➵

"Lily!" Mystogan shouted in worry after Knightwalker brutally and mercilessly shot the panther exceed down. Earthland Dealana had managed to catch him on a cloud before her gaze snapped to Lorna.

"Lorna, will you-"

"Don't worry, I'm already on it," Lorna cut the storm dragon slayer off and leapt from her cloud to the one with Pantherlily. She knelt quickly beside the exceed and pretty soon, the cloud began to descend to the ground. "I'll take care of him, don't worry!" the magenta-haired girl told them.

"You pathetic traitor," Knightwalker spat as she glared to the slowly falling cloud, "You're not a noble exceed, you're just a lousy fallen. To think you'd forget your debt to our king and dare betray his orders."

"It's the Edolas Erza," Natsu realized.

"The one called Knightwalker," Happy added from where he was holding up Natsu.

"Heartless broad," Gajeel growled, "you're gonna pay."

"Np, we have to do something to help Lily," Queen Shagotte stated as she was being supported by one of the elder exceeds.

"It's too dangerous, Shagotte," Her advisor told her. Dealana offered a comforting smile to the exceed queen.

"Don't worry, my clouds have minor healing properties, Lorna will be able to stabilize him from there," She assured both Queen Shagotte and Gajeel, whom she knew was listening closely.

"Scarlet!" Knightwalker yelled. Dealana sighed, this redheaded evil version of Fairy Tail's strongest female wizard was getting on her nerves, not to mention the panicked expression on her counterpart's face.

"It's Knightwalker," Erza mused. She looked ready to go down there and deal with her counterpart once and for all. However, before she could, Mystogan spoke up, holding his arm out as if to prevent her from going further.

"Let me handle this," the prince of Edolas turned to look at Knightwalker saying, "I've had enough of your insolence, Captain Knightwalker. How dare you point your sword at me, the royal prince of Edolas."

"Prince?" Erza Scarlet gasped looking at Mystogan in shock.

Knightwalker grimaced but before she could properly respond a deep sounding laughter echoed through the air. "You? The royal prince of Edolas? Don't make me laugh. You don't deserve the title, because I never thought of you as my son."

Dealana clenched her fists at her sides upon hearing the king of Edolas' voice. She could also feel herself growing slightly fatigued from what she could only assume was the cloud holding Pantherlily. If she was going to have enough energy to face what was to come, she'd have to dissipate the cloud.

"That's the king's voice," Coco seemed to realize from atop her legion.

"Yeah," Lucy agreed before questioning, "but where the heck is he?"

"You have some nerve," The king continued. "You can't run off for seven years and then suddenly waltz back in as if nothing happened. Do you think you can fool me? I know you've been in Earthland sealing all the Anima's." Faust stated. "You're a traitor and as such you must be punished for your actions."

"Where's that voice coming from?" Wendy wondered looking around for the source.

Dealana suddenly felt no more of her magic draining and her eyes snapped to where she presumed Lorna and Pantherlily landed. Lorna must have dissipated the cloud. Did that mean Pantherlily was stable?

"Come on!" Natsu challenged. "Show yourself, bucko!"

"Come out and face us!" Happy added bravely.

"Your Anima plan has failed," Mystogan told the king. "Please surrender peacefully. You've no reason to fight anymore."

"Ridiculous!" King Faust replied in typical 'something's coming fashion'. "Who says I need a reason to fight?" Dealana's gaze narrowed at the glowing green light coming from the ground below a ruined colosseum structure. Chains were used to keep it grounded for an unknown reason, but they knew that whatever the king was planning, it wasn't going to be good.

"Do you guys hear that?" Gray wondered. "It sounds like it's coming from underground."

"Feel the magic power building up in the air?" Lucy asked nervously.

"This is not a simple 'fight'," King Faust said as an egg-shaped thing rose up from the ground. "No. This is retribution. The extermination of all those who would dare to oppose their king."

"I think I qualify for that..." Edolas Dealana muttered to herself as she was being supported in the air by an Exceed. "What even is that thing?" She asked, this time loud enough for people to hear.

"Some kind of magic weapon?" Gray guessed.

"Since you and your meddlesome friends insist on standing in my way, I've no choice but to obliterate each and every one of you," the king of Edolas declared. "Regardless of who you are!"

The chains holding the supposed magic weapon in place broke, freeing whatever it was. The amount of magic power radiating from it was alarming and admittedly nerve-wracking for Edolas Dealana.

"Father, please," Mystogan tried to reason. Dealana was fairly certain that there was no reasoning with someone who believed they had no choice but to hurt those who disagreed.

"I'm not your father," Faust replied. "I am the king of Edolas!" As he spoke, the edges of the egg-shaped magic weapon had light shining from the inside. The 'egg' cracked and transformed into a weapon that looked an awful lot like a dragon. It was another artificial dragon most likely controlled by an insane person and Dealana didn't want to go through that again.

"If I dispose of you here and now, I'll no longer have to worry about you sealing my Anima's in Earthland. I'll be free to create another giant lacrima, and fuse it with the Exceeds. Limitless magic power will be mine!" King Faust exclaimed.

"Oh no," Queen Shagotte breathed in horror as she recognized the artificial dragon weapon. The talons crushed the ground it stood upon and the tail waved wildly in the air. The red eyes glowed bright as the king's weapon raised its head proudly.

"Hey, Gajeel, any chance this is Metalicana?" Dealana gulped, already knowing the answer.

King Faust yelled. Gajeel gave Dealana a look and she let her shoulders sag in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah, dumb question," She grumbled just loud enough for him to hear. The magic power this thing was radiating was terrifying.

"This can't be happening!" One of the elder Exceeds exclaimed.

"Is that what I think it is?" another questioned.

"Dorma... Anim," Queen Shagotte said with eyes wide in shock.

➵

"The Dorma Anim," Mystogan began to explain, "from our old language, it means-"

"Dragon Knight..." Edolas Dealana finished for him, her eyes never leaving the armored mechanical dragon below them. "It's enhanced dragon armor. I thought it was only a myth." She uttered in disbelief.

"Tch, a dragon?" Natsu scoffed as he studied the dragon knight curiously.

"Certainly looks like one," Happy agreed. "Don't you guys think so?"

"Is it magic armor?" Wendy wondered.

"It's unlike any I've seen before," Carla mused.

"It's an enhanced armor made from an anti-magic lacrima called Wizard Canceler," Coco explained. "It's bad news for us because our attacks won't have any effect on it. The king must be inside of it. He's controlling the Dorma Anim's every move!"

The Dorma Anim lifted its head higher, opening its mouth to reveal a cannon-like firing mechanism aimed in their direction. "As your king, I order you to capture the exceeds at once!" He ordered the man soldiers riding the legions.

They all charged with a collective, "Yes, sir!"

Seeing that he wouldn't be able to stop the gathered army Mystogan shouted to the exceeds, "Hurry! Fly for your lives!" Dealana wasn't sure whether to call Edolas' prince by his given name or the name he was apparently using when he traveled to Earthland. She shook her head to rid her mind of those thoughts as the panicked Exceeds's flew all over the place. Glancing around she spotted Coco's legion.

"Hurry, drop me off on the legion and fly away," She quickly told the Exceed that was carrying her. The poor thing looked frightened but did as told and promptly dropped Edolas Dealana on the legion, where she landed beside Coco. Shortly after it began to join the mass of fleeing Exceeds.

Dozens of soldiers began firing bright cannons at the Exceeds and to Dealana's horror, they were turned into cat-shaped lacrima. Dealana's attention shifted to where Erza was addressing both her and Lucy.

"Do your best to protect the exceeds from the royal army," She told them. "I'm going to try and take down Knightwalker."

"Never thought I'd ever be taking orders from Erza," Dealana sighed, "but here we are." Her expression grew more determined and she took hold of her tanto blade in preparation.

"You got it," Lucy replied with a short nod. The blond glanced over her shoulder and addressed Natsu. "Well, look at you. Good job. I thought riding this legion would make you nauseas. Did you have Wendy cast a Troia spell to help you with your motion sickness?" She asked almost teasingly.

Natsu scoffed and met Lucy's gaze only appearing slightly nauseas by Edolas Dealana's standards. "Geez, why would I be nauseas if I'm not even riding on a vehicle. This guy's lending us a hand as our ally. Man, you're cruel" He told her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy said sarcastically, "that's my mistake. I thought you looked like you were gonna barf, but it's just your ugly face." Dealana held back a chuckle at Lucy's comment as Gray spoke up from where he was studying the Dorma Anim.

"We've got to stop that monster. Quit bickering and help me out, losers." He told them.

"Hey! Who are you calling a loser?" Natsu snapped at the ice mage. Dealana moved to peer over the legion at the large mechanical dragon armor. She noticed her mini-me moving on her cloud out of the corner of her eye but was more focused on trying to locate any potential weak spots in the king's insane magic resistant armor.

"I wouldn't go near that thing if I were you," Coco said. "Your magic is useless against it."

"We'll just have to dodge its attacks," Mystogan reasoned. Edolas Dealana continued to frown in thought while rubbing the thin scar along her nose out of habit. It was another small thing she and her mini-me had in common. "We must do what we can to protect the exceeds. They're completely defenseless right now."

"There's got to be a weakness..." Dealana muttered to herself. The sky-blunette wracked her brain of any possible knowledge that she possessed on the forbidden mechanical dragon. She barely processed Natsu's brief words before the legion suddenly sped up and flew higher. Dealana nearly lost her balance but Gray had reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder. She was quick to stabilize herself giving the ice mage a nod of thanks.

"I will obliterate anyone who gets in my way! I won't let a single human escape my wrath!" King Faust shouted as a magic blast began charging up in the Dorma Anim's mouth. "Be gone!"

As the words left the king's mouth, so did a white beam of magic with hints of rainbow colors showing from underneath the initial surface. While it looked rather pretty, it was also very dangerous. It would have hit Coco's legion had it not been for Mystogan putting up a large magic seal.

"Mystogan!" Erza exclaimed in alarm.

"Mystogan?" The king spat, "Don't tell me that's the name you chose to be called in Earthland. Your name's Jellal!"

"If he's not even your son, why do you care what his name is you old bastard?" Dealana muttered, earning an amused chuckle from both Gray and Lucy.

"Erza, get out of here while you still can," Mystogan told them, still casting whatever magic spell that was keeping the Dorma Anim blast from hitting them.

"What about you?" She questioned, seeming worried for her guild mate.

"Forget about me!" He shouted back.

"Will he be okay?" Coco asked, worried about her kingdom's prince.

"Don't worry, Mystogan'll be okay," Dealana's mini-me said from surfing atop her cloud. "Mystogan is still an S-Class wizard of Fairy Tail after all."

Edolas Dealana noticed small portions of cloud descending to the ground as if fallen from the cloud her mini-me currently stood upon. However, upon closer inspection, Edolas Dealana spotted exceed ears poking out from a few of the clouds and a tuft from an exceed's tail from another.

"I knew my mini-me was a smart cookie," She smirked. Her counterpart had disguised exceeds as small clouds falling to the ground in order to trick the soldiers, who didn't know enough about her magic to know that they could easily dissipate. The exceeds would reach the ground and be able to hide from there, seeing as most of the battle was currently taking place in the air.

"Three Layer Magic Circle! Mirror Water!"

Mystogan did a series of motions with his hands before pushing them forwards. The three differently color magic circles somehow managed to reflect the Dorma Anim's blast and direct it right back at itself. An explosion occurred, but Dealana didn't believe for a second that it would be that easy to take down the Dorma Anim.

"The only magic that could possible be strong enough to take down the Dorma Anim's anti-magic lacrima would be..." Dealana trailed off before her eyes lit up and her mini-me could practically see the lightbulb appearing above her head. "That's it! Mini-me, come here!" After whispering a few things to her counterpart, Edolas Dealana watched determination spread across her mini-me's face.

"I really hope you're right about this, other me," She said before moving to locate Gajeel and Wendy. Edolas Dealana turned her attention back to where the smoke was clearing to reveal an undamaged Dorma Anim.

"Goodness that tickled!" King Faust mocked them. Almost everyone responded in various degrees of shock before the king of Edolas retaliated. "Behold! This is the power of the great wizard canceller. You can attack with all your might and it will not stop me! The Dorma Anim is impervious to all forms of magic!"

A burst of magic shot once more from the Dorma Anim's mouth and struck both Mytsogan and his legion. The blue-haired prince began to fall down towards the ground. "Mystogan!" Erza once again called out in alarm.

King Faust only laughed, "The mighty prince has fallen! I'm sure he'll feel right at home, crawling along the ground with the other pests."

All around them, more exceeds were being turned into lacrima by the royal army soldiers, despite the earlier falling cloud ploy. Edolas Dealana pulled out her tanto blade before a blast from the Dorma Anim almost caused them all to topple over.

"Man, talk about a rough ride," Gray remarked.

"It'd make anyone sick, not just Natsu!" Lucy agreed while they regained their balance.

Edolas Dealana aimed a swipe of her magic weapon at a few of the royal army soldiers. A few of them were nearly hit by the wave of purple black lightning, but managed to avoid it. More and more exceeds were being transformed into lacrima and it hurt Dealana to witness it all without being able to do much.

"Oh, what a beautiful sight!" King Faust cheered. "I'm going to turn every last exceed into a sparkling lacrima!"

"This sucks! How are we supposed to fight while we're dodging this thing?" Gray wondered.

"What now?" Lucy asked Erza, looking to the redhead for some sort of plan. "We've gotta do something."

"Let's use Lucy as a decoy to distract the Dragon thingy!" Happy suggested excitedly.

"Shut your face, fish-breath!" Lucy snapped.

"Just sayin," the blue exceed replied.

"Now, now, we have to stay focused you two!" Carla chided before an explosion occurred. Edolas Dealana smiled when she noticed the Dorma Anim was hit. She had a strong inkling as to who was behind the attack.

Natsu, Dealana and Gajeel were hitting the Dorma Anim with their mix of fire, storm and iron magic from below while Wendy practically soared overhead ready with an attack of her own.

"Sky Dragon Roar!"

A twin spiral of wind magic shot forward and sent the Dorma Anim skidding back. "You little brat!" King Faust snarled as Wendy landed in a crouch on the ground beside a battle-ready Natsu and Gajeel while Dealana hovered, standing on a cloud just a bit above them with a set of thunderstorms already crackling along her arms.

"Pretty impressive job, kiddo," Natsu grinned, cracking his knuckles.

"Thank you," Wendy told him with a determined look aimed at the Dorma Anim in front of them. "But I'm sure the three of you can cause a whole lot more damage than I can."

"I dunno, you've been working really hard on your roar attack," Dealana smirked.

"Geezer, you're gonna regret hurting my cat," Gajeel said towards the insane king of Edolas. The Dorma Anim stood in front of them, it's red gleaming eyes staring at the gathered four dragon slayers.

"It was you, I should have known," The king's voice growled.

From back aboard the legion, Edolas Dealana and the other non-dragon slayers watched as the four wizards were now facing off against the large mechanical dragon. "Please be careful!" Carla called to them with wide, worried eyes.

"You can do it!" Lucy shouted to them.

"We're good," Natsu said to them, his hair covering the fire burning in his eyes, "Just keep the cats safe."

"In that case, I'll leave it to you," Erza nodded.

"Are you sure they're going to be able to handle that monster all by themselves?" Lucy questioned, beginning to second guess her earlier encouragement.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course they can," Gray told her. "Who better to fight a dragon than those who were trained to defeat them? They're the only ones who stand a chance; the dragon slayers."

➵

"Let's do this, Salamander, Pipsqueak," Gajeel told the other two offensive dragon slayers.

"Great," Natsu deadpanned, "I have to team with you again."

"Quit whining, will you?" Dealana snapped moving her foot forward enough to whack the back of Natsu's head.

"We can settle our score after we're done knocking this old guy's teeth in," Gajeel added.

"I'm all fired up now!" Natsu grinned.

"I would love to see you try," King Faust challenged.

"Hear that, Natsu? Sounds like this jerk wants to fight," Dealana slowly smirked. "Though I gotta warn ya, nothing good happens when you try to fight a storm."

"I'll lend a hand," Wendy told them moving her hands into a magic spell position. The ground beneath her began to glow.

"O swift wind that dashes through the heavens!..."