A/N: Here's chapter forty three! (Whoohoo! Double upload! Didn't really see that one coming tonight!) :) More Battle of Fairy Tail on the way! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.


"There you are, Alzack!" Jet and Droy ran over to Alzack's sides in the streets of Magnolia.

"There's no one this way, what about in your direction?" Alzack asked.

"Not even a hint."

"Damn it…look at what they did to Bisca…" Alzack seethed with rage, "Laxus! I won't stand for this!" He kicked a nearby barrel over.

"Hey, chill out, man!" Droy said.

"How is he supposed to be chill with Laxus out there running around? And we only have three hours to defeat him?" Jet asked.

When Alzack took another step forward, he triggered a large purple barrier, "What the heck…damn it…it's an Enchantment, isn't it?"

As a barrier surrounded them, Jet sneered, "Dammit…Freed must have set up traps all over town…"

"They must have been set from the start…" Droy said.

Alzack read the rules the Enchantment stated, "Only the winner is permitted to leave the boundaries of this barrier…"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Droy asked, shaking with fear.

"We're supposed to take each other out?" Jet asked. "We're trapped then! We would never do something like that to each other!"

"Yeah, screw you Freed! We're not playing your game!" Droy raised a fist to the air.

"Forgive me…" Alzack's face darkened, "But I have to save Bisca! I can't sit around in this little arena all day!"


"What does that even mean, Natsu?" Makarov asked, "Are you a stone statue or are you over eighty?"

"How the hell should I know? Why can't I get outta here?" Natsu asked.

"Battle of Fairy Tail…progress report…" Makarov read a new message on the Enchantment wall, "Jet and Droy versus Alzack…? What's that supposed to mean? Why would they be fighting each other…surely it's some sort of joke?" He asked, then his face lost a bit of its color, "Winner…Alzack…" He swallowed hard, "Jet and Droy…knocked out…"


Laxus smiled as he sat in his hiding spot in Magnolia, by now dozens upon dozens of Fairy Tail wizards were fighting against each other, shrinking down the potential list of 'strongest wizard.' "I wonder how long the Fairy cannibal feast can go, gramps!" He laughed.


"Max versus Warren…winner…Warren…Nab and Vijeeter…simultaneous knockout…Macao and Wakaba…battle starting…" Makarov read the reports that were popping up quicker than he could process, "Stop fighting! Won't you brats just stop!"

"There are Enchantments all over town…and the only way to get out of them is for them to fight one another…" Happy said, "I guess this is what Laxus meant when he said 'Battle of Fairy Tail'…"

"Damn it…" Natsu said, crashing into the invisible wall over and over again, "I want to fight! Why can't they let me fight?"

Makarov shook his head, "That won't solve anything…"

"But it's a tournament to see who's the strongest…" Natsu whimpered.

"Who said anything about a tournament…" Makarov said, "It…it's a fight between friends. A fight between allies. No matter how you look at it, it's wrong…"

"Oh, it's just a bunch of little fights, we do that all the time!"

"This is different!" Makarov snapped, "The lives of everyone are at stake here! If we don't hurry our entire guild is doomed! If…if things go on the way they are, they'll all crumble into stone and we'll never see them again…"

"I don't think Laxus would take it that far, gramps." Natsu said, "I mean, he's kinda a jerk, but he's still a member of our family, right?" He smiled.

"Natsu…" Makarov said. You think of Laxus as a comrade after everything he's done? You think he's only bluffing? He looked back at the screen, "Forty-two people? You mean by friendly-fire alone, we've already lost half of our members?"


"East Forest! East Forest!" Reedus panted, "Must get out of town…" He crashed into an invisible wall, "No…t-that's impossible…the entire town is covered by an Enchantment?"

"I will not allow anyone to break my rules." A horde of ancient runes formed into a figure in front of Reedus.

"What…what's this…Freed?"

"Laxus told you already. The battlefield is Magnolia. If you are a wizard, then you must fight!" He drew his sword, "Show me your power!"


"Laxus! Where are you?" Elfman shouted as he ran through the streets, then he spotted a familiar figure, "Evergreen! You witch! No man needs to take hostages! Turn my sister back to normal!"

He met an icy gaze, then the holder held up a gloved hand to take their glasses off.

Elfman gulped, he dove to the side and crashed into a flower shop, causing debris and petals to fly everywhere.

"I happen to like flowers." He heard, "After all, they look nice. On me." She saw Elfman come out of the wreckage, in his beastly form, the same one that completely destroyed Sol, "Such a shame your name is the only cute thing about you."

"Return my sister to normal!" His deep voice growled, at closer glance there was a piece of cloth around his eyes.

"You think you can beat me blindfolded?" She asked, "How are you supposed to look and see my grace as I bring you to a wallowing defeat?"

Elfman roared and ran at her, he narrowly missed her as she took flight, but even in the air, he was only missing slightly, his accuracy was borderline top-notch.

"Hmm. You must be using that filthy nose of yours to follow my scent." She deduced, "Unfortunately for you, that nose won't do you any good when you're surrounded in Fairy Dust." She twirled over him. "Fairy Bomb, Gremlin!"

Elfman coughed up blood, tumbling in the ground before his blindfold fell off.

She landed on the ground and smiled as she got to his level, "I love statues…no matter how ugly a beast may be, they turn beautiful once converted to stone…" She took her glasses off, "Now look me in the eye, Elfman…with all the pride you hold to your guild…"


"Elfman versus Evergreen…" Makarov swallowed hard, "The winner is…Evergreen…Elfman…knocked out…"

"I never thought that Elfman would be taken out…" Happy said.

"Damn it…Gray just started a fight with Bickslow…I want to fight too…"

"Hmm…so the Thunder Legion joined the battle…" Makarov wearily read the personnel tally, it read at forty-one. He shook with rage, would Laxus truly continue this battle until their counter reached zero.


Reedus coughed up blood, tumbling to the ground, covered in hundreds of sword slashes.

Freed sheathed his sword, "How unfortunate…Reedus, I expected much better from you…you should've kept to your training a bit fiercer…now there are only forty members remaining in this great battle…"


"Reedus lost?" Happy asked.

"Damn…Freed must be pretty tough…" Natsu said.

"But that's not the point! Reedus was supposed to get the cure to Evergreen's spell from Porlyusica!"

"It's fine, Laxus just made an empty threat, that's all."

"An empty threat, you say?" Laxus asked as he appeared in the room.

"A thought projection." Happy noted, seeing how crackling and faded Laxus looked.

"More importantly, what the hell are you still doing here, Natsu?"

"Damn it, I'd go out there, if I could! Your stupid wall's in the way!" Natsu snapped.

"Laxus…" Makarov growled.

"Never figured you would just stand and watch while all your little buddies go beat each other to death." Laxus snickered, still going on with his taunt against Natsu, "Hmm…well, without Natsu and Erza…there's no one who can stand up to the Thunder Legion, I guess my little tournament is just about as good as over, huh?" He loomed over Makarov, "Ready to surrender?"

"We still have Gray out there!" Happy yelled, "He'll be more than a match for the Thunder Legion!"

"Pfft, Gray?" Laxus snickered, "Putting all your hope into the ice cream cone, huh? Yeah, good luck with that, I'm sure he'll last about five minutes."

"Don't underestimate Gray, Laxus." Makarov said.

"Hmm, I guess if I were in the same position as you saps, I'd be talking big too." Laxus grinned, "Then I'll give him ten minutes…"


"Ooh, look, I found Gray!" Bickslow shouted, "Now, let's go babies!"

Gray gasped, jumping back and dodging the erratic attacks of Bickslow's babies.

"Line formation!" Bickslow shouted, his totems all stacked onto one another, firing five green laser beams at Gray.

Gray jumped back, unwittingly jumping into a toy store.

"You're pretty good for a punk, Gray!" Bickslow laughed, "But let's do our victory formation, babies!" Then his smile faded when he didn't hear any response whatsoever from his totems, "Where'd you go, babies?" He then gasped once he saw all five frozen babies on the floor, "No! When did he-"

Gray kicked him in the face, Bickslow spit out a little bit of blood and stumbled back, "Ice-Make…Hammer!" Gray cast a giant icy hammer at Bickslow, ready to finish him in one shot.

"X-Formation!" Bickslow smiled like a madman, and five toys all blocked Gray's attack.

"What?" Gray gasped.

"My version of Seith Magic, Puppetry, allows me to put souls inside of inanimate objects. You can freeze the souls all you want, but I'll just move 'em to some other dolls!"

"Then how about I freeze you instead?" Gray frowned.

"I'd love to see you try!" Bickslow laughed as he ran away.

"Are…are you running away?" Gray growled as he ran after him.

Bickslow didn't provide an answer other than merry laughter as he ran down the streets of Magnolia.

"Come back here, you jerk!" Gray yelled, he almost lost track of him, until he headed into an alleyway.

"Up here, Gray!" Bickslow said. Gray looked up to see Bickslow doing a split between two buildings, an odd stance to say the least.

"You creep…what the hell are you doing?"

"I told you, I want to play! And so do my babies!"

Gray was about to cast something, but he saw a purple border around the ally, "An Enchantment?"

Gray's eyes widened in horror as Bickslow read off the Enchantment, "No one in these boundaries can use magic until the battle is over." Bickslow laughed and laughed, "See, right now, a wizard who works by remote control would really excel here!"

"Damn it…it was a trap…?" Gray asked.

The dolls flew towards Gray from afar, still outside the boundary, they were able to all smash into him at once. Gray coughed up blood and fell back.

Bickslow laughed so hard he put a hand on his chest, "Too bad Gray! Looks like I win this one!"

Gray got up, jumping from wall to wall in an effort to catch up with Bickslow.

"What…no, it can't be?" Bickslow swallowed hard.

Gray punched him in the face, with such force that both men crashed into the ground.

"Eh…damn it…." Bickslow got up, rubbing his bloody jaw, "That freaking hurt…" Then he started laughing as he saw that Gray was bloodied and unconscious, "I knew he wouldn't be able to take a full-on attack from my babies! Ha! I win!"


"Gray…knocked out…" Makarov went pale.

Laxus laughed and laughed, "Oh well, I guess ten minutes was a little bit too much time for that loser!"

"No!" Happy said, "This can't be…they must've used a dirty trick or something…"

"Who can beat the Thunder Legion now, huh gramps?"

"Gajeel can!" Happy said.

"Oh yeah right, looks like the metal head is sitting this one out. That piece of trash never felt any loyalty to the guild in the first place." Laxus scoffed.

"I'm still here!" Natsu raised a fist up.

"If you can't leave the building, then we may as well not count you then…" Makarov sighed, "Very well…" He teared up, "I surrender…"

"No gramps, don't do it!" Natsu said.

"So now you have to stop all this, Laxus."

"We can't have that!" A greedy grin spread onto Laxus's face, "If the Master of the world-famous Fairy Tail guild is willing to throw in the towel so easily, then the only logical thing for him to do is to surrender and hand the guild over to me!"

"That's bull crap Laxus, are you really that scared to fight me?" Natsu snapped.

Makarov clenched his fists, "So that's what you were planning this whole time…"

"There's only an hour and a half left until those statues turn into sand…think it over very carefully…" Laxus said.

"That's low, Laxus!" Happy said.

"When you come to your senses, announce it over the guild's public address system. Tell the entire town that you're handing the guild over to me! Take your time, think it over…but what's more important? Your position, or your children?"

Natsu roared, running at Laxus with a flaming fist, but Laxus vanished the second Natsu touched him.

"…I did say he was a thought projection…" Happy said.

"Damn it…he can't just cheat and take the Master's seat. He should have to fight me first!" Natsu fumed.

"To tell the truth, I don't give a damn about the Master's seat…" Makarov said, "But…it would be beyond wrong to leave this guild to Laxus…there are two things one needs to be a guild master…conviction…and heart…and he has neither of those things."

"But…if things go on the way they are…Ant and the girls will turn into sand…" Happy said.

"There has to be someone who can defeat Laxus." Makarov said.

"Me!" Natsu said.

"But you're stuck in here, we need to think of someone else for the time being."

"Who's there?" Happy looked over to the bar, hearing lots of metal shifting around.

Gajeel peeked over the bar, chewing on a bunch of iron scraps.

"Gajeel?" Natsu asked.

"Don't eat that stuff, it's for the barmaids!" Happy said.

"Gajeel…I beg of you…do you think you can defeat Laxus?" Makarov asked.

"Leave it to me." Gajeel snickered as he gave a dark grin, "I got a score to settle with that punk." He headed to leave, but then he bumped right into Freed's Enchantment.

"You too?" Natsu's jaw dropped.

"What's going on here?" Makarov roared.

"I don't get it!" Happy said.


Alzack panted, covered in blood and scuffs, he needed to support himself by putting his hand on a wall on fence or anything sturdy, he could barely walk. His eyes widened, "Freed…" He looked into Freed's cold stare, "I…I hurt all my friends, I defeated them…all because of your Enchantments! I kept telling myself…that…it would be okay…because it's for Bisca…" He gave a roar, "Guns Magic…Tornado Blast!" He shot at Freed with everything he had.

Freed jumped forward and elegantly slashed at the tornado with his sword, rendering Alzack's attack useless.

"You…you cut through my gunshots…?" Alzack asked, then he started choking, putting his hands around his neck, "What…what is this…can't breathe…can…can you use some other weird magic…aside from Enchantments…?"

Freed sighed and sheathed his sword, waiting patiently for Alzack to drop to the ground, "Anyone who uses magic within these runes will be stripped of oxygen. Of course, if you had bothered to read the Enchantment, you would have known that yourself." He started walking away, "How can anyone hope to defeat me, I write the very rules in which this battle takes place!"


"Only two wizards left…" Makarov said.

"Why the hell can't you get out of here, jerk? Are you only pretending? You too scared to fight?" Natsu challenged.

"How the hell should I know?" Gajeel snapped.

"You must be over eighty then." Natsu nodded.

Gajeel's voice deepened a bit as his sheer anger to the suggestion, "Do I look over eighty to you?"

"Oh no…please no…" Makarov turned around to the two brats arguing behind him, "It's just you two, isn't it?"

"I'm not even included in the head count!" Happy started crying.

"So…everyone in Fairy Tail has either been taken out by friendly fire, or by the Thunder Legion…" Makarov shivered, "There's no one left who can fight? Is…is this the end?"

"Well, I guess there's no choice…I have to turn Erza back to normal." Natsu turned around and went towards the seven statues.

"What?" Gajeel asked, "Why are you talking like you can actually do it?"

"Damn. I really wanted to show her up this time." Natsu said.

"Wait? You can free Erza, how?" Makarov asked.

"If she gets hot enough, she'll melt, right?" Natsu asked, a clueless look on his face.

"Wait, Natsu, don't do it!" Makarov held a hand out.

"It's worth a try." Natsu set Erza's statue down so she was laying on her backside, lighting his hands up and rubbing the statue with it.

"Stop it! You're going to boil her alive!"

"It'll be fine."

"Hey, he said stop!" Gajeel yelled.

Erza's face cracked. As a result they all screamed.

"Ah! Glue, Happy! Get me the glue!" Natsu gasped.

"Aye!" Happy flew off.

"That's not gonna do anything you moron! We gotta use your fire and my iron and weld her back together!" Gajeel said.

Erza's face began to crack more and more.

"No!" Natsu bowed before her, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

The stone cracked off of Erza and she was freed from the spell, lying there with a dazed look on her face. There was a pause, as the four of them looking at her couldn't believe their luck.

"Why do I feel so hot…?" She asked, then she held her forehead and scowled, "Did you two try to cook me!?"

"Erza's back to normal! Yay!" Happy cheered.

"Erza…" Makarov looked up at her as stood up, stunned, "How did you…?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but…" She swept some hair out of the way of her face, "Perhaps it has something to do with my eye. Or lack thereof."

"Of course." Makarov said, "You have that false eye. It must have weakened the effect of Evergreen's magic."

"Erza, do you know what's going on?" Happy asked.

"I heard everything, despite being encased in stone." Erza said.

"Yes, we can do this!" Makarov smiled, "We can counterattack!"

"Now that I'm here, the survivors' rate had to have increased." Erza walked over to the statistics in the air and pondered them, "I'm still having a few doubts about this…"
"So that must mean the remaining members are Natsu, Gajeel, and Erza." Happy said.

"Hey, it just went up to four." Gajeel pointed.

"But who is it?" Natsu asked.

"Everyone is still a statue, so who could it be?" Makarov asked.

"Seems we've forgotten about someone. A very mysterious S-Class wizard, perhaps…" Erza suggested.

"Mystogan!" Makarov's face brightened even more, "This is it then! We can finally stage our counterattack!"


Laxus stood in the center of the Kardia Cathedral, "With Erza and Mystogan joining the fray…it means that the top three wizards of Fairy Tail are on the battlefield. Now that's a festival for you!"


A/N: Damn I forgot how much of a badass Freed is in this chapter (and this arc, too). Make sure to leave a review, if you can. Until next time!