Lady and Trish fought at the base of the large lake. A multitude of Mermaid-Demons, each wielding a trident, lunged from the lake toward the two female devil hunters with sinister intent.

Trish blocked three trident attacks with her sword, Sparda. She then sent an electric jolt from both her hands, through the sword, and sliced the tridents, and the three Mermaids in half. 

She lunged her left hand forward, and sent a blast of blue lightning directly through three more Mermaids, leaving holes in their chests before they all fell over and died.

Lady jumped to avoid a trident stab; she then pulled out both her pistols and shot bullets through the demon in front of her. Two more tried to jump her from behind, but she kicked one aside and shot the other one in the head. 

She used kicked the trident from the dead Mermaid and it impaled the last one. When four tried to lunge towards her, she jumped high. She pulled out her bazooka and shot at the mermaids below. She gracefully landed, and without looking, she lunged her rocket behind her, and the attached blade pierced through the chest of the oncoming Mermaid.

Trish and Lady then stood back-to-back as more Mermaids surrounded them. The demons snarled at their two adversaries.

Lady: You doing alright?

Trish: Just warming up.

Suddenly, the Mermaid demons were killed by Beowulf when he jumped and landed in front of the Devil Hunters, causing a shockwave. 

Lady: The hell?! 

Trish: He just killed his friends!

Beowulf: Hmph. Those were low-level demons, what would be the point having weaklings like them. 

Trish: Geez, talk about high and mighty. 

Lady: If you want a fight so badly, then you're gonna get one!

Beowulf: Very well, perhaps you could serve as a warm up before I'll kill the son of Sparda.

https://youtu.be/OVpszlmUv0I

Lady starts off with firing her guns at Beowulf, but the bullets bounced off him. Trish used her sword Sparda and tried to hit him, but Beowulf throws a single powerful punch that knocks her away. 

Lady: Trish!

Trish: Damn, he's tough! 

 Beowulf throws two punches at Trish and Lady and then slams the ground in front of him, causing a shockwave that blows them away. 

Lady: (grunts) Suck on this!

Lady fires her bazooka at Beowulf, but the large demon spread his wings and fire a volley of six light projectiles. The light projectiles made contact with the rocket which caused an explosion. 

Beowulf: Is that all you got? 

Trish: (got behind Beowulf) Not even close!

She lunged her left hand forward, and sent a blast of blue lightning directly at Beowulf, however the lightning barley phased him. He quickly turn around and hit Trish with a fist attack. 

Lady was about to fire her pistols, but she was stopped when Beowulf grabbed and hold Trish by the hand while using her as a hostage. 

Beowulf: Don't try it! If you value her life, drop your weapons!

Lady: Tch! You coward! That's dirty! 

Beowulf: What do you expect? You're fighting a demon, not a player. 

Trish: Don't do it, just kill him! 

Beowulf: (tightens his grip on her) Make your choice. 

Lady wanted to fire, but she couldn't risk getting Trish getting hurt. So she did what he said and dropped her weapons. 

Lady: Fine, have it your way. Just let her go. 

Trish: Lady...

Beowulf: You're a fool!

Beowulf slammed Lady into the ground with his foot, much to Trish's shock. 

Trish: No!

 Beowulf stomps several times on her. 

Beowulf: You just fell for the oldest trick in the book, human!

Lady was in a small crater, covered in bruises. 

Lady: Damn you... 

Beowulf: After I'm done with you, your friend is next. This is your end, Devil Hunter!

Beowulf thrust a fist towards Lady, and all she could do is close her eyes so she won't see it coming. But someone else stepped in the way and caught the fist with the palm of their hand, much to the shock of Beowulf and Trish. 

Lady opened her eyes and saw her savior. The person was none other than Gildarts Clive, the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail.

Gildarts: You really are a nasty, stupid lizard, ain't ya?

Lady: (surprised) W-Who is that? 

Beowulf: Who are you calling names you runt?!

Beowulf tried to push his fist down on Gildarts, but he wouldn't budge. He went on the offensive as he used raw magic power to blast Beowulf back, forcing him to let go of Trish. The she-devil was falling until Gildarts caught her before he helped Trish on her feet. 

GIldarts: You alright? 

Trish: Yeah, I'm fine. But who are you? 

Gildarts: Oh right, you're one of the newbies. Names Gildarts. 

Trish: (surprised) Gildarts?! As in the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail?!

Gildarts: Yep, I heard what happened the Master so I decided to join the fight. 

Lady: (gets up) We didn't expect him to send backup, but how did you find us? 

Gildarts: You can thank Mest, he followed you guys and teleported me to this freaky haunted castle. 

The three headed loud footsteps as they saw Beowulf stomping towards them. 

Beowulf: Another human, but this one seems more powerful. 

Gildarts: Why don't you ladies sit back, I'll handle this. 

Lady: Good luck, just be careful. 

Trish: Yeah, Beowulf is stronger than a low-level demon. 

Gildarts: I know, but his demonic power feels weird. Like it's coming from a corpse or something. 

Beowulf: (raised his eyebrow) What did you say? 

Gildarts: (smirks) Too bad, really. If you were alive you would be one hell of a monster, but like this you're a punchline. 

Beowulf: (growls) That's some talk, coming from you. I may be revived as a slave, but once I kill you and the females, I'll be free to kill the sons of the traitor Sparda! 

Gildarts smiled as he and Beowulf charge before they clashed with their fist at each other, which creates a tremendous explosion.

Lady: Holy shit!

Trish: That's some power! 

Beowulf roared and begin running towards Gildarts, who simple dodged him. Beowulf turned around and rush again before he did a pounce attack, however Gildarts managed to dodged the demon again.  

Beowulf: (angry) Stand still, will you?!

Beowulf stand up and flails his arms at Gildarts, but he blocked each strike with his arm before driving his elbow into the demon's face. Gildarts then smack the back of his hand in Beowulf's before driving his fist into his head and into the ground.

Trish: Incredible... He's beating him easily. 

Lady: He's not even using his magic power. 

Beowulf: (growls) Eat this!

Beowulf unleashes three seeking light projectiles at Gildarts, but smile while raising his hand as used his crush magic to slice and dice through Beowulf's attack. 

Beowulf: (shocked) What?! 

Lady: (shocked) No way!

Trish: (surprised) Did he cut the attack in smaller pieces?

Beowulf: He shattered my attack?!

Gildarts: (smirk) It's a damn shame. I wish I could thought you at your original strength. Crushing Evil, Spreading Truth: Empyrean!

Channeling all his magic power into his fist, Gildarts delivered a powerful uppercut to Beowulf's jaw and sent him flying straight into the sky, scattering all the storm clouds in the area. 

Trish and Lady had shock expressions as the large demon fell from the sky and crashed onto the ground.

Lady: (surprised) Damn...  Fairy Tail has someone this strong? 

Trish: At least this battle is over.

Gildarts: I wouldn't bet on it. 

The girls were confused at first, until suddenly a pillar of light erupted as Beowulf roared while spreading his wings. 

Beowulf: How dare you humiliate me, you flirty animal! 

Trish: He's still alive?! 

Lady: How did he survived a hit like that?!

Beowulf: I WILL KILL YOU!!!

Beowulf charge at delivered a fist coated by light which Gildarts blocked with his arms crossed, but he was pushed back.

Gildarts: Okay, this might not be so easy as I thought. 

Beowulf roared as unleashes a barrage of light coated punches at Gildarts who was now on the defense. 

Beowulf: Crush and pulverize! 

Beowulf slammed down a bright fist that actually hit Gildarts into the ground, causing a large explosion around the point of impact. 

Trish: Beowulf's attacks have been increased! 

Gildarts had minor bruises on his body as Beowulf fly above thanks to his wings. The demon unleashed dozens of light projectiles at the Fairy Tail wizard, who starts avoiding them. 

Crush uses his Crush Magic at Beowulf, but the demon fly above it as his attacks were unable to hit him. 

Lady: That's not fair! He can fly and dodge this guy's magic easily!

Trish: (smirk) Well then, let's bring him back to the ground. 

Trish throws her sword Sparda at Beowulf, as it cut one of his wings, making Beowulf roar in pain and fall to the ground. 

Beowulf: My wing! 

Lady: Hey Gildarts! Looks like you can use a hand. 

Trish: Or two in fact. 

Gildarts: (smile) Normally I would hand this alone, but thanks for the help. 

Trish, Lady and Gildarts decided work together to take Beowulf down. Lady and Trish attacks from far distance with blue lightning and rockets to distract him for Gildarts attack at close with his fists. 

Beowulf: (growls in anger) Enough of this bullshit! 

Beowulf jumps high and creates a giant light energy ball.

Beowulf: I'll send you to hell! DIE!!! 

Beowulf sends the giant light energy ball at them, but Trish was able to block it with Sparda and wrap it in a blue electric web. She than sends it back followed by many missile launched by Lady that heavy injured Beowulf.

Beowulf: No... I can't die again...! I kill the sons of Sparda...!

Gildarts: Sorry pal, but that's game over for you. 

Gildarts use his Crush Magic to turn Beowulf to pieces, then Trish ended him by using her lightning to turn the pieces of Beowulf into dust. 

Trish, Lady, and Gildarts each took a few deep breaths to catch their breath as they were surrounded by the mutilated, sliced, blown up, and scorched bodies of dozens of Mermaid demons.

Trish: Well... that was fun.

Lady: That depends on how you define fun.

Gildarts: You girls packed some serious firepower. What are your names. 

Trish: I'm Trish. 

Lady: Call me Lady. 

Gildarts: Trish and Lady huh? Nice to meet you. 

They both heard a loud explosion and looked towards the castle and saw a massive firey explosion with some red lightning.

Lady: Natsu?

Gildarts: Natsu. 

Trish: I sense Laxus is with him too. 

Lady: Damn, they're more destructive than Drake, and that's saying something.

Trish: Five hundred dollars says he's gonna start hunting Vali down. 

Gildarts: Vali, is he the guy that attacked and kidnapped some of Fairy Tail's members?

Trish: Yeah, he is. Maybe we should give them a helping hand.

Lady: Good idea. Let's also hope the others are doing okay too.

Gildarts: (nodded) You're right, let's get going. 

The three then began to run back to the castle as they hoped to find a few of the guild wizards before they could find Vali, for all their sakes.

Chapter 22 ended.