The early morning dawn was shattered by the sound of large explosions.
Lucy swore as she dodged Tyson's right hook to her face, while charging up her Star Blast and shot him straight in the stomach, causing a minor explosion to push Tyson backwards while Lucy was blown backwards by the explosion.
Tyson, Gray, Erza, Happy and Lucy had been training together for several hours now. Tyson was personally pushing Lucy to go beyond her limits to try and get ready to create a Star Dress form.
Contrary to popular belief, creating and using a Star Dress form is not something that can be done on a whim. The user must be prepared both physically and mentally for the strain that the Star Dress forms place upon their users.
So, that is what Tyson is doing, pushing her to the breaking point and then beyond them to toughen her body to the point where she will be able to use a Star Dress form.
Lucy back flipped, gathered energy into her palms and created two large Star Blasts then fired them at Tyson, who simply jumped over the energy blasts and then disappeared.
Lucy jumped to her right as Tyson reappeared and smashed his left fist down into the ground where Lucy was just standing, causing a large hole to be created from the force of the punch.
He turned his head towards the spot where Lucy was standing, only to see Lucy charging up an extra large Star Blast that was three times the size of her regular Star Blast.
Lucy threw the extra large magical blast towards Tyson, who covered his hands in flames and then smashed them into the oncoming ball of energy, destroying it completely.
Lucy then had to dodge again as Tyson disappeared and reappeared, this time his right foot smashing into the ground to create the newest hole in his training arena.
Lucy gathered her energy and created a golden glowing shield that was on her forearm and covered most of her body.
Just in time too, due to the burst of orange flames striking the shield soon after.
Lucy grit her teeth as the flames roared around her, forcing her backwards.
Lucy's arm began to waver as the flames continued to push her back, causing two lines in the ground to be formed as the flames pushed her back.
Eventually the flames cut out and Lucy dropped the shield, extremely tired.
Tyson then came in, fist cocked backwards and ready to punch.
Lucy then smirked and yelled out as she placed both hands on either side of her head and a golden glow erupted outwards.
Tyson screamed in pain as the golden flash blinded him.
He would be fine, the healing factor of his magic would heal the damage done to his eyes, but until then he could no longer see Lucy.
No longer able to see, Tyson smashed into the ground as both hands covered his eyes, now raw with incredible pain from that golden flash.
Lucy used this opportunity to her advantage, creating and then throwing a golden blast straight into Tyson's chest, causing a explosion that flung him backwards.
Tyson quickly got back onto his feet and fell into his normal stance, even though he was now unable to see Lucy using his eyes, he could still fight using other means.
He stretched out with his other senses, his hearing, his smell.
He could hear Lucy's heartbeat, he could smell her scent.
Even without his eyes, he could fight and fight he would.
Lucy smiled, she felt sure she could finally beat Tyson and so she created another Star Blast and threw it at him.
Who suddenly ducked down and under the blast as it was coming towards him.
Lucy was shocked, how could he still dodge and move when he was devoid of his ability to see?
Her few moments of hesitation were all Tyson required as he flew forth, fist once again on fire and ready to punch.
Lucy ducked underneath his fist and threw her own left hook to his face.
Tyson moved his head out of the way and brought his left knee up in an attempt to knee Lucy.
She stopped his knee with one of her own and sent her right fist towards Tyson's chest.
Tyson leaned backwards, causing Lucy to overextend and leave herself open.
He then slammed both of his fists onto Lucy's back, causing her to cry out in pain and hit the floor.
Lucy then knocked Tyson's legs out from underneath him and while he was on the floor jumped up and elbowed him in the chest.
He grunted in pain then sent his left fist into Lucy's stomach, causing her to fly a few feet back from Tyson, allowing him to get back onto his feet once more.
He then said, "Not bad Lucy. I really wasn't expecting that flash of gold. Nice job."
Lucy smiled, even though her chest really hurt and said, "Well, you did say strike in a way your enemy will least expect it and to strike when he least expects it as well."
"Exactly. Be unpredictable. Strike in the weirdest and most unusual ways and you will more often then not be able to beat your opponent." Tyson said while still smiling.
The two smile at each other for a few more seconds before Lucy made the first move.
She charged forward, a Star Blast in each hand. She probably intended on hitting Tyson point blank with them to try and get him off balance.
Too bad Tyson could still hear her and even though he was blinded, he was still a master at close combat.
Lucy fired both of the blasts ten feet from Tyson, an incredibly short distance which meant the likely hood of him countering was low.
Which made it all the more shocking when he simply swiped his hand in front of him and knocked both blasts away from him.
Tyson smirked as he sensed Lucy's confusion and used this to his advantage as he lit his right hand on fire and then threw it forwards, creating a large stream of fire that shot towards Lucy at incredible speed.
Lucy dodged to the right, which allowed Tyson to come within striking distance.
Tyson threw his right fist forwards, just missing Lucy's face, while Lucy's left leg caught him directly in the middle of the chest, causing him to bend over a little from the pain, which allowed Lucy to launch her right fist into Tyson's face.
He moved back from the blows, allowing Lucy to launch several other attacks.
Lucy's hands started glowing golden as she threw her right fist forwards, which was blocked by Tyson's left palm.
The golden fist struck hard, pushing Tyson backwards from the force of the blow, even surprising Lucy with how powerful it was.
Tyson used this surprise to send his left fist into Lucy's stomach, causing the girl to gasp and hold her stomach for a few seconds, allowing Tyson to send another fist directly to her face.
Lucy reeled back from the blows, which allowed Tyson to send both his right and left fist into her stomach as well.
Lucy then decided it was time to counterattack and launched her left knee into Tyson's stomach, while her knee was covered in golden energy, which dramatically increased the power of the blow.
Tyson's air was forced from his lungs by the powerful kick and Lucy capitalized on his inability to act, sending both her left and right fists into Tyson's face, making him too disoriented to move or even act.
Lucy then spun her leg, whose foot was wrapped in golden energy and then smashed Tyson in the chest with the glowing foot, causing him to be sent flying backwards and across the training arena.
Tyson got up and said, "Wow Lucy I am impressed. You learned how to channel your Celestial magic in your hands, feet, arms and legs just like how I do with my Dragon Slayer magic without me ever knowing. That's real talent right there."
Lucy smiled and said, "Yep, I watched you use your Dragon Slayer magic and then practiced while at my house. At first all I could do was wrap my forearms in energy, due to the fact most of my caster type spells use my arms, so learning how to channel it into one specific spot of my body like my feet, legs and knees were a bit interesting, but I eventually learned how to. That magic mapping technique really helped me out."
"I told you it was the most important thing I was going to teach you. That technique is the corner stone from which most S-Class mages get their power and also learn most of their more powerful combat techniques as well through it. I can honestly say that the magic mapping technique is the most important and useful technique a wizard can learn if they want to improve themselves." Tyson said.
"Agreed. Now, can we get back to me kicking your butt?" Lucy asked with a hint of cockiness in her voice.
"Don't go getting overconfident now. I'm still only using 35% of my base form's power. Erza can take me at 100% of the Crimson Fire Dragon Slayer mode, which doubles my power, so you are far from her league and Gray, due to killing Lullaby and bathing in his demon blood, can easily take me using 70% of the Crimson Fire Dragon mode, so both Gray and Erza have more than double your strength, while Happy can take me using 50% of my power when he uses my Battle Tiger Mode. You have a long way to go before you are S-Class material." Tyson said sternly, making sure his student had remained humble.
He witnessed too many good wizards die because they mistaken believed they were invincible.
"Okay, okay. I get it, don't get overconfident. Now, can we get back to sparring?" Lucy asked, shifting back into her combat stance.
"Very well." Tyson said as he increased his power a little bit to 40% base form power.
When both Tyson and Lucy charged towards each other, it showed.
He was there a fraction ahead of Lucy, he punched a little bit harder, dodged just a tiny bit faster.
He was slowly beginning to wear her out by dodging her blows, striking when he did dodge and then moving out of the way.
After about ten minutes of dodging and weaving, Lucy was beginning to tire.
Her blows were getting sloppier, and the ones she did connect were not doing the level of damage they did before hand, not to mention she was getting hit a lot more now.
Lucy then decided to go all out and concentrated all of her magic into her right fist then roared out as she charged forward, a fiercely glowing golden hand cocked back and ready to punch.
Tyson sensed the power of that spell and so he cocked his own left fist backwards and concentrated a large amount of fire into the fist and roared out as well.
The two combatants threw their fists forward and in the middle of the arena, the fists connected.
A massive shock wave erupted as the two spells detonated against each other, pushing Tyson and Lucy backwards from the force of the blast.
Tyson seemed to be welded to the floor, he was not lifted an inch from the force of the blast and instead he created massive skid marks from where his boots scrapped across the floor of the arena.
Lucy on the other hand was flung backwards and landed on the other side of the arena in a heap.
Lucy was panting hard, all of her energy was spent and used in that last spell, so she was too tired to even move right now.
Tyson then walked over to where Lucy laid, panting and reached out offering her his right hand.
Lucy took it without a moment's hesitation and was pulled up by Tyson.
"Good job Lucy, you've gotten a lot better since we first started. Continue at this rate, and you'll be a S-Class mage in no time." Tyson said.
"Thanks. Boy am I tired." Lucy said as she began to stiffly walk with Tyson.
He then sent a pulse of magic into her, healing some of her wounds and also decreasing the tiredness of her sore muscles.
Lucy nodded towards Tyson and the two of them walked over to where Erza and Gray were battling.
Gray had become much faster and stronger since he bathed in Lullaby's blood, now he was able to keep up with Erza for the most part, although it was still clearly visible that Erza was still a lot stronger than Gray.
Gray ducked underneath the swipe of Erza's regular blade.
Gray then shouted out, "Ice Devil Zeroth Destruction Fist!"
Gray's right fist was now coated in a layer of purple ice, which he then threw towards Erza's face.
Erza simply moved her head to the right, causing the fist to miss her.
She then retaliated with a kick to Gray's left shin, making it harder for him to move using that leg.
Gray then coated both hands with purple ice and tried to punch Erza, but Erza was way too fast to be hit or hurt by Gray.
Erza then jumped backwards and yelled out, "Requip!"
Erza's entire form became engulfed in golden light, which when it faded away, revealed Erza was now back in her Blackwing Armor and she had also sent away the Magma Sword and took out the Blackwing's regular sword.
Gray smirked and then shouted out, "Ice Devil Zeroth Long Sword!" and then generated ice to create two purple ethereal ice blades once more.
The two then charged towards each other, their blades held at the ready.
Erza swung her blades in a left arc, which Gray countered by placing his swords in a "X" fashion, catching the blade before it struck him.
Both Erza and Gray appeared to struggle against each other for a few moments before Erza overpowered Gray and managed to lob Gray backwards, his two swords clanging to the ground near him.
Gray quickly got back into his fighting stance as Erza came flying towards him, her blade poised and ready to strike.
Gray patiently waited for Erza to get close and then when she struck, Gray quickly got underneath the blade then yelled out, "Ice Devil RAGE!"
The point blank rage spell struck Erza straight in the chest and sent her flying backwards, the power behind the spell hitting him hard.
Erza quickly flipped back onto her feet just in time to see Gray taking another deep breath as he prepared another rage spell.
Thinking quickly, Erza shouted out, "Requip!"
Another golden light erupted from Erza as her Blackwing Armor vanished and now she had donned the Flame Empress Armor once again.
Erza summoned her fire and magma swords, seeing as they were the best things to fight Gray with.
Erza's flame sword ignited, while the magma sword glowed ominously blood red in it's cracks as magma swirled around the sword.
Gray launched a swirling mass of ice towards Erza, who simply crossed her swords in a "X" and then launched a crescent shape of fire and magma outwards towards the ice.
The fire and magma easily destroyed the ice and stopped the spell from reaching Erza.
Erza then flew upwards and away from Gray, knowing that in close quarters Gray's toughness was going to hamper her ability to beat him.
Out of the five mages training here, Tyson was definitely the strongest, Erza was the most versatile, Gray could take the most, barely beating out Tyson, Happy was the fastest, even in his battle mode and Lucy showed the possibility of becoming the group's most unique member.
Gray saw she wasn't going to stay on the ground, he knew he had to get rid of her wings and bring her to the ground, as long as she is in the sky he has no ability to win.
Gray then had to dodge several crescent shaped blasts of fire and magma Erza had sent his way, causing large explosions that rocked the field for a bit, but they also created several dust clouds Gray could hide in.
Gray tried to hide in the dust clouds for as long as he could, but they all disappeared within a few seconds, leaving Gray out in the open once more.
Erza smiled deviously at him as she raised her flaming blade once more.
Erza's fire blade then began to glow more brightly and also the flames became even more erratic.
Erza then roared out as she sent a large crescent shaped wave of fire at Gray.
Gray then yelled out, "Ice Make: Shield!"
Gray slammed his right hand into the open palm of his left hand as purple ice coalesced around his hands and then created a massive flower shaped shield in front of him, which managed to stop the wave of fire that wrapped around the shield and made it look like Gray was in the middle of an ocean of fire.
Gray waited until the wave of fire ended and then shouted out, "Ice Devil Zeroth Glacier Cannon!"
A familiar large purple cannon was formed and then Gray heaved it onto his left shoulder.
Gray then used the targeting scope he created to get a good lock on Erza and then clicked the trigger, causing a massive blast of purple ice to come roaring forth from the cannon and headed straight towards Erza.
Erza saw the incoming blast and quickly raised her magma sword.
She then pointed the blade at the incoming blast of ice and the blade's ominously glowing blood red veins of magma glowed even more ominously blood red and then a blast of red magma came out of the blade and struck the blast of ice, causing a massive steam cloud to obscure the two combatants from view.
"Wow, both Gray and Erza sure seem like they are enjoying fighting each other." Lucy commented.
"Indeed. Those two love to fight each other. They have known each other since childhood and are as close as friends can get. They also like to see what they are made of so they often spar against each other." Tyson said, smiling.
Erza knew trying to see through the steam cloud was going to be a fruitless endeavor, so she closed her eyes and tried to locate Gray's magical power, while also cloaking hers from being located.
Erza had actually stumbled across the ability to sense other magical powers with pin point accuracy and taught that ability to everyone in the guild. Gray was the one to take that ability and then found a way to counter it, the magic cloaking ability.
Since they couldn't actually cloak, cloaking from all magic detectors was the next best thing.
Gray had once described the ability as, "Placing a blanket over the bright light that is your magic."
The magic cloaking ability's greatest flaw was the fact that by cloaking your magical power it also led to a decrease in the ability to use magic.
You are attempting to use something that is being covered all over while trying not to take the cover off, that is why using the magic cloaking ability led to a decrease in the ability to use magic.
Back to the fight, Erza was now inside the steam cloud, silently flying inside the cloud all while trying to find Gray without Gray finding her.
What she didn't see was the small, almost invisible purple glow that came from behind her.
Without warning, a massive beam of ice struck Erza straight in the chest and sent her flying outside the steam cloud and the beam of ice also blew away the steam cloud, letting it be seen that Gray managed to get behind Erza and then launched a sneak attack against her.
Erza got up quickly, the blow to the back only causing a slight grimace of pain to cross her face.
"Not bad Gray, that was a very clever plan." Erza complimented him.
"Thanks. The real problem was making sure to not be seen by you and to not make any noise. That whole sneak attack was all a matter of luck." Gray admitted.
"Well, it seems as if luck favors you this day." Erza said as she got back into her stance again.
"Yeah, it seems as if luck is favoring me today." Gray replied. "Want to take this to the next level?"
Erza grew a predatory smirk and said, "Why not?"
Erza then yelled out as a bright red aura appeared around her and began to grow more intense and dense.
Gray also began to yell out as his own purple aura too grew more intense and denser, along with the fact his demon tattoo had transformed into it's battle mode and was now up to his elbow once again.
With both Erza and Gray now at their maximum power, the battle was starting to get intense.
"Wow, Gray's power really is double what it was before we went on the Lullaby mission. So this is what happens when a Slayer bathes in the blood of one of the things they are supposed to slay." Lucy said, feeling the raw power Gray was radiating.
Gray's power was immense, not nearly as high as Erza's and nowhere even close to Tyson's level, but he was still pretty dang powerful.
"Yeah. And if he ever slays another demon his power is going to double again, from this point. Using my power as a base, at his maximum he can equal me at 170%, or 70% of the Crimson Fire Dragon Mode. Another demon to his count and suddenly he now equals 340% of my base form, or me using both of my Dragon Drives at once while in the Crimson Fire Dragon mode. I guess I should ramp up my training if I want to keep my title as the strongest man in Fairy Tail." Tyson said.
"I guess. So wait, how many times does the Crimson Electric Fire Dragon boost you? And also Dragon Force and Dragon King mode?" Lucy asked, becoming very curious.
"The Crimson Electric Fire Dragon mode boosts Tyson's power by 9 times his base form. Dragon Force boosts his power ten times base form and Fire Dragon King mode boosts by over 35 times as much. He has yet to figure out how to combine all his power ups together into a singular mode." Happy said, appearing out of nowhere and scaring the heck out of Lucy.
"Will you stop appearing out of nowhere?! You are going to give me a heart attack!" Lucy said, holding her chest as she started to breath to try and get her heart rate down.
"No. It's too much fun." Happy said with a smile on his face as he started eating a fish he had gotten within seconds.
"I swear you are trying to kill me." Lucy said, a bit peeved at the blue furred flying, talking cat.
"Look! Gray and Erza are still fighting." Tyson said, not even turning towards the two of them.
The two bickering mages turned back towards the match they are seeing and saw Gray had yet another purple ethereal blade in his right hand and a circular flower shield on his left forearm that he used to keep one of Erza's blades busy.
Gray currently had his blade locked by the flame blade and the shield blocking the magma blade and was currently headbutting Erza, trying to push the red head back and gain some ground against her, but was failing miserably to do so.
Erza then raised her right knee and smashed Gray in the stomach, sending the Ice Devil Slayer flying backwards from the power of the blow.
Erza then continued onward, rushing towards Gray with both of her blades ready,
Gray however wasn't going to lay down and just admit defeat, he was a lot stronger than that.
Gray got up within seconds and shouted out, "Ice Devil RAGE!"
A rather large blast of purple ice came rushing forth from the student of Ur, tearing up the ground it crossed and striking Erza with the force of an angry hurricane.
Erza, having used her swords to try and block the blast from Gray by generating a dome of hot air, was slowly being pushed backwards by the beam of ice, creating lines from where her clawed boots had tried to find purchase, but ultimately failed to keep her from moving.
After a little bit, the beam died down and Erza moved her swords out from in front of her.
Big mistake, because Gray was now within striking distance and he already had his ice covered fist cocked backwards and ready to fire.
Gray roared out as he swung his fist forwards and nailed Erza in the right cheek, causing the red-haired woman to go flying backwards.
Erza righted herself while in mid flight and launched herself forwards, her armored body close to the ground as she flew towards Gray.
Gray simply shifted his body and when Erza was close to him he yelled out, "Ice Make: Ice Geyser!"
Gray smashed both of his hands onto the ground and suddenly a large number of purple ice spikes came out and entombed Erza, covering her in large purple ice.
All was silent for a few seconds before suddenly all of the ice pillars were destroyed in a large explosion of fire and magma, revealing Erza was alright and completely unharmed by that spell.
Gray cursed, nothing he was doing was putting a dent in Erza.
"But." He said to himself. "That's what makes these sparring matches so much fun."
Gray then had to dodge three quick slashes in rapid succession made by Erza, followed by two quick point blank fire and magma blasts, both of which he barely managed to dodge.
But, he didn't dodge the kick from Erza's right leg that struck him in the middle of his chest and sent him flying backwards.
Gray righted himself and landed on his feet then quickly put a hand on where Erza had kicked him, that last one had hurt and he was starting to run out of steam and ideas to try and win this match, meanwhile Erza only had a few scratches and bruises on her form, showing that Erza was much stronger than Gray.
Gray decided he had to go all out now, and use his strongest move and hope to Mavis it worked.
Gray placed both of his hands by his side and began to say, "Ice Devil Zeroth..."
Erza recognized that stance and knew Gray was going all out now and she had to end this match.
Summoning all of her power, the flame sword in her right hand ignited, creating a massive three foot long blade of fire beyond the actual blade itself, meaning the blade was now technically six feet long. The magma sword in her right hand also began to glow brighter and more ominously as magma was now swirling around the blade itself and also making the blade six feet long as well.
Erza then charged forth, her blades held in an "X" formation across her chest.
Gray then roared out, "ARCTIC CHILL!" as a massive purple beam five times the size of his last Ice Devil Rage was brought into existence and sent directly towards Erza.
The beam of purple ice and Erza met in the middle of the arena, Erza's two blades trying to cut through the strongest move in Gray's arsenal.
For a few seconds they were deadlocked, but then slowly began to move forwards, each and every inch a desperately fought battle.
Eventually Gray ran out of magic power and Erza then surged forth.
Faster than the eye could follow, Erza had reached Gray, both of her blades held in a scissor fashion against Gray's neck.
"Do you yield?" Erza asked.
"I yield." Gray answered as he powered down, his demon tattoo growing back to the three bands on his right arm.
Erza nodded and then requiped her Flame Empress Armor away along with her two swords.
Tyson, Lucy and Happy all approached as Erza pulled Gray back onto his feet.
"That was a great sparring match. You two did great." Tyson congratulated both Gray and Erza with a large smile on his face.
"Thanks. Erza hits like a truck, my stomach still hurts." Gray said as he placed his hand on his stomach while several jolts of pain went through his stomach.
"Yeah, my girlfriend really does have a monstrous punch, doesn't she?" Tyson said with a smile.
Erza gave a proud smile and said, "But of course. What did you expect from Titania Erza, the strongest female in Fairy Tail."
"That was very cool how you cut through Gray's strongest attack." Lucy said.
"It was nothing. Remind me to tell you of the time I cut Laxus' Lightning Dragon Roar attack in half using a single sword." Erza said.
"Alright, that was a good sparring match. Let's get our wounds all healed, do a joint magic mapping and then go on a S-Class job." Tyson said.
"An S-Class mission? I'm not a S-Class wizard." Lucy said, worried about what might happen to her if she went on this mission.
"Don't worry about it Lucy. You will have me, Erza, Gray and Happy to keep you safe. I think this will be a good experience for you to learn how S-Class jobs go." Tyson said.
"Still, can you try to find the easiest S-Class job possible?" Lucy asked.
"No problem. Were you expecting something really difficult. We'll start out small and work our way up from there. Besides I haven't gone on a S-Class job in a while and would like a challenge." Tyson said.
"Okay, I guess." Lucy said, a large amount of uncertainty in her voice.
"Don't worry. You will be perfectly safe and it will be a good learning experience for you." Tyson said.
Lucy nodded and then Tyson took a clear small ball from his requip pocket and dropped it on both training fields.
Instantly the fields were brought back to prime condition.
The small balls Tyson dropped were actually time capsules Ultear had given him to help repair the damage that was done on jobs.
Handy little things, but they can only restore the condition of one object per capsule, so if a number of things are broken, a large number of the time capsules are needed.
Tyson then sent pulses of magic into Erza, Happy and Gray and saw all of their bruises heal.
His healing pulse was very limited, it could only heal bruises and small cuts, he could heal himself using fire or other elements, but healing others, only bruises and cuts, nothing more.
Team Tyson then walked into the center of the training arena he and Lucy had sparred in and sat down in a circle going Tyson, Erza, Gray, Lucy and then Happy.
The five closed their eyes and began to focus on the magic flowing throughout their bodies.
One by one, the group's individual aura's began to manifest themselves.
The colors of their aura's began to slowly melt together and form a large circle of silver energy above their heads.
Time for the group began to slow down as they slowly lost themselves to the feeling of their magical power flowing throughout their bodies.
The never ending limits of magic never failed to create a sense of awe in each and every person that performed the magic mapping technique.
When they performed the technique and got lost in the feeling, they could truly get a sense of how small and insignificant they were compared to the vastness of magic.
Magic went on and on for eternity, they were just small bits of light that got lost in the waves and tides of magic.
It was a humbling and enlightening experience the first time one got lost in the waves and tides of magic.
You never get used to it, you never grow tired of it, at least that was the way Tyson saw it.
The way he saw it, one could spend eternity staring into the expanse of magic and one would not truly have even begun to understand the impossible force that was magic.
With the right technique, one could truly do anything with magic.
Grow as large as a skyscraper, stop time, summon creatures of unimaginable power, destroy mountains with the flick of a wrist, the list went on and on.
Magic might not be the ultimate power in the multiverse, but of all powers in the infinity of other worlds, magic truly had the most versatility. There truly was no end to how one can use magic, the limit is only what the user can imagine.
Back with Team Tyson, they did their joint magic mapping exercise for well over two hours before they all stopped and the ball of combined magical energies that floated down to the ground like snowflakes, creating an impossibly incredible scene that most never see, but those that do are never failed to be impressed.
Lucy held out her right hand and saw three silver magical particles land on her palm and when each one did, she felt a small tingle go down through her spine that just made her feel happier and livelier.
Tyson then said, "Alright guys, let's go get cleaned up and then head back to the guild."
The group nodded and then went to Tyson's house, where after showering, the group went to the guild.
Once at the Guild Hall, they saw yet another guild fight had broken out, with chairs, tables and people were once again tossed around like they were balls.
Tyson ducked underneath a mug and then sidestepped to avoid a large chair that smashed against the wall to his left and promptly broke apart.
Tyson then heard Elfman say, "Hey guys!"
Team Tyson all turned and saw Elfman sitting at the bar while Lisanna and Mirajane cleaning mugs and plates.
The team all went over to the bar and Tyson said, "Hey guys. How are you doing?"
"Not bad. I am thinking about taking an S-Class job with Lisanna and Mirajane in a day or so." Elfman said.
"Really? My team and I are here to get a S-Class job so we can show Lucy what it's like to go on S-Class jobs." Tyson said.
"Really? Don't you think it's a little early to be taking your apprentice on a S-Class job?" Elfman asked.
"I have to agree with my older brother Tyson. Lucy only joined about a week or so ago. She hasn't had the time needed to get a large amount of training in." Lisanna said in agreement with her brother.
"Are you sure that is a good idea Tyson? It is a little bit early to be taking your student on a job of this caliber." Mirajane added.
"It's fine." Elfman, Lisanna and Mirajane looked over to see Mizu coming down from the second floor. "If Lucy is going to become a S-Class wizard, she needs to know what she's getting herself into. If it makes you feel a little better, I'll accompany them."
"He's right, guys. She will have us there to keep her safe. She will be fine. We are also going to choose the easiest job on the request board." Tyson said.
"Yeah, she will be just fine. She has the strongest man and woman in the guild, the Water Dragon Slayer and the Ice Devil Slayer, in addition to Happy to keep her safe." Gray said.
"I also agree that this will be good training for Lucy. One can never learn how to act and work on an S-Class job soon enough." Erza added.
"Besides, don't forget she did pretty large amounts of damage to Lullaby and came out of that fight A-okay. Lullaby's second form was definitely S-Class in strength alone." Happy finished as he ate a fish.
"I guess it's okay, as long as Lucy agrees to this." Mirajane said as all the mages turned towards Lucy.
Lucy was silent for a few minutes before she said, "I want to see if I can handle a S-Class job."
"Very well. I'll go find a job." Tyson said as he walked off.
Tyson went over to the staircase and walked up the stairs to the second floor and over to the S-Class request board.
After searching the board for several minutes, he came across a job that piqued his interest.
{Help wanted to break curse.
Location: Galuna Island.
Objective: Break curse that lies on the island.
Reward: 7 million jewel and a Gold Zodiac Key.}
Tyson smirked, this was the perfect job.
He took the job request and then went down to the first floor and saw Makarov talking to the other members of Team Tyson.
"Hey Makarov, my team and I are taking this S-Class mission." Tyson said as he handed the flyer to Makarov.
After looking it over, Makarov then said, "Are you sure you want to take Lucy on this kind of a job? It might be dangerous."
"Makarov, everything we do is dangerous, we are mages, it's kind of what we do. We go and do dangerous things so no one else has too. Besides, I think it might be a good learning experience for Lucy. If she ever has to break a curse in the future, now she can remember what we do on the island." Tyson said.
Makarov was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Okay, I authorize you to take this job, as long as the rest of your team is okay doing it."
He nodded and so he and Makarov turned towards Team Tyson and he said, "Our job is to go to Galuna Island and break the curse on the island. Any objections?"
"Just one. Isn't that the isle of demons where no wizard has ever returned?" Gray asked.
"Gray, those tales are completely made up. They also say there are giant sixty tentacled monsters in those waters, but I've gone through them many times to get to Tenrou Island for the S-Class promotion exams and I've never seen anything like that. Besides, it's a curse and those are easy to break, this is the easiest S-Class job I found." Tyson said.
"I agree. This job doesn't sound so hard. What's the reward?" Erza asked.
"Seven million jewels and a golden Zodiac Key." Tyson answered.
Milliseconds later Lucy was in front of him, surprising Tyson and everyone else seeing such a thing how the girl got there so fast, meanwhile Lucy was looking him dead in the eye and saying, "Did you say Golden Zodiac Key?"
Tyson nodded, still stunned and said, "Yeah, the job didn't say which one it was, but the bonus reward is a Golden Zodiac Key."
Lucy then said, "We are taking this job. How soon can we get going?"
"Well I can be ready to go in an hour if need be, so I say we meet back up in two hours at the train station and get going to Hargeon, where we shall rent a boat and head to Galuna." Tyson said.
All were in agreement, so Team Tyson left the guild and went back to their houses to get ready.
Mirajane turned to Makarov and said, "Master, are you sure they should be doing that job? No one who has ever gone to do it has ever returned."
Makarov took a long gulp from his mug and then said, "Mira, remember who Tyson is. He can take on and destroy almost anyone or thing in this world, he is the strongest member of the guild. He and the others will complete this job, have some faith in them."
"I do, I am just worried they might get hurt." Mirajane said.
"Don't worry, they are some of the toughest and strongest members in the guild, they will be fine." Makarov said as he took another long gulp.
Time skip, three hours...
Team Tyson had gone back to their respective homes and had gotten all the needed supplies and then had met at the train station and had gotten a train to Hargeon, where they were currently and now they were looking for a boat willing to take them to Galuna.
"So, one of these guys must be willing to take us right? Let's go split up and find someone." Tyson said.
The others nodded and then went off to find a captain willing to get them to their target.
But, alas, problems arose.
"No way am I going near Galuna Island!"
"Galuna Island?! Are you crazy?! I am not risking my boat by going anywhere near that cursed place!"
"You couldn't pay me enough to go within twenty miles of that Island!"
"No way in hell!"
Everyone here seemed too afraid to go anywhere near the island, making getting to the island a little bit of a hassle.
"Well this is going well. We aren't even on the Island and things are already going wrong." Gray said.
"Seems like we're going to have to fly. Think you can fly all the way Erza?" Tyson asked.
"Possibly, but carrying Lucy or Gray is going to make it much more difficult to get to the island." Erza said.
"I can carry both Gray and Lucy on my back while we're flying, but that would make the landing very painful." Tyson said.
"Man, who would have thought getting to Galuna Island would be this hard." Lucy said.
"Hey, you guys want to go to Galuna Island?" A voice said.
Turning around they saw a dark skinned sailor looking at them from his small boat.
"Yeah, you see we are wizards who want to get to the Island to break the curse and we are having a hard time finding someone to take us there." Lucy explained.
"You guys are wizards? Show me your magic." The sailor said.
The group all raised their eyebrows in confusion, but they did as the man asked. Tyson lit one fist on fire, while the other was covered in blue electricity, Mizu sucked in ocean water and fired a massive burst of water from his mouth, Gray's hands were now emitting purple ice, while Lucy's hands glowed golden, Happy grew his white angelic wings and Erza summoned one of her swords.
The sailor stared at their magic for a few seconds before he said, "Okay, get in."
"Huh?" The group intelligently said.
"I am going to take you to Galuna Island." The man said as he prepared to take off.
Not questioning their strange luck, the group got onto the boat one by one and once they were all on board, the man untied the ropes and started sailing the boat towards the Island of Demons.
Time skip, several hours later...
The group had been on the boat for several hours now and had not seen the island yet.
"So, Mister..." Lucy said, trying to get the boatman's name.
"My name's Bobo." The man replied.
"So Mister Bobo, why are you so willing to take us to the Island?" Lucy asked.
"I used to live on the Island." Bobo revealed.
"So, what's this curse like?" Tyson asked, hoping to find out information for what they were about to face.
Bobo lifted his left arm and suddenly purple scales with black lines appeared over his entire forearm, while claws appeared where his finger nails used to be.
The Fairy Tail mages were stunned, they had never seen a curse like the one Bobo had just shown before and it was utterly mystifying.
Just then, Gray saw something out of the corner of his right eye then turned around and said, "Hey look! Land!"
The group turned towards Gray's direction and indeed, they saw a island starting to come into view.
"Galuna Island." Bobo said, confirming the group's suspicion on the island before them.
Just then, they heard a strange noise and turned around, just in time to see a massive tsunami coming towards them fast.
"Ah! Where did Bobo go?!" Lucy yelled out.
The group looked and sure enough, Bobo was missing.
Tyson turned towards the tsunami and roared out, "Fire Dragon Roar!"
Out of his mouth came a large pillar of fire that screamed forth and struck the tsunami and instantly began to evaporate the water of the tsunami in a certain place, splitting the tsunami into two separate large waves.
The two waves passed by the boat harmlessly.
Tyson then said, "Okay, now with the tsunami past us, let's go to the island!"
He took the rudder and steered the ship towards Galuna Island, the others trying to find Bobo, but not seeing any signs of the man.
The boat made it's way towards Galuna Island and towards a date with destiny.
Time skip...
The boat had just reached the shore and the mages were finally off of the boat, having reached the island at long last.
One by one, the group of mages got off of the boat and landed on the soft sands of the beaches surrounding the island.
"Okay, here we are on Galuna Island. The first thing we have to do is find the village that sent the request. It should be somewhere on the interior of the island." Tyson said.
The rest of the team agreed and then started walking off in the direction that held the most recent smells of people.
After a little while they came to a massive wooden gate.
"Quite a impressive gate. Let's see if anyone is home." Tyson said.
"Hey! Is anyone here?!" He shouted out.
A second later two guards appeared at the top of the gate and one of them yelled down, "Who goes there?!"
"We are wizards from Fairy Tail responding to the request you sent out." Erza answered.
"Oh, you're those wizards. We heard that you had taken the request, but you were taking so long to get here we thought you had gotten lost." The other guard said.
"It was nothing like that. May we enter so we can talk to the village chief?" Gray asked.
"Show us your Guild Marks so we are sure you are all Fairy Tail mages." The first guard said.
The group shrugged and showed off their guild marks.
Tyson showed his red right shoulder mark, while Gray lifted his shirt to show his blue guild mark on his right pectoral, Lucy simply lifted and showed her mark on her left hand, Mizu spun around and raised his shirt exposing the dark blue mark in the middle of his back, while Erza's light blue mark on her lower left arm was shown and finally Happy's lime green mark was shown on his back.
"Those marks are real, they must be Fairy Tail mages. Let's let them inside." The second guard said.
"Okay, maybe they can finally break the curse. Open the gate!" He yelled down to someone on the ground.
"Well that was easy. Now, let's see what this curse is about." Tyson said.
The group of six entered the village and saw people of all shapes and sizes watching them.
However, the strange thing is that everyone in the village was wearing full body cloaks that covered almost everything, leaving only a small slit in their faces so they could see and that was it.
There was a 4 foot tall man with a large walking stick who said, "I am Moka, the village chief. I thank you for coming here to try and break our curse. But pleasantries aside, there is something you must see. Now my people!"
Every single person in the village had a part of their body that was mutated or changed.
Some people had claws, others had their lower legs changed into something akin to a scaled bird's foot.
"This is the same thing that happened to our guide." Gray said.
"Yeah, it is." Lucy said, looking at the people with pity.
Tyson was taking a few whiffs of the surrounding air and then he smelled something akin to demon scent, but it was vastly differently to Lullaby. He just chalked it up to whatever was affecting these people.
"As you can see, everyone here has suffered horrible disfigurement due to the curse. Not even the animals are safe from it." Moka continued.
"Please excuse me for asking, but what makes you think this is a curse? It could be some sort of infectious disease." Gray asked, with Erza nodding at his logic.
"We have consulted many doctors and they all agree no such disease exists. You see, all of our symptoms appeared at the same time the moon fell under a evil spell." Moka said.
"What kind of spell?" Lucy asked.
"Since ancient times, the island has absorbed the light of the moon and has glowed almost as beautifully as the moon, but several years ago the moon began to glow an eerie purple." Moka explained.
"Purple moon?" Tyson asked, starting to figure out what was happening.
Happy looked to the sky and said, "Look! The moon is coming out from behind the clouds!"
Everyone looked up to the sky and saw that indeed, there was a purple moon now in the sky.
"That's creepy." Gray said as the purple light came over everyone.
"Stay back! The transformation is happening!" Moka said as all the villagers began to scream out as their bodies transformed.
After a few seconds, everyone in the village now looked like demons, with horns, claws and colored skins.
"I am sorry if our appearance frightens you." Moka said to the mages.
"Don't worry, we have all seen more frightening things than this." Tyson said as he looked at the moon, inspecting it.
He could swear he had seen something like it before, but where?
"As you can see, every night when the moon turns purple we undergo a transformation that turns us into horrific demons. If that isn't a curse then what is?" Moka asked.
"We will return back to normal once the morning comes, but there are some unfortunate souls that never do change back." Moka said.
"How sad." Lucy said.
"The fate for those that can't turn back is that we are forced to put them out of their misery." Moka said, unable to look the mages in the eyes.
Tyson approached Moka and put his right hand on his shoulder then said, "I'm sorry. That must have been unbearably hard for you to do."
"You have no idea. My own son, Bobo was one of the unlucky ones." Moka said, startling the Fairy Tail mages.
"Bobo, but he..." Lucy said, completely confused.
"I get how he disappeared now. He is actually a ghost because his soul can't find peace." Gray said.
"If you truly wish to help us, you must destroy the moon!" Moka said, completely startling the Fairy Tail mages.
Time skip...
"The moon looks really creepy, all purple like that." Happy said, looking at the moon from the window of the little hut the villagers were kind enough to let the Fairy Tail mages use.
"Happy, don't stay in the light for too long, you know what Moka said." Lucy said.
"So guys, what are we going to do? We can't destroy the moon." Gray said.
Tyson was silent, he had the book Thundreas had given him out and was looking through it using the Gale Force reading glasses for any clues.
"There must be another way to break the curse. Tomorrow we will look for it. We will search the island for any clues that might let us know the origin of the curse." Erza said.
"I found it!" Tyson said suddenly from his chair.
"Found what?" Lucy asked.
"The source of the purple moon." Tyson said.
The others came over to him and saw that the page he was on had a picture of a purple moon, exactly like the one in the sky.
"The spell's name is Moon Drip. It focuses moon light and then shines directly onto an object. This spell is the most powerful form of Dispel magic there is, no spell can survive being hit by it. This spell was first created hundreds of years ago, when it was used to crack open the most powerful of seals there are. Eventually the spell was forgotten and hasn't been used since. But the calling card of that spell is a purple moon." Tyson explained.
"So someone is trying to break open a seal?" Gray asked.
"Moon Drip is more than a simple seal breaker. With enough time, it can break any and all spells, no matter how strong they are. I'm more worried about what Moon Drip might be cracking right now. There are things that weren't meant to be released." Tyson said, with slight fear in his voice.
"Tyson? Are you alright?" Erza asked, a little afraid. He was usually never afraid and if something has him spooked, it means things are going wrong.
"It's just that Moka said that the glow appeared several years ago and if Moon Drip has been going on for that long then whatever Moon Drip is cracking open must be protected by a extremely powerful seal. There are only a few seals I know of that are that powerful and the things sealed away are the few things that scare me." Tyson said, causing Lucy's fear to spike.
"What do you think it is?" Lucy asked, completely terrified of the answer.
"I hope I'm wrong, but it might be the Shadow Wraiths." He said, confusing everyone else present.
"I have never heard of them." Erza said. Gray, Lucy, Mizu and Happy all agreeing.
"That doesn't surprise me, they are little more than myth and legend, the stories mothers tell their children at night. The Shadow Wraiths are five powerful wizards that Zeref, the creator of Lullaby, experimented on. He bent the rules of life and death, unleashing unholy black magic upon them. The power of the black magic was so great that it destroyed their corporeal bodies and they became shadows, neither living nor dead. They feed off the life energy of living people and they are the ancestors of today's Wraiths that live in the shadows, but Shadow Wraiths are much stronger, Wizard Saint level, if not Heavenly King of Ishgar level. They served as Zeref's assassins and deadliest warriors, because how can you kill a shadow? The only way to defeat them was to trap them in specially engineered coffins that were lined with holy light. These coffins were then placed in the deepest and darkest mountain with all the tunnels collapsed and the most powerful of seals placed on both coffins and the mountain itself to keep the Shadow Wraiths from ever emerging again. If whoever is using Moon Drip really has gotten the coffins, then we are all in danger." Tyson said.
The others were terrified now, these Shadow Wraiths sounded like something no one wants to face, ever.
"Are you sure that is what we face?" Erza asked.
"It's a possibility, there are few seals of strength that would require years of concentrated moon light to break." Tyson replied.
"So we might be facing Shadow Wraiths, unkillable shadows with strength that's almost immeasurable. And you said this job would be safe." Lucy said, completely terrified now.
"They haven't cracked the seal yet, so if it is a Shadow Wraith we still have time to beat them." Tyson said.
"How can you be sure?" Gray asked.
"Well, for one thing a great explosion of black energy would erupt as the Shadow Wraith's power has been confined for centuries, a unbearable chill would go down our backs as the Shadow Wraith was near and most importantly there would not be a living thing on this island if a Shadow Wraith was truly free." Tyson said.
"Okay, so we still have time to stop them, whoever is crazy enough to do something like this." Lucy said, a little bit relieved.
"We should go to bed. We have a big day ahead of us." Tyson said as he requiped the book away.
The group members all nodded and then went to their beds, intending to fall asleep.
Tyson however, remained awake and kept watch throughout the night, the possibility of Shadow Wraiths being unleashed keeping him awake.
Eventually he fell asleep, the purple light of the moon ominously hanging in the clouds.
Time skip, morning...
Lucy, Happy, Gray, Mizu, Erza and Tyson were currently walking through the foliage, eyes trained all over, searching for any clues to break the curse.
"So Tyson, if it is Shadow Wraiths, is there anything we can do?" Lucy asked.
He was silent for a few moments and then said, "There is a possibility your Celestial Star Blasts could do some damage, due to your magic being light in origin and has a hint of holy magic mixed in, so you would be able to do something, while my golden flames could possibly hurt them due to my golden flames destroying things with dark magic and Gray could possibly damage them with his Devil Slayer magic, which does have adverse effects on things with dark magic in them as well, but other then that, we would do nothing to the Shadow Wraiths and everything is guess work, due to the fact that no one who has ever seen a Shadow Wraith has lived to tell the tale."
The group fell into silence after that for a little while before a massive blue furred rat wearing a maid's outfit came charging at them.
Quick as lightning Gray shouted out, "Ice Make: Floor!"
The rat slipped on the ice and fell onto it's back, knocking itself unconscious.
"Well, that was anti-climatic." Lucy said.
"Hey, there are ruins over there." Erza said.
The group went into the ruins and looked at a room filled with moon shapes and the group looked around a little.
"The island was once called the island of the moon." Lucy said.
"So, moon drip, moon island? Things are just getting weirder." Gray said.
Erza walked over a section of floor, which then collapsed the entire floor, causing the group to fall.
After a few seconds of screaming and falling, the group landed at the bottom of a cavern.
"Everyone alright?" Tyson asked.
"I'm okay." Lucy said.
"Me too." Mizu added.
"Ditto." Gray said as he got up.
"Same here." Happy said as he jumped into the air.
"I am fine and I am sorry for getting us down here." Erza said.
"It's okay. We will just fly back up right?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, just give me a..." Tyson started before trailing off, feeling a large source of magical power not far away from them.
He turned towards the source of the magic and ran off towards it.
"Hey Tyson, wait up." Erza said as the rest of Team Tyson ran after him.
After a few minutes of running, they entered into a larger cavern and they all saw something that stopped them dead.
In the middle of the cavern was a massive fifty foot tall piece of light purple ice that had a massive black shape inside it.
For Tyson, Mizu, Gray and Erza, they were seeing a familiar face.
"Isn't that?" Mizu asked.
"What is it doing here? What is Deliora doing on this island? What is going on here?" Gray shouted, disbelief all over his face.
With his cry of disbelief echoing all over the chamber, our heroes stared in shock at the massive demon, unable to believe what they are seeing.
What shall come next after finding out Deliora is on this island? Only time shall tell.