AN: Ok everybody, update time!

Due to work constraints at my new job, updating is going to monthly rather than the biweekly schedule I had been hoping for.

I sincerely despise having to make this decision, but given that I'll be working 12 hour days most days for at least the next few months and have hardly been able to write at all this last two weeks, I feel it is probably the right one.

Honestly given how July has been going and how August is shaping up, I may not be able to get enough time or energy to have a post ready for next month. I'm going to apologize in advance because I know it's very likely that I won't have another chapter ready until September at the earliest.

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For those of you thinking this sounds familiar, you're right. I'm removing Chapter 40.5 and rolling it into the beginning of this chapter as it was originally meant to be. For those of you who already read Chapter 40.5, scroll down to the section break and pick up from there.

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And now Reviewer Replies!

Beruit: No, Laxus legitimately had NO IDEA about what had happened over the preceding two months. He's been nowhere near Fairy Tail since Mira kicked his ass and he hasn't been paying attention to the news. On top of that, the Thunder Legion were going out of their way to keep him away from anything that might make him think about the guild and set him off. Even prior to that, he wasn't really paying attention to what the 'losers' were up to. He knew about the moon thing, but he thought Gildarts did it. He hadn't seen Gildarts when he came back in after the Galuna Incident, and Mira confronted him almost immediately, so he was gone flying on Air Fist before he had time to realize Gildarts was back or hear any of the latest news. Basically he hasn't properly interacted with the guild since right before the Galuna Incident and thus was actually COMPLETELY clueless about recent events. You might be thinking that the Thunder Legion would've updated him, but they took off to find him the instant they found out Mira blasted him. As for the job, it's going quite well but there is quite a lot to be done. I got off early today, but that's because I'd already worked 50 hours this week, and this may well be the last weekend I have off until sometime around Halloween.

NightBlood5404: Yep, Laxus has had sense talked into him. The knowledge that he'd be facing off against a ROYALLY pissed off Gildarts if he tried to cause trouble helps as well. Thank you for the well wishes, I hope to have a chapter that'll blow EVERYONE'S minds ready for next month's update.

Guest: Erza Jerry and Ultear have a threesome you say? Why yes, I DO think that's an exceptionally distinct possibility! Oh you meant Natsu Lucy and Lisanna? Mmm...yeah, my answer's still the same.

itsme: Glad you like! I've only got the first half of round one done right now, but it only gets better from here!

Donumah: Glad you're enjoying!

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Chapter 41: The Battle of Fairy Tail

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My eyes quickly scanned the bracket as it appeared on all four sides of the ring and with a snap of my fingers I teleported all fifteen of us down to the stage next to Laxus. I grinned at Gajeel, "Looks like we're gettin' that rematch huh?"

Gajeel just grinned, "Gihi. Count on it."

"DON'T JUST ACT LIKE WE'RE NOT HERE!" the other half dozen wizards on our side of the bracket who we'd have to beat to meet in the semifinals roared.

Gajeel and I looked over at them and I quirked an eyebrow up with and then an evil grin slid across my face, "Oh yeah. Forgot about you." The minor aura of Terror I was bathing them in probably had something to do with the way they looked like they were all suddenly about to shit themselves. Bickslow had a bit of an advantage over the others since his visor covered half his face. Points to the guy with the long green hair and rapier who I'd learned was Levy's friend Freed, he had one heck of a poker face. The only indication of his terror was the fact that he was white as a sheet.

Laxus laughed, "C'mon guys, man up! All ya gotta do is beat 'em! Now then, first match! Bickslow vs Warren! Into the ring you two!"

Bickslow and Warren quickly leapt off the stage and headed for the ring through the wide berth the crowd immediately parted to give them.

In a purely physical fight, or even most magical fights, I would've put my money on Bickslow. Bickslow is actually a little bit bigger than Gajeel, and I could tell at a glance that the magic reinforcing that massive form was top notch. On top of that, if he was anything like Cousin Rick, then he was stupidly quick and agile on top of that immense reach. Add to that his eye magic and whatever those miniature floating tiki heads of his were, and it was clearly a winning combination.

If he'd been fighting anyone other than Warren, I'd have considered it an obviously lopsided fight and might have even accused Laxus of a little bit of favoritism. It had to be considered though that Warren's a more skilled telepath than I am, and he's extremely adept at using that in combat. In all the times I'd seen him involved in the Guild Hall brawls, I don't think I'd ever actually seen him take a direct hit. There was that one time he got brained from behind with a random bottle, and he'd gotten caught in Natsu's explosions more than once, but one on one? In a fist fight? Even by Fairy Tail's admittedly absurd standard, he was no slouch.

Master stepped into the ring between then to act as referee, I'm not sure where he got the black and white striped shirt, but I'm guessing Requip. Master extended his hand with his magic, "Readyyy…?" Bickslow had his totems arrayed in a row above his head, and Warren settled into a low stance, angled forward.

I nodded, Bickslow's totems were best at long range. Warren's telepathy was more useful at close range, and Bickslow's totems would have a harder time firing at him if he was right on top of Bickslow. Getting close was the best option available to Warren unless he had some kind of long distance magic, which to the best of my knowledge he didn't.

Master's hand snapped back, "FIGHT!"

Warren took off like a shot, darting straight forward and twisting around the volley of lasers that blazed out to intercept him. Bickslow lashed out with his right and Warren turned his headlong charge into a homerun skid that took him right under Bickslow's punch. Warren spun and swept Bickslow's feet out from under him, only for Bickslow to catch a boost from one of his totems which immediately launched him clear as the other four opened fire on the suddenly wide open Warren. A blaze of green light later Master blew a whistle, "Bickslow is the winner!"

The next fight was Gajeel against a particularly immense and muscular guy with blue hair and no shirt named Joey Fullborn. I'd never seen him display any particular magic during the brawls, but I knew he wound up wrestling Elfman a lot. So given the obvious raw strength that implied and the brass knuckles, I actually thought he might give Gajeel a good match.

And he did!

…at first.

The fists flew hard and fast, Gajeel was clearly holding his magic in reserve for our match and was going purely hand to hand. That's the only reason the fight dragged out for almost five minutes. As far as hand to hand purely went, Joey was actually Gajeel's approximate equal. He favored a boxing approach, but damn if he didn't have the hand speed to back it up! I raised an eyebrow as I saw Gajeel actually blocking and dodging almost as many shots as he threw with none of his own seemingly making contact.

Then Joey actually landed a direct hit to Gajeel's face. It wasn't a light hit either, he actually had the full telegraphed wind up, but he'd actually managed to force a hole in Gajeel's guard big enough for it to connect. On anyone else, it probably would've been a knock out blow, especially given the way he suddenly doubled in sheer bulk and muscle mass when he hauled back. His technique was extremely good, it was perfectly timed and distanced, and it should've knocked Gajeel flying. The impact was packing enough force and magic to actually generate a (relatively) minor shockwave.

If Gajeel wasn't Gajeel, it probably would've knocked him staggering and then an absolute beat down would've ensued.

Unfortunately for Joey though, Gajeel is Gajeel, and Gajeel weighs about double what even a big guy like him should (and he looks like he should weigh almost three hundred pounds of pure muscle), with durability comparable to the metal he eats. It would be easier to punch down a building than Gajeel.

Props to Joey though, Gajeel actually was scooted back into a defensive stance, which means that even though Gajeel's guard didn't falter for an instant, that punch Joey threw probably would have knocked down a building. Joey laid into him anyway, actually kicking up a fairly decent wind as he hammered away at Gajeel's guard, those monster grade punches firing like pistons for almost thirty seconds straight at what Archive clocked as five punches a second.

Then as his barrage ended, Joey sprang back, suddenly looking extremely nervous as Gajeel wrinkled his nose in irritation. Gajeel straightened up, dropped his guard, pushed one nostril closed and blew out a wad of blood. Then he did the same thing for the other side. He wiggled his nose experimentally with his fingers to make sure it wasn't broken and then nodded.

Everyone was staring as he looked up at Joey and then before anyone could realize he was moving, he sprang across the ring and planted his boot in Joey's gut. Time seemed to slow down as Joey crumpled like a tin can around Gajeel's kick. His feet came off the ground, his eyes went wide… and then time switched back to normal and he slammed into the magical wall of the ring so hard he bounced back at Gajeel, colliding face first with Gajeel's fist.

Poor Joey's feet kept going. His momentum was enough that he actually did a complete vertical one eighty and landed sprawled on his face, completely unconscious. Gajeel raised his fist with a grin and I'm certain that was Levy and Juvia I heard all but screaming with delight as the crowd went nuts and Makarov declared him the winner.

I noticed Elfman's eyes bugging slam out next to me, "MAN THAT WAS MANLY!"

I patted him on the shoulder with a grin, "Don't worry bro, he's on the wrong side of the bracket to fight you."

"I'M NOT SCARED!" Elfman protested.

I grinned and waved his protest away, "I know, I know. I was pointing out that you have to worry about beating Laxus first."

Elfman immediately went pale, "Oh yeah…"

I laughed and Gray grinned, "Don't worry Elfman, I'll make sure Laxus doesn't kick your ass."

"Oh yeah?" Elfman asked, "How's that?"

Gray just pointed to the bracket with a shit eating grin, "I'll kick your ass before Laxus can."

Elfman's head whipped around and he remembered that Gray was his first opponent, "WHY YOU LITTLE…"

I stopped paying attention at that point because the next fight was starting. Alzack against Laxus and Bickslow's buddy Freed. I'd heard good things about Freed from Levy, and his magic was the strongest of Laxus's three sidekicks, so I was quite interested to see what he could do.

Then Alzack whipped out a revolver. My eyes went wide as I saw the hammer fall.

Then I blinked, No blood? What… Then my gaze zeroed in on the purple symbols snaked up Freed's forearm, Some kind of defense spell?

Alzack looked nervous. Freed said something I couldn't hear and calmly drew his sword. He didn't bother to raise it, he just let its tip drag along the ground behind him throwing up crackles of dark purple energy as he advanced. Alzack fired as fast as he could, but Freed's defensive shield just deflected everything in little bursts of dark purple. Alzack kept shooting, but Freed was steadily advancing, and I couldn't help but grimace as I realized he was steadily backing Alzack into a corner. Alzack noticed too and got out of the corner, but that only delayed the inevitable as Freed menacingly stalked around the arena behind him.

It was probably the longest fight of the entire tournament, but only because Freed wasn't bothering to put on the speed and was just slooowly following Alzack around the ring, calmly letting his shield do all the work. Then we found out why Freed was letting the tip of his sword drag across the ground as a trap of purple symbols erupted and paralyzed Alzack when he backed into it. Freed calmly laid his sword on Alzack's shoulder with a grin and Master declared him the winner.

As I headed for the ring, I couldn't help but note that Freed had won apparently effortlessly while not displaying anything of his abilities beyond the shield and trap laying. I guess he'd gathered enough about my reputation to know that giving me any sort of advance warning about his abilities was a bad idea. Unfortunately, I mused, a lot of my abilities are very well known. I grinned as I squared up against Jet, Oh well, it'll make for a good challenge.

Master yanked his hand from between us, "FIGHT!" and Jet's fists bounced off my face forty times in the next five seconds. Then he sprang back as I realized he had been punching me. Jet looked like he was about to soil himself as he realized that his punches were waaay too light to hurt me.

I raised my eyebrow at him with a supremely unimpressed look, "Please tell me you can hit harder than that."

Jet looked horrified for a second, then he got angry. "YOU WANT HARD?! FINE! HERE COMES MY SUPERSONIC BULLET KICK! TRY TO SHRUG THIS OFF YOU LEVY STEALING BASTARD!" He started glowing with all the power he had and I could tell, he was giving this next shot everything he had.

That was completely irrelevant to me though, because his words had just registered with me and I couldn't help it.

I laughed my ass off.

I was actually doubled up laughing over the sheer absurdity of it. Levy is adorable and while very sweet and attractive, she is still very much like a sister to me. I was laughing so hard I almost missed Jet flying by straight over my head and unintentionally turning himself into a human pinball. The sight of him flying around bouncing off the walls screaming in a panic from his own blundered ultimate move only made me laugh harder.

I kinda feel bad about it in retrospect, but at the same time, no I don't because it was the most hilarious victory I've ever enjoyed. Finally I managed to catch my breath, and I stood up and caught him out of the air by the collar. "Okay, okay," I panted, still grinning from ear to ear, "Listen Jet, I'm dating Mira and Cana, I'm not looking at Levy. Bro code and all that. Now then, thank you for the entertainment, that was the hardest I've laughed in quite a while. That said," I grinned as I raised my fingers to snap in front of him, "Good night." ZONK! went the Sleep Magic.

I grinned as I dragged Jet out of the arena, "We hope you enjoyed the comedy portion of our show!"

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After that came a one sided…it couldn't really be called a fight…between Laxus and Droy. Poor Droy never stood a chance. Laxus blasted him right out of the gate so hard he wet himself when he lost consciousness.

Someone started to laugh, then Laxus proved he really did care about even our comparatively weaker members by sparking up an aura of lightning and throwing a death glare that would've knocked a dragon stone cold dead into the audience, "Did I hear something just now?" There was absolutely no laughter as Laxus picked Droy up and carried him out of the ring to lay next to Jet.

Then Laxus straightened up and turned around as Max announced the next fight. "Our most experienced fire mage versus our most infamous, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the battle of the blaze! MACAO CONBOLT VERSUS NATSU DRAGNEEL!"

I swapped a glance with Gajeel, then we both looked at Laxus. "I thought you said these were supposed to be fights?" Gajeel asked, "The closest thing I've seen to one was my match, and I wasn't using any magic at all."

Laxus didn't take his eyes from the ring, "If you think Macao's going to go down that easily, then you've clearly never worked with him. This is actually one of the fights I've been looking forward to."

Gajeel and I swapped a glance again and then our gazes were riveted to the ring as Natsu and Macao stepped in. Natsu looked about as confident in his victory as Gajeel and I had been until we asked Laxus. It was a no brainer right? Macao's magic was fire and Natsu was completely immune to fire, hell, it makes him stronger. On top of that, Natsu's physically an absolute monster. The guy throws around monsters twenty times his size and weight like they're pillows! A single serious punch from him would be enough to hospitalize or outright kill an ordinary person.

Then Master raised his hand and Natsu got immediately smacked into the edge of the ring. I'm sure Gajeel's eyes bugged out, I know mine did.

It took me a second to realize Macao had broken the floor apart with his flames and was using the stone to fight with.

Macao twitched a finger and another chunk of the stone floor ripped free of the ground on a tendril of Macao's weird purple flames to smack Natsu again as Natsu came flying back. Natsu stammered for a second and then Macao crouched and laid a hand to the floor with a grin. The entire guild hall shook lightly as suddenly the entire floor around him erupted with purple fire, then Natsu was bombarded with what looked like several tons of stone flying at him like a barrage of cannonballs.

As ridiculously impressive as it was, Natsu's own flames ignited and burned bright as his fists flew. I couldn't see Natsu through the flames as he beat the stone barrage to pieces, but in seconds he'd reduced Macao's bombardment to pebbles and dust. Before he could press his advantage, Macao snatched him up by the foot with a tendril of purple flame by the scruff of his neck and whirled him around the ring, slamming him into the rune wall again and again, bouncing him off the floor every fourth or fifth impact.

I kept waiting for Natsu to eat the flames and go after Macao, but a few seconds into the rag dolling, I realized something. Natsu might be able to eat fire and become stronger, but in order to eat anything, he had to get his mouth to it first. With Macao having him by the back of the neck, the only way Natsu would be able to devour the flames flinging him around like it was nothing would be to turn his own head around a hundred and eighty degrees. Something about that tactic rang a bell, but I couldn't pin it down right away and wasn't too worried about it.

Within a minute, Macao had beaten Natsu black and blue and was yanking stone into the air with his purple flames to encase Natsu in a solid prison of stone held together by purple flames that didn't go anywhere near Natsu's face. The entire crowd stared in stunned silent shock as Macao finished.

"IIIIIIINCREDIBLE!" Max howled, "MACAO HAS BEATEN AND CAPTURED NATSU WITHOUT EVEN HAVING TO TAKE A SINGLE STEP!"

As Master raised his hand to call the fight, Macao took his eyes off Natsu, turned to raise his fists to the crowd with a victorious grin…and that saved his life.

BOOM! With a sound like cannon fire, Natsu erupted in blinding flames that made me profoundly glad Laxus had the foresight to make a magic wall for the ring. If he hadn't, the heat and stone shrapnel from Natsu breaking loose would almost certainly have killed someone.

Macao went ghostly pale as the sound of a drain unclogging followed the deafening explosion. If he hadn't been turned away from it, he would've been blinded, stunned and unable to dodge. As was, he took off into the air like a rocket just barely avoided Natsu's fist as it crashed through the space where he'd been a moment earlier blazing white hot. My eyes went wide, If that had connected it would've gone right through him!

"WHITE FLAMES?!" Macao demanded, "SINCE WHEN COULD YOU DO THAT?!"

Natsu's only reply was a roar as he turned and shot upward on a burst of fire. Macao narrowly dodged and I felt my heart seize in terror as I realized something was very, very wrong. That wasn't Natsu's battle cry, and that wasn't how Natsu moves when he fights.

I don't know when my feet started moving, but a split second later Gajeel and I were barreling towards the ring, and some part of me registered Lucy charging towards the ring too. The others were behind us, I think Laxus was yelling at us. Something along the lines of don't interfere with the fight? I don't know and didn't care. One thing I did know, and the instant I caught sight of Natsu's face as he bounced off the ceiling back down at Macao like a meteor, was that Natsu was completely unconscious.

He wasn't fighting anymore, Macao had somehow managed to completely KO him, and he was still fighting. The only thought on my mind? Berserker.

Suddenly the battle at Mattachu made terrible sense. I should've realized it then, Natsu was a natural born berserker. Tough as nails to begin with, but the instant he was pushed past his breaking point, insane fury took over and drove him to absolutely destroy the enemy no matter what… and with that insane drive came ridiculous amounts of power. Mad Enhancement, I thought, some part in the back of my mind trying to calculate the degree of difference between his usual strength and the out of control monster on display now, because that would also tell me just how hard it was going to be to get our fire munching idiot back, D… C… no…that's at least B rank.

Then I passed through the arena wall and felt the heat coming off Natsu. My gut immediately clenched in horror, Oh shit…EX… Normally even the strongest Berserkers would only get about a ten percent boost. Whatever Natsu's current power was, it was so far beyond a measly hundred and ten percent of his usual. I activated Meteor and time slowed down enough that I could get a good look at Natsu through the flames. His eyes were seeing, but it couldn't have been any clearer that Natsu wasn't home. Are those scales?

Rather than waste time wondering what the hell was going on, I torqued a full body punch into Natsu's face that stopped his forward motion. I felt myself go pale as I saw that it had only stopped him, and only just barely at that! A punch at that speed should've either cut him a flip around it or sent him flying backwards!

I shoved with my telekinesis and hurled him backwards. Gajeel tried to bind him with iron as he seemed to slow down even beyond what Meteor usually did to my perception of time. It took me a second to realize that Lucy was trying to restrain him with her time magic, but by the time that clicked, Natsu flared almost blindingly bright, reduced Gajeel's chains to molten slag and was suddenly in motion again and RIGHT IN MY FACE OH SHIT!

I teleported and narrowly dodged the punch that would've caved my face in. I moved only a second before the others got to him and I was profoundly glad I had. Gray, Juvia, Lucy and Dimaria all four unloaded on him with snow and ice and water and the entire ring was filled with steam. For a moment, everything was still, then Gray asked, "Did it work?"

Natsu's reply was another feral roar of fury as his entire body erupted in white hot flames that blew away the steam in a superheated rush of air…

I instinctively activated Blackout Mode as the overwhelming rush of magic power radiating off Natsu at the same rate as the heat beat at my senses, Holy crap when did he get as strong as Ajeel?!

I teleported everyone back behind me and braced for impact…

Then with a loud THUMP, Natsu collapsed forward, toppling to the ground and faceplanting, properly unconscious this time. Gildarts was standing behind him with one steaming fist extended from where he'd just bopped Natsu into submission and a confused and stunned look on his face.

Silence reigned for a moment and then Gildarts looked up at us, "Ok, I know I've been gone for a while, but since when could Natsu do that?"

It took Archive approximately sixty seconds to calculate the amount of power required to knock out a berserk Natsu that easily. I didn't even have to consciously think about it. Archive did it automatically. I automatically wished it hadn't because the answer was more terrifying than the thought of a berserk Natsu in a room full of civilians.

Gajeel was the one to notice my expression and immediately demanded with a look of growing panic, "What's that face?! He's not about to get up again is he?!"

I blinked at him in shock and it honestly took a second for his question to process, then I blinked again and turned my gaze on Natsu. "No, he's out cold. I won't even have to sedate him. What scared me was that I just figured out how much power Gildarts is actually packing."

Gajeel blinked at me in surprise and then he went pale as he realized what my reaction said about it, "Oh shit…"

"How much?" Gray asked curiously.

"Siegfried," I stated simply.

Everyone who understood that recoiled in horror, "THAT MUCH?!" Lucy demanded.

"Yep…" I whispered as I looked at the…titan in the ring with us. I turned and strode out of the ring rubbing my temples as Archive strained to answer the question that I should've asked the instant I saw Siegfried: How can a human body withstand that insane amount of power?!

I completely zoned out through the next two fights trying to figure it out. I know, I should pay more attention, but watching a guy who can turn into smoke beat the stuffings out of a guy who can turn his hand into a metal dog sculpture and seeing round number who cares of Elfman vs Gray just really weren't that interesting to me anymore. Figuring out how to replicate the strength of one of the strongest people I'd met since the Holy Grail War? Vastly more interesting.

I didn't zone back in until the ring started roaring with explosions. My gaze snapped to the ring and I saw Bickslow absolutely unloading on Gajeel. I couldn't actually see Gajeel through the flashing lights and dust flying everywhere, but I could sense him right in the middle of where those lasers were landing. "Are you even gonna try to fight back or just stand there?!" Bickslow demanded.

Then suddenly the ring erupted with mist to the point that nobody could possibly have seen into it. "You think a smoke screen's gonna help you?" Bickslow laughed as the explosions kept flying, "Sorry buddy, but that don't work on me!"

"Yeah, I know," Gajeel replied, "That's ta keep that freaky Eye Magic of yers from hurtin' anybody while I kick yer ass." Then he started moving forward, casually just outright ignoring the explosions as he strode across the ring.

Bickslow could clearly still see him, because he started backpedaling immediately as he realized his lasers and explosions were having absolutely zero effect on Gajeel, "Oh shit!"

"Ya can take it like a man or I can light this entire ring up!" Gajeel declared as he turned to effortlessly follow Bickslow through the fog. An impact rang out and Gajeel was clearly grinning, "That's more like it!" I couldn't see the blow that bounced Bickslow off the wall about ten feet up, but going by the way he just kind of slumped off it and fell flat face first on the ground? I'd say it was an instant KO.

Gajeel cleared his fog away and Master confirmed it, "The winner is Gajeel!"

Gajeel hauled Bickslow out of the ring as Master announced, "The next fight will be Jerry vs Freed! Come on down boys! Try to make this one a little bit less lopsided!"

"I'll try," Freed and I chorused before swapping a glance and grinning as we made our way to the ring.

Master quickly extracted his hand from between us and Freed drew his rapier. His eye blazed purple from behind his hair, "Dark Ecriture..." I teleported to the side and the arc of dark purple magic sailed harmlessly past me. "…Haste!" Then I felt the tip of Freed's rapier jam itself into my gut at a speed way faster than it should've been. If it weren't for the magic reinforcing my body, that would've been a lot worse than the teeny little nick he left me with as the force of his full body magic accelerated thrust knocked me back.

Luckily for me, that bought me the split second I needed to activate Meteor. With my own acceleration spell in effect, Freed seemed to be moving almost in slow motion as he ran towards me, mouthing another spell. I sprang to the side and bounced off my right foot as I landed, aiming a full throttle reverse punch right at his face that would hopefully at least rattle him enough for me to keep him from using too much more magic.

Then, just as my light wreathed fist was about to connect, he suddenly blurred forward and I was only barely able to get one of my cards grown to shield size in time to deflect his rapier as it crashed into my hasty guard and knocked me skidding away. I grinned savagely as I saw Freed's energy wings, "Oh this just got interesting."

I sprang back and used my new weightlessness to flip and shoot through the portal I threw open at the last second to slam a kick through the space where Freed had been a second earlier. Having anticipated that he might dodge, I discharged a full body explosion to force him back. Even as I discharged, I had located him and I spun into a teleport. I reappeared in front of him and threw a round house into his face with the full power of my explosion forcing him into it just that much harder for the instant I was there. Then as the shockwave of my explosion passed I reappeared behind him, grabbing his feet with my telekinesis and yanking him the rest of the way horizontal for my pile driver to his gut. He slammed into the floor and I spun, using my telekinesis to fling him across the ring.

Full props to Freed, he righted himself at the last second and landed in a crouch on the side of the arena wall before using its bounce back property to hurl himself at me full speed, another spell already primed and ready on his blade, "Dark Ecriture, SLASH!" Even with my card shield between me and it, Freed's attack knocked me skidding back almost to the edge of the ring. In an instant he was on top of me again, his rapier aimed straight for my ribs.

Unfortunately for him, I'd seen that coming and his rapier vanished into a portal as another one straight to the floor opened right in front of his face. He couldn't have been stopped colder if I'd conjured a stone wall for him to crash into. Honestly I kind of had. As the portal disappeared I noticed his nose was bleeding, didn't look broken though. I immediately threw a punch with the intention to fix that. Freed was too dazed from his collision to dodge, so the punch knocked him flying.

Then he surprised me by discharging another one of those dark energy blasts even before his feet touched the ground, and another the instant they did. I opened a portal to deflect them, and then immediately hit the ground as I felt something bind my ability to make portals and my Meteor shut down. The two waves flew over me harmlessly, but if I'd been even a tenth of a second slower, I'd have gotten nailed.

"I'm impressed you can still move," Freed mused, "Although I suppose it did shut down your flight spell."

I shot glances around the ring and noticed the sigils glowing in the corners. I grinned, "You sneaky son of a bitch. That's impressive. Some kind of boundary spell that lets you set the rules however you like?"

Freed nodded, "Very perceptive of you. Yes, this is a Jutsu Shiki barrier, the same as what's forming the walls separating our battle from the audience. Now that you've been trapped within it, you cannot use spatial, explosive or flying magic of any sort. Even your Celestial Spirit Keys cannot activate within the confines of this arena now."

I crossed my arms and nodded, "Very impressive indeed Freed. It would appear you have me dead to rights. Of course," I smirked, "Appearances can be deceiving." I opened my mouth and inhaled, almost instantly ripping the sigils off the floor and chomping them down. I grinned as I felt the restrictions on my abilities lift with the metallic taste in my mouth. I swallowed, and then my eyes went wide as my stomach howled in pain.

I doubled up and one hand flew to my gut. It was like the worst acid reflux I'd never wanted mixed with an urge to vomit and a stomach cramp and getting stabbed all at once as my magic suddenly sputtered down to the fizzle it had been when I arrived in Earthland. I grimaced, "Mmmm… OWWwww… Free-eed…" I groaned, "I feel like now would be a good time to ask…what exactly IS your magic?"

Freed went from utterly stunned to absolutely losing his mind in an instant, "ARE YOU INSANE?! THOSE WERE ANTI-MAGIC BARRIER PARTICLES!"

"Oh well that explains the gut cramp!"

"GUT CRAMP?! YOU SHOULD BE VOMITING BLOOD FROM EATING THOSE!"

I forced myself to straighten up as much as I could even though it hurt like a sonuvabitch and twisted my face into a grin when I'd gotten as upright as I could, "Well then, let's see if I can win before that happens."

Freed's jaw dropped and he stared at me in shock for a moment, "Do you have some kind of death wish?"

I actually was able to grin at that, "Nah, got over that not long after I joined. Now come on." Freed just stared at me and my grin took on a savage tint as I channeled the little bit of magic I had left to forcing Archive to block out the pain, "Oh you're not coming? Fine, I'll come to you."

In an instant I sprang across the ring and hammered a kick into Freed's gut. Freed doubled up and in an instant I had his wrist and shoulder and spun him around, slamming him face first into what I now realized was his own barrier. I hooked my heel behind his, adjusted my grip and slammed him into the ground. A quick rabbit punch to the face and I flipped him over, immediately wrapping his arm behind his back and pinning his sword hand to the ground with my boot.

Freed tried to summon magic to force me back and I released his arm to hammer half a dozen punches into the back of his head as fast and hard as I could. I jumped and dropped an elbow into his back with my full body weight behind it before springing to my feet in a low crouch and swinging a low sweeping punch right into his ribs to flip him over onto his back. Then I grabbed him by his foot as it flew up and spun, diverting some of the power away from Archive and into my telekinesis so that I could hurl him across the ring. He bounced and as he was flying back, I finished him the same way Gajeel had his first opponent: A massive clothesline punch to the face, only mine had the benefit of an explosion powered jump for power rather than a literally iron fist.

My punch cut Freed a flip and when he hit the ground, he was already unconscious. I raised my hands in victory, "YEAH!" Then the coughing and bloody vomit started, the migraine flared up like a knife to the brain, and Freed wasn't the only one who had to be carried out of the ring.

The ringing in my ears was quite frustrating as my vision swam in and out. It was as bad as getting whacked with the Lullaby again! So this is why people freak out over Anti-magic barrier particles…

The sole benefit of this horrific pain was that it thankfully drowned out the ass chewing I was almost certainly getting from Mira and Cana as they fussed over me while I slumped in the chair they'd put me in. Then Mira bit me. It wasn't a little love bite either, it was a full on bite and I quickly felt hot liquid running down onto my shoulder as Cana placed her hands over my heart and Dimaria got my head and other shoulder. It was one hell of a sensation, like a furnace igniting in my chest and a tornado roaring through my veins. Through it all, I was acutely aware of Mira's lips red hot on my neck and blazing around the torrent of agony screaming out through the side.

My hearing came back as the pain faded. Mira straightened up and I saw that she was in her Satan Soul form looking a bit tired. Cana leaned back against the table and Dimaria flopped back into a chair. All this happened just in time for me to hear the announcement that the next fight was my rematch with Gajeel. I perked up immediately, "Oh, looks like I'm up!"

Have you ever had the sensation of being a mouse that's just fallen into a bed of rattlesnakes? That instinctive knowledge that you're one wrong move from something really really bad? As Mira, Cana and Dimaria trained laser like glares on me, I got that feeling.

"I'm gonna sit this one out!" I called, "Sorry Gajeel, another day!"

"Yeah I'm not surprised!" Gajeel shot back as the three killer auras winked out around me.

"Alright, winner by default is Gajeel," Master declared, "Moving on to the other match of the semifinals, Laxus vs Gray!" Less than a minute later there was a thunderclap and Gray was down for the count. Cana pushed herself up to sit on the table to watch the final round. One more echoed out a few minutes later and Laxus was declared the winner.

The crowd applauded although it was quite a bit more subdued than it could have been. With me having to sit out my rematch with Gajeel, the other semifinal matches had both involved Laxus, and he had about the same approach to combat I do. Hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast, and make sure both are done well enough that only a single hit is needed. It would honestly make me wonder about his stamina over prolonged periods of combat, but given the absurd amount of power and muscle on him? I doubted very seriously that he'd have even a shred of difficulty holding up in that department.

A watered down result it might have been, but it was still a wave of applause and just as the barrier was coming down and Max was ramping everyone back up for the announcement of Miss Fairy Tail…

Everyone froze.

Not in a scared stiff way, not in a 'Gray-went-overboard' way, in the 'time suddenly stopped' way. Honestly? I'd have preferred the other two.

Mira was the only one besides me still moving as I got to my feet, "Jerry? What just happened?"

A chuckle rang out and our gazes snapped to Cana, whose eyes were alarmingly smug as she spoke in a voice that wasn't her own, "Isn't it…"

"…obvious?" Dimaria picked up in the same voice, "…I'm in control."

"It's quite fascinating that you two can resist," Master declared only for Laxus to muse, "I suppose it makes sense that Ms. Strauss can given her demon abilities…"

"And I know Archive grants some resistance to things like this," Natsu, thoroughly unconscious Natsu, added before an equally unconscious Gray continued, "Really though Mr. Granger, I haven't even tried to exercise my ability on you yet."

"You see," Evergreen declared from near the stage, "I want you to get the full impact of what's about to happen."

"You've completely derailed several of my stories," Lucy informed us, "And many of them right before the climax."

"Plots I've spent years meticulously planning, cultivating and nurturing, RUINED in a matter of hours," Bickslow snarled from where he was frozen with an ice pack pressed to his jaw.

"I am the Author of Woe," Levy declared.

"And you are about to learn the price for interfering with my work," Gildarts declared from where he'd suddenly appeared behind us to clamp those giant bear hands down on mine and Mira's shoulders with a grip that threatened to crush our bones like a vice.

"Since you've ruined so many of my stories…" an alarmingly crispy looking Gajeel grinned as he suddenly moved to bind me and Mira in chains that we couldn't get out of Gildarts' grip in time to evade.

"I have concocted a very special tragedy which I'm sure will break your heart," Freed finished as his unconscious body jerkily walked over to us like a marionette, yanking out his sword to etch runes onto us that I felt curling into my flesh like ice and binding my movement even more than the chains.

"You being awake just makes this that much more perfect…" declared a voice that made my blood turn to ice as my head whipped around to see Sorano drape herself over Mira's shoulders, that same awful voice coming out of her mouth, "You see now, I can really rub it in."

Sorano leaned up on her toes to purr in Mira's ear, "This woman is the one who slept with your precious Jerry all the way to Minstrel." She stepped around so Mira could see her better, "Do you suppose he likes this form better? Clearly he has a type…" She did a little pirouette before curtsying with a mocking grin to Mira before turning that cheerfully baleful gaze on me, "This woman's story is actually one of the ones you ruined for me Mr. Granger. Stolen from her home as a child, her hope for freedom snatched away by another of my puppets and forced into a life that makes her violate everything she ever believed in…you can't imagine how furious I was when you deprived me of the opportunity to revisit her nightmares upon her," The Author of Woe told me frigidly before that awful smile returned, "And then you went and ruined the Tragedy of the Tower for me, beating my puppet until he broke like that and having that sickeningly sweet reunion with my favorite little heroine to torment…"

If my heart had been beating any faster it would've flatlined as the import of this thing's words registered. Whoever this thing was, they had been responsible for every ill that had befallen Serena, Erza, Elric and who knew how many more!

"I was sooo furious," the Author drawled before giving me such an excited grin that I felt my heart seize in terror as she sang, "and then I found out what this little wretch was hiiidiiing!"

"So I brought her all the way here and now," the Author purred as she made Sorano lean in close, "Right before my puppet Jose discharges Phantom Lord's Jupiter Cannon into this building to kill you and all your friends…" My mind stopped in horror as that registered and Sorano sprang back, a knife appearing in her hand as she landed on the stage, "I'm going to make you watch as the mother of your unborn child slits her own throat!"

The deranged cackle that followed as the back wall of the guild hall collapsed to reveal a massive mechanical giant with a massive magic cannon aimed right at us couldn't have belonged to anything but a demon.

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AN: Ladies and gentlemen, THE BIG BAD HAS ENTERED THE CHAT.

Oh, and for anyone who thought I was seriously going to skip the Phantom Lord War or that Mira was Jack's mother...SURPRISE!

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No preview this time, that diabolical cliffhanger's just too good.