Black Bull Banishment

by stringdog

To save Asta and Nero from execution following the Elf Incident the Wizard King has struck a deal with Damnatio Kira. What is the deal? Why to banish the Black Bulls to a place called Earth Land for 6 months while he works to clear Asta and Nero's names. What could possibly go wrong with this?

57. Chapter 57: This is How You Party!

Here is the fifty-sevent chapter in this story released later than I would have liked but such is life sometimes. Already the first meeting of the Black Bulls and Fairy Tail in a casual, full Guild, context has started with a bang thanks to Natsu but that's been smoothed over and it's time to really kick the party off as the two Guilds truly mingle for the first tim. What could possibly go wrong? That is all the administrative stuff I have for y'all and the only guest review, which posed a question, is one that I believe I've answered already and if not, well, this chapter will at least lay the ground works for the initial plans in this regard though be advised that when it comes to romance in this story it is not a major focus so anything in that regard is going to be a really slow burn. Anyway, with nothing more to say I'll eave this off here and do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these two great animes.

Chapter 57: This is How You Party!

"Here, Charmy's already prepared the first batch of food, and you could use something after fainting so this will help."

Almost as soon as the party began the remaining awkwardness was broken and quickly groups formed as the Black Bulls were welcomed deeper into the common room of Fairy Tail's Guild Hall while Makarov grabbed Natsu and took him away to punish him for his rudeness in sniffing two of the Black Bulls. Few noticed this, however, as right away Charmy had summoned some sheep cooks and headed to the bar to set up a cooking station while Kinana had gone to help and marvel at how good Charmy's sheep were.

Noelle had seen this and had an idea, so she followed them and waited with the food while the others mingled thus ensuring that she got one of the first plates before bringing it to who she wanted to give it to. Said person was Juvia Lockser who was only just coming too from fainting after being laid out on a table that was a little out of the way of the growing ruckus so that she could recover.

She'd fainted thanks to Grey's antics pretending to be Fairy Tail's Gray after Natsu sniffed her out which had caused Grey to hand Juvia over to Gray and he'd taken her to a table deeper in the common room to lay down. Noelle noted that he was being a gentleman and staying with her while the others broke into groups, but she also saw that he was eying one of the other groups that had formed and was clearly wanting to join in in some vulgar display of masculinity that Asta was getting involved with alongside Elfman, Magna, and Gajeel.

Well, that worked out for Noelle as she wanted to talk to Juvia alone, and while she loved Asta she wasn't going to be around him while he was being so boorish, so she could take over making sure that Juvia was good after her fainting spell and she knew that the food would help so she'd come over and told Gray that she'd look after Juvia but let her know that he'd been there for her. He looked both relieved and, well, Noelle wasn't sure what the other emotion was but he thanked her and headed off. As soon as he was gone, Noelle had spoken and offered the food to Juvia.

"Huh, oh thanks, but, um, wh, what happened?" Juvia said as she sat up on the table and turned to Noelle as she took the food, it was something that could be eaten by hand, so Noelle had provided a napkin as well, and looked at Noelle. "Last I remember I was in heaven with two of my darling Grays shirtless and around me but now there are none of them."

"Well, our Grey who was pretending to be your Gray got really flirty with you which caused you to pass out and so our Grey, still transformed as your Gray, handed you over to your Gray and he held you until the party started and then took you here to recover and watched over you while it started." Noelle said as she stood before Juvia. "But I wanted to talk to you, so I relieved him, sorry for taking you away from your boyfriend but this is easier alone and he wanted to join in the macho stuff going on which doesn't interest me. That and I know that Asta will win any contest, so I'm not worried about it."

"B, boyfriend, oh no, my darling Gray isn't my boyfriend." Juvia said blushing furiously and looking away as she put the plate in her lap but didn't eat yet as her heart fluttered, and she imagined what Noelle had said was true. "I want that but my icy hunk's not ready for me just yet."

"Huh, with everything I've seen I thought that you two were an item." Noelle said surprised. "You're at least confident and open about your feelings though so I thought that…"

"I am but he's yet to reciprocate them unfortunately, or at least tell me that he does if he does." Juvia said with a sigh before she sat up with a determined look in her dark blue eyes. "But I will win him over don't you worry. No hussies will get in my way, I swear it!"

"Well you have my support there." Noelle said with a smile getting Juvia to look at her in surprise. "I really hope that you get him. I'm sure he just needs time; some men are like that apparently."

"Really?" Juvia asked surprised. "You support me?"

"Well yeah, you're a fellow Water Wizard and you can do what I can't, be o, open about your feelings." Noelle said trying to not let her own love for Asta overwhelm her and quickly focusing on the reasons why she wanted to support Juvia and it was more than just their shared abilities with Water Magic. "Plus, it's odd, but I noticed it back in Crocus and now I'm certain, you sound a bit like a good friend of mine back home, she's also associated with water but uses Song Magic and was my first female friend my age. Well, after Mimosa but she's my cousin and it took me a while to get over my own issues and accept Mimosa's friendship as genuine though obviously now I do."

"I do?" Juvia asked still surprised that Noelle was supporting her though she knew that Noelle wasn't a rival for Gray, she was just surprised in general and because, well, one other thing that she had to point out. "But you bit me, remember. Would you bite your friend?"

"Yeah that's actually what I wanted to talk about." Noelle before she bowed in apology to Juvia. "I'm sorry for that, Juvia, I, I was just trying to help my friend out and, well, your body's water so I figured if I could consume some of you, you'd stop strangling Nero. I didn't expect her to seal your body up to prevent me but that was a good idea as I'm still getting used to the whole consuming water aspect of my evolved magic."

"Oh, right, yeah I was doing that wasn't I." Juvia said flushing with embarrassment and looking away from Noelle's bow. "I, er, get a bit extreme when dealing with a perceived rival. I know now that Nero is no threat to me but, well, she did dance with Gray at that Magic Ball you were all at before the Grand Magic Games, so I got upset. I'm not good at controlling my jealousy."

"That's only natural, and Nero may not be a threat, but she does like to tease people I feel so I've been there." Noelle said raising herself and smiling at Juvia. "Though I think the dance with Gray was partially to assess him as we were using that to assess some of you who'd been missing when we first arrived in Ear…Fiore, and in part to prevent him from stripping. That's not appropriate behavior at a formal event."

"I know right!" Juvia exclaimed. "Only my eyes should be allowed to take in that feast."

"That's all yours as far as I'm concerned." Noelle said. "And I think Nero will try to make sure that that is prevented at future public events. She did do so at the Grand Ball as well apparently."

"If she does that then I can forgive her." Juvia said. "It is helpful to me after all. Only I should get to see my beloved that way."

"As it should be." Noelle said with a nod though as Gray was already shirtless, again, it was a moot point at the moment. "Though it might be hard for you it seems."

"Alas that is the case but what about you?" Juvia asked. "I noticed earlier that Asta's wearing the same thing he did for the Grand Magic Games; how can you deal with your man always being shirtless and showing off to every girl imaginable, and guy if they swing that way for that matter."

"Asta's not my man!" Noelle shrieked going bright red her pigtails flying into the air and her hands going over her mouth before she calmed down. "And I'm used to that, unfortunately. Once he bulked up even more after we got here, he changed his style up and I've been dealing with it since then."

"Same with my man unfortunately." Juvia said with a chuckle. "And he may not be your man yet, but you want that, don't you? you want Asta just as much as I want Gray, I can tell."

"I, I, I, n, n…" Noelle began stuttering before Juvia quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes." Juvia said bluntly.

"I thought I was hiding it pretty well." Noelle muttered.

"Really? The only one who's not noticed is probably Asta himself." Juvia said. "It's clear as day that you love him and have for a long time. I've barely seen you two interact and I can tell, which is good as I usually presume that a woman is a rival when I first meet her."

"Well, er, yeah I do." Noelle said with a sigh of resignation. "But I only just realized that myself and don't tell anyone. Asta may be dense but even he might realize if someone told him before I got a chance to confess, not that that I'm anywhere close to that at the moment."

"That can happen, I'm still waiting for Lucy to finally accept she loves Natsu and then I can no longer fear her taking Gray from me but until she does, she'll still be a rival." Juvia said glad to hear that Noelle could at least admit her feelings, that was better than what Lucy could do at the moment. "She needs to get on that right away."

"Wait, she's not dating him?" Noelle asked blinking. "But I thought that they were a couple just like you and Gray. They seem so close and couply from what I can tell, especially after the whole Naval Battle event and what Minerva tried to do to her."

"No, same as you and your man it seems." Juvia said shaking her head. "That and Natsu's as dense as Asta when it comes to things like this, at least I'm pretty sure he is."

"Somehow that's not hard to believe at all." Noelle said. "Men can be like that. At least you don't have to worry about that, you're so open about your feelings."

"Yes my darling Gray knows that I'm his and always will be." Juvia said with a smile before looking at Noelle as she came to a decision. "I can help you there if you want? You're not a threat to me and you support me, so I'll support a fellow water maiden in love."

"Er, well, I appreciate it but…" Noelle began blushing, but Juvia gave her a look and Noelle sighed again as she did her best to be as honest as possible about a subject that until very recently, she was lying to herself about. "I can't be like you, that's not in my nature but, well, I could use some help in a few regards. I've only just come to terms with my feelings and, well, I'm struggling to even look at Asta without blushing and stammering now that things have settled down and there's no distractions like dragons or a fancy reception that I need to show my royal training at. I want Asta to see me as a woman and give me a chance to win his love but, well, it's hard when I can barely meet his eye at the moment."

"And on that allow Juvia the love expert help out a fellow Water Wizard." Juvia said her tone happy and really reminding Noelle of Kahono as she spoke. "And friend, if you want."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Noelle said smiling. "We should be friends and we can help out in other ways; I need to get better with Water Magic and you're one of the best people possible to train with there."

"And who knows what I can learn from a Dragon Slayer." Juvia said as she finally began to eat, her eyes going wide at it. "Woah, this is good, really good."

"Isn't it? Charmy makes the best food though as her friend and guildmate I am rather biased there." Noelle said with a smile. "She insisted on it, and she loves to share with her friends, so this is a good sign for the relationship between our Guilds, I'm sure of it."

"That is what this party is about, making new friends even if we're rivals when it comes to the top spot in the Guild Rankings and don't think we've not forgotten about that." Juvia said with a laugh. "I do owe Charmy some payback after she knocked me out of the Battle Royale after all."

"Ha, bring it, we're not going to relinquish that spot." Noelle said laughing as well. "We're staying at the top."

"We'll see next year." Juvia said as she finished the food that Noelle had brought her and changed the topic back to the most important matter for them. "Alright, what do you need help with when it comes to Asta? I'm here for you Noelle."

"Well for starters, how can I…" Noelle began as she and Juvia fell into a conversation of love and how Noelle could get Asta to notice her the way she wanted him to notice her.

As they spoke, Noelle couldn't help but feel that this was just what the Wizard King wanted for them, a bond between the Guild that took him in when he came to Earth Land and the Black Bulls. This was a start for Noelle, and she knew that the others would be doing their best as well, so she left them to it as she and Juvia continued their discussion that soon moving on from love to Water Magic training and tips there given their different approaches and skills with the element.

---

"You like him, don't you. Asta that is."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement and it caught Mimosa off guard and made her go bright red as she turned to see a cute girl with short white hair in a pink tank top, blue pants and sandals coming over to her smiling as she waved to get Mimosa's attention. Mimosa knew that her reaction gave things away and she glanced around to make sure that no one else had heard but she was being honest to herself now and wanted to get stronger to be able to stand alongside the man she loved so she shouldn't hide it as Lisanna Strauss approached.

Mimosa had only just finished healing Cana after Grey had, rightfully, thrown her through a railing and into the wall and was just getting some food to replenish her magic as something told her that she might need to heal people again before the night was up, when Lisanna had called out to her. Mimosa didn't know the other girl at all, she only knew who she was thanks to Nero's descriptions of the various members of Fairy Tail and the fact that her older siblings had been on Fairy Tail's two teams in the Grand Magic Games so that had been used as part of Nero's explanation for the members who'd been missing for 7 years.

As such, it was a surprise to see Lisanna approach her, but Mimosa just choked down her food and tried to control her blush at what Lisanna had said to her as the other girl reached her. They were here to make friends and forge a strong bond with Fairy Tail after all and this was a good start for her, plus if Lisanna could tell then she might be able to help Mimosa out in this regard.

"Y, you can tell?" Mimosa asked as Lisanna reached her. "Th, that I, er, like…"

"Well, it's hard not to." Lisanna said with a shrug and a smile as Mimosa tailed off unable to admit out loud that she liked Asta. "You approached him during the wedding dress thing after my sister's battle with Jenny devolved into, well, whatever you call that massive fan service event."

"Don't remind me, that whole thing was humiliating." Mimosa said going bright red at the memory of what Vanessa had dragged them into and some of the really embarrassing outfits that she'd worn during it. "T, though I did like the wedding dress part. I got to imagine what it would be like to be with him and that was really nice."

"I thought so." Lisanna said still smiling. "Plus you danced with him at the Ball."

"So did Noelle, and Erza and Nero." Mimosa pointed out. "And Noelle and Nero were with Asta for the wedding dress thing as well, not that I minded really as I got to pretend to be his bride but, well…"

"And two of those girls aren't threats." Lisanna said as Mimosa again trailed off. "Erza clearly did that because of their duel, there's no romantic feelings there between them just a deep respect that can only be forged by trying to beat a fellow warrior of equal skill, while I can tell that Nero isn't into Asta like that. Not sure why I can tell that, but I can. I mean just one look at them together and I can see that she's loyal to him but like a sister if that makes sense."

"Not really, I'm always a little envious of Nero's closeness to Asta as she can get closer than anyone when she's in her bird form, especially because she likes to sit on his head when she's a bird." Mimosa admitted before she realized. "Wait, what about Noelle? She, she couldn't…"

"Oh she's a threat alright and a big one." Lisanna said as she glanced over to see Noelle talking with Juvia and she got a feeling that they were talking about the same topic that she was talking to Mimosa about only from Noelle's perspective. "But you're her friend, right? So you've ignored the threat that she poses."

"She's also my cousin and in a lot of ways a role model for me." Mimosa said as the pang of jealousy she often got when thinking of Noelle and Asta's close friendship flared up, but she quickly pushed it away as she continued. "We, um, both come from well established families back home where everyone has a lot of magic, so they don't practice as they don't need for the most part seeing as it comes naturally to us but not Noelle. She really worked hard to control her magic and get where she is and I've always admired her for that, it's inspired me to train as well so even if I do get jealous of her and Asta's close friendship, I treasure our friendship as well and wouldn't let that get in the way."

"I see, that's good." Lisanna said smiling at Mimosa's answer as it showed that despite the fact that Noelle was a rival, Mimosa wasn't going to let that get in the way of their friendship. "But what about Asta? You clearly love him."

"Well, er, yeah but please don't tell him or Noelle." Mimosa said flushing. "I, I've known for a while that I like him, you know, like, like him. It's why I get nervous around him a lot of the time, but only recently have I been able to accept the depth my feelings for him. However, I'm not at the point where I can confess because, well, part of why I love Asta is his hard work and how that has made him strong so I want to be able to stand by his side before I can tell him and I'm not there yet. I'm going to train harder now though so I can be."

"Admiral if tough seeing as you're talking about the man who beat Erza Scarlet and here that's no small feat." Lisanna said a little taken aback by Mimosa's desire, but she could hear the conviction in the other girl's voice and knew it to be true. "I'm not sure if you realize just how big of a deal that is. People are going to be talking about their duel for years to come, that's how big it is."

"Oh, we do, it's been made clear to us just how huge Asta beating Erza is." Mimosa said recalling Asta's new status with a smile but not mentioning it as Yami had directed them to keep quiet about it as he was going to be the one to drop it when the time was right tonight. "But all that's done is inspire me to work even harder to be by his side and then I can tell him how I feel."

"Well, you have my support and help in accomplishing that, I'm fully on your side Mimosa." Lisanna said giving Mimosa the support she knew that she was going to give when she first realized how Mimosa felt and how they were similar in a way. "As soon as I saw that you liked him and realized the situation that you're in, well, I knew that I had to help you in any way that I could. You still have a chance I feel, unlike me."

"Huh?" Mimosa asked surprised blinking at Lisanna. "What do you mean? You're in a similar situation to me Lisanna?""

"Kinda only my love will never come to be unfortunately I fear." Lisanna said with a sigh. "It's not through any fault of my own, I was trying and even with how dense he is I was sure that I could succeed in the end, but circumstances changed for me that are too long to go into now. I'll tell you the full story one day but for now suffice it to say that once I returned, I'd already lost. I can't compete with Lucy."

"Wait, you like Natsu?" Mimosa asked surprised instantly knowing who it was at the mention of Lucy. "I didn't expect that."

"Yup, have ever since we were little and growing up in the Guild together." Lisanna said looking around but noting that Natsu was still being punished by Gramps for earlier. "We were the ones who found Happy's egg and helped hatch it and raise him. I saw it as playing house with Happy as our child, Natsu didn't get it of course but oh well it was great for me and one step towards what I wanted. Alas, an incident happened on a mission and I, er, went missing for a few years. Recent events allowed me to return when I never thought I would be able to but by then Lucy had arrived and I think you've seen them enough now to get it."

"Yeah she's clearly into him, anyone but Natsu and Asta can see that." Mimosa said also looking around and surprised that Natsu wasn't present as she expected him to be with Lucy, but he wasn't. "But surely you can still try? This is a man who's so dense that he doesn't realize two girls like him and the other girl is clearly in denial, at least I think so from what I've seen."

"I can but I've known Natsu long enough to know that Lucy's already won even if he doesn't realize it and she's in denial." Lisanna said a note of sadness in her voice. "But that just means that I can still support him as best I can and help out someone else who's not yet in my boat, like you. You've got your own Lucy to contend with, but I think that you still have a shot and I'll support you there as much as I can."

"Well, I doubt that Noelle feels the same way for Asta that I do but thank you, I do need support both to get stronger and be more confident around Asta as I still get shy easily around him even after living in the same Guild Hall as him for the last two years." Mimosa said which surprised Lisanna, apparently Mimosa could be dense when it came to her cousin because anyone with two eyes could see that only Juvia's crush on Gray was more evident than Noelle's on Asta. "And for what it's worth, I don't think you're out of the running with Natsu."

"That's nice of you to say that." Lisanna said. "But I think I am so please let me help and support you so that at least you can be with your love."

"Um ok but know that I'm supporting you as well, you can do it too Lisanna." Mimosa said deciding right then that she was going to help Lisanna in return even if it was an uphill battle. "Thank you."

"Good, let's meet up soon, I'll get my sister involved and she'll whip you into shape." Lisanna said smiling at Mimosa's support even if she felt like it was a lost cause and as such wouldn't get her hopes up. "Literally. If you want to be stronger then Mira's the best for it."

"Yeah I get the feeling that she can be like my cousin Mereoleona and that's, um, not a good comparison as she's scary and the strongest person I know besides the Wizard King." Mimosa said her eyes lines at the thought of what Mereoleona called 'training' as others had a different word beginning with t for it. "But thank you, I do want to get stronger."

"Great, I'll go talk to Mira and help set it up though that looks like it will have to wait as my brother's getting into trouble and it seems like Mira has her own plans tonight." Lisanna said as she scoped out the room once again and noted what her older siblings were currently up to, and which needed her immediate attention. "Plus I'm not the only one that wants to talk to the top healer in Fiore."

"Huh, I am?" Mimosa said blinking. "That's news to me."

"Well yeah we all saw what you did, you're on a whole other level here when it comes to Healing Magic." Lisanna said recalling Mimosa's healing spell after the Grand Magic Games and then again when she healed people after the dragon attack. "That fight with the dragons would have been so much worse without you. I know you said you want to be able to stand by your love's side, but your own skills are incredible, don't forget that Mimosa."

"Thanks." Mimosa said flushing at the praise. "F, for everything Lisanna."

"We have to help each other out after all." Lisanna said as she heard her brother give a manly roar as he began what he was doing. "But excuse me, my loudmouth brother is making a scene and I need to make sure it doesn't escalate, you understand, I'm sure."

"Only too well though at least your brother's a good guy and not an annoying classist prick that you want to punch in the face over and over whenever he opens his dumb mouth." Mimosa said thinking of her own brother. "So that's good."

"You'll have to tell me about him as well when we hang out and I'll tell you all about my adventures over the last few years." Lisanna said with a smile before she turned. "Right, now to make sure that Elfman isn't breaking anything."

Mimosa just smiled at that her heart feeling a bit warmer. She knew that trying to win Asta's heart was going to be hard given how dense he was, but she wasn't going to quit, Asta never gave up after all, and he was the man she loved so she was going to do all she could to win it which included getting help from Lisanna and her older sister. With that new resolve, Mimosa was about to head after Lisanna as Asta was in the same area as where she was going but before she could a new voice spoke to her having approached her from the behind.

"Um, excuse me Miss Mimosa, but could I ask you something?"

Mimosa blinked at the formalness of the address and turned to see the young Wendy Marvel standing behind her having come over while she was talking to Lisanna. This would explain what Lisanna meant by not being the only one who wanted to talk to her as it was clear what Wendy wanted to talk to her about.

"Of course, what do you want to ask." Mimosa said smiling at Wendy. "And there's no need to be formal, Mimosa is fine."

"Right, sorry, just, well, you're amazing at Healing Magic." Wendy said speaking up as she looked up at Mimosa while pointedly ignoring the fact that Mimosa could rival any of Fairy Tail's best in the bust department. "I saw what you did with Cana just now and that explains how the Black Bulls were always so healthy even after the injuries that Magna and Luck suffered in their loses. Plus, I heard about that area heal you did after the Battle Royale; how did you manage that?"

"Thank you." Mimosa said taken aback by Wendy's forwardness, but she knew that the young Dragon Slayer was one of only a few Earth Landers capable of Healing Magic so it made sense that she'd want to get some tips from Mimosa about it. "And it was thanks to training with my grimoire and the nature of my magic being primarily Healing Magic. It's how magic works on our continent."

"Do, do you think you can explain a bit more to me?" Wendy asked. "I want to be a better healer so I can help out just like you do for your Guild, well for everyone really as you don't need a reason to heal someone who's in need of it."

"Of course, I completely agree with that, though I don't know how well my magic would translate to yours, but I'll do what I can." Mimosa said. "Let's take a seat and I'll explain how my magic works so you can understand it as I'm aware that on this continent Healing Magic has basically vanished."

"Thank you and yes here it is considered a Lost Magic." Wendy said happily as they moved to a table while two sheep cooks suddenly appeared with food for them, and Carla began to make her way over to join them though she approved of who Wendy was talking to. "I really appreciate this."

"I'll do what I can to help but I use Plant Magic not, well, Sky Dragon Slayer Magic so it's a bit different." Mimosa said as they sat. "But basically I've always had an affinity for Healing Magic. In my homeland you tend to have certain avenues that you're best at when it comes to magic be it attack, defense, support, healing, or some other kind of magic. You can do other, I've got good support and some attack magic, but healing is my forte and what I'm best at."

"That's fine, I'm trying to learn more attack magic as well but I'm best with enchantments, support, and healing." Wendy said. "So any advice is helpful as I'd like to get better at healing."

"Alright well then I guess I'll start by showing you my spells, they work like…" Mimosa began as the sheep cooks reached them and Mimosa started to explain things to Wendy as best she could.

Wendy listened intently and asked her own questions as they chatted, they were the two healers in the room after all and she knew that she had a lot that she could learn from Mimosa. Even if Wendy couldn't replicate things, just the general skills and the theory or magic behind the spells were enough to help her and she knew the others were doing the same, so she had too as well. That was what this night was all about after all, getting to know the Black Bulls and bond with the newest, and currently best, Guild in Fiore.

---

"Almost there!"

"I've got this! I…"

Just as Lisanna reached the table there was a slam and the result that she'd expected the moment she began walking over happened as Elfman drove Magna's hand into the table with a boom. She just chuckled as she reached them and stood behind her brother to look over his shoulder.

"I see that your having fun brother." Lisanna said as Elfman celebrated his arm-wrestling win. "This is just what I'd expect from you though."

"Of course, gotta show these Black Bulls how manly I am." Elfman said grinning and not looking back at Lisanna. "We can't keep losing to them after all. I may have beaten one, but we still lost to them overall so we've gotta make it clear that we're not going to remain in second for long."

Lisanne blinked at that but she did understand it, it was something that her brother would do to test his manliness. She'd gone to chat with Mimosa right away because that was who she wanted to talk to most and after being shooed away from the kitchen Mira had gone to talk to someone herself, but Elfman had instantly targeted Magna for some manliness with Asta, Gajeel, and Lily quickly joining them as soon as they noticed what was going on. Gray had joined them a few minutes later when Noelle went over to talk to Juvia as she regained consciousness thus completing the group at the table.

Of course, Lisanna knew why they were all her and she wasn't surprised that whatever the group had been talking about had devolved into an arm-wrestling contest. In fact, it made perfect sense after what she recalled at the Grand Ball, and she voiced as much in response to Elfman's latest statement.

"Oh yeah that's right, you lost that eating contest that you had at the Grand Ball, didn't you?" Lisanna asked as she put a finger on her chin. "That was a surprise."

"Ha, Charmy's been training us well when it comes to eating." Magna said with a laugh. "But I couldn't resist a more manly contest though clearly I'm not there yet but don't worry, lil rasta here will make up for it."

"You know it Magna!" Asta shouted as Magna slid over on the so that he could sit opposite Elfman as he slammed his right elbow onto the table and held out his hand. "Bring it on you even more jacked Yami!"

"Huh?" Lisanna asked confused.

"They both keep referring to Elfman like that." Gray said as he and Gajeel stood watching as Elfman grasped Asta's hand and they waited to start. "Apparently he sounds like their Guild Master and is even more muscular than he is, it's odd."

"Begin!" Magna cried as Lisanna processed that. "Avenge me and win this Asta!"

Asta just roared, a roar Elfman matched as they began to strain against each other. Lisanna decided to just leave it at that as she watched the two men go at it for a few seconds impressed that someone was able to match her brother's raw strength. Natsu, Erza, and Laxus could probably do so, so in hindsight the clearly muscular man who'd bested Erza in combat shouldn't be a surprise, but it was for a few seconds. That surprise fell away as Lisanna remembered that Asta was the strongest Black Bull behind his Guild Master and he proved it by slowly moving Elfman's hand towards the table.

Gray was shouting at Elfman to not lose to Asta like the rest of them had while Gajeel was berating him for it, both of which was helping as Elfman struggled and tried to stop the descent of his hand, but while he managed to hold off for a few more seconds the end was inevitable. That came when Elfman's arm passed the point of no return and was slammed into the table with enough force to crack it. None of them noticed that though as Asta roared and thrust his arms in the air while Magna cheered, Gray groaned and Gajeel growled.

"Right my turn, move over." Gajeel said as he shooed Elfman to the side and sat down, Lily who'd been on his shoulder to see better hoping off to land on the table and turn to watch the match. "Let me show you how it's done and get some revenge for myself at the same time."

"I know you won't lose this time Gajeel." Lily said as Gajeel slammed his elbow into the table and glared at Asta. "We can't let one loss get to us."

"Yeah, that won't happen again don't worry Lily." Gajeel said. "That was a one off."

"Well this time I don't have my swords for you to bite." Asta said with a grin as he clasped Gajeel's hand and met his glare. "So you might have a chance against me."

"Don't remind me of that brat." Gajeel spat. "I won't make a mistake like that again. If I'd known that your swords were fully enchanted with Wave Magic that surpassed my Iron Dragon Slaying Magic, then I wouldn't have done that. You got lucky, that's all."

"Still, biting a sword that you knew was enchanted with Wave Magic wasn't the brightest move." Lisanna noted and neither Asta nor Magna decided to correct her there as beyond Erza who'd learned fighting Asta they were still keeping the true nature of Asta's power a secret from Fairy Tail, for now at least. "The fact that they worked on Juvia's body should have been a tip off."

"It wasn't Gajeel's smartest moment." Lily admitted with a sigh as Magna began the contest and the pair roared and strained against each other. "But it was the heat of battle and, well, against anyone else it would have worked and given Laxus and Gray openings to attack Asta. Unfortunately, all it did was set Gajeel up to lose which led to Gray's loss as well."

"Not this time though!" Gajeel roared as his hand tipped more and more towards the table. "I will…"

"I won't lose!" Asta roared back as his bicep bulged and he slammed Gajeel's hand into the same spot that he'd slammed Elfman's deepening the crack there. "Ha, take that less angry Vetto!"

"Huh?" Lisanna asked.

"That one I don't get." Gray said as Gajeel growled. "At least we know who your Guild Master is."

"Gajeel sounds like some scary Beast Wizard who was part of a Dark Guild back home." Magna explained. "We beat him when he was attacking an Undersea Temple that we'd gone to in order to retrieve an item for a job we'd accepted."

"Yeah well you sound like a giant chicken that I beat with ease on Tenrou." Gajeel snarled as he slid over for Gray to sit down though he didn't just yet. "Took me a while to place you but I have."

"Giant chicken?" Asta asked.

"I didn't see it but when we were attacked by a Dark Guild on Tenrou Island, this was during the S-Rank exam and right before we ended up frozen in stasis for 7 years, two of their lower ranked members attacked Levy who was taking the exam with Gajeel as her partner." Lily explained. "Gajeel saved her and won but one of them was an anthropomorphic chicken thing apparently. As an exceed I don't really find it that odd that there are similar beings based off other animals."

"He was odd but Dark Guilds are like that." Gajeel said. "And I easily beat his ass."

"Tell us about it, the man we beat in that Temple was more beast than man." Magna said. "Well, Asta beat him with help, I was knocked out early unfortunately, so I missed the good part."

"Yeah but it was a team effort and you and Luck started it." Asta said. "We needed all of us to beat him."

"True, he was something else, Wizard Saint level easy." Magna said.

"The chicken wasn't that." Gajeel grumbled. "But I did beat him on my own, well with Levy's help."

"Hey Gray, you not going to avenge us?" Elfman asked ignoring the chat about what went down on Tenrou 7 years ago and whatever the Black Bulls were going on about and looking at Grey. "Aren't you manly enough to try at least?"

"Nah, I think he doesn't want to lose to Asta for a third time." Magna said. "Right?"

"Oh hell no, this mark means I won't lose a second time though I did fail that against Asta." Gray said jabbing the Fairy Tail Guild Mark on his bare chest before he sat down opposite Asta goaded into facing him. "That applies to battle though, this is just a test of strength after all and I'm sure I can beat you."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up and show me." Asta said with a grin as he held his hand out. "I want a clean sweep of you three. Course there are others after this, I want to see what Erza, Laxus, Mira, and Natsu can all do as well."

"Not going to happen." Gray said. "This won't be like the last two times; you don't have your swords, so I've got this."

"Hell yeah show him Asta!" Magna said. "You got this!"

"So manly Gray!" Elfman roared. "Beat him for all of us!"

"Don't lose or I'll smack you." Gajeel growled.

"Win this Gray." Lily said. "We need a win at least."

"Alright enough trash talk!" Magna shouted cutting them all off before it devolved any further. "Begin!"

Lisanna just chuckled as she watched Asta take on a third fairy in arm wrestling before she left the boys to their contest of manliness and looked around to see where to head next. She didn't even need to see or hear it to know that Asta had won, this was raw strength and he'd beaten Elfman so she didn't expect Gray would be able to beat him even if she did support her guildmate.

Still, this was good as it helped their bonds and motivated Fairy Tail to get even stronger, which was just what they needed after coming within a few points and one battle of winning the Grand Magic Games. Besides, as Lisanna walked she noticed another contest brewing and was sure that this was one that Fairy Tail wouldn't lose.

---

"I hear that you're the heaviest drinking in the Black Bulls. I can't let something like that slide unchallenged."

Vanessa had just gotten a drink from the bar and turned to see Cana Alberona behind her holding a large barrel of booze under each arm and a determined look on her face. She'd been fully healed up thanks to Mimosa and as soon as she had been she gathered two barrels of booze before. heading straight over to Vanessa to challenge her. She'd heard tales of the Drinker Witch, Fiore's number 2 model and number 1 heaviest female drinker during the 7-year disappearance of most of Fairy Tail and, well, Cana couldn't let her unofficial crown be taken from her without a challenge now, could she?

As such, she'd waited for the right moment to challenge Vanessa and that moment had come to her with this party. Now it was time to find out who was Fiore's heaviest female drinker though as Vanessa already had a drink she was ahead, and Cana needed to catch up.

"Wait, on sec." Cana said as she put the barrels down and walked to the bar. "Hey, can I have what she's having in the same type of mug?"

Kinana, who was behind the bar at this point as no one could compete with Charmy's cooking both for speed and taste, though she had learned a lot from the little Black Bull who was still manning the cooking area, smiled and nodded as she poured Cana the same drink that she'd just poured Vanessa and in the same sized tankard. She then passed it to Fairy Tail's heaviest drinker who nodded her thanks and turned to Vanessa.

"Well what do you say?" Cana asked as she raised her tankard to Vanessa. "Fancy a contest? I'll wager my bra that I can out drink you."

At that Cana took a deep drink from her tankard before letting out a sigh of relief at it. Vanessa just blinked at the Fairy Tail member before her.

Vanessa had to admit, she didn't know much about Cana beyond her brief appearance in the Grand Magic Games, the seemingly cheat spell she used to win the make-up even after Erza owned Pandemonium, and that like her she was a lecherous drunk. The last part was clear given that she was just wearing what looked like a black bra and pants with the former showing off a level of cleavage that almost rivaled Vanessa's own and allowed for the black Guild Mark on Cana's left abdomen to be clear.

Certainly, it was an intriguing offer and Cana had shown some respect by not chugging her drink, in fact from a glance Vanessa was impressed that she'd drunk just enough to catch up with Vanessa which showed a level of talent that few could match. It als showed that Cana was serious and, well Vanessa wasn't one to back down from a challenge like this.

Well, that and there was something more about Cana that Vanessa couldn't quite place just yet but whatever it was, it made not only want to accept the challenge but beat her in a way she'd not felt since she'd challenged Charlotte though this wasn't about a love rival. No, this was something different and potentially deeper and it made Vanessa determined to drink Cana under the table.

"Alright, you're on." Vanessa said with a grin as she teasingly lifted away part of her dress and lowered herself a bit to show Cana the lacy bra that she had on that matched her dress while also giving the woman a full eyeful of her ample bosom knowing how much the girl liked to fondle Lucy's breasts from her earlier actions. "I'll stake this on beating you. No one can best me when it comes to drinking."

"Hell yeah! That's just what I want to hear!" Cana said enjoying the view that Vanessa gave her before she rose and wondering if Vanessa's boobs were as bouncy as Lucy's though she doubted it. "Let's do this! Grab your barrel and well go mug for mug!"

At that Cana picked up one of the barrels, Vanessa noting that there were spigots at the bottoms of both for easy pouring, and headed to a table. That was some impressive raw strength but beyond Asta and Yami no one that Vanessa knew in their world really used physical strength because magic was everything there. As such she just used her threads to bind the barrel and then left it over her head with ease as she followed Cana to one of the tables where Cana had already set up her barrel.

Vanessa just placed hers on the table next to it, it was just wide enough for both to fit with the spigots over the edge and sat down opposite Cana. As soon as she did, Cana again raised her now half empty tankard to Vanessa and this time Vanessa cheers her with her own tankard.

"To a fair contest." Cana said.

"A fair contest." Vanessa said and both drank deeply to finish their tankards though they both savored the booze before they turned at the same time and broke open the barrels to refill their tankards. "Though one rule, no chugging. We need to show this, er, wine it seems, the respect that it deserves."

"Of course, we'll go cup for cup but like me I know you can drink fast while appreciating it at the same time." Cana said as they clinked tankards again and drank. "Though I won't lose to you. We've lost too much to you Black Bulls; it's high time that we got one on you."

"Not going to happen, I won't lose this, especially not to you." Vanessa said as she set her half empty tankard down on the table as it finally hit her why she wanted to not only beat but thoroughly destroy Cana. "I refuse to lose to someone who sounds like my mother and I can't stand her."

"Oh, got mommy issues then." Cana teased grinning at Vanessa as she finished her second tankard with Vanessa just a hair behind and they went to refill them. "That's unusually, usually it's daddy issues that cause heavy drinking and what not, I should know seeing as I've got plenty of those."

"Well the woman who gave birth to me, I refuse to see her as family, was a right bitch to me growing up." Vanessa said as she drank deeply from her third tankard, the alcohol loosening her up a bit. "Though thanks to her I know what real family is and to me that's the Black Bulls."

"I feel the same about Fairy Tail." Cana said sympathizing with Vanessa as she finished her third tankard and began pouring her fourth with Vanessa doing the same. "My dad basically abandoned me and my mom and only just learned of me though that was partially my fault for not telling him despite being a part of Fairy Tail for years. He's trying a bit now but he's always away on long jobs."

"What I wouldn't give for that to have been my mother." Vanessa said as she drank. "That would have been so much better than what my mother did."

"You can top that?" Cana asked as she too drank. "My mother left my dad because he was so busy with his work before realizing she was pregnant with me and then died when I was 6 leaving me to find him on my own. I came here and waited for him but never had the courage to tell him at the time, though I did end up joining."

"Please, that's idyllic compared to being locked in a cage under her house and suspended in the dark until you mastered some form of magic that she was certain that you'd learn one day." Vanessa said as Rouge mewled from her shoulder while she finished her fourth tankard this time ahead of Cana though she made sure to not refill just yet. "That's what my mother did to me. Course I do know that magic now thanks to her."

"That worked?" Cana asked. "Locking you in a cage that is."

"Nope, and it never was going to but thankfully I escaped that." Vanessa said as Cana finished her drink. "No, she tried to kill my friends with another friend when I went back to her to get her help as despite everything, she is one of the strongest and most knowledgeable wizards on our continent so likely the only one who knew how to heal a certain curse. I knew that we might need her help, but I wanted to sort it out alone. The others showed up with one of my, er, I guess you can call her a sister, and one thing led to another, and I learned it. Long story though."

"Ha, well then let's trade over the story of how I finally told my father that he's my father on Tenrou Island right before all that shit that ended with us being trapped in stasis for 7 years went down." Cana said as she refilled her drink while Vanessa did the same before she raised it across the table. "To shitty parents, am I right?"

"To shitty parents!" Vanessa cried cheersing with Cana before both drained their tankards though not by chugging them and slamming them on the table with equal sighs of pleasure at the booze they were drinking. "Though before that, what the hell is the deal with Natsu and Lucy? Can't he see what's right in front on him? She couldn't be less subtle if she tried!"

"Well, when it comes to Lucy's bouncing boobs he can, in fact a little birdie, well kitty to be precise, told me that he even copped a two-handed feel of them during the dragon attack and as someone who's fondled those impressive globes myself, I know what that's like." Cana said as she and Vanessa refilled their tankards. "But if you mean the fact that she's totally in love with him, no, no he can't see that. The boy's about as dense as a block of lead."

"I figured." Vanessa said as she took a deep pull from her tankard. "It's not hard to see that she's into him."

"Then again I could ask you the same thing." Cana said as she matched Vanessa's drink. "Does Asta not see what's in front of him either? In fact, he's got two from what I can tell."

"Please, Asta tops Natsu for sheer density, that boy's got two royal beauties into him and has no clue." Vanessa said shaking her head. "Though Noelle is clearly in denial and Mimosa's so shy when it comes up it's going to take a while before either of them are ready."

"Yeah I know the denial part, Lucy's clearly deep in that." Cana said finishing her drink. "Man, the men of our Guilds are blind bats it seems."

"Tell me about it." Vanessa said as she poured her next one with Cana keeping up though both were starting to slur their words now. "But they'll realize in the end, we just need to support our ladies, and beat sense into our men."

"Amen to that sister!" Cana said cheersing again with Vanessa as they drained another tankard and began to refill. "Alright now tell me about that bitch mother of yours, I need to hear something more depressing than my father and his roaming and philandering."

"Oh I got you beat there but you own me that story as well." Vanessa said as she drank. "Basically it all started when my mother's magic told her that I'd develop an ability she wanted to exploit back when I was…"

From there Vanessa explained her story which she was able to maintain within the bounds of Earth Land knowledge despite the alcohol as she'd rehearsed it enough just in case she had to tell it when drunk while Cana questioned her and then told her own. It was a good moment of bonding that was followed up with a second barrel each and more chat about how their fellow female guildmates were in love with clueless men and laughing about it. The pair were done for the rest of the evening and would pass out without realizing what else was going on with neither claiming to have lost the contest in the morning.

---

"I must say that Transformation Magic of yours is really something else, I've never seen anything that deep before."

The voice caught Grey off guard, and she let out a wail of surprise before turning to see a stunning white-haired woman in a simple dress smiling at her. Grey of course knew who Mirajane Strauss was, she'd seen her pictures and that embarrassing match between her and Jenny was still etched in Grey's memory, and nightmares, but she'd not expected her to come over to where Grey was and talk to her. It had taken all of Grey's willpower to not transform or hide under a table in her true form but she'd managed it by sitting at a table and trying not to talk to anyone as her crippling shyness overtook her.

It didn't help that she'd started things off with being singled out by Natsu sniffing her and realizing that she'd been the shop clerk who'd served him and a few others at their Magnolia store which had led to showing off her magic. True she liked to be other people and had fun with it, mimicking someone as strong yet feminine as Erza was something else for her, but it had ended with Cana groping her when she'd turned into Lucy, and she'd thrown her through a railing for it.

That was a fair reaction to such and act, of course, but it was still embarrassing and as soon as the party had started, she'd found a place away from the action to sit and recover from all the attention she'd already received. Unfortunately, it seemed that Mira had other ideas for her.

In this regard Grey was right, Mira did have other ideas for Grey which had come to her when she'd seen just how good Grey's Transformation Magic was. There was another Black Bull that Mira wanted to talk to, one who was casually leaning against the railing while standing behind it on the raised section that bordered the room and who was being antisocial save for occasionally tossing those stinkbugs onto fairies for fun, but she'd already had one chat with him so that could wait. First came Grey.

"Th, thanks." Grey said as Mira smiled at her and she broke eye contact going red in embarrassment. "I, I'm pretty good at using my magic to transform into other people, I've, er, had a lot of practice at it."

"I can tell." Mira said. "Can I join you?"

"Oh, er, s, sure." Grey said a little taken aback by it but nodding which got another smile from Mira as she sat sit opposite Gray, her brain going haywire over why Mira would want to chat with her especially because Nero had mentioned what Mira's skill was which Grey had to bring up. "B, but aren't you the main cook here? I, I've heard of your magical skills too, and, well, w, we all saw it in the Grand Magic Games during your battle, you're kinda like Asta in that regard, b, but you're also the cook, right?"

"I'm in charge of the kitchen yes." Mira said still smiling as she nodded at Grey's question. "But your friend Charmy insisted on taking charge tonight given that we invited you, and after one taste, well, I can't compete with her sheep. Plus, she's right, we're hosting you so the least she can do is cook for us as thanks for this. It is our food but, well, she's got skills even I don't when it comes to cooking."

"Charmy's good with food." Grey said smiling. "She's always cooking for us, it's nice and her way of showing she cares about her friends. Plus her mana recovery food is really useful."

"I've heard about that but alas I've not had the chance to sample it yet." Mira said. "But food that replenishes your Ethernano, that's something else for sure. I never thought that that would be possible."

"It's unique as far as I know though admittedly I don't know much about that kinda thing." Grey admitted. "I'm, er, pretty sheltered in my own way because, well…"

"You're very shy but that's not a bad thing." Mira said kindly. "You just need confidence and you'll get that."

"I can be confident when I'm someone else, it's just hard like this." Grey said. "I'm trying though because all my friends support me so I've gotta do my best."

Mira noted her tone and while she didn't pry, she needed to get to know Grey better before she could do that, she got the sense that this ran deeper than just simply shyness and towards some kind of abuse. Given what Mira had dealt with after her parents died and she took on some of the appearance of that first demon that she'd defeated due to not knowing the nature of her magic at the time, she could relate to Grey a bit. Naturally that just made her want to help Grey out even more.

"That's a good way to look at it but there's more." Mira said after a few seconds and getting Grey to glance at her and then back to the table. "You mentioned that Charmy's replenishment food was unique but what about you? Your magic is unlike any I've seen and I use Transformation Magic."

"What do you mean?" Grey asked confused looking at Mira again and managing to look at her for a bit longer before she turned her head away and continued. "It's just Transformation Magic that's all. G, Gauche said that there was more to it because I can transform inanimate objects but I don't know."

"Come again?" Mira asked blinking at what Grey had said. "You can transform inanimate objects?"

"Yeah, just like an illusion though because it's still the same underneath but I've done that before." Grey admitted. "We had a job to retrieve an item from an Undersea Temple a while back but during the job a Dark Guild that wanted the same item attacked and we had to beat them."

"Oh my." Mira said. "So, you have Dark Guilds on your continent as well? I should have guessed."

"Just the one that I'm aware of and we recently beat it." Grey said. "But yeah, they attacked us during our job. Unfortunately, Gauche and I were captured by one of their members so I turned the top of a rock into a hunk of meat to wake Charmy up as she'd been put to sleep by some spell before we were captured so that we could use her power to beat them as you don't want to be the person who tries to steal her food. It was a trick of course but it worked though after it was done, she proceeded to bite the rock thinking that it was meat only to realize that it, was, well rock. I didn't really pay much attention to that because my transformation fell, and I showed my real face to them for the first time. It was so embarrassing!"

At that Grey wailed, went bright red, and buried her face in her hands at the memory. Mira just smiled at that though because the girl had begun to open up and talk more, which was good. She wanted to help Grey and not just because her magic was clearly strong, and she wanted to see just how strong it was but because she needed a confidence boost.

That said, it didn't hurt that what Grey just described went beyond any Transformation Magic that Mira knew. Between what Grey had just said and what she'd shown earlier, Mira had a feeling that there was more to come with Grey when it came to her magic, almost as if the laws of nature might not apply to her if she learned how to use her magic properly.

All of this made Grey fascinating and Mira planned to take her under her wing and train her up but that would take time as she had to win over the girl first though this was just a start. It didn't hurt that before she could say anything, Lisanna suddenly showed up and sat opposite her and next to Grey with a sigh, her arrival getting Grey to look up, wail, and bury her head again at the new arrival who'd just decided to sit next to her.

"Lisanna, you ok?" Mira asked as Grey wailed at another Strauss showing up and socializing as she was at her limit for socialization when not transformed. "You look a bit drained."

"I'm good just had enough mano-on-mano stuff to last the rest of the week." Lisanna said. "Our brother is arm wrestling with the Black Bulls, he can beat any, but Asta and it got a bit much when Gajeel and then Gray too Asta on, so I did some rounds to see and saw you over here with, er, Grey was it."

"Y, yes." Grey said from where her head was in her hands on the table.

"You're Transformation Magic is really good by the way." Lisanna said smiling at her though Grey didn't look over. "Even Mira's isn't like that, so I bet yours is stronger than hers."

"I told her and she knows but enough about magic for now." Mira said and Lisanna picked up on the tone and nodded at that. "We're here to have fun and that's just what we're doing. That said, where's Natsu? He usually unmissable at a party like this but I haven't seen or heard him so far."

"Honestly now that you mention him, I don't know what's taking him so long." Lisanna said looking around and not seeing him or Happy for that matter though with Happy he could be around and just being blocked by someone. "He's probably still getting punished for earlier, that was rude by the way, so I apologize for him Grey."

"Th, thanks, I, I didn't like being smelt like that." Grey said still not raising her head. "That was embarrassing and really creepy and my standards for creepy are high seeing as I know Gauche."

"That it was, and rest assured that Natsu is no doubt punished for that as we speak." Mira said smiling but her tone sending shivers down Grey and Lisanna's spines. "And if that's not enough then Erza and I will rectify that."

"Y, you don't have to." Grey said. "He was just confirming something that was off to him even if he went about it the wrong way."

"It was still the wrong was so we will make sure he pays for that." Mira said. "And I'm sure he'll show up soon and be himself, he does want to talk to Asta again and we will certainly know about that when it happens."

"That will be…interesting." Lisanna said with a smile. "I agree, I'm sure that we'll hear of that the moment it happens."

"Until then though we have peace to enjoy things so let's chat and get to know our new friend here." Mira said. "What do you say Grey?"

Grey just nodded unable to do anything more than that at the moment and Mira smiled before she began a conversation about cooking and comparing her own to Charmy's while Lisanna and Grey joined in, the latter as best she could. The former smiled seeing what her sister was doing for Grey and getting involved as well to help coax the blue haired Black Bull out of her shell, even if it wasn't by much.

The girl needed it, and this was the best time for it and to help deepen their bonds with the Black Bulls just as gramps wanted for them. It was something that Lisanna knew was going on all around them in the other groups that were chatting and getting along over shared interests or booze as the party continued.

---

"So, these are what your grimoires look like up close, fascinating."

The moment that the party started; Levy had quickly sought out who she felt was the best to talk to. This was so that she could finally get her hands on something that she'd wanted to see ever since she'd first seen them during Hidden, the grimoires of the Black Bulls.

The moment that they appeared in the Grand Magic Games and Master Mavis explained what they were Levy wanted to read them and learn what they contained and how they worked. That desire only got greater after the reports on what happened to Noelle's after her magic evolved into Dragon Slayer Magic as her grimoire was added to which was fascinating to Levy.

Of course, the chance to inspect a grimoire hadn't presented itself until now what with the Grand Magic Games, their aftermath, the dragon attack, the Grand Ball, and sorting things out after all that but now that opportunity was here, and Levy had taken it. The whole concept of the books that the Black Bulls used to cast spells were intriguing because while there were spellbooks in Fiore, they weren't soul tied the way the grimoires of the Black Bulls apparently were, nor were they limited to the owner when it came to casting the spells. These were foreign concepts to Levy and as such she had to learn more.

To do so, she'd held back during the initial rush after the party started and then found a Black Bull to talk to about their books. Several of the Bulls were either approached by members of Fairy Tail or approached fairies themselves so Levy wanted to wait and see who was best to approach herself.

That turned out to be the girl who could turn into a bird, Nero if she recalled correctly, and so she approached her to ask about her book. It helped that Nero was a fellow flat chested girl so there was no intimidation in that department the way there would be if she'd approached Vanessa, but that was more Levy's insecurities flaring up and which she pushed aside as she reached Nero and, after introducing herself, asked her if it would be possible to see her grimoire.

For her part Nero was just observing things going on around her, mainly how Noelle had gone to Juvia while Lisanna had approached Mimosa at almost the exact same time as that could be amusing if it went down a path that Nero thought that it would, so she wasn't talking just yet. That was until Levy had come up to her and asked if she could see Nero's grimoire.

Based on what Nero had observed she had expected that Levy would approach one of them to learn about their grimoires, the girl was a voracious reader and the closest that Fairy Tail had to a resident scholar. What she hadn't expected was that the girl would approach her ou of all the Black Bulls, but she wasn't complaining and had no issues handing over her grimoire to Levy to look at as there was no way that she'd be able to use it, or the Sealing Magic spells within.

Naturally, Levy had been thrilled and thanked Nero immensely as she took the book and quickly found a seat at the nearest table to read through it, flicking through the pages and spells as she absorbed the information. Nero just sat down opposite her and waited for to finish reading it, something Nero realized was possible which surprised her a bit, but she just chalked it up to either Levy's own magic or the grimoire itself. Whatever the case, Levy was so engrossed by the grimoire that she'd not looked up at Nero when she spoke at first, it wasn't until Nero didn't respond that she did so.

"I'll admit, I've never seen anything like this." Levy said as she looked at Nero. "It's got spells but there's no way that I can use them. Admittedly my magic specialty is Solid Script Magic not, um, Sealing Magic if I'm reading this correctly, but still, I can tell that only you can use this."

"Well yeah it's tied to my soul, when I die it will disintegrate." Nero said simply not bothering to confirm that Levy was right about her magic. "And on our continent our magic has evolved to be one attribute per person, with some rare exceptions."

"Really, fascinating." Levy said. "I'd heard about the single attribute thing, Master Makarov explained that as he'd seen your grimoires before, but I didn't know about the disintegrating aspect. Do all grimoires vanish when you die?"

"There's one exception to this rule but it's very specific and requires multiple factors that are really complex, and frankly dark, to achieve so it's only happened once to my knowledge though there was a potential second instance that I've not confirmed." Nero said. "Other than that they'll vanish when you die."

"How?" Levy asked. "How does that work?"

"We honestly don't know." A new, soft, male, voice said getting Levy's attention and causing her to look up to see the slightly creepy looking Black Bull with a pale white face, black lipstick, and eyes but who gave off a friendly vibe unlike the creepy one with a nosebleed and sister complex who was currently annoying Laki. "Grimoires are kept in towers in our continent and when you turn 15 you go to one and the grimoire selects you. There is a tower master for each tower, he or she would know more about it but no one in the Black Bulls has ever served as one so none of us can say."

"You also don't have to go to a ceremony, just a tower after turning 15." Nero said as Gordon joined her not that Levy minded as she got a scholarly passion from the man and realized that he might be the best Black Bull to discuss this with and scolded herself for overlooking him because of his appearance. "But most get them in ceremonies."

"Can you use magic before then?" Levy asked.

"Yes, we can use our attribute from birth but it's raw and unfocused without a grimoire." Gordon said as he pulled out his grimoire and Levy noted that the cover was different to Nero's, likely tied to the attribute it had, but like Nero's it had a three-leaf clover on it which was another oddity to her. "When we get these, we can use spells, we can't without one, so it maximizes and focuses our magic."

"Do they come with spells already in them or not?" Levy asked her curiosity getting stronger by the moment. "Because I saw blank pages in Nero's book and according to Lucy, Noelle's began to fill with writing after her magic evolved following the Naval Battle event."

"There are usually a few spells in them when you get them but also blank pages, though it is all dependent on your magic capacity and potential both of which you're born with, as well as other factors." Gordon said. "The blank pages are there to add spells as you grow and develop as a person. I've been working hard to fill in a few of my blank pages with spells suited to helping my friends out even with Poison as my attribute. It's something my father started and I'm hoping the magic in Fiore and your scholarship on the subject and nature of magic can help me there. If you have any ideas I'd be happy to hear them."

"I do and I have plenty more of my own but before that I have a general question and then we can get into specifics." Levy said and Gordon nodded at her to proceed which she did but not until after she glanced around and saw a few of the other grimoires to confirm what she'd seen on Nero's and Gordon's. "Why do both your grimoires have clovers on them? It seems all of yours do, at least the ones I can see."

"I'm not actually sure why but seeing as the kingdom that we come from is called the Clover Kingdom it's not really a surprise that all or grimoires have clovers on them." Gordon said. "I know that Diamond Kingdom grimoires, that's one of the 4 Kingdoms that make up the continent we come from, has a diamond in the center of it as well."

"The other kingdoms are the Heart and Spade Kingdoms and from what I've gathered they have their corresponding symbols on their grimoires as well." Nero said and while Levy got the heart part, she wasn't sure about the spade until she realized that diamond, heart, and spade were card suits and used that as a basis for what to expect, which was aided by how the clovers on the Black Bulls' grimoires matched the club suit as well. "None of us here are from those Kingdoms though so you'll only see clovers on our grimoires."

"Right got it." Levy said before another question his her that she had to ask. "Wait, there are four leaf clovers in nature as well as three leaf clovers, they're just rarer. Does that mean that there are grimoires with four leaf clovers as well?"

"Yes." Nero said bluntly her answer confirming it while also throwing Levy's card suit theory for a slight loop. "And like the real world they're exceptionally rare. I only know of four that have appeared in my time and right now only one is associated with us though the owner isn't here as he's in another Guild that is back home."

"It's said that there's something special about a four leaf grimoire." Gordon added. "That those who receive them are truly exceptional mages and that the grimoire brings good luck. That last part is likely based on how the fourth leaf of the clover represents good luck in our Kingdom."

"The leaves represent things?" Levy asked. "I've never heard of that before though I do know that four leaf clovers are associated with good luck."

"Faith, hope, and love." Nero said simply. "Those are what the leaves of the clover represent in our homeland."

"I see, fascinating for sure." Levy said thinking on it. "I'd like to get my hands on one though I'm not sure what it would be given that unlike you we can use more than one kind of magic here."

"That would be interesting to see." Gordon said agreeing that it was be interesting to see what someone from Fiore would get if they came to the Clover Kingdom. "Theoretically it would likely be your primary magic then."

"But mine's a bit more esoteric as it's Solid Script Magic." Levy said. "So I'm not sure what that would be."

"We've got something called Word Soul Magic, which is kinda similar from what I've gathered, at least in some aspects, so I'm sure it would have some kind of equivalent." Nero said trying not to remember that devil. "Though I'm not sure what Solid Script Magic precisely does as I've not actually seen your magic in action like most of Fairy Tail so I can't say for certain how it would play out in our homeland."

"Oh well basically I can…" Levy began as she got into her magic.

From there it devolved into a discussion of magical scholarship and research which, while interesting to Nero, wasn't her forte as she was more into magical items and how to make them for everyone to use regardless of magic power levels. Gordon, however, was very into magical scholarship and theory and quickly he and Levy were having a detailed discussion on it all while Levy's teammates, who Nero had gathered had feelings for her which she didn't reciprocate, Jet and Droy appeared and hung around them with the latter really enjoying Charmy's food.

All that was good to Nero though as it showed that Gordon was getting along with someone who shared his passion for magical research and reading and could help him with all that. Nero knew that the work that Gordon was doing, which was in no small part to help Henry out, was important so he needed all the help he could get and clearly Levy could provide that help. As such, Nero politely excused herself and left them to it only to almost run face first into Lucy Heartfilia's impressive bust as the blonde approached the table.

"Sorry!" Lucy exclaimed as she leapt back at the last moment her breasts jiggling a little as she almost hit Nero with them. "I was just coming to see what Levy was up too."

Lucy meant that, she was curious as to what Levy was up too and with Natsu still being told off for rudely sniffing two of their guests without said guests' permission she didn't have him to hang out with. Sure, she could have hung out with Gray and Erza, but both were having battle discussions, or competitions, with the stronger Black Bulls while Cana was currently two barrels in and slurring some really inappropriate song with an equally drunk Vanessa that Lucy didn't want to get near, especially if both women tried to grope her. As such she'd come to see what Levy was up to only to almost collide with Nero.

"It's ok and she's having a detailed discussion on magical research, theory, and where the specialty libraries and best books on the subject are." Nero said gesturing and Lucy saw Levy talking with the creepy looking Black Bull that had apparently helped out that Poison Dragon Slayer during the battle and who Wendy said was actually really nice just quiet and a bit shy. "Gordon's pretty intense when it comes to this topic and none of us can match him so he's enjoying talking with someone who shares his passion to some extent."

"Levy can get like that; she loves reading so she'll help anyone who wants to do research on magic, or other topics for that matter." Lucy said with a smile. "But that's a bit beyond me, I prefer fiction to heavy magical theory."

"I'm more about magical items and how to make the, they're focused on curse healing so beyond me as well." Nero said causing Lucy to blink. "So, I was going to just head over to Asta and hang out with him, that usually leads to something interesting."

"Wait up, magical items?" Lucy asked getting Nero's attention. "You can make them?"

"Yes, it's been something that I've done for a while now as my Sealing Magic is well suited to them and I like helping people with them." Nero said giving Lucy the general overview as to why she liked to make magical items. "I must admit, there's way more research and development in Fiore on this front which has been a great help to me and will certainly benefit many people whenever we decide to return to our homeland."

"So all the Black Bull items that have revolutionized the market in the last few years are you?" Lucy asked. "Like the brooms and such? We've only checked your store out once what with the Grand Magic Games and all, so I don't know much about them."

"Most are." Nero admitted. "Some like the communication devices are from our continent only upgraded with Ishgar's knowledge and better understanding of magical items while some like the brooms are just standard things where we're from that we've adapted to better suit the magical levels in Fiore, but the rest are. I've furthered my own research beyond anything I could back home thanks to being here and that alone has made my time here worthwhile."

"Oh, well that's good then." Lucy said still processing things. "We've heard a lot about your items though, it's, er, been busy since we returned so we really haven't had much time to check them out beyond that initial look."

"I bet." Nero said. "Don't worry, we're all getting along now so you'll see more in time. Might even help us in some regards actually as I'm sure there are members of your Guild who understand magical items in ways I don't and I'm always willing to learn more so as to improve my skills."

"That I'm sure as there are a few who do understand magical items." Lucy said. "Though seeing as your close with Asta I'm sure that we'll be spending more time together once Natsu gets back. He's already taken a liking to your guildmate, beating Erza, something he's been trying to do for a while, really lights a fire in his belly after all."

"I'm not surprised by that; we all saw their stunt at the Grand Ball." Nero said which got a sigh from Lucy. "I take it that that was Natsu's idea. Asta would go along with it but not think of it given how the King back home acts. If they'd tried that stunt in our homeland both of them would have been executed on the spot."

"Yup, Natsu was behind that." Lucy said shivering a little at Nero's words as she didn't want Natsu to get executed and glad that their King was more forgiving that Nero's. "It's very him to do something like that."

"I've gathered, I'm actually surprised this whole thing has held together so far." Nero said. "I'd figured that Natsu would have caused issues by now what with his personality and how similar he is to Asta."

"He's still being scolded for sniffing you and, er, Grey was it?" Lucy asked and Nero nodded. "So yeah, expect him later."

"Well then come with me to where Asta is, not only will that get the jealous pair to come over but I'm sure that your boyfriend will show up as well." Nero said causing Lucy to go bright right. "Then things will get really interesting as it will only be a matter of time before one of them sparks something fun."

"He's not my boyfriend." Lucy protested.

"But she loves him." A new voice said, and Nero looked past Lucy as Happy appeared in the air behind her his wings extended. "She loves him so much!"

"I know." Nero said with a nod. "It's obvious."

"Shut it cat!" Lucy said turning but Happy just laughed and flew up out her reach. "Get back here! Don't fly away from me!"

"Come now Lucy, you know it's true." Happy taunted from above her. "You love him, and you really loved when he…"

"Don't you dare go there, cat!" Lucy shouted interrupting Happy but really getting Nero's interest. "You know that was just Natsu being a moron!"

"Ah the Noelle approach to romance, well at least there's no water involved." Nero muttered before she reached out and took Lucy's hand while she continued to shout up at the cackling Happy. "Come on, let's got to Asta and the others and wait for your man to show up while Asta's women appear to make sure I'm not infringing on their territory. Something tells me that this will be good."

Lucy gave up protesting and just let Nero take her over to where Asta was now just with Gray discussion how Gray used his ice swords in battle as Asta was always looking for tips with swords all while he described the Creation Magic he'd seen to help inspire Gray. So far things were progressing normally, but Nero was sure that it wouldn't last, and she was interested in seeing what that would entail while Lucy was just resigning herself to her fate at this point and hoping that Natsu wouldn't do something classic and get their newly returned and revamped Guild Hall destroyed in the process.

---

"Man, nothing, none of the beautiful babes here want to go on a date." Finral said with a sigh as he leaned against Henry's box tears in his eyes before he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be doing that anymore and turned to it to begin bashing his head on it. "No Finral, bad Finral! You have eyes only for Lady Finnes and that's it! Remember that and stop asking all the beautiful ladies out!"

"I see that things are going well for you then." Henry said in his slow voice as he turned to look at Finral. "If you're done attacking my protective box with your head, we could use your input actually. You'd be of great help to what we've been discussing."

Finral was still bashing his head but Henry's words got to him and he suddenly turned to see what was going on. Initially he'd gone around the common area hitting on various Fairy Tail women but they'd all shot him down almost at once, some without him even getting a word out like when he approached Erza and she glared at him, so he'd given up and decided to just hang out with Henry for a bit before deciding what to do next.

What he'd not noticed was that Henry wasn't alone, with him was Warren, the Fairy Tail member with that mind communication ability that had helped coordinate things during the dragon attack, and a dark blond man with a wispy goatee and wearing a black shirt under a brown waistcoat and cream pants. Finral wasn't sure who the man was, but he was certainly in Fairy Tail and the pair had been talking with Henry since the start of the festivities, so Finral had interrupted them.

Said man was Max Alors and he and Warren had come up to Henry after learning that he was the person in the Black Bulls who managed their business side. Max had business experience as a Goods Shop Vendor in the past while Warren had some ideas, so they'd come over to Henry to discuss with him as there were potential joint ventures to get him involved in due to the Black Bulls' skills with magical item development. Finral's appearance was unexpected but not unwelcome as his Spatial Magic would be useful so it was a good idea to talk with him as well, not that Finral had realized this of course.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Finral said as he recovered and looked away from the two fairies in embarrassment at his outburst. "Er, just forget about that."

"Please, we've seen how Juvia can be and you've not met Loke yet but back in the day he was just as bad as you're trying to be." Max said dismissively. "It's perfectly fine."

"Yeah, this is actually quite tame." Warren said. "So don't worry about it."

"See, all is good Finral." Henry said. "Now, we could use your help."

"Really?" Finral asked. "Er sure I guess I can see if I can help. What's up?"

"Well Max and I have some item ideas that we're developing but we could use assistance in improving and distributing them." Warren said introducing his guildmate. "And that's were the Black Bulls come in. In the last 2 years you've built a reputation for producing high quality, good, items that have changed things on Ishgar what with brooms making travel easier along with your storage devices, improvements to communication devices, and what not, and that's not factoring in your delivery system. Bluntly speaking, there's no one that can really compare to you, Finral. Your portals are all but unique here."

"It's why we can charge a premium for delivery; we are the only Guild that can guarantee same day delivery anywhere in Fiore or the neighboring Kingdoms." Henry said smiling. "And thanks to your magic here, Finral's range has increased."

"That it has but I'm still being used as a delivery boy and high-priced taxi service." Finral said with a sigh. "I know it's really helped out the Guild but there is more that I can do."

"I know, we saw that firsthand." Warren said. "You dominated Chariots thanks to your power and on top of that I was there with you in the battle with the Sea King Dragon and the support you provided the other battles afterwards, we couldn't have coordinated it better. Your eye and placement are second to none, likely because of your magic."

"You think." Finral said cheering up though he did wish that it was a pretty girl and not Warren complimenting him. "Thank you."

"Which is why partnering with the Black Bulls is key." Max said. "Of course, the fine details will need to be worked out, especially if we're to partner with your member who actually makes the items, but with the delivery system you offer we can beat any competitor."

"And your skills with magical items will speed up the process." Warren said. "That's why I'd be glad to work with your developer there and really fine tune my idea. Naturally, we'll agree to a fair cut depending on work and what you add to the design."

"When it comes to the items themselves, you'll need to work with Nero." Henry said. "She's the expert there, all our items are designed, developed, and initially made by her. Only once they're ready and have been patented can we outsource and even then, there are some things only she can do because of her magic. That is part of why we can charge a premium for certain items."

"Nero's the one who can turn into a bird, right?" Max asked and Henry nodded. "Alright well we'll get her involved as well. Her items are impressive."

"Save that for later though." Finral said noticing Nero talking with Lucy. "She's busy right now."

"Of course, for now let's discuss the potential distribution, that should give us an understanding of the scale of what we can expect." Warren said as he looked at Finral. "Just how vast is your network, Finral?"

"Now, now, a man must have a few trade secrets." Finral said with a wry smile. "I won't give any details without a contract in place to preserve it, but I will say that it's big. Just what kind of market are you looking for?"

"Well…" Warren began and quickly the four men fell into a discussion of Warren's idea, one that could revolutionize things in Fiore and the Black Bulls could greatly aid in.

Finral understood and got really into the idea, especially the amount he'd make personally from it as he alone was in charge of distribution due to his magic. It was things like this that would help show his worth to Lady Finnes when they returned to the Clover Kingdom and besides this talk kept him from making mistakes, so he got fully involved in it as yet more bonds between the Black Bulls and Fairy Tail were forged, this time over magical items and the planned sale of them.

---

"Oh Marie, how I wish you could be here with me now to enjoy this party, but this will have to do." Gauche said admiring what was before him his head on the table and blood running from his nose and pooling on it. "The fake you is good for this at least and this is the best rendition of you I've ever seen. I will treat you just as good as the real thing, Marie."

Gauche was, of course, being himself as he stared lovingly at the small, near perfect, wooden bust of Marie's smiling face, neck, shoulder, and upper chest that was on the before him. He didn't care for revelries like this, especially when he'd not seen his sister in over 2 years and she couldn't be here to enjoy them with him, but he had to come so he'd put up with it. At least one of the fairies sounded like an adult Marie, something he couldn't wait to hear for her, so he could at least listen to her.

Naturally, Gauche had proceeded to creep her out but this time Laki's solution had been to ask to see a picture of Marie, who she called cute as Gauche would expect from anyone who saw his sister, and made the aforementioned wooden bust of Marie. with her Wood Creation Magic. That had quickly placated Gauche and allowed Laki to leave him and meet up with Kinana as she helped Charmy with the food. Gauche didn't even notice it as he continued to stare at the bust off in his own world and not caring how creepy he looked. He didn't even notice that he was being watched as he muttered at wood Marie.

"Your guildmate is a little, er, eccentric?"

The question took Zora by surprise, but he didn't show it as he continued to lounge against the railing and look down at Gauche from where he was standing. He wasn't watching Gauche all the time; he'd just found this out of the way spot and used it to observe the whole event, his eyes going from group to group evaluating and assessing them. At this moment he'd been focused on Gauche and that was when the newcomer had arrived. He didn't even need to look at the person to recognize the voice from the last time she'd crept up to and spoken to him while he was watching a room.

"And here I thought this Guild's attempt to imitate that crazy woman from back home was busy talking with our Transformation Wizard." Zora said with a yawn not looking at Mirajane Strauss as she shifted to stand next to him and look out over the room like he was her hands resting in front of her over her dress. "You were getting along well with her it seemed."

"Yes, Grey is a real sweetheart and a highly talented wizard." Mira said smiling at her recent conversation. "She just needs confidence and what better way then having my brother help out, he came over after a bit to join us after he lost to Asta in arm wrestling for a third time so I left leaving her with him and our sister so as to not overwhelm her. I think she needs to get better at talking to people plus after seeing how she replicated him earlier down to his strength I wonder what she could do with his beast forms as they have enhanced physical strength as well."

"Like that lizard he used to beat Luck." Zora said and he didn't need to glance to know that Mira was nodding and instead looking around to confirm that Elfman was now with his younger sister and Grey doing their best to talk to the blue haired girl, but it was clear that Grey was near her limit for social interactions. "That would be…something I guess."

"Yes, her potential is great, and we'll help her as much as we can just as you will help us." Mira said. "Even what Laki did for your eccentric guildmember is helping in its own way."

"I wouldn't call feeding that sister lover's creepiness help but whatever." Zora said looking back to Gauche. "Besides, you lot are one to talk about eccentric members, all of you are."

"As are you." Mira said. "Every member of the Black Bulls is such a character I feel. You're a small Guild but you've risen above all others, I wonder if that's because of how all of you are uniquely different in your own ways."

"Nah, we're just this way because our Captain's a crazy bastard who recruits who he finds interesting." Zora said. "We're like this because of a single loudmouthed brat. Before then we were the worst of the worst, the Guild that always screwed up and did more harm than good. At least that's what I've been told, I didn't really hang out with them until recently despite being a member for a while."

"Ah so it's Asta then, that does make sense, he really is something else from what I've seen." Mira said smiling at what Zora had implied. "So, it's as I thought, you do care about your guildmates. You clearly respect Asta."

"He's different, you'd know that if you spent any time with him." Zora said not rising to Mira's bait like she tried when she'd spoken to him during the Grand Ball. "It extends to everyone, or did you forget that your own Fairy Queen respects him, so much so that she danced with him at the Grand Ball. Even those who fight Asta grow to respect him, that's who he is."

"Yes that victory really awoke something in Erza that's been dormant for a while." Mira said wishing that she'd seen that duel because all she'd heard made it sound epic, something she didn't doubt given the outcome. "She needed to lose, to remember what it's like to face someone stronger that you have to work to beat. Asta did us a tremendous favor in beating her and she still bears a reminder of that on her face, she won't heal that scar until she can beat him. In fact, you all did in stopping us from claiming the top spot on our first attempt since our return. Even I'm curious to test him, especially as he has some kind of Take Over Magic apparently so I want to see how his alleged demon stacks up to mine."

"Yeah, well we're just here to show off and besides it's better in this nation then our own when it comes to respecting people's abilities and the work that they put into getting stronger." Zora said not bothering to correct Mira's misconceptions about Asta's power and knowing that in a fight all Asta needed was to land his sword on her and he'd end her transformation which just added to the Black Bulls' assessment that right now Erza was still the best against Asta in Fairy Tail. "But if you're just here to sprout the obvious then you can go and annoy someone else."

"I can see that I've overstayed my welcome but I'm getting more out of you which is what I was going for." Mira said as she shifted to move away. "Try to be more social, it will help I'm sure of it."

"Not my thing." Zora said as he reached into a pocket. "And you forgot this."

"I didn't want it last time, so I don't want it this time but thanks for the thought." Mira said as she quickly batted the rainbow stinkbug that Zora had suddenly flicked at her back into his face with the back of her left hand. "Nice try though, you're getting better at that, maybe next time you'll get me."

All Zora could do was cough and splutter as the rainbow stinkbug hit him in the face and he was subjected to it again. Mira just smiled as she walked away and headed back to see how Grey was doing as her brother could be a bit much, especially for a shy, small, girl like her. Zora was secondary to Grey when it came to who Mira wanted to help out in the Black Bulls at the moment, but she still wanted to understand the odd man more and so far things were going well there just as they were for everyone else as the party continued to progress well.

---

"Come on, spar with me sometime! I want to see if I can find a way to hurt you! Speed works but that's not always going to be the case, so I want to find something else that works."

Laxus blinked as he looked at the exuberant teen, at least he thought that Luck was a teen, as he grinned and crackled with blue lightning where he stood. Right from the start Luck had sought out Laxus and after zipping past the Thunder Legion that had tried to intercept him, with some help from Charmy's sheep cooks appearing with food, he'd reached the big man and asked him the question.

For his part Laxus was a bit taken aback by it. He'd expected something like this from either Luck or his friend Magna, the pair were like that, but not right away. It seemed, however, that Luck was a battler through and through and only cared about that hence why he'd come up to Laxus right away. That said, there was still one thing that Laxus had to point out which Luck himself had touched on.

"But you can't hurt me with your magic." Laxus pointed out. "You're a Lighting Wizard and while I'll give it to you that your magic is different to any other lightning that I've consumed, I'm still immune to it. It's not like that Lightning God Slayer who was part of our brawl, he can harm me because God Slayer Magic can harm a corresponding Dragon Slayer, but you're different, you can't use magic on me. You showed that you could overcome it, that blow when you deactivated your magic and just used your speed was impressive, but as you pointed out you might not be able to achieve that speed all the time."

"I know that's why I want to spar with you." Luck said still smiling. "You're a big challenge that I need to overcome if I am to get stronger because there will be others that my magic won't work on or who are resistant so if I can best a man immune to my magic then I'm in a really good position against anyone else who might be resistant to lightning. Well that and it's fun, plus Asta beat you so I can't fall behind him now can I?"

"Er, ok, you've got a few screws loose I see." Laxus said blinking.

"Yeah people notice that about, I just love a good death match." Luck said happily as he shadowboxed his tone slightly unnerving Laxus. "So how about it? You and me, let's spar! We can even go a round here and now."

"That probably wouldn't be wise, things tend to get out of hand when that happens in here." A new, female, voice that Luck recognized said from behind him. "And besides, I heard that you mentioned your magic not working on others and if I recall you lost to Elfman so you've got a long way to go before you can best Laxus."

"Yeah, true I wanna spar with fake Captain Yami again as well, I do owe him for beating me." Luck said turning as Erza reached them. "Oh and I want to face you as well, let's spar!"

Erza just smiled at that. She liked Luck's attitude and if he wanted to spar, she'd give him a match. He was a strong Lightning Wizard, and her Lightning Empress Armor could use some testing especially if she were to ever test herself against Laxus to see who was stronger, but right now wasn't the time for it.

In fact, that was in part why Erza had headed over the moment she heard Luck challenging Laxus because she felt that if she didn't head things off right now it could escalate and if that happened, well Fairy Tail was plenty destructive without the addition of a Guild that could potentially rival them when came to destruction, if they wanted to at least.

Well, that and she'd seen Asta arm wrestling and while she really wanted to test herself against him again, he had beaten all Fairy Tall challengers, she had the feeling that if she lost then things might devolve. If that happened, they'd just end up brawling in which she wouldn't be able to hold back, not after losing to him, and if that happened, she didn't know how much would be left standing when they were one.

As such she was here trying to prevent two Lightning Wizards from going at it in the middle of the Guild Hall and no doubt triggering a ripple effect to the whole common room. At least she had an opening with what Luck said so she played on that.

"We can do that but not now, how about sometime next week once things settle down and both of our Guilds have fully acclimatized to our new rankings and all that comes with that." Erza said still smiling. "I get the feeling that there will be a lot of plans between our Guilds going forward, our Guild Masters clearly want that and frankly so do I as there is a lot that I can learn from the Guild that beat us, especially from the man who beat me personally, which means we'll have plenty of time to spar."

"Well, I to go right now, but this is your Guild Hall, so I guess I'll wait." Luck said clearly a bit disappointed but showing enough sense that it was improper to do this in someone else's Guild Hall. "But only a bit, we'll spar soon. Same with Laxus here, I want to see how I compare to Asta and you two are the best there is for that."

"I guess that's a fair measurement." Erza said as she thought on it. "He did beat two of our four S-Ranks and frankly after myself and what we've seen of his abilities, I don't think Mira could beat him. Maybe Gildarts can beat him though what with his magic."

"Wouldn't work." Laxus said shaking his head surprising Erza. "His magic is strong, the strongest in the Guild I'd say, but all Asta needs is that magic absorbing sword of his and that's it. That can deal with Gildart's range and those swords can't be eaten by Dragon Slayer Magic that's focused on metal so they'll easily withstand a punch from him. It's annoying to admit it but right now only you can best Asta, Erza, and only because you can fight without magic. Until we find a way around Asta's Wave Magic it will be a while before anyone else in Fairy Tail will have as good of a chance as you."

"Yeah we figured as much." Luck said not bothering to correct Laxus's misconception of Asta's abilities. "True you and that Natsu kid have strong magic and there are ways to beat Asta with magic but those are getting harder by the day, especially now that he can move his swords with his mind. We figured going into the Battle Royale that the entire thing would come down to if Asta could beat Erza or not. We were right it seems though I'm still annoyed I missed that match. It sounded epic!"

"I won't lie, that's how I see things as well and if I'm being honest, I take pride in being the only member of Fairy Tail with at least a good chance against Asta given how strong he is." Erza said her left hand inadvertently going to her left cheek where the scar he'd left with Archenemy was. "And we did theorize that I was the only one with at least a 50% probability of beating him, so it makes sense. Admittedly, we did theorize that before we realized what he could do with his swords or his, er, Take Over form. Neither of those abilities were expected."

Erza had to catch herself at the end before she revealed too much about Asta's true abilities. As far as she knew she was the only one who knew, if not the whole truth as she figured that there was more to it than what even she knew, that Asta didn't actually have magic at all.

That alone was big, he'd bested several S-Rank Wizards without magic and was a complete anomaly but that wasn't knowledge yet beyond her and Erza's honor would protect that until he shared it with others. That should come soon though as Erza was sure that Natsu would want to team up with Asta on a job as soon as possible, which was just what she wanted as well and as she was part of Natsu's team it worked well.

"I'm just glad I got the demon out of him." Laxus said with a grin. "Shows that I at least merited his full strength just like Erza did."

"Yeah, I was out cold, so I didn't see it, but I bet it was just as glorious battle as his one with Erza's." Luck said. "Though ours was fun in its own right."

"True and we'll see if you can actually hurt me enough to take me down when we spar in." Laxus said. "Plus you can replenish my magic so there's that as well."

Luck was grinning and about to demand some sparing but at that moment the sheep cooks came out with even more food, including the first round of dessert that really got Erza's attention, and instantly Luck zipped away to steal Magna's before he managed to get it. That surprised Erza and Laxus, but they chalked it up to the oddity that was Luck Voltia and went their own ways, Laxus back to the Thunder Legion as Freed was holding out food for him that he knew Laxus would like and Erza to where Asta was now chatting with Gray while Lucy and Nero also made their way over to him.

As she did, Erza noticed that someone finally returned and smiled, it was time to really sort things out and she for one couldn't wait to see what that would entail. One thing was certain, things were about to really pick up.

---

"Few, glad that's over, I thought that gramps would never let up and something smells really good!"

Asta and Gray blinked as Natsu suddenly appeared at the table that they'd been at since the start arm wrestling contest, the cracks were still there, and sat down next to Gray forcing him to move over a bit. As he did, several sheep cooks appeared and laid out a smorgasbord of various dishes on the table for them to enjoy that Natsu instantly dove into, wolfing down like he'd not eaten in days. Naturally, this sparked Asta's competitiveness and he dove in as well.

"Where have you been Natsu?" Gray asked Natsu as he ate. "You missed some fun which isn't like you."

"Yeah, I didn't want miss it, but Gramps dragged me off before I could leap into the fray and told me off for aggressively sniffing our guests." Natsu said as he ate. "Apparently I can't do that, at least not without asking them first."

"Seems odd, if you recognize a smell you should go for it." Asta said through his food not understanding what Natsu had done wrong earlier. "That's what I'd do though my sense of smell isn't as good as a Dragon Slayer's, but I have other ways of recognizing people who are hidden or concealing themselves, so long as part of their body is exposed, so I don't need an enhanced sense of smell."

"Right though!" Natsu said. "And those two really got to me so I had to investigate."

"To most just sniffing a girl like that without her permission is rude and inappropriate." A new, female, voice said and Natsu and Gray looked to see Lucy and Nero though as they watched the latter turned into her bird form while the former continued to speak. "Even if you had a non-creepy reason for doing it."

"But it's what I do when I smell something I recognize but can't place." Natsu protested. "My nose is never wrong, right Lucy?"

"I'll give you that your nose is invaluable Natsu." Lucy said with a sigh as she sat down on Natsu's other side so that she was next to him while Nero flew over and assumed her favorite perch on Asta's head. "But you still shouldn't go sniffing people."

"I agree, it's off putting." Nero said from Asta's head.

"But Natsu likes to sniff you Lucy." Happy said landing on Natsu's head and sitting there like Nero was doing to Asta just to see what it was like while Natsu just passed the fish dish that was on the table up to his best friend. "And you don't mind it because you love him."

"Can it cat." Lucy snapped with a growl in her voice while Happy just smirked where he sat and enjoyed the fish though he would have preferred it raw. "That's not the point, it's still creepy for Natsu to smell me like that."

"But you're scent is so reassuring Lucy." Natsu said causing Lucy to go bright red. "Back me up here Asta, it's nice to be reassured by things that you can smell."

"Yeah, I may not get that with smell so much, but I totally get that with Noelle's ki because we've worked together for so long and starting to with Mimosa's now that she's joined the Guild while we're here." Asta said with a nod while Nero was glad that neither girl was around for that given how embarrassed they would be, which would admittedly be interesting, and the kind of knee jerk reaction that would get out of Noelle. "It makes you comfortable when you're your close friends who you trust and who trust you back."

"Precisely, you get it man." Natsu said with a grin through his current mouthful of food while Lucy tried not to show any reaction and Nero resisted to urge to violently peck Asta's thick skull, not that that would do anything to get through it though. "Knew you'd see it my way."

"Of course, it's only natural." Asta said grinning back. "Plus, it helps when you fight together because you're so in synch with them."

"Exactly!" Natsu said. "Glad at least someone understands."

"Great, it's not just that stunt with crowns." Gray muttered as he watched the exchange. "Asta's just like Natsu in a lot of ways, just what we need here."

"Nah, I'm stronger." Asta said with a grin as he swallowed a mouthful of food. "Already proved that to all of you."

"For now though I did beat up that future Rogue guy and save the Kingdom from dragons by crashing the dragon into the gate." Natsu said also swallowing his current mouthful. "So there."

"Yeah, well we killed a dragon, well Noelle did because she's awesome, but we all helped her do it be it with the dragon or Mimosa's healing, we couldn't have done it without Mimosa's magic." Asta said. "So take that."

Naturally Asta was unaware that both girls had headed over and just heard it with Noelle going bright red and pulling up short, her pigtails flying up as she was rooted to the spot by Asta's praise. Meanwhile Mimosa just blushed shyly and looked away happy that Asta had acknowledged her role in the fight with the dragon though next time she'd be strong enough to fight by his side in addition to being the Squad's healer. That said, Mimosa knew that her healing had been vital in that fight, Noelle had needed it after taking a blow that almost put her out of the fight, and she'd do the same thing again in a heartbeat.

"Only because it was the best matchup for you what with it being a water based dragon." Natsu pointed out not willing to back down and let Asta win this. "I'd have slain uncle if I'd not realized he was my uncle and gotten him to turn sides."

"Uncle?" Asta asked confused while Wendy, who was with Mimosa, prodded her as she continued to blush at Asta's praise where she was. "You're uncle was in the battle?"

"Yup that dragon that was on fire, Atlas Flame I think his name was, but I just call him uncle." Natsu said with a nod and a grin at the memory. "He was good friends with my dad Igneel and recognized me as I was eating the flames off him. That snapped him out of the mind control, and he switched sides, so I dubbed him my uncle and we fought together against Future Rogue and his dragon. It was thanks to him that I was able to get back into the fight after Lucy knocked me off that dragon during my second clash with that guy."

"Huh, I didn't notice but things were chaos then for us as well so that makes sense." Asta said as Wendy finally snapped Mimosa out of her stupor and pushed her towards the table. "That's really cool though!"

"I know right!" Natsu said. "We worked well together."

"I'm surprised." Mimosa said as she joined the table and sat down on Asta's left while Wendy took the seat next to her and was instantly taken with a dessert that was on the table while Carla hopped up onto the table next to her and sat down to watch the situation unfold with a cup of tea that one of the sheep cooks had brought her. "I thought that Dragon Slayers were supposed to kill dragons, I didn't realize that you befriended them as well."

"For the most part yeah that's the case, or at least the point of our magic, but all us First Generation Dragon Slayers were raised by a dragon who's our parent so we know that there are good dragons out there." Natsu said. "Uncle was one of them because he knew my dad and switched sides once he realized."

"I see." Mimosa said. "Confusing, we don't have dragons on our continent so we don't know much about it."

"That still didn't stop one of you from becoming a Dragon Slayer." Gray pointed out, his words finally snapping Noelle out of her embarrassment, and enjoyment at Asta's praise, and she moved as well. "That's still a little confusing."

"It was a matter of the right circumstances, spells, magical capacity, and exposure to the mana rich environment here." Noelle said simply as she sat down next Asta on his other side and facing Lucy though she didn't look at him something that Happy quickly picked up on something and began to intently study Noelle from his position on Natsu's head a gleam in his eye that only Nero noticed but didn't interfere with. "There are subtle differences in the magic of different areas and between that, the nature and reserves of my own magic, the misunderstanding regarding my spells, and just general training to get stronger my magic evolved. It was unexpected but not unwelcome."

"Yeah came in handy right when we needed it." Asta said with a grin. "Plus that roar to defeat Minerva was something else."

"Which one, I used two." Noelle said wanting more praise from Asta for her abilities and shamelessly fishing for it even if she did so in her usual, refined, voice. "You'll have to be more specific."

"I'd say that the second one was more impressive though it was also to save Millianna so I'm biased." A new and again familiar female voice said as Erza joined and sat down next to Gray her eyes glancing the the desserts but holding herself back for a moment as she'd just spoken. "A shame that I never got to really face you Noelle, it would have been a good challenge for me."

"True though I'm not prideful enough to deny that I'd have likely lost a fight against you at my current level." Noelle said while Nero glanced at her from Asta's head impressed that Noelle's arrogance had been tempered over the years but then again it was clear to anyone that Erza was stronger at the moment. "You've got resistance armor and combat training I lack. In time I'll catch up, seeing your duel with Asta made me want to get stronger."

"Same." Mimosa said looking over at Erza. "It really showed what I have to do to be able to fight alongside Asta someday. It was incredible to watch."

"Thank you, it truly was a duel for the ages." Erza said with a smile and resisting the urge to touch her scar again. "And it showed me what I too needed to do to get stronger. I did lose it after all, no one is more motivated than I am after that."

"I still can't believe you lost that Erza!" Natsu exclaimed. "And that not only didn't I get to be the one to do it, I didn't even see it!"

"You were rescuing me at the time." Lucy pointed out. "So it was worth missing it."

"Totally, I'd do it again in a heartbeat but still I want to see that battle!" Natsu said which got a small smile from Lucy though he didn't notice it as he was focused on Asta and Erza's duel. "Everyone's talking about it now!"

"I only caught the tail end of it, I was having my own epic battle with Lyon during the part of it but what I saw dwarfed my own fight." Gray said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Kinda irritating actually because I'd just beaten Rufus in a great revenge match and now no one is talking about that or my fight with Lyon and that was our best one yet."

"I wish I'd seen that, I learned so much from your victory over Rufus." Asta said. "But I was kinda busy winning the Grand Magic Games."

"Barely." Erza said with a small smile as she brought Asta back down to reality. "That could have gone either way though I'll admit once you blocked my halberd it was probably over for me. That was my strongest armor, and it was effectively useless against your swords, something I didn't expect."

"Yeah without that it might have gone another way." Asta admitted "But I had realized that I had to hit you mid armor shift to really affect you and used that to beat you before holding on to win the whole thing, though admittedly Gajeel and Gray were easy in the end."

"Next time I'll win." Erza said while Natsu laughed at Gray though he knew he couldn't say much because he had been easily defeated by Asta in the final battle of the Battle Royale. "I swear it."

"Bring it, I had to surpass my limits to beat you the first time, so I know that I'll have to do so again because you'll be a lot stronger next time." Asta said grinning at Erza. "Gray did say that you guys don't lose to the same person twice."

"Didn't he prove that wrong though?" Noelle asked her tone neutral as she looked at Asta. "You beat him twice Asta."

"Ha, hear that, you failed as well and on top of that it was easy." Natsu said slapping Gray's back as he groaned at Natsu's antics. "Man, I'm glad that it's you not me."

"Like you'd fair much better, only Erza can really stand up to Asta at the moment so we all need to get stronger for next time." Gray said. "Plus, that Black Ice move of his was weird, drained all my magic from within. I'm glad I was knocked out at the same time because I don't want to feel that again."

"Yeah I'll admit that I wasn't expecting it to work like that." Asta said a little sheepish at what his newest move could do. "I just mimicked what you did to Rufus and tried to replicate it with what I can do with my swords. It worked better than expected."

"You should take it as an honor that Asta mimicked you." Erza said as she finally gave in and began to eat one of the cakes on the table. "He did that to me as well with both my swordplay and how I use my Heaven's Wheel Armor."

"That is a consolation I guess but I still need to get stronger." Gray said as Erza's eyes went wide and stary at the delicious dessert she was enjoying. "So, I will. I won't lose next time."

"Man I'm the only one who's not seen any of this." Natsu said clearly annoyed. "I want to know what happened! I want to see what I'm up against when I get my shot at Asta."

"I haven't either." Wendy said. "I missed the Battle Royale as well."

"Same." Carla said.

"Aye, me too." Happy said.

"I was wrongfully arrested remember." Lucy added. "So I too missed it though from what I've heard Asta is a fusion of Mira and Erza and that sounds like pure nightmare fuel. I've seen the Erza part but not the Mira part yet, thankfully."

"Aye, it's terrifying." Happy said.

"Unthinkable." Carla said.

"It is hard to imagine." Wendy added with a shudder. "I really don't want to in fact."

"It's true, I saw it." Gray said recalling what he'd seen of Asta's Take Over Magic, well what he thought was Take Over Magic. "At least against Erza, it, it's not something I've forgotten."

"It was fun to face someone like Mira only different, even Mira would struggle against Asta." Erza said as she finished her first cake and grabbed another. "But a great challenge for sure. I never thought I'd face someone who could mimic my own style, as well as others, while also being like Mira at the same time. Truly an experience to remember."

"And that's an experience that I want as well!" Natsu said excitedly and as he did an idea popped into his head that would allow him to properly see Asta in action and maybe even challenge him once everything was done. "Wait! I got it! Why not join us on our next job, Asta! I've found an interesting one that requires us to meet the person who issued it tomorrow in another town so a bit of travel, but it pays well, much more than Lucy's rent, and from the looks of it, it promises to be a big one that will require more than the usual people."

"Really?" Asta asked intrigued. "I'm down but only if Noelle, Mimosa, and Nero can come as well, if they can make it."

"Of course I'll be there." Noelle said dismissively. "You need me by your side Asta, so I was coming regardless."

"I'll go with you wherever Asta." Mimosa said her tone pricking Happy's interest as his ears twitched at it. "I know that you'll need my healing and I need to get stronger if I'm to be by your side."

"If I'm free I'll observe and my magic can be of use in specific situations, which depending on the job can be useful." Nero said though she was curious enough to come even if she wasn't completely loyal to Asta. "Though I'll remain like this for the most part as it's easier to travel as a bird."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Asta said grinning. "I can't do much without you guys with me."

This caused both Noelle and Mimosa to go bright red and not look at him which didn't go unnoticed by most of the fairies, other than Natsu, but they either ignored it or in Erza's case was scheming to get Nero to ride on her head during the job. That and they were Team Natsu and had to add their own voices.

"Not a problem with me, though there will be more of a split but that's not an issue for me." Erza said as she got her schemes under control and decided to just go for it. "That said, Nero can use my head during the job if she wants."

"Pass." Nero said which got a blanch from Erza as the direct approach failed spectacularly.

"I too am good with this." Wendy said not noticing Erza misery and not having Nero on her head. "Mimosa can teach me so much about healing and seeing her in action in the field will be invaluable."

"Plus, she, Noelle, and Nero seem to be sensible girls and we need more of that." Carla said. "It takes a lot to keep the boys in line."

"It will be a bit crowded but if Natsu's saying that this will be a big mission then I'm sure that the additional help will be needed." Gray said while Noelle nodded in agreement with Carla regarding keeping the boys in line. "So the more help the better."

"Yeah sounds fun." Lucy said. "The more the merrier though I do need to make rent."

"Don't worry, if I recall the reward will still get you your rent money even with four new people." Natsu said though the fact that he didn't have the exact figure present did make Lucy worry a little even if she knew that in the end Natsu would make sure she got the money she needed for rent. "So it's all good."

"Very well then I say…" Lucy began but before she could Happy suddenly let out an exclamation as it hit him, and he couldn't control it anymore.

"I've got it!" Happy said standing on Natsu's head and getting everyone at the table's attention. "It's so obvious! I should have deduced it sooner but that doesn't matter because now I know!"

"What?" Noelle asked.

"Well…" Happy began as he suddenly got a mischievous laugh and looked pointedly at first Noelle and Mimosa.

"Happy, don't do what…" Lucy began realizing it.

"You two…" Happy said ignoring Lucy and pointing his two forepaws at Noelle and Mimosa before moving his arms in and pointing both at Asta as he added extra emphasis on the next word the way he usually did for Lucy. "Loooooove him!"

The reaction to Happy's over exaggeration of the word love and the implications behind it was instantaneous and to those who knew them expected. Mimosa just let out a loud eep and went bright red before she turned and buried her face in the nearest thing which just so happened to be Wendy who yelped and tried to hold the older girl and avoid falling off the side of the bench with her. Noelle, however, screamed so loud that almost everyone heard her and suddenly she was on her feet with her wand was out and pointing at a smirking and evilly chuckling Happy.

There was no pause, no hesitation in what came next. As soon as Noelle had leveled her want a blast of water shot from the end and slammed into Happy at full force, and due to the size Natsu's face as well drenching him and whipping his head back. Happy, meanwhile, was blasted off Natsu's head in full force all while they starred in shock at what had happened though Lucy at least felt that the annoying blue cat go what he deserved for that stunt, even if what he said was clearly true.

"There you are you sparkling little bug!" A new, female, voice suddenly yelled from behind Natsu. "I thought I recognized you when I heard you speak. I don't know what you're doing here but now I'll fry you up for sure! Thanks Noelle!"

As the speaker shouted there was a swishing sound and the sound of something wet hitting what was likely a net. Everyone was still blinking when a second later Charmy appeared in the air behind Natsu and proceeded to landed on his head just as he sat back up and blinked water out of his eyes. Charmy didn't seem to notice that she was standing on Natsu's head as she held her arms over her head and in them a piece of wood with a cotton net at the end that had Happy in it and was tied off leaving him there. Charmy was grinning madly as she triumphantly held her prize above her head.

"Well that serves you right cat." Lucy said trying and failing to hold in her laugh. "A bit much but…"

"Hey, get off me!" Natsu spluttered spitting water out and onto the table as Noelle just stood there panting, her emotions such that she didn't realize the scene she'd just made or what she'd done. "And why did you call my best bud a bug?"

"Because she's the bug that threatens my future with my Prince of Provisions!" Charmy shouted as she stomped her right foot down on Natsu's head while glaring down at him and still holding Happy above her head. "I heard her voice; I'll never forget it and was about to capture her when Noelle blasted her at me. Now she's here and she'll pay for her interference at last!"

"Charmy that's not Bell!" Asta shouted. "She's not here, she's still in the Clover Kingdom! That's Happy, Natsu's friend and a male exceed."

"Huh, then why does he sound like that little thieving bug!" Charmy shouted and as she spoke her rage and triumph got the better of her and she returned to believing that Happy was that little insect. "I'm going to fry her up so good and…"

"Hey, no frying my buddy!" Natsu yelled and he leapt up which sent Charmy flying but she just flipped and landed on a cloud of cotton and turned to fly away from him. "Hey, bring Happy back!"

At that Natsu turned, leapt onto the bench, and sent a blast of flame from his hand at the cotton which hit it and burned it up in a second sending Charmy crashing to the ground with a yelp of surprise. At that Natsu leapt over the back of the bench to charge and help Happy only to run face first into a massive explosion of cotton.

As he did, Asta leapt up to go after him and save Charmy from being burned by Natsu and hopefully explain the mix-up. However, this action sent a still off-balance Mimosa sprawling, a sprawl that took Wendy with her. At the same time, Gray too jumped up and onto the bench to try and stop Asta from attacking Natsu, but he'd somehow lost his pants since sitting down and was now just in his boxers, boxers that took a sudden errant flame as Natsu tried to burn his way out of the cotton and vanished right before Noelle's eyes.

"I do not want to see that!" Noelle shouted her eyes shutting as she turned away from the sight before her but with her wand still out. "The only one of those that I ever want to see is Asta's!"

At that, and not realizing what she'd said though thankfully only Nero had heard her as she was flying above Noelle at that moment having flown up and out of the way the moment Happy had spoken, Noelle sent out another blast of water, this sending the powerful jet right into Gray's groin just as she'd once done to Magna when he'd accidentally flashed her on Raquey beach. There was a gasp and Gray went white before he was tossed back and over the bench to the ground below all while more cotton exploded to replace what Natsu had already burning away.

"Gray my darling, how could you let Noelle see that when she loves another!" Juvia yelled from where she'd been spying on them, and she jumped down at Noelle as she'd been above them. "I'm sorry Noelle, I know you don't love him but I can't let what you did to my darling stand!"

"Damn it you watery fool!" Nero shouted as she flew at Juvia and turned back to human her arms out and grabbed Juvia's shoulders to intercept the fairy with her glowing hands as Juvia approached Noelle. "You know she'll just consume you even if you've made up! She's the Sea Dragon Slayer after all!"

Juvia had gravity and weight on her side, but Nero had used her speed to halt Juvia's momentum and send her crashing back first to the ground just next to the table so that nothing was disturbed, which was good as Erza was still enjoying her dessert while the chaos erupted around her. Still, Juvia landed hard on her back with Nero above her but she rolled with it and got her legs under her so that she could slam her feet into Nero's gut winding her and kicking her off her and away as she rolled over and flipped up to stand and look to Noelle.

However, before Juvia could do more than raise her hands to send out some water a storm of mirrors suddenly appeared around Juvia and Mirror Magic blasted out of them and into her from half a dozen angles and causing her to yell as Nero had sealed her body so she couldn't use her Water Body to mitigate the attack. Juvia crumpled to the ground in a smoking heap and Noelle turned to see a furious Gauche on his feet his hand out and grimoire open. Next to him, lying on her back on the table was Nero as she'd landed there, right on the wooden sculpture of Marie which was now shattered beneath her.

"No one hurts Marie!" Gauche shouted as Nero groaned next to him regretting her decision to try and stop Juvia from attacking Noelle. "You'll pay for that. Now where's that fake older Marie, I need…"

"I'm not making you another one creep!" Laki shouted as wood exploded around Gauche and caught him in what looked like some kind of torture device. "At least not for free, you'll have to pay for the next one."

"I had a feeling it would get to this eventually though we lasted longer than I expected, and the spark was ignited by Happy of all people." Nero groan as she flipped up to her feet and turned to see Laki nearby. "I know he's a creep but he's a guildmate so I've gotta defend him, sorry for this. Don't worry, he'll pay for a new sculpture, that's just who he is."

Before Laki could react, and as Noelle watched, Nero leapt off the table and onto Laki, tackling her around the neck and bringing her to the ground from the force of the blow. That was unexpected and Noelle just blinked but before she could do anything something, or more precisely someone, slammed into her and she was sent crashing to the ground with Nero on top of her.

Said someone was Mimosa and that was because when she'd been knocked to the ground by Asta she'd taken Wendy her and proceeded to landed on top of the younger girl. There had been an audible boing as Mimosa's large breasts landed full in Wendy's face and pinned her there with them, suffocating her. That wasn't really Wendy's big concern though, no what she was more annoyed at was that it was clear that Mimosa's breasts could rival any of Fairy Tail's best and her insecurities were triggered causing her to react on instinct and unleash a Sky Dragon Roar into Mimosa's chest.

Mimosa didn't have time to fully process things before she was blasted up and off Wendy and into Noelle where she stood sending them sprawling to the ground on the other side of the table. Asta would have been in the way, but he'd already leapt onto the table and into the food, missing the dessert at least, before leaping off it and over the other bench as he hurried to try and clear up Charmy's misunderstanding with Happy. As he was doing this, Charmy kept using cotton to keep Natsu from getting to her as she prepared her victory all because Happy sounded like Bell apparently.

"I'm so sorry Mimosa!" Wendy wailed as she got to her feet her face flushed and bowed over and over again at her. "I let my in…"

Wendy didn't finish before a flash of blue lightning slammed into her side and sent her flying through the air with a scream of pain. The flash had come from Luck who had fired it right before she stood up as he was aiming for Natsu having deduced that the brawl had started and deciding that frying the guy sending fire everywhere was the best course of action. Wendy had unfortunately gotten in the way of it but as Carla flew after her partner to make sure that she wasn't hurt too badly the entire situation devolved as a long metal rod slammed into Luck's head all while Erza continued to eat her dessert.

The metal was of course courtesy of Gajeel who'd attacked Luck and driven him to his knees for hitting Wendy but a second later a fireball hit him in the side of the head and exploded staggering him as Magna roared and got in. Some of the fire hit Elfman and he turned and barreled into Magna which got Luck, who was bleeding and laughing, to his feet and he leapt at it while a roaring Gajeel followed him.

After that, a classic Fairy Tail brawl with almost all the Black Bulls joining in erupted. In seconds chaos began to reign in the common room as more and more of each Guild were either dragged into it or in the case of Mira knocked over when Grey was tossed into her all while Zora snickered and Finral used his portals to avoid getting caught up in anything.

---

"So is this normal for you lot or what?" Yami asked as he took a deep pull from his tankard as he sat at the bar in the common room while watching the scene play out before him. "Because it is for my lot."

Yami's tone was neutral, almost bored in fact, as he continued to watch things devolve before him. He fully expected his morons to do their best and win this little tussle but right now that was hard to tell as pretty much everyone was fighting and many of the fairies were fighting each other just as they were fighting the Black Bulls as well. That was odd but Yami's lot did that too so it was only odd in the sense that his lot were there as well and had actually started this so Fairy Tail should be united against them but, well, he didn't care.

Besides, this could help them bond more in the long run he felt and that was the purpose of this party so he couldn't really be upset at what was going down. Plus, a party wasn't really a party without a brawl or two, after all the Grand Ball had devolved into one as well.

"Yeah this is normal." Makarov said from next to Yami as he took a drink from his first drink of the night having missed the early part of the party due to scolding Natsu for his actions and now relaxing with Yami before he asked the younger man to join him in private as there was much that they still had to discuss. "Sometimes you've gotta let the kids fight it out though. For a little bit at least."

"I'm only 28 you know, well back home I guess I'm 30 now." Yami pointed out. "But yeah, this is pretty standard for us though it's mainly Magna and Luck doing most of the fighting. Usually I end it by hitting the wall and blasting it out, Henry can fix it later, but it's your place so I can't."

"I'll deal with it when it starts to get out of hand." Makarov said as the mention of Henry got him to glance over at the man's special box in time to see Max get tossed into it before he bounced off and fell through a portal that Finral had created to save himself. "But for now I'll let them go, gotta show you we're still coming for you after all."

"And we have to remind you that we're on top and won't give it up." Yami said with a grin before his eyes turned to the only one of his Squad not doing anything other than Henry and Henry actually couldn't though he was supporting them with his words as best he could. "Now if only all my idiots were involved that would be great but one of them is sleeping on the job, which is typical for her."

"I'm honestly more surprised she kept up with Cana." Makarov said looking over at what Yami was looking at. "To force what looks like a draw is impressive."

"Well Vanessa is our best drinker so I expect no less from her." Yami said. "Still, I'll tell her off for not winning that contest."

"Same." Makarov said.

Yami agreed with that as they both stared at the two women who were now passed out drunk at the table with three barrels of wine each scattered around them. They were snoring and muttering as they slept completely oblivious to the rest of the chaos going on around them. That was what made Vanessa the only Black Bull other than Yami not involved, even Zora and Finral were doing their part though the former because Mira had dragged him into after being hit with Grey.

Still, they were doing their part and holding their own so Yami was proud of them. That was until he heard a sound he knew well and instantly his attention turned to is, as did Makarov's. They didn't need to look at each other, they both knew what would happen if they didn't stop it now and so without hesitation both acted before the harmless little brawl really got out of hand.

---

"Take that!" Asta roared as he leapt and punched Elfman in the face sending him flying back. "That's for Magna!"

Asta had managed to get through to Charmy that Happy was a male exceed and not the Wind Spirit that was currently with Yuno, though he was still confused as to why she and Bell didn't get along, and she'd released him. Of course, after that Natsu got through and landed on Charmy as the brawl continued to devolve and Asta was knocked away by an explosion of cotton as Charmy tried to get Natsu off her. As such he just grinned and dove into it with all his might.

That was what had led him to Elfman right as the giant man roared and slammed Magna through a table with a crash having pulled him from his back. Asta couldn't let that stand and had leapt up and punched Elfman sending him flying. He grinned and turned, not seeing what happened ready to get back into the brawl.

What Asta didn't see was that he'd send Elfman into the table that he'd just been at and causing him to land on top of the last untouched cake, which happened to be the best looking one that Erza had been saving for last and right as she was about to get it. Her eyes went wide as she missed out on the delectable looking cake as Elfman crashed through the table just like he'd done to Magna, and she turned to see who'd ruined her chance.

When she saw that it was Asta, however, Erza grinned, dropped her fork, and leapt at him. It was time for her to enter the brawl and who better to go after than the man who'd beaten her in the Battle Royale and who had now committed the unforgivable crime of ruining her dessert.

While he'd not seen this, Asta did feel the familiar flare of ki behind him and turned, his left hand up and caught Erza's right fist in it with a boom just as she reached him and tried to punch him fully expecting him to turn towards her with that predictive ability of his. He grinned at that, he'd hoped she join in the fun and already his grimoire was flipping open, the handle of Dweller was appearing as with all the magic flying around Asta felt that it was fair game to use. He grabbed it in his right hand even as his left held Erza's right firmly and swung it down.

Naturally, this was what Erza had expected from the moment she'd attacked. She didn't understand how Asta's prediction ability worked but she knew that a charge from behind would be noticed before she reached him and that he'd intercept. She also knew that with all the magic flying around that he'd go for a sword because she was worthy of that and as such she requipped one of her katanas into her left hand, grabbing it in a normal grip and raising it in time to intercept the black Anti-Magic sword that Asta had drawn from his grimoire.

The blades clashed with a loud clang of metal on metal that everyone heard, it was the sound that both Yami and Makarov had reacted to, and instantly all the fighting stopped as all eyes turned to the noise. The moment that people saw what was going on panic started to fill the air and both fairies and bulls alike were backing up from the sudden class all aggression forgotten as the threat of true destruction suddenly reared its head. Of course, all this was lost on Asta and Erza as they pushed against each other, blades locked and Asta still holding Erza's fist as she tried to push his arm back.

"Looks like it's time for round two." Erza said grinning and causing the scar on her left cheek to dance as she met Asta's eyes. "A little earlier than expected but I'm down for it."

"Same, let's go!" Asta said grinning just as broadly as he pushed back. "I'll still win."

"I'm not letting you do this without me! Not this…"

The yell was from Natsu and came as Finral was already making portals for everyone to quickly evacuate the building and retreat to a safe distance outside the city limits but before they could, and as Natsu leapt into the air to join in, a massive fist filled the room. Even as it was growing it slammed into Natsu with a boom that flattened him to the ground.

That wasn't enough to distract Asta and Erza, however, as they continued to try to break the other's block in a test of strength that neither wanted to lose. That lasted right up to the moment that two hands appeared above them and suddenly grabbed their skulls and yanked them back and into the air separating them.

"This is not the place for another duel!"

"You're not destroying our new Guild Hall right after we got it back!"

Asta and Erza yelped and dropped their swords as Yami and Makarov squeezed the heads of their respective members and turned them to glare at them with Makarov standing on a table to make it possible. A brawl was one thing, two S-Rank wizards, one of whom was a Wizard Saint and the other at that level, going at it inside the Guild Hall was a whole other thing entirely, especially when you factored in that everyone already knew what a fight between Asta and Erza looked like.

"But master, Asta destroyed my dessert so…"

"So what! I'm not losing this Guild Hall because of that." Makarov said. "Fighting is one thing, that was expected from you lot tonight, you two going at it in another all-out duel will level the building and most of the surrounding area and I'm not paying the fines or writing apology letters for that!"

"Come on Captain!" Asta wailed. "I'll beat her again so just…"

"No, now isn't the time and place for that." Yami said before he dropped what he'd been planning to drop all night but needed the right moment which Asta had inadvertently given him in a way that was better than anything Yami could have planned. "You are a Wizard Saint now, Asta, so you have to learn to act like one and one such thing is knowing when and were to duel with someone worthy. Yes, Erza will make you surpass your limits but do it where I won't be fined to high heaven and have to write several apology letters! I already get enough of those from the normal jobs you knuckleheads take."

While Asta heard all of it, as did the Black Bulls, the members of Fairy Tail didn't. They all stopped listening the moment that Yami had dropped the major bomb that he'd dropped. Then, as Yami finished talking, the murmurs from Fairy Tail began.

"Did he just call Asta a Wizard Saint?"

"Asta's been named one? Seriously!"

"I would say that's unbelievable, but he did beat Erza and Laxus in the Battle Royale."

"And Laxus beat a Wizard Saint himself so that's gotta be a part of it."

"But by that logic, though, shouldn't Laxus be one as well then?"

"So should Erza even if she didn't beat one."

"They lost though and that's what matters, right now Asta's considered the strongest amongst them. Hell, I bet he'd beat Jura if they fought."

"Plus there may have only been a single vacancy."

"Yeah I'm honestly not surprised now that I think on it, he did beat us almost single handedly."

"Logically it does makes sense."

"Makes you wonder just how strong their Guild Master is if one of his members is strong enough to be a Wizard Saint."

"Whatever the case it's just another thing to work for when it comes to beating them."

"That is it!"

The final yell was punctuated by a roar and fire that was quickly quelled with another giant fist but as soon as Makarov removed it Natsu leapt to his feet again clearly unbothered by being slammed into the floor twice. He was grinning and staring at Asta who was still being held aloft by Yami.

"Now I've really got a fire in my belly!" Natsu roared as he pointed at Asta a grin on his face. "After our job, you and me Asta, I'm going to do all I can to beat you!"

"So long as it's where nothing can be destroyed that hasn't already been destroyed, or at least can be destroyed without causing a fine, that's ok with me." Yami said. "Our little Wizard Saint will show you why he's earned his title."

"Yeah but after the job." Asta said accepting Natsu's challenge. "That comes first."

"Well damn, I can't argue with that." Erza called out from where Makarov was still holding her by her head just like Yami was still doing with Asta. "You truly earned it Asta and now I've got more reason to beat you when we have a rematch."

"Bring it." Asta grinning at her.

"Another time." Makarov pointed out as he tightened his grip on Erza's head. "Understood?"

"Yes gramps." Erza said. "We'll hold off, promise."

"Yeah no more fighting." Asta said. "Well, no more fighting tonight that is."

"But we need to celebrate!" Natsu shouted surprising everyone. "What, there's a new Wizard Saint and it's not me, Asta was already a big rival but now he's a massive one so I've gotta celebrate that."

This led to a cheer from all of Fairy Tail as they agreed. They were already rivals with the Black Bulls after they'd lost the Grand Magic Games to them in the final clash of the Battle Royale and now that got more intense when learning that the man who'd almost singlehandedly beaten them, which included taken down two of their top members, was now a Wizard Saint. They were extra motivated and so they had to celebrate even more.

"Alright that's good but no more fighting." Makarov said seriously as he released Erza causing Yami to do the same and both landed on their asses as they weren't expecting it. "I mean it, I need to speak with Yami Guild Master to Guild Master so don't destroy this place while we're gone."

"That goes for you too you knuckleheads." Yami said looking at his Squad. "We showed them that we can party like they can but that's it, we're still they're guests so no more brawls tonight."

"Yes sir!" The Black Bulls minus a passed out Vanessa all said in unison.

"Good." Yami said turning to Makarov. "I figured that we needed to chat, lead the way."

"Of course, follow me." Makarov said and he began to walk off.

With a nod Yami followed the older man and as he did the party got back into full swing as if there hadn't just been a massive brawl. It wouldn't devolve again and now they were celebrating more than before as Asta was mobbed and challenges issued while Erza kept things as calm as possible though couldn't help but ask her own questions about his new status.

Yami just grinned at all that as he exited the common room behind Makarov making for a private study or something similar that was deeper in the Guild Hall. This was going just as he'd hoped and now it was time for the other reason he was here as he and Makarov finally had a moment to talk about everything that they needed to talk about while their Guilds partied and forged deep bonds just like Julius wanted for all of them.

I think this is a good spot to end this long chapter and as you can tell this is why I had to break it off from the last one as it's one of the longest in this story to date and my 5th longest ever so it needed it's own chapter. Still, there really isn't much to talk about as it was a good, straightforward, bonding chapter with some fun talk, competitions, alliances, a few dub VA jokes, and of course a brawl because you can't get Fairy Tail together without one and the Black Bulls like a good scrap as much as the next Squad does even if the cause of it wasn't what most present would have expected. Next up is the Yami and Makarov chat which will set the tone going forward in the semi-original Bonding Arc and I've already teased what's coming there so a lot to look forward to. That's all that I have for this chapter, however, so I will leave it off here. If you like this story please follow, favorite (this story and me) to keep up with it and leave a review or PM; your support is what helps motivate me to keep up this work and any questions posed before the next chapter is uploaded I will try to answer. Until next time.

Stringdog