Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 115 - The Battle of Hargeon

Mirajane moved through the rising flames, separating at her mere glance, toward Gajeel. He flexed his wrist and hand to stretch them out a bit. Soldiers lay all over the place, sailors, too. There was hardly anyone left at the port. It was well-defended against a regular naval force but not the tectonic force that struck them.

Cana and Lisanna were examining their perimeter while Levy brandished several of her newly developed weapons and shields she'd been working on during the rebellion's time away. Lily stood with her.

"Looks like we're all done here," Gajeel said as another boat flipped over thanks to Juvia's aquatic assault.

"Ready to get going?" Mirajane asked.

Gajeel set his jaw. "Think I'm gonna hang back and make sure things are all good here. All of this was a little too easy. Yeah, we're all stronger, but..."

"I understand," Mirajane said. "How about we split up, then? Cana, Lisanna, and I will move on."

"I'll get Juvia to follow you in a second," Gajeel said. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Mirajane said with a smile. "You too."

The woman was terrifying, without a doubt, but Gajeel always had some reservations about her, even without all the demonic presence that couldn't escape her anymore. She stood taller now than before the Tenrou incident. Part of that was her power, probably, but part of it also had to be some amount of confidence she had to have for herself and her sister. Elfman was always the one to carry everything; now those two had to share the load of his stern spirit.

Mirajane dashed off toward her sister and Cana. Levy ignited a thin iron broadsword that hummed with ethernano and handed it to Lily, who grinned.

"You've done a wonderful job with my old sword," Lily said.

"Doing what I can," Levy said. She pushed her glasses up. "Gajeel? Here you go."

He took the iron plating, which helped shield some of the areas of his offense that they'd figured out were almost always exposed, and clamped it on. Part of his stomach roiled at the thought of so much iron being around.

He'd been gluttonous when they were in the mountains, where iron ore was in abundance. Gajeel was able to help tinker with it and gave Levy the means of developing some of her tools and weapons. For the most part, they worked to have better weapons for Lily to train with. They figured most of them were good enough to bring onto the battlefield.

Lily flourished his regular broadsword but had a side-sword brimming with magic power, too. It ignited with a blazing blue light. Gajeel activated his shielding, too, providing a thin but powerful magic barrier film around himself. Levy had the same thing.

Levy sealed up the bag that held all of the tools and slung it over her shoulder. Gajeel turned toward the sea. Juvia slid back onto the dock, catching herself as she slid along the smooth stonework. Lily waved to her as Gajeel jogged over to give her the news about the next leg of the operation.

Besides stomping of his boots on the ground, purring fire, and restless waves, it was quiet at the port. It unnerved Gajeel. There was something else there. Something lurking, something waiting. How was it this easy? How did they manage to secure Hargeon, the biggest and most important piece of the Imperial trade system, in just about ten minutes? Years and years it took for the Empire to build what crumbled in seconds.

No. It wasn't right.

"What's up?" Juvia asked.

"Mirajane's taking some of the others and heading out. You wanna join them? I'll hang back here with Levy and Lily."