Stone Cold Brawl...

In The Last Chapter:

Nic and Erza both go on a mission as a fake couple and entered Balsam Village, a spa town that is targeted for kidnapping; unfortunately, they didn't account for the kidnappers to be Tartaros. And Kecleon caught sight of Ultear, which brings worries to Nic. As night fell, a lacrima intoxicated Erza's Magic, weakening her and making her a target. That night, a beast makes his way into the inn and Nic is ready to ambush.

Chapter 13: Stone Cold Brawl...

Nic springs up and unleashes a Sludge on the humanoid wolf that was caught off guard. The wolf yelped as it stumbled back from the assault. Erza opened her eyes, but could only watch as the battle was going to begin. Nic moved around the bed and was in front of Erza, ready to protect her. The wolf monster finally came out of shock and snarled at Nic. It bared its long and jagged fangs that screamed for bloodshed. Its gaze heavily sharpened and it raised its claws in preparations to pounce and gut Nic like a fish.

Nic growled in a low tone and leaned forward and the two rammed into each other head on. Their bodies clashed and the wolf slashed with his left claw, but Nic evasively ducked and did an upward angle Poison Jab that send the heinous beast flying a few feet. Nic then jumped and was going to do a downwards Poison Jab, but the beast was not one to have slow reactions. It brought its legs up and kicked Nic in the chest and sending him back a few feet, unable to land the Poison Jab.

'Crap. There's no room to fight. Looks like I'm going to have to drag this brawl to the streets.' Nic thought. He dashed into the beast and the beast lunged at him. Nic aimed a bit lower and used Poison Jab again. The beast winced and had no room to bite down on Nic as he rammed him through the door like a professional football layer. They made way into the living room, where the beast regained its footing and shoved Nic away. It then roared as it lunged at high speed with a sharp right claw. Nic readied himself and counter with Cross Poison. The two assaults created a very small cloud of smoke and the humanoid wolf stumbled back. It snarled and it failed to smell Nic through the smoke that was in the air. It was hit from the side with a Sludge Bomb that caused it to be send flying and break the balcony glass slide door.

The menace gripped the balcony flooring to avoiding hitting the railing from behind. Nic could tell that this guy was no pushover, literally. Add the fact that it might have a keen sense of smell. He had little room to pull of this task.

"Smog!" Nic then opened his mouth and a thick, gray cloud covered everything and the wolf was startled as it was engulfed in it. It growled as it couldn't sniff out Nic, but more importantly couldn't sniff out his Magic, which is what it could really smell. Of course it had no idea that Nic didn't have Magic.

Nic used this ten second gap and tossed out a poke ball. The ball opened and summoned forth Arbok at the ready.

"Nic-ssssama, what isss it that you desssire me to do?" The Cobra Pokémon asked obediently.

"Quick! Go and protect Erza while I deal with this guy! Don't let anything happen to her!" Nic managed to get out just before the humanoid wolf rushed out of the now dispersed Smog and rammed Nic into a coffee table and breaking it.

"Assss you wish." Arbok then slithered with lightning reflexes to Erza's room and made sure to keep watch and protect her at all costs.

The beast was now towering over Nic who was still trying to get up. Nic turned his head to avoid an oncoming claw that was trying to pierce his skull. He shifted right and did a Sludge and it hit the beast's chest. It stumbled back and Nic sprung up and made a silver light sparkle in between his hands. It then morphed into a black garbage bag with a purple outline. "Gunk Shot!" He hurled the massive attack at the wolf and it howled as the attack exploded upon impact, damaging most of the furniture and cracking the walls. The wolf was send out of the room and smashed through the railing and fell downwards over the edge. Nic leaped a little before running and jumping off the edge and sailing downwards towards the monster. As he sailed, he was glowing and shifted into his Sky Plate Form. He then saw the beast fall and used its claws and griped onto the inn as it descended, creating damage and leaving a long trail of its own claw marks running down. It managed to slow down and saw Nic catching up to it. It pounced as soon as he was close and hopped onto Nic, making him roll about and lose balance in the air. Nic straightened out a bit, but now the beast was gripping onto Nic's shoulders and its claws were almost piercing his skin. He winced and grabbed the menace's arms. Nic then shoved him off and the beast fell a bit more. Fortunately for it, there was a house under it and it turned and landed on the tiled roofing without any harm.

The monster snarled and started to dash from rooftop to rooftop, destroying some roof tiling as its feet and claws did as such. Nic stayed high into the air and tried to get a good lock onto it. Unfortunately, he couldn't use ant long range moves because he was aware that people were under those roofs and he couldn't use moves like Air Cutter or Air Slash, otherwise he might hurt someone. He had no resort but to follow and lower his altitude. He shifted and aimed an angled Gust at the humanoid wolf. The attack managed to make it lose balance and force it to jump off the roofing and land on the streets with a thud as it landed on all fours. Nic then soared down and flapped as he now was standing battle distance from the beast.

Nic glared at it as it did the same, growling and snarling with feral eyes.

Meanwhile…

Ultear was walking about town at night, something that nobody had done in ages since the kidnapping incident. She was still keeping an eye out for any sign of Nic and if possible get him to go to her side. She was walking quite patiently and then she saw a humanoid wolf monster fall from one of the inns. She looked on in shock as she had saw Nic jump and shift into his Sky Plate Form.

"Peekaboo, Ultear's found you." She muttered with an amorous grin. She was about to go and watch Nic fight the beast, but then she felt a strong presence from behind. This kind of presence made her shiver somewhat and she turned slowly to see what could have caused her to shiver.

"Guess who found you." The cloaked man had said. Ultear turned and frowned with distaste.

"And what might you be doing here?" She asked. She could tell that this guy was bad news all over. She sensed a very potent Magic from within this guy. 'What is he?'

The cloaked being extended his arm out and stretched out his fingers. Ultear was awaiting for his attack so she could easily fight back with her Arc of Time Magic, but before she knew it she was trapped in some weird sphere.

"What the? What is this?" She was startled and when she tried getting out, her hands started to distort upon touching the sphere. She was wide eye and was forced to recoil, turning her hands back to normal. "What is this?!"

The man chuckled. "Oh, do you not enjoy my Spacial Curse? It's rather special now that you've witnessed it firsthand." He said with a sinister smirk. "I can make the space around the area distort or act upon my will, also…" He snapped his fingers and the area around Ultear was beginning to distort and imploded, causing small explosions from inside the sphere that incapacitated her. He enjoyed to hear her scream and yelp as the explosions from within the sphere kept going for fifteen seconds. Afterwards, he smirked even more devilishly when he saw her unconscious.

"Now, I'll just be borrowing you for awhile." He then used his powers to transport her while still in the sphere and returned to the shadows, having not paid any heed nor mind to the battle that Nic partook in.

With Nic

"Time for the real fight." Nic said. He shifted into his Flame Plate Form and the beast clenched the ground, making the cement on the street make claw marks. Another brief silence fell, and then narrowed his eyes.

At that instance, the monster lunged at Nic. Nic leaped forward and used Fire Punch to intercept its claw. The two contenders skid back and Nic regained his footing just a bit faster than it did and lunged at it with Flame Charge. He cloaked himself in flames and dashed head on into the beast's gut, making it howl as it flew back several feet and tumble. It soon jumped and landed on its two legs and started dashing on all fours towards Nic, giving it more force.

"Fire Pledge!" Nic slammed his right fist down onto the ground and a straight row of fire pillars shot up from the ground. The menacing monster moved to its left and avoided the oncoming fire pillars. It then lunged and was now coming down on Nic. Nic wasted no time in using Flame Wheel to drive himself forward and avoid the monster from coming down on him. The beast had left a crater from where it landed. It turned its head and was struck by the wheel of fire, making it skid to its side. It turned and growled.

Nic could see that the beast was running out of breath, not to mention the multitude of assaults that he landed on it, but it's not like it's gonna take this lying down. It got up on two legs and snarled before it opened its mouth wide.

'What the…?' Nic wondered what it was doing, but then saw that the inside of its mouth was glowing and as soon as it leaned forward, it unleashed a rippling purple sonic howl coming at him, almost making the ground shatter and seeing its radius expand upon reaching maximum distance. '…oh crud.'

Nic was hit dead on as the force of the sonic howl made him soar back and smash into the side of a building. He was left in a crater of the building and the tiling from nearby houses were pretty much shattered. The next thing he saw was the monster dashing at him, this time making sure that it won't miss.

Nic used Flame Burst as soon as the beast was close enough and intercepted its claw. The flame exploded and the wolf leaped back. Nic used this to his advantage and dislodged himself and used Flame Charge again. It lunged at it and combined the attack with a Blaze Kick. The result was a huge leg of fire swinging in a swift arc upon lightning fast impact and making the beast howl as the forceful flaming attack made it soar to its right and crash through three light posts, two benched, and skid and tumbled until it finally stopped by barely gripping to the street.

The monster let out a huge heap of breath as it was getting tired. Its mouth was glowing and it unleashed a more potent sonic howl that rippled a created a shattering trail that Nic was unable to dodge. Nic screamed as he spiraled into the air and was flying about from the sheer force behind that howl. He was sailing through air as though he was a projectile that was launched by a catapult.

Nic then saw that he was about to land into the waters of the hot springs. "This is gonna hurt." He muttered and then was a human cannonball and splashed into the hot springs, creating a geyser that went twenty feet up from his splash. Nic even crashed into the bottom of the hot springs and winced as the air was coming out of him fast. He quickly came up for air and gasped as he reached oxygen again. He coughed up some water and shook his head from the dizziness he had accumulated. "Dang, that was harsh. Guess he was all bark and no bite, literally." Nic grabbed his back as he now felt the force taking its toll and making him feel somewhat tired. "Dammit. I need to-!" He then stood straight up as he then received some sort of strange signal from before.

This was similar and he had recognized it from when he passed by the hot springs earlier. There was no question about it.

A Plate was here.

Nic had to find it, and fast. He probably had a minute at most before that wolf monster comes and finds him. With its sense of smell, there would be no freebies for him if it were hide and seek. He used his Plates and quickly detected the whereabouts of the Plate. This one felt…strong. He could feel a stone cold feeling dwelling from one of the tiles from the hot springs. He could sense it coming from his left and somewhere in the water. He shifted into his Splash Plate in a split second and put his head under the hot water. He could visibly see something glowing from a hundred meters. He swam through the hot water and the Plates inside were going nuts. He then got close enough and saw the Plate engraved into the tilling of the hot springs. He blinked as he got a closer look.

The Stone Plate. It made sense since it was engraved in a stony bottom, not to mention that it could withstand various temperatures. Nic saw the glowing Plate and his body was glowing. He then touched it with just a single finger and then the whole underwater was shining.

With Arbok and Erza

Erza was trying her best not to move, but she kept tossing and turning in worry. She wanted to help in Nic's fight, but her condition said otherwise and there was no way she could do so now. She could only lay in bed and hope for the best as her Magic reserves recover. The odds were that she had at least a couple of hours as long as she restrains her movements.

"Nic." She muttered. She was tempted to help, but she was halted by Arbok.

"Hey, sssstay down." Arbok insisted, still a tad snobbish. "Nic sssspecccifically sssaid for me to watch over you. Recover."

Erza looked up at Arbok, who was in front of the door entrance and looking at her. Erza laid on her side and helplessly closed her eyes.

"How could I have let this happen to me? How could I have been so off guard?" Erza asked out loud and Arbok took note of her being troubled. Arbok slowly slithered forward a few feet and looked at Erza with a very slight concern.

"Look red head, thessse thingsss happen. You can only hope for the better. It'sss not your fault. No one knew, jussst sssleep. You should never doubt Nic-ssssama. He never failsss to sssurprise usss all." Arbok said with slight wisdom. Arbok didn't sound at all snobbish when he said this; in fact, he sounded he was respecting her slightly. Erza looked off into space and thought about it. It was true, Nic never failed to amaze her, and even now, he was doing so by fighting the beast. Erza took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Arbok rolled his eyes and resumed his post.

With Nic

The humanoid wolf slashed its mighty claws and shattered the walls that covered the hot springs. It pounced right through and turned its head to find where Nic was. It snarled as it picked up on his scent once more, he's nearby.

It didn't get to react fast enough when it saw a rock being thrown at it. The rock crashed into its abdomen, making it fall back and skid a few inches. It got up and saw Nic approaching from behind a large rock.

Nic's Stone Plate attire was comprised with an obsidian colored T-shirt with his sunglasses hanging on by the collar, though the casing was an amphibolite color. His pants were jeans that was colored granite. His shoes were rock climbing shoes that were light brown with dark brown laces and black obsidian soles. His sleeveless coat was an igneous gabbro coloring and texture that didn't remotely bother him. There was rock imprints, such as sedimentary sandstone with iron oxide bands running from the bottom to the back of his thighs. He also sported some gloves that had a gabbro coloring to it.

He cracked his knuckles and glared at the beast, of whom was snarling once more. "I'm gonna rock your world." Nic couldn't help but deadpan a pun into the fight. The beast had no sense of humor as it lunged at Nic, but he was more than ready.

Nic ducked once the beast tried to slash at him and he leaped back as it tried a downward swipe. "Rock Polish!" Light blue energy then sparked around Nic's entire body, increasing his Speed by a rather large margin. The monster paid no heed as it pounced again, but was shocked to see Nic dodge in a moment's notice. "Stone Edge!" Nic rams a fist into the earth and the earth rumbled slightly as a large glowing light blue stone pillar to rush from below and ram the beast in its gut. The monster howled as the force behind the stone-like blow made it smash through the hot spring walls again, forcing the battle back out into the streets.

Nic leaped out of the shattered wall and stood affirm. "Rock Blast!" The front of his jacket then started to glow silver, and he unleashes a straight barrage of silver energy waves in the shape of his sleeveless coat, meaning there were two coming at the beast that were two rectangles, then proceeded by another row and another. The wolf monster lunged and slashed straight through and cut through the Rock Blast. The individual silver energy waves were cut down and the beast made way to attack Nic. The Multitype Mage expertly spun towards his left as the beast slashed with its right arm. Nic jumped and leaned back to avoid yet another claw trying to pierce him by the form of a jab. He managed to do so and grabbed its claws. Nic held on tight with his Stone Plate gloves and the beast struggled to break free, but to no avail. Nic summoned up as much strength as he could and threw and slammed the monster overhead and into the pavement behind him.

The monster had some trouble as it could not muster up much strength, and Nic backed away and stood affirm, ready to unleash another attack.

"Rock Slide!" Nic's body glows white and multiple white rings appear in the sky. Large, gray rocks then fall through the ripples and come crashing down on the beast. The earth quaked for a bit and the dust cleared out after a few seconds. The beast was shown to have been defeated, with a majority of its body incapacitated from being under the rocks.

Nic huffed a bit and reverted back to himself. The monster was unconscious and it looked as though he won't be able to get up as long as those rock kept it in place. Nic turned and looked back at the inn Erza was at. "Okay, I think I'll come back for poochie later. Right now, I have to get back to Erza. Nic then began running and dashed back to the hotel.

As Nic dashed away from the scene, the dark red Mage that was hired by Tartaros walked out from the shadows and stepped in front of the incapacitated wolf monster, having to watch that entire scene.

He frowned at the sight of the defeated beast. It was truly a setback for him and for the plan in general. "I've never seen this guy go down before." He muttered. "I'm going to have to bring him back and alert the others about this." He then pulled out a long sword that was double pronged and touched every rock individually. Every time he did, the rocks from the Rock Slide shrunk down to the size of his fist. In no time, the wolf was free, but it was still barely conscious as it growled.

He then turned back towards the direction from where Nic was. He stared out and saw Nic was out of sight. "This might be a problem."

With Nic

Nic scaled up the inn in his Sky Plate Form and flapped onto the balcony, he shifted back into himself and peeked inside. He looked about and saw that the furniture was still just the way it was when he was brawling with the beast. He sighed and walked right in through the shattered doorway. He turned and saw Arbok at the bedroom entrance, following Nic's orders exactly.

He walked up to Arbok. "Was everything okay?" Nic asked. He was slightly concerned if anyone tried to enter during his brawl, of which he was satisfied when Arbok shook his head.

"Nic-sssama, no intrudersss appeared. She isssss laying in bed asss we ssspeak." Arbok reported. Nic peered over and saw Erza sleeping quite soundly under the covers. Nic took a breath of relief and looked up at Arbok.

"Alright, thanks a lot pal. You did a fine job. Return." Nic said. Arbok obediently bowed in respect and returned back into his poke ball, having done his part.

Nic walked over and was looking down at Erza. He was glad nothing happened to her. She was sleeping ever so soundly now and looked so adorable.

Nic smiled seeing Erza look so sound when she was sleeping like this. He turned his head and looked up at the ceiling, now worrying more on the matter at hand. He instantly frowned when the thought of the wolf came.

'What was that thing?' Nic thought. 'Was it apart of Tartaros?' These thoughts consumed Nic's mind and he was getting somewhat anxious to strike at Tartaros. However, he a more primary concern, which was watch over Erza while she recovered. It shouldn't be long now, give or take maybe another hour until her Magic is go to go again. It was midnight right now, so they could only afford a few hours to recover. Nic had to because of his brawl. He walked on over towards a wall and slumped back down and laid on the floor, being more suitable for him.

A little later…

Erza tossed and turned about a few minutes and groaned. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself to get up and going about. Her Magic was fully filtered and she looked up at the ceiling. She wondered what happened while she was resting, besides the brawl that Nic partook in. She sat up and looked about the room. She didn't any signs of danger, or Nic. She then looked and saw that Nic was sleeping on the floor, a more suitable place according to him. Erza looked over and saw Nic looking somewhat sound. Could he really enjoy sleeping like this?

Just as Erza was getting up and requipped into her Heart Kreuz Armor, Nic flashed open his eyes and slowly got up. He looked over and saw Erza coming his way.

"It's good to see you're back up to speed." Nic muttered, still tired from his sleep.

Erza nodded. "Yes, and now we should proceed with the mission as soon as we can." It was around one or two at night, so they only had a few hours to stop the madness. They both stretched a bit and walked into the living room, where Erza saw the damage that Nic had done, though this was to be expected.

Nic shifted into his Sky Plate Form and turned around, looking over his shoulder back at Erza. "Hop on."

Erza was a little confused. What was Nic doing?

"Are you coming or what?" Nic then gestured for Erza to climb onto his back, of which she did. She slowly crawled on and Nic unintentionally took in her strawberry scent. 'She smells so nice…'

Nic mentally punched himself to reprimand his slight distraction. As much as he would love to take in more of her strawberriness, they had a job to do. He turned around and darted for the wrecked balcony. He then jumped and flew off the balcony, enabling flight with ease. He soared through the air and looked down, Erza doing the same thing.

"See anything?" Nic asked.

"No. No signs of the enemy." She answered. No signs was right. Nic went wide eyed when he saw that the wolf from before was gone from the spot where he incapacitated it. Nic soared over the spot and quietly groaned as he passed over the spot.

'Dammit. Where'd it-!" He and Erza both then caught a glimpse of something moving along the street alleys. It looked like a man with dark purple hair, but that's all they saw. They saw him also saw him carrying some pudgy man that looked familiar to Nic.

Erza and Nic both almost flinched in shock when they'd recognized the unconscious man that was being dragged off by some tail.

"Joseph." They both said in unison. They all then saw the man then shapeshift his hand into some scaly reptilian hand and shoved a huge dumpster out of the way. A large hole was under said dumpster that was concealing it.

They both then saw the man dive into the hole, with Joseph and his scaly hand grabbed the bottom of the dumpster and moved it back over the hole to cover it.

As soon as the coast was clear for them, they both descended, with Nic slowly landing on the ground and Erza jumping off him. He shifted into himself and they both quietly and cautiously approached the site. When they were both in front of the dumpster, Nic and Erza both looked around it. They knew what they saw, and they knew how to get there.

There was no question that that hole led to the hideout where the kidnapped individuals were being held. Nic got to one side of the dumpster and used whatever muscle he could to move it. It was heavier than he had hoped it would be. Nic gritted his teeth and his veins popped out as he summoned up his strength and completely flipped the entire dumpster! Erza looked on with a shocked comical expression as she had witnessed Nic doing such a thing. And here she thought Natsu had destructive strength. Go figure.

Nic then peered down the hole and looked at Erza. "You coming? Tartaros is in for a rude welcoming for what they've done." Nic said. He said it in a cool manner, not to sound evil or reckless. He then hopped into the hole and Erza soon followed. The hole was rather dark, even though it was ten feet downwards.

Nic wanted to shed some light, so he got out his phone and used the flashlight function. He and Erza then slowly proceeded and venture down the now lightened up tunnel.

They continued onwards for a god five minutes, feeling the magical presence increase within every step. This ominous Magic was escalating very fast after they've been walking for ten minutes.

"Do you feel that?" Erza asked Nic.

Nic narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. It's strong."

They then saw something up ahead, four hundred meters out. They saw a small pink light from up ahead. Light at the end of the tunnel. Nic turned off his phone and the two began to pick up their pace into a small run.

They then made it to the end and they finally made it out of the long, mile long tunnel. There, they almost froze in place as they saw the site of people in cells, contraptions hooked up to a large dark pink lacrima, and saw a few people hooked up inside the contraptions and having their Magic sapped into the lacrima, one of them being Joseph.

They were both speechless.

"What is this?" Nic muttered. They both then felt a strong magical presence coming from both their sides. This was strong, very strong.

They both got stiff and Erza turned to her right and Nic turned to his left to see their oncoming foes. The dark purple-haired member proceeded from Nic's end, and the dark red member proceeded from Erza's end. They could both tell that these two were no ordinary Wizards.

"This, you saplings, is what you would call our HQ." The dark red one explained.

"Now, Seazer, let's not be rude. They're our guests of honor." The dark purple-haired one told his pal with a smirk. This wasn't a friendly smirk at all.

"Ah yes, I believe we can arrange something for these two, especially the fine gentleman who brutally wounded our little friend." Seazer explained.

Nic turned to look at Seazer. "So you were watching me?"

Seazer smirked ever so evilly. "Exactly. He won't be up for awhile, but once we get the Magic sucked up from you soon enough, you'll be his special dessert." Nic narrowed his eyes in distaste for these guys and how they were simply toying with them for now.

Sounds like these guys need to learn that my powers aren't for evilness.' Nic thought.

Erza summoned forth a sword and pointed it towards Seazer. "Enough formalities. Tell me why you have kidnapped the innocent?" She demanded. Her answer came in the form of a slight chuckle from Seazer.

He then gestured over to his acquaintance. "Hybren, may you have the honors of explaining to our confused guests here what they will partake in?"

Hybren chuckled and crossed his arms. "Very well. You two will have the explicit honor of having your Magic depleted and finish creating this bomb so that those who do not know or worship Lord Zeref will do so in Hell."

"So Kecleon was right about the Magic Bomb part." Nic whispered to Erza. They both were now back to back, each facing their targets; Erza facing Seazer, and Nic against Hybren.

"Yes, it would appear so." She said. She then glared at Seazer with the need for justice and to put an end to Tartaros. "We'll have to defeat these guys if we are to save those trapped here."

Nic shifted into his Splash Plate Form and glared at Hybren with an extreme need for thrash him. "I couldn't agree with you more."

The two enemies shared a chuckle and they both got into fighting stances. Erza and Nic proceeded as such and the staring contest was over.

"Come at us." Both enemies said in unison. With no other words to be said, they both darted for their opponents.

Nic jumped and his arm was encased in water and shaped into a crab's claw. "Crabhammer!" He yelled as he came down with a mighty assault and Hybren grinned and his right arm grew and morphed into a large scaly, purple reptilian hand with big claws. He held out his hand and he easily blocked the attack. The shockwave rippled as the attacks collided. Both struggled to overpower the other, but Nic was still slightly faster. He quickly retracted his hand and hopped onto the ground and dashed into Hybren.

"Please." Hybren sighed as he then grew a large purple, scaly tail with a blood red spike silhouette reaching to the end. He swung it and Nic jumped and fired a Bubblebeam with his enemy's back turned. Hybren stepped back as he felt the hit. He grumbled as he turned and looked back at Nic.

"Okay, I admit pal. You caught me off guard with my tail swing, but I'm just getting started!" He exclaimed.

"Same!"

With Erza's battle, she spun and tried slashing at him, but he easily brushed her off with his sturdy gauntlets. He then stepped back and avoided another slash rom her sword. He kept avoiding her attacks with ease, moving towards his left and ducking upon her fourth missed slash. He gave an uppercut that got her in the abdomen, to which she grunted and skid back a few feet.

She adjusted her stance and Seazer did as such. Erza then adjusted her sword angle. "You're a lot quicker than I have imagined."

He only grinned and then he brought out his double pronged sword. He showed it to Erza as she crouched, awaiting what he would do.

He smirked. "Go ahead." He challenged. The great Titania wasn't one to back down from a challenge as she thrusts forward and swiped across his sword, hoping to have cut through, but to no avail. She went wide eyed as her sword actually shrunk to the size of her fist. She gasped and leaped back as a precaution.

Seazer chuckled. "Heh, what's the matter? Wouldn't you rather fight me with toothpicks? Is so, then I'll gladly arrange that with my Flucture. You like it? It can shrink anything that it touches and more." He chuckled again.

Erza was getting fairly annoyed. "You coward!"

Back with Nic, he narrowly evaded a claw by spinning to his right and shifting to his left to avoid the tail. He once again leaned right and ducked to dodge a swipe from his claw. The guy then turned and his tail swung like a wrecking ball that was coming at Nic.

Nic grunted as he had little time to act. He used Water Gun and aimed straight down, propelling him straight up and evading the tail. In midair, he used a downward angled Water Pulse, creating a blue sphere of water and launching it at him.

"Heh. Scale Storm!" He then retracted his tail and now his other arm was a large scaly reptilian arm with claws. He brought his arms across one another and slashed across in a double arc, unleashing glowing purple scales in the arc. The scales were unleashed at a fast rate and the Water Pulse was easily nullified, exploding in midair. The scales continued onward and exploded as they hit Nic and he grunted loudly. Nic back flipped and landed and skid backwards to regain footing as soon as he could. Hybren then chuckled and lunged at Nic with both giant claws.

"Razor Shell!" Nic shouted. His arms then turned into blades of light blue energy and were like swords. He lunged forward and collided with the claws with his Razor Shell attacking in the shape of and X. The two once again tried to overpower the other, but neither side was giving and edge. Nic acted fast as he crouched while still colliding and slashed across, not only making the claws go over his head while he lunged at a low angle, but left his opponent open for an in-your-face attack. "Hydro Pump!" A large mirror of water appeared and the guy was no match for an almost point blank high-pressure assault. Nic unleashed a high pressured water blast and the guys creamed as he was shot upwards at an angle and crashed into the ceiling with a harsh shudder. Rocks were falling and so was he, but he could still fight nonetheless as he retracted both his arms and morphed and grew his tail again and swatted the falling rocks at Nic. Nic used Razor Shell again and slashed through the oncoming rocks like they were nothing. Hybren landed on the ground and wagged his spiked tail in excitement.

"Well, it would appear that I am getting excited, for I haven't had an astonishing fight like this in ages." He admitted.

"Hey, guess what?" Nic said.

"What?" Hybren wondered.

"I don't care!" Nic took in a huge breath and unleashed a Brine at him. The saltwater attack was coming in fast, and Hybren swiftly retracted his tail and his feet then turned into two scaly clawed purple feet. He used the strength of his feet and jumped and evaded the Brine.

"Scale Ripple!" He then came down and slammed both feet deep into the earth. He not only created a crater that was a seven foot radius, but a huge ripple of scales shot up from the ground and made its way towards Nic.

Nic had little options to use for this attack. He had little time as well. He tried avoiding it by propelling himself upwards with Water Gun again to keep a distance, but the scales still were able to reach him and burst upon rapid impact. Nic yelped as he was hit and slammed into the ground.

Hybren laughed as Nic turned to his side. "Give up Luminous?"

Nic got one leg under him and then the other. He let out a huff of air and cracked his knuckles. "Please, I'm not taking this lying down scale brain."

Back to Erza, she couldn't even land a hit on her opponent. Not only was he fast, but he was using his double-pronged sword to shrink any and all of her swords that she had summoned. Erza had to see if she could outnumber him and to do so, she needed to muster up a lot of force.

"Requip!" Erza transformed into her (now repaired) Heaven's Wheel Armor and had twenty swords rotating around her. "Dance, my blades!" She then made the swords all around her rotate at high speed and pointed straight at him. "Circle Sword!" The swords then charged at Seazer and were striking him in numerous numbers.

He grunted as he could only shrink a few upon touching them, but the other swords attacked him and he fell back with a thud. He opened his eyes and looked up at Erza.

Erza descended to the ground and held up a long sword. "Just as I thought, you can only minimize those blades that make contact with only your sword, leaving you defenseless." She explained.

Seazer growled and rushed for her, but she had already trapped him in a spiraling swirl of swords. Erza had the swords all rapidly bombard him all about as he could not keep up and he was swatted about in all directions and could hardly move.

'Crap! This lady is hitting me with outnumbering attacks!' He thought, but was unable to process Erza now hovering above him as he assumed she would attack through the spiral. 'Oh crap!'

Erza soared down onto him with her large sword now poised and ready as he was still scrapped about by the swirling sword spiral. "Pentagram Sword!" She then slashed at him in a pentagram shape and also completely shattering his sword. He yelled as he fell with a thud, defeated by the sheer force of her assaults.

Once he was defeated, his Magic was dispelled with the destruction of his sword and all of her tiny swords grew back into their original size. Erza huffed as she used quite a bit of Magic to fight this time. She dispelled all of her swords and requipped into her Heart Kreuz Armor.

Back with Nic, he also found a flaw with his opponent as he morphed his right arm and left arm.

He smirked, something that Hybren picked up on.

"What could you find so amusing?" He demanded to know.

Nic bared his teeth as he shifted into his Stone Plate Form. "Well, it appears that you can only morph two body parts at a time, with the bonus of having a tail. That leaves the rest of your body pretty much open." Nic explained.

Hybren picked up on Nic's analysis and was angry. He wasn't gonna be bested by this punk no way no how. He gritted his teeth as he unleashed his assault at Nic and Nic anticipated such an attack.

"Ancient Power!" Nic yelled. His body glows and creates a see-through afterimage of himself. The afterimage then spins and turns into a silver ball that Nic grabbed and hurled at the oncoming enemy. The attack exploded once it had hit him square in the face. He flew back and yelped as he quickly shifted both his scale arms to scale legs to increase its lower body strength and avoid skidding, but that didn't help him for what came next.

"Rock Tomb!" Nic outlined himself in white and multiple gray rocks outlined in white formed above him in the shape of a ring, then he motioned his arms forward and the rocks above sailed and were hurled at Hybren.

There were just too many rocks and he could only jump. He managed to avoid by leaping fairly high, but one gray rock got him in his left leg. He yelped as he was hit and descended just as the attack finished, making him crash and shatter into several gray boulders. He struggled as he turned. He was forced to retract his scale legs and slowly tried to get up. He grunted and winced as he could not move as fast.

"You'll pay for that!" He shouted. Nic then brought his hands together and created multiple transparent glowing gems around his head.

"That'll be the day! Power Gem!" He then extended out his hands and the gems lit up and unleashed a gleaming beam at his opponent. The blast made Hybren recoil as he had little to no room. He was surrounded by boulders and he couldn't jump or run.

"DAMMIT!" He shouted just before the attack enveloped him and exploded. A large shining cloud consumed the area around him and he yelled as even the boulders shattered upon impact.

Nic watched as the dust cleared, revealing the boulders from earlier to be no more, and Hybren had dropped to his knees with several injuries from the assaults. He then face planted and landed with a loud thud in defeat.

Nic glared at him and turned away, having this business done and over with. He and Erza both regrouped and Erza analyzed his new form. She looked at him starting from the bottom and worked up top.

Nic smirked. "You like what you see?" He playfully said, causing Erza to smile and look away blushing from his deadpanned comment.

"Nic." She said, still turned away, and still smiling as a matter of fact. "Though your new form is rather impressive, we must continue with the mission."

Nic blinked a couple times and shifted back into himself, acknowledging what she had said. "Right. I'll set the ones in the cell free over there and you get the ones out from the contraptions." He said. He then went right and Erza went left to do as instructed. Nic went over towards the cells and shifted into his Meadow Plate Form and used Leaf Blade and sliced straight through the iron bars that held captive maybe at least one hundred people.

"Quick, everyone outside!" Nic shouted and everyone had just rushed to where Nic and Erza both had just entered. Within a minute, they were out and heading back up to the surface. Only a few had stayed to assist those who needed to get out of the contraptions.

Erza had already done her part and used a sword to cut off the wire that connected the contraptions. The very few people inside were still somewhat drained and fatigued, so the people who stayed behind did their part and aid in them getting out and catching up with the crowd.

With every single person evacuated, they both turned their attention towards the large dark pink lacrima, aka the bomb.

"Okay…how do we stop it?" Nic asked.

They then heard someone else's voice in the distance. "You can't."

Nic and Erza both turned here and there to see where the voice was coming from.

"Show yourself!" Erza shouted, getting a sword ready. They then heard an evil laughter and then they saw the air in front of them distort and twist. Erza felt a cold feeling going up and down her spine, and Nic could feel the ominous presence growing with the familiar scent of Tartaros.

Nic snarled as he recalled the last three and The Nightmare. Those memories were fueling Nic with the need to break this guy into pieces, so he wasn't at all surprised like Erza was. The space finally distorted and some cloaked man with a hood appeared.

"So, it was you. You sick swine." Nic reprimanded the cloaked Tartaros member. He paid no heed as he chuckled.

"Well now. Thank you for clearing the stage you two." He said in a modest tone. "Those meat sacks were useless at this point anyway."

Nic didn't appreciate this, and he most certainly wasn't going to waste time with this guy. Erza felt the same when she got over her initial shock.

Erza held a sword towards the cloaked Tartaros member. "Enough! Deactivate and terminate the Magic Bomb!" She ordered.

The cloaked man evilly grinned and he snapped his fingers. Just then, the Magic Bomb started to glow. Nic and Erza both stepped back in defense.

"I suppose that I should warn you that there's only fifteen minutes until this thing blows." He amusingly said.

Erza stepped forward. "Why are you doing this?! Tell me!" She demanded with such authority. The man then chuckled yet again.

"I suppose…" He then reached and pulled off the hood that concealed his face. Nic snarled and Erza grunted as they saw him.

His eyes were white, but the iris's and pupils both were oval rather than circle. His iris were both dark pink and he had sharp teeth and his hair was combed back and was black with blood red strands going back as well. The circles under his eyes were black compared to his pale skin. He then took off his cloak, revealing a long jacket with blood red outlining and black. The sleeves were long and spacious, allowing room to show his muscles with black markings all about. His pants were baggy and black and had blood red markings that represented the Tartaros symbol on both his pants thighs.

He smirked even more evilly now. He was fixated on their demise. "You wanna know why? I'll tell ya! This world itself is meant to be brought into an eternal darkness, a darkness so pure that only those who follow in Zeref's footsteps shall live and those who don't shall burn in the depths of Hell and will forever be screaming for forgiveness in the name of Zeref. He shall be reborn and I shall announce that by destroying this whole town and everything in a five mile radius! This world shall be eradicated of the clueless and will thrive with demons and the Magic only Zeref shall grant them!"

Nic made an irritated look and snarled. He then pointed accusingly at him. "Zeref is overrated!"

"How dare you speak of the great Lord Zeref! Forever be damned and burn!" He shouted. Erza quickly got in front of Nic and had a sword that was ready to defend.

"Nic, be ready!" Erza warned.

"You filthy trash shall perish!" He exclaimed to the two Fairy Tail members.

Nic stepped forward and had his hands on his hips, all sassy like. You could easily tell he was going to deadpan something. He leaned his head forward and mildly spoke. "Yeah? Well you look like something I would leave in the toilet."

And that snapped a nerve.

"I, Riftalla, shall crush you into oblivion!" He then extended both his hands out and Nic could feel the air around him twist and he saw his left shoulder distort. He was stunned and he yelped as he felt his should twist with the air and the air itself distorting so that it made it hard to breath for him. "My Spacial Curse shall make you suffer before death!"

Nic clamped his own mouth shut and straightened out very slowly. He shifted with whatever focus possible and turned into his Sky Plate Form. He yelped once more before he took off into the air. Riftalla grunted as his target managed to escape. Nic flapped in the air, but his shoulder was all damaged. He would have to use Synthesis in his Meadow Plate Form once this is all over. Nic himself grunted as he sailed at him with an Aerial Ace and Erza quickly requipped into her Black Wing Armor and took off towards Riftalla as well.

He smirked as he had both arms out and the entire air in front of him began to distort. Nic and Erza both stopped in place to see what he was doing. They both went wide eyed when the air in front of them exploded. They both stopped in place to avoid being hit by the sudden wall of explosions.

"Do you like it? My Spacial Curse also allows me to distort the air particles and make them implode, causing explosions out of thin air.

'Sounds a bit like Aria's Magic.' Erza thought. She then positioned herself to charge. 'If that's true, then I should cut through the air with no problem.' Erza did a battle cry as she flew in and slashed through the wall with ease thanks to the immense attack boost of her armor. Riftalla was a little surprised, but was even more shocked when he was actually hit by Erza's sword. He skid back and easily brushed off her assault. Erza grunted as she thought this was going to be harder than she thought if her Black Wing Armor could only do this much.

Nic flapped in the air and used Air Cutter at Riftalla; however, he easily extended out his hand and he made the Air Cutters distort and implode as they soared at him. Nic grunted again and this time soared at him with Aerial Ace.

"Take this!" Nic shouted. Riftalla wasn't impressed.

"Nice try!" He extended his hands out again and was going to distort Nic again.

"Not gonna happen! Tailwind!" He then had a huge wind boost him and he managed to bypass the distorted space.

Riptalla went wide eyed when Nic did so and was hit with a fast moving attack. He skid back and he pivoted to keep ground, but didn't know that Erza was behind him thanks to the boost from Tailwind.

Erza was going to slash at him again, but he made the space in front of her implode so that she would have to back off. Erza flew back and up to evade the attack and looked down at Riftalla. He was no joke.

Nic was circling around, going to use maybe a Wing Attack with the combined Tailwind, but something caught his eye as soon as he went around. He noticed that behind the large lacrima was Ultear and she was unconscious and tied up and had some vines attached that drained her Magic to power the thing alone.

Nic was more than shocked. He remembered Kecleon reporting her seeing Ultear, but didn't except to see her like this. Normally, Nic would feel awkward around Ultear, but she was being used and held captive. Nic didn't waste any time. "Erza, keep him busy! I'm going to stop this thing by the source!" He shouted. Erza turned around and tried to see what Nic meant. She peered behind the pink lacrima and found Ultear. Nic was going to save Ultear.

The thought of Ultear was almost too much for Erza to bear. For one thing, she was flirty with Nic back when they were on trial, secondly, she never had a good feeling about her to begin with. Seeing her like this was making her feeling somewhat guilty though, and she wasn't one to abandon those in need. Erza allowed Nic to do his part while she stalled and tried to stop Riftalla.

Riftala saw Nic going for Ultear and blew it off. "Heh, like I wasn't one to anticipate such a thing." He then resumed his quarrel with Erza and she flew about trying to evade the small explosions.

With Nic, he fully went around the large lacrima and was making his way towards a trapped and helpless Ultear. 'Hang on, I'm almost there.'

He was about to use Wing Attack to cut off the wiring, but then something swift caught him off guard and he flew back a few feet. The fast moving figure then landed in front of him and snarled.

Nic slumped forward. "Again? Seriously?"

It was the humanoid wolf, and it wanted to make Nic perish from earlier. The beast lunged forward and Nic flew up fast into the air thanks to Tailwind. He did a mid-air shift into his Dread Plate Form and went hurling downwards towards the monster. The beast pounced and had a claw out, ready to gut him upon impact. "Foul Play!" Nic shouted. He grabbed the claw in time, turned in the air and hurled the wolf from where it came from. It crashed hard and created a crater.

Nic landed safely and got into a more defensive stance as he awaited for the wolf to strike back.

With Erza, she had been trying to avoid the continuous assault of explosions all about and had difficulty focusing to aim an attack while doing so. She flew about above and about and was able to evade the explosions thanks to Tailwind, but the window was closing for her opportunity to attack. She only had so much time before Tailwind would end, thirty seconds give or take.

She descended and went at Riftalla from an upward behind angle. She made a battle cry as she got a sword ready. Riftalla held out a hand and trued to distort her sword, but Erza was swinging at an angle and he couldn't get a clear lock.

"Moon Flash!" Erza then rushed at him and slashed in a cross pattern with major force. The attack sailed and crashed into him with such intensity that there was a small explosion of white upon impact. Erza flew back to see what kind of damage was done.

She was annoyed that Riftalla was still standing, even after that. His durability was rather high if he could barely be scratched from that. Still, he gritted his teeth and clenched his torso.

"Okay, that one had some bite to it…BUT NOT ENOUGH!" He extended both hands and this time the markings on his hands lit up. The explosions this time were double in size when the air distorted, forcing Erza to take dire measures when she needed to evade the attacks.

Erza flew to the ground and landed softly. "Requip!" She then lit up and she was shown to have requipped into her Flight Armor. She could possibly get a few good hits in if possible, but his power boost was something to take note of. She readied a summoned sword and started dashing like crazy.

Back with Nic, I guess you could say it was hand-to-claw combat sort of speak. The beast was keeping up with an onslaught of slashes as to where Nic was continuously evading and having little room to counter. As the beast swiped across with its right arm, Nic ducked and did a Night Slash across its abdomen. The beast was startled and stepped back, giving Nic enough room to quickly strike with a Dark Pulse in less than two seconds. The monster howled as it jumped and flipped back and landed with its claws dug into the ground.

"Alright pooch, time for you to heel!" Nic shouted. The monster's only response was it opening its mouth and unleashing a sonic howl at him. The attack rippled and caused the earth around the sonic wave to shatter. Nic had to counter quickly. "Night Daze!" Nic's eyes lit up and his body was surrounded in a crimson aura. The aura around his arms thickened when risen and unleashed a force field of pink and crimson upon slamming them to the ground.

The two menacing attacks collided and strong winds blew about everywhere. Nic covered up as the winds and the small explosion was shoving him back. The wolf itself was gripping to the ground to avoid being shoved back. These powerful winds and small explosion even goy noticed by Erza and Riftalla, to see what was going on. The cables and vines that hooked up Ultear to the lacrima were all vaporized from being in the middle of the attack; thankfully, Ultear was out of range to not get swallowed up by the explosion.

Riftalla sneered and growled when the lacrima's power source was detached and Erza looked back to see that this was her opportunity to strike. She turned and dashed at him while he was looking away, causing him to flinch when she was two meters in front of him.

"Sonic Claw!" She shouted. She then slashed at him at high speed in every direction possible. It all happened so fast that his Spacial Curse couldn't keep up even if he tried. He yelped as he got to a knee and turned to look at Erza. She held a sword to his face. "Do you concede?"

He only grinned as he took note of her not moving. He then aimed his Spacial Curse and used it to distort the space around her legs. Erza screamed as her legs felt as though they were twisting and being torn apart from her.

"Ha! Looks like I got ya-!" He was cut off when the humanoid wolf monster was surprisingly send flying into him. He tumbled and crashed into the ground as did the wolf and Erza's legs were relieved from the distortion. She knelt down and clenched her legs. Nic came by just in time with a now free Ultear, yet she was still unconscious.

"Nic, how did you…?" Erza was shocked at how Nic was able to stop him.

Nic explained it as bluntly as he could. "Easy, when he's using his powers, he can only do either the distortion or explosions, he can't do both at the same time. He's open when he tried to unleash his powers because he can only focus on one space."

Erza was stunned to hear Nic's explanation. He was indeed perceptive. Nic set down Ultear and reached a hand out to assist in Erza. She grabbed his hand and was helped up. Though it was a little touching moment, considering they both were staring at each other for two seconds, they both turned and saw the two enemies getting back to their feet.

"Okay, time to finish this." Nic said. Erza nodded in agreement.

The two were about to launch a double attack, but they then felt the entire place shake and rumble. The ground was vibrating like crazy and their feet were beginning to quake and lose balance.

"Wh-what's happening?!" Nic shouted. Everyone there turned to see that the lacrima was now glowing just a little bit brighter and was beginning to slowly lift itself into the air. They all saw the lacrima slowly rising and started to break through the ceiling. The ceiling was starting to quake and was beginning to break apart as the lacrima was breaking through to the outside.

Nic quickly turned to Erza after he grabbed Ultear. "Quick, let's move!" Erza requipped to her Heart Kreuz and they began to make way towards the exit while Riftalla was chuckling and laughing. He then distorted himself and made way outside to the surface. The wolf creature scaled the walls and barely made it to the top with his gripping capabilities.

Nic and Erza both managed to make it to the surface after five minutes of running down the long tunnel they came from. They ran along the alley and Ultear was moaning, signaling that she was coming around. Nic turned his gaze to see Ultear starting to slowly open her eyes over his shoulder. He and Erza both stopped and saw Ultear finally coming around.

"…Unnngh…w-what the…what happened…?" She muttered. Nic turned to Erza with a confused look.

"I don't think she should be moving around much. Her Magic was depleted." He said. Erza agreed and Nic had set Ultear down, making her sit next to a corner of a street. She turned with her eyes open to see Nic and Erza.

"Oh, Nic! What are you doing here?" She asked. Nic got up to his feet and looked up to where the big lacrima was.

"No time for chit-chat! Stay here! Erza, let's go kick some ass!" He said. He and the Requip Mage then made way to the direction where they see the giant dark pink lacrima floating in the sky. Ultear looked on with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, daring now are we?"

Eighty three seconds later…

Nic and Erza both stopped once they were at the site. The large dark pink lacrima was floating about, high in the sky and glowing brightly.

"What's it doing?" Erza asked.

"I think it might be close to exploding." Nic assumed.

"That's right!" They heard a voice that was Riftalla. He reappeared in front of them through distorting the space. He laughed heinously and he grinned. "This bomb has got seven minutes left. There's no way you can save yourselves now!"

Nic was then going to use a Dark Pulse, but the humanoid wolf appeared out of the blue and tried slashing at Nic. Nic and Erza both leaped away to keep their distance and evade the onslaught of slashing aimed specifically at Nic. Nic back stepped and crouched for a Sucker Punch that landed successfully and made the beast crash onto its back.

Riftalla held out his hand and then the air in front of Nic exploded. Nic yelped and crashed onto his back and tumbled onto his stomach.

"Nic!" Erza shouted.

"Don't think I forgot about you!" Riftalla shifted his arm and aimed the distorted explosions at Erza. Erza had to leap back and zigzag to evade the oncoming explosions. The man laughed as he then extended both hands and made the area that Nic and Erza were in implode. The result was a rather large explosion that send them both soaring into the air. Erza yelped as Nic grunted loudly. He didn't even have time to register the wolf jumping up from behind and giving him a harsh kick to his side. Nic's body rattled as he crashed into the pavement and tumbled towards Riftalla as Erza fell and barely landed on her feet, exhausted.

Nic skid and heard something tumble as well. Nic recognized that sound almost immediately and regained footing and jumped back up and saw that his hone had slipped out of his pocket. Nic's heart almost stopped as the encase phone tumbled and landed in front of Riftalla.

Oh no…

Nic almost yelped when Riftalla picked up the foreign device with a disinterested look on his face. He turned the device over and just grunted.

"Heh. Pointless." He then tossed the thing aside and it tumbled and hit a wall of a nearby building. Nic looked on with horrified eyes as Riftalla just tossed his most valuable treasure away like it was trash.

Oh lord, he has no idea on what he had just done!

Nic was dead silent. Silent as a grave. He looked on with shock and disbelief.

Riftalla just rolled his eyes. "Heh. Whatever that was, it wouldn't help you anyways."

Erza stepped forward and requipped into her Black Wing Armor again. She held up a sword and was in fighting stance. "Nic, be ready…" But she herself wasn't ready for what was to come.

The air suddenly became thin and a strong wind blew. Everyone there, Erza, Riftalla, even the humanoid beast, felt this sensation of dread moving up and down their spines.

"What's this feeling?" Riftalla asked himself out loud. "It's like the atmosphere got dropped…!" He and the beast and Erza all turned to see Nic's gaze fixated on Riftalla, but this wasn't any old glaring gaze, oh no…this was a feral gaze. They saw his iris and pupils had shrunk and he was wide eyed. They saw his veins pop out from his arms and he bared his teeth. They all saw a menacing dreadful aura emerge from him that made the air around them cold.

"Nic?" Erza asked, a little bit creeped out. She heard that Nic went berserk on Gray before, and she saw him lash out attitudes, but this feeling trumped everything she heard and saw. She saw Nic's monstrosity.

Erza stepped back in a little shock. This will get ugly.

"You…" Nic muttered at Riftalla. "You…you…you-big-JERK!" Nic yelled at the top of his lungs. In a flash, he had shifted into his Flame Plate and fire stormed all around him, he was engulfed in a frenzy of fire that grew in heat and intensity.

Riftalla stepped back in deep shock. He slumped forward in deep revelation of what he was witnessing. Just what was this guy? The wolf himself whimpered and stepped back at the horrific site.

Nic stepped forward. As he did, the footprint he left was so hot that it charred a perfect imprint of his shoe. "You you've made me angry! VERY, VERY, VERY, ANGRY!" The fire around Nic expanded so that it was in conjunction with his seething rage, of which was tremendous!

Oh dear lord, there is no mercy for them.

A blazing Nic controlled the fire and made it compact into a super-heated Flame Charge that lunged at mach speed. Riftalla didn't have time to even react when Nic slammed into his gut with more force than he could've imagined. He gagged as he soared back over the forty foot diameter hole and skid another fifty feet and crashed into the pavement. The wolf himself was now somewhat scared. He couldn't move and he didn't have time when Nic unleashed a super-heated Blaze Kick and made him soar backwards and crashed and tumbled over to where the other guy was. Both were lying there for a moment.

"What the hell is this guy?!" He shouted. He got up and saw Nic rushing at him with intense heat. He quickly extended both hands and made the air in front of him explode. The explosion expanded, but Nic brushed it off with the inferno that was swelling up around him.

Now Riftalla stepped back in deep shock. "Stay back!"

"YOU NEVER EVER TOUCH MY PHONE!" Nic shouted. He let in a huge heap of air and unleashed a monstrous stream of fire, via Flamethrower. The wolf got in front and did a sonic howl. The two shattering attacks collided, creating a rippling fire throughout the air. The wolf flinched when Nic was in a huge wheel of fire, via Flame Wheel and it was huge! Nic zoomed in and bashed into the wolf. The wolf itself howled in agony as the beastly assault made it fly back even more and crash insanely hard into the pavement, making dust fly high and pavement shattering. The wolf laid there in the crater with a steaming abdomen from Nic's attack. It was defeat without mercy.

Erza looked on in shock the entire time. She was witnessing first-hand what Nic was capable of when infuriated to a great degree. She admitted to herself that this was far scarier than her, heck maybe even worse than Mira's Satan Soul. Erza could only watch and revert to her Heart Kreuz Armor as she could not do a thing about this matter. Now even she knows to stay on Nic's good side.

Riftalla looked back at the defeated monster with scared eyes and was almost quaking. He slowly turned his head around and looked up, seeing a blazing Nic a few feet in front of him. He was too scared to move.

"Y-you…you're…a demon!" He shouted.

"PREPARE TO BE TERMINATED!" Nic roared as he bared down a Fire Punch right in his face and created an inferno that rushed all about. Riftalla crashed and created a crater that was ten feet in diameter. Nic repeatedly using Fire Punch in rapid succession and created an even bigger crater afterwards. Nic picked him up, barely conscious, and he threw him into the air. "FIRE BLAST!" Then, he unleashed a monstrous fire from his mouth at Riftalla. The fire then turned into a star shape and send soaring and crashing and then eventually exploding upon massive impact. Riftalla fell and crashed straight downwards. He laid there with his mouth wide open and unquestionably unconscious. He was defeated no doubt.

Nic stomped forward and looked down at his defeated opponent. He breathed deeply and then roared high into the sky, releasing a massive Flamethrower to literally burn off the excess rage. After an intense ten seconds of spewing fire straight up, he turned around and looked at the ground, breathing rather heavily. He walked a bit, not bothering to look up as he was a little tired.

Erza was fairly shocked the entire time. 'So, this is Nic's true rage.' She thought. She didn't know what to feel. She felt intimidated, stunned, surprised. This side of Nic she witnessed made the atmosphere give off a dreadful vibe. She was brought out of her thought when she saw Nic dash for his device.

Nic rushed over towards his phone and picked it up. He scrutinized every bit of it. Thankfully, the casing was still intact. He pressed the power button and it still worked. Nic dropped to his knees, thankful that his precious device was okay.

Erza saw this and couldn't help but let loose a very small grin. 'That thing must be very important to him…' The glowing lacrima then began to glow even brighter, signaling that it'll explode in a matter of minutes. Erza looked up in shock that the lacrima was still going. "What?! How?!"

Nic put his phone away and returned to reality. He saw a shocked Erza and saw the lacrima glowing even brighter. "It must run on its own." Nic muttered. At this rate, it was gonna explode in three minutes.

There was no time to waste. Nic got out a poke ball. "Charizard!" Nic shouted. The Flame Pokémon then appeared out of his poke ball and Erza looked on as to what Nic was doing.

"Nic, what are you doing?" She shouted.

"This!" He shifted into his Sky Plate and flew up to the lacrima. As he flew, he yelled at Charizard. "Hey, give me a hand!" Charizard flew up and caught up with Nic.

As the two flew, Charizard turned towards Nic. "Let me guess, we're gonna drag this thing high into the air?"

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas." Nic said with a half grin. Both then flew to opposite sides of the big lacrima and they both clenched onto it. Surprisingly, it was light, maybe since it was floating and such. Nic and Charizard then pushed the thing upwards, soaring high and racing fast to get the thing out of the way.

"Nic! Get back here!" Erza yelled loudly, but Nic was determined to save them all, as was Charizard. The two flapped insanely hard, getting enough speed behind them and sailing high into the sky. They soared maybe at least eighty miles per hour. They were struggling to keep with as time was running out. At a certain point, they both kicked into overdrive and sailed now one hundred miles per hour up.

They kept pushing up and up, the lacrima glowing brighter after every minute passing. The lacrima's glow indicated less than a minute left.

"Nic!" Charizard yelled through the air. Thet were pretty much at the point where no oxygen was available.

"Yeah!" Nic knew it was time to make a run for it-or in this case, fly. The two gave it one mighty push with one arm each, sending the thirty foot lacrima soaring still. It was sailing high and Nic and Charizard did the exact opposite. The two coughed as they were somewhat oxygen deprived and they both flew downwards and away from the blast radius that was soon to happen.

After four hundred meters, they managed to make it back to oxygen and they could breathe somewhat again. Charizard and Nic both looked to see that the lacrima behind them and still far away was shining brightly.

They both turned and kicked it back into overdrive. They sailed downwards at a high speed. Once they were ten seconds into their overdrive, the Magic Bomb finally flashed and exploded.

The blast wave was a dark crimson with a mixture of dark purple and a small tint of white. It was expanding rather quickly, maybe eighty miles per hour.

The two panicked as they were going as fast as they could.

"Flap Charizard! Flap like your life depends on it!" Nic yelled.

"Yeah, because it does!" Charizard pointed out. Nic then remembered that he could do something.

Nic mentally face palmed himself. 'Oh, duh.' He then heard the blast wave slowly catching up to them. "Not today! Tailwind!" Just then, Charizard and Nic were sailing downwards at an insanely fast rate. Potentially far faster than the sound barrier.

"Waaaaahhhhhhh!" The two yelled as they swiftly soared downwards and got away from the huge blast radius.

With Erza

She couldn't see anything from her standpoint. The great Titania could find the great and mighty Luminous in the sky; although, she did see a bright light far up in the sky. The light faded, but then she saw a rapidly expanding blast wave of dark crimson and dark purple.

"Nic!" She shouted. She couldn't see anything. She could only assume…

No, he couldn't be. Not again! Erza then felt some weird feeling again, something salty running down her cheek as she looked up at the sky. There was no way he could…

After almost a minute, she saw two projectiles fall from the sky just as the enormous blast wave dispersed throughout the sky, sending strong winds in every single direction, even down on the town.

Several tiled roofs were trashed and everything else was missing a window or two; but other than that, not a single person was harmed nor killed.

Aside from that, the two projectiles came into view and she almost skipped a heartbeat when she saw Nic coming back down. She couldn't help but grin. Although, they were coming in pretty fast…

The two tried to slow down as much as possible, but they had far too much momentum behind them.

"This is gonna hurt!" Charizard yelled. The two then slammed and flew off a rooftop, yelping as they hit. They then skid over towards the next building over and slammed on their roofing and then skid again. This kept for another roughly five or six times before they finally slammed into a building that was too far for the painful skid and the two slammed into the wall with a loud crunch sound. They were both comically twitching there and they both slowly fell onto their backs, leaving perfect impressions of themselves.

They both just twitched for a few seconds before they found the ground beneath them and turned to their stomachs and pushed upwards. The two managed to get to their feet, but almost every part of their bodies was sore and aching from the multiple crashes.

Nic pushed on his head, cracking his neck and relieving tension. "Aw man, I'm gonna feel that for a week." Nic complained.

Charizard stretched out his arms and felt his muscles strain. "I'm gonna feel that for a month."

Nic then shifted back into himself and he bend backwards, feeling every bone in his spine crack. He had his mouth opened as he heard the multitude of cracks. Nic slowly bend forward and groaned.

Charizard grinned, impressed how Nic could make that many bones crack. "Nice."

Nic turned to Charizard and the two fist bumped. "Well…you know what they say, any landing you walk away from is a good landing." Nic pointed out, to which Charizard nodded.

"Nic!" The two turned to see Erza running from around the corner and she was dashing at him with such energy. They both could see she was happy to see them alive. "Nic!" She then sprung forward and gave Nic a hug. Nic stepped back as Erza was fairly aggressive with her hug, but he received it with such warmth. The two shared the nice moment that they were both alive.

Charizard coughed, letting them know that he was still there. They both realized and Erza let go of Nic, dusting off her wardrobe.

"So…I guess we turn in those guys and sort everything out now?" Nic wondered. Erza then turned towards them and just stared blankly at Nic. "…what?" He asked.

Erza then pulled off a sweet smile and began cracking her knuckles. Onc she did so, Nic remembered what happened the last time.

He slumped forward. "Oh great."

"Oh Nic." She said sweetly. "You've made me worry again…" But before she could say any more of anything, Nic was already running in the opposite direction.

"Hasta la vista!" Nic shouted back to here.

"Get back here!" Erza shouted. She then dashed off towards Nic.

Charizard smirked and watched on as Nic tried avoiding Erza's sweet wrath again. "Ah yes, love hurts."

Sometime later…

Morning came about and the Rune Knights had successfully apprehended the fiends. The humanoid wolf, Hybren, Seazer, and Riftalla were all taken into custody and were taken away. Nic still had a feeling that Tartaros will still be snooping around, but at least they were taken care of for now.

The townspeople were even questioned about the ruckus. They all said they heard a lot of crashing and explosions last night and if possible went down to their cellars. They all had an eventful night with things getting smashed and pavements destroyed.

As for Nic and Erza, they had to tell the hotel who they really were, of which didn't change anything. The people were still very grateful for their service to stopping the kidnappers. The people around town all came to retrieve their loved ones and thanked Titania and Luminous for such a blissful thing.

They spend the whole next day sorting things out in town, with some cleanup and some answers, not to mention praises and investigations. The two did win a free night in the inn they stayed in, and the suite they stayed in was repaired in a flash.

The two Fairy Tail members were brought to their client, the inn owner. They entered his place and he turned with a grateful grin plastered on his face.

"Ah you two, you two did good. Destructive, but good." He praised.

Nic nodded, as did Erza.

"As promised, you two shall be rewarded." He then gave them a check that was read six million jewels.

"Dang, what a bounty." Nic whistled. 'Not exactly the S-Class like last time, but just as tough I guess.'

"Thank you very much." Erza replied. "We shall take our leave first thing in the morning." She said.

The owner nodded. "Very well. You two have saved our town, not to mention this here business. People are coming back to this place specifically. Obviously this inn has advertised your stay, making it fairly popular."

Nic just shrugged, thinking it didn't matter. "Good for you then."

That night, Nic and Erza both went to bed, though Erza laid in the soft and cozy mattress as to where Nic slept on the floor. Erza peered over the edge and watched Nic quietly snooze about, turning over to his side and using his arm as a pillow. She did find him to look fairly sound when sleeping. Wonder what he would feel if he slept on the mattress?

The thought of Nic and Erza in the same bed made Erz's face instantly blush a deep red that was the same shade as her hair. She instantly laid down and shut that idea out before any carnal desires could potentially break through. She eventually fell asleep with a smile, obviously having a blissful dream, particularly a certain someone who had kept things interesting.

The next day…

It was close to eleven in the morning and the two were well on their way to the train station. At least they didn't have to wear their disguises anymore. The two didn't say much, just that they praised the other for their great and almighty skills.

They both turned the corner at the train station and they both saw Ultear there, all recovered.

"Oh, Ultear!" Nic said surprised. At least this time he wasn't creeped out, probably after the incident involving the other night. She was being used after all.

She stepped forward. "Nic, thank you for saving me." She said sincerely, but with a small hint of seductivity. Erza was almost tempted to growl, but suppressed it. "How should I thank my hero?"

And that was when Nic got shivers going down his spine again. She was getting a tad flirty with him. Nic had to say something.

"Uh…tell no one you saw us I guess. I really don't want to deal with those Council numbskulls." He said. Ultear smirked and stepped back. She looked down and worked her way up. She raised a brow and smirked even more.

"Hmmm…maybe there's more I can do." She said. He knew what she meant. He looked over at Erza and sweat dropped when he saw her encased in a black aura and glaring at Ultear. He swiftly turned back, trying to fix up this mess.

"Uh, no you're fine. Just please don't tell the Council or anyone, thanks." Nic said in haste. Ultear sighed and still had that seductive smirk.

"Very well." She then began to walk away. She only stepped a few feet before she turned her head back towards Nic. "Till next time…Nic-kun." She then turned and walk away. 'Very well Nic, I'll let your presence slide this time. Master Hades is still wanting me to report this, but I'll let this slide and tell him nothing.'

Nic just stood there frozen. 'Did she just…?' Nic was mortified. Shivers went down his spine as Ultear had just crossed the line. "Oookay! Back on topic. Let's get to the train-!" He then turned to see Erza glaring in the direction Ultear disappeared, with the aura thickening and growling like crazy.

'She did not just give him that suffix! That lady's got a lot of nerve!' Erza mentally screamed, obviously not enjoying Ultear calling him Nic-kun.

Nic waved a hand in front of her face. "You who! Hello? Earthland to Erza!" Nic shouted. Erza blinked and was brought out of her thoughts as she didn't realize that she was like that for fifteen to thirty seconds.

She got flustered and turned bright red when Nic looked at her. "Huh? Wha…I wasn't thinking anything!"

Nic chose to ignore and let the subject pass. "Fine. Let's go, we'll be late."

With that said and done, they made way towards the train and they made way back towards Magnolia.

On the train…

Halfway into the ride home, Erza was peering out of the window, thinking back towards the adventure the two shared.

Then the thought of what Mira said came back into her head. It wasn't a "date" one would say, but I guess this could count as a bonding experience to say the least. Sure they didn't get to be in the hot springs, but at least they shared a room and got to know each other more, much to the Requip Mage's delight.

She then looked over at Nic, who had his head down, daydreaming and had his earbuds in and listening to music on his phone.

The sight of that phone then brought back to the other night when Nic almost terrorized the Tartaros beings. Obviously that was something even Erza should never do. Still, curiosity rang through her head like a doorbell.

She couldn't take it. "Nic." She said. Nic was brought out of his blank space and pulled his earbuds out. He looked up at Erza and blinked.

"Eh, yeah?"

"I'm curious. Why is that device so important?" She asked. Nic was taken back by her sudden question, but then realized that she was there when he when berserk. He took in a heap of air and slumped back.

"Okay…I guess I should explain…. It's silly and not really anything, but why not." He paused and then continued and looked down at his phone. "Well…I got this device when I was fourteen, a year before I left home. It was a gift…a gift from my grandparents."

Erza was a little surprised by this fact. "You grandparents?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah. My grandma and grandpa were the best. They were my true role models. Whenever my deadbeat parents dropped me and my sister off to their place, they would always make us delicious noodles and mashed potatoes. They were the sweetest people you would have ever met."

Erza smiled. "They sounded like good people."

Nic looked up and nodded. "They were…" Nic then frowned and looked down at his phone. "…but there's an even bigger reason. The day after they gave me this gift…they both died."

Erza's own heart stopped when she heard this. She couldn't find any words to comfort Nic. He then continued.

"I was enjoying my gift and my parents told me the news. I was heartbroken, and they treated it like dirt. They didn't give a care to grandma and grandpa's death." She could see him clenching his phone tighter. "The two most grateful people in the world…gone like that. I'll miss their sweet smiles forever…their last gift to me is all that I have left of them…if I lose this…I…I…" Nic then began to shed a small tear in remembrance of his beloved grandparents, his favorite part of his childhood.

Erza had a hand on his shoulder and he instantly looked up. He looked to see that she too was starting to show a small tear in telling of his story. "It's okay. I understand now. That means everything to you. I wish I could've met them."

Nic smiled in sincerity and Erza leaned back to her seat across.

"Thanks Erza, you're sweet." Nic said, wiping off the small tear.

Erza could've blushed at Nic's compliment, but she didn't as she was taking this matter on a more personal level, because Nic was being serious with his statement. She then looked out the window and kept that content smile on her face. Nic then plugged in his earbuds and listened to more of his favorite hardcore music.

Sometime later…

Erza and Nic both made it back to Magnolia and were making their way back to Fairy Tail. They just went in comfortable silence, not having the need to say much of anything.

The two then passed by Loke, who was walking up towards them. Compared to earlier this week, Loke looked a lot better.

"Hey man, you look better." Nic said. Loke was smiling and pushed up his glasses.

"Why yes, thank you…hey listen guys, you need to know something." Loke said. It was clear that it was serious, but he said it in a cool manner.

"What might that be?" Erza asked.

"I am a Celestial Spirit." He explained.

Nic slumped forward with wide eyes. "Mind blown."

Loke then explained in detail of what happened while they were gone. Obviously he and Lucy got in some conflicts in regards to Loke's well-being. He then told his story as to how his former key holder, some chick named Karen Lilica, was abusive and Loke stood up to her. Sometime later, Karen died and Loke was indirectly responsible. He was banished from the Celestial Spirit World and was on Earthland for three years. He was just about to disappear when Lucy was trying to save him. It was then the Celestial Spirit King came about into conflict and Lucy defended Loke with everything she had. With some convincing, Loke was granted access to the Celestial Spirit World and has been sentenced to serving Lucy, much to his delight.

"That was insane. I had no idea." Nic said, impressed of Loke's story.

"Thanks Nic. I just came by to give you guys something." Loke then reached into his pocket and pulled out two tickets to somewhere.

Erza examined the tickets. "What are they?"

"They're tickets to a resort. Consider it a thank you gift." Loke said. He then turned. "I have to go give Natsu, Lucy, and Gray their's. I wish you all the best of luck." Loke then began walking away.

Nic acknowledges Loke's thank you gift and knew they wouldn't cross paths for awhile. "Until we meet again Loke." Nic said. Loke responded by holding up an arm, waving to Nic as he walked off.

The two smiled and looked as their tickets. They then looked at each other.

"Guess we're going on another vacation!" Nic said with a smile.

Erza put her hands on her hips. "Nic, that wasn't a vacation!"

"Oh really? Then how come you enjoyed it as we walked through town the first and last day?" Nic cheekily asked. Erza turned about, trying to find an excuse.

"That was Akira, not me!" Erza turned away and explained, trying to keep Nic from seeing her slight blush.

Nic rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's go get ready!" Nic happily said. Erza turned back and smiled as she and Nic both walked through Magnolia and were going to get ready for the resort.

Little did Nic, nor anyone know, that smile would soon vanish...