[Chapter 1]: Unleashing the Slayers

[South of Margaret Town / 1st June X786]

"Watch out Lyon!"

Turning quickly, Lyon instantly froze a large tiger-like monster before creating dozens of ice eagles that slammed into the other monsters of the pack, killing some as the others moved away from him and the other wizards they were fighting. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of one hand, Lyon prepared to attack again when suddenly the ground beneath the monsters exploded into several blocks of rock and all the monsters were hit without mercy, falling to the ground lifeless.

"That was the last of the beasts." said a powerful voice behind him.

Turning towards the source of the voice, Lyon saw Jura, who now also had a slight goatee on his chin, and approached him "Jura-san, do you think we should move on to the next target right now?"

Jura surveyed the beasts around them before shifting his gaze to his companions. Lyon seemed fine and didn't seem particularly tired, but Sherry, Toby and Yuka were visibly tired and he wasn't sure they would be able to keep up. Shaking his head, he returned his focus to Lyon "I'll go ahead, you stay here with the others and try to rest and then join me. I should be able to fend for myself until you get here."

"Are you sure?" asked Lyon with surprise clear in his eyes "Our guild is not far away, they could go back there and rest while I go with you."

"I appreciate your intentions Lyon-dono, but try not to overdo it. In recent weeks we have had less and less time to rest and urgent missions are increasing day by day." said Jura, placing a hand on the younger man shoulder "I'll go deal with those dark mages to the west, you stay here with the others and rest, then join me or go south where those pirates have been sighted."

Lyon sighed in defeat and nodded "Very well, me and the others will rest for a bit. Please be careful until we arrive, you are one of the strongest wizards in Fiore and we cannot risk losing you in these times of crisis."

The Wizard Saint smiled at his guildmate "Don't worry, it won't be a handful of dark mages stopping me after I've had to deal with the likes of Richard-dono. I am sure that in a short time we will be able to calm the situation and restore peace." and after explaining the situation to the other three mages, he walked off heading west where a dark guild was terrorizing a small town.

'I really hope you are right…' thought Lyon while sitting under a tree to catch his breath 'Because at this rate I doubt we will be able to resist much longer…'

[Blue RoseTown – Blue Pegasus Guild / 15th June X786]

"Hibiki, we've received four more requests for assistance." said Ren, looking at his friend with worried eyes since Hibiki was currently sitting behind a desk with large dark circles due to lack of sleep and it was now evident that the young wizard was reaching the limit. After all he was the one who was running pretty much the whole guild organization for the constant quests and requests for help, not to mention he also had to help the other guilds wherever possible.

Hibiki rubbed his eyes for a moment before taking a sip from a cup full of now cold coffee, though he didn't seem to notice "What are they about this time…?"

Ren quickly looked at the papers he was holding "Pirates to the north, monsters in the mountains to the east and two large groups of bandits to the west, although we have confirmation of the presence of Rune Knights and soldiers of the royal army there."

"How are the others doing?"

The dark skinned mage shook his head "Ichiya-sama is still carrying wounded civilians with Eve and Jenny using Christina. The huge field hospital in the capital was a great idea but it still takes time to get from one point to another, even Nichiya had to stop after bringing directives to everyone with his wings."

"Damn it!" Hibiki slammed a fist on the desk while rubbing his head "If only my Archive didn't have such a limited range I could communicate better with everyone."

"That would only risk ruining your mind, my dear." both mages turned to the door as their guild master entered the room with a small smile on his face, carrying with him a tray where there were two cups of hot coffee. Without saying anything, he took the one with the cold coffee and gave the other two to Hibiki and Ren, who thanked him before drinking the warm nectar "You both need rest. Go to rest for at least a few hours, then you can go back to work. In the meantime we will be using the special Lacrima given to us by the Magic Council to communicate with the other guilds."

"But master Bob-!"

"No 'buts', you're on your last Hibiki and I wouldn't be a true guild master if I didn't let you rest." said Bob with a stern voice, ending the discussion. Hibiki could only nod before getting up and, with Ren's help, headed towards the guild infirmary where he would rest.

Once they were out of the room, Bob looked at the dozens of requests stacked on his desk and sighed "I wish you were still here Makarov. I'm sure you and your children could find a solution to the chaos that is slowly engulfing the kingdom…"

[Magnolia Town – Fairy Tail Guild / 2nd July X786]

"Macao, the Magic Council has asked if we can send someone to Akane Beach to deal with a dark guild that has attacked the resort."

The fourth guild master of Fairy Tail looked at his close friend and advisor with shocked eyes "Wha-! Are they serious?! We can barely contain the damage around our city and they want us to send someone over there?! Don't they have any Rune Knights who can go for us?"

Wakaba shook his head "Unfortunately not, they also asked some guilds from Bosco if they could help us but apparently some of them don't have the necessary manpower and others simply don't want to help us."

"Curse them!" Macao punched the wall with his right fist "Curse those damned laws too!"

Wakaba could only agree with his friend. While the Magic Council had strong authority over all the legal guilds of Ishgar, it could not force them to move to another kingdom against their will, because there were still political boundaries that were under the jurisdiction of the rulers of the aforementioned kingdoms. Unless the two sovereigns reached an agreement, nothing could be done and many knew that by now there was bad blood between Fiore and Bosco, therefore Fairy Tail and the other guilds could not expect any kind of help anytime soon.

Someone knocked on the office door and shortly after Laki entered but judging by her face she was not the bearer of good news. Seeing this, Macao groaned before asking "How many this time?"

"Five…Mickey and her team quit a few minutes ago after returning from a mission gone wrong…" said Laki while looking down with tears in her eyes "We tried to convince them to stay but they didn't want to listen to us…"

"Not even two years after the disappearance of the master and the others…and we are already barely fifty members…maybe I'm not cut out to be a guild master after all." sighed Macao sinking into the office chair, while looking at the ceiling with sad eyes "How will I ever look him in the face when I die and tell him that I have ruined Fairy Tail's reputation and the whole kingdom has been wiped out?"

Wakaba looked at his friend "Don't be like that Macao…we will make it and I am sure that in time we will be back on top."

"Tell me that after we manage to survive this wave of chaos." Macao looked at Laki "I know you only came back this morning, but do you think you can go check out Akane Beach and see what the situation is like?"

The young sorceress nodded before leaving, closing the door behind her, leaving the guild master and his advisor alone with their thoughts and the amount of quests and requests for payment that had been accumulating for months now.

[Era – Magic Council Headquarters / 18th July X786]

Gran Doma was a very direct man and his goal, from day one, had been to get people to believe again in the Magic Council and in its ability to defend them, yet the last few months had been anything but easy for him and the other members of the council, as well as all the Rune Knights. Looking at the imposing hall in front of him, the old wizard could not help but frown at the sight of so much chaos.

Org and the others were trying to manage the desperate situation that had gripped the Kingdom of Fiore for more than a year, while several servants continued to bring documents regarding requests for support, reports of missions completed and attacks suffered.

'To think that the disappearance of the guild that was giving us the most problems would have given birth to all this.' thought Gran Doma remembering when, a few weeks after the disappearance of Makarov Dreyar and other prominent members of Fairy Tail due to the attack of Acnologia, the situation had slowly escalated. Due to the guild's location, Fairy Tail mostly dealt with missions and events happening in the east side of Fiore, but with the disappearance of all their S-class mages and many other members, their ability to complete quests had greatly deteriorated.

Because of this, other guilds had had to take on the more difficult missions, moving away from the areas under their protection and, despite the birth of new legal guilds in the last year, the void left by Fairy Tail had been too great to fill in a short time. Bandits, pirates, rebels and dark mages. Like a swarm of locusts they had appeared in great numbers throughout the realm and pounced on the weak and helpless. Despite the strong presence of the royal army, Rune Knights, and legal guilds, these criminals hadn't shown signs of stopping, and along with the monsters that regularly threatened the cities, it had become clear by now that the situation was getting out of hand.

Initially the Magic Council had also moved a good number of Rune Knights to lend support but predictably this had caused a domino effect across Ishgar and now all the kingdoms were finding it difficult to maintain order, even though the worst situation was in the Kingdom of Fiore. Gran Doma had even thought of using the Etherion but since the last use had caused the end of the previous Magic Council, he had preferred not to use it yet, also because unfortunately for them there were no threats so great as to require the use of Etherion, in fact they were all medium or small threats, but unfortunately they were in such a number as to create a huge threat for the entire kingdom.

'We can't start using Etherion for every single group of bandits or dark wizards, otherwise all of Fiore would be reduced to a wasteland and people's support for the Magic Council would be lost forever.' thought Gran Doma before setting his eyes on the map of Ishgar spread out on the table. Fiore, Bosco, Seven, all kingdoms that needed help but that they, the Magic Council, couldn't give them…

'Not directly at least.' he thought as his eyes stopped on Iceberg, the coldest kingdom in all of Ishgar, where one of the Magic Council's many secrets was kept. There, at its northernmost point, in the midst of ice and snow was perhaps the solution to their current problem, and since they couldn't go on forever in those conditions, given that the Alvarez Empire could always try to invade them again, it was time to act.

"Contact Doranbolt immediately and tell him to go to the Port Chamber." said Gran Doma standing up and silencing everyone present. A frog-like servant quickly ran out of the room to do what was requested as the Magic Council chairman headed for the exit, not before handing over the lead to Org in his absence.

A few minutes later, Doranbolt teleported in front of the old mage, immediately bowing his head "You wanted to see me, chairman-sama?"

"Yes, come with me. We are headed to the Kingdom of Iceberg." said Gran Doma before opening the heavy doors of the Port Chamber, a large circular room with countless magical runes and seals etched into the ground, used by the Magic Council to move between branches when Thought Projection wasn't enough to resolve the issue. Standing in the center of the room with Doranbolt, Gran Doma concentrated for a few seconds before activating the room's magic, causing all seals and runes to glow blue.

In a dazzling flash, they both vanished, reappearing a second later hundreds of miles away, inside the Magic Council's Iceberg Branch, where there was a room identical to the one from which they had left. Without further ado, Gran Doma placed a hand on Doranbolt's head, confusing him "I'm about to transfer coordinates into your mind, I want you to use your magic to take us there. I will also give you the necessary magical power since it is far to the north."

"Understood, chairman-sama." nodded Doranbolt before sensing the magic of the older mage, immediately obtaining the necessary information. Thanks to his magic, they vanished from the room and found themselves in the middle of a blizzard which immediately made Doranbolt shiver from the cold, but luckily the grip of the cold lasted a few seconds as Gran Doma created a sphere of light around them which repelled the cold and kept them sheltered from the wind.

"What is this place, chairman-sama?" asked Doranbolt while looking around and seeing only snow-covered trees and rocks.

"Herein lies one of the Magic Council's most dangerous and best-kept secrets, but to address the current crisis, we must resort to every possible solution." explained Gran Doma with a serious voice, glancing quickly at the Rune Knight "Everything you are about to see is strictly confidential and must not be disclosed in any way, is that clear?"

Doranbolt gulped, feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders but nodded anyway before walking behind Gran Doma into the blizzard. After a few minutes of walking in the middle of nowhere, the Rune Knight began to glimpse what appeared to be two rows of curved trees but as they got closer, his eyes widened more and more until he realized that these weren't trees, but bones.

That was no mere avenue, but the inside of a large rib cage that belonged to some titanic monster.

"W-Wha-?!"

"Keep calm. They must have heard us coming by now." said Gran Doma without a trace of worry in his voice as the two arrived in front of a large two-story building which was not far from the cliff overlooking a frozen sea. The walls were mostly covered in frost or snow, as was the roof, but what made Doranbolt more uneasy were the innumerable skulls, both human and non-human, which were placed on the entire facade of the building, not counting the laughter that could be heard from within; it was like someone was partying in that lost place. Finally, there was a large black tapestry that fluttered, moved by the wind, where a white skull was depicted pierced from above by a dagger.

Stopping in front of the large wooden door, Gran Doma didn't hesitate to push it open and in an instant, all laughter and chatter ceased, as dozens of eyes quickly fell upon the two newcomers.

Doranbolt immediately felt a strong feeling of unease pervade his stomach as he entered the building, surveying the interior as he did so. From what he could see it was very similar to the main hall of Fairy Tail's building, complete with wooden tables and benches, a bar and two set of stairs at the back of the hall: one that led to the upper floor, which however, occupied only a part of the building, rather than forming an entire floor, and one under the first which most likely led to an underground floor.

There were currently about thirty people inside the hall and, absurd as it might seem, Doranbolt could sense an enormous amount of magical power coming from each of them.

"Where's she?" asked Gran Doma, looking at a handsome young boy with short black hair and violet eyes, dressed in a waiter's uniform complete with black velvet gloves, who was cleaning a mug with a serene smile on his face.

"In her office." said the butler without taking his eyes off the mug.

Gran Doma then walked towards the stairs with Doranbolt behind him and the young Rune Knight could only feel nervous when he felt the looks of all those people on his skin, following his every step; for some reason he felt like a prey surrounded by hungry predators. Even when he reached the staircase, he felt their gazes on his back but he managed not to turn around and, together with Gran Doma, he went up to the second floor, which was simply composed of a large wooden landing and three doors.

Gran Doma went to the central door and opened it without even knocking, then entering what was an elegant office with a red carpet, fine wooden furniture, a large marble desk and three large red leather armchairs. The two seats on their side were currently empty, but the one on the other side was occupied by a young woman with long blond hair wearing an intricate red and black elegant dress, which still put her large chest in full view, currently busy observing the vermilion liquid inside a glass goblet with her blood red eyes.

Once inside, the door closed by itself behind them and the blonde moved the goblet slightly, stirring up the liquid inside "About seventeen months and fourteen days…" her eyes fell on Gran Doma as a sharp grin spread across her lips "You took your sweet time, Doma-kun. Am I right?"

"Think what you like, Katharina. You know why I'm here." said Gran Doma walking closer to the desk while Doranbolt stood by the door.

The now named Katharina grinned even more "I guess so…me and the others were wondering when you would finally decide to use us properly." she took a sip from her goblet "Ah…A Positive, I love this aroma."

'A Positive…?' wondered Doranbolt before turning slightly pale.

What was in the chalice was not wine, but blood.

That woman was literally drinking blood from a glass goblet!

"Don't worry boya, I won't drink your blood." said Katharina, looking at his worried face "After all, I have an agreement with our dear chairman! Isn't that right, Doma-kun?"

Gran Doma frowned at her before materializing a white parchment in his empty hand, placing it on the desk "Name your conditions for dealing with the current crisis."

"Oh that's easy!" she said before unfolding the parchment and place a finger over it. Drops of blood began to seep from her skin and onto the paper surface, slowly forming a large number of words.

"First of all…we are independent, we answer to no one but you, moreover, if we find someone who interests us, we can ask them to join our guild."

Gran Doma nodded, since that was the basis of their agreement.

"Second condition: we have carte blanche on how to behave. If we find something of value, we can keep it. If we want to kill everyone, we can. If we want to catch them all and keep them as waiters here, we can do it."

The chairman narrowed his gaze "As long as it's not innocent civilians."

Katharina waved him away "Please, we you may think of us as ravenous beasts but we have a code of honor. Third condition! There's a certain prisoner in your pretty prison, a member of Oración Seis: Cobra."

"What about him?"

"I want to talk to him and ask him to join us. If he says yes he is free and can join my guild without repercussions!" the blood stopped dripping and the wound healed instantly, while Katharina rolled up the parchment and gave it to Gran Doma "Sounds good to you?"

The old mage took the scroll in his hand "I have no choice but to accept. Keep active the Lacrima I gave you years ago, I'll use it to contact you and notify you of targets."

"Will do, and try to get me those special council passes for my guild. You can send them to Jennet and then I'll go get them. The sooner we have them, the fewer Rune Knights will end up in the infirmary with broken bones." said Katharina with a small chuckle before nodding at the door "Now, if you would be kind enough to leave…I have to talk to the others."

Gran Doma said nothing and just walked out, immediately followed by Doranbolt. The two went down the stairs, ignoring the looks of all the others, who, however, had now resumed eating and talking to each other, and left the guild without ever looking behind them. After the chairman had once again used his magic to keep them out of the blizzard, Doranbolt risked asking "What is this place, chairman-sama…?"

"A lair of monsters." replied Gran Doma while walking toward the giant bones in front of the guild "Many years ago I met Katharina and immediately understood that she was a monster with human features, however she was not particularly inclined to act against the law, even though it was practically impossible to control her, so we made a deal: I would finance this guild of hers and she would supervise her mages as best as possible, while carrying out secret missions for the Magic Council, the ones many would prefer to avoid. Over the years they have prevented the outbreak of wars, the start of rebellions and have also eliminated several dangerous wanted people."

Doranbolt looked at him with surprised eyes "W-What is the name of this guild?"

"World Slayers. Quite an apt name given their line of mages."

The Rune Knight behind him blinked in confusion "I…beg your pardon? What do you mean with that?"

Gran Doma stopped, turning to look Doranbolt straight in the eyes "That was Katharina Rel Alucard, a Blood God Slayer. The bartender was her second-in-command, Nox Ravenwood, a Shadow Devil Slayer."

As his words sank into Doranbolt's mind, the young wizard's eyes widened beyond belief "You…you don't mean…?!"

Gran Doma nodded once "Yes, all members of her guild are able to use a form of Slayer Magic, such as Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail or Cobra from Oración Seis. Katharina spends most of her time hunting down other Slayers to get them to join her guild. Among its ranks there are also magics that do not belong to the three already known categories of Slayer Magic, which makes the deal with her even more important, as only all Ten Wizard Saints would have any chance of facing such a guild if they decide to become a dark guild. The reason I gave you coordinates away from the guild is because if we teleported directly into the hall some of them would have attacked us without hesitation."

Now Doranbolt understood. He perfectly understood that feeling of unease he had felt in the guild, since all of those mages possessed magics capable of killing dragons, gods, demons and who knows what else.

Gran Doma placed a hand on his head to give him the magical power necessary to teleport them, now that they were away from the guild "As I said, it's a lair of monsters." and in a blink, they were gone.

Back at the guild, Katharina rose from her armchair and walked out of her office, approaching the wooden railing from where she observed the entire room below. Everyone was silent, waiting for her speech.

A small grin appeared on her face 'They probably already know everything, given the keen hearing of many of them, but we might as well get things right.'

"As you all already know, the situation in Ishgar is out of control. Bandits, monsters, pirates, dark guilds…it almost seems that chaos has chosen this era to plunge the world into darkness… and I say: it's about fucking time!" she hit the railing with both hands "All that fun! All those possible fights! An entire continent turned into a battlefield! And where were we? Here! We were standing here wasting time and dying of boredom!" she placed a hand on her heart "I know, it's my fault and the deal I made with that old grouch, and you have no idea how grateful I am to all of you for staying here to this day! You truly are the best warriors and companions someone like me could ever ask for!"

A choral roar went up in the hall as many raised full mugs of alcohol before taking a sip.

"But now you can rejoice! Because our time has finally come! It's time for us to march on these lands, win all battles and slaughter all our enemies! Be they dark mages, the fucking Acnologia or even the infamous Zeref!" she raised her right arm, flexing her fingers in a claw gesture "My fellow Slayers…"

For just a moment, absolute silence reigned in the hall as everyone waited in anticipation for her words that would start everything.

"…IT'S TIME FOR A BLOODBATH!"

A thunderous chorus of roars rose above the howling wind as that ominous day drew to a close.

The day the Slayers were unleashed on Ishgar.