The story begins in the morning.
Early in the morning, Elfman and Lisana, who had been shown up bright and early, arrived at the guild.
Lisana had her work as a waitress to attend to.
Elfman's usual buddies hadn't arrived yet, so he just sat idly in the guild.
Meanwhile, the Thunder God Tribe came over in the morning, saying Laxus had been too tense lately, so they wanted to pick an easy mission to relax.
Then Biguslo urged Ibarglin to invite Elfman along—after all, it was a leisure mission, so bringing one more person didn't matter.
Ibarglin, now more relaxed than before, straightforwardly extended the invitation.
Elfman readily agreed.
Coincidentally, Yajima's restaurant was looking for some temporary waitstaff, and such a simple task naturally had to be taken by Fairy Tail.
They could also capitalize on the fame of the Grand Magic Games champion guild, benefiting all involved.
Then the unexpected happened while everyone was resting in the afternoon.
A handsome dark-skinned guy walked into the restaurant and, without a word, launched an attack on Yajima.
A powerful wind element attack split the entire restaurant in two, reducing it to ruins.
Elfman reacted quickly, grabbing Yajima and shielding him perfectly with his burly frame from all attacks.
The Thunder God Tribe immediately began retaliating, of course.
But just as they thought the opponent was a wind element mage, he suddenly used fire magic of equal power out of nowhere.
The three suffered a minor setback.
After gaining the upper hand, the opponent did not pursue but instead attacked Elfman, or more precisely, Yajima, who Elfman was protecting.
Realizing this, Elfman held back a bit, but he was used to escort missions and was skilled at protection.
The targets he protected only got injured by his own hands, never by the enemy.
Elfman, with Yajima, would dodge attacks when possible; when not, he'd embrace Yajima and use his back to bear the brunt.
Recently learning a new Receiving Magic, using it partially made him even harder than stone.
He stubbornly endured two waves of powerful wind and fire element attacks, with Yajima in his arms coming out unscathed.
However, Yajima jokingly said his ribs were a bit sore, mentioning that an ordinary old man might have fractured them and advised Elfman to be more gentle on future missions.
Thanks to Elfman's perfect protection, the Thunder God Tribe could fight without worry.
The three surrounded their foe, standing on equal ground for the time being.
Then, the opponent suddenly used a third elemental attack, sending three bolts of lightning toward the Thunder God Tribe's heads.
And then...
The lightning suddenly veered off course just before striking, straight into a handsome young man's mouth.
Laxus returned from grocery shopping, casually swallowing the lightning, with a paper bag full of vegetables in his arms.
But seeing the restaurant in ruins, the Thunder God Tribe injured, and Elfman's tattered shirt, his paper bag burst with a pop.
Shredded leaves scattered everywhere, simultaneously as the mysterious handsome enemy took a punch to the chest and was sent flying.
Laxus stood where the opponent had been, a few meters away a tomato fell alongside the flying person.
The tomato splattered a small puddle of red juice, as a trickle of blood oozed from the enemy's mouth.
"Who are you?" Out of responsibility towards the client, Laxus asked.
"One of the Nine Ghosts Sect; humans call me Calamity. My name, perhaps, is Dempsey Tower."
Perhaps out of respect for the strong, Dempsey Tower answered earnestly as he stood up.
"It's him! The guy my sister and brother-in-law encountered! No, he's a demon!"
Elfman recalled crucial information based on the opponent's name and the peculiar sound of his attacks.
—forced to remember it.
Critical intelligence about potential enemies—getting it wrong could lead to a beating.
Double battle of male and female pairs.
"You know me?" Dempsey Tower looked at their guild emblems, nodding,
"I see, Fairy Tail. Even if you hand over the Evaluator now, I won't spare you."
"It's him?!" Fried also recalled the intelligence booklet Rhode once posted on the notice board. "But wasn't he dead?"
"The Netherworld is immortal," Dempsey Tower stated expressionlessly, "And you will perish here."
Did he escape unnoticed by Rhode and Mira? Or did he find a way to resurrect?
Fried recalled all the intelligence Rhode had provided about this person, soon realizing that the trickiest part wasn't various elemental attacks but... Demon Barrier Particles.
"Elfman, quickly flee, head to the eastern forest!" Fried shouted, "We'll hold him off, you take Mr. Yajima and flee!"
Both Biguslo and Ibarglin hesitated; what nonsense was Fried speaking?
Why flee when Laxus was present?
Yet Fried always played the commander role within the Thunder God Tribe, so the two, out of trust, kept silent.
Even Laxus completely trusted Fried's decision, not voicing any opposition.
As for Elfman... while his brain hadn't caught up yet, his legs instinctively began running.
A habit developed from teaming up with Rhode, when a teammate issued a decisive order, he would instinctively follow, thinking about why later.
Or sometimes not thinking about it at all afterwards.
Then it was time for some enjoyable acting.
Though Laxus displayed immense strength, he made an effort to appear not adept at dealing with Fire Magic.
Thanks to a certain someone, apart from the Lightning Element, he was most familiar with Fire Magic's effects, making the act convincing.
Elfman sprinted wildly, while the other four fought while retreating, soon luring Dempsey Tower out of the town.
Dempsey Tower didn't find it unusual.
After all, aside from a few terrifyingly strong monsters, human magic being inferior to demon spells was only natural.
Little did he expect, once deep within the forest, these humans suddenly changed faces, surrounding him directly.
Dempsey Tower mocked their overconfidence, only to be brutally beaten.
Laxus stopped acting and knocked him down within a few rounds.
Furious, Dempsey Tower activated his second state.
But aside from destroying a larger area of the forest, it served no purpose.
A few rounds later, he was down again.
As expected, Dempsey Tower chose self-destruction.
Prepared, everyone held their breath and flew out of the Demon Barrier Particles' range.
Including Yajima, there were 6 people in total, 4 could fly, and 1 moved so fast over short distances it was as if he could fly.
Fried said to Makarov and Rhode, "Overall, we escaped smoothly. The biggest problem now is the forest is polluted by Demon Barrier Particles.
"Although we tried using a Technique to contain it, the effect wasn't good. I'm worried it might spread to the town."