A day or so after the Daityas incident at White Eclipse, despite what he heard, Kuro was more than willing to give the king of hell (a fact he wasn't really aware of) the benefit of the doubt, and accepted his offer to train him. Kuro used his Fire Make: Knuckles, to easily punch down a few large trees in a nearby forest, to which Daityas nodded in approval at Kuro's progress. "Yes, you're showing decent improvement." Daityas said as he watched Kuro, who wiped sweat from off his forehead.
"You really think so, Dait?" Kuro asked hopefully.
"Yes, I'm quite impressed. If you continue to improve, I'll teach you something special," Daityas said. "But for now, you look tired, yes?"
"Yeah…" Kuro nodded and patted his stomach which growled lowly. "And hungry…We've been at this for hours…"
"I suppose you can return home then, and we can continue this another time," Daityas said with a nod, and started to walk off.
"Alright! See you later, Dait!" Kuro nodded, and turned in the opposite direction Daityas did.
Daityas continued walking, and he was eventually met by Maggie, Ruika, Kiora, and Ur, in other words, the main females of Tartaros. "You seem to have taken a liking to that Kuro kid," Ur said with a risen brow, somewhat perplexed by the situation given Daityas' personality and tendencies.
"He's an interesting one," Daityas replied. "He heard what I did to Taya, but he gives me the benefit of the doubt, and now the idiot's gonna let me into his guild whenever he sees fit. Plus Arc is in that guild as well."
"Arc…?" Ur stared blankly at Daityas.
"Arc was a former member of Tartaros," Kiora explained. "He and Tayakata decided to go all goody-two-shoes and leave."
"So your encounter with this Taya I heard about…was her punishment for leaving?" Ur asked.
"You could say that," Daityas replied. "The point is we're getting Arc and Taya back, eventually. I'll kill them myself and bring them back if I have to, and in the end, Fiore will succumb to the flames of hell, the people's screams, lovely music, and I will be laughing through it all."
"Uh…Dait…" Maggie waved her hand in front of Dait a few times, bringing the demon back to reality.
"That's…a little disturbing…" Ur coughed slightly.
"You're still getting used to being evil, I can tell," Daityas said while waving a dismissive hand. "You ladies haven't shown Ur how we do things yet, have you?"
"I thought she'd pick up on it by now," Ruika merely shrugged. "Besides, I've been too busy looking into something to bother with showing her the ropes."
"Do whatever you wish, I'm returning," Daityas merely nodded, and walked off.
"I have to go somewhere myself," Ruika said as she walked off. "Have fun."
.
.
Kuro returned to White Eclipse, pushing the doors open with a little difficultly due to his sore muscles from his hours of training, but he made it inside nonetheless, and was greeted with his fellow guild mates. "Hey, everyone!" Kuro said with his usual smile.
"Where were you all day, Kuro?" Nami asked curiously.
"Oh, training with Dait!" Kuro said with a slight grin, but his response left Nami with a sort of pale face. "What's what, Nami…?"
"I don't think you should be around him…" Nami replied, playing with her hands.
"I know you don't lie, but I just think you remembered some things wrong, Nami!" Kuro said with a nod. "He said he feels bad for hurting Taya like that!" Kuro nodded once again, and then hurried off into the kitchen.
"I don't believe him…" Reve said with a grumble, though Kuro wasn't able to hear him.
"There's nothing we can do about that now…" Luke said with a slight sigh while consuming a bag of chips. A few minutes of silence passed, and someone suddenly knocked obnoxiously on the doors. "Door." Luke said.
"Aren't you usually the door man?" Reve asked.
"Not today," Luke replied, gesturing for Reve to get it.
"Lazy…" Reve started as he opened the door, opening it to a young, cute female with long pink hair and dark blue eyes. "Hm? Oh…how can I help you?"
"What's this place?" The girl as she looked to Reve. "The stars led me here!"
Before Reve could respond, Zalen, with fogged glasses, pushed Reve out of the way. "This is White Eclispe!"
"Oh, a guild? Awesome!" The girl said with a smile, but on the inside she was freaking out. In the next second, Kuro walked out of the kitchen, and looked over to see what was going on, when small hearts appeared in his eyes at the sight of the girl.
"W-Who is this…?" Kuro asked as he walked to the door.
The girl stood up, displaying perfect posture, and then smiled towards the three mages. "My name is Saeko Rosei!"
Kuro began tripping over his own words as he started to speak, smiling from ear to ear. "I-I-I'm Kuro! Looking to join!?"
"Sure! I like this place!" Saeko replied.
"Right then…" Reve started to walk up the stairs. "Follow me…"
Saeko grinned at Reve and followed the guns mage up the stairs; however she was so excited she paid no attention to where she was walking, so when she approached the last time, she tripped over it, and fell face first onto the floor. "Uwaah!"
"K-Kawaii…" Kuro commented.
"What…just happened?" Luke asked as he blinked a few times.
"New members, yay!" Aira said rather excitedly.
"New people…ugh…" Selene said in a rather upset and slightly disgusted tone, clearly showing her dislike for new members in the guild.
"Do what I do," Takeru said as he appeared from the shadows. "Ignore them, and maybe they'll go away."
Reve heard the fall, but he didn't turn around because he had to hold back his laughter. So, he sat in a chair, and requipped a tattoo gun. "So, where do you want the guild mark?"
Saeko held her arm up, her voice muffled because of the floor, but she managed to say "here!"
Reve nodded, and stamped the guild mark on Saeko's arm. "Alright, there you go; now there's one more thing you have to do."
Saeko stood up, looking towards Reve. "What's that?"
"Go onto the balcony, and tell people why you became a mage," Reve said.
"Oh, okay!" Saeko skipped to the balcony, and started to give her speech.
While Saeko gave her speech, Luke looked around at the members present to see their input on a new member. Some were quite okay with a new member, while others weren't really too fond of the idea. "Huh…" Luke merely shrugged, and continued to mind his own business.
After Saeko finished her speech, Reve held his hand out, and attempted to push Saeko off the balcony onto the snow, as per White Eclipse tradition. "Nice speech."
"Oh!" Saeko paid no mind to Reve, and instead bent down to pick something shiny off the ground.
Because Saeko ducked, Reve missed completely, and landed in the snow. "…Welcome to White Eclipse…"
A mocking laugh echoed throughout the mountains somewhat as Magnus, and the rest of Cosmic Star, approached the gunslinger. "Oh…how the mighty have fallen…" Magnus said with a chuckle.
"Who the hell…?" Reve picked himself up, dusting the snow off himself as he looked towards Cosmic Star.
"Reve, buddy!" Daryan shouted in glee.
"…Who the hell are you?" Reve asked, completely forgetting his encounter with the dragon slayer.
"Ouch…" Daryan sighed.
"We're Cosmic Star!" Alex said before rushing into the guild, complete uninvited, and the others followed suit.
"What the…!?" Before Reve could object, the guild of five already made their way inside the building.
"Guest?" Aira asked as she looked towards the group of five.
"Hiya!" Alex said in a cheery tone.
"We should really put defenses on this place…people just keep walking in…" Takeru sighed.
"Not like you have long to really see that come through…" Magnus said with a shrug, and his comment instantly caught Takeru's attention, which ended with Magnus receiving a glare from the shadow dragon slayer.
"Helloooo ladies!" Daryan said as he approached Selene and Aira.
"Hi!" Aira said with a wave, while Selene just attempted to be as distant as possible.
"Ah, come on, don't be like that!" Daryan said as he placed a hand on Selene's shoulder, but the diamond mage smacked his hand away with force, causing Daryan to retract it. "Yeesh…hard crowd…"
"Who the hell let these guys in…?" Luke asked as he looked around, purposely avoiding Magnus.
"We let ourselves in, I hope you don't mind," Gaia said with a nod.
"A lot of people seem to do that nowadays…" Luke sighed.
Waiston walked from his room, glancing around at the guest. "Guest…?"
"That's right, we're from Cosmic Star, a rising guild, I could say," Yakuza said while rubbing his finger under his nose. "Heh…"
"Oh?" Waiston jumped from the top of the stairs and landed with a smirk. "Well, this is White Eclipse, the strongest guild in Fiore!"
"We are aware of that," Magnus said. "Though, I personally don't see how you can call yourself the strongest when Fairy Tail still technically holds the spot for number one…"
"Don't get testy with us, guy," Cygnus smirked. "I beat Salamander."
"And you got OHKO'ed by Gildarts Clive," Magnus retorted, and the comment made Cygnus quiet.
"Magnus…" Gaia started while waving a finger disapprovingly. "Don't be rude, we're guest here."
"Uninvited guest…" Reve mumbled as he walked inside, closing the door behind him.
"What's going on here?" Adam asked as he walked into the main room from the back door, looking around. "Guest…? Can I eat them?"
"No," Gaia replied when she looked towards Adam, though when the two looked at each other, everything fell silent for the two of them.
"Hm…?" Adam thought to himself as he caught a scent that was somewhat familiar to him in a general sense. "You…" Adam started.
"Huh…Who've thought..?" Gaia mumbled to herself as she nodded towards Adam respectfully.
"My name is Alex!" Alex said as she pointed to herself, then to the others. "That's Magnus, that's Yakuza, Daryan, an S class like myself, and Gaia, our ace!"
"It's nice to meet you all!" Aira said with a cheeky grin.
"No my dear," Daryan said as he attempted to be suave. "It's nice to me YOU." Before Daryan could continue any further, Selene met Daryan's nose with a diamond fist, which caused him to take a step back from the impact. "Yeesh…!"
Waiston sniffed the air, Yakuza's scent interesting him. "You…what's your magic…?"
"I'm just an ice mage," Yakuza replied with a shrug. "You?"
"Heh, I'm the frozen dragon slayer!" Waiston said with a smirk.
"Dragon slayer…?" Yakuza's interest in the conversation grew suddenly. "Is that so…?" Yakuza held his hand out, manifesting black ice into his open palm. "Because I am the Ice God slayer."
"Ice god? That's cute ice you got there, but mine is better, raised by the frozen dragon herself, you know!" Waiston's smirk widened.
"Oh? Where is she now?" Yakuza asked, but he didn't give time for Waiston to answer as he continued speaking. "I'll take a guess; I bet she left because she realized how inept a learner you were…"
Those vaguely listening to the conversation stopped, and looked towards Yakuza, while Waiston's confident expression vanished. "W-What did you say…?"
"Yakuza, what did I say about being rude!?" Gaia shouted, obviously upset at the mage for acting so rudely. "Waiston, I apologize!"
Heather and Kairi were partially listening to the conversation, and Yakuza's taunting of the sudden abandonment struck a slight nerve in not only Heather, but Selene as well. "How rude…" Heather scoffed under her breath, but Daryan caught sight of her and Kairi, and he immediately rushed over to them to introduce himself.
"Oh, hello, ladies…" Daryan said with a smirk.
"Hi there…" Kairi said, giving a slight wave.
"Name's Daryan, dragon slayer, strongest one, mind you, you are?" Daryan asked.
"Heather…" Heather replied with an almost blank stare.
"Kairi," Kairi nodded.
"Did it heart when you fell from heaven?" Daryan asked Kairi, completely ignoring Heather at this point. "Because, baby, you're an angel."
Kairi blinked a few times before shaking her head. "I am an Angel Takeover mage."
"Huh…" Daryan blinked a few times before giving a subtle shrug.
"These guys are cool!" Saeko said as she walked down the stairs, but she tripped on the last step, and landed face first on the floor.
"Clumsy…" Alex giggled.
.
.
A once bustling town was now nothing more than a frozen wasteland, but something was different about this frozen city. There wasn't just ice covering the entirety of it, but there were also traces of ashes in certain areas, suggesting that some sort of mixture of fire and ice occurred here. Layanna, the new member of the Magic Council, observed this city as she walked around, mumbling to herself about what happened. "The people here are frozen solid…buildings are burnt…ashes are everywhere…"
Somewhere nearby in the same town, two females couldn't help but giggle at Layanna's attempt to figure out what happened. "It doesn't take a smart one to figure out what happened here, eh?" Maggie said while nudging Ur's shoulder.