A/N: All right! Chapter 1 of God Hand is up!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 1: A Lazy Man, the Strongest Mage and 'Same'

August 15th, X799 – Evening

"Hello God Hand!" Nero shouted happily as he stepped through the large doors that served as the only entrance into the guildhall, "It pains me to say it that our dear little Tik won't be returning," he continued with a fake pout on his face, "It really is quite scathing," Nero added as he stepped into the first floor lobby, which was filled with several C-Class and B-Class mages who had been standing around or sitting on one of the several chair in the large room or had even been at one of the two C-Rank mission counters.

"She's really set on doing all that work then?" Nero heard a man ask.

Nero turned to look at the owner of the voice and he was a man he recognized and knew quite well, despite the man's status as a C-Class mage. His name was Lucas Dominguez, a man in his early twenties who stood just as tall as Nero at 5'10" with a similarly slim build, although he had a light tan as opposed to Nero's pale skin. He had thick, hazel colored hair that was slicked back into a wave style, the hair being shorter on the sides than it was on top and his almond shaped eyes were a stormy mix between blue and gray. While his gray guild mark was on his left palm, he had a black tattoo on his right arm that read 'checkmate', although it was usually covered up by his sleeves.

Lucas wore a dark blue sweatshirt that had a hood that covered up half his head and had a small black design of a cross on the right side of the chest that had white letters across it that read 'RIP'. The sweatshirt was only zipped up halfway, which revealed a black t-shirt underneath that had a maroon skull face logo in the middle of the chest. He also wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans that had a gray belt wrapped around his waist, while the belt had a white buckle that was shaped like a crown. Lastly, he had a pair of black flats on his feet that had white crosses on the top of them.

"She is," Nero huffed, looking down at Lucas who was lounging on a couch, "She claimed that it looked easy. Although she forgot to account for the fact that Eliana helps me with a lot of the work," he added with a smirk.

"Crazy woman," Lucas huffed, "Being a Guild Master, let alone an A-Class mage, is just way too much work," he added before a question popped into his head, "Not that I care, but did she ask for help?"

"She did."

"And did you give her any?"

Nero looked down at Lucas with an agitated look, but it quickly disappeared as Nero let out a sigh, "No. She will not be receiving any aid from God Hand or Seahorse Crest. Goblin Grin is a part of the Summit Alliance, but it has to make a name for itself, just like God Hand and Seahorse Crest did. Besides… It wouldn't be in God Hand's best interest if we gave them money and missions. We just got out of a decline and I'll be damned if I see the guild fall while I'm in charge," Nero explained before walking off.

"Later, I guess," Lucas huffed as he watched Nero march off to the elevators, the Guild Master stepping into the one restricted to only the five S-Class and himself.

"That's all he's ever wanted, you know," Lucas heard Eliana say before he turned and saw that the woman was now standing where her brother had been.

"Excuse me?" Lucas said as he looked at the woman with a curious look.

"Master Kean instilled in Nero the desire to do what is best for God Hand before his death. That's why he does what he does, even if he has to turn his back on old friends," Eliana stated, "That's why he's done all this and why he's refused to aid Tik. He's looking out for the rest of us."

"I don't think he's done anything wrong, Eliana," Lucas said as he sat up, "I believe that this change was what's best for the guild, even if I miss the way things were. Nero knows what he's doing and besides, I doubt you'll let him do anything stupid."

Eliana stood there for a moment, as if she was processing what Lucas just said, "Correct. I would not let Nero act in a manner that will not benefit him or the guild."

"That's what I wanted to hear," Lucas stated with a smile, "Chess later?"

"I would like that," Eliana responded, "We need a tiebreaker match. I'll give you clearance to come to my office so that our match can go undisturbed."

"That's a long walk, can I take the S-Class elevator?" Lucas asked.

"You may. Your clearance will allow for that," Eliana answered, "Give me an hour to catalogue the Summit Alliance meeting and then come up to my office," she requested before walking off towards the same elevator that Nero had used.

. : + : .

"Master Tafani," Nero heard a man called out as he stepped out of the elevator and onto the 38th floor of the guildhall.

Nero turned to look at the man, a man who appeared to be in his mid-forties given his graying, black hair that was messily swept back, a few strands of hair falling over his forehead still while he had a medium length beard. He had almond shaped, steely gray eyes and pale skin that greatly contrasted against his black hair, but he was rather tall as well, standing at 6'2" with a lean and defined, muscular build, the man appearing to be about 200 lbs. of muscle. He had a scar running down his cheek from his right ear to his chin, but he also had a tattoo of a storm cloud on his back, between his shoulder blades that couldn't be seen under his clothes. He also had an eyebrow ring on the outside edge of his left eyebrow while his guild mark was black in color with a silver outline and was located on his left shoulder.

The man was wearing a sleeveless gray shirt under a black tactical vest that had several pouches on it. He was also wearing a pair of black and gray camouflage pants and black combat boots while several pouches lined the belt loop on his pants. He also had a hammer pendant on a silver chain around his neck.

"Marcus Sterling," Nero said in greeting as he continued to walk towards the stairs that led up to the 39th floor, "You have the most recent report on the mages eligible for the exams I take it?"

"I do," Marcus replied in a deep, slightly gravelly voice, "I've narrowed down the B-Class mages to eight potential candidates and the A-Class down to eight as well. Of course I plan to reduce the number of A-Class candidates down to four eventually," Marcus stated as the two men turned to walk past Eliana's office and past the S-Class library.

"I'll trust your judgment on it then," Nero said as they approached the staircase and began their climb up to the 39th floor, "You're likely the strongest mage in the entire guild, even I'd have a lot of trouble with you if I was by myself, so you're the one who's best suited for spotting talent. I also know you won't make biased decisions on your selections."

"The magic world is harsh. Allowing a mage who isn't ready to take on missions beyond their ability level wouldn't be doing them any favors," Marcus grunted as they entered into the 39th floor, a massive room filled with gears and suspended walkways where all four walls had the large clock faces of the clock tower on them, "It would only get them killed if they weren't ready!" Marcus added loudly, his voice echoing in the large room as he had to shout in order to be heard over the noise made by all of the gears.

"True! Very true!" Nero shouted over the gears as they began their climb up to the 40th floor, the two men following the quickest route up, "So who do you have in mind for the A-Class exams?"

"Currently I have Madeline Rouche and Aaron Croft selected to participate!" Marcus replied as Nero began climbing a ladder up to a higher walkway.

"Interesting choices!" Nero said happily, "Aaron has a lot of experience, he'd make an excellent A-Class mage!" he added, "And then Madeline… Let's keep that one hush-hush for now, shall we?"

"Is there a problem?" Marcus asked as he pulled himself up the ladder and onto the walkway.

"A complicated situation. One that I need to handle carefully," Nero answered as he hopped onto another ladder, Marcus following behind him.

"I see. It is a complicated matter now that I recall her situation," Marcus huffed, "I do much more prefer the Raye Family over the other nobles of Narcissus."

"Haha! You would like them the best with that arena of theirs," Nero laughed as he approached the staircase that led up to the 40th floor, "But let's save the rest of the report for later, shall we?"

"If that's what you want," Marcus replied as he followed Nero into his office, which was much quieter than the gear chamber due to the noise cancelling lachrima that lined the stone walls of much of the clock tower. Nero's office was very large, having wide windows on three sides while the carpet was a reddish brown. The office overall had a modern feel to it, much of the furniture being modern in style while his desk was in the back of the office with a black leather chair behind it. Off to one side was a walled off loft area that served as Nero's home, having all the necessities he would need inside it.

"So where's Vitra and Takeo?" Nero asked as he walked towards his desk, Marcus right behind him, "I saw our other S-Class in town, but I haven't heard where those two have gone."

"Vitra went on a monster extermination mission that has been bothering trade coming from Gardenia Port to our east. S-Rank. Eliana cleared him to take Zoltan with him on the mission before you left this morning," Marcus answered as Nero sat down in his chair, Marcus taking a seat in one of the black leather chairs in front of his desk, "Takeo took a mission to go mop up a dark guild by himself that's been harassing Liatris Town to our northwest. It was an A-Rank mission, so he didn't need clearance from either of you. He left this afternoon."

"I see. It's easier to hunt a monster when you have a tank like Zoltan to act as bait, but still," Nero said before trailing off.

"You and Zoltan still haven't reconciled, have you?" Marcus asked.

"No. I am quite aware of his feelings towards what I've done, but I did what I had to," Nero stated with a somber look.

"Does that include demoting him from S-Class to A-Class?"

"I couldn't let him go after attacking his Guild Master without punishment. I could've been much harsher. I could've sent him all the way down to C-Class or have just simply expelled him from the guild," Nero replied, "Eliana said that I let him off easy even."

"True, she's the harsh one between the two of you," Marcus grunted, "I imagine that if she were guild master that his punishment would've been much worse. The entire guild would be far stricter even."

"Aren't you happy that you got the nice twin as a Guild Master?" Nero asked with a smirk on his face.

"Hmph… I'm not sure if nice is the right word, but as whole, the guild is doing much better under this system," Marcus answered, "You're doing good work so far."

"Well I'm happy to hear you say so," Nero chuckled, "Let's just hope that the majority of people still agree with you," he added in a low tone as his expression grew more serious, "There's still dissidents about, so they'll have to be handled, one way or the other…"

. : + : .

August 15th, X799 – Nighttime

A single man stood in the center of the room, surrounded by unconscious men and women. A single, flickering light illuminated him for his remaining foes to see him with, each of them having fear plastered on their faces.

The man appeared to be about thirty years old with black, medium length hair that had a ragged look to it, being spiked forward and hanging between his eyes while he had sparse, 5 o'clock shadow on his face. His eyes were dark brown in color and were angled, being slightly sunk in with high set eyebrows. He stood at 5'8" with a very compact, muscular build, appearing to be about 155 lbs. of muscle. His skin was mildly tanned while his guild mark was very large, being on his back, although he had a large burn scar beneath his guild mark while he had a ragged scar across the front of his neck. He also had deep set lines angling beneath his eyes, but he also had notably sharper canines than most people. But the most shocking thing about his appearance was the fact that he was missing his right arm from just about the elbow and down.

He wore a black, high collar jacket that had long sleeves that fell to the back of his knees and had three, unbuttoned straps at chest level. Beneath the jacket he was wearing a sleeveless, light brown shirt and black slacks that were held up by a brown leather belt that had two katanas in black sheaths hanging from it along with a wooden bottle of sake. Lastly, the man was also wearing a pair of tan combat boots on his feet.

"This guy ain't even human," one man muttered.

"He just took them all out… How'd he even do that with one arm!?" another shouted

"Fuck this, man!" a third screamed before running off, "We gotta get out of here! He'll kill us!"

The man rolled his eyes before he quickly drew one of his katanas, "Booster Magic: Javelin," he said in a gruff voice as the butt of the katana began to glow with magic power, the man throwing the weapon at his fleeing opponent and sending the man flying into the wall as the butt of his sword impacted against the back of the man's head.

The other two men flinched in fear before one of them managed to speak in a whimper.

"I think I've heard of this guy… He used to be called 'Same'… He's the one-armed S-Class of God Hand! Takeo Hideki!"

At this, the man smiled, fully revealing his sharp teeth to the remaining two men as they flinched in fear again, "You figured… it out," he said in his rough voice as he took a step towards the men, the both of them backing up in response, "I'm… Takeo Hideki… and you're… my prey," he stated before he suddenly took off towards the two men as he drew his second katana, "Booster!" he announced as he leapt into the air, spinning towards the two dark mages as they turned to run from him, only to be cut down by his sword.

"Hmph… Disappointing," he muttered as he sheathed his sword before walking over to pick up the one he threw earlier.

"I must say that was quite the spectacle!" he heard a man announce from the balcony above him, "You took care of my mages quite well while I was gone," he said as Takeo merely looked up at him, "Not much of a talker are you?" the man asked rhetorically as he leapt from the balcony.

He was middle-aged from what Takeo could tell. Fair-skinned, slicked back, brown hair and yellow eyes while he was sharply dressed in a pair of black slacks, brown dress shoes and a blue dress shirt while he wore a black trench coat over that.

"My name is William. I'm the Guild Master here," he announced.

"Heh… my target, you mean," Takeo chuckled as he gave the man a toothy smirk and raised his katana to point at the man.

"So it would seem," William sighed, "How about I pay you off and," he started to suggest as Takeo rushed him, cutting him off as he swung his katana down on William, the man holding up a hand as a magical barrier appeared, blocking the blade, "My, how rude. Cutting me off like that," he chuckled as Takeo struggled against the barrier, "You like it? It's my Wall Magic, which allows for me to create walls out of anything around me, or from my own magic as you see here."

At this Takeo leaped back, seeing that he wasn't going to break through the barrier like that, "Maybe… you can actually put up a fight," he said, showing a toothy smirk again.

"I'll do more than that," William stated, "Wall Magic: Labyrinth!" he announced as several wooden walls emerged from the ground and magic energy hummed above him, surrounding Takeo and forming a maze that he couldn't simply climb over, "Good luck finding me now!" Takeo heard William shout from within the maze, although Takeo paid him no mind as he focused on something else.

As William ran through the maze, he knew exactly where he was going: the exit. Which was where he would make his escape, 'Hah! That fool is probably scouring the maze for me now, little does he know I'm not going to waste my time with him,' William boasted in his head, although his thoughts were cut short as he heard a noise, the sound of wood splintering, "What?" William gawked, "There's no way he's breaking through those walls! They're magically reinforced!" he shouted before he heard another wall splinter and break, William quickly scrambling away as the sound started coming closer and closer.

"Why did I make this maze so large!?" William hissed as he rounded another corner, although he was cut off as a katana flew through the wall in front of him, the butt of the weapon striking against the wall opposite of where it came from. William looked down at the blade before swallowing and looking through the hole, seeing Takeo's eye peering back at him.

"I found you," Takeo chuckled as William let out a scream and took off running again just before Takeo broke through the wall with his shoulder, picking up his katana before running after William, "Javelin!" he grunted as he threw his magically enhanced katana at William's back, the dark mage swiftly turning around and blocking it with a magic barrier that formed around his hand, Takeo using that moment to rush towards William as he put his second katana in his mouth and grabbed the first one out of the air in a reverse grip as he began to spin around, "Whirlpool," he grunted, the words coming out muffled as his magic roared to life around his katanas, each of them blazing with magic energy as he began to spin, the blades clashing against William's barrier repeatedly before it finally shattered and Takeo's blades cut across William's chest sending him down to the ground as Takeo landed and thrust his katana through the man's shoulder, pinning him to the ground.

"Y-You're a monster!" William screeched as he tried to pull the sword out of his shoulder, the wound bleeding horrifically.

"You… were a boring opponent," Takeo huffed after he grabbed his other katana out of his mouth, "A coward," he added as he pointed the tip of the blade at William's throat, "A small team of B-Class could've taken you," he said as he lifted his blade and walked over to William's head, "You're finished," he muttered before stomping on William's head, knocking the man unconscious, the maze falling apart as William lost consciousness.

Takeo walked outside, putting the katana in his hand back into its sheath as he stepped outside, giving a signal for a group of local police to come in and arrest the unconscious dark mages before he pulled his sake off of his belt, taking a drink of it before he stepped back into the building and looked at William with a disappointed look on his face, "I was hoping for a good fight," he muttered as he put away his sake and retrieved his katana, allowing for the cops to take the man away.


A/N: And there it is! Chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed it!

Credits:

Lucas Dominguez - ThePrinceOfLight

Marcus Sterling – PrinceOfTheMatrix88

Takeo Hideki – potentialautor18

I know I only introduced three characters this chapter, but four more were mentioned, but I also wanted to give submissions a little more time before I introduced 5+ OCs in a single chapter. But I hope you found the three of them interesting.

A Few Questions

So who was your favorite OC introduced this chapter?

Did any of the OCs in this chapter seem like someone your OC would get along with?

What do you think of Nero's reformation of the guild? Was he right to go so far in order to do what's best for the guild?

Notes on Submissions

Okay, so my current count is 19 out of 30 OCs have either been accepted or reserved. Currently I have one S-Class opening, which I would highly prefer be a woman in her mid-twenties to early-thirties and I have one A-Class opening as well.

Regarding Slayers, I have one open Slayer spot, but there are already 2 God Slayers in the project, so we won't be accepting anymore God Slayers. There are some magic restrictions on my profile as well, so keep those in mind too when making an OC for God Hand.

Now then, this is very important! We have set a deadline for character submissions! We ask that you have your character sent in by March 1st! This should still give those of you with reservations time to finish your characters and get them sent in. But this deadline will help us get all the characters in and allow for us to fully start planning more arcs and events and such within the story. So again, all character submissions are to be in by March 1st!

Also, speaking of character submissions, we have lessened the limit on them. So you can now submit up to a total of THREE OCs to the project! But you must submit them to a guild that you haven't submitted an OC to. So as an example, if you've submitted two OCs, one to Goblin Grin and one to Seahorse Crest, you can submit an OC to either God Hand or Ragnarok's Call!

Now onto the reviews!

Origm2012- Glad you liked Eliana and Nero. I do like their dynamic myself. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Master Of Anime224- Oftentimes I let criticism get to me, not this time though cause I'm too excited. But I do appreciate the constructive criticism and I do admit that I could've done much better, but oh well, it wasn't my goal to thoroughly describe Gladiolus in the prologue anyways, just an overview sort of thing. But I'm glad that you liked Nero at least, and yeah, he was inspired by the idea of a heroic Izaya, but there's a lot more to him than just that. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Raiyane- I'm glad that you liked Nero. And yep! I'm still excited for the project too!

Derekjay2000- I'm happy to hear that you're excited for the Summit Project! But yeah, it's a very large project and the four of us did a lot of work before we posted our prologues setting up the Valley and the Summit Alliance and whatnot. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Sakura-Fiction- Drat! You figured out our evil plan! Ah just kidding, I'm happy to hear that you're excited for the Summit Project!

MyDearWatson- Happy to hear that you liked the way things turned out in the prologue! And yep! I'm still excited for the project too!

AkumaXHwaorang- Ah, don't worry, we've all pretty much cranked out OCs for one another since we're in the best positions to cater to each other's needs and to connect things in the stories. But yeah, the project already is kind of overwhelming with all of the work that's already been put into it behind the scenes. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Death Obelisk- I'm happy to hear that you're so excited for the project. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

SaiyaStyles- Well, feel free to send something in whenever you finish Mal, there's still spots as of right now. And I'll try to get the next ToTGs chapter finished by the end of the month, I do have it started, but I've been kinda focused on this for the past month though. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

ColdBurn-3- Yeah, it never made much sense to me either, but at least God Hand has all the different ranks. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

ThePrinceOfLight- I'm happy to hear that you're excited for the project. I hope I did okay with Lucas too! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

potentialauthor18- Don't worry about it! I believe you mentioned you had been working on your own story to me a while ago. Anyways, I hope I did okay with Takeo! He was fun to write since he likes scaring his opponents.

lex1016- As of right now, we're still all updating on the same day. Whether that'll change or not, who knows? Anyways, if you do decide to submit a character, feel free to! There's still plenty of open spots for you!

Resmesh- Yeah, you really need Nero's perspective to tell that he's not just being a prick to Tik and Harlow (well he does enjoy messing with Harlow, but that's another matter altogether), he has his reasons for not helping Tik any, being that helping her is not what's best for God Hand as he said in the chapter. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

XLil MEkoX- I'm happy to hear that you're excited for the project! And there's still open spots for you if you choose to submit a character! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

FrozenBlast13- Yeah, Nero does see things a lot like a chess game. Either you have a use to him or you're his enemy. But like a chess game each piece is very valuable so he takes great care to keep them. He's kind of a manipulative bastard, but he's not a bad person. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

TheLonelyAnon- Yeah, Nero's pretty young, but he's been a Guild Master for a few years now and he has a lot of help thanks to his sister, Eliana. But yeah, God Hand is very well established and it has a lot of resources, so it is pretty much built for success at this point since it's had over 100 years to reach that point. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Meteorthunder3- Yeah, each of our stories will provide glimpses and bits of information about the others that you might not get otherwise, such as Nero's side of things with Tik and Goblin Grin. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Momochan77- I'm happy to hear that you're excited for the project! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Anyways, I hope I did alright with all the OCs this chapter! If you're character has been submitted but hasn't been introduced, they will be in the coming chapters!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please remember to leave a review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.