Happy first of July everyone, and we're back with yet another chapter of "A Quincy's Fairy Tail!" Needless to say, this is when things start picking up for the 'Battle of Fairy Tail'...at least, to an extent. You'll see what I mean as you read the chapter.

However, just like the Tower of Heaven, things are NOT like they were in canon. The stakes are higher, the enemies stronger and multiplied. Our hero's really have their work cut out for them this time around!

We also have the return of "The Thousand Year Blood War" just around the corner in a mere 7 more days (Ha! 7) and I'm HYPED to see how it is adapted(Minus the Giselle fight, that is going to SUCK). At the very least, I hope that Bambietta's future appearances in the anime will bring even more fans of this story into the fold.

Anyways, I think I've wasted enough of your time. Let's get right to it, shall we!?

Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo and Shönen Jump. Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima and Weekly Shönen Magazine. I own NOTHING. This is all just for fun.


"You seem quite excited, Wendy." Carla said as she gave up on keeping pace with Wendy, opting to take flight.

"I'm sorry, Carla," Wendy exclaimed, looking back over her shoulder. In her hands was a sealed letter she kept pressed firmly against her chest, the mage nearly bounding with each step. "It's just... we haven't gotten a chance to write to Master Roubaul in a while! Not since the whole thing at the Tower of Heaven! He's probably worried sick about us!"

Ever since the young dragon slayer had left Cait Shelter to become a part of Fairy Tail, Wendy had gone out of her way to make sure she wrote a letter to Master Roubaul about once a week. In nearly every one, she had regaled an adventure, some big, some small, that she and her new friends had gone on. He almost always sent a letter back immediately, much to her joy.

"I'm sure he knows we're both fine," Carla replied, catching up with Wendy and flying by her side. "Though I may find her a scoundrel at times, Bambietta was the right choice for him to select in keeping you safe. You and I..."

"You really think she's a scoundrel?" Wendy asked. "Carla, I know you two don't see eye to eye all the time, but–"

"But she dotes on you," Carla interrupted with a small smile. "That, she and I have in common. I just hope you don't pick up on any of her bad habits before we return to Cait Shelter."

Wendy came to an abrupt halt as soon as she heard that despite the fact that the post office was within sight, That's… That's right. Carla and I, we're just here temporarily, aren't we? We've been here for so long, gone through so much... She almost couldn't believe that she had forgotten that fact. One day, eventually, they would have to say goodbye to Fairy Tail, and all of the new friends they had made. No more training from Rukia, no more goofing around with Natsu, no more Lucy reading her bedtime stories… and no more Bambietta.

Carla seemed to have picked up on her friend's change of attitude as she placed a comforting paw on her friend's shoulder. "Wendy, there's no need to worry. I'm sure we have plenty of time before we have to go."

"But we'll still have to go eventually, won't we?" Wendy asked as she looked over at Carla, her face and tone of voice equally melancholy. "I just… I don't know if I'll ever be ready to say goodbye."

Carla sighed. "I'll admit, even I've become quite accustomed to Fairy Tail and its antics, but Cait Shelter is our home. I'm sure Master Roubual and everyone else would miss us just as much."

"Right…" Wendy admitted, though her tone was still somewhat somber. She had people that cared about her back in Cait Shelter, and vice versa. Master Robaul had practically been the father she never had, and there were so many others who had helped her in her time with the guild. As much as she had enjoyed her time with her friends in Fairy Tail, she couldn't deny that she still missed her family in Cait Shelter.

Wendy opened her mouth, but before she had a chance to speak, a dark-skinned man in white suddenly appeared right before them with a loud static boom. Wendy flinched as she took several steps back, alarm bells going off in her head. This man...something about him feels very familiar! What exactly that was, she couldn't quite place, but she decided to be polite. "Uhm, hello there, mister–"

The tall man simply glanced downwards. There was none of the usual warmth that Wendy was accustomed to from the people of Magnolia. All she could feel right now was a strange coldness.

"Miss Marvell, I'll be needing you to come with me."


For the occupants of Magnolia, October 15th was supposed to be a special day which all of its citizens looked forward to. To them, and to anyone lucky enough to visit, this was a day that was akin to a special holiday. How could they not, when the ones hosting it were none other than the country's most famous guild, Fairy Tail.

Even the mages of the guild would typically be excited. Floats, performers, and magic galore would be on full display during the Fantasia parade. A once-per-year spectacular, it's considered by many to be a must-see event.

But all of that would-be excitement and joy were now replaced with two intense emotions for one Bambietta Basterbine. Horror… and fury.

"What did you do?" Bambietta almost whispered as she clenched her fists before her emotions exploded outward in a blaring outcry. "What the fuck did you do to them!?"

Her first friend she had made in this world, and one of her closest, Levy Mcgarden. The woman who Bambietta respected above any other and helped bring her to Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet. And Lucy Heartfilia, her beloved girlfriend. All of them turned to stone.

Immediately after her roar of anger she prepared an orb of "The Explode" in her right hand, Liltotto and Candice following suit with their bows and arrows. Rukia and Momo were more restrained, though they were prepared to cast a kido if needed.

"I'm going to give you this one chance. Change them back now or I'll make the next hour of your life an absolute hell." Bambietta growled.

Evergreen didn't seem worried in the slightest however as she gave them all a sly grin. "Now, I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you. After all, the real fun hasn't even begun yet."

Before Bambietta could offer a retort by blasting Evergreen to kingdom come, the five women were assaulted by a bolt of lightning, each of them sent off of the stage as the lot of them were sent rolling across the ground. Bambietta had been the only one to land on her feet, though she was slightly singed. She glared up towards the stage, where Laxus, as well as Stella Upland, now stood alongside Evergreen. The other members of the Thunder Legion were also present, Freed and Bickslow sitting atop the guild's rafters. The citizens of Magnolia, who had initially come for the show, ran off in droves as Max urged all of them to run away.

Candice, however, was focusing on something else entirely. What!? You mean that bitch Stella is with them now!? Candice bemoaned internally. The two hadn't interacted often, hardly at all in fact, but Candice had always gotten an air of superiority around the woman that she didn't like. For some reason, Jade would go spend time with the blonde from time to time, but the quincy could never fathom why. Ugh, if only Jade was here! We could really use her magic right now! Candice complained.

But what was really bothering her now was that Laxus was standing center stage with them. She couldn't have cared less about the Thunder Tride given their earlier interaction, but for Laxus to go this far…

Her eyes widened, recalling the get-together the two had just the night prior.


"The Battle of Fairy Tail?" Candice remarked as she finished taking a swig of her beer. "Laxus, I thought we talked about this. Strength is–"

"Oh relax, it's just gonna be a fun glorified guild brawl. Nothing big." Laxus told her. "Think of it like a tournament to find out who's really the strongest! Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Well…I guess it could be fun. Sure, why not?"


The green haired quincy shook then as she gritted her teeth. She expected him to start it after Miss Fairy Tail had concluded. That wasn't even mentioning the first that he never brought up the idea that he'd turn them into statues.

Laxus, you said it wasn't going to be anything serious… Candice worried. Was this all just part of the plan? To get them to just start taking this more seriously? Yeah, yeah that had to be it. There's no way he would seriously go through with something like this…right?

"Well now, looks like all the riff raff that were just here for Miss Fairy Tail decided to head home," Laxus said with a sneer. "Pity, because the party's just about to start!"

I see. So, this is why His Majesty insisted on participating, Lillie Barro thought before he glanced his gaze towards Jonathan. I suppose you knew this would happen from the start, didn't you, Grandmaster?

"I should have known," Makarov muttered. What was he up to now? Whatever it was, the wise old man doubted it was anything he'd approve of.

"Man, what the hell are you thinking!?" Gray demanded. "Did you forget that the Emperor of Bosco's here too!? Do you know what kind of trouble we could get into if word of this gets to the Magic Council!?"

Laxus didn't seem the least bit perturbed. "Oh, calm down, loser. I think what I have in mind is something he'll enjoy far more than some stupid beauty pageant!" He then sneered over at the Quincy monarch. "So, how's about you sit back and enjoy the show, 'Your Majesty'!? I can promise you that you're in for a wild ride!"

For just a moment, the blood of every Quincy in the guildhall ran cold. Pulling this brazen stunt in front of Yhwach was bad enough, but to actually acknowledge him while he did it!? That was straight up suicide!

Welp, he's dead, Bambietta and Liltotto thought simultaneously, while Candice's eyes fervently traveled between Laxus and Yhwach with considerable concern.

Yhwach looked like he was about to reply, but before the monarch had a chance to even say anything, Makarov spoke up. "I've had about enough of your nonsense! Change them back or else!" Makarov warned.

Laxus just continued to sneer with confidence. "Oh? You'd better play nice if you want these ladies to join the other words, I'm taking all of them hostage. Break the rules and I'll shatter these chicks one by one. Or I could just smash 'em all right now."

The only thing that was keeping Bambietta restrained in that moment was Lucy's own safety. In his grasp as she was, there was absolutely nothing Bambietta could do that didn't carry some risk of destroying her statue. That was one mistake Bambietta didn't dare take, even if her glare of contempt didn't lessen in the slightest. Instead, her body shook with fury. Get your filthy hands off of her, you son of a bitch! Bambietta swore internally. I swear, I'm going to make you pay for this! By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish I fucking killed you!

Liltotto wasn't faring any better. As her eyes glanced around the statues of her friends, her mind raced through several possible ways that she could attempt to move them away. However, with Laxus's immense speed and power, along with the aid of the Thunder Legion, each plan she could think of was met with a probable loss. All she could do for now was simply stare at Erza's petrified face. Admittedly, Erza was the only one among the statues that still had some trace of spiritual pressure that Liltotto could sense, but given how little she knew about the magic…she didn't want to get her hopes up.

Erza….Hang in there. Liltotto thought as she clenched at her own arm.

"I'm not amused, Laxus. Stop fooling around!" Makarov demanded, his tolerance running thin.

"Oh I'm serious, old man," Laxus insisted. "This ain't no joke. From this moment on we're playing my game now! The goal is simple, to see who's really the strongest!"

"I've always wondered who was the strongest in the guild now that Gildarts is gone," Freed stated as he landed right next to Laxus. "Now it's time to find out."

"Yeah, let's have some fun!" Bickslow added, with his floating dolls echoing his last word.

"Fun! Fun!"

"Those dolls…" Momo muttered as she stared at the floating objects. They're not just being controlled by magic…they're possessed by souls!

"There's only one rule!" Laxus declared. "Whoever's left standing in the end is the winner! It's a Fairy Tail battle royal!"

A flaming fist slammed down on the table as Natsu grinned with anticipation. "Nice and simple. That's just how I like it! I'm fired up now!"

Laxus, meanwhile, turned his head slightly towards the Dragon Slayer. "Glad you could see it my way. If nothing else, you have the right attitude."

"Natsu…" Makarov spoke in a warning tone, but Natsu didn't seem to pay it any mind as he made his way towards Laxus.

"This is a festival, right?" Natsu asked Makarov as he continued his approach. "Then I say we party hard!"

"Have you already forgotten how badly he beat you the last time you guys went at it?" Warren warned Natsu.

"I was just a kid back then!" Natsu called back.

"What do you mean, that was last year!" Warren reminded him, exasperated at Natsu's nonchalant attitude.

"Yeah, but since then I've become a man!" Natsu insisted before he went charging in.

"Natsu, don't!" Liltotto tried to warn him as the dragon slayer jumped midair as he made his attempt to attack Laxus on the stage.

However, Laxus grinned as the dragon slayer came hurtling right at him. "On the other hand, I think that attitude of yours is going to get you into a world of hurt. Why don't you sit back down!?"

Another bolt of lightning erupted from Laxus, prompting striking Natsu down to the ground as he shouted out in pain.

"Natsu!" Liltotto and Gray cried out. Momo rushed over towards him to heal him with kido immediately with Liltotto quickly joining her side.

"I told you so." Warren said dejectedly.

"He's no man," Elfman added in disappointment.

Happy flew over to the hurt Natsu, looking down at the stunned dragon slayer. "You alright Natsu?" However, it was no use, the fire mage was completely knocked out.

Liltotto looked over Natsu's body before she looked over to Erza's statue, the quincy trying her best to restrain herself, her entire body shuddering with rage. Damn you Laxus!

Candice couldn't remain silent any longer. " Laxus… What the fuck?! You said you were going to have a glorified guild brawl, you didn't tell me one centimeter about this hostage shit!"

"Oh, what's wrong? I thought we agreed to do this?" Laxus asked with a sneer. "You seemed pretty convinced about it when I told you last night."

"You never said you would you turn my friends into fucking stone!" Candice shouted back at him. "Did you really think I was going to be ok with this!? Because I'm not!"

Laxus scoffed at her anger. "Oh, come on, you're telling me that you care more about those losers than what we got?!"

Candice clenched her fists before she snarled. "I've made the mistake of betraying a friend once. My life was full of nothing but fucking mistakes, but that's one of the very few that I still regret!"

Laxus frowned, the S-class mage almost looking hurt at her words. "So, you're saying you're choosing them over me?"

"You're goddamn right I am!" Candice shouted. "I told myself that I would sooner die than sell them out! You told me this was going to be nothing more than a glorified guild brawl! This?! The hell I'd ever go along with this!"

She then turned around to face the Thunder Legion. "And you three! How are you okay with this!? Fairy Tail butts heads like frat boys on a drunk Friday, but we never try to kill each other! Nobody here would ever stoop this low!"

Before any of them could offer a retort, she glared back at Laxus. " Also, battle royale my ass! Why the fuck are you excluding the girls?! Freed said you guys wanted to see who the strongest was right!? You've got Erza turned to stone, so real swell idea there, moron! 'Cause now, not only are you not going to really get that answer, but also when this is shit over, I guarantee you not only are you probably not going to be the last one standing, but Twizzler's going to beat you so badly with her new armor you'll be comatose! I guarantee it!"

Laxus scoffed. "I made sure Evergreen didn't turn the rest of you to stone, didn't I? I need to know where you lot stand in all of this! As for Erza, I ain't scared of her, no matter what armor she wears! Besides, I think I might just keep her like this by the time things are over! I think she'd make for a great garden decoration, don't you think!?"

"You son of a bitch!" Candice shouted at him. "You and I are so done; do you hear me!?" She attempted to lunge forward, her swords at the ready, but Rukia grabbed Candice by the waist to prevent her from ending up like Natsu. "Let me go! I'm going to tear him limb by limb for this!"

"Candice, don't be stupid," Rukia insisted. "He's too strong for you to just barge in there without a plan! You need to be smart about this!"

"Fuck that! I need to kick him in the dick now for all this shit!" Candice screamed as Rukia tried her best to hold Candice back. "We're officially broken up, you hear me!? When I get through with you, you're gonna wish you were never born!"

Laxus turned away from her, having had enough of their little spat. Sensing her leader was rather bothered by the recent exchange, Evergreen decided to speak up. "Naturally, if you want to turn the girls back to normal, you're going to have to defeat us first."

"But those odds aren't bad. It's just four of us against a hundred of you guys!" Bickslow added.

"Ahem," Stella spoke up. "Have you already forgotten about me and my reinforcements? It's much more akin to… twelve against a hundred."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot you decided to give us a hand for a second there. That's my bad." Bickslow added.

"It's nothing to stress about." Stella replied. Her eyes narrowed then as her mind focused on her 'daughter.' It would have been thirteen if you had managed to show up on time, Jade. Oh well, I suppose I'll have to scold her for her tardiness later. Though with the minor dark guilds in my pocket, it's honestly more like 200 vs 100. Her eyes glanced over the entire guild as she smirked. And soon, by the time Laxus's game is done, you'll all be too weak to ever resist my full command spell.

She then snapped her fingers, her guise as Stella Upland vanishing, revealing her true form. "I suppose I won't be needing this any longer," Emberella spoke with a grin.

Makarov gasped. He recognized her well from the reports about the attempted coup of Chicken Fangs several months ago. He balled his fists. "Have you lost your mind Laxus!? You're working with a dark mage!"

Laxus sneered at his grandfather. "Oh please, you're making such a big deal out of nothing. The only thing she's guilty of is wanting the same thing as me! Making our guild's the best that it can be!"

"As for the time limit, you have about three hours and not a second more," Evergreen added as she held up three fingers. "After that, these pretty statues of yours will be reduced to dust."

"You're kidding me," Macao spoke worryingly under his breath.

"To hell with this! Change Juvia back, right now!" Gray demanded as an icy chill surrounded him. "I don't care what kind of stupid games you want to play, but leave her out of this!"

"I agree. If a battle is what you want, then I'm more than willing to fight you on principle," Totomaru added as he surrounded himself with flames. "But if you have any semblance of honor towards being a Fairy Tail mage, you'll release them right now!"

"We're the ones in charge of the rules of this game, not you," Freed told them. "If you take umbrage with the rules, then you can simply forfeit… Unless you wish to see Laxus's threat through?"

Laxus then smirked as he looked at Erza's statue. "Yeah, and I think I know exactly where I want to start."

Liltotto's heartbeat increased dramatically at his words, the former stern ritter feeling her anxiety skyrocket from the implied threat. NO! I can't lose her! Not after everything we've been through!

Gray and Totomaru glanced at one another before they eased off their magic. With the situation resolved, Laxus did away with his prepared bolt of lightning and continued on with his plan, Liltotto letting out a sigh of relief as he did. "From this moment on, all of Magnolia will serve as the battlefield," Laxus said as he finally took a few steps away from the stone statue of the blond. "The fight will officially begin when and if you can find us!"

Momo glanced over towards Bambietta, having just finished treating Natsu's injuries and wanting to make sure her guild mate wasn't about to do anything rash. However, what she hadn't expected was Bambietta's shaking form. "Bambi?" She asked out of concern.

Bambietta didn't answer. The quincy's pounding heartbeat had long since drowned out the voices around her, eyes flickering between the forms of the three petrified bodies in front of her. This wasn't something she could just fight through like when Erza needed her at the Tower of Heaven. This was a reality she just had to accept, like when Levy had been hurt during the Phantom Lord incident, the damage already done. Only, this time, she might not wake up. None of them might. Levy. Erza. Lucy. Her defeated gaze came to a rest on her girlfriend's formerly vibrant form, now rendered gray and lifeless. Just when she had promised to never let anyone hurt her ever again, just when she had promised to rush to her side the moment she needed help, she couldn't even... she couldn't...

Just as the pounding in the back of her head grew to a crescendo, an obnoxious laugh pierced through the haze. "Honestly though! To think, even Erza let herself get caught off-guard like this. Just proves how weak she still is, getting caught up with the blonde newbie. In fact, it's downright disgraceful," Laxus grew thoughtful for a moment before a manic grin slowly spread across his face. "Oh, now there's an idea! Maybe I shouldn't even bother with Ever's time limit. Maybe I should just turn them to dust mysel-"

The sound of wood splintering cut him off. Laxus turned to see Bambietta's previously deadened eyes now boring into his with unwavering intensity. The floor around her had cracked beneath an invisible pressure, and she even seemed to be exerting that same pressure on him if the weight around his shoulders was anything to go by. It was almost enough to impress him. Almost. "There a problem?"

"Turn. Them. Back." Bambietta demanded once more. "Now."

Laxus rolled his eyes at her threat. "Pfft, or what? You'll-"

A loud crash of broken wood and stone sounded from the left, dust emanating from a newly formed hole while Laxus stood there with his right arm outstretched as though it had just slammed something to the side, his eyes focused in the same direction, relaxed veneer gone. The exact reason why became obvious as Bambietta stepped out from the hole, sword in hand. Her cloak was somewhat worse for wear, but she was otherwise fine. Laxus, on the other hand, was a little shaken. Well, well, well, didn't think she could go that fast, he thought. Should at least make the game a little more interesting.

Collecting himself, Laxus was about to comment on her attitude when he felt a stinging sensation on his neck. He ran his hand along the skin in confusion, confusion that only magnified when his hand came away slightly red. Even one of the wires of his headphones was ruined, sliced clean through. The answer came to him when he saw blood run down the edge of the enraged brunette's blade, little red droplets collecting in a tiny puddle next to her boots. His gaze returned to hers only to discover that her eyes had never once shifted in their focus.

He scowled. "Tch. You have three hours. Let the Battle of Fairy Tail begin!" Laxus shone with a bright light, blinding everyone within the guildhall and forcing them all to shield their eyes. By the time the light had finally faded away, Laxus, and all his compatriots had vanished, leaving only the stunned members of the guild behind.

"He disappeared," Alzack growled. Damn it! Bisca didn't do anything to deserve this!

"So, it's high stakes hide and go seek huh?" Macao said before he let out a sigh. "Man, what a pain."

Elfman, however, had a much louder response to all of this. "Let's go! We gotta man up and save our girls!" The muscular mage cried out in anger. The entire guild seemed to almost move in unison then as almost everyone stormed their way out of the guild, more than prepared to put an end to this madness as soon as possible.

"Hold on Bisca," Alzack said as he looked at her statue before he took off running out with the rest of them. "I'll save you, no matter what it takes!"

The guild master of Fairy Tail stood alone then, his eyes closed as he gathered his thoughts before he spoke up and took off running alongside them. "You insolent brat! Just you wait! I'll stop you with my own two hands!" The tiny old man went running as fast as he could, preparing to assist the rest of his guild as best as he could… Only for him to seemingly slam against the air itself. "Gah!"

"Master!" Bambietta, Gray, Totomaru, Liltotto, Candice, Rukia and Momo cried out as they turned around to look at their Guild Master.

"Master, what's wrong?" Rukia asked Makarov as he remained in place, seemingly by an unseen force.

"It's… an invisible wall!" Makarov grunted out.

Gray scoffed as he walked over to Makarov. "Don't be silly, Gramps, there's nothing here!" Gray grabbed Makarov and attempted to pull him out, only for the old man to stay in place despite Gray's best efforts. "Man, what's the deal!?"

"The hell!?" Candice replied, the lime-haired beauty completely baffled before she ran back and tried to assist Gray in his attempt to free their guild master. Try as they might, however, their efforts amounted to nothing. "He won't fucking budge!"

"Ok, what the fuck!?" Bambietta swore, her right eye twitching. The brunette turned over to Liltotto before she belted her question. "Lil! You got any idea what the hell is going on here!? This some kind of Invisible force field or something!?"

Liltotto glanced at the guild hall. At first, nothing seemed a miss but as her eyes neared the top of the entrance, she saw something that caught her eye. "There's some kind of writing at the top."

Everyone promptly glanced upwards, and just as Liltotto said, there were indeed some strange letters floating above them,

"It must be one of Freed's Enchantments." Makarov stated.

"Enchantments. You mean like what Wendy can do?" Bambietta asked.

Momo shook her head. "It's not the same. Wendy's are meant to work on people. But this kind of Enchantment, Jutsu Shiki if I recall what I studied back at the academy correctly, is a type of letter magic that creates barriers that enforce specific rules onto those inside it. It's used on spaces, not people. It doesn't matter how strong you are either, once you're inside, you are subjugated to the rules regardless. The only way to escape is to either follow the rules completely or defeat the caster."

"Man, with an ability like that, whoever writes the rules practically wins the fight," Totomaru said.

"Perhaps. However, techniques such as these take time to write. As such they are almost useless in the middle of a one-on-one battle," Makarov told them. "Still, as you can see, they're quite effective if set up as traps."

Candice rolled her eyes. "Well, that's fantastic."

"There appears to be two rules. The first is that stone statues and anyone over the age of eighty years old shall not pass."

"If that's the case, then it would appear that I would be affected as well," Ulquiorra stated as he walked over towards the entrance, hands in pocket. "How unfortunate."

Liltotto then glanced back at the writing and upon reading the second rule, frowned. "The second one says No Quincy shall be able to manipulate the Ethernano of this barrier."

"What!? How does he even know about that!?" Bambietta shouted before she noticed Candice glancing away. "Candi?"

"It was me." She muttered.

"But why!?" Bambietta demanded as she grabbed Candice by her shoulder. "We could have easily made a hole out of this without that stupid rule, so why did you -"

"I didn't know that he was going to do any of this, ok!?" Candice screamed back, tears welling around her eyes. "We had a bit of a thing going on, you know that! He wanted to know more about me, and I wanted to know more about him! That included our 'magic', so I… I told him all about the quincy basics."

"Why the fuck did you do that?! Didn't that feel just the least bit suspicious? Huh!?" Bambietta yelled at her.

"Maybe because I thought I could trust him and have something like you and Lucy do!" Candice shouted before she looked away then and she clenched her fists. She couldn't bring herself to look at Bambi…or anyone else for that matter. "I'm sorry, ok? I never wanted any of this to happen. At least…At least I didn't tell him about our Schrifts. I never got around to it."

Bambietta looked over at Candice, her anger faltering slightly. While she wasn't exactly happy that Candice had told Laxus how their powers worked, she knew deep down that her fellow quincy never meant any harm. It was clear she was beating herself up over this as it was. "It's…It's fine." Bambietta muttered. She knew who was truly to blame after all.

"Is it possible to find a work-around? Perhaps a loophole?" Rukia suggested to Makarov.

"I'm afraid not," Makarov told her. "Once they are set up, the rules of the enchantment are absolute."

"Well, that's fantastic. Battle hasn't even started yet and we're already down several of our best fighters," Liltotto said before she gritted her teeth. "Bastard really thought this through, even if Ulquiorra wasn't probably intended to be affected."

"Then we'll just have to double our efforts," Rukia remarked. "No use crying over spilled milk."

"There does exist one possible way for me to escape." Ulquiorra brought up as he stretched his hand for the, a black void appearing before him.

"Oh, right! The garganta!" Bambietta shouted with excitement, her hope of ending things quickly having been reignited from this revelation. With both Makarov and Ulquiorra at the helm, this battle royale would be over in no time!

"Hey, I'm a little lost. Mind filling me in on what this garganta thing is?" Totomaru asked as Ulquiorra walked into the dark portal before it closed.

Momo was quick to answer, having figured out a way to phrase it without revealing their otherworldly origin. "It's a type of magic that only people of Ulquiorra's race can perform, at least naturally. Think of it like a form of gateway that lets you travel from one location to another without the risk of dealing with any obstacles."

Candice smirked as they awaited Ulquiorra's return. "Oh hell yeah! Once we get Ulquiorra back on the field, it's game over for my jackass of an Ex. I can't wait to see the stupid look on his face once he uses his ress-"

Before Candice could finish her rant, once more did the black void of the garganta open up, the members of Fairy Tail shooting their eyes towards Ulquiorra as he stepped out of the void…and into the guild hall. The arrancar glanced around then, carefully eying his surroundings before he faced his comrades. "...It didn't work."

"No shit Sherlock!" Bambietta and Candice yelled at him in unison.

"God, you might look a bit like him, but you sure as hell ain't no L!" Bambietta screamed.

"It seems that the Jutsu Shiki can prevent even special distortion techniques from completely working," Liltotto muttered. "Damn it. So much for that. We really are down two of our best fighter's already."

"Oh, to hell with this!" Bambietta cried as she prepared an Explode orb in her hand. "If we can't just bypass the damn thing then I'll just blow it up! It might not be able to be broken by just brute forcing it, but my attacks can destroy anything as long as it's not organic, so I say we give this thing a shot!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Miss Basterbine."

Everyone from the other world felt a chill run down their spine as Yhwach's voice reached their ears as he made his way towards them. "While your schrift, The Explode, does indeed have the ability to destroy the barrier, the power it would generate in order to do so would create an explosion that would wind up destroying the entire guild hall and a good portion of Magnolia."

Bambietta's eye went wide with shock and quickly dissipated the orb in her hand. Furious as she was, even she knew that would have been a disastrous outcome. The last thing they needed was collateral damage, especially if her stone turned friends were among them. "My sincere thanks for preventing me from doing something foolish, Your Majesty."

Yhwach simply waved his hand. "Think nothing of it. We are attempting to forge an alliance between our nations after all."

Makarov looked over towards Yhwach before he spoke words he never would have imagined uttering less than twenty minutes ago. "Then as a show of good faith, can I ask you to personally stop the madness caused by my grandson?"

He wanted to hurl after uttering those words, but the power Yhwach had displayed against himself and his children had made it abundantly clear that he could resolve the situation quite handily if he agreed. Normally, he wouldn't have even considered it, but with six of his children on borrowed time…

"Unfortunately, I, too, am unable to leave this guildhall." Yhwach informed them. "I know that it may not appear to be the case, but my age exceeds your own."

"What!?" Makarov exclaimed before he briefly recalled that Kurayashiki was supposedly over 300 years old, yet he looked to still be in his thirties. I can't believe that I had forgotten that people from their world can live for such long periods of time. I can't allow my anxiety to affect my judgment any further!

"The same unfortunately applies to two of my elite guards. However, to hopefully bring things to a rapid conclusion, I'll be lending my remaining members to assist you."

"We'll do whatever we can to assist you." Ria said with a smile as the pair walked outside of the guild hall.

"Yes, it shouldn't be too hard to put an end to this little game your grandson concocted," Jonathan added.

Well, it might not be Gerard or Lille, but at this point, I'll take any help we can get, Liltotto thought before she looked over towards Momo. "Are you sure there's no way for you to find a way to dispel this damn thing?"

Momo looked at the barrier, her eyes slowly looking over its lettering before she shook her head. "No. Unfortunately, I'm too unfamiliar with Jutsu Shiki. Maybe if I had more time, I could figure something out. But with just three hours I don't want to risk wasting my time here when I could do more good elsewhere."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to settle this without ya, Gramps," Gray said as he turned around. "I'll be sure to give Laxus hell for you in your place though."

"I'm sorry." Makarov remarked, his disappointment over his own inaction evident. Gray took off in a sprint, with Totomaru following in his example.

"You don't need to apologize, it's not your fault," Bambietta told Makarov as before she knelt to his level. "You've done more than enough for the rest of us. Now it's our turn to fight for you for once." However, Bambietta's demeanor changed, her smile turning into a frown as her eyes narrowed.

"But let me be perfectly clear. I don't give a damn if Laxus is your grandson or not. I'm not going to give him any fucking mercy if I run into him." She then growled, her teeth gnashing together as she turned around. "Mark my words, I'm going to put that fucker, Freedy and Everline into comas for what they've done to Lucy, Erza and Levy!"

Bambietta glanced towards Rukia. "Rukia, I'm going to need you to go and find Wendy! I think there's a chance that she might be able to fix everyone inside!"

Rukia nodded her head. "I understand. I take it you're going to fight Laxus then?"

Bambietta smirked. "You're damn right I am–"

"Finally, I made it back to the guild! Something terrible has happened!"

Bambietta glanced towards the direction of the voice, only for her eyes to roll her eyes as Carla flew towards her. "If you're referring to Laxus's little stunt, you're a little late to the party on that one. Now where's Wendy? We could really use her help right about -"

"Wendy's been kidnapped!"

That got everyone's attention, the pupils of Bambietta's eyes shrinking as she responded with an incredibly small, "What?"

Carla gathered herself as best she could given the circumstances. "Some man struck me, and before I could even get back up, he'd already– he'd already grabbed Wendy and disappeared in a manner not unlike the pale fellow over there."

"He used Sonido?" Ulquiorra asked. "What did this man look like?"

"He was tall, perhaps taller than Laxus, had dark skin, no hair, and... I'm sorry, it all happened too fast for me to see anything else besides those details."

Liltotto hummed to herself. "Tall, dark skin, bald, wore all white, add in the fact that he used Sonido and was incredibly fast..." She turned to Ulquiorra. "Do you think it's him?"

He nodded. "Indeed. The description sounds like it might describe Zommari Rureaux, the former Septima Espada."

Silent since her initial question, Bambietta stared at Carla in a manner that deeply unnerved her. "Some arrancar took Wendy... and you didn't do anything? You just came back to the guild? You didn't even fly after her?!"

"I... I was knocked away, I–"

"So?! Do you even care–"

"Bambi, stop it!" Rukia had placed herself between the quincy and cat, the floating feline looking beside herself at Bambietta's words. Rukia sternly spoke. "If this really was the 7th Espada, there's no way she could have kept up with him. You know that."

Bambietta briefly held her gaze before walking a short distance away. Damn it! Bambietta did know that. She knew that it wasn't Carla's fault, she knew that the cat didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of stopping Zommari, but that didn't change the current situation. Not only had Laxus started some sort of fucked up death game within the guild, not only were three of the people closest to her since coming to this world being held hostage as statues on a timer by that bitch Evergreen, not only was Bambietta stuck here because of some bullshit rule put in place by that bastard Freed, but now Wendy had been taken hostage by the former 7th Espada for who knows what reason on top of everything else. Just what the hell kind of game was Laxus playing?!

Liltotto walked up beside the distraught quincy and placed a hand on her arm. "Hey," she whispered. "Fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to help anything. You need to calm down."

"...Calm down?" Bambietta asked Liltotto as her spiritual pressure began to increase, the nearby benches at the guildhall beginning to slowly suffer from its effects.

Crack

"How could I calm down?" Bambietta repeated as she clenched her fists.

Cr-crack

"How could I possibly calm down?"

Creeeak

"My new family is practically being held at gunpoint, and I can't do a damn thing about it..." The tables and chairs closest to the two quincies collapsed under Bambietta's mounting spiritual pressure, Liltotto herself feeling a little wobbly. "...and you expect me to just... calm... down...?"

CREEEAAAAAAKKK

All of the assembled tables and benches in front of the guild seemingly exploded into nothing as Bambietta's spiritual pressure flared out, forcing the others to shield their eyes. Bambietta paid none of that a second thought, however, as the quincy began to make her way down the street, the ground beneath starting to crack with each step.

Concerned over Bambietta's anger, Liltotto rushed towards her, Rukia following along as well. "Bambi, wait! We need to think of a plan so we can save the others! You can't just go rushing in on your own without a plan." The quincy shouted.

"Oh, I have a plan Lil." Bambietta muttered.

"Then what is it?" Liltotto demanded. "Because we can't afford to lose you too earl-"

"I'm going to kill that cunt Evergreen."

Silence filled the air then, Liltotto and Rukia's eyes going wide upon hearing Bambietta's words. "Bambi, you can't be seriou-"

"Oh, I'm dead serious," Bambietta told Rukia. "These mother fuckers want to play their little game with the lives of my friends on the line? Then I see no reason as to why they need to be exempt from the rule!" She then sneered. "Besides, if we kill Evergreen, then they should all return to normal! If it happened with that Book of the End bullshit that fullbringer did to Kurosaki's friends, then I fail to see why it shouldn't work here eith-"

However, just as Bambietta tried to take another step forward, her guild mark began to glow a bright light. Bambietta's march came to an immediate half as the quincy felt her entire body seemingly frozen in place.

What!? Bambietta yelled internally as she tried to move forward. Grunting effort, Bambietta was able to slowly take a single step forward, then another before she found herself panting for breath. "Ok, what the fuck is it this time!?" Bambietta demanded as she glanced back at the guild mark. "Sylphia, I swear to God if this is you again…"

No, this felt different from the time the goddess had prevented her from killing Jade. When that had happened, she hadn't been able to move at all along with a soothing feeling that eroded her ill intent. This time, her anger was still as intense as ever, and while movement was significantly more difficult than it had once been, at least now it was possible.

Furthermore, she was able to recognize the magic flowing out from her guild mark that made moving so difficult. There was no doubt about it: this was Makarov's magic.

But how!? Bambietta demanded internally as she looked over towards the guild master, who had thankfully been out of earshot when she made her declaration of death. He didn't seem to be using some sort of spell to keep her immobile, though Makarov seemed to look at her with concern.

As Momo had rushed over to join them and sensed Makarov's magic comic from her guild mark, the former lieutenant quickly put two and two together. "I see. It looks like Makarov put in a little safety precaution on your guild mark. From what I can vaguely tell from its make up, it looks like it's set to activate whenever you have any malicious desires to kill a member of the guild."

"He what!?" Bambietta barley spat out. "Why on earth would he–"

Her eyes shot wide open as she briefly recalled her first meeting with the guildmaster.


Bambietta lowered her head then. "I suppose that's what we were by this world's definitions. I killed for the Vandenreich, for his Majesty. Soul Reapers and Hollows, I made no exceptions. And I-"

Makarov was quick to finish her sentence, having seen the joy that Bambietta had possessed when he had first seen her, the decapitated head of a cyclops within her hands. "You enjoyed it."

The light in Bambietta's eyes grew faint then, the optics dulling for a moment as her expression became void of any real feeling. "Yes."

Makarov took a deep breath, running a hand across his face as he continued to look at the potential Fairy Tail member before him. "If you join Fairy Tail, I will make this abundantly clear here and now. That can never happen again."


"Oh." Bambietta said as the realization hit her. As much as she wanted to be infuriated at Makarov's decision to have placed this on her at all, she knew she couldn't truly fault him for it. After all, her sins had been laid bare to both him and Porylusica, and it made complete sense that he would install some sort of safety protocol to protect his children.

Unfortunately, this understanding was overwhelmed by her unyielding rage at what Laxus and his own goons had done to her friends before she snarled. "If they think something like this is going to stop me, then they got another thing coming!" The quincy promptly began to walk forward with as her reiatsu increased, but she was only able to make small steps forward, as if she was weighed down by gravity.

"Bambi, this is a terrible idea!" Liltotto told her.

Bambietta scoffed at her friend's words. "Why? Because I'd be kicked out and thrown into jail if I did? I don't give a damn! Everyone and everything I've come to truly care about has been taken from me, and I'm not going to let these mother fuckers get away with it!"

"Well, yes, that, but it's also a terrible idea because there is no way in hell you're going to be able to beat any of them if you can barely move! Especially if you run into Freed or Laxus!" Liltotto yelled at her. "I know that you're angry, but–"

"You don't know the half of it!" Bambietta screamed at her. "My best friend! The one who saved my life! My girlfriend! Wendy! Those bastards have put them all in greater danger than ever, and I–"

"You're not the only one who's lost someone from all this!" Liltotto screamed at Bambietta, silencing her. "You think I'm happy about any of this!? Lucy, Levy, even Juvia and Cana and Mira, they're all my friends! And then there's Erza! She's practically a big sister to me! So don't you get on a high horse and tell me that I don't understand, because I do! I want nothing more than to make these bastards pay for what they've done!"

Liltotto panted for a moment, catching her breath as she attempted to calm down. "But I know right now that if I go in rushing without a plan, then we've probably already lost. We don't have Erza or Makarov to bail us out. Not this time. It's just us. We need to be smart about this! " She then looked over towards the guildhall. "Besides, did you ever think how they'd feel about this?"

Bambietta rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about? I'll have saved their lives-

"And a member of the guild died because of it," Rukia interrupted her as she walked in front of her. "I understand how you feel, but to everyone else, these are still members of the guild. The minute that you kill them is the minute that the guild will never look at you the same."

"It's for their own good!" Bambietta insisted.

Rukia sighed. "I understand that you're doing this to help them, and that as far as you're concerned, you're doing the right tell me, are you saying you want to kill Evergreen because it's the only way, or are you just saying it because you want to kill Evergreen?"

"That's…I'm doing it to end the battle faster!" Bambietta insisted. "And as long as it's for their sake they'll understand!"

"If there truly was no other choice, I'm sure that they would," Rukia answered. "But with how much stronger you are than her, then it should be more than possible for you to defeat her without taking her life and you and I both know that. Do you really think that they'll be happy that you killed someone on their behalf when it was entirely avoidable? Do you think that any of them want that on their conscience?"

Bambietta paused for a moment before she answered. "They'd…they'd understand I'm sure…" However, the words hadn't come out of her mouth as she had hoped. Rather than filled with the confidence she had desired…her voice was laced with doubt.

"You and I both know that Erza would blame herself for any of their deaths if you went through with that," Liltotto told Bambietta. "That if she hadn't been turned to stone, she'd still be alive. Tell me I'm wrong."

Bambietta stared at Liltotto, her mouth opening and closing, before she finally looked away. Her silence was more than enough to answer.

Rukia spoke up. "Listen, it's not wrong for you to be angry about all this. If anything, it's perfectly natural. But if you let yourself be controlled by this anger, then we've already lost. Right now, you're the strongest fighter we have, and we can't afford to lose you because you're being weighed down by this spell. So please, for everyone's sake, calm down and recompose yourself."

Bambietta simply stood there, beside herself with her rage. A part of her wanted to tell them that they were wrong, that she could end things much more quickly and efficiently if she just went for a killing blow at the start of the fight, that it was all to end this as soon as possible…but she couldn't.

Killing someone to protect a member of the guild was certainly one thing that she recalled Makarov saying was acceptable, but the guild master had been clear that it was to be done as a last resort, and with how much stronger she was than Evergreen…She'd be lying if she said it was a necessity. No, this was just her letting her emotions almost drag her back into her old habits. Old habits that she knew the guild frowned upon.

Not like she could kill Evergreen in her current condition. Hell, as she was right now, Elfman, Cana, and plenty others could have defeated her with how hard it was for her to move. Fighting some of the toughest members of the guild as she was now. It was foolhardy, and she knew it.

The quincy took several deep breaths then before she finally managed to fully calm down. That wasn't to say that her anger had vanished, far from it, but the desire to kill those responsible had died down considerably. She let out a sigh of frustration before she looked over towards Rukia and Liltotto, the rigidness of her body having left her body, the guild marks light dimming before it vanished completely. "You're right. I was about to do something really stupid just then."

Rukia smiled as Liltotto took her right hand, giving her friend a smirk. "Glad you could listen to reason. Now let's head back. Jonathan's got a plan."

Bambietta scoffed. "Oh please, we don't need help from His Majesty's toadies. All I need to do is sense Wendy's spiritual pressure and then we can save-"

However as soon as she tried, Bambietta's eyes shot wide open. "Why can't I sense her?" Bambietta asked before she looked aghast at her friends. "Why can't I sense anybody!?" She demanded.

"Finally noticed huh?" Liltotto remarked. "That's the other reason why we need to think things out. I haven't been able to sense a damn thing since we walked out of the guild hall."

"Freed probably set up a large Jutsu Shiki around the entire town to prevent us from just sensing them out," Momo finally spoke up as she and Candice approached. "It's the only explanation that I can think of."

Bambietta glared over towards Candice, the green haired woman finding it impossible to look her back in the eye. "Candi, don't tell me you -"

"You already know the fucking answer," Candice replied bitterly. "Let's just go back and plan this out."


As the four women made their way back to discuss plans for what they would do next, Makarov left out a sigh of relief. Despite what Bambietta thought, he had heard every word she had uttered about wanting to kill Evergreen and anyone else who had gotten in her way through the seal he had placed onto her. While Makarov certainly didn't approve of her desire to kill, he nevertheless couldn't find it in himself to scold her.

The spell he had planted on her was originally placed to protect his children, should Bambietta ever revert to her wicked ways. But while Bambietta certainly had stumbled on her valuing life, he knew full well this wasn't done purely out of malice, but rather a desire to protect the ones she loved. Yes, he may not have approved of her outburst, but he fully understood why she felt the way she had.

But at least now it seemed as if her friends had managed to reign her in. The spell would only deactivate once the intent to kill a fellow guildmate had left her, so at least for now, that was one less concern he'd have to worry about.

With the situation now fully resolved, Makarov gazed over to a heavy-set man who was hiding behind one of the guild's many support pillars. "I can see you. What's wrong Reedus?" Makarov asked.

"I'm sorry," he muttered as he poked out from behind the pillar. "I was just afraid that Laxus was going to hurt me."

"It's alright. I know it's been a rather precarious couple of minutes," Makarov told him. "However, I need you to do me a favor. Go and visit Porlyusica in the East Forest. She may have a potion to cure petrification."

"Don't even bother, Master Makarov," Jonathan told the Guild Master of Fairy Tail as he just finished taking a sip of red wine. "If your son or Thunder Legion has even half a brain, they'll have already thought of that and placed up a barrier around the town to prevent anyone from getting help. Right now, it's best to simply have him stay here. The most you'll do is have him run into a trap."

"I suppose you're right." Makarov thought as he glanced out at the guild. With himself bound inside of this guild, and Gildarts still absent, he wasn't sure if there was anyone left who could defeat Laxus.

Erza was certainly a possibility, but she was currently turned to stone. Mirajane also could have had a shot, but not only was she also turned to stone, but it had been two whole years since she had been in action. Not to mention how unlikely it would be for her to battle ever again in the first place.

Mystogan too was a possible choice, but he seldom chose to show up. The odds of him interfering right now were unlikely. Ulquiorra had already proven capable of dealing with his son, but much like himself, he remained trapped inside of the guild.

The Master of Fairy Tail glanced over towards the approaching group, Bambietta and Liltotto in particular. Now, those two were the best shot they had at defeating Laxus. Liltotto had already proven her worth by stalemating Jose briefly, and Erza herself had vouched for Bambietta's strength. Neither of which was a small feat. While he had no doubt that Candice, Momo and Rukia were strong in their own right, they had yet to show they had what it took to be on par with their own S-class level. These two however…

It looks like it'll be up to you two to defeat my son. Makarov thought as Bambietta and the others had entered the guildhalls entrance.

However, just as they did, Natsu finally bolted wide awake with a mighty shout! "Aaaahhhhhh!"

"You're awake!" Happy shouted with joy.

Liltotto smiled as the dragon slayer shot up. I should have known that wouldn't keep you down for long.

Natsu turned his head to and fro as he looked around the guild hall. "Hold on, where'd Laxus go!? Actually, where'd everyone go!?"

"That's what we'd all like to know. Well, the Laxus part at least. Everyone else went to find the jackass," Bambietta answered him, though she couldn't help but smirk. Good, with Natsu awake things should start to go a bit more in our favor. After that power he had used against Yhwach, Bambietta had no shame in admitting he could be considerably stronger than her should the right circumstances present themselves.

Makarov had a similar line of thought. Natsu. If he got serious, he might just be able to pull it off! I'll have to place my faith in his raw talent along with Bambietta and the Liltotto. "Listen up you three." Makarov told Bambietta, Liltotto and Natsu, the three looking down at their guild master. "Right now, you are the best chance we have at putting a stop to this! As your guild master, I hereby order you to knock some sense into my grandson! As soon as you all put a plan together, find and defeat him immediately!"

Bambietta smirked. "You don't have to tell us twice."

"Man, screw the plan! I'm going to beat him black and blue right now!" Natsu yelled as he took off running. "I'm all fired up!"

"Natsu, wait!" Liltotto yelled. "I just finished telling Bambietta this, we need to think this through!"

Natsu however didn't seem to pay his friends' words any mind and continued running. "All right, just you wait Lax-"

*Bam!*

To the shock of everyone present, much like Makarov before him, Natsu seemed to slam against an invisible wall.

"What!?" Candice screamed as everyone else stared at Natsu's prone form. "Are you, like, way older than you look or something!?"

"I mean, I've heard of dragons having scales that were akin to stone, so maybe…" Rukia began to ponder before Momo shook her head.

"Wouldn't matter in this case. Even if the dragon slayer magic worked like that, it would have to be actual stone scales, not just stone like."

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Bambietta demanded before she threw her hat to the ground as her anger built up once more "Can't we get just one break today!? Just one!?"


Meanwhile, across town, as the rest of Fairy Tail had spread itself thin in its attempt to locate Laxus and his allies, Jet and Droy had just caught up with Alzack in the middle of a street.

"You find anyone, Alzack?" Jet asked Droy as they jogged over to him.

Alzack shook his head. " Nope, no luck here. What about you?"

"Sorry, we got nothing." Droy answered.

"Damn it," Alzack cursed as he held up his revolver and gritted his teeth. "How dare they do that to Bisca!"

"Whoa, just try and take it easy, man." Droy replied, trying to calm his friend down.

"Take it easy? We only have three hours!" Alzack snapped back at him.

However, before the trio could debate this any further, a bunch of letters formed on the ground on both sides of the street before they then scattered upwards and surrounded the pair.

"What the!? Is this a trap!? Droy demanded.

"It's Freed's Jutsu Shiki." Alzack angrily answered, the gunman beyond infuriated that he had allowed himself to fall for such a simple trick.

"Are you telling me that they put these things up all over town?" Jet asked.

However, before they could ponder what their next move would be, a small paragraph appeared in the middle of it. Jet and Droy got a closet look, the latter reading the message out loud. "I-It says that only the wizard who proved himself the strongest may be allowed to leave. What does that mean?"

Jet gritted his teeth. "I think he's trying to make us fight each other."

Droy's face went from one of slight confusion to anger. "That's a dirty trick, Freed!"

But as the two members of Shadow Gear began to shout their displeasure at Freed's trickery, Alzack simply narrowed his eyes as he stared at the back of his fellow Guildmates. As much as it sickened him…he knew what he had to do. The gunman frowned before he slowly aimed his revolver and spoke softly under his breath.

"I'm sorry."

The two turned around, before Alzack growled at the pair, his face filled with a steely determination

"But I've gotta save her!"


"Why can't you get through!? Obviously, you're not a stone statue! Don't tell me you're like the others and you're actually over eighty!" Makarov demanded.

"Man, I don't know!" Natsu answered as he continued to try to push through.

"Well, there's clearly something keeping you in here, so what the hell is it!?" Bambietta demanded as she grabbed Natsu by the shoulders, turned him around before she proceeded to shake him. "Come on, think damn it!'

"I don't know, I really don't!" Natsu answered as his head shook back and forth.

"Well, think harder damn it, we can't- What the hell is that?"

The reason for Bambietta's confusion became clear as a large section of words appeared over the guild hall's entrance, Momo quickly inspecting what it inscribed. "Battle of Fairy Tail status report. It says…. Jet versus Droy versus Alzack."

"Is this some kind of Joke!? " Makarov demanded.

"I don't understand why those guys would be fighting each other," Natsu asked with confusion.

Liltotto frowned, the Quincy putting two and two together. "That bastard. When he said it was a Fairy Tail battle royale, he really meant it."

Ria caught onto what Liltotto was implying before she narrowed her eyes. "He's probably set up a bunch of Jutsu Shiki around town to have anyone caught in his traps fight each other."

Soon another set of letters showed themselves, Makarov reading it almost instantly. "The winner is Alzack. Jet and Droy ."

Candice shook with rage and clenched her fists as she noticed more and more names appear on the screen. "Laxus…You're really willing to go this far!?"

More and more battles began to appear on the guild hall entrance. Vijetter vs Nab, Max vs Warren, and so on.

Makarov's hand slammed against the barrier, surprising everyone as he began to shout. "Foolish children, what the hell do they think they're doing!?"

"It's not like they have much of a choice at this point. If they want to get to Laxus, they have to win their fights," Momo answered sadly. "But the more they continue the fight, the more worn out they'll be. If things continue at this rate…"

Bambietta slammed her fist against a nearby walk, punching a hole through it. "Damn it! We're going to end up hurting ourselves before we get any real work done!"

Natsu growled as he saw more and more of his friends being forced to fight, the dragon slayer surrounding himself in flames as he began to punch at the invisible barrier in fury! "Damn it, none of this makes any sense!"

Before he could continue, however, Rukia grabbed him by the waist and dragged him back. "Natsu, I understand that you're angry, but attacking that barrier isn't going to do you any good aside from wasting your magic."

Natsu growled as he faced the exit. "But I can't just sit here and do nothing! I…I…" The dragon slayer slammed himself against the guild hall before he yelled. "I wanna fight too!"

"Is that all!?" Bambietta, Candice, Rukia, Makarov and Happy shouted, exasperated at his reasoning. Liltotto and Momo could only just stare at the dragon slayer in disbelief. Ulquiorra simply rolled his eyes.

"Oh man, you suck! Go away invisible wall!" Natsu shouted as he pressed his face against the barrier.

Makarov promptly smacked Natsu upside his head with an enlarged hand. "Why do you want to fight your friends!?" Makarov demanded.

"Cause it's a tournament to see who's the strongest!" Natsu argued.

"This is not a tournament!" Makarov shouted back.

Candice sighed before she glanced over to Liltotto, raising an eyebrow. '"So…This is the one you want huh? He's a real Einstein, that one."

Liltotto looked away, beyond embarrassed by her crush's actions. "...No comment."

"Ahahahaha! I sympathize with you, young Dragon Slayer, I truly do," Gerard bellowed. "Why, I wish nothing more than to join in the festivities myself, but alas, I remain trapped in here with you!"

Lille Barro simply pinched the bridge of his nose out of annoyance. Idiots, both of them.

"Natsu, this is serious!" Rukia scolded him. "Right now, we're fighting to make sure that nothing will happen to Erza, Lucy Levy and the others. If we don't beat him in three hours-"

"Oh, that's what's got you guys all wound up?" Natsu replied with some surprise before he shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, I'm not worried about it."

"Not worried, not worried!? Natsu what the fuck!?" Bambietta swore at him. "I thought out of everyone here, you'd understand why we're so pissed off! You always go on about how much you care about your guildmates when things get serious, so how the fuck are you do nonchalant about all this?!"

"Because Laxus ain't gonna do it," Natsu answered back. "Ain't no way. This is just his way of getting people ready to fight at their best! I know he can be a real pain at times but he's still one of us! This is obviously a bluff!"

"They kidnapped Wendy."

Natsu's eyes widened the moment he heard that. "What?!"

"They kidnapped Wendy, Natsu!" Bambietta yelled at him. "By an arrancar, no less! I know you don't know why that's so bad because of Ulquiorra, but I'll have you know most arrancar are bloodthirsty killers! Even if you wanted to tell me that this was his way to make us 'fight seriously,' there's no excuse for him to kidnap Wendy! So, tell me that it's not worth worrying about, I fucking dare you!"

"He probably just wants to keep Wendy out of all the fighting!" Natsu argued, remaining stubborn in his belief. "There's no way Laxus would do anything to hurt the guild, no way!"

Makarov glanced towards Natsu, surprised at his words. You still think of Laxus as part of this guild? Even after all this, you still don't believe he'd harm his fellow members? How I wish I could share the same belief as you, Natsu. Makarov thought as he watched more and more battles appear on the screen before he glanced back at the stone statues. But this time he's gone too far!

Natsu proceeded to ignore Bambietta before he slammed back against the wall as he pounded at it once more. "There's a fighting festival going on out there! Why do I gotta be stuck in here!?"

"Beats me. I can get through just fine." Happy said as he flew around in a circle that went in and out of the barrier.

Natsu then grasped at the side of his head, his eyes white with shock. "Does this mean I'm over eighty and no one ever told me!? 'Cause I'd know if I was a stone statue, right!?"

"And here I thought we knew each other, Natsu." Happy replied, his tone full of sadness.

Liltotto groaned into her hands at her crush's and his best friend's stupidity while Bambietta scoffed. "Fine, be stupidly ignorant about Laxus for all I care. Right now, we need to think of a plan to deal with all this Jutsu Shiki shit, and fast."

The simple question was, how?


"Well great, now we really have to be careful." Macao told Wakaba as the two continued their trek, the two having seen others getting caught up in fights from far away mere moments ago.

"Yeah, no kidding. One false step and we could end up fighting each other," the smoke mage agreed. "Think we should split up? At least that way we probably won't end up fighting each other.

Macao nodded. "Sounds like a great idea to -"

"Oh no, you two weaklings are just what I need for my warmup, so stay right where you are!"

Before the two knew what happened, a long pole arm with two crescent moon shaped blades fused at the backs burst out of one of the buildings on the street through a bizarre ring shaped chain, and in-between the two mages, the both of them only just barely dodging the attack thanks to the mysterious assailant calling out to them. However, while Macao had managed to dodge the attack outright, Wakaba wasn't so lucky, a portion of his shoulder had been grazed and was bleeding profusely.

"Wakaba! Are you alright!?" Macao demanded.

The smoke mage nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm lucky that it just grazed me. If that had been any closer…"

"How pathetic! Even with a warning you were still too slow!"

The two experienced mages of Fairy Tail looked towards where the weapon had come from as the smoke and dust began to clear. The attacker looked just as odd and bizarre as his weapon, with a tall yet lean build, shoulder length black hair and black eyes. His attire was mostly white with a few bits of black trim, with a spoon shaped hood, curved boots and 3 rings on each of his arms. Finally, there was a massive white eye patch which obscured his left eye.

The strange man snorted as he looked at the two of them. "At this rate, I'm probably not even going to get a good warm up out of this. You dumbasses are really lucky that Emberella lady wants you back alive and that Baraggan gives enough of a shit to go along with her plan."

Macaco and Wakaba looked at each other, the two nodding in unison before they looked towards their new enemy. "Hey now, I know we're getting old, but that doesn't mean you can just treat us like a bunch of pushovers," Macao said as purple flames sprouted from his hands.

"Yeah, you might just find us old geezers can teach you a trick or two!" Wakaba added as smoke came out from his pipe before the pair leapt up into the air.

"Smoke Crush!"

"Purple rain!"

A barrage of fist shaped smoke and flaming bullets smashed into their foe, creating a small explosion that shook the entire street as the two landed on their feet.

"Here's a tip. The minute you start a fight thinking you've already won, you're destined to lose," Macaco said with a grin.

"Yeah, maybe next time you shouldn't be so cocky," Wakaba added before he looked back at Macao as the pair made their way forward. "Now let's go find-"

"Really? That was it? What a complete waste of my time."

The two Fairy Tail mages froze before slowly turning around, the dust clearing to reveal their opponent who was completely unharmed from their combined attacks.

"What!? That's impossible!?" Macaco cried out.

"We hit that guy with everything we had!" Wakaba added as he surrounded himself with smoke.

The strange man smirked as he pointed his blade at the two of them. "Now then, how's about I show you weaklings what real power is?"


"Macao versus Wakaba versus Nnoitra Gilga!?" Bambietta screamed out as she read the latest battle report, before promptly displaying the Espada as the winner. "First Zommari, now fucking Nnoitra!? What is this, an Espada class reunion or something!?" She then glanced over towards Ulquiorra before she pointed her index finger and shouted at him. "Do you have any idea what this is about!? Any at all!?"

The arrancar shook his head. "I do not. In my entire time on Earthland, I had not encountered a single arrancar, let alone any of the Espada. I'm just as surprised as you are."

"Wait, there's more," Liltotto said as more and more names appeared on the screen. Liltotto narrowed her eyes as she glanced down at the list of battles going on before they shot wide open. "Hold on a second, I recognize some of these names from wanted posters…They've got dark mages involved!"

"Terrific," Rukia growled as she clenched onto her zanpaktou's hilt. "The odds just continue to stack against us more and more."

Makarov grit his teeth. "I should have suspected as much once I saw Emberella on stage."

"You know the bitch?" Candice asked Makarov.

He nodded his head. "She was once considered one the strongest mages in the Chicken Fangs guild. Word had it that she has strength that was akin to our own S-class. But she attempted to take control of her guild when she took over Master Danver's mind." He then glanced over towards Bambietta and Liltotto. "But those two put a stop to it, along with Lucy, Levy, and Cana."

"Wait, Chicken Fangs. Jade mentioned being a part of that guild once." Candice murmured before she felt her heart stop. "Wait a minute, given how much she was hanging around Stella…" Her eyes shot wide open then as her mind flashed back then to several days ago.


"I...I know." Jade finally spoke up. "But maybe you'd be better off without me."

"Bullshit. Without you, I'd have spent all of the jewel in my wallet in the first month I found myself in Fiore." Candice said before she smiled. "You keep me focused. That's something that the others have always had a hard time doing back in the Wandenreich. Sure, I know I tend to groan and roll my eyes every time you're a buzzkill, but that's usually because I know you're right."

She then slowly lifted Jade's head up with one finger as her train slowly began to pull up behind her. "So, don't doubt yourself alright? Because no matter what anyone else says about you...you'll always matter to me."

"Candi...I...I...I..." Jade stammered as soon as the train finally stopped behind the railing.

The former Sternritter found herself completely taken off guard by her best friend's current course of action, simply standing there dumbfounded.

Jade stepped back then, as she slowly made her way past the train's doors, the former thief frowning as she looked down at her feet.

She whispered something, and just as Candice reached out to her, the doors closed, and the train promptly began to leave the station.

The former Sternritter stood there confused. For just a moment…she could have sworn she heard Jade utter two simple words.

"I'm sorry."


"She knew," Candice whispered to herself.

"Pardon?" Liltotto asked.

"Jade knew about this!" Candice shouted as she looked at her friends. "She was acting really weird for the last few days before I saw her off at the train station. She even said she was sorry before she left. All this time I thought I was just imagining it, but now…" Candice clenched her fist before she tossed a bolt of lightning at a nearby chair, disintegrating it. "How could I have been so stupid!?" All this time, all those months she had hung out with her best friend, and she hadn't picked up on this!?

"You think she was a double agent this whole time?" Rukia asked.

"It's certainly possible." Bambietta grumbled before she felt her heart skip a beat as to what that could mean. Oh, fuck me. I do NOT want to deal with Aizen along with all this other bullshit! Nope, nope, nope, nope, soooooooooo much nope!

Candice shook her head. "No way. I've known Jade way better than the rest of you, so I'm willing to bet every Jewel I have that she's not a part of this."

"You say that, yet you didn't pick up on any of this." Liltotto rebutted.

"This is different!" Candice yelled at her. "I know, I know, I've fucked up a lot during this whole fiasco. I'm the reason we can't free Master Makarov or Ulquiorra to get their help right now. I know. But if there's one thing I can say for absolute certainty, it's that there's no way in hell she'd betray us! Not after everything she did in the Tower of Heaven!"

"It could have been an act." Liltotto brought up. "Something to buy our trust."

"If that's the case, then why did she tell me to run when she was captured by that asshole Dyspute!?" Candice argued, tears forming in her eyes as she remembered the battle. "She was scared! She was really, really scared of what that asshole was going to do to her. But despite it all, she still told me to run! To take whoever I could and leave her behind! I refuse to believe that she'd say any of that as part of some ploy! She's not Aizen, I know she's not! I'm willing to bet my life on it!"

The former Sternritter panted as she tried to catch her breath, quickly composing herself as she stood up straight, her visage now filled with determination. "She hasn't betrayed us. I know she hasn't."

Bambietta and Liltotto glanced at one another before Liltotto sighed. "Well, debating this isn't going to solve anything. Right now, we need to think of a plan of action and fast. If we aren't careful, we'll just end up fighting each other and that's the last thing we need to do. Without our ability to sense reiatsu, we're going up shit creek without a paddle."

"Then perhaps It's time I finally chipped in."

The group looked towards Jonathan, the Sternritter Grandmaster walking over to the pair of them before he sat down. "Tell me, does anyone in the guild possess a flare gun?"

"I recall Bisca telling me she had a few, in case of an emergency." Makarov answered.

Jonathan nodded his head. "Excellent. I need one of you to bring two of them. I've got a simple solution that should invalidate Laxus's plan for friendly fire."

Having already lived there alongside Erza, Liltotto had left with Hirenkyaku before she returned, dropping seven flare guns. "Let me guess, we'll use these to mark our location to prevent running into each other?" Liltotto asked.

Jonathan nodded. "Yes, but there's more to it than that." He said as he glanced down at the flare guns. "When you fire your shot, not only will it inform everyone else about your location, but it may also draw in some of Laxus's men. It's not entirely ideal, given how many enemies that may come your way, but the sooner you defeat Evergreen and Freed the better."

He handed out a flare gun to each of the gathered warriors before he took one for himself. "Bambietta, since you're the strongest one left in your guild, you should be the one to go after Freed. The sooner you beat him, the sooner we can dispel the Jutsu Shiki. Liltotto, Rukia and Momo should try and find Evergreen to save the rest of your friends. Ria and I will handle the small fry."

"Wait, couldn't we just use our Kido or arrow's to get a similar result?" Momo asked.

"You certainly could." Jonathan answered. "But with how many enemies there are out there to face, you'd be wasting your reiatsu and we can't afford that. The quincy can still fire their arrows given their using the surrounding ethernano, but you reigai are better off using these to keep you from wasting any of your power."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Still, any reason why you guys aren't going after the Thunder Legion?" Bambietta asked.

Ria promptly spoke up. "My power isn't exactly one you want me to use on any of your guild mates, and despite his rank, Jonathan isn't much of a fighter. So, for now it's best if he and I focus on dealing with the underlings. If we run into the Thunder Legion, we'll do what we can, certainly, but it would be better for all parties involved if we focused on crowd control."

"Well, the less power we have to waste on cannon fodder the better, I suppose." Bambietta said with a shrug.

"Hey! What about me!?" Candice asked. "What am I, chopped liver?!"

Jonathan shook his head. "Hardly. You have a special role to play. Should Bambietta and Liltotto fall, we'll need to use you as backup. At the moment, you're the guild's third strongest fighter, so if they fall, it'll be up to you. Because of that, we can't afford to risk you using up too much power on any run of the mill dark mages you'd run into, so for right now it's best if you remain in the guild with Makarov and Natsu."

Bambietta knew that look on Candice's face. She looked like she wanted to absolutely say something about this choice but to her surprise, she seemed to quickly calm herself and simply nodded. Huh, that's… very unlike her. Bambietta thought.

Jonathan then glanced over towards Makarov. "Given how many dark mages and arrancar are prowling the streets, it's best we get the word out about them as soon as possible to the citizens of Magnolia. Do you have anyone in the guild who knows Telepathy Magic? The sooner we get them out of harm's way, the better."

Makarov nodded. "I do. His name is Warren Rocko. I can easily give you a picture so you can find him before he gets defeated."

Jonathan nodded in agreement before Bambietta spoke up. "Yeah, that's all well and good. but as soon as one of us beats Freed, I want someone to find Wendy ASAP!"

"I'll be more than willing to handle that."

The pair turned around as Gajeel Redfox slowly made his way over to them.

"Gajeel!? Wait, how long have you been here?!" Bambietta demanded.

"Since this whole fiasco started," Gajeel replied. "Figured I'd lay back and get a feel on the situation before I did anything. Good thing I did, or else I'd be rushing into traps like the rest of those losers. Anyways, it shouldn't be too hard to find her with my nose."

Bambietta couldn't help but give the Iron Dragon Slayer a confused look. "Not that I don't appreciate the offer to save Wendy, because trust me, I do, but… Why the hell do you care?"

Gajeel scoffed at her question. "Look, the little squirt fixed me up real nice after what that prick Laxus did to me. Least I can do to return the favor. Besides-" He then gave her a confident smirk, revealing his sharp teeth. "I'd like nothing more than to take that bastard down a peg or two, geehee!"

Bambietta stared at him for only a few more seconds before she smirked back. "Heh, you pull this off and I'll make it worth your while. Guaranteed."

Candice snickered. "Woah hold on there Bambi, I thought you and Lucy were in a proper relationsh-"

"Not like that!" Bambietta yelled at Candice before she looked back at Gajeel, before giving him an embarrassed glance. "I meant money. Or food, or something, I don't really know yet!"

"Don't worry about it. Seeing that asshole lose his mind will be payment enough," Gajeel said as he walked past Bambietta. "Besides, we're both dragon slayers. We gotta stick together."

"Frankly, I'd like you to stay as far away from me as possible," Natsu muttered.

"I wasn't talking about you! You can go to hell for all I care!" Gajeel yelled at Natsu as he made his way towards the entrance. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta– SHIT!"

Much to everyone's shock, just like Natsu and Makarov, Gajeel had slammed right into the invisible barrier surrounding the guildhall.

"Don't tell me you're over eighty too!?" Natsu yelled at Gajeel.

"Do I look eighty to you!?" Gajeel snapped back, rubbing his nose.

"Seriously, what the hell is with you dragon slayers and not being able to pass this damn barrier!?" Bambietta yelled at the pair of them before she came to a revelation of her own. Oh no. Don't tell me Wendy would have the same problem! Uggggghhh, Candi would absolutely use her "being all grown up" as a way to mess with me for weeks on end if she did! Bambietta proceeded to shake her head as she recomposed herself. "You know what! Fine! Whatever! We can do this on our own, I say! I'll beat the shit out of Freed so you two can get into the thick of it." She quickly made her way out of the guild hall, Liltotto, Momo and Rukia following after her.

"Just promise me you won't try to blow everything up to drag Freed out of hiding, alright?" Liltotto asked Bambietta as they excited the guild. "This isn't like the second invasion of the Soul Society, big explosive moves like that could kill a lot of innocent people."

"And who's fault is it that I did such a thing in the first place?" Bambietta retorted.

"Fair enough, but the point still stands," Liltotto remarked after some hesitation.

Bambietta sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. If the guy's really as strong as Erza says he is, I'm going to probably have to take our fight into the air to avoid collateral damage….Assuming he can fly, I mean."

"Just try to show some restraint if he can't," Rukia said as she looked about the streets, trying to decide on where she would head towards next. "It's money out of your wallet if you can't after all."

Bambietta rolled her eyes. "Ugh, don't remind me. Anyways, I say we get this mess over with!"

"Wait, before we go, there's something I want to do," Momo said to the other three as she ran up to them. "A charm."

"A charm?" Bambietta asked. "You mean like those pre battle chants?"

Momo nodded. "Yes, that's exactly it! It's an old tradition that's not used much anymore, but the thirteen court guard squads would use them whenever they thought they were about to go on a perilous mission. I know that you're quincy but I think we can put that aside for something like this." She then smiled as she put her hand out. "Because I can't think of a better way of putting aside our differences properly than something like this."

Rukia smiled at the suggestion. "I think I know the one. Renji recommended we do the same thing before we split off to rescue Orihime!" She then covered her hand over Momo's before she looked over at the quincy.

Bambietta and Liltotto glanced at each other before Bambietta smiled and extended her hand. "Oh, what the hell, why not? I've already made nice with an arrancar, what's doing a shinigami tradition going to hurt?"

Liltotto sighed and rolled her eyes with annoyance. "Not like it's really going to make much of a difference, but fuck it, why not?" She smiled slightly despite herself then as she two placed her hand atop the others.

Momo smiled before she looked down at the gathered hands and began her chant. "As we approach the crucial battleground, believe that our blades will not shatter! Believe that our resolve will not weaken! Though our paths may diverge, our iron hearts will remain together! Swear that though the land itself should break asunder, we will all come back here alive!"

The group threw their hands down in unison then before they all took off, each going down their own separate paths, with the same determination and goal as the others. To put an end to this madness and save their friends as soon as possible! Though they did not know what the future had in store for them all, they all knew one thing for certain.

They would all fight till their last breath!


As the group departed and went their separate ways, the emperor of Bosco glanced out from his chair as he took another sip of wine, watching as each of them went their separate ways. "It would appear that everything is proceeding exactly as expected…"

His lips curled upwards into a sinister smirk then before he muttered under his breath.

"Your Majesty."


Oh…shit.

Well, things are starting to look REALLY bad this time around! Not only has a huge chunk of the cast been turned to stone, not only have the arrancar come to assist Laxus and Emberella's scheme, and not only do we have Ulquiorra and Makarov unable to fight, AND NOT ONLY do the Bleach characters have the ability to sense reiatsu cut off from them…We now have the nonsense at the very end here to deal with later on as well.

Just what can our hero's do in the wake of these new challenges!?

Well, you'll just have to wait and see, on the next chapter of A Quincy's Fairy Tail!