Hope you like this long chapter!

Even if he had cut his ties with Fairy Tail, Natsu was still feeling a little anxious about seeing them all again. Would they welcome him, or would they hate him? Probably the latter, since he was the one who destroyed their lives, even if indirectly. All because he died. Lucy, Gray, Erza, Zeref and many more have all suffered, because of him. And now, he was going back to Fairy Tail in order to kidnap the first master and cure her without them knowing what was really going on. During the days it took him to get to Fiore, he did not sleep; he was too wrapped up in his thoughts to do too much of anything. Of course, ever since he opened that book he had hardly needed to eat or sleep anymore. He wasn't sure if that was because of the nightmares or memories, or if that was because he was now his full demon self again. He decided he didn't really want to know.

Ishgar

"They're coming. That much we know, but what we don't know is from what direction… finding out where they plan to launch their assault may mean the difference between life and death." Makarov sighed and watched as Warren had just finished setting up his magic surveillance system so that he could keep an eye on everything.

"The most orthodox strategy would be to create a diversion in the north, but the main force would be coming in from the south." Mavis stated, landing behind Makarov. He turned to her.

"First Master."

"I just checked up on everyone, before the battle begins. Our guild all seem carefree despite the danger; their bravery is quite remarkable."

"I think I have a different read on the situation. The kids are all desperately trying to keep their anxiety at bay, so they are spending time with each other to lift one another's spirits up, that is crucial at a time like this… but still, I can't hold them at fault for their fear tonight."

She nodded with a small smile on her face. Just then, a wind came in from out of nowhere, snuffing out the flames and thus turning the room dark. Then, they felt an ominous presence approaching from every direction.

"How in the hell were we not able to see them approaching earlier!" Warren shouted as an alarm started to go off, and a bunch of red blinking light appeared on the magic map. The dots were approaching their location from the west, fast.

"All members prepare for battle! The enemy is coming from the sky! Approximately 50 aerial cruisers!" Mavis shouted using Warren's telepathy, warning every wizard in Magnolia.

"No one said anything about an aerial attack!" Warren shouted as sweat dropped down his face.

"The war has begun." Makarov whispered under his breath sadly, feeling worried about which of his children would make it through this war. Just then the night sky started to light up in purple yellow and green lights. The aerial cursors had started firing at the city, but it was all stopped by a magic barrier. "Freed's barrier is powerful but I am not sure for how long he can hold back this onslaught." He stated.

"I thought it unlikely but I did take this into consideration. At the moment, what we are dealing with is an advanced squad, and as luck would have it, this is a much smaller scale attack than I originally feared…" Mavis turned to Warren. "I need you to relay this message: start strategy D. Flying Dragons and Jupiter, commence the attack."

"Natsu's not back yet, what-" Happy tried to say but was cut off.

"Natsu's been missing for over a year. He's not going to be much help right now, and we can't wait for him to find his way back to us right now. We need to focus on protecting Mavis and Ishgar." Gajeel snapped. Yes, he was worried about the whereabouts of everyone's favorite dragon slayer, but now was not the time to worry about him, because the war was here. He did make a promise to himself that when he did find that Flame Brian, he was going to beat the crap out of him for leaving all of them. That thought of the future gave him hope, that they would make it through this.

"After this is over we can look for Natsu some more, but we have to make sure there is a guild he can return to." Levy stated with a sad smile on her face thinking of her missing friend. Happy looked sad for a moment but then nodded with a determined look on his face.

"Aye!" and he flew off to help the other dragon slayers in the West.

"Ajeel, we have something coming at us really fast!" shouted one of Ajeel's men.

"Evasive maneuvers!" another shouted, but it was too late. One of the ships exploded.

"Ship four is down!" the first man shouted.

"What the hell!?" Ajeel gasped, then he saw three people with cats on their backs who were blowing up the ships. He recognized the larger one of the three figures; the blond man, the lighting user who rescued Makarov and his mages from him in Alvarez. "It's you…" he grumbled glaring at the lighting mage.

Four more ships exploded before he could react anymore. Ajeel tsked. "Blow them out of the sky!"

"Ohh!" Happy screamed as he dodged the magic projectiles.

"Nice work." Laxus muttered.

"It would have been easier if you weren't so heavy." Happy grunted, Laxus frowned.

A beam of magic shot towards the fleet but Ajeel deflected the blow with his magic. "He deflected a shot from the Jupiter cannon!" Panther Lily gasped.

"I guess we have to fight him up close. Let's start with the sandy bastard." Gajeel stated, but before his group could fly over, a voice came from below.

"Hold it!"

A few more ships exploded into pieces, but they were not destroyed by the dragon slayers. The bow of the ship where Ajeel stood was then cut in half, falling down to the ground, then the soldiers who were managing that ship were also immediately cut down before a figure appeared on the intact part of the ship, landing behind Ajeel. The dragon slayers heard a whisper of command echoed to them, and they heard it clearly. Then they nodded their heads determinedly and went flying to the ground to fight those who had already landed, leaving the member of Spriggan 12 to their comrade.

"And you are?" he didn't shout, but it was dripped with fury as Ajeel looked behind, veins throbbing on his temples.

Erza stood up from her crouch and pointed her sword at the enemy, her eyes blazing. "She who will cut you down."

Upon closer look, he recognized that face, and smirked darkly. "Well, it is nice to see you again so soon." He laughed.

"I wish I could say the same!" Erza shouted as she requipped into Heaven's Wheel Armor, launching her Circle Sword at Ajeel, who effortlessly defended himself.

"Please don't tell me that is the best you can do? An attack like that will never scratch me!" Ajeel said as he shot a blast of sand at Erza.

Erza then quickly followed with her next armor, Black Wing Armor and used Moon-Flash, which Ajeel evaded at high speed.

"Tell me, how many people in your guild are stronger than you?" he asked as he continued to dodge Erza's attacks with little effort.

"I wouldn't underestimate Fairy Tail!"

"That's the second time someone has told me that, but honestly, I don't see what the big deal is with you guys. You aren't even worth underestimating!" Ajeel shouted as he dodged yet another attack, and Erza's body was suddenly getting enveloped by his sand.

"My sand will dry up all your body's water." He said. Erza paid little attention to what Ajeel was saying as she continued to struggle against the surrounding sands. She switched armors again and charged at Ajeel. But he had been expecting that and covered the ship in the sand, trying to swallow the knight.

"You're doing the same tricks!" she shouted as she shot out of the sand and punched the sand wizard off of the mast, causing him to crash into the next ship over.

"Well, it seems you got some new moves." he laughed with the ever-present smirk on his face. Erza attacked again but was blocked by a sand wall. She tried to cut through it, but the cut was quickly replaced by more sand. That was when the boat next to them exploded in a ray of green light, blowing the ship into pieces, momentarily distracting Ajeel for a moment. Erza got through the sand wall, but she wasn't fast enough. Their ship was engulfed in sand; Erza tried to block the sand projectiles coming from every direction, but she wasn't able to block them all. She screamed as sharp sand struck her back, then again from the side. She fell to the sand covered deck. Ajeel was still laughing.

Another ship exploded to their right in the same green ray. Ajeel locked his eyes onto a hill in the distance. "Snipers," he cursed and was about to leave Erza to face the other threat that was blowing his ships out of the sky, when Erza took this moment of distraction and slashed her sword across Ajeel's chest. He shouted in surprise, stepping back and holding onto his wound. "Why you bi-" Erza attacked again before he could finish, cutting him one more time. Ajeel saw water coming off her sword from her Sea Empress armor, which hardened Ajeel's sand. Enraged, Ajeel unleashed a vortex of sand. Switching to Wind God Sword she slashed the sand out of the way.

"Your Magic has no effect on me anymore!" Erza shouted.

"Oh, really? Can you say the same thing to this sandstorm!" Ajeel smirked, as sand suddenly seemed to cover the entire ship. In the swirling sphere of sand, Erza caught a glimpse of something in the distance, and her eyes widened when she saw that the entire town was affected by Ajeel's sandstorm. Erza fully realized the might of their enemies and what they were really up against, but that didn't stop her from the task at hand.

"I am a God in this Sand world!" Ajeel attacked with his sand blades against Erza. She tried to block each attack but was still being pushed back. Then Ajeel appeared right in front of her and grabbed her by the neck, holding her midair. "And you should worship me as such." He added darkly. Erza coughed as her body was losing more of its water.

"No-no one in Fairy Tail would ever bow do-down to a God like you," Erza coughed again, smirking a little at the confused look growing on Ajeel's face. "Everyone in my guild has their own beliefs, and you are not one of them." she hissed, requipping into her Morning Star Armor.

At western hills of Magnolia, several people of Alvarez forces landed onto the ground. "Alright, men! Magnolia is right in front of ya! Go wipe it off the map for good!" Bakel, the Captain of the Ajeel division, shouted. Many of his men cheered and started to charge toward the city.

"But, captain, how are we going to get past the barrier?" one of the men asked.

"No clue." Bakel laughed. One of the men sweatdropped.

"Not a problem, we have someone to dispel it. He has arrived, so the barrier will fall shortly… To be honest, I feel this overwhelming show of force is a tad bit excessive for such a weak advisory. But still, I am duty bound to execute the orders given to me by my commander." stated Kareem, the Co-captain of the division, coming up alongside Bakel.

Just then, the three dragon slayers came down, now fighting the forces on the ground. Laxus was glad for this since Happy was no longer carrying him.

Ajeel was starting to get so frustrated that he started to build up magic power to use his most powerful attack on the sand world in order to destroy these pests.

"That's it!" he shouted, making an axe made out of sand and swung it towards Erza's head but she dodged in the nick of time as Bisca fired the cannon again, barely missing Ajeel's boat, and he was blown away by the force of the attack. Erza then quickly slashed through Ajeel, defeating him. With Ajeel defeated, the sandstorm finally disappeared.

"I sense more magic power. Could it mean that another one of the 12 have arrived?" Makarov asked.

"There is a breach in the barrier." Warren shouted.

"The enemy has entered Magnolia, hold them back at all costs!" Mavis shouted, sending the Strauss siblings out to take care of the breach, since they were the closest, as well as including Gray and Juvia as backup.

"More bad news! Now there is another member of the 12 in Magnolia!" Warren shouted.

"Another one?" Makarov gasped.

"Three of those monsters in one place? How are we going to fight back against that?" Jet whined.

"Oh no, this can't be happening!" Warren continued shouting.

"What is it now!" Droy yelled back.

"A massive force of over 300 ships is coming in from the north, and based on the magic signature, it has another three of the 12! But it is worse than that! There is an identical group coming in from the south, with another three of the 12!" Warren cried.

"They're making an approach from three sides!?" Makarov gasped.

"No…" Warren turned around, tears escaping from his eyes and flowing down his face, "There are also a million soldiers marching from the east, with three more of the 12. We are completely surrounded. The enemy has left us nowhere to run."

"How are they coming from the east?" Macao asked, eyes wide in fear and shock.

"They have cut through Basco, our neighbor state, to pull that off." Wakaba stated, sweat dripping down his face.

"It is like they are throwing everything they have at us all at once." Jet gasped.

"This is the worst thing that could happen!" Droy cried as other wizards still in the guild hall started to panic.

'No matter how I calculate it, we have no chance at winning!' Mavis thought, shaking in fear at the overwhelming odds against her beloved guild.

With Brandish a little earlier

She wasn't sure how she was going to get herself captured like Natsu wanted. She wandered through the quiet streets of Magnolia; she had been a part of the first strike force and had arrived here two days ago, but had yet to do anything. She wondered what Natsu's plan was and why he needed her. She liked the thought that Natsu needed her, but this whole thing had been a hassle. She had over two weeks to come up with an idea on how she would let herself be captured, and still hadn't come up with one.

She stopped in front of a cute little apartment building, but that wasn't what made her stop. It was the sense of familiar magic, one that she hadn't felt since she was a little girl. Granted, it wasn't as strong as her own magic. In fact, if she were to fight the owner, they wouldn't stand much of a chance. But the familiar feel of the magic had drawn her to enter the house where she met the splitting image of Layla Heartfilia, which made her angry and curious at the same time. After a conversation with her in the bath and then outside, and then being surrounded by Ajeel's annoying sand storm, which then disappeared after a few minutes, but then she had a moment of weakness, which was so very annoying, she was then captured by two Fairy Tail wizards, just like Natsu wanted. They put her in a cell at Fairy Tail, and now all she had to do was observe and wait.

And now, with this Lucy Heartfilia, she was a little bit more invested in sticking around. She wondered if Natsu knew about her connection to the Heartfilia family and whether that was why she was picked for this. She shook her head. That was impossible, since she hadn't told anyone about it, not even the Emperor. She sighed as she sat on the floor in the cell under the Fairy Tail guild. 'What a pain,' she thought.

Magnolia

While the fight raged in the sky, Wall led his own assault on the ground; he easily ripped open a hole in Freed's Jutsu Shiki barrier that was protecting Magnolia from enemy attack, but now, Wall and his subordinates were in the city walls.

"That was an impressive barrier, but it was still no match for me," Wall said to no one in particular as they walked along the silent streets of Magnolia. "I will show these mages the true might and power of Alvarez."

"You sure about that?" came a new voice from an alleyway where two people then proceeded to step out into the street.

"Take care of them!" Wall ordered his minions. Without a word they charged Gray and Juvia. Gray made an ice hammer and was swinging at the minions left and right as he tried to get to Wall.

"There sure are a lot of these jerks." Gray grunted as he continued to fight off the soldiers.

"That's true, but we faced more in the fight against Avatar." Juvia stated as she used her water magic to cut through the enemy forces.

"Yeah, but these guys are way better trained and a lot stronger. Also, this is just a squad, but there's a whole army. This is going to be a real pain." he and Juvia were starting to be overrun by the increasing number of Wall's minions against them.

That was when a scaly version of Elfman's take over joined the fray, followed by his sisters, Lisanna and Mirajane, making the tide of battle change again. Lisanna used her bird takeover to take the minions far away while Mira transformed into her Seilah Take Over.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? If it isn't one of Emperor Spriggan's discarded toys." Wall spoke with a not-so-kind smile.

"What did you just call my sister!" Elfman roared and charged at Wall, only to be stopped by more minions.

"I order you to sleep!" Mira shouted using the Curse Macro, and soon Wall's minions started to fall to the ground, asleep. But that didn't do much for the other half of Wall's squadron as they found out they weren't alive at all, but were, in fact, robots. Gray tried to attack the machines with an ice-covered fist, but once again, the robot matched Gray's attack with a flame one, thus melting Gray's ice. Another attack, same result. His Ice-Make melted with extremely hot flames. That was when Gray noticed that Elfman was up against a robot that was extremely fast whereas Lisanna was up against an incredibly durable robot, and Juvia was fighting against a robot who used steam.

'What is going on here? It is almost like these robots know our weakness.' Gray paused as realization hit him. They were using their weaknesses. 'If that was true…' he quickly turned to face Mirajane who was fighting against a robot with Elfman's face on it who was continuously hitting her (much to her protest) but she wouldn't fight back as she cried for Elfman to stop. This Elfman was clearly a robot.

"This doesn't make sense, how do they know our weaknesses?" Elfman questioned as he swung his arm around, trying to hit the ever-elusive robot as Gray tried to convince Mira about how the robot Elfman wasn't the real Elfman.

Wall chuckled, "My magic lets me see all of my opponent's weaknesses, then I construct my soldiers to exploit the weaknesses of my enemies," Wall paused, his smile only growing wider, "I have the power to look into the good and bad sides of humans," he continued, "But now I must leave to take care of a most bothersome barrier."

"No, he is going after Freed! We have to stop him!" Lisanna shouted, and in that moment of distraction, she was hit by the large robot and was flown through the air and crashed into a building.

"Lisanna!" both Mira and Elfman shouted as their younger sister disappeared from view. The robots stopped them from reaching for their youngest sister.

"Come on, Freed, you are doing great!" Evergreen cheered on the green haired wizard as he struggled to maintain the barrier surrounding Magnolia.

"Yeah, Freed! Warren said that Bisca and Erza took out one of the Spriggan 12, and the fleet attacking the city from the West is almost wiped out thanks to our flying dragon squadron!" Bickslow encouraged with a smile on his face. Freed just nodded, sweat rolling down his forehead. Just then, the doors to the Cathedral swung open.

"Ajeel was defeated? Well, that's too bad… he puts shame upon the 12." the voice spoke as Wall continued to walk into the cathedral.

"Ho-how did he get past the barrier?" Evergreen asked no one in particular. Both Bickslow and her were surprised that anyone could get through one of Freed's barriers.

"You-you guys are going to have to hold him off. I can't move while maintaining this barrier." Freed breathed, trying not to lose his concentration. Bickslow and Evergreen nodded and took up positions in front of their friend for protection.

"I can see your weakness," Wall smirked as his soldiers attacked Bickslow and Evergreen. Bickslow sent in his babies towards the enemy, attacking in their usual Line Formation, but the soldier in front of him blocked the attack with White Magic, and removed the souls from Bickslow's dolls, making them fall to the ground.

"My babies!" he shouted as the robot moved in to attack the distracted Bickslow, sending him into a wall. Evergreen wasn't having much luck, her fairy dust became heavy as smoke filled the room, and the robot punched her in the gut sending her flying into the wall.

"Use your eye magic!" Freed shouted as he watched his teammates climb out of the wall they had been thrown into.

"Thanks, Freed!" Bickslow shouted right back, and his eyes began to glow, and at the same time Evergreen took off her glasses, glaring at the soldiers, expecting them to turn into stone and dolls, but were dismayed to find out that that too had no effect. Instead of using their eyes on the soldiers, they turned them onto Wall, but that was also useless. Wall just chuckled at their failed attempts. He then transformed, showing them that he, too, was a machine.

"What?! You're not human!" Evergreen exclaimed in shock.

"Well, that sucks!" Bickslow sighed, just then the Weakness Soldiers were suddenly struck by lightning.

"Yes!"

"Thanks, Laxus!" They shouted in happiness as the robots were destroyed. But instead of Laxus like they had expected, they saw Ichiya standing at the entrance of the cathedral.

"Yes, you have fallen victim to the effectiveness of my Thunder Perfume!" he spoke proudly, posing and throwing thumbs up at Wall, who did not look impressed.

"Ichiya?!" both Evergreen and Bickslow gasped in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Evergreen asked.

"I can't believe I thought Ichiya was Laxus." Freed groaned in shame as he looked down.

"I have come to help my former guildmates to defeat this ruffian." Ichiya spoke, striking another pose.

Wall then turned to analyze Ichiya for his weakness while they were talking, only to look up in surprise at the countless number of weaknesses the new player had, that he thought he had an error in reading him. He tried analyzing again, only to get the same result.

"Now you will smell my overwhelming perfume! Men…!" Ichiya shouted as he threw a perfume bottle at Wall, who just stood there as the small glass jar broke onto his face. A moment of silence.

"You fool. I do not have a nose or any function that can detect smells." Wall said emotionlessly.

"What?! No nose! Oh, you are a robot!" Ichiya realized. Then Wall charged Ichiya and knocked him down.

"My apologies for not attacking sooner, but with your overabundance of weaknesses caused me to hesitate for just a moment." Wall stated as he stood over Ichiya. The battle continued with little to no effort on Wall's part. He was getting bored of their weaknesses, and so decided to change into a stronger form, damaging the area around him, and so Bickslow, Evergreen and Ichiya were blown back from the force.

"This is incredible, how could a machine have such power!?" Freed asked himself as he watched Wall's new form grow in size, the force pushing Evergreen, Ichiya and Bickslow back.

"You know, now I am kind of glad that Laxus isn't here." Evergreen remarked as she got back onto her feet after the explosion, realizing that lighting didn't affect the robots at all, and so she didn't want Laxus to see them like this.

"Yeah, or we would have gotten him to blow up the cathedral sooner." Bickslow deadpanned. Freed started to release his barrier to help his team fight the improved Wall, but Warren called out to him telepathically.

"Freed! You need to put your barrier back up, we still have fighting going on in the west!" Freed instantly re-erected his barrier.

"Ha, it seems you dispelled your runes without hesitation to prevent yourself from being killed, however… human." Wall says with a smirk on his face. The fight continued, with them on the losing side. Then, Gray telepathically told them how to defeat Wall's soldiers, by switching opponents. Evergreen and Bickslow now switched their opponents, and thus winning the fight against the 'weakness soldiers', defeating them. Wall was not happy upon seeing his robots being destroyed, and began to walk to Freed with every intention of blowing his brains out, when Warren telepathically told him that the Western forces have been completely eliminated. Freed dropped his barrier and attacked Wall full force, blowing the robot back away. And with the help of his team, they finally destroyed Wall by causing him to explode.

"We did it, we beat another Spriggan 12!" Evergreen cheered. The group was smiling despite their injuries, they were beginning to believe that they could beat the Spriggan 12 and Zeref.

"I-I see," a crackling robotic voice came from one of the robots' heads and the group fell silent, "My prince warned us-us n-not to under-underestim-mate you… wizards, not to underestimate Fairy Tail… I didn't understand… that was my… weakness, I see now…" then the robot's head began to glow as it began laughing before stopping.

"Umm, what was that?" Ichiya asked as their good mood dropped. The room seemed to get a lot colder before anyone could answer. The cathedral exploded.

Elsewhere

"Your Imperial Majesty Spriggan, both Ajeel and Wall's robot general have fallen." Reported one of the Alvarez spies from a small lacrima on Zeref's hand.

"Oh, my poor Grandson." Yajeel spoke softly in sorrow from behind Zeref, having overheard the soldier's report.

"Don't worry about your grandson for he is not dead. The wizards of Ishgar are very merciful and so did not kill him," Zeref reassured his trusted aid. "How is Natsu coming along?'' Zeref questioned. Yajeel was relieved that his grandson was not dead.

"He is getting a little frustrated that he is not done, but he said he will be ready when you call." Invel reported.

"Good." Zeref spoke as his army continued to advance further into Ishgar.

With Natsu

"Your highness, may I ask what you are doing?" Marin asked. He was the only one who came along with Natsu when they entered Fiore, since Marin's magic could get Natsu into the guild undetected.

"Preparing." was all Natsu said as he continued to draw magic circles in the dirt. He and Marin had arrived yesterday and had spent that entire time clearing the way for the army through Basco and jumping all over Fiore, where Natsu would spend time drawing massive magic circles here and there.

"I know that, but you know what time it is. We are supposed to be by Lord Zeref's side by now." The time mage gave a bored sigh. Natsu stood up and turned to face Marin, his eyes flashing red. "Eep!" Marin croaked as his body began to shake out of fear. He fell to his knee, "My apologies, Your Highness! I-I didn't mean…!" he stammered.

Natsu sighed. "It's fine. I am more frustrated than you are right now. This is taking a lot longer than I thought it would." Natsu turned back to face his half-finished magic circle.

"If you don't mind me asking, but umm, what do these circles do?" Marin whispered, hoping not to anger the Prince again.

"It will be used for a massive spell that only my brother knows how to use. The only problem with this spell, as you can see, is that it takes a lot of prep time." Natsu explained, continuing to burn the magic circle into the ground.

"What does it do?"

"I don't know." Natsu answered honestly, "I know its theory, but never seen it in action, so I guess we are just going to have to wait until my brother activates it." Natsu stood again, "Done with this one. Let's move to the next spot." he ordered. Marin nodded, then they were gone from their spot, then appearing at another spot away from the previous one.

"Good thing that this will be the last one we have to do. And then, you will take me to the Fairy Tail guild." Natsu stated as he bent down and started drawing the same magic circle. Marin just nodded as he went to lean against a boulder, since he knew it was going to take a while. But he didn't mind; he actually liked surviving the Prince more than his lady. For one, the prince treated him better. Not like a slave, but more of a college, and he always made sure Brandish's punishments were not too severe or long lasting. He honestly was not looking forward to seeing his lady so soon.

Back with Fairy tail

"I am happy to report that we captured one of the 12." Lucy stated through Warren's telepathy.

"And we are bringing her back to the guild." Cana added as they walked back to the guild, carrying Brandish on her shoulder.

"We took out one of the 12!" Bickslow reported.

"That's my Thunder Legion for ya." Laxus stated from the western hills.

"And the western forces have been defeated!" Gajeel reported.

"You hear that Zeref?! Don't mess with Fairy Tail!" Romeo cheered along with other members of the guild.

"It seems we have weathered the first wave of the storm, First Master." Makarov said somewhat quietly, happy that his children were saved, but he knew that something worse was coming.

At the port near Hargeon

"This little excursion is turning out to be way more thrilling than I ever imagined… I was almost certain that my puppet would be enough to handle them." the main body of Wall laughed as he laid on the deck of one of the Alvarez ships.

"Oh, so the Fairy Tail brats broke your plaything, did they?" Dimaria asked from the ship's railing, turning slightly to face the laughing man.

"Honestly? I did consider it a possibility from what Prince Natsu was saying, but what is most surprising is the fact that the enemy was able to defeat Ajeel and take Brandish into custody." Wall stated, calming down slightly, but the sharp tooth smile was still on his face.

"Hilarious. They captured her? Talk about a hassle." Dimaria laughed.

"Well, I for one am quite impressed these Fairy Tail meat bags know how to play tough."

"I suppose Emperor Spriggan deployed the whole army for good reason, and Prince Natsu's warning about underestimating them was valid." she looked to the port in the distance. She wanted to test the Fairies' strength for herself.

"That may be so, but I will be damned if we don't get the last laugh." Wall stood up.

"Cool it, will you? We are almost to the port…." Dimaria paused as Wall started charging up his magic. "Do you really think you can do it from here? It is still 30 kilometers away." Danish remarked, watching as Wall finished building a large anti-magic cannon.

"No… I am actually gunning for the Fairy Tail guild hall."

"That's got to be ten times father, you don't have a chance." Dimaria said

"Don't you dare underestimate me." He hissed as he powered up the cannon and a purple/ white light shot toward the land at incredible speeds, lighting up the sky with magic power.

Fairy Tail

"There is something huge coming our way! Wow, it's magic power! Whatever it is, it is super fast and headed straight for us!" Warren shouted as shrill alarms were going off and he was tapping at his magic pad frantically.

"What is their army?" Macao asked.

"No, I bet they are firing some kind of long-range attack." Makarov stated.

"Can they seriously hit us from that far away!" Jet gasped.

"Freed, we need you to put your enchantment back up! Freed!" Warren shouted only to get no reply, "There is no response from the Thunder Legion!"

"The thing is getting closer and faster! It is going to be a direct hit!" Max shouted, looking over Warren's shoulder.

"Evacuate the guild now!" Makarov ordered.

"Oh no, is our guild hall going to get flattened again?!" Romeo asked loudly as everyone started to run to the exit.

"Not if I can help it!" a new voice filled the guild hall.

"Who was that?" Levy asked, stopping in her tracks.

"The Cristiana!" Jet shouted, pointing to the sky. Everyone at the guildhall raised their heads, only to see the Blue Pegasus' flying ship heading towards Fairy Tail building.

"Was that Ichiya!?" Levy gasped.

"Men!" Ichyia cried just as the attack hit, blowing the ship apart in an instant, but not having hit its intended target. Ichiya cried out in pain as debris flew around him.

"He just used his ship as a shield!" Romeo gasped as parts of the ship fell from the sky and the magic from the attack disappeared.

"This is a battle, but it is not yours to fight alone!" The whole guild heard him call out, "Calling all of Fiore now!" Ichyia shouted as he hit a button, sending out a signal to the other guilds in Fiore. "Listen, all of you! This battle belongs to all of us!" and with those last words, the rest of the ship broke apart and littered the ground in Magnolia.

Wall saw that his attack didn't hit; he was also not expecting a flying ship shaped like a horse to block the attack, let alone dispel it completely. "It looks like you missed." Dimaria observed, seeing Wall's dejected reaction.

Somewhere else

Natsu felt Wall's magic pressure cutting across the country to Fairy Tail. He also knew it did not connect. He heard the distress signal going out and he cursed.

"What is it, Sir!" Marin asked. Opening his eyes

"Fairy Tail just called for reinforcements." Natsu hissed, pausing in his work and looking towards Fairy Tail building.

"It should be OK. I mean, we brought our whole army and we are way strong-"

"How many times do I have to say not to underestimate them? Things just got way more complicated now that we have every guild in Fiore gunning for us." Natsu hissed. Marin shrank down into himself in response. "I have to let my brother know… I thought Fairy tail would try to do this on their own and that we would get in and out like planned." He muttered, more to himself than the space mage. A little worried this would drag things out worried for a guild he said he cut all ties with.

Back with Fairy Tail

"Now we have support from every guild in Fiore!" Jet cheered.

"No worries with them in the fight." Dory added happily.

"Hold on… this is a matter for Fairy Tail to resolve. I had hoped to keep our fellow guilds out of this confrontation." Mavis stated firmly. This was her mistake, and she hated herself enough for the fact that she had gotten her guild involved. She didn't want all of Fiore to get caught up in this. They, especially, couldn't find out the real reason behind this war. Fairy Heart had to be kept a secret.

"That kind of attitude is only going to get us killed, you know… Ishgar is turning into a war zone, so every guild on its soil has to fight. And as for me, I will start with the guy who attacked the Thunder Legion." Laxus grunted. He was angry he couldn't be there when that bomb went off at the cathedral which left his teammates in critical condition as they laid in the guild's infirmary.

"I think Laxus made a valid point. First Master, we should accept help from the other guilds with gratefulness in our hearts, and devise a new strategy accordingly." Makarov agreed.

Mavis frowned at him, her face blank. She did not respond. She didn't like it but she knew that this might be the only way out of this no-win situation.

Makarov turned to Warren when it was clear that Mavis wasn't going to reject the other guilds' help. "Warren, give me a situation report."

"Yes, Master! We have a situation! I found out how the Alvarez army got into Fiore to the east… every guild in Basco has been decimated!" he reported, his eyes wide in shock.

"How can so many guilds be taken down by one army!?" Macao gasped in shock, not knowing that the guilds in Bosco were taken out earlier to the armies' arrival, and only by one person.

"That's terrifying!" Jet squeaked.

"I don't know if their goal was to take over Basco, but they seem to have stopped their advances for now." Warren stated sadly. "There is some good news: the army from the north is going to be met by Sabretooth and Blue Pegasus. As for the enemy that has taken the port of Hargeon, Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale are going to drive them out."

"They got it covered, so that just leaves us to take care of the forces coming from the east and west." Droy said happily.

"Hopefully that is the case, but there is no guarantee they will be able to stop them." one of the guild members stated.

"Hey, have some faith in our allies!" another guild member shouted in response.

"We have to go and help our friends!" Romeo insisted.

"He's right! If they are coming to our aid, we can't just sit here and have them do all the fighting for us!" Jet shouted, backing up Romeo.

"Of course… we will form some squads. Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, Gajeel, Levy and Lily! You will head north to help our allies!" Mavis ordered. A few more members volunteered to go along with the group, saying a few more members would help, and by the fact that they were also determined to go, Mavis reluctantly allowed it. She didn't want to lose any more members than necessary, and even then, losing one person was too much… She shook her head, banishing that thought from her head and focused on the matter at hand.

"Manly squadron!" Elfman shouted, already naming their team that was going to help the Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus guilds.

"Bringing support to the south will be Laxus, Wendy, Erza, Gray, Javia and Carla." They acknowledged the order. Another few members of the guild also volunteered to go, and Mavis allowed it as well.

"If I go south, I can crush that mechanical freak's real body." Laxus gave a predatory grin at the thought of avenging his fallen friends.

"Erza, are you sure you can go? You're still too injured." Wendy asked in concern. Erza nodded and gave a reassuring smile.

"Lucy and Cana will watch over the prisoners." Both girls nodded.

"Everyone else will defend the guild hall; there is still a high probability of a surprise attack." Mavis finished.

"What about the forces coming from the east and west?" Makarov asked.

"The western army is moving much more slowly than the others, which means… that is likely where Zeref is coming from." The guild went silent, as if just saying the dark wizard's name made the temperature in the guild drop 20 degrees. "We will have to deal with the other three groups first. Once they have been neutralized, we will fend him off with everything we got left." Mavis stated, trying to ignore the cold feeling that settled in the guild.

"Okay, then send me to the eastern front!" Romeo shouted in determination. He wanted to help out as much as he could so that when Natsu returned he could show Natsu how strong he had become, and hopefully Natsu would be proud of him.

"The eastern front poses the most threat, so we are sending in the strongest force we have." Mavis stated firmly.

"And who would that be?" Romeo asked, his hopes of helping in the front lines crushed to the ground.

"I assume we are in contact, Warren?" Mavis asked, turning away from the young fire wizard.

"Yes, ma'am! Fiore's mightiest are ready for action!" Warren replied, holding up the 'OK' sign.

"The Four Emperors of Ishgar!" several members of the guild shouted excitedly.

"I feel kind of bad for them, since they have all been working so hard to avoid going to war, but it seems like there was nothing we could really do about it." Levy sighed to herself.

"If the enemy somehow manages to fight their way past them, there isn't a soul in Fiore that can hold back the invasion." Mavis stated, giving the four wizard saints her full confidence.

"I am still worried about this mysterious 13th person…" Wakaba stated softly. The mood in the room dropped again as everyone remembered what Freed had told them about what happened at the cathedral when he woke up.

"The Prince…" Gray breathed. The 13th person that they had to watch out for, the one no one knew anything about. That person had apparently told the Spriggan 12 not to underestimate the Fairy Tail… why…?

"Is anyone else a little creeped out?" Droy stammered.

"I am curious about this 'Prince'." Mira spoke, her face serious and her eyes dark.

"I have a feeling we will be running into him, sooner rather than later." Makarov stated, his voice low

"We have time to worry about that later. There is still a war going on, and we got bad guys to fight." Gajeel stated firmly, his voice was cold and hard.

Gray, however, had a suspicion as to who this 'Prince' could be. This person was someone everyone seemed to be scared of, someone who could be more powerful than all of the Spriggan 12, and who could be really close to Zeref. It had to be none other than END. If he was right, he knew he would be the one who would fight that monster.

Later

Later that night, after everyone rested up a little. Then the members who Mavis had assigned to a few squads, left the guild towards different directions to aid their allies. The guild hall was pretty quiet, many of its members gone. Lucy sat at the bar as she stared at nothing in deep thought.

Earlier, she had come down to the dungeon carrying a tray with food and water for the prisoner, and tried to talk with Brandish, asking how she came to know her mother. Having refused to answer, Lucy stubbornly asked her many times, to which Brandish got very annoyed and tried to hit her in anger, the cell blocking her. But that action surprised Lucy, and she instinctively stepped back, knocking over the glass of water. Brandish shouted about how Layla Heartfilia had killed her mother and took Aquarius' key back despite having given it to Brandish's mother months before, and adding a few more accusations. But Lucy denied it, not believing that her mother would kill someone. Before Brandish could go too far, Aquarius suddenly emerged from the spilled water on the ground, instantly ending the one-sided argument. Lucy hugged her and cried in shock and joy, and Aquarius patted her head, then scolded Brandish, shocking Lucy. Aquarius then took both girls into the memory star, revealing the truth about both their mothers. Brandish cried so much afterwards, mourning for her mother, and Lucy tried to comfort her.

And now, after the whole thing with Brandish and Aquarius, Lucy was feeling pretty down, yet determined. She now had a goal for the future. After this war was over, she was going to look for her two best friends; Aquarius' key and Natsu Dragneel. She was even going to search the whole world if she had to, she decided.

"I really hope you are okay, Natsu. I can't believe you are not here to fight with us right now." Lucy thought out loud. Her thoughts then drifted to her conversation with Aquarius on a balcony at Fairy Tail, right before she disappeared again.

"Aquarius, you're really back!" she cried in joy, again hugging the mermaid tightly.

"Easy now. I am not really back for a good several months. After my key was broken, a new one appeared somewhere else in the world, and will allow a human to open my gate once again… any way. Even though no one has made a new contract as of yet. I can't give you any clues on where it is." Aquarius looked at Lucy in the eyes. Lucy looked right back with resolve deep within, and replied just as determinedly.

"That's ok! I can't lose a friend like you, so I will do whatever it takes to find it, to find you!"

"Thanks, Lucy. I am kind of looking forward to seeing you again." Aquarius smiled before disappearing into thin air.

Her thoughts then drifted to their prisoner. A scary woman was what Brandish wanted to be, even pretended to be. But then again, she didn't seem like a bad person. Lucy was determined to become her friend, like her mother wanted them to be when they were younger.

The next day

Near the Port of Hargeon, Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel guilds were faced with overwhelming odds.

"How many of those did they send our way?" Beth Vanderwood asked upon seeing the Alvarez army from the hill overlooking the village.

"From what I am hearing, nearly 2 thousand are in position outside of Hargeon." Kagura stated.

"There is a ton more inside the city." Millianna gasped, sweat dripping down her face.

"Supposedly there are also boatloads of troops that haven't landed yet." Beth sighed hopelessly.

"So that is more than 300 thousand." Lyon observed.

"Between the Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel, we only have 200 people." said Sherry as the weight of the situation was just dawning on her.

"We are at a disadvantage, so we must fight with everything we have." Lyon said firmly. Everyone agreed and charged.

However, they were at odds with the soldiers overwhelming them, and they were getting exhausted after constantly moving around and therefore, they were forced to temporarily pull back after their first fight.

In the north, the allied guilds of Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus were also faced with similar odds, and so were up against one of the Spriggan 12, Bloodman on the first day alone. They also suffered heavy losses and so were forced to retreat temporarily.

"Not to trivialize things, but we don't want Sabertooth to be the reason we lost. Natsu would never let me live that down." Sting stated as he sat amongst his group of friends: Rogue, their exceeds, Yukino and Minerva. They sat in front of a fire, trying to chase away the cold from their tent. They were depressed about how that fight wasn't going well, but at the same time, they were trying to cheer each other up, giving each other strength and courage to keep on fighting.

"And I definitely don't want to be on Gajeel's bad side." Rouge stated with a smile on his face in his attempt to brighten the mood.

And in the east, the Wizard Saints had also encountered trouble. Like the First Master predicted, God Serena was wiping the floor of his own comrades, all while doing those ridiculous dance moves of his.

"How could you betray us!" shouted Jura as he clapped his hands together to conjure rock walls, charging at the traitor.

"Because Ishgar is so boring and no place for God Serena!" the traitor shouted happily while dodging Jura's earth attack, and then shot forward an attack of his own.

"I am the most powerful dragon slayer!" he continued loudly, only to frown a little bit when Natsu's face flashed in his mind, and also at the memory of how quickly he had been beaten by him several times. But God Serena didn't want to say out loud that he was not the strongest. He was God Serena! So, he attacked his opponents with a water dragon's roar and then followed it with an earth dragon's attack. In order to get the annoying prince out of his thoughts, he will be the strongest one day.

"How is this possible?!" one of the other wizard saints asked in disbelief. He was using more than one element?!

God Serena smirked, "I have not one but eight dragon slayer lacrimas inside me!" he danced around the wizard saints happily, getting his overconfidence back.

'This isn't going well.' The downed saints thought they had a chance at beating the traitor. But this happened… if they couldn't beat him, then who could?

"As I expected, your bluster exceeds your abilities, God Serena." Jacob sighed.

"No need to get involved, just be content to stand back and watch. This will be a delight." August stated, to Jacob frowning at the poor display of power form the supposed strongest wizards in Ishagr.

"Alright! Cavern Dragon's Cave-in, Earth Dragon's Collapse and Water Dragon's Vortex! I created this spell in hopes of using it on Natsu Dragneel, but I guess you will be good testing dummies!"

August frowned. 'God Serena, you idiot. We were not supposed to reveal His highness's name.'

"You have done enough, God Serena." August stated firmly.

God Serena stopped his attacks and breathed a little. "Oops, I guess I had too much fun."

"With those four bested, let's move on to Fairy Tail so we may help our Majesty claim his extraordinary prize." Jacob said smugly before turning to walk away from the downed saints with August and God Serena, in the direction of their target.

Jura broke out in sweat, shaking as he struggled to move. 'They will destroy everything, leaving only death in their wake… who can stop them?' he thought. Then, his eyes widened in shock. 'Did God Serena just say he fought Natsu and lost?'

In Magnolia

"So, that's the enemy base where they are holding My Lady?" Marin asked as he hid behind a building with Natsu, a few blocks away from the Fairy Tail building.

"Yep. This is the Fairy Tail guild hall." Natsu whispered. His heart was beating a mile a minute. He had mixed feelings of being back in Magnolia, seeing his old guild, his old life, and knowing he could no longer have any of it. "Let's go." Natsu ordered, and they both disappeared, only to reappear in the guild dungeons.

"Brandish, my lady! I'm so glad I was able to find you." Marin whispered, smiling to himself upon seeing his lady, her wrists chained with magic canceling cuffs, and laying on the floor.

"Me too. Now take off these shackles. I can't wait to mess around with this crappy guild hall." Brandish started smiling a little, moving to a seated position to face Natsu and Marin.

"Not yet." Natsu stated firmly as he was looking down the hall, keeping a look out for any guild members.

"I'm sorry, what?" Brandish asked.

"This is part of my plan. I just came to check in on you, but I need you to stay here for now." Natsu said, tuning to face Brandish.

"I don't want to stay here." she pleaded. Natsu's brows furrowed in concern.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?" he asked, crouching down to take a look at Brandish. She didn't look hurt. And he still couldn't believe that Fairy Tail would hurt anyone, even their enemies, when they were defenseless.

"Did you know?"

Natsu now looked more confused, "Know what?"

"That I had a connection to the Heartfilia family." Brandish hissed glaring at the prince

"No, I didn't. Is it a good or bad connection?" Natsu calmly asked in a whisper. He could tell that Brandish was getting angry, even her voice was starting to rise.

"I don't know yet… I mean, I haven't decided. I need to think about something." she turned her head away from Natsu as her voice dropped back to a whisper.

There was silence for a couple seconds, then Natsu spoke, "Brandish. If you don't think you can stand being here, we will take you with us."

"Oh, so you don't trust me to handle myself? Or are you afraid that I might kill your old friends!" she snapped. Natsu quickly put his hand over her mouth to silence her loud voice.

"That is not what I am saying." he hissed as Brandish struggled under him. Natsu's eyes flashed crimson and she went still, her eyes widening. "I am worried about you. I just don't want to cause you any unnecessary pain dealing with your past or whatever while we are at war. Does that make sense?" Brandish nodded and Natsu slowly removed his hand and backed up.

"Then can you at least tell me your plan?" she asked.

Natsu shook his head. "I can't really tell you everything, since this is more of a gamble than an actual plan. I just need you to keep an eye on Fairy Tail." He sighed. "This war is far from over… I would feel a lot better if you were here."

"As a spy?" Martin asked, a little confused about how she could spy on the enemy, locked up in here. Based on the look on Brandish's face, she was thinking the same thing. Natsu was about to explain, but then he heard the door to the dungeon open.

"Yes or no, Brandish." Natsu spoke quickly, and she gave him a little nod. Natsu held her hand, and she felt that he passed something to her. "If you are in trouble, that will help you get out. It also works as a communication device, so you can contact me when you need to." Brandish nodded again, and was about to say something else when she heard the footsteps approaching. Natsu turned to Marin and then they disappeared.

Now Natsu and Marin were hiding in a dark room somewhere else in the guild. "Marin, you know the plan, right? We need to find Mavis' body and you transport it to my brother."

"And how are you going to get out?" Martin whispered back.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just going to keep them distracted and then catch up." Natsu gave Martin a reassuring grin. The space mage gave a little nod. The two slowly and quietly made their way out of the room and down a Secret passage way

"This place has anti-space magic impressive for the mages of Ishgar." He stated more to himself then the prince.

"Does that mean you won't be able to teleport out of here when we find her body?" Natsu asked Turing to face the mage for a second

"No, your highness I should be able to teleport out but I wasn't able to teleport directly to her body this magic isn't strong enough to completely disable my magic." He boasted Natsu just nodded they made it to a large metal door after another few minutes of walking.

"I think this is it." Natsu stated he put both hands on the door and pushed he felt some resistance that was more magical in nature but he fought threw it. Little did he know back in the guild hall alarms were going off that some one was messing with Mavis's chamber.

Inside Natsu and Marin looked up to see a giant lacerma crystal in side was none other then Mavis body.

"It that?" Martain begin to say was cut off as Natsu destroyed the crystal the room shook from the force of the blow Marin barley managed to catch her body before she could hit the ground.

"Your highness." Martain gasped Natsu turned to him also realizing Mavis was naked Marin's eyes were close not withing to die know who this was to the emperor Natsu quickly took off his jacket and covered the body.

"Natsu!" they cheered, happy that Natsu came in just the nick of time to help. And was there to save Mavis front the intruder. Natsu flinched when he heard his voice coming from the hall. Soon the door way was filled with everyone left in the guild, he figured that everyone who wasn't here was out on the front lines. Natsu took a deep breath, shakily letting it out. It figured, he thought, that all the practices he had been doing to himself for when he would face the Fairy Tail, would go away the moment he arrived here. His head had gone blank for a moment, but he braced himself. If he failed here… he shook his head. He wasn't going to think about it. Not yet. He took a few more seconds to prepare himself as he breathed in and out.

This is when the act started…

"Natsu?!" Maco shouted everyone was now a little uneasy why Natsu hadn't answered yet

"Natsu?" Makarov asked seeing that he hadn't turned around to face then and hadn't answered he didn't recognize the other mage in the room holding first master's body but could tell he was from the Alverez army and from the fashion statement thought this could be the mage Erza and the others this was their Spatial mage.