Jumping back from each other, Sif began to run in a circle to my back, making me turn with her to make sure I didn't expose my blind spot. She growled again before lunging forward, in the same motion swinging her blade at me, which I blocked with the bladed side of my weapon before using her momentum to slide her sword away from me before whacking into her side with spine of my blade.
Trying to press the advantage, I sprinted forward only for Sif to stick her blade sword into the dirt and sliding it upwards, making a cloud of dust to cover the portion of the area we were in.
"Fuck!" Stopping, I warily turned around in a circle trying to pinpoint where she would attack from next before there was a slight movement in the dust to my left.
Quickly ducking, her sword sliced where my neck had been previously, but instead of backing up like she had done before, Sif used the momentum to completely turn and kick me in the face hard with her back legs, forcing me back a few feet. Spitting out a glob of blood and saliva, I appraised Sif again.
Not only was she relatively untouched from each of our encounters, she had also managed to get first blood by using an unexpected tactic against me. I knew that magic beasts always had some level of intelligence, but this level of intuition and ability to learn on the fly was unbelievable. After only a few clashes she already figured a weakness in my current style and adapted in order to get the drop on me. That just meant I was going to have to change it up a bit.
"Hey Cana?"
"What? I'm kind of busy at the moment!"
"This might take a little longer then I originally thought it would."
"Well than stop talking and keep fighting!"
"Right." I could feel myself grinning as the wolf charged forward again, and really, I couldn't help the excitement that ran through me.
So far, I hadn't been able to have an actual sword-fight with anyone in the guild since Erza wouldn't be joining for another two years at most. In order to get any sort of experience fighting with a blade it was always magic against magic, so the actual opportunity to practice just my technique against someone else was the greatest.
Unfortunately, even with all the technique training I had, it was all I had against my current opponent. Not only was Sif stronger and faster than me, but she also had the instincts of a wild animal, which were much more fine-tuned than my own. While she could tell where to strike for the most effect and when to dodge, I could only tell when to dodge and her speed almost completely negated that for me unless there was some prior warning like the dust moving or the sound of her sword cutting the air. But beating stronger people was what Fairy Tail was all about, wasn't it?
"Come at me Sif!" I would break out one of the techniques from my old life, the third of seven techniques used by a knight with no magic, but became known as the Sword God.
Sif charged forward wound up before clashing blades with me once more, attempting to push forward to pull the same move as before, but this time it was my turn. Her extra pressure behind the attack only made my next attack stronger!
"Third Sword: Madoka!" Taking the power from her strike, I spun around in a circle and used the force of her own strike to augment my own before smashing into her with the spine of my sword, sending her back and into one of the magic clones she had made before.
I sighed in relief when it seemed she wasn't going to get up, but that quickly turned around when she got to her feet and then proceeded to dispel the clones she had made and focused the magic she had probably regained from them into the blade of her sword.
"Oh, come on. You know how to enhance your weapon too? Before you were cool but now this is just a pain in my ass. Stay down!"
Despite my plea, she did not listen and began to charge me again before dodging to the left, a few cards impacting where she had been standing before. Oh yeah, with no more clones in order to use something else, Cana was now free to assist me against Sif.
"What happened to 'I can handle this' huh?"
"Quiet you, she's stronger than I thought. No wonder no one else was able to beat her, most mages don't really train for close combat on the level she fights."
"Still going to tame her?"
"You kidding? I want her even more now that I've seen what she can do. I'll go in close, you stay back and cover me with your cards."
"Yeah, yeah just hurry up so we can go get paid and head back to the guild."
"Right!" Lunging forward, I ducked to the side when Sif brought the blade down where I had been and slashed at her while she dodged, only to have to lunge forward when a bolt of lighting struck where she had moved to.
"Prayer's Fountain" Using her cards, Cana sent globs of water at Sif, making a puddle over the area of the road we were in as well as soaking both Sif and I to bone.
"You c-couldn't have w-waited for me t-to dodge?" My teeth clacked together as I shivered from the cold water.
"Less whining, more slashing!" My complaints went ignored as she charged up another spell.
"Fine than." While Cana kept Sif occupied, I began to charge magic in my blade until I had the max the blade could safely handle and ran towards the wolf and clashing blades, but in the same moment our blades connected I unleashed the power I'd built up.
"Sword Slam!" Using the only magic in my arsenal that used blunt force, I sent Sif skidding back to where all the water was collected while Cana released another spell.
"Thunderbolt's Fate!" One of her multi-card spells, Cana called down a bolt of lightning which ran through the water and into Sif. Once the spell ended, she stood there, covered in ash and smoking, before collapsing to the ground.
Seeing I was finally, able to get close without fear of losing my head, I walked over before sitting next to her and speaking.
"You know, you're pretty strong. Without Cana here I might not have been able to beat you the water and lightning plan." I smiled at her, but Sif narrowed her eyes and growled, even though she probably didn't have the energy to back up the implied threat.
"But you know," I stopped smiling for a second as I thought of what to say before thinking of her magic, "I think it must get pretty lonely out here for a pack animal like you, even with that nifty clone magic you got going on."
She stopped growling, which I took as a good sign to continue while I took some food from my bag and placed it before her.
"Our guild master says that sometimes when we develop magic, that it reflects who we are as a person, so for you to have magic like that must mean that you were lonely and wanted a pack, right? I was the same as you, without anyone for awhile before I joined Fairy Tail, so I might not be a wolf like you, but Cana and I as well as all of our guild can be your pack from now on if you want."
I waited for her answer, hoping she'd take me up on it before Sif reached forward and took the food I offered and then nuzzling her head against my palm when I gave her a head scratch.
"Let's go home, Sif."
~x~x~
Once we regained some strength from the fight, the three of us headed back into town and knocked on the Mayor's door who seemed glad to see us before noticing the wolf that sat next to me and promptly fainted before we could say anything. Having to wait, we enjoyed some food until about an hour later when the Mayor woke up and we were able to explain the situation, the man happily gave us our pay, although he asked us if we were really sure about taking Sif back with us. Once that had been dealt with, we caught a train back to Magnolia where I got lost in thought thinking about the fight with Sif.
As of now, I was pretty much a purely technique-based swordsman. I had the skill, but I wasn't strong or fast enough to make use of that except for counter strikes. I needed to build up my bases stats with training and come up with new techniques as well to make up for my deficiencies as a fighter. I couldn't fall into the same trap as most mages and rely on magic.
While thinking about this and absentmindedly patting Sif on the head, Cana started poking my feet with her from where she sat across from me in order to get my attention.
"What's up Cana?"
"I just wanted to know what you meant back there in the woods, when you told Sif that you knew what it was like to be alone. You never talk much about what you were doing before you joined the guild except with Master."
That was true, but I hadn't told Master anything about my past until he brought up his suspicions of where I had come from to me. Until now, no one else had ever asked me about it.
"Well, my hometown was a little village about two weeks on foot from Magnolia called Basil." Cana's eyes widened in realization but I continued before she could comment on what she had just learned about me.
"I grew up there with my dad, Eos, who taught me all about his brand of magic called sword magic when he wasn't working as a guard for the village, and my mother Astra, who was a stay at home mom. We didn't have too much, but we were happy. But one day, while my mother was out at the market and my father was watching me, a group of bandits attacked and massacred everyone."
I unslung my sword from my hip before showing her the initials E.H. that had been carved into the handle years earlier.
"My father kept this as a souvenir from when he was an active mage and gave it to me before telling me to run and hide for twenty minutes and to move on if he didn't come find me. On my way, I was found by some of the bandits that had attacked, but thanks to my dad's training I was able to escape and jump into the river. I spent two weeks after wandering the woods before managing to make it to Magnolia and asking Master Makarov to join the guild. The rest you know." I finished with a sigh.
Talking was always hard, but I felt like telling my story would probably help Cana with her own familial problems.
I looked up at her, where she seemed a bit conflicted about something before her face hardened a bit and opening her mouth to speak.
"My mother, Cornelia, married young to an active mage from Fairy Tail. They were apparently happy for a bit, but when the mage continued to follow his wanderlust, they ended up getting a divorce before realizing I was coming along. Before she died, she told me to head to Fairy Tail and find him, that he was strongest one there. But I couldn't bring myself to tell him when I realized how strong he truly was and that I was so weak. So I decided I would tell him once I became S-class to prove my strength to him- ow!" As soon as she said that I took my scabbard and whacked her on top if her head with it, a bump forming that she was no nursing with her hands.
"Dummy!" She seemed surprised at what I said but I continued any way, "I don't get how you could think that. Parents don't care about the strength of their kids, they only want them to be happy, you got that? There are a lot of things I wish I could show my parents now, or say how much I appreciated what they did and here you are denying your father the opportunity to actually be a parent because you think he'd be disappointed in you. Don't take what you have for granted, as soon as Gildarts gets back from his mission you are going to tell him the truth even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming!"
"Okay, okay just stop hitting me with your scabbard!"
Satisfied with her agreeing with me, I sat back in my chair before closing my eyes and going to sleep, but not before hearing one final thing from Cana before the world went dark.
"Thank you."
~x~x~
So, first author's note, I got this. Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed so far! I really didn't think that I would get this many people enjoying this story so far. I'm not going to do a lot of these but I did want to address some valid comments that some reviewers brought up. Yes I do realize that I leave some information out when I write, but this is done entirely on purpose. I do this to keep the story moving at the pace I want it to, but also because I plan on doing a side story chapter after every finished arc in the story, which I am hoping to be between every five and ten chapters depending on the arc. If you do have any constructive criticism I'm more than happy to hear it and if you have any ideas for spells that Zephyr can come up with and use than feel free to PM me and I'll see if they fit in with how I'm planning Zephyr to turn out and what sword styles he'll use. Thank you again for the support and look forward to another chapter next weekend!