The six months of construction had been a whirlwind of rune-crafting, obsidian-cutting, and magical engineering. The result, hidden on the quiet shore of Lake Sciliora, was less a house and more a monument to Blake's new life. It was a fortress of dark wood, smoked glass, and black stone, a place of quiet, S-Class luxury.
Today, that quiet was scheduled for execution.
Blake was now waiting for everyone to come. He knew exactly what was about to happen. And he couldn't wait.
He heard them before he saw them—a distant, rolling thunder of chaos, cheering, and Natsu screaming, "RACE YA!"
The gates to his compound were designed to withstand a magical siege.
The guild poured onto the pristine, manicured lawn, and the first wave of reactions began.
"WOOOOOAH!" Natsu yelled, skidding to a halt, his eyes as wide as saucers. "This place is... IT'S HUGE! It's bigger than the guild hall!"
"He's got his own lake, you pyro-idiot!" Gray shouted, already pulling his shirt off out of sheer, appreciative habit. "Look at the size of that pool!"
Erza, however, was analyzing the structural integrity. "The walls are reinforced with obsidian-laced steel... the runic wards are S-Class... Blake, this is a fortress."
"It has to be, Erza," Blake said, his deep baritone greeting them. He stood on the massive front steps, a calm giant in the eye of the storm. "Welcome, everyone."
Cana, pushing past everyone, had only one thing on her mind. "Forget the walls! Where's the booze?!"
"In the great room, Cana," Blake pointed. "Help yourself."
She sprinted inside, followed by Macao and Wakaba, whose eyes were bugging out.
"He's got... is that... a waterfall?" Wakaba muttered, pointing at the massive water feature in the entryway. "Indoors?"
"Forget that, look at the bar!" Macao said, his voice filled with religious awe. "He's got 50-year-old Akale brew! I've only heard stories!"
The great room was a cavernous space with a 40-foot ceiling and an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling glass looking out over the infinity pool and the lake.
But the guild members only saw two things: the endless tables of meat (whole roasted boars, mountains of sausages, entire tunas) and the bar, which was literally overflowing with booze flowing everywhere.
The party kicked off in true Fairy Tail style.
"MEEEEEAT!" Natsu and Elfman shouted in unison, diving face-first into the platters.
Cana was already behind the bar, challenging Rob and Makarov to a drinking contest. "First one to pass out pays for... well, Blake's already paid! This is great!"
Makarov, perched on a custom-made giant stool, cackled. "Ho ho! The boy has done well! This is the life of a true S-Class mage! Now, Rob, drink! You've been out of practice for too long!"
Laxus and the Thunder Legion stood in the corner, trying to look unimpressed.
"Hmph. It's... adequate," Laxus grunted, though his eyes were analyzing the high-tech runic lighting.
"He's just showing off," Evergreen sniffed, adjusting her glasses.
Blake appeared beside them, his 6'6" frame making even Laxus look up slightly. He handed his rival a drink. "Glad you could make it, Laxus. Don't worry, I built the basement strong enough for our next spar."
Laxus just took the drink. "We'll see."
The first brawl started, as it always did, over nothing.
"This is the best pork I've ever had!" Natsu yelled, his mouth full.
"It's obviously beef, flame-brain!" Gray shot back, now shirtless and grabbing a drumstick.
"Are you blind?! It's pork!"
"Beef!"
"PORK!"
"Wanna fight about it?!"
"I was hoping you'd ask!"
Natsu's fist, wreathed in flame, flew toward Gray's face. Gray ducked, and the punch connected squarely with Elfman's chin.
Elfman, who had been enjoying his food, slowly turned, a dark aura rising. "A punch to the face... is a MANLY way of saying hello!"
He transformed his arm into a Beast Soul appendage and backhanded Natsu across the room, sending him crashing into the snack table.
"MY SNACKS!" shouted a random guild member.
"IT WAS NATSU!"
"GET HIM!"
Within ten seconds, the entire center of the great room was a swirling vortex of bodies, magic, and flying food. Occasional brawls had merged into one giant, glorious melee.
Erza, as usual, tried to be the voice of reason. She was holding Natsu by the head in one hand and Gray in the other.
"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" she commanded, her voice booming. "This is Blake's new home! You are being disrespectful and... and..."
A stray, booze-filled barrel, tossed by a laughing Cana, sailed across the room and smashed into the back of Erza's head.
THWACK.
The guild froze.
Natsu and Gray, held in Erza's grip, started sweating. "Uh oh..."
Erza slowly let them go. A dark, terrifying aura pulsed from her. She requipped into her Purgatory Armor.
"I... was trying... to be a polite guest," she seethed. "BUT YOU HAVE ALL CHOSEN DEATH!"
She summoned twenty swords and dived into the fray, turning the brawl into a full-scale war.
Blake just leaned against a reinforced obsidian pillar, sipping his drink, a fond smile on his face.
"Now that's a housewarming," he said to himself.
Mirajane, in her new, gentle persona, was trying to navigate the war zone with a tray of fresh drinks. "Oh dear. Excuse me, Elfman-, could you please not smash that man's head quite so close to the appetizers? Thank you~"
The brawl raged for an hour, the furniture splintering, the walls scorched and frozen. Finally, Blake decided it was time for a change of scenery.
Natsu, now fully recovered, was aiming a Fire Dragon's Roar at Gray, who was preparing an ice lance. The resulting explosion would have leveled the entire wing of the mansion.
Before they could fire, two massive hands grabbed them both by the face. It was Blake.
"Not in the house, boys," he said, his voice calm. "This room is getting stuffy. You need to cool off."
With a grunt of casual, S-Class strength, Blake threw them.
He didn't just push them. He launched them like cannonballs.
Natsu and Gray sailed through the air, screaming, before landing with a colossal SPLASH in the middle of the infinity pool.
There was a beat of silence. Then...
"POOL PARTY!" Cana shrieked, already running for the hole and cannonballing.
The brawl didn't stop; it just changed locations. The entire guild surged through the shattered window, playing in the pool.
The massive, luxurious infinity pool instantly became a steaming, half-frozen, chaotic mess.
Makarov sat in the deep end, the water bubbling around his chin like a personal hot tub. "Ahhh... this is the life!"
The "New Dawn" kids, who were used to Blake's chaos, were the most creative. Wally used his 'Block' magic to create a giant, spinning "hamster wheel" in the water.
Jellal, still socially awkward, just stood on the edge until Erza yelled at him to "participate in the mandatory fun," at which point he sighed and used Meteor to simply fall into the water from a great height, causing a tidal wave that washed half the food platters onto the lawn.
Laxus and Blake stood on opposite ends of the pool, the water up to their chests.
"Good party, Corvus," Laxus admitted.
"Thanks for coming, "Blake replied.
Flare, at Cana's request, used her "Hair Magic" to create a massive, 50-foot-tall water slide from the mansion's roof, sending screaming mages (and a few stray tables) careening into the water.
The party raged for hours. The sun began to set, casting a red-and-orange glow over the absolute, beautiful carnage. The booze was gone. The meat was gone. The energy was gone.
One by one, the chaotic engines of Fairy Tail wound down.
The party finished with the slow, quiet surrender to exhaustion and alcohol.
Everyone was drunk, sprawled on the floor (or, in this case, the lawn, the pool deck, and the shattered great room).
Makarov was the first to fall asleep on a floating lounge chair, a tiny snore-bubble popping from his nose.
Natsu and Gray were passed out on the lawn, arms slung over each other in a drunken truce, near the picked-clean bones of a roasted boar.
Erza was asleep, sitting perfectly upright against a pillar, still in her armor, her head nodding forward.
Laxus and his team had vanished, too proud to be seen in such a state.
Cana was curled up on the wet, scorched grass, her arms wrapped around her favorite empty barrel, a peaceful smile on her face.
Macao, Wakaba, Rob, Elfman, Mirajane... the entire guild was a sea of unconscious, snoring bodies, spread across the ruins of Blake's perfect lawn.
The house was a disaster. The pool was a murky, half-boiled, half-frozen mess. The lawn was a battlefield.
Blake picked up a stray broom, looked at the chaos, and smiled.
This, he thought, is a proper housewarming.
He was, finally, 100% home.