Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, I've just had to deal with some holiday fun, full-time employment, as well as some video game fun. I hope you guys are ready for the next chapter of the Phantom Lord arc of this story. As of this moment I have close to 100 favorites and over 100 follows for this story, I'm glad that so many people enjoy this story. With this chapter, I have passed the 100k word milestone and I feel a sense of accomplishment right there.
Just remember guys, I don't own anything except for my oc, the other one belongs to NeoNazo356. Enjoy the chapter guys.
*Birchwood village*
Just outside of the Worth Woodsea forest, a peaceful village rested on the border. It was a good size village with a train station, several businesses and residential homes were located near the tracks. As the train reached the station and passengers disembarked, Vincent stepped out with his bag full of books for his imouto, Wendy.
He took a deep breath as he could smell the forest from where he stood. "Ah, it feels good to be heading back to my guild soon. I should probably check to see if any mail came in for me and imouto." He walked towards where the post office was as he set up a P.O. box for him and Wendy to share. No one else from his guild had one for any mail, he thought that was weird but he put that under them living off the land or something. As he walked to the post office he couldn't help but over hear some locals talking about Fairy Tail for some reason.
"Hey did you guys hear? I heard that Fairy Tail's guild hall got completely wrecked by some random mage." One bystander said as Vincent stopped in his tracks to listen in the conversation.
'What? I thought their guild got wrecked during one of their brawls?' Vincent thought to himself as he remembered the damages before he left Magnolia. 'Although now that I'm thinking about it, that does make more sense.' He did notice the giant metal poles going into the guild hall and not into the street.
"Yeah, I heard that too from my cousin who lives in Magnolia. Heck I just spoke with him over the communication Lacrima earlier, he told me three Fairy Tail mages got attacked last night. They found them crucified on a huge tree in the middle of town and that they're gonna go after those who did it." The other bystander said as Vincent grew worried about this.
He started to walk away in a brisk pace. 'What the hell is going on? Why is someone doing this to Fairy Tail, they seem like a good bunch of people and they have a strong moral code. Well most of them.' He remembered seeing Cana drinking straight from a barrel of rum. 'Wait a minute…' Vincent stopped for a second to worry about the worst thing he could. 'What if Mira was one of those who got crucified?' Vincent started to panic as he pulled out his own personal communication Lacrima to call someone.
As it started to ring, he saw an image of a young lady with log blue hair and a red dress on. "Hello? Oh hey onii-chan, did you make it back safe and sound?" the young lady said revealing to be Vincent's imouto Wendy.
"Yeah, I'm safe in Birchwood village with those books you asked me to pick up." Vincent said as he tried to keep a calm and happy look on his face so as not to worry Wendy about what he heard just now. "But I got some bad news, I got called on for another mission again. So I'm going to be home late tonight, possibly tomorrow. I'll put those books I got for you in our P.O. box for you to pick up later okay?"
"Aw, okay onii-chan. Oh I think Carla wants to say something as well, you can talk to her while I go get something for the trip." Wendy's image disappeared as surprisingly a small white cat the size of Happy, wearing a dress as well appeared with a grumpy look on her face.
"You Neanderthal, I was taking a nice nap that you rudely woke me up from." Carla said in a sophisticated demeanor.
"Sorry, but I got another mission to go on and I had to tell Wendy so she doesn't worry about me." Vincent still tried his best to keep a calm demeanor while speaking to Carla.
"I don't care what you do, just don't wake me up next time. Besides, I take it your mating ritual with this Mira woman didn't pan out like you hoped?" Carla inquired as Vincent blushed deeply.
"It was NOT a mating ritual, I just had a date with her is all." He had informed Wendy of his date with Mirajane as she was happy to hear her onii-chan finding someone to date.
"Whatever, just get back safely or I will hurt you for making Wendy worry herself." Carla stated as she cut off the call from her end.
Vincent calmed down as he started fuming a little, "Man, why does Carla hate me so much? She is always on my case about everything I do. There is no pleasing that cat." Vincent fumed for a bit as he reached the post office, placed the bag with the books in his P.O. box, before running out again. Ribbons of silver light spilling out the corners of his eyes, the Cait Shelter mage began to increase in speed, leaving everyone in his path in his dust as he left the town behind. "I can't take the train, I'll be too late by then," he huffed. "No ways around it. Take Over!"
*Meanwhile in Oaktown*
Inside the Phantom Lord guild hall, it was basically a war-zone. Both sides were fighting each other fiercely, and while Phantom Lord mages were ganging up on Fairy Tail mages, it was basically a standstill, neither side giving way. Natsu burned several of them, Macao and Wakaba teamed up and utilized their Fire and Smoke Magic to take some of them out, Alzack and Bisca double teamed as well with their special Gun Magic, and even Happy beat them up with several fish he had on hand.
Kind of a low point for some Phantom Lord mages right there to be defeated by a talking cat with fish as weapons.
Cana and Lisanna had even teamed up in taking some of these guys out with a combination of Lisanna's Animal Takeover's and Cana's Card Magic using their elemental properties. Makarov even knocked out a huge crowd using his Titan Magic's growth powers to make him 50 feet tall. And as for Ryuma…
"!" Ryuma let out a loud scream of anger as he pummeled several Phantom mages. He used the environment, the tables and chairs, to his advantage as weapons and brutally beat them down. "You have made a grave mistake in harming the guild I call home, and assaulting my friends!" Ryuma yelled out as he grabbed another mage's head and slammed him hard into the ground, causing it to crack under the pressure of the impact. "Cosmic Dragon's Wings Beat!" Ryuma then waved his arms violently in front of him as a wave of magic shot out from his arms and cleared the area of mages.
Erza joined in the melee as well, even switching armors out to deal maximum damage to her opponents. "Where are they?" Erza demanded as she slashed through many with her Flame Empress armor and sword. "Where are you hiding the Element 4 and Gajeel?" She was determined to find her targets as she wanted to make them pay dearly for harming her guild and her friends.
"You heard the lady, where are they? Where are Gajeel and the Element 4?" Ryuma asked as he head one mage by his throat.
"I-I-I don't know where the Element 4 are and I'll never tell you where you can find them or Gajeel." The mage said as he was coughing from having a hard time trying to breathe. He was determined to keep Ryuma in the dark on their locations, however his body failed to understand that as he glanced up for a second before looking at Ryuma. Ryuma did notice this as he saw someone standing on the beams on the ceiling, he slammed him down into the wall hard as he gave an angry glare to his new opponent up in the rafters.
*With Gajeel a minute earlier*
Gajeel stood on one of the banisters above the battlefield, watching the fight transpire as Fairy Tail stood even and/or pushed back Phantom Lord Mages with their magic. "Looks like we got some good fish that caught the bait, Titania Erza, Salamander, and even Dragonborn. Seems that Laxus, Gildarts, and Mystogan are no shows for this party." Gajeel said before he gave off an evil glare in his eyes. "Turns out Master's plan is working just like how he had predicted all along, they don't even realize that they left our true target open for our surprise."
Gajeel looked down once more to see Makarov walk towards the stair case to head up to confront his master about what they have done. "Hee, he took the bait as well. And now that their master isn't with them… it's time I show them my strength and let loose as well." Gajeel chuckled darkly as he prepared to jump and join in the fight. However, a certain dragon slayer had other things in mind.
"GAJEEL!" Gajeel heard an anger fueled scream as he turned at the last second to witness Ryuma, flying up to his location, and deliver a monstrous right hook to his back. Gajeel was in such pain that he couldn't prepare himself for the blow and flew right off the rafter, he just wasn't expecting this to happen nor expecting to see a mage fly up to his position with dragon-like wings on his back.
Fairy Tail mages looked up to witness Gajeel fall and land on the Phantom Lord sign just above their bar area. He stood up as he had a distained look on his face as he leered at Ryuma who was resting on the banister Gajeel was just on.
Elfman saw this as an opportunity to strike down Gajeel as he charged at him with a stone arm. Before Elfman could get closer, Gajeel struck with several strikes of his Iron Dragon's Lance, turning his arms into expanding metal poles of pain. "Hee, not bad for a weak Takeover mage like you ugly." Gajeel taunting him as Elfman held back Gajeel's strikes. Gajeel didn't even care who he struck, not even his own comrades. When he distracted Elfman while doing that, he sucker-punched him away.
Ryuma saw this and became enraged that someone would do that to their own comrades. He jumped off the banister and flew straight for Gajeel as he turned to see Ryuma flying right at him. Gajeel threw another Lance at him, but Ryuma dodged it and delivered a strong punch right in his face. "Cosmic Dragon's Meteor Fist!" Gajeel went flying back as Natsu came charging in as well with his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, and punched Gajeel as well.
The Phantom mages were shocked to see Gajeel get hit easily by these Fairy's. "We're the Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail, and you messed with the wrong mages Gajeel!" Natsu said as Ryu charged at Gajeel again.
Gajeel was prepared for this as he shot another Iron Dragon's Lance at Ryu, sending him back a hundred feet into a wall causing a dust cloud. He smirked evilly, until when he tried to pull back his weapon. Gajeel then saw Ryu grabbing onto the iron lance with his dragon claws as he began to pull on it. Gajeel was shocked by this as he saw the look in Ryuma's eyes, there was no emotion outside of pure rage as they had a dragon look to them. Ryuma then used his immense strength to lift both lance and Gajeel above the ground before slamming him back into the ground hard a few times before Gajeel released his spell.
"What the hell, who the fuck is this-?" Gajeel could utter before receiving a flaming right hook, courtesy of Natsu, as he flew right into a wall and buried under some rubble. The Phantom Lord mages looked on in shock as Gajeel was being over powered so easily by two other Dragon Slayers, they began to be slightly terrified by them as they never saw this happen before.
"Heh, looks like they're going all out here." Wakaba said as he looked on.
"Yeah, to be young like them again." Macao replied as he remembered bac when he was younger.
"That's our Natsu and Ryuma for you." Erza said as she looked at what they did to Gajeel. Cana was smiling too as she and Lisanna could still see the rage in Ryuma's eyes. He wasn't done yet, no by a long shot.
The good moment didn't last long as Gajeel broke free from the rubble he was buried under. "Tch, I that all you got? Your attacks seem to be very weak, you only got me by surprise with what he did." Gajeel taunting Natsu and Ryuma as Ryuma still had his dragon arms out ready for more. Gajeel wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was starting to get curious by Ryuma's actions and such. 'What the hell is this guy, that punch he gave me before was way too powerful for a normal pathetic mage. And his eyes... there's so much rage and anger in them, it's just like when my dragon scolded me when I offended him or when he got really angry. What the hell is he?'
"Well now you see us coming, let's see what you can do now." Natsu taunted him as All three of them rushed towards each other ready for another round of fighting. Gajeel went high as he turned one of his legs into an iron lance and kicked Natsu right in the face, sending him flying back fifty feet back. Ryu ducked at the last second, and tried to deliver a hard uppercut. Gajeel moved back slightly at the last second to deliver his own iron fist at Ryu as well, causing him to land past Natsu.
"Heh, I knew you Fairy's were weak and pathetic, you couldn't even handle my attacks like actual dragons." Gajeel taunted them as suddenly magical power rose from where the two landed and Gajeel saw a shadow of both of them looking at him in anger. "Looks like I have to put you guys down for good." He stated as he leapt into the air to attempt an aerial attack.
Natsu and Ryuma were prepared as they both punched Gajeel in the gut, launching him up into the rafters. Just as soon as Gajeel caught himself on one of the rafter beams, Ryuma flew towards the Iron Dragon Slayer with intense speed, "Cosmic Dragon's Meteor Fist!" Ryuma landed a hard blow to Gajeel's gut, sending him higher into the rafter beams, even crashing through several of them in the process.
"You idiots seem to have a destructive streak going on here, I may have peg you fools for weaklings too much now." Gajeel said as he began to get serious now. But just before another attack could be made, the entire guild hall shook as if an Earthquake was taking place at that very moment.
"Wh-what the hell is happening?" One Phantom mage asked.
"The entire guild hall is shaking violently."
"You all seem shocked by what is happening." Erza calmly said as this frightened the Phantom mages even more. "This is our Master Makarov's fury, the rage of a giant." The Phantom mages were terrified by this announcement, some of them were even doubting if their own master could even handle Fairy Tail's master like this. The rumbling stopped after a while and about two minutes later, something came crashing down from Jose's office and onto the floor below. Everyone stopped and looked to see it was Makarov himself, but he looked weak and green, literally.
"Gramps!" Most of the Fairy Tail mages shouted in shock as they saw their master defeated so quickly. Ryuma looked shocked as well, but for some reason felt a strange wind fly around the hall. The Phantom mages looked on at this and saw an opportunity to take them down.
"Look at this, their master is weak!"
"We can take them down so easily now."
"Let's get them!" The Phantom mages looked like they were about to assault everyone in the room now as Fairy Tail was shocked. They only made it a few steps before Ryuma unleashed an attack and knocked them all away. "Cosmic Dragon's Hammer Strike!" Ryuma landed in the crowd of Phantom mages as his hammer strike blew them all into the walls.
Some of them tried to do a sneak attack on Cana and Lisanna with their backs turned with a triple element strike, only for Elfman and Macao to take the hit for them instead. Things weren't looking good for Fairy Tail as their moral boost was starting to decline quickly.
Erza saw this as well and knew the right plan to do, "Everyone, retreat now!" Fairy Tail looked shocked as Erza never called for a retreat in her time with them, so they knew that if she called for one, it had to be very serious. "Without our Master we can't defeat them all now, we have to regroup and prepare ourselves."
As everyone ran towards the door, Gajeel looked down on them as he sneered at them. "Heh, look at them all run away like the pathetic cowards I knew they were."
"Retreats are so sad to see." Above Gajeel, Aria the wind mage stood. Aria was a tall mage, with a long green trench coat, brown pants, a yellow shirt and a purple scarf around his neck. The most distinguishing feature on him was that he had his eyes covered by a bandana and was constantly crying for some odd reason.
"Aria, you still creep me out man." Gajeel said as he then stood next to him. "Anyway, good job on taking down their pathetic master."
"It was all part of Jose's plan after all. I have even heard from Juvia and Sol that the capture of Lucy went down with success. It's so tragic that they fell for our plans like this." Aria explained, not realizing that Ryuma could still her their conversation, despite the loud noise down on the ground floor.
"What? They have Lucy?" Ryuma was shocked by discovering this information. 'Why did they kidnap her, what is really going on here?' he asked himself as he silently broke off from his other guild-mates and grabbed a random Phantom mage to demand some answers about Lucy's location.
"Hey, what the f-?!" the mage asked as Ryuma grabbed him by the throat and looked at him with such intense anger and rage.
"You are going to come with me, you fucking son of a bitch! I got some questions and you're going to answer them for me one way or another!" Ryuma stated with anger in his voice, making the Phantom mage quiver in fear.
Ryuma dragged him out to a jagged rocky path that Phantom's guild hall had behind him. As he knew they were all alone, he began his interrogation. "Alright you asshole, where is Lucy and where are you hiding her?" Ryuma asked as he didn't have time for stupid answers and misdirection.
"Tch, like I will ever tell a weak mage like you anything. When I get free, Phantom Lord will make you pay for thiaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The mage shouted in pain as Ryuma squeezed his head tightly.
"Try again jackass, and this time you better tell me what I want to hear." Ryuma stated as his patience is growing thin.
"Or what, you won't kill me. You don't have the balls to doaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The mage shouted again in pain as Ryuma broke his left arm with a hard punch at the elbow, making it bend the wrong way.
"Your right about one thing, I don't kill people, but I can still break your limbs one at a time until I get my answers. Now WHERE IS LUCY?!" Ryuma demanded again as the mage began to fear for his life now.
"Listen, I don't know where that bitch could beaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" He shouted again as Ryuma broke his right leg with a hard kick, in the same manner as his arm just now.
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER A BITCH! NOW WHERE IS SHE OR SO HELP ME I WILL BREAK EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY!" Ryuma shouted in anger as the mage saw his dragon eyes. The mage was in such a state of panic that he could've sworn to see a dragon like beastly image hover over Ryuma with the same look in his eyes even down to the same eye colors.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Okay, okay, I'll talk." The mage gave up as he couldn't take any more pain. "Look, I have no idea where she is or what she even looks like. I only heard about her when Gajeel and Master Jose were talking last night." Ryuma saw the look of fear in the mage's eyes and knew he spoke the truth, but was disappointed he didn't get the information that he wanted.
"Not helping me out here man, where is she or I'll break your other limbs." Ryuma grew tired of beating around the bush and wanted the answer right now.
"Okay look, I have no clue where she may be. But if Master Jose was insistent on her capture, he probably took her to our main headquarters just down this path. The guild hall you guys attacked was just another base of ours." The mage quickly said in a panic state as he feared for his life.
"Good, now that I have the information I want, I don't need you anymore." Ryu delivered a hard right hook to the man's left temple, knocking him unconscious for a good while. He turned to the path and made his wings appear as he flew towards the location of where Lucy could be. 'Don't worry Lucy, I'm coming to save you.'
*Phantom Lord's True Main Headquarters'*
Inside one of the prison like cells inside Phantom Lord's castle like headquarters, Lucy laid on the floor about to regain consciousness. As she woke up, she tried to remember what happened as she discovered her hands were bound and tied up behind her back. "Hmm, what… what's going on? Wait where am I?" Lucy began to panic as she suddenly remembered that two of Phantom Lord's Element 4 mages stopped her in the streets earlier and captured her with ease.
She heard a door open behind her as she turned and saw that it was Phantom Lord's Master Jose Porla that entered her cell. A tall and thin man with dark brown hair tied in the back and a thin mustache on his face as he had a wicked grin on his face. He was dressed in a blue military like attire with a small cape over his left shoulder and a Wizard Saint's emblem on a bolo tie around his neck. "I see that you are awake Miss Lucy Heartfilia."
"Wh-Who are you?" Lucy asked in shock as she realized that not only is she in trouble, but that he knew her true identity.
"It would seem that you have never heard of the Great Jose Porla, the master of Phantom Lord." Jose said as he introduced himself.
"Phantom! Untie me right now!" Lucy shouted as she began to worry for her life knowing that she is in the hands of the enemy.
"I would like to give you my sincerest apology for putting you in this disgusting jail cell. If you cooperate with us, we could give you a much better cell to make you comfortable." Jose said as Lucy still felt worried around this man.
"You attacked my friends and destroyed our guild hall. Why did you attack us?" Lucy spit back at Jose.
"Yes well it made our job much easier. And besides, you consider yourself a mage amongst those miscreants and Neanderthals?" Jose sneered at her making her cringe in disgust. "Attacking your guild was an added bonus for our real mission, the capture of a certain individual and we find her in that guild. How could we not resist the urge to attack that bothersome guild to capture you Miss Heartfilia."
"What?" Lucy asked as she was confused by what was happening here.
"Your so slow, it's amazing to think you are in fact the daughter of the Heartfilia family. You are our true target to capture." Jose said as he revealed his intended target.
"If I was your true target then why didn't you capture me in my sleep or something?" Lucy inquired, terrified by that scenario playing in her head.
"Well now, we couldn't do that considering those morons from Fairy Tail being in your apartment almost all the time. That and living next door to one doesn't play out well for us." Jose explained to her. Lucy suddenly became glad for not only Natsu for breaking into her place almost constantly, but for having Ryuma close by if something like that happened.
"I heard you were hiding your social status from your guild. I don't understand why a rich girl like you would want to make a living doing cheap and dangerous jobs all the time." Jose said as he just couldn't understand Lucy's actions.
"So then… who was it?" Lucy asked as she was afraid of who was behind it all. "Who set you up to do this, to kidnap me?"
Jose looked in shock as he chuckled at her questions before laughing maniacally. "Haven't you figured it out already? You stupid girl, your very own father requested us to take you back to him." Lucy was shocked by this declaration. Her own father set this all up to take her back home, after being away from home for about a year.
"He-he wouldn't do this…" Lucy began to say as Jose looked at her in confusion. "He wouldn't bother with doing that. I've been gone for almost a year and suddenly he wants me back? Bullshit. I'm never going back to that place!"
"You are such an annoying and troublesome lady." Jose said.
"Release me right now!" Lucy demanded.
"Now why in Earthland would I do such a stupid thing like that?" Jose retorted back as Lucy began to sweat, blush, and fidget.
"I-I need to use the bathroom." Lucy embarrassingly said out loud.
"Yeah right, like I'm going to fall for that old trick. Here use this." Jose said as he tossed an empty bucket next to Lucy.
"A bucket!" Lucy said in shock by that move.
"That is the oldest trick in the book. I'm not some simpleton who will fall for that." Jose said as he saw through Lucy's plan.
"W-Well, if I have to." Lucy stood up and looked as though she was preparing to use the bucket.
Jose looked at her shockingly because he had no idea she would actually go through with it. "You're actually going to do that right now?!" Jose was in a pickle as he didn't want to see this happening before him. He finally gave in and turned around. "I can't believe you would do this in front of a man like this. I'll turn around to give you your privacy then."
Lucy smirked as her plan worked out better than she had thought as she used this moment to do what she had to do. She rushed towards Jose's back and delivered a swift and hard kick right to Jose's balls. He let out a loud and high pitched scream as he felt nothing but pain. He fell to the floor holding himself in pain.
"Heh, sometimes the simplest plans still work in the end." Lucy said in joy as she found an opportunity to escape from this prison. "See you never jerk." Lucy rushed to an opening leading outside as she was shocked to what she was seeing. She was trapped in a jail cell in one of the highest towers in their castle, she looked down and saw that she was really high up for her to make a safe landing.
"He, he, he, your trapped in our sky prison." Jose snickered as he saw Lucy's plan to escape foiled by this one major detail. "You're going to pay for this dearly you bitch. You're not getting away from us this time. I tried to be nice but now you pushed my hand. You will feel the punishment that Phantom is known to deliver." He got up as he approached Lucy to throw her back inside the cell.
Lucy began to panic as she was stuck in an inescapable spot and didn't know what to do now. But in the distance, she felt something familiar. A magic power, rising in the distance and coming closer, one she will always recognize and can always trust. So Jose was shocked by what her next action was, she leaned backwards and fell out of the jail cell and down to the ground below.
"What the fuck?!" Jose shouted as he collapsed on the ground in pain again as Lucy willingly jumped out of the cell and fell to her demise.
'I know I heard him in the distance. I sensed his magic, I know he's here.' Lucy thought as she fell to the ground. As she felt the rush of the air fly by her as she fell, she let out a huge shout for the person to hear her call. "RYUMAAAAAA!"
"LUCY!" Ryuma shouted as he flew towards Lucy. He flew even faster than normal as he caught Lucy mid-air, however he couldn't stop in time to not crash into a random brick wall. Ryuma quickly acted on instinct and positioned himself so that he would take the impact and prevent Lucy from any damage. After the crash and the dust settled, Lucy landed on top of Ryuma as his face landed right between her breasts as he blushed up a storm.
"Thank you Ryuma, I knew you'd be there to save me." Lucy told him as she couldn't be happier at this moment.
"No problem Lucy, it's what I do." Ryuma said as his voice was muffled from talking into her cleavage. Lucy had to hold back a moan and bit her lip to suppress how good that felt. She got up soon as Ryuma had to sit up as well. He turned to her back as he cut her loose from the restraints that were around her wrists. "Are you okay Lucy, did they hurt you in anyway?"
Lucy had a small smile on her face hearing how protective he was of her. "Yeah, I'm fine now."
"Oh thank the gods, I'm glad you weren't hurt in anyway. When I heard that you were kidnapped earlier I went a bit crazy in worry and anger. I even broke a Phantom Mage's arm and leg when I interrogated him in telling me where you were and when he called you a bitch." Ryuma explained as he hugged her gently and close.
"I'm fine now Ryuma." Lucy said as she felt all warm inside being hugged by her love-interest.
"Let's head back to the guild, I bet the others must be worried about where we maybe." Ryuma stated as he got up, but Lucy held onto his wrist as she stayed on the ground. "Lucy, what's the matter?"
Lucy sat on the ground in guilt knowing what had transpired between the guilds was all because of her. Her father never cared about her before and suddenly he sent another guild to harm her friends all to get her back. The guild was destroyed and Levy and her teammates were in the hospital all because she ran away from home. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault."
Ryuma was confused by what she meant by that as he noticed she started to cry as her guilt couldn't be held in anymore. "What are you talking about Lucy?" Ryuma asked as he grew concerned of her right now.
"It's all my fault… but I still want to stay with the guild. I love everything about the guild… the friendly atmosphere… all of my new friends… and the chance to meet you Ryuma." Lucy kept crying as Ryuma didn't know what to say or do in this situation. "I love everyone in the guild… I'm also in love with you." Ryuma was shocked by the sudden love confession as he tried to make her feel better.
"No one will force you to leave us Lucy," Ryuma said as Lucy still cried. "You're a member of Fairy Tail, we never turn our backs on our friends, no matter what the situation we're in. If someone messes with us, they have everyone in Fairy Tail to deal with. That's a promise." Ryuma told her as she felt happier to hear that.
"Ryuma, thank you."
"No problem Lucy. Now let's get out of here before Phantom tries to stop us from leaving. And maybe later, when this is all said and done, we can talk more about your love confession in a private manner." Ryuma said with a slight blush on his face, as he lifted Lucy up and held her bridal style as he had his dragon wings appear and flew off towards Magnolia.
Back up in the tower, Jose looked on as Lucy and Ryuma flew away as his anger reached a boiling point. "You fucking bitch! I don't even care about the reward right now, all I want is to destroy your guild and kill all your friends! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS DEARLY LUCY HEARTFILIA!" Jose shouted in anger.
*Forest surrounding Magnolia*
Ryuma held Lucy close to him as he flew over the forest that lay on the outskirts of town. He was worried about Lucy being okay physically and mentally and on Makarov's condition. So he decided to make a small turn to someone who he knew Fairy Tail could trust in this situation.
"Ryuma, where are we going?" Lucy asked. She wasn't familiar with the area and was worried if Ryuma was losing focus on his destination.
"I just want to make sure you're okay both mentally and physically after what you have been through, as well as check on Makarov. Someone did something to him that made him weak and I want to see how it's going." Ryuma explained as Lucy felt even worse because she felt that Makarov's condition was all her fault. "I'm taking you to see an ally of our guild who lives around here, Porlyusica she's a healing mage."
Ryuma flew for another minute as he landed outside of a house that was built from inside a tree. As he landed outside of the home and placed Lucy down gently, they both saw Bisca and Alzack quickly rush out of the home and head for the guild. "What's going on, why did they run away so fast?" Lucy asked.
Ryuma smacked himself for forgetting an important detail. "Right, I forgot to mention. For some reason, she hates humans. Not sure why but she is still a great ally to us so don't be afraid if she tries to smack you with a broom. She's done that to all of us." He explained to Lucy as they went inside the house. As soon as they did, they saw Makarov lying in bed with a pink haired elderly woman standing over him wearing a long dragon looking cape and her hair done up in a bun.
Porlyusica looked over her shoulder to see who had just entered her home after chasing off Bisca and Alzack. "What do you two want?" she asked with some venom in her voice. Lucy cringed a bit and hid behind Ryu as she heard her tone.
"Hey Porlyusica, I just came by to see if you can check my friend here if she's okay and to check on Makarov's condition. I just rescued Lucy from being kidnapped not long ago and wanted to make sure she is fine." Ryuma explained as Porlyusica looked at Lucy with a critical eye, almost as if she was a predator looking at easy prey.
"The girl is fine, just some slight pain in her wrists, but fine none the less." Porlyusica stated as she turned back to Makarov. "However Makarov is a different story, he got hit with a powerful wind spell called Drain. It siphons out a person's magical abilities and power. The magic is then drifted into the wind dissipating completely. If any of you could have collected his magic at the time, then the healing process would be quicker. But as of now he will take longer to recover."
Ryuma and Lucy looked on in sadness as they saw Makarov looking like he was fighting for his life. "Maybe some of my Healing Lacrima's can help him out?" Ryuma pulled out a bag where he kept his Healing Lacrima and rest them on the table before being smacked by a broom by the healer.
"I told you everything you need to know, now get the fuck out of here before you both stench up my home with your human stench!" Porlyusica yelled as Lucy and Ryu ran out of the home and flew off to the guild hall to check on everyone. She then turned to Makarov and looked at him with worry, "You're such a fool doing this at your age. I hope you do recover soon… your children need you more now than ever Makarov."
She turned away to get some herbs when she checked the bag Ryuma left behind. "Tch, Ryuma still has a good heart Makarov. He has seen so many people close to him die, he just wants to make sure you aren't the next one for him to lose." As she checks the bag, looking at the light blue Lacrima orbs with a medical plus symbol on them all, one caught her by surprise. It had the same color as all the other ones, but this one had Makarov's face on it. Upon closer inspection she noticed that it felt like his magical energy was inside the orb.
"Heh, just like you Makarov, even your magic can be stubborn and sneaky. Your magic somehow over-wrote the Healing Lacirma's properties to store your own magic inside of it." Porlyusica then proceeded to begin the process of turning the Lacrima into a liquid medicine for Makarov to ingest and heal faster from.
*Back at the guild*
Everyone made it back to the guild safely after escaping from Phantom Lord. When Ryuma and Lucy arrived they saw everyone either healing their wounds or formulating a counter attack on Phantom Lord's main Headquarters. As they sat down at one of the tables where their friends were sitting at, Lucy began to tremble in sadness again from all the pain that was inflicted to the guild.
"Don't worry Lucy, everything will be fine." Ryuma said as he held her close to him to help comfort her. Cana and Lisanna saw this and felt that Lucy made the first move in being closer to Ryuma. Lisanna sat close to her as Cana left to use her Cards Magic to try and find some of their strongest guild members to help them out.
"Hey, what's the matter Lucy?" Gray asked as he surprisingly still had all of his clothes on. Lucy felt okay enough to tell the small group the truth about her past and her real identity. They were shocked that she was in fact the daughter of a rich and powerful family.
"Wait, your last name is Heartfilia?" Ryuma asked as this was the first time he heard her last name. "You're the daughter of the famous armor and clothes making company that Erza buys her armor from?"
"Ryuma, that's Heart-Kreuze." Lisanna explained as she felt she heard the name Heartfilia somewhere before.
"So then they're the chocolate making family then?" Natsu asked as he was really clueless on where he heard that name from.
"No Natsu," Lucy told him. "My family not only owns some smaller companies to help out financially, but we are most famous for the Heartfilia Railways that lead to some important places in the country. It's all my fault that we're in this situation."
"What are you talking about? Rich family's daughters are always being targeted." Elfman bluntly said.
"You're not helping out man." Gray told him.
"I never told you guys this because I ran away from home to follow my dreams of being a mage. I had been away from home for a year and suddenly out of the blue, he wants me back?" Lucy began to feel sadder again as tears started to form in her eyes again. "My father is doing this because I ran away, it's all my fault."
"No your father is the bad one." Elfman said as Lisanna jabbed him in the gut with her elbow.
"Elf-nii-chan, Phantom is the bad one not Lucy's father." Lisanna said, scolding her brother.
"I'm the cause of all of this misery. Maybe it would just be better for me to just go home." Lucy said with a depressed tone.
"That's not true Lucy," Ryuma said to her. "You would be sad and depressed if you went back to a place that made you feel like nothing. We may not know what your life was like before but your very happy to be here with us ever since you joined the guild. And since then we got to know the sweet, kind and fun girl that you truly are. We never got to be great friends with you because of who your related to, we're friends because we got to know the real you." Lucy smiled as she heard Ryuma compliment her on that.
"That's right, we don't care about who you were before joining us. All we needed to know was what kind of person you truly are." Lisanna said as she helped make Lucy feel better as well.
"Thank you guys." Lucy said as she felt a lot better at the moment.
"Hey let me get you something to drink then, you must be thirsty." Ryuma said as he went to the bar to get Lucy some water to drink after all that has happened today. As he began pouring Lucy's drink, Cana let out a frustrated sigh.
"Dammit, I can't find Mystogan anywhere." Cana stated as she tried to use her cards to try and locate where the most elusive member of their guild could be.
"It's okay Cana, I know you can do it." Ryuma said as he tried to cheer her up.
"Not really, that was my third time trying to find him." Cana said as she tried to not be frustrated anymore. "Lucy is their main target, meaning they will be back to capture her again."
"I know," Ryuma solemnly stated. "Which is why we won't let them take her away from her new home and us."
"Your right Ryuma, but we're in a tight pickle with Makarov being injured and many of us unable to help out." Mirajane said as she activated a communication Lacrima. "Please we need extra help. You're the only one away that can help us Laxus." Laxus' head was shown in the Lacrima making Ryuma cringe at seeing the sourpuss' face again.
"Why the hell should I?" Laxus said in a mean tone.
"Please it's an emergency... Master is injured and we need the help." Mirajane pleading to Laxus only to get a laugh.
"Hahaha, serves that old fart right. Why should this even concern me? Your big girls, you can handle this yourselves." Laxus tauntingly said.
"You piece of shit!" Cana yelled as she can't believe how selfish Laxus was acting.
"Gramps started this fight, why should I get my hands dirty over this anyway?" Laxus asked as he didn't care.
"Laxus, they're after Lucy, one of our comrades." Mirajane pleaded again only to get a snotty look from Laxus.
"Who? Oh now I remember… the blonde chick with the huge tits." Ryuma clenched his fist in anger from what Laxus was saying about Lucy. "Tell you what, convince her to be my slut and I'll help you guys out! Not only that but tell gramps to retire and make me in charge of the guild. Oh and why not show me your slutty bodies as well while you're at it, those are my only demands." Laxus let out a triumphant laugh as the image on his Lacrima changed from Mirajane to an angry Ryuma. "What the fuck do you want now you odd eyed weakling?"
"I have had enough of your fucking asshole attitude you piece of shit!" Ryuma yelled as he was starting to get tired of Laxus' bullshit.
"Oh yeah and what are you going to do about that, huh? You're the worst one of the bunch, just as weak if not weaker than these idiots!" Laxus yelled back as he had no idea who he was angering.
"I'll tell you what I'll do. When you do show your face here again, I will make sure you regret ever making those demands and for insulting my friends." Ryuma said as he didn't back down from Laxus' angry demeanor. "Oh and just for you to know how tough I can really be, here's a small taste of my strength you never bothered to know about!" Ryuma shot out a ball of cosmic magic from his hand and into the Lacrima. What happened next shocked everyone around as they saw in the Lacrima, Laxus actually getting hit in the face by that blast of magic before Ryuma shattered the Lacrima.
Mirajane became sadden by Laxus' behavior and knowing that Lucy was kidnapped while she was still in town. "I can't believe he's a member of this guild. Next time I'll fight as well!" Cana was shocked by this as she was worried about Mirajane because she hadn't fought or used her true magic in two years.
"Mira, listen, I know you want to help. But you haven't used your full power in years. We'll be worried about you when we fight, and I don't want to see you getting hurt either." Cana said as she tried to calm down Mira.
"She's right Mira," Ryuma added as well. "We don't want you to get hurt for trying to fight with us and get hurt in the process. We're all friends here and we look out for each other." He then went back to where Lucy was and gave her that water he got for her. Mira knew they were right, but deep down she wanted to do something so people wouldn't think of her as a burden.
Everything was calm and silent as the entire building and ground shook violently. "What the hell's happening?" One mage asked as another earthquake came again and shook everything, before another one came.
Alzack came down the steps from outside as he had a look of panic on his face. "Everyone, outside now!" Alzack shouted as everyone evacuated the basement and went outside. What they saw next terrified them all, it was Phantom Lord's headquarters walking towards Fairy Tail's location with six mechanical legs through the lake.
"What the fuck is that thing?"
"It's a huge walking guild!"
"It has to be Phantom Lord."
Erza looked on in terror as she had just finished her shower and was only dressed in a towel. "I never knew they would go this far or even have something like this in their possession."
Inside the Phantom guild, Jose sat in what appeared to be a control room for the mechanical legs. Several of his mages in cloaks sat in a circle with a magical screen to work from. "It's time we did this land a favor and wipe out this pathetic guild. Prepare to fire the Jupiter Cannon!"
The front of the guild hall opened up to reveal a massive cannon exit the opening and point directly at Fairy Tail. The barrel of the cannon started to charge up with magical energy as it was about ready to fire at them. "Everyone get down now!" Era shouted as she ran to the coast, not caring that her towel fell off in the process as she began glowing to show she was requiping into another set of armor.
"Erza what are you doing?" Natsu asked as the light died down and reveal Erza wearing her Adamantine Armor. An armor that was thick for high defensive purposes and several spikes adorned on the full body armor, including two half shields on her forearms where the real power rested.
"I'm defending my home from these fiends!" Erza exclaimed as the cannon fired and launched a stream of powerful and destructive magic at them. Erza combined the half shields together to form a giant shield with an added magical seal-like barrier. As the cannon blast hit the barrier, neither side was giving in until the end when an explosion blasted Erza away from her location and landed her right by her guild, changing back into her civilian clothes.
Fairy Tail was shocked by Erza's tenacity to protect them as they were terrified by the power of Phantom's cannon. Their moment of shock ended however as the speakers from Phantom's guild came on. "I'm quite impressed by this, not many have lived after Jupiter's blast. I was to believe that after Makarov fell, you all would be too weak to fight back. However, now you stand no chance with 'Titania' Erza fallen. Surrender Lucy Heartfilia to me and your lives will be spared."
Ryuma grew angry at this declaration, Phantom Lord would not let them live after this. He would destroy them all even if they had Lucy in their possession. His comrades were thinking the same thing.
"You're out of your damn mind!"
"We would never hand over a comrade like a sacrifice to an enemy!"
"Yeah, you won't be getting your hands on her while we're standing!"
Lucy began to cry as she heard her comrades say these things about her to the enemy, she still felt like things would be better if she did surrender and save her friends from more pain and misery. These thoughts left her mind when she heard Erza shout out loud, "We would rather die than give up a comrade like that!"
"Yeah, our answer will never change! We'll take you down no matter what!" Natsu roared as he was tired of Phantom's actions.
Ryuma was finally tired of this and let some anger out as well. He grabbed one of the iron pillars that Gajeel left when he attacked their guild, and threw it right at Phantom's headquarters. It pierced the middle building of the headquarters and the pillar went halfway into the building. This shocked everyone, both Fairy and Phantom as not only because of his strength, but because if he aimed a few floors lower, he would have pierced the room Jose was situated in. "YOU'VE MESSED WITH THE WRONG GUILD JOSE! YOU'RE NOT GETTING YOUR HANDS ON HER AND I WILL BREAK YOUR BONES FOR EVEN TRYING!"
"I see…" Jose said into the speaker system. "Then I will fire another Jupiter blast and it will be bigger and more powerful than the last one! You have fifteen minutes to prepare for your deaths, and to make sure you won't stop me this time, I'll let you play with some friends of mine." Jose cackled as doors on the pillars opened up to unleash his 'friends'. As soon as they were fully open, Natsu was hit with an intense odor even from a far distance.
"Holy shit, whatever they are they smell rancid and disgusting!" Natsu shouted as he held his nose.
"What do you mean flame-head, what odor?" Gray asked as he didn't smell a thing.
"It's awful, smells like spoiled fish on the hottest day of the year!" Natsu said as that small detail peaked Ryuma's curiosity.
"What did you just say?" He asked Natsu as he hoped he was wrong. He knew that smell from anywhere but hoped the source of the stench wasn't here of all places.
"I smell only spoiled fish on a hot summer's day, why?" Natsu repeated himself as everyone saw Ghostly shades starting to leave the doors and float around Phantom's base.
"What the hell are those things?" Wakaba asked as they looked like something out of a nightmare.
"Oh crap, those are Jose's Shades, shadow puppets made from his own magic. They're expendable and he doesn't have to worry about taking them down." Macao explained as he had heard of the before. "But to my knowledge they don't have an odor on them."
The source of the odor became clear as after the Shades left the building, Fairy Tail heard loud bird-like screeching from Phantom's guild as giant humanoid black birds with wings on their arms and purple armor, flying along with the Shades towards Fairy Tail. "Oh fuck, they crossed the line this time!" Ryuma said as he didn't know why Jose would employee the help of these tough and dangerous creatures.
"What the hell are they?" Elfman asked as he had never seen such creatures before.
"I'll tell you what they are… Those are Tenga Warriors! Ugly bird creatures that are dangerous to handle in a flock!" Ryuma shouted as the others were starting to worry about their chances of winning were beginning to dwindle down to zero.
All hoped seemed lost, until the Shades and Tengas were started to be struck by lightning that appeared out of the blue. Half of the Shades dissolved into black mist as some of the Tenga's fell onto the land part of the shore where Fairy Tail stood.
A high-pitched caw ringing through the air, both sides looked into the sky to see what looked like a giant snow grouse over 12 meters in length, with a girth of over two and a half tons flying through the air. Its body was covered with bright gold feathers that seemed to glow as arcs of electricity danced along them, silver lightning-bolt patterns across its belly, while the forward-edge of its wings were colored bright crimson. Its wings were shaped like lightning bolts, is tail long and spiky comprised of bony plates, a black granivorous beak sitting atop its face. It had two pairs of bright green eyes like emeralds, three black bone-spikes sticking out the sides of its neck, and atop its head, a pair of spiked crests.
Releasing another caw, a beat of its wings caused countless discharges of lightning to spill out into the air, striking yet more Shades and Tengas as it cut a golden swath through the battlefield. Swooping around before coming protectively to a stop in front of the Fairy Tail side, the majestic beast's golden wings spread as it let out a deafening chirp towards Phantom Lord.
Suddenly their hopes on winning this battle were rising, despite not knowing where this creature came from and why it's helping them out. Either way, this battle will be one that will change many things to come.
I thought it would be a fun idea to throw in the Tenga Warriors to give them an official story debut. Hope you guys enjoyed that reveal.
Well I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, tell me what you think about this chapter and my story in general at the bottom in the review area. Also, please no flames, those go straight to Natsu's stomach as a meal.