Arc Finale is upon us! Let's get into it!
Enjoy!
Gin spread his wings and flew out of range just as the fireball flew past his head. Sparing a moment to watch it, he watched it crate a crater down on the ground. Gritting his teeth, he turned back towards Nashi.
If he could even use that name for her at this point.
He didn't know much about the situation, but judging by the way her father had described it to him, Nashi suffered a similar problem to him. And now, she'd lost control of whatever demons of her own she had. And Gin would stop her.
He flew at her and swung the sword, but the girl was faster and swatted it away from him, punching him in the stomach. The bony armor cracked and strained with every punch she delivered, and Gin worried soon it wouldn't protect him.
"Nashi!" He shouted, flying backwards. "I know you're in there! Please, you need to stop this!"
"We won't stop," Nashi replied, lowering her gaze at him. "Not until everyone who hurts her is dead."
"Hurts her?" Gin asked. "Are you trying to protect her? Is that your goal?"
"I will protect her," she replied. "I'll kill anyone who hurts her."
"Who are you?" Gin asked. Nashi didn't reply to him. "Do you have a name?"
"I don't need one," she replied. "I need no name to protect her. Only power. And I have SO MUCH POWER!" With this, a gout of flames erupted from Nashi's mouth and flew towards Gin, who dodged to the right. "I'LL KILL YOU!" she screamed, flying right for him. Gin lowered the sword to protect his body too take the charge and together they flew across the night sky, much like a meteor. Growling. Gin used all the strength he could manage and pushed Nashi away from him. Raising his blade, he swung in rapid motions, creating shock waves that forced her to dodge.
She didn't even have to try.
Gin barely had time to register what had happened before Nashi was once again at this throat, all his attempts at defense now for naught. He blocked another punch with his fist and flew downwards, back colliding with the ground. Groaning, Gin got to his feet as Nashi landed not far away.
"You're so strong," he said, panting. "Much more so than I had anticipated."
"I will protect her," Nashi replied. "No one will hurt her."
"And how long have you been protecting Nashi?" Gin asked, trying to get insight on what he was looking at. This question seemed to irritate the monster.
"Not long enough," she said. "I was always there, but could only watch. Watch as people hurt her time and time again. She was weak back then, and I couldn't even help. But now I will protect her, as I always should of. Together we're strong. Together we won't get hurt ever again!" With this she flew towards Gin, claws raised. Gin blocked it and groaned from the pressure she was putting into pushing the blade towards his own neck.
"Don't you realize you're hurting her?!" He asked. This seemed to catch her attention, and for a moment the pressure lessened.
"What?" She asked, voice deathly low and angry. "What did you just say?"
"What you're doing," Gin replied. "Fighting like this, it's not helping her. You're only hurting her more! What if you hurt her friends, or her family? You'll hurt her just like those in the past have!" The beast in her eyes seemed confused by this, but soon her gaze became angry again.
"I will protect," she hissed, pushing even harder on the blade. So hard in fact that Gin was brought to one knee. "I will kill to protect her!" Gin growled and spread his wings, and used them to fly out of the girls way. The force she was using catapulted her into the earth and made another crater. Gin watched as she slowly stepped out of it and watched him from the ground, not advancing.
Gin needed a plan. She was much more powerful than he had anticipated. It didn't seem to matter what he did, he was just always one the defensive.
"Perhaps if you fight at full strength you will be able to take her," a voice in Gin's head said. "She isn't holding back, why should you?"
"Not yet," Gin replied. This seemed to anger Mortavius. "I don't want to hurt her."
"Ugh, you're so soft kid..."
Gin's conversation with Mortavius was cut short as Nashi came at him again with a beastly roar, punching him in the chest. Gin watched as his chest plate shattered and fell to the earth, exposing his chest to attacks. Nashi went after him relentlessly, and he had no choice but to fall backwards. A fireball was launched at him, and the heat alone made his exposed skin feel as though it was boiling. He dodged it and flew for Nashi, aiming to hit her in the gut with the blunt end of his sword.
Nashi caught his blade, not allowing him to do so.
And with caused the two to once again be locked in a head on struggle, both pushing to gain the upper hand. It only slightly irritated Gin that she was only using one hand. Soon, the blade where she held began to heat up. Gin couldn't allow it to melt, so he backed up, much managed to deliver a kick to her stomach. Gin took advantage of this and used his wings to whip up a gale and Nashi flew backwards and into the ground from the force of the winds.
But Gin could not give her any ground. He simply couldn't.
Natsu could still hear the explosions, but he'd lost track of the brawl. It was just him and Neptu, lying where they had been left.
"Hey, Neptu." Natsu said, lifting his head slightly. The Devil Slayer was still face down in the dirt where Nashi had left him. "You okay?"
"...What the hell do you care?" He asked weakly.
"So you're alive then?" Natsu asked. "Good, because it isn't over yet."
"What the hell is the matter with you people?" Neptu demanded. "First you start this war over one boy, and then your daughter turns into a monster, and then..." Natsu watched Neptu's hands curl into fists. "That stupid boy jumps into save me after all that..." Natsu thought about this for a moment.
"Even he cares about the lives of those he disagrees with." He observed. "Must make you feel pretty arrogant, eh?"
"Shut the hell up, old man." Neptu hissed. "I don't want to hear it."
"I'm just saying, it's funny."
"Shut. Up." Natsu took the hint at this and slowly put his head back down. He stared up at the dark sky as explosions surrounded him, sounds of his daughter facing Gin. He'd never wanted her to lose so much in his life, but he doubted Gin could take her. She, END...Her power was unmeasured. And Natsu very much doubted she ranked below Gin.
BOOM!
Natsu winced as an explosion near them caused dirt and debris to fly everywhere, Coughing and rolling over, Natsu's eyes widened.
Gin stumbled out of the crater that had resulted from the blast, and half walked, half ran in their direction.
And then, like a rocket, a red dot appeared high in the sky. In only a couple seconds in had descend to ground level and slammed into Gin, who raised his sword to defend himself. The resulting shockwave of magic power sent Natsu flying away. Once he'd come to a stop, his curiosity forced him to look up.
Nashi had standing upright a few meters from Gin, who was down on one knee panting. Neptu had been thrown away by the blast as well, but from what Nashi could tell he'd caught her eye. Nashi walked towards him and looked down at him, whilst he stared back at her.
And then she stomped down on his back. Neptu cried out in pain from this.
"It seems the worm tried to hide," Nashi said as she drove her foot down even harder a second time. "No matter, I'll kill you now instead."
"Nashi!" Natsu shouted, causing her head to perk up. "Please don't do this! It isn't you!" Nashi turned to look at him, and despite the fear he felt, he held her gaze.
"You," she said, turning away from Neptu. "You do not get to speak on her behalf." Natsu made a face.
"What?" He asked. Nashi tilted her head slightly to the side.
"Where were you all those years?" She asked. "All those years Nashi suffered at the hands of those who'd hurt her. You were not there for her. But I was. I watched as she dealt with all that pain for so many years. And now, I can finally protect her." Natsu knew what she said made sense in a way, but her goal was still confusing him. "Together, we're powerful." She turned back to Neptu. "I will finish you off once I've dealt with this worm." With that, she raised her foot and coated it with flames, preparing to slam in down on Neptu's spine again.
"Stop!" Natsu watched as a shockwave tore through the earth towards Nashi, pushing her away from Neptu and making her stumble. Turning, Natsu saw Gin was on his feet once more, but he still didn't look good.
"You..." Nashi hissed.
"I'm your opponent!" Gin shouted. "Not Neptu or Natsu! So why don't you come and fight me?!"
"Gin you idiot..." Natsu hissed.
"Hmph," Nashi said, turning to Gin. "So you stand. No matter. I'll kill you. For her."
"All this talk of for her is pissing me off!" Gin shouted, brandishing his sword at her. "You aren't doing any of this for her! You're just a murderous beast! And I'll make sure you don't hurt Nashi ever again!" with this Gin flew towards Nashi and swung his blade down hard.
Nashi caught it with one hand.
"...I don't hurt her?" Nashi asked, voice low. The ground began to tremble. "Me? No. I only exist to protect Nashi. That is why I am who I am. I need no name, no humanity. All I need is to protect her. That is all. And protect her I will!" Natsu made a face. What...Did that mean...?
Nashi snapped the blade in two and kicked Gin backwards. She brought both her hands together, and soon magic energy started to gather there. The blast wasn't one Natsu wanted to be on the receiving end of, yet there Gin was, struggling to stand.
"Ah, fuck..." he hissed.
"I'll kill you!" Nashi shouted as the ball of flames stopped growing. "With this, I'll-!"
Nashi was interrupted as a blast of purple flames hit her in the back. Her spell disappeared as she stumbled and landed on her hands and knees. Natsu slowly looked over.
Neptu was standing. And yet, he looked so much different. Through the tears and burns in his clothes Natsu could see black wavy tattoos running up and down his body, including over his left eye.
"...You know," Neptu began as Nashi got to her feet. "I never thought I'd be defending a Demon Lord. And yet, I've been brought to that point. You, girl." This caught Nashi's attention. "I pledged my life to kill things like you. And now it seems I'm even protecting you're own kind from you."
"You're weak," Nashi hissed. "We're strong." Neptu managed a weak smile at this.
"You're right, I am weak. But as you said, we're strong." Nashi raised an eyebrow, but soon the ground began to tremble. Natsu looked over to see Gin shaking. Slowly his skin began to grow pasty white, and dark red veins lined his body. He got to his feet and cracked his neck.
"Is that the full force of The Brute?" Neptu asked.
"It sure is." Gin replied.
"Better work, kid."
"Sure did a number on Quinn." Gin retaliated. The two now had Nashi pinned between them, but she didn't seem worried.
"I'm stronger than both of you," she said. "We're stronger. If you wish to die, than come and let me END YOU!"
Lucy winced with every explosion she heard. Every one brought her back to that day, the day she'd first seen the destructive power of such magic.
A cry interrupted her thoughts.
Looking down, Lucy watched Luke grab at her with a frown on his face. She smiled weakly at him and moved him closer to her.
"Don't worry Luke." She said. "Daddy will come home soon. Your sister too. Don't worry." With this she raised her head back up to the sound of more explosions.
Don't worry.
"Fire Devil's Rage!" Neptu shouted, the purple flames raging towards Nashi. The girl became engulfed in the fire, but she roared and swatted them away. As she did so Gin swooped in and delivered a punch to her back, which sent her flying forwards. She turned back and launched fireballs at him, but he avoided them all. Neptu took his chance to run at her and engage in hand to hand combat, purple flames to dark red. The two clashed, fire flying every which way as both fought for dominance. Neptu took a punch to the gut, and backed off. This allowed to fly in and tackle her down, before flying back to Neptu's side.
"You okay?" Gin asked.
"Focus on her," Neptu replied, panting. He wasn't in good shape at all. "We need to take her down."
"I know, but you aren't looking too hot."
"I'm not. I've got one large attack in me, and we'd better use it to take her down or else we're toast." Gin nodded.
"Shall I distract her?" He asked. Neptu shrugged.
"You'd better be fast enough to get out of the way kid, lest I get two demons with one attack." Gin nodded and took off towards Nashi, and Neptu began gathering power in his hands. He exerted himself as much as possible while keeping an eye on the fight between Gin and Nashi, all while getting light headed from all the magic gathering in his hands.
"Alright, this might make me pass out, but it's all I've got left." He muttered to himself. "Devil Slayer Secret Art!" With this the flames began to take shape, and he looked towards Gin."Alright kid, get the fuck out of there!" Gin didn't move. Instead, he flew back and delivered a punch to the ground near Nashi. A chasm opened up and Nashi fell inside. It was small, but just enough to prevent her from moving.
"Now!" Gin shouted. Neptu nodded and raised his hands.
"Fire Devil's Asteroid Strike!" Feeling the magic leave him, Neptu managed to look up as he collapsed, the mass of magic speeding towards the captured girl.
BOOM!
Natsu shielded his eyes once more as Neptu's blast connected. Once he deemed it safe to look up he did so. He overlooked the smokescreen the blast had sent up, pondering what had happened.
"Did I..." Neptu asked weakly. "Did I get her?"
"I...Don't know." Gin replied. "Maybe?" Natsu didn't know either. He watched the smoke weakly, praying they had indeed gotten Nashi to go down.
A blast of fire exiting the smoke and slamming into Neptu was his answer. The blast clearly did a number on him, as he rolled back and only weakly tried to get back up, The smoke cleared, and Nashi still stood in the center. Her clothes were torn which revealed more of her body, but she still stood. Nashi was hunched over in the center of the blast zone, panting angrily.
Die..." She hissed. Natsu's eyes widened as she flew up from the crater and right towards Gin, who couldn't move. "Die! Die! DIE!" The girl rocketed right for Gin. and Natsu closed his eyes, fearing the worst.
The worst never came. At least not that Natsu could tell. He'd been expecting an explosion, a blast, a roar, anything to signify Gin had met Nashi's claws. And yet he heard nothing. Natsu slowly looked up, terrified as to what he could see.
Nashi was encased in ice, her frozen claws mere inches from Gin's terrified face. A trail of ice connected her to the ground, as she'd been in the air. When he exhaled, Natsu noticed his breath had created heat around him.
"Nice timing," he said weakly.
"I showed up, didn't I?" The voice replied. Natsu forced himself into a sitting up position, and looked up to find Gray standing before him. "Just in time it seems, too."
"Yeah," Natsu agreed. Gray offered him a hand, and Natsu took it. Once he was on his feet, he looked back over at Nashi. She seemed still, so perhaps Gray had gotten her to calm down.
"What now?" Gray asked. Natsu sighed.
"I don't know," he replied.
"Well you'd better find out." Gray replied. "Cause now we have a fucking problem." Natsu looked over at Gray at this, but the man was already glaring at him. "Right now, Nashi is a ticking time bomb. Who the hell knows what could set her off. And now we're all in danger. So you need to come up with a plan. You need to tell her the truth."
"Easier said than done," Natsu replied weakly.
"Than do it!" Gray shouted. "Because right now, you're daughter isn't here! It's the monster you gave her! And lord knows when she decides to break the surface and attack us all! We need to-!"
"Shut the hell up!" Natsu shouted. "Stop acting like you know what to do! Yeah sure, it's pretty easy to act so high and fucking might from the sidelines isn't it asshole?! If you were me, you wouldn't have a fucking clue what to do! So shut up!" This silenced Gray for a moment, and Natsu tried to calm down.
"..Look," Gray started. "Natsu, this isn't just a possibility anymore. It's not if, it's when. Sooner or later that beast is gonna rise to the surface again, and when she does we need a plan of action. What're we going to do?"
"...I need time," Natsu replied. "Time to think about this. I have a lot to consider."
"Natsu..."
"Enough," Natsu replied. "I need to think, that's the end of it. Got it?" Gray looked ready to argue, but closed his eyes with a sigh.
"Fine," He said. "You've got two weeks. If you don't come to us with a plan, I'll come up with one. And trust me, neither of us will like it." Natsu watched his friend carefully, but Gray didn't back down.
"Yeah...okay," He said. "Two weeks. I'll try and see if I come with with anyth-"
"What the hell is going on here?" A voice asked. Natsu felt his head spinning at this. He and Gray turned slowly to see Drake and Michael standing off to the side, eyes wide with confusion.
"Drake, Michael..." Natsu muttered.
"What happened?" Drake asked weakly. "Why is Nashi frozen, Gray?"
"Uh..." Gray started weakly.
"Yeah, I'd like someone to explain this as we-!"
Michael was interrupted by an explosion of ice and an angry roar. Natsu turned back to find Nashi had broken free of her icy casing, and was now observing the four angrily.
"Ah shit..." Gray muttered. Nashi panted as she glared at them all, and Gray raised his hand in preparation to freeze her again.
"Wait!" Natsu looked over to see Drake grabbing Gray's arm. "Don't!"
"What the fuck are you doing, kid?!" Gray yelled. "You wanna die?!" Drake didn't respond, he just forced Gray's arm down. Once he had, he turned to Nashi and walked forward slowly.
"Drake, stop!" Natsu shouted. He too was ignored.
"Hey Nashi," Drake said calmly. "What're you doing?" Natsu watched, terrified, but Nashi didn't attack. "Come on, the battle's over. You don't need to fight anymore. We won." Nashi regarded Drake oddly. "So how about you calm down and come home? I'm sure you're tired."
"..."
"Come on, calm down." He said. "It's over."
"..Over."
Natsu watched in shock as the flames around Nashi dissipated. The horns and claws disappeared, and her skin returned to it's regular tone instead of being pitch black in places. With this, she collapsed into Drake's arms, all trace of an Etherious gone from her.
"What the hell...?" Gray demanded. Drake turned to them, still holding Nashi up.
"Explain, now." He said as Michael ran towards them. "I want to know what's going on, and I know you two know. Don't make me listen to you." Natsu made a face.
"Well, you see-"
He didn't get to talk before Gray had frozen the three of them solid. Natsu turned to him angrily, but Gray returned his stare easily.
"What?" He demanded. "You want them blabbing about this while you think things over? No. I'll call Mest down here and rewrite the memories of these two. Alright?"
"...Alright." Natsu agreed. Gray nodded before turning in Neptu and Gin's direction.
"You two," he said, making both look up at him. "As payment for saving your lives, I don't want either of you speaking of this ever again. If you do, you'll be getting a visit from a friend of ours. Got it?"
"...Yeah," Gin said. "Not a word. Neptu only nodded, seeming to weak for many words. Gray nodded and walked over to the frozen kids, and made a small hovering disk to carry them with. He lowered the icy casing on the three, revealing that he'd knocked them out. He placed them on the disk and walked back towards Natsu, eyes on him.
"Two weeks, Natsu." He said as he reached him. "A plan." Natsu nodded.
"A plan," he agreed. Gray then walked off, leaving Natsu with Gin and Neptu. Slowly looking up at the sky, Natsu regarded the night stars calmly.
Things will never be the same. Not after today.
"Come on man, we ought to get you some help." Neptu made a face as Gin said this, picking him off of the ground. The Demon slung him over his shoulder and together they limped in the direction the other man had gone.
"...Why?" Neptu asked, coughing.
"Why what?" Gin asked.
"Why're you trying to help me?" He asked weakly. "I tried to kill you, wanted you dead. And not only do you save my life, you're now trying to help me more. Why?" Gin smiled weakly.
"All life is precious," Gin replied. "Humans to the smallest bug on the ground. I never wanted to hurt you, so why leave you for dead? You don't deserve that." Neptu coughed and laughed at the same time.
"Debatable," he replied. "I've done more than enough to you to deserve a shallow grave."
"And yet here we are," Gin said. "Is that what you think Drakhosz would've done to you?" Neptu didn't reply to this. "Everyone's different, Neptu. I don't want you to die because you fought for what you believed in." Neptu remained silent as they passed Natsu and walked towards the walled city in the distance, pondering Gin's words.
Everyone's different, eh?
And as such, Skylancer comes to an end! What a hype arc, hm? I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!
Chapter 266: A New Path