Hello All!
The winner of the quote is:
CurraeBawse.
He correctly guessed that the quote came Red Vs. Blue by Roosterteeth. It was season 10, episode 22, when Epsilon and Carolina find the Director of Project Freelancer and talk to him, but then just leave a pistol with the Director and leave the broken man to kill himself. I love Red Vs. Blue, it was an amazing show that although stared out as just a stupid comedy show, it quickly grew into an amazing show with lots of plot, character development and sad and great moments. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves good shows with good plot twists, it is an amazing show.
The quote for this chapter is:
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched-they must be felt with the heart."
Same rules as always, tell me who said the quote and I shall give you a shout out in the nest chapter.
Now, onto this chapter, it is the beginning of the Galuna Island Arc, which will mostly follow canon, with a few minor/major changes.
As always, if you have concerns or comments, PM me or leave a review, it is always appreciated.
Disclaimed: I do not own Fairy Tail or anything associated with Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"SHOUTING"
"Talking Telepathically"
"Attack!"
["Dragon/Demon Talking"]
["Dragon/Demon Thinking"]
{Reading}
Chapter 11: Galuna Island Arc: Part One: Journey to the Island.
The early morning dawn was shattered by the sounds of large explosions.
Lucy swore as she dodged Natsu's right hook to her face, while charging up her Star Blast and shot him straight in the stomach, causing a minor explosion to push Natsu backwards while Lucy was blown backwards from the explosion.
Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy and Lucy had been training together for several hours now, Natsu was personally pushing Lucy to beyond her limits to try and get her ready to create a Star Dress form.
Contrary to popular belief, creating and using a Star Dress form is not something that can be done on a whim. The user must be prepared both physically and mentally for the strain that the Star Dress forms place upon their users.
So, that is what Natsu was doing, pushing her to the breaking point and then beyond them to toughen her body to the point where she will be able to use a Star Dress form.
Lucy back flipped, gathered energy into her palms and created two large Star Blasts and then shot them at Natsu, who simply jumped over then energy blasts and then disappeared.
Lucy jumped to her right as Natsu reappeared and smashed his left down into the ground where Lucy was just standing, causing a large hole to be created from the force of the punch.
Natsu turned his head towards where Lucy was standing, only to see Lucy charging up and extra large Star Blast that was three times the size of her regular Star Blast.
Lucy threw the extra large magical blast towards Natsu, who covered his hands in flames and then smashed it into the oncoming ball of energy, destroying it completely.
Lucy then had to dodge again as Natsu disappeared and reappeared, this time his right foot smashing into the ground to create the newest hole in his training arena.
Lucy gathered her energy and created a golden glowing shield that was on her forearm and covered most of her body.
Just in time too, due to the burst of orange flames striking the shield soon after.
Lucy grit her teeth as the flames roared around her, forcing her backwards.
Lucy's arm began to waver as the flames continued to push her back, causing two lines in the ground to be formed as the flames pushed her back.
Eventually the flames cut out and Lucy dropped the shield, extremely tired.
Natsu then came in, fist cocked backwards and ready to punch.
Lucy then smirked and yelled out as she placed both hands on either side of her head and a golden glow erupted outwards.
Natsu screamed in pain as the golden flash blinded him.
He would be fine, his healing factor of his magic would heal the damage done to his eyes, but until then he could no longer see Lucy.
No longer able to see, natsu smashed into the ground as both hands covered his eyes, now raw with incredible pain from that golden flash.
Lucy used this opportunity, creating and then throwing a golden blast straight into Natsu's chest, causing a explosion that flung him backwards.
Natsu quickly got back onto his feet and fell into his normal stance, even though he was now unable to see Lucy using his eyes, he could still fight using other means.
Natsu stretched out with his senses, his hearing, his smell.
He could hear Lucy's heartbeat, he could smell her scent.
Even without his eyes, he could fight and fight he would.
Lucy smiled, she felt sure she could finally beat Natsu now and so created another Star Blast and then threw it at Natsu.
Who suddenly ducked down and under the blast as it was coming towards him.
Lucy was shocked, how could he still dodge and move when he was devoid of his ability to see?
Her few moments of hesitation was all Natsu required as he flew forth, fist once again on fire and ready to punch
Lucy ducked underneath his fist and threw her own left hook towards his face.
Natsu moved his head out of the way and brought his left knee up in an attempt to knee Lucy.
She stopped his knee with one of her own and sent her right fist towards Natsu's chest.
Natsu leaned backwards, causing Lucy to overextend and leave herself open.
Natsu then slammed both of his fists onto Lucy's back, causing her to cry out in pain and hit the floor.
Lucy then knocked Natsu's legs from out underneath him and while he was on the floor jumped up and elbowed him in the chest.
Natsu grunted in pain then sent his left fist into Lucy's stomach, causing her to fly a few feet back from Natsu, allowing him to get back onto his feet once more.
Natsu then said, "Not bad Lucy. I really wasn't expecting that flash of gold to be coming. Nice job."
Lucy smiled, even though her chest really hurt and said, "Well, you did say strike in a way you enemy will least expect it and to strike where he least expects it as well."
"Exactly. Be unpredictable. Strike in the weirdest and more unusual ways and you will more often then not be able to beat your opponent." Natsu said while still smiling.
The two smile at each other for a few more seconds before Lucy made the first move.
She charged forwards, a Star Blast in each hand. She probably intended on hit Natsu point blank with them to try and get him off balance.
Too bad Natsu could hear her still and even though he was blinded, he was still a master at close combat.
Lucy fired both of the blast ten feet from Natsu, an incredibly short distance which meant the likely hood of him countering was low.
Which made it all the more shocking when he simply swiped his hand in front of him and knocked both blasts away from him.
Natsu smirked as he sensed Lucy's confusion and used this to his advantage as he lit his right hand of fire and then threw it forwards, creating a large stream of fire that shot towards Lucy at incredible speed.
Lucy dodged to the right, which allowed Natsu to come within striking distance.
Natsu threw his right fist forwards, just missing Lucy's face, while Lucy's left leg caught him directly in the middle of his chest, causing him to bend a little from the pain, which allowed Lucy to launch her right fist into Natsu;s face.
Natsu moved back from the blows, allowing Lucy to launch several other attacks.
Lucy's hands started glowing golden as she threw her right fist forwards, which was blocked by Natsu's left palm.
The golden fist struck hard, pushing Natsu backwards from the the force of the blow, even surprising Lucy by how powerful it was.
Natsu used this surprise to send is left fist into Lucy's stomach, causing the girl to gasp and hold her stomach for a few seconds, allowing Natsu to send another fist directly into her face.
Lucy reeled back from the blows, which allowed Natsu to send both his right and left fist into her stomach as well.
Lucy then decided it was time to counteract and launched her left knee into Natsu's stomach, while her knee was covered in golden energy, which dramatically increased the power of the blow.
Natsu's air was forced from his lung by the powerful kick and Lucy capitalized on his inability to act, sending both her left and right fists into Natsu's face, making Natsu too disoriented to move or even act.
Lucy then spun her leg, whose foot was wrapped in golden energy and then smashed Natsu in the chest with the glowing foot, causing Natsu to be sent flying backwards and across the training arena.
Natsu got up and said, "Wow Lucy I am impressed. You learned how to channel your Celestial Magic in your hands, feet, arms and legs just like I do with my Dragon Slayer magic without me ever knowing. That's real talent right there."
Lucy smile and said, "Yep. I watched you use your Dragon Slayer magic and then practiced while at my house. At first all I could do was wrap my forearms in energy, due to most of my caster type spells use my arms, so learning how to channel it into one specific spot of my body like my feet, legs and knees was a bit interesting, but I eventually learned how to. That magic mapping technique really helped me along."
"I told you it was the most important thing I was going to teach you. That technique is the corner stone from which most S-Class mages get their power and also learn most of their more power combat techniques as well through it. I can honestly say that the magic mapping technique is the most important and useful technique a wizard can learn if they want to improve themselves." Natsu said.
"Agreed. Now, can we get back to me kicking your butt?" Lucy asked with a hint of cockiness in her voice.
"Don't get cocky now, I am still only using 35% of my base forms power. Erza can take me at 100% of the Crimson Fire Dragon Slayer mode, which doubles my power, so you are far from her league and Gray, due to killing Lullaby and bathing in his demon blood, can easily take me using 70% of the Crimson Fire Dragon mode, so both Gray and Erza are more than double your strength, while Happy can take me using 50% of my power when he uses his Battle Tiger mode. You have a long way's to go before you are S-Class material." Natsu said sternly, making sure to keep his student humble.
He had seen too many good wizards die due to the fact they thought they were invincible.
"Okay, okay. I get it, don't get overconfident. Now, can we get back to sparing?" Lucy asked, shifting back into her combat stance.
"Very well." Natsu said as he increased his power just a little to 40% of the base form's power.
When both Natsu and Lucy charged towards each other, it showed.
Natsu was there a fraction ahead of Lucy. he punched a little bit harder, dodged just a tiny bit faster.
He was slowly beginning to wear her out by dodging her blows, striking when he did dodge and then moving out of the way.
After about ten minutes of dodging and weaving, Lucy was beginning to tire.
Her blows were getting sloppier, and the ones she did connect with were not doing the level of damage they did before hand, not to mention she was getting hit a lot more now.
Lucy then decided to go all out and concentrated all of her magic into her right fist and roared out as she charged forwards, a fiercely glowing golden hand cocked back and ready to punch.
Natsu sensed the power of that spell and so he cocked his own left fist backwards and concentrated a large amount of fire into the fist and roared out as well.
The two combatants threw their fists forwards and in the middle of the arena, the fists connected.
A massive shock wave erupted as the two spells detonated against each other, pushing both Natsu and Lucy backwards from the force of the blast.
Natsu seemed to be welded to the floor, he was lifted not an inch from the force of the blast and instead he created massive skid marks from were his boots were scrapped along the floor of the arena.
Lucy on the other hand was flung backwards and landed on the other side of the arena in a heap.
Lucy was panting hard, all of her energy spent and used in that last spell, so she was too tired to even move right now.
Natsu then walked over to where Lucy lay, panting and reached out and offered her his right hand.
Lucy took it without a moments hesitation and was pulled up by Natsu.
"Good job Lucy, you have gotten much better since we began. If you keep this up, you will become an S-Class mage in no time." Natsu said.
"Thanks. Boy am I tired." Lucy said as she began to stiffly walk with Natsu.
Natsu sent a pulse of magic into her, healing some of her wounds and also decreasing the tiredness of her sore muscles.
Lucy nodded towards Natsu and the two of them walked to where Erza and Gray were battling.
Gray had become much faster and stronger since he bathed in Lullaby's blood, now he was able to keep up with Erza for the most part, although it was still clearly visible that Erza was still much stronger then Gray.
Gray ducked underneath the left swipe from Erza's regular blade.
Gray then shouted out, "Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fist!"
Gray's right fist was now coated in a layer of purple ice, which he then threw towards Erza's face.
Erza simply moved her head to the right, allowing the fist to miss her.
Erza then retaliated with a kick to Gray's left shin, making it harder for him to move using that leg.
Gray then coated both hands with purple ice and tried to punch Erza, but Erza was much to fast to be hit or hurt by Gray.
Erza then jumped backwards and yelled out, "Requip!"
Erza's entire form became engulfed in golden light, which when it faded away, revealed Erza was now back in her Black Wing Armor and she had also sent away her magma sword and took out the Black Wing's regular sword.
Gray smirked and then shouted out "Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword" and then generated ice to create two purple ethereal ice blades once more.
The two then charged towards each other, there blades held at the ready.
Erza swung her blade in a left arc, which Gray countered by placing his swords in a "X" fashion, catching the blade before it struck him.
Both Erza and Gray appeared to struggle against each other for a few moments before Erza overpowered Gray and managed to lob Gray backwards, his two swords clanging to the ground near him.
Gray quickly got back into his fighting stance as Erza came flying towards him, her blade poised and ready to strike.
Gray patiently waited for Erza to get close and then when she struck, Gray quickly got underneath the blade then shouted out, "Ice Devil's RAGE!"
The point blank rage spell struck Erza straight in the chest and sent her flying backwards, the power behind the spell hitting her hard.
Erza quickly flipped back onto her feet just in time to see Gray taking another deep breathe as he prepared another rage spell.
Thinking quickly, Erza shouted out, "Requip!"
Another golden light erupted from Erza as her Black Wing Armor vanished and now she had donned the Flame Empress Armor once again.
Erza summoned her fire and magma swords, seeing as they were the best things to fight Gray with.
Erza's flames sword ignited, while the magma sword glowed ominously bleed red in it's cracks as magma swirled around the sword.
Gray launched a swirling mass of ice towards Erza, who simply crossed her swords in an "X" and then launched a crescent shape of fire and magma outwards towards the ice.
The fire and magma easily destroyed the ice and stopped the spell from reaching Erza.
Erza then flew upwards and away from Gray, knowing that in close quarters Gray's toughness was going to hamper her ability to beat him.
Out of the five mages training here, Natsu was definitely the strongest, Erza was the most versatile, Gray could take the most, barely beating out Natsu, Happy was the fastest, even in his battle mode and Lucy showed the possibility of become the groups most unique member.
Gray saw she wasn't going to stay on the ground, he knew he had to get rid of her wings and bring her to the ground, as long as she is in the sky he has no ability to win.
Gray then had to dodged several crescent shaped blasts of fire and magma Erza had sent his way, causing large explosion that rocked the field for a bit, but they also created several dusts clouds Gray could hid in.
Gray tried to hide in the dust clouds for a long as he could, but they all disappeared within a few seconds, leaving Gray out in the open once more.
Erza smiled deviously at him as she raised her flaming blade once more.
Erza's fire blade then began to glow more brightly and also the flames became even more erratic.
Erza then roared out as she sent a large crescent shaped wave of fire at Gray.
Gray then yelled out, "Ice Make: Shield!"
Gray slammed his right hand into the open palm of his left hand as purple ice coalesced around his hands and then created a massive flower shaped shield in front of him, which managed to stop the wave of fire that wrapped around the shield and made it look like Gray was in the middle of a ocean of fire.
Gray waited until the wave of fire ended and then shouted out, "Ice Devil's Zeroth Glacier Cannon!"
A familiar large purple cannon was formed and then Gray heaved it onto his left shoulder.
Gray then used the targeting reticle he created to get a good lock on Erza and then clicked the trigger, causing a massive blast of purple ice to come roaring forth from the cannon and headed straight towards Erza.
Erza saw the incoming blast and quickly raised her magma sword.
She then pointed the blade at the incoming blast of ice and the blade's ominously glowing blood red veins of mama glowed even more ominously blood red and then a blast of red magma came out of the blade and struck the blast of ice, causing a massive steam cloud to obscure the two combatants from view.
"Wow, both Gray and Erza sure seem like they are enjoying fighting each other." Lucy commented.
"Indeed. Those two love to fight each other. They have known each other since childhood and are close as friends can get. They also like to see what they are made of so they often spar against each other." Natsu said, smiling.
Erza knew trying to see through the steam cloud was going to be a fruitless endeavor, so she closed her eyes and tried to locate Gray's magical power, while also cloaking her's from being located.
Erza had actually stumbled across the ability to sense other magical powers with pin point accuracy and taught that ability to everyone in the guild. Gray was the one to take that ability and then found a way to counter it, the magic cloaking ability.
Since they couldn't actually cloak, cloaking from all magic detectors was the next best thing.
Gray had once described the ability as, "Placing a blanket over the bright light that is your magic."
The magic cloaking abilities greatest flaw was the fact that by cloaking your magical power also led to a decrease in the ability to use magic.
You are attempting to use something that is being covered over all while trying not to take the cover off, that is why using the magic cloaking ability led to a decrease in the ability to use magic.
Back to the fight, Erza was now inside the steam cloud, silently flying inside the cloud all while trying to find Gray without Gray finding her.
What she didn't see was the small, almost invisible purple glow that came from behind her.
Without warning, a massive beam of ice struck Erza straight in the chest and sent her flying outside the steam cloud and the beam of ice also blew away the steam loud, letting it be seen that Gray had managed to get behind Erza and then launched a sneak attack against her.
Erza got up quickly, the blow to the back only causing a slight grimace of pain to cross her face.
"Not bad Gray, that was a very clever plan." Erza complemented.
"Thanks. The real problem was making sure to not be seen by you and to not make any noise. That whole sneak attack was all a matter of luck." Gray admitted.
"Well, it seems as if luck favors you this day." Erza said as she got back int her stance again.
"Yeah, it seems if luck is favoring today." Gray replied. "Want to take this to the next level?"
Erza's grew a predatory smirk and said, "Why not?"
Erza then yelled out as her bright red aura appeared around her and began to grow more intense and dense.
Gray also began to yell out as his own purple aura too grew intenser and denser, along with the fact his demon tattoo had transformed into it's battle mode and was now up to his elbow once again.
With both Erza and Gray now at the their maximum power, the battle was starting to get intense.
"Wow, Gray's power really is double what it was before we went on the Lullaby mission. So this is what happens when a slayer baths in the blood of one of the things they are supposed to slay." Lucy said, feeling the raw power Gray was radiating.
Gray's power was immense, not nearly as high as Erza's and by no means even close to Natsu's level, but he was still pretty dang powerful.
"Yeah. And if he ever slays another demon his power is going to double again, from this point. Using my power as a base, at his maximum he can equal me at 170%, or 70% of the Crimson Fire Dragon Mode. Another demon to his count and suddenly he now equals 340% of my base form, or me using both of my Dragon Drive's at once while in the Crimson Fire Dragon mode. I guess I should really step up my training if I want to keep my title of strongest man in Fairy Tail." Natsu said.
"I guess. So wait, how many times does the Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon mode boost you? And also Dragon Force and Dragon King's mode?" Lucy asked, becoming very curious.
"The Crimson Lightning Fire Dragon mode boosts Natsu's power by 9 times his base form, Dragon Force boosts his power ten times base form and Fire Dragon King's mode boosts his power by over 35 times as much. Natsu has yet to figure out how to combine all his power ups together into a singular mode." Happy said, appearing out of nowhere and scaring the heck out of Lucy.
"Will you stop appearing out od nowhere?! You are going to give me a heart attack!" Lucy said, holding her chest as she started to breathe to try and get her heart rate down.
"No. It's too much fun." Happy said with a smile on his face as he started eating a fish he had gotten within seconds.
"I swear you are trying to kill me." Lucy said, a bit peeved at the blue furred flying, talking cat.
"Look! Gray and Erza are still fighting." Natsu said, not even turning towards the two of them.
The two bickering mages turned back towards the match they are seeing and saw Gray had yet another purple ethereal blade in his right hand and a circular flower shield on his left forearm that he used to keep one of Erza's blades busy.
Grey currently had his blade locked by the flame blade and the shield blocking the magma blade and was currently headbutting Erza, trying to push the flaming red head back and gain some ground against her, but was failing miserably to do so.
Erza then raised her right knee and smashed Gray in the stomach, sending the Ice Make Devil Slayer flying backwards from the force of the blow.
Erza then continued onwards, rushing towards Gray with both of her blades ready.
Gray however wasn't going to lay down and just admit defeat, he was a lot stronger than that.
Gray got up within seconds and shouted out, "Ice Devil's RAGE!"
A rather large blast of purple ice came rushing forth from the student of Ur, tearing up the ground it crossed and striking Erza with the force of an angry hurricane.
Erza, having used her swords to try and block the blast from Gray by generating a dome of hot air, was slowly being pushed backwards by the beam of ice, creating lines from where her clawed boots had tried to find purchase, but ultimately failed to keep her from moving.
After a little bit, the beam died down and Erza moved the swords out from in front of her.
Big mistake, because Gray was now within striking distance and he already had his ice covered fist cocked backwards and ready to fire.
Gray roared out as he swung his fist forwards and nailed Erza in the right cheek, causing the red haired girl to go flying backwards.
Erza righted herself while in mid flight and launched herself forwards, her armored body close to the ground as she flew towards Gray.
Gray simply shifted his body and when Erza was close to him he yelled out, "Ice Make: Ice Geyser!"
Gray smashed both of his hands onto the ground and suddenly a large number of purple ice spikes came out and entombed Erza, covering her over in large purple ice.
All was silent for a few seconds before suddenly all of the ice pillars were destroyed in a large explosion of fire and magma, revealing Erza was alright and completely unharmed by that spell.
Gray cursed, nothing he was doing was putting a dent into Erza.
"But" He said said to himself, "That's what makes these sparing matches so much fun."
Gray then had to dodge three quick slashes in rapid succession made by Erza, followed by two quick point blank fire and magma blasts, both of which he barely managed to dodge.
But, he didn't dodge the kick from Erza's right leg that struck him the middle of his chest and sent him flying backwards.
Gray righted himself and landed on his feet and quickly put a hand on where Erza had kicked him, that last one had hurt and he was starting to run out of steam and ideas to try and win this match, meanwhile Erza only had a few scratches and bruises on her form, showing that Erza was much stronger then Gray.
Gray decided he had to go all out now, and use his strongest move and hope to Mavis it worked.
Gray placed both of his hands by his side and began to say, "Ice Devil's Zeroth..."
Erza recognized that stance and knew Gray was going all out know and she had to end this match now.
Summoning all of her power, the flame sword in her right hand ignited, creating a massive three foot long blade of fie beyond the actual blade itself, meaning the blade was now technically six feet long. The magma sword in her left hand also began to glow brighter and more ominously as magma was now swirling around the blade itself and also making the blade six feet long as well.
Erza then charged forth, her blades held in an "X" formation across her chest.
Gray then roared out, "ARCTIC CHILL!" as a massive purple beam nearly five times the size of his last Ice Devil's rage was brought into existence and sent directly towards Erza.
The beam of purple ice and Erza met in the middle of the arena, Erza's two blades trying to cut through the strongest move in gray's arsenal.
For a few seconds they were deadlocked, but then began to slowly move forwards, each and every inch a desperately fought battle.
Eventually Gray ran out of magic power and Erza then surged forth.
Faster than the eye could follow, Erza had reached Gray, both of her blades now held in a scissor fashion against Gray's neck.
"Do you yield?" Erza asked.
"I yield." Gray answered as he powered down, his demon tattoo growing back to the three bands on his right arm.
Erza nodded and then requiped her Flame Empress armor away along with her two swords.
Natsu, Lucy and Happy all approached as Erza pulled Gray back onto his feet.
"That was a great sparing match. You two did great." Natsu congratulated both Gray and Erza with a large smile on his face.
"Thanks. Erza hits like a truck, my stomach stills hurts." Gray said as he placed his hand on his stomach while several jolts of pain went through his stomach.
"Yeah, my girlfriend has a monstrous punch doesn't she?" Natsu said with a smile.
Erza gave a proud smile and said, "But of course. What did you expect from Titania Erza, the Strongest Female in Fairy Tail."
"That was very cool how you cut through Gray's strongest attack." Lucy said.
"It was nothing, Remind me to tell you of the time I cut Laxus's Lightning Dragon's Roar attack in half using a single sword." Erza said.
"Alright, that was a good sparing match. Let's get our wounds all healed up, do a joint magic mapping and then let's go do an S-Class mission!" Natsu said excitedly.
"An S-Class mission? I'm not an S-Class wizard." Lucy said, worried about what might happen to her if she took this mission.
"Don't worry Lucy. You will have me, Erza, Gray and Happy all to keep you safe. I think this will be a good experience for you to know how S-Class jobs go." Natsu said.
"Still, can you try to find the easiest S-Class job possible?" Lucy asked.
"Sure. What, you think we will throw you off the deep end and expect you to swim? No, we'll start out small and then work our way up. Besides, I haven't done an S-Class job in a while and I want to have a challenge." Natsu said.
"Okay, I guess." Lucy said, a large amount of uncertainty in her voice.
"Don't worry. You will be safe and it will be a good learning experience for you." Natsu said.
Lucy nodded and then Natsu took a clear small ball from his requip pocket nd dropped it on both training fields.
Instantly the fields were brought back to their prime conditions.
The small balls Natsu dropped were actually time capsules Ultear had given him to help repair the damages that were done on jobs.
Handy little things, but they can only restore the condition of one object per capsule, so if a number of things is broken, a large number of the time capsules are needed.
Natsu then sent pulses of magic into Erza, Happy, and Gray and saw all of their bruises heal up.
Natsu's healing pulse was very limited, it could only heal bruises and small cuts, he could heal himself by eating fire, but healing others, only bruises and cuts, nothing more.
Team Natsu then walked into the center of the training arena he and Lucy had sparred in and sat down in a circle going Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lucy and then Happy.
The five closed their eyes and began to focus on the magic flowing throughout their bodies.
One by one, the groups individual aura's began to manifest themselves.
The colors of their aura's began to slowly melt together and form a large circle of silver energy above their heads.
Time for the group began to slow down as they slowly lost themselves to the feeling of their magical power's flowing throughout their bodies.
The never ending limits of magic never failed to create a sense of awe in each and every person that did the magic mapping technique.
When they did the technique and got lost in the feeling, they could truly get a small sense of how small and insignificant they were compared to the vastness of magic.
Magic went on and on for eternity, they were just small bits of light that shined and then went out forever.
It was a humbling and enlightening experience the first time one got lost in the waves and tides of magic.
You never get use to it, you never grow tired of it, or that was the way Natsu saw it.
The way he saw it, one could spend eternity staring into the expanse of magic and one would not truly had even begun to understand the impossible force that was magic.
With the right technique, one could truly do anything with magic.
Grow large as a skyscraper, stop time, summon creatures of unimaginable power, destroy mountains with a flick of the wrist, the list went on and on.
Magic might not be the ultimate power in the multiverse, but of all powers in the infinity of other worlds, magic truly had the most versatility. There truly was no end to how one can use magic, the limit is only what the user can imagine.
Back to Team Natsu, they did their joint magic mapping exercise for well over two hours before they all stopped and the ball of combined magical energies dispersed back into magical particles that floated down to the ground like snowflakes, creating an impossibly incredible scene that most never see, but those that do are never failed to be impressed.
Lucy held out her right hand and saw three silver magical particles land on her palm and when each one did, she felt a small tingle go down through her spine that just made her feel happier and livelier.
Natsu then said, "okay guys, let's go get cleaned up and then head on over to the guild."
The group nodded and then went to Natsu's house, where after showering, the group went to the guild.
Once at the Guild Hall, they saw yet another guild fight had broke out, with chairs, tables and people yet once again were being tossed around like they were balls.
Natsu ducked underneath a mug and then sidestepped to avoid a large chair that smashed against the wall to his left and promptly broke apart.
Natsu then heard Elfman say, "Hey guys!"
Team Natsu all turned and saw Elfman sitting at the bar while Lisanna and Mirajane were cleaning mugs and plates.
The team all went over to the bar and Natsu said, "Hey guys. How you doing?"
"Not bad. I am thinking about taking an S-Class job with Lisanna and Mirajane in a day or so." Elfman said.
"Really? Me and my team are actually here to get an S-Class job so we can show Lucy what it's like to go on S-Class jobs." Natsu said.
"Really? Don't you think that it's a little early to be taking your apprentice on an S-Class job?" Elfman asked.
"Have to agree with my older brother Natsu. Lucy only joined about a week or so ago. She hasn't had the time needed to get a large amount of training in." Lisanna said in agreement with her brother.
"Are you sure that's a good idea Natsu? It is a little bit early to be taking your student on a job of this caliber." Mirajane added.
"Don't worry guys. She will be having us there to protect her. She will be fine. We are also going to take the easiest job on the request board." Natsu said.
"She will be just fine. She has the strongest man and woman in the guild, plus the Ice Make Devil Slayer, in addition to Happy to keep her safe." Gray said.
"I also agree that this will be good training for Lucy. One can never learn how to act and work on an S-Class job soon enough." Erza added.
"Besides, don't forget she did pretty large amounts of damage to Lullaby and came out of that fight A-okay. Lullaby's second form was definitely S-Class in strength alone." Happy finished as he ate a fish.
"I guess it's okay, as long as Lucy agrees to this." Mirajane said as all the mages turned towards Lucy.
Lucy was silent for a few minutes before she said, "I want to see if I can handle an S-Class job."
"Very well, I am off to choose a job." Natsu said as he walked away.
Natsu went over to the stair case and walked up the stairs to the second floor and over to the S-Class job request board.
After searching the board for several minutes, he came across a job that picked his interest.
{Help wanted to break curse.
Location: Galuna Island.
Objective: Break curse that lies on the island.
Reward: 7 million jewels and a Golden Zodiac Key.}
Natsu smirked, this was the perfect job.
Natsu took the job request and then went down to the first floor and saw Makarov talking to the other members of Team Natsu.
"Hey Makarov, me and my team are taking this S-Class mission." natsu said as he handed the flyer to Makarov.
After looking it over, Makarov then said, "Are you sure you want to take Lucy on this kind of a job? It might be dangerous."
"Makarov, everything we do is dangerous, we are mages, it's kind of what we do. We go and do dangerous things so no one else has too. besides, I think it might be a good learning experience for Lucy. If she ever has to break a curse in the future, now she can remember what we do one the island." Natsu said.
Makarov was silent for a few seconds before he said,"Okay, I authorize you to take this job, as long as the est of your team is okay doing it."
Natsu nodded and so he and Makarov then turned towards Tea, natsu and Natsu said, "Our job is to go to Galuna Island and break the curse on the island. Any objections?"
"Just one. Isn't that the isle of demons were no wizard has ever returned?" Gray asked.
"Gray, those tales are completely fabricated. They also say there are giant sixty tentacled monsters in those waters, yet I have gone in that area numerous times to get to Tenrou Island for the S-Class promotion trials and not once have I seen such a creature. Besides, it's a curse and those are really easy to break, this is the easiest S-Class job there is." Natsu said.
"I agree. This job doesn't sound that hard. What's the reward?" Erza asked.
"Seven million jewels and a golden Zodiac Key." natsu said.
Milliseconds later Lucy was in front of Natsu, surprising both Natsu and everyone seeing such a thing how the girl got there so fast, meanwhile Lucy was looking Natsu dead in the eye and saying, "Did you say Golden Zodiac Key?!"
Natsu nodded, still stunned and said, "The flyer didn't specify what Golden Zodiac Key it is, but the bonus reward is a Golden Zodiac Key."
Lucy then said, "We are taking this job. How soon can we get going?"
"Well I can be ready to go in an hour if need be, so I say we meet back up in two hours at the train station and get going to Hargeon, were we shall rent a boat and get to Galuna." Natsu said.
All were in agreement, so Team Natsu left the guild and went back to their houses to get ready.
Mirajane turned to Makarov and said, "Master, are you sure they should be doing that job? No one who has ever gone to do it has never returned."
Makarov took a long gulp from his mug and then said, "Mira, remember who Natsu is. He can take on and destroy almost anyone or thing in this world, he is the strongest member of the Guild. He and the others will complete this job, have some faith in them."
"I do, I am just worried they might get hurt." Mirajane said.
"Don't worry, they are some of the toughest and strongest members in the Guild, they will be fine." Makarov said as he took another long gulp.
Time skip, three hours...
Team Natsu had gone back to their respective homes and had gotten all their needed supplies and then had met at the train station and had gotten a train to Hargeon, where they were currently and now they were looking for a boat willing to take them to Galuna.
"So, one of these guys must be willing to take us right? Let's go split up and find someone." Natsu said.
The others nodded and then went off to find a captain willing to get them to their target.
But, alas, problems arose.
"No way am I going near Galuna Island!"
"Galuna island?! Are you crazy?! I am not risking my boat by going anywhere near that cursed place!"
"You couldn't pay me enough to go within twenty miles of that Island!"
"No way in hell!"
Everyone here seemed much too afraid to go anywhere near the island, making getting to the island a little bit of a hassle.
"Well this is going well. We aren't even on the Island and things are going wrong." Gray said.
"I guess we are going to have to fly. Think you can fly all that way Erza?" Natsu asked.
"Possibly, but carrying Lucy or Gray is going to make it much more difficult to get to the island." Erza replied.
"I can carry both Gray and Lucy on my back while where flying, but that will make landing a very painful experience." Natsu said.
"Man, who would have thought getting to Galuna Island would be this hard." Lucy said.
"Hey, you guys want to go to Galuna Island?" A voice said.
Turning around they saw a dark skinned sailor looking at them from his small boat.
"Yeah, you see we are wizards who want to get to the Island to break the curse and we are having a hard time finding someone to take us there." Lucy explained.
"You guys are wizards? Show me your magic." The sailor said.
The group all raised their eyebrows at that one, but they did as the man asked, Natsu lighting one fish of fire, the other became covered in purple lightning, Gray hands were now emitting purple ice, while Lucy's hands glowed golden, Happy grew his white angelic wings and Erza summoned one of her swords.
The sailor stared at their magic for a few seconds before he said, "Okay, get in."
"Huh?" The group intelligently said.
"I am going to take you to Galuna Island." The man said as he prepared to take off.
Not questioning their strange luck, the group got onto the boat one by one and once they were all on board, the man untied the ropes and started sailing the boat towards the Island of Demons.
Time skip, several hours later...
The group had been on the boat for several hours now and had not yet seen the island yet.
"So, Mister..." Lucy said, trying to get the boatman's name.
"My names Bobo." The man replied.
"So Mister Bobo, why are you so willing to take us to the Island?" Lucy asked.
"I used to live on the Island." Bobo revealed.
"So, what is the curse like?" Natsu asked, trying to get information on what they were about to face.
Bobo lifted his left arm and suddenly purple scales with black lines appeared over his entire forearm, while claws appeared where his finger nails used to be.
The Fairy Tail mages were stunned, they had never seen a curse like the one Bobo had just shown before and it was utterly mystifying.
Just then, Gray saw something out of the corner of his right eye and turned around and said, "Hey look! Land!"
The group turned towards Gray's direction and indeed, they saw a island starting to come into view.
"Galuna Island." Bobo said, confirming the groups suspicion on the island before them.
Just then, they heard a strange noise and turned around, just in time to see a massive tsunami coming towards them fast.
"Ah! Where did Bobo go?!" Lucy yelled out.
The group looked and sure enough, Bobo was missing.
Natsu turned towards the tsunami and roared out, "Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Out of Natsu's mouth came a large pillar of fire that scream forth and struck the tsunami and instantly began to evaporate the water of the tsunami in a certain place, splitting the tsunami into two separate large waves.
The two waves passed the boat by harmlessly.
Natsu then said, "Okay, now that the tsunami has passed us, lets go to the island!"
Natsu took the rudder and steered the ship towards Galuna island, the others trying to find Bobo, but not seeing any signs of the man.
The boat made it's way towards the island and towards a date with destiny.
Time skip...
The boat had just reached the shore and the mages were finally out of the boat, having reached the island at long last.
One by one, the group of mages got off of the boat and landed onto the soft sands of the beaches surrounding the island.
"Okay, here we are on Galuna Island. First thing we have to do is find the village that sent the request. It should be somewhere in the interior of the island." Natsu said.
The rest of the team agreed and the started walking off in the direction that held the most recent smells of people.
After a little while they came to a massive wooden gate.
"That is an impressive gate. Let's see if anyone is home." Natsu said.
"Hey! Is anyone there?!" Natsu shouted out.
A second later two guards appeared at the top of the gate and one of them yelled down, "Who goes there?"
"We are wizards from Fairy Tail responding to the request you sent out." Erza answered.
"Oh, you're those wizards. We heard that you had taken the request, but you were taking so long to get here we thought you had gotten lost." The other guard said.
"It was nothing like that. May we enter so we can talk to the village chief?" Gray asked.
"Show us your Guild Marks to we are sure you are all Fairy Tail mages." The first guard said.
The group shrugged and showed of their guild marks.
Natsu showed his red right shoulder guild mark, while Gray lifted his shift to show his blue guild mark on his right pectoral, while Lucy simply lifted an showed her mark on her left hand, while Erza's light blue mark on her left lower arm was shown an finally Happy's lime green mark was shown on his back.
"Those marks are real, they must be Fairy Tail mages. Let's let them inside." The second guard said.
"Okay, maybe they can finally break the curse. Open the gate!" He yelled down to someone on the ground.
Several seconds later the bottom part of the gate started rising until there was a 15 foot tall opening that they could get through.
"Well that was easy. Now, let's go see what the curse is like." Natsu said.
The group of five entered into the village and saw people of all shapes and sizes watching them.
However, the strange thing is that everyone in the village were wearing full body cloaks that covered almost everything, leaving only a small slit in their faces so they could see and that was it.
There was a 4 foot tall man who had a large walking stick who said, "I am Moka, the village chief. I thank you for coming here to try and break our curse. But pleasantries aside, there is something you must see. Now my people!"
As one, the people of he village took off their cloaks and revealed their bodies.
Every single person in the village had a part of their body that was mutated or changed.
Some people had claws, others had their lower legs changed into something akin to a scaled birds foot.
"This is the same thing that happened to our guide." Gray said.
"Yeah, it is." Lucy said, looking at the people with pity.
Natsu was taking a few whiffs of the surrounding air and he smelled something akin to demon scent, but it was vastly different to Lullaby. he just caulked it up to whatever was effecting these people.
"As you can see, everyone here has suffered horrible disfigurement due to the curse. Not even the animals are safe from it." Moka continued.
"Please excuse me for asking, but what makes you think it is a curse? It could be some form of infectious disease." Gray asked, with Erza nodding at his logic.
"We have consulted many doctors and they all agree that no such disease exists. You see, all of our symptoms appeared at the same time the moon fell under an evil spell." Moka said.
"What kind of spell?" Lucy asked.
"Since ancient times, the island has absorbed the light of the moon and has glowed almost as beautifully as the moon, but several years ago the moon began to glow an eerie purple glow." Moka explained.
"A purple moon?" Natsu asked, starting to get a feeling he might know what's happening.
Happy looked to the sky and said, "Look! The moon is coming from behind the clouds!"
Everyone looked up to the sky and saw that indeed, there was a purple moon now in the sky.
"That's creepy." Gray said as the purple light came over everyone.
"Stay back! The transformation is happening!" Moka said as all the villagers began to scream out as their bodies transformed.
After a few seconds, everyone in the village now looked like demons, with horns, claws and colored skins.
"I am sorry if our appearance frightens you." Moka said to the mages.
"Don't worry, we have all seen things way more frightening then you." Natsu said as he looked at the moon, studying it.
He could swear he had seen something like it, but where?
"As you can see, every night when the moon turns purple we undergo a transformation that turns us into horrific demons. If this isn't a curse then what is?" Moka asked.
"We will return back to normal once the morning comes, but there are some unfortunate souls that never do change back." Moka said.
"How sad." Lucy said.
"The fate for those that can't turn back is that we are forced to put them out of their misery." Moka said, unable to look the mages in the eyes.
Natsu walked up and placed his right hand on Moka's shoulder and said, "I am sorry. That must have been unbearably hard for you to do."
"You have no idea. My own son, Bobo was one the unlucky ones." Moka said, startling the Fairy Tail mages.
"Bobo, but he..." Lucy said, completely confused.
"I get how he disappeared now. He is actually a ghost because his soul can't find peace." Gray said.
"If you truly wish to help us, you must destroy the moon! Moka said, completely startling the Fairy Tail mages.
Time skip...
"The moon looks really creepy, all purple like that." Happy said, looking at the moon from the window of the little hut the villagers were kind enough to let the Fairy Tail mages use.
"Happy, don't stay in the light for to long, you know what Moka said." Lucy said.
"So guys, what are we going to do? We can't destroy the moon." Gray said.
Natsu was silent, he had the book Thundreas had given him out and was looking through it using the Gale-force glasses for any clues.
"There must be another way to break the curse. Tomorrow we will look for it. We will search the island for any clues that might let us know the origins of the curse." Erza said.
"I found it!" Natsu said suddenly, from his chair.
"Found what?" Lucy asked.
"I found the source of the purple moon." Natsu said.
The others came over to Natsu and saw that the page he was on had a picture of a purple moon, exactly like the one currently in the sky.
"The spell is called Moon Drip. It focuses moon light and then shines directly onto an object. This spell is the most powerful form of Dispel magic there is, no spell can survive being hit by it. The spell was first created hundreds of years ago, where it was used to crack open the most powerful of seals there are. Eventually the spell was forgotten and hasn't been used since. But the calling card of that spell is a purple moon." Natsu explained.
"So someone is trying to beak open a seal?" Gray asked.
"No, Moon Drip is much more powerful then a simple seal cracker, it can, with enough time, break open any and all spells, no matter their power. I am more worried about what Moon Drip might be cracking open right now. There are some things that were never meant to opened." Natsu said, a little bit of fear in his voice.
"Natsu? Are you okay?" Erza asked, a little afraid, Natsu was almost never afraid and if something had him spooked, that means things are going wrong.
"Nothing, it's just that Moka said that the glow appeared several years ago and if moon drip has been going on for that long then whatever moon drip is cracking open must be protected by an absurdly powerful seal. There are only a few such seals I know of that are that powerful and the things they sealed away are the few things that scare me." Natsu said, causing Lucy's fear to spike.
"What do you think it is?" Lucy asked, completely terrified of the answer.
"I think and I am praying I am wrong, that it might be the Shadow Wraiths." Natsu said, confusing everyone present.
"I have never heard of them." Erza said, Grey, Lucy and Happy all agreeing.
"I am not surprised, they are little more than myth and legend, the stories mothers tell their children at night. The Shadow Wraiths are five powerful wizards that Zeref, the creator of Lullaby, experimented on. He bent the rules of life and death, unleashing unholy black magic upon them. The power of the black magic was so great that it destroyed their corporeal bodies and they became shadows, neither living nor dead. They feed of the life energy of living people and they are the ancestors of today's Wraiths that live in the shadows, but Shadow Wraiths are much stronger, Wizard Saint level, if not Heavenly King of Ishgar level. They served as Zeref's assassins and deadliest warriors, because how can you kill a shadow? They only way to defeat them was to trap them in specially engineered coffins that were lined with holy light, the opposite of the shadows. These coffins were then placed in the deepest and darkest mountain with all the tunnels collapsed and the most powerful of seals placed on both coffins and the mountain itself to keep the Shadow Wraiths from ever emerging once again. If whoever is using Moon Drip really has gotten the coffins, then we are all in danger." Natsu said.
The others were terrified now, these Shadow Wraiths sounded like something no one wants to face, ever.
"Are you sure that is what we face?" Erza asked.
"It is a possibility, there are few seals of strength that would require years of concentrated moon light to break." Natsu replied.
"So we might just be facing Shadow Wraiths, unkillable shadows with strength almost immeasurable. And you said this job would be safe." Lucy said, completely terrified now.
"They haven't cracked the seal yet, so if it is a Shadow Wraith we still have time to beat them." Natsu said.
"How can you be sure?" Gray asked.
"Well, for one thing a great explosion of black energy would erupt as the Shadow Wraith's power has been confined for centuries, a unbearable chill would do our backs as the Shadow Wraith was near and most importantly there would not be a living thing on this island if the Shadow Wraith was truly free." Natsu said.
"Okay, so we still have time to stop them, whoever is crazy enough to do something like this." Lucy said, a little bit relieved.
"Let's go to bed. We have a big day ahead of us." Natsu said as he requiped the book away.
The group members all nodded and then went to their beds, intending to fall asleep.
Natsu however, stayed awake and kept watch throughout the night, the possibility of Shadow Wraiths being unleashed keeping him awake.
Eventually Natsu fell asleep, the purple light of the moon ominously hanging in the clouds.
Time skip, morning...
Lucy, Happy, Gray, Erza and Natsu were currently walking through the foliage, eyes trained all over, searching for any clues to breaking the curse.
"So Natsu, if it is Shadow Wraiths, is there anything we could do?" Lucy asked.
Natsu was silent for a few moments and then said, "It is possible your Celestial Star Blasts could do some damage, due to your magic being light in origin and has a hint of holy magic mixed in, so you would be able to do something, while my golden flames could possibly hurt them due to my golden flames destroying things with dark magic and Gray could possibly damage them with his Devil Slayer magic, which does have adverse effects on things with dark magic in them as well, but other then that, we would do nothing to the Shadow Wraiths and everything is guess work, due to no one who has ever seen a Shadow Wraith has lived to tell the tale."
The group fell into silence after that for a little while before a massive blue furred rat wearing a maid's outfit came charging at them
Quick as lightning Gray shouted out. "Ice Make: Floor!"
The rat slipped on the ice and fell onto it's back, knocking itself unconscious.
"Well, that was anti-climatic." Lucy said.
"Hey, there are ruins over there." Erza said.
The group went into the ruins and looked at a room filled with moon shapes and the group looked around a little.
"The island was once called the Island of the moon." Lucy said.
"So, moon drip, moon island? Things are just getting weirder." Gray said.
Erza walked over a section of floor, which then collapsed the entire floor, causing the group to fall.
After a few seconds of screaming and falling, the group landed at the bottom of a cavern.
"Is everyone okay?" Natsu asked.
"I okay." Lucy said.
"Ditto." Gray said as he got up.
"Same here." Happy said as he jumped into the air.
"I am fine and I am sorry for getting us down here." Erza said.
"It's okay. We will just fly right back up right?" Lucy asked.
"Sure, just let me..." Natsu started before he trailed off, feeling a large source of magical power not to far from them.
He tuned towards the source of the magic and ran off towards it
"Hey Natsu, wait up." Erza said as the est of Team Natsu ran after him.
After a few minutes of running, they entered into a larger cavern and they all something that stopped them dead.
In the middle of the cavern was a massive fifty foot tall piece of light purple ice that had a massive black shape inside of it.
For Natsu, Gray and Erza, they were seeing a familiar face.
"What is it doing here? What is Deliora doing on this island? What is going on here?" Gray shouted out, disbelief all over his face.
With his cry of disbelief echoing all over the chamber, our heroes stared in shock at the massive demon, unable to believe what they are seeing.
What shall come next after finding out Deliora is on this island? Only time shall tell.
And we are done!
That was a fun chapter to write, I especially loved creating the Shadow Wraiths.
The Shadow Wraiths will be making an appearance in the final arc, where they shall play a major role, so we will not be seeing them for a long time.
The next chapter will be out next Sunday as always and that is everything.
If you have a comment or concern, leave a review or PM me, always appreciated.
This is StrikeFreedom10, signing out.