Everyone seems so excited. Not sure why.
Enjoy!
Natsu found himself immobilized by the sheer magical pressure emanating from his daughter.
If it even was his daughter anymore.
The form she had taken one was one he found eerily similar. The claws, the horns, all of it. And it was never something he'd ever wanted to see. And yet, there it was. What was he supposed to do?
"What the hell is this?" He heard Neptu ask. "What happened to you, girl? Natsu! Care too explain?!" Natsu had no words for Neptu. He didn't know what to say.
"Nashi..." he tried weakly. "Nashi...Please if you can hear me...Stop." At this, Natsu saw her head tilt in his direction. The empty vats of anger stared deep into Natsu, who stared back weakly.
"Kill." The girl replied, making Natsu's spine tingle. "I will protect her. I"ll kill everyone." Her eyes than looked back towards Neptu. "Everyone," She repeated.
And then, in the blink of an eye, Nashi disappeared and Neptu cried out in pain. Natsu turned to find the man spiraling backwards, having been tackled by Nashi. He watched as the man was separated from her and brought forth a blast of purple flames, and blasted them at Nashi.
Natsu watched as his daughter swatted the flames away casually, as if she had swatted away an annoying insect. The blast redirected and hit the ground, exploding. Nashi bolted forwards and Grabbed Neptu by the throat, glaring up at him.
"I'l kill you," she said. "I'll make sure you don't hurt her."
"What kind of bullshit are you spouting?!" Neptu demanded. "Let go of me!" He raised a hand and coated it in flames, swinging it down on Nashi. The explosion separated the two, and Neptu regained his footing. "I don't know what's happening, but I won't fall, not to you!" Nashi regarded him silently.
"Kill," she replied. "Die. You'll die. Die for hurting her!" Natsu watched the two collide, and shielded his eyes, unconsciousness slowly seeping in.
No no no no...Please no...
"The sounds of battle had faded," Gin said, looking out over the form battlefield. "It seems a side has won. Question is, which one?"
"I think that's fairly obvious, don't you?" He heard Mortavius ask. "With the lack of Hunters still standing, I think the guild won." Gin smiled weakly at this.
"Perhaps they did," he replied. "But that doesn't mean it's over, does it?" Mortavius hummed at this.
"Probably not," he said. "Bloodshed has a habit of coming back eventually." Gin knew this to be true. So the Skylance Demon Hunters had been defeated, for now. But what of later? Surely they wouldn't just accept the loss. They would come back, it was only a matter of time. Just like it always was.
"Well, no matter. I think it's time to return to the guild hall. The others will meet me the-!"
BOOM!
Gin fell backwards as a gigantic dark red and purple explosion erupted from the battlefield. Even facing away from the explosion and shielding his eyes. Gin felt the heat burning him. Once it died away he sat up and looked up, smaller explosions lining the battlefield.
"What is that?" Gin asked weakly. That heat was amazing." At this, Mortavius cackled.
"Seems more blood must be spilled before today's battle is over," he said. "And this one feels like the end all be all." Gin watched as explosions rocked the battlefield, unable to look away. The heat made him incredibly uncomfortable. Where those purple flames the ones that Neptu had used? That meant he was fighting someone at the moment.
"One more battle..." Gin muttered, watching the explosions. "One more..." Standing slowly, Gin made his way towards the rock face he'd been left by and looked down it, looking for a way down.
"What're you doing, kid?" Mortavius demanded. Gin remained silent as he slowly stepped down and landed precariously on a ledge on the cliff.
"I'm going down there," he said. "Someone may need my help. If they really are fighting Neptu they might need assistance."
"I thought you hated fighting." Mortavius said. "Why go out there now?"
"Because that guild put everything on the line for me," he replied, looking for a lower foothold. "The least I can do is provide backup if possible."
"And if you can't?"
"Then I shall die trying." Gin answered, staring Mortavius down. "I owe them as much." The two stared at each other for a moment or two before Mortavius smiled.
"Maybe you're not as spineless as I thought, kid." He said. "Let's go, an ass needs kicking."
"Drake...ah! Drake slow down!" Drake ignored Michael's calls as he sprinted towards the explosions. He knew something was horribly wrong, and he also knew it involved Nashi.
Once the battle with The Cross had ended, Drake had gotten a chill down his spine.
One he'd not felt since Silverridge.
"I got him."
It was the same feeling he'd gotten when he'd found Nashi in the epicenter of the Silverridge crater, bruised and battered but still somehow alive. The horns, the claws...He was worried.
"Gah!" Drake shouted as bonds tightened up around his legs. He felt forwards and right onto his face, cursing as he sat up.
"What the hell, Kumi?!" H demanded to the cat girl. "That hurt!"
"Than listen when we tell you to stop, nyah!" Kumi retaliated. "You're worrying us!"
"Yeah seriously man, what the hell?" Keita asked, still catching his breath. "What's wrong with you?"
"And what does it have to do with Nashi?" Michael demanded. Drake glared at him for a moment before he sighed and stood up, Kumi's bonds loosening as he did so.
"You didn't need to follow me," he said.
"Don't avoid the question." Michael hissed. "What's going on? Is Nashi in danger?"
"What a way to put it." Drake snapped. "Is she? I don't know. All I know is that something is wrong. And those explosions aren't helping me calm down."
"Nashi might be doing those," Keita said as more erupted around them. "Perhaps she-!"
BOOM!
Drake was thrown onto his face once more as a supernova erupted behind him. He felt his body warming up far beyond the point of discomfort and straight to pain, but soon the flames died away. Looking up the flames were gone, but more smaller explosions followed.
"Yeah, she might need help nyah." Kumi said.
"I have to find her," Drake said.
"I'm going with you," Michael said, standing up. Drake regarded him closely for a moment, but Michael refused to back away. "You're not the only one who cares about her safety, Drake."
"...Never said I was," Drake said, looking over at Keita and Kumi. "You two stay here, okay? No need to endanger more people than necessary."
"Got it," Keita said. "Good luck, you two."
"Make sure you help, nyah!" Kumi shouted. Drake nodded and turned to follow the explosions once more, Michael close behind.
"Any idea what we're up against?" Michael asked. Drake's mind flashed back to the sight of Nashi with horns on her head, and fiery claws for hands.
"Not a fucking clue," he answered.
"You two are awesome!" Terra shouted as Steph and Rina rejoined them near Quinn's unmoving form. "That blast was huge!"
"I just needed a charge," Rina bragged, wrapping Steph in a one armed hug. "Right Dreyar?"
"Yep!" She said. "I still feel my skin tingling from the blast."
"It was a huge one alright," Winter agreed. "You sure shut him up, hopefully for a long ti-"
Winter was cut off by the sounds of someone throwing up. Steph looked past the other two girls to see Bella on her hands and knees throwing up blood.
"Bella!" She shouted, running to her side. "Are you okay?!" her response was more heaving and puke. "Bella?! Can you hear me?!"
"Ah fuck, you jackass!" Terra shouted. "I knew you weren't feeling well!" Bella started to convulse and rolled into the fetal position, blood and bile still dripping from her mouth as she did so.
"Winter, help her!" Rina shouted. Winter was already attempting to do so, her hands glowing as she hovered them over Bella.
"Not good, not good..." Winter murmured to herself as Bella continued to get paler and paler. The girls demonic features slowly faded away, leaving her in casual clothes but still very much bruised and beaten. "She's not in good shape. We need to get her back to the guild hall, I need Wendy to help me."
"Not a problem," Terra said, picking the girl up gently. "I'll take her and Winter back, you guys make sure the others are alright." Steph nodded, but looked down at Bella's face as she winced over and over.
"Got it," Rina said. "Make sure she gets through this."
"I won't be able to forgive myself if she doesn't." Winter replied. With this, Terra stomped on the ground, which lifted up a platform of earth. Kicking it again caused it to speed towards the city, leaving Steph and Rina to themselves.
"Not sure why she was even out here," Rina said, looking over at Steph. "She knew what happened to Damien." Steph nodded weakly and looked towards the receding dot speeding towards Magnolia.
"I know..." She replied. "Yet I can't help but feel that that had something to do with it."
Terra kept her focus on Magnolia, trying not to panic over Bella' freezing form in her 'd get her back to the guild hall, she had too.
"Ugh..." Terra heard Bella moaning, and prepared to be covered in puke. She spared a glance down as Bella writhed in her grasp. "Ugh, ah...Damien...uuuhhh..." Terra watched the girl shift around before growing silent, and slowly moved her eyes back up to the city.
"We'll get you fixed up, Bella." She murmured, grip on the girl tightening. "I promise."
Simon stared up at the stars overhead. He'd forgotten that it was the middle of the night, what with everything happening.
"Hello? Does anyone read me? Hello?"Simon acknowledged the voice of Ken in his head, and laughed.
"Excellent work, everyone." He said, knowing his voice was being broadcast across Archive. "From the lack of battle sounds and explosions, it looks like we did it."
"Yep!" Kumi's excited reply came. "Our member of The Cross didn't stand back up."
"Neither did ours," Ultear said.
"Good over here," Steph said.
"So that means it worked," Nami said from Simon's left. "Does that leave anyone still standing?"
"There is their leader." Elise said. As she said this, an explosions rocked the earth beneath Simon. "And I assume the star being born to my west is Natsu going at it with him."
"Most likely," Juno said. "Feels like him."
"Do we wait for him?" Nami asked.
"No way in hell am I stepping in Natsu Dragneel's line of fire," Simon replied, earning a laugh from all those involved. "Guess we can go back to the guild hall now. I want to go to bed."
"Here here," Mami said. "I'll have Taro swoop around and pick everyone up. Just stay where you are." With this the Archive Link was severed, leaving the groups to themselves.
"Well, all things considered I say good job team," Nami said, sitting down next to Simon. She smiled over at him and smacked his abdomen, which caused him to recoil.
"Ow!" he said. "That hurt, Nami!"
"Oh don't be a wuss, you're fine." Nami replied.
"Go bother Juno," Simon said.
"I bothered Juno all night." She replied. "On the way here, during the battle, and a little bit a second ago. Right Juju?"
"Want to join Tristan in our unconscious pile of bodies?" Juno called from somewhere nearby. Nami cackled at this.
"See?" She asked. Simon rolled his eyes and sat up, watching the explosions in the distance.
"Hurry up, Natsu." He said aloud. "I want to go home already."
"Holy hell Natsu needs to calm down," Elise muttered as she watched the explosions with a hand shielding her eyes.
"I'd rather he wait until after he beats that other guy," Ultear said, rubbing the leg she'd wounded so long ago. "That way we don't have to pick up his slack."
"Natsu's slack is more than we could do anyway," Reyna replied. "So I'm not sure what we'd be able to do anyway. Other than that, I'm also exhausted."
"And drunk," Elise replied, making the girl laugh. Another explosion went off in the distance, and Elise turned to it, watching it. After another eruption, her spine tingled.
"What's wrong, Elise?" Ultear asked.
"Those flames make me feel...weird." She said. "Like...They're not right."
"How so?" Ultear asked. Elise shrugged as she watched the flames billowing about.
"I don't know." She said. "But they're not right."
"...He...y!...Hey!...Hey! Wake up! Can you hear me?!" Natsu slowly opened his eyes, which revealed he was lying on his back.
Gin was also staring down at him, looked worried.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Ugh..." Natsu muttered, raising a hand to his face, rubbing his eyes. Even this simple action brought him great pain. "What the...Oh man..."
"Take it easy, you don't look so good," Gin said. "You're Nashi's dad, right? You look really similar." Well yes, Natsu knew that much. He was indeed Nashi's father.
Nashi.
Nashi.
"Oh no..." He whispered. "Oh God, oh shit..."
"What's the matter?" Gin asked. "Are you feeling okay?"
"...You, Gin." Natsu said. "Have you seen Nashi? Or that other man, Neptu?" Explosions?! Anything?!"
"Well, yeah there are a ton of explosions." Gin replied. "Is Nashi fighting Neptu?"
"Yes...Well no...Ah fuck this is bad..." Natsu hissed, sitting up through the pain. "I need to find her...Or it, whatever. I need to put an end to this before someone gets seriously hurt."
"Hey man, you need to relax." Gin said, trying to stop him from standing. "You're in bad shape. I'll go and help Nashi, and we'll defeat Neptu together."
"No you will not," Natsu hissed, glaring at him. "You get up and sprint. As fast as you can, and don't you dare look or come back, got it?"
"But sir..."
"Got it?!" Natsu shouted, silencing Gin. After taking a few deep breaths, Natsu looked back at Gin. "Listen, Nashi...She isn't herself. She's...Well she's lost it, for lack of a better way to put it without a lengthy explanation. I need to stop her before she kills Neptu, and then someone else. I need her to calm down, or else..."
"So what you're saying is she's lost control..." Gin muttered quietly. Natsu looked down at the ground.
"Yes exactly." He replied. "And if she doesn't regain it, it won't just be Neptu who'll die. Others will, maybe even a few of ours. So for their sake, I need to-!"
BOOM!
Natsu covered his face as debris flew everywhere following an explosion. Once it stopped, Natsu looked up at what had happened.
And he watched as Neptu, bruised and bloodied, crawled out the crater he'd created upon impact.
"M-M..." He whispered weakly, coughing. "M-Monster...Monster..." At this, a meteor-like object flew over a hill and landed a ways away from Neptu.
Nashi stood upright, cracking her neck as she did so.
"Ah shit..." Natsu hissed as his body resisted his command to stand up. Nashi walked towards Neptu slowly, who was still crawling up and away from her. Once she reached him, she stared down at him.
"Weak piece of filth," she said. She reared back and kicked Neptu in the stomach, which sent him flying at least fifteen feet away. "I will kill to protect her, no matter what. No one will ever hurt her again."
"W-What are you?!" Neptu shouted from his position on the ground. "What the fuck are you?!" Nashi did not reply to this as she approached him once more, this time grabbing him by the neck. Hoisting him up, she regarded him coldly.
"I will burn you alive," She hissed. "Until the wind can sweep away the ashes."
"I-I give up..." Neptu hissed as drool began to trail from his mouth. "Y-You win..."
"Of course we did." Nashi hissed. "Because we, we are strong. You are weak." With this she turned and threw Neptu towards Natsu and Gin. He slid to a stop and simply shielded his head, waiting for the inevitable.
"Come on, come on!" Natsu hissed, punching his leg. 'Move, you stupid shit! Move...!"
"Disappear," Nashi said, raising a hand. Dark red flames circled there, and soon a typhoon of flames erupted from her palm and raced towards Neptu, who was simply cowering from fear.
Natsu could do nothing but watch as the flames reached Neptu.
"Will she be okay?" Terra asked. Both Wendy and Winter were working on saving Bella, who didn't look much better than before.
"She's lucky I got practice in with Damien." Wendy replied simply. "She'll be okay, but bedridden for weeks."
"Well that's good," Terra said, breathing a sigh of relief. As the girls continued to work. Terra felt her spine tingle. Turning, she looked out the window. There, out in the distance, the battlefield looked dark. Much darker than a moment ago.
I hope everything's okay out there...
Michael was still tailing Drake in pursuit of the fight, and he hoped they'd get their soon. If Nashi was in trouble, he was going to help. No chance in hell he would-
Michael fell backwards in surprised as a torrent of dark red flames flew up into the clouds from ahead of them. The flames persisted for about six seconds before disappearing, and Michael felt his whole body had become uncomfortably hot.
"What the hell was that?" Michael asked weakly. Drake focused, and his ears twitched. After a second or two, his eyes widened. "Drake?" Michael asked. "What did you hear?"
Drake's response was turning to stare at Michael in shock.
Natsu had averted his eyes as the flames truck Neptu, but the receding heat confused him. Looking up, he was greeted with quite a sight.
Gin, adorned in armor made of bones and wielding a sword, stood in between Neptu and Nashi. His sword looked molten hot, and he was in a defensive position. Making a face, Natsu looked up to see a circular hole in the clouds above them.
Did...Did Gin redirect the flames?!
"Gin..." Neptu said weakly as Gin stood up straight, regarding Nashi.
"Nashi," he said. "I don't know if you can hear me, but please stop this. The fight's over, Neptu has been beaten."
"Beaten?" Nashi asked. "No. Not until he's been erased from this world has he been beaten."
"There's no need to fight anymore," Gin said. "I'm begging you, stop."
"Or what?" Nashi demanded, tilting her head to the side. "Who's going to stop me? You? You're weak. We're strong."
"Maybe I am weak," Gin replied, grabbing his sword with two hands. "But if there's one thing I've been taught these past few days, it's too stand up for what you believe in."
"Than you shall die with him!" Nashi roared. She flung herself at Gin who took the tackle and flew away with her in hand. Neptu was staring down at his feet, but Natsu watched the ordeal from the ground.
Gin you stupid...
Well, I guess we didn't set a good example, now did we?
The rest of the battlefield was worn down and littered with the unconscious bodies of other Hunters. Their supplies, clothes and everything else littered around them. Surely, their side had done well.
An explosions rocked the area, and the man looked up to regard in carefully. It appeared as though as clash was happening in the skies. Fire resounded off Steel, and the two combatants looked like meteors. Soon they flew farther away, and the man sighed.
"What did I tell you, Natsu?" Gray Fullbuster demanded, feeling the Ice Devil Slaying tattoos appear up and down his body.
"It was only a matter of time. You should have told her."
I think I'll leave you guys hanging for now. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!
Chapter 265: Absolute Zero