Erza and Natsu begin their mission for the ERA council first they have to recruit more members for their team they were told that one of the members had to be Jura one of the wizard saints also the other member they have to have is Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus Natsu went to go pick up Jura Erza went to pick up Bacchus it took them 4 days to reach the rendezvous point of Haregeon with everyone there now that everyone is there they can go over the mission.
They go to a restaurant order some drinks some food cast a barrier so noone can hear what they're talking about then Erza says "the reason we have gathered you guys here today is because the council has given us a mission" Jura asks"why would the council have you guys come get us specifically" Erza laughs"if we knew that i'd have had Natsu tell you on the way here"upon hearing the name Natsu Bacchus asks Erza is he the one they call "Salamander" Natsu looks at her and everyone confused not knowing that he had gotten a nickname for his destructive habits.
She chuckles then nods making the other two males look at Natsu with respect and admiration for the things he's accomplished at such a young age Erza then says"thats not why we're here I was told that this mission was F rank in difficulty and S rank in priority" that made everyone listen up she sighs then says" from what i was told the mission is only going to get harder the longer we do it with the possibility of it reaching S rank in terms of the strength of enemies , the challenge of the assignments, and the threat of the environments that we will have to endure."
After hearing that Bacchus switched to juice instead of drinking booze he then started paying attention more then asked" what are we supposed to do like what are our objectives" Erza smiled then said" they are: to destroy the dark guilds, find anything related to zeref either seal them away destroy or bring them back to the council finally there's someone that we have to find this mission is a last resort and kind of a long shot mostly because nobody knows anything about this guy or where he comes from what his origins are or even what his name is just that when he was last walking around he nearly wiped half of the population of the planet by himself".
Everyone at first scoffs when they heard their final mission because it sounds like a wild goose chase and no more than a myth to keep kids in line needless to say the 2 newcomers aren't taking this seriously Erza says"this is in the time before dragons ruled and before humans knew how to use magic according to the council's information it was somewhere between 5,000 and 1,000,000 years ago" Jura says"even if their information is accurate to essentially conquer the known world is nearly impossible even if he could use magic before they could they would outnumber him 9 million to one" Bacchus laughs then smirks at that statement hoping someone was actually that powerful so he could have a challenge because the only 2 people who have ever matched him in combat are sitting at this table.
Although sensing the pink haired guy's power level he can tell that in a few years he will surpass everyone sitting here including Erza which worries him a little bit after they get done eating they head to their first objective to meet with an informant on the dark guilds they also have to meet up with one on Zeref artefacts so they'll be splitting up into 2 teams for the foreseeable future team 1 is Natsu & Jura team 2 is Erza & Bacchus team 1 will be going after the artefacts team 2 will be going after the dark guilds network of allies these teams will switch out members once every few months so they're well rounded and so they can keep the enemy guessing.
TEAM 1
Natsu and Jura begin their journey by going to a shop to get provisions then camping supplies they also stock up on a survival manuals just in case they have to live off the land thinking of that they also get a first aid kit Erza seeing everything that they are buying decides to do the same except not get near as much because she doesn't stay outdoors as much as the other guild members she does jobs to afford hotels everywhere so she can be pampered Natsu has always been outside the cushiest he's had it was the guild hall they set out on their journeys.
On the way to the town of Oak Town Natsu and Jura talk about what kind of artefacts there are out there and what types of magic they can do for example Jura can use gravity and earth magic while Natsu can use fire and smoke magic which they both get intrigued by the secondary type of magic the other can use but before Natsu asks about gravity magic there's something that he's always wanted to know but never asked because he thought that it might be a stupid question sensing that Natsu has something on his mind Jura asks"is something bothering you?" Natsu asks" if i have a question about magic will you laugh at it ?"Jura says" no then asks what's your question young one " Natsu asks "which of the basic types of magic are stronger or weaker than the other" it takes Jura a minute to rationalize his question but to clarify he asks "what do you mean by the basic types of magic " Natsu says" the 5 elements Fire Water Earth Air and Lightning" Jura nods then says" it goes like this Fire is strong against wind but weak against water, Wind is strong against lightning but weak against fire, Lightning is strong against earth but weak against wind, Earth is strong against water but weak against lighting, Water is strong against fire but weak against earth".
He says " thats not always the case there's lots of things that can change those things like someone who combines elements or someone who is really powerful in their element or someone who has mastered their element to the point that they don't even have to speak the techniques anymore they can just do it with muscle memory and thought alone though that kind of mastery can take decades if not centuries to overcome the elemental weakness it's possible to do it but it wouldn't leave you with much magic left to use that's why most guild masters recommend you learning other types of magic"
Natsu thinks about it for awhile then says" since we're going to be working together for awhile i guess i can tell you this i did learn one other type of magic slayer type magic" upon hearing this Jura is shocked he never would of expected Natsu to be able to wield one of the 13 ancient magics that were lost to history 3 of those magics is Dragon slayer , God slayer and Demon slayer magic the others are more obscure and have been lost to history the only other ones that Jura knows of is time creation and destruction magic though sadly as far as he knows no one can use those legendary types of magic except the gods.
After making it to Oak town they come across the town being ransacked by bandits and after doing some recon they find out that this has been going on for 2 months also the size of the bandits is in the millions in fact they are forming the very first bandit army to counteract the wave of darkness that they can see coming they are just raiding shops for supplies in each village in every continent in every village except they're being ransacked in a different way than with violence they are buying out every store they come across so they don't get arrested or have to deal with wizards.
Natsu and Jura call Erza and Bacchus telling them what they learned about the bandits which surprised them when asked they told their allies that they are using money instead of violence to accomplish their goals as to not get into trouble Erza sends this to the ERA they have heard rumors about this happening a few years ago but just thought it was just that a rumor she asks what do we do they say unfortunately as long as they're not breaking any laws we can't do anything but watch them for now she sends that message to Natsu and Jura who says ok understood.
They make it through the crowd of people helping them get to where they need to be to clear the streets away a little bit then they reach their informants house after showing the sigil they were given along with making the special insignia out of magic they get to talking about the black market and the several places for Zeref artefacts to be at that are known to everyone in the magic community one is Deliora , the other is Lullaby , the other is the Elven Cloak, and the last known one is the Chalice of Darkness no one knows what the last 2 are capable of but it is said that they are able to destroy the world if combined together.
Upon hearing this Natsu and Jura look at each other with apprehension worried that they might be destroying the world if they find these items when asked what they intend to do with these items Natsu is the first to answer well our mission was to find these artefacts keep them away from the enemy and return them to the council but i'm going to destroy them if i find them first despite whatever they promise me i'll just make myself strong enough to destroy them until there's nothing left.
After hearing this the informant smirks then says I was wondering when the Salamander would come back out to play Natsu is taken a back not knowing what he means by that statement he says i already know why you disappeared for 3 years and why you quit practicing lightning magic Natsu and Jura is shocked to hear that statement Jura for not knowing that Natsu could use lightning magic and Natsu because only Happy knows of what happened everyone else was killed only one other person survived seeing the look in Natsu's eyes as he's trying to put it to together on how he knows what he did he says"in case you're wondering i'm not from that village i'm from the people who attacked it and made it necessary for you to go that far i'm the only survivor there's no need to get worked up in fact i was the one who taught them how to fight".
After hearing what he did Jura understands a little bit more about what happened but is still kinda in the dark so he asks the informant "what happened between you two and why doesn't Natsu use lightning magic anymore"he chuckles i guess the kid is good at keeping secrets he thinks to himself which is kind of a double edge sword then says" well if you must know me and the other informant are the only survivors from a group of dark guilds called the Legendary Gamblers and the Legendary Fisherman we had the ability to win at every gambling game there is and catch every type of fish there is but we let that power go to our heads and thought ourselves as gods and tried to take over everything it was going well financially for us but not so well when it came to dealing with politics or military matters.
Although some of my guys did the stupid thing that was the last straw they started killing people and raping people even some of the women in our ranks did it but all of that didn't get Natsu's attention he even came to our base of operations i immediately saw his guild mark when he started shopping for provisions and started gambling i had to make sure that they didn't cheat him like they did everyone else because i know that some wizards have been known to destroy entire towns in a rage or just trying to find the guild hall seriously what's with gildarts sense of direction that you have to shift all of Magnolia so he doesn't destroy it.
Jura sweatdrops hearing this then chuckles because he knows that he himself has some characters in his guild as well Natsu just chuckles not really knowing what to say"After we played Natsu fairly and he doubled his money he quit playing because he actually lost quite a bit of money to us which is smart anyway at the time he was traveling with a little blue cat that can talk time passed he went to a tavern for dinner other than to order a couple of drinks some food and to ask where he was Natsu didn't do anything wrong he even paid for his meal up front like the waitress asked according to her he gave her half of his money she was shocked but happy to have received such a big pay day in fact there was enough there to pay off everyone else's tab which she did and pay off 3 years worth of bills things were going well until someone thought it would be a good idea to not only disturb Natsu during dinner time.
But to also mess with his cat which is a now a big taboo among the smaller and medium dark guilds they have a book with your cats picture in it saying do not touch unless you want to be destroyed but things were fine until they kidnapped him from you while you were in the bathroom as soon as i saw your cat i told my guys because if something happened the devastation that you would cause would not have been worth it Jura asks why not wouldn't a talking cat sell for alot of money the informant says probably but no one would be able to spend it and it's not enough to have that one on your tail for all of eternity.
FLASHBACK
Natsu after coming out of the bathroom saw that Happy wasn't at the table upon seeing the waitress on the floor beaten up he checks on her then asks where his cat went turns out that he was kidnapped after finishing his meal he leaves sees men raping women women raping men Happy tied to a post about to be set on fire along with them talking about cutting everyone to pieces this was starting to make Natsu mad but what put him over the edge was when they were talking about doing various things to Happy then burning his body.
The dark guilds allies had mages in their group several of them but they weren't strong enough to fight off an angered Natsu or several of them weren't even in this village that doesn't matter because Natsu begins attacking those attacking the people of this village he breaks their bones so they can't run away then helps the villagers escape they're completely evacuated before he starts using magic the first spell he uses is a smoke screen so he can save Happy only to find out that it was a trick.
The thing he saved was one of the enemy transformed into Happy she says that if you want your cat you're going to have to survive this ambush even if you do chances are that we will have sold him already this statement along with being surrounded sends him over the edge plus she casts a spell to make him lose control then disappears into thin air after that Natsu began channeling both lightning and fire magic in each hand then created an enormous sphere of fire/lightning magic until it was perfectly mixed making a unison raid then jumping up and throwing it down at the village destroying it and his enemies completely.
it wasn't the end however as the magicians in the group protected everyone so Natsu grinned his eyes changed they turned into a diamond shape his claws came out his teeth sharpened lightning coated half of his body fire the other his mind is blank he keeps getting images of Happy cut to pieces and burned to death because the women in the guilds are messing with his mind the men are attacking his body trying to wear him down but Natsu just takes a deep breath and does a fire/lightning dragon roar killing and destroying everything in sight for 2,000 miles once done he finds happy tied to a tree on the outskirts of the vicinity of the blast radius Natsu smiles then passes out after that day he silently swore that he would never destroy anyone or anything again.
FLASHBACK END
Jura is shocked when he heard how powerful Natsu is other than that incident makes him wonder why Natsu doesn't practice other forms of magic other than elemental type magic in the other village Bacchus heard the same story and is quite surprised that kid is capable of something that destructive however next to him Erza is starting to feel guilty because she did that spell on Natsu for the council disappeared then recorded it now she is seducing him so they can use him as a weapon except that if she didn't do it there are several more women who are much better at seduction and brainwashing until that male only recognizes their name and the woman she doesn't want that fate for Natsu she learned how to do it just like they did but she's not going to trick him into being hers and she's definitely not going to turn him into the council's weapon no he'll be her weapon.
It's during this that Bacchus asks Erza why didn't he learn other forms of magic she sighs then says he did just the basics though so he could use them in a tight spot he can use the basics of every kind of magic there is I made sure of it but it won't do anything more than provide a moment of a distraction against a foe who's more powerful than himself Bacchus says sometimes in a life or death battle a moment is all you need to think up a strategy to win and live Erza nods in agreement she says we nned to becareful on this mission Bacchus asks why Erza says because I'm not always going to be with Natsu to keep him calm and if he were to learn the truth of a certain event it would take everything I have to restrain hima nd keep his rage in check.
Bacchus says you might as well tell him I mean after this inforamtion gathering mission and him are supposed to be partners for the forseeable future Erza is shocked she says that wasn't the plan Bacchus says take it up with the council the just told me on our way here that from now on unless otherwise ordered to Natsu is to be by your side so you can rein him in and gain his trust as the council is worried about him always preferring to be alone and always putting your guild to sleep like Mystogan does she sighs then says I'll take care of it