➵

"Earthland wizards are a fortunate lot indeed. They possess unimaginable power because they are born with an eternal spring of magic. Then there are the dragon slayers, your power surpasses even the most absurd concept of limitation." King Faust said from within the looming figure of the Dorma Anim.

"That power," He continued. "will belong to me. With it, I can replenish this world's supply." The king of Edolas veered off into what was now his nth fit of laughter. Dealana and the other dragon slayers had put so much of their energy into beating the mechanical dragon, but they ended up in the same place every time; beaten into the ground.

"As long as I possess the Dorma Anim, I am god!" King Faust declared. "My army will pave an inexorable path of conquest in both worlds! I will reign supreme!" Dealana grimaced, feeling her rage once again boiling within. She was ready to tear herself apart if it meant beating this looney old man bent on world domination.

Wendy was in pain, as were Gajeel and Natsu. Dealana felt like she didn't even have enough energy to form the faintest wisp of a cloud by this point. Edolas' atmosphere contained little to no Ethernano in the air for her to channel into a storm, and her the natural state of storm brewing inside her was near empty.

She had just enough magic energy to keep her breathing at this point. She exerted a lot more magic power in a long span of time, but without resting properly to replenish that energy, it ran low quicker than she expected.

From boosting her counterpart's magic blade to generating a cloud that massive while exerting the force of a blizzard at the same time, it didn't leave her with the power she needed to beat this creep. Despite that, she couldn't let King Faust win. Anyone who would stoop to such levels for selfish gain didn't deserve to be in a state of power or respect, not even forced glory.

"I see," The king mused, "There's some fight left in you. Your power is truly remarkable. And I shall savor every ounce of it. Prepare yourself, dragon slayers!" He exclaimed, swiping the sword arm of the Dorma Anim upwards.

Beams of purple light broke from the ground around each dragon slayer before exploding, sending them soaring into the air with cries of pain. Dealana's body felt like a limp noodle, if she was being honest, and she hated it. She needed to do something, but what?

She let out a strangled yelp as she hit the ground with a dull thud. She had to keep fighting. She had to get up. She had to move.

"I need more," King Faust said. "I call to thee, o heaven and earth, I ask that you relinquish all your power to the Dorma Anim."

From all across Edolas, magic power was being sucked from the atmosphere in dark, purple-black tendrils crawling their way towards the mechanical dragon.

"I can feel it, the last remnants of Edolas' power are vanishing. That means your time is up." King Faust told them. The mouth piece of the Dorma Anim shifted to open, "I must harvest your power immediately."

"Salamander, pipsqueak! You gotta roar." Gajeel said to them. "Other pipsqueak, you too." He said to Wendy.

"All of us at the same time?" Wendy asked, trying to understand.

"There's no sense holding back," Gajeel answered. "We've gotta take down this walking scrap heap."

Dealana's hand clenched into a fist and she pushed herself off the ground, helping Wendy to her feet afterwards. "Are you ready?" She asked the others.

"You bet I am!" Wendy replied, her determination never faltering.

"Yeah," Natsu added as they all faced the Dorma Anim with the King tucked away inside like a coward. They inhaled deeply, preparing their simultaneous attack.

"Iron Dragon..."

"Fire Dragon..."

"Storm Dragon..."

Sky Dragon..."

A massive spiral of destruction collected of iron, fire, wind and storm shot forward at high speed towards the Dorma Anim. King Faust in shock at their power somehow increasing as they inhaled. The result was a brief pillar of orange light before the explosion occurred and the ground quaked.

"We got him," Gajeel smirked. For a moment, they all felt confident, relieved and victorious. However, the king's laughter bounced back at them while the smoke cleared. Dealana's eyes traveled towards the source.

"Up there!" Natsu realized. The Dorma Anim was air born. Their collective attack missed. Her eyes widened, failure was still on their tails. If she couldn't take down even a fake dragon with the help of three other dragon slayers, Dealana didn't want to consider herself the foster daughter of the king of storms, Arashi.

"How did something so big, jump that high?" Gajeel wondered as he peered at the mechanical dragon floating amongst Edolas' atmosphere.

"Oh no! Our four on one attack didn't even touch him!" Wendy exclaimed, growing anxious that it was all for nothing.

"Then we'll try it again!" Natsu shouted. His spirit as indomitable as ever and his eyes trained on the descending Dorma Anim.

"You fools," King Faust chided as he neared the ground.

"Dragon Rider's Spreader Cannon!"

Fire blasts shot from the Dorma Anim's mouth and rained down upon the dragon slayers and the area around them. The powerful attack was more than capable of taking the terrain with it in a series of rapid fire explosions when the blasts collided with the ground.

Dealana instinctively tackled Wendy out of the way, taking the hits and shielding the sky dragon slayer with her own body. She screamed in pain while Wendy screamed in fear for Dealana, all while the king cackled.

"For the world! For my beloved Edolas! You worms couldn't possibly understand our plight!" King Faust bellowed. "You have an abundance of the one thing we desire most. The citizens of Edolas have no use for guilds, they would serve no purpose here."

"What they need is everlasting magic power. And I'm determined to give it to my people." He continued. "I want them to experience the bliss you Earthlanders have kept to yourselves."

"Dealana?" Wendy asked shakily, concerned for the girl who'd taken the hit meant for her. Dealana groaned and did her best to move, succeeding only in rolling onto her back. Wendy crouched beside her, worry evident in her doe eyes.

"Not good," Gajeel huffed from where he lay not too far from his fellow dragon slayers. "I'm... out of power." Dealana could barely manage to keep one eye open, even her magic reserves were too far gone at this point to do much of anything. She needed something... anything to give her strength back.

"Finally reached your limit, have you?" King Faust asked them. "You may be powerful wizards, but I imagine it takes time for you to recover the magic power you've exhausted. If you wish to surrender, this is your chance." Natsu managed to push himself to his knees for only a few seconds before collapsing once more to the ground. "Agree to supply my world with magic power, and I will compensate you accordingly," Faust offered.

Dealana clutched Wendy's hand as she lay with her deep blue eye open looking at the sky. Is this it? She wondered.

"Don't you dare give up," She suddenly heard Natsu tell them. This time, both of Dealana's eyes opened wide, a snippet of a memory flashing through her mind, the image of the braided cords around her. They were promises to see her friends again, and promises had to work both ways. Dealana could give up yet, she had her own side of the promise to uphold still.

"No! This fight ain't over!" Natsu said pushing himself up once more, this time he remained stable getting to his feet. "What're you waiting for? Hit me with your best shot!" He challenged the king. "Do it! I'm standing right here!"

"With pleasure," King Faust complied easily. The foot of the Dorma Anim lifted and quickly made its way towards Natsu, "I've let you pests scurry around long enough!"

Natsu somehow managed to catch the Dorma Anim's foot and keep it from crushing him with sheer strength that he somehow still had left.

"Natsu..." Wendy uttered softly as she watched the fire dragon slayer.

"What're you doing?" Gajeel asked him, "You can't stop him. You're all out of power." Dealana felt herself moving without realization of her actions as she slowly managed to rise to her knees, watching the older dragon slayer with wide eyes.

"No I'm not!" Natsu shouted back, the ground beneath his feet cracking from the pressure and weight being pushed upon his shoulders. Natsu felt to his knees, but continued to push up against the mechanical dragon's foot. "If I run out of power today, then I'll just borrow some from tomorrow!" He exclaimed.

The weight was crushing, but Natsu managed to slowly come back to his feet and knock the Dorma Anim off balance yelling, "Don't ever underestimate the dragon slayers, got it!?"

"You need to learn your place, you piece of filth!" King Faust said. The Dorma Anim's eyes gleamed red moments before the ground beneath Natsu cracked and crumbled in an instant, exploding and sending Natsu flying into the air. "I am the king of Edolas! Bow down before me!" King Faust shouted.

An alarm seemed to go off from within the Dorma Anim and to the sudden confusion and surprise of King Faust, it was due to the incoming dragon slayers. "What's that?" The king asked.

Gajeel and Dealana had leapt into the air courtesy of her clouds, using them as springboards to launch themselves at the Dorma Anim. They had iron and storm encased arms respectively.

"You're the one who's gonna learn his place, old man," Dealana started as her hair flapped around in the wind behind her.

"Because in the end, you're gonna be on your knees!" Gajeel finished as they both slammed their fists down on either one of the Dorma Anim's feet, locking the mechanical dragon in place with iron and ice storm.

"What happened?" King Faust wondered as he noticed iron clubs spring from the ground and a thick sheet of stormy ice enveloping what was left.

"We've locked your feet," Gajeel answered. "Pull that jumping crap again and you just might lose one." Dealana smirked as she used the remnants of her magic power to continue building up a blizzard on the Dorma Anim's foot, practically welding it to the ground with ice.

King Faust attempted to move the mechanical dragon, but failed, quite miserably in Dealana's opinion. "Curse you!"

He kept trying to free the Dorma Anim from the iron and storm dragon slayer's clutches. Gajeel and Dealana both knew that they wouldn't be able to hold it forever, or even very long with their low magic energy levels.

"Natsu," Dealana hissed as she kept locking the Dorma Anim in place, "If you're gonna do something, do it now. Don't make me and Gajeel look like idiots, got that?" She said, shouting the last part towards said fire dragon slayer in the air.

"Wendy!" Natsu called to the young girl, "Roar at me with everything you've got! Just do it, hurry!"

"Okay," Wendy agreed, shakily getting back to her feet. She'd do it. She had to, because she believed in them.

"You insects," King Faust said to Dealana and Gajeel, annoyance evident in his voice, "Let go of me!" He demanded.

"Sorry, pal, but that ain't happening," Gajeel answered as Wendy took a deep breath, gathering as much magic power as she could muster.

"Sky Dragon Roar!"

Dealana watched, actually impressed, as Natsu managed to find the rotation of Wendy's attack and began riding it as a way of propelling himself at the Dorma Anim. All four of the dragon slayers yelled as the final move was in place, and King Faust seemed to recognize the beginning of his defeat.

"No, it can't be! It can't end this way!" He shouted, sounding terrified for the first time since they'd begun the fight.

"Fire Dragon Sword Horn!"

Natsu flew forward, a fiery trail behind him as he pierced through the center of the Dorma Anim, grabbing hold of the king as he did. In the king's eyes, he could see four distinct and fearsome dragons; one red, one white and feathery, another had a dark metallic appearance, and the last being a stunning silver with jagged but shiny golden streaks on the inside of its wings like bolts of lightning. It was a sight to behold and one he would never forget.

Dealana felt the corners of her lips twitch into a triumphant smirk, barely managing to give Natsu a soft cloud landing while the king of Edolas crashed into the rocks. The Dorma Anim was brought to its knees before exploding. The enemy was destroyed and defeated while Fairy Tail was victorious, finally.

Natsu picked himself up off the cloud and glared with a mighty rage at King Faust. The old man was trembling unable to unsee the powerful dragons behind the dragon slayers. After a few moments of indistinct squeaks and fearful stuttering, the king collapsed limply on the ground in front of them.

Dealana smirked and let herself sit back, summoning the cloud she used to catch Natsu over to her in order to flop back onto it. She let out a laugh, thankful to finally have won. Natsu's laugh was louder as he said, "We totally took down the king! Hey, this is the part where I get to say checkmate, right?"

"Actually, I think you're supposed to say that before you take down the king," Wendy corrected him.

"Hah, even I know that," Gajeel scoffed while Natsu continued laughing at their victory.

"Does this mean one of us gets to rule Edolas?" Dealana questioned.

"Don't go giving Salamander ideas, pipsqueak," Gajeel was quick to reply. Dealana only chuckled before the sound of rumbling caught their attention. It wasn't the good kind of rumbling, not that there really was any sort of good rumbling.

"Hey, what's going on?" Natsu wondered, confused.

"Great, enemy reinforcements?" Gajeel guessed, his red eyes scanning the edges of the colosseum for any sign of royal army soldiers. "I hope not. I used up everything I had left in that fight."

Dealana nodded in agreement, the last of her magic power being in the cloud she was resting on, and not a second later, it was quick to dissipate.

"No. Up there! Look!" Wendy exclaimed with wide eyes as she gazed into the sky. Dealana and the others looked up to see that many, if not all, of the floating islands were falling from the sky.

"The floating islands are falling! What the heck?" Natsu stated confused. Dealana furrowed here brows as one hand came up to rub the scar across her nose. She didn't understand why the islands were falling, it didn't make sense. Did it have something to do with Faust taking the magic out of the air?

➵

"Look, the islands," Earthland Lucy pointed out, "They're falling." The truth to her words were shocking and nerve-wracking. Edolas Dealana stood watching from beside Gavin, who had an odd, unreadable look in his eyes.

"Woah, is the world coming to an end or something?" Both of the Gray's asked simultaneously. It was kind of creepy, but Dealana's focus was on what it all meant.

She had her suspicions, of course, but she never believed that Edolas would come to this point. The floating islands above Edolas relied on magic power to stay in the air, and if they were coming down... Dealana wasn't sure she really wanted to think about it right now.

It wasn't long after the islands began falling that golden-yellow tendrils swirled up from the ground and into the air in a graceful, dance-like manner. Their magic power, it was retreating into the sky at a centralized point. In that moment, Dealana knew what was happening and from the looks of it, so did Gavin.

"Reverse Anima..." Gavin whispered. Dealana nodded, biting her lip to hide her growing nervous feeling.

"You should say goodbye while you can, Gav," Dealana told him softly. A lone tear had begun to pool in her friend's eye before he swiftly wiped it away. He turned to Dealana with a slight nod before blending in with the panicked crowds, making his way towards a white haired woman.

As she watched his retreating figure, Dealana's gaze moved to the faint yellow wisps coming from her tanto blade. She chuckled and held Thundersoul in her hand, watching as the magic left the blade and joined the rest of the streams of magic power escape into the sky. Everyone else seemed to be panicked and afraid when they're weapons would no longer respond to their commands, but Edolas Dealana found herself calm, almost amused by the happenings around her.

"Everyone's freaking out," She heard Lucy say in a confused manner.

"My weapon! No! What's happening?" Gray Surge exclaimed watching as the magic power left his magic weapon.

"Just calm down, man," His counterpart tried to reassure him.

➵

Back with the dragon slayers in the colloseum, the magic power flowing into Earthland were visible as well, emerging from the ground they stood on. Earthland Dealana stood observing it all while clutching her arm. Her limbs felt like lead and she was in desperate need of a nap when this was all sorted out.

"Pure magic power," Wendy realized, as she watched from her place beside Dealana.

"Are you sure?" Natsu asked for confirmation. Dealana nodded silently to support Wendy's suspicions.

"This ain't good," Gajeel uttered. "What'll happen if it all disappears?" He wondered.

One by one the floating islands, big and small, hit the ground with a tremendous impact. The sound of crashing could be heard, echoing from miles away.

➵

It wasn't long after the magic left their weapons that the royal army soldiers stable enough to stand retreated with a few of their subdued members making attempts to crawl away as well.

"I don't believe it," Lucy gaped at the dust trail behind kicked up as the guards and soldiers ran way.

"They gave up," Gray stated, not yet realizing the state of everyone else. "Hey, check it out you guys, we just won!"

Dealana had to fight the urge to laugh when the Earthland wizards finally noticed the dreadful state of everyone else who also relied on magic.

"Whether we won or not doesn't matter," Edolas Gray exclaimed, holding his head. "Not now! We're doomed!"

"We can't use magic again?" The Edolas Elfman voiced quietly, an edge of fear evident in his tone. "How are we supposed to survive without it?" He asked. Everyone else seemed to be a similar state of disarray, feeling exposed and powerless without their magic power. It gave them a sense of stability and security, without magic, they had no clue what would happen.

"You guys, just chill out," Lucy tried to reassure them, "Everything will be okay." Her counterpart was quick to charge forward, seeming angry.

"How would you know?" Lucy Ashley snapped, tears in the corners of her eyes. "I don't think you get that our magic is disappearing! All of it! Don't you see what that means for Fairy Tail?"