In Radioactive Decay, Minoru Kanemoto, the guild master was having a meeting with Satoshi. Satoshi had some tea in his hand, looking around the guild mates Minoru told to stay inside. "Ya know…that wife of yours hasn't come back yet, and she's been gone for a while."

"I noticed." Minoru replied. He wasn't exactly too keen on Satoshi's company, but he was actually beginning to grow worried about his wife. "It's been a little too long…she was just out to get some groceries..." And now, he was starting to fear the worst.

"You're going out to search for her in these conditions?" Satoshi questioned. "Y'know she's a Wizard Saint, right."

"That's not what I'm worried about." He knew his wife could handle herself. But that wasn't the concerning part. Standing up, Minoru began to make his way out of the guild. "I have to, that's all. She might have gotten caught up in a fight. In her condition, when she's pressured...she slips. She avoids conflict because of that. I can't leave her alone out there. It's bad for her. Our discussion will have to wait another day, so you have my apologies for that."

"Understandable…" Satoshi tipped his hat as Minoru began to exit. "Shame, though. We were just starting to get to the interesting part. Ah well…I suppose it can't be helped right now. Some things just have the worst timing…"

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Natsu dove down from the sky, rearing his arm back with flames blazing around his arm. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" With momentum on his side, he aimed to slam his fist right in Anri's face to crush the Wizard Saint into the ground.

"Come on, Natsu-chan!" Anri exclaimed as antimatter began to swirl around her hands; it was controlled so far because the last thing she wanted was to erase one she'd wished on fighting for so long. When Natsu brought his fist forward the Wizard Saint did the same, the two colliding in a brief power struggle that sent a shockwave booming out.

The two mages leapt back after the collision, but Natsu was the one who continued to stay on the offensive. He slid across the ground before coming to a halt, planting his hand on the surface before lunging forward once again with flames wrapped around his body. "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Natsu slammed himself headfirst into Anri's gut, causing the Wizard Saint to slide back several yards from the force of impact.

Even Anri was unable to hold her ground and coughed violently as Natsu slammed into her. Natsu's momentum eventually came to an end and he was still against Anri's stomach. "Now it's my turn." The Saint spoke while raising her hands above her head, interlocking her fingers together as antimatter formed around her hands; in the next instant she swung her conjoined hands harshly on Natsu's skull, crushing the fire dragon into the ground, creating a small crater from impact.

Natsu let out a cry of pain while falling into the ground, blood now trickling from his forehead. His entire body felt sore from just one direct attack from Anri, but what else was he expecting from a Wizard Saint? "I'm not…done yet…!" Natsu quickly lunged up, aiming a fiery upwards kick at Anri's chin. "Fire Dragon's Claw!"

Another direct hit; Anri was just tanking everything Natsu threw at her. She wasn't one for defense and that may have been her folly; a reckless glass cannon. Anri stumbled back from Natsu's attack before rubbing her burnt chin, giving the Salamander a wide grin. "I expected nothing less. But it's time to bring this one to an end, don't you agree?"

Natsu wasn't much for talking now, but he completely agreed with Anri's words. Now standing back upright, he raised his hands over his head, creating a large spherical blaze within his hands as lightning also began to spark dangerously around his body. "Exactly. Dazzling Blaze of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" In one motion, Natsu swung his arms forward to send the large blaze rocketing towards Anri.

"That's what I'm talking about, Natsu-chan!" Anri grinned while pointing her hands forward, antimatter forming within her palms. She released a powerful beam of said magic towards the incoming blaze, watching as the two entered a brief power struggle before Natsu's Blaze was overpowered, the beam of antimatter shooting right through the fire and right to at the Salamander.

"…!" Natsu's eyes widened as the beam pierced through his move. Before he knew it there was a massive explosion on contact. When the smoke cleared from the explosion, the might Salamander was down for the count, eyes pure white from KO.

"And the mighty Natsu Dragneel falls." The Client's voice echoed out as the beam dropped down to take Natsu's magic, and the rune barrier surrounded the two faded.

"Whew…" Anri let out a heavy exhale before wincing heavily from her injuries. "That was almost something else…he almost had me for a second there. I hope for a rematch sometime, Natsu-chan~ " She then stretched and yawned, scratching her side as she began to walk off. "But that's enough for me today. I'm going home."

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Bacchus and Jaxon, the two S classes of both Quatro Cerberus and White Eclipse respectively, were both throwing hands. Bacchus was already inebriated and gave Jaxon no quarter, swinging a variety of palm strikes at the Eclipse mage. It was difficult for Jaxon to evade due to the fact Bacchus' style was unpredictable. "Come on! Not wild enough!?" Bacchus shouted while aiming a palm strike at Jaxon's chest to send him staggering away.

Jaxon let out a grunt of pain while he was forced back, panting softly from the use of magic up until now. Bacchus' drunken attitude admittedly annoyed Jaxon. "I think you need to chill out and think about your actions." Jaxon swiped his hand down diagonally, causing the temperature to drop immensely. Snow and ice began to rain down, slowly encasing the drunken mage in a shell of ice.

"H-Hey?! What's the big idea?!" Bacchus said while beginning to smack the ice surrounding him with his palms, but he only managed to slow it down only slightly. Seconds passed and the Drunken Falcon was completely frozen with a shocked expression on his face.

"Much better." Jaxon let out a slight sigh of relief before encasing his arm in lightning. He swung the limb forward, unleashing the bolt of lightning towards the frozen Bacchus. A thunderous explosion occurred and the shell of ice shattered, sending the S class flying backwards. "Time to clean these streets up. Tornado Alley!" And with a twirl of his finger, several mini tornadoes appeared, all of them closing in on Bacchus to finish him off.

Bacchus was shaking off the previous impact with some pieces of ice still on his body and lightning sparking around him. He managed to bring himself to a standing position glancing around at the mini tornadoes coming his way. "Whoa…now this is getting wild!" The Drunk exclaimed before lifting his leg up, only to harshly bring his foot back down to the ground, creating a shockwave that spread out from his location, completely dispersing the tornadoes and blew Jaxon off his feet and backwards. "Time to finish this!" Bacchus shouted while rushing forward, gathering magic within his dominate palm. "Chop Hanging Palm: Under Moonlight!" Before Jaxon could even recover fully, Bacchus swung his palm upwards at the weather god's chin for a devastating impact. The Eclipse mage fell onto his back in KO, lying on the ground motionless.

"And the Drunken Falcon is the winner of this match!" The Client's voice echoed as the usual beam dropped down to take the unconscious Jaxon's magic. "Finally, I got my hands on that Weather magic! Is it just me, or does the sun seem a little brighter now?" Things were going accordingly and he couldn't be happier.

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Yukino swung her sword down at Lucy for what would've been a devastating slash. Lucy quickly leapt to the side to avoid this, sliding along the ground before coming to a halt. The Fairy Tail wizard then allowed Leo's Regulas light to surround her fist before leaping at the opposing celestial mage while rearing her arm back. "Regulas Impact!" Lucy's fist was then thrown forward, but instead of making contact with Yukino's face like she intended, she hit Yukino's shield instead, feeling the impact go back up her arm. "O-Ow!?"

"I'm sorry, Lucy-sama!" Yukino shouted while shutting her eyes, not wishing to witness her own actions. She bashed her shield into Lucy's face to disorient the blonde; a successful impact as a now dazed Lucy stumbled backwards, unable to keep a track on her surroundings. In the next instant Yukino brought her foot forward into Lucy's stomach with force to knock the wind out of her and knock her over. Yukino then began to slow approach Lucy while throwing her shield down. "I'm sorry….but I must…I swore to Minerva-sama that I would get her magic back!"

"Ouch…" Lucy had to take some time to catch her breath after Yukino knocked it out of her. She then realized at this moment how deep Fight for Fiore truly ran, and how the true foe wasn't just The Client alone. Everyone had their own reason for fighting, but...! Using what strength she could muster, Lucy quickly brought her hands together, a blinding flash emitting from her.

Yukino immediately covered her eyes from the flash, dropping her sword while taking a few steps backwards. "B-Bright…!?"

Lucy had to finish this now. She sprang up, allowing the same light to shine around her foot this time. "Regulas…Lucy Kick…!" And the decisive blow was a swift upwards kick aimed right for Yukino's chin; the impact was more than enough to send Yukino off her feet and into the ground on her back. She could see Yukino trying to move again but to stop this she literally got on top of Yukino to stop her. "Yukino, stop this…! Don't you see what's happening!?"

"W-What!?" Yukino looked up at Lucy. She still had the battle-hungry look in her eye.

"This fighting…it's already bad it's turning us against one another…but look at yourself…! One of us was about to get seriously injured…" Lucy stated; it was then she saw the look in Yukino's eyes fade upon having the same realization. She then removed herself from Yukino to sit, feeling all of her muscles aching at once. "I felt it too…I want to save everyone's magic, but I didn't realize how much into the fighting I've been getting…"

Yukino nodded slowly while sitting up. "Yes…I'm so very sorry, Lucy-sama. I lost sight of myself in my own goal of saving everyone…I wonder if everyone else feels the same way…" Before she could say anything else, the beam dropped down on her, causing her eyes to widen as her magic was sapped and she reverted back to her regular, tattered clothing. "M-My magic…?"

"The winner of this match was Lucy Heartfilia. Spirit Magic? This is the second time! I literally can't use this. What a useless magic." The Client spoke, and his tone just irritated both mages.

"The...second time...?" Yukino barely caught that.

"How dare you…?" Lucy growled, however she realized The Client couldn't even hear her anyway despite her anger. "Yukino…please don't worry…" She placed a hand on Yukino's shoulder to reassure her that everything would be all right. "We're going to get your magic back…along with everyone else's. This mad man will pay."

Yukino was fighting back the tears and failing. She could only give a nod as tears streamed down her cheeks. "O-Okay…I believe you, Lucy-sama…"

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"Shall we begin, Volver?" Gildarts said while cracking his knuckles. "I could use the warm up; it's been a little bit since I've stretched out these old rusty muscles. Those other ones did start off pretty strong. Take it easy on an old man, would ya? Hey, I'll even make this easy for ya. If you can get a shot to my forehead I'll call this your win!"

"I wouldn't make this easy even if you begged. But I'll gladly take the shot between your eyes, it's how I imagined finishing you off anyway." Reve scoffed before a magic seal formed on his hand; within a heartbeat he pulled out a sawn off shotgun, the magic seal on his hand boosting the speed of which he drew the gun. Quickdraw; before any normal mage could blink, Reve pulled out and shot his gun, several beams of magic shooting towards Gildarts. "Spread Shot."

While any normal mage would have trouble reacting to Reve's incredible quick draw, Gildarts just gave a small grin. "So you have improved." The Ace of Fairy Tail merely placed his palm out, a large beam of Crush Magic shooting out; the beam easily overpowered the Spread Shot and continued to fly right towards Reve.

"Tch..!" Reve sucked his teeth in aggravation before rolling to the side to avoid the beam, not even taking a second to look back…because the monster himself was approaching. Gildarts reared his arm back, now preparing to aim a single punch at Reve's chest, a punch capable of making any normal wizard crumple…but Reve brought up his arm to block it. Gildarts' fist crashed against Reve's arm and the gunslinger was sent skidding back a few yards. "…"

"Huh…" Gildarts looked at his fist before looking at Reve, who was still in the defending position. He was impressed! But first... "Usually they fold over after that….you alive?"

Reve was silent…biting his tongue harshly because in reality the bones in his arm were destroyed after taking such an impact. Seconds passed before Reve let his arm dangle like the useless limb it now was for the time being. "Is that it…?" Reve slowly questioned. "I didn't…even feel it…" It wasn't a lie…the broken arm was just numb the second Gildarts hit him. "Now…how about we try one of these…" Around Gildarts, a variety of 100 different guns appeared. "Devil's Wheel." And on his cue, all 100 guns began to open fire.

"Whoa…! Not bad…!" Gildarts shouted while bringing his cape up to defend himself from the onslaught of bullets. Even he could feel that at a rate like this, anyone else would normally be pinned down, but Gildarts was just buying time. Despite the damage he actually was taking he was obviously fine; he slammed his fist into the ground, sending out a wave of Disassembly Magic that spread out and the guns all ceased fire all at once before falling to pieces. "You've improved, Volver, I'm impressed." Gildarts showed the damage he took but he was clearly fine despite this.

Reve couldn't believe this. It was basically a replay of the last time they fought during the Fairy Tail vs. White Eclipse tournament. Even with all of his improvement, Gildarts was still essentially a monster compared to him. "Son of a…"

"Guess it's time to wrap this up…" Gildarts cracked his knuckle. There was the sound of a gunshot echoing from the distance. Clive swayed to the side and a bullet made impact with the ground completely shattering it. "Oh, clever…" In that instant, Gildarts took off again, planning to close the gap between them once again for a blow that would without a doubt finish off Reve, and when he was close…boom.

Reve's eyes shifted from green to colorless; his Foresight ability. He was able to see Gildarts' movements before the ace was even able to move; the barrel of his shotgun was pointed directly at Gidlarts' forehead and a magic bullet was sticking right out of it. "…Bang."

Gildarts blinked slowly. How close it was…his fist was a few mere centimeters away from Reve's stomach, and oh how that would've finished him off. "How about that." Gildarts pulled back and shrugged, shaking his head to remove the bullet. "Looks like I underestimated ya a touch…"

"That's…what I thought…" The fight was not long…but it wasn't often Reve was pushed to an extreme do or die situation. But…that patented smug grin on his lips was there in full force. He technically defeated Fairy Tail's ace.

Right on that note, the beam dropped down on Gildarts to take away his magic. "Reve Volver wins, how surprising. But you won't find me complaining!" The Client spoke, but he didn't seem to mind this outcome whatsoever and the rune barrier faded away.

"Hahaha! Well, looks like I won't be the ace in the hole this time 'round." Gildarts said while turning around, picking up his bag and began walking off. "These kids are gonna take care of it." He sure did have a lot of faith in the younger generation…and he was going to take his loss humbly and find the nearest bar to have a few drinks. At least now no one had to worry about him accidentally breaking everything…for now.

"Fuck…" Reve cursed while falling to his knees, the adrenaline flushing from his system. His left arm was currently useless and his entire body still ached just from that single blow. Gildarts hit him once. Once. And he was already on the verge of passing out. He still had a long way to go until he actually had a chance at beating Gildarts…the gap between them was still larger than he thought. What was this growing feeling he had? He beat Erza on the Isle of the Dragons, and he just 'beat' Gildarts. But he couldn't even accept that as a victory. Gildarts went easy on him, and he still nearly lost! He'd been getting exactly what he wanted as of late, and yet...and yet...

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Not too far away, Gildarts saw Evanee standing with her arms crossed. He gave her a grin. "Yo! Evanee! What's up? Sorry, you just missed your chance to fight me."

Evanee let out an annoyed sigh. While on her way to White Eclipse, she spotted Gildarts and his numerous fights. Thanks to the runes, she could only watch. But she was expecting Gildarts to be the one to walk out of this without any issue. "...You seriously let him win?" Evanee was pretty irritated. Beating Gildarts or Sidney would've given her a straight shot to Hosonaga, and now one of those avenues was closed.

"I think he needed the lesson." Gildarts said with a chuckle. "A hollow victory is worth more than a loss. sometimes. He beat the strongest, but I bet anything he doesn't feel like it. Besides, the youngsters these days are pretty tough. I really don't think anyone is in any danger. That guy doesn't know the first thing about magic."

"You're not wrong, but you would've saved me a lot of time if you decided to lose to me instead." Evanee rolled her eyes.

"Hahahahahaha!" Gildarts just laughed. "Looks like our fated clash will have to wait! I'm gonna go get a drink. You wanna join me?"

"Busy." Evanee shook her head and started to walk off.

"Suit yourself!" Gildarts waved Evanee off. "Now...where's the best place to kill some time..."

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The doors to The Client's hideout were busted open. Gajeel pulled his arm back and gave a grin. "Knock knock! We're comin' in!" He shouted, planning to give The Client no time to react to the abrupt entry.

"This has to be the place…" Levy said while looking around carefully. "This place is just radiating with so much magic…it's a little daunting…"

"Some of it feels familiar…" Gajeel said as they started to walk inside. It was just a straight corridor into what was presumably The Client's office. "Better get this back to where it belongs…." And Gjaeel threw his fist forward, sending his arm forward to break down the door and leap right after it. "HEY YOU!" He shouted at….no one. The room was completely empty minus the desk right in the middle. "…?!"

"He's not here…!?" Levy gasped. "But…how could he have left so quickly…!?"

"He was definitely here…this place reeks of some weird scent…" Gajeel confirmed. "But where did he go…? It's hard to pick up with all the magic floating around, it all smells like people we know…"

Levy went to The Client's desk, pulling up a lacrima screen of all the magic that had been taken thus far, and where it was going. Her brown eyes gleamed in determination as she planned to use this to pinpoint The Client's location. "Give me a few minutes. I'm going to track this man down."

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Next Time: Without Magic.