Chapter 52: Finishing Moves and First Impressions
The grand hall of Phantom Lord was a whirlwind of chaos, but it was a decidedly one-sided chaos. Thanks to Mew's psychic enhancement, every member of Fairy Tail was fighting at their peak, turning the tide of battle into a complete rout. The Phantom Lord mages, who had expected to intimidate and overpower a demoralized rival, found themselves facing a legion of demigods with anger management issues.
The fight between Natsu and Gajeel had devolved into a furious brawl. Gajeel, enraged by the "hot-sauce-in-the-mouth" incident, was fighting with desperate ferocity, but he was consistently on the back foot.
"Iron Dragon's Sword!" he roared, swinging a massive blade of sharpened steel.
Natsu didn't even dodge. He simply coated his arm in his signature white-hot flames and blocked the sword head-on. The iron blade glowed, sizzled, and then drooped like a wet noodle, melting under the intense heat.
"My iron... it's useless against you!" Gajeel growled in disbelief.
"You messed with the wrong family!" Natsu yelled, his voice booming with power. "Now eat this! Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
He slammed his fists together, creating a massive fireball of concentrated, boosted energy and hurled it at Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer, seeing the overwhelming power, made a last-ditch effort.
"Iron Dragon's ROAR!"
A tornado of metallic shards and magical energy blasted from his mouth, meeting Natsu's attack head-on. For a moment, the two forces struggled, but it was no contest. Natsu's brilliant flame, supercharged with righteous fury, tore through the iron blast as if it were paper. It slammed into Gajeel, and the resulting explosion sent him rocketing backward through three separate walls before he finally came to a stop, unconscious in a pile of rubble. Natsu stood panting, smoke rising from his fists. "Tastes bad and your roar is weak," he muttered, before looking for his next opponent.
Elsewhere, the battle of the elements was reaching its bizarre conclusion. Gray, still shirtless and thoroughly annoyed, was getting tired of Juvia's water body. "Stand still and fight me!" he yelled.
Juvia, her face still flushed, was in turmoil. Her attacks were unfocused, her mind a whirlwind of drip-drip-thump, drip-drip-thump. He's so strong... so cool... so... naked!
"Juvia's body is made of water! You cannot touch Juvia!" she declared, though her voice lacked its earlier conviction.
"Then I'll just have to freeze all of you," Gray stated, seeing his opening. He dashed forward, his hands glowing with a frigid blue light. Juvia, seeing him charge directly at her, froze for a different reason. Her heart hammered in her chest. He's closing the distance! Is he... is he going to embrace Juvia?!
He didn't. He slid to a halt right in front of her, plunged his hands directly into her watery torso, and whispered, "Ice-Make: Prison."
An intricate lattice of ice exploded from the inside out. Juvia let out a surprised "Eep!" as her entire liquid form was flash-frozen into a giant, beautifully detailed ice sculpture of a very surprised-looking woman. The localized rainstorm she had created instantly vanished, and a single, errant sunbeam broke through a shattered window to illuminate the spot where she stood. As her consciousness faded, a single, clear thought echoed in her mind. This cold... but warm... feeling... Is this... love?
Gray, completely oblivious to the life-altering romantic revelation that had just occurred, put his hands on his hips. "Finally. Sheesh," he said, before looking around and realizing his shirt was gone again. "Aw, man, where'd it go this time?"
Meanwhile, Erza and Lucy had finished dealing with the non-threat of Sol and were confronted by another member of the Element 4, Totomaru of the Great Fire.
"I am the master of all flames! My blue fire can control and consume any lesser heat!" he declared, launching a massive wave of azure fire at the pair.
Lucy braced herself, but Erza simply sighed, a sound of profound disappointment. "Requip: Flame Empress Armor."
In a flash, she was clad in her iconic red armor, adorned with dragon-like wings. She didn't even break stride, simply walking directly into the torrent of blue fire. The flames parted around her as if she were their true master, leaving her completely untouched.
Totomaru's jaw dropped. "She... she walks through my ultimate fire?!"
"My turn," Erza said calmly. Before she could even move, Lucy held up a key. "Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"
A man in a full horse costume appeared, holding a bow. "Moshi-moshi! Ready to serve!"
"Keep him busy!" Lucy ordered.
"Right-o!" Sagittarius said, drawing and firing his bow with impossible speed. A dozen arrows flew, not at Totomaru, but at the ceiling above him, the walls behind him, and the floor beneath him, forcing him to dance and dodge frantically. While he was distracted, Erza appeared before him like a phantom. She delivered one swift, powerful slash with the sword from her armor. Totomaru's eyes went wide, and he crumpled to the ground, defeated.
"Well," Lucy said, looking around at the unconscious bodies. "That was... surprisingly fast."
With Gajeel and the entirety of the Element 4 now defeated—one by a boop, one by a smackdown, one by a freezer, and one by sheer obsolescence—the morale of the remaining Phantom Lord mages shattered completely. Seeing their strongest fighters taken down so easily, they surrendered in droves. The great hall fell silent, the only sounds being the panting of the victorious Fairy Tail mages and the distant, thunderous booms from above.
The entire fortress shook violently. Dust rained from the ceiling. Everyone, friend and foe alike, looked up. The main event, the colossal battle between Makarov and Jose, was still raging, and it was about to enter its final, devastating stage.
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