Fang: Been a while since I went and updated this fic. Sigh.. surviving everything highschool throws my way is certainly a challenge. Test, Party, Test, Test, Project, some more Test, another Party, etc etc. Anyway, I'm back! So, here is another chapter right here for you!

So, I've got some really interesting questions and stuff from the previous reviews, which is only five, which is really sad, but yeah- I survived. Anyway, I'm going to answer those but first, say hello to Talon!

Talon: Hiya! *Waves around, throwing confetti* It's good to be back!

Fang: Anyway, Lil' bro, read the first question please. *Sweeps the confetti somewhere*

Talon: From RadioPoisoning, Is Axel going to abandon the bounty hunter career (promising and unique plot opportunities ) to go to Fairy tail (done and redone plot choice)? Will he meet Erza as a kid or will the meeting begin later during one of the FT story arcs? As for the love interests, Please Pleeease don't romance a FT mage but go for someone more unique or rather les prominent (basically in every fic the protagonist romances wither Erza or Mirajane and it's getting boring).Detailed.

Fang: Yeah. So, we're still fifty-fifty on the first question, though we're leaning to the Bounty Hunter , we can succeed. He'll meet Erza as a kid, actually. Later, he would visit her in Magnolia from time to time. Lastly, Erza is definitely a no go unless I fancy Incest, which I didn't. Mirajane, Cana, Lucy, Angel/Sorano, or any other girls is open for a choice though.

Talon: No Harem Route?

Fang: Nope. Honestly, its a subject to change.

Talon: Moving on! From Guisniperman, not exactly a question but yeah.. Baddass level... Unmeasureable.

Fang: Thanks man! Glad you liked it. I myself think it could've been better. Like, more dramatic flair to the summoning and so on..

Talon: It's a suggestion, from an anonymous GUEST. Hey, it's pretty good, actually. Why haven't you think of that, anyway? Don't you say that you're smart or-

Fang: I did think of that. It's just that when my Inspiration Box decided to take a vacation leave everything stops working and no matter how much I tried everything went down to the Crap Box! And did you just imply that I'm stu-

Talon: Moooving on! Next, we got AngelFaux on the list. Despite being short it was a good chapter and while I'm a bit disappointed it won't be a shounen ai I'll still read it. A suggestion on explaining how Axel's dad knows arc of embodiment is that their ancestor made it and one of the few remaining records on it has been passed down through generations. Oh and a suggestion for axel's monsters could be the bakugan and he could learn transformation magic since once its mastered its only limit is imagination of the user.Wow. You got yourself a dedicated reader.

Fang: Thank you so much for giving us the chance! I promise I'll try and not let you down and make it as good as I could. The suggestion is plausible but more onto the fact that Axel's dad's ancestor used it for generations. Kinda like a family art. Bakugan? I've never thought of them. I'll see what I can do with those.

Talon: Lastly, from Vulkhanos, This is a very interesting story idea, im liking it, and i hope we can see more soon. Also im wondering how long the axel childhood arc is gonna last cuz i really want him to meet erza and fairy tail.(make him op as fuck)

Fang: Yeah, the Childhood Arc is drawing to a close.. maybe three chapters more if I'm rushing it and four at the rate I'm going. The OP as fuck part is doomed though. Sorry.

I guess that's all. So, remember to leave me some reviews about your thoughts. Flames will be ignored, of course. Don't hesitate to click on the like and follow button too! Enjoy the chap!


Chapter 5: The Hunt Pt.2

"Impressive." Brain noted to himself, admiring the unknown magic at work before him. "My Archive doesn't recognize this magic, what manner of sorcery is this, Cur?" Still with that somewhat arrogant tone, the S-class criminal inquired his puzzlement. Although, in Lepanto's mind, it was more like a demand for answer instead of a polite inquiry, what with the insult at the end of his question.

In response, Lepanto let out his trademark smirk, one that often made his son tear his own hair out of his scalp in frustration. "What kind of idiot would ask that kind of question to their foe and expect an answer?" He quipped, causing a vein to bulge on the Dark-mage's forehead in his growing anger. "Enough chit chat, I need the money promised on your head if I were to get my dinner and last the month. Kindly, die for me." That was apparently the signal for the three-headed hellhounds to start their rampage and for the Garudas to start their assault on the lone dark mage before them.

"I see." He said, casually dodging a cerberus who tried to pounce on him before he shot it directly in the stomach with his Darkness Magic, creating a hole through the hound's body. "Very well, I shall teach you why I'm one of the most feared Dark-mage in Earthland!"

"And I keep telling you to hurry and die. Taimatsu (Torch)!" A jet of flame blasted out of his palm, exploding outwards with the force of a bomb and turning the surrounding area into a burning inferno.

Brain leapt out from the flames, his body somehow only sustaining minimal injury despite the fire blast and the subsequent explosion that followed it. Lepanto whistled in appreciation. "Whew, you're durable. I kinda hoped you'd be a roast inside the inferno.. but yeah, not happening." The Bounty Hunter shrugged in mock disappointed, his sagged posture belying the bloodlust raging beneath.

"Dark Capriccio! Begone from my sight, you thrash!" A sickly green beam of compressed Darkness was shot from the tip of his staff, rocketing towards the Bounty Hunter at breakneck speed.

In response, Lepanto gripped his oversized claymore with one hand while charging up another spell in the other. Quick as lightning, the veteran bounty hunter swung his blades at the incoming spell, cleanly slicing it in two and sending both halves far off to the side, successfully protecting himself before he retaliated by shooting a multicolored beam of compressed heat, not fire, but pure heat.

"Mosou (Heat Wave)!" He roared, pointing his outstretched palm, and the Heat Wave, right towards the Dark-mage who hastily prepared another beam to hold back the attack.

"Scream!" A stronger and faster version of the Dark Capriccio was fired from the tip of his staff, traversing the distance in the time it took for one's eyes to blink, and clashed against the beam of pure, concentrated heat, holding it back into a standstill as both mages struggled to strengthen their respective spell and overpower the other.

"Are you sure you should be focusing on me?" Lepanto grinned, watching at the rest of his Cerberus quickly converged around the preoccupied Brain, growling and snapping their fang-filled jaws at him. One brave hellhound took a leapt and safely lodged its jaws onto Brain's thigh, its other two head following suit a moment later by planting their fangs on the side of his stomach and his heels respectively.

"UUURKKKHHH...!" Brain groaned in pain as the Cerberus on his leg started to shake their head, trying to rip his flesh apart. With the pain, came a decrease in focus on Brain's part, something that Lepanto was quick to capitalize on by pushing his Heat Wave further against the Screaming Dark Capriccio.

Emboldened by their comrades success, the Cerberus, as one, pounced on the currently immobile Dark-mage, intent on ripping him apart into an unrecognizable mess of blood and gore. Realizing their chance, the Garudas started to furiously flap their massive wings, releasing their dart-like feather on their unmoving target.

Trapped from all size with overwhelming offense and equipped with little defense, Brain realized that for once, he couldn't save himself from danger. With nothing else to lose and more to gain, Brain did something that he never thought he would do out of his own will.

Thus, the beast within went unchained and resurfaced.

"Dark Rondo!" The beam of darkness ceased its struggle against the Heat Wave, momentarily letting the Fire Magic continue its trek towards the Dark-mage before it slammed into an wide-area explosion of green energy, causing another massive explosion to rock the area.

How they haven't been buried under tons of snow was something Lepanto continued to wonder at the back of his mind.

"Oh yeah, bitches! I'm back in the GAAAMMMEEEE!" Out of the resulting smoke, out came the mostly unscathed, but still profusely bleeding Brain. Only this time, the S-class Dark-mage came with a new look; A pair of wide red-eyes and a much, much more psychotic grin. Lepanto took note of this new development and stored it for later.

"Did you hit your head, Brain?" That was a pretty good pun, Lepanto smirked to himself. "You look infinitely madder than before. Well, as madder as someone wearing an indian-style clothing in a freakin' blizzard could get." He jabbed.

"No, no, no!" He tut-tutted at him, the action somehow came out a bit off-putting with the wide red-eyes and insane grin on his face. "I'm Zero! The other side of Brain!" He exclaimed.

'A split personality? Never knew this guy had something like this up in his head. With a name like Brain, you'd think he was at least right in the head... Guess I was wrong.' Lepanto thought to himself, sweatdrop trailing the back of his head in exasperation at the sudden realization of how ironic Brain's existance truly was.

"Here I go, fuckeeer! Dark Delete!" Pointing both his index and middle finger towards him, the berserk Dark-mage wasted no time to bombard the Bounty Hunter with dozens upon dozens of destructive green bullets.

"Ooh, It's the wild west now, eh? I can play that. Higan (Fire Gun)!" Lepanto swiftly let go of his claymore before pointing his index and middle finger towards the incoming Basketball-sized projectiles, shooting out small burst of flames to counterattack. While the Fire Gun is several levels weaker than the Dark Delete's projectiles in strength, it's firing speed far outclasses the Darkness Magic, so it can stop the attack with some effort.

The Garudas, having been circling safely on their element up in the sky and thus, safe from total annihilation like the Cerberus, quickly resumed their offense, pelting the berserk Dark-mage with dart-feathers from their wings and dive-bombing from the sky for some physical attacks.

"Dark Gravity!" An eldritch green light glowed from the ground as Brain slammed both of his palms downward. Suddenly, as if pulled by magnet, all the dart-feathers thrown at him was pulled directly into the ground where they lodged themselves with a dull thud. Moments later, unable to bear with the heavy pull of the increased gravity, the Garudas too, were pulled down to the ground, where they were easily dispatched with a few well-aimed Dark Delete, courtesy of Zero.

Lepanto clapped, a sly grin on his face. "Congratulations on killing all my low-level minions. You must be proud of yourself." He said.

"Soon, It'll be your turn!" The insane other half of Brain growled, his mad grin widening across his face, almost from ear to ear. "I'll end your existence! I'll slaughter you with my own hands until there's nothing left but a bloody smear on the snow!" Lepanto regarded the threat to his life with as much attention as someone would a child claiming that he managed to pull down the moon.

With an equally blood-thirsty grin on his face, the veteran Bounty Hunter began to leak his own bloodlust. "Big words for a wounded madman! Let's see if you can back up your threat, eh?" With that, Lepanto picked up his Claymore and dashed forward, his form little more than a black and orange blur to the naked eye.

"You're the one who's going to die, WORM!"

"Shakuran Senki (Burning Annihilation Demon)!" Red-flames, burning as hot as the flames of hell, wreathed itself upon the length of his massive sword just as it clashed against the magic staff of Brain, Klodoa.

"Gyaaaaah! It's hot! I burn! I BURN! I BUUUUURRRNNN!" The Skull attached to the top of the staff screamed in pain as it was used to repeatedly redirect the Verdugo's heavy, and not to mention scorching, slashes.

"Shut your trap, you useless piece of wood!" Zebro growled, causing the staff to went stiff in what Lepanto assumed was fear. "If you talk on more time, I'll snap you and then turn you into chopsticks, you got that?" The skull on top of the staff nodded itself rapidly, but it heeded its wielder's order and stayed silent for the sake of its prolonged existence.

"Ignoring me, did'cha?" A massive, burning-red sword shrouded in flames was swung towards his head with the intention of relieving him of his life and Zero hastily leaned back, barely dodging the burning sword with his life. Quickly, the Dark Mage retaliated by sending a kick straight to the Bounty Hunter's chin, flinging him back and giving him some much needed space.

"Zero Slash!" Dark magic gathered at the tip of his fingers, the sickly green hue of its color bathing the destroyed campsite an eldritch green before it shot forward, a beam of destructive magic, straight towards the bored-looking, firesword-wielding Bounty Hunter.

"Don't you have other strategies to play with?" Lepanto asked, face set into a dull visage filled with boredom at the sight of yet another green energy beam. "It's getting slightly boring to deal with all these beams.." He commented, casually holding his massive claymore in front of him, ready to once again slice the incoming beam in two.

In response, Zero grinned madly, looking decidedly too gleeful to be anything good for the Bounty Hunter's health. "'S dat soo~?" He flicked his fingers and Lepanto noticed a tad bit too late that the 'beam' coming towards him wasn't actually a beam and was instead, a whip.

"Shit!" The previously straight whip wavered, twisting and bending like a goddamn snake on crack before it smacked him in his midriff, throwing him away while simultaneously securing a strong grip on him by coiling itself on his torso. He was slammed harshly into a cliff, the cold surface of the stone structure cracked and broke under the pressure before he was dragged across the rough surface by a swing of the Dark Mage's hand.

-XxXxX-

"C'mon Old Man! Kick his ass!" I cheered, internally fanboying at this once-in-a-lifetime chance to see an epic, magic battle between two S-class mages. This is so much cooler than all those fights I watched in my laptop that it felt slightly surreal to me, even as I continued to watch with Old Man's loaned SuperBinoculars.

Finding a landing spot with a good vantage point hadn't been as difficult as I had previously imagined. With the height the Manta was flying by and Old Man doing a wonderful job fighting Brain and taking his attention away from me and the Manta, it doesn't take more than a handful of minutes to spot a cliff a distance away from ground-zero, far enough that we would be safe from any stray spells flying around but close enough to let me watch.

The only thing that could make this even better an experience was a thick blanket, a campfire and a cop of chocolate with Marshmallows as a side dish.

A man can dream.

"Hey! Watch out, that's the whip thingy! Dodge!" He cried out, watching through his binoculars while his other hand keeps on rummaging the his bag. "Dammit, are you serious right now!? ..Where the hell is my popcorn stash when I need it!?" He growled furiously under his breath.

A few ways away, the Manta could only stare and sweatdrop at its creator's son. Weird, that boy.

-XxXxX-

"..That actually stings a bit!" Lepanto commented, smirking ruefully as he traced his fingers on the bruise slowly but surely forming on his midriff where the whip-like spell of Brain had coiled itself around him. "Tsk. Definitely gonna leave a mark."

He'd regained his bearings somewhere along all those irritating slamming and the dull throbs of getting your head bashed into a cold, hard stone structure repeatedly in the span of five minutes and, with a quick swing of Verdugo's massive length, released himself from his bindings, resuming the fight with even more ferocity.

Zero aimed his fingers forward, shooting a dozen spheres of his green Darkness Magic at him. "Die! die die die DIE!"

Verdugo's burning red, fire-covered blade flashed, blurring as it cleaved each and every single one of the approaching attack in half, destroying them before they could even hope to touch the Bounty Hunter.

"Dark Rondo!" Zero raised Klodoa, the gem trapped between the skull's jaw glowing an ominous green as a large Magic Circle appeared beneath them. Dark magic power, horror-stricken faces etched in their writhing, gaseous form, rose from the ground and coalesced around the magic staff, forming a massive sphere of condensed Darkness Magic.

Zero brought his staff down. Dark Rondo pulsed, exploding with enough force to rock the entire mountain and finally bringing the avalanche that Lepanto had previously dreaded.

"Tsk! That bastard, trying to flee from me, eh?" Lepanto gripped his massive claymore, feeding more magic to the flame covering its form, increasing its heat and power. The Avalanche drew closer still, while Zero quickly hightailed it out of the vicinity, sending one last parting smirk his way. "I'll show you not to turn your back on me! Shakuran Senki (Burning Annihilation Demon)!" With a mighty heave, Lepanto swung the massive claymore.

The world exploded, dyed a horrifying shade of vermillion.

"Whoops. Guess I overdid it." Lepanto smirked, eyeing the sea of flames burning before his eyes. "Just kidding. Now, where the hell did that bastard go?" Without even turning his head to look back, the bounty hunter transformed his body to flame and dispersed, casually dodging a bolt of lightning sent his way by a group of Dark Mage.

"Well now, so much of you just for little old me." Lepanto cackled, eyeing the gathered Dark mage obviously under Brain's command hungrily as he tried to calculate the value of their worth if they were to be handed over to the rune knights. He was quite pleased to find that they were worth a notable amount of fortune combined. Suprising since they were mostly made up by no-names. "Way to make a guy feels special."

"You're outnumbered and surrounded. Surrender now, thrash, and we might spare your pitiful life." One of the braver individuals among the group declared loudly, aiming a charged fire spell at him.

"Pffttt!" Lepanto did a spit-take right then and there as the brave Dark Mage's word finally registered itself on his head. "Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha" And then proceeded to break down into an uncontrollable fit of guffaws.

"... W-what is so funny!?"

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" He laughed loud and hard, uncaring of the threat to his life or the ultimatum declared by the Dark Mage. The notion of a lackey, unknown, weak, little lackey, with probably as much skill as a C-rank mage or less threatening him who had beaten their boss and sends him fleeing with his tail between his legs was the funniest thing to have happened to him in this whole business. "You're hilarious! That's it, I've decided! I might not get your boss, but I'll content myself with you small-fries!"

There was a moment of silence before an entire guild's worth of mages started firing their spells at him. Fireballs, lightning bolt, high-pressure water, ice spikes, boulders, light bullet, and all sorts of other magic of all kinds and elements was shot at him.

His response?

"Arc of Embodiment."

-XxXxX-

"Are you sure it's a good idea to haul them up this way?" I asked, eyeing the... what was that word again? Ah, right. Catch. That was the word he used to describe all of the dark mages that made up the entirety of Brain's group who was currently enjoying a very inhospitable stay in a large birdcage tied to another Manta. "I mean, the ropes you used to hang the birdcage might snap and they might fall to their deaths."

The Dark Mages whimpered at the very real possiblity of their demise.

"If that happens wouldn't you lost your earnings?" I asked. It slightly worried me that I started to objectify human lives, comparing their worth to that of money. I mean, sure, I'm not the most moraly straight guy in my previous life -playing games like CoD and stuff makes you slightly desentisized to death and violence- but comparing life with money? That's walking to the red-zone.

Obviously, I've got no one but Old Man to blame for this. Bad influence doesn't even begin to describe him anymore.

"I'm sure they can survive. If they can't, they shouldn't have started a career as a mage in the first place." The Dark Mages started to pray to whatever religion they're a part of, crying to the sky while asking for salvation against the cruelty of the devil in human skin that was my Old Man.

That, was a very apt description of him.

I shrugged at him, finding it too much of a hassle to persuade him to do otherwise. "Suit yourself." The Dark Mages started to cry harder as the last of their hope to at least be carried safely to their prison was snuffed out in front of their eyes.

"You bastards are annoying!" Old Man roared at them, shutting them up from their gross snivelling. "If you don't shut up for the next hour or so, I'll cut that fucking rope and let you drop down to the abyss below, got that?" They nodded mutely, too scared to do anything else. "Good."

The ride was spent in silence, mostly because I was focusing my attention on manipulating my magic and circulating it all over my body while my Old Man wasn't in the mood for small talks and jokes, brooding in his corner while directing the Manta to the nearest human civilization to trade his catch with some much needed cash and the Dark Mages, well they're too scared to even twitch with my Old Man's eye trailing towards them every minute or so.

Talk about awkward.

"You practicing again?" Old Man suddenly asked, sending me a quick glance as if to make sure that I was still alive.

"Mmh.." I grunted, nodding my head in confirmation. "I want to get better ASAP."

"Good." He nodded, giving me a small smile. Then, it quickly turned into a deadpan. "On second thought, stop that. You're distracting me."

Sigh... This is going to be a really long journey.

-XxXxX-

"Bounty Hunters, huh?" The captain of the Rune Knight stationed at Clavel eyed us skeptically, even more so when he laid his gaze upon the Dark Mages huddling together in fetal positions inside the bird cage. "And these is the Dark Mages you caught? Are you sure you didn't kidnap them from an asylum or something?"

Old Man palmed his face, sighing at the questionable sanity of the idiots he'd captured with his own two hands. "Yes. I fought the lot of them myself at the top of Edelweiss along with the S-rank Dark Mage, Brain, and I'm sure that people have a tad bit of common sense in the space inside their head to not build an asylum in a tundra." He answered, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Alright, alright. I can see the Oracion Seis mark on their coats., anyway." The Captain nodded at him. Pulling several wad of banknotes and pushing it towards Old Man across the table. "700.000 Jewel for the lot of them." He said.

Old Man eyes bulged out of their socket, mouth gaping as he repeatedly pointed his shaky finger towards the cageful of Dark Mages and the wad of money on the table, staring at the nodding Captain with disbelief and indignation on his face. "Are you serious right now?"

"Yes." The Captain smirked. "Yes I am."

"900.000 Jewel." Old Man said. "There's a bunch of them in there! Easily numbering on the fourty and I expect better than this!" He pointed to the banknotes stacked on the table.

"780.000 Jewel." The Captain bargained. "I think they hardly knows a thing about their boss' plans for the future. They might even be nothing but cannon-fodder hired for muscle-work." He reasoned.

"You don't know that." Old Man scowled. "Make it 880.000 and I'm sold."

"800.000 Jewels."

"I'm dead set on 840.000 and that's final." He declared.

"Tsk. Fine. You win. You get your 840.000 Jewel." The Captain sighed, pulling out some more money from his drawer and adding it to the stack on the table. "It's always money with you Bounty Hunters. No wonder most of the higher ups hate your kin's guts." He commented, taking a drag of his cigarette before exhaling a puff of smoke, causing me to gag lightly at the smell.

"Money." Old Man began, snatching the stack from the table and began to count them rapidly as though they might disappear if he were any second slower. "Is what keeps the world goin' round, what keeps that stomach of yours full and that cigarette of yours burning. You gotta appreciate that, captain." He smirked, tapping the last wad as a sign that the amount was spot on.

"Hah!" The Captain scoffed. "True, true."

"Indeed, I am." Old Man stood from his seat, sending a smirk at the captain. "Pleasure doing business with ya."

"The pleasure's all yours. My wallet feels terribly empty right now." He grouched, eliciting a roaring laugh from my Old Man as he made his way out. "Get that blood-thirsty grin out of my sight, you're destroying the taste of my beer!"

"Did the two of you seriously just bargained on the price of those people?" I questioned.

"Haggling is a form of art no Bounty Hunter is without." Old Man said sagely, nodding along to his own words as though he was parting upon me the words of wisdom directly dictated from the gods. It was ridiculous, to be completely honest. "And yes, we do it from time to time."

"Unbelievable."

To Be Continued


A/N: Woohoo! Done! What do you think? Good? Bad? Leave me some comments on the review and don't forget to click the like and follow button guys! See you next chapter!

Silvershark out!