Finally done with Chapter 15. Read and enjoy.
There was soft knocking coming from the door. It wasn't particularly loud but it served its intended purpose of slowly rousing the blonde teenager who, currently, was sleeping inside of the bed that were part of the Hagure inn owned by the mayor Mugo. Naruto rubbed his eyes in an effort to stave off the post sleep drowsiness. However the process of waking up didn't seem to go fast enough for the person knocking at the door of his room.
"Are you awake yet 'Thousand Master'?" Erza called with impatience as the soft knocking turned into a heavy pounding which would wake any but the heaviest of sleepers "We can't be wasting our time like this." the scarlet haired mage reminded him in annoyance. They had been hired to help this town. They would solve the town's demonic problem and it was not going to help their efforts if they burned daylight by sleeping in. The fact that it was barely seven o'clock completely escaped Erza who was determined to getting to work as fast as possible. Erza was incredible serious about the jobs she took in fact with the seriousness of her current job her conscience pretty much demanded that she help the people of this town as fast and as best as she could. For this reason it was annoying her quite a bit that her temporary partner on this request, an independant mage going by the moniker of 'Thousand Master', was wasting precious time by sleeping in and on top of that he wasn't even answering her.
"Answer me!" she said with her voice raised in the hopes that would rouse the boy from his sleep and she thought she could hear the faint sounds of a person moving come from behind the door. This was still not going fast enough for Erza as the S-Ranked mage frowned in irritation at the continued silence of her partner.
"I'm coming in!" she declared with slight amount of anger and the shuffle of feet on the other side of the door intensified. Erza pushed the door handle down but before the door in front of her could open another door in the hallway opened which caught Erza's attention.
The Fairy Tail mage turned around, towards the door that had just opened. The door had been opened by a woman. The woman was older than Erza herself, that much the mage could tell, but she certainly wasn't old by any stretch of the imagination. The woman was certainly not pleased going by look on her face in fact it looked like she had just been roused from her sleep. In spite of having just woken up the purple hair of the woman certainly was well kempt. The purple hair was long and straight as it almost touched the ground. At the same time the purple hair framed the woman's face and a split fringe covered both of her eyebrows but did not actually go past her eyes. The eyes were a stunning golden color, similar to amber. The woman's skin was without any blemishes and of a light cream color. A pair of very large breasts was present on the woman's body. Suffice to say they would cause even the most straight woman and homosexual men to glance at them in passing even if was for no longer than a second.
The pair of well formed flesh only accented the woman's nigh unnatural beauty. The only thing that caught Erza's attention about the woman more than the glare she was sending her was that the woman was completely naked. There wasn't a single article of clothing covering her body. No panties, no bra, nothing, like the day she was born. However either the woman, in her somewhat sleepy state, didn't seem to realize this or she was so confident or shameless that she did not care if she was seen naked by anyone.
The woman's eyes had narrowed and she glared at Erza who looked like she didn't know what to do.
The scarlet haired's eyes were widened and her lips had formed a thin line.
The woman lazily raised her right hand and pointed her index finger, Erza noted that the nail was covered in purple nail polish in the same shade as the woman's hair, at her.
The woman opened her mouth and the dulcet tone of her voice filled Erza's ears. However at the same time the voice was haughty, condescending and filled with more than a little annoyance.
"I don't know what kind of quarrel you have with that boyfriend of yours, young girl, but some people are still trying to sleep." the woman reminded the young, female mage and raised her left hand to gently massage her temple, like Erza had seen the master, Macao and Wakaba do the morning after they had drunk too much "So keep your voice down or else even that shiny armor of yours wont protect you from me." the woman's eyes narrowed even further "Understood?" the purple haired woman asked with a threatening undertone
Erza nodded quickly "Yes, of course." she bowed towards the woman, completely ignoring that the woman had thought she was in a relationship with the 'Thousand Master' "I apologize for my severe lack of consideration. Please forgive me."
The luscious lips of the woman quirked upward in what was not quite a smile but more than a smirk but left Erza's apology entirely uncommented. The woman then gave a curt nod "Good, at least you can understand that much." the purple haired beauty commented with an air of superiority and closed the door to her room behind her, leaving Erza standing alone in the hallway.
Erza remembered her original purpose which was to wake her partner from his sleep.
Without warning she pressed the door handle down and opened the door. Much to her surprise she nearly slammed the door into the 'Thousand Masters' hooded face.
"Finally!" Erza said in exasperation "I thought you would never wake up."
Beneath his hood Naruto pursed his lips. Erza's dedication to her job, while admirable, served to be somewhat of a pain. In fact only a stroke of luck in the form of another person who was occupying one room in this inn prevented Erza from walking in on him as he was getting dressed. Contrary to the conception of other people his nudity did not necessarily have anything to do with the distress this potential event caused him but rather that Erza could have seen his uncovered face which could potentially have disastrous consequences.
'At least my luck isn't fully gone.' he thought in relief and then leveled his unseen gaze at Erza "I am terribly sorry about making you wait like that." Naruto said without really meaning it. Not everyone could wake up as early as Erza did without any problems.
The red haired woman nodded sharply "Your apology is accepted." the armored woman turned on her heel "Then let us visit the Shrine as soon as possible."
Naruto gave a short sigh. Erza's straightforwardness was somewhat cute but that should not make her inable to think.
"First of all. Let us have breakfast." Naruto decided and walked in front of Erza "Suppose we do end up fighting more demons later this day it would be stupid of us to do so on an empty stomach."
While Erza initially wanted to argue that point she quickly found herself unable to do so and conceded that her partner was right when he pointed that out.
"Secondly. Not everyone can be as much of an early bird as you, Erza-san." Naruto pointed out with a smirk, hidden beneath his hood "Even if we are about thirty minutes or so later at the shrine than we would be if we went now doesn't mean it's going to make a difference." Erza's brow furrowed cutely as she found herself mildly annoyed by Naruto's attitude "In the unlikely event that the miko and the shrine elder end up brutally murdered and we were late by the time it took us to have breakfast you are free to blame me."
Erza gave a sigh in resignation "Alright, you win. We are going to have breakfast." though she would much rather have went to work as quick as she could.
Naruto gave a triumphant smile, not that Erza could see it but he was sure that she could feel it.
They took the stairs down and ordered breakfast. When the various dishes had been placed in front of them there was a small part of Erza which hoped that she would get to see her partners face while he was eating breakfast but just like yesterday during their dinner the shadows remained perfectly in place.
'It has to be some kind of magic cloak.' she thought with traces of disappointment as she bit into a piece of toast 'It can't be anything else.' another piece of bread entered the shadowy confines of her partners hood and simply vanished as if it entered some kind of void or extra dimensional space. If she didn't know better her imagination would have likely conjured up some strange images of the 'Thousand Master' being some kind of alien or a ghost or something equally as far fetched.
"Let us talk about what we are going to do today." Naruto rattled Erza from her musings and the woman's brown eyes were trained on him with slight amounts of confusion
"We're going to visit the shrine and ask the miko and shrine elder for the information they have gathered." Erza stated and the hood moved up and down in a nod
"Yes, but after that." her partner pointed out and Erza realized that they had not yet any plans for after that visit "We know that the demons are somewhere outside of the city. It would be prudent to ask if there are any landmarks around here. Large caves... pretty much any place which would be able to accomodate a large number of anything."
"That does sound quite logical." Erza agreed, looking thoughtful "But what makes you think there are enough demons that they need some kind of large enough space for them?"
"A few things. Number one." he held up his index finger "The imps yesterday, despite being numerous enough, were not led by an imp lord when they should have been." his middle finger was raised indicating the number two "Secondly. There were fel hounds. As I've explained, no amount of imps would be able to train or force Fel Hounds into submission, they simply lack the required strength to do so. In fact fel hounds would be much more likely to consume the imps magic for sustenance." the ring finger was raised "Number three. The unknown demon that stopped you from following the fel hounds. That guy was in all likelyhood the fel hounds handler. Any demon capable of being a fel hound handler is of at least considerable strength. Since he indicated that he would be fighting you in the future we can infer that he, very likely, is working for someone that's behind this." the little finger was raised and the tone of her partner seemed to be much more tense "In fact with the disappearance of women which seem to coincide with the increased demon activity..." he drifted off and rapidly shook his head "Let's just hope I am wrong about my theory."
Erza frowned "You can't leave me in the dark like that. Whatever it is I can handle it." the scarlet haired woman scoffed. Did he believe she was some kind of weak woman that needed to be coddled and protect like a damsel in distress? "I'm not some kind of weak girl you need to protect." No, she was not weak. She was strong. She had killed the person that had accepted her in spite of her past as a slave. There would be nothing else that could weigh more on her.
The hooded mage gave a wry laugh as if he seemed to agree with her inner musing.
"I know that you aren't weak, Erza-san. I am not mollycoddling you, that's not my intention." Naruto shook his head "But some things are better left unsaid if only for the peace of mind. If I told you, you would likely get very angry which would no doubt interfere with your reasoning and ability to accomplish this mission." Naruto gritted his teeth. He didn't want Erza to ever know about 'that'. One might call it stupid for trying to shield her but it was just something that didn't need to be known by just about everyone.
Ezra scowled and narrowed her eyes at her partner. What could it possibly be that would make her so angry that it would supercede any kind of logic and reasoning? She trusted him to be truthful in that regard but she still desired to know "Will you at least tell me after we have dealt with the demons?"
He remained silent for quite a while now "..." Naruto felt torn as Erza had asked him. He could not simply deny her "I will." he finally managed to say which seemed to satisfy her
Their plates and glasses were soon empty as they finished their morning meal. The two raised from their seats "Now let us go and visit the shrine." Erza declared and this time Naruto had nothing to argue against that. He silently followed the scarlet haired woman who was taking long strides in the direction of the shrine. The shrine could be found on a small hill in the town of Hagure. It was an elevated position which allowed the building to tower above all others. The shrine itself also differed greatly from the architecture style of the rest of Hagure.
Shrine's like these were rarely found in Fiore as such it was definitely an impressive sight and especially Erza, despite the urgency of their visit, was taking in the building with great interest.
A set of stone stairs had lead them in front of the entrance to the shrine itself. Beyond the entrance was a large courtyard which was well maintained. In fact a young girl, who Naruto presumed to be the shrine maiden, was currently sweeping the ground with meticulous care.
The girl was about their age, maybe a bit older, but she was smaller than Erza and had long, black hair which was tied in a ponytail. She wore a pair of red hakama pants and a white haori. A small smile was on the girls lips as she hummed a merry tune while going about her work. The girl was so immersed in her work that she did not take notice of Naruto and Erza's presence.
"Excuse me?" Erza called out to the girl to gain her attention.
"Kyaaaa!" the miko squealed in surprise as she was shaken from her work by the sudden call. The broom she was using to sweep the courtyard went flying into the air and spun around before the girl managed to catch the item.
"What a shocking surprise." the girl held one hand over her rapidly beating heart "I did not expect anyone to come so early." the girl gave a small bow "I'm the shrine maiden, Yayoi." she took a look at the two newcomers "And you two must be the mages that are supposed to help this unfortunate town." Yayoi gave her two guests a small smile "It is very nice to meet you..."
"I'm Erza Scarlet a mage from Fairy Tail." the scarlet haired woman introduced herself and Naruto followed suit "And I am 'Thousand Master' an independent mage who has been given permission to accompany Erza-san on this request."
Yayoi tilted her head at the cloaked individual "That is a very strange name, Master-san."
The shrine maiden, Yayoi, was evidently confused by Naruto's chosen nickname.
His lips quirked upward and he released a small chuckle "That is not my real name but rather an alias, a handle to call me by." he gave a small sigh "You see I don't feel all too comfortable with people knowing my real name. They tend to have much too high expectations if they do." he stuck with the same explanation he had given Erza
Yayoi gave a nod of understanding and her polite smile returned once more "Well then I welcome you to our little shrine, Erza-san, Master-san."
Although Naruto thought that 'little' was an understatement in describing the shrine. It looked like it might be able to house more than a hundred people with little difficulty.
"We would like you to tell us about everything you have gathered since the beginning of this incident." Erza requested "The mayor told us you would be able to tell us more than he would be able to."
"That's right." Yayoi answered quickly "Although I don't know how much of what we can tell you will actually be of use to you." the black haired girl then motioned for the two of them to follow her "Please follow me. It's much easier to talk inside than out here."
Erza and Naruto followed Yayoi through the twisting and turning hallways of the shrine but in spite of the size of the shrine it seemed very empty.
"Are you and the shrine elder the only ones that live here?" Erza broke the silence with her question. Using these rare occasions to learn more definitely would not hurt and Levy would be sure to ask more than her fair share of questions once she was back in Magnolia Town.
"Yes, grandfather and I are the only ones still living here." the black haired girl responded with a hint of sadness
"So the elder is your grandfather? What happened to your parents?" Erza asked with hints of concern. Considering her own fate as an orphan she had a soft spot for those without them.
Yayoi giggled and shook her head "No, the honored elder is not my real grandfather but he raised me just as if I was." and without any change in her voice she answered Erza's second question "As for the fate of my parents... I've never known them. The elder told me that he found me one day on the steps of the shrine. I don't know if my parents were from Hagure or outside but I decided not to waste anymore thoughts on it. If I get stuck in the past mulling over things that could have been, might have been I will lose sight of the present and future and in turn lose myself."
"You are a very strong and mature girl, Yayoi." Erza complimented the young shrine maiden. To be able to come to terms with a fate like that at such a young age was something very few people were able to do and Erza included herself among those. She had spent hours upon hours trying to remember what her parents were like. What they looked like, what their names were, how they behaved, what they did and if they loved her. However Erza couldn't remember a single thing. Those thoughts had especially plagued her shortly after she had been taken to the Tower of Heaven, before she had come to know Jellal, Rob, Sho, Wally, Simon and Milliana and they had once more plagued her after her escape when the realization that Rob had sacrificed himself had fully hit her.
'I wonder what they are doing right now?' she asked herself
"Are you alright, Erza-san?" Yayoi asked concerned as the scarlet haired woman's face adopted a strange sad and nostalgic look. Yayoi hoped that she had not said anything to offend the woman.
"No, everything is alright." Erza tried to affirm with a smile but despite her attempt at convincing those around her of that both Naruto and Yayoi knew better. Neither the miko nor the cloaked mage decided to comment on it.
"This place seems awefully large for only you and the elder to be living here, Yayoi-san." Naruto commented in an effort to change the subject and it seemed the young shrine maiden caugh on to it.
"Since guilds became much more popular and widespread the number of people actually willing to undertake tutelage at such an 'old fashioned' place like this shrine is close to zero." Yayoi explained with a small sigh "Every now and then we get someone that's interested but by large most people join a guild to hone their magic. Apparently long, long ago a shrine like this would be teaching dozens of students."
"What a shame." Erza said having been snapped out of her wistful memories "This place has a nice atmosphere. It's completely unlike Fairy Tail and yet this tranquil and peaceful atmosphere is very pleasant. One would be able to learn quite a lot in an environment like this."
"Thank you." an old voice rang out. An old man had crossed their path towards a more suitable location. The old man was quite tall, only a bit smaller than Jiraiya who towered over most people. The man was completely bald but had a long white beard that started above his lips and went past either side of his lips to about his chest. The old man's eyes were beady and the irises pigmentation was almost faded, leaving only small specks of color around the black pupils. Like Yayoi he wore a white haori but with a blue colored hakama pants instead of a red one "It brings joy to my old heart that a mage belonging to a guild can still appreciate and show respect for older methodes of teaching and honing magic."
"Grandfather!" Yayoi exclaimed in surprise but Naruto noted that she didn't sound quite as pleased as one would expect from a granddaughter seeing her surrogate grandfather "What are you doing here?"
"I sensed people passing the boundary of the shrine and came to investigate." he replied good naturedly and the black beads in the center of the mans eyes focused on their guide "Would you not like to introduce me to your guests, Yayoi?"
"I am terribly sorry, Jii-san." Yayoi bowed in apology "These are Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail." the miko gestured towards the armored girl with the scarlet hair and it was very faint and almost unnoticeable but the two black spots in the center of the man's eyes focused quite intently on Erza
"A pleasure to meet you, Scarlet-san." the elder inclined his head and added a soft, grandfatherly smile "And who is the young man accompanying her?"
Naruto frowned behind the shadowy confines of his hood. There was something off about the old man, something very strange. Maybe that was just his prejudice against old people speaking but the presence of the man was just very unsettling.
"This is..." Yayoi began but was interrupted by Naruto
"There is no need for you to introduce me, Yayoi-san." Naruto said in a polite but terse tone "It is only polite if I introduce myself. I am the 'Thousand Master', an independent mage. I am Erza-san's partner for this job so that I may gain some real life experience for myself."
The old man chuckled in amusement "Thousand master? Quite arrogant to call yourself that, isn't it?" he asked with one of his white eyebrows raised
Naruto gave an inward sigh. He would likely be hearing that a lot but it was better than the alternative of Erza going ballistic on him.
"Perhaps." Naruto replied with pursed lips which elicted another chuckled from the old man.
"Now then let me introduce myself as well." the old man spoke "My name is Taigon and I am this shrines elder as well as Yayoi-chan's surrogate grandfather." the old man gave a weary sigh "And I can already guess what you are here for. It's about this town's demon problem, right?"
"That is correct." Erza answered immediately "We would appreciate it if you could tell us everything you've learned about it thus far."
"Of course, it would be a disaster if those horrible things were left to roam free." he opened a door to the side, revealing a small room with a table in the middle which had various cushions around it "Please have a seat." Taigon then turned to his granddaughter "Would you prepare some tea for us, Yayoi-chan?"
The miko smiled politely "Of course, Jii-san." she took off to prepare the tea for their conversation
Taigon, Erza and Naruto took seat at the table with the two mages on the opposite side of the old man.
The old man stroked his white beard "Where do I best begin..." he muttered to himself "It was likely around a month ago that Yayoi and I sensed a strange presence, a strange feeling around this town. It manifested itself as a horrible feeling of depression and terror." the wrinkled face of the man fell in a frown "People claimed they were being watched, that there was something in the shadows that was hunting them. The darker it was the more pronounced these feelings and reports were." the old man then gave a deep sigh before the door opened. Yayoi entered the room with a tray upon which she carried four cups with a steaming liquid inside of them.
She placed one cup down in front of each of the three people seated at the table and one for herself. She smiled kindly upon receiving thanks from Naruto and Erza. Only Naruto noticed the miniscule tensing of the miko's body, together with the fact that she didn't take seat next to her grandfather and the strange feeling he got from the old man made him even more suspicious of them. There was a strange kind of slipperiness to the man. Something that he had only felt before from Orochimaru and to a minor degree of his lackey Kabuto.
"Unfortunately neither Yayoi-chan here..." he patted the girl who tensed up once more
Beneath his hood Naruto's eyes narrowed 'What is going on between those two...' it was useless to try and force any information out of them. They wouldn't answer it anyway and it would very likely cause Erza to protest.
"Nor I am strong enough mages to effectively deal with them." the old man smiled wryly "These old bones don't move as fast as they used to and Yayoi-chan doesn't have much combat experience."
"It's quite alright." Erza smiled brightly with as much confidence as she could muster "You two don't need to worry any longer. We'll take care of this without any problem." Erza would not let a town fall to ruin like her village had "Isn't that right?" she slammed her hand on the back of his partner who was completely surprised by the sudden action
"Err... yes of course." he replied hastily as he was suddenly roused from his musings "We'll take care of this."
"Wonderful." Taigon smiled brightly and the old man's eyes shone "I am glad to hear that you are so determined to return our town to how it was before we were struck by those demons."
The young miko was silent until Taigon adressed her "Isn't that great, Yayoi-chan?"
"Of course, Jii-san." she agreed quickly
"Is there anything you can tell us about those demons, like where they are hiding?" Erza inquired. They lacked quite a lot of information to adequately take care of their job.
"Unfortunately no. I am very sorry we can't tell you more than you very likely already knew." Taigon apologized with a deep bow and Erza frowned that they had gained very little from this trip.
Naruto took a sip from his cup of tea "Do you perhaps know of any major landmarks around here where it is possible to hide large numbers of people?"
The old man raised an eyebrow at the question "Well... the only thing I can think of right now that would fit that description is an old fort in the woods. It was from the time of the dragon civil war and should still be in excellent condition." Taigon stated but looked confused "Why are you asking about that?"
"It's a theory about where the demons might be hiding." Naruto responded curtly and Taigon looked amazed
"Are you perhaps well versed in demonology?" the old man asked as Naruto had piqued his interest
"You might say that yes." There was no doubt about his knowledge concerning demons. Suddenly Erza's encouraging voice rang out "Don't be so modest. Without your knowledge things would be much tougher. I don't think anyone at Fairy Tail besides the master has the same kind of knowledge about demons."
"How interesting. Very few people these days take their time to learn about demons." Taigon said and stared intently at Naruto as if those small black orbs could pierce the shadowy veil of his cloak "Surely there must be a reason for such an avid interest?" Taigon tried to pry but Naruto remained silent and kept consuming the freshly prepared tea "Perhaps an incident involving demons in your past?"
"I am sorry to say but I believe that is none of your concern." Naruto responded coldly, elicting a chuckle from the old man
"You are quite right. Forgive an old man his curiosity." Naruto gave a curt nod but the blonde knew that his reaction had told the old man exactly what he needed to know. Not that there was any way to win in such a situation. Whatever his response had been the old man would have gotten affirmation from it.
Erza looked curiously at her companion 'An incident with demons in his past?' she thought 'It would definitely explain his knowledge about them.' Maybe his father had been a dark mage and summoned a demon which ended up backfiring? Or maybe his father had defeated a particularly powerful demon? There were a lot of possibilities and while she did respect the wish for privacy of her temporary companion she could not help but be curious. After all it was in the nature of humans to be curious, to seek that which is hidden, to uncover the truth about objects, people and nature alike.
"Do you have a map of the area where you could point out this fort for us?" Erza requested and Taigon replied with a nod
"Of course, just a moment." with a creak of the old man's bones he raised himself from his seated position and hurried away only to return with a small rolled up piece of paper. He unfolded the map of the area around the town.
"This here." he pointed to a part east of the town "The fort should be around there if I remember correctly."
"Are you sure about that?" Naruto asked for confirmation and the old man laughed "My memory isn't as good as it used to be but I am quite certain that the fort should be somewhere around there."
"Would it be alright if we took the map with us?" Erza asked and the man shoved the map into her arms
"By all means. It's not anything valuable and if it helps you find those dastardly demons, how could I refuse?"
Erza said her thanks and the mage duo stood up "We'll be off to investigate this fort then."
Taigon and Yayoi led Naruto and Erza to the boundary of the shrine and wished them good luck but Yayoi kept being silent. The two walked down the stairs and when they were out of ear shot the old man's eyes glowed an angry red. A deep chuckle, unlike the raspy older voice the man had previously spoken with, emanated from Taigon.
"What a clever young man that blonde boy is. To have figured out the hiding place of the imps, the mutts, my trusty general and his bodyguard." Taigon said in amusment and patted the young miko's head who tried to wriggle out of the man's grasp "Just too bad they will be running straight to their doom." he leaned down until his mouth was next to the girls ear "Right, Ya-yo-i-chan?" he whispered darkly and the young miko shuddered and gave a pitiful moan when strands of darkness began to envelope her
"Yes, you are right." she murmured as she scrunched up her eyes. She felt anger well up inside of her at her own helplessness and uselessness.
Why? Why had it come to this? Why had to be things this way? Why couldn't she do anything? Why was she so weak?
Soon the body of Taigon had completely turned into particles of darkness and enveloped Yayoi. The black haired girl gritted her teeth as she endured the pain of the darkness seeping back into her body.
Following the direction of the map they had been given Naruto and Erza made their way to the forest. They had passed the large incision that had been made by the unknown demons weapon and continued deeper into the forest. Past the plentiful amount of dark pine tress until they came across a large stone construct which was the fort the old shrine elder had told them about. The fort was enclosed by thick walls, protecting the main building on the inside. On top of the walls were a numerous amount of imps which currently seemed to be more occupied arguing in their impish language than paying attention to anyone getting close.
Erza and Naruto looked at eachother and gave a silent nod of agreement. Erza tensed her legs and jumped towards the top of the walls. While she was in mid air she changed into her Flame Empress armor. She surprised the first pair of imps by slicing cleanly through them.
"Gyaah!" they screamed just before her red blade cleaved through them. The sound of her attack alarmed the other imps on top of the wall to her presence.
"Filthy human bitch!" one spat in his squeaky, high pitched voice "When I get my hands on you I will..." he never got to finish his threat as sharp blades of winds shredded the black body into shreds courtesy of her partner who was floating down next to her.
'Wind magic.' Erza noted and she mentally counted with a smirk the first magic she had seen her partner use. They heard a few explosions as some imps had been knocked out by their own attempts at using magic but more than a fair share of fireballs still came flying their way.
"Water Shield." Erza's cloaked companion spoke softly and a spinning shield of blue water burst into existence in front of them. The weak balls of fire evaporated once they came into contact with the shield "Water Slicer." the shield twisted into thin streams of water which cut forward and cleaved another wave of imps in half just like Erza's swords had done moments ago. With impressive speed Erza cut through another small group of imps stationed atop the wall around the fort. More than just a little of the demons green ichor covered the stone wall. In mere minutes they had taken care of at least two dozen imps.
'But' Naruto noted 'Again no sign of an imp lord.'
The two jumped down into the courtyard after they took care of the first wave of imps.
"Finally you two sacks of flesh are here." another high pitched voice said. The voice was filled with sadistic glee and they saw a slightly larger imp. This one had multiple rings and piercings inside of his elongated black ears.
"Is that..." Erza asked and even before she could finish her question Naruto nodded and answered her
"Yes, that is an imp lord." and a slight amount of relief filled Naruto that there was at leas one of those damnable things here.
The sulfuric yellow eyes of the imp lord took in the two mages in front of it. Since this one seemed quite talkative they decided to hold their attacks for now so that it may be would reveal some of their plans.
"After you killed so many of my children I, the great Xaxus, will pay you back!" Xaxus declared gleefully. It wasn't that the imp lord held any affection or love for the products of his loins. It was just that those under his command were an extension of his, albeit limited, power. An attack on his power was an attack on himself and would have to be paid back.
'Children?' Erza thought in confusion and Naruto inwardly cursed as his theory would prove to be true
"What is your purpose? Why do you attack the town? Who is your leader? And why have you kidnapped women from Hagure?" Erza asked with her flame empress sword raised "Speak now and your death shall be swift." the scarlet haired woman's voice was low but promised pain
The imp lord cackled gleefully "Why should I tell you anything you stupid whore? After you killed the first batch of my children?" he large grin split the imps face apart "I don't care much for what that winged fucker has planned he simply provides quality stuff." a dangerous glint entered the imps eyes and a faint, pink glow surrounded his hand, causing Naruto's eyes to widen "As for the women... well when I'm through with you, you will know."
The imp let out another cackle as it fired the pink bolt it had formed at Erza.
"Tch." Naruto gave a silent curse and tackled Erza, who seemed surprised by the unknown attack, out of the way. The blonde groaned as the magic hit him. Feeling the effects spread though his body.
"Yuck." Xaxus commented with a frown as he saw that his magic had hit the wrong target "Well another try should work." another blast of pink magic formed in the small demon's hand but before he could blast it at his intended target the flame empress sword cut straight through the things body.
With a frown Erza stomped towards her partner "You idiot!" she shouted, grabbing his cloak and would have bonked him on the head if it had been apropriate "I could have dodged out of the way."
Naruto didn't answer as he tried to suppress the effects of the imp lord's magic. His skin heated up and he fought down the images that filled his head as he saw Erza in her lusciously skimpy armor.
"What kind of magic was that anyway?" she demanded to know "You never mentioned anything about those theings being able to shoot some kind of pink magic."
Naruto gritted his teeth as he struggled with the effects of the magic. He honestly didn't want to tell Erza what kind of magic it was but he would likely have to.
His body had simply moved on its own. Damn his love for red things.
"It slipped my mind. That kind of magic is very rare amongst imp lords." Naruto replied and released another groan
While Erza wanted to feel for her partner she knew that it was his own fault for being a bloody idiot "Well, what kind of magic is it? I would rather not be hit by it if it can put you into such a state." Her cloaked partner seemed to be quite out of it as he struggled with some kind of unseen affliction.
'You bet you wouldn't like to be hit by this.' Naruto thought with a scowl as he fought down another wave of images "That was... lust magic." he mumbled the last part very quietly
"Could you repeat that?" she had not quite understood the 'Thousand Masters' mumbling
"That was lust magic." Naruto explained with gritted teeth
"Lust magic?" Erza asked with slight confusion
"Yes. To be blunt it makes the target hit horny. The level of it varies with the power put into it. That blast I took was quite powerful." Naruto admitted sounding quite embarassed "I'm having a hard time keeping all sorts of images out of my head involving you. It is quite distracting you know."
Erza blinked and blushed slightly at the thought. It sounded like something straight out of her favorite guilty pleasure Icha Icha.
"Why did you take the blast then? I could have dodged it." Erza asked with a frown
"Because I didn't want this to hit you." Naruto stated as he slowly managed to calm himself "You saw how much trouble I had with it. I didn't want to risk the effects on you."
"So you don't trust me? Don't trust me to be able to deal with it?" Erza asked angrily she didn't need to be protected, she was capable of it on her own. Even after all the trust she had put into her partner for this request he didn't seem to trust her.
Naruto shook his head "You don't understand. The effects of these kind of attacks are much more severe on the opposite gender." Naruto explained with a grimace he didn't want to be on the receiving end of a tongue lashing from Erza right now or any time at all
Erza frowned but was still dissatisfied with her partner's answer "Alright but I want you to trust me. I can take care of myself."
Naruto gave a short nod "I'll keep that in mind." he pulled himself up "Now let's get inside."
The pair pushed the gate of the fort open.
"It seems we have some visitors." a dark, cultivated voice remarked "Just like the master told us. How long do you think it will take them to deal with all the small fry and find us?" The voice adressed a large demon with a strange weapon who was standing next to him. But the large demon remained silent.
"You don't make for very good conversations you know that?" the voice commented with a sigh "Although the imps are even worse in that regard." An amused chuckle range out.
-Spell Grimoire-
Water Shield, Caster Type, Elemental Magic(Water)
Defensive
Rank: B
A shield of water appears in front of the caster. The size of the shield can vary depending on the power put into it.
Lust Magic, Caster Type, Demonic Magic
Although not purely restricted to demons, this magic has been known to be first used by them. It was very early on outlawed by humans for its abusive power. On top of that it is actually nigh impossible to find a demon willing to teach this.
This magic can cause feelings of lust of varying degrees in the target. Targets of the opposite gender are always affected much more strongly than those of the same. These feelings can range from flushed skin and the usual physiological signs of arousal to an influenced thought and behaviour pattern.