"Great…" Satoshi rolled his eyes at Natsu's arrival. "Of all the people to come and lend a helping hand, it just HAD to be a dragon slayer, didn't it? Tell me how else this day could get any worse." As an Aspect, Satoshi would forever hold the highest distaste towards Dragon Slayers. Melanie was included in this for her reveal during the fight against Jackal, however considering her devotion to the guild as a guild master his feelings started to conflict.

"So…ready for round 3?" Natsu's grin at Jackal widened considerably.

"You…why don't you just lie down and die!?" Jackal was seriously fed up with all of this. Lunging towards Natsu, the explosive demon reached his hand out, a line of powerful explosions occurring and racing towards Natsu.

"Like I'd die to the likes of you!" Natsu bent his knees dodged to the side, easily avoiding the explosions before tucking his arms in while dashing forward. "Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" Spreading his arms out, wings of flame trailed from his arms, adding an aerodynamic evasive maneuverability that increased his overall speed. In the blink of an eye Natsu sped past Jackal while slashing him with the wings of fire, inflicting a moderate amount of damage.

"You're all so very annoying…JUST EXPLODE!" Jackal uncrossed his arms and turned around, slamming his palm to the ground. A bright light started to emerge from the cracks in the ground underneath Natsu's feet before a rising explosion in the form of a geyser shot out, launching the Salamander into the air with a surprised cry.

"Natsu…!" Lucy cried out in worry.

"Natsu-san…!" Wendy shouted.

"If he needs help...!" Alex was prepared to jump in.

"Heh…" Though he sure felt that explosion it wasn't enough to slow Natsu down. Flipping in midair, flames surged around his body once again and he dove down towards Jackal while rearing his arm back. "Fire Dragon's…IRON FIST!" With all this momentum behind him, Natsu swung his fist at Jackal, a searing wave of flame overtaking the demon as he was crushed into the ground. There was a seal on Natsu's fist as a result, but as before he just swallowed it and negated the damage, smoke emitting from his lips. "Heh…"

"He's totally kicking that demon's butt now!" Happy cheered.

"Dazzling Blaze…" Natsu raised his hands over his head, creating a large fireball within his grasp. "Of the Fire Dragon!" Throwing his arms forward, Natsu unleashed this gigantic sphere of flame towards Jackal. Yet another direct hit, sending the demon gate skidding across the ruined ground before coming to a halt. "Oh, I'm not finished with you yet!" Natsu lunged forward, preparing to unleash hell on Jackal no matter what it took.

"YOU…" Jackal's limit was finally reached. He had enough of these humans just coming in and ruining whatever fun he was having every single time. The damage he sustained from the Twilight Zone mages, Roy, and now Natsu was pushing him over the brink. Jackal's eyes turned feral and his entire being started to change dramatically. His body grew larger, his face contorted before becoming that akin to a hound with razor sharp fangs, his arms grew and claws lengthened. Jackal reached his Etherious Form. Just before Natsu could punch him, Jackal, well, beat him to the punch. Jackal's enlarged fist struck Natsu and an explosion occurred on contact, shooting Natsu far away.

"Ah…!" Wendy covered her mouth from Jackal's transformation.

"Just when you thought he couldn't get any uglier…" Carla quietly remarked.

"Is Natsu okay?!" Lucy asked.

"What the!?" Alex's eyes were wide at Jackal's transformation. Were all the demons of Tartarus this insane!?

"Just fine!" Natsu came to a halt, gritting his teeth while staring at Jackal.

"YOU HUMANS WILL ALL FALL TO THE MIGHT OF TARTARUS!" Jackal lost his mind by now. Jackal was a feral beast at heart and his assault on Natsu showed that; the rampaging demon clawed repeatedly at Natsu, looking for blood! Each slash had a vicious earth shattering explosion that followed.

"LIKE HELL WE WILL!" Natsu roared back, deftly stepping to the side to avoid Jackal's explosive slashes. "You demons have done far too much damage already! Taking Cynthia, killing innocents…Laxus had to sacrifice himself just to lower the casualties!" The fire dragon's fist was set ablaze once more and a vicious punch struck Jackal's face, making the demon stagger.

"THAT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING! YOU'LL ALL BURN AND DIE!" Jackal growled whilst slamming his claws into the ground. The ground under Natsu shone brightly before exploding violently.

Natsu crossed his arms to defend against the explosion. When it faded his body was bruised and his outfit torn, but he refused to fall. "You bastards just don't understand…we're going to stop you no matter what!" Natsu reared his arm back, fire and lightning starting to swirl violently around his fist. "LAXUS! LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH!" Leaping forward with all of his might, Natsu gunned to take out Jackal in this one shot. "Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!" Natsu threw his arm forward with every ounce of strength he could muster, aiming to slam his fist directly into Jackal's chest for the finishing blow. A gigantic wave of lightning and flame shot forth from the fire dragon's fist, overtaking Jackal completely while completely taking out several buildings in the process. When the flames and lightning receded, Jackal lay on the ground in his normal form. "Got you, bastard."

"N-Natsu, look…!" Lucy pointed at Natsu in a panic. There were several seals on his body and all of them exploded before he could really do anything about it. After the fire dragon just lay on the ground in pain, but with a victorious smile on his face.

"Man…" Mason rubbed the back of his head. "He showed up and took care of that demon real quick...but only because he had to cheat to stop Roy!"

"Hah…" Jackal coughed, catching everyone's attention. "You don't really think…that this is the end for me, do you?"

"He's still got some fight in him, huh?" Roy walked over to Jackal, planting his foot firmly on the demon's chest in the event he tried any funny business. "So, what's your angle, demon? What exactly is Tartarus after?"

"And where is Cynthia!?" Wendy demanded to know. So far, Jackal was the only surefire lead they had. "What did you do to her!"

"Tartarus seeks to revive Master END." He then turned to Wendy and Alex. "Rose is going to fulfill her mission. But that is all you will learn from me. Because…" Jackal's body started to shine brightly and a twisted grin formed on his lips once again. "YOU'LL ALL EXPLODE WITH ME!" He was about to self-destruct! If he was going down, he would drag them to hell with him!

"He's going to blow up!?" Azur gasped. "Talk about a sore loser!"

"W-What do we do…!?" Melanie began to panic.

"We're not going to lose to you." Happy's wings spread out and he picked up Jackal, beginning to soar into the sky. He ended up having an unexpected passenger in the form of Roy. "Huh…!? H-Heavy!? What are you trying to do!?"

"LET ME GO! BOTH OF YOU!" Jackal couldn't even squirm if he could; this was his last resort after all.

"This is high enough. Thanks, cat." In the next instant, faster than the blink of an eye, Roy knocked Happy down to the ground while keeping a tight hold on Jackal. "Looks like we'll be the only two on this trip to hell, yeah?"

"DAMN YOOOU!" Jackal's final scream was the last thing heard before his body lit up in a massive explosion that would have no doubt destroyed everything within a mile radius.

"ROY…!"

All fell silent and the only thing to fall from the smoke cloud lingering in the air was…Roy's mask. Shaman's Haven was just about ready to mourn when…

"Whew…Now that was a top notch explosion…" Roy's voice came from afar. His outfit was tattered and he looked only slightly worse for wear. Though his mask was off, there was a cloud of smoke covering his face. One could make out yellow eyes, however. "But all's well that ends well, right?"

"Don't scare us like that!" Melanie shouted.

"…I wasn't scared." Mason huffed.

"That was quite a move, Roy." Satoshi tipped his hat to Roy in respect. "One worthy of an Ace. Not bad."

"All in a day's work." Roy responded while picking up and dusting his mask off. "This is gonna take a while to clean…"

While everyone finally had the chance to relax, Wendy took this time to begin healing people. First was Natsu since he had more pressing injuries after dealing with Jackal; Roy was up next despite the fact he insisted he was fine from Jackal's suicide bombing, and then she moved onto Melanie, Azur…and finally Mason. "Mason-san, do you need healing?" Wendy asked.

"Actually…" Mason looked Wendy right in the eyes. His retinas changed to pink, using his Ocular Magic to pull a little prank. The direct high contact with this particular color meant that Wendy would suffer from an insufferable infatuation to the boy. "I do~"

Hearts started to flow from Wendy as Mason's magic worked. But only for a second, Wendy snapped out of the spell herself due to stronger feelings lying elsewhere, plus Carla was quick on the draw to thwack Mason on the head. "Now's not the time for your pranks! Wendy's going through something serious right now."

"Ouch…" Mason rubbed the back of his head, blinking since Carla was in her transformed state. "Wait…when could you…?"

"Not funny." Wendy puffed her cheeks out before healing Mason's injuries. This time she made sure to look away, so he couldn't pull that same trick on her again.

"She's in the middle of something complicated. So don't pull anymore tricks like that, got it!?" Alex pointed at Mason.

She then stomped away from Mason before arriving at Satoshi. "A-Ano…Satoshi-san…can I heal your wounds?"

"That's nice…" Satoshi's kind tone turned to something a bit harsher when conversing with Wendy. "But the last thing I need today is a Dragon Slayer doing anything else for me."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Natsu took offense and was face to face with Satoshi. "We just came to help!"

"And I appreciate that." Satoshi replied. "But my luck would have it be dragon slayers to lend a hand. I don't like dragon slayers at all."

"That's a little rude…" Lucy crossed her arms under her chest.

"It is what it is." Satoshi replied very nonchalantly, though his tone only further aggravated the Fairy Tail mages.

Alex opened her mouth to say something, but she shook it off. "...Whatever."

"Don't let him get to you." Roy commented with a shrug. "What's more important is figuring out what it is Tartarus is after exactly…"

.

.

Erza and Mira was in the house of Crawford Seam, the former Magic Council Chairman until the Tower of Heaven fiasco. He was without a doubt a prime target of Tartarus, and what better protection to leave him in than in Fairy Tail's most reliable duo? The former chairman poured the two drinks which they happily accepted. "Thank you, former chairman." Erza said once finishing her drink.

"It's the least I could do for you two, having come all this way to ensure my safety." Crawford gave that old man smile. "I didn't think Tartarus would resurface so quickly after their defeat in Crocus. They appear to be moving in full swing as well...I worry for the other members of the Council, and the Wizard Saints."

"It's the least we can do." Mirajane smiled sweetly. "We want to make sure that nobody else is hurt or even killed. A lot has happened already and I fear that it's only the beginning of what these demons have in mind…"

"The only thing we can do now is ensure that no harm comes to you." Erza clarified.

"Oh goodness. Such valiant protectors. You've touched this old man's heart…" Crawford chuckled silently. A few more moments of peaceful silence lasted before both females picked up on the growing numbers suddenly forming around them outside. "...?"

"…Looks like we have some uninvited guests…" Standing up, Erza took a quick glance towards Mira who nodded back in response.

"Well then…why don't we take care of them quickly?" Mira said while standing up, wearing a confident smile.

.

.

The scene now shifted to Lamia Scale. Gray, Juvia, Kagura and Blues were sent there to help Lamia Scale in the event that Jura was potentially overwhelmed. Of course Gray and Lyon couldn't get along on this subject for the life of them and ended up arguing. "We don't require your assistance, but feel free to watch how a true Ice Maker works when the demons strike." Lyon smugly told Gray.

"You idiot!" Gray fired back. "If anything, you'll probably slow us down!"

"G-Gray-sama…" Juvia tried her best to ease Gray, but he was too far riled up by Lyon's presence.

"Those two can't get along for anything, can they…?" Blues playfully nudged Kagura, but in the end all he got was a death glare.

"Don't touch me." Kagura bluntly replied, sending a shiver up the blue dragon's spine. "Fraternizing is the last thing we should be doing. Who's on lookout duty right now?"

"Uh…" Blues rubbed the back of his head.

Jura remained calm, despite the fact that he was a potential target. Chelia approached him with a look of worry, however. "Jura-san. What should we do if things get bad? I don't want to even think about leaving you behind."

"Do not worry about me." Jura put on a smile. "If anything, the survival of those here is most important to me. And do not put yourself at risk, Chelia-dono." Without her magic…Chelia was a more vulnerable target than anyone else.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure nothing bad happens to her!" Raven gave a thumbs up. He could also feel Sheri's piercing gaze from behind him burning a hole through his very soul. "….Because if I don't she's gonna kill me."

Just outside the Lamia Scale guild, an unlikely group appeared before guild, all of them aiming for Jura's head: Torafusa, Keith, Silver, and last but not least…Rose. Silver was leading the charge so to speak, cracking his knuckles at the familiar presence he sent waiting inside. "Well, well…looks like the fun is just about to begin…"

.

.

Next Time: Big Brawl!