AN: So not really much to say about this, only that I am still plugging away, reading through my old chapters, cleaning them up and improving them where I can, whilst also editing certain details so that they fit with the much revised plot for this story.

Hope you continue to enjoy and leave a review.

( - )

(Last Time)

"I will answer your questions another time Erza but right now we have other things to do." Naruto said very unsubtlety avoiding Erza's questions, not that he was ashamed of his age, or scared of telling her, instead he just knew it would lead to a lot of question, some of which would be invasive, and would involve matters he very much didn't want to discuss.

"Wait what? What do you mean?" Erza asked as she swung her head around to where Naruto was looking.

"Why Erza, we are at Galuna Island and in case you forgot we have a little job to do there." Naruto replied as he looked out over the sea, and at the large and mountainous Island of Galuna in the distance, which at this present point in time was bathed in an eerie purple light.

( - )

Chapter 12

( - )

(Galuna Island)

"Come on Naruto, let's hurry before any of those idiots get themselves hurt or worse." Erza shouted to Naruto as she and the former Guild Master hurried through the dense foliage that covered Galuna Island's southern shore.

The urgency in her voice clear for Naruto to hear. Though this was likely due to the sound of distant explosions and screams that they could hear in the distance, and also probably due to the massive grey rat with a pink bonnet on that was crash banging about the area. And yes that was really happening, neither of them were high or hallucinating, there really was a giant rat lumbering around the island shrieking and screaming.

"I'm coming Erza, but being honest I really don't think we have anything to worry about." Naruto replied calmly as he jogged along after her, easily ignoring the fierce, red haired mage's glower as he expanded on his point. "Natsu, Gray and Lucy are not push overs or weak by any means. They're Fairy Tail mages and are all pretty tough and capable. Do you really think any of them are going to be beaten by an overgrown rodent over all thing? No I reckon that they'll have already beaten it by the time we arrive."

"It does not matter whether or not you think they are capable of dealing with this. This is an S-Class mission for a reason, and we were sent to bring them home safely, safely. And since our comrades are in danger it is therefore our duty to help them." Erza replied as she crashed through the woodlands a faintly glowing sword in her hand as she did so. The blade flashing through the air as she used it to cut through any trees or branches that got in her way.

Within a few minutes the two powerful Fairy Tail mages arrived at the source of the fighting. Both of them coming across a sight which neither of them would be forgetting any time soon.

Lucy, Gray and Natsu, the three relatively powerful mages that Naruto had had so much faith in before were all currently fleeing in terror from the overgrown rat. None of them even trying to fight it off as they instead just fled.

"What the hell do they think they are doing?!" Erza shouted out as she saw the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, after all she too had thought the trio would be more than up to dealing with an oversized rat.

Unfortunately though she was completely ignored as Gray, Natsu, and Lucy were all far too busy running to even look up. Lucy crying out in terror as she ran, her words barely coherent even as Natsu and Gray shouted out too, though by the sounds of it the two of them weren't shouting about the giant rat that was chasing them. No, instead it appeared that they were arguing about something or another.

"Hmm, maybe my expectations were too high?" Naruto muttered to himself questioningly.

Erza frowned at that, after which she turned back to the fleeing mages. However before could call out or say anything, likely something harsh so she could vent her growing anger and irritation, she was interrupted by Gray.

"Ice make: Ice Cannon" Gray shouted turning to face the rad midstride as he slammed his fist against his open palm, his magic activating and forming a light blue magic circle in front of him. A magic circle that soon grew larger as it created a large, long-barrelled cannon made entirely of ice.

With a dull bang a cannonball made entirely of ice erupted out of the newly formed ice cannon. With Naruto, Erza and the others all watching on as the ball of ice shot forwards in a blur before it then crashed into the giant rats gut.

The blunt force of the impact sending the creature onto its back with an ear splitting shriek, even if it didn't penetrate the giant rodent's thick hide.

The effect was only momentary though as with another ear-splitting shriek the rat twisted around, knocking trees over and tearing great gouges into the earth, as it lumbered back onto its feet again. After which it bared it's large yellow fangs, shrieked again and lunging forward, noxious clouds of greenish gas streaming out of it's foul maw as it did so.

"Disintegrating Railgun!" Naruto muttered, shifting forwards and drawing on the colossal energy flowing through his body, condensing it down as much as he could between his hands before he then clapped them together, his fingers extended, cupped and curved in such a way that he made a nozzle. One that suddenly erupted with a beam of crackling blue lightning as he pour his magic into his hands, converted it into lightning and the released it in a single overwhelming blast.

The giant rat didn't even have a chance to react, all it heard was a loud crackle, followed by a dull 'boom,' after which the beam of lightning stuck it, the straight forward attack tearing up and melting the ground below it as it passed, before it his the creature in the side and seared straight through it. The sheer heat coming off of Naruto's Railgun seemingly cauterizing the gaping metre wide hole that ran straight through the rat's chest, piercing its heart and lungs, before it shot off into the distance, travelling for maybe a half mile before dispersing.

Following on from that though the rat tilted to the side as if it were about to fall, it was dead, though strangely still twitching. But only for a moment though before it's thickly furred hide began to break apart, starting from the wound and spreading outward. White ash like particles began floating off of the creature even as it fell backwards, its flesh disintegrating as Naruto's lightning flowed through it's body, ripping apart it's flesh.

A few moments later the rat finally fell, crashing through the thick woodland behind it, the flesh and muscle still slowing off of its form revealing yellowish bones as it collapsed the white ash coming from it's disintegrating flesh still flowing off of it.

"Oops. I think I overdid it a bit," Naruto then said blandly as he walked into the clearing, the dumbstruck Erza following after him as she watch the corpse of the rat continue to breakdown.

"Naruto you're here!" Lucy gasped in shock as she turned from the horrifying sight of the dead rat and instead over to the source of the voice. Watching as the former Fairy Tail Guild Master walked into the clearing, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and a bored look on his face.

Lucy's lips settled into a hopeful smile at the sight of him. Her feelings on the blonde's arrival, and on the former Guild Master in general still slightly mixed, what with the recent argument over the Golden Celestial Spirit Key. Despite that though, right now at this moment, after all the shocks and fear of the last few hours, including being chased by a giant rat that was trying to eat her, she had never been so happy to see him.

"No, no it's Master Bob. Of course its me blondie." Naruto replied sarcastically, his usually pleasant and mellow mood fading as he shoved his hands into his pockets and frowned at the group of Wizards and flying cat thing. This was not how he had wanted to spend his day, traipsing around some murky, misty island after errant kids who took on a mission they shouldn't have.

Then again the whole thing seemed so familiar, who else did he know who had taken on a dangerous mission with some comrades, had gone to a dangerous island and had had to be pulled out of trouble by a superior?

"Must you make a spectacle of everything you do? Surely as a former Master of Fairy Tail you should know better." Ezra spoke up next, her voice once again stern as she too walked into the clearing, forcing down her surprise over what Naruto had just done. After all she knew he was powerful, how else could had have defeated both Laxus and herself, on top of which he had eluded to being much older and more experienced than he looked.

That being said she was still a little peeved after seeing his attack, it showed just how much he had been holding back in their fight. Sure she could have likely weathered that attack with her Adamantine Armour, or the worst of it, but at the same time though she very much doubted she would have come out of it without injury.

"Erza your here too!" Lucy squeaked out as she saw the red head, her elation at the chilled out Naruto's arrival, twisting into fear and shock at the stern red head's. "W-Wait! Before you get angry, you should know that Natsu dragged me along, and that I only stayed because the villagers on the island are really suffering! We're helping them, and then there's a demon, and a curse, and we…" Lucy suddenly started stuttering as she saw Erza's face, desperately trying to explain the situation.

"I don't care. Naruto and I came here to bring you and the others back to the Guild to face punishment." Erza replied bluntly, her expression not changing for an instant despite Lucy's words.

"But…" Lucy began.

She was cut off, or rather, stopped speaking moments later though when the red head brought up one of her swords and aimed it directly at her throat. Needless to say the blonde was almost immediately paralyzed with fear.

"Let me make this easier for you to understand… you have violated the Guild's rules and betrayed Master Makarov's trust in you. You will be lucky to get out of this with your lives." Erza stated ominously, her brown eyes darkening as she saw the younger blonde quail.

"Y-You wouldn't really hurt us… would you?" Lucy asked with a stutter before she sent Naruto a pleading look, her previous irritation with him forgotten now as she instead gave him a beseeching look, asking for help.

The red head though, just continued to direct an ominous glare at her 'prisoner', though she did at least have the courtesy to withdraw her blade, especially now that her point had been thoroughly illustrated.

"Yes. When Master saw that you had broken the rules and gone on an S-Class mission he decided to send Naruto and I to collect you and take you back for severe punishment, by any means necessary!" Erza responded with a glare, the three errant members of Fairy Tail all flinching when she said the words ' severe punishment' and 'any means necessary'.

"Naruto, Erza?" Gray himself asked as he saw them both standing there, one looking stern and fierce, and the other looking like he was in desperate need of a drink. "Why did the Master send you two as well? I told him I could handle it!"

"Clearly." Naruto spoke up, his lips twitching upwards in amusement as he looked from Gray to the dead, skeletal corpse of the rat and back.

"Still though..." Gray began petulantly before being interrupted.

"Enough, you three can be dealt with later. For now let's go sort this mess on the island out!" Naruto said decisively, meeting Erza's hard gaze with a cool one of his own for a moment, before the red head reluctantly nodded. After which he set off in the direction of the large temple that visibly occupied the centre of the island, the top of the building having a distinctly ominous purple glow to it leading him to the belief that it was somehow important to this mess. The others all following along after him. "Oh and Erza, you can punish them later. For now let's finish the mission first."

Erza scowled as she heard that, but eventually nodded, deferring to the older Wizard's orders for the moment. "I look forward to it."

The other three all flinched as they heard that.

( - )

(Sometime Later)

"For fucks sake Natsu, were you dropped on the head as a child?" Naruto shouted at Natsu as he and the rest of their group found themselves free falling through the ancient temple's stone floor, all because Natsu ignored their warnings and ran ahead. All of them more than aware that as they fell so to were large pieces of masonry, the large blocks of stone crashing into the ground sending up shards of rock, and threatening to crush them as they did so.

Instead of a proper response all Naruto received in reply was a shout of fear followed by Natsu shouting. "Screw you Naruto!"

Before anyone else could say anything else the group then crashed into the ground, each of the mages using different methods to save themselves. Erza simply re-equipped into her 'Heaven's Wheel Armour' before using the metal wings attached her armour to glide to the ground safely, grabbing Lucy by the back of her outfit as she did so, the hovering swords above her shooting out to deflect falling rocks.

Gray meanwhile slammed his fist onto his palm before shouting out, "Ice Make: Ice Slide!"

As he did so a blue magic circle was created beneath him, from which a slide made of ice appeared. Which Gray landed on before using it to surf down the slide to safety, shifting around as he did to so, in order to avoid the falling rocks as they rained down on them and hammered into the floor.

Natsu's solution to the problem though was much simpler as he did not have to do anything, Happy his constant companion simply grabbed him by the shoulders and used his wings to safely move Natsu onto the floor his teeth gritted in concentration as he weaved in between the falling rocks.

As for Naruto he just charged lightning magic through his body, enhancing his body, before he landed on the floor in a crouch, the floor shattering beneath his feet as he did so and a wave of electrical energy shooting out of him shattering the falling rocks around him.

"Is everyone alright?" Erza asked as she looked around her and saw that everyone was at least still alive.

"Yes," Lucy replied as everyone else grumbled in the affirmative, a number of them glaring at Natsu for causing the situation in the first place.

"Natsu you idiot!" Gray shouted as he too glared at Natsu.

"Ah get over it!" Natsu shouted cheerfully completely oblivious to the mood of the room, before without another word he took off running into the darkness breathing out small burst of fire as he did so to light the way ahead.

"Seriously." Lucy sighed in exacerbation.

"Natsu wait!" Erza shouted as her and the rest of the Fairy Tail mages chased after the pink haired Dragon Slayer. All of them running fast to try and catch up with Natsu, only for the dark passageway they were running through to open up into a large, brightly lit cavern.

"Whoa…" The group heard Natsu say in an awestruck tone as they saw him stop still and gaze around in amazement.

Naruto and the others hearing the Dragon Slayers voice first, before an instant later they turned the coming corner and saw that he had stopped dead in his tracks and was currently stood in place staring at the centre of the cavern, his mouth agape in shock and surprise.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked as they slowly walked up to where Natsu was stood.

"What's the problem dip shit?" Naruto questioned in a bored voice as he followed after the rest of the group.

"Hey guys… what's that?" Natsu asked still staring off into the cavern as the rest of the group joined him.

Hearing Natsu's soft words everyone then walked out onto into the large section of the cavern and instantly saw just what the pink haired Dragon Slayer had been staring at. Before most of their eyes widened upon seeing that taking up most of the cavern was a massive, demonic looking creature, one that had been completely encased in a large dome of glowing ice.

"Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I would say that it is a demon frozen in a block of ice." Naruto replied dryly as he looked at the large demon in interest and a slight bit of familiarity as something about what he was seeing struck a chord with him. Something was very familiar about this creature, very familiar indeed.

"That's impossible…" Gray suddenly spoke up completely ignoring Naruto's sarcasm, his voice shaking slightly as he did so.

Most of those present had all been shocked at the sight of the encased monster. But Gray though, looked visibly disturbed, more so than anyone else. His pupils were shaking, slight amounts of sweat dripped from his brow, and his skin had paled to give him a sickly looking pallor. However, the only one who seemed to pick up on this was Naruto, as he happened to be the only one who did not seem at all bothered by the sight in front of them.

"It's Deliora… but that's impossible!" Gray stated in a shocked tone as he began to walk towards the ice that imprisoned the gargantuan beast.

'Hmm, I thought I recognised the beast.' Naruto thought as he looked up at it, remembering hearing about how a powerful Ice Wizard had put the demon on ice after it went on an idiotic, and pointless rampage in the far north nearly a decade back. Or at least that had been the last he had heard of Deliora. The last time he had seen the demon properly though, had been a decade before that, and back then he had had a much less imposing form, one that looked far more humanoid.

"How… how could this happen? Why is it here? What the hell is it doing on Galuna Island?!" Gray asked desperately as he looked around almost as if he hoped this was all just a bad dream.

"You've seen this thing before?" Erza asked directly, if slightly more gently than normal, her eyes taking into account Gray's shaken composure.

"It just can't be… it just… it just can't..." Gray stuttered out his face scrunched up with a mixture of terror and fury.

"Gray, please calm down." Lucy said in a low comforting tone as she took a step forward and placed a gentle, comforting hand on the Ice Wizard's bare, shaking shoulder.

"This thing… its Deliora, the demon of destruction." Gray said as he began to explain why seeing the demon had upset him so.

"Demon of construction?" Natsu asked in confusion interrupting Gray before he could properly begin his tale, earning himself a kick in the shin from Naruto as he did so.

"It's quiet time Natsu, just stay quiet and listen." Naruto said with a slight smile as he saw Natsu yelp in pain as he grabbed his aching shin, a sour look on his face as he glared at the smug looking blonde.

Before anyone could say another word on the subject though, several footsteps could be heard from down a nearby passageway, interrupting story time for the time being at least.

Hearing the sound of people approaching, the Fairy Tail wizards reacted instantly, shooting off to hide behind a nearby rock outcropping, with Erza dragging Naruto by the back of the collar when he made no move to hide. After all the sooner he got this over with the sooner he could get back to the Guild, and get a nice tankard of ale and a good meal in his belly.

"Let's try and find out what is really going on here." Erza whispered to Naruto as she dragged him over to where the others were all quietly hiding, even Natsu.

Within minutes of them doing so, two young looking men came out of a different entrance to the cavern, each of them looking very unusual. One of the wizards was a short, slim young man with long blue hair that was tied back in a long, plaited ponytail at his neck, with him also having large, very protuberant black square eyebrows. On top of that the man wore what appeared to be an antiquated looking green robe which came to just above his ankles, and which was tied around the waist with a thin black belt. He was striking, if a bit douche looking.

Accompanying the unusual looking short man was an even odder looking, taller man who had reddish brown skin and shoulder length, shaggy brown hair. The man himself was mildly muscular and of average height with distinctive animal features: including a pair of canine like ears sitting on his head, a small dark nose and a lower face that was coloured differently from the rest of his body, and finally sharp fang like canines that jutted out of both of his lower and upper jaw. Overall he bore a striking resemblance to a canine.

"The voices seemed to come down from here… I hate being awake during the day." The shorter man stated grouchily as he strolled into the cavern his hands held behind his back.

The dog like man grunted his agreement at that.

"So, Toby, were you exposed to the Moon Drip too? I mean you've got those weird ears…" The man then said jokingly, aggravating his companion.

"I already told you, they're a fashion statement you jerk! Why can't you ever be nice, Yuka?!" Toby shouted in a slightly shrill voice.

"Calm down, I was only joking." The now named Yuka replied calmly with an uncaring expression on his face upon seeing Toby's outrage, his dark eyes instead surveying the rest of the cavern.

"You don't have to be so mean about it…" Toby said in a slightly depressed voice as he kicked at the floor slightly, his moods swinging back and forth seemingly at random.

"Those two said Moon Drip… could that be the name of the curse?" Lucy wondered aloud, her voice still quiet as she looked to the others, all of whom had been listening in on the ongoing conversation.

"He did say it in reference to those weird ears, so maybe it is." Erza murmured to the rest of the group as she too watched them from behind the rock cropping, hoping to hear something of their plan.

Anything further the two men would have said was soon cut short upon the arrival of another individual, this time though it was a woman who entered via the very same entrance that the two men had. The woman in question was also quite striking, as had long, bright pink coloured hair, large blue eyes, large breasts, and a very curvaceous body. The woman's hair had noticeably been tied in pigtails, on top of which she also wore a choker tied into a ribbon around her neck, a purple and pink short spaghetti dress with light pink trimmings, black leggings, and high-heeled sandals.

"Toby, Yuka, something terrible has happened…" The woman said in a saddened tone as she walked up to the two men.

"What now Sherry?" Yuka asked in a somewhat annoyed tone while his other companion greeted the woman with a friendly wave and a grin.

"It's Angelica, she's gone missing. I fear she may have been attacked, there were sounds of a commotion early and signs of intruders on the island. It's all just so sad." Sherry replied in a depressed voice.

"You're moping around because someone attacked your stupid pet rat?!" Toby exclaimed.

"That thing was her pet?" Natsu muttered out as he gave the girl a surprised look.

"What a weird girl…" Lucy commented.

"Look who's talking." Happy said.

"What'd you say?" Lucy asked in a low threatening tone, glaring heavily at the blue haired cat, who merely smiled in response.

"She's not a rat… she's a brave hunter prowling the jungle to protect us. She is… love…" Sherry stated quite soppily.

Naruto fought the urge to groan out loud upon hearing that. The girl sounded pretty mentally unstable, or at least she was certainly a little crazy. After all who had a giant, man eating rat as a pet, and who called said rat 'Angelica' and referred to is as 'love'. This girl definitely had some screws loose.

"They aren't from the island; they have a different scent. They're not cursed like the villagers were either." Natsu muttered as he peeked around the rock.

Naruto merely sighed at this, before he shoved both Natsu and Lucy back down behind the rock and out of sight. "Stay down kiddos. I have the distinct feeling they're the ones who brought Deliora here in the first place. If we stay quiet we may hear just why they did it, and more importantly what they're planning."

"I agree." Erza muttered before continuing with a slight smirk. "And if we don't find out what we want to know then we will just force them to tell us."

Naruto's lips quirked upwards into a smile as he heard that. He liked the way the girl thought.

"Intruders… Just when we were almost finished with collecting the needed moonlight. How sad." Sherry said sorrowfully.

"Let's exterminate the intruders before they interrupt the Cold Emperor plans. Now that they've seen Deliora, we can't let them live." Sherry said passionately.

'Cold Emperor?' Naruto frowned as he heard the pretentious name. Before he could think any more on it though he heard the sound of a slight clattering in the distance.

Sticking his head up above the rock again the blonde mage saw that the three wizards had all turned towards where the noise had come from, after which they all rushed off in that direction.

"Where are they going?" Naruto muttered as he saw them leave, beginning to ready himself to follow before he was interrupted again by Erza putting an armoured hand on his shoulder.

"I sent Happy off to make a distraction, we will use this time to analyse what we have heard before we make a proper plan." Erza said firmly, knowing that if she allowed Naruto to go that he would crush anyone who got in his way, meaning that they wouldn't find out the whole plan which could mean they might miss something that could come back to bite them.

"This is beginning to become really complicated. Who the hell is this Cold Emperor bastard?" Lucy asked as she crossed her arms over her knees in contemplation, looking over to the others for answers.

"Why did they bring Deliora here? How did they know where Deliora was sealed?" Gray tagged on his own questions harshly, wiping away some of his cold sweat away. The Ice Wizard having somewhat calmed down now after his mini break down before.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"It was sealed in a glacier in the Northern Continent more than a decade ago. This immortal demon, Deliora, caused havoc at Isvan ten years ago. My teacher, Ur, she gave her life to seal this demon; I don't know why it was brought here, but it never should have been!" Gray snarled, his fist becoming covered in frost as his magical control slipped. "The Cold Emperor… who the hell that bastard is, but he won't get away with dishonouring Ur's name and her sacrifice!"

"Gray calm down." Naruto said sternly deciding to finally take control of the situation before it turned into more of a shambles then it already was.

With that said he laid his palm over Gray's fist, ignoring the spikes of ice that pierced through his hand draw blood, as already he could feel his regeneration kicking in, a useful side-effect of a combination of both his Uzumaki heritage and his formerly being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi before it died/ dispersed. "We don't know who Cold Emperor is at the moment, but I'm sure we'll find out if we stay here long enough. Moon drip is a pretty potent substance collected through a pretty powerful ritual. On top of that it's known to melt any and all forms of magic no matter how strong, and from the looks of that ice, these people have been collecting the moon drip for a while."

"They want to melt Deliora's prison!" Gray gritted his teeth in anger, his ire rising at the thought of his master's legacy being destroyed.

"All we can do is guess; how they knew where Deliora was isn't as important as what they are going to do with him now. We should plan our course of action before we do anything else." Naruto said before standing up and walking out from behind the rock outcropping, the rest of the group soon following his lead and stepping into the empty cavern.

Honestly Naruto wasn't bothered either way if Deliora got out. The demon was a bit of an arsehole, and had an arrogant and aggressive streak a mile wide. At the same time though Naruto still felt a certain sense of responsibility towards the demon. Not that he was about to explain that to any of those present, especially not with Gray acting so affected and angry.

( - )

(A few minutes later)

It was barely a couple of minutes after the trio of Dark Wizards had left, and the group had barely left the cover of the rock, only for them to be taken by surprise as a large, purple magical seal appeared on the ceiling of the cavern. The glowing magic circle then suddenly erupting with energy moments later, a large beam of purple light exploding forth from it and onto the large block of ice with the demon Deliora inside.

Within seconds the ice was bathed in ominously glowing purple light, small rivulets of water already beginning to run down the sides of the ice prison as the Moon Drip began its terrible work.

"The light it's shining on Deliora." Gray said, somewhat stating the obvious as he stopped and stared at what was happening.

"Then we should find out where it's coming from." Erza said as she looked at the purple light with a stern expression on her face, her eye trailing upwards to the rocky ceiling.

Everyone nodded in agreement at that, after which they ran off to see exactly where the source of the purple light was located, the group running through the tunnel the three mages had previously used.

As they followed the tunnel it split into two, one branch veering left and down whilst the other went upwards heading back to where the temple was located. As one they chose the one leading up to the temple, though Naruto did note the other one as a potential escape route.

After jogging through the tunnel the group soon appeared back in the temple, only this time they were in the main chamber, passed the area with the crumbling floor.

All five of them, and one cat, barely even stopping to look around as the group continued to head upwards. Erza leading the way a sword in her hand as she went, with Natsu eagerly following after her, whilst Gray, Lucy and Naruto followed somewhat slower, the three of them making sure to remain somewhat aware of their surroundings.

Within a few minutes the group arrived at the top of the temple, exiting through a stone archway as they left the winding, stone corridors of the temple and instead arrived at a large open area, one that looked to be filled with hooded and cloaked people.

Upon reaching their destination Erza crouched behind a large pile of rubble that had obviously come from some of the broken stone architecture that had previously been located on top of the temple, the others silently following after her, keeping their eyes riveted on the ongoing Moon Drip ritual.

( - )

As the group of Fairy Tail mages looked out from behind the rocky rubble, they could see a circle of individuals wearing purple robes, each of whom were muttering an incantation beneath a large half-moon, stone sculpture that surrounded the hole far above where Deliora's resting place was.

"What are they doing?" Natsu asked in curiosity as the group hid behind the nearby pile of rubble, all of them crowded together as they attempted to keep out of sight of the strange cult of wizards so that they could see what they were doing.

"I'm not sure, but I think they're casting some kind of spell to capture the moonlight." Erza stated as she looked at the chanting group and the large magical circle that was located between them. "It must be this Moon Drip ritual."

"But then why are they shining it on Deliora?" Lucy questioned as she looked at what they were doing in confusion.

"It's an ancient spell called the Moon Drip, as I said before." Naruto replied impatiently as he glanced over the top of the pile of rocks. Honestly did no one listen to him. "They are harnessing the power of the moon to melt the ice surrounding Deliora, it is an ancient spell and requires a lot of power. That is also probably why there are so many of them."

"What? That's impossible, the ice from an Iced Shell can't be melted." Gray said having missed Naruto's previous explanation, lost in memories as he was at the time.

"Sorry kid, as I said before the Moon Drip can melt any form of magic. The ice from an Ice Shell included." Naruto replied having seen this before when he had first arrived in Earthland many years ago. Honestly he was beginning to get pissed off at having to repeat himself, someone really needed to knock some sense into these kid's heads.

"Those idiots!" Gray exclaimed loudly in outrage oblivious to Naruto's thoughts.

"Subtle Gray, real subtle. But anyway I also think that the villagers and the curse affecting them that you described is in fact just a side effect of the Moon Drip. Concentrated moon energy from the spell can contaminate the body." Naruto continued unperturbed by Gray's outburst. "I've seen the spell in action before, but not these side effects though. So it's possible I could be wrong. Or potentially this 'Cold Emperor' has altered the ritual."

"I'll make 'em pay." Natsu said raising his fist and causing it to burst into flame, completely ignoring the last bit of Naruto's explanation.

Before the Dragon Slayer could take any significant action though, Erza opted to slam her fist down onto his head causing, Natsu' s head to crash into the ground and stopping him from rushing the group of mysterious wizards, all of whom were so wrapped up in their chanting that they had not taken notice of the intruders yet.

"Quiet Natsu, someone's coming." Erza muttered with a frown, the tone of her voice causing Lucy and Happy to flinch a little bit and shrink back behind the recesses of the rock cropping they were hid behind.

As they did so the other braver members of the team, those who were not so easily cowed by Erza's harshness, watched as a man did appear with the three mages they had seen before Sherry, Yuka, and Toby, all of whom were following along deferentially behind him.

The man that they were following was of average height, but in spite of that he still gave off a commanding aura of strength and arrogance as he strode onto the roof of the temple as if he owned the place.

More than that though the man's appearance was completely hidden from view by the unusual and striking outfit he wore. The outfit itself consisted of an ornate, silver, horned helmet with a long red plume extending from the rear, the plume looking to be made from some kind of beast's hair. On top of that, the man's legs, arms and chest were also covered with an elaborately designed, flashy, set of silver coloured armour, over the top of which he wore a white overcoat which was trimmed with purple coloured fur around its collar.

"What a waste, I can't believe you woke me up for nothing. We checked the entire temple and couldn't' find anyone, save for that broken floor by the entrance and even that might be nothing. This place is falling to pieces after all. You know, I think your pet might have just wandered off Sherry, and this whole thing is nothing more than your usual, delusional ravings." The short man with blue hair called Yuka said with irritation, the dark bags under his eyes giving away his exhaustion as he glared over to the upset looking pink haired girl, who even now was complaining about her pet still being missing.

"Yeah! Maybe there weren't any intruders to begin with!" Toby countered his mood switching once again as his voice pitched with outrage.

"I'm afraid I have some sad news Cold Emperor. We thought we had intruders earlier today, but they seemed to have gotten away. I cannot speak of love in this situation." Sherry informed, using a sad tone of voice as she bowed low to the armoured man, sending longing glances to the man as she did so.

Once again Naruto had to question this girl's sanity. On top of that he question the trio's competence in general, they must have barely even looked before they came to the conclusion that they had nothing to worry about.

"Intruders?" The masked man questioned his tone sounding bored and sardonic, very similar most of the Fairy Tail group noticed to how Naruto sometimes talked when Natsu had been bugging him for a fight especially hard. The tone of this man's voice though sounded forced like he was trying to mask some emotion. Which was the complete opposite of Naruto as he tended to sound more natural when he spoke with that tone, with his tone instead seeming forced when he played off being happy and chipper.

Gray however noticed something different as he heard the voice, his eyes widening and skin paling slightly as he stared at the man who was clearly the leader of the group before him. A look that was seen by the ever observant Erza, who upon seeing Gray's expression put a warning hand on his shoulder to make sure he didn't suddenly do something reckless.

"So that's the Cold Emperor huh?" Natsu asked curiously, oblivious to anything else going on around him as eyed up the Cold Emperor, like a predator would a fresh piece of meat, or a hyperactive Dragon Slayer would an opponent who he could fight.

"Has Deliora been awakened yet?" The Cold Emperor continued to speak, his tone of his voice not changing as he continued to stare at the large magical circle above the group of Dark Wizards, the circle in question continuing to glow and slowly spin as it funnelled the power of the moon into the temple and the imprisoned Deliora.

"It should be later tonight or tomorrow." Was the reply received from Sherry who was idly playing with her hair as she shot love filled looks at the imperious Cold Emperor.

"Hmm, it appears we had less time than I thought. Do you think we should act now? Or should we wait to see why they want to free Deliora, or how many they number?" Naruto muttered to the other Fairy Tail mages surrounding him, catching Erza's eye as he did so, giving her the choice of what they would do next.

After all he might not know why they wanted to unleash Deliora, but they had at least confirmed that that was their intention. Now personally he wasn't bothered either way, after all no matter what happened the Moon Drip would soon be ending. His comrades though, they might have different thoughts on freeing the demon.

"We should move now, before they have a chance to free Deliora!" Erza hissed.

"The time has almost come… if there are any intruders and you see them I want you to kill them. I don't want anyone getting in my way." The Cold Emperor ordered his tone becoming frosty as he did so.

"They must've been villagers. No one else would be on this island." Sherry spoke up coming to a logical conclusion as to who the intruders could have been, as she unlike the others didn't just dismiss the possibility out of hand.

"Then destroy the village." He ordered in an annoyed tone, obviously having no time for such petty obstacles.

"Yes sir." The three answered immediately.

Upon hearing the cruel order from the man Erza let lose a slight growl as she released her hold on Gray and stood up from behind the rock outcropping, her actions seeming to be the trigger to Lucy, Natsu and Gray as they also made their move.

"I've had enough of this sneaking around!" Natsu bellowed out as he stepped out from where they were previously hidden, following Erza's lead as he did so, his fist quickly becoming enshrouded in flames as he charged forward.

'These kids.' Naruto thought to himself in exasperation as he saw the righteousness burning in their eyes, even as they made their impetuous move to stand against injustice without any real plan in mind. It was all so reckless and bull-headed. 'Truly Makky your children embody Mavis's dream of what Fairy Tail could become.'

"Stop right there!" Erza commanded as she left the shelter of the rock, re-equipping as she did so into her 'Black Wing Armour' the black metal plates that made up her outfit shifting noiselessly against each other as she took up a fighting stance, a long black blade held two handed in front of her and the wings that were attached to the back of her armour open behind her.

Overall she cut a striking and intimidating figure. Something the four previously plotting Dark Wizards seemed to agree with as each of them leapt back in shock at the sight of her, though this only lasted for a moment before they gathered themselves.

"I recognize that Guild mark… they're from Fairy Tail." Sherry observed as she shifted into her version of a defensive stance, her right foot slightly ahead of her left and her hands raised as if she were about to conduct an orchestra.

"I see, so the villagers must've gone to some of the light magical Guilds for help." Yuka mused as he remained in the same stance as before, his hands held casually behind his back, a look of confidence now on his face as he identified who he was now facing.

"Don't worry about them. Go eradicate the village." The Cold Emperor ordered, his lips quirking upwards maliciously as he scanned the group of five mages and a strange fly cat that stood before him. Dismissing the pink haired mage with flaming fists, the busty blond girl who looked almost as if she wanted to burst into tears and the weird blue flying cat in an instance.

Instead his attention was on the dangerous looking red haired women who cut a deadly figure in her armour, an aura of crimson power seeming to leak of her figure as she shot him a look of barely contained rage.

After which his attention then moved over to the lackadaisical blonde who was wearing a brown leather jacket which was trimmed with grey fur. The man who seemed on first glance to be bored with the whole situation, though if one looked deep enough they might also be able to see the unnerving, hidden glee in his blues eyes.

The main focus of his attention though was on the man a few years younger than him, who had wild black hair, dark glaring eyes and was bare-chested. This one was someone who he definitely recognised.

"How can you order something like that?!" The blonde haired girl suddenly shouted out, her voice raw with outrage and fear as she did so, her eyes watering a bit as the emotion running through the girl almost overwhelmed her.

"Anyone who stands in my way is my enemy." The Cold Emperor replied callously, the dark eye sockets of his helmet giving his words more weight as they seemed empty and dead.

"What kind of answer is that?!" Natsu shouted in outrage, after which he charged the masked man his fist raised and covered in crimson and orange fire, not even bothering to wait for an answer.

At the exact same time Gray too also made his move, the dark haired Ice Wizard running headlong at his enemy, his hands covered in swirling icy blue magic, creating an aura around him that made the surrounding air several degrees cooler. His own actions a mirror of the Fire Wizards as they both through caution to the wind and charged.

"Don't you know what you are doing? You can't free Deliora! You have to stop!" Gray shouted as he took a several steps towards the group of dark mages in front of him, his hands still enshrouded in icy magic. Before as if to emphasise his statement he slammed his hands onto the ground, channelling his magic as he did so.

In answer to his actions the ground beneath him extended a number of metres before several uncontrolled spikes of pearly white ice exploded from the stone floor, the spikes heading straight for the Cold Emperor and his three subordinates. All of the deadly, sharp spikes twisting and growing as they found their power augmented by Gray's fear and anger, his raw, uncontrolled emotion leaking into his magic.

Instead of reacting like a rational human would to such an attack though the Cold Emperor instead, with just a nonchalant flourish of a single hand, cast a similar but more controlled version of Gray's spell. The floor around him becoming coated in a light frost of ice as three spiral shaped spikes erupted from the ground like tendrils, each of these spikes intercepting Gray's and shattering them, the impact causing a blast of cold air to rush over all of the watching mages.

"Well, another ice mage, that's quite the coincidence isn't it? Although maybe it should have been somewhat predicable considering the guy's pretentious title of the 'Cold Emperor'." Naruto spoke up blandly, not talking to anyone in particular, more just airing his thoughts as he watched the goings on before him. With Gray several metres in front of the rest of the group facing down against the Cold Emperor, who in turn was stood in front of his own little group.

"Lyon!" Gray shouted out, his dark eyes hardening as he saw the magic the Cold Emperor used, the sight of it confirming in Gray's mind the identity of Cold Emperor, something which only made him angrier.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" Gray continued to shout oblivious to everything else but the man in front of him.

"Oh Gray, it's been quite a while hasn't it." Lyon the previously named 'Cold Emperor' lazily drawled, the condescension in his tone obvious for all those present.

"Why would you of all people revive Deliora?" Gray asked his tone still harsh, though his voice not quite as loud now that he had gained the full attention of the man before. "Don't you remember what that beast did!? What is did to our Master Ur?!"

"Hn! Of course I remember what happened. Though I do wonder, tell me did you come here knowing that we would meet, or is this just pure coincidence. Or I suppose maybe it's fate..." Lyon stated nonchalantly avoiding giving any definitive answer to Gray's pointed question as he did so.

"You know this boy, Cold Emperor?" Yuka asked of his Master, the man's protuberant eyebrows furrowing slightly in confusion as he tried to follow the goings on in front of him.

"I thought I gave you an order Yuka, do not make me have to repeat myself." Lyon said harshly not even turning to look at his subordinate as he continued to face off with Gray.

"Yes sir." Yuka, Sherry and Toby replied in chorus before spinning on their heels and disappearing over the other side of the temple no longer in sight as they hurried to obey their Master's command.

"Wait where the hell are you going get back here!" Natsu demanded as he saw three of the Dark Wizards disappear, the Dragon Slayer making to follow them as he rushed forward in the same direction the Cold Emperor stood.

"Wait Natsu, don't go near him!" Gray shouted upon seeing his friend/ rival charge and mistaking his actions for an attempted attack on Lyon, something Lyon seemed to think too as he turned slightly to face the oncoming Natsu.

Unfortunately it was too late though as the Cold Emperor had already reacted to what he perceived as an attack. With Lyon extending one of his hands towards Natsu with a flourish, the hand glowing faintly with a light blue magic. Shortly after which a large amount of ice formed in the air around Natsu before it swiftly enclosed him in its icy grip.

It must have only taken barely a few seconds after Lyon's icy magic had surrounded Natsu's body, that the spell was completed. With Natsu now being completely encased in ice. In fact only his head and the lower half of the Dragon Slayer's arms and feet were left uncovered by Lyon's attack. These ice free body parts soon burst into flame as Natsu reactively tried to melt his way out of the trap he had found himself in.

"Lucy and Happy come with me!" Erza ordered as she saw what happened to Natsu, before within seconds she had grabbed Lucy with one hand and charged, her other hand holding the blade in preparation to strike.

"No Erza…" Gray began to shout as he thought Erza was about to make the same mistake Natsu had just made, only for him to be surprised by what she did next.

With an incoherent shout Erza swept her sword at Lyon, the black blade glowing red as Erza channelled her energy through it. Following on from which, as soon as she had finished her swing an arc of pure magic power left her sword, the arc having been further enhanced by the blade's enchantment. With the attack tearing through the air as it rapidly closed in on Lyon, the air around it crackling slightly.

The Cold Emperor seemed momentarily taken aback by this as he back stepped from the attack, only to quickly regain his resolve again as with another sweep of his arm and a call of "Ice Make: Ice Shield" the air in front of him swirled around before forming a thick shield of ice directly in front of him, the shield having a distinctive flower like shape.

With a loud splintering sound Erza's attack met the ice shield, the attack causing cracks to form throughout the shield.

But despite the damage done the shield still held, not that that mattered as Erza's attack had done its job, it had provided a distraction that allowed Erza to get past the Cold Emperor unimpeded dragging Lucy and Happy along after her as she did so.

With a crash the ice shield collapsed into large shards a few minutes later, which with a flicker of his finger Lyon transformed into birds made of ice. After which, with a call of "Ice Make: Snow Swifts" he had the sculptures shoot like bullets from a gun at where Gray and the still nonchalant Naruto were standing.

Neither of the two had to do anything to defend themselves though, as the still trapped Natsu accidently intercepted the icy avian missiles, the birds shattering harmlessly off of the ice that still surrounded Natsu's form. With Natsu completely oblivious to what he had done as he instead angrily exclaimed. "What the hell! Why can't I move!?"

"If I were to hazard a guess Natsu, I would say it was because you were covered in ice…." Naruto replied with a long suffering sigh, rolling his eyes as he watched Natsu stagger around weighed down as he was by the large chunk of ice attached to him. Shaking his head with another sigh Naruto instead turned to where Lyon was still standing, deciding as he did so to try and probe for more information. "So anyway, I take it you are the one trying to resurrect Deliora?"

"Yes… but I don't have time to mess around with the likes of you." Lyon replied coldly irate that his attack had failed and that Naruto and Natsu were still around. Extending his right hand Lyon once again prepared to cast another spell at the trio of mages facing him.

"Ice Make: Eagle!" Lyon shouted swinging his arm in his opponent's direction and sending a flock of larger avian shaped ice missiles at his opponents.

With a crack of lightning Naruto vanished in a burst of bluish lightning only to swiftly appear behind Lyon his hands in his pockets as he thrust a lightning shrouded kick in the Cold Emperor's direction. Spinning on his heel Lyon was able to create a partial shield of ice in front of him which he used to deflect the worst of the attack.

In spite of that though he was still affected though as the left over force crashed into his body and sent him tumbling back several feet, his arms and legs partially paralyzed for a couple of seconds by the left over static electricity that ran through his body.

Removing his hands from his pocket Naruto raised his right hand into the air and channelled his magic to it. Almost instantly his hand and forearm was covered in crackling blue lightning, which within moments of appearing extended a foot forming what looked like a spear of concentrated lightning.

Staggering to his feet Lyon turned to see the spear of lightning pointed directly at him, the spear giving of a sound that sounded like a thousand chirping birds.

Looking at it, Lyon could feel the amount of condensed magic power coming off of blonde's unnerving attack, the sight of which caused a flicker of fear to run down his spine.

Before the blonde could strike him with his attack though, Lyon was given a reprieve when the blonde was stopped by Gray, who merely laid a hand on his broad shoulder a firm look on his face.

"Please… let me handle this Naruto." Gray said in serious voice as he saw Naruto turn to face him, a curious look on blonde's face as he tilted his head as if he were assessing him.

"Why?" Naruto finally asked after a few unnerving moments of silence, his tone showing his irritation at Gray's intervention. "And don't give me some angst bullshit about it being your duty to stop him, and that it is you're destined to fight him or some shit like that. I have no time or tolerance for that kind of overly sentimental drivel!"

"No." Gray said his lips quirking slightly as he heard Naruto's blunt comment. "I just really want to kick this assholes face in."

"Oh, well in that case go for it." Naruto replied suddenly with a bark of laughter at Gray's response, idly shaking his right hand and dispelling his attack. One which he had created long ago, with it having originally been based on his memories of Kakashi's Chidori.

Smiling slightly, Naruto could only shake his head in amusement. Gray had actually taken him by surprise, honestly he had been expecting some cringy angst ridden speech about how Gray was an avenger or some bullshit like that. But instead he received a response he himself would have come up with. It was certainly refreshing, and how could he say no to it. "You sure you can take him out kid? I don't want to have to clean up your mess."

"Of course I can…, now go, leave Lyon to me." Gray said with a confident smirk to Naruto before he directed a glare at the still watching Lyon.

"Haha, alright man you got it. I head off then, and go cause some mischief, I'll take Natsu back with me so the brat doesn't get in the way too. Just make sure to beat the crap out of the pretentious prick?" Naruto said with a bark of laughter, before reaching down and grabbing the pink-haired teen's hand and disappearing with a crash of lightning, leaving the Cold Emperor breathing heavily as he tried to maintain his calm façade whilst inside he was bristling with barely contained rage at the insults Gray and the now named Naruto were making about him.

"That was very foolish of you, sending him away Gray, very foolish indded." Lyon spat out as he faced off against Gray. "I would have thought you'd have remembered, I always was the strongest of our Master Ur's students. Against me you stand no chance!"

"Don't underestimate me Lyon because I'm taking you down here and now! There is no way in hell I'm letting you bring that monster back into this world!" Gray shouted in response, slamming his fist onto his palm and summoned his magic as he prepared for battle.

( - )

AN: Yep same as the top I have not changed much about this, only cleaned it up. That being said I have changed a few bits and pieces so that it fits in with my grand plan for the story. I am hoping to finish rewriting all of the chapters soon so I can get onto some new content soon. That being said it is a bit of a bore, so I do dip in and out when I am doing this. After all it's not difficult, but instead is just quite long, I mean I've still got 40,000 plus words to read through and revise. Urghh. Especially since I find Naruto as a character a bit tiring at times, he's just a bit over used. Still I enjoy this story, and like writing when I get into it. Plus I feel like I owe it to you lot.

Still I hope you retain your interest and still enjoy.

Thanks for reading and I'll catch you all later. Also please do check out my other stories if you have the time.

Seagate.