MD Ch 40: Birth of a Legend

Hours earlier in Crocus:

The capital city of Fiore had definitely seen better days compared to its current state, which now had patches of complete and utter destruction strewn all over it. Most of these pockets were now reduced to smoldering heaps of rubble with a fair amount of death mixed in as well. One could argue that this was due to the Council overestimating their own capability, which left very few Rune Knights still standing, much less willing to even fight back against the drakes that easily tore through them like wet tissue paper. The Royal guard was pretty much in a similar state, except for one group that is, which was led by a man in white armor with a cape having the sigil of Fiore on the back of it.

But even they were relieved when one of the two remaining drakes they were keeping busy flew off in the direction of the three dragon slayers. With his fellow drake following soon after, both of them letting loose intimidating roars of outrage as they did so. Only for a new and even more terrifying roar to ring out from the center of the city, causing all those unlucky enough to hear it to fall even further into despair. It was hard enough for them to remain optimistic after losing most of their defenses and still having two more drakes to deal with. But now they would have to deal with this new threat that seemed to appear out of nowhere, or at least that is what most of the survivors thought as they covered their ears to lessen the deafening roar still ringing throughout their city.

As soon as the mysterious roar came to a stop, it was instantly followed up by the roars of the last two drakes as they twirled around and headed straight for the source. This indicated to the Knight in white at least that whatever made the sudden and unexpected roar from before was on their side, and he had a pretty good idea as to who that someone was. Now with a slight smirk he started to issue out new orders for the remainder of his men; no longer were they concerned about the drakes, instead focusing solely on finding any survivors. At first his men were confused at this sudden shift in commands, but after a pain filled roar from one of the drakes rang out they started to understand why.

"I'll leave the rest to you Master Dragneel." whispered the white knight before barking out orders to the few stragglers of his group. Causing them to snap back to reality and rush off to do as he commanded.

With the drakes:

"So you've finally returned." stated the lime green drake as he and his partner slowly hovered around Natsu. Who currently had his head down and was standing in the middle of one of the many places scattered across the city that the drakes had reduced to a smoldering pile of ash and debris. The drakes cautiously watched on as he slowly walked forward a few steps before bending down and picking up a slightly singed sign that he dusted off with his other hand.

"Let's just finish this." hissed out the other drake between clenched teeth, looking as if he was just moments away from flying down and ripping into the pink haired Dragon Slayer. Something that was only reinforced by the flames that sprung up on his red body, giving him a very intimidating appearance.

"Wait!" shouted out the first drake, knowing that the stories being spread about this Dragon Slayer couldn't all be lies like most of their kind liked to think. Unfortunately his plea landed on deaf ears as his partner swooped down with an open maw, clearly intending to end this in one quick attack.

Of course their opponent had other plans in mind, and proved it by twisting out of the way at the absolute last second. Only for him to land a devastating punch to the side of the red drake's head that was hard enough to send the drake skidding a few feet to the left as it let out a pain filled roar. The lime green drake got front row seats to all of this, but he was even more surprised by Natsu's actions immediately afterwards. Said Dragon Slayer went back to cleaning off the sign he still had in his hands with a sorrowful look slowly coming over his face as he did so.

"You pink haired Bastard!" yelled out the red drake after shaking his head to clear it and instantly going back to glaring at his opponent.

"So you think I'm a Bastard?" asked Natsu in a quiet voice while still looking at the sign in his hand.

"Of course I do, you've killed a fair amount of my friends and my only brother!" he spat out before lunging once again at the Dragon Slayer that seemed completely uninterested in him at the moment. And just like his previous attack it missed, but this time instead of getting hit in the side of the face his stomach was hit three times in quick succession that resulted in him flying over to the other side of the mage.

"Are you just going to sit there Argit!" he bellowed out in rage after getting up with a snarl sent at their opponent.

"We've made a terrible mistake." replied the now identified Argit, who unlike his partner was paying attention to Natsu's power level. A power level he thought was impressive for a human since it rivaled theirs at the very beginning, but now easily dwarfed theirs and was still rising. But that wasn't what caused Argit to realize that they messed up badly, no it was what was going on all around them.

"You have no idea how correct you are Argit." stated Natsu in a bone chilling tone as he knelt down and carefully placed the sign at his feet that read 'Cookville Orphanage'. Once he got back up to full height, long gone was his sorrowful look, and in its place was an expression of absolute rage and disgust. "Do the two of you know what always seems to follow your kind?" he asked while at the same time stopping a set of claws dead in their tracks with one of his daggers, causing the red drake to finally take notice of the power radiating off of him.

"Death." answered Argit in an uncertain tone, which was a fairly good guess judging by how the Dragon Slayer currently was acting.

"Correct…" he spat back while still holding off the other drake's claws as if it was nothing. "But I was actually referring to something much more basic." he said as a malicious grin quickly flashed across his face. Before either of the drakes could ask him what he meant the fire on the claws just mere inches away from his face started to flow into his mouth. And it wasn't just the fire from the red drake that was now being sucked up by him, no all of the fire and smoke in the surrounding area was flying towards him and quickly being gobbled up.

"Shit!" hissed the red drake as he finally realized that they were in a really bad situation and intended to put some space in between the two of them. But as he tried to back away he was shocked to find that his arm he just used to try and cut the Dragon Slayer in two wouldn't budge.

"Where in the hell do you think you're going?" came the mumbled voice of Natsu as he continued to eat the large amount of smoke and fire that was all over the city they had just been terrorizing only a few minutes ago. Before either of the drakes could react the red drake's left arm was twisted so hard that his face was slammed into the ground as a large pop rang out. But that was just the beginning for him as Natsu seemed intent on ripping the arm clean off of the poor drake that was now roaring out in pain.

Seeing this caused Argit to finally act; in a way that his partner would have never believed if he hadn't seen it for himself. This was taking off as fast as he could, all in order to put as much distance as he could between him and that monster who was masquerading as an ordinary Dragon Slayer. A fact that he felt his kind needed to know considering that was what they were trying to get away from in the first place.

"Argit, you fucking coward!" yelled the red drake in complete disgust as he looked up at his retreating ally.

"Don't worry… He's not escaping the same fate that you're going to be soon receiving." said Natsu as he wiped his mouth with his other arm before a large amount of smoke and fire exploded off of him. This resulted in him hurtling towards the fleeing drake at breakneck speeds without showing any signs of slowing down in the slightest. Which is exactly what he did as he slammed into the green drake's backside and sent both of them plummeting into the city below them.

"If you thought that I'd let you get away after what you helped do here today then you're dumber than I initially thought!" he shouted out in anger as he landed punch after punch on the completely unguarded back side of the drake he just brought down. Each of his hits resulted in small explosions of smoke and fire going off, leaving behind a smoldering cloud of smoke that soon made it almost completely impossible to see the two of them. This carried on for another two good whole minutes and only stopped when a tail swatted him into a nearby building.

"He's already dead!" growled out the last drake as he awkwardly hobbled towards his opponent that was currently removing himself from a pile of rubble.

"That he was, it seems I let my emotions get the better of me there." replied Natsu as he cracked his neck and looked back at the drake with a deadly glare. "Something that I'll probably have trouble with throughout the rest of today... And I'm a little surprised that you didn't follow his example and try to make a break for it." he said while gesturing to the decimated corpse of the other drake, if you could even call it that anymore.

"And what would have been the point of that when we both know you would have easily hunted me down?" he asked back with a slight grin tugging at the edges of his lips.

"Good point, but what I can't really understand right now is that grin of yours." pointed out Natsu as he dusted himself off, once again acting as if the drake before him was not even a threat to him in the slightest. "Are you really that happy to meet your end at my hands?"

"No, not at all, I'm just happy to know that you can bleed just like the rest of us." he answered while nodding to the fairly large gash he gave to the Dragon Slayer on his left shoulder.

"Of course I can, how else would I have gotten all of these?" Natsu asked back while gesturing to a few of his other scars that were still on display as he sealed up his newest one.

"I can only assume you got most of those quite a while ago." he said no longer trying to hide his grin as he got a nod of confirmation from the slayer. "Judging from what I just witnessed from you, you'll be getting less and less until it's almost impossible. So you can no doubt see how I'd take great pleasure in knowing that even if you forget about me in the future, I'll have at least left a mark that will be with you until the end." he finished as he got into the best fighting stance he could with one of his legs being completely useless. Only for him to be caught off guard by his opponent breaking out into laughter as he shook his head and held his gut.

"You drakes sure like to think of yourselves as the superior species, when in all actuality most of you are quite simple to understand." declared Natsu as he wiped away an imaginary tear only for him to lose his smile and replace it with a completely serious expression. "You all are just a bunch of brutes that want nothing more than to fight until they are declared the best or die while doing so. So why don't we see if you can leave me anymore reminders before I give you your final wish." he said as his magic once again flared up and he was covered in both of his elements.

"It would be my pleasure." he hissed back before the two of them charged at each other.

Right before they would've clashed Natsu's body dissipated into a cloud of smoke that slipped right between the drake's claws only for him to reform right after. Letting the Dragon Slayer have complete access to the drake's unprotected underbelly, which he monopolized on by landing four punches in quick succession. Only for him to once again turn into a cloud of smoke as another swipe from a razor sharp set of claws slashed through the area he used to be occupying. This time however, he decided to reappear right above the drake's back and bring a smoldering foot onto the spine of the drake right in between his wings.

This once again caused a pain filled roar to ring throughout the city; that was slowly coming back to life despite the protests of the guards and knights urging them to remain indoors. But for those that didn't heed their warning, they got to witness firsthand the true wrath of the Master of Fairy Tail, causing most of them to walk away with one major lesson. For the love of god don't piss him off or he'll make your final moments a living hell. Something he made crystal clear by how he dealt with the final drake attacking their city, which was him only using punches and kicks instead of his blades that would've expedited the whole process. So for the next few minutes they got to watch him pummel the drake until he stopped moving and the Master of Fairy Tail ended it with a kick strong enough to cave in his skull.

"Shit, they really pissed you off didn't they." stated Doranbolt as he cautiously walked up to the dragon slayer. Who was currently taking deep breaths, not because of exhaustion or anything like that but in a feeble attempt to calm himself down. Something that until now the teleportation mage had never really seen from his friend, which in itself was amazing considering everything he's been put through over the past few years.

"Yes they did." was his simple response through clenched teeth as he looked down at yet another decimated corpse of a drake by his own hands. Both of them destroyed to the point that he wouldn't be able to use any of their scales; making the only things worth scavenging their teeth and claws.

"Seems like we've attracted quite the crowd." pointed out the Council's appointed escort for the guild Master of Fairy Tail as he looked around at the citizens slowly accumulating around them.

"Let's move to the next one." replied Natsu after letting out a long sigh and turning to look at his friend who seemed to have a look of relief wash over his face as they looked at each other. And just before the two of them were about to teleport to the next city a shout from within the gathering crowd stopped them.

"Master, wait!" shouted out Sting as he and Rogue burst through the crowd with Daniel following shortly behind them. "Take us with you!" he said while jogging over to the two of them with a confident smirk spread across his lips.

"No." responded Natsu to the shock of everyone within earshot. Before the young Dragon Slayer could retort, his Alpha and Master spoke up in an even more commanding tone than what he was using before. "You barely have enough energy to remain standing, much less going off to fight against another drake or more. And that's not even putting into consideration that you're almost completely tapped out of magic, which will be hitting you hard in a few minutes, trust me." he finished with a little grin slowly tugging at the edges of his lips as he looked down at the teen.

"But isn't this exactly why you've been training us so hard?" asked the White Dragon Slayer with a determined look plastered across his face as he locked eyes with his Alpha. "So we can protect those that can't protect themselves! Also, the Twin Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail can easily take on at least two drakes without a drop of magic between us." he declared as his other half smacked himself in the face while shaking his head at his partner's stubbornness. This little declaration caused a little chuckle to escape from their Master, who now had what could only be described as a proud expression adorning his features.

"Yes it is, and I'm sure that the two of you could." he said while tussling the blonde's hair, much to the teen's annoyance. "Also, what kind of Master would I be if I just sat back and let the two of you fight for me." he finished with a confident smirk while finally removing his hand from Sting's head.

"We wouldn't be fighting for you Master Dragneel, we'd be fighting beside you like we have before." commented Rogue, who to Natsu's surprise looked almost as determined as his partner.

"Sorry you two…" he replied as his smirk slowly faded away. "You two need to head back to the guild and get some rest until I tell you otherwise, and that's an order!" finished the eldest Dragon Slayer as he gave them a stern look. One that caused Danny to have a quick flashback to when he first encountered the Master of Fairy Tail and learned how foolish he truly was back then and still is today in a sense.

"Yes Sir." replied the two of them in a slightly upset tone, only to quickly turn around and slowly start trudging away in the opposite direction.

"I know you have no reason to listen to me Daniel since I'm not your Master, but I'd suggest that you do the same." stated Natsu as he looked over at the Lava Dragon Slayer currently sporting a confused expression. "Oh and by the way, good job Danny, who knows how many lives you saved here today. Doranbolt let's go, we've already wasted more time here than I would have liked." he said before Doranbolt touched him the next second and the two of them vanished.

"Thanks." mumbled Danny to himself as he looked at the spot where his role model once stood with a proud grin just barely being visible on his visage as he headed back into the crowd still gathered.

With Lyon:

"Fuck…" coughed out Lamia Scale's resident Ice Mage as he slowly staggered back to his feet. Long gone was his shirt and jacket, something that wasn't odd for him or his fellow student, but what stood out was his completely battered and beaten form. His injuries were so extensive that it quite frankly was a miracle he was able to get back up to his feet at all, which he only achieved thanks to using his Ice Make to hold himself together.

Unfortunately he was now forced to using just one handed molding, making him somewhat thankful of his arrogant youth since it was helping him stay alive at the moment. But he knew that it was only a matter of time before his luck ran out and the drake finally landed a hit on him that would more than likely be the end of him. Knowing this only seemed to drive him harder, because he sure as hell wasn't going to let any more of his guild members suffer before it happened.

At least that was what he was hoping for, which it seemed that fate had other intentions as the distinctive scream of Sherry rang out from the battlefield he was ejected from just moments ago. So with another curse hissed out between clenched teeth he rushed back in as fast as his injured body would allow him. Only for him to come to an abrupt halt after rounding the last corner and coming face to face with his guild's current situation.

Laying just a few feet in front of him was Sherry, who was even in a worse state than he was and was currently holding her gut as the areas around her hands were slowly turning a deep red. With her face now almost a ghost white and looking extremely close to passing out any second now. So without a second's thought Lyon rushed to her side and set to work, and what he saw as he sealed her wound with his ice terrified him.

"How bad is it?" asked Sherry with a weak smile as she looked up at him, knowing from just a glance that it wasn't good.

"You'll be fine." he replied while not meeting her gaze and focusing on his task.

"You never were very good at lying." she chuckled out just above a whisper only for it to quickly turn into her hissing out in pain.

"Shh Sherry, you need to save your energy." he stated in an unsure tone as he inspected the rest of her body for any other injuries he might have to attend to. "And I know plenty of mages that have received worse than this and made it out completely fine."

"None of the slayers count as normal mages." she refuted with another weak smile sent his way.

"I wasn't just talking about them... Gray and Erza are two that come to mind who have been in a similar state." he argued while finally meeting her gaze, which he instantly regretted as it let him see how drained she was and looking as if she could go any minute now.

"Try and tell me that again." she said knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to after he finally met her gaze.

"I…" mumbled Lyon as he looked away from her and clenched his one good fist in anger.

"It's fine Lyon, I've…" she started to reply only for her eyes to shoot open in shock as she looked past her friend crouched over her. Before she could utter a single word of warning, she was forced to watch as a tail covered in jagged ice connected with his right side and sent him once again flying into another part of the city.

"That one is a persistent one isn't he." chuckled the blue and white drake as she turned back around to look at Sherry. Who's look of horror only increased as she took notice of what the drake had clenched in one of her claws, which was the unmoving figure of their guild Master. "But he's got nothing on this old hag." she continued to say while applying more pressure to her clenched fist and causing Ooba's head to snap up as she let out a pain filled scream.

"Let go of her you bastard." hissed out Sherry in complete rage as she glared up at the drake smirking down at her.

"And why would I do a thing like that?" she chuckled back while once again causing the elderly guild Master to scream out in pain. "Because of this little old lady you lowly humans almost got the better of me and that is something I can never forgive. So I'm going to keep her alive as I continue to lay waste to your precious little town and kill everyone she was hoping to protect." she finished with a malicious laugh.

"Run my dear." whispered Ooba as she looked down at Sherry with a sad smile while one of her hands slowly raised into the air with the pointer finger extended. "While you still can." she finished before the Ice drake still holding her started to spin at a surprisingly fast rate. Only for her to stop a few seconds later as another pain filled scream rang out from the Master of Lamia Scale before going silent as she was smashed into the ground.

"The old bat still had some fight left in her." stated the drake as she lifted Ooba back up and inspected her closely. "She's durable as hell, I'll give her that much. Must be because of all that magic power she has, which unfortunately for her wasn't focused on a more destructive magic." she continued to say as she looked back over at the slowly retreating figure of Sherry, who was in tears as she was doing so.

"Since you're no longer conscious I see no reason to draw this out anymore." commented the drake as she looked at the unconscious figure of Ooba in her right hand. With a wide smirk she jumped into the air and soared to the other side of Sherry, effectively blocking the wounded mage from going any further. But before she could even attempt to strike down the woman before her a shrill shout rang out from her right side that was almost instantly followed up by her being launched into a nearby building.

Sherry couldn't believe what she was seeing; now standing in front of her and in place of the drake was her cousin Chelia with Ooba in her arms. Something that she would have found comical if they were in any other situation; since the young mage was roughly the same size as the elderly guild Master and could barely keep hold of her. She watched on in silence as her cousin put Ooba down as gracefully as she possibly could before whispering something as a halo of light appeared on her palm and faded into the elderly woman now laid out on the ground. Just before she could call out to her a furious roar rang out from their right side as an enraged drake took to the skies.

"Now you're sending hatchlings to deal with me!" bellowed out the drake as she glared down at the young pink haired girl. "I don't have time for this anymore!" she declared while rearing back her head, which Sherry knew all too well meant that a roar was heading their way.

"Chelia run!" she shouted out, not caring for her own wellbeing so long as her cousin was safe.

"No! I'm tired of everyone treating me like a kid that can't help." replied Chelia as she widened her stance while standing protectively in front of the two of them.

Sherry tried to get up and rush over to her cousin, but only took two steps before falling back down and being forced to look up as an icy roar came barreling down on them. Before it was even a few feet out of the drakes maw Chelia shouted out her own spell, "SKY GOD'S BELLOW" resulting in a huge stream of black air coming from her mouth and clashing with the drake's roar. Sherry was even more stunned when her cousin's attack overpowered the drake's and sent it crashing back down into the city.

"SKY GOD'S HEALING SPELL." whispered Chelia, who was now kneeling next to her cousin.

"How?" asked Sherry with wide eyes as she looked at the young Sky God Slayer in disbelief.

"What did you think my training with Master Dragneel was for?" she asked back with a little grin as another roar rang out in the distance. "Now I've got to go and finish this." she said as a completely serious expression washed over her face while she clenched her fists that now had black air swirling around them.

"Chelia…" Sherry started to say but trailed off as the young God Slayer looked as if she wasn't going to stop.

"You can't stop me Sherry… I can take care of myself and I'm the only one that can still fight." she replied while not looking back.

"I wasn't going to, I just wanted to tell you to be careful and kick her ass." declared Sherry with a proud grin she seemed to always have while in the presence of her cousin.

"Now I'm all fired up." she shouted out after giving Sherry a grin that was eerily similar to someone who used to be known for declaring that before a tough fight. Upon hearing that from her younger cousin, Sherry couldn't help but shake her head as she let out a little chuckle while at the same time wondering if she was okay with her taking on more of the Fire Dragon Slayer's habits. As she slung one of Ooba's arms over her shoulder she had to admit that Chelia definitely could have picked someone worse to be her role model.

With Chelia:

"You're going to pay for that." spat out the drake as the two of them squared off against each other.

"Bring it!" Chelia shouted back. "I'm going to make you regret ever coming here. And you're going to pay for everyone you hurt here today." she finished while giving the drake her most intimidating glare she could muster. The two of them remained like that for another few more tense seconds before both of them charged forward as each of them casted their own spell.

The drake once again covered herself in jagged spikes of ice that could easily tear through most things in her path. While Chelia did something similar, she was now focusing her air magic to just her hands and feet which significantly enhanced her speed. Something that the drake was completely unprepared for as the young wizard sped past her first attempt at slicing the girl in two and was then on the receiving end of a few magically enhanced jabs to her already wounded areas.

"Let's see how you handle this brat!" shouted out the drake as ice quickly started to spread out from her and cover everything in its path. A smug grin was now on display for the whole world to see as she turned back to look at the young God Slayer only to be slightly caught off guard when she was met with nothing. Her surprise only grew when a small fist came into contact with her left cheek, which was followed up by her head slamming into the ground as black wind rushed by her.

"Like that would stop me!" stated Chelia as she gracefully landed on the ice with a smug grin of her own. "Lamia Scale has one of the best Ice Wizards in the country, so of course I'm going to figure out how to deal with him freezing everything."

"Wise words, which is even more surprising considering your age hatchling." replied the drake as she slowly got back up and looked at her opponent again. This time not dismissing her just because of her age or small frame, which she had to admit was going to be a huge advantage for the young girl facing off against her at the moment.

"I've been lucky enough to have exceptional teachers." said Chelia as she stood there in a crouched position, ready to shoot off at a moment's notice. Which was something that her opponent took notice of and couldn't help but smirk at as she slowly started to stalk around the pink haired mage.

"Didn't any of them tell you how foolish it was to face off against an opponent who is better than you in every conceivable way?" she asked with a smirk as she licked her lips while continuing her slow circling of the young girl.

"They did." was the young God Slayer's simple reply, causing the female drake to let off an amused chuckle. "But you aren't one of them." she continued to say before dashing to the left suddenly and springing off of a frozen door and slid right underneath the stunned drake. Who mere seconds later was sent crashing into one of the frozen buildings thanks to being on the receiving end of another Sky God's Bellow.

"That's enough messing around." growled out the Ice Drake as she slowly picked herself back up.

"I was thinking the same thing." replied Chelia as she once again got into a crouching position. As she did this the drake also got into a familiar position, signifying that another roar was going to be unleashed on the young mage before her. But before the drake could unleash it, her opponent finished her move first and she almost missed it since it was spoken just barely above a whisper.

"SKY GOD'S DANCE OF A HUNDRED SLASHES!" whispered the young God Slayer as she charged forward while at the same time the air around the two of them started to pick up and turn purple. The drake didn't have to be a genius to know that this wasn't going to be good for her if she was caught in the center of it, so she unleashed her roar prematurely. Unfortunately her target seemed to expect this and gracefully dodged it with such ease that any observer would have thought the two of them were doing some sort of routine.

This was however just the beginning of her assault, that was then followed up with the drake being lifted up into the air. As soon as her claws left the ground she started to spin while at the same time was constantly being hit from all sides by blades of condensed air. That would have proven to be extremely deadly for her if her scales didn't protect her from the vast majority of them as she was slowly spinning further into the air. While this was happening she completely lost sight of the young God Slayer, only for her location to soon be revealed as a sickening snapping sound rang out a second later from the base of her left wing. This simple action completely stopped any chances of the drake escaping from the whirling winds constantly assaulting her.

"You drakes came here intent on destroying us." shouted out Chelia from the back of the drake as she brought a magically enhanced foot down on the other wing. "Killing innocent humans without a second thought." she continued to say as she jumped out of the way of a tail swung at her and then spinning in the air only to come crashing down on the back of the drake with both of her knees. "I'm betting you thought it was going to be easy for you since there wasn't a Dragon Slayer opposing you." she said as she jumped off of the drake and gracefully landed back on the ground.

This let the young mage catch her breath, while simultaneously letting her get a front row seat to one of her newer spells that she worked on with Natsu. A spell that definitely wouldn't have been as effective if she hadn't been lucky enough to take away the drake's capability of flight. Something that she knew she wouldn't have been able to do on her own, and was only able to do it thanks to all of the mages from Lamia Scale fighting to the bitter end. So she just stood there for the next two minutes as her spell did its thing, ending with the drake falling face first into the ground in a completely battered state thanks to the mages of Lamia Scale and the girl in front of her.

"Time to finish this." declared Chelia as she got into a wide stance, knowing that if she didn't finish this soon she'd be the one on death's door. But just before she unleashed another "SKY GOD'S BELLOW" the drake let out a deep and echoing chuckle that intrigued her. "What in the world could you find so funny?" she inquired as she glared at the still chuckling drake.

"Everything." replied the drake in between chuckles. "Being beaten by a bunch of humans first off is extremely humorous, with you, a young hatchling being the one to land the final strike is just priceless." she continued to say as she finally regained control of herself. "But the funniest part of all of this is what's being shown behind you." she finished while giving a weak nod to the area behind the Sky God Slayer.

"Like I'd actually fall for something like that." she snapped back, instantly going back to getting ready to end their fight.

"Fair enough, but if I heard correctly, you claim to be a student of that Dragneel fellow." stated the drake as a huge grin slowly spread across her lips. "Who judging from what I've been watching is going to be meeting his end any moment now."

Hearing this caused Chelia to lose all focus and twirl around to see what the drake was talking about. Sure enough, just a few blocks away on a store's large lacrima display was the live footage of Natsu's fight in Magnolia. From just a quick glance, one could easily tell that it wasn't going in the Dragon Slayer's favor. His entire attire was in the worst condition that anyone has ever seen it in, which could also be said about the man wearing it who looked barely able to keep standing.

Chelia couldn't believe what she was seeing, so much so that she didn't take notice of the drake slowly getting back up behind her with a malicious grin spread wide across her maw. Playing out before her on the lacrima screen was one of her worst nightmares, her role model and one of the country's greatest defenders was losing. Even though she was still young, she knew that his death would greatly affect the wizarding world in more ways than one. The biggest and most pressing one would be his contribution to fending off the constant invasion of drakes, which reminded her of what she was doing just moments ago.

As Chelia slowly twirled around she couldn't help but curse herself, the number one thing Natsu drilled into her during their training sessions together was that you should never turn your back on your opponent no matter what. Which went double when facing off against a drake, so of course she went and did exactly that. So she really wasn't too surprised when the first thing she saw as she turned around was a large blue tail hurtling towards her with the intent to flatten her like a pancake. What did surprise her was when the tail came to an abrupt stop just a few feet away from her thanks to a pillar of ice springing up from the ground.

"Finish her!" shouted out Lyon from a side ally, while kneeling against one of the walls and clearly having difficulty in maintaining his spell preventing her from being flattened.

"SKY GOD'S BELLOW!" bellowed Chelia after dashing to the right and just barely dodging the tail that smashed into the spot she used to be standing at. A large stream of purple wind erupted from her small mouth and slammed into the side of the drake and sent her crashing into another building where she stayed as the spell continued on until the young God Slayer fell to her knees.

She promptly started to cry her eyes out, not wanting to watch the live feed of her teacher and role model being beaten to a bloody pulp. That is until she was brought into a loose hug by Lamia Scale's resident ice mage, who definitely needed immediate medical attention. A fact she quickly took note of and sprang into action, unfortunately only being able to reduce his condition to a less life threatening level due to her low levels of magic. Only for her to once again go back to crying after making sure that he wasn't going to die right in front of her.

"What's wrong?" Lyon asked hesitantly as he held the gifted mage in his arms.

"What's wrong?" she shouted back while gesturing to the footage of Natsu being pinned to the ground by one of the drakes attacking his city.

"You don't need to worry about that." he replied as a small grin slowly spread across his face. Only for him to instantly lose it as a tiny hand slapped him as hard as she could and then proceeded to hit him on the chest in anger.

"How can you say that, I thought you said that the two of you were friends?" she cried out in between tears as she continued to pound on his chest. "And now he's going to die when all he's ever wanted to do was find his dad and protect his family and friends. " she said before falling into his chest in exhaustion.

"I can say that because I know he'll get out of this." answered Lyon in a completely serious voice, causing the young pink haired mage to look up at him in shock.

"How?" she asked in disbelief.

"We'll just have to watch and find out." he responded with a small grin as he slowly twisted so they both could watch. A decision he almost instantly regretted as they watched the drake impale Natsu with one of his claws and pick him up right after. Having a good idea where this was heading after that most recent development he quickly covered Chelia's eyes as he tried to bury her head into his chest. A feat that was proving hard for him thanks to her constant struggles to break free as he continued to watch what was happening in Magnolia, just like a large amount of the country currently was doing at the moment.

Unfortunately in his current state Lyon couldn't keep her contained, so she got to watch on in horror with the rest of the country as the red drake's mouth snapped down on the no longer struggling form of Natsu Dragneel. The only things sticking out of the drake's mouth were: a single arm and both of the legs of the Fourth Master of Fairy Tail. That then fell to the ground right before the screen went black.

"Noooo!" she screamed out in anguish before going back to hitting the ice mage on the chest. Who just like her, couldn't believe what he just saw transpire.

Unlike most of the people that just saw the exact same footage as him, Lyon had a harder time believing it because of first hand experiences with said Dragon Slayer. When he was actually adversaries with Natsu, the darn fire mage wouldn't stay down no matter what he and his minions threw at him. Something that he showed even more of when they allied up to take on the Oracion Seis, where he constantly went up against mages that outclassed him. But each time he somehow came out on top and continued to do so, so much so that the ice mage honestly didn't know if anything could take down the Dragon Slayer.

"That has to be some sort of fake footage." he finally said as Chelia continued to pound on his chest, only stopping after hearing his last comment.

"It was from Sorcerer's Weekly." she stated weakly, a company that prided itself on only delivering the truth to its readers and viewers in this case.

"Then they finally got something wrong." he snapped back in a slightly angry tone as he slowly got up with her in his arms.

"But.." she started to argue.

"But nothing Chelia, the Natsu that we both know wouldn't have gone down like that." he declared in a determined tone as he slowly started to make his way towards their guildhall. "Not to mention that a few things about all of that seemed completely wrong." he said just above a whisper.

"Yeah." replied Chelia as a faint smile started to form on her lips. "But what was wrong about all of that?"

"How much of it did you see?" he asked her back while keeping his eyes locked forward.

"Just the very end when you came and saved me." she answered with a slight pout forming as she recalled her foolishness that almost cost her life.

"Well I got to see a fair amount of it, and something was off about how he fought and acted throughout most of the fight." he said as he almost fell over, causing the two of them to argue about him carrying her. It ended with her walking beside him and not helping him when that is what she really wanted to do. "But the biggest problem I have with all of it is that I know for a matter of fact that Fairy Tail would never just sit back and let something like that happen. Even if he ordered all of them to sit back and not come out under any circumstance." he finished explaining as the two of them continued on their way to their guild. A place where they would unfortunately find out what some of their friends lost during this last encounter with the drakes.

In Magnolia just a few blocks away from the Fairy Tail Guildhall:

"So ends the line of Igneel." stated Tureis as he lowered his head in respect.

"Good riddance!" chuckled Evrag with the body of the Dragon Slayer still in his mouth before he was suddenly hit by one of his fellow drakes.

During the ensuing fight between him and Talia the body of Fair Tail's fourth guild Master was dropped to the side. Catching Tureis' eye, because rather than making a mess like one would expect from a dismembered torso, it did none of that and actually started to fade away into nothing. Seeing this caused him to take notice that the faint cries of disgust that he once heard from Fairy Tail's guildhall had ceased completely.

"ENOUGH!" he bellowed in a commanding tone, effectively causing the two fighting drakes to come to a standstill. "Look at his corpse!"

"What corpse?" asked a confused Evrag as he frantically looked around the decimated town of Magnolia and more precisely the area of their first actual fight since they started this invasion.

"Exactly!" declared Tureis in an irritated tone. "Last time I checked, when we killed someone they would always leave a body behind."

"Usually with a fair amount of blood too." pointed out Talia as she gave Evrag a heated glare.

"They do, don't they." stated the red drake as his two fellow drakes could only shake their heads at his stupidity. "Now that you mention it, when I bit into him I never got that satisfying gush of blood flowing into my mouth." he continued to say as they all inspected the area where the Dragon Slayer's remaining body should have been.

"I told you two that something wasn't right." hissed Talia as she frantically started to look around the two of them.

"Yeah, you barely helped out." he retorted back to her. "Maybe he used so much energy that he just faded away."

"Are you an idiot? I'm honestly asking." she snapped back, now just mere inches away from him. "When have you ever heard of someone just fading away? More so, during a fight for their life." she finished as they continued to glare at each other.

"A fight that he lost." stated Evrag as a smug grin slowly spread across his maw.

"You arrogant Bastard!" she hissed back as he started to chuckle in amusement.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Tureis once again, causing the two drakes to turn in his direction. "Can the two of you just give it a rest for crying out loud." he said while shaking his head. "I never would have guessed in a million years that I would need to babysit the two of you like I am."

"Shut it Tureis!" growled Evrag, and before Talia could chime in with her own opinion a loud explosion erupted from behind the two of them. Along with the explosion came a decent shake of the ground and an enormous amount of flames, that just so happened to be where their fellow brethren were recouping. The fire was so gigantic that it completely encased all three of the drakes, but you could still clearly see the outlines of them in the midst of the fiery inferno as they writhed around in agony. And in the midst of them stood the figure of a lone man with his right arm held out in their direction, seemingly controlling the flames and ash and smoke that now continuously assaulted the defenseless drakes.

The other three watched on in sheer shock as the other half of their raiding party dropped one by one to this lone stranger that seemed to just fall from the sky. In the matter of just a few seconds the flames dissipated to reveal three drakes void of life, and what one might describe as being snuffed out in an extremely painful way if their now frozen expressions were any indication. An expression that resembled someone having the air sucked right out of them as they tried to scream out in protest, only for them to be stuck that way for all eternity.

The man responsible for this sudden and quite frankly, completely unexpected change of events slowly walked up to one of the now deceased drakes. Only for him to then slowly place a hand on its snout as he lowered his head, which was pink in color and held in place by a white scaled fabric that went down to his mid back. He proceeded to do this to the other two as the drakes, and the rest of the country watched on in silence. Something that was only possible thanks to one brave individual in the top of one of Kardia Cathedral's towers. Who through no small feat got Sorcerer's Weekly to start rebroadcasting.

"You know…. It didn't have to be this way." stated the man as he slowly turned to them, revealing to them that it was who they all figured it to be. For the drakes at least, they wished it was anybody else in the entire world. Because, compared to the previous Natsu Dragneel that they faced off against just a few minutes earlier, this one was on a whole different level of intimidating. The previous one had a slightly deranged look to him, while the one slowly walking towards them had a completely stoic look. A look that definitely didn't belong to someone who just single handedly took out three drakes in the matter of a few seconds, albeit already wounded ones but nonetheless drakes. Right now the Master of Fairy Tail had the stoic expression of someone who wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way on accomplishing his task. A task that the three still remaining drakes could only assume was getting rid of them.

"I wanted to form some sort of peace treaty with your kind." stated Natsu as he continued on his way towards them.

"How is this possible?" shouted out a now enraged Evrag.

"It shouldn't be." stated Tureis as a seldom felt feeling started to come over him. One that he knew Talia was currently feeling after glancing over at her and seeing the slight shiver run up her body, starting from her tail and ending at her snout that she attempted to pass off as a snort.

"We just killed you, what form of trickery is this Dragneel?" declared the group's former leader as she tried to hide how truly terrified she was at the moment.

"Just killed me?" asked Natsu with a small smirk starting to form as he glanced over himself and giving them a quick twirl to show them that he was completely fine. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. But I think we should make one thing here completely clear." He finished only for him to then be holding the jaws of the red drake just mere centimeters away from tearing into him. The next second the dragon slayer was engulfed in flames that shot past him and blasted through a few of the still standing buildings.

"Evrag, you moron!" she shouted out in a mixture of anger and fear as the distinctive sound of suction and slurping could be heard from the center of his roar. What caused the tint of fear in her voice was the panicked movements of the red drake currently unleashing the tremendous roar as he tried to back away. But instead of that happening she and Tureis watched as Evrag's jaws were slowly being opened further apart, up to the point that he couldn't open them any further. Or that is at least what they thought until a loud snap rang out and they watched as the lower jaw went backwards, loosely dangling as his once fierce roar of flames was replaced by one of complete agony.

"Well that's a first for me." stated Natsu as he continued to hold the drake in immense pain in place, but now holding him by his nose. Which allowed him to easily guide the drake wherever he wanted, something he showed off over the next few seconds as he kept making Evrag go from side to side. And whenever Evrag tried to swipe at him, he would just move the drakes head in the way. This lasted for a minute or so, until Evrag stopped struggling and let out a gargled mumble to his fellow drakes as he glared at them.

"He's wondering why in the hell the two of you haven't done anything yet. Isn't that right Evrag?" replied Natsu in a disgusted tone as he forced the drakes head to the ground before him and gave the still struggling drake a snarl. "Sorry to break it to you Evrag, but your two buddies over there are trying to figure out how the two of them can make it out of this situation alive. But unfortunately for them the chances of that are pretty much zero."

"But didn't you just say that you want to form a peace treaty with us." stammered out Talia, having no problem grasping at any sort of slim chance she might have to get away from the monster before them. But to her and Tureis' surprise the Dragon Slayer's next action was to swing a dagger that came out of nowhere into Evrag's eye, thanks to the chain attached to the hilt of the blade and wrapped around the slayer's arm. This of course caused Evrag to howl out in more pain as he continued to try and break free.

"It seems you weren't listening when I finished off those three over there." he replied while gesturing with his free hand that was now holding a blood soaked dagger that he pointed at the three dead drakes behind him. "I said I wanted to form some sort of peace treaty with your kind. Which is something I still intend on doing." he said causing that slight glimpse of hope to seem possible for Talia. "But that no longer includes any one that was involved in this invasion of yours." he finished before taking out Evrag's last eye and simultaneously blasting his nostrils with smoke while finally releasing the poor drake from his grasp.

"If that's how it's going to be, then so be it! But can I make a single request Dragneel, from one warrior to another?" inquired Tureis as he spread his wings wide, letting the electricity constantly racing across him to increase the electricity in the air.

"And what might that be?" asked the dragon slayer as he casually swatted away the blind Evrag, who was ferociously lashing out in all directions.

"That you and the rest of your fellow Dragon Slayers won't go after Talia as she flees." stated Tureis to the shock of the maroon drake standing near him. And continuing on before she or the Master of Fairy Tail could interrupt him. "That is until you have killed me and Evrag over there." he said while nodding towards the rampaging drake heading in the completely wrong direction.

"Tureis you…" Talia started to say until she was cut off.

"Listen to me for once in your life you infuriating woman, you have something to actually go back to." hissed out her fellow drake as he didn't take his eyes off of the man standing just a few yards in front of them.

"Interesting, would the two of you happen to be mates?" inquired Natsu as he tilted his head to the right. Not even needing to hear the answer as he looked into the eyes of the yellow drake glaring him down, or at least he thought he didn't.

"No we are not!" replied Talia as she continued to look at one of her best soldiers with a raised eyebrow. Never once in her entire life did she not listen to what Tureis had to say to her as they trained and fought together over the many years they were in the same squad. This went even more so after she took command of it a few years back.

"I accept." answered Natsu suddenly, and quite frankly surprising both of them that he would even agree to it. "At most it will give her a few more hours of life, especially since her wings have taken quite a bit of damage. But if she so much as tries to help you in any way or even thinks about hurting someone as she attempts to flee it's off." he finished while slowly walking to the other side of Tureis so Talia was now behind him.

"Tureis…" she started to say before he cut her off with a deep and rumbling growl, which she knew meant it wasn't up for discussion. Seeing that this was probably the only chance she was ever going to get at making it out of here alive she took to the air and flew away as fast as her wings would let her.

"Honestly it brings me a decent amount of hope, seeing that you'd do this for her." stated the Master of Fairy Tail, now with both of his hands holding daggers at the ready.

"To me as well Dragneel, especially since you could have declined my offer." replied Tureis as he too took flight, but instead of flying off, stayed right in front of his opponent. "It shows to me that you truly are the warrior the rumors say."

"I bet you would love for us to keep chatting like this, but unfortunately I've got a few other places I need to make sure are safe within the next hour. So I'll be wrapping this up quickly." he said in a slightly cocky tone, only for him to then start jumping backwards as lightning kept striking the place he used to be moments earlier.

"You're correct Dragneel, but I sure as hell won't let that happen." stated the drake now chasing after him, yet still being up in the air and out of his reach. Or at least that's what he thought for the first few minutes of their confrontation, only for the dragon slayer to blast himself into the air with his fire. Only for the dragon slayer to turn into a cloud of smoke right before he would have been hit by a bolt of lightning.

What followed next was a drawn out battle in the air that Tureis kept the upper hand in, with no small part of that being due to his lightning quick reaction and overall maneuverability in the sky. It also didn't help Natsu that whenever he would get his daggers stuck into the drake he'd be on the receiving end of an enormous shock. Tureis couldn't fathom how even a dragon slayer could take so many shocks and still keep coming at him like it was nothing. That is until said dragon slayer seemed to get fed up and came to a stop on the ground and just stood there like a statue after finishing off Evrag in a single blow. Tureis cautiously flew around him a few times, wanting to see what tricks his opponent might have instore for him but couldn't detect any.

"What gives Dragneel?" asked Tureis as he came to stop above the dragon slayer.

"As you can probably already see, you are clearly better than me in the sky so I thought I should bring this fight of ours back to the ground." he answered with a mischievous smile spread across his lips.

"And why would I ever do a thing like that, you just said it yourself, I am better than you in the air." responded the drake, now feeling like he could possibly best the man before him. Who despite showing off enough magical power when he first arrived, that still to this very moment had his instincts screaming at him to turn tail and run.

"True, but once I'm done with this next spell of mine that won't be an issue." replied Natsu while still staying firmly in place. Which he still remained doing as Tureis reared back his head in an all too familiar motion. That was then followed up with the Master of Fairy Tail being engulfed in a roar of lightning that lit up the night sky for miles in every direction.

"You won't be able to…." stated Tureis only to tail off as he looked at something he was sure should be completely impossible. Standing in the same place as before was Natsu, but what terrified him into complete silence was watching as said Dragon Slayer devoured his roar like it was something he did on a regular basis.

"Thanks man, I needed a refill just to be on the safe side of things." he chuckled while wiping his mouth and smirking up at the absolutely confused drake hovering above him. Only for smoke and fire to start billowing off of him until it was swirling around him menacingly.

"But, but, but, but you were only supposed to be able to eat fire and smoke. Something that shouldn't even be possible in the first place." stammered out the drake in disbelief.

"From the last lights of the Heavens." mumbled Natsu to himself as he rose his left arm so it was pointing in the air. Which was then followed up by a beam of light shooting up from his arm and into the night sky, and just a second later the smoke and fire billowing around him started to swirl around the beam of light and race to the sky as well. Once they reached the tip of the beam they started to spread outwards and made it look as if they sky itself was on fire. As the burning clouds above them started to grow in size his beam of light finally stopped and all that remained was a small ball in the center of his new creation.

"Dragneel!" bellowed Tureis, as he pulled in his wings so he could dive-bomb him and stop whatever it was he was up to.

"To the devouring fires of the Abyss that will drag you to Hell!" stated Natsu in a louder voice as he looked at the diving drake, only to then bring his hand down so he was pointing at him. As soon as he did this the ball of light in the sky shot a beam that hit the drake in the chest and stopped him midair and held him there. While held completely still, Tureis watched on in horror as the burning skies above him started to shrink in on the ball of light. Only for the smoke and fire in the skies to come hurtling down towards him as they swirled around one another.

"HELL'S LAST LIGHT!" shouted out Natsu as he clenched his left hand into a fist. This happened just as his two elements made contact with the immobilized drake, which then triggered an explosion that engulfed the drake and continued on for an entire minute and only grew in size as it did so.

Afterwards, where their once was a drake, was nothing more than an enormous crater that was at least three blocks in diameter with a small pile of ash in the center. The Master of Fairy Tail stood there with a blank expression as he looked over his handy work only for it to turn into an irritated one a few seconds later. Only for him to then shout out Doranbolt's name, and said man appearing next to him a second later with a floored expression of his own as he looked at the crater.

"Close your mouth, we still have work to do." he stated in a shockingly calm tone, only for the teleportation mage to place a hand on his shoulder and both of them disappearing the next second.

Inside the Fairy Tail Guildhall:

"Holy Shit!" whistled Macao, putting to words what pretty much everyone else was thinking as they looked out the front of their guildhall at the new smoking crater.

"Did you have any idea he was capable of something like that?" asked Kinana as she glanced over at Ultear, who looked just as surprised as the rest of them.

"I knew he was capable of destroying things like nobody else, but this is on a whole different level." she commented as a slight smirk spread across her lips. "I can't imagine the Council will enjoy finding out about this new spell of his."

"And here I thought he gave up on that stuff." joked Jet as he helped Droy take a set at one of the chairs next to a window. "But it's just like him to come in and show the rest of us we have a long way to go to be even considered close to him." he finished to a few chuckles.

"Ultear, Porlyusica wants to speak with you…" came the slightly frantic cry of Meredy as she burst out of their infirmary, only for her to trail off after she saw what they were all looking at.

"Impressive isn't it." stated Wakaba, before blowing a large smoke cloud out one of the windows. "He did all of that with a single spell."

"No way!" exclaimed the young sensory mage as she looked between the gathered group to see if he was lying.

"It's true, our Master has definitely become an exceptional mage in his own right. But what did you come out here for?" inquired Ultear with a raised eyebrow, not having forgotten her daughter's tone as she came rushing out to them.

"Oh yea… Reedus… he isn't doing too good." she answered as her excited expression was washed away with a sullen one.

"I still can't believe he could actually do something like that with his magic." mumbled Droy, getting nods of agreement from all that could hear him. "Honestly I was just seconds away from going out there and trying to save his impressive creation." as he said this Ultear silently slipped pass them and headed towards the infirmary.

"You can come in." came the harsh voice of Porlyusica as soon as she came to a stop in front of the infirmary's doors. So with a deep breath, Fairy Tail's resident time mage strode in expecting to see the worst and was pleasantly surprised to see said paint mage calmly asleep in one of their beds. Something that unfortunately couldn't be said for the other occupants in the room, all of whom were brought in from various cities ravaged by the drakes thanks to Droy's teleportation plants.

"How is he?" asked Ultear after letting out a sigh of relief.

"Not good." answered the guild's unofficial healer as she shook her head, never once taking her eyes off of a clipboard she had in front of her.

"Really, he looks completely fine to me?" she asked in a hushed voice as some of the volunteers rushed past them to see to other patients. This included some of their guild members and a shocking amount of citizens from Magnolia.

"He might look that way my Dear, but what I'm extremely concerned about is what's going on inside of him." replied the elderly woman as she made her way to the end of her paper. "Mainly his magic container." she said as a shocked gasp escaped the woman she was telling this to. "It seems I don't have to tell you how important that is to a mage, which means I can jump to the heart of his problem. From what I can gather so far, he's cracked his container, something that until just now I didn't even know was possible." she continued to say as she gave the man she was talking about a sad look.

"So what exactly does that mean for him?" Ultear hesitantly asked, knowing that there was no way she was going to hear anything good from the elderly healer.

"To put it simply, he won't be able to be an active member of Fairy Tail like he once was." she answered bluntly, something she was known for. "But who knows, maybe in the future after some well-deserved rest and if he sticks to his therapy. He might just be able to get back to where he was a few years ago."

"Where he was!" shouted out Ultear, only to cover her mouth the next second.

"You don't need to be quiet, I've been awake this entire time." came the quiet voice of Reedus as he slowly turned himself so he was looking at the two women. "And I'm going to get this out of the way right here and now. I would do it all over again if I was given the chance, so I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me or trying to take the blame for this. And didn't you just hear her Ultear, I'll be able to get back to what I was if I try hard enough." he said while giving the two of them the warmest smile he could muster at the moment.

"But…" she started to argue back only for him to shh her.

"But nothing, I along with everyone else in Fairy Tail have been training and working so hard over the past few years for exactly this reason. So that one day we could save the lives of those who need it, something that I know for a fact that I accomplished here today." he continued to say with audible pride in his voice. "And judging from what I heard a few minutes ago, Master Dragneel is back and finished what I couldn't." finished the pict mage as he made himself more comfortable in his bed.

"That you did Reedus, and yes he is." replied Ultear as she made sure to keep all of her emotions in, because she sure as hell wasn't going to crack if the man before her wasn't.

"Good, now if I didn't misunderstand the lovely Porlyusica." he started to say but got cut off by a clipboard smacking him on the head. "I was going to say I needed to get some rest." he finished while giving his assailant a fake glare.

"No you didn't, and I'm going to make that husband of yours pay once he gets back here." mumbled Porlyusica as she walked past Ultear and went to check in on the next of her many patients.

"Well I'll leave you be." said Ultear before quietly slipping back into the main hall of their guild. Where she was instantly surrounded by her fellow guild members, all of them asking how Reedus or some of their other guild members were doing. One by one she answered their questions, thanking Porlyusica in her head over and over again for slipping her a paper with their most recent results.

A few moments later:

"What in the heck is going on?" asked Laki as she and her team came in through their courtyard.

"An invasion that seems to finally be wrapping up." replied Macao from behind their board with all of the invasions marked on it.

"No what I mean is, why on earth did Natsu show up with Doranbolt just long enough to finish off the two drakes I had pinned only to vanish the next second?" she said, clearly not happy about being blown off by their Master like she was.

"It would seem as if he has had enough and plans to finish them off as soon as he can." answered Cobra as he and the rest of the dragon slayers were being thoroughly inspected by Kinana, excluding Miia. Who to Akiro's great displeasure went straight back out there to where another drake was supposed to be. "And if I heard correctly, all that should be left are the ones in the Blue Pegasus territory and two that Minerva apparently sent into some caves." he finished while Kinana continued to try and bandage him up.

"So what are you all doing here?" she asked back with a disapproving glare sent their way.

"Recuperating." answered Danny with a bright smile as he continued to glance around the guildhall, trying to take in as much as he could while actually being welcomed in what he now learned was some of their actual homes.

"And who exactly are you?" asked back the wood make mage in shock, now upset with herself for not noticing the blonde haired dragon slayer sooner.

"I'm Daniel Arthstram, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." he replied while getting up from their table and offering her a hand to shake. Something she did quite hesitantly, and only probably did due to the fact he was currently with all of the other dragon slayers and was still in one piece.

"He's the Council's ace in the hole." chuckled Sting as he gave Danny a hard slap on the back, causing him to be on the receiving end of an extremely harsh glare that he didn't even notice.

"Oh, so you're the Lava Dragon slayer that Master Dragneel put in his place a while ago." stated Laki as a huge grin spread across her face. "From what he's said to me, you've apparently got a lot of potential." she continued to say before Danny could even respond.

"But you've still got a ways to go before you're even on par with any of us." boasted Sting, not wanting his fellow dragon slayer to get too full of himself. Something that wasn't even really a chance considering what happened earlier in their fight against the drakes.

"That's rich, coming from you." said a female voice from the other side of the guild's door leading to their courtyard. The next second Akiro flew into said woman's face as she entered the main room. "I love you too, little buddy." chuckled Miia as she pried her exceed off of her and brought him into a normal hug.

"I didn't know if you'd come back." cried Akiro as he buried his face into her chest.

"Of course I would." she replied in a sad tone, knowing that he of course had reasons to think otherwise.

"Wait a minute! What did you mean by 'it's rich coming from me'?" shouted out Sting as he jumped from his seat and started to stomp over to her.

"What she most likely meant was that you're the weakest one here." answered Cobra in a harsh and commanding tone. "Now shut the hell up and let the two of them have their moment!" he finished, and to everyone's surprise that is exactly what he did.

"I was also afraid you wouldn't be your usual self." continued Akiro as if they weren't just interrupted, while now looking up at his partner with wide eyes.

"I ran into Master Dragneel just a little bit ago." she responded as her head lowered so she was now staring at the floor. "He very quickly put things into perspective and reminded me that he was my Alpha." she finished as a slight shiver ran through her body.

"And how did he do that exactly?" asked Rogue, knowing of a few different ways said fire dragon slayer could accomplish it.

"By ending the drake I was fighting with for ten minutes in what seemed like a blink of the eye." she answered while shaking her head at the memories. Never once since she joined Fairy Tail had she ever seen him look so pissed off and downright angry.

"Did he say anything to you?" asked Meredy, knowing that everyone wanted to know how he was doing.

"That I had already saved enough lives today, and that I should go home and rest before I become another casualty of this invasion." she said in a serious tone, before lifting her head back up and smiling at her longtime partner. "So here I am."

"You guys are going to want to see this!" shouted out Macao, before changing all of their lacramia screens to a live news report from Sorcerer's Weekly.

"We here at Sorcerer's Weekly feel obligated to inform you all that the drake invasion is finally over. And along with that we have been getting reports from all across the country that this is in no small part thanks to the wizarding guild, Fairy Tail." announced a blonde haired man in a nice suit, as various pictures of Fairy Tail wizards facing off against the drakes slowly scrolled behind him. "They however weren't the only ones out there risking their lives to protect this beloved country of ours, all across the country countless guilds stood their ground against unbeatable odds. And unfortunately for a few places that wasn't enough." he continued to announce in a somber tone as a map of Fiore came up behind him with a few red X's on it. "But despite such tragic losses we still fought on and persevered. Which brings me to our most recent development, and that is the retraction of our announcement that Master Dragneel had died in his fight against six drakes in Magnolia. The details surrounding his surprising comeback are still unknown to us at the moment, but as soon as we do so will the rest of you." he said with a small grin. "Now some of you out there who were watching our live stream of the incident might be skeptical, but here is what transpired just a few minutes later after we ended the live stream." he finished before the whole screen started to play the fight between Natsu and the three remaining drakes after his flashy entrance.

Everyone in Fairy Tail's guildhall watched on quietly as his fight played out before them again, but this time letting them see his final move a little better. While also showing how large of an area was completely annihilated, which also included an entire drake that just moments ago was almost completely fine.

"If that doesn't prove he still is alive then I don't know what else will, how about the various places he showed up to after?" reported the news anchor as he listed of certain areas that were then followed up with a picture of a dead drake either inside of it or on the outskirts.

"How on earthland is he so strong?" asked Danny as the guild slowly came back to life as everyone started to talk with each other.

"Because he kind of has to be." answered Cobra with a wicked grin sent the young lava dragon slayer's way. "If he wasn't then he sure as hell wouldn't be our Alpha."

"Or our Master either." chimed in Jet.

"Or her husband and my dad!" declared Meredy, now really excited to talk to Natsu about that new spell of his she just got to see in action. And just like that, Fairy Tail was back to how it usually was, everyone happily chatting with each other in celebration of their victory. Because for one thing, they knew that as soon as their Master returned it would be back to work helping rebuild and repair their city.

With Natsu:

"I'm not going to lie… You almost got away from me there…" he panted out while holding down the head of Talia with his right foot. "Leading me past your fellow drakes was a brilliant way to keep me distracted." he said while wiping away some blood from his face.

"They didn't stand much of a chance against you now did they." she hissed back at him, knowing that if she so much as moved he'd send one of his daggers through her eye and into her brain. Ending her life before she could get even close to cutting him in half like she would have wanted.

"No they didn't, but I'm honestly extremely curious as to what Tureis meant by you having something to go back to. Because as far as I could tell, a drake that lost might as well not even come back since they would be seen as a disgrace to their kind. And from what some of your brethren has said to me, it isn't too crazy to think that your life would be in constant danger." he explained while twirling one of his daggers by the chain with it coming just centimeters away from cutting into her.

"How is that any different from now?" she asked with a snarl.

"I guess you got me there. But with the one small difference being there isn't just a chance of you dying, you are going to die as soon as we're done talking here." he stated with one hundred percent certainty.

"I'd expect nothing less from someone with your reputation." Talia replied in a mocking tone before it turned into a hiss of pain as a new cut was given to her on the cheek.

"Don't screw with me." he growled back with his dagger now just an inch away from her right eye. They stayed like this for three minutes until the pinned drake let out a long tired sigh.

"If I tell you, what do I get in return?" she asked now looking him directly in the eye.

"A painless death." replied Natsu after thinking on it for a minute.

"I could care less about how I depart from this realm." she snorted back to him.

"Do you have some sort of request like your friend did?" he asked her back in an irritated tone.

"I do, but can you answer a different question first?" she asked him back, causing said pink haired dragon slayer to grow even more irritated as he motioned with his hands for her to continue. "Do you really believe you could form a peace treaty with our kind?" she asked with complete sincerity, which slightly caught him off guard.

"I honestly do, and if all things go according to plan over these next few years I'll have one with some of the fire drakes." he answered with a wishful tone, that sounded as if it was becoming nothing more than that.

"Of course those untrustworthy bastards would be doing that behind our backs." she hissed out in disgust only for it to disappear as quickly as it came. "But I guess I should be thankful for it now." she continued to say to Natsu's confusion. "I'll tell you why Tureis sacrificed himself to give me a chance at escaping, so long as you go to a certain place right after you kill me." she proposed with a little smirk gracing her lips.

"And what will I do once I get there?" he asked her back.

"You'll find something very useful in establishing this little treaty of yours." replied Talia while closing her eyes and having a content expression wash over her face.

"How do I know that this isn't another one of the tricks your kind loves playing and once I get there I'll be ambushed?" he pointed out while bringing his dagger closer to her eye, which had zero effect on the now blissful drake.

"Because once I tell you the reason, you'll understand." she replied before reopening her eye and meeting his gaze. His response to this was a quick nod of agreement, that was then followed up by Talia whispering something so quiet to him that even he had to lean in closer. After hearing what she said, she closed her eyes one last time before it was all over.

"You two seemed to have quite the little chat there." stated Doranbolt as he teleported a few feet away from the now deceased Talia.

"That we did." was Natsu's somber response as he went about cleaning his daggers.

"Are we going to go after those other two?" he asked in a tired voice that just screamed he wanted to be done for the day.

"Nope, they won't be a threat to us anytime soon and will more than likely be on the run from their own kind for a while." replied Natsu as he then proceeded to do what he usually did after killing a drake, which was gathering anything that still had any worth to it.

"So what are we going to do?" he asked with a slightly shocked expression.

"You're going to go home Doranbolt." answered the Master of Fairy Tail as he didn't look up from his work. "But before you do that, could you stop by Fairy Tail and tell them that it'll be a few days before I'm back."

"I would have rather gone after those two drakes on my own, but I guess it's the least I can do for you." replied the teleportation mage as images of certain Fairy Tail women trying to kill him after giving them such a short message from their guild Master flashed through his mind.

"Thanks Doranbolt, if you need me just give me a call." said Natsu as he continued to carve away at the drake. With a shrug of his shoulders, Doranbolt disappeared the next second and as soon as he was gone Natsu was up on his feet and running towards a mountain range in the distance.

End of Chapter

Thanks for reading!

So first off I can't apologize enough to all of you guys, my loyal fans, that have been checking up on me throughout my entire absence on here. As I've told a few of you that messaged me, my life has changed a lot over this past year. They range from my computer crashing and needing a complete overhaul to a death in my family. On the more positive side of things my girlfriend is no longer that and is now my fiancée, something that I honestly didn't think I'd be lucky enough to ever have in my life. This surprisingly just all seemed to fall in place and took up a lot of my time as well. We also just recently bought a place together and have been spending an enormous amount of our time fixing it up, which I hope everyone can realize how long that can take. And quite frankly will never really end if I'm being honest with all of you, but luckily has progressed to the point that I'll only be occasionally doing an odd job here and there. But if I have to be honest with myself, the biggest reason for this giant gap in content is due to me losing a lot of the motivation I used to have. All of that can pretty much be attributed to how the manga ended, which I really didn't care for, for a wide variety of reasons that I'm not going to go into on here. But for those of you that liked it, honestly I'm happy that you did and wish that I could have been one of you. But let's get back to why most of you are here, which I hope is reading my work. Unfortunately I forgot the simplest reason for fanfiction even existing in my opinion, which is changing things that one might not agree with to something you think might be better. So with all of that said in what I believe is the briefest way possible, I am once again excited to write Fairy Tail fanfiction which once I get to where the manga ended will of course have quite the different ending.

Thanks again for reading this little story of mine!

And Thank You to everyone that left reviews or pms telling me how much you liked what I have already done and encouraging me to come back.

Oh and I can't remember everyone I messaged about two to three months ago about releasing this chapter within the next week. But I also want to apologize for that as well and let you know that I scrapped everything I had done up until then and redid it, which was about ten thousand words at the time. Hopefully that was the correct call and you enjoy what I now have.

Digem Out!