1,021Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Magma Dragon King! The Allied Mages are heading for the King's Hall to try and stop Nirvana! Unfortunately, Zero is now free and roaming about, looking to torment and kill like the psychopath he is. Will Nirvana recover enough to begin to move? If it does, can it be stopped? Who will run into Zero first? So many variables are in play as the Nirvana Arc heads for its conclusion.
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Chapter 53 – Zero and Nirvana
Running through the ancient ruin of a city that was Nirvana, the group of Allied Mages, all following Hibiki's map that had been uploaded into their heads through his Archive Magic, headed for the King's Hall. If they could reach it, then their hope of shutting down Nirvana might be possible.
Hibiki blinked as a message came to him through his open line of Telepathy Magic. He put his index and middle fingers to his forehead to answer the person as a smile came to his face. "Miss Mirajane, Miss Lisanna, Miss Erza, and Miss Wendy have arrived at the King's Hall!"
"Already?" Jura asked, curious as to how the women had reached the King's Hall so quickly.
"They were flying when Nirvana was unsealed, so once they knew where to go, they could get there faster." Hibiki explained with a grin. "I've given them some instructions and asked them to check out how Nirvana is controlled. Hopefully, it's a standard form of Holder Magic that whoever sits on the throne can take control of."
Ren looked at his friend with a flat expression. "And if it's not?"
Hibiki looked grim. "Then we'll have to figure out how to destroy Nirvana directly." That would be far better than just leaving the dangerous ancient Magic active.
"So, just destroy this entire city? Sounds simple enough." Eve deadpanned at Hibiki while briefly motioning to the massive ruin they were running through.
Natsu grinned widely. "If it's destruction we need, then that's not a problem!" He flared his Magic briefly, making heat and flames appear for an instant before they faded. "Fairy Tail has a reputation for destruction!"
Cana laughed at her Mate. "Fairy Tail has that reputation mostly because of you and my old man." She reminded Natsu.
"Same difference." Natsu said with a short laugh of his own.
-King's Hall-
"What the heck is all of this?" Lisanna asked, looking at the huge ring of screens around the King's Hall.
Happy blinked as he floated through the air, looking at one screen after another. "I think this is control stuff?" The confusion on his face and in his tone was clear.
Mira was reading over one screen briefly before moving onto the next. "I can't make heads or tails of most of this stuff."
"It's incredibly complex." Erza agreed as she was trying to decipher the vast amount of information on the three screens within her view. "None of them seem to match each other. I can't tell what each screen is relaying."
Wendy was looking back and forth between two different screens. "Eh?" While she didn't consider herself incredibly smart or anything, Wendy had never felt more out of her depth and unintelligent than she did right now.
"I found a map." Carla spoke up as she floated before one of the multitudes of magical screens.
Everyone else moved over to the screen she was looking at and saw a map of the Worth Woodsea and the surrounding areas. Nirvana was the center of the map and there was a course plotted straight through the Worth Woodsea in a specific direction.
"Brain's already set a course for Nirvana." Lisanna figured out what the screen was showing easily enough.
"But where's it going?" Mira didn't see anything in that particular direction on the map.
Erza placed her fingertips to her temple. "I'll relay this information to Hibiki and see what he can find out."
Wendy and Carla looked at the map and the plotted route for Nirvana with a strange sense of familiarity in both of their minds.
-Natsu's Group-
"A route has been set for Nirvana?" Hibiki spoke aloud to let the other's know what had just been told to him through the Telepathy Magic. "Yes, alright…just give me the general information about its direction and I'll compare it to modern maps." He had a one-sided conversation to the rest of the group's perspective while he pulled up one screen after another and typed into his Archive Magic rapidly.
"What direction is Nirvana going to move in?" Jura asked promptly as they all continued to rush towards the King's Hall. "I memorized the map of the areas surrounding the Worth Woodsea before the mission."
Hibiki only took a second to get the information. "Once it starts moving, it'll head directly southeast from here."
Jura's eyes narrowed as he recalled everything that was in that direction. "Aside from the border with the country Seven…there's only one place in that direction." Seeing everyone look at him, Jura explained. "If they head directly southeast from this part of the Worth Woodsea, the first settlement they'll reach is the Cait Shelter Guild."
"Wendy's Guild…why?" Juvia asked with confusion clear on her face. Attacking anywhere with Nirvana would be bad, but to target a specific Guild, there had to be a reason.
"I'm not sure." Jura shook his head once. "If Brain wanted to cause rampant chaos by switching light to darkness…Fiore's coastline in the Gulf of Seven has hundreds of small fishing villages and multiple harbor towns. Those settlements would be much closer as well, just by heading directly north."
Hibiki quickly passed the information along to the group in the King's Hall.
-King's Hall-
"Our Guild? Why?!" Wendy exclaimed when Hibiki told them where Nirvana was most likely headed. Lisanna, ever one to offer comfort, gently pulled Wendy into a hug. Wendy returned it instantly, her normally gentle heart enjoying the comfort and warmth.
"I thought that route looked familiar…" Carla's eyes were wide and her fur was raised as her emotions got the better of her. "They were targeting our Guild and we don't know why."
Erza looked curiously at all of the screens floating in the air around the King's Hall. "But if all of the Oración Seis have been defeated…would Nirvana even move?"
"It would if it's set on an autopilot." Mira said as she looked at the map once more and then the various screens that they couldn't make heads or tails out of. "Not only can we not understand most of these screens, but their order appears random too. I think they might've been messed with so that we couldn't interfere, even if we got here." That made sense to her, given the kind of cruel and dangerous man that Brain clearly was with his intelligent mind.
"There should be one screen somewhere that shows Nirvana's current condition. If you can find that one, we'll at least know how much time we have left before it starts moving." Hibiki's voice came through the Telepathy Magic.
RMMMBBBLLLEEE
Nirvana shook, almost like a small earthquake, and two of its remaining six legs lifted off the ground and stretched outward, coming down on the forest with thunderous 'steps' before the other four legs began to move as well.
"It's already moving?!" Lisanna and Wendy cried out at the same time.
As the sky began to move above them, the slight shaking and rocking of the ancient city literally walking had the expected adverse effect on the Dragon Slayers.
"Uuugghh…" Erza placed her hand over her mouth as she sank to her knees.
Mira staggered for a second before falling onto her ass. "Fucking…" She covered her mouth, feeling her stomach roiling.
"It's a…moving…" Lisanna sagged to the floor, looking queasy.
Wendy looked at the other three Dragon Slayers and tried to take a step towards Lisanna, the one closest to her, but she nearly crumpled to one knee as her balance was thrown off and nausea welled up from deep in her gut. "I…need…to…" She placed her hand over her mouth and stopped talking to prevent herself from throwing up.
"This happens with all Dragon Slayers?!" Carla blinked in shock, having thought that it was only Wendy with such debilitating motion sickness.
"Aye." Happy nodded as he tried to comfort Lisanna.
-Gray, Lyon, Sherry-
The group of three were climbing up Nirvana's leg with help from a fallen tree that Sherry had turned into a multi-legged golem with her Magic.
"This is way faster than trying to climb up ourselves." Gray praised Sherry's Magic as they were almost to the top of the leg.
Sherry focused on controlling the oddly-shaped golem, having much more experience with more humanoid constructs. "I don't need your praise." She looked away from Gray, only to look at Lyon right after.
Lyon gave her a nod. "You're doing well, Sherry. Let's get to the top and find the others."
"Yes, Lyon~" Sherry blushed, thrilled at being praised by her crush.
The rumble of stone was the only warning the three Mages had before the massive leg they were climbing up moved suddenly covering an absurd amount of distance before its three-clawed foot slammed back into the ground.
The force of such a heavy object moving quickly and then stopping suddenly threw the wooden golem off the stones and into the air.
"Shit!" Gray cursed as they were high above the forest below and their free fall was going to end in mere seconds.
"Ice Make:" Lyon placed his hands together and focused, white frosted mist filling the air around him. "Giant Eagle!" He made a MUCH larger version of his normal spell right beneath him. The dynamic Ice Make flapped its wings once to steady its position in the air while Lyon caught Sherry as she fell.
Sherry looked at Lyon as if he were the greatest person that had ever existed, hearts forming in her eyes. "Lyon…"
"Sherry, use your Magic on the eagle!" Lyon broke her out of her daze quickly. "Make it fly!"
Sherry shook herself once and her hands glowed pink as the face of the ice eagle morphed slightly to show empty eyes, a sure sign that it had become one of Sherry's golems. "Doll Attack: Ice Eagle Doll!" The eagle let out a screech, though it sounded more like wind passing over ice, before it flapped its wings twice and changed direction. Swooping down, it reached out with its talons (blunted by Lyon's control of its formation) and caught Gray from midair.
"That was a good save." Gray thanked Sherry and Lyon with a chuckle as the eagle flapped its wings again, turning in the air to fly towards the moving Nirvana. As Gray climbed onto the eagle's back he looked at the massive moving city. "So… What're we supposed to do about that?"
Neither Lyon nor Sherry had an answer for him as they flew after the city, quickly closing the distance on the ancient Magic.
-Natsu's Group-
"What on earth?" Jura watched the four Dragon Slayers in their group become queasy and nauseous the instant that Nirvana began to move.
"Urp…" Natsu clapped his hands over his mouth as he lay flat on the ground.
Cana held her head, managing to stay upright while sitting down at the very least. "Why did it…have to start…moving…ugh." She dry heaved once and quickly went quiet.
Gajeel tried to tough it out, but it was clear to anyone that looked at him that he wasn't doing okay. "Son of a…urp…" He fell onto his side with a miserable groan.
"Why is it…" Lucy looked a little green, but didn't seem like she was about to throw up like the other three. "So…bad…?" She held her stomach and tried to take slow breaths to not tip over the edge and lose her lunch.
The rest of the group could hardly believe what they were seeing.
"I'd heard rumors that Salamander of Fairy Tail had motion sickness. But I didn't know that all Dragon Slayers did." Eve said, a stunned expression covering his face at the instant downing of four rather powerful Mages.
"It's not like it's even moving that fast." Ren said in his typical tsundere speech that he'd perfected in his time with Blue Pegasus.
The fact that Nirvana's sheer size was so great meant that its movement speed was rather quick despite its lumbering 'steps' as it crossed the Worth Woodsea.
"Regardless, we must ensure that we can stop Nirvana, men!" Ichiya said as sparkles appeared around him. "We must carefully carry the ladies until they recover! Drag the men along as well. Meeen~" He pointed finger guns at Ren and Eve.
"Juvia will carry them." Juvia was protective of her family (and friend in Gajeel) and the Tri-Men were clearly playboys, so Juvia couldn't trust them to carry her 'Dragon Sisters' as she'd been told to call them. A fact that still made her feel warm inside.
As the two Tri-Men (that weren't almost frantically searching through the vast information within Archive Magic) tried to make their case to help get Lucy and Cana back to their feet, a sudden feeling washed over the entire group.
"What is that?" Hibiki felt cold chills going down his spine.
Ren looked repulsed. "It feels disgusting."
Eve's eyes widened. "Is that…Magic Power?" He'd never felt a Mage with such 'wrongness' in their Magic before. Not even during his tenure with the Magic Council.
"It feels like Brain's Magic…but far greater." Jura noticed the similarities in the feeling he was getting from the Magic Power.
Zero stepped around the corner from one of the intersecting streets the Allied Mages had passed by before Nirvana started moving. The vast difference in appearance briefly threw the Mages, wondering who this person was, before Zero began to speak.
"So, you're the group that's wreaked havoc on my Guild?" Zero had an amused smirk on his face. "As the Master of Oración Seis, I will now draw the line." He saw the state of the four Dragon Slayers and his red eyes locked onto Gajeel specifically. "But I suppose I should take care of the one that hurt Brain's body so badly." His right hand was surrounded by swirling dark green Magic. "I'll eliminate him first!"
Juvia's body turned to water as she unleashed a swirling wall of rapids around Gajeel, Lucy, Natsu, and Cana. "You'd attack people that can't even fight back?!"
"It doesn't make much difference whether my enemy can move or not." Zero said before a crazed smile spread across his face. "As long as it has form, I enjoy destroying it!" He threw his hand forward and beams of magic with screaming faces on them slammed into Juvia's water barrier, tearing through the surging rapids steadily on their path towards Gajeel.
Crack
The stone beneath Zero's feet shattered in a massive upheaval, throwing the Dark Mage into the air and away from the group, ending his attack in the process. Magic Power rivaling Zero's power filled the air as Jura stepped forward with a visible golden aura of Magic Power surrounding him. Every single piece of grit, every pebble, every stone, all of the rubble and the very stone that made up Nirvana itself was trembling and vibrating, resonating, with Jura's power.
"I will not stand by and watch you commit such atrocities." Jura said with stone cold conviction.
Zero landed easily enough on the ground with the same demented smirk on his face. "Oh? You're the Wizard Saint, correct? That only makes you more worthwhile to destroy!"
Jura didn't take his eyes off of Zero as he spoke. "Ichiya, please take everyone to the King's Hall quickly. I'll deal with this…Zero, person."
"If you're certain." Ichiya said, seeing the unshakeable resolve in Jura's form and words. "Men! Gather up our allies and make haste to the King's Hall!"
"Yes, master!" Eve and Ren called out while helping Gajeel and Natsu up, both knowing now wasn't the time for unwanted chivalry for the ladies.
Juvia gently surrounded Lucy and Cana in spheres of water, leaving their heads free, of course, and followed after Ichiya and the Tri-Men.
"I haven't had the pleasure of destroying you yet!" Zero unleashed a barrage of screaming spirits from his Darkness Magic.
"Iron Rock Wall!" Jura cast with a wave of his hand, the stone of Nirvana instantly warping and compressing as it rose up and blocked the barrage. "I said that I would be dealing with you." He glared sharply at Zero.
Zero looked at Jura with a dark smirk. "The order in which I destroy each of you doesn't really matter, I suppose." His Magic Power increased further, shaking the air a bit.
"Hmph!" Jura grunted as he pointed at Zero and his Iron Rock Wall exploded into stone shrapnel that bombarded the Master of Oración Seis. With a flex of his Magic, the surrounding area shattered into more large chunks of stone that rocketed towards Zero all at once.
BAM
-Gray, Sherry, Lyon-
In the air above Nirvana the three Mages blinked as a golden light was seen within the ruins of the ancient city before a portion of it exploded into a massive cloud of dirt and dust. With their aerial view, it was easy to see just how large of an area the blast covered, and give an estimation of the power required to do it.
"What the hell was that?!" Gray questioned, rarely having seen any spell that powerful.
Lyon smirked a little. "That's Jura's Magic."
"Jura is a Wizard Saint for a reason, you know?" Sherry looked rather smug at the power of Lamia Scale's Ace.
"Should we try to help him?" Gray asked as the ice eagle they were flying on kept pace with the moving Nirvana.
Lyon shook his head once. "We'd most likely get in Jura's way." Looking over Nirvana, Lyon pointed to the tower in the center. "Sherry, let's land there. It's the highest point and I'm sure we'll be able to find the others close to it."
Sherry nodded happily. "Yes, Lyon~" She directed the eagle to fly towards the tower with her Magic.
"Why're you so sure that the others will be there?" Gray asked as he looked at the tall tower.
"It's clearly constructed differently than the rest of the city, so it must be important." Lyon said simply. "If I had to guess, that's probably where Nirvana is controlled from."
Gray had to admit, without any information, that was the best option that they had to go on. "Let's get there fast then."
All three knew that the faster they could regroup, the faster they could figure out any new information that had been discovered by the others. Hibiki's Telepathy Magic was still spotty at best because of how powerful Nirvana was. The Magic of the moving city was interfering, making some communication clear and normal, while completely blocking it at other times, and everything in between.
-Jura vs Zero-
"Dark Rondo!" Zero gathered a massive purple-black sphere of wailing spirits and launched it at Jura.
"Iron Rock Wall: Continuous Formation!" Jura raised both hands before him and the stone of Nirvana immediately shot up into dozens of iron-hard walls.
The Dark Rondo tore through the first seven walls easily, the next four barely slowed it down, and the next five after that finally stopped the spell entirely, making it disperse. Zero had moved to the side in the brief time it had taken the two spells to collide, lashing out with his next spell with a sick grin.
"Dark Capriccio: Zero Slash!" Zero whipped the Penetration Magic around, cleaving through stone as if it was no more than paper.
Jura shifted his stance and dropped low, letting the spell pass over his head. Slamming his palm onto the ground it glowed golden with his Magic Power. "Iron Rock Fist!" The ground warped and molded into a fist befitting a giant as it rocketed towards Zero, the 'arm' of the spell continuously extended from the ground as Jura empowered his spell.
Zero laughed mockingly as he swung his Dark Capriccio through the incoming spell. "Fool! Just because I change how it's used doesn't take away the fact that Dark Capriccio is Penetration Magic!" The spiraling spell sliced the giant stone fist into pieces.
"The quality of the Magic is immaterial! The one with the greater conviction will always prevail!" Jura declared as the pieces of his spell glowed with his Magic still and blitzed Zero, smashing into the Dark Mage with such force that he was buried before he could counter. "Supreme King Rock Crush!" Jura stomped his foot on the ground, golden circles spreading out from the point of impact like seismic waves. The entire area of stone buildings and rubble all moved.
BOOM
With a sound like a bomb going off, the entire area of stone collapsed into a single point where Zero was trapped.
Jura narrowed his eyes, still feeling Zero's twisted Magic clearly. His eyes widened and he jerked to the side just as six Dark Capriccio's erupted from the ground where he'd just been standing.
"You fell for it!" Zero, covered in dust and looking very rough from Jura's last attack, nearly blurred into existence at Jura's side. "Dark Delete!" He rapidly unleashed a barrage of the dark green bolts of Magic into Jura's side, blasting the Wizard Saint through the destroyed section of the ancient city.
"Talus!" Jura took almost a dozen bolts before casting his next spell. Thick iron-hard pillars of rock surrounded Jura and deflected all of the bolts easily. With a grunt, Jura quickly checked himself over. The bolts were strong, but his body was tough, so he mostly had some bruises. But his stab wound, which had only been patched up by Ichiya's first aid, was bleeding again from taking a direct hit.
Zero was nearly cackling in sick delight. "What a wonderful day to have woken up for the first time in so long! Dark Capriccio: SCREAM!" He bellowed and thrust his hand forward; the spiraling red, green, and yellow bolt was now considerably darker than before and shot at Jura's defense so quickly that the Wizard Saint's eyes widened.
With no time for a spell, Jura threw himself to the side, letting the spiraling beam pierce straight through his Talus spell as if it wasn't even there. "Iron Rock Spikes!" Stone spikes rose from the ground around Zero and pinned the Dark Mage in place. "Iron Rock Powder Explosion!" The spikes grew smaller spikes that stabbed into Zero's body like an unforgiving iron maiden.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Zero laughed maniacally as he flexed his Magic Power and shattered the iron-hard stones, uncaring of the injuries that he'd received. "Dark Gravity!" The area around Jura visibly darkened and the ground compressed as Jura was forced to one knee. "Now I destroy you! DARK RONDO!" The sphere of screaming purple spirits was even larger this time as it swirled into existence above both of Zero's hands.
"Rock Mountain!" Jura clapped his hands together and a massive stone warrior formed over him wearing eastern style armor. The golem-like spell clapped its hands in front of itself and sealed Jura within safely.
WOOOOUUUUUAAAAHHHH
The wailing spirits of the Dark Rondo spell swallowed up the giant stone warrior and both spells vanished a moment later as the clashing powers stalemated so completely that the rock became nothing more than dust in the air.
Zero cackled at seeing the hole in the ground where Jura had been. "It was fun, Wizard Saint! Such a worthwhile thing that I destroyed first!"
The ground shook harshly, shattering in multiple places as Jura's golden Magic rose up from beneath the ground. The earthquake then exploded upwards in another violent blast that engulfed Zero completely.
A huge cloud of thick dust filled the air as Jura breathed heavily from the expenditure of so much of his Magic Power. "Tell me, Zero. How does one with so much Magic Power hide amongst the Magic Council's Bureau of Magical Development?" Jura knew a bit about Brain's history thanks to his Wizard Saint Title.
"Heh…Heheh…" Zero, now shirtless and with his pants torn so badly they barely stayed on him, chuckled darkly at Jura's question. "Brain kept his intentions hidden as he created so many different Magics. I was kept under lock and key unless needed." Zero said as he straightened up to his full height. "But what really set us apart, beyond Brain's love of knowledge and my love of destruction, was that Brain was always weaker than me…"
"You're the same body, with the same Magic Power." Jura said, never having heard of anyone with greater Magic Power just because of a split personality. The Magic Power was stored in the body, there was no way to suddenly have more just because the personality in control switched.
Zero had a malicious and twisted smile spread across his face. "You think so?" His Magic Power suddenly swelled again and Jura shifted his stance defensively. "Who do you think made the most headway on studying the long-rumored Second Origin?!" His disgusting green-black Magic exploded off of his body as he Requipped into a fresh set of clothes. "Brain desired it, but I was the one that put it into practice! Now I have more Magic than ever before and it recovers twice as fast!"
To be fair, Second Origin research had stagnated at the Bureau and Brain had never proven that the old tale of a second origin point of Magic existed for certain. But with two distinctive 'minds' within one body, both desiring power, the tests that Brain had done on himself (both in his pursuit of knowledge and for his 'Six Prayers' Organic Link Magic to seal away Zero) had resulted in what might be called a partial awakening of the fabled Second Origin. But it was Zero that had taken this power for himself, only able to use it when he was 'awake' and in control of the body.
"Now VANISH!" Zero roared with a malicious smile. "DARK RONDO!" The sphere of screaming spirits formed even faster than before, eating up the space between Zero and Jura in an instant. "You said the one with the greater conviction wins, right? WELL THIS IS MY CONVICTION TO DESTROY YOU!"
"Iron Rock Wall!" Jura raised a large wall between himself and the Dark Rondo, but the wall was shattered as if it was spun sugar.
The Dark Rondo passed through multiple subterranean levels before it vanished, a hole so deep that Zero couldn't see the bottom when he looked into it a moment later.
"That was quite an enjoyable destruction." Zero laughed to himself as he put his hands behind his back and started walking towards the King's Hall. Sure, he was injured a bit, and his Magic Power had taken a not-insignificant drop, but he'd recover his Magic Power soon enough, and his body would heal a little faster once he had the spare Magic Power to apply to it. "Now, which one of these Light Mages will I destroy next?"
-Subterranean Level of Nirvana-
Jura let out a pained breath as he let the iron-hard stone that he'd encased himself with fall away as tiny pebbles. "What madness…" He bit out, feeling as if every muscle and bone in his body had been hit, twisted, and nearly crushed all at once. "Conviction isn't such a twisted thing…" Jura tried to force himself upright, but his body jolted in agony making him lay still. He gently rested his hand on his bleeding stab wound as dark spots began to appear in his vision. "Even as the lowest of the Wizard Saints, I'm ashamed that I failed…" He applied his Magic to his injury, sealing the wound and preventing blood loss with a 'bandage' of stone dust that he hardened as the last of his Magic Power began to fade. "I've injured Zero, and cost him a considerable amount of his Magic Power. I can only hope that it will be enough for the others to defeat him and stop Nirvana."
Jura faded into unconsciousness a moment later, his power depleted and his body needing rest and treatment.
-King's Hall-
"What is going on?" Lyon asked as he saw Mira, Erza, Lisanna, and Wendy on the floor, all of them looking moments away from vomiting.
Gray was the one to answer as he hopped off the back of the giant ice eagle. "It's motion sickness. Dragon Slayers have it so bad that they get like this on any moving vehicle."
"Such an unsightly display." Sherry was keeping her distance in case one of the women did throw up.
"Gray, you're alive!" Happy cheered with a smile from beside Lisanna.
Gray deadpanned at the flying cat. "Did you think I wouldn't be or something?"
"WAIT MEEEEENNN!" Ichiya's voice rang through the air as a massive column of water burst high above the tower where the King's Hall was located.
The water reformed into Juvia, and Ichiya, the Tri-Men, Natsu, Lucy, Cana, and Gajeel were set on the ground safely by large spheres of water. "Everyone is here?" Juvia blinked before seeing the state of the other Dragon Slayers. "Lisanna, Mira, Erza!" She cried out as she brought the spheres holding the other Dragon Slayers with her to reunite her family. "Are you alright?! Can Juvia do anything to help?!"
"Make… Nirvana… Stop moving…" Lisanna managed to get out before clapping her hands over her mouth to stifle a heave.
"We need to get them off of Nirvana, somehow. They'll go back to normal then." Happy said as he looked over all the Dragon Slayers.
Wendy forced herself to sit up, even as her stomach nearly rebelled against her. "I have…a spell…stops…motion sickness." The Sky Dragon Slayer got out without throwing up.
Carla placed her paw on Wendy's back, gently rubbing it in slow circles. "But that spell stops being effective the more you use it. It doesn't really work for you anymore."
"But it would work for them, right?" Gray pointed at the other Dragon Slayers.
Hibiki surprised everyone when he suddenly shouted. "THAT'S IT!"
After everyone that wasn't motion sick had flinched slightly, they all looked at Hibiki expectantly.
"The way to stop Nirvana!" Hibiki had a smile filled with relief on his face. "It's powered by six massive Lacrima cores. Each is halfway between one of these six towers and the edge of the city." He pointed to the six towers that were built alongside the central tower of the King's Hall. "We have to destroy them all simultaneously though…"
"Why all at once?" Ren asked his friend.
Hibiki grimaced. "Nirvana's restoration function is powered by the legs that suck up magical energy from the ground and distributed by the six Lacrima. If we break any of them while one is still intact, then they'll be repaired before we can get to another and destroy it." He looked at everyone seriously. "We need six people to destroy all of the Lacrima at the same time, if we can get the others back on their feet, then it would be for the best to destroy as much of Nirvana as possible, make it struggle to keep up with repairing itself, and we need someone to stall Zero…or beat him if possible."
"Was that who Jura was fighting?!" Sherry asked in concern for her guildmate.
Eve, Ren, Hibiki, and Ichiya all looked down a bit.
"Yes, Jura insisted we make our way here while he dealt with Zero." Ichiya explained as he clenched his fists. "But Hibiki lost contact with Jura shortly after the fighting down below stopped."
Lyon's expression changed from his normal cool and calm to angry for a moment before he let out a long breath (an exercise that Jura had taught him to help keep a level head) and spoke. "Jura is most probably alive, but injured and unconscious. If you can give us the location you lost contact with him at, then Sherry and I will go and retrieve him."
"Of course." Hibiki nodded and tapped a few keys on his Archive Magic to upload a map to the location where Jura had gone silent into both of the Lamia Scale Mages' heads.
Juvia looked at Happy for a moment and then at Lisanna and Mira. "Can Juvia suggest something that might sound stupid?"
Happy tilted his head at the Water Mage. "Sure. Natsu says stupid stuff all the time."
"H-Hey…" Natsu gurgled out from where he was laying on the floor.
"If they just need to be off of Nirvana…why don't you fly them off in your larger form and let Wendy cast her spell on your back?" Juvia asked Happy.
Happy blinked at Juvia before his mouth fell open in shock.
"Larger form?" Carla raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Happy's wings popped out and he flew across the circular roof room. Everyone that wasn't a member of Fairy Tail watched on in shock as Happy glowed with bright yellow-gold light and grew to an immense size. "I'm still low on Magic Power, but I can do this for a minute!" Happy declared, having not had enough Magic Power after flying his family all the way here from Magnolia to use his Titan Magic. But if it would help his family, he'd burn up the last of his Magic Power to make sure they were able to get back on their feet.
Carla could only gape at what Happy had done. "T-Tomcat?!" She had no clue that the dumb blue cat had learned a second Magic aside from Aera Magic.
Juvia floated her family, Gajeel, and Wendy onto Happy's titanic back.
"Off we go!" Happy flapped his white wings once and lifted into the air. A second flap and he was hovering over the King's Hall, making sure to keep up with Nirvana's speed.
"It stopped…" Natsu blinked before sitting up quickly. "We're off the vehicle!"
The rest of the Dragon Slayers let out various groans or sighs of relief as their motion sickness subsided and they stopped feeling like their insides were going to become outsides.
Wendy let out a breath of relief as well. "I can cast my Troia spell on one person at a time. It'll fix the motion sickness issue until the spell runs out."
"Can you do it quickly? I can't keep this up for much longer!" Happy warned as he was already starting to breathe heavily.
"Yes, of course!" Wendy hurried over to Natsu first and a small glowing orb of magic appeared between her hands. "Troia." She placed the little ball against Natsu's head and it appeared to seep into his skin, briefly making his head glow. "That will correct every inner ear imbalance before it can become an issue." Wendy smiled at Natsu as she explained her spell.
Natsu smiled back at Wendy. "Thanks, Wendy!"
Wendy quickly cast her Troia spell on the rest of the Dragon Slayers, even as she clearly took a substantial loss of her own Magic Power.
"Why don't you use this spell all the time?" Erza questioned as she was back on her feet and feeling fine.
"It loses effectiveness the more you use it." Wendy said while rubbing the back of her head. "I over used it a bit when I was younger and now it doesn't work for me. Its effectiveness drops noticeably each time." She explained the limits of the Troia spell.
Mira rolled her neck and gave the Sky Dragon Slayer a smile. "Hopefully, we only need it this one time then." Her body was covered by black-purple squares as she transformed into her Satan Soul form. "I heard the plan earlier. I can destroy one of the Lacrima, or I can help tear up Nirvana, either way." Mira had a demonic grin on her face.
"None of us are exactly in top shape right now." Cana said, able to sense that all of them, aside from maybe Erza, Lisanna, and Natsu, had been through hard fights that required them to use a Secret Art. "I can still break a big Lacrima easily enough."
"Let's land first." Lisanna was clearly worried about Happy. "We can decide who does what once we're back on the ground."
Happy glided back towards the top of the King's Hall and all of the Dragon Slayers, very reluctantly, hopped off his back and landed on their feet. When the expected nausea didn't immediately come back with a vengeance, all of the Dragon Slayers nearly cheered.
"Hey! This is awesome!" Natsu did cheer, and even jumped up and down a bit, testing his freedom from the crippling motion sickness for the first time since he could remember.
"Shut it, Salamander! We need to decide who's doing what about this old ruin." Gajeel grunted at Natsu's show of excitement.
Natsu punched his right fist into his left palm. "I already know what I'm doing! I haven't gotten to fight any of these Oración Seis guys yet! I'm taking down this Zero guy!" With that said, Natsu rushed over to the edge of the King's Hall and looked out over the ancient city. "Now…where are you?" He breathed in deeply, taking in the scents and Magic in the air. "Ugh…what is that creepy Magic?" He turned his amber eyes on one part of the city, about halfway between the King's Hall and where the ruins had been absolutely decimated in one area. "Found him!"
"Natsu! Be careful!" Juvia and Lisanna both said at the same time. The two looked at each other for a second before smiling.
"I'll be fine." Natsu promised his Mates (and soon-to-be Mate in Juvia's case if he understood her feelings) "This guy fought that Wizard Saint already, right? There's no way he's better off than I am."
Erza stepped forward with a serious look on her face. "Still, we should prepare as best as possible." She held up her palm and conjured many rocks from her Earth Dragon Slayer Magic, each packed with a portion of her Magic Power.
Lisanna agreed as she conjured a large fireball into existence a second later. "Eat up, Natsu!"
Natsu, never one to turn down the Magic of either Erza or Lisanna, inhaled the flames, his body briefly glowing reddish-orange as it processed the flames into Magic Power. Erza gave Natsu a warm smile as he devoured the stones she'd created, his body briefly glowing grey and brown as even more of Natsu's nearly full Magic Power reserves grew.
"That was great!" Natsu beamed at Lisanna and Erza. "I'm off!" His feet flared with fire before he rocketed himself off the top of the King's Hall, and then fell like a meteor straight towards where he felt the disgusting Magic coming from.
Hibiki quickly got everyone's attention again once Natsu had rushed off. "Okay, that fills the role of stalling or beating Zero, but we still need six people to attack the six massive Lacrima simultaneously, and the other to start destroying as much of Nirvana as possible. If Nirvana is really heading for Cait Shelter, then we need to slow it down or destroy it before it gets there."
Wendy raised her hand. "I can destroy one of the Lacrima." She would fight to save her Guild!
"I'll destroy one of the Lacrima too!" Lisanna chose her position.
"I'll attack Nirvana." Erza said resolutely. "I might be able to cut off a leg." She still had the majority of her Magic Power, so if she used her Secret Art, then she should be able to manage it.
"I'll shatter one of the Lacrima." Gray knew his Magic was far better at destroying an object, rather than a city.
Cana threw her arm over Mira's shoulder. "Two city destroyers, right here!" Mira smirked, looking wicked in her Satan Soul form.
Ichiya volunteered to take the fourth Lacrima himself. Juvia wanted to smash the fifth. To the surprise of the rest of Fairy Tail, Gajeel volunteered to destroy the sixth Lacrima.
'After using Iron Drive, I'm nowhere close to one-hundred percent. I'll leave trying to destroy this hunk of rubble to those that still have power to spare.' Gajeel reasoned with himself, given his current situation.
"That's the Lacrima taken care of. I'll upload a map for each of you and coordinate your attacks from here so that they all land at the same time." Hibiki nodded to the Lacrima attackers. "Remember, if even one of them stays functional, all of the others will be repaired almost instantly. Please wait for my signal to attack."
"Right." The remaining Allied Mages all confirmed.
"Meeen~" Ichiya sparkled, but everyone ignored it for now.
Lyon and Sherry left barely a moment later, flying off on the back of the giant ice eagle towards the destroyed area of the ruins to find Jura and get him back to Hibiki atop the King's Hall.
-Zero-
A whistling sound filled the air as a powerful Magic filled Zero's perception. A second to widen his eyes at the speed the Magic was approaching him at and Zero nearly blurred backwards.
BOOM
The area of the street where Zero had just been walking exploded into fire, rubble, and lava. A silhouette was seen in the flames and smoke, eyes of glowing amber visible as the figure walked across the molten earth as if it were normal.
"You're that Zero guy, right?" Natsu asked rhetorically as he felt the creepy feeling that Zero's Magic exuded.
"I am the Guild Master of Oración Seis: Zero." Zero said as his red eyes stared into Natsu's own as he took the Dragon Slayer's measure. "I'm going to enjoy destroying you, I can tell!"
The air around Natsu warped in the heat haze coming off his body. "That's my line." The wavering air exploded into flames as Natsu shifted his stance and got ready to fight. "I heard you attacked my Mate…" Natsu's fangs became a bit more pronounced as the anger that had been stewing since he'd heard that Lucy had been attacked earlier was allowed to bubble up to the surface. "Don't think you're getting away with that."
Zero laughed loudly…madly. "Brain failed to kill anyone. So I'll destroy you all, and then everything else!" His Magic Power, already recovered a fair amount from his fight with Jura, formed a sickening aura around his body.
The air vibrated at the clashing powers, neither Natsu or Zero breaking eye contact.
At some unknown signal, both men blurred forward. The ground beneath Zero's feet cracking, leaving imprints of his boots in the stone. The ground behind Natsu exploded into fragments that quickly melted and splattered the street behind him in nearly boiling lava.
-End Chapter-
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Damn, Jura and Zero beat the shit out of each other! Leveled part of the ancient city too!
Unfortunately, Brain is basically a Magical Mad Scientist and because of what amounts to a rare, inconceivably low-chance anomaly with his mind and Magic Power, he partially tapped into his Second Origin, which explains the (Canon by the way) reason that Zero has twice the Magical Power of Brain, even though they're one body with what should be the same amount of Magic Power.
Zero simply outlasts and overpowers Jura because of his 'condition' you could say.
The Dragon Slayers are back in action after Nirvana starts moving! Thanks to Happy using up the last of his Magic Power and Wendy for casting Troia on everyone.
Me thinks Nirvana is about to have a bad time. Kek!
Now Natsu faces down Zero, with his reserves refilled thanks to Erza and Lisanna's 'donation'…the Magma Dragon Slayer is about to rain volcanic hellfire down on the Master of Oración Seis!
Will Nirvana make it to Cait Shelter?
Keep reading to find out!
Until I get your reviews, later!