Magma Dragon King Chapter 52 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Magma Dragon King! Brain has found Nirvana! A towering black light rises up from the Worth Woodsea as the ancient Magic is unleashed! Has Oración Seis won? Or will Brain be overwhelmed by the forces of the Allied Mages, even with Nirvana? Only one ‘prayer’ remains…and according to Brain that one will appear if all six prayers fall. How will the Legal Mages deal with the awakening of Nirvana?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 52 – Awakening and Drive

RMMMBBBBLLLLEEE

The earth shook as the tower of black light grew larger over the Worth Woodsea. Trees swayed and cracked, some falling to the forest floor, their crashing drowned out by the loud shaking of the land.

BOOOOOOOOOMMM

The ground erupted upwards as something massive emerged from beneath the forest. Lines of dust and debris spread out from the towering black light. From the dust and soil, eight massive tentacle-like structures emerged and rose up, their three-clawed ends shattering the ground from the weight and force.

“Whoa!” Happy veered away as the massive cloud of dust and debris filled the air, large chunks of dirt, stone, and even some large trees having been heaved high into the air from the uprising of the immense thing that was pulling itself from below ground.

“We can’t get close!” Carla warned as she flew Wendy clear of the falling debris.

Erza saw the stone limbs and could only make a single guess as to what they were seeing. “Is that…Nirvana?!”

“I thought Nirvana was a type of Magic?!” Wendy looked at the titanic thing that was still mostly obscured by the clouds of dust rising over the forest.

“Erza!” Mira called out as she and Lisanna flew towards them. “What the fuck is that?!”

Lisanna flapped her wings twice to slow her flight and then maintain her altitude with the others. “Is that thing supposed to be Nirvana?”

Erza and Wendy didn’t know for sure, but it was their best guess. “We think so.”

Mira looked at the insanely large creation. “It’s the size of a city…how is that Magic?”

-On the Ground-

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Natsu yelled in shock at what had just uprooted a section of the Worth Woodsea.

“Is that a city?!” Cana was nearly gaping at the thing right beside Natsu.

Indeed, the true form of the ancient Magic: Nirvana, was a massive city constructed entirely out of stone, looking as though the ancient peoples had taken an entire mountain and then turned it into a city, building everything from one massive piece so that it was all connected. Stone spires that were once narrow peaks had been made into towers, mountain ridges had been turned into buildings, walls, roads, and bridges…it was a truly impressive undertaking that had probably taken many, many years, if not decades, to complete.

“How’re we supposed to stop something so massive?” Ren questioned as they were all craning their necks to look up at Nirvana.

Hibiki quickly activated his Archive Magic and started typing rapidly, looking through all of the information that he could find that even briefly mentioned Nirvana. “Come on, come on, there has to be something…” He was going down a rabbit hole now, they needed something to tell them how to handle this before the worst happened!

Eve grimaced and rubbed his neck from the strain of craning his neck so much. “I didn’t think Nirvana was going to be anything like this.” The blonde teen looked at the group. “I’m with Ren on this one. How can we stop this thing?”

“Perhaps if we still had Christina…?” Ichiya didn’t want to dwell on ‘what ifs’, but the Magic Heavy Bomber would’ve at least had a chance to compete against the colossal structure that Nirvana had turned out to be.

Jura’s face was stern as he looked at the ancient Magic before them. “Our mission is to prevent the Oración Seis from gaining control of Nirvana. We need only to defeat Brain and this will be over.” He wanted to reassure the younger Mages that they could still handle this situation, even though the unsealing of the ancient Magic had happened.

CRACK

One of the long, tentacle-like legs broke off from the base of the city. The immense stone structure crashed into the ground and briefly made the land shake from the impact.

CRACK

A second leg, on the opposite side of the ancient city, shattered as well when it tried to move. The tremor was still felt by everyone, even if only faintly, depending on their distance from the impact point.

The once eight legs were now down to six.

“It’s falling apart!” Ren pointed out as Nirvana steadied itself from the loss of two of its limbs.

“It has been sealed for centuries… It looks like that’s done some damage all by itself.” Eve said with a small smile on his face.

Natsu grimaced a bit. “Even if this thing falls apart on its own, we still need to find this ‘Brain’ guy and beat him down. And how are we supposed to get up there? Climb?” He pointed up at the ancient city high above them.

“That’ll take a while.” Hibiki said, briefly looking away from Archive to measure the distance by eye. “We also don’t know if it’ll try and move now that its lost two legs.”

Cana pulled out three cards from her purse. “I can handle transportation if it’s only straight up like this.” The cards glowed with her Magic before she tossed two of them. One hovered above Jura and Ichiya, while the other hovered over the Tri-Men. The last one Cana held onto before casting her spell. “Float!” The three groups were surrounded by off-white bubbles and began to float upwards at a steady pace.

“You can fly?” Natsu looked at his Mate curiously, never having seen this spell before.

“Nope. Just float upwards or slowly float downwards.” Cana grinned at Natsu. “It’s more like an elevator than flight.”

Jura nodded at the use of such a, rather simple, spell to get them to where they needed to be. “You have my thanks, Miss Alberona. With this, we can still accomplish our mission.”

“Quite the ingenious young woman.” Ichiya pointed at Cana with his ‘finger guns’ as he praised her.

-Forest-

“So… What’re we supposed to do about this?” Gray asked as he, Lyon, and Sherry all looked upwards to take in as much of Nirvana as they could see.

Sherry stared at the megalithic structure that had just emerged from the ground in stunned awe. “I can’t even hope to control so much material with my Magic. I’m not sure what we can do about this.”

“We can try climbing up there.” Lyon said with a cool tone as he analyzed the structure of Nirvana. “It stands to reason that’s where the leader of the Oración Seis is right now.”

Gray looked at the leg nearest to them…and that was still a good ways away…and then back up at the ancient city that was high above. “That’s a hell of a long climb.”

Lyon looked over at Gray. “Do you have a better idea?”

“Not really.” Gray admitted.

The three Mages quickly took off towards the leg closest to them, hoping to be able to climb up to the city before Nirvana tried to move again.

-Nirvana ~ King’s Hall-

“HAHAHAHAHA!!!” Brain laughed loudly as he overlooked the ancient city that was Nirvana from the highest point, the large tower in the center and the only building that didn’t look like it was once part of the mountain.

The magic required to make Nirvana and control it needed a finely crafted focus point, and the King’s Hall was just that for the ancient Magic. With a wave of his hand, dozens of magical screens appeared floating in a circle around the top of the tower. The throne, a large seat of finely carved stone, lit up slightly as the circle of floating screens reached it and an intricate Magic Circle appeared behind the throne. Lines and circles appeared around the Magic Circle, connection to it at the bottom as a few more screens appeared in front of the throne itself.

Brain checked the screens in front of the throne and noticed the damage that Nirvana had suffered from being awakened. “Two of the legs have been lost.” Realistically, he knew that wasn’t much damage overall. Nirvana could move with just six legs, but time had not been kind to the ancient Magic’s physical form while it had been sealed. “The six Lacrima Cores are still intact and functional. But they need time to draw in magic energy.” Brain noted that the process had already begun as Nirvana drained Magic from the land through its remaining six legs. The dozens and dozens of trees that had been turned pure black or pure white quickly returned to their normal colors as Nirvana absorbed some of its own energy back from where it had seeped out as the ancient seal had weakened. “Thankfully, even the ravages of time can be mended by Nirvana’s self-restoration ability once it has enough energy.” Brain quickly tapped a few of the screens, setting commands for Nirvana to move in a specific direction as soon as it had enough energy and was in good enough shape to travel. “Finally! It is mine! The ultimate weapon in the extinction of the light! Hyper-Reversal Magic: Nirvana!”

One of the screens turning from white to yellow got Brain’s attention, even in the middle of his nearly manic ego trip. Brain moved the screen over to himself with a wave of his hand and saw that three members of the Allied Guilds were already in the city.

“The maggots don’t know when they’re beaten.” Brain nearly scoffed before looking at the largest magical screen in front of him. “Nirvana still needs more time before it’s ready to move.” He looked in the direction that the screen showed. “I won’t have them touching what is mine.” Brain walked over to the edge of the tower and with a simple spell of his own creation, allowing him to control his body while in freefall, he stepped off the edge. In mere moments he’d dropped from the top of the tower that was the King’s Hall and landed lightly upon the ground, every aspect of the fall perfectly controlled by his Magic. “Until Nirvana is ready, I’ll clean up the last of the trash.”

-Gajeel, Juvia, and Lucy-

“Is it over now?” Lucy asked, completely rattled from being caught up in whatever had just upheaved the part of the forest that they’d been in.

“Juvia believes so.” Juvia said as she released the protective sphere of water that she’d surrounded the three of them in. It had protected them from flying debris and the thick dust that had filled the air for a time.

Gajeel looked around, his red eyes taking in the large city of stone surrounding them. “Is this supposed to be Nirvana?” He stomped his boot on the ground. “It’s just an old ruin.”

Lucy and Juvia looked at the ancient city as well, though they both imagined what it may have looked like in the distant past for a moment. After being sealed away for so long, time had degraded everything, leaving what had once been a large and bustling city no more than an empty and silent shell.

“I thought Nirvana was Magic…does this mean the entire city is Nirvana?” Lucy asked as she considered the possibility. “That would make Nirvana a type of Holder Magic, wouldn’t it?” Holder Magic, like her Celestial Spirit Magic, required a physical medium to use. This city, if it was really Nirvana, was the physical medium for the ancient Magic. “If we could figure out how to control it, maybe we could make it destroy itself?”

A swirling beam of green, red, and yellow Magic shot straight at Lucy, aiming to pierce through her chest and kill her.

With a roar, a massive wave of water sprung forth, raging rapids that sought to crush the spell aiming for Lucy’s life, as Juvia’s body became water entirely. The spell pierced through the water, but deformed from the pressure as the liquid raged around it in hundreds of different directions all at once. When the weakened spell made it through the waves, it was met with more opposition.

Clang

The spell nearly shattered on Gajeel’s transformed arm, the limb now a large iron shield.

“You reacted quickly.” Brain mocked Juvia and Gajeel for defending Lucy. “I didn’t expect you to be able to stop my Dark Capriccio.”

Lucy nearly cursed, but not at Brain. She was furious that she’d been so caught up in her thoughts in this dangerous situation that she’d nearly been killed. “Thank you, Juvia, Gajeel…”

Gajeel stepped forward his arms returning to its normal form. “We still have a score to settle.”

Brain looked down on Gajeel like the Iron Dragon Slayer was some annoying insect that he was about to crush. “You were the one that destroyed Klodoa. I suppose I should pay you back for that.” His Magic Power swelled and he was surrounded by a thick greenish-black aura that just felt…wrong, to the three Fairy Tail Mages.

“You two pay attention.” Gajeel said to Lucy and Juvia as his own Magic Power rose to match Brain’s a light green aura starting to surround his body. “You’re new, so I doubt you’ve been taught this yet, but it’s something that every Dragon Slayer should learn.” He directed his words not just at Lucy, but also Juvia. Gajeel knew that in the very near future, Juvia would be a Dragon Slayer as well, and as one of the few people that he’d admit to calling a friend, he felt like he should take at least a small part in her education.

“Die.” Brain pointed his palm at Gajeel. “Dark Capriccio!” A much more powerful beam of spiraling green, yellow, and red Magic shot at Gajeel.

“Iron Drive…” Gajeel incanted and both Lucy and Juvia’s eyes shot open in shock as Magic Power exploded off of Gajeel so fiercely that they were nearly knocked back a step. Gajeel’s skin became the Iron Dragon’s Scales as he held up his right hand as if he was about to catch the incoming spell.

Brain sneered at Gajeel’s display. “Fool, Dark Capriccio is Penetration Magic! You can’t block it so easily!”

Shiiiiinnnngggg

He was forced to eat his words when Gajeel not only caught his spell, but it was shredded into motes of light after hitting the Iron Dragon Slayer’s palm.

“You think so?” Gajeel asked with a smirk on his face. “Seems pretty easy to me!” He formed sharp iron claws on his hands and shot forward so quickly that Brain barely had time to raise a defense. “Iron Dragon’s Claws!”

“Ngh!” Brian bit out as his hastily raised arm suffered four bleeding cuts. He took a kick to the stomach while focused on his injury and went skidding backwards as Gajeel’s body continued to glow with his aura of Magic Power.

Gajeel looked at the injury on Brain’s arm and then at his claws. “You’re tougher than a regular person, you should’ve lost that arm.”

Brain nearly spat at Gajeel. “Strengthening the body with Magic is child’s play for me, fool. It’s not even really a spell, just a minor application of Magic Power control.” He jerked to the left as Gajeel lunged forward, his fist almost striking the leader of Oración Seis in the face. “Dark Gravity!” The area around Gajeel darkened before the ground cracked as gravity increased in the area. “Vanish from my sight, maggot!”

Gajeel did the opposite, and transformed his left hand into a lance. “Iron Dragon’s Lance!” The lance lengthened at blurring speed towards’ Brain’s chest.

Crack

A small barrier blocked the sharp tip of the lance, but shattered into nothing from doing so.

“How?!” Brian increased the power of his spell, shattered the rocky ground that Gajeel stood on even further. “You should be flat on the ground with this much gravity!”

“Gehee!” Gajeel grinned viciously as he walked forward through the intense gravity, the dark waves of Magic seemingly sliding around his body. “You don’t get it, smart guy?” He taunted Brain.

Brain launched a large sphere of Darkness Magic pointblank at Gajeel as he canceled his Dark Gravity spell. “Magic Amplification…a spell that lets you temporarily increase your overall power and physical attributes.”

Gajeel’s fist emerged from the sphere of Darkness Magic and slammed into Brain’s face, knocking the man to the ground. The Magic dispersed and Gajeel raised his leg, turning it into an axe blade as he brought it down on the prone Brain. The leader of Oración Seis wouldn’t go be taken out so easily, moving out of the way and holding out both hands facing Gajeel. “Dark Delete!” A dozen orbs of sickly green Magic were launched at Gajeel.

Only to break apart when they hit his glowing iron scales.

“Dragon Slayer Magic isn’t that simple.” Gajeel said while rushing at Brain. “Iron Dragon’s Sword!” His right arm transformed into a large sword which he swung at Brain’s head.

Clang

Crack

The Barrier Magic that Brain had used to block shattered instantly, but stopped the blade from hitting him. “Guh!” But it didn’t stop the thick iron chain that Gajeel was using as a tail from slamming into his side and knocking him across the empty street. “My Barrier Magic can block nearly any spell! How are your pathetic spells breaking it?!”

“You ever heard of Cold Iron?” Gajeel asked rhetorically before inhaling deeply. “Iron Dragon’s Roar! He exhaled the typhoon of blades straight at Brain. Brain’s body glowed for a second and he blurred away to the right, dodging the Roar…or so he thought. Gajeel kept the Roar going as he turned his head to follow Brain, his bladed breath shredding every stone building it hit into pebbles.

“Preposterous!” Brain roared out as he formed the massive orb of screaming spirits that he’d tried to use back when the Oración Seis had first confronted the Allied Mages. “Dark Rondo!” The sphere was unleashed straight at Gajeel, slamming into the Iron Dragon’s Roar until both spells stalemated and dispersed. “You can’t have given your Iron Magic the properties of Cold Iron! That’s a paradox!”

The former Magical Researcher wasn’t exactly wrong either. Cold Iron was a very rare substance that was known to be highly resistant to Magic, and also dispersed it to a degree. Even the Magic Council that oversaw all Legal Mages and Guilds only had so much of it, and it was usually made into an alloy for use in shackles and cell bars to prevent criminal Mages from being able to use their Magic to escape custody or imprisonment.

“Iron Dragons can.” Gajeel said with a smirk. “Takes a lot of control, but it’s possible.” It was also a massive drain on their reserves, but Gajeel wasn’t about to tell Brain that. It was why he only performed the ‘Cold Iron Shift’ (as Metalicana called it) while using Iron Drive and amplifying his Magic.

Brain nearly cracked a tooth at such ridiculous words. It practically spat in the face of all the research done on Magic and Cold Iron over decades! “Dark Capriccio!” He blasted two beams of Penetration Magic at Gajeel, one from each hand.

“Iron Dragon’s Shield Wall!” Gajeel set his stance and transformed both arms into large, thick shields and layered them between himself and the incoming spells.

NNNRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrnnnnn

The double Dark Capriccio ground against Gajeel’s spell for a moment before dispersing into nothing.

“Iron Dragon’s Shredding Sand!” The two shields deformed and fell into iron sand which instantly shot at Brain in a thin stream.

“Kuh!” Brain managed to dodge, only to see the stream of iron sand cut through the building behind him, passing through the stone in a cloud of grit without slowing down at all. The worst part for the Dark Mage was that the iron sand stream was still coming! “Damn you!” Brain fired off more green orbs of his Dark Delete spell at Gajeel, all the while staying ahead of the thin stream of sand behind him that passed through the stone walls even with barely a fraction of a second of exposure.

Gajeel smirked as he altered his iron sand spell and it exploded into a large cloud of black and silver metal particles obscured him from view. He moved to the right, making sure the spreading cloud of Iron sand blocked Brain’s view of him the whole time as he used his next spell.

Brain saw the cloud of iron sand spreading out and quickly calculated Gajeel’s next move based on how the Iron Dragon Slayer had fought so far. “Do you take me for a fool?! Dark Gravity!” He dropped his left hand down and the cloud of iron sand was smashed into the ground, cracking the stone in the process.

But Gajeel wasn’t there.

“Iron Dragon’s Razor Wire!” Gajeel swung his arms forward and from his body dozens of thin wires, each sporting thousands of tiny, sharp, cutting barbs on them, lashed out at Brain.

“Augh!” Brain howled in pain as the dozens of wires sliced through his clothing and into his skin. He jerked away, but that only got him more tangled in the wires, tightening them and cutting him more. To make matters worse, Gajeel produced throwing blades from his hands and attached them to the wires that were still connected to him. The blades were thrown at various angles, stabbing into the stone walls of buildings and the stone ground, leaving Brain tied down and immobile.

Gajeel focused his Magic Power and blitzed forward to finish off Brain. “Iron Dragon’s Crushing Hammer!” Both of his hands turned into a massive sledgehammer construct and came down on Brain like a meteor.

Brain wouldn’t let himself be beaten so easily though. “Multifold Barrier!” Seven layers of Barriers formed between Gajeel’s spell and Brain.

Crack

Crack

Crack

Crack

Crack

Crack

Crack

BAM

All seven Barrier shattered under the force of Gajeel’s spell and the sledgehammer struck Brain, crushing him into the stone ground. The rock shattered and Brain was launched through the ground, and down into the depths of Nirvana, crashing through the first subterranean floor and then the second.

Lucy and Juvia couldn’t see what had happened through all of the thick dust in the air for several seconds. But when it thinned, they saw Gajeel pulling his massive hammer construct from the hole in the ground. They both noticed the blood on the end of the head that had struck Brain, Lucy even able to smell it with her enhanced sense of smell.

Gajeel returned his hands back to their normal state as he looked into the hole, waiting to see if Brain would get back up. His amplified aura still glowed around him, but the Iron Dragon Slayer didn’t worry about the drain on his reserves right now. He had to make sure that his enemy was down for good. When no sign of Brain was seen for a few minutes, Gajeel took a deep inhaled to try and confirm the Dark Mage’s fate. All he smelled was some blood and a faint trace of Brain’s magic that was fading from the air. “Bastard.” He let his Iron Drive fade and only flinched slightly at the sudden plummeting of his reserves. Gajeel wasn’t in danger of passing out or anything, but going from an amplified state to subnormal all at once was a small shock every time.

“Gajeel…what was that?” Juvia asked as she lowered the wall of water that she’d surrounded herself and Lucy with. She had never seen Gajeel use that spell before, even in all of their time in Phantom Lord.

Lucy looked very curious as well. The new Dragon Slayer had never heard of such a Dragon Slayer Spell. ‘But he said I wouldn’t know it because I was new.’

“I didn’t need to use it back then.” Gajeel brushed off the reason that Juvia had never seen it.

“But what about your fight with Natsu?” Lucy couldn’t stop herself from asking. If Gajeel had such a trump card, why didn’t he use it when they’d been enemies?

Gajeel motioned to the surrounding area. “You see what using it did to this place?” Lucy and Juvia looked around, noticing that a large portion of the area had been completely leveled by Gajeel and Brain’s fight. In some places, like where Gajeel’s amplified Roar had struck, the space was nothing more than rough stone; every building that had previously been there was now just tiny scattered pebbles. “How could I use this in our own Guild Hall? Not to mention Jose would’ve probably stepped in at that point. I doubt old Makarov would’ve let me and Salamander fight like that either given the risk of others getting caught up in it.”

Lucy blinked at the sound and reasonable logic. Natsu and Gajeel had beaten the hell out of each other…while holding back. It only further opened her eyes to the levels that she could potentially rise to as a Dragon Slayer. “What did you call it again?”

“Iron Drive.” Gajeel answered still occasionally watching the hole that he’d buried Brain in. “It’s the Dragon Slayer version of Amplification Magic. It increases all of your physical attributes, boosts Magic Power, and enhances your spells. The only downside is the drain it causes afterward. If you stay in that state for too long, you’ll collapse and probably not wake up for a day or so.” The last part was said as a warning to the new Dragon Slayer and the soon-to-be Dragon Slayer.

Juvia and Lucy both nodded without even realizing it.

Gajeel, satisfied that the newbies understood, glanced off to the side. “I hear people coming.”

Sure enough, not even a handful of seconds later, Natsu and Cana charged around the corner and immediately rushed towards the three as soon as they saw them.

“Lucy! Juvia!” Natsu and Cana had both young women in their arms not even a second later.

“Are you okay?” Natsu asked both of them while Cana forewent that and was already checking them over gently.

Juvia smiled warmly at being so cared for and loved. “Juvia is fine.”

Lucy nodded her head to confirm they were both okay. “We’re both alright. But I had to be saved by Juvia and Gajeel…” She hated to admit that, but it was the truth…she needed to keep her focus when on missions and Quests in the future. Her eyes widened as Cana kissed her softly.

“That’s fine, Lucy. It’s what we’re all supposed to do as partners.” Cana assured Lucy with a gentle smile. “Thank you, Juvia.” She pulled the Water Mage into a warm hug and kissed her cheek.

“Juvia will always protect her family.” Juvia said with a resolute nod, even as her cheeks turned pink.

Natsu took two steps closer to Gajeel and gave him a nod. “Thank you, Gajeel.” He didn’t bother with Gajeel’s epithet of Black Steel this time. The Iron Dragon Slayer had earned his heartfelt thanks for protecting Lucy.

“Don’t worry about it, Salamander.” Gajeel didn’t have any compunction about addressing Natsu by his epithet though. “She’s part of the same Guild. I wouldn’t be able to stay if I didn’t look out for the others.”

Natsu held Gajeel’s gaze for a moment before a small grin formed on his face. “Levy certainly wouldn’t forgive you if you let Lucy get hurt.”

Gajeel flinched just slightly. “Shut up, Salamander!” He barked at Natsu, able to hide his reaction to being called out behind annoyance.

“Is everyone alright?!” Jura asked as he and the Tri-Men came rushing around the corner, Hibiki still had two magical screens (though shrunken down to not obscure his vision) as he continued to search for any info on Nirvana while he ran.

“We’re all okay.” Cana confirmed with a small smile, still holding Juvia and Lucy close.

Jura let out a breath of relief. “When we sensed the clash of two immense Magic Powers, we ran here as fast as possible to help out. But this city is larger than it looks from afar.”

“Meeeennn…” Ichiya came jogging around the corner, sweating a bit from the long run. “Is anyone… In need of…first aid?” He asked as he came to a stop with harsh breaths. He pulled a handkerchief from the front pocket of his suit and wiped his sweaty brow with it before folding it back up and returning it to the pocket.

Everyone assured the Ace of Blue Pegasus that they were unharmed.

“Excellent…” Ichiya managed to sparkle a bit, despite his appearance.

Jura looked around, but not seeing anyone else, felt he had to ask. “That was Brain’s Magic Power that I felt earlier…where is he now?”

Gajeel pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the large hole in the ground. “I buried him in that hole over there. We haven’t seen any movement or felt his Magic Power since.”

Both Ichiya and Jura widened their eyes and moved over to the hole to check for themselves. Jura, even having talent when it came to sensing the Magic Power of others, didn’t pick up a trace of Brain’s Magic Power at all. Ichiya found blood on the ground (an amount that promised a severe injury at the very least) and both men shared a look of understanding.

“Should we try and regroup with the others?” Ren asked as the Oración Seis seemed to have finally been dealt with.

“We should check the King’s Hall.” Hibiki said after finding a small amount of old text information stored in the vast about of data within his Archive Magic. “Supposedly that’s where Nirvana is controlled from. If we get there, we might be able to do something about it.”

Juvia smiled at Lucy. “That’s what Lucy said earlier, before Brain attacked us.”

Eve gave Lucy a smile. “Smart and beautiful, quite the lady you are, Miss Lucy.”

Lucy restrained an eyeroll at the Host Club attitude. “Nirvana is just a giant form of Holder Magic, that’s why I thought of it. It might be possible for us to make Nirvana destroy itself…maybe.”

“That’s probably why Brain targeted you first.” Gajeel said after a second to consider it. “You’re probably onto something that he didn’t like.”

“Hibiki, do you know where the King’s Hall is?” Ichiya asked his subordinate with double ‘finger guns’.

Hibiki quickly typed a few times onto the Archive keys. “One moment, maestro!”

The Fairy Tail members all deadpanned at the changed form of address.

“It should be that tower in the center, the one that looks different from all of the other buildings.” Hibiki pointed at the tall tower. “I’ll relay this information to everyone so that we can all meet up there!” He quickly activated his Telepathy Magic.

-Nirvana ~ Subterranean Level Three-

Brain was barely holding onto consciousness as black spots slowly filled his vision. He ground his teeth against the pain that he was in, trying to stave off his looming unconsciousness. “I won’t… let them take… Nirvana from me…” He forced out as he tried to sit up, the razor wire that was still wrapped around various parts of his body quickly reminded him of why that was a bad move as intense pain slammed into his brain. “Damn it… He’s going to appear…”

Unfortunately for Brain, there was little that he could do to hold off the encroaching darkness.

‘Midnight… Do not vanish… That is my prayer…’ Brain thought to himself, feeling the final seal coming undone. One might think it was a prayer for the safety of his ‘son’…but it lacked any such good will. No, Brain’s prayer was far more selfish than that. Midnight was merely an excellent weapon to be aimed at his enemies, the most useful of all the five children that he’d taken from the Tower of Heaven so many years ago.

As the darkness took Brain, the last of the Six Prayers Seal was undone.

Only a minute later and the man’s eyes snapped open, but now they had dark red sclera and his black pupils were the only contrast within the sea of crimson. The darker complexion of Brain’s skin seemed to fade away, making the man an almost pale white, and his straight white hair became wavy and parted from the center. A dark and twisted grin appeared on the man’s face and his Magic Power exploded off his body, twice as powerful as Brain’s peak. The razor wire was destroyed, along with the surrounding area as Brain stood up.

But it wasn’t really Brain anymore.

“Ah…” The man rolled his shoulders. “It’s been a while since I’ve been awake and free to move about.” He let a dark chuckle escape him. “Now it’s time to destroy!” A powerful and twisted aura of Magic Power swirled around him. “Don’t worry Brain, I’ll handle those Mages for you. It’s time they meet the true Master of Oración Seis: Zero!” Zero laughed like a psychopath (which he was) as he Requipped a new set of clothes to replace Brain’s destroyed outfit. A green long-sleeved shirt that buttoned in the front similar to a military officer’s jacket with black striped reminiscent of a tigers. A black belt around his waist with the emblem of the Oración Seis on the buckle. He kept similar blue pants with white fur that spiraled up the legs and black boots on his feet. “I can finally destroy again!”

Zero looked up through the hole in the ceiling that led all the way up to the city. With a twisted smirk on his face, he leapt straight upwards and landed on the edge of the hole that Brain had been buried in. As he thought about how he wanted to torment and destroy the Allied Mages, he let his Magic Power begin to exude from his body again, walking towards the King’s Hall.

He was looking forward to which of the pitiful Mages noticed him first!

-End Chapter-

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Well…fuck.

Brain didn’t die from Gajeel’s last attack and now Zero has gotten loose!

That’s a problem that’s going to need to be solved before the Allied Mages can deal with Nirvana.

Unfortunately, Brain had time to take control of Nirvana first…and we all know what he set for the first target!

How will the Allied Mages react when they find out though?

I hope everyone enjoyed Gajeel vs Brain! Got to keep throwing this Arc into the mixer to keep it fresh and interesting, right?

Getting to see a Dragon Slayer besides Sting and Rogue use a ‘Drive’ is fun/cool, right?

I even have a reason it wasn’t used earlier! So, yeah! Kek!

It probably would’ve been used on Laxus…but he pressed the ‘Berserk Button’ and got a brief showing of partial Dragon Force instead.

Now that Zero is looking to satisfy his psychotic urge to destroy, who will step up to challenge him?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!