"We're dark mages!" - Talking

'We're dark mages!' - Thinking

"We're dark mages!" - Communication via Lacrima / Telepathy

"WE'RE DARK MAGES!" - Screaming

"Fairy Law!" - Spells

[ Here / Now ] - Place / Time

Chapter 1: Old and new shadows.

[Shadow Soul's Headquarters / 6th October X784]

"Journalists work really fast, it's almost scary..." Reveeina took a sip from her cup of black coffee before turning the page of the newspaper she was reading. As far as she knew, Phantom Lord had started its ridiculous war by heavily damaging the Fairy Tail building and attacking three of their mages, leaving them in plain sight crucified to a tree in a park of Magnolia. Exactly the next day, Fairy Tail had attacked the opposing guild and from there the events that had led to the destruction of Phantom Lord had started.

"All this happened yesterday...and yet there are pages upon pages of the newspaper about it. Citizen comments...mages' testimonials...the statement of the Magic Council..." she shook her head "Sometimes I don't know who the best informants are, my spies or those reporters."

Placing the newspaper on her desk, she leaned back in her chair, gazing at the ceiling with disinterest.

'If it goes as I think, from today the Rune Knights will start to control the cities previously 'protected' by Phantom Lord...I would like to do something about it, but it would make no sense to attack them directly now. We have enough money and powerful wizards, but we have to do things one at a time. Better not risk having the Balam Alliance, the Council and all the other guilds against us at the same time.'

After her speech to the guild, the other wizards had become galvanized and those who had not run on missions had begun to train more intensively. She was sure they were all going to get strong; they had to, but she still had to take care of business.

Someone knocked on her office door, rousing the guild master from her thoughts "Enter!"

"Good morning, mistress." said a young girl with short red hair, dressed in a long maid uniform, after a deep bow. Raising her head, she looked at the seated woman with two bright red eyes and showed her a sealed scroll "One of your spies in Oak Town sent this for you."

"Ah, must be the detailed report on the situation in the area. Thanks a lot, Red."

The maid handed her the parchment and, after another bow, left the office, closing the door behind her.

"Now, let's see..." breaking the seal, Reveeina spread the scroll on the desk before starting to read. After a few minutes of silence, a cold smile formed on her lips "Oooh~? This is really interesting. Looks like we have someone with loose lips to take care of." and without waiting any longer, she brought her right hand to the face, touching the right temple with two fingers that were wrapped in a dark aura "Come to my office, now!"

Going back to reading the scroll, the woman waited patiently for a few minutes before hearing someone knock on her door again. Without looking up, she gave permission to enter, already knowing who was at the door.

"Yo master! Why did you call me? I was close enough to defeat my hundredth opponent in a drinking contest!" said a six-foot-tall, pale-skinned young man; just a couple of inches taller than the other guy.

"Who taught you to count? You were just in the third challenger." replied the other one, a younger boy with a lean, slightly muscular body, while looking at him with his golden eyes.

"Wanna say that again, brat?"

"Anytime, old man."

Smiling warmly, Reveeina looked up at the two mages who had just entered. The first to speak had short, curly light brown hair that went with a short beard of the same color, and only the right cold blue eye visible while the left was covered by an eye patch, which also covered part of the burn scar on the left side of his face. The companion, on the other hand, had a perfectly shaved face, a fair skin tone with a light tan and short black hair styled back.

"Grady, Naco." she nodded at them before gesturing to the two armchairs on the other side of her desk "Please have a seat, this won't take too long."

The two wizards nodded back and sat down, with Grady taking care not to damage the fabric of those armchairs with the iron gauntlets he was wearing, paired with a pair of boots of the same material.

"As you know, now that Phantom Lord is close to being officially disbanded, we have lost a big foothold in Fiore but that won't slow down our plans. However, there is a small matter that you need to take care of."

"What is it? Do I need to torture someone?" asked Naco with a grin and electric sparks dancing around his fingertips.

"That will be at your discretion." replied Reveeina with a small chuckle before looking at them with serious eyes "That idiot Jose couldn't keep his mouth shut, and he revealed to some of his wizards that he did business with us. Now the fool is dead but I have learned that some Phantom Lord members are gathering in Oak Town. There are two possibilities: the first is that they are reuniting to take revenge on Fairy Tail, which is stupid but I can expect anything from those idiots; the second, on the other hand, concerns us."

Grady narrowed his eyes "They want to sell us to the Council?"

"Possible, but at this point it would make no sense to gather all those wizards except for protection. They may also want to start a war against us, but they don't know where we are so it's a dead possibility." the guild master shook her head "They are likely to hunt down our partners in Oak Town and we cannot allow that, other than the damage they would do by spreading the word of a dark guild in the city. Your task is to identify the mages who know something about us, and to silence them permanently."

"Do we have any clues as to who these wizards are?"

"Jose revealed the secret to five wizards: the Element Four and Gajeel Redfox, but the latter along with two members of the Element Four have disappeared into thin air since yesterday, which leaves Sol and Aria as the only suspects and coincidentally, they are among the wizards present gathered in Oak Town." explained Reveeina while handing them two portraits of the wizards in question.

"Well then there's no time to waste, right?" Grady patted his legs covered by black pants, combined with a detached sleeveless black leather vest, and stood up and then headed for the exit "We will be back before tonight!" Naco immediately stood up and made a short bow before joining his guild mate, starting to go down the stairs immediately outside the office.

"Don't want to wear something more decent? We're not going on a pleasure trip." asked Grady looking back at Naco, who was wearing only a gray tank top, black shorts and a pair of white shoes.

The younger boy grinned "I don't need something more decent to crush some small flies, besides if I can torture someone, this may actually be a pleasure trip for me."

As the two wizards approached two heavy metal doors near the base of the stairs, Grady chuckled "As if it were needed, in reality I would have been enough for this mission. I don't need help handling some stray mages."

"Think about what helps you sleep better at night." Naco pushed open one of the doors and surveyed the huge circular room made entirely of stone, with a huge disc of black glass set in the center of the floor.

"Welcome! Welcome! How can I help you today?"

Looking to the left, the two wizards saw what appeared to be a little girl jumping towards them. The peculiar thing was that the girl had a black snake tail for legs and her eyes were obscured by a large dark band, while her chest was covered with a flowered blouse.

"Hello Niidia, we need a quick passage to Oak Town." replied Grady while walking toward the center of the room.

"Oak Town? Sure! Sure! For this trip I want...five packages of candy for each passenger!"

"Five!? You're getting too expensive lately..."

Niidia smiled at him "Are you both ready?"

"Yes." "Yeah."

"Good! Good!" she crawled to the edge of the glass disc and folded her hands in prayer as her long black hair began to float as if it had a life of its own. Seconds later, a purple magic circle opened under Grady and Naco's feet. The glass began to change, as if it had turned to black oil and began to move slowly as two large red glows were visible below the surface.

"I hate this part..." groaned Grady before closing his eyes.

Suddenly, the head of a huge red-eyed snake with gaping jaws popped out of the black disc and, in the blink of an eye, closed its mouth before sinking where it came from, taking the two wizards with it. After a few seconds, the magic circle vanished and the black disk returned to being simple glass, while the young lamia sighed with satisfaction.

"Can't wait to taste those yummy candies!"

[Acantha Forest (Western Fiore) / 6th October X784]

Shirros carefully observed the huge trees that made up the Acantha Forest. Still one of the largest forests in the kingdom, it was home to many animal and plant species but, in recent years, it seemed to have become the home of an evil spirit that attacked and robbed all those who decided to cross the forest. Both Shirros and Reveeina had agreed that it wasn't just a spirit, but someone or something who enjoyed playing that role. The masked wizard had faced spirits in the past and none of them had ever been stealing food and valuables.

In a nearby village they had confirmed to him that many times the wayfarers did not realize they were being robbed as it happened quickly but, those times that they noticed something and tried to react, many of them were strangled by vines.

'Plant magic maybe?' he wondered looking at the huge plants before walking into the forest, pulling aside his cloak so as to show off the purse full of coins hanging from his black pants 'Food and jewelry are the only things that are stolen, and since it has been happening for some time I imagine that the thief knows how to recognize the sound of so many coins put together.'

The minutes passed silently and Shirros advanced further and further into the forest, until he sensed something to his right. It was several meters away but he was sure it was magical power and was being slowly accumulated at a steady pace.

'This confirms that our thief can use magic, now let's see how they intend to attack.'

The answer was not long in coming and, as fast as lightning, a series of vines darted out of a bush towards his purse. Shirros quickly stepped back and grabbed them with both hands, covered by black gloves, before pulling them towards him, but the weight he could feel on the other side quickly vanished and all that remained in his hand were simple vines. Throwing them to the ground, he began to run towards the source of the magical power that was moving away from him at great speed, however he managed to reach it in a short time, just to see a humanoid figure vanish among the branches of a tree.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Shirros pointed a hand towards the tree in question, creating a magic circle in front of him, from which about twenty crow skeletons with wings made of purple flames emerged. Releasing screeching and surreal noises, the skeletal birds rushed towards the leaves to chase their prey and after only ten seconds, Shirros heard a female voice scream before a skinny girl with tanned skin fell from a branch, only to create vines from her right hand with which to slow her fall, then rolling to the ground.

As the girl stood up, slightly dazed by the fall, Shirros took the opportunity to take a look at her and the first thing he noticed was the complete lack of personal hygiene care. In addition to her long, matted dark brown hair that was definitely in need of a brushing, she had mud stains all over her body, both on her skin and on the green t-shirt and brown shorts she was wearing, both of which were also quite battered. Only when the girl stood up did Shirros notice her bright violet eyes and the fact that she was about five feet and three in height.

The boy was about to ask her a question when he saw her ready to flee again and so decided to release some of his magical power, surrounding himself in a dense purple aura "I wouldn't do that if I were you. My patience has a limit." and, to his satisfaction, he saw her freeze on the spot with her eyes wide and filled with fear.

Just to make the message clear, he let some more of his magical power flow before nullifying it completely and at that point the girl fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath "W-Who you!?"

Shirros cocked his head to one side. That girl must have been barely seventeen or eighteen, but judging by how she spoke and her tone of voice she must not have been used to speaking, nor had she received any broad education. She probably lived alone in that forest and to survive better she used her magic to steal food and precious objects, even if that last detail still confused him.

"You can call me Shirros. Who are you?"

The girl frowned as if trying to remember something "Abilene...Sylverwood." she nodded at herself before placing a hand over her heart "Abi."

"That's your nickname? I'll call you Abi then." watching her carefully Shirros noticed that her muscles were tense, ready to spring at any time. He couldn't blame her after what happened but the masked mage really hoped not to have to intimidate her again "What are you doing here?"

"Home." she replied before pointing at her left "There."

"I see...can you show me your home then? I won't hurt you, I promise." now she was looking at him with disdain, it was clear that she did not trust him. Sighing, he reached into his purse and pulled out a bright gold coin which immediately caught the girl's gaze "I can give you this."

She was intrigued by the offer, given the way she looked at the coin, so Shirros preferred to throw it directly at her. Abilene caught it without any problem and watched the golden coin for a few seconds before standing up and walking in the direction she had indicated before, but not before gesturing to Shirros to stay away from her.

The two walked for several minutes, until Shirros caught a glimpse of a shack half covered with vines and moss, in the shade of a large tree. Once it would have been a little log cabin, but now it had been damaged by weather and time and it was a miracle that it still stood. The masked man observed it for a few seconds before approaching the entrance door left open and, once inside, he realized the disastrous situation in which that girl was living: holes in the ceiling, mud and dirt everywhere, bones of animals and food scraps thrown on the ground, dirty clothes...

"Where is your family?" he looked at Abilene who was sitting on the bed "Your mom? Your dad?"

Receiving no response, he took a step towards her imagining she hadn't understood him but then touched something with his foot and, looking down, saw that it was a wooden frame used to display photos. Taking it in his hand, he turned it to look at it better and saw that the photo showed a man and a woman holding two little girls with dark brown hair in their arms; while one of the two girls had green eyes, those of the other were violet.

Shirros showed her the photo "Where are they?"

Abilene stared at the photo for several seconds before shrugging "They gone."

"They are dead?"

She shrugged again "Went to sleep, they here. Woke up, they gone."

The dark mage narrowed his eyes behind the mask. They abandoned their daughter.

"I see..." he stared at the photo, making sure to remember their faces in case he ever meets them "Did you stay here alone the whole time?" Abilene nodded at him "Why? You're a mage right? You could have walked around and joined a guild."

"I like the forest."

"Mh..." Shirros deduced that she was born there and that therefore it was her home in all respects, but it was clear that the distance from any form of civilization had affected her growth "Why did you start stealing and hurting people?"

This time, however, he saw for the first time a reaction on Abilene's face that showed him a wide, mean smile "Hurting people is fun! I'm strong!"

'She hurts people because it's funny and because she's strong...poor soul. If I leave her here she will become a serious danger or she could get killed or arrested.' Shirros shook his head a moment before putting the photo on a nearby cabinet "Are you going to live here forever?"

"Mh..." she looked down at the floor, kicking the skull of a rabbit "Forest is fun but boring too..."

"Would you like to see something else? I can take you to my guild if you want and you might as well join it due to your magic." offered Shirros catching her attention "Be warned, we are a dark guild, not a legal one."

Abilene was silent for a few seconds, processing the words she had just heard "Dark guild? Ah! Bad guys!"

He sighed. Even in the middle of that forest, had she been plagiarized by the idea of a black and white world?

"Strong guys! You like mages! I want to join!"

...or maybe not?

"What?"

"People talk near forest. I hear them. Dark guilds are bad, but strong!" she explained with a new light in her eyes "They like mages!"

"You can say that..." what kind of conversation had that girl overheard? Better not think about it at that moment "So you wanna come with me? Join the guild?"

Abilene nodded excitedly "Wait here!" and then she ran into another room. Shirros waited for a few minutes, hearing her move from one side of the room to the other and move metallic and non-metallic objects, until he saw her emerge with a ruined backpack on her shoulder and countless sparkling necklaces and bracelets on her.

"What is that?"

"Treasure!" she smiled at him before showing the golden coin that he had given her before "More treasure!"

"Well if that's your treasure you can take it with you, now let's go. As soon as we get to the guild, you'll need to take a bath at least." she hissed at him. She literally hissed at him "Not a big fan of baths...?" the glare he received was more than eloquent "I'm afraid you'll have to get used to it, my mistress is not very fond of dirt."

Ignoring the girl's indignant snort, Shirros stepped outside and activated the spell hhe had used again after retrieving Jose Porla. Under Abilene's surprised and intimidated eyes, two columns of human skulls burst out of the ground before forming the purple energy portal.

"Time to go, stay close to me." he said before walking into the portal.

The girl watched that swirl of energy for a few seconds before nodding firmly and crossing it in turn.

Towards a new life.

[ Oak Town / 6th October X784]

Inside a large warehouse sat an old guard, leaning on his halberd with a sleepy look. The warehouse was mostly empty save for a few large wooden crates, a few chairs, and a large tarp that covered the center of the floor. The man, despite his sleepiness, never took his eyes off that sheet because that was his job, no more, no less, and his attention was soon rewarded when he saw a faint purple glow under the sheet.

Quickly rising to his feet and letting go of the halberd, he hurried to the tarp and removed it immediately, just in time to see a magic circle appear above a large black glass disk embedded in the floor. Under his now more awake eyes, he saw the glass change to black oil and, from it, emerged the huge head of a red-eyed snake which opened its mouth, revealing two young boys, to then sink into the floor with its jaws still open; a few moments later, the magic circle vanished and the black disk became glass again.

"I hate this..." grumbled the brown-haired one.

"Grady. Naco. Good day to you." said the guard with a bow "I didn't expect to see any of you after what happened with Phantom Lord."

Naco looked at the man with a half-smirk "That's exactly what we're here for, Matias. Have you ever heard of a gathering of that guild?"

"Ah understood..." Matias nodded at him "The guild building is currently under seizure by the Rune Knights, but I know they owned a large warehouse near the river. Maybe they are there?"

"We might as well check, thanks for the info." the two wizards then left the warehouse without paying too much attention. The place was located between two abandoned warehouses, also controlled by their guild, and the door they had exited through led to a side alley, so no one would notice them coming out of there. Also none of them wore the Shadow Soul brand on their clothes or in sight on their skin, thanks to a trick of their guild master, so they could move as they wanted through the streets of the city.

"So how do you want to do this? Because as far as I'm concerned, these third-rate wizards aren't even worth the time to make a plan." said Grady looking at his guild mate who was walking at his side.

Naco nodded with a bored face "For once I agree with you, but we can't break down the door and tear them apart, first we need to figure out who knows about our guild."

"We'll just have to catch a couple of wizards and interrogate them, so we'll see right away if they know anything." Grady looked around and spotted a bald, dark-skinned man next to a dark green-haired girl with a strange hat on her head. Normally he wouldn't give them a second glance, but the Phantom Lord symbol on the girl's hat was a clear clue as to which guild they belonged to "I see two easy prey."

Naco followed his gaze before grinning "Perfect."

XXX

Boze and Sue felt a cold shiver down their backs, and they couldn't help but look around to try to figure out what caused that uncomfortable sensation. They were on their way to Phantom Lord's warehouse near the river at Sol and Aria's request, and were almost forced to display their guild emblem again even though they both knew it was a matter of hours before it was finally dismantled.

"Did you feel it too?" asked Sue with a worried face.

Boze nodded "It was similar yet more terrifying than when Gajeel was in a bad mood..."

"We have to hurry, it could be someone looking for revenge now that the guild is weak." Sue said before resuming walking faster with her partner at her side, just before turning into an alley. However, that turned out to be a bad choice because as soon as they were halfway down the alley, they saw a brown-haired boy block their way and, judging by his eyes and grin, it was no mere coincidence.

"Yo!"

"Boze..."

"Yes...he's a mage, a powerful one..." whispered the bald man before looking back and seeing another boy, this one with black hair, block the way they had come "Who are you!?"

"You really can't tell?" asked the black-haired boy with an amused face.

"Mercenaries? Killers?" wondered Boze "Are you after Phantom Lord?"

"Phantom Lord is dead, it's just a matter of time." chuckled the first boy "We are here to make sure it stays that way."

"Really? Well then you'll have to deal with us first!" shouted Boze turning again toward the brown-haired boy with his hand pointed at him "Howling!"

A magic circle formed in front of him and hundreds of red and black musical notes came out of it and destroyed the walls of the alley and some garbage cans before hitting the target, causing a strong explosion from which a dense cloud of dust arose.

"Deal with you first?"

Boze's eyes widened in shock at hearing that voice and his face quickly began to turn pale when he saw his target in the same place he had been hit, without a scratch on his body. Grady patted himself on the chest to wipe away the remaining dust "Well, that was our idea since the beginning!"

Sue was close to attacking him with her magic when she sensed the magical power behind them. As she turned quickly, she saw the black-haired boy enveloped in a layer of electricity with his right arm raised and only two fingers pointed at them.

"Shit! Boze, behind me!" she raised both hands "Form Mirror!"

Naco grinned at them "Lightning Bolt!"

A powerful beam of electricity burst from his fingers, directed at the two wizards of Phantom Lord, and Sue believed her magic would absorb the enemy attack before sending it back to their enemy, however, she was shocked to see the electricity completely envelop her mirrors before hitting her and Boze, electrocuting them until they screamed in pain. After just a few seconds, the two fell unconscious to the ground.

"That was easy...too easy..." sighed Naco with a bored face "I really hope that Sol and Aria will be a bigger challenge..."

"One can always hope." laughed Grady while picking up the two unconscious enemies "Let's go, time to get some info!"

With a loud slap, Naco woke Boze and the man looked around in panic and confusion "W-Wher-!?"

"Shut up." another slap "Normally I would take my time to make you scream, but today I'm in a hurry and this building is isolated so don't expect anyone to come and help you."

Boze looked at him in confusion before realizing he was pinned to a metal chair with chains and a pair of anti-magic handcuffs, and Sue was in her identical position, sitting in front of him a few meters away.

"Here's the deal. You answer my questions quickly and clearly and I will not torture you...too much." explained Naco with a sick grin "Delays in replying, lies or silence will cause a big shock to your friend here." and to prove his point, he created electricity around his fingers.

The two captive wizards turned pale but Boze nodded quickly.

"Good! Now, first question...who are you? And I don't mean your names, I mean your position within the guild."

"W-We are mid-ranked mages. We have worked under Gajeel Redfox on a few occasions but nothing more!"

"Mh...therefore you will not know much. Okay." he struck both of them with a weak electrical discharge that made them jump in pain "Second question...why are you gathering in the city? Are you going to take revenge on Fairy Tail?"

"W-We don't really know!" said Sue with tears in her eyes "We ar-AAAH!"

Naco cut off the flow of electricity that was electrocuting her "I didn't ask the question to you, but to your partner. Now..." he looked at Boze "...your answer?"

Now Boze was really afraid of this boy "I-I-I don't know! Really! Yesterday morning, a-after our defeat we came back here and in the evening we received a letter from Sol, one of our strongest wizards, telling us to join him today at our warehouse in the city!"

"No explanation? No clue?"

"No! L-Look I have the letter here with me! It's inside my jacket!"

"Really?" That's good." he searched for a moment and finally took the letter, passing it to Grady who began to read it "So?"

"Tomorrow morning, ten o'clock. Phantom Lord's warehouse. Don't make us wait, non non non!" he arched an eyebrow "Non non non...?"

Naco stared at Boze, asking him a silent question "S-Sol has a special way of speaking! He used to say 'not' three times when he wants to express denial or dismay!"

"What a weirdo...well enough of that, last question for you." Naco grabbed Boze's face, forcing him to look in his golden eyes "Are you absolutely certain that you know nothing about it, and above all that you don't know who we are?"

The man nodded quickly "I swear, I have no idea what's going on or who you are!"

"That's good to know." admitted Naco before a crazy idea flashed into his head. With a new grin on his face, he leaned toward his prisoner "And since you've answered all my questions, I'll let you know who we are."

Taking a step back, he reached a hand towards the tank top and lifted it up to show the pecs and the black mark visible on the right.

Boze stared at him in shock for a few seconds before muttering two simple words.

"F-Fairy...T-Tail...?"

"But of course, did you really think we'd be content to destroy your guild? You have hurt several of our comrades after all." grinned Naco while Sue looked at Grady with confused eyes, staring at the black Fairy Tail mark on the back of his right hand after he removed the gauntlet "Not all fairies are magnanimous, you know?"

Before Boze or Sue could reply to his words, Naco used his electricity on both of them until they fainted again, then took off their anti-magic handcuffs but left them chained to their chairs.

"They should sleep for a few hours and with their magic they will certainly free themselves, now we can take care of Aria and Sol." said Naco with a grin.

Grady looked out of a window, observing the clock of a bell tower "It's not ten o'clock yet, we can still take them by surprise."

Quickly, the two wizards exited that building and headed towards the river, easily identifying the warehouse where Phantom Lord's wizards were gathering. Lurking on the roof of a nearby building, Grady surveyed the interior from the windows "I see about thirty, maybe forty wizards, but no sign of those two." he then looked at his guild mate "Gotta say, nice idea with the guild marks."

"It seemed like a fun thing to do."

Their guild mark, in addition to being black for all members, had three peculiarities: it could become and remain invisible, change place on the body, and it could also change shape, becoming the same as another guild's mark. To some they might have seemed unnecessary perks, but the wizards of Shadow Soul had used those two tricks countless times.

"Now, how do we want to act? Those flies can't do anything to stop us and I doubt those two can fight for long."

"Not to mention the fact that there are quite a few Rune Knights in town, so we have to be fast but that doesn't mean we can't have fun. We break in, scare and/or quickly defeat the cannon fodder and then deal with the other two. I'll take on Aria, you deal with Sol." replied Naco with a grin before standing up "I perceive two magical powers higher than the others, they just entered the warehouse."

Without saying anything else, Grady leapt to the warehouse and managed to cover the distance with ease before pointing his right hand at the ceiling below "Crushing!"

The ceiling was instantly covered with cracks before collapsing on the inside, creating a large hole that Grady used to get in, falling to the ground like a meteor and cracking the floor upon landing. Rising to his feet, he looked around and saw that all his eyes were on him, filled with shock and confusion. A second later, a powerful lightning struck the floor beside him and Naco appeared out of nowhere, his hands in the pockets and an amused grin on his face.

"W-Who are you!?" shouted Sol, currently standing on a large wooden crate next to Aria. By pure miracle the two wizards were able to understand him, given that his face was completely bandaged except for the right eye and part of the mouth which was, however, missing several teeth.

"Our guild has just defeated you, and you've already forgotten us? How sad..." Naco showed them the guild mark on his chest "You didn't really think it was over, did you?"

"Fairy Tail!" Aria 'looked' at them with surprise clear in his voice "Wasn't it enough to win? Do you want to cause further suffering to the losers? How sorrowful!"

"What can I say? Yesterday we were on a mission and we missed most of the fun!" joked Grady before looking at the other mages "We know many of you have done a lot of damage, so if you don't want to go to the hospital..." a sudden pressure began to crush everyone present, making it very difficult to move "Leave now and don't come back!"

Once the pressure subsided, all the wizards started running towards the front door, ignoring the indignant screams of Aria and Sol; within seconds, there were only four people left inside the warehouse.

"Non non non! This was not supposed to happen! Fairy Tail was not supposed to interfere!"

Naco grinned at him "Oooh? So you weren't gathering to try and take revenge?"

"Take revenge, yes! But not from Fairy Tail! You must know that our master has made deals with a dark guild! They were certainly the ones who brought Phantom Lord to defeat! We have to defeat them!" shouted Aria, missing the sudden glee in Naco and Grady's eyes "The defenses of our guild were built by them, I bet that useless bitch who leads them wanted to see our guild defeated! How sorrowful!"

CRACK!

The pressure had returned, much stronger than before with cracks forming all over the floor, but this time the two wizards who had attacked the warehouse were enveloped in a thick dark aura and any semblance of amusement had vanished from their faces. Sol and Aria instinctively stepped back, fearful of their presence.

"What did you call our guild master...?" hissed Naco with spark dancing in his cold eyes.

"G-Guild master...? Wh-Wha-!"

Under the shocked eyes of Phantom Lord's two wizards, the symbol on Naco's chest began to change into the head of a snake with its jaws wide open.

"S-Shadow Soul...!?"

"We were meant to not hurt you too much and capture you to allow her to decide how to kill you, but now I've changed my mind." growled Grady raising his hands "You will die here and now! Crushing!"

Aria and Sol were crushed to the ground, destroying the crates they were standing on, but while Aria remained on his knees, Sol vanished to the floor. Grady turned immediately sensing the presence of his opponent and saw him emerge from the floor with his legs still fused to the rock surface.

"Non non non! You're the ones who are going to die today! Roche Concerto!" Sol yelled but his victory was short-lived because, much to his utmost confusion, the rocks that should have attacked Grady from below were not moving.

The Shadow Soul's mage showed him a feral grin "Do you really think your rocks can win against my gravity!? Think again!"

Meanwhile, Naco had wrapped himself in a layer of electricity before lashing out at Aria, who managed to get to his feet as Grady was focused on Sol. Seeing his opponent coming, Aria immediately raised his hands to him "Zetsu!"

Sensing the oncoming attacks, Naco threw himself to the side before pointing two fingers at his opponent "Lightning Bolt!" but Aria seemed to dissolve into nothingness, thus avoiding the electric attack, just to reappear behind Naco, with his hands pointed towards him; however, the lightning wizard had no problem turning instantly and grabbing Aria by the face with one hand "Touch of Thunder!"

A powerful electric bolt went through Aria's body, causing him to scream in pain but Naco didn't let go until he saw blood and foam come out of his opponent's mouth; the torture only went on for a few seconds but finally Aria's arms fell along his body and the screaming stopped. Naco interrupted his attack and looked at his opponent's body, searching for even a drop of magical power but, when he sensed nothing, he let it go. A strong tremor of the ground caught his attention just in time to see Sol jump up after dodging a punch from Grady that had created a small crater in the floor.

"Damn you! Die with my most powerful attack!" Sol moved his arms in front of him, creating a huge brown magic circle "Plâtre Sonata!" and a large rock fist was fired from it, but when it got close to hitting Grady, the gravity wizard grinned.

"Gravitational Dome!"

In the blink of an eye, the huge attack was reduced to bits that were pressed to the floor, leaving Sol speechless. The earth mage immediately tried to escape but found himself floating in midair in spite of himself as Grady kept one hand pointed towards him. Walking very calmly, so as to enjoy the terrified look of his opponent, Grady then grabbed him by the throat and began to squeeze more and more.

"I wish I could enjoy this moment longer but I'm afraid your friends have already warned the Rune Knights, so consider yourself lucky: your death will be quick and painful!"

"W-Wai-!"

"Crushing!"

SNAP!

Sol's body went limp in Grady's hand but he didn't let go, then turned to his guild mate "With this we are done, it was easier than I thought." he pointed at Sol and Aria with his free hand "We can use these two as a return ticket."

Naco nodded "You take them, I'll go and buy some candies."

A soft chuckle left Grady's mouth "Sure!"

Twenty minutes later, the two wizards were back in the warehouse they had arrived in, and had just placed the bodies of Sol and Aria on the black glass disc. Like the other times, a magic circle appeared above the glass disc which seemed to become black oil, but this time the magic circle was red instead of purple. Despite this detail, the huge snake came out as expected and swallowed the two corpses before sinking into the floor, causing the magic circle to change color from red to purple.

The two mages then stood in the center of the circle and, within seconds, the snake emerged again to swallow them and take the two away with it, leaving the guard alone in the warehouse. Shaking his head, Matias hastened to cover the black glass disc with the tarpaulin before returning to sit down and wait for the shift change.

His was very peculiar and ignoble, but a job was still a job.

Niidia was lying comfortably on a large sofa in the room where she had used her magic. As a young lamia, her tail was still normal, but over time it would grow longer and thicker, so the guild master had made sure she had furniture to suit her throughout the guild. Her relax was suddenly interrupted by a magic circle that appeared above the black glass disc in the center of the room but she didn't pay much attention to it, just looking at the huge snake head that emerged and then opened its jaws, thus showing the two returning mages.

"Hello! Hello! Welcome back!" she crawled up to them with a broad smile on her face that showed off her sharp canines "Was the mission successful?"

"Yes, although somewhat boring..." grumbled Naco before handing her two nylon bags "Here. Ten packets of candy, as agreed."

Her eyes were covered, but both dark wizards were sure they were glowing with joy "A pleasure doing business with you!" and after taking her fee, Niidia went back to the sofa where she immediately began to eat the candies.

"Smart brat." said Grady with a low chuckle before leaving the room and going to Reveeina's office to report the success of the mission. After knocking a couple of times, they both entered and saw their guild master reading some reports, which she placed on the desk as soon as she saw them enter.

"Welcome back, how did it go?"

"Mission accomplished." Grady before sitting in front of her "Those two are dead and our secret is safe, they hadn't revealed anything to any of the other wizards yet."

Reveeina nodded with a smile "That's good to hear. In the meantime I found out where Gajeel Redfox, Juvia Lockser and Totomaru are. I've already sent someone to make sure they don't talk too much."

"Will they die too?" asked Naco with the arms crossed over his chest.

"It depends on them. None of the three have shown any interest in this little gathering of Phantom Lord, which may indicate that they are not interested in us or in revenge." the woman shrugged "But if it turns out that they intend to hinder us, they will die like Sol and Aria."

Naco nodded at his answer before grinning "I may have slightly triggered some new spark in their conflict with Fairy Tail."

Reveeina arched an eyebrow "How so?"

The two wizards explained to her in detail the development of their mission, from the capture of the two wizards, to the guild marks of Fairy Tail, up to the battle inside the warehouse. At the end of it all, the woman seemed quite satisfied with their work.

"Not a bad idea. Since the survivors have only been able to recognize Naco's magic, they may somehow associate him with Laxus Dreyar, which would lead the Council to put even more pressure on Fairy Tail." she then felt something in the air and looked behind the two wizards, who turned to the office door, only to see two columns of human skulls emerge from the floor and then create a portal "It seems that Shirros is also done with his mission."

As expected, they saw the masked wizard come out of the portal but, immediately after him, they saw a little girl with dirty skin, ruined clothes and covered in jewelry, with a large backpack. While Shirros stopped after a few steps, the girl began to look around with clear wonder in her eyes, which increased tenfold when she saw a display against the wall where some precious objects were contained.

"Abi." called Shirros, catching her attention "Stay here."

She puffed out her cheeks, looked once more at the precious objects including a beautiful golden goblet, and then returned to his side.

"Welcome back Shirros, I take it that you were lucky in your mission?" asked Reveeina with an amused look on her face, mimicked by the other two mages.

However, before Shirros could answer his mistress, Abilene pointed a finger at her, looking at the masked wizard with a confused look "Who old lady?"

A surreal silence fell in the room as Shirros, Naco and Grady straightened their backs without saying a word, in fact they had also stopped breathing, while Abilene was looking at them all with confused eyes. A golden rule in their guild was never to mention Reveeina's age; although she was relatively young, definitely younger than many guild masters, her age had always been a sensitive topic for her and the last person who joked about that...let's just say they were still looking for the body.

The woman in question looked at the girl with a small smile on her face that would have frightened even a grizzly, and then raised a hand and snapped her fingers.

"Yes, mistress?"

Abilene gasped in fright as she heard three female voices behind her. She hadn't heard anyone enter! Turning around, she was surprised to see three girls exactly alike save for the color of their eyes and hair.

"Red, Blue, Green...this young girl needs a long hot bath and new clothes, could you help her please? Also find her a room in the dorms that suits her tastes." said Reveeina without losing her smile. The three waitresses nodded before picking the girl up, ignoring her indignant screams, and carrying her out of the office. The guild master then turned to Naco and Grady "Could you two kindly leave me alone with Shirros? We need to talk about private things."

Naco didn't hesitate a second to use his magic to dart out of the room while Grady just ran really fast, only to slow down near Shirros, raise a hand in prayer and then leave the office, closing the door behind him.

"Now, my dear Shirros..." she looked at him, with that scary smile still on her face "Would you mind explaining who that girl was and why there are mud stains on my carpet worth ten million jewels?"

Resigned to his fate, Shirros nodded. The masked wizard could only hope that his mistress was in a good mood...

[Akane Beach / 6th October X784]

The sea breeze blew along a lonely road not far from the famous amusement park, as a single figure walked silently. She was a young girl with a fair skin tone, lightly tanned, navy blue hair, tied in a ponytail with a white bow and a few bangs to frame her face, and brown colored, almond shaped, eyes.

Her lean and rather muscular frame was highlighted by a pair of black athletic bloomers over knee-length black leggings and a yellow-colored kimono with red-colored flower-like designs held closed by a black obi around her stomach, while her arms were covered by loose sleeves around her forearms, ending her outfit with a pair of brown sandals.

The girl, who must have been about eighteen, stopped suddenly when she felt a strong presence a little further on and, from behind a tree, she saw a hooded boy come out, with only the grin visible on his face "Aki Tamashiro, from the Tamashiro family. I've been looking for you."

"Who are you?" she asked, as a strange sword-shaped symbol on her right arm began to glow red.

"Someone who would like your sword and your magic in my service. You see, I've been working on a project for many years and it's finally coming to an end, but there are people who would like to stop me." he opened his arms "I'd like you to join my cause in helping me defend this project."

Aki arched an eyebrow "If you want bodyguards, go find mercenaries at the port or ask some guild for help." and after letting go of her weapon, she resumed her path, passing that guy without giving him a second look.

"Fairy Tail may be trying to stop me, I know they have a lot of strong wizards in their ranks...like Erza Scarlet for example." the young girl stopped instantly, without turning around, and the hooded man continued talking "I know a lot about you, Aki, and I know you can't wait to face strong people. I can offer you the chance to face some of the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail, one of the strongest guilds in the kingdom."

Slowly, Aki turned to him "Who are you? A stalker?"

The man chuckled "Not a stalker, just a very knowledgeable man." he then extended a hand to her "You can call me Jellal Fernandes. So, will you help me with my project and bring the almighty Zeref back to life?"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Hello everyone, SoImAWriterSoWhat here for you. Did you like this first chapter? I really hope so. We got to know some OCs, some more than others, and we will get to know many more in future chapters!

I don't know if this first chapter is long or not, but I started writing it as soon as I received the first OCs and you can rest assured that everyone will have their share of glory, but please let me know if my portrayal of your characters is okay or not so I can change accordingly! As you may have guessed from this chapter, however, Shadow Soul will meddle a lot with several canon events (Phantom Lord for example, but also all the dark guilds) so I hope you will like the changes I have in mind!

Among other things, during these days I seemed to understand that the users of this site (most of them) hate reviews. I wonder why...

I have nothing else to say for the moment, so I leave you with the recap, with the addition of the creator, next to the OC name!

RECAP OC

- Shadow Soul:

A dark guild that is at least sixty years old. Contrary to other dark guilds it has always acted in the shadows, causing damage but without exposing itself too much; it is currently the only dark guild left independent of the Balam Alliance. In the past it has clashed with Fairy Tail and other guilds of the light, its first guild master has fought on several occasions against the second guild master of Fairy Tail.

In recent years it has conducted illegal business with Phantom Lord, but due to the war and subsequent defeat at the hands of Fairy Tail, Shadow Soul has severed all ties with the other guild.
The current location of the headquarters is unknown and has around 150 members in its ranks.

According to Reveeina, each guild member could face and defeat one of Fiore's lesser guilds.

- Reveeina Van Sterig (SoImAWriterSoWhat):

The second guild master of Shadow Soul. Known as master, mistress or Lady Reveeina, she has a power that rivals that of other Wizard Saints, but her magic is currently unknown. After the defeat of Phantom Lord, she has decided that it is time for her guild to step out of the shadows and make the kingdom of Fiore understand what it means to fear a dark guild.
Age is a rather sensitive topic for her and everyone in the guild knows they don't have to touch that particular button.

She is a woman in her fifties, tall and with a milky complexion. Long black hair, dark eyes and black lipstick on her lips make her a particular beauty, also thanks to her slender physique.

- Shirros (SoImAWriterSoWhat):

The second-in-command and S-class mage of Shadow Soul. Loyal to his mistress, he acted as an intermediary between Shadow Soul and Phantom Lord during their clandestine and illegal deals, but after the defeat of Phantom Lord, he killed several Rune Knights and kidnapped Jose Porla to bring him in front of Reveeina. He is a necromancer and his magic allows him to create magical skeletons from the corpses of his enemies, as well as create special portals.

He is the one who investigated the mystery of the Acantha Forest and recruited Abilene into the ranks of Shadow Soul.

He is a young man in his late twenties, quite tall and with a robust physique, always covered by a large black cloak with a hood. He has purple eyes but they appear as glows in the sockets of the black mask he wears; the mask has the features of a skull but without mouth / teeth.

- Niidia (SoImAWriterSoWhat):

Despite being a member of Shadow Soul, she is too young to go on a mission and acts as the guild's "transport service" thanks to her unique magic based on shadows. Due to her magic, her eyes are perpetually covered by a dark band.

She is very greedy and for the use of her magic she always asks for a fee in return, usually candies and sweet things.

She's a young black-scaled lamia with long hair of the same color.

- Grady Fall (KingOfkinghts):

A member of Shadow Soul for four years, Grady joined the dark guild around the same time as Naco. Apparently arrogant, he can back up his words thanks to his gravity magic which makes him particularly dangerous in all types of fights. Like all other guild members, he respects Reveeina and is loyal to her, and knows he doesn't have to mention her age.

Together with Naco, he carried out a raid on what was left of Phantom Lord to completely silence two of their strongest wizards: Aria and Sol, the latter being killed by Grady himself.

A pale skinned boy of nearly thirty, six feet tall with sharp, dark blue eyes and short, curly light brown hair. He also has a beard of the same color and burns on the left side of his face, with the eye being covered by an eye patch.

- Naco Gradun (KeepMeRunning):

A member of Shadow Soul for four years, Naco joined the dark guild around the same time as Grado. Particularly good at torture and somewhat sadistic, Naco uses lightning magic over which he has the most complete control. Like all other guild members, he respects Reveeina and is loyal to her, and knows he doesn't have to mention her age.

Together with Grado, he carried out a raid on what was left of Phantom Lord to completely silence two of their strongest wizards: Sol and Aria, the latter being killed by Naco himself. He came up with the idea of using their guild mark's special effects to indict Fairy Tail of their attack on Phantom Lord.

A young boy, almost six feet tall with golden eyes. He has a fair skin tone with a light tan and his black hair is always trimmed short, styled back. His face is always clean shaved.

- Abilene Sylverwood (UnseenAssailant):

The newest member of the guild, although she has not yet received the Shadow Soul guild mark. She lived alone in Acantha Forest for years, robbing and attacking travelers until she was deemed an evil forest spirit. She attempted to rob Shirros as well but she was eventually caught and, after a brief conversation, she decided to join him in the dark guild. She uses a particular variation of plant magic that allows her to create and control vines from her hands. She hates baths, while shiny things are her treasures and she loves to steal them.

She is a rather skinny, seventeen-year-old girl, around five feet and three tall, with wild, matted, dark brown hair that reaches her mid-back and big, bright violet eyes. Her tanned complexion is mostly covered in mud stains, same story for her ruined clothes.

- Aki Tamashiro (Derekjay2000):

Not much is known about this girl but Jellal Fernandes recognizes her strength and he also offered her to join him and help him with his project, promising her to be able to face some of the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail.
She carries a particular katana with her.

She is a seventeen year old girl, with a lean and rather muscular physique, and fair skin tone lightly tanned. She has navy blue hair tied in a ponytail with a white bow and brown, almond shaped eyes.

Users who have yet to submit their character:

- meepster202

- News Boss

- SmilingPrince

- MakeMeOrBreakMe

- Zeryas

- vanillard

- gfxfgh48

- Flaming Fate Zero

- Sempi (second OC)

- NitroTheKidd88 (two OCs)

- Kage kitsune of light

The list above is not to rush people, but just to show how many people are participating, or want to participate in the fic; if all these OCs are accepted I will be very close to closing the applications with a total of 18 OCs (since I have already got two more OCs who will appear in the next chapter).

That's all for this chapter. I hope this story interests you and leads you to show your dark side with this guild! I await your reviews and your OCs. See you soon!