Chapter 7:- A day before his birthday...!

After leaving HQ, levy instinctive went for a walk around town, dragging her horse with her before riding back to the capital. Tasking her with protecting the royal family until further notice was quite a challenge for her. She's amongst the 21 generals of tartaros and also, an imperial magic soldier of the royal palace. It wasn't quite a full time job that requires her to work until she's aged...not that she could actually age anymore.

Seeing the Tartaros city or in other words, also known as magnolia was really peaceful and soothing for her. But wasn't going to take her worries away. She knows natsu wants the best for the realm. She knows he's doing everything he can to prevent disaster but why can't he just let them all be by his side even just for a little. Just like the good old days.

But no matter what happens, she's dedicated her loyalty to him. She wasn't ever going to go against him. Whatever he ask her to do, she'll do and that's absolutely certain.

After a few hours walk. Reaching the outskirt of magnolia, she looked at the bustling and happy city once more with a small smile.

'Not like I'll never come back. I'm just being dramatic' she laughed at herself and rode away to Crocus.

8-Hours Later...

After a long, long ride, levy finally got to the entrance of the castle she was usually stationed at. Now, she wouldn't take any request, nor take a single step out this place. Wherever the Royal family goes, she goes.

Making up her mind, she gently walked to the entrance of the palace with her horse following behind her.

"Halt!" A knight stationed at the gate cried out. He wore a complete bronze full body armour and held a sharp, long spear, pointing it at the direction of levy.

"Who are you?" he asked.

'Mm, maybe he's a new recruit if he doesn't recognize me' she thought. Wanting to get this over with, she introduced herself.

"I'm Levy Mcgarden of the 21 grand general and one of the three highest ranking imperial magic soldiers" she gave a slight bow.

He gawked at her with his eyes wide open and his jaws reaching the ground. Fidgeting from nervousness, he quickly made way for her while trying to stand firm and salute her in respect but failed miserably.

"I-i-i-i s-s-s-s-s-s-sorry M-ma'am. T-this is m-m-my f-first time m-m-meeting you i-in person!" he stuttered, almost biting his tongue.

Seeing this, she chuckled "Relax. Its nothing amazing, just stay alright and do your work properly okay"

"YES MA'AM" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Levy chuckled again. Her mood was slowly getting better for her. Maybe it wasn't so bad to be here after all. Or maybe, she should have ordered her squad to come with her but it'll look like she's going for battle which she'll love to avoid commotion and looks from the people.

The gates were opened wide for her and she could see the usual scenery of the palace she works in. Walking in with her horse behind her, a voice stopped her movement once more.

"Um...ma'am?" it was the same voice of the gatekeeper.

"Yes?" she turned around to see him nervous and shy like a little school girl.

"Um...is it...um...okay if...um...you...signed my um...armour for me!?" in a flash, he was on his knees with his head touching the ground. Levy mused at the enthusiastic fellow, maybe a fan actually.

"Um, sure but I don't have an ink with me" she said.

And magically, out of nowhere, he brought out an ink bottle with a piece of feather and a huge awkward smile plastered on his face.

"Um...thanks...?" levy mused. Taking the feather from him, she dipped it into the ink bottle, pressing it a little so to absorb some ink, she gave her signature on his left chest. Once she was done she handled it over to him.

"Done" she smiled.

"YAAAHOOOOO!" He screamed far louder than he ever did, beaming in ecstasy and happiness, he zoomed off to god knows where.

"Well that was fun" she said, watching the trails of dust he left behind.

Inside the castle...

Entering directly to the main throne room after putting her horse in the royal stable, she went was on her way to the throne room to report for duty when she met Arcadios also on his way there.

"Greetings Grand general or should I say Miss Levy Mcgarden" he greeted in a refined manner.

"Whichever one you pick" she merely said and kept walking further. Catching up to her pace, he tried initiating a brief conversation with her.

"So...you'll be here full time from now on" he said.

Still heading straight forward without looking at his direction she replied him "So it seems. But be rest assured that I have no plans in taking your place in his palace"

He felt relief a little hearing that from her. Arcadios had been secretly jealous when he had the agreement between the king and the supreme ruler. Not that he actually had a choice in it though. He knew that compared to the grand general, he was far too weak. If he had battled with one, the battle would have ended even before it began.

Silently following her, looked at her and was quite amazed with her appearance.

Levy was a woman that appeared to be 21 years of age(not actual age) She was 5'5 feet tall and had a slender and curvy body. Her legs were slender, yet firm and her waist were quite the killer itself. Her boobs were moderate round and nicely matched her physique. She had blue, slightly spiky hair and some strand falling beside her face. She was also bespectacled.

"Pretty.." he muttered as he was lost in her beauty.

"Were you saying something?" she asked him, confused.

Coming out of his thought and repositioning himself upright with a faint blush, he nervously cleared his throat "N-no, nothing"

"Okay..." she replied.

Reaching to the doors of the throne room. Levy breathed in, now she was reporting on a full duty till further notice. Maybe she should have taken her time back at the HQ(Tartaros) before coming here. Well, she puts work first after all.

Pushing the doors open, she walked into the nicely decorated room. In front was the royal seat situated on four steps higher than the levelled floor, the king was seated on it and beside him was his daughter in a slightly smaller seat.

Paying her respect, she lowered her head when she was in front of him while saying "I have arrived for duty...your majesty"

Seeing the bluenette in front of him, he felt relieved that someone strong enough would be with them for a while, so long as the guild master of tartaros permits it.

"Its good to know someone as skillful and wise as you are would be here for a while. I hope its not a burden to you"

"No your majesty, I'm a high ranking imperial general of the royal knights. Staying here for a while wouldn't put much difference as it was" she replied with caution.

The small man gave a small smile "I'm glad. You must be tired. Why don't you take the rest of today and tomorrow off, you'll resume the day after"

"Thank you for your kindness" she said and left.

After she was out of the doors, Arcadios turned to the king with an unsettling expression.

"My king, is it really okay to leave everything up to them?" he asked.

"Arcadios, what's wrong?" hisui, the daughter and heir to the throne of fiore, precisely, ishgar asked.

"With all due respect, asking help from tartaros makes us look weak and besides that name sounds shady too"

The king closely his eyes as he understood what he was pointing at. Looking at the man standing before him, he was a royal guard and a close friend. He was trustworthy and honest and would even risk his life just to save these two people who were seated and he would even go as far as calling himself worthless and un-deserving as their life were far more important than his.

Taking his sole job away from him was cruel and he knew it but what can he say. When the enemy is still yet uncertain and not just that, they're still making more enemies for themselves as they speak.

"I understand you, Arcadios" the king said "It doesn't matter who comes or who goes. It doesn't matter if I'm weak or not. As long as I'm able to protect this continent and everything precious to me, I don't care who I ask help for and you my friend, no matter what happens, your place still remains here in the castle"

"Just like father said, you'll continue to be our personal guard no matter what happens" she smiled at him.

Arcadios who was touched and short of words lowered his head in respect. Maybe he was wrong after all, the king knows what he's doing.

Behind the door...

After levy had left the room, she remained behind the doors just to know what matters, precisely about her or the guild Arcadios was going to issue out. She knew the man far too well and he's someone who is hard to earn his trust but not that she gives a fucking damn about it and neither does her guild mates.

Scoffing, she pulled away from the door with piercing eyes that could burn down a mountain with just a gaze.

'It doesn't matter who I'm protecting or what would happen soon' she thought 'Whoever threatens my guildmates or my master will die by my hands...even if its you...Toma E. Fiore'

She turned to a corner and disappeared from sight.

Alvarez: The Imperial palace; Vistorian.

After tonights' mishaps, everyone retired to their rooms save for the gang who had gathered in Juvia's room, with Mira sleeping peacefully on the king sized bed as the rest of the gang gathered around and left the sleeping beauty to rest.

Laxus, gildarts and Seilah sat on empty seats inside the room.

"So sparky, how's ya body?"

And right off before the meeting starts, gildarts already made a headstart to annoy him once more.

Feeling too tired to get irritated, Laxus just gave him a straight reply "Feeling good thanks to natsu"

"Sorry you have to be the bait for Lucy's plan, Laxus. We have to at least make this work to the end" seilah gave the blonde an apologetic look

"Yup, lightning man was really holding up against them" jackal smirked.

"Don't bully Laxus, juvia thinks he's done enough for today"

"Finally, someone who understand. You're the best juv" laxus gave her a thumbs up and she gave a smile in return.

"Anyway, we've known one of the two strongest actual strength" Keith said with a dull expression. It looked like he was tired and sleepy.

"She is quite the monster" laxus folded his arms across his chest and closed one eye "I'll say she's undoubted an extreme being. Top tier"

They all agreed to his statement.

In this world, everyone belongs to a class level of magic. Magic is something common and in a way, natural. If the world was to be ridden of its magic, it would be a destructive phenomenon. Magic itself is the extension of their soul, connected to their bodies, if one looses his magic to his core, he could be told to be as good as dead.

Like all magicians, a class level is absolutely needed to determine the level of magic powers one possesses. Grading by class, this helps to distinguish superior abilities from lower class or amateurs.

Like it goes, the most superior of the list is definitely the Supreme beings(god tier). There the strongest of all class and known the be the most superior existence. Being said, a supreme class is 99.9 percent chance, impossible to achieve. With the vast population of the realm in general, only seven have achieved such great power and one of them is natsu dragneel.

Being a supreme being, it is believed they have unlimited amount of magic stored with them that they can never run dry. Like this class, it is also divided into four categories; True supreme, Ultimate supreme, the higher supreme and mid-higher supreme. The true supreme is the number one ranking being in existence, it among the rank of supreme level but is the greatest and most powerful existence, accompanied by the ultimate being, ranked second and third, accompanied by the higher supreme ranked fourth and fifth The mid-higher supreme are sixth and seventh.

Next are the extreme class. The extreme class are known to be the closest thing to the supreme beings. Divided into four categories, they're known as lower god tier(extreme class). The higher extreme level is the highest level of an extreme class and they're reported said to be close to achieving powers almost-comparable to a supreme being, like the supreme being, a higher extreme level is almost as difficult to achieve. Achieving this level certainly means you're no longer human, the extreme class and supreme class are filled with nothing but inhuman beings.

Like their earlier conversation, Irene berlersion is a most definitely a higher extreme class and august included.

"I Believe that old dragneel is among the higher extreme class like that witch" Gildarts yawned.

"Its not so surprising to see people of this caliber would still exist after the great war a hundred years ago." Wendy said and took a bite from an apple.

"Mm, there are tough opponents here" ezel said with his deep voice.

"Hahahaha, tough? Like hell they are, just let me at them and I'll show them whose boss!" jackal snickered, flaring his powers a bit.

"Juvia thinks jackal-san may be a little crazy"

"Indeed he is" Keith agreed "Crazy is his nature"

"What did you say ghost boy?" jackal glared daggers at keith.

"Calm down jackal, now's not the time for that" seilah said "Laxus, this proves valuable today if we ever go against them, we've taken their strength into account and I believe Lucy, erza and Levy will find this valuable if a battle against Alvarez ever arises"

Gildarts mood turned sour a little after hearing those words. If they ever battle Alvarez huh. This time if it ever happens, he knew the whole realm would be involved this time and this time it wouldn't be like hundred years ago and he knows it.

"Trust me people, I suggest everyone begins finding the bloodlust they once held cause war is becoming inevitable!" gildarts said.

"Yes it might be" suddenly a new voice entered. Turning to see Mira fully awaken and trying to sit upright on the bed.

"She's awake" jackal pointed with his thumb.

"How are you feeling Mira" ezel said with a smile. She returned the smile to him and stretched a little "Great" she replied.

"Mira you sure you're feeling okay cause you were paralysed after you felt that woman's tremendous power" Keith said.

Mira tilted her head in confusion. Everyone thought maybe she was traumatised so badly that she was have forgotten her earlier predicament.

"She was in shock and was visibly afraid...to shame Mira, to shame" jackal mocked.

Rather than getting upset or angry, she laughed "I remember you guys and actually I was a little bit scared but I could have hold against her though. She did something to me. I felt her activate something inside of me and I couldn't move"

"I thought as much" Wendy said "Mira wouldn't be that scared to stand there and watch her activate her magic" she smiled.

"That's cheating" juvia whined "She didn't play fair"

"And neither did Mira" seilah said.

The white haired beauty laughed nervously "Well, there Lucy have it, we've made the bait and access their power level so all that remains is the possibility of getting attacked"

"Mira, I think that possibility might be a little above us if we don't go all out" Seilah said.

"Yes, considering the spriggans, if we were to be attacked, then we might not make it safely" ezel replied.

"True" Wendy added.

"Mm" Laxus replied.

"You guys are wimps" Jackal scoffed.

"Its best to deploy phase three if phase two happens"

"That's the plan Mr undead" Gildarts laughed at Keith who sighed.

"Oh and before I forget" Laxus said, standing up and headed towards the door "It was supposed to be spriggans 12 but I only saw spriggans 10" he opened the door and left.

Everyone became speechless at the breaking news. They weren't observant enough to notice this mistake. They were so engrossed to finding out how powerful they are and supposedly, their weak point but they didn't first notice what was before them. Ending the meeting here, everyone retired back to their assigned rooms for the night.

With Gray and Mard Geer..

Gray and Mard Geer, after entering the portal, they were transported to the entrance of a huge dark castle. The place was entirely dark and gave off evil, wicked ominous feeling. Lower class mage would have fainted from the presence alone. Since everything was entirely dark, the only thing giving light was the burning forest surrounding the whole castle. It was an entirely different scenery for gray.

Even though the forest burned, the flames weren't bright as it was flames of darkness.

He wondered how this was possible. The whole trees were on fire, sure the fire gave them light but the trees weren't burning to the ground. It was like it burned continuously without actually burning. The castle itself looked like a demon lord's castle and he felt like a stupid hero trying to claim fame for himself by defeating the demon lord.

It doors were huge and black. It had the cravings of skulls and bones and pictures of demons whipping powerless slaves on it.

"So are we to wait here or go in?" Mard Geer asked. Surely he wanted to go in and get on quickly with this mission.

Gray looked at him with a shrewd smile on his face.

"We will" he said "But before that, I'm gonna freeze these flames over!"

Before his companion could protest, he turned towards the burning trees and activated his magic.

"Ice magic: Freezing Vibration!" He smacked both hands to the solid cold ground and a blue huge icy magical circle covered the entire plain and froze everything over, including the flames. Not even the castle was spared from the intense and powerful ice.

Mard Geer, seeing this, face-palmed in annoyance at what he had just done. He wondered why he had just announced his presence to the residing beast of this dark castle.

Everything became extremely cold and blue. Their breaths were visible to the eyes as they breath in and out and each word they spoke.

"Do you really have to do that!?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"What?" he asked in a mused tone "Its just for fun. Can't a person have fun just a little?" he nonchalantly replied.

Mard Geer felt he was about to breath out his life from the intense cold emitting from his idiotic friend's magic.

"Unfreeze everything and let's get in before I die" Mard Geer said in a slightly shaky tone.

While ice magic didn't bother him, there were distinctive level it goes that it becomes a threat to him. Like gray for instance, he's truly formidable if he goes against him so his ice magic is powerful enough to be considered powerful to him.

"Yeah whatever"

Rather than unfreezing it, he made a huge hammer with his ice magic and smashed the doors to pieces. Mard Geer facepalmed twice that day.

'I shouldn't have come' he regretted.

Feeling satisfied, gray walked into the dark castle with only a single torch made of stick with fire burning on its head and hanged on a torchbearer on the wall close to the entrance.

Mard Geer entered after gray, looking around, the torch was barely able to lit the whole room. Mard was about lighting the room with his hands on fire but gray beat him to it and took hold of the touch, activating a trap.

"What's happening!?" gray yelled after taking hold of the stick. The whole castle began shaking violently.

"Its gonna fall" Mard Geer answered, trying to steady himself on his feet. The castle building slowly brought sands and Peebles from its top, signalling its interior weakness and about to fall about.

As the duo were about to make a run for it, the unexpected happened. The whole grounds of the castle gave up it's strength and fell in a brink of an eye, not giving the duo time to fly off to a safe ground. They fell down to the depths of darkness while huge stones and rocks hit them continuously almost killing them midair.

Falling for a good 80metres, reached the end of the pit, hitting the ground hard and almost breaking all the bones inside of them, they groaned heavily as pains were written all over them. Without any light to see their fall, it was impossible to know when they need to break their fall.

"Ugh..." gray groaned "...Mard Geer, where are you?" he said, slowly standing up and writhing in pains. If he was an ordianey man, he would plastered all over the ground and died.

Stretching his right arm, he tried using the feel of his gesture to search for his companion. Feeling something soft and fleshy, he breathed a sign of relief, knowing he was still alive.

'Wait, why do I bother? He can't die from this' gray thought.

"I'll like it if you gently take your hands off me" Mard Geer said calmly.

"Why?" the ice general asked.

Rather than giving him an answer, the pit glowed again thanks to Mard Geer lighting his right hand ablaze. Regaining his sight, Gray's eyes went to the part of the black haired man he held and went wide eyes.

"What the fuck!?" he screamed, quickly taking his hands off Mard geer's groin.

"Dude, why the hell didn't you tell me?" gray said, furiously cleaning his hands on the stone wall.

"Because you're an idiot"

"Whatever dude. I just hope it doesn't smell" gray made a face of disgust.

"Follow me idiot"

Mard Geer went on ahead, leaving the ice man to his own disgust. Catching up with the tartaros demon, they went on ahead, following the long stony hallway that lead to a place unknown.

After a good one hour of walking in silence, the duo finally came to a stop, thanks to Mard Geer leading the way, they were able to get to a new opening but still filled with complete darkness with the only light from his right hand, from where he stood in an open cave he made the fire more powerful, shining brighter than it did it was able to illuminate a good magnitude of space for them.

"A bridge?" gray asked, seeing from where they stood, no land connected them anymore other than the solid stone bridge connecting them to the next land engraved with darkness.

"Yes, and we have to walk all the way to the next part of this dark castle" Mard Geer replied.

"I never knew the undergrounds of this castle were this big" gray said.

"Yes it is" Mard Geer replied back "This bridge is known as the bridge of endurance. Its said to stretch for hundreds of metres without reaching the end of it"

Gray's expression became troubled "If it doesn't have an end, then why are we gonna walk through. Or better yet, fly us over"

Mard sighed. Surely he wasn't stupid enough not to think about it earlier but the ice wizard didn't understood the concept of bridge of endurance. The bridge of endurance is a dark passageway that connects the entrance of hell to the main parts of hell. Without crossing over, its impossible to get to hell. Flying isn't allowed here as it would awaken the crows of death. They're vicious birds said to kill and eat anyone going against the rules of the entrance.

"Gray, no flying, no teleportation or other forms of magic aren't allowed here. Just walking and that's why its known as the bridge of endurance"

Gray fully understood him now. But he hasn't got time to waste. Besides, he came here with a new aim of not only challenging the hounds of hell but also delivering the message given to him. If he was scared of few little crows with catchy name, then fuck it, he better not come at all.

"Who cares about some stupid crows of whatever. Just fly us there"

"Didn't you listen to what I said. Its dark here and fighting them with their huge number would be bad for us"

"Dude, don't be a scaredy cat and just do it!"

Mard Geer looked at him for a good moment. Analysing the level of stupidity gray had. If he was going to be stupid then he might as well write his will now.

"Maybe a hundred years of not putting your powers to test has made you believe you're weak but guess what buddy" gray turned and looked him seriously in the eyes, no jokes intended this time "I'm an extreme being and I'll show them whose power they should be afraid of" he glared at him continuously in the eyes.

Mard Geer smirked a little, well, if he was going to act stupid now maybe he should let loose his restraint for a while.

"You said it bro"

Gray grinned "Yup, let's ice some crow!"

A purple magic circle appeared beneath Mard Geer, glowing a bright hue purple, it transformed him into a complete demon form with two horns sprouting from his forehead and two large bat-like wings from his back. His usual fair creamy skin was a light purple colour and his was taller and more muscular.

Gray nodded his head in approval seeing him in his real form. He certainly has gotten used to him over time. The first time he saw him like this, he was shocked and a little scared as he thought he might be someone from the book of Zeref but to his greatest surprise, he was from the book of END! Natsu dragneel Doctrine(A/N: Lol).

Positioning himself, Mard Geer's horn produced a long, bright line of fire that stretched above him, ranging 2 feet tall and five inches wide with him occupied with carrying gray, he needed fire for the ice mage to battle as his vision wasn't good enough in the dark.

Being a real demon, his eyes were powerful enough to see the darkness equivalent to the day, sometimes he just can't tell the difference. But after achieving a human form, his powers were limited unless he turned full demon.

Flapping his huge wings, it made a noisy flapping sound, quickly picking up dust particles, Mard Geer took off into the open space in a burst of speed and zoomed off like a space rocket.

"You're fast!" gray said, sounding a little surprised.

"I can go faster" Mard Geer saying this, doubled his speed. It felt awesome to gray. Being someone who had no way of reaching the sky except an extension of his ice magic, this felt natural and soothing to him.

"Don't relax yet, I hear them coming" Mard Geer warned.

Just as he said, thunderous evil chippings of angry looking birds with all round black feathers and deel red piercing eyes flew up in their thousands, dying their visions in a complete darker shade of black.

"They're so many of them!" gray exclaimed in shock. When he heards about the crows of death, he thought it would be a least a dozen of few powerful crows but he never expected this great number. Maybe Mard Geer explanation was really vague.

"Get ready they're closing in"

Gray just yawned in boredom, feeling a little over confident, he said "Relax dude, it'll be easy"

Gray, using his left hand, created a gigantic magic circle that could cover the entire space and enchanted a spell.

"Ice magic: Freezing vibration!" More powerful then when he froze the burning trees, like a travelling powerful blizzard, it froze the entire cave, leaving nothing untouched, not even sparing the walls nor the bridge.

"See" gray gave a confident smile "Its easy"

"Don't be so sure buddy"

With everything frozen, nothing could bother them as Mard Geer flew further. But as their luck would have it, it wasn't over yet. The crows eyes glowed a brilliant shade of crimson, brightly illuminating the cave as the ice slowly began cracking and shattered to pieces, freeing them all.

Gray raised a brow as he watched what was about to happen. Surprising for him, they broke free from the ice. With louder battle cry and tripling their speed now without mercy, they dived for the flying duo.

"Oh I'm also far from over" he said "Mard Geer, unhand me" gray spoke with authority.

"Crazy plans as always" the demon said and unhanded him.

Gray fell at a fast pace from the top. With the birds in hot pursuit of them and filled the lower bottom with their sickening black colour, gray smiled evilly seeing as he fell in the midst and went even lower. Their aim were now for Mard Geer.

Mard Geer watched his friend fell down quickly. Feeling a little troubled and worried, he decided it was best to trust him and fend for himself. Charging a small ball of green flames, he blasted the crows nearest to him and sent them falling. Repeating this cycle over and over again while dodging their attacks, suddenly a pillar of powerful blue aura skyrocketed to the top end of the cave and froze one third of the flying crows and shattered them to oblivion.

"ICE MAGIC MAGIC: BINDING CHAINS!" Powerful chains made of ice in their thousands shot up at blinding speed, restricting each of them from moving further. They cried and struggled but their attempts proved futile.

"Mard Geer!" gray screamed from down below "Create a shield for yourself now!"

Not even thinking twice, he did as he was told and made a shield out of one of his powerful dark flames magic.

"Destructive Ice magic:..." bringing both hands in front of him, with three inches separating each of them, gray charged a powerful ice magic. An unhealthy amount of ice particle in form of a small ball radiating a brilliant blue, brightened the entire cave.

Radiating with huge power, he closed his eyes and held his breath for five seconds. Releasing his breath, his eyes shot wide open and completed his spell.

"Destructive ice magic: Ice oblivion!"

From above, three huge layers of blue magic circles and from below three huge layers of blue magic circle appeared. Gray throwed the ball up to the nearest layer seven feet above him, reaching the magic circle, it became activated and instantly shot up with tremendous force, like a beam of magic particle shot from a Jupiter canon, it shot up and connected with the three upper layers of magic and shock the cave violently, obliterating everything, including the bridge itself. The birds became history as their shattered bodies fell like snow flakes.

"Phew" gray said as he wiped off an invisible sweat off his forehead "That went well"

"Yeah...well" Mard Geer said weakly "You freezed and broke the bridge, plus, you killed a whole army of Hell's crows!"

Gray gave him a peace sign as he watches his friend descending down to him "Don't sweat it buddy. We could take anyone so long we are together"

The demon man rolled his eyes and grabbed the ice man, lifting him into the air "Let's get out of here"

Flying for half an hour straight with full speed, they finally got to the end of the cave that lead to a different part of the underground castle. Probably a maze. Just like the rest of their journey here, the entrance that supposedly lead to a different place was dark as usual.

Gray wondered if darkness was their thing here. Ever since he got here, its been nothing but blackouts and sinister aura. Whoever that was giving off such sick feeling will answer to him soon enough.

Like before, Mard Geer lit his hand ablaze and continue leading the way with gray following behind him. Gray was extremely relief and glad he came with him cause he would have been in trouble with no one to guide him through this place.

"Heads up gray" Mard Geer said "We'll be entering the Labyrinth of Hell"

Gray tilted his face in slight confusion. Now he was wondering how many phase is needed to get to the main part of this world. Maybe they should have brought cana with them after all.

"I thought we've entered hell already" gray said.

"Yes but not exactly"

Gray frowned a little. What was keeping them from entering there, he wondered.

"Have you ever heard of The nine gates of Hell"

Gray's face lit up a little, recognising that little sentence he's read in books just to keep himself from dying of boredom.

"Yeah, I've heard about it"

"Good, Cause we're in one of it right now"

"Eh?" he made a surprised sound. The nine gates of hell were real? He had actually thought they were literary books just to keep its readers entertained. Though he did find it somewhat entertaining considering the adventure the characters went through.

But then again, if this were to be true, then isn't it going to be a little easy for him? The characters from that book were just a human class adventurers that search for treasures and the likes. Considering he's here on a mission, it should be easier if he goes all out. Yup.

"So you're saying the castle with the burning trees, the bridge of endurance and the crow armies were a part of the nine gates of hell?"

"Yes they are"

"So, next would be the Labyrinth of death. So wait...if there are nine gates of hell, doesn't that means we might not run into that dog?"

"You mean Cerberus" Mard Geer corrected.

"Yes, that" gray confirmed. He's been looking forward to battling that dog for a while now. Since it would be fire vs ice, it would have been a thrilling battle for him but...

"Don't be down gray, Cerberus isn't the only powerful demon of gates here. There's Hydra, Crust the bone dragon, Lord Minotaur, The great centaur, golem, Kraken, Cyclops, lady serpent and Cerberus. They're powerful beast guiding hell"

Gray definitely loved the sound of that. The bone dragon or Hydra sounds catchy to his ears and within him, he was praying he meet all of them at the same time. Talk about over kill.

"So whose lair are we in?"

Mard Geer directed the flames further and it reached to a dead end. A huge hole separated them from going across and with no bridge to pass through, it was almost impossible for anyone to get over to but not for these guys.

"Mm, it looks pretty deep" gray said.

"Yes, and below are iron spikes that kills its victims"

"Ice make stairs" gray calmly said as ice restructured into a long stairway that connected their end to the other side. Briskly walking over before Mard Geer does, gray went on a little further with Mard Geer behind him. Since his companion still had his flames on, he was able to see through the long stony hallway filled with nothing but dry skulls and shattered bones of unfortunate people that had attempted to have their luck on this 'Dungeon' but failed and went to their demise.

"So Mard Geer, who's in charge of this place then?"

"Well my friend, it since your luck is just in place"

Unbeknownst to gray, while they walked straight, they had unknowingly entered an invisible wall of portal magic. Entering here, the light shone into his eyes as he shields it from getting blind.

Adjusting to the daylight, he looked around him and was fascinated at how at the sudden enivornmental change. Not that he hasn't witnessed this before but had read something similar to this. It was quite the frightening spectacle for an average person.

"What is this place?"

To be continued.

That's all for now people.

So um, I dunno about you guys but there seems to be lots of unexplained phenomenon here and flashbacks or side stories can't help it so if you're interested, I've made a new story named "Tales of a thousand years: Supreme ruler of tartaros" Its got to do with everyone's past with natsu in particular so check it out for better understanding and how everything happened to this point.

Until next time!