"There it is.." said Natsu as he carried Mikoto on his back to the circular crumbling edge of the city. A massive metal ramp had extended from the edge of the city and was connected to the giant side of a mountain that looked much like Mt. Fuji back in Earthland...however, the difference was that it didn't look like half of it was missing due to the result of a massive battle between two ginormous dragons.
"Er...eh..." said Mikoto who barely able to keep conscious at the moment.
"Hold on Mikoto." said Natsu as he began to cross the bridge with Mikaris, Lucy, and Happy close behind. "We're almost there."
"Yeah!" said Elli who was sitting on top of Mikoto's head. "It's almost over!! Come on!!"
"No.." murmured Mikoto. "It won't be over...not after this...not until Dravis is destroyed."
"Well then we had better be ready to smack that oversized lizard into the ground once we get to those gates then!!" shouted Natsu. "Come on!! I'm going on overdrive!!"
Natsu began to run as fast as he could down the metal ramp. As he got closer and closer to the mountain, Mikoto could just make out a cave in the distance. Many people who had been evacuated from the city seemed to be crowding into the cave.
"Dang it!' said Natsu. "Guess we'll have to push through somehow...maybe if I punch my way through.."
"Natsu! No!" said Lucy sternly. "We already wen't through this, we don't just punch our way through things!"
Mikoto suddenly felt a warmth near her chest area that definitely didn't feel natural. The key that she wore around her neck levitated out from under her shirt and levitated out in front of her, glowing.
It rotated on the chain around Mikoto's neck till it was pointing at one end of the mountain.
"Wha!?" said Natsu stopping in his tracks along with the others. "Mikoto! The key your mom gave ya!"
"It's showing us where to go.." Mikoto murmured. A tremendous beam of light shout from the key and burned itself on the side of the mountain until a stone hatch opened to reveal a gaping hole.
"How are we going to get over there!?" said Lucy it's so far away from the ramp, and Happy and Elli aren't going to be enough to fly all of us over there."
Apparently though, you really didn't need the ability to fly to enter that cave, for all of a sudden, as if in some sort of vacuum the group was pulled screaming into the cave like bullets.
Mikoto saw stars as she tumbled across the dark rocky floor of the cave and everyone fell right on top of her. She yelled as Lucy and Mikaris both fell right on top of her broken leg.
"Oh God!!" Lucy said as she and Mikaris stumbled off. "Sorry Mikoto! Are you okay!?"
"Eh.." said Mikoto gritting her teeth with pain. "Can't say I haven't gone through worse..."
Natsu put Mikoto on his back again and stood up. "Well that was different."
"Look.." said Mikaris pointing at Mikoto. "The key..."
The key that had previously been worn around Mikoto's neck had broken free from it's chain and was now levitating into the cave, glowing brightly so those who wished to follow it could do so without much trouble.
"Come on." said Natsu walking after the key. "Careful though..this place smells weird."
"I smell it too." said Mikoto wearilly. "This entire place smells like Dravis...it's death...and decay...and..something else familiar...it smells like Nicole."
"I know Nicole's powers are a little dark." said Lucy. "But I don't see how this place is anything like her.
"She meant it smells like ghosts." said Natsu. "The people that died in here...I don't think they ever left..."
Mikoto's eyes suddenly widened. "N-Natsu! I think I see one of them!"
Natsu looked up. As the key continued down the cave, it illuminated what appeared to be a large humanoid creature that was clinging to the round cieling. It's body was pitch black with a large hole in it's chest. It had a large skull-like maski on it's face. within it's black eyeholes burned two glowing yellow pupilless eyes. The creature opened it's mask skull jaws and let out a moaning tortured echoing cry.
"Holy crap!!" said Natsu as the creature leapt off the cieling at him.
Mikaris thrust out a hand and a massive lightning bolt blasted straight into the creature, tearing it apart into a dark vapor which dissipated away.
"What..the hell..was that?" said Mikaris.
"A ghost...I think." said Mikoto. "Only..this seemed emptier then the spirits Nicole uses...almost hollow."4
"Well let's be a little more careful..there might be more of those things down there." said Lucy as the group continued to follow the levitating key.
"Not just might.." said Natsu. "There are more of those things down here..hundreds.. I can smell them."
"Yeek.." said Happy. "I'm so nervous I think I need some fish to calm down."
Natsu suddenly stopped. "We're here."
The group walked out of the round cave and found themselves in a large chamber full of torches lining the round damp walls. All were ignited with golden flames. At the end of the the chamber were two gates...however to describe them merely as gates wouldn't do them justice...they were passages...passages to knowlege unlike any other.
On the right, was what looked like a japanese sliding door it was glowing with an eirie light from behind it's nearly transparent silk flower designed front...as if something more lay behind it's reaches. Around the gate, multiple black butterflies fluttered around it, their wings flapping silently in the cold forboding air.
Next to that gate was a plain wooden door. On the old moldy wooden center of the door was a white dragon emblem. The insignia of Elanis.
The key stopped right next to the Japanese door and hovered there.
"Natsu.." said Mikoto. "set me down. I know what to do. The key...I don't know how to describe it..but the key is telling me what to do.."
Natsu nodded and set Mikoto down on her good leg, putting her arm around his shoulder. Natsu carefully helped Mikoto limp towards the key. Mikoto gentally gripped the end of the key. In her head she could hear a voice. "Do it...seal the Senkaimon....seal Dravis off from the world of death and order...and then unlock the next key to your destiny."
Mikoto touched the key against the door and immediately the Senkaimon, as it was called, dimmed and went completely dark. The butterflies around it faded like holograms....the door had been sealed...
The door to the Afterlife was closed...Dravis could no longer destroy the ones who could keep order in the multiverse...but that didn't mean it was over...that didn't mean the Lord of Destruction was defeated...the next part of the journey was just beginning.
With Natsu's help, Mikoto limped over to the old wooden door. She took the key and fit it into a roughly hewn lock shaped hole near the center of the door. She turned it and there was a sound of a strange echo...almost like the relieved sigh of some sleeping god. The door opened...and there was a burst of dark shadows that blasted out from door, as if the dark fog beyond the door had lain there for eons.
Mikoto shut her eyes and gripped Natsu tighter as the shadows washed over her. When the smoke cleared, the door was gone...and right in front of the bare rock where the door used to be was a large chest. The key in Mikoto's hand dissapeared with a shimmer as the chest opened on it's own.
"Wh-what's in it..?" said Mikoto weakly. "I can't see..my vision's going out again.."
Natsu set Mikoto so she was sitting against the wall of the chamber. "Hey, there wouldn't be some sort of way we could generate electricity for her to eat would there?"
"I'm on it.." said Mikaris kneeling next to Mikoto and generating some sparks from her fingers.
As Mikaris tended to Mikoto, Lucy walked over to the chest and looked at the contents. Sitting on an old moth eaten cushion in the center of the chest, was a black obsidian key with a bright red jewel in the center of the key. The intricate silver designs on the key looked like sinister vines, dripping around the spike-like teeth of the key like demon's blood.
"What is this?" Lucy murmured as she picked the key up.
"That is The Key of Zeref."
Lucy squealed and almost dropped the key as she looked and suddenly saw that there was somebody standing right next to her.
The man was bald and ancient looking with a wispy white beard on his chin. He wore a black kimono and had a sheathed sword at his side.
"I have been waiting a long time for this day." said the man smiling. "How unfortunate that this day should come though, as this world falls to Dravis..."
"Who are you?" asked Elli as the others looked at the man with curiosity and amazement.
"I am Riku Hitsugo...." said the man. "Formerly 3rd seat Riku Hitsugo of squad 13...until my master gave me something more important to do...to watch over these two gates until the girl of prophecy found the key to begin the salvation of the multiverse.
Riku took the key gently from Lucy's hand and walked over to Mikoto. He waved a hand, and the key attatched itself gently to the chain around Mikoto's neck.
"This key will open a legendary gate known as the Gate of Entry that lurks within the land known as Fiore in Earthland." said Riku. "Once this key unlocks the Gate of Entry...the three gates of the dragons will activate...The Gate of Igneel, The Gate of Phasmaticana, And the Gate of Thundaarix. And only after you pass through those three gates, will the way to the piece of Dravis's heart finally reveal itself..the one thing that can destroy that monster..."
"Dang..." said Natsu. "You look COOOL!! Where can I get a kimono like that!?"
Everyone just stared at Natsu.
"You are...odd." said Riku.
"He get's that a lot." Mikoto muttered.
Suddenly Riku's eyes widened. He drew his sword and turned to face the entrance of the chamber. "He's here..."
"He?" said Lucy looking where the old man was staring so seriously.
Mikoto however, didn't need to look to know who the old man was talking about...she had felt this magic energy before, this vast amount of magic power...and darkness surpassed only by Dravis himself and rivaled only by Zeref.
Diablo Etwatia came through the entrance of the cavern, leaving molten magma wherever he trodded. His black armor seemed to merge with the darkness of the cave as his silver Hydra Head insignia glowed with hate.
"It seems I was too late." said Diablo. "You have managed to seal the Senkaimon, the only direct gateway for Dravis to get to the world of the Afterlife."
"You!!" said Natsu furiously as fire began to eminate from his body. "You better be ready for a world of hurt Ditto!!"
"It's Diablo." Happy corrected.
"WHAA!? But I thought Diablo was a Pokemon!"
"No Natsu, Ditto is a Pokemon!"
Riku suddenly stepped in front of Natsu, blocking his way. "Go! You all are no match for him, especially in the battle ragged states you are now!"
"No.." said Mikoto getting up, her body crackling with electricity. "We can't just leave you here!!"
Diablo pointed a finger at Riku. "Dark Emblem of The Damned." An infusion of molten magma and dark energy blasted out at Riku as he raised his sword in front of himself.
"Devour The Night...Yoruita.." Riku's blade suddenly turned the color of a dark midnight blue as the hilt grew out black curved spire like spikes all along it's edges.1
The blast was sucked into Riku's blade like a vacuum.
"Death magic...any sort of darkness." said Riku with a dark smile. "Yoruita always had an appetite for these things....I guess she's just always hungry when it comes to facing any sort of darkness.
"Filthy Soul Reaper." said Diablo. "This will be your last stand. And I will kill the Railgun and her friends once you are dead!!"
"So you think!" said Riku. The old man waved his hand and immediately a large stone trap door opened up under everyone else, causing Mikoto and her friends to tumble into the tunnel screaming as the trap door closed. Behind Diablo, the entrance to the cave shut with a rough slam.
"You mean to hold me here.." said Diablo. "Pitiful, you merely quicken your own death!"
"And who says I expect to survive?" said Riku.
Mikoto was getting tired of being knocked out. She had the feeling that blacking out was not a sign that your health was improving, and more like your head was saying 'hey there Mikoto! I think I might be losing a couple of brain cells! Don't hit me so hard okay?'3
Anyways, when she came to, Natsu's foot was in her face, Lucy's face was in her foot, and Mikaris was sitting on her broken leg, which did not feel nice.
"Hey!" a familiar voice was saying. "You guys!! Are you alright?"
With a little grumbling and moaning, the others managed to get out of the dog pile.
"Stiyl?" groaned Lucy.
"In the flesh." said the red haired priest as he smoked his cigar. On his shoulder, he was carrying what appeared to be his unconscious Edolas counterpart, Stiyl Regulus. "You're in the refueling facility of Mt. Kurairyu...I have to say, you sure have a way of getting here though...I mean..falling through the cieling?"
Mikoto looked around. From what she could see, they were in a less dark part of the cave. Flourescent lights hung from the rocky cieling and what seemed to be large metal tankers were fused to the rocky walls. Crowds and crowds of people were all around the interior of the caves, Psychic City soldiers were walking around trying to keep order as voices wondered what had become of the city outside.
"Sad ain't it?" said Stiyl. "As far as I can tell, every one of our buds made it..I don't know about the city residents though..."
"Dravis?" said Mikoto. "What about him?"
"He's dissapeared. shouted about some sort of gate being closed." said Stiyl. "Then he dissapeared back through that spatial rift which closed itself up. His army's still here though. And not just in Psychic City. There are thousands of them pouring out from nowhere all over the base of the mountain. Whether that old dragon is here personally or not...the invasion of this world has only just begun."
"Then it's war." said Mikaris. "The killing...it's going to begin all over again."
"We'll help-" Mikoto began.
"No." said Mikaris with a sad smile. "You have to go home now...that key you got...it wouldn't do to let your destiny sit idle..."
Mikoto tried to argue with Mikaris, to tell her that she couldn't just abandon this world to a fate of war. But before she could utter a single word, Mikaris hugged her tightly.
"Thank you...so much....if it wasn't for you, I would've remained in that darkness that Psychic City created for me. I won't ever forget you or Fairy Tail...But you have to go now...staying here won't help us. You have to go back and destroy Dravis...only then will wars both here and everywhere finally end."
Mikoto stuttered for a bit, tears travelled down her cheeks. "I-I can't just leave you..alone.."
"She isn't alone.." Erza Knightwalker walked over, there were bandages covering her chest, and she was being followed by Wendy who was fussing over Edo-Erza anxiously about how she shouldn't be walking.
Mikaris cried out with joy and hugged Knightwalker. "MOTHER!!"
Knight walker hugged Mikaris back as tears of joy also poured down her face. "My child...I am glad to see you..."
"..." Mikoto paused for a minute, a small sad smile on her face. It was little moments like these that gave her the courage to keep going. "Come on guys...let's go home."
No response.
"Guys?" Mikoto looked around to find that all of time seemed to have stopped. Everything was frozen and gray looking.
"You have come far, Mikoto Misaka."
Mikoto whirled around to find a young man walking towards her. He had black hair as well as black and white robes. His irises were red and a tremendous amount of magic energy could be felt coming from him.
"Zeref." said Mikoto.
Zeref nodded in confirmation. "Do not fear...I am not here to fight."
"Then what are you here for?" Mikoto asked cautiously.
"Who knows?" said Zeref. "Perhaps...it is watching tearful reunions on the brink of war...that sometimes make me feel better despite the bloodshed that is about to take place. Or perhaps I am here because I know you and I will eventually have to decide who holds the true victory....light...or darkness."
Zeref looked into Mikoto's eyes, a strange light seemed to come from those depressed and saddened red eyes. "I will be waiting for you at the Gate of Entry. Hydra Head has ordered me to kill you should you reach that gate...I cannot disobey the ones who ressurrected me in such a manner. Be ready Railgun...or these wars will have no end."
There was a sound like rushing water, and Zeref dissapated, the world around Mikoto resumed...as if time had never stopped.
"Mikoto?" said Lucy. "Are you alright? You seem pale."
There was a pause..
"I'm fine." said Mikoto. "Let's go home..."
Since there's only the last chapter and Epilogue next, here are some of the new Hydra Head members scheduled to appear in the next book.
1. Zeref (Ressurected to replace Aqualas)
5. Argentumias Metalis
32. Morpheus Suuripu
48. Slither
49. Plasmoid
50. Ghost Slumberer.
20. Jackal (Formerly of Tartarus) (Replacement for Night Reveler) (New leader of Skill Out)
27. Erigor (formerly of Eisenwald)
Temporary member: Kieth (Formerly of Tartarus).