Hi everyone, thanks for your patience. I apologize for making you wait, but I have been getting extra hours at work, not to mention that I have other stories I'd like to work on, so I haven't been able to update this story as much. And so, we have the final filler chapter before we kick off the first major arc of this story. With all that being said, let's get started.

Poker King and Rock Queen

A luxury cruise ship couldn't even begin to describe the vessel that sailed through the river. It seemed more like the equivalent of a fancy casino hotel on a boat. The top deck had an outdoor restaurant and a bar, while all the lower floors carried everything from a casino to even an auditorium where a ban played.

"Wow!" Wendy, Happy, and Patty all exclaimed in awe as they looked down at the casino from an upper level. Both girls were dressed in fancy attire, as opposed to Trish and Modeus behind them, who simply wore their casual attire along with Happy and Carla.

"This is amazing!" Wendy looked around. "Look at all these people and games!"

"Yeah, you'd never know we were on a ship!" Patty stated as well.

"The renowned casino ship of Port Garlington." Trish began. "Along with the obvious casino, this thing's got restaurants, a pool bar, a spa, and just about everything else a rich fat cat could want."

"I wanna play all these games!" Happy was about to fly down and join on the fun, only for Carla to pull back on his tail.

"We are here for business, not pleasure! Remember?!" Carla scolded him.

"I agree, I've seen similar places myself." Modeus said. "Though most of these people might be here on vacation, there are those who are also looking to gain more money, usually through gambling or even less than reputable methods. So, you two should stay close." Modeus advised Wendy and Patty in particular as the group walked on.

"So, all these people are gamblers?" Patty asked, looking around.

"Some are, yes." Trish replied. "Others are people with too much time and money on their hands."

"Hey, where are Dante, Natsu, and everyone else?" Wendy asked. "I don't see them anywhere."

"Just further up. Come on." Modeus led the group on.

Meanwhile, in a large corner chamber on the other side of the ship; Dante sat at the end of a table, playing a round of Poker with a group of individuals consisting of a man in a white suit and rings on all his fingers, an elderly man with glasses and a beard and mustache, a woman in fancy dresswear, and a man who appeared to be shaking like a leaf. Sitting at the couch on the far side of the room where Natsu, Lisanna, Gray, and Lucy, all of whom had fancy dresswear of their own, as opposed to Dante's normal attire. As Dante continued to play, the four Fairy Tail members watched and listened to the game closely, while Natsu helped himself to the bowl of peanuts on the table in front of him. Erza was also present, as the card dealer for the game Dante was playing, dressed for the part, and ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

"Two pairs." Dante put his hand down.

"My apologies, but I believe this hand is mine." The man in white showed his cards. "Three of a kind."

"Damn it." Dante muttered as his opponent took the chips. "Well, no big deal. This game's just getting underway, and the fun's just beginning."

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it." The man in white seemed to agree. "The longer one gambles, the more interesting it becomes, the same as a kiss."

The woman gave a slight chuckle as she looked to the other players. "If you're able to beat me, I'll give you a nice long kiss, the likes of which you'd never experienced."

The elderly man gave a laugh. "Now that's something to look forward to. I better be careful not to lose the clothes off my back."

However, those in Fairy Tail seemed to pay more attention to the man who looked more nervous than anyone else.

"That the guy?" Gray asked, whispering among his friends.

"Yep, that's him." Lucy confirmed.

"Who are these guys anyway?" Natsu asked.

"The man who won the last hand is called 'Gold Arm Joe." Lisanna began. "Said to have a golden arm. The woman is called 'Lucky Amanda', said to have the luck of a goddess even."

"Seems like another stuck up lady to me." Natsu brushed off. "I don't see anything lucky about her."

"The older guy next to her, they call him 'Santa Clause'." Lucy continued as well.

"Why? Cause he's got that white beard?" Gray asked.

"No, its because most of his games has him walking away with a bag full of money." Lucy replied. "He's a real ace at this game."

"And they're all human?" Gray asked Natsu specifically.

"I can't quite tell." Natsu began to explain. "Ever since this thing started, there's been some kind of odor in the air that's blocking everyone else's scents. I can't really tell who's who."

Lisanna gave a sigh. "Guess we knew it wouldn't be so easy."

As Erza began to deal the cards for the next hand, she casted a knowing glance towards Dante, who responded with a subtle look of his own. One look into the eyes of all these people and they both knew, despite most of their refined appearances and demeanor, there was an intense amount of greed in each of them: all save one, the same man who continued to look incredibly tense, the same one that was centered around their current job.

Flashback – A couple days ago – Fairy Tail guildhall.

"Please…" A woman by the name of Sara begged as she sat at a table with Dante, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy, and Lucy around her; along with Wendy, Patty, Trish, Modeus, and Carla listening in as well. "Save my husband, Paul."

"Why? It's not like this guy's been kidnapped or anything." Natsu brushed off slightly.

"Gambling is a pretty serious thing, Natsu." Lucy told him.

"When did this start happening?" Erza asked Sara as she looked at a photograp of the couple.

"He was a straight and narrow man before we got married." Sara explained. "But it's like he became a different person all of a sudden and got addicted to gambling."

"Sounds pretty serious." Happy noted.

"Yeah, it's serious, but it's not something that we can actually help with." Gray said. "We're not licensed therapists."

"Yep. Gambling is like a sickness, but there's one difference between getting a gambling addiction and catching the common cold." Dante added. "There's no medicine they found yet to cure yourself from it."

"Nobody to beat up, can't help ya. Sorry." Natsu shrugged.

"You guys don't have to be so blunt about it, ya know!" Lucy scolded both of them.

"But they do have a point." Erza admitted. "This isn't something that we can help with. We might be able to recommend a therapist or someone else who can help your husband with his issue, but that's all we can do. I'm sorry."

"Really? We can't help them?" Lisanna asked in surprise.

"Please!" Sara continued to beg. "If my husband goes on like this, he could be killed!"

"Come on, don't be so cold." Morrison spoke to the group as he walked closer toward them. "Look, I know it might not sound like it, but this job could be right up your guys' ally."

That really got everyone's attention, even causing Wendy, Carla, Patty, to exchange surprised expressions with Modeus and Trish.

End Flashback

Erza had dealt all the cards to everyone at the table. Dante looked at his hand; the cards he had face-up were the Jack and Six of Diamonds, with the Queen and King of Hearts. The card he had face-down was the five of diamonds. It was no good. "Pass."

"Raise…" Paul stuttered; his cards consisting of the Eight and Six of Hearts, Jack and Eight of Clubs, with the Eight of Diamonds face-down. "I'll raise you five hundred."

"Fold." Gold-Arm Joe also conceded.

"I'm dropping out too." Lucky Amanda also said

"I'll call." Dante put in a few extra chips.

Santa Clause paid a glance at Paul, almost as if he could read his expression. "Call."

Paul revealed his hand. "Three of a kind."

Dante also showed his hand. "Nothing."

"Ha!" Santa Clause laughed as he showed his hand; the Seven and Two of Hearts, Seven of Diamonds, and Seven and Two of Spades. "Sorry kids, Full House!"

"Uh… what do houses have to do with this?" Natsu asked in confusion with a question mark over his head. "I don't get this at all."

"Course you don't, cause you're an idiot." Gray commented with lowered eyelids.

"Poker's actually a pretty simple game, Natsu." Lisanna told him. "I could help explain it to you as it goes on."

"Just be sure that you still pay attention." Lucy added. "We still have a job to do, after all."

"If this keeps up, I'll be going home with a bag full of money again." Santa Clause said as he pulled in all the chips.

"I see, so that's why you're called Santa Clause." Lucky Amanda commented. "It's a clever nickname."

"Thank you." Santa Clause replied. "When tonight's game is over, why not let me treat you to breakfast?"

"Sure." Lucy Amanda responded. "That is, as long you're not thrown out by then for being flat broke."

Gold-Arm Joe gave a laugh of his own. "We have quite a collection of inflated egos here, don't we? By the way, have any of you heard of a gambler known as 'King'?"

This got everyone's attention, particularly those among Fairy Tail as they all paid close attention.

"Yes, one hears of him quite a lot, as of late." Lucky Amanda answered. "Apparently, he's supposed to be a gambler from Hell who takes the lives of his opponents."

"Nothing but silly rumors." Santa Clause seemed to brush off.

"They most definitely, are." Gold-Arm Joe continued. "However, it is true that a certain number of Gamblers have died after losing to this mysterious individual, just under a hundred total, in fact. I'm guessing that's why we got some fancy wizards here." Gold-Arm Joe glanced back towards the members of Fairy Tail, all four of them having serious expressions on their faces. "That's right, isn't it? You want to hunt down King and bring him to justice?"

"You seem to know a lot about this guy." Gray narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to be King, would you?"

"Maybe." Gold-Arm Joe continued to speak rather cryptically. "But some say he's a white-bearded elderly man, others say King is a charming, beautiful woman. But the truth is, nobody knows for sure what he or she looks like. But still, if such a person actually exists, what would you give to play a hand or two with this remarkable competitor?"

Flashback

"King?" Wendy asked as the group sat in the Fairy Tail guildhall shortly after Sara left.

"Yes." Morrison confirmed. "It's said that he's a gambler who brings death. There've been a number of well-known gamblers who recently gone missing; ninety-six in total."

"Ninety-six?!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise. "And the Magic Council hasn't caught him yet? They don't even know what he looks like?!"

"Yeah, you'd think with a body-count that high, you'd have wanted posters everywhere." Gray added.

"Well, nobody has any proof that this King actually exists, it's just been rumors." Morrison continued as he smoked his cigarette. "The only common thread is, they all went out to play cards and they never came back. Before long, rumors spread like wildfire, people saying that anybody plays this 'King' will end up dead."

"So, what you're saying is, this King could be a demon or maybe even a dark wizard who uses some form of magic to take the lives of those who play with him." Erza remarked.

"Modeus, Trish, do you guys know any demon named King?" Happy asked.

"Doesn't ring a bell." Trish shrugged.

"The name is unfamiliar to me as well." Modeus also said. "Though it could just be an alias to conceal his or her identity."

"So how are we supposed to find this guy anyway?" Natsu asked.

"I have to agree." Carla also spoke. "Without knowing his target or when, we are essentially running blind."

"We could draw him out with a card game of our own, use bait." Dante said. "If he's a demon, and he's got a chance to take out the Son of Sparda, it would be irresistible."

"Uh Dante, no offense pal, but you suck at card games." Gray pointed out.

"Aye. You can't even beat Patty here, and she's a little girl." Happy pointed out.

"You still owe me six ice cream cones for the games you lost to me earlier." Patty also said.

"Hey, I'm nice to the kids." Dante brushed off.

"Yeah, you really are nice." Wendy said.

"Thank you." Dante smiled.

"But, I gotta agree with everyone else in saying that card games aren't your strong suit, Dante." Wendy smiled apologetically, causing Dante's smile to fade.

"Oooh, you want some of the kid's healing magic for that burn." Trish smirked, which Dante waved off.

"But still, even if we do have an ace at card games here in the guild, we got no idea how find this King guy." Lisanna reminded. "Like Natsu and Carla said, if we just go around playing cards wherever, it could take forever."

"And an infinite amount of money, which none of us probably have, considering where Fairy Tail is right now." Lucy added.

Morrison then pulled out a small box with a sealed envelope and placed it on the table, much to everyone's confusion.

"What's that?" Natsu asked.

"It's an invitation to that luxury cruise ship turned casino operating a few towns over." Morrison explained. "It was sent by King."

That got everyone's attention. "Whoa! King actually invited us?!" Happy exclaimed in surprise.

"Nope, they invited Dante." Morrison replied as Dante opened up the box to reveal a fancy pocket watch that someone rich would own. "And get this, the letter even says that Paul guy is gonna be there to. Way I see it, two birds, one stone."

The group looked amongst each other as it seemed they now had a job to undertake. "I don't know who this King-guy is, but he seems like one stuck-up son of a bitch." Dante commented as he looked inside the watch with a smirk. "That is if anyone's asking me."

End Flashback.

"So, if King's really here among us, and I beat him, my reputation will soar even higher." Gold-Arm Joe smirked ambitiously.

"Yeah… King is among us." Dante said. "I have a feeling we'll all eventually find out." He casted a glance towards Erza, as well as the rest of his friends, as they all looked ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

Erza then dealt the cards as Gold-Arm Joe looked at his hand, consisting of Jack and Nine of Spades, Jack of Hearts, and Nine of Clubs with his face-up cards, though his face-down card remained a mystery. "Three thousand."

"Fold, I'm out." Lucky Amanda decided to drop out this round.

"I fold as well." Even Santa Clause backed out.

"I don't have enough chips." Dante said.

Gold-Arm Joe chuckled. "Well then, I guess you'll just sit there and watch quietly."

"I'll raise…" Paul stuttered. "I'll raise… five thousand…"

"Oh? The game is on." Gold-Arm Joe looked even more intrigued, while Paul's eyes wavered.

"Hey you." Dante got Paul's attention. "You're shaking like a leaf. Don't you think it's better for you to go home, before you make your pretty wife cry?"

"Leave me alone!" Paul snapped. "Just be quiet!"

"What's up with this guy?" Natsu asked. "It's like he's in a trance or something."

"That's how addiction works." Lucy replied. "Before you know it, you're hooked, and you can't find the will stop."

Back at the game, Gold-Arm Joe looked at Paul's hand, his face-up cards including the Jack and Eight of Clubs, the Eight of Hearts, and Eight of Spades, his face-down card still unknown.

'Hmm, he's holding Three of a Kind.' Gold-Arm Joe thought to himself. 'His face-down card could give him a Full House. Just to be safe…' He slightly lifted his own face-down card, revealed to be a Two of Hearts, before subtly using his magic to change it into a Nine of Hearts. This did not go unnoticed by Erza, who casted a glance in his direction, believing she found the prime suspect for King.

"Alright, let's play! I'm all in!" Gold-Arm Joe stated.

"Well, it's time for a showdown, then." Lucky Amanda commented as everyone paid attention as Gold-Arm Joe unveiled his hand.

"Full House!"

Everyone then turned their attention to Paul who revealed his face-down card to be the Eight of Diamonds. "Four of… a Kind!" He stuttered in surprise before standing up in celebration. "I… I did it! I won! I WON!"

However, the celebration came to an end as Gold-Arm Joe suddenly clutched his chest in pain, much to everyone's surprise. "That's… not…!" Suddenly, he fell face-down on the table.

"What the…?!" Natsu shouted as he, Gray, Lucy, and Lisanna stood up, with Erza quickly made his way toward him and checked for a pulse, but she found none.

"He's dead…!"

"What?!" Gray exclaimed.

"How…? We were here the whole time!" Lisanna stated. "Nobody else came in!'

"Could this mean that you're King?" Lucky Amanda paid a glance toward the shocked Paul.

"No… What are you saying?! I'm… I'm…!" Paul backed away as Santa Clause stood up.

"Just take it easy, let's take a deep breath everyone." He spoke, trying to defuse the obvious tension.

"Take it easy?! A man just died!" Lucy exclaimed, but Santa Clause appeared to ignore her.

"Miss, call a person in charge, and I'd like a hot cappuccino, please." Santa Clause said to Erza as he sat back down.

"Right away." Erza nodded, still under the guise of the dealer employed on the ship.

"Are they serious right now?" Gray muttered. "Someone just died, and they want to keep playing?!"

"They gotta be under some kind of spell." Lisanna assumed. "Either that, or they just don't care."

"Yeah, this King guy is definitely gotta be here." Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Natsu?"

"Still nothing." Natsu shook his head. "My nose is still blocked; it could be any of them."

Lucy Amanda had stood up and walked around Dante before speaking in a low whisper. "Wherever King appears, that place is governed by death's rule. Maybe the rumors are true?"

"I wonder…" Dante replied as Erza placed a blanket cover over Gold-Arm Joe's body. "If you're scared, you should just go home, get in bed, and go to sleep."

"Well, aren't we arrogant?" Lucky Amanda said, sounding not even remotely intimidating. "Maybe your king."

"Maybe I am." Dante responded. "But we'll know the truth soon enough, and I'll bet the reveal will be the most fun of the night."

"You can have your fun, but don't you think you're the most likely to go broke next?" Lucky Amanda asked, referring to the fact that he had the least amount of chips out of everyone present.

"The real pleasure of gambling is turning the tables completely, right in the final moments of the game." Dante said.

"What are you talking about?" Patty questioned as she, Wendy, Happy, Carla, Modeus, and Trish had just walked into the room. "You're losing, just like we predicted, aren't you?"

"Patty?! What are you doing here?!" Lucy exclaimed, with the rest of her friends looking in surprise.

"Taking over from here, what else?" Patty replied.

"Hold on a second!" Gray tried to step in and stop her, but the other players seemed more intrigued.

"Interesting… it's best to teach them just how cruel the world can be while they're still young." Santa Clause said with a smirk before glancing at Wendy. "Is that little cutie going to play as well?"

"You better not get any funny ideas with those two, gramps." Natsu practically growled, with Lisanna putting a firm grip on his shoulder to keep him from acting out, but she casted a glare as well; along with Trish, Carla, and Modeus who stood rather protectively around Wendy who looked more than a little freaked herself.

Outside the room, Erza saw the ship's attendants wheel out Gold-Arm Joe's body. She turned around and noticed that Sara was present as well.

"So, you're here as well."

"I heard there was a big poker tournament on this ship and I… well…I just had to come" Sara tried to explain.

"Your husband hasn't lost anything, yet." Erza said as she tried to look deeper into Sara, getting the feeling that something was off about her. "If you don't mind, I would recommend that you'd convince him to leave. This particular game isn't safe, lives could be lost here."

"No… it's not like I can get him to stop anyway." Sara responded, which only seemed to make Erza that much more suspicious.

Meanwhile, in a completely separate location, a group of Fairy Tail members consisting of Gajeel, Levy, Panther-Lily, along with Lady and Mirajane were undertaking their own job. Their job was to act as bodyguards for a group of treasure hunters as they search through a large, abandoned building for anything of value. It seemed like a simple job, one that paid well. Levy asked Gajeel and Lily to join her, as Jet and Droy were injured in a previous job; though Gajeel initially said it would be a waste of time, he still ended up joining her upon her insistence, even though she never actually insisted. Lady also joined in, thinking that if a fight broke out, it might be a good opportunity to break in her Devil Slayer Magic, and Mira choose to accompany her, just in case Lady's magic went out of control, and Lady didn't seem to mind.

However, the second they got there, pretty much all the guys were swarming around Mira, asking her for autographs or even pictures. "Thank you. You're all very sweet." Mira smiled in seeming obliviousness while her friends hung back from said group that appeared to be engulfed in a big glowing heart.

"Some things never change, do they?" Levy observed with an unsurprised smile.

"Mirajane must truly be powerful if she has this many followers, even after her seven-year disappearance." Lily assumed.

"Oh, she's powerful alright, but it's her hot bod they're more paying attention to." Gajeel commented, though that particular comment didn't sit well with Levy, evident by the anime anger mark on her head.

"Can't blame em." Lady said. "If you're the number one bikini model on a magazine, you're also stalker material."

"Alright guys, that's enough! Give her some space!" The leader of the treasure hunters broke it all up, allowing them to focus on their job as they began to search through the large attic of the building for anything valuable. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, I don't mind really." Mira smiled.

"Well, thank you, all of you for accepting this position." He spoke to the gathered members of Fairy Tail. "My name is Tim, I'm the head of the group."

"Nice to meet you." Levy shook his hand. "Happy to help."

"Can I get you all some coffee?" Tim offered.

"Sure, thanks." Lady accepted as all five of them, even Lily, were handed some mugs as the treasure hunters were already working.

"Hey, gotta ask, but what's a bunch of treasure hunters need bodyguards for?" Gajeel asked.

"There are a lot of people out there who are willing to pay enormous sums of money for priceless antiques." Tim explained. "Sometimes they will even try to kill the owner to get their hands on what I find."

"Are you speaking from experience?" Lily asked.

"I've gotten a few death threats, but no actual attempts, at least not yet." Tim replied. "But our job is admittedly just treasure hunting, all of us are pretty lossy when it comes to fighting."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure the bad guys get a proper beating if they decide they want to kill you or your friends." Mira maintained her carefree smile.

"Better believe it." Lady commented toward Tim. "She might look sweet and innocent, but there's a real devil underneath that smile of hers."

Tim chuckled nervously. "Well… I don't expect anything here, but I appreciate the effort."

"Hey Tim! We should liven things up!" One of the hunters spoke. "Why don't you play something!?"

"Yeah, you bet!" Tim called back as he pulled out an old record player.

"What is that?" Lily asked, never seeing a record player before.

"It's a record player." Levy explained. "We use it to listen to music that's recorded on it."

"Hmm, interesting." Lily seemed quite amused by it.

"Hey, what kind of record is that?" Lady asked.

"What you mean this? Now this… is something special." Tim showed the record which had the image of a mermaid on it with the name 'Elena Huston' on it. "It's by the legendary Rock Queen, Elena Huston. First record she ever recorded, and it's all mine, the real thing."

"You're a real fan, huh?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah, but this record here is filled with her soul." Tim continued. "The purest soul there ever was."

"Then why don't we give it a go?" Mira suggested. "Since you're such a fan."

This caused Tim to look in minor surprise, something Gajeel and Lady both noticed. "Yeah, let's give it a spin. It's good to have a listen to every now and then." He then set up the record player and put the record in. Once the needle hit the groove, the song immediately began to play.

To say it was catchy was an understatement. Already, many of the hunters were already dancing and tapping to the music, even Gajeel tapped his foot a bit with a smirk. However, Lady noticed something of a sad look in Tim's eyes.

Meanwhile, in an unknown location, despite appearing to be somewhere far away, a single creature heard the music that was being played on the record. Hearing this music appeared to wake her up, almost from a deep slumber as her eyes shot open to reveal a set of demonic-like slits.

"I can hear it… I can hear it… that's mine…"

"Huh, not bad." Gajeel commented, still tapping his foot

"Yes, honestly I've never heard anything like it." Lily commented with a smile. "But then again, I haven't listened to much music, so I'm not quite fit to judge."

"Well, I think it's beautiful." Mira smiled. "She has such a lovely voice."

"You really think so?" Tim asked. "Most people thought her voice was husky, but the music just…"

"Just seems to strike you right in the soul?" Lady finished.

"Yeah." Tim continued with a nod. "Did you know she started writing the tune and lyrics for these while she was just a musician on the street?"

"Must be a pretty big fan to know that." Levy said. "You've been following her shows around?"

"Eh… yeah, something like that." Tim stuttered slightly, with Lady noticing the change in the tone of his voice.

However, Gajeel's nose picked up an odd whiff, causing him to look serious as he stood up straight, which his friends all noticed.

"Gajeel?" Lily asked.

"We got company. And it ain't human." The Iron Dragon Slayer was already ready for a fight, causing the rest of his comrades to become serious, especially when they, and all the treasure hunters, noticed a bright red glow coming from outside.

"Time to get to work." Lady stated.

"Everyone! Find a safe place to hide! Quickly!" Levy told all the treasure hunters as they tried to find some form of cover.

Tim looked ready to remove the record player, with the music still playing. "No, keep it going." Gajeel told him. "You need music if you wanna party? Right?" He finished with a smirk.

"That sounds like something Dante would say." Mira commented.

"Sue me." Gajeel grumbled as all the windows shattered and a multitude of small, lizard-like demons flew in. "Iron Dragon Sword!" Gajeel's right arm turned into a sword as he began slice and cut down the demons that were the closest to him. Panther-Lily did the same as he grew to his muscular form and drew Baskerville to slice through the lizard demons that leapt toward him.

"Solid Script: Fire!" Levy wrote the word 'fire' in the air, which was literally made out of flames, before it expanded outward to incinerate many lizard demons near her. Mira also provided some assistance as she stood back-to-back with Levy and extended her hand to shoot dark energy streams to kill any demons that tried to leap toward the hiding treasure hunters.

Lady pulled out her pistols and opened fire as well, though she could have used her Devil Slayer Magic on them, she chose not to as they seemed rather small fry and thought it would be a waste to use it on weak demons like these. Some of the treasure hunters even pulled out pistols of their own and tried to help out. With their combined efforts, these tiny lizard demons were put down quickly and easily.

However, they would soon come face-to-face with the true demon responsible for this attack as she stood in the broken window. She looked somewhat human as she wore a skin-tight, white leather suit. She had long, pointed ears, gills on her neck with various markings on her face. She had incredibly long arms with claws for hands and clawed feet as well. Her hair was incredibly long and pale white.

The creature unleashed a sonic-scream from her gills, one so intense, that it not only blew many of the treasure hunters back, but even forced the Fairy Tail members to cover their ears.

"Damn that's annoying!" Gajeel exclaimed.

"It's a sonic attack!" Lily shouted.

"No shit!" Lady exclaimed.

"It hurts…!" Levy appeared in the most amount of pain from this attack, excluding Gajeel as the intense sound really pounded away at his enhanced hearing.

Even Mira covered her ears, but she was far from helpless. "Take Over: Satan Soul!" She underwent her titular transformation to become the She-Devil before lunging at the demon, forcing it to stop its attack as it avoided the devastating punch that tore through the wall by leaping toward the ceiling to blast Mira with a sonic attack, who proved quick enough to avoid it.

"Now this looks like a challenge." Lady stated, deciding now was the best time to test her magic. "Steel Devil Bullet Barrage!" Infusing her magic into her pistols, Lady shot a barrage of magic-bullets at the demon, but even then it was quite quick and avoided most of the shots. However, Lily flew right up to halt its path as he tried to swing Baskerville down on to it, but it was able to not only avoid the slice, but even swerve around Lily before slicing its claws at his back to knock him back slightly before blasting him with another sonic-attack from her mouth to send him crashing into Lady.

While Gajeel and Mira went on the attack; Levy quickly ran to Tim to try and help him up as he was already bleeding from his head. "Hold still… it's pretty deep." She told him as she tried to bandage the wound with a cloth she found.

However, as Tim glanced up at the demon that was evading the blows of Mira and Gajeel, and even retaliating with its own sonic-screams, one look into the demon's eyes, and he recognized her instantly.

"E… Elena…."

"What…?!" Levy breathed in shock.

Though it was a subtle whisper that one wouldn't normally overhear over the music and sounds of battle, the demon, revealed to be Elena Huston herself, heard the familiar voice. She turned briefly to see Tim's weakened state, along with Levy. This left it vulnerable for Mira to deck her across the face and let Gajeel strike her in the stomach with his Iron Club to send her crashing through the wall; but not before she unleashed a devastating sonic blast towards the roof, causing most of it to begin collapsing.

Mira was able to pull Lady out of the way, as did Panther-Lily for Gajeel. And while Levy quickly used her Solid Script magic to erect a shield, literally made of the word 'shield' to block the debris form hitting most of the people, it did manage to destroy most of the contents in the room, including the record player.

When all the dust settled, the treasure hunters all began to gather whatever they could salvage and began to pack it all up, leaving Mira to tend to Tim's injury, along with Gajeel, Lady, Levy, and Panther-Lily.

"You should be alright." Mira said, adjusting the proper bandage. "Though it might leave a small scar."

"Thank you." Tim said sincerely before a look of grief fell upon his face. "There's no doubt about it, that was Elena back there."

"As in that Elena Huston musician you told us about?" Lily asked.

"Yes." Tim confirmed.

"What happened to her?" Levy asked. "Did she… turn into some kind of monster?"

"That thing was definitely a demon, I could tell by how it smelled." Gajeel stated.

"Not just any demon, it was a siren." Lady explained. "A special type of demon that has a thing for music or sound-based attacks. I've dealt with a few myself back in the good old days."

Mira looked toward Tim with a serious expression. "When you were talking about her back there… you're not just a fan of Elena Huston, are you? You actually know her."

"Yeah… I did." Tim said as he pulled out a photograph and handed it to Mira, allowing her, and all her guildmates to see. The photo was of Tim, Elena, and three other men, all smiling and laughing together.

"Elena and I were childhood friends." Tim began to explain to the group. "I was just a plain, good-for-nothing kid, but Elena was different. She was this brilliant signer. How can I say it? Her voice had this stranger power that just drew people in. Neither of us were born with any magic power, but it was like her voice was a magic that was all its own. I was just one of those who was spell-bound by the very sound of it. I had this intense desire to have more people listen to her songs, even if it was just one more person. In the beginning, all she had was a guitar, but before long, she got a band together and put out shows in the streets. And soon, the whole city got to know her voice."

"But that wasn't enough, was it?" Gajeel asked. "You guys wanted to make it big, right?"

"Yeah." Tim responded. "Elena was the one with all the talent, I just played dress up. I put on the suit and the tie, went all around town making the sale pitches, I needed to help her anyway I could. But the road was paved with so many rejections, with no backing from anyone. Just putting out a single record was further away from a dream. But it's a dream we had together."

"Were you and Elena… more than friends?" Mira asked. "Because from the sound of it… you love her."

Tim looked down with a sad smile. "Maybe I did… but… it didn't quite seem like it was mutual."

"What do you mean?" Lady asked.

"Well, our work suddenly began to pay off." Tim continued. "We got our shot at a major debut and she gradually got more gigs. When we finally got that first album released, something we wanted for so long, we started getting popular."

"Then let me guess, the popularity went to her head and that's when all the drama started, right?" Gajeel asked, only to receive an elbow from Levy.

"Can't you try to be even a little bit sensitive?! Is that so hard for you?!" Levy questioned angrily.

"Actually, that's just about right." Tim said, much to the group's surprise. "But it wasn't just Elena. These really strange things began to happen to all the fans that were listening to her records"

"What strange things?" Lily questioned as the group began to pay close attention.

"The fans lost themselves in the excitement, and in the end, all kinds of people started committing suicide or even murdering one another to get tickets to her concerts." Tim replied, taking many of them by surprise.

"I've heard of crazed fans, but that's an all-new extreme!" Levy exclaimed in horror, already imagining such a dreadful sight.

"I have a feeling though this wasn't a natural phenomenon." Lily assumed.

"Tim, I'm sorry if this is troubling, but we need to know more." Mira told him. Tim understood and continued to explain the story.

"Like I said, Elena herself also began to change. The more her spell-bound fans went crazy and out of control, the further she withdrew from me and the other guys in the band. And then she just… left. She wanted to be all on her own and… that was the last I saw her… until tonight."

"So what? Her music turned her into a demon or something?" Gajeel questioned.

"No, if I had to guess, I'd say that demon is possessing her." Mira assumed. "The siren must have noticed just how much people were captivated by Elena's music, that it took control over her and used her songs to control all those people to ensue chaos."

"If she is being possessed, is there a way to remove this siren from her? To separate them?" Lily asked, which caught Tim's attention.

"Well, I wouldn't know." Lady shrugged. "I'm not an exorcist or anything, so I can't say."

"No, but maybe there is a way to remove the siren from her." Mira said.

"For real? You know how to do that?" Levy asked in surprise.

"I'm a Take-Over user." Mira began to explain. "That means I'm able to bind the abilities of other creatures with myself, my soul to be specific. By extension, this also means I'm capable of understanding the fundamental basis of the creatures that I use, and in my case, it means I can understand the abilities of demons. If I can make contact Elena, I might be able to use a similar method in reverse to separate the siren from her. Since Elena's being possessed, and they're not the same individual, it should be able to work."

"Really? Can… can you do that?" Tim asked with a hopeful expression. "Can you help Elena?"

"Yes. I believe we can." Mira confirmed.

Cruise Ship

"What? This child is really playing for him?" Lucky Amanda questioned as Patty sat down at the poker table in Dante's place.

"The hell she is!" Gray stated. "This ain't a kids' game, Patty!"

"I'm not here for kids' games, so drop the high and mighty attitude, will ya?" Patty cast a glare at Gray.

"Patty, seriously this is a matter of life-and-death." Lisanna told her. "You can't play!"

"And aren't you way too young?" Natsu also put in. "Don't they have an age-limit?"

"That is exactly what I told her!" Carla stated. "Patty, you must withdraw this instant! Think about the bad example you are setting for Wendy!"

"I'm standing right here, you know?" Wendy reminded.

"Come on Patty, you need to stop and just let Dante handle this." Happy also told her.

"Get off my case, will you!?" Patty exclaimed to all of them. "I know what I'm doing, I'm not some stupid little kid." She looked directly toward Erza. "Deal the cards."

"Erza! Come on! You know this is nuts!" Natsu told her.

"And when Natsu says it's nuts, you know it's nuts!" Happy added.

"Very well." Erza acknowledged Patty's request and began dealing the cards, resulting in all her friends turning comically white in surprise.

"She's really doing it!" They all exclaimed at the same time.

"What the hell is Patty even doing here?!" Lucy questioned as she and Dante spoke to Trish and Modeus in the hallway outside. "You know how dangerous this is!"

"Hey, the brat stowed away on us." Trish said in an irritated tone of voice, indicating she's not happy about it either. "By the time we got here, she was already dressed up. I swear, that girl could give Houdini a run for his money."

"I understand why you feel concerned, but we all know the plan." Modeus said as he reached into his coat to pull out a familiar box and handed it to Dante. "I trust you know what you're doing, Dante."

"So, we still have no idea who King is?" Trish asked.

"Not yet. He's a clever one." Dante said as he took out a familiar pocket-watch from the box.

"Guess we got no choice." Lucy relented with a concerned expression. "Good luck, Dante." She told her cousin as he put the pocket watch on.

Patty had only made it through one hand as she struggled to make her decision, with all her friends hanging right behind her to make sure nothing bad happened.

"Come on honey, make up your mind." Lucky Amanda told her. "Are you in? Or are you out?"

Santa Clause gave a chuckle. "You seem to have an aptitude, but you sure got a long way to go."

Dante then came up from behind and picked up Patty from underneath her arms. "Time for a substitution."

"Thank you!" Carla exclaimed. "Children should not be associating with these people, anyway!"

"Come on! I was just getting warmed up!" Patty pouted as Dante sat down.

"You whine worse than Natsu." Dante told her as he sat down.

"Hey!" Natsu comically yelled.

"This my job, and I'm gonna do it. So, go sit down with everyone else." Dante told them.

"Come on Patty." Lucy led the girl away as they were followed by their friends, excluding Erza who remained under her guise as the dealer.

"I played it safe like you guys told me." Patty spoke to Trish and Modeus in particular. "But these people are good. Dante's going to get eaten alive."

"No argument there." Trish replied. "But he's got a plan, and all we can do is watch."

"Just have faith in Dante, Patty." Wendy told her. "He can do it; I know he can."

"That's right." Gray nodded. "And all we can do is just sit back and watch."

As everyone else sat down, Dante continued to play the game. "I fold." He said upon seeing he had a bad hand.

Santa Clause got a look at his hand and saw that while it wasn't bad, it wasn't unbeatable. 'Two pairs, eh?' He glanced toward Lucky Amanda, viewing her as his greatest threat. 'She's the only one who seems to have a decent hand. With those cards, she could have Three of a Kind. If she does, I'm finished.' However, he saw her play with her hair a little bit, which seemed to be all that he needed to see. 'Ah, she always plays with her hair when she's bluffing. She's not playing Three of a Kind, it's a bluff.' He then put most of his chips in.

"I'll raise eight thousand and call."

"I fold." Paul chose to concede.

"Smart move." Santa Clause said with a laugh, thinking he had won.

"Hold on." Lucky Amanda said. "I'll raise fifteen thousand and call. I'm all in."

"Hmmp, trying to bring me down with a bluff." Santa Clause scoffed. "I see right through you, young lady. Fine, it's on. I'm all in."

"Ah, too bad." Lucky Amanda smiled triumphantly. "Looks I got you grandpa." She showed her entire hand. "Three of a Kind. I win."

Though incredibly shocked by his loss, Santa Clause appeared to act like a graceful looser. "So, you did get me, looks like senility is setting in for me." He stood up from his chair. "Please excuse me, the looser will silently take his leave from the stage." However, he didn't get very far as he suddenly fell to the ground dead, much to everyone's surprise, particularly Wendy, Patty, and Happy. Modeus put a firm and comforting hand on Wendy's shoulder, while Lucy did the same for Patty in a protective fashion.

"Now we know for sure, someone here is King." Dante said with a serious expression as Erza cast a glance at the remaining two competitors.

"Let's continue the game." Paul insisted.

"Interesting." Lucky Amanda smiled almost evilly. "But I won't lose out to anyone with my luck. You watch, I'll annihilate this King!"

"What in the world is going on?" Wendy asked, fear evident in her voice. "They could die, and they still want to play? Aren't they scared?"

"That's part of the thrill." Trish said. "For some people who get addicted to gambling, it's not just about the money, it's the thrill they get as they do it."

"Still though, even with the thrill, this isn't normal." Modeus said as he narrowed his eyes at the game with Erza dealing out the cars. "I have a feeling there's more to this job than we know."

Meanwhile, back with Mira's group, they were still in the same building as they tried to figure out a way to stop the siren possessing Elena.

"Her music?" Levy asked.

"Yeah, I think she's searching for her own songs." Tim said. "It sounds crazy, I know."

"So, we use it as bait to draw her out." Panther-Lily understood.

"One problem though." Lady held the broken record in her hands. "It was smashed during the fight, how the hell are we gonna draw her out now?"

"With this." Mira held up a guitar in her hands. "If we play the song ourselves, it should get her attention."

"Where'd you get that?" Levy asked.

"It was in one of the boxes in the attic." Mira answered before tossing the guitar toward Gajeel, who didn't appear as enthusiastic as one would think.

"Hmm, who'd a thought my raw talent would be used for devil hunting."

"Just don't try and sing, you'll crack our ears worse than that siren." Lady stated, causing the Iron Dragon Slayer to grumble in annoyance.

"You sure this will work?" Tim asked, not even trying to hide the obvious concern in his voice. "You can help Elena?"

"I'm sure." Mira nodded with a serious expression. Levy, Lady, Panther-Lily, and even Gajeel nodded in understanding as well.

Gajeel then sat down on a box at the center of what appeared to be an old and abandoned stage, the moonlight shining down from a broken window almost like a spotlight. After tunning the guitar to make sure it worked, he then began to play the same song he heard from the record, and it was near identical to what they all heard.

The guitar's sound was heard all throughout the building, even in the room where the possessed Elena was huddled up in. The second she heard the guitar's strumming; she slowly began to stand up and walk to the source of the sound.

"My song…" She spoke aloud, her voice sounding human.

"You want your songs back, don't you?" The siren spoke in her head as Elena walked through the hallway, closer and closer to the sound of the guitar. "If you do, you're going to have to kill those who stand in the way. You have to kill for your precious, precious, songs. Let's kill them…. Let's crush them… let's do it for your songs… the most precious things to you… Let's kill, kill, kill, and then let's kill some more!"

She could hear the guitar's repeating rhythm clearer as she came even closer, her body looking even more demonic than before.

"You said it, didn't you?" The siren continued to lull in her mind. "That for your songs, you would sacrifice anything!"

"For… my songs…" Elena muttered as she came to a stop briefly.

"Yes." The siren spoke to her. "For my songs! Let's kill! Ah wonderful… wonderful… the best! The Rock Queen!"

Gajeel continued to play as he caught the demon's scent in the air and glanced in the direction as he saw the demon-possessed Elena walk into the auditorium. "Got ya."

The siren roared as it leapt into to the air and gunned straight for Gajeel, who swung and slammed the guitar right into its face, shattering it on impact to send it rolling across the ground.

"DO IT! NOW!" Gajeel yelled.

"Solid Script: Chains!" Levy wrote the word 'chains' in the air, made out of metal, which transformed into a long series of chains that shot out to ensnare the siren and bind its arms to its sides. Before it could even begin struggling; Lady and Panther-Lily, in his muscular form, leapt down from the ceiling to grab and hold the struggling and wailing siren down.

"Hold her still!" Mira quickly ran up and placed both her hands on the creature's chest and channeled her own power directly into it. "This is body… this woman… is not your plaything! You will release her! NOW!" Both Mira, and the possessed Elena, were engulfed in a sphere of dark magic, the kind that Mira uses in her Satan Soul form, before it exploded in a dark flash.

When the flash subsided, the siren was sent flying and crashing into the wall, while Elena, who had been successfully exorcised, fell unconscious in Mira's arms.

"Elena!" Tim shouted as he ran onto the scene. "Is she…?!"

"Quick, take her and hide!" Mira handed Elena's unconscious form to Tim before turning toward the dust cloud. "This isn't over yet!"

Tim nodded before taking Elena and hiding in the hallway adjacent from the auditorium just as the siren leapt from the dust, gunning straight for Mira, only for Gajeel to slug it across the face with an iron-pillar for his right arm, sending it flying towards Lily who attempted to swing Baskerville at it, but the siren quickly recovered and grabbed the blade before using it to propel over Lilly and into the air.

"Steel Devil Rage!"

"Iron Dragon Roar!"

Lady and Gajeel launched their respective breath attacks, which the siren couldn't avoid, being caught in the crossfire as the attacks shot through the ceiling. Though the attack grazed the siren across the sides, causing it to scream in pain as it felt like a burning sensation where Lady's attack had struck. However, that pain turned into fear as a shadow loomed over it and the siren gulped at the sight of the hovering Mirajane in her Satan Soul form before it went on the attack.

"Demon Blast!" She blasted a stream of dark energy, scoring a direct hit on the siren to send it crashing onto the ground.

However, the siren was quick to recover as it desperately launched the biggest sonic attack from its throat it could muster; causing Gajeel, Mira, Lily, Lady, and even Levy to cover their ears, but Levy seemed prepared for this.

"Solid Script: Silent!" The word 'silent' was written in blue letters before it shot at the siren and cancelled out its attack. This was the moment Lady needed to thrust her Steel Devil Void Blade right into its throat.

The siren gasped for breath as it glared hatefully at the Fairy Tail members around it. "Mark my words…. You're all going to regret this…!"

"Put a sock in it, bitch." Lady swung her bladed arm to full decapitate the demon, causing its body to vanish into dust. With the threat dealt with, Mira and Levy turned back into their respective normal forms as the group slowly approached Tim who continued to hold Elena in his arms.

"Elena… Elena! Elena… Please Elena, just open your eyes and look at me, you can do it…!" Tim begged with shaky eyes. And much to his joy and relief, her eyes opened. "Elena! You just hang in there a little while longer, I'll get a doctor for you."

"Tim… it was you…?" The weakened Elena muttered. "You… you still had my… record…?"

"Yeah, the record we made together. Remember, Elena?" Tim asked, tears of joy already flowing through is eyes. "Because… you're truly the greatest…"

"Oh… Tim…" Elena smiled before she fell unconscious.

"Elena…!" Tim voiced in alarm, but Mira kneeled down to give her a brief look over.

"She should be fine." Mira assured. "Just get her to a doctor, and she'll be alright."

"Thank you." Tears of joy were already flowing down his eyes. "Thank you all so much."

Gajeel put a hand on Tim's back as he continued to hold Elena, a gesture that caused Levy and Panther-Lily to share smiles with each other. Even Lady couldn't help but smile as well as she glanced at Mira who had a small tear of joy in her right eye.

Cruise Ship

Meanwhile, Dante's game of poker had continued all throughout the night. He, Lucky Amanda, and even Paul seemed to be locked in a bitter stalemate with each other. Erza continued to deal the cards as her eyes scanned either of Dante's opponents for any sign of suspicion. Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gray, Lisanna, Wendy, Carla, Patty, Modeus, and Trish continued to watch from the back, each of them on the edge of their seats, many of them were already sweating.

This intense poker had even continued all the way till sunrise where Paul showed his hand, consisting of the Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Diamonds. "Straight flush. I win."

While Dante had folded beforehand, Lucky Amanda hadn't as she stood up in disbelief. "This can't be! I'm known as Lucky Amanda! There's no way I could lose! I don't lose!" But it was already too late, she fell back to the ground, dead just like everyone else before her.

"Another one…" Happy muttered. "But… if it's just Dante and Paul…"

"Does that mean Paul is King?" Lisanna questioned.

"I still can't tell! My senses are totally blocked!" Natsu exclaimed.

"So are mine!" Even Wendy stated.

"This is crazy!? What the heck are we supposed to do!?" Gray questioned.

"Nothing, other than standing back and watch." Modeus responded with a grave tone as everyone continued to pay close attention to what could unfold next.

"Well now, I guess it comes down to you and me then." Dante said, staring right back at Paul on the other side of the table. "I didn't think you'd be left standing this long."

"If I beat… If I beat, you here… that would make me King…" Paul stuttered as a crazed look formed on his face. "Well come on! Deal the cards!"

"This guy's unraveling." Lucy muttered.

"Yeah, whatever happens next, it's not going to be pretty." Trish narrowed her eyes.

Erza then shuffled the deck of cards in her hand before dealing them out. She made sure to hand one to Dante and then one to Paul, but something was off. The cards Dante had face-up included the Queen, Jack, and Ten of Spades; while Paul's face-up cards were the Queen, Ten, and Ace of Hearts.

'What's going on?' Erza thought to herself. 'I know I shuffled these cards thoroughly… but how can they have these cards? When this is all dealt, both of them could have a Royal Straight Flush.'

"All in." Paul was already putting all his chips in.

"You're still on your fourth card." Dante pointed out.

"How about we say that whatever happens next, we showdown?" Paul challenged. "It looks like both of us, got a final attack to launch."

"Fine, so it's all or nothing. I accept." Dante said. "But I'm afraid I'm a little low on chips. If I lose, I'll pay the difference with my life. Sound good?"

"It's a deal." Paul replied. "Now come on, let's have it. Let's see that last card."

Dante was then dealt the King of Spades, and Paul was given the Jack of Hearts. Now everyone was paying close attention, the tension in the air was so thick, one could cut it with a knife.

"So, it's a showdown!" Paul exclaimed as he filled up his face-down card. Erza's eyes widened once she saw it.

'The King of Hearts! A Royal Straight Flush! And Dante…!' She urgently turned toward him to see him reveal his own face-down card: The Ace of Spades.

"Royal Straight Flush." Dante declared. "When two players have the same hand, Spades win."

Paul looked in genuine horror, knowing what his fate was next. "Sara… I'm sorry." He fell face-flat on the table, the life in him now extinguished.

"He did it…" Patty said in relief. "Dante won, Lucy!" She exclaimed happily toward Lucy, only to look in surprise at seeing the tense look in Lucy's hadn't faded, if anything, it just grew even more. "Lucy?" She looked and saw that everyone else had the exact same expression, even Wendy looked more than a little scared.

All eyes set upon Dante as he stood up with a laugh. "There's nothing in this world as interesting as when people are gambling, especially when they're betting their lives. It's the greatest… right Erza!?" He pulled out his Ebony pistol and shot at Erza, who quickly drew her sword to block the bullet.

"Dante! What are you doing!?" Patty exclaimed in shock as everyone stood up, with Lucy keeping a firm and protective grip around Patty.

"This isn't over yet." Dante said as he faced his scarlet-haired companion. "Erza, the next game is against you, my gun against your sword. The rules are simple, whoever kills the other first, wins." He smiled evilly as he aimed his Ebony pistol again and shot at Erza, who blocked the bullet with her sword before rushing at Dante in break-neck speed to impale him with her blade.

"DANTE!" Patty screamed as she saw Dante's stabbed body fall to the ground, Lucy still holding her tightly. "WHY!? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, ERZA!? HE'S YOUR FRIEND, ISN'T HE!? LET GO OF ME, LUCY! LET GO! WHY WOULD YOU ALL LET THIS HAPPEN!"

"Cause the real King just showed up!" Natsu stated with a growl as he turned toward the entrance, already hearing the sound of clapping, which drew everyone's attention as Sara revealed herself. "It was you, wasn't it?!"

"Can't pull one over the likes of a Dragon Slayer, can I?" Sara asked with an evil smile. "Those heightened senses of yours can be annoying. But since I spread my magic over this room, it made it all the more difficult for you to locate me, right? But the game over, the spell was lifted. Now you can sense my true nature."

"She's King?!" Gray exclaimed.

"But I thought King was supposed to be a guy!" Happy exclaimed.

"But you were at the guildhall!" Wendy also exclaimed. "I could smell that you were human!"

"Oh, that wasn't me." Sara, now revealed to be King, began to explain. "That was a real human woman, and that man over there is her husband." She said, referring to Paul's lifeless body. "He really did have something of a gambling addiction, which I took advantage of. I took the form of a human and told her about Fairy Tail and sent her on your guild's path. After you accepted her request, I killed her myself and took her form."

"You killed her?!" Lisanna exclaimed in shock.

"She set this whole damn thing up." Trish scowled.

"Why would you do this?!" Erza questioned. "Why go to such lengths!?"

"Here's the thing when it comes to my power." King explained. "There's a reason I targeted gamblers. Every single one of them, including those who played here tonight, was given an item, from which I bestowed my magic would find themselves captivated by gambling in exchange for extraordinary luck, and that person would act as 'King'. And that's not even the best part, once a person with my item loses, my magic not only sucks the life away from them, it also feeds me their souls."

"Their souls…?" Lucy looked more than a little frightened.

"Certain demons are capable of consuming the souls of other living beings, notably humans, and even other demons, and use their souls to feed their power." Modeus explained, glaring at King.

"Quite correct." King confirmed. "I expected no less than one who was trained by that wretched Dark Knight. And with the end of this game, not only do I have the combined power of one hundred total human souls in me, I've also gained the soul of Sparda's youngest son! With all that power, I can easily become a Demon Lord in the Underworld! And what better way to test out this power… then by killing every single person on this ship!"

King then began to reveal its true form. Its entire skin turned purple, its hair shot in the air and rose to long lengths, and red vein-like markings all over its body. However, before it could attack…

*BANG!*

The right side of King's face had been blown off by a sudden gunshot, something they all recognized as while Patty looked with relief and joy, all his friends in Fairy Tail only had knowing smirks on their faces.

"Did you get all that, cousin?" Lucy asked as Dante pulled himself up.

"Yep." Dante said as he pulled out the sword Erza stabbed him with. "Demon sure loves to run its mouth, doesn't it?"

"Dante!" Patty exclaimed in joy.

"How did you…?!" King stuttered.

"Pal, you know how many times this guy has been stabbed?" Gray said with a smirk, pointing his thumb at Dante. "Like he's gonna be done in that easily."

"You might have set us up for a trap, but we had a trap of our own." Natsu smirked as well.

"And we only just figured out what was going on by chance." Dante said as he reached into his coat to pull out the pocket watch that King had given to him, or what was left of it when Erza ran her blade through it.

Flashback

As Dante and Lucy sat in his apartment, discussing what their plan would be for their mission on the cruise ship, Patty spotted the pocket watch on his desk, next to his hanging coat. Curiosity peeking, she picked it up to take a look at it.

Suddenly, the cousins heard a crash to see the coatrack, and Dante's jacket, fallen on to the ground, and her back turned toward them. "Patty?" Lucy asked.

"A game Dante… let's play a game…" Patty turned around with a deranged smile, the pocket watch worn around her neck, and Dante's Ebony pistol in her hand. "Are you going to die, or am I?"

"Patty!" Lucy exclaimed in alarm.

"Stop!" Dante quickly rushed her just as she shot the gun. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but Patty was knocked unconscious as Dante glanced at the pocket watch.

End Flashback

"After that, Dante told us what had happened." Erza told King with a fierce glare. "It wasn't hard to deduce that watch was what allowed you to control your victims."

"Though we didn't expect you to take the form of the woman who hired us, nor did we expect your ability to consume the souls of others." Modeus said as the group consisting of himself, Dante, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lisanna, Trish, and Lucy began to circle all around King; with Wendy, Carla, and Happy staying close to Patty.

"But it was nice of you to show up and brag about your victory." Trish smirked.

"Still can't believe you actually fell for it!" Natsu said with a comically trolling grin. "Good old plan D! Deceive the demonic dummies!"

King snarled as its injury began to heal. "So, you were pretending to be possessed by its magic?!"

"Nope, I was entirely possessed by it." Dante said.

"Dante's not that good when it comes to card games." Lisanna said. "But it was the only way for him to stay in the game long enough to draw you out."

"Yeah, you know you suck when you need a demon luck charm to stay in the game." Gray trolled, though Dante chose to ignore it.

"So how about a new game?" Lucy glared as she pulled out the Morning Star. "Us versus you! Whoever beats the other first wins!"

"Sounds fun to me!" Natsu had his trademark smirks as both his fists lit on fire.

"Attack!" Erza exclaimed as they all lunged at King, who leapt in the air to avoid the combined assault, only to quickly rush toward the wall and run across it to avoid the electric bullets shot by Trish with her Luce and Umbre guns, with Dante adding to it with his own shots from Ebony and Ivory. However, King didn't get very far as Gray prepared an attack.

"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray shot a flurry of ice-lanes at King, forcing the demon to convert his arms into blades and quickly swing them to deflect the projectiles. Suddenly, Erza appeared behind King, in her Heaven's Wheel Armor. King could just barley defend itself from a sword-strike from Erza to send him crashing to the ground.

"Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" Natsu rushed past King, scoring a hit to send it flying. But King quickly recovered and shot toward Natsu for an attack, but Lisanna, in her She-Cat Take Over, was already in front of Natsu to slice her claws at King, who had to block the attack with its bladed-arms, allowing Lucy to ensnare King with her Morning Star chain and slam it on the ground.

"This guy's tougher than he looks." Natsu commented as King wrenched itself free from Lucy's weapon, only to be placed on the defensive from Modeus' relentless slashes with his Hunter's Moon sword. But he quickly disappeared from sight.

"A fast one." Modeus commented as they saw King hanging from the chandeliered.

"How can this guy move so fast?" Gray questioned.

"King has the consumed one hundred human souls; can I assume that has made him so strong?" Erza asked Trish.

"Yeah, with that power, he's not your run-of-the mill demon anymore." Trish replied before smirking. "But he's nowhere near invincible."

"Then let's put this sucker down!" Dante shot the chandelier causing it to fall as King from it with a scowl.

'Damn it!' King thought to himself. 'If I had Dante's soul, I could easily slaughter them!' King shifted its gaze toward Patty. 'If I take that brat hostage, they won't be able to touch me!' King shot itself directly toward Patty, only for Wendy to quickly block its path.

"Sky Dragon Roar!" Wendy scored a direct hit with her breath attack to send King crashing into the wall on the other side.

"Get him into the air! He can't counter us all at once!" Erza exclaimed.

Wendy and Natsu glanced each other, both nodding toward each other just as King recovered.

"Fire Dragon Roar!"

"Sky Dragon Wing Attack!"

Wendy's attack created two walls of air that surrounded and condensed Natsu's breath attack into an even faster and more powerful strike, one that King couldn't dodge. The blast sent King flying into the air; where everyone else had already met him and leapt at him from all sides.

Dante swung Rebellion, Erza sliced with two blades in her hands, Modeus swung Hunter's Moon, Gray slashed with his own ice-sword, Lisanna lashed out with her cat-claws, Trish swung with the Devil Sword Sparda; and even Lucy leapt from below to lash out the Morning Star. King desperately swung both his bladed arms to slice and parry the attacks.

*SLASH!*

When it was all done, a massive gash was sliced along the walls of the entire room in circular fashion. Everyone scattered around King, Dante being the closest as multiple cards fell all across the ground.

"King of Hearts." King called as it had said card on one of its bladed arms.

"Ace of Spades." Dante said as he also had the same card on the tip of Rebellion. "We win." With that, King's body fell to the ground in a dead hump before vanishing into dust.

Later that day; both Dante's and Mira's teams had returned to the guildhall to talk about their respective adventures; while Dante, Natsu, Gajeel, and even Patty sat at a table, playing a round of poker.

"So, you guys took on a siren?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, it was one heck of a ride." Levy replied. "But that King-guy sounded like one tough customer. Kinda glad we didn't face him."

"I wish I had, would have gotten a bit more exercise with my magic." Lady commented.

"Well, I think you're coming along quite nicely, Lady." Mira smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Before long, you'll be unstoppable."

"Guess I better watch my back." Trish joked.

"So, let me see if I understand your plan correctly." Lily spoke to the group from the cruise ship. "Dante allowed himself to be possessed to purposely draw out this demon?"

"Aye sir. Pretty cool how we fooled em." Happy confirmed.

"A rather unorthodox method, but our goal was accomplished regardless." Carla said.

"But I feel kinda bad about Paul and Sara…" Wendy said in a downed tone. "And all those other people who died."

Modeus put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Wendy, the hardest thing about this kind of life is… we can't always save everybody." He said before giving a genuine smile. "But we don't stop trying."

"Indeed." Erza added. "If we hadn't stopped King, countless other people could have fallen victim to his cruel methods. So be proud of yourself, you helped to put an end to him."

Though she did feel guilty a bit, this did help to perk Wendy up a bit as she smiled.

"We might not have saved them, but I'm glad that Elena singer you guys saved is gonna be alright." Lisanna said.

"Yeah, she and Tim are doing fine now." Mira smiled. "They make such a cute couple."

"Let's not sweat the small stuff. Now come on, let's do this thing, guys." Dante said to his three opponents at the table.

"Don't get too cocky, bub." Gajeel smirked. "Now that you don't have your good luck charm, your easy prey."

"I could say the same to you, Metalhead" Natsu kept his gaze on the cards in his hand.

"Please. If a meathead like you wins, I'll dye my hair black." Patty pouted.

"You better have some hair dye handy then." Natsu had a borderline evil look on his face.

"Since when does Natsu know how to play poker?" Levy asked as everyone else paid close attention to the game.

"We taught him the rules so that he'd better follow along while Dante played." Lisanna explained.

"Okay, now this I gotta see." Lady smirked, expecting a good show as everyone paid close attention.

"Between Dante and Natsu, I'm not sure who's probably gonna suck the most." Gray cracked.

"Yeah, one sucks at cards, the other's a total idiot." Trish joked.

"That was harsh!" Lucy exclaimed. "You guys got a serious mean streak in you, you know that?"

"Come on Lucy, you gotta admit it's true." Happy told her.

"Okay, let's see who's got what." Dante said as they began to each lay their hands out one-at-a-time.

"A Full House!" Gajeel presented his hand, consisting of Nine of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, and three Kings.

"Four of a kind." Dante smirked, presenting a better hand, which consisted of two Fours of Spades, a Four of Hears, and a Four of Clubs, with a Queen of Diamonds. "Guess I win. Looks my luck is beginning to turn."

However, Patty presented her hand, which contained a Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all of Spades. "Royal Straight Flush." She smirked triumphantly, much to Dante and Gajeel's annoyance. "I win. That's another ice cream cone to your debt."

Suddenly, Natsu put his cards down. The five cards he had were four Sixes, along with the one-of-a-kind Joker card. "Five of a kind."

With that, everyone in the guildhall gave an audible gasp as they looked with circular eyes, shrunken pupils, and dropped jaws.

"The highest possible hand, with four matching cards, and the wild joker. I win!" Natsu laughed, much to everyone's shock.

"But… but how…?" Patty stuttered.

"Hey, you guys taught me the rules." Natsu smirked. "And while I couldn't sniff out King, my ears worked just fine. I listened to those other card-guys and picked up a few of their tricks. Looks like I'm the king of this round!"

As Natsu continued to laugh and dance in triumph, everybody looked in absolute disbelief.

"Please tell me he's joking…!" Gray muttered.

"Natsu's… actually good at poker….!" Happy's whole body shook.

"Oh god… what have we done….?" Lucy also muttered, comical fear clear in her voice.

"We've created a monster…" Lisanna stuttered in the same tone.

As Patty's jaw had not picked up off the ground, Gajeel handed her a bottle. "Here's some black hair dye." He said, his eyes still circular like plates as Patty took the bottle without even replying with a single word.

Dante wasn't over this surprise either as he flicked the cards in his hand into the air. "The hell with this."

Done.

And thus, concludes the last of the filler chapters. I hope you all enjoyed reading this, I actually had some fun by combining two episodes together. I decided to put in the 'Rock Queen' episode as a sub-plot to give Lady a chance to shine with her Steel Devil Slayer magic. Though it wasn't much, she'll get some more chances to come in this coming arc, which should be tons of fun as we are finally introduced to a certain DMC character, I know you've all been asking about for a long time.

I promise to have it up soon, after all my other stories are updated that is. Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. Peace out.