Natsu rushed through the air, the pink wings of flame that gave him his moniker streaming behind him. The blue Exceed was firmly snuggled up in his hood, having fallen asleep after a few minutes of using his wings. Natsu still couldn't see Erigor, which was surprising. His dragon-enhanced eyesight was among the best on Ishgar, and he was pretty high up.

Suddenly, he felt the wind shift. He tried to twirl around, but he was two slow to avoid a heavy blow from Erigor that sent him shooting into the train tracks far below. Natsu coughed as his chest hit a rock, but he dug his hands in, his fingers acting like claws to slow his descent. Once he had stopped, he used the rock to propel himself upwards at Erigor.

The dark mage laughed as he dodged out of the way. "You may have nearly bested me back in the train station, Phoenix, but you're in my domain now. When I'm in the air, I'm unbeatable!" His laughing was cut off as Natsu landed an axe kick to his collarbone, sending Erigor a dozen feet down before the winds caught him and lifted him back up.

"Unbeatable, as if," Natsu said. "Stop talking and start fighting. You're boring." As if to emphasize, Natsu yawned and dug a finger into his ear, scratching. Erigor growled, offended by the comment. Charging at Natsu, he forget about his advantage and swung his scythe at the floating dragon slayer. The blade, nowhere near strong enough to break Natsu's skin - especially with Erigor's lack of muscle - bounced off of Natsu's bicep.

The dragon slayer's pink eyes glowed in annoyance as he grabbed the 'Shinigami''s outstretched arm, holding him in place as he pummeled the wind mage, finishing the combo with a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, which sent Erigor into the canyon wall. A few seconds passed, with Natsu looking at the crash site dispassionately as he waited for his opponent to get up again. After about fifteen seconds, the dark mage emerged from the dust, growling.

"Storm Mail!" He screamed, the wind starting to surround him. He laughed at his opponent, the crazed noise combined with the blood dripping from his mouth painting a gruesome scene. "Now you've done it. The very air will protect me - you won't be able to defeat me now!" Natsu eyed him with boredom.

"Okay, I'll just waiting for you to tire out, then." Even from far away, he could tell that the wind was literally ripping around the opposing mage, the speeds most likely exceeding two hundred miles per hour. Erigor frowned. That wouldn't do. He couldn't hold Storm Mail for too long - the weakness of any mage. He started manipulating pieces of wind, speeding up the hurtling gusts and sending them at the Phoenix.

Natsu's eyes widened as a burst of air slammed into his gut, spitting as his breath left his lungs. He growled. "Now I'm annoyed. You call that armor? This is real armor..." As if it was coming out of his skin, a glowing set of armor emerged and made its way onto Natsu's body. The edges were glowing red, and the interior portions were pure white. Another gust of wind was sent at him as he started to slowly approach Erigor. The burst slowed him down minutely, so he continued his stride.

The wind mage's widened as his opponent took a four hundred mile per hour gust with barely a blink, so he started to get desperate as he sent more and more wind gusts at him, feeling his power drain with each one. Natsu was now in a stalemate against the air, but started to slowly gain ground as Erigor lost power. By the time he had made it to the other mage, Natsu's armored hand tore right through the Storm Mail, grabbing Erigor by his neck.

Erigor, now almost powerless and exhausted, dropped his scythe into the chasm below and dangled like a rag doll. "Un... be... lieve... a... ble..." Erigor coughed in between syllables, his eyelids drooping as he passed out.

"Believe it," Natsu started, "but be proud I used this armor against you. Summoning it takes quite a bit out of me. See you later... in a jail cell." He placed his other hand over Erigor's face, concentrating hard... "Mask of Naturna," he spoke, a white light glowing as a semi-permeable light covered Erigor's face over the span of a minute. The mage's breathing stabilized as his face was healed, but he was left asleep.

Natsu slung the unconscious mage over his shoulder, his armor disappearing as he did so - his limited Requip skills taking up a good deal of magic due to the powerful magical properties of the armor.

Perfectly on time, Mira and Erza showed up, the latter blushing at her lack of navigational abilities. Mira's eyes widened at the sight of the defeated dark mage Natsu was carrying. "You beat him by yourself?" She asked, pouting. Natsu laughed, smiling as he got closer.

"Yep, sorry about that. I meant to save him for you, but he annoyed me," The two girls shared a look and laughed nervously, both silently agreeing to never get on Natsu's bad side.

Erza changed the topic, saying, "Well, great job Natsu. Now all we need to do is turn Lullaby over to the authorities and-" she was interrupted by Natsu saying,

"Oh, that can't be good," while patting his pocket.

"What can't be good?" Mira inquired. The flame mage shook his head,

"The flute is missing." Erza forgot herself for a moment, grabbing Natsu and pulling him close.

"Are you for real?!" She all but yelled, hurting the dragon slayer's sensitive ears. "You lost a flute of mass death and destruction in the fifteen minutes we left you alone?!" Natsu grinned sheepishly, softly pulling the redhead knight's hands off of his collar, making her blush at the contact.

"My bad. It probably fell out when I crashed into-" He was interrupted by a loud growl coming from the chasm behind him. His eyes widened, and he spun around, his worst fears confirmed. A large monster emerged from the pit, letting out a roar as it stretched for the first time in centuries.

"Finally, I have awoken!" The monster boomed. "I wanted to let those dark mages do it themselves, but it seems that everyone else is incapable of handling me, so I shall play my own song!" He turned to the trio that stood at the edge where the railroad tracks stood. "But first... I'll kill you!"

The awoken form of Lullaby let loose a powerful punch that demolished some of the rock face where the three had just stood. "Make sure he can't sing his song!" Natsu ordered the other two, flames bursting out of his feet, wanting to save some power by not using his wings. He started flying around the beast, sending pink flames everywhere, the heavenly fire being extremely effective on the demon as the wood was set on fire.

Mira and Erza jumped into action, both flying over to join the fight. Mira was letting loose dozens of small beams, cutting tiny holes through the demonic wood, while Erza was flying along and making hundreds of scratches in the beast's outer layer. Lullaby growled, trying to slap the annoying gnats cutting into a few tries, he got lucky and was able to land a solid hit on Erza, sending her flying into one wall of rock, then came back around and slapped Mira into the opposing wall.

Natsu's instincts activated after seeing this, making the dragon slayer snarl as he readied a powerful attack. "Heavenly Fire Dragon's..." He held out his fists, a ball of red glowing in one, and a ball of white glowing in the other, both steadily increasing in size. Once they reached a good enough size, Natsu brought his hands together, creating a large ball of pink light. "...Earthbound Eruption!" The enraged dragon slayer let the powerful attack rip, cutting a giant hole in the demon's chest.

The beast screamed as Natsu huffed, nearly exhausted from all his power usage as of late. The beast fell to one knee, the impact creating a small earthquake in the surrounding area. Natsu slowly floated down to the remaining train tracks, the flames on his feet sputtering out as his power depleted. Mira floated over, seeing his state, but then looked around wildly for Erza. She couldn't be the better rival if she had no rival!

She spotted the redhead on the other side of the canyon, the girl having shifted back into her Heart Kreuz armor due to being unconscious. Happy finally woke up, and grabbed onto Natsu's back, lifting him up with a bit of a struggle. Below them, Lullaby screamed, "Fine. Hear my song, and wither!" He drew in a deep breath, but Natsu smiled as he realized was about to happen.

The breath went nowhere, the wind all whistling out of the many small holes that Erza and Mira had created, as well as the gaping hole in the demon's chest caused by Natsu. Mira stared at the demon, angered at how much she and Erza had been hurt. "Soul Extinctor..." She murmured, a large purple beam escaping her hands and decimating the weakened demon... as well as the rest of the train tracks behind him.

The three, plus Happy and an unconscious Erigor, waited at the canyon for the Rune Knights to show up. After what seemed like hours, a platoon arrived, accompanied by the Guild Masters from Clover Town. Makarov's eyes widened at the sight of his three mages, and then at the destruction behind them. "My money..." He wailed.

"You've done us a great favor, Natsu," Lahar spoke with a slight bit of annoyance at the fire mage, handing him the bounty for Erigor as his men collected the fallen god. The white mask on his face disappeared as his arms were cuffed, allowing him to wake up. He looked around wildly, struggling as the Rune Knights carried him to a prison carriage.

Finally, his eyes settled on Natsu. "Phoenix..." He spoke, apparently becoming calm. "That was good fight. But don't get me wrong. I will escape... and I will hunt you down."

The dragon slayer smiled slyly. "I look forward to it."