Note: This chapter is long. Sorry!

Killua had no idea who the people in front of them were. There were a lot of them. The small old man in front of them with a long beard and long hat looked like their leader. Who were these people? And how had they suddenly appeared in front of Wendy and Killua?

"Is this your idea of a joke?" Killua asked. "Who are they?"

Their enemy smirked. "Why don't you ask your friend?"

That's when Killua noticed that Wendy hadn't said a word since these people had appeared. Killua looked beside him.

Wendy looked like she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide and Killua could see that her whole body was shaking. "Wendy, what's going on?"

But Wendy could only shake her head. Finally, she spoke. "It's... Cait Shelter... wha- how-"

The old man finally spoke. "Wendy, you've finally come back."

"Master..." Wendy slowly said. She couldn't believe her eyes. No- this couldn't be possible. Cait Shelter was dead, Wendy knew that. Yet, she couldn't stop her eyes from taking in her old family, her old home.

Killua looked at their enemy in frustration, who was now leaning against a tree. It was almost as if these people that Wendy knew were acting as a barrier. "What are you doing!?" He began to walk towards the man.

Suddenly, a couple of these people blocked his way. One of them, a lady, pasted on a smile. "Oh, we want to properly greet one of Wendy's friends first!"

But Killua had no time for this. "Get out of my way!" He roughly pushed the lady away in order to get room to pass.

Suddenly, he felt a sting on his arm. It didn't hurt enough for him to make a sound but it stopped him in his tracks. As he looked at his arm, there was a huge cut on it.

The lady in front of him with the same smile came back in front of him. "Oh no, we insist for you to stay." And that was when Killua noticed that in her hand, concealed at first glance, was a small but sharp knife.

As Killua scanned the crowd, he finally understood what was going on. These people looked normal but they all had at least one of their hands closed. Every single person in this crowd was concealing a weapon of some sort. Bringing his eyes to the apparent leader of the group, Killua noticed that there was also a piece of sharp metal in the old man's hat.

"Wendy!" He said in panic. "Who are these people?!"

Slowly, Wendy began to explain. "This is Cait Shelter... My... old guild. But... they all died, I... saw them disappear."

"But we're back Wendy." the old master said. He put out his hand. "Come here!"

Wendy felt like her feet were moving on their own. Every part of her body was warning her of a trap. Of course this was a trap. None of these people could be real.

But... they looked so real. As her eyes scanned over every person in this guild, Wendy realized how much she missed everyone. And seeing her master smiling warmly at her and calling her over brought out such a wanting in Wendy's heart that... she simply didn't care anymore.

So she walked over. And held her master's hand. She could feel its warmth, it felt so real.

"Master..." was all she could attempt to say.

"Let's see how much you've grown." he responded.

Killua, who was witnessing the entire scene, looked in horror as the old man reached out to his hat, towards the metal.

And it was Killua's yo yo's that prevented him from what he was going to do next.

The knife clattered to the ground.

Wendy, seeing this, forcefully took her hand out of her master's grip and backed away. Her hands trembled as she saw the knife, realizing that it was her master that had held it.

"M-master... why!?"

"Wendy, can't you see?" Killua said. "NONE of this is real." He pointed at their enemy, still annoyingly calm. "He scanned your mind! HE created these illusions! And he can manipulate them as he pleases!"

Killua gritted his teeth. It was the perfect defense. Playing with his opponents mind by creating obstacles that actually mean something to them. How would they be able to overcome this?

Wendy clenched her fist. Of course this was all a trap. But... "So you're saying..."

She looked at all those familiar faces. "We have to defeat them?" Try as she might, she couldn't hide the panic in her voice.

Them more she though about it, the more real it became. Tears came to her eyes. "I have to see them die again!?" She couldn't calm herself down. Her knees gave out.

Killua didn't know what to do. Eventually, these people would turn on them. They weren't strong. He and Wendy could easily defeat them.

But they wouldn't. That was the ingenious of this.

There was only one thing he could do. And Wendy was the only person who could allow this to happen. He had to get through to her somehow.

He walked over to her. "Wendy..." Wendy looked at him, unable to stop the tears coming from her eyes.

Without a word, Killua showed Wendy his cut. Her eyes widened. Killua continued.

"One of these people did it. They are all hiding weapons and they won't hesitate to hurt us."

Wendy shook her head, struggling to gather her thoughts. "Cait Shelter would never..."

"Which is why this ISN'T Cait Shelter." Killua interrupted.

Wendy's eyes softened. This was working. Killua continued. "I don't know what your old guild was like, but the first thing you have to do is to stop thinking these people are the same. That knife on the floor and my injury proves it."

Wendy's eyes had gone dark. Killua didn't know whether he had done right or wrong. "Look, I don't know what else to say but..."

"Killua." Wendy interrupted.

She looked up, the flow of her tears halting. "Will YOU defeat them!?"

Killua hadn't been expecting that. Slowly, Wendy got up to her feet.

"I know these people aren't the same. Yet my heart wouldn't listen." Her eyes took on a determined look, focusing them on the illusions of her guild.

"I don't care whether you people look like Cait Shelter. You tried to hurt me. You hurt my friend. You are preventing us on our mission."

"That makes you our enemy."

She looked directly at the man controlling all of this. "I'm not so weak that I'll fall for something like this."

The smile on the man's face disappeared.

Wendy looked at Killua. "But... I still can't defeat them with my own hands. So..."

Killua smirked. "That was all I needed. I can easily finish this fight."

Wendy smiled sadly. "I'm sorry I can't help with this one."

Killua's body began to light up with sparks. "Don't be. It's time to see how far I've really come."

His hair began to stand up. Soon, it was like the lighting had taken over him. Now finally came the time to use Godspeed. "This will be over quickly!"

Before he was about to strike, he stole one more glance at Wendy, to see if she was really okay with this.

Her face was completely rigid, every last doubt gone away. Killua smiled. Now nothing could hold him back.

"Speed of Lighting!" And with that, he zoomed into the crowd at the speed of light.

The illusions were no match for his lighting. He was able to dodge their weapons and as he struck with immense speed, the illusions vanished into thin air.

Wendy watched as these people resembling her family slowly vanished again. Without meaning to, her lips stole a whisper.

"Goodbye Cait Shelter."

And with that, it was over. All there was left was the final boss. He now looked extremely irritated.

"Whirlwind!" Killua said. This increased his attack and reaction speed. Before the man could say a word, Killua began to send lightning attack after lighting attack on him.

This time, Killua felt like he could really win. They had beaten their enemy's illusions and his Godspeed never let him down.

He had judged too soon.

Just as he was about to land another lighting punch on him, it suddenly went out. Distracted by this, the man landed a punch on Killua's face, landing him a few feet away.

Killua had been able to land on his feet. But why had his lighting gone out? Quickly, he activated Godspeed again. But to his shock, the sparks were weak. It was as if his lighting had disappeared. But that couldn't be possible. He had charged up before coming here!

Wendy could feel the change in the atmosphere. The air seemed to be made out of something else. But she didn't feel very weak. What had that man done?

"It's like the atmosphere has changed, just like what that lady could do before!" Wendy said out loud.

That had been a mistake. The man's eyes went dark. "So it was you two who defeated her. That was my sister."

His eyes fell on Killua with a murderous glare. "I'm the only member in the SIA who can also use magic. Those illusion were simply my magic ability. My other ability is an evolved version of my sister's. I can increase the matter in the atmosphere, increasing the power that the SIA's abilities thrive in. That also decreases the abilities of you wizards.

"Looks like I can get my revenge."

He slowly began to advance towards Killua. Killua willed his hands to go for his yo yo's, but they wouldn't budge. This man was stronger than he thought, his ability seemed to even be able to nullify aura manipulation.

That's right.

He's stronger than you.

If you can't beat him, run away.

RUN AWAY.

"Stop it." he whispered in panic, to his older brother's voice. But it wouldn't go away.

Run away.

Run away.

RUN AWAY.

RUN AW-

"Killua, do you need some help!?"

Wendy's voice snapped Killua out of it. Wendy was now right beside him.

"I don't know what this man is doing, but whatever it is, it's disrupting your ability. So let's work together."

RUN AWAY

RUN AWAY

RUN-

"NO. I'm NOT going to run away." Killua said out loud.

"Huh?" Wendy said.

Killua shook his head. "It's nothing. Looks like you get to help out after all." He grinned.

In reality, Wendy was terrified. She still didn't know what was wrong with her magic. And the only way she could find out was to test it in battle. Horrible timing.

Trying to quell her nerves, Wendy began to activate the Dragon Force.

She felt that same cold feeling she would always feel. But she didn't stop it. She continued her transformation.

And soon, she was done. But she was also cold. So cold.

Killua's eyes widened. He had seen Wendy's transformation in the previous base. But this was different.

Her hair and eyes were now a darker shade of purple. And the energy emanating from her wasn't like anything he had very felt before.

The man was unimpressed. "Your magic will also fall in this environment."

"Sky Dragon Roar!"

A huge burst of wind went out at the man. He had to quickly dodge. It hadn't been deprived, no- it seemed to have gotten stronger.

The man looked shook. "I can't... nullify it... why?!"

There was another thing Wendy was feeling. She was feeling powerful. The air here felt like it was her very own and nothing could stop her.

That's when Killua put the piece together. Of course! Back in their battle against this man's sister, Wendy had taken in the atmosphere's Bane Particles. But that also meant...

That she had taken in the power that their enemy had used to strengthen her environment.

Right now, Wendy's transformation was coming from a reservoir of that special power in her body. That meant that her abilities would not weaken in this atmosphere, but get stronger, as long as she was using this special power.

The man was fast. But Wendy's speed had been enhanced from this transformation and she could keep up. She was getting multiple hits in.

And that was when Killua got the strength to keep on fighting. They had a chance, they could win this. Nobody could tell him otherwise.

Using the fact that their opponent was shaken by Wendy's attacks to his advantage, Killua brought out his yo yo's and aimed them at the man. In a matter of seconds, the man was tied up.

"Finish this Wendy!" he cried out.

"Got it!" Wendy said. "Dragon Slayer Secret Art... Shattering Light: Sky Drill!"

A huge mass of energy sped up at the man. After a earth shattering blast, the smoke cleared.

And their enemy finally crumpled to the ground.

The reservoir of special power in Wendy ran out. She reverted back to her regular self. "What... did I just do?"

Killua quickly explained it. Wendy was shocked. "So that's why my magic has felt weird all week!"

She looked at their fallen opponent. "I feel kind of bad for him. He must have wanted revenge for his sister. But there's nothing we can do about that."

Still showing sympathy... Killua wasn't surprised. He sighed. "Does this mean we've been caught? We should get out of here."

"You're right. At least a bit farther in." Wendy said.

And they only got a bit further in. Suddenly, Wendy began to stumble. "What's wrong?" Killua asked.

Wendy sat herself down near a tree. "I feel exhausted. That transformation must have taken all my energy." Before she could say more, her eyes drooped shut and she was fast asleep.

To be honest, Killua was also feeling tired himself. That man's ability had done something weird to his aura and he was feeling very low energy.

They must have gotten far enough to avoid the SIA. They needed to save their energy.

So also sitting against a tree, Killua fell asleep.

Killua could faintly hear footsteps coming towards them. He was still half asleep so he couldn't really process who it might be.

That was until he opened his eyes long enough to see a sword coming full speed towards him.

Suddenly, it was stopped.

Finally awake, Killua processed the scene in front of him.

Erza was standing right in front of him, her sword pushing against the sword of another woman.

Erza had saved him.

Erza smiled. "Looks like I got here right on time."

Noticing they were in a deadlock, both women backed away from each other. Erza looked at the opponent in front of her.

"And looks like I'll have to fight after all.