Two children had been hiding in a hidden section of the woods, waiting for their sister to return. Still, something happened. Lisanna didn't know what was going on when Elfman suddenly started murmuring to himself. He stood still by the hideout entrance before dashing out to the open, and even then, she didn't know what was going on.

"Elfman!"

She didn't see the monster chasing after him until it was too late.

"Wait!" Lisanna yelled as she tumbled, stumbling over herself in a panic. She crawled out of the hideout and turned towards her brother. Her heart stopped when she saw the monster lunging toward Elfman with a wide-open maw.

"NO!"

Her voice came out in a panicked yell, and the second she thought she would see her brother devoured, she heard something else.

A staticky sound like lighting.

Then, a clap of thunder boomed through the air. It was so loud it blew Lisanna off her feet. Her eyes were blinded in a flash of yellow as she fell to her back and lay there in a daze. The world went in and out from a bright light as her ears rang with church bells, and her head became messy.

What happened...

It was so loud and bright.

Everything's ringing...

Everything was bright, and she felt like she was walking outside her body, but a few seconds later, the ringing in her ears dulled from an ensemble to a whistle. The white light that blinded her vision faded with spots of black that revealed a view of the sky and a smoky smell that shocked a bit of the dizzy sensations out of her system. The dose of reality pushed her to sit in a dizzy and frantic mess with only one thought on her mind.

Elfman!

She had to figure out what happened to her brother.

"Elfman," Lisanna mumbled as she stumbled to her feet. Her senses were still messed up, but she slowly got better as the black spots finally faded from her eyes, and she got a good look at the surroundings. A scorch mark was in the center of a burnt monster corpse, and yellow static was still flickering in the air, with a teenager standing atop it. His green-grey eyes darted to her with a scowl. "Eh? Another one?"

He was tall and muscular, with slick-back blond hair and a lightning-shaped scar over his right eye. He wore black dress pants, leather boots, a purple dress shirt with open-top buttons, a long fur-lined black jacket hanging off his shoulders, and spiky magic headphones hanging around his neck. Yet, despite his scary appearance and large physique that looked strong enough to level mountains, Lisanna wasn't focusing on him.

"ELFMAN!"

She was too focused on her brother, who was lying unconscious a few meters away. She stumbled as she got to her brother and put her hand on his chest, letting out a breath of relief when she felt his heartbeat normally beating in his chest.

He's fine...

Elfman was alive.

He was just too close to the attack.

Lisanna's shoulder crashed in relief as she saw next to her brother, her anxiety fluttering away as she glanced up and saw the teenager, 16 or 17, if she had to guess, tilt his head with a scowl. The disgust was so evident on his face that it made her gulp before she spoke with a slight tremor.

"Thank you..."

His arms were crossed, and his face clearly expressed a deep displeasure. He looked irritated.

"Thank you for helping us."

Lisanna didn't like him.

"Whatever," the angry teen said with a frown. He rolled his eyes and glanced down at her brother with disgust.

"Did you say that weakling's name is Elfman?"

She could practically feel his irritation in the air.

"He is," Lisanna muttered with a downward glance before her eyes twitched in anger. In a defiant voice, she yelled out, "Also, he's not a weakling!"

Objectively, that was a lie, but no one got to call her brother that, especially not how the stranger said it. He made it sound gross and something to be ashamed of.

"He gets scared sometimes, but he does his best!"

It pissed Lisanna off if she was being honest.

"So take it back!" Lisanna yelled as the stranger just tilted his head amusedly before scoffing and rolling his eyes, "Fucking make me brat."

Correction: it really pissed Lisanna off enough that she almost stood up to defend her brother and kick the grumpy teenager in the shins before he flashed out of existence in a yellow bolt and flicked her in the back of the head a second later.

"See, you can't. Weakling."

Lisanna whipped around, blinking as yellow static flashed, and she was flicked in the back of her head again. The process repeated a few more times until the back of Lisanna's head stung, and her breath was heavy, tears building in the corners of her eyes as she looked at the teen who was sitting on the monster's corpse. He had his chin in his palm, a judgmental frown plastered on his face, and was murmuring under his breath, "Can't believe he's letting weaklings like you join the guild."

She really didn't like him.

"When I'm guild master, it's gonna be different."

Which was good since he didn't seem to like her either.

"But since he'll never get off my ass if I don't guide you losers, and I'm already here, can we just get this over with? There were supposed to be three of you, right." The teen sighed as he pointed at her brother with an annoyed expression, "If he's Elfman, then you must be Lisanna, so get your loser sister so I can be done with this fucking mission and leave."

Then, in an instant, Lisanna's biases against the teen flew out the window because she remembered where she was and what was happening.

"Her name was Mary or something like that, right?"

She didn't have time for any of this.

"Hurry up and-"

"Mira! You have to help her!" Lisanna interjected, her eyes wide and frantic as she pointed to the forest with sharp breaths and determination, "She's fighting them! They attacked us, and she's fighting them! Her and Vera and Sho! You're strong! You have to help them! Please! They-"

"Eh?" The man interrupted, his eyebrows raising as his lips twitched upwards. He leaned in with a smirk that Lisanna didn't like. She hated it even more than the way he talked about weakness.

"You said you were traveling with a Vera?"

He looked repulsed and even disgusted when he talked about weakness as if it were irritating.

"This Vera..."

The expression he wore now looked cruel.

"He wouldn't happen to be from Phantom Lord..."

Cruel and eagerly awaiting her answer.

"Would he?"

Lisanna didn't like it; she had only talked with this person for a minute and regretted asking him for help, but as she tried to find a way to take it back. To make the words go back into her mouth, a scream cut out in the distance.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A guttural, animalistic shriek echoed through the air from far away.

What is that sound?

It was a horrifying howl that scared her so badly that she knew she would have nightmares about it. Her body shook at just the noise, and her blood froze over under the weight, the echo of a dying animal. Yet what made her heart truly sink was when she saw the teen glancing towards the noise with a glint in his eyes, which reminded her of the villagers.

"Never mind..."

His eyes were tinted maliciously as she reached out to try and grab his shirt. To stop him and the smirk that looked too cruel to be anything decent.

"I'll ask him myself."

She failed, and before she could even blink, he had vanished in a flash of yellow electricity.

Lightning flashed far off in the distance as Erigor stood shell-shocked before a screaming monster. His eyes were wide as he looked at a monster of blood, a crimson beast that howled like it was dying.

That thing's bad news...

Erigor didn't know what it was, all he knew was that he didn't want to be near it. Its rampaging yells and screeches as it fell to all fours, its claws sinking into the dirt as it roared like a banshee. The ground crunched beneath its feet as it flicked its head towards Erigor like a hungry beast.

I have to...

Erigor floated up, ready to fly away.

Leave-

Then it was there, in front of his face with a callous roar, its razor-sharp claws reared back as Erigor struggled to put his wind gauntlet in front of it. The force smacked him to the ground as he skidded through the forest before stopping.

What the fuck...

His arm felt fucking broken, and the wind had covered it. It fucking stung, yet he couldn't even look to see how bad it was. He didn't even have time to blink before it was back in his face.

It's so fast.

Erigor gritted his teeth as he tilted his head to the side. The beast's claws shot forward. Carving an inch of his skin, he slammed his wind-powered fist into its chest, and it flew back, tumbling to its feet before lunging back towards him like a rabid dog.

I have to get out of here.

The wind was telling him to leave. He was going to listen to it. An assassin knew when to retreat, when a mission wasn't worth it, and this wasn't worth it.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Whatever that thing was wasn't worth it.

"WIND MAGIC"

Erigor took a deep breath, his eyes wide open so he wouldn't miss the speeding animal charging towards him. The wind built up in his palms as he did a few hand signs and tried a move he'd been working on. It was a fallback in case they were ever given a target above their pay grade and had to escape quickly.

"WIND WALL"

Wind burst from his palms, roaring before him as a rampaging wind swept through the air. A dome of wind fell upon the monster, barely the size of a small shed, as Erigor floated a few meters off the ground as he watched the wall in silent anticipation. He heard the monster rampage from inside it. Its claws sank into the wall as if trying to pry it open, but thankfully, it couldn't seem to break through.

Thank fuck-

'Hiss'

Erigor blinked, his eyes wide, as he heard a new sound inside the wind dome. It was a hissing, bubbling sound inside the cage, as if a bunch of liquid was being compacted and compressed until it steamed away.

What is it-

Erigor's thought stalled as he felt his neck prickle, and in a moment of instinct, he followed the wind's whims and stopped flying. Gravity swiftly grabbed hold of him as he plummeted to the ground, and a red laser of pressurized blood pierced through the wind bubble, popping it in an instant. Its trajectory pierced a hole through the space his head had been in a single second prior before disappearing into a set of clouds resting high in the sky.

What the fuck...

Erigor looked at the monster with wide eyes, his face falling as he saw a ball of blood condensing in its open mouth. The red ball was compressed and compressed until it was no more than a marble before the monster snapped its jaws shut, and steam hissed out of its clenched teeth. A second later, it opened its jaw wide, and the bubble burst in a thin crimson laser of pressurized blood.

Shit!

Erigor ground his teeth as he used the wind to blow him to the side, knocking him off the course of the laser. The red stream pierced a hole in the side of his leg and did the same thing to tree after tree behind him. He let out a muffled scream that blended with the monster's unyielding cry as he used the wind to catch himself less than a foot off the ground before rocketing toward the beast.

I can't let it build another one!

Erigor felt his adrenaline pump and his hands shake as he charged toward the monster. Gliding an inch off the earth, he watched it build another ball in its mouth before Erigor closed the distance and snapped his fist into the bottom of its jaw. Knocking its teeth together, its head snapped upwards, releasing a half-finished crimson laser harmlessly into the sky. Then he snapped a kick to its head as he committed to staying close to it.

I have to kill it!

Erigor couldn't run if that thing kept firing those lasers at him. They were too accurate and had too much range. It'd be hunting season for it.

NOW!

So Erigor snapped fist after fist at the monster, hammering it as he reared up his magic as far as it could go. The wind roared around him like turbines as he threw punches that the monster wasn't coordinated enough to avoid, dodging every swipe of the beast's claws with the utmost concentration. If he messed up once, he was fucked, but he held on, throwing punch after punch as he traded winded sledgehammers of glancing blows. Until the damage built up, and the beast started letting out pained cries. It looked like Erigor might outvolume it for a moment until he threw a punch that the monster didn't even bother dodging; it just ate it in the chest with a pained howl.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Before the blood under Erigor's fist began bubbling.

What is-

Erigor froze as spikes shot out from the monster's skin like porcupine quills, piercing his gauntlets and practically nailing his hand to the thing as he screamed in pain. His eyes burning with anger as he reared back his leg and kicked himself off the beast, tumbling to the ground as he messily vaulted back up and watched as his right gauntlet faded, leaving his bloody hand limp by his side like a pin cushion.

"FUCK!"

Erigor gnashed his teeth as he used the wind to force his muscles into a fist. The pain blinded his vision as he formed a new gauntlet, now stained with flecks of reddish hue, his blood leaking into the air.

"YOU BASTARD!" Erigor roared as he watched the monster roar back at him, swinging its arm back as it bulged and extended into a tendril, the clawed fingers converging into one crescent blade before it cracked its arm forward like a whip. The speed was so blindingly fast that Erigor barely had time to duck as a row of trees came crashing down behind him. His eyes were bloodshot as he glared at the monster before building a wind current beneath his feet.

"LETS DO IT THEN!"

Erigor shot off toward the monster, his head running slowly as he saw its whip-like arm writhe around like a dying snake. Every inhuman whip of the monster's arm took chunks of earth, letting loose a loud 'snap' that shook the air.

If I mess up...

That thing would tear through his body in one hit.

I'm dead.

Erigor knew it had to be perfect; he had to time it right, but that wasn't enough. He'd still get stabbed to death if it morphed its skin again, so he had to do something else. He had to improvise, or he would be gone. He needed something else!

A little more...

He needed a little more armor.

Give me a little more!

The wind answered his calls, and the vortexes encircling his gauntlets rose and wrapped around the rest of his body in a protective layer. His tornado wrapped around his body like a blanket, with his eyes peering through the wind like the smoky white eyes of an apparition.

"WIND MAGIC"

This would be enough.

"STORM MAIL"

Erigor roared as the violent winds surrounding his entire body tore through the air. His eyes were dead ahead as he soared like a missile toward the monster until its cracking whip landed flush on his windy shoulder and slammed him into the ground. Blood escaped his lips as he forced himself to keep going, carving through the ground as he tackled the monster before he carried it into the sky.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Erigor groaned as he felt the beast struggle in his arms. The porcupine-like spikes cut into his armor, and some slipped through the cracks. New puncture wounds in his arms and chest that he chose to ignore as he flew a few stories into the air until he was high enough that gravity would do more damage than he could. His eyes titled in a cruel twist as he dropped the beast and watched it begin to plummet, with its scathing roar falling further from his ears.

"Have a nice trip."

Erigor smirked as he coughed up a cup of blood and watched the monster fall towards the earth. His momentary reprieve halted as he watched its back bubble before two deformed crimson wings burst from its back. The two molten appendages looked made of red wax that flew too close to the sun.

"Fuck."

Erigor cursed under his breath as he saw the beast catch itself in the air, its wings flapping in a ragged and strained manner as it hovered above the treetops. Erigor was already moving onto his next spell as he watched it turn towards him and roar like a banshee. He already had multiple green magic circles floating around his body.

"WIND MAGIC"

Erigor pushed his magic container to its limits, his eyes on the beast as it flew towards him. It's rage echoing through the air like a howling wind.

"STORM SHRED"

Dozens of wind blades fired from his body, shooting from the raging vortex surrounding him as they curled towards the flying beast. Erigor watched with heavy breaths and a dwindling magic container as the beast struggled to find a way through the hail of winds. One of its wings clipped as it began falling toward the ground before blood bubbled in its stomach, and Erigor watched a thousand bloody arrowheads flying out of its stomach and soaring towards him like homing missiles.

Shit!

Erigor cursed as he turned his projectiles towards the incoming attack. The clash of wind blades and blood projectiles resulted in explosions littering the sky, blocking his view of the beast as it disappeared beneath a cloud of constant carnage. The relentless screaming halted as the beast's incessant cries fell to an eerie silence.

Where is it!

Erigor felt his heart racing and his lips dry as the explosions eventually ended, leaving a red cloud of bloody smoke hanging over the forest. The iron tint hit Erigor's nose as he hovered over the crimson smokescreen and never looked away. His anticipation was pushed to its limits as something red flew through it, and he immediately held out both palms and attacked it with all his might.

"WIND MAGIC"

He needed this thing to die. NOW!

"STORM BRINGER"

A tornado sprouted from his palms, crashing down on the incoming figure, punching a hole into the smokescreen, and eventually drilling it into the ground. The destruction cracked the earth as the tornado rampaged on top of the thing, eventually dissolving in a burst of violent wind.

Huh?

Leaving behind the remainder of a boulder dyed red with blood in its wake.

It tricked-

'Hiss'

Erigor froze as he watched the rest of the blood cloud disappear, his eyes wide as he saw the beast on the ground with its wings reformed and its head tilted up at the sky. The steam billowed from its mouth, putting the previous amount to shame as it opened its maw and roared a blinding red light.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A blinding red laser pierced through Erigor's body like a bullet to the gut. It was so quick that he hadn't even noticed it happened till it was over, and there was a dime-sized hole in his kidney.

Huh...

Erigor glanced down. The world fell slowly as he saw the blood pooling from his wound as his vision tilted.

Shit.

Erigor saw black spots in his vision as the magic keeping him afloat sputtered out of existence. The drain of battle and grievous injuries stopped him from using his magic. Storm Mail wasn't something he could pull off in his state.

I'm going to die.

Much less anything else of note to beat the monster waiting for him down below.

Fuck...

Ergigod watched blood fly from his lips as he stubbornly used the last bit of magic to coat his back in a protective wind layer. The last thing he heard as he crashed into the ground below was the cry of a raging animal and the sound of the wind.

Looks like I lost kid.

It sounded sorry for him.

A crashing sound echoed through the woods as a man fell to earth. It was followed by a piercing cry that could be as painful as victory.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Deep in the woods, standing atop a blood-red battlefield, a monster howled at the top of its lungs. The limp figure of an unconscious man beneath its feet as it gazed down without a sense of anything. All it could do was scream and open its mouth. Its razor-sharp teeth flashed toward the man's head as it looked to devour it in a single bite.

'Crackle'

Only for the sound of static to ring through the air and a strike of yellow lightning to flash across the sky. The monster's head stalled an inch from its target as a strike of lightning fell upon it, the yellow currents paralyzing the beast as it roared in agony. The creature's twitching froze it in place before a fist slammed into the side of its head and sent it flying through the woods.

"Well, lucky me."

Laxus grinned as he watched the monster disappear into thick vegetation and glanced at the unconscious figure. He scoffed as he built a stream of molten electricity on the tip of his boot and stepped on the man's gut. The smell of smoke and charred flesh filled the air as he seared the wound in the man's stomach shut.

"Last I checked, most 14-year-olds don't get tats, so..."

Laxus then immediately turned his attention to the man who had now gotten a new lease on life and looked to the forest with a growing eagerness. His eyes tilted in delight as he saw the bloody monster charge back out of the woods.

"You must be Vera, right!"

Its hellish screams never ceased for a second as it bolted towards Laxus, running like a rabid dog with bloody arrowheads flying out of its back and soaring towards him like homing missiles. Their path was cut short as Laxus bathed himself in electricity before bolting through them, shattering them instantly. His lightning-quick burst left him nose to nose with the monster, who seemed to startle even in its madness after he willingly got so close.

"I got a bone to pick with you!"

Laxus dodged the jaws that attempted to snap over his head as he snapped his foot into its stomach. The force rocketed the monster into the sky as he tensed his legs and shot after it, soaring above it in a flash of yellow as he pinned his foot to its back and grabbed its bloody wings in his hands.

"I've been dying to meet my so-called rival."

The beast howled in agony as Laxus ripped its red wings off its back and tossed them to the side. His grin was wide as he watched the blood bubble beneath his feet before a surge of electricity shot through the monster and paralyzed it mid-retaliation. Its agonizing howls echoed through the air as it tried and failed to find a way to escape his pin.

"What's wrong?"

The beast tried it again, and Laxus shocked it again. The beast screamed in agony, tried to escape, was shocked again, and repeated the cycle once more.

"You're supposed to be my rival, right?"

Over and over and over again.

"Didn't you say you were going to beat my record?"

Laxus kept it under his feet like a bug about to be squashed until they had firmly committed to hitting the ground. With no time for the monster to create any extra appendages to save itself from the earth, the only thing it could do was fall.

"Where'd all that confidence go!"

That was when Laxus jumped off its back and clasped his hands together, coating them in electrical currents before slamming them into the back of the monster's head, spiking it into the ground below.

"You sounded so sure of yourself in your shitty interview!" Laxus taunted as the beast crashed into the earth below, caving into the ground like a falling meteorite. The beast's back was to the ground as it struggled to rise and escape from the dirt coffin it had been thrown into, only to groan in pain as Laxus flashed to the ground in a dropkick of yellow lighting as he landed right on the beast's stomach.

"All I've been hearing for the last few weeks..."

The beast groaned in pain, going limp on the ground as it looked up with an eyeless face. Its claws slowly raised in a feeble attempt to claw at Laxus' legs. The pathetic attack ended instantly as he stomped on its face, and yellow electricity built up in its body.

"Is how this new mage from Phantom Lord..."

Yellow electricity crackled through his muscles before coursing down into the monster in a flash of lightning. The beast screamed in pain as Laxus watched its claws fall limply to the ground, the red monster unable to resist, let alone fight.

"Is going to 'keep me on my toes.'"

Laxus watched as whatever magic spell keeping the monster around ended, and its bloody exterior began flaking away like ash. The bits and pieces of the bloody creature dissipated in the winds until an unconscious boy with black hair, a slew of bruises, minor cuts littering his face with one on his scar-filled arms, and a massive gash on his right shoulder was revealed. The blood from Vera's body flowed continuously from the wounds, and his magic container was near empty.

"I've never been..."

Laxus raised his foot and stomped on the boy's nose in rage. A crunch echoed as Vera's nose broke in a bloodily messy fashion.

"So fucking infuriated..."

Laxus raised his foot and again leveled it against Vera's face in a harsh stomp.

"In my entire life."

He did it again.

"Why the fuck-"

And again.

"Does everyone think-"

And again.

"You're suddenly my equal!"

Laxus gnashed his teeth as he stomped on his 'rival's' nose one last time, leaving Vera's face a bloody mess as gasps of air barely escaped his 'rival's' lips. Laxus heaved an angry breath as he printed his burning gaze towards the unconscious boy's right shoulder.

"You know the worst thing they've told me..."

The crimson liquid seeped from the wound in a continuous stream. Laxus knew he would bleed out soon, and some of him wanted to let it happen. No one would know. He could just blame it on the fucking tatted dude and rid his hands of this fucker. Never have to hear another shitty comparison again.

"You should be careful, Laxus..."

Laxus didn't, though; he raised his foot above the wound as a stream of molten hot electricity built in the sole of his shoe. His face twisted in a cruel fury as he molded his electricity into a specific shape and stomped it down on the wound, searing it shut with a hiss of smoke and burning flesh, ultimately stopping the bleeding and saving Vera's life in the process.

"Vera's the legacy of a wizard saint they said. They said he's been trained by a wizard saint. Be careful, Laxus! He's learning from a wizard saint!"

Laxus trembled with rage, sniffing the air as he pulled his foot back and saw the wound seared close with a little gift of his own tied in. The adrenaline faded from Laxus as he pulled the unconscious boy up by the hair and whispered in his ear, "Just like you."

Laxus let go of the unconscious boy's hair, watching as his head fell limply into the dirt and Vera's breathing hovered an inch from death. Laxus walked over to his heel and grabbed it, dragging him across the ground. He went over to the sleeping assassin and did the same.

"Everyone is always so quick to assume all my strength comes from the old man. That there's no fucking way in hell I could've done it myself."

Laxus would tie up the tatted dunce and call the rune knights. They could handle that dumbass. Treat his wounds and throw him in jail or wherever the fuck he was going. Laxus didn't really care.

"Everyone's so fucking stupid that they think a leech like you could ever be anywhere near my level."

He had more important things to do.

"Well, that's gonna change."

If his grandpa refused to see what his stupid softness was doing to the guild, then fine. If he didn't see how Fairy Tail was becoming such a pushover that a weak sack of shit like this was supposed to be on his level, then that was fine. He could live in his delusions.

"I'm sick of Phantom Lord being lorded as the number one guide in Fiore. It's a fucking joke."

Laxus wouldn't.

"Fairy Tail should be the strongest guide in Fiore."

Fairy Tail was filled with weaklings who didn't belong there, so people kept saying they were weaker than Phantom Lord.

"I'm going to make sure of it."

When Laxus was the guild master, all the weaklings would be the first thing he got rid of. They would be purged, and then no one would ever think to fucking question that Fairy Tail was the best.

"So thanks for the help, oh 'rival' of mine."

In the meantime...

"You're gonna be Fiore's wake-up call."

It wouldn't hurt to give everyone a little reminder.