The battle for the Royal Capital was a symphony of destruction, played out across multiple stages. While Erza Scarlet dueled her mirror image in the courtyard a different kind of brawl was shaking the foundations of the First Division Barracks.
This was a fight of heavyweights. A clash of iron and muscle.
The battlefield was a suspended bridge connecting the main palace to the western armory. The wind howled through the open air, carrying the scent of ozone and burning mana.
Gajeel Redfox stood on one end, his body coated in iron scales, his breath coming in jagged, excited puffs. He wasn't scared. He wasn't worried about the plan. He was staring at his opponent with a look that could only be described as... possessive adoration.
Standing opposite him was Panther Lily.
He wasn't the small, cute cat Gajeel had been searching for in the alleyways. This was a warrior. A towering, muscular, anthropomorphic black panther standing nearly as tall as Elfman. He wore the uniform of a Royal Captain, a scar running down his face, and in his hands, he held a sword that was larger than Gajeel himself—the Buster Marm.
"Gihi," Gajeel chuckled, wiping blood from his chin. "You... you really are a cat, aren't you?"
Lily narrowed his orange eyes. His voice was deep, resonant, and utterly devoid of humor. "I am an Exceed. I am the Captain of the First Magic War Division. And you are the Earthland intruder known as the 'Iron Dragon.' Surrender, or be bisected."
"Surrender?" Gajeel cackled. He cracked his knuckles, the sound like gunshots. "I don't think so. I've been looking for a partner, as you can see—a cat. The Salamander has one. The little girl has one. And I finally found you."
Gajeel pointed a metal-clawed finger at the giant panther.
"You're big. You're ugly. You've got a bad attitude. You're perfect. I'm gonna beat you up and take you home."
Lily's fur bristled. "You speak nonsense. I am a warrior of Edolas. I belong to no one. Buster Marm: Earth Breaker!"
Lily didn't telegraph the swing. He moved with shocking speed for his size. The massive sword, capable of cutting through solid rock, came down in a vertical arc.
CLANG!
Gajeel crossed his arms, turning them into solid steel pillars. The impact drove him to his knees, cracking the stone bridge beneath him. Sparks the size of fireflies flew from the collision.
"Heavy!" Gajeel grunted, grinning through the strain. "That's a good sword!"
"It cuts through magic," Lily stated, pushing down with immense strength. "Your iron skin is impressive, Earthlander. But metal fatigues. Metal breaks."
"Not my metal!" Gajeel roared.
He shoved the blade upward, creating space. He opened his mouth, inhaling a vortex of air.
"Iron Dragon's... ROAR!"
A tornado of sharp, spinning metal shards blasted from his mouth, aimed point-blank at Lily's face.
Lily didn't flinch. He spun the Buster Marm, using the flat of the giant blade as a shield. The metal shards pinged harmlessly off the magic steel.
"Crude," Lily commented. "Powerful, but unrefined. Is this how Dragon Slayers fight? Like brawlers?"
"We fight to win!" Gajeel yelled. He lunged, his arm transforming. "Iron Dragon's Club!"
His arm extended into a massive, spiked steel pillar. He swung it like a bat.
Lily parried, the clash of weapons shaking the entire bridge. They traded blows—heavy, bone-rattling impacts.
BAM. CLANG. CRUNCH.
Gajeel was faster, but Lily had the reach and the aerial superiority. Even without wings (which Lily seemed to lack in this form), the panther moved with feline agility, leaping over Gajeel's sweeps and raining down blows from above.
"Why do you fight for this King?" Gajeel asked between strikes, ducking under a horizontal slash that took out a stone gargoyle. "This Faust guy... he's nuts. He's turning people into crystals. He's gonna blow up your own home island!"
Lily paused for a fraction of a second. His expression tightened.
"My home?" Lily scoffed, swinging his sword again. "Extalia cast me out long ago. I was a 'Fallen.' I saved a human child, and for that, the Queen banished me. This country... this King... they gave me a purpose when my own kind spat on me."
He drove his knee into Gajeel's gut, sending the Dragon Slayer skidding back.
"I fight for order! I fight to fix this broken world! And if that requires sacrifice, so be it!"
Gajeel spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked at the giant cat. He saw the pain behind the stoicism. He saw a warrior who had been betrayed by his own people and found loyalty in the only place that would take him.
"You're an idiot," Gajeel said, standing up straight.
"What?"
"You think destroying everything is 'fixing' it?" Gajeel shook his head. "You saved a human kid? That sounds like something a real man... or cat... would do. The guys you're working for now? They're the ones who are broken."
"Silence!" Lily roared, his composure cracking. "You know nothing of my debt! Buster Marm: Gigant Form!"
The sword glowed. It grew. It doubled in size, becoming a weapon that looked like it could cleave the palace in two.
"I will end this now!"
Gajeel looked at the massive blade descending toward him. He didn't dodge.
He smiled. A wide, predatory, Dragon Slayer smile.
"That's a lot of high-quality iron you got there."
As the blade came down, Gajeel jumped into the attack. He caught the blade with his hands. The sheer weight drove him down, his boots grinding through the stone of the bridge. His skin sparked as the magic edge tried to cut him.
"My teeth... are itching!" Gajeel yelled.
He opened his mouth and bit down on the edge of the Buster Marm.
CRUNCH.
Lily's eyes went wide. "You..."
Gajeel bit a chunk out of the legendary sword. He chewed. He swallowed.
"Thanks for the grub!"
His magic flared. The consumption of the high-grade magic metal replenished his stamina instantly. His iron scales turned a darker, harder shade of steel.
"Now..." Gajeel growled, his voice vibrating with power. "It's my turn."
Lily tried to pull his sword back, but it was jagged and broken. "You ate my weapon..."
"Iron Dragon's... SWORD!"
Gajeel didn't use a club this time. He transformed his arm into a massive, serrated chainsaw-blade of shadow-iron. He launched himself at Lily.
Lily abandoned the broken sword. He met the charge with his bare paws, his claws extending.
They clashed in mid-air.
But Gajeel, fueled by the meal, was unstoppable. He smashed through Lily's guard. He spun, delivering a devastating, iron-hard kick to the panther's side.
"Karma Demon: Iron God Sword!"
Gajeel brought his transformed arm down. It wasn't a cut; it was a bludgeon of pure force.
It slammed into Lily, driving the massive Exceed into the bridge. The stone shattered completely. The bridge collapsed.
Both of them fell into the debris of the lower courtyard.
When the dust cleared, Gajeel was standing. He was battered, his clothes torn, bleeding from a dozen cuts. But he was standing.
Panther Lily lay on his back in the rubble. He was conscious, but he couldn't move. His strength was gone. He looked up at the twilight sky, defeated.
"I lost..." Lily whispered. "To a human..."
Gajeel walked over. He looked down at the fallen warrior. He retracted his iron scales, reverting to his normal skin.
He didn't gloat. He sat down on a piece of rubble next to Lily's head.
"You're strong," Gajeel said casually. "Strongest guy I've fought in a while. Except maybe Blake."
Lily coughed. "Why... didn't you kill me?"
"I told you," Gajeel grunted. "I'm looking for a partner. Can't partner with a corpse."
Lily closed his eyes. "It matters not. The plan proceeds. The King will fire the cannon. Extalia will fall. My past... will be erased."
"That's where you're wrong, cat," Gajeel said.
"The cannon isn't gonna fire," Gajeel said, picking his teeth with a metal splinter. "My guild is up there right now dismantling it. But more importantly... do you know who is stopping it?"
Lily opened one eye. "Who?"
"The Prince," Gajeel said. "Mystogan. Or Jellal. Whatever you call him here."
Lily went rigid. He tried to sit up, groaning in pain. "The Prince? He... he returned?"
"Yeah," Gajeel said. "And he's not here to destroy Extalia. He's here to save it. And he's here to save this messed up human city, too."
Gajeel leaned in. "He's planning to reverse the Anima. He's sending all the magic back to Earthland. He's gonna make this world a place where people don't need magic to live. A world where nobody gets turned into crystals."
Lily stared at Gajeel, his mind reeling. The Prince... the boy he had saved. The boy who had been the reason for his exile. He was back. And he was trying to fix everything.
"The Prince..." Lily whispered, a tear leaking from his eye. "He seeks... peace?"
"He seeks a future," Gajeel corrected.
"But he can't do it alone," Gajeel said. "He's busy doing the magic stuff. We need muscle. We need someone the Exceeds might actually listen to. We need a Captain."
Gajeel stood up and offered a hand to the fallen panther.
"So, what's it gonna be, Lily? You gonna lie here and cry about the King? Or are you gonna go help the kid you saved finish what he started?"
Panther Lily, who was Prince Jellal's loyal servant, looked at Gajeel's hand.
He remembered the small, frightened boy he had rescued from the battlefield years ago. He remembered the promise he made to himself—that he didn't care about species, only about life. He had lost his way serving Faust. He had confused order with tyranny.
But the Prince... the Prince was his true King.
Lily reached up. His massive, furred hand clasped Gajeel's.
"You are... an annoying human," Lily grunted, letting Gajeel pull him to his feet.
"And you're a grumpy cat," Gajeel grinned.
"But if the Prince is fighting," Lily said, picking up the hilt of his broken sword, his eyes burning with renewed purpose, "then I am fighting with him. I will not let Extalia fall. And I will not let Faust corrupt this world any longer."
"That's the spirit," Gajeel slapped him on the back (which felt like slapping a brick wall). "Now, can you fly? Because I really want to see you fly."
Lily sighed. "I can transform. But I am injured. I can carry you... briefly."
"Good enough," Gajeel said. "Let's go save some cats. And maybe smash a few more things on the way."