"You never learn!" Erigor conjured up a burst of wind that pushed Natsu away again. He sneered "I'm surprised you caught up but even then, it makes no difference. You're out of your league, kid!"
"Don't bet on it!" Natsu retorted, standing. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Erigor floated in different directions to avoid the fiery waves "Pathetic! You should have waited for your buddies after all. Maybe then you'd have some chance."
"That's some ego you got! Come on, Natsu, you can do it!" Happy called.
The dragon slayer grinned "You bet! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Happy watched the battle continue, feeling frustrated as he watched his best friend's moves being stopped by Erigor's wind magic. No wonder the man was the guild's ace, he had the skills to match the title. He kept Natsu away easily as his wind magic seemed able to practically negate all Natsu's flames.
"Natsu, try something else!"
"Like what?" Natsu really didn't have any idea what he could do against this...
"I dunno, uh..."
Erigor sent another wind spell, forcing Natsu to dodge. "Don't tell me you thought you could relax once you were past the traps. That was just Rayule's idea and I wanted to see if it would really do anything. Even with all that, you're turning out to be a big disappointment, Salamander!"
Natsu growled "Oh, just wait. I'm only getting started!"
Happy almost groaned when the battle started to look the same way again, with Erigor dodging or countering Natsu's strikes. There had to be something to help turn this around...
"Emera baram!" Erigor cast, sending Natsu crashing to the ground.
Moments later, an idea came to the blue cat.
A grin appeared on his face for a moment before he continued "Natsu, don't you think Erigor's right?"
"What?"
Even Erigor looked surprised at this.
"I mean you're obviously a bad match against him. I can go and get the others to help..." Happy continued.
"Hey, what's with that attitude? I'm working it out, okay?!"
The cat looked unconvinced but it was his next words that would really change the situation "I don't know, I bet Gray can turn this guy into a popsicle in less than 5 minutes."
"What?!"
Hook, line and sinker. Happy inwardly smirked but continued innocently "Well, he can probably pull this off quickly. You're just wasting time."
"Are you saying he's better than me!?" Natsu demanded. "No way! I can take this guy out on my own."
"Really? How about you prove it?" Erigor taunted.
"The proof's comin' right up! Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
"Idiot, Storm mail!"
The grim reaper thought everything was fine but he realized in alarm that Natsu's flames hadn't been put out like the other times. Grunting, Erigor increased his spell's power. "Give it up, nothing's changed. You're definitely not getting past me."
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Happy said airily.
Once again he was proven correctly when Natsu went through storm mail and punched him hard. The strange part was, his flames weren't affected by Erigor's wind one bit.
The thing was, fire usually burns oxygen, which left Erigor defenseless. Happy knew that, and he also knew that the one way to get Natsu fired up to go all out now was to anger him which was why he said those things. Now with the flames powered up by his emotions, Natsu was stronger.
The teen proceeded to hit Erigor, even persevering when over half of his attacks were blocked off. Slowly, he was getting through his opponent's guard and Natsu knew it.
"See how you like this. Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
Happy cheered when Erigor was slammed to the ground and knocked out. "All right! I knew you could do it!"
Natsu gave him an unimpressed look "You were singing a different tune a minute ago."
"Ah, that's..."
Fortunately for him, he was saved from having to respond by their friends' arrival.
Gray blinked when he saw Erigor's unmoving form "What, you got him?"
"Nice, I knew you had it in you." Hope said.
Natsu grinned at him. "Thanks." He gave Happy a pointed look then. "See?"
"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked the group.
Erza looked at their surroundings "Well, I think we're very close to the guild master's hall. Maybe we should give them Lullaby and let them reseal it."
"Sounds good but...I don't see that thing anywhere, do you?"
Everyone started at this before looking around in alarm. They hadn't noticed but Lucy was right, the wooden flute they had seen earlier with Erigor was nowhere to be found.
Relying on Hope's sight spell once more, the group knew that Kageyama had whatever magic he had left to grab Lullaby while they were distracted and went to the guild master's hall. He had stolen a car from Oshibana town and followed the team, still determined to see this mission to the end.
When they arrived, it was to find Kageyama facing Makarov, clearly ready to play Lullaby. Just as they was about to go and stop him, they were stopped by Masters Goldmine and Bob, asking her to leave it to Makarov.
So they all watched as the fairy tail guildmaster proceeded to basically tell Kageyama not to overdo it, that he shouldn't force himself to go on now and that he had a chance to start over after receiving punishment for his actions. Makarov advised him not to go any further and just take a chance to go after that fresh start, knowing that things will be better for him if he did.
Kageyama looked more shaken at this, having not expect this reaction at all. Did the man know about his hesitation? How?
But before he could really react to any of this, Lullaby's floated out of his hand. The eyes started to glow before a voice said
"Honestly, is this all it takes to satisfy humans? That's just pathetic!"
"Wha...It can talk?!"
"Hmph," the voice scoffed. "Of course I can. Now watch, foolish humans as I show you what power you let slip through your fingers. I'll just start things off by devouring all your souls!"
A magic circle flashed and the flute transformed into a huge, demonic monster that immediately began rampaging. The people in the hall came out to see what was going on as a result.
"What the..."
"A demon?!"
"What's going on?"
"Perfect, you're all just setting yourself up for me."
"Then..." Erza, Natsu, Gray and Hope ran to block its path and the first continued "...we'll just have to stop you now."
Lullaby snarled and glowered at them.
"Re-equip!" Golden light surrounded Erza's body for a few moments, then revealing the redhead clad in a mostly silver armor with a headband that had metal wings attached at the side. "Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
Many of the observers had hearts in place of their eyes.
"That's Titania's Re-equip magic!"
"Yeah, and it's marvelous!"
"Try this, Circle Sword!" Erza called, striking Lullaby with numerous swords and make it howl in pain.
"And she's as strong as the rumors say too!" An observer exclaimed.
"Wow, no wonder she's an s-class mage. That's incredible..." Lucy agreed.
Lullaby then made to swipe at everyone with its hands only to be distracted by the ice lances and flame waves that hit its side.
Gray smirked "Where are you looking? We're not through with you yet!"
"No, but I'm through with you!" Lullaby snapped, firing a number of energy blasts from its mouth then.
"As if! Ice make: Shield!"
The nearby spectators stared in awe at the sight as the construct saved them.
"That's creation magic..."
"And so fast!"
"Damn, that kid's good!"
Natsu ran on Lullaby's back until he reached the knee, which was when he struck "Fire Dragon's Roar!"
"Did he just..."
"Yeah, that kid's got guts!"
"And clearly, the power to back it up!"
"Yup, that's Natsu!" Happy grinned when the dragon slayer hit Lullaby with a fire powered kick.
Lullaby roared in anger and pain and fired a big energy blast.
Hope held his pistols vertically and horizontally and they started to glow "Cross Drive!"
The bullets he fired then formed an x-shaped light blast that overtook Lullaby's blast and hit the demon in the face.
"How did he do that?!" A random observer wondered.
"He overpowered that huge blast like it was nothing!"
"That kid must have some insane skill and power with magic..."
"Yeah he does. You go, Hope!" Happy beamed, glad at the praise their friends were receiving.
Lucy smiled "They're all amazing..."
"Lucy, why don't you help?" The cat asked.
She stiffened and gave a sheepish look "I don't have a spirit I can summon now...I'll probably get in the way."
"Lame..."
"Hey, don't be mean!"
Happy sniggered, it was so easy to get a rise out of her!
The two started as the ground shook and turned to Lullaby, realizing it was because its hand had struck the earth. The demon growled and did it again near Gray and Erza, forcing them to dodge.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
"Star Gladius!"
"Gah!" Lullaby roared. "Why you little...get over here!"
Hope and Natsu dodged its attack and responded with a Shining Torrent that stunned Lullaby before being followed by a Fire Dragon's Roar.
"It's almost like they timed it that well..." Lucy noted.
"Get the 'almost' out and you'll be right. Natsu and Hope are one of the best teams in the whole guild. That's sort of thing's a piece of cake for them." Happy informed.
The two ended up driving that point home for many of the observers then, hitting Lullaby with another brilliantly timed combination that sent it crashing to the ground.
Gray smirked "Nice work! Ice make: Ice Impact!"
Erza went next "Pentagram Sword!"
"How about this? Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
It was those strikes that felled Lullaby and ended the battle, making the observers cheer.
"Honestly, Gray, how long are you going to keep that habit? It's disgraceful." Erza commented as she went past the ice mage.
"Oh crap!" He yelped when he realized that he had stripped...again. "Sorry...where..."
Gray stopped when Hope gave him his clothes a moment later. "Thanks...nice to deal with someone who doesn't rub this in my face."
"No problem. I'm just resigned to the fact that this seems to be almost as chronic as Natsu's motion sickness."
"It's totally random though..." Natsu couldn't help but remark.
"You're telling me." Gray grew nervous suddenly.
Lucy and Happy exchanged smiles as she listened to the people praising Fairy tail. They were clearly impressed by the battle and it improved the guild's reputation in their eyes. The first then noticed Gray's expression.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm thinking we might have gone too far..." He admitted, looking around the forest, half of which had been totaled in the battle.
"How's that any different from the usual?" Natsu pointed out.
While his rival had a point, this definitely wasn't the time for it. "That's not what it's about, you idiot!"
"Yeah!" Makarov was thinking along similar lines. He should've known there was no way his brats wouldn't get in trouble. It was just too good to be true. "Look at this, what we supposed to do now?"
"Relax, Grandpa..." Hope began.
"How can I? After..." Makarov stopped when Hope gently steered him to turn left, blinking when the dust around the guild hall vanished, revealing it safe and sound. The reason was revealed when the dome formed by Aegis appeared then. "...Oh. Never mind."
This was one time he was glad to be proven wrong. The fact that the place was all right was a big plus. Things worked out after all, he mentally cheered.
Erza smiled and Gray looked similarly relieved. He could imagine how much trouble they would've been in if it hadn't been for that. "Have I mentioned that you're a total life saver?"
"Yeah, a bunch of times but thanks," Hope said with a laugh. "I thought it might be needed. Sorry, there wasn't any time to worry about any other place..."
"Ah, don't worry about it. We can always use this chance to do a little landscaping." Goldmine chuckled.
"Count on Hope to bail us out of trouble..." A relieved Happy muttered.
Bob laughed "Well, I see Makarov wasn't exaggerating about that part at the very least."
"Which reminds me...Hope, Makarov said you would know..." Goldmine dug in his pocket and took out what looked to be a rhombus shaped red glass shard. "...what this is."
The boy started at the sight, clarifying his grandfather's suspicion. "So it is just like the other one, huh?"
Hope nodded and spread his palm. The shard lit up and immediately flew to him then. He revealed a silver necklace that was under his shirt, it had an empty round pendant with a star in the center, each point of the start attached to a part of the circle. There was a crystal at each joint of the star, totaling four.
Most of the pendant was silver but two of the crystals were blue. When Hope brought the red shard close, it seemingly merged with the pendant, making the circle part turn red.
"Whaddya know..." Goldmine trailed off.
"I've been trying to fix it." Hope explained. "I think the shards are scattered to many places because I've only one so far. Thank you for this."
"Heh, no problem. With how things are, I'd say you would've found it even if we hadn't."
Makarov nodded "Come on, you lot, time to make sure you get your reward."
"Yeah!" Lucy and Happy cheered while Natsu grinned.