"Why the hell does that jerk have to fly so damn fast?" the pink-haired girl grumbled loudly as she darted through the air. Her flaming wings left streaks in the sky behind her as she tried to keep low enough to stay near her team without hitting the waves.
The blonde below rolled her eyes, "At least, you're flying. I'm running on water here."
"Sorry, V" came from the poor black-haired girl who was slung over her sprinting friend's shoulder, "I'm not any help with stuff like this."
"It's fine, Amber." the flying girl, Kia, grinned, "That just means one of us will have full power when we get there."
"Speaking of there, why the hell is he headed for Tenrou Island anyway?"
The blonde, V, received no immediate response. Instead, her flying friend rose higher into the sky as two specks came into view on the horizon. One was unmistakably their destination, the giant Tenrou tree looming over the island, but the second was more concerning. The fiery girl's eyes locked onto the infamous ship that belonged to the dark guild Grimoire Heart. With her keen sight, it was easy to make out the mangled state of the vessel, but that wasn't what had put her on edge. It was the dark-haired figure she could see standing at the top. Even though they were still a great distance apart, her black eyes locked with his.
"Damn." Kia grumbled before turning to gaze back down to her two friends, shouting, "I'm going on ahead. Just follow my trail."
She didn't bother to wait for a response. Verani would have no problem getting to the island, but if Kia didn't get a move on she might go after the Black Wizard instead of her current target. Folding her fiery wings in and pushing more flames out her feet, she went plowing through the sky at a great speed.
||~x~||
The force of Fairy Tail stood in front of their Master protectively as the three Dragon Slayers landed after their combined attack against the Black Dragon. They watched in hope and wonder as the water began to settle.
"Did it work?"
Gildarts stopped behind the redheaded Requip wizard, "Of course not."
Gray turned, "What do you mean?"
The older man's expression remained unchanged, "He's not even using half as much power as the time he fought me. He's playing with us."
On cue, the ground underneath them began to crack, the island crumbling away to make room for the ancient beast to rise back into the sky.
"He's back in the air!" Erza called, though everyone already knew the grime fact.
Gray spoke up next, "All our attacks didn't even put a single scratch on him!"
The three Dragon Slayers stared in disbelief. From where Gajeel stood, he stared, "His power's unbelievable."
"We gave it everything we had. Three Dragon Slayers all at the same time." Through her shock, Wendy remained sitting upright, "Our whole guild went against him, and it still wasn't enough."
"This shouldn't happen. I'm supposed to be a freakin' Dragon Slayer," Natsu hit the ground, "so why the hell couldn't I beat him?"
Their companions stood nearby, all three Exceeds staring up. Pantherlily was the first to speak, "What do you think he'll do now?"
Still trying to be optimistic, Happy answered, "Maybe he'll just decide to go back home."
"We can't let down our guard." Carla warned the others just in time. Acnologia opened his maul slowly, air and ethernano swirling into his body.
"Breath attack!"
The Iron Dragon Slayer's words send everyone's minds running. They could all sense the strength of the attack he was preparing to blast at them. He wasn't just planning on getting rid of them, he was planning to erase the entire island.
"Defense magic users," Erza called, "bring out your most powerful spells!"
"But I don't have time to write an Enchantment!"
Levy stepped up to calm Freed, "Script magic has plenty of other defensive spells that we can use right now."
"Yes, you're right, Levy!"
Bixlow leaned over to his green-haired teammate encouragingly, "Think of one real quick!"
The Strauss sisters began rounding everyone together.
"Everybody concentrate all your magic power on Freed and Levy!"
"Let's hold hands!"
The great Black Dragon aimed its blast, a twinkle in its eye. The magic sparkled in a mesmerizing light.
But it didn't go off.
Instead the Fairy Tail members stared in awe at the streak of fire that slammed into the beast's shoulder, forcefully, but only slightly twisting Acnologia in the air. An angered roar erupted from the dragon as he turned to face the person who had dared to strike him. His eyes narrowed at the figure as the flames dispersed when she extended her fiery wings again. The magic that she had used to excel her speed continued licking hungrily around her feet.
"You done running yet, you overgrown lizard?!"
Gildarts paled as he watched the twenty-one year old girl taint the dragon who had ripped him to shreds. He went to yell up at her, trying to warn her that she was an idiot and didn't stand a chance, but someone else called out first.
"Kia!" Natsu screamed, his eyes glistening at the sight of his older sister.
The pink-haired girl didn't bother to look over and give a response, she knew where her eyes needed to be. Acnologia hadn't broken his gaze either, opening his mouth and bellowing. The remains of the wasted breath attack shot out at her. With amazing aerial grace, Kia twirled to let the energy skim past. Her elemental feathers flickered as the flames began licking up her entire being.
Gray stared, "Is she really going to take him on by herself?"
"There's no way," Lucy's words were hushed.
As the shock began to settle amongst those who knew the girl, a flash of lightning zipped across the ground, stopping in the center of the forming circle.
"Will you stop showing off already and hurry the hell up?!" V yelled toward her best friend as she set the other on her feet. Lightning rippled across her skin as the blonde stayed on high alert, "We don't have time for this!"
"Verani! Amber!" the Master stared at the two.
V turned with a smile, making a quick peace sign, "Hey Grandpa. Sorry I'm late." Her eyes wandered to the large blonde man that stood beside him, a wave of surprise crossing her face, "I thought you got yourself in trouble, Big Bro?"
A sighed escaped the dark-haired girl beside her, "Not the time, V."
"Sorry, Amber."
Everyone's attention was redirected to the sky when they heard Acnologia growl. He had forgone the magic attacks, using his normal roar and claws to go after the flying girl. Kia's hair whipped around with her flames as she pivoted and rolled away from each of his attacks.
"How is she doing that?" Erza's eyes tracked each precise movement that the other girl chose. Her body held no hesitation, making her snap judgements perfectly in order to keep all her limbs.
Gildarts stared as well, "It's almost like she's done this before."
"Because she has."
They all turned to see Kia's teammates watching. Verani had a huge grin on her face after she spoke while Amber had a kinder smile.
"Stop gawking!" Kia's voice rang out as she decided to counter, slamming red hot knuckles against the top of the dragon's head. "Amber, set a level seven!"
The dark-haired girl's eyes widened, "But you can't sneak through a level seven?!"
"Neither can he!" she argued while kicking off Acnologia's swinging tail, "Just trust me! I'll time it right!"
"You better!" Amber and V yelled in unison as the first girl pulled a dagger from her hip holster. Running the blade across her palm, Amber squeezed her hand as a small stream of her blood dotted the ground. She took her other hand, using her blood to write runes on the back of her bleeding one.
"Let the rivers run
And the might of mountains rise,
The essence that gives life
Gather by my hand
And protect that with I hold dear.
Blood Seal Set: Lock Seven."
The blood on the ground glowed as it shifted to match the symbol on the back of Amber's hand. A vibrant red glow spread out from her point, under-lighting everyone in the guild.
"Finish forming that circle so Kia has plenty of room to land." Amber gesture to V and the others. The blonde wanted to argue that she may have to race out to help or get Kia, but knew better; Amber knew how to use that knife.
Though they continued forming the circle, many of them were still watching the dance happening in the sky. Kia now had flames flickering up her entire arms, using any opening she could find to punch the Black Dragon wherever she could. But that had stopped.
Acnologia and Kia both hovered in the air, neither daring to even blink.
"Do you still think you can stop me, Phoenix Slayer?"
Everyone but Kia's team gasped as they heard the deep and malicious voice come from the Dragon of the Apocalypse.
V whistled, "She pissed him off this time."
Eyes flickered over to gauge the blonde's expression. Though her words were jovial, her features said a different story. She wanted to be out there fighting too.
The red glow below them shifted into a physical form as the blood red walls of a dome were rising around the outside of the group. Amber took a deep breath, ready to yell up to her friend, but wasn't able to.
"I will teach you a lesson!" Acnologia reared his head back, forcefully sucking in air and ethernano again. Kia didn't even flinch, taking in the air to fill her own lungs.
Amber bit her lip. She needed to give the pink-haired girl the countdown so that she could position herself to get into the barrier before it completely closed. There was only roughly forty-five seconds, but she couldn't let Acnologia know that; he could still turn that blast in their direction and wipe all of them out like a bunch of sitting ducks.
Every muscle in Verani's body twitched as she tried to suppress her natural lightning magic from coming to life. Unaware that she had started squeezing Erza's hand, the redhead squeezed back. Their eyes met.
"We just have to have faith in her."
"I have faith that she's about to do something stupid." V shifted her eyes back to the sky.
Kia snuck a peek at Amber's progress, gauging the time gap between the barrier's completion and when Acnologia was going to finally blast that magical roar in her face. She needed to get those numbers closer together.
Without warning, the Phoenix Slayer dove under the Black Dragon faster than most of the guild members could track. Going into a roll, she dodged a reflexinary claw swipe before opening her mouth toward Acnologia's underbelly.
"Phoenix Cry!"
The blast didn't do a ton of damage, but it was enough to make the dragon lose his initial concentration with the mounting attack. Another roar of aggravation filled the skies as Kia was forced to dodge the rampaging black tail that was determined to land at least one blow.
"Kia! Twenty!" Amber screamed at the top of her lungs.
Kia nodded as she turned to place herself between the others and Acnologia. She stretched her arms out to the sides, keeping them fully extended as she brought her hands together in front of her quickly. A wild spiral of warm tropical air and fire turned into a massive flaming funnel that she sent directly at the dragon's face.
"Phoenix Tornado!"
With her distraction in place, Kia spun and folded her wings. At a breakneck pace, she rocketed for the shrinking hole at the top of the incredibly strong blood barrier. Barely making it through, she shot her wings open to keep from creating a massive crater and disrupting Amber's barrier. A flame flickered from her outstretched palm before she slammed it down on top of blood rune in the dirt.
"Phoenix Slayer Secret Art: Living Flame."
Chains of pale orange flame wove around the red barrier, strengthening its protective magic. Kia remained crotched on the ground as she panted heavily. That tornado and the barrier had taken a lot out of her after flying across the ocean at a ridiculous speed. She peered up through her bangs, finding Acnologia charging up his breath attack one last time.
"Brace yourselves!"
She wasn't entirely sure who had yelled the warning, but she felt this strangely warm sensation spread from her chest. She felt lighter than before and much more tired than normal. Acnologia roared, the enormous concentration of magic blinding everyone for miles before it even made contact with the guild or the island itself.
Curious about the strange warmth, Kia couldn't help but wonder, 'Is it time already?'