Fairy Tail Bluemage (Chapter 7) (Patreon)

I let out a long sigh as I gaze up to the battered and broken guild building. 

A low click leaving my mouth. 

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Natsu roars. 

"Oh... you're back." I note as I turn, gazing at the four fairy tail wizards- and cat- 

"MERLIN WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GUILD?!" Erza booms. 

"I don't know." I shrug. "Wasn't like that when I left last night."  

"WHO DID THIS?!" Gray shouts. 

"The spires are Iron Dragon Slayer Magic... there's a phantom lord wizard who does that. His name was... Gigajoule Redsox or something? I don't really care, honestly. He's not that important. Nobody was hurt. He was a coward that did this at night when nobody was here. It's clear that phantom lord is trying to provoke us... Pretty sure it's because this Heartfilia guy put out a mission to return his daughter home or something? He's under the assumption that she's in Fairy Tail for some reason." 

Lucy stiffens. "W-What?" 

"Now. The job board has been moved to the basement. Everyone's down there." I begin as I turn and walk off. "I've got things to do today. Later." 

"Oi! Merlin how can you be so indifferent?!" Natsu shouts. "Our guild... our HOME is in tatters! Don't you care?!" 

"I do care. I'm just keeping all of my rage and vitriol bottled up because Master said that this wasn't a big deal. Now. I'm going to go behind his back and see if I can't get Phantom Lord branded as a dark guild so we can legally attack them with no warning. Bye." 

~~Linebreak~~

I step off the train, taking a deep breath as the salty ocean breeze tickles my nose. 

I turn and immediately walk in the direction of my destination. No time to dally. 

It is a short walk, eventually I come to the Rune Knight outpost placed within town. 

I pause at the desk, patiently waiting for the person who is already there to finish speaking. 

"Yes." The man behind the desk sighs. "We will be on the lookout for the man who stole your outdoor table and chairs. Don't you worry." 

His eyes slide over to me, seemingly pleading. "It appears someone else is here. What are you here for?" 

"I need to speak to Lahar about something vitally important. Is he in?" 

"You need to speak to Lahar?" He questions, rising to his feet. "I'll take you to him right away!" 

I follow after him as we begin walking through the base. 

"I remember you..." Them man notes. "You're a fairy tail wizard now, huh? I saw you in the paper after that lullaby thing." 

"Yeah. I joined up a while back." I nod slowly. 

"Thanks for the save back there. I can't be rude to people as a receptionist, but that guy is about to drive me crazy about his table and chairs going missing. His restaurant has spares. Plus it's not like he wasn't given compensation that should mostly afford a new set. But he just comes in each and every day to complain. Honestly, I don't care if this IS important or not." 

"It is actually important." I state. 

"Ah? Really?" He hums. "How important are we talking?" 

"Phantom Lord is picking a fight with Fairy Tail. They utterly trashed our guild hall. Now. Fairy tail isn't going to really... react to this provocation. Which is why I think they'll escalate. I am here to let the magic council know that if any of their wizards assault our own... there will be consequences. Such as a few dozen fairy tail wizards walking over to Oak Town and burning the entire phantom lord guild building to the ground." 

"Shit... that is important." The man curses under his breath. "Here we are." 

He gestures to the door before opening it for me.  

"Sir. That one fairy tail wizard is back. 

"Oh, damn it." I hear Lahar sigh seemingly knowing that if I'm here instead of just taking care of it myself it's going to be an absolute pain in the ass to deal with. "What is it this time?" 

"Phantom Lord is trying to provoke Fairy Tail into a guild war. I'd imagine the number one and two guilds fighting would cause tremendous damage to not only our main towns, but through any dark guild that wants to try and take advantage while we are weakened." 

"Phantom lord is-" the man sharply inhales and exhales. "Do you have any proof of that?" 

"There are currently dozens of large metal spires that reek of Iron Dragon Slayer magic piercing our guild hall. The damage is so bad that we'll likely have to tear down the whole thing and re-build it from scratch." 

"..." 

He lets out a long sigh. 

"Show me." He demands. 

~~Linebreak~~

I stand next to Lahar as he stares up at our guild hall. 

"Well... I can firmly say this wasn't an accident... nor will it ever be looked at as an accident by any even slightly competent judge." 

"And the Incompetent ones?" I question. 

"Will be fired due to the sheer audacity of their rulings and the criminal shall be re-tried... though... at the moment, I am unsure if I can truly say for sure that it is the Phantom Lord Iron Dragon Slayer, Black Steel Gajeel." 

"Would him being at the scene of the crime tilt your opinion in any direction?" I question. 

"It... may- oh... he's literally standing right over there... isn't he?" The man sighs. 

"Yep." I nod once. 

"You." He calls out as he begins walking forwards. "Black Steel. I would like to have a word with you." 

"Geheheheh." The man chuckles. "Whatever could you need, Rune Knight?" 

"Did you destroy Fairy Tail's guild hall?" Lahar demands. 

"Whaaat? No. Absolutely not. I just heard someone busted it up and wanted to come see myself." I can see a savage grin on his lips as his gaze strays to me. "Real shame that happened. Maybe you guys should be more careful. You might piss off whoever did it by bringing the Rune Knights into this." 

"Hey, I'd be more worried for whoever did it." I shrug with a smug smirk, my smirk growing as I notice Lahar doing something. "Can you imagine if they returned to the scene of the crime after they made the entire guild furious with them? They could be a ten wizard saint and still be drawn and quartered like the dumb animal they are." 

"I have to wonder... would their parents be proud of what they became? An insignificant thug who is too scared to attack the guild when anyone is there? A coward through and through." 

His eyebrow twitches slightly. 

"Good thing the criminal isn't here, right?" I hum, giving the dragon slayer a half-lidded stare. "Cause if they were, they'd probably be pretty offended when I called their dad a weak, pathetic, insect of a dragon that was physically incapable of teaching their child how to stop acting like a little childish brat." 

His hand twitches, eyes shutting, mouth twisting up into a forced smile.  

"Yeah." He grits out. "Good thing that he's not here. Otherwise he'd put your head on a spike." 

"An Iron Dragon spike perhaps?" I ask. 

"No. Just a regular one." He denies. 

"I doubt HE could even lift a spike... you know. It's a little interesting, Black steel." I hum. "I never said that it was a 'he'. Do you perhaps know who busted up our guild hall?" 

He glares at me silently for a long moment. 

"I-" 

FLASH 

A wall of runes explodes around the dragon slayer, boxing him in. 

"What the hell?! You can't do this! I've done nothing wrong!" 

"The conditions to pass through these walls... is if you have lied to me today..." Lahar intones, pushing up his glasses. 

I step forwards and swipe my hand through the wall. Smirking as it effortlessly passes through. 

"So. Black steel. Have you been truthful?" 

"..." 

"By all means." I shrug with a grin. "Take your time. These barriers can last hours." 

"It is quite simple." Lahar glares. "Step out of the box... or put these cuffs on and I will be arresting you for property damage." 

"What?!" Gajeel snarls. "Fairy Tail breaks shit all the time! They've LITERALLY had to install a bunch of fuckin' mechanical parts because one of their dipshit S-Class keeps walking through buildings on his way back to the guild!" 

"Yes." Lahar nods once. "They do. However. It is never their intent to do so. They do not single handedly seek out places to destroy for... fun. No. They, despite being destructive are reliable and good-hearted." 

"Unlike Phantom Lord, hmmm?" I hum.  

"You little rat." Gajeel glares at me. "You're a coward. You think you're soooo secure when you're using the magic council as a shield." 

"Whatever gave you that idea?" I ask. "I know fully well that I could beat you. Easily in fact. But I have a question for you... why should I stoop to your level?" 

"I'm just frankly better than you." I admit. "I see no need to fight pointlessly for my fuckin ego. You destroyed our guild hall. Big woop. Do you know how often fairy tail wizards do that same thing?" 

I glance back. "..." 

"Not to this extend, I admit. But that is beside the point. You are jealous of our number one status. That's fine. In fact, I hope you and your guild surpass our own. That would at the very least give us something to strive for. But here you are. Starting a fight. Likely planning on using underhanded means to win. It's pathetic and puts not only our guilds in jeopardy, but most of Fiore as well... how do you think dark guilds will react to having two of the top guilds fight? They'd take advantage of that chaos, right? It literally makes ZERO sense for us to fight like this. Like. My god. Make a tournament. A place where we can duke it out all we want. Settle our differences in the battlefield like men. In a place where we don't risk entire towns doing so." 

"It's not that fucking complex! And the sole reason you are doing this is simply dumb. Do you really think the magic council will accept you going to war with us because 'oh, well, that one Heartfilia guy paid us to return his daughter that joined fairy tail to him.' NO!" 

"They wouldn't." Lahar shakes his head. "In fact. I believe that I may just be forced to visit this Heartfilia... putting up such requests that can cause conflict between guilds... it is a crime and the request should be revoked as soon as physically possible." 

"So. Are you going to prove me wrong and step out of the box, or are you going to get arrested like a good little boy?" 

"..." 

"..." 

"Well, Lahar." I begin as I turn to the black haired Rune Knight. "I believe that's about as much of a confession as you are going to get... well, besides drawing a line on the ground and being all 'Those who have intentionally destroyed portions of the fairy tail guild hall in the past three days can't cross this'." 

"Yes." The man sighs. "Gajeel Redfox. You are under arrest for the destruction of the Fairy Tail guild hall. I WILL be following up with your guild master."  

He seems to requip a pair of magic sealing cuffs. "Please put these on. I do not wish to use force. Phantom Lord is in enough hot water as it is." 

"And there's a guild of disgruntled mages who would very much so like to use force, so even if you don't, it's not like you'd be able to fight back much in that little box." I shrug. "and who's to say that their hands might slip a few times in their attempts to restrain a violent criminal resisting arrest." 

He glares down at the cuffs that Lahar tossed in the box with him, I can hear his teeth grit, his fists clench. 

He seems like he's about to utterly explode with rage. 

"I will remember this." He growls as he places the magic sealing cuffs on. 

There's a twinge of anger deep in my core, my face falling into a cold glare. My blood rushes in my ears, my fists clenches slightly. "Believe me runt... so will I."  

"I used this method as it is the one to result in the least property damage and chance of success. But don't get me wrong. If you so much as breathe in the direction of my guild after today I. Will. Kill. You. This isn't a threat. Threats are for people who can't back up their words. This is a promise. I will break down everything you hold dear. And then? Only then would you have my permission to die." 

A low breath leaves my lips as I turn to Lahar. "Lahar, pleasure to work with you as always." 

I offer a hand to him which he shakes. "You are one of the very few fairy tail wizards who seems to care about property damage. Please... please don't ever stop caring about that." 

"I'm in fairy tail." I hum with a shrug. "You know as well as I things just tend to blow up around us. We're practically cursed. But I do make an attempt to guide the wizards I'm around in a less destructive path... you know, that Lullaby train car was my idea too." 

He lets out a long sigh. "Fairy tail needs someone with a calm head on their shoulders. Thank you for coming to me instead of allowing this conflict to unnecessarily escalate. While I have issues with each guild. The property damage for one, and the character of the other, I can't deny that it would be a tremendous loss if either guild disappeared. I thank you for this." 

"I prefer a peaceful option when it is possible." I admit. "If that makes me lazy, I'm unsure." 

"It saves both your guild master and the magic council paperwork... so please continue to be lazy." He huffs. 

"If you need a mission done. You can always swing around to fairy tail." I offer a sole wave as I walk towards our guild hall. "Bye." 

"Good luck, Merlin. I will see if I can solve this issue as quickly as possible... but you should stay on your guard." 

"Don't worry, I will." I call over my shoulder. 

I step inside the guildhall, or rather, step into the basement of it, a slight pep in my step. 

I can see Natsu face-down at the makeshift bar. 

I take a seat next to him. 

"Hey Natsu." I greet. 

He turns his head slightly to look at me. "Oh. You're back." 

I glance around the guild hall. "Where's Lucy?" 

"She... seemed to have something important to do. So after talking to Levy for a bit, she got on a train and left." 

"Hm..." I hum. "I see..." 

"Where have you been?" The teen frowns slightly. 

"Oh. I did something quite fun today... I got the person who broke our guild hall arrested." 

He blinks rapidly. "Huh?" 

"Yeah. He's currently being detained outside and Phantom Lord is on thin ice." 

"HE'S OUTSIDE?!" The teen roars, rocketing to his feet. 

I grab the back of his head and slam it into the bar as he turns to rush for the door. 

"No. You stop. Now." I glare down at him. 

He freezes slightly hands briefly shaking. "This... is how this is going to go. I am going to let you go... and you are going to stay here." 

"But he came back!" The teen shouts. 

"He is currently in magic sealing cuffs and is being taken away by the rune knights." I glare. "If you were to attack him now... you would make Fairy Tail look bad. Plus, it might result in his sentence being lessened." 

"HOW THE HELL WOULD WE LOOK BAD?!" Natsu roars. 

"Natsu... do you know how much property damage Fairy Tail causes on average??" 

"..." 

"It would look pretty fucking hypocritical of us to do all that and only when OUR things are broken do we get all up in arms." 

"..." 

"We do not intend to break things, sure. That is our only saving grace. That is why WE aren't carted off in handcuffs after every mission. Black steel out there intended to break our guild hall, thus he is in REALLY hot water with the magic council as they don't want the number one and two guilds fighting like this." 

"Phantom Lord are insecure losers. Doing this because they feel bad about being number two instead of number one. Do not think for a moment that I'll allow this to stand... In fact, the second Master Makarov stops being a drunkard, I'm going to talk to him about this idea I had. A method for us to reasonably work out all this hatred for each other." 

"So." I continue. "Are you calm?" 

"What's your idea?" Natsu asks, causing me to release him. 

"A tournament..." I grin. "Or rather, a duel." 

"A duel?" He repeats. 

"We get a third party involved to judge impartially, then we rent out a massive arena of some sort. Then. Each guild selects a team. We have a series of one-on-one combats, if you defeat your opponent, you fight the next in line. Until only one side has wizards left. Hell, to sweeten the deal, maybe we even toss a cash prize into the ring to give it some stakes? Maybe sell some tickets. Get commentators. People would love to see wizards duking it out." 

He tilts his head slightly. "..." 

"fffffine." He relents. 

"Of course, you should still be ready to utterly destroy Phantom Lord if they try anything." I admit. "And, the chance isn't zero that they will. But since I've added the magic council into this... they'll need to decide if they want to be branded as a dark guild or not. And if they want to be hunted for sport by the light guilds." 

"They also need to consider how many people they'd lose by going dark. You see, Phantom Lord is ONLY the second strongest guild due to one thing... Quantity. They have dozens of guild halls all over Fiore and thousands of wizards in comparison to our... maybe hundred or so? The thing is. Even amongst our weaker members, I'd say they're worth about two or more of phantom lord's 'average'. If they go dark... and lose a lot of members, they'd be far worse off. Hell, I bet even Lamia Scale could clean them up relatively easy. Frankly, their only 'threatening' members would be the guild master, Iron Dragon Slayer- who is going to prison right now- and the element four." 

"..." 

"You're pretty smart, Merlin." 

"Someone in this guild needs to think twice before destroying a building. If that falls to me, so be it. "

"..." 

"You smell different." He frowns. 

"Do you normally go around smelling people or something? That's pretty fucking weird, dude." I scoff. 

"No... it's... familiar. I just can't put my finger on it." He frowns. 

"Huh. That's a little weird." I admit. "Anyways. I have a serious question for you... would you suffer immense agony for ten hours if it gave you the chance to defeat that black steel guy one hundred percent of the time?" 

"..." 

"What do you mean?" 

"What if I told you that you're only ever using less than half of your total magic and you could unlock the second half through a truly agonizing process that takes ten hours?" 

He turns slowly, a frown on his lips. Eyes flicking across my face. "Huh?" 

"It took twenty for me." I shrug. "The fact that I managed to lower that to half of what it was just proves how effective it is." 

"..." 

"How badly does it hurt?" 

"Incredibly. You will not be able to move. Speak. Or even think. All I was able to do was scream." 

"But it made you more powerful?" He echoes.  

"Two times, yes." I nod once. "And just think... after this phantom lord shit is over and done with, you could totally use it to beat up Erza... before I unlock it for her as well." 

A devious grin crosses his face. "Ohohoho yeah. That sounds kickass." 

"Do you know where Erza is?" I question. "Because, frankly I'd like to have her be nearby cause you'll be completely defenseless." 

"She went with Lucy..." He admits. 

"Ah. Never mind on her, then. Let's keep it a surprise. What about Gray? You guys hate each other, but you hate Phantom Lord more. I boost your strength and he helps me guard you, then you guard him as I boost his strength. Sound fair?" 

"Tch. I'd rather he didn't get a boost, but fair is fair... also I want to see him suffer just as much as I do." He frowns. "Oi! Gray!" 

The shirtless wizard looks over. "What?" 

"Merlin's got something he needs help with." 

"Yeah?" Gray mutters. "What is it?" 

Natsu grins savagely. "Something that'll help us blow those phantom lord chumps out of the water if they try anything." 

~~Linebreak~~

"What are you doing?" Natsu frowns. 

"Putting up runs that stop sound." I begin quietly, my finger slowly tracing the outside of my room. "I don't want to disturb my neighbors, after all that'll get me kicked out... probably arrested because you won't be in any position to come to my defense." 

"What are we even doing here." Gray questions. 

"TLDR. I'm about to make Natsu twice as strong by unlocking a secret magical container that everyone has, but rarely anyone uses called a 'second origin'. I was hoping to unlock yours as well, but I'd understand if you didn't want to after seeing what happens to Natsu." 

"What's going to happen to Natsu?" The blue cat that followed us questions. 

"Ten hours of incredible agony." I admit. 

"..." 

"Huh?" It blinks. 

"Once more, you're lucky I cut in down from twenty... I suffered for twenty fucking hours Wednesday." I point out. 

"Wait... you did it to yourself?" Gray asks. "So, you're not full of shit?" 

"My spell power was greatly increased." I nod slowly. "Not only did it give me more magical power to work with, but it also made my magic just in general more powerful. 

"Alright." I state, gazing down at the runes which allow everything BUT sound through them. "These are done."  

I tap the runes on the floor, causing runic lines to creep over the walls, floor, and ceiling. The purple glyphs glisten and shift slightly. 

"Now. Natsu. This is going to fucking suck. Prepare yourself." 

"Just get on with it." He grins, clenching his fist. "The sooner I do this, the more ready I'll be if Phantom Lord tests us!" 

"Alright. For the record, I am sorry about this. I wouldn't wish this pain on my worst enemies. But. For the sake of our guild..." I place my hand on his shoulder. "Second Origin: Release!" 

Red runes appear on his body as he falls to his knees, gritting his teeth. 

He barely lasts a minute before he throws his head back, letting out an agonized scream as He flails slightly, his eyes roll into the back of his head as he thrashes. 

"GGRHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAGHHHHH!" 

"Natsu..." Happy whispers. "Don't worry! I'm here! I'll get you a fish!" 

"Fuck." I whisper, a cringe on my face. "I'm sorry, Natsu." 

Gray looks down at Natsu, a serious expression on his face. His eyes eventually slide to me. "This... sucks..." 

"It does." I nod once with a sad sigh. 

I turn and walk to the kitchen, grabbing a loaf of bread and some water. "The first think I wanted after having my own second origin unlocked... was food, so I'm making Natsu a few sandwiches... happy, do you know what his favorites are?" 

The cat has tears in his eyes as he looks up. "He... He likes meat..." 

"Alright." I nod once.