Lullaby...

Chapter 10 - Lullaby...

"Wait… don't we know any way to diffuse the barrier? Maybe we can force one of the dark wizards to do it?" Ichigo suggested.

"That's brilliant! That one wizard who was capable of breaking the seal on Lullaby would surely be able to dispel Erigor's wind barrier." Erza said happily.

"Only problem is that he and some other guy went after Natsu and Gray." Ichigo commented.

"Well he didn't come after me…" Gray trailed off as he entered the room.

"Gray? Why are you here? Where is Natsu?" Erza questioned evenly.

"I'm here because I got one of the Eisenwald goons to tell me their plans. They want to use Lullaby on…" Gray began, only to be cut off.

"…the guild master's conference, right?" Ichigo and Erza said in unison.

"Yeah… anyway, even if we know that it doesn't change the fact that we fell for their trap. Still if what you said is true, all we have to do is find that Kageyama guy and we can make him dispel the wind barrier." Gray mused.

"Then we need to find those two as soon as possible." Ichigo stated.

Erza nodded in agreement, after which the trio ran off to find the dimwitted dragon slayer, who beyond a shadow of a doubt had no idea what was going on. They just prayed he didn't go overboard and wind up knocking out Kageyama, otherwise they'd be in some serious trouble.

'Come on Natsu, I've got faith in you.' Ichigo thought, mimicking those of Erza and, to a lesser extent, Gray.

{Oshibana Station: With Natsu…}

"Erigor!" Natsu shouted as he pounded through door after door.

Any room within his sight the dragon slayer would walk up to and use his flame-covered fist to blow the entrance, and a good portion of the surrounding walls, to smithereens. He hadn't had any luck as of yet, but that didn't deter him in the slightest. If anything, it only encouraged his rampant tirade of destruction.

"Erigor, come out come out wherever you are!" Natsu exclaimed, decimating yet another doorway and the brick that surrounded it.

"Tch… doesn't this guy know how to use a door?" Kage wondered aloud as he followed the dimwitted Fairy Tail wizard from the shadows.

He seeped back into the floor of the station, after which he began to silently follow the fire wizard once more. All he needed was a single opportunity to strike and the fight would be over. In fact, by his standpoint, their confrontation was over before it even began.

'Now that Erigor's made it out safely this kid doesn't pose much of a threat… at least not to anything that isn't a door.' Kage thought, observing as the pink-haired wizard smashed through half of the hallway he had just rounded.

"Show yourself Erigor!" Natsu roared.

'I could just let him go… but what would be the fun in that?' Kage wondered, surfacing from the floor directly behind the Fairy Tail wizard.

Natsu turned, instantly sensing that an attack was coming, but he was far too late. Around four of the shadowy tendrils took the form of fists and pounded into his body without delay. He himself shot backwards into a large amount of wooden crates, but he'd taken worse hits.

"There, I've wanted to do that for a while now. Had enough Fairy Tail insect?" Kage taunted as his opponent struggled to free himself of the surrounding debris.

"Not you again!" Natsu exclaimed, coming up from the crates' remnants with his head having gone through a painting.

"Wow, you look like an idiot." Kage commented, smirking at how truly idiotic the pink-haired teen looked.

"Aw shut it, Doggy." Natsu said, causing a tick mark to appear on the raven-haired wizard's forehead.

"It's Kage! Not Doggy, Kage!" He exclaimed.

"Same thing really…" Natsu muttered underneath his breath.

"I think I've got you figured out. You eat fire to increase your power, and, now that I know that, it shouldn't be too hard to stamp out." Kage stated contentedly.

"Whatever, just tell me where Erigor is!" Natsu demanded.

"Tch, you'll have to beat it out of me, Fairy Tail insect." Kage scoffed.

"My pleasure." Natsu said with a bloodthirsty grin.

{Oshibana Station: Central Chambers...}

The remnants of the Eisenwald guild currently either sat in place with ropes surrounding their bodies, courtesy of a very agitated redheaded teen, or lay on the ground, unconscious and unable to truly do anything at the moment.

However, one remained conscious despite having taken a very large hit from the fairy queen, though he still was incapable of moving.

"How long are you going sit there hiding Karacka?" Byard asked in a low voice, his wounds not allowing him to speak any louder.

"I'm sorry, but I was scared." Karacka stated, phasing his upper body out of the wall he currently sat within.

"Never mind that now, the wind barrier is up, and now we need to make sure that they don't escape. To do that, you need to find Kageyama before they figure out he can dispel the barrier." Byard stated.

"No, please don't make me. You know I'm no good in a fight Byard." Karacka pleaded, obviously fearing that he would be caught by the enemy.

"Calm down… I'm sure even you can handle this." Byard said confidently, only eliciting quiet groaning from the green-haired phase magic user.

{Oshibana Station: With Ichigo, Erza, and Gray…}

"Gray, are you sure this is near the place where Natsu and you separated?" Ichigo asked, turning to the ice mage as the group continued to run down the halls.

"Positive. Though I don't know where the fire-breathing moron wound up after we split. For all I know he blew up every wall he could find and tried to look for Erigor that way." Gray commented.

'That does sound like something he'd do…' Ichigo thought.

The group rounded the next hallway, after which they began to see a vast majority of doors and walls completely destroyed. Incidentally the aspect that made it a practical footprint for Natsu was the fact that the debris and the shattered stones were covered with ashes, likely due to a fire-based attack having been used to initially destroy the doors.

"We must be getting close." Erza mused.

A moment later a loud resounding boom sounded off from several hallways down, which only caused each and every one of them to speed up more so. It sounded as if Natsu just went overboard, which he almost always did, but in this case it was the perfectly wrong thing to do.

Upon running down to the end of the next hallway, they saw the dragon slayer standing directly in front of Kage, the very man they wanted to find. Currently, he appeared alive, but it had also seemed that Natsu had oh so stealthily punched him through a wall.

'I've really gotta talk to him about not blowing things up all the time.' Ichigo mentally noted. Property damage was definitely one of Natsu's strong points, however that may very well have been more of a detriment than a useful skill.

"Natsu, do not harm him, we need him alive!" Erza exclaimed as she and the other ran up the staircase.

"Waita go ya fire freak." Gray commented sarcastically, taking note that the dark wizard looked worse for wear.

"Wha?" Natsu uttered, turning to face the group.

The dragon slayer paled as he saw his scarlet-haired comrade raise a magical sword high in the air, having it pulled back and making to swing it directly at him. He began to sweat bullets, mostly because he didn't even know why this was happening.

"I don't know what I did wrong, but I'm sorry!" Natsu said, holding his hands up defensively as the queen of the fairies continued to move closer and closer towards him.

Natsu released a quiet but fearful squeak upon hearing the sword cut into the stone wall behind him, indicating that he, for the moment, hadn't invoked Titania's wrath. All the same, he still feared for his life at the mere implication that Erza was enraged with him.

"Erza, what the hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed, noticing that the magical sword was mere centimeters away from cutting into the sealing wizard's shoulder. His words, however, didn't seem to register with the very person he had addressed.

"You will dispel the wind barrier and you will do so without complaint." Erza demanded, a dark shade covering her face as she glared at the dark mage.

Kage, to his credit, managed not to say a word. He did, however, sweat bullets and shook slightly at the look the scarlet-haired woman was directing at him. Ichigo, from his perspective, was starting to see exactly why people were so afraid of this one woman.

"Just do it man, this chick's a real monster." Natsu said, still shaking from his previous thoughts that he was going to be brutally maimed by the redheaded knight.

"Shut up Natsu." Gray barked.

"Am I understood?" Erza asked sternly, still holding her magical weapon within an inch of slicing into the Eisenwald wizard.

"F-fine, I'll dispel it…" Kage replied fearfully.

Ichigo and the others shared an internal sigh of relief, mostly because of the fact that this meant they were virtually in the clear, or at least damn near close to it. An instant later, and much to their dismay, that sense of relief vanished.

Each watched as a hand pierced through Kage's body, sprouting forth from a magical seal located on his stomach. It was clearly not doing any visible damage, but it very likely did significant amounts thereof to the wizard's internal organs. The amount of pain had to be substantial, as evident by the loud cry that the raven-haired man gave out upon this occurring.

Kage groaned before falling over, revealing the thickly-built Eisenwald mage that had ran away upon Ichigo and Erza defeating his comrades so easily.

"Karacka… why?" Kage uttered before his eyes shut and his body finally hit the floor.

"Kage!" Erza shouted, realizing that if this man died their chances of escaping effectively dropped to about zero.

The green-haired wizard that had perpetrated the attack just stammered and released quiet, short gasps in rapid succession, almost as if he couldn't really grasp the gravity of what he had just done. Nevertheless, he was still rendered immobile, and that allowed him to learn just how pissed off he had made several different people.

"You…" Ichigo growled out.

Without giving it a second thought, the orange-haired teen grabbed the stout man's collar and pulled him out of the wall, which said wizard didn't even seem to register for a moment. Immediately thereafter, Ichigo slammed the man's body into the very same wall so hard that it left an imprint, and even despite the nature of the mage's magical powers, he appeared to be too shocked to negate the blow by phasing through the stone.

"Even if you're in a dark guild, that man is still your comrade! Does that mean nothing to you?! Why would you try to kill someone who you should think of as a friend?!" Ichigo roared, glaring and scowling extremely heavily at the green-haired man.

"Uh… uhhh…" Karacka moaned out, simply being too shocked to form a coherent sentence.

"No answer? Thought not… piece of trash." Ichigo scoffed, after which he simply dropped the man flat on his rear.

Karacka almost immediately retreated back into the stone wall from whence he came, but a certain pink-haired dragon slayer wasn't about to let the scum get away with taking down his comrade.

"Oh no you don't." Natsu growled out, veins popping out on his forehead.

His fists lit up a moment later, after which he absolutely and utterly destroyed the wall that was placed in front of them. Subsequently thereafter the body of the green-haired phase magic user slammed into the floor of the following room, landing with a loud boom.

"Is that how you dark guild members treat each other?!" Natsu exclaimed, shortly after which he punched Karacka through the wall opposite of his current position.

"Kage, can you hear me?!" Erza questioned.

"I think we're losin' him Erza." Gray stated, checking the body for signs of life.

"We can't lose him. We need him to dispel the wind barrier!" Erza shouted.

"He's unconscious, it's no use." Gray replied.

"We have to try." Erza said.

The scarlet-haired mage then began to shake Kage's body, slamming his head into the floor repeatedly in the process. Gray watched her actions paly out with a sweatdrop while Ichigo just released a tired sigh.

"If you want him to wake up, don't keep banging his head against the floor. Also I doubt he could even use magic in that condition." Ichigo stated evenly.

"He will if I force him to." Erza replied, still shaking the dark wizard's body.

"Um… did we miss something?" Lucy wondered aloud as she and the blue-furred Exceed entered via the large hole that Natsu had sent Kage through during their battle.

"Aye…" Happy said confusedly.

{Some Time Later…}

"I see, so we're basically stuck here?" Lucy asked, eliciting a nod from several within the group.

"But we have to stop Erigor from reaching the guild masters!" Natsu exclaimed angrily.

"I know that Natsu! Calm down!" Erza chided, causing the pink-haired mage to pale.

"I think we all need to calm down… is there anything any of you can think of that we can do to get out of this mess?" Ichigo asked calmly.

"I… don't know. The wind barrier is too powerful for any of us to bully through, and our one hope of dispelling it is currently unconscious." Erza replied, sounding slightly worried.

"Hang on… let me try something." Ichigo stated.

The entirety of those present watched as the orange-haired teen pulled his sword off of his back and prepared to stab it directly into the wind barrier. This, in turn, confused many given that it wasn't all too likely that an ordinary sword was going to have a shot at breaking through, but even so it was worth a try.

Ichigo stabbed his zanpakuto directly into the flowing current of wind, actually managing to keep his sword steady if he used all of his strength to do so. No matter how hard he tried, however, he couldn't go in the direction of the current and create an opening for the others, the momentum and speed of the wind was simply too great for him to do such a thing with physical strength alone. With that known, he retracted his sword, a scowl once again present on his face.

"Dammit." Ichigo spat.

"Let me try!" Natsu exclaimed.

Immediately after he was about to run up and charge the wind barrier head on, a lone hand placed on his shoulder stopped him dead in his tracks. He turned to see that the ownership of said hand belonged to Ichigo, who had a stern look on his features.

"If my sword doesn't break through that wind barrier, trust me when I say that your fists wont. Even if you try, you'll just end up being hurt and we need to save our strength." Ichigo said seriously.

In any normal circumstance Natsu would have ignored the warning and charged in anyway, however this was not a normal circumstance. Moreover, the tone Ichigo used was just too ominous, and something told him that those words rang true.

"But what else can we do?" Natsu asked confusedly.

The group collectively went silent, mostly due to the fact that they currently had nothing to offer. Charging into the barrier in the hopes of taking it down appeared to be pointless and foolish, and waiting for Kage to come to would likely be a waste of time due to the fact that even if he were to wake up it was very unlikely that he would be able to use his magic energy to dispel the barrier.

'If I really had to… I could try to use my Getsuga Tenshou to break through the barrier, which would probably work, but even if it did the amount of spiritual energy I'd use would tear this station apart along with whatever in the city I would wind up hitting after it broke through, and that definitely wouldn't be an ideal outcome.' Ichigo thought. However, the way that things were going he was beginning to think that they were fresh out of other options.

"Wait, Lucy, can't we just use your spirits?!" Natsu exclaimed, causing everyone else's ear to perk up as a result.

"Wha?" Lucy uttered.

"Back at Everlue's I was transported from one place to another through the spirit world." Natsu stated excitedly, believing that he had figured out a way to solve their dilemma.

"Yeah, but normal people would just suffocate to death in the celestial spirit world. Also it's against contract rules. I didn't mind when you did it before because it was Everlue's key, not mine. Besides, I would have to have opened the gate from outside the wind barrier for that to even remotely work." Lucy replied, striking down that as an option.

"Lucy! I just remembered what I was trying to tell you on the way here!" Happy exclaimed.

"What, you mean when you were calling me weird?" Lucy asked.

"Here!" Happy chirped, presenting a golden celestial spirit key to the blonde.

"How'd you get your hands on Virgo's key?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Wait, who?" Ichigo wondered aloud, his words matching the thoughts of both Erza and Gray.

"Oh yeah, that big gorilla lookin' maid." Natsu recalled.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to steal?" Lucy asked, punching the cat's mouth in a comical fashion.

"But I didn't steal it, Virgo asked me to give it to you." Happy stated, after which the blonde-haired wizard released him from her grip.

"We don't have time to waste on this kind of stuff." Gray scoffed.

"Apparently, her contract with Everlue ended as soon as he was arrested. Before we all left that day she came up to me and said that she wanted to sign a new contract with you Lucy." Happy explained.

"Thanks for letting me know, but I'll deal with her later. In case you didn't notice, we need to find a way out of here." Lucy stated.

"But…" Happy began.

"Shut up! Why can't you just meow like a normal cat?!" Lucy asked, a dark aura surrounding her body as she pinched the feline's delicate face.

"She can be pretty scary…" Gray commented.

"Probably learned it from Erza." Natsu mused, cheerfully observing the blonde's interaction with his best friend.

"I'm sorry. I just thought that since Virgo can drill holes… maybe she could dig through the ground and get us to the other side of the barrier." Happy stated in a dejected manner, obviously not taking the fact that his attempt at helping his comrades went over so poorly.

"She can what?!" Ichigo, Erza, and Gray exclaimed in unison.

"Oh yeah…" Natsu trailed off, tapping his chin at the recollection of the pink-haired spirit's abilities.

"That's right! Why didn't you say that before, you brilliant, adorable little cat?" Lucy cooed in an upbeat tone.

"I was trying to, but someone was pinching my face." Happy replied.

"My deepest apologies, now can I please have the key?" Lucy pleaded, bowing humbly before the blue-haired feline.

"Give me some fish and all is forgiven!" Happy chirped, after which he relinquished the key.

"By the way, see if you do away with that contract crap for right now. We don't have much time when Erigor has this much of a head start." Ichigo stated.

"I know, I was going to, but before I can even do that I have to summon her." Lucy replied.

The blonde took the traditional stance she preferred to use when summoning a spirit for the first time, at which point she zoned out all other distractions and focused on the task of opening the celestial portal.

"I call upon thee, in the world of the celestial spirits. And now, I beckon you to my side at once, pass through the gate!" Lucy incanted, flipping the key in the air before grabbing it with her hand.

"Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" Lucy exclaimed.

When the portal had opened and said spirit answered the call of the celestial wizard, the full form of the presumably ape-like creature was in full view. However, she was anything but how she had been previously described. Before the group stood a petite young-looking woman with pure blue eyes, peach-colored skin, and pink hair. She wore a maid's outfit, and for some reason sported a pair of shackles that were disconnected from one another other respective wrists.

"What can I do for you mistress?" Virgo questioned respectfully, bowing slightly to the blonde-haired mage.

"Who are you?" Lucy uttered, seemingly incapable of saying anything else.

"What's up Burger, man you look great. You've lost some weight." Natsu commented in a friendly manner.

"My name's Virgo, I apologize for any trouble I might've caused." Virgo replied.

"Wait, this is the maid that you said looked like a big ape?" Ichigo asked confusedly, gesturing a finger towards the pink-haired spirit.

"Yeah, and she didn't just lose weight, she's a completely different person!" Lucy shouted.

"I'm a very loyal spirit who'll do anything to please her wizard. Therefore I take on any form I feel my wizard will find most appealing." Virgo explained with a small smile.

"I dunno, I kind of liked the other you better." Natsu thought aloud.

"Oh, I can fix that." Virgo stated.

An instant later, and much to the surprise and dismay of everyone else present, the celestial spirit took on the very same form she dawned when working under Duke Everlue.

'Holy crap, she really did look like an ape.' Ichigo thought.

"Don't listen to him! I'm your wizard and I like the other form better!" Lucy shouted, prompting the spirit to obey and revert to her more petite visage.

"As you wish mistress." Virgo replied.

"We're kind of short on time right now, so do you mind if we work out the details of our contract later?" Lucy asked in a hopeful tone.

"Of course, whatever you'd like mistress." Virgo replied, though a particular word she used had rubbed the blonde the wrong way.

"Do you really have to call me that?" Lucy wondered aloud, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Oh? Would you prefer I call you queen?" Virgo asked.

"No." Lucy immediately answered.

"What about princess?" Virgo asked.

"Oh yeah, that'll work just fine." Lucy replied with a vein look about her features.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Ichigo wondered aloud, getting a quiet chuckle from both Gray and Natsu.

"Can you please just drill a hole to the other side? We desperately need to get out of here as soon as possible." Erza said, getting back on track.

"As you wish." Virgo sated.

An instant later the pink-haired woman bowed slightly before she activated her magical abilities. A magic seal appeared underneath her feet, after which she went to work, quite literally. Within seconds a large hole appeared, giving everyone else the clear message that they had their ticket out.

"Let's get out of this joint." Gray said as he walked towards the hole.

"Hang on…" Natsu trailed off, drawing all eyes to him.

Everyone turned to see the dragon slayer with the arm of their technical enemy hoisted across his shoulders and the body being supported as a result. It was very clear what the wizard's intent was, and yet still it was necessary to make sure.

"What do you think you're doing Natsu?" Gray asked evenly.

"I don't really like him, but I'd feel guilty for him if we just left him here to die." Natsu stated.

"Well then I don't see a problem…" Ichigo trialed off, throwing his own human body over his shoulders before he walked up to the dragon slayer's side.

"Very well." Erza permitted.

{Outside Oshibana Station, Several Minutes Later…}

"Looks like we made it out." Gray mused.

It was more along the lines of stating the obvious given that every member of the group was currently looking back as the wind barrier continued to rage on the outskirts of the building they had just exited.

"Hey, where did Natsu go?" Ichigo asked, shifting his head and finding not a trace of Fairy Tail's resident dragon slayer.

"I don't see Happy either." Lucy commented.

"That probably just means that Natsu went after Erigor. Happy is capable of flying at extremely high speeds, so if ever there was a chance to catch up to Erigor, that'd be the one." Erza explained.

"It's no use… he'll never be able to catch up to Erigor, and neither will any of you. We can't be stopped now… we've won." Kage stated.

The members of the group scowled down at the beaten and battered form of the Eisenwald wizard, shortly after which Ichigo set down his body and looked back to his teammates with a serious expression etched on his face. Though they were all confused by this, clearly he was about to say something and so no one bothered to voice said emotion.

"If Natsu went after Erigor then I'll go after him as fast as I can. I need one of you to put my human body in the magic mobile and head to Clover. With any luck, you'll run into us on the way there." Ichigo said before he began to walk off.

"Wait Ichigo, how are you going to catch up? I know your fast, but still…" Lucy said confusedly.

"What she says is true. It is best if you simply come with us on the magic mobile." Erza added.

"Trust me, I can catch up." Ichigo stated, releasing a slight chuckle.

Before anyone could raise a question as to how or why the teen though this, Ichigo vanished in a blur of light. It was almost as if he had just disappeared without a trace.

"What?" Gray muttered, looking at the spot where the substitute had been standing with slightly widened eyes.

"Did he just vanish?" Lucy questioned, looking to the scarlet-haired knight for an answer.

"Yes… I believe he did." Erza replied.

Moreover, she couldn't even sense his presence. It was as if he had traveled so far out of immediate sensory range that his movements couldn't even be detected. That was actual impressive, as the queen of the fairies had never seen anything like it in all her years as a wizard.

"Anyway, we should probably get going. Something tells me when we head to Clover we'll find Natsu and Ichigo on the way." Gray stated, prompting everyone else present to nod in understanding.

{Railway Towards Clover: With Erigor…}

Eisenwald's ace currently flew towards the guild master's conference without a care in the world. Actually, that wasn't true in that he cared a good bit about ending their lives, but at the same time he wasn't pressured in the slightest. His plan had, thus far, gone off without a single hitch.

'And those Fairy Tail flies are still trapped within my wind barrier. I have to say though that I regret not teaching the queen of the Fairy's and that orange-haired brat a lesson.' Erigor thought. At the same time, killing the guild masters came first, he supposed.

The silver-haired man abruptly stopped in his path, his eyes widening slightly as he sensed something incoming, and it was simply moving too fast to ignore. With a curious expression, he turned around, looking off into the distance to see what on earth was going on.

'What the hell is that?' Erigor wondered.

Off in the distance he saw an object that moved so quickly it was shining, but that was only for a brief moment. A second or two later it became closer, at which point he saw exactly what it was, and he simply couldn't believe his eyes.

"We've got ya now! Didn't know cats could fly at mock speeds did ya?!" Natsu shouted as he flew towards his the wind magic user, his own hands grabbing Happy's legs

"What?" Erigor uttered in a tone of disbelief.

The flaming foot of the dragon slayer connected with his body shortly thereafter, causing an explosion to engulf Erigor's form and a significant amount of smoke to cover his fall towards the train tracks.

Both Natsu and his opponent landed on their feet, the dragon slayer doing so with his back facing the wind magic user. He caught Happy in his hands a moment later, taking note that the Exceed looked incredibly tired and worn out.

"You alright little buddy?" Natsu asked, a touch of concern making its way into his voice.

"I'm fine… but… so tired… I can't fly…" Happy whispered weakly.

"Don't worry about it. I think I can handle it from here." Natsu replied, setting the blue-haired feline on the grounds below.

"You're one of those pesky Fairy Tail flies. I take it you're here to stop me?" Erigor mused, after which his opponent turned to face him with a stern glare etched on his features.

"Ya got that right ya dress wearin' windbag. I'm kickin' your ass for Fairy Tail!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Heh, funny. Get out of my way kid, or else." Erigor said warningly, bringing up a hand and gesturing an open palm towards the dragon slayer.

A magical seal appeared before the extended open palm, after which a powerful gust of wind poured forth. It washed over the pink-haired mage like an unstoppable tide, little by little moving his feet backward weather he wanted them to or not.

"Is that all you got?!" Natsu taunted, immediately after which the wind picked up to such a speed that it caused a slight explosion where he stood.

From the smoke and dust that resulted from Erigor's attack, the dragon slayer shot into the air, fire propelling his movements and flames once again covering his fists. He shot back down towards Erigor with all the fury of an actual dragon, power just written within his eyes.

The reaper dodged the attack, leaping backwards and evading any significant damage. He did, however, get a front row seat to the pink-haired mage smashing his previous position into a million tiny pieces.

"I ain't lettin' you off that easy!" Natsu exclaimed, lunging towards the silver-haired man without delay.

Erigor brought up his scythe, effectively blocking the fire-reinforced attack and once again getting out of the current engagement without any injury. When the dragon slayer proved to be done with his assault, the reaper then floated back into the air, gazing down at his opponent in an observational manner.

'Impossible… he uses his flames to jump and to strike. I underestimated his power, this might actually be a challenge.' Erigor thought, releasing a slight chuckle to himself.

"Hey, what're you doing up there? Come down here and fight me like a man!" Natsu demanded.

"Don't get to cocky fly!" Erigor shouted, extending his hand and preparing to cast a powerful attack.

'What the hell?!' Natsu wondered, feeling a large amount of magical energy building from underneath his feet.

"Storm Bringer!" Erigor exclaimed, subsequently after which a large tornado-like burst of wind erupted from underneath his opponent.

Natsu was spun around the vortex of wind as if he truly weighed nothing at all. At the same time he was helpless to do anything given that he couldn't even regain his footing to the point that he could exit the torrent of high velocity air.

"Natsu." Happy uttered upon seeing his friend in trouble.

The blue-haired cat tried with all his might to call forth his wings once again, but to no avail. He was simply too drained to do anything whatsoever, and, as a result, all he could do was watch.

"It's no use… I don't have enough magic energy." Happy thought aloud.

"AAAAAAA!" Natsu screamed as he fell from the apex of the tornado, skyrocketing to the bottom of the canyon.

Before he passed the ground level of the railway, a hand quickly grabbed his wrist, stopping his fall and effectively stabilizing his current trajectory. The dragon slayer looked up to see Ichigo standing on the side of the train tracks with his hand firmly gripping his wrist.

"I've got you… now get your ass back up here so we can end this." Ichigo said with a smirk.

Natsu responded in kind, smirking in a manner similar to his friend before he was pulled up and once again felt the sensation of solid ground being located beneath his feet. If anything, the current situation only appealed to him because at least now he got to see more of what Ichigo could do.

It still didn't make sense to him that the orange-haired teen managed to get here so fast. However, given that Ichigo saved him the trouble of wasting magical energy to bail himself out of the mess he had gotten himself into, he supposed it didn't matter at the moment.

"What's this, another fly comes to be swatted down?" Erigor sneered from the air.

"You know something Erigor, you really piss me off." Ichigo stated, turning around and unsheathing his sword

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it, Fairy Tail fl…" Erigor began.

He stopped his sentence the moment the form of the orange-haired teen appeared directly in front of him with his sword cocked back and prepared to cut him across his body.

At the rate the sword was moving coupled with how quickly its wielder had appeared before him there was quite literally nothing he could do but back up as quickly as he was able and hope the blade didn't leave too deep a wound.

'I didn't even see him move…' Erigor thought, sweating slightly in the buildup to the sword's impact with his flesh.

The Eisenwald's ace's blood poured forth as the large cleaver-like zanpakuto cut across his body, leaving a fresh wound and simultaneously forcing the wind magic user to shoot backwards and fall into the ground in an attempt to gather himself.

However, no sooner than he landed did the dragon slayer mount another attack in succession to his comrade's first. The flaming fist connected directly with Erigor's cheek, catching him completely off guard, which subsequently sent the silver-haired man reeling across the train tracks yet again.

"That's what you get for messin' with Fairy Tail." Natsu stated proudly.

"Nice hit." Ichigo complimented as he landed on the ground.

"Thanks for the opening to land it." Natsu replied, smirking heavily at the orange-haired teen.

'These insects dare to wound me?' Erigor thought angrily as he picked himself off of the ground.

The reaper floated off into the air once again, staring down at the two opponents and glaring heavily at them. Despite the fact that they currently had the upper hand, there was still a trick or two that he had yet to play.

"Hey… how did you move that fast back there?" Natsu asked, turning to the substitute with a confused look etched on his face.

"What are you referring to?" Ichigo asked.

"You know what I mean, when you vanished and appeared right in front of the worn out windbag." Natsu clarified.

"I'll tell you later. For now we should finish this fight before Erza and the others get here." Ichigo stated.

"Right." Natsu replied, after which they turned their collective vision towards the silver-haired wizard once again.

"Heh… you flies are resilient, I'll give you that. However now I think it's time I got serious." Erigor began.

The Eisewald mage brought forth his scythe and placed it in front of his body, after which he tapped the shaft and began to spin it rapidly in circles. As it continued its motion, a large amount of magic energy manifested as wind began to gather, pulling and throwing around rocks and dust as it continued to rage.

"Wind Mail!" Erigor exclaimed.

A large amount of wind surrounded his body, acting like a barrier and continuously raging on at high speeds. From first glance, it didn't look to be all that strong, but only time would tell, of course.

'That barrier would have to be pretty powerful for him to be that cocky again.' Ichigo thought.

"Hehehe, this is one of my most powerful spells. All of your attacks are now useless against me." Erigor stated cockily from within the confines of his Wind Mail.

The dark wizard even went so far as to come back onto the ground, allowing both Ichigo and Natsu the chance to charge at him head on. It was either a show of arrogance, or the barrier was really just that strong.

"We'll see about that." Natsu scoffed.

His fists lit up like a blazing inferno a moment later, after which he charged his opponent with everything he had, not giving an inch. Unfortunately, just as his punches were about to connect with the barrier the flames vanished, leaving the dragon slayer powerless and incapable of doing any significant damage.

"Get out of there Natsu!" Ichigo exclaimed worriedly.

The pink-haired wizard had heard the warning, but he was unable to respond to it. Without even a slight warning, Erigor sent a powerful blast of wind directly at Natsu, knocking him back far across the railway.

Ichigo caught the dragon slayer and stabilized his would-be crash landing, after which he opted to use flash step in order to get the jump on the silver-haired man just as he had done before.

He appeared directly behind the dark wizard and brought Zangetsu across the wind barrier and presumably Erigor's body. When the sword did nothing more than go along with the current of the wind barrier, Ichigo scowled, knowing full well that the barrier, though it was capable of being lightly penetrated, was far too thick to completely cut through.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, but if Ichigo used the necessary force to cut through the barrier he would end up slicing Erigor into two separate pieces, which he would like to avoid if at all possible.

"Nice try!" Erigor shouted, turning around and making an attempt to send the orange-haired teen flying off just as he had previously done with the dragon slayer.

However, the moment that he had turned and launched his attack was the very same moment he realized that the man was no longer behind him. With a scowl marking his face from beneath the wind barrier, Erigor turned to face his opponents once more.

"Though you are still in one piece, it matters not. It is as I thought, the both of you cannot break through my wind barrier, and your fire magic is completely useless against me!" Erigor exclaimed.

'He isn't wrong… those flames will be snuffed out if Natsu comes in too close just by the direction of the wind… but is that really all there is to it?' Ichigo wondered, thinking of a way he could get past the incredibly annoying magical spell.

He could always just use Getsuga Tenshou, but that would be more than overkill, and there was also a high possibility that Erigor would be mortally wounded. If he wanted to accomplish that, then just slicing him in two would be infinitely easier.

On top of that, and probably the greater of the two concerns involving the use of Getsuga Tenshou, was that an attack like that would completely blow away the railway, and doing so would definitely attract the wrong kind of attention towards him.

'Plus if I do end up blowing the train tracks away, I'm pretty sure the old man would throw a fit.' Ichigo thought.

The orange-haired teen continued to think on other possible avenues to defeat his and Natsu's collective opponent. However, none of them seemed very feasible unless the wind barrier was taken down. If that were to suddenly disappear, then they would easily be able to win.

'Wait… that's it!' Ichigo thought.

In a moment of realization, his eyes widened and he turned to Natsu, completely understanding a very specific way they could defeated the reaper and save the guild masters.

"Natsu, crank up your flames as high as you can!" Ichigo shouted urgently.

The pink-haired wizard looked slightly confused at the odd request for a moment, but an instant later his expression twisted into a knowing smirk. He understood perfectly well where this was going, and if their hunch was correct, it would give them the victory.

"You got it!" Natsu exclaimed, after which his body erupted in a torrent of fire and flames.

A raging inferno extended into the sky, becoming a practical pillar of destruction as the dragon slayer roared on and on from within the epicenter. The heat quickly grew to an outrageous level of intensity, at which point the wind from Erigor's barrier did precisely what was expected.

'Impossible, my Wind Mail is… its fading?!' Erigor thought in a slight panic.

"With the flames heating the air it's creating a high pressure area, which is also drawing in the wind from Erigor's spell. Waita go Natsu!" Happy cheered.

'His fire magic is so strong, how can he possible be this powerful?' Erigor thought, sweating as his protective barrier and practical trump card was so easily cast aside.

He didn't even have time to come up with an effective countermeasure as within the next moment Ichigo appeared out of thin air directly in front of him, after which he sent his zanpakuto slashing down the right side of Erigor's body without a second thought.

The silver-haired man fell backwards, blood pouring from his wound and his eyes closing, likely due to the intense pain he currently felt. Without a doubt, however, he was out cold, and with that the victory went to Fairy Tail.

"You should've just given up when I offered. Maybe then we wouldn't have had to beat the crap out of you." Ichigo stated, though he knew the Eisenwald ace couldn't hear him.

"Is he gonna live?" Natsu asked evenly as he waked up to observe the defeated form of his opponent.

"Yeah, I didn't cut him too deep. He'll live, but he's down for the count." Ichigo replied.

"Alright, we won!" Natsu stated contentedly, dancing around in circles in a childish manner.

"Yeah, it looks like we did." Ichigo mused, releasing a slight chuckle upon staring back at the teen he had come to see as a good friend in such a short period of time.

He sheathed Zangetsu once again, after which he kneeled down and took the Lullaby flute from Erigor's possession. Doing so finally brought this battle to a close, and it also marked the defeat of Eisenwald, or so he thought.

"Good job by the way. You fought really well." Ichigo complimented, smiling at the pin-haired mage.

"Heh, you were really good yourself. We make a pretty good team, just like I thought we would." Natsu said with a wide grin.

"I guess so…" Ichigo replied, releasing an inward chuckle at the words of the dragon slayer.

"Hey look, it's everyone else!" Natsu shouted happily, pointing his index finger towards an approaching magic mobile.

The vehicle came to an abrupt halt, skidding slightly across the rock that marked the railway, but successfully not running anyone over nonetheless. A moment later its occupants left the inside, after which the remaining members of their group were shown to wear proud smiles at the scene that greeted them.

At the moment Erza was being supported by Lucy, likely due to the fact that her magical energy was still so drained. Opposite of those two, Gray walked on carrying Ichigo's body, which was a good thing given that the substitute had thought they had potentially forgotten it.

"Gray, why don't you have clothes anymore?" Ichigo asked tiredly, at this point just accepting the fact that the raven-haired ice wizard had a habit of losing them.

"What are you…" Gray began, looking down an instantly noticing that his clothes were missing. He then released a tired groan, but it had happened several times today thus far so there was really no use complaining about it.

"Never mind…" Ichigo sighed out.

"Looks like you two really did get the job done after all." Erza mused, smiling slightly at the duo.

"Yup… here's our souvenir." Ichigo said jokingly, tossing the skull-headed flute towards the redhead in a nonchalant manner.

"Excellent, with this we have succeeded in saving Clover and the guild masters." Erza said contentedly.

"I'm surprised since Natsu was the first one to fight him. I was sure he'd screw it up." Gray scoffed.

"Hey, we beat him didn't we?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I was worried for a second there…" Happy muttered.

"What, you guys didn't think I could take down Erigor?" Natsu asked as if the very notion insulted him.

"You were doing pretty well… but if Ichigo didn't show up when he did you were looking at a one way ticket to the bottom of the canyon." Happy countered.

"I had it under control!" Natsu stated defensively, though the words of the blue-haired cat seemed to cause the others to remember something.

"Speaking of which, how exactly did you catch up to Natsu so quickly?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Yes, I would like to know as well. You simply vanished before our eyes and I couldn't sense your presence after you had." Erza added.

"Are you guys talking about that vanishing trick? It's really awesome!" Natsu said excitedly.

"Vanishing trick? You mean…" Ichigo began.

A moment later a light buzz sounded off, after which his body, for a brief period of time, vanished from sight. He appeared a moment later directly behind Natsu, placing a hand on the dragon slayers shoulders and effectively startling him and simultaneously impressing the group given that none of them had seen or predicted where he had moved.

"Gah!" Natsu yelped, almost instantly jumping forward and turning around to see what had just touched his shoulder.

"Nice one." Gray complimented sarcastically, referring to the pink-haired wizards' evident distress.

"Why'd you have to do that man?!" Natsu exclaimed, clenching his heart as it was beating rather quickly. For a split second he thought Erigor had come to and was about to cut into his back, which wasn't exactly a pleasant thought.

"Sorry, but you wanted to see it again, right?" Ichigo reasoned.

"What exactly is that technique? Are you teleporting or manipulating space, perhaps time?" Erza guessed, eliciting a shake of the head from the orange-haired teen.

"No, not really. It's a technique called flash step that allows me to travel great distances by using my spiritual energy to forward my movements. When I do this, it allows me to move much faster than I would be able to at any natural speeds." Ichigo replied.

"Can other people where you're from do that too?" Natsu asked from his position of sitting on the ground, having still not gotten up.

"Yeah, it's pretty common, but the speed of the flash step varies from person to person. Mine is pretty quick, but at the same time even I'm easily outclassed by a few other people in that regard." Ichigo explained.

The substitute then looked towards his body, which Gray picked up on and then held up so as to allow Ichigo a free passageway back into himself, technically. A moment later the two separate forms became one, and once again the orange-haired teen opened his eyes and felt the release of being able to move freely in his own skin.

"By the way Natsu, you look like an idiot wearing that scarf while you're half-naked." Gray commented upon relinquishing Ichigo's body.

"You're one to talk… hey, Lucy, give me your clothes." Natsu requested.

"In your dreams!" Lucy growled.

"What the hell's the matter with you?! You can't just say things like that, it makes you seem like a pervert." Ichigo chided, lightly smacking the dragon slayer on the back of his head.

"Ouch, what was that for?" Natsu asked, rubbing his head slightly.

"Were you even listening?!" Ichigo exclaimed, though he knew the answer.

The remaining members of the group chuckled at the display, after which the full weight of the situation finally reached them. Everything was over, in actuality, since the guild masters were safe and Eisenwald was defeated.

"Anyway, well done you two." Erza complimented.

Before a reply could be made, the abrupt sound of an engine revving up came from down the railway. Each turned to see the magic mobile charging forward, with a very familiar back-haired dark wizard sitting in the driver's seat and a series of shadowy limbs extending all around.

"Too slow Fairy Tail flies!" Kage exclaimed, driving past the group of enemy wizards and heading straight down the tracks towards Clover.

As he passed, however, he didn't do so empty handed. The shadowy tendrils grabbed two very specific items from the clutches of the Fairy Tail guild members. One was rather obvious, the death flute known as Lullaby, but the other was the wooden skull badge that Ichigo had used to access his powers.

'What the hell?!' Ichigo wondered, noticing the absence of the combat pass the second after it occurred.

"We have to go after him!" Erza exclaimed.

With a begrudging nod, each of the members began to run after the rouge wizard without delay. The one positive of the situation was that Kage didn't have all too much magical energy, at least in all likelihood. Due to this, even if Clover was just up ahead, he likely wouldn't be able to get there all that quicker than they would be able to.

'I just hope we make it there in time.' Ichigo thought.

{Clover: Forests Outside the Guild Master's Conference, Some Time Later…}

The raven-haired Eisewald wizard stood in place atop a peak overlooking the guild master's conference. He had been forced to abandon the magi mobile some time ago, and the sun had set around that very same time, but nevertheless he had made it with time to spare.

Without a shadow of a doubt the wizard masters were present within that building, and his current location afforded him with a simply perfect position.

'From up here, Lullaby's magic will surely kill them… our time is here.' Kage thought victoriously, tightening his grip on the demonic flute.

A random noise from a nearby bush broke the dark wizard out of his thoughts, and incidentally startled him given that no one should actually be this far away from Clover and at this specific location. The only ones who were decent candidates to fill that slot were the Fairy Tail wizards that had followed him, but at the same time they shouldn't have been here so soon.

He walked over to carefully examine the situation, after which he released an inward sigh of relief. It was just some random old man perversely enjoying a copy of what appeared to be Sorcerer's Weekly, and the previous week's edition no less.

"Oh wow, now that's really somethin'…" Makarov thought aloud, releasing a perverse giggle after he did so.

Seeing this, however, gave the raven-haired mage an idea. Despite this man's appearance, he was definitely one of the guild masters, and that meant he was powerful. All the same, this opportunity presented a marvelous opening to test Lullaby's power firsthand.

"Excuse me sir…" Kage called out, startling the elderly mage as he did so.

"I-it's not what it looks like!" Makarov exclaimed, hiding the magazine behind his back as he spoke.

The orange-clad man stopped his brief instance of panic upon getting a good look at the mere boy that had startled him so randomly. He appeared rather injured, bandages covering his body and his clothing torn. At the moment there wasn't even a shirt to cover his back.

"You've been hurt badly boy. You shouldn't be wandering around the woods in your condition." Makarov stated.

"Yes sir… its jut that I was… I was curious about something. I wanted to know if you'd care to hear a song. You see they wouldn't let me play it in the hospital, and I really would like for someone to hear me play." Kage replied in a friendly voice, smiling down at the rather short man.

"That's one creepy flute you got there…" Makarov commented warily.

"I know, but it has a beautiful sound." Kage reassured, chuckling slightly as he spoke.

"Hmmm… well I should be going… but I guess one song couldn't hurt." Makarov mused, deciding that a few minutes wouldn't truly prevent Natsu's group from destroying a city.

"Oh thank you. Now… be sure to pay close attention." Kage stated, eliciting a nod from the elderly wizard.

He brought the flute up to his mouth, realizing that this was it, the final moments before his triumph. It was fitting that the master of the Fairy Tail guild would be the first victim after all they did to him and his own guild, if not ironic.

However, he paused, not bringing his lips to connect with the wood and not breathing into it so as to sound off the melody of death. Kage knew he should relish the opportunity, and yet his mind simply prevented him from acting.

All the words, the fact that the Fairy Tail wizards had saved him, even the words of his comrades, popped into his head. The words of the annoying dragon slayer, of the orange-haired teen with the large sword, of the blonde celestial mage, everything they had ever said to him or in front of him contradicted what he thought to be true.

Erigor and the others would essentially denounce the legitimacy of joining a legal guild, in fact they despised the notion. They even went so far as to scoff at the mere implication. If he too was of that opinion, then this should have been easy, but the fact of the matter was that it was far from it.

'Why… why can't I bring myself to do it? It would be so easy… but what the things that they all said… were we… were we wrong… am I wrong in doing this?' Kage wondered, not moving a muscle and standing in silence.

{Forests off to the Side…}

"There he is, he's with the master!" Erza exclaimed.

She and the others had come up towards the town and found the magic mobile off in the distance, a clear indicator that Kage was, in fact, somewhere close by. Now they had the dark wizard in their sights, however when they began to run forwards someone stopped them.

"Shhh… you're gonna miss the good part." Bob stated, bringing a finger over his mouth to further illustrate his request for silence.

Most members of the group froze up at the sight of the effeminate bald man who appeared to be cross-dressing at the moment. His appearance was just disturbing, but he seemed pleasant enough, perhaps too pleasant towards some.

"My, now aren't you boys just a bunch of cutie's." Bob cooed.

At this, Ichigo's expression turned into one of absolute terror. Natsu and Gray were much the same, however they had the added benefit of being able to move behind Ichigo just in case they needed a human shield.

"Damn you're creepy…" Ichigo muttered, which coming from him truly did mean something.

"Who's that guy?" Lucy asked confusedly.

"That's Master Bob…" Erza replied, sweatdropping as the bald-headed man began to dance very strangely around Ichigo, and by extension the two mages who still hid behind him. The strange man stopped a moment later, after which he relented and turned instead towards Erza.

"Oh, Erza honey, you've really filled out." Bob commented.

"You're telling me that weirdo's the master of the Blue Pegasus guild?" Lucy asked quietly, though her tone was one of disbelief.

"Better question, why the hell aren't you stopping Kage? You guys seem to know what he's doing…" Ichigo said.

"Waddaya mean by 'you guys'?" Natsu asked confusedly, momentarily putting aside the severe feelings of distress he was currently experiencing due to a certain quirky guild master.

"Hehe, this one's observant, I like that." Goldmine chuckled as he walked up to the group from within the woods.

"Master Goldmine? You're here as well?" Erza asked confusedly.

"Yeah, now keep quiet. We're about to get to the good part." Goldmine replied.

In the presence of two guild masters telling them not to do anything, the members of the Fairy Tail guild decided to take the order and reaming quiet. Why they were asked to, they didn't know, but nevertheless they clearly knew what they were doing.

They continued to watch as Kage didn't do a thing, which actually surprised them given that he was so close to completing the mission of his guild. Despite this, the man was currently hesitating. Once this was evident, little by little, the remaining onlookers began to grasp what the guild masters were aiming at.

"Nothing's going to change…" Makarov abruptly said, surprising raven-haired wizard with his words.

"W-what?" Kage muttered, taking note that the elderly wizard had turned his heel and allowed his back to face him.

"You cannot change the fact that those who are weak will remain weak… but I don't think that's a bad thing. I mean we humans are weak creatures by nature. Our insecurities are the reason that guilds even exist… and there why we have friends." Makarov continued, turning to face the dark wizard once more.

"When we're surrounded by allies it's easy to stay positive about the future. Think of it this way… if we're clumsy we may stumble and bump into things, but as long as we have faith in our future we continue marching forward, our inner strength immerges on its own. But we have to choose that path and pledge to live our lives to the fullest. Don't let that silly flue get in the way." Makarov finished.

Somewhat to the surprise of everyone pleasant, but most certainly to their relief and joy, the wooden death flute fell from Kage's hands and the dark wizard fell to his hands and knees in front of Makarov, a defeated expression on his face but a burden clearly lifted from his shoulders.

'Well done old man…' Ichigo thought with a smirk. He was starting so see exactly why the elderly wizard so respected and revered within the Fairy Tail guild.

"I surrender." Kage uttered.

"Waita go master!" Natsu exclaimed as he and the others ran towards the elderly mage.

"What the… how did you kids get all the way here to Clover?" Makarov asked confusedly.

"It's a long story…" Ichigo replied.

"Does it end with a city being blown up?" Makarov asked with a raised brow.

"Nope." Natsu replied.

"Then fantastic!" Makarov stated, jumping into the air in a victorious manner.

"Master…" Erza began, grabbing the elderly mage and slamming his body into her armor. It was likely a gesture of mild affection, but it seemed to give the guild master a good bump on the head.

"I was so moved by your words I was almost brought to tears." Erza continued.

"Well that's just gramps for ya, waita talk your way out of another one." Gray commented.

"Hehehehehehe…" A demonic laughter sounded off.

Everyone's eyes widened slightly upon that voice registering within their ears. They knew perfectly well that it belonged to no one present, which meant that it was definitely going to be something unexpected. That was ironic given that fact that this was not just the first, but the second time this ordeal was presumably over.

"I've grown tired of you wizards and your antics!" The voice continued.

An incredibly large magical seal appeared in the skies overlooking the conference hall. A moment later the death flute known as Lullaby floated towards the nexus of energy, its demonic voice evidently speaking as it did so.

"I shall devour you myself…" The voice proclaimed.

Shortly thereafter a flash of light erupted and the magical seal vanished, after which the flute was no longer present, but in its place was definitely something more terrifying. A large wooden monstrous-looking creature with three eyes that shined with purple light, two arms, and a pair of legs now made itself evident. The creature also possessed small cutouts made themselves present all throughout the body.

"I shall feast upon your souls!" Lullaby exclaimed.

"It's so huge!" Lucy shouted in terror.

"Waita state the obvious." Happy said nervously.

"What is that thing?! Erigor never said anything about a monster!" Kage said as he gazed upon the demonic creature before them.

"We're in a pickle." Bob thought aloud.

"It must be a demon from the Book of Zeref." Goldmine reasoned.

"Why did the flute turn into a monster?!" Lucy questioned.

"That's its true form. It's forbidden black magic called living magic, Zeref's specialty." Goldmine explained.

"Who's Zeref, wasn't he some wizard that died a long time ago?" Gray thought aloud.

"He's the most evil wizard that ever lived. He was very powerful in his day, but in my wildest dreams I never thought his dark legacy would pop back up again." Bob replied.

"Now then… which of your delectable souls shall I devour first?" Lullaby wondered aloud.

"Do you think souls are tasty?" Natsu asked, turning to the raven-haired ice mage for an answer.

"How should I know?" Gray shot back.

"My guess is no, and for the record you're not eating anyone's soul today." Ichigo stated, glaring confrontationally at the large demonic being as he spoke.

"Hahahaha, oh? Perhaps you shall be the first I devour." Lullaby mused.

"Not happening… Kage, give me the damn badge already." Ichigo requested.

The dark wizard gasped slightly given that he had previously been petrified with fear, but an instant later he reached into his pocket and tossed the wooden object towards its owner.

Upon grabbing it, the substitute ejected from his body, allowing Lucy to catch it given that she figured fighting a giant monster in his place would be less than preferable.

'What kind of magic is that?" Bob and Goldmine wondered simultaneously.

"My, my, you are an interesting one. Your soul is brimming with power… oh yes, I shall most certainly devour you first." Lullaby stated, practically gushing at the spiritual energy that the orange-haired teen currently outputted.

"Natsu, Gray, Erza, we should take this thing down quickly before it destroys too much." Ichigo said.

"Hold on, I am the team's leader and as such I will give the orders." Erza stated firmly.

"Knock yourself out…" Ichigo replied, knowing full well that arguing at a time like this was pointless.

"Natsu, Gray, Ichigo, give this this everything you've got!" Erza shouted.

Each of whom she had addressed firmly nodded and an instant later the four ran off in unison, leaping upwardly towards the massive creature without a moment's hesitation. Ichigo unsheathed his sword, Natsu brought his fire to cover his fists, Erza prepared to dawn her armor, and Gray prepared to shoot the creature full of ice.

"Requip!" Erza exclaimed.

She opted to summon her Heaven's Wheel Armor as she continued to near the creature, after which she began slashing directly through the midsection of the massive creature and effectively giving a convenient opening to her comrades as it tried to collect itself.

"Ice Make Lance!" Gray exclaimed from the ground, firing off a slew of ice lances directly at the body of the massive demon. It wailed in pain as the attack pierced its skin, even recoiling slightly due to the fact that the magical ice had hit it's from its side.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted, slamming his fist into the demon's neck and subsequently punching a hole through it.

"Insolent fools!" Lullaby exclaimed, making to swat the dragon slayer.

Its aim was offset a moment later courtesy of the two swordsmen that had started to chop and slash at random parts of its body, flying around or leaping and attacking it without relent.

"Enough of this!" Lullaby shouted, stomping its foot on the ground so as to create enough of a shockwave to rid itself of its attackers for a brief moment.

Ichigo was forced to use flash step to appear on the ground, Natsu was forced to jump off the demon's body, and Erza was forced to fly backwards lest they each be hit by the force of the defensive move. However, it was beyond the shadow of a doubt that they currently had the upper hand.

The demon currently had holes covering its body, and despite its size the wounds were noticeable. What's more was the fact that the wounds inflicted by the orange-haired teen specifically burned, even after the impact. It was as if it cut into the very fabric of its magic, which should have been impossible.

"That blade of yours… who are you, child? What magic do you use that allows your sword to burn my skin at the touch?" Lullaby asked.

"My name's Ichigo Kurosaki, and I don't have time to explain something like that to a demon that's about to meet its end." Ichigo replied.

"HA! It is not I, but you who will meet his end here today! Behold my melody of death!" Lullaby exclaimed.

It took a large breath of fresh air, after which it gathered magical energy within its throat and prepared to release. If the song was capable of getting gout, then no one was safe. Not the guild masters and not the Fairy Tail guild members.

When it finally did preform the spell, however, nothing happened. Just a quiet little squeak sounded off from within its throat, which clearly surprised the large demon a great deal.

"What happened?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I don't understand, why can't I play my melody of death?!" Lullaby shouted confusedly.

"They must've poked so many holes in it with their attacks that it can't make play its music." Kage reasoned.

"Talk about anticlimactic." Lucy commented.

"Flutes are pretty lame to being with." Happy added.

"You dare to mock me?!" Lullaby roared.

A moment later it shot a powerful energy projectile directly at the group that still sat atop the hillside. They, in turn, began to panic as the energy came closer and closer to hitting its target.

"Lucy!" Erza, Natsu, and Gray exclaimed in unison.

Not one to allow his comrades to be injured if he could help it, Ichigo appeared directly in front of the energy projectile and stopped its path with his zanpakuto. At first the attack managed to push him back, causing his feet to skid across the rocky terrain and displace a good bit of the ground. Nevertheless it seemed he was capable of blocking something so powerful with just his basic sword.

'To be able to block such an attack…' Erza thought, knowing full well that there were only a select few of her armors that could accomplish such a thing.

A moment later the attack was proven not only to have been blocked, but outright deflected. Once he had regained his footing, Ichigo slashed his zanpakuto forward with as much force as he could, effectively dispelling Lullaby's attack and rendering a large majority of those present speechless at the very sight.

"Impossible! No one should be able to block my attack!" Lullaby shouted defiantly.

"You know what… I've had just about enough of hearing your voice. I think it's time to shut you up once and for all." Ichigo stated.

The large demonic creature made to reply, but its voice caught in its throat at the feel of what happened next. Ichigo extended his sword horizontally forward, supporting his right arm with his left and gathering a large amount of spiritual energy.

His power surged into the sky and around his body, taking the form of a raging blue pillar of raw energy that shot up as far as the eye could see. Most began sweat slightly at the feel of what each had never felt before in their existence. So much energy and yet it didn't feel like magic, not at this concentration at least.

'What kind of power is this?' Erza wondered, watching as the energy continued to build up.

"Getsuga…" Ichigo began, bringing his sword back.

Lullaby watched as the sword was cocked back, but the raw power that it sensed seemed to paralyze it. For some reason it simply couldn't move. However, even if it could, it likely wouldn't have been able to dodge the attack given how massive it soon showed itself to be.

"…Tenshou!" Ichigo shouted.

A colossal burst of blue energy poured forth from the blade as it was swung forwards, consuming absolutely everything in its path. The winds burst in all directions at high speeds, and even the guild masters themselves could only look at the attack with a sense of awe.

The light blue glow of the attack completely eclipsed the form of Lullaby, and all that could be heard were its screams of torment before all of a sudden it just stopped making sound altogether. When the energy had dissipated, the giant monster was completely gone. The only thing that remained was the flute from whence it came.

However, as that very same flute began to fall towards the ground, it began to turn into dust, slowly evaporating until absolutely nothing remained. For a moment no one said a thing, all they could do was stare at where the massive creature previously stood, and where the attack courtesy of the orange-haired teen has just recently eclipsed.

'His attack destroyed the flute?! But that shouldn't have happened… no magic in the world has the power to undo Zeref's curse… but perhaps that isn't it.' Makarov thought, knowing full well that Ichigo wasn't even capable of using what they would call magic.

"There, now we're done." Ichigo stated in a tired tone, allowing Zangetsu to rest on his back once more within the cloth that traditionally covered the blade.

"Wow that was a hell of an attack!" Natsu exclaimed, marveling at the destructiveness of the substitute's technique.

"Indeed. That was… impressive, to say the least." Erza commented, her voice still holding a touch of awe.

"I'll say." Lucy commented.

"Aye." Happy said, nodding in agreement.

"That attack was really something else, Ichigo. However the destructive capabilities are the second most surprising thing about it, what I really didn't expect was for it to destroy Lullaby completely." Makarov stated.

"Well it's a good thing it did, that flute was way too dangerous to be left alone." Ichigo said, his words ringing all too true.

'The kid's got a point… but up until now no one had been able to destroy the damn thing, that's why it was sealed away.' Goldmine thought, giving off a neutral expression despite his rather active mind.

"Still I can see why you wouldn't want to use that every chance you got. If you did it back at the station to destroy the wind barrier you'd probably have blown away the building too." Gray stated.

"Yeah, and that's exactly why I didn't use it back there. I'm just glad when I finally did use that attack I didn't end up blowing up anything important." Ichigo replied, inwardly smirking since he thought he had succeeded in doing so.

"You mean like the Guild Master's Conference Hall?" Lucy asked blankly.

"Yeah, like…" Ichigo began, only to turn around and look at the very structure that the blonde-haired celestial mage had been referring to.

When he did so, however, his previously content expression was replaced with one of disbelief. It had seemed that due to the massive size of the demon that he had just recently destroyed, he failed to see the conference hall was directly behind it when he had launched his attack. The end result was that the structure was now nothing more than a crater, having been completely decimated.

"Whoa, you completely tore it apart!" Natsu stated excitedly.

"Guess you really are a Fairy Tail wizard at heart." Gray mused with a chuckle.

Erza said nothing, and while she didn't really approve of destroying large amounts of property, that indeed was one of the qualities a Fairy Tail wizard unfortunately always had to have, and she couldn't have done a better job destroying the conference hall herself. Of course she'd never say that out loud, but it's the thought that counted.

"Uhh… uhhhhh…" Makarov groaned out, paling at the sight of the destroyed building.

"Dammit…" Ichigo muttered under his breath. He was so close to having completed a job without blowing something up, and with the company he currently kept that was most certainly an achievement. It was actually ironic given that he was likely the only one who had intended to finish the mission without too much damage being done to property.

The substitute's mental self-loathing was cut short when Natsu walked up behind him and patted him on his shoulder. This caused Ichigo to turn and face the pink-haired teen and gaze upon his cheerful grin, which did confuse him but at least it meant the dragon slayer was making an attempt to make him feel less horrible.

"Cheer up, I blow stuff up all the time. It's no big deal!" Natsu stated, causing the orange-haired teen to sight.

"That doesn't make me feel all that better…" Ichigo replied.