Chapter 60

A.N : Shin returns in the next chapter! Sorry for the delay, I got vaccinated and had a bit of trouble then I had birthdays,...

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"Ahah, mere humans want to stop us?" said one of the 9 tartaros members with blonde hair and tiger ears laughing mockingly.

"Nonsense" said a "man" in a monotone voice with scales and a fin on his head making him look like some kind of human-shark.

"You underestimate us," Gray replied with a serious look.

"And why are you talking like you're not human?" asked Lucy looking at them strangely.

"Because we're not," a woman with purple hair and huge horns replied calmly.

"What?" said Wendy in surprise.

"We are demons from the books of Zeref, we are not insignificant humans who use this inferior magic, we use curses" said a woman with a helmet covering her face and claws for hands with pride.

Everyone's eyes widened at their revelation.

Demons linked to the black mage, Zeref? That was not the best news of the day.

"What is your objective?" asked Erza, still looking at the man atop the cathedral.

"We want the old men behind you," replied the blond man with the tiger ears, pointing at the old men with a smile that sent shivers down the spine of those concerned.

"Why?" asked Erza.

"To revive our master, END!" replied the tiger man, swinging his arms to the side with joy.

"And what does this have to do with the members of the magic council?" asked Erza as the word "END" made Gray react.

After that there was silence but it was quickly broken.

"Who are you?" said a deep voice from above.

Erza looked up from where she had been for a few seconds to see the man at the top of the cathedral looking her straight in the eye.

"...I am Erza, mage of Fairy Tail" Erza replied.

"No, rather..., what are you?" the puzzled man asked as he squinted his eyes.

"What do you mean? And who are you?" asked Erza confused by the previous question.

"I am Mard Geer."

"Who cares anyway, the dead don't need to know anymore" replied the tiger man, Jackal, savagely before propelling himself towards Erza and the others.

"I'll take care of it" said Natsu as he propelled himself towards Jackal.

*BAM*

The two men clash and throw punches at each other.

Both recoiled from the impact of the attack as Natsu looked at his glowing fist.

"What the..." Natsu's hand exploded and took him by surprise as he was punched in the stomach again, which exploded, throwing him into a house.

*BOOM*

"Natsu!" The others shouted as they saw what had happened to him.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Natsu replied with a smile as he was half embedded in a wall.

A woman among the demons, Seilah, raised her hand as a huge piece of house levitated and was thrown at Natsu.

Natsu raised his head and let out a howl to pulverize the huge rubble.

He was attacked by Jackal and Seilah as their fight began further into the city.

On the other side, Gray had attacked a man, Silver, who was also using ice magic.

Juvia attacked a skeletal man, Keyes.

Wendy against Ezel.

Lucy against Tempester.

Gajeel against Torafuzar.

All of them scattered in the city while Erza stayed in the same place, in front of the cathedral, fighting a woman, Kyôka and Mard Geer.

"I'll take care of it," Kyoka said confidently.

Erza took his opponent seriously and used his <Requip> magic to equip himself with a long black sword in a scabbard.

Kyoka lunged forcefully at Erza leaving a crater in the shape of his feet as Erza did the same.

*CLING*

Erza drew his sword from its scabbard as Kyoka extended his claws so that the two clashed.

Metal claws?' thought Erza as he heard the sound of their weapons clashing.

*BAM*

Erza then put his weight behind him and leaned on his left foot to kick his right leg in the ribs.

Kyoka's body went flying but she caught herself by digging her claws into the ground.

"You... You're fast and very strong! Are you sure you're human?" said Kyoka as she squinted her eyes and put her hand on her ribs.

"Of course I'm human. But you're pretty strong too" Erza replied without hurrying.

Sure, the demons in Zeref's books had very strong bodies but Erza's was even stronger considering she was half Phoenix/Dragon and Shin's physique was very good.

Kyoka wasted no time and charged at Erza, her two claws stretched out like rubber bands and swung to Erza's right and left.

*BAM*

*BAM*

Erza dodged both blows but then the claws split into eight whips.

*BAM*

*WHIP*

*BAM*

*SWING*

*BAM* *SWING*

*SWING*

*BAM* *SWING*

*SWING*

The eight whips swung and clashed as they tried to strike Erza, who dodged and cut the whips at the same time.

Kyoka rushed towards Erza, retracted her whips into claws and delivered a cross-shaped claw that tore through the ground and headed towards Erza.

" !"

Erza was about to retaliate but suddenly her vision blackened to nothingness, she couldn't feel anything, hear anything, or even touch her sword.

By instinct, she protected herself by putting her sword in front of her but she was still hit.

"Huh!"

And to her surprise, the pain she felt was much stronger than she expected.

She was thrown backwards by the attack but landed on her feet.

"Sense deprivation and... Something like pain amplification as well as power enhancement, I suppose?" said Erza with surprising calm.

"Ahah, you're pretty perceptive for a human." complimented Kyoka with a taunting smile.

"Hmph! You're too sure of yourself!" replied Erza before moving in front of Kyoka so fast it was like she teleported.

*SLASH*

"What?!"

Erza swung a clean sword at Kyoka who only had time to cross her arms as her arms were cut with rather deep gashes.

"You- How?!" Kyoka screamed angrily as she leapt into the air and threw slashes of magical power from her claws in a flurry.

*SLASH*

SLASH*

SLASH*

Erza, with eyes closed and senses deprived, swung her sword at such speed that the attacks created a shield, all attacks were repelled by Erza's sword.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Kyoka screamed in despair and rage as her body transformed into a more powerful form.

In this form, Kyoka changed his claws into a multitude of whips even more powerful, fast and strong than the previous ones.

Erza continued to deflect them, but this time suffered some small cuts.

"Take this and die!"

Kyoka seemed to gather all her strength as she swung her arms forward with force so that the many whips came together and formed a tornado.

"No more games," Erza muttered as she dashed into the tornado of sorts and gracefully made her way through it as if she were dancing.

Towards the end, the tornado thing shrank and at the end, a green light shone.

"Ah, die!" said Kyoka obviously.

A green ray rushed Erza who was now in a narrow place.

But Erza disappeared as soon as the beam was about to hit her.

"What?" said Kyoka, widening his eyes.

'She wasn't this fast before!'

When she thought so, she felt a great pressure behind her.

Behind her, Erza appeared with his sword drawn as a huge magical power was released from it.

"As I said... No more games," Erza said with a cold glint in her eyes.

"No-"

*SLASH*

Before Kyoka could say anything, her body was sliced in half with impeccable sharpness.

Five seconds later, her body glowed and transformed into an ancient book.

*SLASH*

*SLASH*

*SLASH*

*SLASH*

*....SLASH....*

Erza didn't hesitate for a second and cut the book in two, in four, in ten, in twenty, until there was nothing left.

And at the same time, without realising it, all the cuts on his body had regenerated while a slight green flame could be seen.

Erza fell back to the floor, looking unpressured at Mard Geer atop the cathedral.

"You!" Mard Geer gritted his teeth and looked at Erza with a murderous glare.

He was so angry mostly because when he looked at how the other fights were going, the demons were losing.

Erza kicked the ground and many swords appeared behind her.

*SWOSH*

*SWOSH*

*SWOSH*

*SWOSH*

All the swords flew towards Mard Geer at great speed but were intercepted by a large number of thorny vines.

Then the thorny vines launched themselves at Erza who dodged them all.

She then propelled herself right behind Mard Geer as she struck him with a sword filled with magical power.

*SLASH*

Mard Geer was thrown by a slash of magical power as he shielded himself with his arm.

Erza didn't let him rest and jumped from the top of the cathedral towards Mard Geer.

As she approached, she saw Mard Geer, still thrown by the slash, reach out his other arm towards her.

With a swipe of her index finger, Curse Power condensed into a rose that approached Erza.

Explosion' Erza thought urgently.

Erza tightened her grip on her magic-covered sword and stabbed it into the ground while it was still in the air at full speed.

Her momentum, her sword, and her brute strength were so strong that the sword sank into the ground like butter.

Erza's body went over the top and she found herself upright as a post with her head upside down.

Strangely enough, as if by magic, her skirt that should have fallen down and shown everything didn't move a bit.

The sword didn't stop dead in its tracks after being stuck in the ground but continued to cut the ground.

Curse Power's rose finally met the sharp blade of the sword and was cut in half.

Finally, Erza landed on her feet, drew her sword from the ground behind her and delivered a vertical sword strike to Mard Geer who had just gotten rid of the slash.

*BOOM*

The remains of the Curse Power rose exploded in a much smaller explosion.

It had all happened in a matter of seconds.

"Ah, me, the king of the underworld, the definitive demon, injured by a mere puny human?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" Mard Geer muttered at first, only to finish the sentence with a scream of rage.

Mard Geer's body glowed like Kyoka's before and then transformed into a non-human form with wings.

Mard Geer charged at Erza as he sanitized her with punches.

*BAM*

*SLASH*

*BAM*

*SLASH*

Erza countered all his blows with her sword while she retaliated with kicks that were blocked by Mard Geer with difficulty.

"AAAAAAAAHHH" Mard Geer intensified his blows with rage as Erza squinted, dodged the attacks and delivered a powerful elbow into his abdomen sending him through a house.

*BOOM*

Mard Geer emerged from the rubble and looked at Erza with hatred as he created a spinning sphere of Curse Power from which a huge thorny vine emerged.

It charged at Erza as more huge vines appeared towards Erza and countless smaller vines emerged from the ground.

The number of thorny vines was staggering, the whole place was filled with them as if there was a forest of vines.

Erza was now trapped in a huge dense forest of thorny vines that were only moving to try to kill her.

Erza could destroy this forest with a large scale attack but that would destroy a certain part of the city and she didn't want that, it was still habitats for people.

There was even her house around with precious things inside.

So she dodged as if she was dancing, she ran and cut the vines but it was as if they came back again and again.

She almost didn't have time to sit or think.

She returned to the ground and strangely enough, she remained motionless.

All the hundreds of vines piled up and launched themselves at Erza at the same time.

Erza put her hand on the sheath of her sword, which she had tucked into its scabbard with her eyes closed.

Four swords appeared around her on either side to protect her, but even with them it would not be enough given the number of vines.

Erza was still motionless as if her mind and soul had left her body.

The four swords were active and took care of as many vines as possible but they were cornered and many vines managed to get through.

*SWOOSH*

All that could be heard was the tearing of the wind as the passing vines were all cut down.

Around Erza, there seemed to be a shield of wind that cut off all the vines that approached.

But it was not the wind.

Erza was still motionless, his eyes closed, but this time, with his hand on his sheath, his sword was half-drawn.

In fact, the wind shield was only Erza's sword swings.

Only, they were so fast that they split the air and were not visible to the naked eye, making it look like some kind of wind shield.

Erza continued for several minutes until his sword began to glow more and more brightly.

Erza was transferring immense magical power into his sword.

And after a few minutes, Erza opened his eyes which had a powerful glow.

"Ah!" Erza let out a loud cry as she swung her sword towards the sky.

*CROAR*

*ROAR*

In an instant, the magic power accumulated in the sword was unleashed and took the form of a Dragon and a Phoenix that intertwined.

The attack pulverized all the vines in its path without any difficulty, even the biggest and thickest.

Erza took advantage of this and quickly exited through the path the attack had taken.

She found herself outside but as soon as she was there, a huge vine with a flower at the end of it came out of the ground from where it had come and trapped her in the flower.

The flower was open and inside, Erza was trapped and captured by some kind of very strong vine that was just squeezing her.

"Ahahah, you gave me a hard time human, I must admit" laughed Mard Geer madly as he flew to be a few feet away from Erza.

"And for that, I will honor you with my most powerful attack and the one meant to kill Zeref"

His eyes turned purple as a dark paralytic mist was produced around Mard Geer as it spread to the ground and all around him.

The mist surrounded every object around and gave off a dark aura that created a massive cluster of dark spirits.

"Anyone touched by this curse will neither be dead nor alive, but destroyed into oblivion.

The mist spread to the huge vine and climbed up to the flower and Erza.

Erza looked at the mist with difficulty as she began to break out in a cold sweat.

The dark spirits surrounded Erza as she began to be swallowed.

"My body is saying again! I can't move!" muttered Erza in a weak voice.

Erza's vision began to be overwhelmed by the dark spirits.

"Memento Mori" said Mard Geer with seriousness and a dark voice.

The mist turned green and the dark spirits rose to the sky as a huge green beam engulfed the whole place.

"Mother" Erza said instinctively in a small voice.

"Father" Erza whispered with tears in her eyes as an image of her father appeared in her mind.

"Erza, I'm here" The image of her father smiled as a sudden bright light burst through the huge green beam.

"What?!" shouted Mard Geer over the shock as he thought he saw huge eyes in the beam behind Erza's figure.

A symbol appeared on Erza's forehead as the symbol glowed brightly and a shockwave of energy erupted for miles.

*CRACK*

The huge green beam, upon contact with the shockwave, began to crackle until it completely shattered.

The vine and flower Erza was in shattered as Erza's body floated away, still with his eyes closed and the symbol shining on his forehead.

"You!!! How is this possible! But who are you!" Mard Geer gritted his teeth and screamed madly.

Erza, floating in the sky, opened his eyes and the symbol disappeared.

*SWOSH*

Erza appeared instantly before Mard Geer.

Her eyes were cold and murderous and her immense magical power was released from her body and unleashed.

She concentrated it into her sword and slowly swung her sword.

*SWING*

Her sword cut through the wind and made a beautiful little sound.

"..." And when nothing seemed to happen...

Whatever had just passed in front of Erza's sword swing had just been cut off.

Mard Geer was cut in half horizontally in a magnificent cut and so were all the houses behind him.

All the houses right up to the edge of the town.

Even a piece of the cliff that surrounded the town had been cut off.

Mard Geer's body fell to the ground, lifeless as he began to dissolve into a small light like Kyoka but more slowly.

"Ah" Erza sighed as she looked around.

The entire square was destroyed, the houses around it too and even half of the cathedral was destroyed.

Erza also noticed that the necklace her mother had given her was broken.

"That's strange, I feel great" said Erza in surprise.

When she was still trapped in the flower, she felt a bit tired but since the incident in the beam, she was no longer tired, on the contrary she felt stronger as if something inside her had woken up.

"The others should be done too" Erza commented.

Then suddenly she turned her gaze to Mard Geer's body and saw an old man standing beside it.

"You? What are you doing?" said Erza cautiously as she could see in his hand a syringe with blood.

"I had suspected it but now I am sure" said the old man who was the Archbishop mysteriously.

"What are you talking about?" asked Erza suspiciously as she tightened her grip on her sword.

"I know who you are, priestess," said the Archbishop with a big smile that looked terrifying from Erza's perspective.

"What do you mean?" asked Erza genuinely confused but that smile made her uncomfortable and following her instincts she swung her sword at him to unleash a slash.

But the slash split in two on contact with the Archbishop.

"I've got what I wanted, I don't have time for fun. I have to hurry. He's going to wake up because of you," the Archbishop said in a quiet, dark but powerful voice before disappearing.

Erza remained on guard for several minutes as she scanned the area to see if she could find him but to no avail so she returned to the square.

There she found the others in slightly bad states for some but not excessive.

"That's..." said Lucy.

"You've gone wild," Gray said with a sweat as Natsu nodded.

"What a monster," Natsu retorted as he saw the place where all the houses had been cut off to the cliff.

A toque appeared on Erza's face as they began to bicker.

"This is..." As they all began to sum up what had happened to them, Gray saw a book on the floor.

Everyone turned to Gray as he picked up the book with "END" written on the cover.

Everyone gathered around Gray as he looked at the book.

With sweat on his face, Gray was about to open the book before a voice was heard.

"Stop it! Don't open it!" a voice rang out in the distance.

Gray was stopped in his tracks as everyone else was surprised.

They all turned to face the source of the voice with caution.

In the distance, on the cliffs surrounding the town, two figures were visible.

A woman and a man.

"Mom?"