Chapter 63

Tempest

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Magic"

Flashback

Location / Date / Time Skip

Natsu stared at the Black Wizard in shock and fear, ready to attack if need be. "This guild was formed by the demons I created." Zeref explained. "I didn't create the guild itself. That was done by Master End."

"End." Natsu repeated. "The guy Igneel wanted to kill."

"To be precise, the one being that he could not kill." Zeref continued.

"Then I'll defeat him!" The pinkette shouted, charging in with the sword. "I'll inherit my father's will!" He swung the Heat Blade at the Black Wizard, only for the blade to completely dissolve to the hilt.

"You can do it." Zeref replied, the hilt smoking. "However, remember one thing. Igneel couldn't kill him. End, the strongest demon I ever created. You will have to make your choice too, eventually. Let him live or kill him. You'll be the one to choose." Natsu stared at him as Zeref started to flux out of view.

"I'm leaving now. Tartaros is doing this all to meet me, if I suddenly come out on my own, it will be a kill-joy. Only you or End will be able to get me. Let us meet again, Natsu." The Black Wizard faded away and time returned to normal, letting the guards hit the ground.

Natsu stood there alone, confused as humanly possible. "What the hell is he?"

Outside the Cube

The guild cheered at Erza's apparent self rescue before the gravity brought her down. "What's going on?"

"There's no time to explain." Gray replied. "We'll go inside using the hole opened by Erza. Where are the others?"

"Natsu and Lisanna are fine!" She answered. "We only have to find Mira, Nicholas and Elfman."

"I'm okay. I'll save Mira at all costs!" The man replied before he joined the guild jumping down the entrance. Erza was grabbed by Kyouka's claws and pulled her back into the fight.

"Forget about me!" She shouted at Lucy. "Face's seal was broken! We must find a way to stop it!" Lucy nodded and joined the others as Erza was slammed into the rocks. "I still haven't thanked you enough."

"I'm starting to like you." Kyouka chuckled.

Laboratory

"Mira!" Lisanna shouted as she walked through the many tubes. Rounding a corner, the two women smiled and raced over for a hugged. "Thank god!"

"Why are you here?" Mirajane asked. "And why are you using Animal Soul?"

"I didn't have any clothes." She answered. "I, Erza, Natsu, Nicholas and Elfman were captured." Her explanation shocked her older sister. "Natsu and Erza are fine. Only Elfman is left."

"We didn't capture him." The sisters turned to see Sayla walking over, anger in her eyes.

"Be careful!" Lisanna warned. "She's able to control people! That's how she got me and Elfman."

"Lisanna, stay back." Mirajane said, pushing her sister behind her.

"I ordered the man called Elfman to blow up your guilld." The demon explained, shocking the two. "And he did a splendid job destroying it. However, he couldn't kill anyone… That was my mistake." The sisters smiled as Sayla ground her teeth. "I embarrassed myself in front if Lady Kyouka because of him. My story is crumbling down. You, the older sister, will pay for this."

"You did that to my siblings?" Mirajane growled out, her magic power flowing off her.

With Wendy and Lucy

"What's this room?" The blonde asked as the four entered the Super Archive room.

"It's full of floating letters." Happy said.

"It looks like a giant world map." Wendy looked up at the globe.

'They already got here?' Franmalth asked from behind a corner. 'How lame are those guards?'

"Look at this." Lucy said from the controls. "Like Erza said, Face's seal was broken."

"Can't we seal it again using this magic square?" Happy asked.

"Wait, it says that if someone doesn't operate it manually, it won't start up." Lucy read. "Hold on, it's already working!?"

'Nice work, Ezel.' The cyclops chuckled.

"This…" Wendy mumbled in fear as she stared at a timer counting down. "41 minutes left until Face's activated."

A clanging noise caught their attention and they turned to see Keyes walking up to them. "Is the obscure prayer of the maiden the ring of a bell resounding in hell. The shining demon gleam is the breath of Lucifer will restore the land. Fairy Maidens who fell into Hades. Turn to corpses and roam in purgatory."

"A-a-a a skeleton…" Lucy mumbled in a panic.

"It must be a mask…" Wendy whispered.

Lucy glanced at the clock and found it had gone down a minute. "We have no time for this. Let's get out of here."

"If we don't stop Face soon, something terrible will happen." Carla added.

"Something terrible is already happening, ladies." Franmath chuckled.

""I got this!" Lucy reached for her pouch and grabbed two keys. "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull. Gate of the Golden Ram! Taurus, Aries!" Her spirits appeared, shocking the two demons before Aries unleashed a wall of wool. Taurus jumped in the middle and swung his axe in a circle, creating a typhoon. "Let's get out of here!"

Happy nodded and picked her up as Carla did the same with Wendy. "Do you know where Face is!?"

"Inside the great cace of Dokjelly Vally!" Wendy replied before they took off down the hall.

At high speeds, they zoomed down the fortress before they saw Keyes standing before them. "No way! He should still be in the room we just left!" Lucy said in confusion.

"Maybe they got ahead of us somehow?" Carla suggested.

"Happy, get past him!" Lucy shouted as he raised his staff.

"Look, Evil's Star-"

"Out of the way!" Gray appeared from behind and punched the skeleton into a black powder.

"Perfect timing." Lucy cheered before the two zoomed past him. "Sorry, we're in a hurry."

"What the!?" The ice wizard started to ask before the skeleton demon reformed behind him.

"You are… Silver's…" Keyes whispered, confusing Gray.

The two girls flew towards an open window when a wall of pink wool. "I won't let you get away." Franmath declared, suddenly coming out of the corner, looking like Aries. He swatted his arm and unleashes a wool wall of his own, trapping Lucy and Happy.

"Wendy, there's no time! Go!" Lucy shouted from within the wool. "Stop Face!"

"Right!" Carla turned and flew out the window, carrying Wendy.

"I said I won't let you get away!" Franmalth shot a wool arm at the girl, only for fire to burn the arm away.

He turned to see Natsu standing in front of the wool trapped Lucy, clad in a black and gold outfit. "We meet again, ya eyeball bastard!" He growled before looking out the window. "Why is Wendy in such a hurry? In fact, why are you guys here?"

"Face is about to be activated! It can only be stopped directly!" Lucy explained. "We have to trust Face to Wendy. We gotta find Mira and Nicholas first."

Franmath roared in anger before he started glowing. The light died and he was changed into version of Taurus, shocking the trio. "He absorbed Taurus and Aries?" Lucy asked in shock.

"I can use the souls of the things I absorb." Franmalth chuckled. "I wonder how much you punks are gonna be worth."

"Give Taurus and Aries back." Lucy demanded.

"No way, do you know how big my collection is?" The demon joked back.

"I'll kick your ass until you spit them out!" Natsu declared before charging forward, his fist on fire.

Franmalth chucked before his face shifted and turned into Aries, shocking Natsu enough to land a hit in. "I'll take your soul too!" He reached out to absorb Natsu into him, but the Dragon Slayer rolled to the side and stood up. Taurus had appeared on the body before Natsu suddenly punched him.

"I can hit you!" He declared as the demon flew backwards, crashing into a brick wall.

"How cruel…" Lucy mumbled.

"I get his point, but it's still cruel." Happy agreed.

"You damn brat…" Franmalth growled as he stood up, rubble falling off him. "I'll show you one of my top class souls!" The demon growled in anger before glowing in power, his body changing shape.

"No way…" Lucy mumbled in fear.

"Why is his soul here?" Happy asked as the transformation stopped. "Master Hades!?"

"Your proportions are totally weird." Natsu said, totally unimpressed. "Besides, I'm the guy who helped beat Hades!" He charged in and delivered a punch to the demons face, only for the orb of a being to bounce back, literally. Franmalth punched back before whipping a magic chain around.

The slayer dodged the spell only to get clasped on the ankle by the demon. Another hand grabbed his shoulder and started absorbing Natsu, who twisted his body and snapped the arms off. Lightning suddenly sparked off his body as he pulled his head back. "Lightning Flame Dragon Roar!"

Fire and lightning shout out of his mouth, blasting the demon before it was suddenly absorbed into the demon. "So you're the one who defeated Jackal, right?" Franmalth chuckled. "You shouldn't underestimate us so much. We're demons of the books of Zeref, and we each have the power of an army!

"If you're trying to stop Face, you better do it in the next ten minutes, or you'll have no magic to fight with! I'll ask you once you have all the magic torn from you if you feel like fighting now!"

"If everyone who's fighting suddenly loses their magic, we'd be doomed." Lucy mumbled. "It's all up to Wendy, that's it."

"Not just Wendy." Happy interrupted. "Carla is with her. Whatever they're up against, I'm sure she'll figure it out."

Hell's Core

"You have no chance against my Macro curse." Sayla declared. "It can force any human being to do exactly as I command."

"That's how you able to get Elfman to destroy our guild." Mirajane growled out, her body glowing in a purple aura. "Listen, demon. You hurt my siblings, that means you have to answer to me. And I'm not as nice as I seem." Transforming into her Satan Soul, she charged at Sayla, who opened arms and summoned a swarm of books.

Pointing forward, the tomes peppered Mira before she managed to in a kick. Sayla blocked a punch before more books flew in from behind, hitting her in the head. "I will not lose…" Mira growled out.

With Erza

Erza swung her twin swords at Kyouka, who slashed back with her claws. "I'll ask again, what is your guild trying to accomplish!?"

"We live to serve the great being who created us." Kyouka replied, pushing against the blades. "There is but one path before us; the destruction of your world!"

"Don't think it'll go according to your plan." Erza declared.

"My plans should be the last thing you should be worrying about." The demon chuckled, slashing her claws.

With Wendy & Carla

"Faster, Carla!" Wendy shouted as they flew over the land. "We can't afford to be slow right now!"

"I know!" Her friend replied. "More importantly, how exactly can we stop Face?"

"I don't know." The Dragon Slayer confessed. "Be we have to do it. Natsu would probably improvise a solution, and so will we." The two landed on the ground, Wendy carrying a tired Carla through the tunnels. The two walked though the cave, unaware of the tentacled demon hanging over them. "I can barely see where I'm walking. How are we supposed to find something we have no idea what it looks like."

"Then use your nose, child." Carla chuckled. Wendy sniffed the air for a second before a bug crawled onto her leg. Freaking out, she ran into the deepest part of the cave.

"What kind of pathetic mortals are these?" A voice from the ceiling scared the two as they looked up in fear. "Kyouka is playing me for a fool. You two won't even come close to filling me up. But I guess you'll do for a snack."

"Tartaros!?" Wendy asked in horror. Ezel jumped forward and tried to smash her again. "What can we do now!? We can't fight, we only have a few minutes left!"

"We should just run. It's not an opponent we can beat alone!" Carla warned, even as the demon kept charging.

"I don't have a choice! We're gonna have to fight!" Wendy placed her friend down and started enchanting herself. "Increase resistance to all types, Deus Corona! Increase physical abilities, Deus Eques! Iluarms, Iluarmer, Ilvarnia!"

"You know this won't save you." Ezel chuckled as Wendy pulled her head back.

"Sky Dragon Roar!" A massive tornado shot out of her mouth, blasting him in the face.

With a roar, he pushed through the storm and snarled in her face. "That wasn't bad, pipsqueak. But now it's my turn."

"Sky Dragon Talon!" Wendy punted him in the face, only for him to smirk. "It did nothing…"

"Tenga Goken: Onimaru!" The demon crossed its four arms before swinging them in an x, carving into the stone behind Wendy as she barely dodged, losing a pigtail. A tendril whacked her in the gut and sent her flying back in pain. She bounced along the ground through the cave before Ezel landed on her, crushing her with his mass. "Behold."

Wendy turned her head and stared up at a giant white pillar topped with a face motif. "You will die beside Face. It detonates in five minutes. Hopefully that will dissipate the stench of Ethernano. It's brutal at this range, kills my appetite. With the treatment this stuffs getting, it will become the end of all other Ethernano, and all Magic with it. Lucky for you, that five minute countdown will take longer than your death!"

He pushed down on his 'leg', starting to crush the girl. "Unhand her, you brute!" Carla suddenly jumped up and tried to claw his eye out.

"Carla…" Wendy mumbled, blood coming from her head and mouth. "Run away…"

"That's a weird looking cat" Ezel declared, plucking the white Exceed off his face. "Still, looks edible to me."

"Carla!" Wendy shouted in horror as he opened in his mouth.

"Air…" Carla mumbled, making the girl go wide eyed. With one heavy breath, Wendy started 'eating' the air. An explosion blasted the demon off her, making carla smile as she landed on the ground. 'She used to be so timid and weak…' The cat thought as she watched a wild mane of pink hair flow off her head and feathers grow out of her body.

'Now, I have the Dragon Force!' Wendy thought as she glared at Ezel.

And DAMN! Never saw this coming. That transformation was amazing and got me hyped for what was next. Do I wish we could have seen more of it? Hell yeah. But I'll take what I can get. Not much left to add, so I'll see you next time.

Beta read by General Feng Xiang