I watched absentmindedly as Rune Knights filled the now immovable train. The sudden attack by Kageyama had practically been an earthquake with the way it had damaged it.

I grit my teeth. I should've been more careful... I knew instinctively that Lullaby would've been a far more dangerous item in this world and yet I hadn't expected such a reaction... Kageyama... What on earth had happened to him? Had Lullaby possessed him? Or had his own power backfired against him thanks to his close proximity to the cursed flute?

I hadn't expected him to turn in to that. "Damn it!" I'd actually thought I could end this without even having to deal with Erigor, that perhaps capturing Kageyama with the flute would've been enough...

I turned towards the others, I could see Lucy and Happy attempting to wake Natsu out of his stupor, Gray was on the side just staring at them, his mind no doubt elsewhere.

Erza was busy preparing our next form of travel, it seemed the magical four-wheeler had some sort of magic protecting it from damage. I was glad for that, getting stranded here would've been a major setback. Not that we hadn't already gotten one with Kageyama getting away the way he did.

As soon as the woman was done she turned towards me and started making her way. I could see Gray do the same behind her.

I gulped as I watched her reach me, I was in for an earful for that disaster...

Then she bowed and apologised, completely throwing me for a loop.

"What?" I blinked bemused.

She raised her head back, "Master told me to heed your counsel, I should've listened when you warned me to retreat."

"Huh?" What? This whole mess was my fault, if we'd gotten off earlier then Kageyama wouldn't have had a reason to suddenly go berserk the way he did.

"It seems pushing Kageyama the way I did brought nought but destruction," She sighed.

Then she crossed her arms, "I do not know where to go from here and I will not make the same mistake twice."

Where was she going with this?

"Do you have a plan in mindful of what's to come? You seem to have a clue as to what's going, I'll follow your lead from here,"

I frowned. "Following my lead is exactly what got us here..."

She shook her head, "What occurred was my responsibility alone, you gave me valuable information and a good chance to end it quickly... It was my rash decisions that led to the things it did." She levelled her gaze with me. "Do you have any idea what they intend to do?"

Gray crossed his arms in the background, a surprised look on his face. I supposed it wasn't every day he heard Erza admit so much so easily.

"I do... He intends to go after the Masters,"

Erza's eyes narrowed before she quickly composed herself. "Anything else?"

I nodded... "I am not entirely sure of the specifics but... He most likely knows we're coming after him, his likely plan is to trap us at the second to last station before... Where was the regular meeting?"

"Clovis," Eraz answered promptly before nodding again after taking in the information. "Those are a lot of ifs," She added on.

"I hadn't expected Lullaby to react the way it did... At this point, I can't be too sure."

Erza nodded, "Do you have a plan?"

Did I? In a way, I sort of had one... But again it relied on Erigor doing what he did in canon... But considering there was nothing else to work on...

"Give me a moment," I sighed as I walked past her towards the magical vehicle. I knew I couldn't let her drive it, we needed her strength at full if we were going to have any chance at winning.

The others had been surprisingly quiet, though given Natsu was the one that usually raised the volume, it made sense. The pink-haired hero was barely able to stand.

"Observe," I remarked staring at the vehicle.

-Magical Four-wheeler, travel requirements: Mana. Jewels-" My eyes widened at the second option, I could use Jewels to operate it?

I turned back to Erza, "It's risky, I don't know what can set Erigor off and given Kageyama's current state, he'd need to be taken care off as well,"

Erza agreed, "If Erigor intends to trap us then he's likely to wait for us to arrive... If we don't show up then he might just continue on with his plan... We could intercept him at Clovis."

I quickly shook my head, "He'll wait," I was certain of that, "And if we don't show... He'll try to draw us out..."

I left the meaning of the words up in the air. I could see Gray's eyes darken, "The train station you mean?" He asked through grit teeth.

I nodded, "Thousands of people could die in his attempt to force us there..."

"Do you have a plan?" Erza questioned me again.

"I do." I quickly jumped into the driver's seat on the four-wheeler.

Erza raised an eyebrow at me, "I do not believe you have enough stamina to hold it for long,"

"Not using stamina," I remarked as I quickly strapped the chord on, when the prompts came up, I chose Jewels for the energy source.

Erza quickly turned towards the others at my answer as she 'ushered' them in. I could see Natsu's face pale. Erza herself took a seat on top of the vehicle while Gray was forced inside with Natsu and Lucy.

"Your plan?" She questioned as I started the ride, sighing wistfully at the quickly depleting Jewels.

"Give me a moment," I remarked as I opened up the stats screen. I didn't see the look on her face though I imagine she was confused.

I stared at all the stat points I'd managed to accumulate and put them all into Dexterity. 41 was the total value. That brought my speed up to 51 mph from the previous 11. I was going to have to create a skill to boost it further.

The four-wheeler quickly sped up after that.

I am pretty sure Lucy just bumped her head onto the roof, while Erza somehow hadn't even flinched at the sudden increase in speed.

"How far away is Clovis from..."

"Oshibana station," She added on helpfully before looking thoughtful for a moment. "About a mile, why?"

That was... Fine enough I supposed. "I need you to hold a point about 1000 metres down the length of the track to Clovis,"

I was pretty sure her eyes widened at the prompt, "If Erigor is at Oshibana, It's best I go there myself, I do not think any of you are ready to deal with a mage of his calibre... Not to mention Kageyama." She remarked with a frown.

I nodded, "We're not, but like I said, Erigor doesn't intend to waste time, as soon as we show up he intends to trap us in a wall of wind, a wall Lucy could get through with her new Celestial spirit. Once Erigor has the trap set, he'll make his way towards Clovis through flight. You'll meet him on the way and take him down."

"I see... And Kageyama?"

"I'll transport him to you,"

"Transport?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Remember the Party invitations? I could teleport towards your location, any further than 1000 metres and I'd run out of most of my mana,"

"Yes... Natsu and Gray should be able to handle the rest of the guild without much issue and if what you said about Lucy's new spirit is true... What about you?" She suddenly questioned, "I do not think it wise for you to stay too close to either of us during my fight with Kageyama,"

"After I send him over to you, I'll sprint back and stall Erigor for as long as I can, it should give you enough time to take care of Kageyama,"

"Ah, I see, so that's why you input all your points into Dexterity,"

I blinked at the words as I turned back to her, accidentally causing the vehicle to bump along the roads.

"Mirajane told me the basics regarding your magic,"

"I see... Can you handle both then?"

"I will have to," Erza answered. "Don't die," She added on.

"I don't plan to."

But then again, when have things ever gone according to plan?

...

When we reached the station, I breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of destruction. Though the cost hadn't been fun... It had cost me almost 40000 jewels... Still, so far at least everything seemed to follow the canon storyline, I was honestly surprised Kageyama hadn't actually caused much damage himself...

Erza split off from us at that point as she disappeared in a burst of speed.

I turned to Gray, "It'll take some time before Natsu's back in action, can you hold the other's off until then?"

"I won't even need his help," He grinned.

I would've doubted him if I hadn't seen his level.

80. Gray was level 80. I'd been somewhat shocked to see him so much higher then Natsu. I'd thought them equal. Though in all fairness fire had a major advantage over ice and top it off, Natsu had been a dragonslayer. That seemed enough to even the gap between them but still... 80...

It still didn't compare to Erza's 237.

Lucy was surprisingly enough at 41, though whether her level was based off the stellar spirits in her possession I wasn't sure.

I shook my head off the thoughts, "We'll wait a few moments to give Erza enough time to reach her position... Then I'll go in first,"

Gray nodded, I'd told him the gist of the plan, he agreed with it though he considered it too risky to stall Erigor. He'd offered to do it himself until I'd explained the effects behind Blank ID.

It was a lot more efficient for me to do it.

I breathed in and cast off Empty ID on myself.

...

I sighed in relief once again when I found Erigor and his cronies laid out in the hall, with the leader flying in mid-air, a bored look on his face. The rest were spread out around. I couldn't see Kageyama, he was likely hiding in his shadows. In Erigor's right hand was the cursed flute.

I took my position in the middle and waited for the others to slowly enter the hall.

I was honestly glad to see Erigor start monologuing the moment Gray, a woozy Natsu and tired Lucy finally entered. The shinigami seemed to love making a good spectacle of things.

Just as Gray brought his hands out in an attempt to use his ice magic. Erigor grinned.

"Kageyamaaa." His voice slowly turned into a haunting whisper.

A few feet ahead of Gray, I could see a massive shadow fill the grounds. Slowly but surely a demon rose from it.

Kageyama's arm was still mutated, on his back lay spider-like legs made of shadows, his feet alone had also mutated, His other arm, while not as big, had taken a demonic look as well.

Erigor's manic grin had widened, "Oh was I surprised to see him come back an improvement!" The words quickly sent the rest of the hall into laughter.

It did the opposite for us, Natsu quickly sobered up after that as his eyes widened. Lucy had her hand over mouth while Gray simply narrowed his eyes.

"Empty ID," I broke through the mirror dimension, Erigor's eyes quickly snapped to me, wide.

I raced through towards Kageyama, the demon slowly turning towards me. The dexterity boost had helped my speed immensely.

"What are you-" Erigor started in a panic.

"Shadowstep: Erza." I remarked as I quickly grabbed onto the demon.

...

The two of us quickly landed onto the train tracks, Erza just ahead of us. I heard Kageyama growl but wasted no time as I started making my way back.

"Well done," I could just about make her words as I sprinted off.

I honestly started feeling bad for the demon as well as Kageyama.

On the run back, I started trying to focus mana at my feet with the intention to speed up. It took a few seconds to manage it but I quickly received a prompt to create a new skill.

I called it Accelerate, didn't exactly have time to be creative. Without wasting another second, I activated it and opened up the stats screen.

10% increase in speed while the cost was 1 mps. That's it?

-Level up-

Already... I checked the new stat and was surprised to see it go up to 20% and the cost... 4 mps?

I had around 1000 metres to cover... At the speed I was going it would take about less then a minute...

-Level up- There it was again... The first four levels always seemed to be the easiest...

30% increase... 9mps... I blinked... This was getting costly quickly...

I figured I had about 100 metres by the time I received another level up on it...

40%... 16mps...

When the station finally came into view. I realised my mistake.

I'd forgotten to put up another Empty ID.

Erigor had just finished putting up the wind wall when he'd turned towards me.

Only... He didn't attack straight away... No, he stared at me and slowly raised his head along the track...

When he turned back down, it was with a glare on his face. He didn't say a word as I stood there, speechless. Instead, he slowly flew forward towards me...

And then simply passed me along the track.

I should've let him go.

"Blank ID 1-2," I cast off throwing both of us in.

He stopped, didn't turn, merely raised his head.

"I hate you heroic types," He snarled as he slowly turned his head towards me. "You want to know why?"

I didn't say anything, if he was willing to stall himself he could take as much time as he wanted.

"You don't care about your own life... Always willing to throw it away at the smallest chance of fame!"

I gulped down as he aimed his scythe at me. I felt a shiver go down my spine as he smiled.

"And yet... Recently... I found myself in love with dealing with your type... It's a wondrous feeling... Breaking you that is,"

"What?" I couldn't help it as he lowered his scythe.

"I'll give you one chance. Kneel and remove this stupidity you call a shield."

"I can't do that,"

He grinned. "You know? I don't know how you found out what my plan was but I do so love to improvise..." There was a dark look on his eyes. "Don't worry, I won't kill you, well not directly... That's not near enough of a punishment for defying the god of death. No..."

I braced myself. What on earth was he planning? The only way I was letting him out of this was if Erza was ready and judging by her mana depleting, she was still fighting... That or if he decided to kill me...

He lowered his scythe. "I hope you remember this, if you survive that is. I never intended to kill off more than the masters. You changed my mind. All their lives are on your head."

"You really think I'll let you out now!?" I yelled off resolutely. Inside, however, I felt fear curl up... Who..? Who was he talking about? And then my eyes widened... I hadn't considered him using the flute on Erza... Or the others for that matter...

His smile disappeared, in its place a dark expression. He raised his scythe and activated a magical circle.

"Don't get cocky brat." He snarled.

He swung his scythe and shattered the entire dimension.

...

Erigor had ripped the pocket dimension apart with a single swing of his scythe. The side effect of having it broken through sheer force had left me on my knees, barely holding onto consciousness.

When I got a glimpse of him, however, I found a grin on the assassin's face. He never said a word. Instead, he soared up high into the sky, pulled the flute out and a magical circle showed up as he made to play it.

Indiscriminate mass murder... Just before the sound could reach me however I lost consciousness entirely, the last thing I saw was the sight of the magical circle expanding as it quickly filled up the sky.

...

Author notes: The next chapter will be an interlude from Erza and Gray's point of view and will cover what occurred from their view from the moment they got into the train up to and including whatever occurred during the SI's blackout. The chapter will finish from the SI's point of view once he reawakens.