{Author Notes}

*KICKS down Door.*

GUESS WHO'S BACK, SUCKERS!? HELL COULDN'T HANDLE MAH BS SO THEY SENT ME BACK TO THIS HELLHOLE!

NOW IT'S FINALLY TIME TO FINISH THIS ARC AND GET TO THE ONE I'M EXCITED TO WRITE!

*Notices Number of Favorites is 690 as of writing this* Nice.

"From trying to stop Moon Drip, now we're making sure it works. The irony is not lost on me." Kain sighed as he, Natsu, Happy, and Gajeel stood at the outside edge of the temple, watching a moonbeam fall atop of the main temple.

The brunette turned to the steel dragon slayer. "On an unrelated topic, can you eat irony?"

"What the hell? No! That ain't how it works!" The raven-haired man pointed back to Kain. "On a more serious note, are we really going to trust that chicken?"

"Trust? Not really, but I do believe he means what he says in his plan to stop the Mahika." Kain blinked, not caring about the comment about the peacock being called a chicken. "To be honest, something has been rubbing me the wrong way with this peacock, but I didn't want to say anything just yet."

"I think you should have. Something about that chicken rubs me the wrong way."

"Why didn't you say anything, then?" Natsu put his arms on his waist.

"Do you think people would listen to me?" Gajeel motioned to himself, implying the recent event of him trashing the guild and attacking Fairy Tail for Phantom Lord.

"I'm listening to you now, aren't I?"

The taller man grunted. "You know what I mean, nerd!" By that, he meant that Natsu, Kain, Kageyama, and a certain blue-haired girl were the only people Gajeel felt comfortable to trust in the guild so far. Seeing as to how he was with half of those people, he wasn't afraid to voice his mind. Happy—well... it was hard to get a read on Gajeel with cats, especially after Wendy appeared.

Kain put a hand on his chin. "What specifically bothered you?"

"The plan of the dumb chicken." Gajeel pointed back to the temple where Moon Drip continued to pour in that was more potent than that of Galuna Island. "So all we gotta do is stall Arjuna and his lackeys until Moon Drip fully seals the last two pieces in a way he could never touch them again."

"Yeah, it's why we set up a defense ring. The three of us at the frontline—to my utter annoyance—Levy, Nab, Wan, and Lucy are setting up Jutsu Shiki and traps all over the inside of the temple while Bisca is planting herself in a great vantage point inside. And in case that Shadow Mage sneaks past everyone, I've got Kageyama and Pla ready to detect him. Which leaves Max to guard the sealers and everyone else."

"Why is Max our final defense again?" Happy raised his paw towards Kain.

"Because he can use the silver sand of this area, and we were told that this sand is specifically designed to hurt and subdue those under the Mahika," Kain answered. "I'm counting on his magic specifically to properly defend and attack anyone that gets close to the Moon Drip Seal." The lawyer pointed to the ground they were standing on. "The three of us are basically the muscle of the group. We need more room to use our destructive powers in a way that won't interrupt the seal. That's why I had us out here in the front lines. I doubt you guys wanted to be elsewhere."

"Why didn't the fancy chicken do the sealing before?" Natsu folded his arms.

"The peacock said he needed Éclair to perform this seal with him. Her bloodline was chosen to help seal away Arjuna and his allies." Kain explained the reasoning much easier than when the peacock started using superfluous words.

"That ain't what I was talking about, nerd." Gajeel folded his arms. "What's going to happen after we seal the last two pieces?"

Kain's eyes widened as he realized what Gajeel was implying. Say they were able to fend off Arjuna and the others long enough for the seal to work, what's going to happen to the rest of them, especially if the fight drags out and weakens everyone else?

"Shoot, I didn't think of that." Kain pressed a hand on his chin. "I was so used to being pulled around by these weird magic rules that I thought it would just solve itself after we reach the goal."

"Magic doesn't work like that, Kain!" Happy shouted.

The brunette focused while taking in what Happy said. "Crap. Maybe we can get to Lucy. She can have her spirits try to find Audolf—"

He didn't get to finish.

The sky turned red.

"Happy, I need you to get back to Lucy! Try and see if she can get her spirits to contact Audolf and Jeremiah!" Kain activated his armor, cladding himself in red and unhooking Horus' Omni Tool before turning it into a shield.

"Aye!" The cat saluted before flying back towards the temple.

No sooner than the sky turned red, the three outside felt the ground shaking. It wasn't natural, and they were too familiar with this atmosphere. Soon, above the valley, they spotted one... followed by a hundred giant centipedes rushing for them.

"Finally! I was getting a headache listening to everything!" Natsu had this battle-hardened smile as he watched the incoming forces of a fallen god.

"Wait for it..." Kain readied a sword as the centipedes touched the silver sand—then exploded into dust, causing a chain reaction.

They were told the land was blessed in a way that would decimate the many constructs of Arjuna. But this magic would only handle the constructs.

Soon, the constructs stopped trying to swarm towards the temple. Instead, they made way for something else. In the distance, Kain and the two dragonslayers spotted six figures making their way towards them.

They watched as Carbuncle, Ravanas, and Arjuna made their way towards the silver sand...

Arjuna stepped on the sacred ground... it turned black under his foot. As he walked forward, the sand turned back to silver when he lifted his foot, but whenever he made a new step, the sand beneath him turned back to black. This was the same for Carbuncle. Arjuna was still very much human and didn't need that special magic.

Arjuna raised the third piece of the staff towards the three members of Fairy Tail. "Surrender the remaining pieces of the staff, and I will reward you with swift and painless deaths!"

Their answers were Natsu and Gajeel firing their Dragon Roar spells at him. Arjuna lifted a barrier of forgotten magic to ward away the two torrents of elements.

And with that, Carbuncle raced to attack the three. The one known as Chase moved first—only to get intercepted and decked in the face by Kain's anti-magical armor. Coordinator moved in, brandishing her own weapons. Kain blocked with the Omni Tool before something metal slammed into the side of Coordinator's hip.

Gajeel and Natsu followed after Kain. Natsu, using his flames, boosted right for Arjuna and let loose a stream of white flames from a wide kick. Dyst stepped in to protect his leader, erecting a barrier of black sand to absorb the flames. However, something pierced through the black sand and stabbed right into Dyst's shoulder: revealing an elongated silver blade.

Gajeel smirked as he held out his hand that extended into a silver blade. "Funny how your main weakness is one of my favorite metals to eat!" The steel dragon slayer felt a shadow over him and looked up to see Cannon descending on him with the speed of a boulder. The bulky man brought his hands up, ready to crash them down on the steal dragon slayer. However, Cannon spotted a bright light in front of him...?

"HELL SPEAR!" A concentrated, laser-focused fist of white flames came barreling hard into Cannon's stomach. Natsu finished the punch and slammed Cannon back into the shield of Dyst.

The black sand opened up, revealing Arjuna gathering energy into his staff. As Natsu landed near Gajeel, and as Gajeel retracted his hand, Arjuna blasted a special beam right for the two dragon slayers. Kain sped in and extended the Omni Shield to circle around the three of them and create a silver dome.

When the attack died down, Kain let down the shield. At the same time, Chase jumped out to attack the wyvern rider in his blind spot, but he wasn't fast enough as Natsu grabbed on to Chase's leg while the shadow mage was caught off guard. Natsu threw him at Coordinator who was attempting to follow up on her teammate.

"Not so tough now that we can hurt ya!?" Gajeel turned his fists into silver as he went into a fighting stance.

Arjuna's three eyes narrowed before he stepped forward. "The rest of you, when I make way, head for the temple and prevent whatever it is they are doing." Arjuna's third eye started to glow black. Fairy Tail took a step back and watched as the massive man grow.

The three returned to their senses as they all avoided three magic arrows all aiming for their necks.

Ravanas sighed and put his hand down. "And here I was hoping that would distract you three long enough for a kill." That attack did something else, it allowed Arjuna to transform into a massive demon from Loke's memory. Arjuna looked taller than the vision showed. He towered over the three Fairy Tail members. He had six arms, three faces, and four legs.

With three overlapping screams, he rushed for the Fairy Tail members with speed neither of them expected. The three got out of the way as a giant fist crushed the area they were previously in. As Gajeel jumped out of the way, he fired a silver blade right for one of the faces of Arjuna's demonic form—only for it to get punched away with enough force to create a shock wave.

Gajeel finished his roll to track where the punch came from. Ravanas walked towards him while holding his fist. "It would be problematic if any of Lord Arjuna's men faced you, who can turn his body into silver." His eyes narrowed. "I will be your opponent."

As Natsu stood back up, he spotted Cannon, Chase, and Coordinator running towards the temple. "Oh no, you don't!" As he sped after them, he suddenly halted and jumped back from half a dozen black blades that would have skewered him if he continued. Natsu turned back to face Dyst.

"You are the descendant of the Fire King, are you not?"

"Descendant?! I'm Igneel's son!" Natsu cried out before turning his heel and rushing towards the telekinetic.

Kain spotted the other three passing them and also tried to stop them from heading towards the temple. However, he was stopped when Arjuna jumped in front of him to cut him off.

"COME NOW, DESCENDANT! YOUR BLOODLINE WILL NOT ESCAPE MY WRATH!"

"For the last time! I'm not Horus'—" Kain got out of the way of four fists attempting to turn him into a game of whack-a-mole.

Chase, Coordinator, and Cannon made their way inside towards the temple.

"Chase, get to the center of the temple! We can feel our lord's staff presence down there!" Coordinator declared as they ran.

Chase faded into the shadows, but sparks of electricity danced around his shadow. Chase jumped out, like a man gasping out for air after nearly drowning.

"What happened!?" Coordinator asked as she and Cannon stopped and helped Chase up.

"Trap. Shadows. Unsafe." The old Shadow Mage breathed out the words. "No. Shortcuts."

"Damn it! Whatever they're doing, they're going through great lengths to make sure we don't..." Coordinator stopped talking as they felt something. Or rather, they felt the magic of Arjuna's staff start to shrink. "They're sealing the staff pieces! We cannot let them go through with that spell!"

The remaining members of Carbuncle ran until they entered through a large room that was the same size as that of a football field. However, it was filled with pillars the size of trees from Kain's Redwood Forest and had inscriptions from the old days of Veronica.

Suddenly, Cannon pushed his two teammates away and took several shots to his chest. Two bullets bounced off his chest, but the place that made contact made these blue glowing marks. The marks exploded and Script Runes appeared and ensnared Cannon to the point the behemoth of a man was unable to move.

"Canon!?" Coordinator cried out before she and Chase were forced to take cover behind the massive pillars from more sniper fire.

"Damn it!" The blonde girl cried out before trying to peek out when the sniper fire calmed down. "Where is that coming from?!"

From across, Chase's eyes widened as he launched shadow arms to push Coordinator out in the open.

"Chase, what the hel..." Coordinator's voice died down when she saw runes glowing on the pillar she was using as cover. The runes stretched out and ensnared Chase's shadow hands. At the same time, Chase himself was struggling to free himself from another snare of runes from his cover.

Coordinator's instincts kicked in as she summoned a broadsword and deflected another sniper shot heading her way. She deflected several shots before jumping to another column, only to see script runes starting to appear. The blonde Carbuncle mage cursed under her breath as she jumped and levitated in the air with specialized boots. However, even up in the air, she heard the sound of ricochets. Not even two seconds in and bullets started to come at her in different directions, forcing her into the defensive. What was more was that some of the bullets had inscriptions on them. When they'd hit her blade, Jutsu Shiki wrapped around her blade, causing Coordinator to drop, equip, and then drop once more her weapons to prevent them from capturing or impairing her.

"It's hard to believe they nearly killed us when we first met..." Kageyama couldn't help but watch Bisca fire shot after shot in a place with low visibility, long-range, and so many obstacles, yet she was hitting each shot as if those were non-factors.

Beside her, Pla had a scanner that showed the location of three pings. And on her other side, Levy quickly wrote Jutsu Shiki in whatever bullet she could before putting it in a magic circle that sent the bullet right for Bisca's chamber.

Pla started to ping. One of the signals on the scanner was making its way towards them at a fast speed.

"Anasi is saying something is moving in the shadows towards us!" Nab cried out.

At that moment, Fairy Tail readied themselves as the scanner showed the incoming boogie reached them. Kageyama and Nab readied themselves as soon as the attacker came their way. Out of the shadows jumped out—

Cannon!?

The behemoth of Carbuncle jumped out of the shadows instead of Chase. Pla acted fast and grabbed Levy and Bisca out of the way before the behemoth smashed the ground. Wan acted fast, turning his fists into dog-shaped mud. Their strategy didn't change when dealing with the massive man with strength and invulnerability.

Wan had the dogs chomp on Cannon's head. This blinded the massive man as he tried to reach for the silent Fairy Tail mage. However, Wan was able to evade Canon's attempt to catch him.

Kageyama and Wan moved only, only to jump back as a spear imbedded itself in front of them. With Bisca no longer shooting suppressing fire, Coordinator and Chase raced towards them to close the gap.

With that, Fairy Tail lost the advantage and a free for all fought between the two teams. Chase attempted to pry Wan off Cannon, but Kageyama and Nab countered the old shadow mage with shadow magic of their own. Coordinator raced for Levy and Bisca while Pla rushed in to catch her weapon.

Cannon was getting very tired of being blinded and restrained. With a mighty shout, he simply ran, not caring where he was going. This resulted in him heading towards a wall, which forced Wan to leap off and let the man slam into it. However, ramming into a wall didn't do much damage to the massive man. Cannon got out of the wall with little injury. However, he looked to his right and noticed the stairway further down into the temple.

Remembering his mission, the bulky man tried to go in. However, an invisible forcefield stopped him from being able to take the first step down.

"...guuuGGHHHHAARAAH!?" Cannon let loose a roar deep from his lungs and gripped the barrier with his fingers. The black sand coiled around his hands and allowed him to grab on to the barrier. As he started to pull, the Jutsu Shiki that Levy put up started to flicker in and out.

"Whoa, hey! Stop him!" Kageyama screamed as Fairy Tail noticed what the large man was doing.

Wan ran up to Cannon while the other two members of Carbuncle held back the Fairy Tail members. Wan charged an attack with his fists, only to get grabbed in the face by a hand. Cannon's sudden burst of speed caught the silent, sunglasses mage off guard. Before he could even react to the grab, Cannon slammed him into the barrier. However, instead of an impact, Cannon found himself able to move his hand inward when he held Wan in his grip.

"Shoot! The Script works like that!?" Levy originally put that only Fairy Tail members or their allies could pass through that barrier. However, it seemed as if the script recognized someone touching a Fairy Tail member as they passed as an ally.

Cannon didn't hesitate to step through the barrier before tossing Wan into a pillar with enough force to make a crater.

"Kage, go after him!" Nab took out his totem staff then held it towards Chase. He slammed it on the ground and several totems started to glow in rainbow light.

"Yaga brunda! Sik-vasqivalorkor!"

The Shadow mage turned on his heel before bolting after Cannon, doing his best to ignore the light show behind him and the cackling of multiple elements mixed with around a dozen animal cries.

Meanwhile, at the very bottom floor, where Moon Drip leaked in, the peacock and Éclair stood at opposite sides, inside the spell. At the very center, the two staff pieces Fairy Tail Collected were slowly but surely getting encased in a strange crystal-like substance.

At one corner of the room, Lucy looked at one of her golden keys while Wendy, Carla, Happy, Momon, and Sunny the mouse watched her.

"Virgo! Please tell me you've found Audolf!" Lucy begged the key.

"I'm sorry, Princess, even the Celestial Spirit King is having trouble trying to contact him." The key flashed at the moments Virgo spoke up. "He senses that Audolf is currently in battle, which means Sir Jeremiah is also locked in combat."

"What!? Have they been fighting this whole time?! Is that why they haven't contacted us yet?"

Lucy's questions went unanswered when Wendy and the other animals perked up.

"Someone's coming down here!" The blue-haired girl pointed towards the entrance. The shock of her voice clued Max and Lucy that she didn't sense a familiar person.

/You must hold them off! We are almost complete!/ The silver peacock unfolded it's tail, somehow making the moonbeam more intense than a while ago.

At that moment, Cannon came crashing in with a stomp. His eyes tracked the staff pieces. Without wasting another second, he charged for them not unlike a locomotive.

Max moved fast, making the silver sand flank Cannon's right and smacking him away from the center of the spell with a wave of silver sand.

As it crashed him to the wall, everyone watched as the silver sand seemed to burn away the black sand that floated around Cannon. As it did, the giant groaned in agony as if he was being burned.

"Whoa!" Max let loose a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I can do this!" With his magic, the sand mage created giant fists with the sand and started to pummel Cannon.

"Guys!" Kageyama ran in, only to see Max pick up Cannon and throw him to another side of the room with little effort. "Huh?"

"Whoo-hoo! That'll teach ya to not mess with Fairy Tail!" Max cried out as he motioned the sand to grab Cannon's leg and slam him back and forth like a ragdoll.

"Ummm," Wendy stepped closer to Lucy. "I-I think Mr. Alors is going a bit..."

Lucy got what she was saying as even Kageyama seemed shocked at the sudden mercilessness. Before she could warn him, someone else stopped him, but for a different reason altogether.

/Stop playing around and kill him!/

Everyone looked towards the peacock as he screamed this. Max snapped out of his adrenaline high and looked back at the being with shock.

/He will not stop until he is dead! Use the sand to rip out and crush his heart! It is the only way to kill immortals like him!/

"W-What? R-Rip out his heart?!" Max stammered at the idea of doing something like that. He never thought of killing him, let alone doing something that violent. But he did stop his assault. Cannon stood back up and rushed for the staff pieces once more.

Max acted fast, using the sand to longer attack but restrain the massive man by having the sand swallow his limbs and lift him high.

/Kill him! The Ceremony is almost done!/

"I-I," Max stammered at the command.

However, his hesitation allowed Cannon to do something unexpected. The remaining black sand circling around him turned into a blade. Max got ready to intercept the attack towards—

No? Fairy Tail watched as the sword construct cut off Cannon's right arm. The gory move made Lucy cover up Wendy's eyes while everyone else could only watch in shock. To their surprise, the blade cut off the other limbs of Cannon, making his torso fall. However, the black sand quickly caught him, turning into four new limbs that he used to rush for Max.

The sand mage acted fast and made the silver sand loop around to attack Cannon from his front. With his black sand, Canon used his new pseudo-limbs to push back against the silver sand. When he did so, Kage jumped and tried to unleash a dozen shadow hands to subdue the strength user.

As both Kage and Max used their abilities to encase the strength mage, the staff pieces inside the Moon Drip Spell started to encase itself in rock.

Fires burned the trees, metal pillars turned the ground into a spiked bed, and craters created by earth-cracking force riddled the area.

Less than three minutes ago, the area around the temple was a lush forest trapped inside a valley. After mixing in two Dragon Slayers, a powered-up Lawyer, an evil Prime Minister, an undead acolyte, and an evil Demi-God, then one will realize that three minutes would almost be akin to an eternity where anything could change: especially the environment.

A streak of white avoided a construct of black sand that went at the speed of a bullet with the power of a ballistic missile. Natsu Dragneel used one foot to change his trajectory. When he did, in less than a second, he punched a shield that was raised to protect Dyst.

A silver blade pierced through the shield and stabbed right into Dyst's shoulder. That weakened the shield enough for Natsu to blast through the shield and continue through. Meanwhile, Gajeel retracted his hand in time to avoid being crushed by a giant foot. Ravanas lifted his other foot and attempted to crush the Steel Dragon Slayer a second time. Ravanas lost concentration as something flew over him—then punched him in the cheek with enough force to create a shockwave. Kain moved after the attack as tendrils whipped at him. Arjuna himself was pursuing the armored rider.

The chaotic fight between the two groups would have continued. However, suddenly the red moon split in half. One side was red while the other turned silver. With the split of the moon, Arjuna cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

"Lord Arjuna!" Dyst cried out before he too fell to his knees.

"Guys! Keep the pressure up!" Kain yelled before circling back to knock down Ravanas as he was getting back up.

The appearance of this new moon state created something like a wave of energy that weakened Carbuncle and Arjuna. Fairy Tail eased up as they noticed their opponents significantly weaker. Moon Drip Seal was working as it slowly encased the last two pieces of Arjuna's staff and seemingly cut off the otherworldly power of the Mahika.

"Okay!" Max screamed out as both he and Kageyama found it easier to subdue Canon than before. "Time to finish this!" As he said this, he had the silver sand of the room start to entrap Canon fully even with the black sand trying to help him. The massive man struggled even as the sand slowly started to cover his face.

It was then that Canon spoke up, surprising everyone as that was the first time they heard him speak. "Mahika! I surrender my soul to thee! Grant me power!"

Before the silver sand could seal him, the black sand seeped through and entered into his mouth.

/No! I told you to kill him! You do not understand how dangerous a follower of The Mahika is!/ The Peacock cried out with horror while the sand enveloped Canon completely. A second of silence passed before the containment exploded with a powerful shockwave. The shockwave blew away the sand, and unfortunately for Kageyama made him hit his head hard.

The shockwave even disrupted the silver Moon Drip.

Max slowly got back up and looked up. However, when he did, his jaw slacked. Cannon was no more.

What stood before him was a massive minotaur-shaped being with three hands on both sides. Yet, its entire body looked to be comprised of black sand. The eight-foot-tall being lowered its head, and Max started hyperventilating looking into the four eyes of the creature. It was like a red version of a black hole trying to suck him in.

The new form of Canon stepped forward, and Max instantly found himself cowering in fear from the creature. He wasn't Natsu; he couldn't stare death in the face with a smile. Yet, Max saw that Canon stepped passed him and went towards the two pieces of Arjuna's staff.

"I won't let you!" Lucy jumped in wearing Leo's clothes and fired a magical blast right for the black-sand demon. The blast shattered like glass on the impact of the beast. Yet Lucy switched tactics: turning into her Taurus Dress that now looked like proper armor with horns coming off from the helmet. She summoned a giant battle-ax and rushed for Canon with it. Cannon slowly moved one of his right arms and caught Lucy's strike. Despite creating a shockwave, Lucy's empowered swing was treated as if it was a light shove. Canon exerted his hand; one instant later, Lucy slammed into the opposite end of the room, trapped in the crater she made from impact.

"Lucy!" Wendy screamed before she inhaled and unleashed a wind-powered dragon roar. However, the attack did little to even budge the new demon of Mahika.

The beast unhinged its own jaw. When he did so, he unleashed a scream that caused everyone still conscious to cover their ears. For poor Wendy, her heightened senses betrayed her as it felt like hear eardrums were near to the point of shattering. However, Wendy fell face-first unconscious under the weight of the attack.

"Wendy?!" Carla cried out as she, Happy, and Bisca's mouse, Sonny, ran up to the wind dragon slayer.

Cannon grabbed the pieces of the staff as well as Éclair and the fallen peacock. However, Momon flew up to him, tackling his head.

"Let her go!" Momon bashed himself on the creature's head several more times before Cannon lifted a hand and flicked the creature away. Momon crashed near Max, who only watched how easily everyone fell to such a being.

His heart rate skyrocketed when he spotted Cannon's gaze return to him.

"Is that it?" His voice was demonic, but there was an eerie calmness, and a sense of disappointment pointed towards Max. "Is that the extent of your fighting spirit?"

Max looked around: all of the others fought desperately. While they were all defeated and injured, Max was left untouched. However, Cannon's words struck him harder than he did with anyone else.

With a single bound, Cannon jumped through several floors of thick, ancient stone.

When Cannon dispelled Moon Drip, Fairy Tail instantly lost the momentum. As if by reverse, Carbuncle and Arjuna suddenly regained their strength. Now Fairy Tail was on the defensive as Arjuna gained a boon in all of his combat abilities. At one point, he caught Kain and Natsu before rushing over a surprised Gajeel and slamming his allies on top of him like clubs. Following that, he slammed all three together and fired a magical blast at point-blank range while they were sprawled over each other.

Coordinator and Chase outmaneuvered Wan, Levy, Bisca, and Nab. Chase was no longer slowed down by the many Jutsu Shiki of the area; it was if he could sense where they were all of a sudden. Coordinator pulled a move similar to Erza, where she summoned her weapons telekinetically and fought akin to having twelve extra limbs. It came to the point where all of them were rounded up and pinned to one area. Chase and Coordinator unleashed their combined attacks on the second-level defenders.

From the third floor below, Max watched in horror as the sky turned to blood crimson. The red light shone down on him; it was like it was thanking him for his cowardice.

Max screamed and punched the ground hard.

"Max."

The sand mage turned around. He saw Jeremiah and Audolf walking towards him. Behind the two were the rest of his friends: defeated and unconscious.

The zombie sighed and looked around the room. "I'm sorry that I'm late. I chased the wrong clue the whole time." He looked up and began to fire twilight blades around the area.

"W-What are you doing?" Max asked as he saw the blade fly nearby his guildmates.

"We're leaving here, Max." Jeremiah turned to the sand mage while Audolf walked up to Momon, the cats, and Sonny.

"B-But you're here now! We can get back the staff pieces!" Max stood back up, only to see Jeremiah frown.

"There are no more pieces," Jeremiah spoke softly as if to comfort Max. The sand mage hated that tone at that moment. "Arjuna fixed his staff. He and his forces are leaving to do what they could not 500 years ago: summon the Mahika into the Physical Plane."

Jeremiah began to gather magic for his teleportation spell. However, he said two words that finalized Max's mistake in failing to stop Cannon.

"We lost."

Before Jeremiah teleported Fairy Tail out, Max fell to his knees. His body was untouched but his spirit was broken.

But among the broken things that night, the most important seal in Veronica was about to break as well.

Earthland would never be the same.

{Author Notes}

So yeah. Things have been crazy in the beginning year of 2020. That is not even including the slew of personal emergencies, and new plans/schedules I had to deal with that was the cause of them and other things.

I do hope all of you are well. Hopefully, this arc will come to an end by the next 1-2-ish chapters. Now, my schedule has finally cleared up and things have settled a little in my end I can write more of this.