Ice Dragon Slayer/Chapter 40: Assault on Tenrou

Erza, Drake and Juvia ran as fast as they could through the dense forest of Tenrou Island with Manda slithering right by their side.
"Unbelievable!" Erza exclaimed. "I never imagined that Zeref would still be alive!"
"As much as that terrifies me...I'm more concerned that Grimoire Hearts fighting force is on their way." Juvia replied.
The red haired Knight glanced over at Juvia as they continued to run. "I believe they're called the Seven Kin of Purgatory, right?"
The Water Mage nodded. "Yes, apparently one of them is already lurking around the island."
As they continued to run, Erza noticed Manda had a worried look on her face. "Are you alright Manda?" she asked with concern.
The mutated sea serpent flinched with surprise before looking back at her. "Y-yes! I am well..." she replied.
It was the worst lie she had ever given. And she knew it.
'No... I'm really not. If THEY are here as well...then none of us are safe.'
----After interrogating Yomazu, Erza now knew what they had to do.
"We must find Wendy and the others at once! If Grimoire Heart is really planning on attacking us, they could be in danger!" she said.
Juvia and Manda nodded in unison. "Understood!"
"Hahahahaha..."
The three stopped and turned around where they noticed Dagahra slowly lifting his head to look at them.
"If I were you, I wouldn't bother... Your comrades should already be dead by now." he said with and evil grin.
Manda's eyes flashed with slight anger that made her human companions cringe a little with fear as she slithered towards the aquatic kaiju.
"Speak! What is an Earth Conqueror like you doing here?! And more importantly, why with a dark guild?!" she demanded.
Juvia's eyes widened in shock. "Earth Conqueror? You mean...he's one of the malice kaiju you've told us about?"
Manda nodded. "He indeed is." She then gave the kaiju a death glare. "Now, tell me who you are and why you have come here?!"
"They call me Dagahra." he replied, completely unfazed by Manda's gaze. "And we have come here to eliminate you and the rest of your precious Earth Defenders."
"I highly doubt that's your only goal." she scoffed. "Now how about you tell us why your REALLY here!"
Dagahra simply chuckled in response. "Hehehehe. Like I would be so foolish enough to tell you tha- gack!"
He cut off when the lower part of Manda's body began to coil around his throat, causing him to gag for air.
"Do not test me!" she snarled in fury. "You are about to learn that I can be VERY impatient when it comes to fools like you!"
Erza and Juvia were shocked by Manda's sudden action and tried to calm the infuriated kaiju down. "Manda! Please calm down! We're trying to interrogate them, not kill them! Please sto-!"
"ALRIGHT!" Dagahra screamed through Manda's grip. "I'll talk! Just please let me go!"
After that, the sea serpent released her grip on the aquatic Conquerors neck and watched as he collapsed to the forest floor, coughing for breath. "No tricks, you hear? Now, tell us what your true purpose here really is."
Dagahra took a few seconds to get his breath even before looking back up at the trio. "We...were sent here...to aid Grimoire Heart in retrieving their precious Zeref..."
Erza's eye's widened again. "You're in an alliance with Grimoire Heart?!"
Manda on the other hand, didn't buy it. "That's absurd! SpaceGodzilla despises humans, so why would he to such lengths such as that?!"
Dagahra glared up at her. "Do not question SpaceGodzilla's reasons! After all, the alliance is only temporary until we succeed in retrieving Zeref for them."
Juvia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "And what happens after you do help them?"
Dagahra's grin returned. "We will be returned to Terra, so we can purge it of those disgusting, selfish humans."
"You fool!" Manda snapped. "Just how exactly do you plan on doing that when there is no way of returning?!"
"How exactly?" Dagahra repeated with a smirk. "Well you see, it just so happens that Grimoire Heart are the ones who brought us to this world in the first place."
That silenced all three of them almost immediately.
Erza stared at him with utter shock. "They what?!"
"But-but how is that even possible?!" Juvia stuttered.
Dagahra simply shrugged nonchalantly. "To be honest with you, I'm not sure. However, they did promise to send us back home if we succeeded in helping them retrieve Zeref."
Erza regained her composure and stared at him with caution. "And how do you know they won't just simply turn on you as soon as their mission is complete?"
Dagahra grinned again. "Oh, that won't be a problem at all. SpaceGodzilla has already put together a contingency plan in case something like that happens. Besides, even with their so-called 'Seven Kin of Purgatory', they don't stand a chance against the rest of our forces. Speaking of which, one of them should already be here by now along with the Seven Kin member that Yomazu mentioned."
Manda's eyes widened in shock again. "Another Earth Conqueror is already here?! Who are they?!"
"Lets just say that they won't be showing you or your comrades any mercy when they find them. They'll make you all wish you had died before they found you! Hahahah-gah!" Dagahra laughed victoriously before he was finally silenced by a very infuriated Manda, who bashed him in the head with her tail.
Juvia looked at her with slight concern. "Manda...are you alright?"
The sea serpent glanced back at her with a small nod. "Yes Juvia, I'm fine..."
Erza nodded before she turned and started walking away. "Come on! We must find the others fast before anyone else finds them!"
Juvia nodded and followed after her, while Manda just stared at the unconscious body of Dagahra before she too turned and followed after the Requip Mage.
----Manda was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by a very concerned Juvia speaking to her.
"Manda? Ever since we left you've been rather quiet... Are you absolutely certain your alright?" she asked.
The serpentine Earth Defender sighed in exasperation. "I'm sorry Juvia. It's just...I have quite a lot on my mind right now..."
Juvia continued to stare at her as she looked back ahead. 'Ever since interrogating that Dagahra creature, she' hasn't been herself. I just hope what he told us isn't true...'
----Elsewhere, Wendy and Rodan both found themselves in a rather strange situation.
First, a red flare had been fired into the sky, signalling an enemy assault on the island. Second, Carla and Panther Lily arrived out the blue acting rather paranoid. And Third, said Exceeds suddenly started showing hostile behavior towards Mest, with Lily even coming close to knocking his lights out.
Neither of them knew what to make of their friends odd behavior.
Wendy tried to defuse the situation, but still confused by the Exceeds' hostility. "Stop it! What's gotten into the two of you?!"
"Stay back and keep quiet child!" Carla snapped irritably.
Rodan said nothing to stop the two, for he was too busy observing the one sided standoff between Panther Lily and Mest.
"Tell me who you really are!" Lily growled darkly.
Mests' stared at him with a mixture of fear and confusion. "W-What do you mean?"
Lily narrowed his eyes. "It's my belief the magic you wield allows to manipulate peoples memories. If I'm correct, you've been using that magic to masquerade as a member of Fairy Tail since before the trial."
Rodan's eyes widened in shock. 'Magic that can manipulate the memories of others? Does something like that actually exist? But more importantly, why would he do something like that?'
"Too many things don't add up, including your story about being Mystogan's pupil." Lily continued. "From what I've seen, no one has any real connection with you. And just now, you had no idea what the guilds emergency flare signifies. There's no talking your way out of that."
Mest said nothing in response to the black Exceeds accusations. But then, just before Lily could say anything else to him...
He suddenly vanished!
Carla's eyes widened. "He disappeared!"
Lily spun around in absolute shock. 'Teleportation Magic?!'
Suddenly, Mest reappeared just behind Carla and Rodan, standing right in front of Wendy. The young Dragon Slayer noticed he had a dark look in his eyes as he started reaching towards her. 'What's wrong with him...?!'
"WENDY!" Carla shrieked with fear.
"Let go of her, you bastard!" Rodan roared as he, Carla and Lily rushed as fast as they could to stop the rouge mage. But just as they were ready to apprehend him-
"GET DOWN NOW!" Mest shouted.
*KABOOM!
A massive explosion ripped through the area, engulfing everyone and everything in a large black cloud of dust and debris. Panther Lily's wings appeared from his back as he flew out of the cloud with Carla in his arms, both covered with minor injuries. Rodan appeared not far behind them. His injuries were also not that bad, but his minor healing factor quickly got to work fixing him up. It may not have been as good of a healing factor as Godzilla's, but it was good enough for him.
The pterosaur looked around for the source of the huge explosion. "Damn it! The power coming from this island is screwing with my senses! I couldn't see it coming!"
"But were did it come from?!" Carla asked in a panic.
"An enemy attack?!" Lily suggested before he noticed a blur appear on the cliff next to the one they were on earlier.
It was Mest, with his arms wrapped protectively around Wendy.
They flew down towards the two as Mest helped the Dragon Slayer to her feet. "What's going on?!" Lily demanded as he and Carla landed on the ground.
But before they could advance towards them further, Rodan suddenly spread his wings out and pushed the two Exceeds back just as another explosion blasted between them and the two mages in a perfectly straight line.
While Lily and Rodan were trying to process what had just happened, Carla was focused on Mest and Wendy. 'He protected her? But why?'
With Wendy still in his arms, Mest turned towards the source of the last explosion, which appeared to originate from a tree at the edge of the cliff. "Who are you?! Show yourself!" he shouted.
Everyone else looked towards the tree, confused as to why the explosion would have come from it. What they saw next made Wendy cover her eyes in fear and made everyone else's eyes almost pop out of their heads.
They noticed a face begin to manifest from the tree trunk
"Impressive. Your senses are quite sharp." the face spoke in a deep male voice.
Rodan shook his head really quick to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Wait, the tree attacked us?!"
"Who are you?! Come and face us!" Pantherlily barked angrily.
The face began to manifest again as the upper torso of a human figure appeared from the side of the tree. "I'm from Grimoire Heart. My name is Azuma. I'm one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."
Wendy finally looked up as soon as she heard that. "Grimoire Heart?"
"A Dark Guild..." Carla said in a low voice.
"So that's what the flare was." Mest realized. "Someone must have run into more of these freaks."
Rodan continued to stared at the figure popping out of the tree. 'Another Dark Guild? Like those clowns that we fought when we first got here?'
"A bit late to be worrying about your friends." Azuma responded to Mest's discovery.
Lily glared hard at the Grimoire Heart Mage. "How dare you! What exactly is going on here?!"
Mest was silent for a few seconds, but he eventually gave up and sighed. "I thought if I was going to find any dirt on the Fairy Tail Guild, the most logical place to start would be here, it's sacred burial ground. But to find Zeref and Grimoire Heart as well, talk about hitting the jackpot. Must be my lucky day."
Rodan cocked an eye at the rogue mage. "Zeref?"
"Just who are you?!" Lily demanded impatiently.
Mest turned to them with a wide grin on his face. "C'mon, isn't it obvious? I work for the Magic Council. I infiltrated your ranks to gather intel that'll bring you down once and for all."
Carla's eyes widened. "You're a spy?!"
Wendy just stared at him with shock. "But Mest..."
"Very interesting." Azuma murmured with a smile.
"But I've caught a much bigger fish now. To think the ever-illusive Grimoire Heart would just fall into my lap out of nowhere. If I take them out, my career is as good as made." Mest continued with a small laugh.
His grin then got bigger when he noticed a small platoon of warships making their way towards the island. "I even have the Councils Custody Enforcement Unit's battleships on standby. Once the Dark Guild makes landfall, it'll be game over for them. This is a crackdown! Today the Devil's Heart stops beating for good!"
However, just as Mest's face calmed down, Azuma crossed his arms and grinned as well. "Those battleships... They look so fragile from here."
*KABOOM!
To Mest and everyone else's complete shock and terror, another explosion engulfed the small group of ships, reducing them to nothing but huge, burning chunks of wood.
Wendy covered her mouth in horror. "No... All of those people..."
Rodan was shocked beyond belief. 'That power I just felt...what the heck was it and how did he do that?!'
Azuma finally stepped out of the tree, revealing his full form. He was a tall, muscular man with tan colored skin and thick brown hair that looked like long, dark leathery strips on confetti jutting out in every direction. He had brown eyes and long sideburns, joining his hair to his prominent goatee and he also had straight, dark streak running over his left eye that extended from the top of his forehead to his mid cheek. Each of his ears were adorned by a large earring shaped like a round crescent moon pointed down.
His attire consisted of a light green, leather armored chest piece with a pair large, dark green shoulder pads, complete with lighter-colored edges and massive straps hanging from them. Around his waist was a simple, plain belt distinguished by the dark motifs on it; below it, the leather armor continues in a waist guard composed of four, semicircular flaps, each retaining the same color scheme as the chest piece. His arms were covered by loose, orange sleeves, with a dark green band encircling each of them. His pants were also orange, with the lower parts being slashed on the front where they were framed by green strips and visible from the slashes in his pants where a pair of white boots.
Azuma faced the group in before him with a stern expression. "If you're done talking, I'd like to get to work destroying everyone here, right now."
Lily quickly jumped if front of the others and entered a fighting stance. "Everyone stand back!"
The brawny Exceed and the Dark Mage stared each other down, both preparing themselves for a fight.
----Master Makarov stood before a large, straw structure held together by roots growing from a tree just behind it. Inside the structure was a large, stone pillar with a large hole in the center that sat upon a podium and a smaller stone pillar on each corner of the podium.
"A red flare, the signal of an enemy raid. I never thought it would happen here, and on my watch no less."
The Master of Fairy Tail stared at the stone memorial. "Mavis...did you ever find yourself in this situation? Because I wonder how you would have handled it. I'll bet your so angry with me you're spinning in your grave right now. I've allowed the enemy to tread upon our guilds sacred ground."
His clenched fists began to tremble a little and his expression became sorrowful. "I assume full responsibility and I will pay he price, rest assured of that. However...I ask this of you. Keep them safe."
----*KABOOM!
Natsu's head whipped around at the sound a loud explosion from not too far away. "Is it just me, or does that sound like some trouble went down over there?"
"Yeah. Do you think the enemies already here?" Happy asked.
"Only one way to find out. Let's go!" Natsu exclaimed as he and Happy made their way towards the source of the explosion.
Then, a strange scent caught his attention, making him slow down a little.
Happy glanced back at his friend. "Natsu? What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure. This smell feels weird though..." The Dragon Slayer replied as he continued to sniffed the air.
His eyes then widened when he realized where the source of the new smell was coming from. "It's coming from right where we heard that sound!" He quickly picked up the pace and started running again. "Let's get moving Happy!"
"Aye!" the blue Exceed replied.
----Wendy stared at Azuma with sheer horror. "No... How could you do that?"
"Those ships were full of innocent people, you monster!" Carla exclaimed with disgust.
Rodan eyed the Griomire Heart Mage with shock after witnessing what he had done to the Magic Council battleships. "How could one guy have that much power?!"
Mest said nothing, for he was still in shock after witnessing the tragic fate of his comrades.
After about a minute or two, Lily finally lunged at the Dark Mage with a battle cry as he brought his fist back.
Azuma watched him with a stern expression before slowly bringing one of his hands up. "Bleve."
A massive blast erupted from Azuma's hand and struck Panther Lily at point blank range. However, the Exceed appeared from the dust seemingly unscathed and delivered a powerful punch to the Dark Mage's face. Azuma skidded back a few feet, but he looked completely unfazed.
Azuma brought his hand up again and several small lights surrounded Lily before erupting into a single powerful explosion. The Exceed cried out with pain as the shock wave of the explosion sent Mest, Wendy and Carla flying backwards. Rodan folded his wings in front of him and skidded back a little, but he remained standing.
As the dust cleared, Lily appeared with minor injuries, but he was already looking exhausted. "If only I had a sword..."
Wendy quickly shot to her feet. "Don't worry! Your not in this alone!" She held her arms out at length and chanted, "O swift winds that dash through the heavens...Vernier!"
A blue magic circle appeared underneath Lily as a teal aura surrounded him that made his body feel incredibly lightweight. "My body suddenly feels lighter!"
Wendy then raised both her arms out in front of her with another chant. "O strength of arms to cleave the heavens! Arms!"
The teal aura surrounding Lily intensified as he bawled his fists. "Amazing! So this is the power Support Magic holds!"
Rodan watched with surprise as Wendy used her magic to power up Lily. As he watched, he couldn't help but remember what she had told him the day she first asked him to train her.
"I can use Healing and Support Magic to help my friends in battle, but sometimes...I feel like it isn't enough. I feel useless sometimes."
The pterosaur couldn't help but smile. 'Kid... If only you really knew just how useful you really are.'
Lily powered up his wings and took to the sky just as Azuma raised his hand again and fired a barrage of explosions from his hands, but thanks to his power up from Wendy, he was having no problem dodging them. The Exceed flew down using his advanced speed and prepared to kick him, but Azuma just barely managed to dodge him. Azuma then fired more miniature explosions at Lily, who flew back up into the air to get some distance.
Azuma narrowed his eyes and prepared to fire another explosion at Lily, until he was delivered a solid kick to the gut and slammed against the tree he had emerged from earlier. The Dark Mage simply brushed the attack off and looked up to see Rodan standing a few feet way from him.
"You just fell for the oldest trick in the book." Rodan said in a mild cocky tone.
Azuma simply smirked. "Impressive, no one has ever been able to catch me off guard like that. I should expect nothing less from you so-called 'Earth Defenders.'"
Rodan's eyes widened in shock. "How do you know about us?!"
"Defeat me and I may just tell you. Bleve!" The Grimoire Heart Mage extended his hand out again and released another massive explosion that consumed the pterosaur.
However, to his shock, Rodan appeared from the smoke completely unharmed and brought his wings back. "Take this! Sonic Gust!" he shouted as he gave a single flap of his wings and released a powerful gut of wind that sent Azuma skidding back back just a couple inches.
When the attack ended, Azuma extended his arm once again and fired more miniature explosions, but Rodan took to the air while weaving and dodging the small explosions. Azuma watched as Rodan continue to ascend until he was hovering beside Panther Lily.
The Exceed glanced at the pterosaur by his side. "You handled that quite well. Wanna take him one together?"
Rodan responded with a nod and a grin. "Sounds good to me! Lets show him!"
The two glanced back down at Azuma, but their looks of confidence shifted to ones of confusion when they noticed he was smirking. "The heck is he smiling at?" Rodan asked.
"Don't know, but keep your guard up." Lily replied.
Azuma continued to smirk up at the two. "I'll admit, you two are better than I originally thought. Unfortunately, my time spent facing you has me pressed for time, so I suppose I have no choice but to let my partner take care of you."
Carla's eyes widened. "Did he say...'partner?'"
Mest gritted his teeth in frustration. "Your kidding me! More of Grimoire Heart is already here?!"
"Not Grimoire Heart." Azuma replied calmly before looking back up at Rodan specifically. "Rather, someone who has quite the bone to pick with you Earth Defenders."
Rodan looked at him with confusion. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
The Dark Mage didn't reply, but instead was focusing on something approaching from behind the two. Wendy saw this and turned around to see a figure flying towards them at incredible speed, but she also noticed it was heading right towards-
The young Dragon Slayer spun around. "LILY! RODAN! BEHIND YOU!"
The two heard her and turned around as fast as they could, only for a dark figure to smash into both of them with bone crushing force that sent them crashing back to earth. When the dust cleared, Lily and Rodan were lying battered and bruised on the ground. Both of them suddenly cried out in pain when the figure landed on top of them with earth shacking force, smashing them further into the ground.
Wendy, Carla and Mest looked up at the assailant and their breath caught in their throat.
Standing over their friends was a 10 foot tall, demonic beast with dark-red skin that was like living molten rock. It's stomach looked to be puckered up like a white flower and it had two thick arms that had three, white claws adorned on them. It was standing on two legs with white spikes adorning the knee areas. Red-white spikes were on the upper-shoulder area, and it had a long tail that was tipped with a two fingered claw at the end of it. It had a large crest on each side of its head and a long, glowing, orange horn sticking out from its forehead and two massive, red, demonic wings on its back with two more smaller ones just under them. Three small, white tusks jutted out from the corners of its mouth and its eyes glowed with burning orange light.
To them, it looked like a demon that had crawled out from the deepest pits of Hell!
The demonic beast reared its head back and gave off a high pitch roar that would make any living thing cower in fear.
"REEEAARRRGGH!"
----Godzilla vs. Destoroyah OST: Destoroyah's Theme...
----Carla felt like her heart had stopped for a few seconds when she heard the monster roar and took a few steps back. "W-What is this thing?!"
"This power...this horrible, malicious power... I've never felt anything so evil in my life!" Mest's voice shook as he felt his spin crawl just by looking at the new beast.
Wendy on the other hand felt her whole body shack like a leaf and she felt like her legs were going to give out in fear at the creatures demonic power. "No... This can't be real! ...It just cant be!"
Rodan groaned as he slowly lifted his head to look up at his and Lily's assailant. "No way... There's no freakin way..."
The creature looked down at the pterosaur beneath his right foot and gave a low, demonic hiss. "Hello, little bird. How does it feel being crushed like the pathetic little insect you are."
Rodan glared up at the beast, but the shock was still visible on his face. "Nice to see you too...Destroyah."
Lily, who was pinned under the monsters left foot, looked up in complete shock. "Destroyah? Isn't that the creature that mortally wounded Leo and Lea's mother back on your world?"
"Yeah...this is her all right. I wasn't kidding when I told you she was a demon." Rodan replied.
Destroyah chuckled darkly at the insult. "You've always been quite the expert when it come to name calling, haven't you?"
"Destroyah. Remember, we're on a schedule." Azuma reminded
The crimson Earth Conqueror glanced back at him. "Come now Azuma. What's the point of a hunt-" She then turned back and grabbed both Rodan and Lily by the backs of their heads. "-if you don't get to enjoy playing with you prey."
She then lifted both of them off the ground and tossed them aside, watching them both crash to the ground. Lily shot to his feet and lunged forward to punch her, but Destroyah simply caught his fist and squeezed with incredible force, forcing the black Exceed to gasp in pain and fall to his knees.
Destroyah growled at him as she felt his knuckles crack in her grasp. "I would stay down if I were you."
Suddenly, she felt a presence from behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see Mest preparing to kick her. Without even moving from her spot, Destoroyah launched her claw-tipped tail at him and grabbed him by the neck before slamming him into the ground. She looked back ahead just as Lily brought his free hand back and delivered a fierce uppercut to her chin. However, to his complete shock, Destroyah didn't even look like she felt it at all and her grip on his other hand hadn't loosened a bit!
"Is that really the best you've got?" she asked. Destroyah then brought her own free hand back and gave Lily a powerful backhand blow to his face, then simply tossed him aside like rag doll.
Destroyah glanced back at her tail-claw, but was slightly surprised to see that Mest wasn't there anymore. She faced ahead again and looked up when she noticed a shadow and saw him reappear above her.
"Teleportation, hmm? Interesting." she simply stated. Mest moved in to punch the demonic Kaiju, but Destroyah effortlessly blocked the punch with her arm. She then grabbed Mest by his face before he could teleport away and threw him into large boulder, causing it to crack upon impact.
Mest groaned in pain as he looked up at Destroyah from where he was lying. 'Dammit! Just how strong is this monster?!'
"Don't forget about me, you ugly freak!" came a voice from behind Destroyah. She turned around and saw Rodan blasting towards her.
Destoroyah, however, simply side-stepped to the side before raising one of her massive arms and smashing down onto his head in a hammer motion. Rodan crashed face first into the ground again, but just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, Destroyah grabbed him by the back of the head and repeatedly smashed his face into the hard ground over and over again.
After about six or seven bashing's, the crimson Earth Conqueror finally released her hold on Rodan, who looked to be on the verge of unconsciousness. "Are you done yet? Or do you still plan on trying to stop me?"
Rodan slowly lifted his bruised up head up and glared up at her. "Go ahead... Give it...your best shot... I ain't scared of you."
Destroyah cocked an eye, but chuckled with amusement. "How bold of you, not to mention quite stupid." She then opened her mouth as the inside glowed with a purple energy. "As much as I'd love to torture you more, I'm afraid we're rather short on time."
Nearby, Panther Lily struggled to push himself to his feet, but the pain was too much for him and he simply collapsed again. "No... Rodan...get away!"
"Dammit... How could I be so useless..." Mest cursed under his breath.
Rodan simply watched as the purple energy emitting from Destroyah's maw grew brighter as she prepared to blast him square in the face. "Goodbye little bird-"
"STOP IT!"
Everyone stopped at the high pitch scream, even Destroyah paused her beam as she turned towards the source of the yell. Rodan looked up as well to see who had stopped her.
His heart almost froze.
"Wendy...no..."
Standing just a few feet away, the young Dragon Slayer had tears streaking down her face from watching her friend being beaten down and could bear to watch it any more.
"Stop it! Please! Just leave him alone!" she cried out again.
Carla looked at her in shock. "Wendy!"
Destroyah eyed the blue haired girl curiously. "Hmm? What's this? A friend of yours?"
Rodan gave the girl a pleading look. "Wendy...please don't. Get away from her... She'll kill you..."
"No! I'm not leaving!" Wendy replied as she continued to cry. "We're friends! And friends shouldn't abandon each other!"
That only seemed to make Destroyah even more curious as she looked back down at Rodan. "Oh? So you two have a special connection, do you? To be quite honest, I never thought you would go adopt another child into your flock. Especially after hearing about what happened to that other little brat you took in."
Carla shifted her gaze from her to Rodan with confusion. 'Wait. What does she mean by that? Was there someone else before Wendy?'
Destroyah stepped off of the wounded pterosaur and began walking towards Wendy, who made no attempt to flee, but stood her ground.
Rodan desperately tried to get back up. "Stop! Leave her alone Destroyah! She's just a kid! Take me instead! Just let her be!"
The demonic Kaiju ignored his pleas and continued walking towards her until she stopped just about a foot or two away from the Dragon Slayer. She looked down at her and hissed. "Do you really plan on getting in my way? That's quite a lot of bravery packed into such a small human."
"Wendy! Get back here this instant!" Carla cried out in panic.
Wendy trembled under the crimson beasts gaze, but remained where she stood. "N-No Carla... I can't. Not when my friends are being beaten down like this..." Her eyes shifted to a glare as she continued to stare up at Earth Conqueror. "I won't let you hurt him. You hear me? I won't let you hurt him!"
Destroyah however, responded with another dark chuckle. "How adorable. Your actually willing to put yourself in harms way to protect this fool?"
"He's not a fool." Wendy replied. "He's family."
Rodan's eyes widened. 'Wendy...'
"Well then, if your so willing to die for his sake..." Destroyah's horn suddenly began to spark and cackle with yellow energy as she reared her head back a little. "Then you shall have your wish!"
"WENDY!" Carla shrieked in terror.
"Move out of the way!" Lily shouted from where he laid. Mest tried to use his Teleportation Magic, but he knew there wouldn't be enough time.
Wendy squeezed her eyes shut as Destroyah swung her yellow horn down onto the defenseless girl.
However...
*SLASH
Carla's covered her mouth with her paws, her eyes filled with horror.
Lily's jaw dropped in shock.
Mest's eyes went wide.
Azuma raised both of his eyebrows.
Destroyah looked up to see the result of her handy work,but what she saw made her hiss with surprise.
Wendy opened her eyes when she didn't feel anything was was shocked to find that she was still alive. But that couldn't have been, she was quite certain that Destroyah had struck her. So how was she still alive? She then looked up to see what had happened.
What she saw almost made her scream.
Standing in front of her was none other than Rodan!
He stood facing her with his wings spread out in a protective stance. His eyes were wide and his beak was open, but no sound escaped. But what horrified her most was that there was blood dripping down from his back.
He had taken the attack for her.
Wendy looked into his eyes, tears beginning to form again. "R-Rodan...why?"
Rodan just stared back back, their eyes locked for what felt like an eternity before he finally managed to speak. "I...already lost one good kid under my watch... I'm not about to let another die...because of me..."
Then slowly, the pterosaur felt his legs begin to give out. "Never...again..." he muttered just as he collapsed to the ground.
"Well, that was quite unexpected." Destroyah muttered to herself.
Wendy dropped to her knees to try and help him, but then she saw the damage done to his back. He had a massive vertical scar running down almost the entire length of his back with blood leaking out at a slow pace.
Carla stared at the scene from a few feet away with shock. 'He...took the attack for her?'
"Enough of this. We've wasted enough time already." Azuma said as he walked up next to Destroyah. "I will clean this up myself. I suggest you get some distance from here."
The crimson Kaiju simply nodded with a growl before opening her massive wings and taking to the sky. Azuma then turned his attention back to the little Dragon Slayer, who was still crying over Rodan's poor condition and didn't even bother to look at the Dark Mage.
"I apologize for this, but I have my orders." he said as he slowly began to spread his arms out to the sides, causing the ground to shake violently.
"Tower Burst!"
A massive pillar of fire erupted from the ground underneath Azuma and engulfed everyone around him. Screams of pain from his unfortunate victims filled his eardrums, but he paid no head to them and continued his attack.
----Nearby, Natsu and Happy noticed the massive column of flames just a few miles away. "What is that?" Natsu asked.
"It's a tower of fire." the blue Exceed responded. "And there's no one in Fairy Tail who uses magic like that."
"Guess we know where the enemy is then." Natsu growled.
...
Meanwhile, Godzilla also noticed the tower of flames.
"What in Tanaka's name in that?"
----Azuma cancelled out his attack and looked on as his opponents had been blasted onto another cliff with a stern expression. Destoroyah landed beside him when she saw it was safe and looked on with him. Panther Lily's Battle Form cancelled out and lift him in his smaller form. Carla was passed out beside Wendy, who somehow still had her arms wrapped protectively around an unconscious Rodan's neck. Mest was the only one still conscious, though he was severely wounded.
He looked up at the two with a strained expression. 'I never imagined...the Seven Kin of Purgatory would posses such power. Not to mention...that other monster...'
The Grimoire Heart Mage sighed. "This guild...are cats and children its only defense?"
Destroyah glanced at him. "Don't sell them so short yet. For all we know, there could still be stronger prey out there right now as we speak."
Mest could only look on from where he layed. 'There are SIX more of these guys, not to mention god-knows how many of those other beasts?! We're all doomed!'
'Fairy Tail doesn't stand a chance!'
----Elsewhere on the island, Lucy, Cana, Gray and Loke were running as fast as they could through some abandoned ruins on there way there way to the emergency rendezvous point.
"Come on! Where the heck is this stupid meeting place?" the Celestial Mage whined.
"It's back at the base camp." Gray replied. "Didn't anybody tell you?"
"We'll make it quicker if we pass through these ruins. Just keep running!" Loke added.
"How'd a search for a grave turn into something like this?!" Lucy asked.
Cana had a different problem on her mind. "I don't get it. Can you think of any reason they'd attack now?"
Lucy glanced at her. "...No."
----The Grimoire Heart Airship, just a few miles from the coast of Tenrou Island:
Assembled in the observation deck, the remaining Seven Kin of Purgatory and the Earth Conquerors stood in front of a large army of Grimoire Heart soldiers as they awaited their arrival to Tenrou Island.
Zancrow noticed Ultear finish zipping up her battle attire and smirked. "Nice outfit. Gets me fired up and ready to cut loose."
Caprico flashed a disapproving look at the blond haired teen. "Zancrow. You should be taking this battle seriously."
Rustyrose adjusted his glasses. "Tonight, the souls of our foes dine in a city of woe."
"Poetry...and stuff. I'm also ready...to fight and- Uhh..." Kain stuttered as he twirled his fingers nervously.
Gabara punched his fists together excitedly. "Alright! It's about damn time I got to beat down a bunch of looser Defenders! All this sitting around on this ship has got me super bored!" He then turned to the Kaiju next to him. "What about you Battra? You gotta at least be a little excited about this."
"To be completely honest, I could care less about this pointless conflict." Battra answered without even looking at Gabara.
"Jeez, aren't you just a ray of sunshine." the toad Kaiju said sarcastically.
Meredy glanced at Battra with curiosity. "If you're so disinterested about the upcoming battle, then why take part in it?"
"You have your own reasons, and I have mine." he answered easily.
Before Meredy could ask what he meant by that, she noticed something coming into view and pointed towards it. "Ul! Look at-"
"Never refer to me by that name!" Ultear hissed.
Meredy flinched away. "P-please forgive me..."
This seemed to catch Battra's attention as he glanced between her and Ultear with a mixture of suspicion and slight confusion.
Zancrow sighed and came to the pink haired girls side. "Aw, come on. Quit being so nervous all the time. Alright, so what's up?"
Meredy pointed straight ahead again. "It's in view now. The Fairy Island."
Everyone present looked up and saw Tenrou Island finally come into full view. However, something else instantly caught their attention.
Ebirah took a step back in shock. "What the Daiei is that?!"
Megaguirus narrowed her eyes. "It looks like...a giant?"
Standing in the ocean waters just in front of Tenrou Island was a towering figure that stood only half as tall as the island itself, but practically dwarfed everything else around it.
Kain's jaw hit the floor while Zancrow cursed. "Well that sucks."
SpaceGodzilla, who was standing next to Hades throne cocked an eye in curiosity. "And just who is that?"
The Master of Grimoire Heart grinned. "Makarov..."
The now colossal Makarov glared at the approaching airship. "Begone!"
----48 years before present; Fairy Tail Guild, Magnolia Town - X736:
Makarov's eyes widened in shock. "Hold up! Either I'm going senile or you just said I'm Fairy Tail's next master!"
A tall, elderly man with a long white beard nodded. "That is correct."
"Find someone else! I can't!" Makarov said shaking his head.
"You can and you will, boy." the man replied.
"Who're you calling boy!" Makarov snapped irritably. "I'm 40 years old you know!"
The old man ignored his outburst and smiled reassuringly. "I realize you have doubts at the moment, but you have the ability to love and trust your fellow men. I'm certain you will lead Fairy Tail to greatness. Just as Mavis, our First Master, passed this heavy mantle onto my shoulders..."
"I now pass Fairy Tail's spirit onto you. Please handle it with care."
----"Turn back or suffer the wrath of Fairy Tail!" Makarov bellowed with rage.
From inside the airship, Hades simply smirked at his threat.
The colossal Makarov then brought his massive fist back and punched the side of the ship, shattering one of it's engines. From inside, several Grimoire Heart foot soldiers struggled to keep their footing while others simply fell flat on their faces. Makarov didn't let up and swung again.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Hades commanded.
The ship swerved and missed Makarov's fist by inches.
"Prepare the Focused Magic Cannon: Jupiter!" Hades ordered. A large cannon was unveiled at the front of the airship and fired a condensed beam of dark energy at Makarov, but he raised his arm and blocked the blast, although his arm ended up getting burnt as a result. Makarov the brought one foot back and kicked the ship, crushing the front half of it.
The soldiers started panicking again, but Hades remained calm and turned to one of his cohorts. "Now Ultear!"
"Sir! Ark of Time: Restore." Ultear murmured. The ship was engulfed in a bright light and was suddenly rebuilt, good as new.
Kamacuras looked around at the rebuilt battleship. "Did that really just happen?"
"Jeez, I don't know! What do you think?!" Ebirah exclaimed irritably.
Hades held his hand out. "Caprico, get all of our forces onto the island."
"What about you, sir?" Caprico asked.
The Guld Master had a dark look in his eyes. "I shall remain here and deal with Makarov myself."
Caprico nodded. "As you wish sir." He then clapped his hands together and every member of Grimoire Heart disappeared into a bubble. He then turned towards SpaceGodzilla. "And what of your forces?"
"They shall go with you as well." he answered. "I shall remain here as well."
"Understood." the white, humanoid goat said. He clapped his hands one more time and all of the Earth Conquerors disappeared as well.
Battra was about to go as well, but was suddenly stopped by SpaceGodzilla. "Not you Battra. You shall remain here as well."
The Rogue Divine Moth looked at him with slight surprise. "Sir?"
"Your chance will come eventually. For now, I need you to remain here should we find ourselves under attack while the invasion commences." the crystalline Kaiju explained. Battra looked just a little skeptical, but nodded anyways.
With their forces ready, Caprico flew out of the airship and a jet pack and past Makarov.
The giant watched him fly past him and rumbled ominously. "Run if you like, but there is nowhere for you to escape!" He then faced the Grimoire Heart Airship again and put his hands together, creating a massive sphere of light from between them. "I'm going to give you to the count of three to get out of my sight! Otherwise you and the rest of your comrades will see the other side of oblivion!"
Battra's eyes narrowed when he saw the light sphere appear from between Makarov's hands. "What is that? I've never felt this kind of energy before, not even on Terra."
"It is the ultimate magic spell that vanquishes everyone whom the caster deems to be a foe." Hades replied calmly.
"One!" Makarov began counting down.
SpaceGodzilla glanced at Hades. "Are you absolutely certain you can handle something such as this on your own?"
"I assure you, I alone am more than enough." Hades answered with a grin. "Now then Makarov, lets see your infamous 'Fairy Law' in action!"
"Two!"
----"What the heck happened here?!" Natsu said worriedly as he stood by an unconscious Wendy and Rodan. "Wendy! Please say something! Come on, Rodan!"
"Lily! Carla! I think they took the full force of that spell we saw!" Happy yelled as he rushed over to help his fellow Exceeds.
Natsu clenched his teeth in anger. "Damn it! Someone's gonna pay for this!" He then looked up and noticed Mest nearby, who was also unconscious.
The Dragon Slayer suddenly rushed over and grabbed him by his collar and shook him. "Was it you?! Hey! Answer me!"
Mest slowly opened his eyes, but he noticed something off. 'The Memory Manipulation Spell's worn off...' he thought.
"Don't Natsu..." Wendy said as she began to regain consciousness. "Mest is a member of the Magic Council."
Natsu blanched and quickly released his hold on Mest before nervously dusting him off, causing the Magic Council mage to sweat drop.
Then, both Natsu and Happy's eyes got huge. "The Magic Council is our enemy now?!"
"Your wrong..." Carla grunted as she slowly got up too. "The enemy is Grimoire Heart, a Dark Guild."
"From the Balam Alliance?!" Natsu asked in shock.
"You mean their on the island?!" Happy exclaimed. "How are we supposed to fend off their entire guild on our own?!"
"It ain't just them..." Everyone turned to see Rodan struggling to get up. "Grimoire Heart and the Earth Conquerors...they've teamed up."
"You mean those guys you were fighting before you got her?" Happy asked.
Rodan nodded. "Yeah, but I never thought they'd show up now." He managed to stand on his for only a couple seconds before his legs suddenly gave out and he almost fell on his face, but Wendy caught him before that.
The young Dragon Slayer's eye were filled with worry as she gently helped him down. "Don't get up yet. You need some time to rest first."
Of course, Rodan didn't like that idea on bit. He was the type of Kaiju who always liked to be on the move and didn't like being forced to sit still. However, when he saw the worry in Wendy's eyes, he knew better than to argue and let the little girl he saved help him sit down. Wendy then immediately went to work on trying to heal Rodan's wound with her Healing Magic, but was surprised to notice something wrong.
"What's wrong?" Carla asked as she came to her side.
"This-this doesn't make sense." Wendy murmured. "My Healing Magic should be healing the wound, but it isn't working."
"Micro-Oxygen..."
They looked down at Rodan with confusion. "What?"
"Destroyah...was created by the Oxygen Destroyer, a device the humans used to try and kill Godzilla when he first appeared." he explained. "Because of this, she can harness Micro-Oxygen. Apparently, if another Kaiju were to be cut or blasted by it, it can decrease the efficiency of our healing factors. It's probably also affecting your Healing Magic too."
"Is there a way to stop it?" Wendy asked with concern.
"Don't worry. My body should expel it on its own, but it might take a while."
Panther Lily, who had just woken up, noticed something in the sky that caught his attention. "What's that?"
Everyone looked up and saw Caprico flying overhead as he dropped multiple orange bubbles onto the island.
----Lucy, Cana, Gray and Loke also saw the orange bubbles as some fell towards them. Then without warning, the bubbles exploded and an army of Grimoire Heart soldiers dropped to the ground with weapons in hand.
"It's raining masked men!" Loke exclaimed in shock.
"Id say hallelujah, but they don't look friendly." Lucy joked nervously.
"That's crazy! There's tons of them!" Gray said as he watched the soldiers quickly surround them. "All those orbs are enemy soldiers!"
"Crap!" Cana cursed in frustration.
...
Back at Fairy Tail's base camp, the Grimoire Heart soldiers had already stormed the camp and had completely surrounded Mirajane and Lisanna. The Strauss sisters stood back-to-back as they stared down the enemy mages.
Lisanna glanced at a nearby tent where Mothra Leo and the Shobijin were hiding before she turned her attention back to the soldiers.
...
Levy, Gajeel, Gorosaurus and Baragon were immediately surrounded by soldiers. The two Earth Defenders quickly got in front of their human companions, growling in unison. Levy would have helped them, but unfortunately, she was still supporting Gajeel, who had passed out from his injuries a while ago.
Gorosaurus glanced back at the bluenette. "Levy, stay back and protect Gajeel. We'll take care of this."
Levy nodded. "Okay. Please be careful though."
Gorosaurus then turned to his allied Kaiju. "Are you ready Baragon?"
Baragon pawed at the hard dirt and snorted, a small flame shooting out from his nostrils. "Like you even have to ask. Lets go!"
...
Elfman pumped his fist at the soldiers. "I'll take all of you on! Who's gonna arm wrestle me first?!"
Evergreen sweat dropped. "I don't know whats more annoying, you or the goon squad..."
...
Erza summoned her sword and pointed it towards the Grimoire Heart soldiers. "How did they over run us so quickly?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm afraid more are coming." Juvia replied as she, Erza and Manda all stood back-to-back against the horde of enemy's.
Manda hissed ominously at the soldiers. "Let us tear these misguided fools apart so we can get back to the others."
The two girls nodded in unison.
...
Natsu and his group also found themselves surrounded, but he stood tall and went into a fighting position.
"Alright. Now I'm all fired up!"
...
Elsewhere, Azuma and Destroyah noticed Caprico flying overhead, knowing full well what it meant.
"Well, well. The rowdy ones will finally be joining us in battle." Azuma noted as he watched his ally disappear from view.
"So it seems." Destroyah growled before she turned back to her comrade. "Shall we?"
Azuma nodded. "Indeed."
With that, they both disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
----Zancrow hallowed and laughed as he fell towards the island at breakneck speeds.
Rustyrose had already landed and adjusted his glasses, Kamacuras and Ebirah by his side. "The Underworld will run red without sacrifices tonight."
Meredy dropped down and landed on her feet with a cold expression. "Operation is under way."
Gezora wadded through a small lake as he eyed his surroundings. "Let us finally be rid of this parasites once and for all."
Kain Hikaru crashed head first into the ground with a resounding THUD, while Titanosaurus landed beside him without incident.
Gabara swung through several large branches to slow his descent before landing on the ground with a huge grin. "Alright! Now to kick some Earth Defender hides once and for all!"
Gaira and Sanda walked side-by-side through the dense forest. Gaira growled and punched his fists together, pumping himself up for the upcoming battle, but Sanda just stared at the ground with a somber expression.
Megaguirus zoomed through the forest at almost impossible speeds with narrow eyes and a hiss. "The time for us to make our mark on history has finally begun."
Ultear walked calmly through the forest with a faint blush. "At last I am near him...Lord Zeref."
...
Zeref sat back against a large tree and stared at the sky with sadness.
"So much conflict... Will it ever end?"
...
The sphere of light between Makarov's hands grew incredibly bright now as the Grimoire Heart Airship hovered in front of him without moving.
"And that's three! Times up!" Makarov bellowed. He then clapped his hands together and the light grew more and more intense.
"Fairy Law!"
"Don't be so hasty."
Makarov looked up to see Hades standing on top of the ship, but he was left shocked when the Guild Master of Grimoire Heart created a sphere of darkness from between his hands. He fixed the giant with a stern expression.
"Grimoire Law."
Makarov's eyes got huge, making Hades grin. "These spells serve their intended purpose. Lesser men would be deterred by them, but unless one of us backs down from this duel the destruction that follows will leave a scar on this world of cataclysmic proportions."
Left with no other choice, Makarov cancelled the Fairy Law, but he still stared at the other man in shock. "No...impossible! It can't be!"
...
The tall, elderly man walked out of the guild and spoke without looking back. "I'm going on a journey, boy. I know you'll make this guild a great one."
"Master, wait! Don't go!" Makarov yelled as he tried to run after him.
"Master?" the man turned around to face him with a smile. "I'm no longer the guilds master. It's you."
...
Hades smirked. "Hello, boy. You're looking well."
Makarov took a step back in absolute shock and horror. "It is you...Master Precht!"
----