Triumphant Return

I am not strange to mind-shattering hangovers, even as Campione, there are methods to get drunk out of your ass. Alchemy, divine beverages, there all a lot of options.

It also happens when you have been beaten black and blue and the body is releasing chemicals by the numbers to trying to ease out of the recovery. I awake in the bloody throne, feeling as if my head was about to explode and with the two big ass wolves snoring around me like faithful pets.

Any other person would most assuredly freak out by the occurrence, but I was already accustomed to walk into irrational situations and roll with the punches. The wolves were actually pretty cool, their grayish-blue skin reminded me of a blizzard, and they are the kind of companions that any mage would love to have.

Resting more comfortably on the throne, I summoned a piece of ice and rested it on my forehead; it was more a custom than a real help. The migraine was something that I expected, along with soreness all over my body, I fought a god and emerged victorious, but the hits of the god had almost killed me. With barely two hits and I was almost down for the count, bloody hell, the strength of the god was to be respected.

I don't even know the name of the god that I have killed and I felt bad for it, killing someone and not even remember their names was a rude thing to do. Later, I will look out for any references in any library that I could find, to see if I can put a name to the god that I have slain.

Back in the good, old, days, I was sure that I would have met Pandora, chat a little with mama and earn an Authority. But it was no longer the case, without Pandora to oversee the ritual that creates the Campiones, it was impossible to become one. The rules are completely different in this world, something that only made it even more interesting.

There was something different with me, I could feel it, when I slew the god and crashed on his throne, one of the few things that pierced through the haze of pain and unconsciousness was pure ice latching to my veins and soul. That sensation was nothing like any ice magic that I knew, and I was already the foremost expert in that particular regard in all Fiore. It was one of my ways to uphold Ur´s legacy, to always made it known that I was his disciple, and to become the best ice mage in all Earth Land.

Sighing, I took a meditative stance on the throne and started the breathing sequence to enter into a deep trance. I had to see what it´s wrong with my magic and solute it asap. Magic is my pride and joy, I will not become sloppy. It was a matter of professional discipline and pride. Mastering my magic; not all magics, that would be asinine and way too much time consuming; was one of the objectives that I have set up for myself as Gray, and I will not allow any happenstance to hinder me in the least.

The first thing that I felt was how my body was in way better shape than it should. The beating that I had taken at the hands of the god was more than enough to cripple me, yet, I did not felt the absence of anything important inside my body. When the hammer first reached me, I was sure that my stomach and several other pieces of my torso were jellies, along with all my left ribs shattered. The second time the hammer hit me, my arm was snapped in a way too many ways to be comfortable. Add the sudden crash against the throne, so brutal that I painted it with my blood, and I should be seven feet under.

Yet I was surprisingly healthy and if one omits the massive migraine, stronger than ever. That was not how reality works. Digging deep within my magic, I focused on any changes that I could have suffered and lo and behold, when I found what was wrong my breath stopped and I almost felt out of the trance.

After all this time speaking about lacryma and now I was the one infused with one.

The Lacryma had taken residence in the place where the Ethernano organ should be. Technically speaking, I lacked the proper container that most mages had, my entire body was a container, I was a living, walking, magical battery. But right now, I had a lacryma occupying the space of the usual main Ethernano organ. People usually only have one, but there are exceptional people with secondary Ethernano storing organs, I think they are called Second and Third Origin. Lots of the greatest mages of history are those with Second and Third Origins, be it that they were born with them already developed or they developed them during their careers as mages.

That Lacryma was filled to the brim with God-slaying magic, more concretely, Ice God-Slaying magic. Okay, that was incredibly rewarding, but I was afraid of how my magic was going to react to the presence of the divine magic in my body and soul. I have to experiment, very carefully, for now on, also, if the lacryma was there, does that mean that I also had other rewards?.

Holding Icebreaker in my hand, I smiled like an idiot, now, this is a wonderful weapon. I had little doubts that this is going to become my favorite by far, but I had to make some changes to it. Right now, powerful as it was, had several weaknesses that I could not allow. Perhaps it was my paranoia speaking, but I was a firm believer in expect for the best and prepare for the worst.

The hammer vanished in thin air, that was not the usual re-equip lights or magic circles; the hammer was not in my [Re-equip magic] storage, it was stored directly inside the lacryma, contained along with the godly magic that I have inherited, I don't even know-how in the nine blazes does that work that way.

Running some tests, flexing my muscles, magical and mundane, I sensed the increase in strength, fortunately, it did not change much my height, I was already a six feet and some tall young man, but what it did was to made me ripped as hell. I was ripped before, now I had the kind of muscles that Adonis would have given his soul for. My eight pack had abs of their own, god damn it.

Combine this with my stripping habit and I am going to be banned for public indecency from half of the business of Fiore. Just my luck, an amazing blessing becomes a curse as well.

And I don't even want to start with the wolves napping around the throne; that is topic that I will address later when my head does not fells as if I had drunk the entire pacific ocean in mead. They are magnificent animals, magical beasts for sure, but right now they are two sleeping puppies that I did not want to disturb.

So, I was a god-slayer now, that was something.

God-slayers are considered Lost Magic, at the level or above of Dragon Slayers or the Devil Slayers. That was a thing that had always called my attention; the devils that I knew were not the devils of Zeref. The devils of Zeref are curses made sentient, objects of all sorts filled to the brim with the darker aspects of magic and let them roam free. Only the gods knew what the heck was going on in Zeref´s head by that point, but the results were monsters made of objects, that worked under the premise that all life must be exterminated.

Again, Zeref was nuts, and his devils are worse.

Over the paper, [Ice God Slayer Magic] is not that different from other Slayer type magics, I am immune to my element and could eat it to replenish my magical energies, along with creating all kind of spells with it. One of the differences was how I could eat Ice Dragon Slayer ice, but my ice would hurt any Ice Dragon Slayer mage.

I really had to experiment a lot to test the limits of my new Slayer magic and how it interacts with my [Ice Make], my [Ice Magic], and several others that I had under my sleeves, including my triumph card, that I was no longer entirely sure its not going to backfire on me as soon as I release it.

Back to the basics so it seems. Well, no pain, no gain; it was a constant in my life at this point.

Summoning from my [Re-equip] some food and drinks, I ate and drink in silence, pondering what to do from now on. In other circumstances, I would have called to the Guild to inform old man Makarov of what I have found, but with the wolves napping, I preferred to let them sleep and wait for their awakening to see why I have not been eaten.

I was really hungry and thirsty, but above all, I had a nasty migraine. Fortunately, I kept some pain killer potions with me, it was a relatively simple recipe that I learned from old lady Porlyusica; after being repeatedly hit with her broom, the old lady had some serious problems with humans. The potions did their magic and I feel way better now that I have some food and booze in my stomach and my head was not threatening with splitting in half.

Now, let's address some of the elephants in the room; the wolves for later when they are awake.

How, in the name of sanity, I am going to explain this to Makarov?. Heck, the Guild was already preparing the party for my infamous photo and interview, with my new status as God-slayer I was not entirely sure about what would be their reactions. Well, I am one hundred percent sure that Natsu and Erza would not react all that differently, especially Natsu that would pester me to fight him a lot more often.

Laxus is the one that worries me the most, the bastard is running his own campaign to take the Guild master position and turn it into a "strong people only" kind of Guild. Laxus had some serious issues with his father; a complete bastard if I ever saw one; and with how badly he misunderstood the real intentions of the Guild when Ivan; Laxus father; was expelled from the Guild.

I am convinced that Laxus and I are going to fight in the future. That's a bitter fight that I was not all that eager to tackle on.

Technically speaking, I was an artificial God-slayer. I had Lacryma implanted within me, I did not learn the [Ice God Slayer magic] from an ice god. I slew one, and when I was supposedly dying, I founded myself healed, enhanced and with a new organ. That sure sounds better in my head, but in loud voice sound like a complete nightmare or the biggest bullshit ever.

Truth usually looks like that.

The wolves yawned; at the same time, they sure are coordinated; and stretched their bodies, indifferent at the cold that surrounded the room. If previously, cold was something that no longer bothered me, now I could walk into the deepest, darkest and coldest corners of Iceberg completely naked and I would not feel a thing.

"Greeting Alpha", said the two wolves to me speaking, well, I am not entirely sure if it is telepathy or I was able to understand their wolf speech, so to speak.

"Well meet, wolves", I seated more comfortably in the throne, with the painkiller potions making me feel a good buzz. "I will confess that I am a bit surprised. Why I am still alive?".

"You are Alpha now", shrugged the two wolves, they are completely synchronized, it was something to behold.

"And what does this particular Alpha title comes with, what does it entitles, and why I am one now?", it was a perfectly valid series of questions. This entire situation was pretty confusing; I was just able to take it in stride better than the rest.

"You slain the previous Alpha, he bestowed his powers onto you, you are the new Alpha, we are pack now", that was clear and completely confusing at the same time. Let´s dissect it up for a bit.

I slew the previous alpha, meaning, I killed the ice god, so I took his powers for myself; they must be speaking of Icebreaker and the lacryma inside of me, as I become the new holder of those two things, the wolves become pack, with me being the alpha.

Just, I, that´s, well, that´s insane, but fuck it. These two beasts are beautiful, and if they were able to contain four mages and an infinite horde of specters like those of Porla, these are going to be amazing companions.

"Okay, I am the Alpha now, so, who are you?", I alternated between the two wolves.

"We are Skoll/Hati", their answers did throw me for a loop. I knew those two names and their use of We was akin to a shared mind. Curioser and Curioser.

Back in my homeworld, these two were the children of the Norse wolf Fenrir. There were the wolves that would devour the moon and the sun at the Ragnarok, but right now they are different from the description in the Edda about them. Anyhow, they will be good companions, I have little doubt of that.

"Well meet then, Skoll and Hati", I smiled widely. "I take that you are leagues above the magical beasts that the humans outside believe you to be".

"We are not magical beasts, we are mythological beasts", explained the pair before vanishing in a burst of blue light and cold air.

In less than a second, I felt something at my fingers and found myself staring at two silver and blue rings on the middle fingers of both my hands. A symbol of a wolf head was in silver over the blue band that formed the body of the rings. It was quite the craftsmanship.

"We are always with the Alpha", came the voice of the twin wolves from my rings. "We hunt the enemies of the Alpha and carry the Alpha through ground, water, or the skies, we bring the blizzard and ruination to the enemies of the pack".

Well now, that was incredibly useful.

According to what I investigated about summoning spells and creatures, the Celestial Spirits are summoned with Keys; Golden and Silver; Angels through coins, and Mythical beasts through rings. I have found the rings of two legendary wolves of winter. Boy, I am freaking lucky.

"Welcome to the pack, you two", I laughed and I could feel the joy of the twin wolves for still being in a pack.

Technically speaking, I could sell these rings and the wolves would go with it to their new buyer, but that would be stupid. I already had the respect of the wolves by defeating in battle their previous Alpha, and surviving the bestowing of the powers of a freaking god into my body and soul. They were vague about what they could do, but I do not blame them, they are wolves.

Wolves rip, tear, and hunt their enemies. These wolves are capable of doing it in any terrain, and they are capable of manipulating ice. They even serve as transportation for their Alpha, something that I would have to inquire a little bit more. I don't think, they mean it in the sense that they would be like a steed; sure, they are big enough to carry several people on their backs, and I am sure that they could grow bigger, but something tells me that using them as beasts of burden would be a very stupid move.

Imitating the wolves, I raised from the throne and much to my amazement, the entire structure and a lot of the ice surrounded the room and beyond, disperse as a finalized spell, illuminating the air for a second before becoming Ethernano once again.

"Uh", was the incredible intellectual remark that I made at the image, but I frowned when I felt something settling back within me. It was the same sensation that I have with Icebreaker but on a grander, more powerful scale. Still, a drop in my magical reserves returned and I felt better for it.

"Skoll, Hati, any ideas about what just happen?", they were the foremost experts on what I inherited from the slain god, so, they could have an idea of what have I felt or done.

"The Throne of Ice", echoed the wolves, "The seat of power of the old Alpha".

Ah, so the throne that I baptized with my blood was a freaking artifact, something that a god used to store, channel and empower his divine ice-based powers, good to know. Now it was mine and that was fucking incredible, but I was not a fan of those kinds of surprises. More often than not, lollygagging around with [Lost Magic] was a sure recipe for a disaster.

More training to be done.

Shuffling a bit with my [Re-equip], that has grown quite a bit thanks to the infusion of magic power that I have, I took out the communication Lacryma that I use for communicating with the rest of the Guild. It was safer to tell about my new status to Makarov, and to inform of the result of my mission. I still have to deliver the package with the proof that Phantom Lord was up to no good.

The lacryma shined for a bit as I channeled magic into it, trying to set up communication with the lacryma inside the Guild Hall in Magnolia. It did not take long to connect, something that I was glad for, I didn't know what hour was it, I was underground and lacked any time reference. One of these days, I have to remember to buy a freaking magic clock. I had anything imaginable inside of my [Re-equip] due to my acute paranoia about any job, and I forgot about a bloody clock to check out the hour.

The beautiful face of Mirajane appeared in the lacryma and I smiled at her.

"Hello sweetheart", I saluted.

"Gray!", she screamed looking at me with relief and surprise.

I saw myself in the ice around me when I was checking out for changes due to my lacryma infusion, but leaving apart a lot of extra muscle, and being couple of inches taller, I had not physically changed at all, so I was a bit surprised by her reaction.

"Aye, it´s me", I raised an eyebrow, "something wrong Mira?".

"Something wrong?", she repeated with incredulity, "you disappeared for weeks and you had the gall to say that if something is wrong?!", she screeched the last part.

Uh, Ah, fuck, that was unexpected, also, Shit. Mira doesn't take well when the guild mages just disappear, it reminds her way too much of her deceased sister, Lisanna, in a disastrous S-Class mission. Mira took her two siblings with her during an S-Class mission, and it ended up in a clusterfuck of epic proportions, where Lisanna ended up dying. That mission still irked me, I looked up for Lisanna´s body, for the funeral, but her entire body disappeared, just like that. That was not fucking normal, even in a world like this, so I kept my cards close to my chest and my mouth shut and made some very discrete inquiries. So far nothing conclusive has come and that made me hope for a happy ending somewhere on the future.

Despite that, Mira had a complete change of personality, and even if I stood at her side all the time and she kept her [Satan Soul], she no longer took S-class jobs and preferred to be at the Guild´s bar, being the big sister and mama bear of the entire Guild.

"Sorry Mira", I apologize first and foremost, "but what do you mean with weeks?. I have ended the job that I spoke with Master Makarov, and I was preparing to get back to the Guild...", oh, aye, I have been unconscious for an unknown amount of time, but considering the wolves napping in front of me, I assumed it was for maybe a day at most, not entire bloody weeks.

"Gray, its been almost a month since you made that call", informed Mira with worry in her eyes, she had caught my silence. "Where are you, are you okay?".

"I...", I had a lot to tell, bloody hell, this an unexpected complication. "I am fine Mira, I will be back in the Guild soon; I will pick up the train in that city that holds the Guild master meeting, and from there directly to Magnolia, with luck, I will be there by tomorrow or the day after that".

"Gray, what happened, why did you disappear like that?", even if there was relief in her voice, Mira was still worried about my disappearance. Her traumas still run deep.

"It was an accident Mira", it was something close to the truth. "There was something fishy with my job, I informed Master Makarov about it and we decided what to do, when I was dealing with the aftermath of the job, something unexpected come by and push me to my limits, but don´t worry your pretty head, I will be there soon, you have my word".

"And you never give up on your word", chuckled Mira with relief all over her face, mixed with curiosity and a hint of worry.

"You gave us quite the scare", she looked at me and I could see in her eyes that the phantoms of her pasts were on the verge of her conscience, digging very bad thoughts, "even Master Makarov started to feel that something must have gone wrong but he never told any of us what happened or what was your mission, only that you were hunting magical beasts in the Frontier".

Bollocks. For Mira, a mission in the frontier, especially one with Magical beast involved, could be eerie similar to the one where she lost her sister. It hit close to her heart, but I was alive and well, so she had nothing to worry about.

"Ey, don't go there sweetheart, I am alive and well, and soon I will be there, okay?", I cut short the dark musings of Mira, that was not how she should be, or at last, not with me around to say something on the matter.

"Okay", she smiled, really grateful that it all ended up in a scare. "I´ll see you soon".

It has been a while since any of our Guildmates kicked the bucket during a job. Fairy Tail had about a hundred or so affiliates all over Fiore, with the main hall in Magnolia. In the last years, that I knew off, there have been no casualties among the mages of our guild.

"Absolutely", I smiled back and cut the communication, I wanted to talk to Makarov, but I was a month late and it was something that annoyed me.

The Throne of Ice was the artifact that had implanted the lacryma in me, and that had healed me into a perfect state. I really have to investigate what exactly can do the bloody thing before I accidentally activate one of his functions and freeze someone to death. Also, I have to prepare my workshop at home, Icebreaker needed a tune-up and an upgrade to turn it into a real game-changer. Also, I really should start looking for a new home in the forest, I can not keep Skoll and Hati in town, they would hate the place. Also, I need to be back to the basics with my magic. I was the perfect Ice mage now, well, unless I managed to get my hands in Ice dragon slayer lacryma, but that would be a bit too much.

Those are a lot of Alsos, but, ain't no rest for the wicked, as the song goes.

"Skoll", I called to the ring on my right hand and the ring glowed blue for second, signaling that the wolf was up and paying attention. "What exactly do you mean with the phrase, carry the Alpha?".

Turns out, they literally carry me on their backs; Skoll in this particular case; running over the ground, water and even flying as the wolves could run over the air as it was solid ground. They are incredibly fast, way more than me when I go full out.

It was an easy task; now that the ice has gone, but the high-quality lacrymas were still there; to exit the mines. The wolves knew the mines by heart and they took me to another exit, as the one that the village used had collapsed due to the battle between me and the god. With time, they could open a new path into the mines, but the galleries that I walked on collapsed, burying the path under tons of rubble and raw lacryma.

That would be a nightmare to clear, especially since all magic used for it would be stored by the lacryma, provoking a chain reaction or forever tainting the quality of the raw mineral. Anyhow, I exited the mines and smiled widely at the fresh hair of the morning forest saluting me and look out for any references that I could use to orientate myself.

After locating in the distance one of the garrisons of the frontier, I realized that I was on the other side of the mountain. The mines could spread all over the mountains, taking advantage of the natural tunnels and turning it into a tunnel network that connected the entire mountain range. The king of Fiore is going to have a heart attack at the idea of a tunnel network that could connect Fiore and Seven out of any jurisdiction and vigilance. If one drilled a bit more, they could even expand to Bosco and Iceberg. This place was the wet dream of smugglers all over the world.

My pack informed me that the battle with the god collapsed a lot of the tunnels, making the entire network collapse in various points, still, I should really invest a bit in setting up a vacation home in the village. Just to keep an eye in the mines, and that a smuggler ring does not try to set up shop inside of the mines. There is more than enough high crystal lacryma to turn the village into a prosperous town, so I will be the first one to invest on it.

But first, I have to get back to my Guild and face the music. I was sure that as soon as they realize that I was in one piece, all the teasing and laughing for my infamous photo and interview was going to return back with a vengeance.

That, and Mira´s attempt to drag me into a photoshoot to turn me into the next Mister Fiore. Not even in a bloody joke, sure, the attention of beautiful females is always welcome, but I don't need fangirls, those are a bane to anyone´s existence.

With my experience, it was easy to ride the wolves, that are my summons and my pack now, and soon found myself enjoying the experience to run with the pack. I even stopped the run back to the train station to hunt together. It was already evening and it would be the perfect moment to make a stop, camp in the forest and hunt together for the first time.

Skoll and Hati enjoyed the outside as much as I do, and when I spoke to them about the hunt, I could tell that they were excited about the idea. Their fluffy tails were a complete giveaway of their mood. That, and that I was capable of reading their body language with absolute easiness.

The hunt was one of the most exhilarating experiences that I had in a while. Hunting with my pack, the rush of adrenaline, the muscles straining to hunt down the prey, the infinite second of the killing blow and the howl of victory over the carcass of the prey. Skoll and Hati were as delighted as I was. Our teamwork was incredible and I didn't doubt when the killing blow has to be made, proving my worth as an Alpha.

That night we dinner well, the roasted venison; with extra honey thanks to the supplies that I always kept in my [Re-equip]; was delicious and Skoll and Hati enjoyed their first real meal in way too long. The occasional beast that wandered inside, one of the mages of Phantom Lord lost his arm to them, and the very occasional magical beast that wandered too far was their usual diet. Sweet roasted venison was not something that they ate every day and they feasted on the venison with enthusiasm.

I sleep with the stars as a mantle and the sides of Hati as a bed.

On the morning, I made a stop at a frozen river to clean myself up and after freezing the water over my body and shackle it off, I picked up clothes from my personal storage dimension; I understood why Erza loved it so much, it was exceptionally useful; and dress myself as a normal person. Skoll and Hati got back to their ring mode and stood on watch. They shared my senses and could feel whenever I required their aid.

Buying the newspaper at the train station, I saw the news about how Master Makarov and Jose Porla had a very vehement disagreement. That made me frown, I really hoped I was not responsible for that, sure enough, I had enough proof with me to made Porla land in seriously hot waters with the Council. The rest of the news was pretty much the same, some scarce news about revolutions in Desierto, another crime boss executed in Joya, and the creation of an alliance between the Heartfilia and a noble house of Fiore.

Frankly, business as usual.

It has been a while since I traveled outside of Fiore, I combed Earth Land looking out for something that I never found, but I discovered marvels and nightmares all over the place. I had more than enough on my plate with Fiore for the moment, so I was not interested in dealing with anything that did not affect my Guild directly. That being said, I was sure that shit was going to come directly at Fairy Tail at some point or another, it´s actually almost like a curse.

I took a nap during the train travel, meditating about what I am going to say to the rest of the Guild. With my new power, I was sure that I could measure up to an S-class mage, but my control over the magic was still up to debate. I needed to test my limits and my magic power a lot. It came from a lacryma inside my body, implanted by an artifact with the blessing of a slain god. It sounded crazy just in my head, I don't really want to know how it could sound spoken outoud.

Once I reached Magnolia, I had a smile on my face. It was late afternoon so I knew that most of the Guild would be already moving to their homes for dinner. The usual suspects would be Cana, Mira, Erza, Natsu, Loke, Macao, Wakaba, Warren, Jet, Droy, Levi, Elfman and maybe Laxus on the second floor.

I was tempted to just walk right to my home and be on the Guild first thing in the morning, but I promised Mira that I would be there as soon as I arrived at the city, and I am a man of my word. My word is freaking sacred, its one of the things that I carved in stone during my growing years, and that has allowed me to keep myself in check from time to time.

Makarov recognized how freaking dangerous I really was when I was a kid, the kind of mind that I have, and that allows me to walk into the darkness, slain monsters, and be back for dinner between laughs as if nothing worthy of note has happened. Before I became Gray, I walked right in front of the world´s nightmares and sing them a lullaby with a big hammer, so, I knew how much the shadows are needed to maintain the light.

On my walk to the Guild, I passed through some stores and businesses that I frequent, saluting the owners or workers before they close up for the day. They were happy to see me again and asked about what had happened to me, Guild business seemed to be enough answer for all of them. Thanks to publications like Sorcerer Magazine, the civilians tended to have an idealized version of what the mages life really was, but reality was nothing like the rainbow and sunshine that those publications preached about.

Taking advantage of the walk, I bought some dinner for Skoll and Hati, I do hope they like the fifty kilos ribs that I had bought for them.

The Guild was a bit silent when I reached the doors, the climate of the day had made the Guild to left the doors open to get some fresh hair inside, and I did not listen to the usual brawl or shouting going on. Well, it was late afternoon, so it was not all that unusual, without Natsu around to start brawls, the Guild tended to be a bit quieter.

Slipping inside without making a sound, I moved to a dark corner of the room and silently watched who was inside.

Macao, Wakaba, Cana, Mest, and Loke were playing cards and having a drink in one of the round tables of the hall. In another table, Jet and Droy seemed to be trying to call the attention of Levi that was deeply engrossed on a book, and on the left corner of the room, Laki was nicking the details of a wooden doll. On the bar, Mira was humming to herself as she put up some tankards and cleaned up some of the dustiest bottles of the top shelves of the bar.

The biggest magical signatures that I was picking up was Mira, and Makarov in his office. Neither, Erza, Mystgun, Gildarts, or Laxus were around this time. Laxus was a usual troublemaker but the rest of the S-class were not much around the Guild except Erza, who was a disciplinarian, and was always verbally lashing at inappropriate actions of the Guild mages.

Discretely I slipped into my usual corner at the bar and took a sit in the stool, watching Mira clean up and hum to herself a cheerful tune. This is the Mira that I prefer, although, I knew that the scars ran deep in her, and they are still healing, even after all the time that has passed.

I smiled to myself and….fuck, I lost my shirt again somewhere, I really liked that white shirt, it is the eleventh this, well, I do not count the time that I was out cold in the Throne of Ice; in a resume, I lost a lot of clothes. Good thing I managed to train myself to do not lost my pants or my boxers, that would be an embarrassment that I would never survive.

Settling comfortably in the stool, I leaned over the wall of the corner of the bar, and with amusement in my voice I called in for a drink.

"A whiskey on the rocks Mira, please", I petitioned to the barmaid.

Mira nodded, answered with a short and cheerful "coming right up" and walked to the shelves where the whiskey was.

"Three, two, one...", I counted in a low voice, entirely bemused by the actions of my friend, and then she suddenly froze with the hand reaching to my usual brand of whiskey.

Her face turned to me and I saluted back, smiling all the time, I swear that I listened to her brain kicking into gear once more, smiling widely and jumping at me with her arms open calling my name in loud voice.

"Gray, you are back!", she shouted and hugged me. I was strong enough to hug her back and kept her to fall back into the bar.

Her emotional shout called the attention of the rest of the present in the Guild that reacted in equal surprise and soon rushed to the bar to see me.

Between welcomes, questions, and the inevitable teasing about my recently acquired infamy, I have to admit that it was a very touching moment. When I started the tale of what the heck happened, all the Guild members; Makarov included, as he has listened to the commotion and came to see what happened; were already at the bar, taking a seat at the stools and listening to my tale.

"Over the paper, it was a bloody cakewalk", I snorted, really tasting the alcohol. "The usual, magical beasts attacking frontier villages, and the Rune Knights from the frontier not giving a shit about that".

"Bah, they are never around when you need them", groused Cana drinking from her barrel.

"Cana, the Rune Knights are important you know", grumbled Mest.

"The only magical beasts that I found were wolfdillos", I continued, taking a piece of the armor of the dillos that I have skinned out for alchemy purposes, and to sell parts of them to the local craftsmen. I will give Mira a sample, to see of Elfman can use his [Takeover] on it. "I dispatch the majority of the pack and the rest moved out of the territory, so I supposed that, that would be it, then I reached the village and the situation went FUBAR".

"So, what was in the village?", asked Laki, who was completely drooling at my muscles but trying to dissimulate otherwise. I pretended I was not seeing it. Cana was enjoying her eye candy quite openly.

"A jurisdictional problem that is going to become a political, financial, and territorial problem in the future", I foretold, and I had all the reasons in the world to say that.

Due to the blinking expressions of my Guildmates, I took out of my [Re-equip] the package with the proofs and I slipped it over the bar table to Makarov.

"Proof, more than enough to get a massive amount of shit to hit the fan in the faces of whom we talked", I said to Makarov and the old man smiled widely when I explained what was inside.

"So you managed to get it done after all, incredible Gray", sighed Makarov, "although, I take that you already knew of what happened during your absence".

"I sincerely hope I am not responsible for that", I confessed to the old man and he shook his head.

"Be at ease, it was something that has been brewing for a while", Makarov picked up the package and stored inside his jacket, "my actions only aggravated it".

"Shit", I resumed very eloquently.

"You start talking sane or I am going to bitch slap you", Cana looked at me with a scowl. She was hot even when she was mad.

"Sorry", I apologized to her with one of my smug smiles and she huffed.

"Anyhow", I resumed the tale, "with that out of the way what I discovered in the small village was an illegal mining operation".

"Oh, in the noses of the frontier garrisons?", asked Macao, "that is risky".

"And stupid", added Wakaba, "the Rune Knights are not precisely tolerant".

"An illegal lacryma mining operation", I added and everybody blinked again.

"That´s...okay, that´s is a very profitable business but a sure method to end up rotting in jail for the rest of their lives", Mest stiffened, "but I am sure that Gray has left something out of his tale that would turn the entire situation into an even worst debacle".

"Oh, nothing much", I smiled in a joking manner, "only that the village had a legal guild branch right there, and the mages on the branch had forced the villagers to work on the mines".

Cana spat her drink along Macao, Mira was with her mouth hanging and the rest were on similar states of shock.

"What the fuck?", was the shout of Mest. Mest was usually very well mannered and well-spoken but on this occasion, even he lost his composture. "How?. Under the bloody noses of the Rune Knights of the frontier. Oh, the paperwork for that is going to be a nightmare", groused Mest.

"You tell me", almost cried Makarov that was the poor soul that had to write all that paperwork before I gave him the proof to back up that claim.

"Did they hurt you so bad you need a month to recover?", asked Mira with worry in her voice, something that turned the minds of everyone on the fact that a legal guild had attacked and possible almost killed another legal guild mage. Entire Guilds had been disbanded even with just an accusation of that.

"Nay", I shook my head, "they were only four, and they were the scraps of the barrel", I snorted at the memory of how I put them down for the count with absurd easiness. "Nay, the problem came when I entered into the mine".

"As the job stated, there were magical beasts inside, but there was something more down there", I scratched my chest and my arm twitched in phantom pains for the beating that I took during the battle. "It pushed me through my limits and beyond and after being beaten black and blue, I managed to snatch a victory, but I fade to black, and the next thing I know is that I have been a month out of commission".

"What on Earth did you fight down there, my dude?", asked Droy, as scared as the rest.

I was relatively powerful compared with the rest of my Guild. I have never go all out against any of them, fearing that one single slip could maim them or worse, I left that for any cretin that dared to become our foe, but nonetheless, I stood among the top mages of the Guild without being an S-class.

"Something seriously strong", I said with a somber tone. I am still looking at clues about who was the god that I slew, but the only clues are ice, Icebreaker, impossible strength, Skoll, Hati the Throne of Ice and being an old deity that gallivanted the land before even the foundation of the country.

"You are back, that´s all that matters", smiled Makarov raising his tankard of beer. "Cheers to you, Gray".

I raised my glass, something that the rest of the group soon imitated.

"I am home, Guild Master", I said in laughs and everyone joined me.

"You are a lucky bastard you know", smirked Cana teasingly, "you disappeared for a month and when you get back, you came back turned into an even bigger, hotter, stud".

Laki, Mira and Levy nodded, much to the displeasure of the other males, except Makarov and Mest that chuckled for themselves.

"Am I?", I asked really surprised, "I think I am the same".

I eyed myself and even though I knew that my [Ice God Slayer magic] had carved my muscles into absolute perfection, I prefer to play the dense card about them. I walked around half-naked every day, self-consciousness about my body was not really an issue.

"Gray, you were ripped before, but now, boy, those are carved in diamond", she licked her lips in appreciation making Laki and Levi blush, and Mira giggle in amusement.

"Joey is going to pester you for your training routine", commented Mest analytically, "his magic depends on his physical fitness, and you had him beat".

"Happy to help a fellow guild mage", I shrugged.

"On that note...", started Mira with a sly tone.

"Nay, I am not going to accompany you to any photo shoots", I vehemently denied, but I can see that Mira totally believed that, and just smiled in that manner of hers, knowing that at some point I would relent and cave to her wishes.

"Your photo is already on my daughter´s wall", Wakaba shot a piercing glare to me. He was a dad after all.

"And in mine..." whispered Laki, and I preferred to pass on that comment.

"Speaking of the photo and the interview with it", suddenly looked at me Levy, "Gray, how good are you with rune magics?", ah, yes, I did tell Jason that I was quite proficient with runes. They are one of the most versatile magic that exists but runes are very difficult to master.

"Good enough", I shrugged, "I specialize in [Futhark Runes]".

"Those are among the top tiers", Levy smiled and I swear her eyes shinned, "wait for a second, I need you for something", she suddenly raised from her stool and run to where she had all her books.

"Any clues about was going on?", I directly asked the peanut gallery that followed her all around.

"No idea", scratched the back of his head sheepishly Droy, "Levy tries to teach us some of her magic, but we barely understood the basics".

"Here!" she was back and presented me with an open book.

Raising an eyebrow, I took a sip from my glass and turned my attention to the page. Uh, it was rune script, sure enough, but there was something odd with the placement of the letters. This is curious, I swear that I have read this before.

"Give me a second", I commented to Levy; who was watching me along the rest of the Guild; before taking my [Gale-force reading glasses], a pen and a notebook from my storage and proceed to take the book from her hands and read the pages that she had opened.

Oh my, I recognized the tale, is a very, very, bastardized version of the Edda, but from a sorcerer that was on the sidelines.

Bollocks.

This is bullshit, there is a step by step manual about how to build a [Homunculus] written on this book. A very detailed and precise recipe about how actually build a human body; male and female, at the mages discretion; with even extra tips about how to insert lacryma during the process to make the creation able to use magic. This was [Futhark Runes], [Necromancy], [Alchemy], and [Soul magic] all together into something as impressive as utterly disgusting.

Forging fake humans and fake souls to have fake mages that are little more than meat puppets. I am of a mind to find however wrote this bullshit and shove their own heads up their asses. How it can not be otherwise, when I passed pages back to the beginning of the book, I found the bloody name.

Zeref.

Part of my disgust must have been shown in my face because I raised my eyes from the book and look at the worried expressions of the rest of the presents in the Guild. Levy was even more distressed, as she was the one that has presented the book to me.

Sighing, I took my glasses out, closed the book, drained my glass in a gulp and signaled Mira for a refill; she did in a second, looking at me with a serious expression on her eyes, I nodded and turned to the rest.

"Levy, this book is an abomination", I did not sugar-coat it.

"Uh?", she blinked, "but is the memories of a sorcerer of an ancient empire", she explained to me. "I was translating the saga of a hero that died to save the love of her life".

"Pages twelve to two hundred", I nodded and Levy stared at me, those are the exact pages were that tale is been told.

Taking the book, I took the pen and quickly scratched the notes about what pages and what exactly contained the rest of the book. I pass her the book and the notes back, I had the utmost confidence in that Levy will found the contents as disgusting as I.

She curiously took the book and read the notes that I have made, going green by the second. That made the people stiffened. Levy was a clever girl and has read a lot, whatever was in that book must really be something nasty to made her look like that.

"Is there a chance that you are mistaken in your translation?", Levy softly asked me and I drained my second glass before resting it atop the counter top.

"Aye", I sighed, and she looks a bit more positive, but I was not done. "That is a really old country rune grammar, and I mean really old, whoever wrote this was older than Fiore", I explained and my words did raise some eyebrows. "For the vast majority is a very good tale, but for the last hundred pages, well, you can read on my notes what is on those pages".

"Why?", she whined, "how can anybody do that?".

"Page five, right corner, co-author, read it as if you were reading old Iceberg", I pointed out to her.

She obeyed, opened the book, flip the pages and scanned the text, for a second she paled and widened her eyes, before closing the book again, biting her lip and muffled some tears. I really hated myself for that, but the less she interacts with that thing, all the better, I am surprised that, that thing, has not turned to be a bloody demon of Zeref in hiding.

"I am sorry sweetie", I softly called to her.

"What´s the book about?", intervened the voice of Makarov and I knew that it was not the cheerful old man speaking, but the Guild master.

Levy left the book on the wooden bar and took a seat in her stool her teammates were there for her, but I felt like as shit anyway. She was convinced that she had found the tale of a hero, a clue about Lost magic that the hero used, and instead she had found the play-by-play handbook of the worst dark mage ever.

I smashed my fist over the book, that made some of them flinch, before looking at Makarov and answering his question.

"Is a bastardized version of the tale of an old hero, Siegfried, but under the prism of a sorcerer", I was already an abomination just for that. "However, from the pages two hundred and twenty and onward, it is a precise, detailed, and explicit manual about how to build an [Homunculus], a magic capable homunculus".

Mest look as if someone has kicked in the bollocks, Mira gasped and paled, Makarov almost choked on his beer, Loke´s expression was of pure contempt and Macao looked as if someone has pissed on his beer.

"Excuse me, for the rest that we are not all that versed, what is a homunculus?", asked Laki. She was an exceptional [Wood Make] mage but dark magics are not her forte. Thank the gods for that.

"A fake human, a complete abomination". Answered Loke with disgust in his voice. I have only seen him like that whenever he saw someone injuring a woman.

"A flesh doll", I explained to Laki in terms that she could understand and I saw her recoil a bit at the idea, "grown through dark arts, and infused with a semblance of life. A golem made of the flesh and the soul of humans".

"Oh, god", Jet and Droy were now as green as Levy.

"That dark magic had no place in Fairy Tail", sentenced Makarov with a sliver of his real power backing those words. His power made us stiffen by the sheer presence of the old man. Dwarf he may be, his magical power is titanic.

"I will take care of this", I took the book and put into my [Re-equip], "Fairy Tail had already enough bad rep with the Magical Council as we are, this book will only add more wood to the bonfire".

Seeing Levy like a kicked puppy was something that only made me felt even worse.

"Lets trade", I said to Levy, taking an old book out of my storage. It was one of those books that I was unable to decipher, a collection of tales and myths from Desierto, but written in the picture like letters of Desierto, I did know nothing about that type of letter.

"This is the tale of the origins of Desierto", I offered the book to Levy whose eyes sparkled with interest, "I am unable to decipher the picture like letters", I confessed with honestly, "you, on the other hand, are more than capable of fixing that".

"Thanks, Gray", she said accepting the book.

"You are welcome sweetie, and again, I am sorry", I apologized again.

"It´s not your fault", she smiled back at me.

"That went dark", sighed Laki, "I am almost afraid of asking him about his woodcraft".

I was about to answer when Cana interrupted by letting her barrel over the bar.

"I need a drink after that", everyone deadpanned at her, seriously, I can hold my alcohol, but about twenty percent of the Guild´s alcohol consumption goes down her throat, and she was still fine as a fiddle and looking like a wet dream.

"And seeing that you are the responsible for souring the mood, you are coming with me to our favorite shady bars", Cana pointed at me with a predatory smile. I have hang out with her more than enough times to know where this is going. I am going to be a lot poorer by the end of the night.

"I thought this was your favorite bar", pouted Mira at me, instead of Cana, knowing that I was weaker to her puppy eyes.

"And it is", I nodded, "but you are not open during the night", I pointed out and Mira huffed, unable to refute that, she was not a 24/7 service, she had a life as a mage and as a person as well.

Macao, Wakaba, Cana, Loke and I walked out of the Guild to our watering holes, after giving our goodbyes to the rest of the mages of the Guild around. I even managed to have a short chat with Makarov about my new status and that I was going to be busy for a while after my return.

I promised Levy and Laki to help with their book and with her woodcraft and I managed to worm my way out of the traps that Mira was tossing at me to accompany her to her modeling jobs. Mest was interested in knowing who was the legal guild to never get involved with them in any jobs along with the location of the mine. The bastard had the same idea as me, and wanted to be one of the first investors on-site.

Our little party drank his merry way into all the night bars of Magnolia. We knew most of them already, and the locals did receive us well. Not only for the jewels that we bring, but for the extra security that I brought to the place whenever I was on then. No one started anything with me in the bar, I was a very efficient, brutal, and swift bouncer that had zero time to deal with assholes when I was looking out for some relaxation.

The first ones to call it a day were Macao and Wakaba, the older men were heavy drinkers as well but lacked the inhumane resistance of Cana and me. Loke found a clique of ladies to woo on our second bar, and was soon twirling his way into the feminine company. Cana and I being the last ones took a detour for our favorite hole in the wall, and enjoyed a quiet and nice drink on it.

The night ended in my house, something that I have already suspected. What surprised me is that Cana has been living in my house for the last weeks. She had a copy of the keys of my home and from time to time, she checked out that everything was fine. That, and to have a secondary home where to sleep her hangovers.

Cana lips tasted like the finest whiskey. She has been drinking with me from the same bottle and her lips kept the flavor; I kept kissing her, loudly making out at the entrance of my home. Our tongues mixed and twirled, both savoring the other as if we were the finest wine we have ever drink.

I carried Cana inside easily, lifting her up with my hands and squeezing the fine booty that she had during the process; without stopping our kissing. The tongue of Cana was as playful as she was, it was teasing mine, twirling and exploring my mouth, before she sucked on my tongue, promising the same treatment to another piece of my anatomy.

Fair was fair, I replied in kind, kissing her with passion and winning our little tongue duel by overwhelming hers and sucking on her lips like it was the last night of our lives. Cana was already very wet, I could feel it through her pants and my cock was already half erect.

Clothes fly; not that there were that many to begin with, and I deposited a still dazed Cana over my bed, drinking the picture of her pleasure hazed eyes and voluptuous figure. I kissed my way down her neck, collarbone and right into her big breasts, two beautiful orbs that I proceed to taste to the fullest. I knew Cana´s sensitive spots by heart, and I knew that she really enjoyed it when I softly nibbled and sucked on her nipples. My left fingers played with her left breast, paying special attention to her nipple, meanwhile, my mouth was latched on her right breast making her moan and hug my head in pleasure.

For a bit, I continued with such a treatment, much like the first time; when we offered each other our virginity; I was making sure that Cana was surrounded by pleasure, overwhelming her senses with lustful sensations before pounding her tight and velvety core with relentless assaults.

She protested in a whine when my left hand abandoned her breasts, but her whine died in a hiss of pleasure when my left hand found the labia of her pussy and started to play with her engorged clit. I was cheating, of course, I had my hand covered in a layer of magic that made her clit way more sensitive, making her pleasure centers go wild.

Cana tried to resist, to take me out of her breasts and kiss me again with passion and lustful desires, but she muffled her orgasmic cries with our kiss. Squirting like a fountain, she lost her strength and licked my lips, glowing with desire and joy. That was just the start for me. I lowered myself to her pussy and without any warning I let my tongue penetrate into her core, looking out for that sweet spot that I have more than once used to make her cry my name to the high heavens.

Good thing my sleeping room is soundproofed, otherwise, Cana´s screams and guttural moans would have attracted quite the public.

Like a painter, with my tongue as the brush and the wet and tight inner walls of Cana as canvas, I draw a picture of carnal delights, licking deeply into her and coating her sweet spots with my magic, flaring them up like fireworks. At this point Cana was putty in my hands, the pleasure was enough to make her grip my head and be unable to make any coherent words beyond, oh god, more, yes, and other assortments of expressions that indicated her complete approval of my actions.

Cana juices; she cum four times in the time that I have been performing cunnilingus on her; were actually delicious, they had a spicy taste that I liked. Releasing my tongue from her puffing pussy, I positioned ourselves in the mating press position and smiled when Cana saw my erection pointing like a spear to her already sensitive twat, her eyes widened, but her dazed out expression and her tongue hanging out of her mouth was all the clues I needed to know that she was putty in my hands.

"Gray...no, its too big", she mumbled and try to move out of the position that I had us on. She hated to be submissive, but she was already on her fifth orgasm, just with foreplay, and I was not even begun to make love to her.

I kissed her and penetrated her in one single thrust, hitting her G-spot right off the bat. Her orgasmic howl would have shattered the windows, but I had her mouth invaded with my tongue. She was in cloud nine by this point, and just hugged me, pushing my head into hers to have a deeper french kiss. Like animals in heat, I kept pounding her pussy, jackhammering her g-spot until she lost all coherent thought and just went white-eyed and tongue out, drooling in a fucked silly mess.

Her vaginal grip was more than enough to made me cum like a fountain a couple of times, painting her insides with a tsunami of my white baby batter.

Good thing that I had draw a rune over her belly that would make her infertile for hours, and I drank a potion in the bar that would rend me infertile for a day. I was not prepared to be a dad, not now at least. I don't know about Cana, but I prefer not to play with fire and I played it safe. Cana and I were in a fuck-buddies relationship more than anything else.

Do I care about her?. Absolutely. She is one of the people that I care about the most about, but we are not in the usual couple relationship that people think about and instead we are sex-buddies sort of.

When Cana went completely limp, her brain overloaded by the constant orgasm, I extracted my meat pole from her delightful core and a veritable flood of infertile semen rushed out. Good lord, cleaning that up is going to be a chore tomorrow.

Sighing, I laid at the side of Cana, spooning her into my arms and covering ourselves with a blanket. Cana was out like a light, but the supreme smile of satisfaction that she had on her face and how she unconsciously cuddled in my chest made me smile widely.

That is a job well done.