Aftermath

At the end of the entire debacle, I ended up with a new emblem to carry around.

Now, Makarov and I sported the same emblem.

It was something that amused the old man tremendously, and I have the horrid sensation that the old man saw Erza and me as possible candidates to inherit the Guild Master position from him, sooner or later. Still, we are young and with a lot of improvement to do in magic and wisdom. But, I do not discard that if the push came to the shore Makarov will name my angel of red hair, or maybe even me, if the situation is that desperate, the next Guild Masters.

Mind you that I knew why Makarov had such ideas running through his head.

In terms of magical power and expertise, Erza and I were the top of the Guild, with only Laxus and Gildarts topping us, more Gildarts than Laxus, but I was more than ready to rumble with the lightening asshole for the bullshit that he has tried to pull during the Guild Wars.

Only two mages of Fairy Tail failed to participate in the Guild Wars, Gildarts, and Laxus.

Gildarts was at the other side of the country, if the man could, he would have been in Magnolia in a second, but despite all his magical power, Gildarts lacks any method of instant transportation, and it would be impossible for him to traverse the distance where he was, to Magnolia, in less than half a day.

Laxus, on the other hand, not only he could have reached the Guild in minutes from where he was, but he was powerful enough to turn around the battle, in fact, he would have ended all of this joke by the minute. Laxus magic was electricity, not only has he mastered [Lightning Magic], but he was an artificial Dragon Slayer as well. [Lighting Dragon Slayer], implanted by his father when Laxus was a child.

Ivan Dreyar was a sick man, one of the biggest assholes that I have ever meet. The fucker experimented with his son, and implanted him a Dragon Lacryma. It saved his life, I agree, however, the motivation of Ivan was sheer curiosity, not giving a fuck about the life of his son. If the case was the opposite, I would have respected him. The thing is, that Ivan implanted Lacryma in Laxus, a complicated, risky, and lethal surgery, not out of the desire to save his son but to perform human experimentation that is highly illegal in Fiore, and several other countries. Lacryma implantation is a very dangerous surgery. Sure enough, it was a fast route to power, especially if the Lacryma holds powerful magic, but more often than not, the body rejects the Lacryma and the results are freaking messy.

Armed with his electric magic, Laxus could have appeared in minutes, and clean up the place faster than me. Not that Laxus is more powerful than me, but I was at my lowest by the time that I smashed the [Abyss Break], dealt with the mooks inside, defeat Juvia, and finally clash against Porla. For the love of Pandora, not a week before, I was stabbed in my heart. I was hardly at the top of my game, and I had to fight one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

I was the tenth Wizard Saint now, by the way.

Makarov was fifth, and God Serena was number one.

Something told me that the so-called God will be visiting me in the future. Word on the grapevine spoke about how he was obsessed with dragons, up to an insane level, that he hunted down dragons to get more powerful, to become the apex predator of the magical world. If one has to pay credit to the reports of the Council, Serena was so powerful because the insane wanker implanted himself with eight bloody lacrymas.

Implanting one was a risky business, implanting eight, eight Dragon Slayer lacrymas was directly suicidal. Serana had the luck of the devil so it seems.

It must be said that I did not become the Ten Wizard Saint instantaneously, far from it.

At the beginning, the Rune Knights appeared at Magnolia, and made a grand entrance about how they were going to arrest all of us and that I was going to be sent to prison for the murder of Joseph Porla, one of the Ten Wizard Saints. I huffed at them, as I was smoking one of my cigars in peace, and suggested them to do the investigation first before arresting anyone. I knew perfectly well; mostly because I was the responsible; that Phantom Lord was on thin ice with the Council, and this was the last straw, however, the Council also disapproved of the sudden death of Porla.

Was Porla a corrupt asshole?. Absolutely. However, Porla was the Council's corrupt asshole, and they believe that they could control him. They could not have been more wrong, but the problem with the Council is that they are convinced of their own propaganda, and they are control freaks. Sure enough, a Councilman or Councilwoman, is a powerful mage on their own rights and their political clout is more than enough to ruin anyone's lives, but they are also savvy enough to know when to push and when to pull.

The Entire Phantom Lord Guild was dancing on the edges of becoming a Dark Guild, and only Porla's weight as Wizard Saint prevented that. The Council believed that having Porla in the Wizard Saints seats will grant the Council a bigger control over the man, but they underestimated the ambition, greed, and pride of Porla. In other circumstances, I could have understood the maneuver, the old "keep your friends close and your enemies closer", but the problem was that Porla was corrupt as they come and the Rune Knights are not accustomed to being told no, and with Porla as Wizard Saint, they were forced to swallow their pride and obey.

A couple of days of investigation is all that was needed to dig Porla's grave deep enough to reach the core of the planet. The wrecked walking house thing was fulled to the brim with incriminating evidence; although, I have already, discretely, picked up some extra rewards before the Rune Knights reached the place; and Porla's throne, office, or whatever that room was, had enough physical evidence to sent Porla to prison, if he would have survived the Guild Wars.

Thanks to memory magic, it was easy to compose a pretty clear picture of what happened, and the only thing that made the Rune Knights grind their teeth, was the fact that Phantom Lord was the offender here, and the fact that Fairy Tail has saved Magnolia in two occasions.

It did not sit well with the Rune Knights to know that Fairy Tail, the rowdiest of the Guilds, has done their bloody jobs, and that more than the in-site inquisition that they were pretending to run, they had to thank the Guild for saving Magnolia. That called my attention a bit. When the Rune Knights appeared, they were convinced that this was a slam case, that they are going to parade around as if they are the supreme defenders of the world, and instead they are forced to admit that they have come late, and that the Guild that they do not like has done their job better than them.

Also, someone was determined to see me behind bars for killing Porla.

Sure enough, I killed the man. But let's be honest here, it was self-defense. It was painfully obvious to anyone seeing mine, and the rest of my Guild's, memories and testimonies that Porla did not care three fucks about collateral damages. Using illegal MWMD in the middle of a city was already damning enough. Also, kidnapping and blackmail were illegal, and Porla; through the memories of Lucy; laughed like a madman telling Lucy how he was going to kidnap her, blackmail her father, and bleed them dry before selling Lucy to a Dark Guild. The insistence of the Rune Knights in charging me with murder did annoy me, but their investigation and my memories of the battle shown that I have only defended myself, and my Guild, and that Porla was the first one in using lethal force. I was forced to eliminate him. Hell, I have pardoned Juvia and Boze, I have pardoned Sue, I have only used lethal force when the mages of Phantom Lord used lethal force, it was a freaking case of self-defense.

The insistence of the Rune Knights in pinning such charges on me, made me wonder what the heck was going on. Someone at the Council wanted me out of commission and in a cozy prison. Why?. I can understand that they want me contained until they could make heads or tails about me. But I was a war veteran, with the back-up of several Rune Knights all around Fiore who respected and trusted me.

That did put a wrench in the plans, and by the next week of the investigation, interrogation, etc, I was presented with the 10º emblem of the Wizard Saints. Both the leader of the investigation division at Magnolia, a lad named Lahar, and I, deadpanned like pros at the emblem.

It was as absurd as it sounds, but I could understand a bit of the politics behind it. With the emblem, I was the lapdog of the Council, I was under more scrutiny and control than the other mages.

As the old saying goes, the wife of the Caesar not only has to be pure but, more importantly, look pure.

In the case of Porla, he had been playing cloak and dagger games with the Council all day long, but I was different, I lacked the political and economical clout of Porla, and that made me easier to control and be on constant watch. The Council was going to keep an eye on me, 24/7. More than anything, because I was an unknown variable. An unknown that has defeated a Ten Wizard Saint, the supposed top of the Magic world.

Being fair, those measures only applies to the lands under the umbrella of the Magic Council, places like Alvarez were out of the influence of the Council. There are rumors that the Empire had the strongest mages of the world under their care, but I have not yet investigated much about the place. I do know certain things about them, but all from rumors and conjectures.

Makarov did not carry his emblem around much, but he told me that after all this shit, I should carry on myself all the time. I deadpanned at the dwarf, he knew of my little stripping problem, but I ended up chaining the emblem to my necklace. It was one of the few pieces of clothes that I do not lose. Not a surprise there, it is a memento from my deceased family.

Something good that came out of these disaster was that Erza and I went on an S-class mission together. Without Lucy and Natsu, I did not have to worry about them, and I could focus on unleashing destruction and power at the side of Erza. The poor fuckers at the Dark Guild must have felt as if God had a vendetta against them. We crushed the Guild, the mages, the small smugglers' town around the Guild, and around two hundred meters around the edges of the outlaw town during our little date.

Aye, I called an S-class mission a date. Erza punched me for that, after she blushed to the root of her hair, and stammered about lack of professionalism and what's not. Of course, I took advantage of that and kissed her senseless, much to the groaning and muffled protest of the broken and beaten dark mages around us.

Fuck you peanut gallery, this redhead god of beauty and war is all mine.

Erza and I make a record on the Guild Charts, the fastest S-class, barely three days. One day to reach the place, another to reduce it to dust, and another to get back home.

We party with the rest of the Guild, on the third night, when Makarov informed us of that little piece of trivia. We had a great time, and during all that, Skoll and Hati informed me that Loke has disappeared the day before, when he had a chat with Lucy during the mission that Natsu and Lucy has taken when Erza and I were busy with the S-class.

Since the attempt of kidnapping, I tend to keep an eye on Lucy. Usually, Skoll or Hati accompanied the blonde bombshell. She had taken a liking to the [Mythical Beasts] and with them around, I make sure that another kidnapping attempt will be thwarted, or I will know quickly and I can take the adequate measures.

When I was on the S-class, I left the two wolves with her, and only when she was back at home; and technically safe; did the wolves return to me to recharge their magic. They considered "Team Natsu" a pack of sorts, with Erza and me at the top.

It was a bit ironic that Natsu, who had a dragon seed inside of him, was not considered the alpha of the pack. The dragons are considered the apex predators, but let's be real, Natsu, wonderful lad as he is, is not prepared to lead anything that is not a pantry raid for food. Natsu has the instincts and enough brawn to be at the top but lacks everything else. Sure enough, he is strong, but apart from that?. I don't see Makarov considering him for Guild Master any time soon.

Still, I am pretty convinced that I will have to compete with Natsu during the S-class tests this year. Natsu will be pestering me to the end of the world otherwise, he pesters me daily nowadays to fight him. Since the moment that I won the bloody emblem, Natsu saw me as a goal, as a mountain that Natsu has to climb. Fortunately, I had a wonderful deterrent to his annoyance. Erza and I were a couple and whenever Natsu got a bit too annoying, Erza applied punch to the head, and peace reigned on the Guild for a bit.

As Erza chewed Natsu for being an idiot, and the rest of the Guild paid attention to the spectacle, Hati informed me that Lucy has already abandoned the premises of the Guild, and he has left the city to the waterfalls near the edges of the mountains.

The location of Karen Lilica's tomb.

Quickly sobering up, I made my exit from the Guild Hall as well.

Skoll will stay near Erza, if she asked where have I gone, Skoll will tell her that I was helping a couple of friends with a sudden emergency, and that I will be back by the morning. As I passed near the bar, I picked one of the whiskey bottles on the shelves, signaling Mira to be silent about it, and once I was out of the Guild, Hati picked me and together we ride to the tomb of the Spirit Mage that was the previous owner of Leo.

I jumped from Hati when we were over the tomb, I could see the mopping face of Loke, mourning the death of the lass, and I can feel how his magic was at an all-time low. The fucker was minutes away from vanishing into nothingness. Bloody hell.

Landing at his side, and enjoying the shocked expression of Loke at my arrival, I rip the cork of the bottle, took a long gulp from it, and tossing it to Loke, who fumbled a bit to caught it. Loke's eyes widened at the brand of the bottle, followed by a guilty expression. My glare made him shuffle and give a step back.

"So, Leo", I call his true name and Loke flinched. "planning to commit suicide without even sharing a last drink with a friend uh?". I was not in the mood to be delicate. I knew three ways to save Leo from his stupidity, but I needed the real star of the show to appear soon. Lucy was on her way to save this fool from himself, I was there to give her more time, and if everything went pear-shaped, to offer alternatives.

"Gray, I...", words failed the wanker. What a surprise.

"You are at your limit", I cut short and Loke flinched. "But with the gate closed, you have nothing, that is a death sentence for a spirit".

"Yes, it is", surrendered Loke to my accusations. "Shit, I am too sober for this, I did not want this". Mumbled Loke taking his share from the bottle of whiskey. Loke observed the bottle and snorted with amused nostalgia.

"You remembered", said Loke tossing the bottle back to me.

"Of course I remembered", I snorted. "It's the same brand that the one we shared after our first job together. We were bruised, and laughing like idiots, after that asshole of a dark mage tossed us around like rag dolls".

"Best drink I have ever had", chuckled Loke. "At least, I will not die alone".

"You are not going to die", I cut short and Loke observed me with surprise.

"Gray, you know what will happen to me", refuted Loke. "I am at the end of my rope, I thought I had a bit more, I did not want to go like this but I can not face the Guild like this".

"Neither Lucy and you did hug her", I told him, he raised his head in surprise. "A last attempt to gain forgiveness for your crime".

"Ah, well, yes". Admitted Loke. "I killed Karen, maybe not directly, but I forced her to go on a quest without the support of her spirits, and without them, she was little more than a normal woman. She was killed during that mission".

"Spirits that kill their masters are forbidden to enter the Spirit Realm", I resumed.

It was a stupid law but it had a bit of sense, as the spirits are way stronger than humans and they could cause a lot of harm if they are left unchecked. However, Loke, or better said, Leo, has not directly killed Lilica, he only stay summoned as much as he could, preventing her to use any other spirit. In a perfect world, that should have been a very tough but needed lesson to Lilica, but the idiot decided to take a job without her main asset, and paid the ultimate price for it.

"Credit when it's due, you are a tough cookie, if you have been living in the mortal world for so long", Spirits are dependent on the magic of their owners, without one, they must survive with the Ethernano around and that is heavy on them, not to mention that they will, inevitably, vanish when their magic collapse.

"It was not easy at the beginning", huffed Loke, "and now, I need that drink, please".

Without saying a word, I passed the bottle to him and we took a seat by the tomb, sitting on the hard, cold ground surrounding the tomb. Loke took a long gulp of the bottle and smiled with a mixture of nostalgia, and no little amount of guilt, shame, and fear, dancing on his eyes.

"Just like the old times", chuckled Loke. "When we went on a mission together, or with Cana and Laxus, stupid youngster we were".

"Good times indeed", I smiled and grabbed the bottle for a swing of it. "Loke, I must ask, what the hell is wrong with you?. Do you believe that I will let you vanish into the silent night?".

"There is nothing you could do", shrugged Loke. "I know that you are a monster in magical terms, I knew that you were a Slayer practically since day one, and the moment the wolves stood at your side, I knew that you knew what I was".

So, because I kept silent, Loke believed that I was just letting him hang himself. Uh, good to know that we were a pair of idiots, I must try to correct such attitudes and misunderstandings in the future. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong and we can make amends, I will hate to lose a friend, and I was not entirely sure if the lad will approve of my more drastic methods to keep him alive.

"And why the hell did you not tell me that you were living on borrowed time?", I almost smashed the bottle at his head.

"Loke, the moment I knew that you were a spirit, I knew something seriously wrong was going on. A Zodiac, a damned Zodiac gallivanting Fiore?. That spells all kinds of problems for anyone with a nudge of knowledge about spirits. Not to mention that you are a very well known flirt, heck, I have been your wingman for more times than I like to count, I suspected that you were grooming the next Leo, or maybe, leaving a legacy, the children of Spirits and human are always something unbelievable".

"No, that was never my intention", denied Loke quickly. "I was always extra careful".

"Not to mention that the last months have been quite hectic", I grumbled. "The mission to the outskirts, the war, the sudden attack on Erza, the failure of the S-class mission of Natsu, and finally the bloody Guild War".

"Yeah, an eventful year so far", chuckled Loke. "The war did give all of us a scare, but I felt your power when you confronted Laxus, that did surprise me. We could have become S-class a long time ago".

"Four years in a row that I was on another country by the time of the trials", I deadpanned and Loke blinked, remembering the trials, and laughed again, taking the bottle and drinking from it again.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that, Cana and I even had a poll running about what would be the year on were you could finally take the trials". Loke passed the bottle back to me.

"Bastards", I mumbled without real malice. "I claim a percentage of the poll".

"Take mine", shrugged Loke. "I will not be around to claim it".

Aye, about that, I am not all that sure that, that will be the case. The real star of the night had finally arrived, and I smiled at her confused and scared expression before I tossed the bottle back to Loke and tell him:

"Tell that to her", I pointed to Lucy, and Loke's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the Spirit mage.

Much like myself, Loke had a lot of problems to say no to a pretty face, but in Loke's case, it went double, as he is a bleeding manwhore of epic proportions. Back in the day, Loke, Cana, and I, were famous among the local bars and pubs for our savage parties. I was the wingman of Loke, and the drinking buddy of Cana. Bloody hell, even Laxus, before he became the asshole that he became today, joined us for some jobs and parties.

Those were the days.

Giving a step back, I left Lucy took the center stage, and tear Loke a new one for being an idiot. In the meantime, I warmed up the wolves for the worst possible outcome of all this. No matter what, Loke will be back at the spirit realm, even if it cost me his friendship.

Loke confessed his crimes to Lucy; with a couple of side glares at me for pointing out a crying woman at him; but I take that blame with pride. Loke always paid more attention to a pretty face than anything else. If that pretty face is screaming at him for being an idiot, then maybe Loke will realize how of an idiot he has been.

In part, I have to confess that I can understand where does the guilt and shame of Loke come from. Since Pandora knows how long, the Spirits had a pact with the human realm. A spirit killing their summoner, be it directly or indirectly, was utterly taboo, an iron rule that the Spirit King has enforced without a fault. The problem is that Loke did cause the demise of Karen Lilica, even if the bitch deserved it for treating her spirits like shit.

Spirits are not a shortcut to power that you can use and abuse at will. Spirits have their personalities, and even if they are forced to be loyal and submissive to the summoner that holds their key, that does not mean that they can not bring disaster over the head of whoever fucks with them. Spirits are immortal, unless they are destroyed, they are, most assuredly, going to outlive their owners.

Well, unless very dark [Seith Magic] is involved. I knew a couple of dark tricks that will grant me the distrust and hate of lots of the inhabitants of the Spirit Realm.

Mental note: look out for available silver and bronze keys and see if they are compatible with me. Spirits are powerful allies and companions, like Skoll and Hati has proven, and I was always eager to expand my armory. Not to mention that an additional partner covering your back is always a welcome thing in the wizardry business. Still, quality over quantity, better a friendly spirit, than a dozen of unknowns.

A sudden burst of magic took me by surprise, and I gaped at the image of Lucy hanging to a vanishing Loke with all her might, physical and magical, oh little, sweet, and crazy girl, are you trying to open the gate by force?.

Good try, but you lack the firepower to crack that vault.

I reached the pair quickly, I would have loved to provide magic for the assault, but I was not a spirit mage, the channels and methods for Spirit summoning are a bit more complicated than the sign of the pact that people saw around every day. There was no key involved here, there was no focus, no pact with a Spirit that can not access his domains. It was a desperate measure that in certain circumstances, could have worked.

Grabbing their heads, taking them both by surprise, I muttered a short chant that has not been whispered since the days of an ancient Empire. An incantation for gods that no longer exists preserved at the vaults of Yimir and that allowed me to call upon a meeting with the leader of the Spirits.

In a burst of magic that left us like gnats, the Spirit King manifested in the skies. The gigantic warrior was as impressive as the old pictures of him depicted in all the books that I have read about spirits. Loke and Lucy were still recovering from the sudden influx of magic, and the effect of my summoning magic on them, so I was the one left with enough coherence to give some explanations to a very not amused Spirit King.

That is a fine mustache, by the way.

"Human, why have you summoned me?". The voice of the Spirit King was toned down, so mortals can listen to it without shattering our eardrums. Technically, he should not speak to a mortal, but after what I have done, he can speak with mortals. Of course, such a spell demanded answers and with good reasons. "And how do you know such a spell?".

"You were already halfway there", I shrugged. "And I learned that spell at the library of Ymir's respite".

The answer quelled some of the suspicions of the Spirit King. Of course, he knew of the respite, the last temple and home of Ymir in the northern corners of Iceberg. As an inheritor of the Ice God magic of Yimir, as the [Ice God Slayer], I was technically the owner of the entire thing. Not that I was doing to do shit with it, the people living there have built their lives, and they do not need someone like me wrecking the place like a bull in a China shop.

"Please, open the Gate!", pleaded Lucy to the Spirit King. "Please, Leo is innocent, he did all of that to protect Aries!".

"Oh, he knows it, sweetie", I chuckled, looking straight at the Spirit King. "The Spirit King is not the evil guy here, in fact, he hates this situation as much as you".

"Uh?", Lucy blinked and I smiled at her confused face. She was cute as a button, and with such a body she was one of the most gorgeous women that I have ever meet.

"Lucy, the Spirit King is, possibly, one of the most sympathetic supernatural beings that you could ever meet", I continued with a smirk on my face. "He keeps the order in the Spirit Realm, and I am sure that Taurus, Virgo, Cancer, all of the Zodiac, even the fool that we are trying to save from his stupidity"; I glared at Loke that was already at his limits and barely hanging on, only the influx of magic of Lucy kept him together for now; "will tell you that he is a pretty benevolent ruler, but the problem is that he had his hands tied".

"Lucy", called Loke, unable to hold my stare. "A Spirit can not hurt the summoner, even if it was by accident, I did kill Karen, that is a taboo, something unforgivable for us".

"Shut up!", shouted Lucy at him. "You stupid womanizer, you saved Aries, you took her place and her suffering, all you did was to save her, Karen made the mistake, not you!".

That's it, sweetie, that's it, show the Spirit King that you are not the average summoner, show him that the Zodiac backs you up to hell and back. That is my end game, my method to show the Spirit King that you are the best summoner ever.

"I don't accept that, I will not accept that!", Lucy shouted at the Spirit King. "This is not fair, Leo protected his friend, Leo fought for her friend!. Why is wrong to fight for your friends?", shouted Lucy at the top of her lungs and the Zodiac echoed her.

Lucy had her eyes close so she could not see how the entire Zodiac keys that she possessed manifested in spirit form at her sides. Taurus, Aquarius, Cancer, Virgo, they joined, maybe not in the shout, but completely behind the sentiment of the beautiful blonde girl that was crying her heart out for a friend, a member of the Zodiac.

My smile was predatory, that was exactly what I was waiting for. The sudden outburst of magic and how the Zodiac has manifested took quite the toll on her and her knees faltered. Loke made an attempt to caught her, but he was barely holding out. I quickly grabbed her before she falls to the floor and with tenderness, I left her at the side of Loke.

The Spirit and I share a look, Loke was flabbergasted by Lucy's actions and words, make it double when he has seen the Zodiac of Lucy backing her up. Very few times before has happened something like that, only when the [Celestial Spirit Mage] was something really special and unique. If Loke kicked the bucket now, it will break her, she will felt guilt for failing to save a comrade at Fairy Tail. Even if his womanizer ways have annoyed her a lot.

"See, Spirit King?", I smirked at the massive warrior floating above us. "The Zodiac back her up, the bloody Zodiac wants Leo back".

"The laws can not be broken", sighed Loke and I wanted to punch the fucker. After all this time, he has not learned anything.

"Idiot", I snorted. "There is nothing on the rules about another Spirit opening your gate", I pointed out and Loke blinked.

"Wait, another spirit? but we can not open the gates of others. No?", wondered suddenly Loke and I chuckled.

"The Zodiac can not open the other Zodiac Spirit Gates, true the Spirit King, on the other hand...", I left the words hanging and observed the spirit that could swat me like a fly with little effort.

The Gate of Leo opened and my smile widened into a wicked smile. Loke hugged the exhausted Lucy and give her his key. She deserved that, Loke was back into the Spirit Realm, the Zodiac were together again and Lucy had a new golden key to her arsenal.

Lucy laughed when the Spirit King, the oh, so stoic and serious giant, smirked and winked an eye at her, thanking for saving Leo from himself. Even if Leo has broken the law, it was an accident brought by the actions of an arrogant summoner and to prevent Aries, another spirit, from experiencing more pain and suffering.

I call this a win.

Thanks to my wolves I am more than able to carry Lucy back to her apartment. During all the travel, I kept her in my arms, the sudden outburst has left her empty of magic and will, and that was never a good sensation. She hugged me and giggled, clutching her new golden key, with a satisfied expression. You deserve that, your precious little sunshine.

Due to a lot of shenanigans, I knew the location of the apartment of Lucy, and among Team Natsu, it was practically a custom to enter there through the window more than through the door. Entering the place, I quickly took her whip, keys, and boots, leaving them on the chair, and the table, at the side of her comfortable bed.

Taking the key of the canis minor, I summoned Plue. The white thingy observed me with confusion at first, but after I quickly explained the situation and show the key that Lucy was hugging, I asked him to substitute the key and kept Lucy accompanied for the night. The lass was exhausted and riding an emotional high, and she looked like the kind of girl that was a cuddlebug.

Plue gave me two thumbs up, and after I latched the key of the Lion to the rest of the keys that Lucy had, I abandoned the apartment and ride Skoll back to my home.

This situation had ended better than I expected. To be completely honest, I was half of a mind that I was about to storm the Gate of the Lion and drag Leo inside of his gate by force. I was a paranoid bugger sometimes, and whenever Spirits are involved, I am not all that knowledgeable. Sure, I know dark things, and how to really fuck a Spirit, but at the same time, it was not one of my main interests, and so far, Lucy is the only [Celestial Spirit Mage] worth a damn that I know. Lucy was an exceptional girl, and if I could help her to get better as a mage, and as a person, I am all for it.

Jumping from Skoll to the ground; the wolves retired to the rings that I carried as a symbol of our contract; I found myself in front of my house. Bloody hell, my house. I liked the sound of that. Still, I should have a chat with Erza about living together. I know that she passed a lot of time in the house, but her collection and armory were massive and my home was not ready for it. I will have to build an entire new wing just for her weaponry.

Ah, and now that I thought about it, I really should do something about my new cute stalker, before Juvia does something stupid, and provokes Erza's ire. Juvia will not survive that.

Emotionally, I can understand where Juvia comes from. She was a sad and lonely child that has been berated all her life for something that was mostly beyond her control. I blitzed into her life, show her the sun, and show her something better than the collection of assholes that Phantom Lord was. Speaking of which, I had the nagging sensations that it was not the last time that I will see some of the survivors of the Guild War.

Crossing the door of my home, I quickly get rid of whatever clothes I have left on myself; boots, sockets, pants, and boxers, quite the amount, usually I ended up in my boxers or completely naked. One of these days, I am going to tattoo sticky runes in my ass to glue my clothes to me.

Let see if I can strip from that.

A quick, freezing, shower later I was resting in my dining room. The cold never bothered me much, instead, it felt quite invigorating. I managed to whip out a small dinner, a simple steak, salad, and a cold beer to accompany it all. By the morning, I will reunite with Erza at the Guild and help with the reconstruction duties. With any luck, I will be able to…Ah.

You see, when I killed Porla, I did something more than just turn him into a lot of mulch.

I used the last gift of Tombos to stole part of his magic. I did not use such a power consciously, it was something that happened, the moment that Porla died at my hands when Icebreaker smashed him into pieces. The curse of Tombos inside of me activated, and feed on the powerful remnants of Porla's magic, or maybe I ate whatever was left of his soul, I am not entirely sure.

That means that Porla`s [Shade Magic] was now mine. However, it fused with Tombos' curse, and instead of the usual [Shade], what I have, is a collection of living shadows made of the essence of [Shade magic], my Slayer magics, and the curse of a demon of Zereff.

As soon as I learned that I had that such an amazing trick under my sleeves, I proceed to squeeze it as much as possible. Shades are magical constructs, but thanks to the curse involved in their creation, they can operate by latching into someone's shadows, essentially giving me a permanent tag and spy bug on whoever had my Shades attached too.

I tagged all the Guild and none seemed to react to the presence of the Shades on them, I used to spy conversations all over the Guild, and the non-Guild people, that I tagged. Fortunately, the Shades are somewhat sentient, and are more than capable of discerning what is of interest to me, to memorize conversations, and to hold up until I can pay attention to them.

I was the newest, and possibly the greatest, spymaster in Fiore. I was so going to abuse this magic that it was not even funny.

It was one of the main problems that I have suffered in this world, that I was not privy to vast amounts of intel as I was when I was a Campione, and the supernatural organizations all over the world bend over to give it to me. In Fiore, I was not all that well connected, to be part of the intel that the Magic Council had, so, I have to do a lot of legwork and work a lot of new contacts. But now?. Now I had access to everything, and that made me smile wildly.

It was a good thing that there was no witness, if anyone saw my smile right now, they will be mumbling about unholy, and looking for a silver crucifix. It happened to me once, I was in Italy helping Father Damien Karras to kick Pazuzu out of a girl, and the demon asshole never let it go until we stomped him for good.

All of my fellow Fairy Tail mages had at least a Shade on them. Erza had her own hit squad even if she did not realize it. Of course, as soon as I had the chance, I tagged Lahar; the captain of the Rune Knights; with a freaking legion of Shades. I was patiently waiting for Lahar to reach Era, and finish his report to the Magic Council, to try to tag the Councilmen and to make the Shades ramshackle the entire library of the Council for something useful.

Stealing was not possible, but having a Shade perusing the entire content of the books and passing it to another Shade, at the other side of the country, who could transcribe it into a new book was perfectly fine. I am going to have armies of Shades copying the library of the Council and thanks to my massive magical reserves, I will be laughing like a loon all the time.

Mental note before the more than adequate "villain laugh" moment: Buy writing materials by the bulk and have a big ass lacryma charged to fuel the Shades when shit hits the fan and I am forced to economize my magic. Again, it was a good thing that there were no witnesses, Erza would have punched me through a wall for the villainous laugh that I suddenly let go in the middle of my dinning room. I really should stop this kind of shenanigans, but the occasion demanded it.

It should not come as a surprise that I was so overjoyed by my recent discoveries that I lost several hours into the night organizing my Shades and starting the settlement of a legion of them around the administrative buildings of Era and the VIP rooms of the Council. It was a very nerve-wracking experience, as I was fearing that someone at Era will be able to catch up on the Shades and it was the kind of thing that could put me in jail for espionage, but after several hours of nerve-wracking exploration and consolidation, now I had lots of ears in the nexus of the political and administrative center of the Magical community all over Fiore.

No longer will I be fucked by faulty intel, I will have access to all the juicy, nasty, secrets of the Councilm and all kinds of shenanigans that the Council liked to keep under wraps. Bloody hell it was a blessing.

I was so excited that I did not sleep at all; and because I had little to do with the Shades in Era so late in the night, apart from setting them as spy network and tag all the shadows of the staff as I could; instead I ended up accelerating my Ur-revival project. By the time the sun came over the horizon, I had the entire rune array and ritual set up and ready.

Three hours later, I sealed the entire thing from prying eyes and let the magic do their work. I walked out of the secret lab exhausted but exhilarated. Now it was a guarantee that in nine months I will see Ur again.

What a productive night.

Stumbling a bit, I walked out of the runic array and fall on my sofa in the dining room. The wolves on my ring were laughing their ass off at my exhaustion, impressed by my dedication, and amused at how I acted like a small child with a new toy. They are not all that mistaken, I maybe have reacted a bit strongly at the Shades, but you have to admit that they are fucking useful.

Right now, they are still trying to set up shop at Era, infiltrating the key buildings, offices, and shadows of VIPS, but taking extra care to do not alert anyone. I was a bit iffy about the curse source of the shades, but I knew that curse and common magical powers did not mix well and I was afraid that the sensors of Era will detect it.

Much to my surprise and happiness, the Shades went undetected, even when they jumped to the shadows of the Councilmen. I even put one on the shadow of Old man Yajima. The old wizard has been a staunch ally of Fairy Tail for decades, and I kept another squad of Shades on him, just in case something bad happened to him and needed some support.

Running the motions of a "super-coffee" potion of sorts, the kind that I usually take whenever I pull an all-nighter as I have done, I attended the morning meeting of the Council and practically cut short when they start to ramble. However, I found myself staring at the wall when the sensory output of the Shades gave me a visual of the Council.

Of all the Councilmen, I practically knew all of their faces, but there some that I did not know and that made my brain screech to an alt.

Siegrain, the motherfucker that made Erza tremble, was a blue-haired lass with a red tattoo on his face. That tattoo was something more than a fashion statement, through the link with my Shades I felt something odd with the guy, not to mention that he was not even there. The guy was using a [Thought Projection], I have abused the hell out of that magic to be at several places at the same time, and I completely understood why the lad was using such magic, he was not the only one, other Councilmen had done the same.

However, now I have a face to the name of Siegrain, a face that I was going to punch at one time or the other, of that, I was fairly sure. Siegrain knows something about Erza's past, something that distressed her deeply, and only for that reason, I am going to dig as much as I could about the fucker and end his entire career if what I discover displeases me in the slightest.

Still, the moment where my brain performing a screeching sound, was when I saw the assistant of Siegrain, the lady that stood at the side of the asshole, and that was looking pretty bored, playing around with a crystal orb of sorts, dressed in an immaculate Kimono that hugged her womanly body perfectly. She was the very image of a younger Ur, and was the woman that has stabbed me in Galuna Island. I recognized her the moment I put my eyes on her, and I almost drop my "super-coffee", by the time that the Council called her Ultear.

Who would have thought, I found Ur's daughter the very same day that I started the project to bring Ur's body back to the world of the living.

Talk about irony.

Considering how has she reacted to my actions at Galuna, I had the inkling sensation that any reunion between the "children" of Ur, Ultear, Leon and I, will be a violent mess even Ur is present and could maintain the tempers down enough to actually talk and not just screech and toss magic to each other. When I met Leon again, after so many years, he tried to kill me, and the first thing that Ultear has done, was trying to kill me. I see a pattern here.

I did not pay much attention to the rest of the council meeting, they were discussing politics more than anything else, I had my attention on Ultear and I quickly tagged her shadow with a quintet of Shades. When I found her grave, I should have known that something was amiss, but after she stabbed me in the heart, I wanted to know what the heck was going on with her. Due to the connection to my Shades, I discretely analyzed her magic. Powerful, but human, I even felt a smile of nostalgia crawl upon my lips when I felt the sensation of [Ice Make], she was Ur's daughter alright.

Pandora protect me, It does seem that I have a shit ton of work to do, but I have something more important to do at the moment. Quickly picking up some clothes after a refreshing; literally, as the water was cold as hell; shower, I secured my home and walked to the Guild Hall.

As soon as I entered, the cheers and laughs of the Guild received me.

The smile of Erza brightened my day, and I knew, one hundred percent certain, that as long as I fought for that smile, all will be well.