Been a while! So let's get the first round started!

They were at Kunugi Station and all the civilians were running wild attempting to flee from the station. Erza and her team pushed through the crowd into an empty plaza; Erza was looking around and the area was deceptively deserted. She had an ear piece in her left ear which was powered by a mini lacrima crystal; the device was linked to Mavis who was standing with Lucy just on the outskirts of the city. Mavis had a map of the city and was looking intently at it, Lucy made sure to keep quiet, afraid that if she made any sort of noise it would disrupt the First's focus.

"What does it look like in the plaza?" Mavis asked through the crystal in her hand.

"It's empty, there's nobody here" Erza replied. Mavis knew something was wrong; she looked intently at the map, certain that Eisenwald was somewhere in the station. From what she's gathered on Eisenwald, there were a rowdy bunch, always determined to make their presence known; them being this quiet was unusual. But regardless, she needed to find a way to draw them out, or at least hunt them down.

"Move into the station and keep your eyes peeled" she ordered.

"Understood" Erza replied. Mavis let out a deep breath; not knowing where the enemy was unnerved her; she glanced over at Lucy who was looking nervous, she smiled at her.

"Don't worry Lucy, everything will be okay" she told her; Lucy smiled back, albeit uneasy. From the corner of Lucy's eye she spotted two people approach, a pink haired man and a horned woman.

"Greetings my dear Mavis" Natsu called to them as he and Sayla approached.

"Natsu" Mavis greeted in return. Lucy raised a brow glancing between the two; she could feel the tension between them.

"How goes your search?" Natsu asked. Mavis leered at his smirk but didn't respond. Sayla was the one to speak.

"Master, the game has only just started; you cannot expect Mavis to have already found the target" she told him, Natsu chuckled, smiling sheepishly at her.

"Ah, well you never know with Mavis, she can be very unpredictable" Sayla was skeptical but had to agree with him. Natsu turned back to Mavis and finally noticed Lucy standing next to her. "What do we have here? Your assistant?" he asked, Mavis glanced back at Lucy before responding.

"Yes"

"She looks..." Natsu paused trying to pick the right words. "Inexperienced" Lucy would have taken it as an insult had it not been true. "But everyone needs to start somewhere" Natsu added while grinning at Lucy holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you, my name is Natsu Dragneel" Lucy stared at his hand, hesitant to shake it, she peeked over at the horned woman and noticed her piercing stare, taken back she quickly shook his hand.

"A pleasure to meet you" she answered carefully; Natsu nodded before turning back to Mavis.

"So! Regardless of whether you've gotten any progress into our match, what do you think?" he asked; Mavis raised a brow.

"Think of what? The fact that Eisenwald, a guild that I'm pretty sure are acting out of character or the fact that Sayla is the one involved in this round" she exclaimed. Sayla covering her mouth let out a soft giggle.

"Don't worry Mavis, I won't be directly involved, rather it will be my children that your team will be facing" she answered. Mavis blinked, she was a little relieved that Erza and her group won't be facing Sayla, but on the other hand she was deeply alarmed, she has never heard of Sayla having any children.

"Not by blood, but I have raised them since they were children, so I consider them my own" Sayla replied noticing Mavis' suspicion.

"Anyways, take a look at this!" Natsu interrupted, throwing blueprints of the station to Mavis; she made a face which Natsu laughed at.

"Ah don't be so surprised, consider this a gift from me"

"And what makes you think I will accept it? For all I know this could be a trap" Mavis replied and of course Natsu laughed at this, he wagged his finger in front of her face.

"Now, now, don't be accusing me of something like that" he proceeded to point to himself "I am a very honest guy" Mavis remained silent, only staring at him. Natsu chuckled nervously before shrugging to himself. "Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating about that, but seriously, this is our first round, why resort to dirty tricks?"

"So you admit that you will resort to trickery later on" Mavis concluded; Natsu gave her a coy grin before turning away.

"Maybe, who knows?" he waved walking away, Sayla following close behind.

"Where are you going?" Mavis called out.

"To get lunch!" he tilted his head back "Want to join me?" Mavis shook her head. "Suit yourself" the two demons walked away. There was a silence that Lucy decided to break.

"Who was that?" she asked, Mavis swallowed looking at the blueprints.

"That man is our opponent in this game".

Erza looked left, then right, there were two corridors; she turned to her team.

"Looks like we'll need to split up" she said,

"Sting, Gray, you two go right; Mira and I will take the left side" she instructed "If any of you find members of Eisenwald, contact the rest of us through your communicators" Sting and Gray glared at each other but reluctantly nodded. The two teams split up, with Erza and Mira doing their best to move silently.

"First, do you know who the enemies from Tartaros are?" Mira asked, Mavis' voice rung through their communicators.

"I'm afraid not, it would seem that your opponents are people I did not know existed" Erza raised a brow at this information, surprised to know that something could actually be hidden from her Master's radar. Erza stopped, she heard a noise; turning to the darkness, something about it was suspicious, it was spreading; Mira noticed this as well. The two stepped back, and that was when the shadows attacked them, they made a run for it, but were cut off by a mob of mages who appeared out of nowhere. Mira transformed into Satan soul and blew a hole through their defenses with a Soul Extinction, while Erza drew her sword, easily cutting through the enemies. The darkness morphed into fists and made quick attempts to attack the two female mages; Mira simply grabbed the shadows ripping them apart.

"Break through the wall to your left" Mavis told them. Erza not even hesitating cut a hole in the wall, it led them into an office room giving them a way out. "Mira, when I tell you, I want you to knock down the wall next to you" Mavis instructed, Mira nodded; a few seconds passed, they watched the Eisenwald mages pile in. "Now!" and with her demonic strength, Mira kicked the bottom of the wall destabilizing it before pushing it forward, the concrete smashed into pieces on top of a particular shadow before halting the dark mages; in the midst of the rubble was a man writhing in pain.

"Kageyama!" the dark guild members cried out, but the man didn't respond, he only sat glaring at the two female mages while they made their escape.

"Where would Lullaby be kept?" Erza asked.

"Most likely with their leader, Erigor; however I am more worried about Tartaros, they have yet to make their move" Mavis paused pondering on the next course of action. "Your path forward is clear to the Control Room, Erigor is most likely held up there"

"Most likely?" Erza questioned, "Are you not certain of his location?"

"No, my vision is limited to people who possess the Fairy Tail guild mark" Mavis explained "If you find Erigor, do your best to keep him there until Sting and Gray finish with their business" both female mages nodded in acknowledgement.

"Understood".

Sting was always the punch first ask questions sort of person, hence there was a trail of unconscious dark mages while Sting punched another one across the jaw, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Tartaros! Get your asses out here! I'll show you not to mess with us!" Gray covered his ears irritated by his comrade's voice; in fact out of annoyance he kicked Sting in the back causing the Dragon Slayer to face plant.

"Shut up, you stupid beacon, your bright lights are already glaring, I don't need your voice attracting more attention" Gray told him. Scrambling back to his feet, Sting looked pissed.

"At least I'm doing something you useless puddle" his comment got Gray to crack his knuckles.

"If I'm useless, that makes you trash" however before they could duke it out, Mavis interrupted their bout.

"You two stop fighting" Sting and Gray stopped and shot up straight "I need you two to form a blockade at the station's two exits, Sting you take the south, Gray the north; and be careful, I cannot predict when Tartaros will strike" Sting smirked.

"Don't worry First, those guys don't stand a chance against us!" Mavis praised his enthusiasm but was not convinced.

"Just be careful and don't underestimate them" Mavis told him, her voice was hard and almost scolding. There was a moment of silence before Gray let out a snicker pointing at Sting.

"You got scolded" he said.

"That goes for you too Gray" Mavis voice suddenly said causing Gray to freeze up; now it was Sting's turn to snicker and point.

"Shut up" Gray grumbled before making his way towards his destination. "Joking aside, be careful, if the First is that worried, then our opponents must be dangerous" Sting nodded responding.

"You too, don't die out there" the two mages went their separate ways.

Erza slammed the doors open and like Mavis predicted, Erigor was there standing by the console, flute in hand. Not wasting any time Mira struck, transforming back into her Satan soul she attempted to punch Erigor but missed and destroyed the console instead.

"So my informant was correct, the Fairy trash did come" twirling his scythe, Erigor swiped the area unleashing a hurricane of wind.

"Stone Scabbard!" Erza called while drawing her blade holding it in front of her, a stone wall formed over her blade expanding out protecting her; Mira with her enhanced toughness was able to resist it. Jumping forward, Erza swung her blade and the shield shattered shooting stone shards towards Erigor. The rocks were deflected by some form of armor constructed out of wind; Erigor had a smug smile while resting his scythe on his shoulder. Both Erza and Mira narrowed their eyes before engaging the dark mage together. Much to their surprise, Erigor was incredibly skilled with his weapon, able to hold his own against both of them; every time Mira and Erza attacked, they would instead strike the metal of the scythe, and every time they thought they had the upper hand their attack was blocked by his wind armor. However Erza was more focused on the flute that was tucked away on Erigor's belt, the dark mage noticed this and kept Erza at a distance while maintaining Mira closer. The fight was getting intense; with each swing of Erza's blade impacting against Erigor's scythe, the air around them shimmered cutting the walls, and with each magic enhanced punch Mira threw blocked, shock waves would occur, causing the walls to crack under the impact.

"You two just don't give up!" Erigor bellowed. The Fairy Tail mages didn't respond, they backed away realizing that their relentless assault was not working against his defenses. They used this chance to take a breather, planning their next attack; but then, there was a strange sound, a beeping sound. Mira and Erza looked behind them and watched an arrow whizz by, their eyes widened when they noticed a light blinking and before anyone could react, the arrow exploded, completely destroying the room.

"Master said not to kill them" Kagura told Lisanna, the girl lowering her bow.

"They'll live" was her reply "Master wouldn't waste his time with them if they didn't; come let's complete our mission" pulling up their hoods so that their faces were hidden, the two girls made their way into the room.

Both Sting and Gray stood their ground, their opponent approaching their respective blockade. Sting noticed his enemy was wielding a spear, a very normal looking spear to note; the person's face was hidden underneath a cloak; but Sting wasn't afraid, nor was he intimidated. Cracking his knuckles Sting grinned watching his opponent approach, he had a good feeling about this match up. Gray on the other hand was feeling the opposite, though he wasn't afraid to say, he had an ominous feeling about his opponent, not being able to see their face was unnerving and there was a chill behind their movement.

"Ice make, Cannon!" a blast of ice shot towards the enemy which was met with a wall of ice. The mage then raised their hand and with a swiping motion, summoned forth a bed of icicle beneath Gray's feet, he dived to the side; all feelings of doubt disappearing as his lips twisted into a wild smile; it has been a long time since he faced someone who uses Ice magic.