Thank you ahuna67 for the beta despite your busy schedule! I know you are busy *hugs*. Thank you sereneskydragonslayer for reviewing every chapter so far. Thanks to both of you, I can keep writing.

At this juncture, I need some feedback. Is it ok, if I address Zeref as Natsu from now on or is it better for me to write as "Natsu (Zeref)"? If there is no feedback I'm going with Natsu as Zeref's identity is already revealed.

Chapter 7: The Challenge from Zeref

Erza and Jellal were on the way to search for their missing comrades when they heard someone calling them.

"Wendy?" Erza said and realised she had left her to go after Jellal. That was how much she was worried about him. But luckily, Wendy and Charles managed to catch up with them. Thanks to her arrival, both Erza and Jellal's injuries could be healed.

"Jellal, you shouldn't overexert yourself. The damage from the dark magic will take some time to wear off. Don't worry, you will recover." Wendy advised after finishing her healing on him.

"I'm glad you are here. This guy didn't know when to stop when he was wounded this badly." Erza put her hand on her waist. She could not help but to nag about it. She turned to Jellal who looked down in despondence. Erza suspected that he was keeping something from them considering how desperate he was to get some answers from Midnight which she understood nothing from. Erza wished to know but she knew she would not be able to force him to speak when Jellal was this stubborn.

"Erza, Wendy." The girls raised their heads to his direction. Jellal gave them a serious look. "I'm going to tell you something important but please stay calm to hear what I have to say. I couldn't believe it when I first realised it either. It's about the current vessel of Zeref."

The girls' eyes widened in disbelief by the time Jellal finished. They were very shocked especially of the news about Natsu who was thought to have perished during the Tower of Heaven incident.

That was when Erza realized that Jellal had been carrying a really heavy burden. He probably thought that it was his fault that Natsu became the new vessel. And then he had tried to help him without telling her and the others so they wouldn't be hurt of it. Erza decided at that moment she would stand by him no matter what. She was though more worried about Natsu who was infected by the power of darkness. They needed to save him Erza thought, not realising Wendy looked at them without knowing how she should react.

"I failed my duty as his teacher. I'm sorry." Jellal looked down on the ground.

"No, this is not your fault. I'm also responsible for it. If only I did not try to sacrifice myself to stop the explosion of Etherion stubbornly, Tsuna would not have tried to save me desperately and neglected Natsu causing him to fall into the Lacrima". Erza looked down in guilt. She did not realise that he could have survived after he fell unconscious from the damages he received from "Jellal's" attack. It did not occur to her nor Tsuna to check for his pulse back then.

A voice was heard all of a sudden.

"I'm the legendary dark mage, Zeref. As you all will know, my revival is the end of the world". It seemed that he was using telepathy from the archive magic through Brain.

"It's Natsu!" Jellal, Erza and Wendy looked around. Even though his voice had changed, he was still their Natsu.

"I had fulfilled my purpose here and shall take my leave. I don't care what you want to do with Nirvana as I can easily destroy a town even without it. Mind you, it is currently programmed to head to a nearby town and it is certain that the town will be destroyed if it reaches its destination. I hereby send you a challenge to see if the so-call Alliance can save the town from its destruction. You all are to destroy the six Lacrimas which are powering the device at the same time. They won't stop if you just destroy one of them and proceed to the next one as the working Lacrima would repair the damaged one. That will defeat Nirvana."

"I shall leave it to you." Natsu (Zeref) released his hand from Brain's head. They would not be able to complete the mission if they hesitate, not to even say to kill him. "They won't disappoint me right?"

At the same moment, Hibiki had uploaded the information on the location of the Lacima and the timing to attack to the rest with the last of his power. They were all out of the count as they were all affected by the magic emitted from Zeref to the Jellal's group horror and as they were the only ones left up and active. Apparently, Ichiya, the ace of Blue Pegasus who was being tied up somewhere for unknown reason could participate. They needed more people to help as Wendy told them she was unable to fight as her magic was of support type.

"Is there anybody else who can fight?" Erza shouted and looked around. They only have three not including Wendy in the count.

"The three of us..."Tsuna's voice was heard. They were struggling to stand. It seemed that Tsuna and Gray had met up and was knocked out along with Lucy earlier. Hibiki heaved a sigh of relief. They were all out cold when he woke up. He was unable to take all of them with him so he had left them in a cave nearby to rest.

"Am I not counted?" Happy groaned.

"I didn't know you were caught in the wave along with us." Tsuna retorted weakly.

"Let's not waste time. Please assign yourself to each number and head to the respective Lacrima". Tsuna took 1 as he could smell dark energy from there, Gray, Lucy, Ichiya, Erza and Jellal selected 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 respectively. Hibiki smiled as he cut off the connection. "Good luck."

"Let's go!" Erza called out to Jellal and Wendy before heading off herself. Jellal watched as she took off. He turned to Wendy who looked crestfallen. Wendy was obviously affected by what she had heard. She felt consoled that Natsu was alive and well but she didn't expect things would turn out this way and that Natsu had fallen into darkness. This was why Jellal had wanted to stop Tsuna from taking up this mission to prevent them from meeting. Who knew what could have happened if they met. She felt ashamed of herself. She did not understand Jellal as well as she thought.

"Wendy?" Jellal decided that he would go after Natsu who had left Nirvana and leave the destruction of Lacrima to Wendy. He believed in her. Wendy was a fast learner despite not being well-versed in attack spell. "Treat this as training". Jellal patted her head. "There are attack spells in sky magic. I'm sure you know it. Just do it. I believe you can".

"Jellal..."

"I will leave it to you. I will find a way to save Natsu…"

Tsuna was horrified when he reached Lacrima no. 1 where Brain was, who had turned into Zero. He had been waiting for him but something was wrong. Tsuna shrugged it off. "I'm all fired up!" He shouted. He wanted to see how much he had improved all these time.

With the bonds and belief in one another, the six mages in charge of each Lacrima had succeeded in their mission by breaking them at the same time including Tsuna who practically threw Zero on it. He was freaking mad when he realised that Zero had become just an empty shell.

*Flashback*

"To be able to become my tool at the end of your life is your honour". Natsu (Zeref) said as he kneeled beside his body. "As you said human uses one another as means to achieve one another objective. This is interesting, isn't it? I used to be your tool and now you become mine".

*End Flashback*

"Damn! How can you do this to a dead person? Zeref, I will not let you off! I'll definitely kill you the next time we meet!" Tsuna bellowed in fury.