Fairy Tail is currently the most renowned Mage Guild in the Kingdom of Fiore.
Among adventurers, there are all sorts of guilds—Treasure Hunter Guilds, Mercenary Guilds.
Because they have no magic power in their bodies, they can't use magic, but by training their body and combat skills, and with some weapons, they can still defeat certain Mages.
Since most Mages don't train their bodies, they might be taken out in an instant before they can even cast a spell.
But those two guilds are basically the rejects who lack the talent to become Mages. If you have the talent, who wouldn't join a Mage Guild?
Mage Guilds are unquestionably far superior to those two kinds of guilds.
With the Grand Magic Games, a festival known to every citizen, Mages' popularity reached its peak.
Right now, in the Kingdom of Fiore, who doesn't know Fairy Tail, who doesn't know Takeshi?
"No way, even if you're Fairy Tail, we won't hand it over!"
"You call us thieves, but you're the bandits! You actually snatch the treasure we worked so hard to collect!"
Knowing the other party was Fairy Tail didn't matter. They were elites of Sylph Labyrinth, and handling a few ordinary Mages was no problem.
"I'm going to save this village, so sorry about this." Natsu said, looking at the two people in front of him.
Boom!
Natsu stomped, his body rushing straight at the two.
"What?!"
Hiroshi and Rala hadn't reacted before Natsu was already upon them.
"Take this!"
Hiroshi swung his blade at Natsu. But the instant the sword touched Natsu, Hiroshi's blade melted.
"What?! My sword!"
Hiroshi couldn't believe it—his weapon had actually melted. Just how hot were this guy's flames?
Rala immediately raised his weapon to attack.
Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!
Crack!
Rala's weapon, which had been able to block Natsu's attack, shattered.
"My hammer!"
Bang!
A bullet shot toward Natsu but the instant it touched his body, it melted.
"Impossible! The bullet actually…"
Whoosh—
In the next instant, an arrow lodged in Drake's gun barrel.
Crack!
Drake's gun was destroyed outright.
Sagittarius kept his bow drawn. "I, too, am a master archer."
Lucy said delightedly, "Nice shot!"
"All right, hand it over if you don't want to get hurt." Natsu looked at the three smugly.
Earlier he'd held back because they were ordinary people, but seeing they had some skill, he put a bit more force in. The gap between ordinary folk and Mages is huge.
"Here."
Hiroshi obediently handed over the moon drip. Natsu had effortlessly destroyed all their weapons, scaring them stiff.
"Great! We finally got it!"
"Now we can go save those giants!"
"Aye!"
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy ignored the three and headed toward the village.
"We're done for! Not only did we fail to get the eternal flame, we even lost the super-treasure moon drip."
"More than the moon drip, our weapons too..."
"So this is the power of the Grand Magic Games champion guild, Fairy Tail."
The three were on the verge of tears. Who could've guessed they'd be so unlucky as to run into Fairy Tail?
Before long, the three spotted Takeshi standing in front of an iceberg.
"Takeshi!"
"We got it!"
"The village is saved!"
The three excitedly ran toward Takeshi.
Suddenly—
Natsu's foot slipped, and the bottle in his hand flew out.
Crack!
The bottle hit the ground and shattered.
"It broke!"
Natsu, Happy, and Lucy were all dumbstruck.
"We're doomed!"
They'd thought they'd finally obtained the moon drip and could complete the S-Class Quest smoothly, only for such an accident to happen.
"But… look!"
Lucy noticed something and pointed at the broken glass. The moon drip had spilled onto the ground, melting only a tiny patch of ice.
Happy added, "Only that little bit of ice melted. With this much ice around, this paltry moon drip can't save the village."
"Hey, who's that guy? A companion of those treasure hunters?"
Just then, the three noticed Doriate lying not far away.
'This guy… was taken out!!"
They saw a hole in his chest and that he'd lost all life. Who was he, to make Takeshi deliver a killing blow?
"He's under Tartaros."
Takeshi hadn't caught the exact guild name. Even if he had, he wouldn't remember it.
"Tartaros?!"
Happy and Lucy were startled.
"Tarta… what?"
Only Natsu looked blank.
"Tartaros! One of the strongest Dark Guilds in the Balam Alliance, alongside Oración Seis and Grimoire Heart. You forgot?"
Lucy had been a rookie back then. Now she counts as half-veteran. She's no longer clueless about most things—Mirajane had drilled this into her.
"I forgot!"
Natsu never paid attention to this stuff. He has no fondness for Dark Guilds, those guys are always scheming something nasty. But he understood Takeshi's choice to finish the guy off. Against someone like that, eliminating them is best.
Lucy asked, "But why would someone from Tartaros show up here?"
Takeshi said, "If I'm not mistaken, this freeze is probably connected to Tartaros."
Natsu frowned. "Connected to Tartaros? Why would they freeze the village? A grudge? That's too much."
Takeshi said, "All right, that's not something we need to worry about. We'll deal with them when we meet. Our mission is to save this village."
"But without the moon drip, how do we save the village?"
They were back to square one.
Takeshi said, "As for lifting the ice, I do have a way."
"What way?!"
The group looked up at Takeshi.
Takeshi clarified, "I can take over Escanor, the Lion Sin of Pride, the character I used during the Grand Magic Games final."
"Right! Takeshi can also take over characters who use fire magic. I remember one named Ace. Is this Escanor related to Ace?'
"Nope."