Hello everyone, One Half here with the new chapter!
Okay, first I must apologize. Yes, I remember that I promised to start the Edolas arc in this chapter, and I understand that seeing a seventh filler chapter in a row is a bit (quite) frustrating. But still, once again I came with yet another filler-like chapter.
There are a few reasons for that. First, and most important – I still have some uncertainties about Edolas arc plot, and I don't want you people to forget about me while I'm thinking about how to resolve those complications.
Second – I got several questions via PM about the world, and since such questions appear, I don't think we can go on like that. So, here's another section with world's mechanic explanation. Here should be everything we need for now.
As such choice was – to release a huge, 20k+ words chapter, or make a separate one. I believe the latter option is better.
Now, answers for the reviewers:
Goku275: Thanks a lot, and believe me, no one wants to see this story through more than me, I just hope it won't take 20 years to complete it…
RebelTreecko: Yes, I remember that in original series Gray used bow several times, but I don't think it actually fits him. A real expert needs an indestructible artifact, yes, but it's not necessary for it to be a weapon-type artifact.
FanFictionHunter: Man, the unnamed characters are unnamed exactly because I don't want my readers to give them more credit than necessary. As for Sin – his Wicked Weave looks like flame, but it is so only in appearance. In fact, his power is void-based.
Rajo: Have to say – Gray and Gajeel are two characters who are giving me the biggest headache about their development. Both have potential, but willingly leaving behind their humanity will be so out of character for both of them. I'm still thinking about what to do with those two.
Guest: I don't want to go for M rating – this is why there are not many scenes with cruelty, and if there's one – it always has some extenuating circumstances, like absence of blood. As for smut – as soon as story will advance enough, I'll make an M-rated spin-off, main purpose of which will be to show everything that cannot be shown in main story.
RebelTreecko: Read the chapter below – this one's definitely for you xD.
Blue22 lightning: Thanks, I'll do my best!
midnightscar17: Just for making an atmosphere. Here's an update.
TheDragneel: Strongest spell, hmm... No idea xD. The new spellset is still in development, but of course it will be ready together with Edolas arc. And list of essences... well, even for me making about 250 names isn't an easy task, you know? xD
EliteSkyBlade: No, mentioning of Ichigo was just a trolling about Loki's appearance xD. Spellcasting conception is based on Taijiquan.
FbJr: Thanks!
YMCM: If I would've been starting this story now, I'd ommit romaji names, but now it's already a tradition of sort. Thanks for the review anyway!
Alright, I don't think I've forgotten anyone, so let's proceed. I hope here's some answers you wanted to get, and definitely you people gonna get much more after reading this, as this is just the beginning. Just remember – the world's details are still in development, so, for now, even I don't have all the answers you seek.
Omake – The World of the Exiled, Part II
As I've already gave a general description of notable Divine Beasts' Tribes, apparently, it was pretty strange to not give a description of the race, to which the main protagonist belongs. As such, let's talk about gods and their place in the world.
The Four Pantheons.
Despite Gods are the smallest race of the Earth Land, by combined strength of its members it is not even a bit weaker than other major races. That is achieved through the individual power of every member of each of four pantheons. No doubts – the most powerful tool in every god's arsenal is his or her domain. However, less than 0.005% of members of any individual pantheon actually have domains, for example, in Western Pantheon, to which Natsu belongs, only 271 individuals have at least one domain, whilst total number of representatives of God race is about 5 100 000 persons (and total population of aforementioned pantheon is about 190 000 000 people).
As you can see, the vast majority of pantheon's population has nothing to do with gods – they are members of other races – humans, demons, angels and others. Their roles and relationships with core members of pantheon is a subject for another topic, for now we'll only talk about gods.
Right after their birth, the gods' children are called demigods. Unlike divine beasts and elementals, gods are growing up and gaining power pretty quickly, just like angels, demons and humans. At age about 20 years, they already look like adults. Of course, only geniuses among geniuses can gain strength as fast as Natsu, the average member of the gods race obtains Tier-13 strength (Natsu's current level) at the age of 75 – 90 years. For comparison, an average member of divine beasts' tribe needs about 800 – 900 years to reach that level. To get to Tier-18, a member of divine beast's tribe needs about 6000 – 7000 years, and only really talented individuals can reach that level of strength. Even the bearer of purest bloodline, and a real genius, Andromeda the Starbinder, reached the pinnacle of Tier-18 at age of 3400 years. On the other hand, with pure-enough bloodline and high-enough talent, the member of pantheon can reach Tier-18 at age of 1000 years, and that level isn't as rare among gods as it among other races. In addition, Natsu's mother, Morrigan, also being a true prodigy of her clan, reached the pinnacle of Tier-18 at age of 53 years (she already acquired two domains to that time)…
A/N For comparison, I'd suggest to use Acnologia, as I think that all of my readers know his level of strength. That level is equal to entry-level of Tier-18+.
As it was said – 99.995% members of gods race are demigods, i.e. gods without domains. The pinnacle of Tier-18+ is the top level of strength, which a god without domain can reach.
As for domains… For demigods, the window of opportunity to acquire a domain actually is relatively small, comparing to their lifespan – only about 1000 years since birth, whilst the strongest demigods can live up to 65 000 years. After a demigod reaches the said age (1000 years) the probability of him or her acquiring a domain drops almost to zero – it just means that he or she wasn't destined to have a domain. And that is pretty harsh condition, because, the ability to acquire a domain doesn't depends on individual's current level of strength, not directly at least. Probability of acquiring a domain depends on purity of one's bloodline, level of talent, and luck…
And if with bloodline and talent everything is clear, when it comes to destiny… Apparently, to acquire a domain, the demigod requires a catalyst of sort. And, despite that current civilization has more than a million years long history, the proved method to determine a catalyst for a single demigod still doesn't exist. Though, seemingly, every individual from gods' pantheon subconsciously feels what one actually needs. Will he or she get an opportunity to acquire the required catalyst solely depends on one's fate.
For example, one of Western Pantheon's founders managed to find and refine a Heavenly Devil Fallen Heart of Metal, and he not only got the aforementioned Heart of Metal, but also acquired a domain, becoming a God of Weapons and Arms. Morrigan, Natsu's mother, acquired her first domain when she led an army to a very important victory, despite her very young age. Her soldiers were so impressed and enraptured by young lady's personal strength and tactical skill, that their emotions became a catalyst that unlocked her first domain, making her a Goddess of War. And Natsu used the remnant power of his enemies, who he brought to ruin, to unlock his first domain and become the God of Ruin.
Only those members of pantheon, who managed to acquire a domain, or two domains, may call themselves a "God" or "Goddess". Those who managed to acquire third domain are called "Great God" or "Great Goddess". And those who have four domains are called "Supreme God" or "Supreme Goddess". For example, Natsu has one domain, the Ruin, thus he's a God. Natsu's mother have domains over War, Magic, Fate and Death, four domains in total, thus she's a Supreme Goddess.
Availability of domain(s) increases the limit of power that a member of gods race can achieve. First domain rises the plank to entry level of Tier-19, second domain further rises it to the pinnacle of Tier-19, third one allows the one to reach the entry level of Tier19+ and fourth domain allows to reach the pinnacle of Tier-19+.
Also, every additional domain adds several thousands of years to God's lifespan, as gods and goddesses with four domains can live up to 100 000 years.
When a god acquires his first (so-called 'primary') domain, he or she also gets the associated type of magic that perfectly fits his domain and inborn elemental attribute. Demigods have no such luxury and must learn magic by themselves, like humans do.
P.S. Outside of the Triangle, gods are just another race and no one worship them, not in religious way, at least. And they're getting no benefits form being worshiped, no more than member of any other race, at least.
P.P.S Yes, a domain really looks like a huge cheat, and that's why they are so, so rare.
A few more things about Tiers and Strength.
As it was said – every tier isn't a fixed value but a span within certain borders. Tiers 1 to 10 have no sublevels, however, starting from tier 11, sublevels were introduced to reduce the length of the span, which is growing with every tier. So, starting from Tier-11, there are also Tier-11+ between Tier-11 and Tier-12. And, starting with Tier-18, two more sublevels were introduced, again, to shorten the constantly growing span – entry level and pinnacle level. As such, Tier-18 actually has 4 sublevels – Tier-18 entry level, Tier-18 pinnacle level, Tier-18+ entry level and Tier-18+ pinnacle level. And again – this "Tiers" system isn't a point in someone's development but an estimation, made for convenience. A theoretical value to evaluate one's power, and nothing more. Still, it is very convenient.
The power and importance of someone who reached the pinnacle of Tier-19+ must not be underestimated. A person of such level is about 20 – 25 times stronger than Acnologia. An M-Rank spell, used by such a person, can sunder half of the continent. As such, battles between individuals of such level must be avoided at all costs, or calamity is inevitable, someone of such level entering the battle is a last resort. Each pantheon only has four or five persons of such level, and, currently, all pantheons combined have eighteen Supreme Gods and Goddesses in total, who can be evaluated as pinnacle Tier-19+ powerhouses. However, this is the largest number of persons of such level among all major races.
For comparison, not every Divine Beast's Tribe have at least one person, who can be evaluated as pinnacle Tier-19+ fighter. All eleven Divine beasts' tribes combined have only six Tier-19+ pinnacle level experts. Other races don't have Tier-19+ pinnacle level members at all. When it comes to Tier19+ entry level members, Divine Beasts' tribes combined have 27 whilst four pantheons have 44. Angels and demons, each race only have about a dozen of Tier19+ entry level members.
On the other hand, when it comes to "regular" troops – Tier-16 – Tier17+ warriors – all four pantheons combined have about four millions, whilst twelve demonic rings, for example, have about twenty two millions (as demons are much larger race than gods). Lower the tier – larger the difference in numbers. Of course, humans have the largest number of regular troops, being the world's largest race.
As you can see – other races have much more regular troops, but four pantheons are able to stand on equal ground with other races because they have more elite fighters.
A few interesting facts about gods.
Fact №1. Crossbreeding with other races isn't possible. No, gods and members of other races (except for elementals) perfectly can have children, but they won't be half-gods and half-something-else. A kid will be either a pure-blooded god, or pure-blooded member of another race. The exact genetic mechanism that determines this is still unclear, but this is how it was since the raise of modern civilization.
Usually, crossbreeding between different races (and even between different tribes of the same race) is shunned, because it dilutes the bloodline, greatly limiting children's perspectives. But when it comes to gods – they can have children with members of any other race, because of the aforementioned mechanism.
Even more to it – when it comes to mixed couples' children, with 90% probability the first kid will be a member of gods race, whilst second and further kids with 90% probability will be members of another race.
Another fact – only about 10% of couples, that consist of two gods, have more than two children. And that has nothing to do with ideology or something – it seems like the world itself is limiting the total number of gods race members. Is it because gods have a very high potential?
Fact №2. Members of different pantheons have genetic differences between themselves. Despite that all the members of the gods race are anthropomorphic (i.e. they look like humans), the number of differences between bloodlines of different pantheons is even bigger than that of different divine beasts' tribes.
In other words, despite they look the same, members of Northern Pantheon and Eastern Pantheon have more differences on genetic level than members of Heavenly Nine-Headed Python tribe and Sacred Snow Tiger tribe, for example, even though member of these two tribes look very different.
Fact №3. Except for very rare cases, living members of the same pantheon cannot have the same domains, especially when it comes to primary domains. Even twins, who both managed to acquire a domain, usually are getting different domains, sometimes – even opposite domains. There were few exceptions throughout the history, but they are counted as anomalies.
However, for gods of different pantheons to have the same domain is normal, like, every pantheon has (or have had, before the War of Saints) a God of War.
Leaders and Persons of Note of Four Pantheons.
Eastern Pantheon: High Lord Takemikazuchi, High Queen Amaterasu
South-Eastern Pantheon: High Lady Inanna, High Lady Ereshkigal
Western Pantheon: High Lord Lugh, High Lady Morrigan
Northern Pantheon: High Queen Freja, High Lord Loki
Pantheons of Gods do not own significant pieces of land, like Divine Beasts' Tribes do, gods prefer to live in their own 'Realms of Gods', which are, essentially, the continent-sized Spheres of Inverted Reflections.
In fact, there's also a fifth pantheon – the South-Western Pantheon. However, it suffered catastrophic losses during the War of Saints, as all pinnacle level Tier-19+ warriors, including High King Jupiter, have been killed or kidnapped and disappeared without a trace. South-Western Pantheon still struggles to restore its power and influence, but for now it doesn't count among world's major forces, thus, gods' realms are now called Four Pantheons.
About World's population.
As it was said, due to great losses, sustained by South-Western Pantheon, for now it doesn't count among world's major factions, thus Five Pantheons became Four Pantheons. Same happened with Fifteen Divine Beasts' tribes – as four tribes (hopefully, just temporary) doesn't count among major world's forces due to great loses they've sustained during the War of Saints (one tribe actually just vanished entirely). As such – they are Eleven Divine Beasts' tribes for now.
On the other hand, Twelve Demonic Rings and Nine Angelic Orders retained their names, despite three rings and two orders suffered greatly during the war.
Anyway, currently, in the world are six major (sentient) races. Four of them – Gods, Divine Beasts, Angels and Demons – combined they are about 22 – 23 % of world's population. Elementals (all ten types combined) are about 25 – 26% (sentient but low-grade elementals are quite numerous). The rest of world's population are humans.
About humans.
No doubts – the most enviable trait that humans have is their adaptability. Take elves and dwarves for example. No, of course races such as 'elves' and 'dwarves' don't exist in this world… because elves and dwarves are humans, simple as that.
Humans can adapt to almost any environment, except for those too hostile, of course. That adaptation comes with price and benefits. Appearance of Elves and Dwarves is a result of slight mutation that several human nations experienced due to prolonged exposure to certain environments. The genetic difference between humans and elves, for example, isn't nearly enough to call elves at least a humans' subrace, let alone the different race. Same goes to dwarves.
For example, let's take a look at mountain elves, who proudly (arrogantly?) call themselves 'Sun Elves'. Due to prolonged exposure to concentrated, light-attuned ethernano, the citizens of that nation experienced slight increase of average height, their skin become paler, irises became lighter… and that's it. Oh, yes, the average lifespan increased to about 600 years – not surprising, because body, saturated with ethernano, can better protect individual's soul. Seems quite a benefit, but in the eyes of the true expert, one hundred years or six hundred – that's just a blink of an eye. Powerful humans, who refined a top-tier Magical Avatar Physique, can live up to 70 000 years – a few hundred years make no difference in the eyes of such experts.
On the other hand – about 90% of those so-called 'Sun Elves' have light/wind or light/rock elemental attribute. That heavily limits tactical flexibility of nation's troops as well as nation's ability to study and develop magic. That's a severe drawback, because variety of methods and magic schools is the one of humans' main advantages.
Humans' arrogance is a well-known thing in this world, but elves actually brought that bad trait on a whole new level. As it was said – a few mutations and a different culture isn't nearly enough to call themselves another race, but elves don't think so… Elven nations usually despise generic humans (in best case they treat common humans leniently). Elves of different types (i.e. with different mutations) don't trust each other either. Most likely, that arrogance comes due to increased lifespan…
Many times, elves ended up badly due to their arrogance, but, apparently, they are not learning. The history of elven kingdom Reyshiamael is one of the most vivid examples. The nation of so-called wood elves (humans, who mutated due to abundance of wood-attuned ethernano), which once existed in Great Samzeila Forest. They've built a vast kingdom in the forest, with entire castles constructed on huge trees. They called themselves the 'keepers of balance', 'guardians of the forest', who 'lives in harmony with nature'.
However, the true rulers of human's world are not kingdoms and empires, but huge wizards' guilds, the so-called superguilds. Those huge organizations, led by powerful human experts (who refined a top-tier Magical Avatar Physiques) – they are the true rulers over all humans outside of Magicscar Triangle. Every large and powerful empire has one or several superguilds backing it up. One such guild usually has hundred thousands or even millions of members.
And once, several powerful and famous experts decided to establish a new guild. Because they were focusing on developing the wood-based arts and spells, they decided that the Great Samzeila Forest is a nice place to establish a new guild. When human experts arrived and found out the 'elven kingdom' of Reyshiamael, elves were given a choice – to surrender their lands and become the new guild's protectorate (thus, accepting the corresponding legal doctrine) or GTFO from the forest.
Of course elves refused and a war broke out, the war that lasted for about eight hours. No one stood up for elves, no one even said a word about fact that the new guild's actions were unjust or illegal – the so-called elves were arrogant and seclusive, whilst the new guild's founders were famous experts with serious reputation. The one kingdom, elven or not, cannot compete with a superguild. The survived elves either joined the new guild or were exiled from the forest, and, without abundance of wood-attuned ethernano, they became normal humans during a dozen of generations, without a trace of 'elven mutation'.
Events, like the aforementioned one, happens from time to time, but nothing changes.
As for 'dwarves' – they are mostly human-like, despite they also live longer than normal humans (up to 300-350 years), and they're integrated with humas much closely than 'elves' – dwarves are not arrogant (and not stupid) enough to think of themselves as of a separate race.
About life, death, souls and 'Reincarnations'.
First thing first. All those vague things about life, death and afterlife, which we know from canonical Fairy Tail – forget about them, completely. The world in my story has a pretty distinct conception, which is described below.
Every more or less sentient being in this world (including artificially created entities) has a soul. Elementals, and even golems and artifacts, if they're strong enough to awake a consciousness, they also have souls.
Every soul that arrives to this world is whole, undamaged. Yes, sometimes souls got twisted even before person's birth, foredooming the one to become a piece of shit instead of a normal person, from the very beginning, other got twisted due to certain circumstances in their lives, but lifestyle has nothing to do with soul's wholeness (not directly, at least).
But since the moment the soul arrives in this world it begins to wear out. And it's up to a physical body to preserve the soul inside. The more durable and strong body – the better it can protect the soul. But still, even the most powerful individuals and artifacts can't preserve their souls indefinitely. Little by little, the world's impurity will be wearing a soul out. Even the most prominent experts will die, even the most powerful artifacts will lose their power sooner or later. The pinnacle-level Tier-19+ experts can live up to 100 000 years, but even their existence will come to an and one day.
There were multiple attempts to preserve the soul via artificial means, some can be considered partly successful. Some experts were trying to create their own worlds (spheres of inverted reflections), which should've been able to protect them from outer world's impurities. But still, even separate realms can't filter all the impurities from outer world that slowly seep inside. Rumors have it – a few generations ago, the member of South-Eastern Pantheon managed to live more than 210 000 years in his own realm, but still he died at some point. Besides, such a method means the complete isolation from the outside world – that's definitely an extreme price. Others managed to transform themselves into something else, like Avalon who became a huge island, or Meishén, who turned into an enormous Sakura tree. It is quite possible that their souls are still here as they're watching over their descendants… but, well, they can no longer be counted as persons.
The soul's wearing out affects the person's physical body, from aside it looks like what we call 'aging'. When soul becomes too damaged and can't take it anymore, it leaves the body (the process we call 'death'), and the process of reconstruction begins (the so-called 'Samsara's wheel').
If soul got twisted at some point during its presence in the world (I.e. if a person was committing atrocities during his or her life), it will be first sent to 'correction' (no one knows where it happens and how it works, but usually that place is called 'Hell' or 'Netherworld'). Some philosophers declare that this process is slow and very 'painful', whatever it means for a soul. Aster 'correction' the soul will be sent for reincarnation.
Those souls that never met "special circumstances" (or resisted all attempts to break them), i.e. if they lived their lives normally, are going to samsara cycle directly.
The Samsara's wheel will restore the soul's wholeness and clean up all impurities, also wiping out all memories, worries and pains of previous life. After that – the soul will return to the world to live once more. All souls are equal after they've been 'restored', and next life is completely independent from previous – race, gender, status, achievements of one's previous life – all of that is meaningless for the next one. "Quality" of one's soul, its "nobility" and other stuff like that – the things that Natsu's heavenly eyes can see – all that is related to individual's current life and its circumstances.
It is possible to resurrect a deceased person, but only if one didn't die of an old age. Actually, the resurrection comes to recreation of one's body and putting his or her soul into it. Obviously, there's no sense in making attempts to revive someone who died of old age (i.e. because his soul become too worn out). However, those who died due to an accident or those who fell in battle, still being more or less young, they can be brought back to life, as their souls still can endure for some time. There are several conditions, though…
First, the measures to preserve a soul must be taken, the faster the better. Without protection of body, a soul wears out immensely fast. Usually, a soul is temporary put inside of an artificial, golem-like vessel, or it can dwell in another person's body (usually in his mahōsui). Also, sometimes a soul got damaged during body's destruction, in that case it is not possible to resurrect a person, but such cases are pretty rare.
Second, certain measures must be taken to prevent a soul from being 'sucked' into Samsara's wheel after body's destruction. A ritual that will bind a soul to designated place. Such rituals usually are extremely expensive, so even the richest organizations can afford only a few, once in a while. Due to this – only the most valuable members of clans (tribes, orders…) are allowed to perform such a ritual. For example, Andromeda, who was appointed as an heiress of her clan, and was one of the most promising youngsters of her entire tribe, apparently, didn't pass such a ritual, as her soul didn't get back to her clan after her body died. Seemingly, rumors about Golden Eternity Dragon tribe being almost bankrupt after the War of Saints weren't so groundless…
There's an alternative, though. A person with pure enough blood can tie his or her soul to someone else – by placing a seal on another person, binding own soul not to a place, but to that person. Gods call these things 'Seal of First Apostle', divine beasts call them 'Mark of Destined One', but for commoners those are just the so-called 'mating signs'. Mark can be placed only once in a lifetime, so the one, who will be used as an anker for own soul, must be chosen very, very carefully – the apostle (soulmate) should have similar lifespan, enough survivability, and be absolutely loyal and reliable. Taking Andromeda as example again, if she and her fiancé would've marked each other – her soul would've brought back to him (to her mark) after her untimely demise. But tradition of her clan, where fiancé and fiancée exchange their marks during wedding ceremony, played a vile joke with her.
And third condition – the ritual of resurrection itself. The type of ritual needed depends on race and purity of person's blood. To revive Andromeda, the most advanced type of reviving ritual should be performed – a "circle of life and death ritual". Ritual is very complex, and materials needed for it are extremely rare and enormously expensive. It is unknown – can the Golden Eternity Dragon tribe afford at least one such a ritual, or not, in their current financial state…
Oh, almost forgot – there's another alternative to soul binding ritual and mating marks – the master-familiar contract. Familiar's soul is bound to master, so if master is an immensely rich person – he can revive his familiar. But that method is the rarest one in use, as the familiar trades a certain portion of his freedom in exchange for a chance to be resurrected, but elite experts, who are valuable enough to be resurrected (as resurrection comes with a huge price tag), usually value their freedom way above of a precarious chance for revival. Though, due to some extreme circumstances, even the most proud persons may rethink their reluctance…
The cycle of Samsara is working like a well-serviced machine. However, very, very rarely, an anomaly may appear. A phenomenon, known as 'reincarnation'. The worn-out soul, that already reached its limit, is yearning for restoration through the cycle. However, those who died while being young and full of vigor, filled with the will to live, is a bit different story. Most of those souls also will pass through the cycle as usual, of course, as they have no choice, but sometimes… Souls of those, who wielded an immense power during their lives, died young, but weren't revived due to some circumstances, actually may retain some of their memories, knowledges and powers from their previous life after passing through the cycle. The exact mechanism is completely unknown. Such people are called 'reincarnations'.
Of course, Natsu never saw a confirmed reincarnation before. He just thought that Erza's soul looks too majestic for someone who lived only about sixteen years (Erza's age when they've met for the first time). So, he assumed that his wife actually may be a reincarnation, but, honestly, that was a pure speculation.
"Reincarnations" are the only known anomaly in Samsara's cycle… but that doesn't mean that there are no other anomalies.
And one last thing. It wasn't confirmed, but, apparently, those who've been exposed to Tower of Din influence for too long, willingly or not, may not pass through the Samsara's wheel. Such beings are called the 'accursed souls'. Instead of the wheel, such souls are drawn to the Tower of Din, and no one knows what happens to them there…
That is all I wanted to say about the life and death philosophy in my story, for now. This system will be clarified and expanded as the story progresses, but the gist of it was outlined above. Also, as story will progress, I'll explain more specific details, like how the undead work, for example.
P.S. Since he's a spoiled rich kid, of course Natsu passed the ritual to ensure his soul's anchoring to Arx Tenebris, his clan's citadel. Also, now he has a Seal of First Apostle placed on Erza. It is not known – which one of these two methods will work in case of his body's destruction, so chances are 50/50. If his seal will work, then his soul will be residing in his wife's body until revival, the body, which already has one 'guest', by the way. The materials needed for resurrection definitely will be a huge issue. And if he'll appear in Arx Tenebris then he'll definitely will be revived relatively quickly, but getting back inside of Magicscar Triangle will be a huge problem. Capsule of Retransition is a one-use device, and Natsu already used the one, which his mother discovered due to sheer luck. As such, both 'options' seem equally bad, so losing his body isn't an option for Natsu, obviously.
One more thing about strength.
Throughout the history of this world – there are no records about anyone, whose strength can be evaluated at least as entry-level of Tier-20. Neither among gods, nor among members of other races. Also, there are no records about gods with more than four domains. No one in this world, throughout its entire history, managed to reach the level of strength that could be evaluated above the pinnacle-level of Tier-19+ (tiers' system was developed in Tower of Din only recently, but one still can make some estimations).
It actually seems like the world itself is naturally limiting the level of strength that one individual can harness…
Still, in recent history, there are actually some records about a few… persons, whose strength can be evaluated as Tier-20 – they are the seven guardians. Somehow, they've managed to break through this 'world's limit', definitely using some very unnatural means…
Chapter XXXX – Enchanted Pond
…
March 3, X785, 9:15, not far from Magnolia town.
Whilst Erza was busy helping Haru to find a flame essence, Natsu managed to complete the deployment of his Sphere of Inverted Reflections. Now it has the dedicated zones for all ten elements, also Natsu established a few special platforms in each zone. Those platforms can dissipate the ethernano, keeping its density on about the same level as in outside world, thus preventing meditating wizards from getting addicted to high ethernano density, allowing them to meditate continuously, for several weeks if needed, without a need to interrupt their meditation and go to outside world for a while. There's still an issue with the time flow's difference, of course, but those in deep meditation have the sense of time dulled, so it's not a problem.
Since both Haru and Nelliel, effectively, struck a deal with Natsu, agreeing to work for him in case of a crisis, and both signed a magical non-disclosure pact, they were allowed to use the SIR. In particular, right now, under Natsu and Sin's guidance, Haru was preparing to refine the flame essence he acquired, he was in SIR's fire zone.
Erza, on the other hand, wasn't with them – right now she was marching through the forest, in company of several other girls from Fairy Tail. The fact is – while he was patrolling (well, hanging around) the area, Sin found an anomaly of sort. Due to entrance to Natsu's SIR being nearby, several dense flows of ethernano are converge in this area. Due to this, a pond, rich with yin-attuned ethernano, appeared not far from this place. Sin told about it to Natsu, who remembered that Erza actually wanted to better socialize with other girls from the guild. And, in his opinion, that was a perfect opportunity to do so – a water, rich with yin-attuned ethernano, is very beneficial for all female wizards, and there are quite enough for many girls. As such, Natsu suggested to Erza to invite other female guildmates to participate in joint training session, and Erza liked that idea a lot.
Currently, aside from Lucy and Mirajane, who aren't dormitory residents, Erza was accompanied by the following residents of Fairy Hills: Wendy Marvel (and Carla), Levy McGarden, Cana Alberona, Bisca Connell and Laki Olietta. Juvia and Evergreen were unavailable when Erza was inviting girls for training session (probably both were doing missions). As for other girls from the guild (Fairy Tail now has more than a hundred), none of them will be able to withstand such a training for at least a few minutes, so this trip would've been just a waste of time for them. Honestly, even for Erza it was a bit of a (displeasing) surprise – to learn that so little number of Fairy Tail girls actually can participate in at least slightly advanced training. Girls already been walking for about twenty-five minutes, but scarlet-haired lady still couldn't settle down about it…
"…I really hate when women try to excuse their lack of magical strength with their gender. When it comes to magic, men and women are completely equal… no, if anything, we actually even have a little advantage over men – due to our thinner skin it is a bit easier for ethernano to enter our bodies, thus we can regenerate magical power slightly faster! Yet a lot of women still complaining about men being superior… I won't tolerate such a behavior in our guild!" Erza announced, as she said all of that in one breath.
"My lord… as if she wasn't annoying enough playing a role of a disciplinary committee chief, and now she's also a social activist?!" Mirajane complained quietly, though perfectly knowing that star dragon slayer will hear her anyway. Erza glanced at her (former) rival with narrowed eyes but didn't say anything.
Lucy was just silently following Erza, a tiger-girl seemed to be deeply in her own thoughts. Wendy and Carla were quietly talking about some trifles. Other girls, however, couldn't keep such a calm – Levy, Cana, Bisca and Laki seemed nervous, angry and confused. That was because of one more girl that was accompanying them – the one who was walking right behind Erza. That was Nelliel Tu Odel, of course. Even though the events involving the Phantom Lord have happened more than half a year ago, four girls from dormitory still couldn't forgive Nelliel's actions, as such, they were nervous and angry due to her presence. However, most weird thing was that Lucy and Mirajane, the two persons who suffered the most from Nelliel's hands, actually display no hostility towards Dreamwalker. That fact made four girls confused and angry, as it means that a lot of things actually happening without guild knowing anything about them. And, by the way, Cana seemed especially gloomy among four girls – because she was torn out from her bed so early in the morning.
"We're close, tread lightly, everyone," Erza's voice resounded through the air, attracting everyone's attention.
"Wow, Carla, can you feel it?!" Wendy asked excitedly as she physically could feel a pressure coming from the direction the group was heading to. White kitty just nodded as she frowned. Unlike Wendy, who was very excited just because Erza invited her to do something together with other guildmates, Carla was quite cautious about all that 'yin-attuned ethernano' stuff.
Well, if anything, Erza's voice distracted other girls from their untimely thoughts. The group walked forth for about three more minutes, before they found themselves on the shore of a big pond, with a few waterfalls filling it with water. The opposite shore was steep and rocky, but the one, on which girls now were standing, was declivous and sandy.
"I've never seen anything like that…" Nelliel admitted as she examined the pond's deep blue water.
"Neither have I," Erza nodded, as she added quietly, "I guess the guardian can see a lot of things that common folk cannot…"
"And that is especially worrying…" Dreamwalker sighed.
"Well, this is the place," Erza announced as she turned to others. "Go into the pond, as deep as you can, and try to consume as much of ethernano from the pond as possible." During this training session, the girls have to constantly release their magic, thus allowing the yin-attuned ethernano to enter their bodies and be released in form of magic as well. This process should help to strengthen their meridians and slightly enlarge their mahōsui [Magic Sleep] aka manapool.
Girls seemed uncertain, but Erza said nothing more as she took off her qipao dress, her sandals, and then her panty, and stepped towards the water.
'She's stripping down faster than Gray…' Mirajane rolled her eyes as she noticed how fast Erza undressed without any ex-quip magic. Though, she was the only one who thought so, as other girls, apparently, was worried about something else.
"Erza, what are you doing?!" Bisca asked in slight surprise.
"What?" Star dragon slayer looked at the green-haired girl questioningly, "Clothes will hinder the flow of ethernano in this water, of course you need to undress," She explained an obvious thing, in her opinion at least.
"But do we really need to take off the lingerie too?..." Laki mumbled.
"For the best possible results, yes," Erza nodded.
"But we're in the forest!" Levy exclaimed. "What if there are some men are around here?!" She asked as her cheeks became pink due to embarrassment.
"What are you talking about?" Erza looked at Levy as if the latter was an idiot, "Why should they be here? The yin-attuned ethernano is useless for men."
Levy seemed taken aback, but Lucy decided to help her. "I think Levy-san is afraid that someone could be peeking on us," She 'translated' for Erza.
'At what anyone could be peeking, when it comes to you?!' Mirajane thought as she endured the desire to facepalm.
"You thought about something rude just now, are you? Nelliel asked the snow-haired girl.
"As if you didn't," Mira snorted in reply.
Erza just shook her head, as she seemed displeased because these girls are still thinking about petty things instead of training, and stepped into the water. The surrounding space slightly trembled as Erza's foot touched the deep-blue water, but she showed no reaction and made another step forward.
Under everyone's gaze Erza continued to walk, until she completely went underwater. Though, there were still ripples over water's surface, which were showing that Erza's walking on the bottom of the pond, towards its very middle.
"Erza!?" Levy screamed in panic as she tried to run towards the pond – she definitely didn't realize what's going on (also, obviously, she didn't think what she's going to do when she'll reach the water). However, someone grabbed her by the collar of her dress, not allowing her to get to the water.
"Weren't you listening? Take off your clothes first," Mirajane addressed Levy whilst Lucy was holding the latter's collar. Neither of two girls seemed worried about Erza at all. A moment later, a pillar of water shot up from the pond, right from the middle of it, indicating that star dragon slayer began her training.
"Alright, we have to hurry, or there will be nothing left for us!" Nelliel announced as she pointed at the water pillar with her left hand, unbuttoning her shirt with her right.
Without uttering a single world Mira and Lucy quickly began to undress, dropping their clothes on the ground.
"Lu-chan?!" Laki exclaimed as her cheeks even flushed a little. No, of course she didn't get any questions related to magic, she just realized that beneath her crop top and side lace up denim shorts Lucy actually has no underwear. But tiger-girl just ignored her as she, Mirajane and Nelliel quickly went into the water, heading closer to the pond's center.
In the end, only Cana, Bisca, Levy, Laki, Wendy and Carla remained on the shore.
"Um… I… I guess we should… go there too?" Levy mumbled uncertainly as Nel, Mira and Lucy went completely underwater.
"But… I don't think I can go… underwater like they do…" Bisca seemed nervous, she wasn't sure about her ability to hold breath.
"Aaaahhh! Shit, let's just go and see how deep we can go!" Cana shouted as she began to take off her clothes.
"Um…" Laki nodded as she again nervously looked around – apparently, just like Levy, she was afraid that someone's going to peek on them. Besides, air temperature was about 11 °C…
"Ugh! What the fuck!?" Cana screamed as she quickly took her feet away from the pond's water. She just tried to step in, but as soon as her leg submerged into water, Cana felt as if a good big elephant just stepped on her foot.
"The hell with this water?!" Bisca asked as she just tried to put her palm into pond and felt as if her arm was almost torn off – the pressure from the ethernano-saturated water was just that strong. Besides, yin-rich water felt as if its temperature is way below zero. At that moment, three more pillars of water shot up from the pond, indicating that Nelliel, Lucy and Mirajane began their training. They didn't go into pond's water as deep as Erza, but certainly they were deep enough now. The pressure in there should be tenfold stronger than here, near the shore, yet, none of those four, who are training underwater now, allowed even a single sound to escape their mouths while they were submerging into water.
Cana, Bisca, Levy and Laki were looking at one another in shock and dismay – none of them, apparently, could really comprehend this. Enduring such a pressure and a cold-like effect at the same time – it's definitely a hellish torture – why those girls are doing this? They lust for power that much?! Why!?
"Ugh…" A weak moan came from the side.
"Wendy?!" Carla screamed as she saw that skymaiden actually stepped into the water. While she was distracted due to other girls' reaction about pond's water, her friend already took off her clothes and attempted to go into pond. "What are you doing?!" White kitty exclaimed.
But Wendy didn't reply. Girl's face got twisted with pain, but she stubbornly made another step forth. Then she waited a few seconds, probably making sure that she can endure, and made another step forward. That scene lasted until Wendy entered into pond until water was at her waist. Then she slowly knelt, so now water was almost touching her chin. Even though her head was above the water, definitely it was painful for the girl to breath, due to enchanted water's pressure. But Wendy only closed her eyes, and soon, water around her became cowered with bubbles – she began her training.
"What is with everybody?!" Bisca shouted in frustration.
"No idea," Cana sighed deeply, "But I do know, however, that if even she's training," She pointed at Wendy, "Whilst we're standing here doing nothing – we won't be able to call ourselves adults anymore!" And as she said that, Cana stepped towards the dark-blue water.
"Haaah…" Carla only sighed helplessly, as she looked at Wendy, who went completely into training mode, while Levy, Laci and Bisca were uncertainly looking at the enchanted pond.
March 3, X785, 10:30, SIR.
In the meantime, while Erza and other girls were at the pond, Haru arrived to the SIR, together with the flame essence he managed to acquire yesterday.
"Man, what is this place?!" Fire dragon slayer asked in astonishment. Right now, he was just like a village kid, who came to the capital city for the first time, looking around in amazement.
"Too long to explain," Natsu replied calmly, "That's a special place for training." Since Happy, of course, wasn't allowed to enter SIR (and to know about it), now Haru was carried by Sin whilst Natsu was flying on his sword. They were heading to Fire zone.
In a several minutes, they've reached their destination – an isle in the middle of lava lake – the very same place where Erza was finishing her re-origination. "This is the place," God of Ruin waved his arm around. "Here no one will disturb you, and this environment is perfect for someone with fire attribute such as yourself," He commented.
Haru looked around. To be honest, here wasn't much to look at – a lava lake and a lot of scorched rocks, but he didn't come here for sightseeing. He then came to the middle of the island, where he sat cross-legged on some metallic platform, still holding the scarf that was given to him by Igneel. A hot flame was dancing within his black eyes as he stared at the scaled scarf in front of him. "Alright, what should I do next?" There was some perspiration within his palms as Haru asked softly.
"Well, essentially that will be a battle of skills," Sin replied. "You need to force this essence to fuse with your Mahōhenkō [Magic Change]. If you'll manage to do that – your flame become the White Amaryllis Explosive Flame. If you lose – this essence will take over your Mahōton [Magic Release] in particular, and your brain in whole, and you'll turn into a creature with beast-like instincts instead of a real consciousness, with no chance to get back your real self."
"In that case you'll end up as a subject for my experiments," Natsu noted as if it wasn't something special. Rippers Factory doesn't work with humans (neither as recipients, nor as sacrifices), but maybe, if he's taken over by the flame essence, Haru will be inhuman enough for Rippers Factory to work…
Haru swallowed his saliva but his determination seemingly didn't weaver. That was a good sign. "In short, this is the test of your control over flame – you must force the essence to follow a certain path via your meridians, and then make it to stay in your mahōhenkō long enough to perform fusion," Sin explained.
"Use whatever means necessary to strengthen your will," Natsu added. "This thing has an intelligence of a beast at best, you may not lose to it."
Haru nodded as he slowly unwrapped his scaled scarf. As he did that, a powerful impulse shook the surrounding space. He stared intently at the white-colored flame, that appeared from the scarf, as he licked his lips. Yearning and desire covered his entire face.
"Do not try to touch it, use your control over flame to lift it up," Sin advised.
"Yes," Haru nodded his head and held his scaled scarf with his arms. His magical perception swiftly intruded into it, forcing the White Amaryllis Explosive Flame to rise a bit. After which, he carefully pulled away his scarf and wrapped it around his neck.
Having lost the bonds of the scarf, that originally tiny white-colored flame suddenly grew by a few times. In just a blink of an eye, the white-colored flame wisp turned into a cluster of flame which was suspended in midair.
As the size of the flame grew, the pressure in surrounding area also increased quickly. Both Natsu and Sin, who don't have the fire attribute, used their wicked weave to protect themselves. Natsu has never seen the process of essence refinement, so he let Sin to guide Haru through the process. Though, Sin actually also never seen that, but he at least knows the theory quite well.
After extending his hand to wipe the sweat off of his forehead, Haru took two small steps back and raised his head. His face was filled with seriousness as he stared at the rising white flame. Although his heart had already done its best to calm down, his palms still were still trembling involuntarily. "What do I do next?" Haru forcefully pretended to be calm as his shaking voice asked.
"The power created from swallowing the 'Essence of Flame' will be extremely strong. I will be using my power to sustain this place," Natsu explained his role in this process.
"Understood," Haru nodded his head.
"As for me – I'll be watching the process of refinement. If something goes wrong, I'll do my best to save your life, but in current circumstances, even if I'll be able to prevent the essence from taking you over, you will end up severely injured. As such, make sure that nothing goes wrong," Sin hesitated for a moment before saying helplessly. "After all, you have to swallow the flame essence into your body. That is an extremely dangerous act," He added, as he assumed his humanoid form – a tall, pale, and quite handsome young man.
"Huh?! How did you do that?!" Haru actually was startled as he saw the little boney creature taking human's form.
"What? This form?" Sin looked at Haru questioningly.
"Don't get distracted now," Natsu addressed Haru, "That's not too difficult, with enough training even your cat will be able assume humanoid form, focus on the flame essence."
"Yes, sorry," Haru shook his head – there definitely will be a better time for such questions. He tilted his head slightly and looked at the white flame. Right now he wouldn't mind Happy's emotional support, too bad that he isn't here…
"You may proceed," Sin addressed Haru as he glanced at cluster of white flame.
"Yes," Haru nodded. He closed his eyes and stood like that for about a minute. Regardless of how bold his character was, his heart would unavoidably feel some uncertainty and apprehension when faced with making this kind of life-and-death decision. And who could blame him? After all, what he was about to swallow was an extremely restless bomb. This bomb had a quite high probability to blast his body into ashes the moment he swallowed it. But then, Haru's eyes were abruptly shot open, and he made a deep breath, as he usually doing to consume fire to restore his magic.
At this time, the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' seemed to have realized Haru's intentions. Instantly, the ethernano contained within the surrounding space began to riot. A mottled energy flowed, much like a gust of wind, appearing extremely dazzling. The mottled energy spiraled around the surroundings of the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame', occasionally, a wisp of flame would pounce on it. However, a peal of thunder resounded in the air, as multiple dark blue lightnings forcefully dissipated all that mottled energy, as ethernano flow returned to normal. This SIR belongs to Natsu, and he won't allow some weird thing to do whatever it wants in here.
As its attempt to steal some energy has been repelled, the originally terrifying pressure in surrounding air immediately rose sharply. The island began to swiftly crack under this sudden sharp rise in pressure. Numerous crack lines quietly spread and in only a moment, they covered a large portion of the island.
"What a terrifying destructive power. If it were to be thrown into a town, it might be able to devastate a Magnolia-sized town into ruins within a few minutes," Natsu shook his head as perspiration surfaced on his face, "And that is one of lowest ranks…" He looked at Sin, and, after receiving a nod, stood on one knee, forming a hand seal, taking manual control over his SIR. As Natsu took control over the surrounding space, many cracks quickly disappeared and new ones stopped appearing. But as Natsu fully focused on his SIR, it was up to Sin to watch over the refinement process.
In the meantime, despite its rageful resistance, the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' was slowly approaching Haru. After about two more minutes of struggle, the white flame was sucked into his wide-open mouth.
Once the white-colored flame entered his mouth, Haru immediately closed his mouth tightly. At the same time, his entire body seemed to have been struck by high voltage. It trembled intensely and his face, which originally had some color, suddenly turned pale. He quickly sat cross-legged. Forcefully withstanding the waves of searing pain from within his body, Haru slowly closed his eyes and his mind gradually descended into his body.
Natsu released his hand seal and stood up. But he didn't relax even a bit, in contrary – he was completely focused. As Haru and White Amaryllis Explosive Flame began their battle, struggling to control one another, their fight will manifest itself in outside world. And, as a confirmation of that thought, Haru's body elicited a nova-like wave of white flame. The temperature of 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' is relatively low, but its explosive power is a real deal.
Natsu clapped his palms, making a lightning cage around Haru, suppressing the outburst of flame. Seemingly, the next few hours will be troublesome…
In the meantime, Haru's mind began to make attempts to come into contact with a wisp of 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' that was now sitting in his lower dantian (mahōsui). However, his initial contact caused Haru to feel a great headache, as in outside space it manifested itself in form of white flame nova again. This kind of flame essence energy was extremely wild by nature. It was like trying to get a wild and free-spirited beast to follow orders and that was clearly not an easy task.
After his attempt at controlling the flame failed, Haru did not give up because of it. He spurred on his mind and persistently attempted to control this wisp of flame essence again.
One failure, two failures, three failures… after failing an unknown number of times, Haru, who had tried until his mind nearly became numb, suddenly felt as if his heart leapt. He hurriedly steadied his mind and was filled with unrestrained joy as he realized that the wisp of 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' had actually begun to go along the route through his meridians, towards the middle dantian (mahōhenkō).
Mahōhenkō – Magic Change – is a point where ethernano, which is attributeless while it is stored in mahōsui, became attuned to person's attribute during spellcasting. When spell is cast, the ethernano gets summoned from mahōsui, then it gets attuned to person's attribute in mahōhenkō, and then it takes form of a desired spell in upper dantian – mahōton [Magic Release]. Of three stages, only the last one is consciously controlled. As such, Haru must achieve a flawless fusion of 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' and his mahōhenkō, so ethernano could take form of a said flame essence in any situation.
On its path, a wisp of flame suddenly stopped and released a shockwave. An intense pain reached deep into his soul as in real world it caused Haru to violently burp out a huge torrent of white flame.
"Remind me to never dine at the same table with him," Sin said squeamishly as he barely avoided that torrent… well, as if a skeleton actually needs a dinner.
Haru's teeth clenched against each other. That sudden appearance of intense pain caused his head to feel giddy for a while before he gradually calmed down. He didn't even have time to regain his breathing as he hurriedly focused upon the flame essence. Once again, he took control over the white wisp of flame and slowly pushed it towards his mahōhenkō.
Clenching his teeth intensely, Haru used all his might to drag that little white-colored flame. The high pressure that was released from within it, seeping through Haru's meridians and flesh, causing tiny, white-colored bubbles to appear on the surface of his body, as white flame was bursting out through pores on Haru's skin.
Haru was ignoring weird things that were happening on the surface of his body. Instead, he had already placed all his attention onto the white-colored flame that was about to enter his mahōhenkō. At this moment, Haru could clearly feel that relationship between his mind and the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' had become a little more tacit. But in fact, he was approaching the most crucial point in refinement process.
As soon as wisp of white flame reached Haru's mahōhenkō, there was a sudden surge of flame in his body. This slight change had an extreme effect on the unstable situation. The wave of immense pressure caused the violent and explosive flame, which filled Haru's entire body, to abruptly surge outward through his mouth. The sudden intense pain caused Haru's spirit to violently tremble a few times. On his forehead, cold sweat was like dripping water as it swiftly fell, drenching his clothes.
Apparently, the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' made its last, desperate attempt to resist as it tried to break through directly to Haru's mahōton. Due to unexpectedness, Haru almost lost control of situation. However, just as it was about to enter into Haru's mahōton, the path of white flame was suddenly blocked by a firewall, made of completely different flame. A light blue flame – ever cold, lifeless, and immensely dreadful. Flame-like power that actually has nothing to do with flame. "Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame" essence's attempt to resist was unexpected for Haru, but not for Sin, who now stood in front of fire dragon slayer with his middle and index fingers being put right into Haru's mouth.
As it met an unexpected obstacle, in form of a Flame of the Damned, the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' got startled for a moment, but that was enough for Haru to regain his wits and restore his control over the white wisp of flame. Straining all his mental powers, Haru slowly began to push the wisp of flame back, towards his mahōhenkō.
"It seems like fear is the best weapon, after all," Natsu commented as Sin managed to terrify even the flame essence.
"Whatever you say," Sin waved him off with his left arm.
Haru was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. The current him was in a type of half-conscious and mysterious state. His mind had become extremely exhausted after having contended with the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' from before, but that wasn't the time to relax just yet. Right now, in his body, he was 'looking' at vortex, made of orange flame. That was his mahōhenkō – the attributeless ethernano from his mahōsui will be sucked into this vortex, only to be thrown out on the other side, already attuned with fire. For now, there's nothing really special about this flame, and Haru needs to fix that.
A wisp of white flame fell into that vortex. By now, the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' has already calmed down – seemingly it has resigned to the fact that this is its new home. After it stilled for a moment, it suddenly dove into the vortex. When the 'Whyte Amaryllis Explosive Flame' entered, the calm vortex, which was slowly and gradually swirling, suddenly surged intensely. Circle after circle of energy ripples continued to form waves within the interior of the vortex. It actually seemed like the orange flame is attempting to flee from the white one, but white wisp of flame 'pounced' on orange fire and began to devour it.
Once it had finished devouring the common flame and forcefully occupying the vortex, the white-colored flame slowly roamed around. A while later, threads of white-colored pure gaseous energy began to emerge from within it and began to swiftly gather together within the vortex. In only just a moment, the almost empty middle of the vortex was filled with this pure-white-colored energy.
Both Sin and Natsu relaxed and stepped away from Haru. From here on, no complications should appear – it seems that he succeeded in refining the flame essence. Most likely Haru was unsatisfied with his own performance – if not for Sin's interference – everything could go awry. But Haru gonna have a lot of time to think about it and improve his control over flame, and now, as he acquired the flame essence, he'll definitely get a power boost.
But this process may take a while – up to two weeks (about four and half days in outside world). "I'll be in Metal Zone," Natsu announced as he wanted to test his new training ground, "Watch over things here for me."
"Alright," Sin nodded, "But I'll go take a look at how's guild doing, first."
"As you wish," Natsu nodded as he made his sword, Magna Ruina, to levitate, jumped on it and flew off.
March 3, X785, 22:40, not far from Magnolia town.
A group of girls was returning to the guild. Wendy, who seemed tired but still enthusiastic, was talking with Erza and Nelliel about dragon slayers magic. Carla was walking beside her, but white kitty seemed distracted. She seemed like that since the afternoon nap she took, and when Wendy asked, Carla said that she got a bad foreboding… who knows what's going on in her head?
Lucy and Mirajane were walking a bit behind, talking about some girls-exclusive trifles, but both were quite satisfied with their training results. The yin-attuned ethernano in the pond was almost exhausted, but within several weeks it should recover, so this training session may be repeated. However…
Most likely, next time not all of those present today will come. Cana, Levy, Laki and Bisca seemed discouraged, but probably not because they couldn't get a lot of benefits from this training (and not because they were freezing). Apparently, instead of improving socialization between guildmates, with this training session Erza achieved an opposite result. Maybe just a little, but she only deepened the schism between herself, Lucy and Mirajane on one side, and other girls on another side, as today's activity demonstrated that those three have completely different values, comparing to all other sorceresses from the guild. Actually, it seems like that green-haired girl, a former Phantom Lord member, who's currently a member of another guild, she has much more in common with these three, than other Fairy Tail guildmates do. Less than a year ago, when Lucy just joined the guild, all sorceresses of Fairy Tail were like sisters, but now… those three feels more like cousins. That doesn't seem like anything bad yet, but the tendency isn't good.
Definitely, something did happen during that mission three months ago, which Natsu and others were doing together with other guilds. Hair color, ears and tails – that's one thing, but what's with her character? Where's that clumsy and timid, but cheerful and positive girl go, why Lucy become like she is now? And Mirajane – yes, she reverted to her old self during battle against Phantom Lord, but her old self was bold and aggressive, but still kind and caring. But now it seems like she cares quite little about anything but magic.
So, generally, the atmosphere in the group seems a bit gloomy. Carla, however, was worried about something else. She cautiously looked at the dark sky, as if she saw some bad premonition up there…
And this is it for now. Again, sorry for another filler, next chapter definitely will contain Gildartz's return (which is much less important for my stary than it was for canon) and other Edolas arc-related stuff. See you!