Edo-Lucy knelt before the heavy iron door, pulling a set of thin lockpicks from her leather belt.
"Give me a minute. This is a Royal cipher lock. If I mess up the tumblers, it triggers an alarm that will wake up the whole palace."
Natsu bounced on his heels, gripping the red hilt of his Fire Blade. "Hurry up, Lucy! Our guild is right above us!"
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Edo-Lucy hissed, a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek.
"Step aside," Ace said gently.
He didn't sweat, and his breathing remained even. His endless stamina kept his nerves entirely unaffected by the tension.
He gestured to Wizardmon. "We don't have time for tumblers."
Wizardmon stepped forward, raising his staff. "Thunder Spear."
A concentrated bolt of electricity shot from the sun emblem on his staff, striking the locking mechanism. The heavy iron gears sparked, hissed, and melted into slag. The thick door groaned and swung open on its own weight.
"Or we could just break it," Edo-Lucy sighed, putting her picks away.
They slipped into the lower dungeons of the Royal Palace. The air here was dry, carrying the faint scent of polished stone and ozone.
Long, winding corridors stretched out before them, lined with empty, rusted holding cells. Glowing magical crystals embedded in the ceiling cast a pale, cold light over the masonry.
"Keep your voices down," Ace whispered, taking the lead.
Gatomon padded silently beside his boots, her ears twitching, while Wizardmon guarded the rear.
They navigated the labyrinth of the dungeons. Natsu gripped his sword tight, his eyes darting to every shadow.
Wendy walked close to Ace, her silver bracers gleaming in the dim light, ready to throw a shockwave at a moment's notice.
"Something is wrong," Gatomon murmured, stopping in her tracks. Her back arched, and the white fur on her tail puffed up.
"It's too quiet. There are no guards on patrol down here."
"She's right," Edo-Lucy said, her grip tightening on her spiked whip. "The dungeons are never this empty. The King always keeps a heavy garrison on the lower levels."
A slow, mocking clap echoed down the long stone corridor.
From the shadows ahead, a figure stepped into the pale light. She wore sleek, silver and red armor that contoured to her athletic frame.
A long, flowing red cape billowed behind her, and in her hand, she held a massive, double-edged spear that hummed with lethal magical energy.
Her long, scarlet hair framed a face that was sharp, beautiful, and merciless.
Natsu's eyes went wide.
The tension drained from his shoulders, replaced by a massive, relieved grin. "Erza! You're okay!"
He ran forward, waving his free hand. "Hey! How did you get down here?! We came to rescue you!"
"Natsu, wait!" Edo-Lucy screamed, her voice cracking with pure terror.
Natsu didn't listen.
He stopped a few feet away from the scarlet-haired knight, grinning from ear to ear. "Man, your armor looks different. Did you get a new Requip?"
The knight looked at Natsu with a cold, piercing glare.
She didn't say a single word.
She just spin her spear, the heavy shaft blurring in the air, and drove the blunt end directly into Natsu's stomach with bone-crushing force.
Natsu coughed up a spray of saliva, his eyes bulging as the kinetic impact lifted him completely off his feet.
He crashed heavily into the stone wall, sliding to the floor in a dazed heap.
"Erza... what the hell?" Natsu groaned, clutching his ribs.
"I don't know who this 'Erza' is," the knight sneered, resting her spear casually on her shoulder. "My name is Erza Knightwalker. Captain of the Second Magic War Division. And you rats just walked right into my trap."
Edo-Lucy took a step back, her hands shaking. "The Fairy Hunter. She's the one who's been hunting our guild for years."
Wendy gasped, hiding behind Ace. "She looks exactly like our Erza... but she feels so cold and cruel."
Knightwalker's sharp eyes scanned the group, landing on Edo-Lucy.
A sadistic smirk crossed her face. "Lucy Ashley. You've been a thorn in the King's side for too long. I'm going to enjoy mounting your head on the palace gates."
She leveled her spear.
The weapon clicked and shifted mechanically, the heavy blade transforming into a sleek, aerodynamic point. "Silfarion! Sonic Form!"
Knightwalker vanished.
She moved faster than the human eye could track!
A sonic boom echoed in the enclosed corridor as she reappeared right in front of Edo-Lucy, thrusting the spear directly at her chest.
Edo-Lucy screamed, squeezing her eyes shut.
CLANG.
A shower of sparks rained across the stone floor.
Edo-Lucy opened her eyes as Ace stood right in front of her.
He had moved with his own blinding speed, catching the razor-sharp tip of the spear between his bare hands.
The kinetic force of the strike shattered the stone floor beneath his boots, carving deep trenches into the rock, but his endless stamina absorbed the massive impact.
He didn't even flinch.
Knightwalker's eyes widened in genuine shock. "You caught Silfarion? With your bare hands?!"
"Your speed is impressive," Ace said, his voice cold and even. "But you're a bit too arrogant."
Ace twisted his wrists, violently wrenching the spear to the side.
The sudden shift in momentum threw Knightwalker off balance.
Gatomon leaped off Ace's shoulder, her claws glowing bright white. "Lightning Paw!"
She unleashed a rapid barrage of strikes aimed directly at Knightwalker's face.
The Fairy Hunter gritted her teeth, abandoning her forward assault and jumping backward to dodge the razor-sharp claws.
She landed gracefully a dozen feet away, wiping a thin scratch from her cheek.
"Familiar magic?" Knightwalker hissed, her eyes narrowing at the white cat.
She held out her hand, and the spear magically recalled itself to her grasp. "You aren't from the Edolas Fairy Tail. You must be the Earthland remnants the King warned us about."
Natsu staggered to his feet, gripping his Fire Blade.
He wiped a streak of blood from his chin, his eyes burning with furious determination. "She isn't our Erza. Our Erza would never look at a guildmate like that."
"Don't let her appearance fool you," Ace warned, never taking his eyes off the Fairy Hunter. "She's an enemy. And she's guarding the path to our friends."
He didn't need to hold back in the lower dungeons. "Wizardmon, keep Wendy and Lucy safe. Gatomon, you're with me."
"Ready when you are," Gatomon smirked, dropping into a low, predatory stance.
Knightwalker laughed, a harsh sound that echoed off the stone walls. "You think a stray cat and a man with bare hands can defeat the strongest knight in Edolas? I'll carve you into pieces!"
She spun her spear, the weapon shifting again. The aerodynamic blade flared out, glowing with intense, volatile heat.
"Explosion Form: Mel Force!"
She thrust the spear forward, unleashing a massive, roaring wave of concussive fire directly down the corridor.
The blast was wide enough to consume the entire hallway.
"Execute!" Ace swiped his hand across the D-Tector. "Spirit Evolution!"
The digital rings erupted, tearing through the wave of fire.
The blinding light of evolution pushed back the dark flames, forging Ace's body into the crimson and silver armor of Agunimon.
Agunimon stood tall, raising his gauntlet.
The remaining flames from Knightwalker's attack washed over his armor, absorbing harmlessly into his fire-aligned data.
"You use fire?" Agunimon's deep, metallic voice rumbled. "Let me show you how it's really done."
Agunimon gathered a dense sphere of swirling flames in his hands, far hotter than anything the mechanical spear had produced.
"Pyro Darts!"
A barrage of fireballs shot down the corridor like glowing meteors.
Knightwalker cursed, spinning her spear rapidly to create a defensive shield of pressurized air, deflecting the blasts into the stone walls.
The corridor shook violently from the sheer force of the explosions.
"Gatomon, now!" Agunimon commanded.
As the smoke cleared, Gatomon was already airborne, vaulting off the walls to bypass Knightwalker's shield.
"Cat's Eye Hypnotism!" Gatomon yelled. Her blue eyes flared with a piercing, mesmerizing light.
Knightwalker caught the gaze, and for a split second, her relentless focus faltered.
Her arms grew heavy, and the spinning spear slowed.
It was all the opening Agunimon needed.
He closed the distance in a flash of crimson light, launching a devastating, flaming spin kick directly at Knightwalker's chest.
"Pyro Tornado!"
The heavy strike bypassed her guard, slamming into her silver breastplate.
The Fairy Hunter was thrown backward, crashing through a thick wooden door at the end of the hall and tumbling into a vast, cavernous armory.
Agunimon landed, his flames illuminating the dark corridor. He glanced back at Natsu, Wendy, and Edo-Lucy. "Move up! We fight in the open room!"
They rushed down the hall, stepping through the shattered doorway into the massive armory.
Weapons of all shapes and sizes lined the walls, but their focus was entirely on the scarlet-haired knight slowly pushing herself up from the rubble.
Knightwalker's breastplate was scorched and dented.
She spat a glob of blood onto the stone floor, her eyes burning with a terrifying, homicidal rage.
"You'll pay for that, Earthland scum," Knightwalker snarled, her spear shifting into a heavy, serrated broadsword.
"I'm going to tear you apart!"
Natsu stepped up beside Agunimon, his Fire Blade roaring to life.
"I don't care if you wear her face! You're going down!"