Interlude

The sun was already starting to move across the Fiore sky once again as Lucy began writing her letters to her deceased mother.

She and the rest of the team, plus Makarov had returned to Magnolia yesterday after the Guild Master meeting was over and now she had a chance to write once more.

"I can't believe I was there for such incredible events! I witnessed and was a part of the legendary battle between myself, Mizu, Nicholas, Hyuuga, Tyson, Erza, Happy and Gray against Lullaby, who although we defeated rather easily, showed us a second, more powerful form. I was then tasked with protecting the Guild Masters along with Happy. I then saw Gray, Tyson and Erza unleash attacks with power greater than I could have ever imagined against Lullaby, who took them all and retaliated with incredible attacks of his own. He then sent the largest magical blast I have ever seen towards myself and the Guild masters, but then Tyson appeared and countered the demon's blast with his own. Gray then swooped in and finally killed the beast, ending the life of the demon all by himself." Lucy wrote down on the paper.

"It was then we found out we had inadvertently destroyed the town Clover by mistake! A whole town! There was hardly anything left! Luckily all the citizens were in magical bunkers and the councilwoman Ultear Milkovich used her magic called Arc of Time to repair the entire town within seconds! She is at least as powerful as Erza! Or maybe a little more, I don't know, I haven't seen the true depths of her power yet." Lucy continued on.

"It is still hard to believe the things that I saw and did on that mission, but I am happy I was able to help not only stop a notorious Dark Guild, but I also helped in the battle against a massive nearly 200 foot tall wood monster that could destroy mountains with ease. I guess that is just the kind of thing that Fairy Tail's strongest team will do on a daily basis. If so, I will face all of these monsters and horrors head on, for you mamma. I will write to you again soon. Love, Lucy."

Lucy signed the letter and then placed it inside of an envelope before placing that envelope alongside a large number of other letters.

Lucy then walked into her living room when she heard someone knocking on her front door and went to see who it was.

Lucy went over and opened the door, to see one Gray Fullbuster standing outside her apartment.

"Hey Lucy." Gray greeted her.

"Hey Gray, what brings you over here?" Lucy asked him.

"Well, I just wanted to see your new place and to tell you to come to the guild. Tyson and Erza are having a sparring match." Gray said.

"Really?" Lucy asked, shocked to hear that two of her teammates were sparring in front of the guild without telling anyone they would do so.

"Yep. Erza wants to see how she stands against her boyfriend. We all know Tyson is going to win, but then again, it is just a sparring match, so there really is no winner or loser in this case." Gray thoughtfully said as he scratched his chin.

"Hold on for just a second, I need to get something." Lucy told him as she closed the door.

Gray heard Lucy running and a few other sounds and a minute later, Lucy came back outside, with a camera in her hands now.

"Alright, I am ready!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Why do you have a camera?" Gray asked.

"Oh, I want to take a picture for my scrapbook. I want to have a lot of pictures to remember all of my adventures with Fairy Tail." Lucy replied.

"Makes sense. Let's go." Gray said.

Lucy nodded and the two of them quickly set off for Fairy Tail, both of them wanting to see the sparring match between Titania Erza and Tyson Dragneel.

After a few minutes, they came to the Guild Hall and sure enough, in the arena behind the guild hall made for sparring matches, they see a large crowd of mages watching the battle and Tyson was on the right side of the battlefield, while Erza was on the left.

Tyson smirked, he was looking forward to this.

Erza had a serene smile on her face as well, but anyone who had known her long enough knew that she was analyzing the battle and planning out her future moves already.

"It's been a while since we sparred Erza." Tyson said as his aura began to lightly flare up.

"Indeed. Five months since we tested each other's strength." Erza replied as her own aura was starting to leak out.

Lucy and Gray went to the front of the crowd, right where Lisanna and Mira were standing and Lucy asked, "Okay, what happened?"

Mira turned around and said, "Oh, nothing yet. There are sizing each other up before they begin."

"Why are Tyson and Erza even doing this? This seems like a waste of time and energy for members of the strongest team to be fighting each other." Lucy stated.

"Well, Erza and Tyson like to fight each other to see how much they have improved and they both just like to fight." Lisanna said as Makarov stepped out into the middle of the battlefield.

"This match is between Tyson Dragneel and Erza Scarlet. The match will continue until one side is unable to battle, one side gives up or I call the match off. Understood?" Makarov asked.

Tyson and Erza nodded and Makarov said, "Alright then."

Makarov walked back to the crowd, turned back towards the field and yelled out, "Battle begin!"

Quick as lightning, Erza shouted, "Requip!"

A familiar golden glow wrapped around Erza as her Heart Kreuz armor came off and a new armor was placed on her.

A few seconds later, the glow vanished and a new armor was on Erza.

Erza was now in a armor that was mainly composed of red, black and orange armored pieces, the orange pieces in the shape of flames, while the other pieces were in the shape of dragon limbs. The breastplate was connected to several other pieces of armor that covered her shoulders, the entirety of her stomach and chest area from attacks. Her gauntlets were red mostly, with flame armored pieces on her knuckles and wrists, while black scale markings were on her gauntlet's middle and the gauntlets were completed with sharp claws. The armor's grooves were red as well, with flame shaped armor pieces for the knee caps, and the toes of the armor were in the shape of two large dragon talons. The rest of her legs were covered in red armor that was connected to the waist via a series of armored pieces in the shape of flames. The armor was completed by a golden collar around Erza's neck with black flame marks, her hair was held by two pigtails by two horn hair clips and finally, there were two dragon-like wings on the armor's back.

Erza opened her eyes and summoned the armor's sword, which was a simple dark red broadsword that had a little sliver of black in the middle of the black and orange flame markings on the hand guards.

"Resorting to Flame Empress, huh?" Tyson asked as he ignited his fists.

"Yes, I figured that this should allow me to keep up with you for a bit." Erza said as she got into her fighting position as well.

"That is Erza's Flame Empress armor. Not only does it grant her the ability to fight with fire, she is also 50% more resistant to fire-based attacks." Gray explained.

"So that means the effectiveness of Tyson's attacks are going to be cut in half?" Lucy asked.

"Yep. It is one of Erza's go to armors, not her best, but it does provide a number of benefits." Gray said.

"If you want to play it that way, fine." Tyson said as his fiery fists began to change into crimson red.

Soon, his entire aura began to change from it's traditional orange to crimson red.

Tyson opened his eyes and once again, they had changed from their regular obsidian color into a golden color with lighter strands of gold shooting through the iris.

"What is the deal with the crimson flames? I have seen Tyson change the color of his flames a few times, but he never explained the significance of the flames?" Lucy asked.

"Well, Tyson has explained to me that his crimson flames are flames that transcend flames. The flames are so strong water will do nothing to stop the flames unless they are completely enveloped by the water, wind does nothing and earth will not put the flames out unless they are completely enveloped, same as water. His crimson flames are a lot stronger than his regular flames and Tyson himself is faster and stronger when using them. Due to how strong he is regularly, Makarov has prohibited Tyson from using these flames unless his opponent is strong enough to survive the flames." Happy explained to Lucy, having appeared from out of nowhere, causing Lucy to jump into the air due to fright.

"Happy?! Where did you come from?" Lucy asked as she tried to calm her racing heart down.

"I was always here. You just never looked down to see me." He simply said as he started eating a tuna.

Turning back towards the fight, Lucy saw Tyson and Erza staring at each other until suddenly, they moved.

Tyson blurred out of existence once more, as did Erza and the two crashed into each other on the far left side of the field.

He had his right hand out, his palm open to block the flaming sword swung by Erza.

Tyson then shouted, "Crimson Fire Dragon Roar!"

He opened his mouth and a deadly stream of crimson flames came rushing forth from his mouth.

Erza simply took the blow, knowing full well that the Flame Empress armor was more than capable of withstanding such a roar from Tyson. It would take something much more powerful to hurt her.

The flames enveloped Erza's body, causing Lucy to gasp out of shock, when Gray placed his right hand on Lucy's shoulder and said, "Hold on. Just wait."

Lucy trusted Gray so she waited and sure enough, after twenty seconds the crimson flames vanished and showed that Erza was completely unharmed by the flames.

"That was pretty good Tyson." Erza complimented him.

"You're really good as well. You took a Crimson Fire Dragon Roar to the face and didn't even react. Gray wouldn't have been able to pull that off. You've grown a lot since we first met each other all those years ago." Tyson said, pride practically oozing off his voice for the woman his girlfriend had turned into.

"Of course I did. Now are we going to talk or fight?" Erza asked.

"Very well." Tyson said, right before he delivered a brutal right fist to the side of Erza's face.

Erza moved a few steps back from the force of the punch, allowing him to raise his left side as he yelled out, "Fire Dragon Cataclysm Fist!"

Tyson threw his left fist forwards, a large amount of crimson flames surrounding the fist as it raced towards Erza.

Erza saw the incoming fist and ducked down to her right to avoid the fist.

As she ducked down, she slashed her sword in an upward left arc, cutting across Tyson's chest.

Tyson of course took no damage from the blade, but it did move him back a couple of steps due to the force of the blade and this allowed Erza to jump backward to get out of his reach.

Erza raised her lit flaming sword and slashed it in an arc, sending a thin wave of fire at the ground near Tyson's feet, hoping to get an explosion that would send him into the air, where she could do some real damage.

But alas, he simply grinned and began to suck in air, forcing the wave of fire to be sucked into his gut and turned into raw power.

Erza scowled and then charged, her flaming sword poised and ready to attack.

Tyson saw her coming and prepared himself.

Erza jumped into the air and placed the sword behind her head, hoping the extra momentum and the use of gravity would give the sword some extra power.

Tyson raised both of his arms in a "X" just as the blade was swung downward.

The blade struck the arms, but otherwise did nothing to harm the dragon slayer.

Tyson then countered by trying to hit Erza with his left knee, but the red-haired knight had already dodged to the right and had rolled behind him.

Before Tyson could prepare himself, Erza had already requipped away her fire sword and instead had a very different weapon.

The weapon in question was a massive hammer.

The hammer was larger than Erza is tall by only a couple inches. The hammer is steel grey, while the handle is shaped in a zigzag pattern. The head of the hammer is composed of a series of cylinder shaped blocks, with the front part being larger than the rest, with lit brown plating on the front. Emblazoned on the front of the hammer's head is the Fairy Tail symbol, colored black and proudly displayed for all to see.

Erza swung the hammer in a wide left arc and hit Tyson directly in the chest, due to him turning around to attack Erza, not expecting her to switch to one of the few weapons in her arsenal that can take down the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.

He was sent flying across the battlefield, a little pile of blood and spit had been spit out of his mouth when that beast of a weapon struck him in the chest.

Tyson coughed a few times before he got back on his feet, his right hand clutching the spot where the hammer had struck him.

"Not bad Erza. Cause me to become overconfident and then strike me with one of the best weapons right when I'm not expecting it. I'm impressed." Tyson said with a slight grimace when he moved a little to change his stance.

"Thanks Tyson. Now, are you going to surrender or do you have to be pounded into unconsciousness?" Erza asked, lifting up her massive hammer.

"You already know what my answer is." Tyson replied.

"Indeed I do." Erza said back, shifting her stance with the massive hammer held at a left angle.

"What is that massive hammer Erza's using?" Lucy whispered to Gray.

"That's the Holy Hammer. The Holy Hammer is an ancient weapon constructed a hundred years ago by an unknown blacksmith to be used by an agent of justice. According to legend, that same man took on an army using that hammer and won. He died when he was betrayed by his best friend and the hammer was lost to time. Erza was helping with an excavation job in some ancient ruins and found the hammer in a forgotten and broken down section of the temple. The hammer was in the hands of a skeleton, presumably the previous user. After burying the skeleton and finally placing him to rest, the main archaeologist said Erza would be best to keep the hammer since if they took it, the hammer would just sit around and collect dust, while Erza can put it to better use." Happy said.

"Wow. How powerful is that thing?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I did see Erza destroy a 25 ton boulder with a single swing of that hammer once, plus she also collapsed the guild hall that belonged to the Dark Guild Naked Mummy as well, so in my expert opinion, I can logically deduce that the hammer is pretty freaking powerful." Happy said.

"Really? I could have gathered that from just looking at the thing. I mean, it is bigger than Erza is tall!" Lucy said.

"Hey, you asked, I gave an answer." Happy shrugged.

"Quiet you two! You are making miss the fight!" Gray yelled.

The two bickering mages turned back towards the fight and saw Tyson was playing a defensive game, he was ducking and dodging the hammer while also counterattacking, slowly wearing Erza down.

Erza growled and smashed the hammer down, creating yet another large crater, only to see that Tyson dodged once again.

"Stay still!" She yelled at him.

"Why would I do that? I like the expression on your face when you're angry." He countered.

Erza's face grew even redder, whether it was from anger or embarrassment was anyone's guess.

Erza swung the hammer to the right, hoping it would strike Tyson in his left side, but the dragon slayer simply jumped over the hammer and then launched yet another tornado of fire directly into Erza's face, causing a small explosion that blew Erza backwards.

While Erza was stunned, Tyson capitalized on his advantage and used the flames on his feet to give him a boost.

"Crimson Fire Dragon Hammer Strike!" Tyson yelled out as his left forearm became engulfed in flames.

He then reared his left forearm backwards and threw it forwards, nailing Erza in the face and causing yet another explosion which sent Erza flying backwards.

Erza twisted around while in mid air so she would land on her feet and then wiped away the small trail of blood from her bottom lip.

"This is really fun Erza, we should do this more often." Tyson told her.

"I agree, but I don't think we can afford to do so." Erza said as she waved her hands towards all the damage done to the arena by their little sparring match.

"Ah, we're S-Class mages, we'll manage." Tyson said as he waved his left hand, but then winced once again from where the Holy Hammer struck him.

"Geez, that thing hits like a train." He groaned, holding that section of his chest.

"I think we should call this one a draw." Erza said.

"Agreed." Tyson nodded.

Erza then requipped her Heart Kreuz armor back on and Tyson exited Crimson Fire Dragon Slayer Mode.

The two of them walked back to the crowd, who were all cheering after seeing such a great, if short match.

They all knew that if they both went all out, Tyson would have destroyed Erza, but he prefers to fight his enemies on even ground, which is why he held back, so it mainly came down to a test of skill, in which they were mainly even.

Tyson then opened one of the pouches he added to his belt, took out a small reddish-orange crystal and began to eat it, causing him to gain back all of his strength and his wounds and bruises were all healed up.

What he just ate is a Lacrima crystal. Lacrimas are magical crystals that can be used as power sources or holders of certain types of magic, like the other Dragon Slayer magics he uses. Tyson just ate a fire Lacrima, which allowed him to create fire by eating it, so he got his strength back and got all his wounds healed up at the same time. A very helpful little tool to have at all times, you never know when having one of those things may just save your life.

Suddenly, a frog man, a messenger from the council said, "Erza Scarlet! Tyson Dragneel!"

They turned back towards the frog man and said, "Yes?"

The frog man approached them and said, "The Council has summoned you to Era to give a report on what happened at Clover and Oshibana station during the whole Eisenwald mess."

The two mages nodded and Tyson said, "Let's get going."

The council's messenger nodded and then turned around leading Tyson and Erza towards the carriage that would take them to Era.

The crowd of Fairy Tail mages all filed back into the Guild Hall, where they all sat around, drank beer and talked, but they weren't as lively as before.

"Why did the council only ask for Tyson and Erza, shouldn't they asked for you, me, Happy or the other three that went with us?" Lucy asked Gray.

"They asked for Tyson and Erza because those two are basically the diplomats for Fairy Tail. They are both respectful and calm enough to get through the questioning process without exploding. The Council also has had the most experience with Tyson and Erza, so they should be able to get through the questioning quicker than the rest of us." Gray responded.

"In addition, they happen to know one of the council members quite personally." Ryu added.

"Oh, I see." Lucy said.

"Let's just hope nothing bad happens. We are now in hot water due to you, Tyson, Happy, Gray, Erza and the others all blowing up Clover." Makarov said as he drank from his mug.

Let it be known that although Makarov is very forgiving, he can hold a grudge for a long time and if you do blow up a city by accident, he will hold it over your head for years.

"Come on master! Ultear already fixed the city so we don't have to pay to repair it, I don't see why you are still upset about us accidentally blowing up Clover." Gray exclaimed in exasperation.

"That may be the case, but you nine were mostly responsible for destroying a city. I have to hold that over your heads. Do you know how often I get a chance to mock Tyson? Not very often." Makarov said with a malicious grin on his face.

Gray sighed and said to Mira, "So, when are Cana, Minerva and Yukino due back from their job?"

"Don't know. Their last message said they were done and were currently coming back home, but they should have been back already." Mira replied.

"Hm. They probably found some bandits to trash or some people in need of help. That is just like them to go out of their way to help others and make the rest of us worry about them." Lisanna said.

"That's because they're men!" Elfman shouted out.

"Aren't they women though?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"Yes they are, Elfman just has the really annoying habit of shouting out "MEN!" or talking about how "real men" do things. It is annoying, but he is a nice guy once you get to know him." Gray said.

"Let's just hope everything goes smoothly for Tyson and Erza, we don't need to be on the council's bad side." Makarov said as he started to drink from his mug once again.

Meanwhile with Tyson and Erza...

Tyson stared out of the right side of the carriage as they finally approached Era after a two hour drive.

Erza was to his left, her right hand interlocked with his own as she stared out of the left side of the carriage.

Another ten minutes and they were finally up at the top of the hill where the Magic Council Building was.

Tyson and Erza disembarked and followed the frog man messenger as he led them to the council meeting room.

A few minutes later and Tyson and Erza were finally standing before the Magic Council.

"Greetings Erza Scarlet and Tyson Dragneel. A pleasure to have you before us once again." The Chairman said.

"Master Chairman. Good to see you once again as well." Erza said politely.

"Now, you know why you are here. We would like to know about the events that happened during the Eisenwald incident." Org said.

"Certainly Org. Two days ago, Erza Scarlet came back from a S-Class job and asked for the assistance of myself, Happy, Gray, Lucy, Mizu, Nicholas and Hyuuga. We all agreed and then Erza told us during her last job that she had overheard several members of Eisenwald talking about "Lullaby" a item that they had found and were going to use to get their revenge on the council for taking away their rights as a guild. She chose to come back to Fairy Tail and get help to make sure that when Eisenwald did do something, they would all be arrested so we didn't have to deal with them again." Tyson explained to the Council.

"A wise decision. If she had tried to take them back when she had first overheard them, one might have escaped and made all of Eisenwald go underground." Jellal observed.

"Indeed. Please, continue." Org said.

"The day after I returned to Fairy Tail, myself, Tyson, Gray, Happy, Lucy, Mizu, Nicholas and Hyuuga all got onto a train and went to the town where Eisenwald is located. However, Tyson stayed on the train due to him falling asleep and he met a man by the name of Kageyama, a member of Eisenwald and actually one of their stronger mages." Erza continued.

"Tyson, could you please tell us what happened when you met Kageyama?" Ultear asked.

"Sure. Kageyama approached me and due to my cloak couldn't see my Fairy Tail mark, so he tried to recruit me to Eisenwald. I accepted, with the intent of placing a tracking glyph on him so I could locate him at a later date. The train then suddenly came to a stop and a strange looking three eyed skull headed flute came out of his breast pocket. I didn't know it at the time, but that was Lullaby, the death flute. I then went to the back of the train and flew off towards my fellow Guild Mates, who had noticed my disappearance and had gotten a magic mobile and went after the train." Tyson explained.

"Once we reunited with Tyson, me and the others all went towards the Oshibana station, the only possible location along the train tracks. Once we reached Oshibana station, we found two squads of Rune Knights unconscious. After checking them over to make sure they were okay, our team then went into the main lobby and found nearly all of the Eisenwald guild there, waiting for us. After a few words between myself and Erigor, Erigor left, along with Rayule and Kageyama. Gray and Tyson went after Rayule and Kageyama, while myself, Lucy, Happy, Nicholas, Mizu and Hyuuga took on the remaining members of Eisenwald. After about ten minutes of fighting them, the Eisenwald mages were defeated and rendered unconscious." Erza reported.

"Myself and Gray eventually split up to cover more ground in order to try and get to Erigor. Gray went to the broadcast system to stop Erigor from broadcasting Lullaby using the station's P.A system, but found the room empty. He was then attacked by Rayule and after a short battle, Rayule was defeated. As for myself, I had searched a large portion of the building, but found nothing when I was ambushed by Kageyama. After a few minutes, I defeated Kageyama when Erza contacted me." Tyson continued on.

"I had grabbed a mega phone and had told the populace to get as far away from the train station as they could in hopes of keeping Erigor from killing them all. After I was done giving my message, a massive tornado surrounded the station. Erigor then appeared and told me that he had engineered this trap to keep us busy as he went to Clover with the intention of killing all the Guild Masters. I then remembered that Kageyama was a magic dispeler and so I contacted Tyson and told him to bring Kageyama to the Wind Wall so he could dispel it. But, just as he was about to, a member of Eisenwald known as Karacka came up behind him and stabbed him with a knife." Erza told the council.

"I then knocked Karacka out before sealing Kageyama's wounds, but he was in no condition to dispel. Lucy then used her newest Zodiac spirit, Virgo the Maiden to dig through the ground and get us out. I then went off to stop Erigor due to me being a lot faster than the others, who used the magic mobiles to try and get to Clover. After a little while, I reached Erigor and we fought each other on the train tracks, where I easily overpowered and rendered him unconscious. Erza and the others then arrived and we congratulated each other for another mission well done when Kageyama, who we had taken with us, grabbed Lullaby and took off. We went after him on foot and when we got to Clover, we found Master Makarov talked Kageyama into surrendering." Tyson said.

"It was at this point the Lullaby flute began to glow and shake and then suddenly it transformed into a massive wooden demon. Lullaby then attacked, but myself, Tyson, Lucy, Happy, Gray, Mizu, Nicholas and Hyuuga all fought back and after a little bit we knocked the demon on it's back after inflicting horrible amounts of damage to the demon when something of concern happened." Erza said, slight hesitance in her voice.

"What?" Org asked.

"A black mist came out of nowhere and covered Lullaby and when it vanished, Lullaby was now larger, more resistant to damage and even stronger than before. I ordered Lucy and Happy to go keep the Guild Masters safe while me, Gray and Erza all fought the demon. It was a hard fight due to the demon's massive increase in power and then once we inflicted incredible amounts of damage once again, the black mist came back and healed up all the wounds the demon had suffered. Lullaby and myself then fought and I eventually blew the demon's arm off with the help of Gray and Erza. The demon then gathered all of it's remaining power into one final blast and I had to counter with my strongest attack, which led to a truly incredible explosion. Lullaby then came out of the smoke, nearly dead, but still alive. Gray then finished the demon off and that is when we noticed that Clover had been hit hard by our battle with Lullaby. Luckily Councilwoman Ultear was there and fixed all the damage. We all then went back into the Guild Master Meeting Hall and that is the end of our report." Tyson concluded.

"Thank you for giving us that report." Jellal said.

"You're welcome. But there's something bothering me." Tyson admitted.

"And that is?" Ultear asked.

"That black mist. It was more malevolent than anything I felt in my life. I only felt hatred and darkness from the mist and it's effects on Lullaby are also concerning if more demons emerge. If they were to come into contact with that mist, we may face a danger not present since the Dragon Civil War." Tyson answered.

"I concur. This black mist is a great cause for concern. Only black mages are capable of doing something like this. But, without the ability to know what kind of dark magic the black mist was, it is impossible to find out who created it." Ultear said.

"Indeed. However, I suggest we be on the lookout for anymore instances of the usage of black magic. We must find out who did that, for if they are still out there, they pose a massive threat to the security of all of Fiore." Jellal added.

"Agreed. But the main purpose of this meeting has been achieved, so I propose we end this meeting here and now." Org said.

"Agreed." Was heard from all the council members and they all left the room, save for Jellal and Ultear.

Jellal walked over to the two mages, a massive smile on his face, Ultear wasn't far behind him.

"Hey." Erza said as she gave Jellal a massive hug.

"Hey." Jellal said back as he hugged his childhood friend.

"It's been far too long Jellal. You really should take more breaks." Erza advised.

"Uh. You sound just like Ultear, I am perfectly fine working the way I am." Jellal said as he rolled his eyes.

"Hey! Don't roll your eyes at me young man!" Erza exclaimed as she playfully swatted Jellal's right shoulder.

"Yes mom. I'll just go to my room MOM." Jellal said, earning him another swat on the shoulder.

"Stop egging her on Jellal. Otherwise she'll tickle you until you pass out from lack of oxygen." Tyson warned the blue-haired man with a large smile on his face.

"You started that little incident. I just fought until I was sure my dastardly foe couldn't fight anymore." Erza defended herself.

"Honestly, the three of you are acting like children." Ultear said, but her face had a smile on it as well.

"You're one to talk. Remember the ice cube when I had my back turned." Tyson replied while poking Ultear in her left side.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Ultear said with an innocent expression on her face.

"Sure you don't." Tyson scoffed, his tone clearly dripping with sarcasm.

"Okay. Let's go talk in my office." Jellal offered.

The other three mages nodded and made their way down the halls until they reached Jellal's office.

"So man, how has life as the 9th Wizard Saint been?" Tyson asked.

"Well, I have had an inhuman amount of paper work to do every single day, so it is really boring most of the time. Although, I do get calls to action every now and then, so sometimes I get to fight and actually use my magic, but it isn't a lot." Jellal answered.

"I feel you man. I don't get to cut loose often and use my real power, but when I do, I love that feeling of energy, of raw power flowing through my veins." Tyson said, as he sat down in one of the chairs, Erza sitting down to his right and Ultear on his left.

"You are battle obsessed, I am just trying to stay sane here." Jellal countered.

"Poking at friends aside, how is Crime Sorciere?" Tyson asked, all playfulness vanishing from his tone.

"They are okay. Cobra and Racer still butt heads every now and then, but for the most part, they are working together rather well." Jellal answered.

"How are Millianna, Wally, Sho and Simon?" Erza asked.

"Well, Millianna told me she just joined a guild called Mermaid Heel. Wally, Simon and Sho have all joined Crime Sorciere as informants, they are currently trying to find any information they can about Tartaros, but they have been having little to no success getting anything about that guild." Jellal told her.

"They aren't the strongest dark guild on Earthland for nothing, they know how to hide, those three are going to have a hell of a time trying to uncover anything about Tartaros." Tyson said.

"Indeed, but they insisted on trying." Jellal replied.

"That reminds me. Ultear, how is Meredy doing?" Tyson questioned.

"She is doing well, she is quickly growing in power. She will soon be S-Class." Ultear said, pride clearly able to be heard in her voice.

"She is growing up so fast. It's starting to make me feel old." Tyson said, remembering the day he first met Meredy.

She was so down due to her parents being killed in a attack orchestrated by Grimoire Heart. Over time however, she started to open up and began to show her feelings once again and since then, she had become a dedicated young woman whose dream is to take down every single Dark Guild in the world and her first step is taking down Grimoire Heart.

"Is Master Hades planning anything big soon?" Tyson asked.

"Yes, he has been sending agents in quiet infiltration missions to get the keys to restoring Zeref for a while now and he nearly has them all and then he is going to where Zeref lays." Ultear said.

"Which is where?" Erza asked.

"I do not know. Master Hades is keeping that information to himself and is refusing to tell anyone." Ultear answered with a shake of her head.

"Not good. He's intending to revive history's worst dark wizard and we still have no clue where he plans to pull it off." Tyson commented.

"I will continue and try to get the location off of Hades, but we most likely will not know where he intends to do this until he is actually doing it." Ultear said.

"Unfortunately. Is there anything else that needs to be discussed before Erza and I go back to Fairy Tail?" Tyson asked.

"Yes. Phantom Lord is starting to become a concern for myself and the other council members." Jellal started.

"They have become increasingly violent and have done quite a few jobs that have us beginning to consider labeling them a Dark Guild. We tell you this because it is our fear that Phantom Lord will try and get Fairy Tail to start a war against them and hurt someone." Ultear finished for him.

"Thanks for the heads up. We've never been on good terms with Phantom Lord. Things will probably come to a end soon enough." Tyson said, shaking his head.

"I agree. We should keep a close eye on Phantom Lord until this all blows over." Erza replied.

"Noted. Well we should be heading back now, the others are waiting for us." Tyson said as he stood up.

Tyson and Erza gave Ultear and Jellal hugs before departing back to their guild.

Later...

Several hours passed, the time was around 4:00 in the afternoon when Tyson and Erza returned to the Guild Hall, where they heard loud cheering and sounds of beer drinking, mugs shattering and general chaos from within.

Curious, they opened the doors and saw a massive guild brawl had taken place while they were in Era.

A mug was suddenly tossed directly towards Tyson's face, which he caught without any issue.

He sighed and then threw it back into the crowd before hearing a satisfying crack as it hit someone's head.

Tyson grinned as he heard the shout of pain from the impact and then heard a voice say, "Hey Tyson! Nice throw!"

He smiled and turned around to see three familiar faces at a table not far from the bar itself.

The woman on the far left of the table was a slim young lady with a slight tan and ample bust. She had mid length dark brown hair, brown eyes and the Fairy Tail symbol was on the bottom lower part of her abdomen. She was currently wearing a long sleeved white shirt, which was unbuttoned at the top showing a bit of her cleavage, while three silver bands were on each of her wrists. She had on black pants held up by a pink belt, dark boots, and a white shoulder bag.

The woman in the middle of the table was a slender, well endowed young woman with short, light blue hair with some of the fringes framing her face and she had brown eyes. She was wearing a white cloak clasped together by a dark blue star shaped clip and has feathery protrusions that cover her chest, shoulders and mid back over her blouse and shorts. The cloak flares at her feet, where it divides into sections, each held by a bow. She also wore thigh high white socks with blue edging.

The last woman was sitting at the far right of the table. She was a slim young woman with long glossy black hair and green eyes. She was currently wearing a short sleeved dark blue T-shirt, while wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt with white fluff on the edges. She has on dark blue shorts, thigh high black leggings, a brown belt and dark boots, while she also has on elbow length blue wrappings on her forearms. She has on a necklace with a sapphire in it's center while gold cable styled chain pieces wrap around her neck and the sapphire.

"Cana, Yukino, Minerva. Glad to see you guys." Tyson said as he approached the three.

"Yep. We just got back about three hours ago." Cana said as she started chugging a barrel of beer.

"Typical Cana." Tyson sighed upon seeing the familiar sight of Cana drinking enough beer and alcohol to kill a horse.

"Cana, you should stop drinking so much." Yukino admonished the lush as she crossed her arms.

"Let her be. If she wants to kill her liver, who are we to stop her?" Minerva said as she waved her hand.

"She does have a point. You really should cut back on how much alcohol you drink." Tyson replied as he sat down at their table, Erza sitting down to his right.

"I agree. The amount of alcohol you drink is a grave concern Cana." Erza said with a worried tone in her voice.

"Ah, you guys worry too much." Cana said, placing the barrel of alcohol down by her side.

"Considering your addiction to that stuff is the reason we went on the Wyvern extermination job in the first place, you worry too little." A new voice pointed out. It was a 17 year man with black hair that reached down his neck, freckles on his face and pale white skin.

Over by the job request board was a black haired 15 year old with black finger-less gloves on his hands, a red hat with half a white circle, red and black sneakers, blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a blue and white jacket.

"Hey!" Lucy said as she walked over, causing the 17 year old man to look in her direction.

"So, you're the recent recruit." He stated. "I'm Drake Frost, the Ice Dragon Slayer."

Drake extended his hand out and Lucy shook it.

The young man looking at the request board turned and spotted the blonde-haired young woman. He made his way over to her.

"My name's Ash Ketchum. I'm a second generation Dragon Slayer, I use Light Dragon Slayer magic."

"Oh, Lucy. Have you met Cana, Yukino and Minerva?" Tyson asked.

"Yes I did. They are very nice, especially Yukino." Lucy said, causing Yukino to begin feeling flustered.

"Ah, thanks Lucy." She said.

"No prob. You want to do a joint training exercise?" Lucy asked Yukino.

"Sure. How does tomorrow sound? I am feeling a bit tired after coming back from a job." Yukino said.

"That sounds great." Lucy nodded with a big smile on her face as she walked away.

"Lucy seems nice enough." Yukino said.

"She is a little on the weak side isn't she? She doesn't have impressive magic reserves." Minerva pointed out.

"She might be a little weak at the moment, but I'm positive you saw the potential within those eyes. She's going to become an incredible wizard some day." Tyson countered.

"Maybe." Minerva muttered.

"So, how was your job?" Erza asked the three ladies in front of her.

"Well..." Cana began telling Tyson and Erza.

Flashback...

"Who's hair-brained idea was it to take this stupid job?!" Cana yelled out over the roar of the mighty blizzard that was raging around them.

"You're the one who racked up a massive tab back at the guild, so quit complaining!" Drake snapped at her.

The team of three women and two men were all dressed in winter versions of their regular clothes and were currently at the top of a unnamed mountain range that had been reported to have a group of Wyverns that needed to be exterminated.

Wyverns are not dragons, despite their dragon-like appearance. Wyverns and Dragons are easily be able to be told apart from each other. Wyverns are generally lacking back legs or forelegs and most commonly have their forearms and wings merged together. Wyverns are capable of using elemental attacks, but they are limited only to breath attacks and they only come in a few different types: Blizzardverns, Fireverns and a few others. Dragons are also much, much larger than any Wyvern is capable of growing.

The Wyverns the group were called to exterminate were Blizzardverns, large Wyverns capable of growing 35 feet tall with a length of around 85 feet and a wingspan of over a hundred feet. Blizzardverns are capable of firing off massive blizzard attacks that can freeze a person solid in a few seconds and Blizzardverns have very sharp talons and teeth, making them extremely tough and hard to kill.

Even though they were herbivorous, this group of six Blizzardverns were constantly attacking the travelers on the mountain, which was actually quite busy due to the large amounts of gold found deep within the mountain.

The Blizzardverns would attack the miners and were preventing mining operations from getting underway, so the mining company had put out a request to get rid of the Blizzardverns before they kill somebody.

"Well, you wanted more money to pay off your tab at the guild and this quest seemed like the quickest one to do, so, this job was actually your job technically." Yukino replied.

Cana began to mutter curses as she realized Yukino was right and she couldn't blame anyone, but herself for this mess.

"Let's just do this job and go collect the reward." Cana said as the group of five approached a plateau on the mountain.

At the back of the plateau was a massive forty foot tall cave opening, this is where the Blizzardverns came from most likely.

Cana took point, with Minerva, Ash, Drake and Yukino close behind her, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

Yukino had one of her golden keys out, while Minerva's hands were glowing with rainbow colored energy as her Territory magic flared up, Drake ripped a icicle off the wall and ate it, Ash sucked light into his mouth and Cana had one of her cards drawn and ready to go.

They cautiously stepped into the cave, making sure to keep their eyes open at all times for the Blizzardverns.

After a few minutes of making their way through the caverns, they finally reached an open cavern, which, laying at the very back of the cavern, were six large Blizzardverns.

The Blizzardverns were about the same size, 20 feet tall, 55 feet long with a wingspan of more than 80 feet. They were covered in pale white scales that were all over their bodies, save for the underside of their bellies, which were light gray in color.

Yukino raised two of her golden keys and said, "Open Gate of the Paired Fish and Gate of the Heavenly Scales."

A golden flash erupted as three figures appeared.

The first figure was a young looking woman with dark glossy hair, some of which was tied up in a bun. She had a light silver crown with a massive dark jewel in the middle of the crown on her forehead. She has two fish fin-like protrusions on the sides of her head. She wore a light blue jacket with dark blue markings on the sleeves and she wore a matching pair of pants with similar markings. On the front and shoulders of her jacket are white fish scales. In the middle of her dark purple belt was a light blue heart belt buckle.

The second figure was a dark skinned young man who was about an inch or smaller than the first figure. He has light blue eyes, has black fish fins on the sides of his head, and a matching crown to the first figure. He had lighter and shorter hair than the first figure, being a shade of light purple and he has a sea shell for a necklace. He had on a pair of light blue pants with black scales as a belt goes down on the outer side of the pants. He has a black and white bracelet under each of his biceps and another set on each of his wrists, along with a set of bandages. He had a large ribbon tied to the side of his body, which holds up the pole arm for his trident.

The third figure was a curvaceous young woman with dark hair tied up ox style. She currently wore a stripped and frill bikini with a matching loincloth tied together with pom poms. She wore numerous bangles on her arms and legs, while wearing dark sandals. She has a zigzagged red and yellow headband and covering her face is a cloth with the symbol of Libra on the bottom of the cloth. She has two scales underneath her hands that had three strings that tied onto her fingers like that of a puppeteer.

The first two figures were the Paired Fish, Pisces, mother and son, while the third figure was Libra, the Heavenly Scales.

"Libra, Pisces see those Blizzardverns? Can you help us get rid of them?" Yukino whispered to her spirits.

The three spirits nodded and Yukino said, "Libra, increase their gravity so they will have a hard time maneuvering, while Pisces, you go and attack one of the Blizzardverns."

The spirits nodded and then the mother and son charged at one of the Blizzardverns, while all of the Blizzardverns were suddenly pulled to the floor as if they were magnets being attracted to each other.

The Blizzardverns were not sure what was happening, but they did know they were under attack, so they began to try and get up off the floor, they knew a downed creature was a dead creature in a fight.

Cana then drew several of her cards and shouted out, "Explosion Cards!" as she tossed them at two of the Blizzardverns, each one of the cards striking the Blizzardverns and causing a medium sized explosion per each card strike.

Drake slammed his fists together as a clear magic circle formed in front of him. "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Ice Dragon Supreme Ice Blizzard!" A huge blast of ice struck one of the Blizzardverns.

"Light Dragon Roar!" Ash released a beam of light that disintegrated another of the six Blizzardverns.

Minerva then said, "Portal Barrage!"

A rainbow colored portal opened up and a rainbow colored blast came bursting forth, striking several of the Blizzardverns.

Minerva had learned Territory magic, had learned two of the powerful Yakuma 18 War Gods Magic, but she still wanted something more to increase her power, so she had begun to experiment and learned she could create portals of space using Territory and then send blasts of space energy out of the portals as a form of combat magic.

The Blizzardverns were hurt, but the remainder were most certainly not defeated or dead just yet, and they began to start fighting against the Gravity Change magic Libra had used against them and slowly, but surely, the Blizzardverns began to stand up.

One of them began to slowly and sluggishly move towards Cana, who simply took out three different cards, "Lightning", "Reverse Fate" and "Lovers", placed them against each other and called out, "Thunderbolt's Fate!" which caused a massive burst of electricity that struck all the Blizzardverns, causing them to howl out in pain and agony.

The son took out his trident and stabbed it into the hide of a Blizzardvern, while the mother used her water powers to blast a Blizzardvern into the adjacent wall of the cavern.

Minerva opened another set of portals and said, "Portal Barrage!" once more, causing yet another set of rainbow blasts to strike a Blizzardvern in the head, causing several explosions that knocked the Blizzardvern to it's knees.

The son and the mother jumped into the air together and created a large symbol of Pisces that sent a massive blast of water into two of the Blizzardverns, throwing them into the wall and holding them there.

Cana used this opportunity to attack the two Blizzardverns by using a new spell. She took out the cards, "Heaven", "Reverse Death" and "Mountain" and called out, "Summoned Lightning!"

A large green lightning bolt came out of the cards and struck the Blizzardverns, who had been struck by the water and so conducted the electricity a lot better.

The two Blizzardverns screamed out in pain for a few seconds before they fell still, their hearts stopped.

"Nice! That's three down and three to go!" Cana said, ecstatic.

Minerva's rainbow glowing raised and pointed towards a Blizzardvern, who suddenly found itself within a rainbow colored translucent orb that then disappeared and reappeared at the top of the cavern.

The unlucky Blizzardvern fell to the ground and hit it's head, causing a sharp "snap!" to go through the air as that Blizzardvern lay still.

"Make that four down, two to go." Minerva said as she crossed her arms.

Yukino then said, "Pisces, double team the Blizzardvern to the left, Libra, cause that other Blizzardvern to go flying!"

The mother and the son nodded and then started attacking one of the Blizzardvern's, where the son rammed his trident into the Blizzardvern's left eye, causing a blind spot so that the team could attack without fearing of the Blizzardvern seeing them, while the mother smashed her left foot into the top of the Blizzardvern's head, causing it to be buried into the ground.

Libra meanwhile had waved her right hand to the left, causing a Blizzardvern to be sent flying into the side of the cavern, where it created a large crater in the side of the cavern all from just it's impact, which began to widen as the force of the gravity began to increase even more.

Cana then took out a very special card that had a picture of a metal helmet with four large spikes on a crown coming from the forehead.

"Card Summon: Barbatos, the Devil Slayer!" Cana yelled out as she tossed the card to the floor, where it laid for a second before a large blue glow erupted.

From the glow, a figure began to emerge and when it stopped emerging, it's true form was revealed.

The figure was 11 feet tall, had large amounts of armor all over it's body, which was colored mostly white, while there was certain sections of blue armor on either side of the top of it's chest, while there was a section of blue on both shoulders, in addition to a patch of red in the middle of it's chest and a portion of the figure's crotch area. On the back there was a large spike with a golden tip. The arms were enlarged and elongated like that of a beast and each of the figure's fingers were tipped with a massive golden claw. The figure had several air vents all over it's body, while there was a strange green symbol on each of the figure's kneecaps. On the figure's large feet were two massive golden claws. Finally, the head had a large red chin spike, a crown with four golden spikes, green reflectors that acted as eyes and last but not least, on the middle of his chest was a white symbol of a flower.

The figure was crouched down, not emitting a sound.

It slowly began to raise itself to it's feet, the hands flexing in and out as the figure continued to rise up.

Eventually, it was standing at it's maximum height and suddenly, the green reflectors glowed brightly as the figure vented hot air from it's air vents.

["I have awakened."] Barbatos said in a deep voice that reverberated throughout the cavern.

He then turned towards Cana and asked, ["What do you wish me to do?"]

"Can you kill these remaining Blizzardverns for us? That would be a huge help." Cana said.

["I shall slay these beasts, summoner."] Barbatos said as he turned towards a Blizzardvern that was currently charging towards him.

Barbatos then reached to his right and suddenly a golden glow erupted.

When the glow vanished, a truly massive mace was now in Barbatos's right hand.

Barbatos wrapped his right hand around the pole arm of the mace and then his left hand was lower than his right as he shifted his stance to the right.

When the Blizzardvern was in range, Barbatos swung the mace with all of his strength at the Blizzardvern.

When the mace connected with the Blizzardvern's chest, the sickening crack and crunch of bones was heard as the force of the mace snapped and broke all the bones in the Blizzardvern's chest and also pulverized most of the Blizzardvern's internal organs just from the sheer amount of force the mace impacted with.

The now dead Blizzardvern's body was flung with incredible force into the side of the cavern, where it smashed into the wall and then slumped to the ground, a massive mace shaped indent on it's body.

Barbatos placed the mace on the back of his waist, where the mace's pole arm went into the head of the mace, making it much more compact and easier to carry.

Barbatos then saw another Blizzardvern, the one which had the mother and son Pisces attacking it.

Barbatos's back spike then came out of his back, showing the spike had a black connection tube attached to the spike.

The spike then shot off at incredible speed towards the Blizzardvern.

["Pisces, get out of the way."] Barbatos shouted out to the two pairs of the Zodiac spirit.

The mother and son Pisces did as they were told without question and not a second later the spike came crashing into the Blizzardvern's chest, where it's heart was located.

The Blizzardvern screeched out only for a second as the spike tore through it's body and more importantly, it's heart.

The Blizzardvern twitched for a few seconds before it's body lay still and then Barbatos's spike came out of it's heart and went back into Barbatos's back.

"That's the last of the Blizzardverns, we can go home now." Cana said happily.

"Let's get out of here and tell the client the Blizzardvern's are dead." Minerva remarked.

Cana nodded and then took up Barbatos's summon card and said, "Thanks for the help Barbatos."

Barbatos nodded and said, ["Call me if you need my help."]

Cana then raised Barbatos's card up and a blue glow erupted from the card and enveloped Barbatos, causing the metal entity to vanish back into his card.

Yukino turned towards mother and son Pisces and said, "Thanks for all of your work."

"You welcome Yukino." The mother Pisces said with a little bow towards Yukino.

"It was fun!" The son said.

Yukino smiled towards the two of them and then raised Pisces Key and sent them back towards the spirit world in a flash of gold.

She then turned towards Libra and said, "Thanks to you as well Libra."

"Think nothing of it Yukino." Libra said as she too returned to the spirit world.

"Alright, let's go get that reward!" Cana said with a grin.

Her four companions sighed and then the group of five turned and walked back down the mountain to claim the reward.

End of flashback...

"And that is how the job went." Yukino said with a smile.

"I still can't believe you befriended Barbatos and acquired his summoning card. He is one of the top 20 strongest beings on Earthland." Tyson muttered.

"Hey, you snooze, you lose. And besides, I am just that awesome." Cana said with a smirk.

"So, if you guys finished the job so quickly, why did it take you five so long to get back?" Erza asked.

"Oh, that was all Cana's fault, she went out and spent 150 jewels on beer and spent two hours talking with the patrons of a bar along the way." Minerva said, a little irritated.

"Why am I not surprised. Well, I'm heading back home. I've got some training to do before I go to bed." Tyson said before getting up.

"Agreed. See you all tomorrow!" Erza exclaimed.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Mira called out.

On Galuna Island...

A mysterious figure walked forwards towards a massive purple piece of ice and inside the piece of ice was Deliora, the demon of destruction.

The figure walked up to the ice and then placed it's right hand onto the ice.

A familiar black mist came out and went into the ice and into Deliora.

Deliora's eyes flashed purple before going dim once more.

"Now Tyson, let's see if you can beat the improved version of the Demon of Destruction." The figure said before they disappeared in a flash of black mist.

What did the figure do to Deliora? And what shall these events lead to? It is impossible to know for now. Events are happening that are changing the