As I'm sure you guys know, I don't usually keep you waiting long for these near arc end chapters. I just shoot them out!
Because today, as an extra large chapter special, we're finishing the Grand Magic Games!
Enjoy!
The Light.
The Heat.
Separately Blake wasn't sure he wanted to be subjected to it, but now that they had fused into one, he felt the hair all over his body standing up on end at the fear of attack.
The Holy White Fire Dragon...
Nashi's fire was bright white, obviously turned so by Michael's Light.
Duel Element mode.
He backed up a bit, but his body wanted him to completely flee the scene. But he couldn't.
"Master, are you seeing this?" He hissed under his breath. The old man hummed inside Blake's head.
"I do. It seems that because you didn't have the stomach to finish off your friend, he gave END his light, unlocking her Duel Element mode."
"What do I do?!"
"The plan does not change because she's powered up. If anything Athena can just recalculate to account for it. Fight her with everything you have, whether or not you bring END out no longer matters."
"Why?"
"Athena has determined what her power should be outside of her Etherious form. So the outcome of the battle no longer means anything. Although it would be appreciated if you pushed her to her maximum output."
As if the outcome mattered to you lot anyway...
"Alright, I'll do my best..." Blake watched as Nashi did the same. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. After all, this made it a completely different battle. If Nashi had been powered up by Michael's Light...
He still had a job to do.
So he rushed towards her.
And she responded in kind.
"Oh my God! It seems Nashi had undertaken another form of magic!"
"Duel Element..." Mira said under her breath. "It's Michael's light."
"But why give it to her?" Juvia asked. "It' doesn't make any sense." Natsu grinned at this.
"Who cares? She's got enough power to knock him senseless now."
Damien threw another icy attack Terra's way, and the girl just barely managed to get out of the way. She turned as she sprinted and launched pillars at him, but he blew them all apart and continued walking towards her, wondering just what she planned to do if she couldn't beat him. After all, he wasn't sure what her plan was.
"I don't have a lot of power left..." He heard her murmur. "I can't just waste it." Damien knew what she meant. Although he was relatively good on the magic side of things, using a Demon Lord takeover consumed it very quickly. Soon enough he wouldn't be very much better off than Terra. He needed to end it quickly too.
"I find it funny that you think you'll be taking out two of the Demon Lords today." Damien said.
"Three." Terra corrected. "You count for double."
"Because I have two?"
"Why else?" He looked down at his hand as ice circulated it. He still hurt from the sneak attack on them in their hotel, so if Terra repeated what she did against Bella Damien wasn't so sure he could hold up. But he had to beat her, they needed the points.
After all...
Damien looked back up at the scoreboard and made a face. Clicking his teeth, he looked back at Terra and launched more attacks at her, which she responded by attacking as well.
Damien spread his wings and started to fly towards Terra, swiping at her with his claws. She only dodged one of the, taking the other across the front and leaving a vicious looking mark. She backed up a bit and looked down at the fabric Damien had torn through. After a few moments she made a face that gave Damien the impression she may have been constipated before she looked as though she steeled her nerve for something.
And then she tore the rest of the fabric off of her body, leaving her in nothing but her pants and bra. This made Damien splutter and turn red.
"What the fuck?!" He asked, "What kind of strategy is this?!" Terra smirked.
"What's the matter?" She purred. "Having trouble concentrating?" Damien looked away and growled.
"What the fuck are you doing?" He demanded. Terra laughed. Terra laughed.
"Just implementing what I learned from Bella!" Damien was about to ask what that was, but he was cut short as a volley of pillars struck him all across his body and sent him flying backwards, away from the girl. He looked up as Terra made a strange motion with her hands, and he tensed, waiting for what she was trying to do.
He was not ready for the buildings around them to respond to Terra's will and fly towards him all at once, effectively burying him underneath a few shops and their contents that crashed down on him as well.
What the hell is she doing?
Damien started to punch at all the debris all around him, trying to find a way out. Although judging from the sounds he heard, Terra was packing even more earth on top of him. Finally he got enough crawl space to aim his hand upwards and blast his way to the surface. Crawling there, he poked his head up and glared at Terra.
"Jeez Terra, be a little more careful, could you please?!" He asked, and the girl smiled.
"Oh, my bad." She said. "Look out." Damien felt confused before he realized she was taking that advice to heart, and warning him. He didn't have time to react to it, however, before at least four huge chunks of earth came crashing down on top of him.
"Fuck!" He shouted, blasting his way out again and crawling to the top. "Terra you're gonna...!"
The earth was shaking. Damien looked around before his eyes landed on Terra, who had her eyes closed, and her hands together as if she was praying.
Oh...Oh shit!
Damien scrambled hard, trying his absolute best to get the hell out of the mess Terra had purposefully trapped him underneath.
He didn't make it in time.
"Rumbling Mt. Fuji!"
The magic exploded forth from the ground, engulfing Damien.
"Gods above! Terra has used her trump card twice in one day! She has to be absolutely exhausted!"
"I think she is, Ross. She's struggling to keep herself on her feet."
Terra knew they weren't lying. She was concentrating completely on attacking Damien with Rumbling Mt. Fuji, and she had, but her magic was basically fumes at this point. She just had to take him out.
Terra's nose tingled.
It was cold.
And in this situation, That was a warning sign.
Looking up, she spotted the source of her concern.
Rumbling Mt. Fuji was freezing over.
She watched in shock as the attack completely froze and revealed Damien, who was standing near the former center of the attack, his body exuding what was obviously sub-zero temperatures. He laughed, and blood shot out and hit the ground.
"Wow, that's hurts..." He hissed, stumbling as he attempted to move a little. "You really threw me for a loop there, Terra." Terra dropped to her knees, and watched Damien assess his own condition. She had no magic left, she couldn't possibly beat him if he was still standing. Damien sighed and brought his hands together. The temperature dropped.
"Shit..."Terra hissed as she tried to move. "I...I don't have any magic left..." Damien laughed.
"That's what you get for wasting your power!" He shouted. "Now, it's my turn!"
Fuck...I am not going to be able to dodge or block this!
"BLIZZARD CRUSHER!"
The swirling mass of ice exploded outwards from Damien's hands and roared towards Terra, who as she expected had no strength left to move out of the way. It got closer to her, and she laughed weakly.
"Fuck this, man..."
BOOM!
Damien watched as his attack faded away, and revealed Terra spread eagle on the ground, unmoving.
My God! Damien had taken out Terra Neekis! He's earned Fairy Tail five points!" Damien laughed, but blood came out along with the noise.
Demon form fading, his body hit the dirt and he did his best to remain sitting up so that they wouldn't give Terra any points for making a tie. He didn't have to wait very long, anyway. After all, the fight was all over now.
"You did good, Damien." Damien turned and looked at Xisplate, who was watching him. "You only defeated a girl who expended most of her magic fighting a different opponent."
"Yeah, mock me all you want." Damien replied. "I don't want to hear it." Silence enveloped the pair. Damien assessed his condition and determined he wasn't going to be able to move at any point in the near future, so he decided he was staying where he was.
"Your seven months are almost up, Damien." Damien slowly looked at the ground as Xisplate spoke once more. "And the Grand Magic Games are reaching their climactic conclusion."
"Yeah...I know." He looked up at the scoreboard and regarded his friends faces, some of which had were crossed out due to them falling in combat. "And someone will die." They went quiet once more, but Damien sighed. "Is it going to be immediate?"
No one answered him.
Damien looked around, but Xisplate had disappeared. After wasting a little too much time by looking for him, Damien flopped down onto the ground and stared at the sky, which was glowing thanks to the sun starting to set.
"One of the six." He murmured, covering his eyes with his arm. "Will die..."
...
"But who? And when?"
...
"...And why?"
"What an absolutely incredible, albeit a tad short lived, battle between Terra and Damien! Five more points for Fairy Tail!"
"Ross are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"What ever do you mean your majesty...Oh...Oh! OH MY GOD!"
"Yes, it would seem it's come to this."
"It...It appears that..."
"DAMIEN'S VICTORY BRINGS FAIRY TAIL AND SABERTOOTH TO A TIE! IT'S DOWN TO NASHI DRAGNEEL AND BLAKE HUNT!"
Nashi drove her fist home into Blake's chest, sending him flying away from her and into the ground, making a small crater.
"This is your fault!" She screamed, flying after him as he panicked and tried to dodge her. She turned, brought her hands together, and attacked him by firing streams of holy fire.
"It's your fault my friends are hurt!" He landed, and Nashi exploded at him, driving her head into his stomach. "it's your fault it's come to this! It's your fault that...!"
"Thank you so much. I'll never forget this."
Nashi gritted her teeth and once they had stopped flying back from her attack, she grabbed Blake by the collar of his shirt and set him alight, causing him to cry out in pain.
"It's your fault he's hurt!" She yelled, throwing him backwards. She started to stalk towards him as he landed. "But even after everything you've done, even though you revealed yourself to be lowlife scum...Michael still wants you to be saved."
Blake did not offer her a response, so she stormed towards him to continue her assault. She didn't intend to stop until the man could no longer move.
"Get the fuck up." She said, the holy fire growing in response to her words. "I'm taking you back to Michael, but that can wait until I get my licks in for you being an Olympian underling."
Blake started to laugh, which set Nashi on edge.
"You think you understand, don't you?" He asked. "That because you're so powerful you can stand up to them? That's exactly what they want..." He looked up, and Nashi tensed. He had a crazy look in his eye. "You want a fight! I'll give you a god damn fight, Nashi!"
"Plasma erupted from the man and exploded towards Nashi, who met in halfway with her own bursts of white fire. She was not backing down, her anger would not let her. Blake ran straight for her, body covered in his protective layer, and Nashi started to exchange blows with the boy. But for every strike he had, Nashi hit back twice as hard. Eventually the boy flew backwards and hit the ground, but Nashi wasn't done. She grabbed him and threw him high into the sky, and aimed her hands up.
"Brilliant Holy Flame of the Holy White Fire Dragon!" The white fireball soared upwards and exploded high in the sky, sending Blake even higher. The man used this as his chance to to rain down plasma, which Nashi burned up most of before some of it hit it's mark, and she stumbled from it. She looked up just in time to see the boy rocketing down towards her, laughing manically.
Once the two connected, fist to fist, the explosion of plasma and holy fire caused every building around them to become decimated. Blake bounced away and ran towards her again, but Nashi struck him down.
But Blake was ready for her this time.
Nashi's limps did not respond to her wishes. Looking down, Nashi saw that she was wrapped in a thin layer of plasma, a few dozen times. The thin lines lead to Blake's right hand, and he smirked.
"Up he go!" he shouted, turning and whipping the plasma. Nashi gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs and she exploded up into the open sky, away from Blake. She didn't know how high she managed to get, but she knew what she wanted to do.
Once she regained her balance, she looked down, and at least a hundred feet beneath her was Blake, waiting for her to descend.
She didn't.
She started to inhale.
Blake could tell what she was doing. The aura of white flames she had around her body was appearing only to be funneled towards the girls mouth.
What the hell was she doing?
"Holy White Fire Dragon..." Blake's eyes widened.
"Oh shi...!"
"ROAR!"
everyone in the Domus Flau shielded there eyes as the column of white fire at least ten feet high erupted from Nashi's mouth and soared downwards, striking Blake. He protected himself with a lining of plasma magic, and he could be heard even through the terrible sound on the lacrima vision to be grunting.
The roar exploded.
Not entirely, the attack wasn't even finished.
It exploded outwards.
The holy white flames exploded all around Blake, creating a circular area at least a hundred feet wide below Nashi completely engulfed in white flames.
"I-It's so bright...!" Natsu heard Lisanna shout.
"This attack...!" Erza said. "Just like when Natsu did it against Hades..."
The roar was so huge, but Natsu didn't pay attention to that.
His spine tingled as he heard an enraged roar in the distance.
A dragon's roar.
He smiled as the sound continued.
"She really is something..."
"Holy fuck..." Simon felt the same as Nami, as the girl swore about the power in the distance. "One of yours, Simon?" Simon looked over at the white column of fire in the sky, and watched it closely for a moment.
He smirked.
"I think so..." He replied. "Be careful, Nashi..."
Drake gazed up at the column of white fire for a moment, watching it in awe.
His ears rang as a dragon roared in the distance.
After watching the attack for a few more seconds, he laughed.
"Holy shit, Nashi." He said. "Way to make it obvious."
Nashi landed as gracefully as she could after her roar faded away, panting from the exertion. She watched ground zero of the attack carefully, waiting to see if she'd done Blake in.
The slow maniacal laugh she heard confirmed she had not.
As the smoke faded, Blake was revealed. His clothes were tattered and he was covered in burns all over his body, but still he stood. Nashi growled and tried to run at him, but her bodies movement was delayed. She was fatigued from all the exertion.
Fuck! Not now body! Please not now!
It was just like then, against Michael and Keita.
She had out.
It had been all she had.
Blake laughed even louder and brought his hands together, plasma shining from it.
"I fucking hate you..." He whispered. "You think just because your intentions are in the right place you can just save anyone you want...Well you can't! It's too late for me!"
"Michael still believes in you!" Nashi shouted angrily, but the boy ignored her. "Why the fuck won't you at least talk to him?!"
"There's nothing to talk about!" Blake screamed, the plasma glowing brighter and brighter. "They have me by the neck! If I don't listen to them they'll kill us all!"
"They don't control you, Blake!" Nashi replied. "Fight it! If we all stand together then...!"
'Shut up! You have no idea! NO FUCKING IDEA!" Blake closed the gaps between his fingers, and for a moment, the plasma disappeared.
"...Blake?" Nashi asked weakly. He laughed darkly.
"They want you at death's door? I'll HAPPILY OBLIGE!"
"BLAKE!"
"PLASMA SALVO!"
BOOM!
Zeus watched as the attack hit the girl dead on as it had Michael before her, and the battlefield as engulfed in smoke.
"Well," Athena said from across the room. "That looks like it hurt."
"Indeed, but he is fulfilling his duties." Zeus replied, watching the lacrima vision closely.
The smoke faded.
And there she was, lying face down in the dirt, hair blowing slightly as the wind blew past. Zeus watched her closely, but he saw no signs of life.
"Well, this is bad." He said. "I told him to bring her near death, not to actually..."
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Zeus looked over at Athena, and the woman was rapidly scrolling through her screens. Finally, she swiped one, and it flew over to Zeus. It appeared to be Nashi's stat screen.
The bar showing her magical power was bursting upwards towards the top of the screen, causing the screen to beep in caution due to the danger. Looking back at his own screen, Zeus saw Nashi slowly getting to her feet. As she reached them, he smiled.
"Well, it seems history repeats itself."
Blake could not believe it.
Nashi was standing.
Why did she have to make this so difficult! he just needed to beat her and that would be that...
"Blake." It was Zeus. "We have good news."
"How so?"
"It seems you attacking her like that has had an interesting effect. END has saved her."
"W-What?"
"She should be out cold right now, near death, but...I think it is safe to assume that her Etherious half has...Replenished her magic power."
"...?!"
Blake made a series of incomprehensible noises, and Zeus sighed.
"In any case, you're almost done. Athena almost has all the data she needs."
"You sicken me." Blake jumped and looked over at Nashi, who was coming towards him. "Everyone is offering you their hand, and your swatting them away."
Oh no...
Nashi looked up, and Blake's eyes widened.
The anger...The pure power surging through her.
This...This is why they want her.
The white fire had formed around Nashi's head, creating horns that aimed backwards. Her sockets glowed from the pure magic coursing through her.
She's so powerful even when the beast only replenishes her magic to a minuscule amount...This is incredible...
Nashi rushed towards him, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
And together, they boosted upwards into the sky.
Blake felt dizzy as they rocketed upwards into the clouds, but they stopped soon after that. Looking back at her, Nashi was glaring at him.
"Now," She said. "If you won't help be purge the darkness..."
"..."
"I'll just have to do it for you!" She chucked him downwards, leaving herself high in the air. She brought her hands together above her head.
NEW DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART!"
Holy fuck...This girl is something else...
"HOLY WHITE LOTUS SUPERNOVA!"
God have mercy on the human race...Because they'll need it once Zeus has her.
Blake's world slowly faded out, leaving nothing but white as the attack struck him and together they rushed to met the earth beneath them.
The resulting explosion leveled everything within three blocks. The power was so much several people felt sick just from looking at it.
Nashi was still floating high above the ground, and everyone was waiting for the smoke to clear.
And once it did, the outcome was made obvious.
Blake Hunt was lying spread eagle on the ground, groaning in pain.
At first, no one spoke.
At first, some even forgot to breath.
But then.
'OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER! NASHI DRAGNEEL HAS DEFEATED BLAKE HUNT! AND WITH THAT...!"
All eye shot towards the scoreboard, which tallied up everyone's points.
In sixth place was Quatro Cerberus, with 31 points.
In fifth place was Blue Pegasus with 48 points.
In fourth was Mermaid Heel, with 51 points.
In third was Lamia Scale, with 59 points.
In second was Sabertooth, with 107 points.
And...
In first was Fairy Tail, with 108 points.
The crowd detonated much like the white fire explosion in the city as music started to blare, and confetti exploded everything as the six competitors from the winning team were displayed on the lacrima vision with the word 'Congratulations!' written underneath.
"FAIRY TAIL HAS WON! BY ONE POINT! WHAT AN EXPLOSIVE FINISH!"
"Truly remarkable." Hisui added. "I'm honestly blown away by the power displayed here today."
Natsu felt pride wash over him as the crowd cheered loudly.
"They won!" Mira shouted happily.
"Of course they did." Erza said, a tear in her eye. "They wouldn't have accepted a loss." Natsu watched the screen showing his daughter high in the sky, still glowing with power.
She did it...
And then, it happened.
"Oh fuck!" Natsu shouted. "This is bad!"
"Natsu? What are...?" Lucy was cut off as she noticed it as well. "Oh my God! Someone catch her!" Ross gasped.
"Nashi Dragneel is falling from the sky! I repeat, she's falling out of the sky!"
Ah fuck...This is shitty.
Nashi knew full well she was falling, and it was going to suck when she hit the ground. As her body whistled through the open air, it gave her time to think.
At least she'd won, right?
But now, her fatigued mind was far too muddled to come up with any reasons as to why Blake was working with the Olympians, and it confused the shit out of her.
Oh well, whatever...Hm, I think I'm going to hit the ground soon...!
Before another thought could cross Nashi's mind, something warm enveloped her, but it wasn't fire, that was for sure. She felt her descent slow, and whatever was happening, she was very close to being grinded into dirt by the building right next to her. The descent slowed even more, and she felt her body hit something.
Something soft.
And someone chuckled. Nashi slowly managed to look up, in the direction of the sound.
"You know, Nashi." Drake said. "You really ought to stop falling out of the sky." Nashi watched him before she laughed weakly.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean for it to keep happening."
Drake had caught her as she fell and protected her with his body from the rest of the fall. Well, that was better than hitting it and dying, right?
Blake's body was killing him.
Hopefully she was done, he couldn't take anymore.
He was lucky he'd not broken anything serious, like his back.
Or maybe he did, he honestly had no fucking clue.
"Well Agent, it seems that was the end of that."
Was that old fuck never done?
"Yep." Blake agreed.
"Well, no matter. We gathered more than enough data from that last attack. You did your job. Athena, how powerful is she?" Blake waited, and he heard the woman clear her throat.
"If I calculate in the power of the White Dragon, it should be about...What?...Oh, oh no. That isn't right."
"What?" Blake asked, stomach sinking. Athena sighed.
"It seems...Yes, that's it. It seems that, outside of her Etherious form, she does not meet expected power levels. From my calculations, Etherious Nashi Dragneel is at...70% capacity."
70%
70%
After all that she wasn't even as strong as she was needed to be? Or as she could be?
"Hm, this is most troubling." Zeus said. "However it is a good thing he prepared for this. Athena, contact him. He'll have to move in as soon as he gets the chance."
"Understood."
"And you, Blake. Return to Mt. Olympus as soon as possible. We have more use for you."
"Fuck off."
"Excuse me?" Blake gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"I said fuck off. I'm done listening to you."
"Is that so? And what will you do instead? Stay in Sabertooth? That'll work well seeing as the son of the Master knows your secret. Don't be a fool Blake. Your life is ours."
"I don't care." he said flatly. "I'm done with you. You want me, you can come retrieve me your god damn self."
"You'll never live a normal life again, boy. You'll be hunted until you die."
"Good. I'd rather be hunted down like a fucking animal that listen to your voice any fucking longer." Blake severed the connection from his end, and took a deep and shaky breath.
It's over.
He stared up at the blue sky above him, and smiled weakly.
This fucking nightmare...It's finally over.
...
But her's...It's just beginning.
Hey guys! I want to take this moment to thank you all for the support throughout this arc! It's spanned a hefty forty chapters on the dot, and that's the longest chapter ever! This arc alone is so much of what's posted!
Now, a few things. Technically speaking, the GMG is over. But the next arc is starting next chapter, so don't misunderstand. The GMG is over.
Also, if this chapter seems like just ending the fight, please keep in mind this chapter is as long as two normal chapters. So even If I sliced this in half, you'd still see everything past the roar of the Holy White Fire Dragon tomorrow. No big deal, really.
Again, thank you so much for all the support! And as always, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's get ten for the end of the arc!