Author Notes
First of all let me thank all the people who spent time reviewing my work. I have tried to improve my writing style hope you like it.
Secondly let me apologize for taking so long to post a new chapter. The main cause of this is that my school started so I am not able to spend as much time in front of my computer.
Kindly review the story after you read it.
Side-quest 1: The King of Runes
Shiki awoke to find Arcueid sleeping in her bed. He got up quietly so as to not awaken her. He went upstairs and saw that most of the guild members had already arrived.
"Hello Shiki, had a good sleep?" Mira asked pleasantly as Shiki made his way towards the bar. "Yes" Shiki replied. "Fight me" a voice called from behind Shiki. He turned around to see Natsu standing behind him. Before he could respond, a boy without clothes approached them and said to Natsu "You only think of fighting, you Hothead." "What did you say, you Popsicle?" Natsu ignited his hands. "Bring it on, Flame brain." Gray said while bringing his hands together. Within a few moments they began to fight with each other.
Shiki watched the pair in shock and surprise. "Are they always fighting with each other over petty matters?" Shiki asked Mirajane. "Yes, their rivalry goes back to when they were little kids." Mira replied.
A crash resounded as Natsu threw Gray into the wall. Gray picked himself up from where he had fallen and continued to fight Natsu. One by one, the other guild members joined the fight and soon almost the entire guild was fighting.
Arcueid woke up from the noise of the fighting. She looked for Shiki but didn't see him anywhere. She made her way upstairs as she thought Shiki had already gone up without her. As soon as she entered the guild hall, Elfman was sent flying in her direction. She managed to nimbly dodge it.
Dodging various guild members who were flung here and there, Arcueid reached the bar. Mira made her breakfast and gave it to her. Shiki and Arcueid slowly ate their breakfast while the fight around them subsided.
"Do you have anything planned for today?" Mira asked Arcueid. "Till now, we haven't planned anything." Arcueid replied. "Then I suggest you should take up a job. The reward money will help you buy a new apartment. You can't stay in the basement forever, you know." Mira suggested.
"What do you think?" Arcueid asked Shiki. "Yes, I think that is a great idea. Can you suggest a good job request?" he asked Mira. "Sure" she replied pleasantly.
Mira accompanied them to the request board. "A suitable mission for two new members would be a B or C class mission." "B class mission?" Arcueid asked. "Every mission is ranked according to the difficulty. An 'A' class mission is one which would involve possible conflict with other wizards. A 'B' class mission is one in which there is not much chance for conflict with another wizard. A 'C' class mission is the easiest missions to complete." Mira explained to them. All three of them began to look for a possible request.
After some time, Mira asked them "How about this? It is a B class mission. You have to go to the village of Acuna and catch some kidnappers."
"This would be a good way for you to learn stuff."
"Okay" Arcueid replied "We'll take this mission."
"Let me just register it, then you can leave." Mira went off to make a note of it and after a few minutes she told them
"I have registered, now you can go and do the mission. They thanked her and walked off.
On their way to the station they meet Lucy and Natsu. "Hey Lucy, Natsu, want to go on a job with us?" Arcueid called out to them.
"Sorry Arcueid, but we just accepted another request for destroying a book, so we can't accompany you."
"No problem it's alright." Shiki reassured her.
They walk to the station together from where Natsu and Lucy head off in one direction while Shiki and Arcueid head off towards Acuna village.
After a couple of hours they manage to reach Acuna village. The village was a desolate place, the houses were all run down and no one was on the streets. "This town looks abandoned. It's a ghost town as you humans say." Arcueid told Shiki. "Let's go and ask the chief." He pointed at a big building at the centre of the village.
They walk to the place. On the way, they could sense someone watching them, but still they did not see any sign of life. Once they reached the house, they knocked on the door. A small slit was opened in the door and a voice asked them "Who are you and what do you want?" "We are mages from the Fairy Tail guild and we have come here in response of a job offer." Arcueid told them. Slowly the door was opened and they were admitted inside.
The interior of the house was not much better than the exterior. Most of the furniture in the house was old and some were even broken. "We are sorry for the state of our house but since those kidnappers came, we have had no good fortune." "Please sit down and explain the situation to us" Shiki told the old man.
The old man began "One year ago our village was a very prosperous village. We had good trade relations with all the neighbouring towns and cities. For the cities, our village served as a link between them. But all this stopped when the kidnappers came to our village. They began kidnapping a few kids and asked for a huge ransom. We agreed to pay the ransom. But after taking the ransom, the kidnappers did not return our kids back. Since that day the kidnappers are taking a lot of money from us in the pretext of 'taking care' of our children. If we stop paying them money, they threaten to kill our children. Many of our village families left the village after this. In no time, our village was heading downhill. Soon the kidnappers had leeched us of all our money and yet they continue to harass us."
"Why didn't you inform it to the law enforcement officers?" Shiki asked.
"We did, but they were unable to do anything about them. The second time they refused to even come here. Finally we decided to ask the guilds for help. A couple of guilds answered our request initially but the members of the guilds were never seen again. After those incidents even the guilds are not accepting our request. Most of us have given up hope."
"Don't worry, we will try to do our best and get your children back without hurting them. Just lead us to the enemy's hideout." Arcueid told the chieftain.
"I can't go with you till the hideout but I can ask one of my men to show you where it is from a distance." The chieftain replied.
They both agreed. The village chief summons one of his men. He was a tall man and had an eye patch on his right eye and the right side of his face was scarred very badly. He tells him to lead Shiki and Arcueid to the kidnappers' hideout. The man is unwilling but after some persuasion, he agrees to do it. He leads them outside and takes them up a nearby hill. From the peak of the hill, he points to a castle on the nearby hill.
"That is the thieves' hideout." He said. "Please do your best to save the children. One of those children is my daughter. I was one of the men who went to force the kidnappers to return our kids to us. They did this to me." He said pointing to his face "Please be careful."
After saying this, he turned back, and walked away without waiting for an answer and hurriedly made his way back to the village. Shiki and Arcueid walked silently down the hill and up the next hill. At the peak they finally saw the castle in its entirety. It was a castle made out of black stone. It had an enormous gate and the towers loomed over them.
"Do you have any idea how to get inside?" Shiki asked Arcueid. She thought for a while and then replied "how about we break the entire gate and then enter the castle."
"No, you idiot we can't simply break it even if it belongs to the bad guys. Think of some other way."
As they were thinking on how to enter the castle, the castle gate screeched and fell open with a loud thud. "That solves our problem." Arcueid said cheerfully and walks into the castle as if she hadn't a care in the world.
"But this just confirms that the entire thing is a trap for us." Shiki whispered under his breath.
Just after the gates they saw an open door which led to a giant hallway. The hallway had a double storey arch and along its edges was balconies connected to the floor above. At the hallways end, there was an arch door and beyond it another similar hallway. The following hallways also followed the same pattern. They both walked through the main hallway and peered in each room as they go by searching for the kidnappers and more importantly the children. They had gone through the third hallway when three men jumped up from the balconies right in front of them causing them to jump backwards in surprise.
When the dust cleared, they saw the men more clearly. The first man had chestnut hair and had a build that looked like a wrestler. He wore a red shirt with matching trousers. The second and third men were also dressed similarly with the exception that their colour theme was green and blue respectively. The second man was unnaturally tall and lanky. His cheeks were sullen and his eyes sunken in. The third man had an average height and build. All three of them had a strange rune on their foreheads
"We Max, Luc and Shem are the trinity guardians of this castle and we shall not let you pass." They chorused together.
Arcueid and Shiki got into their fighting stances while the Trinity brought their hands together. The red clothed guy shouted "Special Max takedown". A magic circle appeared and in the next instant he had slammed Shiki into the wall. The other guy yelled "Luc Style Soul capture Technique." White ribbons emerged from the ground and headed in Arcueid's direction. She dodged a few of them but one managed to wrap around her ankle.
"Ughh" she said before she felt all of her power drain away. She collapsed gasping at the floor. The last member of the trinity took advantage of her weakened position and used his magic "Shem Killer Ball". A multicoloured ball appeared in his hands and he threw it at her. The ball exploded as soon as it touched her.
"That was easy." Luc said.
"Way quicker than we expected." Shem replied.
"Hn" Max grunted removing himself from the wall.
As he was removing himself, Shiki emerged from the rubble relatively unhurt.
"Oh boy, you sure are very heavy, you nearly crushed me flat just now." Shiki told to Max while removing his spectacles.
"Ho...w how is this possible, no one has ever survived Max's 'Takedown'" Luc said astounded.
"And that is not all, there is more to it. Hey Arcueid how long do you plan to remain hidden, show yourself." Shiki called out. Arcueid stood up on the balcony above pouting.
"Oi Shiki, you ruined my fun. I wanted to watch their shock when they saw us." Arcueid said. She jumped from the balcony and landed lightly on her feet.
The trinity were now changing their fear into indignation and came charging to attack Shiki and Arcueid. But this time both of them were ready. "Special Max Takedown" Max yelled and dashed at Shiki. Shiki jumped over Max and used his own momentum to topple Max into the wall. He quickly came up behind Max and cut the lines of his magic before he could recover from the damage. Shiki then hit Max's head with the hilt of his knife sending him into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile Arcueid was fighting the other two guys.
"How did you manage to recover from my Soul Capture technique? That technique should have drained your power and made you unable to even move." Luc asked sending few of his Soul capture ribbons towards Arcueid. Shem was staying behind Luc for now.
"I have reserves." Arcueid replied dodging his ribbons. Arcueid looked towards Shiki and saw that he had finished his fight. "Looks like Shiki have finished his fight . I should also finish my fight." She said and used her Vampire claws to shred all of the soul capture ribbons.
"Wh... what power" Luc said amazed. In the blink of an eye she caught hold of Luc and flipped him away into the wall. The wall hit Luc's forehead. Unconsciousness was immediate. Shem appeared behind Arcueid "Now die! Shem Killer Ball" he brought his attack towards her exposed back, only to have it slashed by her Vampire claws. Arcueid clawed at the ball causing it to explode in Shem's hand. Both of his hands got burnt very badly. Arcueid moved in for finishing Shem off.
"Wait Arcueid." Shiki shouted out stopping her "Let me try something." He walked towards them, Shem tried to escape, but was pinned down by Arcueid. Shiki approached him and took out his knife and made a cut on his forehead exactly where the rune was. The rune instantly faded leaving Shem trembling.
"Thank... thank y... Thank you for sav... saving Me." he gasped out between breaths.
"What do you mean?" Shiki asked him
"My name is Fresh and I am a mage who belong to the Giant Cauldron guild. These two were also mages from different guild. We all probably had come here for the same reason of saving the children but the leader of the kidnappers defeated each of us. Once he defeats a person, he uses forbidden rune spells to make the person his obedient slave for the rest of his life. Both of my companions are imprisoned in here somewhere. They are probably going to be made into his slaves next. Please I beg of you, " leave now and do not fall into his hands". If he gets mages like you under his control, he would be unstoppable."
"Don't worry about us. We'll definitely defeat this guy and save the villagers' children as well. As a bonus, we get to free the mages as well. Just tell us the location where this guy is hiding. We'll take care of it from there." Shiki told him.
"Yes he's right, we would never let ourselves be caught by him." Arcueid reassured him.
"Fine then, the chief of the kidnappers is in the courtroom of the castle. Just follow this pathway and you will reach the courtroom. The other kidnappers are with the children either down in the basement or up in the towers. You probably would fight the kidnapper alone but be careful; he is not to be trusted one bit."
"Thanks a lot." Arcueid said to him and together she and Shiki walked towards the courtroom.
"So what do you think about this guy? Which type of magic does he use" Arcueid asked.
"He seems to be a guy capable of using a form of mind subordination magic. But as far as I can see, this magic requires him to place that rune on his targets forehead."
"So basically we have to try to avoid getting too close to him and take him down from a distance."
They reached the doors leading to the court. It was made out of solid gold and the handle of the door was the head of a dragon. Beside the door, there were two golden statues. One of them was in the figure of a giant serpent while the other was that of a crocodile.
"The people who build this castle surely overdid it with this door." Arcueid commented dryly.
Shiki pushed open the door and they both entered the court at the same time. There were 12 grand chairs on either side and toward the centre of the back wall was the throne. Unlike the rest of the castle, the throne was made out of black rock. The only other occupant of the room was a dark haired man who sat on the throne. He was tall and muscular as well. He wore a black T-Shirt and black trousers.
"Welcome guests to my humble abode. I am the owner of this castle and your host Nick. How can I be of service to you?" the man said cheerfully. He clapped his hands and the doors closed behind Shiki and Arcueid.
Shiki and Arcueid immediately raised their guards and Shiki replied "Hand over the children you have kidnapped from the villagers and promise that you will never trouble the villagers again. If you do so, we will not harm you otherwise we will have to use force."
The man on the chair began laughing wildly on hearing this.
"Is he crazy?" Arcueid asked.
"Ha ha, you think, you can use force on me well go ahead and try."
"I'll handle him. Shiki, you stay back. My claws can defeat him from a distance."
Arcueid tried to change her hands into claws but nothing happened. She looked confused.
Seeing her confused face Shiki asked her "What's wrong Arcueid?"
"I don't know. I can't turn my hands into claws."
"So at last you have realized what you are into." Nick said approaching them slowly "My magic is a type of rune magic and this entire room is surrounded by what I like to call humanization runes. These runes suppress any special ability and make you completely human. A wizard without magic is even more pathetic than an ordinary human."
Shiki removed his glasses but he could not see the death lines. Suddenly a realization hit him. "You said your runes suppress any special ability. That means that within this room even you are unable to use your magic."
"Yes that is a downside to my humanization rune, but you'll see how I overcame it." Nick said and then charged towards Shiki.
"Arcueid stay back I'll handle this guy."
"You'll handle me? don't make me laugh." Nick said and before Shiki could even react he kicked him in the gut.
Shiki collapsed on the floor coughing. Without giving Shiki any time to recover, he brought his hand down on the back of Shiki's throat. Shiki just barely managed to evade his attack and rolled away to a safe distance. He then brought out his knife and flipped it backwards. Nick again attacked him with a volley of punches. Shiki managed to evade some of the punches but the sheer speed of the punches made most of them connect. All Shiki could do was protect his vital organs. At last he hit Shiki with his palm sending him toppling backwards. Shiki quickly managed to regain his balance.
"I see, you've overcome the lack of your magic by training your body to fight hand to hand." Shiki told Nick
"You're not too bad yourself. Most people would lose after the first few hits. Your posture also tells me that you are well versed in physical combat." Nick replied.
"Thanks for the compliment but this is as far as you go." Shiki told him
"You've got some nerve saying that. After all, till now you have not even been able to put a scratch on me."
Shiki didn't answer. He leaned forward putting his arms behind him and charged straight at Nick.
"Speed won't get you anywhere. You have seen how superior I am to you in terms of speed."
Shiki had managed to come within striking range by this time. Nick threw a mach punch straight at where Shiki's face was attempting to knock him out. But just before his fist connected with Shiki's face, Shiki disappeared startling him. His punch uselessly hit the floor. Meanwhile Shiki reappeared behind him and made a cut with his knife just above the back of his knee. Nick saw him and gave a kick to Shiki's torso sending him flying backwards. Shiki got up and coughed some blood before standing again.
"You see the difference in our skill level. While you only managed to scratch me I dealt a heavy blow to you. Now I'll finish you off."
Nick again got ready to charge at Shiki, but this time he collapsed on the floor.
"What happened to me?" Nick asked curiously.
"You seemed to be proud of your great speed and all of your techniques relied heavily on your footwork so I just disabled the use of your foot for quite some time by cutting some of your tendons,"
"What? how is that possible? Who are you? How could you land such a precise hit without the aid of magic? And that too in such a short time. Just who the hell are you?" Nick asked, shock clearly visible on his face.
"He belongs to a long family of assassins, it is just a small matter for him to do this to you." Arcueid said with a little bit of pride in her voice.
Shiki approached him and said "This is goodbye." He slammed the hilt of the knife into his forehead knocking him out instantly. "Now to take care of the rest."
"Where do you think we should go first? Fresh said that some of the kidnappers are in the towers while the others are in the dungeon." Arcueid asked him.
"The towers. The kidnappers in the tower might flee if we go to search the dungeons."
They got out of the castle building into its courtyard. There they went rightto reach the tower. The kidnappers were standing at the foot of the tower while there was no sign of the children anywhere.
"Where are the children?" Shiki asked the men.
They were surprised to hear his voice. Some of them got ready to fight while others held back. At last they overcame their surprise and attacked Shiki and Arcueid at the same time. Shiki and Arcueid quickly finished them. Within a minute, all ten of the kidnappers were lying unconscious at their feet. Arcueid went up to the door of the tower and pulled the door out of its hinges. Within the tower, there were many children cowering in fear. They were extremely surprised to see what Arcueid had done.
"Don't worry we are here to rescue you." Arcueid assured them.
"It is of no use. There are over thirty guards in this castle. You should escape while you still can. If they catch you, they are going to make slaves out of you." A young boy replied. He had chestnut hair and hazel eyes. He wore a loose fitting dress.
"We have already taken care of most of the kidnappers." Arcueid revealed to them.
They were evidently surprised to hear this and many of the children got up to see if it really was true. The sight they saw restored their courage and soon all of the children got up and followed them. Shiki directed them towards the gate of the castle.
"Wait for us here. We are going to rescue your other companions." Shiki and Arcueid went back inside the castle. They reached the stairway of the castle and took the stairs leading down. After going down a couple of levels, they reached the dungeon. The dungeon was like any other typical dungeon- cold, dark stone walls with small holes for windows, having bars separating the cells from each other. The kidnappers had formed a gang around the centre of the castle. Shiki and Arcueid walked down the final few stairs. The kidnappers were not yet aware of their presence and had their backs turned towards them. They decided to take advantage of the situation and take the kidnappers by surprise. But before they could even move, a voice called out.
"Stop where you are or this kid dies."
The kidnappers move aside to reveal an elder kidnapper with a knife to a young girl's throat. The girl seemed about 12 years of age and was weeping. Shiki and Arcueid stopped moving instantly.
"Good, now throw away your weapon." He said to Shiki. He complied.
The kidnappers began to laugh and mock them. Some of the kidnappers approached them and punched them in the face. At that instant before any man could respond, Arcueid had reached the girl and pierced her claws through the other man's shoulder causing him to let go off the knife in pain.
Shiki saw this but was powerless to do anything without his knife. The kidnappers punched him. One of them punched him in his already wounded gut. Shiki collapsed on the floor almost losing consciousness. One of the kidnappers raised his leg to stamp his face. He closed his eyes bracing for impact which never came. He opened his eyes to see Arcueid standing before him smiling and the kidnapper who was standing above him until a minute ago, smashed in a nearby wall.
"Thanks Arcueid, I was really a goner there."
He looked around to see all of the kidnappers had been taken care of by Arcueid alone. They brought the remaining kids out of the dungeon and together with the other kids began their long descent down the mountain.
After a long and uneventful trek over the mountains they were able to see the village in the distance. The sun was on the verge of setting down, painting everything in a reddish hue. Upon seeing their village, all the children were very happy and excited. They rushed down the hill towards the village.
In the village, the local scout was very surprised at the sight in front of him. He rangthe town bells. The bells rang with a loud clang and everybody rushed out of their houses in alarm. When they saw the children rushing towards them, their alarm turned to joy and many of them rushed forwards and embraced the children. In the happiness of the reunion after a long period of separation, the villagers had forgotten about Shiki and Arcueid. Except for one that is.
"I don't know how to thank you guys for what you have done for us. By returning our children to us, you not only have brought merriment back into the village but also renewed our will to survive. Please accept this as a token of my thanks." The village elder said giving 2,000,000 jewels to them.
"Thanks a lot, we will be taking your leave then." Shiki said preparing to leave.
"Please wait; we have a huge party tonight in order to celebrate the homecoming of our children. If you stay, it would be much more fitting."
"Thanks but we'll pass for now. We have to get back to town by the 8:30 train."
"Aww please Shiki, I want to see the party. Arcueid pleaded.
"But we would miss our train." He said
"We can always go walking."
"I can't walk as far as you, you know. I am a human after all."
"We'll manage, don't worry."
Shiki could see that he would never get anywhere with this argument so he reluctantly agreed to attend the party.
The party was a grand one and Shiki and Arcueid were given the seats of honour and after the party, they were offered a place to spend the night which they refused preferring to travel in the night as it was a full moon. When they left almost the entire village was there to bid them farewell.
"Well that was an exciting event. Hope we get to do such missions more often." Arcueid said while they were walking along the road.
"I personally would prefer not to do such missions. I am still hurting all over with my fight with that guy."
And they walked throughout the night reaching the neighbouring town the next morning. As soon as they reached the town they booked a room in a local lodge had some food (not in case of Arcueid who had 3 plates of ramen) and passed out tired on the bed.
Author's notes
Hope you liked this chapter. Please don't forget to review.