Fairy Tail: Eien no bōken o kakinaosu
Chapter 6: Fairies in the Wind
Erza has returned to Fairy Tail and asks for the assistance of Natsu, Gray, and Lisanna. They were to help Erza take down a dark guild called Eisenwald. With their five teammates Lucy, Setsuko, Aspen, Shiro, and Happy along for the ride, they must stop the guild from using an evil flute called Lullaby, a type of Death magic. After leaving Natsu on the train by accident, Natsu has a run-in with a member of Eisenwald, who went by the name of Kageyama. Natsu attacks the Eisenwald wizard and after getting a glimpse of Lullaby, Natsu escapes the train and returns to the group to tell them that Kageyama has the flute. With Erza behind the wheel of the Magic Mobile, the team hurries to the next town to stop Eisenwald. But can the team of Natsu, Erza, Aspen, Setsuko, Shiro, Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Lisanna make it in time to stop Eisenwald?
In another area far from where Natsu and his group were and where Eisenwald was heading was the town of Clover. There, the legal Guild masters were having their meeting in a meeting hall.
"Oh, Macky! Your wizards are so nice and full of life!" spoke one of the masters. He was a heavy male with no hair, rosy cheeks, red lipstick, a gold and pink chain, a deep pink spaghetti strap dress, and purple and pink shorts. On his back were angel wings—guild master to the Blue Pegasus guild, Bob (And he is a man).
"I heard one gave some big shot a real thrashing!" Bob added.
"Oh, you must mean Lucy! She just joined!" Makarov explained, sitting on top of one of the tables, a drumstick, and a glass of juice in both hands. "She is great! Supple and voluptuous! And three more joined soon after!"
"Oh! So, naughty!" Bob commented, turning around with his hands covering his eyes about the comments to Lucy.
"This is no time to be laughing, Makarov." Spoke another master behind Makarov who turned to him. He was a tall male with sandy brown hair a dark blue and red hat with spikes on it, a red spiked dog collar, and a short-sleeved dark blue shirt and black pants. This is the Guild master to the Quarto Cerberus guild, Goldmine.
"You people may be spirited, but they always go too far," Goldmine added, holding a kabob. "I hear some of the guys on the council are worried that Fairy Tail's going to go and obliterate an entire city one of these days."
"I want to be obliterated! By Lucy's body that is!" Makarov laughed
"Oh, you know you shouldn't get involved with your wizards like that!" Bob reminded him.
"So, how's Lisanna doing? After that S Class mission, I heard she has improved." Goldmine asked After Makarov stopped laughing.
"In leaps and bounds, she has grown a lot. She is slowly growing into her siblings every day. I will not hold my breath and say she might grow up into Elfman or…" but the Fairy Tail guild master was interrupted by the sound of a voice calling for him.
"Master Makarov! Master Makarov! A letter from Miss Mirajane!" It was a blue bird with a wizard hat and a letter in its talons. It flies to the short master and drops a letter into his hands.
"Thank you!" Makarov replied to the bird.
"No problem!" The little bird chirped back and flew away. Goldmine and many of the guild masters walk near Bob and Makarov to hear the letter too. Makarov swirled his finger on the seal as a teal-colored magic circle appeared and a hologram of a cheerful Mirajane appeared too.
"Master! I am glad you made it to the conference!" spoke the Halo-Mira.
"What do you think?! This is our poster girl! A cutey, isn't she?!" asked Makarov, showing the Halo-Mirajane to the Guild Masters.
The Guild masters asked were in awe and a few whistles were heard too.
"Oh my!" gasped Bob.
"Mirajane, huh? She is matured!" commented Goldmine.
"Something very wonderful has happened during your absence, Master!" Halo-Mira said excitedly.
"Oh!" was Makarov's response. What was the big news Mirajane wanted to tell him?
"You will never believe it! Erza, Natsu, Lisanna, and Gray have all teamed up! I think they might be the strongest team in Fairy Tail now. I just thought I would send you a letter to let you know." Halo-Mirajane explained.
Makarov's mouth was wide open in shock. Those four together as a team? Erza is responsible, but she causes trouble too, Gray and Natsu are usually arguing and breaking stuff, and Lisanna, might have her sister's kind nature but she has gotten destructive with her Takeover spells. And he left the new wizards in Natsu's and Lisanna's care too.
"Wh-Wha…" Makarov stammered.
"Bye now!" Halo-Mira added, and the hologram disappeared.
Makarov stood there with his mouth opened as Bob commented, "Oh my!"
"Looks like those worries could become reality." Another master called out
Makarov collapsed to the ground and was twitching slightly. 'I cannot believe this! A team of those four really could destroy a city. The conference ends today, so I can be back by tomorrow. Please let nothing happen before then! I beg you!"
Inside the train, Erigor had sliced his scythe at Kageyama but only barely, leaving a thin scar on his face. The other members gasped as Kageyama was on the ground, a line of blood was going down his face.
"You allowed a Fairy Tail fly to see the Lullaby flute and get away, Kageyama?" Erigor asked in a disappointed and angry tone.
"H-He doesn't know about the plan!" Kageyama stammered. "Besides, even if he did, the plan is unstoppable!"
Erigor grunted in anger, teeth gritted as he slammed the blade of his scythe to the floor, which made Kageyama slightly jump.
"We need to be certain. I am setting the strategy into motion." Erigor told the members who remained silent.
"Then Oshibana Station is the place…" Kageyama smiled.
Erigor smiled, Lullaby still in his hand. "There are some forests flies should not buzz around in. Go teach him a lesson."
Kageyama rose back to his feet to face Erigor. The dark guild members responded with 'Yeah' and went to 'teach Kageyama a lesson.'
Erza was driving through town as fast as she could with Gray calling out to the red head.
"Erza! Not so fast! You are overloading the SE plug!"
"Scores of people will die if the Lullaby flute is played! Just hearing that sound is fatal!" Erza shouted through the wind.
"What if you run out of magic power just then we need it?!" Gray yelled through the wind.
"If that happens, I'll use a stick or something to fight," Erza replied with a smile. "Besides, You, Natsu, Setsuko, Aspen and Lisanna are with us too."
Gray merely grunted.
Back inside the Magic-Mobile, Happy sat on Lisanna 's lap thinking about something. Natsu was on the floor sick and looking even paler. Lucy sat with Setsuko and Aspen, Shiro on Setsuko but kept calm to not feel sick right now.
"I think I'm supposed to tell you, Lucy." Happy said to himself.
"You are? What is it?" asked Lucy.
"I forgot." Happy admitted. "All I remembered is that it had to do with you. "
"So, nauseating…" Natsu moaned from the floor.
"You remember it now, Happy?" asked Lisanna.
Natsu leaned out of the vehicle as Lucy and Aspen grabbed his midsection to pull him back in.
"Stop, Natsu! You are going to fall out!"
"Please let me…!" Natsu screamed weakly.
Happy pondered a purple aura over the blue cat. "It has nothing to with what Natsu said, then what could it be? Lucy's weird? A fish? Delicious? Healthy? Weird? Weird? Weird?"
"Hey, I am not weird!" Lucy exclaimed.
Back outside, Erza could see smoke from a distance coming from somewhere. "What is that?" she asked.
At Oshibana Train Station, a big crowd was outside as smoke came from the station. No one had any idea why they could not go on the train and why smoke was coming from it.
"Please leave the premises. This station is currently closed due to train derailment!" a man on a megaphone announced.
"A derailment? You serious?" asked a resident.
"I heard some dangerous guys have taken over the train." explained another.
"Please leave the premises!" repeated the conductor.
Erza came up from behind the conductor and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Tell me! What is the situation inside?!" Erza demanded.
"Huh? Who are you-?" he asked but was head-butted. Erza then slid to the next conductor to ask him the same thing, "What's the situation?!"
But the conductor did not have time to respond as she then head-butts the conductor too. Lucy watched this happen as Erza repeated the same thing over and over. Natsu was hanging on her shoulders with Lisanna helping them out. Setsuko and Aspen stood with the girls, crossing their arms seeing Erza being, well Erza.
"I guess she has no use for people who can't answer immediately..." She admitted with a blank expression.
"Finally understanding what she's like?" Gray asked the Celestial wizard, no shirt, or pants on and hands to his chest.
"Why are you not wearing clothes?!" the girls responded as Erza faced them.
"Eisenwald's is inside. Let us go!" Erza ordered.
"Right." Gray agreed.
"Got it and I'll carry Natsu, Lucy," Lisanna offered the Celestial wizard. Lisanna slung Natsu's shoulder over hers and followed Lucy, Happy, Setsuko, Erza, Aspen, Shiro, and Gray into the station. Inside, Erza explained the situation to the group as they ran.
"A small army unit broke in earlier but has yet to return. They are locked in combat with Eisenwald." Erza explained.
As Lisanna carried Natsu, she could hear a slight whimper from Lucy. As they were getting closer, the rune knights were defeated and unconscious. They are beaten quite easily by the looks of it. Lucy gasped when she saw all of them.
"They've been wiped out!" Happy gasped.
"We are up against an entire guild. They are all wizards, in other words: A small army unit never stood a choice." Erza realized.
As they approached where the Eisenwald guild was, someone chuckled evilly as they entered inside. First, it was Gray, then Happy, then Erza, then Lucy, then Setsuko with Shiro on her left, then Aspen, and lastly Lisanna who held Natsu by the shoulder. Gray and Erza stood seriously while Lucy looked a bit worried. Lisanna just stared at the group and the unknown person who spoke to their presence.
"So, you did come, you Fairy Tail flies." spoke a man.
In front of the team were all the members of Eisenwald, including the one Natsu ran into on the train. They look calm and serious, not even scared of the seven wizards and cats. They chuckled, seeing the small group while they were a much larger group.
"Th-there are so many…!" Lucy realized in shock.
"You. Are you Erigor?" Erza spoke to a man who sat above a windowsill with a smile on his face. He was an extremely tall, lean-built built and yet mildly muscular man with silver hair, which was held pointing upwards in spiky strands on top of his head but hung down to the to the left of his face in a distinctive tuft and reaching down to his shoulders. His eyes are dark, and he has an elongated face with sharp features and pointed ears but seems to lack eyebrows. Dark lines circle his eyes and each of them has a simple tattoo right below it, consisting of a pointed line going down vertically, crossed with two more, larger horizontal lines. The upper part of his body is similarly tattooed, but with much larger, intricated, and blue-colored motifs, which take on spiraling forms, and adorn his shoulders, biceps, pectorals, and back. Around his neck was a tattered scarf with what looked like tattered pants with a cloth tied around his waist. Lisanna placed Natsu on the ground and shook him to wake up.
"Wake up Natsu, wake up!" Lisanna shouted.
"I think all that riding has really got to him." Happy commented.
"Well, he can't sleep through this, we need him!" Lisanna shouted back.
"Damn flies!" Kageyama spat. "Because of you, Erigor got mad at me…"
Hearing Kageyama's voice, Natsu regained consciousness and blinked. "That voice!"
"What is your aim?! What are you planning to do with Lullaby?!" Erza demanded.
"You mean you don't know?" Erigor smiled. The wizard then jumps into the air and floats in the wind.
"What do train stations have?" he continued.
"He's flying?!" Lucy gasped.
"It's wind magic!" Happy and Shiro explained.
Erigor then perched himself on the speaker pole as Erza realized what the wind wizard would do. "You plan to broadcast it?!"
"Thousands of nosy onlookers have gathered around this station. No, if I raise the volume, the melody of death magic might just echo throughout the entire city." Erigor laughed.
"You're going to make innocent people hear the Lullaby being played?!" Erza confirmed.
"This is a cleansing. A cleansing of fools who preserve their livelihood by flaunting their rights, ignorant of those who have had their rights stolen." Erigor said his eyes on Erza and her group. "It is a sin to live oblivious to this unfair world. Therefore..." His eyes opened even wider. "The reaper has come to dish out punishment."
"That won't give you your rights back!" Lucy said, hand to hip.
"She is right. Besides, you were kicked out of the wizard league because you were doing dreadful things." Lisanna added, hand to her hip too.
"At this point, we don't want rights, we want power!" Erigor growled. "With power, we can wash away the entire past and control the future."
"You are insane!" Lisanna, Setsuko, Aspen, and Lucy exclaimed.
Kageyama crouched down to the floor with his right hand on the ground as a purple magic circle appeared. "So sorry, flies! You are going to the afterlife without getting to witness the age of darkness!"
Shadows emerged from the magic circle and formed hands that were aiming for Lucy. Lucy, frozen from pure shock, was about to be hit by the attack when just then, a fiery fist destroyed the shadows.
Kageyama growled in anger to see who it was. "You!"
Natsu had stood up just in time to save Lucy; a serious expression was on his face as he spoke. "I knew I recognized that voice!"
Several members of the Eisenwald guild chuckled.
"You recovered!" Lisanna, Aspen, Setsuko, and Lucy said delightedly.
"Well, look at all these people!" Natsu said amazed.
"Natsu, these are the enemies, members of the dark guild Eisenwald," Lisanna explained.
Natsu punched his right fist and left hand together, and a slight chuckle escaped his lips. "Sounds interesting."
Erigor chuckled in his thoughts, his eyes still on Natsu, Happy, Erza, Gray, Setsuko, Shiro, Lisanna, Aspen, and Lucy and smiling. 'I got you now, Fairy Tail. Everything is going as I planned. Some people must hear this flute. There are people who we must get revenge against."
"You're facing the strongest team in Fairy Tail!" Lucy stated. "You better prepare yourself!"
Erigor then floated over his men and was in the air, announcing his order. "I leave the rest to you. Teach them the true terror of a dark guild."
Like the wind, Erigor vanished, causing Lucy, Setsuko, Happy, Aspen, Shiro, and Lisanna to gasp.
"He ran away!"
"Natsu, Gray, you two go after him," Erza ordered the two boys behind her.
The Ice Wizard and Dragon Slayer were confused.
"If you two work together, not even Erigor the Reaper can beat you." Erza continued but the two boys paid no mind, but they glared at one another.
She spun around, eyes sharpened with anger. "Are you listening?!"
"Aye, sir!" the two boys said entering 'Happy mode.' They took off after Erigor, leaving the five female wizards, Shiro and Happy on their own.
"They ran away!" exclaimed an Eisenwald member.
"They're going after Erigor!" replied another.
"I'm on it!" the yellow and black hooded wizard said, sending out whips from his fingers and climbing up to the other floor. "I, the great Rayule, will take them down!" and goes after Natsu and Gray.
"I am going with you! That bastard had to pay!" Kageyama exclaimed as a yellow magic circle appeared from under him. A shadow opened as Kageyama slipped through it. Now the other members were left with Lisanna, Happy, Lucy, Shiro, Aspen, Setsuko, and Erza.
"We'll hurry after when we're done here!" Erza requested Lisanna and Lucy.
"Five girls against this many?!" Lucy said, looking at the many members that were left.
Some of the Eisenwald members laughed. "What are five girls going to do with us?" asked a member, a man with dark orange hair and a dark yellow shirt.
"We'll pluck out your wings, you lousy flies!" exclaimed the dark-haired wizard with the coat, gracing his fists.
"Being so cute has its disadvantages too…" Lucy stated in a shy-like voice, hand to her cheek, left arm to her stomach and under her chest, and a faint blush on her face.
"Lucy, come back!" Happy and Lisanna ordered, staring at the blond-haired Celestial wizard who was not in Earth Land anymore.
"Can we stop the vanity and get serious?" Setsuko asked dryly to Lucy.
"Depraved scum!" Erza stated her left armored hand raised in front of herself a red magic circle appearing also as if something blue was spinning from it. The blue light faded to show a sword had appeared from the magic circle.
(Cue Erza's theme — Fairy Tail Volume 1 Soundtrack)
"A sword appeared?" Lucy questioned as Erza caught the silver blade with her hand.
"A magic sword!"
Lisanna and Setsuko stood close to Erza, who was ready to fight.
"Try insulting Fairy Tail again! You will not live to see tomorrow!" Erza declared to the dark guild members.
"That's nothing special!" The guild members roared as they charged at Erza, Setsuko, and Lisanna. "We got tons of magic swordsmen on our side! What could you and a defenseless flies do?!"
Without even batting an eye, Erza and Lisanna attack the guild with impressive skill, shattering their swords and causing them to fly back with Erza's single sword and Lisanna's Tigress claws. Even with a swing of Setsuko's Katana, the dark wizards were sent flying. Erza leaped to another grouping of members and performed a horizontal swing that sent them in the air, Lisanna then jumped into the air and performed a midair spin but instead turned her body into a ball as a blue and white armadillo was replaced. While airborne, Lisanna then shot herself at each member in the air before uncurling back to the ground.
"Eat this!" a member roared as a purple magic circle appeared as a light beam came along with several others toward Lisanna, Setsuko, and Erza. The light connected the two wizards, but it was not over yet for them.
Erza, Setsuko, and Lisanna then leap into the air as red and green wings appear from the now-human Lisanna as two red magic circles appear from Erza, replacing Erza's sword with a spear.
"It turned into a spear?!" Lucy gasped. "I never saw Lisanna change with Take over so quickly!"
With a kick using her legs, Lisanna sent Erza flying towards more members, who were hit by the swing of Erza's spear. One by one, members of Eisenwald were sent flying around by each swing of the spear, their swords shattered and bodies flying around as Erza's spear charged into two swords, dual wielding two blades instead of one. With Lisanna, other members were throwing swords at her as she then dived down and changed into phoenix soul, her arms forming two streams of flames as she slammed down two fiery flames-like wings at them, sending them back. Setsuko sheathed her katana quickly and attacked several with her hand covered in ice. Two members who were with Kageyama were watching the fight going on.
"Now she has twin swords!" gasped the dark-haired wizard. "And that girl changed animals so fast without even stopping. Those three can requip and change Take over souls so fast. The girl with a katana, those are not normal ice she is using!"
"Requip?" Lucy questioned. "And I didn't know Lisanna could do that with her Take Over magic or even her ice dragon magic."
"Magic swords are like your Celestial magic- you summon weapons stored in a different pocket of space. Switching between those weapons is called 'requipping.' With Take Over wizards, they can only change parts of their body for an appearance from time to time, but Lisanna can even chain up to five forms with her Take Over magic. It is advanced and incredibly special for someone her age." Happy explained.
"Setsuko's sword skill is impressive. Her quick use of her ice Dragon Slayer magic that impressive. While Natsu is more on strength, Setsuko relies on being fast in switching sword play and hand to hand," Shiro explained.
"That's amazing!" Lucy said she was impressed by the three wizards' skill.
"With Erza, the amazingness is just getting started." Happy continued, an odd expression on his face.
"Erza? Lisanna?" the green-haired wizard asked. Those names sounded familiar as he watched Erza on the ground and Lisanna over her in the air.
"All right! I can kick butt too!" Lucy excitedly, reaching for her keys.
"Huh?" Happy questioned. "But they're about to have their big scene!"
"Come on Lucy?" Shiro and Aspen asked bewildered.
(Cue Celestial Spirit Magic— Fairy Tail Volume 1 Soundtrack)
"Open, Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!" Lucy called and emerging from the light blue magic circle and golden light was the Zodiac spirit, Cancer with his red scissors in hand.
"Another fight, baby?" Cancer asked, seeing the group of Eisenwald members in front of the spirit, Lucy, and Happy.
"Take them out with style." Lucy smiled an evil grin.
"What a stupid haircut hairstyle!" roared one of the members.
"Crack him open!" roared another as a group of them came at them with swords and weapons in their hands.
"Baby!" Cancer simply said as he cut past them with his scissors at a fast speed. One by one, their weapons were not the only things that were cut, but their hair too was cut, showing bald spots all around. Cries of 'My weapon' or 'my hair' and agreements of 'we all look like a kappa' were hurried from them. 'It was mean' they said as Cancer added proudly, "Nice cut, baby."
"Not bad." Erza and Lisanna said, congratulating the Celestial wizard. Erza was now holding an axe while he was back on the ground, still in Phoenix Soul while still facing more members.
Lucy turned to them with a hand behind her head and smiled. "You're too kind!" she then cheered. "All right! My likability's gone up!"
"That's what you were trying for?!"Happy, Aspen, and Shiro yelled.
"However." Erza added. "His sentence ender bugs me. 'Baby' is no good. At least make it something like 'snip'." she suggested.
Lucy had a panicked and worried look on her face.
"Disapproval…!" as Cancer just held up his scissors. "Baby… Snip."
Lisanna giggled.
Oh Lucy, did you really think something like that would get you in Erza's good books that easily? Come on, at least try to be yourself.
"That said." Erza continued, looking back to the battle, "there are still this many?"
"This is really getting annoying; we need to finish them off once and for all," Lisanna stated. Setsuko nodded, holding her katana back in her hand.
Erza nodded in agreement as a red magic circle appeared under her feet her entire body started to be engulfed by the light. Light shined around the room as the Eisenwald members all had hearts in their eyes, steam coming from their nostrils and random clapping.
"Her armor's coming off!" a member stated.
As blue light replaced the golden light that surrounded Erza, her other armor was gone replaced with a new armor. Happy then explained to Lucy. "Magic swordsmen always fight while requipping weapons. But Erza can also fight while requipping magic armor that increases her abilities! That is Erza's magic! It is called… the Knight!"
The armor Erza was requipped into was called Heaven's Wheel Armor. Plated armor covered her chest, with a large metal flower over it, and wore a large billowing skirt that had metal plating in the upper area. Her stomach and neck were uncovered, and large metal wings that were made of multiple blades, as well as a wing like headpiece.
Lucy had a faint blush on her face as she gasped with delight along with the Eisenwald guild members. Both Erza and Lisanna were now in the air as Erza commanded, "Dance, my swords!" and several swords materialized around Erza as flames circled Lisanna's wrists.
The blades began to spin rapidly, "Flame Arrow!" Lisanna cried as a red magic circle appeared in front of her hands, fire-shaped arrows launched from the magic circle and into the spinning blades turning the blue light radiating from the spinning blades into a mixture of blue light and orange flames.
"Erza?! Lisanna?! Do not tell me they are…?" spoke the green-haired wizard as Lisanna and Erza's attack was about to be launched.
"Flaming Circle Sword!" Erza and Lisanna announced as the flame increased swords launched wildly at the Eisenwald members, sending them flying and leaving just two members left. Erza and Lisanna were back on the ground now as Lucy spoke behind them.
"Whoa! They wiped most of them out with one blow! And that was just a combination." Lucy said astonished.
"Aye!" Happy agreed.
"That was cool," Aspen said amazed.
"Damn!" growled the dark-haired wizard, light glowing from his hands. "Now you three will deal with me!" and charges at Erza and Lisanna.
"No doubt about it! She is one of the strongest women in Fairy Tail! And that white hair is not mistaking it…" stated the green haired wizard as Erza struck the dark-haired wizard with her two swords while Lisanna finish things off with Phoenix Flame Burst and Setsuko added insult to energy with an Ice Dragon Roar. The dark-haired wizard fell to the ground with scratches, frost burn, and burn marks on his face and body and landed in an odd fashion as Erza and Lisanna stood with serious looks on their faces in the middle of the defeated members of Eisenwald.
"…'Titania, Queen of the Fairies' Erza and the 'She-Devil' Mirajane's sister, Lisanna Strauss!" gasped the green-haired wizard.
A gold light glowed over Erza as she reverted to her normal armor, Lisanna then reverted to her normal appearance.
"Amazing! I think I could fall for her!" Lucy exclaimed delightedly referring to Erza, stars in her eyes and a faint blush on her face.
"Screw this!" exclaimed the green haired wizard and ran out the room, leaving the five female wizards, Shiro, and Happy. Erza had hands on her hips watching the wizard make a hasty retreat while Lisanna placed her hands in her jacket pockets. Erza looked at Lucy and ordered, "He might be headed for Erigor. Lisanna, you go with Lucy follow him."
"What!" she asked, snapping out of her fan girl moment.
"Please!" she added darkly, a glint in her right eye. While Lisanna saluted to the scarlet wizard, Lucy just squeaked,
"Okay! I am going now!" and runs out the room with Happy flying behind her. The two wizards stared at the blond-haired girl's frantic running.
"What is with her? I only requested her to go." Erza stated.
Lisanna shrugged but replied with, "Beats me. I will be going too." Lisanna replied to Erza and followed Lucy and Happy, with Aspen, Setsuko, and Shiro following too, leaving Erza alone in the train terminal with the defeated members. The scarlet haired wizard kneeled and panted slightly.
"I guess I did overdo it with the magic mobile. I leave the rest to you, everyone…"
Meanwhile At the same time with Natsu and Gray, the two wizards were running through the corridor they were traveling in, still on their pursuit for Erigor.
"Work together?!" Gray repeated angrily. "You got to be kidding me?!"
"You cannot just put fire and ice together! It is impossible!" Natsu agreed.
"Erza's way too selfish minded!" Gray admitted.
"She always has to decide everything on her own!" Natsu admitted too.
The two stop running and face one another and exclaimed in unison, "I can handle Erigor just fine by myself!" and got into each other's space once more adding, "Don't copy me!"
The two boys turned back to the corridor and were spilt two different pathways; one on the left and one on the right. One of these ways would take them to Erigor.
"Which way? We can just split up." Gray asked.
Natsu and Gray face either pathway, their backs facing one another and looking serious, their hands balled in fists. Whatever happens at the end of the paths, one of them will face Erigor. Of course, Erza had told them to work together, but the two were better off doing things their own way. As stubborn they were, fighting and arguing, it was how they did things. Fire and Ice, two opposite elements now take their own path to Erigor.
"Natsu," Gray responded, a serious tone in his voice. "We're dealing with an idiot bent on unleashing dangerous magic." He looks back at the Dragon Slayer with a smile on his face. "If you find me, beat his brains out."
Natsu looks back at Gray too, a smile on his face. "That is not all. He is also an idiot who picked a fight with Fairy Tail. I am going to turn him into cinders." He added with his wrist into the air.
The two boys chuckled; their fists raised in an almost friendly way. The two boys immediately turned face, arms crossed and facing their path with a scoffed. Gray muttered to the pink haired Dragon Slayer,
"Don't die now."
"Huh?" Natsu questioned, thinking he heard Gray say something.
"Nothing." He admitted quickly and took off running through his pathway, leaving Natsu to watch him go with his left eye. Gray ran through his corridor, panting heavily as he came across a speaker hanging from the ceiling. He stopped and observed it, thinking about what Erigor was planning to do.
'Wait, if he's going to broadcast the Lullaby…' Gray thought, coming up to a door mark with a red and white sign that read 'Studio' on it. Gray kicked down the door as it fell to the ground. Hoping to find Erigor inside setting up to use Lullaby, he only found an empty and bare room. Not even any source of light was in it.
"Empty…" he told himself. What was going on? Wasn't Erigor planning to use Lullaby here? Did he beat him to it? If so, why is no one here to guard the room? This was all so strange and not like the Reaper to not plan to be here. Gray walked inside, and still no one was there.
"Does that mean broadcasting it isn't their goal?" Gray asked himself.
Above Gray, the black and yellow hooded wizard was hanging on the ceiling, an evil smile on his face. He sent down a purple force of magic as Gray, the floor he stood on breaking from impact. Gray then faced the black and yellow hooded wizard with his hand to the ground.
"Your hunches are too good." The black and yellow hooded wizard smiled. "You're an obstacle to our plan!"
The wizard had black whip-like threads on his fingers, on his other hand, the threads are moving on their own.
Gray rose back on his feet, cunning smile on his face, "Looks like there's another side to this!"
Outside the station, the town's residents could hear a megaphone starting up and someone appeared on the balcony.
"Oh! Someone is coming out!" exclaimed one of the residents.
"Huh?" another one questioned.
"If you value your lives, leave this place at one!" Erza ordered, her voice echoing through the microphone. "This station has been taken over by evil mages! They intend to use a spell to kill everyone here! Run as far away as you can!"
With a delayed reaction to take everything in that Erza said, the citizen ran screaming in panic, leaving the station. A conductor and two other workers came to the balcony to see Erza was the one causing the panic.
"Hey, you! Why would you start a panic like that?!" he demanded of the scarlet haired mage.
"It's better than everyone dies," Erza assured him. The conductor stood and firm as she added, "You should evacuate immediately, too."
They looked shocked, was she serious? Were their lives in danger like she said? Erza placed a hand to her hip as she watched the citizens disappear.
'Now there is no one around the station. What's Erigor's next move?' she asked, her hair blowing in the wind. But it was not normal wind as Erza turned around and gasped. A tornado had appeared, creating lots of wind inside it and winds blowing outside it as well. How could Erza miss it? Was it conjured just now? And what is worse, it surrounded the station where Natsu and the others were.
"The Station is surrounded by wind!" Erza gasped. Behind her, Erigor was floating in the wind, chuckling evilly.
Back inside the station, Gray was fighting the black and yellow hooded wizard in the broadcast studio. The wizard used his whip-like threads to Gray, but he evaded it, the threads hitting the ground.
"There's no escape from my urumi swords!" The wizard exclaimed, sending his urumi swords back at Gray. Like whips, they came ever closer to Gray, but Gray was calm and placed his left fist to his right palm, a chill mist came around him as a light blue magic circle burst out. With his hand raised higher to his face,
"Ice Make… Shield!" Gray announced as large ice crystals rose from the ground, protecting Gray from the attack of the black and yellow hooded mage. The black and yellow hooded wizard was shocked by this.
"Ice magic?!" he gasped.
With his attack stopped, Gray went for the offensive, his hands covered in a bluish mist. "Ice Make: Knuckles!" and from below the black and yellow hooded mage, ice formed into fists that rose from the ground to hit the mage, sending him flying and crashing outside the room, creating a hole. Gray walked closer to the hole he created from their battle and demanded the kneeling wizard.
"What is your real goal?! You never planned to broadcast the Lullaby over the speakers?!"
The black and yellow hooded wizard chuckled evilly, raising up and clutching his right arm. "Erigor's Magic Wind Wall should be active right about now…"
"Magic Wind Wall?" repeated.
"A wind barrier that keeps you guys from escaping!" the wizard replied as to back outside; Erza now faced the wind wizard Erigor.
"I had always wanted to fight you at least once, Titania," Erigor told her. "But it is a pity. I have no time to play with you now!" and with his open hand, a purple light blinded Erza as she tried to shield the light from her eyes. Then suddenly, Erza was sent through a purple magic circle, came out the other, and was now in the wind wall. Once Erza was back on her feet, she shouted Erigor's name and ran to the barrier to try to pass through it, but the barrier was too strong, sending Erza back.
"Forget it. The Magic Wind Wall is one way only. Try to leave and the winds will tear you apart." Erigor explained.
Erza rose back up, her face, armor, and arm scratch up as she demanded, "What is the meaning of this?!"
"You people have wasted much of our time, I must be going now." The wind wizard simply said, and he floated away.
"Wait!" Erza called, but he was already out of sight. "Curse you Erigor… Where are you headed?! Your target was not this station, in other words?"
Gray grabbed the collar of the grinning wizard in anger. "I hate when things get confusing. Explain what is going on!" he demanded.
"We simply created a cage to hold some flies. We only took over this station to block all traffic to the final stop… Clover Station." He explained which made Gray confused even more.
"What?!" he questioned.
"Clover Station is beyond a large gorge, and this train line is the only way in or out." The black and yellow hooded wizard continued. "Unless you're able to fly like Erigor, that is."
"The Lullaby's there?!" Gray asked.
"Know what is in Clover? Try to remember!" The black and yellow hooded wizard requested,
Gray gasped as he was then hit by the wizard's swords. "You're wide open!"
While in the air, Gray placed his arms over himself to shield himself as he remembered clearly what was in Clover. 'Clover. That is where Gramps and the others are holding their conference! The guild master is their real target?!'
Gray landed back to the ground to see the wizard laughing, his swords moving in the air. "Finally figured it out! Too late to do anything, though!"
With his urumi swords, he then attacks Gray with them, the ice wizard now shielding his body again.
"That's pretty ballsy of you, trying to go after powerful old wizards!" and Gray sled back, still facing his opponent.
"Having those ignorant old fogies hear the flute will be a cinch! Erigor will succeed. I am sure of it!" The wizard exclaimed with confidence that his leader would win. With his whips, he bounds Gray, unable for him to move his arms. Gray grunted, struggling to break fire as the black and yellow hooded wizard added, "And you pest is stuck in this station! No one can stop him now! We are going to have our revenge on everyone that opposed us! They are all about to disappear for good!"
Gray struggled even more as mist started to form around him as the threads began to crystallize with ice, shocking the mage. The wizard was panicked as Gray broke free from him; an angry look was on his face, as he growled, "We will stop you!"
From underneath the mage's feet, ice was forming around his legs that started to creep up until in covered his right arm and legs. The wizard was terrified as Gray came closer to him. His hair covered his eyes, giving him a much more sinister look as his eyes were more focused despite the droopy look of them.
"And we will make sure you regret trying to take over our masters. Even if they are old fogies, they are like parents to us!"
The hooded wizard flinched in fright as Gray gripped his whole face with his hand. As Natsu continued running down his path with Kageyama following his tail, his head rose from the shadow with an evil chuckle. "It's about time to strike…"
Erza still was staring at the Wind wall, Erigor's name slipping from her lips.
Lucy, Lisanna, Setsuko, Aspen, Shiro, and Happy, were still in hot pursuit of the large green haired wizard.
"Where the fat one go?" Lucy asked Happy and Lisanna.
"We saw him go this way; we should be getting closer!" Lisanna replied.
"And Lucy, a fair warning, Erza will strangle you if you don't find him quick." Happy reminded her.
"What?!" screamed Lucy.
"We best hurry, keep moving everyone!" Setsuko reminded them.
Back with Gray, the ice wizard had his back turned from the black and yellow hooded wizard nodded defeated and frozen behind him.
"I'll show you that there's a guild even more terrifying than any dark guilds," Gray said coolly walking away.
As the other wizards continued their paths and Erigor's true intentions revealed, can Fairy Tail's strongest team escape, stop Erigor, and save the guild masters?
To be continued…