The lines said that no one over the age of eighty could pass through, which made many members stare with wide mouths at the scene.

Natsu and Gajeel had started to punch the barrier, because they couldn´t understand why that rule was working on them.

Zeldaris, Aversia and Vulcan had a rather good guess why this was happening, and while the two half dragons were, in their mind, cursing both Igneel and Metalicana, Vulcan was having a blast and started to laugh.

“THIS ISN`T FUNNY OLD MAN!!!” Natsu and Gajeel yelled at the same time.

While continuing to laugh, Vulcan begun to work at the runes.

Any mage could touch and change the runes, however if someone didn´t know how to deal with them it was best to not do any changes at all, since even the slightest change in the runes could create unimageable effects.

The fact that almost every enchanter that uses runes was also encrypting them in other languages, either ancient ones or multiple ones, was also a reason for it.

Vulcan could immediately tell that Freed had encrypted his runes in a way that would take even him a long time to encipher, but luckily there was someone that had an even better understanding when it came language.

Without even being told so, Levi quickly ran toward the runes and started to inspect them.

She then told Jet and Droy to gather some specific books from the guild´s library.

“Give me some time so that I can encipher them properly. Zeldaris and Aversia should stay as far away from them as possible, I don´t want them to accidentally absorb one of the runes and cause the whole array to blow up. As for everyone else, you can start searching for Laxus and his group. There is a high possibility that Freed had set up traps with his runes. As soon as I have deciphered his code, I will give it to Vulcan who in turn will free anyone trapped. NOW GO!”

While giving orders, Levi was completely different from her usual self, making dumbfounding everyone except Lucy, Makarov, and Vulcan.

“YOU HEARD HER! MOVE!” Makarov yelled at everyone, making everyone snap out of their state and begun to run out of the guild hall.

Zeldaris and Aversia stayed a few meters before the door and looked at Natsu and Gajeel.

“DON`T YOU DARE FINISH ALL OF THEM BEFORE I GET OUT OF HERE!” Natsu yelled at the two.

“Can´t believe that I am agreeing with that idiot, but yeah, I also want to have some part of the action.” Gajeel added.

“I don´t think that you two will have too much to worry about that, since it seems that Laxus had some special plans for us.” Aversia said while glancing at the surroundings.

“Come out already, we know that you are there!” Zeldaris yelled.

Four shadows came out of nowhere and attacked both half dragons at the same time.

Both of them quickly engulfed their hands with their grey flames and wanted to punch out, while ignoring the attacks, but their instincts told them that they had to be careful about them.

However, it was already too late and both of them were hit by the attacks.

Blood fell onto the ground, both Zeldaris and Aversia had been injured by these attacks.

“How…. How is this possible…”

Natsu and the others could only stare with open mouths at the sight.

But Natsu and Gajeel could also feel something familiar about that magic.

“Impossible… that… that was… dragon slayer magic!”

 

While Zeldaris and Aversia were attacked, Elfman, Mirajane and Lisanna were running through the streets of the city, trying to find any clue about Laxus´s whereabouts.

The three had thought that Laxus would hide somewhere away from the center of the city and were currently searching in the streets that were not as lively as the main streets.

But as they kept running, they begun to feel as if their bodies became increasingly heavier.

The three stopped in their tracks and became cautious, which quickly proved itself useful as multiple blades shot out of the ground.

All three of them managed to dodge the sneak attack without any problems.

“Well, well, well, look what we have here. The Strauss siblings, long time no see.” Bonmu said as she appeared out of nowhere.

“Bonmu!” Elfman yelled, he and Bonmu had some history with one another.

Bonmu smiled and stretched out her hand toward the three siblings.

“It seems like you have become soft while I was gone, ELFMAN!”

Their bodies suddenly became extremely heavy and the three of them could barely stand.

“If Bonmu is here, that means that he is also nearby. Meaning that we are probably already under his illusions.” Mirajane said while trying to activate her magic.

“Don´t even try, it´s useless. You are already under his spell and there is now way out for any of you!”

“This is why, I regret that I learned from you, Bonmu! You have no principles, no honor!” Elfman said while taking a step forward, surprising Bonmu.

“So, you still cling onto your convictions and your so-called manliness, how pathetic.”

Elfman took another step, breathing heavily.

Slowly but surely, he got closer and closer toward Bonmu, who in turn was getting desperate and increased the effect of her magic.

“As always you use your gravity magic in a cowardly way. You don´t want to fight a fair fight, all you want is to slaughter!”

“And what is wrong with that? Those that survive are in the right, those that die are weak!”

Elfman finally arrived before Bonmu and stared down at her.

Sweet dripping down her face, Bonmu readied her other arm and covered with her gravity magic.

“DIE!”

Bonmu punched out and hit Elfman right in the chest, however, Elfman didn´t budge, he kept standing.

“Why won´t you yield?!” Bonmu yelled as she repeatedly punched, but no matter how many times she hit Elfman, he kept standing.

Under the endless barrage of punches Elfman punched out, and while his fist was flying forward Elfman used his magic.

“Because of them I didn´t fall onto the wrong path and as they had protected me, I will protect them and the other members of Fairy Tail!!! [IRON BULL!!!]”

Elfman´s fist transformed into an iron fist and hit Bonmu right in the face.

For only a brief moment Bonmu lost conscious, was pushed upward from the ground and lost control over her magic.

Elfman noticed that his body was no longer being influenced by Bonmu´s magic and used his magic again, transforming into The Beast.

“AND BECAUSE OF THAT! I! AM! A! MAN!!!” Elfman yelled as he punched out with all of his might, sending Bonmu flying right through the wall of the building at the end of the street and through the wall at the other side finally stopping onto the street on the other side.

Elfman transformed back and turned around walking back toward his sisters.

“That is the difference between me and a coward like you.”

However, Elfman was only able to walk a few steps before he lost the strength in his feet and fell onto his knees while spilling out blood out of his mouth.

“ELFMAN!” yelled Mirajane as she and Lisanna ran toward Elfman.

“Don´t worry, it isn´t as bad as it looks. Just give me some time and I will be good.” Elfman said while trying to smile, to reinsure sure his sisters.

“You are an idiot sometimes, you know that, worrying us like that.”

“What are you talking about, sis, I am a man.”

“Looks like we have underestimated you?! No problems, the two of us will finish you!” said a calm voice that seemed to come out of every direction.

“Solas, so you really where here as well. Why didn´t you help Bonmu, you had multiple opportunities to do so?” Mirajane asked while trying to figure out where Solas was hiding.

“Trying to distract me while figuring out where I am hiding? Useless! As for your question, it is because I can´t stand that muscle brain, why lord Ivan had accepted her as a member of Raven Tail is something that I will never understand, her constant blabbering about action and her debauchery was just so annoying. Honestly, you did me a favor with that.”

“I can´t believe that someone like you was ever a part of Fairy Tail!” Lisanna yelled, Elfman and Mirajane nodded in agreement.

“Oh, believe me, I fully agree with you in that, it was such a torture, I was almost dying from boredom. But enough chit chat, time to finish you all!”

Black blades shot out of the ground again, Mirajane quickly pushed Lisanna and Elfman aside and got stabbed in both arms, however no blood was flowing out of the wounds.

“I will deal with you personally, Mirajane!” Solas said and the ground beneath Mirajane turned dark and pulled her into it.

“MIRA!”
“BIG SIS MIRA!”

And as Mirajane vanished into the ground, a man emerged from the same spot.

He was tall and had a slim figure, short black hair, and black eyes.

He wore a dark vest over a red shirt and a black tie.

He also wore dark pants and shoes in the same color.

He was smiling in a warm way and you wouldn´t believe that he would be able to hurt anyone if not for the saber that seemed to be made out of shadows, which he was holding in his right hand.

“My name is Jack, I was a former member of Fairy Tail, although I worked most of the time away from the guild. It is a pleasure to meet you, but I am sad to say that we won´t be able to get to know each other more, because I need to kill you.” Jack said in a warm and polite tone and even bowed at the later part.

Lisanna and Elfman were a bit confused by this.

 

The first thing that Mirajane was able to see after she was freed from the shadows was a familiar place.

It was a road that was leading through two cliffs, in the distance she could see a small town.

It was night and the whole town was illuminated with light.

Mirajane knew this place; how could she ever forget it.

“You recognize this place don´t you? After all this is the place where you almost lost your deer sister.” Solas said.

Something flew past Mirajane and crashed into the wall of one of the cliffs.

Mirajane took a deep breath and watched as the scene that she had relieved countless of times again, the scene that for so long terrorized her dreams and her heart.

But something was different about this vision because there in this vison Zeldaris and Aversia never came to the rescue and Lisanna died.

“How does it feel to relieve your most painful memory?” Solas asked as he appeared beside her.

“No matter how many times I see it, the pain will never go away. However, you seem to have forgotten something important.” Mirajane said and suddenly the scenery changed to the moment as The Beast was about to punch Lisanna.

This time, Zeldaris and Aversia arrived and saved Lisanna.

“This is how it happened, and I will not allow you to change it in any other way.”

“How… How are you doing this? This is my illusion!” Solas yelled in confusion and denial.

Mirajane looked down toward Solas and Solas became pale, because it was no longer the sweat and innocent Mirajane that was looking at him, it was the Mirajane that was once called Erza´s equal and rival, the Mirajane that was brutal and feared.

Mirajane ‘The Devil’ was looking down onto Solas.

“Do you think that I haven´t relived this memory for countless times in my dreams? Do you think that I haven´t seen countless times how Lisanna died? I have felt despair, fear, and pain countless times, and although I will never truly get over this, I am sick and tired of staying in the past. Lisanna is alive and I will step forward, together with my siblings and everyone at the guild. And let me show you something truly terrifying!”

As Mirajane yelled the last part, her magic power erupted from her body, lifting up her hair and shattered the illusion.

But before it could fully disappear, Solas could feal two pair of eyes staring at his back.

As the cloaked man turned around, he saw two giant flaming silhouettes that were starring murderously at him.

“M… Monster!” was all that Solas was able to mutter.

“That´s right, this is what I witnessed as they showed me their secret. Both them and me have been called monster multiple times. And know you have drawn the wrath of this monster, this demon upon you.”

Her magic power fully covered her body and as she emerged from it again, it was Mirajane in her Satan Soul.

Without giving Solas even the chance to process everything, Mirajane punched Soals into the air.

As Solas was flying through the air, Mirajane appeared behind him and kicked him from behind, sending him flying once again.

This time however Mirajane flew right behind Solas and gathered energy between her two hands.

The energy took the form of a large, black globe.

“I no longer enjoy fighting, but that doesn´t mean that I won´t fight back! This is my wrath! [SOUL EXTINCTION]”

Mirajane fired a giant black-purple beam that caused devastating explosions and covered the entire sky of the city.

As Erza, Zeldaris, Aversia, Elfman, Lisanna and Makarov saw this, they smiled.

 

 

Ok, time to talk about runes.

Runes are symbols or letters that are used for enchantments. Both Freed and Vulcan use them in different ways. There are multiple types of magic that use runes, but most of them fall under the category of letter magic. Runes can be written in the air and any other surface, even water.

Any mage can also interact with Runes, such as destroy them, move them and so on. However, the effect of the runes is very much depending on their meaning and even the smallest changes can bring unforeseen reactions.

The effect of runes is depended on the word that was used and the meaning that the mage, which created them, gave them. For example, Freed can write on somebody the word pain, that person would then feel pain through their whole body. The way that Freed would interpret it and imagines it effects the pain that the person would feel. Freed can also ad other words, to modify it, for example he could add the word arms and the pain would be only affecting the arms. In other words, it is important to be very precise with their words and also pretty careful. Also helpful would be a good amount of knowledge about language.

Many mages that use runes decipher them in ancient languages, or in multiple ones at once.

This has the effect that other mages won´t be able to easily decipher the runes and negate them.

Vulcan uses symbols from druids, which he had learned on his travels as a young man. For Vulcan it is much easier to use these symbols then words because every symbol has a clear meaning, but it also means that he can´t do complicated things, not that he needs to, since the runes are the final additions for his armors and weapons. Also, the runes are engraved into the weapons and armors, meaning that you can´t mess with them.

Freed on the other hand has created his own language by using multiple languages, some of them ancient. His usage of runes is like programming. He uses long sequences of codes and can create multiple effects and things that Vulcan can´t do. But that also means that if you aren´t careful with them, you could make the whole thing instable and blow it up.

Also, every run has to be drawn by hand, except if you use a medium, Freed uses his sword as a medium and can create runes much faster with it, otherwise it would take a long time to write them all by hand.

Freed uses two types of magic which uses runes. Dark Écrture and Jutsu Shiki. The first is his normal usage of runes, while the other allows him to create barriers with his runes.

Overall, runes are extremely useful and versatile type of magic.