The Agency: Tale of Agent Salamander

by Draconian Enigma

Set in a somewhat near future, this is an Alternate Universe story set in a gritty version of Fiore, Fairy Tail is one of the many independent agencies that work very loosely with the Government's Magical Enforcement Division, it is loosely based on the canon storyline but with some major changes. Come and follow the story of Agent Natsu "Salamander" Dragneel and the FTA.

25. Chapter 25: The Temple Assault

FTA Base Camp, Galuna Island, 1:02 PM

Natsu stood against the weathered stone wall of the camp, watching the waterfall in silence. He and Lucy had gotten back from the temple not that long ago. Lucy wanted to soak in the bath so he decided to get some fresh air while he waited for Gray and Erza to return to the base.

"Natsu." The man's older brother called out softly, coming out of the thorny wall and joining the agent. "I just got off the horn with Fireteam Fox. They're coming around the mountain now, should only be a few minutes out."

"Alright, did you end up reporting the presence of Phantom's gear to Headquarters?" Natsu glanced at Zeref as his jacket and rifles flashed off of him.

"Yeah. Gave the report directly to Makarov." Zeref replied, his brow furrowed slightly. "Destroy the gear. We've already got it covered on that front. We just need to check with either Gajeel or Juvia to see what exactly they can tell us about the operation their company has her. That may be the only sticking point."

"Well, I have Juvia's number if you are struggling to get in contact with her. I can try giving her a call if you run into trouble." Natsu offered as he gazed up at the rushing water. He heard footsteps coming from around the bend and quickly drew one of his pistols, flicking it up instantly. "Company."

Mimicking his younger brother, Zeref drew his MK23. The air was so thick with tension that it could be cut with a blunt knife. Moments passed slowly before a scarlet ponytail slowly appeared, it was their fellow agents. Zeref's kind smile returned as he placed the gun back into the holster and turned back into the conversation. "If it comes to that, then I'll need you to make the call."

"No problems there." Natsu placed his gun away before starting to head inside. "I'll let you debrief them." He popped a pair of breath mints and made his way to the bathroom. "Hey Luce, everyone is back at camp."

The blonde spun around in the large tub with a smile. She laid her arms on the edge of the stone bath and placed her chin upon them. "Well, as long as they got here safely."

"I didn't stick around, figured I would let Zeref chat with them." He replied with a soft groan as he stretched his arms out above his head. Natsu sat down on the edge of the bath, next to the woman's head, and began to run a hand through her wet hair. "You did well today. I'm happy with your performance."

"You should join me." Lucy murmured softly, smiling up at the man as she lightly tugged on his arm. "The water is nice but it's missing one thing."

Dull light flashed across the man's body, leaving him as bare as the day he was born. He swung his legs up over the bath's wall and slid down into the tub next to the busty blonde who quickly moved up against his side. "Better?"

"Definitely." The busty blonde purred and closed her eyes as she rested her head on his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his right arm and hugged it to her chest. "Are you feeling better?" She asked quietly against his warm arm, her lips brushing against his tanned skin. Lucy could feel his body heat clearly over the already hot water around her, it soaked into her much more readily than the bathwater.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Natsu gave the woman a small smile and rubbed her thigh soothingly. "I try not to dwell on things for too long, though those failures stick in my mind like hot glue."

"Maybe I could help take your mind off it?" Lucy whispered alluringly as she looked up at him through her eyelashes, a vulpine smile dancing on her delicate features as her dark chocolate eyes radiated playfulness. Her hand drifted down the man's honed body, almost excruciatingly slowly.

Natsu's hand slid up the woman's thigh and curled his fingers between them, sliding the digits along the silky slit and teasing Lucy's womanhood.

The blonde grasped the man's growing shaft, stroking it slowly as she moaned quietly into his ear. Lucy spread her legs a little more and gasped sharply as a pair of calloused fingers found their way into her. "Natsu~." She murmured quietly.

The man leant towards her, capturing her lips in a rough kiss and guiding the woman onto his lap while working away at her core. "You like that, don't you?"

Lucy gasped into the man's mouth and pressed closer to him, squishing her breasts against his hard chest. "Shut up and kiss me." She murmured sensually, her arm looping around the back of the man's shoulders as she stroked him ever faster. As Natsu grew in her hand, her need to feel him inside her also grew, so she moved forwards but grumbled as her knees hit the stone wall.

Without breaking the kiss, Natsu lifted the woman up and slowly turned her side on. He felt her adjust her grip on his cock, as if guiding it towards her core while the pinkette lowered her to his lap. The tip of his manhood was kissed by Lucy's lower lips before slipping between them.

The blonde's breath hitched, gasping softly as she was spread out by the man's member. Her back arched and she moaned quietly, feeling the shaft slide deeper into her. Lucy turned slowly on the man's lap, resting her back against his chest while taking all of him inside of her. "Oh~, that feels so good~." She quickly found Natsu's fangs at her neck, sinking slowly into her soft flesh and drawing another gasp from her.

Natsu's hands slid up the woman's flawless voluptuous body and grasped her bountiful breasts, squeezing them softly and playing with her perky nipples. The pinkette slowly dragged his fangs along her porcelain skin, feeling the woman squirm on his lap and rub her thighs together. He could tell that she was loving the delicious torture he gave her so he decided to show her a little secret of his as he brought his lips to her ear and whispered into them. "Wanna feel something mind-blowing?"

Lucy panted with need as she turned her head slowly, gazing at the man with darkened, lust-filled eyes. "Natsu~, every time you're in me, you blow my mind~."

The man chuckled as a hand drifted down her toned stomach and disappeared between her thighs, tap dancing on the woman's sensitive clit while he chuckled huskily into her ear. "Let's just say that my curses have other uses besides offence and defence…" A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as the woman tightened around him. "Enhance: Pleasure, times two."

Lucy's eyes shot wide open as her jaw dropped, she quickly tried to compose herself all while her core had started to twitch and throb around Natsu's manhood. "Oh Gods~."

Natsu shimmied forward a little, allowing him to lie back against the wall and move within the woman. He brought her knees up so they barely broke through the water and were spread enough to easily torment her with the new level of pleasure. His fingers danced across the woman's clit; playing her like a violin as he rocked and rolled his hips.

The busty woman slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to swallow her moans as she blushed heavily. She felt like she'd fall apart at any moment thanks to the man's ministrations. Her body felt like it was on fire, burning up with delicious ecstasy. Lucy bit her lip to stifle a loud moan as stars danced in front of her eyes; she clamped down on Natsu's manhood and throbbed hard around it as an orgasm surged through her. Once she managed to get some sense back, she turned over and laid down against the man's chest, slowly bouncing her hips on the man's lap while straddling them. "Mmm~ you're right about mind blowing~." She giggled softly and started to kiss the man.

Natsu grinned against Lucy's lips. "Now picture us going at it like we did in the ship."

Lucy blushed and slowly climbed off him; bending over the edge of the bath with her ass above the water, inviting him back inside. "How about we test that. I'll do my best to stay quiet."

The pinkette stood up behind her and lined his member up with her tight entrance, plunging into her and causing the woman to arch her back and slap her hands over her mouth to stifle the moan. He grabbed ahold of Lucy's hips and started to piston his hips, driving his cock deep into the woman. "Luce~."

It took all of Lucy's strength to not give into the pleasure and let out her voice as she was being reamed by her partner's substantial member. She kept her hands clamped over her mouth as she felt Natsu move closer; his hands came to rest upon her bountiful breasts, holding them firmly and toying with the sensitive nipples. Lucy felt the man swell within her, his throbbing cock signalling that the end was nigh. Her eyes squeezed shut and she squeaked cutely, trying to hold back her bodily delight when she was flooded with Natsu's hot semen which had sent her body careening into another orgasm.

Natsu groaned quietly, clenching his jaw to prevent himself from making too much noise as he pushed in as deep as he could go, shooting stream after stream up against the very depths of the woman. "Oh gods, Lucy~."

Lucy panted heavily and glanced back at the salmon-haired man, a pleased grin on her pleasure drunk face. She pushed back with her hips and giggled as Natsu pulled her down into the tub. "Definitely mind blowing~." Lucy murmured softly as she rests against the man's chest, keeping him inside her.

Natsu picked up on the sound of footsteps heading their way, the rhythm and weight of the steps informed him that it was their redheaded friend. "Hey Erza, what can we do for you?"

Lucy blushed heavily and immediately brought her knees together, hiding the fact that she was currently impaled on Natsu's stake. "Erza?"

"Hey you two, how'd the task go?" The voluptuous agent asked as she entered the bathroom, yawning and stretching her limbs as her clothes flashed off of her.

"Didn't really have any sticking points beyond finding gear from Phantom in the Temple." Natsu replied calmly as he smiled at the scarlet-haired woman, watching her ease into the bath next to them.

"Yeah, I heard about that." Erza ducked her head under the water to wet her hair then turned to the man. "You don't mind washing my back?"

"You'll have to come here for it." Natsu laughed and pat Lucy's shoulder. "She doesn't want to move, I seem to be too comfy."

Lucy's cute blush became darker as she looked between the two agents. "W-would you like me to do it, Erza? It'd probably be easier."

"Sure." Erza replied as she moved over and sat down in front of the blonde. Natsu moved his legs apart to allow the woman to shimmy back closer to the blushing blonde. "Thanks you, Lucy. Oh, Natsu, Zeref is having trouble contacting Gajeel and Juvia. Can you call one of them once you have finished in here?"

"I have Juvia's number from when they were heading to Magnolia, so I'll call her." He carefully lifted Lucy off of his lap and placed her behind Erza, allowing him to stand up freely. "I'll leave you two to enjoy the bath." Natsu grinned at the blonde's cute pout and gave her a quiet kiss before he stepped out of the bath and raised his body temperature to dry off. He requipped his gear again and headed out into the main part of the camp. The man took out his phone and quickly scrolled through his contacts while making his way to the table.

"Jeez, you took your time in the bath. I had to send Erza in to get you two to hurry up." Zeref teased as he chowed down on an MRE, his boots up on the edge of the table. "And you say Mavis and I are bad."

"Don't tell Lucy that, she blushed as red as Erza's hair when we got walked in on." Natsu laughed and took a seat. He brought out one of his own Meals Ready to Eat and heated it up. "Thankfully we had finished and she was just on my lap, if we were caught in the act I'm pretty sure her mind would have shut down. It was very cute."

"Well, we need you to make that call before we can proceed with the assault."

"Yeah, I know." The man replied as he hit call on his phone and brought up a holographic window in front of him. He leant back in the chair and popped his feet up on the one across from him. A broken circle span in front of him until the screen flashed to life, revealing a casually dressed blunette who was drying her hair with a towel. "Hello Juvia."

"Natsu? To what does Juvia owe the pleasure?" Juvia asked curiously, tilting her head as one of her eyebrows rose. "Oh, Juvia is currently in her house. Juvia has just swept it for surveillance before she showered so we are free to speak."

"I'll make this quick. Do you know anything about Galuna Island?" Natsu asked briskly while the rest of the team joined them at the table, Erza and Lucy drying their hair.

"Hmm, it's not one of Juvia's or Gajeel's operations so she won't be able to tell you much." Juvia murmured, her brow furling as she brought her phone with her to her private computer. "Let Juvia see what she can find on our servers."

"We'll tell you what we know, you can fill in the blanks." The agent leant forward and placed his MRE on the table. "We found tech belonging to Phantom in the hands of some cultists here, MSF generators for example."

"We? You aren't operating alone, Natsu?" The blunette asked, her voice pitching up with curiosity as her eyes shifted from her monitor to the chat window. "Weren't you supposed to be some kind of lone wolf Agent?"

"I do operate in teams when the mission requires it, for example when I found you and Gajeel doing that deal I had another agent covering me with a sniper." Natsu smirked slightly and glanced around the room. "But yes, we. I'm currently sat here with four other agents. But back to the point, what's Phantom Lord up to on this Island?"

"Arms, equipment, and training." Juvia quickly replied, looking from screen to window. "Juvia isn't sure if we still have people on the Island but looking at the roster, she is sure they won't be missed by our faction."

"How many are there?" Zeref asked as he moved behind his younger brother. "We might have to alter our plan."

"There are thirty on this list. Juvia wouldn't really say that they are all that high up the ladder. Juvia could choose any five of her people and wipe their entire team, without herself." The woman rose from her chair and hung up her towel to dry, showing the two Dragneels her long porcelain legs, when she reached up to the hook her oversized blue band t-shirt lifted to show small PJ shorts. She let out a small yawn and returned to her desk. "Juvia is sorry. She only just got home from a mission, you called just as she finished getting dressed for bed."

"I'll try not to keep you much longer then." The salmon-haired agent smiled warmly, knowing full well what it was like. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"Juvia doesn't think they have reported back to their base yet. She operates out of the main base an hour outside of Oak City. This group belongs to the base east of Akane. So she won't see them in person unless she conducts an inspection, and that needs an order from Jose. Juvia has a request." Juvia mumbled tiredly. She closed down her computer and took her phone to bed. "If you run into that group of Phantoms, take them out. They aren't a part of our faction, so we won't miss them."

"If they are still here, then we'll be sure to take them out of the equation. Better now than let them bolster Jose's forces when we make our move." Natsu conceded and glanced over his shoulder at Zeref. "What do you say? You're the one in charge here."

"I think you summed it up nicely. Kill them now so we don't have to kill them later." Zeref replied, his tone uncharacteristically flat and detached. He walked back to where he was sat and brought up the holographic map of the Temple that their drones had scouted. "Finish up, we've got everything we need to know."

"Get some rest, Juvia." Natsu smiled softly at the blunette. "You look tired."

"Juvia wishes you happy hunting, Natsu." Juvia murmured, a small and tired but cute smile gracing her features as she closed the call.

"I know that tone." Natsu put his phone away and grabbed his MRE, warming it back up in his hands as he pointed to Zeref with the fork. "You've already came up with a plan."

"I think we should start where they have the hostages. We'll pop in with Lucy's help and secure the captives. One of us will stay behind, I'll probably do that since the four of you are better at combat. The rest will split into two groups, same teams as earlier, and push out from there. This'll give me the chance to get the locals out of harm's way before shit really kicks off."

"I think Gray and I should clear a path for you." Erza stated as she leaned in, examining the map. "If you bring them behind us, we should get them out safely while Natsu and Lucy draw attention to themselves."

"Sounds like a plan." Natsu chuckled and burnt the empty packaging to ashes while he stood up. "Let Luce and I piss them off enough that they'll be climbing over each other to get at us."

"Shouldn't you be more serious, Sir?" The blonde shot across the table, hiding a smirk behind her towel.

"Damn man, you still make her call you Sir?" Gray jumped on the chance to take a jab at his friend, crossing his arms while smirking smugly. "Sure are full of it."

"Fuck both of you." Natsu muttered softly while he shaking his head with a small smile. He got a laugh from the raven-haired man and a subtle wink and a seductive smile from the blonde.

"Name a time and place~." Lucy purred under her breath, ensuring that only the pinkette's enhanced hearing could pick up on it. Though she quickly dropped her playful demeanour since she had to focus on the mission, fun can come later after they were done. The woman turned to Zeref and frowned. "Should we actively search for those people from Lamia Scale? While I can see everything in the Temple when we are near it, I can't differentiate who's who beyond their body shape. Maybe Toby will be the easiest to find unless there are others like him."

"Lucky for us, each one of the HVTs has got a Spyder with them. So we can easily mark them on our HUDs to track them through walls, their biometric data should take over in LOS situations. If that helps you lock onto their position for your traverse then use it, otherwise, just manually hunt them down." Zeref waved his hand at the blonde and pointed to the green dots on the hologram. "When you find them, make sure the hostiles are cleared out and inform them of the situation. If they resist then incapacitate them and bring them to safety."

"We ought to be able to handle that fairly easily. Pity I don't have their scents through, I'd be able to track them doing fairly easily that way." Natsu chimed in, baring his inhuman fangs in a wide and confident grin. "But it still should be a walk in the park for us."

"Check over your gear while you have the chance. Clean your weapons and make sure they are ready for combat." Zeref ordered as he gazed at the four agents. "We'll move out at Nine on the dot tonight. Lucy will use her Traverse to get us there quickly, the staging area is the hill overlooking the temple. That's all."

---

Temple Overlook, Galuna Island, 9:02 PM

The Agents were gathered around in a tight circle, kneeling with their weapons shouldered as they observed the beehive they were about to kick. Stygian glanced at the hooded blonde, waiting for her to dial in the location. "Take Sal first." The man turned to his younger brother. "If there are cultists with them, do as you see fit."

"Copy. Ready whenever you are, Celeste." Sal turned to his partner and instantly noticed something off with her controlled expression. "What's up?"

"These degenerates make me sick." The woman muttered, the mask cracking as she snarled. "We're going in now, there are two in there with a hostage. Kill them."

"Fuck." The salmon-haired agent placed his rifle on his back, the attachment runes holding it in place as he grabbed the woman's wrist and rose to his feet. Getting the hint, Celeste took him into the makeshift prison, the sight they found causing Sal's blood to boil.

The demons were cowering against the walls in chains as one of the women was being abused by two of the cultists. "Yeah! You like that don't you, you little demon whore!" One of them growled from between her legs as the second held her down.

"This one was a feisty one, Hector. How about we…" The man's suggestion fell short as a wave of dread washed over him, his eyes slowly rising from the woman to the oppressive presence towering over them. "Who the fuck are you?!"

"Silence." Sal hissed, his eyes glowing a diabolical crimson. His order was final, no matter how much the cultists tried to shout, they couldn't even make a peep as the man's foot found home in the gut of the man at the bottom half. An almighty crunch echoed around the room as his bones were snapped by the kick and even more from the impact with the stone wall. Sal glanced back at the blonde who had her weapon trained on the second man. "Cover the door, I'll deal with this. Kill anyone who comes in." He heard the woman shift and turn, paying her no heed as unpleasant memories rushed to the forefront of his mind when he glanced down at the scared woman. He carefully stepped over her and grabbed the second man by the throat, whipping his arm around and throwing him across the room.

"Are you ok?" Celeste murmured quietly while pressing her shoulder up against the wall, her back to her partner.

"No." Sal replied darkly. He rolled his neck and cracked his gloved knuckles as his jacket vanished, revealing his glowing ember Etherious markings that had extended up his neck. "But I'm about to be."

Thorned vines slid from the gaps in the masonry and wrapped around the wrists of the silenced cultists, dragging them up the wall until their feet dangled helplessly a foot off the ground.

"Celeste, Salamander. What is going on?" Stygian's voice came through the pinkette's comms as his fist flew forward, impacting the first cultist's stomach. It sounded like a cannon blast as fist met flesh.

"Deal with that, will you?" The man threw over his shoulder as he hit the man's jaw, redirecting the vomit induced by the previous hit towards the empty wall.

"Sal's dealing with the two cultists." Celeste calmly informed their Squad Leader. She glanced over at the demon woman on the floor and gave her a reassuring smile. "We're here to help. Don't let my friend over there give you the wrong idea, he just had a close friend go through the same horror and he's pissed."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about it?"

"These degenerates deserve it." The woman replied as a succession of heavy meaty blows echoed through the room. "I know you're pissed, Sal. But can you hurry up?"

"Fine." Sal growled as he spun on the ball of his foot, pivoting around instantly and driving the back of his boot into the head of the cultist, decimating it and showering the wall with gore. He ripped the second man free of the vines, tearing his hands from his arms in the process as he tossed the man to the floor and brought his boot down on his face, crushing it to a pulpy mess. "Happy?"

"Room's clear, and Sal took his anger out on these bastards. Coming back now." Celeste informed the rest of the team and rose to her feet, her jacket vanishing as she turned back to the man. "I know how you feel, you aren't the only one who's angry but put a lid on it and focus on the mission. You taught me that it's best to stay calm and collected while working, follow the same advice."

The woman was right, Sal knew that. He knew he shouldn't let his anger control him, it was what led to his powers being sealed in the first place. He needed to control himself. "Bring them here, I'll watch the door." The man crossed the room as his partner vanished instantly, drawing his Honey Badger rifle and kneeling near the doorway. "I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner." Sal murmured softly to the quiet room, his red eyes turning to look at the demonic woman who had collected herself and scooted back to the wall. "Truly. If it was up to me, I'd have made those fucking cunts suffer a little longer for what they've done to you all."

"You don't smell completely human…" The woman mumbled, the other demons nodding in agreement. "Not like that woman."

"I'm a hybrid." Sal replied as Celeste and Stygian popped into the room and the woman vanished again. "Technically, I am a demon too. An Etherious."

"Like that beast in the basement?"

Stygian sighed at the sight of the bodies but didn't question his brother's motives for he knew them well. His eyes skimmed across the various villages that had been subjected to abuse and torture.

"Yes." The man rose to his feet and bared his fangs. "We're here to destroy that beast. To ensure it can't hurt anyone. Just like these animals who call themselves human."

"Are… are you going to kill them, all of them?" The woman asked quietly, life slowly flickering back into her dull red eyes.

"Well, I'm not about to let them ruin anyone else's lives." Sal replied while Knight appeared, her eyes shooting between the demons, the bloody mess, and the salmon-haired agent.

"I'm sorry." The redhead murmured as she walked past the man and took guard opposite him.

"Don't be." Sal replied, his voice becoming neutral, falling back to stoic professionalism as he shut away his emotions in his heart yet his demonic features revealed his true feelings, continuing to glow with infernal rage.

"That's the last one." Celeste announced as she appeared once more with the final member of the team.

Like the others, Agent Frost took a moment to glance around the room. It was just like the time he and Knight were sent in to rescue Sal and Soul… "Fuck me… Every fucking time… Going to need a smoke after this one…"

Stygian turned his back to the villages and focused on the mission, his mask slipping slightly as a small snarl tugged at his lips. "Time to ring the doorbell, Sal. Let them know they have guests."

The temple shook as an explosion rocked the old stone, causing dust and fragments to fall from the ceiling. Sal had detonated each explosive simultaneously to ensure maximum confusion as the temple was bathed in darkness. "Let's go say hello." The pinkette murmured as he kicked open the door, destroying the ancient frame in a shower of rocks and splinters. He swept his rifle left to right as he stepped into the hall, followed closely by Celeste, Knight, and Frost.

Panic and confusion echoed through the halls as people shouted about the explosion and loss of power. Taking advantage of the chaos, the squad split in two with Agents Salamander and Celeste racing toward the anarchy.

The man moved the rifle to his back once again, opting to use his dual pistols for quicker target neutralisation. He glanced back at the blonde at his flank and let her come up beside him. "I'm only going to say this once, do not hesitate to shoot anything not illuminated with a blue or green outline. This is real combat with real bullets, keep moving and shooting and if you get pinned then relocate with Traverse."

Celeste nodded quickly, deciding to use the weapons she was most comfortable with as she switched to her Ruger and combat knife. She had been training in Close-Quarters-Combat with her mentor and Agent Demon since she joined and felt more at home with the two weapons than the rifle.

The duo quickly came into their first encounter, bursting out of the hallway to a small room with stone pillars around the perimeter. A loud snap rang through the absolute darkness as Sal launched at the closest cultist with practised silence; quickly rotating their head. A wave of embers floated through the air as the man moved from one person to the next, expertly dispatching them.

A flash of gold sprinted past the salmon-haired agent as Celeste's Gerber Mk2 bit into the necks while the Ruger's slide snapped back and forth; cycling rounds as they were fired with near-perfect accuracy into the cultists.

"Shit!" Shouted a man clad in black armour as he watched the duo through a set of Panoramic Night Vision Goggles. He instantly recognised the man thanks to his pink spikey hair, the proficiency dual pistols, and the blazing embers that glowed upon his skin. The mercenary grabbed his radio as he sprinted from the room. "IT'S AGENT SALAMANDER! HE'S HERE!" A knife quickly found home within the armoured man's throat, a bloody gurgle coming from him as he fell to his knees, his hand still gripping the radio firmly.

"Mike?! Come in, Mike! Did you say Agent Salamander?! MIKE? SHIT!"

Sal reached down and cleaned the blood from his Bowie knife while Celeste took out the last cultist in the room. The agent pried the radio from the dying merc and inspected it. "They know I'm here. A Phantom managed to get a warning out to the rest of his group before I could take him out. But I acquired his radio."

"Proceed with the mission." Stygian replied calmly, he expected this would happen when he put together a team full of especially notorious Agents. "We're nearing an exit, resistance has been negligible."

"We'll keep their attention on us." Sal turned the radio down and placed it on his belt as he turned to his partner. She was stood among a collection of bodies and looked a little green as she looked at her shaking hands. "It's not the best thing to hear, but it gets easier the more you do it… though the memories will stick with you." He said while putting the knife away and walking over to the blonde. "I'm proud of you. You took action without hesitation. Just remember, these people deserve it. They are planning on releasing one of the most dangerous Magical WMDs known to us, if we don't stop them now then millions of innocents will be killed." The salmon-haired agent sighed and guided Celeste's weapons back to their holsters and held her shaking hands, causing her gaze to rise to his demonic red eyes. "I know it's not easy, your first time. I've seen people puke their guts up or completely shut down, even if they were still in combat… Focus on me, settle your breathing, even out your heart rate, and just bring yourself back."

"How… how do you do it?" Celeste murmured quietly as she wrapped her arms around the man and buried her head into the crook of his neck, her eyes closed. "How can you make it seem so simple and effortless?"

Sal ran a hand through her long blonde hair, keeping his senses focused on their surroundings so they weren't caught off-guard. "I've been doing this for a long time, you get desensitised to killing fairly quickly. It sounds horrific… but unfortunately, it's true. I'll give you a minute, but we need to keep moving."

Celeste stayed against him for only ten seconds before raising her head and looking into the man's eyes. Beyond his frightening demonic visage was the kind and caring man she knew, her writer mind wandering to a possible world where things were simpler, where the two of them were best friends on an adventure. The woman quickly shook her head, banishing the thoughts from her mind, she'd revisit them later and start working on a story based on the idea. "I'm fine now, let's go."

"Alright." The pinkette stepped back and drew his pistols. "Take point."

The blonde took her knife and Ruger in her hands and focused on her surroundings. "There are a cluster of people to our right, want to drop in on them?"

Sal smirked and moved so they were back-to-back, his guns raised and ready. "Let's throw a surprise party." The room vanished around him, being replaced by a larger hall filled with tables and chairs with bumbling about cultists. He brought his M10s to bear, silently sending out rapid bursts of lead.

The weight pressing on his back vanished as Celeste appeared behind a cultist across the room and drove her knife into their brainstem. The blonde moved from person to person effortlessly killing the cultists and doing her best to keep it out of her mind.

"The tribal bastard is dealing with the generators. Fall back to the Cavern, we must hold out until it has been released. Let the fodder deal with the Agent."

Sal glanced down at the voice coming from the radio at his hip, it sounded like the boss but it wasn't a voice he was familiar with. "Someone is heading to the generators. Should we head them off?"

"They shouldn't be able to fix them if you completely blew them apart?" Stygian replied quickly. "We're out of the compound and sending the demons back to the village, be back in there in five."

"They shouldn't be recoverable through normal means, and I only know of one type of magic that would fix it." Sal moved like a blur around the dark room, his markings the only source of light as he dispatched cultists faster than they could react. Once the last body fell, he turned to his blonde partner to check on her. "Celeste, take a break, go and link up with my brother's group."

"Alright." The woman nodded, following her superior's orders quickly as she vanished from sight, leaving him alone in the room.

Now that he didn't have to track the woman's movements, Sal was able to fully focus on the chaos and set his senses to overdrive. He turned off his night vision, trusting in his instincts and enhanced senses to guild him. The ground underfoot shattered and shot up in a halo, signalling the Agent's departure. Sal blitzed through the hall, his Etherious markings leaving a glowing trail behind him like a set of tail lights in the night. He was hunting down the four green dots on his map which seemed to have congregated in a small room that Sal guessed was a bedroom.

The thunderous sound of footsteps echoed around the corner and as Sal rounded it, he was met with at least twenty people running in his direction. They were in black armour but it didn't match the Phantom he had killed earlier as they had just a black plate carrier and helmet, not the full kit. And each one carried a basic-looking Mk18 Mod 0 CQBR carbine instead of the HK416s that the Mercs had.

There were too many hostiles clogging the hallway so the man holstered his pistols and pulled out his knives. The twin blades sang, flashing through the darkness and slicing through neck after neck. Gunfire lit up the tight path like a nightclub while bullets ripped through friendly bodies, spraying the walls with a slick red sheen.

Sal approached the door that stood between him and the HVTs, hushed voices coming through clearly. They were panicking quietly since the gunfire had fallen silent. "I'm near the HVTs, making contact now." He flicked the blood from his knives and placed them in their sheath then grasped the door handle and slowly opened it, hearing the talking instantly stop.

"Who's there?" Came a woman's voice as the door was forced shut.

The salmon-haired agent moved back quickly and pressed against the wall next to the door, drawing his pistol in his right hand. "Sherry Blendy, I presume?"

The room was silent for a minute before the woman spoke up once again. "How do you know who I am?"

"As you are probably aware by now, I'm Agent Salamander with the FTA. I know that you, Toby Horhorta, and Yuka Suzuki from Lamia Scale are on the premise along with Lyon Vastia." Sal replied loudly as he brought his fist up, readying it to break down the door. "Let me in so we can have a peaceful chat."

"Yeah… We heard that you had appeared in the Temple from those Phantoms…" Sherry said slowly, her voice slowly edging away. "The others are with me."

"I know. I can tell that all four of you are inside there." He slowly lowered the pistol but didn't put it away, still not sure if they were completely trustworthy. "I've made verbal contact but they seem hesitant. You guys all done?"

"Yeah. We have regrouped at the entrance." Stygian answered quickly. "We need your position."

"I'm waving, Celeste." Sal moved his arm back and forth in a wide arc, making it obvious enough that the blonde should be able to instantly find him. Sure enough, one after the other, he was joined by his team. "They're in here."

"Stack up." Stygian ordered as he pointed at the door. He took the spot on the right, beside Knight and Frost as Celeste took up position beside Sal. "Knight, Breach."

The door was reduced to splinters by the Redhead's psionic blast, showering the room with wooden shrapnel. Taking advantage of the chaos, Knight swung her weapon into the room as she moved to the left, Sal quickly following behind and checking to the right.

"Woah, woah, woah…" Toby half shouted as he held up his hands, offering no resistance as he clamped his eyes shut for protection. "We weren't about to attack."

"Sorry, but we couldn't take the chance. You may have been compromised." Stygian replied calmly as he strode into the room, flanked by Frost and Celeste who took a knee facing the door, covering their backs. "Your boss asked us to bring you back alive and safe."

"Gray?" Lyon murmured as he spotted his old friend when the dust cloud cleared. "I see you joined Fairy Tail."

"Sorry man, I tried to stay in contact but you dropped off the face of the world." Frost replied, sparing a glance back at the pale-blue-haired man. "You better not be the damn Cult Leader…"

"Err…"

"Great, if one man with slush for brains wasn't bad enough, now we have two." Sal grumbled quietly while shooting a small smirk between the two men. He took a breath through his nose and slowly released it, pulling back his demonic visage so he'd be less imposing, causing his eyes and markings to return to normal. "Look, as far as I'm aware, we are here for the same purpose. Destroying Deliora."

"I may be the face of the Cult, but I'm not the one who came up with it. That'll be Zalty, he was the one who told us about Deliora's location." Lyon explained carefully, taking a step back as he brought his hands up. He glanced around at the various agents and saw the blonde looking up at the ceiling.

"Someone is using magic on the main generators, seems to be rewinding them like it was a movie." Celeste informed the group, glancing back at Stygian curiously since she had never encountered magic that could do that. "Sal had blown them apart completely yet they seem to be coming online. At this rate power will be restored in a few minutes at most, depending on how much power this place needs."

"That's Zalty, he's a time mage." Sherry informed the agents, taking a step forward as she glanced around at them. "As Lyon said, he's the brains of all this. Had also brought in those Mercs from Phantom Lord."

"That's problematic… This is one that flew under my radar." Stygian muttered before turning to his younger brother. "Take Celeste and go check them out, report your findings back to me before taking any further action."

"Copy." The pinkette walked over to his partner and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Call if you need us." The room vanished as a familiar but still slightly disorienting wave crashed through him, in the blink of the eye, he was in the generator room with a mask-wearing greenette by the switchbox.

Zalty flicked the switch with a loud clunk, causing power to surge through the Temple and bring all the lights and equipment back online. He let out a relieved sigh and stepped back from the box. "Finally, now to deal with the intruders and break open that Iced Shell."

Unbeknownst to the man, Agent Salamander had begun to stalk over to them. His already quiet footsteps were being drowned out by the newly repaired generators, making it easy to sneak up on the unknown mage. Being a Time Mage, he knew it would be pointless to use his weapons on the man, so once he was in striking distance he grabbed the man and threw him across the room, using his enhanced speed to meet him in mid-flight and slam him into the floor by the throat. "Hello there."

"Agent Salamander…" Zalty choked out, his hands wrapping around the agent's wrist and trying to free himself. "So it was true…"

"I'm flattered that someone like you knows me, but I'm afraid that you'll have to forgive me, who the fuck are you?"

"Sal, be careful." Celeste murmured, knowing the man hear her easily even over the rumbling generators. "I can see that there is something off about this person. A male body overlayed onto a female's." Her eyes dropped lower as cracks started to form under the man and mage in her white dimension. "The floor is about to collapse."

Sal leapt back but kept his hand firmly around Zalty's neck, the force of his movement creating a hole where they just were. "So, Zalty was it?" The pinkette held the man up by his throat, grinning smugly as Zalty's feet dangle inches off the ground. "Since you know me, then you know you can't fool my nose. You may be able to change your look, but you can change your pheromones."

"Let me go and we can make a deal…" Zalty gasped while trying to free themselves from the powerful yet careful grip. They knew they could use magic against him, but this was Agent Salamander… Someone who shouldn't be messed with. "I'll give you information on those Phantoms!"

"I think I'm more interested in who's under that Glamour enchanted mask of yours." Sal reached forward and gripped the mask. Cracks started to form and the enchantment started to wane; the illusion began to shudder and break down. The mask crumbled as a flash of light enveloped the man, fading away to reveal a red-eyed woman with long dark-purple hair. "Well, well. If it isn't Councillor Ultear. Funny seeing you here."

"Bastard." The woman muttered and struggled harder in his grip before the pressure was instantly released and she fell onto her ass. "You prick."

"I knew I recognised your scent. You were at my trial." The man spoke flatly, clearly disappointed with the woman. "Stygian, we found out who Zalty is. You'll never believe who it is."

"Ultear?"

"How the fuck…?" Sal glanced up at Celeste who just shrugged and requiped a pair of Anti-magic handcuffs as she walked forward and placed them on the woman.

"Process of elimination. If Zalty wasn't an actual identity but a cover then it would come down to two people. One isn't on this continent and doesn't rewind or fast-forward objects in time. The other, however, can do that. This leaves it to be Ultear Milkovich."

"Wait, that's Ur's daughter!" Agent Frost quickly announced. "Ur told me she died…"

"No, she was taken in by Precht after Ur was told that Ultear was basically a walking time bomb. Sal, bring her to us. Don't worry about the lights."

"Afirm." The pinkette reached down and grabbed Ultear, picking her up and throwing her onto his shoulder. "Ready to go?"

"I'd prefer not to show my hand to a terrorist." The blonde muttered; shooting a glare at the Councilwoman's ass which sat next to Sal's head. She was part of the Magic Council, the organisation that is meant to maintain peaceful relations between magical beings and non-magical beings, yet here she was about to stir up chaos that'd be blamed on mages.

"This is so demeaning…" Huffed Ultear with a pout, she wanted to try and make a break for it but she knew that Agent Salamander could and would easily catch her.

"Yeah, you've got a point." Sal murmured before glancing at the woman on his shoulder. "Go to sleep, Ultear." As the woman fell limp, the man reached out and grabbed Celeste's shoulder. "Problem solved. The Council already knows what I am so this isn't an issue and now you can take us there safely."

"I'm starting to see why you're considered so dangerous but extremely effective." Celeste giggled softly and took them to the rest of the team who were now heading down a hallway.

Sal appeared face-to-face with his brother, giving the older man a grin. "Present for you."

"Oh, Sal, it's exactly what I wanted." The black-haired man played along, his expression mirroring the pinkette's. "A traitorous Councilwoman. The only thing that's missing is a cute little bow."

"You'll just have to settle for Anti-magic cuffs." Celeste chimed in as she lifted the woman's bound wrists. "So, what's the play?"

"Unfortunately, those Phantoms have taken over the ritual and are still conducting Moon Drip." Stygian replied while walking past the duo who fell in step behind him. "Our group is too large to properly utilise Traverse, the strain would be too great on Celeste to transport the full squad."

"So," Sal glanced over his shoulder at Lyon's team, all who were shocked at finding out Zalty's real identity. "I take it that you guys have agreed to team up with us?"

"Yeah." Lyon nodded as he held his Mk18 close to his chest. "We aren't about to pick a fight with an entire team of FTA Agents, especially when it has Knight, Frost, and Salamander in it… The sensible thing is to join forces." Now that they were bathed in light, Lyon could see that Agents Salamander and Celeste were spattered with blood from their fights. "Do you usually get this bloody?"

"Depends on the job and location." Sal replied quickly as they walked out into a large room where the Moon Drip's beam was fed through the floor to Deliora's chamber. "Enough chatter, they are in the cavern below."

"There hasn't been much radio chatter from them." Celeste remarked with a quick glance at the radio on Sal's belt. "That's been fairly quiet."

"They'd all be in the one area, no point using the radio when you could just walk five meters to the bloke." The pinkette placed Ultear on the ground and walked over to the hole. "Phantoms and Cultists, I was wondering why there was so little interference coming here." He turned his back to the hole, facing the team. "Want me to take care of it?"

"I'll take your FD338 and provide covering fire." Knight approached the man while extending a hand. "Are you sure you don't need back-up?"

"Some lead rain would be appreciated but otherwise I should be fine." Sal replied as the sniper rifle appeared in his hands along with a pouch of ammo for it and handed it over. "The only issue is how packed it is down there, and I doubt those Phantoms wouldn't even think twice about shooting through the cultists to get to me."

"And just how are you planning on getting down there?" Yuka questioned the man while narrowing his eyes sceptically. "It's quite a drop, you'll probably break your legs."

Sal grinned silently as he started to teeter backwards on the ledge; falling back off the edge of the hole and diving headfirst down the pillar of light. Embers started to leak from his body, trailing behind him and fanning out.

"EYES UP!" Shouted one of the Phantoms as they brought their rifle up to the falling agent. "IT'S AGENT SALAMANDER! OPEN FIRE!"

Jets of fire ignited from the soles of the man, rocketing him towards the ground while his Reflex went into overdrive and slowed the world around him as a storm of lead shot up like a barrage of Anti-Air Artillery. He fired of precise jets around his body, using them to shunt him about the deadly hail.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS HE?" Shouted one of the cultists, her voice oozing with terror at the nightmarish being. "WHAT IS THIS MONSTER?"

The ground cratered from the Agent's impact, the crushed stone becoming bathed in blood as Sal's fist ripped through a heavily armoured Phantom headfirst. The man had instantly moved on, a high-pitched whistling echoing through the cold and dense cave air as wind whipped around his fists while red draconic magic circles span just in front of them. Embers flew off the man's blurred fists, a product of his Fire Dragon's: Revised Iron Fist.

The demonic markings flashed for a moment before emitting a powerful crimson glow as the hellish agent cleaved a path through the horde, the magic on his fists stopping them from over-penetrating and causing all the force to be dumped into the body, producing a gruesome and gory product when paired with his inhuman capabilities.

0=0=0=0=0=0=0

"This, Celeste, is why he is classified as Hyper Lethal…" Knight said loudly over the cracking of gunfire and the concussive blasts of Agent Salamander's punches and kicks. "He is the best hand-to-hand combatant we have, and that's just counting his physical ability and techniques. When you throw his Dragon Slaying magic into the mix, especially the revised form that he and Igneel had to work on, and you get a seemingly unbeatable monster. Put simply, humans weren't built to handle the amount of impact force that spell dumps into the body, coupled with the sheer power of his physical attacks… Well, he was fashioned to kill beings much more powerful and deadly than a human."

"Do we even need to cover him…?" Celeste asked but didn't really expect an answer. They were all gathered around the hole, watching the chaos below.

"Not really. I get why they sealed my brother's powers, and I guess you can now see why." Stygian glanced across to the blonde as a horrific scream was cut short. He sighed softly and shook his head. "He's grown up since then though. Excuse me for a moment, I've got a matter I need to attend to." The black-haired man left the ring of people and grabbed Ultear. He brought her over to the hole and held her down against the edge so her head hung over but she couldn't fall in nor be able to turn her head to look at him. "Time to wake up, Ultear."

"Huh…?" The woman blinked her eyes and yawned softly but instant tried to fling herself back when she was met with a deep pit. "WHAT THE FUCK! Where am I?"

"You're still at the Temple. As you can see, your forces are being decimated by my little brother."

"Agent Salamander has an older brother?" The woman questioned, straining her neck as she tried to push back against the man's grip to get a look at him. "Who are you?"

"That's irrelevant." Stygian forced the woman to keep watching the massacre below, his fingers tightening around the back of her head. "Is this what you wanted? A bloodbath in the name of Zeref? That was your plan for Deliora, right? Have it slaughter people and draw him out?"

"Stygian, I know you're pissed but you need to calm down." Agent Knight ordered as she grabbed the man's arm, pulling the weight off of Ultear and bringing the man up; pulling him aside. "You have every right to that but you know the rules, you know how things should be done. Your brother understood, he willingly became sealed because of it. You've put that life behind you, you've got a loving wife and you two are planning a family from what I've heard, so don't let things like this claw you back into darkness."

"You're right." Stygian shook his head softly, clearing the negative thoughts from his mind. He wasn't the monster he used to be, he had finally discovered a way to live a normal life with Mavis and he wouldn't trade that for some petty vengeance. "Sorry."

"Just keep her in mind and you'll be fine."

The black-haired man stepped around the redhead, returning to the circle where he saw Ultear staring at him, slack-jawed. "Yes, I'm exactly who you think I am. No, I will not be part of your 'Salvation'. You fanatics are all alike. Resolve your own personal issues like a normal person, that's what I did." Stygian turned his attention back to the pit. "How's he doing?"

"About what you'd expect from someone like him." Agent Frost replied coolly. He crossed his arms and glanced over at Stygian. "That ice is about to fall apart. We should probably get down there."

"Make a way down there." Stygian ordered while reaching down and picking up Ultear. "I want to fix this mistake before it can get loose again."

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Sal launched forward, his strength aided by jets of fire as he raced around the cavern. Embers trailed behind his blurred form as he punched, grappled, and threw hostile after hostile. The floor was covered in blood and the monster of a man left a wake in his trail, red droplets spraying up like a rooster tail. He sensed a small burst of familiar magic, drawing his attention to the hole as Agent Frost started slowly sliding down an ice spiral in the works. The man glanced over at the pillar of light and saw that the ice was almost gone. "Shit."

A bullet slowly passed by in front of his eyes, drawing his attention back to the fight where he found the fifteen remaining Phantoms grouped together and trying to pin him down with suppressive fire. Unfortunately, due to the sheer amount of Cultists, he wasn't able to clear out the Phantoms as quickly as he liked so he settled on psychological warfare and decimating the Cultists while picking off the Phantoms where he could.

He dashed out of the cone of fire and drew his pistols but before he could open fire, Celeste appeared behind the mercenaries with her knife and pistol drawn. The blonde drove her knife up under the helmet of one as she opened fire on the rest with her Ruger 57. She wrenched the blade free and threw it into the skull of another merc, launching forward and putting her strength behind the blade which drove it out the side of the head and through the neck of the next one. This whole mission had been an eye-opening experience for her, she never realised just how strong she had become until now since she only fought with Natsu and Mira, and sometimes Erza when she was free, but fighting normal squishy humans… she understood why Fairy Tail's Agents were feared and respected.

Her next target was about to unload a burst of lead into her stomach when his head exploded like a watermelon with Sal's blood-soaked gloved fist sailed through it, sending the helmet flying through the air and ricocheting off a wall. He moved faster than she could perceive, his magic-infused boot smashing through the armoured plates strapped to the Phantom's chests, splitting three of them in half.

"Please! Let me live!" Shouted the last mercenary as he backed up against a wall, his shaking hands held out in front of him. "I'll tell you everything you want to know about the company!"

Sal grabbed the man by the neck and brought him close. "Sorry, but we've already got people in your little corrupt organisation." He calmly broke the bad news to the Phantom before launching him across the room with his full force, watching as the merc was reduced to a red stain on the wall. Sal turned to the blood-soaked blonde and gave her a small smile. "Looks like we both could use another bath."

"Are missions usually like this…?" Celeste murmured shakily, it was dawning on her how many people she had killed and just how easy it had been, even if she was barehanded. Sal's ferocious fighting style had also shocked her, she realised that he had always gone easy on her… In an actual fight, she'd have died before she had even realised what had happened, was this what it was like to be an enemy of his…? Was this why he was so feared? "I don't think I can stomach all this death…"

Sal peeled the bloody gloves off his hands and pocketed them so he could gently wipe the blood and gore from the woman's beautiful face. "I understand." He murmured caringly while gazing into her hollow chocolate eyes. "Thankfully very few of our jobs are like this… But this was an unfortunate necessity, had these psychos gotten loose they would have been a problem for the civilians back on the mainland. You saw the state of the captives… they were brutalised, tortured, raped, malnourished and dehydrated, they had no amenities. It's going to take them a while to get past all this. These monsters who call themselves human deserved every last bit of what I gave them, they deserved to witness the Gate of Hell before they passed. And fuck those Phantoms for aiding them."

Tears started to leak from the kind-hearted Agent as she gazed up at her mentor. He was right, their actions were justified but she could still feel her heart breaking apart at the gory sight around her. She lowered her head, gazing at the man's feet. "Those videos of old missions… They called you a monster… is this why?"

"It's because I am a monster, Lucy." Sal replied honestly with a shrug of his shoulders as he brought her beautiful eyes back up and he felt a warmth grow inside as he gazed into them. "I will never deny that fact. I hold within me inhuman power, both demonic and draconic, both of which are devastating when used against normal people. But I still try to be nice, be kind to everyone who deserves it, I try to contain the inhuman anger within me. Sometimes I slip, my emotions run wild and the monster within me rears its head." He slapped a hand against his forehead in frustration. "Gods, I sound like some kind of angsty bastard… or maybe someone from an old Shakespearian play?"

Celeste couldn't help but giggle quietly at the man's question, a little bit of life returning to her brown eyes. She felt a gentle hand come to rest on her shoulder and turned to look at it; coming face-to-face with Knight.

"Are you ok?" The redhead asked sympathetically, a knowing gleam shining in her eyes. When she was met with a small nod she squeezed Celeste's shoulder softly. "If you need to talk at any point, whether it be now or in the future, just remember that all of us are here for you."

Celeste turned and hugged the older agent around the waist, sniffling softly as tears continued to leak from her eyes. She felt Knight slip her arms around her shoulders and rub her back, clearly not concerned about blood getting on her gear. "Thank you, Erza."

"Come, they are waiting for us by big, dumb, and ugly." The woman said softly as she took the younger agent's hand. "And for once, I don't mean Gray."

Sal burst out laughing and Celeste giggled quietly, slowly feeling the weight of her actions leave her thanks to her friends' efforts. She allowed herself to be led back to the group but glanced back at her partner to make sure he was still there, her eyes starting to get their lustre back.

"Don't worry, Luce. I'm still with you." He reassured the blonde as he hurried to her side, taking her hand and pulling her along with Knight.

They were met with a kindly smiling Stygian who had been watching the scene unfold with his arms crossed from beside the monolithic ice pillar. "Everybody all good?"

"Well, Celeste and I need a bath but aside from that we should be all good." Sal replied casually as he placed his arms behind his head; looking up at Deliora. "So, what are we going to do about this big fucker?" He asked his older brother as he came to a stop beside him. "I can feel him waking, but his life essence is weak. We could just leave him to die?"

Stygian turned his head and looked over at the three Ice Mages, with Ultear being looked after by Agent Frost. Along with Sherry; Toby and Yuka who were swapping stories with the raven-haired agent. "We could give them the closure they are after?"

"You're joking, right?" Sal argued quietly, following the man's gaze. "Even in this state Deliora can wipe them out. Possibly even Frosty too."

"Not if I revert him back to being a book. Then he'd be in his weakest form possible with no way to attack."

The pinkette sighed and shook his head, earning a glance from his older brother. "Well, whatever we do, it needs to be done. Time's basically up."

A roar thundered through the cavern as the ice shattered and fell to the blood-soaked floor. Deliora fell to his hands and knees, finally free after decades. His eyes dropped down to the group in front of his and he let out another roar before focusing on the foremost two men, the two Dragneels. "Lord Zeref, Lord END…"

Agent Salamander bristled at the mention of the titles. A pillar of thorny vines shooting up from under the large demon and forming a hand that wrapped around his throat, bringing Deliora's face down to the Dragneel's level. "Don't you ever call me that again!" The man snarled as the room was flooded with a suffocatingly powerful and raw demonic energy, the aforementioned monster appearing.

"Y-yes Mast…" The vines around the large demon's throat tightened, cutting off Deliora mid-sentence as the demonic power's pressure increased, drastically raising the cavern's temperature.

"You don't get to call me that after all the fucking trouble you have caused us in your rampage!" Sal roared, his red eyes and markings blazing like an inferno, the heat mirage giving the ember markings the illusion of movement.

"Natsu, cool off before you make everyone faint. The last thing we need is for you to activate Infernus." Stygian's order left no room for discussion for the younger man and he quickly felt the temperature drop which made a cold shiver run up his spine. The suffocating weight of his power also vanished, making the atmosphere as light as a feather in a delicate breeze. He turned his attention from the pinkette to the large demon at his mercy. "As for you, you'll pay for the crimes you've committed. We can tell you don't have much life left in you, so those who suffered due to your actions will get the chance to snuff out the last of it."

"Why couldn't you be like the rest of our kind?" Sal grumbled as he crossed his arms. He made the vines wither away and freed the Etherious. "Yeah, they can be a little bit of a pain, but at least they didn't go on a rampage like you did."

"Says the man who has a hard spot for Sayla." Stygian chuckled and threw a grin at his brother while extending a hand out to Deliora, transforming the demon back into a book.

"I believe the phrase is meant to be a soft spot." The man replied lightly, softly punching his brother's arm before pulling the book from his grasp.

"Nope, it's definitely hard." The older brother laughed while Agent Salamander walked over to the group affected by the rogue Etherious.

"Forgive my little outburst. Here. It's only fair that you lot get to finish him off."

Agent Frost slowly took the book from the pinkette, staring at the ragged bindings which showed just how much the demon had decayed. He turned to Lyon and held it out. "Freeze it and I'll smash it. For Ur."

"For Ur." Lyon met the man's eyes and took the book, freezing it with his magic before dropping it to the bloody ground. "Let's put this chapter behind us."

"And turn a new page in our lives." Frost replied as he brought his boot down, shattering it into tiny pieces like tempered glass.

"If you two are done bonding." Sal couldn't help but smirk at the duo. "We should get back to the Camp. I'm now caked in dried blood and it's going to be a fucking pain to get off." He requipped his cigarette case and handed one to his friend before placing one between his lips, lighting both with a flame from his fingertip. "Figured we both could use one after this."

"Damn right." Frost muttered, he handed Ultear back to the pinkette and made a chair from ice; slumping down into it. "Gimme five, maybe ten, and I'll be ready to go. I just had a massive weight taken off me."

"Can you stop passing me around like a common whore!" Ultear shouted angrily as she shot a glare at the two agents. "First this pink-haired prick, then my darling Zeref, and then that bastard Gray! Fuck's Sake!"

"Do I need to put you back to sleep again?" Sal asked flatly as he glanced at the woman on his shoulder. The man walked back over to the rest of his team, adjusting the woman as he went. "Hey Celeste, I thought you could only take one at a time, you took the three of us earlier?"

"I can do more, but it's more of a strain on my head." Celeste murmured as she rubbed her forehead gently. "Truth be told, I've had a headache since then but that could also be due to the strain on using Traverse in combat."

"Make sure to get some rest when we get back then. Could you take the Lamia back to their rooms so they can gather their things, we'll bring them with us. I wouldn't be surprised if we're the only way off this Island." Sal smiled at the blonde and lightly rubbed the top of her head. He turned to his older brother with a more serious expression. "What'll we do about accommodation?"

"Depends on if we are staying the night. I do agree that we should at least get cleaned up, but we could signal the Mystique to come close to shore and get on-board tonight?" Stygian glanced at Celeste's back as she walked over to Frost's group and started taking them away.

"I want to check up on the villages, and destroy the film above us that affects them." Knight replied as she held out the FD338 and its ammo to Sal. "Looks like I didn't need this after all."

"Hold onto it, I've already got enough shit to clean, don't need to get that gun all bloodied too." Sal held out a hand, refusing the rifle for now. "I think we ought to split into two groups. Celeste and I can deal with the stowaways while you two and Frost check on the village."

"I may need your help propelling the artefact up to the film, not sure if my psionic can carry enough force that distance." The redhead sent the weapon away and brought forth her spear, the De-Malevo-Lance, its gold adornments shimmering in the moonlight.

"It'll have to wait until after I get cleaned up. I don't think it would send a good message if Celeste and I rocked up to the village drenched in blood."

"I don't think it'll matter, the yacht on the other hand..." Stygian chimed in as Frost joined the Agents due to Celeste taking the last Lamia away. "Frost, can you make a disk large enough for all of us. Knight, I want you to bring us back out of the cavern. We'll meet up with Celeste."

"I still want to get cleaned up before I do anything, so why don't we just head back to camp and pack up; then we can head to the village and bust that film for them; then we can signal the Mystique. We all get what we want then." "Celeste, we're coming to you. Stay put." Sal adjusted the woman on his shoulder, noting that she had completely stopped putting up any form of resistance. "You alright back there?"

"Hmph." Ultear huffed and tensed slightly as she was lifted off the shoulder and placed in the middle of the quartet.

"So, what do we do about her?" The salmon-haired asked his brother, taking the cigarette from his mouth and flicking the ash off the platform as he blew smoke behind him. "Can't just catch and release someone like her."

Stygian sighed and ran a hand through his black hair while staring at the woman, her presence annoying him. "As much as I hate it, I suppose I should at least try to help this misguided fool."

"I'm still here, you know?"

"Yes. We know." Sal smirked down at the woman as the platform came to rest on the stone brick floor. "If I cared I wouldn't have said it aloud. Anyway, let's hurry up and regroup and get out of this fucking place."

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FTA Base Camp, 2:42 AM

Lyon and his friends gazed around in awe at the camp that the Agents had thrown together, a shriek of happiness echoing from the bathroom as Sherry found their bath. She promptly cleared everyone out of the bathroom and claimed the bath, ignoring the fact that both Natsu and Lucy were still caked in dried blood.

The blonde grumbled softly and placed her belt and weapons with their holsters onto the table. "I knew I should have brought it…"

"You forgot something?" Natsu asked with a curious glance at the woman as he placed his own gear onto the table and brought out a cleaning kit.

"Most women I know, including myself, carry a special magic-based device that cleans dried blood off of clothing… In case of emergencies." Lucy explained with a little blush. She sighed and placed a hand on her hip as she straightened up. "Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting to need it. Maybe Erza will have one with her."

"This thing sounds extremely useful…" Natsu frowned and turned to the blonde. "Why am I only just hearing about this?"

"Probably because you are a guy. I'm sure you are well aware of what women go through since you grew up with a shit tonne of them. Like I said, it's an item for emergencies." Lucy looked around the camp for the standout scarlet hair, she spotted Erza quickly and waved the senior agent over. "You wouldn't happen to have a Flash Cleanser? I left mine at home."

"Yeah." Erza brought out a small spray bottle that had a floral design on the label. "I always keep one with me because they are handy for situations like this. Unfortunately, it'll only work on your clothes and equipment belt, oh and the holsters. The rest will need to be manually cleaned, along with yourselves."

"Well, once Sherry stops commandeering our bathroom we can get cleaned up properly." Natsu muttered while Lucy started spraying herself down, the cleaner walking quickly to remove the blood. "Huh, I might have to buy some of those…."

"They aren't infinite, they only hold so much within them but they are extremely good. Never thought I'd be using it this way though." Lucy murmured and turned the can on her partner, spraying him clean. "Thanks, Erza." Her eyes dulled as she returned to the events in the temple, she raised her gaze from the man's chest to his face. "How do you cope with it all… all the killing?" She wondered aloud, keeping her voice quiet so they weren't overheard over the sound of the waterfall.

"I may sound horrible, but we all developed our vices in response to the mental anguish that comes with the less respectable parts of our job." Natsu sighed softly and leant the edge of the table, his hands moving to the blonde's hips as he brought her closer while sporting a slightly self-conscious look. "Mine is women, cars, street racing for cash, fighting and working out, playing all types of guitars, and sometimes smoking. Gray's basically the same but he prefers track racing and plays drums instead. Erza collects magical artefacts, has quite the collection, she also is heavily into smut, and gambles from time to time at Cana's gambling ring, which happens to be Cana's little vice." Natsu tilted his head and smirked past Lucy at the redheaded closet perv. "Zeref buries himself in work, when he and Mavis aren't being rabbits. I guess the Old Man doesn't really give a shit what we get up to, just as long as we aren't slowly killing ourselves and well quickly killing ourselves too thanks to doing dumb shit. But that isn't to say that Fairy Tail doesn't provide psychological help, we've got in-house psychologists and psychiatrists who help us get through any troubles we have. Plus if we need time off to collect ourselves then we'll be given it."

"What do you think I should do…?" Lucy murmured quietly as she stepped forward and rested against his chest, feeling herself warm up physically and emotionally thanks to the man. She started to smile and closed her eyes, taking in his wood smoke scent. "I mean, I love writing but I don't think I'd be able to write in this mind state. And I don't want it to be the reason I drink…" Lucy sighed quietly and glanced over his shoulder at the bathroom as Sherry came out with her bag and wearing fresh clothes. "I won't lie, you make me feel great. You seem to easily bring me back from that pit."

"I can't tell you what works best for you, it's something that can only be decided by you." Natsu brought a hand up to Lucy's cheek and caressed it softly; smiling at the woman. "But since you're creative, maybe something music-related? Like piano? You should pick something that speaks to you, something you can put your soul into."

"How are you so calm, even when surrounded by a horde of gun-wielding degenerates?" The blonde asked quietly, moving up a little and resting her chin on his shoulder. "Even when facing overwhelming numbers, you didn't bat an eye. How do you handle so much death?"

"Like I said before Lucy, I'm a monster. I've killed so much that it just doesn't faze me anymore. Granted how much I kill depends on the situation and if I think the people deserve it, case in point being the cultists I just massacred." Natsu murmured into her ear as he watched Zeref sit down with Ultear near his tent with some food and tea, he had unlinked the cuffs but kept them locked around the woman's wrists to allow her free movement but still restrict her magic. "I do believe in reform, however, if I see them as beyond it or not deserving of it then they'll never get the chance. What affects me the most is innocents dying, like when I failed to eliminate all of those bastards in Calico before they could gas entire high-rises with Sarin."

"And when those close to you become injured, or worse." Lucy noted quietly, remembering how he was when Macao was killed or when she fell into a coma. "Come, let's go get cleaned up and pack up our stuff." The woman pulled back and smiled brightly, burning her emotions into the man as she pulled him to the bathroom by the hand.

Gray and Lyon watched the two disappear into the bathroom from a pair of chairs in front of the Agent's tent. Lyon glanced over at his childhood friend with furled eyebrows. "Are they together? They seem fairly close."

"He saved her from slavers and trained her up. This is actually her first combat mission." Gray put his cup of coffee down and went back to cleaning his pistol. "He originally hated the idea of training someone, went off at the Director about it. She quickly grew on him though and he and Mira trained her rigorously."

"That's a dangerous combination…" Lyon murmured and glanced over at the vine-walled bathroom then down to his mug. "Explains how easily she can kill."

"She still needs to emotionally toughen up it seems." The raven-haired man sighed and assembled his weapon. "You saw how broken she looked after killing those Phantoms. Natsu told me on the way back here that she was the same when they first ran into the cultists. Her training made it easy to kill, and I think it was that ease that had shocked her. Unfortunately, there is only one way to get used to it."

"I suppose that's the unfortunate reality, things like this demand a sacrifice. I just hope she comes out the other side in one piece, she seems like a nice woman."

"She's very kind, but she's naïve too. Natsu said it himself, and he knows her the best." Gray racked the slide a few times then de-cocked it and placed his pistol into the holster on his thigh. He picked up his mug and stood up. "I better get packed up so we can head out before sunrise." The man glanced over at the older Dragneel, raising his voice to reach across the cave. "Oi Zeref, go tell your brother to stop screwing Lucy and pack up his shit, I wanna get off this island and back home ASAP."

"Go tell him yourself, I'm busy." Zeref called out before turning back to Ultear. "Sorry about that, we were we?"

The raven-haired man grumbled quietly and downed the last of his coffee. He placed the mug on the table beside Natsu and Lucy's weapons before making his way over to the bathroom. He stuck his head inside and found Lucy's back to him, the woman washing the blood from Natsu's body. "Can you two hurry up, I want to get back on the yacht and get home."

Lucy looked over her shoulder and blinked in shock, looking like a deer in headlights for a moment before shaking her head clear and frowning at the man. "We are almost done, Snowballs. All the dried blood is off me, I'm just getting the last off of Natsu then I need to wash his hair since it's caked in blood and gods knows what else... We would have been finished sooner if we could have used the bath right away."

"Just save the screwing for the yacht." Gray said as he walked back to his tent, starting to pack everything away.

---

Demon Village Outskirts, 4:00 AM

"Do you think they are keeping an eye on the island?" Lucy asked quietly as they trekked through the forest. The Agents were fully decked out in gear once again, but they kept their hoods down so the tagalongs could keep track of them in the darkest hours.

"I'd hope so." Erza replied in a hush. She stepped over a stick as the group approached the Village, she shot a glance out to sea but couldn't make anything out. "Can either of you pick anything up?"

"Too far for me." Lucy murmured, following the woman's gaze out across the water. "Natsu?"

"Nada, the sound of water is overpowering everything else in that direction. However, the wind is coming from that direction." The salmon-haired man sniffed the air, sorting through the various scents quickly to single out the ones belonging to the Mystique's crew. "One scent stands out the most, probably outside the ship and keeping watch for our signal."

"We should be coming into view of the watchtower soon." Zeref informed the group as he pointed through the trees to a clearing where a large perimeter wall stood tall. "Anyone manning the towers?"

"Yes." Lucy replied, her eyes shifting from the shore to the village. "They seem to be talking over a radio."

"Yeah, discussing us by the sound of it. Confirming our appearances with the people we rescued." Natsu added quickly.

"Well, you probably made one hell of a first impression." The blonde smirked and shot a glance at her partner. "Hopefully it wasn't a bad one."

"Only one way to find out." Zeref walked out into the clearing, placing his Vector onto his back and raising his hands to show he meant no harm. His fellow agents followed suit but didn't raise their hands in submission.

Lyon glanced at his friends and nodded quickly, silently telling them to do the same as he let his rifle hang from his back by its sling. They didn't have any fancy mountings like the agents that allowed them to just place weapons on their back.

"Who goes there?!" Shouted the demon in the watchtower as a large floodlight illuminated the group.

"We're Agents of the FTA!" Zeref replied loudly while stopping dead in his tracks. "We recently came across some of your people up in the temple where we had a mission, we set them free and led them to safety!"

"They've got guns." Lucy murmured quietly. She had to close her eyes to prevent herself from being blinded but she could see the form of a scoped rifle being pointed at them.

"Probably picked them up from the Cultists." Natsu shot the woman a quick glance and strode past his brother, raising his voice as he addressed the guard. "We aren't here to fight. We're here to check up on those who suffered by the hand of those fucking degenerates! So open up!"

When there was no response for what felt like minutes, Gray rolled his eyes and stared flatly at the salmon-haired man. "Good job, Hothead. You've pissed them off."

"Well, considering we aren't being shot at, I'd say it isn't too bad. Anyway, weren't you the one bitching about wanting to get home as quickly as possible?" The man grinned casually over his shoulder at his friend. Suddenly the floodlight shut off and the large doors started to creak open. An old man stepped through. "Looks like the Village's elder."

The old demon hobbled over, accompanied by a ragtag militia who kept their weapons trained on the Agents and their very familiar cohorts. The Elder stopped in front of the pinkette and pointed his cane up at the man's face. "You, show me your arms."

"Alright, alright. Just don't poke my eyes out." Natsu jested as he shrugged off his jacket, revealing his black ember markings which quickly blazed red, giving off an eerie glow in the early morning's light fog. He grabbed the tip of the cane and pushed it away from his demonic eyes as they burned like hot coals. "Happy?"

"So you're the Etherious who saved my Grand-Daughter from those two monsters." The old man lowered his head respectfully. "You have my thanks. When she returned tonight she told us about how a man appeared out of thin air and towered over the monsters who were trying to sully her. She had almost lost her strength when you arrived. Your suffocating power unmistakably demonic in nature."

"We were only doing our job." He replied evenly as he slid his jacket back on and returned to normal.

Zeref stepped forwards and stood beside his younger brother, calmly looking from the Elder to the Militia. "May we come inside? There is a matter we'd like to discuss before we depart."

"Yes, please do come in. I'm Makabarth." The demon elder smiled at the group and turned on the spot. "Lower your weapons and give these heroes the welcome they deserve." Makabarth ordered as he hobbled past the Militia and led the group beyond the walls.

"We won't take up much of your hospitality. Erza, the redhead behind me, brought a concern to my attention." Zeref waved the woman forward as they walked into the compound, it was a strange mix of modern tech and old architecture. "She had some concerns with possible medical side effects born from exposure to the Moon Drip Ritual."

"Yes. Allow me to explain." Erza straightened and adopted a smooth, professional tone as she tapped on her Tac-com and brought up a holographic screen with her information; she sent it over to the Elder. "We know it can induce partial memory loss or alteration of perception in common demons. Have you noticed any issues in your enclave while the Cultists were performing the ritual?"

"Yes, we quickly isolated those affected by the spell before they could harm anyone or themselves." Makabarth replied while coming to a halt. He put his weight on his cane and leant closer to the projection, having to squint to read it. "Sadly though, more and more of our people are becoming affected by this affliction and we don't have any means of preventing or stopping it entirely."

"On our approach to Galuna Island, we noticed a magical film in the sky. This is a by-product of Moon Drip and is the likely cause for these ailments." Erza brought up another two windows and sent them over to the Demon. One contained an image of her magical spear and the other a picture she took from the yacht, showing the Island in the distance with a purple translucent dome hanging above it. "I plan on using one of the magical artefacts in my possession to reach up and smash it to pieces. This should stop any further harm to your people."

While Erza was discussing her plan to the Demon Elder, Zeref walked back over to his brother and lowered his voice. "Shoot up a signal for the Mystique. I'm going to check on the captives we freed, can you and Lucy keep an eye on the situation here? I noticed the guards eyeing the Lamias, if anyone makes a move, stop them."

"We'll keep things under control here, don't worry." Natsu replied quietly, raising his hand into the air and making a finger-gun. He shot a succession of three balls of fire into the sky, each one blasting apart high up. After a minute, he heard three blasts of a ship's horn in the distance so he shot one more up. "They've responded, should be coming in now."

"Alright, keep things locked down here." Zeref nodded and walked back to Erza and Makabarth. "Could you point me to where you are looking after those people we freed? I'd like to check them over."

The Elder waved someone over and instructed them to show the Agent to the clinic. While the demon was occupied, Erza glanced back at Natsu and jerked her head slightly, silently telling him to come over. The redhead stepped away from the Elder for a moment when she was joined by the man. "I'll need you to help with getting the Lance up there. I ran some calculations on the way over and I definitely can't put enough force into it alone. I just need the go-ahead from the Elder to do it."

Makabarth turned back to Erza and leant on his cane as he gazed up at her. "If you are sure you can stop this ailment then please do so."

A glow erupted from the redhead's hand as the De-Malevo-Lance appeared alongside her. She released it and manoeuvred the spear into position above Natsu. "Alright, give it one good one. I'll make small adjustments during the flight but you'll be providing all of the propulsion."

"Yeah, I got it." Natsu took a breath through his nose as he pulled back a fist, a draconic magic circle spinning on it. "Aaaannnd…" He launched his fist forward, driving it into the flared base of the spear and transferring all the force into it. "It's gone." Natsu chuckled softly as a booming crack echoed through the Village, the Lance had broken through the sound barrier.

All eyes were watching the De-Malevo-Lance race through the skies, accompanied by a Mach cone near the tip. It flew higher and higher but Erza couldn't keep it in her psionic grasp. She fell to a knee and held her head as the connection snapped. "Fuck. It's out of range." She gasped and held her aching head. "I thought I'd be able to reach that far."

"You shouldn't strain yourself so much." Natsu murmured while kneeling down in front of her and placing a hand to her forehead head and checking her eyes. "How's the trajectory look? Maybe it'll fall straight down here?"

"On this arc, it would fall on the other side of the Island." Erza pushed herself up off the ground and shook the fog from her head as she watched the sky shatter. "Huh, reminds me of that one movie about chickens. The sky is falling."

Natsu closed his eyes and focused on the faint magical signature of the magical artefact. "I might be able to forcefully recall it." He locked onto the distant spear and held out a hand, palm facing the artefact as he activated Macro. "Come, De-Malevo-Lance." He commanded imperiously. The Mach cone curved through the sky and arched back on itself, bee-lining it towards the man. Natsu opened his eyes and took half a step back, eyes wide with surprise. "You know, I honestly didn't think that'd work…"

"Is it going to stop in front of you?" Erza murmured with a glance at the pinkette before turning her attention back to her magical weapon. "It's not slowing down… you probably shouldn't have hit it so hard."

"Ah fuck…" Natsu muttered while the world around him slowed to a crawl. He hadn't tried to catch anything travelling this quickly before, dodging would be easy but catching… "You know what Luce...?! I think you were right about that dodgeball game with abilities!" He steeled his nerve and braced his body, his hands snapping upwards and grabbing the Lance. "FUCK!" There was too much force, even for him. He started sliding back as the deadly spear forced itself closer to the bridge of his nose. Jets of fire blew apart his sleeves at the elbows, pushing his arms together and moving the point further away. Dirt flew up from his feet while jets of fire shot from his back. He came to a halt fifteen metres back with his jacket blazing and falling to pieces. "HOLY FUCKING GODS!"

"Are you ok?" Erza hurried over to the man. She was thrown the spear when she was halfway to Natsu, the pinkette shaking his red hands.

"Damn, got the tingles." Natsu muttered, snuffing out the flames before ripping the tattered jacket from his body and throwing it aside. He looked up at the redhead and grinned widely. "Well, not dead yet. So that's something. Just remind me to never do something that stupid again."

"I'll try, but considering how frequently you do dumb shit… I probably won't get the chance." Erza replied, meeting the man's grin with a playful smile as she sent the artefact away. She shook her head and lightly hit the man's chest. "I'm going to take the stragglers down to the shore and set up the RHIB. I'll be taking Gray with me for back-up, just in case."

"We won't be long, just waiting on Zeref." Natsu took his Honey Badger off his back and held it close to his chest on the walk back to the group. He probably didn't need it but he noticed some of the Militia were eyeing them off and he could sense hostility coming from them. "Yeah, definitely get them out of here before lead starts flying."

Lucy shivered and rubbed her arms, silently wishing everyone would hurry up, she wanted to get onto the ship where it was warm. She gazed up at her partner as he came to a stop near her, his radiant heat alluring. As the group split in two, Lucy glanced between them and the departing members. "Where are they heading?"

"Erza's setting up our extraction, and getting them out of sight…" The man replied quietly while lowering his head to her ear. "Those guards were starting to look a little trigger happy."

"Yeah, I noticed they were on edge. I didn't realise it was that bad…"

"Zeref, how much longer?" Natsu glanced at the building where Zeref had disappeared into. "Things are getting a little tense out here."

"I'm wrapping things up here. They are getting decent treatment, however, the psychological scars will linger. What's the deal out there?"

"Erza has taken all but Lucy and me to the beach to set up the RHIB and hopefully defuse things in the village. We are just hanging back to give you backup."

"I figured it was for the best. Plus I could hear Gray's bitching a mile away." Erza chimed in, adding her two cents to the Brothers' conversation.

"You want to hear it inside your head too?" The raven-haired man replied light-heartedly, the traces of a smirk leaking through the comms. "Because I can do that if you want?"

"Honestly, I want to get home just as much as you, Gray." Natsu admitted. He took his left hand from his rifle and pointed the muzzle to the ground as he rested his elbow on Lucy's shoulder. "Happy has a school event coming up, I don't exactly want to miss it."

"Well, I'm done here. We can head to the Mystique." Zeref left the building and walked over to his younger brother and Lucy. "Let's go." He turned to the Elder who hobbled over to see them off. "Thank you for your time, I hope everyone has a speedy recovery."

"Safe travels back to the mainland." Makabarth bowed his head politely.

The trio of Agents jogged out of the compound and headed down to the beach with Zeref leading the way, Natsu and Lucy flanking him a couple of steps behind. They regrouped with the rest of the team by the boat where they could see the yacht in the distance.

"Looks like our ride home is here." Natsu called out, coming to a stop on the edge of the water.

"It's not sticking around, and neither are we." Erza replied from her spot near the back of the RHIB. She, Gray, and the rest of the group had already loaded up and were waiting on the trio. "Hop in." Once they were in, she cranked on the throttle and raced towards the Mystique, departing Galuna Island.

---

That's all for now. It was a long chapter but I felt that it needed to comprise of the full events instead of cliff-hanging it into two chapters. I probably could have done it at the conclusion of the events at the temple, however, it would have felt too abrupt for my liking. So I continued with it to give the chapter a nice bell curve style of action/intensity, starting relaxed then progressing to the action scene before rounding off to a relaxed scene with some added closure from the visit to the village. This chapter is long enough as it is without me rambling on so I'll round it off here, I hope you have enjoyed and I'll see you soon with the next chapter.