As Zeref vanished beyond the horizon, I forced a smile while collapsing onto my butt, my legs giving way as I chuckled wryly, confused by the whole situation. Wiping my face, which was laced with sweat, I glanced up at the sky, immensely relieved that Zeref was no longer in the picture.
'Feels like I've aged a decade in the last half an hour.' Lowering my head, I softly smiled, though my good mood was interrupted as Ultear grabbed my shoulders, slamming me onto the ground. "Why!? Why did you do that!? I-I had him! I finally had him! WHY!?" Standing over me, Ultear looked down, tears dripping from her eyes onto my face.
"Tsk, because I didn't want to die." Snorting, I pushed Ultear away as I rose to my feet, dusting myself off while looking at her disheveled appearance. "B-But, I had him! He was unconscious. I-I finally had him." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her nonsense; sure, she got lucky and managed to take advantage of Zeref's weakness, but that's it.
There's no way she or Grimoire Heart would've been able to keep him imprisoned; Zeref was far too strong. I wasn't able to truly grasp his strength, but just being on the same island as him sparked fear in me; Zeref was a mage leagues above us. If anything, I saved her from probably being killed by him; after all, I'm sure when he wakes up, he wouldn't take kindly to his kidnappers.
"Sure, go ahead. Keep those delusional thoughts. You genuinely have a better chance of deluding yourself than doing whatever you wanted with Zeref." Softly shaking my head, I brushed strands of hair sticking to my sweaty face backwards as I approached Ultear.
"Now then. Considering you're still an enemy, allow me to finish." Cracking my knuckles, I narrowed my eyes, causing her to stand as she quickly raised her hands, clearly not going down without a fight. However, just as I was about to do so, golden light shot up to the sky from deep within Tenrou Island, causing me to furrow my brows, thinking it was an enemy, though when I sensed the magic signature, I couldn't help but frown.
'It's not any I've ever sensed before, yet, it's somehow familiar.' It was weird, though most of all, I knew whoever it was was friendly; I didn't know how, I just somehow knew.
As the golden light began to recede, an explosion happened in a different section of the Island, causing me to click my tongue as Erza's magic power was rapidly dwindling. "Tch, another time then." Shooting Ultear a glare, I ignored her and dashed off, heading deeper into the forest towards the source of Erza's fight.
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3rd POV
"Ahh!" Screaming fearfully, Lucy leaped to the side, dodging Kain's sumo-stop, crushing the ground beneath him while Taurus dashed towards him, swinging his double-headed greataxe, intending to chop Kain in half.
Unfortunately, Kain's fist dug into Taurus's face before his weapon could reach him, sending him tumbling across the ground, slamming through several trees before stopping. "Ugh, I-I think that's all I've got. Don't die, Lucy, I-I need… Your… Boobs." Dissipating into golden light, Taurus looked at Lucy, whose face aggressively twitched.
"Dammit! Scorpio, help please!" Reaching into her pouch, grabbing Scorpio's key, she poured her magic power into it, summoning Scorpio. "Yeah! I'm here, Lady Lucy!" "Good! Now help me so I don't die!"
Leaping onto the ground, dodging one of Kain's palms, which crushed a large tree behind her, she pointed it at Kain, who raised his leg, intending to crush her, yet a column of sand blasted him, forcing Kain back. "Haa, thank goodness." Wiping sweat off her face, Lucy quickly rose to her feet, unhooking her magic whip from her hip as she eyed Kain, who seemed to have received nothing but a few scratches from Scorpio's attacks.
"Oh, he seems pretty strong, Lady Lucy." "Y-Yeah, I know, I've been fighting him for pretty long already." Nervously gulping, Lucy eyed Kain, who reached down, grabbing a thin, blonde hair, causing Lucy to narrow her eyes, watching as he then grabbed the voodoo doll attached to his waist.
"No. Not again." With horrified eyes, Lucy watched as Kain inserted her hair into the doll, only for him to throw the doll into the air, causing Lucy to be suddenly thrown into the air similarly to the voodoo doll.
Once Lucy reached her peak height, gravity took over, and she began falling, screaming the whole time. "Ahhh! I can't fly!" While she fell, Kain had clenched his fist and was aiming at the falling doll, preparing to punch it, though just when he was about to, a fiery figure lunged at him.
"Fire Dragons kick!" Slamming his foot into Kain's face, he was sent flying through the air, crashing through tree after tree while Natsu landed where he stood, instinctively catching the doll. "Eh, a doll? What's a doll doing here?" Tilting his head, he glanced at the doll, grabbing its arms and messing around.
"N-Natsu, can you please stop!" Lucy, having been saved twice by Natsu, rises to her feet, looking at him, while she uselessly waves her arm into the air. "Oh, Lucy! Haha, I didn't know you were here. Why are you doing that with your arm?" Smiling happily, Natsu approached Lucy, whose face twitched. "Because of the doll." As Lucy briefly explained Kain's magic, Natsu nodded, only for him to wickedly smirk.
"Hehe, so that means I can control you?" Without warning, Natsu played with the doll, making Lucy dance or do random things, greatly amusing Natsu while he ignored her complaints.
"Whoa, how do you move your hips like that? That's crazy." "NATSU!" Lucy glared at Natsu in both embarrassment and anger, though her eyes widened slightly when she spotted Kain in the distance. "Natsu, Kain, he's back!"
"Give me my doll back!" Shouting, Kain lunged at Natsu, knocking him into numerous trees, freeing Lucy, causing her to sigh in relief, only for her to swing her whip, wrapping it around the doll before retrieving it, causing her to be flung several meters back.
"A-At least I have the doll now." Groaning in pain, Lucy opened her mouth, ready to scream as she stared at the bottom of Kain's foot, yet Natsu once again arrived to save her, his fiery fist digging into Kain's stomach.
"C'mon, Lucy, let's quickly beat this dude and help the others." "Ugh, o-okay." Rising to her feet, she stuffed the doll into her satchel while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Natsu, staring Kain down.
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Further away, where numerous explosions occurred, Erza was facing demonized Jiemma, well, rather than facing, it would be accurate to say surviving him.
Lunging at the demonized man, Erza, donning her Flame-Empress Armor, leaped into the air, dodging an explosion. Gripping her sword, she enveloped it in flames and slashed downward, launching a massive arc of flames.
However, the attack did nothing as Jiemma punched it, dispelling it with an explosion before kicking the ground, using an explosion to rapidly propel him before Erza, who quickly lowered her sword, just as he punched her, blocking his initial attack, yet the delayed explosion that followed soon after sent her crashing to the ground.
Skipping across the ground, she finally stopped after slamming into a boulder; gasping for air, Erza wiped her bloody mouth, glancing at her broken sword and her armor, which had cracked into pieces, barely covering her body.
Gritting her teeth, she requiped for the fourth time, donning her Morning-Star Armor. Grabbing the hilt of her sword, Erza dashed towards Jiemma, running in a zig-zag pattern, evading his attacks, which left behind craters.
Once she closed the distance, she swiftly swung her sword, clashing with his abnormally hard fist, deflecting her sword at every turn. Kneeing the bottom of her hilt, sending her arms upwards and leaving her chest wide open, Jiemma violently kicked her stomach, a delayed explosion occurring a moment later that flung her into the distance, her broken armor leaving a trail of pieces.
"Pathetic. Stop your pointless struggle. A weakling such as yourself will never defeat me." Lowering his leg, Jiemma approached Erza, who had risen to her feet once more, having requiped into her Giant Armor.
"Ha. Ha. If I listened to all the enemies who have said such things. I would've died years ago." Pushing a destroyed tree out of the way, Erza, bleeding from her head, glared at Jiemma, her eyes remaining as defiant as before. "Fine then. I shall end this pointless struggle."
Clenching his fist, Jiemma swiftly closed the distance, taking Erza by surprise as he slammed his fist into her chest, exploding her armor off her body before sending her crashing through numerous trees. "Hmph. The weak will always fall to the strong."
Snorting, Jiemma turned around, walking away, though he didn't make it far before several swords hit him, managing to draw blood; stopping, he slowly turned around, glaring at Erza, who had donned her Heaven's Wheel Armor, floating in the air with a hundred swords surrounding.
"W-Where are you g-going? I-I haven't a-allowed you, t-to leave." Forcing a faint smirk, Erza stared down at Jiemma, who angrily narrowed his eyes.