Magma Dragon King Chapter 44 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Magma Dragon King! The Battle of Fairy Tail is almost over and it’s barely been an hour yet! Laxus and the Thunder Tribe haven’t been around the Guild enough to realize how much improvement several members have made. They wrote them off as weak and paid the price for their arrogance! Now, there’s only two remaining on Laxus’s side, and BOTH are being hunted by apex predators! This ‘game’ should be coming to an end soon enough, huh?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 44 – Beast vs Fairy, Bastardized Dragon

Evergreen stood over three Fairy Tail Mages, all of them beaten and unable to fight any longer. With a grin she opened her hand fan and laughed. “Well, well, I guess that should just about wrap things up.” The ‘Battle of Fairy Tail’ shouldn’t have more than two or three people left on the current Fairy Tail’s side.

“RRRROOOOAAARRRR!!!”

Evergreen felt her body lock up in an instinctive and primal fear as a powerful roar shook the air.

Thump

Even with her body paralyzed by a primal terror, she still heard the sound of something heavy landing behind her.

“Evergreen…” The growling voice was still vaguely recognizable. “Turn my sisters back to normal…now!”

Evergreen finally shook herself of the fear and turned to face Elfman with her hand fan over the lower half of her face. “Oh? What’s this? Another ugly beast form of yours? Honestly, the only thing cute about you is your name…Elfman.” The chimera took a threatening step towards Evergreen. She quickly tried to figure out what creatures made up this particular version of the ancient species. ‘It’s got a lion beast of some type. The body is reptilian…maybe some kind of Dragonkin? The horns on the head look sort of goat-like. That snake…is it a Miasma Serpent?’ This combination was full of unknowns for her, but she knew that she’d be staying away from the living snake of a tail. If it really was a Miasma Serpent, just getting too close could see her being poisoned, and taking a bite would leave her unconscious for days, even if she got a specialized magical antidote to save her life.

“I don’t want to kill you…” Elfman’s rumbling growl came form the massive chimera’s jaws. “Turn my sisters back to normal.”

“No can do, Elfman…” Evergreen let out a mocking giggle. “The Battle of Fairy Tail is still ongoing, after all. The other girls are the prize for the winners. If you give up, you’ll see them back to normal sooner. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait until we win the game.”

“I gave you a chance.” Elfman took another step forward, prepared to bounce on Evergreen.

“Ahahaha! How cute!” Evergreen flew into the air with her Magic, with a wave of her fan, glowing motes of light flew down on Elfman. “Fairy Bomb: Gremlin!”

BOOM

The spell exploded, sending up dust and smoke into the air, obscuring the chimera from view.

Evergreen hovered in the air with a smug smirk on her face. “Oh? Was that too much for you?”

What she saw when the dust cleared was the chimera looking up at her seemingly unscathed.

“What?!” Evergreen cried out in disbelief.

“Drake Scales,” Elfman said with a rumble. “Magic below a certain strength can’t harm me.”

Evergreen snapped her fan closed with a grimace. “Then let me try something a little stronger!” She waved her closed fan through the air. “Fairy Machine Gun: Ack!” She didn’t get to finish, as the massive chimera leapt at her from the ground, one of the large black lion paws swiping at her with claws that could put a dagger to shame. “Rude!” She flew backwards and watched as the huge beast landed on the roof of a building, leapt off of it before its weight could settle and possibly crush said structure, and then leapt at her again. “Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!” Dozens and dozens of small orbs of light appeared in front of the flying Evergreen. When she pointed her closed fan at Elfman, the bullets of light shot towards him in a never-ending barrage.

“Rooaarrhhh!” The chimera roared as the light bullets hit, but most of them still slid past or were deflected by the Drake Scales along its body.

“Aiieee!” Evergreen screeched and shot higher into the air as a huge fireball was launched form the lion’s jaws at her. Even though she’d dodged it, she still briefly felt the heat of the flames as they past below her.

“Got you!” Elfman roared out, leaping upwards at Evergreen again.

“Tsk!” Evergreen removed her glasses and looked directly at Elfman’s transformed eyes. “Stone Eyes!”

The chimera didn’t turn to stone, however.

“Wha…Gaukh!” Evergreen didn’t have time to be surprised as she was smacked out of the air by the lion paw.

Crash

Evergreen hit the ground after slamming through an awning that barely slowed her down.

Thump

Elfman’s chimera form landed a second later and stalked towards the downed woman.

“H-How? My...Stone Eyes…should’ve petrified you…” Evergreen forced herself upwards, noting that Elfman had spared her the wickedly sharp claws of his beast form and instead smacked her with the pads on the bottom of the paw.

“Foimore Eyes.” Elfman answered simply, the chimera form’s eye glowy faintly.

Evergreen tried to scoff, but it came out more as a self-deprecating sigh. “Balor Eye…”

The Foimore were rather unique Magical Beasts with a humanoid body, goat legs, and a goat head, complete with horns. Their innate magic ability was in their eyes, a truly troublesome beast for Mages to deal with as their gaze weakened Magic. When they directly activated their eyes, they could disrupt the formation of Magic and render it useless, so long as it wasn’t stronger than their own. It had been dubbed the ‘Balor Eye’ by Mages, named after the ancient legends of a certain God whose eye brought destruction when opened. When it came to Eye Magic only vastly more powerful Mages could hope to overpower the gaze of a Foimore.

“Fairy Machine Gun:…” Evergreen tried to attack, only to be beaten to the draw.

“Dark Roar!” Elfman roared loudly, a black wave emitting along with the sound and blasting Evergreen away at speed.

Evergreen hit the ground some distance away, bounced off of it, flew through the air a bit more, hit the ground again, bounced again, and then rolled for a few meters before coming to a stop. “Da-Darkness…Magic…?”

Thump

Elfman’s chimera form landed from a leap and stalked over to Evergreen’s beaten and injured body, placing one of his front paws on her body, nearly covering it completely, before pressing down on her with slowly increasing force. “Umbral Lion.” He said in way of answer to what just happened.

Umbral Lions lived in the savannahs of the country of Minstrel that was south of Fiore. The large cats had black fur and silver eyes, and a natural ability to use Darkness Magic, both for hunting and for fighting amongst themselves over territory or during mating season. It was rare to see them outside of their native habitat range, but chimeras were not known to have any real limits (outside of food and water availability) when it came to habitat; so the chimera that Elfman had taken over had most likely been rather well-traveled as it went wherever it desired in search of prey.

“Guh!” Evergreen let out a grunt of pain as the pressure of the paw began to crush her.

“Change them back.” Elfman growled down at Evergreen, increasing the pressure some more.

Evergreen tried to hold out, even planned to lie and threaten to destroy the statues remotely. “Agh!” She hacked out, barely able to draw breath now. Being unable to breathe, meant that she couldn’t speak to make her threats, and as she felt the pain in her body grow, her injuries aggravated by the crushing pressure, she realized that she was beaten. ‘By Elfman of all people…’ Had she truly been so isolated from the Guild that she had totally missed this much development? Not even a couple of years ago, Elfman had just been another random member of Fairy Tail, with his only notable thing being his relation to Mirajane. ‘When did he get so strong?’

The pressure increased and Evergreen’s eyes glowed a golden color as she released the effects remotely.

“Huuuaaahh…” She breathed in deeply when the crushing weight was removed a second later.

“Thank you.” Elfman nodded his large lion head to the beaten Evergreen. He lay down and placed his paws around Evergreen, making sure that she couldn’t go anywhere. “You’re not going to cause anymore trouble, understand?” He flexed the paws and the huge claws emerged for a long moment as a clear warning.

“Fine…” Evergreen huffed and rolled her eyes. With a pained groan she moved herself enough to rest her back against the black-furred right paw. “The least you can do is be a comfy pillow for a bit.”

Elfman snorted out a chuckle, or the lion equivalent, and the gust ruffled Evergreen’s already messed up hair.

“Hey!” Evergreen snapped at Elfman with a glare. “You’ve already ruined my clothes! Don’t mess up my hair anymore than it already is!” She winced as she moved in her annoyance, a shock of pain reminding her of just why her clothes and hair were messed up.

“You know the Master is going to be pissed, right?” Elfman asked after a long silence.

“…yeah.” Evergreen admitted after a moment while looking away from him.

“I’m not the smartest guy in the Guild, but even I know that no one would accept Laxus as Master.” Elfman rumbled out looking in the direction of the Guild.

Evergreen kept her head turned away and closed her eyes. She wouldn’t respond to that. It didn’t matter anymore, anyway. She’d just accept whatever punishment she was given. ‘Probably excommunication from Fairy Tail.’ Evergreen rested her head on the surprisingly soft fur and just waited for now.

-Guild Hall-

The sound of something cracking drew Makarov and Ur’s attention to the stage. They both watched as the petrified women appeared to have cracks form, only for the stone to fall away from their skin and then vanish as if it had never existed.

“Huh?” Lucy blinked and looked around for the woman that had interrupted her Appeal Time.

“What happened?” Cana finished buckling her belt while wondering where the curtain that separated the backstage from the front had gone.

“We…were…?” Levy tried to recall what had happened.

“Hmm?” Bisca noticed the crowd had vanished from the Guild.

“What happened to Juvia?” Juvia looked herself over, feeling like something had been done to her, but not recalling what or how.

“Was that Evergreen?” Mira questioned, making some of the others perk up as their memory was jogged.

“Where is everyone?” Lisanna saw the damage here and there in the Guild and guessed that all the people had run away.

“Master…” Erza looked towards Makarov as he walked over to the stage with Ur at his side.

“I’m glad to see you all safe and back to normal.” Makarov smiled at the young women.

“Lisanna!” Happy nearly plowed into her with a hug.

“Happy!” Lisanna smiled and hugged the blue cat. “Something bad happened, right?”

Happy nodded rapidly while still hugging her.

“I’ll give you the brief version.” Makarov began to explain Laxus’s ‘Battle of Fairy Tail’ and what had been going on for the last hour or so.

“I feel like I was vaguely able to hear this earlier…” Erza had a sense of déjà vu after the explanation. “Evergreen turned us to stone with her Eye Magic…” She gently placed her hand under her right eye.

“Perhaps Evergreen’s Magic wasn’t as effective on you, Erza, because of your right eye?” Makarov theorized why Erza may not have been completely deprived of her senses while petrified.

“Your right eye?” Lucy looked at Erza curiously. Erza’s warm brown eyes were as beautiful as always.

Erza smiled softly at Lucy. “My right eye is a magical replacement.” She briefly mentioned that she’d ‘lost’ her right eye in the Tower of Heaven, and that upon coming to Fairy Tail, Porlyusica had made her a new one with her own blood so that her body wouldn’t reject it. “It’s not really any different than a regular eye, its as much a part of me as the original, but it’s still a replacement…so it seems to weaken the effect of Eye Magics which require direct eye contact to work.”

Erza quickly found herself in the center of a group hug as her family surrounded her with love. She smiled beautifully and just accepted their care and affection for her.

“Where are Gajeel and Natsu?” Levy questioned, not seeing either of the Dragon Slayers.

“They left the moment that the Jutsu Shiki were removed after Freed’s defeat.” Ur answered with a little smirk.

“That could be bad…” Lisanna said with a worried look.

“Laxus deserves an ass-kicking for pulling this shit.” Cana waved off whatever violence their Mate would inflict on the Lightning Mage.

Mira agreed with a nod. “Bastard turning us into prizes, if those two don’t beat the hell out of him, then I will!”

“What’re those things in the sky, by the way?” Bisca questioned from the front doors, having stuck her head outside to see if anything was going on.

“Those are Lacrima filled with Lightning Magic.” Makarov sighed heavily and sat down. “It’s called the Thunder Palace, and it’s one of Laxus’s creations. In just under two hours, they’ll all go off simultaneously and destroy Magnolia.”

“WHAT?!: The girls all cried out at the same time.

“Is he out of his FUCKING mind?!” Cana swore loudly.

“We have to destroy them all!” Erza stated fiercely.

“I understand your thoughts…but do you really think it’ll be that easy?” Ur questioned the younger women with a raised eyebrow. “A setup like this takes time and planning. This Laxus punk might be an ass, but is he so stupid that he wouldn’t have some kind of protection for his massive ‘Thunder Palace’ so that it couldn’t be interrupted?”

“That…makes a lot of sense.” Levy worried her lip, knowing that while Laxus was arrogant, he wasn’t stupid.

“What happens to the Thunder Palace if someone defeats Laxus?” Juvia asked, not knowing much of anything about the setup or about Laxus himself.

“It’ll either continue the countdown and go off, or it’ll deactivate since Laxus is within the ring of Lacrima. That’s my best guess, at any rate.” Ur shrugged her shoulders. “He doesn’t seem suicidal to me, so I’d bet on the second one, but wouldn’t rule out the first entirely.”

“Shit…” Bisca cursed under her breath. The Lacrima were practically easy targets for her, but if they were protected, then shooting them all down was out of the question.

“I’ll see what I can figure out!” Levy spoke up with a determined look on her face. “To protect that many individual Lacrima, Laxus has a few options, but we can narrow down what they are based on distance, type of Magic, and even material!”

“You can do that?” Lucy stared at her friend in amazement.

“I just need to look up a few things, Lucy!” Levy smiled at her friend with confident eyes. She rushed off towards the Guild Library as fast as possible.

“Should we go hunt down Laxus with Natsu and Gajeel, or stay here and help take down the Thunder Palace?” Mira questioned, looking between everyone for their opinions. She’d personally like to go beat the ever-living shit out of Laxus, but if that didn’t stop the Thunder Palace, it would only be a pyrrhic victory at best.

-Magnolia-

Natsu sniffed at the air, breathing in deeply and parsing through the various scents and smells all over the festive town.

“I think he’s in that direction.” Gajeel was doing the same, sniffing the air and looking for a trace of the lightning bastard, as he’d dubbed Laxus in his mind. He pointed south of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.

“Seems like it.” Natsu agreed as the two Dragon Slayers made their way across the town, following the traces of scent they could pick up.

They only had to make it close to the center of the town to figure out where the scent was leading them.

“Tch, figures.” Gajeel scoffed as the two Dragon Slayers stood before the Kardia Cathedral, the oldest building in Magnolia Town.

“No one thought to check here?” Natsu supposed that could make sense, as the Cathedral was not used functionally anymore, it was more a tourist spot for visitors to the town.

The two walked inside, pushing the large double doors open. It didn’t take long to find Laxus, the Lightning Mage standing just over halfway across the cathedral from the doors. He scowled upon seeing Natsu and Gajeel and his body emitted sparks from his rage and aggravation.

“Laxus!” Natsu growled at the other man. Heat began to rise from his body as his power swelled.

“Time for payback, lightning bastard.” Gajeel punched his fist into his palm, the sound of metal striking metal heard.

“Nothing is going my way, today.” Laxus had a vein throbbing on his forehead. “My Thunder Tribe loses to a bunch of weaklings! The old man ruined the Guild…MY Guild! If you can’t follow me, then I don’t need you in my Fairy Tail.” He glared at Natsu especially, knowing that the Magma Dragon Slayer was strong from the last time they’d fought full-out on Tenrou Island when Natsu became S-Class. “Get lost!” He raised his hand and a bolt of lightning was launched at Gajeel and Natsu.

Gajeel leapt to the left while Natsu dodged to the right. The bolt went through the empty air and fizzled out right before reaching the large double doors.

“What?!” Laxus nearly snarled at seeing his Magic disperse way before it should have.

A huge Magic Circle lit up beneath the feet of the three Mages, surprising all of them.

“The hell is this?!” Gajeel questioned.

“If you’re going to fight, do it somewhere that others won’t get hurt in the crossfire.” Mystogan revealed himself as he seemed to appear from unseen mist. The same happened to his five Magic Staves, placed equidistant from each other around the perimeter of the Magic Circle. “I’ll send you there.”

“Mystogan?!” Natsu hadn’t detected the reclusive Mage at all.

“I don’t remember saying you could tell me where to go, Mystogan!” Laxus threw his hand forward and unleashed an even larger bolt of lightning at the other S-Class Mage.

“Transference.” Mystogan spoke and everyone in the Magic Circle vanished instantly. Even the lightning that had been heading straight for Mystogan vanished with the others. “Hah…” He breathed out heavily. Using multiple Magics all at once to set that spell up was exhausting. If it wasn’t, it would probably be a favorite spell of his. Not to mention doing it in such a way that Laxus wouldn’t notice. “I’ll leave it in your hands, Natsu and Gajeel.” Mystogan held out his hand and all five of his staves floated over to him. He’d originally planned to transport himself and Laxus away after learning about the ‘Battle of Fairy Tail’, but with both Dragon Slayers here, it was better for them to deal with this. His form wavered away like mist and Kardia Cathedral was empty once more.

-West Forest-

The Magic Circle from Kardia Cathedral appeared in a seemingly random field at the edge of the forest.

A second later and Laxus, Natsu, and Gajeel appeared within it.

Krakboom

The lightning spell that Laxus had aimed at Mystogan struck the ground, blasting a trench into the grass and dirt.

“Where the hell are we?!” Gajeel demanded, never having been transported by Magic like this before.

“Looks like the West Forest.” Natsu looked around and sniffed the air. As a longtime resident of Magnolia, he was familiar with the natural scents of the surrounding areas.

“Everybody just keeps getting in my way!” Laxus raged, lightning arcing off his body as he raged.

“Well, this is better anyway, no need to hold anything back now.” Gajeel growled as his Magic power rose and he was surrounded by a visible green aura.

Natsu was in full agreement with the Iron Dragon Slayer, for once. Flames burst off his body and were quickly followed by lava that torched the area directly around Natsu.

“You two think you can beat me, huh?” Laxus threw off his coat and got ready to fight. “I’ll wipe both of you out and prove that I’m the strongest in Fairy Tail!”

Gajeel acted first. “Iron Dragon’s Lance: Demon Logs!” His hands both morphed into spar blades before launching a barrage of iron spears at Laxus.

“Too slow, loser!” Laxus zipped around the field as the spears stabbed into the ground, each one missing him.

“Magma Dragon’s Roar!” Natsu threw his head forward with a roar and a torrent of lava tore across the field towards Laxus.

“You’re not any better, Natsu!” Laxus vanished in a spark and appeared at Natsu’s side. “Thunderbolt!” A blast of lightning was released point-blank at Natsu, sending him backwards across the field.

“Iron Dragon’s Tail Swipe!” Gajeel rushed in with the large, heavy, spiked chain formed from his body like an actual tail. With a spin he slammed the chain into Laxus.

“Guh!” Laxus grunted as he managed to block with his arms, only for the sleeves of his leopard print shirt to be shredded and blood to fly as the sharp spikes cut into his skin. “Fry!” He tried to strike Gajeel with a bolt, only for the Iron Dragon Slayer to stab his chain tail into the ground and flip sideways. The bolt raced straight for one of the iron spears stuck in the ground and struck it, sending the lightning straight into the ground.

“Geehee!” Gajeel smirked and transformed his fist into iron. “Iron Dragon’s Club!” He punched Laxus in the chest and sent the Lightning Mage skidding backwards, his feet tearing up the grassy ground.

“Magma Dragon’s Talons!” Natsu slammed a lava-coated foot into Laxus’s back before he could recover, sending the older man sprawling.

Laxus vanished as his body turned to lightning and made some distance. “You little bastards!” Laxus tore off his ruined shirt, the entire back burned away, and threw it aside. “Thunderclap!” He slammed his sparking hands together in a loud clap. Lightning burst out in a wave heading for Gajeel and Natsu, tearing the ground asunder as it did so.

“Earth Dragon’s Landslide!” Natsu kicked the ground hard, shattering it and sending the soil racing forward in a massive wave.

The two spells hit and the lighting fizzled out against the moving earth, but managed to stall the landslide.

“Iron Dragon’s Roar!” Gajeel leapt over the earthen obstruction and his breath attack tore through the air in a tornado of blades.

Laxus vanished in another spark, leaving the roar to tear up the area that he’d just been in. “Thunder Palm!” Laxus’s palm slammed into Gajeel as he reformed directly in front of the Iron Dragon Slayer.

“Grrrrnnnnggghhh!” Gajeel held back a pained yell as the lightning shocked him and the force of the palm strike sent him slamming into the ground.

“Magma Dragon’s Burning Fang!” Natsu grabbed the still airborne Laxus by his ankles and slammed him into the ground while exploding with lava. It was like a miniature eruption happening in the field to anyone that might have seen it.

“Aaauuggghhh!” Laxus howled in pain as he blasted his way out of the lava with a towering pillar of lightning. He nearly crashed into the ground several meters away with smoke rising off his body. He was burned, but he’d escaped fast enough that the injuries were mostly superficial.

“Iron Dragon’s Lance: Demon Logs!” Gajeel fired another barrage of spears at the injured Laxus.

Laxus’ turned into lighting and raced at Gajeel. His lightning-covered fist headed straight for Gajeel’s face, but it was caught instead, much to Laxus’s shock. “What?!”

“Geehee! You seem surprised, lightning bastard!” Gajeel held Laxus’s fist in his outstretched hand. The lightning passed over Gajeel’s body, but he’d grounded himself with two iron spikes from the bottom of his boots stabbed into the ground. It still hurt, but the majority of the damage was being negated thanks to the grounding. “Iron Dragon’s Hard Fist!” He slugged the trapped Laxus straight in the face, forcing the Lightning Mage to bend one knee from the force.

Blood flew from Laxus’s nose and mouth for taking the iron-hard punch to the face. But he turned to lightning and managed to escape. “You…stupid bastards…can’t stop me.” He growled at both of the Dragon Slayers.

“We’re already stopping you.” Natsu countered as he stood across form the injured Laxus. “Face it! You’re never getting Fairy Tail! No one would accept you as the Master!”

“I will…take Fairy Tail!” Laxus’s body was surrounded in a crackling aura of lightning. “Yeah… I should’ve never even given you a chance with this game…” His Magic Power exploded, rising higher and higher as he raged. “I should’ve just trusted everything to my power! Unstoppable power is my very identity!” He raised his fist above his head. “Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder, plunge from the heavens and reap destruction!” Lighting crashed violently in the air above Gajeel and Natsu. “Raging Bolt!”

The lightning fell as a bright pillar that exploded against the ground with a roar of thunder. The ground exploded and threw up dust and dirt into the air from the sheer power of the spell. Electricity sparked off the ground here and there in the crater that was left behind.

“Heh heh… Hyahahahaha!” Laxus began to laugh loudly as he saw the result of his spell. “Who’s stopping who now?! Hahahahaha! I guess you can’t answer after being blown to bits!”

“Who was blown to bits?” Gajeel questioned, the bladed tip of his chain tail stabbed into the ground a good distance from the crater. He’d used his ability to lengthen and shorten the chain to dodge easily enough.

“So, one of you survived, huh?” Laxus’s Magic Power continued to climb, seemingly without end. “Disappear! Disappear! Anyone that stands against me will disappear!”

The ground rumbled slightly before Natsu burst out of it and landed back on the formerly grassy ground. “I’m starting to think your lightning has friend your brain, Laxus!” The way Laxus’s eyes began to glow and seemed to emit sparks of electricity themselves was something that Natsu had never seen before.

“Is that normal?” Gajeel questioned Natsu while eyeing Laxus warily.

“Ha…ha… Disappear! Disappear!” Laxus was repeating the same word over and over between bouts of laughter that were quickly becoming angry.

“Never seen him like this before.” Natsu shook his head.

Laxus grinned challengingly at Natsu and Gajeel as his aura of lightning continued to intensify as his Magic Power rose. “Both of you put together and I’m still on my feet! You should be ashamed to call yourselves Dragon Slayers!”

“Big talk coming from the guy that was just knocked around.” Gajeel scoffed at Laxus’s words. “You can take a beating though; not many people can stand up to this much Dragon Magic.”

Natsu sniffed at the air, smelling a hell of a lot of ozone form the lighting that Laxus was giving off, but also something new and…oddly familiar? “Why can you get back up, actually? We’re not going for the kill, but no normal Mage would be able to keep going after the spells you’ve been hit with.”

“Really?” Laxus laughed mockingly. “Still haven’t guessed, huh? But the answer is so simple…” His challenging grin became a wide smirk, bearing his teeth. “I hate the old man’s lectures, so I kept it a secret all this time, but…” His canine teeth began to noticeably change, becoming sharper and longer. “Just this once, I’ll show you.” A scale-like pattern began to form on Laxus’s arms, the skin becoming similar to scales, but not completely changing.

“You…” Natsu’s slitted eyes widened and he began to shake. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

“This ain’t real…!” Gajeel was also shaking, his teeth grinding together.

“Lightning Dragon’s…Roar!” Laxus opened his mouth and a powerful torrent of lightning cleared the distance between him and his two opponents in the blink of an eye. The ground was torn apart, leaving a trench behind that reached from Laxus’s position all the way to the treeline on the far side of the large field.

When the smoke and dust cleared, Natsu and Gajeel were both on the ground.

“Hm? You’re still alive over there?” Laxus walked forward, his eyes didn’t appear to have a pupil or iris anymore with the way they were glowing with Magic Power.

“Laxus…” Natsu clenched his fist into the first beneath him. “You bastard…”

“Fucking…piece of shit…” Gajeel growled as he pushed himself up from the ground.

“HOW DARE YOU?!” Natsu and Gajeel roared far beyond what any human could hope to achieved, even with Magic.

The land erupted as magma burst from beneath the ground, the entire filed quickly turning into a pool of molten earth. From within the lava large spires of iron punched holes through the earth and even the air, scattering the burning earth with a loud snap as more and more of them tore up the land.

Both Dragon Slayers released their Magic Power without reservation as both the land and the air shook from the force. Gajeel glowed with a green aura as his body was covered with a grid-like pattern that quickly sprouted into literal steel scales like an Iron Dragon. He gained iron claws in place of fingernails and his fangs became more pronounced. Natsu was covered in lava as his body took on the burning hot scales of a Magma Dragon. The pink-haired Mage’s body was like a literal lava bed with black scales and a fiery orange glow between them from which flames erupted periodically. His fangs were also more pronounced now, as were his nails, each replaced by a burning hot claw, making Natsu more closely resemble a Dragon.

“You bastard…defiling our sacred ritual.” Natsu glared at Laxus, his eyes fully draconic now. “I’ll incinerate that disgusting thing right out of you!”

“Not if I cut it out of him first!” Gajeel snarled, his chain tail lashing through the air and lava, sending up as wave of the molten earth behind him. “You fucking piece of shit! Our ritual has meaning!”

The entire field was now nothing more than a lava and iron hellscape, the heat was insanely high and only the Magma Dragon Slayer and the Iron Dragon Slayer could survive here for any real length of time. Their powers were rather complementary in this instance, as they both stalked towards the partially transformed Laxus. They each now recognized it as a sign of his infection and the defilement of the Dragon Soul Ritual that they held sacred. Whether he meant to do so or not was irrelevant.

“Hot!” Laxus snarled out as his pants burned and he flexed his Magic Power to clear an area around himself of the lava. “Why don’t you two just die?” His body shook from his own power as he glared at them. “Anyone that stands in my way…SHOULD BE WIPED FROM EXISTENCE!!!” Laxus roared at the two Dragon Slayers, lightning escaping his mouth as he spoke.

“Shut up!” Natsu exploded forward, flames and lava bursting from his feet and legs. “Magma Dragon’s Claw!” He slashed Laxus with his molten claws. Laxus raised his partially transformed arm to block, but the blazing claws tore through the skin, throwing blood aside as it hissed and evaporated from the heat. “Magma Dragon’s Talons!” A lava kick slammed into Laxus’s stomach, making his feet leave the ground. “Magma Dragon’s Erupting Fist!” He slammed the punch into Laxus’s chest and a blast went off as a lava plume blasted Laxus across the lava-covered field until his back slammed into one of the burning hot irons spires.

“Raaaarrrggghhh!” Laxus roared in pain, while hacking up blood.

“Iron Dragon’s Sword!” Gajeel sliced Laxus across the chest, Dragon Magic meeting Dragon Magic as blood flew through the air. “Iron Dragon’s Club!” Laxus was embedded further into the hot iron as Gajeel slammed the iron club into his body. “Iron Dragon’s Tail Swipe!” Gajeel spun and the thick, heavy, bladed chain snapped the spire in two and knocked Laxus across the lava field like a skipping stone.

“Die!” Laxus caught himself, his lightning aura briefly protecting him from the lava he was standing in. “Lighting Dragon’s Heavenward Halberd!” Lighting formed into the shape of a halberd and Laxus grabbed it before throwing it straight at Gajeel in a rage. The lightning weapon tore through the air in a split-second but Gajeel caught it, only being sent backwards a few meters and the lighting coursed across his body and into the lava, before sinking into the ground

“Is that all?!” Gajeel roared back, his iron scales letting off smoke as he charged through the lava towards Laxus.

“Lightning Dragon’s Breakdown Fist!” Laxus swung as soon as he saw Natsu approaching him. The massive swirling lightning around his fist and arm slammed straight into Natsu.

The Magama Dragon Slayer tanked it, his molten scales conducting the electricity and channeling it straight into the ground. Laxus’s fist cracked the scales, but he pulled back as flames and lava spilled out of the cracks.

“Raah!” Laxus took a step back, looking at his burned hand that was still smoking in both rage and pain.

“Magma Dragon’s Tephra Burst!” Natsu’s molten scales bubbled outwards, forming a large, rough, half-rock half-lava mass which he blasted straight into Laxus, launching him away at high-speed, both bludgeoning and burning him in the process.

“Iron Dragon’s Severing Wings!” Gajeel was in the direct path of the flying Laxus. He held his arms out wide and then crossed them. Everything in front of Gajeel was slashed into pieces simultaneously. The lava, the two large iron spires that were in range, the tephra that was carrying Laxus across the lava field, only Laxus’s survived, even as a crisscrossed pattern of laceration opened up across his partially transformed skin. The red blood that flew through the air and into the lava evaporated almost instantly.

“Lighting Dragon’s Iron Hammer!” Laxus, apparently too far gone to even feel pain anymore, slammed his fist into the lava and through it to the scorched earth below. He pumped an insane amount of lightning into the ground before the spell yanked it all back up again. A towering pillar of lightning exploded from the ground, blasting the lava away along with Gajeel as the electricity coursed through him.

“Tough bastard.” Gajeel hacked out a cough as he stood up from the lava, letting the molten earth fall off of his blackened iron scales. A few small cracks were around his body, but they glowed green with his Magic and repaired themselves a second later.

Too be fair, both Gajeel and Natsu had hit Laxus with spells meant to shatter a Dragon’s scales, cut their flesh, and crush their organs; and he was still standing and fighting. Whether it was because of his seemingly half-insane state, or because he was just that strong, neither Dragon Slayer knew or cared in their rage.

“Lightning Dragon’s Roar!” Laxus blasted the torrent of lightning at Natsu.

“Magma Dragon’s Roar!” Natsu met Roar with Roar and the eruption of lava slammed into the pillar of lightning before both spells exploded.

“Iron Dragon’s Crushing Hammer!” Gajeel had both of his fist transformed into a massive sledgehammer-like construct that slammed down on Laxus from above. A wave of lava and earth was thrown into the air from the impact, even as Gajeel ignore the sting of lightning once more passing through his body.

“Lightning Dragon’s Iron Fist!” Laxus blasted Gajeel backward, punching the heavy hammer off his battered body. He was clearly in agony from the crushing blow, but wouldn’t stop fighting.

“Magma Dragon’s Chain Eruption!” Natsu roared the second that Laxus was visible. Punch after punch slammed into Laxus’s face, arms, chest; whatever Natsu could hit was struck as he unleashed a rapid combo of blows.

“AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!” Laxus roared in pain as each punch left molten lava on his partially transformed skin which then exploded like a miniature eruption one after another.

The flaring lightning aura had noticeably weakened, growing dimmer and less fierce from the beating that Laxus had taken from the two enraged Dragon Slayers. His body was a mess of burns, broken bones, bruises, muscle tears, and bleeding. He staggered backwards, his body beginning to sweat savagely and overheat as his Dragon Magic faltered and failed to product him from the extreme heat.

Natsu reached out with molten, burning claws towards the source of Dragon Magic that he could both smell and feel now that he knew what to look for.

“Gukgh…” Laxus made a choking sound. A chunk of golden-yellow crystal was pushed out of his chest and into Natsu’s outstretched hand. The very tip of a metal blade was seen poking out of the hole in Laxus’s chest.

“There.” Gajeel growled, removing the thin blade from Laxus’s back, revealing that it was attached to the tip of his chain tail. “Razor thin so that nothing important was cut.”

“One second.” Natsu placed his burning hot hand on the hole where the golden-colored crystal had emerged.

“AAAAAUUUUAAAGGGGHHH!!!” Laxus howled in agony as the wound was cauterized and his eyes rolled up in his head as he collapsed backwards, only to be wrapped up in Gajeel’s chain tail and kept out of the slowly returning lava as it flowed into the empty space.

“You should probably do something about this stuff, Salamander.” Gajeel motioned to the lava covering the field.

Natsu held out his empty hand, focusing his Magic Power and bringing it all to bear as he took control of the field of molten earth. “HMMM!” He clenched his fist and the molten earth hissed loudly as all the heat within it was removed, turning it into warm basalt, and leaving the once grassy field covered in the black rock. “I’ll come back and fix the rest later.” He held up the crystal. “First, we deal with this disgusting thing.”

“Yeah.” Gajeel scowled at the crystal. “Dragon Lacrima…”

Made from the processed heart of a dead Dragon, a Dragon Lacrima (sometimes called a Dragon Slayer Lacrima) could grant Dragon Magic to a human that it was implanted into, making them into a pseudo-Dragon Slayer. Unfortunately for those implanted with them, the exposure to Dragon Magic without going through the proper ritual had some rather harsh side-effects on the body. Such things included partial transformations, like Laxus’s skin, and a host of negative effects on the mind as the excess Dragon Magic filled the implanted and caused a breakdown in reasoning and other emotional responses, like empathy. It was a bastardized version of the Dragon Soul Ritual and closer to the flawed first version of said ritual that had made the human’s that used too much Dragon Magic turn into mindless and violent Dragons themselves.

Gajeel sat the unconscious Laxus down semi-gently on the slightly warm basalt rock. He then followed Natsu for a considerable distance to deal with the Lacrima. Once Natsu had secured the Dragon Lacrima by molding the basalt with his Magic, Gajeel stepped forward to get rid of the abomination.

“Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Karma Demon: Iron God’s Sword!” Gajeel focused and a green aura of Magic enveloped him again. He clapped his hands above his head and they morphed into a towering blade fit more for a giant than any other being. It sparked with green Magical discharge and the air around it seemed to vibrate. Gajeel brought the Dragon-Killing technique down on the Lacrima and split it cleanly in two. A massive chasm opened up in the basalt and well into the forest from the single swing, it’s power and cutting ability far too great to be stopped by anything in its path.

Natsu and Gajeel watched the golden-colored crystal split and then fracture into nothing as all the Magic within was destroyed. It was almost equivalent to killing the Dragon itself. The remaining Magic that had been left behind and then trapped by the refining process to turn the heart into a Lacrima was ‘slain’ and with nothing left, the Lacrima became nothing itself.

“Let’s go…” Natsu walked back towards the unconscious Laxus. “I know my way through this forest.”

“Fine.” Gajeel would follow him, just because he was lost otherwise. “Are you starting to feel kinda sore?”

“Yeah, but it’s no big deal.” Natsu talked tough, even as his muscles twitched while short bursts of pain lanced up his body and into his brain.

“I’m not carrying him, by the way.” Gajeel mentioned as they got back over to Laxus.

“Fine, you big baby, I’ll do it.” Natsu grumbled and threw Laxus’s arm over his shoulder, before nearly dragging the unconscious man along as he led the way back to Magnolia. “Porlyusica is gonna be pissed at us.” He could practically hear the lecture already.

“Who?” Gajeel didn’t recall ever hearing about the woman, and therefore, didn’t know what was heading his way.

Neither of them noticed Laxus blearily come back to consciousness a few minutes into their trek through the forest.

‘My head… Fuck… My body… Hurts… Everything hurts…’ Laxus tried to open his eyes, but found the light was too much for him as a searing pain shot through his head. ‘What…happened?’ He wondered, his mind a jumbled mess as he tried to remember what he had been doing before. ‘Battle of Fairy Tail… That’s right…’ Realizing that his body wouldn’t be feeling like it was falling apart if he’d won, Laxus nearly let the darkness of blissful unconsciousness take him again. ‘Wait…the Thunder Palace…’ Even as his head swam with pain and delirium started to encroach, Laxus touched the connection that he had to the setup spell. ‘Change the angle… Release in singles… One sets off…the next…’ With his task done, Laxus fell back into the darkness as he lost the battle against his injured body.

-Magnolia-

BZZT

The three-hundred Lacrima encircling the town started to buzz and spark, getting the attention of everyone down below.

“Huh?”

“Are we finally gonna see what those floating things are?”

“They’ve been hanging up there for over an hour now.”

The townsfolk were curious as to what had been floating in a circle directly over Magnolia ever since the strange orbs had appeared.

At Fairy Tail, a panic had started up as the Thunder Palace activated.

“It hasn’t been three hours yet!” Makarov’s eyes widened as he saw the Lacrima crackling with electricity.

“We’re not done figuring out what was done to them to keep them protected!” Levy cried out, having already eliminated most options (as the large piles of books around her showed) but not having figured out exactly what Laxus had put on the Lacrima yet, only confirming that some type of Link Magic was in effect on each of the crystals.

“Fuck it then! We take them all out now!” Mira was already transforming into her Satan Soul.

“Fucking hell, Laxus!” Cana grabbed her Magic Cards and charged out of the Guild Hall.

“I’ll take at least one-hundred out myself!” Erza was already Requipping swords in large numbers, prepared to barrage the Thunder Palace.

ZAP

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock and fear as the first bolt was released by one of the Lacrima close to the Guild.

The bolt shot across town to a Lacrima on the opposite side, the first Lacrima bursting apart like a balloon with an almost firework-like sparkle as its Magic was spent. The bolt hit the Lacrima across the town and set it off.

BZZAP

The second bolt shot off at a different angle and hit a third Lacrima, also going off like a firework above the town once it used up its Magic.

ZZZAP

The next bolt repeated the process, bouncing across the open air above the town and setting off the next Lacrima.

“Lightning fireworks?!”

“That’s so cool!”

“Fairy tail is always stepping up their Fantasia celebrations!”

“Back and forth, left and right, it’s fun watching the lightning bounce around!”

The townspeople laughed and cheered at the festive sight, not realizing how much danger they’d been in.

Makarov felt a tear fall from his eye as he realized that only Laxus could’ve negated the Thunder Palace like this. A massive destruction spell turned into a fireworks show for the Fantasia celebration that the man had always refused to be a part of. “You brats…” He had a happy sniffle as all of Fairy Tail watched the impromptu show together.

It was agreed without words that the citizens of Magnolia Town would never know the true purpose of the Thunder Palace.

-Hill Overlooking Magnolia-

“Huh? Lightning fireworks?” Gildarts watched the spectacle from a distance, having been on his way back to the Guild in order to see Fantasia and celebrate with everyone. “Did Laxus finally grow out of his rebellious phase and actually help out?” Better late than never, Gildarts shrugged and watched the show from afar with a grin and some alcohol.

-End Chapter-

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Elfman’s growth surprises Evergreen and exceeds her ability to deal with him!

Amazing what you can miss when you’re never around, huh?

Gajeel and Natsu find Laxus at Kardia Cathedral, but as it’s close to the main street where preparations by the townsfolk for the harvest Festival are happening, Mystogan moves them WAY out of the way!

The fight starts, but once Laxus reveals his ‘Second Generation’ Dragon Slayer Magic, he sets off a powerful rage in both Natsu and Gajeel!

The Dragon Soul Ritual is a scared thing to both Dragons and their Human Children, the Dragon Slayers. To see it bastardized (and in such a disgusting way as to take the hearts from dead Dragons to make them into Lacrima), it’s no wonder they got so pissed off as to turn a large field into a hellscape.

Laxus gave a pretty good fight, but fake Dragon Slayer vs real Dragon Slayer isn’t much of a contest when they’re about the same strength normally.

It turns out there are bad side-effects of putting crystallized Dragon parts inside of a human body…wow…I’m sure no one saw THAT coming! Fucking hell, right?

Laxus changes the course of the Thunder Palace with the last of his focus and Magic. Much to the surprise of everyone in Fairy Tail.

Turns out, even he has a heart…not everyone is a monster, even if they are an asshole.

Gildarts…no…you’re totally wrong, my dude. Kek!

With Thunder Palace NOT hitting everyone in Fairy Tail, will Fantasia be able to proceed as planned now?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!