Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fairy Tail
As Invel took Sting's hand to shake it, he let his gaze wander around the other members gathered in the room. It appeared to be the same group as before, consisting of the team Sting fought with during the games. "I see. So, it truly is up to you if I am allowed to remain here, and for how long." Really, the dragon slayer did not strike Invel as the kind of man suited for leadership. Then again, after serving Emperor Spriggan for so long, anyone other than his majesty did not seem suited to such a position anyway. There was a certain amount of experience needed to master such a job, and no one had as much experience as his immortal emperor.
"Did you truly go out and drag back this spectator from our competition?" The one with the scarlet hat spoke, smiling as he walked forward and giving a rather dramatic bow. "How interesting. Since it sounds as if our master is inviting you to join us, allow me to introduce myself as well. I am Rufus, and if memory serves, you call yourself Invel, correct?"
Dropping Sting's hand, Invel turned towards him with a nod. "That would be correct. From what I witnessed, you possess a rather interesting form of magic. Few can create anything their memories can recall."
The man smiled brightly at him, chuckling under his breath. "Oh, I am quite aware of that fact. How a mere ice make wizard managed to overcome it is beyond me, but most opponents hold no chance against my skill."
"Yet you still managed to fail, as your memory was faulty when faced with an excessive amount of information to take in." Minerva spoke, shaking her head at him. With a sigh, she held her hand out towards Invel as well. "Minerva Orland, but you may call me m'lady, just as the rest of the guild does. My power surpasses everyone here, which is to be expected from a wizard of my caliber. Even you wouldn't stand a chance against it."
From what he had seen, she was skilled, but she was still no match for himself. Still, Invel kept the knowledge to himself, shaking her hand with a slight frown. "I don't know, Minerva. I actually just saw him in a fight…one in which he wasn't able to use magic at all. Even against Fiore's royal guard, he managed to hold his own." Sting clapped a hand on Invel's shoulder, startling the ice wizard slightly. He shifted away from the dragon slayer, narrowing his eyes slightly at the man, but Sting did not seem to notice.
"Impressive. Just how did he even find himself battling them?" Rogue was studying Invel closely, his words bringing Sting's attention to him as well. When the blond glanced at his friend, the white dragon slayer's smile faltered ever so slightly. Invel suspected he was thinking about the future variation of this man, wondering how much of future Rogue's comments were true.
The shadow dragon slayer did not seem to notice, as his focus was on Invel alone. Stepping further into the small room, Invel folded his hands behind his back and returned his gaze. "They had foolishly reconstructed an old black magic spell, after being misled to believe it could save this country from a devastating attack. After sensing the energy of the spell, I sought out its location and proceeded to fight to prevent its activation."
"Wait…that gate was black magic? I thought they said something about it being designed to stop a dragon attack or something." Sting rubbed the back of his neck, sitting down on one of the beds in the inn. Two were inside, and Sting leaned back on the one Rogue was seated on. Minerva leaned against the far wall, with Orga resting on the other bed next to Rufus who had moved to join him.
Realizing he was going to be here for a while, Invel opted to take a seat in the wooden chair designed for sitting at the writing desk provided to the inhabitants of the room. "That was what they were led to believe, but Eclipse is nothing more than a gateway through time. Based on what I witnessed, I am inclined to believe that the man from the future wished to create the dragon attack he foretold would occur. As Lucy of Fairy Tail stated, dragons are nearly extinct in this era. Opening the gate and connecting it to the past would be the only way to bring them here."
"And the royal family refused to simply listen to reason? Surely, if you explained the spell to them, they would have believed you." Rogue frowned at him, studying the winter wizard closely.
"Nah, they wouldn't have bothered." Sting interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest. "I overheard them saying something about a secondary plan for the gate, planning to use it to travel to the past to stop the Black Wizard Zeref from ever existing. Sounded like a pretty crazy plan, but once they mentioned him being immortal…well, it seems like it would require something fairly crazy to get rid of him."
"I thought he was dead." Minerva raised her eyebrows at him, studying Sting closely. "Interesting to hear that our royal family believes otherwise. One must wonder what such a wizard has been up to, considering no one has heard of the black wizard's actions in centuries."
Holding his tongue, Invel remained silent. Speculation about his majesty's actions may irritate him, but it was better than them knowing the truth. Few would even believe that the emperor of Alvarez was the black wizard known by so many in this land. "Indeed. I've studied histories of this wizard before, and if he were still alive, he should be performing far more devastating acts of magic. It would be interesting to witness and commit such powers to my memory…but perhaps unwise to do so, given his rumored strength," Rufus replied.
This time, Invel could not quite remain silent. "You would not want to even have the capability to recreate such magic. Toying with such spells will create undesired consequences…even if they are mere mimicry, rather than the original." After all, his majesty had spoken once of his curse being reflected on to someone he trained long ago in death magic. Both sides of the spectrum broke the natural laws of the world, bringing about the punishment of the curse.
"Wait…are you saying you actually know what kind of magic he uses? I mean, creating demons is all Zeref is really known for." Sting narrowed his eyes at Invel, who looked away.
"In…in one of the countries I visited, Zeref was known rather well." He did not want to say more than that about his past. Indicating that he actually knew the black wizard would not be wise, after all. "There, he was not known for demons, however. He was known for death magic. It is not a gift to play around with…nor should you wish to be near him to witness such power."
"I'd just blast his magic back with my own lightning. Not even he could manage to stop the powers given by a god." Orga grinned, looking towards him.
Meeting the god slayer's gaze, Invel narrowed his eyes. "Is that so? Then you vastly underestimate his ability." Looking away, Invel took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Regardless, this country seems to be rather foolish in that regard as well. Utilizing one of Zeref's own spells to end his life…surely, the black wizard was wise enough to have placed precautions against such a use for his own creation."
"Eclipse was made by Zeref?" Rogue studied Invel closely, frowning. "It does not seem to match what we know of his magic."
Shrugging, Invel did not bother to explain this time. "You do not have to believe my words. I simply speak what I know, and nothing more." Rogue did not seem to respond, still frowning as Sting leaned forward.
"Anyway…we didn't come here to sit around talking about Zeref. It's kinda pointless to sit around speculating about a wizard none of us are ever going to meet, after all." Invel resisted the urge to smile at that. He knew that wizard quite well. In fact, he had a lacrima hidden within his jacket that could be used to contact Emperor Spriggan if the situation warranted such a drastic measure. It was how he was meant to stay in contact with August to inform him of the situation in Fiore, after all. "Invel is looking to potentially join a guild here in Fiore. As the new guild master of Sabertooth, I offered him a place with us, but he isn't quite sure he'll fit in all that well." Sting grinned, looking around the room. "What do you guys think? I figured I'd take him on a few jobs with Rogue and me to see how he handles himself, and then go from there."
"As Master, you really should not be taking jobs yourself." Minerva shook her head at him, smiling faintly. "However, I suppose I am not in a position to stop you either. He seems suited enough to our personalities. However, testing his strength is another matter."
"I'd be pleased to test him for you, if that is your desire, m'lady." Rufus spoke, rising to his feet. "My magic is, of course, the ideal magic to use to test the versatility of any mage."
"I'm afraid I would have to disagree." Invel glanced towards Rufus, steadily meeting the memory-make wizard's gaze. "There is another wizard I've sparred with that would far surpass your ability to enhance someone's adaptability to various forms of magic. Your magic only creates that which exists in your memory. The one I've sparred with has truly mastered those forms of magic himself…an uncountable number of magics, all at his fingertips and capable of utilization at a moment's notice."
"Oh?" Minerva walked towards him, shifting her weight slightly to lean slightly on her left leg with one hand on her hip and the other falling to her side. "Then would this friend of yours have any interest in joining as well? We are always eager to gain powerful new members."
"He is quite pleased with his current position." Invel did not explain any further, looking away. "If you must test my ability, so be it. Be warned, however, that I am not known for holding back."
Grinning, Sting rose to his feet and laughed at his words. "If you can manage to hold off Rufus, I'd be rather impressed. Our old master drilled into us nothing but strength and power…and we are the result of his training. Despite our failure in the Grand Magic Games, we are still considered to be one of the most powerful guilds in all of Fiore…and he is one of our strongest wizards."
If this was the strongest this country had to offer, Invel could be rather relieved. The war would be a simple matter to accomplish, if that were the case. "Are you implying that there are few wizards in this country that can surpass his ability?"
"Well, there are the ten wizard saints." Orga shrugged, glancing towards the others. "But they're kinda out of anyone's reach."
"One of them is a member of Lamia Scale. If you observed the final event well enough, you may have recognized the wizard saint Jura fighting amongst the wizards there." Rogue smiled faintly, nodding towards his other team members.
"Indeed, and my memory also tells me that Makarov, Fairy Tail's guild master, is among their ranks as well. Still, neither of them are even near the strength of the Four Gods of Isghar…the strongest members of the wizard saints." Rufus smiled towards him, nodding as he rose to his feet.
That name was one Invel had heard of before. Zeref had mentioned them when speaking of his dealings with Fiore in the past. In fact, Zeref had spoken of meeting one with the potential to rival some of the lesser members of his guard. God Serena had been the man's name, and from what Invel heard, the man utilized the method of implanting lacrima into his body to obtain dragon slaying magic of multiple elements. "Interesting. Does this mean that your strongest wizards are not affiliated with any guild?" Perhaps they functioned like Alvarez in that regard. The shields of the emperor served no guild, after all, and they surpassed the ability of any wizard in the 730 guilds within Alvarez.
Sting nodded, frowning slightly. "Yeah, most of them prefer to stay unaffiliated. It kinda leads to a bit of a conflict, you see. Guilds are always trying to become the strongest there is…and having a wizard saint in your ranks would skew the balance. That's part of why guilds aren't allowed to start wars anymore, also. The devastation and destruction that we caused was a bit too much to handle, so they ended up being banned a few years back. People often want to know which of the wizard saints is truly the strongest…but battles between them would be even worse than battles between two guilds."
Considering the spars Invel had both witnessed and participated in with the other members of Emperor Spriggan's generals, he could imagine such damage. Often times, they had a training area reserved with such things in mind. His majesty kept a vast open space, almost similar in structure to a courtyard, within the castle grounds of Vistarion. There, the surrounding walls of the castle were reinforced with protection spells of Emperor Spriggan's own design, meant to withstand any form of magical attack. With no plants or wildlife to interfere, it served as a battleground for whenever his shields desired to improve their strength, testing their abilities against each other since no other wizard could hope to force them to learn anything further.
From Sting's description, Fiore had no such place for their powerful wizards to advance even further. As such, he simply smiled and nodded. "I suppose that would make sense. Reaching their level of strength is part of what you hope to accomplish, though." He glanced at Sting, watching the dragon slayer slowly nod in confirmation. "To that end, training must be rather difficult. Without the ability to test yourself against those of similar strength, it seems to be an unusual form of challenge. Though…would that not make this spar we have planned illegal in this country?"
"A spar is far different from a war between guilds." Rogue spoke, glancing towards him from behind Sting as they moved towards the arena. "When not used for the Grand Magic Games, this arena is actually open to the public for this very purpose. Since the skill level of Rufus and yourself is likely far less than that of a wizard saint, there are no rules stating you cannot spar against each other to test your own ability. Using this arena will limit the damage to public property, as it is designed for magical battles to take place within."
Standing inside the arena's floor with the Sabertooth wizards, Invel frowned. "And if our strength rivaled that of your ten wizard saints? Would this not break your own regulations?"
Sharing a look with Rogue, Sting frowned. "Well, not exactly. No rule says they can't battle each other…it just typically isn't done. But we don't really have that concern…no offense to you or Rufus, but if there's anyone that can rival their strength in Fiore, we'd already know about them. Even if you just stopped by for a visit, people around here kinda get excited about new and powerful wizards in the country."
Still, Invel had not fought with his magic since arriving. He smiled, wondering how these wizards would react to seeing even a small amount of his power. Turning to face them, he folded his hands behind his back, nodding to them as Rufus moved ahead of the others. The rest of the Sabertooth wizards backed away, giving them space for their spar. Even if Invel had not rested fully since the Eclipse incident, he had recovered more than enough for something as simple as this. He just hoped Rufus wasn't overestimating his own ability, otherwise Sabertooth just might learn too harshly about just how fierce winter could truly be.
I know someone wanted to see Invel put Minerva in her place, but this battle was a bit easier to write for me (in the draft of the next chapter, at least). I'm not certain why, but I can't seem to get Minerva's magic written down properly...hence the spar with Rufus instead. Either way, the idea is still the same. I do hope you enjoy the battle next chapter! Feel free to review and tell me what you think!