Point-in-Time: December X784
Natsu's ears twitched as he picked up someone's footsteps as dead leaves crunched beneath their feet. He punched his open palm excitedly and jumped from the boulder he was sitting on. He was starting to get bored, hearing everyone run around like headless chickens as the island's wildlife chased after them (it was funny for the first five minutes, but then it just got dull…). When Natsu took a whiff of the air, however, he failed to recognize the scent of the approaching person, which caused Natsu to narrow his eyes. No one should be here except members of Fairy Tail.
As the strange man emerged from the forest, Natsu blinked as he took in the man's visage. He looked fairly young, had short, tame black hair and he wore some strange robe with a white sash. Natsu also didn't miss the first word that escaped the man's lips as he halted in his stride and looked at the Dragon Slayer in shock.
"Natsu…"
Happy flew over his pal as he realized his 'reconnaissance' for the pink-head failed to perceive this new guy approaching.
"Who is this guy, Natsu?! And why is he crying?"
Natsu narrowed his eyes as he took the stranger in with his eyes. He definitely wasn't normal. Why was he here on Tenrou, and why was he crying? None of this was making sense.
"Hey! Only members of Fairy Tail are supposed to be here! Ya better clear out before anyone comes here for the Trial! It's gonna get intense…"
The dark-haired man hung his head and whispered softly to himself, but nevertheless, Natsu picked up every word.
"You've grown, so much… I've missed you… Natsu."
Natsu clenched his fists and growled angrily.
"Who are you?!" Natsu grunted when the dark-haired youth didn't answer. He charged forward and tried to punch the guy into a nearby tree; but when he was in midair, the man stopped his flight by placing a single hand on the ground and righting his position again. "I won't ask again! Tell me or I hit harder!"
"I see… Nothing's changed. You still can't break me…" The mysterious man choked back a sob. "When will this mindless destruction end? I don't want to kill anymore, but the one person who can stop me still isn't strong enough… How long must I wait?"
Natsu's scowl deepened as the man continued to ramble incoherently. Not strong enough?! If the weepy bastard was talking about him, then Natsu was gonna get mad. Well… madder. He didn't work all the way to S-Class, to become a Wizard Saint, only for this guy to doubt his abilities!
"Hey! In case you haven't heard, I'm one of the Ten Wizard Saints, bub!" He smirked when the mysterious man looked up at him in abject shock. "Yeah, that's right! One of the ten strongest Wizards in Ishgar, and I got wife that could totally wipe the floor with you, too! So don't go calling me 'weak'!"
The dark-haired youth's eyes took on a profound complexity as he gazed at Natsu, new tears flowing down his face. He smiled rather sadly at the Dragon Slayer.
"I… I see… You really are making progress, then…" The man wiped at his tears with one hand as he lowered his head again. "And you have a… family… I'm so glad, Natsu. I'm sure you have a wonderful wife… Perhaps I don't have much longer to wait after all…"
Natsu blinked owlishly as the man's tone seemed to change to one of profound relief and joy. Seriously? How'd this guy even know him?
"You bet Erza's amazing!" Happy piped up as he grinned at the dark-haired youth. "She's S-Class, too, and keeps the whole guild in line! And she's gonna have Natsu's kid real soon!"
The dark-haired man looked up in astonishment at this, looking straight at Natsu, who was a bit taken aback by the sudden intense attention.
"Sh-She's with child…? Then you'll be a… a father…" The man whispered out in shock. Again, Natsu could tell the guy was strangely happy for some reason, but for the life of him he couldn't tell why.
But before Natsu could go on interrogating the guy, a nearby tree branch snapped off as some funky dark Magic pooled around the stranger's feet and rose up like smoke around him. Immediately, the man went back to a sad, desperate state as he clutched at his head.
"Run! NOW!" The dark-haired youth screamed, and Natsu backed away when the suspicious Magic expanded into a sphere around the man before exploding outward as the man moaned painfully.
On instinct, Happy swooped down and carried Natsu away, but apparently he wasn't fast enough on his own, as the dark Magic was gaining speed. Thankfully, Natsu got over his shock and applied fire to the soles of his feet to rocket him and Happy out of harm's way. Once they were out of harm's way and realized it, they looked back only to be shocked at the trees and grass disintegrated into ashes.
"Whoa! Where'd he go?!" Happy exclaimed when he noticed the man was indeed gone. Natsu scowled deeply at this turn of events.
"I don't know, Happy, but we gotta warn everyone. That guy definitely isn't right in the head… And if he kills anyone, I'll never forgive myself."
"Not to mention he kinda destroyed your flag!" Happy added lamely, as he pointed out there was no longer a flag on the boulder he was previously sitting on. Natsu grunted and took off in the direction of the closest team he could perceive.
No one was going to die today. Not if Natsu Dragneel had anything to say about it.
Elsewhere, Mest and Wendy had made their way out to a cliff overlooking the ocean. The Sky Dragon Slayer was enraptured by the beauty of the scene, while Mest was having a careful look around. To Wendy, that was just Mest being excited as she was – but to the young man, the case was quite the contrary. Mest wasn't here for sightseeing. Fairy Tail's dark secret could be lying around anywhere, so he was on the lookout for any suspicious-looking caves or secret entrances. Yet the double agent wasn't so information-craved that he neglected Wendy; he made sure to multitask and seem like he was a trusted ally.
Quite frankly, he didn't mind Wendy. She was a good kid. Which is why it was such a shame she was wrapped up in a troublemaking guild like Fairy Tail. Once this mess was cleaned up, he was going to make sure Wendy found her way to a guild more suited to her amazing potential – a guild that paid more attention to decorum and wasn't too much of a headache. There weren't too many Dragon Slayers left, after all, and it'd be a shame to cast her into some run-of-the-mill orphanage.
That said, there didn't look to be anything suspicious out here. Mest was about to encourage Wendy to move onto some other area, when he suddenly felt an ominous presence close by. Someone dangerous. Without thinking, Mest teleported behind Wendy and leaped off to the side just as a chain of explosions made a linear path for where the Sky Dragon Slayer had just been. Wendy shrieked at the sudden action, but calmed down once she recognized that Mest had saved her.
"Who are you?! Show yourself!" The young man shouted in the general direction the attack came from. Both double agent and Fairy Tail Wizard looked toward the tree at the edge of the cliff, and the face of a man partly emerged from its trunk.
"Impressive! Your senses are quite sharp."
"The tree attacked us?" Wendy asked, bewildered. However, the tree seemed to stretch out more unnaturally as the new voice continued to speak.
"I'm from Grimoire Heart! Name's Azuma; I'm one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."
'They're making a move…?' Mest wondered to himself. 'Why attack Wendy, then?'
Mest assumed Fairy Tail was connected to this Dark Guild, since they were able to find Tenrou Island. But it was too early to completely dismiss that theory. Perhaps an attack on Wendy was just Grimoire Heart flexing its muscles in an attempt to coerce Fairy Tail into something; or maybe the two guilds had a falling out. Either way, Mest was going to see how this played out, protecting Wendy while he was at it.
"You're from Grimoire Heart?!" Wendy gasped in disbelief. Naturally she could recall the name of the supposed leading guild of the whole Balam Alliance. After they took Oracion Seis down, that just left that aforementioned Dark Guild and Tartaros, of which they knew very little about, for the inner ring of that conglomerate. "Why are you here?! Are others going after our friends?!"
"It's a bit late worrying about your friends." Azuma mused as the upper half of his body emerged from the tree. Craning his head ever so slightly to look out at the sea, the Dark Mage hummed thoughtfully as he crossed his arms. "Those ships. They're the Magic Council's battleships. Quite intriguing that they would make a move at the same time as us… but no matter. They look so fragile from here."
Mest tensed as the cold-hearted man spoke this ever so casually… There was no way… But before the double agent could even finish this thought, giant explosions overtook all of the Council's battleships, and Wendy gasped out in shock at the careless destruction. When the explosions died down, the ships were revealed to be burning wrecks – some had even been sunk.
"All those people!" Wendy wailed. Mest gritted his teeth in frustration.
"How…?"
Azuma, meanwhile, was shelving away the fact that the Council attempted to make a move on Fairy Tail, and possibly Grimoire Heart, for later. It was far too coincidental that they made a move on the same day; up until recently, Ultear had been a member of the Council. That instantly threw suspicion on her, but no use worrying about that now. Azuma completely emerged from the tree and now stood next to it, resting a hand on it.
"If you're done talking, I'd like to get to work on destroying you two. Right now."
Mest was fully prepared to make a jump for Wendy and teleport both of them to safety, but everyone's attention was immediately snatched up by Carla, who was flying beside Mira in her Satan Soul form while she carried Gray.
"WENDY!"
Gray narrowed his eyes at the dark-skinned man that was facing off against the former Trial participants. He took note of the symbol etched onto the clothing of the man's left shoulder.
"Grimoire Heart… What the hell are they doin' here?" He landed in a crouch as Mira dropped him, and the Takeover mage flapped her wings while staying airborne. It looked like they would be in for a fight, after all. He and Mira sure had been surprised when they stumbled upon the white Exceed that hadn't been brought along for the Trials; turns out she was worried for Wendy, after Panther Lily shared some suspicions of Mest after she complained to him about Wendy not listening to her about not pairing up with the strange man. Lily couldn't do anything since he was Gajeel's partner for the Trials, so he was counting on Carla to find one of the S-Class mages and have them investigate Mest as soon as possible when she made it to Tenrou.
Well, it looked like that investigation into Mest would have to wait. It appeared they had bigger fish to fry.
"Carla, get Wendy out of here." Mira instructed the Exceed as she bored holes into Azuma with her glare. "Mest, you too. We need to talk later."
Mest looked back at the S-Class mage like she was crazy. Never mind the suspicious tone; she was insane if she thought they could take on this man! He single-handedly wrecked the Council's battleships!
"You can't defeat him!" Mest yelled firmly, looking at the new arrivals with wide, panicked eyes. He hurriedly pointed at the burning wrecks out in the water. "There was a fleet of Council battleships out there, and he wiped them all out effortlessly! You would be fool to try and fight him!"
"Well, you know us. Always itching for a new challenge." Gray smirked, despite the tragic news of possible fatalities. No one else would die on their watch. Plus, this would be the perfect opportunity to one-up that damn Pyro; if this guy was as strong as Mest said he was, then he might be as powerful as that Zero guy that Natsu took down. Only one way to find out for sure.
When Mest focused on Mira after shaking his head at Gray's bravado, the Demon smirked at the double agent.
"Who do you think you're talking to? We're Team Mira! We might not have a 'Wizard Saint' on our team, but you'd better make sure not to underestimate us."
Mest just continued to gnash his teeth in frustration and tremble. Damn it! Why did Fairy Tail mages always have to be so ballsy?! This was not a time for bravado!
"'The Demon Mirajane' and her apprentice, 'The Ice Prince Gray Fullbuster'. I've heard of you both. You're on par with Titania and the Salamander." Azuma claimed as he regarded his new opposition with a cool gaze. "Name's Azuma. I'm of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. If you'll do me the honor of facing me in battle as true warriors, I'll let the cat and those two go for now. I prefer my fights to be more of a challenge anyway; the others can handle the small fries if they so wish."
"So there are more on the way… just great…" Gray sighed before regarding Mira with a serious look. The Takeover mage nodded, flew up a ways, and released a signal flare that Azuma merely raised his brow at, but did not otherwise hinder his opponents. Gray looked back at him in confusion. "You sure are different from enemies we've faced before…"
Azuma lazily shrugged his shoulders.
"Whether or not your guild is prepared for the oncoming slaughter matters not to me. My brothers and sisters might be irritated, but all I really care about are spectacular battles. If that makes me more 'honorable' than most Dark Mages, then so be it."
Mira flew back down and called out to Wendy, Mest, and Carla urgently.
"Get out of here, you guys! The others might need you, Wendy!" At the bluenette's unsure expression, Mira reassured her as much as possible. "We'll take him down and come to help the others as soon as we can!"
Wendy chewed on her lower lip and nodded her head hesitantly. Carla flew down to pick up Wendy and fly her away, but Mest leaped over to the two before Carla could take off with the Sky Dragon Slayer. He shot Mira and Gray one last serious look before teleporting the three of them away from the battle that would prove to be destructive, Wendy and Carla both yelping from the sudden jump.
Now that they were alone, there was only the sound of Mira's flapping wings in the air as she and Gray stared Azuma down. Gray eventually dragged his foot in the dirt as he prepared to unleash an Ice Make Spell at any moment. A chilling breeze blew through the area as the tension was at an all-time high…
"A red flare… the signal of an enemy raid." Makarov calmly remarked as he looked up at the sky. The aged Guild Master sighed tiredly. "I never thought it would happen here… And on my watch, no less. Mavis, did you ever find yourself in this situation? Because I wonder how you would have handled it. I'll bet you're so angry with me, you're spinnin' in your grave right about now… I've allowed the enemy to tread upon our guild's sacred ground."
Makarov looked at the grave with a complex mixture of sadness, regret, and self-loathing, amongst other such emotions. He clenched his fists in determination.
"I assume full responsibility. And I will pay the price, rest assured of that. However… I ask this of you. Keep them safe." With this said, Makarov bowed humbly to the grave before setting out to deal with the invaders. He was angry with himself for 'allowing' this to happen, but he was going to channel these negative emotions into something constructive – protecting his children and this hallowed ground from enemy attack.
"A red flare… we're under attack." Panther Lily remarked to his partner grimly, as they charged through the forest pursuing Natsu's roaming scent. The knucklehead was on the move for some reason, and based on this recent development, the Iron Dragon Slayer had a pretty good idea of why that was.
"Damn it… they're gonna suspend the Trials for this… Better not take too long." The raven-haired man grumbled before smirking cockily. "Heh. At least now I'll definitely get to pound some skulls in."
The Dragon Slayer tensed as they were suddenly ambushed by some strange-lookin' creatures. A humanoid chicken and a humanoid dog – both wearing armor, and both leaped out from out of nowhere but were repelled easily enough by Gajeel. Panther Lily instantly took note of their guild symbol.
"They're members of Grimoire Heart! The leading guild of the Balam Alliance!"
Gajeel cracked his knuckles excitedly.
"I don't care! Small potatoes, these losers. I'm gonna beat these guys to a pulp, and then I'm gonna go find their bosses! Make 'em think twice about invading our island!"
"So, you don't think twice about getting into scraps with other guilds. Heh. How unlike a piece of Light Guild trash." The humanoid dog snarked.
"I used to be a part of Phantom Lord, what'd you expect?!" Gajeel cackled boisterously. The humanoid chicken shared in his mirth.
"Well, I'm Kawazu, and this is my partner, Yomazu! We serve under Caprico, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory! BOCK-bock-bock-bock-bock-bock-bock-bock."
Panther Lily transformed into his muscle-bound state as they prepared to take on these 'grunts' of Grimoire Heart.
"We couldn't care less about your hierarchy! You will answer for trespassing on sacred ground!"
With that, the four of them lunged at each other, eager to get to the nitty-gritty.
Meanwhile, the Grimoire Heart airship was edging ever closer to Tenrou Island. The other six members of the Kin were still gathered, but Ultear had dispensed with the dress and had donned a form-fitting battle outfit. Zancrow leered at her as she zipped up the front over her cleavage.
"Nice outfit! Gets me fired up and ready to cut loose!"
"Zancrow! You should be taking this battle seriously." Caprico chided the blond as his arms were crossed.
"Tonight! The souls of our foes dine in the city of woe." Rusty Rose expressed poetically. Kain, meanwhile, twiddled his pointer fingers.
"Poetry and stuff… I am also ready to… fight, and, uh… filled with, uh…"
Suddenly, Meredy pointed straight forward in shock.
"Ur, look!"
Ultear glared acidly at her adoptive daughter.
"Never refer to me by that name!"
Meredy instantly faltered and looked down, saddened. Zancrow walked over to her and leaned down to her level.
"Aw, c'mon! Don't be so nervous all the time! Alright. So, what's up?" The blond queried with a frown.
"It's in view now…" Meredy whispered, referring to Tenrou Island. The Kin collectively took in the view with their Master, the giant tree obviously the most visible feature at first. "The Fairy Island…"
Ultear let out a gasp as some giant slowly came into view, obscuring much of the island. His fists were clenched in fury.
"What in the hell is that?" Zancrow muttered.
Hades stared with wide, impressed eyes. Even though they would most certainly win this battle, he had to concede that Makarov had grown into quite an impressive mage.
"A giant?" Ultear mused.
"Oh… wow…" Kain mumbled.
"That sucks…" Zancrow muttered.
"Who is that?" Meredy wondered.
Hades finally grinned darkly.
"Makarov…"
"Begone!" Makarov growled lowly as he glared at the airship. He briefly recalled long ago how the Second Master passed the mantle onto him, trusting him to handle the guild with care. "Turn back or suffer the wrath of Fairy Tail!"
Hades simply chuckled mirthfully. When the airship showed no sign of turning around, Makarov grunted in exertion as he heavily smashed the airship with his fist, not totally breaking it, but still damaging it greatly.
"Heavy damage sustained!" A grunt called out.
"Too late to reinforce with armor! Game Over, man!" Another grunt lamented.
Makarov continued to growl as the ship continued to fly, despite at least one engine being taken out.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Hades barked. And in the next moment, their ship managed to dodge Makarov's next incoming fist, irritating the Guild Master. Hades waved his hand commandingly. "Prepare the focused cannon, Jupiter!"
The cannon emerged, and was set to fire at Makarov's face, but the giant blocked the blast easily with his arm and continued growling all the while. Inevitably, the firing ceased, and Makarov wound up with a bloody arm, but was otherwise uninjured and showed no signs of collapsing back onto the island. Makarov made a feint with his elbow, and at the last second fiercely swung his leg up and smashed the airship again, damaging it even more.
"He's tearing us apart! Can't we do anything?!" Yet another grunt cried out.
"Now, Ultear!" Hades commanded, to which the Arc of Time Mage complied.
"Sir! Arc of Time… Restore!" She declared, and in mere moments the airship was restored to its pristine condition as if it hadn't taken a beating by a wielder of Titan Magic.
"Caprico… get all of our forces onto the island!" Hades commanded, while the humanoid goat turned back to him.
"What about you, sir?"
"I'll remain here and deal with Makarov myself." Hades easily revealed. Caprico nodded solemnly.
"As you wish…" He extended his arms before clapping his hands, causing all the members aside from himself and Master Hades to vanish in brilliant lights. Caprico then shot straight up in a jetpack and eventually flew over the giant Makarov, garnering a snarl from the Guild Master.
"Run if you like, but there is no escape!" Makarov said with absolute certainty before having a standoff with Hades, who was still on the airship. The Guild Master started preparing Fairy Law. "I'm going to give you until the count of three to get out of my sight! Otherwise, you and your comrades will see the other side of oblivion!"
"The ultimate Spell that vanquishes everyone the caster deems to be a foe…" Hades mused calmly.
"One!"
"Let's see your 'Fairy Law' in action!"
"Two…" Makarov held the overwhelming power of Fairy Law at point-blank range of the airship. "… And that's three! Time's up! Fairy Law!"
Makarov clapped his hands together, compressing the energy and preparing to unleash it all on the airship.
"Don't be so hasty…" Hades sneered, having made his way to the top of the airship. He was preparing a similar powerful attack that looked much darker in nature. "Grimoire Law! These Spells serve their intended purpose! Lesser men would be deterred by them, but unless one of us backs down from this duel, the destruction will leave a scar on this world of cataclysmic proportions!"
Instantly, Makarov killed the power to his Fairy Law, gasping all the while.
"But… Impossible! No, it can't be!"
"I'm going on a journey, boy… I know you'll make this guild a great one." An aged man calmly spoke to a forty-year-old Makarov as he exited the Guild Hall.
"Master, wait! Don't go!" Young Makarov called out to him desperately.
"Master…?" The aged man turned to look at Makarov with a smile on his face. "I'm no longer the guild's Master… It's you."
As Grimoire Law lit up the face of Hades, Makarov finally recognized his enemy. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"Hello, boy. You're looking well." The light from Grimoire Law died down temporarily as the former Guild Master of Fairy Tail smirked with dark amusement at the shell-shocked giant.
"It is you... Master Precht!" Makarov shockingly stared down at his former ally.
Explosions constantly rocked the area as the trio battled. Gray found a way of getting around quickly by sliding around on a hastily-made Ice Make Floor, while Mira dodged them easily through flight. This was definitely a tough opponent. Couldn't get near him without enduring an explosion to the face (an explosion all over your body, really), and even when they managed to land a hit, they suffered more explosions. Of course, that wasn't the only means of attack for Azuma, but as he was out on the edge of the island, he couldn't overwhelm them with tree roots and such things too badly.
And both Mira and Gray picked up on this little fact. They absolutely couldn't allow him to get in further to the island. The guy had one tree at his disposal out there, and it was bad enough before Mira obliterated it while Gray froze up the roots that Azuma still used to attack them. Azuma cursed their perceptiveness and did his best to repel them back enough for him to get deeper into the island. To no avail, frankly – this duo was quite tenacious.
Azuma grunted as Fullbuster tried to impale him on Ice Make: Geyser, but the Dark Mage was able to leap high into the air just in time. He unleashed a fierce explosion on the geyser to prevent it from going any further, but in the short moment that it took him to do that, Mira managed to smash into him while mid-flight, sending him hurdling back to the earth below. Gray followed this up quickly by materializing a cylindrical canon propped up on his shoulder as he aimed it at the plummeting Azuma.
"Ice Make… Cannon!" Gray yelled, firing the cannon and nailing Azuma just before finishing his quick descent. But to the Ice Make mage's shock, his opponent generated an explosion at just the right moment so that the blow was dulled. The tanned man then righted himself as he skidded along the ground and glared at the leading members of Team Mira. Alright, so their teamwork was admirable. But he was one of the strongest of the Kin; in a tropical area such as this, he was the strongest. One of the elements of Grimoire Heart's plans hinged on him getting over to the main tree of the island. If he couldn't sap the enemies' strength, then the operation would become that much harder for them. Not impossible, mind you, but more difficult than necessary.
Azuma sent Linear Explosions toward Gray again, prompting the mage to move. Azuma took note of Mirajane's position and charged the Ice Make Wizard, corralling him in with explosions all around, while simultaneously setting off explosions in the air around the Takeover mage. The tanned man feinted with a physical move, but when Mira was directly over his and Gray's approximate location, Azuma unleashed a devastating attack that they had yet to see.
"TOWER BURST!" Both Fairy Tail Wizards tensed as an intense pillar of fire expanded and rose up to nail both Mira and Gray. There wasn't time to dodge or throw up a suitable defense; the intense explosion blindsided them both. When the pillar of light died down, Azuma was standing over both leading members of Team Mira as they lay there in the dirt, writhing in agony. "Hmph. While I will say that I haven't exerted this much in ages, I have to say I'm disappointed our dance is over before it truly began."
Azuma smirked when Gray worked through the pain and conjured another Spell.
"Ice Make Gungnir!" The raven-haired youth called out, encapsulating their foe in the sharp end of a gigantic spear made of ice as it rocketed upward. He wasn't surprised at all when Azuma burst out easily enough through another explosion, but he didn't have to worry about any follow-up, as Mira had him covered again.
"Soul Extinctor!" Mirajane rose into the air with a few flaps of her wings and blasted an orb of Dark Magic that transformed into a devastating beam that barreled straight for Azuma. The Dark Mage took it head-on to prove his durability, and he sent back a chain of explosions under the cover of Mira's attack, eventually managing to strike her again. Gray deftly caught her before she could plummet to the ground, and the two of them watched with aggravation as Azuma continued his descent straight toward them.
"ICE MAKE: WALL!" Gray yelled as he slid back with Mira still in his arms; a tall wall made of ice rose up to at least partly shield them from the devastating explosion that Azuma unleashed just as he got close to their previous position. The wall didn't stand a chance, and the leading members of Team Mira were blown backward from the overwhelming force, but they were otherwise unharmed.
"Gray!" Mira sternly barked as they had a spare moment to counterattack. It was far from being pulled off successfully with each attempt, but it was by far the strongest attack in their repertoire. Nothing was keeping this guy down so far. If they let him get any more attacks in, he just might slip by them and make the battle a hell of a lot harder with the very island itself as his weapon.
Gray understood perfectly what Mira wanted to attempt. Azuma would be gunning straight for them once he realized their battle plan, but that didn't stop him from charging his Magic alongside Mira's as they faced down the Dark Mage once more. As anticipated, the tanned man was very astute and picked up on their tactic straightaway.
"A Unison Raid…? Fascinating. Your teamwork is that cohesive." Azuma commended them before extending a single arm toward them. He wasn't going to just stand there and let them charge up such a powerful attack. He wasn't foolhardy like Zancrow, for Kami's sake. "Bleve…"
Gray and Mira stood their ground in the fiery explosion that raced toward them. They accelerated the rate they were charging up the Unison Raid, and just as they were about to be struck by the explosion, they shot their arms forward together with the concentrated, expanding orb of powerful Magic and unleashed it with all they had.
"SUBZERO SATANIC BLAST!" They declared together, an overwhelming, glittering black-purple beam surged forward to meet Azuma's attack, and in mere moments dispersed it while making a beeline for the shocked Dark Mage. Azuma grunted and howled as the frigid beam of Dark Magic swallowed him whole and transformed into an amazing pillar of darkness that rivaled the size of Azuma's 'Tower Burst' earlier. When their attack died down, the Fairy Tail mages were pleased to see Azuma captured in a formation of ice that had a purple tinge to it; apparently, he was unable to move or bust out with another explosion, but this wasn't enough for Mirajane. She rushed forward with a few flaps of her wings and with great strength behind it, punched the ice formation, utterly shattering it and sending Azuma painfully sprawling on his back from the blow. When he didn't get up again, Mira reluctantly returned to her human form while Gray strode over.
"Well… that was a lot more exhausting than I thought it would be." Gray grumbled as he rolled his shoulder to relieve some of the pain in his bones. "And there's six more of these guys…?"
Not to mention the friggin' Guild Master of Grimoire Heart, whoever that was. Mira smiled tiredly at her teammate. They would be having to join the fray again soon enough; but for now, they would catch their breath while returning to base camp to check on the others. But just as Mira thought about their next course of action, the sound of a jetpack could be heard far overhead as someone was flying about, dispensing odd-looking orange orbs all around areas not too close to where they were currently at.
"Is that…?" Mira narrowed her eyes as she noticed it was a humanoid goat that was flying around. It was far from the strangest thing she'd seen, but now wasn't the time for jokes. Gray was equally grave as he took in the sight as well. Azuma confirmed their suspicions.
"I may be bested, but it looks like the rowdier ones are joining the fray now…" Azuma mused, sprawled out on the ground. With any luck, the others would overwhelm his captors and he could begin the task he was meant for, but until then, Azuma would patiently and calmly wait as he recovered. If he was bothered at being frozen over again by Gray's Ice Make Magic, his face didn't show it.
Caprico continued to fly around even after releasing all of his comrades onto the island. The Fairy Tail guild members soon found themselves overrun by masked men in dark cloaks, but there were unique others making a 'splash' as well.
"Ahahaha… YAAAHOOOOO!" Zancrow bellowed as he plummeted headlong down to the island.
Rusty rose had touched down, and he was now calmly adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"The Underworld will run red with our sacrifices tonight…"
Elsewhere, Meredy touched down in a crouch.
"Operation is underway!"
Kain's face smashed into the ground as he unceremoniously fell down onto the island. Ultear was already out and walking about, excitedly muttering to herself.
"At last, I am near him… Lord Zeref!"
Meanwhile, in an area that wasn't overrun by Grimoire Heart yet, the black-haired youth that encountered Natsu a short time ago was sitting under the shade of a tree, looking up at the sky sorrowfully.
"So much conflict… Will it ever end…?"
He feared that the answer was a resounding 'no'.
Author's Note: Eh. That's a wrap on the intro to the invasion. I'd been planning on Azuma being the first to fall. I could've gone the route that canon did; I won't deny it was BA that Azuma had enough power to take down the Tenrou Tree and essentially cripple his enemies, but I wanted to mix it up. Especially with Erza, well, y'know… not there. But I do think Mira and Gray were due for a suitable tag-team moment, and who better an opponent than Azuma? ^^
Don't get the wrong idea about the Unison Raids. I'm not suddenly going to spam them. I had Gray and Mira have it as a skill in their repertoire because they'd been a team as long as Natsu and Erza have been, and they needed something to maintain an edge in their rivalry. Natsu's a Wizard Saint, after all. I tried to be imaginative with what their UR would be like, but I might have flopped… :P I just think that with Gray eventually learning Devil Slayer Magic, he'd be 'compatible' with Mira's Magic. That's just my opinion.
But we'll be seeing a lot from everyone else next time. I dunno if we'll get around to the Natsu-Ultear confrontation, but we'll see. Plus, Azuma might not be out of the running just yet; we'll see. This invasion's just getting started, after all. For now we'll be tuning into his comrades, seeing what chaos they stir up. As usual, thanks for the support!