Chapter 32: Dante vs Laxus!
Dante burst through the front doors of the Magnolia Cathedral; anger was clearly on his face. He was angry because his once best friend Laxus had gone off the deep end. Laxus was holding the entire town hostage thanks to his Thunder Palace spell, forcing Fairy Tail to participate in his sick game. This sick game was forcing the members of Fairy Tail to turn against one another, and what was this all for? It was all because Laxus wanted Markov to give control of the guild over to him, Laxus had a messed-up view that might made right no matter what.
"Laxus! Stop this right now or else" yelled Dante as he burst through the front doors and saw Laxus sitting further up the long cathedral. Laxus laughed as he stood up and spoke.
"Stop?! Why would I do that?! This is just getting good. Aren't you curious who is the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail? Sure, Erza might be strong, but she can't really hang with the two of us. It's me or you, who is it" asked Laxus while his magic was crackling around him. Dante thought Laxus was crazy, he wasn't backing down and his statement revealed his arrogance. Was he really ruling out Erza in a consideration on who was the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail, and what about Mystogan? Hell even without considering Erza or Mystogan, Gildarts far supposed everyone in the guild expect for Markov.
"Laxus if you don't stand down, I won't hold back" stated Dante with conviction in his voice. He hoped that this final plea would get through to Laxus, Dante really didn't want to have to fight Laxus in an all-out fight. Laxus summoning even more of his magic while dropping into a combat stance was Dante's answer.
"Haha, you won't hold back?! Don't make me laugh! I'm going to crush you" stated Laxus as he charged forward at blinding speeds towards Dante. Dante spread his wings wide and just narrowly dodged Laxus's forward charge.
"Damn he's fast" stated Dante to himself as Laxus launched a charged lightning bolt towards him. At this close distance, Dante could do nothing but brace himself and took the hit. Pain coursed through his body as he was shot full of lighting. Despite being shot with lightning, Dante flew some distance away from Laxus in order to regroup and then he launched his own attack.
"Heaven's ray" yelled Dante as he shot his own attack straight at Laxus.
A beam of holy energy flew towards Laxus who simply laughed as his lighting magic allowed him to easily dodge the attack. Laxus zipped around in the air and appeared just behind Dante before he crashed a lightning charged fist into his chest. Dante again found he could not react fast enough and could only bring his arms up to block the hit instead of taking a direct hit to the chest. Lighting once again rocked his body as Laxus's lighting charged fist connected with his arm, sending him crashing into the ground. As Dante struggled to get back to his feet, he saw Laxus standing some distance away from the small crater in the ground, laughing.
"Haha is that all you have?! You call yourself an S-class wizard, what a joke" stated Laxus as he laughed at Dante's pain. Dante grit his teeth at these words, Laxus should know better than to gloat. Dante had after all become an S-class wizard the same time as Laxus did, the two of them fought each other to a draw all those years ago.
"Don't underestimate me" yelled Dante as he tried to gather himself after taking painful hits. The truth was Dante knew that Laxus outclassed him in the speed department. With his current reminder of magical power, Dante would not be able to keep up with Laxus's speed. Despite this, Dante knew he could not give up, he may not be able to match Laxus's speed, but his magical power was still just as powerful. He would have to outsmart Laxus.
Dante then spread his wings and flew at Laxus at top speed while charging his fist in holy energy. He wasn't surprised when Laxus used his magic to zip across the air again. This was what Dante was counting on when Laxus once again zipped right behind Dante. Moving quickly, Dante turned around just before Laxus appeared behind him. The smile on Laxus's face disappeared when he realized Dante's plan.
"Heaven's fist" yelled Dante as he punched Laxus in the jaw. Laxus grunted in pain as Dante's fist charged with holy energy connected and sent him flying backwards, crashing into the ground. Dante knew he needed to keep the pressure on before Laxus got back to his feet.
"Storm of Heaven" yelled Dante as multiple holy beams of energy shot out of his body and straight towards Laxus. With this many attacks at once, even Laxus would be hard pressed to dodge them all. The ground tore apart as the beams of holy energy crashed into the ground. Laxus grunted in pain as he was hit with multiple beams before he was able to dodge the rest, he landed some distance away while he breathed heavily. With a look of anger at Dante, Laxus summoned even more of his magical energy before speaking.
"Okay now I'm angry" yelled Laxus as he charged up a massive amount of his magical energy. Dante swore as he summoned his own magical energy in order to counter, he think he had a good idea of what was coming next.
"Lighting Dragon Roar" yelled Laxus as he used one of his most powerful attacks. A huge burst of lighting magic was sent straight at Dante with blinding speed. The attack was too quick and covered to wide an area for Dante to hope to dodge it, so he raised his hands outwards before using his own magical power.
"Heaven's Shield" yelled Dante as a shield of holy energy was brought into existence in front of him, just in time to block the incoming attack. Dante felt the immediate drop in his magical energy as his shield block Laxus's Lighting Dragon Roar. Dante dropped his hands to his sides, breathing heavily from his exhaustion after blocking such a strong attack. With how exhausted Dante was, Laxus was able to easily close the distance between them and land a powerful punch straight to his gut. Dante went flying backwards and crashing into a nearby wall.
"Haha, I knew you would block that attack. That must have really drained you huh?! What's wrong is that all you can do" yelled Laxus mocking Dante who was having trouble moving his body. Dante was struggling to move as he tried to stand before dropping back to his knees, his entire body was screaming in pain, and he was struggling to stay awake due to how much magical power he had used.
"Damn it, I'm fading fast" stated Dante to himself as he tried to think how he could get out of this mess. Just as Dante was thinking how he could still win, a newcomer to the fight made himself known.
"So, you showed up to Mystogan" stated Laxus with an arrogant smile. Seeing Mystogan made Dante hopeful, he may not have seen Mystogan in person, but he was an S-class wizard and was glad to have help.
"Damn Mystogan am I sure glad to see you" stated Dante as Mystogan stood next to Dante while he was still breathing heavily on his knees. Dante tried once again to rise to his feet, but Mystogan placed a hand on his shoulders before he spoke.
"Don't trouble yourself Dante, I can deal with Laxus" stated Mystogan with confidence in his voice. Dante was skeptical if Mystogan could do this on his own, he thought he should at least back him up. Laxus laughed at these words as Mystogan walked forwards.
"Haha don't make me laugh Mystogan, you don't stand a chance" stated Laxus with an arrogant smile. Dante at last shakily rose to his feet, thinking the same thing as Laxus.
"Mystogan he's right. Laxus is too strong to take on alone, but we can handle him if we fight together" stated Dante in a weak tone, his body was still screaming in pain and his magic power was running on low.
"No, you can barely stand. I got this; you just focus on gathering power" responded Mystogan.
Dante wondered what Mystogan meant by gathering power before a magical circle appeared at his feet. The magical circle enveloped Dante in a glowing light and he immediately began to feel his magical power slowly return. With a realization, Dante concluded that Mystogan must have set a rejuvenation spell of some sort for his benefit. As long as he stayed within the magical circle, his strength would slowly return to him. He decided to leave it to Mystogan for now so he could recover his own magical power.
"Fine but you better be careful" stated Dante as Mystogan nodded his head in acknowledgement. Dante couldn't do much more than stay within the magical circle and watch Mystogan and Laxus fight. He felt his magical power slowly return as the two of them traded blows. For a moment it seemed that Mystogan was going to win but a decisive attack from Laxus shattered that reality. This decisive attack forced Mystogan's head cover to be undone. Dante's gasp of surprise mirrored Erza's who was standing behind Dante, she had just made it to the cathedral. To both Dante and Erza's shock, Mystogan looked exactly like Jellal.
"Jellal" asked Erza in shock. Dante was floored and didn't understand what was going on. He was sure that Jellal was dead after the Tower of Heaven. Mystogan looked at Dante and Erza with a sad look before he spoke.
"I'm sorry you had to see me like this, but I assure you I am not Jellal. I have to go, I'm sorry" responded Mystogan before he disappeared in a flash of magic. Looking further back, Dante noticed that Natsu was also standing at the doorway, a look of shock on his face.
"Haha and he was supposed to be S-class what a joke" yelled Laxus before he laughed. The magical circle allowing Dante to recover his strength had disappeared when Mystogan did. Dante felt about half his magical energy return, it was something, but he needed more than that.
"Erza, Natsu we need to beat Laxus no matter what. Back me up" stated Dante as he stepped forward.
"No, you are in no condition to fight" stated Erza as Dante turned his head towards her to argue.
"That doesn't matter, it's going to take all of us to beat him" responded Dante.
"That's not the only pressing matter Dante. The Thunder Palace is about to go off in just a few minutes. We need to take care of it" responded Erza. Dante swore as he saw Erza's reasoning. It was true, the Thunder Palace had to be dealt with now. He knew that the Thunder Palace had to be destroyed but it had body link magic, it was going to hurt like a bitch to destroy the Thunder Palace. Thinking about this, Dante concluded that only he and Erza had the stamina to attempt such a dangerous maneuver.
"Damn it your right. Natsu we'll leave it to you" stated Dante as Natsu smiled, eager to fight Laxus. Dante regretted leaving it all to Natsu but at this point he was the best bet to beat Laxus. Natsu might not be as strong as Erza or Dante, but he was the only one of the three of them that wasn't beat up or at half strength.
"You got it Dante! Just leave it to me, I'm all fired up" stated Natsu eager to start fighting. Dante and Erza shared a look before they raced out of the cathedral.
Dante and Erza now standing outside needed to destroy the Thunder Palace and time was quickly running out. Erza started to summon all the swords she could, but it was a struggle to try and destroy all three hundred Thunder Lacrima at once. Dante swore trying to think how Erza and he would be able to destroy every single lacrima at the same time. Just as Dante was thinking of a solution, he heard Warren's voice in his head. After hearing the guild argue back and forth in his head, a speech from Gray seemed to get everyone on the right track. The entire guild would cover one hundred lacrima while Erza dealt with two hundred.
"Okay everyone on my signal" stated Dante talking through Warren's mental connection. Everyone in the guild readied their attacks while Dante readied his own spell. He wasn't going to attack any lacrima, he was going to do something else. Erza noticing what spell Dante was using spoke out against it.
"Dante you're not going to use that spell, are you?! You can't" stated Erza with worry in her voice. Dante chuckled, touched by Erza's concern before he responded.
"Haha don't worry Erza; I'm not going to direct the spell towards you. I'm not an idiot and think I can take the full blast of three hundred lacrima. I'll leave the two hundred to you, sorry I couldn't save you from the pain" responded Erza. Erza hating having to resort to such a spell, nodded her head before she readied to attack on Dante's signal.
"Now" yelled Dante just before he activated his own spell. Dante mentally apologized to Mira, she would know almost instantly what Dante did and would worry because of him. Mira hated this spell and Dante really couldn't blame her, but he had no choice.
"Guardian Angel" yelled Dante as his spell took effect. A shining light enveloped Dante and all across Magnolia, every member of Fairy Tail attacking the Lacrima expect for Erza was enveloped in the same light.
"W-wait this light! Dante no you can't" stated Mira out loud in worry as she noticed the light envelope her body after she launched her attack. Looking around in panic, Mira noticed the others with her also enveloped in the same light.
Dante stood still as he waited for the pain to come. The Guardian Angel spell was one of his most useful in his opinion although his guildmates hated it. The spell only worked with people Dante had a strong connection with, so anyone in Fairy Tail fit the bill. Once this spell was active, any target of the spell would not take any damage. Instead, all damage the target of the spell would have taken would instead be magically redirected to the caster of the spell. Dante was going to ensure that no one other than Erza and him took the full assault. His only regret was that he wasn't strong enough to shield Erza as well.
"AHHHHH" screamed both Erza and Dante in pain as the lighting magic coursed through their bodies. As Dante felt himself fading, he once again apologized to Mira and everyone else he just shielded. While he may have shield everyone from the pain, Mira and the others would worry for his sake. Dante and Erza crashed into the ground, both fading fast.
"Dante! DANTE! ARE YOU OKAY" Dante heard Mira yell at him through Warren's mental connection. Just before Dante lost consciousness, he weakly responded to Mira to assure her and the others.
"Y-yah doing just fine. I saw you beat Freed, good job Mira. I'm glad to see you regain your fighting spirit" Dante replied trying to assure Mira he was fine by changing the subject. He could hear Mira and the other's sigh with relief at his assurance he was still breathing.
"The rest is up to you Natsu" stated Dante out loud before he fell unconsciousness.
End of Chapter 32