April 19th, X524
Eastern battlezone

"Egg buster," Kawazu spit several eggs which rained down on Ren and Sherry  with rapid speed. The air mage jumped backwards and created small blue bullets immediately which destroyed the eggs. Sherry controlled the nearby bricks to counterattack the egg buster.

"EGG BOMB!" The angry flying chicken shouted, then created a giant white egg and tossed it to two mages. This time, Sherry extended her hand, aimed at the flying object. The egg bomb was easily fallen into the doll mage's spell, as it pulled back its speed and retreated. The doll egg hit back to Kawazu as he fell from the sky. Ren created Ariel dome to trap Kazuma so that the latter suffocated and passed out quickly. "Yes.. we won." Sherry cheered happily.

"Only that fried chicken," Ren commented before rushing to help his fellow mages who were struggling to battle other dark mages.

• • • • •

Central battlezone

      The pale man expanded his long hair in various directions, waving like a windmill. With extreme speed, the trails of hair extended to reach the snow mage, and slashed him. Although Eve noticed the attack two seconds late, he could block it with his right hand. As a result, he got a few cuts before the annoying hair wrapped his hand. Wendy used a small version of the sky dragon's claw to slice the dark mage's long hair, causing the peripheral part of his hair to be cut. She landed on the ground beside Eve, and healed him immediately. The Phantom Lord mage made his hair back to normal.

"ROCK OF SUCCUBUS!" Vidaldus Taka shouted angrily while playing his guitar again, his spell took control of Eve completely. Eve's appearance had changed, he now had purple spiky hair  and merciless eyes. The possessed snow mage directly attacked the young princess who avoided the snow spells quickly. The sound mage smirked, very satisfied to watch the snow of two allies fighting each other. "You can't avoid him all the time, little girl. Soon, he will kill you. Hahaha," he laughed, "Attack her." He ordered Eve with a domineering tone.

• • • • •

Central battlezone

      Erigor levitated himself in the air, then he lifted his arms and pointed his hands towards the sky. The wind covered him, forming four small tornadoes; above and below him, and his left and right sides. He changed his hand gesture and stretched outwards, a red magic circle was generated from his hand. A second later, each magic circle appeared inside each tornado. Five wind blades from five magic circles were launched at the same time, then fused into a larger concentrated wind blast which was fired towards the crown prince. The wind around him changed into a conical shape, still engulfing him.

      Seeing that a powerful windstorm was coming nearer, the blue-haired guy knew that he could still get hit even if he could dodge to the side or jump up. He quickly created a transparent barrier made of multiple hexagons, which was the absolute protective spell of his heavenly body magic. The barrier surrounded him and protected him from the coming attack.

     Erza requipped her Black Wing Armor, jumped into the air and flew towards the dark mage, a sword appeared in her hands. Multiple V-shaped wind blades emerged from a blue magic circle, which was cast by Erigor, and directed towards the red-haired girl. The red-haired knight speed up while dodging the sharp blades skillfully, with her black wing armor enchanting her speed and ability to fly.

     Guessing her opponent's location inside the wind dome, Erza aimed at her target and slashed him in a cross pattern. Her sudden offense managed to hit the dark mage's arm. He cancelled his wind spell then landed on the ground, pressing his bleeding cut with his hand. He looked at the couple with fury.

• • • • •

GoldBridge Town Gate

"MY SHADE GHOST, KILL HIM," Jose Porla shouted, creating a small purple sphere. It floated in the air and enlarged speedily before it gained its final shape. He decided to exhaust the blond prince, then he would cast his most destructive spell.

     The giant monster-head, or the shade ghost from what the dark mage called, had two red eyes and several thin hands. It attacked Laxus with its hands simultaneously. Laxus dodged and dodged, he didn't start counterattacking it. Because he heard a soft voice casting a spell.

"Shooting star, grant me your power. Celestis Stella Blast!" Lucy cast as soon as she saw the floating giant creature. Sparky was carrying her, and they were somehow within a close range from the shade ghost. Lucky for them, the shade ghost didn't notice them. Lucy lifted her hand as her magic formed in the shape of a little star. She threw it towards her target. The star was getting bigger and bigger, and spinning rapidly. The moment the celestial star pierced through the body of the giant being, it disappeared. Lucy and Sparky landed beside Laxus.

• • • • •

Northern cave

"Go away," the voice said, "You can't destroy my Archenemy."

"Who're you?" Kagura asked.

"I'm the guardian spirit of the Archenemy, Zera Cheney. I advise you to get out."

"I have to destroy this sword," Kagura shouted.

"Then don't blame me," the voice said angrily. Later, a black wave radiated from the sword, and a girl with brown hair in two ponytails appeared, facing Kagura. Her face was fierce, and she sent a glare to the village maiden.

     Within a flash of an eye, the surrounding around Kagura became black. Kagura saw neither the girl nor the sword. Everything was black except the light emitted from the magic circle where she was standing. 'What happen?' Kagura wondered.

     The blackness faded, and Kagura found herself in a ruined village.  Rosemallow village, which Phantom Lord destroyed ten years ago. She heard the painful screams or panic shouts from the villagers and the dark mages' happy laughter. "NOO." She shouted. Because of Zera's illusion spell, Kagura was transported back to her past.

"Big brother! Save me." Kagura heard a familiar shout. She turned around to see her younger self who was about to be stabbed by a dark mage. Her brother Simon punched the man and picked her up. He ran out of the fight, unfortunately, they were surrounded by other six dark mages.

     Kagura saw Simon attacking one of the mages, as he cleared the way so that little Kagura could escape. "Go, Rara. RUN. Big brother will catch you up later." With fear overwhelming her, little Kagura ran away alone.

     The gravity change mage saw that her big brother was stabbed by a sword, and another dark mage killed him with a fatal blow, Simon's screams echoed the surrounding. Tears flowed down from her eyes, as she witnessed her brother's death. She knew that her brother died, but.. she just couldn't expect his tragic death.. not like this.

      The scene changed, and Kagura was sent back to the black blackground.

"Kagura!" Kagura heard a familiar voice. "Big brother," she whispered in surprise. She saw her brother in front of her, his abdomen and his shirt was soaked with blood, and there were a few cuts on his arms. Kagura stared at her brother's strange eyes. "I died because of you, Kagura. I saved you, but you abandoned me." She could hear the anger in his voice.

"No." Kagura denied quickly, "I didn't mean to run away. I waited for you, big brother."

      Simon laughed painfully, "Enough," he disappeared, only to emerge behind her, "You are not my sister. You left me alone." Kagura turned around, "No, big brother. You misunderstood me."

      A second later, Simon lost in her sight, as the girl from earlier appeared again.

"What did you do to me?" Kagura asked.

Zera ignored her question, and stared at her before speaking, "So you lost your brother seven years ago. If you want, I can revive your brother and even let you and your brother live in this time-space."

"Really?" Kagura asked her in doubt.

"If you want to." Zera replied.

• • • • •

Central battlezone

"Sky Dragon's Roar!" A hurricane-like blast directly hit the snow mage who was dispersed into white snow flakes, much to the sound mage's surprise. "What the heck!" the latter cursed. Wendy smiled, she could foresee the blond guy's strategy. The evil Eve under the dark mage's spell was just a snow clone which was created by Eve. Of course, she knew it due to her dragon slayer's sense.

      As for Vidaldus Taka, he was successfully deceived, he didn't even notice that the real Eve switched with his snow clone, or that the white exceed carried the snow mage swiftly. Suddenly, Eve appeared behind the dark mage and attacked him with an extremely cool blizzard. The blizzard was very strong enough to blow the opponent back and leave him in a frozen state.

      Wendy jumped high and spread her arms like the wings, generating two large whirlwinds. The wind twisted and rotated on the way, and attacked the sound mage, resulting in the man being defeated by two young mages.

• • • • •

GoldBridge Town Gate

      Laxus raised his hands, generating electricity between his open palms. The electricity formed into a massive lightning spear, which was sent to the Phantom Lord mage.

     Jose Porla, who was about to move, felt like his legs were chained to the solid floor. "What the fuck!" He cursed angrily. He tried to break the iron chains, but he failed. Bad for him, the lighting spear hit him, and a deadly shock wave passed through his vein. The shade magic user shouted in pain as he knelt, defeatedly.

       Laxus and Lucy couldn't figure out why Jose Porla didn't avoid the attack. They heard a giggle from their back, thus they turned around and saw a pink-haired petite girl with two ponytails. The lighting dragon slayer frowned at the girl because she just popped out from nowhere in one second. "Who're you?" He asked.

"I'm Virgo the maiden. Princess's soon-to-be contracted zodiac spirit," she said happily, "I used my chain magic to immobilize him."

"Why is your appearance like this?" Lucy asked. The maid spirit now was totally opposite from the last time they fought, "I mean.. you're so cute now. But I'm curious. you can transform, right?"

"Princess said I'm cute," Virgo said happily, jumping up and down. "I can take my appreance according to my key holder's liking, Princess," the girl replied, "I know Princess didn't like an ugly giant maid This is the form I used seventeen years ago."

"Thank you, Virgo," Lucy smiled warmly. "Meanwhile, Laxus walked near the Grand Cannon and checked the weapon, "We still have three minutes"

"Destroy it with light magic, Master Laxus," Virgo suggested.

• • • • •

Northern battlezone

       Kagura wished to see her brother again.. Whatever the girl's saying was true or not, just leave it aside. The reality wasn't what she was facing. Her master was battling his enemy without magic. She couldn't let another precious person to her die in front of her, she won't run away again.

      The gravity change mage stretched her hand to pull the brown-haired girl down by using her magic. The spirit was caught off guard by Kagura's sudden attack. The girl faded away, and the surrounding scene was changed back to the cave.

      In fact, the Zera who was talking to Kagura earlier was an illusion from an illusion spell. Because the real Zera created both illusion and time-space spell at the same time, the effects didn't stay strong. Her spells were destroyed as long as the victim could breakthrough the trial. Zera was surprised that the young girl could break her spells.

      Kagura picked up her broken sword and ran towards the pillar, trying to destroy the Archenemy again. The sword sent off black electricity. Kagura dodged quickly before jumping again.

• • • • •

Central battlezone

"Grand Chariot!" Jellal raised and overlapped his hands, and his index and middle fingers of the top hand spread out. Seven seals appeared on the ground around Erigor and connected to make a constellation, trapping the dark mage inside. Each magic seal released a powerful light blast on the wind mage before exploding, impacting very severe damage on him.

     The crown prince glanced at the defeated dark mages, "Bad people don't deserve freedom." The village guards captured them so that they couldn't run away. Jellal looked at Erza and was surprised to see that she was also looking at him. He saw that she was smiling. Her smile was like a refreshing potion which washed his tiredness away. A genuine smile appeared on his face, sometimes, a smile showed unspoken meanings.

• • • • •

GoldBridge Town Gate

      Leo appeared beside Lucy, "Let me do it!" Laxus and Lucy nodded before moving aside. The lion spirit gathered a white beam in his mouth and released it towards the cannon. The beam hit it loud.

     The celestial spirit made sighed in relief after the weapon was broken by Leo's light beam. She looked at Laxus who gave her a smirk, "Let's go back to Rosemary," he said calmly. Her brown eyes widened and still stared at him with slight horror. "After two minutes," Laxus added, "I know you're tired Blondie, but the battle is not over yet."

"Please drink this, Princess and Master Laxus," Virgo gave them two small bottles, "healing potion from the celestial spirit world."

"That's great Virgo," Lucy took them and handed one bottle to Laxus. He looked at her for a moment before drinking it. The blonde girl took a sip before thanks to the spirits who then returned to their world.

• • • • •

Northern cave

"You can't break my sword," Zera warned Kagurs again. To her surprise, Kagura landed beside the stone pillar and grabbed the handle of the long sword, with her full strength. As soon as she pulled it from its sheath, the pillar was broken into pieces, as the sword sheath dropped on the rock pieces.

"Since the Archenemy chose you, I don't have any objection, I will fight on your side," the spirit stated, "I can perform shadow magic, illusion magic, time-space magic and telepathy. My magic is limited, and I can't go further from the sword. Call my name when you want to summon me. As for now, I've to return to my sword to restore my power," she said before disappearing from the sight.

     Kagura saw her master spit out blood after he had been hit by a dark spell.

"This is your end, Rob." Geoffery laughed a large indigo magic circle started forming in her hand. Kagura swiftly ran to attack the Phantom Lord leader who could easily spot her easily. He avoided her attack and kicked her in the abdomen. Kagura dodged the attack.

        Rob created three fire ropes which circled rapidly before catching the dispel mage. The fire rings restrained Geoffery's legs and hands. Rob saw that his student stabbed his greatest enemy, he smiled proudly. The sharp stabbing pain was all over his body. He slowly laid down on the ground.

       Kagura stabbed the Phantom Lord leader as the blade pierced through his body. She pulled out the sword and kicked him at the same time, causing the man to fall backwards as his life was ended. The blood on the Archenemy was washed away by the black aura. Kagura didn't have time to be happy that she just revenged for her brother.. because she was worried for her master..

"Master," she shouted as she bent to check the village head. He was hardly breathing, and his eyelids were about to close.

"Kagura I'm so proud of you."

"Master, please stop talking," Kagura sobbed. "You will be okay."

"Archenemy... Use its power for good. Join His Majesty Makarov's army," he whispered slowly before coughing blood, "I'm sorry, child. I had to leave you only with such an important task."

     His vision became blurred as he couldn't see his disciple, but he heard her cries. While struggling between being conscious and losing it, an image of a beautiful girl with blue hair appeared in his partial consciousness. She was smiling at him, her sweet smile was one of the prettiest he had ever seen. "Dee!" he whispered before the girl faded away.. and his eyes closed forever.

• • • • •

      Sixty years ago, which was in X464, 16-year-old Rob Belserion first met 15-year-old Grandeneey Marvell in the Magnolia downtown, he fell so hard for her.

     She was the youngest daughter of the newly appointed Head of Justice Lord Marvell, just came to Magnolia because of her father's transfer. He was the youngest son of the Belserion Clan, from a family full of warriors.

     Just to be friends with her, he started studying many literature books and arts. His sudden change was totally opposed by his family, however, he was happy to see her every day.

     Months later, they met Prince Makarov Dreyar, and they became friends. What he unexpected was that Grandeeney had fallen for the blond prince.

       Two years later, in X466, His Majesty Yuri appointed His Highnesd to be Fairy Tail's Crown Prince, and granted a royal marriage for the couple. At that time, his family got an imperial order about the Archenemy. Rob volunteered first, because he wanted to leave.

     When His Highness and Her Highness sent him off to the countryside, he could say them goodbye with easiness.. because.. he knew that His Highness would treat her very well. At the moment, ending like this was the best way, that a pure friendship was more beautiful than love. No one knew his love for her, not even Grandeeney.

     When he left the countryside, he did shed a tear silently although he was still smiling. For him, just meeting her and loving her in this lifetime... was enough.

• • • • •

April 20th, X524 (8 AM)

      It was a beautiful morning of a new day in GoldBridge Town. The citizens got a new mayor who was appointed by the Royal Crown Prince, in the place of the previous cruel mayor Everlue. It was like a rebirth of the town, from now on, the nightmares of the GoldBridge people were ended, and from now on, there was no Phantom Lord that all people feared. All illegal actions and criminals were going to be punished according to the laws.

• • • • •

Rosemary village

      Previously, it was Northern battlezone but now it became a memorial place. In front of the tombs of the fallen warriors, a group of young people were standing silently, giving respect to the fallen heroes for the last time. It was late, when she and Jellal-kun  arrived the northern cave, they saw Kagura sitting on the ground like a statue, Master Rob lying without moving beside her, and a lifeless Phantom Lord mage near them. The battle had ended finally, all Phantom Lord mages were capured. However, so e village guards lost their lives in this battle. The funeral for all fallen heroes was held yesterday evening.

       The red-haired beauty was staring at her granduncle's memorial stone, remembering his kindness that he saved her. Wendy hugged her second brother while sobbing. Carla secretly apologized to Master Rob that she failed to prevent his death although she had predicted it days ago.

       Meantime, the group saw Ren and Kagura approaching them. The Rosemary mages were carrying their bags. The purple-haired girl put a banquet of tiny blue flowers in front of her master's tomb. Forget-me-nots were her favourite flower, as well as her teacher's.

"We'll go to Magnolia together, Your Highness," Ren said, "We want to join your side." His sad voice reflected his sadness for his loss.

"It's Master's last wish too," Kagura added, "He requested us to fight for you."

       Jellal stepped forwards, smiling at them, "Thank you, Ren. Thank you, Kagura. Your support is indeed our strength."

"We won't fail you, Your Highness," Ren replied.

      Erza hugged Kagura warmly as she whispered, "Don't be very sad, Kagura. We've to fulfill his wish.. together." The violet-haired girl answered back, "He's always in our memory. I'm sure he is watching us from heaven." Kagura smiled, and Erza agreed.

     Soon, the gang left the Rosemary village to head back to the capital. The spirit of an old man wearing a white robe looked at the group with a satisfied and proud smile. "Trust your friends.. and never give up. The ones who can help Makarov are only you, children. I'm counting on you." Then, a ray of white light spotted him, and a moment later, he disappeared.

^_^