A/N: I think most of this chapter will be written before chapter 2 is posted. Soon enough though, it'll probably take longer to update (for obvious reasons). Also, I'm trying to think really hard about where everything will fit in this story, so (hopefully) the pacing shouldn't be too bad.
Anyway, on to the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 3 - First Impressions
I was running around outside, playing in the fields.
I chased a butterfly for almost a minute until I noticed another figure standing far away from where I was.
Their dark cloak was flapping around in the wind.
I contemplated running over and asking why they were there. But before I could make my decision, someone grabbed my arm and started pulling me away.
"Mama, who was that?" I asked the woman who was leading me towards a log cabin.
She didn't answer, and when I tried to look up at her, I couldn't make out what she looked like, as if a shadow was covering her face.
When we reached the cabin, she quickly pushed open the door, and led me inside before roughly shutting it closed.
This grabbed the attention of a man who was sitting at the kitchen table.
"What's wrong?" he worriedly asked.
I ran up to him and looked up. Again, I couldn't make out any of his facial features when he looked straight back at me.
"Papa," I innocently started telling him. "There was a strange person standing in the fields!"
He seemingly looked back up at my mother, and I followed his gaze.
My mother nodded.
The next thing I knew, my father was shoving me into a closet full of clothes.
"Papa, what's going on?" I asked.
"It's okay, sweetie," he assured me. "Everything will be alright."
He then closed the closet door, and I heard him walk back towards the kitchen.
I heard my mother and father talking, but it all sounded like murmurs to me. It was unsettling, though.
Because I definitely heard a third voice.
All of a sudden, my parents' voices became silent. The third person kept talking before they, too, became silent.
Moments later, the closet door was whipped opened.
I woke with a start.
I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes. My hands fell to my lap as I stared at them.
"Damn nightmares," I muttered under my breath.
I got out of bed and went to the window. I threw back the curtains and squinted as my eyes were assaulted by the bright sun. I stretched my arms in order to get the remnants of sleep out of my system and got myself ready for the day. It was already lunchtime, but me sleeping in was expected after yesterday.
After changing my clothes, and reapplying my bandages, I walked down the hallway towards the kitchen to make lunch. I passed by the room that was empty when I bought the house. I basically turned it into my personal armory, filled with a large variety of weapons in case I needed any of them in the future.
I made sure to install a lock on the door, and I kept the key in my requip space.
After eating lunch, I requipped my necklace into my hand, put it around my neck, and tucked it into my shirt.
I put on my wrist guards and my boots before leaving the house. This time, without a cloak.
It was time to join a guild.
At Fairy Tail's construction site, members were carrying lumber around in order to aid with the reconstruction of their guildhall.
Erza Scarlet, who was wearing a beige work uniform and a hard hat with the Fairy Tail insignia on it, just finished breaking up a fight before turning to a giant, old man who was wearing the same outfit.
"Hey boss!" she yelled out. "Where do you want this lumber?"
The giant pointed a thumb to his right and replied, "Over there."
Erza was about to head over until she remembered something.
"Oh, right," she mostly said to herself before looking up at the giant. "You can expect person joining the guild sometime today!"
"Oh?" This piqued the giant's interest. "What are they like?"
"I don't really know much about her, but do you remember the train incident near Shirotsume?" The giant nodded. "Well, she defeated all of the Dark Unicorn members all by herself."
He looked back at her with a contemplative look.
"Hmm…interesting." He paused. "So…is she pretty?"
Everyone sweatdropped at his question.
I had already memorized the way to the construction site, so it didn't take me that long to get there. When I did, though, I was a bit surprised to see a giant, old man helping with the construction.
"What the…" I said, mainly to myself.
As I reached the entrance to the construction site, I heard really loud voices inside.
"This guild's full of weaklings!" an unknown person said loudly.
I peaked in. There was a man wearing a fur coat and headphones. He was sitting on a bench with his back faced towards me, and Scarlet was facing him. Based off of the anger radiating off of her, I assumed that the man was the speaker. He continued to belittle some of the people in the area - I think they were members - until a pink-haired guy tried to punch him. The man turned into what looked like lightning, and dodged it. He started spouting all of this nonsense about inheriting the guild and kicking people out or whatever, then he disappeared.
I couldn't really care less about what he said, but the atmosphere suddenly got pretty tense.
Almost as tense as the temple.
I walked in and went up to the scarlet-haired girl.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"Laxus," she seethingly replied. "He's the Master's grandson, so he's most likely going to take over when the Master retires."
"I won't be retiring yet," the giant said calmly while putting down more lumber.
My eyes widened for a moment before I recollected myself.
"That's the Master?" I asked incredulously.
"Oh, that's right. You haven't met him yet," Scarlet said. "Master! The new member is here."
"Oh, is that right?" He looked me over, and then smiled. "Well then, I am Makarov, the Guild Master of Fairy Tail. You can get your stamp from Mirajane at the counter over there. Welcome to the guild."
"Is that it? I'm in?" I thought I was gonna be tested or something.
Erza walked up to me before saying, "That's right, Lok." She raised her voice a little so everyone could hear her. "Welcome to Fairy Tail!"
Everyone around me cheered and started partying. Just like that, the tense atmosphere was gone, and was replaced with laughter and excitement.
This guild was crazy. But maybe in a good way.
I was grabbed by the arm and led over to the counter where I got my stamp from the really nice barmaid named Mirajane Strauss.
My mark was on the side of my waist, in black. It was covered by my shirt.
Suddenly, Scarlet started pulling me in another direction.
"Allow me to introduce you to my team," she said.
I then met her four teammates.
"This is Natsu Dragneel," she introduced the pink-haired guy from before. "He uses Fire Dragon Slayer Magic."
He had spiky pink hair - I actually think it's salmon now that I got a closer look at it - and black eyes. He wore a sleeveless, gold trimmed, black waistcoat that was left open, and a gold trimmed, black cloth around his waist which reached down to his knees and was held up by leather brown belt. Under the cloth, he wore baggy, knee-length, white trousers with black ribbon ties at the end. He also had black, open-toed sandals, and a scaly, white scarf.
Oh, and his fists were on fire.
"Yo!" He smirked at me. "Erza says you're pretty strong. Let's fight!"
He was about to rush at me before an armored fist came crashing down on to his head.
"No fighting!" the owner yelled.
The Dragon Slayer whimpered before quietly saying, "Aye…"
Scarlet then introduced me to a boy with black hair and dark, blue eyes. He also had some sort of pendant around his neck…and he was wearing nothing besides his boxers.
"This is Gray Fullbuster. He uses Ice-Make Magic."
"Guess flame-brain couldn't hold back," he snarkily said.
Suddenly, the Dragon Slayer lifted himself off of the ground and set his fists ablaze again.
"What'd you say, popsicle dick!?" he yelled at him.
Okay, I had to admit. That one was a bit funny.
"You got a prob-" His retort was cut off by an armored fist smashing into each of their heads.
"What did I say about fighting?" the owner said menacingly. "And Gray, your clothes disappeared again!"
They both groaned as they lay on the ground.
"Are they all like this, Scarlet?" I asked.
"I apologize for their behavior." She sighed.
"Hi," a blonde girl greeted with a bright smile. "I'm Lucy. I use Celestial Spirit Magic."
She had brown eyes and lengthy, blonde hair. Some of it was tied into a side ponytail with a pink ribbon. She wore a navy-blue shirt that showed some of her midriff, and a pink miniskirt that was held up by a white belt. On the belt was some sort of box, and a whip. Finally, she was wearing brown, block heel sandals.
"I'm Happy," a flying, blue cat introduced himself.
I stared at him before pinching myself on the cheek.
I wasn't dreaming. The cat just talked.
This team was insane…
A stern, somewhat crazy, punch-first-ask-questions-later, armor-clad girl.
A headstrong, hot-headed pyromaniac.
A rude ice wizard with a stripping problem.
And a flying, talking, blue cat.
…at least Lucy seemed normal enough.
Then again, she was crazy enough to join this guild.
"Do you have a last name?" I asked her.
"Huh?" Her blonde hair swayed a bit as she tilted her head in confusion.
"Do you have a last name?" I repeated.
She had a knowing look on her face and stuttered a bit with her response. "I'd p-prefer it if you call me Lucy. Being called Heartfilia would just sound weird…"
Even though she muttered that second part, I still heard her. "Ah, I see. It makes you uncomfortable."
"Why do you call people by their last names?" Scarlet asked me.
"It was a custom back in my hometown," I answered.
It was a form of respect, so I thought members of a guild would use that system. Did guilds work differently?
"In this guild," she started. "Everyone is family, so we'd appreciate it if you called us by our first names."
Family, huh?
I looked around at them. They all grinned in agreement.
"Alright then…Erza." I gave in. Getting accustomed to the expected behavior is part of an infiltrator's job, after all.
"Excellent," she said. "So, to get you used to the guild, and to gain some experience, why don't we take you out on a mission?"
That's right. I needed information on the surrounding areas and how the system worked.
"Sounds good to me," I agreed.
We walked over to the request board, and I took a look at the missions available.
I was surprised by the variety. Helping to find a lost dog, hunting down some bandits, helping to build a restaurant, killing an ogre, and babysitting were just to name a few.
"Since it's your first job, you can pick the mission, Lok," Erza told me.
I nodded as I scanned through some more missions until one of them caught my eye.
I pointed at it. "How about this one?" I suggested.
They all looked at where I was pointing and read the request.
Both Erza and Lucy didn't mind.
"It's fine with me," Gray chimed in.
"Sounds like fun!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Aye!" Happy said.
Looks like we were gonna go destroy a cult.
"So…does he always get like this?" I asked my fellow guild members.
"Yeah, he has extreme motion sickness…" Lucy answered.
We were currently sitting in a carriage heading west from Magnolia. I was seated next to Erza on her left, and Gray was seated on her right. Lucy was sitting across from me with Happy on her lap, and Natsu was hanging over the back of the carriage trying not to throw up.
"Here, Natsu. Switch spots with Gray," Erza suggested.
After switching spots, Erza leaned Natsu's head on her shoulder.
That was kinda sweet of her…until she punched him in the stomach. His head fell on to her lap as he was knocked out.
"There," she said. "Much better."
I was bewildered? Amused? I didn't even know anymore.
'Apparently, the guildhall isn't the only thing that has a few screws loose,' I amusedly thought to myself.
I almost chuckled at my own joke until I realized how dumb it sounded.
"So," Lucy began while looking at me. "What magic do you use, Lok?"
Erza, Gray, and Happy all looked my way as they were curious as well.
"I mainly use Shadow Magic," I told them. "But I know some Strength Magic too."
"You must be quite well-rounded," Erza complimented me.
"Why do you think that?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Shadow Magic isn't as destructive as a lot of other magics. It would mostly be used for stealth, traps, and wearing your opponent down. But you seem to be quite adept at close combat as well." She must've been referring to my fight with the dark guild yesterday. "And you even have Strength Magic to back you up."
I nodded in affirmation. "You seem to be quite smart."
"Thank you."
"By the way, what magic do you use, Erza?" I asked. I actually already knew what magic she used from the information I was given, but it could've been possible that the information was incomplete.
I needed to hear it from the target herself.
"I use something called Requip Magic. It allows me to store weapons and armor in a pocket dimension, so I can summon them at any time. I also use Sword Magic and Telekinesis to perform different kinds of attacks."
"Wow." I pretended to be in awe. "You must be pretty flexible when fighting."
"I'd like to think that I have good judgement in combat."
'Great,' I sarcastically thought. 'Nothing new.'
To be fair, Doc's information network was top notch. I was sure that if anything important happened anywhere in Fiore, Doc would've known about it within an hour.
However, I was only given a rundown of Erza's life in Fairy Tail. What it didn't include, was information about her teammates.
"You mentioned that you're a Celestial Spirit Mage." I turned to Lucy. "What exactly do you do?"
I had heard of Celestial Spirit Mages before, but I never really found out what they did.
She pulled out some keys and showed them to me. "I use these keys to open gates to the Celestial Spirit Realm and summon Celestial Spirits." She pointed at the golden ones. "The Gold Keys are really powerful, but they're also really rare. There are only twelve that exist in the world, and they're all different."
That part actually fascinated me for a bit. There were twelve, and Lucy owned six. Was she just really lucky?
"The Gold Keys also need a lot more magic power to use than the Silver ones and summoning more than one spirit at once is really tough."
'This girl's magic reserves must be insane…' I thought. 'Gotta watch out for her.'
I turned to Gray who seemed to be staring at the passing landscape.
"Ice-Make Magic is what I think it is, right?" I asked him.
He didn't even turn to me before answering, "Probably."
I nodded as the name made it pretty obvious. I assumed it would allow its user to sculpt anything from their imagination out of ice. I looked at an unconscious Natsu.
"So…Dragon Slayer Magic…" I began. "I've never heard about it before. What type of magic is it?"
"It's the magic used to slay dragons!" Happy replied as if it wasn't in the name. "It's really strong!"
"It's a type of Lost Magic," Erza added. "Since Natsu's element is fire, he doesn't get affected by any fire at all. In fact, he can eat it to replenish his magic, and he uses fire in his attacks. It's an extremely destructive magic."
Fire, huh?
The scars on my back ached, but I ignored it.
"He also has enhanced hearing and an enhanced sense of smell," Happy said.
Natsu sounded like a dangerous mage. Though I couldn't help but wonder…
What did I smell like?
"Hey, Lok," Lucy started talking. "What's your hometown like?"
I thought for a moment before turning to her. "The townsfolk were treated like trash. A lot of us were abused by the higher classes, and the mayor just allowed it. My family was kinda poor, so it was rough, trying to find jobs to earn money and all."
"Oh, that sounds pretty harsh. Was that why you left?"
"No." My response surprised her as I continued in a pained voice. "A dark guild raided the town. They massacred everyone they saw and burned everything to the ground. I managed to escape, but I'm not sure if anyone else did."
She looked disheartened at that. "Oh. I'm…sorry for asking."
I stared at her for a bit before looking away. "It's fine. You didn't know."
She sounded so sincere that I almost felt bad for lying to the pure-hearted girl.
Almost.
And with my 'backstory' killing the mood, not another word was said for the rest of the ride.
The request was from a small town. Some mages, later identified as cultists, had been acting strange, and Rune Knights were sent to investigate. Not all of them came back, and the request was sent to magic guilds. The request was to apprehend the cultists.
After checking in with the town's mayor, we headed to the area in which the cultists were last spotted.
"According to the request, the cultists are hiding somewhere in this forest," Erza stated. "Natsu, can you smell them?"
"He can smell them from this far away?" I asked. It seemed ridiculous to me.
Natsu sniffed the air for a few seconds before saying, "Nothing."
"They must be too far away from us. Let's split up and sear-" Erza tried to suggest an idea before getting cut off by Natsu.
"First one to find them gets to beat the crap outta them!" he yelled before running into the forest.
"No way am I letting him beat me!" Gray yelled while running in after him.
Lucy and I turned to Erza and sweatdropped. She was surrounded by a menacing aura as she clenched her fist in front of her.
"Those idiots never learn, do they?" she asked rhetorically. "Come on, we're going to go stop them before they do something even more stupid.
We ran in after the two boys, and I looked at our surroundings to search for clues. Most of the trees were either old or dead. There were no sounds other than the crunching beneath our feet as we ran over dead leaves.
Apparently, my clue-searching was pointless, as we ran into Natsu and Gray after a few minutes.
Natsu was looking around, and every so often, he would sniff the air.
"Did you find something?" Lucy asked him.
"This area smells different…" Natsu trailed off.
"What do you smell?" I curiously asked.
"Blood," he grimly replied.
Everyone seemed to perk up at that and began searching with him.
I walked over to a patch of ground that seemed no different than any other.
"Here," I told the others.
They all came over and stared at where I was staring.
"What is it?" Lucy asked me.
I pulled out a knife and swung it at the ground. It faded and revealed a hole that led to a large cave.
"Illusion Magic," I plainly said before jumping in.
They followed, and after we all landed, Natsu ran off in one direction with Happy flying after him. Natsu yelled something about the smell being stronger down that path.
"Follow him!" Erza commanded us as she went off in the same direction.
I made another note to myself to assassinate Erza in Natsu's absence. He would've definitely smelled Erza's blood on me, and I would've been hunted down. There was no way I could do it with him nearby.
We ended up in a brightly lit cavern with torches mounted on the walls. Water was dripping down from the stalactites that hung above. The rock formation that made up the walls were either jagged or had cracks running along it. There were other dark tunnels as well, presumably leading to other parts of the cave system.
Now that I could see more clearly, the tunnel we came from had a trail of blood on the floor.
We caught up to Natsu as he stood near the middle of the cavern, staring at the ground. We followed his gaze, and, collectively, our eyes widened.
There was a magic circle drawn on the ground, and it was drawn using blood. I assumed that the blood was from the body lying beside it. I could tell that my fellow guild members were shocked to find a body, but that wasn't what caught my eye.
Because next to the body, was a mask that was similar to mine. However, this one was red with horizontal, black dotted lines that ran across the cheeks and the nose. Black masks were only given to Masters, while white ones were given to Seniors. Red was the color of a Junior Assassin.
I started to move towards the body until a voice halted me.
"Hold on just a second."
Our group looked around as around forty hooded figures came out of the tunnels and surrounded us.
"Are you the cultists," Erza demanded, already assuming a fighting stance.
"We may not need that body anymore, but we don't want any evidence making its way to the Magic Council," one of them said.
'What a coincidence. Neither does the organization,' I thought.
"What're you bastards up to?!" Natsu questioned.
Their leader spoke up. "You won't be able to find out since you're all gonna die here!"
About a third of them rushed towards us with weapons while the rest stood there and prepared spells.
What came next was an absolute shitstorm…
"Gate of the Golden Bull, I open thee!" Lucy exclaimed while holding a key. I was a bit surprised and impressed when a giant cow wielding a giant axe appeared. I was less impressed when the bull started making perverse comments towards Lucy's figure.
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!" I heard Erza exclaim. She requipped into a beautiful set of armor that made her look like a silver angel. "Circle Sword!" she then yelled out as swords started appearing out of thin air and spun around her.
I saw Gray with his right fist placed on top of his left open palm as he threw one ice attack after another at the enemy.
I made a note to myself that Gray had a large variety of attacks.
I then turned to where Natsu should've been standing, only to find him pouncing on an enemy, punching them with his flaming fists, then moving on to the next.
"As expected of Erza's team, they're all pretty strong," I said to myself as I tilted my head to the side, effectively dodging a ray of dark energy.
I strengthened my legs and launched myself at the assailant. I stopped right before him and kicked him so hard that he made a small crater in the wall when he crashed into it. I strengthened my fists as more of the cultists rushed me. I punched one in the face, then bent my body backwards to dodge a sword swing. While bending my body, I saw another dark ray of energy coming in from my right, so I turned my body over to my right and punched the ground with my left fist. That managed to propel me over the energy blast as I spun sideways in midair. I landed right next to the guy who fired it and sent my knee straight into his stomach which sent him flying. I turned around in time to see a sword being thrusted towards my face. I turned to the side to dodge it. As I let it pass, I grabbed the wielder's wrist with my right hand, and sent my left hand straight at his elbow. The cultist dropped the sword and howled in pain as their elbow was now bent at a weird angle. I uppercutted him, and he was down for the count.
I looked around me and I saw my guild members easily handling the remaining cultists. Cultists were being sent flying left and right in a flurry of fire, ice, and swords. Not to mention weird comments from Lucy's spirits.
I swore I saw a guy wearing a horse costume at one point.
Lucy pointed at their leader, and yelled out, "That guy's up to something?!"
I saw what she was pointing at. The leader of the cultists was standing on a newly formed magic circle, and the bloody magic circle, from before, was glowing.
I whipped out a dagger and threw it straight at the leader, aiming for his right shoulder to break his concentration. Instead, it deflected off of another cultist who wore armor and jumped in the way.
"Tch. What a pain," I muttered under my breath.
I quickly located some of the gaps in his armor, and I pulled out two knives.
I planned my assault in my head. 'Opponent only has a spear. Dodge the initial thrust and you win. A gap where the armpit is, the side of the calf, and the side of thigh. Those three are the critical points.'
Just as I was about to begin, Natsu barreled into the guy, and punched him into oblivion.
By oblivion, I meant the wall, which now had a large crater in it. I saw a large dent in the guy's armor as he fell to the floor, now unconscious.
In my head, I noted Natsu's incredible strength.
"It's too late!" the leader exclaimed. "The ritual is done, and you will all perish!"
He laughed maniacally as the bloody magic circle glowed even brighter. It then expanded, and something started to appear.
I rushed forward, picked up the dead assassin and the mask, and jumped back to where Lucy was standing.
"We should get above ground," I suggested as a giant, maroon-colored hand came out of the circle and slammed the ground in front of it.
"Why?" Lucy nervously asked.
Erza answered for me. "It's a summoning ritual, and I'm guessing that the thing he's summoning can easily bury us in this place."
I nodded in agreement as the cavern started rumbling.
Erza ordered us to move, and for the first time, Natsu didn't argue.
While we were running down the tunnel from which we came from, we heard a loud bellow from behind. The tunnel shook, and the ceiling started to collapse.
"Whatever that guy summoned, I don't think it's too happy being woken up!" Lucy yelled.
We stopped underneath the hole that was our entryway. Natsu and Gray both climbed out and Erza was on her way up.
I looked up. I grabbed Lucy's wrist and yanked her towards me. She yelped as part of the tunnel's ceiling crashed down right where she was previously standing.
"Thanks, Lok," she said in appreciation while she looked back at what she could've been buried under.
I tapped her on the shoulder and motioned her to climb out of the hole. She nodded and climbed after Erza.
She tried not to show it, but I could see the fear in her eyes.
Lucy was easily scared. Noted.
I threw the body over my right shoulder. Once Lucy reached the top, I strengthened my legs, and jumped upwards. Every time one of my feet hit the wall, I used what little footing I had and pushed myself upwards. I kicked off the wall one last time and cleared the hole. I did a backflip in midair and landed in a crouched position.
I stood up and looked around. All of us made it out…even the damn cat.
"Where were you all this time?" I asked Happy.
"Uh…hiding," he sheepishly answered.
So Happy was almost useless. Noted…I guess.
A large hand came out of the ground several dozens of meters away from us, followed by a second hand. The thing lifted itself out of the ground by jumping skywards. It caught air for a few seconds before landing. The ground now had many cracks in it, all originating from the craters formed beneath the thing's feet.
"It looks like an ogre," Erza calmly stated. "Although this one is abnormally large."
I looked at the creature as a whole.
Standing at around thirty feet tall, it had large muscles, large feet that could easily crush a person, and sharp claws instead of nails. It wore fur clothing around its chest and groin area, and it was carrying a stone hammer that was almost just as big.
It sniffed the air before turning to us and letting out another bellow. Its yellow eyes stared at us. The leader of the cultists jumped out of the hole as well.
"Behold!" he exclaimed in glee. "This demon is known as the Sun Stealer, and I have finally awakened him from Devils Hole!"
The demon jumped forward, preparing to bring its hammer down on us.
"Scatter!" Gray warned as we all jumped in different directions.
The impact of the hammer caused a rush of wind to pass by.
"Gray, freeze its legs!" Lucy told him.
"On it," he responded calmly before doing so.
"Natsu, destroy the hammer!"
Ah, so that was what she was aiming for.
"You got it!" he exclaimed in excitement as he jumped towards it.
The demon started to swing its hammer at Natsu.
"Shadow Bind." I called upon dozens of shadowy chains that came out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the demon's arms so they couldn't move.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" yelled out before punching the hammer with a flaming fist.
I really didn't think that a punch cou-
A crack formed on the hammer, then several more appeared before the whole thing crumbled to pieces.
I was in awe. The amount of brute force behind that punch must've been insane.
"Hey, is it just me, or is it getting really hot around here?" I asked nonchalantly.
Glowing red cracks formed all over the demon's body. It opened its mouth and lava came spewing out.
Those of us nearby dodged and moved to a safe distance.
Gray shot some ice lances at the demon's upper body, but they evaporated before they hit.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Gray frustratingly asked.
"I think it's upset we broke its hammer."
"Anyone got any ideas?"
"I have one," I told them. "But I need that thing to stay still."
Lucy seemed to perk up at that. "Erza, is your Adamantine Armor repaired?"
"Yes, why?" Erza seemed a bit confused before realization hit her. "Oh, I see."
I didn't really understand their little exchange, but I assumed that they had a plan.
A small part of me wanted to let Erza get killed by the demon, and then faking my death right after before escaping.
But I had pride.
The only one allowed to kill Erza was me. This was a fate that was decided as soon as Doc gave me the mission.
While Natsu and Gray were distracting it, Erza jumped in front of it and taunted it. The demon looked like it was about to spew lava again, but Natsu came in and kicked its head to the side, making it miss its target. So, the demon decided to try and punch Erza instead. As the punch came closer to her, Erza requipped into a set of blue and navy colored armor. Her entire body, except her face, was covered, and attached to the gauntlets, were two separate plates of armor. She combined the two and formed a shield. The demon's fist crashed into it and the shockwave was strong enough to split the trees behind Erza.
Then, slowly, the demon's arm started to disintegrate. It stumbled backwards while bellowing in pain. Taking advantage of its confused state, Natsu threw a giant fireball at the demon's back which knocked it down on its knees.
"Now, Lok!" Lucy gave me the signal.
I nodded. I dropped the body and the mask and held both of my hands in front of me. I called out, "Pillar of Shades."
A dark magic circle formed beneath the demon, and another formed above. Suddenly, the demon was engulfed in darkness. It let out a deafening roar as its energy was sapped out. After some time, I let the pillar disappear.
"Impossible…" the leader of the cultists said in disbelief.
"Finish it off Natsu!" Erza ordered.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" A stream of fire came from Natsu's mouth and engulfed not only the demon, but a large area behind it as well.
After Natsu's attack died down, the demon fell over, and the cultist leader, who had been standing in the affected area, did as well.
'To kill a lava demon with fire…' I thought to myself. 'What destructive force.'
I stared at the burning forest.
I stared at the burning house.
"This is no longer your home, Aster. Come with me."
"Hey Lok!" Lucy snapped me out of my daze. "Great job! You're really strong, you know."
I offered her a fake smile. "Thanks. You too."
"Aw, you're just saying that." She looked at me as I started to walk away. "Where are you going?"
I picked up the body and the mask before answering, "Gonna give them a proper burial."
When I was far enough, I dug a deep grave, and dumped the body in it. I stared at the mask before crushing it into little pieces. I threw them in with the body and piled the dirt on top. I patted it down to make sure there wasn't any sign of a hole being dug, and I even threw a bunch of dead leaves on it, to make it look less suspicious.
I hurried back to where Erza and the rest of them were.
The Rune Knights came and arrested all of the cultists. We were given our reward, and before I knew it, we were on our way back to Magnolia.
"So how was your first mission, Lok?" Erza asked me.
"Exciting…to say the least. Are you guys usually that destructive?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
I hummed in response.
We all sat in silence before I spoke up again.
"You mentioned you were a team." They nodded. "Do you think I can join?"
They looked at each other. Gray smirked. "You're already a part of the team, Lok," he said. "Actually, as soon as you accepted this mission with us, I don't think you actually had a choice."
"Really?"
They all nodded in agreement except Natsu, who was busy trying not to throw up.
"Thank you," I told them.
My mission just got so much easier.
I was finally back at home.
I pulled out a lacrima from my requip space and made a call.
A voice was heard on the other side.
"Why, good evening, Aster!" Doc cheerfully greeted me. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
I explained the situation to him.
"I see. And you made sure to dispose of the body and the mask?" he asked firmly.
"Yes." I dryly responded.
"Good." He smirked. "Enjoying guild life yet?"
"It's interesting…to say the least."
A/N: This chapter SHOULD'VE been posted yesterday or a couple days ago, but I got caught up in some things, so ehh. Anyway, on to things I wanted to discuss about this chapter and following chapters.
Do I plan on describing every outfit? If it's canon, no.
The demon used in this chapter was inspired by Dzoavits, a demon from Native American mythology.
Now, I hope that I'll be able to get another chapter out before I start university (because who knows how much time I'll have to write when that happens). I'll try, but I will be gone for two days during the week.
Anyway, see you all in the next chapter.
