The hour of destruction was near and Natsu needed to stop Jellal. Natsu had his Fire Dragon Slayer equipped with Brilliant Flame having 3800atk points with his life points at 2100. Jellal had his Underworld Lord Raga Ruga with 100atk points and his Apollo Warrior Saryu at 3000atk points with 2700LP. The others were using their dragons to hold off the underworld king, but Natsu needed to win fast.

"I place one card facedown and that's it for my turn." Jellal said. "So what are you going to do, Natsu?"

"Win!" Natsu said as he drew his card. "I'm activating Burning Greed. By paying 500LP, I get to draw two extra cards." Natsu's life points dropped to 1600 and drew two more cards.

"You're giving up life points? Do you really think that's wise?" Jellal said.

"It will be worth it because I'm going to win. I activate Passion Draw." Natsu said. "Since you've got two cards on your field, I can draw two more cards. He looked and saw the two cards he drew was Dragon Fusion and Emergency Flare. "Better save these. Fire Dragon Slayer, destroy Saryu. I got to deal damage while I still can." His monster went to attack the warrior.

"I don't think so." Jellal said. "I activate my face-down. A classic known as Mystical Space Typhoon. This can destroy a spell or trap card on the field. I'll destroy that Brilliant Flame of yours." A tornado came and blew Natsu's card away and his monster's attack points dropped to 3000.

"No! Now they're both be destroyed!" Erza said as the two of them had their weapons clash against each other and caused an explosion that took the both of them out.

"Don't forget that whenever Saryu is destroyed, Luro returns." Jellal said. Luro returned to the field with 3000atk points.

"I'll just summon Scale Guard in defense mode." Natsu said as his lizard came up with 1900atk points. "That will buy me some time because once a turn, Scale Guard can't be destroyed."

"My turn!" Jellal said as he drew his next card. "I activate Raga Ruga's ability. By skipping my battle phase, he can drain you of half of your life points." His dragon unleashed it's flames again and Natsu was getting fried as his life points dropped to 800.

"This is bad. He's getting weaker and weaker." Lucy said as she was beyond worried about him, but she shook her head to snap out of it. "No. Stop worrying. I believe in Natsu with all my heart. I know he can win."

"He better do it fast!" Gray said as they could see the dragons were struggling to keep the king back.

"I'm afraid it's only going to get worse for you. I activate Time Forward." Jellal said. "I can only use this on a monster who can only use its ability once a turn. It allows me to use their ability again."

"You can't do that!" Natsu said.

"I think I just did." Jellal said. "That mean you're going to lose even more of your life points by Raga Ruga!" The dragon unleashed it's flames for a second time and blasted Natsu with his life points dropping to 400. Natsu collapsed from all the pain and the flames that was being shot his way.

"Natsu!" Erza said as she ran to him and tried to shake him to get up. "Get up! Get up, Natsu! You have to!"

"I guess that's the end." Jellal said as he believed he won.

"Not a chance. Just taking a breather." Jellal was surprised to see Natsu getting back on his feet.

"Impossible! How can you still be standing after all that you've been put through?" Jellal said.

"Because I don't quit and I don't lose!" Natsu said.

"Very well. Just make your next move. I'll make sure it's your final move." Jellal said.

"We'll see!" Natsu said as he drew his next card and it was the very last hope he had. It was Igneel. "Finally! I'm activating Emergency Flare! So now a monster from my hand or deck can jump right at the field. I'll summon Fire Dragon Sword Horn." His next monster came out with 1200atk points. "I'm not stopping there. I sacrifice both Scale Guard and Sword Horn so I can summon Igneel the Fire Dragon! Igneel, welcome to the party!" Both monsters were offered and Igneel flew out to the field with 2500atk points.

"Your dragon is impressive, but it's not enough to beat me." Jellal said.

"We'll see about that. I place one face-down and end my turn." Natsu said.

"Nice. With Igneel, he's got an even greater chance of winning." Lucy said. They all heard a roar and saw the king was even closer.

"He better hurry. That thing is almost on top of us." Gray said.

'He didn't even put up a fight. His face-down must do something to give Igneel even more power for when I attack or when I use Raga Ruga's ability.' Jellal thought. "Oh well. I must end this and Raga Ruga's just the monster to do it."

"How are you going to do that with him?" Natsu said.

"I'll show you by activating Raga Ruga's final ability." Jellal said. "It will make him vulnerable to attacks, but all the life points he drained out of you are added to his attack points. That's 2600 plus 800 plus 400." His own dragon gained power and it rose all the way to 3900.

"It's got nearly 4000atk points!" Erza said.

"Raga Ruga, attack him and end this!" Jellal said as his dragon unleashed the dark flames and it seemed like the end of all. "This is the end!"

"The end of nothing! I activate Magical Breakthrough!" Natsu said. "Not only does this block your attack, but I can remove one card on the field from play." The attack was blocked and Natsu's life points remained unharmed. "The card I'm choosing to take out is Diana Warrior Luro!"

"What?!" Jellal said. A wormhole opened up above the warrior and pulled him in.

"Nice and with Luro removed from play, Saryu can't return." Gajeel said.

"Very well. I'll end my turn." Jellal said. "You've just about run out of time. It's too late for you to do anything now."

"Jellal, please stop while you can!" Erza said as she was practically begging at this point.

"Erza, can't you see that I'm doing this for the good of the world?" Jellal said.

"Not if it means people have to suffer because of it." Erza said. "Don't you remember when we met?" Of course Jellal remembered. How could he ever forget?

…

Flashback

It was a summer day in Magnolia. Erza was a small girl out in the park. It was pouring rain and she was all alone as she sat and cried. She felt the rain poured on her, but she felt it stopped. She looked up and saw a boy holding an umbrella over her. That young boy was Jellal.

"Why are you crying?" Jellal asked.

"I was on my way home and I fell." Erza said. Jellal looked at her legs and saw her knee was injured.

"Hold this." Jellal said as he handed her the umbrella. She grabbed it and held it over them. Jellal reached inside his pocket and pulled out a cloth with him tying it around her knee. "There. That should hold until you get home. Let's go." He held out his hand for her. She was hesitant, but she took his hand and helped her stood up again. Erza fell against him, but he held her up and for some strange reason, she felt warm in his arms.

'It was on that day we met, we became friends.' Erza told. 'We spent most of that summer together. You were even the person that taught me how to duel.'

Jellal was looking over his deck as he played with his cards. Erza was standing over him and watched him.

"Jellal, what are you doing?" Erza asked.

"It's called dueling. It's an awesome game." Jellal said. "You want me to teach you? Anyone can play it." After a few lessons, Erza was able to get the hang of it and even beat him. "Wow! Erza, you're a natural!"

"Oh! I wouldn't know about that." Erza said as she felt flattered from Jellal hearing that.

"You are. Maybe you should join one of those dueling guilds. I heard great things about one called Fairy Tail." Jellal said.

End of Flashback

…

"That summer was the best in my life. When that summer ended, your parents took you away to prepare you for the world in private education and business matters." Erza said. "Jellal, it's because of you my life is where it is. So be that boy you were when we met. I know he's still in there."

"Maybe." Jellal said as he believed that as well. "The fact is that it's too late."

"It's never too late!" Natsu called out. "Jellal, even I can see that Erza cares a lot about you. That's why she's here right now. She believes in you, but you can't see it because you think this is something that needs to be done. This is just like what I saw with Hades. He gave into darkness because he felt he was being pulled in. The same is happening to you Jellal. You're being pulled in by life's darkness."

"What do you mean by 'life's darkness'?" Jellal asked.

"You're only looking at the bad side of the world, but none of the good." Natsu said. "It just sounds like to me you're crying out because you feel you lost the people you care about such as your teacher and thought Erza was gone." Jellal started to look inside himself to see if that's really true. "Jellal, the world isn't a perfect place. Yeah there are some bad stuff, but you can get through anything if you have your friends. Jellal, you still have people that care about you. Erza is one of them. If you do this, you'll lose all of that. So do you care about Erza as much as she does for you?" Jellal looked over to her and he did. The summer he spent with her as a child was one of the best for him as well.

"Erza…." Jellal said as he reached out for her. Jellal tried to erase all human morals for this, but he couldn't erase what was in his heart and it's because of that, he's seen what a fool he's been. All of them heard a growling sound and saw the king of the underworld was just minutes away. "Natsu, hurry! Destroy Raga Ruga and end this."

"There's only one monster I got that can do that." Natsu said as he looked down. "Laxus, I need Heavledge!"

"Take it!" Laxus said without a moment's thought and tossed Heavledge's card to Natsu with the actual dragon flying towards them. The card flew to Natsu like before and he took it.

"I activate Dragon Fusion and fuse Heavledge and Igneel together." Natsu said as the two dragons came together. "I fusion summon Igneel the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Igneel in his new form came down and had 3300atk points. "I activate his special ability which takes away all of Raga Ruga's power!" Igneel unleashed lightning and electrocuted Raga Ruga with all of its power going down to zero. "Igneel, attack and destroy that fake dragon with Lightning Flame Impact!" Igneel charged right at the dragon and smashed right through it. Raga Ruga was destroyed and Jellal's life points dropped to zero. "Now for ugly!" Igneel turned around with Natsu roaring with his dragon as the power of the two of them smashed right into the king and created a bright light that blinded everyone.

…..

Natsu

When Natsu opened his eyes, he saw he was surrounded by stars and he didn't had a clue as to where he was.

"Where am I?" Natsu said. He looked around and saw Levy, Kinana, and the others except for Hades. "It's them! Those who were under the darkness."

"That's right." Natsu looked right in front of them and Jellal was standing there.

"Jellal, what's going on?" Natsu said.

"You've destroyed the darkness." Jellal said. "I'm going to do the right thing and free those who were lost in darkness. All of them here shall be revived and return to their normal lives. I wish I could do the same."

"You will." Jellal felt someone pushed Jellal forward. He turned around and saw Hades.

"Dr. Precht?" Jellal said.

"None of this would have happened if it weren't for me." Hades said. "Jellal, continue your adventure." Another bright light came from behind Hades and blinded Natsu and Jellal.

…..

The Duel

The dragon mark faded away with the king being destroyed and the Dragon Stairway crumbling to dust. Jellal came out from the light and he was falling to the ground.

"Jellal!" Erza called out as she and Natsu were able to grab him as they were riding on Igneel. Igneel slowly descended down as the two of them held on.

"Natsu! Erza! I'm so sorry." Jellal said with his dragon mark disappearing from his arm. The darkness was lifted from the city as everything was returning to normal.

…

Six Months Later

Half a year has gone by since the battle against Jellal and everything has gone back to normal.

"Look at this. Isn't it lovely?" Levy asked Gajeel as they were doing some window shopping.

"Yeah. That necklace would look great on you." Gajeel said with his arm around her. With Jellal's defeat, those who were under the power of darkness have been restored and returned to their normal lives. Except for Hades for he gave up his chance so Jellal could continue his. During those six months, Gajeel and Levy became close and so have Kinana and Erik.

…..

Jellal

Jellal was in his office as he stared out his window. He regretted deeply for what he did, but he took Natsu's advice. Now, he's trying to change the world into a new one the right way through charities and other donations.

"Want some tea?" Erza said as she carried in a couple glasses.

"Thank you." Jellal said as he took one glass and placed the other arm around Erza. Those two have become close as well.

"So what's on your mind?" Erza asked.

"Well, we still need to find those who hold the last two dragons." Jellal said. "While I had that dark power, I could sense the entire world and I felt there was another dark power out there. Maybe even stronger." That was a disturbing thought. When they got out of one mess, there's another out there in the world. Erza wasn't afraid because if they made it through this, they can make it through anything.

…

Fairy Tail

"Quit being an idiot!" Gray said.

"You quit getting in my face!" Natsu said. Everything has pretty much stayed the same at the guild with those two arguing.

"That's enough." Lucy said. "Natsu, you promised me we have picnic in the park."

"Oh yeah!" Natsu said as he just remembered. "You ready to go?"

"Sure am." Lucy said as she placed her arms around his and placed her hand in his. During those six months, Natsu and Lucy got close together as well. They've almost became an actual couple like the others. Just like what the real purpose of dueling. You have fun and form strong bonds and the best part is that it never ends….like an eternal adventure in a fairy tail.