Advanced chapters on my pat_reon. There are a bunch of other one shot fics I've written if anyone's interested. You should get up to chapter 74 for this fic by the time this chapter was uploaded.
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[X784, Tower of Heaven]
— Natsu Dragneel —
Natsu growled low in his throat as he held the weird square-headed guy by the face and slammed him against a fluffy cat-shaped couch.
"This is what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail!" he barked, whipping Wally once more for good measure.
Milliana was already out cold on the floor, her face half-buried in a giant paw-shaped rug. Her whip lay coiled beside her. Natsu made sure not to even touch it after Lucy said it could suppress his magic.
The noise of the fight roused Happy awake, who was still unconscious in the middle of the room.
"Natsu? What's going on?!" Happy questioned.
"These bastards kidnapped you and Erza! They also lured Dannis here to do something to him!" Natsu dropped the groaning Wally to the ground. "I wasn't in the mood to play around with them!"
Happy blinked, looking around at the ridiculous decor with confusion. "Then what's with all the lips on the walls?"
"Huh? What're you—WOAH THERE ARE LIPS ON THE WALLS!"
Sure enough, the walls morphed. Gigantic, fleshy lips pushed out from the surfaces creepily, lining the walls, ceiling, and even the floor. Natsu leapt back instinctively, already preparing to torch the place, until the lips began to speak.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Tower of Heaven. I am Jellal, the master of the tower. Right now, all the pieces in our little game have been set. To the mages of Fairy Tail…to the independent mages I have summoned…and to the Thunder God Tribe that have entered uninvited…I'd listen very closely, because I'm about to reveal the rules of the game of Paradise."
"The rules are very simple. Within this tower, there are two people who are candidates to be used in the process of resurrecting Master Zeref. Erza Scarlet and Dannis Martell. If I capture either of them, then I win. But if I'm defeated before I can reach this goal, then you win."
"However, I have pieces of my own that shall do their best to stop anyone but Erza and Dannis from climbing up the tower. Four powerful mages stand in between you and me. Will you get past them? Or will you fall like many others. Exciting isn't it, we'll truly get to see whose desires are the strongest."
"There is one big catch, however. You see, as I speak right now, the Magic Council is debating whether or not to destroy this island we stand on with the destructive satellite magic called Etherion, which at max output should be capable of destroying an entire nation if need be. I have no idea how long we have, but when it hits, everyone in the tower will die. Thus, it's game over for everyone. That is all. I do hope you enjoy the game."
The lips faded away then, Natsu adopted a thinking pose as he digested the words. "Well…I didn't really get all that. But this guy is still aiming for Erza and Dannis huh? All I gotta do is take out this Jellal guy and it's over, right?" His smile widened to an excited grin. "I'm getting all fired up!"
"Aye sir!" Happy chimed in. "I'd imagine he's at the very top of the tower."
"Then let's kick his ass!" Natsu said as he ran out of the room. "Come on, Happy!"
"W–What the hell, Jellal? This Etherion…does he wanna kill us all?"
Natsu turned around at the voice to see the square-headed guy muttering out while in pain on the ground. His hands were clenched as a bead of sweat fell from the side of his head.
"This isn't what we wanted. All we wanted was true freedom! What's the point if we all die in the end?!"
Natsu looked at him, he didn't know what it was but something inside him just needed to say the words. "I don't know what kind of freedom you're looking for." A wide smile appeared on his face. "But Fairy Tail gives a guy a lot of freedom! You should check it out sometime!"
Natsu turned to Happy then, completely missing the wide eyed look that Wally sent in his direction. "Happy! There's a backdoor to winning this game right?!"
"Aye!" Happy replied, already unfurling his wings and clinging to Natsu's back.
"Who cares about these mages! We're going to the top in one go! Yahoooo!" Natsu screamed with delight as they flew up the floors.
…
— Erza Scarlet —
"Damn!" Erza hissed as she landed roughly on her feet. She straightened quickly, sword already half-drawn from reflex alone, her senses alert.
Looking around, she spotted Sho on the ground clutching his head.
"Sho!" She called, rushing towards him. "Are you alright?"
"I… I'm okay," he murmured, though his voice trembled. He looked up, a storm of confusion and regret swirling in his eyes. "I just can't believe any of it. All of this was a lie? You never betrayed us…?"
Erza's heart ached at seeing the excitable boy she once knew so downtrodden. Old feelings of guilt that never truly disappeared came rushing back.
She dropped to her knees and pulled him into an embrace.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know you were still here. If I had… I would've gone through hell itself to rescue you."
For a moment, he was stiff in her arms. Then his trembling hands clutched the back of her armor, and he buried his face in her shoulder.
"I know, you're the same nee-chan I remember," he said softly.
She gently pulled away and looked him in the eyes, offering him a rare, tender smile. "We don't have time to mourn the past. We still have a job to do. We have to stop Jellal."
Sho nodded, wiping his face. "We're on the 38th floor, I think. Jellal fashioned himself a throne room at the very top of the tower. If you wanna find him, that's where he'll be."
Their conversation was interrupted by the sudden appearance of lips all over the walls. When the announcement was over, Erza clenched her fists tight.
"Jellal…Not only do you do this, but you involve my friends as well?!" A vein could be seen on Erza's forehead.
"Sis." Sho said. "I knew about the whole plan of your sacrifice, but this whole Paradise game is new to me. I didn't know he had another four mages working for him."
His voice broke through the haze of her fury. She took a deep breath. 'Control, Erza. Think clearly. '
Losing it while in a situation as precarious as this would only be a death sentence. Dannis was right, everything going on here is equivalent to an SS-rank mission. Approaching this without caution would only get everyone killed.
Calmer now, she turned to Sho. "Back at the casino, you were able to trap me in your card, right?"
Sho tilted his head. "Yeah. Normally people fall unconscious the moment I do it, but holding someone like you was tough, sis. I had to use all my magic just to keep you sealed."
She nodded. "Then that's enough. I used a fair bit of energy escaping earlier, and Jellal's not someone I can face half-exhausted. If you can seal me again… I can recover my strength while you get us to the top."
Sho blinked. "You're serious?"
"I trust you," she said without hesitation. "I won't fight the pull of your magic. The cultists here should still think you're one of them. Use that. Take me to Jellal."
He swallowed hard, but then nodded, determination rising in his eyes. "I'll get you there, I promise. I owe you that much."
"Don't push yourself too hard," she said gently. "I'll be counting on you, Sho."
A smile spread across his face. "I won't let you down, sis."
He reached into his deck and drew a card that shimmered with soft blue light. As he raised it, a magic circle appeared beneath Erza, its glyphs glowing. Light swallowed her up in a flash—and in the next instant, she was gone, safely sealed inside.
Sho tucked the card close to his chest. "Rest up, sis. I've got this."
…
— Gray Fullbuster—
"Ice-make: Shield!"
A snowflake-shaped shield bloomed in front of Gray just in time, the ice absorbing the shrieking blade of wind that tore through the air. The impact cracked the front layer, but it held.
He grunted and pushed off the ground, slamming both hands into the floor. "Ice-Make: Lance!"
A wave of jagged spears exploded upward, slamming into the wall of robed cultists ahead. Some cried out in pain. A few scattered. But more kept coming.
The moment they'd been dumped here—spat out after the tower stopped shifting—he and Juvia were immediately ambushed.
Spells had flown from every direction. Fireballs, wind slashes, chains made of light, even the gravity changed slightly. A coordinated assault that would've crushed anyone caught flat-footed.
But not them.
Juvia's voice rang beside him, focused and fierce. "Water Lock!"
A high-pressure vortex surged outward, grabbing several mages in its grip and slamming them against the wall. A second wave tried to flank them, but she twisted her arm—and her elbow morphed into a torrent that curved behind her like a whip, slicing through their offensive line.
Gray didn't even need to call out her name—they moved as one, backs pressed together. His ice froze what her water soaked, and her water smashed what his ice pinned down.
They worked really well together for a duo who had been enemies just weeks ago. 'I guess it kinda helped that we fought one another back during the war with Phantom. I know her moves and she knows mine.'
But despite their teamwork, the cultists kept on coming.
"Damn, how many of them are there?" Gray muttered under his breath, flicking his hand and casting a sharp fan of icicles that pinned a half-dozen attackers to the far wall.
When the tower began to shift again, Gray braced himself once more to be ejected to god knows where. He didn't expect lips to suddenly sprout from the walls and ceilings.
"Juvia!" he called, sliding back-to-back with her again as the lips began chanting some kind of message. "Can you tell what the hell these freaky walls are saying?!"
"Forgive me, Gray-sama!" Juvia shouted as she blasted three cultists into a pile with a water spout. "But Juvia is quite busy trying not to die at the moment!"
"Yeah, well, same here!" Gray said, raising both arms and creating a ring of jagged ice blades that launched in all directions.
He turned to Juvia, sweat sliding down his temple. "I caught into some of the words. He wants us to play some stupid game, right? Targeting Erza and Dannis? Well, screw that. He wants a game? We'll beat him at it, and we'll start by taking these guys down!"
Juvia nodded, her eyes blazing. "Juvia agrees!"
Gray's expression hardened, icy mist emanating from his form. "Come on then! Ice-make: Geyser!"
…
AN: And the fights are underway. I hope you don't mind the quick POV shifts. There's gonna be a lot of them in these next few chapters since I'm gonna try capturing as many of the things that's happening as I can.
This is also the first time Gray gets a POV, which is fun. He's an underrated deuteragonist in anime and I love his character. He's the type of guy to always have your back no matter what.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, cheers!