The water around the three Offworlders foamed with activity as they dodged around the frustrated water mage's attacks.

"One of these should hit you, and then you'll be out of my hair for good." she grumbled, drawing more orbs of water from the water flooding the floor of the arena. However this floodwater also made it increasingly difficult for Katie, Lewis and Jason to move.

"We're going to need to get rid of this bitch fast!" Jason said, ducking under another orb of water.

"Less talky, more smashy!" Katie shouted, scribbling franticly with her pen.

Lewis rapidly flipped through the pages in his tome before coming to a stop, a few sparks zapping between his fingers. "Sparkstream!"

The yellowed bolt of lightning arced towards Suzanne who raised a large ball of water from the floodwater beneath them, turning the water turning to nothing. The ball of water dropped as Suzanne was about to attack Lewis before she coughed violently and staggered away, trying to catch her breath.

"Hey Suzanne, you okay?!" Verbrennen shouted.

"What the heck was that?" Katie asked.

"Beats me. Some kind of gas?" Jason asked.

'Gas?' Lewis asked, a thought occurring in his mind as a wicked grin spread across his face. "Everyone get back!"

As Lewis flipped through his pages, Lewis held out his arm as a deep blue magic circle hovered before his splayed hand.

"Okay, let's see if this works. Riverwrath!" Lewis shouted, hurling a stream of water directly at Suzanne. The water mage caught it effortlessly, confusion on her face.

Suzanne smirked as she prepared to hurl the water back at Lewis. "You foolish child. What d-"

Suzanne was interrupted as the ball of water was wrenched from her control as Lewis turned it into a spiralling pattern around her.

"Now for step two. Sparkstream!" Lewis shouted as the water electrolysed. "Finally, Flameburst!"

As the gout of fire licked around the spiral, the gas created exploded violently, sending Suzanne rocketing into the roof with a deafening boom. Snapping his book shut and dipping his hat low, Lewis watched Suzanne drop to the ground.

"Explosive Electrolysis. Basic chemistry at its deadliest." He grinned before turning to the others. "Hey guys, how cool was that?"

"Eh, I'd give it a four out of ten." Jason shrugged.

"That can't be the end of it. It just can't." Katie said. "She went down without a fight."

True to Katie's word, a forceful bolt of water knocked Lewis off his feet and sent him sailing for the geyser-like border of the arena, bouncing him off the roof before sending him crashing back down to the ground. Suzanne got to her feet from the water and looked, in plain terms, downright pissed. The explosion had blackened and torn most of her clothing and a thick river of blood was going down the side of her face.

"That's. It." She growled. "Tidal Implosion."

All the water on the ground began to be forcefully sucked into the centre towards Suzanne, knocking most combatants off their feet other than Verbrennen who jumped when he heard Suzanne begin the spell.

"Oh boy, you motherfuckers are in for it now." He smirked.

'There it is again.' Jason thought as he watched Natsu leap to his feet and punch Verbrennen in the back of the head, only to have his fist blocked by his giant sword.

Suzanne pressed the giant orb of water she had collected into a small ball before spreading her arms wide with a great shout, creating a huge shockwave of high pressured water.

Without warning, several things began to happen. First, Lewis tripped and fell down a hole he hadn't noticed before. Secondly, a giant pillar of rock fell to the ground where Jason was standing, shielding him from the watery blast. Finally, Katie just happened to be standing behind Natsu, who used his intense flames to turn the water to vapour just as it hit.

"The fuck?" Jason asked as he stared at the giant block of rock that was now crumbling before him.

"Deus Ex Machinegun." Katie muttered, feeling a lot of energy drain from her. "I think I just used up almost everything guys, kick her ass before she does that again!"

"Right!" Lewis shouted, getting to his feet and flipping open his tome. "Jason, you ready?"

"Hell yeah!" Jason grinned, clutching another potion in his hand.

Lewis flipped through his pages and pulled out his silver shortsword while Jason quickly drank his swirling potion.

"Limit Break Elixir!"

"Ice Make: Snowbrand."

As energy began to flood to each part of Jason's body, a trail of heavy snow began to fall from the blade of Lewis' sword as the blade itself began to whiten with a layer of frost.

"Enough of this!" Suzanne roared, tossing a bolt of water at Jason and Lewis.

Swinging his blade through the floodwater, Lewis splashed water up in front of him that turned into a barrier of clear ice that the water splashed away from, but shattering the barrier in the process while Jason simply dodged out of the way. Lewis dipped the end of the sword into the water and it began to freeze, making a small platform that he clambered onto before jumping onto a fallen rock. By this time the water was almost at waist height, so having a better footing was best.

"I'm so sick of the both of you!" Suzanne seethed. "Tidal Implosion!"

As the water began to draw back into Suzanne, Lewis and Jason began to run for her. Verbrennen tried to break from his combat with Natsu, but Natsu blocked his way with a vicious kick to the stomach. Lewis leapt forward with a yell and slashed the compressed ball of water in her hands, turning the churning water to snow that burst out in a giant geyser above them.

"N-no!" Suzanne gasped.

"Oh hell yeah." Jason grinned as he appeared behind her, slamming a brass knuckle punch right into the back of her head. Suzanne cannoned away as the barrier around them faded, revealing that Fairy Tail had escaped to the other end of the room. However water was still flooding into the giant stone room, and Verbrennen now looked absolutely livid.

"You… You fucks!" he roared. "I'm gonna make you wish you never set foot in this place!"

Holding his flamberge above his head, he plunged it into the water creating a huge burst of steam from his superheated blade.

"Where'd he go?" Jason asked.

Lewis looked back at the holes spewing water into the room and grimaced. "Jason, you keep an eye out! I'm gonna try and stop this water flooding in!"

Lewis ran to one of the fountains of water, feeling his body getting hotter and heavier with every passing step. It seemed that Verbrennen had turned the entire place into a sauna. Finally arriving at the drain, Lewis tried to move the stone slab, but it wouldn't budge!

"Guess I skipped upper body day one too many times. Okay, plan B." he muttered exhaustedly, flipping over the pages. "Gravalance."

A storm of gravel appeared from the tome as Lewis poured it into the grate before pulling it together to make a giant stone cork in the inside of the stone pipe. Sure enough, it seemed to slow the flooding of water.

"Great. One down, seven to go." Lewis muttered.

Meanwhile, Jason was peering around the foggy room, looking for Verbrennen.

"Hey Natsu, is Katie gonna be okay?" Jason shouted.

"Don't worry, I'll keep her safe!" Natsu shouted back.

"It's not the girl you should be worrying about." Hissed Verbrennen as he lunged out of the steam.

Jason whirled around and caught the blade in his hand. However, the sheer heat of the blade even made it through Jason's toughness potion and he reeled his hand back in surprise and pain.

"Ow! What the fuck?" Jason mumbled as he faced off Verbrennen.

"That should've fused your hand to my sword. Ah well, I'll cut you open anyway." Verbrennen said, holding the white hot blade above his head and preparing to strike. "Don't worry, the wound's gonna be cauterised instantly as I split you in half!"

Verbrennen launched into the attack, swinging the sword down into the water and causing hot steam to plume upwards. Jason quickly jabbed at Verbrennen, hitting him in the side of the face and causing him to stagger, still clutching the sword.

"Not bad." He said, wiping his mouth with his free hand.

Jason was surprised when he found himself breathing quite heavily, despite not really doing that much.

"Jesus, it's like a sauna in here!" Jason spat as he swung a fist at Verbrennen, the latter only just managing to block the strike, the white hot blade causing one of Jason's brass knuckles to melt right off his hands! "Ah! Son of a bitch!"

"Jason, don't overdo it!" Lewis warned, having filled up three more holes. "This place is a sauna! He's trying to sweat you out!"

"Clever kid." Verbrennen chuckled. "Even though you're damn fast, I can slow you down enough to fight you."

Lewis frowned as he opened his tome again and aimed his hand at Verbrennen. "Hey Verbrennen! It's time for you to cool off! Ice Make: Arrows!"

Two giant crystalline arrows sailed through the air towards the robed wizard, who whirled around and diced up the arrows, turning the crystal arrows into small chunks of ice. Reaching out, Jason caught one of the ice blocks and shoved it into his mouth before slamming another knuckle-covered fist into Verbrennen's back.

"Shanks Hruuish!" Jason shouted through his mouthful of ice.

"Uh… You're welcome?" Lewis guessed, not entirely sure what Jason had said.

"Haright hip shit, lesh go!" Jason taunted, putting up his fists and running towards Verbrennen at full speed.

Jason's fist blurred as he lunged forward with a fierce punch that landed square in Verbrennen's chest, winding him and sending him stumbling backwards. Jason swept the legs out from Verbrennen, causing him to splash into the water. He was about to deal the final blow when Verbrennen whipped his sword across and it collided with Jason's face, causing him to stagger out of the way as he spat out the block of ice between his teeth and hold it to the burn he received. Verbrennen plunged the sword into the water and vanished in a cloud of steam. Looking around, Jason spotted him leap towards Lewis.

"Lewis, behind you!" he shouted.

Lewis whirled around with sword at the ready, blocking Verbrennen's strike with the icy flat of his blade. Verbrennen reeled back from the cold blade's touch and jumped backwards.

"Huh. Big mistake buddy." Lewis said, letting his book open in his hand. "Now I know your weakness."

"Yeah? Good luck hitting me with those Ice Arrows of yours." Verbrennen snorted.

"Who said I needed to do anything?" Lewis asked.

Jason leaped up behind Verbrennen and smashed his elbow into the back of his head, forcing him to stumble forwards. Lewis whipped his sword around and pinned the flat of the blade onto the hand holding Verbrennen's flamberge, causing him to yelp and drop the sword, the white hot blade turning back to its normal polished shine. Lewis quickly put the sword to Verbrennen's neck, stopping him from getting up.

"Fairy Tail: Five, Primordial Fist: Zero." Lewis grinned.

"You think you assholes have won? Our master is gonna wreck all your shit!" Verbrennen shouted.

"I think it's time for you to go to sleep." Jason said, taking out a spray bottle filled with a clear potion before spraying it in Verbrennen's face. In a matter of seconds the final member of the Five Fingers of Death was sleeping like a baby.

"Huh, it's that thing again." Lewis said as Jason put away the potion. "I didn't know you made more of that stuff."

"Thought I'd take a bottle, just in case." Jason shrugged. "Now come on, we need to check on Katie."

As the two Offworlders ran back towards Natsu and Katie they saw that Katie was just getting to her feet.

"You okay?" Jason asked bluntly.

"Sleeeeeeeep." Katie droned. "Neeeeeed sleeeeeeeeep."

"I think she's just fine." Lewis deadpanned.

"I think Katie is pretty much dry of magical energy. Lewis, you had a fully charged lacrima right?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah." Lewis said, digging into his coat pocket and pulling out the crystal. "Here you go Katie, this'll get you on your feet."

Katie took the lacrima and immediately began feeling better, getting to her feet after a few seconds. "Thanks Lewis." She said, handing the orb back to him.

"Not a problem." Lewis nodded, looking at the lacrima a little remorsefully. "But if I don't get this thing charged, I probably won't be able to do any of my big attacks."

"That could be a problem." Jason said.

"I thought we told you not to do that inside." Katie said angrily.

"Yeah, yeah." Lewis snorted. "Now that we've taken care of that we should probably collect the bodies of those five finger guys and get back to Makarov."

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

The rest of Fairy Tail had set up their camp outside the fortress, tending to the wounded. As the Offworlders and Natsu left the stronghold, Mirajane rushed to meet them.

"Are you all alright? You got left in there with two of them!" Mirajane asked.

"We're fine Mira, no need to worry." Lewis said.

"Oh thank goodness! We've got more wounded here than we can handle at the moment." Mirajane said, looking around. Wendy was franticly scrambling around, curing people with her magic as quickly as she could. Even Happy was helping out, delivering medicines and bandages to those who needed them.

"Primordial Fist was a lot tougher than we expected huh?" Lewis muttered.

"Yeah." Jason muttered.

"Katie, can you help with healing?" Mirajane asked. "That pen of yours should be able to do something to help. We're running out of bandages for a start."

"Huh? Okay." Katie nodded before being hurried away with Mira.

"You two boys, over here!" Makarov shouted, waving down Lewis and Jason.

Lewis and Jason hurried over to Makarov, who was looking very frustrated with the whole situation.

"Are you okay? What happened to the Primordial Fist members?" Makarov asked.

"Don't worry about us." Jason said. "We knocked out the other two and Natsu's putting them with the others."

"So that's all the Five Fingers taken care of." Makarov breathed. "Still, we need to get to the root of this problem. What about their leader?"

Lewis and Jason looked between each other and shrugged.

"We haven't seen him." Lewis reported.

"He wouldn't have fled. No, that's not the way of Primordial Fist. He's probably trying to regroup his forces for a counterattack." Makarov said.

"The again, we didn't look beyond that door those guys came out of." Jason said, looking back to the stronghold.

"Then he may still be in there." Makarov said grimly.

"What do we do then?" Jason asked.

"I'm all for barricading him inside and letting him starve to death." Lewis volunteered.

"What?! That's not cool in the slightest!" Natsu spat as he ran over. "I wanna get in there and pummel 'im!"

"Pipe down Natsu! This isn't some two-bit hack we're dealing with!" Makarov shouted, silencing much of the noise around the camp. "Primordial Fist's leader isn't your average Dark Guild leader. That man… No. He is no longer a man. His devotion to the elements he used was unsurpassed, but it had twisted him into something else. Eventually he began to use them for selfish means. Towns were raided, people attacked, innocent lives lost. Eventually their activities caught the ire of the Magic Council. After a sound defeat of his guild at the hands of the military he was captured and taken into custody. But as he was being transferred to prison, he escaped and killed all of the guards taking him there. Eventually the story of his escape became legend before fading into obscurity and from memory entirely."

"What do you mean by that?" Lewis asked.

"What I mean by that is that the leader of Primordial Fist, Oryen Saberclaw, is over three hundred years old at this point." Makarov said.

"What?!" Natsu shouted. "How?!"

"As I said, his devotion to the elements had changed him. He has fused his very body with the elements. It's a Lost Magic known as Elemental Shift." Makarov said. "He can change his body at will to fire, earth, water, wind and ice."

"Even though ice is just water at a lower temperature." Lewis muttered to himself.

"While the transformation process can take a short amount of time and requires its user to revert to their original form, the last time he was seen fighting with it he had reached a stage where he could transform from one element to another in as little as six seconds." Makarov said.

"Alright, so this guy's magic is kinda cool. But I've got a question." Natsu asked. "Why is he back now?"

"That's a good question. One that I think only he has the answer to. However, I'm fairly certain it somehow involves you two boys." Makarov said grimly to Lewis and Jason.

Jason narrowed his eyes as he began to think again.

"The Five Fingers of Death said something about claiming a new world with our blood. Do you think it's some kind of ritual sacrifice?" Lewis hazarded, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

Makarov's frown only deepened as he nodded. "Sounds like that to me. But it's this new world they were talking about that concerns me."

"New world? Do they mean Edolas?" Natsu asked.

"No. They don't." Jason said gravely.

"Huh? You mean there's another one? And how do you know about it?" Natsu questioned.

Lewis looked at Makarov, who nodded quietly. "It's because we're from there."

"Huh? You mean you're like Happy? No wonder you can fly then!" Natsu laughed.

"That's not it at all." Lewis said. "Seeing as we explained this in-depth to Lucy I'll keep this brief. We come from a world where magic is replaced with machinery. In short, magic as you know it doesn't exist in the slightest, and if something does look like magic it's all smoke and mirrors. We arrived in this world when something from this world dragged Jason and I into it. Now we're kind of stuck here."

Natsu looked confusedly at Lewis for a while before asking another question. "So how'd Katie get here?"

"Well… she didn't exactly explain it that well." Lewis said, looking over to her.

"So she's not with you guys huh?" Natsu asked.

"Not from the start anyway." Jason said.

"Anyway, we're getting off topic. We need to solve this Primordial Fist issue. Sabreclaw needs to get his geriatric butt served to him on a silver platter, and we aren't going to do that without making a plan first." Lewis said.

"Glad to see someone agrees with me." Gray said, striding up to the group.

"Gray, you're okay!" Natsu cheered.

"Good to see you back." Jason nodded.

"I'm guessing you'll need to be brought up to speed?" Lewis asked.

"I can probably guess what needs to be done from here." He shrugged.

"Right. So let's get to making a plan." Lewis said.

Without warning, a large crash was heard from the inside of the stone fortress. Those who could stand hurried to their feet as an awful howling began to fill the air. Slow, loud crashing footsteps thudded from the inside of the fortress. Lewis opened his book, Jason slipped on his remaining brass knuckle and Natsu bashed his knuckles together.

"Ah, you're finally here. Good. I was beginning to think that my soldiers had failed me." Growled a deep voice from far inside the fortress which reverberated around the forest.

"That's him." Makarov said stoically. "Oryen Sabreclaw."

"Get out here and fight us old man! We're gonna make you pay for trying to take our guild members!" Natsu roared.

A throaty laugh echoed from the fortress. "Fight you? Child, I could not care less about you or this world. My ambitions far exceed that of your pitiable mind."

"This guy is just begging for a butt-stomping." Katie said, conjuring up her superheated pickaxe and running to join the others.

"Begone, girl! I have no use for you!" boomed the voice before a wall of dense rock rose up in front of Katie before another three walls boxed her in.

"Katie!" Lewis shouted.

"Natsu, Gray, get these two out of here!" Makarov ordered.

"Huh? But Gramps-" Natsu began.

"Now, Natsu!" Makarov roared as he began to grow in size.

"Titan Magic." Lewis gulped. "Never thought I'd see it up close."

"Okay you heard the old man, let's move!" Gray shouted as he began to run.

"Not so fast…" A weedy and sighing voice groaned, seemingly echoing all around them. A strong wind began to gust the group towards the entrance to the ruined fortress.

Flipping through the book, Lewis found the Gravalance spell and slammed his open palm into the ground, raising a solid wall of earth to act as a wind brace. "Keep running!"

"You wish to defeat me with measly tricks? You foolish brat!" Growled the deep voice again, the wind dropping immediately.

The earth wall dropped to the ground and not three seconds later, the wind sprang up again immediately.

"What the hell?! I thought Makarov said he took six seconds to transform!" Jason shouted as he braced himself against the wind.

"Looks like he's been training!" Lewis said as he did the same.

Makarov's enormous fist smashed into the entrance to the fortress, stopping the wind from sucking them into the entrance. Lewis and Jason stumbled as they adjusted to not having to brace themselves anymore.

"This will not stop me, you old coot." The voice said as the ground beneath Lewis and Jason opened up, revealing a yawning pit that they dropped into, screaming all the way down.

"Jason! Lewis!" shouted Makarov. "Damn you Oryen!"

Katie smashed her pick into the wall of grey stone once more and broke straight through it, making a decently sized hole she could squeeze through. "What happened? Where are the others?"

"They've been captured again." Lucy said as she joined their side with Erza. "Didn't Lewis say something about tempting fate?"

"That's not important right now Lucy." Erza chastised. "We've got to go after them!"

"Yeah! Lemme just get my lion." Katie said, grabbing up her magical pen.

"We're coming too. You can't leave us out of this!" Natsu said as Happy flew over to him.

"Aye sir!" he agreed.

"Wait, you have a lion?" Lucy asked.

"A water lion." Katie said as she finished writing down on the solid grey wall, the letters slowly turning into liquid which congealed together to form the head of the water lion before it leapt form the wall. Leaping onto its back, she waved her arm to the others. "All aboard the Aqua Aslan Express!"

"There's no time to lose." Erza nodded, leaping onto the lion's back.

"Let's go Happy!" Natsu shouted.

"Right behind you." Gray nodded.

"Hey, wait for me!" Lucy cried.

"Master Makarov, we know how dangerous the situation is, but please let us through!"Erza shouted.

Makarov frowned deeply, but sighed and began to shrink. "While you are powerful, you must realise that Oryen is a strong opponent. Do not let your guard down."

Erza nodded her thanks to Makarov before turning to Katie. "Are you ready?"

"I was born ready!" She grinned, rearing the lion up like a horse before charging towards the fortress. "For Narnia!"

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Lewis and Jason dodged away from yet another round flying straight for them. Jason had needed to drain his last speed potion in order to keep his head from being replaced with a large mossy rock. Lewis had been able to break a few of the rocks with his sword imbued with Gravalanche, but his arms were getting very tired from swinging around the sledgehammer.

"Hmph. You are very hard to catch. But I have waited many years for this. I can afford to wait a little more." The voice of Oryen echoed throughout the basement of the fortress.

"Damn it, where is he?!" Jason roared.

"He's probably somewhere hidden. Coward!" Lewis shouted.

"Taunting will get you nowhere." A new voice spoke, one that sounded raspy and strained. "If you want a flame war, then I'd be happy to oblige."

A spark of light emanated from one end of the room as a fireball whizzed over Lewis' hat.

"Jesus!" Lewis shouted as countless more fireballs began to sail towards him. Pages flying in a flurry, Lewis slammed his hand onto the ground. "Gravalanche!"

A thick group of stone tiles from the floor rose up to form a wall, the blazing fireballs slamming against them. Lewis slumped back against his shield and looked around the darkened room. The fireballs sailing past lit up the large and empty room long enough to see the drab grey cobblestones with slight hints of moss, lichen and other growths. The floor was made of rectangular tiles, although some were cracked and loose, which was a considerable trip hazard to Jason.

Speaking of, the speedy potion mage appeared behind the earth shield, panting and out of breath.

"Fucking shit, what is this, bullet hell?!" he gasped.

"You hurt?" Lewis asked.

"Nah, I'm fine." Jason said, getting back to his feet. "But I'm out of Speed Potions. I've only got one Toughness Potion left, but I don't think it works with fire."

"Still got your Limit Break Elixir?" Lewis asked.

"Yeah." Jason said, gripping his bandolier.

Peeking out from cover, Lewis had to duck back in as a speeding fireball rocketed past where his face was not a second ago. "I thought he said he needed us alive!"

"No. All I require is your blood. So I may kill you at my leisure." The Oreyen said again, once again in a booming tone. "Now die."

A great cracking noise came from above as rocks began to fall from the ceiling. Lewis and Jason dove out of the way, with Lewis crashing to the floor. Hearing a crunching sound, Lewis turned around on the ground to see that something huge had just appeared behind him. A large brown stone shape with a smooth face, carved with various magic signs and sigils before tapering to a point.

"A monolith?" Lewis asked, getting to his feet.

"What you are seeing is what I have become. How I have survived all these years." Oryen spoke. "But you will not be nearly as long lived."

Without so much as a magic circle, another stone pillar burst from the ground, hitting Lewis hard in the gut and sending him cannoning into the wall behind him.

"Lewis!" Jason shouted, grabbing a strength potion from his bandolier and downing it. "Eat this!"

Jason's fist slammed into the back of Oryen, but it disappeared into the ground, leaving nothing but a slight crack in the ground. Another loud crack a fair distance away betrayed that Oryen had appeared at the far end of the room.

"I will give you both one thing. You have adapted well to your new home." He said.

"Just us? No-one else?" Jason asked.

"No. No others in this world belong to yours." Oryen said.

Jason was silent for a while before nodding. "Well then. Suspicions confirmed."

"About what?" Oryen asked.

"None of your business." Jason said, turning to Lewis. "You okay?"

"I think I'll live." Lewis coughed as he got to his feet. "The guy reminds me of one of those Monoliths from the Epic Battle Fantasy series. Powerful and slippery bastards."

"Never played it." Jason said.

"Whatever. They're not important right now." Lewis said. "Right now we've got to deal with Oryen."

A door behind them burst open as Katie, Erza, Lucy, Gray, Natsu and Happy leapt off the back of a giant water lion.

"Hey guys. Where's the party?" Katie asked.

"It's over there." Lewis said, pointing at Oryen.

"That's Oryen Sabreclaw?" Erza gasped.

"He isn't exactly what I thought he'd look like, but at least he isn't some creepy old man." Lucy admitted.

"Whatever. This just means he'll be easier to break!" Natsu grinned, smacking a fist into his hand.

"Just don't let your guard down you big idiot." Gray said, warming up his Ice Make magic.

Oryen gave a snort of amusement as the eight of them faced off against Oryen. "How interesting. You believe you are capable of destroying me? In all the five hundred years I have been alive, no mage has been able to destroy me."

"Wouldn't be too hard if you were hiding away for most of your life." Lewis snorted. "And besides, we know you've only lived three hundred years you great big liar!"

"Only three hundred? I apologise, I tend to forget some things in my old age." Oryen chuckled. "In fact, I think I might have forgotten to hold back on you already."

"So have we. Funny huh?" Katie asked, spinning her red hot pickaxe around in her hands.

As they all charged for Oryen the stone flashed in a bright light, causing them to shield their eyes in response. By the time they could see him again, the colour of the stone had changed from brown to light grey, and the carvings on its surface had also been altered.

"Spirit of the Blizzard." Oryen spoke, his voice slow and cold. The carvings on Oryen began to glow as an enormous light blue magic circle appeared in front of him.

"Get down!" Gray roared as everyone ducked behind him. "Ice Make: Shield!"

A huge beam of white cold sailed straight for them, Gray's ice barrier only just keeping it at bay.

"I knew he changed faster than Makarov said." Jason said through chattering teeth. "God, it's fucking cold!"

"That was just like the Monolith's Ice Laser. I hate those things!" Lewis grumbled.

"You'll never defeat me, so just give up and freeze to death in the cold. The numbness should be setting in any minute now." Oryen laughed.

"That's funny. I've felt colder in my sleep." Gray said, standing in front of the barrier with a challenging smile on his face. "Let me show you how cold it can really get!"

Oryen's cold laughter reverberated around the room as frost began to creep around the floor. "As you wish."

*v*v*v*

A/N

A/N

Sorry for such the huge gap in between chapters guys! Procrastination's a total bitch. Hope the wait was worth it!