Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Tenrou Island.
December 15, x784.
Due to his training with Alfonzo, Elicia, and the others, Natsu's fight with Zancrow was a much more one-sided affair than even Natsu expected. With his heightened physical strength and battle instincts, everything Zancrow threw at him was easily countered or evaded.
"Damn you!" Zancrow shouted as he threw a punch from a distance that extended into a stream of black flames.
Avoiding the flames with minimal movement, Natsu felt the scorching feeling on his skin, though it did not succeed in slowing him down as he ran alongside the black flames, while using his own flames as a booster.
"[Fire Dragon's Sword Horn]." Natsu chanted as his entire body was lit ablaze.
Seeing the flames covering Natsu's body as his speed increased even further, Zancrow smiled maliciously as he prepared to devour Natsu's flames to empower himself.
Unfortunately, Natsu never forgot the fact that Zancrow could eat his flames. So, when he was close enough, Natsu dispelled his [Sword Horn]. Though, he did not lose the increased speed the spell provided.
"What?" Zancrow exclaimed in confusion.
*Bang!*
A moment later, Natsu, while running at high speed, slammed his head into Zancrow's abdomen. As a result, Natsu found himself a bit disoriented, as the magic power that would have been covering his body and softening the impact was gone. Meanwhile, Zancrow, who felt as if he had been hit by a runaway train, was sent flying once again.
"Go, Natsu!" Happy cheered excitedly while dancing happily. "Show that guy who's boss. Kick his butt!"
"Yeah…" Natsu replied, sounding slightly woozy.
By now, Natsu's battle with Zancrow had been going on for nearly half an hour. While Natsu had taken little damage, he was feeling his limit approaching.
And the issue was simple. Natsu, who had cast many spells and cancelled them to keep Zancrow from devouring his flames, had spent quite a large amount of his magic power. And the reason was simple, he was not regulating his magic power usage. So, he was starting to run low.
Zancrow, on the other hand, was covered in cuts and bruises, with several broken bones. But his magic power reserves were in good shape.
"How is this guy still standing?" Natsu asked himself as he watched Zancrow stand up once again. "It's like he doesn't even feel the pain. But this can't go on much longer, I'm almost out of magic power. And because I can't devour his flames, I can't recharge it. I guess I'll have to put everything into this last attack."
With that, Natsu once again charged towards Zancrow. Who was expecting him to do so.
"[Fire God's Scythe]." Zancrow chanted as he conjured a scythe made of black flames.
Then, as soon as Natsu was in range, Zancrow swept his scythe, intending to bisect Natsu as the waist. However, Natsu, with his quick reflexes, was able to duck under the slash. Then, before Zancrow could recover his weapon, Natsu was once again covered in flames.
"[Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist]." Natsu chanted as he began another punch barrage.
Like he had done throughout this fight, Natsu cancelled the flames covering his fists just as they landed on Zancrow's body. Although this lowered the potential damage the attacks could cause, it was the only thing Natsu could do against a foe like this one.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
As the punches landed on Zancrow's head, shoulders, and torso, Natsu could feel his magic power dwindling to dangerously low levels. Still, he had no intension of stopping. Then when he felt as though he only had one punch left in him, Natsu threw the strongest uppercut he could muster, landing it on Zancrow's chin, and sending him up into the sky.
"*Pant* *Pant* Let's see you get back up *Pant* from that." Natsu said as he supported himself with his hands on his knees.
*Bang!*
A moment later, Zancrow fell to the ground in front of Natsu. While his body was even more battered, he showed no signs of movement.
"Yeah, Natsu!" Happy cheered happily as he flew over to his best friend. "You did it."
"*Pant* Yeah, I guess I did." Natsu replied weakly with a smile.
"Yes, you did." Zancrow muttered from the ground in front of Natsu. "You certainly did. You managed to piss me off!"
With that, Zancrow finally began to stir. And with Natsu's lack of magic power, there was, unfortunately, nothing he could do about it.
Eventually, Zancrow managed to climb to his feet under the disbelieving gazes of Natsu and Happy. Then, very slowly, and with great pain, Zancrow spread his arms and legs while wearing a psychotic smile.
"[Fire God's Kagutsuchi]." Zancrow chanted in a manic tone.
Reacting quickly, Natsu pushed Happy away with all his might. As a result, Happy was sent flying quite a distance.
"Natsu! No~~~~~~!" happy shouted, despair evident in his tone.
In the next instant, with Zancrow as the center, a dome of black flames extended outwards, engulfing not only Natsu, who was not far away from him, but a number of trees and rocks, as well.
"Argh~~~~~~!" Natsu screamed in pain as he did not have the strength to evade at the moment.
"Hahahahahah! That's right, burn to ashes!" Zancrow shouted manically. "Hahahahahahahahaha!"
A moment later, however, Zancrow's laughter came to an abrupt stop.
"No, how is this possible?" Zancrow muttered. "He shouldn't be able to do that."
The thing that had Zancrow so confused was the fact that He could feel his flames being devoured. Naturally, Natsu was the one devouring them. And just as Zancrow said, under normal circumstances, Natsu should not be able to devour his flames. And that's because a dragon's flames were inferior to those of a god.
But that did not mean that the feat was impossible.
"I think I get it now." Natsu muttered as he continued devouring Zancrow's flames. "The magic power in your flames was in conflict with my own flames. But now that I'm out of magic power, there's no conflict, and I can eat your flames with no problem."
"No, this can't be happening!" Zancrow shouted as he started distancing himself from the pink-haired Dragon Slayer.
"And now, let me show you what I can do with two types of flames inside of me." Natsu said as he spread his arms once all the black flames had been devoured.
Then, Natsu's left hand was engulfed in black flames while his right hand was engulfed in his normal flames. A moment later, he leapt into the air.
"Dragon and divine flames become one!" Natsu shouted as he brought his hands together. "[Dragon God's Brilliant Flame]!"
In the next instant, the two flames combined and exploded towards Zancrow, who for his part, could only laugh hysterically at the absurdness of the situation before he was completely engulfed in the explosion. And thanks to the fact that his own flames were part of this explosion, his fire immunity was rendered useless.
A few moments later, the dust from the explosion was cleared by a breeze. Meanwhile, Natsu approached the area where Zancrow stood before he launched that last attack. At the same time, Happy flew back to Natsu, as well.
"Natsu, are you okay?" Happy asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah, I'm great." Natsu replied energetically. "Who knew there was a little trick like that to eating certain kinds of fire."
'You just ate fire that you shouldn't have been able to eat.' Happy thought to himself while he and Natsu continued to approach the spot where Zancrow was. 'And you call it a little trick. Natsu, you dummy, you could have died.'
A moment later, Natsu and Happy reached the spot where Zancrow should have been. However, when they arrived, the area was completely empty.
"Huh? Where is he?" Natsu asked in a confused tone whle looking left and right. "He should have been right here, right?"
"Maybe he got blown away by the explosion." Happy suggested.
"I don't think so, Little Buddy." Natsu replied while sniffing the air. "I don't smell him… anywhere."
"Does that mean he's… dead?" Happy asked in trepidation.
"Maybe?" Natsu replied while scratching his head. "I think adding those black flames to my spell might have been too much for him to handle."
In fact, Natsu was correct. Thanks to the fact that he was much stronger than his canon counterpart, plus the addition of the [Fire God Slayer Magic], Zancrow was incinerated by Natsu's last spell.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Open Seas.
Meanwhile, Lahar and Doranbolt continued watching the ongoing battle on Tenrou Island through their binoculars from the Magic Council Fleet's flag ship.
"I doubt this was the outcome anyone expected." Lahar said after seeing the explosion from Natsu's attack die down. "To think that Fairy Tail has grown so much that they can, so one-sidedly, defeat Grimoire Heart."
"Yeah, I don't think the members of the Council will be happy to hear this outcome." Doranbolt replied. "Especially since we were supposed to swoop in and clean up Grimoire Heart after Fairy Tail was destroyed."
"Those orders still don't seem right to me." Lahar muttered quietly. "Wouldn't it be more efficient for us to join forces with Fairy Tail to get rid of Grimoire Heart. After all, it's our duty to eliminate such dangerous Dark Guilds."
In response, Doranbolt remained silent while watching Wendy, Carla, and panther Lily deal with the low-ranking members of Grimoire Heart who attacked them.
"We don't need to think about our orders." Doranbolt said, though Lahar could tell that he felt a bit uncomfortable while he spoke. "We only need to follow them. That's what being a soldier of the Magic Council means."
"I am aware." Lahar replied. "I've been doing this job long enough to understand that."
Even though Lahar replied in an even tone, he still glanced at Doranbolt, who's tone, as well as his expression, showed that he was uncomfortable with what was going on.
'Why does this bother me so much?' Doranbolt thought to himself. 'Is it because of the kindness those girls from Fairy Tail showed me during the exam? No, impossible. I know what kind of ruffians they are. And the destruction Fairy Tail has brought to the continent cannot be forgiven or written off so easily. But… Then why do I feel like this?'
Before he could ponder his feelings any further, however, Doranbolt's eyes widened in surprise when he saw a huge, massively overweight man wearing a dark blue cloak approaching the little girl and the two cats.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Tenrou Island.
"Well, it looks like we've taken care of all of them." Panther Lily said as he shrunk down to his normal form. "For such a terrifying Dark Guild, they weren't very strong, were they?"
"Not every member of the guild should be super strong though, right?" Wendy asked as Carla set her down on the sand.
"You're right, Wendy." Carla replied with a nod. "Still, we don't know if there are any more of these guys. So, we should be careful while we go back to the camp."
"Yeah." Wendy replied with a nod.
A moment later, Wendy turned her head in a certain direction while her expression turned serious.
"What's wrong, Wendy?" Carla asked while looking in the same direction as Wendy.
Panther Lily also followed suit. And when they saw what caught Wendy's attention, both Exceed were flabbergasted.
At the end of the three's line of sight was a huge, morbidly obese man with chalk-white skin, and shaggy black hair. This man also had arms and legs that seemed too short for his extremely tall height. Though, that may have just been an optical illusion caused by how fat he was. On top of that, he wore a dark blue cloak with light yellow dots near the top, two belts that formed an x over his bare chest, a pair of, what appeared to be, professional wrestling trunks on his lower body, and a pair of short boots on his feet.
And although the image of such a man was quite off-putting. The fact that he was looking at Carla and Panther Lily as if he wanted them to be his next meal was more than the trio could handle.
"Who are you?" Wendy asked while taking her fighting stance once again.
With that, Carla once again clung to Wendy's back while extending her wigs with her [Aera Magic], while Panther Lily grew to his Battle Form, as well. Though, Panther Lily could tell that he would not be able to maintain this form for much longer after the fight from before.
"I'm… I'm… I'm… Woo-Wee! I'm Kain Hikaru of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. And I'm here to kill all the members of Fary Tail. But those two cats look really yummy." Kain said, speaking so quickly that after he started with a stutter, no one could understand what he said.
"Huh?" Wendy exclaimed in confusion. "I'm sorry… But do you think you could speak a little slower?"
"Oh… Um… Sorry." Kain replied, sounding quite nervous. "I said… My name is… Kain Hikaru… of the Seven---"
"Boom!"
"Ahh~~~~~~~!" Panther Lily screamed in fear.
Before Kain could finish reintroducing himself, a bolt of yellow lighting fell from the sky and landed on the overweight man. At the same time, Panther Lily's terror filled scream was drowned out by the thunderclap.
A moment later, the yellow bolt of lightning turned into Laxus, who was now standing on top of the unconscious body of Kain.
"Well, that was disappointing. For such a big guy, he sure went down easy." Laxus said while looking down at Kain disdainfully. Then, he turned his attention towards Wendy, Carla, and Panther Lily. "You okay, Squirt? And why does that cat look so scared?"
"I-I'm not scared." Panther Lily replied indignantly.
"Yeah, we're okay." Wendy replied. "Thanks for helping us."
"Don't mention it." Laxus replied with a shrug. "That's what guild mates do. Anyway, I'll escort you three to the camp. But you two…"
When Laxus got to that point, he pointed at Carla and Panther Lily.
"You're not supposed to be here." Laxus continued. "So, don't be surprised if Ur decides to punish you a little when we get there."
*Gulp!* x 2
Hearing that, Carla and Panther Lily gulped their saliva audibly. Then, they both extended their wings. Before they could fly away and start heading back to the mainland, Laxus transformed into a bolt of yellow lightning, appeared behind them, and grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks.
"Trust me, accepting your punishments now is much better than waiting until we get back to the guild." Laxus said while walking in front of Wendy. "Anyway, Squirt, you should grab on. I'll get us to the camp in a flash."
Following Laxus instructions, Wendy grabbed onto Laxus. Then, using his [Lightning Magic] to increase his speed without taking on his [Lightning Form], Laxus rushed towards the camp with the trio.