Chapter 661 - 661: Athena II

Natsu and Wendy made their way across a landscape of molten rock, carefully scanning their surroundings as they went.

"What happened? I got hit by Laxus's lightning, and then suddenly we ended up here..."

"Natsu-san, look over there!" Wendy tugged urgently at his sleeve, her voice rising in alarm.

"!!!"

"Sting! Rogue!"

"What are you guys doing here?!"

Ahead of them were Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Lector, and Frosch, all bound in what looked like thick strands of white spider silk.

After hearing about Guiltina from Raizel's group, Sting and the others had grown curious enough to come visit the continent themselves.

Unfortunately, their sightseeing trip had barely begun before they were attacked.

After being overwhelmed from multiple directions and eventually exhausting themselves, the Sabertooth group had been captured.

"Well? Surprised?"

Duke appeared before Natsu and Wendy with his hands clasped behind his back.

Natsu's expression immediately darkened as he glared at him. "Duke! What did you do to them?!"

"The same thing I originally intended to do to all of you—take their dragon power. Now, allow me to show you the new power I created from it."

The white webbing surrounding Sting and Rogue was suddenly torn apart from behind by a pair of mechanical hands.

A black metallic figure stepped out from within.

Its body strongly resembled Athena's, but its color scheme was almost entirely black.

"Athena II—White Shadow Dragon Mode," Duke announced. "Oh, and there's also a small portion of the Gold Dragon God's power mixed in."

"Wha...?"

"Athena, imbued with the powers of the White Dragon and Shadow Dragon, without any of those defective emotions that plagued the previous model."

Remembering how Duke had tried to destroy Athena the moment she developed emotions, Wendy's brows drew together while anger rose openly across Natsu's face.

"Once I add your Fire Dragon power and her Sky Dragon power..." Duke looked between them thoughtfully.

"Hmm. That's becoming rather complicated. I may need to come up with a new name."

He spoke as though their powers were already his.

"Go, Athena II! Take the dragon power from those two!"

"Yes."

Athena II swept out her left hand.

A blinding burst of white light forced both Natsu and Wendy to shut their eyes, and in that instant, Athena II dissolved into a black shadow and sank beneath the ground.

"Sting's light and Rogue's shadows, huh?" Natsu grinned as flames and lightning surged around him. "That's pretty interesting. Now I'm fired up!"

He immediately entered Lightning Flame Dragon Mode.

"I'll do my best too! Deus Eques! Deus Corona!"

Wendy encouraged herself before casting her enchantments over both herself and Natsu.

...

Elsewhere, Erza Requipped a magical sword and leveled its point at the Signario Sisters.

"We can't leave until these so-called flames of hell burn us to ashes?"

Kagura rested her right hand on Archenemy.

"We'll see who gets burned first."

Enny offered no response beyond a cold stare, while Luso licked her lips with an amused smile.

...

Natsu slammed one foot into the ground and shot forward like a cannonball.

"Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!"

Athena II had clearly underestimated just how fast Natsu could move.

Before she could react, his fist had already buried itself in her abdomen.

Fire and lightning erupted through the impact as the sheer force bent her entire body into a C-shape and launched her backward.

She rolled across the ground for quite some distance before finally planting both hands down and forcing herself to a stop.

Even Wendy looked a little startled.

"He really isn't holding back at all..."

Natsu gave Athena II no time to recover. His next attack followed immediately, and Lightning Flame Dragon's Claw slammed mercilessly into her chin.

Athena II flipped backward from the impact and landed in a crouch, then swept both arms outward.

Shadow Dragon power erupted from beneath the ground and struck toward Natsu.

Natsu sprang backward several times in succession, avoiding the first attacks, but the shadows remained under Athena II's control.

They continued pursuing him from every direction, rising again and again from the surrounding terrain.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

Wendy's attack forced Athena II to break her concentration.

Natsu seized the opening instantly.

He closed the distance, wrapped one hand in flames and the other in lightning, then crossed both arms across Athena II's chest in a vicious clawing strike.

An enormous X-shaped wound appeared across her torso.

Pieces of armor shattered away while lightning crackled over her body and flames burned across the damaged metal.

Duke, however, remained completely calm.

"So you also possess Lightning Dragon power. Interesting. But my Athena II can—"

Before he could finish, the damaged armor was already repairing itself.

Athena II had been designed along the same principles as Gennai and Kotetsu.

Unless she was destroyed outright or defeated in a single overwhelming blow, her stamina might as well have been inexhaustible.

On top of that, a portion of Viernes's dragon power had been incorporated into her, giving her regenerative abilities even greater than theirs.

"She can repair herself too?" Natsu grinned rather than looking discouraged. "Then we'll just hit her faster than she can heal! Wendy!"

"Yes!"

"Lightning Flame Dragon's..."

"Sky Dragon's..."

Both Dragon Slayers inhaled deeply, their cheeks swelling as Magic Power gathered in their throats.

...

"Open, Gate of the Lion! Loke!"

Loke appeared in a flash of light and immediately glanced toward Mira.

"Mira's my teammate? That's reassuring."

Lucy pulled the whip from her waist and readied herself.

"Save the compliments for later. Let's focus on the enemies in front of us first!"

"Right."

Loke smiled, bent his right arm, and thrust it toward the sky.

"Regulus!"

Golden light erupted around him like a miniature sun, shining so brightly that both Gennai and Kotetsu were forced to shield their eyes.

"What is this light?"

"Darkness Stream!"

Mira attacked the instant their vision was obscured. Dark Magic Power gathered around both hands before blasting toward Gennai and Kotetsu in a violent torrent.

The attack struck with tremendous force, but the two appeared almost completely unharmed.

Just before the Darkness Stream could properly engulf them, Gennai transformed both himself and Kotetsu into white smoke.

Mira's attack passed straight through them, effectively striking nothing but air.

Some of the scattered white smoke drifted through the battlefield.

Kotetsu raised his right arm, and the smoke gradually solidified into metallic rods roughly as long and thick as a human arm, their surfaces gleaming like polished iron.

"They turned into metal?"

"Take this."

At Kotetsu's command, countless metal rods shot toward Mira, Lucy, and Loke.

Mira had no especially suitable defensive spell for such an attack, so she immediately moved to evade.

Lucy, however, had already reached for another key.

"Mira-nee, leave this to me! Aries!"

"I-I'm sorry! Fluffy Wool Shield!"

Aries appeared apologizing as usual, crossing both arms in front of her chest.

A huge mass of soft wool burst outward and intercepted every incoming metal rod.

Instead of piercing through, the rods sank harmlessly into the thick wool and became trapped inside.

Loke gave Lucy an approving thumbs-up.

"Nice one, Lucy!"

Mira smiled as well. "You're getting better and better at handling situations like this."

"What?!" Kotetsu's eyes widened in genuine surprise.

Gennai, on the other hand, repeatedly nodded as though he had just understood something profound.

"Oro, oro. I see, I see. Gennai-san didn't expect this woman to be such a troublesome opponent."

Mira narrowed her eyes with a smile.

"We warned you, didn't we? It's never a good idea to underestimate Fairy Tail's resident writer."

"Well, it is Lucy."

"And she's very kind too."

Loke and Aries added their own praise without hesitation.