A True Demon

"Meliodas!" Mirajane exclaimed. Meliodas glanced back at the two of them. Lisanna was tightly bound by the vines and the timer at the front was going down.

"And who are you?" Meliodas asked the mysterious man.

"So you're Meliodas?" The man questioned. "I had expected you to look a bit different, but I suppose appearances are deceiving. I have heard about you. You are Fairy Tail's other demon, known as, "The Blond Demon." I am Azuma, of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory."

"Grimoire Heart…?" Meliodas questioned as he recalled previously seeing the name on the chart of the Balam Alliance. 'So he's from one of those guilds. But why are they on this island?'

"Meliodas we have to take him down before the timer hits zero or else Lisanna will die!" Mirajane exclaimed. Meliodas glanced back at the timer. He had two and a half minutes left. Meliodas' lighthearted expression vanished and quickly turned serious. He put his hand on Mel Force's handle as he glared at Azuma.

Azuma smiled as he stepped forward towards Meliodas. Mirajane stood up and began to walk towards Meliodas, standing right next to him.

"Meliodas, I may not look like I can with my current state, but I will fight alongside you." Mirajane said. She looked fiercely at Azuma who had a smirk on his face.

"And what's so amusing about this?" Mirajane asked, irritated at Azuma's attitude.

"It's not so much amusing as it is...divine. It appears fortune has smiled upon me, allowing me to fight two of Fairy Tail's demons." Azuma answered.

"You should be careful what you call a fortunate opportunity." Meliodas said in a cold tone. Mirajane looked at Meliodas and sensed a familiar feeling radiating off of him, a sensation that she was all too familiar with.

"Meliodas...you're…" Mirajane commented quietly as she stared at Meliodas.

Azuma's smirk quickly vanished as he looked at Meliodas. Azuma immediately jumped back as Meliodas' features began changing.

'This kid…' As Azuma jumped back he could feel his body trembling. He looked into Meliodas' pitch black eyes as Meliodas suddenly vanished from his sight, reappearing in front of him with his blade drawn. Azuma's eyes widened as he saw Meliodas right in front of him.

'That speed?! When did he-'

"Thousand Divine Slashes!"

Meliodas vanished again from in front of Azuma and reappeared behind him. Meliodas slowly sheathed Mel Force again as Azuma stood still, unable to comprehend what had happened. In the instant Meliodas finished sheathing Mel Force, blood gushed out from multiple spots on his body. Azuma fell to the ground, managing to muster up the last of his strength to turn his head and look at Meliodas. Meliodas turned around and faced Azuma.

"Whatever it takes, I won't let anyone kill my friends." Meliodas said.

"That power...you're a real demon…" Azuma muttered as his body fell to the ground. The roots that coiled around Lisanna rotted away and she fell onto her knees. Mirajane quickly ran to her side.

"Lisanna are you okay?" Mirajane asked.

"I'm fine big sis." Lisanna said as Mirajane leaned in to hug her. Mirajane looked over at Meliodas who was talking to Azuma.

"This...is my defeat…I underestimated your resolve to protect your friends and...that demonic power..." Azuma grunted, the pool of blood under his body growing larger and larger.

"So can you tell me why you guys came to this island?" Meliodas asked, back to his normal self.

"We...seek to f-find…" Azuma began to slur on his words as the blood loss became too severe. "Zeref."

Azuma's eyes remained wide open and lifeless as the pool of blood expanded underneath him. Meliodas pondered about the name Azuma brought up.

'Zeref?' Meliodas thought. In his time researching in the library, he had encountered Zeref's name in a few of the books and was familiar with his title as the "Black Mage." It suddenly pieced together in Meliodas' head. 'That person Natsu ran into...was that…'

"Meliodas!" Mirajane called out, snapping Meliodas out of his train of thought. He looked over to Mirajane and Lisanna and smiled.

"Glad you're alright Lisanna!" Meliodas said with a smile.

"That's thanks to you Meliodas." Lisanna replied.

"Come on, let's head back to base camp." Mirajane suggested. Meliodas shook his head.

"No you guys go back without me. There's something I need to confirm." Meliodas said as he dashed into the forest, leaving the two sisters behind.

"Big sis, that power he used...was that a takeover magic like yours?" Lisanna asked. Mirajane shook her head.

"No. It wasn't a takeover. I noticed there was always something different about him ever since I first talked to him when he joined the guild. I brushed it aside and thought nothing of it up until now, but this confirms my thoughts. Meliodas is a true demon."

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'I think it was this way.' Meliodas thought as he ran through the forest. He remembered the massive shockwave that had shook the island earlier and felt it coming from this general direction.

Meliodas continued running until he reached a cliffside. There he saw Makarov lying on the ground. Kneeling over them was Wendy who was trying to heal him with Natsu, Lucy, Carla, Lily, and Happy standing by.

"Meliodas!" Wendy shouted happily. The others turned their heads to see Meliodas running towards them.

"There you are! Always late to the party!" Natsu exclaimed with a large grin.

"Yo!" Meliodas greeted them with a small wave as he approached them.

"Hey that's-" Meliodas looked down at Makarov on the ground. He was unconscious and badly wounded but was alive and breathing.

"Hah we got Meliodas now! Now we can go to their ship and kick their asses!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically.

"Y-yeah but we still don't know where their base is." Lucy added.

"Meliodas did you run into anyone on the way here?" Wendy asked.

"I ran into Mira and Lisanna. They were heading back to base camp." Meliodas answered.

"Oh good. We should probably all convene-" Before Lucy could finish talking, a man suddenly teleported in. Meliodas looked at the strange man who was holding a large communications lacrima. The man was lean built with short black hair and three scars on the left side of his face. He wore a red and orange striped jacket and black pants.

"You're here?!" Lily questioned.

"So it's Mest from the council." Lucy commented.

"Council?" Meliodas asked.

"Long story short, "Mest" is a fabricated name. His name is Doranbolt and he was sent by the council to spy on Fairy Tail. He used his magic to alter our memories." Lily answered.

"Where the hell did you go, you bastard!" Natsu shouted.

"Mister Doranbolt?" Wendy asked. Doranbolt returned a friendly smile to Wendy.

"I'm here to help out Fairy Tail. With my magic powers, I can teleport all of you off the island safely."

"I refuse." Natsu said stubbornly.

"Why would we accept help from the council?" Carla asked.

"Our guild takes care of its own problems." Lily added.

"No you don't understand! If the council gets wind of the situation here, then they'll use Etherion to blow up the entire island!" Doranbolt exclaimed.

"So we'll just deal with things before that happens then right?" Natsu continued.

"Makarov's already been beaten! And there are still more terrifying people in Grimoire Heart! You guys don't stand a chance! The council has Etherion!" Doranbolt retorted.

"So what? We have our trump card now!" Natsu said with a smirk.

"Your... trump card?" Doranbolt questioned. Suddenly, Lily's eyes lit up as he comprehended the meaning behind Natsu's comment.

"Natsu, are you referring to Meliodas?" Lily asked as he looked at Meliodas. The others looked at Meliodas as well as they realized what Natsu was implying.

"As strong as Meliodas may be, I don't think even he can take on all of Grimoire Heart!" Doranbolt continued.

"Wait...you mean just like with the Jupiter Cannon?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Jupiter Cannon? Hold on, what are you guys talking about?" Doranbolt asked.

"It's Meliodas' magical power, Full Counter." Lily explained. "He can reflect any magical attack launched at him with double the force."

"I don't doubt Meliodas' skill, but is it even possible for him to reflect something as massive as Etherion?" Carla questioned as she gave Meliodas a skeptical look.

"Pretty sure I can." Meliodas said as he put his hand on the handle of Mel Force. "Although I don't think we'll need to get to that point."

Doranbolt flinched at Meliodas' relaxed attitude towards Etherion. 'I've never heard of a magic called Full Counter...but is that really something that can reflect Etherion of all things?!'

"Yeah cause we'll stop Grimoire Heart!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically.

"That kind of thing can't be done! Don't you realize the insane situation you guys are in! Sure you may have an answer to Etherion, but what if that doesn't work out! Either way Grimoire Heart may end up killing you all anyway before Etherion is fired!" Doranbolt shouted.

"Then we'll die trying!" Natsu said fiercely. Doranbolt became silent, the words taken out of his mouth as he witnessed Fairy Tail's faith.

"We should bring the Master to the base camp first." Wendy commented.

"Wait, Meliodas can fly can't he? Which means he can find Grimoire Heart's ship!" Lucy said excitedly. "The woman who had Zeref with her earlier said she was going to bring Zeref to her master. And they had to have come onto this island through some sort of ship."

"I would assume their ship would be submerged somewhere in the water to hide it." Lily commented.

"Aye! Meliodas can definitely spot it then! Don't doubt Meliodas' eyesight that can see an exposed pair of panties from a mile away!" Happy exclaimed.

"Well said, Happy!" Meliodas responded.

"I can't believe you remember him saying that." Lucy sighed.

"So it's settled then. We'll go meet up with everyone at base camp while Meliodas looks for their ship then." Carla said. "And Meliodas...be careful."

Meliodas nodded in response, knowing full well Carla was talking about the fortune given by Shagotte.

"Meliodas you better not kick their asses before I get there!" Natsu shouted with a friendly grin.

"No promises." Meliodas said with a cheeky smile.

"So this is Fairy Tail…" Doranbolt said to himself as he watched the group split up. "How are they able to maintain such optimism in this situation…"

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