Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Anu: Well, this is a very interesting situation.

Melody: *nods* I think I agree with you for once master.

*both look at Narissa and Del playing tug-of-war with a bone*

Chapter 6: A Demon's Pledge

May 23, 786

Anu's 1st P.O.V.

While I knew that pride could be a dangerous thing for a person to have, I couldn't help but allow myself to have just that as I looked over the records of the guild. So many successful missions under our belts, though we were just over a year old, and barely any of those had major damage as an after-effect of our intervention. We were asked to come help with many problems that the places we had visited before needed help with.

And, I really couldn't take much of the credit for the way my guild members acted. I was incredibly lucky to have gotten mages as I had in my guild who could control their magic while still getting the job that needed to be done completed. When this guild had first officially started, back last April when the paperwork had been accepted, I hadn't been sure that I would be able to gather many mages outside of the past Seis members for our family. Eden had been a surprise, as had Melody and Del. From there, we had also gotten Narissa and, just with those four new members, I felt like our guild...our family really had the chance to grow and become closer with each other.

Plus, this growth wasn't happening from the little bit of advertising that I had started to put up in Dawn City. No, this growth was due to fate and, in the cases of Melody and Narissa, because we at Jackal Fang had been out doing jobs and were all looking for people to join us who could look past who we used to be.

In my heart, I felt like Master Makarov would be proud of the guild master that I had become. It still hurt so much to know that he was missing, vanished without a trace. A rumor that I picked up said that they were attacked on Tenrou Island, the island of Fairy Tail, by the black dragon Acnologia. I truly hoped that wasn't the case. Fairy Tail, though it had been too bright for me at the time I was a member, had become a guiding light that I tried to work my way towards. With everything that I have built with Jackal Fang, I hope that one day I can show Makarov what I have accomplished thanks to his trust in me back when I didn't trust anyone completely.

"Master Anu,"

I pulled myself out of my thoughts when I heard Melody's voice. Thanks to her sound magic, she didn't have to be right outside my door and could work in the bar while communicating with me. It allowed us to have a very efficient way of communication here at the guild without yelling all the time. "Yes, Melody?" I responded to her.

She had gone to Dawn City in the early hours of the morning and, given that it was only two o'clock, I was surprised that she was back already. "I finished up my shopping for supplies early and I have brought Paralex with me. He caught up with me at the market and asked that I bring him here to see you. He is at the bar right now waiting for you."

Paralex was here? I knew that he had been trying to make time to come and visit the guild and now I was glad that my friend had finally been able to have the opportunity. So, I quickly stood up and grabbed an extra bottle of my whiskey that I had shipped from Clover before making my way down the hall toward the stairs.

When I arrived at the stairs, I smiled when I saw that Eden, Del, and Sawyer were bombarding Paralex with questions. Most of the guild had yet to meet Paralex, since either Melody, Erik, Macbeth, or I handled personal tasks that Equinox had to offer since they usually required more finesse then the other members seemed to show as of yet or, as in Sorano's case, was still trying to get a good handle on how to use their magic.

"Anu my friend," I locked eyes with Paralex as I walked down the stairs and he addressed me. "your guild members are just as curious as I would expect with you as their master." He then motioned to the four mages currently near him, which included Melody, before he smirked. "I'm also relieved that your hunt for mages has still left you the only mangy mutt out of you all."

I sat next to him at the bar and motioned to Melody to give us two empty glasses before I shot back at him. "I think you and I are mangy enough for this entire area Paralex." Once Melody put the glasses down, I opened my bottle of whiskey and put a little in both of our glasses before I put the top back on and took a sip. "I am glad that you could come out and see us my friend."

In return, Paralex nodded. "As am I. It does me good to see how lively your guild has become Anu. What you all have accomplished here would make all of the popular guilds jealous...and impressed." I knew that, at the last line, he was implying that he felt like Makarov would approve of my guild. "I guess it was a good thing that I convinced the mayor that your guild would be much more beneficial to Dawn City then the arena that he wanted to build."

Laughter escaped me at that before taking another drink of my whiskey before saying, "Thank you for that Paralex, though I don't think that this valley would have been a very secure place for an arena of any kind. Vulcans run rampant through here and we have to be on guard when we leave."

Paralex laughed at that in return. "That is true my friend. Even if the arena was built, the city would have to hire mages to constantly keep the Vulcans at bay...and now they get it for free and a guild to represent them." The others had moved away from the two of us, even Melody, and I found myself curious as a thoughtful look came onto Paralex's face. "As much as I tease you Anu, I couldn't be happier that you started this guild. While you have made changes in each and every member you have brought in, I can see that they have also changed you for the better my friend."

Paralex and I hadn't exactly met under the best of circumstances and I had definitely been in a rough spot at the time. It was good to hear that I was improving to him. "Thank you. I can only give credit to that to my guild members. With all of them around, I had no choice but to change for the better."

I then put some more whiskey in both of our glasses and he took a sip before he sat down his glass and a business look came onto his face. "Anu, as much as I have enjoyed this social visit, that is not the only reason that I am here. I had Melody bring me here for more than just seeing you."

"Isn't that enough?" I teased at him.

A smirk ghosted on his face before he nodded. "Yes, but this time it is more than just that." Paralex then pulled up a paper that looked like what one would send to the magic council to get an official request put in. I could see the denied symbol on the corner of the paper and knew the council has rejected this. "I have a friend that lives outside of Oak Town and they have asked me to garner help in investigating a shady group of mages that have been hanging around lately. They sent a request into the Council to get official help, but it was denied since my friend and Thefis have clashed a number of times."

"Not hard to do with that moron." I commented on that, still remembering that Thefis was the only one who had been against me using the five previous Seis members to start my guild.

Paralex smirked at that slightly before continuing. "Since I am the leader of Equinox, an organization that is completely neutral, I can't garner an official or unofficial request. However, between the two of us as friends, I felt like sharing this information with you. What you wish to do with that information now is completely up to you." He then threw back the rest of his whiskey before standing and smiling. "I have enjoyed this visit with you Anu. I hope that I may have more time to come and visit again."

"Same here my friend." I responded to Paralex before he left.

Once the doors were closed behind him, I looked at the paper in my hands and studied the information more. Oak Town has been the center of a number of shady dealings, ever since the previous guild Phantom Lord was stationed there, and I knew that they could use the help with this situation. The people of that town knew how to spot suspicious and possibly dangerous people very quickly.

I already knew who I was going to send on this mission so I turned to Eden and motioned her over to me. While she wouldn't be one of the ones going on this mission, she would have a better idea on where the two I wanted to take this would be at.

Sorano's 1st P.O.V.

"Are you alright Sorano?" Michael asked me as he and Cecilia sat next to me on my bed.

With a glance at my First, I nodded before laying back against my bed. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about everything. I am so happy that you both contracted to me, but I still feel like I'm not worthy to have you both with me."

I flinched slightly as Cecilia gave me her own form of 'punishment' with a tap in the middle of my forehead before she spoke. "Sorano, I believe that it is the other way around. You have been through so much in such a short span of time, and have had trouble with a different form of contract magic in the past, and Michael and I suddenly appear to you in a bright light and say that a rare contract magic has been your destiny since you were born. If I was in your place, I would have rejected us because we were not there when you needed us and you had to rely on other magic."

That caused me to sit up and hug Cecilia. "I don't blame you for that. I'm just glad that both of you are with me now." I then looked between the two of them as a question suddenly came to me. "Michael, Cecilia; I know that you two are newer mythic species to the whole rotation that you explained to me, but why didn't you contract to me before. Back in the Tower of Heaven before I discovered celestial magic?"

Michael took over for Cecilia as he looked like he was struggling to answer. "We wanted to my angel, and technically there is no set in stone rule about when we are allowed to contract. But, for mythics, it has been a long tradition to wait until a mage has come into maturity before a First should contract. It is supposed to allow your brains to prepare for the peculiarities that having mythics can bring. By the time you hit maturity, though, you already had your celestial magic."

"And since I had a magic already, you couldn't contract with me." I finished Michael's explanation for him. That made sense. I couldn't imagine how I would have reacted when I was ten or eleven if I suddenly had an angel come to me in a bright light. Even though I had experienced a lot of pain and hardships without having them, I knew that it was for the best.

Michael suddenly moved so he was kneeling in front of me before he continued to speak. "Sorano, no matter what has happened in the past, or what will happen in the future, you are our angel. Cecilia and I are always excited to have an opportunity to work with you and help you grow."

I nodded at that and stood up before saying, "And hopefully we can take another mission soon. Macbeth was talking about taking a team mission once he rested from the one he got back from a few days ago with Richard. That should be a lot of fun and it would give us time to practice."

"And that's what I came to talk with you about."

"Shit!" I screamed when I suddenly heard the voice behind me. But, almost as soon as I yelped, I realized who it was. "Damnit Macbeth how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?" I snapped at my teammate.

He gave me an unamused look before he shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Anu had Eden come to wake me up. Says he wants to talk with you and me about taking an 'off-the-books' mission."

I let out a snort at that as he said 'off-the-books'. We were members of Jackal Fang and that meant over half of our missions were technically 'off-the-books'. "Aren't a lot of the missions we take those kinds?"

Macbeth, in return, shrugged at that. "According to what Eden reported, this is even more off the books than normal." He then motioned out my door with his head before saying, "So, let's go see what the mutt has planned with this."

How could we have something even more off the books than we normally did? This didn't make any sort of sense but, since we had to go see Anu for the mission, I had a feeling that he would explain more. "Alright let's get going." I then stood, causing Cecilia and Michael to return to the pocket dimension that, according to them, existed in my soul that was a place for a contracted mythic to stay, before I followed Macbeth downstairs to the bar where Anu was sitting.

"So, what are we looking at?" Macbeth asked as we stood in front of him.

In return, Anu handed out what looked like a pre-request form, something a person would send into the Council to get official approval before he answered. "Paralex came to visit me with information about a request that a friend of his couldn't get through the Council due to bad interactions with Thefis." I rolled my eyes at that. I'm pretty sure that, out of the paperwork that I had helped Anu with before, at least half of it had been sent by that man. "Since he is the leader of Equinox, though, Paralex can't officially garner a request and, since this isn't coming to us through normal channels, you may not even get paid for doing this."

"That's what you meant by more 'off-the-books' than normal." I commented at that.

He nodded before continuing. "Correct." A look of slight guilt passed over Anu's face before he continued. "Oak Town has been a central hub for shady dealings ever since Phantom Lord was the controlling guild there. I should know since I used to be apart of those dealings." He then paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I would like this looked at and, if you don't receive payment from the original client, then I will personally pay you for the job."

I shook my head at how idiotic our master could sound. With a look from Macbeth, he looked like he was thinking along the same, I answered our mutt of a master. "Anu, don't sweat it. We'll look into this and keep you informed." I then turned to Macbeth. "Well, let's get going before he starts begging more." I then waved a hand back toward the Master as Macbeth and I left.

"Anu seems to be taking this mission personally." Michael commented to me mentally through the link we shared.

"It's a dark part of his past. He probably wants to help them however he can." I then mentally sighed before adding, "If anyone I ever hurt in the past sent out a request for help, I would want to go and pay back some of the damage that I caused, payment be damned." I then continued to walk next to Macbeth as we headed through the valley toward the train station. Once we got there, it would be a quick trip to Oak Town on the rail line.

The trip went smoothly and peacefully, which was a nice change from my past few missions with Eden and Del. Worst idea ever to go along with the two of them on a mission back to back. After about five hours on the train, and about four walking total, we arrived in Oak Town at eleven o'clock at night. Too late to go and talk to the originator of the request, so we went to the local hotel and checked in. Once that was done, the two of us walked up to our room and got ready for bed.

After the door was locked completely, I laid down on my bed and, once Macbeth seemed to relax in his, I decided to ask him about our plan. "How are we going to figure out what is wrong here?"

It was a couple of minutes before my guildmate responded. "Easy. We just find a group of people who act like," his own yawn interrupted him. "...like we used to. We'll go see this Vidian person tomorrow morning. Now, let's get some sleep. I didn't get enough today."

The entire guild had made it their goal to help Macbeth regulate to a normal amount of sleep time so he wasn't always so tired. We had made some real progress and now he only slept ten hours out of twenty-four instead of the fifteen he used to. He probably got eight hours of sleep total for today and so that was still not enough for now.

"Fine," I started as I got comfortable. "I'll make sure we are up by six so we can see Vidian as soon as we can."

I smirked as a groan was Macbeth's response to that. I wouldn't make him get up that early. Probably eight to make sure he didn't need to take any naps during our mission tomorrow. "Goodnight Michael. Goodnight Cecilia." I mentally wished my mythics goodnight.

"Good night." Both responded to me before I started to relax. It wasn't long before I found myself drifting into unconsciousness.

May 24th, 786

Macbeth's 1st P.O.V.

Something was wrong. As I came out of sleep, I felt myself go on high alert. It wasn't for anything I could see since I hadn't opened my eyes yet, but it was for the fact that I was waking up on my own. Normally, one of my guildmates would be the ones pulling me from my sleep. But, right now, I was actually waking up naturally.

Once I finally cracked my eyes open, I peeked at the alarm clock and saw that it was nine o'clock. Three hours later than what Sorano said she would wake me up at. That didn't sound like her. She was teasing, true but she wouldn't have teased by much. If she had a certain time that she wanted to get up, her mythics would help her wake up at that time. I grew even more worried when I glanced at Sorano's bed and saw that it was empty. She wouldn't have left me alone for this mission since it was iffy as it was, and I was starting to get an even worse feeling than I had before.

"Oh….my head." I sat up out of bed and moved at the sound of the familiar groan. It wasn't a sound that I was one-hundred percent used to hearing but I knew the voice. When I finally saw the other side of Sorano's bed, I saw Michael strewn across the ground, wings folded awkwardly due to how close space was between the bed and the wall.

When the angel started to get up, I moved to him. "What happened? Where's Sorano?" I asked the mythic. With his connection, he should be able to tell me where she was. But, the very fact that he was not with her was worrying. Ever since they contracted, Michael was very rarely out of eyesight of Sorano, something Cecilia explained was the reaction of a First contract. They were the closest with the mage and felt protective.

I helped the angel sit on the edge of the bed before he finally seemed to focus and answered. "We were all asleep when I suddenly felt compelled to come out into this plane. It felt like Sorano was being attacked and, for some reason, Cecilia wasn't reacting at all. Once I was out here, though, some non-physical force knocked me unconscious. It was light out when I was knocked out, but not terribly so. It had to be early morning when it happened." He then stood up in a panic while continuing. "We have to find them!" He then swayed a little on his feet.

Helping to steady the angel, I nodded. "Right, but you needed to take it slow. Plus, if we are going to go outside, you should probably hide your wings. Don't need to make even more of a commotion than we already have."

Michael seemed to calm down slightly at my words and, with a flash of light, his wings were not visible anymore. I knew that he had cast a simple illusion spell to hide them from plain view. That was good. Once he seemed ready to move, I led him out of the hotel and, not so much to my surprise, it seemed like all of the men in the town were gathered in the square. Looks like Sorano wasn't the only woman to go missing.

"Where is my wife?"

"What happened to my daughter?"

"My sister is missing! What are we doing about it?"

I heard all of these yells, though I couldn't tell who exactly said them, as I led Michael to the fountain that the crowd seemed to be gathering at. Standing on the edge of the fountain was a short but thin man, maybe five foot three if I was being generous, and, as weird as it seemed, he seemed to be in charge around here since everyone was looking to him for answers.

"Everyone please calm down!" This short man answered. "We are all confused about what happened. But, don't worry. I am expecting mages coming from a guild soon that can help."

So, this must be Vidian. Since he called me out, sort of, I figured it was best to let him know I was here. "If you're Vidian, then I'm here to help."

The crowd went quiet almost immediate and they parted so I had a direct line of sight of Vidian. "I am, and who are you?" He seemed to ask this cautiously.

So, I showed him my guild mark while answering him. "I am Macbeth, a member of the Jackal Fang mage guild. My guildmate who came with me, Sorano, has gone missing as seems the rest of the women in this town."

"Not all of them." We all turned at the sound of the male voice to see a young man walking next to who seemed to be the only woman left in town. When she appeared in front of us, she made some signals with her hands and it was then that I realized that she was deaf. "My name is Carson and this is my sister Heidi. She was born deaf so she uses sign language."

This Heidi was born deaf. Maybe only those women who could hear were taken. If that was true, then that would disprove Sawyer's theory that Sorano was deaf whenever Anu asked for help with paperwork. Of course, I was pretty sure we were all deaf at times when it came to that. When Heidi continued to sign, frantically, I felt confused. "Now what is she saying?" I asked Carson.

The brother seemed to follow his sister's movements before he looked confused. "Our other sister, who lives with a group of women on the edge of town, is also deaf but she seems to have been taken as well." Guess he didn't know that his other sister was missing as well.

But, this revelation threw my idea out the window. How was one deaf woman not affected but another was? Something wasn't adding up but, with Sorano and Cecilia missing, then Michael and I had to hurry up and get to them before something happened. So, I turned to Vidian and held out the paper from the denied pre-request. "My guildmate and I came to accept your mission. Something tells me that this is the mission. If you don't want it to be an actual mission that is fine, but we will still help you."

"No, you came this far and you are helping us. This is a mission and I will keep Jackal Fang in mind to send missions directly to." Vidian responded before he motioned to the main gate. "The shady characters I mentioned in the request hang out in the woods about half a mile outside of town. The guard at the gate should be able to help you with better directions once you arrive. Thank you."

I simply nodded at the man before leading Michael toward the gate. Once we arrived at the gate, the guard pointed us in the direction that the shady characters hung out at and, according to him, he was semi-conscious during the time when the women were 'taken' and he said that they seemed to leave town in a trance in that same direction.

With those directions, Michael and I started to move toward the location. However, as we moved, I started to feel worried about Sorano and Cecilia. Sorano was a strong-willed woman and for a mind-controlling spell to get her to leave, and leave without taking Michael with her, was something that had to be powerful or highly concentrated. "Don't worry about my angel and Cecilia." Michael suddenly spoke, as if he was in my thoughts like he normally was in Sorano's. "Cecilia can fight control effects after a while and, since she is probably with Sorano, then she will be fine. Plus, once Sorano gains conscious awareness, I can go directly to her if she is in danger and help her and, in proxy, the other hostages as well."

While it seemed like an obvious answer from the mythic, it did make me feel a little better about this. I knew that both Michael and Cecilia were able to fight, and years of being around Sorano told me that the mage could fight as well. This would be alright and, once we freed the women, we could get our reward and get back to the guild so I could take a nap. All of this stress was making me tired.

It wasn't long after that when Michael and I found ourselves entering a clearing and I had to stop in surprise. All of the women who were missing seemed to be in the clearing and, while only Sorano and Cecilia were restrained, all of them had a far-off look to them that told me that they were under some sort of hypnosis. Once the two of us were up to Sorano and Cecilia, I made sure that they were both alright before I turned to Michael. "Can you snap them out of this?"

There was a burning anger in his eyes, probably from his contractor being attacked like this, before he nodded and took out his sword. "While Cecilia has a more power form of light magic that I use, a quick flash spell should awaken everyone here from the spell." There was a slight growl in his voice that, since he was an angel, sounded very unnatural from him. Yes, whoever did this had better avoid Michael. Making an angel growl in anger probably wasn't a good thing. I didn't know nearly as much about angels as Sorano did but making and angel growl didn't seem good.

I tensed as Michael let light magic gather around his sword before he slashed it out in a circle. Almost as soon as the light hit each woman, the seemed to come out of their daze. "Everyone get back to town!" I flinched as Sorano yelled that. Guess she came out of her trance quickly.

It didn't take the women gathered long to react to Sorano's voice and, as Michael freed Sorano, the women made a beeline back toward the city. "Sorano, are you alright?" Michael asked as she stood on her own.

She nodded but I saw a look of urgency cross her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. But we have to get out of here. This is a,"

"Trap." I finished for her as a group of what looked like forty mages came out of the woods in front of us and started to surround us. Well fuck. This wasn't good. While each of their power levels wasn't worrisome on their own, I could sense that they would give us a hard time working together. And that was especially since Sorano and Cecilia had just come out from an influence spell that one of them just seemed to cast.

One that seemed to be the leader walked forward and smirked. "You know, I was pretty upset when that little influence spell we cast was broken. That was especially since one of the women we got was none other than the ex-dark mage from the Oracion Seis called Angel. An actual angel with her was a bonus. But, with another ex-dark mage from the Oracion Seis, the most feared Midnight, and another angel to boot, we'll all be asked to join the top dark guilds rising."

I tensed as he smirked. This wasn't a good situation but I knew that we had to pull through. I wasn't going to let all the work we had done to get this far after we accepted Anu's offer to go to waste because these idiots wanted to make a name for themselves in the wrong circles.

Tolax's 1st P.O.V.

This was an interesting situation. That much I knew when I had watched the women from the town being led to this clearing like I had heard this dark mages plan out the night before. I was a solo mage, not aligned with a guild, and I found myself going from place to place to hunt down dark guilds or, in the case of these mages, dark guild wannabees. I had let it get this far, so far, because I had been curious if the influence mage could really cast a spell that could mass-hypnotise the women of the town to come to them while knocking out the men in town. It had and, at first, I was impressed with the magical ability. Not so much what it was being used for, but the ability was impressive.

That was even more so when I saw the woman who had once been called Angel, a member of one of the top dark guilds known as the Oracion Seis, along with an actual angel. My magic had confirmed that much. Seeing that this spell had drawn these women in, I had held off in rescuing them to rethink our strategy in defeating this group. If they could take control of a woman as powerful as she was, then this fight might be more trouble than we thought.

But, then the arrival of another mage who used to be called Midnight, and who was the second strongest member of the dark guild behind the guild master. Plus, he had brought another angel with him as well. His arrival had caused me to hold on before jumping in. When the angel had taken out the influence spell with a simple flash spell, I realized that the dark mages weren't as impressive as I thought they were going to be.

But, I listened as the dark mages spilled out their plans to who they identified were ex-dark mages. When had that happened? Honestly, I was also slightly surprised that the two supposed 'ex' dark guild mages where even here. Last I heard, they were still in prison under the watch of the Council. The news would have blown up with the story of an escape by them or if they had been released. So, my curiosity had held me back.

"Our curiosity you mean? I'm pretty sure your internal thoughts should be including me as well." Sebastian, the demon inside my soul, spoke to me.

My own brand of magic was known as demon contract magic. It was pretty much how it sounded. I would make a contract with a demon who approached me asking for a contract. In exchange for use of their power and, at times, themselves, I would provide a host body so the demon could stay in this plane from the Dark World, for as long as I was alive. It wasn't the normal contract that demons made, and I had been lucky that Sebastian had contracted me when he did. Otherwise, I would have died.

But, those were thoughts for another time.

"Yes Sebastian, our curiosity. You seem to be pickier than normal." I taunted him. Just because we shared the same soul now, didn't mean that we didn't take jabs at each other.

As the dark mages explained that their influence spell had effected every woman who had ever experienced sound before, I realized that was why the one woman in town, who had been born deaf, was not affected while her sister, who had lost her hearing when she was thirteen, had been affected. Sebastian seemed ready to comment on the situation. "Do you plan on helping the two called Sorano and Macbeth?"

I looked down as the dark mages continued to say that their goal was to attract light guild mages and take them out to prove themselves to dark guilds. Honestly a really lackluster plan for dark mages. I doubted that even middle-tier dark guilds would pay them a second thought if this was all they could come up with, no matter what their power levels were. While some of the dark mages down below seemed to have a more than average amount of power, I could also sense that they were not at the same level as the two that they were facing.

However, there were only two of them and, even as powerful as they were, Sorano seemed to be weakened from the spell that she was under and that would hinder their abilities. "I'll see how they are able to hold up for the first wave of attacks. After that, I'll jump in if I am needed."

I felt an accepting pulse from Sebastian but neither of us said another word, even to each other, as the fighting started. Even with the odds stacked against them, I found myself impressed with how well Sorano and Macbeth were working together. It was obvious, once the fighting started, that the angels must be a part of Sorano's magic. With that, Sorano and Macbeth were always checking on the other when they had breaks in their fight and their magic seemed to be aimed to knock out their opponents and not kill them.

But, I could tell after the first fifteen that the two ex-dark guild mages were tiring. I could sense that there would be a regroup on both sides but, after that, they wouldn't be able to have the energy combined to take on their enemies. "So, I am assuming from your current line of thought that we are going to be interfering?"

"Yes." I answered my demon. Once I did, I could feel the smirk come off of his face. While Sebastian understood that I was a light mage and I wouldn't do dark activities, which was part of the reason he agreed to contract with me in the first place, he did love going into battle and making it as damaging as he possibly could and, against dark mages, I allowed him to do just that.

I focused as the remaining twenty dark mages regrouped as Sorano and Macbeth, along with the two angels, did. I could see that Sorano was tiring due to being under the influence spell and I knew that the time to make myself known was coming soon.

"So, you aren't as easy to take down as the white-haired bimbo made you seem." The leader stated, causing a growl to come from the angels and the white-haired mage in question. I knew that, if an angel growled, they were not happy in the slightest. Must be a sort of contract magic that bound them together for them to react to the insult to Sorano like that. "But, you won't last another round. Surrender now and we'll let you live."

Well, that looked about as good of an opening as I...we were going to get. "Funny," I started out loud as I jumped from the branch I had been standing on and landing before walking so I was facing the dark mages and in front of Sorano and Macbeth. "I was about to say the same thing to you."

The assumed leader of this group didn't take my interruption well. "Who the fuck are you supposed to be?"

Instead of answering the leader, I turned to the two mages that I was defending before smiling. "I must say, that watching you two fight together was impressive. But, I do have a burning question that I must ask you. Are you truly light mages now?"

Both stared at me in what looked like surprise for a few seconds before Sorano answered me. "Yeah. we were the first members that our guild master recruited for his guild that we decided to call Jackal Fang."

"Not a name I've heard on rotation. I think we should talk to them some more after this." Sebastian commented.

I mentally nodded at that. "I agree with you." Then, I nodded at the two mages. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of that guild before but, from how you have been acting since I started watching you all, I'll take your word on it for now. After these idiots are taken care of, might I talk with you more about it?"

Macbeth was the one who answered me. "Sure. We aren't the most advertised guild out there so it's not surprising you haven't heard about us."

"Hey! I'm talking to you light-mage bastards! Are you listening to me?" The leader of the group of dark mages yelled at us.

I slightly turned my head and threw him an annoyed look before turning forward to face them. But, before I started, I had to make sure that the two behind me knew that I was going to take care of the rest. "You two just sit back and recover. We've got this from here."

"Glad you added me this time." Sebastian smirked.

A nod was what I gave him in return before looking at the mages in front of me. "Sorry, I tend to disregard those that aren't worth my attention. But," I then smirked while bringing my hands up so they were spread to my sides, like I was hanging on an invisible cross. "I do have a friend that would love to pay attention to you dark mages." I then focused on my magic energy as the dark mages started to charge at me. Once I felt like I had the magic power to perform it, I smiled. "Daemonium anima commutation." Sebastian and I spoke as one as I brought my hands together in a clap.

The spell resonated in the air and I felt the normal shift as my appearance changed while Sebastian took over as the conscious side of our body. As I was moved to the back of my mind, I could feel my body shift to that of what Sebastian looked like. My brown hair was shortened slightly and groomed a little better while being dyed black, my lightly tanned body was turning to a pale white, my violet eyes began to burn with a red color. Also, my casual clothes turned into a black coat-tail outfit that Sebastian loved. Finally, and most noticeably, the marking scar that normally stretched from the middle of my right eyebrow, across the top of my nose, and ended in the middle of my left cheek, vanished to have Sebastian's flawless skin on his face.

A smirk flickered on my face, though Sebastian stayed neutral, as looks of fear came on the dark mages in front of me. While I wasn't a guild mage, I had heard the stories circling about me since I did focus on dark guilds and taking them out. "You...you're…" The leader tried to speak. But, it wasn't surprising that he couldn't.

"You know, I almost feel insulted that you seemed so ready to talk with my friend, but you can't seem to get a word out around me." I then felt Sebastian's smirk as he continued to speak. "No matter. This shall be fun nevertheless."

And at that Sebastian was almost a blur even to me, and I was inside of him. While he didn't kill the mages, he made sure that they were all incapacitated before tying them up. Once they were all restrained, he moved back to the two mages. "You had better explain my magic and your role in it before they sick one of those angels on you. That kind of magic is not fun to deal with."

"Of course." Sebastian responded mentally to me before he spoke to the two in front of us. "I believe that we have some explaining to do. My name is Sebastian and I am a demon that is contracted to the mage that I replaced, who is called Tolax Valkeri. His magic is called demon contract magic and it allows him to contract to me, allowing him full access to my power and, in some cases like this, even allow me to come out and fight when necessary. I shall allow him to come out now so you may talk about this guild of yours." I then felt him gathering my magic power and, once he raised his hands, I knew it was time. "Daemonium anima commutation."

Once I was the one in full control, I looked to them and smiled before saying, "Since Sebastian introduced me, and I heard your names when you said them to them, we can skip the introductions. Is there somewhere you would like to talk privately?"

Macbeth looked at me and nodded before saying, "Once we meet up with the mayor for our reward, we have tickets to head back toward Dawn City. If you want to join us there, we can talk about what you want to know on the train ride back."

I was planning on heading in that direction anyway so this was a good idea. "That sounds alright. Let's take these dark mages back to town so we can make the train."

And that was what we did. After they received their reward from the mayor, the three of us made our way to the train station and, not long after, we were off toward Dawn City and they were filling me in on their guild. As they told us more and more, Sebastian and I both felt like this was the kind of guild that would suit us quite well.

So, once we had stopped in Dawn City, I had expressed my wish to join their guild and they had agreed and led me into the mountains. Once we arrived at their guild, which was hewn out of one of the mountains, I was greeted by a strange assortment of mages, and an even stranger guild master who must have just been pranked if the pink paint in the hair was anything to go by. He inducted us as members of his guild and Sebastian and I had decided to join Macbeth's and Sorano's team and, while we were at it, we decided to call the team Dark Angel. The two of them agreed and, as I looked at the wall above my bed, I smiled. From what I could see of the members around me, I knew that we wouldn't regret being a part of this guild.

Sorano: Holy shit we have a demon in the guild now.

Tolax: *smirks* Well, someone had to outshine the light those angels of yours put off. I should do alright for now. But, I think we might need some more dark influence to balance out the light. Macbeth and I are not enough to completely balance everything out.

Narissa: *points to Anu* What about the dog?

Authoress: *smirks* His magic isn't dark based, no matter how bad he was in the past, and dark humor does not count in that equation.

Sawyer: *laughs* Damn Authoress! Just as blunt as ever!

Anu: *pouts in corner*

AN: And that is all for now folks! You have officially met the Demon of Jackal Fang. Tolax (and Sebastian of course) are going to be one of the S class mages, along with Macbeth (who is one already) and Melody (who is one as well). In total, there will be six in the guild by the time that they meet Fairy Tail (which is a long time in coming). Anyways, Tolax and Sebastian are a lot of fun to get to know. It should be a lot of fun to use them in upcoming chapters! (especially Sebastian with his...sadistic tendencies).

Anyways, here are the next chapter names. We shall see what you can glean from them.

Chapter 7: Monuments to Time

Chapter 8: Ghost of Winter

Chapter 9:...(find out next time!)

And that is all for now! I hope you are all enjoying meeting the Jackals. I do find that it is important for me to point out that this story is going to be part one of introducing the members of Jackal Fang. The second part will introduce the last 5 members and one of those, at least, will be a key central figure in stories coming up. Please leave a review, even to say hi! Well, until next we meet, TTYL! *thinking about Seven Brides for Seven Brothers*