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Time is the Path to Strength	By : Repiece Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 47113 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 12
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
Chapter 17: Natsu VS Alastor

Civilians of Magnolia were all looking from a distance at the events that transpired at the Fairy Tail Guild. Some ran to take cover in case the action moved toward the center of the town, but those who stayed behind watched the action that took place.

A slender woman with long black hair walked through the town as her low heel boots made a tapping sound as it connected with the ground. None of the citizens paid any attention to the woman as she passed them one by one. Her black colored skirt with a light blue colored arch shaped design at the hem, swayed back and forth as she walked. She also wore short sleeve black colored jacket, with similar light blue colored patterns.

She then suddenly stopped and looked in the direction that the Fairy Tail Guild once stood. She let out a loud sigh. "Jeez...what did those two idiots do now?" She groaned and started walking again.

"You fucking brat!" Jose glared at Natsu. His anger was clearly visible on his face. Natsu was not fazed by the angry Guild Master and patiently waited for him to make the first move. Jose clenched his fists and slowly walked towards the pink haired dragon slayer "Do you really think that just because you defeated Gajeel, you stand a chance against me?"

"..." He stayed silent and just looked at him as he stopped walking.

"Not only am I stronger than Gajeel, I am one of the Ten Wizard Saints! I am far more powerful than you ever will be! So, if you think, just for one second that I will lose to a fool like you, you are mistaken!"

"Hey..." Natsu spoke. When he did, everyone wondered what he was going to say next. "I don't give a crap who the fuck you are! You destroyed my home, hurt my friends and made them cry...I hope you're ready to get your ass kicked." He gave Jose a death glare that surprisingly made a shiver run down the Guild Master's spine.

"Oh...such anger..." Alastor chuckled at the glare.

"You cocky brat!" Jose gritted his teeth. Small, purple colored ghosts began to appear around him. "You can say all the threats you want, but let's just see if you can back those words up!" He moved his hand and swiped it as a large explosion erupted in the same pattern as his hand moved. "Dark Explosion!"

"Natsu!" Some of the guild members shouted. The explosion created a small, black smoke cloud making it impossible to see if Natsu was okay or not. Jose was smirking and chuckling as he assumed that his attack was enough to make the Dragon slayer go down.

"Hehehe...so much for your final hope." He told the other guild members. "H e was an idiot for trying to stop me and my ambitions. He was a fool and now he's..."

"Oh...shut up!" Jose stopped talking and his eyes widened as he looked at the smoke cloud. The cloud dispersed to see Natsu with no physical harm seen anywhere on his body.

"W-What...? How are you...?"

"Do you know how annoying your voice is, especially when you laugh?" He told him. Jose felt a vein pop on his forehead.

"He has a point...your voice is annoying." Alastor agreed.

"You just shut up!" He retorted back at the red haired man. He chuckled in response to his outburst. Jose then turned to Natsu. "I don't know how you are not dead, but it looks like I can't go easy on you." He smirked. Suddenly, his ghosts appeared behind him. The ghosts charged at Natsu as he engulfed his fists into flames and crossed his arms in front of him, before swiping his arms out and creating a large flame that burned the ghosts away. Jose smirked as he thought his decoys would work. Natsu looked down to see two ghosts try to attach themselves onto him, but he quickly reacted and punched the ghosts with his fists, burning them as well. Jose was shocked his plan failed.

"I'm tired of this..." Natsu sighed and then glared at the Phantom Lord Guild Master.

"You bastard!" He gritted his teeth and raised his arm. He closed his hand into a fist. His appearance began to change. His eyes turned a menacing color as if the power of his magic made his eyes turned such a clack color. Purple colored magic started forming around it. "Die you Fairy Tail bastard!" He then shot his arm at Natsu. "Dead Wave!" A large beam of magic was shot at him. The others were in shock at the powerful the attack felt as it split the ground in half on its way toward Natsu. "Hahaha! There is no way for you to dodge this attack! As soon as it touches you, you will be torn to shreds!"

Natsu takes a deep breath and places his hands in front of his mouth. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" He shouted and a large blast of fire was shot at the Dead Wave. The attacks connected and at first both were evenly matched. However, it wouldn't last long as Natsu's attack ripped the Dead Wave in half. Jose's eyes widened in shock as his attack was being cut in half and headed toward him. He couldn't move his feet as the attack connected and sent the Guild Master pass Alastor and into the destroyed Phantom Lord building. It created a small explosion that shook the building.

"Mira-san...wake up..." Lucy patted Mirajane's cheek slightly as the older woman began to stir. She opened her eyes halfway and saw Lucy through her blurry vision. She blinked her eyes several times and when she saw Lucy, a large smile was placed on her face.

"Lucy...you're alright...thank goodness..." Lucy smiled back in response and nodded her head.

"Yeah...what about you?"

"I'm fine..." She replied while sitting up. "What about the others?" Both she and Lucy turned their heads to see Gray, Elfman and Happy beginning to wake up as well.

"Damn...what the hell was that shaking?" Gray muttered and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around.

"Sounds like someone is fighting..." Elfman added.

"But who?" Happy asked.

"It's Natsu." The four of them all turned their heads to Lucy in shock.

"What? Natsu is awake!" Gray shouted.

"Is that true, Lucy?" Mirajane asked, hoping she was telling the truth. She nodded.

"Yep!" She smiled back and the two woman smiled at each other.

"Hooray! Natsu is back! I'm going to go see him!" Happy exclaimed in excitement and grew wings and flew outside.

"Ah! Wait up, Happy!" Lucy screamed after him. "Can you guys walk?" She asked the others.

"Of course!" Elfman exclaimed and took a step before slightly stumbling.

"Idiot..." Gray muttered and placed his large arm over his shoulder. "Let's go." He said and they nodded their heads and went after Happy.

Erza slowly got herself up, but leaned on the pillar to her right. She was amazed at what she just saw. Natsu was able to defeat Jose, one of the Ten Wizard Saints and he made it look easy. She was surprised at how strong he was. It was almost like he was on a whole new different level from her. It was almost like the two years he was gone made him a lot stronger compared to what she had been doing.

Of course she was worried about him using Dragon Metamorphosis, but seeing what he just did, it was almost like he wasn't going to need to use that technique. It made her feel relieved, but now he was going to fight the man who almost killed him. It made her worry.

"Erza!" She turned around to see Happy fly toward her.

"Happy...you're alright..." She smiled and sighed in relief.

"Hey! Is it true? Is Natsu really awake?" He asked her. Her smile widened and she nodded her head.

"Yeah...he's down there." She turned to look at Natsu. Happy followed her gaze and when he saw Natsu, he felt tears come to his eyes. He wanted to to fly down to him, but he could feel the tense atmosphere that was emitting from just outside the walls of the destroyed building they were in.

"Natsu!" Happy cried tears of joy. Erza smiled at him. She then saw the others running toward her. She let out another sigh of relief as they were safe as well.

"Erza!" Lucy called out and waved her hand.

"Everyone! It's good to see all of you are okay!"

"Yeah...how's Natsu doing?" Lucy asked.

"So far...he defeated both the Iron Dragon slayer and Jose." The others gasped.

"Seriously? Our Natsu defeated Jose?" Gray asked stunned.

"Yeah...that shaking from before was Natsu blasting Jose into the building...it was...incredible..." She said, looking down at Natsu.

"I'm so glad he's okay..." Mirajane whispered, letting out a sigh of relief.

Elfman looked down and smirked when he saw Natsu.

Gray was still in shock.

"We should head down there." Erza told the others. "It's probably not safe here with Natsu fighting."

"Yeah...you're probably right..." Lucy chuckled knowing Natsu's destructive nature. Happy nodded his head and grinned and Mirajane only giggled in response. With that, they started making their way down from the building as Natsu's fight with Alastor was about to begin.

"I'm impressed, Natsu..." Alastor complimented Natsu's strength.

"..."

"What? I'm complimenting you so say something you idiot."

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you helping out Phantom Lord?"

"I'm bored..."

"Don't give me that bullshit!"

Alastor let out a sigh. "I'm serious. I was bored."

"So you did all of this just because you were bored!"

"Yep!" The response pissed Natsu off as he charged at Alastor. "Aren't you an impatient dragon slayer" Alastor didn't move as he let Natsu punch him in the face. He was forced onto his back a few feet away, a smirk on his face. "Wow, that punch of yours is powerful. No wonder Gajeel wasn't able to last a second against you." He said and jumped back onto his feet. "However, you made a mistake by punching me."

Natsu's eyes widened suddenly as he felt intense pain his the fist he punched him with. Then, to everyone's surprise, Natsu's fist suddenly exploded. "AAAAAHHH!" Natsu screamed as he was blown back. Once he was on his back, he grabbed his wrist and clenched it as tightly as he could so that he could decrease the amount of pain that was coursing through his hand.

"W-What just happened?" Max asked, shocked at what he saw.

"Natsu's hand...just exploded..." Macao answered, surprised as well.

"Hahahaha! Hurts doesn't it. I recommend you don't hit me again." Alastor laughed as he bent down and rested his arms on his knees.

"Bastard...what the hell did you do?" Natsu groaned and hissed.

"Sorry, but if I told you that then my secret would be revealed...an a mage never reveals his secrets."

Natsu groaned and struggled to get back on his feet. He eventually managed to do so successfully, but he kept his hand on his wrist. He glared at Alastor as a trail of smoke came out of his charred hand. He tried to close his hand into a fist, but couldn't as it was too painful to do so. 'Shit...what the hell? What did he do?' He had a bunch of questions that ran through his hand, but he had no answer to any of them. 'I probably shouldn't attack him physically until I know what happened to my hand.' He let go of his charred hand and lifted his free hand and placed it in front of his mouth. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" Alastor's smirk widened as he saw the large burst of flame head straight for him. He didn't move and everyone watched as he was engulfed in the flame. 'What? He didn't move again...'

Suddenly a big burst of wind came and the flames dispersed as Alastor was standing unharmed in the same spot. "Such impressive flames Natsu...however, it won't work on someone like me." He told him. "Maybe you should turn up the heat on your flames...just a suggestion." He stood up and stretched his arms up. "However, I'm tired of doing nothing, I think I'll go on the offensive." He smirked and stretched his arms out to make two swords appear. "Let's get fired up." He charged at Natsu.

Natsu dodged and dodged and kept on dodging as he avoided making any contact with Alastor. He didn't know how he made his hand explode, but he knew that it had to do with making contact with the red haired man. It was difficult to dodge because of the immobility of his right hand, which made it hard for him to move his right shoulder the way he wanted to. However, he was quick enough to evade his attacks, which weren't all that fast. Alastor swung his sword in a horizontal way and Natsu dodged by jumping backwards, creating a fair amount of distance between them.

"Wow...they moved so fast it was hard to keep up..." Nab gulped.

"It's almost like they are in a completely different level..." Wakabe muttered.

"You sure are fast despite not being able to use your right arm as well as you did before." Alastor told him. "Granted I'm slower than you when it comes to speed, but it's still quite impressive."

'I have to think of something...I wonder if I should attack him with my fire...it's risky, but I hope it works...' Natsu took a deep breath and raised his left arm and engulfed it in flames. He then used his flames as thrusters to quickly get in front of his opponent, catching him off guard and then punching him in the face. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted as he punched as hard as he could. His eye caught something before Alastor was blown away. He looked at his left hand that was still engulfed in his fire. He then felt the same pain as with his right hand and everyone watched as his left hand exploded the same way. "AAAAHHHH!" He cried out in pain. 'Well...that didn't work!' He cringed in pain.

"Natsu!" His fellow guild members called out to him.

"That idiot...what was he thinking..."

"I guess he must have thought it wouldn't work if he used his flames instead of his bare hands."

"Well, it didn't work did it."

'Argh...it hurts...but what was that? It looked like he touched me with his hand...' He opened his eyes to look down at his left hand. His eyes widened. 'Wait a minute...my hand...this is...' His hand was not charred. It was his forearm. 'I get it now...if I attack him with my flames, he can't use that technique or whatever it is...' He raised his head to look at Alastor, who was getting up slowly.

"Hehehe...I'm guessing you figured it out." He chuckled and wiped the blood that was falling from the corner of his mouth. "The only way for me to use that technique is if I make contact with your body. However, I can't do that if your flames are in the way. However, it's too late for you to do anything since I immobilized your arms."

"That maybe so...but..." Natsu stood up and used his flames as thrusters toward him. "I can still use my feet!" He shouted before kicking Alastor in the face with his flame covered right foot, followed by his left foot, smashing his head into the ground.

"Go Natsu!" Fairy Tail shouted as he flew in the air and engulfed his legs into flames.

"Take this!" He began spinning around and descending down to Alastor's body.

"You think I'll let you!" He shouted in anger and stood up. He planted his feet into the ground and raised his arms. To everyone's surprise, Alastor grabbed Natsu as he spun around and around in his arms. "Wraaaaahhhhh!" He screamed before mustering his strength and slamming Natsu down onto the ground.

"Natsu!" They shouted in horror as Natsu's skull made very hard contact with the ground.

"Hehehehe! Would you look at that...your feet are exposed." He said as his feet were no longer covered in his flames. "How about I immobilize your legs next?" He started to reach for his legs. However, Natsu lifted himself up and puffed his cheeks.

"Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar!" Alastor's eyes widened as a large burst of flame mixed with lightning magic escaped from his mouth and blew up into the sky. The others were totally stunned at the amount of magic power that Natsu was emitting as well as the fact that he used an element besides fire.

Erza and the others made it outside the destroyed building in time to see Natsu unleash his attack. They too were stunned by the attack. They never felt so much magical energy in one attack before. The attack subsided and a large dust cloud formed around the battlefield making it impossible to see the result of the attack.

"W-Wow...was that really...Natsu...?" Mirajane asked, her eyes widened.

"Just how strong is he?" Elfman wondered as Gray felt angry at what he just saw, but deep down was amazed and shocked at how strong Natsu was becoming.

Erza frowned slightly. She couldn't see it well, but she wondered if Natsu had used that technique since he let out this much magic. She hoped he didn't. However, she wasn't going to know the answer to her question as long as the large dust cloud was blocking everything.

"D-Did Natsu win?" Max asked as he and the others wanted to know the answer to that question as well. It took a while, but the dust cloud dispersed. Natsu was seen standing tall, but his arms looked like they had no strength in them as they slightly dangled due to the charred areas around his arm. Everyone sighed in relief to see that he was okay.

Erza let out the biggest sigh of them all as she saw that Natsu did not use Dragon Metamorphosis. However, her eyes then widened. 'I-Incredible...j-just how strong has Natsu become...' Erza thought in awe.

'Where is he?' Natsu wondered, moving his eyes around to look for him. He then suddenly felt his presence behind him. Before he could even do anything, Alastor placed both of his hands right on his back. This made Natsu's eyes widened in shock as Alastor jumped away from Natsu before the areas he touched exploded.

"Natsu!" Everyone shouted in shock as their pink haired dragon slayer fell to the ground, cringing in pain as the explosion tore a hole in his vest and smoke rose up from his charred back.

"W-What just happened?" Gray asked, confused and stunned.

"I don't know...but it looked like he just exploded." Lucy shouted.

"How is that even possible?" Happy asked.

"Like I would know!" She responded back.

'Damn...what the hell...did he just got faster...no...it's not only that, but I couldn't even feel his presence until the moment he came from behind me...just who is this guy...?' He lifted his head to turn around and look at the red haired man. When he saw him, his eyes widened in shock.

"Surprised...hehehe...I thought you would be...after all...it's not like you get to see this form everyday..." Alastor chuckled as a tail made a whipping sound behind him. "Allow me to introduce my new form...Metamorphosis of the Demon!" He indeed looked like a demon as his tail swayed from side to side. He also flapped his wings to stretch them out. His eyes were dark colored and the top of his head changed as well to look like a demon with horns and a black and red colored design. (It's kind of hard for me to write the description in words, but just imagine him as if Hollow Ichigo and Ulquiorra fused together. Looks pretty cool huh?)

Mirajane's eyes widened and gasped at the transformation.

"H-How is that...?" Natsu stuttered in shock.

"Well, technically its not really called that, I just felt like calling it because it sounded cool." Alastor chuckled. "Also..." He disappeared and appeared in next to Natsu and planted his foot on top of his head. He then pushed it down to the ground and leaned down to him. "...the truth of the matter is...I'm an actual demon."

"W-What...?"

"Of course I don't mean metaphorically. I'm actual demon...kind of like those monsters you defeated...who were they again..."

'Wait a minute...does that mean that Zeref has something to do with this...?' Natsu thought as he tried to lift himself up.

"Ah well...doesn't matter...not like you can compare them to me...but it's still impressive that you could defeat them." He chuckled. "Now then, I think it's time for me to kill you. Don't worry though, I plan to do it quick and painless. Then, I'm going to go after your nakama!"

"Like hell you will!" Natsu shouted as he slammed his hands down onto the ground, ignoring the intense pain he felt in them and started to lift himself off the ground. He felt pain in his back as well, but that still didn't stop him. Alastor tried pushing him back down, but Natsu wasn't letting him. He didn't want to give Natsu any chance to get back into the fight with him having the advantage at the moment. He was surprised at what he was doing after what he did to his arms and back. He lifted his arm and placed it on his back. He then flapped his wings and flew up to avoid the explosion that came.

Natsu spat out blood at the explosion and fell down to one knee. He groaned and gritted his teeth at the pain, but he didn't stop and began to lift himself up again. "Tch!" Alastor created a red colored magical bow and arrow and pointed it down at Natsu.

"Natsu! Watch out!" His fellow guild members shouted as the demon launched an arrow down toward him. Without even looking in his direction, he lifted his charred right hand and grabbed the arrow. Alastor's eyes widened in shock. He squeezed the arrow and everyone watched as it got destroyed. He slowly turned around and glared at the demon.

"Impressive once again, dragon slayer..but how about twenty?" With that said, he created 20 red arrows and placed them in the bow before launching them at him.

"Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!" Natsu ignited his fists and began punching rapidly at the arrows. Each contact that he made caused a small explosion that grew into a big one when all were destroyed. A large smokescreen appeared, but it didn't last long as Natsu flew straight through it and toward Alastor.

"Lightning Flame Dragon's Fist!" He threw the strong punch at Alastor who lifted his hands up and tried to block the attack with them. The attack connected and pushed the demon backed. However, he was able to successfully block it, but Natsu wasn't done. "Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow!" His elbow erupted in flames as it helped push through the demon's block and deliver a punch to his gut. Alastor spat out blood from the impact. Natsu used the momentum from the punch to do a small back flip and then ignited his leg before slamming it down on top of his head. The demon crashed down to the ground creating a large crater and a burst of wind that made the others cover their eyes and hold on to the ground or something nearby.

Natsu landed on the ground and took some deep breaths. He waited to see if he won or not. There was a small dust cloud around the area Alastor crashed into as the winds subsided and everyone else watched and waited as well. Once the dust cloud dispersed, the demon man stood tall glaring at the pink haired dragon slayer, some blood trickling down his temple and the corner of his mouth.

"You really are pissing me off..." He spoke in the type of tone that a demon would have sounded like. "I guess it is partially my fault...however, it's time I stop fooling around." He closed his eyes. Natsu planted his feet and prepared himself to whatever he was planning on doing. He then opened his eyes and when he did, a sudden dark and eery chill ran up Natsu's spine. Natsu was frozen in place as his legs felt like jelly and were ready to collapse. It felt so strange and it almost looked like the blue skies above him were painted in black and red. "Dark Forbidden Magic: Tempus Defixio Excessum." (The three Latin words mean, in order, time, curse, death)

Suddenly, a small purple clock appeared above his head. "W-What is this?"

"Natsu!" Said dragon slayer turned his head toward the voice to which belonged to Mirajane.

"Mira..."

"You don't have much time! That thing is your death clock!" Everyone's eyes widened.

"What? What do you mean?" Erza asked.

"It's a spell that can't be dispelled unless you defeat the castor. When the clock makes one full turn the victim dies immediately!" There was a large collective gasps from everyone as well as widened eyes.

"WHAT?" Makarov roared in anger as he recognized the spell that was put on Natsu.

"Calm down..." The man who stopped him before told the Master of Fairy Tail.

"Move out of the way! I have to go help him!"

"I told you before didn't I? Just watch. I didn't train that idiot to lose to something like this so easily."

"If he dies...I will personally kill you with my bare hands." Makarov glared at him as he threatened the man. The man only chuckled.

"I wouldn't worry about that...If he does die...then I'll kill myself..." Makarov gasped and looked at him in shock at his words.

"I see...how much time do I have?" Natsu asked Mirajane.

"About five minutes." She said with a frown and worry shown on her face.

"Five minutes, huh?" He repeated and looked up to see the hand on the clock begin to move. "Sounds like fun." He smirked and glared at Alastor.

"Oh...I'm glad you sound so excited despite being less than five minutes away from death. Although, I'm sure this means you'll go all out to try and defeat me." He smirked as well and raised his arm to summon a red sword made of pure magic. 'Now...show me that power he is so obsessed with...'

'For some reason...it feels like he wants me to use Dragon Metamorphosis...but I can't count on that technique all the time...even though I have this spell on me...I have to use the power he helped me release...' He closed his eyes and then slammed his fists together as he ignited them in fire. The amount of flames that appeared from his hands was incredible. Those who knew Natsu's flames very well noticed a sudden change in them. Not only were they the same red and orange color, but they also had yellow colored flames added as well.

"Natsu's flames...they feel different..." Makarov noticed as he narrowed his eyes at him.

"That's because they are..." The man told him. "Fire is usually considered the element of destruction since it usually only causes destruction. However, what some don't know is that fire can also be the most harmless element out of them all."

"Explain..."

"If you ever noticed, Natsu's tactics usually involve causing destruction with his fire magic, but unfortunately that way of fighting means he has little control over his flames. There was an incident during one of our training sessions that caused Natsu to almost kill me."

"What happened?" He asked, surprised.

"He lost complete control over his flames after trying to go beyond his bodies ability to do so. He lost consciousness and in return lost complete control over his flames like a wild Dragon. He destroyed a town up in the north that I managed to prevent making headline news, but his complete loss of control almost killed me."

"What about the villagers?" Makarov asked, shocked to hear exactly what happened.

"Don't worry, they were all saved by a friend of mine." He heard the Master let out a sigh of relief. "Not only that, but because he didn't have great control of his flames, he couldn't unlock the legendary golden flame."

"Golden flame?"

"Yeah...you see how there is a mixture of his red flame and some golden ones? That is the legendary golden flame known as the Flame of Rebuke. It's a type of flame that not many people can possess. It's a powerful flame that without proper control of it can cause someone to lose consciousness and then lose control of his flames in general. Natsu was never able to unlock this flame until I taught him how to do so."

"Did you also teach him how to combine fire and lightning as well?"

"Sort of...all I did really was make him eat lightning..."

"You did what?" Makarov yelled at him.

'Well, I didn't really do anything...he was the one who taught himself how to do that, I just provided him with the lightning...who would have thought that such a result would happen by doing so...' He smirked as Makarov continued to yell at him.

The flames that Natsu was emitting grew and grew as the hand on the clock continued to count down. Suddenly, the flames became so big that everyone was engulfed in them.

"Hey Natsu! Wait a minute! What are you..." Some of them shouted as they felt his flames on them. However, they felt no pain except for a nice warm feeling.

"Hey...these flames...they don't hurt..." Gray stated as he didn't feel nothing but a warm sensation.

"Yeah...you right..." Elfman added.

"...it feels...nice..." Mirajane added, blushing a bit.

"...but what are these yellow flames...?" Lucy asked.

"...I hope Natsu knows what he is doing...?" Happy whispered recognizing the yellow colored flames. Erza however was able to hear him and frowned.

'Natsu...'

Unfortunately, the flames went away and the others groaned at the loss of the warm sensation that came with the flames. They slowly receded back into his fists. He raised his head and looked at Alastor. "It's time to finish this..."

"Oh...let's see then..." He smirked and pointed his red sword at Natsu. He then charged at the dragon slayer and swung his sword down on him. Natsu clenched his fist and punched the sword as it created a spark between the two attacks. 4 minutes remained on the clock above his head. Alastor withdrew his sword and swung at it again, only for it to be blocked again by Salamander's fist. This went on as Alastor's main purpose was to waste time.

However, Natsu wasn't going to let him do that. After he blocked one swing, he grabbed the sword with the next attack and squeezed his hand, causing the magic sword to disperse. With it gone, Alastor's eyes widened and Natsu was going on the offensive. "Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!" He shouted and delivered several rapid punches at the red haired man. He blocked some of the punches, but a few managed to make contact with his body.

He had enough and flapped his wings to create some distance between himself and the dragon slayer "I had enough of you...all I have to do is last a few more minutes...I guess I could test out that move...

"Well...I won't let you!"

"Hmph, cheeky bastard!" He raised his arm. Natsu watched as dark magic began forming on top of his palm. The dark magic started to form into a sphere that grew bigger and bigger with every second that passed. Natsu figured he was going to do something big and charged at him before he could finish preparing his attack. He used his flames as thrusters to fly up to him and made the flames on his fists grow bigger.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He shouted preparing to throw a punch.

"Like I would let you stop me!" He raised his other arm and dark magic began forming in that hand. "Dark Magic: Dark Cannon!" A blast of dark magic shot out of his hand as Natsu tried blocking it with his flames. He managed to do so, but the force of the attack forced him back down. He gritted his teeth before making his flames bigger and then swiped the attack away, causing it to disperse. However, it did give Alastor enough time to finish the preparation for his next attack.

The ball of dark magic was fairly large as everyone watched in anticipation to see what was going to happen next. Natsu knew he didn't have time to stand around and do nothing. He looked up to see he had less than three minutes before his time ran out. Natsu thrust up toward him. Alastor saw him and smirked. The large ball of dark magic began shrinking. This surprised some of them. The ball shrunk to the size of a golf ball. He lowered his hand and down and pointed it at Natsu. "Dark Magic...Taking his other hand, he flicked the small ball of dark magic at him. "...DEATH SPHERE!"

It came at Natsu very quickly and he was just barely able to dodge it. "Hah! You missed!" He smirked. However, Alastor snickered.

"Idiot! Whoever said I was aiming for you?" Natsu's eyes widened.

'Don't tell me...his target was...' He turned around and changed direction to go back after the attack. The demon only chuckled as he watched the clock above Natsu's head continue to count down until his death. 'Damn it...I got to hurry!'

"EVERYONE! GET AS FAR FROM HERE AS YOU CAN!" Erza shouted toward the others. They didn't need to be told twice as they realized themselves that they were the target of the demon's attack after what he just told Natsu. They quickly ran as fast as they could.

"Quick! We have to get away!" Gray told the group he was with.

"But what about Natsu?" Lucy shouted.

"He'll be fine!" He shouted back.

"But..."

"He's right Lucy..." Happy told her. She looked at him and saw the look of determination on his face. "Natsu will be alright...believe in him." She stared at him before nodding her head and followed after the others. Erza looked back and clenched her fists as she felt useless for the first time in a long while, but she had no choice but to trust Natsu. Her first priority after all was to make sure the others were safe.

Natsu quickly descended down to the attack. He was able to catch up to it, but he was very close to the ground. He did the only thing he could think of at the moment and wrapped his arms around the ball of dark magic. Then a large explosion occurred. Everyone watched in horror as the blast radius was big, but none of them were caught in, but the large burst of wind made them cover their eyes and hold onto to something for dear life.

"NATSU!" Many of his fellow guild members shouted as the shaking settled down. A very large cloud smoke shrouded the area of the blast.

"Natsu..." Lucy whispered as she searched for him in the smoke cloud. Mirajane clutched her hands in worry as well as she placed them on her chest, hoping she wouldn't have to be heart broken like when Lisanna died. Alastor had a smirk on his demonic face.

It seemed like it took forever before the smoke cloud dispersed and with it gone, everyone's eyes widened as they saw Natsu standing on his two feet, but his body did not look okay. There was blood everyone and many wondered how he was able to even stand, much less even be alive.

"Natsu..." Levy put her hands in front of her mouth as she felt tears forming in her eyes.

"That guy..." Wakabe muttered in shock.

"Wow! I can't get enough of how impressive you are. It's no wonder why he is so fond of you..." He whispered the last part as Natsu started turning his head. "But it looks like I don't have to worry much longer..." He said as the clock above Natsu was very close to making a full turn.

"Natsu! Quick! Defeat that guy! Your running out of time!" Gray shouted.

"I know that pervert..." Natsu muttered as he looked up and glared at Alastor. His body began glowing the same yellow color as his flames were. "WRAAAHHHHHHHH!" Natsu roared as he clenched his fists and his feet destroyed the ground that wasn't destroyed by the death sphere.

"I don't know what you are going to do, but all I have to is stop you!" He created a red colored bow and arrow and aimed hundreds of arrows at the dragon slayer "Take this!" He shouted and shot the arrows.

"WRAAAAAHHHHH!" Natsu roared once again and with all the strength that remained in his bloody body, he shot upward toward Alastor. His eyes widened in shock at how fast and powerful he was coming toward him. He was easily destroying the arrows like grains of rice and he didn't have any time for him to dodge. The only thing he could do was block and hope he didn't lose consciousness until the clock ran out of time. So, he raised his arms and prepared for impact. "HIDDEN FIRE FORM! CRIMSON LOTUS: PHOENIX BLADE!" Natsu delivered a devastating punch that Alastor couldn't handle and the attack connected which sent both men crashing into the destroyed Phantom Guild building.

"Natsu!" Everyone shouted as they witnessed the attack cause an explosion. They were stunned at what they saw. It was almost unbelievable. They were speechless. They couldn't even begin to explain what they saw. It was just breathtaking, but there was only one thing on everyone's mind. Did Natsu win? They waited for some time, hoping something would happen, but nothing did.

'Don't tell me...' Erza began to panic and quickly took off toward the destroyed building. The others saw her and Gray let go of Elfman's arm and followed after her. She needed him after all to create a bridge of ice toward the building. However, they stopped when someone zipped past them. Erza was able to see just barely who it was and stopped. Gray stopped as well and turned to her.

"Who was that?"

"That was..." A small smile formed on her face.

"I told him not to worry..." The man spoke as he then took a drink. "But he sure was impatient. He took off as soon as he saw Natsu connect with that attack. So...what did you think...Alastor?"

The man spat out blood as he reverted back to his human form and looked at the man. "He...he has the potential...but..."

"Yeah...I know...he's still not strong enough...by the way..." He turned his head to look at him. "What in the world were you thinking of using that curse on him? You know that there was a possibility that he could have died."

"Shut up old man...I figured if he was as good as you said he was, he would have defeated me before time ran out..."

"Please don;t call me that...but...it was still a dangerous move...however, you are lucky yourself...if I hadn't put that transportation spell on you, you could have suffered permanent damage."

"Don't expect a thanks from me...after all...it's your fault for turning me into this thing..."

"Hey...I told you that if you helped me I'd remove the curse...you just got one step closer to that..."

"Tch...whatever..." Alastor turned his head and sighed as he crossed his legs.

"Is the curse off of him?"

"Yeah...it is..."

"Good..."

"So now what do we do?"

"Nothing for the moment...you need to recover before we go any further in our plan..." He told him and began drinking from his bottle.

"There you two are!" Alastor cringed at the voice, while the man did a spit take. They turned their heads to see the woman with black hair standing on the roof with her hands on her waist. "What the hell have you two done?" She yelled at them.

"Eve...what a surprise..." The man chuckled nervously. Eve felt a vein pop in anger.

"Don't give me that!" She yelled as both of them were now on their knees in front of her as she began scolding them. "Do you have any idea what I had to go through to find you two?"

"We're sorry..." They bowed their heads in an apologetic manner.

"And another thing..." She continued to scold them as they continued to apologize in the same manner.

'Natsu...you still have a long and tough road ahead of you...but in due time you will face against the man who you are destined to face...and I will help you get that strength...but take a break for now...after all...you have to deal with something that might be even tougher than him...the heart of your maidens...' The man smirked.

"What the hell are you smirking about?" Eve shouted.

"I'm sorry..."

Makarov searched the area, looking for one of his children. He finally was able to spot him sprawled out on his back. "Natsu!" He called out to him and rushed over. "Oi, Natsu!"

"Are you okay, Gramps?" Makarov's eyes widened as he saw a smiling Natsu looking at him. What made him more surprised was the fact that he was asking him if he was okay? Hell, Natsu looked in way worse shape than he had ever seen.

"Don't worry about me, you idiot!" He shouted. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Of course I am." Natsu chuckled with a big smile.

"You don't look like it..."

"Yeah...I guess not..." Makarov looked at him before laughing. "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing." He shook his head as his laughter died down. "I met him."

"Hm? Who?"

"The man who trained you the past two years."

"R-Really? Is he here?"

"No...I left him to see if you were okay."

"I see...that's too bad...there was something I wanted to ask him..."

"Natsu...just who is he?"

"To be honest...I don't know...when I was on my journey...I met him by accident and ever since then he began training me...thanks to him I was able to defeat that red haired guy...although...I don't see him anywhere...but it doesn't matter...I beat him and that's that." He grinned.

"I see...so you know nothing about him...do you at least know his name?"

"No..."

"No? You knew him for two years and you don't know his name?"

"Well, I asked him once, but he told me that it didn't matter what his name was because all that mattered was me getting stronger. Seems like a stupid reason to not tell a person your name if you ask me."

"Yeah...it is..." Makarov agreed. 'That man...just who is he?'

"Is everyone else okay?"

"Don't worry, they're all fine." Makarov answered with a warm smile on his face. Natsu let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good...hey...can you help me up? I feel a bit tired."

"Yeah...no problem."

"Oh and there is one more thing..." Makarov perked up wondering what else he wanted.

The others waited for the return of Natsu. The wait was killing them. After waiting who knows how long, they were finally able to see Natsu come out of the building. Cheers erupted as they saw both Makarov and Natsu come out of the building with Natsu's arm over a taller form of the Master.

"Way to go Natsu!"

"Thank goodness you're alive!"

"You did it!"

A horde of cheers were heard as Natsu gave them a huge grin as Makarov jumped and landed on the ground in front of the others. They all rushed toward them with wide smiles.

"I must admit you did pretty well for a someone who only has fire in the brain." Gray commented.

"Shut up ice boy." Natsu replied, but with a smile.

"He's right, Natsu." Erza added. "You were pretty amazing. Who would have thought you would become this strong so quickly." She smiled at him.

"Thanks...but it's all thanks to you guys...if I didn't have my friends I wouldn't have won..." He chuckled.

"You're making us blush you idiot!" One of them said as they erupted into laughter.

"Yeah...but even so...we couldn't protect the guild..." Someone said and that caused frowns to appear on some of their faces.

"I'm sorry...it's all my fault..." Everyone made a noise in surprise as they looked at Lucy. "If it wasn't for me...the guild would still be standing...I..." She shook and was about to cry.

"Lulu-chan..." Levy frowned at her friend.

"What are you talking about?" Lucy's eyes widened and lifted her head to look at Natsu who removed his arm from Makarov's shoulder as he shrunk back down to his regular height. He began walking toward her. "None of us blame you for what happened. You are a member of this guild and being so we will help you no matter what. We can always rebuild our guild. Fairy Tail is more than that. We are your friends and that's why no one holds you responsible. After all, you are a member of Fairy Tail." Lucy could feel the tears that she was trying to hold back come out in full storm as everyone smiled at her. Suddenly to everyone's surprise, Natsu wrapped his arms around her making the Celestial Spirit Mage to blush and slightly panic.

"Huh? N-Natsu..." Lucy made a sound of surprise when she heard him take deep breaths. She turned her head to look at him and saw that his eyes were closed. He was sleeping. She smiled warmly at him and wrapped her arms around his body. 'Arigatou...Natsu...'

To Be Continued...
- 16
- 17
- 18
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Time is the Path to Strength