Chapter 10

RedBurningDragon- It's not Terumi or Hazama, I assure you. Also, yeah, expect some Dark Souls designs in my fics (The ones that would have some sense in having that stuff) as I love that franchise. It won't be a true crossover, just some designs taken or being based from that franchise. (Just to be safe. Disclaimer: I don't own Dark souls.)

Wlyman2209- Really? Huh. I always assumed that because he let Arakune live (Though that was probably due to Litchi begging not to.) and him not killing Hazama/Terumi at Continuum Shift (Not that he could because of the life link between Hazama and Noel.). That and the Wiki stated that he disdained killing. (Then again that stuff can be unreliable at times.). Ah well, I always assumed he disliked killing. Maybe I was wrong. Oh well.

"You serious?" Asked Ragna as he listened to Erza's explanation about what happened after he left. Right after he came back, he was the military taking away the Raven Tail team away, which confused him, causing Erza to explain. Apparently Raven Tail had cheated during their match with Fairy Tail by using every member against Laxus. Laxus beat them all with little effort, so much so that he said it was pathetically easy. As a result of this, the Grand Magic Games staff decided to remove Raven Tail from the games.

"Yeah." Said Natsu, pouting because Laxus had done it all by himself and didn't include him. "That glory-hog." Erza just rolled her eyes at that and looked at Ragna.

"You've been gone for quite a while. Something happened?" Asked Erza. Ragna then closed his eyes, remembering that armored man that fought him just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, but that's for the master." Said Ragna. "You guys can listen in if you like. Don't feel like repeating myself."

"It would be appreciated." Said Erza. "But right now, the remainder of the games are going on right now. You won't mind if your explanation being put on hold?"

"It's fine." Said Ragna as he watched the current match, which was Wendy versus some little girl from Lamia Scale. "Guys know anything about this girl?"

"Nope." Said Erza. "But apparently, she's a powerhouse."

"If she is, I hope that I can fight her." Said Natsu with excitement.

"Not cool, man." Said Gray, a bit annoyed at Natsu's eagerness to fight someone, even if its someone as young as the Lamia Scale girl. The two started to argue, before being quickly stopped by Erza, who wanted to watch Wendy's match with as much quiet as possible. The match soon started. As the fight went on, the girl from Lamia Scale, named Chelia, had surprised them when she started to use sky god-slayer magic, a form of magic that was thought to be lost forever along with the other forms of god slayer magic. Ragna just crossed his arms as the battle dragged out.

"Guys know anything about this god slayer magic?" Asked Ragna.

"A bit." Said Erza. "It's a form of magic that has similar properties to dragon slayer magic, but it's been said to be superior to it."

"As if!" Scoffed Natsu. "I took on a fire god-slayer before and I beat the crap out of him! They're not as tough as us dragon-slayers!" Ragna just rose an eyebrow at that.

"That right?" Asked Ragna.

"It's true." Said Erza. "Wendy told me of his encounter. Natsu struggled a bit,"

"Hey!" Whined Natsu, pouting a bit.

"But he managed to defeat him and, according to master, he managed to gain the power of his opponent before defeating him." Finished Erza. Natsu just made a grin at that, giving a thumbs-up.

"So, you're saying that Wendy can do the same with this girl?" Asked Ragna as he watched the two fought on.

"Course she can!" Yelled Natsu before cheering Wendy on. "Show her how dragon-slayers handle things, Wendy!" Ragna just sighed before going back to spectating the battle. Eventually the battle ended when Wendy managed to take out Chelia with one hit, though it took a lot of her magic power to do so. The announcer was about to declare her the victor when suddenly Chelia got up, using her magic to heal herself.

"She can heal her-self!?" Exclaimed Erza in shock.

"What's the problem?" Asked Ragna in confusion. "Can't Wendy do the same?"

"No, she can't." Said Erza. "She can only heal others, not herself."

"Which is bad news for her cause this girl looks like she was back up to full strength." Said Gray, seeing that the girl was all cheerful and looks completely fine. "Damn Leon. Should have known he pulled something like this."

"Quit your complaining, Wendy's got this." Said Natsu, not letting this turn of events from deterring his belief that Wendy will win. Ragna gave a grunt of approval before watching the match continue. It was a vicious fight, with both Chelia and Wendy both exhausted since Chelia's healing ability didn't do anything for one's stamina or endurance. Eventually the fight ended when the time ran out and both participants scored only five points for their teams. Looking at his teammates, Ragna saw that everyone was smiling and commending Wendy for her hard work, something that he agreed on. She performed well for a girl her age. As that match was the final one for the day, the announcers told everyone to leave and be prepared for tomorrow. With that, everyone began to leave the stadium for their inns or homes. As he was walking, Ragna thought back to that weird man he fought a while ago. He wasn't sure, but it looked like the man was made out of Seithr.

"Could that even be possible?" Thought Ragna. "Might be. Never seen it though." He wondered if this world has Seithr in it. If so, that would explain how he could use his Azure Grimoire with no problem. If not, then he had no idea how he can still use his powers without Seithr or why that man looked like he was made of Seithr. Maybe his Grimoire adapted or something to use Ethernano, instead of Seithr. And maybe that guy was just made through Ethernano. He heard that Zeref had created his demons with Ethernano, so it could be the case with this guy. Though he had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't the case.

Later

Ragna was tapping his foot as he waited for Makarov to come back from whatever he needed to do. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, he couldn't speak to Makarov about his fight with the Arakune clones and that man that was with him before it was late at night. And to annoy him further, when he had gotten the chance to talk to him, he just left with Laxus, his grandson, for some important meeting. Sighing in exasperation, he decided to wait for him to finish whatever he had to do. As he waited, he looked to see Natsu picking a fight with Gray while everyone else was cheering about how good they did today or trying to stop them from thrashing the bar they were all in. He chuckled a bit as he saw Juvia fangirl over Gray, telling him he did great in today, despite him not doing anything today.

"What a crazy guild this is." Thought Ragna as he watched everyone fool around and damage private property. "But I guess it's my crazy guild." Having enough of all this commotion, Ragna went outside to wait for Makarov, knowing that he'll be coming here for a drink or two. With the noise level down significantly, Ragna looked up at the moon. Gazing at it, he wondered if his old world is doing okay, that his sacrifice actually meant something. He shook his head at that, knowing that it did and that everyone had the power to decide their own fate rather than it being determined for them. He was about to delve on the topic more when suddenly he heard footsteps. Turning his head, he saw a hooded figure approaching him. One with pink hair. Sighing, he yelled out.

"What do you want, Meredy?" Asked Ragna. The figure just chuckled before taking off their hood, revealing it to be Meredy.

"Nothing much." Said Meredy. "Just wanted to speak to you."

"About something important, no doubt." Said Ragna. Meredy just sighed before turning serious.

"Yes." Said Meredy. "We detected some strange magic coming inside the coliseum. Jellal went to investigate, but…he encountered someone that got in his way. The two fought, fiercely I might add, but Jellal lost. We only noticed when our connection to him was lost. Ultear and I investigated and saw a man in leather armor about to slice Jellal's head off. But when he saw us, he took off and ran." Once she was finished, Ragna's eyes were wide open.

"Did this man had a pointed helmet with a giant sword and a curved knife?" Asked Ragna. Meredy looked surprised at this before nodding her head. "Great. So, there's more than one." Ragna then explained to Meredy what happened to him, believing Crime Sorcière deserved to know. When he finished, Meredy looked shocked.

"So, you encountered a similar man to the one that Jellal fought?" Asked Meredy.

"Yup, if it happened in the same time, then yeah." Said Ragna. "Had some magic that prevented me from escaping. And the guy fought real hard. It was like he was an animal with some of the moves he pulled off."

"And this man had help?" Asked Meredy.

"Yup. Blobs of black matter with white masks." Said Ragna, leaving out the fact that they looked like Arakune. He wasn't ready to explain that yet and his origins. "Damn things jumped me so that guy can escape." Meredy sighed to herself.

"Our job got a whole lot complicated now." Said Meredy. "We'll keep an eye out for these men as well as those blobs."

"Is Jellal okay?" Asked Ragna, wondering about the blue-haired man.

"He is." Said Meredy. "Though he won't be able to do anything for awhile. Ultear is patching him up now. Until he's back up and ready for action, I'll be taking over Jellal's job of talking with you guys."

"Got it." Said Ragna. "Anything we should know?"

"Only that we haven't found that magic power that comes from Zeref." Said Meredy. "It's trick to find. We had some suspects, but they're not the ones."

"Damn thing is slippery." Said Ragna.

"That it is." Said Meredy. She then smiled at Ragna. "Well, that's all I have." She then raised her hood back on. "Hope to see you do well tomorrow."

"Will do." Said Ragna as he watched her leave. A few minutes after she left, Makarov and Laxus were coming back to the bar, seemingly exhausted. Seeing the master, Ragna walked over.

"Hey old man, we need to talk." Said Ragna. Makarov just waved his hand.

"Do it after I have a drink or two." Said Makarov. "I'm beat." Ragna just rose an eyebrow as the two men entered the bar.

"What made you two exhausted?" Said Ragna before going in, cursing slightly at the fact that Makarov would probably be too drunk to listen in on what he had to say. Oh well, might as well tell his team so they can spread the word themselves.

The next day

"Seriously?" Asked Ragna as he saw Lucy in her swimming suit. "She's doing this challenge?"

"Hey!" Said Lucy, a bit offended.

"No offense, but why?" Asked Ragna.

"Well, the challenge seems to involve water in some way, so we thought that, since Lucy has a water spirit in her possession, that she would be a better pick than any of us." Explained Erza. Feeling that was an acceptable answer, Ragna just closed his eyes and shrugged. Better than him doing it.

"I guess that's okay." Said Ragna before looking at Lucy. "Good luck."

"No problem." Said Lucy with a smile. "I'm going to score big in this challenge." With that Lucy left with everyone beside Erza and Ragna, who stayed behind to talk.

"Think your friend will come again today?" Asked Erza, remembering the conversation the team and Ragna had about his encounter with a mysterious swordsman yesterday. They were surprised to hear about this and even more so when he told them that there was another one that attacked Jellal who tried to investigate. When Ragna mentioned that Jellal was seriously injured fighting it, he noted that a look of worry was made by Erza. As a way to comfort her, he told her that Meredy assured him that Jellal will recover, which relieved Erza greatly. After the explanation, the group decided to pass the information to the proper authorities, the GMG staff, as well as their guild and the others. Unfortunately, they couldn't spread the word to others last night besides themselves due to it being so late. So, they had to do it today, which was taken care of by Erza. To her annoyance, all she had gotten from the staff was that they'll tighten security around the GMG and that the military will investigate.

"Don't doubt it." Said Ragna as the two walked to the coliseum. "If they're strong enough to fight with me for a time and take out Jellal, I'm guessing they're not worried about some military squads."

"True." Said Erza, knowing full well that the military isn't cut out with fighting opponents of that scale. Not without overwhelming numbers on their side. "But I doubt that they'll do anything now that the military is on high alert. It would be foolhardy to do anymore attacks during the Grand Magic Games now that the military is notified about them."

"I guess." Said Ragna as they entered the arena. "Still got to be prepared in case they do." Erza just nodded as the two watched Lucy participate in the challenge. Gray and Natsu waved in greeting as they watched the challenge. Wendy wasn't around due to Lucy taking her place for the challenge. The event went on smoothly enough, with a few surprises here and there, like Juvia holding her own and even nearly beating Lucy's water spirit, who soon fled after a short tussle with Juvia, leaving Lucy all alone. To make up for this, she summoned two more spirits to help fend off attacks from the other contestants, who were all female after the only male was taken out by a cheap kick by Jenny, but due to them not being suited for underwater combat, the two spirits were forced to just defend their master rather than attack. Eventually the contestants were all eliminated except for two, which were Lucy and the Sabertooth girl. A woman by the name of Minerva. Ragna heard about her from his guild and from locals. She, along with four other wizards, the reason Sabertooth was so powerful and considered the top guild in Fiore. This group were the same people that were participating in the tournament for their guild, which meant Sting was one of Sabertooth's most powerful guys.

"Tch. That guy being their strongest? What a joke." Thought Ragna as his thoughts went to Yukino, the girl that was in the Sabertooth team before Minerva, who took her place after her dismissal from her guild. He wondered where she was now and if she was alright. These thoughts only stopped when he heard Lucy screaming out in pain. He snapped out of his thoughts to see Lucy being peperred with some sort of light that engulfed the entire sphere of water that the challenge was being done in, which was floating above the coliseum.

"What's going on?" Asked Ragna.

"I don't know." Said Erza in shock. "I never seen this type of magic before."

"Me neither." Said Gray as everyone looked in shock at the carnage. "Must be some lost magic or something." It was then that they all realized that Minerva was holding her keys, meaning that Lucy was defenseless now. Gray just gritted his teeth at that. "And to make matters worse, Lucy doesn't have her keys with her now. Meaning this fight is all but over."

"Don't say that, Gray, she can still win this!" Said Natsu. Ragna was about to comment when they all heard Lucy making a speech about not giving up and surrendering to Minerva, using the excuse that it would be worse than betrayal to her guild because of how hard her guildmates have been doing in this tournament. She then ended the speech by saying that Fairy Tail will be number one again, which somewhat shocked Minerva and impressing Ragna. Her tenacity, while foolish, was something that he can respect and relate to, given how he refused to give up, even with the odds stacked against him. This however, changed to shock when Minerva donned a demonic look before beginning a merciless assault on Lucy, claiming that this was what Lucy deserved for defying her.

"What the hell is going on!?" Demanded Ragna as he saw this happening. He and his teammates then watched to see Minerva teleporting Lucy in front of her whenever she nearly got out of the sphere before attacking her again and again. "Damn bitch. She's torturing her!" They then looked to the Sabertooth team, who all looked nonchalant of the assault aside from one, which drew faces of disgust and anger from the Fairy Tail guild.

"They're all going to pay for this!" Swore Natsu as he clenched his fists in anger. A statement that was well in line with what everyone on the Fairy Tail team was thinking. Ragna stooped looking at the Sabertooth team in disgust to focus on Minerva and Lucy. As Lucy was being assaulted on without mercy, Ragna couldn't help but feel disgust for Minerva. She wasn't as bad as Terumi or Relius, but god damn did he want to punch her lights out right now for attacking someone who couldn't fight back and was severely wounded already. Having enough of this, Ragna climbed on top of the platform his team was in before jumping toward the ball of water that the challenge was taking place, which was floating in the air. He got in with no resistance and before anyone could do anything, he put a lot of power to his right arm before throwing it to the two girls.

"Hope I can do this right!" Thought Ragna before stopping near the girls. Without warning, he threw another punch at Minerva, who had to stop her assault on Lucy to dodge the attack, which gave Ragna the chance to grab Lucy and get out of there, using the force of his punch to swiftly get out of the sphere. Unfortunately, Minerva just simply teleported them in front of her and she was about to attack them both when the bell suddenly rung, forcing her to stop less she be punished for attacking a contestant outside of a challenge. Before she left, she gave Ragna a look of contempt for saving Lucy and probably for something else, which was followed by a look of contempt of Ragna himself.

"Save it for people that actually give a damn, bitch." Thought Ragna before bringing Lucy out of the sphere and to Wendy, who was one her way to heal her with Chelia. As he laid her down, he saw Erza speaking with Minerva, obviously about her actions. Things then escalated when the Sabertooth team came out of the stand to confront Erza and the rest of Fair Tail team A, all itching for a fight. Erza, however, wasn't up for it yet and told her team to stand down. Instead, she just warned Sabertooth that they'll pay for what they did to Lucy soon enough. As he watched things settle down, he saw Natsu coming over to see how Lucy was, causing Ragna to raise an eyebrow. "Could it be. Probably." Thought Ragna as he watched Natsu look at Lucy in worry. "Just like me and Noel and Rachel. Damn. I miss those headaches." With that, Ragna began to help Lucy up with the help of Natsu once Wendy said that she was okay to be escorted to the infirmary.

Meanwhile

Mercurius

Unknown to many, a green haired and eyed woman was watching all this happen with a cloaked individual that obscured what he looked like.

"See, princess Hisui." Said the cloaked figure in a masculine voice. "I was correct in that he would save her. If that doesn't believe you, then allow me to give you more information about the future." He then began to chuckle. "Sorry. The tag-team matches will have the Fairy Tail teams merging together and them beating the Sabertooth dragon-slayers with their own. Not only that, but Fairy Tail will win the entire tournament with just 11 points and no team members lost from the last event. If all that will come true, will you believe me?" The princess just looked at the cloaked individual.

"If they do…then I'll believe you." Said Hisui. "And I'll do what I can to prevent the terrible future that you say will come to pass from occurring." She couldn't see his face, but she swore that he smiled at that.

"That's all I ask, princess." Said the individual before leaving. He only stopped when the princess called him out.

"May I ask for you're name?" Asked the princess. The figure just shook his head no before leaving her alone. Once alone, the figure began to chuckle.

"This is far too easy." Said the figure as he walked away.

Sorry if this is short and that Lucy was the one that took the water challenge. To my defense, the contestant are given the name of the challenge prior to it beginning and they have to decide if one of their team members or some other from their guild will do it. So since the name was Naval battle, I would assume they would have sent in wizards with water magic or some spirit involving water over those with swords or wind if they were available. (At least logically and it would be something I would do.) A weak excuse I know, I'm sorry.