The early morning dawn was shattered by the sounds of several large explosions.
Lucy swore as she dodged Tyson's right hook to her face, while charging up her Celestial Spirit Star Blast and shot him straight in the stomach, causing a minor explosion to push Tyson backwards while Lucy was blown backwards from the explosion.
Tyson, Gray, Erza, Happy and Lucy had been training together for several hours now, Tyson was personally pushing Lucy to beyond her limits to try and get her ready to create a Star Dress form.
Contrary to popular belief, creating and using a Star Dress is not something that can be done on a whim. The user must be prepared both physically and mentally for the strain that the Star Dress forms place upon their users.
So, that was what Tyson was doing, pushing her to the breaking point and then beyond them to toughen her body to the point where she will be able to use the Star Dress form.
Lucy back flipped, gathering energy into her palms and created two large Celestial Spirit Star Blasts and then shot them at Tyson, who simply jumped over the energy blasts and then disappeared.
Lucy jumped to her right as Tyson reappeared and smashed his left fist down into the ground where Lucy was just standing, causing a large hole to be created from the force of the punch.
Tyson turned his head towards where Lucy was standing, only to see Lucy charging up an extra large Celestial Spirit Star Blast that was three times the size of her regular Celestial Spirit Star Blast.
Lucy threw the extra large magical blast towards Tyson, who covered his hands in flames and then smashed it into the oncoming ball of energy, destroying it completely.
Lucy then had to dodge again as Tyson disappeared and reappeared, this time his right foot smashing into the ground to create the newest hole in his training arena.
Lucy gathered her energy and created a golden glowing shield that was on her forearm and covered most of her body.
Just in time too, due to the burst of orange flames striking the shield soon after.
Lucy grit her teeth as the flames roared around her, forcing her backwards.
Lucy's arm began to waver as the flames continued to push her back, causing two lines in the ground to be formed as the flames pushed her back.
Eventually the flames cut out and Lucy dropped the shield, extremely tired.
Tyson then came in, fist cocked backwards and ready to strike.
Lucy then smirked and yelled out as she placed both hands on either side of her head and a golden glow erupted outwards.
Tyson screamed in pain as the golden flash blinded him.
He would be fine, his healing factor of his magic would heal the damage done to his eyes, but until then he could no longer see Lucy.
No longer able to see, Tyson smashed into the ground as both hands covered his eyes, now raw with incredible pain from that golden flash.
Lucy used this opportunity to her advantage, creating and then throwing a golden blast straight into Tyson's chest, causing an explosion that flung him backwards.
Tyson quickly got back onto his feet and fell into his normal stance, even though he was now unable to see Lucy using his eyes, he could still fight using other means.
Tyson stretched out with his senses, his hearing, his smell.
He could hear Lucy's heartbeat, he could smell her scent.
Even without his eyes, he could fight and fight he would.
Lucy smiled, she felt sure she could finally beat Tyson now and so created another Celestial Spirit Star Blast and then threw it at Tyson.
Who suddenly ducked down and under the blast as it was coming towards him.
Lucy was shocked, how could he still dodge and move when he was devoid of his ability to see?'
Her few moments of hesitation were all Tyson required as he flew forth, fist once again on fire and ready to punch.
Lucy ducked underneath his fist and threw her own left hook towards his face.
Tyson moved his head out of the way and brought his left knee up in an attempt to knee Lucy.
She stopped his knee with one of her own and sent her right fist towards Tyson's chest.
Tyson leaned backwards, causing Lucy to overextend and leave herself wide open.
He then slammed both of his fists onto Lucy's back, causing her to cry out in pain and hit the floor.
Lucy then knocked Tyson's legs out from underneath him and while he was on the floor jumped up and elbowed him in the chest.
Tyson grunted in pain then sent his left fist into Lucy's stomach, causing her to fly a few feet back from him, allowing him to get back onto his feet once more.
Tyson then said, "Not bad Lucy, I wasn't expecting you to blind me with that flash of gold. Nice job."
Lucy smiled, even though her chest really hurt and said, "Well, you did say strike in a way your enemy will least expect it and to strike where he least expects it as well."
"Exactly. Be unpredictable. Strike in the weirdest and more unusual ways and you will more often then not be able to beat your opponent." Tyson said while still smiling.
The two smile at each other for a few more seconds before Lucy made the first move.
She charged forward, a Celestial Spirit Star Blast in each hand. She probably intended on hitting Tyson point blank with them to try and get him off balance.
Too bad Tyson could hear her still and even though he was blinded, he was still a master at close combat.
Lucy fired both of the blasts ten feet from Tyson, an incredibly short distance which meant the likely hood of him countering was low.
Which made it all the more shocking when he simply swiped his hand in front of him and knocked both blasts away from him.
Tyson smirked as he sensed Lucy's confusion and used this to his advantage as he lit his right hand on fire and then threw it forwards, creating a large stream of fire that shot towards Lucy at incredible speed.
Lucy dodged to the right, which allowed Tyson to come within striking distance.
Tyson threw his right fist forwards, just missing Lucy's face, while Lucy's left leg caught him directly in the middle of his chest, causing him to bend a little from the pain, which allowed Lucy to launch her right fist into his face.
Tyson moved back from the blows, allowing Lucy to launch several other attacks.
Lucy's hands started glowing golden as she threw her right fist forwards, which was blocked by Tyson's left palm.
The golden fist struck hard, pushing Tyson backwards from the force of the blow, even surprising Lucy with how powerful it was.
Tyson used this surprise to send his left fist into Lucy's stomach, causing the girl to gasp and hold her stomach for a few seconds, allowing him to send another fist directly into her face.
Lucy reeled back from the blows, which allowed Tyson to send both his right and left fist into her stomach as well.
Lucy then decided it was time to counteract and launched her left knee into Tyson's stomach, while her knee was covered in golden energy, which dramatically increased the power of the blow.
Tyson's air was forced from his lungs by the powerful kick and Lucy capitalized on his inability to act, sending both her left and right fist into Tyson's face, making him too disoriented to move or even act.
Lucy then spun her leg, whose leg was wrapped in golden energy and then smashed Tyson in the chest with the glowing foot, causing him to be sent flying backwards and across the training arena.
Tyson got up and said, "Wow Lucy I am impressed. You learned how to channel your Celestial Magic in your hands, feet, arms and legs just like I do with my Dragon Slayer magic without me ever knowing. That's real talent right there."
Lucy smiled and said, "Yep. I watched you use your Dragon Slayer magic and then practiced while at my house. At first all I could do was wrap my forearms in energy, due to most of my caster type spells using my arms, so learning how to channel it into one specific spot of my body like my feet, legs and knees was a bit interesting, but I eventually learned how to. That magic mapping technique really helped me along."
"I told you it was the most important thing I was going to teach you. That technique is the corner stone from which most S-Class mages get their power and also learn most of their more powerful combat techniques as well through it. I can honestly say that the magic mapping technique is the most important and useful technique a wizard can learn if they want to improve themselves." Tyson said.
"Agreed. Now can we get back to me kicking your butt?" Lucy asked with a cocky tone.
"Don't get overconfident. I'm only using 35% base power. Erza can take me on at 100% of the Crimson Fire Dragon Slayer mode, which doubles my power, so you are far from her league and Gray, due to him killing Lullaby and bathing in his demon blood, can easily take me using 70% of the Crimson Fire Dragon mode, so both Gray and Erza are more than double your strength, while Happy can take me using 50% of my power when he uses his Battle Tiger mode. You have a long way to go before you are S-Class material." Tyson instructed sternly, making sure his student was humble.
He witnessed too many wizards die because they thought they were invincible.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Don't get overconfident. Now, can we get back to sparring?" Lucy asked, shifting back into her combat stance.
"Very well." Tyson nodded as he increased his power a little to 40% base form power.
When both Tyson and Lucy charged towards each other, it showed.
Tyson was there a fraction ahead of Lucy. He punched a little bit harder, dodged just a tiny bit faster.
He was slowly beginning to wear her out by dodging her blows, striking when he did dodge and then moving out of the way.
After about ten minutes of dodging and weaving, Lucy was beginning to tire.
Her blows were getting sloppier, and the ones she did connect with were not doing the level of damage they did before hand, not to mention she was getting hit a lot more now.
Lucy then decided to go all out and concentrated all of her magic into her right fist and roared out as she charged forwards, a fiercely glowing golden hand cocked back and ready to punch.
Tyson sensed the power of that spell and so he cocked his own left fist backwards and concentrated a large amount of fire into the fist and roared out as well.
The two combatants threw their fists forwards and in the middle of the arena, the fists connected.
A massive shock wave erupted as the two spells detonated against each other, pushing both Tyson and Lucy backwards from the force of the blast.
Tyson seemed to be welded to the floor, he was lifted not an inch from the force of the blast and instead he created massive skid marks from where his boots were scrapped along the floor of the arena.
Lucy on the other hand was flung backwards and landed on the other side of the arena in a heap.
Lucy was panting hard, all her energy spent and used in that last spell, so she was too tired to even move right now.
Tyson then walked over to where Lucy laid, panting and reached out offering her his right hand.
Lucy took it without a moment's hesitation and was pulled up by Tyson.
"Good job Lucy, you have gotten much better since we began. If you keep this up, you will become a S-Class mage in no time." Tyson said.
"Thanks. Boy am I tired." Lucy said as she began to stiffly walk with him.
Tyson sent a pulse of magic into her, healing some of her wounds and also decreasing the tiredness of her sore muscles.
Lucy nodded towards him and the two of them walked to where Erza and Gray were battling.
Gray had become much faster and stronger since he bathed in Lullaby's blood, now he was able to keep up with Erza for the most part, although it was still clearly visible that Erza was still much stronger than Gray.
Gray ducked underneath the left swipe from Erza's regular blade.
Gray then shouted out, "Ice Devil Zeroth Destruction Fist!"
Gray's right fist was now coated in a layer of purple ice, which he then threw towards Erza's face.
Erza simply moved her head to the right, allowing the fist to miss her.
Erza then retaliated with a kick to Gray's left shin, making it harder for him to move using that leg.
Gray then covered both hands with purple ice and tried to punch Erza, but she was much too fast to be hit or hurt by Gray.
Erza then jumped backwards and yelled out, "Requip!"
Her entire body became engulfed in golden light, and when it faded away revealed Erza was now back in her Blackwing Armor and she had also sent away her magma sword and took out the Blackwing's regular sword.
Gray smirked and then shouted out, "Ice Devil Zeroth Long Sword!" generating ice to create two purple ethereal ice blades once again.
The two then charged towards each other, their blades held at the ready.
Erza swung her blade in a left arc, which Gray countered by placing his swords in an "X" fashion, catching the blade before it struck him.
Both Erza and Gray appeared to struggle against each other for a few moments before Erza overpowered Gray and managed to lob Gray backwards, his two swords clanging to the ground near him.
Gray quickly got back into his fighting stance as Erza came flying towards him, her blade poised and ready to strike.
Gray patiently waited for Erza to get close and when she struck, Gray quickly got underneath the blade then shouted out, "Ice Devil RAGE!"
The point blank range spell struck Erza straight in the chest and sent her flying backwards, the power behind the spell hitting her hard.
Erza quickly flipped back onto her feet just in time to see Gray taking another deep breath as he prepared another rage spell.
Thinking quickly, Erza shouted, "Requip!"
Another golden light erupted from Erza as her Blackwing Armor vanished and now she had donned the Flame Empress Armor once again.
Erza summoned her fire and magma swords, seeing as they were the best things to fight Gray with.
Her fire sword ignited, while the magma sword glowed ominously blood red in it's cracks as magma swirled around the sword.
Gray launched a swirling mass of ice towards Erza, who simply crossed her swords in an "X" and then launched a crescent shape of fire and magma outwards towards the ice.
The fire and magma easily destroyed the ice and stopped the spell from reaching Erza.
She then flew upwards and away from Gray, knowing that in close quarters Gray's toughness was going to hamper her ability to beat him.
Out of the five mages training here, Tyson was the most powerful, Erza was the most versatile, Gray could take the most, barely beating out Tyson, Happy was the fastest, even in his battle mode and Lucy showed the possibility of becoming the group's most unique member.
Gray saw she wasn't going to stay on the ground, he knew he had to get rid of her wings and bring her to the ground, as long as she is in the sky he has no ability to win.
Gray then had to dodge several crescent shaped blasts of fire and magma Erza had sent his way, causing large explosions that rocked the field for a bit, but they also created several dust clouds Gray could hide in.
Gray tried to hide in the dust clouds for as long as he could, but they all disappeared within a few seconds, leaving Gray out in the open once again.
Erza smiled deviously at him as she raised her flaming blade once more.
Erza's fire blade then began to glow more brightly and also the flames became even more erratic.
Erza roared out as she sent a large crescent shaped wave of fire at Gray.
Gray then yelled out, "Ice-Make: Shield!"
Gray slammed his right hand into the open palm of his left hand as purple ice coalesced around his hands and then created a massive flower shaped shield in front of him, which managed to stop the wave of fire that wrapped around the shield and made it look like Gray was in the middle of a ocean of fire.
Gray waited until the wave of fire ended and then shouted out, "Ice Devil Zeroth Glacier Cannon!"
A familiar large purple cannon was formed and then Gray heaved it onto his left shoulder.
Gray then used the targeting scope he created to get a good hit on Erza and then clicked the trigger, causing a massive blast of purple ice to come roaring forth from the cannon and headed straight towards Erza.
Erza saw the incoming blast and quickly raised her magma sword.
She then pointed the blade at the incoming blast of ice and the blade's ominously glowing blood red veins of magma glowed even more ominously blood red and then a blast of red magma came out of the blade and struck the ice, causing a massive steam cloud to obscure the two combatants from view.
"Wow, both Gray and Erza sure seem like they are enjoying fighting each other." Lucy commented.
"Indeed. Those two love to fight each other. They have known each other since childhood and are as close as friends can get. They also like to see what they are made of so they often spar against each other." Tyson said, smiling.
Erza knew trying to see through the steam cloud was going to be a fruitless endeavor, so she closed her eyes and tried to locate Gray's magical power, while also cloaking hers from being located.
Erza had actually stumbled across the ability to sense other magical powers with pin point accuracy and taught that ability to everyone in the guild. Gray was the one to take that ability and then found a way to counter it, the magic cloaking ability.
Since they couldn't actually cloak, cloaking from all magic detectors was the next best thing.
Gray had once described the ability as, "Placing a blanket over the bright light that is your magic."
The magic cloaking abilities greatest flaw was the fact that by cloaking your magic power it also led to a decrease in the ability to use magic.
You are attempting to use something that is being covered over all while trying not to take the cover off, that is why using the magic cloaking ability led to a decrease in the ability to use magic.
Back to the fight, Erza was now inside the steam cloud, silently flying inside the cloud all while trying to find Gray without Gray finding her.
What she didn't see was the small, almost invisible purple glow that came from behind her.
Without warning, a massive beam of ice struck Erza straight in the chest and sent her flying outside the steam cloud and the beam of ice also blew away the steam cloud, letting it be seen that Gray had managed to get behind Erza and then launched a sneak attack against her.
Erza got up quickly, the blow to her back only causing a slight grimace of pain to cross her face.
"Not bad Gray, that was a very clever plan." Erza complimented him.
"Thanks. The real problem was making sure not to be seen by you and to not make any noise. That whole sneak attack was all a matter of luck." Gray admitted.
"Well, it seems as if luck favors you this day." Erza said as she got back into her stance again.
"Yeah, it seems as if luck is favoring me today." Gray replied. "Want to take this to the next level?"
Erza grew a predatory smirk and said, "Why not?"
Erza then yelled out as her bright red aura appeared around her and began to grow more intense and dense.
Gray also began to yell out as his own purple aura too grew intenser and denser, allowing with the fact his demon tattoo had transformed into it's battle mode and was now up to his elbow once again.
With both Erza and Gray now at their maximum power, the battle was starting to get intense.
"Wow, Gray's power really is double what it was before we went on the Lullaby mission. So this is what happens when a slayer baths in the blood of one of the things they are supposed to slay." Lucy said, feeling the raw power Gray was radiating.
Gray's power was immense, not nearly as high as Erza's and by no means close to Tyson's level, but he was still pretty dang powerful.
"Yeah. And if he ever slays another demon his power is going to double again, from this point. Using my power as a base, at his maximum he can equal me at 170%, or 70% of the Crimson Fire Dragon Mode. Another demon to his count and suddenly he now equals 340% of my base form, or me using both of my Dragon Drives at once while in the Crimson Fire Dragon mode. I guess I should really step up my training if I want to keep my title of strongest man in Fairy Tail." Tyson said.
"I guess. So wait, how many times does the Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon mode boost you? And also Dragon Force and Dragon King mode?" Lucy asked, becoming very curious.
"The Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon mode boosts Tyson's power by 9 times his base form, Dragon Force boosts his power ten times base form and Fire Dragon King mode boosts his power by over 35 times as much. Tyson has yet to figure out how to combine all his power ups together into a singular mode." Happy said, appearing out of nowhere and scaring the heck out of Lucy.
"Will you stop appearing out of nowhere?! You are going to give me a heart attack!" Lucy yelled, holding her chest as she started to breathe to try and get her heart rate down.
"No. It's too much fun." Happy said with a smile on his face as he started eating a fish he had gotten within seconds.
"I swear you are trying to kill me." Lucy said, a bit peeved at the blue furred flying, talking cat.
"Look! Gray and Erza are still fighting." Tyson said, not even turning to face the two of them.
The two bickering mages turned back towards the match they are seeing and saw Gray had yet another purple ethereal blade in his right hand and a circular flower shield on his left forearm that he used to keep one of Erza's blades busy.
Gray currently had his blade locked by the flame blade and the shield blocking the magma blade and was currently headbutting Erza, trying to push the flaming red head back and gain some ground against her, but was failing miserably to do so.
Erza then raised her right knee and smashed Gray in the stomach, sending the Ice Devil Slayer flying backwards from the force of the blow.
Erza then continued onward, rushing towards Gray with both of her blades ready.
Gray however wasn't going to lay down and just admit defeat, he was a lot stronger than that.
Gray got up within seconds and shouted out, "Ice Devil RAGE!"
A rather large blast of purple ice came rushing forth from the student of Ur, tearing up the ground it crossed and striking Erza with the force of an angry hurricane.
Erza, having used her swords to try and block the blast from Gray by generating a dome of hot air, was slowly being pushed backwards by the beam of ice, creating lines from where her clawed boots had tried to find ground, but ultimately failed to keep her from moving.
After a little bit, the beam died down and Erza moved the swords out from in front of her.
Big mistake, because Gray was now within striking distance and he already had his ice covered fist cocked backwards and ready to fire.
Gray roared out as he swung his fist forwards and nailed Erza in the right cheek, causing the red-haired woman to go flying backwards.
Erza righted herself while in mid flight and launched herself forwards, her armored body close to the ground as she flew towards Gray.
Gray simply shifted his body and when Erza was close to him he yelled out, "Ice-Make: Ice Geyser!"
Gray smashed both of his hands onto the ground and suddenly a large number of purple ice spikes came out and entombed Erza, covering her over in large purple ice.
All was silent for a few seconds before suddenly all of the ice pillars were destroyed in a large explosion of fire and magma, revealing Erza was alright and completely unharmed by that spell.
Gray cursed, nothing he was doing was putting a dent into Erza.
"But." He said to himself. "That's what makes these sparring matches so fun."
Gray then had to dodge three quick slashes in rapid succession made by Erza, followed by two quick point blank fire and magma blasts, both of which he barely managed to dodge.
But, he didn't dodge the kick from Erza's right leg that struck him in the middle of his chest and sent him flying backwards.
Gray righted himself and landed on his feet and quickly put a hand on where Erza had kicked him, that last one had hurt and he was starting to run out of steam and ideas to try and win this match, meanwhile Erza only had a few scratches and bruises on her body, showing that Erza was much stronger than Gray.
Gray decided he had to go all out now, and use his strongest move and hoped to Mavis it worked.
Gray placed both of his hands by his side and began to say, "Ice Devil Zeroth..."
Erza recognized that stance and knew Gray was going all out now and she had to end this match quickly.
Summoning all of her power, the flame sword in her right hand ignited, creating a massive three foot long blade of fire beyond the actual blade itself, meaning the blade was now technically six feet long. The magma sword in her left hand also began to glow brighter and more ominously as magma was now swirling around the blade itself and also making the blade six feet long as well.
Erza then charged forth, her blades held in an "X" formation across her chest.
Gray then roared out, "ARCTIC CHILL!" as a massive purple beam nearly five times the size of his last Ice Devil Rage was brought into existence and sent directly towards Erza.
The beam of purple ice and Erza met in the middle of the arena, Erza's two blades trying to cut through the strongest move in Gray's arsenal.
For a few seconds they were deadlocked, but then began to slowly move forwards, each and every inch a desperately fought battle.
Eventually Gray ran out of magic power and Erza surged forth.
Faster than the eye could follow, Erza had reached Gray, both of her blades now held in a scissor fashion against Gray's neck.
"Do you yield?" Erza asked.
"I yield." Gray answered as he powered down, his demon tattoo growing back to the three bands on his right arm.
Erza nodded and then requiped her Flame Empress armor away along with her two swords.
Tyson, Lucy and Happy all approached them as Erza pulled Gray back onto his feet.
"That was a great sparring match. You two did a good job." Tyson congratulated both Gray and Erza with a large smile on his face.
"Thanks. Erza hits like a truck, my stomach still hurts." Gray said as he placed his hand on his stomach while several jolts of pain went through his stomach.
"Yeah. My girlfriend has a heck of a punch, doesn't she?" Tyson smirked.
Erza gave a proud smile and said, "But of course. What did you expect from Titania Erza, the strongest female in Fairy Tail."
"That was very cool how you cut through Gray's strongest attack." Lucy said.
"It was nothing. Remind me to tell you of the time I cut Laxus' Lightning Dragon Roar in half using a single sword." Erza replied.
"Alright, that was a good sparring match. Let's heal our wounds, do a joint magic mapping session and then let's go on a S-Class mission." Tyson proposed.
"An S-Class mission? I'm not an S-Class wizard." Lucy said, worried about what might happen to her if she took this mission.
"Don't worry about it Lucy. You have me, Erza, Gray and Happy all to keep you safe. I think this will be good experience for you to know how S-Class missions go." Tyson reassured her.
"Still, can you try to find the easiest S-Class job possible?" Lucy asked.
"Sure. It's not like we're gonna throw you off the deep and expect you to swim? We'll start with something rather simple and then work our way up to more difficult S-Class jobs. Besides, I haven't gone on a S-Class job in quite some time and desire a challenge." Tyson said.
"Okay, I guess." Lucy said, a large amount of uncertainty in her voice.
"Don't worry. You will be safe and it will be good learning experience for you." Tyson remarked.
Lucy nodded and then Tyson took a clear small ball from his requip pocket and dropped it on both training fields.
Instantly the fields were brought back to their prime conditions.
The small balls Tyson dropped were actually time capsules Ultear had given him to repair the damages that were done on jobs.
Handy little things, but they can only restore the condition of one object per capsule, so if a number of things are broken, a large number of the time capsules are needed.
Tyson then sent pulses of magic into Erza, Happy and Gray and saw all of their bruises heal.
His healing pulse was very limited, it was only able to heal bruises and small cuts, he could heal himself by eating fire, but healing others, only bruises and cuts, nothing else.
Team Tyson then walked into the center of the training arena he and Lucy had sparred in and sat down in a circle going Tyson, Erza, Gray, Lucy, and then Happy.
The five closed their eyes and began to focus on the magic flowing throughout their bodies.
One by one, the group's individual auras began to manifest themselves.
The colors of their auras began to slowly melt together and form a large circle of silver energy above their heads.
Time for the group began to slow down as they slowly lost themselves to the feeling of their magical powers flowing throughout their bodies.
The never ending limits of magic never failed to create a sense of awe in each and every person that did the magic mapping technique.
When they did the technique and got lost in the feeling, they could truly get a small sense of how small and insignificant they were compared to the vastness of magic.
Magic went on and on for eternity, they were just small bits of light that shined and then went out forever.
It was a humbling and enlightening experience the first time one got lost in the waves and tides of magic.
You never get used to it, you never get tired of it, or that was the way Tyson saw it.
The way he saw it, one could spend eternity staring into the expanse of magic and one would not truly have ever begun to understand the impossible force that was magic.
With the right technique, one could truly do anything with magic.
Grow as large as a skyscraper, stop time, summon creatures of unimaginable power, destroy mountains with the flick of a wrist, the list went on and on.
Magic might not be the ultimate power in the multiverse, but of all powers in the infinity of other worlds, magic truly had the most versatility. There truly was no end to how one can use magic, the limit is only what the user can imagine.
Back to Team Tyson, they did their joint magic mapping technique for well over two hours before they all stopped and the ball of combined magical energies dispersed back into magical particles that floated down to the ground like snowflakes, creating an impossibly incredible scene that most never see, but those that do are never failed to be impressed.
Lucy held out her right hand and saw three silver magical particles land on her palm and when each one did, she felt a small tingle go down her spine that just made her feel happier and livelier.
Tyson then said, "Alright guys, let's go get cleaned up and then head over to the guild."
The group nodded and then went to Tyson's house, where after showering, the group went to the guild.
Once at the Guild Hall, they saw yet another guild fight had broken out, with chairs, tables and people were once again being tossed around like they were balls.
Tyson ducked underneath a mug and then sidestepped to avoid a large chair that smashed against the wall to his left and promptly broke apart.
He then heard Elfman say, "Hey, guys!"
Team Tyson all turned and saw Elfman sitting at the bar while Lisanna and Mirajane were cleaning mugs and plates.
The team all went over to the bar and Tyson said, "Hey guys. How are you doing?"
"Not bad. I am thinking about taking a S-Class job with Lisanna and Mirajane in a day or so." Elfman said.
"Really? My team and I are actually here to get a S-Class job so we can show Lucy what it's like to go on S-Class jobs." Tyson informed them.
"Really? Don't you think that it's a little early to be taking your apprentice on a S-Class job?" Elfman asked.
"I have to agree with my older brother Tyson. Lucy only joined about a week or so ago. She hasn't had the time needed to get a large amount of training in." Lisanna said in agreement with her brother.
"Are you sure this is a good idea Tyson? It is a little bit early to be taking your student on a job of this caliber." Mirajane added.
"It's fine." A voice called out. The Strauss siblings spotted Mizu heading down the stairs from the second floor with a slice of chocolate cake. "If Lucy's going to become a S-Class wizard one day, she needs to know what she's getting herself into. I'll be joining this quest as well."
"Mizu's right. She'll have us there to protect her. She will be fine. We are also going to find the easiest job on the request board." Tyson said.
"I agree. She has the strongest man and woman in the guild, plus the Ice Devil Slayer an Water Dragon Slayer, in addition to Happy to keep her safe." Gray added.
"I also agree that this will be good training for Lucy. One can never learn how to act and work on an S-Class job soon enough." Erza added.
"Besides, don't forget she did large amounts of damage to Lullaby and came out of that fight A-okay. Lullaby's second form was definitely S-Class in strength alone." Happy finished as he ate a fish.
"I guess it's okay, as long as Lucy agrees to this." Mirajane said as all the mages turned towards Lucy.
Lucy was silent for a few minutes before she said, "I want to see if I can handle an S-Class job."
"Very well, I'm going to find a job." Tyson said as he walked away.
He went over to the staircase and walked up the stairs to the second floor and over to the S-Class job request board.
After searching the board for several minutes, he came across a job that piqued his interest.
{Help wanted to break curse.
Location: Galuna Island.
Objective: Break curse that lies on the island.
Reward: 7 million jewels and a golden Zodiac key.}
Tyson smiled, this was the perfect job.
He took the job request then went down to the first floor and saw Makarov talking to the other members of Team Tyson.
"Hey Makarov, my team and I are taking this S-Class mission." Tyson said as he handed the flyer to Makarov.
After looking it over, Makarov then said, "Are you sure you want to take Lucy on this kind of a job? It might be dangerous."
"Makarov, everything we do is dangerous, we are mages, it's kind of what we do. We go and do dangerous things so no one else has too. Besides, I think it will be good learning experience for Lucy. If she ever has to break a curse in the future, now she can remember what we do on the island." Tyson pointed out.
Makarov was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Okay, I authorize you to take this job, as long as the rest of your team is okay doing it."
Tyson nodded and so he and Makarov then turned towards Team Tyson and he said, "Our job is to go to Galuna Island and break the curse on the island. Any objections?"
"Just one. Isn't that the isle of demons where no wizard has ever returned?" Gray asked.
"Gray, those stories are completely made up. They also say there are giant sixty tentacled monsters in those waters, yet I've passed through that area multiple times to get to Tenrou Island for the S-Class Promotion Exams and at no point have I seen a creature like that. Besides it's a curse and those are really easy to break, this is the easiest S-Class job there is." Tyson said.
"I agree. This job doesn't sound that hard. What's the reward?" Erza asked.
"Seven million jewels and a golden Zodiac key." Tyson answered.
Milliseconds later Lucy was in front of him, surprising Tyson and everyone seeing such a thing how the girl got there so fast, meanwhile Lucy was looking Tyson dead in the eye and asking, "Did you say Golden Zodiac Key?"
He nodded, still stunned and said, "The flyer doesn't say which Golden Zodiac Key it is, but the bonus reward is a Golden Zodiac Key."
Lucy then said, "We are taking this job. How soon can we get going?"
"Well I can be ready in a hour if need be, so I say we meet back up in two hours at the train station and get going to Hargeon where we shall rent a boat and head to Galuna." Tyson replied.
All were in agreement, so Team Tyson left the guild and went back to their houses to get ready.
Mirajane turned to Makarov and said, "Master, are you sure they should be doing that job? No one who has ever gone to do it has ever returned."
Makarov took a long gulp from his mug and then said, "Mira, remember who Tyson is. He can take on and destroy almost anyone or thing in this world, he is the Guild's strongest member. He and the others will complete this job, have some faith in them."
"I do, I am just worried they might get hurt." Mirajane said.
"Don't worry, they are some of the toughest and strongest members in the Guild, they will be fine." Makarov said as he took another long gulp.
Time skip, three hours...
Team Tyson had gone back to their respective homes and gotten their needed supplies then met at the train station and gotten a train to Hargeon, where they were currently and now they were looking for a boat that was willing to take them to Galuna.
"So, one of these guys must be willing to take us right? Let's split up and find someone." Tyson said.
The others nodded and then went off to find a captain willing to get them to their target.
But, alas problems arose.
"No way am I going near Galuna Island!"
"Galuna Island?! Are you crazy?! I am not risking my boat by going anywhere near that cursed place!"
"You couldn't pay me enough to go within twenty miles of that place!"
"No way in hell!"
Everyone here seemed too afraid to go anywhere near the island, making getting to the island a little bit of a hassle.
"Well this is going well. We aren't even on the Island and things are going wrong." Gray said.
"I guess we are going to have to fly. Think you can fly all the way Erza?" Tyson asked.
"Probably, but carrying Lucy or Gray is going to make it much more difficult to get to the island." Erza replied.
"I can carry both Gray and Lucy on my back while we're flying, but that would make landing a very painful experience." Tyson commented.
"Man, who would have thought getting to Galuna Island would be this hard." Lucy muttered.
"Hey, you guys want to go to Galuna Island?" A voice asked.
Turning around they saw a dark skinned sailor looking at them from his small boat.
"Yeah, you see we are wizards who want to get to the island to break the curse and we are having a hard time finding someone to take us there." Lucy explained.
"You guys are wizards? Show me your magic." The sailor said.
The group all raised their eyebrows at that one, but they did as the man asked. Tyson lighting one fist on fire, the other covered in emerald green lightning, Gray's hands were now emitting purple ice, Mizu sucked ocean water into his mouth, while Lucy's hands glow golden, Happy grew his white angelic wings and Erza summoned one of her swords.
The sailor stared at their magic for a few seconds before he said, "Okay, get on."
"Huh?" The group intelligently asked.
"I am going to take you to Galuna Island." The man said as he prepared to take off.
Not questioning their strange luck, the group got onto the boat one by one and once they were all on board, the man untied the ropes and started sailing the boat towards the island of demons.
Time skip, several hours later...
The group had been on the boat for several hours now and had not seen the island yet.
"So, mister..." Lucy said, trying to get the boatman's name.
"My name's Bobo." The man replied.
"So, Mister Bobo, why are you so willing to take us to the island?" Lucy asked.
"I used to live on the island." Bobo informed them.
"So, what is the curse like?" Tyson asked, trying to get any information on what they were about to face.
Bobo lifted his left arm and suddenly purple scales with black lines appeared over his forearm, while claws appeared where his finger nails used to be.
The Fairy Tail mages were stunned, they had never seen a curse like the one Bobo had just shown before and it was utterly mystifying.
Just then, Gray saw something out of the corner of his right eye and said, "Hey look! Land!"
The group turned towards Gray's direction and indeed, they saw a island starting to come into view.
"Galuna Island." Bobo said, confirming the group's suspicion on the island before them.
Just then, they heard a strange noise and turned around, just in time to see a massive tsunami coming towards them fast.
"Ah! Where did Bobo go?!" Lucy yelled out.
The group looked and sure enough, Bobo was missing.
Tyson turned to the tsunami and yelled, "Fire Dragon Roar!"
Out of Tyson's mouth came a large pillar of fire that screamed forth and struck the tsunami, instantly evaporating the water of the tsunami in a certain place, splitting the tsunami into two separate large waves.
The two waves passed by the boat harmlessly.
Tyson then said, "Okay, with the tsunami out of the way, let's head to the island."
He took the rudder and steered the ship towards Galuna Island, the others were trying to find Bobo, but did not see any signs of the man.
The boat made it's way towards the island and towards a date with destiny.
Time skip...
The boat had just reached the shore and the mages were finally out of the boat, having reached the island at long last.
One by one, the mages got off of the boat and landed onto the soft sands of the beaches surrounding the island.
"Okay, we just arrived at Galuna Island. The first thing we have to do is find the village that sent the request. It should be somewhere in the interior of the island." Tyson said.
The rest of the team agreed and they started walking off in the direction that held the most recent scents of people.
After a little while they came to a massive wooden gate.
"A nice gate if you ask me. Let's see if anyone's home." Tyson commented.
"Hello, is anyone there?" Tyson called out.
A second later two guards appeared at the top of the gate and one of them yelled down, "Who goes there?!"
"We are wizards from Fairy Tail responding to the request you sent." Erza answered.
"Oh, you're those wizards. We heard that you had taken the request, but you were taking so long to get here we thought you had gotten lost." The other guard said.
"Not even remotely close. Can we enter so we can talk to the village chief?" Gray asked.
"Show us your Guild Marks to make sure you are all Fairy Tail mages." The first guard said.
The group shrugged and showed off their guild marks.
Tyson showed his red right shoulder mark, while Gray lifted his shirt to show his blue guild mark on his right pectoral, Lucy simply lifted and showed her mark on her left hand, Mizu gestured to the dark blue mark on his left shoulder, Erza's light blue mark on her lower left arm was shown and finally Happy's lime green mark was shown on his back.
"Those marks are real, they must be Fairy Tail mages. Let's let them inside." The second guard said.
"Okay, maybe they can finally break the curse. Open the gate!" He yelled down to someone on the ground.
Several seconds later the bottom part of the gate started rising until there was a 15 foot tall opening that they could get through.
"Well that was a lot easier than expected. Let's find out what this curse is like." Tyson said.
The group of six entered the village and saw people of all shapes and sizes watching them.
However, the strange thing is that everyone in the village was wearing full body cloaks that covered almost everything, leaving only a small slit in their faces so they could see and that was it.
There was a 4 foot tall man who had a large walking stick and said, "I am Moka, the village chief. I thank you for coming here to try and break our curse. But pleasantries aside, there is something you must see. Now my people!"
As one, the people of the village took off their cloaks and revealed their bodies.
Every single person in the village had a part of their body that was mutated or changed.
Some people had claws, others had their lower legs changed into something like a scaled lizard's foot.
"This is the same thing that happened to our guide." Gray said.
"Yeah, it is." Lucy added, looking at the people with pity.
Tyson was taking a few whiffs of the surrounding air and smelled something akin to a demon scent, but it was vastly different to Lullaby. He just chalked it up to whatever was affecting these people.
"As you can see, everyone here has suffered horrible disfigurement due to the curse. Not even the animals are safe from it." Moka continued.
"Please excuse me for asking, but what makes you think this is a curse? It could be some form of infectious disease." Gray asked, with Erza nodding at his logic.
"We have consulted many doctors and they all agree no such disease exists. You see, all of our symptoms appeared at the same time the moon fell under an evil spell." Moka said.
"What kind of spell?" Lucy asked.
"Since ancient times, the island has absorbed the light of the moon and has glowed almost as beautifully as the moon, but several years ago the moon began to glow an eerie purple glow." Moka explained.
"Purple moon?" Tyson asked, starting to get the feeling he knows what's happening.
Happy looked to the sky and said, "Look! The moon is coming out from behind the clouds."
Everyone looked up to the sky and saw that indeed, there was a purple moon now in the sky.
"That's creepy." Gray said as the purple light came over everyone.
"Stay back! The transformation is happening!" Moka said as all the villagers began to scream out as their bodies transformed.
After a few seconds, everyone in the village now looked like demons, with horns, claws and colored skins.
"I am sorry if our appearance frightens you." Moka said to the mages.
"We've seen a lot more frightening things than this." Tyson said as he stared up at the moon, studying it.
He could swear he had seen something like this, but where?
"As you can see, every thing when the moon turns purple we undergo a transformation that turns us into horrific demons. If this isn't a curse then what is?" Moka asked.
"We will return back to normal once the morning comes, but there are some unfortunate souls that never do change back." Moka said.
"How sad." Lucy stated.
"The fate for those who can't turn back is that we are forced to put them out of their misery." Moka said, unable to look the mages in the eyes.
Tyson walked up and placed his right hand on Moka's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry. That must have been extremely difficult for you to do."
"You have no idea. My own son, Bobo was one of the unlucky ones." Moka said, startling the Fairy Tail mages.
"Bobo, but he..." Lucy said, completely confused.
"I get how he disappeared now. He was actually a ghost because his soul can't find peace." Gray noted.
"If you truly wish to help us, you must destroy the moon!" Moka said, completely startling the Fairy Tail mages.
"You're kidding right." Mizu stated in disbelief.
Time skip...
"The moon looks really creepy, all purple like that." Happy said, looking at the moon from the window of the little hut the villagers were kind enough to let the Fairy Tail mages use.
"Happy, don't stay in the light too long, you know what Moka said." Lucy told the Exceed.
"So guys, what are we going to do? We can't destroy the moon." Gray said.
Tyson said nothing, he was busy looking through the book Thundreas gave him with Gale-Force Reading Glasses for any clues.
"There must be another way to break the curse. Tomorrow we will look for it. We will search the island for any clues that might let us know the origins of the curse." Erza said.
"I found it." Tyson said suddenly, from his chair.
"Found what?" Lucy asked.
"The purple moon's source." He answered.
The others came over to him and saw that the page he was on had a picture of a purple moon, exactly like the one currently in the sky.
"The spell is called Moon Drip. It focuses moonlight and then shines directly onto an object. This spell is the most powerful form of Dispel magic there is, no spell can survive being hit by it. The spell was first created hundreds of years ago, where it was used to crack open the most powerful of seals there are. Eventually the spell was forgotten and hasn't been used since. But the calling card of the spell is a purple moon." Tyson explained.
"So someone is trying to break open a seal?" Gray asked.
"Moon Drip is more than just a seal cracker, with enough time, it will be able to break open any and all spells, no matter their power. My concern is what Moon Drip could be freeing at the moment. There are some things that should not be released." Tyson said, with slight fear in his voice.
"Tyson? Are you alright?" Erza asked, a little afraid. He was almost never afraid, so for something to spook him, that means things are going wrong.
"Yeah, it's just Moka said that the glow appeared several years and if Moon Drip has been going on for that long then whatever it is cracking open must be protected by a absurdly powerful seal. I know of a few seals that are that powerful and the things they sealed away are the few things that frighten me." Tyson admitted, causing Lucy's fear to spike.
"What do you think it is?" Lucy asked, completely terrified of the answer.
"I hope I'm wrong, but it might be the Shadow Wraiths." He answered, confusing everyone present.
"I have never heard of them." Erza said. Gray, Lucy and Happy all agreeing.
"That doesn't surprise me, they're little more than myth and legend, the stories mothers tell their children at night. The Shadow Wraiths are five powerful wizards that Zeref, the creator of Lullaby, experimented on. He bent the rules of life and death, unleashing unholy black magic upon them. The power of the black magic was so great that it destroyed their corporeal bodies and they became shadows, neither living nor dead. They feed off the life energy of living people and they are the ancestors of today's Wraiths that live in the shadows, but Shadow Wraiths are much stronger, Wizard Saint level, if not Heavenly King of Ishgar level. They served as Zeref's assassins and deadliest warriors, because how can you kill a shadow? The only way to defeat them was to trap them in specially engineered coffins that were lined with holy light, the opposite of the shadows. These coffins were then placed in the deepest and darkest mountain with all the tunnels collapsed and the most powerful of seals placed on the seals placed on both coffins and the mountain itself to keep the Shadow Wraiths from ever emerging once again. If whoever is using Moon Drip really has gotten the coffins, then we are all in danger." Tyson said.
The others were all terrified now, these Shadow Wraiths sounded like something no one wanted to face, ever.
"Are you sure that is what we face?" Erza asked.
"Yeah, after all it could be something else." Mizu added.
"It is a possibility, there are few seals of strength that would require years of concentrated moon light to break." Tyson replied.
"So we might just be facing Shadow Wraiths, unkillable shadows with strength almost immeasurable. And you said this job would be safe." Lucy said, completely terrified now.
"They haven't cracked the seal yet, so if it is a Shadow Wraith we still have time to beat them." Tyson said.
"How can you be sure?" Gray asked.
"Well, for one thing a great explosion of black energy would erupt as the Shadow Wraith's power has been confined for centuries, a unbearable chill would go down our backs if the Shadow Wraith was near and most importantly there would not be a living thing on this island if the Shadow Wraith was truly free." Tyson explained.
"Okay, so we still have time to stop them, whoever is crazy enough to do something like this." Lucy said, a little bit relieved.
"Let's get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us." Tyson said as he requiped the book away.
The group members all nodded and then went to their beds, intending to fall asleep.
Tyson, however, remained awake and kept watch throughout the night, the possibility of Shadow Wraiths being unleashed keeping him awake.
Eventually he fell asleep, the purple light of the moon ominously hanging in the clouds.
Time skip, morning...
Lucy, Happy, Mizu, Gray, Erza and Tyson were currently walking through the foliage, eyes trained all over, searching for any clues to break the curse.
"So Tyson, if it is Shadow Wraiths, is there anything we could do?" Lucy asked.
He was silent for a moment before answering, "It is possible your Celestial Spirit Star Blasts could do some damage, due to your magic being light in origin and has a hint of holy magic mixed in, so you would be able to do something, while my golden flames could possibly hurt them due to my golden flames destroying things with dark magic and Gray could possibly damage them with his Devil Slayer magic, which does have adverse effects on things with dark magic in them as well, but other than that, we would do nothing to the Shadow Wraiths and everything is guess work, due to no one seeing a Shadow Wraith living to tell the tale."
The group fell into silence after that for a while before a massive blue furred rat wearing a maid's outfit came charging at them.
Quick as lightning Gray shouted out, "Ice-Make: Floor!"
The rat slipped onto the ice and fell onto it's back, knocking itself unconscious.
"Well, that was anti-climatic." Lucy said.
"Hey, there are ruins over there." Erza pointed out.
The group went into the ruins and entered a room filled with moon shapes and the group looked around a little.
"The island was once called the Island of the Moon." Lucy said.
"So, moon drip, moon island? Things are just getting weirder." Gray commented.
Erza walked over a section of floor, which then collapsed the entire floor, causing the group to fall.
After a few seconds of screaming and falling, the group landed at the bottom of a cavern.
"Everyone alright?" Tyson asked.
"I'm okay." Lucy nodded.
"Ditto." Gray said as he got up.
"Me too." Mizu added.
"Same here." Happy said as he jumped into the air.
"I am fine and I am sorry for getting us down here." Erza finished.
"It's okay. We will just fly back up right?" Lucy asked.
"Sure, just let me..." Tyson trailed off, as he felt a large source of magical power not far away from them.
He turned towards the source of the magic and ran off towards it.
"Hey Tyson, wait up." Erza said as the rest of Team Tyson ran after him.
After a few minutes of running, they entered a larger cavern and they all saw something that stopped them dead.
In the middle of the cavern was a massive fifty foot tall piece of light purple ice that had a massive black shape inside it.
For Tyson, Mizu, Gray and Erza, they were seeing a familiar face.
"Isn't that?" Mizu questioned in surprise.
"What is it doing here? What is Deliora doing on this island? What is going on here?" Gray shouted out, disbelief all over his face.
With his cry of disbelief echoing all over the chamber, our heroes stared in shock at the massive demon, unable to believe what they are seeing.
What shall come next after finding out Deliora is on this island? Only time shall tell.