LULLABY

Natsu explained, "We... we were just curious what kind of job Erza would ask Ye Yang to do."

Gray chimed in, "Yeah, yeah."

Erza looked at the two clowns helplessly.

"Since you're here, you might as well come along. I'll feel more at ease that way."

Ye Yang walked up to them earnestly and patted them on the shoulders.

"I'm entrusting this difficult mission to you two."

Erza shot Ye Yang an unfriendly look.

"Woo~ Woo~ Woo~"

The Train whistle sounded.

"Let's go. We'll board first."

And so, five people and one cat boarded the Train.

The moment it started moving, Natsu immediately began to feel sick.

Σ_(???"∠) Bleurgh! "It really is disgusting!"

Gray looked at Natsu with disgust and shoved him aside.

"Ah! What a pain."

Erza then motioned for Natsu to sit by her. To Lucy's surprise, Erza punched Natsu directly in the stomach, knocking him out cold.

"Th... thank you...!"

Watching Erza deliver such a practiced blow, Lucy broke out in a cold sweat.

(Miss Erza seems kind of abnormal too.)

As the journey continued, they inevitably began chatting.

Lucy asked, "By the way, Miss Erza, what kind of magic do you use? At the guild, I've only seen Natsu's and Ye Yang's magic."

"Just call me Erza."

Happy spoke up. "Erza's magic is really pretty! Lots of blood gets spilled. Lots of enemy blood."

=_=: "You call that pretty?"

Erza said, "It's nothing special, really. I think Gray's magic is the prettiest."

Lucy looked at Gray curiously. Gray immediately activated his magic, and a Fairy Tail emblem made of ice appeared in his palm.

Seeing the sparkling object, Lucy's eyes lit up.

"It really is beautiful!"

Girls always had an inexplicable fondness for glittering things.

"My magic is Ice-Make Magic. It can create anything according to my thoughts. It's the freest kind of magic."

Lucy suddenly looked at Natsu. (So that's why you and Natsu don't get along.)

After finishing his last bite of food, Ye Yang said, "All right, Erza. It's about time we got to the point. Why did you invite me this time? Did you run into a troublesome request?"

Erza immediately put on a serious expression.

"Here's what happened. On my way back after completing a job, I passed through Onibas and stopped at a tavern frequented by wizards."

"I heard a group nearby saying they had found LULLABY, but it had been sealed."

"I wanted to ask the guild master what LULLABY was, but he had gone to a meeting."

Lucy spoke up then. "I think I saw LULLABY in a book before. It seems to be a Sleep Magic, something like a lullaby."

Hearing that it was a sleep-related magic, Erza's expression gradually turned grave.

"If they get their hands on that magic, there could be serious trouble!"

Gray pondered for a moment. "LULLABY? I think I heard that word recently too, from a member of the Dark Guild Eisenwald."

Erza said, "Is that so? Then the people you encountered should have been the same group I saw."

"At first, I recognized some of them as well. While listening to them talk, I heard a name—Jellal."

"At the time, the name only seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember why."

"Only later did I recall that Jellal was Eisenwald's ace. He only took assassination jobs, so he was also known as Jellal the Reaper."

"Assassination requests are forbidden by order of the Kingdom, so Eisenwald was listed as a Dark Guild six years ago."

Bang! Erza punched Natsu on the head.

"I should have remembered back then and sacrificed them all in blood!"

The moment Lucy heard Erza's words, she had a bad feeling. A Dark Guild, assassinations—none of that sounded easy to deal with.

Ye Yang said slowly, "So our mission this time is to wipe out Eisenwald."

"Who would've thought those bugs would start crawling around again after all these years?"

"That's right. That's why I asked you to come."

"Any magic that needs to be sealed must be extremely powerful. Before we know what they're planning, we should just cut them down. Then we won't need to worry about their scheme."

Lucy's expression changed instantly, and cold sweat streamed down her face.

Happy commented, "Lucy, you're leaking so much juice!"

"That's sweat!"

"When you said we were going to destroy Eisenwald, you were joking, right? How could just a few of us possibly deal with an entire guild?"

Happy comforted her, "Don't worry, Lucy. My boss and Erza are really strong. Eisenwald is nothing."

=_= (I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about myself.)

As they chatted, they arrived at their destination.

After getting off, they looked at the bustling streets of Onibas.

Lucy said, "Isn't looking for a few people here like searching for a needle in a haystack?"

Erza said, "It can't be helped. Our only clue is here."

Lucy seemed to think of something. She looked around and realized Natsu was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? Where's Natsu?"

Only then did everyone realize that Natsu was gone.

Erza asked worriedly, "Where was the last place we saw Natsu?"

"Woo~ Woo~ Woo~"

&"On the Train!"

On the Train.

Natsu slowly opened his eyes and discovered that no one was around him anymore.

"How could everyone... leave me behind?"

Meanwhile, in the control room at Onibas Train Station, Erza burst inside and quickly explained the situation to the stationmaster.

"So for the sake of my companion, this Train has to stop."

The stationmaster looked at Erza helplessly. "You must be joking. Of course that's impossible."

Erza ignored him completely and pulled down the emergency brake lever.

Inside the Train.

A man suddenly came up to Natsu.

"Brother, I see no one's sitting around you. Mind if I sit beside you?"

Natsu already felt miserable and had no desire to pay him any attention.

Kagayama sat down without waiting for an answer.

"You look like you're not feeling well."

Natsu snapped impatiently, "Who are you?! What do you want?!"

Kagayama's face darkened at Natsu's expression.

"Wizards from legal guilds really are different. What an arrogant attitude."

"The girls in your legal guild must all be beautiful, huh? I saw one in a tavern not long ago. Unlike us, we don't even have a single girl."

Feeling sick, Natsu still had no desire to respond.

Kagayama's anger flared instantly. "Do you look down on Eisenwald because we're a Dark Guild?! Are people from legal guilds so great?!"

As he spoke, Kagayama unleashed his magic. A black fist sent Natsu flying.

Natsu endured the nausea and glared sharply at him.

"You bastard! Why did you sneak-attack me?!"

Kagayama looked at Natsu with a mocking expression. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You finally decided to speak, huh? Are all people from legal guilds as arrogantly dismissive as you?"