The explosion was so bright and loud that everyone in the stadium had to shield their eyes and cover their ears. Once it died down, the sight before them was unbelievable.

Rogue was on the ground, pale, and seemingly unconscious, and Lucy was just gone. The sensor in the arena came up negative with sensing Lucy's magic energy, so it was ruled out that she had left.

"And the victor is, Gildarts Clive of Fairy Tail!" Fairy Tail, as well as most of the stadium cheered loudly. When Rogue was carried into the infirmary, it was discovered that Gray was gone as well. When the news hit Lamia Scale that Gray was gone, and it was obvious Lucy was too, they all knew what had happened and where they were.

"Eek!" Lucy screeched, falling through tree branches, getting cut up a bit before landing on the ground with a loud crack. Looking up, she saw that the branches were moving yet again then let out a loud groan as Gray crash landed onto her body, that was already heavily damaged from fighting Gray, then the massive attack from Gildarts and Rogue, and to top it all off, falling through a thousand foot tree.

Gray stood up and offered his hand to Lucy, who reluctantly took it. They were both back to normal, minus the fact they found it hard to look in the others direction.

"I must admit, the two of you are the strongest and smartest ones yet that we've messed with." The voice in their heads spoke.

"What do you mean by that!?" Gray yelled out, both he and Lucy looking around for the source of the voice, even though it was in their heads.

"You've fallen straight into our trap, you see. By turning your old guild against you, it caused you two and your companion Natsu and his cat to join another guild, Lamia Scale to be exact. However, you handled that quite well, which wasn't a part of the plan. Your bonds just had to be strong, which in the grand scheme of things, will work out in our favour." The voice spoke, Lucy and Gray clenching their fists, unable to speak.

"So, we went a step further and used you two against each other. Angering Lucy to turn into her monster form was just what we needed. Natsu already became END, Gray, you can turn into your Ice Devil Slayer self. But Lucy Heartphilia had never unleashed her other side, her own monster. So, when we used your mind Gray, to give that speech about splitting up, we made sure you called Lucy a monster." The voice then vanished, and Lucy and Gray finally found themselves able to look at each other without anger or awkwardness.

"I'm sorry." The two apologized to each other at the same time, and then hugged. An embrace that lasted longer than either expected, but after all the recent events, it was a long much needed hug.

"We'll have a lot of explaining to do once we get back." Lucy spoke softly as they pulled away from their lengthy embrace. Gray nodded and they began to make their way towards Fatum Est, to finally end the issue with Fairy Tail and to hopefully stop the war from happening again.

While the two walked, following the magic they sensed that should lead them to Fatum Est, they found it harder and harder to walk there.

"You feel it too, don't you?" Gray asked with a slight groan, feeling his Devil Slayer trying to take him over rather than transforming to use it's powers.

"Y-yeah." Lucy stuttered, feeling her monster trying to take over. "The closer we get to Fatum Est, the worse this will get. We just need to pull through." Lucy spoke, her body tensing up every now and then. The two mages kept walking forward slowly but surely, doing everything they could to contain their other halves.

The fourth day of the Grand Magic Games was over, Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail were tied for first place due to Lyon beating Juvia later on that day. The bar was silent as everyone drank, and Natsu was walking in circles, Happy on his head. He refused to think that there would be another war, that he would become END yet again and hurt and kill innocent people. He also felt pain from knowing that Lucy and Gray agreed to separate after they defeated Fatum Est, which is when a question came across his mind.

"What if they aren't strong enough to defeat Fatum Est?" Natsu questioned, now standing completely still. "Of course they can!" Happy yelled, not a doubt in his mind.

"Natsu has a good point. Not only do none of us know how large that guild it, as well as their members and their strengths, but there's quite a bit of tension between Lucy and Gray." Jura stated. While everyone knew he was right, they didn't want to accept it.

The fact that Lucy and Gray would be facing off against a guild no one really knew anything about was bone chilling and unsettling. Lamia Scale would do everything in their power to help them, but their wherabouts were entirely unknown. "You know, at times like this, most guilds, ourselves included, would be going to Fairy Tail to ask for help." Sherria spoke honestly, looking down at the ground.

"But now, the only ones who can save Fairy Tail are two of the members they kicked out." Sherry spoke, placing a hand on Sherria's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. It was silent after that, which came as odd to Lyon and Jura who knew Natsu to be very loud and vocal about his opinions. That's when they looked at him.

"Natsu!" Lyon yelled, running to the salmon haired mage who was on his knees and grabbing tightly onto his head, Happy trying to figure out what was going on. Lyon looked to the blue exceed for answers, only for him to shake his head, also unsure.

"My head hurts so damn much." Natsu mumbled in pain, his body lightly shaking. He refused to say the whole truth. How he could feel the pulse in his veins changing, how his thoughts were slowly but surely get darker and more maniacal by the second. I don't understand. Why now? Why at all? Son of a bitch, I won't let you take over END, I just can't. Natsu thought to himself.

Happy took a step away from Natsu, and the salmon haired mage understood why. His exceed could feel his aura changing, and he was terrified. Happy looked at Lyon with pleading eyes, who now fully understood the situation at hand.

"Jura, think you can lock him up somewhere he can't escape, at least until he can control whatever is going on?" Lyon questioned and Jura nodded. "Hurry up." Natsu spoke seriously as he slowly felt END getting stronger from within. With that, Jura took Natsu in his arms and made a mad dash to the hotel room he shared with the rest of Lamia Scale's contestants. Using his magic, six impenetrable stones incased Natsu's body.

"Tap one of the stones if you need anything, I'm sorry we have to do this to you." Jura spoke.

"It's getting stronger Jura." Natsu spoke, voice a bit darker than before. While he walked out, Jura took one last glance and felt a wave of guilt for having to lock up his own guildmate like this, over something he couldn't control.

"Lucy, Gray, please defeat Fatum Est soon, if not, just please come back to us alive and in one piece." Jura mumbled to himself as he made his way back to the bar.

Gray fell to the ground, black markings stretched from his arm to his neck. "Damnit, we must be close." Gray mumbled, his arm twitching slightly. Lucy, who was wobbling while standing, pointed ahead of them. 

"Just beyond that hill, that guild is huge Gray." Lucy spoke, nervousness in her voice. Gray stumbled up, leaning against the blonde so he wouldn't fall again, and saw exactly what she meant.

The guild hall of Fatum Est was three stories tall, took up a very large amount of space, had a river circling it and required a drawbridge to access it. It was obvious there was a magic barrier surrounding the place as well. The two mages closed their eyes in attempt to sense how many mages could be in the guild by their aura's.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Gray spoke, opening his eyes. "Did you sense one hundred too?" Lucy asked, Gray simply nodding in response.

"Are we really capable of defeating them Gray? I hate to doubt it, but look at us, we can barely stand as is and we aren't even at their guild hall yet. There's so many of them and only two of us, it doesn't help that we don't even know what kind of magic we're going up against." Lucy spoke with a nervous, worried voice.

"Don't think like that Luce, we can do this. We don't have a choice either. If we- no, when we defeat Fatum Est, Fairy Tail will be released of their spell and this whole war thing should be stopped before it even starts." Gray spoke with a bit of confidence and gave Lucy a small grin to boost her spirits.

"Yeah, you're right. Now, let's take 'em by surprise." Lucy grinned and Gray nodded. The two mages continued making their way towards the guild hall of Fatum Est, feeling the weight of their world on the shoulders.

It was nighttime and everyone was asleep, their doubts being put at rest as they all laid in their beds. But a storm was coming, and there was no simple way of putting an end to it.

The stones around Natsu cracked at the snap of his fingers, the stones now shattered into millions of tiny fragments. He stood up straight, marks interlaced with symbols stretching up his arms, a smirk arising to his face and horns forming from his head.

"Time to have a little fun."