Vanish Brothers

The Vanish Brothers (バニッシュブラザーズ Banisshu Burazāzu) are two nameless mercenaries from the Southern Wolves guild, hired by Duke Everlue to guard his mansion. Their epithet comes from the fact that while their target is focusing on one of the brothers, they take their eyes off the other, allowing the unseen brother to attack.

Appearance
Despite their supposed blood ties, the two Vanish Brothers are radically different in appearance: the older one is also the smaller of the duo, despite still remaining as a massive and mildly tall man; his head is mostly shaved, with noticeably long, dark hair being present only on the back of it, where it is tied into a braid reaching down below the man's back, with a light ribbon circling the end, taking the form of a tuft; an hairstyle which is highly reminiscent of a Chinese queue. He possesses slanted dark eyes, sharp facial features, with prominent cheekbones, a dark-colored upper lip, with his mouth usually retaining a slight grimace, giving him a perennially serious look, and four distinctive tattoos of kanji adorning his face: his right cheek bears the character for "Right", his left one the character for "Left", the character for "Up" is placed in the center of his forehead, and the one for "Down" on his chin, right below his lower lip. He also has noticeably pointed ears. His attire, much like his hairstyle, is Chinese in appearance, consisting of a light tunic with an high collar, possessing dark stripes on the loose cuffs and flanking the fastener crossing the chest vertically, a pair of mildly loose dark pants, getting tighter in correspondence to his ankles, and traditional, dark Chinese shoes paired with light socks. Hanging on his left bicep, held there by a dark band passing above his right shoulder, is a square dark cloth bearing a light Southern Wolves' mark. In addition, the man carries around an oversized frying pan, possessing a noticeably long handle, on his back, held there by a rope passing over his right shoulder.

The younger mercenary, paradoxically, is also the larger one, being notably tall and massive, standing at almost twice the height of his brother, and possessing long limbs, especially if compared with his massive torso. He has long, dark and curly hair, which is arranged in a distinctive hairstyle, with four large, straight tufts jutting upwards on top of his head, getting smaller near their outer edges. His face is squared, with a very prominent, mildly rounded and hooked nose, and his dark eyes are topped by a light bandanna covered in spiraling dark motifs, obscuring his forehead and keeping his hair back. His right forearm is covered by similar, sharp and dark tattoos, reaching down to his hand. His outfit, unlike that of his brother, is Western in look, consisting of a dark sweatshirt, with slightly puffy sleeves reaching below his elbows, adorned by light, wavy markings on the shoulder and the sleeve areas and bearing three light, diagonal stripes on each side of the torso, simple light pants and light trainers. He also bears a square cloth similar to that of his brother, hanging above his right bicep, which is light in color, is secured by a light band passing above his left shoulder, and bears the dark symbol of his guild.

Personality
The Vanish Brothers are both very arrogant and confident in their abilities. Out of the two, the older one seems to be the quieter, while the younger tends to overreact, especially to provocations. They look down on Mages, holding the belief that they could easily overcome them, since they think Mages only increase their Magic abilities, and not their bodies and physical strength, like they do (something which was proven wrong when Natsu Dragneel overcame all of their attacks and then defeated them). They appear to become visibly annoyed when pitted against opponents which they don't consider worthy. They are also noted to be quite analytical and observing, examining their opponents' Magic and rapidly classifying it as Caster or Holder type. The Vanish Brother seem to be accustomed to the vices and bad habits of their clients, as shown when they plainly noted Duke Everlue's selfishness. The older brother, despite his Eastern look, is also fond of employing English words, even giving his exclusive Flame Cooking move an English name.

Daybreak arc
The two brothers first appear sitting behind Duke Everlue as he contemplates how he would kill Lucy Heartfilia and the other Fairy Tail Mages that came with her.

After Lucy and Natsu are caught trying to steal Duke Everlue's book, he summons the Vanish Brothers and they appear from behind his book case. The brothers express surprise that the Mages were so young. When Lucy runs away exclaiming that Daybreak held a secret, Duke Everlue told them that he would follow her and that they should kill Natsu and Happy. Natsu tells Happy to go after Lucy and that he would handle the both of them, which visibly upsets the taller brother, although the shorter one tells him to keep calm.The shorter brother then tells Natsu to bring it on calling him a "Flame Mage". Natsu asks him how he knew that he was a Flame Mage, and they state that they saw everything on a Surveillance Lacrima. They then go on to explain Natsu, Lucy, and Happy's abilities. Natsu taunts the two mercenaries stating that they should be prepared to be charred then, but the shorter brother states that he has to decline as Flame Mages are the easiest for him to deal with. He then pulls out a large frying pan.

The brothers belittle Natsu's abilities because he is a Mage but Natsu taunts them by writing "Come On" with his magic. The smaller brother suddenly attacks but Natsu easily dodge his attack. However, the taller brother grabs Natsu and throws him through a wall and almost falls down the balcony. As Natsu grabs for the railings, the smaller brother with the giant frying pan attacks him but misses when Natsu jumps down to the ground floor. While the brothers attack, they explain the weak points of Mages which is their bodies. However, Natsu points out that none of their attacks are hitting him.

Seeing that Natsu is right, the brothers decides to use their Heaven and Earth Extinct Slaying Attack. As the taller one of the brothers is thrown up the air, Natsu's eyes follow his movements. However, this proved to be a distraction since the smaller brother suddenly attacks him from below. As Natsu focuses on the brother on the ground, the airborne brother dives and attacks him. The Vanish Brothers, thinking that the fight is over, is surprised to see Natsu stand up seemingly unscathed. Natsu then attacks with his Fire Dragon's Roar but the brothers are confident that the attack would be ineffective. The smaller brother then uses his Flame Cooking Technique that absorbs Natsu's attack and sends it right back to him. However, Natsu is unaffected by the attack. He then charges and grabs the brothers by the face and defeats them by using his Fire Dragon's Wing Attack.

Key of the Starry Sky arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

The Vanish Brothers reappear as hired bodyguards of gold thieves, who were the prime criminals of Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet's mission. They initially challenge Gray and Erza, though Gray decides to fight them alone. The older brother manages to absorb one of Gray's Ice-Make: Lance with his frying pan, and both of them hit him a couple of times with their Heaven and Earth Extinct Slaying Attack. However, when it looks like Gray is about to lose, Gray defeats them with Ice-Make: Ice Bringer.

Abilities
Enhanced Strength: Physical combatants who train their bodies "day and night", both Vanish Brothers possess a remarkably great amount of brute strength. The elder brother can effortlessly swing around his oversized metal frying pan with a single hand, using it to easily shatter rock, such as that composing the floors and balustrades of Everlue Mansion, as well as launch his larger brother high up in the air through similar means. The more massive, younger brother, on the other hand, employs hand-to-hand combat, and has shown to be similarly if not even stronger: he was capable of sending Natsu Dragneel flying through a massive stone wall, largely destroying it in the process, with a casual toss performed in midair with a single hand, and can destroy rock with his bare hands just as easily. He was also able to break a Mage's bones with a single punch, attacking fast enough to prevent the target from employing his Curse Magic.

Heaven and Earth Extinct Slaying Attack (天地消滅殺法 Tenchi Shōmetsu Satsubou): The duo's signature technique, as well as the namesake of their epithet. This attack is initiated by the older brother, who has his sibling first bounce on the handle of his frying pan, which is held horizontally, and then stand in the round part of the pan itself, which is used as a springboard of sort, with the older brother launching the other high up in the air, almost making him disappear from sight. If the target tries looking "at the heavens" to spot the younger brother, the older one assaults them with his pan. If they look around "on earth", keeping the older brother under control, the younger one comes flying down from above and assaults them in melee. Natsu Dragneel was shown committing both actions, being thus attacked by the two brothers one after the other. However, he also survived the attack without sustaining major injuries, something which, according to the Vanish Brothers, none had ever achieved, with all of those subjected to Heaven and Earth Extinct Slaying Attack having met their end. The Vanish Brothers are referred to as such due to one of them "vanishing" from sight when such technique is employed, at the same time making the opponent "vanish" by killing them. After employing such technique, both the older and younger brother vertically place one of their hands, respectively the right and the left one, before their chest, all fingers outstretched, and the younger stands behind the older, both facing in the same direction; this being seemingly a trademark "victory pose" of them.

Flame Cooking (火の玉料理 (フレイムクッキング)　Fureimu Kukkingu): A move specifically thought to counter Mages employing Fire Magic, as well as an ultimate technique employed solely by the older brother through the use of his frying pan. When an opposing Mage performs a fire-based spell against the brothers, the older one uses his pan, vertically extended sidewards, with the bottom pointed towards the incoming flames, to absorb it. The power of the spell is multiplied, and the man, spinning on himself, releases it from the concave part of his pan, sending it back at the assailant who casted it in the first place. The older brother made claim that, the stronger the original flames are, the stronger will be the counter-attack, making this technique increasingly more powerful as the enemies are more proficient in the use of fire-based Magic. Flame Cooking, however, is shown to be ineffective against users of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, such as Natsu Dragneel, due to them being capable of consuming the fire sent back by the pan.

Ice Cooking (unnamed): This move is an extension to Flame Cooking in that the frying pan is now capable of absorbing ice and reflect the ice at double damage. This technique was developed over seven years and was used against Gray Fullbuster, but Gray quickly avoided the counter-attack.

Equipment
Giant Frying Pan: The signature weapon of the older brother is a curious one, this taking the form of an oversized frying pan. It consists entirely of dark metal, possesses a very long and slender cylindrical handle, partially covered in light bandages, ending in a massive ring, and a large, round pan with prominent rims, which are shown to get wider as they get farther from it, generating a larger circular form parallel to that of the pan's bottom. The tool appears to be roughly as tall as its user himself. When not in use, it is carried around on the brother's back, the handle diagonally pointing upwards, held there by a thick rope passing above his right shoulder and diagonally crossing his chest, tied in a large knot before his torso, which he momentarily gets rid of every time he wields the pan for battle.

Such tool, while bizarre in shape and appearance, is shown to be an effective melee weapon, being very resistant, enough for the older brother to shatter rock through its use without it even nicking. In addition, it possesses singular abilities, being capable of absorbing flames from the bottom part of the pan, multiplying their intensity and releasing them back from the pan's concave part; a process which takes place in mere seconds, and which is the source of the older brother's Flame Cooking (and later, his Ice Cooking) technique. The mechanics behind such peculiarity, whether it stems from the material composing the instrument or it is Magical in nature, is unknown.

Major Battles

 * Natsu Dragneel vs. The Vanish Brothers