Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon
Chapter 17
"Man, this is such a pain in the ass," Gajeel grumbled.
Gajeel, Levy, Freed, Gray, and Juvia all sat around a campfire and ate their dinner rations for that night. It had only been a few hours since they left the guild, but hopes of finding the hideout of the Bloody Moon dark guild were practically nonexistent. Gajeel had pointed the group in a particular direction to start, but once they left Magnolia, the scent seemed to branch off in all sorts of different directions. This immediately frustrated Gajeel, so Freed took up point and chose a direction to walk in. They walked for hours, not knowing if they were getting closer or farther away as they entered a dark forest. When night fell, they decided to set up camp.
"We must keep our heads if we are ever going to find them," Freed said calmly. "I must say I am impressed, though. Bloody Moon's Master must be quite skilled if he was able to fool the nose of a Dragon Slayer."
"Don't be too impressed," Gajeel said as he crossed his arms.
Levy gently touched Gajeel's arm. "Don't worry about it, Gajeel. We'll find them. After all, you did point us in the right starting direction, so I'm sure we'll stumble upon them before you know it."
Gajeel gave a wicked grin. "Geehee. Yeah, you know that's right."
Gray stretched from his seat. "So should we keep looking or call it a night?"
Freed looked up at the sky. "We could probably search for another hour or so without complication. However, it may just be better to resume the search in the morning at first light."
"So which is it?" Gray asked.
Freed looked at him. "We will rest up for now. Someone will be on alert every hour and we will rotate on the hour until morning. Who would like first watch?"
Gajeel stood and cracked his knuckles. "I'm on that."
Freed nodded. "Very well. The rotation will go Gajeel, myself, Juvia, Levy, and Gray. Any objections?" Everyone shook their heads. "Alright then. Gajeel, take up your position. As for everyone else, get some rest and wait to be woken for your shift." Everyone stood and made their way to an empty area of the clearing to set up their tents while Gajeel leapt up into a tree and made himself comfortable for his first watch.
"What time should we all get up?" Gray asked.
Freed pondered this. "5 AM should suffice."
"That early? But Juvia doesn't want Gray-sama to see her that early in the morning. She won't look her best then," Juvia complained.
Gray shot her a deadpanned look. "I really don't care what you look like in the morning."
Juvia swooned. "Gray-sama is so thoughtful! He doesn't care how bad Juvia looks after just waking up." Then her happy mood turned to a sad one. "How could Juvia think that Gray-sama would be shallow? Juvia is ashamed. Gray-sama, you must punish Juvia for her incorrect assumptions about you!" She got down on all fours and offered her backside to Gray.
Gray backed away. "How many times do I have to tell you I ain't into that!"
"Alright you guys, enough," Levy interjected. "Let's get some sleep."
"Right," Gray said as he dove into the safety of his tent.
Juvia put her hands to her face. "Juvia misses Gray-sama already."
"I haven't gone anywhere!" Gray called out to her. "Just go to your tent and sleep."
Juvia nodded vigorously. "Juvia will do as Gray-sama says!" With that she ran into her tent to prepare for sleep.
Levy watched the whole thing with a nervous smile and sweat-dropped. "What an odd couple." She then got into her own tent and Freed did the same.
Gajeel was barely paying attention to what was happening below him. He was too distracted by what had happened earlier. "How the fuck did they split the scent? That shouldn't be possible." He tightened his fist. "When I find them I'm gonna cave their skulls in."
"You're sure?" Gracie asked.
Mira nodded while blushing. "I'm positive."
"100% positive?"
Mira giggled. "Yes, 100%."
Gracie let out an excited cheer, ran over to Mira, and embraced her in a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"
Mira returned the embrace. "Thank you, Gracie."
Gracie released the hug, but held onto Mira's shoulders. She looked at Mira with a huge smile. "You love Niky! Hooray!"
"I'm glad you're so excited, although I'm not sure why you're this excited," Mira said with a laugh.
"It's simple! I always knew you liked Niky, but I thought it may just be attraction. But to hear you say that you're sure that it's love…well I guess that just makes me ecstatic!"
"I see."
"So tell me, what made you realize it?" Gracie asked.
"When he kissed my cheek before saying goodnight."
Gracie looked astonished. "He did that? Go Niky! That's a big step for him, you know."
"Really?"
Gracie nodded. "Yeah. I mean, just think about it. When do you think was the last time he showed that kind of tender affection to anyone? Probably Michelle."
"He never did to you?"
"Well he's been kind and affectionate, but it's different. We're family. It doesn't have the same meaning, you know? Plus he never kisses me anywhere, not even the cheek."
"So what do you think it means?" Mira added. "Should I pursue something with Nikolias?"
Gracie nodded. "Absolutely, but take things slow. Going too fast may startle him. Let things take their course and occur naturally. Based on the things you told me about what he said and did on the date, I would say that Niky's feelings for you are very real and very strong. To me, it sounds like if you're patient, he'll come to you."
"I hope you're right."
"I know I'm right. It's only a matter of time before Niky lowers his defenses. Just be positive!"
Mira nodded. "I will! By the way, have you seen Nikolias at all today?"
Gracie shook her head. "No it's odd. I know he came back last night, but he apparently got up early to train or something and hasn't come back yet. I don't know where he is, but I'm sure he'll be back soon."
Nikolias walked the town of Magnolia completely lost in thought. He couldn't sleep at all last night since his mind was racing, so he decided to get up early to train. However, he was only able to train for half an hour before he found his focus and attention being drawn away from his surroundings and back into his mind. He hoped a walk would clear his head, but this only ended up giving him the perfect opportunity to think things over more.
The subject of his thoughts was Mira and their date last night. He ran through all of the events of the date and how much fun he had over and over again in his mind. He thought about all the times they laughed and how great it felt just talking to her about random things. He felt normal on the date, like his past never existed. It was relaxing and it was refreshing and he loved every second of it. Well, until he hit the one moment where, in his mind, he fucked up. That one moment was the very end of the date.
He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to feel the softness of her lips on his. He wanted to kiss her so badly and yet, as he moved in to give her a goodnight kiss, he balked at the last second and just kissed her cheek.
From the moment he left her house to the present, he couldn't stop trying to figure out what happened. 'I don't get it,' he thought as he maneuvered through the crowd. 'After my talk with Michelle, I was positive that I felt something for Mira. And yet, when I went in to kiss her, I panicked. What the hell is wrong with me?' He ran a hand through his short hair and sighed. 'Am I not ready to move on? But…no I want to be ready. I am ready. I know I am. Aren't I?' He shook his head violently. 'Okay. I'm gonna ask Mira out again and this time I won't be a fucking coward. I will kiss her and tell her how I feel…I hope. Gah! This is getting me nowhere!'
He took a turn down a street to head back to the guild. He realized that he didn't let anyone know where he had gone or even how long he would be gone for, but he really needed the alone time and he didn't need anyone looking for him. Of course, in hindsight, it didn't end up mattering since he couldn't solve any of his issues. He sighed again. 'Why does my head have to be so fucked up?'
Suddenly, he picked up a scent. He sniffed the air a couple of times and a subconscious growl escaped his throat. He took off in the direction of the smell, his eyes now golden and dragon-like and his lips curled back to reveal dragon fangs. "I know that scent."
Vanish continued to observe Fairy Tail from the shadows of the training field, using his magic to peer through the walls while maintaining a safe distance in case someone walked out. In the meantime, Stealth used his magic to detect any incoming threats to their operation.
"Vanish, do you see anything that Master Severo would need to know about?" Stealth inquired without turning from his position.
"Nothing. They're simply talking," Vanish replied. "There is absolutely no intelligence to gather from this spectacle."
"Unfortunate. Keep up surveillance. We can't go back to the Master empty handed. He won't accept that."
"Right."
Suddenly, a massive ball of shadow broke through the trees and crashed into Vanish and Stealth's hiding spot. The two were caught off guard, but their magic allowed them to get out of the way just in time. They landed safely and looked to where they previously rested only to see a small crater in the Earth.
"Stealth, what was that?"
"I'm not sure, Vanish. I should have been able to detect any magic being used in the area. I'm not sure how it got by my Detection Magic. Can you see who it was with your Surveillance Magic?"
Vanish reactivated his Surveillance Magic, pointing it in the direction that the attack came from. "Someone is approaching fast."
A few seconds later, a figure burst through the tree line and landed gently on the ground. The figure straightened up and glared at the two with golden eyes and black slits for pupils.
"Who is this, Stealth?" Vanish asked.
"I'm not sure, but he's definitely our attacker. According to my Detection Magic, he doesn't have any magic abilities, which would explain why he was able to slip through my screen."
Vanish nodded his understanding. "You there. Who are you?"
The young man chuckled. "Sorry, but I don't feel like telling Bloody Moon trash like yourselves."
Vanish looked surprised. "You are aware of our affiliation? Interesting." Then he noticed the golden insignia on the left side of his neck. "Ah, so you're a member of Fairy Tail, are you?"
"Heh, guess there's no point in denying it. You can see the mark. Yeah, I'm in Fairy Tail."
"How did you know that we were from the Bloody Moon guild? Our marks our hidden," Stealth asked.
The young man pointed to his nose. "I can smell it on you. You smell just like that other guy from the Bloody Moon guild."
Both Vanish and Stealth looked surprised. "Smell?"
"Yeah, I've got a good nose."
"So you're a Dragon Slayer, huh?" Vanish asked.
"No, he can't be. They use magic," Stealth corrected. "Besides, no one with dragon abilities should be able to track our scent. Our Master made sure of that."
"Look, I don't feel like talking anymore." Suddenly shadows surrounded the young man. "So you guys want to fuck with Fairy Tail, huh? Fine then." Black blades suddenly shot out of his forearms. "It's my great pleasure to tear you to pieces."
"This is actually bullshit now," Gajeel stated. "How much longer are we gonna keep this dambass search going?"
"Until we have a location to report back to Master Makarov," Freed said simply.
The scouting party of Freed, Gajeel, Levy, Gray, and Juvia had set out early in the morning to begin the search anew. However, they had been searching for hours and were still having no luck whatsoever in locating Bloody Moon's hideout. Gajeel was growing more and more irritated by the minute. The fact that his sense of smell was failing him was seriously damaging his pride. Levy tried to calm him down, but was only successful for the first couple of hours. After that, she was only hurting his pride more by trying to assure him that everything would be fine.
"I gotta agree with Gajeel," Gray said. "We're just wasting our time. We have no idea where to look."
"Juvia agrees with Gray-sama," Juvia chirped.
"We cannot go back. We must report something to Master Makarov," Freed said while shaking his head.
"We can report that we found nothing," Gajeel grumbled.
"I meant something good."
"Fine. We can report that I didn't kill you," Gajeel said with a wicked grin.
"Take it easy, Gajeel," Levy said.
"I'm sick and tired of this shit," Gajeel huffed. "We ain't gonna find anything cuz I can't track anything! We have no fuckin' clue where we're going!"
"Freed, let's just report that we had no luck," Gray offered. "You heard what Erza and Laxus said; Bloody Moon could attack while we're gone. It's better to head home empty handed and help out with a fight than to just wander aimlessly for God knows how long just because we want to report something to the Master."
Freed stopped walking and sighed. "Fine, you are right. We cannot waste our time without solid proof that we are even in the right place. We will start making our way back."
Everyone nodded and turned around to head back to the guild.
Suddenly, Gajeel's ears twitched and he turned around, curious as to what he heard. Then his eyes widened. Realizing he didn't have enough time to alert everyone, he dove forward and tackled everyone to the ground just as a massive boulder flew overhead.
"What the hell?" Gray asked. "Where did that come from?"
Gajeel rose and faced the direction the boulder came from. "Hell if I know, but I think we're about to find out."
Out of the trees, a massive man who easily stood at 7 feet tall walked out slowly. He was heavily armored on his torso and legs and he wore a helmet of some sort that masked his face. His arms, however, were unprotected, revealing rippling muscles and numerous scars. With each slow step he took, the ground seemed to move beneath the mages' feet. The man stopped several feet from the battle ready mages.
"Who the fuck are you?" Gajeel roared.
"I must commend you all. Master Severo never would have imagined that fairies would wander so closely to his home," the massive man spoke, his very voice sending heavy vibrations through the air and earth.
"Master Severo? Who is that?" Freed asked.
"Our Master is the most powerful mage in all Earthland."
"That does not answer the question."
"You need not know more."
"Is he by chance the Master of the Bloody Moon guild?" Levy asked, playing off of a hunch.
"He is."
Gajeel suddenly got a massive grin. "Geehee. Well look at that. Guess my nose didn't fail me after all."
"So we did find the guild," Freed said with a smile. "What a stroke of luck."
"Unfortunately, your luck has run out, flies. By order of Master Severo, the Great and Powerful Master of the Bloody Moon guild, I, Juggernaut, will stomp you into a bloody heap."
Nikolias eyed the two men that stood before him. He was wary of just charging in since he knew next to nothing about these two and what they could do. All he knew for sure was that they were from the Bloody Moon guild and they were extremely fast. That was the only way they could have escaped his surprise attack. Other than that, he only knew the names of their magic abilities since he heard them say them while he was approaching. He had no idea exactly what they were capable of.
"Sorry, sir," the one called Stealth said, "but we have no intention of fighting you."
Nikolias raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Sir? My, how polite. Well I'm sorry to have to inform you that that's not an option."
"Of course it's an option," the one named Vanish said with a laugh. "That's what makes us so useful to our Master."
"Okay, wonder twins," Nikolias growled. "I don't know who the fuck this 'Master' is, but he made a mistake declaring war on Fairy Tail. It's a fight he can't win."
"We must disagree," Vanish said. "He is very powerful. You fairies stand no chance."
"Okay, enough trash talk," Nikolias said as he crouched down. "I'm gonna kill you fuckers just like I killed that first guy!"
"You were the one who slew Critik?" Stealth asked. "How did you manage that?"
"Like I'd tell you any of my tricks."
"Master would be most interested in learning the identity of the one who killed his right hand man as well as what said person is capable of," Vanish said to Stealth. "Perhaps this operation won't end in complete failure."
Stealth nodded. "You're quite right. We should gather information on this one and report to Master."
Vanish returned his attention to Nikolias. "Looks like you will get your wish. We shall agree to fight you."
"I wasn't looking for permission," Nikolias shot at them. "And as far as your plan goes, it has one extremely obvious flaw."
"And that would be?" Stealth asked.
Nikolias' blades became shrouded in darkness. "I have no intention of letting you guys live." With that, he charged forward. "SHADOW DRAGON SWORD SWIPE!" He swung his blades towards the two who waited until the last moment to completely disappear. "Shit, where'd they go?"
"So you are a Dragon Slayer after all," a voice said from Nikolias' left. He whipped around to see the two mages standing a few feet away from him. "How is it that you concealed your magic?"
"I don't use magic, fucktards," Nikolias hissed in frustration. 'I have to figure out how they move that fast and how I can counteract their movements.'
"But you clearly said 'SHADOW DRAGON'. That's a title given to the moves of Shadow Dragon Slayers," Vanish said.
"I'm not a Dragon Slayer." Once again, he empowered his blades with shadow and charged. And once again, right as he was about to hit them with his Shadow Dragon Sword Swipe, they would completely disappear and instantly reappear elsewhere. This happened over and over again with the exact same results.
"I thought you said you were gonna fight," Nikolias called out. "It looks to me like you're only running."
"We are fighting you," Vanish said. "This is our style of fighting."
Nikolias charged forward yet again with his Shadow Dragon Sword Swipe and yet again, the two mages dodged the attack and reappeared a few feet to Nikolias' left.
"Show us something different, boy," Stealth called out. "This isn't enough information."
"Little fuckers," Nikolias mumbled under his breath with a smile. "I see your pattern now." He charged his blades again and made his final attempt. "SHADOW DRAGON SWORD SWIPE!" Nikolias swung his blades at Vanish and Stealth once more and once again, they completely disappeared. However, upon seeing the two vanish this time, he immediately turned to his left. "SHADOW WHIP!" Upon command, multiple shadow tendrils shot out and dashed towards the two Bloody Moon members. They were completely caught off guard by this new attack and soon found themselves restricted by the shadows. Nikolias let out a laugh. "I finally caught you two. I have to say you certainly are fast."
"I see," Vanish said as he studied his restraints. "You were merely toying with us while you studied our movements and developed a plan." He turned to Stealth. "This is the first Dragon Slayer we've seen to show any signs of intelligence."
"Perhaps he's right. Maybe he's not a Dragon Slayer," Stealth said.
"Then how would you explain his attacks?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe Master would know. We should report back to him."
"Right, Stealth."
"Hey assholes, you know I can hear you, right? If you haven't noticed, you aren't going anywhere," Nikolias said as he lifted his right hand to show them the grasp he had on the shadow tendrils.
"You have impressed us, boy," Vanish said. "However, you don't quite understand what makes us useful."
"Oh?"
"My main magic is called Surveillance Magic," Vanish explained. "It allows me to see through solid objects to locate and identify heat signatures."
"My main magic is called Detection Magic," Stealth cut in. "It allows me to sense when magic users are nearby and tells me what they are capable of. That's why you fascinate me. You say you don't use magic and my Detection Magic says that you don't use magic, and yet you're abilities would lead one to believe that you're a Dragon Slayer who uses magic."
"I'm just full of surprises," Nikolias said.
"Anyway, as I was saying, we are indeed incredibly fast, but that's not the secret to our success. Thanks to our Master, we have a secondary magic that makes us of great use to him. It's called Spatial Walk Magic," Vanish explained.
Nikolias raised an eyebrow. "Spatial Walk Magic?"
Vanish nodded. "We aren't offensive pieces for Master. We are information specialists. Because of this, Master taught us a new kind of magic that would allow us to collect intelligence for him and escape easily if approached or caught."
Stealth also nodded. "We may not have enough information on Fairy Tail, but the current situation demands we make our exit. Until we meet again, boy."
"Hold on!" Nikolias called out.
However, Vanish and Stealth immediately disappeared, causing the Shadow Whip to fall to the ground.
Nikolias growled as he let the shadows around him dissipate and retracted his blades. "I swear to God, I'm gonna find those little shits and cut off their fucking legs."
"Look out!" Freed shouted as Juggernaut threw yet another large boulder at high speed at the group of Fairy Tail mages. They all managed to get out of the way before the boulder broke through numerous tree trunks, causing them to crash to the earth.
"Shit, how strong is this guy?" Gray asked. "He's throwing those things like pebbles!"
"I am not sure," Freed said. "All I know is that we cannot get hit by those boulders. They could kill us."
"What do we do?" Levy asked.
"We have to bring him down somehow. I doubt he will let us just walk away," Freed said. "Try to avoid close combat for now. Who knows how much damage one of his fists could do?"
"Agreed," Levy said as she lifted her arms to chest level. "We'll stick to long range attacks for now and see how it goes."
"Enough talk!" Gajeel said. "Time to bring this big shit down. IRON DRAGON ROAR!" Gajeel inhaled deeply before releasing a tornado of steel towards Juggernaut. He made no attempt to dodge and took the attack head on. The Roar exploded upon impact and sent out metal shards in all directions. Gajeel smirked victoriously until the smoke cleared, revealing that Juggernaut was completely unaffected. "What the fuck? Not even a scratch? How is that possible?"
"That tickled," Juggernaut said. "Like being bothered by a feather."
Gajeel gritted his teeth and covered his body in metal scales. "Fuck you asshole! Try this on for size!" he roared before charging Juggernaut.
"Gajeel, no!" Freed called out. "Stay at a distance!"
However, Gajeel was refusing to listen. "Try this one, fat ass! IRON DRAGON SWORD!" Gajeel's right arm became an iron blade with jagged teeth along the edges. The teeth began to vibrate quickly, acting like a chainsaw as Gajeel swung his arm at Juggernaut.
Juggernaut watched him the whole time, standing completely still. At the last second, he raised his left hand and caught Gajeel's attack. The sword's teeth caught in his flesh, but Juggernaut still seemed unaffected. "Is this all you are capable of? Sad. I was hoping for at the very least a workout. Now fly away little fairy." With that comment, Juggernaut raised his right arm and threw his fist at Gajeel's chest at high speed. It connected fully with his sternum and broke through the iron scales. Gajeel coughed up blood as he went flying into a far off tree trunk.
"GAJEEL!" Levy cried as she ran to him.
Gajeel collapsed on the ground with a groan. "Shit…," he rasped as he tried to breathe. Blood was running from his mouth and he was fairly certain at least two ribs were cracked.
Levy knelt by him. "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine shrimp," he said as he tried standing. It was wobbly, but he was still upright. "Bastard's fists are like trains. Broke right through my iron."
"I told you to stay away from close combat, Gajeel," Freed reminded him.
"Shut up and fight him. I'll join in once I catch my breath," Gajeel threw back at him.
"Here," Levy said as she wrote the word IRON in the air with her Solid Script magic. A large, iron, 3-D version of the word IRON appeared in the air and fell at Gajeel's feet. "Eat this. It should help you to regain some strength."
"Thanks, shrimp," Gajeel said with a pained smile before beginning to devour his meal.
"ICE MAKE: LANCE!" Gray shouted, firing multiple ice shards at Juggernaut.
"WATER SLICER!" Juvia cried, sending out blades of water to cut Juggernaut.
Both attacks connected fully, but left no sign of damage.
"How is that possible?" Gray asked. "How can he be completely unaffected?"
Juggernaut chuckled. "My magic is Clotted Blood Magic. This particular type of magic allows my blood to harden immediately after my skin is pierced. Think of it as instant healing. It took years to master this magic style, but it has made me invulnerable. You stand no chance of winning here."
Freed glared at Juggernaut. "You are not invulnerable. There is a way to bring you down."
Juggernaut let out a deep and hearty laugh. "It's simply impossible so why bother trying? Just accept your fate so that I can go home."
"Freed, how can we take this guy out if we can't cut him?" Gray asked. "None of our attacks are leaving as much as a dent in this guy."
"We must find a way," was all Freed said in reply.
"Give up," Juggernaut said. "Aside from my magic, my very skin has been conditioned to be nearly impossible to pierce. To put it another way, I haven't even needed my magic yet."
Levy's eyes widened. "None of those attacks even hurt you?"
Juggernaut slowly shook his head. "How could they? They were weak attacks."
Freed narrowed his eyes and lifted his sword. "DARK ÉCRITURE: FEAR!" Freed created runes in the air and thrust them at Juggernaut. The runes imprinted themselves on Juggernaut and began to glow a soft purple. However, nothing followed. "What? How are you not affected?"
"Spells such as those won't work on me. Master Severo, in all his wisdom, made sure to erase such emotions like fear from my mind. I'm afraid you won't be able to scare me to death."
Freed gritted his teeth. "Fine, try this then. DARK ÉCRITURE: SUFFERING!" Once again, Freed created runes in the air with his sword and sent them flying towards Juggernaut. Once again they imprinted themselves on his body and began to glow a soft purple. And once again, nothing happened. "What the hell?"
Juggernaut chuckled. "A pity. That one should have affected me. I guess you just simply don't possess the power to break through my defenses." Juggernaut raised his fists in the air. "I, Juggernaut, am Master Severo's perfect weapon! Unmatched defenses that add to an already strong offense! I can't be defeated!" He slammed his fists into the ground, sending out massive tremors that broke open the earth and had all of the Fairy Tail members leaping to avoid falling danger. "I am ultimate power!" He picked up massive pieces of broken earth and began hurling them at the mages. "I am divine power!"
"This guy is seriously unhinged," Gray said.
"He's too great of a threat. Freed, we need to retreat," Levy said.
Freed kept eyeing his opponent. "As Fairy Tail members, we cannot retreat. We can defeat him."
"Freed, you aren't thinking," Gray reasoned. "This guy is a walking tank. Our long range attacks aren't effective. Close range attacks are far too dangerous. Gajeel's got some pretty serious injuries. We need to fall back."
Freed clenched his sword harder. "Damn it all. You're right. We shall fall back and deal with him another day."
Everyone nodded before turning and running as fast as they could away from Juggernaut.
Juggernaut watched them run, but made no attempt to stop them. Instead, he just laughed. "The true nature of the fairies is revealed. I guess I was too much for them to handle so they turned tail and ran like cowards. I kinda wanted to kill one of them…oh well. They're too far away and I hate running. Besides, I'll see them again really soon. When the war begins."
