A/N: I hope you all enjoyed Azura and Gorun kicking Zeref's head in, because there will be plenty of head-stomping action to come in the equivalent to Fairy Tail's final arc (anime-wise). I think I've mentioned this before, but there will be one more arc following the war with Alvarez, and it will be of my original design. I'm aiming to have this story finished by the end of 2021, but we'll see what this next year brings us.

Read, review, and as always, enjoy.

P.S. I might be inclined to do a concept piece of Rachel and Gorun together in SSJ4, if any of you guys would be interested in seeing that.

Alvarez War Arc: Prologue 2

Homecoming

"What on Earthland did you two do?" Sorano asked as Gorun and Azura reappeared with the background of a massive explosion engulfing the capital of Alvarez. She was standing protectively over Makarov, who was struggling to recover his breath after nearly having been crushed by gravity magic.

"Nothing that they wouldn't have done first," Azura said with a smirk as she rolled her shoulder. "Man, that felt good."

"It's too early to be celebrating just yet," her cousin said as he watched Future Lucy and Yukino work together to take out a squadron of soldiers with Taurus and Libra. "We've got incoming."

"I'm sensing someone absurdly strong who uses some kind of earth magic," Kinana informed them. Over the course of the last year, her ability to sense power levels had steadily improved, plus she seemed to have developed a secondary talent for not only sensing someone's strength, but also the type of magic that they would use. "The soldiers seem to be pulling back, save for the ones that we've already defeated."

"Well, we know they ain't exactly afraid of us," Gray muttered as he hurled ice shards at their enemies. "So whoever's coming must be one tough customer."

"Whatever the case is, Master Makarov is in no shape to be in a fight," Erza said as she sheathed her swords, having finished dispatching her own targets. "We need to get out of here before whoever it is arrives."

"I'm fine, Erza…" Makarov coughed as he looked around himself, tears lining his eyes. "Nothing I won't shrug off in a few minutes, especially now that my children are here."

"It's good to see you, gramps," Gray said with a grin as he helped the elderly wizard to his feet.

"We've all missed you," Erza said warmly, her stern demeanor fading away for a moment. "Fairy Tail is waiting for you to come home."

"My children…" the bearded wizard sniffled as the tears began to run freely down the sides of his face. "I am so sorry. I've never felt such shame and regret as I have now for trying to disband the guild. I know I have no right to ask for your forgiveness, but I hope for it nonetheless."

"Maybe we do the apology bit later?" Azura suggested. "That power level is getting closer, and Kaidon and I won't be able to sustain these forms for more than a few minutes if we have to fight."

"She's right- we need to get across the barrier line so that Gorun can teleport us back home, stat," Levy agreed grimly. "Master, are you alright to move?"

"Yes, thank you, dear," Makarov said as he smiled warmly at the slightly built bluenette while he got to his feet.

"Kinana, if you don't mind?" Gorun asked as he gave Makarov a pointed look.

"Of course, love," she said with a sweet smile before she knelt down in front of the former guild master and said, "Hop on and hold tight. It'll be faster if I fly you out of here."

"Thank you, Kinana," Makarov said appreciatively. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she carried him on her back, his brow raising in surprise as he noticed the two rings on her left hand. "I suppose congratulations are in order, even if they are a bit belated."

"Wish you could've been there," Gorun said a little archly, causing his wife to shoot him a disapproving look, which made him flinch a little. "Sorry, sorry. Makarov, it's good to see you alive and well, but Genora is right- we gotta go." Turning to the others, he said, "Those of you who can fly with your own powers, partner up with someone who can't and hightail it back to the coast. Genora and I have one more message to send to Alvarez before we head home."

"The source of that magic power is in the trees now, isn't he?" Gray asked dryly, to which the two saiyans nodded once. "Alright, we'll let you do your thing. Erza and I'll make sure we make it to the coast."

"See you soon," Gorun said as his teammates started to move past him, leaving him and Azura standing in the clearing full of bodies and magic remnants. "Alright, whoever you are- come on out."

"Hehe…" A shirtless man with tanned skin and shaggy brown hair stepped out from behind the tree that the two saiyans had been staring at. His ears were decorated by earrings that vaguely resembled red potara, save that they were each bigger than the man's ears themselves. "You know, I was really hoping to hunt you two down last- I can tell that you'll be a lot more fun to kill than those other guys that you had run off. Whaddya say you let me go finish them off and then I'll come back for you?"

"That's not how battle works," Azura snorted as she stepped forward. "You crush whoever is in front of you first, then move on to another target of your choosing. I don't tolerate people who bail out halfway through a fight."

"Oh trust me, sweetheart," the Alvarez man sneered. "This isn't going to be so much of a fight as it is you struggling to just breathe. No one messes with Ajeel of the Spriggan Twelve and lives to tell of it." The two saiyans could feel his power growing by the second, so they kept up their guard, with Gorun even preparing to cast a small temporal reversal spell in case things moved too fast for them to keep up. The wizard was being augmented by Time Breaker energy to a large degree, though just how powerful it would make him had yet to be seen.

"You're not the first person to tell us something along those lines," Azura replied as her aura intensified. "I sincerely doubt you'll be the last one to do so, but I do think that this will be the last time you ever get to say it."

"Ha! Was that a threat?" Ajeel laughed. "Everyone knows you Ishgar wizards are too soft to kill your enemies, especially those of you in Fairy Tail!"

"Well then, I guess it's too bad for you that even though we are Fairy Tail wizards, we don't come from Ishgar," Azura smirked. "Warriors from Vegeta tend not to show mercy, and the present company is no exception when we're riled up enough."

"Me, I take a while to hit that point," Gorun added as his own aura began to enlarge. "My cousin, on the other hand… Well, it doesn't really take much for her to feel like ripping her enemies' heads off."

"Ha! In a minute, all you'll be feeling is your skin being torn apart by the earth, where you'll stay buried for an eternity!" Ajeel shouted as he waved his arms, which caused the ground beneath him to erupt into sand columns that raced for the two wizards, who both threw up barriers in time to avoid taking damage. Their enemy, however, did not sense this, and merely saw his opponents being swallowed up by the earth at his command, setting him off into a cackling fit.

"Man, that was too easy!" he hooted as he let the sands begin to die down. "If that's the best those insects can come up with, I can't wait to turn the rest of their friends into mummy husks! I think I'll enjoy watching their faces when I tell 'em that their buddies are already six feet under!"

He was about to start laughing again when he felt a burning, stabbing pain pierce his back, erupt out his chest and hold him in place as his breath caught. Looking down, he could see a pale blue blade of pure energy had embedded itself in his ribcage, right next to his heart. Whatever damage the blade was doing to his body, the energy coming from it was disrupting his mind's ability to summon his magic, otherwise he would have easily broken free. "First rule of fighting a saiyan, dirt-for-brains," Azura growled from a few feet behind him. "Never assume you've won until you've seen the body. And don't assume that body is going to stay there until our bones are rotted dust in the wind." She paused before she asked, "What do we do with this one?"

"Well, the stealth extraction is a bust, and we've made a pretty loud declaration of war," Gorun said as he floated forward through the settling dust to come nearly face-to-face with Ajeel, who now wore a look of intense hatred. "I say we go big before we go home."

"I think I'm starting to like you again, Kaidon," Azura chuckled menacingly.

"If you two… think you're gonna scare me…"

"Oh, we're not going to scare you," Gorun interrupted him as he placed his palm in front of Ajeel's face, nearly brushing the skin of the man's nose as he did. "But everyone within a mile of your capital is about to witness something that terrifies every mortal and god alike that encounters it."

Azura's eyes widened as Gorun's aura began to die down, congealing into a single point in front of his palm, a dark purple orb beginning to take shape, one that sent a shiver of dread down even her spine. "Wait, Kaidon, since when did you learn-?"

"Rachel taught me recently," he answered before she could finish the question. "I'm still getting the hang of it, and it's not as good as hers', but I think it'll get the point across."

"What point?" Ajeel demanded, though he had gone several shades paler as the small orb continued to grow in front of his nose. "What are you two doing to me?!"

"I'm reinforcing the point that we made with your castle earlier," Gorun answered, all lightness having departed his voice. "I want everyone in your stupid empire to know what is waiting for them in Ishgar if they dare to set foot on our shores."

"You will face nothing less than the total annihilation of your forces and the sight of watching every dream you've ever held dear being swallowed up by the light of Fairy Tail's wrath," Azura added as she twisted the blade in Ajeel's chest, causing him to grit his teeth harder in an effort not to scream. "There will be no prize for your people in our home- only the void."

"This is the fate of all who dare trespass against the guild of the Saiyans!" Gorun snarled as the orb finished growing, having reached the size of an apple.

It was small by appearance, but its very presence terrified Ajeel in a way that he could not explain. Cold sweat broke out on his brow, and he tried in vain to move his unresponsive muscles so that he could put as much distance as possible between himself and the magic that the wizard saint from Fiore was holding. He had no idea what it would do to him, but for the first time since he was a child, he felt a fear of death creeping up his spine into his skull.

"Keep that away from me," he tried to order, only to have the words come out as a pitiful begging. "You won't intimidate the powers of Alvarez! We will sweep across your people like a sandstorm, leaving nothing but ruins and dried bodies that rot in the sun! The gods have abandoned your precious continent! You don't stand a chance against us!" There were tears building up in the corners of his eyes as the orb crawled toward his cheek at the speed of a snail.

"The gods abandoned Ishgar, huh?" Azura snorted. "I guess that might have been true at one point, but unfortunately for Alvarez, there's a new trifecta of deities in the neighborhood- and we like our continent the way it is, Spriggan trash."

"May your death serve as the final warning to your fellow countrymen," Gorun said before he shoved his wrist forward to make solid contact with Ajeel's face. "Hakai." There was a violent shuddering in the air, so Azura quickly retreated, not wanting to chance that the Destroyer energy might touch her as it ate through Ajeel's existence until nothing remained of him, not even a vapor.

Before she could congratulate her cousin on a job well done, the two of them heard someone call out from down below, "That's quite enough for now, I think." Both saiyans were surprised to see a newcomer who looked as old as Makarov, though he was much taller and dressed in a deep purple cloak. He carried a staff in one hand, and in the other, he had Ajeel by the shoulder, who was trembling and muttering nonsense, though he was alive, much to the saiyans' irritation.

"How did he-?"

"I will allow you to leave now if you cause my home no further damage," the old man said peaceably before Azura could finish. "Otherwise, I'm afraid that your friends will receive a demonstration far more thorough than the spectacle that you've put on today."

Azura frowned at that while Gorun remained silent. Both of them sensed little magic power coming from the man, though there was a hint of Time Breaker energy infusing his being, which meant that he had to be a key player of some kind. Does this geezer know how to manipulate his own power level? Azura wondered. Normally her first move would be to brain him for speaking so arrogantly, but her finely honed instincts were telling her that would be an unwise act on her part this time.

Gorun seemed to agree, because he reverted all the way back to his normal mortal form before saying, "Fine. But the next time we see you, I won't fall for a substitution spell." He realized that this newcomer must have switched out his comrade with something that only looked like him at the last possible second. Since he hadn't mastered using the Hakai technique yet, it drained almost all of his energy, and as it was, he would barely have enough to get everyone home. He couldn't fight right then even if he wanted to.

"I sincerely doubt that you will see me at all," the old man replied, still in that same calm tone. "If we do, you will have earned the admiration of the Wizard King, August of the Spriggan Twelve."

"Hmph," Azura snorted as she dropped into her base form alongside her cousin before putting her hand on his shoulder. "You'll be one of the first ones I look for when the war begins, old man." Then Gorun engaged his instant transmission, and the two of them were gone without a trace.

The second that they were gone, August looked down at his peer and murmured, "We already seem to have lost Brandish, Ajeel. I'd rather not lose another comrade- it's not good for my old heart." Ajeel did nothing in response but to continue muttering his frightened gibberish with a blank stare, as if all he could still see was the orb of destruction coming to end his life. Watching him, August couldn't help but wonder what kind of magic those two wizards had employed against him. It had been many years since he had come across a magic he could not master, much less one that he did not recognize at all. Perhaps those two might be worth encountering again, should I get the chance to study them- that boy in particular…

For now though, he had work to do for the empire, namely going to see how many of their wizards had been lost in the first strike of the war.

For the second time that week, the guild hall was filled with the sounds of a happy crew celebrating the return of one of their beloved family members. Everyone came up to Makarov in turns, gladly filling him in on what he had missed while he had travelled to Alvarez. He took particular joy in seeing Asuka, as it had always gladdened him to see the coming of the next generation in the guild. He was most surprised by Wendy's appearance, but after he had been told the circumstances of her accelerated aging, he praised her for growing into such a respectable and powerful wizard.

"You certainly showed more resolve than I did last year," he said as their conversation began to wind down, sounding tired.

"You did what you thought was right, which is all that any of us can do," Mirajane said as she laid a hand on the old man's shoulder, causing him to smile up at her.

"But it seems that I was wrong, regardless," he admitted. "I am glad to know that the guild was able to choose a new leader to get them through the hard times that I put them through. I know it's a little late to say so, but congratulations on becoming the seventh guild master, Mira. For whatever it's worth, I think that you will lead the guild on to many more years of joy and prosperity."

"You don't want the job back?" she asked curiously, which caused Gorun and Azura to look at one another with a frown.

However, they were quickly dispelled when Makarov shook his head and answered, "I think it's clear now that my days as the leader of this family are over. It's time for the next generation to look out for Fairy Tail, and as I understand it, we couldn't be in better hands." Both of the saiyans visibly relaxed now, just in time for Rachel and Kinana to join them, with the smaller girl whispering something in her father's ear, to which he nodded and ruffled her hair with a smile.

Seeing this, Makarov called them over to him, so the family approached the old man, the saiyans wearing neutral expressions while Kinana smiled warmly at him. Once they were within easy talking distance, Makarov bowed to them, which startled everyone present. "You four in particular have my deepest apologies," he began. "Azura, I made a promise to your Supreme Kai that I would watch over you, which I failed to keep. Gorun and Kinana, I failed as your guild master, and I wasn't there for your wedding like you wanted me to be. And Miss Rachel…" Makarov looked at her with something like pity before he continued, "I know that your years vastly outnumber my own, yet I cannot help but feel as though I nearly made an orphan of a child who was just trying to find her way home. I am sorry for abandoning you, the newest member of our Fairy Tail family."

Rachel tilted her head at the old man before she smiled and said, "I'm just glad that I really get to meet the master of Fairy Tail who my mother always spoke so fondly of. It's good to have you back, sir."

"I don't need anyone to look after me, thank you very much," Azura cut in before Makarov could say anything in response. Then she quirked an eyebrow upward as she added, "But I know a fair number of the others in this guild will be happy to have their guardian back, even if he is an old bag of bones like you."

Kinana then smacked her upside the head, which made Makarov freeze with fright. He fully expected Azura to fly into a rage and demolish the other girl, so he was utterly stunned when all the blue-haired saiyan did was mutter something unintelligible under her breath and move away to go find her drink. The former barmaid then gave her husband a pointed look, leading him to step forward and say, "I owe you an apology, too. I still don't agree with what you tried to do, but I understand why you did it. I shouldn't have rushed into a confrontation like I did."

"Forgiven and forgotten, my boy," Makarov replied with a relieved smile. Glancing at Azura out of the corner of his eye, he added, "It seems as though you've been a good influence on your cousin this past year."

"Ha! No, that was all her doing," Gorun chuckled as he indicated his wife. "She's been good for my family- my whole team, really." Kinana grinned with a blush as leaned on his arm, which he responded to by kissing the top of her head.

"Yes, I see that Sorano has settled in quite nicely," Makarov noted as he watched the former criminal sharing a toast with the members of the Thunder Legion.

"It's not just Sorano, sir," Rachel said, drawing his attention back to the saiyans. "Mom has been really diligent about making sure that Dad and Auntie Azura get along, helping Romeo with his training when Dad had to focus on teaching Cana to master her saiyan abilities, and getting Aunt Yukino pretty far in the S-class trials a few months ago."

"Oh?" Makarov asked curiously. "I take it she didn't become S-class, then? And since when was she your aunt, too?"

"Yukino has been like a sister to the both of us," Kinana explained. "At least, that's how Gorun and I feel, since the both of us are the only child in our families."

"Yukino was the runner-up against Cana," Mirajane said to answer the man's first question. "You should see her in action when we go up against Alvarez- she's apparently grown powerful enough to take down one of the eighteen battle gods."

"My word," Makarov said in amazement as he watched Cana straining against Laxus in an arm-wrestling match, the lightning wizard looking as though he were having more fun than Makarov could remember since he had thrown Ivan out of the guild. "You all really have grown up while I've been gone."

"What else would children do?" Rachel said with a little grin of her own.

"Says the one who's still a child after reaching ten thousand years," Kinana giggled, causing Rachel to laugh back. That sound was music to Makarov's ears, and he found himself smiling through his beard as tears of joy ran down his weathered cheeks again.

Then he felt a strong hand put itself on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Gorun smiling at him before he said, "Welcome home, Makarov."

"Thank you… It's so good to be home."

Natsu and Happy were among the last to welcome Makarov back to the guild, mostly because it wasn't until Gorun teleported out to Hargeon to retrieve the motion-sick dragon slayer that he got to see the old guild master. "That's what you get for trying to follow me when I told you to stay out of it," the saiyan snorted when Natsu complained about having been tricked.

"Why'd Gray get to go and not me?!"

"Because Gray knows how to be stealthy, and no, wrapping your scarf around your head and pretending to be a ninja does not make you sneaky."

"It totally does!"

"Shut up, Natsu," Gray called over from where he and Laxus were sharing a drink. "You're just proving his point."

"Get over here and say that!"

"You want a piece of me?!"

As the two of them collided and began to wrestle, Makarov shook his head with a smile and muttered, "I see not much has changed when it comes to those two."

"I'm pretty sure that when they reach your age, they'll still be going at it like that," Romeo chuckled while they watched Azura and Erza approaching the scuffle, both of them with stern looks on their faces. The onlookers then cringed as both boys had their heads slammed into support pillars, followed by their unconscious forms being hurled out an open window and into the yard.

"The fact that they have remained true to themselves as they have in spite of knowing what is to come gives me hope that we may yet endure through this crisis," the former guild master said as he set down his mug. "And speaking of which, I believe it is time that we do what I should have done a year ago, and tell our family the truth about the conflict that comes to lay waste to our fair land." Glancing up at Mirajane, who had grown somber, he then asked, "What say you, seventh guild master?"

"I agree, sixth guild master," the white-haired woman nodded.

"As do I." The gathering of elite wizards all turned in surprise to see the hollow-eyed shade of their guild's founding master. In the past, Gorun had noticed that she often appeared warm and cheerful, but this was not the case today. Now she appeared cold and grim, her countenance finally reflecting her age instead of her physical appearance. As she locked eyes with the leaders of her beloved guild, she told them, "It would be best if I explain it to everyone- after all, it's my sin that caused this coming calamity."

"You're certain, first guild master?" Makarov asked apprehensively as the blond girl approached them at a measured pace.

"I am," she nodded. "Please gather everyone to the main stage. It's time for them to learn the story of the Contradictive Curse."

"Story?" Rachel asked her.

"Yes…" Mavis said softly as she looked at the other impossibly old child. "This is the story of a boy and a girl, and the primordial magic that they sought after."

"Other than Reycel's life, that was probably the saddest story I've ever heard," Azura muttered from Golden Tail's table. Mavis, having just finished telling the tale of her and Zeref's respective doom, was now talking more quietly with Makarov and Mirajane while the guild took some time to digest what they had just been told.

"No kidding," Kinana said softly. "I'm amazed that she's still the way she is, unlike Zeref."

"She does have the advantage of not killing everything she gets close to anymore," Romeo pointed out. "But yeah, no one outside of our guild can interact with her, so that has to be lonely. I can't imagine what that kind of isolation would do to any of us if we were alone for over a hundred years."

"It was just my mother and I while I grew up in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but because I didn't really know any other way of living, it didn't affect me much," Rachel added. "I couldn't stand to lose any of you now, though."

Gorun was quiet for a moment as his mind thought back to the end of time, where he had met Kaidon. "It's not a pretty picture," he eventually said in a subdued manner.

"We now know why Alvarez is coming for a fight, but I don't see how this is gonna help us stop them," Cana said after another melancholy lull in the conversation. "Shouldn't we be trying to get answers out of that chick that Gorun captured?"

"I've been working on that," Rachel answered. "I think we'll have some useful information in a little while."

"How?" Romeo asked as he gave the girl a confused look. "Have you been interrogating her telepathically?"

"Nope," Rachel said with a slight grin before her body shimmered and blurred until there were two exact copies of the saiyan child sitting at the table, which startled a few of their number.

"What the-?!" Sorano yelped. "You don't know illusion magic, so what is that?!"

"Multiform technique," Gorun answered with a matching grin of his own, even as Rachel's duplicate merged back with her original body. "We can create physical replicates of ourselves with all the same abilities as the prime. Once the copies rejoin us, we gain their memories of the time spent apart."

"You can make copies of yourselves, just like that?!" Romeo gaped. "Why haven't you ever done that before?! I can think of like a hundred times when that would've helped us!"

"Kaidon forgot to mention the fact that each time we copy ourselves, it splits up our energy reserves equally across the bodies," Azura explained in a flat tone. "It's only useful in battle against opponents who are substantially weaker than we are."

"I already scared Brandish pretty good earlier in the day, so I think that just me talking to her now will be enough, regardless of how strong my duplicate is," Rachel said with a little smirk that made her look very much like her father. "My clone has been interrogating her ever since you guys got back with Makarov. Soon enough, we should know everything worth knowing about the other members of the Spriggan Twelve."

As if he had been listening in on their conversation, Makarov suddenly called the attention of the guild back to him and the other masters. "While I was in Alvarez, I managed to learn a few things about the group known as the Spriggan Twelve, Zeref's most capable wizards," he began. "Because they oversee such a large country, I understand that it is apparently quite rare for them all to be together at any given time, which means that if they are assembling in force, Zeref isn't pulling any punches. I have heard that we have the woman known as Brandish in custody, which I am extremely thankful for. Her magic has been known to destroy entire nations that do not submit to the will of Alvarez."

"She uses some kind of matter alteration magic?" Gorun guessed.

"She apparently once shrunk a continent when its leaders refused to obey a command, though Zeref ordered her to restore it to its original state," Makarov nodded. "She can also expand mass to an equally frightening degree. With her imprisoned, we can at least be sure that our forces will not be shrunk down to the size of mere pebbles."

"What other foes shall we face among their number?" Erza asked with a frown.

"There is Invel, also known as the Winter General," Makarov answered grimly. "He is essentially Zeref's right hand in the empire, and although I haven't seen him in action, his moniker lends itself to the thought that he utilizes some form of ice magic." Gorun's eyes flicked over to Gray, who appeared intrigued at the thought of getting to pit himself against another ice wizard.

"One of the Twelve's most aggressive members is Ajeel, the Desert King," Makarov continued. "He's the one who tried to stop us back in Alvarez."

"Yeah, I dunno how aggressive he's going to be the next time we run into him," Azura snickered. "I'm pretty sure he'd crapped himself after Kaidon was finished with him."

"There is also Dimaria the Warrior Queen," Makarov continued, his gaze now levelled on Erza. "I don't know her magic type either, but she's renowned as a goddess on the battlefield, and one of Alvarez's most capable knights."

"Doesn't that sound familiar?" Laxus deadpanned, even as Erza made a face.

However, everyone was less than surprised when Azura stood up and cracked her knuckles, loudly. "Goddess of the battlefield, huh?" she snorted derisively. "Let's see how she does against an actual deity of war."

"Now there's a fight I'd pay to see," Bickslow grinned, and to a degree, Gorun actually agreed with the man.

"Another member of their number is a personal disappointment to every citizen of Fiore," Makarov said heavily as his eyes came to rest on the Saiyan Saint. "The former top wizard of the wizard saints, god Serena, has joined their ranks in the last year, following his desertion of our homeland."

"Those idiots actually think the gods are on their side, don't they?" Natsu growled. "Wait 'till they see ours' in action."

"What's Serena's gimmick?" Gorun asked before Makarov could move on to the next member of the Twelve. "Something tells me that I'll end up trading blows with him before this is over, so I'd prefer not to have any surprises."

"He's a dragon slayer, but his powers are beyond even those of our family who practice the same magics," Makarov warned them, causing all four of the dragon slayers present to scoff at the thought, even Wendy. With a stern look, their former guild master added, "Like Laxus and the other slayers in Sabertooth and Crime Sorcière, he had a lachryma planted inside his body in order to practice the lost magic. However, he did not limit himself to one element, unlike the rest of you."

"Pfft, Salamander and I can both use two types of dragon slayer magic now, big deal that this Serena guy can do the same," Gajeel snorted. "That doesn't make him better than us."

"Serena's body contains eight lachrymas, each one granting him a different elemental power wielded by the dragons," Makarov snapped, and that was enough to shut up the other wizards for a moment. "He is not to be underestimated by any means, understand? Not even by the likes of Son Gorun."

"Hey," the saiyan said as he stood from his seat, his tail twitching in irritation. "He may be the former number one wizard saint of this country, but don't forget who holds the title, now. And unlike that traitor, I'm an actual god by birth. I'm with these guys- Alvarez won't be using those titles so lightly once we're done with them."

"Now you're sounding like a saiyan," Azura grinned before they slammed their fists together, hard enough that anyone else's fingers would have been broken by the impact.

"Even so, Serena is not the one to be most wary of," Makarov muttered, his brow lining with a hint of sweat as he looked down at the floor. "That concern should be reserved for August, the Wizard King."

"The old guy?" Azura asked as she and Gorun exchanged a look, remembering the man who had kept them from killing Ajeel at the last second.

"I don't know much about him personally, but his skill with magic is said to rival, or perhaps even surpass Zeref's," Makarov informed them, which got more than a few members of the guild talking among themselves. "If the rumors are true, he has mastered all manner of magics from across every corner of the world, not just Alvarez."

"He can manipulate his power level at will, too," Gorun noted, bringing everyone's attention to him. "When Azura and I encountered him, he managed to spare his comrade from my 'Hakai', but I didn't even sense his approach. I could only feel his magic power after he had cast a spell, but it felt very faint, even though he was tainted with Time Breaker energy. That tells me that he has an even finer control over his energy output than even we do." As he said the last part, he made a gesture to indicate the other saiyans at the table.

"If he's the one we need to worry about the most, then I'll take him on when the time comes," Rachel volunteered, keeping her eyes locked on Mavis as she did. "I take it that'll work for whatever strategy you had in mind?"

"Yes, I was hoping that you would say that," Mavis nodded solemnly. "I appreciate it."

"I only have the names of three others," Makarov told them. "Bloodman, Neinheart, and Wall. I hope that Rachel's interrogations will yield some insight as to their abilities and dispositions, as well as the other members, but that's all I can tell you for now."

"What do we do about Zeref, though?" Future Lucy asked from next to her present day counterpart. "He's immortal."

"Leave Zeref to Gorun and me," Natsu grinned.

"Isn't Gorun gonna have to deal with Serena?" Levy asked, which got her future self nodding in agreement.

"I plan to handle both when the time comes, but Zeref will take priority," Gorun answered her. "In the event that I can't fight our traitor, I've got a couple of contingencies in mind, if Master Mavis agrees."

"I'll hear your thoughts on the matter, but I agree that Zeref must be the priority when it comes to spending your strength," the ghost answered. "You have shown us that your god ki is capable of negating the special properties of the god Ankhseram in the past, and Natsu has yet to let us down. Whatever you two have planned, I have faith that it will succeed." As she turned to address the rest of the guild, she added, "Don't think that the fate of this battle will lie solely on our dragon slayers and saiyan friends. Each and every one of you will have a part to contribute, and I know that I can count on you to see our guild through this."

"You heard the master!" Romeo called out as he jumped on top of the table and slammed a fiery fist into his palm. "This is our guild they're messing with- let's make 'em regret it!"

"You said it, squirt!" Cana grinned before her hair turned gold and her eyes became emeralds, even as she raised her hand over her head and pointed skyward. "Alvarez is screwed- they just don't know it yet!"

One by one, shows of solidarity and power echoed throughout the guild hall, filling the hearts of the first and third masters with pride in their children, and the bonds that they had nurtured throughout the years.

Soon after the majority of the guild members had departed to begin evacuating the town at the request of Mavis, Rachel stood up and announced that her double had finished her interrogation of Brandish. "How much did you get out of her?" Gorun asked his daughter, who smiled confidently.

"We've got a full roster of the Twelve and a good idea of what their magics let them do," she replied, causing Mavis to smile at her with relief. "I'll start with one of the ones we already know; Dimaria, as I think Auntie Azura will find her interest redoubled."

"What makes you say that?" the blue-haired saiyan inquired.

"She wields time magic," Rachel answered, causing both Azura and Gorun to exchange looks of alarm. Seeing this, she quickly added, "Not in the sense that she can time travel. She has the ability to pass between seconds like the assassin Hit does- only she can sustain her passage indefinitely."

"Here's hoping that her powers don't evolve into time travel with Vajra's help," Gorun said sourly. "Great, this is gonna be difficult, even for me."

"Back it up, Kaidon," Azura said confidently. "I've got a little something that I've been saving for an occasion like this one. I'll take her on when the time comes."

"You're sure of your ability to defeat someone like that?" Mavis asked her cautiously. "I need to be certain that I'm putting everyone in an optimal position to win this fight."

"Leave her to me," Azura insisted. "Kaidon would just exhaust himself fighting this woman, and he already has dibs on the dragon god."

When Gorun nodded his agreement, Mavis decided to let the matter go. Rachel then went on to say, "Invel does use ice magic, so I'm thinking that we should throw the guy capable of eating ice at him."

"I'll inform Gray of the situation once we're done here," Gorun told the guild masters, who agreed to the arrangement.

"We also have a nasty surprise in the form of Bloodman," Rachel said. "He's an Etherious, like the Nine Demon Gates we fought last year. He must be a newer model, though, because apparently he can wield the curses of all of those freaks, including Mard Geer."

There were various mutterings from the present members as they each recalled various experiences at the claws of the Etherious that led the Baram Alliance. However, Sorano surprised them all by saying, "Leave that one to Heartfelia, Yuki, and me."

"You ladies sure you're up for that?" Gorun asked, having recognized what she had in mind. "You've only just started getting the hang of it."

"Then it'll be do or die, won't it?" Sorano smirked at him. "Trust the other two, if nothing else."

"I do trust them," Gorun told her. "And I trust you, too." Sorano didn't say anything to that, but her face did soften a little bit with a genuine smile before she turned away to face Mavis, who was now prompting Rachel for the rest of the intelligence that she had recovered.

"There's another Etherious called Larcade, and his curse powers are… interesting," Rachel said, hesitating while she glanced at her father.

"What makes you say that?" he asked her.

"They work based on three basic human desires," she muttered as she cast her eyes downward. "Sleep is one- if you fall asleep around him, it's basically an instant kill. The other weakness he exploits is hunger, meaning he can pretty much starve you to death. The last one is less to do with… deprivation, so much as it is overwhelming."

"I don't get it," Mirajane said with a puzzled look. "What third desire could be weaponized like the other two? Those are actual physical needs, not just wants."

"Yeah…" Rachel said slowly as she turned even redder. "The last one is… sex."

There was a very intense silence that was broken by Azura saying, "I don't get it."

"What, sex or the curse?" Gorun smirked in spite of his own reddened face, which led to Azura slugging him in the stomach and then slamming him face-down in guild's floorboards. "Worth it."

"Apparently the curse works to overload a person's sense of pleasure to the point where it'll kill them," Rachel muttered, not sure if she should be embarrassed by her father's antics or amused at her aunt's reaction to his provocation. "Brandish did mention that it normally doesn't work on people who haven't… you know…"

"We get it," Azura huffed.

"However, he can make it work on those people if he concentrates on a single target to the exclusion of others in the vicinity," Rachel finished. "It'd be best if we could take him out from a distance, before he has a chance to weaken us with any of those curses. The only problem with that is he's ranked as the third-strongest member of the Twelve. Whoever took him out would have to be very powerful."

"Hmm…" Mavis mused thoughtfully. "I have a few ideas on how to deal with him, but I'll get back to that after we know more about the others."

"Alright," Rachel acknowledged. "Their second-strongest member is an enchantress named Irene Belserion. She has the power to reshape the land however she sees fit- and that means that she could basically turn Magnolia into a volcano while Crocus became a swampland all at once. She can swap entire countries on a map if she wants, or scale the land down to a size that she prefers."

"I thought that was Brandish's shtick," Sorano muttered.

"Different magic, similar results, I guess," Rachel shrugged, even as Azura planted her foot on Gorun's back, keeping him firmly in place. "Neinheart has the power to give life to our strongest memories- our greatest opponents, people we've lost, people we loved. And it's not just illusions, either; these recreations will have the powers and memories of the original people that we interacted with."

"Ooh…" Gorun grunted from underneath his cousin's foot. "Yeah, I'm thinking that the time travelers are gonna need to stay away from that one."

"I'm with him," Future Lucy nodded grimly. "If that guy starts pulling memories out of his and Azura's head, forget Ishgar- the entire world will be at risk of annihilation." Future Levy was also expressing her agreement alongside her friend, which Mavis took note of.

"The only drawback to that magic is that he can't use it to conjure memories of people who are still alive," Rachel told Mavis, who nodded her understanding.

"Very well, I think I know who to send against Neinheart whenever he appears," the first guild master decided. "What about the other two?"

"Wall is a mechanoid who specializes in utilizing an arsenal of weapons hidden inside his body," Rachel explained. "He has so many that it's hard to find a magic that would work effectively against him, so we might just have to go for brute strength when it comes to him. The last guy is an assassin named Jacob who uses stealth and teleportation magic. He's never been caught, and apparently he's never seen on the job, either. The guy can even manipulate his magic power level so that he's undetectable to sensory-types like us saiyans."

"I doubt someone like him has a very hardy constitution," Makarov mused. "The issue with wizards like him is that they're very difficult to outsmart."

"We also have to be on our guard for Cumber, Bardock, and King Vegeta," Azura reminded them. "Only we saiyans will be a match for them on our own, but a fusion between some of the guild's stronger members might be able to get the job done, or at least hold them off for a bit, depending on how much stronger they are since our last fight."

"Yeah, we still need to figure out how to destroy their masks," Gorun muttered, apparently having resigned himself to staying on the floor until Azura wanted to let him up.

"Hopefully without losing our minds like last time," his cousin growled as she ground her heel into his shoulder.

"Not my fault," he managed to get out. "The monkey made me do it."

The rest of the week was spent evacuating citizens from Magnolia and other major cities across Fiore, as well as coordinating with allied guilds for what would be coming. Azura went to confer with Sabertooth while Cana talked to Mermaid Heel and Rachel spoke with Blue Pegasus. Gorun hadn't liked the idea of his daughter going to talk to the pretty boy guild, but she had assured her father that none of them were her type.

"What exactly is your type?" he asked before she left.

"Not sure, honestly," she giggled. "I just know that guys who are prettier than me aren't exactly my thing."

"The only person prettier than you is your mom, and it's a close thing," he said as he ruffled her hair. "Don't you forget it."

"Yes, sir," she replied, her smile widening. "Seriously, don't worry. You'll know if any of them try something when a Destroyer disappears their guild hall."

"That's my girl."

With that, she had taken off with instant transmission, leaving her father to his own mission. Engaging his own teleportation abilities, he quickly found himself standing in front of the entrance to Lamia Scale's guild hall.

He walked in without preamble and was halted at the door by a wizard he didn't recognize. "Hang on, you're that wizard saint from Fairy Tail, aren't you?" he asked. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm an old friend of Jura's, and I need to talk to Lyon and Master Babasaama as soon as possible," he told the other wizard. "It's urgent."

"Well, this is a surprise," said a familiar voice. "What brings you out here, Son Gorun?"

"Juvia, hello," the saiyan said with a polite incline of his head. "I heard about your engagement- congratulations to you." The rain woman was dressed similarly to the last time that he had seen her, but instead of a dark blue coat, she wore white with a navy fur trim and a yellow hem- a color theme that he knew he had seen before.

"Thank you," she said with a return nod. "Are you here on business for Fairy Tail?"

"Yes, but it concerns all of Ishgar," he answered as the wizard who had stopped him at the door moved away, having realized that Juvia could handle whatever was happening.

Juvia frowned as she guessed, "Is it Alvarez?" She had still been part of the guild when Rachel had spoken of the coming war, so it was reasonable that she knew what was coming.

"Yeah, and there have been extra complications since we last spoke," he said grimly. "Time Breaker complications, to be exact, and we'll need all the help we can get."

Juvia's eyes widened slightly, but she nodded before saying, "I'll go find Lyon and Master Babasaama right away."

"Thank you," Gorun said appreciatively. Before she could turn to leave, he added, "Hey, Juvia?"

"Yes?" She turned back to face him with a curious look.

"You look good," he told her honestly, which made her look surprised. "I know you and I didn't get along, but I really am happy for you."

"…Thank you, Gorun," she said with a little smile before she went to find the needed people.

After providing Lamia Scale with their preliminary tactics and a way to get in touch with them once the fighting had begun in earnest, Gorun left for Crocus, teleporting straight into Mest's office, startling the man, who had been poring over a handful of books. "Good gods, man!" the council member gasped. "I've told you not to do that!"

"I don't have time to be formal today," his comrade replied. "Alvarez is on its way with the entire military behind Zeref and the Spriggan Twelve."

"So soon?" Mest replied, his exasperation having been evaporated by worry. "I'd gotten your message that Master Makarov was safe yesterday, but I had no idea that they would retaliate so quickly."

"They were already gathering their forces, but Azura and I may have pissed them off a bit," the saiyan informed him.

"A bit?"

"We punched Zeref about a mile underground and levelled their capital castle in the process," Gorun admitted.

"Why would you-?!"

"Zeref was about to kill gramps."

"…I see your point." Mest sighed and sat back down before he asked, "How long do we have?"

"At least a few days," Gorun answered. "We've already begun evacuating Magnolia, and we're coordinating with other guilds across Fiore, encouraging them to do the same with their hometowns. Master Mavis is preparing contingency plans for each of the Spriggan Twelve based on information we were able to extract from Brandish, a woman who belongs to the same group that we captured on Caricole Island."

"Are you sure her intel can be trusted?" Mest asked suspiciously. "I should have been present for the interrogations."

"Rachel did the questioning," Gorun informed him. "I have yet to meet someone who wasn't genuinely scared out of their minds by her Hakaishin form."

"Alright, fair enough, again," Mest muttered. "What's next?"

"We need to have the king mobilize the army, and I need a meeting with the other wizard saints, stat," he told the man.

"I'll speak to the king tonight," Mest assured him. "As for the saints, I'll call a meeting before I leave the office. For my curiosity's sake, what are you planning to do with all of you?"

"Something that Alvarez really isn't gonna like."

"I see that we have a fair number of you gathered here, good," Zeref said as he sat at a round table that had been set amid the ruins of his castle. "I appreciate your swift appearances, given the short notice and the current state of the palace."

"With all due respect, my lord, every member of the Spriggan Twelve should be in attendance for this meeting," Invel said as he adjusted his glasses. "Only half of us have responded to a summons from our emperor? I find it distasteful in the extreme." His eyes swept the table to see Dimaria, Wall, August, Serena, and Ajeel, with the latter still appearing somewhat unsettled- he was certainly being quieter than the others were used to.

"Unfortunately, gathering every member of the Twelve that you are familiar with will no longer be possible," Zeref informed his general. "It seems that Brandish was captured by Fairy Tail right before they attacked our home." This news seemed to surprise a few of his guards, but he swept the matter aside by saying, "Fortunately, a suitable replacement has come forward to take her place, as well as that of Ajeel."

"What?" the Desert King asked as he stood up rapidly, his chair falling over backward with the suddenness of the movement. "Who's gonna take my place, now?!"

"You have clearly lost your nerve since your encounter with Son Gorun and Azura," Zeref replied without looking over at him. "You would be a liability on the battlefield if you were to come into contact with them. Therefore, I have decided to employ the use of a warrior whom I know to fear no one, not even those strong enough to truly be called gods among men."

"There's no one out there who can do my job better than me!" Ajeel shouted angrily. "The brat caught me off-guard, but it won't happen again!"

"No, it won't," said a distorted new voice from behind him. Before Ajeel could even turn around and see who had spoken, he was stabbed through the heart, silencing him instantly. His body glowed and turned into ash in front of the other Spriggans until only his head remained, his face forever stuck in an expression of surprise.

The person who had killed him snatched the head out of the air, placing their palm on its face before it vanished, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air over the table. That done, the newcomer kicked the fallen chair into its upright position and promptly sat in it, burning red eyes examining each of the present members from behind a black-and-red mask that vaguely resembled a skull. Their clothing consisted of heavy robes that carried the same color theme as the mask, giving them the appearance of a hunchback demon-like figure, and the magic energy coming from them was enough to make even the likes of Invel shift uncomfortably in his chair.

"I'm your new coworker," he eventually said, his voice altered so that it sounded scratchy and slightly echoing, making it impossible to tell exactly what he originally sounded like. "Any objections?"

When no one said anything in response, Zeref nodded as if in satisfaction before saying, "You are all already familiar with Brandish's replacement, yes?"

"Hey guys!" a devilish young man said as he popped into existence on one of the empty chairs. "Remember me? How's all that extra energy I gave you guys feel?"

"Fu," August nodded amiably. "I rather thought that we would be seeing you again." Out of the Spriggan Twelve, he appeared the least disturbed by the newcomers, though they doubted that he was too happy about Ajeel's sudden and violent end. He would have been called soft by his comrades if not for the fact that he could kill any of them with little enough difficulty.

"And what do we call sunshine over there?" Wall asked with a raised brow as he indicated the other stranger.

"I'd watch yourself, Wall," Zeref said admonishingly. "Our new friend doesn't tolerate much in the way of disrespect."

Before he could go on, the robed stranger stirred and said, "I've already introduced myself to Fairy Tail, so it's only fair that I do the same with my new... allies."

Genora was woken from a deep sleep when she heard someone banging on her window. She nearly blasted the intruder with a ki bolt before she realized that it was Kaidon. Given that he had never shown up at her residence in this manner before, and the fact that he looked scared out of his mind was enough for her to stay any cutting remarks that she might have had. Even so, she flung the window open and growled, "The only reason I haven't dusted you is because you've never been one to creep outside of a girl's dorm before, Kaidon. Even so, this'd better be really damn good."

"You remember that sand wizard that I almost erased back in Alvarez?" he asked, his sweat glistening on his brow in the moonlight.

"What about him?" Genora muttered, her confusion only growing until her cousin held up what looked like a human head. "Is that-?"

"It showed up on my doorstep while I was studying some of the magic in my ring," he said quickly as he held out the head for her to inspect, causing her to wrinkle her nose at him. "Just popped out of a portal that disappeared as soon as it came."

"I thought that August guy didn't want his friend to die," Genora said as she reluctantly took the offered piece.

"I really doubt that August did this," Kaidon said in a strangled voice. "Look at his scalp."

Genora glanced at him with incredulity for a second before she rotated the man's remains until his face was pointed upward- whereupon she let out a yelp and dropped the head onto the ground two stories below them. She locked eyes with her cousin, who nodded once as they both began to tremble in fear, having recognized the crest of Demigra that had been burned into the sand wizard's head.

There was only one being in the multiverse who marked their work with that kind of graffiti, after all.

"It's Vajra," Kaidon said through a dry throat. "He's gotta be on Earthland."

"…Then gods help us all," Genora whispered.

Mataras: So, let's recap on some of the fights our readers can be looking forward to in the coming months...
Azura vs. Dimaria
Gorun vs. Serena
Rachel vs. August
Gorun and Natsu vs. Zeref
? vs. Acnologia
? vs. Vajra

Gorun: Hang on, you didn't say anything in the story about fighting Acnologia just yet. Doesn't this count as a spoiler?

Mataras: Not really? I mean, did you expect to make it through the story without fighting that guy?

Azura: He makes a good point. I'm more interested in who has the misfortune to fight Vajra, when the time comes.

Mataras: Now that would definitely be a spoiler, but I think I can give an 85% guarantee that people will like the matchup.

Rachel: Why only 85%?

Mataras: Dragon Ball fans are hard to please. Seriously, I've had to block and report a few of users over death threats against me. It wasn't every person that I've blocked, but there were a couple.

Gorun: Wait, seriously?!

Mataras: Yeah. All I'm saying is if you don't like the story that much, go back and watch the original content to make yourself feel better. My work isn't hurting anyone.

Azura: Yeah! Go take your petty arguments over to the Star Wars franchise!

Mataras: Please don't, I like that series.

Gorun: Sheesh, talk about a mood killer. We're just trying to have a good time, folks.

Rachel: Those guys don't even have the excuse that you've been trying to promote political material.

Mataras: Yeah, that's on purpose. I'm here to provide entertainment and escape from the real world for a little while, and that's it. I miss the days when we could just sit down and watch a show or read a book just for the sake of the narrative, without an agenda being pushed as a secondary objective, so I try to give people that here.

Azura: I need something to punch now. Kaidon, get over here!

Gorun: Why?!

Azura: Because I'm irritated!

Gorun: Since when do you need a reason to hit things? And 'irritated' is your default emotion, you frickin' tsundere!

Azura: Now you're in for it!

Rachel: Next time- Essence of a Super Saiyan

Mataras: Let's get the war really going!