"Good, all of you made it." Yeah, keep pushing up those glasses, it just make me want to shove them into your eyes even more. "Now that you're here we can… what is that?"
I pointed towards the red creature behind me. "This is Ignis, one of Fairy Tail's mascots."
"Hey! I thought I was the mascot!" The familiar cry of a blue cat screamed towards me.
But I didn't even look his way and continued on. "He also is our ride basically anywhere around Fiore. We save a lot of expenses on travel." And a lot of grief in having Natsu not almost die every time we get on a vehicle.
Lahar looked around the street in front of the Magnolia Inn. The people of the City were actually very used to Ignis since he used to do laps around the city. Some kids were even waving over to the red wyvern as they walked by in the streets despite it being the early morning.
"You… fly on a wyvern?"
"How did you get here then?" I asked while I scratched behind the ears of dragonic creature.
Lahar lifted up a circular device that reminded me of car keys. As he clicked it, it beeped and something appeared in the skies above: it was some kind of sleek looking aircraft. It was circular and had a tail, like a Helicopter without any blades and instead had glowing runes to replace the metal blades.
"This is a Magic Council issued, Hawk-Blade transport, an aircraft designed too carry ten or more people over long range. It's been commissioned for this mission and I am allowed to use it to take you all towards our base of operations in the Worth Woodsea."
My mind blinked as I thought back to the maps of this place. "That's… north of here, right?"
Lahar nodded. "Yes, I did intend to bring you all there through here, but seeing as you have another form of transportation, it seems that we are all ready to go."
We of course had to follow him, but that wasn't really a problem when we went into the air.
Natsu slammed his fists together in excitement. "Can you believe it?! We get to fight some of the strongest dark guilds in Fiore!"
Lucy groaned when hearing her friend's words. "Are you kidding me? I'm not even that good of a fighter? Why did Laxus have to send me along with all of you?"
"Lucy," I began, while still keeping my eyes on the white ship in front of Ignis. "You do realize, i'm not a warrior too, right?"
"Yeah, but at least you've got super armor! I don't have that luxury!"
"Give yourselves some credit," Erza's voice cut in. "You two have both grown tremendously since you both entered into the guild. Even Laxus must have realized your growth if he chose us when the Thunder Legion wasn't present."
"Are we really sure we should be away from the guild?" Gray added along. "Master Makarov is missing, and Fairy Tail is down two of it's strongest teams." One could argue that Fairy Tail was potentially at it's weakest at this moment, and we weren't even there to help it should something happen. Of course we would all worry.
"We really don't have a choice." I spoke out. "It was a call from the Magic Council. They really, really want Oracaion Seis stopped that they're even sending troops while still rebuilding. The situation looks grim for them too."
Lucy's whines could be heard before she spoke up. "Man, I knew taking this mission was a bad idea, but seeing how so many things are going on, I can't help but feel this is going to be a really, really, really bad mission." Even I could hear the fear in her voice, and with what was happening all around us, it was hard to feel confident.
"We should remain strong. We're not alone in this mission. Remember, other guilds are joining us and it would be a good idea to build our rapport." Leave it to Erza to remain diligent. It was good to have her on our side.
Still, what Lucy said did bother me. Something about this quest did not sit right with me at all.
We eventually reached the Worth Woodsea and found out that Lahar was flying lower towards the trees. Erza figured it was so that we wouldn't get spotted by the enemy if we flew to high. However, not too long after entering, I saw a sight that almost made me want to wipe my googles.
"Uh guys?" I asked while still keeping my eyes ahead. "Why is Lahar flying right for that cliff?"
The white machine the Rune Knight was piloting made no signs of slowing down.
"Is he crazy!?" Gray cried out while Lucy panicked.
"Wait," I felt Natsu place a hand on my right shoulder and heard him sniff the air. "That cliff has a weird smell..."
To our surprise, Lahar flew right into it. Instead of a crash, he phased through the solid rock as if it was water.
"Camouflage magic? Of course!" Erza cried out. Ignis didn't seem to be as impressed as he flew faster into the cliff without my signaling him to do. So without much warning, Team Valiant and I flew into the cliff and saw a large, white light house tower even though we were a very good distance away from the sea.
"It's kinda dark in here?" Lucy said as she squinted her eyes to adjust. When they flew into the mountain, the place was darkly lit like it was night despite it being day mere seconds ago.
"Then that means the camouflage doubles as a barrier," Erza explained. "If there's barely any light getting in, this is a very complex protection spell is up."
Lahar's ship was landing down right next to another helicopter-lookalike. Near the other air vehicle, there was someone standing and looking right towards us.
He was a young, well built young man around our age if not older. He had a short mustache funny enough. Unlike Lahar who had uniform of the usual Rune Knights, this one had a specialized uniform that reminded me the armor of medieval archers with a small cloak draped over his shoulders. He even had a quiver full of arrows, leading me to believe he had a bow somewhere hidden either in person or by magic. And from what I could see in the air, there were knife sheaths around his quiver.
"Yo, Lahar! Is that Fairy Tail? You wouldn't happen to bring in Mirajane Strauss did you?" He laughed with a huge smile as he said this. He was definitely jovial when compared to Lahar Vondarun.
The Rune Knight with glasses sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Major William Tovar, please act accordingly. This is one of the highest ranked missions of the Magic Council to date in recent times, and you shouldn't take this like a field trip."
Overhearing that didn't sit well with me. The magic council was putting a lot of resources into this, more than I originally thought in the first place.
"Yeesh, don't get your robe in a twist. Still at least there are some cuties from Fairy Tail." The wink he sent this way went mostly ignored by our Erza and our stripper.
Lahar focused back on topic. "Did you bring the Blue Pegasus Members?"
"Oh yeah, they went ahead to the base. I let them..." He trailed off when there was an echo of clapping and snapping done together musically in the distance.
"~Hey! Hey! Hey! He~llo!"
"~Hello!"
"Fairy!"
"Fairy!"
"Tail!"
"TAIL!?"
And then from somewhere a spot light shone down from somewhere on to three silhouettes. I'm just going to assume they're using magic somehow.
"WE'RE SO GLAD YOU MADE IT." Three handsome men exclaimed all together at the same time.
We're they practicing that?
"We are..." Wait, they're still doing a show for us.
"The Blue Pegasus..." And here comes the third.
"Elite crew…"
"The Tri-Men!"
They then introduced themselves in fancy knight names; Hibiki for the handsome brunette who even winked in our direction, the small blonde was named Eve, and they guy looking like a vogue model tsundere was Ren.
And then they posed. Lucy seemed to be blushing as she gushed about them, specifically Hibiki, which makes some sense since they and he are handsome. I wonder what kind of beauty practices they do to keep that handsome?
"And we have to meet these guys!?" Gray cried out before panicking at the fact he defied all odds and lost his shirt and coat in almost a second when I looked away from him. "I feel horribly undressed!" He panicked as Natsu somehow got—
"How are you motion sick!? You rode Ignis!" I cried out.
He weakly pointed to one of the Rune Knight flying machines. "I-I just looked into the cockpit.. and imagined...erp!" Natsu cried out as he fell to his knees, making me slap my forehead.
Lucy sighed. "And that's why those two are not on the list of Sorcerer Weekly."
"Kinda like you, huh Lucy?" I managed to comment nearby before she pointed at me accusingly.
"Now listen here! I didn't get to that annoying reporter because of Gajeel and Natsu fighting!" The blonde pointed to me with cartoon anger even though that reporter somehow didn't know she existed even when he wasn't near the two dragon slayers.
Meanwhile, the three hosts/mages were already flirting with Erza, which… well I suppose that would make sense to handsome people? I don't know, it feels like handsome and beautiful people get together easier. Though I have to wonder where they dragged that large couch with the heart from.
I heard them offer her food, but knowing my luck it's not meant for me not matter how much I wanted to snack on something.
Without me noticing, Ren came in and flirted with Lucy, who fell for it almost instantly.
I heard a soft whine next to me as Ignis seemed confused and tilted his head. I ended up petting the side of his head.
"Man, what's with these cornflakes?" I heard Gray walk beside me with Natsu slugging behind.
"I was conked out, who are these guys again?" The dragon slayer asked.
"From what few conversations I heard from Master Makarov, Blue Pegasus is not only a mage guild but a Host and Hostess Club. I'm sure the mages are just doing what they've trained to do and are just taking care of people like they were their customers."
"Oooohhh!" The fire and ice dinguses beside me seemed to understand my explanation.
"What's a host club?"
"I'll tell you later, Natsu."
"Calm down men." A fourth, commanding but smooth voice behind the three Blue Pegasus Members called out, making them all tense up and call out a name, Ichiya. "Give the ladies, some breathing room!"
Everyone but Erza seemed to be impressed with the voice. I wondered why our leader was like that until…
"It's been far too long, Miss Scarlet."
My mind started cranking on written quest reports. Now that I think about it, there was a report from Erza that did catch my attention. Unlike before where she would be one of the most detailed filers, there was one quest report that she strangely wrote far too plainly and with as little details as possible, like the few ones Natsu bothered to do, only not as crude. Didn't that report mention Blue Pegasus?
Eventually, Ichiya revealed himself—meh. Good on him that the other three seem to look up to him greatly.
"It seems destiny has brought us here together!" The man smiled as he turned towards us with sparkles somehow. "Erza! Miss Lucy!" And then he pointed to us males. "You three not so much."
Gray gawked while Natsu still somehow wasn't healing. I on the other hand finally recognized him and walked up to the man.
"You must be, Ichiya Vandarei Kotobuki," I said with a smile. "Whenever Master Makarov spoke about Master Bob from Blue Pegasus, your name came up as one of his best mages." I gave a small but sincere bow. "It's an honor to have you join us for this mission."
Ichiya looked at me for a second before his smile—and sparkles returned. "Oh ho!? Forgive me, you must be the lawyer that Master Bob mentioned! Master Bob has expressed jealousy he couldn't recruit him before Master Makarov, but now I see why! You've got a clean 'parfume' on you, my good man, and I'm proud to have you aboard too!"
"Thanks, but I mostly am just a back up than a front line fighter." I felt blood rush to my cheeks at the compliment and I rubbed the back of my head.
He reached out his hand and I shook it kindly. Behind me, I could hear my friends comment.
"How is it that Kain almost never get's phased by anything?!" Lucy cried out.
"I must admit, I'm jealous at how polite Kain remains… even to someone like Ichiya." I could feel Erza stepping farther away from us.
Gray then spoke out, saying how the 'pretty boys' should stay away from the girls, but unfortunately, of course Blue Pegasus would respond with the same hostility.
It didn't help that at the sound of a 'fight' Natsu was back in energy, trying to incite and join it.
"Can we all please calm down?" I went in between Gray, and Eve and Ren. It seemed like even Lahar was about to step in.
Erza tried to back me up, but Ichiya somehow got closer to her and started sniffing her. I thought he was a host, so why isn't he respecting personal space?
Our S-Class mage reacted like I thought, and she punched the smaller man away… only to be stopped by someone new who entered into the camouflage field.
Ichiya was caught by the head and then his head started to freeze, I could feel Gray gasp in shock before...
"You dare to greet us with this flying buffoon?" Well he wasn't flying before hand so—hold on, I know that voice… "Lamia Scale deserves more respect. We insist on it."
Oh hey it's! … That guy Gray fought! Our interaction was low when we first met, so I the only thing I remember was that he has the same master as Gray. Everything else was overshadowed by Symphony.
"It's you!" Both Gray and Lyon cried out when their eyes met. Huh, if I was a fan girl, you could probably read that as sexual tension increasing between them.
"Hey! So you went and joined a guild after all!" To be honest, I think this was a great time for Natsu to be happy about all this. We could use anything to kill the tension among everyone for now.
Lyon then threw Ichiya towards us and I sighed, moving head on to catch the guy, turn into my armor and rip the ice out.
"Maaann~. … Thank you my friend." How is he still sparkling? I swear, if he turns out to be a vampire—
Blue Pegasus interrupted my thoughts as they also threatened Lyon for attacking their leader.
However, a female voice echoed around and suddenly, the ground beneath Lucy made her lose balance. Lucy seemed to recognize the magic and voice as a girl named Sherry came out. She looks vaguely like that unconscious chick who was laying right next to Lucy in Galuna Island.
However, things got worse as Ichiya got away from me and tried to get back near Erza, she started to panic and bring out a weapon, at the same time Lyon and Gray were about to fight again, Blue Pegasus was glaring daggers, Lucy and Sherry seemed to hate each other, and of-creaking-course Natsu was provoking everyone!
"Desist, all of you! You are under the employment of the Magic Council! This will not be allowed!" Lahar shouted out loud but it seemed like he had little power over the rest of us.
I was about to help him until…
Bang!
The sound of a staff hitting the ground made us all look behind Lyon and Sherry. There were two very tall men, one was a bald man who had the staff in the first place.
The other one was obviously the host of Lamia Scale from the Magic Council because of his special uniform.
He was a man just as tall, if not taller than Laxus. He wore a full body Rune Knight armor that had the blue and white colors of the Council and the gold ankh symbol on his breastplate. What caught my eyes was the fact that he had a very owl themed helmet that was not only the same shape of one, but it's visor holes were glowing, maybe from his magic? I spotted two long handled blades hung behind his back and those blades looked pretty cool.
"Enough! We're here to work together to defeat the Oracion Seis under the guidance of the Magic Council! This is not the time to fight amongst ourselves!" The bald man cried out.
Lyon and Sherry relaxed first, surprisingly enough. "Yes Jura." As soon as Lyon said that name, everyone else seemed to recognize the man with a staff. He was a Wizard Saint, and dang, we have fire power like that with us but we still need more? What is Oracion Seis?!
The giant Rune Knight looked over towards the two Rune Knights, more specifically the major.
"Major William Tovar, why didn't you help Captain Lahar Vondarun keep everyone in line?"
The usually laid back rune knight straightened up and saluted. "I was about to, sir!"
Lahar did the same, but in a much more formal manner. "Field Commander, it's an honor to meet the Head Captain of the 9th Strike Force Unit, Tarsus Steelsoul."
"Captain Lahar," The large man walked over towards the Rune Knights. "I'm sorry I couldn't attend the first briefing, there was an issue with… retrieval. And at ease."
The two men let go of their salute.
The large man with an owl helmet turned to look towards the other guilds. "This is not just some quest; this mission determines the fate of countless innocent lives, and you're all fighting each other on a whim!?" His words made everyone flinch at the harsh truth. "Continue this any longer, and I will not hesitate to kick you out then and there. This will never continue again, agreed?"
Everyone begrudgingly relaxed.
The man named Tarsus Steelsoul closed his eyes and relaxed his stance by putting his hands behind his back. "There are three teams, only three more remain. We should wait patiently for them."
As soon as he said this, there was a boom as a red portal appeared not to far from where we were.
I could feel the others, including me, recognize that magic. Someone stepped out of the portal, revealing it to be none other than…
"Alexandra Raphael!?" Erza gasped as the bronze knight with flowing green hair tied up in a pony tail and vivid red eyes stepped out of the portal.
The mage who battled even Erza to a stand still had a different reaction to that of Lyon in that she gave a small and polite smile, easing whatever tension anyone in Fairy Tail had.
"Whoo-hoo! A portal to another place!" A upbeat voice cried out before something shot out of the red portal and skidded to a stop right next to Alexandra. It was young woman a half foot shorter than Alexandra with blue hair, wearing armor to me that looked almost like a, pink Norse Valkyrie what was noticeable was the massive halberd hanging from her back.
She gasped as she looked around and unhooked her halberd, orange colored eyes sparkling despite it being a little dark. "Oooh! Are we in Helheim!? I can't wait to fight an army of the undead!"
"Kara, our current master doesn't have the ability to open portals to the underworld." He looked like a Chinese martial artist. He wore a monk-like robe, black beads around his necklace, and he had surprisingly pink hair and black colored eyes… though that could have just been the lighting.
"Oh silly, Genji! You should open your mind to the possibility of GLORIOUS battle!" The valkyrie screamed as she threw he weapon up and had a foot raised on top of a nearby stone.
Alexandra looked to the pink haired monk with a black highlight. He sighed and pointed back to the portal. "Jason?"
Something wal—something tripped out of the portal and fell in face first on the ground. I noticed a mop of blue hair and a guy wearing knight armor.
The South Captain of Phantom Lord quickly helped him, revealing a scraggly blue haired guy with golden colored eyes wearing white knight armor.
"Uuh!? I'm fine! I'm fine!" The young man messily tried to stand up by himself—only to fall again.
"I'm okay!" He pointed a hand up while his face was down.
Soon he got back up and looked back to Alexandra. He sighed dejectedly and said, "Thanks, Alex."
Alexandra nodded and let the blue haired young man walk forward.
"Uh h-hey. W-We're Team Jupiter from Phantom Lord. I'm Jason Dracoheart. That's Genji Hako, she's Kara Geirdriful, and this is Alex—andra Raphael."
Wait a damn second, Team Jupiter? That just is nailing things in the head, are these guys just like the Weasely Brothers I met here!? Are these Fairy Tail versions off—
The sound of someone else exiting the portal was heard, and made me put aside those thoughts for now.
This person looked back towards the portal. "Thank you for your assistance, Master Voyu." And then started walking away from it as it started to close. Considering how Jason didn't introduce her, she must have been with the Rune Knights.
Yet as she stepped closer to all of us, we all noticed something was amiss.
"Huh? That armor!" Lucy gasped. "Isn't that from the Royal Fiore Army?"
The one who had just exited the portal as it closed was a knight woman with dark hair in a bowl cut, and piercing dark blue eyes. "My name is Raina Zoxen. I am a representative of the Fiore Army and am still currently cross-helping the Magic Council rebuild. I was asked to participate in this mission." She bowed. "Please to make you acquaintance."
So she's like a female Lahar. Great.
There was a gasp coming from the Kara girl as she moved closer towards Erza. "Oh my god! You're Erza Scarlet! I've heard amazing things about you from Alexandra! How you shined with the light of a million blades and fought with after images and your hair shinning gold with your aura!" That sounds a lot like a certain famous animation from Japan. And that also sounds completely not true… I think?
She was pulled back by her monk friend. "Kara, they had a sword fight. Nothing that extreme."
The valkyrie warrior started to rapidly talk, even going around us and saying some rather over blown rumors. Genji, the monk styled warrior, seemed to be patiently following around her and saying small talk in response to his friend's overzealous nature.
"So that's four. We have two more: Cait Shelter and Qautro Cerberus." Lahar spoke up. Since those two names were said in one sentence, I realized we were basically waiting for cats and dogs.
"If I recall," Major Tovar spoke out. "Cait Shelter gave us a message saying that they would send us one person."
"Wait, they're only sending one!?" Lucy cried out, before everyone around us started to murmur about it. "What kind of monster are they sending if they just sending one person!?"
"Kyah!" Huh? That voice sounded far too young.
I spotted Jason Dracoheart look behind me. "Oh thank goodness it's not just me—I mean is that person alright!?"
I turned around and… What? A little… girl?
Everyone turned to see a little girl dusting herself off after falling down. She looked at the group of people, and it wasn't hard for her to feel intimidated by the sheer number of people already there.
"H-Hi. I'm sorry I'm late. I'm Wendy Marvel from Cait Shelter."
It wasn't a lie to say that everyone, including me, were surprised that the person we were sent to team up with was a little girl with blue hair and wearing clothes almost that of a Native American.
"Why would Cait Shelter send a little girl alone in this mission?" For once, I was vehemently agreeing with Sherry from Lamia Scale.
"She is not alone! You shouldn't jump to conclusions, you gaudy tramp!" A posh accent screamed out as behind Wendy… is that a white, female version of Happy? You know, come to think of it, I had seen normal cats sometimes, so I never really questioned Happy. Are there more cats like him if that female feline is?
Oh wait, speaking of Happy, he looks love struck. The first girl he sees? Man, he must have been lonely.
"Wow, what a cuite." Blue Pegasus posed dramatically; they were really going to try and flirt with a little girl and a cat—oh god they were. Don't they know how to act like normal people?
"Hmm?" My attention was caught as Erza was staring intently at the girl. "Is something wrong?"
"Her magic..." Whatever Erza was about to say, she stopped, it looked like she wasn't as sure as she thought she was. "It's probably nothing."
It's never nothing for us. I wanted to say that, but I was too focused on something else.
"I know you're excited, but please wait for everyone." This must have been the representative of the Rune Knights to pick up Cait Shelter. She was a tall, slim, but toned, young woman with medium-length choppy light blonde hair and brown eyes. She wore a feminine Rune Knight uniform that resembled a practical version of a regal noblewoman-esque dress with a white cape, and its skirt was knee-length and had modesty pants underneath, along with protective enchanted chain mail and a breastplate added within which had the white and blue colors of the Council and an ankh symbol on the chest. In addition, she also wore high-heeled armored boots and white ladylike gloves. At her back was a long metal staff which was coiled at the tip, and bore the Rune Knights' symbol on it. Within the center was a sphere, seemingly a globe made of crystal, topped by a small cross.
Wendy looked back at the woman and bowed. "I'm sorry, Ms. Bella Solaris."
"It's fine, sweetie," The woman said as she walked forward. "Just stay close to people you trust."
With them arriving, and with Blue Pegasus going back to flirting with all the newcomer ladies, things fell back into a state of well, I guess pseudo-harmony?
"Five teams are here." Jura of the Wizard Saints declared. "This means that there is only one team remaining, Quarto Cerebrus."
Erza sighed and folded her arms. "Knowing them, they'll send in Bacchus Groh."
For the first time, I heard Ichiya, who was usually so positive and bold, drop down his stance and put a hand on his head. "Meen~ Do they have to send in him?"
The other three Blue Pegasus members actually slumped and had varying levels of annoyance and… was that fear? "The last time he was there to send a message from Master Goldmine, he drank all our bars to the last drop and broke our main lobby! The place smelled like booze even after we got it fixed and it took a month to get rid of it!" Ken complained as he rubbed his hand through his hair.
I spotted even Jura sigh. "I too have met the ace of Quatro Cerberus. An excellent mage… but his personality leaves for much room for improvement."
"Whoa wait, even Ichiya and Jura are hesitant to see this guy?" Gray cried out before looking towards Erza, "What's the deal with this Bacchus guy?"
Our unofficial leader looked at our team. "He's basically like Cana. However, while Cana has times she is sober, Bacchus is drunk even every second of the day, even when asleep."
That made the rest of Team Valiant think back to an always drunk Cana, but was powerful.
"But I must admit, in a fight, he would be an excellent ally to have." Erza sighed before glaring towards a certain Blue Pegasus member.
"Oh hey, speak of the devil." Among the rune knights, William, he looked up to see the last air craft fly through the barrier and land on the ground outside of the tower.
Lahar walked up to the rune knight getting out of the cockpit. "Doranbolt, you're late."
"Huh? Uh y-yeah. S-Sorry about that," The man fidgeted as he looked over towards the mages and seemed to rubbed the back of his head frantically.
"Where are the Quarto Cerberus Mages?" Lahar looked behind him as someone came out of the other side of the flying machine.
"Right, here boyo," A scratchy and familiar voice cried out as the person who stepped out was…
Wait a second, him?!
"Master Goldmine?!" Fairy Tail, and even Blue Pegasus shouted out loud as they pointed to the man who had just stepped out. Instead of it being the Bacchus fellow I was hearing about, it was the very same old man we had briefly met all those nights ago when we first fought Lullaby!
"Doranbolt!" Lahar quickly looked to a now horrified Rune Knight. "Why did you bring the Guild Master of Quarto Cerberus!?"
"You all didn't say anything about Guild masters not joining. Don't tell me I'm too old to join your club?" The old man smirked as I could tell, even in this dark place, there was a wink behind his sunglasses.
Without another word from Lahar, Master Goldmine looked towards the mages and raised his hand. "Yo, Fairy Tail! It's funny to see you wackos here of all places again."
"W-We," I found my self stammering, and what was worse was that I was the least train wreck right then and as everyone else in Team Valiant, even Erza who was too dumbfounded to speak, were too confused to even move from their frozen state. "We didn't expect to se you here, Master Goldmine."
"Oh wow, I haven't seen a face that shocked since I tried to throw Master Precht a surprise Birthday Party!" He laughed at an inside joke before it just as quickly fell to a stop. "I shouldn't have used vodka after all..."
He looked over towards Blue Pegasus. "Hey, Blue Pegasus, you all look good as well. How the heck are you guys so handsome?"
"Master Goldmine, it's an honor to see you once more! You're wild parfume is unmistakable!" Ichiya posed as he responded.
"We're glad to see you once more!" The other three said at the same time and gave a bow as well. It was kinda interesting seeing Blue Pegasus show more respect for the man than they did with the other male gender mages here.
Goldmine seemed to say hello to not just Blue Pegasus and Fairy Tail, but the other guilds as well. I soon noticed something, the old man was purposely being friendly with all the other guilds. It really showed how experienced the old man was socially. While when we all met, we were about to be at each other throat, but the old friend of Master Makarov was putting everyone at ease with his casual talk, and making us more comfortable around him, and by proxy everyone else.
In a sense, it was a good thing a Guild Master actually came in after all than another S-Class mage with a big personality. If anyone could manage everyone to work together, it would be Master Goldmine.
"Sir," The largest of the Rune Knights, Soulsteel, approached the master of Quarto Cerberus. "I must ask why you volunteered to come instead of sending your own mages?"
"Well, kid," Oh right, for a second there, I forgot he was as old as Makarov. He honestly looks younger than both Master Bob and Master Makarov. "To be honest, I had no one to send. I had my boys on certain missions around the town and out, and those that remained didn't really have the skills yet to take on this wild mission. So I thought about joining back in the fray myself. I hope I'm not going to slow you down too much."
The Field Commander nodded once. "No, your presence is just as welcomed for this, if not more," He then turned to look over towards the rest of us. "With the arrival of Master Goldmine, all teams are now present and accounted for. Please all head into the tower so we may begin the debriefing of our mission and it's conditions."
It seemed like this large group of Six Rune Knights, sixteen mages, one Guild Master, two talking cats, one wyvern, and me was shaping up to be some power house that I doubt any dark guild would want to face.
So it only confused me when we would need this much people to take on the Oracion Seis.
Where they really that strong? But more than that… that Wendy girl…
"Hey, Kain! You coming?" I looked over towards Natsu who was calling me over.
"Sorry, right!" I spoke out before I ran up towards the door. However, as soon as I got closer towards the double door, realization hit me.
I turned towards the red wyvern. "Sorry, Ignis, you can't fit through the doors."
The wyvern gave a low growl of annoyance before he lifted his neck and yawned. The red creature didn't even seem bothered and quickly went to sleep.
I leered at how laid back the dragonic creature really was.
"So hey, I feel like I've heard that little girl's name before." Natsu's voice brought me back as we both walked inside the tower. "But I don't know where."
The fact that Natsu said that he might have known Wendy made me surprised. "You do?"
Natsu looked at me and pointed into the direction she went ahead. "Hey, can you remember her for me?"
I gave him a flat look. How the heck was I supposed to remember his own memories? I sighed before answering him. "I can't do that, but I can try to jog your memory. Was she related to the hospital girl that was possessed by an evil spirit on her birthday?"
"Nah, that can't be right, she was bald."
My eyes snapped open. "That was a cancer patient and you still—no. Not falling for that. Well, there was another report in the town of Gozven, and that had a little girl you saved from a burning building that you caused."
Natsu seemed to think hard. "… No, she became bald too when her hair was burning and I swallowed the fire and her hair to save her."
Dammit, Natsu. "Dude, I have a feeling the more I try to remind you, the more depressed I'm going to get."
Our conversation got cut short as we entered a really cool looking command center. There was a holographic table in the center and the place was filled with Lacrimas projecting data and screens. It felt like something straight out of a high tech military base.
Tarsus Steelsoul walked towards the table and Lahar shortly followed him. A holographic map of the area were were in sparked up and the large man spoke out.
"What I am about to say is confidential, but important to the quest of taking out the Oracion Seis. Yesterday, at 0207 hours, Azkal'Duzan Prison, a maximum security mage prison located among the northern isles from here, was breached and utterly destroyed. A Rune Knight battalion was sent to stop whatever problem the prison had, but as of thirty minutes later… we lost all contact with both the battalion and the guards and wardens on the isle."
Everyone seemed to stay silent at the fact. I could feel my stomach flip.
"Approximately, the prison held 513 dark mages, all listed with A-class crimes or higher. Among them were thirteen dark guilds that were defeated by other guilds and Rune Knight officers." Lahar stated out loud. "Before we lost contact with all of them, video feeds describe the prison was breached by around half a dozen individuals, Oracion Seis. It's no stretch to say that the Dark Guild has recruited them as manpower to their main objective."
"W-We're up against more than five hundred people!?" Lucy cried out a she paled and had dread filled over her. Wendy and that Jason guy also looked completely horrified to learn such odds were against them.
"Oooh! Ooh! The battle shall be legendary!" Kara had like the exact opposite response.
"Five hundred?! Oh yeah! Let me at all of them!" Oh dear god there's two Natsus.
"Erhm!" Lahar coughed into his fist to bring focus back. "Continuing the subject on their objective, we go to our current location: The Worth Woodsea. This is a place where an ancient civilization of mages sealed away a powerful magic known as Nirvana."
The guild master of Quarto Cerberus placed a hand on his forehead after sighing deeply. "And here I thought it was just a rumor of it existing."
Jura looked over to him. "I don't believe I've heard of that before today."
"From what little reports of information we have left," Lahar spoke out as he turned towards Jura. "Nirvana is believed to be a strong form of conversion magic."
"Conversion magic?" Erza repeated.
Tarsus elaborated more. "The info directly quotes, "Turning Light to Dark", but Nirvana can switch emotions and energies between their opposite. For example, I am loyal to the Magic Council and what it stands for. However, Nirvana has the capability of completely reversing my morals, making me hate and despite it even with all my memories and reasons from before. It's nothing short of brain washing magic in a grand scale."
M-Mind control? On a grand scale?!
Lahar continued. "It's not just it's brainwashing power to look out for. The incomplete info suggests that Nirvana also has a destructive capability besides that."
"Why on earth would the ancients create something that powerful!?" The blue haired knight from Phantom Lord cried out.
"That information is lost to us." Lahar stated. "It is also one of the reasons why the Magic Council is sending a small, but elite group to handle this situation. Sending a massive army would only be turned against us in seconds should it be activated."
"But does that mean we would have to fight each other if it does activate?!" Wendy's voice hit my ears as it was filled with fear. If anyone of us lost ourselves, she would easily be one of the first to get…
Damn it! What was her guild thinking in sending her here?!
"Do not worry," Lahar spoke out calmly, as he and Tarus looked towards the right, the other three Rune Knights and Riana from The Fiore Army brought a box containing small Lacrima devices that looked allot like a blue tooth from my world.
"The devices you see before you are special anti-telepathic Lacrima, meant for your ear. These were created around the idea of dispelling hypnosis, telepathic, mental, and emotional magic based attacks. Unfortunately, to protect the mind further, we can't even have a telepathic link, but the Lacrima are designed as com links."
At that, everyone took one and placed it around their ear. I heard Lucy, Wendy, and Jason sigh in relief at the fact that with those on, they wouldn't have to worry about—
"But I must warn you, the Lacrima were made under research of current mental based magic. We have no idea how this will hold up to Nirvana's older and less refined energy."
Whatever hope the cowardly trio had, was now dashed horribly. But to be fair, the rest of us were also very upset that this wasn't a 100 percent fix.
"So what's the point of these things?!" Gray said as he held on to his Lacrima.
"Would you rather go into battle without it then?" Our ice mage flinched under the glare of the Rune Knight with glasses. "Our scientists were rushed to create these things, and this was the best they could do. It's a testament to their skill that they were able to make something to protect all of you in such short notice."
I turned to Gray. "In other words: it's better than nothing, Gray." I spoke as I hung mine near my ears, making the Ice Mage sigh and him following my lead.
Lahar continued. "As you can see, Nirvana is their main goal. However, we do have good news: it hasn't been found yet by Oracion Seis. In fact, despite the many years of people visiting this land, no one has found Nirvana."
While that was indeed good news, something bothered me as I stepped forward and asked, "Then what makes Oracion Seis so confident they can find it?"
"We don't know. But what we do know is that we can't allow them to find it."
"Our mission is simple, but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous by any means." Tarsus pressed a button as images of six people floated above the Holographic Table. "These are the Oracion Seis."
The first screen was that of a man with brown hair and a giant, purple snake around him. "This is Cobra, all we know about him is that he's some sort of snake wizard."
Natsu frowned when he saw the face. "Beady eyes and a mischievous smirk. He looks like trouble to me."
"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black." Both Lyon and Gray spoke out at the same time.
They moved on, showing someone in a track suit with an outrageous mohawk and glasses. "This is Racer, from what reports we do have, his name is straight to the point. He is believed to use Speed Magic, but for some reason those few people who survived encounters with him described something off besides normal super speed."
"I don't know what it is, but I think I really hate this guy." Gray leered towards the picture.
"I actually concur with Gray on this one." Lyon added in, signaling that the ice mages seemed to hate the speed mage.
The next picture showed a man with tiles on his face. This time, Riana from the Fiore Army spoke out. "This is Divine Eye' Hot Eye. From what we could gather, he does almost anything for money, and has done so, destroying and killing countless army battalions before this." There was an edge in her voice as the picture showed a battalion of Fiore Knights, broken beneath the man. It didn't take much to realize that she was speaking in behalf of her fallen allies.
"A sickening man." Jura commented as his eyes leered.
The next showed a picture of a woman wearing a feathery dress. "This woman is known as Angel. Not much is known about her, but intel suggests she's their reconnaissance agent due to the fact she was seen in high security places and was able to escape with important information each time."
"She must be the scary, pretty girl…" Lucy shivered at the dark smile of the creature.
Afterward they showed a man sleeping on a magic carpet in a dark room. "Unfortunately for us, we know next to nothing about this member, only his name: Midnight."
"Just his name?" Genji from Phantom Lord asked out loud.
"Could it have something to do with his magic?" Erza commented more for herself than for everyone involved.
Finally, they showed a dark skinned man with tattoos all over his body and white hair. "And this is Brain, the leader of The Orcaion Seis."
There was a second of silence as I assumed everyone was taking in the man who brought them all together, but we soon were distracted by Goldmine opening his mouth.
"Whoa, whoa. That's all you're going to say about this guy? Nothing on the fact he used to be the head of the Magic Bureau?"
"Wait a second, this guy worked for the Magic Council!?" The blue haired Jason screamed out what everyone was thinking.
"H-How do you know that?!" Lahar screamed out. "That information was classified!"
Goldmine turned towards Lahar and gave him a flat look. "Are you really asking that? Kid, when most people here were learning how to tie their shoes, I was already gaining wrinkles. I was there when in his early years, the Magic Council liked showing him off in Sorcerer Weekly because of him becoming the youngest head of the Magic Bureau on record. He looked less like a thug then and was easy on the eyes of women and some dudes."
You know, I'm starting to see why the Magic Council was so adamant about stopping the Oracion Seis now. This is starting to feel like the Figo Valley Incident all over again, only this time, more people involved. As much as I wanted to open my mouth, the fact that they hid information like that from us, already is a bad sign if the rune knights and mages can't work together like this.
Jura turned towards the officers of the Rune Knights. "Why withhold information like that?"
Tarsus answered calmly. "It is the rules of the higher ups. However, I must actually thank you, Master Goldmine for bringing that up. It saves us a lot of future hassle of keeping it in the first place." He stood up straight and puffed up his chest. "Brain, or who he was previously known as, Dr. Bryan Ockado, was one of the Magic Bureau's most prominent mages and magic scientists. He has paved the way of magical research and created over a three hundred new magical spells outside the conventional and historic ones. The man is as dangerous as he is smart."
No one liked hearing this. However this did bring up a question that one of us was quick enough to ask. "Wait, why would someone so highly acclaimed by the magic council, leave and create a dark guild of his own?"
"That is classified information." Lahar quickly spoke to shoot down that question of Eve from Blue Pegasus.
"It's alright, Captain," Steelsoul looked towards the man before towards Eve. "That information wasn't given to us at all. None of us here have clearance as to why he left in the first place."
"But there are rumors," Everyone glanced towards Goldmine, his voice and tone more serious. "aren't there?"
"… What did you hear?" The Field Commander asked plainly.
Everyone looked towards the only guild master in the room as he began to speak. "There was a lot of them when he was 'fired'. There were a lot of crazy ones, he had an affair, he was too greedy and inhumane, and another was because he crossed one of his bosses." He spoke of those first rumors nonchalantly. However, his tone shifted as he began once more. "One of them sounded different from the others: rumors of Dr. Bryan witnessing a secret of the Magic Council… and going insane after learning of it."
We all looked towards the Rune Knights after that.
"Those are just rumors, and are exaggerated by the masses, they hold no validation whatsoever." Lahar dismissed adamantly.
"Well, you're right on that kiddo. The last thing you wanna do is believe in the hearsay of barmates." The old man scoffed as he relaxed into his easy going state—now that I think about it, he's pretty laid back for a guy whose guild motto is to go wild.
"To finish my previous point," The Field Commander spoke out after the subject passed. "Alone, each user has the power to destroy a guild. Together they are a force to be reckoned with. Even with all of you together, I doubt we can beat them head on."
"Do we have a plan of attack?" Ichiya posed, pointing two fingers from both hands towards the giant of a man.
"With how outnumbered we are in an unfamiliar location? A plan of attack now, where we don't even know the temporary base of our enemies, would be like firing a spell at the sun. As much as we are in a hurry to stop the revival of Nirvana, a careless mistake will cost us dearly. We need reconnaissance and we need team building. Lady Raina here and Major Tovar will be scouring the land, while we go in one of this tower's training rooms and get familiar with our new allies."
The idea of something easy for now was both relaxing and stressful considering what it was for in the near future.
"We need to be slow and careful in this."
Slow and careful were not the words I would have described the room suddenly turning red and emergency alarms blaring at max volume.
Deep within the Worth Woodsea, six figures all walked into a dark room where a giant stone table marked with glowing green runes stood at the center.
"Brain, what was the call for? I thought you ordered us to begin searching for Nirvana?" Angel asked as they all arrived.
"The convicts can handle that, I need you all here for something far more important. The Magic Council has made another move against us. And from what few strings I have left in the Council, I was told that there are six guilds hired to take us on along with six capable Rune Knights." Brain pointed towards the table where specific runes glowed and revealed nearly thirty pictures.
"The pictures you see are supplied by the fact that the Magic Council is heavily based on formalities..." His face fell as he thought of something. "I won't bore you with the many machinations of their systems and rules, but to make a long story short, I hacked an info base that allowed me to see the files of those who they hired to fight us."
"They sent only twenty three people at us?" Racer folded his arms as he saw all the pictures, a smirk appearing on his face. "We've taken down more people than that in a minute."
"They asked for teams from the best legal guilds in the country. Do not underestimate them." Brain's light glare was enough for Racer to silently take back his comment. "This is a briefing, I need to tell you all who we're up against."
"Briefing? But there's a lot of them." Hot Eye blanched as he looked up, cluing everyone else into the info dump that was about to occur.
"Dang, I can hear it from Brain's mind, and it is a lot." Cobra started to sweat, and for the first time much he disliked using his hearing magic.
Midnight was already going back to sleep, much to the envy of all the others.
However, Jellal Fernandes silently looked at a picture of a familiar scarlet haired woman.
Brain ignored the obvious indignation of his guild members and started.
"I will start off with the number one threat out of all the people gathered against us: Goldmine, or as previously known as: The Golden Hell Hound. He is the guild master of Quarto Cerberus."
"They sent a guild master after us?" Racer then looked over towards another picture. "Hey wait a second, this picture here is that of Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale, isn't he a Wizard Saint? Why is this random guild master higher priority than someone on Jellal's level?" The speed mage threw a thumb over towards the still dazed blue haired Wizard Saint, who kept his eyes on the picture of a red head like a man on a life line.
"Because, Racer, Goldmine is at the level of a Wizard Saint, a lower, if not the same level as Makarov Dreyar. He, Makarov, and Bob of Blue Pegasus are nearly all in the same level of magical prowess due to them being previous teammates, but both Bob and Goldmine have formally declined being called Wizard Saints. If they had accepted, you wouldn't see Jura in that list at all, considering even Phantom Lord's Current master, Voyu Carliso, was a candidate until he formally declined."
That caused everyone in the room, except Jellal and Midnight, to gasp.
"I don't even think all the money in the world can make me go against someone in Makarov's level!" Hot Eye started to sweat at the notion.
Brain raised up his hand in a motion to get everyone to calm down. "I understand everyone's apprehension at our biggest threat already, but rest assured, I have failsafes to deal with him. However, I must stress this enough, if you face him, escape is your only option. Jellal and Midnight, that goes for both of you as well. While both of your powers are great, Goldmine's experience is more than likely going to get you."
The two silent men remained quiet, but it seemed like they both absorbed that information.
"Let me continue, I will go on with the briefing, explaining each mage we've detected, including the Rune Knights."
Brain went on talking from the most dangerous to the least. Jura and the S-Class mages among them were emphasized to be careful when facing, Jellal kept staring at Erza's picture even after her mention. He then went on to explain the Rune Knights in charge, who they were and had information on their magic. Brain then went on to explain possible weaknesses they had.
There was a lot of commentary from the Oracion Seis as the briefing went on, Angel being interested that a Celestial Spirit Mage was among them, to Cobra hearing about a Salamander, Racer expressing how he disliked the two ice students of Ur for some unexplained reason, and Hot Eye being interested in Phantom Lord's Team Jupiter due to the fact Phantom Lord was said to be one of the richest guilds in Fiore. Even Midnight seemed to wake up for a moment and eyed Doranbolt of the Rune Knights oddly before going back to sleep.
However, Brain lingered on this last mage.
"If Goldmine was the most dangerous, this one is the most important mage for our plan to succeed." Brain pointed towards the picture of a small girl with blue hair. "Wendy Marvel of Cait Shelter."
"A little girl?" Hot Eye seemed surprised to hear such words about something like that. "Why is she important?"
"It's not her, necessarily, it's her guild." Brain stood up straight and put his hands behind his back. "I've told you all about Nirvana and that finding it was the key to our victory, but I didn't tell you everything yet because I needed to see if the Magic Council would take the bait… and thankfully they did."
"Take the bait?" Angel tilted her head as she repeated the confusing phrase.
"When I had heard that the Magic Council was crippled because of Jellal here, I saw it as a chance to finally destroy the fools in Era. Nirvana has the potential to allow us to defeat the council and to rule over all of Ishgar, but no one has ever found it. Even the Council has no idea where it is despite a general location. However, that doesn't mean no one knows where it is."
Cobra seemed to put two and two together. "Wait, you said her guild… does that mean?"
Brain looked towards the mage with a snake. "Yes. After years of research, I have found a hint that describes the people of Cait Shelter to be descendants of the very makers of Nirvana. The last of my traces in the Magic Council was spent in having them hire that reclusive guild along with the five other ones in the guise that they would better know the lay of the land."
Everyone looked back towards the picture of Wendy. Even Jellal broke his stare to do so. "She is the key to finding Nirvana. If the council was unable to get her or anyone from her guild, I would have abandoned this quest all together."
"So she knows the secret to Nirvana?"
Brain narrowed his eyes after Angel's comment, but it wasn't towards her; it was towards the picture. "...They knew..."
His guild looked at Brain as he slowly clenched his fists. Then the were startled as he slammed both his hands on the table, making the images turn static for a moment from impact. "That was why they sent a child in their stead! It was to obey the council! If we got her hands on her, there is no telling that she wasn't old enough to be taught their secrets! Damn!"
Jellal released a breath he didn't know he was holding in. To be honest, the idea of a little girl being involved with this upset him greatly.
"Calm down, Brain, maybe she does know?" Hot Eye tried to coax their leader.
"As if they would teach her all their dark secrets—" Brain's expression changed suddenly once more, he put a hand on his chin and looked back at the picture. "… But they would teach her the best of their culture."
Brain looked to them all once more. "This might salvageable after all, but none of this can happen without us taking in Wendy Marvel alive."
"Want me to do it boss? I can swoop in and pick her up easy." Racer volunteered, his stance loosening up at the prospect of running.
"You're not going in that easily with their base lined with Justsu Shiki Barriers made by the Rune Knight Lahar. And despite reports from our scouts of almost half a dozen ships, we have no idea where their exact base is, just a general location around the southwest area."
"I'm assuming there is a plan then?"
Brain's response was only to smile like someone had asked him a topic he was all too eager to share. "It's a simple strategy, used for hunters to get rabbits and foxes out of their hiding place."
"CAN SOMONE PLEASE TURN THAT OFF!?" I could barely hear my own screaming with my hands clamping my ears down hard enough to prevent water from going in, but Lahar quickly activated the controls of the place and shut the alarm down.
However, Lahar was still pressing buttons at the same urgency with the alarms on. The screens all changed, showing a flame lit up in the forest.
"Are we under attack?" Tarsus narrowed his eyes and made a motion towards his blades. His action made all of us tense as well.
"No that was a proximity alert. There's a fire not to far from our location." We all looked at the fire on the scree—
FHSOOM!
Another fire exploded, followed by another, and another. Soon, more and more flames started to show in different locations. However, the problem was that they all seemed to be within our area.
"Is this Oracion Seis?!" Someone from the Blue Pegasus group asked.
"They're setting the forrest on fire! This is a tactic some hunters use to lure out their prey! They're trying to flush us out!" Tovar, the Rune Knight host for Blue Pegasus shouted out.
"Everyone, calm down!" Lahar shouted. "The barrier around this tower is built with specialized camouflage. Even should the forrest burn, our location will not be given away and we will be protected by the flames."
"We're just going to let them burn the area around us?" The disbelief in that knight Jason's face was easy to notice and feel after saying it.
"Better than them gaining the edge and finding out where we are. We can't lose our base of operations now!" Lahar returned back.
There was a shriek coming from the forrest. The camera automatically panned to see hundreds of critters of both recognizable from my world and weird creatures from this world. They were all running in fear but…
Some of them were being killed, blasted, and one even had a magic rope snared around it's neck and it slowly chocked to death in front of the screen.
Then there was the cackle of mad laughter. Figures appeared, but the dim light of the fires casted shadows over the figures, making the screen unable to see who was walking into view.
"Haha! Look at these stupid creatures run! How much you wanna bet the Rune Knights and those legal mages will do the same thing!?" One of them shouted out loud.
"I bet they'll squeal like little pigs! I bet they'll taste like them too!"
"Speaking of animals, I hear that some of these animals skins will reach a hefty price in the black market! Let's all keep hunting them so we can get their pelts!"
The camera shook before the three figures turned towards the direction of the camera and fired small blasts. The result was pieces of an animal body flying towards them, and…
There was squealing heard as everyone turned to a baby dear with two broken hind legs. It was close to the camera and all it could do was scream in pain, its wide eyes showing horrible fear as it just cried and cried… it made me look away. But I could still hear it's screams of fear and pain.
The men all laughed as they charged their palms… and the combined blast towards the little creature made that camera lose transmission.
SLAM!
The holo table shook and crack as we all looked towards… Natsu, who had just slammed his palms on the holo table with steam coming out of him.
Veins were showing in his forehead and his teeth were grinding so hard that you could swear they were making sparks to add to the steam coming out form him. "THOSE… BASTARDS…!"
"Desist this instant! We cannot—"
My mind moved fast. I knew what Natsu was about to do. The logical thing would be for him to wait it out, but seeing that just now?
All I could do was step away from the space between him and the door.
No sooner than I did, Natsu blasted off from where he was with reckless abandon, destroying the door as if it wasn't even there in the first place.
"What!? What is he doing!?" Lahar yelled, his eyes in disbelief. "He's going to ruin everything!" Magic seemed to gather in his hand, and I could tell he was about to do something to stop him.
Yet, it seemed like I got something from Natsu after spending so much time from him as I yelled, "STOP!"
Everyone looked towards me. The strangers and friends, all the while, flames kept growing in the other screens. I inhaled and stepped back towards the exit.
"...You're right. Natsu is so damn stupid, he never listens, and he's stubborn as hell!" I shouted out loud, gripping my fist in anger as I said this… but... "But damn him and his bleeding heart! ... He cares. Even though they're nothing but animals, even though we can have an advantage over our enemies by just standing by… I know he won't because he knows even animals deserve to be protected and cared for."
I ended up looking towards Happy and giving him a small smile. The blue cat seemed to realize, that if Natsu would ignore those animals, it would be like ignoring Happy in pain.
"Which is why, I'm sorry Rune Knights. I know you have a really great plan but... I need to my job as lawyer of Fairy Tail," The red armor activated around me in a flash of red light.
"And and protect my clients." With that, I ran out there, chasing after Natsu as fast as I could.
"What!? Hey!" Lahar yelled as Kain left.
"Kain is right. Natsu is stupid," Erza started to walk towards the exit. "But to let those vile people do as they please, is a far more foolish choice." The rest of Fairy Tail started to follow after her until...
"Fairy Tail! Desist! Continuous insubordination will result in..." Lahar's voice died down as Tarsus Steelsoul put a hand on his shoulder.
The Field Commander looked up to Erza. "We need a plan. If you're going to go out there, activate the comlinks."
The S Class mage gave a small, but thankful smile at the understanding of the field commander. She nodded and pressed on the device attached to her ear, signaling the other Fairy Tail members to do the same.
"Come on guys! Natsu and Kain are going to need our help!" Happy cried before the rest of Fairy Tail bolted out the door.
"Hey! Wait a second! We can't let our rival team take all the glory for themselves!" Kara Geirdriful, the girl in pink-themed norse armor, pointed dramatically to the exit and threw her customized halberd into the sky. "We shall return honor to Phantom Lord! Tally-ho!" She screamed as she ran.
"Wait, Kara!" Jason yelled before Genjii and Alexandra ran after her. The knight with blue hair groaned, rubbed his hair, but ran after his team.
"Come now, students!" Ichiya posed and pointed towards the door. "Let us show them the true power of Blue Pegasus!"
"The time of Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord being the best is over," Lyon scoffed. "Now is the time for Lamia Scale!"
"Well aren't you all pretty wild?" Goldmine managed to laugh with a smile on his face that wasn't going away any time soon.
And with that, the rest of the teams except Cait Shelter and the Rune Knights, left after Fairy Tail's lead.
Lahar groaned into his hand. "This goes against protocol!"
The field commander actually nodded. "I know. But no plan survives contact with the enemy, in this case, our allies." He looked over towards the little girl still in the room. "Ms. Marvel?"
The little girl winced at the call. "Y-Yes, sir!?" She even saluted in nervousness.
"You stay here with Ms. Bella Solaris. She is more capable to defend herself and you, while in this place."
"S-Stay? I-I can help!" The little girl tried to say.
"I know you can, but trust me when I say you're better off in the back lines than the front lines." The giant man then looked towards the rest of the Rune Knights and Riana Zoxen. "As for the rest of us? I believe it's our duty to bring back these escaped criminals."
"Right!"
"You think it would be easy to spot someone with pink hair, but no." I could have sworn he ran in this direction. But did he take a turn somewhere else?
My ears caught the sound of wind whistling—something was coming my way and I jumped back from several magical blasts that destroyed a tree beside me.
"Well, well, well..." As soon as the voice hit my ears, my brain sent messages telling me that I recognized that voice.
"I remember that color. The same exact color of that damned wyvern that was supposed to work for me!"
I turned and spotted him in the lead of over a dozen other criminal mages. Trauma returned, my heartbeat quickened, and I ended up pointing towards the man who brought me to near death on Team Valiant's first mission, the man who even Kageyama was once afraid off, and the mage who killed more people than I met in this world, and was the ace of Eisenwald…
The one… the horrible…
"Guy wearing mascara!"
Okay, blurting that out loud sounded funny despite how fearful I was.
I mean, some of the other escaped criminals started to drop and howl with laughter, which at least lightened up this bad situation somewhat.
Theeennnnn my dangers senses spiked to eleven when I realized that the guy who almost killed me was showing a face mixed of murder and anger at the realization that I completely forgot his name.
I hate my life.
{Author Notes}
Edit: thanks to gwong981 for pointing out an error I missed.
I am sooooo worried for this chapter. This was more character interaction and introduction, and there's like… 10 extra Characters compared to the original! Handling that many would be a task already.
Anyway, I can't take credit for some of those Rune Knights.
Warmachine375 helped me out since he was the one that was always so passionate about Rune Knights in general. And I got the idea of having the Magic Council hiring guilds from him. This allowed me to up the scale of something that was already a fairly big idea.
He created the Following OCs and allowed me to use them.
Tarsus Steelsoul
Bella Solaris
William Tovar
If you don't recognize the name, Riana (Zoxen), she is a minor character from the second Fairy Tail Movie, Dragon Cry. She was part of an elite fighting force and I saw that she might fit into this story earlier.
The other two rune knights, I'm sure most are far more familiar with: Lahar (He doesn't have a last name?) and Doranbolt/Mest.
There's a lot to talk about besides the rune knights. Phantom Lord, Quarto Cerberus, are included into this guild alliance and therefore I have to briefly go over them as well.
Phantom Lord's Team Jupiter: These hints are not exactly subtle if you know which fandom I'm directly referencing. If you're one of those people who don't know, Team Jupiter is based of Team Juniper from the RWBY Series.
Some people told me that Alexandra reminded then of a specific character from that series, and that was on purpose because I was planning to bring in this knock-off Team Juniper early on in the story.
Quarto Cerberus I feel gets the short end of the stick. Goldmine is described to be an old teammate of Makarov, but he gets shafted more than Bob does which is a shame, because I do love his design and motto.
I played with the idea of bringing in the Cereberus teams from the Magic Games or a new OC team, but I ran into problems with the number of characters was already massive. And then it hit me. What if Goldmine himself joined the fray?
Thinking back, there wasn't much reason stopping the guild masters from joining in the first place. True, they had to mange things while their teams were gone, but I feel like that's not really strong enough for some than it is for others.
I'm excited to bring Goldmine in because of certain… reasons.
I guess while here, I should explain about why I included the Magic Council having more of an active hand in this. Like I mentioned before, Warmachine375 inspired me to give the council more influence in things, and I enjoyed the idea that they aren't as incompetent as described in the story.
I guess that's all I'll talk about for now. Next time, we catch up with Kain and Mascara Man in their epic revenge cage match.
See you all soon and thanks for reading.