Chapter 23

Train

Naestra

"So, this magic item can steal the souls of all that listen to it, yes?" Asked Arahan as she looked at Erza, who had an unconscious Natsu in her lab and was next to the white-haired elf. After both Gray and Natsu recovered from Arahan's attack, Erza took them along with the Twilight Sisters and Lucy to this unofficial mission. Unfortunately for Natsu, they were taking a train to their destination and that triggered his extreme motion sickness. This caused Erza to knock him out, both to ease his pain and so no one can hear his whining and pleas for the ride to be over. Unfortunate, but it was better than having to hear him whine.

"Correct, sister." Said Naestra as she sat next to Lucy. "I've heard of this powerful item. It's an item from the time of Zeref and it was said to be created by the black wizard himself. And apparently, it's in the possession of a dark guild, yes?" Erza just nodded at that.

While on her last mission, she overheard some men talking about the Eisenwald guild and how they finally got something called Lullaby. Having heard about the guild and their reputation, Erza had a feeling that they were up to something evil and so decided to launch an investigation on them and figure out their plans. By launching an attack on their guildhall in the town they used to be located in before they become reclassified as a dark guild.

Knowing that it would be foolhardy to attack an entire guild on her own, she went back to the guildhall to get some reinforcements. Hence, every one with her. Well, except Lucy, she was forced to come along by Arahan so she can get some actual experience fighting wizards, despite her protests that she got that just a few days ago.

"Yes, Eisenwald became a dark guild after assassination missions became illegal." Explained Erza, mainly for Lucy's benefit. "Their guild master and some of their best wizards were arrested, but the rest escaped. Under the leadership of their new master, their strongest wizard by the name of Erigor, they became a dark guild." Naestra hummed at that.

"So, do you have any idea on what they intend to do with this Lullaby?" Asked Naestra. From the sounds of it, they weren't very strong so they were likely bidding their time to hit something critical to Fiore. Something that can send a strong message.

"I honestly don't know." Said Erza. "That's why we need to go to their guildhall somewhere in Oshibana. So, we can get some information on what their plans are with such a dangerous artifact. Hopefully, we'll also be able to stop whatever they're planning on doing as well." Arahan and Naestra nodded at that before looking at Lucy, who was both shivering at the thought of dealing with a dark guild with just a handful of people, even if they're some of the strongest in the Fairy Tail guild. Upon seeing this, Naestra placed a hand on Lucy's lap.

"It will be alright, Lucy." Said Naestra with a small smile as she tried to calm down the newest member of Fairy Tail. "So long as you're with one of us, we'll protect you as best as we possibly can. I promise you that." Lucy sighed at that before nodding in thanks.

"Thanks." Said Lucy with a smile. "That made me feel a lot better." She then smiled and pumped her fist in the air. "Now let's go and take down this dark guild." Erza smiled at that.

"That's the spirit." Said Erza as she looked at Lucy and Naestra. "You'll fit right into Fairy Tail, Lucy, I just know it." Lucy smiled at that and was about to speak when Arahan spoke up.

"That man over there has been acting suspicious." Said Arahan as she pointed towards a black-haired young man with his hair done in a short, high, spiky ponytail. Upon hearing that, Erza narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Asked Erza, whispering the question to Arahan so as to not draw suspicion.

"Every now and then he looked at us with his eyes closed and with a smile on his face." Said Arahan as she glared at the man, his back towards them.

"Perhaps he's just in awe of seeing some of Fairy Tail's most famous members?" Asked Lucy naively, causing Arahan to roll her eyes.

"And yet he keeps on doing with a posture indicating disdain." Said Arahan. "Please, don't be foolish. I know what I'm seeing. He even tensed up when we mentioned the Eisenwald guild." Both Gray and Erza narrowed their eyes at that.

"You think he's a member of Eisenwald guild?" Asked Gray as he looked at Arahan, unable to see the man she was referring to without fully turning to face him.

"Absolutely." Said Arahan as she placed a hand on a sheathed blade on her waist. "Perhaps we should capture him, just to be sure?" Naestra and Erza nodded in agreement at that. Not only would it ensure that Arahan wasn't right or wrong, but if that man was indeed with Eisenwald, then that'll make their jobs a lot easier. Of course, they needed proof that he was a member of Eisenwald, but Erza was confident that she can wrestle that confession out of him.

"Let's try to be gentle with him at first, sister." Said Naestra as she saw the glint in her sister's eyes when she looked at her. "If that performs ill, then we shall do things your way." Arahan rolled her eyes at that, but still nodded her head. Thus, both she and Erza, got up from their seats after Erza gently put Natsu in a sitting position, where he groaned out in pain, before going over to the man. Everyone else just waited until the two were finished with the man, one of which was hoping they wouldn't be too rough with him, despite knowing their way of handling things.

Erza and Arahan, meanwhile, walked up to the man's booth, causing him to look up to them with a smile.

"Is there anything that I can do to help you lovely ladies?" Asked the man with his eyes closed. Both Erza and Arahan scoffed at that before speaking up.

"You can drop the act, sir." Said Erza with a glare. "We know you're a part of a dark guild. In fact, you're probably with the Eisenwald guild, am I wrong?" The man simply chuckled at that.

"You must be confusing me with someone else." Said the man, though Arahan can tell that he was lying through his teeth. "I can't use magic at all. I'm just a humble citizen of Fiore going to Oshibana Station. If there are any dark wizards on this train, I'll be sure to contact the proper authorities about them, but I'm afraid that I'm not a dark wizard myself. Suffice to say." Arahan, sick and tired of this, was about to do things her way when a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

"Forgive my sister and friend then, mister." Said Naestra as she appeared between both Erza and Arahan. "They simply were annoyed with how much you were looking back towards our group and thought you were a part of the guild that we're pursuing. Please forgive them." The man just waved his hand at that.

"It's no trouble." Said the man. "I can understand. Dark guilds and wizards are a nasty bunch, yes?" Naestra nodded at that before leaving with Erza and Arahan in tow, both of whom were annoyed at Naestra just barging in like that.

"May you kindly tell us why you decided to withdraw us from speaking with that dark wizard, sister?" Asked Arahan as the three sat back down in their seats along with the others.

"Yes, I fail to see why you would forbid us from trying to know about the enemy when we have a member of their guild with us right now." Said Erza as she looked at Naestra, who sighed upon the questions. Honestly, her sister did well in dulling Erza's headstrong attitude as well as improving her social life, but she didn't do well in training her to be subtle. Then again, her sister sometimes forgot when to strike and when to hold back.

"For one, we don't have confirmation if he is indeed a member of a Dark Guild or not. Another thing is that you have already received information on where he's going." Explained Naestra. "He's going to Oshibana station. That means, if he truly is a part of Eisenwald or a member of another dark guild, we can follow him to wherever he goes without drawing suspicion or causing trouble with local authorities." Gray hummed at that.

"That does seem like a good plan." Said Gray as he put thought into it. "Plus, it'll save us some hassle if we ended up being wrong about that guy." Arahan glared at Gray for insinuating that she was wrong when she knew that she was right. She was about to say something against the ice wizard when Naestra took charge.

"That settles it." Said Naestra as she relaxed in her seat. "We wait until we arrive at this Oshibana station and follow him. After that, we can see if he really is a member of Eisenwald or not." Both Erza and Arahan reluctantly followed her lead, deciding to indulge Naestra into doing things her way. At least for now. As they all waited, Naestra wondered about this Lullaby and what this Eisenwald guild intended to do with it. Whatever it was, it can't be good.

Later

Oshibana station

"Here we are." Said Lucy as they got out of the train. "Oshibana station."

"Thank god!" Yelled Natsu as he got off the train and began to recover instantly. "Oh, man. Let's not go on another vehicle today please." Arahan rolled her eyes at Natsu's whining as she got off the train along with Erza and her sister.

"Any signs of that man?" Asked Arahan as she looked around for the man that they suspected to be with Eisenwald. It was Naestra that answered her question. Pointing at the retreating form of the man they encountered on the train leaving the station, the group immediately went after him, though covertly in order to not attract the attention from either him or anyone else in town.

As they walked in pursuit of that man, Naestra noticed that something felt a bit wrong as they walked. Rather than going to any of the exits, the man was heading straight for the upper levels of the station with a group of people forming around him. Everyone else noticed this and got ready for a fight as they all felt that things were about to get violent.

By now, that man that they pursued had dozens of men around him and they were all going straight towards the upper levels of the train station until eventually they all stopped and looked directly towards the group of Fairy Tail members. That caused them all to stop. Arahan narrowed her eyes and got out her bow while everyone else got ready for a fight. Just before anyone can do anything, they all felt a massive wind gust that nearly took them off their feet. It was then that they heard some laughter.

"So, this is the group of wizards that Fairy Tail sent to deal with us." Said a half-naked man with a black scarf wielding a scythe and was currently floating above everyone. By now, the civilians around them noticed something was amiss and began running for their lives as they noticed the wizard with the scythe. While everyone was panicking and running away, the Fairy Tail group stood their ground. Eventually, Erza spoke out.

"I'm guessing since you know about us, you're with Eisenwald, yes?" Asked Erza, causing the scythe wielder to laugh out loud.

"You got that right." Said the man with a smirk. "I'm Erigor, the new leader of the Dark Guild Eisenwald. And we're here to finally get our revenge for the injustice that was handed out to us by the Magic Council." Upon hearing that Erza narrowed her eyes.

"There was no injustice to speak of." Said Erza. "You all had a choice to stop conducting assassination missions, but you refused. And you've been stripped of your legal status as a result." Erigor couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Just what I would expect from a legal wizard like yourself to say." Said Erigor. "Turning a blind eye to injustice when it suits you. Not knowing that eventually, a time will come when you can't turn a blind eye to it, and you'll be faced with a choice. Fight for your rights or be submissive to a regime that will strip your freedoms when it suits it. That's exactly what these people have done, and we'll punish them for their sin." Naestra narrowed her eyes at that, finding this man utterly mad.

"And how exactly do you intend to do that?" Asked Naestra, ready for a fight much like her sister, who already had her bow out. "With Lullaby? With the sound system of this station?" Erigor just looked at her with a cocky smile.

"You catch on quick." Said Erigor. "We intend to use the sound system of this station to broadcast Lullaby's melody to all that can hear it. Who knows? We might even be able to reach the entire city if we're lucky!"

"You heartless monsters!" Yelled Erza with anger. "How dare you drag innocent people into this!" It was then that she summoned a sword and pointed it at Erigor, shocking Lucy on how she managed to bring a sword out of thin air. "By my honor as a Fairy Tail mage, we're taking you down before you could kill any innocent people." Upon hearing that, Erigor laughed out loud along with the rest of his guild. All the while, Naestra was thinking hard.

While heinous, this crime didn't seem to accomplish anything for the Eisenwald guild. They were in hiding for a good long time and they popped out just now to wipe out a whole town? Just to punish some people that, as far as she knew, held no connection to their guild? Something wasn't right. There was more to this and she needed to figure it out before it's too late. She was about to relay this to her sister when Erigor suddenly yelled out.

"Nice try!" Yelled out Erigor as he blocked a group of arrows that tried to penetrate his skull with his wind magic. The source of which came from Arahan who was firing a group of arrows at both him and the other Eisenwald guild members, causing them to scatter, although a few unlucky fools got an arrow lodged in their brains. "But it's going to take more than that to stop us! Men, show them the terror of Eisenwald while I accomplish our grand plan!" With that, Erigor disappeared before three arrows were launched at him. Cursing, Arahan focused on the other members of Eisenwald while they got ready for a fight.

"Gray! Natsu! Deal with Erigor before he can use Lullaby! The rest of us will deal with the rest of Eisenwald!" Yelled Erza, causing both teens to obey and try to find Erigor. That caused two Eisenwald wizards to try and follow them. One, the man that they found before, and another with a weird helmet. The first one became shadows and left before any of the Fairy Tail wizards can do anything, but the latter was shot with arrows from Naestra. But unlike her sister, Naestra was going for nonlethal shots and show pinned him to a wall with her arrows while a few arrows went into his legs, taking him out of the fight. And with that, the two guilds did battle with each other with Lucy squealing out in horror at facing an entire guild that heavily outnumbered her and her group.

Erza went straight for the middle, intending on being the main focus of the Eisenwald guild, while Naestra and Arahan stood back to rain arrows on the enemy, scoring either a kill or wounded wizard with each of their arrows. Lucy, meanwhile, summoned a weird celestial spirit by the name of Cancer that did nothing but cut the hair of some of the Eisenwald wizards. While the spirit did this, Lucy went over to Naestra and asked her if she approved of Cancer and her support.

Looking at the girl with stars in her eyes, Naestra just shook her head, causing her to fall flat on the floor with a dejected look on her face. While Happy was trying to cheer her up, Naestra was busy sending arrow after arrow on the dark guild wizards before they could use their own magic against her or her sister. Being more merciful than her sister, who was just aiming to kill everyone, Naestra was aiming to incapacitate the dark wizards. Both out of mercy and because she needed to extract information from them.

Even though she knew that Erigor was insane in some regards, with little care of who gets caught in the crossfire, she felt that something was amiss with his plan, and she needed people to interrogate. Hopefully, the ones she spared knew something about Erigor's true plan or things might be difficult to them to figure out what the plan is before it's too late.

Erza, meanwhile, was busy knocking out three dark wizards when she noticed one receiving an arrow to his head as he prepared to launch a fireball at somehow. It didn't take her much to know who it belonged to. She then noticed the amount of dead around her and realized that her former master was really working overtime as over a third of the Eisenwald Guild was dead, even though the fight only started three minutes ago. Deciding that enough was enough, Erza changed her standard Heart Kreuz Armor for her Heaven's Wheel Armor, using her magic to near-instantly change armors.

Now bearing an armored top and skirt along with metal wings on her back, Erza flew over the Eisenwald Guild, who were all in awestruck at her revealing appearance, before she summoned a dozen swords from thin air and doing battle with the remaining dark wizards. Yelling out an attack name, she wiped out most of the standing dark wizards with ease, knocking them all out unconscious, leaving the remaining two shocked at what just happened. Before either of them could do anything, Naestra and Arahan aimed their bows and fired. One arrow killing one dark wizard while another merely wounded the other and making him fall flat to the floor in pain. And with that, the battle was over in under ten minutes.

Taking a breath, Naestra looked over to Erza, who was looking at those either unconscious or dead from the Eisenwald guild. It caused her to sigh a bit.

It was no secret to anyone or those that looked into their activities, that the Twilight Sisters were one of the few within a legal guild that killed, stirring some mixed views on them along with their near stellar record of finishing jobs with satisfied clients as well as them being the only magic-less members of Fairy Tail. Some disliked them because they killed while others, mostly those that have been threatened or attacked by a bunch of bandits and thieves, didn't mind. The Magic Council were also perplexed.

On one hand, legal guilds are supposed to be moral organizations that uphold the law, no matter what, and murder was something that violated many of their laws. But on the other hand, the people they killed were people that also violated many of their rules and were, in many ways, criminals that would just continually do their dark deeds with no hope of reform. Plus, there was the fact that they were magic-less. Though they were not exactly defenseless, some consideration had to be given to this, especially with the fact that most of the opponents they've faced were difficult for magic-less people to face.

So far, a tacit understanding with the Magic Council and Fairy Tail prevented the Twilight Sisters from being taken in for questioning. Though Naestra knew that it was only a matter of time before both of them were summoned by the council to defend their actions. A lot of them weren't exactly reasonable when it comes to exceptions to the rules.

Walking over to a wounded dark mage, Naestra grabbed them by the hair and spoke to them.

"Would you kindly tell us what's your guilds' real plan?" Asked Naestra as she looked at the black-haired mage, who was wincing at the arrow in his left leg and right arm.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Said the mage, lying through his teeth. Naestra just stayed silent as she gently laid the man on his back before grabbing one of her arrows.

"There is no need to lie." Said Naestra as she held tightly on the arrow while Lucy and Erza made their way towards Naestra. "I know that the plan your leader spoke out isn't your true plan. It makes no sense whatsoever."

"What do you mean?" Asked Lucy, confused. It sounded like a truly evil plan and one that sounded like something Erigor would do, given how crazy he sounded, but Erza knew what Naestra meant. Having taken some tactical advice from Naestra and Arahan when she was younger, she knew what Naestra was getting at.

"She means that it doesn't make sense strategically." Explained Erza to Lucy. "It's a heinous act to murder an entire town, yes, but what does Eisenwald gain from using a secret weapon like Lullaby just to commit that act. It would instantly draw the attention of the Magic Council to them. And given how easily we've taken them all down, I doubt they would stand a chance against even just one S-class mage from any of the other legal guilds, especially if they're prepared to stand against Lullaby." Lucy blinked while she put two and two together.

"I guess that makes sense." Said Lucy as she understood what Erza was saying. "But if it's not the town, then what else is there? Now that we know they have Lullaby, they need to either hide or hit their target now. What else is here that they want to hit?"

"Simple, you blond fool." Said Arahan as she grabbed a fat dark wizard with green hair, scaring him utterly as she glared down at him with a sadistic smile. Brandishing a knife, Arahan was ready to cut him up until he talked. "It's not in the town but something that they can easily access without much trouble. Something that this train station can provide."

"Yes." Said Erza, agreeing with her former master. She then widened her eyes before realizing what was going on. It was something that she only caught a glimpse earlier, but one look from a train route map on a nearby wall confirmed her fears. "This train is the only route to the Guild Master conference in Clover Town." Upon hearing that Lucy gasped out loud with Arahan and Naestra also blinking in surprise.

They heard about Makarov along with dozens of other guild masters being present there in order to attend a regular meeting with each other for a variety of reasons, ranging from important information such as Dark Guilds or regarding new rules the Magic council made for their guilds to more mundane things like job postings and their own self-imposed regulations. If Lullaby was to be used there while the Guild Masters were present, the damage it would cause would be crippling to the legal guilds.

"Taking out the guild masters would do more than cripple the legal guilds." Said Naestra, remembering that Makarov left to attend a guild master meeting in Clover Town sometime ago. "It'll cause a massive panic within Fiore with the death of most of the guild masters in charge of the legal guilds. That is a much stronger message than simply obliterating a simple town."

"Yes." Said Erza before glaring down at the black-haired dark wizard, scaring him utterly.

"We need to warn the guild masters." Said Lucy after recovering from the shock of what Eisenwald's true plan was.

"Agreed." Said Erza while Naestra knocked out her prisoner while Arahan was swiftly killing hers, shocking Lucy. "We need to stop Erigor before he has a chance to unleash Lullaby on Clover Town."

"I'll find Natsu and Gray." Said Naestra as she got up. "Lucy, you'll accompany me. Sister, try to get one of the trains operational. We'll need to use it to catch up to Erigor." Arahan scoffed at that before going over to one of the trains with Erza following. With that, both Lucy and Naestra ran to where Natsu and Gray took off, hoping to catch them soon so they're not wasting any time. As they ran, however, Lucy spoke up.

"So, I know this is kind of all of sudden, but does Arahan kill often?" Asked Lucy, remembering all the dead bodies during the fight. All of them dying from arrows. Naestra just sighed before replying yes. "Oh. I heard you two do kill, but I didn't think much about it."

"Trust me, it's one of the few things that people say about my sister and me that is correct." Said Naestra, disappointing Lucy.

"Oh." Said Lucy. She suspected that back with the situation with Bora with the sadistic smile on Arahan's face and her threatening words, but she didn't want to believe them. Now, she can't deny the fact that some of her idols were killers and it saddened her. Naestra sensed her sadness and spoke to Lucy.

"If it'll help then we can talk about this later, but for now, we need to stop Erigor." Said Naestra. Lucy nodded at that before following Naestra. As they ran, they suddenly stopped when they saw a massive explosion ahead of them. Worried, the two ran towards the source, only to stop when they saw what it was about.

The explosion turned out to be Gray and Natsu, butting heads with one another and with magic in their hands. With them was the man that Arahan spotted on the train earlier, knocked out unconscious. And the explosion from earlier was from a hole that either Natsu or Gray created, likely from a stupid argument.

Sighing at this, Naestra instantly went between the two and forced them apart.

"Even on an assignment, you two argue like little children." Said Naestra. Honestly, the way these two argued was akin to little children fighting over a toy. Granted, her sister and her do it was well at times, but it was mere arguments that were over in seconds. Never minutes or even hours like Gray and Natsu. And even now, with her in the way, the two were struggling to get a punch on each other, despite Naestra keeping them a good distant away from each other. "Now is not the time for this, we have a situation on our hands. One that can mean the life and death of Makarov and other guild masters." That instantly stopped the fighting between the two. When Natsu asked what she meant by that, Lucy spoke up before Naestra could speak.

"Uh, guys." Said Lucy, catching everyone's attention. She then pointed outside. "What the heck is that?" The three went over to see what Lucy was pointing at and the three were shocked.

Just beyond the limits of the train station, lay a massive wind barrier that encircled the entire train station.

"What the." Said Gray before being interrupted by Naestra.

"It's a magical barrier." Said Naestra, realizing it's purpose. "Erigor must have put it up to keep us from leaving this station." Gray and Natsu, both of which didn't know of Eisenwald's true goal, were confused.

"But why?" Asked Gray. "They can't use the station's broadcasting station then. Why would they sabotage their own plan?" Natsu was about to speak up when Naestra interrupted him.

"Because this town wasn't their intended target. They're going for the guild masters in Clover Town." Said Naestra, causing both Natsu and Gray to widen their eyes in shock.

Meanwhile

"*Laughs* There's nothing that can stop me now." Thought Erigor as he finished placing his wind barrier around the station. Without that group from Fairy Tail getting in the way, now Erigor can accomplish his real objective now without too much worry of interference from anyone. Holding out Lullaby, Erigor smirked as the thought of gaining his revenge soon was salivating for the dark wizards. And in his magic space, he had the bottle that contained the paralyzing poison given to him by that masked woman. All for one person in mind. The guild master of Fairy Tail. It made Erigor somewhat disappointed that not all of the guild masters in Clover would die from Lullaby's music, but he had a feeling that the old master of Fairy Tail would wish that he died with his fellow mages in Clover.

Laughing out loud, Erigor flew off to his true objective, eager to both gain his revenge and to get paid for delivering Makarov to his armored benefactor.