One said, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…"

That person was wise.

But what does one do, when everyone he knows is neither friend nor foe?

They will become one, or the other, I suppose…

Which, however, is up to you…

It merely depends on who you want close to you in your heart.


"Ugh…" Natsu groaned, looking like he was going to puke. It hadn't been a scant five minutes since they left on the train, and Natsu had already succumbed to his one weakness: Motion Sickness. He couldn't stand to be on any moving vehicle. Period.

"Really…? Tough guy like that's only weakness is a moving vehicle?" Ragna asked. Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Erza were all sitting together, but since their booth could only hold four people, Ragna was sitting in the booth behind Erza and Lucy's side. Happy was sitting on the arm-rest beside Natsu.

"Aye!" Happy quickly responded.

"…You got to be kidding me…" Ragna said. "How long until he gets better?"

"Around the time the train stops," Happy replied quickly again. "He gets motion sickness really bad…"

"Yea, so I've noticed… anyone got a cure for motion sickness that won't involve us walking the whole way there…?" Ragna asked.

"I have one… Lucy, switch places with Natsu please." Erza said. Lucy nodded and swapped places with Natsu quickly, and Erza put one hand on Natsu's right shoulder, as if bracing him. "Ready…?" She asked, and Natsu nodded quickly… and then Erza punched Natsu in the stomach with an extreme force, knocking him out in a single punch. Both Gray and Lucy backed up a bit in their chairs.

"That sounded like it hurt… what happened?" Ragna asked.

"Erza punched Natsu so hard in the stomach he passed out…" Gray said, rather plainly.

"…Guess my suspicions were well placed." Ragna replied, earning a smile fro Erza, though he couldn't see it himself.

'Ragna must be strong… only a truly powerful man would be brave enough to act jokingly towards Erza with no sign of fear...!' Happy thought to himself.

"Anyway, I think I should go into detail of what I'm exactly asking of you all…" She paused for a moment to set the unconscious, but quiet, Natsu up into something of a comfortable position in his chair, then proceeded to speak again. "A dark guild… Eisenwald, to be specific… has gotten their hands on a very powerful magic… Lullaby."

"Lullaby… what kind of magic is that…?" Lucy asked.

"Death magic… it's actually in the form of a flute. When it's played… it will suck out the souls of anyone who hears it, excluding the person using it…" Erza replied. Once this information registered, Gray, Happy and Lucy grew wide-eyed.

"No way… is something like that really possible…?" Lucy asked, to which Erza nodded.

"Ok, you now have my complete attention. Who is their little ring-leader?" Ragna suddenly asked, breaking the tension.

"Not interested in what they are going to do with Lullaby…?" Erza asked.

"Doesn't matter what they want to do with it. Take out the top gun and the guys who work for him will be too scared to do a damn thing about it." Ragna replied. Erza smiled again.

"The "top gun," as you put it, is Erigor, known as the shinigami, god of death…happy?" Erza asked after answering Ragna's question

"Not as much as I thought I would be…" Ragna said. 'God of death…? Who the fuck does this guy think he is!' he thought to himself.

(Fun Fact: Ragna the Bloodedge is also known as "The Grim Reaper." A Grim Reaper is the exact same thing as a Shinigami, God of Death, for all essential purposes.)

"So, where are go going then?" Gray asked.

"Onibus, we are going there to search for information. Its something of a shady town, so there is bound to be something on their location, or even better, where they are going to strike." Erza answered.

"…Think there could be someone on this train that could know something?" Ragna suggested.

"I actually hadn't of thought of that…" Erza pondered to herself a bit. Gray got on his feet.

"All check around the train and see if I can find anything out." Gray said. Everyone nodded agreement and Gray took off.

-20 Minutes Later-

"Hey, I'm ba- oh what the hell?" Gray suddenly yelled… when he had come back to find that Ragna had taken his seat in the booth.

"Sorry, you have been evicted, you took too long. Have a nice day." Ragna said, earning a laugh from both Lucy and Erza.

"Yea… real funny… where is Natsu?" Gray asked, noticing that he was no longer in his seat.

"Behind me, he is still out cold, so we figured it would be fine. His seat is currently open, so have fun." Ragna said.

Gray shrugged and sat down by Erza. "About how much time do we have left?"

"We have about… ten, fifteen minutes or so. You find anything Gray?" Erza asked.

"Not much… heard a rumor though about Oshibana being a possible target… but it sounded kind of iffy." Gray replied. Erza leaned back in her seat, in thought.

Ragna scratched his head. "Well… a weak lead is better than no lead at all… should at least be worth checking out. How big is Oshibana anyway…?"

"How can you not know? It's one of the largest cities around? Have you been living underneath a rock all your life?" Gray suddenly shouted.

"I fell out of the fucking sky, get off my back!" Ragna shouted back. Gray looked confused.

"Fell out of the sky…?" Gray asked.

"…Natsu didn't tell any of you?" Ragna questioned. Erza and Gray shook their head no, but Lucy nodded.

"He told me! There was a pitch black cloud with an azure core… and it exploded. And you fell out of it... Happy picked you up. Is that right?" Lucy asked after finishing her explanation.

"Yea, that's right… and don't bother asking for my side, I don't know ANY more than you." Ragna said.

Erza nodded, but leaned forward. "Back to what you were saying, what would the size of the city have to do with the whole situation?" She asked.

"Well…" Ragna started. "If you get a weapon of mass destruction, and intend to use it, you more than likely would want to hit as many people as possible, right…?" The group looked across at each other, and nodded.

"Ok, we will just have to get off at the station and get new tickets to Oshibana station. We won't be able to make it back to this one, but a second train will arrive within five minutes of when this one stops. We will rush to Oshibana and take a look around." Erza finished, everyone nodding in agreement. Ragna then started to look around. "What's wrong, Ragna?"

"Has anyone seen Happy? Just noticed he was gone…" Ragna said, still looking around.

"BONZAI!" was suddenly yelled out, as Happy suddenly burst form nowhere and landed on Ragna's head. Ragna looked angry.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked. Happy seemed to be digging around in his hair.

"Hmm… Your hair is naturally this color! White hair is really rare…" Happy said as he stopped digging.

"First of all… despite the way it appears, it is NOT natural, believe me. Second, you couldn't have just asked?" Ragna asked.

"Aye!" Happy responded, and Ragna face-palmed. Erza smiled, but then saw the cuff of Ragna's coat on his right arm fall and saw his wrist… it was completely black.

"Ragna… what's wrong with your arm?" Erza asked.

Happy flew off Ragna's head as he looked up. "Which one? There is crap wrong with both of them." Ragna replied, somewhat jokingly, but Erza's stare couldn't have been more serious.

"Ragna… please remove your shirt." She plainly asked. This got some very strange reactions from both Lucy and Gray…and a larger one from Ragna, who actually turned a bit red.

"Whoa! What the HELL!" Ragna suddenly yelled. Erza crossed her arms, and turned a little red herself after realizing what they thought she wanted.

"Don't mistake what I'm after… I figured it would simply be easier to see what is wrong with your arms then for you to describe it to us." She said simply. Ragna eyed her for a moment then sighed.

"Alright… I see your point… fine, ill do it." Ragna said. He undid the 3 belts on the inside of his coat, which what was holding it in place, and removed it, revealing his black long sleeved shirt underneath. He then un-buttoned that shirt and removed it one sleeve at a time, revealing his upper body… and the punishment it has gone through. It was rattled with scars. Most of which were slash and stab wounds from what seemed like a sword. Also, there were several injuries that seemed like they were… recent. However, what got everyone's attention was his left and right arms. His left was completely mechanical. The entire length of his left arm was made of cold, hard steel. They could even see its shine in the light from the window. His right, however, was different. All the way up to the middle of his right bicep was pitch black… no, darker then black, with several streaks of a gold color throughout, mostly accumulating where the arm was separated. And, of course, the red shell on the back of Ragna's right hand was a part of that dark arm.

One thing was for sure: Ragna's body has been through absolute hell.

"What…what happened to you…!" Lucy eventually stuttered out, obviously freaked out over Ragna's current physical condition. Ragna looked at her for a brief moment then sighed.

"Let's just say my home-town isn't exactly the friendliest place around…" Ragna said, uninterested in where this conversation was going.

"And where are you from, exactly?" Erza asked. Ragna sighed again, and then leaned back in his chair.

"13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi." He said simply, closing his eyes, as if it wasn't a big deal… However, in this case, Ragna was mistaken, as he would soon find out.

"…Never heard of any place called Kagutsuchi." Erza said. Ragna's eyes snapped open as he leaned forward after hearing this, and appeared serious.

"…Repeat back to me exactly what you just said." Ragna demanded. This sudden change in mood caught Erza a bit off guard. However, instead of repeating herself, she decided to say something that would make things a little more… clear.

"Ragna, I have never heard of Kagutsuchi, nor have I heard of any Hierarchical Cities before… ever." Erza firmly stated.

Ragna's eyes widened. 'What…? How the hell…? Every single place in the world is part of a Hierarchical city of some kind… everything below a certain level is an ocean of seither… so how…. How could there be a place that ISNT part of a Hierarchical city…!' He thought to himself for a moment, and then he leaned back in his chair, stareing up at the ceiling when doing so. "…God damn it… just fucking perfect." He said, closing his eyes.

"Umm… Ragna… I think you can put your shirt back on now…" Lucy said. Though it was indeed true that it had long sense past the time for Ragna to redress himself... more or less she was just trying to take Ragna's mind off whatever he was thinking about. Whatever it was… Lucy could tell it was something heavy.

"Yea… sorry about that." He started to put his shirt back on, but Gray stopped him.

"Wait... some of those scares… they can only be caused by rapid freezing then almost immediately shattering the ice… who could cause that…?" Gray asked. Ragna looked up for a moment, and then proceeded to continue to re-dress. Only when he was fully clothed, did he respond.

"My little brother is an insufferable ass, I will only say that much." Ragna responded. This answered Gray's question, and he stood down.

Erza closed her eyes, and began to think, '…13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi… a place that does not exist… what is going on here…? Just who are you, Ragna the Bloodedge?' she continued to ponder. During all of this, no one noticed a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer listening in, who had regained consciousness since around the time Gray had returned… although it took every ounce of his physical stamina to prevent himself from puking all over the booth he was in, let alone stay quiet… he was quiet exhausted… so exhausted he passed right out again. Happy flew right in front of Ragna's face and landed on his right arm-rest.

"Hey, Ragna?" Happy asked, catching said man's attention. "When we first met, you said you've meet a talking cat before… right?"

"Yea… what about it?" Ragna asked, happy grinned a bit.

"Who as it?" Happy asked happily.

Ragna sighed again, but actually started to smile. "My old master, his name was Jubei."

"Your master was cat!" Happy shouted loudly. Ragna nodded, causing Happy to cheer. "That's awesome! Tell me about Jubei!"

"I'll do you one better if your willing to wait. I'll introduce you." Ragna said, and Happy's eyes practically lit up with light.

"OK!" Happy yelled out happily, has be began to fly all over the train.

"Clever getting him to drop it like that. And telling him your master was a cat was a nice thing to do to make him happy." Lucy said, and then received an odd glance from Ragna.

"Who said I was joking about anything I said…?" Ragna said as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"W-what…! Your master was actually a cat! A CAT!" She yelled out. Ragna grinned and held up two fingers.

"A two tailed cat, to be specific." Ragna said.

"That has NOTHING to do with what I'm talking about!" Lucy yelled.

"Oh, I beg to differ." Ragna said. The calm and somewhat happy mood had returned finally, though it would be short-lived for there were almost at their destination.

-At the Train Station in Onibus-

"Ok, I bought our tickets to our next stop." Erza said, handing one to everyone. Well, almost everyone, she was one person short. "Where is Natsu?" she asked, as the whole group was interrupted by the train's horn… and a loud yell.

"HELP MEEEEE!" Natsu was hanging out the window of the train, yelling as the train departed.

"…Looks like we left him on the train." Ragna said.

"Aye!" Happy yelled.

"…Your lack of concern amazes me." Ragna replied.

"But I am concerned; do I not look like it?"

"No, you don't."

"Oh." Happy replied simply, and then Ragna gave the little blue cat a little nuggy.

"Strange little cat." Ragna said, and Happy replied with a sound that was the closest thing to an actual cat sound he had heard from the blue cat.

"…It's my fault!" Erza suddenly shouted. This out-burst got everyone's attention.

"What's your problem?" Ragna asked, but he was caught off guard when she suddenly bowed.

"It is my fault that Natsu is suffering… please, hit me! I must atone!" Erza shouted, still bowing.

"What are you talking about? No one is going to-" Lucy started, but was interrupted by Ragna.

"Ok, I'll hit you." Ragna said simply, walking over to her.

"You can't be serious…!" Lucy said. Ragna stretched his right arm a bit at the shoulder. Erza closed her eyes and braced herself for a powerful blow to her head… but was surprised when it never came. All she receives was a light tap, barely noticeable. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Ragna pulling his arm back.

"There you go, request fulfilled. All your sins are forgiven, have a nice day." Ragna said, and then backed up a bit. Erza stood up straight, looking confused.

"Why… did you hold back?" She asked. Ragna shrugged.

"You said to hit you… you didn't mention how hard." Ragna said. "Should stop being so critical, it's not good for you."

"But I-" She started, but Ragna held up one hand, signaling her to stop.

"Acknowledging when you've messed up isn't exactly a bad thing, your just taking it a bit far is all." Ragna replied. Erza looked toward the ground a bit, until Ragna spoke again. "Besides… Natsu looks like a fairly tough guy. He is fine…. Probably miserable as fuck, but fine nonetheless."

"But we can't leave him there, you know that." Gray said. Ragna scratched his head a bit, thinking.

"…Any way to stop the train from here?" Ragna asked

-The Train-

"Oh… damn it…" Natsu groaned, hit again by a very bad case of motion sickness. However, this time around, there was actually someone else in the train car he was in.

'So, I just have to wait till I get to the next station, and… oh son of a bitch!' The man thought when he saw Natsu, but more importantly, the Fairy Tail insignia on Natsu's arm. This man was no ordinary man, not at all. This man was Kageyama, and he was a member of the Dark Guild Eisenwald, the very guild the group is trying to stop. And more over, he was one of their elites. With his hair tied back, wearing a white suit with a red undershirt, he was sitting on the opposite side of the car. 'The hell is a Wizard doing here…? This could fuck everything up…!' he thought to himself. 'Wait… what the hell is wrong with him? Looks like this could be my chance…!' he thought to himself, getting up and walking over to Natsu.

"Hey… the hell do you want…?" Natsu asked, still miserable due to his motion sickness. He was about to say something else, but was interrupted when Natsu receive a swift kick in the face, knocking him to the middle of the car. "You son of a-!" he started to say, but immediately clammed up, his motion sickness kicking in again.

"Motion sickness, huh…? That's too bad… and here I thought I could have a little-" Kageyama was interrupted by a loud screeching noise: the train has suddenly grinded to a halt. Kageyama was thrown to the back due to him not being prepared for such a quick stop. Natsu, however, was a bit more prepared.

"Now we are talking!" Natsu yelled, and one of his fists suddenly burst into flames.

"D-damn it!" Kageyama yelled out. 'Why did the train suddenly stop like that…!' he thought to himself.

-Back at the Station-

"Excuse me, but this is an emergency!" Erza shouted, bursting into the head office of the station. She walked over to the emergency lever and pulled it. This lever was designed to stop trains currently in transit in case of possible accidents.

"Stop! You can't do that!" one of the maintenance people shouted when Erza pulled the lever. He man was about to yell something else, but felt a massive blow to the back of his head, and collapsed onto the ground.

"Shut up, will you?" Ragna said, pulling back his arm after knocking the maintenance person's head. "Hey if you finished fucking up the train schedule, we need to get the hell out of dodge!" he shouted, turning toward the door. Erza nodded, smiling a bit, and left the level where she put it and the quick left the office: planning on catching up to Natsu as soon as possible.

-Back to the Now Stationary Train-

"Son of a bitch…!" Kageyama shouted, preparing himself.

"Here we go!" Natsu yelled out, slamming both of his flaming fists together in front of him. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Shouted, and suddenly lunged at Kageyama, his right arm engulfed in a fiery blaze.

"S-shit!" Kageyama yelled. "Shadow Guard!" Suddenly, several arms made of darkness appeared around him, and blocked the violent attack from Natsu. However, the force of the attack, even though he blocked it, was enough to send him back. "Damn it…!"

"Ha! If that's all you got, this will be easy!" Natsu said, in complete confidence. Suddenly, there was a loud dinging sound, like that of a PDA system.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience; the train will now resume its natural course. Have a nice day." It was the conductor making a quick announcement regarding the sudden stop of the train.

"OH HELL NO!" Natsu shouted and turned toward a window. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He shouted, and lunged at the window, the fist providing enough force to break open the wall, and he jumped out of it.

"Whoa! Crazy fucker!" Kageyama shouted. The train had started moving again, as Kageyama looked out the hole Natsu had made, and saw nothing. He wasn't at all satisfied with the result of this fight. But it was too late for him to do anything now

-To Where Natsu Is-

"You were attacked on the train?" Gray shouted. The moment Natsu had jumped out of the train car; he had landed in a magic four wheeled car, belonging to Erza, who was driving it. They had stopped a bit away from where Natsu had jumped out. "By who!"

"Beats the hell out of me! He randomly kicked me while I was on the train! What do you want from me?" Natsu shouted back. Both Natsu and Gray started to but heads, but a quick glare by Erza shut them up and forced them to start acting buddy-buddy.

"Those two…" Erza said, sighing. "Where is Ragna?"

"He mentioned something about a strange sound coming from your car… said he was going to check it out." Lucy said. Erza raised an eye-brow and turned toward her vehicle. She saw a Ragna without his red coat on with a side of her car open, and him partially inside it with a wrench.

"…Where did he get a wrench all the way out here?" Erza asked. Lucy shrugged. Erza thought a moment, then stood up, and started to walk over to Ragna, and over heard him talking to himself a bit.

"Distributor cap is a bit loose… Spark Plug is too… damn, it's a fucking train wreak in here! How the hell does this thing ever run…?" he said, still working. Erza was actually surprised.

"You never mentioned anything about cars before." Erza said.

"Yea well… Lets just say that I don't like to travel everywhere on foot. Though every single vehicle I get my hands on usually ends up thrashed by people trying to off me… the skill comes in handy." He said, closing up the car. "Damn… it was a mess in there, how this thing was running was nothing short of a miracle… should be running at double the efficiency than before, whoever put this thing together sucked ass." He said, whipping the sweat off his head. He grabbed his coat from the cab part of the car and put it on.

"Well, thank you Ragna. However… 'People trying to off you…?' What did you mean by that…?" Erza asked. Ragna's face became serious for a moment, and then returned to normal shortly after.

"It's nothing, forget that I mentioned it." Ragna said quickly, catching Erza's attention.

"Tell me." She simply demanded, looking Ragna square in the eyes. Ragna backed up a bit, and then sighed.

"Being open about myself bites me in the ass…" Ragna said. "Keep it between you and me?" he asked. Erza nodded. "Ok… where I'm from, I'm kind of… wanted."

"What for?" Erza asked.

"…Demolishing several military installations, and severally injuring several high-ranking individuals." Ragna said. Erza blinked. She was surprised… and impressed.

"I see… might I ask why?" She asked.

"I have a personal grudge… several things in my life were condoned, allowed, and for all I know, plotted by the government in charge… and I'm not very fond of that." Ragna said. Erza smiled a bit.

"That I can understand… how much are you wanted for?" She asked. At this question, Ragna appeared worried. He looked off and mumbled something she didn't understand. "Well? Speak up." Ragna sighed.

"Ninety… billion platinum dollars…" He said slowly. It took a moment to register such a large number in Erza's mind.

"N-N-NINETY BILLION!" She shouted. She completely ignored the fact that it was a different currency Ragna was talking about; ninety billion is a huge amount of money in ANY currency.

"Yea... Turns out I pissed a few people off." Ragna said.

"OBVIOUSLY!" Erza shouted. Ragna pulled her in close and covered her mouth with his hand, and telling her to keep quiet just with the action.

"Keep it down, will you?" Ragna said. He held Erza in place, keeping her mouth covered, until she calmed down a bit, she backed off quickly when Ragna let go.

"Sorry… I just… lost it is all." She said, embarrassed of her own outburst.

"Believe me, you would NOT be the first person to do that." Ragna said, sighing. "Shouldn't we be going? We only have so long until that Dark Guild makes a move."

"Yea, that's a good idea." Erza said, getting into the drivers seat outside of the cab. "Pack it in everyone, we are moving out!"

-2 hours later, Oshibana-

"Whoa… you were right… this place is huge…" Ragna said, looking around.

"Told you." Gray responded.

"Enough…" Erza said. "Considering Natsu was attacked on the train, which would eventually lead through Oshibana station, it is more than likely they are going to hit somewhere around here. Keep your eyes pealed and ears open."

"Umm… I think I found a good idea where they might be…" Lucy said, pointing down a corner. Everyone turned and looked down it, and saw a mass of people, several behind some barricades in armor, surrounding Oshibana station itself.

"Damn… guess it was a good thing Natsu was attacked and got knocked of the train, forcing us to drive here. If we had actually road a train here, would of lead us into an ambush." Ragna said, scratching the back of his head.

"Aye! Fortune comes from others misfortune!" Happy said.

"…I'd prefer the ambush." Natsu said.

"Listen, I'm going to find a different way inside, this place is way to well guarded for the front door to be a good idea. Any objections?" Ragna asked after explaining.

"But then what are we going to do?" Lucy asked.

"We could go in the normal way, and engage Eisenwald to give Ragna some cover." Gray suggested. "With us distracting them, Ragna can catch them off guard by hitting them from behind."

"Yea! I want to tear something up!" Natsu shouted, getting excited.

"I guess it's unanimous. Ragna will sneak in and we will confront Eisenwald." Erza said.

"Alright then, see you inside!" Ragna shouted, before taking off. He jumped on the roof of a vehicle, and then used that as leverage to jump up onto a roof-top, then started running in the direction of the Oshibana Station, jumping from roof to roof.

"He has some skills, ill say that much." Gray said.;

"Lets get inside, the sooner the better." Erza said. With that, the group moved out, into Oshibana Station.

-15 Minutes Later, Oshibana Station-

"Those guards where a bitch…" Natsu said, as they walked through the station.

"Quiet Natsu, they would be anywhere so be careful." Erza warned, sneaking through the station.

"Look… more guards. Looks like a squad was sent in… they didn't do too well." Gray said. Across a staircase in front of them, there were guards, not unlike the ones outside, spiraled on the ground, all unconscious.

"I hear voices…" Lucy said, quietly walking up the stairs toward the door and looked inside. "There is a huge mass of people… it got to be Eisenwald!"

"What?" Erza said, before walking up the steps after Lucy and looked through the door a bit. She stepped back a bit after looking inside. "…Erigor is in there. It's definitely Eisenwald. Now, everyone, be careful-" She started to say, when a giant ball of fire coming from behind interrupted her.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu yelled, before breathing a massive burst of fire from his mouth, blasting the door down and causing an explosion in the center of the mass of Eisenwald Guild members. Several were hit, but most of them head the crash and moves out of the way. After the fire settled down, they regrouped and stared at the Fairy Tail Wizards.

"So much for the element for surprise." Gray said. The group slowly walked into the hall, keeping their guard up.

"Well… what do we have here…?" Said a man holding a rather large scythe. He was shirtless with several tattoos over his body, and wore a Black scarf and white armbands that went up his forearms, Black Gloves, a white cloth belt with a black one under it, and very baggy and torn up purple pants that went down to his ankles, and some simple sandals on his feet. He also wore some purple face-paint and had spiky white hair that went down the left side of his face. This man was Erigor, the Shinigami. "Fairy Tail Wizards…?" He asked, smiling a bit.

"Damn Right! We are here to kick your ass!" Natsu shouted, his fists a flame.

"Aye! Kick your ass!" Happy added in.

"Keep it down, both of you." Erza said, stepping forward. Erigor quickly lifted off into the sky, and suddenly stopped, as if standing in the air itself.

"Hey can fly?" Lucy asked.

"Yea he can, he specializes in wind magic. That's why." Gray answered.

"Now, what would a bunch of fairies like you want with me?" Erigor asked.

"We are after Lullaby! Hand it over, now!" Erza demanded. Erigor found this amusing and started to laugh.

"Erza… Titania…" Erigor said, recognizing the scarlet-haired women. "Now, why would I do that? I have some plans for it, you know." Erigor answered.

"And what would those plans be?" Erza demanded again.

"It's very simple, actually." Erigor said, pulling out a wooden flute with a skull on the end, with three eyes. "Anyone who listens to Lullaby will die, regardless of how they hear it. So, I'm going to use the PA system here to play a little song for everyone." He finished, putting the flute away.

"If he does that… everyone outside will…" Natsu started talking to himself, and then, after realizing what that would lead to, he suddenly became enraged. "You basterd! Get down here and fight me, one on one!" he shouted.

"One on one, huh? Sorry, but I'm a bit busy." Erigor said, floating up into the air, near the windows at the top of the hall. "Everyone, I leave these flies to you! I must be-" Erigor tried to make an exit with wind magic, but was interrupted by the a nose behind him, and he turned… to see a man in a red coat jumping at him with his right fist incased in a large amount of some kind of dark energy, charging at him from behind.

"Gauntlet Hades!" Ragna shouted as he threw his punch, lunging at Erigor from behind. When Erigor turned, Ragna's fist collided with his face with a surprisingly large amount of force, enough so to launch Erigor out of the sky and intro a wall, demolishing a large portion of it. This alarmed the other members of the Eisenwald Guild, who proceeded to shot several words of concern for their leader, and several cursing out the white-haired man who attacked him.

"A-amazing…! Just one punch… and Erigor went down!" Lucy managed to say, star-struck by the attack Ragna used.

"Yea! That the power of a Fairy Tail Wizard!" Natsu shouted.

"Idiot… he isn't in yet." Gray said.

"Yea, but after seeing him do something like that, who would say no to it?" Natsu said back, smiling. Gray sighed a bit.

"…I guess you have something of a point. But still, don't go shouting stuff that isn't true." Gray said.

"Isn't true YET!" Natsu said back, annoying Gray.

"Aye!" Happy added in, annoying Gray further.

'What kind of attack was that…?' Erza thought to herself, somewhat in awe. 'I've never seen magic like that before… or even heard of it… just one mystery about this man after another…' Ragna landed on his feet, and took several steps toward the hole he created. He stopped when a bladed form of wind burst from the rubble, fired of by Erigor. Ragna drew his blade and hold the broad-side on front of him, blocking the strike.

"Good to know your not dead yet. Would of made you look like a real pansy if you went down after one hit." Ragna said, heaving his sword over his shoulder. Erigor got on his feet, and smirked.

"Me? Die in one hit? Who the hell do you think you're talking to…?" Erigor asked. No… better question, who the hell are you?"

"Ragna the Bloodedge… now listen up you pasty-faced Son of a bitch..." Ragna said, lifting his large sword and aiming it at Erigor. "I'm the REAL Grim Reaper around here!" Then suddenly, Ragna started emitting a dark energy in the form of an aura around him. To everyone it felt… dark. Very dark. Yet, as dark as it felt… it didn't feel evil. Not even slightly.

"You… The Grim Reaper? Don't make me laugh! I am the Shinigami! A trained assassin! I've killed more people than you have ever met!" Erigor shouted back.

"Well, put up or shut up." Ragna said back.

'Damn… He isn't backing down. I may be tough, but it would be a real pain to deal with him… and it's only a matter of time before his Fairy Tail friends join in.' Erigor thought to himself, before being interrupted by Ragna.

"Times up!" His fist became incased in that dark energy again, but this time in a more focused form, and he lunged straight forward. "Hell's Fang!" He shouted as he threw his fist. Erigor narrowly dodged using propelled by his wind magic. Ragna's fist collided with the ground, creating a large dust cloud.

"That all you got, so called Grim Reaper!" Erigor taunted, when suddenly Ragna burst form the cloud, right in front of him.

"And the follow up!" Ragna threw his other fist at him, but not are enough to connect. However, a large amount of the dark energy burst forward from behind his arm and smashed itself into Erigor, launching him into the air as well as cutting him. Erigor used his wind magic to stop himself and float in the air, staring down at Ragna, visibly angry.

"Damn… he is really good at hand-to-hand combat." Gray said, impressed.

'What… did I just see… in that attack…?' Erza asked herself in her head. As she watched, she for sure saw something in the rush of dark energy that sliced up Erigor… and she also saw some red-ish orbs leave Erigor's body and flow into Ragna, but that wasn't what she was concerned about… It was what she saw in the attack itself. It was DEFINITELY a row of teeth to… something. She had no idea. But… for some reason, it sent chills down her spine.

"Hey, Erza…? You ok?" Lucy asked, shaking her a bit, noticing she seemed rather stiff.

"Yea, I'm fine." Erza responded. She couldn't put the thought of shat she saw out of her head however. She was distracted, however when Erigor began to speak again.

"You are tough, ill give you that… but you're not quite up to my level… Bloodedge!" Erigor shouted from his air-perch in the sky.

"Oh really? How about you get your ass down here and prove it?" Ragna shot back.

"Oh, believe me, I would LOVE to make you scream for your life… but I have a job to do." And then, a large whirlwind surrounded him. "See you around…"the whirlwind picked up, engulfing him, and when it died down, Erigor was gone.

"Hey! Get your ass back here!" Ragna shouted. After Ragna shouted, Erza stepped forward

"Natsu! Gray!" She shouted. Both of the mentioned people looked toward her. "Go after Erigor, and hurry! You can't let him use Lullaby!"

"Yes Ma'am!" They both shouted, before taking off from the hall.

"Wait for me!" Happy shouted, chasing after Natsu. The Eisenwald members started to walk among themselves.

"You heard them… they are going to chase after Erigor… Kageyama, Rayule, you two go after them, ok?" One of the members asked.

"Sure, leave it to us!" a man looking somewhat like an Egyptian pharaoh, wearing an Egyptian-like headdress that covers his hair, along with black eyebrows, similar colored eyes, and tan-coloured skin announced.

"We will keep them busy until Erigor can make it out." Kageyama said. Both said people then split up in different directions exiting the hall, the remaining Eisenwald members drawing various weapons and getting ready. Ragna quickly rejoined Erza and Lucy.

"What are we going to do now?" Lucy asked, a bit worried. Ragna heaved his sword over his shoulder again.

"Well… I see… about fifty to sixty people with various amounts of sharp and pointy objects…" Ragna said. Erza, finally putting the rather shocking stuff she saw out of her head, smiled a bit.

"…Kick their ass?" Erza suggested, still smiling.

"Kick their ass! Best idea I've heard all day!" Ragna responded, turning toward the group of Eisenwald members. Erza held out her arm, and with a flash of bright red light, a double-bladed sword appeared in her hand. She was ready for battle. "That's a nice little trick you got there." Ragna commented.

"Keep watching; ill show you what I can really do." Erza said. As these two faced down the impending onslaught of people… Lucy thought to herself:

'This isn't going to end well…'


It appears combat as started.

Swords clashing, competing, defeating.

And finally, slaying.

Death has no signs of remorse, sympathy, or mercy.

It will not pull back its hand whither you are young or old, rich or poor, good or evil.

Death in battle is no exception.

When it comes to battle, it becomes a matter of strength and skill, nothing else comes into play.

Not even Fate…