Chapter 14: Lamia Scale Falls
The unnatural quiet in Magnolia’s streets the previous day had been a warning tremor. Today, the earthquake hit. Lamia Scale’s guildhall, usually echoing with friendly shouts and the clatter of mugs, felt like a tomb waiting to be filled. Lyon Vastia paced near the large, arched window, his ice magic prickling uneasily under his skin. The air tasted stale, thick with unspoken dread. Sherria Blendy fidgeted beside him, her Sky God Slayer magic unusually quiet, her gaze darting towards the unnaturally empty streets outside.
"Where is everyone?" Lyon muttered, his breath frosting the glass slightly. "First Fairy Tail vanishes, now Sabertooth’s hall is locked tighter than Jura’s wallet. Something’s rotten."
Sherria hugged her arms. "Master Bob said to stay put. That Wendy…" Her voice hitched. "That Wendy and the others… something happened to them. Something bad."
A shadow fell across the window. Not clouds. Wings. Massive, leathery, blotting out the sun in a sudden, chilling eclipse. Lyon’s head snapped up. "Sherria! Get back!"
Too late.
The guildhall’s heavy oak doors exploded inward in a shower of splinters and roaring flame. Heat washed over them, singeing hair, followed instantly by a wave of biting cold that cracked the stone floor. Through the smoke and swirling ice crystals, figures emerged. Dragons. Naked, scaled, radiating terrifying power.
Natsu Dragneel landed amidst the wreckage of the doors, flames licking harmlessly around his claws, his crimson eyes vacant, fixed on Lyon. Behind him, Gray Fullbuster touched down silently, frost spreading instantly from his claws, encasing shattered wood and scattered papers in glittering ice. Wendy Marvell hovered just inside, her small blue-scaled form flanked by Carla, both their expressions disturbingly serene. Elfman Strauss crashed through a side wall, roaring, "DRAGON EMPIRE!" while Evergreen and Freed soared overhead, their eyes scanning the stunned Lamia Scale members frozen mid-action.
Lyon stumbled back, ice instinctively forming defensive gauntlets over his hands. His eyes widened in horrified recognition. "Gray? Natsu? Wendy? What… what is this?" The sight of his friends – his rival, his guildmate’s cherished protege – transformed into monstrous, obedient dragons was a physical blow. "Gray! What the hell are you doing?!"
Gray didn’t react. His icy gaze swept the room, analytical, detached. The hypnosis held him fast, a glacier over his mind. He raised a clawed hand. Ice surged, not in intricate constructs, but in brutal, jagged spears aimed at Lyon’s legs.
"Gray, NO!" Sherria screamed, darting forward. A blast of Sky God Slayer magic erupted from her palms, shattering Gray’s ice spears before they could connect. Tears streamed down her face. "Wendy! Please! Snap out of it! It’s me! Sherria!"
Wendy tilted her head, a faint, empty smile touching her draconic lips. "Conversion is necessary, Sherria Blendy," she chirped, her voice sweet but devoid of warmth. "Master Draco offers evolution." She inhaled, preparing a Sky Dragon’s roar.
"Enough chatter!" Gajeel Redfox’s metallic growl cut through the chaos as he landed heavily beside Natsu, Pantherlily a silent shadow at his flank. Levy fluttered nearby, humming softly. "We got orders. Grab the strong ones. Rest get the egg treatment." His iron-scaled tail lashed, cracking the floor tiles. "Natsu! Gray! Bag the ice punk and the Sky brat!"
Natsu roared, a sound that shook the remaining windows. Flames engulfed him as he lunged, not with his usual reckless joy, but with terrifying, focused speed straight for Lyon. Lyon met him head-on, ice clashing against fire in a furious spray of steam and molten rock. "Natsu! Fight it!" Lyon yelled, desperation edging his voice as he was driven back by the sheer, mindless force of the Fire Dragon Slayer. "Remember Fairy Tail! Remember Happy!"
The name ‘Happy’ sparked something – a flicker deep within the vacant crimson eyes. Natsu hesitated for a fraction of a second, flames faltering. Lyon saw it, hope surging. "Yeah! Happy! Your stupid cat! You gotta snap out of—"
A blast of concentrated lightning seared past Lyon’s head, forcing him to duck. Laxus Dreyar hovered near the shattered ceiling, golden scales gleaming, his expression impassive. "Stop resisting," he intoned, his voice devoid of its usual arrogance, flat and commanding. "Submit to the Brood."
Simultaneously, Gray moved. While Lyon was distracted by Natsu’s hesitation and Laxus’s attack, Gray’s ice snaked across the floor, not attacking Lyon, but encircling Sherria. It formed a cage of razor-sharp frost, trapping her before she could launch another attack towards Wendy. "Sherria!" Lyon bellowed, trying to disengage from Natsu.
Sherria slammed her fists against the icy bars. "Wendy! Carla! Please! Don't do this!" Her Sky magic flared, cracking the ice, but Gray simply reinforced it instantly, his movements efficient, emotionless. Wendy hovered closer, her Sky Dragon magic swirling gently around Sherria’s cage, not attacking, but neutralizing her attempts to break free. "It will be easier if you accept, Sherria," Wendy said softly. "The egg is… peaceful."
"Peaceful?!" Sherria shrieked, terror warring with fury. "Look at what he’s done to you! To everyone!"
Elsewhere in the guildhall, chaos reigned. Evergreen’s Fairy Machinegun blasted members into unconsciousness. Freed’s runes immobilized others. Elfman, roaring incoherently, simply smashed through defenses. Pantherlily moved with lethal precision, disarming and disabling seasoned mages with terrifying ease. Levy hummed, her Blue Sky magic weaving barriers that prevented escape. Lamia Scale fought valiantly, but against the coordinated assault of dragonified S-Class wizards operating under Draco’s absolute command, it was a slaughterhouse.
Gajeel watched Sherria’s futile struggle against Gray’s ice cage. "Quit yer whining, kid," he growled, the hypnosis twisting his concern into contempt. "You’re gettin’ upgraded." He nodded to Wendy. "Do it."
Wendy inhaled deeply. Sherria braced herself for a destructive roar, but instead, Wendy exhaled a shimmering, opalescent mist – Sky Dragon’s Hypnotic Breath. It enveloped Sherria’s cage. The Sky God Slayer gasped, her struggles weakening instantly. Her eyes glazed over, losing focus, filling with the same vacant serenity Wendy possessed. The fight drained out of her. She slumped against the icy bars, a faint, accepting smile touching her lips. "Evolution…" she murmured dreamily.
"SHERRIAAA!" Lyon’s scream was raw, primal. He unleashed a torrent of ice, trying to freeze Natsu solid, but the Fire Dragon simply roared, melting it instantly. Lyon’s distraction cost him. Natsu’s clawed hand shot out, grabbing Lyon’s ice-armored forearm. Heat seared through the ice, making Lyon cry out. Before he could react, Gray was there. A blast of super-cooled air hit Lyon point-blank, flash-freezing the moisture in the air around him and instantly coating him in a thick, unbreakable shell of ice from the neck down. Lyon was frozen mid-scream, trapped like a statue, only his eyes wide with horror and betrayal visible.
"Targets secured," Gray stated flatly, his breath frosting the air near Lyon’s immobilized face.
Natsu released Lyon’s arm, the ice armor cracked and steaming. He looked down at his own claws for a fleeting moment, a tremor running through his scaled frame. The name ‘Happy’ echoed faintly in the void where his thoughts used to be. Then Draco’s will clamped down again, smothering the spark. He turned his vacant gaze towards Lyon’s frozen form. "Just... hold still," he muttered, the words devoid of their usual fire.
Gajeel gestured towards the remaining Lamia Scale members, most now unconscious or magically bound by Freed’s runes. "Bag 'em. Eggs for the rest." Pantherlily and Elfman moved with grim efficiency, dragging the subdued mages towards the center of the ruined guildhall.
Wendy drifted closer to Sherria’s cage. Sherria looked up at her friend-turned-captor, her eyes glowing with unnatural crimson light now, a mirror of Wendy’s own. "Ready for conversion, Sister Wendy?" Sherria asked, her voice unnervingly calm.
Wendy nodded, that serene smile fixed in place. "Yes, Sister Sherria. Embrace the Brood." She raised a claw. Dark energy, sickly purple and crackling with Draco’s power, coalesced around Sherria. It didn't attack; it enveloped. Sherria gasped, not in pain, but in eerie ecstasy as the dark magic sank into her skin. Her form began to shimmer, to distort. Scales erupted across her flesh, her limbs elongating, twisting. Her Sky God Slayer magic flared brilliantly blue for a moment, then was subsumed by the dark purple energy. Her human features dissolved, replaced by the forming snout, the crest, the wings of a Sky Dragon. The transformation was horrifyingly swift, a mockery of natural growth. Within moments, Sherria Blendy was gone. In her place stood a smaller, blue-scaled dragoness, identical in vacant obedience to Wendy, her crimson eyes gleaming with dark purpose. She stretched her new wings with a soft sigh.
Wendy watched, her own crimson eyes reflecting the completed transformation. For a single, frozen heartbeat, deep beneath the suffocating layers of Draco’s hypnosis, Wendy Marvell screamed. A silent, internal shriek of utter horror and loss that never reached her draconic throat. Then the hypnosis surged, warm and absolute, drowning the scream in comforting certainty. Purpose. Belonging. The Brood. She nudged the newly hatched Sky Dragon gently with her snout. "Welcome, Sister Sherria."
Pantherlily and Elfman finished their grim task. Dark, pulsating sacs – dragon eggs – now lay amidst the wreckage where Lamia Scale’s strongest had stood moments before. Lyon, still frozen, could only watch, his eyes burning with impotent fury and despair as his guildmates were consumed.
Gajeel surveyed the devastation – the ruined hall, the frozen Lyon, the newly hatched Sherria dragon, the pulsating eggs. The hypnosis hummed approval. "Mission accomplished. Metal Wing, move out!" His metallic voice echoed in the sudden, heavy silence. "Next stop: Magnolia Central. Fairy Tail’s turn." He turned, his iron tail scraping stone.
Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Sherria, Laxus, and the others fell into formation behind him. They launched themselves through the shattered roof and walls, wings beating the smoke-filled air. Lyon, imprisoned in ice, watched his friends – his rivals, his comrades – vanish into the twilight sky, heading straight for the heart of Magnolia, towards the silhouette of Fairy Tail’s guildhall looming in the distance. The only sound left in the ruined Lamia Scale hall was the faint, rhythmic pulsing of the dark dragon eggs, and Lyon Vastia’s choked, frozen breath.
The rhythmic pulsing of the eggs throbbed against Lyon's icy prison. He couldn't move. Couldn't scream. His mind raced, replaying Sherria's transformation – that serene smile as her humanity dissolved. Footsteps crunched on debris somewhere behind his frozen form. Heavy. Metallic. Gajeel’s voice cut through the pulsing silence. "Almost forgot the main course." Lyon's ice-bound eyes strained to see. Gajeel and Gray loomed into his limited peripheral vision. The Iron Dragon's scales scraped stone as he nudged Lyon's frozen shoulder. "Hurry up, Frosty. Got a schedule to keep." Gray stood motionless, claws flexing. His vacant crimson eyes stared through Lyon, not at him. The hypnosis held. Tight. Lyon mentally roared Gray’s name, pouring every ounce of desperate fury into the thought. Gray! Look at me! It’s LYON!
Gray raised a clawed hand. Ice magic swirled around his fingers, thick and dark, infused with Draco’s sickly purple energy. It wasn't his usual crisp, blue-white power. This was tainted. Violent. Lyon braced for pain, for shattering cold. "Just… hold still." Gray’s voice was a monotone echo. The corrupted ice streamed from Gray's claw, hitting Lyon's frozen chest. It didn't crack the shell. It seeped in. Lyon gasped, the sound muffled by ice. Cold. Deeper than any ice he'd ever made. Deeper than the shell imprisoning him. It wormed its way into his core, into the very source of his magic. The taint spread like ink in water, smothering his will, his memories. He fought it. Fought with images of Ur, of Gray himself sparring, of Lamia Scale's laughter. He clung to Gray’s scowling face from their last bar fight. Remember me, you idiot!
Draco’s dark energy pulsed within Gray’s magic, overwhelming Lyon’s resistance. The cold shifted. Became… inviting. Comforting. Lyon’s frantic mental screams turned into whispers, then faded into a numb hum. The panic in his eyes dimmed. Replaced by a dull, crimson glow. His ice shell began to shimmer, not melting, but changing. Scales, pure white and glistening like fresh frost, erupted across the surface. The frozen prison wasn't holding him anymore; it was him. His limbs elongated within the transforming ice, talons piercing through the tips. Wings of jagged, crystalline ice burst from his back, shattering the remnants of Gray’s initial freeze. A long muzzle of glistening frost extended from his face, a final, silent roar trapped in its forming jaws. Gray watched, his expression unchanging, the purple energy fading from his claw. The transformation was complete. Lyon Vastia was gone. In his place stood a powerful Ice Dragon, scales radiating intense cold, crimson eyes locked onto Gray with vacant obedience.
Gray dipped his head slightly. "Welcome to the Brood." The newly formed Ice Lyon let out a low, rumbling growl, frost billowing from its maw. Gajeel clapped Gray on the shoulder, the sound metallic. "Nice work. Now move out! Fairy Tail ain't gonna conquer itself!" He turned, his iron tail whipping the air. "Brood! To Magnolia!" Gray launched upwards, shards of ice spraying from his wingbeats. Ice Lyon followed instantly, a silent, deadly shadow. They soared through the shattered roof, joining the others already circling above the wreckage of Lamia Scale. Below, the pulsating eggs lay undisturbed in the eerie silence. Above, the dragonified army – Natsu burning with unnatural intensity, Wendy and Sherria gliding side-by-side with chilling calm, Laxus crackling with subdued lightning, Gajeel leading – turned as one. Their crimson eyes fixed on the distant, familiar shape of Fairy Tail’s guildhall. Wings beat in unison. The air vibrated with their combined power. They arrowed towards Magnolia’s heart. Towards home. Towards the people they loved most. Natsu’s flames flickered, just for an instant, as the guildhall’s outline grew sharper against the twilight sky. A single, fractured thought surfaced in the fire dragon’s mind before Draco’s will crushed it: Happy... run.