Vol1/Chapter18/First Contact

## Summary

Jet () tells them that all the members of the Magic Council () died in an explosion that destroyed their headquarters. The blast also killed everyone else that had been in the building. The newspaper did not mention who was responsible for the attack.

The following afternoon Freed () arrived at the guild. He along with the rest of The Thunder God Tribe () and Mr. Yajima () had ingested Devil particles () when they had been attacked by someone from Tartaros. They are rushed to Porlyusica.

Natsu wakes up in the infirmary confused to see the other beds filled. He worries that Tiamat has returned but is informed of the appearance of Tartaros and the demise of the Magic Council.

Freed warns that Tartaros is going after ex-council members.

The rest of the guild convenes downstairs and Natsu calls for war against Tartaros and Gajeel agrees.

Makarov is annoyed with their situation. They are sitting in the middle of two large scale conflicts with no good intel on either. He decides to try to find the addresses of ex-council members and warn them. They are able to find addresses for four and he organizes teams to try to protect them.

He creates four groups:

* Gray and Lucy
* Elfman and Lisanna
* Gajeel and Team Shadow Gear ()
* Natsu, Juvia, Wendy, Happy and Carla

Gray tries to talk to Makarov about changing groups as he wants to be able to protect Natsu and their unborn child in the event of an attack by Tiamat. Makarov is proud that Gray is accepting the child as his but refuses to reorganize the groups. He suggests that he have faith in Natsu's strength. He also recommends that he find a way to work things out with Lucy.

Gray tries to extract a promise from Natsu that if he is attacked by Tiamat he will run
and not do anything stupid that might hurt him or the baby. He tells him that he wants to live Natsu's dream along with him.

Natsu replies that he can't promise him that. He always fight with everything he has and he doesn't see that changing.

Gray promises to kick his ass if he gets hurt. They say their goodbyes and upon entering the guild Gray is grabbed by Gajeel and taken to a table where Levy is excitedly translating an ancient book. She believes she has found a way to supersede Tiamat's claim on Natsu, and Gray immediately asks what he needs to do.

As Levy translates the book Lucy eavesdrops and is shocked by how far Gray is willing to go to save Natsu. She regrets her behavior and offers Gray her help.

Natsu's team make their way to ex-council member Michello's () house. They are invited inside by a young girl and when Natsu sees the man they are meant to protect he realizes that this is one of the council members that dislikes Fairy Tail and him especially. He lets Wendy take the lead in explaining their presence to the ex-council member. Michello does not cooperate and refuses their protection saying that they are just trying to use him as bait. While they are questionning him for any information as to why Tartaros might be targeting council members Natsu senses something in the air and quickly tackles Wendy and Juvia and then Michello and his granddaughter to the ground. He asks Juvia to cast a spell that will douse them all with water. They feel incredible heat and saw a bright light that was followed by an explosion that caused the roof of the house to blow up.

They all remain unharmed thanks to Natsu eating the explosion but are confronted by a man () who is standing on the house's support beams. The man seemed surprised his attack had not had the intended effect. Natsu asks him if he is the one who blew up the Magic Council Headquarters and the man acknowledges that he is.

The man sets off a number of explosions around the town which they are helpless to stop. Angered, Natsu engages him in combat. The man attacks Natsu but he manages to eat the explosion and begins to attack with his fire dragon slayer magic (). He lands multiple hits on the man who informs Natsu that touching him activates his bomb curse, one bomb for every hit. Natsu becomes incapacitated as his body is wracked by all the explosions.

With Natu down Wendy and Juvia tell Michello to run as they try to fight the man but they are not able to land a single hit as the man uses his curse power to deflect their attacks. He informs them that their magic will not work against his curses (). The man chases after Michello and Juvia runs after him asking Wendy to heal Natsu since he is the only one that has been effective against the man.

Igneel is worried by all the explosions going off inside Natsu's body, he doesn't think his body can withstand it even with dragon lungs. He yells at Kai to unmake his form and return to the place where they first met.He casts a protective spell around his grandson and wait for the explosions to stop.

Juvia uses her water magic to collect water and put out all the fires she comes across as she searches for Michello and the man. She is caught in the man's landmine curse, if she moves she will explode. He traps Michello and a pregnant woman in bombs and tries to make Juvia pick who will live and who will die. Juvia turns her body into water to protect herself from the explosion and creates a water dome around each bomb trying to apply pressure to keep them both from exploding.

Natsu arrives and attacks the assassin again. He reminds Natsu that he will activate his bomb curse but Natsu replies that it doesn't matter anymore since he has figured out how to get around it. The Exceeds try to evacuate the town as the fighting continues. Natsu finds out that all the members of Tartaros are demons and the man transforms into a large terrifying creature. Natsu is eventually victorious but once again takes too much damage and collapses. Happy and Carla return and tell the others that they were able to evacuate the town successfully.

They hear a loud beeping noise coming from the demon's body. He is chuckling as he accepts defeat but he tells them that their victory is short-lived as he has turned his body into a bomb and they are all going to die. Natsu tries to think of what to do since he is incapacitated but Happy grabs the demon and uses his Aera Magic () to get the demon high enough to save the town and his friends.

Natsu asks his friends not to tell Gray how he defeated the demon as he doesn't want the ice mage to worry unnecessarily. Wendy and Juvia set out to find a communication lacrima to call the guild while Natsu remains on the ground resting. Michello stays with them finally understanding the danger he is in.

## Magic Used In This Chapter

Jackal:

* Explode ()
* Landmine Curse ()

Wendy:

* Sky Dragon Roar ()

Natsu:

* Thunder Fire Dragon Percussion Hammer ()

Juvia:

* Water Dome ()
* Water Slicer ()

Happy:

* Max\_Speed ()