Demon Slayer Chapter 5

Naruto stormed down the dirt path.

"I'll shave his head again."

He'd been banned from using his magic, and not for the first time. You see, he liked using his magic—he liked the explosions, he liked the heat, he liked the devastating power it packed. But his mentor saw fit to revoke his access to it when he misbehaved under the excuse of teaching him a lesson.

"What an asshole."

That was part of it at least. It had been three years since they'd begun traveling; during the first month, Jiraiya had told him to stop trying to improve his magic. He was much stronger than what he had been beforehand, but he hadn't made any further progress. On top of that, he hadn't been able to pull out nearly as much power as he had when he'd hunted a group of demons down with Natsu.

Jiraiya had explained to him that it was a trait of his magic, that he would gain a temporary and explosive boost in power whenever he swallowed a demon. "Some of the magic will be burned up," he'd said, "and some will remain, forever attaching itself to your own source."

Naruto often questioned how much the man actually knew and how much he was lying through his teeth to try and sound smart. He'd read stacks of books about past demon slayers and his magic, none of which had ever mentioned any kind of magic absorption or power-ups like that. Hundreds of years ago, demon slayers were used as soldiers of the Magic Council, many raised and taught how to use the magic from a young age to battle the escalating demon problem at the time. They were efficient, a tight and well controlled unit that needed to work together to defeat their adversaries, none of them overly outshining the others in displays of power or expertise.

Naruto wasn't like that at all. He was flashy and loved showing off, didn't much like following orders either.

"He didn't even tell me why. Who does that?"

A quick, almost blinding flash erupted in the blond's face, followed by shocks coursing throughout him, causing his body to twitch and spasm in response, his neck jerking to the side and cracking roughly.

Naruto scrunched his face and swirled his tongue around his numb mouth distastefully. He hated having to go up against weak lighting magic, it never left much lasting damage but was by far the most irritating. He looked around through squinted eyes, his limbs still convulsing against his will every so often—oh, there he was. Behind the tree. As soon as the mage realized that Naruto had spotted him, he reeled back and began sprinting as fast as his legs would allow.

"Damn it, don't run."

Naruto caught up to him in moments, snagging the back of his head and running him head-first into the base of a different, much thicker tree. He dusted off his hands and huffed at the moaning and groaning mage. This was how he fought and took on jobs when Jiraiya sealed his magic. Along with the magic he'd absorbed, he'd taken the demons' physical ability, or at least a chunk of it. His hand-to-hand combat was one of the things Jiraiya wanted him to focus on rather than his magic.

The blond bent down and rolled the man onto his back. His limbs flailed limply and his mouth was wide open, drool seeping out. "That's disgusting." He dug into his pockets and pulled out a handful of small slips of paper, slapping them directly onto his incoherently mumbling assailant's face. There was faded kanji on them, drawn in an intricate fashion, and they became more and more pronounced the longer they were there.

After they were done filling up, he scrunched them all up in his hand and shoved them back into his pockets, lightly kicking the almost snoring mage and getting a small grunt in return.

He moved on.

His objective wasn't much further.

Naruto reminded himself why he was doing this. It wasn't for money. It wasn't for reputation. It wasn't even for a free meal.

It was for the girl.

The green-haired girl who'd promised him compensation with a sultry look on her face. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't had difficulty keeping himself from popping a boner, her cleavage had been pretty much the only thing he'd been looking at. Actually, scratch that. It wasn't difficult, it was impossible.

Thankfully he'd long learnt to tuck it away in his waistband.

Mirajane peered over Cana's shoulder.

"Anything?"

The brunette grunted and tossed her cards in frustration. "Naruto's on the other side of Fiore."

"And Mystogan?"

Cana shook her head. "Nowhere to be seen."

Her lips thinned at the information. It had already been nearly five months since she'd last seen Naruto, and she rarely saw Mystogan to begin with, but they were in desperate need of the both of them. A war with their rival guild Phantom Lord had sparked when Levi's team had been attacked and put on display, strapped down with iron and baring the aforementioned guild's mark. They'd immediately gone on the offensive in response, but it backfired on them and they were forced to retreat when Master Makarov was defeated.

Now they were licking their wounds. Those who were able tried to recoup their lost strength and prepared for the next battle, Phantom Lord would surely not take their attack lying down.

Reluctantly, she turned back to the bar. She was going to face the other blond that didn't often show his face anymore, only she didn't know what kind of response he'd have for her. He hadn't been on the best relationship with the guild master, and the rest of the guild by extension.

"Laxus."

"Ah! Mira!"

She wasn't a fan of his grin.

"We really need you here, it's an emergency. Master is in critical condition, Naruto is too far to get here in time, and we can't find Mystogan. You're the only one left."

"Pff, serves that old geezer right." Laxus scoffed into the lacrima. "It's none of my business, you should deal with it yourself."

Cana roared from behind the barmaid. "Laxus you bastard!"

"What Cana?" He snapped back. "He's the one who started this, why would I come and clean up his mess?"

"Our comrade is being targeted." Mira interjected, swinging the conversation back in the direction she wanted. "Her name's Lucy."

"Ah? Who?" Laxus' face scrunched. "Oh! Her. The new kid with the big tits. I tell you what." His grin returned in full force. "If she becomes my woman, I'll come and help you all out. Oh, tell that old bastard to give up his Master's position to me while you're at it."

She didn't need to look at her to know that Cana was seething.

Laxus opened his mouth to rant some more, but Mira swiftly moved forward and slammed her hand on top of the lacrima. His face disappeared instantly and the crystal dulled. She stayed the for a few moments, trying to keep her own cool. She wanted to smash the thing in her hands, preferably against Laxus' face.

But she couldn't do that.

It might have been a long shot, but she still needed to try and get Naruto here.

The lacrima lit back up when she removed her hand. Hopefully the blond had a lacrima on his person, or at least one near him. If not, then her hopes were going to die very quickly.

It dimmed for a moment before reigniting, repeating the process twice more. There was a small buzz as Naruto's face showed up.

"Hey."

"Naruto." Mira began quickly, a small relieved smile starting to light up her face. "Were' in maj-"

An unintelligible scream came from his end, roughly cutting her off.

Naruto's face flattened and became visibly annoyed. "Hold on a second." He disappeared from view, his voice projecting back to them not long after, "Shut up! All I did was break your stupid sword, you can buy anoth-"

He was cut off by another scream.

"That's it, here. Try and scream at me again I dare you—ah, there were go. Be a good boy for me and breathe through your nose, huh?"

Mira stared at him when his face returned.

"What?"

She wanted to make a snarky remark, but resisted. She'd kept this attitude for years and he wasn't going to push her buttons so easily. "We started a war with Phantom Lord."

"Good conversation starter."

"The Master's down, Naruto. Take this seriously." When he didn't respond, she assumed he was going to listen. "We've got a lot of injured, Laxus refused to help out and Mystogan is as untraceable as ever, we really need you here."

"I'm not even close to Magnolia." His lips thinned and Mira could feel her hopes beginning to dwindle. "I probably won't be able to get back until late tomorrow."

As soon as the words had finished leaving his lips, a booming crash resounded and the guild shook so hard it felt like an earthquake was passing them by. Everyone in the guild had gone silent, looking around awkwardly for an answer.

It came a second time.

"It's coming from outside!" Alzack shouted, soon drowned out by the noise of the guild members shooting out of their spots and piling through the doors to get outside.

"Try and get here soon, Naruto."

Mira's face disappeared.

Shit.

He tossed the lacrima back at the unconscious criminal he'd borrowed it from.

They just had to go and start a serious fight like this while he was so far away, and in the middle of nowhere to top it off. There were no train lines out here, just a small underpopulated village and a lot of wildlife.

He sighed.

Looked like he was going to have to hold onto his virginity a little while longer.

"I was so close too..."

He set himself in a full sprint for the village, he'd put the missed opportunity behind him for now.

Hopefully Jiraiya would have a solution to the distance problem. The man had traveled a lot in his life, he never shut up about all the places he'd been, surely he'd have some sort of way to get back to Magnolia before the fighting was over.

Maybe.

Naruto didn't get his hopes up too high. While his teacher was knowledgeable, he'd proven himself to be completely useless in many situations before.

Like when he'd blown the rest of his Jewels on alcohol and a stripper for the night.

Or when he'd slept through a pack of wolves attacking their camp. He'd almost had his throat torn out that night.

And what about the time he was seduced by a pretty thief and had his wallet stolen, leaving Naruto to pay for their meals and accommodation?

Anyway.

Jiraiya was where he always was when there wasn't a brothel around—the bar. He was chatting to the barmaid, he'd obviously had his fair share because she wasn't very attractive, definitely not the type the old man went after. "Naruto!" He called before throwing his head back and downing the last of what he had. "Back already, huh? I was hoping you'd be gone for longer."

His mentor liked speaking his mind. Even more so when he'd been drinking.

"I need you to get me to Magnolia." He blurted, turning up his nose at the strong stench of alcohol. "I wasn't even gone for two hours, how many have you had?"

Jiraiya tilted his head toward the barmaid, squinting. "Not enough."

Naruto saw the slap coming from a mile away. He shrugged it off when she stomped away and repeated himself.

"What for?" Jiraiya's elbows rested on the rounded table, his finger swirling the rim of his empty glass. "You better start running if it's important."

"Are you kidding? I can't run all that way."

"Lazy teenager." He grumbled. "What for anyway?"

"Fairy Tail's getting attacked."

"Aah? Who'd be stupid enough to attack the top guild in the country?"

Naruto blinked at what his mentor had called his guild. They'd been steadily rising through the ranks over the years, but their most significant leap in notoriety had been in the past few. Years that he hadn't even been doing any jobs for them. It had been so significant, in fact, that there was really only one other guild in the country that could rival them.

"Phantom Lord."

It wasn't a good feeling that settled in his stomach.

"Oh." Jiraiya's face turned bland. "I had a feeling that stupid kid would end up causing trouble..."

"Hey." Naruto had started getting impatient. "Can you get me there or not, you useless bastard? And take this stupid seal off."

"Alright, alright. Come here."

"Huh?"

"Come. Here." He gestured with his hand. "Let's see if I can remember how this works."

Naruto cautiously approached him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The older man's palm hovered in front of the demon slayer's face. "Just don't blame me if you wind up in the hospital for the next month."

That really didn't bode well with him.

Shit.

"Do it."

"Mira!"

She'd been captured by the guild, literally. The guild members weren't keeping her pinned—oh no, that was too simple for Phantom. They'd turned their guild building into a giant, walking stone fortress with a giant attached to its front; thankfully that part had been dealt with by Natsu already. Mira was trapped between the giant's few fingers, suspended hundreds of meters above sea level.

She desperately wanted to save her friend, somehow. But getting distracted at the moment, even for a second, would leave her with her magic getting sapped by Jose's shades. It was frustrating just thinking about it, one man who wasn't even in view was keeping so many members of Fairy Tail under wraps.

As if to make it worse, the giant was slowly crafting an equally large magic circle in front of it. Abyss Break. Loke had theorized that it would destroy everything in its path up to the cathedral.

She didn't doubt him for a second.

Her card exploded in a spray of lightning magic, dispersing several of the shades at once.

They were replaced with more almost immediately.

"Cana!" A sudden heat exploded into existence behind her, thwarted moments later. She turned her head in time to catch a glimpse of a shade disappearing along with traces of Macao's purple flames. "Stay focused, these things are everywhere!"

"Right. Thanks."

They needed someone, anyone. Mystogan, Master, she'd even settle for that hardheaded asshole Laxus if he were to change his mind. Naruto was on his way, but she didn't have any faith that he'd make it in time. He just had to choose now of all times to visit a desolate and disconnected part of the country.

She paused for a moment, catching her breath, sucking in as much oxygen as her lungs could handle. It didn't last long, she was forced back into the battle by Jose's shades within moments.

She didn't know how much longer she or anyone else out here would last.

When she chanced a glance back towards Mira, some relief began to move into her system. A transformed and beastly Elfman had forced the giant's fingers apart, keeping them from crushing his sister as he held the barmaid in his large arms.

"Alright!" She whooped, feeling a new vigor fuel her as she tried to boost the morale of her comrades. "Mira's been saved, let's deal with the rest of these things so we can hurry up and join them up there!"

A resounding roar of support boomed back to her in response.

Natsu perked up, a grin beginning to form on his face as the idea suddenly came to his head.

"I've got a great idea Happy."

"What?"

"We can go beat up Jose right now." They were running through the halls of Phantom Lord's walking guild—or rather, Happy was flying and the guild was only standing. They'd already beaten one of their Elemental Four, Toto-whoever, and destroyed the giant lacrima powering the Jupiter cannon which had taken Erza out of commission. "The battle's over when he falls, right?"

The dragon slayer was confident and hyped to fight the guild master as soon as he could.

"What are you saying?!" Happy didn't share his sentiment. "Jose is just as powerful as our master, there's no way you could beat him Natsu!"

"But the old guy's not here, so who else is gonna do it?"

His partner did a double-take, sudden shock overcoming him. "You idiot! Why'd you go and remind me about that?" He drooped and continued with a disheartened tone. "Master and Erza are both out, so Jose is going to win in the end..."

Natsu rest his palm atop the airborne cat's head. "But I'm here, aren't I?" Happy stared back at him for a few moments. "Right?"

"Aye!"

The hall came to an end at the beginning of a room, a remarkably large room. The first step Natsu took inside triggered a gust of wind, growing stronger and stronger until a small twister manifested in the middle of the room.

"How said." It murmured. "When the wings of flames rot and fall away, all that shall remain is a dragon's corpse."

"Ah?"

The wind slowed its pace and from the small twister, a man appeared—tall, burly, and cloaked in enough clothes to survive a winter. "I am known as Aria, the peak of the Element Four." An aura of superiority surrounded him, but Natsu was more focused on the fact that he had to fight a blind man. "I have come to slay the dragon."

Her eyes slowly creaked open.

The first thing she noticed was the few strands of her scarlet hair in her vision. She quickly swiped them away.

Rolling, Erza felt her body fall for a moment before colliding face-first with the hardwood floor.

She grunted.

Groggily, she began to pick herself up. Her skull thumped, the sun was too bright and she was worried that she might find herself throwing up last night's dinner. That Jupiter cannon sure packed a punch, even with her strongest defense she'd only barely managed to hold it off.

Regaining her bearings, Erza let her magic envelop her, the armor covering her body switching out with a darker set—Kureha no Yoroi. Just standing was taxing on her body, but she forced it to moved forward. She took flight upon exiting the guild, hearing familiar voices shout her name as she flew by. Erza ignored them for the most part, only one objective on her mind.

She was afraid that if she tried to do more than one thing at a time, her head would split open.

Phantom's moving guild had changed its appearance slightly since she'd last seen it; a large magic circle was also now being created in front of it. She didn't have time to figure out what it was, but it clearly spelled danger for them. Atop the giant construct was a set of windows, leading her to assume this is where one of the walls had moved.

Erza smashed one of them and dropped in, floating down to the floor and letting her armor disappear as her feet landed safely. She could run from here.

No one was in sight as she ran through the guild's many halls, the only prevalent sounds being those of battle.

She tracked down the source of the nearest confrontation. The closer Erza got, the more she noticed the fierce warmth. There was only one wizard she could pair with that feeling with, Natsu. And indeed, when she'd turned the last corner, sprinted past the last double-doors, she found the dragon slayer; beaten and bloody, barely standing in the face of his opponent.

She wasted no time in getting closer as the two continued; Aria dissipating into thin air in response to the roaring breath of flame, only to reform behind Natsu a moment later.

"Airspace: Metsu." Were the words he uttered, his open palms angled towards the younger Fail Tail mage. "Your magic shall be reduced to nothingness."

Erza arrived just as Natsu's screaming began, leaping up and smashing her heel into the large man's nose. He soared back from the force yet refused to fall, the air itself seemingly righting his body.

Happy shouted her name, but she paid him no heed. Taking her eyes off Aria now could result in disaster.

"O-oi... are you sure you should be moving with tho-"

Natsu had started speaking, his breathing hard and haggard, but immediately ceased as soon as Erza interrupted him. "This guy did the same thing to Master."

"Oh~ how very sad!" Aria wailed dramatically. It was a nice act, he almost seemed strangely sincere about it, but the satire still slipped through his voice. "For the heads of the Salamander and the Titania to be presented to me at the same time."

Standing in front of the man now, she could feel her previous anger at the Master's defeat begin to rise. She made sure to keep it in check.

Aria chuckled. "Well, if I'm going to be up against the mighty Erza..." His large hands reached up to the bandages wrapped around his eyes, fingers hooking into the top and methodically pulling them down. "Even I will have to take this fight seriously."

Indeed, he was undoubtedly doing so. As soon as his eyes had opened, revealing the strange design within them, she could feel the magical energy start rolling off of him in waves. She'd heard tales of his eyes retaining his immense power, but this was the first time she'd borne witness to it.

He moved his arms and all the air around them seemed to obey his command, blowing her hair and skirt around frantically. "I have activated the airspace of death." He proclaimed with apparent joy. "The airspace that consumes all life."

Aria was gathering as much of the air around him as he could, to the point where it felt like the oxygen was being ripped straight from her lungs. "Magic that consumes life?" She grunted through it, inhaling and shouting in defiance of his magic: "WHY DO YOU FIND IT SO EASY TO STEAL PEOPLE'S LIVES AWAY, YOU BASTARD?!"

A straight sword shone into existence, grasped firmly in her palm as his first set of attacks came in rapid succession.

She was wounded, she had no idea the extent of his magical ability—she didn't hesitate in progressing for even a moment, swinging her blade as the first shot of compressed air boomed loudly towards her. It sure was dense for air, it felt like she was clashing against iron. Still, she managed to slice through, but not without consequence as pain shot up her arm and Erza found herself having to use both hands for the ones that followed soon after.

"No way, she's slicing up the airspace?!"

Erza continued moving through the barrage, her armor flashing as it was replaced with another when it had finished. She didn't miss a single step, didn't pause when Aria opened his mouth to speak, and instead blew past him with a swift strike; her own horde of attacks coming to rain down on the Phantom Lord mage in the form of an assortment of different weapons, from great swords, spears, halberds to curved blades, short swords and daggers.

She allowed the metallic wings built into the back of her armor to slowly glide her back down to the floor, the sound of the giant man's body slamming down into the same hardness the moment her feet had touched back down. Blood poured from his wounds, but he would not die from them, she and Fairy Tail alike weren't going to be dropping down to Phantom Lord's level.

Erza sneered. "Master could never be defeated by the likes of you."

Naruto stared blankly.

Millions of different fluorescent colors flashed in his vision.

It had been an exciting experience at first, seeing so many colors at once in such a wonderful display.

That feeling had wrong off a while ago. What felt like days, actually.

Even his fear of having a seizure didn't break the bored and apathetic expression that had set on his face.

Whatever Jiraiya had done to him, he was going to make sure to pay him back tenfold.

Then it struck him for the first time—what if he really was just spasming and foaming at the mouth? What if this was just all in his head, and his teacher was busy stuffing his mouth with leather to keep him from biting his tongue off?

Naruto shivered. He hoped not, that would mean he'd have to deal with this blindingly boring fireworks show until someone managed to get him to stop.

If someone managed to get him to stop.

Also Fairy Tail was in trouble.

Scaring himself was all he was able to find in order to grant himself some amusement. It was a double-edged blade, it helped pass the time but he was sure his own self-deprecating thoughts would leave eternal mental scarring.

Or not.

He was thinking too much, something he didn't do often and now he understood why he preferred not to. Every thought had a contradictory one to match it, it was an endless cycle that he saw no end to.

He shook his head, much like he imagined his own body doing if it really was just erratically convulsing. "Just let this end..."

The guild began to rumble, the room tilting and the floor shifting out from under her feet.

Erza didn't stop herself from falling over. The adrenaline had staved off her nausea, but now it was returning in full force. She'd expected to be met with the harsh ground, but instead landed in a pair of arms.

Natsu shouted her name out in worry.

She wanted nothing more than to tell him to shut up, to stop aggravating her headache further, but the effort required to open her mouth and talk seemed like too much work.

There was a faint crackle. "All you Fairy Tail members out there." Jose's loud, maleficent voice addressed throughout the area. "We have succeeded in capturing Lucy."

Happy murmured what they were all thinking. "No way."

"Our first objective has been achieved." Even with just the few statements that had been made, Erza already felt like she wanted to beat him into submission. Lucy's screams echoing out during his momentary pause only fueled her displeasure. "I'm sure you all heard that." The smug undertone wasn't helping any either. "We have but one objective remaining... to slaughter the lot of you."

Erza didn't even have to take a glance at Natsu to know that he was pissed off at Jose. She called his name and put as much effort into a motivational speech as possible, they needed him steadfast and determined if they were going to come out of this victorious. "Now go, Natsu!"

Her performance hadn't been for naught, as the dragon slayer lay her down on the floor and got to his feet, a torrent of flame reigniting around his person. He was off with a bellow, Happy trailing not far behind him.

She didn't move for a while. The cold floor was hardly comfortable, but it was a better alternative than forcing her body to move any more. Eventually she did move, propping herself up against a particularly large part of the ceiling that had caved in during the scuffle. She breathed heavily, the adrenaline having already quickly diminished from her system.

"Erza!" She didn't move in response to her name being called. She didn't have to, she knew unequivocally who's voice it was. Mira's worried expression poked itself into her vision. "What are you doing here?"

There was a brief moment of silence, broken by Elfman. "Don't tell me you actually fought someone in that state."

Out of the corner of her eye, Erza saw Gray nudging the large and unconscious Phantom Lord mage with his boot. "So you're the one who defeated Aria then?"

Groggily, she lifted her gaze. Her skull thumped in response. "I didn't want any of you to see me so pitifully like this. I've still got a long way to go."

Gray looked as if he was about to speak once more, but choked on his own spit as something heavy slammed down upon all of them. It wasn't physical, part of the ceiling hadn't fallen atop them or anything. It was foul; malevolent and reeked of ill-intent.

Erza had known the odor of death more times than she would like to admit. When Jose made his entrance, clapping sarcastically for their performance, that's the scent she acquainted with him. "My, my... what a wonderful show you've all put on." His magic flowed into the room in a rush, like a dam had been broken and was taking them all under water. "Honestly, I never expected you to be able to provide me with this much entertainment."

Despite his words, he didn't look entertained. The opposite actually. Clearly, their efforts in defeating the Element Four had angered the guild master.

Gray and Elfman both looked ready to combat the man. They had injuries of their own already, but that didn't matter.

They wouldn't be able to take on Jose even at their absolute best.

Erza's heart had started pounding again. She shifted herself, made her body move against its will and shouted: "Get away!"

Perhaps too late. With a a swipe of his hand, Jose's magic burst out and connected with both men. When they stopped shouting out their pain, they were hurled into the air and left to their own devices.

Erza pulled herself to her feet. Her mind and body were both telling her to not move, but all of them were going to die if she didn't. That was more than enough motivation to rush forward and call on her Kureha no Yoroi for the second time that day. This time though, it was specifically for combat purposes.

Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she rushed forward and slashed wildly. The hope she had for the speed that came with her armor being able to do some good against Jose died almost immediately as he dodged, ducked and dipped in and out of her slashes with apparent ease. Maybe at full strength she would have put up a better fight, but she'd exerted herself too much already.

She knew that all she could hope to accomplish right was buy time. Defeating the guild master was out of the question. Mira had already begun to work on dragging Gray and heaving Elfman's body out of the way. If Erza had to fight until her last breath for those three to escape, then she was prepared to do just that.

Jose snatched up her leg in the middle of their bout, wrenching his arm and tossing her against the closest wall. The shock of her back suddenly colliding against a hard surface with such force almost made her vomit up her guts, but she swallowed the feeling as she tumbled back down onto her own two feet.

"Erza Scarlet." He addressed formally. "I seem to remember you taking on the force of Jupiter head on. How is it possible that you're still standing?"

She didn't know. She'd heard stories of people performing amazing feats of strength in desperate situations, maybe it was something like that. "My comrades make my heart strong." Well that much she knew for sure. "If I'm fighting for those that I cherish, I care not for what happens to this body of mine."

"Admirable." Jose grinned, but not out of cheerfulness or delight. "You're truly a woman worth killing with my own hands."

Cana stared on in shock and horror. The shades had proved too much for all of them, nothing they did managed to harm them and it just resulted in all of their magic being drained. Few Fairy Tail mages were conscious, none standing.

What she was really focused on though, were the shades at their guild doors. Not long ago, more had shown up, carrying with them several battering rams. They worked together in order to bring it down, and bring it down they did: the large siege weapons demolished the walls, the higher parts of the building beginning to collapse and cave in from the shocks emanating throughout it.

"What do you think you're doing to our guild?!"

It was all she could do, shout. Scream.

They didn't listen. They didn't even look like they'd heard her, continuing to instead bash down the home she and many other had grown up in.

"It's crumbling... stop it! STOP IT! IT'S GOING TO COLLAPSE!"

Cana's arms gave out the moment she put any weight on them. She tried mustering up any last remaining scraps of magic, but nothing responded.

The guild was tough, to be sure, but not nearly enough. It fell right before her very eyes, a monstrous boom echoing through the entire area as the brick, wood and tiling smashed into the ground.

A silence followed the collapse. Brief in reality, but it had felt like it would last for eternity.

"What's that?" Macao wasn't far from her, laid out on his back with droopy eyes and a lazy face. "A shooting star?"

Cana rolled over and tried to pinpoint where he was looking. Anything else was better than seeing their home in such tatters right now. She could see something in the distance, glinting an almost golden glow. She didn't know whether she was just seeing things or if that had been what Macao had been talking about, she continued to watch it nevertheless.

It began to grow. Within moments, it had become a long stream of light, zipping around in a large radius several times before emitting a loud, almost eardrum destroying pop and crashing headfirst into Phantom Lord's mobile guild.

The colors had disappeared.

What replaced it was a feeling that put him on edge. It was almost like someone was standing behind him, holding a knife to his neck. Rubble fell around his person, soon cleaing up enough for him to get a view of his surroundings.

"Oh, what's this?"

Naruto recognized the man—he'd never met him in person, but he'd seen pictures and heard stories from Master. "Hey."

The magic pouring out from Jose Porla was devastating, its sheer strength was comparable to Makarov's. He didn't back down from the man's strong and intimidating gaze, staring the Guild Master and Wizard Saint directly in the eyes.

"Naruto?"

The voice was weaker, croaky, but he knew who it belonged to. He took a glance behind him to see Erza, blood trailing from her forehead and leaking out of the side of her mouth. Bruises covered her body, her armor was cracked and broken in multiple places, and her magical power was bordering non-existence.

"Just stay there and don't move."

"Are you planning on fighting me alo-"

Naruto huffed, fire erupting from his mouth, rapidly expanding and and crashing into Jose's body. It continued past the guild master, constantly growing in size and blowing over the water outside the building for hundreds of meters.

"As I was saying." The burning, white hot flames began to dissipate, only embers remaining along the path his breath had taken. "Are you really going to fight me on your own?"

Naruto sarcastically looked around the room, from the beaten and bloody Erza to... "Do you see anyone else here?"

Jose grinned.

Chapter 5 done!