Chapter 6: Explanations and Rune Knights
"Master when, do you think we are going to hear from Natsu?" asked Erza Scarlet, wearing the armor that Natsu gave her before he left, which is now her standard armor that she wears casually.
"I truly don't know Erza, but look on the bright side we do know that he is still out there, because we keep getting those letters with jewels in them addressed to you and me." replied Master Makarov with a huge grin on his face, thinking to himself that he really wants Natsu to join Fairy Tail. So far he has a perfect success rate on the nine out of the twenty different S-Class quests that he stole when he left, he also for some reason is sending thirty percent of the reward to him and another thirty percent to Erza.
"Actually I was wondering about that Master, why does he keep sending us over half of his reward?" asked Erza, remembering when the first letter came and it was like a miracle to her. Because she was still getting settled in at Fairy Tail and hadn't completed a job yet, and she needed to pay rent at Fairy Hills soon or they were going to kick her out, but then the letter came and her small problem was gone.
"I don't really know Erza, at first I assumed that it was an apology about what he did but after the sixth one, I just don't know. Maybe he doesn't need that much with whatever he is doing and decided that it was better to give it to someone who might need it more than him." replied Master Makarov.
"But that really doesn't make sense Master shouldn't he just save it, and why does he keep helping me?" asked Erza playing with the leather straps on her skirt.
"That's really simple answer for why he is helping you Erza, it's because you are his friend, and because of that he is willing to do anything for you. As for why he doesn't horde it, I don't know, I actually thought that he would considering all of the stories that you hear about dragons having huge piles of gold and gems that they keep in their lairs. But alas, we might never know why he does some of the things he does, he is definitely one of a kind." replied Master Makarov thinking that Natsu so far is the embodiment of what Fairy Tail stands for.
"Yea but how come he hasn't come back to visit us yet, it's already been three months since he left?" asked Erza hoping that the Master would have a reasonable explanation for this.
"Well he has been doing S-Class quests Erza and those take time, it is actually incredible that he has done nine in just three weeks. And who knows, he seems like the person that would just walk to where ever his next destination is, which means it will take him time to get around." said Master Makarov knowing in advance that Erza was going to ask this question sooner or later.
"I guess your right Master, and it is about time I head to the train station for my own job." replied Erza getting up and leaving.
"Okay Erza see you once you complete it, and be careful out there." said Master Makarov, who was always concerned whenever one of his younger members goes out on a quest. But he couldn't help it he saw them as his own children and it is the parents' job to worry about them.
"Don't worry too much Gramps, she has great potential and in my opinion probably the only person worthy of going to the S-Class trials this year except for that strange Mystogan fellow." said a blonde haired teen who looked to be around 15 years old, and had a lightning bolt scar going through his right eye.
"I know she's strong Laxus, but you know that strength isn't the only thing that matters out there." replied Master Makarov now looking at his grandson.
"I know, I know Gramps, but she is also very intelligent as well, have you seen how she analysis all of the fights that she gets into or watches." said Laxus clearly impressed by Erza and how she is doing at Fairy Tail.
"Once again you are right Laxus, and as long as she keeps this up she will definitely be going to the exams this year." said Makarov as he nodded his head in approval.
"Master, why is she pushing herself so hard, it just isn't normal for a girl her age?" asked Laxus wanting to know what drives their resident red headed knight.
"Well you weren't much different Laxus." pointed out Makarov.
"Yea I guess, but I am also a guy so you know how we want to show how strong we are. Also I still need to come out from your shadow and surpass you one day old man." replied Laxus with a smile on his face.
"Never going to happen brat!" chuckled Makarov with Laxus, both knowing that one day it was going to happen they just didn't know when.
"Well, all joking aside, Erza has definitely had I really tough past I don't know exactly what happened but whatever it was, it was really bad. You remember when you first met her right?" said Makarov looking at his grandson waiting for his reply.
"Yea, what about it Gramps?" asked Laxus not knowing why his grandpa was bringing this up.
"Well she had that eyepatch on, and that was because someone took her eye from her." stated Makarov frowning at just think about what monster would do that to a young girl like Erza.
"No way I thought it was just injured, but wait she has both eyes now?" asked Laxus clearly shocked at this new revelation.
"That is all thanks to Porlyusica, with her help we were able to grow an eye for her. But as I was saying she was somehow able to make it through whatever hell she was put through and come out standing, which takes great willpower and determination. There also could be a much simpler explanation for her why she is trying to get stronger and it is probably so that she can catch up to him and stand by him as an equal." replied Makarov who was now smiling one of his big goofy smiles.
"And who would that be Gramps?" asked Laxus still intrigued by all of this.
"Natsu Dragneel" replied Makarov still smiling at Laxus.
"I have heard his name a few times while at the guild who is he?" asked Laxus.
"Oh right you weren't here when he dropped off Erza, you were on a quest so no wonder you don't know him." said Makarov thinking back on to the two times he meet that strange boy.
"Well are you going to continue to tell me, or are you just going to look off into space Gramps?" asked a now slightly pissed off Laxus for being ignored by his grandpa.
"Oh sorry Laxus, it's just that this kid is something else. I actually met him a week before he dropped off Erza and tried to get him join the guild." said Makarov smiling about his first meeting with Natsu, when in all actuality it shouldn't be a fond memory he almost died that day.
"Why didn't he?" questioned Laxus knowing how persuasive his grandfather can be.
"Well we didn't really meet in the most favorable ways." Makarov chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.
"How so?" inquired Laxus.
"Well you see I started to spy on him because you should have seen him and felt his magic power, it was easily twice yours and as I watched him he actually made a new spell on the spot and you know how hard that is. So as I was spying on him he noticed me and the slipped away and got the drop on me, and then started to interigate me on what I was doing and then one thing lead to another and I took him out to eat and then he left saying that he might come back sometime and say hi." replied Makarov with a huge smile on his face.
"Why the hell are you smiling gramps, from what you just told me this kid almost killed you?" shouted a completely shocked Laxus.
"That he did, but I knew from the beginning that he doesn't kill unless he has a really good reason, and hey I was in the wrong for spying on him, but hey we're friends now so everything is all right." said Makarov with his smile still present and somewhat pissing Laxus off.
"Okay whatever you have always liked making friends with old enemies, so back to when he dropped Erza off." said Laxus wanting to progress the conversation to the good parts about this Natsu kid.
"Well I forgot to mention that he did save Erza's life before he brought her here and even trained her along the way." stated Makarov sheepishly at forgetting a crucial detail of why Erza looks up to him.
"Okay good to know, let's move on here Gramps you are taking so long I am going to be your age by the time this story is done." said Laxus trying to piss of his grandpa and also progress the story, which succeeded in both areas.
"Quiet Brat, so as I was saying he came in by himself at first accidentally leaving Erza behind for some sort of race they were having. He and I had a little chat in front of the whole guild which caused some people to think he was crazy because he was alone and kept talking like he wasn't. But then Grey had to try and pick a fight with him and you should have seen it, Natsu was able to get the whole guild to want to attack him by a simple comment. This caused Gildarts who was surprisingly here at the time to start laughing his as off and explained to everyone that Natsu was just testing us. Then arrived Erza and Fira, and Grey once again tried to pick a fight with Natsu." said Makarov obviously excited to retell this story.
"Wait Gramps, who the hell is Fira?" asked Laxus wanting to make sure that he didn't miss anything in this story.
"Man I can't believe I forgot to tell you about Fira, she is Natsu's traveling companion who just so happens to be a fire-fox." replied Makarov grinning at the reaction that Laxus was now giving him.
"He has a pet fire-fox, I didn't know that they still existed." stated Laxus with his mouth wide open.
"Well they do and Natsu can talk with her, and don't call her his pet, they don't like that they are traveling companions. So back to where I was, yea Grey tried to pick another fight with him I can't remember what he said but the big thing to take from it is don't make fun of Natsu's hair or Fira. This is where it gets good rather than fight Grey like I thought he was going to do which would have ended badly for Grey, he asked if Fira would handle him which she gladly did, and man was it impressive Fira man handled Grey it looked as if she was just playing around with him." told Makarov while recalling the quite funny scene.
"HAHAHA, no wonder Grey has been pissed for the past three months. I mean I would be pissed if I got beat up by someone's pet, and loosing so bad that my jaw was broken for a month." interrupted Laxus as he finally learned why Grey was grumpy and occasionally mumbling Natsu's name with a few choice words.
"That wasn't how Grey's jaw broke, that is towards the end of this story. So after that I went through the whole introduction for new members telling them all the rules and stuff to Erza, during this time Natsu became pretty close friends since they are so similar. He also somehow got Levy to open up to him and became friends with her as well, maybe it was because he was a dragon slayer that had a fire-fox, and it was just too good of an opportunity for Levy to learn more about both of those things." said Makarov thinking out loud of how Natsu became friends whit one of the shyest members of Fairy Tail.
"Are you telling me that he is a dragon slayer?" whispered Laxus.
"Oh not just any dragon slayer Laxus, he actually trained with one for nine years." replied Makarov knowing that this was going to be hard to believe for Laxus.
"No way, you are lying to me old man." responded Laxus.
"Oh you would believe it if you ever see Natsu, he not only is a dragon slayer that didn't have a lacrima put into him, he also knows five other types of magic and is good at all of them as far as I can see." said Makarov.
"What are his other types?" asked Laxus now understanding why his grandfather wanted him to join the guild so badly.
"Well when I was spying on him he was using fire make magic to make two foxes form and run around, and the reason that he was able to get the drop on me was due to the fact that he can use shadow magic and go into shadows." said Makarov as he stroked his mustache.
"Wait he can go into shadow, what else can he do with them?" asked Laxus curious about what else he could do with them.
"I don't know, but I assume a lot, the only thing I have ever seen him do is move around in them and come out of someone else's shadow, another one of his magic is telepathy which he sometimes uses to talk to Fira, I assume that is how they stole some S-Class requests from us." replied Makarov with a slight frown.
"He stole S-Class requests from us?" asked Laxus knowing how hard those quests are and that his grandfather usually keeps an eye on them so no one can steal them.
"That he did, he already has done nine of them and is actually sending back more than half the reward back." replied Makarov now thinking about the free money he was getting.
"Wow that is impressive, and also hilarious you are probably making more off of someone who isn't even part of the guild that's hilarious. It also means that we aren't held responsible if the destroys anything, so what are his other types of magic?" said Laxus still wanting to know more about this boy.
"That is true Laxus, but I assume that he will eventually stop sending us money. But back to his magic other two magic types that I haven't told you about, one of them is re-equip, which makes sense with his life style of never being anywhere very long and he was also able to give Erza a few pointers on it. Now his last one is one that I have actually never seen because it just seems impractical but he somehow used it on his last encounter with Grey and that is his lava magic." said Makarov as he scratched the back of his head.
"How does that one work because I haven't seen or heard about it either Gramps?" asked Laxus wondering if it was like some magic out there were it seems to just form out of thin air, if so that would be really powerful.
"I am just guess from what I saw, and I think that he actually brings it up from underground and then has complete control over it." replied Makarov.
"Wow, just wow, so how old is this kid?" asked Laxus assuming that he might be a few years older than him.
"Natsu is just thirteen years old same age as Erza and he already is stronger than most S-Class mages. So back to my story, so after Erza and I finished getting her signed up and everything. She went back to Natsu, but unfortunately that was around the time he and Gildarts got into a fight. Yes I know what you are going to ask and it was indeed Gildarts actually playfully fighting around with him, he did it to get a better gauge on how strong Natsu was, which after words Gildarts is confident that there is literally no peak magic power, he thinks that he will just keep getting stronger and stronger as time goes on. Well after their fight Natsu got bored and was going to leave he gave Erza that armor you always see her wearing as a congratulations for joining Fairy Tail gift and was about to leave. But unfortunately Grey just woke up from his fight with Fira and then made a comment about Natsu's hair and then crossed the line with his next comment." said Makarov as he shook his head back and forth in shame at what Grey did.
"What did he say?" asked Laxus now making notes on what not to say we he meets this Natsu character.
"Well it was something along the lines that if we didn't want a cyclops like you, why would we want your cyclops friend either. Which I actually think caused Erza to cry because that is a very touchy subject for her, when Natsu saw this he absolutely lost it." said Makarov looking off to the spot that it actually happened at in the guild three months ago.
"Wait, what's so important about his hair and why was he calling Natsu a cyclops?" asked Laxus trying to get all of the information about what happened as he could.
"Well I don't know about why he takes such offense when someone makes fun of his hair color, of and for your information it is salmon not pink, for the love of god don't call it pink or him pinky because that is what Grey did and I don't think he ever will again. As for the cyclops comment that is because he always is wearing an eye patch on his right eye during the day, now I don't even know if Erza knows this but he does still have his eye but somehow after an accident that he didn't tell me about. Once it healed it didn't heal normally, he now as night vision with that eye which is why he wears the eyepatch because otherwise he would get blinded, but that isn't all he can see all forms of magic and actually tell how powerful they are." explained Makarov.
"You can't be serious how does something like that happen, and can he really tell how powerful someone is?" asked Laxus.
"Well when you consider that Natsu was raised by an actual dragon and has a fire-fox as a companion is it that strange for his eye to be like that. And yes that is actually how he found out that I was spying on him, and he could even tell that I was suppressing my magic power, it was quite impressive." responded Makarov nodding his head for some reason.
"So what did Natsu do to Grey?" asked Laxus wanting to know what happened next.
"Well the next thing we knew the floor around Grey started to crack and lava rose up and surrounded him the next thing we know Natsu steps out of Grey's shadow while the flames are all over his body, he then made Grey answer two questions. One was what happened to his cocky attitude and also what did Natsu want to do to him right then, Natsu said that he really wanted to kill him right now for what he said about Erza, but he doesn't kill people for being he then gave a little speech about how there will always be something stronger than you and then broke Grey jaw. After which he apologized to us and left after we got him to agree to come back sometime." said Makarov finishing up his story to Laxus.
"Wow, just wow Gramps you sure know how to pick them. So don't make fun of his pink hair and don't do anything to his friends and he will be okay with you. Is that the main points Gramps?" asked Laxus.
"Yeah those are the main points." replied Makarov.
"Well I can't wait to see this monster." said Laxus with a huge smile.
"It would be wise that you don't call him that in front of Erza, she almost attacked someone else for doing that." said Makarov thinking about how good of a mage Erza was going to become.
"Noted, and no reason to piss her off if that could bring Natsu's rage down on me." replied Laxus thinking that it would be wise to not wrong Natsu in any way.
"I don't think it is that easy, just so long as you don't make her cry." said Makarov now wondering when he would see the dragon slayer again.
Roughly a two month walk from Fairy Tail, is a pink haired teen laying on a branch taking a nap with his fire-fox.
"Master we should probably get up and start moving again if we want to reach that town was on the job request." stated Fira as she started to paw at Natsu's sleeping face.
"Stop that Fira, just five more minutes." replied a sleepy Natsu.
"That is always what you say Master, it's always just five more minutes." said Fira as she continued to paw at his face.
"Fine Fira, I am up now, are you happy now?" asked Natsu as he sat up.
"Yes Master." replied Fira smiling up at him.
"Well we might as start going I guess." said Natsu as he jumped out of the tree and landed gracefully on the ground.
"Right you are Master!" said cheerfully as she landed on her normal spot on his right shoulder.
"So what was this job that we are doing, because those other ones were starting to get boring? I mean if that is what is considered to be hard, then the next time we are at a guild we need to steal some SS-Class quests and higher." said Natsu obviously not to thrilled with the jobs that he and Fira have been doing while wandering around Fiore.
"Well they were all monster extermination quests, because you thought that they would be fun and challenging Master." pointed out Fira.
"Okay I was wrong Fira, I honestly don't know why I thought that after fighting Igneel for nine years, any other creature would be a challenge." scoffed Natsu.
"Remember Master, you said it yourself there is always someone better out there, and don't judge a book by its cover." Fira reminded Natsu of his previous words.
"What would I do without you Fira?" asked Natsu smiling at his traveling companion.
"You would probably already be dead Master." replied Fira with a wide smirk.
"Oh you are so wrong, and besides you would probably still be in some cage if it wasn't for me." said Natsu with his own smirk now.
"That was a low blow Master, and I already told you that they tricked me." said Fira now no longer looking at Natsu.
"HAHAHA you did, but you didn't ever tell me how they did that." laughed out Natsu, knowing that it was still a sore topic for Fira.
"And I don't plan on ever telling you Master." said Fira as she turned to Natsu and then gave him a glare.
"What if I commanded you to tell me?" asked Natsu raising an Eyebrow up at Fira causing her little mouth hanging wide open.
"You wouldn't, would you Master?" asked Fira in complete shock.
"HAHAHA your reactions to somethings are just so priceless, and of course I wouldn't we're friends so eventually you'll tell me when you feel comfortable about it." replied Natsu giving Fira on of his grins.
"Thank you Master you're the best." said Fira once again returning to her usual happy self.
"I know I'm awesome, so back to this quest." said Natsu.
"No you are just full of yourself Master. And this quest is different than the other extermination quests because they want us to kill a demon that is residing in the church of the town that we are heading to." replied Fira since she always memorize the request as soon as they choose witch one they are taking.
"Any other info about it?" asked Natsu knowing that there had to be more details on the flyer.
"Well it took residence up in that church almost six months ago and that three other mages have tried and failed Master." said Fira.
"What do you mean by failed Fira?" asked Natsu always knowing when she changes the wording on the flyers to sound better.
"They all died Master, so have some of the people of the town." responded Fira to his question.
"Okay so we are definitely finishing the quest as soon as possible so no one else dies. What type of demon, please say fire demon, come on fire demon." said Natsu, obviously hoping for a demon that would only be able to power him up.
"Nope sorry Master, just your standard demon using darkness magic, or that is all that the flyer said." answered Fira, smiling at how determined Natsu was one second and then childish the next.
"Well that sucks, let's try and get t…" said Natsu as he stopped half way through and started to sniff while his ears twitched slightly.
"What's wrong Master?" asked Fira knowing that when he does this usually something bad is happen elsewhere.
"I hear fighting and smell blood, let's go see what's happening." said Natsu as he took off in the direction of the fight.
It wasn't supposed to go this way, the council told them that this was going to be like all of the other missions that they have been doing over the past year. It was supposed to be just another Dark Guild that is just starting out, and have twenty members max, but man was their intel completely wrong on that estimation, but not knowing that they only sent his division the third regime, which was only fifty Rune Knights.
He had been with his men for the last three years, and can honestly say that these were some of the best knights that he worked with, they were all very skilled and committed at doing their job, and because of that their division became the one that were sent out to take care of Dark Guilds. For the last year they have never failed at doing that and have taken down seven already, but it seems that fate was working against them now.
Everything seemed to go wrong for him and his men; the first was having the wrong intel on how many member Blood Moon had, which was the name of this particular Dark Guild that they were to arrest. They had five times the number of members that they were supposed to have, which made this fight a one to two fight which wouldn't have been a problem for the Rune Knights if the intel on the average mage's strength wasn't completely wrong as well. Thinking about of course that would be wrong to if they got the wrong number of members, but it was too late to bitch about it now they were in a fight for their lives right now, and so far it wasn't looking good.
There he was with only about half of his men able to still fight, while the rest were severely wounded or dead. He knew of at least five men that were for sure dead because he had to watch as the Master of Blood Moon slit their throats right in front of him and he couldn't do a thing about it, all thanks to five members of Blood Moon that were able to counter him and prevent his barriers from doing what they were supposed to. They were finally able to put those mages out of commission which allowed him to have free rain now but it seemed like it might be a little too late, he was down to twenty five men including himself, while Blood Moon had sixty members still up and ready to go and who knew if any of the ones down now might join back in.
"Commander Lahar, what are your orders, Sir? Because that barrier that we have up now won't last much longer with how much they are throwing at it." asked his second in command Riku Righker.
"I just don't know Righker, it wasn't supposed to go like this." said Lahar quietly.
"I know Commander Lahar, the third regime and I know that it wasn't your fault, and want you to know that it has been an honor serving under you. So what is your final order Commander Lahar?" asked Righker with complete and total conviction in his words.
"It has been a pleasure to have such loyal and honorable knights serving under me, I just wish that I could have prevented this. I should have sent in my own scouts before we mounted this attack Righker." stated Lahar almost about to explode because of failing his men when they needed him most.
"And I and the rest of the men would have questioned that command sir, because it would have seemed like a waste of man power. Because until now all of the intel that the council has given us has been completely accurate." replied Righker not letting Lahar take the blame for something he couldn't have seen coming.
"Maybe your right, but it doesn't really matter now, now does it?" asked Lahar truly close to throwing in the towel.
"No it doesn't Commander Lahar, but what we do next does, so I ask again sir, what are your orders?" said Righker causing Lahar to look up at him and realize that he was right if they were going down it was going to be in a blazing glory.
"Tell all the men that they are to use lethal force, if we are going down today then we're going to take some of these Blood Moon bastards with us." shouted Lahar loud enough for his men and even Blood Moon to hear.
"Yes Sir Commander Lahar, they will all receive the message sir." replied Righker with a smile.
"Well look at that, boys, it seems that they still have some fight left in them. Let's see how many of them turn tail and run when that barrier falls. Tell the men on the south side to resume firing." commanded the Master of Blood Moon.
"Yes Master." said one of his members and took off to relay the order. A few minutes passed with no one attacking the south barrier, causing the master to start getting pissed.
"Where the fuck is that maggot and why haven't they started to attack?" asked the Master to a different mage near him.
"I don't know sir, and is it me or is it getting quite hot right now?" replied the mage.
"No it is not you I can definitely feel it getting warmer, it must be those Rune Knights doing it." stated the Master.
"That is where you would be wrong, my bald robust friend." replied a man sitting on a tree branch eating an apple with his head down so you couldn't make out who it was because of his black hat that he was wearing. His whole attire was dark colors except for the white scarf that he had on and his red fingerless gloves.
"Who the fuck, are you?" asked the Master.
"Oh just a traveling mage, going place to place trying to help out when he can." replied the man in the tree.
"Well mister traveling mage if you want to keep doing that I suggest you leave before I make you, and why the fuck hasn't the south group started to fire yet?" screamed the Master clearly getting upset at nothing happening right now.
"But if I left now I wouldn't be able to help these fine Rune Knights here." stated the stranger loud enough for everyone to hear causing the Rune Knights to slightly hope that this was back up sent to help them.
"Oh so you are with them then, doesn't matter I will just kill you along with the rest of the Rune Kights, and this is the last time I am going to ask why hasn't the south side started to fire? Screw it send someone to go to the west group and have them start up again." commanded the Master, causing another member to head off.
"So you're going to kill me that is just rich, knowing that makes me not feel bad that I had to kill some of your men." stated the man as he finished his apple.
"What the fuck did you say you piece of dog shit!" shouted the Master.
"Well you were wondering why the south group wasn't firing and that would be because of me, and as I said before some of them were so loyal to you that the only way to keep them quite was to kill them. Oh and by the way I did the same thing to your east and west group, and here is that messenger you sent he is not loyal as some of your men but he seems like a good kid." said the man in the tree as he tossed down a body that was completely covered in burns. The man's statement was really hard to believe could he really have taken out forty five men by himself, all the Rune Knights knew was that this was the best possible thing to happen to them in a long time. While the members of the Blood Moon, were starting to get concerned and scared of this stranger.
"Don't listen to him men he's just bluffing, I bet he only beat up our messenger and nothing else." shouted out the Master trying to raise the moral of his members, which it did.
"Yea the Masters right there is no way that one man could take out the rest of our guild." shouted out a member of Blood Moon.
"Yea we are one of the strongest Dark Guild out there." replied another member.
"Yea we are Blood Moon." said someone else.
"Who said I was alone, oh and do you have any hostages in your guild hall I took a quick look around and couldn't find any?" asked the Stranger, shocking all that were listening.
"No we don't we're Blood Moon, and our moto is no prisoners!" shouted the Master.
"Good" replied the stranger starting to whisper something to himself.
"Why is that good and what were you doing in our guild hall?" asked the Master.
"Because I can then do this and know that I am only killing murder's, which I have no problems with." replied the stranger smiling at them. The next thing the members knew it was extremely hot behind them and when they turned around they didn't even know what to make of it. All around their guild hall lava came pouring out and surrounding it, but that wasn't all every once and a while an geyser of lava would erupt and then land on top of the guild and start eating away at everything in its path.
"Our guild hall." shouted out a member.
"What the hell just happened?" asked a different member.
"Oh my god we had a few injured members in there!" shouted out a member who had a friend inside.
"That guy in the tree must have done this." said a member who was now shaking in fear.
"Quiet all of you cowards, he's only one men we can easily all rush him and overwhelm him." stated the Master in a commanding voice. They were all about to charge the stranger when the heard the frantic shouts of their member.
"Master you aren't going to believe it the east group has been completely taken out, but that isn't all there is some sort of fire breathing monster out there, I was luckily enough to get away from it. This caused all of the members to look up at the stranger in the tree who now for some reason had his back to them, which enabled them to see the red flame emblem on the back of his coat.
"I did inform you that I already did that, I also said that I wasn't alone and oh mister messenger you only got away from her because I told her to let you go so you could inform your boss what you saw. Now I am going to count to three and when I turn around I want to see all of you bastards face down on the ground, which will inform me that you are going to keep your life and turn yourself in, otherwise I can't promise that I won't kill you." said the stranger.
The Rune Knights couldn't believe what they were witnessing right now; apparently the rest of Blood Moon has been taken out by this stranger, while somehow destroying their actual guild hall with lava, which happened to be mesmerizing, watching it slowly sink into the lava as parts of the roof are already covered in lava. And now the stranger was trying to get the rest of the members surrender peacefully.
"Fuck this I want to live." said a member as he got down on the ground.
"He's right look what he did to our guild, he's a monster." stated another member as he too got on the ground, who was soon followed by the rest of the guild except for the Master.
"You're all just a bunch of Cowards! FLAME BLAST!" shouted out as he fired a huge ball of fire at the stranger on the tree. There then was a huge explosion causing dust to fill the air, some of the Rune Knights thought that it was the end of their savior.
"See men he wasn't that hard to take care of, now get up and let's finish of these Rune Knights." commanded the Master.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you guys." replied the stranger as he walked out of the dust without a scratch on him.
"How are you not just a piece of charred meat kid?" asked the Master now slightly concerned.
"That's a secret, and it seems that you didn't take me up on that offer." said the teenager as he continued to stalk closer to the Master.
"Well let's see how you like this. FLAME THROWER!" shouted out the Master as he now sent a constant stream of fire at the stranger.
"HAHAHA not so big now are you?" the Master chuckled.
"Man are these flames weak they aren't even worth my time to eat." said a voice within the flames as a shadow got closer, and as it got closer you could see one glowing red eye.
"What are you some kind of monster?" asked the Master as he still shot fire at the teenager who was right in front of him.
"Yea you could call me a monster, but I am a very special kind of monster and do you have any idea what makes me special?" asked the teen with a creepy smile on this face.
"No." replied the Master who stopped shooting flames at the teen and was close to pissing himself.
"The thing is I only kill other monsters like you." replied the teen as he punched the man in the face sending him into a nearby tree.
"Please don't kill me, I won't do anything bad again I promise." said the Master as blood gushed from his broken nose.
"Did you know that my five senses are exceptionally good, I bet you didn't, did you also know that with these sense's I can usually tell if someone is lying. Now I can't actually tell if you are lying right now and that is probably because you are begging for your life right now, but guess what it still doesn't matter because I can smell so much blood on you right now and some of it is even weeks old. This tells me that you are a monster that needs to be exterminated before you ruin more lives by killing or by getting people to follow you like your old guild, so it ends here." stated the teen.
"Oh god, no, please spare me!" begged the former Dark Guild master.
"God can't even save you now. FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" shouted the teen as he unleashed an ungodly amount of fire from his mouth directly at the Master, who didn't even get to utter out a scream.
"Fira are you ready to go?" asked the teen out loud, causing those who were watching to wonder who he was talking to. That is until a white and orange fox appeared on his right shoulder.
"So are you Rune Knights going to start to arrest them or are you going to let all of my hard work go to waste?" asked the teen to the Rune Kights.
"You heard him men go and start locking them up." commanded Lahar to his men, who quickly got to work on the members that surrendered.
"Oh and mister Rune Knight sir, there are some in each direction from where we are at right now they are all in piles, shouldn't be hard to miss. Oh and there are some north of where their guild hall used to be, they were the ones in the guild to injured to fight." said the teen to Lahar.
"You can just call me Lahar, but I thought that you killed them when you took down their guild hall at least you made it sound that way?" replied Lahar to the teen.
"Oh that, yeah it really helps in situations like these to make them think that you are worse than them." replied the teen with a small grin.
"So were you lying when you said that you killed some of their members?" asked Lahar.
"No, I did kill a few, only when it was absolutely necessary I had to make sure that I wasn't caught or this could have turned out a lot worse for you and your men, oh and how many of your men are wounded?" asked the teen looking at the group of Rune Knights laying on the ground.
"Eight are in critical condition and another ten are still in pretty bad shape, why do you ask, and you never told me your name sir?" said Lahar wondering what this teen had planned.
"It's Natsu, Natsu Dragneel, and if you allow Fira here to help, we can probably save all of your men who are in critical condition right now." stated Natsu as he pointed to the fox on his shoulder.
"Really, that would make me eternally grateful to you Natsu, even more than I already am." replied Lahar willing to almost do anything if it could save his men.
"Fira, their all yours and tell me if you need any help." said Natsu looking at his little fox that then jumped off his shoulder and went to go work on the wounded.
"I have never seen a fox like that, and she can actually talk back to you?" questioned Lahar looking back to Natsu.
"Doesn't surprise me that you haven't seen any like her, she is a fire-fox and she can talk to me telepathically." replied Natsu giving Lahar a small smile.
"I have another question for you Natsu if you don't mind." said Lahar looking at the teen next to him.
"Fire away Lahar." said Natsu still smiling.
"How old are you and what were you talking about having enhanced five senses?" asked Lahar.
"Well I am only thirteen, and yea I have really ears, nose, and eyes, what I said to that man wasn't a lie it's all thanks to me being a dragon slayer." Natsu answered proudly.
"You are an actual dragon slayer, I thought those were all gone since the dragons left." stated Lahar shocked at this piece of information.
"Nope, some dragons will come back to train a student but they mostly still like to keep to themselves. I am actually looking for my dragon Igneel the Fire Dragon King." said Natsu still smiling like a mad man.
"Well I hope you find him Natsu, I have to ask you one more question and then I will stop why did you kill their Master?" asked Lahar.
"Oh I don't mind questions they help us get to know each other better, and I killed him for the reason that I said before I did it, he was a monster that needed to be put down. I know that is a harsh way to look at it but that is what Igneel taught me, if I see something wrong then it is my responsibility to make it right, and unfortunately for him that was my only option." replied Natsu looking a little sad that he couldn't save the man.
"Well you did give him a chance to surrender but he didn't take it." replied Lahar.
"Thanks Lahar." said Natsu with a smile once again.
"So I have to ask another question again are you fine with killing Natsu?" asked Lahar trying to completely figure out Natsu as they waited for everyone to be healed and the members of Blood Moon to be arrested.
"Well yes I am, I mean I was trained by a dragon for most of my life and he informed me that it is the way of the world. Everything dies, but he also stressed that I should only kill for a reason and if it is absolutely necessary. So to answer the question you didn't ask but wanted to know is do I enjoy killing, no I don't, I actually hate it but I won't let that stop me from accomplishing what I have set out to do, or let it cause me to hesitate for a split second which can have a huge change on whatever is going on. Most of the time causing everything to go wrong, so there is my stance on the whole killing others, and like I said before, since I was raised by a dragon I might see things different." explained Natsu to Lahar, who was taken aback by how well he thought that through.
"That is one way of seeing it and actually agreeing on most of your points, except the whole dragon thing, but I just never excepted, to hear an answer like that from a thirteen year old." replied Lahar now smiling at Natsu.
"Well I also bet you never expected to be saved by a thirteen year old and his fox now did you?" responded Natsu now smiling with Lahar as well.
"You have a point there Natsu." said Lahar as he and Natsu had a quick laugh.
"So are you really just a traveling mage?" asked Lahar finding it odd that someone this powerful wasn't in a guild.
"Yep, and I don't think I want it any other way. I mean I get to go where ever I want and pretty much do whatever I want. If I was part of a guild I wouldn't have all of that freedom." replied Natsu with a huge smile.
"Never thought of it that way, so how are you going to get jewels to buy stuff that you need?" asked Lahar.
"Well if I really wanted to I could easily make it without ever using jewels again, but that would kind of be a hassle so as of right now I am doing so S-Class quests that I got from a guild." said Natsu with a bigger smile.
"I thought you said you didn't belong to a guild?" questioned Lahar now slightly confused.
"I didn't join a guild I just took them without asking and have already completed nine of them. I was actually on my way to number ten when I heard and smelled fighting, which brings us to now." said Natsu noticing that most of the members of Blood Moon we now tied up.
"Well what are you going to do after you finish all of those?" asked Lahar.
"I don't know probably go back to looking for Igneel and this other guy." replied Natsu.
"No what I meant was how are you still going to make jewels?" asked Lahar now coming up with a plan that will be beneficial to both him and Natsu as long as he agrees to it that is.
"Don't know, probably take a few more S-Class requests from which ever guild I am closest to when I run out." said Natsu deciding right then that is what he was going to do.
"Well I have a suggestion, why don't you work with me? Now I just heard your reasons why you haven't joined a guild yet so I have come up with a solution to that, first of you will be more of a contractor doing only the jobs that you want to do. And the jobs will most of the time be bounty hunting jobs like track down this Dark Guild or mage and then get intel on them. Other times it will be just like today but hopefully not as disastrous as today and we will ask for your assistance on taking them down." explained Lahar.
"I don't know it sounds very tempting, how would you get a hold of me if I am planning on still doing what I am doing now?" responded Natsu.
"Easy I would just give you one of these communication lacrima and then I would be able to get a hold of you. Also if you are ever in town you could just swing by one of the Council's offices and pick up some of the bounty flyers that we have, after I get you a badge and clear all of this with my superiors." said Lahar hoping that he was convincing him.
"I still don't know about this, it still seems like the Council will then know about me and then try and make me permanent, which I don't really want." replied Natsu just about to turn this down.
"I got a solution to that, since I am the only one who knows who you are and that you are going to be working for the council I can be your handler or only contact with the council since I can't find the correct way to describe this. But I would be the only one to be able to contact you therefore you can still remain independent from the council if you want. Which also means that we will have to come up with a code man or moniker for you, I got it how about The Salamander?" asked Lahar thinking that it fit Natsu well since he is a fire dragon slayer.
"I like the sound of that, you know what Lahar I like you, let's do this." said Natsu as he reached out his hand so Lahar could shake his hand.
"That's a deal Salamander, so here is the communication lacrima and I will get into touch with you as soon as I get everything worked out on my end. Which will take longer than I would like, but as soon as I do I will get you everything you need to start working for the council." said Lahar as he and Natsu shook hands.
"Master I am done healing them, to the best of my abilites." said Fira as she hopped onto her spot.
"That's great Fira, I am sure that Lahar here really appreciates it." said Natsu as he gestured at Lahar.
"Thank you Fira for healing my friends." replied Lahar as he gave Fira a small bow.
"I like him Master, and can you tell him you're welcome?" said Fira.
"She says your welcome, and that she likes you which I can only assume is because you bowed to her." said Natsu with a smirk.
"Why wouldn't I bow to her she just saved eight of my men." replied Lahar.
"I really do like him Master." said Fira now all giddy about how Lahar thought that it was painfully obvious to show his respect to Fira.
"Good to hear Fira, because we are somewhat going to be working with him." said Natsu.
"I am fine with that Master, as long as it is something you want to do." replied Fira.
"You know I really only do what I want to do, which Lahar here has promised me will not change." said Natsu.
"Good to hear Master, and if we leave now we should still be able to make it to the countryside of that town." stated Fira.
"Well we better go then, shouldn't we Fira." replied Natsu as he started to head off in the direction of their next destination.
"See you around Lahar." shouted Natsu with a wave and was then gone.
"See you around Salamander." replied Lahar with a huge grin on his face.
"Commander Lahar who was that kid?" asked Righker.
"That was the Salamander." stated Lahar still grining.
"Who?" asked Righker.
"Just soon to be one of the most well-known names of a mage for this century." said Lahar knowing that his statement was most likely going to actually come true.
"Whatever you say Commander Lahar, it was just me and the other guys didn't even get to thank him for saying us sir." replied Righker.
"Don't worry about that we will see him again, we will probably some of the people that see him the most." said Lahar now walking back to his men.
"And why do you think that Commander Lahar." asked Righker.
"Simple because he agreed to work with us, under a certain set of conditions, which I plan on making sure that the council agrees to." replied Lahar.
"Well if you need any help Commander Lahar the men and I will gladly help in any way we can." said Righker.
"That should be easy enough to do all you have to do is tell people what happened here and how the Salamander saved us." replied Lahar with a smug smirk.
"Will do Commander Lahar I will tell the men that the Salamander saved them today." said Righker.
"Could you also inform our prisoners as well." said Lahar.
"Yes sir." responded Righker while giving Lahar a salute.
"Well my job just got a whole lot more interesting." said Lahar to himself while still sporting a smile.
End of Chapter
Author's Note:
This one is going to be short and to the point thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review
Until the next chapter
Digem Out!