"Man, those guys were pushovers." Gajeel commented as he stood over the body of one of the men who attacked him. He glanced over at Lily who was standing over several more bodies. Lily leaned down and picked up a sword that one of the men was using.
"It's no Bustermarm, but it will have to do." Lily commented as he slung the sword over his back.
"Ya able to keep that form up?" Gajeel asked.
"I've gotten some practice, I should be able to-" Lily's body suddenly shrunk down back into his smaller Exceedlike stature.
"Hand it over. I'll carry it for ya until you can transform again." Gajeel said, gesturing towards the sword which was now taller than Lily. Lily handed Gajeel the sword as Gajeel slung it over his back. The two of them continued walking through the maze, following the scent from the cloth.
"Is this the end of the maze?" Lily commented as he looked ahead. They were right next to the castle at one of its massive side entrances. In front of them was a large door.
"Only one way to find out." Gajeel said. He pushed the massive door open, revealing a dark room inside.
"Get ready, I think he's close by." Gajeel said. Pantherlily nodded as Gajeel handed him back the sword and Lily entered his battle form once again. The two of them continued walking through the dark room when suddenly the room lit up.
"Wait!" Gajeel said as he suddenly stopped in the middle of the room. He looked up at the massive height of the room. It appeared they entered a large ballroom. The ballroom was nearly the size of Kardia Cathedral. Rows of candles mounted to the walls and marble pillars decorated the room at the sides, leaving a large empty space in the middle, with only the smooth adagio floor. Hanging high above that empty space, was a huge chandelier that appeared to have thousands of small, brightly glowing lights on it.
"What happened?!" Lily exclaimed as he looked around, shocked by the sudden change in setting.
"He's here." Gajeel said as he took a small whiff into the air.
"What?!" Lily said, suddenly becoming alert and holding his sword in front of him.
"COME OUT!!!" Gajeel roared as he dashed towards a row of pillars on his right side.
"Iron Dragon's Sword!"
Gajeel's hand, up to his forearm, turned into a long and large jagged steel blade. He jabbed forward towards the pillar, piercing straight through. Just as the blade struck he felt the tearing of fabric and a small shadow suddenly moved away from the impact. A man came out of the shadow and stared at the duo. The man was of average height. He had black spiky hair that fell to his shoulders and orange eyes. On his face was a scar that diagonally down from above his left eye through the bridge of his nose and ended at his right cheek along with a bit of stubble on his chin. He wore a ripped cloak that Gajeel was able to tear the hood off of. Underneath that cloak he wore sturdy leather garments with many belts and black combat boots.
"Not bad. It appears I underestimated the nose of a Dragon Slayer. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Aifread of the Doryu Attack Squad." Aifreed said calmly as his magical power began to flare up.
"What is this magic power!" Lily said, clenching the handle of his sword. Gajeel remained silent and stared directly ahead.
"You the bastard that killed all those councilmen?" Gajeel asked as he glared at Aifread.
"Of course. I couldn't have them interfering with our plans much like you lot are doing right now." Aifread replied.
Gajeel continued glaring at Aifread. As he blinked and opened his eyes again, Aifread was suddenly gone, with no trace of his immense magical power anywhere.
"What?!" Gajeel yelled in disbelief. Aifread suddenly appeared in front of him with a black dagger in hand. Aifread thrust his dagger towards Gajeel's chest as Gajeel moved to the side as a black dagger pierced his shoulder. Blood gushed out of Gajeel's shoulder as Aifread quickly jumped back and disappeared into the shadows once again.
"Gajeel, are you alright?!!" Lily asked as he looked at the pitch black dagger sticking out of Gajeel's shoulder.
"Yeah, he missed my chest." Gajeel replied. Gajeel pulled the dagger out as blood dripped down his right arm. Suddenly, the dagger in Gajeel's hand dissipated. 'That dagger was made of some kind of dark magic. Is it similar to make-magic?'
"Not bad, Black Steel Gajeel. You reacted well to my strike. It appears the rumors of your strength are true. However, I wonder if your partner is as strong as you are." Aifreed's voice echoed throughout the ballroom. Gajeel and Lily prepared themselves for Aifread's next attack.
Aifread suddenly appeared in front of Lily and struck towards him with a blade of darkness. However the moment the blade came close, Lily suddenly swung his sword, parrying the shadow blade before it struck.
"Oh?" Aifreed said, surprised at the large cat's reaction speed as the dark dagger was knocked out of his hand. 'This one can wield a blade well. And he seems to be about as strong as Gajeel.'
Lily immediately rushed forward and struck towards Aifread but Aifread simply faded into his own shadow on the ground and his presence vanished.
"Damn it! How are we supposed to hit him?!" Gajeel questioned.
"For now, it looks like we'll just have to find an opening. He's bound to slip up." Lily whispered under his breath.
"Iron Dragon's Scales!"
The skin on Gajeels body changed, becoming a dark gray colored steel that had a textured scale-like appearance.
"Alright you slippery bastard. Try and pierce me now!" Gajeel taunted. Suddenly, the candlelights in the room began to blow out one by one. The lights atop the chandelier started shattering and glass fell to the ground with the room becoming darker and darker.
Gajeel immediately leaned his head back as Aifread appeared seemingly out of nowhere and swung his dagger at Gajeel's head. A cut appeared on Gajeels cheek as Aifread vanished once again.
"He cut through your scales?!" Lily exclaimed, shocked that Gajeel's iron scales could be cut open so easily.
"The hell? Did he get stronger or something?" Gajeel questioned. Suddenly more lights shattered from the chandelier and more candles blew out, with the room being nearly pitch black.
Gajeel felt a presence behind him and tried to sidestep away, only to feel a sharp pain on his side as Aifread slashed across him.
"Gajeel what's going on?!" Lily questioned as he heard Gajeel grunt in pain.
"I think I understand now. This guy's magic gets stronger when it's darker." Gajeel commented as he held his bleeding side. 'Damn...if I didn't have these scales, he might have cut straight through me.'
Suddenly Lily felt a presence in front of him. He quickly raised his sword up, only for the blade of his sword to snap as a large horizontal gash appeared across his chest. Blood gushed from Lily's wound as he took a few steps back.
"His moves are getting harder to see too…" Lily commented.
'Dammit...what the hell do we do against this guy. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Salamander's flames would come in handy here…' Gajeel thought to himself as he prepared for another strike from Aifread. Gajeel's thoughts were interrupted as he heard Lily's sword hit the ground and Lily took a knee.
"Damn...I lost too much blood…" Lily said as he panted heavily. Aifread suddenly appeared in front of him, holding his blade of darkness.
"Lily!" Gajeel screamed as he dashed towards him as fast as he could. Aifread thrust his sword straight towards Lily's chest, but to his surprise, Lily's massive body vanished and his blade hit nothing. On the ground, he could see Lily's smaller figure.
"So that's your real form?" Aifread commented just as Gajeel appeared above him. Aifread vanished once again as Gajeel punched the ground where Aifread was once standing, his fist cracking the floor. Gajeel moved himself to stand atop an unconscious Pantherlily as he prepared himself for another attack.
'I can barely adjust myself to this guy's moves so he doesn't hit my vital points...I think I know a way to beat this bastard and I only have one shot…'
Aifread appeared once again, this time in front of Gajeel. He thrust his blade of darkness into Gajeel's chest, piercing straight through his iron scales. Blood dripped from Gajeel's mouth but a smirk formed on his face as he firmly grabbed Aifread's arm with his right hand.
Aifread looked at Gajeel, surprised that he was able to move after piercing his heart. He looked down where he had stabbed Gajeel and realized Gajeel had managed to slightly shift his body to where his blade missed his heart.
"Now that I got a hold of you…lets see how you run." Gajeel grunted as he wound his left arm back. His left arm transformed into a gigantic jagged iron sword that dwarfed his previous one in size. He raised his arm up in the air as he glared at an awestruck Aifread.
"DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART - KARMA DEMON: IRON GOD SWORD!"
Gajeel swung the massive blade downwards across Aifread's body. A large amount of blood gushed out of Aifread's body as the shockwave from the sword swing cleaved the ballroom's pillars behind him.
Aifread fell to the ground as Gajeel remained standing. Gajeel smirked one last time before collapsing on the ground.