Chapter 14: Fairy Tail Wages War

Previously...

After a short 'good night' to each other, the team went to their respective rooms. Ramza took the one room at the second floor: the master bedroom. He plopped into his bed and drew his blanket over himself, but he just couldn't shake off that bad feeling he had earlier. Nonetheless, he fell asleep, preparing for the next day.

Currently...

When dawn broke, Ramza rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he woke up. Curling out of his pillows, he did his morning routines of cleaning his bed, brushing his teeth, and changing into a decent attire, that being his pants, a simple shirt, and his dark coat.

He stepped out of his room and walked downstairs. Surprisingly, no one had woken up yet. Therefore, he proceeded himself to the kitchen and begun to cook breakfast. Dripping a bit of oil on the pan, he lit up the stove with a simple Ignaten spell and rummaged through his cabinets for something to fry.

He got a few eggs and bacon and in a while, the pleasant smell of cooked food wafted through the place. Almost immediately after Ramza begun to cook, Natsu burst out of his room. Not shortly after that, Happy followed him, flying into the kitchen.

"I smell food!" Natsu shouted.

"Aye!" Happy flew over the frying pan, just hovering out of the oil's reach. "I see bacon and eggs!"

"Really!?" Natsu looked over Ramza's shoulder in excitement. "Awesome!"

"Dude, I'm cooking here!" Ramza tried to remove him from his shoulder. "Get off!"

"Urgh, Natsu! It's too early to be shouting!" Ramza turned his eyes to Gray at his room's doorway, looking rightfully annoyed.

"What's the big idea, you guys?" Lucy slammed her door open, tic appearing on her forehead.

"I was cooking breakfast until," Ramza shot a dirty look at Natsu, "This guy jumped on me!"

"Hey! I was hungry!" Natsu protested.

"Is there anything new?" Lucy put a hand to her forehead exasperatedly.

"Natsu." Erza's voice rang clearly. She stood outside her door, wide awake. "Let him finish cooking first, then we'll eat."

"Y-yes ma'am..." Natsu replied feebly.

"Hmph." Gray grunted. "Pyro glutton."

"The hell did you say!?" Natsu glared at him.

"I said that you're a glutton, you pyro!" Gray glared back.

"Oh, yeah?" Natsu raised an angry eyebrow.

"What're you gonna do about it?" Gray gloated.

"This!" Natsu sent a punch at Gray, who gladly replied with a fist of his own. In no time, they were a cloud of punches and kicks on the floor.

"Seriously?" Lucy sighed. "This is what I wake up to?"

"Boys..." Erza muttered, taking a seat on one of the chairs.

When Natsu and Gray decided to calm down and be civil, Ramza was way past finished cooking his food. He had already served the eggs and bacon to Lucy and Erza, who had also finished eating. Ramza had cleaned his plate of food as well, and was now reading his tome of Sacred Script while sipping from a glass of coffee.

They both came to a truce and began to eat up whatever was left of what Ramza cooked. Fortunately, he cooked more than enough for all of them, so Gray and Natsu wouldn't have to worry about growling stomachs.

Just when they had finished gobbling up their meal, the doors of Ramza's house opened to reveal Mirajane. She looked as if she'd ran several miles, and her hair was unkept in multiple places. They all took one look at her, and they immediately noticed that something was wrong.

"Mira!" Natsu scanned her face. "What's wrong?"

"Levy, Droy and Jet!" Mirajane said frantically.

"Levy?" Lucy immediately shot up from her chair. "What happened to them?"

"Something bad happened to them..." Mirajane looked ashen. "They're at the south gate park!"

"Let's go." Erza commanded.

She changed her clothes to her signature armour, and walked out of the house. The rest of them followed suit, with Ramza and Lucy hanging at the back. Lucy's face was one of worry, and Ramza fared no better. When they arrived at the park, they noticed that a crowd had gathered around the park's large tree. They pushed through the people, and Ramza saw something that he could not believe.

The Shadow Gear team was pinned to the large tree in the middle of the park. Large iron shackles held them in place, leaving their feet dangling in the air. Their clothes were wrinkled and torn in places, as visible as the many cuts and bruises on their skin. They were unconscious, their heads bowed down like criminals hanging from the gallows. A black and ominous symbol was painted on Levy's stomach, resembling a spiral staff with an orb on top.

Ramza's eyes widened in shock as he took this all in. Lucy held her hands close to her mouth, eyes about to spill tears. Erza and Gray's mouths opened in disbelief, and Natsu's face darkened as he snarled an inhuman snarl, glowering at the ground.

"Levy!" Ramza and Lucy cried out for their friend.

"Jet! Droy!" Gray said, disbelief in his voice.

Natsu's fists clenched. "Phantom Lord did this!"

A small man emerged from behind the crowd, donning a regal coat of white and wielding a wooden staff. The symbol of the man being one of the ten wizard saints gleamed on the back of the coat. Master Makarov stood in front of the tree, face unreadable.

Erza looked back. "Master..."

"I can take our headquarters being reduced to rubble," Master Makarov began, his voice shaky, "But I will not let harm come to children without taking REVENGE!"

Lucy and Ramza flinched as the Master crushed his staff into splinters from the sheer force of him gripping it so tightly. A bright yellow light emerged from the wizard saint as his face morphed into one of true rage.

"We have no choice but to go to war!" Makarov growled, then turned to team Natsu. "All of you, return to the guild! We will plan our attack there!"

"Understood." Erza nodded, determined to make Phantom Lord pay for what they've done.

"Why...?" Ramza whispered to himself as they made their way back to Fairy Tail, "Why does it have to be like this?"

..........................

When they had returned to the guild, the news of team Shadow Gear being shackled to the tree had spread fast. Nearly everyone had exploded in anger, venting out that they would beat the life out of any Phantom Lord member that they would find.

Mirajane and Master Makarov had released Levy, Jet and Droy from their bonds and brought them to the Magnolia Hospital. Lucy was told to watch over them, and she agreed. But before Ramza exited the hospital, Lucy pulled him to the side and talked to him.

"Phantom Lord is heartless," Lucy said, her voice heavy with sadness, "How could they do this?"

"I don't know." Ramza replied, voice heavy as well.

"They're unforgivable..." Lucy's tears fell down her cheeks.

"Hey..." Ramza tried to soothe her. "It's alright."

Lucy sniffed. "You know, Levy was my first female friend here. She introduced me to her team, and told me that she wanted to read my book."

"That novel you were writing?" Ramza asked, voice soft.

"Yeah." Lucy wiped her wet eyes. "She made me promise that she'll be the first one to read it."

"Well, that was pretty sweet of her." Ramza smiled. "She was also the first one to help me out in my magic."

"And you guys worked so hard to help us just the other day..." Lucy turned sad again, then faced Ramza with absolute determination. "Promise me something."

"Alright." Ramza replied with no hesitation.

"Make sure that Phantom Lord will pay for what they've done." Lucy said seriously, looking him directly in the eye.

"You got it."

Ramza reflected on these words as the entirety of Fairy Tail marched to Phantom Lord's headquarters. Located in Oak town on the Northeastern part of Fiore, the guild stands as one of the biggest buildings around. Not for long.

In front of the Phantom Lord's guild, Natsu lit his hands ablaze and fired off a torrent of flame at the doors. They exploded in a blast of rubble, dust and fire, charring three members of the guild who were just about to leave. They were sent flying back inside, and one of them collided with the Phantom Lord sign, cracking it in half.

"FAIRY TAIL HAS COME CALLING!" Master Makarov boomed.

His guild shouted in approval, and moved in through the crack in the doors. The Phantom Lord members roared back, and counterattacked.

A number of them jumped at Natsu, weapons gleaming. He glared at them as his arms flared up, extending into pillars of flame. He lashed out at them with his extended fire arms, burning the ones who opposed him and sending them flying around.

"Alright! Who wants to play with fire?" Natsu screamed his taunt.

"Let's get 'em!" Gray roared.

A wave of Phantom Lord members emerged from the back doors to meet Fairy Tail's forces. They clashed brutally, sending attack after attack. Cana and Loke punched their way through the crowd. Elfman and Vejeteer made them fly with uppercuts. Macao restrained a group of them with his purple net, while Wakaba knocked them out with smoky fists coming from his pipe.

Ramza took the high ground next to a green haired lady wielding a gun, and drew his bow by his Requip magic. He nocked arrow after arrow as he fired, incapacitating enemies left and right. A man drew a pistol from his holster and fired, electrocuting a field of enemies with his spark shot.

He stood admiring his work, when another Phantom Lord member raised a magic spell against him. He turned around to fight him, but the foe was already down from Ramza's arrow and a shot from the green haired lady's gun.

The man grinned up at the lady. "Nice shooting, Bisca." He then turned to Ramza. " You aren't half bad yourself, kid."

"Ehehe..." Ramza rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Bisca patted Ramza on his back. "You still have a long way to go before you get to my level though! And you're getting pretty rusty, Alzack!"

She leveled her scope on multiple enemies, marking them with green magic circles. "Homing Shot!" She fired, resulting in an emerald explosion that blasted away enemies in its radius.

Ramza kept on firing arrows at Phantom Lord members until he could no longer requip any more projectiles. He had run out. Jumping down from his relatively safe position, he switched his bow for his wakizashi, a short sword designed for close combat.

Running into battle, Ramza swiped and sliced at any foe that came his way. He ducked under a greatsword, then rolled out of the way of a beam of magic. He then wrote a Frigis spell and whacked it with his palm, freezing the feet of the enemies in front of him. He made quick work of them as he conked them all out with his sword.

He took a moment to breathe, and looked at his surroundings. The master had grown to his giant form, squishing Phantom Lord members under his foot. Natsu and Gray were working together, taking out many foes with their fire and ice. Happy flew and bombshelled Phantom Lord members with various seafoods. A guild member from Fairy Tail drew a bunch of colored boars on his shirt, which came out of it and struck at the nearby enemies.

He noticed a purple haired girl from Fairy Tail press her hands together in a form similar to Gray. Ramza moved closer to watch her, since she had piqued his curiosity.

"Wood Make Magic: The Dam of Shy Love!" She slammed her hands into the floor, creating an entire set of wooden tools that was used in construction. The tools emerged from the earth like a tree, and hit a multitude of enemies.

"Okay, that's a really lame name for a magic attack." Ramza sweatdropped.

"Hey, I can hear you!" The girl swiveled to confront him, glare imminent on her face.

"Just telling the truth." Ramza replied.

"Like you have a better name for your magic attacks!" The girl countered. "So, what do you call them?"

Ramza looked to the side. "Uh, I don't really have much."

"See what I mean?" The girl looked smug. "Before you tell others how bad their magic att-"

"Watch out!" Ramza tackled her, making a foe miss their sword swing.

Ramza moved to confront the Phantom Lord member, sword against sword. They were in a sword lock, until the girl from earlier cast a spell and knocked the man back with a pillar of wood.

Ramza looked back at her. "Thanks."

The girl frowned at him. "At least apologize for-"

Ramza took off.

"Hey! Get back here!"

Ramza then noticed that the man that the girl had hit had not gone down yet. The man ran to close the distance between him and his target, but it wasn't needed. Ramza cast a magic circle to summon his new spell.

"Wind Make: Rope!" A translucent tether shot out of the magic circle, ensnaring the man in a coil of winded rope.

"Then, Wind Make: Buckler!" Ramza summoned the small shield on his arm once again.

"And the finisher!" Ramza drew back the rope, making the man propel towards him. He readied his shield, bracing for impact. The man slammed on the shield, just as Ramza expected. The man twirled around in a circle, then fell down in a daze.

"Sweet." Ramza said, "I'm going to call that... Actually, I don't know what to call it."

"Woah!" The girl from earlier ran up to him. "You use maker magic too?"

"Yeah?" Ramza answered. "I got intrigued when you used your magic earlier, 'cause it kinda looked like Gray's."

"I use the same magic as he does, though I use wood instead of ice." The girl replied. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Oh, it's Ramza. Ramza Fulzen."

"I'm Laki Olietta."

"Well, I guess that's it for introductions." Ramza said, then looked around at the chaos that was still happening. "Wanna talk again, when this is all over?"

"Sure!" Laki cheerfully said.

At that, they split up to continue attacking the Phantom Lord Guild. Fairy Tail was giving it all they've got. Natsu let loose roars of fire, turning unroasted foes into roasted ones. Erza requipped her armour and weapons, optimizing to deal the most damage. Gray sent frozen spells at them, turning the room temperature down singlehandedly. Ramza took down as many enemies as he could with his sword, as well as his spells.

However, in time, the Fairy Tail wizards had to regroup into smaller teams. Nastu paired up with Gray. Ramza stood behind Macao, Wakaba, Erza and a few others.

"Erza!" The master had climbed up the stairs of the Phantom Lord guild. "I'll leave the rabble to you!"

"Yes sir!" Erza answered fiercely.

"So, we dispatch the weaker ones, I guess?" Ramza muttered to her.

"That is correct." She looked up at Makarov with worry. "Please be careful, master."

"Let's get them!" Macao said.

Erza jumped into battle, as well as Ramza. Together, their swords gleamed as they took down foe after foe. Ramza cast his wind buckler into his left arm again, serving as a defense or a situational offense, when he would bash it into the enemy's face. He also summoned his wind rope, binding a foe then hurling that foe into others like a ball going down on bowling pins. He quickly looked around to get the scope of what was happening.

Natsu did not relent as his fire attacks were as searing as ever. Gray sent a wave of ice at his opponents, freezing them in mid-air. Ramza noticed Cana cast her card magic as she sent lightning at her enemies. Loke twisted his ring, summoning a small tornado that swept up whoever was caught up in it. Elfman raised his transformed arm, and sent it crashing down on several Phantom Lord members.

The fight seemed to be in Fairy Tail's favor, until a dark shadow jumped and landed on the broken Phantom Lord guild sign. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a man grinning maniacally with metal studs on his face. He had long and spiky dark hair, as well as clothing that was as dark as that.

"That's him." Erza said ominously, "Black Steel Gajeel."

A member of Fairy Tail foolishly jumped at him, fist back for a punch. The iron dragon slayer simply morphed his hand into a pillar of steel, knocking the member out of the air. The pillar then extended to the floor, smashing through both Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail members.

"What the... He just knocked out his own guild mates with that attack!" Gray exclaimed.

Gajeel then jumped down, and chuckled darkly. "Show me what you got. Unless you scum are too scared to fight the iron dragon slayer?"

"Too scared!?" Elfman roared, then ran at him. "Real men have no fear!"

Gajeel simply blocked the blow with an iron arm. "You're Elfman, right?" He then sent an iron leg kick at Elfman, who caught it in his transformed arm. "Not bad, big guy."

"Well, that's 'cause I'm a real man!" Elfman grunted.

"Oh yeah? Then let's see how a real man handles this!" Smaller pillars of steel jutted out of Gajeel's leg, darting around randomly. They all failed to hit Elfman, but they all struck Phantom Lord members instead.

Elfman was shocked at his actions. "You would attack your own men?"

"'Cause I knew it would distract you!" Gajeel sent a punch at him, nailing Elfman in the face. Suddenly, Natsu jumped on Elfman's gut, propelling him towards Gajeel. He punched the iron dragon slayer with a flaming fist, sending Gajeel to crash into some furniture.

"Allow me to introduce myself." Natsu lit his hands menacingly. "I'm Fairy Tail's dragon slayer!"

"Hmph." Gajeel emerged from the broken tables and chairs, unscathed.

"Elfman. Leave him to me." Natsu declared.

"C'mon, man. You use me as a springboard, and now you want to steal my man to man fight?" Elfman complained, annoyed.

Gajeel didn't wait for any official saying of who he would fight. He sent a large iron punch at Natsu, extending beyond his arm's reach. Ramza and Erza whipped their heads to their comrade, but he was fine. Grasping the iron pillar, Natsu's hands began to create smoke naturally.

"You destroyed our guild! You attacked Levy's team! I'll make you pay!" Natsu lifted up the iron arm, hurling Gajeel to the wooden posts near the ceiling. The iron dragon slayer put his feet to the beams and kicked, sending him back down at Natsu.

Natsu blocked his descent with an arm, and with the other, he punched Gajeel with all his fiery might. Gajeel was blown back to the wall, creating a small cloud of dust where he landed.

"Natsu's fired up now." Macao noticed.

"I'd hate to be that other guy." Wakaba added.

"He's quite a wizard." Erza said with a smile on her face.

"Alright, fine! You're manlier than I thought." Elfman admitted. "I'll let you have this one, but you gotta promise that you're gonna-"

Natsu cut him off. "You bet! I'll beat him to a pulp!"

At this, Gajeel punched himself out of the rubble. "Nice try, but I'm still standing."

"True. But you won't be for much longer though." Natsu grinned smugly.

"Oh yeah?" The iron dragon slayer kicked Natsu into the air, who then fell down crashing into some Phantom Lord members.

"That hurt." Gray commented.

"This is crazy!" Ramza exclaimed.

"Aww, what's the matter?" Gajeel towered menacingly over Natsu. "You can dish it out but you can't take it?"

Natsu blew up in an small explosion of fire. "It's gonna take more than that to keep me down!"

"You seriously think you can beat me, you pyro?" Gajeel taunted, casting a magic circle.

"Whaddya mean, think? I know that I can beat you!" Natsu mimicked casting a magic circle.

"Let's see about that!" Gajeel sent an iron punch at Natsu, who countered with a fire punch of his own.

"Your steel beams can't even touch me!" Natsu put a brave front, but he was clearly straining against the iron punch. One grunt later, he had crushed the steel pillar partway with his fist. "You better step up your game!"

"The rumors are true. You're more powerful than you look." Gajeel recalled his iron punch. "That actually burns a little. So, that all you got, salamander?"

"That was just my warm up." Natsu glared at him. "I'm just getting started. You ain't see nothing yet, iron freak!"

They then jumped at each other simultaneously, cracking the floor where they had leaped up from. They confronted each other in a vicious slugfest, ending with Gajeel kicking Natsu away. He jumped at him, going down on him with his foot. Natsu sidestepped and punched him, sending Gajeel to the ceiling again.

The iron dragon slayer attached himself to the wooden beams via metal points emerging from his feet. But before he could catch his breath, Natsu had already leaped up with a burning punch. Gajeel blocked it with his iron arm, but in doing so sent him flying through multiple wooden poles. He balanced himself on one of the wooden beams, as well as Natsu.

"How'd you like that, punk?" Natsu snarled.

"Don't get cocky. It won't happen again!" Gajeel retorted with a grin on his face.

Below them, the other Fairy Tail members were fighting with almost as much ferocity Natsu was using. In Natsu and Gajeel's battle, they had shaken the very foundation of the physical structure of the guild. Dust and broken parts of the guild fell from the ceiling, falling down on everyone below.

Ramza knocked away a small beam of wood that fell on him with his short sword. Shortly after that, the building began to shake.

"That's not good." Ramza muttered.

"Everything's shaking!" Wakaba said.

"I guess they're going at it." Macao added.

"I don't like the sound of that!" Gray said, agreeing with Ramza.

"What's happening?" Ramza asked.

"This is what happens when the master gets angry." Cana answered, grin on her face.

"It's called the Giant's Wrath." Loke said in a serious voice.

"Nobody'll be able stop him now." The Fairy Tail member who was punched by Gajeel said.

"When he gets angry, the master gets even manlier." Coming from Elfman, that's high praise.

"Prepare to fight!" Erza summoned a longsword into her hands. "We cannot lose as long as Master Makarov is with us!"

At this, the Fairy Tail members roared loudly, shaking the building. If it was possible, they fought even harder than before. Erza flew with an armour that had leather-like wings, slicing anything in her way with twin swords. Gray sent ice lances at the enemy, mowing them down like grass. Ramza slashed fiercely with his sword and hit his Sacred Script with as much power as he could.

This continued for a little while longer, until a figure fell from the ceiling. It was the master, who crash landed on the ground with a loud Slam! His face was green, and he twitched uncontrollably.

"It's gramps!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Is he okay?" Gray demanded.

"He fell from the roof!" Ramza realized.

"Master!" Erza shouted.

They then immediately scrambled to Master Makarov. Erza cradled him into her arms. She was about to speak, but was cut off by a loud voice coming from above.

"Makarov is powerless now, thanks to Aria of the heavens, a member of Phantom's Element Four." The voice boomed from the ceiling, "He has the ability to make other wizards' power disappear into thin air. I think it's safe to say that we've won this round, Fairy Tail."

Makarov strained to string out his words. "M-my power is- My magic power is-"

"Please, master! Calm down!" Erza pleaded.

"What happened to him?" Ramza asked, his face fraught with worry.

"I don't know!" Gray answered, face curled up in confusion. "But I don't sense any magic energy coming from him at all!"

"Gray..." Elfman gazed worriedly at his master. "Does this mean he's an ordinary old man now?"

"No, that can't be!" Happy wailed.

"C'mon gramps, you can pull through this!" Natsu urged.

"I don't understand. Gramps is so powerful; how'd they beat him?" Gray questioned with grit teeth.

Elfman glared at the ceiling. "Only way to find out is to go up there."

At this, the remaining Phantom Lord guild members rallied together and chattered amongst themselves excitedly. They muttered something about Fairy Tail being half as strong, now that Master Makarov was down. They then pulled out their weapons and began casting spells as they all charged toward the Fairy Tail guild.

"Don't get cocky!" Natsu flared up and beat down the incoming foes.

"Now what?" Gray put his hands together, preparing a spell.

"We'll just have to fight harder!" Loke replied, twisting his ring.

Like a boat caught up in a whirlpool, Fairy Tail was losing the fight. Their morale has decreased from seeing Master Makarov fall, and it fell even more as they fought off the many Phantom Lord members. Fairy Tail fought back, but the numbers were too much. Macao took a hit for Cana. Laki was knocked off her feet. Ramza was forced back as five of them came on him at once.

"Retreat!" Erza commanded. "Return to the guild at once!"

"Erza..." Loke faltered.

"No way! We can't just give up!" Gray refused.

"Real men never retreat!" Elfman grunted, tossing two foes aside.

"I-I still got some fight in me!" Macao insisted, despite looking very ragged.

"Yeah, me too!" Cana agreed. "Let's stay."

"We can't! We don't stand a chance against Jose!" Erza said, with unwavering confidence. "Retreat! That's an order!"

Fairy Tail forces reluctantly fell back towards the hole in the wall whilst firing back with any spells that they had. Ramza rolled out of the way of a spell, then blocked a blow and countered with a kick.

"Gajeel!" Natsu roared.

The iron dragon slayer scoffed at him. "Let's finish this another time, salamander."

Gajeel then disappeared into thin air, alongside the mage that was beside him.

"Those jerks." Natsu muttered. "They've got Lucy."

"What?" Ramza's head turned to Natsu.

"Everybody out! Let's go!" Erza motioned for them to leave.

"I won't leave 'till I get revenge! They gotta pay for what they did to us!" Gray brought his hands together for a spell, but Erza put his hands down.

"Please..." Erza pleaded, then hugged Gray tightly. Her face was scrunched up in mental pain. "I'm sorry, it's our only option..."

"Erza..." Gray was taken aback by her actions.

"We need him... We're completely helpless without the master..."

At this, Gray and Erza ran out of the Phantom Lord guild, alongside the many Fairy Tail members that were retreating. Many were injured, and some were even being carried by others. They fired back a few spells but besides that, they have decided to call off the attack on Phantom Lord. Master Makarov was in Elfman's hands as he sprinted out of the Phantom Lord guild.

Erza scanned the crowd for anyone who was missing or who could have been left behind. She moved her eyes back and forth, but she couldn't find Ramza anywhere. Natsu and Happy were not visible as well.

"Hey!" Gray moved next to her. "You seen Ramza and Natsu?"

"No, I haven't." Erza shook her head. "Where could they be?"

.........................

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