"speaking"
"thinking"
On with the story
A few days later at Hixs Town
The things there were back to normal even if some of the houses were still being rebuild from Grimoire Heart attack but other than that the place was all joy and happy
"30!" Cana exclaimed as she was in a battle against a store seller who was selling wine, Fire Wine Sake
"35!" the store retorted as a spark flies between the two
"33.5!" Cana exclaimed as she glared the store seller who glared back before sighing and place a bottle of fire wine down "alright~!"
"always with the wine, Cana" Kagura said sighing as she, Cana, and Erza were in the town getting some grocery, seeing that the farm doesn't have any food at all. Right now, Cana had a negotiation of price for a single of fire wine as only a few had survived from the attack.
"I got my wine~!" Cana said in a sing-song tone as she hugs her wine with a happy smile
"seriously, your number one favorite thing of all must always be wine or any alcoholic drink" Erza said as they had been shopping for a good one hour but they had to stay in town for another 30 minutes because of Cana who wanted to get the wine no matter what
"that and Natsu of course~!" Cana said happy as she rubs her cheeks on the wine bottle, so happy with getting it
"for goodness sake" Erza sighs as Cana never changes her likes for drinks at all
The three soon went away as they head back to Natsu's mansion
At the mansion, Natsu was currently in the middle of fixing up the barn as it was nearly destroyed
Hammering a nail, Natsu was fixing up the wall of the barn before placing another plank and then hammers some nails again
He was not alone as Dan with the gang were helping as well
"you know, I can just use my magic to repair it" Ultear said, standing behind Natsu while carrying Meredy who was asleep
"it's fine" Natsu said while having some nails in his mouth before he takes one and hammers it to a plank "there are somethings that you don't have to use magic on so often. Besides it was about time that we fixed up the old barn and rebuild a new one"
"still" Ultear said before she took a step back to let some people pass as they were carrying big planks of wood "with my magic, you can save some time"
"like I said, I was planning to make a new barn rather than fixing the old one" Natsu said as he hammers a nail into a plank again "there are sometimes that you got to do it yourself rather than depending too on much magic. That's one of the many things my old man taught me"
Ultear hummed before she looks at Meredy when she heard her tummy growls hungrily
A few hours later, Natsu was in the back of his home with an anvil and a hammer in hand
Looking to the side, a forge was on fire as Natsu watched the flames burn the charcoal in it
Before long, Natsu reaches in and takes out the chest plate of his once shattered Enryuo Yoroi
Grabbing it by hand, Natsu's hand steams from the heat but it didn't bother him
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Natsu started hammering his hammer on the chest plate as he was buffing it and forming it
Hammer after hammer, Natsu continued to hammer the metal before he dips it into a big bucket of water that instantly steams from the still hot metal going into it
Natsu takes it out and looks at the chest plate, seeing how it formed perfectly
"good as enough but never be as good as you did, Igneel" Natsu said as he placed the chest plate away to the ground on a blanket where the helmet, and metal gloves were at
Natsu throws some coal and wood into the forge's fire keeping it from going out
He grabs a bucket filled with metal shards as the metal shards were previously parts of Enryuo Yoroi before it shattered
Whisking a finger around, the metal shards started to form around his right arm and formed the armor plating of the vambrace even though it has many cracks everywhere
Taking it off, Natsu puts it in the forge and waits for it to heat up and cure itself so that the metal can combine
While he was doing so, Meredy was peeking from the door, watching her adoptive father in work
Her eyes curiously watch Natsu throws in more coal and wood into the forge before blowing out a puff of flames that heats up the forge even more
Natsu soon takes out the vambrace before he started hammering its surface, buffing it by the anvil
Meredy just watch him before looking at the helmet piece that was lying on the blanket
Her child curiosity got the best of her as Meredy sneaks in and grabs the helmet piece. Looking at its design and detail
Getting more curious, Meredy puts it on and just like how all children, she went out while wearing it
Natsu who was at the forge, looks back and sees that his helmet was gone
"Meredy" Natsu said before he sighs but he just continues hammering his vambrace, letting his daughter do what she wants with his helmet
Meredy runs around the house as she chased after Happy who rans away from the little girl wearing the helmet, frightened by it
"wait!" Meredy squealed chasing after Happy who runs into the living room. Taking chase, the little girl finds Happy hiding under the sofa
Meredy giggles as she got down and tried to get Happy who just quickly crawls out of the sofa
"wait!" Meredy squealed but she wasn't able to get out of the sofa but the helmet got stuck under it. Meredy tried getting out but failed as she then tried taking off the helmet but wasn't able to do the same
Meredy tried repeatedly to get her head out of the helmet but whatever she tried, she couldn't get it off. Soon she started crying as she cried repeatedly, her voice getting echoed in the helmet making a creepy crying sound
Before long, Cana and Éclair who were walking by the living room heard Meredy's cries
"my god, Meredy" Cana said sighing as the two went in and helped the little girl out
Cana lifted the couch up as Éclair pulled Meredy out before placing the couch down
Éclair started to try to get the helmet off, but it was stuck tight on Meredy's head
"try twisting it" Cana said as Éclair turns the helmet around as the faceplate faces backwards but it didn't do anything good "oh boy"
"let's get Natsu" Éclair said carrying Meredy up in her arms
"for the love of" Natsu said while holding his hammer and holding the grave part of his armor that he was in the middle of buffing
Éclair and Cana got in with Meredy as he could already tell what was going on
"next time, don't trying wearing Papa's helmet, alright?" Natsu told Meredy who nodded before the helmet was pried open by him "there"
Natsu holds the helmet in his hand as he could see some dents on it
"back to the forge with you" Natsu said as he throws the helmet into the forge's fire getting it to heat up and be buffed again
"you know, there's the old man who is a blacksmith in town, right?" Cana said while Éclair carried up Meredy and went out "you can just ask him to repair your armor, can't you?"
"this is a magic imbued armor, the old man is just a regular blacksmith" Natsu stated "he can fix it but he can't fix the magic in it, only I and my uncle can. Which reminds me that he is coming here this noon"
"I see, then you're going to be here all day fixing your armor up?" Cana asked as Natsu started hammering his hammer to the grave part of his armor that he continued buffing "I'll take that as a yes"
Cana went out as she closed the door to let Natsu work on fixing his armor up
Noon soon came as Atlas had arrived at the mansion
"you used too much magic imbuing it" Atlas said as he runs his hand across the surface of Natsu's armor's chest plate part "you overworked its property"
"sorry" Natsu said as Atlas checks all parts of the armor "you think that the magic property can be increased?"
"it'll take some time but it is able to be done" Atlas said as he knocks the helmet part with his fingers a few times hearing the 'clang' sound from it "the helmet has been reformed twice, why?"
"Meredy" Natsu said as Atlas hummed while nodding, getting the gist of how it could happen
Atlas wave his finger across the chest plate as red magic symbols appeared
"learn the usage of how the limit will be reached" Atlas told Natsu as he wave a finger around the helmet down to the legs as floating red magic symbols appeared all around the armor "your father's power had once gone beyond its limit, before causing a devasting feedback that nearly destroyed him. He wouldn't still be alive many years ago if the armor had not dampened his limiter to the safe point"
"I know" Natsu said watching Atlas inscribes many of the floating red magic symbols to his armor "but for some reason, my power is increasing rapidly. I haven't done any training in some time, but my magic power is increasing exponentially for no reason"
"your magic power increases?" Atlas said turning towards Natsu who was looking at his own hands
"yeah, it's like every passing minute I can feel my magic increasing even more than before" Natsu said as he grasps his hands into fists a few times while looking at them "I don't know why but it feels like I'm getting stronger without any training at all, but I guess I can get strong because of how I always have to fight day by day"
Atlas had a small frown as he can see the rising red aura around Natsu's body but he also sees a black one that was slowly growing within him
"how long will it last?" Atlas thought as the black aura inside Natsu was rising like fire "Igneel, old friend. Must this be his eternal fate?"
"uncle?" Natsu called out to Atlas who just frowns a lot "you alright?"
"u-uh yes, I am. Starting to think off far because of old age" Atlas said chuckling as he focuses on Natsu's armor as the magic symbols started to attach themselves to its surface before disappearing "do not mind me"
Natsu looks at Atlas before shrugging his shoulders as the old man was focusing on his armor, without knowing that Atlas was placing an inscription of a white magic circle upon the chestplate of his armor that soon disappears
"I pray that you'd be able to stop him before it's too late, Igneel" Atlas placed a hand on the armor's surface as the helmet's visor glowed red
That's a wrap!
Bye bye
