Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and/or Akame Ga Kill. They belong to their original owners.

The Assassins of Fairy Tail

Job Twenty Six: The Assassin's Next Move

Day had arrived and shined upon a damaged Magnolia Town. Parts of the town were destroyed, including Kardia Cathedral as a result of Fairy Tail's first battle against the Alvarez Empire. All of the members were in the guild and Leone was sitting on a chair while leaning forward as she poured a drink in a mug at the table she was at. "After everything that's happened to us, I definitely need a drink."

Chelsea was laying her head on the table as well while seeing Leone pouring her drink. "That sounds good. Pour me one too."

Only Akame was the one leaning on the edge while seeing the state Chelsea and Leone were in. "Isn't it a little early to be drinking?"

Leone finished pouring Chelsea's drink and grabbed her mug while looked at her girlfriend. "Akame, I don't know where you've been but let me remind you what we went through. We had a giant fleet of flying ships shoot at us, two of Twelve attacking us, a sandstorm tearing through the town, fought a bunch of asshole robot soldiers that knew our weaknesses, and survived an attack that was freaking far away. If you ask me, there is no time like now to have a drink." She proceeded to drink.

Speaking of two of the Twelve, Akame could scarcely believe the third one wasn't even the real one. "To think that one of the Twelve was just a puppet. And if it was that powerful, I wonder what the real host is capable of."

Chelsea set her mug down and groaned. "I don't want to think about that. Instead, let's just see what the next move is. Remember, this was just the first battle. This war is far from over. At least we're getting some help this time." That was something Akame and Leone can agree.

Over to Makarov, he assessed what has happened so far. "We somehow fended off their vanguard. However, our current situation, in which we are being attacked simultaneously from all sides, has not changed.

Even if that was true, Jet and the other members weren't too worried about that. "But hey, we've got all the guilds of Fiore backing us up now!"

"We can count on those guys for sure!"

We've got this war in the bag!"

Unfortunately, Mavis didn't see this as a good thing. "I'm afraid not. This is Fairy Tail's problem. I had not intended to cause trouble to the other guilds by getting them involved."

"That may be, but politeness won't win us this war." Mavis turned to see Laxus. "If Ishgar is going to become a battlefield, this was bound to happen sooner or later." His face darkened at the thought of his injured friends. "But that ain't important now. All I've got on my mind is bringing the pain to the bastard who took Freed and the others."

Makarov agreed with his grandson. "There is truth in Laxus' words. Our duty now is to gracefully accept the assistance from the other guilds and devise a new stratagem to face the coming enemies." He looked over at Warren. "Warren, give us your report on the current state of the battle."

"Yes, sir! Here it comes!"

B

In one of the holding cells, Brandish was lying on the floor without her coat with handcuffs on her wrists behind her back. Macao and Wakaba were the ones who were watching over her. "Will this magic sealing stone really keep her in check?"

"Considering how obedient and quiet she is, her magic must be sealed up good." Brandish glanced at them and the two of them gulped at the sight of her. "But damn, she's quite the woman, ain't she?"

"Do all chicks from the west wear this kind of getup?"

"Hey, look at Bisca."

"Ah, yeah, she definitely doesn't dress like the mother of a child." They looked at each other had perverted looks on their faces. "Hey, while we're at it, we might as well tie her up in a sexier pose…"

"Heh, heh, yeah, somethin' that really accentuates that ass, you know what I'm saying?"

And from behind, Lucy struck both of their heads. "Keep it in your pants." Macao and Wakaba moved away from Lucy and grabbed each other in fear. "The master told you to treat her hospitably, didn't he?"

Cana wasn't surprised they acted the way they did. "We take our eyes off you two for one second and this is what we find?"

"We're sorry!"

Lucy stood in front of Brandish from the other side of the bars. "You. Tell me. What is your relation to my mother?" Brandish didn't reply and continued to stare at Lucy. "You referred to me as Layla's daughter, didn't you?"

Brandish started to sit up. "I have nothing to say. If you're going to kill, hurry up and get it over with."

Lucy had no reason to do that to the other girl. "We won't treat you like a prisoner of war or anything of the sort. Please, just tell me about my mother."

Brandish still refused to cooperate and smirked at the blonde. "You should just kill me while you have the chance. I'm sitting right here, in the middle of your guild. This may be your one and only chance."

Cana had heard enough coming from Brandish. "Don't waste your breath Lucy."

Outside of the guild, a small Marin could help but giggle at the perfect opportunity he was seeing. "So that's the enemy's base of operations. Lady Brandish is just inside these walls. With my Space Commandment Magic, infiltrating it will be a piece of cake."

B

Far west of Magnolia

A large army of one million was marching toward Magnolia. Among them was Zeref along with Invel and Yajeel. "Your majesty, it seems that Ajeel and Brandish, who were leading the charge, have both been eliminated."

Yajeel found that hard to believe. "Inconceivable."

Zeref smiled at the report Invel told him. "And that is to be expected. It would be a bore if you couldn't manage at least this much, Mavis."

Yajeel was still trying to take in what happened to Ajeel. "Ajeel has been…my grandson has truly been defeated?"

Invel shifted his glasses up slightly. "To think that not one, but two of the Twelve would be killed. This surpasses my predictions."

Zeref didn't think that was possible at all. "No, you're wrong. They haven't been killed and therein lies the enemy's weakness."

B

Back at the guild, Warren saw something important and gasped. He turned to the rest of the guild members. "I've received information from the Eastern Front! The guilds of the nation of Bosco have been all but eliminated!"

The announcement surprised everyone in the guild. "What!?"

"An entire country's guilds have been practically wiped off the map?!"

"I can't believe this!"

Neither could Akame and the others. "They were able to bring down an entire continent?"

Chelsea couldn't help but feel scared after hearing that. "I knew they were powerful but to destroy every guild in a continent?"

Leone was mildly impressed by this. "Gotta say, even Esdeath couldn't do something like. These guy's mean business."

Warren did see what the enemy's goal was in doing so. "But taking control of Bosco may have been their objective. Their march towards us has halted. But there is some good news. Concerning the army assaulting us from the north, Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus are moving to intercept them! That leaves Port Hargeon. Although it was seized by the enemy's forces, both Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale are heading to liberate it!"

Things were starting to look up to some of the other guild members. "In that case, we just need to deal with the enemies from the east and west."

"No, we can't say for sure. There's no guarantee that the other guilds will win."

"Hey! Don't lose faith in them so easily!"

Romeo had a suggestion. "First, Let's go back them up!"

Jet and Droy agreed with him. "That's right! We can't just sit back while the other guilds act as our shield!"

"Now is the time to go on the offensive!"

Mavis couldn't agree more. "But of course! Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, Gajeel, Levy, Lily, and Chelsea will head to the north."

Elfman gave out a manly cheer while Mirajane had a small plot in mind. "Now's my chance to make Jenny owe me!"

Lisanna and Levy looked at each other and smiled. "Let's give it all we got!" Levy nodded in agreement.

Gajeel grinned at the opportunity he was presented with. "I've been waiting for a chance to arrest those Saber guys."

"Hey, get your priorities in order."

Chelsea was the only one who wasn't as excited as the rest of the group she was paired with. "Wait, why I am going with them!?"

"To the south, I will send Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Laxus, and Leon."

Gray was looking forward to a little reunion with Lyon. "I'll get see Lyon's ugly mug for the first time in a while."

Juvia wasn't as happy as Gray was about Lyon. "Juvia is not looking forward to seeing him."

Laxus had a passing thought about the location they were given. "Huh, that machine bastard's real body is in the south too, right?"

Wendy was the most excited out everyone in the group. "We'll be able to fight together with Chelia!"

Carla shared the young dragon slayer's enthusiasm. "Looks like the Sky Lovers will reunite once again."

Leone laughed happily as she grabbed the two girls from behind and hugged them while their faces were pressed on the sides of her breasts. "Hell yeah! It'll be like old times again, huh?" From Akame's view, she felt a little disheartened that Leone and Chelsea will be moving out while she'll be staying. She looked down at Murasame and drew it out a little by using her thumb before sheathing back in.

Gray noticed something, or rather someone was missing and looked around. "Huh? What happened to Natsu?"

Juvia was looking around the guild as well. "Juvia thinks he may have run off somewhere."

Most of the members couldn't believe the stunt Natsu pulled now of all times. "Are you serious!? At a time like this, Natsu is prancing around on his own!?"

"Find him right now!"

"Natsu! Where ya at!?"

"Natsu is definitely all right." Wendy saw Erza arrive still bandaged and was walking with a tall stick. "I will accompany you to the south in his place. I wish to see Kagura as well."

Lucy's mind was a little preoccupied about a certain dragon slayer. "Natsu…"

"Lucy and Cana will continue watching over the prisoner"

Mavis' orders snapped Lucy out of her dazed stated. "Y-Yes…"

Cana didn't have a problem with that. "We can't have her with the old geezers, that's for sure." To Macao and Wakaba, that was a low blow to them.

With everything set, there was one more set of orders to give out. "The rest of you will be entrusted with the defense of the guild. The enemy may attempt to launch a surprise attack on us at any moment."

Makarov still had questions about the enemy's remaining forces. "First, how are we to cope with the forces from the east and west?"

He brought up a good question for the First Master. "The advance of their western forces is comparatively slow. Most likely, Zeref himself is marching with them." Everyone was shocked to hear that. "We will in all likelihood end up converging him with all of our remaining forces after the battles of the other three sides have been decided."

That was good and all but Romeo still saw a problem with the east. "Then what about the east!? Please, let me go!"

Mavis swung her arm to the side. "At present, the east is our greatest threat. As such, we must intercept them head on with our strongest forces!" She turned to Warren. "Warren, you were able to contact them?"

Warren gave a thumbs up at her. "But of course! This force is Fiore's very finest!"

B

At the east, four certain individuals were patiently waiting for their enemy to arrive. They were none other than Jura and the three members of the Four Heavenly Kings of Ishgar.

B

The guild members cheered again. "The Four Heavenly Kings of Ishgar?!"

"Aw, hell yeah!"

"But, why?"

Levy opted to explain it to them. "They were originally working behind the scenes to prevent this war but after all that's happened, they feel responsible. Even though, it's not their fault."

Mavis had to believe that they would hold down the line when they do come face to face with the enemy. "If it so happens that those three sides cannot hold then I do not think any mage on the continent could have held back whatever force powers through." She closed her eyes and was worried about one of the Kings. "I'm counting on you, Warrod."

Everyone heard a blip on Warren's radar and turned to it. "H-Hey! Look at this!"

"It's Natsu! We finally found him! He's advancing at an incredible speed!"

Gray didn't understand where Natsu was going of all places. "Where the hell is…"

Makarov figured out and thought Natsu couldn't come up with anything else crazier. "Don't tell me he's…!"

Currently, where Natsu was, he was approaching his target quickly. Something Invel had noticed. "Your majesty, there is an unidentified object hurling straight for us."

Zeref smiled as he knew Natsu would come to him sooner or later. He was glad it was sooner. "IT'S TIME YOU AND I FINISH THIS DANCE ZEREF!"

Everyone in the guild Natsu was nuts. More so than usual since he's going to pick a fight with Zeref. "Does Natsu really intend to face Zeref alone!?"

"That's too reckless!"

Even Laxus thought this a very stupid move even by Natsu's standards. "That brat…"

With this dumb move, Gray had no choice to lend a hand. "Change of strategy it is then! Let's go!"

Before he could move out, Erza blocked him with her arm. "Wait. We'll move according to the First's plan. Let's leave Zeref to Natsu."

Gray wondered if some of Natsu's craziness rubbed off on Erza. "Are you serious? We're talking about Zeref here! He has the Book of E.N.D with him, y'know!"

Erza knew that but she had a reason to believe in Natsu. "Natsu said he's got a secret technique to defeat Zeref, so…he'll be alright."

Gray butted heads with Erza. "You've got too much faith in him, Erza!"

Everyone didn't know what to say or think about this confrontation. Erza didn't back down from Gray. "So you're telling me, you don't believe in him?"

The two continued to stare at each other until Lucy came in between them and separated the two. "Okay, okay, stop this already!"

Mirajane looked over at Mavis and had to admit Gray had a point in helping out Natsu. "What do we now First?"

Mavis was left with only one option at this time. "Well, let's place our hopes on Natsu then. He moves might seem reckless, but I'm sure there's a reason behind them. We're cornered from all sides. He must've thought that the fastest way to end it all was to take the enemy's leader down. And I must agree, that is the most effective way." She glanced over at Gray. "Let's just believe in him, shall we, Gray?"

Gray knew that better than anyone else. "Yeah, well, it's not like I don't…" He felt embarrassed now. "It's just…y'know…him going out there all alone…and stuff…"

Juvia figured out why Gray acted the way he did. "My love is worried for Natsu…"

Gray was wrong about one thing according to Carla. "Well, he's not really alone, is he?" She smiled at the ice mage. "Happy's there with him…am I right?"

B

Over at the west, Happy and Natsu were nearing the enemy and more importantly, Zeref himself. "Natsu, I think I can see them from here."

Natsu could see them as well and what he and Happy saw was a very large amount of soldiers walking together. "That really is a pretty big number of people."

Seeing the soldiers walking together like they were reminded Happy about something. "It looks like we're looking a black carpet. But we're still flying straight at them."

Now that Happy brought it up, Natsu was wondering about something. "Oh yeah, what did we do with that carpet we messed up?"

Happy wasn't surprised Natsu forgot what he did. "Eh, you burnt it, remember?"

Now Natsu remembered what happened to the carpet. "Really?" He grinned at the soldiers they were quickly approaching. "It burnt, huh? Alright, here we go Happy!"

"Aye-sir!"

They flew to the front of the army and Natsu unleashed his fire from his hands striking them all while passing them by. His attack did not go unnoticed from the other soldiers. "What the hell?!"

"We're under attack!"

Natsu and Happy were above the enemy again. "Happy, drop me off!"

Happy wasn't sure about that. "Huh? Are you planning on taking on all of them at once?"

Against his better judgment, Happy let go of Natsu and he dropped to the ground. "Yep, what better way to draw Zeref's attention." He pulled back his arm and fire flared out from his forearm. "TAKE THIS!" Natsu thrust his arm forward and his fire spread out far and wide at the soldiers while creating multiple explosions as the fire traveled further.

The soldiers had to deal with the fire dragon slayer and fast. "That kid!"

"How dare he…"

They tried to attack him but Natsu jumped over them. While he was upside down, he crossed his arms and struck the two soldiers away while their helmets were destroyed. Natsu landed on the ground and ran up to the rest of the soldiers in front of him. He elbowed the first soldier he reached and that soldier crashed into the rest of them. One of them fired off a magic shot at Natsu but he easily deflected it with his arm. "He parried our attacks?!"

"It doesn't matter, continue! Remember, it's only one of him against all of us!"

All of them fired at Natsu at once. While he was able to avoid their attacks from the start, they started to hit him one after another. Soon, he was being bombarded by the enemy soldier's magic blasts. Happy was worried about his best friend. "Natsu!"

"I'm okay!" Natsu took in a deep breath while being in the cloud of enemy fire. "I'll keep fighting…to protect what's important to me!" Natsu opened his mouth and unleashed an incredibly massive and destructively powerful fire breath attack at the enemy before him. "FIRE DRAGON KING'S ROAR!"

The attack reached far into the enemy army and they saw the destruction Natsu's attack left in its wake. "The entire ground's gone!"

"M-Monster!"

"Hey, nobody told us about guys like him here in Ishgar!"

"How many of our soldiers are down?!"

"Nine hundred seventy-three people." The soldiers saw a black sphere appear before them. Everyone and Natsu knew who it was. Zeref had finally arrived before Natsu. "But we've still got 999,027 left."

Natsu knew he was attacking to gain Zeref's attention but didn't expect him to show up this soon. "Huh, you've appeared a lot quicker than I had expected."

Zeref chuckled as he smiled at Natsu. "Well, I wanted to see you as soon as possible…Natsu…"

Funny enough, Natsu was feeling the same and began to undo the bandages on his right arm. "Heh, but we've gotta say our farewells really soon…Zeref."