Prime Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 6, x791.
With the swelling of Alfonzo's magic power, the presences of the visitors from another version of Earth Land could not be hidden. The heads of every magically sensitive person in the city turned towards the monumental swelling of magic power almost in unison. On top of that, for a brief period, all the fighting and destruction around the city stopped, as well.
"What is that?" A blue-haired man with a tattoo under his right eye asked in a shocked tone. "Is there another dragon?"
"I don't think so." A woman with long black hair and red eyes replied while looking in the direction of the magic power. "There's nothing as big as a dragon in that direction. But it's too far away to tell."
"Should we go check it out?" A young woman with pink hair and green eyes asked, her curiosity seeming to overwrite her sense of danger.
"No, it's too dangerous." The blue-haired man replied while shaking his head. "Instead, we need to prepare for another threat."
Conversations like that one were happening all over the city. And just like the other trio, no one chose to see what could have possibly produced so much magic power. Everyone except for the dragons, that is.
*Roar~~~~~!* x 2
Two of the dragons, feeling threatened by the magic power they could feel roared. Then, they flapped their wings and sped towards the Domus Flau, which was relatively undamaged because of its position in the city.
Meanwhile, around Alfonzo, all his companions watched as the tonfa, Riot and Bedlam swelled in size before liquifying and cascading down to completely engulf Alfonzo in a mixture of black, red, and violet liquid metal. A moment later, all the liquid metal condensed into a muscular, 8' tall humanoid form with glowing white eyes, a red head with a streak running down the center of its body and purple outlining the red streak. And as a finishing touch, there was a black Fairy Tail emblem in the middle of its chest.
"We are Upheaval." The hulking black, red, and violet figure, Alfonzo, said in a menacing tone as he spread his hands to either side while electricity crackled in his hands.
Seeing Alfonzo's new form and feeling the power rolling off of him, most of his group looked at him in awe. However, there was one person who, though impressed by the look and the power, had something to say.
"Lame~!" Elicia said while rolling her eyes. She then pointed a finger at Alfonzo and spoke in an accusatory tone. "Bankai! You're supposed to say Bankai before you do the release. Come on, Fonzie, get your head in the game!"
And with that, the atmosphere was immediately broken. Meanwhile, Alfonzo, who was basking in his moment, seemed to deflate as the electricity crackling in his hands dissipated and he slumped his shoulders.
"Seriously, Lici?" Alfonzo asked in a dejected tone. "Couldn't you just let me have my moment?"
"No, if you're gonna do it, you have to do it right!" Elicia said forcefully.
"*Sigh* I was afraid of copyright infringement." Alfonzo muttered weakly.
Meanwhile, as the husband and wife bickered, the others surrounding them could only sigh. These two, especially Elicia, had a track record of doing things like this. So, they were not even surprised.
The awkward atmosphere atop the Domus Flau did not last for long, though. The feeling of two massive magic power signatures approaching put an end to that. And when the group looked in the direction of those magic power signatures, they saw a pair of dragons flying towards them.
A moment later, everyone turned to look at Natsu, who was the most likely to go charging towards the enemy. But they were surprised to see that he did not look all that interested in the dragons that were approaching.
"What's wrong, Natsu?" Gildarts aske curiously. "Don't you wanna fight them?"
"No, not really." Natsu said while not even looking at the approaching dragons. He then pointed at a particular dragon as he continued in an excited tone. "I wanna fight that one."
Looking in the direction Natsu was pointing, everyone could see what appeared to be a flaming skeleton with four limbs, a pair of wings, and a tail surrounded by several specs jumping around it and casting spells at it.
"Sure." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "Why wouldn't the Fire Dragon Slayer wanna fight a fire dragon?"
'Atlas Flame, huh?' Alfonzo muttered internally. 'I think Prime Natsu fought him, too. Well, at least he'll be able to keep the dragon's flames in check.'
"Tear, I think you should go with him." Ur said.
"What!?" Natsu asked indignantly. "You don't think I can handle him myself?"
"Honestly, I don't know." Ur replied. "Never fought a dragon before. But if they're strong like Deliora was, I think you should have backup."
"Besides, I can try to keep the flames from spreading too much." Ultear said in a tone used to sooth a child. "And we don't wanna make things even worse for the people of the city than they already are, right?"
"Fine~." Natsu whined while crossing his arms in front of his chest and looking away.
"But what are we gonnna do about the ones that are already on their way here?" Mirajane asked, bringing everyone's attention back to the immediate threat.
"Gildarts, Ur, you two take one." Alfonzo said, giving orders. "Erza, Mira, you two take the other."
Alfonzo then turned to look at Erza with a smile, which caused a mouth to spread with sharp, jagged teeth.
"Let me know how the [Dragon Slayer Armor] does, okay?" Alfonzo asked, excited to finally see the armor he made from the bones he found under Crocus in action.
"Understood." Erza replied with a strong nod. "Requip: Dragon Slayer Armor]."
"Got it." Mirajane said at the same time. "[Take Over: Satan Soul: Sitri]."
Then, before the flashes of their magic power could fade, Erza and Mirajane took off in the direction of one of the dragons. Meanwhile, Gildarts stretched his arms over his head. Then, he smiled at Ur and extended a hand to her.
"Well then, should we get going, too?" Gildarts asked. "We can't let the kids outshine us, can we?"
"Of course." Ur replied with a smile of her own as she took Gildarts' outstretched hand.
A moment later, Gildarts and Ur flared their magic power before they, too, took off towards one of the approaching dragons.
"*Sigh* It's been a long time since I fought a dragon." Irene said while looking in the direction of the other five dragons who had gone back to wreaking havoc. "But if I go play with them, I probably won't have enough time to go to Alakitasia to see my counterpart."
"It's up to you." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. He then turned to look at Elicia, Laxus, Gajeel, and Wendy as he continued. "But I'll be taking one of the dragons on my own. The rest of you should pair up. We'll leave the last one to the wizards of this world. They should be able to keep one busy until we're done."
"What about me?" Future Lucy asked while pointing at herself.
"You should probably go and help close the Eclipse Gate." Alfonzo said. "I can give you a lift, if you want."
"Okay, I'll do that." Future Lucy replied with a shrug.
"Cool." Alfonzo said with a nod. "Then, let's go."
With that, Alfonzo reached out and picked up Future Lucy by her waist before sitting her on his left shoulder. Then, he engulfed both of them in violet arcs of electricity, making sure not to harm Future Lucy. Though, her hair did end up a little frizzy.
*Flash!* *Zap!*
Then, the two disappeared from where they stood. And not long afterwards, the others went running, as well.
Meanwhile, Gildarts and Ur stopped in front of one of the dragons with Ur making her casting gesture.
"Flying enemies are so annoying." Ur said while looking up at the dragon that was in her sights. "So, why don't you come down here for me, okay? [Ice-Make: Rozen Krone]."
Ur then slammed her hands onto the ground before three large ice roses grew from beneath the dragon. And when the dragon felt Ur's flare of magic power, it looked down disdainfully. Then...
*Shatter!* x 3
It swung its tail and shattered the three ice roses before they could restrain it.
"I wasn't asking, you overgrown lizard!" Ur shouted angrily after her spell was destroyed so easily. She then reached down to Artemisia before quickly unravelling it from around her leg. "[Freeze Everything from the Earth to the Sky, Artemisia]."
With her release chant spoken aloud, Ur's magic power exploded. At the same time, Artemisia changed from a simple black whip into one made of ice with a tip shaped like a rapier. Ur then made her casting gesture again and cast [Rozen Krone] a second time. However, instead of placing her hands on the ground, Artemisia's tip stabbed into the ground to inject Ur's magic power.
*Boom!* x 3
A moment later, three more ice roses grew from the ground. However, these were much bigger and colder than the first three. And because of their size, debris shot up from the ground along with the rose stems.
"It seems you wizards never learn your lesson." The dragon said condescendingly as it once again looked disdainfully at the ice roses. "I don't know how you increased your magic power so sharply. But it matters not. The outcome will be the same regardless."
Then, the dragon once again whipped its tail at Ur's ice roses.
Yet, things did not go the same as last time. On top of the ice being tougher and colder, with Ur injecting her magic power into them through Artemisia, she also had greater control of her constructs. So, instead of just letting the roses take the dragon's tail whip, she made them avoid before wrapping around the dragon's neck, torso, and tail.
"Damn you!" The dragon bellowed before taking a deep breath.
"Do something, Gildarts." Ur said while struggling to hold the dragon in place. "It's going to use a [Roar]."
"Already on it, Honey." Gildarts said from up in the sky. "[Bring Devastation, Calamity]. [Meteor Fall]."
With Gildarts' first chant, his Automail arm transformed into his partial-release state. Then, with his second chant, the vents on his shoulder and elbow began spewing magic power, accelerating his descent. At the same time, Gildarts created a cone of his [Crash Magic] on his fist that parted the air in front of him while creating a conical trail in his wake.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, the black-haired woman who was acting with the blue-haired man and the pink-haired young woman stopped in her tracks and looked in the direction of Gildarts' and Ur's fight.
Noticing that the black-haired woman was no longer moving with them, the pink-haired woman stopped to look back at her.
"Ultear, is something wrong?" The pink-haired young woman asked.
That question also caused the blue-haired man to stop, as well. And when he turned around, he was just in time to hear the black-haired woman, the Prime Ultear, speak.
"Mother?" Prime Ultear asked in a confused tone.
Though it had been a long time since she saw her mother, as this version of Ultear was not found by Gildarts before Ur sacrificed herself to seal Deliora with the [Iced Shell], she was able to feel it during the Tenrou Island Incident in x784, as she was a member of Grimoire Heart along with the pink-haired young woman, Prime Meredy, during a fight with this world's Gray. And because of that, she ended up betraying Grimoire Heart. Then, she and Prime Meredy ended up joining the blue-haired man's, Prime Jellal Fernandes', independent guild, Crime Sorciére, whose purpose was to deal with threats to the world without the Magic Council's oversight.
Having heard what Ultear muttered, both Prime Jellal and Prime Meredy snapped their heads in the same direction Prime Ultear was looking. And when they saw the giant ice roses growing into the sky and wrapping around one of the dragons, they almost believed her. But they both knew that Ultear's mother died decades ago. So, there was no way that could be true.
*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
In the next instant, however, all three members of Crime Sorciére were left with their mouths agape when a vibrant streak of magic power plowed into the dragon's head, engulfing nearly half the dragon in a sphere of magic power of the same color. Before it imploded while simultaneously producing a shockwave that blew away many of the nearby buildings and even damaged the Domus Flau.
"Although I doubt that was actually Ur Milkovich, I believe we need to go over there and check the extent of the damage and see if anyone was injured during that blast." Prime Jellal said just before he sprinted in the direction of the battle.
Prime Ultear, on the other hand, was frozen in place. Just the thought of her mother being alive made her apprehensive. However, Prime Meredy took her hand gently, causing the raven-haired beauty to look in her direction.
"It will be okay." Prime Meredy said with a smile. "Let's just check it out. If it's really her, you can figure out what you should say when you see her."
It was clear to Ultear that Meredy did not believe that her mother would be there, either. Still, the hand that was holding hers brought her comfort. Enough comfort, in fact, that she was able to take the first step forward.