Kai's spell had dragged him off to kunugi town ,where he after his injuries having patched up he had found a good enough place at a rooftop to sleep ,since no inn was open in midnight specially after recent attack of Eisenwald and after pulling out some blankets and sheets he had fallen asleep quickly enough ,his habit of sleeping on rooftops coming to use.
---
Earlier That Day – Team Natsu(After leaving kai)
The ride was horrible the moment it began.
Erza was gripping the steering handles like a knight charging into a duel, her eyes locked forward in a fierce, unblinking stare.
Natsu was already draped over the side, green as seaweed, whispering death prayers to no one in particular.
Happy flapped beside him worriedly:
"Don't puke on me, Natsu… I can't swim in that."
Lucy was being thrown side to side like a sack of flour every time Erza made a sharp turn.
"Erza—!! Please! At least pretend this is a vehicle and not a warhorse!!"
Gray, holding onto a rail with white knuckles, shouted,
"You're going to burn out all your magic if you keep pushing the engine like this! Slow down!"
But Erza didn't hear any of them.
Or maybe she did — and just didn't care.
Her voice was quiet but seething, "They endangered an entire town. They threatened to slaughter innocents. And… they hurt Kai. Even if he acted fine… he wasn't."
That alone was enough to tell them all she wasn't stopping.
So the vehicle tore down the road like a runaway spell until—
BOOM.
They burst through Oshibana's front gate with all the subtlety of a lacrima cannon.
Smoke rose above the city hall like a black pillar, twisting into the sky.
Crowds were gathered at the edges of the plaza, confused, frightened, some calling for family members, some simply frozen in place.
Lucy's breath caught.
"Please tell me… we're not too late."
---
The Entrance to City Hall
Grey-armored Rune Knights had taken defensive positions around the hall.
Some were shouting orders, others carrying wounded civilians away from the smoke. The Fairy Tail emblem earned them a few startled looks and a few relieved ones.
Gray approached the nearest soldier.
"What happened here?"
The knight swallowed, shaken.
"The train arrived… then dozens of dark mages poured out. They rushed inside— people were forced to flee. We sent a unit in after them but…"
He shook his head.
"We lost contact fifteen minutes ago."
Erza's grip on her sword tightened until her gauntlet groaned.
That was all she needed to hear.
"Let's go."
---
Inside the Hall
The deeper they went, the worse it became.
The entrance lobby was deserted, only the crackling of distant flames and the echo of collapsing beams breaking the silence.
Papers were scattered, chairs overturned, the walls scorched with stray spells.
Gray exhaled sharply through his nose.
"There's no sign of the knights. They should've been guarding the halls."
Lucy glanced around nervously.
"You… you don't think—?"
Erza didn't slow down.
"An entire dark guild would overwhelm them easily. If the knights were lucky, they're only unconscious."
"But if they weren't lucky…?" Lucy whispered.
Erza didn't answer.
Soon they reached the inner corridor — and there, scattered like broken dolls, lay the Rune Knights. Unmoving. Some groaning faintly. Some not at all.
Happy lowered his voice.
"They didn't stand a chance."
Natsu clenched his fists, teeth grinding, the last traces of motion sickness burned away by anger.
"These bastards…!"
---
The Central Chamber
They pushed open the final set of double doors.
At once, dozens of heads snapped toward them.
The central hall was packed — tightly — with Eisenwald members.
Some were standing guard, others resting against pillars, some tending to wounds. The air was thick with expectation… and fear. The kind that follows a failed plan.
And sitting among them—
A man wrapped in bandages, clutching a vicious scythe.
Erigor.
His posture rigid like he was having trouble even moving.
His breathing uneven.
Blood seeping through the wrappings across his torso which still showed burnt marks.
Dark mages clustered around him trying to treat him, but the wounds looked wrong — deep, clean, almost surgical. The marks of a fighter who didn't waste movements.
Lucy spotted another figure to the side.
Kageyama.
He was crouched down, trembling, covered in long slashed cuts that had already bled through whatever makeshift bandages they'd applied.
He was pale. Sweating.
Still trying to catch his breath.
Like something had carved him apart in seconds.
The moment Fairy Tail stepped inside, every Eisenwald mage went silent.
A wave of hostility rolled toward the team like a physical weight.
Eisenwald's scattered, wounded members didn't stay sitting for long. They pushed themselves up.
Smug grins. Cold hatred. Desperation sharpened into fanaticism.
A heavy, unsettling energy spread through the room as dozens of dark mages formed a wall between Fairy Tail and the deeper chamber.
Then—
A faint twitch of movement came from the rear.
The air *cracked* with dark wind.
Erigor rose.
Not by strength. Not by grace.
But by necessity — floating stiffly, his body hanging unnaturally straight, like a corpse tugged up by invisible strings. His scythe clicked against metal as he tightened his grip, though even that caused a tremor of pain to ripple through him.
Erza's eyes snapped immediately to him.
"Erigor… the Shinigami," she said, voice low, edged with steel.
The bandaged man lifted his head, his cold gaze sweeping past Natsu, past Gray— And landing on Lucy.
A sick grin twisted his mouth beneath the wrappings.
"Well, well… the blond one survived. Shame." His voice grated like metal against bone. "I don't see that bastard here. Tell me—did he die from my attack? If not, I'll rip him to pieces the moment I find him."
Lucy froze at the sudden attention, fear sparking in her chest. But anger followed fast, hot and sharp. She gripped her keys tighter.
Before she could retort—
Three figures stepped forward at once.
Erza. Natsu. Gray.
Erza spoke first, voice calm but ice-cold. "Kai is alive."
Natsu didn't bother with calm.
"You should be worrying about yourself, you damn scarecrow! I'm gonna beat you until you wish Kai had finished the job!"
Gray slammed a fist into his palm. "You picked the wrong guild to threaten."
Erigor's lip curled.
"Wrong? No… look around you."
He spread his arms—painfully—and the mages behind him straightened, weapons and magic at the ready.
"It is you who should be terrified. Because once we're through with you, we'll parcel your corpses to that brat you're so proud of." His eyes burned. "And then we'll slaughter this entire town if it draws him out. Every last one."
Erza snapped forward, stopping Natsu with a single arm across his chest before he could explode.
"Why? Why target civilians?" Her voice was sharp with disbelief and fury. "Guild wars do not involve innocents. Even dark guilds follow that rule."
Erigor's laugh was a bitter, broken rasp.
"Innocent? They live soft lives under those self-righteous 'laws.' Protected. Fed. Sheltered." Spit dripped between his bandages. "While they stripped everything from us. Our place. Our pride. Our future."
His aura crackled violently.
"With Lullaby, we were going to punish them. Teach them fear. Take what we deserved. But that brat—" his eyes narrowed in pure hatred— "—he broke my spine, crushed our plans, and humiliated us."
"And now the reaper is here to punish them all and," he hissed, scythe rising, "we start with *you.*"
He pointed forward.
The instant his finger lowered— **Eisenwald charged.**
A roar of magic hit the hall all at once.
Wind bullets. Shadow blasts. Sonic ripples. Blades of cursed ethernano.
Gray reacted first.
"Ice Make: WALL!!"
A massive sheet of ice erupted from the ground, blocking the first barrage in a shower of frost and sparks. The floor cracked under the pressure.
Natsu grinned savagely.
"Nice wall, ice princess!"
And then he sprinted toward the top of it.
Gray yelled, "Don't call me that! And don't jump off—!"
Too late.
Natsu vaulted over the wall, inhaling deeply mid-air—
"FIRE DRAGON… ROAR!!!"
A vortex of flames blasted outward, scattering dark mages like bowling pins, burning through spells and weapons alike.
Behind the blaze, Gray slid through the mist, sending ice spears and fists into the chaos.
Erza turned to them sharply.
"Take care of the rest leave Erigor to me !"
Gray smirked. "Like we need to be told."
Natsu already had two dark mages under his arms like sacks of potatoes. "Got it!!"
With the path partly cleared, Erza launched herself upward, boot hitting a stray shard of falling ice as she shot straight toward Erigor.
Their gazes locked mid-air.
Erigor sneered beneath his wrappings.
"Ready to die, little fairy?"
Erza's aura erupted in a dazzling flash.
"RE-QUIP!"
Feathers of light erupted outward.
Metal shimmered.
And her entire form shifted—
**Heaven's Wheel Armor.**
Blades materialized around her in a radiant sphere, spinning like a silver storm. Her wings lifted her to match Erigor's height, floating eye to eye in the dusty air.
"You will pay for your crimes," she declared, swords trembling with her rising power. "And I will not show mercy."
Below, Lucy moved forward—toward a crouched, trembling shape.
Kageyama.
He lifted his eyes weakly at the sound of her steps, finally recognizing her. His expression twisted — shame, fear, anger, confusion all at once.
Lucy inhaled, steadying herself.
"This time," she said quietly holding a golden key, "you won't escape."
Lucy swallowed hard and gripped the key.
A gold shimmer flickered between her fingers as she remembers this was the key happy had given her when they had entered the hall, apparantly virgo had given it to him to give to her but he had forgotten.
"Alright show me what you can do." Her voice was steady now. "It's time."
She raised the key high.
"I open the Gate of the Maiden—"
Magic flared around her, swirling light gathering like a vortex.
"**Virgo! I summon you!**"
—
# **Natsu & Gray vs Eisenwald**
The front line of Eisenwald hurled spells immediately.
"**Wind Cutter!**"
"**Stone Impact!**"
"**Explosive Talons!**"
A torrent of mixed magic shot toward the Fairy Tail mages—only for **Gray** to slam his palms together and thrust forward.
*"Ice-Make: SHIELD!!"*
A towering wall of sculpted ice burst into existence. The spells smashed into it—BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—crackling spiderweb patterns across the surface, but the shield held.
"Cover me, ice-stripper!" Natsu shouted from behind him.
"Stop calling me that!" Gray snapped back but adjusted his footing.
Natsu grinned wildly, fire already swirling around him. As the last blast faded, he launched himself upward over the melting edges of Gray's shield.
### **"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!!"**
A spiraling column of flames scorched across the room, tearing through the front row of Eisenwald and sending several mages flying.
" Tch—there's more of them than I thought," Gray muttered before dropping into stance. "Ice-Make: Lance!"
A barrage of sharp ice spears flew past Natsu, striking the ground near the advancing mages to disrupt their footwork.
The Eisenwald mages recovered quickly.
"Surround them!"
A dozen rushed Natsu at once.
Natsu grinned. "Now THIS is fun!"
His fist ignited as he punched one mage straight into another.
Gray spun behind Natsu, kicking a mage in the stomach before freezing his arms mid-strike.
"Hey!" Natsu barked. "That one was mine!"
"Move faster then!" Gray shot back.
Another group tried to flank them.
Gray slid across the floor, palm touching the tiles.
### **"Ice-Make: Floor!"**
The ground instantly turned slick—half the mages slipped and crashed into one another.
Natsu barreled over the sliding mages with blazing fists.
"**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!**"
Every punch sent out a shockwave of heat. Eisenwald members dropped one by one.
Gray caught another attacker mid-air with a pillar of ice.
"**Boomerang Blade!**" someone shouted.
A crescent of magic ripped through the air toward Natsu.
He headbutted it.
The spell shattered.
"HA! Too weak!" Natsu barked.
Within minutes the Eisenwald frontline was struggling. The fight wasn't over—but they knew they were losing.
# **Erza vs Erigor**
Above them, the air churned.
Erigor hovered with difficulty—his face pale, body stiff from his dislocated spine, but the murderous look in his eyes hadn't dimmed.
His scythe spun, wind gathering around him like a shrieking storm.
Erza floated upward in her Heaven's Wheel Armor, dozens of swords orbiting her like silent guardians.
Erigor spun his scythe in a wide arc towards her .
**"STORM BRINGER!!"**
A massive vortex of slicing wind blasted toward her.
Erza swung her arms out.
**"Blumenblatt!!"**
Swords shot forward in a radiant cascade—meeting the wind head-on. The hall filled with the metallic singing of clashing steel.
Erigor's eyes widened when the blades actually began to match his wind and even pierce through .
"Tch!" He twisted in the air, barely dodging as one of blades shot towards him and exploded against the ceiling.
Erza followed with a burst of speed, reappearing behind him in a flash of steel.
Her swords reshaped.
### **"Circle Sword: Dance of Blades!"**
Dozens of swords cut in perfectly timed arcs.
Erigor blocked some with wind armor, others he barely evaded, but a few slices got through—each one drawing a grunt of pain and anger.
"You'll pay for what you did to Kai," Erza said coldly.
Erigor flinched—but his expression twisted into hatred.
"That bastard! Don't speak his name!"
Wind exploded around him. A condensed storm sphere hurled itself at Erza.
Erza raised her hands.
"**Heaven's Wheel — Trinity Shot!!!**"
Three massive swords formed and launched at the storm sphere—piercing straight through it and slamming into Erigor who couldn't move due to his injury but at least moment he quickly summoned his wind armour.
*"Storm Veil"*
Erza was surprised at her attacks being blocked and rushed forward herself and swung hard but as her sword reached him the pressure of the wind threw her back as she crashed into a wall, sword clattering.
Erza struggled to stand, her body trembling due to magic drain from driving the magic vehicle but she could see Erigor wasn't in any better shape from injuries.
"This isn't over" she said firmly.
Erigor smirked through his armour and shouts." But it is, now you die ", as he grabbed his scythe and rushed towards her wind coating his body .
Erza quickly floated up growling."You are not the only one who can summon a storm".
*" Blade Cycle : Tatsumaki "*
The blades floating around her suddenly started to spin rapidly in around her with such speed that slashes of wind were being produced as they clashed with Erigor's wind armour who now was stuck unable to pass through or go back since he had to hold the defence.
Erza appeared behind the distracted Erigor summoning a large spear which she launched at him with extremely high speed.
*"Trinity Shot Maximize"*
The spear pierced through the air reaching Erigor who had turned just in time and tries to summon another wind but due to having his attention already drawn towards the sword tornado behind he couldn't stop the spear as it pierced straight through the wind surrounding him hitting him straight into the chest .
Blood pooled at his mouth but erza had already appeared in front of him fist pulled back as she punched him straight into the face throwing him across the hall .
Her final blow knocked him out cold.
# **Lucy & Happy vs Kageyama**
Kageyama staggered up when Lucy approached, holding his side where Kai had previously cut him up.
He grimaced. "You again… stay back!"
### **"Gate of the Maiden — VIRGO!!"**
A burst of pink light—Virgo emerged in a flurry, kneeling.
"How may I serve, Princess?"
Lucy pointed. "Virgo we will finish our contract later, for now restrain him!"
Virgo nodded, " As you command princess ", virgo vanished into the ground—earth magic rippling beneath Kageyama's feet.
Before he could react— Chains erupted upward, binding him mid-jump.
"H-Hey!! Stop—" Virgo popped up and kicked him in the chin, launching him backward.
Kageyama mid air quickly summoned shadows to protect him but virgo was already on him as he was being pushed back , until his eyes snapped to lucy * she is the weak link*.
*"Shadow snakes"*, kageyama launched shadow snakes at virgo who was quick to destroy them but during that time kageyama rushed at lucy, who tried to get back but shadows binded her feet before she could and as kageyama rushed at her lucy felt powerless just like when kai protected her , she snapped her eyes forward angry not anymore grabbing her whip lucy whipped it towards kageyama who easily dodged the attack smirking at her .
But the next second a stone slab was dropped on his head *BAM* he felt his vision go hazy as happy flew over him smirking and lucy smiled at him before whipping at his legs and pulling him down as she turns to virgo.
"Virgo! Now!"
Virgo summoned a massive earth hammer and slammed it down on Kageyama, cracking the ground and knocking the wind out of him.
Kageyama coughed blood, collapsing.
"How… how is this guild so insane…?"
Lucy exhaled, relieved. Happy hugged her. "You did great, Lucy!"
"Th-Thanks…"
# **The Aftermath**
With Eisenwald defeated and tied up, Erza regrouped with the others.
"Now—where is the Lullaby flute?" she demanded.
Erigor already half dead didn't seem capable of answering so they turned to kageyama.
Kageyama winced when the sharp gazes of all fairy tail fell on him . "W-We… we don't have it."
Everyone froze.
Erza's gaze sharpened dangerously. Natsu blinked. Gray frowned.
Lucy sputtered. "What do you MEAN you don't have it?!"
Kageyama looked weakly toward the ground.
"When… when that Kai guy knocked me out… h-he took it. He swapped it with a stick, that's why I was so hurt Erigor punished me for it."
Silence.
Natsu: "Pfft—HAHAHAH! That's TOTALLY something he'd do."
Gray rubbed his forehead. "Yeah… should've expected it."
Lucy's eye twitched. "He WHAT—?! I FOUGHT YOU FOR NOTHING?!"
Erza clenched her fists the image of kai telling them to go saying he was tired coming to her mind now it all made sense why that asshole had stopped before finishing it's because he already got what he wanted. "That… sneaky… infuriating… little—!"
Natsu and gray looked at her telling them it was not a big deal and how they stopped the threat anyways what's the problem even if kai took the flute he actually stopped Eisenwald from using it , but erza suddenly glared at them with Lucy joining her, both steaming in anger.
" HE DIDN'T TELL US!"
They all flinched at the anger calmly stepping back. "
Erza and Lucy screamed in unison:
**"KAAAAAAAI!!!"**
Natsu leaned to Gray. "…Wanna bet he knew they'd react like that?"
Gray snorted. "Knowing him? He probably planned it."
Happy giggled. "Aye! Kai is Kai!"
Erza and Lucy trembled with fury. But deep down, beneath the irritation…
They weren't surprised. Not really.
Because this was Kai.
Infuriating Bastard. Chaotic. Impossible to predict.
But always three steps ahead.
Always.