Gray gritted his teeth as he stabbed an ice dagger repeatedly into a table, everyone giving the Ice-Make Mage a wide berth, knowing he wasn't to be messed with at the moment, but no one knew the reason for his anger.
Damnit Master! Gray mentally cursed Makarov for what felt like the thousandth time.
The reason for his anger was due to the fact Makarov had made Gray swear on both his family name and on the name of his master, Ur, that he could not tell anyone about Haru being Crimson or what Natsu truly was.
I can't believe he's letting that thing stay in the guild and just walk around freely! Even worse, he's having Mirajane help it get its power back! It's probably just putting on an act, waiting to kill us all. Gray thought darkly.
He lost his family and Ur to Deliora, probably that things best friend as they laughed together as they killed people, and now for years he's been interacting and associating with a damn Etherious!
While part of Gray's mind was telling him that it was still Natsu, the same flame-brained idiot that'd jump in headfirst to protect his friends. A bigger part of him, the part that despises demons for everything they took from him, couldn't get past the fact Natsu was an Etherious himself. The same type of demon that killed his parents and made Ur sacrifice herself, the latter of which was Gray's own fault.
And Makarov made him swear on their names not to tell everyone that they had an Etherious walking freely among them!
"Hey Gray! You gonna tell us what crawled up your ass and died?!" Questioned Cana, as she sat at the bar looking over at Gray when she noticed he was unconsciously lowering the temperature in the guild.
"Go drown in another damn barrel!" Gray retorted before standing up and leaving, wanting to go do some training.
He needed to get stronger, for when he knows that Etherious will turn on them and he has to kill it.
He might have Makarov, Erza, and Mirajane fooled, but not me. I know what he really is and what he'll do. Gray thought darkly.
He won't lose another family to an Etherious, not if he has the strength to stop it this time.
Haru strapped her gauntlets onto her arms, mindful of the numerous bandages covering her body. Once she was fully dressed, Haru exited the room and saw the two people that helped her, a short elderly man wearing a tribal chief outfit and a little girl with long dark blue hair, reaching down to her waist, and donned in a dress that has a bow on the front, as well as wavy blue and yellow stripes; along with having wing-like attachments on her arms and legs. There was also a flying white cat that looked at Haru before turning away with a "Hmph".
"Thank you, Master Roubaul for helping me recuperate. And you as well Wendy." Haru said with short bow.
"It's nothing, child. We're just thankful you survived, I doubt many can say they faced against two members of Tartarus and survived." Roubaul said.
It wasn't a fight; it was a one-sided beating. Haru thought bitterly, not liking to admit it, even to herself, that she had been severely outmatched.
It had been a few days after she destroyed Eisenwald, reunited with her sister, and interrogated Lullaby. She had been attacked by two Dark Mages wearing the mark of the Dark Guild Tartarus, a member of the Balam Alliance.
Haru thought it would have been easy to kill them, maybe harder than the average Dark Guild slaughter, but she'd still be able to kill them.
Oh, how wrong she had been.
Haru ducked behind a large block of purple ice, breathing heavily as her left arm hung loosely at her side.
"Come out, come out, little dragon, come out so I can show you the pleasure of pain again." Said a female voice close by, with Haru gritting her teeth behind her mask.
Damnit all to fucking hell! Haru thought, sensing the two close by and knowing they will find her if she doesn't think of something soon.
It had been a little over three hours ago when she had been attacked by some guy wearing armor with a scar on his face, whom Haru idly noted looked similar to that shirtless guy she saw with Erza and the demon, and the words "Absolute Zero" on the left side of his chest plate. But what had Haru's attention was the guild symbol on his pauldrons, the symbol of the Dark Guild, Tartarus.
The guy didn't say much other than that he had been ordered to kill Crimson, given Haru was wearing her mask and cloak at the time, and funnily enough, he apologized that he had to kill her. Haru couldn't say the same though, but did say she'd give him a quick death, that actually made the guy laugh.
That's when the battle started and Haru knew she was outmatched against this guy, especially when he showed he also used Slayer Magic, specifically Devil Slayer Magic; he was an Ice Devil Slayer.
This immediately put Haru at a disadvantage given if he used any other magic, she'd simply eat it, but as a Dragon Slayer she couldn't eat a different Slayer's element unless she's completely emptied her magic reserves. So, she had to resort to using her Ethernano Dragon Slayer Magic, devouring the Ethernano in the air, to fight him.
The fight had been going evenly, neither really getting the upper hand over the other, that is until the guy's partner showed up. An Etherious, a powerful one at that.
Haru was lucky to have noticed her before it was too late, given the Etherious' Curse allows her to absorb souls, nearly absorbing Haru's own before she managed to escape.
After the Etherious showed up things went from being even to Haru being completely outclassed. While the Devil Slayer was offensive, the Etherious was supplementary absorbing Haru's attacks and using another Curse that enhanced the Devil Slayer's attacks along with enhancing Haru's pain receptors to the point where just breathing felt like razor blades filling her lungs.
Haru was never more grateful for Acnologia's torture filled training than she was now, as it allowed her to block out most of the pain. But even so, she had to admit this was a fight she couldn't win.
I'm injured, nearly out of magic, and currently every cell in my body feels like they're being dipped in lava. Yeah, I need to get away. Haru thought angrily that she was being forced to retreat.
Looking up at the massive ice block, Haru got an idea, she had just enough magic for one last spell.
I just need to make it count. Haru thought, while sensing her opponents were getting close.
Gathering her remaining magic, Haru reared her head back.
"Inferno Dragon's… ROAR!" Haru roared, unleashing a torrent of flames.
When the fire hit the ice, a blast of steam appeared covering the area as she melted the ice and burned the surrounding area. Once a significant amount of smoke and steam was covering the area, Haru immediately ran in the opposite direction of the Dark Mages, not looking back to see if they were following.
Haru didn't stop running until she reached a river, panting in exhaustion and pain. Knowing she had to make sure they couldn't follow any trail she left, Haru jumped into the river and let the current carry her away.
Panting, Haru weakly returned her cloak and mask to her Requip space and had only a little magic left.
"Water… Dragon… Lungs…" Haru said, allowing herself to go underwater knowing she's no longer at risk of drowning for a couple hours.
Just before passing out, Haru swore if she ever met the sadistic, helmet wearing Etherious bitch again, she's going to take a special kind of pleasure in killing her.
Haru wasn't sure how long she had been unconscious, only that when she woke up, she was at Cait Shelter, a Legal Guild, under the care of Roubaul and Wendy Marvell who, surprisingly, was a Sky Dragon Slayer. Wendy has used her magic to help Haru recover from her injuries. Wendy was also accompanied by Carla, a flying cat like the blue one she saw accompanying her sister and her allies. Only Carla was rather stuck up and Haru, on a number of occasions, had considered eating the annoying creature.
For the most part, Haru didn't say anything while planning to leave once she was well enough. But she also couldn't help but feel indebted to Wendy for helping her, and she didn't like being indebted to people. So, once Haru was able to walk again, she took Wendy aside and helped her train her Dragon Slayer Magic, both so she could have better control of it and make the attacks stronger. But also given that just being a Dragon Slayer made her a target for Acnologia, and Haru wanted to give the girl at least a fighting chance, if she encountered Acnologia before Haru could face him.
Sure, it'd be a hopeless effort to fight the Dragon King, but better to die saying you gave it your best shot.
Though while Haru wanted to keep strictly professional, she couldn't deny that Wendy was a kind and sweet girl. It reminded Haru of herself and Erza growing up in Rosemary, innocent little girls that dreamed of becoming mages, before they saw how terrible the world can truly be.
But what really made Haru truly accept Wendy was when she came to her one day with a surprise.
Haru sat up on the bedroll thinking over her battle against the Tartarus members.
There's a chance other Etherious are in Tartarus, hell the entire guild could be Etherious. If that's true, then they're likely much stronger than the Etherious I've killed, probably the strongest demons Zeref created. I'll definitely need to get stronger if I encounter any of them again or any of the other Balam Alliance Dark Guilds. Haru thought, before looking up when she heard someone open the door.
She saw it was Wendy standing with her head lowered shyly and holding something in her hands.
"What is it Wendy?" Haru questioned, as the loli approached the older girl.
"I, uh, saw these were damaged in your closet, I'm sorry for going through your stuff! But I thought you'd like it if they were fixed, so I repaired them for you." Wendy said, holding out the items and bowing.
Haru stiffened when she saw it was her cloak and mask, the items that identified her as Crimson. Narrowing her eyes at Wendy, while cursing herself for taking them out of her Requip space. Haru had been planning to repair them, but between recovering and training Wendy, she never had the opportunity to do so. Slowly, Haru took back both items while looking at the Sky Dragon Slayer warily.
"If you saw those, then you should know who I am and what I do." Haru stated in an emotionless tone.
"Yeah… you're Crimson. I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" Wendy said quickly, with Haru looking at her with a quirked eyebrow.
"Really? And why should I believe you?" Haru demanded.
"Because, because, you're my friend. And I don't think you're a bad person or hurt innocent people, I also think you're really nice, even if you don't show it, and if you really were a Dark Mage, you wouldn't have helped me with my magic. Thank you for that by the way, I really appreciate it." Wendy said with another bow and a faint blush on her cheeks.
This surprised Haru, not expecting to hear something like that from a little girl of all people. Looking at her mask and cloak, Haru saw all the damage done to them from her fight was completely repaired.
"Thanks." Haru muttered, causing Wendy to beam a bright smile at her, before nodding and leaving the room.
While Haru wouldn't admit it, she developed a soft spot for the blue-haired girl.
She still didn't like the annoying cat, though.
"I'll be going now, thanks again." Haru said, before looking at Wendy and bending down to be at eye level with her.
"Wendy, take care of yourself and thank you for… everything." Haru said, patting Wendy's head with a small smile, while the loli girl's face burned red at how close Haru was to her.
"It-it's n-no problem, H-Haru." Wendy stuttered.
"Still thank you and I'm sure we'll see each other again; I hope to see you have gotten a stronger little dragon." Haru said.
With that Haru rose up and left, giving a short wave to them.
All the while Haru knew this recent loss was a major wake-up call. If she couldn't defeat two Tartarus members, then what hope did she have against Acnologia and Zeref.
One thing was for sure, Haru needed to find a way to get stronger fast if she ever hoped to reach her goal.
And I will, no matter what. I will kill Zeref, and then I'm coming for you, Acnologia. Haru swore, though she now had more of a reason for the latter, since she now had someone she wanted to protect from her adoptive father. For it would be a cold day in hell if she would let Acnologia lay even a claw on Wendy.