Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 22: "Phantom Lord"

(Year: X784)

Lucy looked up as a heavy rain poured down onto her. She reached into her key holster to discretely palm one of her most powerful keys. Looking down to the strange snowman shaped dog that had been following her, she calmly stated, "Plue, I need you to head back to the Celestial Spirit World. Things are going to get difficult."

Still shaking, Plue nodded and disappeared in a small burst of light. With her companion safely away, Lucy looked around nervously. Her ability to sense magical power wasn't all that accurate. She couldn't tell the origin of the magic, but she could sense that the rain was magical in origin. That origin, however, wouldn't remain secret for long.

Lucy watched as a woman stepped up to her. Covered in a black coat and hat to protect her from the rain, a rather beautiful woman approached the Celestial Spirit user. Her blue hair curled up right as it reached her shoulders, "Steadily and silently. Yes, Juvia brings rain steadily and silently."

Biting her lip, Lucy looked for an escape route. This woman was far more powerful than her. There was no way that she could beat…Juvia was her name apparently. Her best option was running, especially because most of her guild had left the city to extract revenge on the guild Phantom Lord for hurting a few members of their guild. She was alone, and that didn't suit her well in this match up. Of course, if Juvia was a water user, then the key in her palm was her best bet of fighting her off.

"Who are you?" Lucy demanded.

Juvia turned and began to walk away, "Juvia had fun. Farewell. Steadily and silently…"

Lucy looked on with wide eyes. What was that? Maybe her theory that strong mages went insane from their power was right. She was getting more proof by the day.

"Non!" A new voice echoed through the area, "Non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non!"

A man appeared from the ground in front of Juvia. He was a skinny man with black suit. His thing face held a wire thing mustache and a monocle covering his right eye. Oddly enough, he was leaning over to the side for some reason, "Bonjour with non in 3-3-7 rhythm!"

Suddenly, Lucy's throat felt incredibly dry despite the moisture in the air. The guild Fairy Tail was currently feuding with was Phantom Lorde, the only guild in Fiore that could rival Fairy Tail's influence. For the past few days, Phantom had been antagonizing them by vandalizing their guild hall and recently hurting Jet and Droy. Out of instinct, she had asked as many questions as possible about the guild. Naruto's words of outsmarting her enemies constantly rang through her head when confronted with stronger enemies.

What she learned was that Phantom Lord had six elite mages besides the master Jose. All of them reflected different elements. The aces Gajeel Redfox and Arashi Kazen were iron and plants respectively, of course they were also slayers apparently, but that was a different story. The more public S-class mages were the Element 4. Four people that reflected the four core elements of the universe. Water, earth, fire, and air.

Juvia used water. The strange man used earth. Oh Kami…

"Are you from Phantom Lorde?" Lucy questioned, interrupting the other mages' conversation.

"Oui! Oui! I am Sol! You can call me Monsieur Sol, and this if Juvia! Oui!" The now identified Sol clapped his hands together happily.

"Why are you here?' Lucy trembled in a combination of cold from the rain and the adrenaline of the situation.

Juvia looked at the guild stamp on Lucy's right hand, "She's our target?"

"Oui!"

"Me? Your target?" Lucy frowned in confusion, "Are you trying to beat up more guild members like you did with Jet and Droy?"

Sol shook his head, "Non! Non! Non! I would like to clear up your misunderstanding with three nons. That was Monsieur Gajeel's doing."

"Then why are you here?" Lucy noted, "Your own guild is being attacked as we speak. Why deal with me? I'm a weak newbie. Not worth your time."

"That is where you're wrong," Juvia pointed a palm out at Lucy, "The entire point to Gajeel-sama's attack was you, Lucy Heartfilia."

A dome of water immediately followed Juvia's command to form around Lucy. Water flooded into Lucy's mouth before the shock wore off, and she managed to hold her breath. As she stared through the water, Lucy suddenly felt her stomach drop. The way they looked at her and was trying to capture her without doing physical harm…They knew who she was. They knew who her family was.

Her father…he hired Phantom Lord.

Slipping the hidden key in her palm outward, Lucy turned it to open the gate of the Water Bearer. Aquarius appeared in a flash of light. With a sneer at Lucy for her weakness, Aquarius raised her blue urn and began to manipulate the water, "Really? You call me in such a desperate situation? You're still so pathetic!"

"What?" Juvia was shocked when she actually lost control over the water. She immediately moved to fight back, but it was too late. The dome was destroyed. Water rushed to attack her and Sol. Juvia managed to block the attack, but by the time that Juvia had regained control over the water, Aquarius had manipulated the water around her and Lucy to carry them away from the two Phantom mages.

"We need to go after them!" Juvia snapped out, "Master Jose will be displeased if we fail our mission."

"Non, non. My response is two nons!" Sol looked over to Juvia, "Do you not feel that power? There are two new players in the game. Oui! One of which has been claimed by Arashi."

Juvia frowned. Her magical sensing ability was not nearly as good as Sol's, "So what do we tell Master Jose?"

"That the Sword and Shield appeared, and we were forced to retreat. Arashi will defend us, and we can sugar coat it by saying that now we get to destroy Fairy Tail completely. Oui."

As the Phantom mages decided what to do, Lucy was sent barreling across the city in a swirl of water. Luckily, she had spent years training with Aquarius for such moments. Her ability to endure the borderline whirlpool while holding her breath was a big part of her focus over the years. After all, while her most powerful spirit, Aquarius was also her most temperamental.

Once Aquarius finally stopped the water, Lucy was dropped to the ground in a soaking heap. She took deep steady breaths and looked up to her spirit, "T-thanks…"

"If you really wanted to thank me, you wouldn't summon me in another woman's water," Aquarius looked disgusted, "I need to take a bath. Don't call me for a while."

"W-wait!" Lucy pushed herself to her feet, "They might come back! You're my only hope of fighting them off."

"No I'm not," Aquarius noted as she disappeared, "He is."

Turning to where Aquarius was looking, Lucy was shocked to see Naruto carrying an unconscious Gaara over his shoulders. The mermaid was right. If anyone could help her, it would be Naruto, but… "What happened to Gaara?"

"We ran into some issues. He's fine. Just needs sleep," Naruto stated, "What about you? You look like hell."

"It's a long story…"


Porlyusica frowned down at the beds holding Makarov and Gaara. Of course those Fairy Tail brats dropped their wounded at her doorstep. Where else would they go? No other doctor would tolerate them like she did, and she barely tolerated them at all.

Stupid humans always had to keep getting into fights. Apparently, Makarov lost his temper and led an assault on the guild Phantom Lord. The idiot let his guard down and got his magic drained. Now the whole guild was left without its leader while the enemy was approaching. Porlyusica would have been worried if she didn't know how much her old guild could handle.

A lot of the youngsters in the guild were strong, far stronger than her generation had been at the same age. Of course, they were also far dumber too. Getting into fights…destroying stuff…Bah. They would probably come out fine in the end, especially with that…not-so-human brat with them. Of course, even then, he was missing his compliment.

Porlyusica turned her attention fully to Gaara for a moment. All of his physical injuries had long since been taken care of by the blonde. All that was left was the severe fatigue. Originally, the brat was going to have her come to the guild to watch over his friend during the war…which he somehow knew about beforehand…

As soon as he saw how the guild was, though, he lugged the dead weight over to her house and plopped him down next to Makarov. Now she had two cases of extreme energy deficiency to deal with. Not like she could do anything about it. A few herbs could speed things along, but that was about it.

Still, despite everything, there was only one thing that really worried her. When asked about how Gaara ended up like this, Naruto responded by explaining that the two of them were being hunted. No, all of their kind were being hunted. That included Fu…

Porlyusica clenched her fists. Damn it. When did she go so attached to the little bug?


"So the old man picked a fight with Phantom and got his ass kicked?" The image of Laxus frowned through the Communication Lacrima, "Damn, he should have called me. Probably went easy on them and tried to talk first."

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know. I wasn't there. All I know is how it ended. And that we're probably going to need you here. Gaara's out of commission too, and you know how hard it is to contact Mystogan during the best of times."

Laxus raised an eyebrow, "Gaara too? What the hell happened with him?"

"It's a long story," Naruto sighed, "It didn't have to do with Phantom Lord We just ran into a bit of trouble. It's dealt with, but Gaara passed out and is not going to wake up in time to help."

"Alright, I'll get the Thunder God Tribe and head back," Laxus nodded, "Try to hold out as long as you can, cuz."

"Don't call me that," Naruto grumbled as Laxus's image disappeared, "Well, we'll have him here at least."

"That's good," Levy sat at the edge of the Naruto's table, "We're going to need his help."

Naruto looked across the guild. Most of the guild members looked rather depressed despite the little bit of good news they received. With their master out of the fight, they didn't like their odds anymore. The blonde had to shake his head at that. When you start a fight, you need to be prepared for things to not go your way.

In the end, though, they weren't really needed. They would deal with the fodder mages, of course, but the big guns was what was important. If the leaders of Phantom Lord were taken out, then Fairy Tail would win. That meant that they had to deal with the Element 4, the Iron Dragon Slayer, the Nature God Slayer, and a Wizard Saint…all without Makarov to lead the charge. Not to mention not having Gaara, Mystogan, Laxus, or Gildarts at the moment.

Damn. This was going to suck. Especially because Naruto knew that he wouldn't really be part of the overall war. He knew who he was going to fight, and it was going to take everything he had to win. That left six main enemies that had to be dealt with to win this guild war.

"Do you have a plan?" Erza questioned as she approached the blonde from behind. Originally, she was going to take a shower to clear her head, but that felt wrong with Naruto working so hard.

Naruto came out of his thoughts to see that almost everyone was looking at him. Damn. When did he get designated to leader? "Phantom Lord won't just let us recover. We need to be prepared for when they attack. Luckily, we should see them coming through the city. Our main goal will need to be take out the leaders. If we do that, we can intimidate them to surrender. I'll go out right away and say that I need to be the one to handle their God Slayer. For obvious reasons."

From her table, Fu nodded. She knew Naruto's personal reasons for wanting to fight Arashi. Even without that, though, he probably stood the best chance out of all of them, "Yeah."

Naruto's eyes napped to Fu, "Fu, I know that you're probably concerned with Gaara, but—"

"He's in Baa-chan's hands now. That's as good as help as he's going to get. I do want to be with him, but I can't do that. Fairy Tail needs me more right now." Fu looked absolutely pissed about that fact, "Let's deal with Phantom first. Then, you're going to tell me exactly what happened."

"Good. The only S-class mages here are you and Erza," Naruto stated, "Luckily for us, Jose's requirements for an S-class mage is a lot lower than Master Dreyar's standards. Natsu, Gray, and Elfman should be able to handle a member of their elite."

"MAN!" Elfman cried.

"Yeah!" Natsu's grinned, "Let's kick their asses."

Gray was the only one that remained calm, "Do you have any plans about who we should fight?"

"Natsu should handle the fire user," Naruto didn't have to explain why, "You can handle the water mage, Gray. Elemental advantage. For Gajeel, I think Erza would have the greatest advantage. The same could be said with Fu fighting their wind user. The way he drained Master Dreyar's won't work on your bug bombs. That leaves the earth user to Elfman. As for Jose…We just try to buy time for Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe. They should be able to handle him."

Levy frowned, "What about me?"

"Everyone else should handle the lower mages. Phantom's known more for quantity than quality beside the higher ups," Naruto noted.

"But I want to fight to protect Lu-chan," Levy glared at Naruto, "I can handle one of the Element 4. After all, I managed to hold off Gajeel long enough to get Jet and Droy to safety. I'm not a weak little girl anymore, Naruto."

"I know, but this is war. I laid out a plan that gave us the greatest advantage," Naruto explained.

"And what about me?" Lucy finally decided to speak up. She sat in the corner with a depressed look on her face, "They're coming specifically for me. That's what all this is about."

"Please. You think too highly of yourself," Naruto snorted, "Phantom has been looking for a reason to fight for years. You are just the last crack that let the dam burst."

"I see…" Lucy's face lifted, "What should I do then?"

"Mirajane," Naruto addressed the white haired woman.

"Yes?"

"I'm putting you in charge of Lucy. Keep her safe," Naruto didn't exactly expect the woman to protect Lucy directly. The Takeover mage had grown weak ever since Lisanna's death. Not only had her personality had changed from a hardcore fighter to a softspoken lady, her magical power also disappeared from the depression. The change annoyed Naruto to no end. In his opinion, Lisanna would be disappointed that her sister let her death make her so weak. Despite all the change, though, Mirajane was still smart enough to protect Lucy from trouble.

"Can do," Mirajane looked uncomfortable. Naruto had a feeling that it had to do with his decision to have Elfman fight. She didn't like the idea of him fighting the Phantom Lorde elites. Naruto almost wished that she would argue with him, but it didn't seem like she had it in her. How disappointing.

"Wait!" Lucy suddenly stood up from her table, "You want me just to hide? Even if I may have been the last straw, I still caused the conflict in some way. I have to take responsibility. Let me fight."

Naruto shook his head, "No. Even if you trained for years, that doesn't mean you have battle experience. As a newbie, any one of the more experienced mages will tear you apart and wisk you away to a place where we can't get you."

Erza nodded at that, "I'm sorry, Lucy, but Naruto is correct. Let us handle this. Naruto's plan is the one that's the logically sound. We have to stick with it."

"But—"

Lucy was cut off when the ground suddenly began to shake. Everyone had to hold onto their table to avoid falling over. Most of them thought it was an earthquake, but the sporadic change in the shakes signaled that it was something different than a natural occurrence. With a shared concerned look, Naruto, Erza, and Fu were the first ones to race out the door. They headed towards the back of the guild and were shocked by what they saw.

Phantom Lorde's guild had actually grown metal legs and was now walking across the sea behind the Fairy Tail guild. The giant castle of a guild stood tall and menacing before them. Even more terrifying was the massive canon that pointed out from the center of the castle and to the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"Oh Kami," Naruto whispered, "I think we might need a new plan."


Arashi stood in front of a window that allowed him to watch as their guild made its way across the sea. The shaking of the moving guild didn't seem to bother him in the least. By now, the Fairy Tail guild hall was now in view as were the Fairies that occupied the guild. That meant that they were definitely in range of the Jupiter Cannon. Of course, Arashi never believed that the cannon would work. He knew that Fairy Tail was far more resourceful than Jose would ever give them credit.

"Gahahahahaha…" Arashi heard Gajeel laugh from behind him, "I bet those Fairies are pissing themselves right now."

"Doubtful," Arashi shrugged, "By now, the Unbreakable Shield is preparing to stop the Jupiter Canon."

Gajeel stepped beside the God Slayer, "I don't see any sand."

Arashi had to nod at that. Gajeel was right. There was no sand, "Is he not there? Odd. I sense that Uzumaki is there."

"Maybe they had a lover's spat. Gahahaha…" Gajeel laughed.

"Who knows, but without him, Juvia's place in the attack will be a bit easier," Arashi mentioned.

"Unlike me," Gajeel grinned, "I'm going to take out all those little Fairies and kidnap that dumb blonde girl. It's going to be so much fun."

"Sometimes you worry me, Gajeel," Arashi noted.

Gajeel raised his metal piercing eyebrow, "What? Don't act like you won't enjoy kicking the ever loving shit out of Uzumaki. I've heard you rant enough about him to know how much you hate his guts."

"I've never enjoyed hating him," Arashi argued, "It's a burden that's always dragged me down. No matter what I did, I couldn't shrug it off, and I hate myself for it. I would give anything to just get over it, but I can't."

"So you're gonna take it out on him," Gajeel snorted, "How is that any different from me?"

"It isn't really. I guess I'm just more self-aware of how I'm walking into my own inevitable destruction," Arashi smiled at that thought, "I wish you the best, Gajeel. You've been a good friend. I hope that one day that you let go of this angry exterior and find happiness. Despite everything's Jose's done for us, that's something he can't ever give. When Phantom Lord eventually falls, try to find a guild that will promote your well-being instead of your strength."

"…Dude, you're freaking me out," Gajeel gave Arashi a strange look, "You're acting like you're gonna die."

"If I fight Uzumaki, there are only two outcomes. Either I die, or I kill him and get arrested by the Magic Council. And if they get their hands on me again…" Arashi lifted his suit jacket and dress shirt to reveal a heavily scared torso, "I'm not human, Gajeel. I was artificially created. Most of the time, when mages try Life Make magic, the thing they create has no soul or consciousness. That's why they're referred to my kind as dolls. But I'm different. I have actual consciousness. Even so, I'm not considered a person. So they can legally get away with a lot. Especially if they're trying to figure out just how I work."

"I figured…Bastards…" Gajeel suddenly looked very serious.

"My status in the guild protected me from them, but if they have a justified reason to arrest me…" Arashi took a shuddered breath, "Well, the only reason I escaped last time was because I learned magic. They wouldn't let that happen again."

"So…I won't see you again after this," Gajeel's face fell.

"No. This is the end for me. Goodbye, Gajeel," Arashi turned away from the window as the Jupiter Canon began to charge up its shot. He began to walk from the safety of his guild and towards his self-destruction, "It was an honor."


Naruto's mind was spinning. Phantom Lord had a Jupiter Canon, and it was a pointed right at them. Realistically, he could dodge the attack. If he did that, though, Fairy Tail would be destroyed. Unfortunately, he really didn't have a whole lot of moves that could deal with that kind of power. The Jupiter Cannon had enough power to destroy the guild hall and half the city behind it.

What was Jose even thinking? Didn't he want Lucy alive? No…that was just the excuse. He wanted to destroy Fairy Tail at any cost. Even if Phantom Lord was disbanded and Jose was arrested, Jose would just consider that a small price to pay.

"Damn it, this isn't some bluff," Naruto looked to Erza, "Can you equip some armor with incredibly high defense? If I use my magic to boost your shield, you should be able to stop the cannon fire."

Erza nodded in acceptance. Her plan was to use the armor anyway. Getting help from Naruto would only make this easier.

"Fu," Naruto looked to the bug girl, "Leave this to us. Fly to the core of that weapon and make sure it won't get a second shot in."

Fu did not look pleased at the idea of leaving them behind, but she nodded nevertheless. Wings burst from her back and allowed her to fly away from the path of the weapon fire. As the mint haired woman flew away, Erza quickly Requiped her Adamantine Armor. Unlike most of her armor, the newest armor Erza showed covered every part of her body except for her face. The rather bulky armor had a blue and white color scheme. Different spikes and bumps jumped from all over the armor, even the two halves of the giant shield that jumped from her forearms.

With a solid grunt, she brought the two halves of the shield together. Naruto took this as his cue to act. Ignoring the taunts from Jose that flew from the Phantom Lorde guild hall, he began to muter as many chants as he could before the Jupiter Cannon fired. Sky magic flared around Erza in a burst of light increasing her strength, defense, and durability.

As a giant burst of magic erupted from the Jupiter Cannon, Naruto increased the speed of his chants to the point that they were barely understandable. The massive blast of magic rammed into Erza. Both mages let out grunts of pain as the concentrated magical blast. Naruto felt the mental backlash of trying to keep the Jupiter Canon fire from shattering his enhancement spells. Erza was in the exact same situation trying to prevent herself from being pushed back or from having her armor shatter.

Despite having the ground in front of them shatter and scorch in front of them, both mages held their defense. After almost a full minute of halting the blast magical blast, the attack finally began to die. As the light died down, Erza was revealed to still be standing. Her armor was cracked and falling apart but thanks to Naruto's support, she was uninjured.

Cheers erupted from behind them. Erza herself looked relieved as well. Naruto, however, wasn't willing to let his guard down.

"Don't cheer yet!" Naruto snapped at them, "The cannon is still active! Erza, we need to be ready for another blast if Fu doesn't destroy the cannon!"


Fu's wings fluttered rapidly as she flew away from the target area of the Jupiter Cannon. Once she was far enough away, she began to head towards the guild hall itself at her top speeds. With gritted teeth, she ignored the Jupiter Cannon firing right at her friends. She would have to trust Erza and Naruto to protect the guild from the attack. Her job was to make sure Phantom Lorde didn't get a second shot off, and she was going to complete her mission without letting anything distract her.

With the speed of a bee, she rushed into the Phantom Lorde guild hall through the still smoking opening of the cannon and made her way to the core of the weapon. A large black orb held up by a pedestal was surrounded by a lot of machinery and gears that allowed it to function. Various different giant cords jumped out from the core allowing power to flow through it.

"Well, if it isn't the famous Bug Bomb," A voice to the side caused Fu to look over to see what appeared to be the person guarding the Jupiter Cannon. He was dressed in shinobi like garb with a red gi top and fishnet covering his arms. A long black line tattoo ran across his the bridge of his nose. His hair, which was pulled back into a spikey pony tail, was black on the left side while white on the right side, "It's an honor. My name is Totomaru of the Element Four, and—Hey don't ignore me!"

Not caring about the man's introduction, Fu flew towards the core at full speed. She was quickly forced to flee when a burst of purple flames erupted at her. Glancing at the man, Fu could only frown. A fire user, eh? Oh well, she could work with that.

Bugs erupted from her wrist bands and flew to the core. As soon as the bugs made contact, they exploded in a burst of flames. Fu instantly realized that something was wrong. The burst of the explosion seemed to avoid the core all together and headed back to Fu, who quickly dodged her own flames.

"I see…" Fu turned her attention to the obvious flame user, "You can control all flames."

"Indeed, I use Rainbow Flame magic," Totomaru smirked, "Your bombs will not work on—Would you just let me talk!"

Totomaru was forced to block a hook punch to his head. He then jumped back to avoid getting hit by one of Fu's powerful legs. As he rolled back, he flung a wave of blue flame at Fu. Fu tried to fly back to avoid the strange blue flames. Oddly enough, the fire was actually cold enough to cause frost to cover her wings, forcing her to land.

"Aha!" With Fu unable to fly now, Totomaru flung an odd smelling orange flame to the female mage, "Now you can't—Kami!"

Fu rushed through the flames, ignoring how the fire burned her skin. She once again went on the attack. This time, she sent rapid punches at Totomaru's body. Each was too fast to dodge, so Totomaru had to block each blow.

"Are you crazy?" Totomaru questioned, "You could have died!"

"Please," Fu flipped back and smirked at him, "I use bombs. I haven't been afraid of fire since I was eight. Can you say the same about the bugs crawling over your arms?"

Totomaru's eyes snapped to his arms to see bugs crawling all over him.

"Each time you blocked my punches, my bugs jumped on you," Fu gave a sly smile.

Totomaru grimaced as he felt the bugs crawling over his skin. He pointed his palms at himself, "F-fool…I can still control y-your explosions. T-this won't—Oh come on!"

With his attention distracted, Fu detonated the bugs that she had discretely sent to the other side of the core. The explosion that followed was not halted at all by Totomaru's pyrokinesis abilities. The black magical core was shattered much to the fire user's disappointment.

Totomaru's shoulders and arms slumped down, "Damn it! You bi—AH!"

Once again using his distraction to her advantage, Fu detonated her bug bombs. Totomaru was covered in a decent explosion. As smoke drifted off his burnt body, he stumbled forward trying to prevent himself from falling to his face. Before he could either fall or get his bearings, Fu was on him once more. She rammed a powerful roundhouse kick to his stomach. With blood pouring from his mouth, Totomaru was sent flying through some machinery and into a wall which quickly collapsed from the force of his flight. The fire Element Four member was buried beneath the rubble of the wall cementing his defeat.

"Sorry," Fu placed her hands on her hips, "I would have preferred a fun fight, but this is war. I couldn't afford to waste any time."


Naruto grinned as the explosions rang out through the Jupiter Cannon causing the weapon to collapse into the sea. This time when cheers erupted behind him, he didn't shut them down. The war was far from won, but this was a good victory. They needed to use this as their motivation to keep fighting.

"She did it," Erza smiled as she Requiped her normal silver chest piece and skirt.

Naruto could only nod. Before he could say anything, he saw hooded figures drop down from the guild and began to charge forward to the Fairy Tail guild. Naruto could only shake his head at this. He could tell that those faceless members of Phantom Lorde could not fight against them and win. Phantom Lorde always did have quantity over quality.

His thoughts were interrupted when the castle guild hall began to shift. To his complete surprise, the building began to transform like a kids toy. What was once a walking castle was now a giant robot with steam bursting from the top and giant arms reaching out from the machine. The head of the robot even had two giant glowing eyes peering down at them.

"What. The. Hell," Naruto just couldn't even.

Everyone in the guild seemed just as shocked to the point that they barely noticed as the enemy drew near. Naruto and Erza were the first to take notice and took a battle stance. To everyone's surprise, though, a large black hedge of thorns and leaves popped up to stop the hooded soldiers from getting to the Fairy Tail mages.

"Today is just full of surprises," Naruto muttered to himself, "Alright, Ara—What are you doing?!"

For what seemed like the fifth time in a few minutes, everyone in the area was shocked to silence. Levy had used her Solid Script to create the word "wings" to make literal wings to give her flight. If that wasn't bad enough, she was carrying Lucy over the hedge and towards to the giant robot.

"Lucy!" Oddly enough, Loke was the first person to speak up. The orange haired man was always dressed in fancy jackets, rings and shades. Naruto didn't really take too much notice of the man over the years despite the man's popularity with the ladies. He started out strong, but that faded over the years. The blonde noticed that something was strange about the man based on his smell, but the Takeover mages had different smells as well, so he never thought much of it. Right now, though, he seemed pretty horrified at the sight of Lucy flying into danger. Part of Naruto was shocked by sound of fear in his voice. It was almost like a pet crying out for his master. Naruto didn't even realize that they were close based on how the man hid from the Celestial Spirit mage.

"You morons!" Naruto roared at the flying mages, "What is this?! Are you trying to prove me wrong!? You're playing into their hands!"

"We need to stop them!" Erza agreed with Naruto. This was war, and strategy was key. Levy had no advantage against any of the Element 4, and Lucy was their target.

"No, you don't," Arashi popped out from the thorned hedge. He had a neutral face as he allowed the mages to fly over his head, "I don't care about this little mission to capture Heartfilia, but I do owe Master Jose a lot. Stopping you from getting to them is the least I can do."

Naruto gained a neutral expression. Suddenly, his focus changed. He was no longer the general in this war. It was time to fulfill years' worth of work and a promise to his teacher. Levy and Lucy's wellbeing faded from his mind.

"Erza, you're in charge now," Naruto reached up and removed his headband. For one final shock to the guild he tossed it to the side and stepped forward to Arashi. The headband clattered to the ground forgotten. This was no time to worry about hiding his eyes or shinobi protocal. This was a battle between God Slayers, "Things have already broken down too much for my strategy to work. Try to do what you can. I'll deal with Arashi."

"Wait—" Erza tried to reach out to him but stopped when she saw a small vicious grin grow on Naruto's face. Suddenly, he seemed a lot different. The almost demented look on his face made her heart twist as memories from her childhood rushed through her mind.

With his red eyes gleaming, Naruto smiled demonically up at Arashi. He then pointed to a mountain in the distance, "You want me, Nature God? Come get me."

In a blast of magic, Naruto was covered in enhancement spells. His image blurred away as he quickly ran away from the battlefield. Nodding, Arashi created a large black root and used it to carry him after him after the Sky God Slayer. The two blondes rushed away from the area, one almost gliding over the land while the other tearing it asunder.

From the battlefield, everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as they retreated. Even Jose looked on in interest. No one alive had ever seen two God Slayers of such high level fight against each other in a death match. They were all curious of what such a battle would look like. None dared to even try to follow them, though. It was good that those two were leaving their battle area.

After all, if they stayed, then almost all of them would surely get killed by the impending clash between two gods.


Now we finally get to some real changes to canon. Some fights I can't in good conscious change. Natsu vs Gajeel and Gray vs Juvia are basically a must for the Fairy Tail universe as a whole. I tried several different scenarios in my head, but none of them worked out as well as having these two fights happen. Not that they will occur in the exact same way at least. As for everyone else, though…well, you might be surprised. With Levy and Lucy determined to prove their worth, a lot of options are open to me.

And if you're upset that those two are rushing towards the danger, look at it from their perspectives. Levy hates the fact that someone she idolized so much as a child looks down on her, and Lucy wants to take responsibility for what she perceives is a fight she caused. Neither of them are willing to accept staying hidden. As you can see, Naruto has changed things. Of course, you already know this with Lucy. Levy, though...Well, a lot of she's been changed by Naruto will be addressed through this war.

Thank you all for reading and please remember to…

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW