Devils Fear when a Bad Mage goes to War

My depart to the front lines was not a quiet one.

My conversation with the Guild Master had deep emotional underlinings, I used words as weapons, and I inflicted a lot of pain to people that I really cared about. I spoke about their scars, about the pain and hurt that they had under their skins. I was a bastard like that, also, I was trying to prevent them to become a jagged mess.

I am a former Campione that has been traveling back and forth in time, participating in the worst conflicts that human and Heretic gods tossed at each other, always surviving and covered head to toe in the blood and guts of my enemies.

In resume, I was already totally nuts, but my fellow mages of Fairy Tail?. They are not. Some had dark pasts, or suffered a heavy loss, some are carrying a heavy burden over their shoulders, and others are simply broken like me, but in Fairy Tail, they have found a wonderful place where they could heal.

The latest bullshit of the Magical Council; necessary as it was; would have broken them. Especially Erza.

Nay, not even in a bloody joke. I will not allow that, so, I marched to war.

I had a week to set my business in order, and present myself at the rendezvous point where all the "volunteers" of the Guilds will join the Rune Knights and be sent to the front lines in Pergrande and Iceberg. I have zero doubts that I would be sent to Iceberg, the supposed HQ of Tombos and the source of his undead army.

During that week, several of the mages of Fairy Tail and I had some serious conversations, conversations that were a bit too emotional for my tastes, and that had some consequences that I did not predict. I never expected some of the revelations, never expected the emotions that I was sowing without me knowing. In the end, It was clear that I was as good in reading emotions as I thought.

Natsu and Happy were the first ones to crash through my door, I freeze them into two snowballs and took them outside, to the backyard where I trained, where we could have the "fist talk" that Natsu needed, to make him see what I was about to do.

I gave Happy some fish to snack on during the fist talk. More often than not, I have asked myself what the heck was the flying cat, but he was as part of Fairy Tail as I was, and I left it at that.

Damn, Natsu packs a nasty haymaker when he is angry, but at the end; between punches; I managed to convince him that I was adequate for the job and that I needed him here. Natsu brightened the day of the Guild with his presence and cheerful antics. I needed that right where it was.

Knowing that I had not much time, I called into my new home those that I called the closest to me.

Erza, Cana, Mirajane, Elfman, Loke, Levy, and Natsu; with Happy tagging along as they are inseparable. They were amazed by my new home and several commented on how impressive it was. Loke, being the only one with a bigger knowledge than the rest; thanks to his status as Leo, but I was not going to reveal that; commented that I had set up a lot of details from Iceberg´s and Isvan´s architecture. What could I say, the style fitted me well.

We dinned together and I explained to them not only my reasons but after asking them to swear secrecy on it, I revealed to them that I was a slayer. My red eyes were the marking of someone that has been turned into a Demon-Slayer, and that was I become, since a very, very, dark day years ago, when I discovered something that enraged me to the core.

I kept my God-slayer status in secret because I have not yet reached a point where I can use both magic freely. My devil energies and the inherited powers of the unknown god; whom I have yet to find a bloody clue about who he was; did not precisely mix well and I was relying on my more solid magic, like my [Ice Make], or my [Ice Magic].

The truth was the best lie, and I told them about the consequences of abusing Devil Slaying magic, and how Tombos, the Necromancer behind the undead attacks had all the traces of being a bloody demon. I was among the few individuals in Fiore that had any chance to put the devil down, permanently, before the undead plague spread to countries like Bosco and Seven. And from there on, into Fiore.

Their reactions were varied, but in their honor, I would say that they were more worried about me than anything else, something that really warmed my cold and dark heart. Natsu used his particular brand of logic to say that I was still Gray, I smelled the same, colder than usual, but Gray was the same, so there is nothing to worry about.

Freaking flame brain, he always managed to put things in perspective.

I explained to them all, what I felt, what I wanted, what I hoped and what I planned. Well, I left a lot of things under the carpet, I was hardly a good person, and I had knowledge in my head that shouldn't be there. Also, I was versed in the [Dark Arts] more than I would like to admit, and less than what I am comfortable with. Knowledge is power, use it well. I was honest with all of them, but as they respected my past, I respected theirs, only assuring them that I will try to always be there like I always have been.

All in all, it was a very emotive moment with the few that I dare to call friends.

Before my departure, Cana arrived at my home one evening, we talk, dinned, and have a lot of drinks. She told me that I was a bloody idiot, that I was going to get myself killed and that I was going to break a lot of hearts, that such a stud like me should never do this kind of stupid stunts. Well, she was drunk as hell, so I endured the rant and the venting of her emotions.

She also decided that she was going to ride me so thoroughly that I will be unable to walk, so I would not go to get killed in a stupid war. How I was going to reject such a wonderful offer?. Cana ride me in the cowgirl position, seeing her gorgeous body naked and sweating, as she did all she could to engulf my steel hard massive cock into her tight pussy, made me smile. Especially how she was moaning in pleasure, each time an orgasm hit her brain like a freight train.

Her breasts bounced at the rhythm of her pelvis going up and down, her breath ragged and intermixed with guttural moans and exclamations of pleasure. I grab her by her soft yet firm tights and redouble my efforts to spear her womb with my cock.

The orgasmic cries that came from that action spoke volumes of my success.

Cana went above and beyond, up to a point that when her hips could endure no more, she still asked for more, kissing me from atop of me and demanding to continue, to fuck her more. I saw no reason to deny her such a demand and I continued rutting with her, her fucked silly expression was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

The next morning, she demanded to be pampered as, in her words: "I have fucked her so well, that I have broken her pussy". That made me laugh a lot, but I compiled, and we passed all morning chatting, and in general, enjoying each other company.

I have already mentioned that among the ladies of Fairy Tail, the one that I had the most intimate relationship would be Cana, but we were not in a steady relationship. We have a lot of sex, sure enough, but there were no binds between us. The one with I hold the biggest emotional connection would be Erza, she and I had a long history, from when we were mere children and helped each other to try to overcome our traumas, to he social misunderstandings that Erza developed, and how a closet pervert she was. Erza had suffered a lot in her past, all her body language spoke of that, so I was the one that stood at her side no matter what. Well, me, Natsu, and happy.

On that note, on the very day that I was leaving to the coordinates provided to the Guild mages for the rendezvous with the Rune Knights, as the train was about to leave the station, Erza grabbed me by the collars of the white open jacket that I was wearing; it endure three hours before I lost it, I was proud of how much it lasted; and mashed our lips together.

That was heavenly, her lips tasted of strawberries and heaven, and I suck on them with passion, invading her mouth with my tongue and dominate hers, trying to convey a universe of love feelings into one kiss.

The motion of the train separated us, leaving a thick trail of saliva between our lips and tongues, leaving me with an open mouth and standing like an idiot in the last wagon of the train. I saw, and ear, the other witnesses of the event reactions at what Erza has done.

It varied between Loke´s jaws and glasses hitting the floor in surprise, Natsu and Happy imitating the scream painting, Mira and Elfman looking at Erza as she had two heads, Levy blushing a storm and giggling, and Cana whistling and shouting something along the lines of "Damn, you go girlfriend!", and how hot it has been.

I stood paralyzed and in cloud nine for a while, smiling like a bloody idiot; losing my white jacket in the process, by the way, bloody hell, I liked that jacket. Damn if the girl doesn't have the best pair of lips in existence. I always had lingering feelings for the redhead lady but I feared that any intimacy with Erza would be difficult due her, well, physical and emotional shell.

Turns out, she liked me too. I don't know why or when, or how in the fuck did I manage to seduce her, but I did. Kudos for me. Also.

What the bloody hell?!. Why?. I mean, I love her as well, but I, when did she?, er, I thought that...complete jumbled mess of hormones and thoughts colliding in my head, as I was still savoring the remnants of the french kiss that I have just shared with Erza.

Anyhow, once again, that demonstrated to me that I was not as clever and perceptive as I liked to think.

Recovering from the cataclysmic events of my world view being shattered to pieces, I composed myself and entered into the train. My wagon was at the beginning of the train, where the Guild mages will be traveling until we reached the station, and we joined the Rune Knights on their travel to Iceberg. If that is our final destiny. Some will be dispatched to Pergrande, and other to Iceberg, being an Ice Mage I was pretty sure I was a candidate for Iceberg.

Once I reached the mages' wagon, I realized that I was not the only one that pulled the "sent out someone who had the bigger chances to get back alive and relatively sane" card with the Magical Council.

Hibiki Laens from Blue Pegasus, Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale, Bacchus Groh from Quatro Cerberus, Boze from Phantom Lord, Araña Webb from Mermaid Heel, Dobengal from Sabertooth and Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail. From the Independent Guilds, Ulrik from the Southern Wolves. The presence of the mercenary was quite a surprise, but according to his own words, Mama; the Guild Master; detested the undead and sent Ulrik to quash the Necromancer responsible for all this like it was a bug.

Hibiki, I already knew, and the other mostly by reputation. Boze and Dobengal were unknown to me. There was only a woman among those that have been sent to this trap in the form of a job. She was a green-haired beautiful lass with a tight red skin suit that had a spider web motive. Quatro Cerberus was made mostly of men, Mermaid Heel was only made of female mages. A curiosity more than anything else, as Mira, Erza and Cana are proof enough that female mages could kick ass like the best of them.

I saluted Hibiki as I entered the wagon, the man was happy to see a friendly face. When I meet him, he believed that I was going to be a rival for the love of all the women of Fiore, but I left clear that I was not interested in Jenny; incredible hot as she was; and Mira was akin to a sister. So I was not in the way of his wooing attempts. Hibiki was delighted then, to have another gentleman around, convinced that I was a womanizer like him.

In less than a couple of hours with them, and I have a slight idea about why they are here. Still, after what happened in the last three months, I was not all that confident in my analytical skills.

Bacchus; a drunkard fighter, it was like seeing a kung-fu version of Elfman, S-class for what I am understood. Bacchus was a wild and free S-class fighter, more a martial artist than a mage.

Jura; a powerful Earth Mage, Lamia Scale had a lot of faith in the potential of the tall man, his mind was as rock-solid as his magic and that made him perfect for a place that required a lot of mental fortitude.

Dobengal, a bloody ninja. I could sense him in the corner of the room, without even saying a word and looking at us as if he was calculating the sizes of our coffins. Amateur.

Araña preferred to be left alone and she stood at the corner of the wagon, threading some white threads and in general being left at her devices in peace. If that´s what the lady wanted, that´s what the lady will get.

Boze was the stereotypical Phantom Lord stooge, as soon as we saw each other Guild marks we kept ourselves far from each other. Just in case, if Boze tried anything, I would have tossed him out of the window and claim that it has been an unfortunate accident.

Ulrik was loudly snoring on a sofa. The massive bearded man was snoring like a baby without any care in the world. He was taller than Joey and way more muscular, a veritable mountain of muscles and enough scars to scare anyone.

Hibiki, Jura, Bacchus and I were sitting around a round table and having a late breakfast and booze. Well, Bacchus and I were having the booze, Hibiki and Jura said that it was a bit too early for drinks, something that made Bacchus laugh and me shrug. I could drink this alcohol all day and I would not even felt tipsy. Ice Devil Slayer+ Ice God Slayer+a ton of Futhark runes + Giant magic+ self-modifications would do that to you.

In an inspiration, I showed Hibiki my rings and spoke about him about Celestial Spirit Magic, just too see if I managed to discover what happened between Leo and Karen Lilica, that ended up in the murder of the Blue Pegasus summoner. I accidentally stepped into a landmine, as Hibiki and Karen were lovers before her unexpected demise; but I managed to get the information that the Celestial Spirit of Karen, Aries, was snatched by the assassin.

No one knew what happened with Leo as Karen was incredibly distressed over that spirit before her demise.

Shit, it was possible that Leo accidentally killed Lilica?.

"Skoll, Hati, what could happen if a Celestial Spirit kills their own summoner, even if it is an accident?", I mentally asked my pack.

"A Celestial Spirit can not directly or indirectly cause the death of their summoner, Alpha", came their collective answer in a second.

Double shit, so, Leo killed Lilica by accident; don't know how; and ended up trapped in the material world. My theory about him either committing suicide by magical exhaustion or trying to left some child behind him to become the next Leo was gaining strength. I really would have loved to know more about all this beforehand, but this was Leo's decision and I hope that he will not do something stupid before I can come back and help with the disaster that he has made by accident. Celestial Spirits are not foolish beings, quirky as they can be, they are not idiots, so, what reasons could have Leo had at the moment to end up like this?.

Bollocks, I hate cliffhangers, but I can't do anything about it right now.

"One quick question, Iceman", called my attention Bacchus. He was calling me by the epithet that Jason gave me in Sorcerer Magazine, he was openly mocking me, as he was the only S-class here, except by Jura.

"What´s it puppy?", I replied by calling him by the nickname the other Guilds gave to Quatro Cerberus. Respect is earned, I agree, but starting with mockery is not going to fly by me. Curiously enough, it only made Bacchus talk with me more?. Quite an odd fellow.

"How come none of your S-class are here?", he asked me directly. "I mean, Iron Rock is here", he pointed out to the other S-class, "but the rest of you loot are run of the mill, I don't understand why such low keys were sent to this carnage".

Sighing, I twirled my drink and emptied my glass in one large gulp, this is going to be a long exposition.

"How much have you drink already?", I started first, I need some basis to work with.

"Not enough", grumbled Bacchus, "a bottle of this piss", Bacchus shook a bottle of sake in his hand. "Why?".

"To know how many brain cells do you still have left, and if I am going to need Hibiki´s [Archive Magic], and a chisel to engrave the info into your brain", I told him in a deadpan tone.

Hibiki chuckled, Jura, managed to suppress most of his smile, heck Araña giggled at the corner of the wagon. Bacchus laughed at the joke at his expense, but his smile turned dangerous and stared directly at me, letting his magic flood the atmosphere.

The rest tensed, but I was deadpanning, all the same, pouring myself another drink.

"You have cold feet", I said to Bacchus.

Of course, that made everyone blink and Bacchus pronounce a very clever, "uh?".

I pointed down, at the same time that I sipped from my refilled glass, freezing the content with my magic.

Bacchus and everyone that look down paled at the image.

Bacchus had two bear traps made of ice, ready to spring and torn his calves into shreds; along a very big hand cannon made of ice aiming directly at his crotch. Sure, Bacchus was fast, but I have set up this without a sound and he was not that fast, much less when there were less than six inches between his manhood and the cannon.

"That is an ice replica of a Mark VII Hades Magical hand cannon", I patiently explained in a bored tone. "It shots ice bullets the size of your middle finger at one hundred meters per second".

Clicking my tongue at the taste of the whiskey, it was actually not all that bad, I turned my attention to him.

"Now, are you going to act like a civilized person, or we are going to have Words", the last word came with a flare of my own magical power, that easily equaled Bacchus. The sudden collide of strong energies put everyone in on alert.

Araña missed a thread, Boze almost choke in his own spit, Dobengal had to catch himself before falling from his ninja position in the corner, Jura was stiff as a rod and Hibiki; despite her smile; was sweating bullets. Ulric was the only one still happily snoring. That didn't fool Skoll and Hati, but I was not going to blow his cover, if he wanted to play that way, so be it.

"Iceman indeed", said Bacchus and this time there was an inch of respect in his tone.

"Good, seeing that we are all friends here", my snark was more than enough to made Hibiki and Araña chuckle, "and in response to your question, I am here for the very same reasons that you do".

"Of all the presents here, you, Jura, and I are, possibly, the only ones that were chosen in our Guilds because we had A) the power and B) the mindset to walk into the abyss and walk back relatively sane".

Wetting my throat again with my whiskey I realized that I had the attention of the entire wagon, even the "sleeping" mercenary.

"Hibiki here is an invaluable intel asset, his [Archive Magic] works as the perfect intel gathering and information network for any military operation", I started resuming what I knew and what I assumed it was going to happen once we reached the Rune Knights command, if the commanders had two brain cells to rub together. "Blue Pegasus sent him because his abilities made him perfect for a cozy, and protected, job at any HQ the Rune Knights could set up".

"Araña and Dobengal are infiltration specialists", even without looking I knew that they were surprised by my judgment, it was relatively accurate. "Link them up with Hibiki and you will have eyes and real-time information of any place where they are".

"Boze...to be honest, I don't even want to know what kind of demented delusion had Porla running through his head this week", I deadpanned at the dark-skinned bald man, he growled but didn't deny my words. "I take he is from a secondary branch, someone of trust of an S-class or so, expendable, according to Porla, but with the talent to perhaps came back relatively intact".

Boze glasses almost feel out of his eyes, uh, I have fucking nailed it. I am good or what?.

"Jura is a walking siege engineer", I continued with my observations, the silence in the wagon was absolute. "Defense or offense, any powerful [Earth Mage] is a commodity among the military, one such as "Iron Rock" Jura will have the red carpet rolling for all the fortifications that the Rune Knights could need in battlefields".

"That left you, Ulrik and me", I counted the three mages left. "Frankly, that´s easy, we are front line vanguard troops, we jump into the fray and rip and tear until the work is done. I will dare to say that among all us, Ulrik and I are the only ones with real warfare experience".

There you are, come on mercenary, bite the bait.

"You are too young to know war", ah, hook, line, and sinker. Ulrik raised from his laying position on his couch, yawning and stretching his powerful frame. I was ripped but this man was a monster.

"The Seven Days of Shame of Caelum", my tone was cold and empty. The names that I was spouting were not a joke. "The Siege of Sesshat in Desierto, the Lava Revolt in Pergrande; take your fucking pick".

The mercenary stared at my eyes and I stared back. The tension between the two of us could have been cut with a knife, and at the edges of my senses, I could feel that the rest of the mages were already alert and prepared for anything. A rumbling sound was all that the mercenary did before cutting the eye contact and laid back again on the couch, closing his eyes and falling asleep again in seconds.

"You are a surprisingly experienced individual Gray-dono", commented Jura, seemingly impressed by my deductions, knowledge and power.

"Without honorifics, Jura, please", I waved the bald man with the Egyptian garbs.

"As you wish, Gray". Softly smiled the man.

"Well, now I know why Mira had you in such high esteem", chuckled Hibiki, pouring himself a drink to ease the tension. He may be a good mage, but among the present in the wagon, Hibiki was one of the less adequate front line fighters, and in such enclosed space, he was screwed.

"She and her accursed puppy dog eyes", I muttered under my breath making the people on the table laugh at my misery. "I should have never accepted her job offering, but I needed the money and that bloody wanker of Jason published that god dammed interview, with that accursed photo, and I knew that I was screwed".

"I thought you said that Mira and you were not an item", confessed Hibiki a bit confused.

"We are not", I instantaneously cut short that idea. "Mira and I grew together in the Guild, we are practically brother and sister. Frankly, if it wasn't for that bloody photo, the mere idea of me in a modeling photo session would have made all my Guild erupt in laughter".

"Well, thanks to Mira´s new enthusiasm, you set up a fire under Jenny´s competitive nature", chuckled the blonde gentleman, "she is more determined than ever to take the position of Miss Fiore from Mira".

Slamming the palm of my hand in my face, I grumbled.

"And Mira is determined to kept her title and make me take the Mister Fiore position from you", I ended up the line of thought and Hibiki smiled. "Don't fret, I don't even want, it, I am not going to be roped into another of those torture sessions ever again".

"Honestly, you cleaned up pretty well, it was refreshing to see new faces around" commented Hibiki, who was a professional model after all.

"Unless it is a bouncer or escort job, nay, not that classes of escort", I pointed at Hibiki before he could make a clever remark, "I am not going to endure more of all that freaking torture, I don't even know how you can endure it".

"Big bro Ichiya insisted and I ended up liking it", shamelessly confessed Hibiki and I stared at him in amazement. There was someone that did all that voluntarily, I will be dammed.

A mental note: found Ichiya and flay him alive. Erza is mine.

"That pretty face is not going to serve you much in the battlefield", laughed Bacchus draining another bottle, the man was going to drink the entire wagon by himself.

"As I have explained before, I will be very surprised if Hibiki is anywhere close to the battlefield", I joined Bacchus in emptying a new bottle of whiskey. This low key brand is tasty but like freaking water. "We three on the other hand", signaled Bacchus, the sleeping giant and myself, "are going to be neck-deep in the thick of the action a lot of times".

"Wild!" laughed Bacchus, already eager to fight.

His enthusiasm was something that I shared, up to a point. I knew what kind of disaster was waiting for us, it was not the first time that I have to deal with a zombie apocalypse, neither the first time that I have been at war in Earth Land. But it was the first time that I had to battle with the two things put together. The presence of Tombos, and individual that I was utterly convinced that it was a devil of Zeref, was just the icing of the cake.

My [Ice Devil Slayer Magic] would be the perfect counter for his devil status, although, I was not sure of what could be the magic of Tombos. The obvious answer would be [Necromancy], but that would be way too simple for a demon of Zeref. The devils of Zeref are artifacts enchanted with enough negative emotions and magic to force them into an enlightened state where they could create their own bodies and use magic around.

[Enchant Magic], a very useful but incredibly hard to master magic. Enchanting was akin to play god, you can infuse magical power into anything and give it all kind of traits; even sentience; and the ability to use its own magic, and there you are, you are the creator of worlds. That is, if you had enough juice to power it up. I tried my hand at it, and I was completely hopeless, I ended up shattering anything that I put my magic into, and the finer works of it was beyond my skill. I focused on [Dispel Magic], if I cant enchant, I could, at last, dispel the enchantment.

All in all, I give the presents in the wagon a fifty percent chance of walk out of this war without any everlasting sequels. Maybe some scars, some mental derangement, and the usual thousand yards stare that any veteran has.

Of all the wars that I have been in the past, in the end, the aftermath was horrible for the survivors. Soldiers, born, raised and trained for battle, are forced back into a society that despises them. I saw it in Nam, I saw it in Germany, I saw it in Afganisthan, veterans that had to give it all for their country were humiliated and insulted by the very same people that they have been bleeding for.

Its a very disheartening image; I was blessed with the kind of mind that defied common sense, I was, like practically all Campiones since the age of dawn, a moron. I had the balls, or the idiocy, to challenge a god and beat them in their own ways. I actually did the same in this world with the unknown god in the mines.

Three months and I have not yet found a single clue about his name. Nothing in Fairy Tail library, or my personal one, had revealed any light. Neither Magnolia´s library, the libraries that I consulted during my job with Mirajane, or when I discretely asked Levy and other knowledgeable individuals about legends and folklore of winter and ice gods of of the surrounding countries.

The rest of the travel in the train was nothing of the ordinary, we have hours before we reached the station where the Rune Knights and the Magical Council are setting up the reinforcements to be sent to Pergrande and Iceberg. Both countries are pretty big and had a lot of population. With a zombie apocalypse breathing down their necks, they need all the capable fighters that they could muster in the short amount of time that they have before Tombos launched another offensive.

One of the particular traits that I have noticed in most of the magics that affect a lot of individuals at the same time, or geography changing spells, is that once you kill the caster, the magic tended to fail quickly. It was like the old saying, cut the serpent head and the body will die. It went double for magics like Necromancy, and more often than not, powerful enchantments. Magic was powerful, aye, but never omnipotent and eternal, there is always a method to screw everything ten times over.

Leaving apart my strongly ice themed magic, I have tried to be versatile, and never be a one-trick pony, learning [Giant Magic] with Makarov, [Futhark magic] with Levy; although she was way more knowledgeable and savvy than me in other runes and languages; [Re-Equip] with Erza, more for its utility that for the impossible skill that she had with [Telekinesis] and [Re-equip]; and so on and so forth. Magic is not a tool, is energy, surrounding us, constantly, entering our bodies through the Ethernano, and transformed into the magical power that fuels all spells.

During the travel, I played a game of cards; more out of boredom than any other reason; with the rest of the mages. In the beginning, it was just me, Hibiki, Jura and Bacchus, but after a while, Araña and Boze joined the game. I created ice chips of different values to substitute jewels, none of us wanted to lose money so soon after leaving our Guilds. Speaking of money, the job was actually incredibly rewarding. I knew that S-class jobs were really profitable, but after I took my time to actually read the reward; the several million jewels reward, to be delivered at the end of the war, and if one was still alive; the prize was actually amazing. There was also an addendum about the rights to loot any magical gear that the Council considered clean enough.

It was still up to debate what would the Council consider what is legal enough to use, specially when we are speaking of a [Necromancer], but I had little doubt that all the mages involved in this mess would loot first, ask permission later. All Lost Magic suddenly found is carefully monitored by the Magic Council, however, even if they managed to get their hands in Lacryma infused sources of new magic, lost grimoires, or even ancient ruins with the teaching carved in the walls, at the end of the day it was upon the individual mages to do whatever they wanted with their magic.

Take for example [Fire Magic], it is one of the basics. Practically any two-bit mage is capable of becoming proficient enough in [Fire Magic] to found work in any Guild. Just with the basic, even the most average fire mage is more than enough to cause a lot of damage in a city, or kill a civilian with easiness. Then, compare such a bastard with Natsu, a freaking Dragon Slayer, a boy that could torch entire cities and reduce them to rubble if so what his wish. Yet, Natsu has never, ever, hurt any innocent with his magic. A flame that could burn dragons has never hurt an innocent.

The Magic Council can blab all they want about dangerous magics, yadda, yadda, yadda, but at the end of the day, the vast majority of magics are as dangerous as their users and no the other way around. Heck, Laki is a [Wood Make] magician, capable of turning a forest into a horrid nightmare, and she wants to be a carpenter. That being said, I have put down more than enough bastards that considered himself gods above cattle, only because their magic was a bit more than dangerous than the rest.

"Ey, Iceman", called me Bacchus between laughs as I fold this turn; my hand of cards this turn has been horrendous, "how come you know so well how the Rune Knights works?".

"Beg your pardon?", I raised my eyebrow and look out for some snacks that I had on my sides.

"After all that stuff you have said about who is going to go where", waved his hand Bacchus with a new bottle in his hands, I lost count of the numbers that he has drank so far. "You sounded like you knew how the Rune Knights works to a T, and that has been bugging me all this time".

Several eyes turned interested in my answer. It was not a secret that most of the Guilds tend to flip the bird to the Magic Council any time they can. The laws, restrictions and in general paranoia and control freaks of the Magic Council had grated the nerves of all mages of Fiore at one point or the other.

The armed branch of the Magic Council was the Rune Knights, mages and warriors that acted under the Council command to enforce their laws and decrees in a lot of countries. The negative side of that, was that they mostly acted like stiff assholes, and considered all mages all over the land little more than Dark mages that had not committed crimes.

Yet.

That sure didn't make them popular with the Guilds, and anyone with knowledge about their tactics and ways of thinking was either one of them or have inside intel that very few people had.

"I fought with them in Caelum, and had to collaborate", I stressed the last word so the other mages understood that I had to work under the command of the Rune Knights or they would have arrested me and throw my ass in the deepest, darkest, cell they could find, "in the dismantlement of a slavery ring in Bosco".

"Not to mention all the fucking times that they decided that my jobs were not good enough, or that I was heavily suspicious, and using Dark magic, and I had to spend the next hours being interrogated by one of them", I clenched my teeth in memory of the frustration and desire to strangle all those fuckers. "Hours being walked up and down their interrogation rooms and through all their fortress, all over Earth Land, had given me quite the insight about how those wankers tend to think".

"Ah, yeah sounds about right", chuckled Bacchus, who had his own memories to suppress with the Rune Knights.

"What are your thoughts about the Rune Knights in this particular war, Gray-san?", Jura was unable to slip the honorifics, he seemed impressed with my magical power and world-savviness, and had started to call me like that.

"They could come in two flavors", I laughed darkly, "assholes and even worse assholes".

Most of the mages laughed at my descriptions of the Rune Knights.

"Now, in all seriousness", I took my tankard of beer, I had enough whiskey for the day and took a gulp before continuing my ideas. "It depends on the branch that will be on command".

"For my experience, Fiore´s Rune Knights commanders tend to be sticks in the mud, the law above all, always strict, bureaucrats with a magical job", that has been my experience so far. "Considering that we are traveling along with others from Seven, Bosco, Iceberg, and Pergrande, the differences will start to show themselves as soon as we hit the combined HQ".

"Seven´s Rune Knights officials are kind of wild cards, they are fighter first, officers second; Bosco´s have a bigger tendency to a hands-on the matter approach and expedite solutions, Iceberg´s are ruthless warriors through and through, and Pergrande are the biggest collection of flops ever, with the occasional diamond shining among them".

"Those are quite the options", commented Jura, who, like most of the others, had not much experience outside of Fiore.

Traveling between countries was usual for Merchant Guilds and Mercenary like the Southern Wolves, but mages tend to stick to our own countries, as the fame of a Guild is only inside their borders. That, of course, does not imply that when someone exceptional comes around, like Master Makarov, and becomes a Ten Wizard Saint, his fame tends to spread beyond their native countries.

One of the main reasons for Fairy Tail´s popularity and top ratings, was because Master Makarov was a Ten Wizard Saint, one of the ten strongest mages in a lot of countries. But not in all Earth Land. Alvarez Empire was out of the Magical Council and so were other lands beyond the sea and to the east.

The train reached our destination, and from the windows, I could already see the sea of tents and logistics that a marching army always generated. It was a sight to behold, and with the numbers that I was witnessing, this battle was going to be the bloodbath that I have been fearing all this time.

Run, demons, run.

Today, Gray Fullbuster joins the Hunt.