a one way trip to the afterlife. "It's unfortunate…but I think this is where we part ways once and for all…Natsu…Dragneel…"
.
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"Freeze!" Gray exclaimed while swiping his hand forward, unleashing a large line of demon slaying ice towards Daityas. "You're going to pay what you've done, you monster!"
"Incinerate!" Daityas exclaimed while swiping his hand forward to release hell flames to counter Gray's eyes. The clash of the elements resulted in a large scale explosion that almost blew Lyon and Ultear back; they couldn't do much but watch the intense battle between Gray and Daityas. "What do you think a little shit like yourself can do in the presence of a devil?"
"Slay it," Gray replied while his cheeks began to inflate, gathering a large amount magic in his mouth. "I'll make sure you face death…Ice Devil's…Rage!" Gray threw his head forward, unleashing a large blast of Ice Devil slaying magic from his mouth towards Daityas that completely froze the ground it traveled over.
"Insolent…" Daityas grit his teeth in annoyance. How dare a human try and talk to him like they were better than him? He wasn't going to have it. Daityas' own cheeks puffed out, gathering a torrent of hell's flames within his mouth. He then threw his head forward and unleashed a torrent of hell flames to clash with Gray's Rage. "How do YOU plan to be me!?" The two elements once again resulted in a large explosion, blowing Lyon and Ultear back once again.
"Gah…!" Lyon rolled across the ground before catching himself on a knee, staring intently into the smoke. "Gray! Watch what you're doing you idiot!"
"Gray…!" Ultear was on both knees, panting heavily.
"You two need to get out of here! It's getting too dangerous!" Gray warned while keeping an eye out for Daityas. Daityas lunged from the smoke and attempted to plunge his claw through Gray's chest. Gray leaned to the side, just narrowly evading the brunt of the deathly blow, but his chest was gashed. "Gnh…" Gray then grabbed Daityas' arm, spreading out ice all over it. "Freeze!"
"Tch!" Daityas formed a tail of hell flames on his back, swinging it at Gray's side to knock him away. After that, he used hell flames to melt the ice around his arm, shaking is slightly. This wasn't the first time he dealt with Demon Slaying magic, but of course this was the one time it was incredibly irritating dealing with it. Daityas wasn't going to admit it, but he was slowly losing steam thanks to Ur's efforts. "I'm starting to get very annoyed…"
"You can take that with you back to hell!" Gray began to form a blade of demon slaying ice in his hands, rushing towards Daityas with incredible speed. Once close, he swung the blade as he created it, sliding right past Daityas while slashing. "Ice Devil Zeroth;s Blade!"
"Gah….!" The slash left a noticeable gash on Daityas' chest, though there wasn't much time to react to it as he was frozen over with devil slaying magic.
Gray then 'sheathed' the blade, causing it to vanish. He then took a deep breath, smiling towards Ultear and Gray. "There…It's finally over…"
"He did it…" Lyon stared in amazement towards Gray.
"He really did…" Ultear felt at peace for a second, even with all the chaos going around.
The peaceful moment was cut short when the area began to rumble. The ice around Daityas shattered almost instantly, and he was standing in his Demon Drive form, black and red markings covering his body. There was a sly grin on his lips at the reaction Gray, Ultear, and Lyon had. "Now now…can't let you go thinking you actually stand a chance, now can we? This is the first time I've been pushed like this in a long time...so you have the honor of witnessing my full power."
"Tch…" Gray prepared to strike, but Daityas was far stronger than he anticipated. The next thing he knew, a flaming fist struck his face, causing him to spiral backwards and hit the ground in a dazed state.
"Gray!" Lyon and Ultear shouted, scrambling up to try and get to him.
"You'll have your turn!" Daityas exclaimed while swiping his hand, creating a wall of hell flames that effectively blocked Lyon and Ultear from reaching him and Gray. Daityas then stood over Gray, a scowl plastered on his lips. "You know what I hate most about you humans?" He raised his foot, and then began to stomp on Gray, getting more relentless with each stomp. "You get some little power up, and all of a sudden you think you're at the top of the food chain! Well let me tell you something scum! You humans will never be strong enough to defeat true demons, and that's why we'll feast on your soul in hell!" Daityas raised his foot once more to finish Gray off, but a beam of acid was coming in his direction. "Hm…?" He crossed his arms, taking the full brunt of the acid to see if it was worth worrying about. Truth is he felt it a little bit. "Who the hell…?"
"Huh…?" Gray groaned, looking up to see who saved his skin this time.
Leon leapt down, glancing over at Gray. "Oi…are you okay, Gray?"
"Huh…you're that Leon guy…?" Gray responded, quite shocked to see the dragon slayer now of all times. "The hell are you doing here…not that I mind it just yet…" Gray then nodded to Lyon and Ultear, silently telling them that things would be fine and that they should escape as quickly as possible.
"Stay out of trouble…" Ultear silently replied before standing up with Lyon and running off with him. All they could really do by this point was put their trust in Gray and Leon to defeat Daityas.
"I could tell one of my friends was in danger…" Leon said while looking over at Daityas. "And this is the monster responsible for hurting you?"
"And what if I am, kid?" Daityas asked with a large, twisted grin. "What are you gonna do about it? This one here couldn't even stand up against me after too long!"
"That's what you think…" Gray growled while standing up, giving Daityas a hateful glare. "You've done too much for the people I care about. I'm not going to let you think you can get away with those actions any longer…and I'm going to make sure Ur can finally have some rest."
Leon stayed calm for a moment, a green aura steadily appearing around his body. Soon, that green aura exploded, and Leon entered Dragon Force, green markings appearing all over his body. His usual friendly warm hearted expression shifted to that of a cold-hearted killer within seconds, giving Daityas the eternal death stare. The acid that flowed from his aura literally began to melt away the ground he was standing. "I'm going to show you what happens to those who mess with my nakama…" The rage within Leon…was beginning to show!
"Oh…?" Daityas tilted his head in slight interest at Leon more so than Gray. The grin on his face just widened, and he beckoned the two slayers to come at him. "Come, then…allow me to show you why your feelings are utter shit."
.
.
Leon: "No one who hurts my friends escapes without learning their lesson!"
Daityas: "Ha! That's cute kid, but you're out of your league. The likes of you could never defeat me!"
Gray: "We're not out of this yet, you bastard!"
Zeref: "I believe you humans have something much more concerning to worry about…"
Next time: Slay the Demon!