AN:

"Hello" - normal talking

'Hello' - thinking

Chapter 23 - Take Over

A sour fragrance entered Laxus' nostrils and he was awakened from his state of unconsciousness. The first thing he did was to jump up to his feet, still in shock at the thought that he had been struck with such immense power despite dodging the fist. At the moment, he was not even aware of the fact that he had been knocked out cold.

But Laxus' abrupt movements startled the medic that had been administrating him the medicine and the Dragon Slayer immediately found the tip of more than a dozen spears pointed at his neck. It was the Rune Knights.

"Halt! We will use fatal force if necessary!" one of the Rune Knights threatened sharply.

To their surprise, at his words, Laxus didn't even try to put up any resistance. The blonde Dragon Slayer let himself kneel on the ground as the realization of what had transpired dawned on him.

"We lost...?"

Some of the Rune Knight surrounding him moved to the side and a tiny old man came in front of him. It was his grandfather, Makarov. The old wizard stared at him in silence. It looked as though he had troubles finding his words. Eventually, he spoke in a mixture of anger and grief:

"Take a look around you, Laxus... is this what you wanted to achieve by joining our enemies and attacking Fairy Tail?"

Laxus looked around as he was told. He saw 10 bodies lying on the ground motionlessly, covered with white sheets. They were dead, killed by Naruto's feathery spears. They were from Raven Tail. He also saw dozens of other mages from both Fairy Tail and Raven Tail being carried on levitating stretchers by medics into the Magic Vehicles that had the emblem of Magnolia Town Hospital painted on them.

"Ten mages from Raven Tail dead. Dozens of others are injured from Fairy Tail too. Reedus was stabbed multiple times and is now struggling to stay alive. Max and Nab are in a critical condition too, in a coma, because of Ivan's attacks when he forced Mirajane to not retreat inside the guild...As for Mirajane..."

Makarov sighed heavily in sorrow.

"...Mirajane was pregnant, Laxus."

Laxus' face became pale and the look in his eyes vacant. But Makarov mistook his silence and his shock for indifference. His voice began to tremble from anger.

"Is this what you wanted, Laxus? To kill your comrades, the ones that had been looking up to you all this time? TO KILL AN UNBORN CHILD AND HIS MOTHER? TELL ME LAXUS!" Makarov roared enraged.

Everyone looked over with dim eyes. Not even the Rune Knights dared to utter a sound, merely watching the scene solemnly.

"Look at all the pain you've caused everyone...look at all the suffering you've brought us!" Makarov shouted, tears starting to fall from his eyes. "Look me in the eyes, Laxus, and tell me: are you happy now? ARE YOU PROUD OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!"

Laxus could not meet his eyes. He could feel the anguish in his grandfather's voice. He could understand his sorrow and anger from the tears falling from the old man's eyes. Guilt appeared in his heart and his eyes began swimming in tears too.

"I didn't know Mirajane was pregnant..." Laxus said in a shaky voice "I never wanted any of this to happen... all I wanted was to make Fairy Tail the strongest guild in Fiore! That's all I ever wanted!" he cried out.

"You fool!" Makarov yelled and a massive palm struck Laxus across the face, smashing him into one of the walls of the crater "You-... You-!" Makarov started to say again but he suddenly gripped with both of his hands at his chest and collapsed to the ground.

"Master!" many of the Fairy Tail members cried out alarmed and rushed at him in a panic.

Even Laxus, as though the old man had not just slapped the crap out of him, jumped from the place he had crashed into in and tried to rush at him.

"Jiji!" he shouted but a blue magic circle suddenly appeared under his feet and he lost control of his movements as his body was levitated in the air.

"Let me go! Let go of me, you bastards! Jiji is-, he is-"

But a series of purple characters encased him in a box-like space, completely sealing his movements. In his weakened state, Laxus could not fight against the restriction. Furthermore, Rune Magic was something that the Rune Knights were very adept at.

"Take him away." the one who looked like the commander of the Rune Knights said and his subordinates levitated Laxus into one of the armoured carriages of a Magic Vehicle.

The Rune Knights had also wanted to take custody of the one responsible for the deaths amongst Raven Tail mages' ranks - namely Naruto - but he was nowhere to be found and, naturally, the other members of Fairy Tail claimed that they did not know his whereabouts either.

\\\\\

"Please tell me she is alright! Mira said you're one of the best medics in Fiore! You can heal her, right? I'm begging you!"

Porlyusica legitimately hated most humans and enjoyed berating them but even she could not find it in herself to bite any insult at Naruto when she saw the despair on his face. Because of that, although she had to admonish him for his behaviour, in a manner uncharacteristic to her usual demeanour, the old lady placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and tried to speak gently:

"Whether I can save her or not, that remains to be seen. But I cannot work my magic on her with you acting like that. If you truly care about her, get a hold of yourself and let me do my job."

Naruto's hands clenched into fists and it looked like he was having a terrible battle with himself. He went to one of the chairs on the side of the room and sat down. He brought his hands to his face and, in the silence of the room, even Porlyusica felt her heart shake when she heard his quiet sobs.

It wasn't every day that one could see a grown-up man cry and it was an even rarer occurrence for someone of his calibre to look as broken as he was at that moment. Even a recluse like Porlyusica had heard of the Raven before. He was famed for his power but his rather cruel methods against slave traders, Dark Guilds and Zeref Cultist were just as known too. To see someone as tough as him breaking in tears was a moving image in itself.

Porlyusica sighed but turned her attention to the girl lying on the bed. She had put her into a medically-induced sleep before so she was sleeping peacefully. Her hands glowed with a green light and she ran several diagnosis spells to understand the condition of her body.

Naruto was not one for religion. Even in the Elemental Nations, he had never really cared about whether god existed or not. He used to be a shinobi and he was now a mage. Generally, with few exceptions, these professions were not exactly compatible with the life of a religious man. However, standing at the bed of his wounded lover, for the first time in his life, Naruto prayed. He didn't know to whom he was praying. He didn't even know if he was doing it the right way. All knew was that, at that moment, he would trade anything - even his own life if he had to - just to hear that Mirajane and their unborn baby were going to be ok.

\\\\\

"I saw the spear of lightning impaling her! Are you sure she's really ok?!" he asked. Porlyusica's words seemed almost too good to be true.

"From what you told me, her magic had been disrupted for just a short moment. I reckon that by the time the lightning spear hit her, the natural defences of her body were put up again."

"She didn't have the time to cast any magic though," Naruto said.

Porlyusica grabbed the end of her broom and looked like she was ready to whack him any moment then. Her patience was already running thin with him.

"I said natural defences, are you a moron?" she yelled at him but continued to explain "All of the powerful mages have naturally resilient bodies as well, even if they don't focus on body-strengthening types of magic. Just by possessing a vast amount of magic power, their bodies would be passively fortified. The stronger the vessel, the more magic it can hold. Most of the time this is proportional. If my estimates are right - and I'm seldom wrong - this girl possesses an amount of magic power not much below that of a Wizard Saint mage. And I would know that since I've treated more than one Wizard Saint until now!"

"So are you saying..." Naruto trailed off, making Porlyusica nearly start spitting flames out of her eyes.

"I'm saying that the level of the attack that hit her had not been enough to critically injure her! Have you not been listening to anything I've said until now at all?!" she old lady yelled in exasperation.

Her breath caught in her throat though when Naruto unexpectedly embraced her.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Naruto repeatedly exclaimed while hugging her tightly to his chest.

Porlyusica's body had frozen up. She didn't even know how to react. She did dislike people with a passion but she was not as cold and insensitive as she appeared to be. She could see the sincerity and happiness in his voice. But the biggest reason why she froze up was that she had not received a hug from someone in what had to be decades. She had forgotten what it was like to be on the receiving end of someone's affectionate gestures.

"You- you can let go of me now," the old lady said, all the while struggling to keep her voice even.

Naruto quickly let go of her and was about to apologise for acting like that but another sudden thought made him ask quickly:

"What about the baby?"

Porlyusica sighed.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Naruto unintentionally raised his voice.

"My diagnosis spells cannot detect anything wrong in her abdominal area. In fact, they cannot detect anything at all, they are being repelled. There is a lump of very dense and powerful Darkness Magic acting like an impenetrable barrier. I cannot get past it. I can't try more powerful spells either in fear of harming her."

The two of them were silent for a few moments.

"How did that appear there? Last time we came for her to be checked up, there was nothing in her stomach."

"This is the first time I see it happening on a pregnant woman too," Porlyusica said "but I have a theory about how it came to be. My guess is that when the lightning magic attack hit her, on a subconscious level, Mirajane's primary concern had not been her own survival but that of her baby. Her magic must have responded to her ardent desire and clustered around the embryo to protect it from any harm."

Naruto recalled the definition of magic that Mirajane had often told him that she heard from Makarov - 'Magic is an unreasonable power, but it is born from reason! It is not some miraculous ability. Magic is the pouring out of one's entire soul.'

Naruto couldn't help asking again for assurance:

"Does this mean that the baby fine?"

"I just told you I don't know, are you really stupid?!" Porlyusica yelled aggravated.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed in out a few times to get her explosive temper under control and then she said:

"A person's deepest desire can bring forth very powerful magic. The power of one's feelings can greatly influence the power of the magic too. Love and fear are both feelings that carry tremendous power. She loves her baby and she was afraid of her safety. Chances are that her baby has not been harmed -" and Naruto cheered "- but something wrong might happen to the baby in the future."

Seeing Naruto's expression going from the heights of happiness to the depths of desperation was almost funny to her even if she didn't feel like laughing at all due to how unusual the present situation was.

"Listen to me, boy. If you want your child to be born healthy, without any malformations, the mother is not allowed to use her Take Over magic even once before she gives birth!"

Naruto listened to her with 120% of his attention focused on what she said next:

"Take Over magic is a rather tyrannical type of magic, especially Satan Soul. The effects it has on the user's body are not merely just a boost in their magic or physical power. By using Take Over, mages are literally having their bodies changed to that of a completely different species altogether! Now think about it: how is the baby going to be influenced when the mother repeatedly changes from being a human to a full-fledged demon?"

Naruto remained mute, not knowing what to say at that.

"You were extremely lucky to no lose any of them today, boy, you should thank the heavens for that. But if you want your baby to be born normal... no, if you want your baby to be born at all, the two of you should be very careful. Mirajane should not be allowed to use her Take Over - not even partial forms - no matter what!

\\\\\

"Master! What happened here!" Natsu shouted as rage started to bubble in his veins at the sight in front of his eyes.

Similarly, Erza, Gray and Lucy were stunned as well. The four of them had expected to be greeted like kings once they returned to the guild with the news that they had defeated Oracions Seis. Natsu was still especially pumped after his glorious victory against Oracion Seis' master's alter-ego, Zero. He was even somewhat confident of challenging Naruto to a fight once again.

The blue-haired young girl and the white flying cat that they had brought along with them from their trip this time were also looking at the remains of the guildhall with their hands/paws covering their mouths.

"Who would do something like this?" Wendy asked, on the verge of crying. She was a very sensitive girl and after learning that her former guild had all been just an illusion, she had consoled herself with the idea that Fairy Tail would become her new home. However, this new home had been destroyed before she had even had the chance to see it.

But the guildmaster was nowhere in sight to answer Natsu's question. It was Cana that replied from one of the benches that remained intact after the guild had blown up. She had brought it out of the rubble in the courtyard and now she was sitting on it, drinking. Unlike usual, however, she looked tipsy.

"Raven Tail started a war."

"Another guild war?!" Erza cried out distressed.

"Master had suffered a heart attack. We don't know whether he'll live or not; he is in a coma. Mirajane broke her leg and was grievously injured too...she'll survive but we don't know if her baby will too. Reedus, Max and Nab are in critical condition as well, we don't know whether they'll live or not either. They are being cared for at Porlyusica-san's place. But there are many others among us who are hospitalized in the town with various kinds of injuries."

The girl grabbed the barrel from the floor and brought it to her mouth, dawning nearly a quarter of it in one breath. She blew out a mouthful of hot air and hiccuped.

"That damned Gildarts. He's never around when the guild needs him...Mystogan too... what are they in this guild for if they never contribute with anything?"

"That's enough, Cana! Go home, you're drunk!" Wakaba shouted from the side to make her stop.

Lucy appeared to recover only now from her shock.

"How could this happen?! Master was here and Naruto-san is like super scary and strong right? Didn't he eliminate entire Dark Guilds alone? How was our guild reduced to such a state?!"

Wakaba blew a big plume of smoke before saying:

"Laxus was on the side of Raven Tail, leading the attack against us together with their guildmaster, Ivan. And Freed has betrayed us too. He used his Rune Magic to lay a trap and Master, Naruto-san and Gajeel were all locked in the building. Rune Magic's rules are absolute."

Wakaba breathed in more of his tobacco. It served to calm him down somewhat but his hands were pale white from how hard he was clenching his fists.

"Raven Tail must have colluded with another Dark Guild. They were more than twice as many as us. Furthermore, while Master, Naruto-san and Gajeel were trapped inside, Mirajane was the only S-class on our side. Mira-chan, she..."

Wakaba found himself unable to hold a tear and he wiped his face furiously with the sleeve of his shirt. He had always admired Mirajane and there was a time where he even tried to court her despite that he was much older and the already had a wife. Although she was engaged to someone now, Wakaba still held her in high regards, just like before. In fact, most of the members of Fairy Tail deeply admired Mirajane who often forgot about her own well-being to help them. As proof of that, Macao, who had been silent at his partner's side until then, spoke up:

"Mira-chan is always looking after us...when we should be the ones protecting the younger generation... Kuso!"

"It's because we were weak!" Laki, a purple-haired girl said. She had a busted lip and her right hand was in a cast. "Mirajane-san had had to fight against Laxus and Raven Tail's master at the same time! And she might have even won if someone else didn't cancel her magic at the end. Compared to that, we couldn't do anything..." She felt like crying too.

"At least Naruto paid them back for what they did!" Bisca said venomously, an expression of hatred on her face. She appeared to be uninjured - most likely due to her standing far away from the front lines and sniping her opponents from afar, but next to her, Alzack looked almost like a living mummy, bandaged from head to toes. He had borne the brunt of all the attacks meant for Bisca, putting his body and life on the line to protect her.

Despite that Fairy Tail won the war against Raven Tail, there was no joy in their victory. Too many were left injured in the aftermath, their newly guildhall was demolished and their Guildmaster and several other members were in a coma, fighting for their life.

\\\\\

It was a demon. Just one of the demons that the Black Mage, Zeref, had created on a whim. Even though it had no extraordinary appearance, it was still one of Zeref's familiars. It was not supposed to feel emotions like fear. It was not designed to do so. But, at that moment, there was nothing but terror in its mind. After flying at its fastest speed for more than a dozen miles, It suddenly transformed into a mole and instantly buried itself into the ground, digging at a speed even a real mole was not capable of.

However, a powerful cry rang out, flooding the skies.

"No matter what you transform into... even if you had twelve pairs of wings... you won't escape me!"

It was Naruto. His magic power was being locked by the being he was chasing - it was cancelling his magic every time after he activated the black wings of his Take Over form so he had to give up on flying. But he was relentless. As he was shinobi-jumping through the forest at a breathtaking speed, in his mind's eyes, the being's demonic signature never disappeared. No matter what it transformed into, no matter where it tried to hide, it could never escape from his Sage sensing ability. It could only keep running away in desperation.

What demons hated the most was not a holy-attributed mage. What demons feared the most was not Zentopia Church's magic. Demons did not fear even death. What these creatures of darkness feared more than anything was the one that could control that darkness. The one that could force them into submission... The one that could possess them... the one that could Take Over their soul!

The tree branch Naruto had landed on snapped and he fell but criss-cross cracks appeared beneath his feet when he landed and the ground shattered like glass as he launched himself in the air.

"You think not being able to use magic will stop me? You think you can get away?"

His right arm bloated until it was even thicker than his own waist. The muscles in his arm became like flood dragons and the veins like snakes. A battle cry came out of his chest as he fell down. It was like a massive meteorite descended! For nearly 5 miles around the point of collision, the entire forest was effectively razed off the map. It was like the forest had never even existed there in the first place. As for the ground itself... a massive hole nearly half a mile deep and several miles wide appeared in it.

Laughter came from him when he felt the restriction over his magic disappear. It meant that the demon had lost its life.

Obra, that tiny demon had almost caused Mirajane to die. Naruto could not get revenge on the father and son duo that were the original perpetrators because that would mean the end of Mirajane's career as a Fairy Tail mage and the end of her social life too. He was an adult now and he understood that each of his actions had consequences. Despite his rage at Laxus and Ivan and despite the temptation of killing them with his own two hands - he would have struck again even after Makarov had come to his grandson's defence had it not been for Mirajane's plea - Naruto had stopped himself in the end. He treasured Mira's happiness much more than that.

However, he needed an outlet for his anger. And who else better to vent it on than the very demon that caused Mirajane to almost die in the first place? The moment that Porlyusica assured him that Mirajane was in no immediate danger, he immediately focused on the sensing ability of his Sage Mode. His surprise when he sensed Obra's life signature lurking around Porlyusica's residence, at only a few tens of feet away spying on them, was not small and the anger that he had been holding in until then exploded like a raging volcano.

And now, there he was, standing in a massive crater that he had created with his pure physical strength alone. It had exhausted his entire power and he was even worried he would have to sleep there overnight because he was too tired to get back home on his own. However, it was satisfying. The massive piece of land had turned to dust and, at his feet, only the corpse of a tiny monkey-like demonic creature lay.

"Your soul is mine now, demon."

"Take Over!"

AN:

(Not an English native and I have no beta either. Sorry for any mistakes I may have made.)