106

Harry watched two matches come and go with little interest. The first match with Millianna was okay with her strange cat-like magic, but the next match...Harry cringed in sympathy. Eve Team had gone up against Rufus Lore from Sabertooth. It had been very one-sided with Eve getting his butt handed to him on a platter.

Watching that fight had made Harry's dislike for Sabertooth worse and reminded him of his own interference stopping Rufus from completely winning the very first game on day 1.

'I want to have another crack at that guy. Someone needs to drag him off his high horse,' thought Harry with a clenched fist.

"Our next match of the day is Laxus from Fairy Tail Team B and Alexei from Team Raven Tail!" called out the pumpkin mascot.

"Well, it's finally my turn," said Laxus. "I'm glad that I get a chance to beat one of my father's guild members as my first match in this game."

Harry smirked, "Don't make it too one-sided like the last fight. I think everyone wants to see you in action for longer than 10 seconds."

Laxus lifted an eyebrow at him. "You think that guy could last that long? I think you're overestimating him, Harry." Laxus didn't wait for a reply from Harry. He turned and walked off for the arena.

Harry shook his head with a chuckle passing his lips. Laxus might be right with his words. He looked over to Raven Tail and saw Voldemort leaning against a wall in the shade. The red eyes of the monster looked up and met his own green eyes. Harry quickly looked away so Voldemort couldn't read his thoughts, but he caught a glimpse of a smirk from the man.

The young-ish wizard returned his gaze upon the arena and saw that Laxus and Alexei were already facing each other and waiting for the match to begin. When it was announced by Pumpkin, Alexei made the first move and punched Laxus in the face. The Raven Tail mage didn't let up and continued to attack. Harry was confused as to why it seemed that Laxus wasn't fighting back. Was he testing the water? Was he waiting till the man dropped his guard? What was he doing?

Harry shook his head to clear it of the questions. None of them made any sense. Laxus would never do this for any reason. So something else must be going on.

'But what could it be?' After a few minutes into the fight, Harry noticed more than two life forces had entered the arena from the Raven Tail stand. He looked up to see them all still there, but they weren't giving off life, including the guild master. How did he miss that? But that didn't matter at the moment. What did matter was that Raven Tail was cheating by attacking Laxus together and no one noticed. Harry turned to leave so he could be in a better position to use a revealing spell, but as he turned he almost crashed into a pale, greenish chest covered in a black, silky robe.

~Meanwhile with Laxus~

Laxus stared ahead at the man he's about to fight. He couldn't make out any of Alexei's features due to the armored mask he wears. Under the black cloak, Laxus could see more of the golden armor.

"So, you're from my old man's guild, huh? Tell me who you are," Laxus said with authority in his voice. Instead of an answer, Alexei moved and attacked him, but it wasn't really them fighting. The Raven Tail mage set up an illusion for everyone to see, and it was annoying him because the fake Laxus was getting his butt kicked.

"What is this?" he asked, tone lacking in any form of amusement.

"It's my illusion magic," said Alexei. "No one can see or hear our real selves right now. All they see is the illusions fighting. I must say that I did a very good job, no one suspects a thing."

Laxus looked around the crowd and noticed that his guildmates looked shocked to see him getting beat, but also noticed that Harry looked lost for a moment, but was deep in thought shortly after. Clearly, Alexei wasn't as good as he thought, but Laxus wasn't about to draw the dark mage's attention to his friend.

"It would seem that your guild admires you. I wonder how they are feeling right now watching this," said Alexei.

Laxus' eyes narrowed. "You talk too much. How about you tell me what your intentions are because I don't see why you would use this cheap illusion to win."

"You are right. It's not victory we're here for. The illusion is nothing more than a smoke-screen so we may talk uninterrupted."

Laxus raised an eyebrow at that. "To talk huh…"

"Depending on how our conversation goes, I could have the illusion show you winning this match, but if it doesn't go well, I guess everyone will just have to accept that I was the better opponent."

Laxus removed his coak from his shoulders and got into a fighting stance. "Not interested. I'm not going to allow some illusion created by my enemy to decide who wins and loses. I'll just beat the real you right here, right now, and put an end to this," he said with sparks flying off his arms.

All of a sudden, the whole Raven Tail team, minus Voldemort, were standing in front of him. "That's impossible," said Flare with a wide grin.

"Reality can be cruel sometimes," said Nullpudding.

"Even you can't possibly defeat all of us at once," said Alexei.

"Ha, looks like you're missing a member," said Laxus.

"Voldemort joined us not long ago, so I'm not too surprised. He's only interested in that wizard that keeps escaping death's cold hands." As Alexei was talking, he removed his mask, showing his face for the first time. Under the mask was his father, Ivan. "But let's get back on track. You should remember my strength, right stupid son?"

Laxus was not surprised to see that it was his father who was hiding under that mask. "Let's just get this battle started alrighty," he said, sounding bored, but internally he was happy to get the chance to defeat everyone in his father's guild, including his sucky pops.

"Before we do, I know Makarov would rather day than ever open his mouth, but you're different, right? So tell me where is the Lumen Histoire?"

"What are you talking about?" Laxus asked. He had no idea what this Lumen Histoire was. He's never even heard of it.

"Really? Don't play dumb, Makarov must have told you."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"So what you're saying is would you pass a free win under these circumstances? You know it wouldn't be enough for myself and my guild if your illusion lost."

Laxus sighed in annoyance. 'Is he done talking yet?' he thought. His body sparked up again and he got into a ready stance once again. "Bring it on then. All of you at once, come at me. Master's enemy is my enemy, after all."

"Seems you need to be taught a lesson. Get ready to lose by the strength of Raven Tail," said Ivan, also getting ready for a fight, but Laxus could see the cocky look in his eyes as if he had already won. The rest of Raven Tail took their stances, and everything was still for a moment, and then blurs of movements colored the arena.

Ivan sent out what looked like paper dolls, thousands of them, at Laxus. Laxus covered himself with his arms, but the attack wasn't really affecting him. Ivan was shouting while he attacked, but the lightning dragon slayer wasn't paying attention.

Now the other members of Raven Tail started to join in on the action. Laxus charged forward and knocked out Nullpudding by slamming a fist into his block-like head into the hard ground of the arena as the short, purple guy was swinging a spiky-covered arm toward him. Laxus scoffed at how easy it was. No wonder Harry was playing with him on the first day. Next up was Flare. She didn't even stand a chance. She sent flaming threads of hair and wrapped it around him, but he just grabbed it and used it as a conductor. Lightning shot down the length of red hair and electrocuted the woman it was attached to.

After those two weak opponents, Laxus saw that the snake-ish looking man with black hair was the last one beside his own father. Laxus decided to just give him the mother of all backhands. No powers were needed to take him out of the equation. Finally, it was just him and Ivan. The older male looked on at his guildmates in shock, clearly not expecting his son to be this strong. That's what happens when you let Makarov stay as guild master.

"I don't have a clue what it is you're trying to pull, but I'm holding you responsible for hurting my friends," said Laxus.

"W-wait! I'm your father! You wouldn't hurt your father, would you? We're family!" Ivan said in a panic.

"My family is Fairy Tail!" Laxus shouted and took a deep breath to prepare a lightning spell. "Lightning Dragon's Roar!" Huge, bright bolts of lightning shot out from his mouth and engulfed Ivan until he could no longer be seen.

Laxus heard a crash hit the arena's wall behind where Ivan had once stood. He couldn't see, however, thanks to the dust, but as it cleared he could see Ivan covered in burn marks and twitching from the electricity. Gasps were heard from the crowd, making Laxus smirk.

'Seems like the illusion is gone,' he thought.

"What in the world?!" one of the judges said in shock.

Laxus decided not to pay attention. He knew he won by taking out four opponents single-handedly. He did hear someone say that Raven Tail was using foul play though. That made him snort. 'Of course, they did. They needed all the help they could get if they were trying to fight me.' He decided to leave the arena. But just as he was leaving, Ivan said something.

"The Lumen Histoire is Fairy Tail's darkest secret. Soon you will come to know Fairy Tail's true color." The old man began to laugh. Laxus watched as he was taken away by the guards in confusion.

'Fairy Tail's darkest secret? I guess I'll just have to ask the old man about it,' Laxus thought as he left to join the rest of his teammates.

~Meanwhile with Harry~

Harry looked up from the pale chest to meet the red, snake-like eyes of Voldemort. 'How did I not notice him when I was searching for lifeforce?' he thought.

{My guess, it's because his soul is tiny,} replied Fawkes.

Harry took a couple of steps back and demanded, "What are you doing here, Voldemort?" His voice caught the attention of his teammates, who have stopped watching Laxus get kicked around to face the immediate threat. All their body's tense at the sight of the dark lord and ready to fight.

Voldemort shrugged his shoulders. ~I'm sure you noticed that the Raven Tail "mages" are being cowards right about now. All of them should be attacking your friend as we speak. As much as I would like to hurt one of your friends, that's not why I'm here,~ he said as he leaned against the wall. ~I'm here because a source of mine said that Zeref's magic energy was felt here. I know you somehow became friends with him. I don't understand why someone as powerful and dark as he would befriend someone like you, but I guess it doesn't matter. But since you two are close, you should know where he is, right?~

"Harry, what is he saying?" asked Mira in confusion. Harry was confused and quickly looked back to her and placed himself more in between her and Voldemort, and then returned his green eyes back to the dark lord. That was when he realized that Voldemort wasn't speaking English. Harry felt relief at that, knowing that the others won't know about his connection with Zeref yet.

"I'll explain later," he whispered back. ~He's not here. Zeref told me about the same energy you're looking for and wanted me to find out what it is or what's causing it,~ he told Voldemort. 'At least now I know the magic wasn't coming from Voldemort. I'll have to let Zeref know. Maybe one of his demons is here?'

Voldemort sighed, ~What a shame. I know it's not one of his demons, and if it's not the man himself then it has to be one of his artifacts.~ Voldemort pushed himself off the wall with his wand gently held in his hand.

Harry tightened the grip he had on his wand, ready to block any attack the dark lord might throw at them, but before anything could happen between them, a crash happened just below them.

~It would seem Raven Tail was defeated,~ said Voldemort with no surprise coloring his tone, making Harry turn to see that Alexei was the cause of the crash, but he was no longer wearing his mask, showing that the man was really Ivan.

"Alexei was the guild master Ivan, and the rest of Raven Tail had attacked Laxus all at once, but wait, where Voldemort?" a judge questioned, and then Harry heard Natsu.

"Harry is being attacked!" Natsu shouted, but Harry had to disagree with him. He wasn't being attacked...yet.

"Well, I believe that is my cue to leave. I'll see you again soon, Harry Potter," Voldemort said as he vanished with a crack.

"Where did he go?" asked Gajeel as he looked around to see if he could spot the evil wizard, but Harry knew he wasn't going to find him. Harry tried to track him by following Voldemort's soul, but Fawkes was right, the soul was too small to pick up from far away.

"Hey, is everyone okay?" Harry saw Laxus walk out onto the platform with not a scratch on him.

Harry nodded his head. "Yeah, we're okay. Voldemort didn't do anything, just talked."

"What did he talk about?" asked Juvia.

"Just the same thing Jellal did. About how Zeref's magic was sensed here. He thought I might have known where he was." Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know why he thought I would know something."

"Did he leave Clover?" asked Laxus.

"I don't know, I can't sense him. I doubt he left though. Voldemort is not the kind to just give up on what he started. He thinks it's an artifact created by Zeref that is causing the magic energy. He could be right, but if he is, I would have to find it before he does."

"You? Don't you mean we?" questioned Mira.

"I don't want any of you to get hurt. Voldemort has always been my enemy, so he's my responsibility."

"Sorry, Harry, but the moment you joined Fairy Tail was when that guy became our enemy. You've been with us for how long and you still don't get that we look out for each other?" asked Laxus.

"He's right," said Mira.

"I'd say bring it on," said Gajeel with a dark smirk.

"Juvia is willing to fight too."

"Count me in!" said Kana, who was still with them from earlier.

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but then clicked his teeth together. He knew that if he tried to fight, then these guys would have the rest of the guild jumping down his throat. "We'll talk about this later," he said, and then turned around to see that the announcer was calling out the names of the next fighters.

"Wendy from Fairy Tail Team A, and Sherria from Lamia Scale!" Harry saw Wendy walk out into the arena with an air of confidence, along with a pink-haired girl about the same age.

'Well, I guess Wendy would be older than Sherria,' Harry thought with a humorous smile, which quickly turned into a frown. He lifted his head and looked around. 'Where is it?' he thought as he tried to pinpoint the dark magic energy that was supposed to belong to only Zeref.

He found what, or rather who, he was looking for. Not far from him was a figure hidden under a cloak. They started walking away, and Harry decided to quickly follow.

'Their life force feels familiar, but it isn't Zeref's. His magic is clinging to them like a scent, though.'

{You find something, Harry?} asked Fawkes.

{I think so.}

"Harry, where are you going?" asked Laxus.

"I need to talk to someone, be right back," Harry replied and Fawkes flashed him away and closer to where the person with Zeref's magic was.

It took Harry a few hours to track down the life force that carried Zeref's magic. He found them in an ally writing in a notebook. They didn't seem to notice him, so he snuck up from behind and said, "Excuse me, but who are you and why do you have Zeref's magic clinging to you?" The person jumped and dropped their book. They turned to face him but then took off. "Hey wait!" Harry called out with an outstretched hand, but they were gone before he could stop them. He lowered his hand and looked down at the book they dropped. 'Maybe this will hold the answers I'm looking for.' He picked it up, and on the page that the notebook was open to only had three words written on it: Dragon King Festival.

TBC

This took me a long time to write, but a lot has happened in this chapter. It has been a while since we had such a long chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. ;)

Natsu: I love how Laxus just one-shots everyone from Raven Tail. I'm just sad I never got to see it in person. :(

Enj/Dark: I know what you mean. It was awesome.

Zeref: I would have liked to see that too. Never really liked them.

Harry: I can see why you wouldn't, but what was it that they were talking about?

Voldemort: Fairy Tail's darkest secret? I want to learn more about that.

Enj/Dark: You would, but luckily, the story you won't find out about it, and I plan on keeping it that way. Natsu!

Natsu: Please review! XD