Author's Note

Hello and welcome back for another chapter. Still traveling but I do have Wifi so I can upload still. I just wanna say thank you all for taking the time to read this story it's been fun so far and now we're getting into the good stuff. We hit 300 viewers earlier this week which for an OC fic and my first story is awesome. I am a little confused though because chapter 4 has more views/viewers than chapter 3 which makes me laugh a bit lol. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you all and welcome to the Lullaby Arc.


The Greyhound Chapter 6

Oshibana Station

Two weeks. Two weeks of reconnaissance, planning, and preparation; all for nothing.

Eisenwald was currently camping out in the middle of Oshibana town's train station. The guild's ace Erigor was floating just off the ground on the far side of the building. The man was shirtless, showing off a number of wavey chainlike tattoos. His silverish hair hanging loosely off his head as he balanced on his hovering Scythe.

Wind Magic was allowing him to defy gravity and if there was one thing Kinzo hated dealing with it was Wind Magic. The attacks were nearly invisible and hard to track unless the caster was particularly obvious with their motions. But that wasn't really a problem for him. The Eye of Talionis would give him all the sight he needed. No, the problem was wind mages were normally hard to track, and Erigor was obviously able to fly away at a moment's notice. If he spooked the man, then there was no telling if he'd be able to find him again.

Even so, that fact wasn't what troubled him. In reality, the reason all his planning had gone to waste was that apparently one of the dark mages let it slip that they had Lullaby to a light guild. And they were on their way here… great. Now instead of moving again towards whatever their objective was, they instead decided to stay in the station and deal with the legal guild members.

So there Kinzo sat, hidden in the shadows of a nearby hallway, pissed. The plan to attack Erigor once he separated from his men went right out the window, and now he had to risk the involvement of a legal guild.

Speaking of.

"Eisenwald stop this unholy action and turn yourselves in at once!" He couldn't see the person who'd spoken from his current angle, but he could see four magic signatures appear through the wall priming themselves for battle.

"Ah, the fairy flies finally decided to show up. Here to stop us from using Lullaby I presume?" Said Erigor in a surprisingly laid-back tone. He must have been confident.

"What do you plan to do with the flute?" replied the voice from earlier. It sounded feminine.

"Tell me insects, what does every train station have, that may let the people outside hear?" The Dark mage asked. Leaning ever so slightly forward on his weapon.

"You plan to use the intercom; you could kill the whole town! I won't allow such a thing."

"Hehehe you can try to stop us if you like, but who has our little Lullaby?" At that moment two grunts ran off down different hallways, presumably heading for the station's main office to use the speakers.

It was a solid bluff, but a bluff nonetheless. Kinzo had seen Erigor take the flute with his own eyes, and not once did it leave his possession after that. Sadly, the legal mages were unaware.

"Boys after them!" the woman commanded.

"Right/ Aye!" where the swift replies as two pairs of footsteps took off after the fleeing men.

"And just like that, your forces are cut in half. Well, what are you waiting for boys? Bring me the fairy's head!"

As the battle ensued, he knew this would likely be his only chance. Quietly exiting the safety the shadows provided him, he stuck to the outside of the brawl. The goal. To position himself behind Erigor, crush him before he had the chance to react, take the flute, and leave the clean-up to the rune knights.

As he did just that an incredible sight presented itself. A woman, with dark red hair dressed in armor cleaving through multiple opponents at a time. Strong mages who could stand up against large groups by themselves were always impressive to him, as he lacked the strength to do it himself. Well, under the right circumstances he could.

Regardless as he was about to pull his eyes away, he noticed her sword start to glow, being replaced with a long spear. "That was a fast Re-quip, way better than anything I could pull off." As she started to carve into their numbers once more, he continued his trek across the station. Until finally he was right behind his target.

Erigor suspected nothing, his footsteps were silent. The sound of his breath, nonexistent. He briefly considered killing the man as he'd planned to originally, but if the legal mages found Erigor dead and no flute on any of the Eisenwald members they would know something was amiss. No, best to play it safe and just knock him out.

"Metal Make: Knuckle" Casting the spell in silence, his hand was filled with iron knuckle dusters. Reeling back, he let go a savage haymaker, right into the back of his unsuspecting victim's skull.

A sickening crunch came right before the man went limp and fell. Scythe clanging against the hard ground as the rest of him collapsed in an unceremonious heap. Quick, efficient, and silent; like every assassin should be.

Turning the unconscious man over and searching his person revealed the prize. A small wooden flute with a three-eyed skull at its base.

He thought about Re-quipping the artifact into his storage space but The Eye of Talionis was picking up some wicked-looking Ethernano flowing from this thing. No telling what it may do to his stuff. Regardless, he had what he came for.

"Bingo, now to get out of here before anyone spots me." At least that was the plan until he heard-

"Circle Sword!" The wall of men who'd been hiding him from view was suddenly airborne, thrown back by a strong burst of magic, the wind pressure even pushing his hood off. It took her all of 2 seconds to spot him, flute in hand… "Shit."

"You, dark mage! Unhand that item now or face punishment!"

The redhead from earlier was now dressed in strangely revealing armor (seriously, why though. It's leaving bare the only areas you need armor to protect?) with bladed wings adorning its back, and a mass of swords floating around her.

A moment of silence followed. Enough time for him to pocket the vial artifact. She didn't like that.

So, she started rushing in with reckless abandon, prepared to run him through with one of her many weapons.

In response, he molded two swords to defend himself "Metal make: Sword." Just in time too as she brought the blade in her right hand down.

A quick parry and testing slash were all he tried, not wanting to push too much with an unfamiliar opponent. Especially in a fair fight like this, he was an assassin after all.

She deflected the quick blow and prepped to re-engage, throwing another half dozen strikes his way trying to assess how he responded. After seeming to accept that swordplay alone wouldn't do the job, she elected to use Telekinesis to pressure him. Sending out dozens of blades in wide sweeping motions and varied angles.

"Dance my blades!"

That was concerning, but this may also give him the chance to escape if she let him get too far away. As the blades started coming, he used his own to do what they do best. He parried, and every time he did the Telekinetic Magic in the floating blades would be stolen. As steel met steel the airborne object would fall lying useless on the ground.

A pivot to the left.

It fell.

Swipe to the right.

Grounded.

And so it went, for minutes.

To say Erza was getting annoyed would be the understatement of this arc.

Things were going just fine. Natsu and Gray were chasing down the two men in the station who they thought had Lullaby, and she had complete faith in their success. She'd managed to crush the remainder of the dark guild herself with Lucy offering some assistance where she could. And even Erigor was already unconscious.

But then this punk had to show up.

He was good with a blade she'd give him that, but once she decided to attack from a distance something very annoying started to happen. Every time one of her swords made contact with his, it just fell. One second it's fine, in the next the darn thing just wouldn't respond.

She actually could re-establish her control over the fallen weapons, but it had to be done consciously and each time it took magic to complete the spell. With the constant fighting and driving the magic four-wheeler all the way here, her reserves were starting to take a beating. Plus, in the time it took her to get a sword back up and running again her adversary would drop two more.

Uhhhh, the whole thing was just a headache waiting to happen.

At some point, she noticed he'd crept away from her. Originally, they were just a few meters apart, but now there were several dozen between them and he was rather close to the exit.

This man not only got in her way, now he was making a fool of her and trying to escape!

She ground her teeth thinking of the punishment she would enact on him, but then she saw it. When they made eye contact, he was smirking.

Bad move "You will pay for your insolence!"

"PURGATORY ARMOR!"


Things were going just according to play. He'd made some distance, and was only a few meters from the exit. Soon he'd be gone and this whole fiasco would be over. No one in the country knew his identity so even though she'd seen his face there was little they could do about it. Ya, things were going just fine.

Honestly, he didn't mean to, it just kinda happened. But when their eyes met, he couldn't stop the smirk from stretching out on his lips. And like so many other things he'd done today, she didn't like it.

"You will pay for your insolence!"

"PURGATORY ARMOR!"

As the flash of light from her Re-quip faded, he was met with a rather unsettling sight. Gone was the semi (completely) useless bladelike armor, and in its place, black jagged plate mail and a massive, spiked club. The woman's eyes seemed to glow with rage as she charged toward him with a speed that seemed unnatural given the weapon's size.

She swung left, her weapon tearing up the ground as it passed.

He jumped just barely clearing it.

Using the momentum from her swing she brought the mace over her head and straight down.

Seeing a painful death in his future if he didn't move now, the black-haired rogue made a quick Conversion Leap seal on the ground and dashed backward. As he cleared the space it cratered from the impact.

"Ok, so just running isn't gonna work. But her movements are big enough that I could probably push her into a trap."

Moving forward with the idea, he set off. Dashing back and forth weaving in and out of massive strikes, until he found himself in the middle of the room.

He threw one of his swords at the woman to free up a hand, and grab his revolver. Rotating the cylinder until it stopped on the third chamber and the weapon began to glow yellow. His target had easily deflected the thrown sword but was unprepared for the bullet flying towards… her feet?

As the round struck the ground it exploded out in a blinding flash of light.


Isaac Colt

Journal Entry # 234

"The concept of alternative ammunition for Victoria's Iron Maiden is rather interesting. One potential option worth exploring is that of Light-emitting rounds otherwise known as flashbangs. The use is straightforward enough, disorientation of a target. What's more challenging is finding a suitable material to use as a core.

A possible material worth investigating is Bosco's 'Shine Stone'. It's said to react violently when exposed to heat. From what I could gather, when overheated the crystals will explode resulting in a large amount of excess light being released. It is possible to configure the Iron Maiden so that it increases the temperature of rounds fired giving a similar result. This is only one possibility, and more research is required."


"Flashbang rounds, dad you're a genius."

With the moment of privacy, he channeled magic through his feet forming a large but nearly invisible magic circle on the ground His trap was set, now she just had to walk into it.


When Erza regained her bearings her rage only increased, but the thoughts of skinning her opponent would have to wait as she found him charging her head-on. That was fine by her. Running to meet him halfway and swinging her oversized club at his person.

Every time. Every time she almost hit him, he would weasel his way out by making an orange seal at his feet and boosting away. It was starting to get on her already inflamed nerves.

"Speed Magic is stupid… I'm punishing Jet when I get back."

Another swing hit empty air. A slam met only the ground. A quick jab, off-balanced him…

Wait… "He's off-balance!"

Now was the time. All her furry was placed into this next strike. A devastating slam that would come straight down on this arrogant fool's head.

She leaped forward prepared to do just that, until for the first time since their fight started, he spoke.

"Game Over."


She'd played right into his hand, like so many before her. They always did when he made them work for it. He'd blocked or parried every strike she sent his way, so when he finally acted as though her jab pushed him off balance. She went for it hook, line, and sinker. Charging forward, right into his trap.

"Game Over." he said. But regretted speaking as soon as he did.

His mother hated talking during a fight unless it was to distract an opponent. She'd probably be a bit disappointed to hear him gloating like that. Boasting about victory was pointless in her eyes so it should be in his as well.

Regardless, his words were true, it was over. As the woman charged forward, she stepped directly on the magic circle he'd set up. One spell was all it took. "Metal Make: Chains"

Shackles and metal-binding erupted from the floor. Wrapping around her arms, legs, and torso, before constricting. The pressure causing her knees to buckle and the weapon to fall from her grasp.

With a gasp she hit the floor, shock and confusion flooding her system. But soon replaced with realization and the beginnings of fear. He'd seen those expressions on many a confident wizard. They never saw it coming until it was too late. And For her it was.

It was obvious that she was trying to use magic. Wanting to change into something to get her out of this bind, but it was useless. Any magic she tried would just be absorbed by his chains. She couldn't Re-quip, there was no escape.

"Let's end things here then" he mused to no one in particular.

"Metal Make: Black Mace" Forging from his mind a weapon identical to the club she'd used to attack him. His enhanced strength allowed him to lift it with ease. Holding the massive weapon above his head, in a similar manner to an executioner. He readied himself.

"Erza!" came the cry of the other woman in the room, a relatively young blonde girl. Disbelief and panic in her voice as she gasped but otherwise did nothing to stop him. As well as the strangely familiar sight of a blue cat, looking on in horror.

"How useless." He thought somberly. If she had helped in some way the result may have been different.

Despite her situation, his opponent didn't flinch. And for that, she had his respect. Even so, he brought the blade down.

"KINZO STOP!"

His weapon crushed the pavement just to the right of the woman, sparing her for now. In a barely contained frenzy, he twisted his head, searching for the person who'd called his name. Worst case scenario he'd have to kill everyone who heard. Starting with the idiot who said-

"...Gray?"


Author's Note

Alright, you made it through. Since the last chapter was lacking in action I've stacked the next 3-4 with fights, hope you enjoy them. This chapter was a little shorter than the others. About 2600 words instead of the usual 4-6000. If you guys like that more let me know. I think I can break up a lot of what I've written if it's easier to read that way.

As always if you see something that needs correcting and will make the story better, or just want some clarification on anything feel free to let me know. See you soon and thanks again for your time.