Zrocker119: Another week, another chapter. Hope all of you are ready for a fight, cause that's what 80% of this chapter is.

-Start-

Ryu took a long look at the clearing that the white-haired siblings had led him to. It was very spacious, with over 100 meters of flat ground in all directions. There were a few craters scattered about, most likely from the time that they had spent training here.

All in all, Ryu approved, "Nice spot, perfect for practicing and far enough from civilization to not disturb anyone." Upon facing the trio, his brows furrowed a little as he saw what lied behind them, "Any reason why you lot followed us?" He asked as the rest of the guild watched from a safe distance and...were they setting up lawn chairs?

"Alright," Cana shouted as she held up a bowl, "Bets are open! Who's gonna win?!"

Everyone immediately placed their money on the siblings, much to the annoyance of their latest member, "Geez, they all throw me a party, get me drunk and now bet money on me getting my ass kick in a friendly spar." He chuckled, "I sure know how to pick'em."

"We ready to get started?" Mirajane asked as she cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

"Hold on a sec." Drawing his sword, Ryu began to walk around them, dragging his blade in the ground as he did so. A few moments later, he stood in the center of a circle that was about 50 meters in diameter. "Let's make a bet of our own to make things more interesting."

"What do you have in mind?" Elfman asked, curious as to what the redhead had in mind as was everyone else that was present.

"There are three ways this could end, all of which are up to the three of you," He held up two fingers, "The first two being that you can get me to leave circle that I just drew, render me unconscious, or the third being, well…"

Mirajane narrowed her eyes, not liking the tone of his voice, "Well what?"

"...The third being that you all surrender." All form of conversation ended as what Ryu just said registered in everyone's minds. Did he just?

Mira's smirk fell into a tight scowl at his last condition. "Do you really think that beating us will be that easy?"

"Never underestimate your opponent, that was a lesson taught to me when I was eleven. Sadly, it was also the first lesson that I forgot and it cost me dearly," Ryu folded his hands behind his back, closed his eyes and sighed, "I'm not trying to sound arrogant when I say that you three," When he opened his eyes, the kindness from before had been replaced with a hardness that startled the three, "Don't even make the top ten list of the most powerful opponents that I have faced."

Mirajane, Elfman and Lisanna all tensed up as wisps of white energy began flowing from Ryu's body. "To finish what I was saying earlier though. If you win, I'll owe you each a favor. If I win, you owe me one. It's that simple. Do we have a deal?"

His answer came in the form of the siblings charging at him. While the surprise charge may have caught most off guard, Ryu had sensed the subtle buildup of energy right before they had moved.

Ryu raised his right arm, blocking a kick from Mira who grit her teeth in pain as she hadn't expected his skin to be rock hard. Ryu noticed Elfman and Lisanna coming at him from the sides, both of whom had shifted into their Take-Over forms, Lisanna's being into a scantily clad cat-ish form, while Elfman's arms had become much larger and seemingly made of a black metal.

Ryu pushed against Mira's leg with much greater force than she was exerting, causing her to go soaring into the air. With the larger threat momentarily gone, the former espada reached out and caught the younger siblings fists, halting them in their tracks.

Before they could back away, Ryu dug his fingers into their hands, preventing them from escaping. With hardly any effort Ryu quickly spun in a circle and released them from his hold, sending them bouncing along the ground.

The two ate dirt for a few more moments before righting themselves and coming to a halt. "I don't think you need to hold yourself back Elfman-nii," spoke Lisanna.

Elfman spared her a glance and nodded, "I was thinking the exact same thing." They had both felt it when Ryu had them in his grasp. It was very subtle, the to almost completely missed it, but due to their nature as Take-Over mages they were able to catch a glimpse of Ryu's soul and it was unlike anything they ever felt before.

Ryu stared at the duo for a moment with a calculative gaze. 'Lisanna is the faster of the two, but if strength behind her first attack is anything to go by, then she won't be able to get past my Hierro. Threat level: Slightly above the average hollow.'

He shifted his gaze to Elfman, 'That punch he threw had a decent pack to it, no doubt from the added mass of his transformed arms. He's was holding back though, so until I see what he's truly capable of, I'm classifying him as a freshly evolved Gillian.'

"I'm going all out." Elfman suddenly spoke as his body became enveloped in a grey glow. When the light faded, Elfman was no longer human but now resembled that of a Minotaur from greek mythology. He stood 12 feet tall, had iron colored skin, his muscles had expanded to massive proportions with each arm being thicker than Ryu's chest and his hair grew longer and more untamed. A pair of massive bull horns protruded from his skull, looking ready to gore anything that strayed too close. The only article of clothing he wore was a pair of torn up shorts. Lastly a gold ring hung from his nose

"Full body Take-Over, Ironbull," Elfman spoke, his voice now much deeper thanks to his new form.

'...correction, mid level Adjuchas. Damn he looks like he could break Yammy in two!' Ryu instincts suddenly screamed at him to move. He leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding a earth shattering punch that left a large crater in its wake.

'And lastly Mira-,' His internal power comparison stopped as he took in the appearance of the eldest Strauss.

Her eyes, eyelashes, ears, and hair had all change drastically, and dark, thin markings were now sported all over her body. Her forearms and hands became covered in scales, and each sprouted a fin-like protrusion on the outer side. She had also grown a large, stocky tail, seemingly made of metal plates or scales. Her clothing had also changed, with the attire she wore previously being replaced by a dark, skimpy one-piece suit revealing her arms and legs, which is open on the front and the back, exposing most of her belly, wide cleavage and upper back too. She also donned a pair of gauntlets covering the back parts of her transformed arms.

"Damn, I missed," Mirajane muttered darkly as she straightened herself up she jumped back, landing between her siblings. "Get ready Ryu, cause the kid gloves are off."

'High end Adjuchas, definitely high end, even more so with that lethal body,' Shaking his head to clear out any lewd thought that had surfaced from Mirajane's new appearance, Ryu put one hand in his pocket and made the "come hither" motion with the other.

"Show me what you can do."

Those seemed to be the magic words as the three charged him with renewed vigor. A pair of bat like wings sprouted from Mirajane's back, giving her the ability to fly, which in turn allowed her to close the distance between them the fastest.

Mirajane lashed out with a right hook that was promptly blocked by Ryu's own, who then retaliated with a kick to her side. She spun around the limb and tried catching the side of his face with her tail, but he managed to dodge that as well.

The sun was suddenly blocked out as the towering form of Elfman loomed over them, one of his fists cocked back for a powerful blow. Wanting to test the new found strength of Elfman's form, Ryu threw a punch of his own. He was not disappointed.

The resulting clash created a shockwave that caused the ground beneath them to shatter, but both combatants held their ground. The grin on Ryu's face faltered slightly when Lisanna appeared beneath him with a burst of speed and swept his legs out from under him. He offered her a frown, which she returned with a sly smirk, before disappearing from view.

With Ryu's support now gone and Lisanna at a safe distance, Elfman was free to follow through with his punch. A huge cloud of dust and smoke was kicked up as his enormous fist sunk into the earth.

"Damn that was close," Elfman blinked and looked up to see Ryu literally standing in the air, completely free of injury. "Not gonna lie, was not expecting that level of teamwork-," Before he could finish his sentence, Ryu felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking back he saw Mira floating beside him.

"Evil spark," She said with a smirk as she channeled electricity through his body. After a few moments she let go, cutting off the flow of magic energy. Ryu's body was now slightly blackened and his hair was all frizzy. Rather than fall to the ground like she expected, Ryu simply coughed up a small cloud of smoke before he grabbed the offending limb that shocked him and tossed her over his shoulder at high speeds.

As she flipped through the air, Mira flared out her wings in an attempt to right herself, but with a burst of static Ryu was suddenly above her with his leg raised for a heel drop. He was about to send her crashing back down to earth when an avian foot connected with his face.

It didn't seem to hurt him in any way, but it bought Mirajane enough time to fly out of the way and to safety. Ryu grunted in annoyance as he turned towards Lisanna, whose arms and legs had been replaced with bird limbs. As she chuckled nervously he noticed that she was clenching and unclenching one of her feet, most likely the one that had hit him.

Before she could react, Ryu was in front of her and chopped her on the head. Her eyes rolled back and her Take-Over faded. Ryu caught her before she could fall and appeared at the edge of the circle with a burst of sonido.

"She's out," was all she said as he set her down and motioned for one of the watching members to come get her before reappearing in the center of the clearing.

Mirajane narrowed her gaze as she tried to come up with a way to defeat the redhead. With Lisanna down for the count, a wide range of their strategies were out as well as many of them had relied on the youngest sisters ability to rush in and out without receiving too much damage.

The siblings tensed as Ryu crouched low, his left hand pressed to the ground while his right was outstretched, "Get ready." That was their only warning before he rushed them, his body seemingly gliding across the ground. Just as he was about to come within striking distance he disappeared from view.

The duo looked around, trying yet failing to spot the veteran warrior. Mirajane ducked as Ryu reappeared with his leg extended for a kick aimed at her stomach. "Good reflexes," was his comment as he grabbed her tail and begun to spin. After a moment to build momentum he let go.

Mirajane crashed into Elfman who managed to catch her at the last second, yet was still sent skidding back. Using the force of from Ryu's throw, Elfman spun around with Mirajane still in his grasp, who had moved to a crouching position in his hand, and threw her back at their foe with even greater force.

Mira approached Ryu at high speeds that were too fast for the audience to track, thus only catching up to what was going on when the duo's fists collided with a deafening boom. The resulting shockwave made a crater several meters deep and several times wider beneath them.

The she demon twisted around and slammed her leg into his side, feeling her bones shake as she did so. Ryu didn't so much as grunt when he tanked a hit that would put most other mages out of commission.

He reached forward and grabbed Mirajane by her face. She experienced vertigo as he kicked out her leg and threw her to the ground.

A monstrous bellow of rage caught Ryu's attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Elfman charging towards him with his head lowered. At the last moment, He spun and grabbed the manbeast by his horns and used the momentum to flip him over his shoulders and slam him into the ground.

With his attention focused elsewhere Mirajane got to her feet and flew into the air, grabbing ahold of Ryu's coat as she did so. Yanking him into the air, she let go momentarily to turn around and pull him into a hug, wrapping her tail around their waists to make sure that he couldn't escape. She then used her wings to send them on a collision course towards the ground.

Ryu looked ahead and blinked in surprise to see Elfman back on his feet and fist cocked back.

"Huh."

Mira released him from her hold and flew away just before Elfman's fist crashed into the side of his head, visible concussive ripples emanated from the point of impact. The force behind the attack sent Ryu careening towards the crater's wall.

Those watching from the sidelines cringed as the guild's newest member crashed into the earth.

Elfman, exhausted from the amount of magic he put into that punch, panted heavily as he lowered his fist. Mirajane landed right beside him and the two watched the dust cloud that hid Ryu's form.

"I'm sure that even," Elfman panted as his Take-Over faded, leaving him as a normal human, "Even he couldn't get up from that."

Mirajane knew the destructive power that Elfman was capable of in his Ironbull state. She had seen him knock out wyvern with a similar punch, yet even she wasn't so sure. "Let's not get our hopes up."

"Good call."

Before either of them could react Ryu was right in front of them with his fist cocked back. Elfman didn't even realize what was happening when Ryu's fist connected with his cheek and was sent crashing through the side of the crater, tunneled through the earth and erupted from the ground to land unconscious before the other guild members.

"Not that it does you any good."

The sight of her last sibling being dispatched so easily made something inside Mirajane snap and the arrancar found himself on the receiving end of a flurry of punches and kicks. Her attacks were unrefined and easy to read so he was able dodge and dance around them all with little to no effort.

Mira became more and more frustrated as the one sided fight progressed, growing more desperate to land a single blow. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she was beginning to grow tired. She couldn't keep this pace up for much longer and she knew it.

Ryu decided that he was done playing on the defensive and caught Mira's clawed gauntlet, stopping it a few inches shy of his jaw. Without breaking eye contact, he charged a bala into his other hand, pressed it against her shoulder and released it in the form of a wide shockwave. Due to him discharging it in a large, unfocused wave he succeeded in not blowing her shoulder clean off or punching a hole through it. He even dubbed down the amount of power he would normally put into them.

It still hurt like a bitch though.

Mirajane let out a cry of pain as she fell to the ground, grasping her shoulder as it felt like it was on the receiving end of a speeding train. She glared up at Ryu, whose face continued to remain passive, although she thought she saw a touch of concern pass through his eyes.

"Are you done yet?"

His question was answered by Mirajane flaring out her wings and taking off into the sky.

"Guess not," Ryu said with a small sigh as his opponent flew high and higher before finally stopping several hundred meters above the ground. Rather than chase after her though, his curiosity got the better of him and decided to see what would happen next.

Mirajane cupped her hands at her side and angled herself sideways to him. The energy from the air around her was pulled in between her hands, taking on the shape of a large black globe.

Ryu's eyes rose slightly at the sight of the ball of energy, as it resembled that of a cero oscuras almost perfectly. The only differences being that there was a vortex-like swirl in the center of it.

The guild members that were watching from the sides began to panic at the sight of the upcoming attack.

"This is getting out of hand really fast!" Cried Gray as he began to worry for his wellbeing. "That attack could possibly destroy the whole area. Shouldn't you be stopping this master?"

Unlike the rest of the guild, Makarov was completely calm. "No," he said after a moment of thought. The members that had begun to take cover stopped and stared at the elder in shock and confusion. "Look at him."

Following his gaze Gray and the rest saw what he was talking about. The slight surprise that Ryu had shown earlier was now replaced by a look of complete calm and collectiveness as he watched Mirajane prepare what was most likely her last and strongest attack.

Gray's eyes widened as he realized what Ryu intended to do. He was going to take the attack head on.

"Let's see what happens," spoke Makarov, refusing to turn away from the battle before them.

Up in the sky Mira had finished charging her attack, "Soul Extinctor!", and thrusted her palms forward. The sphere immediately expanded into a massive beam of raw power, more than large enough to encompass Ryu's entire form.

Ryu watched as the beam closed the distance between the two of them within seconds. Just a moment before impact though he raised his hand, revealing the ball of red energy, no bigger than an apple, that he had been charging for the last few seconds.

"Cero," It was hardly a whisper, but the effects were instantaneous. Much like Mirajane's attack, the cero quickly expanded to massive proportions and collided with the opposing stream. Black, purple and white clashed with crimson as the two energies seem to come to a standstill. But that lasted only for a moment.

Mirajane watched in shock as Ryu's cero quickly overcame her soul extinctor, seemingly consuming her strongest magical attack. Her mind was so shocked by the turn of events that it failed to process the fact that his blast was still closing in on her until it was too late.

The sky lit up in a brilliant shade of red as the beam became an explosion that could both be heard and seen for miles, forcing those watching to shield their eyes. When the light died down they looked to see how Mira had fared.

Their jaws dropped at what they saw.

Mira had closed her eyes and raised her arms up at the last possible moment and braced herself for the pain that was sure to come. A second passed...then two...then three and yet the pain never came. Slowly opening her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of Ryu in front of her with a hand outstretched. The palm of said hand was bright red and smoking ever so slightly.

'H-he took on his own attack!?' Her eyes widened at the implication.

"Damn," Ryu swore as he shook his hand as the skin finished healing. "I put way too much power into that." He glanced over at the shellshocked Mirajane. She wasn't shocked for long as he gave her a not so light flick on the head.

"Ow," she cried as she rubbed her now sore forehead. That flick had actually stung.

"That's for freezing up like that," Ryu scolded her like he would a small child. "You're lucky that I was fast enough to block that." He floated down with Mirajane absentmindedly following after until they both touched down.

Ryu took a quick glance back at the crater that the majority of their fight took place in before looking at his feet. After a moment, he chuckled. "Looks like I lost."

That snapped Mira, along with everyone present, out of her trance-like state, "What?"

He jabbed a finger at the ground below them, "When I moved to block my attack, I moved out of the circle."

Mirajane glanced over his shoulder and saw that he was right. When she had flown into the air in preparation for her final attack, she had gone to the very edge of the clearing. "I-I-I..." She had no idea what to say as her Take-Over faded away.

"Looks like I owe each of you three a favor," Ryu was struggling to contain his laughter. Hands folded behind his head and a pleasant smile on his face as he continued, "I don't give out favors that often, so make sure you use it wisely."

"Ryu," The redhead looked past Mirajane to see Makarov approaching. "I would like to ask you something."

The seriousness in which Makarov spoke caused Ryu to lose his carefree attitude, "I don't see why not."

"I know that you were restraining yourself throughout the spar," Makarov spoke. He could see it in Ryu's posture. At no point during his fight with the siblings did he show a hint of worry. "My question is...how much were you holding back?"

From off to the side, Mira listened with bated breath as she waited for Ryu's answer. He couldn't have been holding that much back...could he?

Ryu stared at the short guildmaster for a moment before nodding. He reached down to his waist and pulled his sword out from underneath his coat, "A significant portion of my power is sealed within this sword. Should I release it, the sword will disappear and I will undergo a transformation."

Makarov eyed the sword warily before meeting Ryu's gaze, "And should you have entered this state during your fight just now."

"Had it been when was still learning to control my powers, then everything within 100 meters would have been wiped off the earth." Everyone's eyes widened at his declaration. "But that was almost two years ago, I have long since mastered my power and can release it without any damage done to the surrounding area, although those that can't withstand the increased density to my power could pass out within a few moments."

Ryu returned Olvido to the spot between his belt, "I have only ever unsealed my full power five times, two of which were matters of life or death. The other three were for training."

Makarov adopted a thoughtful look, stroking chin. He did this for a moment before he let out a heartfelt chuckle, "You are a very interesting youngster Ryu. In light of this information, and having myself and the entirety of the guild witnessing you defeat the strongest team this guild has ever had single handedly, I hereby grant you the title of S-class."

Ryu found himself seated on one of the stools that lined the guild hall's bar, nursing a glass of water. Upon returning to the hall, the guild had gone right into full party mode, celebrating his immediate promotion to S-class.

He didn't really understand what the big deal was at first, until Makarov explained to him what that title meant. Now being an S-class wizard, Ryu could now access requests that were normally kept away from normal mages due to the greater danger that the request demanded. But with danger came great rewards, in general S-class quests offered no less than several million jewels as a reward for completing the job.

The thought of getting that much cash from a single job took a lot of worry off of Ryu's shoulders. He wasn't in danger of going broke due to the steady cash flow incoming from the book he finally managed to publish, but it was nice to know that his pockets wouldn't be going empty anytime soon.

The sound of someone plopping down on the stool next to him brought Ryu out of his thoughts. He glanced over to see that it was Mirajane, now sporting a few bandages around her shoulder and leg.

"Shouldn't you be enjoying the party?" Mirajane asked as she gestured to what was going on all around them. "This all for you you know."

He glanced over his shoulder before focusing his gaze on the whitette, "I partied enough earlier. How's the shoulder and leg."

The beauty rolled her shoulder a bit and winced, "Still a bit sore but I'll be fine. I'm doubting your claim of holding back though. Almost felt like my shoulder was gonna explode."

"Sorry about that," he offered her an apologetic look but she just waved it off.

"I've had worse," she frowned a bit, "I'm just disappointed that we couldn't get you to take us seriously and that the only reason we won was because of a damn technicality."

Ryu nodded, "Yes but you shouldn't sell yourselves short. I've been in more fights than I would care to admit, but number of times I've encountered teamwork like that can be counted on a single hand with four fingers to spare."

"At least you're not being an asshole about it," Mirajane sighed and laid her head on the bar, using her arms as a pillow. "So what are you gonna do now that you're done drifting around the country?"

"Well," Ryu began, "I'm planning on taking enough missions in order to save up for a house. After that, well...just go with the flow I guess." He finished with a lazy wave of his hand. He wasn't used to not having a plan in mind. The last few years have been about nothing other than survival and growing stronger.

But now he was in a world that was in a current state of peace. He didn't have to worry about things like hollows or psychopaths with a god complex. Ryu could now just sit back and move on. While the thought of this was strange to him, he couldn't say that the idea wasn't appealing.

Mirajane turned her head slightly to face him, "Well then you better head up to the second floor. That's where the S-class request board's at. One or two of those and you should have enough to get just about any house you want. Where are you going to stay till then?"

Ryu had opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by someone.

"You can stay at our place for now." The two turned to see Lisanna and Elfman seated next to them. Elfman had a few bandages here and there while Lisanna sported none. "We've got a pretty comfy couch in our living room."

"...How long have you guys been there?" Ryu and Mirajane both asked. Neither of them had even noticed them sitting down.

"Long enough to know that you have nowhere to sleep," Lisanna answered with a smile. "What do you think Elfman-nii?"

The only male Strauss shrugged his massive shoulders, "I don't have a problem with it."

"So we're all in agreement!"

Mirajane on the other hand didn't seem too fond of the idea and stood up, "Now hold on a min-,"

"Great!" And she was promptly ignored by her youngest sibling as she instead chose to turn to Elfman. "Why don't you show him where we live."

"Do I get a say in this?" Once again, Ryu and Mira spoke at the same time.

Again, Elfman shrugged and motioned for Ryu to follow him. The Arrancar sighed, but got up and walked a few paces behind the larger man.

Once they were out of earshot, Mirajane turned toward her sister a glare that would send most people running for the hills. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What are you talking about Mira-nee?" Lisanna asked with an all too innocent look, not even remotely bothered by her sisters glare of doom. "I just offered Ryu a place to sleep until he got a place for himself."

The older sister narrowed her eyes, not believing Lisanna for a second. "You're planning something. I don't know what it is, but I don't like it." Having said her piece, Mirajane got up to fetch herself a drink. Her shoulder was still aching and alcohol sounded really good at the moment.

Lisanna shook her head as he sister walked away. She remembered when Erza would constantly tease Mirajane about being smittened by Ryu. Her sister would immediately give chase, denying everything that came out of the redheads mouth.

But Lisanna wasn't fooled for a second. Her sister was so into Ryu and she didn't even know it. The youngest Strauss mentally sighed. She just hoped that neither of them were as dense as Natsu used to be.

'Don't you worry Mira-nee,' Lisanna thought as her sister sat back down, drink now in hand. 'I'll help you see your true feelings.'

-End-