Fairy May Cry - Devil's Retribution

by Iron117Prime

After seven years, Dante and the rest of Fairy Tail have returned from Tenrou Island. So much has changed since their absence; a guild called Sabertooth is now at the top spot, the forces of the Underworld are starting to become more active, and what's this new religious movement called the Order of the Sword? Times might have changed, but the insanity of Fairy Tail has not.

52. Sin and Sacrifice

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Fairy May Cry. I know that this has been a very long story arc for all of you, and I agree that this has been going on longer than I would have liked, despite my attempts to remove any unnecessary filler from the canon anime, I also gotta make sure the story is properly balanced so that everyone gets their time to shine in battles as well as emotional impacts that affect the story overall. And with so many characters in this story arc, you can see why it's going on for so long right now. But I promise that we're nearing the end soon. In fact, there are just two more chapters remaining for the battle, including this one, afterwards we got three more chapters to serve as an epilogue of sorts to tie up any loose ends before moving forward.

Now with that out of the way, let's get into it.

Sin and Sacrifice

Explosions went up all across the city of Crocus. What was once a mighty and beautiful capital has now become a warzone as the allied wizards threw everything that they had against the army of Motherglare spawn. Despite being outnumbered, the wizards' teamwork and coordination appeared to even the playing field.

Juvia threw out her hands to unleash a stream of water to wash away three mini-dragons down the street, with four more about to come at her from behind, only for Elfman's Lizardman form to appear and take the hit from their breath attacks. The take-over user had crossed his arms to protect himself as well as Juvia.

Just then, the four mini-dragons were trapped in a four-sided barrier that walled them off from their surroundings, courtesy of Freed as he hovered in the air above them with his Dark Ecriture wings, Evergreen and Bickslow were also hovering by his side as they rained their respective magic attacks on mini-dragons to rip them apart.

"Elfman, are you alright?" Juvia asked as the smoke cleared to reveal Elfman's Lizardman form was still standing, albeit with some scratches and burns.

"Yeah, this is nothing." The transformed man smirked. "A real man wouldn't fall to a puny attack like that."

"You having more muscles than brains does have its benefits at times." Evergreen commented as she and her teammates landed next to them.

"Not sure if that was an insult or a compliment." Elfman said.

"The fact that you don't even know the difference only proves my point." She snarked.

"Really!? You gonna dis me now?!" Elfman growled.

"Hey, now is not the time to flirt!" Bickslow stepped in between them to push them apart.

"We're not flirting!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Please tell me that Gray and I are not like that." Juvia said to Freed.

"I'd… honestly rather not answer that." Freed replied before speaking through their Archive Link. "This is Fairy Tail Group A, this avenue is clear. Please direct us to the next location."

---

"Alright. It looks like Lamia Scale's run into a rather large pack twenty meters from your location." Warren said as he, Warren, and all the gathered Guildmasters continued to help direct and coordinate everyone alongside them back at the center plaza. "You might wanna lend them a hand."

"Blue Pegasus, how are you holding up, babies?" Bob contacted his subordinates.

---

"Man, we appear to be caught between a rock and a hard place." Ichiya communicated as he, Nichiya, Jenny, Eve, and Ren were caught at an intersection with two groups of mini-dragons surrounding them as Jenny, currently clad in her Flamethrower Machina Soul, alongside Eve and Ren, used their respective magics to try and fight back.

"Meow! We may require more assistance here!" Nichiya requested as he decapitated one mini-dragon with his sword, only to end up facing two more as they tried to pounce at him.

But several bolts of magic came from the sides to not only blast those two, but the entire group of enemies away, much to the surprise of Nichiya and his guildmates. Their saviors happened to be none other than Rune Knights.

"Blue Pegasus, you called for aid? Then let us provide with you some."

"Rune Knights?" Eve questioned before he, Ren, and Jenny then focused their magic fire power on the group of mini-dragons in front of them with the ones behind them dealt with.

"Didn't expect to see you guys here." Ren commented.

"Even if there is some tension between the guilds and the Magic Council right now, we both have the same objective currently, and that is to protect the innocent." One Rune Knight said. "So let us work together to achieve that goal."

All the members of Blue Pegasus smiled. "Thank you." Ichiya nodded. "Now then… let us show these monstrosities that humanity is not to be trifled with!"

With that, the conjoined group pushed forward against the remaining mini-dragons in the area, making quick work of them.

---

"I'm getting reports from all over!" Warren reported. "Looks like the Rune Knights are helping us out!"

"Good, cause we need all the help we can get right now." Goldmine said.

---

The Fairy Tail team that consisted of Romeo, Macao, Wakaba, Nab, Laki, Alzack, and Bisca appeared surrounded on all sides as those with long-ranged magic attacks fired at the incoming mini-dragons. And despite several being taken down, more than half of that group still remained as those left fired all their breath attacks.

"Heads up!" Laki used her Wood-Make magic to try and throw up a barrier, but it got blown away by the blasts, resulting in Laki being blasted back herself with a scream.

"Laki!" Wakaba was quick to catch her as Romeo and Macao threw their combined purple flame attacks to burn away those dragons.

"Come on, how many of these things are there?!" Romeo questioned in irritation.

"Sure, we're out-numbered, kiddo." Macao said before smiling. "But how is that any different from before?"

That caused Romeo to smile back to his dad before regaining some confidence as he threw a wave of blue flames to freeze three of the mini-dragons in front of him. "I got these stuck!"

"Great, we'll finish em off!" Alzack said as he and his wife loaded their guns and fired at the frozen dragons, causing them to shatter.

"Talk about breaking the ice." Bisca joked.

However, none of them seemed to notice one mini-dragon creeping up to the group and was about to pounce on Romeo. But Nab quickly did.

"Hey, look out!" He tried to warn the kid, who only turned around to look in a startle as the mini-dragon leapt towards him.

All time began to slow as Macao tried desperately to reach for his son, with the rest of his comrades trying to do the same, and Romeo found himself frozen and unable to move as the monster was ready to tear him apart with its fangs and claws.

Only for Doranbolt to suddenly appear in-between them, thanks to his Direct Line, and land a solid kick in the jaw to knock the mini-dragon back, prompting Macao, Alzack, and Bisca to obliterate it by their combined magics.

"You okay?" Doranbolt turned around to Romeo with concern.

"Eh… yeah." He smacked his own head to focus himself. "Thanks…"

Doranbolt smiled at that. "You guys look like you could use a hand. Don't worry, all the Rune Knights are now working to help Fairy Tail and everyone else keep these things from escaping and going after the civilians."

"Hey… uh…" Macao got his attention, coughing slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck before looking to the Rune Knight who once infiltrated their own guild with an awkward, yet sincere and grateful expression. "Thank you… for helping my son."

"Well, what good is saving the world without a newer and better generation to inherit it?" Doranbolt asked rhetorically before looking to Romeo again with a smile. "They got a lot more choices available for them, so let's make sure the mistakes we adults make don't get in their way."

Wakaba chuckled slightly as he helped Laki back up. "Even if you did sneak into our guild, you sound just like a Fairy Tail wizard."

"What can I say? You guys rubbed off on me." Doranbolt shrugged. "Now, I'd say that's enough chit-chat. Let's get to work."

---

From that point on, the additional forces of the Rune Knights ended up joining all the teams of guild wizards, leveling the playing field against the army of mini-dragons. Though they themselves weren't joined in with the conjoined telepathic link that all the guild wizards had established beforehand, they were well coordinated enough with each other that they seemed to go along with the wizards' actions swimmingly.

Lamia Scale's group, Quatro Puppy, Mermaid Heel and Meredy, and even the other Fairy Tail groups, all of them received some much needed aid to fight back against the enemy.

One particular group that consisted of Jura, Mira, Jet, Droy, Max, and Reedus, were quickly surrounded by at least twenty mini-dragons from all sides as they unleashed their breath attacks upon the group.

Fortunately, Jura was quick to raise a circular rock barrier around them all to shield them from the blasts. This enabled Mira, still in her Halphas form, to fly over and unleash multiple destructive energy blasts to blow away eight of them all at once on one side, while Jura exploded the rock barrier on the other side to send multiple rock fragments to tear through ten more with little issue.

"Yeah, I can see why we don't got any back up here." Jet said.

"We don't even need it." Droy added as they continued to watch the She-Devil and Wizard Saint go to town on all the surrounding Mini-Dragons. "These two can handle things on their own."

---

"Heh, look at that." Hibiki commented as he continued to look at the multitude of Archive Magic screens surrounding them. "We're actually pushing them back."

"Yeah. Guess the Magic Council's actually doing some good for once." Warren added.

"Don't get cocky, boys!" Ooba warned. "We're still a long way from being done here!"

"Agreed." Darton said seriously. "Those are just foot soldiers. It's the real dragons I'm worried about."

"It looks like the Dragon Slayers and their teams are holding their own for now." Goldmine commented.

"But for how long?" Bob asked. "They all gotta be exhausted from the Games… and these dragons are not like any foe they've faced before."

"They don't have to defeat them, just stall them." Makarov said as he glanced up once again at the center of the circle to see the spirits of Sparda and Mavis, both with their eyes closed as they hovered in the air back-to-back in meditative-like trances, coordinating everyone's efforts and sending instructions to those in this circle, who in turn, sent it to everyone else scattered throughout this ruined city. "Stall them long enough for the Eclipse Gate to be destroyed."

"Once the Gate is destroyed, all those that were pulled to our present should be sent back to their respective times." King Toma added. "Or to be more specific, the one who orchestrated all of this, who apparently came from the future. If the Gate in the present, our enemy's past, is destroyed now… they will have no means to travel back and will be pulled away from this moment in time."

"Which means, all the dragons that our enemy has summoned through the Eclipse Gate will disappear, returning to the past." Darton put in.

"We got two dragons currently at the Eclipse Gate, Laxus, Wendy, and everyone else seem to be holding them back... so hopefully Lucy and Yukino should be able to destroy the Gate soon." Warren said.

"Celestial Spirit Magic is the only magic that can damage the Gate." Makarov said before sighing. "Oh, how I hate putting such a terrible burden on those children… but they are our only hope now."

Suddenly, the sounds of roars had caught their attention as they all looked in a certain direction to see a pack of a dozen mini-dragons climb their way up to the center plaza and growling at those gathered together.

"We got company!" Goldmine warned.

"Your majesty, stay back!" Darton, and several royal soldiers, quickly stood in front of the king to protect him.

In that instant, all of the mini-dragons charged at the group. But before they got too close, Makarov, who had his eyes closed, suddenly shot them open to reveal a bright golden light as a powerful magical aura emanated from his body. The force of the aura itself was enough to push all of the mini-dragons back before Makarov grew to seven times his original size, where he lifted his foot and proceeded to stomp on all the mini-dragons, crushing them instantly.

Hibiki, Darton, the royal soldiers, and even the king himself, they all looked in surprise at that quick and suddenly display of power, while Warren and the other guildmasters, particularly Goldmine and Bob, looked rather unsurprised.

"Maky's still got it." Bob smiled.

"Yeah, not bad for an old man." Goldmine grinned.

---

"White Dragon Roar!" The Dragon Force Sting shot a beamed breath attack at Scissor Runner, though the dragon braced himself to tank the attack, it seemed to leave him open for Aurora to come in at incredible speeds and deal a punch to his face, toppling the dragon over and right towards Rogue, who was also in his Dragon Force.

"Shadow Dragon Waxwing Flash!" Leaping past Scissor Runner's face and slashing his hand out, his whole body being covered in shadows, Rogue unleashed a torrent of shadows across Scissor Runner's head as he fell back down and landed on his back, leaving him open for Sting to attack next as Lector flew him over the dragon's body.

"Holy Ray!" He pulled both his hands back and sent them out to unleash a barrage of white energy beams that struck Scissor Runner all over, engulfing the dragon in a powerful explosion of white light.

"Did we get him?" Lector asked as he flew Sting back and near Aurora.

"What do you think?" The Wizard Saint replied rhetorically.

Rogue looked towards the smoke cloud with a sneaking suspicion, focusing his senses for any possible sign of movement to maybe predict what the dragon would do next.

Only to be taken off guard as Scissor Runner's hand quickly emerged from the smoke to backhand Rogue and send him flying away.

"Rogue!" Frosch flew up to catch him just as their draconic adversary prepared a breath attack and aimed it at Sting, Lector, and Aurora.

"Incoming breath attack!" Sting warned.

Acting quickly, Aurora punched the ground with enough force that she sent a cluster of debris to act as makeshift cover before Scissor Runner unleashed a cyclone of razor-sharp winds from his mouth. And while Aurora's cover was blown away, Sting still tried to fight back.

"White Dragon Holy Breath!" Releasing an even more powerful version of his typical breath attack to intercept Scissor Runner's razor-sharp cyclone, what resulted was a powerful explosion that only seemed to hold back against Scissor Runner's attack, leading it to ultimately push through and knock away all three of them.

"No!" Rogue and Frosch both looked in shock to see the trail of destruction that resulted. But even they were surprised at what they saw at the end of that trail.

Aurora had stood tall, her arms crossed in front of her as she stood in front of the surprised Sting, who had been holding Lector close for his protection. The Dragon Slayer was covered in cuts and bruises, albeit nothing serious, but he and his best friend were more than a little surprised to see Aurora standing after all that.

"How… how are you…?" Sting muttered.

"My armor was built to contain the absurd strength of my body." The Wizard Saint explained. "I was born with strength that one could consider divine, to the point that I could easily snap someone's limb off like a twig. And it doesn't come with an off-switch. Nobody knows for sure where this 'divine strength' came from, not even me. So, I wear this Pegasus Armor to keep it all contained and limit myself. That said, this armor can take the likes of a Jupiter Cannon. But even if the armor is borderline indestructible, I can still feel the force behind it… and that breath attack was still something." She said with a half smirk to reveal her partially bleeding face.

'She has to wear armor that can tank a Jupiter Cannon just to keep her strength at bay? Damn…!' Sting looked in awe. 'I bet even Vergil would have a hard time with her.'

"Think you're divine strength is gonna be enough to help us kill this dragon?" Lector asked. "Sting's a Dragon Slayer, but not even he and Rogue together seem to be so much as stopping him."

"I don't know. I never fought a dragon before." Aurora answered as they saw Scissor Runner moving closer to them with a growl. "And even if we could, we can't kill him."

"Are you serious?" Sting questioned. "This guy's stronger than you?"

"No, I mean we literally can't kill him!" Aurora retorted as she saw Scissor Runner expanding his wings, preparing to unleash an attack as powerful winds were generated in the flaps of his wings. Aurora quickly grabbed Sting and Lector and leapt away just as Scissor Runner flapped his wings to unleash a massive torrent of razor winds to further shred the area. "These dragons all came through the Eclipse Gate! They're from the past!" Aurora continued as she landed on a rooftop to set down Sting and Lector. "If they die here, they vanish from the past and that could mess with the timeline!"

"So… even if we are able kill them…" Sting figured out with a surprised realization.

"We shouldn't. We're not supposed to." Aurora admitted with a frustrated look of her own.

"You're kidding…!" Lector couldn't believe it. "So how are we supposed to stop them?!"

"By holding them off until the Eclipse Gate is destroyed." Aurora answered. "Fairy Tail is working on that now, so we just gotta hold them here until that happens! Endure it!"

"Sorry… but endurance ain't my strong suit..." Sting admitted reluctantly.

"Did you hear that, Rogue?" Frosch asked as he continued to keep his beloved Dragon Slayer airborne. "We can't stop these dragons…" The poor Exceed was already crying.

"No, she said we can't kill them…" Rogue corrected, but that's also what caught his attention. 'We can't kill them, because they're from the past, and doing so would affect our future…' The young man soon gasped with realization. "Frosch, I have an idea!"

Scissor Runner appeared before Sting, Aurora, and Lector again as they stood on the rooftop, ready to face the dragon once more, with Sting's Dragon Force form currently glowing brightly.

"Foolish humans. This is the price you pay for thinking you can contend with us." The dragon growled. "Now, be wiped away like the vermin that you are!" Scissor Runner was prepared to unleash another breath attack.

"Oh no! Here comes another one!" Lector warned.

"Get ready to move!" Aurora stated.

Suddenly, Frosch flew Rogue directly in front of Scissor Runner and extended both his arms out to open himself up and expose himself, much to the surprise of everyone, including Scissor Runner.

"Rogue! Frosch! Get out of the way!" Sting shouted in a panic.

But the breath attack was already unleashed, another cyclone of razor winds had been blown out from the dragon's mouth, which had completely obliterated a line of buildings…

All completely missing the building that Sting, Lector, and Aurora were currently on. The three looked forward in complete surprise at what they saw.

It was Rogue, who had landed a successful shadowy punch, into Scissor Runner's face, who had moved his head at the last second to divert his breath attack.

"You changed your trajectory at the last minute." The Shadow Dragon Slayer looked the dragon dead in the eye as he glared down at the human. "You had to, or else you'd end up killing me, and you can't do that. The one holding your leash gave you orders not too, right?"

Aurora gasped in surprise. 'That's right! Based on what that dragon said… Rogue, or something controlling him, is supposed to be the one who orchestrates this catastrophe! So just like the dragons…'

"If I die here, then none of you will arrive to this point in time." Rogue looked with a smirk at the glaring dragon right before he unleashed a flurry of shadows to completely cover Scissor Runner's face. "Please tell me if I'm wrong."

"You're so smart, Rogue!" Frosch smiled ecstatically.

"Very clever." Scissor Runner growled. "But did you really think that your puny attacks would be enough to stop me?"

"Maybe not. But it does make a good enough distraction." Rogue's smirk was still present, even as Sting appeared on one side with Lector flying him up close, and Aurora leaping in from the other side as they both pulled back their fists and struck at the base of Scissor Runner's neck, sending the dragon tumbling down into the rubble behind him.

"Rogue, what did you do?" Sting asked his partner as they hovered alongside each other, thanks to their respective Exceed partners, while Aurora landed on the ground below them.

"I don't know about destiny or time-travel or anything of the sort." Rogue explained. "But we do know for sure that this dragon, and likely all the others, won't kill me. So, I'll go in up front, keep his focus on me while the rest of you attack him from all sides. As long as I'm nearby, he can't afford to use his more powerful attacks or else risk my own life."

Aurora smiled. "Now that's using your head. There may be hope for you guys yet."

A roar had caught their attention as Scissor Runner quickly rose up from the rubble.

"That's one stubborn lizard!" Lector commented with wide eyes.

"Just follow the plan and we'll be alright!" Rogue stated.

"Well, you heard him! Let's go!" Aurora exclaimed as they went straight for the roaring Scissor Runner once more.

---

"Iron Dragon Sword!"

"Steel Devil Void Blade!"

With both of their arms converting into their respective blades, Gajeel and Lady struck Agate in the chest area with a cross slash, taking the form of an X which exploded and chipped away some of his outer rock armor as the Rock Dragon backed away slightly before swinging his tail in retaliation.

Fortunately, both Fairy Tail members were able to avoid it by running on opposite sides to strike the dragon all over however they could.

"Steel Devil Bullet Barrage!" Lady had drawn her pistols and fired as she ran along Agate's left side, while Gajeel performed a similar action.

"Iron Dragon Spear: Demon Wall!" Gajeel's arm had converted into a lance as he lunged it repeatedly to send multiple bolts of his magic across Agate's right side, creating explosions that chipped away more of his rock armor.

"What's wrong, big guy?" Lady smirked as she came at his behind. "That rock-hard too slow to keep up?"

"It does have its advantage." Agate replied as a surge of magic grew around his large form, causing the ground in the general area to shake like an earthquake had suddenly appeared, much to the concern of Gajeel and Lady, right before a massive and circular shockwave exploded out from the rock dragon to tear the ground up, sending both wizards high and up into the sky.

"Such raw power…!" Lily looked in surprise as he continued to carry the shocked Levy, who was quick to use her Solid Script Magic to erect a pair of clouds to catch both Gajeel and Lady before they could fall back down, but she wasn't done yet.

"Solid Script: Poison Cloud!" The word 'POISON' was written in front of her, made entirely out of green vapor, which was then blown directly into Agate's face. "Dragons have heightened senses, including a sense of smell. I don't know if that poison will be enough to do any damage, but it should still hurt at least."

"Very clever. Well done, Levy." Lily granted.

However, that poison cloud was quickly blown away by a gust of wind that escaped from Agate's mouth, almost like he was just blowing it all away with a whiff, much to the shock of Levy and Panther-Lily.

"What…?!" The young woman looked in surprise.

"The senses of a dragon are indeed superior to humans, yes." Agate spoke to Levy directly, causing her to shiver slightly as this enormous beast focused his attention on her. "And while my hearing and sight are of a higher caliber, I do not have a nose. So your little poison cloud, while clever, has no effect on me whatsoever."

Levy gasped in audible horror at that.

"Now die!" Agate unleashed a breath attack upwards, which consisted of a stream of boulders and sand from his mouth. And while Lily was able to pull Levy out of the way, Agate simply re-directed his aim so that the stream of rocks and sand could come close to striking the two, with the force of it being strong enough to knock both of them out of the air and sent plummeting hard to the ground.

"Levy! Lily!" Gajeel exclaimed in shock as he saw them both land with hard thuds. Though his senses could pick up their breathing as they both were still alive, it was still a very close call.

Agate laughed. "Oh, how I've missed this. Hunting weak little humans. They are a good source of protein, but breaking their spirits is satisfying in of itself." Suddenly, a streak of silver light struck Agate in the face, creating an explosion that irritated him as the angered Lady was now standing in-between his eyes.

"How about I break your face instead?! Steel Devil Nemean Cestus!" Lady's arms were covered in the lion-headed gauntlets, which she used to strike in Agate's face repeatedly, specifically in his eye area as she cleared away the protective rock armor to strike the soft flesh around his eyes, causing Agate to roar in both pain and agitation. In response, the angered Rock Dragon charged forward at high speeds and rammed his head through one building, striking Lady first before emerging out from the collapsing structure to slam his head, and Lady, into the wall of the second, breaking it apart as Lady was sent crashing through that building and rolling hard across the ground on the street on the other side.

"You will pay for that!" Agate growled, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck as Gajeel had landed to smash both his pillar arms so hard in the back of Agate's neck area that it broke away a large piece of his stone armor.

"That's my line! You hurt my cat and my girl! So, now I'm gonna tear you to shreds! Iron Dragon Roar!" Unleashing a torrent of metals from his mouth, up close and personal on the exposed neck area, was enough to really tear at the soft flesh underneath the rocky armor and cause Agate an intense amount of pain, causing the dragon to roar even more as Gajeel continue pressing his attack.

---

"Poison Dragon Fang Thrust!" Erik, still in his Dragon Force form, lunged his hand to shoot out a large cluster of poison, taking the form of a large-fanged snake head that went straight for Voidar's face, biting him around his jaw area to force it closed. "No breath attacks from you!" Erik said as he kept his arm extended, using his other one to hold it steady, and keeping his attack going to ensure that Voidar's mouth was sealed closed, even as the large dragon struggled to shake it off. "Hey! Anytime you wanna hit him!"

"Ariel!" Sorano waved her hands to summon an angel, this one having the appearance of a humanoid lion with angel-like wings and brown fur with a long golden mane. The summon sunk its claws into the ground below, which lead to large stone hands to emerge from the ground, all on the shape of lion-claws, as they grappled onto Voidar's feet. "I got him! He's not going anywhere!"

"Thank you!" The Devil Trigger Modeus flew at Voidar, Hunter's Moon held backwards as he quickly and rapidly slashed Voidar across his body, striking all across his under belly, neck, back, and wings with Erik and Sorano doing their best to hold the struggling dragon down. After the twentieth slash, Modeus slid past the dragon with his red sword being held outward. Just then, twenty large Crescent-Moon shaped marks appeared all across Voidar's body before they all exploded, causing the dragon to give a muffled growl in pain.

However, the dragon was far from done. Pulling his wings back and using all of the strength that he had, Voidar unleashed it all at once to shoot himself up into the sky, breaking free from both Sorano and Erik's restraints. The force of his escape was enough to knock the two of them down as well.

"Erik, your attacks are poisonous, right?! So shouldn't this guy be slowing down by now!?" Sorano called to her former guildmate.

"Never fought a monster this big before!" Erik called back. "Still, he's gotta have so much poison going through him right now! I'm just as shocked as you!"

"As you said, you've never faced a dragon before. So your poison, even if it is that of a Dragon Slayer, is slow to work compared to how it would affect the likes of humans." Modeus deduced. "Still though, if you keep hitting him, and the rest of us keep him moving, Voidar will continue to exhaust himself, allowing all those poisons to flow more throughout his body. We just have to keep doing what we're doing now!"

"You use poison?!" Voidar questioned as he hovered above the group. "A feeble tactic! If your goal is indeed to wear me down and allow the poison to take hold, then I will just have to end this battle here and now!" Voidar's mouth opened up as a black mass formed at the back of his throat, where a vacuum-like force was already beginning to take hold.

The Devil Trigger Modeus' own eyes widened in shock. "Both of you! Behind me now!" He warned. No time to argue, Sorano and Erik quickly came behind Modeus just as Voidar unleashed a giant black sphere from his mouth, straight to the ground below. It was a miniature black hole!

"Lunar God of Protection: Khonsu!" A giant white falcon appeared behind Modeus as it folded its wings around himself and his two comrades right as the black hole hit the ground, causing it to quickly expand and begin sucking up everything around it. All of the surrounding debris and buildings were quickly pulled into the growing black hole, and even traces of Modeus' demonic power from his protection spell while it kept the three of them relatively safe, but even they still felt the strong suction force pulling them forward.

"Hadraniel!" Sorano had summoned her protective angel inside Modeus' own tecnique, which further wrapped its wings around all three of them while Erik used a shielding spell of his own.

"Poison Dragon Venom Shield!" Erik threw his hands out, unleashing a veil of liquid venom that appeared all around the outside of Modeus' white falcon, giving them three layers of protection as the black hole continued to expand.

Erik's shield was the first to give way as the venom was sucked in, leaving the white falcon as it began to crack more and more, with Hadraniel cracking up somewhat as well, despite Modeus and Sorano struggling to keep up their respective shields.

Finally, the black hole stopped expanding before it quickly collapsed in on itself and vanished without a trace. And as it did, Modeus' protection spell fell apart, as did Sorano's, leaving the three somewhat exhausted as they took a moment to catch their breath and observe the damage done in front of them.

There was a massive crater right in front of them, one that was almost a hundred feet deep and the same length in diameter. Such a feat caused Erik and Sorano to look in genuine shock.

"Holy shit…" Erik muttered.

"Such is the power of the Voidar, the Black Hole Dragon." Modeus noted seriously as they gazed upward at the hovering dragon that glare down at him. "This won't be an easy fight."

"Yeah… but when has that ever stopped any of us?" Sorano asked rhetorically with a smirk. An expression that was shared by Erik and even Modeus himself before they went on the attack again. Modeus flew straight up towards Voidar, and Sorano using an angel summon for her and Erik to ride on as they flew behind him to do battle with the Black Hole Dragon once more.

---

"Ice-Make: Lance!" Gray aimed his hands forward to unleash a volley of ice lances at Jades' underbelly, while Lyon and Ultear came at the dragon's left and right sides respectively for their own attacks.

"Ice-Make: Dragon-Fly!" Lyon aimed his attack at Jades' left wings, hoping to do some damage in that area to hamper its ability to fly, while Ultear did the same for the right wing.

"Ice-Make: Razor Sunflower Bed!" She unleashed a hail of sunflowers with razor sharp blades for petals, all of which spun in a manner similar to shurikens to strike the wing. All three attacks exploded in a flurry of ice and snow as the three Ice-Make wizards stood together, observing the cloud of smoke and ice dust.

Only to watch as Jades stepped out of the cloud with an amused expression. "A cold front? Is that all you humans can do?"

However, the three didn't seem frustrated or upset by this at all. "A slow one, aren't you?" Ultear mused.

"We don't expect our attacks to do that much damage to a dragon." Lyon said with a smile of his own.

"We're leaving that to the one best suited for the job." Gray grinned.

Jades looked around him to see the cloud of snow and ice dust rising up all around him to a certain point. Turning around, the dragon looked up in surprise to see all of that snow and ice dust being accumulated by the hovering Sapphire, with Amarilla keeping her in the air, as the Dragon Slayer of Mermaid Heel inhaled it all.

"What, you forgot about little old me?" Sapphire smirked. "Let's remind em, Amarilla!"

"You got it!" The yellow-furred Exceed flew at high speeds, bringing Sapphire up and close to Jades' face before the dragon could react.

"Azure Dragon Blazing Claw!" Blue flames formed around Sapphire's right hand, which took the shape of a dragon's claw, which she used to swipe upward at Jades' face, knocking his head back before she attacked once more. "Azure Dragon Seething Talon!" Amarilla flipped her upside down as Sapphire spun both her flaming feet around like a circle to repeatedly kick Jades in the jaw and side of his face before Amarilla pulled her back as Sapphire's arms were lit by blue flames. "Azure Dragon Infernal Whirlwind!" Swinging her arms forward, Sapphire generated a vortex of blue flames that engulfed Jades' whole head.

Amarilla pulled her back as Gray, Lyon, and Ultear stood below her to see the effects of Sapphire's attack take place, where it looked like Jades' whole head was completely frozen solid.

"Did we get him?" Lyon asked.

"No, it's not over yet!" Ultear pointed out as Jades' whole body stood up straight despite his head being frozen. The ice around his head began to crack and break open, with trails of dark flame emanating from the cracks, causing them to spread quickly.

"Get back! Now!" Gray exclaimed. Everyone pulled away as Jades had unleashed a stream of dark flames from his mouth to break free from the ice.

"Ugh! I knew that was too easy!" Amarilla said as Sapphire braced herself only to watch as Jades' kept up his breath attack, waving his head around in all directions to spread the dark flames haphazardly.

"Amarilla, move! Don't let those flames hit you!" She warned, causing the yellow-furred Exceed to yelp as she flew Sapphire downward to avoid a blast of dark flame. But as they did, Jades swung his back tail to strike the two, sending the Dragon Slayer and her Exceed companion crashing hard to the ground, leaving a trail where they landed.

Jades then aimed his attack towards the ground, going for the Ice-Make Wizards before they had the time to support their comrade. Acting quickly, the three combined their magics to form a giant wall made of ice to shield themselves from the attack, but the dark flames quickly shattered it with the shockwave blasting all three back, sending them crashing into different points across the ruined street before Jades focused his attention back on the grounded Sapphire.

The Azure Dragon Slayer tried to pick herself back up, looking instinctively to the downed Amarilla, but didn't get the chance to help her as Jades pinned her down with his right claw and glared down with a growl.

"You believe me to be slow? How about I get rid of the biggest thorn in my side first?!" He opened his mouth to prepare another breath attack, with Sapphire looking in more than a little nervous.

'He's too close! I can't dodge! And there's no time for a build up!' She tried to light her whole body with her cold fire in an attempt to escape from his grip, but Jades had his attack ready first, much to Amarilla's horror.

"Sapphy!" She cried out with tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, a cluster of elongated red hair was stretched out from the side to wrap around and ensnare around Jade's jaw, closing it shut before he had the chance to unleash the dark flames. The dragon gave a muffled growl as it tried to claw them off, with Sapphire looking especially surprised as she recognized the technique, particularly when the hair binding Jades' mouth was set ablaze.

"Flaming hair…?"

"Get out of there!" Turning around, she was more than shocked to see a certain female wizard with her hair outstretched as far as it could while the wizard herself strained herself hard to keep it all together. "I can't hold him much longer!"

"Flare…!" No time to question it, Sapphire slammed her hands on the ground behind her and unleashed an attack. "Azure Dragon Volcanic Burst!" The ground around her exploded as a geyser of blue flames shot up to engulf Jades' entire right arm, causing him to pull back just as it ripped through Flare's binding hair, freeing his mouth to yell in pain as he stumbled backwards with his whole arm being burnt and partially frozen at the same time.

Sapphire flipped back to her feet and turned to see Flare was gently picking up the surprised Amarilla. "Are you okay?" She asked the yellow Exceed.

"I… Yeah." Amarilla nodded as she used her wings to hover up again.

"Flare… what are you doing here…?" Sapphire quickly came to her, still not over her surprise.

"Y-you… n-needed help…" Flare herself stuttered, shifting nervously in her spot.

A grateful and relieved smile formed on the Dragon Slayer's face. "Thank you." This caused Flare to smile back, but that smile faded as she saw Gray, Ultear, and Lyon recover and rejoin them, leading her to hide behind Sapphire.

"Wait… you're from Raven Tail!" Gray recognized her right away.

"Hold it, she helped me back there!" Sapphire quickly defended her. "Look, I know your guild has some beef with Ivan, and I don't blame you. But Flare is not as bad as you think she is! She's my friend!"

Flare gasped at that. Did she really just call her, her friend? When they were both in Raven Tail, Sapphire was honestly the nicest person there, and the only one who really treated her with compassion. Even before learning she was a double agent for Mermaid Heel, Flare always felt the most comfortable around Sapphire. She truly thought that she was her friend. But even though she was faking being a part of her guild… she was still willing to openly declare her a friend.

"You… You mean that…?" Flare asked.

"I do." Sapphire turned to her with a smile, causing Flare to smile back with a small blush.

"Gray, I know this may be awkward, but now isn't the time to really question the help." Lyon told his fellow student.

"I agree." Ultear said. "Besides, it can't be any more awkward than fighting alongside me, right?"

"Good point." Gray admitted before looking to Flare with a neutral expression. "Help us, now. But when it's all over, you gotta apologize to Lucy. You owe her that much."

Flare said nothing, even looking away, but gave a small and single nod in confirmation, which only caused Sapphire to smile more.

Amarilla then noticed Jades recovering as dark flames formed around his partially frozen arm to melt the ice off. "Heads up! Dragon at twelve o'clock!" She pointed forward, drawing all their attention once more.

"Come on everyone, let's go!" Sapphire declared as both her fists were set ablaze with blue fire, while Gray, Lyon, and Ultear prepared their respective ice-spells, Amarilla extended her wings to fly above them, and even Flare sent her flaming hair out before all of them charged at the roaring dragon.

---

Ionar roared as he unleashed a massive beam of energy from his mouth straight at Gildarts, who retaliated by throwing out his hand to send a wave of his Crush magic to clash against Ionar's breath attack. Both the man and dragon pressed against each other, creating a massive shockwave that blew away much of the surrounding area, but both stood their ground. Though Gildarts' prosthetic arm was shattered beforehand, he was still clearly a force to be reckoned with, even with only one arm, no less. However, this was but a distraction as Gildarts channeled his Crush magic into his left foot, which he lifted before stomping into the ground.

"Mizuwari!" The ground in front of Gildarts was blown apart extensively, which quickly spread to the ground Ionar was standing on, not only did that area of the ground collapse under the dragon's weight, but it also sent the dragon up in a powerful blast of Gildarts' magic. This led to the man leaping at him, pulling back his only arm, further imbued with Crush energy, and strike Ionar in the face, sending that dragon crashing down and through all the ruined buildings below and him.

However, the white-skinned dragon emerged with a roar from the rubble and flew straight at Gildarts as the man landed, pulling back a fist that was super charged with white energy, while Gildarts mimicked his action, pulling back his own fist again and imbuing it with Crush energy once more before their strikes collided. Yet another shockwave resulted from their fists colliding and blew away even more of the surrounding rubble, with Gildarts and Ionar being sent back somewhat by said shockwave. Though Ionar took to the sky again and was prepared to unleash a breath attack from above.

"Oh don't think you're safe from me in the air!" Gildarts channeled his power into his fist again. "Crushing Evil, Spreading Truth: Takamagahara!" He threw his fist up and as he did…

Cracks appeared on the air itself, surrounding the surprised Ionar, right before it all exploded. Like the whole area in the air was suddenly encompassed in an explosion of pure magic power.

Gildarts continued to stand in that same spot, looking through the resulting dust of the explosion that took place above him for any signs of his draconic foe.

Only for Ionar to shoot out of the dust and raise both his claws, which were clenched together into fists, to bring down onto Gildarts. Though the man quickly raised his single arm to block the double-fist strike, the resulting impact almost tore away the ground beneath him. Gildarts however, kept standing but he seemed to be struggling.

"You are not a Dragon Slayer… yet your power allows you to contend with me all alone, and with only one arm. Impressive." Ionar admitted, evident as his body was covered in several bleeding scratches and large bruises as a result of the previous attack. "But you are still just a human. I am the Neutron Dragon! You cannot hope to best me alone!"

Despite appearing to be pinned, Gildarts grinned. "That's the thing though, pal. I'm not alone. Cause I got my special little girl backing me up, while I was just stalling ya."

Ionar looked in confusion, only to have his attention drawn by a suddenly shine of golden light, coming from a certain young woman as she stood atop a pile of rubble.

"Thanks for giving me time to power up, Dad! Just keep him still!" Cana called to her father as a certain emblem on her arm began to glow brightly before Cana herself was enveloped in a brilliant golden light.

"Well, you heard the little lady!" Gildarts maneuvered under Ionar, using the dragon's own momentum against him as Ionar slipped, allowing Gildarts to land a punch at the dragon's underbelly and flip him over to land flat on his back.

"Assemble! Oh, river of light, guided by fairies!" Cana raised her arm up high, citing the chant as the golden magic power further glowed around her.

While Ionar was on his back, Gildarts had appeared to grapple onto the dragon's neck with his one arm, keeping him pinned as long as he could with raw strength alone.

"Are you insane?! That attack will hit you as well! You would sacrifice your own life just to injure me?!" The dragon questioned as he struggled in his grip.

"Thanks for the concern, but I'll be fine." Gildarts kept up a confident grin. "That kind of magic isn't gonna hurt me, but it sure as hell is gonna hurt you!"

"May your radiance shine and vanquish the fangs of wickedness!" A golden magic halo formed over Cana as she aimed her shining fist in the direction of the struggling Neutron Dragon. "FAIRY GLITTER!"

A massive explosion of golden magic had erupted to engulf Ionar as well as Gildarts, one so powerful that it shined throughout the entire city, catching the attention of many in the ongoing battles.

This included those at the base in the center plaza, with Makarov, Sparda, and Mavis all smiling with pride.

Cana fell to one knee in exhaustion, holding her arm as the emblem faded, taking a minute to catch her breath. Gildarts had jumped out of the resulting smoke and landed next to his daughter.

"Cana…?"

"I'm fine… I just… give me a second…" Cana said in-between breaths. 'I've been running around and fighting all day… that and all the magic I poured into Fairy Glitter… guess it all added it up…' She thought. 'Even if it will only hurt the caster's enemy, I got no idea what it'll do to a dragon. Guess we're about to find out.'

"Impossible…" Both of their attention was drawn to the smoke as it cleared away, revealing Ionar. And despite the dragon still standing, his entire form was riddled with burn marks and deep gashes, with blood oozing down various wounds. The dragon looked like he couldn't even stand as his body shook in pain. "This… shouldn't be possible…!" He tried to step forward, only to fall flat on his stomach as he looked at the two in front of him. "I should be able… to consume light magic… but… that light… it burned! Only the likes of Igneel… and the Fire Dragons under him… could burn me…! This was still weaker but… what kind of magic was that…?! What has happened… to make humans… so damn strong!?" He began to exclaim in disbelief. "You are insects! Gnats! You shouldn't be this powerful! You are not meant to sore the heavens! Just crawl on the ground and stay there!"

Cana grinned. "You think we're just bugs, huh? Well let me tell ya something, pal. Turns out that insects… sting like hell if you're dumb enough to piss em off!"

Gildarts smiled with pride. 'That's my girl. Taking names and kicking ass. You'd be proud, Cornelia.'

---

Meanwhile, some distance away from Crocus, a flash of dark red lightning had lit up the air, with several bolts raining down to obliterate the tops of several mountains as Elexion, still in his Red Lightning Dragon Mode, gave the loudest roar he could muster, flexing his wings as countless bolts of red lightning shot in all directions.

Kurenai, still in her true demon form, did her best to avoid all the strikes and tried to close the distance. But when she flew to him, Elexion vanished in a flash of red lightning, much to Kurenai's shock and horror before he re-appeared behind her in another red flash and swiped his red electrical claw at her, sending her plummeting all the way to the ground near the base of several mountains. Elexion roared again as he unleashed a breath attack of red lightning right towards Kurenai while she was down.

The attack was coming faster than she would have liked, and so the Mother of Oceans quickly and instinctively pointed Poseidon forward to create a massive sphere of water around herself to act as a barrier against Elexion's attack. It had hit just as it finished forming, and while this protected her from most of it, the barrier was ultimately shattered as Kurenai was hit by the tail end of the blast that all but obliterated the base of the mountain, and that of the surrounding ones, causing that whole section of the mountain range to collapse and seemingly bury her.

Elexion only glared as he hovered over the massive pile of shattered mountains that seemed to make up a mountain in of itself, almost like he was waiting for his opponent to make the next move.

Just then, an enormous geyser of water had exploded outward, blasting away much of the devastated landscape as that water shot straight up into the air, initially taking the form of a giant bubble that was twice Elexion's own size with Kurenai residing in the center. That bubble then began to change form, taking a solid and more concrete shape, one that resembled Kurenai herself, being made entirely out of water while the real Kurenai was still at the center, taking a thrusting-like position with Poseidon pointing forward, and the water body of herself mimicked those actions with a giant trident taking form as well.

"You think to intimidate me with such bluster?!" Elexion bellowed. "All you've done is made yourself a bigger target!" Elexion unleashed another breath attack of red lighting… all while Kurenai inside smiled as she let the attack strike.

The massive water body had been obliterated instantly as water was splashed in all directions, causing the Thunder Dragon King to smile malevolently, proud of his achievement…

Only to be caught off guard as the real Kurenai had shot at him like a missile, thrusting Poseidon right into the side of his face, breaking off a few of his scales around his mouth and a couple fangs too, puncturing a hole into the side of his face with blood gushing out. Growling, the eye on that side of his face gazed down at the smiling Kurenai.

"Bigger isn't always better." She told him. Elexion's body charged again with red lightning as he tried to bite at her due to being so close, only to feel a similar strike at the other side of his body, pushing him back somewhat. He turned his gaze to the source of the strike to look in surprise as he saw hundreds of Kurenai doubles, all made entirely out of water, just like the massive one he obliterated, only they were all the exact same size as Kurenai herself, with the true Mother of Oceans flying up to be at the front of her newly created army.

"What is this?" Elexion growled.

"A little trick I picked up here in Earthland, specifically during my travels to the east." Kurenai said as she and all her water clones charged at Elexion directly, all of them striking in the same spot on his side, and delivering enough force to knock him out of the air and all the way to the ground. "A river faces many obstacles, but patient persistent water always finds a way around. Eventually wearing down any obstacle in its path." She continued as Elexion reemerged from the ground and unleashed another red lightning breath attack straight up into the air, but Kurenai and all her clones avoided that with ease as they rushed forward again, all thrusting their tridents repeatedly and striking Elexion all over his body. And they struck again. And again. And again. And again. They continued to strike non-stop even as the ground collapsed under Elexion and he found himself falling into an enormous sinkhole. "Try as you might, but one cannot grasp water. But water can grasp you. It'll capture you and pull you under, unable to escape its grip. Not unless you flow with it." She smiled once again. "Those are some proverbs I learned while I was in the east. What do you think?"

Elexion pulled himself up from the rubble with a growl, his body charging with red lightning once again as he unleashed yet another all-encompassing blast. This time, his attack landed as half of Kurenai's water clones were destroyed, but she and the rest of them were still able to nimbly fly around the bolts close the distance and strike Elexion, smashing him back into the sinkhole.

"You… How could you stoop so low…!?" The Thunder Dragon King struggled. " You… a mighty demon… one that could keep up with the Dark Knight… would reduce yourself to learn from weaker beings!? From humans?!"

"That's your problem, Elexion." Kurenai told him as her remaining clones all attached themselves to his body and began to melt away into pure liquid water, which further spread along his body, connecting with each other before his whole form was completely encased in water with the true Kurenai hovering above him as he struggled to escape his bindings. "Just because someone is weaker doesn't mean they have nothing to teach you. I learn something new every day, even from those I consider my daughters. I opened my mind to what humans were capable of, as did Sparda, Igneel, and so many others. Because of that, we've grown stronger. Stronger than the likes of you who would rather become stagnant, trapped under their own pride thinking the power they had was enough. And because of that, humans and those who are willing to learn from them, have grown far stronger than you ever could." She raised Poseidon up once again, water shooting up from her trident and stopping in the middle of the air as it all began to take the shape that resembled the trident itself, it was about as big as Elexion, and pointing straight down. "That is the reason, you and others like you, will always lose." Lunging Poseidon downward, the giant water trident was thrusted upon the immobile Elexion, creating an enormous explosion of water that further tore up the surrounding landscape.

---

Magic Council Headquarters

"What?!" Gran Doma exclaimed as he and his fellow Council members received the report from Lahar, the man himself speaking to them through a thought projection in the main council chambers. "Are you certain of this?!"

"Yes sir, unfortunately." Lahar confirmed. "Crocus is currently under siege by dragons, all of whom had emerged through the Eclipse Gate. All of the present guilds, along with the Fiore royal family and army, are working alongside my men to repel the attack. They appear to be holding their own for the moment."

"And Vergil is responsible for this?!" Org questioned, looking particularly shocked.

"I'm afraid so." Lahar answered. "Somehow, he was able to ellude our observations and worked with another unknown individual to orchestrate this crisis. Currently, he is doing battle with these wizards."

"Can you confirm that Crime Sorciere, specifically their leader Jellal Fernandes, is within the city?" Gran Doma asked.

"I can. Crime Sorciere is also lending their aid in repelling the attack." Lahar responded. He saw how half of the members of the council looked more than a little troubled, while Gran Doma and the others seemed to be contemplating this situation. "Sir, I realize that there is much happening, but we have confirmed that if the Eclipse Gate is destroyed, than all these dragons will be returned to their original time. An attack on the Gate is currently underway, but I would recommend sending reinforcements to…"

"No." Gran Doma interrupted, much to the surprise of Lahar and Org.

"'No'?!" Org questioned.

"Sir…?" Lahar didn't know what to think. Not send for aid? In a crisis this severe?!

"Lahar, order all your men to evacuate the city immediately." Gran Doma ordered.

"Sir, did you not hear me?!" Lahar questioned. "This crisis we face…!"

"Will be dealt with immediately. For we will be using Etherion." Gran Doma revealed, much to the shock and horror of Org, Lahar, and several Council members.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Org exclaimed. "Countless innocent people are fighting for their lives in that city! And there is no guarantee that the Etherion will even work on dragons!"

"Even if that is the case, it will undoubtedly destroy the Eclipse Gate." The chairman countered. "Which in turn, will send the dragons back to their time. Vergil has betrayed us and is now a criminal. In addition, Crime Sorciere, which has escaped capture us for seven years, may finally be within our grasp. As well as Fairy Tail. We may have a chance to eliminate our greatest thorns in one shot and I am not willing to let that shot go to waste."

"But sir! The royal family of Fiore…!" Lahar tried to protest.

"Then evacuate them as well." Gran Doma ordered. "But if they did indeed possess such a dangerous relic, then they may be charged with treason."

"We can't do that!" Org argued. "Even if they violated the law with the use of that device, we cannot just openly march into a country and arrest the royal family! Not without violating our own laws! This is not like how it was for Fortuna! Fiore is the home of several guilds and a much larger country in our jurisdiction! The chaos that will erupt from such a move…!"

"There will be no chaos if we declare martial law!" Gran Doma argued further.

"Sir, please! I am begging you!" Lahar got down on his knees. "We have a chance to resolve this crisis without resorting to such desperate measures! Let us take that chance! I will not sacrifice thousands of lives for the sake of order if it can be avoided! So please…!"

Gran Doma narrowed his eyes, stroking his beard as he contemplated. Org, Lahar, and all of the Council members looked towards him before he finally made his decision.

"One hour." He said, much to everyone's surprise. "If this crisis is not resolved within the hour, we will use Etherion. That is my final word."

Lahar's projection shook as he heard that order. It wasn't what he was hoping for, but it was probably the best he was going to get. "I understand." His projection vanished.

---

Crocus

Lahar opened his eyes as his body shook with anger, his fists clenching so tightly that his gloves might rip.

"Let me guess, it didn't go so well?" Looking behind him, Lahar saw the injured Bruni sitting as a few Rune Knights used healing magic to tend to his injuries.

"We have one hour before the Council decides to fire Etherion." The Chief Marshal said, much to Bruni's surprise as he stood up.

"Are you serious?!"

"I wish I wasn't, believe me." Lahar said, looking down with a growl before trying to force himself to calm down. "You should contact your comrades and let them know. Maybe even plan a possible evacuation."

Bruni looked away with a grimace. "Those god damn idiots…"

---

Magic Council Headquarters

"Have you completely lost your mind?!" Org exclaimed.

"Watch your tone, Org!" Gran Doma shouted.

"You're considering decapitating a country under our jurisdiction!" Org argued. "If the royal family dies, who will reinforce the laws of that nation?!"

"We will!" Gran Doma responded, much to Org's surprise. "The Council is prepared to rule Fiore directly if anything were to happen to the royal family. And if Fairy Tail, as well as many of their supporters are finally out of the way, than that means we'll have no one left to directly challenge us. We'll finally bring order to that country that has been slowly falling to chaos these past seven years."

"Contemplating genocide while claiming it's an act of order…!" Org clenched his fists as he glared heatedly at the Grand Chairman. "How does that make the Magic Council any different from the likes of those we claim to fight against?!"

"One more word Org, and I will have you stripped of your position within the Council and tried for obstructing justice!" Gran Doma threatened. With that Org was rendered silent, but that still didn't stop him from glaring daggers at his superior. "These past seven years, chaos and injustice have spread like a virus. We've been too passive, letting it grow. If we must take action to cut out the infection before it can spread further, then that is exactly what we will do. It is a necessary sacrifice. We uphold the sanctity of order in the magic world!" He proclaimed, bringing the end of his staff down with an echo.

"For the sanctity of order! For the sanctity of order!" The other Council members chanted, all except Org, who could only hang his head in shame.

However, none of them seem to notice that there was somebody else in the chamber with them. Somebody so small and insignificant, at least at first glance, that they wouldn't even notice. Somebody, who hung around the corner of the partially open entrance to hear everything that went on in there.

Sid held a small lacrima in his hand as he chuckled. "For the sanctity of order, hmm? Heh, heh, keep telling yourselves that."

---

Meanwhile, some distance away from Crocus, going along a similar path to that of all the evacuating civilians was none other than Ivan alongside his subordinates Nullpudding, Kurohebi, and Obra, whom was riding on his guildmaster's shoulder. They stood on a hilltop, observing the battle taking place in the city where they could clearly see more than a few dragons in the air and on the ground, along with several explosions across the ruined city.

"Damn, we sure timed that right." Nullpudding said. "If it weren't for Obra busting us out, we'd probably be smack dab in the middle of that shit."

"Too bad Flare's gone." Kurohebi hissed. "Probably dead like everyone else down there. Same with Sid. Haven't seen him since we got arrested."

Nullpudding chuckled. "If we're lucky, Fairy Tail will get wiped out in that mess."

"I wouldn't count on it." Ivan said in a low growl. "That guild is known for doing the impossible. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they found a way to win this. But that's not important now. Let's use this to get as far away as possible."

The group was about to move further up the pathway. "Wait…!" Turning around, the group looked to see a certain someone struggling to catch up to them, taking a moment to catch her breath before speaking to them. "Let me join you."

"Hey, aren't you from Sabertooth?" Nullpudding questioned.

"Minerva, I believe." Kurohebi recalled.

"That is my name." She confirmed. "But I'm not of Sabertooth anymore. The guild is pretty much dead now, there's no need for me to stay there. Let it burn with my father."

"And you wish to come with us, why?" Ivan asked skeptically.

"Because we both want the same thing: to see Fairy Tail buried." Minerva stated as she stepped closer to meet Ivan face-to-face. "I know exactly who you are, Ivan Dreyar. Despite Raven Tail being recognized as an official guild, you do have connections of the less-than-legal variety. And I have the power that we both can use to destroy our mutual enemies. So, let us work together to remove the thorns that have caused both us a great deal of pain."

Ivan thought about it for a moment, looking to the tiny imp that was Obra on his shoulder. The little creature snickered before nodding to him.

"Minerva, was it?" Ivan offered his hand to shake, which Minerva accepted with a sinister smile. "I think we're gonna get along just fine."

---

A clash and explosion of fire erupted in the air as Atlas Flame grappled with Motherglare in the sky, the two dragons pressing against one another as those on top moved from dragon-to-dragon, battling ferociously just as the dragons themselves did.

The flaming Natsu blasted straight for Future Legion, slamming him in the side to push him across Motherglare's back. "White Shadow Dragon Vestment!" Future Legion's free hand unleashed a hail of white energy beams and shadow blades at Natsu, who pulled back his fist as a massive cluster of fire formed around them to create an even larger fist made entirely out of flames.

"Hellfire Dragon Titan Fist!" Natsu's massive fire fist struck Future Legion's attack, creating a massive explosion that forced Future Legion to cover himself, leaving him open for the flaming Dante to dash at him, his Human Torch Style still active.

"Quicksilver!" Using two styles at once, time slowed to a crawl around Dante as he dashed at his foe with his flaming body to strike him repeatedly with several sword slashes, his Rebellion being on fire just like himself. The time-stop effect wore off as Motherglare had pushed Atlas Flame back some distance in the air, with Natsu being stuck on the latter and leaving Dante alone to face Future Legion where he saw shadows 'bleed' from the wounds on his body, before they were stitched up in the same manner. Future Legion glared at the flaming Dante as he charged again to clash their respective Rebellion swords repeatedly, where Dante noticed black mist forming at the palm of Future Legion's free hand.

"Ice Devil Laughter!" The monster thrusted his hand to send a hail of large black ice shards at Dante, who pulled out Coyote-A, which was also set ablaze thanks to his Human Torch Style, and shot repeatedly. The flaming bursts intercepted all the ice shards that Future Legion sent forward, creating several clashes of fire and ice in-between the two before Dante used his Trickster style to close the distance at Future Legion again. "Ice Devil Rage!" Unleashing a point-blank breath attack of black ice towards Dante.

"Beowulf!" Quipping his gauntlets again, which were also set ablaze with his Human Torch Style, Dante quickly and rapidly punched his way through the black ice to make his way closer to the surprised Future Legion before pounding him in the stomach, fire shooting out from Future Legion's back.

'Atlas Flame's Hellfire…! Has it given him immunity from our Ice Devil Slayer magic!?' Future Legion thought in shock and rage before he saw patches of black ice across Dante's body, some were melting from the fire around him, but the fire itself was slowly starting to go out. 'No… it's made him resistant, but our power is still hurting him, and this new power of his will only last so long!' With a sinister smile, several black coils emerged from Future Legion's sides, resembling mixtures of tentacles and snake-bodies, all of which were used to ensnare the fist that Dante used to strike and bind him close. 'All we have to do is wear him down even further and he'll fall just like the one from our time!'

"Ice Devil Reaper Scythe!" Using his free-hand, Future Legion created a scythe made from black ice which he used to bring down on Dante, along with his own Rebellion, prompting Dante to quickly pull out his sword which he used to block and parry the rapid strikes as quickly as he could. But with one hand literally tied, it was rather hard to keep up any kind of defense making it easier for Future Legion to land more than a few successful strikes as Dante was slashed several times.

"Natsu! Dante's new power will not last forever!" Atlas Flame told the young Dragon Slayer as they flew back closer to Motherglare. "And the dark magic that monster is using is slowly wearing him down! Consume as much of my own flame as you can to fuel yours and support your brother-in-arms! I will help in fending off the enemy dragon!"

"Got it!" Natsu wasted no time in consuming more fire from the body of his draconic 'uncle', who in turn unleashed a powerful beam of fire aimed directly at Motherglare's stomach. The fire beam condensed even more, causing the fire to turn blue, almost white, focusing even more at Motherglare's body before it ultimately exploded, sending the Diamond Dragon careening across the sky. The force of the explosion was enough to make Future Legion lose his focus, loosening his grip on Dante, who pulled back as he quickly shot Coyote-A point-blank at Future Legion's face, blasting fire that caused the monster pain as he reeled away.

Motherglare growled as he felt an intense burn mark on his stomach before glaring down at the dragon who struck him. "What has gotten into you Atlas Flame!? You turn your back on your own kind for these humans?!"

"Didn't you hear me before?" Atlas Flame retorted. "They may have been born of humans, but one is the birth son of Sparda, my teacher and friend! And the other, raised by Igneel, king of the Fire Dragons! They are my family!"

"Such unbelievable hubris! But if you insist, I will not back down from this fight!" Motherglare roared.

"Nor will I!" Atlas Flame roared back before charging in again, coming in to bite Motherglare on the shoulder area, with Motherglare attempting to do the same thing, both dragons clawing at one another, and giving Natsu the chance to leap from Atlas Flame and above the surprised Future Legion.

"Hellfire Dragon Roar!"

"Ice Devil Rage!"

The two breath attacks of hellfire and black ice collided, which gave Dante a chance to come in and slice Rebellion into Future Legion's stomach with one hand and use Coyote-A in the other to shoot into Future Legion's face, causing him to halt his attack, allowing Natsu's flaming breath attack to win out in their struggle and completely engulf Future Legion just as Dante pulled out, giving Natsu a chance to come in with several attacks of his own.

"Hellfire Dragon Piercing Talon!" Natsu's right foot was covered in flames, taking the form of a dragon-like foot with razor sharp talons, which were used to grab onto Future Legion's stomach, the fiery talons piercing through the flesh before Natsu pulled back another flaming fist to punch him hard in the face, creating an explosion of flames behind him that impacted Motherglare as well before Natsu hauled up Future Legion with his foot and threw him into the air.

"White Shadow Dragon Sword Horn!" Future Legion's body turned into shadows and went straight for the Salamander, who tried to throw out a flaming punch, only for his fist to go through the shadows like they were nothing but air, before they turned into a beam of light that pierced through Natsu's side, causing blood to gush out as he stumbled back and Future Legion remartialized himself prepared to unleash another attack behind Natsu. Only for Dante to quickly appear and seemed to take the resulting blast of shadow and white light.

"Doppelganger!" Dante had used a shadow-clone to take the hit, which was also on fire thanks to his Human Torch Style. This lead to the clone exploding upon impact to knock Future Legion away, while the real Dante had used Trickster to go up into the air. "Anubis!" Quipping his Devil Arm that resembled an Egyptian axe, that had slashed and hooked Future Legion's shoulder before the Crimson Knight yanked him up into the air.

"Doppelganger!" Future Legion used his own version of Dante's recently used style to create a clone of himself which was still attached to the axe, freeing himself as he took the form of a mass of shadows and moved in close to Dante, shadowy-wings emerging from his back as he solidified himself again. "Ice Devil Murder Strike!" A black frozen fist had met Dante, with the man using the flat of Rebellion to shield himself before they fell back towards the dueling dragons, but Future Legion noticed a smirk on Dante's face. "What do you find so humorous?"

"Just this." Dante grinned as the flaming Natsu propelled himself straight up at their level and punched Future Legion away from Dante before they both struck. A breath attack from Natsu, combined with Dante's Million Stab Technique. Their conjoined attack blasted Future Legion to send him to the back of Atlas Flame while the two brothers-in-arms landed on Motherglare's back.

"Light him up, Uncle!" Natsu yelled out.

"With absolute pleasure!" The flames around Atlas Flame grew even more violent, which seemed to engulf Future Legion's body. "Hellfire Supernova!" An enormous ball of fire exploded all around Atlas Flame, which not only seemed to severely burn Motherglare, but also lit up the whole sky like the sun had just appeared, drawing the attention of several onlookers down below who were still fighting.

Natsu and Dante both struggled to hang onto Motherglare, with the latter driving Rebellion into his back and holding onto Natsu's arm, as the dragon recovered from the shockwave. They both looked to see Atlas Flame's own fire die down slightly and turn back to normal, where they could see a smile across the burning dragon's face, causing the two to smile as well, thinking they'd won.

However…

*BLAST!*

An explosion of shadows and white light had blasted Atlas Flame on the back, causing the dragon to roar in pain, much to the surprise and shock of Dante and Natsu, and especially so as a beam of white energy shot past them before exploding to knock the two to the sides of Motherglare and almost knocking them off, but Dante had used his Trickster to catch himself while Natsu outstretched his hand, with fire emerging out to take the form of a giant claw to grab onto Motherglare's side before he rolled off. They had pulled themselves up to look in surprise at what stood before them.

"You surprise us… If you were facing any other foe, that attack from Atlas Flame, a burst of pure hellfire, would have been enough to slay them. But we are not like any foe that you have faced before."

It was Future Legion, and it looked as though all his human skin and hair had been burnt off, revealing blackened burnt flesh and even some charred bones. Like any physical resemblance of Rogue Cheney had been burned away. However, that skin actually seemed to be healing… or to be more accurate… shadows spread all across the body to take the appearance of a thin veil that closely resembled skin, with glowing white scales shining across arms and up his sides and to his face, with shadows leaking out from between each shining scale. The only thing that was the same as before were the Devil Slayer tattoos went from white to pitch black as that arm was now adorned with white scales, and his other hand still held Rebellion. His back was turned to the Sons of Sparda and Igneel before slowly turning to reveal his face.

His face was now that of a blackened skull, the skin and muscles completely sheared off from before, but shadows soon enveloped all over the face to take the form of something more monster-like with large and glowing white eyes with no pupils and a fanged mouth.

Natsu was more than a little shocked even Dante looking rather disturbed. "How the hell are you even alive after that…?" The latter muttered.

"Think, Dante." Future Legion requested. "Would that attack have been enough to kill you?"

"Uncle, are you okay?!" Natsu looked back to Atlas Flame, who tried to stay in the air as his body recovered.

"Felt like a blade had pierced my back… but it'll take more than that to end my life…!" Atlas Flame struggled, but he looked more than ready to keep fighting.

"Did you seriously believe the accumulation of thousands of demons, including your own power Dante, would be so easily overwhelmed?" Future Legion asked rhetorically. "But not only that, the power of two Dragon Slayers flows through us, and both had the ability to ascertain Dragon Force, did they not?"

"Hold on… don't tell me…" Natsu face went pale as he saw the transformed state of Future Legion, how it very closely resembled the transformations of Sting and Rogue back during the games.

"Dual Elemental Dragon Force." Future Legion revealed. "It was thanks to this state, in addition to our Devil Slayer Magic, that we were able to slay the Dante from our time." In a flash of light, Future Legion had appeared in-between Dante and Natsu, jamming Rebellion into the side of the former and running him through, while also shooting a beam of light into Natsu's stomach. "And it is this same power, that we will use to do the deed again."

---

Back in the palace, most of the inside of one long hallway was in total ruins as blast marks and deep cuts were seen along the ceiling, walls, and floor, the sounds of explosions and clashes of metal echoed throughout the entire palace as the battle continued.

Vergil backed away as he performed a quickdraw of the Yamato to block the flaming sword strike from Erza as she was clad in her Flight Armor with her Flame Empress sword. Kagura had leapt above Erza to slash with Archenemy, only for Vergil to zoom up and past Kagura, slicing at her side and knocking her to the wall. Erza turned around to slash her flaming sword at Vergil rapidly, which he parried, not a single strike hitting their mark. Vergil was also quick to note Erza's left arm was shaking even more than before. Despite his opponent trying to power through it, a prolonged battle like this is only exasperating the injuries.

"Apollo!" Several flaming arrows were fired at Vergil's behind, courtesy of Lucia wielding her fire bow, but Vergil countered by using his Summoned Swords technique to create a ring of transparent blades around him, which spun rapidly to knock Erza back and deflect the arrows before Vergil zoomed at Lucia, who quickly quipped Cutlaseer again to clash their respective blades before Lucia leapt up and backwards with Vergil leaping after her to meet their swords in mid-air.

'I want to use my Armadura Diabla again. But even if I can better control it through hard focus, I still run the risk of injuring everyone else here, which will only help Vergil!' Erza thought as she recovered. 'If I'm able to get him alone, then maybe...'

While in the air, Nero had leapt to the left wall with Jellal mirroring the action on the right wall and both appeared to have Vergil caught in their cross-hairs.

"Lucifer!" Bringing out his Devil Arm, the backpack quipping to his back as he already had a pair of glowing red swords in each hand.

"Pleiades!" Jellal threw his hand out to send six rays of light at Vergil just as Nero leapt at him. Though Vergil had kicked Lucia away and drew the Yamato to block both Lucifer blades that Nero wielded, the six rays of light had zoomed all around and homed directly in on Vergil as they both fell. Vergil kicked himself from Nero just as he sliced both Lucifer blades at Vergil's sides, causing the blades to stick there while Vergil rolled in the air to avoid two of the light rays before landing and swiftly sprinting to avoid the others that tracked him, with Nero quickly throwing more Lucifer blades wherever Vergil ran to. The eldest Son of Sparda tried to use the Yamato to slice them away, only to quickly notice the blades sticking to his katana, with even several striking the floor in front of him, prompting him to leap into the air, and he was ready to use the Yamato to slice down the rays of light…

Only to feel a change in gravity as an invisible force brought him back down to the ground, courtesy of Kagura as she had a magic circle under her, and she aimed her Archenemy at Vergil. This allowed Nero to leap up and throw as many glowing red blades from Lucifer out as he could while all the rays of light homed in on Vergil. When it was all said and done, Vergil had at least nine blades sticking directly into him, with over twenty more on the ground and wall around him just as Jellal's attack homed in and struck.

*BOOM!*

A massive explosion that mixed gold and red had tore up much of the hallway, blasting a hole in the ceiling, floor, and one of the walls, leading to an adjacent hallway that was already pretty wrecked too from the resulting blast.

The five warriors regrouped as they eyed the resulting smoke suspiciously, all their weapons and techniques at the ready for any sign of movement. No one dared to even speak, fearing that even saying so much as a word would be inviting karma to strike down upon them in the most horrific way possible.

However, retaliation came none the less as a transparent energy blade was shot at Erza from behind, who quickly batted the attack away with her own sword. But as she turned around, the redhead gasped at what she saw.

There was a wall of transparent energy swords directly behind her. And in that instant, countless more appeared in all directions, trapping the five surprised fighters in a 'dome' of sorts made out of the transparent blades, the rows of which began to spin in opposite directions.

"This is…" Erza noted seriously.

"What he did when he fought Dante and the others in the games…!" Nero realized.

"Harmonious Embrace…" Kagura recognized the attack with dread clear in her voice.

"Form up!" Jellal quickly ordered. "Backs to each other now!"

Wasting no time, all five of them came together at the center with all of their backs to one another, covering any possible blind spots. And just as he said that, the blades began to rain down upon them.

Nero had drawn Red Queen again as he slashed away any sword that came near him while also using Blue Rose to gun a few down. Erza quipped into her Lightning Empress armor and used the spear of that set with her left hand along with her Flame Empress Sword in her right to slash waves of fire and lightning and dispel any blades. Lucia had drawn Rosso and Azul to rapidly shoot down any blades that came near her while Kagura slashed Archenemy, using her gravity magic to enhance her own speed for rapid slashes. As for Jellal, he crossed his arms to form a glowing X in front of himself and quickly expanded that to form a barrier in front of him, protecting him from the onslaught of blades as they bounced off the golden aura before it began to spread to all of his companions, protecting all five of them at once, with the blades bouncing off as they lowered their guard for just a minute.

"Damn it! He has boxed in!" Lucia stated.

"Indeed, I do." Suddenly, Vergil appeared before them, directly in front of Lucia specifically as he quickly drew the Yamato from its sheath for an Iaido slash to not only slash through Jellal's protective barrier, but also through Lucia herself. This kind of attack would have cleaved any normal person in half. But in Lucia's case, while she wasn't cut in half, it was still significant damage that it sent her flying and crashing through several walls. The force of the impact being enough to knock the remaining four away.

And even then, Harmonious Embrace was still active as it continued to rain blades down on all of them. Nero used Red Queen and Blue Rose to slash and shoot down any blade that came his way but was unprepared for Vergil to zoom at him in the blink of an eye, impaling him in the stomach with the Yamato as several transparent blades came in to slash and pierce all over his body.

"You may wield our father's power…" Vergil told Nero, who only looked to him in surprise.

'He… knows…?'

"But you lack the experience." The eldest Son of Sparda said before slashing through Nero and kicked him down as the blades that pierced his body all vanished and he laid in a pool of his own blood, all while the young man was still conscious as he hacked up blood from his mouth.

Kagura was next as Vergil went for her. She had intended to use her Gravity Magic to slow him down but was unable to as more blades continued to rain down on her. Though she was able to draw Archenemy and block the slash, several blades had slashed all over her sides, arms, and legs before they stopped. Despite bleeding and being cut all over, Kagura stood her ground as she glared at Vergil, their respective katanas pressed against each other, but it was clear who had the advantage.

"You wield a Devil Arm, but you don't use its true power. You haven't since this fight started, why is that?" Vergil asked, but Kagura only narrowed her eyes and provided no answer. "You're afraid."

"I do not fear you." She responded.

"Not me, but yourself." Vergil said, much to Kagura's confusion.

"What?"

"You fear losing yourself, becoming a feral beast like you did in Games." Vergil said. "You fear succumbing to the rage that still dwells within you. I see it in your eyes. Your rage, your hate… it may have been abated for now, but it's still in there. You cannot discard it, only seal it."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Kagura glared, her emotions starting to emerge, which caused Archenemy to glow red slightly. That drew Kagura's attention as she focused herself again, trying to calm her emotions.

'No! Don't let it feed off your anger! Don't let it happen again…"

*PIERCE!*

The Yamato had been run through Kagura's chest and out of her back, her pupils shrinking as she gazed down to see where she had been stabbed, right before looking directly up at Vergil, who continued to stare down at her with his cold eyes. Her hesitation, even for a split-second, was more than enough for him to exploit.

"I've avoided your heart and other vitals. You will live." He said before quickly pulling the Yamato out and sheathing it back, resulting in Kagura falling to her back. "If you fear using the power you wield, then you do not belong on the battlefield."

"Kagura! Nero!" Erza cried out as she continued to defend against the repeated onslaught of Harmonious Embrace, with Jellal trying to blast them all away with his Heavenly Body Magic before coating himself in his aura again.

'Already three of our comrades are down!' Jellal thought 'Erza and the others are still exhausted from their battles during the Games earlier. Even I'm rather fatigued from all those prolonged battles against Moloch and the Wolf Knights. I had hoped all five of us together would be enough to at least stall Vergil until the Eclipse Gate is destroyed, but I've been mistaken.'

'Let's avoid you using that demonic armor you wield, shall we?' Vergil thought as he went for Erza next, using the Yamato to strike her while she blocked it with her flaming sword, this still seemed to leave her open for Harmonious Embrace's rain of blades to come at her from her surrounding directions.

But Erza saw it coming as she used the lightning from her armor and spear to zap and disappear from her spot in front of Vergil. And in that split second, he had just noticed a spark of electricity behind him…

*SLASH!*

Vergil had appeared past where Erza would appear, his Yamato held outward as it seemed like Erza was in a lunging position, with her Lightning Empress spear pointing outward…

Or that's what she thought would happen.

When in fact… her left arm up to her elbow was now cleanly severed from her body.

Erza's eyes slowly widened, as did Jellal's as he could only watch in horror… time slowing to a crawl… as Titania's left arm, and the spear it held, fell to the ground.

A scream then escaped Erza's mouth. A scream of total agony, as well as one of pure rage and adrenaline as she tried to use all the strength she had to keep fighting and slash at Vergil with her right arm, which was now wielding the massive blade from her Purgatory Armor, but Vergil was far too quicker as he lunged Yamato behind him to impale Erza in the same spot where he did Kagura, avoiding her heart and vitals with the blade emerging from her back, the large Purgatory sword only stopping just inches above Vergil's head.

With an upward slash that tore away the last of her armor, a long and diagonal cut appeared across Erza's chest as blood gushed out and she fell to her face.

"ERZA!" Jellal all but screamed.

"I warned you about that arm." Vergil said to his fallen foe, his back turned to her. "It's understandable why you wouldn't listen to your enemy, but you should take your own limitations to heart. Your will can only push you so far, if your body is unable to keep up."

Jellal then appeared directly in front of Vergil, less than an inch from him as his whole body was glowing a bright gold and he looked with an expression of pure and unbridled rage.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" He struck Vergil in the chest with both of his golden fists before shooting out an all-encompassing blast that sent him skidding through the hallway, though he still remained on his feet.

However, Vergil felt a painful sensation on his chest and looked down to see an odd-looking magic circle imprinted on him, one that had a grid-like pattern to it that was currently spreading across his body.

'A Self-Destruction circle…' He noted.

Jellal then crossed his arms above his head, where a small black orb had formed, before it quickly grew and created a vacuum-like force that drew in everything around it, like a black hole. "Heavenly Body Magic: Altairis!" Jellal threw the black hole directly at Vergil. It sucked up everything in the hallway as it made its way towards its target, but Vergil seemed unfazed.

'I see… this Self-Destruct spell is likely a backup just in case his Altaris attack were to fail.' He contemplated. 'He never used either of these spells when I faced him and his guild. He likely didn't intend to kill me then, but does now. Unfortunately for him, however…' The black hole was about to strike at him, just as a dark blue aura formed around his body.

*SLASH!*

The black hole had been cleaved perfectly in half, much to Jellal's own shock and horror. Both halves veered past their intended target, obliterating the walls around him and further destroying the surrounding area.

The man instinctively took a step back as he felt his whole-body quake, drenched in a cold sweat. His pupils shook as he saw something that made his blood run cold, any anger that was inside him had been replaced by terror.

"That was ruthless of you, Jellal. And yet, it was also well thought-through. An all-encompassing attack, and yet a calculated back-up should your initial attack fail." The self-destruct circle had also fallen apart, having been cut diagonally perfectly before it shattered. "I'm quite impressed. But it's still not enough to defeat me."

Jellal clenched his fists in fear as he gazed shakily at Vergil's Devil Trigger, gazing at him with his icy cold glowing blue eyes.

---

Back at the Eclipse Gate, the battles continued to rage as Levia and Zirconis did battle against those who worked to protect the Celestial Wizards who were actively seeking to destroy the very Gate itself.

"Sky Dragon Roar!" Sheeree used a copy of Wendy's breath Attack to strike Zirconis in the face, pushing the dragon back somewhat before he flew upwards to try and bite at her.

"Hold still, you wannabe Dragon Slayer!" The dragon shouted as Sheeree used her copied Exceed wings to fly away from his chomp and upwards to avoid the resulting breath attack of green energy that shot up into the sky, allowing for Carla to fly Wendy in up close, with Lisanna in her Dragon Soul right behind her.

"Sky Dragon Talon!"

"Fire Claw!"

With a vertical kick from Wendy and a flaming uppercut from Lisanna, both attacks struck Zirconis in the jaw, forcing his mouth shut and halting the breath attack.

"Strike him all at once!" Lisanna exclaimed as she, Carla and Wendy, as well as Sheeree, all flew straight at Zirconis face with a conjoined attack of fire and air, which then exploded in the form of a fiery vortex. As Zirconis growled and moved back through the air, all of his opponents flew up and around him striking every spot they could.

"Sky Dragon Sword!" Wendy had materialized her air sword to slice at Zirconis underbelly as Carla continued to fly her.

"Inferno Blast!" Lisanna unleashed her own breath attack at the base of the Jade Dragon's neck.

"Lightning Dragon Storm Shred!" Copying Laxus' magic and mixing it with Wendy's technique, Sheree thrusted her hand to send a series of razor-sharp wind blades, all charged with lightning to strike Zirconis back near his wing joints.

"Ugh! You brats are starting to piss me off!" Zirconis growled as he opened his mouth to unleash yet another breath attack, shooting it every which way in the air. Spirals of green energy were shot in every direction, forcing the four female wizards to dodge it however they could.

"Hang on Wendy!" Carla warned as she did her best to dodge each and every strike while Lisanna and Sheeree were forced somewhat back.

However, these were not just any random strikes. In fact, all of this seemed to end up herding Wendy and Carla straight for Zirconis, with the two now being directly in front of his face as he snickered at them.

"Heh, heh, you're the only real Dragon Slayer among these two false ones. Taking you out of the picture should make things way easier for me." Zirconis opened his mouth to unleash an all-encompassing breath attack, a giant glowing green energy was forming at the back of his throat.

This caused Wendy's face to pale, her pupils shrinking as she immediately flashed back to when Acnologia intended to use his breath attack to wipe out her and all her friends on Tenrou Island.

'It's too big… too close… I can't dodge it…!' Carla thought in a panic.

"WENDY! CARLA!" Sheeree and Lisanna both flew as quickly as they could to try and help them.

"MAX SPEED ATTACK!" Her copied Exceed wings glowed brightly as Sheeree's speed kicked into overdrive with Lisanna using fire from her palms to propel her forward, moving at speeds that was only slightly slower than Sheeree's.

The copy wizard was able to get there in time, pushing Wendy and Carla out of the way right before Zirconis unleashed his breath attack, with Lisanna being there instead. Her own eyes widened as the giant beam of green energy was shot out and seemed to engulf her completely, much to the horror of everyone else.

"NO! LISANNA!" Wendy screamed tearfully with Carla and Sheeree gasping in terror.

However, when the breath attack stopped, something happened that caused Zirconis to look in surprise. "What the…?" He and everyone else saw a surge of green energy enveloping around a certain point before all that energy was being drawn into something.

And that something was Lisanna!

Not only was she still alive… but her mouth was wide open as she seemed to be inhaling all that green energy that came from Zirconis' breath attack, not unlike a certain Fire Dragon Slayer would do for his own element.

"What is she…?" Sheeree stuttered.

"Is she… consuming Zirconis power…?!" Carla questioned.

Lisanna appeared to consume the last of the green energy, her whole body flashed that same color as she appeared to change. 'Thanks to what we learned in the dragon graveyard, I know that dragons can consume other elements to gain more power! And if my Take Over gives me the powers of a dragon… then maybe I can… no… I know I can do this! I am doing it!'

The flash of light faded to reveal Lisanna had transformed. Her Dragon Soul had changed from its typical red to green. The wings, the claws and talons, the scales on her body, they were all now a shining green much like the stupefied dragon in front of her.

"Take Over: Dragon Soul: Jade Mode!" Wasting no time, she shot directly at Zirconis, clenching her fists tightly as clusters of jade stone formed around her fists, which she used to strike Zirconis in his face, creating a crystal-like explosion, causing him to groan in pain, much to the further surprise of her comrades.

"You…! How did you do that…!?" Zirconis questioned. "What kind of human are you?!"

"She… She can consume other elements… just like a Dragon Slayer…!" Wendy looked to Lisanna in amazement before a wide smile formed on her face.

"Come on, no sense in letting her hog all the fun." Sheeree said with a new sense of confidence before she flew over in their direction, with Wendy and Carla close behind.

Lisanna gave a smirk to rival that of her Dragon Slayer lover as she looked directly at Zirconis. "I'm the kind of human that's gonna knock you off your high horse! So come and get me! I'm all fired up now!" With a roar, she and her friends flew at the roaring dragon.

On the ground below, flashes of lightning and green energy erupted around Levia as those around him continued to fight. Trish had appeared above the Water Dragon in a flash of lightning, slashing the Devil Sword Sparda several times to send waves of white lightning that struck Levia's right wing, causing him intense pain which Laxus would later add to as Happy flew him up and above the dragon's left wing.

"Lightning Dragon Heavenward Halberd!" Generating a spear of lightning, Laxus threw it downward at Levia's left wing, electrocuting that and causing the dragon to growl even more.

"Alright, I think you got him!" Happy smiled.

"Clip the lizard's wings and we take away his mobility." Laxus commented. "Now's your turn, Mr. Knight! Get him while he's down!"

When it seemed like their enemy was grounded, Arcadios charged at the front with the Jade Dragon Sword pointing forward before leaping straight up to lunge the blade into Levia's chest, piercing through its blue hide as the Water Dragon roared in pain, even more so as Arcadios amplified the power of his sword, causing waves of green energy to spread over the inside and surface of that general area, with crystals of jade exploding outward.

"Enough of this!" Levia roared as water formed all over his body like a membrane, right before it all exploded outward in a blast of water in all directions, which was enough to blast away Laxus, Happy, Trish, and Arcadios. All four rolled in different directions before Levia ended up charging at Trish first, who tried to zap herself away in a bolt of white lightning and appeared behind Levia, but the dragon's tail was already above her, with a cluster of water around the tip, which took the form of a large, spiked ball. Levia brought that down to slam Trish hard into the ground, which was followed by a second spiked water tail slam to further smash her down.

"Trish!" Happy cried in shock with Laxus looking surprised himself. Even after all that, the Water Dragon was still standing and still fighting. He knew it would be an uphill battle, but a Dragon Slayer should still be able to do some damage to a dragon!

Levia then turned his direction towards Arcadios, glaring specifically at the glowing sword. "You dare to desecrate us?! Use our kind's remains to fuel your power!? Die for your hubris, human!" Levia let loose a breath attack of raging waters, one that went straight for the downed Arcadios…

Only for Laxus to quickly appear in front of him. "Lightning Dragon Roar!" A blast of lightning escaped Laxus' mouth to intercept Levia's own water breath attack. Both attacks collided against one another. But as they pressed, it seemed like Levia would have the advantage and would win out against Laxus.

That is until, a flash of multi-colored lightning exploded from the crater behind the Water Dragon, with something flying out in that very bolt and appearing above him.

It was Trish in her Devil Trigger form. "Take your eyes off me, even for a second, and you're a dead lizard!" She flew in a flash of multi-colored lighting right into Levia's back, electrocuting him upon impact, but it didn't stop there. Trish had jammed the Devil Sword Sparda hard into Levia's hide and unleashed all the multi-colored lightning she could into him, electrocuting him from the inside-out, causing him to roar in pain, as well as loose his focus in his struggle against Laxus. This is what ultimately caused Laxus' attack to win in the end as it blasted through Levia's water and struck the Water Dragon in the front, encompassing him in a blast of lightning that mixed with both Trish and Laxus' power.

Laxus fell to his hands and knees in exhaustion. "Laxus…" Happy flew towards him just as Arcadios was able to stand up behind him to help pick him up.

"Thank you…" The knight said sincerely.

"Yeah…" Laxus said in-between breaths, even as the Devil Trigger Trish appeared by his side in a flash of multi-colored lightning, both looking past the smoke to see that despite being injured, Levia was still standing.

"He's a tough bastard." Trish mused.

'Even with Trish's Devil Trigger, this dragon still won't go down…?' Happy shook in fear. 'It's like Acnologia all over again…!'

However, the dragon in question found himself focusing directly on Laxus. "This shouldn't be possible…"

"What, that you're getting your ass handed to you by us lowly insects?" Trish replied.

"No… that a human possesses the power of the Thunder Dragon King." Levia revealed, much to the surprise of the present.

"The hell are you talking about?" Laxus questioned.

"You're a human, and yet somehow… you wield Elexion's power." Levia replied. "He would never stoop so low as to teach a human how to use Dragon Slayer magic. So tell me, how do you wield his power?! Who taught it to you?!"

"What…?" Happy muttered. 'But Laxus doesn't have a dragon teacher like Natsu or the others, he's a second generation Dragon Slayer. The master said Ivan put a lacrima inside him.'

Laxus seemed just as confused too as he thought to himself. 'My old man was the one who put this lacrima inside me… but I never really looked into where it came from, or how the hell he even got it in the first place. Ah well, now's not the time to think about it. Stop this guy first, everything else can wait.'

The man smirked in an effort to mock and intimidate the Water Dragon. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He noticed the agitated look on Levia's face and decided to use this to his advantage. "Maybe your boss isn't as high strung as you think. But if you think I'm going all out now… just you wait."

Electricity then surged all around Laxus' body as his muscles grew. What was left of his shirt was already being torn off, revealing bright yellow scales that formed all around his arms and up the sides of his face and fangs formed in his mouth.

"Whoa… Laxus is using his Dragon Force…!" Happy was more than a little shocked. "But is it gonna be enough…?"

"Just wait and see for yourself, furball." The transformed Laxus told him before looking towards Trish with a competitive smirk. "Think you can keep up?"

Trish mimicked his smirk with her own. "That's what I was gonna say."

Both surged with their respective electrical powers as Arcadios wielded his Jade Dragon sword, which continued to glow a bright green. "No matter what, we must hold this dragon here! The Princess and the others haven't destroyed the Eclipse Gate yet. So until they do, we stand our ground here and now!" He declared.

"Aye sir!" Happy proclaimed as they all charged directly at the roaring Water Dragon.

Meanwhile, as all their of friends and allies kept the two dragons occupied, Kyrie and the surrounding royal soldiers continued to aid in protecting Lucy as well as Yukino and Hisui, the former two Celestial Wizards working alongside their respective spirits to destroy the Eclipse Gate.

Bai Hu slashed his sword relentlessly at one spot in particular before leaping back and allowing Zhu Que to flap her wings and generate a fire ball to blast at that same spot. She then pulled back before the much larger Ophiuchus came in to open her mouth and blast the corrosive substance on that spot.

'Our spirits have been focusing their attacks all on that one spot…!' Yukino thought as she observed the damage done to the Eclipse Gate. But despite their best efforts, all that they've done so far was partially melt and break away at the surface, barely making any internal damage. 'But we've only been scratching the surface! Even Ophiuchus working with other spirits can barely scratch it!'

"What in the world is that thing made out of?!" Kyrie questioned.

"Maginium…" Hisui explained. "It's a near-indestructible, magically resistant alloy. It had to be made of something incredibly sturdy if it was built four centuries ago and remains functional to this day. Even if Celestial Magic is the only thing that can damage it… we may need more if we are to do any serious damage."

"I… I have to…" Lucy struggled to stand, but she almost tripped over. Though Kyrie was quick to catch her.

"Lucy, your magic hasn't recovered yet!" She told her. "I'm sorry, even if I can heal, I can't restore your power! You've done so much already!"

"Not enough…" Lucy muttered. "I'm right here… I'm… a Celestial Wizard… I… I have to… do something…"

Kyrie looked to her friend with sympathy. 'I know… I know how you feel… wanting desperately to help those you care for. Even after I learned more about my Arc of Seraph and how powerful it is, I still can't use it here! If I do, the Gate will drain me and they need me to protect everyone!' She was just as frustrated as Lucy herself.

Just then, an orange glow coming from above had caught all their attention, causing them to look upwards to see the source of the glow. It was Atlas Flame, still locked in an aerial battle against Motherglare.

The flaming dragon, despite being injured, had expanded the flames around his body while grappling against Motherglare to try and burn him as much as possible. But Motherglare proved durable enough to take it as he tried to bite and claw at Atlas Flame. And as they struggled, another heated and bloody battle was taking place on top of them.

Natsu threw his fist forward, creating another massive fist made out of fire around his own to try and strike the horrifically transformed Future Legion, who caught it with a massive shadow claw outstretched from his free hand before a bright white light shot out from the palm of his hand to blast away Natsu's flaming fist before swinging his Rebellion to throw a wave of white energy, which struck Natsu and sent him rolling across Motherglare's side and towards Atlas Flame.

The Rebellion sword of the present time pierced through Future Legion's back, courtesy of Dante, the flames around his body form his Human Torch style were still active, but they were slowly beginning to dim. Dante tried to channel as much of that as he could into his sword to try and burn him from the inside. That's when Future Legion noticed the flames around Dante finally die out.

"Finally!" Several spikes of black ice shot out from Future Legion's back to pierce Dante all over his body. Though he quickly used his Quicksilver style to slow down time, slicing Rebellion to break away the black ice… only for the other Rebellion, this one being wielded by Future Legion, to be run through his own body, with Future Legion's arm being extended by shadows.

"Two Quicksilvers activating at the same time. We were curious to see what the effect would be." The monster mused as both he and Dante still seemed to move freely in this space where time slowed. "Ice Devil Rage!" The black ice breath attack struck Dante, piercing more through his body and sending him crashing back towards Motherglare's rear. Dante rolled back to his feet and hands, taking a second to catch his breath while wincing from the intense pain he was feeling now.

'Damn it! Human Torch wore out! His ice feels like freezer burn! We throw everything we got and tear this thing apart, but all these shadows keep him stitched together! The hell's it gonna take to put down this monster!?' Dante cursed internally.

An explosion of fire erupted from behind Future Legion as Natsu soared at him with fire raging around his body. "Hellfire Dragon Sword Horn!" The flames molded around his body as a giant large horn made of fire appeared at his front to ram Future Legion. Though his body dissipated into shadows upon contact before solidifying himself behind Natsu.

"White Shadow Dragon Sword!" A mixture of white light and shadows formed around the Rebellion that Future Legion held before swinging it at Natsu, blasting away all his fire and engulfing him in a swirling slash of white light and shadows and blasting him back towards Dante, who caught him with the flat of his own Rebellion.

"An admirable attempt." Future Legion granted. "But as you can see, even the two of you together cannot stop us. But of course, despite you wanting us dead, we all know that's not your real intent. Simply to stall us, and allow your precious Celestial Wizards time to destroy the Eclipse Gate and undo everything that we have done." He noticed the glares and growls from his two opponents. "Though admittedly, your allies have put up more of a fight than we anticipated. The dragons we have unleashed are being pushed back, even Elexion must direct all his attention towards Kurenai. But of course, we can still shift the balance of this battle to our favor."

"Keep talking, freakshow." Natsu growled as he pushed himself back up, fire igniting at his fist again. "No way in hell you're gonna win this."

A demonic smiled formed on the monster's hideous face. "Do you not know where we are? Take a look." Future Legion waved his sword to his side gesturing for his opponents to look in that specific direction. But while Natsu kept his eyes focused on Future Legion, Dante happened to glance in the direction his enemy pointed to, and that's when his eyes widened in shock and surprise.

"The castle…!" He exclaimed, which had caught Natsu's attention as well. From there, the two of them saw the ongoing struggles with their friends against Zirconis in the air, Levia on the ground, and the Eclipse Gate itself which was beginning to take damage.

"Lisanna… Wendy… Happy… Lucy…" Natsu muttered with worry.

"We had sensed that Zirconis and Levia were having trouble, and it seems they were unable to complete their task of protecting the Gate." Future Legion explained. "And while you two and Atlas Flame were so focused on us, we simply re-directed Motherglare back here. To end those meddlesome Celestial Wizards." He sneered, much to the horror of Natsu and Dante. "Motherglare! More of your spawn are needed!"

With a roar, more holes opened at Motherglare's underbelly as dozens of eggs then began to rain down toward the castle.

Dante pulled out Ebony to try and shoot them, only for both him and Natsu to be caught in a wave of black ice, which froze them to their spot.

"LUCY!" Natsu shouted as loud as he could, hoping that she or someone near her could hear him.

And they did. Lucy, Yukino, Kyrie, Hisui, the surrounding royal soldiers, as well as their nearby friends, they all indeed heard Natsu's cry, only to watch in horror as several more eggs crashed around the entire area of the castle.

"Oh no…" Yukino's face went pale as the eggs all quickly hatched, producing countless Mini-Dragons just like the ones currently fighting the wizards in the city.

"Tear the Celestial Wizards apart!" Motherglare commanded.

"Not if I can help it!" Atlas Flame prepared to unleash a breath attack, only for Motherglare to blast a massive wave of diamonds with a flap of his wings, the attack being powerful enough to push Atlas Flame back somewhat while Natsu and Dante were left back on Motherglare.

"Focus on the fight in front of you, Atlas Flame!" Motherglare roared.

Natsu and Dante both struggled to escape their predicament, Dante in particular was being burnt from the black ice that touched his body. But Natsu was able to blast fire from out his body to shatter the black ice, freeing him and his friend, only for Future Legion to appear in front of them, thanks to his own Quicksilver ability. He ran Dante through with his Rebellion once more and generated a spear of light to pierce again into Natsu's stomach, with blood oozing out from both of their wounds.

"Watch in agony as your loved ones die! Lucy Heartfilia in particular, twice over!" Future Legion sneered maliciously.

"Princess!" Arcadios shouted.

"No! Lucy! Yukino!" Happy cried out as well as he to fly closer, with Laxus and Trish ready to lend their aid as well, only for all of them, to get swept up in a large wave of water, courtesy to Levia who swiped his own tail to generate said wave and wash them back.

"We have to help them!" Wendy hollered as Carla flew her downward, with Sheeree and Lisanna right beside her. Unfortunately, Zirconis had flown in front of them to block their path.

"Nuh, nuh, nuh." The Jade Dragon waved his finger.

"I don't think he's going to let us!" Carla exclaimed.

"Got that right. We're not finished here yet, ladies." Zirocnis snickered.

"Get out of our way!" Lisanna demanded as she blasted a jade green energy beam from her mouth, with Sheeree performing a similar action with a lightning breath attack.

"Stand your ground men! Protect the princess!" All the royal soldiers formed up around Hisui and the others as they faced the present group of mini-dragons, with a dozen in total all growling and snarling at them.

"Ophiuchus!" Yukino tried to command her strongest spirit to help them.

"There's no time!" Hisui was in fear as the mini-dragons all prepared to unleash their breath attacks.

"I won't let you!" Kyrie was more than ready to unleash the Arc of Seraph to protect them. But their odds didn't look all that great.

'No…' Lucy thought in dread. 'This can't be how it ends…! Our future… is not set in stone…! We… we can't let it end like this…!'

However, somebody had appeared at her side, someone that nobody had noticed before until now.

A certain figure in a black hooded robe had graced past Lucy almost like a breeze, drawing her attention. But, she was even more surprised to see that her chained-whip weapon, which was previously at her own side, was now in the stranger's hand.

'The Morning Star…? But… how did she…?'

All of the mini-dragons shot their lasers at the group, with Kyrie preparing to bring up a shield to protect them…

Only for Gandelina to appear in front of her and quickly flail the Morning Star rapidly in all directions. And as she did, the chain suddenly began to shine a mixture of gold and yellow, with star-like sparkles radiating outward from it. The more she flailed, the more sparkles were thrown out from the whip and intercepted all of the beams, creating a series of explosions all around the group before they even made contact.

Everyone present, human, dragon, demon, Exceed, or otherwise, all of them… even Future Legion… did not expect anything like that to happen. This hooded stranger, who unbeknownst to all of them, was the Wizard Saint Gandelina, had defended the Celestial Wizards and their nearby allies from the onslaught.

The hooded woman then faced all of the mini-dragons present. "My turn."

The Morning Star, still glowing gold, was flailed out again towards the three mini-dragons in front of her, slicing them all in half like a hot knife through butter before their bodies exploded. She then dashed at another one faster than it could anticipate and delivered a kick so strong to its head that it turned a full one hundred and eighty-degrees, causing the creature to fall back, dead.

Six tried to pounce on her all at once, only for her to quickly sprint away from that spot where they landed before whipping her borrowed weapon in their direction, which quickly entangled around all six before she pulled back to slice them all to pieces. As she pulled it back, she noticed three mini dragons charging behind her, and in one fluid motion, pulled the whip back while gracefully limboing under it and thrusting her arm forward to send it straight forward in that one direction. The spiked tip of the Morning Star pierced through all three mini-dragons in a row before she pulled back and their bodies exploded in star light.

Two tried to come at her and get close enough to bite at her, but she ducked underneath their bites before moving in with several rapid punches to the chest of one to disorient it and swiped at its leg to send it tumbling into the other before she leapt up and spun in air while holding the Morning Star outward to slice through them before landing gracefully on her feet just as they exploded behind her and blew her robe slightly.

The woman hadn't even broken a sweat.

Everyone who had seen their fight looked in amazement. She had taken down a dozen of those things in less than a minute!

"Who... is that…?" Yukino muttered.

"I… I believe she is one of the ten Wizard Saints… Gandelina…" Hisui recognized her, but was no less amazed than everyone else.

"Focus on your respective dragons!" She called out to the nearby fighters. "I'll help protect these ones!"

Not that they were in much position to question it, but that recent display did seem to raise their spirits up quite a bit and renewed any vigor they needed to keep going and focus on their enemies again.

"Well, you heard the lady." Laxus grinned. "Let's get going!"

"Yeah! Time to kick some dragon butt!" Happy cheered as he picked up Laxus who threw out his fist to send a bolt of lightning at Levia's face, with Trish and Arcadios doing the same with a thrust of their respective swords to send blasts of multi-colored lightning and jade energy, all striking the Water Dragon in his sides and causing him a great deal of pain.

"I don't know what just happened, but I'm not complaining!" Sheeree unleashed a fire breath attack at Zirconis.

"Neither are we! Let's go Wendy! Carla!" Lisanna said to them.

"You got it!" The white furred exceed nodded as Wendy blasted her own breath attack again with Lisanna doing the same, the attacks of wind and green energy mixed with that of fire and all conjoined onto Zirconis, creating a powerful explosion that pushed the Jade Dragon back.

Gandelina approached the surprised group of Celestial Wizards and their friends. "Thank you…" Kyrie said to her, to which Gandelina nodded before looking down at the exhausted Lucy before her.

"You've exhausted most of your power. Let me help you." She placed a hand on the blonde's head. But before she could react, a golden aura quickly formed around the girl, much to everyone's surprise. The aura quickly died out as Lucy soon stood up.

"Lucy…?" Yukino didn't expect her to be back up on her feet like this.

"My… my magic…?" Lucy looked to her own hands in surprise. "It's… it's back…! But how…?"

"There are more of those dragon spawn in the area and they will be here soon." Gandelina informed. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need to borrow this a little while longer." She still held the Morning Star. "I'll give it back once we're done, I promise." She then looked at Kyrie. "If any should get past me, use your magic to protect them. But be careful not to attack, or else there's a risk it could strike the Gate and drain your own magic."

"I understand. Thank you, again." Kyrie nodded, getting serious as Gandelina stepped forward, now acting on guard duty, with Lucy still looking at her in confusion.

'She restored my magic… and the way she used Morning Star… Is… is she a Celestial Wizard…?' Lucy then shook her head. 'No, don't think about that right now! Focus on what needs to be done! I don't know why I have my magic back, but I'm not letting it go to waste!'

Lucy bit down into her hand to draw some blood before using it to draw one of her keys, making sure the blood touched it. "Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" With the sound of a doorbell, Aquarius had appeared before the group, but Lucy wasn't done yet. "Open! Gate of the Twins! Gemini!" Using a second key, Lucy had summoned another spirit. And once more, Gemini was in the form of a Lucy double. "Bring out Loke and Scorpio!"

"On it!" Gemini-Lucy drew two copies of the aforementioned keys before swinging them downward to summon Loke as well as Scorpio.

Gandelina only slightly turned her head to see all the spirits that were summoned. A small smile graced her partially covered face.

"All of you, focus all your attacks on the Eclipse Gate!" Lucy ordered. "Specifically on that one spot that the others have hit! Do not stop until you break through and that Gate is reduced to rubble!"

Aquarius smirked with pride at seeing her friend and owner this determined. "Yes ma'am." She aimed her urn forward and unleashed a torrent of raging waters right onto the damaged spot of the gate. Loke and Scorpio both followed suit as they both let loose blasts of golden energy and sand twisters respectively at the spot alongside Aquarius.

"Bai Hu! Zhu Que! Lend them your aid!" Hisui commanded.

With nods, the two eastern Zodiac spirits helped as well. Bai Hu swung his sword to send waves of energy forward with Zhu Que flapping her wings for several balls of fire to launch forward.

"Ophiuchus, you as well!" Yukino ordered.

The giant snake-like spirit hissed before opening her mouth to blast her corrosive substance onto that same spot. All six of the spirits had their attacks focused on the damaged area of the Gate. Hopefully all of them together will be enough to damage it.

Future Legion scoffed. "Another obstacle. No matter, we'll just slay that one first before moving onto the others…"

Just then, a hand reached out to grab the monster by his wrist, and this hand belonged to none other than Natsu. Despite having a spear of light still in his stomach, the Fire Dragon Slayer glared hard, his fangs barred, and his eyes burning with his undying will and pure unrelenting hatred.

"Stop it…!" He growled.

"Struggle in futility!" Future Legion tried to push the light spear deeper into Natsu, but he wouldn't budge. If anything, his grip grew even harder, even more so as his body was set ablaze, burning away the light spear and forcing Future Legion back, withdrawing his Rebellion from Dante and allowing him to recover.

The Son of Sparda could only look in surprise as he saw Natsu getting back on his feet, the fire around him burning even hotter, so much so that all the residual black ice around his own body began to melt away, and all of Natsu's injuries, including the hole in his stomach where he had been pierced, were being seared shut, cauterized by the heat of his flames.

"What is this…?" Future Legion said aloud. "This power… It feels like…" His glowing white eyes widened in horror. "No… impossible…!"

"Stop it…!" Natsu continued as his body was hunched over, the flames burning even more and condensing around his body. "Stop it…!" The fire then began to change color, from its usual orange to a brilliant gold. "Stop…" As all this happened, several images flashed through Natsu's mind, specifically those involving Lucy. From when he first met her in Hargeon, to all their adventures and battles together, all the times where Lucy and Natsu struggled together with all their friends, but they ultimately pulled through. She pulled through and got so much stronger with each adventure. And as she did, his own admiration and respect for her grew just as much. Eisenwald, Galuna Island, Phantom Lord, the Tower of Heaven, the Oracion Seis, meeting Dante and fighting Vergil for the first time, Edolas, Devil Hand and Temen-ni-gru, Grimoire Heart and Tenrou Island, the Order of the Sword, and here. Here, where the Lucy from the future died, crumbling to dust in his arms…

And she kissed him on the lips before she said those four little words to him that he would never forget….

"I've always… loved you…"

When those four words echoed through his mind, something snapped. A spark had ignited in the very depths of his soul and blazed like an inferno, far stronger than any he had ever used before.

"STOP… TRYING… TO KILL… MY LUCY!" Natsu roared as the golden flames exploded from his body. Dante covered himself with his arm and the force of the fire did push Future Legion back somewhat.

From there Dante, and even Atlas Flame, they looked in awe to see the golden flames condensing around Natsu as red scales formed all over his arms and up his sides, moving up to the sides of his face, his hair standing up as his eyes became sharper and more dragon-like, with fangs even forming in his mouth no less.

"This power…" Atlas Flame muttered.

"Dragon Force…" Even Dante was surprised. 'But this isn't like what he did before.' He remembered back when Natsu first used this power against Vergil when he first joined the guild, and when they all teamed up against Arkham. 'It's stronger… more… whole. Like what I saw before was an incomplete transformation. This state… it's way stronger than what Sting and Rogue got. Hell, it may even be stronger than what Laxus can do right now!'

"No! This is impossible!" Future Legion exclaimed in denial. "The Natsu from our time never mastered this power! He could never achieve true Dragon Force! So why is it that you can?!"

Before anyone else could respond, a bright red glow formed all around Dante as he too stood back up, with the transformed Natsu looking toward him as the Crimson Knight had undergone his own transformation. Dante had changed into his Devil Trigger, but he didn't stop there. A darker red flash encompassed his already transformed state, taking the form of armor made from demonic energy. He had activated his Dreadnaught style and fused it with his Devil Trigger, just like he did in the Games.

This was his Inferno Trigger.

'This is everything I've got… every last bit of demonic power I got inside me.' Dante thought. 'If this and what Natsu's got isn't enough to stop this freak, then it really is hopeless.' A smile formed on his transformed face. 'Well, might as well go out in a blaze of glory then.'

"Natsu…" Dante began.

"Yeah." Natsu nodded.

In a dash of red demonic power mixing with golden flames, Dragon Force Natsu and Inferno Trigger Dante both appeared directly in front of the surprised Future Legion as the former jammed his fiery fist into Future Legion's gut and the latter swung his Rebellion in that same area. The combined force from their attack sent the abomination straight up into the sky. But even from that height, Future Legion recovered as massive demonic wings emerged from his back to halt his ascent.

"Hey Uncle, you got this right?" Natsu asked Atlas Flame, tapping his foot on the enemy dragon that he and his brother-in-arms were standing on.

"Yes. I will handle Motherglare. That monster up there is all yours." The fiery dragon confirmed. "Wipe him off the face of this world!"

"That's the plan." Dante nodded before looking to Natsu with a smile. "Try not to slow me down, dragon breath."

Natsu smiled back. "You too, demon boy."

With that, both warriors shot up into the sky. Dante using his wings, and Natsu propelling himself up with fire from his feet. Future Legion then flew back downwards with a roar as the three collided, an aerial battle now ensuing.

---

An explosion erupted at the very top of the castle as Jellal shot straight up with his Meteor technique, only for the Devil Trigger Vergil to fly after him at twice the speed. Thrusting his hand downward, Jellal sent a multitude of golden energy blades raining down on Vergil while he himself zig-zagged across the sky. Vergil was able to slice all the blades with ease with his Yamato, only to look up and see seven magic circles already lined up as Jellal prepared another attack.

"Grand Chariot!" Thrusting his hands down, a storm of light beams rained down towards Vergil. Such an attack could have probably leveled what was left of Mercurius, but the Devil Trigger Vergil gripped the Yamato and retaliated with a swing to unleash a hail of Summoned Swords which flew upward to intercept each and every one of the beams, creating a series of explosions that lit up the area above the palace.

However, that's when Vergil had noticed that Jellal had moved some distance away on a rooftop and had taken a certain stance. The man had bowed down and pointing his hands downward, all his fingers closed save for his index and middle fingers. He moved his right hand up until it pointed upward. As he did, a brief whirlwind blew around him as a series of dark clouds formed the area above the palace and began to circle around, with Vergil still hovering in the air and staring up at the epicenter.

"True Heavenly Body Magic: Sema!"

A bright light formed at the epicenter of the swirling dark clouds, which grew to enormous size and take the form of a large meteor, which fell down straight for Vergil, who seemed so tiny by comparison.

And yet, despite the massive attack coming down towards him, an attack that would probably decimate everything around him, the transformed warrior was rather disappointed.

"Hmmp. Powerful, yet desperate."

Quickly gripping the Yamato and putting more effort attack than before into it with a mighty yell, Vergil slashed the katana straight up right before the meteor made contact.

*SLICE!*

The meteor had been cleaved in half!

A perfect clean cut, much to the shock and horror of Jellal, even as the severed meteor exploded. The shockwave had shaken the entire surrounding area and was felt by those currently battling at the palace, human, demon, dragon, Exceed, and spirit; with even those in Crocus feeling some aftershocks themselves.

In a split second later, the transformed Vergil appeared in front of the shocked Jellal and grabbed him by his throat, lifting him up as he gazed at him with his glowing blue eyes.

"You are powerful, Jellal Fernandes. It's understandable why the Magic Council fears you so, and why you were once regarded as a Wizard Saint. But as you can see, I'm just that much stronger than you."

'That's right. This is the same man who was evenly matched with my whole team before. He broke out this transformation to overpower us, and succeeded. It was a miracle we were able to escape back then, unless…' Jellal grabbed Vergil's arm with one hand and threw a glowing punch into Vergil's demonic face with the other, blasting an energy beam that engulfed his head. But the smoke quickly cleared, and Vergil wasn't the least bit damaged.

"I will also say this, you are not a coward." Vergil credited. "Fighting till the bitter end. You have my respect."

"You never intended to capture us back then… did you…?" Jellal spoke. "You allowed Crime Sorciere to escape… all to set this into motion… Was this your end goal? The release of a swarm of dragons to overpower Mundus…?!"

"Yes, I did allow Crime Sorciere to escape." Vergil explained. "The Magic Council would have tried to seize your powers for themselves, and it would be best if those power hungry fools didn't have any of that. As for my end goal… This battle here, is only the first step. There is much more at work than you realize."

"Why don't you tell us all about it then?!"

Turning to his side, Vergil looked to see a massive and crudely made slash appear out of thin-air, followed by a flash of white light as something powerful struck Vergil in the side, forcing him to let go of Jellal while the transformed Son of Sparda backed up to look at who it was that attacked him.

It was Lucia, clad in her own Devil Trigger. And stepping out of the slash behind her, was Nero in his unusual Devil Trigger transformation, the Masayoshi glowing in his hand before the slash in space closed up behind him.

Jellal looked up in surprise to see the two transformed Devil Hunters facing his enemy, while Vergil himself seemed intrigued. Particularly towards the sword that Nero wielded, one that was a copy of his own.

"You were able to cut through space to bring yourselves here."

"You kinda showed me that little trick back in the Games, remember?" Nero reminded. He thought back to the final match on Day Four where Fairy Tail faced Sabertooth. Vergil had used the Yamato to cut through space and move from the arena down into the mines where everyone else was at. "If you could do it, I don't see any reason I can't."

'He copied my technique from just one look.' Vergil noted. 'Even if his sword is identical to the Yamato, and his portal was not as 'clean' as the ones I can create, it's still impressive that he was able to pull it off just from seeing it only once before. Much like the rest of Fairy Tail, Nero has great potential.'

"Erza and Kagura are alive." Lucia said to Jellal. "They're in rough shape, but they'll survive."

The man breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Now then, I believe this battle has been drawn out for long enough." Lucia said as she spun both her Cutlasser blades in her hands, which shined a bright white light. Nero stood by her side as well, the Masayoshi shinning with his transparent Devil Trigger transformation. "It's time to end this."

Vergil held his own Yamato tightly as his eyes flashed a dark blue once more. "Agreed."

Done.

So, yeah, A LOT happened in this chapter. And I'll do my best to summarize it.

The allied guilds are managing to hold their own rather well against the dragons and mini-dragon army. Some are finding ideas and strategies that will work to their advantage, others are flat out overpowering their enemies, but a few are still struggling against their respective foes. A few are even learning new abilities and gaining some new powers, such as Lisanna gaining a new Dragon Soul after consuming Zirconis' power.

But despite the situation being contained now, the Magic Council is not happy about any of it, especially with learning that Vergil has betrayed then and are more than willing to fire an Etherion to wipe out all of Crocus, even killing the royal family and are prepared to take control of the country themselves in the aftermath. But, unbeknownst to them, Sid is in the same room and seems to have his own plans as well.

Raven Tail has also managed to slip away and are joined by Minerva, both planning revenge on Fairy Tail.

Gandelina has also shown us a taste of what she can do, coming to the aid of the Celestial Wizards and is now protecting them. Even giving Lucy a boost in magic so she can help her friends too. I imagine some of you might have some ideas about what or who Gandelina is, but I can neither confirm nor deny anything until we get to a certain point. So, the mystery continues.

Vergil appears to have overpowered nearly everyone who went against him, even cutting off Erza's arm!

Yeah. I went there.

For those who follow my other stories, I'm sure you'll note the irony of how one character from one of my other stories who lost an arm in canon has manage to avoid that fate in my series, while a character who never lost a limb before here has managed to do so now.

As for what will happen with Erza later in the story and how she will handle this, you'll just have to see. But if you thought Fairy Tail (particularly Dante, Lucy, and Natsu) were upset with Vergil before… oh boy. They will be a lot angrier with him now, to say the least.

Trust me though, I have special plans for Erza. In no way, no how, is this going to impede her badassery or make her any less of a warrior than she already was. Please, bear with me.

And despite being overpowered, with even Jellal on his last legs… Nero and Lucia have assumed their respective Devil Triggers to face Vergil in one last fight.

The battle against Future Legion is also becoming more insane. With the monster having lost his human appearance (his own freaking skin being incinerated) and taken up a form more suited for a beast like him. (If you want at least an idea of what he looks like now, think something along the likes of Venom from Marvel comics. In fact, Venom was actually the main inspiration for Legion in my story as he's one of my favorite comic book villains of all time).

But in response to this, Dante is giving every last bit of demonic power he has with his Inferno Trigger and Natsu has unlocked his true and complete Dragon Force for the first time, without any sort of additional power up like he's had before. Our boy is really coming along. And both he and Dante are prepared to throw down everything they have to defeat Future Legion once and for all.

The climatic battle of this arc is coming to an end in the next chapter and trust me, you are going to be on the edge of your seats with the epic finisher that I have planned.

Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. I love you all.