Red Joker stood between Drake and the middle of his men; there was a tense atmosphere as Wendy, Cynthia, Carla, Jack, Tia, Diamond, and Strong stared at the reborn Joker. "J-Joker…" Tia wasn't afraid; it was more so the mixture of shock and confusion of how he was back that had her at a loss for words.
"The hell is this?" Drake questioned with a somewhat nervous sweat drop. He could feel Joker's power and even to him it was a little unnerving. "I didn't think you'd have an ace in the hole like this…"
"Neither did we…" Diamond retorted while staring at Heartless. Heartless, Ace, and Spade had a lot of explaining to do when this situation was over.
"Systems seem to be green…" Spade said while running a quick diagnostics check.
"Well I'm going to spill RED all over!" Drake then barked commands to his soldiers. "Take 'em all out, NOW! And bring me that girl, preferably alive! Dead works too at this point." On that cue, Drake's soldiers flew forward towards Joker.
"Hmph…" Joker scoffed as the soldiers raced towards him. One soldier attempted to claw at him with blinding speed, however Joker leaned back to avoid it before clenching his hand into a fist, slamming it down on the solider with such force a large, deep crater formed in the ground with the unfortunate soldier in the middle. That one move was enough to cause hesitation among Drake's men while striking shock into the Dealer group.
"D-Did he get stronger…?" Carla asked while clenching her hands into fist. In the event Joker wasn't truly on their side she was ready to try and fight to protect Cynthia and Wendy.
Drake grit his teeth at Joker's raw strength. He knew Joker wasn't human, but it still didn't make sense for something like this to have that much strength. He then glanced at his hesitating men before yelling again. "What do you think you're doing standing there!? GO take them out, NOW!" The dragons nodded apprehensively before lunging at Joker once again.
"Are we just going to stand here and do nothing…!?" Diamond asked.
"You'd get in the way at this point," Joker responded coldly while pointing his arm forward, shifting it into a cannon with multiple barrels. "Missile Barrage!" From each barrel, a powerful, heat seeking missile shot out towards each and every dragon coming his way; the angles the missiles traveled caught the soldiers and massive explosions occurred all over the place.
"Yaaaah…!" Cynthia brought her up to shield her eyes from the intense wind kicked up from all the explosions.
"This is crazy…!" Wendy shouted. As the dust settled, the soldiers were all down before the might of Joker, leaving only Drake left. "H-He took them all down…!"
"And he hasn't even moved…" Strong pointed out.
"I've had enough! Who do you think you are anyway!?" Drake lunged forward while rearing his arm back; he swung towards Joker with force once close, but the Dealer Ace blocked it with his forearm. A shockwave boomed from impact and Joker was forced a few inches back from his original position, but this didn't seem to deter the man in the slightest. Joker pushed his arm forward and sent Drake slightly into the air, only keeping afloat with his wings. "Agh! That's it!" Drake threw his head forward, unleashing a potent blast of raw magic towards Joker; the power of it looked like it was more than enough to take out all of them on the spot should it hit.
"Tch…" Joker had an unsatisfied expression while pulling both arms back, his signature magic beginning to form on both palms. "I'm going to put an end to this charade. Dread Lazer!" Both arms were thrown forward, the two spheres of magic turning into a widespread beam that cut across the island and looked like it took Drake with it. The others could only stare in amazement and horror at Joker's power.
When the attack settled, Drake was on the side of the laser, having just narrowly avoided it. He panted heavily with widened eyes and a cold sweat beading on his forehead. He stared at Joker, trying to find the words. "W-What the hell are you…!?" He grit teeth before regaining what he could of his composure. "I'm not finished with you yet! I'll come back, and you won't be able to stave off my infection forever…!" His last words were directed towards Cynthia as he flew off.
"What a pathetic creature…" Joker adjusted his wrist while taking a few steps forward, turning around to face the group.
"Right…so now that that's over with…" Tia pointed at Joker, and then Spade, Ace, and Heartless. "Anyone of you three want to explain what the HELL this is about!?"
"Ah…" Neither of them wanted to be the first to explain.
"And it better be a damn good one!" Tia was currently the one everyone was afraid of, excluding Joker.
"O-Okay…!" Spade took the first step. "S-So…Ace, Heartless, and I found some of Joker's old data within Ace's armor, likely from his last ditch effort back at the base months ago. We had an idea…to try and revive him, you see…with a sort of…different…personality?"
"Uh-huh." Tia's arms were crossed and she had that look that said she wasn't amused. To be fair, the others had the same look as well.
"It goes like this." Heartless began. "We were wondering if there would be a time where we would need power like Joker's again in case we couldn't handle the job. So over these last few months, Ace, Spade, and I have been secretly working to rebuilt Joker. Doing so from scratch was nearly impossible, so we had to work with what he already was."
Diamond groaned. "And you didn't tell us this because…!?"
"We were afraid of this happening." Ace nodded. "We weren't exactly preparing to bring him out so soon…he's still...unfinished, in a sense. He can't access his Dread Form and a few of his other features have been locked. But don't worry; we've erased King's data from him, meaning he will not act in any interest that King may want. We got rid of that first thing."
"So you're saying he's on our side…?" Carla asked.
"My mission is to assist Dealer," Joker stated blandly while staring at Diamond, Spade, and Strong. Months ago, they cowered in fear at his soul piercing gaze…but now they returned that strong gaze with lingering emotions of hatred. "I see you do not cower when I stare at you anymore. You've grown, surprisingly. Spending time with those Fairies has done something to you. Perhaps they've made you stronger…considering how pathetic you were before."
"Are you SURE he's not going to attack us physically? Because those words stung…" Strong's head hung over.
"Big words from the guy we sent flying!" Diamond said while clenching a fist. She directed a very scornful gaze at Spade, who began to sweat profusely.
"This guy's a jerk." Spark huffed. He wasn't exactly fond of this outcome either.
"If you hurt Cynthia, I'll…!" Wendy started but Joker silenced her by shaking his head.
"Lingering emotions of disgust and hatred still flow through this body due to suffering a rather humiliating defeat by your team, but even so I've no reason to attack." His eyes then went to Cynthia, beginning to scan her. "Intriguing…your body temperature is at least 120. This is death for humans…perhaps you're building a resistance to that dragonification infection? Or perhaps it's the infection that's the reason for you being able to stand."
"….." Cynthia remained silent, not uttering a single word while rubbing her scaled arm and even part of her scaled neck. "I'm fine. A little cold isn't going to keep me down."
"Treating it lightly doesn't make it go away." With that, Joker turned on his heel and began to walk off as though he were going to lead the group.
"Jackass…" Jack mumbled while folding his arms. "Where does he get off!?"
"Does Queen Vena know about this?!" Tia looked to those responsible.
"So...if I said no...would you be mad?" Ace asked. Tia grabbed him by the ear. "OW OW OW! OKAY, OKAY!"
"She doesn't know...yet." Spade corrected.
Tia reached over and grabbed both Ace and Heartless by their ears, dragging them off with that sinister aura around her. If she had a third hand, she'd be doing the exact same to Spade as well! Luckily for her, Diamond was going to do that. "We're going to have a serious chat about your actions over these last few months. Your full story will greatly influence your punishment, so you best not hold anything back."
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"How much punishment can this guy take!?" Sting grunted while staring at Nasir. The Sky Dragon was covered in bruises and marks but he was still standing just fine.
"We keep hitting him and he keeps getting back up like nothing happens!" Selene was getting annoyed that their magic wasn't making much headway against Nasir. "This is getting really annoying…"
"We'll just keep hitting him until he finally gives in." Natsu stated. "We've been doing damage; even he can't shrug it off forever. There's four of us and one of him, he can't last forever!"
"Yeah." Rogue nodded firmly, actually agreeing with an idea of Natsu's for once. "We'll break him down before he breaks us."
"This little game will be coming to an end." Nasir chuckled eerily, causing the dragon slayers to look at him curiously.
"What are you talking about…?" Sting inquired.
"You're right where I want you. You see…along this isle are a series of spots there the magic is more intense, and only we residents of the isle can activate the magic within these spots. This is called a Dragon Vein…" As Nasir spoke a green aura began to envelop his body; the wind began picking up drastically. The dragon slayers were stuck in their spoke with the wind moving so rapidly.
"H-Hey…I-I can't move…!" Selene grunted while putting an arm in front of her face to shield her eyes from the wind.
"This wind…!" Natsu grit his teeth as the intense raging winds snuffed out the flames around his body. "My flames…"
"Now!" Nasir inhaled all of the raging wings into his mouth, rearing his head back as the cyclone around his lips grew to a large vortex. "ROAR!" Throwing his head forward, the sky dragon unleashed a massive twister towards the four dragon slayers, leaving them no way to avoid it.
"Damn it…!" Sting shouted while for impact…that never came. "Huh…?" A solid wall of iron and rock protected the four dragon slayers from Nasir's intense wind.
"How!?" Nasir was just as confused as the others.
"It appears that we made it just in time…" Jura said with his arms crossed.
"Good, I would've hated to miss out on action like this…" Gildarts replied while staring at Nasir. "So, this is the dragon that our little Wendy beat? Can't imagine what makes him so tough now? Second wind, perhaps?"
"Gildarts…!?" Natsu's eyes widened with shock before a grin took over his face.
"Fairy Tail's ace….and Lamia Scale's strongest wizard…" Selene muttered. "Thank you for the assistance, but we dragon slayers can take this from here." Part of her pride as a dragon slayer was being hit by having two people, despite being stronger than her, fight a dragon instead.
"Selene-san…I think it's better if we let them handle it…" Sting suggested; he felt that same twinge of pride being hit but he knew it was for the best.
"I agree with Sting." Rogue uttered silently.
"Go find the others. We can handle this, yeah?" Gildarts grinned towards Natsu, not even taking the threat of Nasir seriously.
"Right…" Natsu nodded, leading the way to where Lucy's group went off to.
"Now that the kids are out of the way…" Gildarts cracked his knuckles; a white aura began flaring around his body as the most serious expression took over his features. Just the release of his magic pressure caused a small section of the island to quiver violently. "I don't have to worry about them getting caught in the cross fire and considering what I heard you did to other members of my family…it's about to get ugly."
"Agreed." Jura nodded while clapping his hands together.
"W-What's with these humans…?" Nasir muttered to himself. He found his own body shaking slightly from Gildarts and Jura's power. "A-am I shaking…? No…this isn't right…I'm not afraid of humans…!" Sure not. The damage he sustained from the three dragon slayers had to be responsible for this. Humans couldn't have this power over him...! He couldn't lost to humans again...
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Gray and Xen slid away from each other, both of them covered in minor injuries. Their ice was ineffective against each other but they weren't going to back down for pride's sake; though it appeared that Xen had the edge over Gray. "What's with this guy…!?" Gray grunted while slamming his fist into his palm, a black tattoo beginning to spread along his dominate arm; he was activating his Devil Slaying Magic.
"Oh ho! It appears as though you've finally gotten serious?" Xen grinned at the Devil Slaying tattoo engraved on Gray's arm. "Devil Slaying Magic? I've been waiting to see this…but I'm certain it'll have no effect on me."
"We'll see about that." Gray replied. "Ice Make: Devil's Axe!" Within Gray's grasp, an axe born of devil slaying and ice make formed. Once the axe was complete Gray leapt into the air while coming down with the axe; Xen brought up his shield to block the attack, but it was stronger than he expected. The ground under his feet caved in slightly and his shield cracked before it finally shattered, sending him staggering back and leaving him open. "There it is!" Gray exclaimed to himself while purple tinted ice formed on his fist. "Ice Devil's Frozen Impact!" He swung his fist at Xen's sternum, landing a direct hit that sent the Commandant tumbling along the ground.
Xen laid on the ground for a second before picking himself back up, letting out a heavy exhale. "…As I thought. I hardly felt it." He stood up straight, dusting himself off after such an attack. "Ice doesn't bother me, just as it hardly works on you. However…my ice has the edge when it comes to yours."
"Oh yeah?" Gray slid into another ice make stance. Just because his ice wasn't working didn't mean he wasn't going to keep trying until he made it work. He and Natsu had that same brick headed mentality that usually worked for them somehow.
Xen chuckled before placing two fingers on his forehead, a dark blue magic seal appearing just under Gray's feet. "Ice God's Spires." From the magic seal, multiple spires of black ice shot out in attempt to impale Gray. Luckily Gray had enough time to leap away, but not before being grazed deeply by some of the spires, cutting deep into his side and a little into his leg.
"Ugh!?" Gray slid along the ground before coming to a halt on a knee, gasping for air. "Ice God Slaying? You're just like that other guy…"
"Slaying?" Xen quirked a brow before realizing the misunderstanding. "Oh, no no no no no….you seem to have the wrong idea. I'm no Ice God Slayer…I am the Ice God." Just hearing those words caused Gray's eyes to widen in shock. He wasn't dealing with any ordinary mage, but a supposed God? Considering his ineffective his magic had been up until this point…
"Ice God…?" Chelia overhead Xen from the other side of the electrical blockade. "I have to get in there…! I can help Gray!"
"Stay back!" Gray demanded, not like Chelia had a choice anyway with the electric prison blocking the way. "Ice Make…Artillery Barrage!" Another ice make spell was used, this time creating multiple cannons pointed in Xen's direction.
"You don't seem to learn, do you…?" Xen sighed, only for his expression to change as Gray was firing off pieces of his own ice back at him! It didn't matter what type of mage anyone was, they couldn't eat their own magic! "You little…!" A cloud of smoke appeared with each impact made…when the smoke steadily cleared; Xen was standing in a defensive position with his shield on his arm once again, cutting down any and all damage drastically. "Ah, so close."
"What the…!?" Gray clenched his hand into a fist. "I smashed that thing!"
"This shield is made of specially modified ice that is meant to return every few minutes. You cannot break this shield forever, Fullbuster." Xen explained.
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Meanwhile, Laura was giving Lucy and Yukino a run for their money. The two celestial mages were starting to run low on stamina while it looked like Laura still had plenty to spare. "Aw, what's the matter? Are we getting tired?" Laura giggled before taking another step forward, several lightning imbued knives at the ready.
"S-She's way too strong…" Yukino panted. "W-We need to use Urano Metria again, Lucy-sama…!"
"Oh, is that the thing you used to get rid of that good for nothing?" Laura inquired while throwing a knife at Yukino's side. Yukino narrowly managed to avoid it but realized that she was separated from Lucy as a result.
"Lucy-sama…!" Yukino made an attempt to move, but Laura was already in front of her. A swift slash was delivered to Yukino's midsection, the heat from the electricity cauterizing any wounds but the imprints were still there and Yukino just collapsed with her eyes rolling into the back of her head.
"Yukino!" Lucy was going to check on Yukino, though Laura's incredible speed stopped her before she could even take two steps. As a defensive precaution, Lucy just swing at Laura who leaned away to avoid it; Lucy followed up with a swift roundhouse, though that was blocked with Laura's forearm.
"A good effort." Laura chirped before slamming her elbow into Lucy's gut, winding the celestial wizard. She then kicked Lucy down to the ground on her back, standing over her shortly after with a malicious grin. "Now then…" Laura placed one foot on Lucy's injured arm while one hand went to grab and restrain her. Laura's free hand then dug into her coat pocket, where she pulled out the Whistle. "Xen, I do hope you're paying attention, because it's going to get interesting~" She then blew on the whistle. The noise was unknown but it was one only Lucy could hear and she began squirming violently in attempt to cover her ears.
"AH! S-STOP THAT! I-IT HURTS…!" Lucy screamed.
"W-What's going on over there!?" Mii stared though the small gaps in the electrical field.
"LUCY!" Cana shouted, which caught Gray's attention.
"What the…!?" Gray turned to look, as did Xen, though he made sure to keep Gray from interfering.
"Hahahahahaha!" Xen's laugh was rather loud and the look on his face showed nothing but pure anxiousness. "Now it's time to see if it's true! Do you have what we want, Lucy Heartfilia?! Are you the product of that traitor!?" Amidst Lucy's screaming and helpless squirming, those brown eyes of hers began to flash a shade of crimson…
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Next Time: Crystal Tower.