"Dammit! Let me out!" Natsu yelled. Natsu stood at the guild entrance but found himself unable to leave the guild as he continued to press his face against the rune wall. Natsu continued grumbling as he smeared his face against the wall as if pressing it against glass. His eyes lit up as he noticed someone familiar approaching the guild entrance.
"Meliodas?!" Natsu shouted excitedly.
"Yo!" Meliodas greeted. He looked at Natsu curiously and walked up to him, confused as to why he was leaning on air as if there was an invisible wall. He looked up and letters formed above Natsu's head. "No statue or person above the age of 80 may pass."
"You're eighty years old?" Meliodas asked, slightly surprised.
"Like hell I am! This stupid wall makes no sense!" Natsu yelled angrily. Meliodas shrugged and took a step forward. As he tried to walk forward he felt his head hit something hard, as if there was a wall there.
"What?! You can't go through it either?! Dammit Freed! Fix your damn runes!" Natsu exclaimed. Natsu continued to angrily press himself against the wall, fuming to the point where flames were leaking out of his mouth.
"Salamander, what are you going on about?" Gajeel asked as he walked over and saw Meliodas on the other side of the guild entrance. Meliodas walked up to the wall and pressed his face up against it.
"The hell? You too?!" Gajeel exclaimed.
Levy, rattled by the commotion, looked up to see Meliodas, who was trying to enter the guild. His face was planted as he tried pushing through.
"Meliodas!" she exclaimed. " What happened, why can't you enter?!?!"
"Well I am over eighty after all." Meliodas chaffed.
"There's no way you're over eighty!" Natsu said as he backed away from the wall.
"What, you're gonna say you're over three thousand years old?" Gajeel ragged.
"Yup." Meliodas replied. Both Meliodas and Gajeel stared at each other then back at Meliodas, who was pressing his face against the wall.
"He's gotta be kiddin us…" Gajeel commented.
"So is there a way to get past this?" Meliodas asked as he took a step back from the rune wall.
"No, Levy is working on decoding it at the moment." Gajeel mentioned. He pointed behind with his thumb towards Levy, who was sitting on the ground surrounded by books. In front of her was an open book that she flipped through the pages rapidly with her gale force reading glasses.
Meliodas mused for a second before calling out to Natsu.
"Let me try something. Step back." Meliodas said to Natsu and Gajeel.
Gajeel and Natsu both nodded and stepped back. "What are you going to do?" Natsu asked. Meliodas took a step back and pulled his right arm back, preparing to strike at the rune wall.
"You're going to punch it?!?!" Gajeel and Natsu both exclaimed.
Meliodas thrusted his arm forward, striking directly at the rune wall. A shockwave reverberated throughout the guild as Meliodas struck the wall. Natsu and Gajeel shook as they felt the force of the punch shake the guild and Levy dropped the book she was reading.
"Aghhh what the hell was that?!" Gajeel and Natsu exclaimed.
"Huh...this thing is pretty sturdy…" Meliodas commented as she shook his right hand. His hand was shaking slightly from the force of his punch rebounding.
"No wait! This is perfect! If all three of us punch it, we'll definitely break through!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically. He wound his right fist back and flames began to burst from his hand. A grin formed on Gajeel's face as he also got into a punching stance.
"Stop you guys! You can't use brute force to break through this kind of magic!" Levy shouted. Natsu and Gajeel looked back at Wendy and sighed.
"But Meliodas just punched it and it shook." Natsu mentioned.
"Maybe, but the guild won't be able to hold if all three of you punch it like that, and we just repaired it." Levy replied.
"Well that would certainly be bad if we punched the wall and the entire guild collapsed but the wall was still standing huh?" Meliodas said jokingly.
"Laxus, you coward!!! LET ME OUT!!" Natsu roared as he pressed his face against the wall again. As Natsu grumbled, Meliodas continued to observe the wall, but he was clueless regarding this kind of magic. It was also something his full counter nor counter vanish would work on either. 'I wonder if Mystogan would have been able to get rid of this? Hmm...really wish Merlin was here right now.'
"By the way, where's the Master? He should be able to do something about this wall right?" Meliodas asked.
"No, Gramps wasn't able to do anything either..." Natsu said solemnly.
"Plus he's not feelin' so hot. He's in the back restin up." Gajeel answered. "If Laxus don't cut this crap out, he'll kick the bucket…"
"I see…" Meliodas said, his normally nonchalant expression becoming serious to Gajeel and Natsu's surprise.
"If it's that bad, then I'll definitely stop him." Meliodas said as he turned around and began walking away.
"Oi! Hold up! I'm gonna be the one to kick his ass!" Natsu yelled as he banged on the rune wall.
---
Mystogan approached Kardia Cathedral. It was an enormous rectangular shaped building with four cylindrical keep towers attached at each corner and a green roof. At the entrance was a large opened gate with a bell at the very top.
Mystogan walked up to the entrance. Inside he could see a long, wide hallway with multiple sets of long benches. Light shone brightly through the rows of decorated windows at the side. Standing in the middle of the hallway was Laxus. Laxus met Mystogan with a grin as he welcomed him in.
"Oh? So you came...Mystogan." Laxus smirked at the masked man. "I didn't expect you of all people to participate in this."
"Take down the Thunder Palace. If you do it now, we may still be able to pass this off as entertainment for the festival." Mystogan ordered.
"Don't sweat the small stuff. There's something more important to talk about here. You know, there are rumors going around saying that either you or I are the strongest in Fairy Tail. What do you think?" Laxus asked.
"That doesn't matter to me. But if you want my word, I would say Gildarts." Mystogan answered as he walked slowly towards Laxus.
"Gildarts? Tch...He's never coming back. And then there's Erza, who is still far too weak to be compared to us, don't you agree?"
"Erza? Weak? You must be blind Laxus. Besides, I think there is someone else who may be a candidate for your so-called "strongest." Mystogan firmly stated.
Laxus raised an eyebrow upon hearing Mystogan's statement.
"Oh? And who would that be? Natsu? Gajeel?" Laxus sneered. "Those two are poor excuses for Dragon Slayers."
Laxus broke into laughter, laughing loudly for several moments as Mystogan silently observed him. Laxus wiped a tear from his eye as he looked back at Mystogan.
"Meliodas." Mystogan stated.
"Meliodas?" Laxus asked. He thought about it briefly and remembered the blond kid who confronted him a couple of months ago. A vein started forming on Laxus's head as he pictured Meliodas's face as Meliodas gave him the speech about "heart."
"Him?! Bahahahaha!" Laxus bursted out laughing. "You sure you're able to see through that mask of yours, Mystogan? Or should I say, the other-"
Upon hearing Laxus utter those words, Mystogan immediately swung his stave at Laxus. A large, blue wave of magic was launched in an arc shape towards him. Laxus grinned as he raised his hand out in front of him. Lighting crackled from his palm as a a blast of lightning was shot out at the blue wave of magic. The two magics collided in an explosion that filled the hall with smoke.
As the smoke cleared out, Laxus and Mystogan stood off a few meters apart from each other, staring each other down silently. The silence was broken quickly as Laxus began to laugh again as he thought about Meliodas.
"Meliodas?! That child who tried to preach to me about some power in here?!" Laxus scoffed as he pointed towards his chest with his thumb. "Ridiculous! That's a load of shit!"
Laxus began charging lightning magic in his hand again. In a bright flash of yellow, he quickly fired it at Mystogan before he had a chance to retaliate. Mystogan's eyes widened as the blast approached him when a small figure appeared in front of him.
"Full Counter!"
Laxus's eyes widened in surprise as his lightning bolt was sent right back at him. Laxus stood firmly on the ground and planted his feet, taking the lightning bolt head on. Small traces of smoke began to rise from his body but he had no visible damage on his body. 'I don't remember putting that much force into this attack…?' Laxus thought with a perplexed look on his face. He looked ahead of him at a familiar figure.
"Meliodas!" Both Laxus and Mystogan exclaimed at the same time.
"Well well well. Looks like you've been up to no good while I was away, Laxus."