Chapter 3: First Job
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
It's the morning after Natsu joined Fairy Tail and if he learned anything from the previous night it's the guild knows how to throw one hell of a welcome party. Most of them didn't even go home once the party was over, they just passed out on the floor, table, or in a pile of other guild mates. Currently he is sitting at the bar enjoying his breakfast, courteous of the bar staff.
"Good Morning Natsu" Makarov said while approaching pinkette. "How are you enjoying the guild so far?"
"I like it so far, this place is definitely a lot of fun" Natsu said in between bites.
"That's good to hear. So, what are your plans for today?"
"As much as I like the beds in the infirmary, I could use some jewels."
"Then why not take a quest, I'm sure with your skills you can easily find a suitable job"
"Good idea old man, thanks" Natsu said, having just finished his meal he made his way to the request board. The board was filled with quest, some asking for help with mundane task such as finding a lost pet or gathering certain plant for medicines while others were seeking help with bandits terrorizing routes between towns. However; while scanning the board Natsu found a job that caught his immediate attention. It is an extermination quest seeking a mage willing to take care of a pack of beast that has been endangering a village. None of it seemed like anything that Natsu couldn't handle, but he couldn't help but notice something weird about it though. There was no information on the beast that needed to be taken care of. Nothing to indicate what kind of beast they are, what their numbers are, what their capable of, are or even how difficult the job would be. However; one piece of information that was included was the 500,000 jewel which is enough to catch Natsu's attention.
Deciding that he could learn all of this information late, Natsu decided to take the quest to Makarov to get it approved. After looking the quest over, Makarov wasn't surprised to see Natsu pick this kind of job though he is relieved to see that Natsu wouldn't be fighting any humans, he isn't looking forward to the day when everyone finds out about what the dragon slayer was trained to do. Hopefully he'll be able to convince Natsu to change his stance on killing before it becomes an issue. While looking over the quest, the old man couldn't help but notice the lack of information that would normally come with this type of quest. "That's quite the job you chose, are you sure you want to take this on for your first job?"
"Of course, it's just hunting some dangerous beast. I did it all the time before Igneel disappeared."
"Very well, but let's see if we can find someone to go along with you so that you can learn how to properly interact with clients." Makarov said while taking a look around the guild to see who would be available. After a quick look, the old man found a great candidate. "Mira, would you please come over here for a moment?"
"Sure, what do you need Master?" Mira asked as she approached the two
"Would you mind accompanying Natsu on his first quest and show him the ropes?"
"What's the quest?"
"A hunting quest with no information on what you will be hunting; however, I'm sure with both yours and Natsu's skill that you'll be done and on your way back before the end of the day."
"Sure I'll go. Let me tell Elfman and Lisanna and I'll be ready to go. I'll meet you outside in a bit" Mira said to Natsu as she started to make her way to her siblings to let them know that she will be leaving shortly.
"Good luck on your mission Natsu, make sure you and Mira return safely." Makarov said as he went to approve the quest.
"Yeah, will do Gramps" Natsu said as he made his way outside. Makarov cracked a smile at the nickname Natsu gave him; he figured that his newest member will call him master like the rest of the guild does eventually.
Natsu waited in front of the guild hall for only few minutes before Mira arrived. "You ready to go?"
"Yep, just had to tell my siblings that I won't be gone long. Hopefully we can finish it and be back before the day is. I forgot to ask earlier but how much does it pay anyway?" Mira said as she started to make her way through the town with Natsu following right beside her, assuming that she already knew where they had to go.
"500,000 jewels"
"We're getting that much just to take care of some beast?!" Mira almost yelled
"Yeah, but keep in mind we know nothing about it or how many there are"
"Good point, this thing must be dangerous if we're getting paid that much."
"No kidding, but I'm sure we can handle it. Anyways do you where this town is." Natsu asked. The flier the job was posted on stated that they were to meet the mayor in a town called Aravis but the young mage had no idea where that town is located.
"I do actually, Master told which way would be the quickest way to get to the town. He even gave a very important warning." Mira said as she turned a corner.
"What, did he learn something about the job? Does he know what kind of beast we're fighting?" Natsu said as followed Mira around the corner, his blood running cold at the sight before him.
"No, he warned me about your motion sickness." Mira said as she stood in front of the train station.
"There is no way in hell I am getting on one of those death traps!" Natsu yelled in fear. The suffering he experienced the day before still fresh on his mind. He turned to quickly walk away but was stopped as Mira grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him towards the station with Natsu struggling to break free the whole time.
"Oh yes you are getting on that death trap. You don't know where you're going and I'm not walking all the way there." Mira said as she was finding a lot of joy in how much the pinkette is apparently scared by trains.
"Come on, Please! Why can't we just walk?" Natsu pleaded.
"Because it'll take two days just to walk there and I told by siblings that I'd be back by tonight. So either you can man up and get on that train willingly or I'll just keep dragging you. Either way, you're getting on that damn train." Mira said while smirking evilly. She knew that she couldn't threaten Natsu with violence since he is the stronger of the two of them, but his fear of trains was overriding the logical and rational side of his brain was making this much easier for her.
Natsu continued to plea the whole time as Mira continued to drag him to his doom. Most of the men watching felt sorry the young pinkette as they hoped that whatever he did to deserve such treatment was worth it while the women that were watching with a feeling of pride as they internally approved of the goth girl's actions, assuming that she is punishing the boy for something he did. Regardless; everyone was laughing at the scene before them.
Time Skip: 1 Hour
If Mira felt joy at Natsu trying, and failing, to escape her clutches then words cannot describe what she was feeling at the sight of the dragon slayer suffering from what could only be described as severe motion sickness. To see someone, no older than herself, who effortlessly defeated her and that tin can Erza while barely using any magic suffer so much is quite possibly her new favorite thing. The downside is that the train ride will only last for another two hours. Oh well, at least there is the train ride back.
Scene Change: Aravis, two hours later
As soon as the train stopped at the station, Natsu dived out and immediately hugged ground and swore to never get on another death trap. He didn't even wait for the train doors to open; he just dived out the window as soon as he could move without feeling the full effect of his motion sickness.
Literally a few seconds later Mira walked off the train and looked down at where Natsu is "You really couldn't wait a few seconds to walk off the train" she said stoically. She knew that he would want to get off the train as fast as possible but to jump out the second it stopped moving seemed like a bit much. At least it gave her something else to make fun of him for.
"You really are a demon, you know that right?" Natsu grumbled as he continued to hug the ground.
"Of course" Mira stated happily.
After a few more seconds of hugging the ground, Natsu got up and the duo made their way through the town. According to the flier they were to meet with the mayor at the town hall. After asking around a bit they found where they were supposed to go. Once they showed up they were escorted to the mayor's office by the secretary. When they arrived at the office they were introduced to a man that looked to either be in his late thirties or early forties and is wearing a black suit. He is clean shaven with well-kept black hair with slight graying on the sides.
"You must be the mages from Fairy Tail. My name is Alexander Botaris, and as I can assume you have figured out, I am the mayor of this town as well as the person who put out the request" the mayor said. Judging from the way speaks; he comes across as someone who is well educated and very formal in how he conducts business. "I don't mean to sound rude, but aren't you two a little young to be doing this kind of work?"
"If we weren't, do you really think our master would allow us to accept this job" Mira said with a fake smile and her eye twitching. This isn't the first time someone questioned whether she should be doing a job because of her age.
"That is a fair point. My apologies, but given how dangerous this job is I wouldn't feel comfortable sending mages unless I knew they were capable."
"If we weren't capable to begin with then our master never would have approved us taking this job to begin with. He cares about our safety above all else and he wouldn't send us out on a job he knew we aren't qualified for. So I can assure you we handle whatever anything that is thrown at us." Mira said, doing her best to assure the mayor that the two of them can handle this job.
Natsu is surprised by how Mira is acting. From what he saw the previous day, she isn't the type of person that liked when someone questioned her strength. But to see her trying to assure the client and be professional is definitely unexpected and not in a bad way.
"Why don't you tell us about what you need us to do. The only information on the flier was that we need to take care of some dangerous beast."
"Under the given situation, I guess I don't have much of choice. The reason why there is so little information is that very little known about the beasts. The only information we have is that these creatures hunt in large pack and they're extraordinarily dangerous."
"When did these creatures start showing up?" Natsu asked
"We started to notice something a little over a week ago. One day people started disappearing after walking into the forest. After a couple days I had a hunting party go out in search for the missing people. Later that day only one of them made it back alive, though he was in critical condition. Before he passed away from his injuries he did inform us that there a great many of them and that they were ambushed by these creatures." The mayor said solemnly, the image of the man that was covered in blood with numerous lacerations across his body still fresh on his mind. How the poor hunter managed to escape and make it back to the village while still drawing breath is still something the mayor couldn't believe. "As you can imagine, because of these creatures, the villagers are far too scared to enter the forest, understandably so. This is also greatly affecting our economy since no one is willing to import or export any goods."
"So you have no other information?" Mira asked
"Unfortunately no"
"Do you have any idea of where those hunters started searching?" Natsu asked
"No, all I can tell you is that they head east when they left the village and when the one hunter came back, it was near the norther entrance."
"Thanks, that'll be more than enough for me to find these things" Natsu said as he stood up.
"Don't worry; we'll be sure to get rid of these beasts for good" Mira said as her and Natsu made their way outside.
"I'm guessing you have some sort of plan since you apparently know how to find these things" Mira asked.
"Simple, go east and follow the scent of blood" Natsu said casually.
"And how do you plan to do that?"
"A side effect of becoming a dragon slayer is that all of our senses become significantly sharper than your average human. So I figure we just head east and follow the scent of blood and any group of creatures whose scent is different from this forest."
"How do you know their scent is different from the forest. Doesn't all forest smell the same?"
"No, while most forests do smell similar, there is always a slight difference in their scent. And if these things were here any longer the village would have noticed them much sooner. Since these things came from somewhere else and they haven't been here long enough for their scents to change, I just have to sniff out anything that smells different.
"Is your nose really that strong?"
"Yep, I can smell just about everyone and thing within a few miles of here."
"Does that mean you already know where these beasts are?" Mira said with a glimmer of hope. Maybe they can find these things, finish the job, and be back in Magnolia sooner then she thought.
"Nope, from what I can tell we're going for a long nature walk."
"Great" Mira said sarcastically as the duo made their way to the forest to begin their hunt
As they make their way through the forest both mages couldn't help but notice an odd silence. There were no birds chirping, no crickets chirping, there wasn't even any wind that blowing through the branches of the trees and bushes. The only thing they could hear was their own footsteps. It's as if there was absolute nothingness in this part of the forest.
"Hey Natsu, do you mind if I ask you a couple questions" Mira ask, hoping this alleviate her boredom
"I don't mind, what do you want to know?" Natsu said while sniffing the surrounding area
"What was training with your father like? I know you said he was serious and a pretty extreme; but was he always like that?"
"No, whenever he would show me a new move he would always take his time to make sure I understood what he was teaching me. Actually the only time that he was really tough on me was during my physical training and whenever we would spar. Other than that, he was a very calm and patient."
"Did he teach you any other magic besides your Dragon Slayer magic?"
"Kind of, he did help me learn normal Fire magic but all the moves I learned were more tailored towards my fighting style instead of learning how to do what Igneel can do."
"Did you learn anything else from him?"
"Lots, but as far as magic goes, that's it."
"I have another question that's been bugging me" Mira said while narrowing her eyes on Natsu to see how he would react. This is something that has been bother her since she first met him and was hoping that fighting him would have answered her questions. "Why do I sense demonic energy within you?"
"Uh, I'm surprised that you were able to sense it. I'm not sure if Gramps even noticed it." Natsu said, genuinely surprised by what Mira asked.
"You can thank my demon souls for that. Because of them I got really good at sensing that type of energy. So, are you going to answer my question or keep trying to dodge it?"
Natsu ignites engulfs his hands in flames, however these flames were the red and orange flames that she saw coming off his body after one of her attacks hit him nor were they like the green and white flames that he used to heal his broken arm. These flames were purple and black and were giving off a dark energy. "What you're sensing is my Fire Devil Slayer magic" Natsu said as he dispersed his purple and black flames.
"Who taught you how to use those flames?"
"How do you know that Igneel didn't teach me?"
"Because you already said that he only taught you two different magics, so unless you're a liar that means someone else taught you that third magic of yours."
"Good point, it's something that I picked up from this demon I trained under."
"You trained under a demon?"
"Yeah, I actually trained with quite a few dragons and demons."
"Wait a minute, if what I'm sensing is your devil slayer magic, then how come how come I sense demon energy instead of magical energy?"
"It's a side effect of slayer magic. The slayer's body adapts to the magic of the creature we're trained to kill and changes so that we're not harmed by our magic. So because of my magic, I'm part dragon and demon."
"That… that explains why you're so strong." Mira said while in shock of what she had just learned. "So why did your father have you train with so many other dragons and demons?"
"Igneel said I had a lot of potential and he wanted to make sure I lived up to those expectations. While Igneel was a great teacher but there were somethings that he couldn't teach me. He couldn't teach me how to fight like a human because he's a dragon and I use to try to perform my attacks the same way he did. There were also things that some of his friends were more qualified to teach me."
"That explains why you're so hellishly strong you are. Do you know any other types of magic?"
"Nope, I just know the three for now."
"Really?" Mira ask skeptically. "After all that training under all those dragons and demons you didn't pick up any of their other magic"
"No, dragons only pass their magic onto those they see as their children and most of the demon's magics weren't good fits for me so most just helped me train to improve my physical strength, further develop my fighting style, how to develop a strategy on the fly, and a few other useful things."
Mira took a moment process everything she just heard, she came to a realization that there really us a massive gap in strength and power. "Why didn't you tell the guild about all of that?"
"There are a few reasons. The first one is that no one asked so I didn't see a point in telling them. The second is that with how they acted just from learning about my training with Igneel, I didn't think it would be good idea to tell them everything. And the last reason is that I don't want to give away all my tricks. Have any more questions?"
"Just one, would it be okay if I trained with you?"
"You want to train with me?" Natsu asked incredulously
"Of course, you trained with real demons and learned first-hand from them so you know better than anyone else what they're capable of. If I train with you then I can expand on my Take-Over magic in more ways than I ever thought. Plus I'll definitely surpass that annoying Tin Can after training with you."
"Wow, you must really not like Erza."
"I wouldn't say that I don't like her, we're just really competitive and she knows how to get under my skin. Anyways, can I train with you?" Mira asked once again, giving Natsu the puppy dog eyes, hoping that he won't be able to say no to her secret weapon
There it is the look that Natsu dreaded. He knows a couple of other slayers that have you used the same look on him when they want something from him. And like with those previous times, he just couldn't say no. "If you think you can handle it, then sure. But keep in mind that it won't be easy."
"If it was going to be easy, I'd be disappointed. Besides, I love a challenge." Mira said happily.
"Good to hear" Natsu said, also with a smile, but this is coming from just seeing Mira's excitement. "I have a question, who taught you how to use your magic?"
"No one, I'm mostly self-taught. The only thing anyone taught me was Master and that was just how to control my magic" Mira said.
"Really, you're self-taught? Man, you're more awesome than I thought."
"Oh what, did you think I was some weakling or something" Mira said while glaring at the dragon slayer.
"Not at all, I was just surprised to hear that you're self-taught. I thought with how skilled you are with fighting and magic that you definitely trained under someone. I'm actually impressed. So, how did you get your magic?"
"I… I rather not talk about it." Mira said, hoping to avoid telling how she unlocked her magic.
"Too personal?"
"More like it wasn't the best time for me when it happened."
"I'm sorry for bringing it up then" Natsu said, hoping to avoid touching a sensitive nerve with someone he only met yesterday.
"Don't be, you didn't know" Mira said, doing her best to get some unpleasant memories out of her head.
"Do Elfman and Lisanna use the same magic as you? They didn't say what kind they used when we met yesterday."
"Kind of, they both know Take Over but they both use different souls. Elfman uses Beasts Soul while Lisanna uses Animal Soul."
Natsu was about to ask more when a scent caught his attention, one that he is very familiar with. The two came across a clearing, and the sight before them could only be described as a massacre. They found the hunting party that the mayor had sent out. Well, it's more accurate to say they found their remains. Each corpse looked like they were chewed up, ripped apart, and forced through a meat grinder. The scent of death permeated the air around them.
Mira was covering her mouth in shock, she's seen how brutal some beast can be when they kill, but this is a level violence that she hasn't seen. Natsu on the other only had a dark look on his face. From Mira's perspective, he looked as if this sight was all old hat to him, like it was a sight he came across far too many times.
"It looks like we found the hunting party." Natsu said as he started to inspect one of the bodies. "After seeing this, I'm surprised that one of the hunters managed to make it back to the village."
"What are you doing?" Mira asks, not liking how casual Natsu is when facing group of dead people.
"Figuring out what were up against. Looking at these deep cuts, these creatures definitely have sharp claws and they prefer to swipe at their prey. Most of these cuts are about the same depth of each other, so I think they like to inflict as much pain as possible before killing their prey."
"How can you tell?"
"Because their bodies are cover in these type of cuts. If I had to guess these thing could have killed them after a swipe or two."
"Can you smell the creatures that did this?"
"I can, and they're not far from here. What do you think we should do with the bodies?"
"It's going to be too difficult to take them back to village, especially with the condition they're in. And we can't take them back until after we take care of the beasts that did this. Plus, taking them back might traumatize the villagers given the condition they're in."
"Good point and leaving them like this is disrespectful. I'll take care of this." Natsu said before sending a ball of fire towards the corpses. They were completely incarnated almost instantly. "I hope all of you find peace in the afterlife."
Internally Mira agreed that cremating the corpses was probably the best option given the situation; however, she was slightly disturbed by the ease at which Natsu came to that decision and how willing he was to incinerate the bodies then and there.
Not wanting to waste any time, the duo made their way to where Natsu smelled them at. After only another half an hour they came across another clearing when Natsu suddenly came to a stop.
"Mira, get ready."
"For what?"
"I'm pretty sure that those creatures know we're here. And they're starting to move this may."
"That saves us the trouble of us trying to find them."
"It does and this clearing is better to fight in than in the trees."
"How long do we have before they get here?"
"Maybe another ten or fifteen minutes, they're starting to move faster."
"Can you tell how many there are?"
"A little under twenty"
"Then let's see who takes out more of these things" Mira said as she activated her Satan Soul
"You're on" Natsu said, there's nothing he loves more than a good competition, especially when came to taking out anything that's incredibly dangerous beasts that can potentially kill him.
After only a few more minutes the first of the beast showed up. It has the appearance of a bipedal wolf, standing at just shy of six feet tall. It has black and white fur which appeared to be clumping together and pure black eyes. The creature growl at the two mages as it makes eye contact, revealing a sharp set of teeth. It slightly raises it's slightly elongated arms to reveal the massive claws on its paws. From seeing what those claws are capable of, the duo knew to keep their distance.
The beast was the first one to act by charging the two on. It cocks back one of its arms back to swipe at the two mages. Natsu ducks under the swipe and punches the beast in its midsection, sending flying towards a tree. The beast is quick to get back to its feet before charging to two once again.
"Demon Blast" Mira shouts as she launches a ball of dark energy towards the charging beast, causing a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, only the feet of the beast remained. "Looks like I get the first kill".
"You still haven't won yet" Natsu said, he is surprised by tough the beast hide was; though it's nothing that he can't handle. "Looks like I'll have to take a little more seriously" he finishes while a grin spreads across his face.
"Finally, I've been looking forward to seeing what your magic can do in fight since we got here."
Not long after the first beast was killed, three more showed up, all of which immediately charged the two mages.
Natsu smirk as he saw the three charging and engulfed his right hand in his fire. "Fire Fist" He shouts as he thrust his fist forward which launched a large pillar of flames from his fist towards the charging beasts, easily engulfing all three in that one attack. As the flames die down, not a single trace of the beast could be found and the destruction that was left in the aftermath of the attack was astonishing, at least to Mira it was. That one attack left a deep trench in the ground that was pitch black from the heat with smoldering embers littering the ground. Not only the ground was affected, the trees that were behind the beasts were completely destroyed as well as a good portion of the tree line either being reduced to ash or completely charred. "Looks like that's three for me" Natsu said with a teasing grin
Mira, who is still in shock from that one attack, now understood why Natsu didn't use against her or Erza when they fought him. When he said he didn't the fight to end too quickly, she just assumed he was being cocky about his power. But now she saw knows that if he had used any offensive spells, the fights would have been over before they could start. "How about we add a rule to this game of ours. No long ranged attacks."
"Good idea, that way you'll at least have a chance of winning" Natsu said with a shit eating grin.
"Keep talking, but from what I saw your punches won't put them down for good." Mira said with a teasing grin of her own.
"I still have plenty of other fire spells. And do you really think your claws will do any better?"
"Better than your fist will."
"Fair point, but have you ever heard of a dragon that didn't have claws?"
"No"
Before answering, Natsu held up both of his hands. Mira was starting to question where he was going with this until she saw his nails grow a couple inches and become pointed where they all looked razor sharp. "Neither have I."
One by one for of the beast started arriving, this time in greater numbers. As the duo looked at the beasts, that were starting to surround him, neither could hide the look of excitement that came across their faces from the prospect of how fun this is going to be.
The first beasts to get in range made an attempt to swipe at Mira, she easily dodged the attack. "Evil Spark" she yells as she punches one of the beasts in its stomach, paralyzing it instantly. While the beast is recovering from the shock, Mira coats one of her claws in her dark magic and brings it down on the beast's skull, killing it instantly.
Over with Natsu, he is quickly dodging a pair of beast that is attacking him with quite a bit of ease. Ducking under the swing of one of the beast, Natsu thrust one of his clawed hands into the beast chest and rips out heart. He quickly turns to the other beast, which is now swinging its claws at the dragon slayer, he steps to the side and dodges then swipes his own claw at the beast throat, cutting it wide open, killing the beast almost instantly.
Another four of the beast appear from the trees and rush towards Mira and the same time as another two charge Natsu. Mira could only smirk at the approaching beasts. "Evil Explosion" Mira yells when the four are only a few feet from her. The impact from when the attack made contact with one of the beasts caused a small explosion and kicked up a small dust cloud. When the dust cloud cleared, three of the four beasts were dead with the last one being severely wounded. Mira quickly slammed her foot onto the dying beast skull, crushing it with that single blow and putting it out of its misery.
"Doesn't that count as a long range attack?" Natsu ask as he kills one of the beasts attacking him by crushing its skull with his hand.
"Nope, it only counts as one if you kill them at a distance and not when they're right in front of you." Mira said
"Well if that's the case" "Incinerate" Natsu says as he throws a ball of fire at the beast in front of him which completely reduced it to nothing but ash almost immediately upon contact. "Next time, let's come up better rules before a fight."
"Fine, it'll be more to beat you on an even playing field" Mira says as she and Natsu stare down the last six of the beast that have them surrounded
"Hey Mira, what do you say to bringing this game to an end?"
"Sure, these things aren't putting up as much of a fight as I wanted. What do you have in mind?"
"Simple each of us gets one attack of our choosing to take out half of these beasts down. Should be three easy kills for the both us, given how easily we went through them." Natsu said with a smirk on his face.
"Fine" Mira said, agreeing to what Natsu said without thinking about precisely how many beasts both her and Natsu had killed. "Soul Extinctor" she yells as she launches massive blast of dark energy towards her half of the beasts, killing them instantly and destroying a small portion of the forest.
"Don't you think that was a little much?" Natsu said teasingly.
"A bit, but you know what they say, "Over kill is seriously underrated." Besides, I don't to hear that from you after seeing that Fire Fist attack." Mira said in her own teasing tone.
"Fair enough, guess it's my turn now. You may want to fly pretty high up by the way."
"Why?"
"You'll find out, but trust me you don't want to be near here when you do." Natsu said.
Deciding it would be best to take Natsu's warning seriously, Mira flies away from the clearing, hopefully out range of whatever attack the slayer plans on using but close enough to see what will happen next.
As Mira is moving to get to a safe distance, the beasts, who have grown tired of waiting, charge Natsu, each of them eager to tear him to shreds. Natsu could only smirk at his charging attackers as his fist is engulfed in purple flames. The young slayer had the perfect move to end this fight. "Fire Devil's Cataclysmic Inferno" he shouts as he punches the ground beneath him. Cracks quickly spread from where he struck the ground past the outskirts of the clearing that he was in as an ominous purple light could be seen from within the cracks. Before Mira or the beasts could process what Natsu's attack did, a massive pillar of purple flames engulfs the entirety of the clearing as well as its inhabitants. Mira, who was on the outskirts of the clearing, had to fly further away to avoid getting harmed by the attack.
When the flames died down a few seconds later, Mira could only stare in shock. The ground had been cratered, completely charred and the cracks from the initial punch had widened quite a bit. The trees surround the clearing had completely evaporated, extending how wide the clearing was by a few yards. Even the foliage that wasn't hit by the attack had burned away. In the center of the clearing is Natsu who is completely unharmed and had a proud grin plastered across his face, it seems as if he's proud of what he has done. There were no remains of the beast that were charging, Mira doubted if there even ashes left of them.
After overcoming her shock, Mira returns to what was left of the clearing. "What the hell was that attack?"
"Just some fire spell I picked up from one of my teachers, it's good for getting rid of groups of enemies all at once. It's also useful for when you want a change of scenery." Natsu finishes of jokingly as he takes in the scenery.
"A change in scenery? You completely destroyed this clearing" Mira said in shock. "Don't you think that was going a little over board?"
"Like you said "Overkill is seriously underrated". And you what the best part is?"
"What?"
"I won the game" He said with a cheeky grin.
"What?! How?!" Mira screamed.
"Simple, you killed nine of the beast and I killed ten. Weren't you counting?"
Mira slightly blushed in embarrassment that she forgot to keep track of who was winning throughout the fight. Then she realized why Natsu suggested that they both take out half of the last six. He must have been keeping track the whole time, and suggesting splitting them up at the end would have guaranteed his win.
"You just realized it, didn't you" Natsu stated more than asked with a shit eating grin on his face.
"That's cheating!"
"No it isn't. I was keeping track of how many kills we both had and made a plan to win. That's just strategy. Not my fault you weren't paying attention to many beast you took out."
Mira is very irritated, not just at Natsu for using a cheap trick like that; but at herself as well for not only not paying attention but also not coming up with a plan like that herself which she normally would have. "Fine, I'll admit you won. Let's go tell the mayor the beasts are gone so we can finish this job."
The mages made their way back to the village to deliver the news to the mayor. To say he was thankful would be an understatement. He practically threw the reward money at them. He was happy that trade can resume for the village and the families of the hunters could now find closure. He was also thankful for Natsu for disposing of the hunter's bodies the way he had. No doubt seeing the gruesome remains of the hunters would surely scar the families and the rest of villagers for years to come. The young mages said they're farewells and made their way to the train station. Of course, Natsu was pleading the entire time to just walk back to Magnolia as he is yet again being dragged against his will towards the mechanized demon. Mira of course didn't care and just continued to drag the dragon slayer to his doom, much to her own joy.
A few minutes into the train ride Mira was staring at Natsu, who was a sickening shade of green and was clearly not enjoying the ride, and decided to show him some pity. "Natsu, sit next to me."
"W…why?"
"Just do it."
Natsu, not having the energy to argue or question what he is being told to do, moves over next to Mira. When he is sitting next to her, Mira moves him so that he is laying across the seat with his head resting in her lap. "There, is that better?"
"Yeah, thanks." Natsu said as he started to fall asleep.
"Don't mention it" Mira said as she started running her fingers through his hair. A couple minutes later Natsu had fallen asleep, no longer looking nearly as sick as he was. Mira couldn't help but chuckle, for someone as strong as the pinkette to have such a lame weakness is funny to say the least. 'I have to admit, he is kind of cute when he's asleep.'
Time Skip: 3 Hours
The duo made it back to Magnolia as the sun was starting to set. When the train came to a stop, Natsu was about to dive out the window again when Mira grabbed him by his shirt, stopping him mid jump which had him crashing to the floor. She had forced him to leave like a normal person, which he didn't protest since he can move again. They made their way to the guild let the master know how the job went. After which they parted ways, Mira went home to spend the evening with her siblings and Natsu made his way to the forest to find a place to stay. As much as he liked the infirmary, he felt much more comfortable sleeping out in nature.
And there you have it the, the end of the newest chapter. Holy shit I didn't think it would take this long to get it out but this is a busy time of the year for me with work and I've had very little energy to write. Still, sorry for making everyone wait a month, the next chapter will hopefully be out by Christmas or a day or two later at most. I want to thank everyone that read, favorited, followed, and commented on this story so for. As of the moment I'm writing this there are: 2,131 views, 21 reviews, 91 favs, and 123 follows and that blows my mind and extremely thankful for it. Some of the people following are people that I'm actually a big fan of which is crazy for me.
Now onto some news, nothing too big though. For starters, after Christmas I'll try to update this story every two weeks-ish, hopefully.
The only other news I have is concerning the harem so if you're not interested just skip this part, I understand. At the moment current harem consist of: Mira, Ultear, Sayla, OC (Water Dragon Slayer), Cana, Mavis, Erza, Kagura, and Yukino. There is one spot left then that's it, no more will be added. Thanks to everyone that left a review voting for who they wanted and thanks to Lord Rikudo who suggested Mavis and helped me think of how to get her and Natsu to start interacting with each other. If you're wondering why I chose each of the girls then it depend on two things, the first is your reviews. If I see multiple people asking for the same person, then I'll consider that character. The second, which is the deciding factor, is what the reason for each girl to fall for Natsu is and what reason does Natsu have for falling for each of them. I'm not going down the route of each girl join the harem just for the sake of having them be a part of it. I want to slowly develop the feeling for everyone involved. Now for the last spot available, from the looks of it Hisui is in the lead by quite a bit, but I did see some suggestions I like such as: Lisanna, Bisca, and Dimaria. So keep voting and I'll reveal who get the last spot in the next AN. Also I want to suggest an OC that I've been thinking about lately. The OC is heavily inspired by Velvet Crowe from Tales of Berseria and will be a part of the story no matter what but her role will change depending on what all of you want.
Now onto the reviews
Acnologia: Don't worry, I won't add any more girls after that last spot is filled. Also as for what you want for Wendy's relationship with Natsu, you're going to like what I have planned since I'm a big fan of those two having a sibling like relationship.
Greekfan FT: If it wasn't obvious, Natsu's power level IS OVER 9000. I'm not sorry, you asked for it. In terms of power, even though Natsu is much stronger he isn't nearly as strong as Gildarts or Makarov yet. They both have decade of training and experience that Natsu simply does not have and I feel like it would be a cop out if I made him stronger than the those two at this time. So far almost none of the characters are as strong as they are in canon because they are still kids and need time to grow. Both Mira and Erza haven't been promoted to S Class because they're not at the level yet and Natsu is easily at that level currently. Don't ask how strong Natsu is in comparison to Laxus because I'm still trying to figure out how I want to handle that. Also nice predictions, you even got a couple things right if only a part of it, but you should keep guessing and think a little bigger. I have very big plans for the future.
Pmwms94: Glad that you noticed the HXH influence, Killua is a huge influence on how Natsu will act from time to time as well as the HXH series greatly influencing this fic.
XFIRE GECKOSX: Thanks my potentially living mortal friend, sorry I couldn't get this out sooner.
Carmelo Hernandez: Basically the TL;DR of Greekfan FT's question is Natsu is currently at S Class level and he'll get much stronger as this fic progresses. If you want me to explain more, just ask , I'll happily answer whatever question you have.
And that's it, have a question leave a review and I'll respond in the next AN or PM me and I'll answer your question either that day or in a day or two. Hopefully this chapter met expectations, and I promise you won't have to wait so long for the next chapter.
Till next time
Mreh