Ice Dragon Slayer/Chapter 41: Master vs Student

48 years before present; Fairy Tail Guild, Magnolia Town - X736:
Makarov sat at the bar with a sour face as he rested his head in his hand. One could easily tell he was in a very bad mood at the moment, but no one knew exactly why.
Suddenly, he shot up from his seat and started throwing a huge tantrum, much to his comrades surprise. "Dammit! Who do those Magic Council low-lives think they are! I should just go up there and set them straight myself!"
One of his fellow guild members tried to get him to relax. "Calm down Makarov!"
Makarov suddenly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with a heated glare. "You want me to calm down?! Maybe I'll use you to fix these pent up frustrations!"
"Wait! Let's talk about this!" the mage begged comically.
"That's enough, boy. Let him go."
Makarov released his would-be victim and looked up to see a tall, elderly man standing in front of him. He had a long, white beard that went down to his waist and white hair that was long enough that it stopped just below his shoulders. A white cloak with white, fur trimmings at the edges was draped over his shoulders and he carried a large, wooden staff that had the Fairy Tail symbol carved on the top, he also had a black eye patch that covered his right eye.
Makarov stood up straight. "Oh, M-Master! I-I didn't realize you were back!"
Master Precht gave him a stern expression. "Do you rebel in making trouble whenever you go out on a job?"
----Later that day, Master Precht had dragged Makarov outside to the lake side just as the sun was about to set, creating an beautiful orange glow that shinned throughout all of Magnolia.
Makarov sat down on the sandy beach and sighed. "So I roughed up some hasbeen bandits who were talking smack about our guild, I don't see what the problem is."
"There is nothing wrong with feeling the need to protect something you hold so dear," Precht said as he stood next to him. "but violence ultimately begets more violence."
"Was I just supposed to let them get away with it?" Makarov asked as he rested his head on his hand.
Precht continued to stare out at the setting sun. "Harmony is key. Forgiveness can be a powerful thing, just like violence. Whether you forgive or seek revenge is up to you, but know the consequences."
"You ever get tired of saying that?" Makarov grumbled with annoyance.
"I'll keep saying it until it sinks into your thick skull boy." he answered with an amused smile.
Makarov jerked his head towards him. "Seriously, quit calling me boy!"
----Present day, Tenrou Island:
Makarov couldn't believe it. At first, he thought his mind was just playing tricks on him, but it looked and felt so real to him. After almost 50 years, his old master was standing right in front of him, looking quite alive.
The giant stared at Hades with his eyes wide with shock. "Master... It's really you... Why?! Is this some sick joke?!"
Hades remained silent as he reached his arm out and shot two large hooks attacked to glowing chains from his hand. The hooks latched onto Makarov by his shoulders and knocked him off his feet. Hades then grabbed the glowing chains and jerked them with such force that the giant was lifted off the ground and slammed into a cliff face.
Makarov was utterly stunned. Never in his life had he faced an opponent who could catch him off guard so easily, especially in his Giant Form. But before he could get his bearings back, Hades jerked on the chains again and Makarov was thrown back onshore and skidded across the forest, creating a trail of destruction in his wake and forcing him out of his Giant Form.
Makarov landed on the ground in a crouching position as his body disappeared in a light glow before reappearing in his Ten Wizard Saints robes. He glared up at Hades as he leaped off of his ship and landed in front of him, returning his glare with a cold expression.
"I see you've traded in your ideals for a darker robe." Makarov growled, bristling with anger.
Hades smirked. "After all these years, you still view the world in black and white. I'd hoped becoming Guild Master would broaden that narrow view of yours."
Makarov rose to his feet, but never took his eyes off of his former master. "Forgive me if i don't give a damn. I may have a narrow field of vision, but I can see my enemies clearly."
Hades couldn't help but laugh a little. "At least you've learned how to talk the talk while I've been away, boy."
"I always hated that nickname. In fact, I wanted to deck you every time you used it." Makarov clenched his fists so hard that the veins in his hands started bulging. "...But I have no desire to fight you now. Leave before we do something drastic."
Hades sighed with mock regret. "Though it pains me to do so, my path is all too clear at this point. It would seem fate has chosen me as the instrument of Fairy Tail's destruction."
At that moment, Makarov's body became cloaked in a bright yellow aura. "But first, you'll have to get through me!"
Hades responded by shrouding his own body in a dark purple aura. "If you wish to throw your life away boy, so be it."
The Guild Masters of Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart sized each other up with heated glares as their aura's flared intensely and sparks cackled from their bodies, kicking up dust around them.
When their aura's disappeared and the dust settled, they both made their move.
Makarov made several motions with his fingers while Hades did the same, causing more sparks to fly all around them. Makarov made the first move and thrust his hands out, firing multiple rays of light from his hands. "Sweep the darkness, Rain of Light!"
"That won't be enough, boy." Hades said as he raised on hand over his head and creating a large dome that absorbed the light rays and swirled around to create a large orb of dark energy that shot towards Makarov. "Swallow the light, Shadow of Darkness!"
Makarov jumped away before the blast could hit him, but Hades wasn't about to let up so easily. He cloaked his fingers with dark energy and pointed his hand at Makarov, creating three dark magic circles that joined together at his fingertips.
Makarov's eyes widened. "He cast an Amaterasu Formula Circle as if it were nothing!"
"Do you understand what your up against now?" Hades asked as the spell condensed at his hand and glowed brightly. "Amaterasu - Formula 28!"
Makarov was instantly engulfed in a massive pillar of dark energy that shook the area, but the Master of Fairy Tail spread his arms out and swept away the attack with a burst of light, although it made his slightly exhausted. Hades took advantage of his exhausted state and fired two more glowing chains from his hands, catching Makarov yet again. The Master of Grimoire Heart jerked on the chains and swung Makarov into several trees, causing him to grunt and yell in pain.
"I live and breath the Dark Arts. Your defeat is certain." Hades said as he watched Makarov crash to the ground.
Makarov forced himself back on his feet rather shakily, but his eyes went wide when he saw he was suddenly surrounded by magic circles. "What is this?!"
Hades simply smirked.
Realizing he had no time to waste, Makarov crossed his arms over his chest with a bellow, "Maximum Defense Magic Circle, Three Pillar Gods!"
At his command, three giant pillars shot out of the ground around Makarov, but Hades continued to follow up on his attack.
"Amaterasu - Formula 100!"
KABOOM!
A massive explosion of dark magic roared throughout the area and everything else withing several yards of the battle zone, destroying everything in its path.
----Back on the Grimoire Heart Airship, SpaceGodzilla and Battra both felt a slight tremor followed by a large energy spike nearby.
The black moth looked towards the direction of where the energy was coming from and could see the explosion from where he stood. "SpaceGodzilla, was that...?"
"I believe it was." SpaceGodzilla replied, a smirk slowly growing on his face. "It appears I was right to make this little alliance after all."
"We are but one step away from returning to Terra."
----Elsewhere, Natsu had just finished taking out a few Grimoire Heart soldiers when he and the rest of his group heard the loud explosion rip through the air, followed up by a slight tremor.
"That doesn't sound good." Natsu said as he punched another Grimoire Heart grunt away.
Happy looked out towards the direction of the loud explosion. "Me either. Lets hope one of our guys cast that thing."
Natsu turned to face the grunts again with a growl. "I'm getting really tired of these jerks playing in our backyard."
Happy turned his attention to the rest of the soldiers. "There's so many of them. What do you think we should do?"
The Dragon Slayer pumped his fists. "I don't know and to be honest, I don't care! Every one of these Grimy Hamburgers are about to feel the burn!"
Nearby, Lily stared at Natsu with confusion. "Wait, aren't they called 'Grimoire Heart?'"
"Don't bother correcting him. He's on a role." Carla commented.
Wendy continued to do her best to heal Rodan in the hopes of getting him back into the fight, but something still lingered in her mind.
'Mest mentioned something about the Legendary Black Wizard before.' she thought. 'Could it be? Grimoire Hearts goal...is to find...'
----Ultear walked through the dense forest with a black expression.
"Lord Zeref..." she murmured.
----Cana pulled out several cards and glared at several Grimoire soldiers.
"Your getting in my way! Wind Edge!" she shouted as she tossed the cards towards the soldiers, creating an intense gust of wind that sent them all flying.
Loke stared at her with slight nervousness. "Oh crap, she's pissed. She destroyed those guys."
"Too bad, It's there fault! They shouldn't be trespassing on sacred ground!" Gray yelled as he punched his fist into his palm and launching an ice hammer at several soldiers. "Ice-Make: Hammer!"
Cana noticed several goons trying to attack her from behind, but Lucy used her Fleuve d'etolies whip to knock them away. The Celestial Mage glanced back at her. "Cana, stay focused would you?!"
The Card Mage smiled apologetically. "Yeah, sorry about that. Thanks Lucy."
As all four of them stood back-to-back, Gray gritted his teeth with frustration as more soldiers just seemed to keep coming. "Come on! There's no end to them! They crawling out of the ground ?!"
"There may be a lot, but their weak overall." Loke said as he eyed the soldiers warily.
"That doesn't help if the attacks never stop coming." Lucy replied as she glared at the soldiers.
Cana nodded. "She's right. We can't keep this up endefinitely. With these numbers, they'll eventually wear us down. Once we've exhausted our magic power, they can pick us off with ease."
Lucy reached for her Gate Keys. "If I summon Taurus or Sagittarius, we might even the odds."
"That's too much of a gamble." Loke intervened. "If they add more reinforcements, you'd just be wasting power."
Gray punched his fist into his palm again, a chilling mist surrounding his hands. "Now I'm mad! And if they think they can take us out with a bunch of masked wearing clowns, their dead wrong!"
----Several soldiers charged towards Erza with their weapons in hand, but the red haired Knight deflected their attacks with her sword and knocked them away.
Juvia held her hand out and trapped several goons inside large spheres of water. "Water Lock!"
Manda was holding her own as well despite her not having any known special abilities, but she made up for her lack of offensive capabilities with her speed and agility. She used her snake-like body to squeeze several soldiers and toss them into their comrades or slam into them with her tail.
The three backed into each other as they continued to stare down their foes. "Not good. Their numbers don't seem to be decreasing at all, do they." Erza commented.
Juvia, however, was concerned about something else. "That explosion, do you have any idea what could have caused it? It gave off tremendous magic power."
Manda nodded. "I know, I felt it as well. We can worry about that after we've dealt with the problem at hand."
"Right." Juvia replied, but she immediately became crestfallen. "Oh Gray, although the enemy surrounds me, I can only think of your gorgeous face. What I wouldn't give to be fighting by your side instead of Erza's."
"WOULD YOU LIKE TO HANDLE THEM ON YOUR OWN?!" the Fairy Queen roared with fury.
"No ma'ma!" Juvia yelped with fear as she jumped a little.
Manda, who surprisingly didn't seem fazed by Erza's outburst, continued to glare at the enemy forces."If you two ladies are done bickering, then lets get back to work."
The two nodded. "Right!"
----Mirajane raised her arm towards several Grimoire Heart goons and fired several bubble-like bullets from her hand.
"Dream Knock!" she shouted as the bubble bullets made contact with the soldiers, knocking them into sleep.
Lisanna jumped towards several more soldiers and yelled, "This kitten's got claws! Animal Soul: Cat!" Her body glowed with her Take Over Magic and she reappeared with cat paws on her hands and feet that were tipped with razor sharp claws and her clothes were replaced by a cat-skin bikini. She used her claws to slash at the soldiers at sent them flying back.
"Are you okay, Lisanna?" Mira asked with concern.
"I'm fine." Lisanna replied. "You think the others are running into the same problem?"
Mira shook her head. "We don't have time to worry about that. Just keep defending the camp."
Lisanna nodded. "Whatever you say."
Inside one of the tents, Mothra Leo watched the Strauss sisters continue their fight with the Shobijin hiding behind the leg of a table. As the young larva watched the siblings fight, he couldn't help but feel guilty that he was the one hiding like a coward while his friends were doing all the fighting. Even though Lisanna had told him that it was safer for him to stay hidden, he really wanted to prove that he was capable of handling himself too.
Without even a second thought, Leo scuttled out of the tent, much to the Shobijin's shock.
"Leo, please stay back!" the pleaded, but Leo continued to make his way towards the fight.
As soon as he was outside, Leo lifted the front half of his body off the ground and gave out a loud chirp that caused all eyes to turn to him.
Lisanna's eyes widened with shock. "Leo?! What are you doing?! Get back in the tent now!"
Mothra Leo ignored her warnings and reared his head up as he fired his Silk Shot at the Grimoire Heart soldiers, covering them with string, sticky silk. The dark mages struggled and squirmed in the hopes of getting the sticky string off of them, but it was just too tough.
"What the heck is this stuff?!"
"I don't know! Just try to get it off!"
"Easy for you to say! This stuff ain't budging!"
Before Leo could celebrate his minor victory, he noticed that the soldiers who hadn't been hit were charging at him with their weapons raised.
"Leo! Run now!" Lisanna shrieked, but she knew it would be too late.
Suddenly, another blast of sticky string appeared out of nowhere and landed on the soldiers faces, causing them to cry out in surprise as their eyes became covered with silk and fall to the ground. Mira, Lisanna and Leo looked over to where the attack had come from and saw another creature appear out of the forest, chirping with joy.
The Shobijin peaked out from the tent and smiled when they saw who was coming towards them. "Mothra Lea!"
Lea chirped happily as she scuttled towards the others, stopping to nuzzle Leo's head with her own. She then looked up at the Strauss Siblings, who were looking back with surprise.
"Lea? But why are you here?" Mira asked.
Mothra Lea gave several chirp, while the Shobijin listened closely. When she finished, the two tiny women looked back up at Mira and Lisanna. "Lea says that she and the others where on their way back when they sensed an ominous energy. Godzilla told her to continue here while he and the others went to look for your friends."
Lisanna cocked an eye brow with slight confusion. "Wait, what kind of ominous energy?"
The Shobijin shook their heads. "All she knows was that it was a very sickening energy, that it felt like...death."
Both sisters eyes widened at that and Mira quickly knelt down to over Lea. "You're alright, are you? No scraps or bruises?"
Lea simply replied with a soft squeak and nuzzled her head against her. Mira could only smile and return the young larva's affection with a hug. Leo noticed Lisanna kneeling down in front of him, still in her Cat Take Over, with a cross expression.
"Leo, I told you to stay in the tent for a reason. If those soldiers had gotten to you, I would never forgive myself. You have to promise me you won't do that again, okay?" she said as her crossed expression changed to a stern expression.
The larva's chirped sadly and nodded slowly. Lisanna's expression finally softened as she pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you, you just had me so worried that's all. Please promise you'll listen next time I tell you to hide."
Lisanna's words seemed to lift Leo's spirits a little, because he nodded again and nuzzled his face against her's a little. Lisanna accepted it and stroked her hand against his head, while making sure not to scratch him with her sharp claws.
The youngest Strauss sibling looked then looked around at the unconscious soldiers around them with concern. 'Still...I hope the others are okay.'
----Elfman grabbed a Grimoire Heart soldier by his face and threw him into several of his comrades, then turned to his partner. "Evergreen! Time to do your thing!"
Evergreen huffed as she removed her glasses. "I'll say this again, when I need a big oaf to order me around me around-" She opened her eyes as they flashed green. "-you'll be the first to know!"
The soldiers froze in place when they felt their bodies begin to grow stiff. Then, they noticed that their bodies were slowly turning into stone.
"What the?!"
"I can't move!"
"Don't look into her eyes! She's using Petrification Magic!"
Evergreen smirked triumphantly while Elfman watched as the soldiers around them became nothing but stone statues. "Normally I wouldn't resort to such cheap tactics, but if it gets the job done, I guess it's manly."
Evergreen blanched. "What do you mean by 'cheap'?!"
----Gorosaurus roared as he jumped up and delivered a fierce Kangaroo Kick to several dark mages, sending them flying. He then turned around and slammed his tail into a few more soldiers, knocking them into a large tree.
Baragon activated his Magma Buster as fire spewed from his maw at the soldiers, making them cry out in pain and run around like mad men in the hopes of defusing the flames. He then turned his attention to several other soldiers and used his Magma Slasher to knock them away.
The red Kaiju growled with annoyance. "They just don't let up, do they?"
"Deal with it. We just need to make sure that they don't get to Levy and Gajeel." Gorosaurus replied as he smacked several more soldiers away.
"Don't need to tell me twice." Baragon said as he shot another torrent of flames at some more Grimoire Heart soldiers.
Nearby, Levy was hiding behind a large tree while carrying Gajeel on her back. She peaked out from behind to see her Kaiju friends fighting off the small army of Grimoire Heart soldiers. She felt bad that she couldn't do anything to help since someone needed to support the injured Dragon Slayer, but Gorosaurus and Baragon seemed to have everything under control at the moment.
Levy turned her attention back to the Iron Dragon. 'Hang in there Gajeel, we're getting you out of here. Just please hold on just a little longer.'
----Zeref stared up at the bright blue sky as he continued to sit in the shade of a large tree, his eyes filled with sadness.
'The fighting never ends. Nothing ever changes. Is it impossible for existence to move forward without violence? Is it so intrinsic?'
His vision shifted from the sky to the ground, his posture sagging a little and his stare vacant. 'What will it take to end the conflict occurring now? Can there ever be peace? Or is death the only way?'
----Hades calmly walked towards Makarov as the dust began to settle. The Master of Fairy Tail had managed to protect himself from Hades' attack, though he was left rather shaken from it.
"I'd expect no less from my successor." Hades complimented. "It's no surprise you've held the guild together for 48 years."
Makarov's eyes widened when a sudden intense pain jolted through his whole body, causing him to gasp in pain. He dropped down to one knee as he cluchted at his chest, his body trembling from the pain.
Hades stopped in front of him and raised an eye brow. "Hmm? What is it, boy? Are you not feeling well? I guess the years are catching up to you. Nearly half a century has past since we parted ways. Does fate intend to bring us full circle on this lonely and venerated ground?"
Makarov managed to fight through most of the pain as he looked up at his former mentor. "I don't understand this... You were an amazing Guild Master, Precht. You always spoke of harmony...and did your best to lead us towards a path of righteousness."
His expression changed to another heated glare. "Did you change your mind? Or was it all a lie?"
Hades' eyes darkened as he reached out with his hand and closed his fist tightly. Suddenly, an invisible force slammed Makarov into the ground, creating a small crater. Makarov grunted in pain as Hades began to speak again.
"Long ago, magic was born from the depths of darkness and those who utilized its power were met with fear and prejudice." he said as he turned around and began to walk away. "Eventually, magic became common place, so much so that we integrated it into our culture. But as I delved deeper into the source of magic, I found that it always led back to Zeref. At last, I saw the truth. I had found the personification of wizardry."
He continued to walk as Makarov laid motionless in the small crater. "Sleep, boy. Fairy Tail shall rest here with Mavis."
Suddenly, "HHHRRRAAAAHHHHH!"
Hades turned around and his eye widened with surprise when he saw Makarov lung at him with a battle cry. The Master of Grimoire Heart pointed his hand at him and made a finger gun motion.
*BLAM!
Makarov screamed in pain when a small shock wave shot out from Hades' fingers and blasted a small hole in his chest, Hades' expression completely blank the entire time as his foe collapsed to the ground.
Before he lost consciousness, Makarov reached towards the sky. 'It's not over... Not yet...'
Makarov's vision slowly began to turn black.
'My successor... I hope your ready to bear this burden...'
----Elsewhere:
In a massive desert surrounded by nothing but large rock pillars, a hooded figure walked along calmly before it abruptly stopped and turned around to look out at the horizon.
Through the figure's hood, a man with short, spiky blonde hair and a lightning bolt shaped scar over his right eye stared out at the far horizon with wide eyes.
"I feel like...someone just walked over my grave..."
----Back on Tenrou Island:
Natsu roared as he cloaked his fists in fire and bashed several Grimoire Heart soldiers by their heads, sending them flying while they cried out in pain. Happy was laughing as he was being chased by more soldiers, only to make them fall off of a cliff and into the ocean with loud splashes.
Panther Lily, despite being low on magic power, forced himself into his Battle Form and punched several more goons away. However, he was kicked out of his Battle Form again and collapsed.
"Lily!" Wendy exclaimed with worry.
"Don't overdo it! Just save your strength!" Carla snapped.
Lily forced himself to his feet, cursing himself. "Damn! If I had more magic power, I could help Natsu and Happy fight them off!"
"Glad to know we're on the same page. I hate sitting around doing nothing." Rodan grumbled, wincing in pain from the wound on his back.
"You two will just have to sit this one out." Carla explained. "Wendy can heal, but she can't restore your power. Let them handle this."
"We're in a crisis and I'm stuck on the sidelines? Utterly disgraceful." Lily muttered in frustration.
Wendy looked around and noticed something missing...or rather, someone. "Hey, do you guys know where Mest went off to?"
"Forget him. Worry about yourself, child." Carla said.
"She's right. You should hurry and use your magic to heal all those wounds." Lily added as he gestured to Wendy's minor injuries.
"That's not how it works." Carla pointed out.
Rodan face palmed with his wing-claws. "How'd I know you were gonna say that?"
"You guys should hide!" Happy called out. "Natsu and I can handle these guys, no problem!"
"What?! No way! I can help too!" Rodan exclaimed as he tried to stand, only to feel another jolt of pain in his back that forced him to sit back down again.
"Quit being so stubborn!" Carla yelled. "Just let Natsu and Happy take care of them them!"
Rodan grumbled and looked away. "Fine, whatever..."
Wendy stared at him with concern. I mean, how could she not? After all, he had taken a fatal blow from possibly one of the most dangerous Kaiju on Terra just to save her life. Deep down, Wendy felt that she needed to do something to repay him for his sacrifice, but she wasn't sure how.
Happy smiled and crossed his arms as he floated above them. "Don't feel bad. You can kick back and take a load off. Leave the work to the real heroes of the story."
That caused them all to sweat drop. "...I've got enough energy to slap him around a bit." Lily muttered.
"Ditto to that." Rodan grumbled.
"Save it. You two can give him a good smack once we're home." Carla deadpanned.
Natsu punched several more soldiers away with a disappointed look. "Aww, come on. Don't tell me your done already." He then gripped his scaly scarf in his hand and growled. "Invading our island is bad enough, but my precious scarf being turned black has me burning up with anger! Let me kick your teeth in a little bit more!"
Some of the soldiers looked confused. "What? You're just venting on us?!"
"What a jerk!"
"We didn't touch your stupid scarf!"
A Grimoire Heart captain then appeared from behind Natsu. "I'll do more than paint it black. I'll turn it to ash!"He then trust his hands forward and shot a blast of fire towards the Dragon Slayer with a shout, "Fire Bullet!"
Natsu saw the fire coming towards him and grinned like a kid in a candy store. "Come to poppa!"
The soldiers whooped and cheered when he was engulfed in the fire and the Grimoire captain laughed proudly. "Hahaha! My Fire Bullets are hot enough to melt solid rock! I don't care if he was a Fire Mage, he couldn't have surviv-!"
He was cut off when he heard a loud slurping sound, followed by the flames being drawn into a single point.
His eyes almost popped out of his mask when he saw the flames being sucked down Natsu's throat. "WHAT THE HELL?!"
The soldiers began to freak out. "Who is this guy?!"
"He's eating fire?!"
"Impossible!"
"Wait, isn't he the one they all talk about?"
"The Dragon Slayer...Natsu, the Salamander?!"
Natsu wiped his mouth and grinned. "Thanks for the snack! Now I've got a fire in my belly!" He then cloaked his hands in fire and swung them at the soldiers, sending them flying. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Those who managed to avoid the attack began to panic. "He's too much for us!"
"Yeah! We should get out of here!"
"No matter what we throw at this monster, we can't even touch him!"
Natsu looked back at the soldiers and growled after hearing that last comment. "Who are you calling a monster?"
The soldiers flinched and took a few steps back, unsure as to how to handle their current situation.
"Enough already! I can't watch anymore!"
Everyone present looked up and saw a man with long, spiky blond hair reaching down to his lower back standing atop a rock pillar. He had a psychotic grin plastered on his face and his red pupils consisted of several concentric circles, which only seemed to further enhance his crazed appearance. He wore a yellow and dark blue skirt-like armor with a red waist ribbon that exposed the right side of his chest as well as his right shoulder, where his Grimoire Heart guild mark was located.
The soldiers began to cheer again when the realized who it was. "It's Zancrow!"
Natsu eyed the newcomer wearily.
Zancrow turned his attention to the soldiers. "Leave them to me. I was hoping for some exercise on this trip." he said with a slight chuckle. "I'll pound this runt into the dirt while you go look for Zeref. Judging by what I've seen so far, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
Natsu looked on with slight confusion. "Zeref?"
Wendy's eyes widened with realization. "So Grimoire Hearts goal really is the Black Wizard."
"And we're just caught in the middle." Lily added.
"Why are things always so complicated?" Carla groaned.
Rodan looked at her with surprise. "Seriously? That's what your problem is?"
The Grimoire Heart soldiers began to take their leave, but not before giving a few parting words.
"Thanks a lot, Zancrow!"
"We owe you one!"
"I didn't think they had anyone that strong."
"Yeah, he definitely lives up to his rep."
As soon as Zancrow heard those last few comments, he gave an angry snarl and looked back at them. "Hold it right there!"
The soldiers flinched and turned around as the blonde haired teen sneered at them. "He's strong?! This Fairy Tail pansy scares you?!"
When they realized their mistake, the soldiers tried to make their peace. "Well- uhhh..."
"It was a slip of the tongue!"
"Please forgive us!"
"There's no guild in this world that can come close to the strength of Grimoire Heart! Understand?!" Zancrow hissed as his body burst into pitch black flames, catching Natsu by surprise.
"Black flames?" he murmured.
Zancrow's eyes glowed red through the black flames, making him appearance even more menacing. "If you think he's stronger than us, then you don't belong here!"
Carla's eyes widened. "Do you feel that power?"
"I don't like the looks of this." Happy said.
Rodan stared at the fire with a curious expression, drawing Wendy's attention. "What's wrong Rodan?"
The pterosaur shook his head. "I don't know. Something about that fire...it just feels off."
Zancrow continued to glare down at the cowering soldiers as the black flames around him intensified. "What I'm saying is, we are the strongest guild there is, and Grimoire Heart has no need for weaklings!"
Suddenly, black fire erupted out of the ground below the soldiers and engulfed them whole. Violent screams could be heard from the thick wall of fire, but Zancrow just laughed as the fire continued to burn away at the goons.
Lily's eyes widened. "No! He just wasted his own men!"
When the fire finally dissipated, the soldiers were completely gone, reduced to literally nothing.
Natsu stared in absolute shock, then glared hard at Zancrow. "You bastard! How could you do that to your friends!"
Zancrow just cocked an eye nonchalantly. "They weren't my friends. It's not your business anyway. And if I were as weak as you I'd be careful who I run my mouth to!" As he said that, he swiped his arm and launched a torrent of black flames from his hands right towards Natsu.
"What a joke!" the Dragon Slayer proclaimed without moving. "Don't you know your fire ain't gonna hurt me?!"
Rodan shot to his feet, ignoring the pain still lingering in his back. "Natsu! Get out of there! Those flames aren't right! Don't touch em!"
But it was too late. The black flames completely engulfed Natsu, causing him to grunt in pain.
Wait, that wasn't right. He was the Fire Dragon Slayer. Fire was one of the few things that shouldn't hurt him. But he then began to notice that something else was wrong.
"What the hell?! Why can't I it eat it?!" he gagged before glaring back at Zancrow. "What is this?! You tricked me!"
"That's what you get for being so cocky." Zancrow snickered as brought his hand back and created a sphere of black fire. "Now it's time for the main course!"
He then hurled the fire ball at the Dragon Slayer, laughing as it completely engulfed him.
"No, Natsu!" Happy cried out.
"I thought a Fire Dragon Slayer could eat any flame in existence!" Carla exclaimed as she struggled to keep herself from flying away.
Natsu emerged unscathed, though he was slightly shaken from the blast. Zancrow jumped down from his perch in front of the Salamander and laughed. "Hahaha! Serves you right for trying to eat above your stature, you lowly Dragon Hunter! You like my Divine Flames?"
Natsu looked up at him with confusion. "What do you mean Divine Flames?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. My magic is way out of your league." Zancrow chuckled with another psychotic grin. " Your up against a god killer... A God Slayer!"
Natsu's eyes widened.
"A...God Slayer?" Wendy asked, her voice shaking a little.
Rodan looked on with shock. "You mean this guy has the power...to kill gods?!"
----Gray panted as he eyed the remaining soldiers surrounding him and the rest of his group. "Not good. I'm almost completely out of power."
"Same here." Loke replied breathlessly. "And I think we put most of 'em down."
Cana pulled out another card. "Alright. Lets take out the rest of them and go look for the others."
"But what if their fighting these guys too? We won't be any help." Lucy asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but right now we-"
"Wait!" Gray was interrupted by Loke, who looked around cautiously. "I sense something."
Then, the sound of a single hand clap echoed through the empty ruins and the soldiers suddenly vanished.
Gray looked around with surprise. "Are they turning invisible on us?"
"Maybe they were supposed to distract us, and they succeeded." Cana guessed.
Loke glanced up at a tall, rock structure a few feet away. "Or they all left...because of him."
The others looked up to where the Lion Spirit was looking and saw a humanoid goat wearing a distinctive black jacket with short, puffy sleeves, which only covered the upper part of his chest, leaving his muscular abdomen exposed. Over the jacket, was a similarly shaped pale yellow shirt with an extremely short, dark green tie with flat ends tied around his neck and black pants that reached down below his knees. His tail emerged from the back of his pants and he wore pitch black sunglasses.
Caprico crossed his arms and stared down at the Fairy Tail mages from his perch, his sunglasses glistening in the sunlight. "They're incapable of defeating you, so their's no need for them to continue fighting. But your fight is far from over, prepare for battle."
Lucy's eyes widened. "That's-"
"A goat? Wearing a suit?" Cana finished with confusion.
Gray looked over and noticed Loke staring at Caprico with a strained expression. "You okay there, man?"
Loke nodded. "Yeah, but keep your guard up. This guy's on a whole other level than his flunkies. We're in for one heck of a fight."
However, Caprico shook his head. "You misunderstand what I mean. I am not your opponent, at least not at the moment. That luxury goes to someone else. I am merely here to observe."
Lucy looked at him with confusion. "Huh? He's just here to watch us?"
"If he's not fighting us, then who is?" Cana asked.
"Well, well, well! Look at what we've got here! A bunch of stupid humans looking for a good beating's what it looks like!" a raucous voice shouted from behind them.
They turned around again and saw a 6 foot tall creature covered in bumpy turquoise skin with orange fur on its head and three small horns lining its head standing on top of another structure with a huge grin.
Gray sweat dropped. "Is that...a frog?"
"I think 'toad' would be the proper word to use." Loke corrected
"I don't care, it looks really weird." Cana deadpanned.
"HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW!" the creature roared with anger. "Just because I look like a toad doesn't mean jack! This Kaiju is still gonna kick your asses all the way to next December!"
Lucy's eyes widened at that last part. "Did he say...Kaiju?"
"Then that means he must be with those other guys Godzilla and the others were fighting." Gray realized.
"That's right!" the creature said as it jumped down in front of the mages. "You may call me Gabara, Gabara the Nightmare Beast! Say your prayers while you still can!"
----After defeating the Grimoire Heart soldiers, Erza, Juvia and Manda rushed through a thick swamp surrounded by trees.
"Lets hope that was the worst of it." Juvia said as she ran close behind Erza.
"I wouldn't count on it." the Requip Mage replied.
Manda nodded. "I agree. Keep your guard up, they may be more lurking about."
Juvia nodded back. "Right."
Suddenly, Erza sensed a presence close by and stopped in her tracks, her sword held closely. "Who goes there!"
Juvia and Manda stopped and turned to where the red haired Knight was looking and saw a girl with short pink hair and bright green eyes who looked slightly older than Wendy staring at them with a blank expression. She wore a strange gold wing-like headgear around her ears and her uniform consisted of a tight, purple leotard with brownish thigh-high boots with white stripes at the top. Over her uniform, she wore a red cape with gold lining at the edges and the capes left-shoulder portion had the Grimoire Heart symbol in white.
"I have encountered the enemy during the mission. I will destroy them immediately. Ending their lives is now my highest priority." the girl said in a monotone, robotic voice.
Juvia looked surprised. "A child?"
"Don't let your guard down." Erza interjected. "There's something strange about this girl."
Meredy continued to eye them blankly. "Commencing combat operations."
Manda's eyes narrowed. "I agree with Erza. There is definitely something off with her, it smells like trouble."
"I can see your senses are still as sharp as ever." another voice said softly.
Manda froze in place when a familiar feeling washed over her.
Suddenly, a faint chill rolled into the area and covered the water they were standing in in a small, yet thick layer of mist. The three felt slight chills run up their spines when the water temperature suddenly seemed to plummet a little.
The three then turned around at the sound of rippling water and saw a light blue, squid-like creature with yellow eyes and black, rectangular pupils wading through the water towards them before stopping just two or three feet away from them.
Manda could only look on with absolute shock. "No...It cannot be..."
Juvia looked at her with concern. "Manda? Do you know this creature?"
"How could she not. After all, you and I once served the same leaders." the squid said before setting his sights on the sea serpent. "Isn't that right, Manda?"
Manda regained her composure and glared hard at the new creature. "Hello Gezora."
----Elfman and Evergreen stared.
Appearing in front of them stood a fairly tall and lanky man with silver colored hair designed in a pompadour style. He wore silver designer glasses, a dark purple jacket with a with a flipped up collar, complete with a fur trimming and and a grayish shirt underneath with a belt over it and wrapped around his waist. Finally he wore long black pants, blue shoes and sported a pair of white designer gloves and symbol of Grimoire Heart was located on a band wrapped around his left arm sleeve.
He appeared to be holding up a flower with purple sparkles dancing around his body.
It made Elfman sweat dropped. "Is that a bad guy or a flower arrangement?"
"Whatever it is, it took a bath in colon." Evergreen replied with slight disgust.
Rustyrose sighed and made a dramatic pose. "In a desolate forest on a lowly island, the Devils and Fairies danced a tango of death."
Both mages sweat dropped in unison. "I ain't dancing." Elfman grunted.
Rustyrose smirked and made another pose. "May these stones of marble serve as a ballroom for our swaray."
"...Can I punch him now?" Elfman asked.
"If it'll shut him up, be my guest." Evergreen deadpanned.
Nearby, Kamacuras and Ebirah sweat dropped. "Remind me again, why did we teamed up with this drama queen?" the mutated mantis asked.
"Because we had nothing better to do, I guess." Ebirah deadpanned.
----Mirajane, Lisanna, the Mothra Twins and the Shobijin felt a strong presence nearby and turned towards a large tree.
"Whoever you are, come out!" Mira demanded.
"Ridiculous." a voice said from the tree.
Azuma emerged out from the tree as he continued to speak. "First cats and children, now four young ladies and two insects?"
Mira got in front of the others and held her arm out. "You guys stay behind me. This guys trouble."
"Come on, sis! We can help you!" Lisanna said
Suddenly, a loud BOOM came from behind them and they turned around to see a massive figure hidden behind a large plum of dust.
"Don't sell them short so soon Azuma. I can sense these humans are stronger than than those other ones we came across." the figure spoke in a raspy female voice.
The Shobijin recognized the voice immediately. "Oh no..." they whispered.
Lea and Leo also recognized the voice and felt their bodies begin to shiver.
Azuma's eyes narrowed as he took a second look at the group before. "I suppose you make a valid point Destoroyah."
Appearing out from the dust, Destoroyah hissed as her eyes locked on the twins. "My, my. I see Mothra's little brats have chosen to affiliate themselves with the Earth Defenders troublesome affaires."
The Shobijin's eyes got huge. "How...could this happen?"
----Kain Hikaru started running around in circles in a straight up panic. "We've been out here for hours! Why can't we find anyone in this forest! I'm hungry and I want someone to rub my belly!"
"Would you shut the hell up!" Titanosaurus snapped. "We aren't lost. My sixth sense should allow us to navigate our way through this forest."
Kain looked at him with surprise. "Why didn't you say something earlier?!"
"Because you were too busy whining like a spoiled baby so much that you just kept ignoring me every time I tried to tell you!" Titanosaurus retorted.
The Grimoire Heart mage looked away with a huff, but then noticed Titanosaurus already walking away. "What! Please don't leave me behind!"
The amphibious dinosaur rubbed his temples with a sigh. "Why did I end up getting stuck with this clown?"
----Ultear continued her trek through the forest of Tenrou Island, her eyes brimming with determination.
"My Lord, I'll be with you soon..."
----Fairy Tail OST: Black Wizard's Wicked Heart...
----Hades stood proudly on the beach in front of his ship, which had landed just offshore. A Grimoire Heart flag was firmly planted into the sand and billowing in the wind.
The Guild Master of Grimoire Heart stared at his airship. "Makarov's brats don't stand a chance against the Seven Kin of Purgatory. I've spent years crafting them into sorcerers of unparalleled power. Each one of is a master of an art that was born from the source of all wizardry..."
"Forbidden Lost Magic."
A victorious grin appeared on his face. "Fairy Tail's finest will crumble like dead leaves under the Kin's overwhelming might."
----Zancrow burst into laughter as black flames engulfed his body. "Bring it on, runt! Lets see if I can scrounge a meal on those pathetic flames!"
Natsu growled as he surrounded his own body with crimson flames. "I look forward to seeing you choke on 'em freak! My fist'll be the main course!"
Rodan watched the two stare each other down. 'Between the Earth Conquerors and now these guys, we're in some serious trouble.' he thought as he turned his attention to the forest.
'Chief...where are you? We could really use your help right about now.'
Little did he know, his prayers would be answered.
----Godzilla rushed through the dense forest as fast as his bulky legs could carry him, a look of utter fury plastered on his face.
'Just hold on everyone! I'm on my way!'
----