As soon as he asked his question, all the guild members gathered around the old man and Lisanna to hear her response. The white-haired girl sighed and looked down before telling the tale, the events having taken an obvious emotional toll on her.
"Well master, when we arrived Mira told me to go and evacuate the town's inhabitants while she and Elfman would take care of the beast so that's what I did. Once I was done, I decided to go and see how they were doing. When I arrived, Mira was on the ground in the state you just saw her in and Elfman was nowhere to be found. She then explained to me that since they were losing the fight pretty bad, Elfman decided to try and Take Over the beast to protect her. But it was too powerful for him and he had totally lost control. Mira then stated that the only way for us to save him was to make him come to senses before the beast completely took over his soul. So I tried to talk to it but it didn't work and the beast was about to strike me with an attack and if it hadn't been for this man, it would have hit me and I would be dead right now." she paused as everyone gasped.
"He pushed me out of the way at the last moment and then proceeded to knock out the beast with a single spell. It then reverted back to Elfman and he proposed that he and his cat helped me carry them back here which I accepted and here we are." she finished.
The members didn't know if they should be more shocked by the fact that a mission went so terribly wrong for Mirajane or that this man had handled it as if it was nothing. Especially since Mirajane was one of Fairy Tail's strongest members and she had been assisted by her two siblings. It begged the question: how powerful was this man?
This was the question on everybody's lips but it was a young woman with long, scarlet hair and brown eyes who voiced it. She had a slender, voluptuous figure and a custom-made armor by Heart Kreuz smiths, a blue skirt, black boots, and diamond shaped silver earrings. Her Fairy Tail stamp was blue and was located on the middle of her left upper arm. "Knock out how? What magic did he use?" she asked.
"He climbed on the beast and punched it on the top of its head which sent it on the ground, unconscious. As for his magic…I really don't know. I just saw his hand glow purple before he struck and didn't hear him cast any spell." she answered which only shocked the guild members further even a tall blond-haired young man sitting on the second floor looked troubled by the information.
Before they could carry on with their interrogation, the door to the infirmary opened again, revealing the pink-haired young man with his blue cat sitting on his head. When this happened, everyone in the guild turned their head towards them, some just looking at what he would do next, others studying him, trying to assess how strong he was.
However, before any of them got any result to their evaluation, the guild master stepped forward, walking in front of his children's savior and raising his head to look him in the eyes.
At that point both of them were internally slightly freaking out. The old man, because no matter what he did, he couldn't sense any magic power from the pinkette but he knew that he had some if not a lot. So the only explanation was that this teenager was better at hiding his magic power then he was at detecting it which was theoretically impossible.
As for Natsu, he wasn't disturbed because of the sudden attention he was getting, nor because of the old man's huge magic power by human standards but because of something entirely.
'Why does he smell like Yuri?!' Natsu wondered.
"How are they?" the guild master finally broke the silence.
"He will remain unconscious for a few hours, a day maybe, but other than that he should be fine. As for her, she doesn't have anything serious, though she does need bandages. We tried to help her put some on, but she would have none of it." he answered with the blue cat nodding frantically at the last part.
"I see." the old man said while scratching his chin. He then did something which shocked everyone present. He got on his hands and knees in a worshiping manner. "Thank you for saving my children. The Fairy Tail guild and I personally owe you a debt that we can never repay."
Feeling uncomfortable at the awkwardness, Happy jumped off his partner's head and flew off somewhere.
Natsu, for his part, had to make a huge effort to prevent himself from laughing. This man had no idea how true his statement was. If it wasn't for him, Fairy Tail might not exist at all. Although, his only reaction was to wave his hands in denial. "Think nothing of it. I wasn't just gonna stand there and watch them die."
The guild master got back on his feet. "Still, thank you for that." he repeated. "But where are my manners? I am Makarov Dreyar, third master of the Fairy Tail guild." the man, now known as Makarov, introduced himself.
"My name's Natsu Dragneel and the blue furball is called Happy." Natsu responded.
"Aye." they heard in the distance.
"By the way, what guild do you two belong to? I'd like to thank your guild master as well." Yuri's relative questioned.
"We are not part of any guild." the pink-haired mage answered, shocking everyone present. If he was even half as strong as what they thought, any guild would want him to join.
"Well, if you're interested in joining one, Fairy Tail would be glad to welcome you." Makarov offered.
Before Natsu even had time to think about it, Happy decided to give his opinion. "Can we stay Natsu? Please?" Wondering why his partner was so keen on the idea of joining this guild, Natsu turned towards the blue cat and got his answer when he saw him with a huge salmon in his paws.
'Joining Fairy Tail? Well, Mavis would certainly like that.' he thought while internally chuckling. 'That being said, I'm trying to keep a low profile and joining such a guild as Fairy Tail won't exactly help with that.'
"I'm not sure-" he started saying before being cut off.
"You should accept." Everyone turned towards the source of the voice to see Mirajane covered in bandages in the infirmary's doorway. "No matter how strong you are, you may need help one day. That is what I learned today."
"Fine, I suppose there is no harm in giving it a shot." he accepted which got the whole guild to cheer.
Makarov then jumped on the bar and declared. "Alright brats, we are gonna celebrate the arrival of our two new members in the only way Fairy Tail knows how: by partying!" which resulted in another round of cheers.
After that, Natsu got his guild mark in red on his right shoulder, while being careful not to show his Dragon King mark, and Happy got it in green on his back.
As Happy got back on his spot on Natsu's shoulder, the two were approached by the red-haired knight and a young man with spiky black-colored hair, dark blue eyes, and a toned and muscular body. His member stamp was below his collarbone on his right pectoral muscle and was dark blue in color. He had a necklace which resembles a sword with a stone in it and he was only in his underwear.
"Nice to meet you both. My name's Erza, Erza Scarlet. And this is Gray Fullbuster." the girl introduced herself and her friend.
"Hey!" the boy, now known as Gray, greeted.
"Hi." both partners said simultaneously though Natsu looked at Gray oddly. "Don't mean to be rude, but where are your clothes?" he asked him which caused Gray to look down.
"Ah! When did that happen?!" he yelled.
"Gray! That is no way to welcome our new members! Go find your clothes at once!" Erza scolded and ordered with a death glare.
"Y-Yes ma'am." Gray obeyed in evident terror and ran off to find his clothes.
"Anyway, Natsu, I've been wondering. What magic do you use?" the knight asked which made everyone in the guild turned towards them to hear his response.
"I'm…a Dragon Slayer." Natsu confessed which confused everyone except Makarov who spit the beer he was drinking.
"Do you know about this master?" a guild member asked.
"I do, though I have only ever read about it. Dragon Slayer Magic is a very powerful form of Lost Magic." he explained "As the name suggests, it is a magic designed solely for killing dragons."
"What's the point of that though? There are no more dragons." Gray wondered while dressing up.
"Well, you might be surprised." Natsu declared while trying not to laugh. He was a dragon himself after all.
"Whatever. Natsu, fight me!" Gray challenged.
"Huh?" was the only answer he received.
"Lisanna has told us about how strong you are but I want to see for myself."
"I too must admit I'm rather curious to see what you can do." Erza added.
"Fair enough. Where do you want to do this?" Natsu consented and then followed the guild members to a large open field behind the guild hall with a lake nearby.
While Natsu and Gray positioned themselves on opposing ends of the field, a betting pool was being set up. As one might expect, most of the bets were placed in Gray's favor, the only people who decided to abstain were Happy, Makarov and the Strauss sisters who all either knew or strongly suspected Natsu to be stronger.
When everyone was done and paying attention to the upcoming fight, Gray brought his hands together, pointed them at Natsu and his magic began to manifest itself in the form of an icy wind swirling around him. All the while, his opponent was just standing there, eyeing him, not even bothering to get in a fighting stance.
"Ice-Make: Lance!" Gray called out and several long, curved lances made of ice shot out of his hands and towards Natsu who instantly knew this fight was going to be even easier than he had previously thought.
'Ice, eh? Well, that was fun while it lasted, I guess' he thought as he sidestepped all of the lances except one which he caught and, much to everybody's except Happy's shock, took a bite out of it.
All of Fairy Tail was just staring at him with their jaw dropped, while Happy was laughing like a maniac.
"D-Did he just eat ice?" a short blue-haired girl with an orange dress finally asked the question on everyone's mind. This caused Happy to stop laughing.
"Aye! Dragon Slayers can eat their element to restore their magic." he informed which got all the guild members to be astonished at this exceptional ability. Although, there was one red-haired knight who registered this information better than most.
'So his element is ice. Good to know.' she thought.
Meanwhile, Natsu capitalized on the ice mage's shock and confusion and ran towards him at lightning speed. When he got close enough, he simply right hooked him in the jaw which sent him on the ground, unconscious.
"That wasn't the best of fights but the ice was pretty tasty. Thanks for the meal." he sort of complimented.
As a few members carried Gray to the infirmary, Erza walked into the field, taking the position Natsu previously occupied.
"I must admit, the performance you just made was rather impressive. That being said, don't think for a second that you are going to defeat me as easily as you did Gray." she declared as she extended her arm and, with a quick golden glow, a sword appeared in her hand and she got in a battle stance.
"I should hope so. What's even the point of a friendly spar if not to improve yourself?" he responded while he also stretched his arm out and a crimson glow summoned a black broadsword with crimson edges and handle. This sword was made of Natsu's, or rather Blazeel's, own scales which gave it a few interesting properties. It made it lighter and more durable than any metal but more importantly, it allowed him to use his magic on said sword. Now, Natsu wasn't exactly a fan of sword fighting but he had worked out that the disadvantage of fighting an opponent who used a weapon without one was too great to be affordable.
Yet again, everybody was quite surprised. This time it was at seeing Natsu use Requip Magic. Erza didn't make the same mistake as Gray though and rushed at the pinkette fast and brought her sword down on him, only for it to be blocked by Natsu's own blade.
In the ensuing sword fight, it became obvious that Erza's swordsmanship was superior but Natsu was faster and had better reflexes which was more than enough to make up for this deficit and allowed him to either dodge or block each of her strikes and even land a few punches here and there.
Getting frustrated with her lack of result, Erza jumped away from her opponent and the same golden glow as before manifested again, only this time, it covered her entire body.
"Requip: Flame Empress Armor!" she called out and, when the glow died down, she was revealed wearing a predominantly dark red armor with orange and black parts, with the first ones being shaped like flames and the second resembling dragon's limbs. It was basically made up of three different parts: the revealing breastplate with dragon like wings attached to it, the orange gauntlets and the dragon claw shaped greaves. Erza's hair was tied into a pair of high, long pigtails. She was also now wielding a larger, dark red sword.
"You have put up a good fight so far Natsu. But the end is near for I now hold the advantage." she declared with confidence but her opponent merely raised an eyebrow.
"Really? How so?" he asked.
"In your fight against Gray, you have made the mistake of revealing that your element was ice. However, my Flame Empress Armor gives me control over fire." she clarified but was so focused on Natsu, she missed a certain blue cat's laughter in the background.
Without wasting anymore time, Erza pointed her sword at Natsu and a stream of fire shot out of it, hitting him directly. For a few seconds, almost everyone had assumed the fight was over, until a sucking sound was heard from within the flames and they flew into Natsu's mouth.
"Jeez, what is it with you guys and feeding me so much? I mean, I appreciate it but I'd rather not gain too much weight." he joked.
"But how? My logic was flawless. You ate ice therefore your element has to be ice." Erza stated, confusion clear in her voice.
"One of my elements is ice, another is fire." Natsu clarified and, before the red head got time to react further, threw himself at her and punched her repeatedly at great speed, causing severe damage to her armor in the process. He then grabbed her wrist, span around and threw her on the ground.
As Erza was struggling to get back on her feet, Natsu spoke up. "I commend your determination, but this is merely a friendly spar, I am not your actual enemy so there's no need for it."
"N-No, I can still fight. I-" she started arguing but was cut off by Makarov.
"No Erza. Natsu is right. You have already lost this fight, to keep going would just translate to useless risk for you now." he said, ending the fight.
Erza then reluctantly relented and slumped back on the ground before being helped to the infirmary as well. Most didn't really know what to make of their new guildmates but one thing was for sure: things were going to get a lot more interesting from now on.