Chapter 94: Trinity Raven

After leaving the group, Natsu and Erza hastily headed upstairs. They wanted to deal with Jellal as soon as possible and end this nonsense once and for all. On the way, many minions tried to block them but they were quickly dealt with by the duo.

"Mugetsu-Ryu: Yasha's Empty Flash"

While they were running Natsu suddenly felt danger and hastily teleported Erza and himself away from an incoming attack. The place they were at before was attacked by a powerful sword slash.

"My, my, what a letdown. I wanted to give you a peaceful end but it looks like I'm forced to make it painful." A beautiful pink-haired girl appeared in front of them, making her entrance.

"Who are you?" Natsu and Erza asked the assailant warily. That sneak attack was powerful enough to seriously injure them. They didn't want to be caught off guard again.

"I am called Ikaruga, a member of the Trinity Raven! Greetings! Fairy Tail Wizards! I was instructed by Jellal-sama to deal with you." Ikaruga introduced herself in a traditional Japanese fashion.

Ikaruga had long, bright pink hair that was tied on top of her head in two large buns. She had a curvaceous figure, a peach-like complexion, a beauty mark underneath each eye and sports red lipstick. She wore a long, slightly loose white kimono with a red stripe in between two black stripes around the waist as well as a red triangle at the bottom of her dress, decorated by flames and skulls motifs, open at the top to reveal her shoulders and a fair amount of cleavage. She also carried a katana with an extremely long blade, reminiscent of a nodachi, with a decorated handguard and traditional hilt-wrapping and pommel.

"We don't have time to deal with you. Re-Equip: Heaven's Wheel Armour" Erza swiftly equipped herself with 'Heaven's Wheel' armor but before she could attack her, her armor broke into pieces, surprising her.

"You shouldn't be hasty, Erza-han. Let me finish my greetings first." Ikaruga continued her speech with an evil smirk, making Erza instantly tense up. She never even saw how her armor got shattered.

"H-How did you!?" Erza asked in disbelief. She couldn't figure out how her armor got shattered so quickly.

"I am no mere passerby, Erza-han. My blade slices through everything no matter what the material is." Ikaruga explained confidently.

Erza was on guard when she heard that. Natsu just stood still and looked around.

"Are you two going to come out or keep hiding? You should know It's rude to sneak around." Natsu calmly stated looking up making Erza confused. Ikaruga just smiled looking at him.

"It looks like our 'Salamander' managed to sniff you two out, Fukuro-han, Taka-han. You should come out of hiding now. There's no use sneaking around if the enemy is aware of it." Ikaruga said making Erza further confused but she soon got her answer when two people suddenly jumped down.

"Hohohoho, I should not have underestimated a 'Dragon Slayer's nose. Now, our plan is busted." A large man with a bizarre appearance stood on the right side of Ikaruga and laughed creepily. He was Fukuro of Trinity Raven.

Fukuro had an extremely bizarre appearance: he had the body of a man, but the head of an owl, as well as a rocket pack strapped to his back with the word 'Justice' imprinted on it. His body was heavily muscular and mostly bare, with his clothing consisting only of a pair of green short tights held up by a belt, whose buckle bears a symbol reminiscent of a waning moon with a triangle pointing left in the empty part, and high sneakers bearing the same symbol.

"Too bad the plan failed. I wanted to show you my fucking concert of hell!!" Another vulgar looking guy appeared and stood on the left side of Ikaruga. He was Vidaldus Taka, another member of Trinity Raven.

Vidaldus was a mildly muscular man of average height distinguished by his extremely long black hair, which reached down far below his feet, was parted in the middle and had two bangs reaching down below his waist framing his face. He had a large hooked nose and hairy eyebrows pointing upwards in spikes. He donned a simple attire consisting of a sleeved shirt paired with plain armbands, pants, gloves, and shoes. He also carried a creepy looking guitar that was shaped like a skull.

Natsu looked at the enemies in front of him calmly. He wasn't threatened by them at all except maybe Ikaruga. She could slice anything in her view. Thankfully, he had instant regeneration to counter her attacks.

"Erza you should probably go on ahead. I can deal with these guys myself, and I'm betting you have a personal vendetta against him for which you wouldn't want my presence. I will meet you later after dealing with them first." Natsu said, getting into fighting position. Erza was surprised to hear him and shook her head.

"No, I can't let you deal with them alone. This is my problem after all. No matter what feud I have with Jellal, it doesn't mean I'll abandon my friends for it." Erza tried to reject his offer but Natsu interrupted her.

"Look Erza, you of all people should know how powerful I am. These people are not enough to bring me down. I'm not asking you to leave this place to secure you. I want you to meet Jellal first and try to deal with him yourself first. You should know what will happen when I meet him." Natsu insisted vehemently making Erza unsure of what to say. The others just watched them in amusement. Jellal had only instructed them to stop the 'Salamander', not the 'Titania'. So, they were happy to see the drama in front of them.

"B-But…" Erza wanted to say something but Natsu interjected her.

"Erza, I know you will try to save your friend when I'm there. I want you to go ahead and see how low he's fallen so that when I arrive later you won't feel too guilty when I deal with him." Natsu replied, looking at her seriously. That was another reason why he wasn't not ending the fight too soon. He wanted Erza to see the sinister side of her childhood friend so that she won't stop him when he drowns him down the ocean.

"Sigh… Okay, I'll go on ahead then. Be safe and take care of yourself, Natsu. I'll be waiting for you upstairs." Erza sighed tiredly and accepted his proposal. She understood his intentions but it still hurt her to know how low her childhood crush had fallen.

"Don't trust anything he says, Erza." Natsu didn't forget to remind her before she left. Erza nodded and left the area climbing the stairs.

"Are you done with your little farewell, 'Salamander'-han. Don't you think you're a little conceited to think you can handle all of us alone?" Ikaruga asked him with a cruel smirk. The others also grinned evilly and got into their respective combat positions.

"Ahh! Now that the spectator is gone, I can truly go wild. I was tired of acting like a good guy you see. I didn't want Erza to see what I'm about to do to you people." Natsu twisted his neck and bit and it made a little cracking noise. Then, he faced the trio with a predatory smile.