Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 46 - Ice and Fire, Light and Shadow

Sting wasn't breathing hard at all while Rogue was hiding his tiredness well. Natsu and Gray were not in the same boat. Sweat rolled down Natsu's face. His muscles ached, and it was clear Gray could use a break, too. What helped Natsu stay standing was how much power Sting kept outputting; the wind from his aura kept his back straight.

"So," Natsu muttered. "Since I can't convince you to leave, how do you wanna do this? Had enough fun with Sting yet?"

"I've gotta imagine he's going to be the biggest nuisance, so we should try keeping him out of this for a second," Gray said. "Thankfully, he's a lot like you, so that shouldn't be too hard to do if we can get him nice and distracted."

"Got any ideas?"

"Loads. All of them were meant for you if you ever decided to get out of hand on a quest."

"Well," Natsu said. He felt a little cheap knowing he was getting to see Gray's hand a bit. "Show me what you got, then."

"I'll need a second to prepare everything," Gray said. "Can you buy me a minute against the two of them?"

"I can get you ten."

Gray lowered his stance. Natsu leered at him; it was all too similar to that Iced Shell thing he tried pulling against Lyon. Gray sneered.

"I'm not doing that move," Gray said. "So hurry it up so we don't waste our chance here."

"Right."

Rogue approached Sting and clasped his fellow Dragon Slayer's shoulder. Sting brushed it off.

"Not yet," Sting said. "Not until we truly need it. Our power together is enough for both of them."

"Both?" Natsu called. He pointed a thumb at his own chest and let a toothy grin shine among the once-proud stadium. "Come on. I'm more than enough for the two of you."

"Protecting the icicle?" Sting asked. "I'll kill him where he stands."

"Go on and try it," Natsu said. "You both had your chance against the two of us separately. Now that you've got two people from Fairy Tail working together, even if it's someone like Gray, you don't stand a chance!"

"Hey!" Gray shouted. "Would you get to fighting already?"

"Sure thing," Natsu said at the same time as Sting.

"Hang back and give me support, Rogue," Sting said. "I'll give you an opening."

Normally, it'd probably be foolish for everyone to be speaking so openly about their strategies. But, with the exception of Sting, everyone was so worn out that it was widely accepted among the warriors that there were no more cards in the deck. Each attack was an all-or-nothing strike; any false move could end the battle in an instant.

It was only a matter of claiming that instant before the enemy could.

"Ready?" Natsu asked.

Sting nodded. "Been ready. Let's—!"

Natsu shot at Sting, some lightning crackling behind him, but he shut that power down. Not yet. Not until...

Sting matched Natsu at speed, the two slamming their fists together mid-air to create a concussive blast that wavered Rogue, but not Gray, who had ice climbing all over him.

"You promised!" Natsu shouted.

"I did!" Gray said. "Have a little faith, alright?"

"Pay attention, Natsu!" Sting roared, his knee connected with Natsu's arm as the Fire Dragon Slayer attempted to block. Natsu parried with a punch that Sting evaded.