Chapter 12: New Beginnings

(Two years later)

They stared each other down, blue eyes meeting brown, both slowly circling each other like predators waiting for the other one to flinch or back away. Link scraped the tip of his sword across the gray stone beneath him, taking in his opponent, especially the brutal looking war-hammer in the other's hands. He knew that his own blade would snap under the might of that hammer, he had to keep him at a distance if he wanted to win. 'I need to use my ranged attacks if I want to get the better of him. Keep him at a distance while I move forward and finish him off with my sword.' Link knew he could probably reinforce his sword to match the hammer, but that would be more costly than moving in while using ranged attacks, and it would degrade the overall quality of his sword.

Simon grinned at him, hefting his hammer. "You sure you're up to this Link? We all remember how our last spar went." Said the larger boy, the purple aura of a bear beginning to surround him. Link's old friend was wearing a chain-mail shirt over a white tunic and gray breeches with greaves over them. He also wore a helmet wrought in the shape of a roaring bear, matching the avatar surrounding him at the moment.

Link grinned, "You might just be surprised Simon I've improved since then." Link was also beginning to be surrounded in an aura of power, this one forest green intermixed with flashes of gold. While Simon's armor was meant for enhancing defense at the sacrifice of speed, Link's outfit was more speed oriented. It was a simple green tunic and white pants with the only armor being a leather cuirass over his torso and matching leather greaves and bracers. His sword was a simple steel weapon bought by his uncle as a birthday present. On his head was a cap, a long green cap that came down to between his shoulder blades. It was a custom order, made to resemble his fathers in every way, a way of honoring his father.

Simon charged his weapon with purple energy, a feral grin overcoming his face. "Well Link, let's see just how good you've gotten." And the bear avatar roared in ascent.

Link didn't hesitate, he merely used his free hand to cast a spell. "Holy Power: Heavenly Wind!" he shouted, creating a blast of green swirling energy in the form of a vortex at Simon, taking the hammer bearing boy off guard. Taking advantage of that, Link prepared another spell as Simon dodged the vortex of green energy. "Holy Power: Great Spin!" shouted Link loudly, bringing his blade up to his opposite collarbone. With those words, Link spun while stepping forward, green and golden light extending his blade by ten feet. He spun three times, knocking Simon off of his feet.

Simon stopped his backwards movement by bracing his feet against the gravel ground and slamming his hammer into the ground. He stood and glowered at his blonde friend. "That was dirty Link." He said grudgingly.

Link grinned. "Can't help it if you were too busy boasting to catch my attack. I took advantage of the situation." Said Link with a grin, pointing his sword at Simon, waiting for the inevitable attack to hit him. He prepared to counter Simon's coming strike.

Two years had passed since Link, Simon, Erza, Milliana, Sho, Erik, and Kinana had escaped from the Tower of Heaven and found their place in Fairy Tail. Two long years since Fairy Tail had become their home, and the wounds inflicted upon them by the cruelties of the Ever-Eye Dark Guild had begun to heal.

Since their arrival, Link had moved in with Cana and Gildarts into a new, if modest, little house that Gildarts had managed to buy with the staggering amount of money he had made by completing no less than twelve S-Class missions in the span of a single week. It had actually set a world record and had earned Gildarts a spot in Sorcerer's Weekly as "The Man of Miracles". The rest of the money that Gildarts had earned was put towards repairing the massive damage he had caused while completing said quests.

It had taken Gildarts some time to adjust to domestic life, actually using doors was a challenge in and of itself for the Ace of Fairy Tail, but the three had become an actual family. Link was now comfortable calling Cana sister, rather than cousin. It was a lot less hassle that way. But he still called Gildarts uncle. He loved the Gildarts truly, but he could never replace his true father. Their domestic life was hectic, but filled with love; rather like Fairy Tail itself.

Erza, Kinana, and Milliana had been given rooms at Fairy Hills, a separate building owned by Fairy Tail and used as a dorm for the female members of Fairy Tail who could not afford their own housing. The girls ended up sharing one room, easier that way. Though Kinana had acted a bit like an outsider and jumped at her own shadow, she had quickly become part of their little group truly, though Erik still mistakenly called her Cubelios sometimes.

Simon, Erik, and Sho had moved into a small house of their own, paid for by Fairy Tail's funds. There was no boy's dorms like there was a Fairy Hills for girls, so the three boys found themselves living as though they were the stars of a sitcom or some twisted reality TV show. They were happy enough on their own, with regular check-ups from Makarov or one of the other adults from the Guild. Gildarts had offered to allow the three boys to live with him, but the three had declined, preferring their own little place of their own.

Laxus, the grandson of the Guildmaster, had made a place for himself as a member of their group. Ever since Link had saved his mother, Laxus had declared Link his 'little brother', and couldn't really be separated from Link. It wasn't a problem for anyone though, they liked the sickly boy, and he fit right in with their group.

Laxus's mother, however, had proven to become the mother figure of the group. When Link met the boisterous and jolly golden-haired woman with the powerful laugh and the bone-crushing hugs, Link could hardly associate her with the sickly and dying creature he had found in the bed that day. She had taken all of them under her wing, declaring them her 'little angels', and spoiling them every chance she got. At first they had resisted this smothering affection, but they succumbed to it eventually, relishing the feeling of being loved and adored by someone in the way that only a mother can. That, and they had seen the power of her Sonic Wave magic on her husband when he arrived late and seemed more disappointed than anything when he saw her well. Plus, they could see that her marriage was falling apart, and she was lonely. She was as eager to find someone to serve as family as they were, so they let her.

And so they became a strange little family. Gildarts as the hapless father, Mariane as the overbearing mother, and all the rest of them as the very confused and along for the ride children. Of course they did not mention this to either Gildarts or Mariane, as Mariane was married and Gildarts seemed to be a devoted bachelor despite having two children to raise.

In terms of magic, they had also begun to grow. As members of a Magic Guild, they had each begun to pursue careers as wizards, each one selecting their own path in magic. Milliana had gone through the library a couple times, searching for something that fit her. Finally, she had decided to begin training in Cat Magic. It was a rather obscure and strange area of magic that involved the user adopting physical aspects of a cat, and also adding magical spins on typical feline features. Unbreakable feline-tail ropes for instance, or cat claws the size of machetes. Either way, it could prove to be a devastating form of magic in the proper hands.

For Kinana, her path in magic had been decided for her. Due to her extended period as a snake, she possessed a natural inclination to Take-Over Magic, specifically oriented around animals. She had already managed a transformation into a snake a couple times, and was working on various other species of reptile, as they would be easier to learn. The closer to the original animal she became the easier the transformation.

Sho, on the other hand, had discovered his niche in the magical world completely by accident. He had tried several areas and had proven unsuccessful. While he had been sulking about town he had found an arcade, and played the archery game to relieve a bit of stress. When he quite accidently fired an arrow and turned it into a Combustion Arrow, it was clear that he had found his niche as a practitioner of Arrow Magic. A rather simple yet powerful area of magic, it involved channeling magic into arrows and a bow and turning the arrows into different types, ranging from Plant Growth Arrows to Ice Arrows. It had cost Makarov a pretty penny to repair the arcade, but Sho had been happy to have found a suitable field of magic.

But for Erik, Link, Simon, and Erza, magic had affected them in a very different way. For Erza and Simon, Rob's death by overextending his magic had affected them more than just psychologically. The final burst of power from him had awakened latent magic in their veins, and granted them incredible power.

Simon's magic, as it turned out, was a variety of Lost Magic known as Berserker Magic. It was originally developed by the Vikings, traced back specifically to the explorer Ereth the Red, and used by Viking warriors to make themselves near invincible in battle. It involved adopting the aspect of some animal, though each Viking was linked to one animal in particular known as a Totem, and taking on the power of that animal. The trouble was you also adopted the ferocity and rage of that animal as well, so the magic required great control to use it. For Simon control was especially difficult as his Totem was the Bear, a particularly powerful animal.

Erick's magic was powerful, and even older than Simon's. For Erick, his power was that of the Serpent Dragon. When he had told his story to Makarov, the old wizard had deduced that the lacrima Sherrick had given Erick was Poison Dragonslayer Lacrima. How the Ever-Eye Guild had gotten their hands on it was a mystery to him, but it seemed that Erick was largely able to teach himself the magic. The only limits were his imagination in how to use it. Erick was becoming incredibly strong quite quickly.

Erza's magic, like Simon's, had awakened from Rob's sacrifice. But rather than awaken an ancient magic in her bloodline, it had taken a magic considered basic by many, and maxed it out to a level never taken before. Reequip Magic, while a simple magic, in Erza's hands was becoming a powerful and nigh unstoppable field of magic. Erza was already gathering a reputation as a ferocious fighter and a powerful mage, even at the tender age of ten.

But for Link, his magic came from within. The Hero's Shade had taught him to use Holy Magic in his dreams during the night. From the Shade came the techniques of the Heroes of Old, ancient and powerful spells that probably had not been practiced in centuries. They flowed into Link like water into a lake, he did them like he had been doing them his entire life. But the real surprise in his training, was that he was using his own personal magic, rather than calling upon the Triforce itself. He could, but it was more of a back-up battery and a last resort than a main power source. Mainly it was because it was too easy to overload one's system by using the Triforce, it was an overwhelming thing at the best of times.

With his incredible affinity for the Courage aspect (what with being its bearer and all), Link's magic specifically revolved around the sword. Most of the techniques the Shade taught were based off of the weapon. Though the Courage Aspect resonated with weapons in general, the sword was the one that it was the closest to. As far as elements, the Courage Aspect lent him limited strength in the Wind Element. But again, that was limited. Harnessing the raw power of the elements and devastating massive amounts of foes was the Way of Power.

Link, Erza, Simon, and Erick's power grew much faster than the others. Erza and Simon because of Rob's sacrifice, Erick because of the mere nature of Dragonslayer Magic, and Link because of his natural talent in the field of Magic he studied. According to Makarov, all four of them would be S-Class candidates in a year or less. That was unheard of for ones so young. In light of this, the four of them pushed themselves harder than ever, sparring with each other regularly to understand their own magic as well as the ones around them.

It was one such session where Link and Simon found themselves fighting against each other.

Simon rose to his feet, glaring at Link, the battle-rage thick in his eyes. "Alright old buddy, let's see how you handle this." He said. "Berserker: Falcon's Fight!" he cried, unleashing a powerful strike from his hammer. A dozen ghostly falcons flew from the hammer right at Link.

Link bent at the legs charging his sword with power. "Holy Power: Great Spin!" he cried, unleashing a spin on the area. It was too far away to serve as an attack, but he had discovered that the attack could also serve as a powerful counter against ranged attacks. The spell served its purpose, deflecting the phantom birds.

However, he was disoriented for a moment, and Simon took advantage of that. He charged forward, a spell on his lips and the bear avatar running with him. "Berserker: Bear Claw!" he roared out. He swung his hammer down, the ghostly bear swinging with him at Link's side. Link brought his sword up, clasping the hilt with both hands, parrying the blow and knocking Simon off balance.

Link quickly regained his balance and kicked Simon in his side with round-house kick. Link spun around, preparing a new spell. This one he was nervous about, it was a new one and he hadn't used it outside of his Mind Garden yet, but it was his ace in the hole now. Facing Simon he bellowed out, "Heavenly Power: Bow of Light!" he roared out, jumping backward with all his might. As he did, his sword glowed with power, turning into a magnificent golden bow. Link grasped it as he would a bow and pulled back the string of pure sunlight. A shimmering arrow appeared as he drew the string, and he loosed the arrow.

The bolt struck Simon in the chest exploding in a brilliant flash of light. The force of the explosion launched Simon backward into the dirt and knocking the hammer out of his hands. Link landed from his jump, and the glowing bow shattered into pieces, becoming the sad remnants of his sword. Link looked down at his blade, and then up at Simon who was out cold on the ground.

"Well executed young pup." Said the Shade from within him. "The technique was flawless, though I fear you overcharged the arrow a bit."

Link nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I need to work on that. I hope Simon's okay." Said Link in his mind as he walked over to his friend.

"He shall be alright. He'll have a killer headache when he wakes, but no permanent damage has been done." Assured the Shade.

Over the last two years Link and the Shade had developed a mentor-student relationship. The Shade was cool and aloof most of the time, offering Link guidance and instruction and compassion when needed. Not to mention a kick in the rear when it was necessary. In turn Link respected and accepted the Shade and his teachings. They had not spoken of the issue that they had discussed two years ago, but it was still there between them. The veritable elephant in the brain.

Link knelt by his friend and gently propped him up. "Simon, Simon are you okay?" asked Link, shaking his fellow mage slightly. Despite the Sage's assurances, Link wanted to make sure that his spell hadn't caused any real damage to one of his oldest friends.

Simon blinked awake and groaned. "Ugh, did you get the number of that train that hit me." He asked, already a slight grin on his face.

Link rolled his eyes and stood as Simon sat up on his own. "You're fine if you're already cracking jokes." Said the blonde. "And by the way, you know my number."

Simon chuckled, still sounding out of breath and stood grabbing his chest where the arrow had struck him. "I'm okay." He said. "Wind knocked out of me and I'm probably going to have one hell of a bruise, but I'm fine." He said with a thumbs up. Then he screwed his face into a frown. "What was that spell man? It felt like Gildarts punched me at full power."

"A bit of an exaggeration. If uncle did that you'd be dust." Said Link dryly. "But it's a new spell that the Shade taught me. It was invented by the Princess of Time alongside Raziel: the Hero at the time, to combat the Bandit King Gannondorf. Supposedly at full power it's supposed to be able to blow up half a city." Said Link. "But right now, you know, I'm pretty weak." He said rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, but it seems it did a number on your sword." Said Simon gesturing at the broken weapon. "Any other drawbacks? Got to be with a spell that size." Asked the large boy.

Link nodded. "It uses up a lot of energy and pretty much leaves you helpless at full power, not to mention destroying your weapon, unless it's the Master Sword." Said Link. "Too much power into it and it will kill you." Said the blonde, stooping down to pick up the broken pieces of his sword. "Hope Makarov can repair this. It was expensive." Said Link to himself.

Simon blinked in confusion. "The Master Sword? What's that? It sounds important, and I think you mentioned it before. Is it a Hero thing?" asked Simon as he picked up his hammer and grimaced at another ache from the spot where Link's arrow struck him. Damn, he was going to need a seriously big ice pack for this.

"Yeah, it is." Said Link, dropping the sword shards into his pack resting at the edge of the small sand arena in Fairy Tail's training ground. "It was forged by the Goddess Hylia in the First Demon War using the Megaton Hammer. Ever since it's passed from Hero to Hero through the ages. Supposed to be the signature weapon of the post."

Simon frowned and hefted his hammer, standing beside Link as the blonde boy shouldered his pack. They didn't bother to call the match, it was pretty clear that Link had won. "So, you're going to find it at some point? It's part of the Hero shtick?" asked Simon.

Link nodded. "Yeah. Only problem is no one knows where it is." Then he grinned. "Might make a great Heroic quest, don't you think?" asked Link. "What do you think, Link and Simon: valiant warriors in search of the Sword of Legends." Said Link with a playful shove at his friend. Simon grinned and returned the gesture as they began the walk back to Fairy Tail.

"Yeah sure. How about the Mighty Simon and his squire Link the dog-faced human pack mule boy." Said the young Berserker, giving Link a light elbow in the ribs.

"Me the squire?!" smirked Link. "Who kicked who's butt out there just now?"

Simon scoffed. "Please. If you hadn't pulled that cheat code out of your but at the last minute I would have won. That was luck, not skill." Snickered Simon.

"Ah, but I did. And as a result I won." Countered Link. "And it was your butt in the dirt. Therefore, I am the hero while you're the human pack mule." Said the boy. "Plus, everyone knows I'm the pretty one." Said Link in a fake haughty voice, flipping imaginary long hair.

In such spirts the two made their way to the Fairy Tail Guild, laughing and joking and generally enjoying being young. It had been denied to them before, so they would have to make the most of it now.

Unknown to the two boys they were being watched by small creature. It was nothing special, simply a plain white dove. The bird cooed to itself and took flight. It knew damn well where that spell had come from. It had to report to its master. The Hero had been found.

The two boys arrived at the Fairy Tail Guild Hall arriving through a side door so as to not make a fuss. Both looked up and surveyed the room smiling broadly. The Guild was its usual chaotic self, with bouts of friendly violence, bad singing, booming laughter, and a lot of drinking. It was loud, raucous, and chaotic, but it was home.

"Link, Simon! You're back!" came a familiar voice, breaking through their reverie. Both boys turned to see Erza Scarlet, their old friend, coming over to them.

Of all of them, Erza had changed the most over their two year stay in Fairy Tail. Gone was the frightened and stuttering girl from the island of nightmares. In her place was a brave, confident, and powerful girl who looked after her friends with all the ferocity of a mother grizzly bear. Her newfound powers had something to do with it of course, but the lessons of the island had made their mark on her as well. Erza had taken a new philosophy to heart: find what you love, and hold onto it as hard as you could. This had resulted in some concussions, but it was nice to be loved.

"Boys, it's good to see that you're both alright!" she declared, hugging them both tightly, clanging their skulls against her breastplate causing a resounding thud in both of them. For some reason it sounded a great deal like both the skulls were hollow. "I trust nothing too dangerous happened?" she asked, her eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Eh, Link tried out a new finisher on me." Said Simon with a shrug. "Guess I'm his guinea pig for that stuff now." Snickered Simon.

"Oh come on. You were only unconscious for three seconds. Take it like a man." Snapped Link at his friend. Simon snorted at him. "I'm never living that down am I?" asked Link in a resigned voice. Simon smirked and shook his head.

Erza frowned. "A finisher? Link you should not use that on friends. Especially untested ones." She said in an authoritative voice. "You could have seriously hurt Simon." She said, sounding very much like an overprotective mother in that moment. Link shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, Simon snickering at him. "And Simon, did you use that Falcon Flight technique of yours?" she snapped, glaring down at him. Simon stopped smirking and shifted uncomfortably under Erza's gaze, almost mirroring Link's movements. Both felt very much like children caught stealing cookies in that moment, despite their growing power and age.

Luckily, they were spared Erza's wrath by the timely arrival of Milliana and Sho. "Hey guys! How was sparring?" asked Sho cheerily, oblivious to the wrathful preteen girl.

'Oh thank the Gods, literally anything else' thought Link to himself. However, judging by Erza's quick glare, this conversation was not over. Link involuntarily whimpered. Though he was happy his friend was more confident, she could be downright scary now.

"Oh, you know, it was okay." Said Simon quickly and nervously. "Why wouldn't it be? We're just two guys hanging out and doing guy stuff why would anything be wrong nothing's wrong!" he said, still trembling beneath a glowering Erza.

Sho was dressed in a gray and black outfit consisting of a sleeveless Japanese haori and gi pants with a leather belt buckled around his middle. He wore no shoes, an odd quirk that had seemed to come from nowhere. Slung across his back was a quiver holding his many arrows as well as his unstrung bow which now rarely left his side. It was as though he was afraid that, now that he had found his magic, it would abandon him if he ever let his main tool out of his sight. As such, the bow was a constant companion.

Milliana, on the other hand, was dressed in a bright tie-dye sundress and bright pink flip-flops. She was, however, already undergoing physical changes as a result of her magic. Her human ears were gone, replaced by feline ears a bit higher up on her head. She also had a feline tail now who's fur was the same color as her hair, brown with just a hint of auburn, and her teeth had gotten a little sharper than her normal human style teeth. The overall effect was one of unbelievable amounts of adorableness.

Both Sho and Milliana glanced at each other and then back at Simon, "Umm, okay. Anything else new?" asked Milliana a bit awkwardly. When both boys shook their heads Milliana spoke again. "Well, there's a bit of news that came by while you were out sparring." She said with a smile. "Mariane came by. She said she's divorcing Ivan."

That came as both a surprise and not a surprise to Link and Simon. Both boys, despite being young, knew what divorce was. It was when married people didn't love each other anymore. They knew that it was coming for Mariane for a while now. They knew that Ivan was very mean man while Mariane was a wonderful woman. That was a recipe for disaster in their ten-year old and eleven-year old minds respectively.

"Oh man, what's gonna happen to Laxus?" asked Simon. "I mean, is he going to live with Ivan or Mariane?" he elaborated quickly.

Milliana crossed her arms and gave a devilish grin. "She's going over to get Laxus now. And I say, good for her! No way Laxus would want to live with that poopy-head Ivan anyway." She stated confidently.

"No sane kid would want to." Agreed Sho. Link, Simon, and Erza (who had finally stopped giving the boys Demon Glare 2.0) nodded in agreement.

Before the conversation could move to other topics, the doors to the Guild burst open via a Sonic Boom. The guild turned to see a distraught Mariane. The powerfully built golden-haired woman's eyes were red from crying, and she was most pale. "I- It's Laxus!" cried Mariane in a terrified voice. "He's gone. There was a struggle- the house was wrecked- oh Gods!" she cried. "He's gone! HE'S TAKEN MY BABY!"

Incarcecon. The single greatest prison on Earth. Built by the Sages themselves and manned by the Order of the Dragon, a darker off-shoot of the Templar Knights. The actual holding area was almost five-hundred feet beneath the surface with walls ten feet in thickness. Almost every single surface was covered with magic repressing runes, and they were updated constantly by the Order. One-hundred guards, one-hundred traps, fifty floors…

…one prisoner.

Two guards passed by the actual cell on their patrol. Rufus, the older guard smirked at the younger, a young man named Noss. "There it is, the demon's cell." He said. Giving the door a clang, causing the runes on the door to flare purple for a moment. "You know, they say he's been here for five-hundred years, all alone in that cell." Said Rufus.

"Five-hundred years!" exclaimed Noss in shock. "There's no way! How could he live that long!" cried the young man, desperately trying to mask his terror.

Rufus gave a sinister grin. "No one knows. Some say he was cursed by the Gods for his wickedness with agelessness. Others say he stole it from them. But most think he made a deal with Demise for immortality. As payment, they say he sacrificed one-hundred virgins under the shadows of a solar eclipse." Said Rufus, taking obvious glee in distressing his companion.

Noss gulped and mustered his courage. "N-no way that's true. He's probably dead and it's just a skeleton in there." He said as firmly as he could.

Rufus gave a deep laugh. "You think the Order would keep this place like this if that were true kid? The Council's old, not senile." Then he smirked at Noss. "And if'n you don't believe me…" he trailed off and slid open the viewing hatch in the door. "Take a look."

Noss stared in fear at the viewing port, gulping nervously. "R-really." He asked. Rufus nodded, still grinning widely. "Y-you can just look. At any time." Said Noss. Rufus nodded again. "And you want me to look… right now?" he asked once again. Rufus nodded patiently. Trembling, Noss approached the hole and looked into the room of the Demon.

It was a huge and cavernous room, roughly half the size of a football field. At the very center was a figure, wrapped all in gray. You couldn't see beneath the layer of gray, but the figure was very clearly alive. He hung in the air, his feet shackled together. His arms were spread out, each one chained to the far wall. Another chain clasped around his abdomen and was attached to the far wall. Each link in the chain pulsed with blue light, the runes along them glowing with power. It was a sick display, like some cross between hanging and crucifixion.

Noss drew away from the door. Just looking at the figure, bound though he was, filled the young guard with dread. There was an aura of evil about the man. An unmistakable feeling of darkness. It was as though a great hurricane was contained in that room, one that might unleash its fury at any sign of weakened defenses.

"Okay, can we leave now?" asked the young guard.

Rufus laughed and slid the window shut. "Yeah, sure we can." Said the man. "No hard feelings kid. It's just a silly tradition we got around here. We all went through it as rookies." He said good-naturedly. Slinging his arm around Noss's shoulders as they walked away.

With distance being put between them and the cell, Noss felt better. The Demon was locked up tightly, there was no way he could get out of that. Besides, it felt kind of good now that he knew it was a ritual, it felt kind of nice. It was like he was finally being accepted into the fold, like he had a place here. "Yeah, yeah. No hard feelings." He said as they walked away.

Perhaps if they had looked behind them they would have seen the herald of doom, and all that followed could have been avoided. But they did not, and events unfolded.

Out of the shadows came a dark figure, wrapped in a black cloak. A hood was drawn over the figure's head, but over his face was a sinister gas mask. The figure approached the door and slowly looked it up and down. Very slowly, the figure extended a hand to the door. In the dim light the hand was seen to be metal, composed of many plates of chrome-like metal with sickly purple light pulsing through the lines between the plates.

The hand paused over the center of the door and released a pulse of purple light all over the surface of the door. The runes flared briefly, then died. The hand then cocked back and punched the door with surprising force. As though the door were made of nothing, it was ripped from its hinges and flew into the room. There was a blur of movement as the figure dashed forward faster than thought as it caught the door and set it down soundlessly.

The dark man then looked the room up and down, his breathing coming slight wheezes through the gas mask. The figure slowly raised his hand once more, and the purple light in the metal glowed with the intensity of a demonic star. Through the wheezing the figure said, "Negatus Mysterium"

The purple light blasted from the dark man's hand in the form of four snake-like torpedoes of light. Each light wrapped around one of the chains, enveloping the glowing metal like a cocoon. The purple light flared for a moment, before vanishing along with the chains.

With nothing to hold him there, the gray figure dropped from his place in the air, landing on the ground in a crouch but no audible sound. The gray man very slowly stood as though unsure of how to use his legs. When he had reached his full height of a towering seven feet nine inches the gray figure cracked his neck and other joints to relieve the stiffness. "Negatus Mysterium." Said the figure, his voice hoarse and ragged from disuse. "Anti-magic. I was under the impression that the Sages got rid of all that stuff."

"Some remains." Said the black garbed man in a hollow voice. "My Master has used a great deal to free you from your prison Demon. He hopes you were worth the effort."

The gray man laughed. "And he sends a homunculus to free me, I'm flattered." Sneered the man. With that he cast aside his gray robes to reveal his true self.

The man was massive, with a barrel chest and incredibly well-defined muscles. His skin was a bright red color as though it steamed with heat. His hair was raven black, though ragged and greasy from lack of upkeep. He had a surprisingly well trimmed goatee, matching the black color of his hair. He wore no garment save black pants and golden bracers on his arms. His eyes were black, the color of coal. He smiled up at the roof of his prison. "I had strings, but now I'm free." He sang softly to himself. "Now that I'm free…" he trailed off as he bent his knees and braced himself against the floor. "CHAOS GOD: ROAR!" he screamed.

From his mouth there issued a beam of pure orange and scarlet energy. It started as a small cone at his mouth, but widened into a beam at least three meters in diameter. The power tore through the ceiling and up the fifty floors, incinerating all in its path. Guards, stone, everything was demolished before its power. By the time the man ended the Roar, there was a tunnel leading to the surface cutting right through the prison.

All over alarms were blaring, guards were screaming orders, and spells were being shouted. Chaos reigned as the Order of the Dragon desperately pulled themselves together to contain the Demon below them.

As the sunlight shone down on him, Setekh Dragneel, the Chaos God Slayer, the father of the Dark Lord Zeref, smiled. "There ain't no strings on me."

Very slowly, Setekh rose from the ground, the air around him crackling with power. "I am Fire." He announced as he rose, gathering power to himself. The homunculus who had freed him wisely retreated, seeking to leave the way he had entered.

Setekh began to glow with power and an evil grin spread across his face. "Zeref, I'm coming for you my son." He thought to himself in glee.

"I am… Death."

The explosion that obliterated Incarcecon could be seen for many miles.

AN: Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, its extra-long in apology for taking so long! We get a face-off with Ivan next chapter, and return to some characters whom we met earlier.

Tell me what you think in the reviews! I welcome everything, except flames. Constructive criticisms, yes. Flames, I block.