Fairy Tail: The Dark Swordsman

49 - Phantom Lord

[x784, Magnolia, Three days later]

— Levy McGarden —

"I can't believe that Phantom Lord is doing this." Levy said as she balanced a bag of groceries in hand. "Interguild conflict is very frowned upon by the council."

Lisanna adopted a thinking pose. "I mean, they didn't really accomplish much with this though. They only came in the middle of the night and barely destroyed anything. It's not like that would even dent our resources. We have enough in the treasury to fix the building five times over and still be able to keep our day-to-day operations functional."

"Right. I heard you've been helping Mira manage the guild's finances." Levy nodded.

Lisanna grinned. "Mira told me that all S-Class mages have extra responsibilities within the guild once they take the title. Gildarts is the Ace, obviously. Erza is basically the guild's disciplinarian, while Mira helps the Master with managerial duties." She paused, tilting her head. "I wonder what Mystogan, Laxus, and Dannis' duties are, though."

Levy shrugged. "Probably something important, but right now, I'm more concerned about how Phantom Lord knew where we live. They must have planned this for a while."

Lisanna sighed. "I mean, I really don't mind spending girls' night in Fairy Hills, but I do miss my own bed sometimes."

"Levy! Lisanna!"

The familiar voice made both girls turn as Jet and Droy jogged toward them from the opposite side of the street. The two were slightly out of breath, but their faces lit up with relief.

"Glad we caught you," Jet said, hands on his hips. "Come on, we'll walk you back to Fairy Hills."

Levy raised a brow. "I thought you guys were staying at Macao's place?"

"We were," Droy confirmed. "But it's our turn to patrol tonight. We already covered the east side near Cardia Cathedral. Figured we'd escort you while we're at it."

Levy just smiled wryly. To her side, Lisanna just smiled appreciatively at the boys.

She's known since a long time ago that her two best friends had massive crushes on her. She didn't really know what to do to deal with it, to be honest. What they were doing was sweet, but the obvious way they were doing it was a little bit off putting.

"Gihihihi... well, well, what do we have here?" A rough voice suddenly called out as he appeared from the darkness of the alleyway.

"Who's there?!" Jet snapped, his stance shifting in an instant. A faint glow shimmered around him as his magic flared. Beside him, Droy clenched his fists, seeds slipping between his fingers, ready to sprout at a moment's notice.

"Seems like some Fairies are out and about. I heard all about your master's new forms. Aren't you all supposed to be hiding inside your homes like cowards?" The man walked below a streetlight as all four Fairy Tail mages' eyes went wide.

He was a tall and muscular young man with long, spiky black hair, which was slicked back, revealing his forehead. He has red eyes with slitted dark pupils, and no visible eyebrows. Most of his exposed body is covered in sets of simple, round studs. The most visible studs are on his face, with three of them above each of his eyes , two on each side of his nose, and two on his chin, just below his mouth. His ears are adorned by two sets of five earrings each. He wore a black sleeveless tunic, with loose beige pants tucked inside studded black boots.

"Black Steel Gajeel..." Droy gulped.

"The hell do you want?" Jet demanded of the rival guild mage, though there was a noticeable tremor in his voice.