As the battle for supremacy began in the sky above him, Natsu returned to his guild. Ignoring the clashes of blades and flashes of light, he marched on through the dark city streets, alone with his thoughts.

2 had been the usual number of suspects who had escaped him in the past. One that reeked of death and darkness, and the other with little scent at all. Now there were 4 present, and as spread out as they were, Natsu knew he could still feel the first two present, but it was the extra two that kept him on edge as he strolled down the city streets. He had so far caught no trace of their scent for him to track them, so it left the dragonslayer completely blind when it came to their possible magic powers, and that worried him. Something ominous was looming over this years festivities, he knew it.

War was coming, he could feel it in his bones.

The foreboding feeling bent Natsu's face into a scowl as he kicked open the door to Crime Sorciére's hideout and stormed inside, ignoring the laughing of Cobra and annoyed look of Dyst that told him they may need a new door in the near future.

"Where's Jellal?" Natsu asked, scanning the room and not seeing hide nor hair of their blue haired guildmaster.

Meredy simply smiled and shrugged. "I don't know, why don't you ask Mystogan, I hear he's competing for Fairy Tail again this year," the other pinkette remarked, struggling to keep her laughter in.

Natsu only sighed and shook his head "God dammit Jellal"

"Oh he'll be fine," Ultear called out as she descended the small staircase and gave her husband a peck on the cheek. "Did you manage to locate either source of dark magic yet?"

The dragonslayer huffed and sat down with a groan. "This year there's four sources of the magic, two more than before. I hated not knowing who the first two were, and how they eluded me for so long, and now two more have entered the fray. Something is coming, I can feel it in my bones" Natsu explained, his faced marked with a deep frown as his mind ran at a mile a minute trying to figure out this new problem.

All of Crime Sorciére exchanged uncertain glances with one another before silently vowing to help take some of the stress off of their unofficial leader's back. As the silent agreement was made, Ultear smiled and wrapped her arms around Natsu, kissing his forehead.

"We can worry about the new sources of Zeref's magic tomorrow." Ultear told her husband as she cradled his head and lightly rubbed the back of his neck. "Right now you need your sleep, even you can't run on empty forever."

Natsu only sighed before taking his wife's hand and following her to their room, leaving the rest of their guild behind and retiring for the night. When he had gone up the stairs, the remaining members turned to one another.

"He's going to work himself to death one day," Cobra commented idly, his eyes still lingering on the staircase.

Meredy sighed deeply as she turned back to her guildmates. "I worry about him sometimes, I feel like Ultear is the only thing that keeps him from just caving in on himself. He's seen so much and done even more for everyone but himself, I don't know how he keeps going somedays. Remember the Phoenix Incident?" The pinkette asked her guildmates, getting a few confused looks.

"Of course we do, that was something that I'll be hard pressed to forget." Angel responded, Cobra and Dyst nodding in agreement with the white haired beauty.

"Times like that are exactly what I'm worried about. Injured and exhausted, he still went after that giant beast because he thought that he was the only one who could. What happens when the next giant monster shows up and he can't beat it?" Meredy ranted, before sighing into her hands and rubbing her temples. "I'm sorry," Meredy continued, "It's just that Ultear matters so much to him and he matters so much to her, I'm worried about what happens if one of them loses the other, especially Natsu.

Dyst chuckled lightly and placed his feet up on the table, leaning back. "Yeah but that's why they've got us. The boss had no one to help him against the Phoenix, now he has all of us. And I don't think all of us plan on letting him go off the deep end any time soon." The telekinetic mage stated, causing Meredy to frown and continue to ponder.

"Maybe, maybe not…"

Natsu sighed heavily as he sank down onto the small bed that he and Ultear shared in their tiny room of the hideout, soon to follow him was Ultear herself, with his wife lying down and cuddling up against him and laying her head down upon his chest. The time mage looked up at her husband and sighed, seeing that he was still deep in thought about the two new sources of magic.

"Natsu," Ultear called out, snapping him out of his rut before looking down at her. "Let it go Natsu, we have time to prepare for anything that may happen, but it isn't going to do anyone good if you can't think clearly." His wife begged of him, causing him to sigh and lean back, wrapping his arms around her stomach.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I just can't let anything happen to you or the others. You mean everything to me, the guild is like family, and I've already failed Fairy Tail twice, I cannot bear to let it happen again." Natsu explained.

Ultear only smiled and kissed his cheek. "Well, I'm not going anywhere, neither is the guild and Fairy Tail. You always forget that we're more than capable of protecting ourselves Natsu, not everything is on your shoulders," Ultear told her husband, causing him to sigh again and lean his head back.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to lose you" Natsu whispered, so softly that Ultear almost didn't hear him. At his declaration, Ultear smiled happily and kissed her husband, causing him to wrap his arms around her and kiss her back. When they eventually broke apart, Natsu's eyes had softened and he held Ultear in an almost delicate grip.

"I love you," He told her, smiling down at his wife.

The time mage smiled brightly back at up and nuzzled her head against his chest. "I love you too Natsu, now get some sleep."

Her husband only nodded and closed his eyes, trying to put his mind past the inescapable feeling that something big was coming.

On the other hand, Ultear merely laid there for a time, listening to her husband's breathing as is slowed and evened out. She sighed and laid her head down on his chest, smiling as she felt his heartbeat through his chest and soon also dozed off, the two perfectly content with each other's company.

The next morning, Crime Sorciére stood atop the highest towers of the Domus Flau, looking down at the festivities below as the games began. As it had always been in years past, 8 teams had made it through the preliminaries. Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus, Quatro Cerberus, Raven Tail (which made Natsu frown as he had personally dealt with them in the past before they went legal), Lamia Scale, not one but two teams from Fairy Tail, and Sabertooth.

Despite his claims to protect the legal mages from harm, Natus couldn't help but feel incredibly bored about their current situation. He had promised to protect them from those who meant Fairy Tail harm, that didn't mean he was required to watch as they purposefully walked into a brawl that would lead to them eating dirt.

"Why are we observing the open ceremony again?" Natsu asked his guildmates, "It's not like anyone is in actual danger here, they all signed up to beat the shit out of each other." He dryly remarked, making Cobra chuckle behind him.

Angel laughed and turned to face Natsu, "It's because we figured that over half the population of Crocus may be here today, that means there's a 50% chance that your sources will be here at the least." The celestial mage remarked, causing Natsu to nod and turn his attention to the crown.

"Besides," Cobra chimed in as he looked down at the contestants. "The eye candy is always appreciated." He finished with a grin, with his gaze lingering on the blonde from Blue Pegasus.

That actually got Natsu to laugh as he smacked his fellow Dragonslayer on the back. "Just don't get her pregnant Cobra, I'm not quite ready to be an Uncle yet." He remarked as Ultear walked up to them and looked down at the participants. The time mage got a wicked grin on her face as she leaned in to her husband and whispered in his ear. "Sabertooth has a cute raven haired beauty this year, want to share her?" Ultear sultrily whispered in Natsu's ear. The pink haired dragonslayer raised an eyebrow at his wife and grinned savagely.

"I think I might like this idea." He whispered back to her before wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close. Yet before they could go any further, Natsu stiffened like a board and whirled around on his heel, eyes scanning the stands wildly.

"Natsu," Meredy started cautiously, "What is it?"
"One of them is leaving the stadium, I can feel it. Keep an eye on the games, I'm going after them," Natsu declared as he sprinted to the edge of the platform and leapt off the side, plummeting down in pursuit of the mysterious source of Zeref's magic.

"Remember to only use your Curses pal, someone might recognize the Dragonslayer magic!" Cobra called out to the falling dragonslayer, hoping against hope that he would hear him.

Ultear merely sighed and turned her attention back to the games, she was used to her husband's obsession with unraveling this mystery by now. Meredy sat down next to her and lightly rubbed her surrogate mother's back.

"He's just trying to protect us all, you know that right Ultear?" The sensory link mage said.

"I know." Ultear responded before the guild watched the games in a sullen silence.

Natsu knew exactly who it was the second he got to the base of the stadium. Who else besides a member of Crime Sorciére would wear a hood to hide their identity in this city? It seemed like the Hood noticed him, as he took off sprinting in the opposite direction from the dragonslayer, deeper into the city. Taking off after him on foot, Natsu growled and thrust his hand out, deciding to heed Cobra's advice and solely use his Curse power to take out the hooded man, Apocalypse Dragonslayer Magic was too flashy and would attract too much unwanted attention.

"Blades of Rapture," the Dragonslayer chanted, causing pulses of blue energy to shoot out from his hand towards the hooded fleeing figure, in the hopes of knocking him down. The hooded figure spun on his heel and waved his hand out in front of him, causing a shield of pitch black ice appear in front of him, blocking the pulses as he continued to sprint away.

Grunting in annoyance, Natsu disappeared in a flash of blue and reappeared right in front of the hooded figure, surprising him with a simple haymaker. The surprise blow caught the hooded man off guard and forced him several steps back. Hood let out a laugh as he rubbed his jaw and Natsu felt the temperature around them begin to drop slightly as the hooded man charged up his magical power. Power that felt… dark, corrupted. Not quite like Curse power, but still dark and sinister. And it didn't sit well with Natsu.

"Who are you!" Natsu demanded as blue curse power began to pulse around his hand and he slipped into a combat stance.

The hood only laughed. "Only one who wishes to see the true king take his throne. Flee now little mage, or engaging me will be your last mistake." As the hooded figure spoke, long, pointed blades of the shadowy ice formed upon his arms before he aimed them at Natsu.

The dragonslayer snarled and clapped his hands in front of him before thrusting them backwards, "No, engaging me will be your biggest failure. Cataclysm" Natsu called out, before the curse energy pulsing around his arms sharped into pointed blades similar to those upon the man across from him. Neither man moved for a moment, before Natsu let out a battle cry and sprinted towards the hooded figure, leaping into the air and bringing both blades hand down toward his opponent's neck in hopes of decapitation.

The hood effortlessly brought both arms up and blocked the attack, before kicking Natsu off of him and thrusting forward with both arms towards the Dragonslayer, who spun to the left to avoid being impaled. Sliding backwards, Natsu growled and charged once again, locking blades before swinging left, only to once again be blocked by a shard of black ice, feeding to the growing smirk of Natsu's opponent. Taking Natsu's stuck arm into accounting, the Hooded figure struck forward with his right arm, only for Natsu to smack the thrust away before delivering a brutal headbutt to the hooded man, who cried out in surprise and pain before backpedaling, the ice upon his hands disappearing.

Taking advantage of this, Natsu stalked forward, before his left hand began to glow with a blackish blue hue. Striking like a viper, Natsu dealt a savage slap to his opponents face, who stumbled backwards again before regaining his footing and smirking.

"Was that your brilliant plan? To smack me?" He goaded, only making Natsu smirk.

"Nah, I just needed to make contact to do this." Natsu shot back before blue energy began to dance across his hands again, and Natsu swung his arm forward and pointed at the hooded man with just his index and middle finger. "Dark Emperor" Natsu called out with a smirk as the Hooded man's own shadow leapt up from the ground and delivered a savage right hook across his cheek. The surprise attack made the hooded ice mage cough before he caught another blow to the stomach, then the neck and knee, all 4 hits sending the mage to his knees, gasping for breath.

With a wave of his hand, the man's shadow fell back to the ground and Natsu stormed forward and picked up the hooded man by his neck and slammed him into the wall.

"Who are you?!" Natsu demanded, staring directly into the fabric of the hood with a furious look in his eyes. Once again, the hood only smirked.

"Your reckoning. Those attacks packed a decent punch, but the King will strike you down when he reveals himself, and this land will burn so we can begin anew." The hooded man taunted with that grin that Natsu couldn't wait to wipe off his face.

Natsu roared and threw the hooded man across the road, straight towards a small shop with an awning on the front. However, as soon as the hooded man passed the shadow of the awning, he melted right into the darkness and vanished completely, having escaped alive and without Natsu discovering his identity.

The dragonslayer let out a roar of pure anger before disappearing in a flash of blue light.

Ultear and Angel giggled to themselves while Cobra outright laughed as the time mage forced a chili pepper down Meredy's throat, causing the pink haired sensory link mage so squirm uncomfortably at the heat it brought, yet out of sight, Jellal also felt the burning effects of the pepper as his wrist glowed pink from the link he now had with Meredy.

Having had gone too far in his duel against Jura, Ultear had stepped in to make sure Jellal didn't blow his cover in his little attempt to impress Fairy Tail and more likely, Erza.

As the Wizard Saint dealt the final blow to Jellal, Meredy severed the link and whined as she frantically wiped off her tongue, eager to get the chili pepper off so the burning sensation would stop.

A flash of blue caught their attention as they turned to look, and found Natsu with a thunderous expression on his face. Before anyone could ask any questions, Natsu screamed in anger and slammed his fist into the wall behind them, completely annihilating the stone structure and sending the pieces falling to the ground far below them. Confusion and worry were the two main emotions expressed by Crime Sorciére at Natsu's unusual anger, deciding to bite the bullet, Cobra popped the question that was on everyone's minds.

"He got away, didn't he?"

Natsu groaned and wiped his hands across his face, anger coursing through his veins. "I had him in my hands! In my fucking hands! And he melted away into the shadows without a trace!" Natsu ranted, causing Angel and Ultear to exchange a look, before Ultear stood up and wrapped her arms around him, causing Natsu to stiffen before eventually relaxing into his wife's embrace and kissing the top of her head.

"Did he reveal anything useful?" Ultear murmured into his chest, and then felt Natsu stiffen a tad.

"Yeah," Natsu muttered. "He said that he wanted to see 'the true king take his throne', and that Fiore would burn so they could 'start anew'."

The rest of Crime Sorciére frowned at the revelation.

"What type of magic did he use?" Cobra asked, a rare frown on his usually smirking face.

"It was some sort of Ice-Make, like the type Ultear can use and Gray and Lyon favor, but it was odd…" Natsu trailed off, lost in thought.

"Odd how?" Ultear asked as she released her husband and took a step back, frowning.

"The ice he produced was pitch black, almost as if he was freezing Torafuzar's water." Natsu explained, making the rest of his guild frown.

"I thought you ordered Tartaros to remain in the Cube until you found a positive use for them, they are yours to command after all." Meredy said, confusing clear upon her face.

Natsu frowned and began to pace around the platform. "No, it wasn't Torafuzar. I didn't sense any Curse power coming off of him and it was definitely ice, something only Silver is capable of, fuck I should probably have him visit his son…" Natsu trailed off before getting back on track. "But no, I'm certain it's not Tartaros. They followed Geer for years hoping to find me and have me lead them, and now that I am, I have no reason to expect treason from any of them." Natsu explained, making the rest nod.

Shaking his head to clear himself of Tartaros related thoughts, Natsu turned to the arena. "How have the games progressed so far?"

Meredy giggled slightly and began to explain, "Nothing too exciting, Fairy Tail's blonde got beaten pretty bad by Raven Tail so she'll be out of commission for a while, but the fun event was Jellal vs Jura." Meredy giggled, making Natsu sigh.

"He went overboard didn't he?" Was the only response.

Cobra laughed and took over the story. "That's putting it lightly. When Jellal realized that his mimicking of Mystogan's magic couldn't beat Jura, he tried using his own. Which, for obvious reasons, is a no go, so Ultear and Meredy sensory linked him up and messed with him so Jura would take him out quickly." Cobra explained, making Natsu laugh.

"And he scolds me for going overboard, give him some shit for me when he gets back." Natsu laughed.

"Where are you headed now?" Ultear asked, making Natsu shrug.

"Gonna head back to the hideout and listen, see if anything else reveals itself to me. Nothing terribly exciting." Natsu explained, rolling his shoulders, causing them to give a satisfying pop. Ultear nodded and smiled before kissing her husband on the cheek before turning back to the games, the next match was about to begin, but as Natsu looked down to see who it was, he grinned as a familiar head of blonde hair entered the arena.

"Actually, I think I'm going to stick around a bit." Natsu stated, changing his mind on a dime and wrapping his arm around Ultear, pulling her close as he stood at the edge. His wife raised an eyebrow but didn't question the gesture as she leaned into him, but Angel did eventually ask the question on her mind.

"I thought you hated these games, why stick around?" Angel questioned, making Natsu laugh.

"It's been seven years, I want to see how Laxus is holding up after all they went through. He and I did tag team Hades after all." Natsu responded, amusement dancing in his eyes as Laxus stared down his opponent, the masked knight Alexei from Raven Tail.

This would be interesting to say the least.

Laxus wasn't exactly fond of his father. Ivan Dreyar had been expelled from Fairy Tail for reasons far more extreme than Laxus' attempt at a coup, and ever since then, Ivan had remained in the shadows with his response to Fairy Tail, Raven Tail. Laxus hadn't even spoken to his father in years before he was locked away for seven years on Tenrou Island, and he had the disturbing feeling that his father hadn't experienced a sudden change in heart during that period of time.

The Lightning Dragonslayer looked on in feigned indifference as the images of both himself and the now unmasked knight across from him swing back and forth, with the illusion of Laxus losing spectacularly. Blow after blow rained down on the spectral image of the Dragonslayer, making Laxus grunt in annoyance.

"So, my deadbeat Dad huh, am I supposed to be happy to see you?" Laxus blandly questioned his father, who's sinister grin widened at the blunt question.

"It's nice to see you too, my boy. Now I have a few questions for you, and you're going to answer them, or you illusionary form won't be the only thing getting a thrashing," Ivan threatened, making Laxus roll his eyes at his father.

"Yeah, you and what army old man?" The Lightning Dragonslayer shot back. He knew he could take his old man, all Ivan did was throw loads of paper dolls at his opponents anyways, something Laxus could easily dodge.

"Ah, I'm so glad you asked," Ivan responded with a cackle as he raised his hands to the sky and images began to form behind him,

The first was a young woman with bright red hair, a crazed look in her red eyes, who wore a red dress that revealed massive amounts of cleavage. The second was a tall, blue man with a incredibly large nose and tophat, who donned a black cloak that covered most of his body. The third was a small, spiked purple man with a nasty grin upon his spiked face. And finally a young man with black hair and eyes appeared, wearing black pants and checkered pants.

"Flare, Obra, Nullpudding, Kurohebi, I'd like for you to meet my son, Laxus. I believe he has the answer to a few questions that we may ask him." Ivan remarked with a smirk as his four mages also laughed and prepared for battle.

Laxus only rolled his eyes. "Five on one huh? You sure love to play fair." The thunder mage commented.

Ivan bristled slightly at the insult, before snarling at his son. "You stand no chance against me alone Laxus, my guildmembers here are simply to prolong your suffering should you choose to refuse to answer, and the suffering will be quite painful indeed. After all, I've hand picked each and every one of my members to take down Fairy Tail when the time came," the Elder Dreyar remarked, his eyes alight with a dangerous glint, "taking us all on would be akin to suicide boy."

Laxus merely raised an eyebrow. "Is that right? And what sort of… questions, do you have in mind you old geezer," Laxus quipped at his father, enjoying the twitch of the vein in his forehead whenever his son insulted him. "Hate to crush you dreams but Gramps has been doing his homework too old man. He knows everything, everything about your guild and its members, to your funding and activities over the last seven years." Laxus revealed with a smirk, relishing in the reaction given.

"What?! How?!" Ivan demanded, furious that his secretive guild had been penetrated.

"Ah that'd ruin the fun, you'll find out someday anyways. So, you old shit, what is it that you wanted to know anyways?"

Snarling, Ivan thrust one of his hands forwards and a torrent of paper dolls soon followed. Laxus hastily brought up his arms to defend himself, getting them up just in time to block the brunt of the attack, but still managing to push him backwards several feet.

"Enough of this! Tell me where the Lumen Histoire is Laxus, or I'll send you to a life of eternal suffering!" Ivan screamed at his son, who only raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell's the Lumen Histoire?" Was the dry response from the younger Dreyar as he blocked the current of paper dolls, making Ivan scream in outrage and force forward even more paper dolls, which Laxus merely sidestepped and batted out of the air with an electrically charged slap.

"That all you got old man? I guess Gramps really didn't have anything to worry about if that's all you can give," Laxus taunted, before ducking under another stream of paper that would have hit him square in the face and blasted that stream into pieces as well. In response, Laxus waved his hand towards his father and bolt of lightning shot forth from his fingertips. In a flash, the bolt connected with Ivan's chestplate and forced him back several feet, causing a cry of surprise from both Ivan and his mages, before Laxus did it again, and again, with Raven Tail's mages too surprised to intervene and Ivan forced on the defense. Yet it wasn't long before Ivan shrieked in outrage once again and sent five streams of paper at his son, who merely held his ground again and took the attack.

"That is enough! Tell me where the Lumen Histoire is Laxus, stop hiding it! You're my son aren't you? Where is you loyalty to your family?!" Ivan hollered at Laxus, forcing even more magic into his streams of paper dolls, which combined in the air to make a giant orb of dark energy, which then crashed down onto Laxus, forcing dust and smoke up into the air, obscuring Ivan's vision for a few seconds.

When the smoke cleared, Ivan was shocked to see Laxus not only standing, but relatively unharmed and looking more pissed off than injured. The mad guildmaster of Raven Tail let out a crazed laugh before speaking to his son again.

"Ah, you were testing the strength of my magic power weren't you? Good to see that some things will never change? Or is it something else? Can't yourself bring to strike your father? What a good little boy, my sweet little Laxus," Ivan cackled, making Laxus grunt in annoyance before a shout was heard from the stands.

"Laxus!"

The mentioned dragonslayer turned to face the noise, and felt his breath catch at the sight. It was Makarov, who Laxus knew full well had been watching an illusion get pummelled this entire time, standing up with one hand in the air giving the Fairy Tail salute. And even with his grandson being 'pummelled', Laxus noted that the man could never have looked more proud of anyone in any moment, a sight caught Laxus off guard momentarily.

Ivan also saw the salute and growled in anger before turning to his mages.

"Do it now Obra! Drain his magic! It's time to show this ungrateful wretch the true power of our hatred for Fairy Tail!" Ivan yelled at the blue man, who raised his arms to the sky and began to speak.

It didn't matter, as within the second Laxus leapt forward, his body alight with Lightning, and delivered a brutal haymaker to Obra's head, sending the drainage mage straight into the ground with so much force that the earth shattered upon impact.

Leaping into action, Flare and Nullpudding attacked simultaneously, with Flare ensnaring of Laxus' arms with her hair as Nullpudding charged the lightning mage, eager to deliver a devastating hit. The small man however was caught off guard as Laxus delivered a brutal uppercut with his free hand, sending the spiked mage straight into the advancing Kurohebi, knocking them both out in rapid succession.

Without delay Laxus turned on his heel and forced electricity to spark to life around his free hand, before grabbing the hair that was wrapped around his wrist. Within the blink of an eye, the lightning arced up the strands of hair and delivered a thunderous shock to the redhead, who shrieked in surprise and pain before being blasted backwards and into unconsciousness. Not even bothering to linger, Laxus turned on his heel to face his father, who shrank away in surprise.

"Listen here deadbeat, I don't know what it is that you're after and frankly I don't care. But there's only one thing you're going to get for all your trouble here, pain!" Laxus snarled as his fists sprang to life with a bright yellow glow as he stalked towards his father, the promise of pain written across his face.

"Wait, Laxus! You can't hurt me, I'm your own father! Laxus, I'm your flesh and bloo-" Ivan's pleads for mercy were cut off mid sentence as Laxus snarled and smashed his fist right into his father's face, sending the crazed guildmaster flying backwards into a wall, which cracked upon impact and knocked his father unconscious.

As the illusion around him faded, Laxus became aware of the shock and outrage occurring in the crowd around him, but cared little about it. Taking in the stadium, his gaze skimmed the stands before he caught a flash of black on top of the stadium. Turning his gaze to out of place color, Laxus squinted to see a hooded figure glancing down at him. Laxus couldn't see the man's face, but he saw the man grin and give Laxus a two finger salute, revealing his arms with blue tribal tattoos dancing up and down them, making Laxus grin right back at him.

I had a feeling that crazy son of a bitch was still kicking, always nice to see that he's got my back even after seven years. Good to see you Natsu. Laxus thought with a grin as he exited the stadium and Natsu disappeared in a blue flash that went unnoticed by the crowd.

Natsu laughed to himself as he exited the arena. Of course Ivan would try to play dirty, even against his own son. Laxus seemed to have it handled for the most part, he took them all out with relative ease, so Natsu didn't need to have them meet again too early. Although the grin Natsu received let him know that Laxus knew exactly who he was. Not that the Prince of the Apocalypse was worried, he knew Laxus would keep his secret safe for the time being until he revealed himself.

Laughing slightly to himself, Natsu chose to walk back to the Crime Sorciére hideout. Ultear and the others had left early in the match, all of them very much aware that Laxus could take Raven Tail by himself, but Natsu stuck around to make sure. As he strolled home through the early evening light, Natsu hummed lightly to himself, enjoying the sun shining down on his exposed skin before stiffening.

It was there again, a different source this time but definitely one of the four, and it was close.

Turning south, Natsu took off in a sprint once again towards the new source of dark magic. His search took him straight down the nearest block, before banking a sharp right then left, and as he turned the final corner, Natsu caught sight of another black cloak fleeing down the street.

Growling, Natsu disappeared in a flash of blue light before reappearing in front of this new hooded figure and, without hesitation, delivering a brutal uppercut, sending the new hooded man sprawling backwards, groaning in surprise as Natsu stalked forward and without hesitation, ripped this hooded man's hood off.

The fury that erupted in Natsu's stomach at the sight beneath the hood darkened Natsu's vision as he stared at the smooth, iron mask beneath the hood. The mask itself was nothing elaborate, just a smooth, dark iron mask with slits for eyes and a mouth that were blacked out by shadows so Natsu couldn't see in. The moment's hesitation from the revelation was all the masked man needed before Natsu felt himself get socked in the stomach and slid backwards a fair distance. The Dragon Prince grunted and ignored just how much that attack stung as he slipped into a fighting stance.

"Do you serve this new 'king' as well?" Natsu interrogated the masked man, who slipped into a fighting stance as well, before laughing at the question.

"So you are the one who attacked my comrade in the streets earlier today, you are quite persistent aren't you? You gave him quite the thrashing, unfortunately for you bud, I'm league stronger than him." The masked man boasted, making Natsu growl at him.

"I'm going to break that fucking mask in two, Midnight!" Natsu called out as he thrust one hand forward. A flash of blue enveloped the masked man's face, making him cry out in surprise as Natsu lunged forward, coating his hands in blue curse energy and delivering a ruthless haymaker to the side of the masked man's head, sending him tumbling to the side. In a flash of black, the masked man raised his arms up to block Natsu's next strike, surprising the Dragonslayer with actually blocking his powerful jab.

Natsu cursed and backpedalled when his attack was blocked. It felt like he had just punched a steel wall. Looking down at his opponent's arms, Natsu noticed that his arms were no longer the dark tan they had been before, instead they seemed to be covered by a combination of shadow and steel, creating a second skin for the masked man.

"Armor huh? I'll tear right through it." Natsu growled as he clapped his hands together before thrusting them behind him, "Cataclysm"

With sharpened blades constructing themselves upon his arms, Natsu leapt forward and began to rain blow after blow upon the masked man, who struggled to keep up with the brutal assault. Eventually, one lucky stab got through and broke through the armor and sliding right into the man's shoulder, causing him to gasp out in pain and slide backwards, blood already leaking through the wound.

"The next one will go through your heart, talk!" Natsu shouted at his opponent, who seemed to grimace before looking around. In a split second, the masked man shot backwards, with Natsu taking off of him. Yet the chase was short lived because as soon as the masked man turned the corner into a shadowed alleyway, he melted into the shadows just as his earlier comrade had and was gone from Natsu's grasp in seconds.

Natsu was completely silent for a few seconds before letting out a roar that shook the heavens and blasting a beam of pure curse energy into the ground, forcing the earth below him to erupt and fly in every direction possible. Quickly regaining his posture, Natsu swore at himself for losing his temper and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed his little episode. What caught his glance was the giant gold light emanating from the Domus Flau that seemed to pulse with a friendly light. Natsu snorted to himself, at least no one noticed his outburst, everyone was so damn focused on the games that the city was basically empty.

Natsu cursed to himself as he turned on his heel and began to head back to the Crime Sorciére hideout, but all the while, a disturbing feeling was settling over him. With all the signs and warnings, Natsu as sure of one thing.

War was coming, he could feel it in his bones.

And that's a wrap on Chapter 19. Originally 19 was supposed to cover everything all the way up to the opening of the eclipse gate, but an entire arc in 2 chapters felt a bit cheap so I'm splitting it into at least one more chapter, which I hope I can crank out before finals hit.

Anyone enjoying the changes I've made yet? We have 2 new players in the Eclipse Gate game and both of them will have a major impact on how the game is played, any guesses as to who they are?

Also on a story note, if you noticed, the newer chapters are indeed a little shorter than the older ones, mainly the Tenrou Arc. Pushing myself for 9-11k chapters is part of the reason that I was gone for so long, they just are such monsters to write. So for the time being I think most chapters will be in the 6-8k range, I hope that's okay with y'all.

Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you thought, and here's to me not disappearing for another 2 years. See you guys later.

~Solo