This chapter has been rewritten as of 5/6/19.

I have futzed with the timeline of Gildarts's arrival and the Edolas Anima opening by a few days, but it's nothing earth-shattering.

Chapter 5

"I don't know," I said, examining the clearing with a critical eye. "It might be too small."

Next to me, Zangetsu scoffed. Materialized for the first time in months, he'd helped me clear out this section of Magnolia's forest as a training ground and sparring arena. Blasted trunks dotted the area, and the edge of the clearing was marked by burn scars and shattered wood. Most of the grass and topsoil had been burned off or blown away.

"This'll work fine," he said. "If it's too small, you and the wizard can just destroy a couple'a trees and make it bigger."

"That's true," I muttered, looking around. "Yeah, it'll work."

Zangetsu returned to my inner world. I looked around the new clearing one last time, nodded, and started the trek back to Magnolia.

I had a wizard to fight.

All the description of Gildarts had made me think he was the pinnacle of Fairy Tail's eccentricity. The ace of the most destructive guild, known for crashing through walls, who was so unobservant that they had to remake the entire town just so he wouldn't break through people's homes—he had to be Kenpachi-grade levels of single-minded.

But when I came up on his house, I was surprised by how unassuming it was. The guildhall was extravagant; Gildarts's house just looked like…a house. I stopped outside, taking a deep breath of the late afternoon air. I'd meant to come by earlier, but I'd made a breakthrough on one Kidō formula this morning and had ridden that wave as far as it could take me. Then there was the whole process of finding and making a space where we could fight uninterrupted and unobserved, which tacked on another hour or so.

A couple people walking by glanced my way, but to them, I was just another person on the street. Admittedly, a person carrying swords, but people here were taking that much more in stride than I was used to.

Enough stalling. I stepped forward, raised a hand, and knocked solidly on Gildarts' door. I knew he was home; he put out enough reiatsu that I could sense him from across town, just like Makarov.

"Come in," a voice called from inside.

Pushing the door open, I took in the house's interior. It was modest, with regular furnishings and a comfortable atmosphere. A small fire pit burned gently in the back, a kettle hanging over it. The floors and walls were wooden, simple and unadorned. With the kinds of missions he completed, I'd figured Gildarts had a fair amount of money, but if I thought about it…if he was gone on missions so much, it made sense that his house wouldn't be all that grand. It would be equivalent to decorating the command tent.

Gildarts himself was seated on a wooden rocking chair, his gaze fixed on the wall in a thousand-yard stare. His gaze slid over to me when I shut the door, however, and stayed there.

For a second, neither of us said anything. I hadn't expected Gildarts to be so…old, relatively, compared to the rest of the people I saw in the guild, but he had stubble on his face and the satisfied weariness of a man who travelled far and often.

I didn't really know what to say. He reminded me of Shunsui, almost, in bearing, but that impression broke when he shifted and spoke.

"You look familiar, kid. Have I seen you before?"

"I don't think we've met yet, actually. I just joined the Fairy Tail guild. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Oh, I see. Nice to meet you; I'm Gildarts Clive. So, what brings you here? If you're looking for Natsu he left a long time ago."

I knew that much. I'd sensed his chaotic reiatsu retreating from Magnolia about twenty minutes ago, but I hadn't figured it was any of my business. I'd taken Natsu's visit as a sign that it was probably okay for me to intrude.

"I'm not looking for Natsu," I admitted. "I actually wanted to ask you some things. And then I have a request."

"What's got you so interested in me? I'm not that interesting of a guy, really."

"You're the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail," I pointed out.

"That'll change."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're thinking about Natsu, aren't you?"

Gildarts cocked his head. "For a new member of Fairy Tail, you're a remarkably perceptive guy." And blunt, Gildarts seemed to say with just his expression. I shrugged.

"Call it a talent. You mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Go for it, kid. I'm free all day."

"Have you ever run into another person stronger than you? Someone who isn't a guild master."

Gildarts blinked. "Not that I can remember. Plenty of wizards have given me a good run, though."

"What about a wizard who can cross dimensions?"

Gildarts leaned forward in his seat. "Now that's a pretty specific question. You're looking for someone, aren't you?"

"Not exactly. Have you?"

He leaned back. "No, at least not in the way you're looking for, I'm sure. Party tricks, mostly. Well, actually, there was one man who could hide in a separate dimension…but he was still tied to this one."

"How so?"

Gildarts waved a hand. "My magic could still hit him if I spread it out enough."

So a dead end. Great. I'd been hoping that someone as well-travelled as Gildarts would've come across something, but apparently not. "What about your magic?"

"My magic?" He furrowed his brows. "Crush can bend space, I suppose, but just to the point of breaking a physical thing. I don't have the power to rip through the fabric of space. Can you imagine?" He laughed. "Anything else you want to know? Afraid I'm not going to be much help with this dimension business."

"Just one more thing," I said. "My request."

"Oh? What is it?"

I grinned crookedly. "Care for a spar?"

Gildarts stared at me for a good five seconds before bursting into laughter, having to rest his hands on his knees to avoid falling out of his chair. The entire time, I stayed quiet, trying to suppress my own rising indignation. Zangetsu's feelings on the matter weren't helping.

Finally, Gildarts calmed down, wiping one of his eyes. "Whew. For a second, you sounded exactly like a younger Natsu. I thought you asked me to spar with you."

"Is this really such a weird thing for 'im? Man, he must get so fuckin' bored."

"I did."

Gildarts looked at me and frowned, his levity draining away. "Kid, I respect the fact that you have the guts to ask me this, but there has got to be someone around here who's closer to your skill level. Going against me isn't going to help you."

I took a deep breath. I was banking on the idea that Gildarts wouldn't dismiss me as cocky, that he would believe in my strength—or at least trust that I believed in it. "There isn't anyone else. I'm reasonably sure that you're the only one in Fairy Tail other than the master who could possibly match me." I paused to emphasize my next words. "If I got serious, no one else would stand a chance."

"Those are big words, kid," Gildarts said, his expression becoming more serious. "Are you absolutely sure you can live up to them?"

"Yeah, I am."

Gildarts sighed. "You really want to go through with this," he muttered, shaking his head. "All right, let's do it. I already told you I'm free the rest of the day, and I can't turn down a challenge like this. We can spar at the guildhall."

He stood, his cloak shifting momentarily to reveal the prosthetics on his left arm and leg. Wooden and worn, they were a jarring indication that Gildarts was as human as any other wizard. I'd been under the impression that Gildarts was nigh-unbeatable in this world, but clearly that wasn't right.

"What happened?" I asked, unable to stop myself. In the war, plenty of people had lost limbs, but I hadn't seen it as much here. I'd always been able to regenerate my own; my right arm had been cut off at least three times in recent memory. "What, these?" Gildarts glanced down. "Got in over my head and didn't realize until it was too late."

Realizing that my question could be taken as an insult, I backtracked. "Didn't mean to offend, it just surprised me."

"Don't worry about it."

I hesitated another second before I firmed my resolve. "We can't fight at the guildhall."

"You don't want anyone watching?"

"Partially. I'm trying to avoid attention, and going toe-to-toe with you would ruin that."

"Oh?"

"Besides, my techniques can be dangerous. I don't want anyone getting caught up in it, wizard or not."

"I suppose that's fair. You look like you have a different place in mind."

"I cleared out a spot in the woods a mile or so from town. We should be able to fight there without worrying about anyone or anything else getting destroyed."

Gildarts nodded wordlessly, his frown slightly more pronounced than it had been. Apparently, the distance had caught him off-guard. After a second, he sighed.

"Well, I agreed. Lead the way, Ichigo."

The afternoon sun shone down with diffuse, watery light. A bank of scattered clouds moved across the sky, chased by a massive storm front rolling in from beyond Magnolia. Hopefully, the worst of it wouldn't hit until after Gildarts and I were finished; while I could fight in any weather, I preferred friendly matches to be fought in the best possible conditions so that I didn't accidentally decapitate my opponent. Slip-ups were easier in the rain.

Gildarts stood about ten yards farther into the clearing, taking in the scenery. We'd walked over in relative silence, with me taking the lead and making little effort to talk other than to give directions. Gildarts seemed comfortable with that, though as we walked, I'd occasionally seen him looking at me critically, probably searching for any signs of nervousness or regret.

"Quite a place you have here," he commented, turning back to face me. He indicated the craters. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "I was on a clock, otherwise I would've flattened it out a bit more."

He frowned. "Now that I think about it, you never told me what kind of magic you use. Is it caster or holder type?"

"I'll tell you that if you return the favor," I answered. "I asked around the guild hall, but Mira told me it'd be best to just ask you."

"Easy enough. I practice caster-type crush magic, which destroys anything I come into contact with. It will nullify most magic attacks and split objects into pieces. But it's no good at scaling down, so I'm not good at holding back with it." The last few words were said as an implicit warning, as though Gildarts was still trying to get me to reconsider. When I gave no indication that I would, he crossed his arms.

"Alright then. What's your magic, Ichigo?"

"I practice holder-type sword magic," I answered. "My blades give me enhanced strength and speed, as well as a powerful set of energy attacks."

"Blades?" Gildarts repeated. His gaze switched to the sheaths on my hip and over my back. "What? Like swords?"

"Yeah," I replied, resting my right hand on the smaller blade's pommel. "'Like swords' is a pretty good way of putting it."

"So it's requip magic," Gildarts commented. I shook my head, drawing the cleaver and resting the back edge on my shoulder.

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean?"

I shrugged. "I don't switch weapons. Anyway, you'll find out what they're capable of soon enough. Or do you want to keep asking me questions? If you keep this up, I'll start to think that you're the nervous one."

Gildarts grinned, sensing the challenge in my words. No matter how worried he was about accidentally crushing me, he was clearly the type of person to enjoy a new challenge, especially by a determined opponent.

"I see. Well then, let's begin this spar." He set his feet, adopting a defensive stance that could easily switch to attack. "Attack whenever you're ready."

I didn't move. "Look. I understand that you have a high opinion of your abilities, which from what I can see is well founded. But—"

I vanished from where I had been standing and appeared behind Gildarts. The point of Zangetsu's cleaver rested against the back of his neck.

"I'd drop whatever restrictions you've put on yourself," I finished, my tone mild. I wasn't egging Gildarts on just to annoy him; I wanted an earnest fight, one where Gildarts didn't underestimate me, and this was how I was going to get it.

I returned to my original spot with another burst of shunpo, Zangetsu resting on my shoulder once more. Gildarts regarded me with interest, rubbing the spot on the back of his neck where my blade had nicked him.

"Your speed is impressive," he admitted. "I've never seen magic quite like it before. You caught me off-guard." He cracked his neck. "Very well. If you want me to take this fight seriously, I'll do it. Don't say I didn't warn you."

I raised Zangetsu. "Don't worry about me. I'm tougher than I look."

Shunpo launched me across the distance to Gildarts. Zangetsu came around, bloodthirsty edge cutting towards Gildarts's neck. Shock flooded Gildarts's face, but just before Zangetsu made contact, magic surged up around Gildarts, creating a shockwave that blew me back ten yards. I skidded for a second before recovering and straightened. The shockwave hadn't done any damage, but it was a startling example of just how quickly Gildarts could react to attacks.

"Seems like you got a little startled again," I said.

Gildarts shrugged, raising his hands. "It's been a while since I fought someone who uses actual weapons. Trust me, kid, it isn't going to happen a third time."

I tightened my grip on Zangetsu. That sounded like a challenge. Power built around the sword's blade, swirling in hypnotic spirals until I swung. "Getsuga Tenshō."

The crescent shot across the clearing. Gildarts didn't move; instead, a white net spread out from his palms. The lines dug into the crescent; the two energies warred for a second before my attack broke apart, the smaller pieces detonating harmlessly. Gildarts waved a hand to disperse the smoke just in time to see the second and third energy crescents bearing down on him. He launched more nets to neutralize them. In that instant when he released the second net, I dropped down from above, golden light shining on my fingertips.

"Bakudō number sixty-one," I intoned, "Rikujokoro!"

Six bars of light slammed into Gildarts's midsection, freezing him in place. Almost as soon as the bars hit, though, Gildarts's magical power surged enough to make my teeth ache. Rikujokoro's restraints broke apart into shards and Gildarts reached up, catching Zangetsu's blade in his bare hand, not even his prosthetic. A thin sheen of crush covered his palm, and Zangetsu shook from the force behind the spell.

"Neat trick," Gildarts said. He frowned at my sword. "Tough sword, too."

"We take after each other," I replied.

I reached for the smaller blade, still sheathed at my hip. Gildarts raised his prosthetic, another crush spell about to fire. Reacting on reflex, I released the cleaver, pushed off the air to get behind Gildarts, and slashed the trench blade across his exposed back. An instant later, the miniature Getsuga Tenshō I'd stored in the blade detonated, staggering Gildarts and singing his cloak.

He spun, moving far faster than before. White filled my vision, pressure hit my chest, and then agony took its place as my ribs gave way.

I slammed into a tree on the edge of the clearing, the breath exploding out of my lungs in a gasp. Spots danced in front of my eyes. At least five of my ribs were broken, and one had probably punctured a lung. Staggering to my feet, using the tree for support, I found Gildarts still standing where he'd been, looking at me with concern in his eyes.

"You okay?" he called. "I reacted without thinking on that one."

"I guessed that," I grunted. Something bubbled up in my throat and I coughed, splattering blood across the ground.

Gildarts got closer. "Is that—shit, we need to get you to a doctor. I hit you hard."

"I'll be fine," I said, licking my lips. My mouth was filled with the taste of iron.

"This isn't something you can tank. I'm telling you—"

Instant regeneration kicked in automatically the moment my injuries turned fatal. Gildarts, momentarily stunned, watched with wide eyes as I straightened, my ribs realigning with audible cracking noises. My chest shifted under my ruined shirt, bones warping and moving under my skin. I spat out the last of the blood and wiped my mouth. I raised one hand, calling Zangetsu with my mind. The cleaver flew across the clearing and slammed into my palm.

"Round two?" I asked.

Gildarts blinked. "Kid," he said, "what are you?"

"Human, mostly. Someone you don't have to worry about breaking. I've had worse. I've healed from worse. You could shatter my bones a hundred times and I wouldn't stay down, so don't hold back. I want to know what you're made of."

Gildarts's smile contained a mix of incredulity, wonder, and interest. "All right, I'll bite. Round two it is. You'd better be ready to test that healing ability of yours, though."

"Don't expect me to get hit so easily again."

"We'll see about that."

Crush magic, a white surge, flew towards me. I flash-stepped out of the way and retaliated with a weak Getsuga Tenshō. Gildarts simply knocked the attack aside, his skin barely reddened from the attack. I closed the distance between us but Gildarts had been waiting for that; he caught Zangetsu's cleaver again and then deflected the shorter blade with his prosthetic limb. Seeing his grin and sensing his reiatsu fluctuate massively, I abandoned my weapons, planted my foot on Gildarts's chest, and pushed off to get some distance.

I was just in time. Crush magic obliterated the space I'd just occupied, distorting the air for a moment before fading. Calling Zangetsu's blades back to me, I circled Gildarts, releasing several Getsuga Tenshō attacks before getting above him, using the dust cloud my attacks had kicked up as cover.

One slash, then another perpendicular to it. "Getsuga Jūjishō."

The energy cross blew away the dust as it screamed towards Gildarts. Sensing the danger, Gildarts looked up. He produced another one of those nullifying nets, but I'd packed serious power into this attack. The net failed, the energy hit, and the area around Gildarts exploded.

I shot down, but the instant I got close, a massive wave of crush magic broke out of the dust cloud. I stopped, but in the time it took me to reverse direction, the magic caught my left leg. The bones in my foot and leg shattered, some of them breaking through the skin. I still had enough momentum to carry me out of the rest of the magic's range, but the damage had been done. I stopped in mid-air, far enough to be out of immediate range, and assessed the damage.

My pants leg had been shredded. Blood streaked down my skin in crimson lines. Hierro had done nothing. My guess had been right; higher-level and more powerful spells could bypass it completely.

"That was an impressive attack," Gildarts called from where he stood. The Getsuga Jūjishō had torn up the ground around him, but other than a few new tears in his clothes and light burns on his skin, I couldn't see any sign of damage on him. Had he negated it entirely at the last second? "What did you call it? Gensaga Jejisho?"

"Getsuga Jūjishō," I corrected, leaning all my weight onto my right leg. "I wasn't expecting you to defend so well. That counter nearly got me."

Gildarts wore an easy smile. "I'll admit, you nearly had me too." He gestured to the broken ground around him. "Had to break this down to buy time and cushion the force. Still almost didn't make it." His gaze drifted to my leg. "I figured, with your speed, an area-of-effect spell would be more effective."

"You were right," I acknowledged. Healing my leg would take up another chunk of my sealed reserves, which were already suffering. I'd gotten part of my answer on relative strength: Gildarts was stronger than me when my power was sealed.

But now that I was here, I wanted more. I wanted to see just how far he could go. How far I could go against him.

"Still," I continued, "you'll need to do more to keep me down." My leg cracked. White material bubbled up from the open wounds and then disappeared a second later, leaving whole and unbroken skin in its wake. I flexed my repaired limb and then put weight on it again. Satisfied, I dropped to the ground.

"That technique seems like it's quite the draining one," Gildarts said. "How many more healings do you have left? You'll run out of magic power long before I do at this rate."

"If I don't unseal the rest, definitely."

Gildarts frowned. "What?"

I tapped my chest. "Ninety percent of my strength is held here. If I didn't keep it contained, I would never be able to go anywhere without being noticed."

After a second, Gildarts's frown changed to a smirk, his eyes filling with interest at the challenge my words implied. "You've been fighting me with your power sealed this whole time, huh? You've got guts. Let's have it, then. A real fight. No holding back for either of us."

I matched his grin. "Let's."

The seal came undone. Instead of immediately forcing my power under control, I let it run wild through my veins. My reiatsu crashed down on the clearing, distorting the atmosphere as tongues of black reiatsu danced around me like flames. Gildarts staggered, nearly going to one knee before his magical power rose in kind and he stood straight.

The visible reiatsu around me calmed as I reigned the worst of it in. With my true power released, all my senses felt dialed up to eleven. Sound was crisper, louder; smells were sharper; I could feel my heart beating in my chest and the breath rushing in and out of my lungs.

It just felt…right.

Several yards away, recognizing that I was finished, Gildarts straightened his shoulders. His reiatsu fluctuated. An instant later, his magical power roared into the sky, tearing into the air around him in a whirlwind of pure energy. His strength pressed down on my shoulders, returning in kind my reiatsu surge from earlier. I set my shoulders and pushed back until the feeling of being underwater receded, but Gildarts wasn't done. His power kept climbing, an absolute maelstrom of screaming destruction.

I couldn't help smiling. Zangetsu's eagerness bled into my own; the blade in my right hand quivered with anticipation. Now I understood why Gildarts was the ace, why he'd chosen this guild, why he seemed so reserved about a fight. He was chaos personified, the universe's requirement for change contained in a single man.

Defensive blut running at full strength, I shot into the storm. Gildarts was a shadow among the rest. I homed in on him and brought Zangetsu down with enough force to cleave him shoulder to hip.

He caught Zangetsu. The ground beneath his feet shattered, then shattered again. His power stopped raging around the clearing and concentrated in his upraised hand.

We both grinned like idiots.

Crush magic tore at Zangetsu's edge. I brought his smaller half up, forcing Gildarts to let go or risk losing his left hand a second time. He retaliated with a crush spell fired from his right. I twisted out of the way, then kicked off the air to get behind him. He was already moving, forcing me back with another wave of crush magic. The power behind each spell warped the air and I knew, I just knew, that even blut wouldn't save me from the effects if I took one head-on.

Darting around Gildarts fast enough to leave afterimages in my wake, I scrutinized Gildarts's defenses for any sign of a weakness. He didn't move quickly from one place to another, but his battle reflexes and reaction speeds were incredible.

Gildarts didn't move, but he was trying to track me with his eyes. He was tensed, ready for an attack. If I waited much longer, he was going to try for another massive crush spell.

I launched a barrage of attacks, hitting Gildarts from all angles. My blades would barely make contact before his magic rushed me, but I was fast enough to avoid the worst of it. My hands were the worst off; several times, my fingers were within range. Blut held up better than my Hierro, but it still wasn't enough with Gildarts's spells hitting me at full strength.

Retreating, I healed my shattered fingers and the various other bruises I'd sustained in my rush. Crush magic moved incredibly quickly once cast; if I didn't pull away immediately, I'd get hit—and Gildarts was remarkably cunning with his casting, hiding a secondary spell in his other hand or simply using it on the air around him in anticipation of where I would be before I even got there.

For his part, Gildarts looked worse for wear. Blood dripped from the numerous cuts across his body. His cape fell from his shoulders, its clasps torn to uselessness, revealing the bandages across his chest and prosthetic limbs in their full glory.

"All right, kid," Gildarts said, raising his right arm in challenge. "I'll be ready for you this time."

He was right. I sped around him again, but his defense was rock-solid. I had to abandon the hit-and-run strategy. I was taking too much damage with each hit before I could run.

Switching to attacks at range, I fired off three Getsuga Tenshō attacks before darting behind Gildarts. While he defended against the energy crescents, I scored a deep cut across his back. I darted away again before my earlier attacks detonated; Gildarts had defused the first two, but the third hit him dead-on. When the dust cleared, he was still standing, but the force of the blast had pushed him back about ten feet, leaving clear ruts in the ground from where his feet had dragged.

I sheathed Zangetsu. Ignoring my hollow's complaints, I cracked my knuckles.

"We're both evenly matched like this," I said in response to Gildarts's look. "My swords give me an edge you can't match. I'll just keep healing, but you don't have the same ability."

"I thought we agreed not to hold back."

"We did," I said. "And trust me, I won't."

In truth, I'd already gotten what I needed to know. I could match Gildarts with my released shikai. My bankai—either one of them—would be no contest. However, if I kept using Zangetsu, even in shikai, Gildarts would bleed out and this fight would be over far too quickly for either of us to be satisfied. That cut on Gildarts's back had already shortened this spar drastically and we both knew it.

Gildarts sighed. "All right, kid, but I can't say I like the idea of you getting rid of your swords mid-fight."

"It isn't an insult," I said. "At least, I'm not trying to make it one. Most opponents wouldn't make it to the point where I wanted to sheathe my swords. This is a good fight. Why waste it?"

He scratched his ear and shrugged. "Fair enough."

His magic surged again. That magic sense I'd been developing felt burned out and overloaded from the sheer force and volume of Gildarts's power. Rolling out my shoulders, I let reiryoku build in my hands.

For anyone else, getting close to Gildarts would be suicide. His power was so overwhelming, so quick to retaliate, that range was the only option. But I was faster than most and could heal like no other. I closed the distance between us in a heartbeat and lashed out with a kick.

Gildarts blocked it with his left arm, bracing it with his right and cushioning the force behind the strike by shattering the ground beneath his feet even more. Pushing off his arms, I spun in the air and tried for another kick. When he blocked that too, I darted around him and hammered two punches into his back. He staggered, grunting in pain, and retaliated with a crush spell that sent me flying.

Flipping in mid-air, I got my feet under me and rolled when I hit ground. Coming back up, I winced. That attack had taken out most of my right shoulder. It healed a second later, and then the familiar Blut patterns spread over my skin. My bones would definitely still break just because of the nature of magic—and Gildarts's magic in particular—but Blut would probably stop them from completely shattering, saving me a good chunk of reiryoku.

This time, Gildarts was the one to press the attack. Crush spells detonated around me, forcing me into a cage while Gildarts got close. Coughing out the dust coating my throat, I dove and rolled out of the way of a vicious uppercut, then spun to dodge a follow-up kick.

Energy built around my hands. I fired off the bala wordlessly; it slammed into Gildarts an instant later, hitting like a sucker punch. He staggered, wheezing in surprise and pain. I took note: while reiryoku-enhanced blows did more damage than normal punches, bala and other "pure energy" techniques did far more than even that.

I tried another bala, but Gildarts raised a crush-coated hand and obliterated the attack. He held his prosthetic hand over his side, wincing. "Hell of an attack you've got there, kid," he said.

"I've got worse."

He smirked, straightening a little. "I'm sure you do."

Cracks shot through the ground, heading right for me. I tried to push off, but the earth was already breaking under my feet, making me stagger. The spell had fired way too quickly—had he used our brief conversation to distract me?

Gildarts's fist came whistling for my sternum. I twisted, bringing one Blut-coated arm up to deflect the blow. His fist glanced off my forearm, leaving an eye-watering welt in its wake. Still without footing and unable to gather enough reishi to make my own, I let myself fall backwards out of Gildarts's reach. My right hand hit solid ground; I flipped, loosing a bala as I turned to knock Gildarts back.

My feet hit ground again. A crush spell was already heading right for me.

"Danku," I said, raising a hand. A wobbly, unstable barrier appeared between me and the spell, absorbing the worst of it before the Bakudō broke. I'd already moved out of the spell's path. Red light swirled between my hands, drawn from the air and my own reserves. Gildarts, sensing the power behind the attack, braced himself as crush shone as white light around his limbs.

I raised my hands, but Gildarts spoke first.

"All—"

"Cero."

"—crush."

Red met white in a brilliant clash that completely blinded me. I kept pouring power into the cero, squinting through the light bright enough to burn. It wasn't a full-strength cero—I wasn't out here to obliterate Gildarts, and he wasn't out here to do the same to me. Wild spirals of errant energy split off from the point of contact between our two attacks, crashing into the trees on the edges of the clearing and completely destroying them. Trails of mixed red and white light streamed past me, tearing at my clothes and blut.

Our attacks imploded. The shockwave slammed into my chest like a slap from God, hurtling me back towards the tree line. I slammed into a tree, broke through, and hit its neighbor hard enough to crack ribs. I sank down to the ground, groaning quietly. That shockwave had contained traces of Gildarts's magic, which negated my natural resilience.

"Ow," I grunted, taking a second to contemplate how long it had been since I'd been in this much pain, before picking myself up. The instant I pushed on the trunk behind me, it began to tip. I hurriedly stepped back as the tree fell, the damage I'd done by hitting it taking its toll. It crashed to the ground, a couple broken branches missing me by inches. Leaves rained down.

With no more trees falling around me, I healed the myriad of bruises, welts, and broken bones scattered all over my body. Brushing leaves out of my hair, I picked my way out of the forest edge and emerged back into the clearing.

It was little more than a crater. Where my cero had warred against Gildarts's magic was just a glassed indentation in the ground. The shockwave had blown away several inches of topsoil that had coated the nearest trees.

In my head, Zangetsu whistled. "That wizard ain't half bad."

I scanned the trees for Gildarts. I could still sense his magic and reiatsu, so he wasn't dead. You say that, I said to Zangetsu, but I could feel you shaking from his magic.

"Kiss my ass. The guy's magic was practically designed to combat ours. He was trying to break me!"

Felt like he almost did when he caught you the second time.

Zangetsu grumbled a bit. His Quincy half spoke up. "We will simply have to use more power to bolster the strength of the blades in combat than we are used to. The balance we are used to does not hold here."

"Fuckin' magic."

Trekking across the desolation, I followed my senses to where I was pretty sure Gildarts had landed. He'd taken out some trees of his own after being thrown by the shockwave, and I came up on him sitting with his back against a damaged—but still standing—tree.

He glanced up. There was blood on his lips and spotted around the bandages over his chest. "Think we might have to call this one," he said with a slanted grin. "I don't heal like you do."

"Where are you hurt?" I asked, crouching in front of him. He laughed a little.

"You did a number on me, kid. I'm hurt all over."

"Let me see it," I said. "I know a couple healing techniques I can use on other people. I don't know how effective it'll be, but it's worth a shot."

"If you can keep me from being yelled at by the guild doctor, sure," he said, lifting his hand to reveal the deep cut surrounded by burns beneath. I caught sight of other minor wounds dotting his skin, mostly light burns and bruises.

My hands glowed green with healing Kaidō. It mostly functioned to restore reiatsu and give the body extra energy to heal, but here, where everyone had so little relative reiatsu, I suspected that the effects would be much more dramatic if I suddenly bolstered that amount.

Gildarts visibly relaxed when the Kaidō began to take effect. "Healing magic," he said. "It's incredible enough what you were doing before, but now you've got two different types."

"I try not to spread that around. I got the impression it's not too common around here."

"That's an understatement. Sounds like it is where you're from."

"Not really," I said, eyeing Gildarts's wound. The blood flow was slowing, and the burns were improving. "Besides, this isn't exactly a healing technique. It's more like I'm speeding up your healing process by giving your body some extra energy."

"But what you were doing before—" Gildarts nodded at my leg, where my pants were still shredded up to my knee—"that's something else."

"It is," I acknowledged. "What I'm doing now is called Kaidō. What I was doing is called instant regeneration, but I can only use that on myself. Trying to transfer its effects to you could cause…problems."

"Could?"

"It's worked a couple of times." On the battlefield, in terrible conditions, with hollows screaming loud enough to make my ears bleed. "And failed a hundred more."

"Got it." Gildarts stared at me, frowning. "Y'know, the whole time we were fighting, I didn't sense any magic from you, even when you undid that seal of yours. I'm no sensor-type, but either I'm going crazy or you weren't using magic at all."

My lips twitched into a slight smile. I'd known going into this fight that my secret wasn't going to stay secret for long. There was simply no way to hide that I didn't use magic against an opponent as strong as Gildarts. I was reasonably sure Loke wasn't around—Lucy was either at home or at the guild right now—so I didn't care about spilling a few more secrets. Gildarts didn't seem like the type to gossip, anyway, and if he did, I could claim he'd just misheard or misremembered what I'd said.

"You're right," I said. "I'm not from around here, apparently."

"Apparently?"

"Turns out a friend of mine—my mentor, really—was using me as a kind of experiment. He brought me here from another world, never told me, and then sent me here as his last act." I shrugged. "I never really got a 'why' from him. I'm still wrapping my head around everything myself."

Gildarts shook his head, bemused incredulity coloring his voice. "I gotta admit, that's one of the crazier things I've ever heard. No wonder your attacks went through my magic like that."

"Your magic was doing the same to my defenses," I said. I raised a hand, letting Blut's lines shimmer over my skin. "Normally, you could attack this all day, and my skin wouldn't break. But your attacks tore through it like paper."

"Guess we're each other's weakness," Gildarts said. "Another world, huh? With strength like that, it must be a pretty dangerous place."

"I wouldn't know. Never been. How's your wound feel?"

"Better. How's it look?"

The burns had all been first- or second-degree. The first-degree burns were all but gone, and the second-degree burns were well on their way to healed. The laceration was scabbed over, its ends already scarring.

"Better," I decided. "A few more minutes and you should be able to move around without risking this getting worse."

"Handy trick."

Over our heads, the clouds finally eclipsed the sun, plunging us into the gray light of an approaching storm. Gildarts squinted at the sky. "Looks like it's going to be an ugly one. We should start heading back."

"Sounds good."

The first droplets of rain began to fall. The storm didn't ease us into it; the drizzle quickly turned into a downpour. I helped Gildarts to his feet and kept supporting his weight back into the clearing, where we paused to orient ourselves.

In that short break, Gildarts stood on his own. "Think I'm good," he said. "Thanks for the healing."

"I am the one who injured you in the first place."

"True, but you were right. It was a good fight, and I didn't want to waste it by bowing out too early. Those techniques you used at the end there were pretty impressive, though. I didn't expect you to be so strong without your swords. I guess the idea of holder-type doesn't really apply to someone like you."

"Pretty much."

Water dripped from my hair over my eyes. Blinking it away and ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of my clothes sticking to my skin, I tried to orient myself with the sky completely obscured by the storm.

"That way," Gildarts said, pointing to a break in the trees. In the distance, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. I nodded and followed Gildarts as we began the hike back. The ground was muddy and soft under my feet, making walking even harder. It didn't help that the canopy was blocking most of what little light made it through the clouds. Worse, something about the storm felt distinctly wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The buzz over my skin was probably the lightning charge in the air, but there was something else, something more, that was putting me on edge.

We walked in silence, the both of us focused on putting one foot in front of the other without slipping or tripping. Gildarts was favoring his right side, but he appeared to be otherwise fine. When we were halfway back to Magnolia, we crested a small hill and got a view of the waterlogged city. In that instant, the ground began to shake. This time, it wasn't Gildarts's doing.

"The hell?" I said. At this distance, in the pouring rain, the town itself was hard to make out, but I could see the lightning striking around it over and over again easily enough. That much lightning couldn't be normal. That strange feeling I was getting from the storm was increasing, and judging from the ominous way the storm clouds were circling over the city, my dread was well-founded. This wasn't a natural storm. Not even close.

"Gildarts!" I called over the pounding rain. "We've gotta get back to Magnolia. Something's happening!"

"Right!"

We both broke into a run, slipping and sliding over the rain-slicked soil. As we got closer, the sense of danger increased, until both halves of Zangetsu were warning me to be careful.

When the hollow and Old Man were in agreement, I had good reason to listen.

Suddenly, energy pulsed from the hole in the sky and the frequency of the lightning doubled. My eyes widened and instinctively I knew that whatever was about to happen, whatever spell was about to be fired, I was in range, and so was Gildarts. Every instinct in me was screaming for me to take cover.

Acting quickly on years of experience with surprise attacks during the war, I turned around and tackled a startled Gildarts to the ground, all the while muttering an incantation as fast as I could. Just as the energy pulse—which had taken the form of a massive, roaring tornado—reached us, I yelled out,

"Bakudō number seventy-three, Tozanshō!"

An inverted pyramid sprang up around me, covering Gildarts as well, and glowed a soft blue as the winds raged around it. Unlike my Danku spell from earlier, this one was steady and controlled, its edges clearly defined and pulsing gently with my power. The wind howled against it, unable to break through.

Beneath me, Gildarts was still, probably in shock, but we both saw the way the trees and plants around us glowed white and then vanished, sucked away in the storm. Floored, I could only watch. Whatever this spell was, it seemed to be ignoring my barrier entirely. Everything else, every single other thing, disappeared into the sky.

I pushed myself off Gildarts. We both stared out at the world from within small space of Tozanshō's walls, the only things between us and whatever was happening outside. We both knew better than to move beyond them.

As quickly as it had come, the wind vanished, taking the entire town of Magnolia—and its surrounding forests—with it.

When I was sure the spell was completely finished absorbing the world, I let the Bakudō dissolve into nothing. No matter how good I had gotten at it, shaping my massive reserves of reiatsu into a concentrated spell always drained me more than it should. I stood up, Gildarts following suit, and looked around. What I saw was nothing like the landscape we had been making our way through a minute ago. The trees, the grass, and even the dirt were all gone, replaced by a seemingly endless plain of sand. Clouds of ethereal white dust drifted by on an unfelt breeze, and bubbles rose up from the ground in random bursts, giving the entire area an otherworldly feel.

Even more disturbing was the complete, utter silence. Even the rain had stopped. I took a couple steps and the sand shifted under my feet. I knelt down, raking up a handful and letting it trickle through my fingers. It didn't feel like sand; it was strangely smooth, like glass.

"What happened here?" Gildarts asked, his voice strangely loud against the silent backdrop.

"I don't know," I replied, standing again and looking around. With the drifting dust and bubbles, I didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean there was no one else here. I began probing with my other senses, searching for traces of magical energy or reiatsu. If I used both senses, I had a better chance of actually getting a location.

"It's like that spell pulled away everything with any trace of magic at all," Gildarts muttered, turning in a slow circle. He glanced at me. "That could be why your barrier wasn't just pulled in too."

"Because I don't use magic?" I counted one person relatively close, but that couldn't be it. There had to be more.

"This is just guesswork," Gildarts said, scratching his chin, "but I'd bet that that barrier of yours acted like a magical block. It created an area that, to the spell and anyone looking, wouldn't have any magic passing through it or coming out. Almost everything in this world either stores magic in some way or gets coated in the stuff, even the stones we use to build our homes."

"So we were less than a stone," I said, pausing my search. "That spell didn't even notice us."

"It didn't notice your barrier." Gildarts frowned again. "I don't want to know what would've happened if I'd been outside those walls."

I eyed the tiny patch of grass and dirt where we'd taken cover. It looked so out of place now. Everything around it was just dead sand. "Nothing good."

We were quiet for a couple seconds. Gildarts kept poking around while I closed my eyes to aid my visualization.

"The good news," I said after a beat while I opened my eyes, "is that I can feel some people around here; we should search for them, see if they know any more than we do."

"Sounds good," Gildarts agreed. Faced with the disappearance of all of Magnolia and, more importantly, Fairy Tail, Gildarts had lost all traces of levity. He knew the stakes. "Looks like the clouds are hanging around, though. That was no normal storm. Is that some kind of portal?"

I craned my neck up to look at the sky. "Maybe? This is all new to me. The research I was doing didn't cover giant portals in the sky."

"It's all new to me too." He sighed. "Either way, it's trouble. Let's find the other survivors."

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