What came flying was nothing other than Natsu, crashing right into Gray on the roof of the car, causing both of them to tumble backwards, falling of the magically powered vehicle.
The train was back to moving on the trails, but they had gotten what they hunted it for anyway, Natsu, so Erza quickly stopped the car and everyone exited it, heading over to the knocked down guys.
When the four passengers of the car headed over, Natsu was as loud as ever, "Happy! Erza! Lucy! Cassian! You all left me behind! How could you do that?!"
"Forgive me."
"Sorry!"
"Your fault…"
"Not only did you leave me behind, but there was also some weird guy, who suddenly attacked me! What did he call his group again… aye… zen… vault?" Natsu continued on ranting, but got rather quiet, after realizing what he just said.
"Wait! Aye- zen- vault? You mean, Eisenwald?" Cassian asked, holding back Erza's fist, which had been close to smashing into Natsu's face, moments ago.
"Yes! That one!" The pink-haired guy seemed elated, before the realization completely settled in, "Ahh! Aren't those the guys you were looking for, Erza?"
"Can I?" The red-haired mage asked Cassian, who was so kind to release her hand now.
"YES! You goddamn fool!" She bellowed, as she resumed what she had planned to do, before she was stopped; punching Natsu, and causing him to fly a couple of meters.
As if completely ignoring the sight, and his participation in it, Cassian simply began talking again, "At least we now know where they are, at least one of them. We just need to hurry after the train, right?"
Receiving nods from both Gray and Erza, Cassian's words were quickly agreed on, but, just in case, Erza turned to Natsu, "Was there anything special about the guy that attacked you?"
Natsu scratched his head, trying to remember anything that could be classified as 'special', "Uh, he had a weird flute… it was really creepy. It looked really old, and also had a skull with three eyes on one end of it…"
"I'd say that classifies as 'special', doesn't it Erza?" Gray asked the more experienced mage, receiving affirmation from her.
All while Lucy seemed to remember something, murmuring about it, "A flute with a skull with three eyes… no, it couldn't be. That was a made-up story, right… Lullaby… Sleep magic…"
Her worries seemed to become more and more clear, and she eventually voiced them out loud, "This flute could be Lullaby! As in 'Lullaby, the song of death!'"
"…!"
All the others could only look at her in shock. If that was true… then wherever they were on the way to; they needed to be there too, on time at that!
"Get back in the car!" Erza bellowed, and everyone quickly followed suit.
Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy instantly went to the passenger part in the back, while Cassian went alongside Erza to the front.
"You steer, I supply the magic! You would use too much, otherwise!" Cassian said, while already putting on the magic plug on his arm.
Erza thought for a moment, but in the end relented. They didn't have the time to waste arguing now.
The next instant, as Erza grabbed the steering lever, Cassian started. He let his magic flow freely, and the plug instantly increased in size, as they rushed along the train tracks, the scenery on the sides completely turning to a blur.
---
It took the group a few minutes, but they soon saw the train again, just as it was heading into the station in Oshibana, after having apparently passed through the Station in Kunugi minutes earlier.
The group then quickly parked the car in the first good place, which was actually just in the middle of the main street, before rushing towards the Station, just a few dozen meters away.
Even just after the few minutes, since the train had arrived in the station, a huge crowd of civilians had already formed, blocking the way towards the station's entrance.
It took the small group of wizards a minute or two, but eventually they managed to squeeze through, reaching the very front.
[Everyone, this area is dangerous! Please Stay Back!]
[This station is closed to allow for maintenance work following a derailment.]
[No one is to enter the station, until we can assure the safety for all passengers]
The station workers were already trying their best to cover up what was most likely really happening inside, having found a somewhat usable excuse.
"What's the situation inside?!" Erza asked the very spokesperson, giving the excuses.
"W-Who the heck are you?!" "Ugh!" He questioned her, and was instantly after headbutted…
"What's the situation inside?!" "Ugh!"
"…"
"Seriously… We're from Fairy Tail!" Cassian couldn't stand it anymore, and finally called over to the scared workers.
It could bring problems, but at least they wouldn't waste any more time.
The next worker then finally proceeded to explain the situation inside to Erza, after which she, along with the others instantly ran inside.
Cassian was slightly behind them, but still called something to the worker, "Hey! Make sure this mob disperses! It could get dangerous!"
After leaving these final words, he upped his tempo, and ran after his guild-mates.
The hallways were partly too winded to properly rush through them, by using Mana Burst. Thanks to that, Cassian needed to make his way upwards by just running.
Another issue entirely was that his Magical Regeneration seemed to be cut off, the moment they stepped into town, and especially now in this building.
He had never noticed this phenomenon in a city before, but he had also never spent a lot of time in a town, nor had he used much magic before entering ones.
Cassian still had close to two thirds of his reserves, after supplying the magical vehicle with his reserves, but he could clearly feel the missing parts of his reserves. It felt… off putting.
Since coming to this world, there had only ever been one instance, in which he had nearly empty Magic reserves; back when he fought Myriad.
But, how else is he supposed to grow, if he always just fights at his best.
Just when he made up that thought, he finally turned the last corner, finding himself in the huge gate, where normally multiple trains would be waiting for the passengers.
This time, though, there were only his comrades, and a bunch of weird-looking people from supposedly Eisenwald.
With both of them currently having some kind of stare-down, Cassian did not say anything and simply joined the others.
When he did, he was quickly noticed by the Eisenwald mages, and some of their expressions turned mocking.
"Heh, look at that clown! He thinks this is a carnival, or something, with that goofy armor!"
"Ha, probably made that helmet with his mommy, trying to look intimidating!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
Outwardly, Cassian just nodded calmly, but inwardly, he was already memorizing their faces to give them a little payback in a few moments.
Up above, a weird guy with tattoos went on about their master plan, of broadcasting the tune of Lullaby, by using the speakers in the station… which sounded way too easy.
'Why would they use some kind of old lost magic to kill off a bunch of normal people…?' Cassian could also only wonder, and think if there was anything more to it.
All that talking came to an abrupt end, though, when one of the Eisenwald mages couldn't contain himself anymore, and begun sending out his shadow towards them.
'Isn't that…' Cassian recognized it rather quickly, but just to make sure, he still stepped out of the way.
Before the shadow could hit anyone, Natsu suddenly jumped up from the floor, and 'cut' the manifested shadow in two, "So it really is you!"
Natsu seemed to know the other guy too, from somewhere, but no time to think about that.
"Hey, Erza! Mind lending me a sword?" Cassian called out to the red-haired mage besides him, and without an answer was tossed one. "Sweet!"
"You take it from here! I'll just go play the flute. Show these small-fries the power of the dark guild Eisenwald!"
After saying these words, the still air-born 'Death God' disappeared through the closest window, quickly getting out of sight.
"Erigor is running! Natsu! Gray! Go after him! Together you should be able to handle him!" Erza quickly ordered the other two guys, who weren't so sure, since they didn't particularly like to cooperate, but still quickly went after Erigor.
Now, Cassian was left alone in the big hall, with Lucy, Erza, and the dozens of Eisenwald members.
"Hehehe, quite some cuties over there! Could probably fetch a good price!" One of the mages mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Maybe we could even have a little fun with them, before selling them…" Another added, while licking his lips lecherously.
"Yeah, we just need to get rid of that little brat in his flashy armor!"
"…" Cassian wasn't exactly sure where their entire confidence came from, but just in case she had a different standing to this, he still turned to Erza with a questioning gaze.
"They're all yours." She shrugged, and simply positioned herself in front of Lucy, standing a few steps behind Cassian.
Giving the sword in his right hand a small spin to test the weight of it, Cassian put on a small, mocking grin, "Sorry Guys, guess you will have to do with me. Seems like you all aren't really good with the ladies…"
After those words he stretched a bit, and then took measured steps towards them. All of which angered the Eisenwald even more.
"Brat, before we would've only killed you, but now we'll maim and torture you!"
"You're gonna wish that you had just run away!"
"Stop yapping, and begin… We don't got all day!" Getting tired from these arrogant remarks, Cassian had enough and said his last piece before erupting forward.
These morons had barely enough time to use their magic, and summon a myriad of weapons into their hands, before Cassian was already upon them.
The first two tried blocking his blade, while others prepared themselves to kill him as soon as he was standing still for a moment.
Cassian didn't change his sword's trajectory, though, and the dark mages were already sure of their victory, but then again, Cassian didn't need to change it.
In the very last moment, he activated two burst of Mana Burst, concentrating one in his blade, and the other to boost his swing, resulting in his sword slicing easily through the weapons trying to block his, and repelling most of them in an instant.
Seeing the amount of blood this single attack had caused, due to the deep cuts on the two front man, Cassian reconsidered his approach for just a moment, before angling his sword just slightly different.
His adversaries mistook that moment for exhaustion and weakness, and instantly tried taking advantage of it, by sending multiple volleys of magical projectiles.
Fire, Water, Stone, all kinds of projectiles came rushing at him, but Cassian remained mostly relaxed.
He swung his sword, another Mana Burst following it, repelling all of the little projectiles.
'Guess they really aren't that strong… No need to be careful here…' After making up his mind, he launched himself with another Mana Burst straight at the back line of the dark guild, right in front of the ones that had just shot the magic at him.
Seeing this new speed from him, their faces instantly paled. Before they were fully able to regret that decision, though, the flat side of his blade came already rushing for their torsos, hitting each one, one after the other, directly into the nearest wall, knocking them out cold.
Sighing for a second, while looking at the blade in his hands, 'Should I make myself a blunt blade…'
The rest of the Eisenwald mages came running for him, wanting to avenge their guild-mates.
Cassian tossed the blade high, and then chose to head in close and personal. To every viewer it must've looked as if he was vanishing from one place, only to appear in another the same instant, just like his gauntlet clad fists weren't even visible anymore, after being continuously launched with Mana Burst.
All in all, it took about a minute, or just under that, until every Eisenwald mage was lying on the ground, or still hung in the wall, completely knocked out.
From back where the two of them were standing, Erza nodded in satisfaction. It seemed she had indeed made the right choice, in recruiting him for this mission too.
-x-
Sorry that there were no updates, or anything, these past few days. I'm trying to get back into the familiar rythm, but it may take a short while
Alright, the fight scene... I know it wasn't the most extravagant or special one, but honestly; there are only fodders at that stage. A real fight should happen in the next arc, though, so, stay tuned ;)