Apotheosis

"Ultear! Meredy!" Jellal walked through the streets of Magnolia, calling their names. Everything was different to him. Buildings, landmarks, and plants were not in the same place he could remember.

'What happened? Ever since that red light, everything is out of place.' Jellal looked at Kardia Cathedral in front of him. 'This building shouldn't even be in this location.'

Jellal felt a huge magical presence standing on top of the cathedral. A figure with red skin dropped down onto the ground in front of Jellal.

"You…must be August." Jellal commented. "There's only one man among the Spriggan who would have magic that powerful."

"You seem quite powerful yourself. But you're fifty years too young to be fighting me." August responded.

Jellal crouched on the ground and a yellow light engulfed his body.

"Why don't we test that, Wizard King."

Much to Jellal's surprise, August took the same stance and a yellow light engulfed his body.

"Meteor!" Both August and Jellal shouted.

The two of them flew right towards each other at high speed. Suddenly, the yellow light surrounding Jellal vanished and August slammed into Jellal's chest with his knee.

"W-what?!" Jellal was launched backwards into one of the nearby buildings.

"So you use Heavenly Body Magic? That is a rare magic indeed. You're quite skilled to be able to use it at the level you do." August commented.

Jellal pushed the debris off of him and jumped back up.

'What happened? It was almost as if my Meteor was turned off?'

Jellal jumped into the air and swords of lightning began to form behind him.

"Jiu Leixing!"

August remained standing still and Jellal noticed something strange about his eyes. At that moment, his spell dispersed. Yellow light engulfed August once again and he dashed right into Jellal, hitting him with an elbow strike to his chest.Jellal coughed up a bit of blood and was knocked through several more buildings.

"Meteor!"

Jellal stopped himself and flew up high into the air. His aura vanished again and he began to fall to the ground.

'What is going on?!'

August appeared above Jellal and raised his hand above his head. A huge ball of fire formed above his palm and August threw it at Jellal.

Jellal raised both hands up and a magic circle formed. A look of intrigue formed on August's face as he looked at the spell Jellal was casting.

"One…two…three…no…eight…" August commented to himself.

"Compact Eight Elements!" Jellal launched a super condensed ball of magic at August. The ball suddenly dispersed mid flight and the huge fireball August created hurtled towards Jellal.

"What the hell is going on?!" Jellal exclaimed as the fireball approached him. He raised his hand out in front of him.

"Requip!"

Three of Mystogan's staves dropped onto the ground in front of him.

"Three Layered Magic Circle: Mirror Water!"

Jellal expected his spell to be dispersed. To his surprise, it went through, and the fireball rebounded back at August. August swiped his hand, dispersing the fireball.

'Why did that work but my Heavenly Body Magic doesn't?' Jellal wondered.

"Compact Eight Elements" is what you called that previous attack? That was truly an astounding magical attack. Perhaps I'll try it out for myself sometime." August landed on the ground in front of Jellal. He made a swiping motion with his hands and a gust of wind blew the staves out of the ground.

August clad himself in a yellow light again and charged at Jellal. To August's surprise, Jellal rushed at him without any magic. At the last moment, a yellow light enveloped Jellal. The two of them threw a punch at each other, hitting each other in the face and knocking each other away. A surprised look formed on August's face.

"Too bad for you August." Jellal said as he wiped the blood from his mouth. "I got you figured out!"

"Is that so? An interesting trick, but something like that won't work on me again." August wiped the blood from his mouth as well as he noticed Jellal raising his hand in front of him.

"Requip!"

Five staves fell onto the ground surrounding Jellal. A huge magical barrier shot up straight into the sky coming from the staves. Jellal pointed his hand up to the sky as his magic began to skyrocket.

August stared intently at Jellal. 'So he set up a magical barrier using staves so my magic does not work on it…and his barrier seems to block my Copy from analyzing his technique. He learns fast.'

Up above, August noticed clouds forming above Jellal.

"While the depths of despair consume thee" Jellal said. August's eyes widened as he recognized what Jellal was doing.

'The start of that incantation…that's an ancient magic from before even the era of dragons! Where did he learn that?! No that does not matter…I need to counter with my own!'

August raised his hand, pointing a finger towards the sky as well. A magical circle appeared on the ground.

"My consciousness extends to the depths!"

Jellal continued with his incantation.

"I, who commands all the astral plane"

"Whilst thou art cursed to expire into nothing"

"I who stands bathed in heavenly light"

"Whilst thou cowers before the gates of hell"

"Come forth, divine lightning!"

August did the same, matching his timing with Jellal's.

"Thou dwellest in the depths of despair"

"I command the heavens and earthland"

"Thou art but void and nothingness"

"Where the heavens shine, there am I"

"Thou wait at the gates of hell"

"Come, Thunder of the gods!"

The sky above Fiore had turned pitch black. A huge magic circle had formed above Jellal and was glowing brightly. Meanwhile, August's magic circle glowed brightly from the ground. Both of them let out their magic with one mighty yell.

"Indignation!"

Two huge beams emerged from the sky and the ground, colliding with each other. The entirety of Magnolia town was engulfed in bright light. Jellal's staves disintegrated and the barrier around him dissipated.

From the collision of the two beams, a dome-like explosion spread out across almost all of Magnolia Town, leaving no traces of any building standing nearby.

August took a knee, smoke coming out from his body. He looked at Jellal who had done the same.

"To think you knew about such ancient magic…I underestimated you boy…" August slowly stood back up. Jellal ripped off his smoldering cloak, revealing a black, skin tight top.

Jellal panted heavily as he looked at August. 'Damn…he even knew how to use his own version of Indignation…no wonder he's called the Wizard King…he knows just about every magic in the book. Not only that, but he can copy just about any caster type magic and nullify it…'

"I acknowledge you, Jellal." August said. "Because of that, I am now prepared to fight you with all of my might."

Jellal's eyes widened.

"You were holding back?!"

"Let me show you why I'm called the Wizard King!" August began to flare his magical power up drastically.

"I've learned just about every caster magic there is to ever exist! And for His Majesty, I am prepared to use them all!"

"Fire Magic: Inferno Aura"

"Metal Magic: Steel Skin"

"Ethernano booster"

"Light Magic: Radiant Armor"

"Lightning Magic: Lightning Cloak"

"Wind Magic: Stratus"

"Earth Magic: Fortify"

"High Speed"

"Ice Magic: Frozen Bulwark"

"Barrier"

"Enchant: Vernier"

"Enchant: Arms"

"Enchant: Armor"

"And yours of course! Heavenly Body Magic: Meteor!"

The air around August was lit ablaze, his red skin took a metallic hue and started to glow brightly. Lightning crackled around him and the wind around him began to pick up in speed. An aura of bright yellow magic engulfed him and a bright yellow barrier surrounded him. Beneath his feet, the ground began to freeze.

"It's not for everyone that I use my magic to this extent! Consider yourself lucky!" August shouted.

Jellal clenched his fists as he saw all of those magics put together all on August's body. He felt a tingling sensation across his whole body as the intense magic August was giving out. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before…almost. A smirk formed on Jellal's face.

"You really are the Wizard King. I can see that. I can feel that…but…" Jellal pictured Meliodas' face in his head. 'When you've returned back to Britannia… someone else has to protect us from threats like this…protect… Fairy Tail…Erza…'

"The person I aspire to surpass, the one who I trained with, is far stronger than you!" Jellal continued. Meliodas' words from years ago echoed in Jellal's head.

|I think you'll be able to hold your own against me in no time. You're a lot stronger than I was a few years ago. At the rate you're growing, you might even surpass me.|

August raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"And who is it that trained you?"

Jellal took a deep breath in. The sensation he felt all over his body stopped and he looked August resolutely in the eyes.

"Meliodas."

August could not hide the visible shock on his face upon hearing the name. Jellal widened his stance.

"Here I come, August!"

Jellal's magic started to rise up and a bright yellow aura enveloped his whole body, rapidly flaring outward.

"HAAAAAAH!" Jellal let out a very loud and long yell. The ground beneath him started to crack and huge gusts of wind blew out from his body. August remained still, staring at Jellal as he tried to keep his feet firmly planted into the now rumbling ground.

Jellal clenched his fists and grit his teeth hard, his eyes wide. The red tattoo on his face began to glow and his hair started to rise up.

August stared at Jellal, dumbfounded. 'What is that power?! How was he hiding that much magic? Is it second origin? No, even if it was second origin, it shouldn't be this much!'

The yellow aura around Jellal began to crackle with bits of lightning and immediately turned blue. Jellal's hair, now fully standing up, started to let off a royal blue glow.

"What did you just do?!" August questioned. He squinted as he watched Jellal, trying to analyze the change in Jellal.

"RAAGGGHH!" Jellal let out an even louder shout as he looked up into the sky. His blue aura shot outwards uncontrollably.

"I see now…" August commented. "You stored magic separately into the marking on your face, releasing it during a fight to radically increase your magical power.

Jellal's aura began to calm down. Jellal took a deep breath in and took a step forward towards August, the original erratic blue aura around him turned into a consistent fiery aura that continued to flare up.

"Now, August, you can fight me when I'm giving it my all!" Jellal said as he continued to walk towards August.

"So you've surpassed your limits and attained an even greater power…one, that I'll admit, is even beyond my own magical power. But how long will it last?" August jumped up high into the sky. He pointed his hand downward at Jellal. Thousands of bright light orbs immediately rained down on Jellal.

Jellal kicked off the ground and flew up towards Jellal, seemingly vanishing with his sheer speed. August suddenly felt a sharp pain to his side as he was kicked across the sky.

"He's fast! And even with all of these magical abilities up, he can hurt me!" August quickly recovered himself midair. He noticed Jellal had already started casting magic as a magical seal appeared in front of him.

"Cancel" August pointed towards Jellal's spell. The spell immediately vanished. August immediately appeared in front of Jellal,

A series of explosions occurred within August's vision, engulfing Jellal within the blast.

Smoke and dust gathered as he dashed out.

"Not bad, let's see how much more you can evade." August said as he waved his hand, creating a massive orb of magic.

"Compact eight elements!" August yelled out as the orb fired towards Jellal. However, Jellal remained in place, waiting for the attack to arrive.

"What is he doing?" August mumbled, surprised.

"COMPRESS." Jellal yelled as brought his palms together. The orb suddenly shrunk and fitted itself in between Jellals hand.

Jellal brought his hands forward, releasing the attack back as a beam towards August.

"Shield of Aegis!" August yelled as he waved his staff, creating a golden barrier around himself.

The beam struck the barrier, forming cracks around the shield. However, the attack disappeared as the shield shattered.

"I did not think you were capable of compression.'' August commented. "However, if that's the best you can do, it won't be enough."

'I can't keep using spells that he can just cancel, it will only drain my magic. And I was only able to use compression because that's my own spell.' Jellal thought as he flew through the air. 'Wait, he can cancel the immediate spells that he sees. What if I release multiple.'

With this thought in mind, Jellal leaped up

"Altairis." Jellal said as he pointed towards August. Suddenly, a stellar dome appeared around August, trapping him within.

'This should hold him for a bit' Jellal thought as he dashed around the sky. 'I need to prepare everything before he brea–'

Jellals thoughts were cut short as the sound of glass shattering appeared at august's location. The stellar dome began cracking and slowly dispersing.

'Damn it! Not yet.' Jellal pointed his hands towards the sky, moving the clouds to surround the runes he created. 'I need more time!'

"Jiu Leixing: Unlimited!" Jellal raised his hand, creating hundreds and thousands of lightning bolts into the sky.

August could see behind the smoke were hundreds, if not thousands of bright lightning swords forming. 'What is he up to?'

Jellal swung forward his hand, causing all of the swords to launch straight at August.

'I see…each of those lightning swords are individually casted at slightly different intervals. I would have to cancel them all individually which would take too much time.'

August raised his hand up and purple seals began forming around it.

"Maximum Defense Seal!"

The swords stopped just short of August, colliding with an invisible barrier in front of him. Jellal had suddenly vanished from his sight again, reappearing behind August. August pointed his finger at Jellal, shooting a magic bullet at his body.

To his surprise, the bullet went straight through Jellal's body. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Jellal was there to his right. Then again at his left. Then behind. Then in front.

"Using your sheer speed to leave afterimages I see." August commented. He raised two fingers up. Jellal suddenly stopped flying and he fell straight to the ground, landing on his feet. The ground around him started to cave into a massive crater.

"Gravity magic huh?" Jellal said. He clenched his fists and let out a loud shout, his magic flaring up wildly.

"Something like this won't work on me!" Jellal launched himself up towards August delivering a solid punch straight to his gut. August staggered backwards.

"Using raw magic to fight me so I can't cancel it. You will only burn yourself out." August commented.

Jellal followed through, appearing right behind August. Just as he was going to deliver another punch, August let out a flash of bright light from his body. Jellal squinted as he threw the punch, hitting nothing but air. He rubbed his eyes and as his vision was returning to him, he saw August in front of him with all of his fingers pointing at Jellal.

"Bullet Magic: Bullet Hell."

Thousands of compressed balls of magic shot out from August's fingertips. Jellal put his arms up in front of him and flared his magic up around his body. He felt the impact of each bullet hitting him and he flared his magic up further.

Jellal flew straight towards August, the bullets unable to pierce through his magical aura anymore and delivered a kick straight to his stomach, sending August flying back.

"Using such reckless methods will only end in your downfall.." August secured his feet into the ground and stopped himself. Jellal weaved around once again, ready to kick August in the chest.

"Enough!" August's voice boomed as a magical explosion appeared around, pushing Jellal backwards. Jellal looked at the sky for a brief moment. 'He still hasn't noticed.'

"True Flame Magic: Searing End!"

"Deep Sea Magic: Trident's Rage!"

"Tempest Magic: Wind Emperor's Scythe!"

"Core Magic: Geostigma!"

"Storm Magic: Blade of Ruin!"

Jellal casted the series of spells, launching them towards August. "Let's see if you can cancel multiple spells like this!"

"Impressive speed and casting. But sending multiple at a time like this will only waste your magic power." August said as he canceled three of the five spells. 'But he's right, I can't cancel this many at once.

August was struck by the huge rocks and vibrations of the earth spell, forcing him to jump to the air. The ground beneath him started caving in, creating a massive hole in the ground. After a single breath of time, the earth moved back in, closing the hole.

'There's still-'

As August was in the middle of his thoughts, He saw a massive veil of blue flames that erupted upwards from Jellal's hands and approached him in the blink of an eye. The fire engulfed august for a few moments before the energy continued to rise and dissipated into the sky.

August fell towards the ground, panting. 'I used a shield in the final moment but it still easily broke through and damaged me. Not only that, but my magic is going to reach its limit soon. 'My enchantments are disappearing.'

Jellal looked at August, preparing his next attack.

August angrily glared back at Jellal. "YOU WILL NOT STOP ME HERE! Behold! Ancient magic: Phantom Fleet!" August slammed his staff into the ground, A thick mist suddenly enveloped the field, blocking Jellal's vision.

'What is this?' Jellal felt the air begin to cool. He watched as a fleet of six ships suddenly moved along the mist. The ships garnered a turquoise tint and a ghostly glow. The wooden hulls and sails appeared to be rotting, dust and cobwebs hanging from the ropes. Mounted in front of the ships were massive cannons.

With a loud bang, one of the ships fired the cannon shot at Jellal. Jellal quickly activates Meteor, flying around the blast. The shot landed in the distance, creating a massive, dome-like explosion of spectral energy. 'The potency was almost like an Etherion blast. And each of these ships can fire such an attack?!'

Jellal dashed towards the ship that fired. With a fist clad in magic out in front of him, he pierced straight through, causing it to explode.

"But what will you do about the remaining five ships?" August's voice boomed from within the mist. The remaining five ships suddenly turned their cannons towards Jellal and bombarded him with their attacks.

"Cancel." August said. Jellal suddenly froze, unable to use his meteor to evade. He placed his arms in front of himself and flared his magic up, releasing a steady blue aura around him.

Within that moment, Jellal found himself engulfed in a bombardment of explosions. A sight of mist, dust and debris was all that was seen. Suddenly, A fiery blue figure dashed out of the smoke towards the remaining ships.

A blue streak bounced between each ship, destroying it before going to the next, and the next.

'Should do it..' Jellal panted heavily and took a knee. Blood was dripping down his face and heavy burns were across his arms. 'Even with this power, I couldn't take those blasts fully…and I'm going to be at my limit soon…'

"Did you think that was enough?" August's voice once again came from the mist. A bright light shone from the sky, converging all the mist into an orb,

August became visible in the distance as he swiped both of his arms in a circular motion, creating a translucent wave of energy as the bottom of his hands met. The hand on top had the index, middle finger and little finger pointing upwards, while the other hand had the little and index fingers pointing downwards. An ancient magical force erupted in his palms.

"Finomena Argo Nautica" August's voice echoed as the orb transmogrified into a massive ship nearly the size of a mountain. The bottom of the ship had a huge gap.

An orb of light gathered in the center, preparing to fire directly on top of Jellal.

Jellal tried to move away, however, Just as he turned his body fell over. 'No, I still have some magic left...wait…it couldn't have been?!'

"Did you finally notice? The mist was the real preparation for this spell, not the ships. Normally the spell would completely freeze the target, killing them. But with your strength, It will only slow you down. But it is enough." August shouted.

"OVERDRIVE!" August shouted. The ship fired an extremely large, destructive beam of magic on top of Jellal .

I can't conserve anything or I'll take some serious damage.' Jellal stared at the beam in surprise, he raised his arms into the air. He seemed to grip the space itself around him.

"Cosmic Night Shade!" Jellal yelled as he released the full power of his seal. His aura burned brighter as the spell took form. A dark transparent starlight sphere appeared around Jellal.

"Impressive, but it won't be enough." August murmured as the beam of the light struck.

There was brief silence before a devastating boom was heard. The beam landed on Jellal obliterating everything around it. A massive cloud of smoke erupted from the center.

—-

In the skies above Magnolia, Meliodas and Acnologia both looked towards the blast. The streets of Magnolia became a barren land.

"Quite an impressive attack. That town is pretty much gone now." Acnologia licked his lips as he stared at the disappearing ship in the sky.

'Jellal…' Meliodas frowned as stared at the ground. However, as he pondered, an attack suddenly came from the front.

Meliodas immediately turned, slicing towards it with his sword coated in darkness. The slice cut through the draconic claw, splattering blood around the area.

"DAMN YOU!" Acnologia roared.

Meliodas smirked. "Did you think you could hit me with a sneak attack? What a shameless move. Is this how you killed the other dragons?"

Acnologia glared at Meliodas and charged at him once more. The two resumed their fight,

Meliodas grabbed Acnologia's Tail, flinging him higher into the sky. He looked once more towards the ground before flying towards Acnologia. 'Jellal should be fine. After all, he still has that attack in the sky above.'

—-

In another part of Fiore.

A tall scarlet haired woman looked warily towards the explosion in the direciton of Magnolia Town. 'August… such power as expected from the man who earned the title as Wizard King. But which opponent besides E.N.D, Meliodas, or that tall man with the red eyes could force him to such a state? So many unexpected encounters.' Irene continued walking towards a familiar magic. She flashed a smile.

—-

The smoke cleared as a figure was seen kneeling on the ground. Jellal panted as a majority of his strength disappeared. His hair fell down and his blueish aura retracted.

His clothing was partially destroyed, showing his singed arms. His face was haggard as he stared intently at August. He summoned his remaining staff.

'This is all that I left. He can't cancel out holder magic, so if my next attack misses…' He stared briefly into the sky.

August took heavy breaths, examining himself after his spell. His form had also reverted, his red skin becoming its original fair composition and losing the protection of his enhancements. He coughed and keeled forward, spitting out blood in the process. 'Those blows I took from him were more severe than expected. But Jellal is in the same state as me. I need to end this now!…'

"Wind, give me strength." Jellal whispered as the air gathered around his feet and body, propelling him forward, there was a slight crack in the staff as it began to break.'I need to finish this fast.'

"Die." August pointed his fingers towards Jellal, shooting out condensed magical beams.

Jellal flew to the side, dodging the oncoming blast. However, the beams suddenly changed direction, targeting him. He continued dodging the beams, slowly closing the distance between himself and August. He appeared in front of August, Slamming his fist into August's chest, sending him flying backward. He put away his staff and placed both hands on top of each other, with the top hand having only the index and middle fingers spread out.

"That won't-" August said as he landed. However he immediately became horrified as seven golden seals in the shape of the big dipper constellation lit up the sky.

"Be judged by the seven stars, Grand Chariot!" The seven seals released a beam of light towards the ground.

"When did he do that?! I can't cancel them all, but I can nullify the ones nearest to me.." August created a protective barrier around himself, whilst canceling and nullifying 3 of the Golden beams closest to him. The remaining 4 lights hit the ground, creating a huge explosion of bright light.

'There's no way that was enough. I need to follow up. Wind!" Jellal dashed through the smoke towards August, his staff breaking in the process. He held on to the bottom of the staff still in his hand, empowering it with a half of his remaining magic.

August's barrier shattered, he stood there clutching his arm. The explosion still managed to damage despite his efforts. 'There's no way he had that kind of power remaining. He must have set up the magic before I wore him down. Such a patient young man, I need to kill him now before he poses a threat to His Majesty- Wait! Where is he? August looked around, feeling for Jellal's magical signature.

"Damn!" He immediately turned around to face Jellal, who was only a few feet away, carrying a broken staff. He swatted his hand, attempting to cancel the wind magic in place. 'I can't cancel it??!' He looked at the broken staff, 'He used the magic from the staff to prevent me from canceling it.'

"No!" August created an explosion within his line of vision, engulfing Jellal within it.

Jellal took the explosion head on, gritting his teeth and forcing his way through. 'If I stop now, i wont be able to beat him!' He appeared directly in front of August, stabbing his chest through with the broken piece of staff. August fell backward, holding on to his bleeding chest with blood trickling between his fingers.

Jellal tumbled forward, falling down face first next to August. They both laid on the ground. The first one to rise would be the victor.

Jellal slowly began to gather the last of the magic. An ethereal sword began to take shape in his hand.

"First Meliodas, then the strange silver haired man, and surprisingly, now you. How unexpected that such forces would gather in this small place." August murmured.

August stared into the sky above. Now that he was not fighting, he carefully sensed the fight between Meliodas and Acnologia in the sky. They had planned so much just for an opportunity for his majesty to defeat Acnologia with the help of Fairy Heart. But Meliodas was able to take him on with ease. There was no record of him until 7 years ago. Where did he suddenly come from? What manner of being was he. How would someone that strong go unnoticed.

"Even if I were to take victory here, there is no chance I can beat Meliodas." August smiled. "But you…You were an excellent mage in your own right. I am sure your future would have been glorious. Didn't you once worship His Majesty? What happened? Why choose to fight him instead. With your strength, you would have easily been among the top of the Spriggan 12, amongst myself and Irene."

"I obtained light." Jellal said, thinking about Erza. "The light of a heart that could brighten my darkness."

"So light is good and darkness is evil?" August questioned.

"No." Jellal answered. "The sensation I get from Meliodas. I'm sure you feel it too. His magic itself is dark. Some may even describe it as foul. But it's not evil. Meliodas is living proof that darkness can be good as well. If I had not spent those years training with him, I would not have learned that. He taught me to accept my darkness. My sins."

"I did not expect such an answer from you. However, I believe in something different." August continued. "Did you know that His Majesty had a son? His son was born with a tremendous power of light. But his child, loved by none, eventually wandered between light and dark until he reached a state of nothingness. There is no good, nor evil in light. And there is no good, nor evil in darkness."

"You…you're his son aren't you…" Jellal said. August remained silent.

Jellal looked at August, stunned by what he saw. August was standing back up. His body began to float in the air, August's skin turned red once again and his tattoos began to glow a bright red color.The rubble around them began to break down and disintegrate.

"I commend you, Jellal. You pushed me this far. With this technique, I will crush all of His Majesty's enemies in one fell swoop! Perish and become ash alongside me!"

Red energy began to swirl around August, coming closer and closer to August's body where it congregated to a single point in his chest. At that moment, the energy burst outward in all directions, shooting beams of red colored magic while rotating.

'That magical power! I thought he ran out of magic…unless…he must have converted his own life energy into magic! I have to stop it.' Jellal was horrified. He tried to push his body up from the ground on shaky arms. 'Come on body! Move! Get up! Get up! Get up! If he uses that spell, everyone in Fiore will die! Erza will die! I have to stop it before it completes!'

August looked up at the sky. He could feel that both Meliodas and Acnologia had stopped fighting, most likely noticing his magic.

'I don't know how much damage this will do, or whether it will even damage Acnologia. I am unsure if this attack will kill Meliodas, but it will render him out of His Majesty's way for the time being. His Majesty will simply heal from this attack and he will attain Fairy Heart soon after…His majesty's… no…Father's enemies will perish..."

August looked up and mumbled as his magic slowly started expanding. However, as it was about to unleash, his magic suddenly started draining away. August was surprised. He looked down to see a translucent sword pierced through his abdomen with Jellal holding it. It was a strange sensation. The sword didn't do any physical damage, but it absorbed the magic he had gathered in his body.

His skin became normal and the glow on his tattoos dimmed. It started slow, but the sword began absorbing his magic at an even faster rate. "What is this!!!????...." August yelled.

He tried to cancel the technique but it was too late. His magic was almost entirely drained by the sword and as he was already descending to the ground. As they landed, Jellal pulled the sword out as it finished absorbing the remaining bits of his magic.

August collapsed to the floor, unable to move. Jellal stood in front of him, the magic sword slowly breaking apart.

"Why…Why didn't you use that move earlier?" August asked weakly. Due to the sudden loss of his remaining magic, he felt his body continue to weaken.

Jellal fell down on his butt right next to August, also extremely exhausted from the fight. "I wasn't sure if I could do it without you canceling it." Jellal replied calmly.

August was stunned. He kept it hidden the entire fight. "Would you have continued hiding it if I hadn't used Ars Magia?"

Jellal remained silent. He sat down and took a breath. He was basically running on empty now.

August smirked. "Well, I am at your mercy now it seems. What will you do?" August asked.

"Earlier…you said there is no good in light or darkness. So what do you believe is good?" Jellal questioned.

"I believe there is one good thing in this world." August said, his voice growing weaker as he started to close his eyes.

"And what would that be?" Jellal asked.

August's eyes closed and a small smile formed on his face.

"Love."

The duo became quiet. Jellal closed his eyes for a moment, contemplating August's answer.

'Love…I guess that is what gave me the power to stand back up and stop August…'

"Jellal!!" A voice came from the distance. Jellal opened his eyes and saw two figures running towards him.

"Ultear, Meredy!" Jellal smiled and waved.

The two ladies stared at August, who had his eyes closed. Meredy was unable to sense any magic in August. "Is he…"

"No, but he won't be able to fight. How are the others doing?" Jellal asked.

"Most of the Spriggan have already been beaten. However, the person that cast this landscape changing spell is still alive. Whoever did this, they can't be that weak." Ultear replied.

Jellal looked towards the mountains. 'Erza..'