Chapter-3 Armadura Fairy

With an imposing aura, the monster stood at a staggeringly tall stature. And sensing the sudden spike in Dark Magic, Makarov exclaimed, "Gray! Shield!"

And not wasting any time, Gray formed a big ice blockade, "Ice Make: Shield!" He chanted and a big ice shield covered all of them, from the front.

As Makarov had expected, a beam of pure dark-magic erupted out of the monster's mouth. "SWOOSH!"

"Shit! Erza, a hand." He said and touched the shield along with her, passing a lot of magic through the shield, enhancing his strength.

The beam of magic struck the shield, deflecting the attack to the other side of the region. The stray attack ravaged through the land as it decimated the hills and forest.

"The hell? This thing is so strong!" Lucy commented.

"In knew it. This Dark Magic. It's the true form of Lullaby." Makarov spoke.

"The demon from the book of Zeref. The curse of the killing. A music so deadly just one note from it would take the soul out of one's body." Gray muttered to himself, remembering the book he read about Zeref and his creations.

"Humm, at least you don't seem too useless…" The monster spoke. "No matter. I was in fact sick of your speech, earlier.

Strength in numbers, you say? Then let's see, what you and your friends can do in front of true strength." A dark aura enveloped the monster.

"It's preparing for another attack… Natsu, Gray, get ready-" Erza was about to say when they all heard a voice.

"Well, I guess you are right in some way. Nothing matters in front of true strength. But same goes for you too, doesn't it?" It was Satoru, who was casually seated on the monster's shoulder.

'That's…. 'him'. When did he even get here?' The ones from other guilds thought to themselves.

"Be careful, Satoru-san. That thing uses a dangerous curse magic." Lucy spoke out.

"Huh? An insect. Get off of me." Lullaby smacked its shoulder with its big hand but Satoru had already disappeared.

He was already near its chin. Satoru grabbed its big pointy chin and lifted the entire giant body into the air along with himself.

The others were wide eyed seeing this.

'What kind crazy strength does one need to do that?' Gray thought in exasperation.

Suddenly, a dangerous and intense aura of magic enveloped the place. It was from Satoru. The people weren't that affected, as they could only feel the density of the magic.

It was oppressive and invoked a sense of dread. Which could be seen in Lullaby's eyes and its monstrous face.

'Such control over his magic.' Master Bob seemed astonished and so were the other guild masters.

Natsu had an almost excited grin on his face and so did Erza. But the same couldn't be said for Lucy, Gray and Happy including the guy from Eisenwald.

Those guys definitely weren't enjoying this.

"Humm, you definitely are one of Zeref's toys. His putrid magic lingers in you, after all. Although, compared to the others, you're kinda weak." Satoru spoke with a smirk as he observed the monster up close.

'Weak, how is that thing weak?' Lucy thought to herself.

"I've had enough of you disrespecting me, human." Lullaby roared and that was when, it felt a sudden spike of magic, right in front of him.

Satoru was pointing his palm at him, "Gravity Amplification; Black Hole." Satoru spoke out and a dark-blue point in space manifested in front of Lullaby's face.

"Gravity Magic? But didn't he have spatial magic?" Lucy spoke out in confusion.

"No, it's a part of his spatial magic." Happy replied as he was looking up at Satoru's spell.

The blue point suddenly turned pitch black, sending out a pulse of gravitational wave into the surrounding that erased all the colors for a second, turning everything black and white, before everything returned to normal.

And the monster was then pitifully sucked into the singularity. "This… Can't be… NOOO!!!" It cried for mercy but was ultimately erased from existence as it got scrunched and was pulled into the void of darkness, until nothing but silence remained.

There was no extra destruction, just an utter silence as if the monster from a while ago didn't even exist.

Kageyama, the guy from Eisenwald guild, thought, 'We were way off the mark. We were never a match to these guys.'

The silence was broken when Satoru waved at them with a cheery voice, forgoing all the seriousness that he carried earlier.

"Yo! You guys look like you've seen a ghost. Why the dumb faces?" He asked as he walked towards them.

"That was so cool, Satoru!" Natsu remarked as he jumped towards him.

"Aye!" Happy chimed in.

"Lullaby stood no chance, did it?" Another guild master asked to Makarov, who just gave a proud smirk.

"Tsk, must be nice. Having such a strong and handsome young wizard." An old woman commented.

"Hey, Satoru Gojo, right? How about joining our guild instead-" Before the guild master could speak any further, Makarov came in between.

"Hey! No stealing my wizards."

"Tsk."

"So, you guys doing well?" Satoru asked as he looked at Gray and Lucy, both of whom gave a nod with a smile of their own, even though all of them were somewhat injured and battered up.

"Good to see you again, Erza." Satoru spoke to the red-haired girl, who was frowning at him.

"That Lullaby was our kill, you know?" She spoke.

"What? You guys were too late… Who knows what he could have done?" He shrugged, pushing his tongue out.

"Heh… Good to see you too, Satoru." Erza finally smiled at the guy.

As the other masters were busy talking with themselves and Satoru was with Makarov and his friends, he first stood in front of Natsu and Lucy, then put his hands on their heads.

They suddenly felt a warm sensation passing throughout their body as they were enveloped in a faint red glow.

All their injuries and bruises healed back and they seemed to be back to their full energy. The others knew about this, except for the ones outside of the Guild.

But Lucy didn't and she was about to exclaim in shock, when Satoru motioned with his hand to keep quiet.

'Right, healing magic is a lost magic, after all.' She thought to herself.

"There, all good." He ruffled their hairs with a smile.

'... Mom.' Lucy almost accidentally said that out loud. She blushed, embarrassed at her own thoughts.

Satoru then walked towards Gray and Erza. Gray reluctantly accepted the head-pat. He wouldn't agree to it, but it made him remember his master.

And Satoru was healing them anyways so, it was a win-win.

When he turned to Erza, who was the most battered among them, she looked to the side saying, "I'm alright… You don't need to-"

Before she could say anything though, Satoru was already ruffling her hair. Pouting under his head-pat she didn't say anything but he said, "Don't get all tsundere on me now. You look like you're about to pass out."

He looked at the magic vehicle on the back of the clearing and could pretty much tell, that she was stubborn enough to drive that thing for an entire day and not back down.

"What? Tsu-" 'Tsundere?' She thought to herself with a blush.

"Amazes you, every time you see him in action, doesn't he?" Natsu spoke to the dumbfounded Lucy.

Lucy just nodded and said, "I had only read about healing magic. But none of the books mentioned it being this effective. And it doesn't seem to have any effect on him."

It was master who replied, "You might be surprised, but he has that healing spell active on himself all the times."

"What? At all times? You mean 24/7, but why? And what about magic consumption?" Lucy asked, intrigued and surprised.

"It's his eyes and that infamous defense spell of his. He keeps them active all the times, and his brain keeps getting hit with a ton of useless information.

'I do that to keep my brain fresh', those were his words. And about magic consumption. He never runs out of it." Makarov explained.

"What? How could one have an endless reserve of magic?" Lucy asked in a shock.

"He doesn't have an endless reserve. I don't know how much reserve he actually has, but it's his eyes that make sure whenever he uses a spell, the actual magic consumed is always close to zero. That's what he said, at least." Makarov tried to explain as best as he could.

'I always believed that a wizard is stronger when they are with their allies. But Satoru is exact opposite of my own beliefs.

He is at his strongest, when he is alone… Sigh… Kind of sad and lonely, if you ask me. That's why his smile and optimism always make me happy.' Makarov thought to himself.

'That's amazing and terrifying at the same time.' Lucy thought to herself.

"Is that why he uses blindfold? To reduce the stress?" Lucy asked.

And it was Satoru who replied, "Yup, that's right." He and Erza were walking towards them.

"How do you see through that though?" Lucy asked, curious about his vision.

"Oh, well. I can see through clothes just fine and in clearer detail." Satoru replied, but soon regretted wording it like that as he could see Lucy's weirded out look as she was hiding her chest with her hand.

"Probably not the best to way explain 'their' abilities." Erza commented.

"Haha… You don't have to worry; it doesn't work like that. And I'm not a pervert." Satoru spoke with a chuckle as the blonde sighed.

"Tsk, such a wasteful use of those gifted eyes." Makarov muttered.

"Master? Did you say something?" Erza glared at him.

"No, no, I mean… Such a good man you are, Satoru. You truly make me proud." Makarov corrected his statement.

And Erza nodded in agreement, completely oblivious to Makarov's loud thoughts.

The next day:

The Dark Guild Eisenwald's members had been arrested for their attempted murder on the guild masters, and use of Zeref's magic.

But their leader had unfortunately escaped.

Although, the ones from the council were definitely surprised that there was no major damage that day.

Well, except for a train wreck but that was mainly Eisenwald's fault. Still, Satoru was called to the Fiore branch of the Magic council for questioning.

Satoru was standing on a podium, a bored expression planted on his face. He was in his casual clothing and with the sunglasses on his eyes.

"... Was that clear, Mr. Gojo?" An old woman, seated with the other members of the council, asked.

"Sigh… Yes, yes… It would have been better if I'd just handed the Lullaby to you instead of destroying it, I heard it.

And then what? As far as I remember, it was in your custody before. Oh, I remember… A random nobody swiped it, right under your rusty as* noses." Satoru spoke as he motioned with his hands, mocking their stoic expressions.

"How dare-" A young junior knight, who was standing beside the upper-ranks, was about to retort on Satoru's behavior, when he was stopped by the chairman.

This was Crawford Seam, an old man with a bald head and thick, long white beard tied to two separate tails.

Crawford finally said, "Enough with the questionaries." He raised his hand and everyone went silent.

"Mr. Gojo. The council's offer still stands tall. There are very few who'd be against having you in the ranks of a Wizard-Saint." He spoke.

"Nah, still not amused with the idea." He blatantly refused.

The councilmen and women weren't that surprised, by now they pretty much understood that he knew what that title entailed.

Satoru was looking at a new face among the members of the council. Or, he was just someone who came to Fiore branch for the first time.

He wouldn't care about anyone new or old, but this one was particularly staring at him, trying to study him or closely gaze his strength maybe. It was Siegrain.

'Heh… Not even here personally… An illusion. Well, most of them are illusions.' "Boring." He muttered and turned around as he started walking away.

"Alright, if there's nothing else then I'm off." He waved his hand then disappeared from the room.

Sometime later:

Back in Era.

Crawford was in his office, standing in front of his desk. There was a communication crystal on the table.

The crystal glowed, connecting the man to the other side:

"Greetings, My Lady." He kneeled down, fear and tension evident in his eyes.

"Let me guess. He rejected the offer again." A playful voice of a woman echoed from the other side of the crystal.

"Yes. He seems fully aware of the constraints that comes with the title." He replied.

"And? You didn't bother to negotiate any terms with him, am I right?" The mysterious woman asked.

Crawford seemed to flinch at that. He could feel the strain on his body due to that woman's magic, from wherever the hell she was.

He was about to speak when she said again. "Oh well, didn't expect much from you guys anyways."

"Sigh… I'm off. And oh, don't slack off on your preparations." She said and the crystal turned off.

"I won't my lady." He replied and waited for a while before gritting his teeth and clenching his fist. 'Arrogant monsters…' He thought.

The same Day:

Several people were gathered outside of the Fairy Tail guild, including the guild members. They had made a circle around two people who were about to fight.

They were Natsu and Erza. "Wait, wait… Were they really serious?" Lucy, who just arrived at the scene, spoke out.

"Of course. Wouldn't be much of men if they weren't serious about their words." Elfman commented.

"Erza is a girl." Mira who was standing by him, spoke with a straight face.

"More like a monster girl." Someone else pointed out.

"But then, if two people from the strongest team fight-" Lucy was about to say when Gray interrupted her.

"Strongest team? What are you talking about?" He asked.

"I'm talking about you, Natsu and Erza." She replied.

"Haha… What nonsense. Who gave you that stupid idea?" Gray asked with a chuckle.

Mira who was on the back was on the verge of crying.

"Wait, wait. It was you? Sorry I didn't mean to-" He couldn't finish and she had already started weeping.

"You made her cry." Lucy exclaimed as Gray was busy consoling the poor girl. "Yeah, you're not exactly helping in this situation." He replied.

And then Elfman said, "Well, big sis isn't exactly wrong. And yeah, I guess Natsu and Gray are one of the stronger guys in Fairy Tail.

But there are others who are definitely leagues above them, you know?"

'That is true.' Lucy thought remembering Satoru.

"Well, Erza is definitely the strongest female though." Levi added in.

And Droy, who was by her side, said, "And talking about males. Laxus, Mystogan and definitely Gildarts. Yeah, they could be the candidates for strongest males."

"Uh, guys. Aren't we forgetting about someone?" Lucy spoke, remembering the blindfolded guy.

"If you're talking about Satoru-san, then don't." Levi spoke.

"Yeah, all these years of staying with him. We've already learnt a valuable lesson." Gray spoke with a chuckle.

And Elfman said, "The lesson is, if you want to move on with your life. Then never compare your own progress and strength with him.

Nothing is normal with that man. Since, he's the manliest of mans of course."

"Lucy, a piece of advice." Gray spoke to the blonde.

As she nodded, Gray said, "Whatever knowledge and information, you have about Satoru's strength.

Remember, ever since you came here. He hasn't even used less than half of what he's truly capable of."

Lucy gulped and nodded. Deeply thinking about what she just heard.

Just then, Mira said in a saddened tone, "It's just... I thought that, you three would be a really good team."

"Heh, either way… This is going to be an interesting battle." Elfman spoke as he looked at the two.

"Yeah, I'm betting on Erza though." Gray added.

"How long has it been since we last fought, Natsu?" Erza asked.

"Dunno, I was small back then. But it won't be the same today, Erza." Natsu replied.

"Of course, I will take this seriously too." Erza's body shined in bright light and when it died down, she was adorned in her Flame Empress armor.

"I also wish to test my powers after all." She added with a grin.

"Woah, that's the Flame Empress armor. Wait, isn't that a perfect counter against Natsu?" Someone from the audience pointed out.

"Yeah, Natsu is in big trouble then."

Happy who was wide eyed seeing this, walked to the back and spoke, "Hey, Satoru. Can I put all my bet on Erza instead?"

"Heartless cat!" Lucy exclaimed as she watched Happy.

"Huh, Satoru?" She looked at the man, wearing colorful clothes and dark-opaque sunglasses, who was busy counting money with Cana.

"Of course you can, Happy. The match hasn't started yet." Satoru replied.

"Wait, when did you come here?" Lucy asked.

"What are you talking about? I was the one who organized this betting event, you know?" He replied with a smirk.

"And, who are 'you' betting on?" She asked, giving him the side eyes.

"Who of course, other than Erza." Satoru casually replied and went back to counting his money.

"You're both heartless!" She spoke out and said, "But I can't do it though. I want neither of them to lose." 

"Hah, such a pure hearted girl." Satoru spoke with a smile then bluntly said, "Now step aside, people are still waiting to bet." He brushed her off.

"Flame Empress's armor huh. Now, this is getting me fired up." Natsu spoke up as bright orange flames erupted out of his fists.

"I don't need to hold back then." The flames got stronger and stronger, heating up the entire area where the fight was taking place.

"Fighters Ready." Makarov came in, raising his staff in the air.

"Begin!!!" He brought down the staff announcing the start of the match.

Erza readied her sword and the flame-resistant armor. And Natsu dashed towards her. As they got close to clashing, their intense magic collided first, ripping out a strong shockwave of heat and wind.

Natsu swiped his claws writhing in flames towards Erza's face who just swiftly dodged out of the way.

She horizontally swung her sword, aiming at the boy's neck. Natsu just went down dodging the blade, and twisting his body, he threw a high kick from below, aimed at her head.

Erza swatted his leg away and taking his disbalance as a chance, swiped a low kick aimed at his ankles.

Natsu was thrown off the ground and while in the air, Erza punched his stomach, flinging him away. But before Natsu could touch the ground, he opened his mouth and like a dragon, a stream of high temperature flames erupted out of it.

Erza blocked a part of the flames with her forearm, which was covered by the Flame Empress armor, rest of the destructive flames went to the crowds.

"Natsu, you fool!" The people were terrified since they were about to be burned.

Satoru, who was on the line of direct hit just casually flicked his finger upwards, sending all the flames into the sky.

"See? Interesting matchup, right?" Elfman said to Lucy.

But it was Gray who replied, "Nope. It's already over."

As if on cue, Erza suddenly disappeared and reappeared near Natsu, who was still on the ground. He was about to get up, when Erza slammed her fist on the back of his head.

'What? When did she?' Natsu was surprised as he couldn't sense her getting close to him, she was too fast.

"BAAM!!!" His head caved in the ground and he lost his consciousness.

Lucy was gob smacked, 'Natsu? That Natsu, just lost in one strike?' She thought to herself, seeing Erza in a new light.

"You've definitely become stronger than before, Natsu. But you can't defeat me with this, just yet." Erza spoke, getting up with a victorious smile on her face.

"Winner, Erza Scarlet!" Makarov spoke out.

"Well, at least the fight ended without any hitch." Lucy muttered.

And then Erza suddenly said, "Master. As the winner of the duel. I'm allowed to choose another adversary right here, right?"

Suddenly Makarov started sweating as he knew what Erza was about to do. But he couldn't deny her the fight she wanted.

So, he reluctantly nodded.

"Satoru Gojo. I challenge you for a rematch." Erza suddenly exclaimed, while looking at Satoru and pointing her sword at him.

This definitely surprised everyone. They'd forgotten that when it came to fighting, Erza was the same as Natsu and more destructive even.

Satoru, who was happily counting the money he won along with Happy and Cana, looked back at Erza and the determined look on her eyes.

"I'm guessing, refusing isn't an option." He spoke with a smile, while Erza replied with a frown since he didn't seem to take it seriously.

"Sigh, alright then… Show me how strong you've become, Erza." Satoru spoke with a grin as he walked forward.

The audience suddenly backed up, making more and more space. And seeing Makarov's troubled face, Lucy walked towards him and said, "Shouldn't we stop them, Master?"

"Too late now. Hopefully, they don't destroy too much." Makarov replied as he walked back along with the others.

Satoru looked at Erza's current armour as he pulled down his glasses a bit, then as his eyes glowed a bit of vibrant blue, an intense and heavy pressure of magic engulfed the place.

The people watching this were frozen in place. They were all too familiar with this scary presence.

Lucy, terrified, thought to herself, 'This is totally different from when he fought Lullaby.' She was more surprised, sensing the somewhat similar pressure erupting out of Erza.

Both of the S-class wizards were flaring their magic and it seemed like somewhat of a similar match.

But only Makarov and Erza herself knew, that she was giving it her all, just to stand straight in the pressure which was directed straight towards her.

'Don't give in to fear.' She gritted her teeth and looked straight into his eyes.

"Re-Equip; Armadura Fairy." She said out loud then a bright light engulfed her and her magic was intensified even more.

As the light died down, she was adorned in a pink plated armour, laced with several winged designs and with two swords that she was dual wielding. The swords themselves had handguards, pink in color and were designed like wings.

Erza's Ethernano levels were rising more and more.

She then said, "This is the strongest equipment in my arsenal. I hope you take this seriously."

"Humm… We can't exactly be fighting in the middle of the city then." Satoru replied, reminding her of the possible chaos it would cause.

"Let's change the scenery, shall we?" He said as he enveloped everyone in his magic, then clasped his hands, teleporting everyone away from the place.

The audience was now near the edge of an open grassy hill. And both Erza and Satoru were a bit far away, atop another hill.

'Woah, that was fast. Did he just teleport everyone at the same time and in two different places?' Lucy thought to herself.

"They're definitely planning on going all out, aren't they?" Gray asked to Makarov.

"Don't know much about Satoru. But Erza? Definitely. Her eyes tell everything." He replied.

"Well then, shall we begin?" He asked to the girl, hands in his pocket. He was still wearing the same summer beach outfit. The buttoned floral t-shirt with blue knee-length shorts, flip-flops and his dark opaque sunglasses.

Erza didn't question his choice of attire for the fight. She wasn't the one to underestimate the man in front of her.

The air went silent for a few seconds as the audience stared at their direction in anticipation. A gentle breeze of wind brought along a small leaf in the air, near their position.

The wind died down and only silence remained, the leaf slowly fell towards the ground. Erza readied her swords holding the one on the left hand in reverse grip.

And when the leaf touched the ground, "SWOOSH!" She immediately disappeared from her position.

When she neared him, Erza had expected him to just stand still and let his defense take on the attack, but instead he tilted back, avoiding the thrust from the sword.

The thrust was strong enough on its own, to release a pure shockwave of kinetic energy and stray magic, that ripped through the other hills behind the hill they were on.

The audience was shocked to see Erza's raw power. They just realized that as of right now, Natsu didn't even have a chance of winning against her.

The previous momentum carried her forward but not getting distracted, she was about throw another attack, when he grabbed one of her wrists.

'Did he just touch-' She was thinking, when he twisted her into the air and as he was holding her hand, he struck her abdomen with his palm.

"Keuk!" She gritted her teeth when the pain radiated throughout her body. She was more surprised to see the material of the armor had caved in a bit.

Satoru let go of her hand and jumped into the air then threw a 540 towards the already disoriented girl.

She was quick enough to block that kick by crossing her swords, but the force of the kick was simply too strong.

"BAAM!" When the kick landed, Erza was thrown far away from the top of the hill, and through the forest below.

She continued crashing through the trees and boulders, until she regained her composure and using the flight properties of her armor, she controlled her momentum then began flaring her magic.

The Audience was dumbfounded again, as Satoru wasn't even using his magic and he already seemed so strong.

'Yeah, don't compare. Don't compare.' Everyone thought at the same time.

Satoru smirked as he felt the increasing magic output from Erza.

"WOOSH!"

An enormous beam of bright green magical energy went towards the sky, exactly from the place where Erza was standing.

The green energy rippled through her swords, creating plasma of lightning all over the place. The magic was so intense that the audience could feel the vibrations in the air, even when they were a bit far away.

Holding both the swords at a stance, she suddenly bolted through the forest with a speed far greater than what she had been thrown with.

The force of her movement alone was enough to leave of trail of pure destruction, more so because of the insane amount of explosive energy that she was holding within her swords.

"Fairy Blade." Erza chanted as she got near Satoru and unlike before, she was in full control of the momentum.

She first twirled her body, throwing two quick double strikes at him. Satoru dodged the first strike and the kicked away the second.

The force of her sword strike and his kick colliding, was strong enough to completely crumble the hill beneath them.

As they were in the air now, Erza did a front flip, aiming her heel at Satoru's head. But just in time, Satoru did a backflip, kicking her heel away at the same time.

While falling towards the ground, they flew towards each other and clashed again. With Erza managing to deliver hundreds of strikes in mere seconds and Satoru blocking or dodging each and every one of them.

They were moving through the air, as they were clashing all over the place. Erza's pink armour with bright green overflowing energy and Satoru's bluish-white aura, both of which were making a bright but random pattern in the sky, like a firework on a festival.

And that would have been beautiful, if not for the deafening explosions each time they clashed.

"These two are crazy!" Lucy commented, holding her hair in place as the residual wind from their battle was blowing through place like a storm.

"Erza... I didn't know she had become this strong." Mira mumbled as she was watching the fairy Queen, soar through the air and the absolute concentration on her face as she was trying to land one proper hit on the man.

'I know I'm gonna hear a lot from the council, if they find out about this. But now you two brats have made me invested in this fight.' Makarov thought to himself as he looked at the two, blitzing through the sky.

"But Satoru, he- Why is he still on the defensive?" Gray muttered to himself but the others standing near him, heard him too.

Erza, who was flying through the sky along with Satoru, frowned as she thought, 'Why is he not attacking? Except for those two attacks earlier-'

She was wide eyed as she realized something. Except for his flight, Satoru hadn't used his magic yet, not even the Infinity; his absolute defense.

'How much more will I need to catch up with you, Satoru?' Erza thought to herself, gritting her teeth.

Satoru landed on the ground with a subtle smile on his face. 'Without a doubt? This is indeed her strongest armor and weapon.

Armadura Fairy huh… But I can already sense the armour and the swords crumbling under her own magical pressure.' He thought as he mindlessly dodged a swipe from her sword.

And grabbing her extended hand before she could retract it, he yanked her to his back and as he quickly turned around, he gathered a lot of raw magic in his fist.

When she was about to jump away, he threw that magic enhanced punch towards her. It was just a mindless counter on his part.

But it was still very fast for her to completely defend, she crossed the swords in front of her, which took the blunt force of the punch.

"BAAM!" She was pushed away, along with a big cloud of dust and debris that got carried along with the force of wind and kinetic energy created by the punch.

"Damn, still not enough huh." Gray commented as he was silently watching the fight along with the others.

'Humm… She still has doubts in her heart. Well, she does have an unresolved past. But that protective armour she built around herself, both metaphorically and literally. It's holding her down, like an anchor.

Oh, well… A progress is a progress, I guess.' Satoru thought as he stood a bit far from Erza, who was on the ground.

'And, she's not the one to give up, after all.' He smiled seeing her get back up. That attack earlier had definitely shook her bones, enough to make her faint for a few seconds.

But she pushed through the pain and the ache that her body was going through and using her swords as supports, she got back up with a determined look on her face.

Suddenly a gentle breeze of wind, blew past them. The wind ruffling her scarlet hair and the bright orange light of the late afternoon sun, falling onto her face.

Satoru kept staring at the girl as he felt something so different for the second time. It was just like back then, before joining the guild when they were a lot younger.

A similar memory flashed into his brain, Erza's sweet smile back then as she held her hair against the breeze of wind and the same feeling that he got at that time.

'Humm… Was she always this pretty?' He thought to himself and then realized something.

'Did I just- No, no… Impossible. There's no way I could ever.' He chuckled at his own thoughts, much to the confusion of the girl.

More so because unknown to him, a little blush had crept up to his face.

Erza ignored it and brought her focus back to the fight. Whatever she would do next, would be her last effort today.

She was ready pour out everything in her next attack.

Sensing the change in her magical pressure, Satoru was brought out of his stupor. He then looked at Erza, who was ready to continue.

"One last bout huh." He spoke with a smile.

"One last." She nodded with a smile and one of her swords disappeared. Then, holding the remaining sword with both of her hands; Titania took her stance.

"Very well…" Satoru raised his hand and a small circular spatial rift of bright blue color opened above his head.

An intricately designed longsword slowly emerged out of it and was floating above his head. The longsword alone was emitting magic almost equal to Erza herself.

"Re: Equip magic?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"Not quite. His is more aligned with weapons only." Makarov replied.

"Remember that giant longsword on the serpent?" Mira asked and when Lucy nodded, she added, "It came from one of those rifts."

"As much as he has explained about his other spatial abilities. No one knows much about those rifts.

Although, he calls them the Gates of the Void." Gray spoke, his tone mysterious at the end.

The longsword suddenly started spinning on its axis like a drill and due to the insane spin, its blade started becoming red hot.

Erza's Fairy Sword, roared with more and more magic and the Longsword above Satoru's head was also rippling with more and more energy.

Holding her blade forward, Erza dashed towards Satoru.

"Fairy Blade; Meteor!" She chanted, then directed all the magic of that attack towards him.

Satoru flicked his finger forward and the longsword spinning above his head, flew towards the attack as it carried the momentum as well as the destructive magic, within it.

The bright green aura of the 'Fairy Blade; Meteor' and the vibrant blue aura Satoru's attack. Both of the attacks collided.

The attacks held so much energy that they both imploded onto themselves right after the collision.

And after a moment of silence in the air, a wave of bluish-green magic suddenly rippled through the air, completely decimating the ground beneath, and the clouds above.

The aftereffect of the explosion was so bright that it seemed like another sun had arisen, even from faraway places.

As the light died down and things turned silent again, the audience that were covering their eyes finally laid their gaze upon the sheer destruction that had occurred.

There were almost no hills, forest and the grassland that existed before, just a massive crater. And at the center of the crater, Satoru was standing as he was holding Erza in a bridal carry.

Her armour had broken down, as she was now in a sleeveless white shirt, and blue skirt. Half unconscious, she said, "Satoru? ... I… Lost."

He could see the disappointment in her eyes. But only Erza knew that it wasn't because she lost the fight. She'd at least hoped that she would be able to push him a bit. Even just a little bit…

As she was lost in her thoughts, Satoru looked at her and giving a gentle smile he said, "You've definitely grown stronger so, cheer up... And take a rest for now."

"I-" She was about to say something when she finally lost her consciousness and was now deep asleep in his arms.

He then teleported back to the guild along with her and the others to their previous location. Which was near the open area on the back of the guild.

He could have fought her without the audience, but they were already involved in the fight and couldn't just be ignored.

After healing Erza and letting her rest in the infirmary, he was back on the guild hall along with the others.

Natsu was still unconscious from the previous fight as he was still asleep on the side. Happy; taking a nap beside him.

As the guild members were talking about the fight earlier, Lucy looked to the side and saw that master Makarov suddenly seemed serious.

It was Mira who asked, "What's wrong, Master?"

"Nothing… Just… Feeling sleepy." He replied in a tired tone.

"?" Mira was confused when she felt a sudden dizziness and Satoru said, "It's him."

Suddenly, except for Makarov and Satoru, everyone fell to the ground falling in deep sleep. And in walked a man covered in dark robe from head to toe.

"Putting everyone to sleep, wherever you go. Suspicious as always. Sup, Mystogan." Satoru waved at the man.

"Satoru." He just nodded and spoke his name.

He walked straight to the job board, picked one request letter then said, "I'm leaving."

"Wait, release the spell." Makarov spoke to him.

"Five… Four… Three… Two…" He counted down as he walked out of the guild and, "One…" He disappeared.

...… To be continued!!!