August 16th, X799, Evening, Dewberry

The people of Dewberry went on through the night in merriment, completely unaware that in the shadows of their town moved two people who were primed for causing mayhem and destruction. Claude and Kyula were on an assignment without the rest of their team. They had been dispatched to take care of a mission by Grace herself, while they'd usually take missions directly from their team's leader, their Skald, Ash Revontheus. He seen them off on their mission briefly before they left and as usual, he had little to say, save for the fact that he expected success.

"We wasted too much time Kyula," snipped Claude. "I won't go down with you if Ash finds out you messed around on this mission."

"You worry too much Claude," added Kyula as she rolled her eyes. "And besides. Our mission said to take out him and his subordinates, so we didn't really waste any time."

She could hear him grumbling behind her as they slipped from shadow to shadow avoiding detection, but Kyula was just barely focused on her team mate's noisiness as she was looking forward to the battle ahead.

The mission's description detailed a few points to take note of. Waste no time. Leave the people of Dewberry out of it to avoid unnecessary attention for the time being. Kill Captain Nightwood and his subordinates. Be wary of his take over magic. The first few points went right over her head, but the last point sent her into near ecstasy. A new opponent. A new magic. Nothing could be better.

"Are you listening?" Claude half-yelled.

They had posted themselves in the shadows of the only inn in town and were doing their best to not draw the attention of their target. But Kyula's excitement had almost gotten the better of her and she was seething with a lust for battle and excitement.

"What?" she hissed in aggravation.

"We need to be calm to complete this mission with no issues," he began. "Our instructions were to leave Dewberry out of this battle so if you blow our cover, tearing through this town won't be in our favor."

"So then what's your plan?" she snapped. "I don't want to sit around all day waiting for him to leave the inn. And then what would you have me do about fighting in the town?"

Claude thought over his team mate's words. She was right. How were they planning on getting the captain out of the town without drawing attention? A compromise had to be made in some way and with a shrug and a smile which startled his team mates he stood to his feet and walked over to the inn's back wall.

There he placed a hand on the wall, slowly tightened it into a fist while imbuing it with just a little magic and pushed forward breaking a hole in the wall.]

Claude stepped into the brightly lit common room, while the people within the inn watched in shock as a cloaked figure walked in through a new hole.

"What're you do-" began one of the patrons, before Kyula stepped, placed a finger to her lips and shushed him.

"We've come to see the Rune Knight Captain," said Claude. "Please point us in his direction and no one will be harmed."

The room was quiet for a moment, but eventually one of the patrons pointed to the staircase.

Claude gave a courteous nod before heading up to the staircase with Kyula in tow.

As they walked up the staircase, they found themselves in a little hallway with each of the doors closing as they passed them. They stopped at the only door which had been closed from before they reached the top of the staircase and exchanged a glance with one another before Kyula moved to cut a hole.

However, just before she moved closer to the door, Claude felt a surge of magic from inside and stepped in front of the door and moved Kyula aside as he tried to ready his magic instead. Moments later, a gigantic figure crashed through the door and into Claude, sending both of them barreling through the inn's second story wall, through the air and near the town's entrance.

Claude's body landed with a thud and his eyes locked with the figure before him. There stood an eight foot tall giant with dark pants and a shirtless frame. It held 2 large broadswords and on top of the tan skinned figure's head was an animal's skull.

The figure towered over Claude who was in the process of sitting himself up and rubbing his head.

"That hurt," he hissed out in pain. "And here I thought we were the under handed ones."

"Better you than me," teased Kyula as she landed just behind the figure. "But at least this way we don't have to worry about the town."

Claude mocked her from the ground as he stood to his feet and the giant skulled figure charged him immediately.

August 16th, X799, Evening, The Scorch

Grace was currently in the bottom floor of her tower within the Scorch. On this floor, was a room which she used to call meetings for her elite guild mates. The Skalds. She had called the meeting on short notice, so she was certain they wouldn't all show up tonight, but they'd receive their orders one way or another. Of that she was certain.

She had already dismissed Violet to go and play with other members of the guild so that she could speak seriously with the Skalds. But none of them had shown up yet and her patience was wearing thin.

The raven-haired guild master was moments away from searching for them personally, something they certainly wouldn't be happy about, when one of the Skalds entered the room.

With a sigh of frustration, she watched as the woman before her took a seat to Grace's left. The purple haired woman was a little taller than Grace. Her hair was kept in a low ponytail while her bangs hung over her forehead. The pale-skinned woman wore tight, black pants that were tucked into black, ankle boots with silver buckles across them. She had on a grey button-up shirt which matched her eyes and was tucked in. Hanging from her neck was a skinny, black tie. She had on a pair of plastic, black-rimmed glasses and a white lab coat hung over her arm.

She had draped the coat over her seat and placed her glasses before on the table before her.

The woman smiled brightly at Grace and in the same breath, snipped out, "Is there a reason I have to waste my time with a meeting in the middle of my research?"

Her grey eyes met Grace's cold blue ones and she sighed deeply before rephrasing her question. "I would like to get this over with as soon as possible."

Grace let loose a small chuckle and then simply said, "Better than usual, I guess."

"Even if you're in a rush Thea, we're waiting for the rest to show up," said Grace. She could tell the idea didn't sit well with Thea, so she quickly added "So you'll have to sit tight for a bit."

Thea Amsel served as one of the two Skalds who came from the Research Division. So like her counterpart she spent a massive amount of time buried in research, developing new technology or simply testing out new theories on unwitting and poor souls.

She grumbled a bit more before she turned to Grace and asked, "Well then where is Michael?" she asked in her most vicious voice possible.

As if by saying his name, he'd come forward, the Skald known as Michael Borne walked through the doorway. Although due to his tall, lanky frame the 7'8" giant had to duck under the entrance into the meeting room.

"I keep saying we should raise all of the door frames," the giant man half whispered.

His pale skin clashed with his all black clothing which consisted of a singular piece of black cloth which was draped over his right shoulder, looped around his waist then split and wrapped tightly around his legs forming pants. On his wrists were also several silver arm bracelets. And to go along with the eccentricity of his tall appearance his long brown hair had been tied into countless braids which hung very low and his ears were pointed at the very tips. His all white guild mark could be seen in the center of his chest.

"We can't just change all the doorways to make you happy," hissed Thea.

"Why not?" answered Michael quietly.

Thea's grey eyes met his Hazel eyes and very briefly Thea considered all the pros and cons of killing the man. Some days they were on the same page and quickly concocted some of the most inventive ideas and other days they'd argue just for the sake of arguing. Today seemed to be the latter.

"You're a comedian now?" Thea said with the utmost amount of fake enthusiasm. "I had no idea. Come on then. Share some more jokes."

A wicked smile broke out on his face and he said, "Oh. Okay then. Have you heard the one where I gut that man you've been experimenting on and hang his entrails over your door?"

Her eyes narrowed and she shot back, "Nooo. How about the one where I drag your loved ones through the fort? Oh Wait! I forgot. No one loves you."

A sinister darkness seemed to overtake Michael's hand, but before he could move he felt Grace's presence somehow become even more sinister and quickly quieted down.

"Not the time nor the place I suppose," said Michael as he took his seat opposite Thea.

"You all give me a headache," sighed Grace.

She was pinching the bridge of her nose and trying to relax before any more members showed up, but of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Wooo!" came a voice from outside the meeting room. Moments later a 6 foot tall, severely muscular man with spiky electric blue hair and yellow eyes burst into the room. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt, washed-out jeans and gray sneakers. But oddly enough he had a 3 foot length of bark with bite marks in his hand. The man plopped down beside Thea, almost launching the smaller woman from her seat with the sheer force of his sitting, much to her annoyance.

"This is delicious!" he said in a near manic voice. He seemed genuinely excited to be at the meeting, but even more so to be eating, which he was quite literally always doing.

"You couldn't stop eating for even a few minutes Axon?" asked Michael dryly.

"Nope!" yelled Axon. "Why would I? There's tons of good stuff to eat everywhere.

Knowing he would get an answer like that, Michael was already waving off the bulky man and awaiting Grace's instructions.

"Well maybe we should get started," said Grace.

"What?" Thea practically spit out. It was obvious only 3 of Grace's 7 Skalds had shown up for the meeting and she wasn't exceptionally pleased that she was one of them.

"If only 3 are going to be here for the meeting, then I certainly don't need to expend any more here," said Thea as she stood to her feet.

Once more a feeling of viciousness overtook the room. One fierce enough for Axon to even slow down his eating for a moment as a sweat drop formed on his forehead.

"Sit," Grace stated plainly.

Thea returned to her seat and awaited Grace's instructions, something which Thea wasn't pleased with.

"I was only expecting 4 of you to even make it to this meeting. The Departed and Gerulf are all much too far to respond to my summons on such short notice, but I've already spoken to them. As for Rose. They've already received their orders and left on assignment."

"The only one missing from our numbers is The Blood Acolyte," added Grace. "But they too were far and I didn't expect them to be on time for this meeting."

However, much to her and everyone's surprise, the mage known by that moniker had just returned to the base. And by a stroke of luck he had made it in time for the meeting.

The doors to the room opened quietly and a man with Ash with disheveled spikey white hair walked in. His sharp and angular face had crimson colored eyes etched into them. His teeth were unnaturally sharp and he wore an open red and black trench coat with an upturned collar and two tails. Underneath he was shirtless, thereby exposing his well-toned and trained body. The left sleeve of the jacket was normally ripped off and he had on a single silver arm guard on his right arm. He also wore a pair of baggy black trousers with a grey belt that were usually tucked into steel toed combat boots. As his right eye was blind, he wore an eye patch over it.

He took his seat on the same side as Michael, but with a space in between them that usually belong to another Skald.

"My apologies for being late," he said in dry tone.

A pleased look came across Grace's face. On short notice, 4 out of 7 wasn't bad and even still they didn't seem to be in their usual array of confrontational. But she mostly attributed that to the other 3's absence.

"No worries Ash," said Grace. "Let us begin. As you all know, the Summit Alliance has remained a constant hindrance to our everyday workings for years. Over a decade ago, this guild was on the fore front of carnage spread all across Fiore. After I became the master, I decided to bring us to the shadows in the form of a puppeteer. I felt it was the best way to protect the guild from unwanted attention."

Grace stood to her feet and began walking around the room as she continued her discussion. "I believed it to be a means for which we could do more than survive. It was our means of facilitating the things that every guild member wanted. We grew to have a network more expansive than most can comprehend. Even now, the Summit Alliance doesn't understand just how far our reach extends. And that will be their downfall."

Her last words drew their attention. It was as if a light came alive in the people around her.

"You heard correctly," began Grace. "From here on out, our main goal is the annihilation of the Summit Alliance. I let them grow in arrogance for too long and now they've added another guild to their ranks."

"So we'll be fighting them head on?" asked Ash Revontheus as he tried to contain his excitement. The man was usually well-reserved save for at the prospect of a good fight.

"That's correct Ash," said Grace. "But I'm no fool. As we are now, we lack the man power to actively engage all of them in combat. Our first priority will be increasing our war potential."

"Does that mean we're revisiting the Golem project?" asked Thea in an almost hopeful voice.

Surprised at Thea's sudden excitement as well, Grace almost didn't answer. "No," she began. "I don't want to waste resources trying to duplicate that project. Instead, our focus will be on finding means of natural increasing the strength of members and finding more people who would cling to our cause."

"To that end, Axon, the Security Division will redouble its efforts to locate the old masters Forsaken Grounds. Ash, The Combat Division will focus on subjugation of promising war potentials. Thea and Michael, you will both pool your extra efforts into perfecting simulcast hyper-magic."

"What of the other Divisions?" asked Thea.

"Yes. You mentioned that Rose is on a mission," said Michael.

"Rose was already given his assignment," said Grace. "It's crucial in understanding the Summit Alliance's strength and the Support Division will do as they always do. They'll be the pillars upon which you all stand."

She took her seat once more and stared into the eyes of all her present Skalds. "We can't afford to remain in the shadows any longer," said Grace. We will strike so that they can remember who Ragnarok's Call is. If they need a reminder, we'll give it to them. If they fail to see us as a threat, we'll make them regret it and for those who would dare question our might, we'll erase them."

She sat quietly now awaiting their answers. It was without question that they'd act under her orders, but for any leader, the support of one's subordinates was crucial before heading into a battlefield.

"It's about time," said Thea as a genuinely happy grin splashed across her face. "I was actually starting to get bored. Any longer and I'd end up pale like this walking undead."

As if they returned to playful banter, Michael quipped, "The short one has a point. I too was beginning to feel cooped up here."

"Suddenly there's so much to look forward to," said Ash as he seemed to be reveling in future fights from his seat.

"I'm always ready for a fight Grace," added Axon between bites of his now steel pipe.

Grace smiled a devilish grin as she began to recall all of the events which had led up to this moment, the most important being the moment she looked up into her old master's eyes and to herself she thought, "I'll remind the world who Ragnarok's Call was, Master. It'll be done on my terms now."

August 16th, X799, Evening, Dewberry

Claude had already thrown aside his cloak which was in tatters now. His eyes narrowed on the figure barreling towards him and he planted his foot firm as he struck forward at the air and shouted, "Kata First Stance!"

Magic which had centered on his fist flew forward and collided with the Rune Knight's sternum, effectively winding the giant and forcing him to double over.

The Rune Knight Captain wheezed as he gasped for air, his eyes glaring through the holes in the skull on his head while, Claude maintained his stance and circled his opponent.

"Ugh, it's such a bore watching you fight Claude," teased Kyula as she watched. "Either kill him or die, so I can have a go."

The notion of fighting opponents by themselves, was something that many members of Ragnarok's Call shared as they were not only confident in their skills, but in their ability to kill enemies with ease.

"Bison Nightwood!" called Claude to his opponent. "Stand to your feet please. I'm on a schedule."

The Rune Knight Captain darted forward instantly and Claude moved to intercept his attack, but before Bison could be countered, he hurled one of his broadswords at Claude while continuing to close in on his enemy with the other.

Claude jumped sideways reflexively just as the blade passed under him. Before he landed it pierced a stone boulder and shattered it. But before Claude had a chance to land, Bison was just above him aiming his blade for Claude's head.

With just enough time to maneuver, Claude twisted his guarded shoulder into the trajectory of the attack. The giant blade crashed into Claude and sent him crashing along the ground. The dark mage quickly regained his composure and eventually pulled himself into a sliding stop.

He could hear Bison charging him and struck the ground as he whispered, "Ghost Uppercut."

Bison closed on him again with the full intent of cleaving his opponent's head, but a few meters before he collided with Claude, a fist comprised of magic crashed into the captain's jaw twisting his body through the air before he crashed into the ground.

"Kata Second Stance!" he barked as his magic focused in his fist and then he struck forward. Claude's fist buried into the captain's stomach forcing Bison to spit blood.

Claude grabbed hold of the man by his skull from where he lay on the ground and crushed a right hook into his jaw.

Bone could be heard cracking in the captain's jaw, but that didn't stop Claude's assault. He lifted, the captain by the skull on his head again and buried an uppercut in his jaw.

This blow shattered a piece of the skull itself and Bison's face could just barely be seen beneath it.

His right eye was blue and held an old scar over it. His red hair was in a tangled, bloody mess now and he seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness.

"I know who you all are," coughed out Bison as he wiped blood from his lip. "This means I was doing the right thing.

Kyula's eyes narrowed on the man her team mate was fighting. It was clear something about him wasn't right at the moment as his magic was acting up.

"Limiter Release!" roared Bison. Claude released Bison and a slight scowl formed on his face. He preferred to just get jobs done, but in that instant all of Bison's muscles were flooded with magic and he knew the battle wasn't done just yet. It was a magic that Bison Nightwood's family had employed for generations. It allowed a person to push themselves to the limit in exchange for draining their life and in the worst case causing their death.

Kyula landed beside Claude instantly upsetting the man even more. "Don't be like that," she teased. "Anyone can get a power up if they exchange their life; he's being a spoiled sport since he lost. Plus, we don't have time to be picky since we're on a clock here."

Claude didn't have much time to argue as Bison had already begun charging them with his broadsword in hand.

He swung at both of his opponents in an effort to cleave them in half and Kyula held off the attack with her crystalline blade. But Bison's raw strength bore done on her blade and slowly began to crack the blade. However, Claude had already returned to his Kata's First Stance and struck the now monstrous Bison's sternum.

His first punch landed and where it had winded the captain before, he stood firm now and poured even more strength into his attack.

Claude jumped up immediately and struck Bison's throat forcing him to retreat and buy Kyula a moment.

She built up her magic a bit and then slammed her hand on the ground forming an emerald green magic circle. "Verdant Clutch!" she practically laughed out as buds of green bloomed and turned into ensnaring vines which entangled Bison.

A magic circle took shape in front of Claude as he began striking the circle. He buried a final punch into the attack and yelled, "Continued Strike!"

Claude knew the attack wouldn't be as strong as last time, but he felt certain it would suffice for taking down the target. However, Bison simply flexed his muscles, allowing the vines to tear into them until they snapped under the pressure. This allowed him to use the broad side of the sword to take the brunt of the attack.

A small grin took shape on Kyula's face. She had been interested to see what magic the captain had and truthfully she had been left unimpressed, but the notion that an opponent had the battle prowess to do anything to keep on fighting made her weirdly happy.

A pink magical circle formed in front of her and she poured magic into it as she yelled, "Neon Bomber!"

A series of vibrantly colored spheres were launched at Bison and detonated on impact. He blocked most of them with his sword once more before dashing forward at Kyula.

"Ghost uppercut!" barked Claude. Moments later a fist crashed into Bison's cheek. The force caught him by surprise and he was instantly dropped to his knees.

However, he wasn't stopped for long as he quickly stood to his feet. "I won't stop!" he yelled. "What I'm doing is important!"

He seemed to be even more furious than before. "The children. The people. They all need a place where things like your guild don't exist!"

"The children?" laughed Kyula. "Are you the one who filled that stupid boy's head with the notions of family!"

Bison went cold. His mind wandered to the wide eyed boy he'd met.

"What did you do?" he asked bitterly.

"I didn't do anything that you haven't already imagined was done," she said coyly.

Bison burst forward with a new found purpose and rage. However, blinded by his fury, he didn't see Claude poised to intercept him.

"Kata Third Stance," he said calmly.

He squared his stance and struck the giant man's heart as he flew towards Kyula. The captain slowed to a walk and then even further to a stumble until he was just before Kyula at his knees.

His eyes bloodied as his heart began to writhe in pain from within his chest.

Kyula drew her crystalline blade and placed it against his throat.

"Don't take it personally," she smiled and with that she drew her blade against his throat ending the captain's life.

They were quiet for a moment ensuring that he was actually dead and they only moved after his magic released and he returned to his normal 6 foot stature. His body still wore his captain's armor, but on his dead body it all felt sad. That is, for anyone, but his opponents who were relieved. They had completed their mission with relatively low amounts of damage.

"Let's head back," said Claude.

"Yeah, I'm ready to get home as well," answered Kyula.

Author's Note:

So that's all for now. I'm really looking forward to introducing more mages and getting further into the story. I'm really glad you're all here reading and I want you all to know that I really appreciate all of the reviews and messages and what not. Thank you all for the continued support.

A few of you are curious about my own personal stories as this collaboration project has been underway for close to a month now. I am actively working on the story lines every character will be experiencing. I want everything to be in order before advancing any further.

Now, there's a little unpleasantness to address. I don't know the specifics, but it would seem that a few readers happened upon another collaboration within the Fairy Tail SYOC community. After reading they accused the authors of ripping off the idea of a collaboration from those in the Summit Project. That is untrue. The reverse is also untrue. The idea of a collaboration isn't unique to any one of us. Working with people on this site is just a normal progression after encountering people who are genuinely kind and supportive. To point out a further note, this fellow collaboration did indeed start before this one.

Introduced OCs:

Bison Nightwood - Origm2012

Thea Amsel - MyDearWatson

Axon Walker - KingKatsu

Ash Revontheus - Death Obelisk

Michael Borne - Origm2012

Be sure to tell me if my portrayal of your OCs was in correct or if you have any pointers for them or if you have an idea of how they might interact or react to another person.

This is the update on what roles are filled and also a reminder that March 1st is the deadline for all OCs.

Combat - (5/5 accepted) 0 reserved, 0 in review

Security - (4/4 accepted) 0 reserved, 0 in review

Research - (3/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 1 in review

Infiltration - (3/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review

Support - (3/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review