Spirits and Angels are Forever with you

A/N: There will be an info dump at the beginning to explain more about how this world's guild system works, since it's never really explained beyond 'S-class are really strong'. We're also gonna get the arc done in a chapter. I'm honestly excited to get to Phantom Lord as soon as possible because I have big changes for that arc planned, but these early arcs are still important. I'm also skipping over the fight with Lotus because I don't have anything substantial to change about it.


As the morning sun rises over the Horizon, we see a giant house in the middle of the woods that seems to be made up of different buildings. This is the Black Bull hideout, where Yami lives along with the rest of the Black Bulls. Asta, Yuno, Mimosa, and Noelle wake up after spending the night in the base. Asta was excited to live in his own room for once, while Noelle begrudgingly accepted the 'meager accommodations' that had been provided to her. Yuno and Mimosa just accepted the rooms and thanked Yami for giving them somewhere to live.

The four of them head to the Fairy Tail guild where everyone is already going about their day. The four of them walk up to the bar where Charmy and Mirajane are currently cooking food for everyone in the guild. "Hey you guys," Mirajane says, "How was the night at the Black Bull's hideout?" "It was amazing," says Asta with stars in his eyes, "Mr. Magna showed me around the place and there were so many new things there!" "Calm down Asta," says Yuno, "You proved that you weren't crazy yesterday, don't want to prove them right so soon." "What do you mean you tall jerk, I'm perfectly sane!" Asta shouts at his foster brother. "It's okay," Mira says, "Most of us are at least a little insane, so you fit right in." "Does that include you too Mira?" Mimosa asks Mirajane, who simply gives her signature smile at the group, which makes them feel a chill go up their spine.

"A-Anyway," Asta stutters, "I have a question since you've been here forever." "What is it," Mirajane asks him. "Uh, what do guild's actually do?" Noelle and Mimosa look at him in shock when he asks this question. "Wait, do you mean you joined without knowing what a guild is?" asks Noelle. "Well, I know that they're full of strong wizards, but other than that, but we don't have a guild anywhere in the Forsaken Realm, so we only have the stories that the newspapers have," Asta explains. "We kept seeing that Fairy Tail was ranked number one on there, so we figured it would be cool to join."

"Well, we are ranked number one in terms of popularity," Mirajane begins to explain, "But we do so cause so many problems on missions that the noble guilds look down on us. Most guilds, like Fairy Tail, are called Common guilds and stationed in the common realm, along with ones like Blue Pegasus and the Green Praying Mantises. Guilds in the Noble Realm are much stricter to get into and work directly with the country's Magic Council on jobs. They're all lead by nobles and royals, like the Crimson Lions and the Silver Eagles. (Noelle and Mimosa try to hide their reactions to the name, but Mira notices and decides to hold that information.) That's where the most accomplished guild lives, the Golden Dawn, not to mention the Magic Council, King, and the Wizard King.

"But to answer your question, guild's are meant to help people around the country and accept any jobs that are posted on the Magic Council approved job board. Jobs are ranked in difficulty from D to S class jobs. Wizards of equivalent or higher rank are required to officially go on any of those jobs. There are also international jobs that are considered SS or SSS that are so difficult that it is said to only able to be barely cleared by multiple S-class mages. You guys, while I can tell are pretty strong, still start out at D-class. Eventually, you can get to the point where you do enough jobs to become S-class or get recommended for S-class by another S-class wizard. The strongest of S-class wizards are considered for the position of wizard saint, the strongest group of mages in the country. We have two wizard saint level mages in Fairy Tail actually."

"Really, who?" Yuno asks. "Master Makarov and Yami," Mirajane answers. "Makarov was a wizard saint for years, but retired a few years ago to give his position to Yami. There are even rumors about him being considered next in line as guild master." "Wow, I didn't know there was so much to learn about guilds," Asta mutters as his head starts to steam from so much information. "Asta, are you okay," cries Mimosa. "Do you need me to cool you down?" Noelle asks frantically.

As the two girls start to fret over Asta, Lucy walks into the guild with Natsu and Happy right on her heels. "Geez Luce, we already apologized about a dozen times, can you get over it," Natsu moans. "No," Lucy says, "You need to stop showing up in my room out of nowhere, it's really annoying!" "We're partners, we've gotta watch out for each other!" Lucy simply groans before noticing the new members hanging out at the bar. "Hey guys, I see that you're hanging out at the guild today. You plan on taking any missions as a team?" Asta looks confused at Lucy's question. "A team?" "Yeah," Mirajane explains, "It's very common for mages to form teams with people that they work well with, like the one that Lucy, Natsu, Erza, and Gray made on the Lullaby mission."

Asta seems excited at the idea of a team as his eyes gain stars again. "Woooah, that sounds awesome! Noelle, Mimosa, we should make a team together!" "What!" The two girls then get embarrassed at the idea of hanging out with Asta. 'Oh no, just the two of us and Asta, things might get weird,' Noelle thinks. 'Wait, I know!' "How about Yuno also joins the team? He's been with us the whole time as well." "Well Asta would just be lost without me to clean up his mistakes," Yuno smugly states. "Hey, I don't mess up that much!" Asta yells. "If we were on the same team then you'd never the get the chance to fight bad guys because I could take them all out in one hit!" Yuno then gains a look of annoyance at the idea that Asta would outdo him. "Well now I have to join your team, it would reflect poorly on the future Wizard King if he let his own rival go and get himself killed by his own stupidity." Asta then gets so mad that smoke shoots out of his nose and charges at Yuno, who simply puts his hand up against Asta's head while he helplessly swings his arms. "Damn it all, why do you have to be so tall!"

Suddenly, Asta passes out on the spot and starts sleeping on the floor. "Oh no, Asta! Did he not get enough sleep?" Mimosa asks. "I wouldn't be shocked if the idiot was running around his room all night," Noelle says with an air of arrogance before she also starts getting sleepy. The entire guild starts to start going to sleep, leaving most unaware of the guild doors being opened. A man wrapped in cloaks hiding all of his features walks in holding a magic staff. He walks up to the job board and picks a job off of it before handing it to Makarov, who is awake but still groggy as he accepts the job. "Geez, do you have to do this every time?" Makarov asks the mystery man who does not respond to him. As he turns to leave however, he notices that someone else is awake and looking at him.

Yuno's golden eyes can barely stay open as he looks the cloaked man in the eye and tries to sense his magic power. 'This power is great, but something about it is weird.' "Who… are you?" Yuno asks the mystery mage who seems shocked to see his face but does not say anything as he walks out the door. "Don't forget to release the spell," Makarov calls out to the masked wizard who simply counts down before he walks past the door.

"5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"

Once the countdown ends everyone else in the guild starts to wake up slowly from the effects from the sleep spell. Asta pops up from his spot on the floor as he looks around frantically. "What just happened? Did someone attack us or something?" "No, that was just Mystogan," Mira explains. "He's a contender for strongest man in the guild, but one of us besides the master and Yami have ever seen his face because he always puts us to sleep."

Suddenly a deep arrogant voice comes from the second floor of the guildhall. "That's not true, I've seen him before." Everyone looks up to see blond man with spiked headphones and a scar on his face. He wears a black fur cloak over his shoulders and is wearing a leopard print shirt. "He's just a little shy, why don't you just respect his privacy." "Who's that?" Asta asks. "This is the greatest asshole you'll ever have the chance to meet, Laxus." Gray explains. Natsu then jumps on top of a table and starts screaming at him. "Laxus come fight me right now!" "Pfft, as if, why don't you come up here and fight me?" Laxus taunts Natsu, who then proceeds to try and run up the stairs before Makarov slams a giant hand on him. "You're not allowed up there, Natsu. Not yet at least."

Laxus then looks down at the recent group of newcomers. "I came over because I heard we had some newbies, but I got to say, I'm not impressed. The girls don't seem like they're worth much. Plus, there were people talking about one of them had no magic and beat Erza in a fight. Hah, what joke." Erza then gains a menacing aura as she glares at the arrogant wizard. "What did you say?" Erza asks through gritted teeth before Asta also starts to get angry and starts yelling at Laxus. "Hey, I'll have you know that Erza gave me a really tough fight! I'll be glad to show you the same if you think you're so tough!" Laxus laughs at the short swordsman's threat. "As if I need to go down there and prove anything to a magicless midget."

"Pretty confident words from someone who let's his words do the talking." Yuno declares while also glaring at Laxus. "I wouldn't underestimate him just because he has no magic. He's someone who shares the same dream as me, so there's now way he can be worth less than someone like you." Laxus looks Yuno in the eyes before he gives off an arrogant smile. "You know, I saw you earlier when Mystogan put everyone to sleep. Gotta say, I'm shocked you were barely able to stay up. You definitely have way more talent than the rest of this trash guild. If you wanna learn what real power is than look no further. The strongest member of this guild isn't some chick, a hooded weirdo, or even Yami. You're looking at him right now." He then laughs before leaving the guildhall.

Later...

"Well, now that everyone has calmed down, I have an important announcement to make!" Makarov announces to the rest of the guild. "I have an important mission from the Wizard King himself!" Asta and Yuno immediately perk up upon hearing this information. 'A mission given by the Wizard King! Why is he giving them to Fairy Tail?' The rivals think in astonishment. "A dungeon has been found recently and he wants us to go check it out. He says it should be safe, so I'm sending in our newbies out as their first mission!" Asta cheers in excitement over being picked while Noelle and Mimosa gasp at being picked for a job given by the Wizard King so soon. "Wow, I can't believe they picked you guys for something so important" Lucy says. "You're going too Lucy." Makarov announces to Lucy's shock. "The Wizard King was explicit about you going on this mission actually. Must've heard about you from the Lullaby incident." Lucy looks concerned when she hears this and wonders why she was chosen. 'Did he tell him to look for me? No, he wouldn't care enough to do that.'

Lucy thoughts are interrupted when Asta asks "What's a dungeon?" Magna pops up from a table and begins to explain. "They're like ancient tombs that have super old relics left behind by people from looooong ago. You can find super rare magical items, and some have ways to learn about really strong magic. They're awesome!" Asta has stars in his eyes from his explanation. "Whooooaa!" Luck then pops up behind Magna behind Magna's shoulder. "But they're also chock full of booby traps so that they can't be used for evil. They're super fun, dangerous places!" Luck says this with a cheerful smile on his face the whole time, unnerving the new wizards.

"Hey, if Lucy's going in then so am I! We're a team, we always go on missions together" Natsu exclaims. "Don't worry Natsu, I'm not sending them on a mission all by themselves." Makarov explains. "You, Gray, and Luck are going on this mission since we don't get in trouble if you break anything! Finral will teleport you all to the entrance and will come back after you call him and claim the dungeo." Natsu looks upset at the mention of the group accompanying them. "Luck's fine, he can give a pretty good fight, but does the ice-stripper have to come with us as well?" Gray gets enraged at the fire wizard's words and starts butting heads with him. "What's that supposed to mean, flame brain? Think I'm not good enough for this job? I bet I could find twice as much treasure than you, easy!" "I'll get a hundred times more treasure than you, right Happy!" "Aye, sir!"

Lucy looks at the exchange with sweat rolling down her face at the exchange before looking to her fellow rookies. "At least you guys seem to be pretty normal compared to these psychos. I don't know much about Luck, but I assume he's just as crazy as the rest of them." Asta pats a hand on her shoulder and smiles. "Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be that bad."

LINE BREAK

"This is really bad!" Asta exclaims while he, Noelle, Natsu, and Lucy run away from a giant boulder chasing them down a hallway. "Why does Luck keep setting off traps and running away!" "Luck's just like that, don't' worry about it." Natsu says while running ahead of the rest of them. "Besides, this is pretty fun, right?" Lucy gets angry at his boneheaded remark and screams "NO!" A hole then appears under them as they fall into it. Happy manages to fly after them before the hole close above them and the ball crashes into a wall.

Everyone falls onto the ground below, ending up with Lucy laying on top of Natsu with her boobs on his face and Noelle lands on Asta's face ass first. "Where did we end up now?" Noelle annoyedly asks while looking around to see what pathways they have available to them before muffled voice comes from underneath her. "Sorry Noelle, but can you please get your butt off of me?" Noelle then realizes the position she's in before she jumps off of him. "Pervert! What do you think you were doing under there?!" Asta sits up, confused at what to say, before he says, "Enjoying myself?" Noelle then gets flustered at his words and begins stammering. 'That idiot, what does he mean enjoying himself? Does he mean that he thinks my butt is great? Wait, why do I even care?'

Lucy and Natsu also begin to wake up as they realize the compromising position that they're also in. "Hey Luce, can you get off, it's kind of hard to breath in here." Natsu says in between her breasts. Lucy face goes red before she pushes herself off of him. "Say something sooner jerk!" Happy opens his mouth to tease them before Lucy interrupts him. "Don't say a word, you dumb cat, or else I'll have Cancer cut off all your hair!" Happy pales at the image of his fur being furless before he shuts his mouth in fear.

Lucy then groans before she gets up and starts walking around. "Can someone tell me why we split up again?" Natsu then answers her "Cause me and Asta wanted to prove that we're better than ice head and his rival." Happy then floats next to Natsu's shoulder. "It's also cause Yuno had a transportation spell and you would've gotten sick on it." Asta gets up off the floor before he looks at Natsu in confusion. "You get sick riding vehicles?" "Yeah, it's part of my magic." "What is your magic, anyway?"

Natsu then scratches his head as they begin walking toward another passage while careful to not activate any traps. "Guess I never told you two about me, huh? Well let me introduce myself. My name's Natsu Dragneel, a Fire Dragon Slayer raised by Igneel the fire dragon." Asta has stars in his eyes once more upon hearing about Natsu's magic and parentage. "Wooooow! You were raised by a dragon, that's awesome!" Noelle, however, looks at him skeptically. "A dragon, really? Those haven't been seen for hundreds of years." Natsu then looks at her in anger. "Well, I'm not lying. Igneel was real and the one who taught me dragon slaying magic. It gives a wizard a body like a dragon and complete immunity to magic of their own attribute and can eat more of it to gain more power. Also, I'm not the only dragon slayer around. There were four other kids I knew that learned dragon slaying magic as well. We hung out all the time."

Noelle then asks Natsu, "Where are they then?" For a second, Natsu has a sad look on his face before he answers her question. "Well, I don't know where the last three are, but there is one I know of that you might've heard of, 'Black Steel' Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer of Phantom Lord." Asta then asks Natsu, "How did you all get split up?" "I have no idea. One day, on July 7, x777, I woke up in the middle of nowhere and Igneel had disappeared. Thankfully, Gramps found me and brought me to Fairy Tail. I asked Gajeel about it once and he said the same thing happened to Metallicana, his dragon. I've been looking for my dad at even the slightest hint of any dragon sightings, but I've got nothing so far."

Asta looks sad after hearing Natsu's backstory before he walks up to him and puts his hand on Natsu's shoulder. "Well, me and Yuno were orphans left at the orphanage back in Hage on the same day. He actually used to be really nervous and was pretty weak. One day, some drunk asshole tried to steal Yuno's pendant, the only thing he had when the orphanage found him. I managed to get it back for him, but I got my ass kicked in the process. After that, me and him made our promise to get stronger and challenge each other for the position of Wizard King. Yuno got really motivated after that and has been training his magic really hard ever since. We argue a lot, but even though we're rivals, we're also brothers. I couldn't imagine if he disappeared one day and I couldn't find him, so I understand how you must feel." Noelle and Lucy look at Asta and Natsu bonding over their lost family in sadness, lamenting their own familial issues. 'I wish my family cared enough to search for me like that.'

As they keep walking through the dungeon, Lucy starts to hear a faint whistle. "Hey, do you guys hear that?" "Hear what, Lushi?" Happy asks. "That whistling sound. No one else hears that, even you Natsu?" "Nah, I don't hear anything." Natsu says confused. 'What is it that I'm hearing then? I feel like I should recognize it.' Lucy then gasps out loud as she realizes what it is she's hearing. "This sound, it's a tune that my mom used to sing to me as a child." "Do you know why you're hearing it right now?" Asta asks her to which he shakes Lucy, to which she shakes her head. "No, I have no idea why, but I think we should follow it." "But what about Luck? We can't just leave him behind." Asta says. "We can split up. Me, Natsu, and Happy will follow the sounds I'm hearing while you two go find Luck. Try to get back to us once you find him." Lucy says. The two groups then split off at the intersection, one searching for their lost comrade while the other follows the mysterious sound attracting the Celestial Spirit wizard.


While Natsu and Lucy' group split up, the group containing Gray, Mimosa, and Yuno are riding on Yuno's wind and heading toward the main treasure hall thanks to Mimosa's spell, Magic Flower Guidepost. "Ha, I bet flame brain's gonna be so pissed when he finds out we got there first. Man, you grimoire holders sure do have handy magic. All I know how to do is hit people with ice, but I'm pretty good at it." Gray compliments them on their magic before he looks at Yuno. "Hey, mister serious." Yuno responds annoyed. "I have a name you know." Gray simply scoffs before talking. "Yeah, but I knew you'd react to that more. Before you said that you and Asta were rivals, what's the story behind that."

Yuno sighs before going into his backstory. "Back in the orphanage we were both raised in, I used to be a wimpy child. I was too scared to fight for myself and Asta always had to come help me. One day, he helped me get back this pendant from a random drunk, and we made the decision right there to become the Wizard King. I've worked really hard ever since because I don't wanna be saved ever again. We argue sometimes, but before being rivals, we're brothers, so I have to look out for him." Gray stays silent for a bit while contemplating the only two people he would (begrudgingly) call his brother/rival and his own inferiority to them "Hm. You know, if you ever want to learn about how use your magic, I can help you from time to time. I'm not as good as my master or any of the S-class members, but I could teach you how to better utilize your spells."

Yuno stares at him for a bit before he gives his response. "While I'm thankful for the offer, what brought this up? Were you worried I'd take up Laxus on his offer first?" Gray waves in hand at that idea. "Nah, it's not that. Let's just say, I understand wanting to be better than the people closest to you." Yuno thinks on it before a bit before he answers. "I accept, I'll be glad to learn from you 'Master' Gray," Gray looks away in embarrassment at the title, "but I just have one question."

"Where did your shirt go?"

Gray looks at him in confusion before looking down and realizing his shirt went missing somewhere in the dungeon. Mimosa squeals and looks away in embarrassment, thinking that it would be rude to Asta if she stared, Yuno gives his signature deadpan stare and wonders how he did it without Yuno noticing, and Gray freaks out wondering where his shirt went. "Damn it, this usually only happens when I'm in a fight, or really tense!"

The group finally lands in front of the giant door to the main treasure room. Mimosa walks up to it and starts to inspect it. "Now that we're here, how do we open it?" Before anyone can answer her however, a mass of diamond spikes shoot out at her. Thankfully, Gray is able to block the spikes, quickly summoning a wall of ice that stops them before it hits Mimosa. Unfortunately, the diamonds break through and manage to launch her into a wall as result of the ice exploding.

"Mimosa!" The two mages cry before they run up to check on her. "I'm okay, thankfully nothing got pierced, or else I might be in trouble. It still hurts a lot though." They then hear steps behind them and turn to see a man with spiky gray hair walking towards them with a grimoire with a diamond on the front in a side pouch with it seemingly stitched from a grey and red one. He has gems completely spread out around his black fur cloak and three jewels lined up vertically on his forehead. He walks up to them with an emotionless expression on his face and talks without emotion. "My name is Mars, one of the Diamond Kingdom's Shining Generals. You're in my way. Move."

Mars sends a flurry of diamonds at the group, threatening to pierce all of them. Gray puts his hand in his palm and casts a spell. "Ice-Make: Shield." A fine wall of ice blocks the diamonds, managing to block the minerals but still cracking a bit. "You only broke that last shield because I didn't have time to prepare for it. You might think that your diamonds can just shatter my ice, but I know how to fight guys at a disadvantage. Ice-Make: Lance!" Gray summons a dozen lance shaped icicles that fly out to attack his opponent. Mars simply summons more diamonds to counter the ice, but the lances manage to stay intact long enough to reach him. Right before they connect however, Mars opens his grimoire and casts a spell, replacing his body with a diamond copy, which the lances shatter against upon impact. "Mineral Creation Magic: Talos Doll." The copy then jumps toward Gray and punches his shield, shattering into tiny shards. Gray then backs up before taking his stance again, summoning an axe made of ice in his hands. "Ice-Make: Battle Axe!" Gray then begins to swing the axe at the doll, managing to parry its blows for a short while.

Gray finally manages to break the stalemate by shoving his axe straight into the doll's head shattering it to pieces. He then realizes a shadow is looming over him, causing him to look up. He realizes the cause of the shadow is a giant sword made up of diamonds. "Mineral Creation Magic: Laevateinn." Mars then swings his sword down at Gray, the Ice-Make wizard is barely able to dodge the sword as it crashes into ground, causing a giant crater to form. Yuno then steps up to field, opening his grimoire. "Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk + Wind Blade Shower."

Gray looks in shock at Yuno's dual casting as he begins to send a flurry of blades at the diamond mage while also sending a hawk to attack him. 'He's able to easily cast simultaneous static and dynamic wind magic so easily like that already? Man, this guy might be the biggest monster I've ever seen.' Unfortunately, Mars simply lets the spells crash into him while casting a defensive spell on himself, covering his upper body in diamonds. "Mineral Magic: Nemean Armor. Your magics do not work on me." He then swings his sword at the two mages, knocking them to the side.

"Your situation is hopeless, just stop." Mars then sends his sword swinging at them again. Yuno tries to stop it with his own spell. "I'm not stopping. Wind Magic: Crescent Moon Sickle." The blade of wind simply dissipates upon contact with the mineral sword. "Move." Mars then sends the sword towards Gray who tries to counter once more. "I ain't moving. Ice-Make: Saucer." A giant buzzsaw like saucer appears in front of him that then begins spinning at a rapid speed. The disc manages to barely keep the sword at bay for a second before it explodes, knocking the two Fairy Tail mages away. "Give up." Mars then readies a strike to finish off the struggling wizards who get up on their knees and stare defiantly at the oncoming attack. "We're not giving up!"

Right before the sword crashes down on them, Asta appears in front of them and easily slashes the sword in half with Demon Slayer. "Fire Dragon Roar!" A cyclone of fire shoots out at the mineral mage, who manages to put up a shield just in time to keep himself safe. Natsu charges onto the battlefield and stands next to Asta. "Hey pale dude, hands off these guys. They're our rivals!"

Asta turns back to face Yuno while keeping his sword pointed at their opponent. "Yuno, I finally catch up and what are you doing?! Don't do you dare lose on me, jerk!" Natsu also looks back at Gray and gives him a grin that shows off his draconic teeth. "Man, you're having trouble with this guy? If you lost to a poser like him, I'd never let you live it down!" Yuno and Gray give small smile at their rival's words before they get to their feet. "Hmph. Why'd you get involved Asta, I almost had him." "Say What?!" Gray then gives a cocky grin to his rival. "Don't worry Natsu, I had the perfect strategy all ready to beat this guy." "Yeah right! Now it's time to see who can beat this shiny loser first!"

Lucy, Luck, Noelle, Happy, and a black bird with a red face and bored expression arrive onto the scene as well. Lucy looks to the others and gives them a smile. "Thank god, you guys managed to find Luck." She then turns to look at the entrance to the dungeon room. "That's where the sound is coming from, but it'll have to wait until we beat this guy. Open! Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" Lucy summons her spirit, a cow man with a giant axe. "You better leave Lucy's body alone, or else!" Lucy gets frustrated at his words and comedically screams at him. "Just be quiet and fight!"

Noelle walks up to Mimosa who's sitting up with her back against a wall. "Mimosa, are you okay?" Mimosa looks up at Noelle with a sad smile on her face. "Oh, I wish you didn't see me like this. I guess I'm still slow like you used to say when we were kids." Noelle then walks in front of Mimosa and summons her Sea Dragon Lair around her. "You're not slow, Mimosa. You can take as long as you want, but I'll always be there to protect you."

Mars then summons an army of diamond clones to attack the Fairy Tail mages. "Mineral Creation Magic: Talos Doll Swarm. On the battlefield, it's pointless for the weak to exist. I was born to break people like you." A few clones charge at Asta who swings his Demon Slayer sword at them, cutting them in half like a knife to butter. "Well go ahead and try to break me!" Mars summons another giant sword to try and crush Asta, but he slices it in two once more. Asta then charges at him before Mars stomps the ground, summoning a wave of diamonds that attempt to stop his legs from moving. Asta swings his sword in an instant, shattering the diamonds without loosing pace in his stride. He manages to reach the mineral mage, swinging his sword and shattering Mars's armor. Mars goes flying and smashes into the ground, causing a plume of smoke to surround him.

However, from the smoke, multiple giant waves of diamonds shoot out at the magicless swordsman. Asta manages to parry most of them before one manages to hit him head on, shredding his left sleeve and robe, showing off the muscles and scars from his intense training underneath. Mars then emerges in a giant suit of crystal armor around him. "Mineral Creation Magic: Titan's Heavy Armor. What are you?" Asta takes a moment to catch his breath as he responds. "I'm a human born with zero magic. Even so, I'm gonna become the Wizard King. That's why I'm alive, to prove my existence is worth something!"

Mars starts to have foggy memories of his past childhood and a girl with pink hair talking to him. 'What do you want to be when you grow up, Mars?' Mars becomes agitated for the first time upon hearing Asta's words. "I exist to break everything." He then begins to charge Asta, who prepares his own attack. "You break stuff, huh?! Well the Wizard King protects everything, so I can't lose to you!" Mars raises his hand and prepares to crush Asta. "Get lost, you piece of gravel!" Asta dodged the armors swing and jumps straight up at the mineral mage. "I may be gravel, but I can still shatter diamonds!" Asta swings Demon Slayer at Mars and lands a vicious strike straight to his chest, knocking him out instantly and shutting off all his dolls.

Asta stands tall over the fallen wizard and raises his sword high over his head. "Fairy Tail is the one who's going to explore this dungeon!" Gray traps Mars with his ice, binding his arms while Asta freaks out over his clothes being torn. "Don't worry," Luck says, "Vanessa will fix it for you when we get back." Noelle releases her barrier spell and checks on Mimosa. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm alright. I wish I could heal myself, but I'll be fine until we get back." Mimosa looks at the small bird that came with them being perched on Asta's head. "Where did you find this cute little bird?" Asta then explains how the bird popped up out of his robe randomly and led them towards the chamber. "I don't know how it knew where to go, but it was pretty insistent on us getting here. I like it, I think I'll name it Nero. You like that name?" Nero seems content with their new name and nods it head.

Natsu looms over the unconscious wizard, staring at him intently. "Who the hell is this guy, and why was down here in the first place." "He said that the was from the Diamond Kingdom," Gray explains, "Their kingdom borders this dungeon and they've been showing signs of invading recently. Nothing serious, but there have been a few skirmishes. Even a wizard saint like Yami's got some experience with these guys. They're probably why the Wizard King asked us to come investigate it so soon, to find the treasure before they could." Lucy suddenly remembers something and chimes in. "I've heard rumors that they find children with strong magic and experimented on them. Eventually they had to fight to the death and the winner had magical implantations. I guess he must be the winner of the last death match."

While everyone else talks, Luck walks up to the door and sends out a small pulse of lighting at it. "This door is pretty sturdy, but there is some kind of magical mechanism inside it. I don't think Asta's swords can reach it though." He then looks to his left and notices an indent on the wall with three slots assembled in a triangle formations and symbols over them. "It looks like we need to put some kind of keys in here to open the door." Gray groans at this explanation. "Ugh, you're telling me we have to go searching for the keys somewhere in this creepy place?" Lucy looks closer at the symbols over the keyholes before gasping. "Wait, those are the same symbols as my mother's gate keys!" Lucy pulls out the three keys that match with the door, Taurus, Cancer, and Aquarius. "I wonder what will happen if I put them in here?"

Lucy proceeds to put the keys inside their respective keyholes and turns them. The sound of the door being unlocked echoes throughout the hall as the door begins to open automatically with a golden glow shining from within. When the light clears, it reveals the treasure trove inside. Everyone rushes inside excited as they begin to explore the ancient tomb. Lucy, however, remains behind and wonders why the keys her mom gave her open the door, and why the song her mother sang as a child was still leading her inside.

Yuno looks around before noticing a green scroll on a pedestal with faint wisps of wind coming off of it. He feels an instant connection to it as he walks up to the pedestal and opens the scroll. While he can't read the scroll, his grimoire pops out of his pouch and gives off a bright green glow, attracting Gray and Mimosa's attention. When the light dies down, the writing on the scroll is gone but can be seen as a new page in his grimoire. "What the hell was that all about?" Gray asks a bewildered Yuno who just shrugs his shoulders in confusion.

Meanwhile, Lucy follows the mystery sound she had been hearing, leading her to a shocking discovery of her own. "Guys, come look at this!" Everyone comes over to see what Lucy has found and are all shocked when they find out what - or rather who it is. Sleeping on top of a pile of treasure is a young girl that looks about eleven or twelve with hair as black as the night sky, and skin as white as snow. She is also adorned in golden bracelets on her wrists and ankles that have white jewels in the center. On her hands are white gloves that leave her fingers uncovered. She also has earrings in the shape of stars on both ears. The child turns out to be humming in her sleep the tune that Lucy had been hearing this whole time.

Lucy gently shakes the girl's shoulders and tries to wake her up. "Hey are you ok?" The girl gives a soft groan as she wakes up and blinks at the mages looking down on her, revealing her emerald green eyes. "Hmm, leave me alone. I was having a really nice sleep there." Her eyes then pop up realizing that actual people are in front of her. For a moment, everyone remains speechless before the young girl looks at Lucy's keys and tears start leaking out of her eyes. She then starts crying her eyes out and leaps up to give Lucy a hug. "After so long, you're finally here. I almost thought it would never happen, but it did. I started to believe that father was lying to me, but you're really here."

Everyone has a confused expression on their face, none more than Lucy as she awkwardly wraps her arms around the young girl. "Um, I'm kind of confused, what exactly have you been waiting for?" The young girl manages to stop crying and pulls herself off of Lucy and gives her a big smile. "Why, you are of course! You're supposed to be my mother!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaat!"

Natsu looks at Lucy with an intense look on his face. "Wow Lucy, I didn't know you laid an egg already." Happy then chimes in to tease the celestial mage. "Yeah Lucy, what kind of mom leaves their kid in a cave." Lucy punches the Dragon slayer and the talking cat so hard that their faces get sucked into themselves. "First off, I would never leave my kid in a place like this by herself; secondly, humans don't lay eggs, Natsu, that's a dragon thing; and lastly, I NEVER HAD A KID IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Asta then stupidly asks, "Then why did she call you mom?" "I DON'T KNOW!"

Lucy then kneels down to look the child in the eye. "Okay, one thing at a time. My name is Lucy, what is your name?" "My name is Celeste." "Ok Celeste, why did you call me your mother?" "Because my dad said that 'the daughter of heart loved by the stars' would be my savior and bring me into her family. You're a Celestial Spirit mage with multiple gold keys, so now you're my mom. Is that guy with the pink hair supposed to be my new dad?" Lucy's face goes beet red as she exclaims, "No! Why would you think Natsu is your father, and I never agreed to be your mother! I'm only eighteen, I didn't think I'd be a parent this soon!"

Lucy gives an exasperated sigh as she continues her questioning. "Alright, next question? Why were you inside this dungeon?" "My father put me in here. He said that I had something important to do once I get out of here. I don't remember how long ago it we were put in here or what I was meant to do, all I know is that I only had my sister to talk to." Lucy looks at her confused at the mention of someone else in the dungeon. "Who's your sister?" Celeste points over to the podium where Yuno found the mysterious scroll. "She's in that scroll over there. She's not actually my sister, but we got really close after so long, so we started calling each other sisters. She was also waiting for someone. I think it was, 'the one beloved by mana' that she was waiting for." She then notices Yuno looking at her with confused look on his face before giving him a smile. "I guess you must be the one that she chose. Please treat my sister nicely, she can be kind of a brat sometimes."

"Last question," Lucy asks, "Who is this father you keep mentioning?" Celeste puts her hands on her head, trying to remember her father. "I can't remember what his name was. I remember he said something there was something important that I had to do, but I have no idea what." Before the young girl can continue, Luck senses a magical signature outside the door and calls out to the rest of them. "Guys, look out!"

The door explodes and smoke billows throughout the room as Mars once again appears in his giant suit of diamond armor. He wastes no time and uses his surprise to shoot out a small diamond blade at Asta. A combination of shock, not being able to see the attack through the smoke, and being unable to sense mana, Asta gets impaled by the blade and falls to the ground. Noelle and Mimosa cry out in terror at the sight of the short swordsman bleeding out on the ground. "ASTAAAAAA!"

Mars then traps the Yuno, Gray, Luck, and Natsu in diamonds, leaving them unable to break free. Confused at how quick he was able to recover, Gray realizes that the invading wizard was wreathed in flames. "Flame Recovery Magic: Phoenix Robe" 'He has a self-healing magic of a completely different element! How is that possible?!' He then notices the stitched up grimoire with two diamonds on it. 'The Diamond Kingdom must have done something to his grimoire and gave him extra abilities! Regardless, the girls aren't strong enough to handle this guy on their own! If none of us break out, they're screwed!'

While Mimosa starts healing Asta and Noelle casts Sea Dragons Lair to protect them, Lucy is left as the only one who can fight. "Celeste, Happy, you need to go and hide! Just stay back, while I handle this!" She then pulls out one of her gold keys before summoning it. "Open! Gate of the Heavenly Scales! Libra!" A woman with tanned skin and dark brown hair in the styles of cones pointing upwards in different directions appeared. She wore a red and yellow hair band and a gold and green dancer suit. She had scales on each hand hanging from her fingers and a white cloth with the Libra symbol on it covering her lower face. "Libra, increase his gravity!" Libra moves her hand to the ground, causing Mars's gravity to increase as he sinks further and further into the ground below. In retaliation, Mars summons dozens of small diamond blades to shoot out at her. "Mineral Creation Magic: Harpe." "Libra, make me lighter!" The swords shoot out at Lucy, forcing Libra to change the target of her gravity from Mars to Lucy, reducing gravity's effect on her letting Lucy move faster than normal and dodge the swarm of blades. Unfortunately, a blade shoots out and hits Libra, sending her back to the celestial spirit realm in a golden glow. Lucy gets distracted at Libra's defeat and cries out in worry. "Libra!"

Lucy's gravity turns off mid jump and she crashes to the ground violently. She manages to regain her bearings in time to start rolling on the ground and dodging more of Mars's flying swords. Once the barrage of blades stop coming down, Lucy gets back up to her feet before summoning another spirit. "Open! Gate of the Paired Fish! Pisces!" Two figures appear in a golden glow, revealing themselves to be two fish themed people. One is a man with brown skin and gray spiky hair that is bare chested while wielding a spear. The other is a woman with long dark blue hair and a blue long-sleeved shirt with aqua patterns that leaves her stomach and the inside of her breasts exposed. The fish-man speaks as he readies his spear. "Mom, it seems like we have a tough opponent in front of us." The fish-woman prepares to charge alongside her son. "Yes, but our job is to exterminate the enemy!" The mother and son then jump in the air before shooting a stream of water at Mars, the son shooting it out of his trident while the mother summons it from her feet. The water hits him, undoing his healing flames, but Mars is unfazed by the attack and summons his giant sword again. It crashes into the family duo, undoing their summoning.

Lucy looks on in fear as she sees her spirits being defeated one after the other. 'What do I do? Taurus can't handle that swarm of blades attack, and Virgo can only build holes, which isn't helpful right now. Cancer's scissors almost certainly aren't strong enough to cut through his diamonds, and I don't have any water to summon Aquarius!' She then remembers a discussion she had with her father long ago when she once asked him for magical training. 'What do would you need magic training for? You're the heir to Heartfilia family, and you aren't going to waste your life on such a dangerous occupation! Your mother died from being a wizard, and I won't have you do the same!' Lucy hangs her head down and starts to cry as she thinks about what her father said to her. 'What was I even trying to do? I'm not as good as Natsu, Gray, and Erza. They've been doing this for years, while I'm just some rich fangirl who thought she could be a wizard. How could I ever even think I was anything but a burden to them.'

Mars raises his sword once more and prepares to slam his sword down upon the tearful wizard. Natsu notices Lucy crying and starts freaking out. "Luce, what are you doing, snap out of it! He's about to kill you!" Natsu tries harder to break out of his diamond prison, but his flames are useless against the minerals entrapping him. 'No, not again! I can't just sit her and watch this! At this rate… at this rate…!' Natsu remembers the face of a smiling girl with white hair 'I'll be home real soon.' He then remembers standing in front of a grave tearfully. 'I can't lose her again!'

Mars slams the sword down upon Lucy, but suddenly, Celeste appears in front of her and puts her hand out in front of her, summoning a golden aura that stops the sword in its place. The girl looks up at the man as white angelic wings appear on her back and her eyes turn from an emerald green to a bright yellow. "Leave my mother alone!" A golden wave shoots out from her, destroying the giant sword and knocking the diamond mages armor on its back. Lucy and the rest look at the sight in awe of the girl's awesome power before the girl falls behind into Lucy's arms. "Are you ok? What was that?" Lucy asks, "That amazing power, I've never felt anything like it." The girl looks up in pain at the celestial mage. "That is the power I'm meant to bestow upon my mother. To do so however, there is one thing I need to give you."

In a golden glow, a white grimoire with five leaves on it appears in her hands, causing Lucy to gasp. "This is grimoire is supposed to help you. I've used up all my energy right now so I can't explain until I've recovered, but my power is special. It is a power from where the inhabitants transcend even the stars themselves. It is the power…" Celeste trails off as the grimoire opens and she begins to get sucked into it and turns into particles of light.

"… of an angel."

Lucy gingerly grabs the grimoire and stares at it in shock and wonders out loud, "Is this… for me?" She then passes out as her repeated summons have magically drained her. Natsu calls out to the unconscious wizard. "Lucy! Are you okay? Wake up!" Unfortunately, the battle is not over as Mars manages to get up with a bloody mouth and summons two swords to crash onto Lucy and the recovering Asta. "Naive people like you can't be allowed to win against me!" Natsu and Yuno manage to finally break free and charge toward to their friends, but neither can prepare a spell in time to stop his attack. 'It's no use, neither of us will make it!' The swords mercilessly swing and down, ready to crush the wizards and-

Everything stops.

Mars, his swords, everyone else except Yuno and Natsu are stopped. Natsu doesn't notice and runs straight at Lucy. "Luce, answer me!" He notices that she's not breathing and begins to freak out. "No, it happened again. I couldn't save her.." That's when a voice responds to Natsu's crying. "No you idiot, she's fine, time has just stopped." Natsu looks around in confusion before snarling at the voice. "Hey, who the hell are you! Undo this weird spell on Luce!" The disembodied voice scoffs before answering. "Don't worry, this will be done in a moment. I just wanted to make me and Yuno's first time special. I have no idea why a dragon like you was able to keep moving, but whatever."

In front of Yuno, appears a yawning small green fairy with blonde hair, fairy wings, and a green dress. "Hello, I am Sylph, the Wind Spirit. Yuno, you are the one I have been waiting for. You met my sister Celeste earlier; I was the one she was talking about." Natsu suddenly pops up next to her with an excited look on his face. "Wow, a real fairy! Wait till I tell Gramps about this! Wait!" Natsu then looks at her intently before crying out in dismay. "No, you don't have a tail! Now we're gonna have to rename the guild if we want that to make sense!"

Yuno and the wind spirit stare at Natsu's theatrics before ignoring him. "Anyway, I don't have much time, I just figured this would be a cool way to show you my power before we properly meet. Let me just handle this guy real quick." The green fairy turns towards the diamond mage before putting her hand in front of her face and giving a small blow in his direction. "All right, we're done here. Yuno, you better start thinking of a name for me. The name Sylph is so last 500 years ago. Also, you should probably hurry out of here soon." With that, the fairy turns into wind before going into Yuno's grimoire. Once she does, time resumes and Mars going flying, crashing into a wall and his entire suit of armor destroyed. Everyone looks in shock at the split-second attack before Mars's diamonds dissipate off of Luck and Gray. Gray looks at Natsu and Yuno in confusion before asking, "What the hell just happened?"

Before any explanations can be given, the room starts to shake and fall apart. Yuno looks at Gray before saying, "I don't know."


So, a lot to unpack this chapter, huh? Let's start from the top.

I changed how the guild system works and how Fairy Tail is perceived a bit so that they're underdogs like the Black Bulls are in Black Clover. I also made Yami a wizard saint instead of Makarov because it feels like something he would do in that situation.

The discussion between Asta, Yuno, Noelle, and Mimosa about a team is something I want to lean into, but don't know how successful it'll be because I have no idea when that team dynamic would even play out. If I ever do get the chance, I'll call them team "Black Clover" because Noelle and Mimosa will vote Asta as team leader and he'll pick name because of his grimoire and that they met Fairy Tail in Clover (kinda).

We also had Asta and Yuno bonding with Natsu and Gray. I like the idea of them being experienced mentors for these two to bond with. Gray and Yuno even have similar backstories if you think about it, being orphans from a snowy country in the north that gets ruined by demons. Who knows, maybe that might come up ;)?

We also finally got introduced to my first OC, Celeste the angel that will be inhabiting Lucy's new grimoire. I like the brotherly relationship that Asta and Liebe have, which we'll eventually go into later in the story once Spade stuff starts happening, so I wanted to do something similar with the Lucy and Celeste. Lucy will have to grow into a motherly role for her new angel and discover who this mysterious father is that placed her in the dungeon. As well as how her family has ties to many ancient secrets of the Fiore Kingdom.

I feel like some people might think I'm hating on Lucy with that little bit at the end of her fight, but that is not what that is. I love Lucy and her growth from shallow fangirl to someone willing to die for her friends, this is just her coming to grips with the fact that she's not as good as the rest of her team – yet.

Lastly, I changed the scene with Bell a bit because we never really find out why she was sealed in a room with the Demon Dweller sword anyway, or why she seems so different after her first few interactions with Yuno. I decided to give her later personality already and to give some sort of explanation to her stopping time in her first appearance. By the way, I never expected that to come back, so I was shocked when it did in the final arc.

You probably noticed Natsu moving when time was stopped as well. I just like the idea that Natsu is completely immune to any sort of time stop powers due to END. He wasn't even in full demon mode when he fought Dimaria and it didn't work, so that's how it works here, and I'll explain more on that later.

That's it for this chapter, next time we'll be going into the Royal Capital Assault Arc, which will have some revelations about the three new girls in Fairy Tail.

Next time: "Royal Legacy"