Internal Division

"What foolishness! Turn them back or else!" roared Makarov as he rose his fist.

"Or else what?" snidely asked Laxus. The S-Class mages eyes sparked with electricity and in a flash of light a lightning bolt shot at Lucy's stone structure.

"Lucy!" shouted Romeo.

The lightning bolt missed Lucy by mere inches, but everyone knew that was no accident. If Laxus intended to vaporize her, he would have.

"So you see now, these girls are my liability." said Laxus as he swung his arm around the petrified Lucy's shoulder.

"That bastard! I'm going to punch his face in." growled Romeo.

"Looks interesting. I wonder how it'll play out." said Gajeel.

Natsu remained bone-chillingly quiet as he waited for Laxus to start the contest.

"It's not really that complicated people. Last one standing is the victor." said Laxus.

Makarov however had heard enough and charged with a fearsome war-cry. However, the S-Class mage engulfed the guild in a blinding light once again and when it dissipated Laxus and the Raijinshuu had disappeared.

"Let the games begin." Laxus's voice broke out.

The guild erupted in a frenzy and ran out the door to take up the challenge.

"Those bastards! I'm going to make them pay, MAN!" roared Elfman as he charged out of the building looking for Laxus.

"I'll help you!" cried Lisanna. Normally, she didn't fight but Laxus made it personal.

"Bisca, I'll save you!" shouted Alzack.

"That little brat, I show him what happens when you cross me!" bellowed Makarov. He shrunk down from his Titan form and ran towards the door, but fate would not have it.

"What?!" cried Makarov as he slammed into an invisible wall of energy.

"Gramps, quit fooling around. Let's go!" shouted Gray.

"What do you think I'm doing!" growled Makarov. He kept trying to leave the building but he kept hitting an invisible wall of energy.

Eventually runes appeared on the door and it read, "Stone statues and people over 80 may not leave the guild."

"Damn it, Freed!" barked Makarov. He motioned for the guild-members to move on as he needed to think things through.

The Dragon Slayers emerged last and cracked their knuckles, preparing for battle.

"Don't worry Gramps, you've got three Dragon Slayers here and one of the two S-Class who can personally hand Laxus his sparky ass." said Romeo.

"I've been itching for a fight. Let's go kick some ass." added Gajeel.

"All right, things are looking up. With you three, Laxus can't possibly win. Go get him guys!" said Makarov his hopes returning.

The Fire and Iron Dragon Slayers raced towards the door and then smacked full force into Freed's rune wall.

"What the hell?!" shouted the two in unison.

"Quit your fooling around and move out of the way." growled Natsu as walked towards the door. But history repeated itself.

"WHAT!" shouted Romeo, Gajeel, and Makarov with bulging eyes. Natsu looked confused, he wasn't a stone statue and he certainly wasn't over 80 years old.

"Not good, none of the non S-Class could dream of besting the Raijinshuu, much less Laxus. If Mirajane or Erza were freed they could take Laxus with some help, but both of them are down for the count. And the one man who can go toe-to-toe with him is stuck in the building for some reason." thought Makarov.

"Screw this! One blast should do it." growled Natsu. He charged his Dark Cannon technique and prepared to fire.

"Wait! Stop!" cried Makarov.

"Why?!" asked Natsu irritated.

"The opposing force might shatter the stone statues, and I for one will not take the chance. Freed's runes are stronger than you give them credit for." replied Makarov.

Natsu grumbled but released the spell.

"So what now?" asked Romeo.

Natsu sat down grumpily and said, "Now we wait for a miracle."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ (The Guild)

The Fairy Tail mages had split up and were searching all of Magnolia for Laxus. But to ensure that his rules were followed, Laxus had put Freed up to some work.

"Let's go guys!" yelled Alzack to Jet and Droy. The three mages ran into an alley and fell into one of Freed's rune trap.

"What the?!" asked Jet. A rune perimeter had been set around the group and displayed the words, "No one can leave until a battle is fought and a victor is decided."

"Damn now what do we do?" asked Droy. But Alzack had different plans.

"Bisca." muttered the gun mage. He rose his gun at Jet and Droy, then fired.

The same thing happened with Macao and Wakaba on the other side of the town.

"Smoke Fists!" chanted Wakaba as he shot fists of hardened smoke at his opponent.

"Purple Shield!" countered Macao. He formed a wall of flames that blocked Wakaba's attack and then Macao went on the offensive.

"Purple Beam!" roared Macao and he shot a large flame stream at Wakaba bringing the smoke mage to his knees.

Somewhere else Max and Laki were forced to fight.

"Sand Slash!" cried Max. He fired a projectile of sand at Laki who rolled to the left to dodge.

"Wood Make: Golem!" countered Laki. She created a ten-foot tall wood elemental which swung its fist and smashed Max into the ground.

All across the city the FT mages were trapped in rune arenas and forced to turn on each other. They were all playing into Laxus's master plan.

At the Kardia Cathedral, Laxus sat on some stone steps and chuckled to himself. "The strong survive and the weak perish."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ (Back at the Guild)

Makarov watched in horror as the rune wall displayed the results of all the battles that raged in the city. More than half of Fairy Tail's members were defeated by this internal dispute.

"Damn you Laxus, how could you do such a thing." muttered Makarov.

"Well, I have an idea." said Romeo. He walked over to Erza's petrified stone statue.

"What is it, Romeo?" asked Makarov.

"I'm going to de-petrify Erza with my flames." replied Romeo with his fist ablaze.

"Wait that is a stupid…" began Makarov but the fire Dragon Slayer went along with his plan anyway.

Romeo applied his flame to the Erza statue and a crack formed. At first Makarov was horrified but the results turned out to be good as the girl was freed from her stone prison.

"Erza?" asked Natsu.

"What happened?" asked the re-equip mage as she rubbed her face from the flame. She then proceeded to punch Romeo away from burning her.

"Finally some good news. Laxus has gone crazy, he's started this 'Battle of Fairy Tail' to weed out the weak members of the guild." answered Makarov.

"What?! That's insane!" shouted Erza.

"Unfortunately it's true. He made it so that stone statues and people over 80 can't leave the building." said Makarov.

"What about those three?" asked Erza as she pointed to the Dragon Slayers.

"I don't know why but they can't leave the building either, so it's up to you." said Makarov.

"Got it." replied Erza. She re-equipped into her Heart Kruez armor and ran out the door to track down the Raijinshuu and then Laxus.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ (The gate of the city)

At the entrance of Magnolia, a tall man who wore a dark blue cloak and carried magical staves on his back entered the city.

People he walked by suddenly fell asleep due to his magical power and this kept up until he spotted the Kardia Cathedral.

"I've found you Laxus." stated the cloaked man.