Chapter 42:Regalus's Sacrifice & Rise of the Gaias Colossus
The air in the very heart of the Phantom Lord guildhall crackled, thick and heavy, tasting of ozone and dread.
It felt like a physical weight, pressing in, stealing breath and sound, leaving behind a faint, sickly sweet scent, like overripe decay, that clung to the shadows.
Master Jose, wreathed in deeper gloom than the room itself, was less a man and more a living storm of Shadow and Darkness Magic, relentless and unforgiving.
"You are tenacious, Fairy Tail," Jose's voice, a chilling sneer, echoed through the cavernous space.
"But even Titania and Silver Shadow cannot withstand the might of a Saint!"
Hordes of spectral Shade Soldiers solidified from the gloom, their forms rippling like dark water, lunging with chilling, silent malice.
Ethereal tendrils, sharp as obsidian, lashed out with a vicious hiss, accompanied by crushing beams of concentrated darkness that tore through the already ruined interior.
Even his terrifying Jellyfish form—a grotesque, multi-limbed mass of shadow—seemed to glide with impossible speed, each movement designed to suffocate and overwhelm.
The oppressive atmosphere pressed down on Erza Scarlet and Yume, forcing them onto a desperate, draining defensive.
Erza, her lungs burning, her breath coming in ragged gasps, was a crimson blur.
Her Requips, usually instantaneous bursts of light and steel, felt marginally slower now, each transition a conscious, taxing effort that sent faint tremors through her overtaxed muscles.
The taste of copper bloomed on her tongue. Her eyes, sharp even through the haze of fatigue, constantly tracked Jose's movements, a silent assessment passing between her and Yume.
The Adamantine Armor braced against a crushing shadow-fist, the impact rattling her bones and jarring her teeth.
"He's relentless!" she gritted out, her voice tight, a raw scrape in her throat.
The Flame Empress Armor incinerated a wave of spectral soldiers, the searing heat momentarily pushing back the biting cold of Jose's magic.
Then the Lightning Empress Armor struck with blinding speed to deflect a piercing beam, leaving trails of crackling electricity in the dark air.
"Stay focused, Yume! Don't let him overwhelm us!"
Beside her, Yume's movements were a dark, fluid dance of evasive brilliance, seamlessly integrating with Erza's.
He vanished and reappeared within Jose's own shadows, utilizing Shadow Travel with deceptive ease, a ghost in the Saint's own domain.
His Pandora's Orbs, twin gunswords now, fired precise bursts of dark energy—not at Jose directly—but at the very shadow flows that fueled the regenerating soldiers, disrupting their cohesion.
Erza would shift, drawing Jose's attention, and Yume would immediately exploit the momentary opening.
Sensing Jose gathering a particularly potent attack, Yume saw a clear path.
He caught Erza's eye for a fraction of a second—an entire conversation of intent passing between them.
A quick, precise summon of Croakus, the colossal toad shikigami, materialized briefly behind Jose, opening its cavernous mouth for a devastating sonic scream.
The unseen vibrations resonated through Jose's body, causing him to stagger, his concentration momentarily fractured.
It was a fleeting reprieve, showcasing their combined strategic minds, born of desperation and sheer will, even as their own reserves dwindled towards empty.
***
2. The Fall of the Fairy Tail Guild
Outside, the situation was collapsing.
The regular Fairy Tail mages, already battered and exhausted from days of relentless battle and the pursuit by the mechanical titan, struggled against the seemingly endless waves of Jose's Shade troopers.
Their movements were sluggish, their faces streaked with grime and sweat, each defensive spell a testament to grim determination rather than boundless magic.
Hope, thin and fragile, bled away with every passing moment.
Suddenly, an eerie, unnatural silence descended.
The individual Shade troopers halted.
With a synchronized, guttural hum that vibrated through the very ground and rattled the teeth of those nearby, they began to converge, their amorphous forms melting into one another.
The dreadful sound swelled—a low, pulsating thrum of gathering malice—as they fused into a single, massive, undulating ball of dark energy, bristling with multiple, shadowy limbs that seemed to devour the very light around them.
Its form writhed with an internal, silent agony, a coalescing dread given monstrous shape.
"What is that?!" someone gasped, their voice trembling.
A collective shiver of terror rippled through the remaining Fairy Tail line.
The dread was palpable, suffocating.
"It's like... pure malice," another mage whispered.
This colossal orb of living darkness—a Jellyfish-like Shade—lumbered towards the Fairy Tail Guild building, still held aloft by the Phantom Lord giant.
It began to pound their beloved home, not with finesse, but with raw, brutal power.
"Stop it! Don't let it touch the guild!" Macao roared, unleashing a stream of purple fire.
Other mages launched their spells—flames, ice, beams of light—all converging on the monstrous shade.
"Give it everything we've got!"
But their attacks were futile.
The Jellyfish-like Shade seemed to simply absorb the magic, its shadowy form rippling harmlessly.
It shrugged off even direct hits, its sheer mass unyielding.
"It's not working!" a mage cried in dismay. "Our magic... it just vanishes!"
Each shadowy fist slammed into the guildhall's foundation with earth-shattering force, sending cracks spiderwebbing across its façade.
The building groaned, a tortured, creaking sound that twisted the heart, echoing like a dying beast.
Timbers shrieked, stone groaned, and with each impact, more of the structure visibly fractured and crumbled.
The very ground beneath their feet seemed to recoil.
A wave of collective despair washed over the Fairy Tail mages.
They poured their remaining magic into futile attacks, watching their spells vanish into the monster's form.
Their desperate roars turned into cries of frustration, then choked silence.
"It's... too strong," someone whispered, defeated. "We can't stop it."
They were powerless.
Cana's eyes, usually bright with defiance, welled with hot tears.
"No... not the guild..." she whispered, her voice cracking, her heart shattering with each impact.
Her breath hitched, a raw, strangled sound, as her eyes locked onto a section of the familiar guild sign—the stylized fairy wing—as it splintered and fell into the swirling dust.
Tears streamed down her grimy cheeks, leaving clean streaks in their wake.
The relentless assault continued until, with a final, heart-wrenching roar of collapsing timbers and crashing masonry, the Fairy Tail Guild building imploded—collapsing entirely into a mountain of dust and indistinguishable rubble.
A chilling silence descended for a breath, thick with the grit of pulverized dreams, broken only by the ragged gasps and despairing cries of the Fairy Tail mages.
"It's gone," someone choked out.
They had failed.
The guild was gone.
Having accomplished its objective, the monstrous Jellyfish-like Shade dissolved, its constituent Shade troopers separating and returning to their individual, sneering forms, standing amidst the ruins of their enemies' home.
The air around them felt heavy with their triumph and Fairy Tail's crushing defeat.
***
The raw despair outside was suddenly punctuated by a series of colossal explosions and violent tremors that shook the entire mechanical titan.
The very giant shivered, a wounded beast.
Its structure shuddered violently, drawing the attention of both the triumphant Shade troopers and the defeated Fairy Tail mages.
Through a newly-blown hole in the distant wall, amidst a whirlwind of dust and debris, a familiar figure emerged victorious.
Natsu Dragneel, his body steaming, his clothes scorched, a primal roar on his lips, stood over a defeated, crumpled Gajeel Redfox.
Gajeel lay motionless, a crumpled heap of iron and defeat, embedded deeply in the shattered rock of the wall.
The interior of Phantom Lord was utterly trashed: floorboards splintered, stone pillars reduced to rubble, and scorch marks painted every surface—a brutal testament to their brutal, exhausting clash.
Natsu swayed slightly, clearly spent, but his grin was wide, victorious.
"I beat him! I beat Gajeel!" he roared, his voice hoarse but triumphant.
***
Inside the sprawling mechanical beast, only the sounds of groaning metal and crackling embers remained.
Gray Fullbuster, Elfman Strauss, and Mirajane Strauss lay unconscious amidst the wreckage, the aftermath of their brutal clashes evident in every broken beam and collapsed pillar.
In the midst of this quiet chaos, Erza Scarlet and Yume pressed forward through the interior ruins, their bodies aching, senses strained to their limits.
The sudden explosion from deep within the titan rocked the very floor beneath them.
A shockwave of dust and heat swept through the corridor, forcing them to brace.
Then—through the smoke—a familiar silhouette appeared.
Natsu Dragneel, scorched and steaming, stood triumphant over the shattered remains of the battlefield, Gajeel Redfox lying crumpled behind him.
"Natsu..." Erza whispered, her voice tight with emotion, caught between awe and relief.
Even through her exhaustion, her eyes gleamed with something fierce and proud.
Yume's eyes narrowed briefly, then a confident smirk played across his lips.
"Right on time," he said calmly, as if he'd never doubted the outcome.
"I told you," Erza replied, her faint smile growing stronger. "He's Fairy Tail."
***
Outside, the collective roar of relief and renewed hope from the Fairy Tail mages shook the ground.
Their cheers were a wave, rising from the broken ground, a defiant counter-roar to the phantom's malice.
"He did it!" Happy cried, tears streaming down his face as he flew towards the giant. "Natsu actually did it!"
The weight of despair that had settled over them lifted, replaced by a surge of pure, raw motivation.
Natsu's hard-won victory ignited a fierce, burning hope, pulling them from the depths of profound loss.
The Shade troopers, momentarily startled, even hesitated, their shadowy forms flickering.
A palpable current of renewed spirit surged through Fairy Tail's ranks.
"We're not done yet!" Macao bellowed, his fists clenched. "Jose's next!"
Their eyes, now gleaming with fierce determination, fixed on the towering mechanical giant.
The chain of command was clear.
With the Element 4 down and the internal resistance dealt with, only the Guild Master, Jose, remained as the primary threat.
***
Back inside, the chaotic interior battle raged on, with Erza and Yume still locked in desperate combat against Jose.
While they held their own, Erza's Requips were slower, Yume's movements less fluid; they were holding on by a thread, acutely aware of the need for a game-changing power.
Yume, his eyes sharp and grim, had felt the sickening crunch of their guild building through the very structure of the Phantom Lord giant—a deeper thrum than any other impact.
He registered Natsu's victorious roar, a surge of adrenaline, but also the continued, overwhelming pressure on their comrades outside.
His tactical mind, ever several steps ahead, saw the precise opening—the desperate, absolute need.
He needed a force powerful enough to turn the tide for everyone.
A grim resolve hardened Yume's eyes.
A cold knot tightened in his gut.
He made a snap decision, a dangerous, high-cost gamble.
A fleeting image of Regalus's majestic, sorrowful eyes crossed his mind's eye, a profound pain deep within his usually unreadable features.
He clenched his jaw, the muscles in his face tightening almost imperceptibly as the agonizing command tore at the delicate tendrils of his magic, a part of his soul reaching out to make the ultimate ask.
Without warning, he performed a rapid, unconventional summoning.
He glanced at Erza—a silent, weighty communication passing between them.
A quick nod from her, a blink-and-you-miss-it affirmation of trust in his judgment, was all he needed.
He then summoned Tuskus, the mammoth-sized elephant shikigami, directly into the fray.
Then, with an explosive surge of his own Darkness Magic, he launched the gargantuan beast straight at Jose, imbuing it with immense kinetic energy
Jose, with his immense reflexes, effortlessly dodged Tuskus's charge, stepping aside with a disdainful flick of his wrist.
His smirk twisted into a snarl of baffled contempt, and a ripple, like dark oil, spread across his monstrous form as he felt the sheer kinetic force of the elephant.
"Such crude tactics, Phantom!" Jose scoffed, his voice dripping with condescension and mockery.
"Are you wasting your last breath on such a clumsy attack? This is your grand strategy? Pitiful! You'll never land a hit on me with that oaf!"
Yume didn't react to the taunt,
Instead, a subtle, knowing smirk ghosted across his lips, a flash of something chillingly confident in his usually stoic gaze.
Erza, though startled by the sudden appearance of Tuskus, didn't question it.
Watching Yume's smirk, she knew there was more to this move than simple desperation.
It was a play she couldn't yet see, but implicitly trusted.
Tuskus, rather than engaging Jose, continued its unstoppable momentum.
With an earth-shattering BOOM! that wasn't just sound but a physical blow, rocking Jose even where he stood and sending dust and debris raining from the ceiling, Tuskus smashed through the Phantom Lord Guild's massive outer walls.
A jagged, elephant-shaped silhouette was left in the titanic structure's side, through which the gray beast plunged into the outside chaos.
***
Outside, at Tuskus's newly created opening, the scene was dire.
Regalus, the majestic stag, stood amidst the debris, valiantly creating a shimmering wind barrier to protect a cluster of exhausted Fairy Tail mages.
But it was at its absolute limit, its healing light flickering, surrounded by a converging ring of overwhelming Shades.
Then, Tuskus burst through the wall—an unexpected, thunderous arrival.
The Shades recoiled, startled.
The very air around Regalus shimmered, distorting reality as its essence began to unravel.
Regalus, sensing Tuskus's arrival and Yume's final, silent, agonizing command, let out a last, majestic cry that carried on the wind.
Its final cry wasn't a sound of agony, but of profound release—a pure note of light and sorrow that resonated in the hearts of those who heard it, a song of farewell and destiny.
It wasn't a cry of pain, but a deep, resonant farewell, a profound connection passing between summoner and summoned—a shared resolve born of desperate necessity.
***
Regalus met the charge of the Shade Super-Soldiers not with defense, but with an act of pure will.
Its body began to shine with an unbearable, blinding golden-green light, pulsing outwards.
It was not a magical attack, but a raw, unbridled expulsion of its very essence.
The pure, life-affirming energy of its Healing Light and Nature's Blessing, amplified by its Wind Magic, surged forth, momentarily pushing back the encroaching shadows.
"What is that light?!" a Fairy Tail mage gasped, shielding his eyes. "It's beautiful..."
The surrounding Shades recoiled, momentarily staggered by the overwhelming positive energy.
But they were too numerous, too relentless.
With a guttural, desperate roar from the empowered phantoms, they tore into the radiant stag.
This wasn't just an attack; it was a catalytic rupture.
Regalus didn't simply dissipate or explode.
With a final, majestic, and heartbreaking cry that echoed not just in the air but in the very souls of those who witnessed it, its physical form began to dissolve.
Its crystalline antlers splintered into shards of pure light.
Its radiant fur unraveled into shimmering winds.
Its powerful body became a tempest of glowing, life-giving energy.
It was a beautiful, agonizing sacrifice—a deliberate and complete release of its entire being into a swirling vortex of concentrated, pure, raw, positive energy and primal nature magic.
As its essence shimmered, a momentary hush fell over the battlefield, casting strange, dancing shadows as the light illuminated the chaos.
The swirling energy became a miniature sun, burning away the shadows.
***
As Regalus's essence hung in the air, glowing intensely, this radiant force surged toward Tuskus, who had just landed with a bone-jarring thud.
Tuskus roared—a sound of immense power and profound change—as it rapidly absorbed Regalus's energy.
Its mighty form began to transform.
The fusion was not violent, but a seamless, breathtaking metamorphosis.
Its hide, once rough earth, now gleamed with the iridescence of polished obsidian and the softness of ancient moss.
Its powerful tusks elongated, glowing with an inner, soft green light reminiscent of Regalus's antlers.
Vibrant moss and impossible flowers bloomed across its massive back, and continuous, faint, swirling gusts of pure wind emanated from its mighty frame.
***
"It's... it's changing!" someone stammered, pointing a trembling finger.
"What is that thing?" another whispered in awe.
"Look at it! It's magnificent!"
It was no longer just Tuskus; it was something ancient and new—a Gaias Colossus, a guardian embodying the immovable strength of the earth and the boundless vitality of nature.
Its radiant form stood, majestic and fearsome, a beacon of raw, untamed power against the oppressive gloom, ready to unleash its fury.
The newly formed fused shikigami roared, a sound that vibrated with both overwhelming physical power and the gentle whisper of the wind.
(Pic in comment section)
It immediately unleashed its combined power—a devastating earthquake stomp that sent dozens of Shades reeling—followed by a water cannon infused with the purifying light of Regalus, washing over the shadowy figures and causing them to shriek as they dissolved.
The tide outside had begun to turn.
End of chapter .