Continuation
"speaking"
""thinking""
On with the story
"Gajeel!"
The man turned around to the sound of Levy calling out to him, accompanied by Erza and Juvia. They were both supporting her, her arms hung over their necks.
"I'm fine!" he yelled back and immediately winced in pain, his pierced side reminding him of its presence.
"This is..." gasped Juvia, taking the scenery in. She was more focused on the blood spilled all over the area, rather than craters, cuts and cracks in the soil and downed trees.
Erza silently took the area in, her eyes landing on Yomazu, someone who was not from the guild
"What happened here, Gajeel? Explain." she demanded as she left Levy in Juvia's care and walked up to the Dragon Slayer.
"As you can see." grumbled Gajeel, clutching his side. "We got ambushed. Pricks tried to kill me, and not just me. They said their guild has proclaimed war to Fairy Tail. Their guild is called Moira Heart or whatever."
"Grimoire Heart." corrected him Levy while sitting down next to him. "Are you okay?" she asked him with concern.
"Yeah. Like hell I'd lose to someone like them." he smirked through pain.
Erza's eyes widened. "Grimoire Heart, on this island?!"
Her right hand glowed in bright light, as she Re-equipped a flare gun. She aimed it towards the sky and pulled the trigger, a red flare launching out of the gun. "We must let everyone on the island know immediately. The Exam is hereby suspended!"
With Natsu
Natsu was with the black hair man as he was leaning against a tree while the black hair man was sitting on the grass admiring the flowers
"what made you come here?" Natsu asked the man who he called brother
"I've been travelling and I ended up here a few months back" Zeref replied to him before dark mist appeared surrounding him
"tch" Natsu raised his hand up as Drac appeared on Natsu's right hand as the red gem on the gauntlet glowed red as it sucks in the dark mist on Zeref
"very delicious"
Drac said as the gauntlet let out a black glow for a second before dimming
"how much of it are you still giving off?" Natsu asked the man while rolling around a black gem in his hand
"I lost track a few months back" Zeref replied as Natsu gives the man the black gem
"remember to control it" Natsu said before walking away
Zeref smiled to Natsu before looking to the gem
"Natsu" he called out as the salmon hair mage turn to look at him
"here" Zeref said as he had a crimson red diamond gem in his hand as it floats from his hand to Natsu's
Natsu looks to the gem as it flied to his bracelet and then disappeared into it
"you better leave the place" Natsu said as he turns back to walk away
"farewell, Creator" Drac said as Zeref stands up and walks away, only to disappear as he vanished into thin air
Natsu then heard something from above as he sees a red signal flare lighting in the sky
"an enemy?" Natsu said before hearing some explosions coming from the seas
He squinted his eyes before walking away
With Lucy and the others
In the middle of the island, Lucy and Cana stared into the sky, the latter's face slowly twisting with anger. "Why now?!" she roared, frustration taking the better of her. "Why did this have to happen today?! We're so close to the finishing line!"
"Nothing we can do, Cana." Lucy put her hand on brunette's shoulder. "It's only suspended. There's a chance it's a false alarm, and it'll be resumed."
She wanted to argue, but deep down, she knew her personal feelings had no place here right now. Cana slowly nodded, receiving a reassuring smile from Lucy in return.
Gray and Loke, who've been tailing the pair for quite a while now looked at each other and nodded, before coming out from the bushes.
"Yo." greeted them Gray, his right hand raised.
Lucy blinked in confusion. "Gray? What are you doing here?"
"Pure coincidence." he replied quickly. "But it's a good thing we met you. There are enemies on the island, best to stay together."
"Let's head to the emergency meeting spot. We have to filled in on what's going on here." added Loke.
Lucy nodded, with Cana doing the same a moment later, although not as eagerly.
Erza threw the gun away and changed into her Heart Kreuz armor. "Now, Gajeel." she turned to the Dragon Slayer. "Explain what happened here. In details."
Before he could reply, Yowazu woke up and began to cough weakly. Erza quickly turned in his direction, before walking up to him.
"You're awake. Good. Tell me what your goal is." she commanded the fallen dark mage.
Yowazu looked at her with his half-open eyes and cackled lightly. "As if...I'd tell you anything."
Juvia walked up to the knight's side, eyeing the chicken in the same fashion. "You are speaking to Titania of Fairy Tail. I'd spit it out if I were you." she warned calmly, at the same time threatening him. It was a trick she saw being used by Gray in the past – Erza's reputation was known amongst dark guilds, and her name alone was often enough to intimidate them.
Yowazu stared intensely at the women in silence for a few seconds. "Fine. I'll tell." he gave up, his gaze and voice giving in to fear.
After giving him some quick first aid treatment in a form of rags wrapped tightly around his torso, Juvia and Erza laid him back down and stared at him in expectation.
Although hesitant, he decided to give in to their eyes, unwilling to die just yet. "Zeref. Our goal is Black Wizard, Zeref." said weakly Yowazu. "He's on this island."
"What did you say?" asked him shocked Erza. "How is that even possible?!"
"Zeref..." wondered Juvia out loud. "As in that legendary black mage who lived hundred years ago?"
"400, to be precise."
"There's no way he could be alive! I mean..." denied Erza.
"He lives." confirmed the dark mage. "And he has lived for 400 years. According to Master Hades, he's been merely in the state of "slumber"."
"I can't believe this..." Erza pinched the bridge of her nose.
"When Zeref wakes up, this world will be submerged in complete darkness." continued the chicken, his tone growing bolder with each word.
Erza opened her eyes and looked at him dangerously. "Are you planning on causing chaos on this sacred land? Despite the Fairy Protection granted by the Tenrou Tree?"
"Exactly that. The main army of Grimoire Heart under the direct command of Master Hades is approaching this place as we speak. I would not underestimate the Seven Kin of Purgatory if I were you!" he laughed. "Ultear, Rustyrose, Caprico, Kain Hikaru, Zancrow, Meredy. They are all coming here!"
""Ultear!?"" Erza thought in her mind as she knew that was the name of the woman Natsu was looking for
"Wait a second." Juvia's eyes widened after listening to his threats. "You said there is seven of them, but you've mentioned only six names."
Yowazu sent her a sinister grin. "The last one is already on this island."
Erza felt chills being sent down her spine. "Juvia, take Gajeel! We are moving out, we need to find everyone and warn them!"
"No."
The knight turned to Gajeel, who was now back on his feet, although wobbly. "Don't. I'll take shrimp back to the camp, you two go and warn the others. That way we'll cover more ground."
"Don't be ridiculous. You're both injured." she shot him down.
"We'll manage. Worst case scenario we'll hide. We don't have much time left."
Erza opened her mouth to argue back, but she was cut off by Juvia.
"The camp is in the direction we've just come from. I doubt there are any enemies in that area." she noted.
Erza sighed and nodded. "Very well. Mira and Lisanna are at the camp, they'll patch you up and escort you to the meeting point. Good luck and stay safe." she threw in farewell to already parting Gajeel and Levy
At the shore line
Pantherlily and Carla flew over the coast, searching for Mest and Wendy. Their already bad feeling has been fed by the flare shot out by Erza couple minutes prior, which Lily recognized as a signal of approaching enemies, mostly by its colour that has been used by the Edolas army.
"Can't things just stay quiet for once?! How did they even get here?" wondered Carla out loud, her patience wearing thin. She already has enough of this exam.
"It is possible they sneaked in on the same ship as we did." noted Lily.
After couple more minutes of flying, the pair of Exceeds spotted the man in question, who was standing on the edge of a cliff, staring into the vast ocean with Wendy who was preoccupied in picking flowers.
"Wendy!" called out Carla, catching the girl's attention.
"Lily? Charla? What are you two doing here?" Wendy said
"We've been looking for you." answered the tabby after stopping to meet him at eye level, Lily beside her. "But more importantly, have you seen the signal?"
Mest blinked in confusion. "What signal? I haven't seen anything."
Lily's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Just who the hell are you?"
Now the man was completely lost. "What do you mean, who am I….I'm Mest, Mystogan's disciple-"
Before he could even react, Mest felt a giant fist fly by his right cheek, as it smashed into the rock placed behind him. He stared with eyes wide open, taking the sight of an enraged Pantherlily, now in his true, battle form.
"If this is a poor attempt of a joke, then I suggest you drop it immediately." snarled the Exceed. "The Prince would never take a disciple in this world, not while carrying out his mission. I do applaud you for using someone who is no longer in this world – a smart move. But you've made a terrible mistake in your setup, Mest. If that even is your real name."
Cold sweat ran down his face. "I...I don't know what you're talking about!" the man tried to defend himself.
Charla floated in front of Wendy as she was defending her
"You can probably use magic that allows you to alter memories of other people. You cast it on other members and then pretended to be one of them. However, even without the bit about the Prince, your story is almost as full of holes as a wheel of cheese. Starting with the fact, that you've been absent from the guild for months, and you did not even bother to put the new members under you control after reappearing. Me included. You probably never even suspected someone could doubt you."
"On top of that" continued Lily. "you appear to not even know what the signal sent out earlier means. Tell me the truth. While you still can."
Mest's face change as he disappeared, ""teleportation magic?!"" Lily exclaimed
Mest appeared in front of Carla and Wendy as he pulls them down from an explosion.
"An attack? What is going on in here?!" wondered out loud Lily.
Carla stared at Mest, shocked. ""he guarded us!?""
"Who are you?! Show yourself!" demanded Mest.
Suddenly, the tree started to shake, with something that resembled a man shaping out of it, his face growing out of the trunk.
"Well done finding me." he praised, as he continued to grow out of the tree.
"A person is growing out of the tree?!" questioned Carla, having never seen such absurd in her life
"Who are you?!" Lily repeated Mest's earlier question. He sensed tremendous magic from the man, who was more than likely an enemy.
"My name is Azuma." stated the man, his head now out of the tree. "One of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."
"Grimoire Heart?" repeated Pantherlily in confusion.
"One of the dark guilds." explained Carla.
"I see." Mest's eyes narrowed. "So the previous signal was to announce an enemy attack."
"And, as you can see, it was launched slightly too late." mocked him Azuma, his torso now freed from its prison.
Mest started to chuckle to himself nervously. "Of course...I should have expected, that if I infiltrated Fairy Tail's Holy Land, then a few questionable things would have popped out." He then covered his face with his palm, his body now slightly shaking. "But Grimoire Heart on top of Black Wizard Zeref?! Give me a damn break..."
"Just who the hell are you?" questioned him Carla.
Mest turned around and looked at the cat, a nervous grin on his face. "Haven't you realised it yet? I'm with the Council. I've been put in here to find evidence good enough to take Fairy Tail out for good."
"Oh?" hummed Azuma from his tree, clearly intrigued by the confession.
"But it looks like my mission has failed. Time for a change of plans." grinned Mest and looked at the ocean once again with a confident look.
The Exceeds and Azuma looked in that direction as well. On the horizon, there was a giant ship approaching the island, with the Council's sigil on its sails.
"To think a guild with an unknown location such as yourself would come directly into my trap. It must be my lucky day!" exclaimed Mest. "This battleship was originally intended to carry the members of Fairy Tail after I've found them guilty, but it will do just fine for you demons! I am taking you all under arrest!"
Azuma slowly directed his gaze back onto Mest. He was now completely out of the tree, his arms crossed on his chest. He was standing perpendicularly on the trunk. "Battleship?" he questioned. "Are you talking about that?"
Suddenly, the ship blew up, a massive explosion swallowing it in a matter of a second. Pieces of scorched wood, metal and bodies flew up in the air, with a giant mushroom of fire and smoke expanding on the surface of the water, shocking the other three. They were speechless.
Azuma scoffed and jumped down, his feet now fully on the ground.
"Now then, Mister Official." he said as he cracked his neck. "Would you mind if I began my job now?"
Pantherlily quickly ran up ahead of the two and put up his guard, awaiting an attack.
At Mavis Vermillion's Grave
Makarov stared at the grave with guilt filled eyes, before closing them. "First Master, Mavis Vermillion..." he uttered quietly. He then bowed down. "Please forgive me. I have invited enemies onto this holy land. Words cannot express how disappointed you must be at this moment. I take full responsibility."
He straightened himself up and opened his eyes. "I absolutely accept any form of punishment you wish to inflict upon me. Therefore, please...protect these kids from harm." he begged, and bowed once again. He picked up his previously casted aside bottle and took couple more sips, before putting it back on the ground and walking away from the grave.
Near Tenroujima
In Grimoire Heart's ship
Ultear's room
Ultear and Meredy were currently in her room as Ultear was putting Aya to sleep
Aya feel asleep as she lightly breathes a snore while being carried by Ultear
Ultear smiled to the baby girl before turning her attention to Meredy
"are you ready, Meredy?" Ultear said to Meredy who nodded to her
""this is our only chance"" Ultear thought as she pass Aya to Meredy
"get to the island first, while I find Natsu and meet up with you" Ultear said as Meredy nodded
"so, you finally decided to flee?"
Hades voice boomed out surprising them
"Hades!?" Ultear exclaimed before seeing magic chains appearing from the floor as it restrains them
"Ultear!" Meredy exclaimed as Aya was encased in a purple sphere and floated away from Meredy
"Aya!" Ultear tried to struggle in the chains but failed as she sees Aya floating to the ceiling
"did you really think that you could hide the child from me, Ultear? On my own ship?"
"please! Don't hurt her!" Ultear begged him
"if you desire to have your child back, either of you must bring Zeref to me, and I promise that I would not lay a single finger on her little hair"
Aya then disappears as Ultear and Meredy could only grit their teeth in anger
"we have no choice!"
That's a wrap!
Bye bye