Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.

-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-

Chapter 75: Tracking The Criminals

Year: X760. 24 years till Canon begins.

Cade POV:

"Alright, I'll give you credit Layla. You can keep up rather well with me." I nodded with a praise as we ran thought the many fields of the Heartfilia grounds.

"Wow! Thanks Cade!" Layla cheered as she looked up at me.

Layla had gotten changed into a much more comfortable and easier to move in outfit. She was wearing a blue shirt, that had a white warm jacket over it to kept her warm. Over her legs she wore some blue trousers with some brown boots.

"I sometimes have running classes on, so that usually means that I can run for a while." Layla elaborated as she kept running.

After Layla got changed and returned to me, she questioned how we were going to find the criminals and her mother. I had a plan that involved exiting the main hall via the huge hole in the wall that the explosion caused.

Outside, I examined the ground and found many, carriage tracks that all led in the same direction. With that question answered, me and Layla took off and ran towards where the carriages were going towards.

We had been running for a few minutes now, and we were coming up to a huge hill that we would be able to climb up. Thankfully the moon was able to light up the tracks in the ground, so we weren't getting lost from our path forwards.

Layla had told me earlier that we would be exiting the Heartfilia grounds soon. She said that she had little information about what was behind there, but she did know that it was mostly open plains until you came to the large range of mountains that I think were next to Magnolia.

Was that this 'Vicini's' plan then? Make way for the mountains and secure himself there? Whatever his plan was, I wasn't going to let him do anything, now that he made the mistake of kidnapping my mother and Lilly.

I had noticed as we were running that Layla had looked a bit upset and was clearly trying to hide it. Being on many different rescue jobs, I knew fine well how nervous you could get.

That did make me think back on myself a little. Was I still doing the right thing here?

'I know that Layla will retreat if I tell her to. But still… with no magic on her, it's hard for her to protect herself here.'

'Am I really scared that I'll act as aggressive as I did last time with that criminal in the mansion, so I brought Layla as a deterrent for that?'

'No! If that were the case, it would mean that I'd be unable to keep my emotions in check!' I thought as I clenched my fist. 'I can't start second guessing myself at this time. I have to stay ready if we get attacked.'

'If it ever does come to that, Layla takes priority over anything else. I can't risk losing her. Especially when I promised Layla that I would get her mother back.' I decided as I pushed forwards.

Now, me and Layla were running up the huge hill that was in our path. As we were climbing the hill, Layla spoke up to me.

"Cade? What makes you think we'll be able to catch up to the criminals when they are riding carriages?" She questioned.

"Well that's because the carriages are carrying tons of people in them. That'll mean that the horses pulling them can't go as fast as they want to. If we keep running we can catch up to them."

Layla nodded as she gave a few quick pants as she kept racing up the hill. "Right!"

"When we get to the top of this hill we may be able to see the carriages." I said as we climbed. "That will tell us how far away we are!"

Eventually, we came to the top of the hill, and we now overlooked the many different fields that were beyond the Heartfilia grounds. They were vast and plentiful, with a few trees here and there. Sure enough, I could see the mountains that had Magnolia across the opposing side. They were far away, but they were still visible.

I made sure to scan the fields below to try and spot any possible carriages that may be visible. It was still quite dark, so I was looking for any lanterns that they may have to light up the way forwards. As I was looking, Layla cried out.

"Look!" She cried as she frantically pointed forwards to the fields.

I immediately looked where she pointed and saw a small, but still noticeable yellow light that was ever so slowly moving across the fields.

"Is that-?" Layla began with hope.

"Yes, it is! You found them Layla!" I cheered her with a grin. "Now come on! We have to move!"

No POV, Kidnapper Leader:

"Uh, boss?" Came one of the criminals. He sounded a bit nervous.

The leader of the criminals looked to his left and saw the criminal riding his carriage up next to his. His expression certainly matched his tone.

"Huh? What is it?" Came the leader of the criminals.

"Do you… feel that?" The criminal said with a bit of fear. "Like, can you sense it in the air?"

The criminal leader frowned at the question, before he sensed his magic a bit more. 'What is he talking about? I can sense… hm?' The leader paused as he collected his thoughts. Actually… now that he stopped began to take in what around them, there was a strange magical energy that was coming slowly towards them.

'What the…? What is that?' He thought with oddity, narrowing his eyes. Had a wizard from the party that followed them here?

The leader turned around and looked behind him. He couldn't see anything right now, due to the fact that moon was covered by clouds right now. But he did make out the hills that had the Heartfilia residence behind them. The Heartfilia's mansion was far behind them, so whoever this person was, he or she was closing in on them rather quickly.

He squinted his eyes as he tried to make sense of what was going on. 'Hmm… this is too strange for my liking. It can't be the Rune Knights; they never arrive on time!' He grumbled as he came to a conclusion.

So it had to be a wizard then. Probably a lone one at that. The leader of the criminals looked to his left and right to see how many people he had with him.

Altogether he had 11 more people that were riding carriages with kidnapped guests inside of them. Vicini had gone far ahead, with Lynne behind him and Maximilian behind her.

This might be a problem if the wizard is able to make it past them. 'Well, we had a good run of not having anything bad come up. Guess this was inevitable in the end.' He scowled as he pulled out a lacrima from his pocket and activated it.

"Hey, Vicini?" He called into the lacrima. "We er, may have a problem on our hands."

"What, what is it!?" Snapped Vicini. The leader rolled his eyes. Vicini was probably so nervous due to the fact that this was the first time one of his plans was going according to plan. Well, he had to be the bearer of bad news here. "Don't tell me we're being followed?!"

"Just listen. We've just detected a vague, but strong wizard heading in our direction." The leader explained casually, flicking his gaze behind him every so often. "No idea who he is though."

"Well of course someone was coming to try and stop us." Vicini said, as if that was was a stupid thing to assume. "Well go on then! Stop him! Park the carriages and deal with him!" Vicini yelled – probably yells of fear, due to the fact that he was doing surprisingly well so far. "Deal with him at once!"

"Right. Me and the others should be able to take care of them. After that, I'll contact you again." The leader nodded, scowling at his boss's attitude. It's not like there was much he could do about it. He and his men were contacted to him after all.

"Very good, very good!" Vicini said gleefully. "Now get going!"

Vicini hung up on the lacrima. The leader sighed as he put it away in his pocket. So, it was up to him and his men here.

'Well, it shouldn't be that hard. It is only one wizard after all.'

The leader smirked as he yelled at his men to get ready for the upcoming fight. "Everyone! Listen up!"

Cade POV:

"We're getting closer now. Stay alert Layla." I informed her as we kept running through the fields.

We had come down the hill and had began to run forwards towards the yellow light that Layla saw. As we had came down the hill, I was able to make out the fact that there was multiple more lights next to that one.

'Excellent!' I grinned. That meant we could save everyone here in one move! Still, I had to be careful when approaching this.

Me and Layla had kept running and we had now entered the many vast and grassy fields that had no real paths to them. I could still see the carriage tracks that were toiled into the ground.

'It won't be long now! Mother, Lilly, Lyra and everyone else. I'll rescue you all!' I thought with determination as I kept running.

We kept running towards the yellow lights. As we did, I could see that Layla was beginning to get tired now, with her panting more than she was earlier.

"It's alright Layla. Not much longer now!" I cheered her on, as we were running. "We'll have rescued your mother by sunrise!"

Layla nodded with enthusiasm, as we were now getting closer to the carriages that were just up ahead. "R-Right…!"

It was as we were getting closer to the carriages that I noticed something quite peculiar. Much more alert than I was before, I decided to change tact. I skidded to a stop as I listened carefully.

I held out a hand to Layla as we got closer, signalling her to stop running. Thankfully she did this, with us now stopping just before the carriages.

Layla looked to me in confusion. "Cade? Why did we-"

"Shhh…" I hissed at her. "Somethings wrong…" I said with tension building up in me. "This isn't right…"

Layla looked a bit scared. "What? What is it that's wrong?!" She whispered as loud as she could.

"The carriages. They've stopped moving." I explained softly as I looked ahead.

As I suspected, the carriages had completely stopped moving. The yellow lights we had seen were coming from lanterns that were on them. I could see the dark silhouettes of what looked like people from inside the carriages. 'At least the people are unharmed. But there's a bigger, more important question to be answered.'

'Why did the carriages stop moving?'

I grimaced as I looked around quickly, checking all angles. "Layla. How tired are you?" I spoke with a hushed tone.

"Huh?" Layla looked a bit confused. "Um… I could have kept running for a few more minutes if we hadn't stopped here." She explained.

Layla was now a bit fearful of what would happen next. "Cade… I-I'm a bit scared… I'm getting a bad feeling about this…"

"It's alright." I said softly, trying to sooth her. "Listen to me Layla, I need you to-"

*BOOM!*

I was interrupted by a huge blast of magic that hit the ground close to me and Layla. I was barely able to push Layla out of the way, but some of that magic did hit my side, causing me to grunt in pain. I had fallen to the ground, and Layla was still standing up.

"Layla! Run! Run now!" I yelled to Layla, looking up at her with a grimace on my face.

Layla thankfully did not argue with me here. She turned around and began to run backwards the way that we had previously came.

However, she was stopped by a blue wall of magic that was created in front of her! "Wh-What the-!?" I widened my eyes as I saw that the blue wall had expanded out further to the left and right, and that both edges were now coming backwards. "No! This is-!" I began with fear, as I saw the blue walls join up.

'Dammit! They've created a box to contain us!' I thought as I leapt back up to my feet and ran back beside Layla.

Upon reaching her, Layla hugged my legs and moved behind me in fear. "Cade! We're trapped!" Layla cried as the blue box had now finished forming around us. It was quite a few meters big, and came upwards a good few feet. The walls and ceiling were a light blue energy.

"The girl's right." Came a snarky voice from ahead of us.

We both looked forwards and saw that there was a group of 12 men standing and were walking towards us. They stopped a few feet away from us and were all chuckling to themselves.

"I must say, I was practically kicking myself at the fact that I missed little Layla Heartfilia earlier when I was grabbing people in the mansion. But I certainly didn't think that she would come running to us." The man, the leader of this group I assumed, said.

"It'll be a nice surprise for Vicini for me to bring you back with me Layla. You and… whoever you are." The man said as he raised an eyebrow at me. "Still, a decent magic power for a kid your age. I guess that Layla was too scared to come out here on her own, so she needed a wizard to protect her." The man laughed at us.

"Ooh! That reminds me!" The man smiled, cutting me off from what I was about to say, as he reached into a pocket and pulled out key ring with some golden keys on them. "Recognise these Layla?" He jeered.

Layla gasped as she came out from behind my legs. "My keys!" She shouted with surprise, before she rose her voice. "Give them back! Those are my friends!"

"Aww, can't do that I'm afraid. They're mine now. I'll have Vicini break the contact that's on them with his very own Contract Magic! What a joke you Celestial Wizards are. You can't do a single thing without your keys." The man chuckled as he tied the keys on his belt.

"So then." The man turned to me with a serious look. "You ready kid?"

'These guys… They're hoping to defeat me and kidnap Layla! That's why they created this box. They don't want Layla running off while I'm fighting them.'

'What's worse is that I can sense magic coming from nearly all these guys. I can handle myself against multiple mages sure, but these guys do seem pretty strong from what I can sense.'

I flicked my gaze between them, and saw that one of the men was holding out his hands, with a light blue glow emitting from them.

'He must be the one that's creating the box around us.' I reckoned internally, eyeing him up. 'I've seen Master Han use a spell like this years ago, when he created the box so me and Mato could have our fight.'

'If I can beat or distract that guy then the whole box falls apart. Layla can then get out of here.' I hardened my face as I got ready to fight. 'They THINK they can beat me here, but tonight I'm fighting for the people I care the most about. I will NOT lose this.'

"Ready?" I snarled with anger. "I've been ready to take you guys down when I learned that you kidnapped my friends and family! You'll be lucky if you ca still stand after this!"

"I'll blow you all away with this, Disappear!" I shouted with anger as I used my magic to create the powerful explosion yet, that I aimed to take out almost all the men at once.

Immediately the leader of the group yelled at one of his men, waving a hand. "Now, block the attack!" He ordered quickly.

One of the men next to him immediately casted a spell. "Got it! Magic Block - Seal!" He yelled as he held out his hands right as my explosion was going off. Right as my attack was casted, the man that held out his hands was able to seemingly redirect the damage towards a magical sphere that he created. This seemingly absorbed my spell, and kept it contained in the sphere. "Contained!" He yelled with a firm nod.

I only scowled at the "Tch, lucky, but that can't save you twice! Disappear!" I cried loudly, aiming my hand towards them.

...But nothing happened.

"…Disappear! …Agh!" I gasped as my spell wasn't working. "What!? What's going on?!"

"Magic block is a magic that can absorb an attack and keep it in a sphere, so that the user can't cast that spell again as long as the sphere stays intact!" The leader of the criminals explained to me with a grin on his face. "Most people immediately use their strongest move first, which helps us seal it away a good chunk of their power."

"Dammit!" I scowled at the cheap move there. I then turned back to Layla. "Layla. Hide behind that boulder there." I ordered as I pointed to a large boulder to the right of us. Layla immediately nodded and hid behind the boulder. Now that Layla wasn't in my way as much, I Requiped into my Crimson Armour and moved to attack all the men at once. "So what if you seal away one of my strongest moves? I have plenty more moves left to take you all out!"

I leapt forwards and fired off a spell to them all. "Rays of Fury!" I shouted, aiming my attack towards them. I used Rays of Fury to create several enchanted rays - essentially beams of magic - appear above all the men and have them all fire downwards towards each of them.

All of the men immediately leapt away, successfully dodging the rays of magic as they tore into the ground. All except for one, who just wasn't able to make it in time. He was blasted forwards, where he was eventually knocked out cold. I was just able to spot that the man who was creating the shield and the other man that had used his magic to contain my Disappear attack was standing very far back towards the opposite end of the energy wall. 'They're standing back?'

'Wait, they don't plan on fighting? Well, I guess that's better for me then. But if I can take them out, I can get rid of that blue barrier keeping us in here, as well as getting my Disappear spell back.' I thought as I counted nine men that faced me, scattered across the battlefield we were in. Some of them charged forwards, preparing to assault me.

"Air Drill!" Cried one of the men as he summoned a drill of air that covered his hand. He used it to try and attack me from my left.

Right as that happened, another man from my right used his magic to try and strike me, with him leaping forwards to me. "Fire Fist!" He yelled as he pulled a fist that he covered with fire. It was an attack on two fronts!

"That won't work!" I yelled with anger as I held out both my hands to take care of both of the men at once. "Stone Beams!" I fired off two Stone Beams that were intended to strike both of the men down, overpowering their attacks.

As the beams were being fired out of my palms, another one of the men dashed forwards and waved his hands. "Math Magic Redirection! 90 Degrees Clockwise!" He shouted loudly and quickly.

"Wh-What?" I gawked, in complete confusion as to what he just yelled. I was quickly shown what he meant, as his magic caused my beams to be redirected exactly 90 degrees to the right, where they kept on flying until they hit the blue energy wall, fizzling out. "Damn you!" I yelled, as I was forced to cast Soft and Soar on myself to dodge out of the way of the previous two attacks.

I was able to just dodge up in the air, avoiding the two attacks of fire and air. As I leapt upwards i could see that those three men were rather close together below me. I was about to cast a spell to take care of the three of them, but two more of the men who were previously standing far away, had leapt up into the air and were about to cast a spell at me.

"Union Raid: Lighting and Ice!" They shouted as they sent a fusion move of lighting and ice flying towards me. It reminded me much of my old Unison Moves. But I had no time to reflect on that. I knew how deadly they were. Still, one thought kept crossing my head as they casted that attack.

'They couldn't think of a better name?' I thought with a bit of disappointment, as I fired off my own attack forwards to them. It would hopefully break right through their attack, striking them while they were vulnerable.

"Scared Slashing!" I cried loudly, holding out a hand as I sent multiple slashes of magic. The slashes of magic were able to cancel out the Union Raid and cause a small explosion in the air. I grunted as I dropped on the ground, leaping backwards a fair distance as I dodged one of the men who threw a punch at me.

'Damn, thought I had them there. It's hard to overpower Union Raids like that. Fusion spells are no joke.' I thought with regret as I looked ahead and saw another man, whose magic I was yet to see.

He powered up his magic with a yell, and covered his hands with some purple energy. "Telekinetic Throw!" He then thrusted both his hands to the right, and that caused me to fly to the crashing down to the ground to the right. I skidded across the grassy ground, causing the earth underneath to be uprooted. I eventually came to a halt and saw that the man who attacked me there was breathing rather heavily.

'Was that Telekinesis Magic? That's one rare magic alright…' I grunted as I leapt back up to my feet. 'Looks like that took a lot out of him. That means I can take him, along with all the others!'

"Go, Deliriums Blades!" I shouted as I fired off several swords towards the six men. As I sent around a dozen or so swords, I found that one of the other men had came forwards to help assist his allies with the swords. They must have recognised that the blades were deadly if not blocked or countered.

The seven men that I sent the swords towards, all created spells to try and overpower the sharp blades that soared towards them. Various blasts of fire, lightning, ice, air, telekinesis, redirection and what looked like vines, were all casted and clashed with my swords. They were somewhat winning here, with a few of the blades slicing past their legs, cashing some gashes to be formed. And this also left them distracted.

Right as they were occupying themselves with either their wounds or countering my blades, I immediately turned and leapt towards the two men that were at the back of the energy wall. 'If I can defeat these two, the energy box will collapse. After that Layla can get away!' I thought with vigour as I prepared to fire off an attack towards the two men.

"Stone Wave!" I yelled, as I created a huge wave of stone that I sent hurling towards the two men. They looked a bit shocked to see me do this and seemed to panic a little. While I was confident in them getting swept away, my expectations were shattered by the leader and the other remaining man coming to their rescue.

"Now! Eruption!" The leader cried as he ran towards the wave and held out his hands. The other man also created a spell that assisted the leader in destroying the wave, crumbling it into pieces before it could reach the two men. I growled under my breath at their intervention, as the leader moved to take action again.

"Mega Eruption!" The leader shouted with a laugh as he caused a huge eruption that quaked the ground beneath me. I could sense a powerful attack incoming. I had to dodge out of the way! With only mere seconds to react, I quickly darted out of the way and was able to avoid the ground erupting from beneath me. Had I been struck by that explosion , it would have dealt critical damage. Right as I was about to land, I saw that other man who assisted the leader earlier was now casting a spell towards me.

"Rock Pillar!" He cried as he summoned a huge rock from the ground that suddenly struck me in my chest. I had little time to dodge as I had just landed on the ground as he casted the spell. I felt myself wince as I landed on my two feet, but kept skidding backwards. I came to a stop as I bumped against a loose boulder that was close to a corner of the cube we were in.

Two of the previous men were now lunging towards me, with spells cast in their hands. They both caused their spells and sent them shooting towards me.

"Lighting Strike!" The first shouted, as he coaxed his fists with lighting.

"Fire horn!" One of them cried as he swirled fire around his head, aiming to headbutt me.

"You're all getting on my nerves!" I growled, as I charged up another attack. "Stay down, and stay out of my way! Stone Buster!"

My attack was able to destroy the two attacks as they came flying towards me. Both men were temporarily fazed as they came to a stop in their assault forwards. Not hesitating for a single second, I moved to cast another attack at the both of them while they were distracted. "Stone Beams!" I summoned the two beams of stone that I sent towards the both of them.

As expected, the redirection wizard immediately moved in to try and redirect the attack. He gave a laugh as he held out his hands. "I'll redirect it! Math Magic Redirection: 180 deg-"

"Oh no, you don't! Stone Spikes!" I interrupted him as I fired off several spikes of stone that erupted from underneath the man and caused him to fly up into the air. I swiftly followed that up with another blast which struck him in the chest, sending him crashing into the ground.

With him rendered unconscious, his redirection spell was cancelled, allowing my beams to continue and strike the two men in the chest. They too, were sent flying backwards and hit the blue energy wall. From the looks of things from where I was, they were unconscious as well as the redirection wizard on the ground. The rest of the men seemed somewhat wary now.

"I'll finish the rest of you!" I shouted as I moved to leap up into the air to fire off more attacks. But I was astonished to see that my legs were stuck to the ground. Looking down quickly, I saw that they were frozen solid, covered with some thick ice! I was able to spot that one of the men was using his ice magic to freeze my feet. "Agh, ice?!"

"Well done!" The leader cheered his ally. "Now everyone attack him! Mega Eruption!"

My eyes widened as I tried to break out and cast a counter move of sorts. Before I could however, I was forced to bear the eruption attack that the leader of the bandits had sent at me. The ground underneath me erupted as I was sent soaring upwards. "GAAAAAHHHH!" I shouted in pain as I flew upwards. As this happened, one of the other men came just underneath me and fired off an attack.

"Air Rocket Sword!" He yelled, pulling his fist downwards, as he summoned a huge sword of air that came firing down from above and hit me in the back as I was in the air.

"Ngh… damn you ALL!" This attack from him caused me to fall downwards at a fast pace. Thinking quickly, I casted a spell at the remaining men to bring them down. "RAYS OF FURY!" I yelled loudly as I was able to create several beams of magic that came shooting downwards towards all the remaining men who were standing. I was now beginning to lose all care if they ended up seriously hurt. They were still in my way!

'I will NOT lose this!' I snarled internally as I saw my rays of magic fly down towards where they were standing. Almost all of them were able to leap out of the way, but the ice mage was not so lucky, as a hit to the back from my spell was able to cause him to go flying down the ground, where he fell unconscious immediately. 'Good.' I thought as I saw another one of the men charge towards where I was falling.

"I got this! Ivy Ensnare!" The wizard that used vine magic, brought his hands to the ground and summoned several thick green vines that he sent upwards to wrap around me. I didn't plan on letting that happen.

With anger running through me, I quickly used Henshin to turn them into stone, meaning that the vines lost all their strength and were destroyed, crumbling into dust. I prepared to launch an attack to send him flying backwards and out of this fight…

…But I was immediately halted as I froze in the air! "Wh-What?!" My eyes caught the weakened telekinesis mage, who was using the last of his magic to hold me in place before I could reach the ground. "D-DAMN YOU!"

Right as he did this, barely holding the spell together, the wizard that used Rock Magic launched an attack that he aimed at my stomach. "Try and stomach this attack you little brat! Rock Fall!" He yelled as he summoned several rocks from the ground that came upwards and hit me in the stomach. I coughed in pain as this happened and was let go from the telekinesis due to the disruption of the magic around me.

I was just able to land on my feet and see that one of the men had launched a kick towards my face that was covered with green vines. I only had a second or so to react, but I was able to cast a spell in time to block it. "Stone Pillar!" I used my magic to create a pillar of stone that was strong enough to block his foot. He gave a wince as I saw the stone crack a little. "I'm not done yet, you damned criminals!"

"Six-Layered Stoneflake!" I shouted with anger as I summoned six shards of stone that came soaring downwards and and struck the man causing him to stagger backwards. I yelled and used more of my strength and magic to send that pillar of stone towards the man which caused him to be knocked unconscious. "Only a few more to go…!"

I turned and noticed that the leader was yelling at the two men that were against the wall of the box. They were both looking tense and cautious as to what the next few minutes would bring them. They had to witness all of their allies be knocked out one by one. It must have made them tense, but I hardly cared. They had kidnapped Lilly and mother!"

"Quick! Use that move of yours!" The leader yelled to the wizard that was holding the sphere that held my Disappear spell.

I would have tried to stop the wizard from doing whatever it was that he was beginning to do, but I was frozen again by the telekinesis wizard. "Ngh, how the hell are you still standing!?" I done my absolute best to break away from this hold that he had on me, but I was struggling to do so. "GET… OFF… ME!"

I could feel the spell fading on me as the seconds passed by, but the earth wizard and the leader of the bandits used a spell to knock me backwards a fair distance. "Ngh!" I skidded backwards as I saw them charge up their magic together.

"We'll use a Union Raid as well!" They yelled as he and his ally charged up a spell together and casted it towards me.

"Eruption of Earth!" They cried in unison. This fusion attack of their was a mixture of earth and some other orange energy, that I guess was meant to be Eruption Magic. It took the form of a large and powerful explosion underneath me, that caused me to be sent flying backwards by an additional good distance.

I skidded across the ground on my back and saw that I had ended back up where the fight had began. I heard the sounds of whimpering to my right and saw Layla behind the boulder that I told her to stay behind.

I was able to get on my knees and face the remaining men. There was only a few of them now: The leader who was grinning to himself, the earth wizard who had suffered damage, the telekinesis wizard who looked close to collapsing on the spot, the wizard that had been maintaining the huge cube we were in and the wizard that was holding the sphere with my Disappear spell.

But he was doing something with it. Something strange. He was holding the sphere and was moving it with my hands. He was shaping it, moulding it.

"It's almost ready!" He cried with eagerness as he gave a grin towards the other men.

"Excellent!" The leader said. "Only a few more minutes and you'll be able to cast the spell yourself!"

"W-What?" I cried with confusion and fear. "What the hell do you mean by that!?"

"Containment Magic is a magic that allows the user to contain spells and use them against the enemy! The stronger spell you use, the more powerful it will be when we give it back to you in full!" The leader explained as he looked to the man that was shaping it.

"It's only a few more minutes until it's ready! After that, you'll get a taste of how much your own spells hurt!" He laughed.

I tried to get to my feet and counterattack, but I was struggling, falling to my knees. 'What the hell? Why can't I get up? Agh! My leg! Did an awkward part of it get hit as I was fighting?' I thought as I tried to stand up. 'There's only a few of these guys left, I can't just give up now!'

"Oh?" The leader remarked as he leaned forwards a bit. "Well if you're struggling to get up like that, we might not need the counter spell after all." He chuckled as he turned to the remaining men that were still standing. He gave them all a nod, as he and them began to walk forwards to try and finish me off.

'Like hell I'm going to end this here!' I scowled as I got back on my feet. I say that I got back on my feet, but I was barely standing. 'Come on! What's wrong with my leg here. It hurts like hell!' I let out a cry of pain as I was unable to stand up fully.

While I was afraid of what could happen in the next minute for me and Layla, that fear quickly reached its peak when I saw Layla run out in front of me.

"Layla?! What are doing!?" I yelled in fear. "Get back!"

"Stop!" She yelled to the criminals, ignoring me. "Why are you doing this!?" She yelled with tears in her eyes.

All the criminals stopped moving forwards and let out a harsh laugh that was just painful to listen to. After they calmed down a little, the leader of the criminals spoke up. "Why are we doing this? It's simple kid. You people are filled to the brim with money that we can take just as easily as you get it. Kindness and compassion won't get you anywhere in this world, it's money that will get you to places that we can only dream of." The bandit leader grinned menacingly. "And we'll be taking all of yours!"

Layla seemed a bit hurt by that remark there. "No… You can't! I-I won't let you!"

She was firm where she stood. Despite my pleas, she refused to move from her position. "Dammit Layla! Get out of here!" I begged, as i looked from her towards the criminals.

Layla tensed up her shoulders as she stared down the criminals. Even though her back was turned to me, I could tell that she was quivering with fear.

The boss of the criminals folded his arms as he raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "Really? What do you have that makes you think that you can stop us, Layla Heartfilia?" He questioned. "You have no Celestial Spirit Keys, you have no other magic on you, the only person that could protect you is struggling to stand up… Tell me, what do you have?"

"She has me."

Everyone suddenly snapped to attention upon hearing that voice there. It was the cool voice of a young man.

My eyes darted around the cube to find who said that. Who was that? Was he an ally? The criminals were certainly surprised to hear his voice, so he can't be.

'Where is this guy? WHO is this guy? Is he here to help?' I thought as I was now able to barely stand up straight.

I was looking all over the cube, as I did, I saw the shared looks of confusion that were on everyone's faces. Well, everyone except Layla.

She was actually… happy to hear this voice.

She had stopped crying, and her face now had a look of happiness and hope on it. Did she know who this voice belonged to? My mind raced for a conclusion, and I did come to one, thought it was one that I wasn't fully confident about.

'Could it be…? Did Layla somehow summon-'

I was cut off by my thoughts as I heard Layla give a cry of delight. "It is you!" She cried as she looked to the left of where she was standing. She had looked to a single tree that had all its leaves gone.

On a high branch of the tree stood a young man of average height and had orange hair. The hair in question was long, and kept in many more, comparatively larger spikes jutting in every direction, with a pair framing his face. He had teal eyes and wore some light sunglasses. He wore an elegant dark suit, with the jacket left unbuttoned and the loose trousers held up by a light-coloured belt, over a lighter shirt with a zebra-striped tie around the neck, plus dark shoes.

The young man gave a smile as he saw Layla. Layla in question was overjoyed at the man's arrival. "Leo! You're here!" Layla was nearly crying tears of joy.

I could only assume that this man was an ally to us considering Layla's happiness at seeing the man. The man, who I assumed was called Leo, fixed his tie and leapt down from the tree.

"You can take a step back Layla. I can handle the rest of these thugs." He stated with a smirk. "Same goes to you, whoever you are."

The criminal leader gave an awkward but eventually a loud laugh. "Hahaha! Who are you supposed to be then?" He goaded with a sneer.

Leo clenched his right fist as a golden glow began to appear in his fist and break out through the cracks in his fingers. "I'm Leo the Lion. King of the Zodiacs!" He yelled as the golden glow in his fist began to glow brighter and brighter.

Leo then bent his right arm, with his clenched fist pointed towards the sky, before then grabbing his bicep with his left hand. The bright light was getting even brighter now.

"O Regulus... Grant me your strength!" Leo yelled as he let loose the light that he had in his fist. "Lions Brilliance!"

This caused the golden light to be unleashed upon interior of the cube. All the criminals were yelling in pain and shock as they held their eyes. They all let out cries that they couldn't see what was going on! Strangely enough, me and Layla were unaffected by this bright light. I could still see perfectly fine!

I saw that Leo had leapt forwards and immediately used his fists to attack the two men that had Earth and Telekinesis Magic. Leo let out a cry as he coaxed his fists in golden light and let loose his power.

"Regulus Fury!" Leo cried as he expertly punched and kicked the two men with his fists and feet. Both of the men were quickly taken down and were hit backwards by Leo.

As they were knocked unconscious, Leo then turned his sights to the leader of the bandits that had just regained his vision. Upon seeing his close Leo was to him, he quickly leapt backwards and got behind the other two men that were left.

"Quick cast the spell!" The leader frantically pleaded to the man that was holding my Disappear sphere.

"Ah, we need a few more minutes! It's not ready yet!" He protested to the leader.

"I don't care! Just use it now, or we'll all lose here!" The leader demanded frantically as the light came closer and closer.

"Gah, ok then! Here goes…" The man gave a grimace as he powered up the orb and fired it towards Leo. "Go, Disappear!" He yelled.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "That's your big move? If that's all, then I'll end this with a single attack!" He cried as he leapt forwards towards the orb with his fists covered with the golden glow.

Leo brought back his right fist and threw it towards the orb as it was about to hit him. "Regulus Impact!" He shouted as he fired off a huge burst of golden energy that completely blew away the orb and continued forwards to the three remaining men.

All three of them let out a yell of shock and anger as the bright light overpowered them and sent them flying backwards. As the wizard that had been maintaining the cube was knocked backwards, the walls of blue energy were completely shattered, with the men flying out of the cube and crashing to the ground below.

Leo smirked as he straightened his jacket and turned back to us both.

"So who are you supposed to be then?" He questioned to me with interest.

"So let me get this straight: This Vicini guy kidnapped Lyra and the other guests?" Leo questioned as we finished tying the unconscious bandits to a nearby tree. I had made sure to equip some handcuffs that had magic sealing stones inside them to the criminals. They would be tied up nicely while they waited for the Rune Knights to arrive.

"Yeah, that's right. They kidnapped my mother and my girlfriend…" I frowned at the reminder, yet it only only strengthened my resolve to keep going.

"To think that they got Lyra." Leo grimaced, clenching his fists. "Dammit… I should have been there to help when this was all happening!"

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. There's nothing that we can do now." I sighed in defeat as I finished tying a knot in the rope that I used.

'Besides. I should have probably done more back then as well.' I thought with regret.

Me and Leo stepped back and turned away from the tree that we had tied the criminals to. "So where do you think they are headed?" Leo questioned, folding his arms.

"From the way that the carriages were going, I think that Vicini and the others were heading to the mountains that neighbour Magnolia. There's plenty of good hiding spot up there. He'd have all the secrecy that he wants when using his Contract Magic on everyone." I explained as I pointed to the mountains not too far away from us.

Leo put his hand under his chin and thought about what I said there. "I've never heard of a Contract Magic before. As a Celestial Spirit you fight all sorts of wizards with lots of different magics, yet I've never heard of Vicini's magic before this."

"Though from what you've told me, I'm guessing that it allows him to mess with the titles and ownerships that his victims have. He might be able to steal the rights to the Heartfilia family's wealth. He could also possibly steal the contracts me and the other Celestial Spirits have with Layla." Leo's face hardened when he suggested that possibly. "That's a possibility we can't allow."

"Yeah… who knows how rich he could get, or the damage he could do to everyone." I said with fear as we began to walk where we had sent Layla before tying up the criminals.

We came to the area where all the carriages were parked. Around the carriages were all the guests that had been freed from captivity. They were talking quickly among them, and were anxious of what would have befallen them if we hadn't arrived sooner. The poor people…

Layla then made her way to us from the crowd. She had previously been moving through the crowd of guests to see if she recognised anyone that she knew.

"Leo! Cade!" She said as she came up to us. "I can't find my mother… or your mother and girlfriend…" She muttered with sadness.

Leo smiled and ruffled Layla's hair. "Hey, it's ok Layla. We'll make sure to get them back." He assured Layla with a nod. "As your contracted Spirit, you can count on me. Same goes with the others!"

Layla gave a small but noticeable smile. I then spoke up to Layla, looking down at her. "Were you able to tell all the guests about the situation?"

Layla nodded. "Yes! I was able to tell them that they should stay put and wait for the Rune Knights."

We felt it best to keep the guests here instead of having them walk back in the near darkness. They may never get back to the Heartfilia mansion if they kept wandering aimlessly. "Good." I fired up a bolt of magic that exploded into some small but bright fireworks. "That should alert the Rune Knights here. The guests will be ok."

"Well now that's all settled, how about we get going?" Leo suggested as he beckoned his head to the horses that were previously pulling the carriages. "With them we'll be making progress in no time."

"Nice idea." I grinned. I felt like that was a great way at catching up to Vicini. He had put some distance between us during that fight with the criminals earlier. "We'll be making perfect time."

"By the way Layla, here are your keys." Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain with four golden keys on them. "The thug that had them dropped them when I defeated him. Just be glad that Aquarius isn't here to scold you for losing them."

"Ah! Thank you Leo!" Layla took the keys and put them into her pocket. "Now I can help you guys if we get into any more fights!" Layla cried with joy. "Wait, but isn't my magic being drained because of you being here Leo?"

Leo shook his head, grinning. "You don't have to worry about me. I came by my own magic. I can stick around and help out the other Spirits you summon."

"If all the other Zodiacs are as strong as Leo, then it'll be an easier journey, that's for sure." I remarked as I gave a thumbs up.

"Well I AM King of the Zodiacs. I doubt that the other Zodiacs are as strong as me." Leo shrugged as he gave a sly smile.

"King of the Zodiacs? Well, you certainly don't look like the Celestial Spirit King." I replied with slight skepticism, letting a smirk cross my face.

Leo looked a bit abashed when I said that. "Argh, how many people are going to make that assumption?" He said with annoyance. "Even I can't help but get annoyed about it at times."

Layla gave a giggly laugh, with Leo eventually joining in on the laugh. I smiled at this rather pleasant moment, before looking to the mountains.

'Vicini's up there somewhere… That's where the other carriages were headed. Mother, Lilly and Lyra. They're all up there.'

'Just a bit longer!' I reassured myself. 'I'll rescue you all! Just please hang on!'

Done! That's one more chapter finished and uploaded. Feel free to leave a review if you enjoyed it!

Happy New Year! Here's hoping this year will be great to you all! I found 2024 to be rather… well, eh. I'm hoping that 2025 will be better. Ch 7, Ch 8 and Ch 9 have been edited and improved upon! I'm challenging myself to edit and fix up all chapters previous to this one by the end of this year. A tall order seeing as I am still writing this story, as well as my other one. Though I suspect mistakes and errors will be less frequent as I progress. Also I may try to write a new story this year (a shorter one which I may be able to actually finish in about a month) After that story is done, it'll probably be a new Fairy Tail story, of which I have a few ideas to go from. (One of them is a crossover!)

Anyway, back to this chapter.

Cade and Layla have been able to make it past the criminals that had kidnapped all the guests. With many of the kidnapped guests safe and secure, nothing is stopping them from reaching the mountain where the others are. But they aren't alone going up there.

Leo has been able to swoop in at the last moment and save the day, taking care of the criminals! I couldn't help but not include the guy, as he is one of my favourite characters from the anime. As he brought himself here, Layla is not being drained of her magic.

You know what that means… more Celestial Spirits coming up soon!

Now then, I do hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and I am hoping to see you in the next one! See you then!