A/N

Buenas Noches, everyone! First off, I wanna say sorry yet again for the long wait. Do you know when you have the chapter's events in mind, but you don't know how to continue? Yeah, that's me. My paternal grandmother died in april, so there's that too. I'm kinda over it, though.

So anyway, the chapter. It turned out way different than what I intended in the start, but I prefered this version. Much more coerent and all that.

Shoutout: strabimonx; Natsu is Awesome; Deathwatch 45; Reddevel360; StarDragonBuster; BrawlerOfBeasts; yad2411; treeofsakuras; NatsuxUrFan; Jan 31 Guest; gratsulover; TheLaughingStalk; Redpunter; March 9 Guest; kuro yaksha; April 20 Guest; TheVulonAlchemist8470; Jalis; July 7 Guest; July 8 Guest; mmaallek; luisperez1505; Hunter XZ; SweetProp; xxssrr; markj1582; fantoshiro; Candlemon2002; deadlocks785; cristallina Swed984; kyle345 and all the others I couldn't find for favoring and reviewing my story!

Death match! Natsu vs The Rosemary Monster!

It had been four days since their first mission on the new guild, and true to his word, Natsu didn't pick anymore jobs because most of them were either too dangerous for Wendy or just plain BORING. He did start training the two girls, though.

Wendy finally managed to uproot a tree... Several, actually. And sent Happy flying too. Damn cat is still mad at the fire dragon slayer. It was his fault she sent him rocketing, after all. Turns out it was only because she was afraid of hurting someone that her attacks were so weak, but it was an easily solved problem for Sherlock Dragneel. All he had to do is poke fun at her... And call her a boy... Who would've known she could be so sensitive when it comes to her chest?

Carla... Didn't increase as much as Wendy, but they discovered one fact about her that somewhat made for it: She was flexible as hell. Seriously, some of the positions the she-cat made had even Happy cringing in phantom pain.

But that's it. They had the tortu- training down the pat, the two girls just needed practice. Meaning they didn't need Natsu nor Happy's tips. Which means the two goofballs are bored. The child of Igneel was considering a solo mission, or maybe a co-op with the blue cat, just for fun. A challenge wouldn't hurt either.

Getting inside the guild, the newest members of Cait Shelter smiled at their guildmates' greetings. Well, at least Natsu did. Happy still had a sour face.

"'Sup, guys!" The dragon slayer shouted. A certain old man looked up and smiled.

"Natsu, mah boe! You got here just in time! You too, Happy." The master yelled over his seat. This made the duo confused.

"In time for what? Is it Greenhill race already?" Yeah, apparently they had this race, similiar to the one they have on their previous guild, but on a set stage instead. Each year's rules were changed slighly, but nothing too major. There were some prizes on the stead of the punishments, however.

Roubaul chuckled. "Unfortunately not, Happy." was the answer. "I just received a mission that will please you two, I think." In a flash, the two were by his side. The man pulled the request from his bushy chin. Natsu was seriously thinking about growing a beard. Imagine the weapons he could hide inside! An image of himself with a voluminous beard entered his mind and he quickly convinced himself to not do it. Shaking his head, he looked at the master again.

"What's it about?" asked the Salamander.

"A monster has been terrorizing a place called Rosemary. It's seemingly very strong, as most of the mages sent there haven't been sucessful in eliminating it." Each word got the young man with salmon hair more excited. This was almost an A-class job already! "It's an S-class." The following 'woot' almost got Roubaul deaf, but the boys were so happy he didn't have the heart to tell them to lay down.

"ALRIGHT! We'll totally annihilate 'im-"

"Tone down on the destruction, will ya' kiddo."

"But that's the most fun part!"

"No is no, you walking apocalypse." Roubaul said with finality. He could certainly see why Makarov complained so much about them. It wasn't even a week and poor Wendy's house already picked on fire. Four times. They had to search for a river down the hill because Natsu could not eat his fire in order to extinguish it. "And you two aren't taking Wendy and Carla as well." He continued with a serious face, making the brothers serious as well.

"'Course. If that thing is as strong as you said, they're not ready for it yet." Natsu answered.

Cait Shelter's master smiled. "Then get ready to go. I want you to prove to Makarov that you're ready for S-classes."

With a happy smile, the two went out of the guild with the job pamphlet in Happy's hands.

"Food?"

"Check."

"Money for food?"

"Check."

"Bags for food?"

"Check."

"Even more money for food?"

"Checkie check."

"Alrighty then, we're ready!"

"Wait, Natsu! What about the compass?"

"Why would we need such an useless thing?"

"..."

"..."

"You know, this is why we get lost all the time."

"Ugh.. Okay, okay! Go get that blasted compass!"

"Got it!"

"Can we get going now?"

"Yup."

And they were off. It took a few hours to reach there, since they got lost- in which Natsu got reprimanded by Happy again- and had to stop by a town to get information. The village certainly wasn't what they expected.

Rosemary was a relatively small rural village. All the flowers in the fields and the cabin-like wood houses made it look so simple yet so beautiful. There couldn't be more than eight houses. It was just so tiny and peaceful!

Of course, this wasn't a problem, but it did confuse the two Cait Shelter members. It didn't look like a rich place, so it took out resources from the reasons the beast was attacking.

Meh, he couldn't care less about it's motives. He's going to kick it's ugly ass all the same.

After landing near one of the houses, Happy dropped from Natsu's back and started walking by his side.

"So..." Dragneel started as they walked on the dirt road. "Which one is the client's house?"

The cat reached out on his backpack, pulling out the request's paper. "..." His eyes flickered from side to side, reading the piece of paper as he absorved information. "...I see..." Happy muttered.

"Where is it?!" Natsu asked eagerly. He couldn't wait to fight that monster! It's been a while since he had a good fight.

"No idea." The blue troll replied, smiling innocently.

"Oh come on!" The fire dragon slayer groaned.

Walking towards the nearest house, they knocked on the door and waited. A few seconds later a middle aged man with black hair opened the door. When he saw them, his eyes widened and he immediately closed the door again.

"...What." Natsu said flatly.

"...I don't even..." Happy spoke confusedly. They looked at each other, silently debating about the scene, then shrugged. Lifting his hand to knock again, the eighteen year old stopped as he heard frantic steps running inside the house, and felt the strong, metallic smell of steel and wood approaching the front door. The cat heard it as well, because he had already gotten away from the residence's doorway. He took a few steps out of the door.

Just as the aforementioned was burst open, the man that had gone back into the house tumbling out with a farm trident in his hands. Quickly getting up, he looked at them with rage in his eyes.

"You..." He growled. "YOU DAMN WORSHIPPERS AIN'T GONNA MESS WITH THIS VILLAGE ANYMORE!" The man charged in a surprisingly good stance. As he was getting close, he raised his trident up, intent on killing the two outsiders.

He stabbed.

But to his confusion, it stopped. He opened his eyes –he did not remember closing them, must've happened in the heat of the moment- to see the pink haired guy holding back his trident by the wood. How the dude dodged the pointy part is beyond him.

"Now..." He heard the obvious mage start. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"

The shock the man previously had in his eyes was again replaced by anger. "What was that...?" He mumbled in cold rage. "What was THAT?! You guys INVADE our village, KIDNAP our children and RELEASE one of your demons in here, ONLY TO SAY WHAT WAS THAT?!" He bellowed, trying to force the weapon on Natsu's neck, but failing to move an inch.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ON, OLD TIMER?!" Salamander shouted. He was trying to be patient, but this guy was just begging to get a fist on his face. He absently heard the sound of wooden doors getting open, but he was sure Happy heard it too. He'll let the blue cat see what it is, because he has this crazy guy to take care of now.

"YOU TOOK MY SIMON!" The dragon slayer was starting to think the man was insane. Simon? He never even heard that name!

"Natsu!" Happy called. "The villagers are getting out!" He informed.

And so it seemed, Natsu mused as he temporarily strayed his eyes from the man that attacked him. A small group of people, probably the total population if the size of the village was anything to go by. They were looking at him in fear and rage, though some of them were not as intense as the man's.

Looking at the man again, he asked: "What did you mean by "worshipper"? I don't worship anyone!"

"Why try to lie? You're not goin' to convince anyone!" The man rebutted.

"I'm not trying to convince anyone! I'M JUST HERE FOR A FUCKIN' JOB!" Natsu finally snapped. Immeadiately the commotion stopped. For a moment none of the civilians moved, even the man that attacked him. Though that may be because of the miniature river of blood that was pouring through his shirt.

"YASUYUKI!"

All of the residents of the village were on the safe house of the place, which was a medium-sized building somewhat bigger than the houses, also made of wood. The man who attacked Natsu, apparently called Yasuyuki, was on one of the rooms being treated by the doctor of the little town.

Speaking of Natsu, he was there with Happy, currently talking to the villagers that weren't helping Yasuyuki about the history of the village.

"...So that's why he called me a worshipper..." The dragon slayer muttered. With something like that, he couldn't help but feel bad for bantering with the man. Losing a son was not for everyone.

"Yes, but even still, he shouldn't have attacked you like that. I'm sorry for the trouble." The woman he was talking to bowed. She really felt bad about it.

"No need to." Natsu waved the apology away. "I understand. So anyway, the monster?"

"We don't know exactly where it resides, but when he comes, he always enters the village by the Southwest direction." The villager explained.

"What does it looks like?"

Her eyes took an hint of fear now. "It's absolutely massive. About twenty feet in height. It's body looks humanoid, but with the scales and armor on his arms you can never tell. It's head looks like a tortoise with concrete around it."

The rose haired teen was opening his mouth to comment, but before he could reply, the door opened with a bang and a loud cry of "DAD!"

The people who were there turned their attention the the teenager girl that rushed through the room all the way to the one Yasuyuki's bed was.

A man got in front of her before she could reach the door.

"Sorry Kagura. Yuki needs some rest. His wounds opened from exerting himself too much earlier."

"BUT-!"

"Kagura, come here for a second." The woman that was talking to Natsu called. The young girl, Kagura, immediately looked at her and jogged towards her.

"Nee-san!" She greeted her with a small smile, despite the situation. That ended when she saw the two visitors. Her eyes widened and she hid behind the woman.

'Like father, like son I guess.' The fire dragon slayer thought as he looked at the teen. 'Except it's a daughter.'

The human cover chuckled. "No need to be shy, sweety." She teased, getting a 'I'm not shy' as an answer. "They're here to beat the monster."

Kagura's eyes widened. "Do you have any idea what you are getting against? That thing is unstoppable!"

Natsu's eyes narrowed. "Oh really? I doubt it. Everything has a weakness."

Kagura approached him, growling as she did. "So do you. And I bet you're going to fall before that beast!"

"Oh yeah? I'm stronger than I seem to be. Maybe you're just overhyping that monster, you brat!" Dragneel shot back.

"I'm no brat, I'm sixteen!"

'Doesn't look the part.' She was not that... gifted for her age. Flatboard with a capital F. "Sure you are." He teased.

"Why you...!"

"Doekitearrrrrrruuuu..." Happy butted in.

"WHY YOU...!" Both teens shouted, glaring at the blue cat.

"Now, Kagura. Please stop this." The woman who was clearly amused interrupted. She then turned to Natsu and bowed again."I'm sorry for her, Natsu-san."

Unseen to her, though, he was quite busy sticking his tongue to the daughter of Yasuyuki. Said girl clenched her fists while her left eye was twitching at a rate it shouldn't be possible. "No problem. Don't call me san, though. I don't like it." He said, finally looking at the bowing woman, who stopped bowing and nodded. "So, southwest, right?"

"Yes. Just... be careful, please?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry! I'll be back before you know it!" He proclaimed. "C'mon Happy. Let's kick some ass." He called as he went through the front door, Happy following quietly.

Kagura followed them with her eyes, frowning melancholically. 'That's what all of them said.' She thought. 'You're no different.' Moving on, she went in the direction of her father's room.

And now, here they are, running towards the place where the monster was supposed to be. Since the speed of Happy's flight was different, they choose not to fly since it would probably make Natsu's nose lose the scent.

"'That monster is unbeatable!'" The dragon slayer mocked in a thin voice. "Can you believe that girl?! No way I'll lose to some random monster like this. Bet I won't even need to use Fire Drive!"

"Natsu... What if the monster really is that strong?" The blue cat commented. He was starting to get scared. The last monster that required a S-class wizard to fight was Deliora, and even when it was already dead it caused so much terror!

"We take care of it when we get there, Happy." The onyx-eyed wizard assured. He could sense Happy getting uncomfortable with the prospect of fighting something too strong. Suddenly, a strong metallic smell hit his nose, but it wasn't from steel this time.

Blood.

He could smell a carrion-like scent too. That must be the monster.

Planting his feet in the ground, he skidded to a stop few meters away, holding Happy so he didn't fall.

"Did you find him?" The winged cat asked.

"I think so." replied Igneel's son. He concentrated a little on the location the scents were coming from. "There!"

They followed the tracks, and soon enough even Happy was smelling the foul odor. When they reached the area which the Salamander guessed was the monster's location, the putrid smell got so unbearable the dragon slayer had to take a moment to orient himself.

And the aura... The feel of the place was so overwhelming that Natsu could swear he was fighting Gildartz again.

Hearing Happy gasp, the fire mage turned to him only to gasp in shock as well.

Bones. Everywhere. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed before, but there was so much skeletal parts scattered around that it made Natsu hesitate to fight the creature that obviously caused this.

"Natsu..." Happy whined. He was shivering like Lucy would on Mount Hakobe. His eyes were glazed, like he was about to cry. "I'm scared..."

"Happy, look at me..." The dragon slayer whispered. The blue cat did so, and when he did, he was surprised by the look on Natsu's eyes. Suddenly, they were back on the day that they made Lisanna's grave. The day they promised to get stronger so that never happened again.

The day they changed.

"Happy, meet me halfway on this, buddy! I can't do this without you, I need you to be with me on this!" He whisper-shouted. The cat with wings still seemed spooked. "Look, who took Lucy away from that slave boat?"

"M-me?"

"Yep! And who gave me will to win against Erigor?"

"Me?"

"Uh-huh! And who did I trust to have my back these past three weeks?"

"Me!"

"So why should it be any different now?" Natsu argued. "Happy, this isn't anything new. It's just a bigger enemy, that's all. Don't let this overgrown turtle stop this train that's been going for years!"

"Aye sir!"

"That's the Happy I know! Now, here's the plan." He pointed to the cave on the other side of the place they were now. "I can't smell that thing over all this scents, but I can hear it. It's inside the cave." said the young man. "So here's what you gotta do: While I got inside the cave to draw that creep outside you wait up there-" He pointed to the top of the cavern. "-until it gets out. When it's out, you will watch it and attack a weak point, then start flying in random patterns and attack when it gets it's attention too 'out of you', ok?"

"Is that it?" Happy expected more. It's so simple and... not-genius compared to some others he had until now.

"Yeah! I know it doesn't look much, but its good! If we attack him at the same time, it'll get confused and won't know who to hit!" The to-be strategist explained.

"Um... Okay then! Let's do this!"

"Alright!"

Happy, eager to get started, flew to his position on the top of the cave as Natsu carefully entered the place.

Taking a moment to adjust to the darkness of the cavern, he soon started going deeper. But to his confusion, he couldn't see anything. Just some stalactites on the upper part and some rocks on random places, but other than that, all black.

He turned to get a view around the cave.

That was an error.

Unseen to the dragon slayer, as soon as he turned around, the rock formations on the floor of the cavern noiselessly moved in his direction. A large arm launched from the supposed mass of rocks.

A loud bang marked the encounter, and the mage flew out of the cave.

Natsu didn't know what hit him. One moment he was looking around, the next, something big hits him in the back with more strength than Erza ever did.

He bounced once. Twice. Thrice. At least six times before he skidded the rest of the stopping distance face down.

Shakingly getting up, his face scrunched in a wince, Natsu looked up to see Happy on top of the entrance, gazing back at him with confusion clear on his face. Moving his sight downward, he saw two sharp, glowing yellow-colored eyes. Finally standing, the teen was vaguely aware of the shadowy hunched figure approaching the entrance-slash-exit.

It was horrifying.

It was exactly like the villager had described. It's dark purple skin looked like it was being stretched over it's seemingly malnourished physique. The ebony black pauldron-like object that sat on its shoulders had the same rune markings it had on his arms, both coloured the same shade of red.

The feeling Natsu felt suddenly intensified as the otherworldly monster focused on him. He wasn't about to let that stop him, though. So he ignored it as he slowly circled the monster.

Both stared down at their own opponent for a moment, stopping the movement.

.

.

.

They charged.

In a second, they were already in front of each other. The monster quickly took the initiative by rapidly swiping its arm at Natsu. The dragon slayer hopped on top of the arm and briefly used his flames on his feet to launch himself off to the monster's chest. Gathering magic on his fist, he roared.

"Karyuu no Tekken!"

The attack created a big explosion on the other side of the creature. As it hunched back and roared in annoyance of being hit, Dragneel kicked off the same spot he hit to propulse himself higher. Placing his arms up, he prepared for another attack.

"Karyuu no Yokugeki!"

Yet another explosion took place, the being was engulfed entirely this time. Smoke rising, Natsu grinned excitingly at the strength of his own technique. He might just be ready to take on L-

An enormous hand shot out of the dust cloud and backhanded him straight into a boulder, completely shattering it out of sheer impact alone.

The dust cleared, revealing the monster looking a little worse for wear, give or take a few burns. It slowly walked his way to the debris, reaching towards it with its hand. Before it could grab anything, fire exploded out of the rock tomb and soon enough Natsu was catapulted out of it.

He landed on the other side of the clearing, blood cascading down his forehead. Forcing his left eye shut so the blood didn't interfere, he turned and glared at the creature. He deeply inhaled while the thing turned and dashed to him.

"Karyuu no Hoko!"

A huge beam of fire was released, engulfing the creature once more. He used a good chunk of his magical power in this. Even someone like Erza would be hard-pressed to shake something like this off, Flame Empress armor or not.

Noticing a shadow moving through the fire, his eye widened in surprise and doubt as the monster emerged from the fire with some new burns and followed with an attack which speed had Natsu giving his all to dodge.

He jumped backwards to avoid the swipe, but soon had to duck so he didn't get punched again. Launching himself above the violent haymaker the mysterious creature threw with his fire, he spun in the air and prepared another attack when he got on the head's level.

"Karyuu no Kagizume!"

The kick made the monster's head jerk harshly to the side, but soon enough it recovered and headbutted him back to the ground. The Cait Shelter mage used his arms to spring himself back and hopped over another swipe. He jumped and gathered magical energy on his hand, pulling his arm back while making a clawed motion. Rosemary's creature also reared its arm back. Both attacks clashed at the same time.

"Saiga!"

The impact was enough to sent both skidding on the opposite direction. Determined to not let the thing take a breath, he speared his hands into the ground to stop himself then harshly pulled them when he halted, once again sending flames to his feet to propulse himself. He engulfed his own body in his flames, intent on ending the being.

"Kenkaku!"

The high speed flaming headbutt hit with an overwhelming strength, pushing the creature up until it hit the side of the montain he came out of. The resulting impact was enough to indent the area the monster was bashed into and to viciously create fissures from it. The now stuck victim of the savage attack roared in agony and pain as the powerful mage that struck him launched another roar and damaged it further. The dragon slayer, who was sent a little higher thanks to the fire blast, put his hands in the air and gathered almost all of his remaining magic in both fists.

"Karyuu no..."

Even as a initially medium-sized sphere made of fire came to light, the monster struggled to free itself from it's prison. Realizing it couldn't get out, the tortoise-like creature looked on hopelessly as the ball rapidly increased in size. The energy sphere grew to the point where it towered over the monster. With a wild glint in his eyes, which were slitted now, he brutally threw the titanic ball of fire down as he roared.

"KOOOOEN!"

When it made contact with its target – and the montain – the attack seemed to merge with the matter in it completely. A pregnant silence took over the clearing as the wizard landed.

That's when the reaction happened.

The mountain – the area that the magical attack hit specifically – began to shine as the land started to tremble, as if an earthquake was taking place. The glow became more intense as the shaking got even more violent and the whole place started to heat up immensely. The brightness then took form of a huge energy dome, an explosion loud enough to mute the entire area.

As the blast grew and took space as cracks appeared on the ground all around the clearing. Soon enough, the white condensed fire engulfed the entire place – from the mountain to the trees – and the explosion stood still for a moment.

Slowly but surely, the energy began to dissolve, showing the outcome of the overpowered magic attack.

The result was absolutely devastating.

Trees became nothing more than ash as a huge blackened crater now stood on the place the explosion happened. Part of the mountain was slightly melted into magma while the other was relatively fine, however shattered. Several fissures were scattered all around the clearing.

And on the middle of it all was the dragon slayer, who had fallen to his knees and was desperately gasping for breath. His eye still closed, he let a wheezed laugh, starting soft and low, then getting louder and louder until he was cackling with an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

"I did it..." He whispered. "I did it! I did it!" The mage threw his head back, laughing still. "I DID IT!" His chest was seriously starting to hurt now, but he couldn't care less! He did it! "I'M READY FOR THE S-CLA-"

A rumble halted his celebration. He turned to incredulously stare at the rubble on the other side of the crater. Surely it couldn't have survived. That must be Happy. 'Yeah. Happy! He does like to scare me when I finish fighting. He must be trying to escape that rock. Of course! When he gets out, I'll say sorry and we'll all go back to-"

A inhuman roar broke his hopes as quickly as they came, and soon an clawed hand shot out of the debris. It grabbed and pulled and dragged, another hand getting out of the rubble and doing the same, and the effort gave way to the monster's escape.

If it seemed horrifying earlier, it looked absolutely atrocious now.

Its upper body was soaked in blood, the parts not covered in the liquid were scorched black and the left pauldron was completely destroyed. The right one was cracked and missing quite a few pieces. Its concrete-like mane was broken in some spots and the left arm was bent in places where it shouldn't.

It released a deep guttural growl, taking heavy steps towards its dead-tired enemy, stumbling and almost falling at some point. When it got to Natsu, it simply lifted its foot, then brought it down on the man's chest. As the wizard's back touched the ground, the monster started applying more pressure.

His bones could be heard cracking as the dragon slayer began screaming in agony. He never felt so much pain in his entire life. Not when fighting Erza. Not when fighting Laxus. Not even that day when he tried to challenge master.

He spent a whole five minutes crying out like that, his voice soon became hoarse. His vision was darkening and he didn't think he could go on like this for too long. He briefly heard a boom, but could not find enough willpower to think about it.

The tortoise-like being got bored after realizing the human would not fight back anymore. It raised its foot again, but before it could be brought down...

...Something REALLY fast slammed on its back with enough force to make it lose its balance and fall.

Natsu was brought out of his thoughts when he noticed the weigth on his chest gone and the ground shake. He, with much difficulty, opened his right eye to see Happy holding his head, face scrunched on a wince, as he glared down at the fallen monster.

Which was trying hard to get up again. Its left arm was pratically useless since it didn't have enough strength to help, and it was still getting used to the feeling.

Seeing the opening, Happy took off again to get more speed for his next attack. Once he hit an acceptable distance, he abruptly stopped then turned around, using Max Speed to boost himself.

However, the disfigured creature wasn't about to let it hit again. It unsteadly got up and whipped its right arm in an arc, effectively slamming Happy on the ground, making him skid until he reached the other side of the clearing, where he laid unmoving.

"Happy!" Natsu shouted, or tried to, as his voice didn't recover yet from his early screaming. The being was now predatorily stumbling towards the cat, enraged that the smaller creature had dared to interrupt its kill.

'No...'

It was almost there, the painfully slow steps torturing the dragon slayer.

'Please...'

Oh, how he wanted to have the magic power to end that thing.

The creature now stood at the blue cat's side. Like before, it slowly lifted its foot.

A crack of thunder.

'NO!'

And like before, it was interrupted.

"Nijumahojin: Gouraijin!" A mysterious voice broke through the place as lightning hit the demonic tortoise. It roared as it removed its foot from its stomping position and took a step back. The shock carried on a little then it suddenly stopped. The creature – and Natsu- looked on to the direction the bolt had come from.

There stood a cloaked figure. On top of the long dark blue cloak was a dark green strap that held the five staves the newcomer had on his back. His arms and legs were covered in bandages, while his lower face was obscured by a green mask and the upper part by a blue bandana which contained a forehead protector.

The stranger then spoke in an emotionless voice. "Out of everyone I expected to encounter on this mission..." He looked in the rose haired teen's direction. "...You two were the last ones." The menacing-looking man gazed at the monster, that was strangely tame now, though it still carried the chilling glare as it looked back at the unknown person. "Though you seem to have done quite a number on Zelva..." He mused as he started walking towards the creature.

Zelva growled, then charged with all the speed it could muster. The opposing force continued to walk, even as the monster brought its arm down in a vicious punch.

The strike landed.

Then the man disappeared.

The beast lost balance for a second, then stopped itself from falling as it tried to locate its seemingly fast target.

"Gojumahojin: Mikagura!" A voice called from behind it, and before Zelva could turn a huge beam of concentrated magic power slammed down on the being. The attack suddenly increased in strength as the ground cracked beneath its power.

It dissolved, showing that the monster still stood alive, though looking a lot worse. Its left arm was no more.

The now identified mage grunted as the beam surged and striked Zelva again.

And again.

And again.

The last thing Natsu saw before darkness finally embraced him was the purple light of the thick magical pillar receding to display the nightmarish vision that was the terror of Rosemary and the cloaked mage that had saved him enter a strange stance.

A/N

Done! So, how was it?

Thanks for your support all those months everyone. Really, it touches me that someone would like my crazy ideas to the point of wanting another one. Like I said on the previous chapter, I fully intend to finish this fic no matter how long it takes or the obstacles in the way.

The unorganized poll is over, though the result is a secret hehe You'll see when I reach the part.

Adiós Amigos! Mariachi out!