And now, all three teams are on their way to return to Melromarc. What awaits them back in their home world? You'll find out soon enough. And, will all three teams reappear at the same time? Again, the same answer as before. This is what everything has been leading to and it's going to bring so much to the table. Amazing action, thrilling interactions, iconic characters from multiple series, and maybe even some heartbreak down the line. That's right, best get those tissues ready. I've got something brewing and it's getting close for me to spill it. Now, i'd say I've talked for long enough. Let's begin the final act of this mega arc. Enjoy!

-POV: Ren-

In the matter of a few seconds, all of us reemerged from the portal and stepped back into our world. We all took a long look around and, thankfully, everything looked the same as when we left. I let out a huge sigh of relief because I was actually expecting to be attacked when we stepped into Melromarc again. I looked to where the other two portals to the other worlds had spawned, and I noticed that one of them was gone. It had been closed.

"Let's just hope that whoever went to that world already came back before it was closed." I said to myself. Luckily for all of us, the carriage we had taken to get here was still where we left it. We all hopped in, even though it was a bit of a tight squeeze now, and we headed back to the royal kingdom. I'm sure the queen would appreciate it if we reported back to her of our success.

We were let into the kingdom and we stopped at the entrance to the castle. We exited our carriage and then walked through the castle to the throne room where we expected to find the queen. However, she met us about halfway through and we walked together back to her throne room. 

"Greetings, your majesty. It is so good to see you again." I said to her as she gave me a nod. 

"As are my feelings towards you, sword hero. It appears your mission to your world was a success. You've brought back several warriors with you who look quite skilled in their own right." The queen said as she seemed to examine the three teams we had brought back with us. 

"Tell me, have any of the other teams returned from their worlds yet? We noticed one of the three portals had already been closed upon our return." I said as she sadly shook her head. 

"Unfortunately, you are the first to return. The team containing the axe and bow hero, they were the ones who had their portal closed. I'm trying to think of a solution to reopen it, but the answer is still eluding me." The queen said as we all just received a massive blow to our confidence. 

"Itsuki and Ayuma's team.... not having them here.... that's going to make things so much harder for all of us. And, all we can do is hope Motoyasu and Naofumi's team makes it back before the other portal closes." I said as we arrived in the throne room. In the centre was a large table that had been set up with a bunch of maps all over it. 

"A lot has happened since you all left. To start, the demon king, Aidoneus has begun to mobilize his forces. Every day you've been gone, he'd send some of the monsters within the underworld to the surface to attack us. My troops have been able to fend them off so far, but i'm sure these forces from the world the axe and bow hero went to will surely change the tide quickly." The queen explained as I became concerned about what she just said. 

"Did you just say "every day we've been gone?" Our team has only been gone for a full day though." I said to her as she shook her head. 

"If that is the case for you, then that means time flows differently within those portals. It's been 4 days since you all left, to be exact." The queen informed us all.

"Has this Aidoneus made any moves himself?" Drake asked the queen as she shook her head. 

"Not yet. I assume he's still using his energy to keep the final two portals open for his comrades."She told us as I took a look around us. I wasn't sure why but something just didn't feel right to me. I ignored the feeling for now.

"Beginning yesterday, there's been an increase in seismic activity in this region. According to records within this castle, that it where the entrance to the underworld is." The queen said as she pointed to a location on the map in front of us all. It was supposedly in a large ravine. 

"So, how do we plan our next move then? Do we take the fight to them? Or should we wait and defend the castle instead?" Ruby asked as the queen went deep into thought.

"That depends. If another one of the heroes and their teams were here too, then i'd say you should take the fight to the underworld and stop them from advancing on us. But, with only your team here now, I believe the best option is to remain here and defend the kingdom." The queen said as we all seemed to agree. But, even in a time of agreement, that weird feeling still lingered in my head. The entire time we walked through the castle, we didn't see one soldier, maid, butler, assistant, or anyone. Not even Melty, and I thought she would've been ecstatic to see one of the teams return. 

"These seismic activities around this ravine.... do you have any guesses as to what they could really be?" Raphtalia asked. 

"My spies that I sent there informed me something was rising. It appears king Aidoneus has used quite a bit of his demonic power to perform something truly remarkable. He's made his entire underworld castle rise from beneath the earth and is making it fly towards Melromarc. We expect that in less than 24 hours, it'll be within sight of Melromarc." The queen explained.

"That doesn't give us a lot of time. Where do you have your troops mobilized right now?" I asked the queen as she pointed to two locations. 

"They're deployed in the north and the south about 10 kilometers out from here. Both positions are easily defendable and provide enough support to give an advantage to our forces. They'll be able to hold off the enemy forces for long periods of time." The queen informed us. 

"That's good to hear. And, if that's the case, then that probably means this demon king and his giant flying castle will head to us in a straight line to avoid those two squadrons. He'll probably have the weaker of his monsters face the two troop forces and save his stronger ones for us." Jaune said as we all agreed.

"There is something else that is rather interesting that happened not too long ago. Yesterday, a figure representing one of the demon knights we faced emerged alone from the portal that the shield and spear heroes traveled through. It quickly fled the scene though and my spies have been unable to track it. Based on the direction it was seen moving in though, it's not headed towards the underworld nor king Aidoneus' castle. They're coming from the East, and this creature was seen heading Southwest." The queen said which was quite intriguing. 

"Do you want us to split our forces here and find it? Attacking it while it's all alone is the best chance we'll get if we want to win this war." I asked the queen as she shook her head. 

"No, leave it be for now. It's not regrouping with its allies so it's not of worry at the moment. Our concern should be towards the approaching castle. Can you and the allies you've returned with hols them back until the remaining heroes return, sword hero?" The queen asked me as I gave her a nod. 

"All of us have been through quite a lot since we met each other. But, I trust these 12 I've brought back with us to help. They'll be of great aid to our cause." I told her as she gave me a smile and a nod. However, that same feeling from before just wouldn't go away. A theory was floating around in my mind and I was really hoping that it wasn't true. 

"By the way, your majesty, your daughter, Melty.... has she been able to contact you at all since she's become trapped in the world the axe and bow hero went to?" I asked the queen as she shook her head. 

"Unfortunately, no. I just have to hope she, the heroes, and the rest of their team can find someway back before the enemy forces attack us." The queen said as my theory came to life. 

"I see. Everyone, take out your weapons!" I said as they all did as told. 

"What is the purpose of this?" The queen asked me as I stepped towards her and held my sword up to her neck. 

"Melty never went with any of the heroes teams. She stayed here in Melromarc, and if you're thinking she went with Ayuma and Itsuki, then that means you're not the real queen! So, enough of this charade! Show us who you really are!" I said as the imposter queen stepped back a bit and gave off a twisted smile.

"My, my, you're a smart and a cute one. I like you, sword boy. I'd like to cut you open and see all that lovely blood spill out." She said as her voice changed all of a sudden. Her face began to melt off like it was some sort of gray goo and appearing beneath it all was someone we'd never seen before. It was a girl with messy blonde hair in the style of two buns on either side of her head, yellow eyes, and the creepiest smile i'd ever seen. 

"Who are you?" Drake asked as he aimed his gun at the girl. 

"I'm form that world that the axe and bow hero went to. My name's Toga!! It's so nice to meet you all!! I can't wait to see you all bleed!!" She squealed with joy as she reached into the queens dress she was wearing and pulled out a bunch of these blue marbles.

"What have you done with the queen and princess Melty?" I asked as Toga giggled. 

"Don't worry, they're still alive. They've just become prisoners inside Aidoneus' castle, that's all. And those troops we talked about before? Yeah, they're all dead! We stormed this place about 2 days ago, along with the forces that came from the other two worlds! It was a piece of cake without you heroes around!!" Toga said as a shocking truth was revealed to us. 

"Did you say the forces of the other two worlds were here as well!? But, if that's the case, then why were their world's portals left open?" I asked. 

"Because we know that if not all of you come back, then you'll have no chance to defeat us in the war! The demons chose my world because they believed the two heroes that went there posed the biggest threat to them. And, I really don't blame them! Some of these kids from my world are super crazy and do all sorts of these awesome things! But they're stuck in that world now and can't come to rescue you. And, even if the team that still has their portal open returns, there won't be nearly enough of you to fight back. No matter how strong you may be, our forces reach over the hundred thousands. And right now, I only see 19 of you. What will that amount do for you in the end? I'll tell you, nothing! So, let me cut you already so everything will be quick and painless for you all!!" Toga explained to us.

"They've been waiting this entire time.... it's all been a trap for us so they can pick us apart..... all of the demons are back in this world, and with just us here, we have no chance of winning at all! And there's nowhere for us to run. I'm sure as soon as we entered the castle, the enemy forces surrounded it to ensure we couldn't escape." I thought as Drake stepped forward. 

"I like the sound of those odds. And the same can be said for my teammates, right guys?" He said as he looked back to his squad to see them all give him nods. 

"No matter what you throw at us, you won't knock us down. We beat anything you've got." Drake said as he cocked his gun and took aim right at Toga's head. 

"Is that so, big guy? Then let's see if you're prepared for this!" Toga shouted as she threw those marbles she was holding all around the room. There was about 5 of them that she tossed and all of them poofed into a small cloud of smoke. And, appearing from each one of them was a person. 

The first to appear was a man with scruffy looking black hair, a black jacket and pants with a white undershirt, and a lot of patchwork all around his body. After him was a man in a full body suit that was black and grey in colour, and he wore two red bands over his wrists. Next was a man who looked like a lizard. He wore a spotted vest, black pants, a mask over his eyes, had purple hair, and a bunch of swords and knives strapped to his body. Next to him was a much nicer dressed man. He had on an orange trench coat, a black top hat, and a black and white mask over his face. And then, the final person had short brown hair, wore a green jacket over a black shirt, he wore a purple boa around his jacket, had white gloves on, black pants, and, most interesting was a red and yellow plague doctor style mask over his mouth. 

"So, these are some of the forces we're supposed to deal with? They don't look so tough to me." The man with all the patchwork said.

"Don't underestimate them, Dabi. Some of them were able to beat one of the demons we're working for, remember? That's more than enough reason to take them all seriously." The man with the plague doctor mask said as he removed his gloves.

"Shut it, Overhaul! No, keep on talking! No one here likes you!! I freakin' love you, man!" The man in the black and grey body suit said which kinda weirded me out. Since it sounded like he was trying to say two things at once, my guess was this man suffered from some sort of multiple personality disorder.

"Could everyone please stop talking and focus on the objective? It would be a shame if we were to let these cretins escape our grasp." The man with the orange coat and top hat said to everyone.

"Yeah, listen to Compress. We've got a job to do so let's get it over with. The sooner we take down these kids, the easier it'll become to take down the rest." The lizard man said as he unsheathed a chipped sword from his left side.

"I want the sword hero, boys!! He's so cute and smart!!! I just want to see what that blood inside him looks like on the outside!" Toga said as she pulled out a knife from within her dress.

"Everyone, it's time we prepare for the final battle. Our enemies have been one step ahead of us this entire and now, they reveal themselves to us. Be on guard, these foes are unknown to us all, so be aware and perceptive of everything at all times. You never know what any of them may pull." I said as everyone prepared their weapons. The only one who did not was Drake who stepped up next to me and let out a heavy sigh. 

"Look, I wasn't really expecting to receive a hero's welcome to begin with when we got here, but even I know that this is one heck of an unwinnable situation. No offense Ren, but just this one time, let me call the shots on what we do, okay?" He asked me as I looked to him with surprise. He had a face full of confidence and courage and I believed that he could get us through this. 

"Alright. Take it away, buddy." I said as he cracked his knuckles and then his neck a bit. 

"I was hoping i'd save this trick of mine for a better time later on but it seems now is as good a time as ever to use it. Everyone, get ready to hop onto my back!" Drake said as his body suddenly began to enlarge. His skin was turning pitch black, wings grew from his back, a tail emerged from behind him, he was already turning into his Grimm form. And, when he completed his transformation, he let out a mighty roar that seemed to intimidate our enemies. 

"Hold up! They've got someone that can do that!? How is that fair!? Nah man, that's seems fair to me." The man in the body suit said as Drake gestured with his head for all of us to climb onto him. 

"Oh no you don't. We're not letting any of you get away from us!" The man named Dabi said as he ignited both of his hands in blue flames. He thrusted his left one forward and unleashed a stream of the flames. Drake guarded us by covering us all up with his two large wings. The fire struck him but it didn't seem to affect him at all. 

"A dragon that's fireproof? Jeez, I should've guessed. Overhaul, Compress, you two have the best shot at taking it down! Kill it!" Dabi shouted as the man in the the man with the plague doctor mask and the man with the top hat ran for us.

"Thunderbolt slash!" I shouted as I waved my sword and fired a bolt of lightning at them. I struck the man named Compressed and sent him flying into a wall but the one named Overhaul kept on coming.

"One touch from my quirk and you're dead!" He shouted as he was now within ten feet of touching Drake's body. 

"If you have to touch something to activate your power, then I won't let you! Full Reflect!" Xev shouted as he used his magic to reflect Overhaul, turning him around and making him bump into Toga. 

"Everyone's on you now, Drake! Get us out of here!" I shouted to him as he spread his wings and then rushed for the windows in the room. Everyone ducked for cover as he broke through the windows and some sections of a wall to break out of the castle. We took flight and hovered above the castle, only to find something truly daunting waiting for us. In the distance, about 2 kilometers out was a massive black castle, maybe 10x larger than Melromarc's floating above the land. That was the castle of the demon king, Aidoneus.

"They're here already...." I said with little hope in my voice as suddenly, a multitude of projectiles were fired at us. Drake took evasive actions and dodged every single one but, looking down at the ground, both outside and within the kingdoms walls were filled with enemies. 

"How nice of you all to bring my pet to me..." We heard someone say as they floated up to us all. It was a girl with medium length black hair, orange eyes, a red dress on, and her left arm looked like that of a creature of Grimm.

"No.... not you.... why did they have to bring you here too...." Leena said with fear in her voice as Drake suddenly made whimpering noises. Whoever this girl was, she was bad news. 

"Who is she?" I asked. 

"That..... is Cinder....." Amber said as I remembered that name. She was the one who took control of Drake before and made him try to kill his friends. She's the Alpha to him. 

"What are you doing here, Cinder?" I asked her. 

"My, someone has some courage to them, don't they? I came here as I was promised power. These demons will host with me and, when I merge with one of them, i'll become one of the strongest beings ever to exist and rule over my world with an iron fist. No creature will be able to oppose me." Cinder explained to us as she held out her Grimm arm and pointed to Drake. 

"Now then, my loving pet, Drake, turn on your friends for me, would you?" She asked him as Drake suddenly began to shake his head. He was letting out a mix of whimpering and monstrous roars as he was starting to struggle to stay in the air.

"Stop it! You're hurting him!" Yang shouted to her as Cinder just giggled away. 

"That's right. And soon, he'll be hurting all of you." She said as suddenly, a huge thunderbolt came crashing down from the sky and struck Cinder. She screamed in pain and then fell from the sky, falling all the way down only for some of the enemy forces to unfortunately catch her.

"What happened!? What caused that lightning to just hit her like that!?" Jaune asked as Drake snapped out of it and regained altitude. 

"It was me." We heard another person say from behind us as we turned to see a demon floating in front of us. 

"Everyone, ready your weapons! That is one of the demons we've come to slay!" I said as I prepared my sword for battle. 

"Wait, stop! I'm not one of the demons you're here to battle with! It's me, Ren! I'm Neela!" She said to us. 

"Prove it! Because with how you look right now, it's pretty hard for anyone to believe you right now!" I said to her. 

"My master, who I often call my mother is named Ayuma Saruwatari. We separated from each other at the start of these missions. I went with Naofumi, the shield hero, and Motoyasu, the spear hero, to a world like this one, brimming with magic and wizards. I also know that Miss Ayuma and the Naofumi were the ones to find both myself and Raphtalia at the slave trader and, Miss Ayuma chose to spend everything she had so me and her could travel alongside the shield hero. And, because of that, you and the other two heroes became jealous of her and Naofumi and betrayed them. Is that enough or do you want me to continue?" She asked me as I shook my head. 

"No.... that's plenty.... it really is you, Neela...." I said as I withdrew my sword. 

"Yes, now follow me! We must leave here, at once before we become overwhelmed!" Neela said as she flew off to the Southwest. We flew after her until she determined we were a safe enough distance from the enemy forces. She led us to a dense forest where we touched down in a small opening where we could rest for a moment. 

"Okay, explain! What happened to you? Why do you look like one of the demons now?" I asked her as she sat down on the ground, looking like she might cry. 

"This transformation I am undergoing.... do you remember my black flame ability?" Neela asked as several of us nodded our heads. 

"That ability I received from when Miss Ayuma struck me with her death magic. It imbued a curse within me. It gave me this near unstoppable power, but with it came something.... more horrifying." Neela explained. 

"What was it?" Raphtalia asked her. 

"The power was a seed. The demon that was within Miss Ayuma had planted a seed within me. And now, it's growing, turning me into a demon." Neela said as she sobbed into her arms. 

"So you were that demon that that Toga girl said flew to the Southwest when it appeared through Naofumi and Motoyasu's portal. But, why did you leave them behind?" I asked her. 

"I.... I wanted to find some way to reverse this curse that's been brought upon me. I figured the best way would be to return to Melromarc. I left my team behind because I wanted to fix this before Miss Ayuma returned so she wouldn't fear for me. So the thought of a demon now possessing her own daughter like one did to her doesn't haunt her. But, when I emerged through my portal, everywhere around me, I sensed pure evil. I knew the kingdom had been overtaken so I fled to somewhere safe. But, eventually, I felt a presence of good come into this world, and I knew it was one of the teams returning here. So, I came back to try and save you all, and luckily, I found all of you still alive." Neela explained to us all as Raphtalia crouched down next to her to comfort her. 

"Have you found anyone else from this world who stayed behind while we all left?" I asked her as she shook her head. 

"No. They've either been captured or killed by the demons and their army. This world is falling apart fast, and even if Naofumi and his team return with their forces, without the third team, we stand no chance of achieving victory. We can't win." Neela said as she began to cry even more.

"Look, i'm not exactly sure of how all this happened to you, but there is one thing I know." Drake said to Neela as she looked up to him. 

"You're part of this group of people who came to save all the worlds that these demons plan to conquer. You may not have come to our world specifically, but even so, you were still of great help to us. And because of that, w came to yours to help you. Now, these enemy forces are now on guard, watching those portals at all times now, meaning there's no chance for us to go back through it to our own world. Which means there's no running away for us, even though none of us would ever think of doing that. We came here to fight, so that is exactly what we're going to do. And besides, with the current situation at hand, fighting appears to be the only option we have. So, my question to you is are you going to help us?" Drake asked her as Neela stood up and looked right into his eyes. 

"You're..... just like her..... Fearless..... Kind.... Loving...." Neela said as she gave him a hug. 

"Okay..... Okay, i'll fight...." She said as she let go of him and wiped away her tears. But then, Neela looked back to the Northeast from where we came from in a worry. 

"I can sense it! The team from the world I came to is about to return to this world! We need to go and help them, now! Before they're attacked!" Neela said as she spread the two dragon-like wings on her back and took flight. Meanwhile, Drake took the time to transform back into his Grimm form so we could all climb on and fly back to assist our allies. We just had to hope we could make it in time.

-POV: Naofumi-

Finally, we had made it back to Melromarc. We all emerged from our portal, our team, the Fairy Tail guild, and the Usurper Roar guild, and we all breathed in a familiar fresh air. But, it was cut short when something started looming over us. We all looked up and saw an enormous flying black castle floating above us. And, in the distance we could see the kingdom with what looked like thousands of enemy forces standing ready outside. 

"What the hell happened here?" I asked as it became quite clear that we'd just walked right into a trap.

"Greetings, wizards of my world and heroes of this one." We heard a person say as someone floated down from the sky in front of us. He had on a robe with a white toga strapped to his left side, short-medium length black hair, and he had grey eyes. 

"It's you....." Damos and Natsu both said with clear fury in their voices as they looked on at this enemy. 

"Ah, so good to see you two again and alive. It appears all of you were able to best my children of Tartaros. A very impressive feat, if I do say so myself. Mard Geer was one of my most powerful creations, indeed." The boy said to us. 

"Just who the hell are you? And what do you mean by your children of Tartaros?" I asked him as he chuckled a bit. 

"Oh, forgive me, shield hero. I am the one who created all demons within the world you just came from. My name is Zeref, the Black Wizard." He told us as both Natsu and Damos ignited their fists in flames. 

"He's the most evil and powerful wizard in our world!! He's the one who started everything!! The demons, the Face bombs, everything! It's all his doing!" Natsu explained as Zeref raised up his right hand and made it face us. 

"Yes, I am. And now, just as you did to my beloved children, I shall do the same to you. Goodbye." Zeref said as a black magic sphere appeared around his hand. However, before he could use his attack, a huge burst of black flames suddenly engulfed him and sent him flying away. 

"Naofumi!" A familiar voice shouted as we all looked up to see a demon and a huge black and red dragon approaching us from the sky. However, as it got closer, Tetsa noticed something about the demon. 

"Wait, that demon's Neela!! I saw her turn into it before!" She said as I then took a closer look to the dragon behind her. I saw people riding it and, when they got closer, I could see Raphtalia, Xev, Ren, everyone who went to that world and the forces they brought back with them. 

"They made it back here in time!" I cheered as they all landed in front of us. Everyone got off the dragon and pulled out their weapons as enemy forces began to approach us from the kingdom ahead. 

"Looks like we made it to save you just in time." Ren said as Raphtalia ran up to hug me. 

"I missed you so much!" She said as I hugged her back. 

"I missed you too. But, we'll have to save the cheers for later. We've got bigger issues right now." I said as Zeref reappeared through a portal he made. He was back to standing in front of us now. 

"Hmm.... you must be the Hybrid creature that Mard Geer mentioned to me. You're truly fascinating, and I must say those flames you attacked me with did hurt me. And that's saying a lot considering I've become immortal." Zeref explained as he opened up two more portals, one to his left and the other two his right. One person came out of each of them and stood on either side of him. The one to his right was a scruffy, skinny looking man with gray hair, wearing a black jacket, grey pants, and he had a bunch of crusty prosthetic looking hands all over his body. And, the person to Zeref's left, it seems Raphtalia and her team have already met her. 

"Cinder...." Ren said as everyone pulled pulled out their weapons and activated their magic abilities. 

"The portal to Itsuki and Ayuma's world has been closed by the demons already. Naofumi, they didn't make it back in time." Ren explained to me as the spirit of hope quickly dashed from me. 

"Then there's no reason for us to stall for anything. Everyone, this may very well be our final battle! Our enemies may outnumber us, but together, with our powers, minds, and hearts as one, we will achieve victory in this dark day!!! Prepare for battle because this is our final stand!!" I roared as everyone roared with me. 

Our forces, despite being heavily outnumbered, then charged into battle without fear. No matter what may happen to us, we couldn't run anymore. To fight was our only option. We fight or we die. One of our teams wasn't able to return to our world in time, but that doesn't mean we're going to lose. With the forces my team and Ren's team returned with, we may be able to turn this war around. 

I hope.....