A small uproar sounded throughout the guild hall, which was to be expected after the bombshell that Kia had just dropped. Some of them had looked to Master Mavis, hoping that she would correct the Phoenix Slayer's statement, but she didn't. Zeref had taken back the Book of E.N.D.
And things didn't look like they were going to improve when Warren's alarm on his tracking system started going off lowly.
"Ah! There's a dire situation to the east!" He cried as he read, "Almost every guild in Bosco has been decimated!"
"Oh, no!"
"How can so many guilds be taken down by one army?"
"That's terrifying!"
"I don't know if their goal was to take control of Bosco, but it seems like they've stopped their advance for now!" Warren's expression lifted, "There is some good news though! The enemy coming from the north is about to be met by Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus!"
Hope began trickling back into those in the guild, but he wasn't done yet.
Warren continued, "And although the invaders from the south have taken the port of Hargeon, Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale are on their way to drive 'em out!"
"They've got it covered! So that just leaves us to deal with the forces coming from the east and the west!"
"Well, hopefully that'll be the case. But there's no guarantee they'll be able to stop them."
"Hey! Try to have a little faith in our allies, would ya?"
Romeo stepped forward, "Come on! We gotta go and help our friends!"
"He's right." Jett jumped in, "If they're coming to our aid, we can't just sit here and let them do all the fighting for us!"
"We gotta jump in there and man the front lines with them!" Droy chimed.
And Master Mavis agreed wholeheartedly, "Of course. We'll form some squads." She pointed across the room, "Mirajane, you, Elfman, Lisanna, Gajeel, Levy, and Lily will take the north!"
"Manly squad!"
"This isn't a favor to Jenny," Mira smirked, "but glad to help!"
Lisanna looked to Levy, "We can handle 'em!"
"Yeah."
"I've wanted to arrest Sabertooth anway."
"Nope." Pantherlily hovered beside his partner with his arms crossed, "That's not gonna happen, Gajeel."
Master Mavis turned to the other side of the hall, "And providing support to the south will be Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Carla, and Laxus."
"Damn," Verani grumbled under her breath from beside Kia. Her best friends had gotten the pinkette to sit at one of the tables as she finished regenerating her stomach. With her back resting against the table itself, Kia listened, but remained silent.
From behind them, Amber muttered across the table, "You know we can't go to the front lines yet."
"I know," the blonde crossed her arms, "still doesn't mean it sucks any less."
"Hang on." Gray's voice seemed to cut through everything else in the guild, "Where's Natsu?"
Kia's gaze snapped up, her onyx eyes scanning everywhere in the guild as her nose also twitched. Her fear only grew stronger when several others started yelling out for him to answer.
'He wouldn't.'
But she knew better.
Her mind started racing: when was the last time she had seen him? When was the last time she had heard him? Even then, there was no way he could figure out where Zeref was.
But she knew that wasn't true either.
A piece of her just knew that if Natsu's nose had picked him up, his desire to finish the Black Wizard would be enough. There was also the chance that his instincts would tell him which way to go naturally.
Erza was quick to volunteer to go in his place and Master Mavis saw no point in making any arguments that would only waste their time. "Lucy and Cana, you'll stay here to watch over the prisoners."
Lucy seemed to snap out of a daze, "Oh. Yes, ma'am!"
Cana stood beside her as laid back as ever, arms over her chest, "Definitely don't wanna leave her alone with those old creepers."
Macao and Wakaba were more or less ignored in their simple whining as Master Mavis continued. "Everyone else will defend the guild hall. There's still a high probability of a surprise attack."
"Agreed," Makarov nodded at her side. "Especially after that little visit earlier. But what of the forces coming in from the east and west?"
The spectral blonde didn't react to the question physically as her eyes remained set as she thought through how she wanted to explain the next bit of information. "The western army is moving much more slowly than the others. Which means... that's likely where Zeref is coming from." Those words quickly sank in. "We'll have to deal with the other three groups first. Once they've been neutralized, we'll fend him off with everything we've got left."
Seeing as the First Master had a plan, the morale in the room didn't take that hard of a hit.
Romeo charged forward, "Yeah. Okay then. You can send me to the eastern front!"
"The eastern army poses the most imminent threat right now. Given the situation, we must counter them with the strongest fighters we can find."
Verani perked up a little bit, but came back down to Earthland when Amber gently nudged her in the ribs. The blonde knew that the likelihood of the First Master talking about their team was slim, but she wanted to do something. It was true that she and Amber had gotten an unexpected battle with a Spriggan the night before, but that had barely scratched at the itch. They had spent so many years constantly moving as a team in order to track down Zeref and the Book of E.N.D. while also keeping an eye on Acnologia. Life had been... too normal again.
The guild began cheering once they had learned that the Four Emperors of Ishgar were in place to hold the eastern front. No one was expecting them to be who Master Mavis was talking about when she mentioned putting their strongest fighters on that front, but it only added to their already boosted morale.
"If the enemy is somehow able to fight their way past them, there isn't a soul in Fiore that can hold back the invasion." Mavis closed her eyes for a moment, 'We're counting on you, Warrod.'
A moment settled over everyone as their excitement began to calm, giving Warren's system a good silence to interrupt when a singular blip appeared to their west. They all looked up at the map, watching it moving quickly away from the guild.
"Whoa! Look! Do you see that?"
"It's gotta be Natsu!"
Kia's heart dropped. Her eyes were glued to that flashing red dot that was clearly headed in the one direction she didn't want to see it going.
"Really?" Gray questioned, "Come on."
Makarov had a much stronger opinion, "Stop, you fool!"
His sister gripped the edge of the bench on either side of her. Her heart kept skipping and it had nothing to do with the small pangs of pain that were still coming from her healing organs.
Lisanna stared, "Oh, no. Does Natsu think he can take on Zeref all by himself?"
"That's manly, but reckless!"
"What an idiot." Laxus grumbled, his arms crossed.
Verani had worked her way closer to the Southern team when the map had first made the sound. She sighed at his side, her own arms crossed, "You can say that again."
Though Gray completely agreed with that sentiment, he was prepared to take action, "We should go back him up. He needs us!"
Elfman was right behind him in a second, "You're right! I'll go, too!"
"Hold on!" They were stopped as a bandaged arm stretched out in front of them. Erza's strong gaze staring at them calmly, "We're all concerned, but we must stick to the First Master's plan. Leave Zeref in Natsu's hands."
And Gray couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You gotta be kiddin' me. Zeref's power is legendary and he's got the Book of E.N.D. again."
"That may be true, but Natsu told us that he has the means to defeat him." Titania turned to face him fully. Many of them remembered how the Fire Dragon Slayer had declared that his right arm was a secret weapon that he planned to use against the Black Wizard. "I have no doubt he will."
"As usual, you're putting too much faith in that hot head! Get real!"
Amber took a subtle step closer to the two, slipping a hand into her knife pouch. Her eyes only left the pair for a split second to see how Master Mavis was reacting to the situation. She knew that the last thing they needed was for the two to start an actual fight in the hall. She would not hesitate to put a barrier between the two.
Erza's eyes narrowed, "That so? Meaning you don't have faith in him?"
But someone else took action before Amber had to.
"All right!" Lucy pushed the pair away from each other. "The two of you need to cool it down!"
Mira turned to their Masters, "So then, what do we do?"
The spectral blonde took a moment to finish her thoughts. She knew what would be the end result if he was really able to take Zeref out right now, but she also knew what the consequences of that would be. But she had to think of the world as a whole.
"We'll trust in Natsu. I realize that it might seem like a reckless strategy, but there is logic at its core. At the moment, we're completely surrounded, dispatching their leader and ending the battle as early as possible might prove to be an effective way out of this situation." She turned her seafoam eyes toward the Ice-Make wizard who had turned his back to most of the room. "So, Gray, I want you to believe in him, too."
"Ugh." He grumbled a little as he scratched at the back of his head. "It's not like I don't, ya know? I'm worried 'cause I don't like him going alone."
"Did you actually admit to being worried about Natsu?" Juvia blinked a few times in disbelief.
Amber sighed to herself, "The world really might be ending." She shook her head a little as she turned back to the table she had left, pausing. The dark-haired mage balled her fists while stepping toward V as Carla moved closer to Gray.
The transformed Exceed smiled, "He isn't alone. He's got somebody with him. Happy."
"Damn it!" As soon as Amber had gotten the younger Dreyar's attention, she made the exclamation.
"What is it now?" Cana let her hip pop out a little as she kept her arms crossed.
"He'll have more than Happy with him shortly." Amber pointed over toward the table that the Mythics had been sharing, a few not seeing what she was trying to show them. But there were a few who quickly understood that it was the lack of something, or rather someone, that she was addressing.
Wendy's eyes grew wide, "But you just said her stomach was in pieces!"
The Blood mage sighed, "If it involves Natsu's safety, she doesn't care. He comes first."
"She never cares what condition she's in," Verani grumbled, nearly growling in frustration, "just goes running off anyway."
Master Mavis took a step forward, "Regardless, Verani, I need you to-"
"I know." She cut her off. A small pulse of magic came from the force she used to put her hands on her hips, "I'm in charge of our stuff as long as Dumbass #2 is chasing after Dumbass #1."
No one really knew what to say. They could tell how torn up the other Mythics were without seeing Verani trying to keep her emotions in check so that her magic wouldn't run wild. But Amber didn't care.
"You're sparking."
"I wonder why!"
||~x~||
Determination and calm flowed through Natsu as he and Happy streaked across the sky. He had waited until he was sure that Kia was going to be alright before sneaking out of the guild. He knew that he would need to have his mind in the coming battle one hundred percent, and that certain relief would help him get in that mindset.
"Alright, Natsu." Happy's wings glowed as they zipped across Fiore. "There they are."
"Yeah."
"There's so many of them!"
Natsu nodded, "Looks like a big black carpet."
"And they're trying to roll the thing right into our house."
"Hey, that reminds me." The Dragon Slayer's eyebrows scrunched a little, "Whatever happened to that dirty old rug we used to have?"
Happy's posture relaxed a little, "What do you think happened? You burned it up."
"Oh, yeah!" The goofy grin on his face faded a little, though the sparkle in his eyes didn't disappear. "Not a bad idea. Take us in, Happy!"
"Aye, Sir!"
And that's exactly what they did. Even though the Alvarez soldiers could clearly see the flaming boy coming toward them, they could do little to dodge his assault. Happy turned and went back in again, soldiers crying out as they were thrown through the air from the force of Natsu's magic.
"Let's do another one!"
Happy peeked down at his best friend, "You seriously wanna fight all of them?"
"Yeah!" Natsu slipped from the Exceed's paws to land firmly on his feet. "If that's what it takes to drag Zeref out!"
The enemy yelled at him, still completely certain that they could take the singular wizard who stood before them. But two of them quickly learned how strong he was when Natsu shot forward and bounced their heads together. Even firing their magical weapons at him seemed to do nothing at first as he batted the surprise attack away like it was nothing.
"He knocked it away!"
"So what? Fire! Don't let him get closer!"
Those still mentally present quickly created a line, rapidly firing off their weapons. Natsu tried to continue his advance, but was forced to stop in order to guard himself.
"Natsu!" Happy felt a sense of panic rising inside him. A cloud of dust and dirt was getting kicked up, blocking his line of sight to his best friend.
"I'm fine!" The Dragon Slayer yelled out to calm his blue buddy. These attacks were nothing, but annoyances. 'I gotta protect all our friends. I gotta protect Kia. So that means I gotta fight!'
He took in a breath as he let the warmth grow and burn in his belly, "Fire Dragon King... Roar!"
The destructive cone of fire knocked back those pitiful magic shots as well as the entire frontline of Zeref's western army. Those that had just barely been spared by the attack stared at the landscape before them that was no longer there.
"He just burned away the ground!"
A small panic washed over their forces.
"No one said anything about fighting someone with that much power!"
"How many of ours did he take out?"
Where they had once underestimated the Fairy Tailers for sending only one mage and a flying cat, they were now concerned that they wouldn't be able to hold him off with the almost bottleneck situation they had found themselves in.
Then a bodiless voice answered the question, "Nine hundred and seventy-three men."
The soldiers stared in awe as a sphere of magic appeared in front of them. Spinning until a pair of feet landed on the ground, revealing their emperor standing between them and the powerful fire-breather.
"Which leaves 999,027 remaining." Zeref spoke as if he were simply reading statistics from an old history book, not as if they were living people that he was responsible for during this conflict.
Natsu squared his shoulders, "You got here quickly. That works for me."
"I was eager to come and say hello, Natsu."
The Fire Dragon Slayer reached up for the bandages that covered his right arm, causing them to immediately go slack. His eyes did not move from the man who had just appeared, "You're just in time to say goodbye, Zeref."