AN: Hmmm...once again, no comments for me to reply to this week. :^/

I hope it's not because this is getting too boring to comment on...

Oh well. In other news, as you can tell we are racing to the conclusion of this arc, and we'll be getting back to our regularly scheduled Fairy Tail mayhem just in time for Easter. We're even getting there a week earlier than planned, so Happy Easter in advance! (unless you don't celebrate Easter in which case have a chocolate bunny anyway because they are tasty. If you can't eat chocolate...you poor soul...{sympathetically pats you on back})

As always, I hope everyone is staying healthy (or home if not) and enjoy the chapter!

IT'S TIME FOR THE BIG REVEAL!

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Chapter 31: The Battle of Mattachu

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==MEANWHILE…==

"Look!" Miguel shouted, "Up there! Those lights! That must be Jerry!" His words were almost lost in the wind screaming past them as he and Happy rocketed through the air, but Happy's ears narrowly caught them. Even if they hadn't, he would've drawn the same conclusion about the streak of golden light writhing through the air with bolts of the same light shooting off from it every second or two and the ensuing explosions.

"YEAH WITH TWO MORE OF THOSE MONSTER BIRDS!" Happy screamed back as he saw the massive shadows whirling through the explosions. Suddenly the world shifted around them and Miguel threw his feet down as the ground appeared a few feet below them, Happy immediately pulling up to a stop in confusion.

"Both of you stay down and stay quiet," I ordered under my breath from where I was meditating, "They haven't noticed you yet, but if they do before I finish then we're going to have to run again. Catch your breath while you can."

"What are you doing? Do you have a way to stop them?" Miguel asked quietly.

"I said shush. I'm trying to find that out myself," I snapped as I cracked one eye open to glare, "Whoever put this memory block in my head knew what they were doing. If I hadn't been to the other side a few days ago I'd never have had a chance of cracking it. Now shush so I can concentrate."

Happy and Miguel shushed, which was a relief. Bad enough they'd brought another of those damn shadow monsters with them, but they were here themselves as well, which meant now I had even more riding on whatever was behind my mental block since their safety was now directly hinging upon my ability to beat those birds.

Thanks to Archive, I was able to visualize the inside of my mind. It wasn't an ability I'd used often, especially not to this extent since I'd never had a reason to. It was like standing on a vast tapestry of my memories. Maybe it would be better described as a film strip, a carpet? I could see everything that had ever happened to me, and I could, it wasn't quite like scrolling over it on a computer screen because I felt like I was walking down it, but that's very close. This also gave me a much better means to find and grapple with the block on my memories since now I could quite literally fight with its metaphysical manifestation.

The block was infinitely better than the ones on Gajeel and Natsu. Those had been like a piece of barely sticky tape on a wall, easy to simply reach and rip off. This was like someone had taken a tangled steel cord and stitched it into the fabric of the memories around it to make an ungodly tangled quilt of concealment. Even more disturbingly, now that I had found it and was able to observe it properly, there were strands of it obscuring things all the way back to the very beginning of my memories. Judging by the sheer scale of the block, someone had actually managed to completely conceal what looked like over ten percent of my life before age twelve.

The only clues I had were where it ended, which was the trip to Fuyuki that was almost completely hidden, and the blonde girl I'd seen. I was catching glimpses of her more frequently than anything else as I shoved and pulled at the block. Whoever she was, she'd been…Mo… the name echoed through my mind as I heaved against one particularly stubborn cord of the tangled web that I'd caught a glimpse of her under. It startled me so much that I almost lost my grip on the cord.

I immediately hooked my elbow under it and then slid it up to my shoulder, wrapping my arms around the cord and straining with my legs and back to pull it loose. "Archive!" I growled through the exertion, and a glowing golden screen suddenly popped up to help hold the cable up. I panted slightly as the weight was lifted from my shoulder and then I manifested two more, one above the cable and one below. I grinned and made a sharp chopping motion. The screens scissored closed on the cable and after floating up above them to jump up and down on it, I finally managed to force my makeshift blades through the cable.

The instant I did, I was overwhelmed as memories erupted from the new hole in the block as a plethora of its fibers snapped loose like rubber bands breaking, blasting me like a firehose as massive amounts of the block suddenly unraveled. I was slammed out of my mind space and crashed back into my body. My eyes flew open as I remembered her, along with everything I'd learned from her, everything we'd done together, and all the longing to see her again. Tears sprung to my eyes as my heart hammered from the shock. Her words in the brief moment I'd been able to see her again suddenly made sense as I remembered the promise I'd made right before she disappeared.

"Are you alright?" Miguel whispered.

"Just remembered my first love," I replied as I scrubbed tears from my eyes with a sleeve and a grin. Even as the loss I'd felt when she left tore my heart anew, I couldn't help but smile as the hole she'd left quickly filled with memories and the knowledge that she was still waiting for me. "That was less than a fifth of the block. Hang on, I'm going back in." Don't worry Mo-chan, I'll catch up soon.


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==TEN MINUTES LATER==

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The world shaking bellow shook me out of my mind space just as I managed to sever another cable and pulled the whole block unraveled. The ensuing flood of information into my mind that shook my very soul and altered my entire self-image combined with the surprise of the mountain sized "MOO!" was enough to make me furiously demand of nobody in particular to know exactly what the fuck.

Unfortunately, it also startled me bad enough that my autopiloted illusion fighting the Shadow Birds dissipated. Combined with my sudden shout, there was really only one logical outcome: Four giant shadow beaks immediately looking right straight at me, Miguel and Happy.

I climbed back to my feet and stepped in front of Miguel and Happy, my hands held out to my sides, "Who wants fried chicken?"

"You found a way to beat them?!" Miguel asked hopefully.

"Dunno but I've got a hunch. Trace, ON." I grinned as I felt my Archive and Earth Make fuse to extract steel from the surrounding earth and form two blades that were now familiar. I grinned as the twin short swords settled into my hands and a memory of another of my teachers flashed through my mind…

There is a verse in Ecclesiastes which I believe mirrors what His Majesty taught you, the white haired priest declared as he flipped open his bible to the verse in question, In the future when you need to use a purification rite, you can use this as an incantation. Given the resonance it has with you, it should prove quite effective.

I grinned as I channeled my light magic down the blades, "This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: the same destiny overtakes all." I charged forward, spinning and deflecting the beak of the heron as it slammed into the ground where I'd been a split second before, then I opened portals to the ground to act as stepping stones as I raced up the side of its neck, dragging my blades through it and carving massive swaths of silver through the darkness with the Holy element I was channeling down my blades. I kept reciting as I ran, "The hearts of people moreover are full of evil! There is madness in there hearts while they live… And afterwards they join the dead! Anyone who is among the living has hope! Even a live dog is better than a dead lion!"

I reached the end of my sprint and leapt, momentarily concealing my blades within my sleeves so that I could plunge right into the heart of the shadows, "FOR THE LIVING KNOW THAT THEY SHALL DIE!" I dove into the inky darkness and if I hadn't been armored by my faith in myself and what I was fighting for, that would've been the end of it. This things was made of pure fear, but as it sought to overwhelm me, I unsheathed my blades and lashed out with the power I'd stored in my sleeves. In a flash of light, the shadows and fear surrounding me were blown away like a bad memory.

I hovered in the air for a moment as I sized up the remaining three birds, now all eyeing me warily, "But the dead know nothing. They have no further reward and even their name is forgotten."

I teleported to the Pelican and shot forward, carving its wing right off with my left blade, "THEIR LOVE!" I spun and carved a huge swath through it with my right, "THEIR HATE AND THEIR JEALOUSY!" I teleported again and scissored my blades shut on its neck, neatly severing its head. It burst into fleeing streamers of shadow as it fell from the air and I teleported back to where I'd started in front of Happy and Miguel, sheathing my swords as I continued, "Never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun."

I clapped my hands together as though in prayer and began to charge the magic roaring into them with all the love I had for my life, "Go, eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do," my friends…

"Always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil," this wonderful second lease on life I'd been given…

"Enjoy life with your wife whom you love," I'd expected Mira, but images of all the other girls I'd quietly come to love flashed through my mind unbidden, Erza, Cana, Lucy, Serena…

"All the days of this meaningless life God has given you under the sun," two months had passed so quickly and yet it felt like I'd been with Fairy Tail my whole life…

"ALL YOUR MEANINGLESS DAYS!" I roared as I pulled my hands apart shining with a light beyond anything I'd ever summoned before as the faces of my teachers flew through my mind, and of course everyone who helped me get here…

"FOR THIS IS YOUR LOT IN LIFE AND IN YOUR TOILSOME LABOR UNDER THE SUN, WHATEVER YOUR HANDS FIND TO DO…" the birds were turning to flee. It wouldn't help them.

"DO IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!" It was like standing in the middle of the sun as I slid into a stance and prepared for the absolute biggest attack I'd ever unleashed. I could almost feel Mordred's arms wrapping around my shoulders from behind…

I told the birds calmly, "For in the realm of the dead? Where you're going? There is neither working nor planning NOR KNOWLEDGE NOR WISDOM!" I released the built up energy, and the world went white for a moment. Two moments… THREE moments, Holy shit how much power did I just cut loose?!

When the blast finally flickered out, even I had to stare in shock for a moment. Almost halfway to the horizon in all directions in front of me, the dark gray ceiling of clouds had been evaporated and the morning sun streamed down to bathe the mountains in warmth for the first time in who knew how long. The Shadow Birds were gone, burned away by my attack or the morning sun, I didn't know or care as I staggered back in awe. Then I had to laugh lightly as I finished, "I have seen something else under the sun…"

Miguel and Happy looked at me in shock as I finished, "For all my sins and mistakes, I am neither." A fierce grin spread across my face, "So, who wants to go save our friends?"


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MEANWHILE

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"WHAT THE HELL WAS BLONDIE PACKIN' IN THOSE KEYS?!" Gajeel roared in shock as the titanic bull furiously rammed the shadow giant into the tree and started to push.

"THAT MUST BE TAURUS!" Levy called back, "Less gawking more fighting! The skeletons are targeting the civilians!"

Gajeel's eyes snapped back to what he now realized was a melee of bloody skeletons grappling with fleeing people. His eyes narrowed, "Like hell they are!" He pulled back his arm and as he threw his punch, it elongated into a massive iron club that bulged and branched as it rocketed across the plaza, "IRON DRAGON FOREST!" In less than a minute, iron pillars had slammed down between dozens of civilians and the skeletons pursuing them.

Suddenly the blonde knight, Dimaria? yelled, "GAJEEL! DISCONNECT FROM THAT IRON! I'M ABOUT TO LIGHT THESE BASTARDS UP!"

Gajeel disconnected not a moment too soon as suddenly every civilian in the plaza was cleared and a panting Dimaria raised her sword. The circle of lacrimas floating behind her spun so that instead of the yellow orb at the top it was the green one, "STORM GOD DRAGON'S LIGHTNING FANG!" Green lightning suddenly roared out from around her and leapt into the veritable jungle gym of iron that Gajeel had littered the plaza with. In a blaze of green lightning, the skeletons were one and all blown to pieces in an instant by the heat of the lightning.

For an instant everything was quiet and then the High Priestess called, "Struggle all you want, the result will be the same!" She raised her hand and suddenly the lightning and iron alike were absorbed by a massive vacuum as the red blood from the pool rose and formed a funnel.

Gajeel and Levy gaped in horror as the pool sparked momentarily and the High Priestess cackled, "No matter what magic you throw at me, I have a thousand lives worth of power! I'll take everything you can throw at me and tear you apart in the mean time! You will feed my immortality!"

Levy blinked rapidly and then a vicious grin spread across her face, "You hear that Gajeel? She's got a finite number of times she can negate our attacks. By my count she managed to accumulate one thousand two hundred and sixty souls before we stopped her. I don't know how many summoning that giant took, but I'm going to guess he wasn't cheap since she needed over a thousand to be able to 'summon them at will'."

Gajeel took a second to register that and then his face twisted into an equally vicious grin, "So all we gotta do is keep beating her until she stays down…"

"And there's one more thing…" Dimaria called with an excited grin in a sing song voice, "Three! Two! One…"

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The whole plaza shook with the titanic roar as the blood pool began to boil, steam curling out of it in a thick reddish fog as its surface began to jump and buck wildly, somehow not splashing out despite the undoubtedly titanic impacts rocking it from within. The odds of Gajeel ever admitting it startled him so badly that he jumped into Levy's arms and stayed there for a moment are slim to none, but the look Levy gave him would be forever more etched into his and Dimaria's memory. As Gajeel leapt back to his feet and awkwardly tried to pretend nothing happened, Dimaria held back her giggles to sing, "He's awaaa~ake!"

The High Priestess went remarkably pale as she stared at the pool in horror, no doubt watching as her counts of invincibility were literally boiled away. Then an ear rending CRACK! echoed through the city and the whole island started to shake. Everyone turned as Gugalanna, somehow almost forgotten overhead, bellowed in triumph as the Great Tree of Apollo began to be uprooted. The High Priestess went even paler, "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" She clapped her hands together, "ARISE GUARDIANS OF APOLLO! ALL OF YOU! GET OUT HERE AND DEFEND THE GREAT TREE! STOP THAT BULL!"

Eleven vast shadows erupted out of the tree. One came out of the side and took the shape of the Spider, which immediately leapt upon Gugalanna and began biting furiously. The Giant called Leeroy Jenkins and the Monkey that had fought Erza erupted forth from the tree's trunk and caught Gugalanna by the horns, immediately shoving with all their strength and as the giant Dog sank its fangs into Gugalanna's flank and began to pull, with golden blood streaming from around its muzzle Gugalanna's horns actually began to be separated with alarmingly rapid speed from the tree. Then the birds set upon him, and his hooves began to give way as their shadowy talons and ripping beaks actually drew golden blood from his back. The Jellyfish bubbled forth and started trying to not only act as a mighty winch to further force Gugalanna back and down, but also cinching the Tree back into place with tentacles that burst forth from the ground.

It was the final two that immediately drew Gajeel's attention though. They were each over triple the size of the other two and as they began to take shape, Gajeel's eyes went wide, "Ohhh crap…" On one side was something that looked like a massive flying whale with glowing yellow eyes and a mouth that was gaping wide open and charging what looked an awful lot like a dragon's breath weapon.

On the other side, slamming down and crushing buildings beneath its weight as it immediately noticed Gajeel, was the far more pressing concern. The Shadow Dragon's glowing silver eyes locked onto him and Gajeel realized he was about to have to EARN his title as a Dragon Slayer.

Right about then a hailstorm of swords glowing white with Holy Magic came streaming down from the sky in a torrent of divine steel. They bored through the Whale and then the river of light and blades twisted like a serpent and shot towards the tree. "BLUMEN…" A streak of silver flashed down the side of the tree and rent the Monkey, the Giant, the Dog and especially the Jellyfish to shreds, "BLATT!" Erza roared as she skidded to a halt and requipped, her swords continuing to fly and move according to her will even as she switched out of her Heaven's Wheel into a bulky white armor covered with spikes. The Whale had only just finished disintegrating when her feet hit the ground.

Erza slammed a massive club into the ground and grinned, "Purgatory Armor, or as it will now be known…" She leapt and knocked the Spider off Gugalanna's back as the massive horns slammed back into the tree and knocked it almost further out of the ground than it had been, "HEAVEN'S JUDGMENT!"

Even as the Monkey attempted to lunge out of the tree at her, Erza leapt and caved its skull in with a single swing. The Spider attempted to leap back and hooking it on the massive spikes of her club, Erza spun and hurled it into the Condor as it swooped to try and knock her from Gugalanna's back. The Heron's beak shot down like a missile and was effortlessly batted off course into the Giant as it emerged from the Tree. Then in a whirlwind of steel, Erza's blades rent all four to shreds of fleeing shadow.

Without warning, two of Erza's blades slammed down in front of Gajeel and Levy as she shouted, "THEY'RE VULNERABLE TO HOLY MAGIC!"

Levy didn't even hesitate, snatching the sword on the left up as she took off, "RIGHT! DIBS ON THE WITCH! SOLID SCRIPT LIGHTNING!" With a swipe of her hand, a bolt of lightning leapt away to slam into a hastily erected wave of blood as the High Priestess realized she suddenly had an extremely irate wizard after her armed with a holy sword.

Levy shot across the plaza on a burst of Solid Script Fast and after bouncing off a Solid Scrip Trampoline over the wave of blood, a burst of Solid Script Shine obscured the massive slash that carved the High Priestess open from shoulder to hip. Levy spun, the High Priestess's words about having a thousand lives on tap fresh in her ears as she bisected the vile sorceress again. A lightning quick reversal of her blade's angle and the High Priestess's head bounced away. Levy didn't even hesitate as she pulled back and jammed her sword through the Priestess's black heart. She would've kept going if a wave of blood hadn't erupted between them and forced her back.

The blood cocooned the High Priestess and Levy discharged a Solid Script Lightning bolt into it, smiling in grim satisfaction as she heard the Sorceress shriek within. Unfortunately, Levy mused, I've only got a few more of those before I run out, and I don't know if there's enough light here for Blackout Mode to even help…

The blood cocoon fell and the High Priestess directed a furious glare at Levy, "ImpressIVE! Let me finish talking!" Levy had attempted to cut her off halfway through by coming within six inches of chopping her head off again, "As I was saying…" the High Priestess continued as she shot backward on a cushion of blood, "Can you attack me so furiously and still defend your friends?!"

Suddenly a wave erupted out of the pool behind her and arched high overhead, splitting into a hailstorm of javelins that rocketed down towards the other side of the plaza. Levy's eyes widened as she realized exactly who the High Priestess was aiming for. Lucy was still out cold and defenseless from the strain of summoning Gugalanna. And if she kills Lucy then our ace is toast! Raced through Levy's head as she opened her mouth to scream out a warning that even as she said it she knew wouldn't help.

The javelins came down…

And were promptly all vaporized by a wall of blinding light. Dimaria became visible standing in front of Lucy, her blade now jagged like the blades of the High Priestess's puppet executioners and a white lacrima now hovering at the top of her circle. Dimaria grinned, "No tiros baratos bruja! Patear su culo Levy!"

A delighted smile spread across Levy's face as she recognized one of the first foreign languages she'd ever learned, "SI! Gracias hermana! Te debemos una!" She turned her attention back to the High Priestess just in time to deflect a razor sharp tendril of hardened blood shooting towards her like a spear. Levy effortlessly deflected it and charged forward, weaving through and batting aside the seemingly infinite number of blood spears flying at her while Dimaria did the same, albeit cursing furiously in Minstrelian the whole time about 'brujas engañandas'.

Gajeel had a rather different reaction to a holy sword landing in front of him. He picked up the sword with a vicious grin and bit into it like a kebab as he turned a very excited expression on the Shadow Dragon. Never tried ENCHANTED steel before…

As Gajeel's teeth sank into the sword's tempered steel, power flowed through him like a raging tsunami. Gajeel's scales sprang into being across his entire body as his normally inky black hair turned glowing white and magic power started to leak from beneath his scales. Gajeel's eyes went wide as he realized the answer to the question Erza had posed him and Natsu a few days earlier. Yes, dual-element Dragon Slaying magic WAS possible, and even better, yes. He could handle it.

Gajeel's face twisted back into that vicious grin as he immediately clamped down on his control of the hurricane of power roaring within him, "DIVINE STEEL DRAGON…" he took a breath and the Shadow Dragon before him had just an instant to look worried, "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"

Instead of the usual pale green, a hurricane of blinding white magic loaded with shrapnel erupted forth, slamming into the Shadow Dragon and flinging it across the city to slam into a mountainside with a pained roar. Gajeel frowned as he saw that while the Shadow Dragon was definitely injured and leaking shadows, it was far from beaten. Then it turned back to him and spread its wings, launching itself into the air…only to be immediately snatched and slammed back to the ground as Gajeel grinned, "Iron Make: Chains!"

Gajeel charged across the city, his arm growing a massive and faintly glowing chainsaw blade as he ran, "DIVINE STEEL DRAGON SWORD: ARONDIGHT!" The Shadow Dragon opened its mouth and suddenly the entire world before Gajeel was nothing but a vast wall of darkness. Gajeel pointed his sword ahead and charged on, the blade on his arm spinning and shedding light until he was encased in a glowing white vortex of energy, "DIVINE STEEL DRAGON LANCE: RHONGOMYNIAAAD!" He shot forward even faster on a pillar of iron that grew with lightning speed, propelling him forward like a bullet.

The Shadow Dragon exploded as Gajeel blew straight through its head. It exploded out of the branches of the now precariously leaning tree twice as big and seething with fury a moment later, but Gajeel met its return with a confident grin, "Come and get it!"

Then his confidence vanished as Gugalanna suddenly disappeared with a very panicked sounding "MOO?!"

Dimaria looked down in shock and horror at the red blade of solidified blood poking out of the center of her breastplate. She looked over her shoulder in horror and saw that the blade had erupted out of a pool that had crept through the cracks in the cobblestones and formed right behind her…a puddle that Lucy's unconscious form was now lying in and adding to.

The entire city seemed to go quiet for a moment as all eyes suddenly landed on Lucy and Dimaria. The bloody javelin retracted and Dimaria fell forward onto one knee, only barely keeping herself upright by propping on her sword. Then a dozen more erupted from the ground and stabbed through her. Dimaria gasped in agony and then collapsed as the javelins retracted, her seven lacrima falling to the ground beside her.

Levy, Erza and Gajeel stared in horror as the High Priestess started to laugh…

Then the blood pool exploded in a pillar of furious crimson flames that roared higher than the Great Tree, and that roar consisted of one very clear message, "I'LL KIIIIIILL YOOOOOOOU!"

The High Priestess backed away from the raging inferno as the giant Spider materialized and tried to suppress the flames in a tidal wave of webbing. Then she stopped cold as something jammed itself through her chest from behind, "Me first," Elric declared quietly as the toxic aura his hand was encased in began to burn through the torso he'd just thrust it through. "A thousand lives huh?" he asked the High Priestess quietly as she shot a stunned glance over her shoulder at him, "That was enough poison for a million. Oh, and just for good measure, may the sound of your own voice destroy you!" he snapped his bloody, talon tipped fingers.

The High Priestess suddenly exploded as though a bomb had gone off in her chest. She quickly began to reform, but even as she did, the poison was clearly taking effect. Elric grinned as his hair faded from white to dark red, "Since she's taking cheap shots Levy, I hope you don't mind if I join you."

Levy stared at him in shock, "Elric? You're a wizard?!"

The man we'd thought we knew cracked his knuckles, "Hehehe… You ain't seen nothin' yet." Then he threw his hand to the sky and yelled, "LIGHT 'EM UP NATSU!"

Natsu was a frightfully powerful mage to be sure, everyone knew that. He could easily burn entire towns to the ground entirely by accident and he had no concept of 'overkill' or his own immense physical strength and durability. For all that though, he was a usually a kind, friendly (if slightly mischievous) soul who genuinely meant no harm, and Levy had never been the slightest bit scared of him.

The raging beast in the flames that erupted through the shadow web out of the now burned dry pool screaming in fury with blazing eyes full of hate? HE was another story altogether.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by anyone, a young woman with stark white hair and a pocket full of Celestial Gate Keys knelt over Lucy and Dimaria…

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NEXT TIME on Mad Little Slice of Heaven...

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"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

"I am...A DRAGON SLAYER."

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Also yes, shameless plug for anyone wondering, there will eventually be a Fate:Zero prequel fic detailing Jerry's Holy Grail War.

For those of you who don't know what that means, don't worry he'll explain it to everybody in Chapter 33: Aftermath.

It's a long ways off yet but I do have a general idea of what all happens.

For now, I'm calling it Archer's Wild.