Hello by lovely readers. Welcome to the second chapter of Phantom Ninja.
I realised when I proof read this chapter that I swap between using requipt and exquipt, and I am sure that there is no difference. I will try to be consistent from now on, but if I'm not this is so you guys know that they are in fact the same thing.
Anyways, please read and review. Let me know what you're thinking so we can make this story better together.
Disclaimer: Neither Fairy Tail nor Naruto belong to me. HOW SORROWFUL
"Eeeeeeh… I don't wanna…" Naruto rolled over in his bed. He was now 19 years old and had longer hair than 7 years ago.
"GET UP!" A five year old girl with black hair tied into a ponytail was jumping up and down on Naruto.
"Five more minutes, Vivi-chan …" Naruto rolled over pushing the girl off him. The girl's black skirt fluttered as she fell. Her green hoodie covered her head, even though she never wears it up. She also wore a pair of green and white striped long socks.
"NARUCHI! GET UP!" After yelling, Vivi stood back up and took a deep breath. "HAAAA!" She yelled as he punched Naruto. If she was a normal five year old girl then nothing would have happened. Except the Phantom Lord Guild stamp on her left hand showed that she wasn't a normal girl. Naruto was sent flying through the wall ending up tumbling down the staircase and ending up in the main hall of the guild.
"HEY! WHAT KIND OF WAY IS THAT TO WAKE SOMEONE UP!?" Naruto yelled as he picked himself up. He quickly exquiped his normal clothes on so he wasn't surrounded by his guild members wearing orange pyjamas. He now wore a normal white t-shirt with long dark brown pants held up by a lighter brown belt. The fingerless gloves he wore, matched the colour of his pants. He also had a fur collared orange overcoat, which had stich marks all along it to represent his previous battles. He left it unbuttoned as it fluttered in the wind.
"You weren't waking up." Vivi held her arms on her hip. Naruto shook his head at the little girl and decided to get some food. The Phantom Lord guild members who were currently in the main hall were all laughing at the exchange between the two.
You see, they were currently in the Guild Headquarters of Phantom Lord which was just outside of Oak town. This building was like any other guild hall, it had a recreational area, a wall plastered with jobs, and an office for the Guild Master Jose. However unlike your average guild, Phantom Lord was bigger. The sheer number of guild members they had made it hard to keep track of the exact numbers, and so a system was created. The Headquarters would only be filled with the best. Then there were Area Guild halls which had their own Area Master, they were in charge of a certain section and were filled with the better than average members. Then there were a bunch of minor guild halls with no one in charge, but were there for meeting up and taking jobs only. They were also places that a Phantom Lord guild member would feel welcome no matter what. Except for the Headquarters that is. The Headquarters is also a home to anyone the master or any S-ranker considers worthy to live there, including Naruto and whoever else you'd see here on a typical morning.
"Hahaha. Being bullied again Naruto-chwaaaan?" A man with half white, half black hair laughed from a table across the room. He wore a very ninja like orange reddish outfit with a reddish fur lining. A chain mesh covered the visible parts of his skin. A sheathed katana rested against the chair he sat on. This was Totomaru.
"Yeah yeah. The annoyance has gotten me up." Naruto jokingly glared at the girl who stuck her tongue out in protest.
"Vivi-chan was just helping, but Naruto-kun doesn't understand. How sorrowfull." The incredibly tall and bulky man sat on the same table as Totomaru started crying. This man wore a green hat and a high collared loose green jacket, with a purple stole over it. Under it, he wore a loose yellow shirt, and loose pants. An odd red necklace hung from his neck. His eyes were covered by a white blindfold. This was Aria.
"Helping how? I was sleeping dammit!" Naruto complained even more, and begun walking to the kitchen area hoping to get someone to make something for him to eat.
"Master Jose requests your presence Naruto-sama." The last man on their table spoke next. His spikey green hair was tamed to point directly up. He was fiddling with his tiny moustache. He wore a monocle on his right eye. His brown suit had its elbows connected by an unusual cape. This was Sol.
These three are members of the Element 4 and they are some of Phantom Lords current S-ranks.
"Dammit… I just wanna eat…" Naruto grumbled to himself. Naruto poked his head into the kitchen to see a single person there. "Heeey George. Please make me something to eaaaaat…"
The now a lot taller man George looked up at Naruto, ignored him and went back to making his own food. He now wore a black sleeveless vest and black pants, and he had a slightly curved sheathed sword.
"Eeeeeh… Comeon Georgie. You know you love me." Naruto complained as he started begging his white haired companion, who simply ignored him. Naruto then turned to everyone who was sitting in the hall. "Christoph? Darcy? Boze? Jessie? Lil P? Sue? Vivi? Come on Vivienne-chan please." Everyone stuck to their food and ignored the pleading blond. Naruto knew they were all playing around with him, but dammit he was hungry. "Fine! I'll make something myself when I get back." Naruto huffed and walked off. Everyone else there laughed at the blond's antics.
They all knew he was playing around. Naruto was easily the second strongest in the guild by a major portion. Jose and Naruto held the strongest positions, and then Gajeel was a world beneath them with the Element 4 and George shortly behind. There were also a few people others who Naruto knew who technically did not associate with Phantom Lord, even though they received jobs from the guild. It was unknown how strong these members were.
So Naruto was a well-known member of all branches of the guild. Everyone knew his name face and his extravagant joking personality and quite a few of their names and faces, which none of the other high rankers did. This personality didn't quite belong with how Phantom Lord's members are. They are usually cruel and sadistic, in fact that's the most sought out criteria since the guild creation, however long ago that was. Quite a few of the members put on that fake attitude so they can be a member of the strongest guild.
There was a time where this changed. When Jose first became Guild Master, the place livened up, wasn't so bad. After a certain Wizard Saint's meeting, Jose became more closed off and the guild relapsed back to its original state of being unpleasant. Naruto was essentially the only strong member of the guild who remained from that time. The rest of the S-rankers came after that, as well as most of those who live in headquarters.
Naruto knocked on the door to the master's office. "You called for me Master."
"Aah. Naruto, you're up." Jose didn't look up from his paperwork. He looked pretty much the same as he did 7 years ago.
"A lot earlier then I would have liked." Naruto grumbled to himself while he stood waiting for Jose to finish what he was doing. Running a big guild like this was hard, especially with all the master only paperwork that he needed to complete. When he finished he finally looked up at the blond as he started yawning. Jose opened his desk, pulled out a sheet of paper and stuck it out for Naruto who grabbed it.
"This is a quest from a very very rich client." Naruto quickly skimmed the quest. Some rich guy wanted his missing daughter found. The subtext was quite obvious though. The daughter ran away from home and the father wants his daughter to understand she can never truly escape.
"Yeah well. I'll be busy on my own mission. I'm leaving for that soon." Naruto handed the paper back to Jose.
"I need you on this one." Jose stated. "If we can get this client to continue using us, we will have furthered our revenue, giving us the chance to expand outside of Fiore."
"I still don't see why you still want to expand outwards. Into other countries, there isn't a precedent for a cross country guild and you're going to piss off a lot of people including the Magic Council for an unnecessary power grab. We are the biggest guild by far, why do you still seek more?" Naruto argue back. Being a part of the guild his whole life, he had leant many things about running a guild.
"Yet Fairy Tail is still spoken about as out equal." The anger could be heard in Jose's voice.
"That's because they have quality not quantity. They actually focus on getting their members stronger through friendly competition between each other. We've had this discussion before." Naruto rolled his eyes. "You changed, the guild changed, and all of those well-known members we had, decided to leave since they no longer wanted to work for you. Stop with this silly ambition of growing outward and start focusing on the individuals who work with us, then maybe you will be Makarov's peer."
"I AM STRONGER THEN MAKAROV!" Jose banged his hands on his desk angrily. "And you made one mistake! They do not work with me, they work FOR me! As do you Naruto. You will not question my motives and goals. You will however, complete the mission I assign you."
"I'll do it when I get back." Naruto waved his hand as he turned his back to the master.
"Do not turn your back on me, boy."
"You turned your back on me first." Naruto got his last words in before closing the door, leaving a very angry Jose behind him.
XxX
"You know you didn't even have to come with me. You should have stayed with George." Naruto complained to the little girl who stood beside him. It had been two days since they left for the mission, and Naruto was currently packing up his tent.
"I WANTED TO COME WITH YOU!" Vivi jumped forward trying to punch Naruto.
"Stop that." Naruto jumped over the girl and went straight back to packing the tent "We have to be there today."
"Just leave me in the tent and run." Vivi grinned. Naruto bought a tent a few years ago. It was a magical tent that held a pocket dimension the size of a house. It was a rather rare piece of magical equipment, but Naruto thought it was well worth the price he paid. It was where he and whoever he was with at the time camped out on the way to and from missions.
"Not a chance you brat." Naruto once again dived to the side to avoid an attack. "Seriously, stop that." Vivi had again tried to hit him. She pouted as she looked away. She crossed her arms in the most adorable way possible and Naruto was struggling. "Don't try to be cute either. I won't let my guard down with you. This is why I wanted you to stay with George. You don't try to hit him. I said don't try to be cute… dammit get in the tent." The girl grinned excitedly as she ran up and hugged Naruto, then ran into the tent. Naruto just shook his head at the girl's weird mood swings. Sometimes she acts like the 5 year old she is and sometimes she appears acts as an angry almost teenager.
While inside the tent, Vivi would be comfortable as gravity doesn't change nor does it sway, so Naruto could use his magic freely. He wasn't very good at them, but he knew Teleportation Magic and Speed Magic. He could teleport objects incredible distances no problem, but teleporting himself was harder. His Speed Magic was incomplete, but he figured out how to boost that with his chakra, both fortifying his body to be able to stand the speeds, and increasing the speed itself. Using these two, long distance travel took a lot less time. He would teleport over anything that would take too long too running over, and then he would run the rest of the way.
After around an hour, Naruto finally arrived at a village. When he got close, he opened the tent and got Vivi to come. She did so climbing onto his shoulder and making that her seat.
The village was a group of wood built houses closely compact. There was no need for space in between since there was nothing they could grow nearby. The houses were lined up in a square with a stone plaza in the middle. This was a very small community, where they all lived as one, had sent out a job request to one of the biggest guild.
As the two of them approached the plaza, they saw a crowd gathered around the centre. Naruto cleared his throat, and when he was close enough he called out. "Hello there. Who was it that sent out the request?"
"That would be that idiot." A man around 70 years old pointed at a teenage girl. The man wore worn down clothes just like the rest of the people around him, except one. All the men wore similar shorts and shirt. It was clear that the village didn't have a lot of money.
"That's not what you should be calling your granddaughter you old fart. I told you before there isn't a problem." The girl had black hair that matched her grandfathers, which was tied up in a ponytail. Similar to all the women she wore a worn down dress, except one. Now that Naruto thought about it there was something seriously out of place. In the centre of the group was a cart filled with luggage.
"Well you shouldn't have sent the same request I did. What good does having two guilds here do when we can barely afford one?" The old man who was the oldest in the village questioned his granddaughter, who just looked away shyly.
"Hey hey, there's no need to fight." Naruto tried to calm the situation down. "Let's start with telling me what is going on." Vivi still sat on his shoulders.
"It appears that they sent out two different requests and we both accepted." The girl who stood out said as she reached out her hand. "Fairy Tail's Erza Scarlet." Her long hair was the same colour as her last name, and her brown eyes stared straight into Naruto's. Her Heart-Kreuz armour was custom made so it would fit well with her blue skirt and black boots.
"Titania is it?" Naruto eyed the blue guild mark on her left bicep, as he reached his hand out. "Naruto Uzumaki from Phantom Lord." With the mention of his guild, Erza's eyes widened. As soon their hands separated, Erza was taking a visibly defensive stance. It was well known that Phantom Lord's Master, absolutely hated Fairy Tail and that view was spread amongst the members.
"Vivienne Uzumaki." Vivi quickly prevented the situation from getting any worse, by introducing herself.
"Hey, I never said you could take my name." Naruto complained as he picked the girl up off his shoulders.
"But you both have a last name. I want one too." The girl pouted.
"George doesn't have one. Also why would you take mine? I don't have a brat like you in my family." The girl stuck her tongue out before she stuck her hand out to shake Erza's hand. Erza gently smiled as she shook the girl's hand.
"I didn't expect this. What an interesting place to meet." Erza turned back to the villagers. "There is no need to worry. I know you have saved quite a bit to afford the money for the request so I will be happy to go without the payment." The villagers seemed a little surprised by this.
"Wow. You're really cool aren't you?" Naruto applauded Erza's generosity. There was no sarcasm in his voice.
"But…" The girl from before started to protest before she was stopped by her grandfather.
"We cannot let you do that. That would dishonour our village's name. My name is Olaf, and I am the village elder. My granddaughter's name is Elana. She will look after you while you are here. As for payment we will have to negotiate if that is alright with both of you."
"Eeeeeh… That sounds boring." Naruto started clearing out his ear. "Elana-san. Do you mind showing me around?" The girl eagerly nodded and directed Naruto to walk away from the crowd.
Once they were out of earshot, Erza spoke, although she intended to say it internally. "Not quite what I expected from The Phantom of Ruin."
"Naruchi is like that. Someone else gave him that name." Vivi happily spoke up to her elder mage. She had heard of Titania and hoped that she would meet her eventually. Vivi liked being around strong female mages.
"Well you aren't quite what I expected either." Erza left an intentionally vague statement before talking to the village elder again. "Olaf-san, I understand that you believe this will hurt your village's name but as a Fairy Tail I cannot let you sell almost everything they have for an easy mission like this."
Vivi started giggling. Olaf spoke again. "But Erza-san. We cannot let…"
"I will not be taking any payment. DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!" Olaf was over 70 years old. He had been through many things in his life. One time when he was young he had to fend off a beast twice his size with nothing but his hands. But in this very moment he was the most scared he had ever been in his 70 years of life. Erza Scarlet was not someone to mess with.
"No… no problem…" Olaf took a couple of steps back.
"Good." Erza then looked at Vivi. "What was so funny?"
"Nothing." A mischievous smile was on her face. "Just Naruchi said the same thing you did when we organised the mission."
"What?" Olaf seemed confused. "Elana never told me that."
"Hmmm…" Erza looked at where Naruto had walked off to. "I might have to rethink my opinion of Phantom. Anyway, take my luggage to one of the rooms, then you will brief me on the mission."
"Hey Erza." Vivi tugged on Erza's skirt. "Why do you have so much luggage?"
"DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!"
XxX
"This is where we grow our food. Thanks to this we have less to worry about." Elana had shown Naruto where certain notable features around the village were, such as cliff faces, a mine, and surprisingly a patch of lush fertile crops.
"How can this happen? Do you have a mage in the village?" Naruto was honestly amazed. Magic was the only possible way for a desert to be fertile; this made Naruto excited at the possibility of meeting the mage responsible.
"No we don't. We are all tailors and miners. This was done by a wandering mage around two years ago." Elana casual answered did not match Naruto's over the top reaction.
"TWO YEARS AGO. AND IT'S STILL ACTIVE. That is some seriously strong magic. Like at least Ten Wizard Saint level." Naruto had never met anyone capable of such a feat.
"Well… The mage was a tree. If that makes a difference…"
"A tree?"
"Yes a tree." Naruto intentionally pretended he had never heard that and changed the topic.
"So why is a tailor and mining based village such as yours wearing such cheap rags?" Topic change = success.
"Well…" Elana seemed a little hesitant. "We sold all of our good clothes, and made these rags so we could afford to pay for the request while having enough to live on. These S-Class quests are really expensive. This food is good and all, but we still need water."
"So you sold everything. But I had help teleporting that communication lacrima to you so we could change the payment to that order I gave you." Naruto seemed a little sad for the village. "But that's fine then. Erza said she wasn't going to take the payment."
"Yeah I guess. But now it seems like we're getting help for free."
"And what's wrong with that?" Naruto's question took Elana by surprise. "People can be selfish if they want. Right now we are letting you be selfish so just accept it." After a brief silence a cry could be heard.
"NARUCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! ERZA IS SCARYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Vivi was running towards Naruto, while Erza was following behind her in a panic.
"Hahaha. She can't be that scary." Naruto would soon find out how wrong he was.
"But but… I asked her a question…" Tears were forming in her eyes as Naruto bent down and held her. "and and…. She got angry…"
"Au, um… aaah… Wha…. What do I do? I have to apologise. Apologise, that's it." Erza stepped forward and clasped Naruto on the shoulder. "Hit me."
"What?" Naruto stood back up in confusion. Vivi ran and hid behind Naruto's leg.
"I have to atone for scaring her. Hit me." Naruto looked at her face for any sign of this being a joke. But she was dead serious.
"That's stupid. I'm not going to hit you." Naruto tried to pull Erza's hand off. He couldn't her grip strength was amazing.
"Please hit me. I need to make up for it." Erza gripped tigher.
"No I'm not going to…"
"HIT ME!" Erza's face darkened and she yelled. Naruto had suddenly disappeared leaving Vivi hiding behind nothing.
""Eh?"" Vivi and Erza both spoke in confusion.
"ELANA-SAN! ERZA-SAN IS SCARY!" Naruto was clutching the back of Elana's skirt as he hid behind her. Elana just stood there with a bright red blush.
"Ah… DON'T LEAVE ME OUT HERE WITH HER!" Vivi yelled as she ran behind Elana and fought with Naruto for her dress.
At this point Erza was completely lost. She had no idea what to do now. It took Elana a good ten minutes to calm the two children clinging to her dress down.
At that point Erza apologised. "I…I'm sorry." She was still really surprised by what had happened. There were two reasons for this. The first was that Naruto's actions were exactly the same as a five year olds. And the second was that Naruto had somehow escaped from her grasp without her noticing. She wasn't exactly paying attention, but that was still an amazing accomplishment.
"Haha. I guess I overreacted." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"You are supposed to protect me when I get scared, not run away." Vivi was still protesting against Naruto's actions, but then again she couldn't blame him.
"Protect yourself." Naruto looked away disinterested, but then quickly stepped to the side. "Was that a full power punch?"
"Tch…" Vivi clicked her tongue
"HEY DON'T CLICK YOUR TONGUE! I COULD HAVE DIED IF I WASN'T WATCHING!" Erza ignored Naruto's comment assuming it was him playing around.
"Umm… Erza-sama." Elana was now beside Erza and tried to strike up a conversation.
"Erza is fine." Erza smiled gently as she watched Naruto and Vivi play around.
"Are you sure you won't take the payment? I mean you came all the way out here…"
"No need to worry about that. One of my armourers use the minerals from this mine, and that is payment enough."
"Both of you aren't taking the reward… Is it a guild thing to be so generous?" Vivi had bitten onto Naruto's leg and wouldn't let go. He was trying to pull her off.
"Naruto did?" Erza was slightly taken aback. "I would never guess that he was a member of Phantom Lord." Elana tilted her head slightly in confusion, so Erza continued. "Phantom Lord may have just as much of a reputation as Fairy Tail, but the way they go about things is vastly different than us. It's not that they do anything wrong, it's just that they focus only on self-gain. I don't have much respect for them, but maybe I should rethink that stance."
"It's not good to judge an entire guild because of a few members." Naruto's words made Erza slightly embarrassed for speaking so freely where he could hear. Naruto had finally pulled Vivi off and dropped her on the ground. Vivi instantly pouted and looked away. "I hardly think Fairy Tail is full of destructive maniacs just because a few of you make it to the papers. You should meet the people first then understand them before making such judgements." Naruto never denied that his guild was a selfish one. And Erza couldn't deny that her guild was a destructive one. But that did not mean that every member was.
"We should go back and get briefed on the mission." Erza stated forcefully. She always took control of the situation.
"Good idea. Let's go Vivi-chan."
XxX
The entire village sat at table's set up in the plaza for lunch. A giant tent was set up so they could eat in the shade. The food was passed around the tables and everyone took their share before passing it on. The food was rather bland, but Naruto didn't get the chance to eat any. Naruto was tied up to the centre pole holding up the tent. If Naruto tried to get out, the tent would fall ruining it for everyone else.
"So why can't I eat anything?" Naruto asked the nearest table. Erza, Vivi, Elana, and Olaf sat at that table eating peacefully.
"I told you already Naruchi. If you eat they won't have any food for a month." Vivi didn't bother looking back at Naruto and continued eating.
"I told you that I would eat just enough… I'll die from starvation at this rate… Do you want me to die?"
"That doesn't seem too bad."
"WHAT KIND OF FIVE YEAR OLD ARE YOU!?"
"Don't worry. You can go catch your own food when we are finished."
"THIS ISN'T NORMAL! WHY ARE YOU ALL SILENTLY ACCEPTING THIS!?" Naruto was in tears. He was hungry. Olaf just shrugged. It didn't really concern him. Elana was trying her hardest to resist bringing Naruto some food. Vivi had told her it would be better if he got his own food. Erza didn't find what was happening unusual at all.
"I give up…" Naruto's body went limp. "Let me off so I can get my own food."
"Anyway, Olaf-san. I already know most of the details, but can you please explain to us the problem your village has." Erza had finished eating and decided that it was time for the briefing. Naruto was now being completely ignored by everyone.
"Once a month on the full moon, a group of demons attack our village. Attack isn't the right word, they terrorise our village. They raid our houses and take everything of value. They occasionally beat some of our men when we resist, but they mostly avoiding dealing serious harm to us people. The worst thing they did was burn one of the houses down. Luckily for us, they haven't found out hidden stockpile, nor have they touched the patch of lush grass we have, so we have been able to survive. I don't understand why they do what they do, but our village is suffering because of it, so it needs to stop."
"Do you know where these demons live?" Erza asked.
"Yes we do. The third time they attacked, we realised that we were being targeted, so some of us followed them as they left. There is a cave around thirty minutes from here where they live."
"Okay good. Can someone take me there now?" Erza's sudden request surprised Olaf. It wasn't an unreasonable question, but the fact that their torment would end as soon as she was done made him rethink this choice. Was it really alright to not pay her anything for this?
"I can." Elana said after mustering her courage. She was a part of the group that followed the demons back.
"Are we sure these are demons and not beasts?" Naruto spoke up from his comfortable seat against the pole. "Beasts are a natural occurrence, and wouldn't randomly start attacking a village if they weren't aggravated first. Demons however don't work in groups and they all look unique. Is every single creature the same or are they all unique, and I don't mean minor features?"
"Uuum…" Elana had to think about this question for a bit, the rest of the village also weren't sure how to answer that. "Well… they're all the same, but not really. They're all on two goat like legs and have large bull like horns…"
"So monsters…" Naruto nodded his head.
"But they come in different sizes, you'll know when you see them." Olaf continued. "But that isn't all." Olaf said as he started taking his shirt off. What was underneath could only be described as eerie. There was a magic circle being carved into his skin.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" As soon as Vivi saw the marking she screamed. Naruto quickly wrapped his arms around her and prevented her from seeing past him.
"Don't worry. You're stronger now." Vivi's small arms clutched onto Naruto's chest as she shook. Erza noted that Naruto had gotten out of the ropes without tilting the pole. The rope wasn't even untied. Naruto spoke aloud for everyone else to hear. "That is a type of seriously bad demonic magic. It's almost completed. You are lucky you made the request when you did. Any later and you all would have died tonight."
The room fell silent. All that could be heard was the sobbing of the small girl in Naruto's arms.
XxX
Naruto, Vivi and Erza went out hunting. The closest animals were a good hour walk away, so Naruto and Erza ran with Vivi resting inside of the magic tent. As they ran they talked.
"How do you know about that magic circle? I've never seen one carved into someone's body before." Erza was running at her own pace, forcing Naruto to match hers.
"I've seen it before, then I did some research on it." Naruto would have preferred to run slower. "Dammit." Naruto clenched his teeth and stomped harder with his next step, cracking the ground underfoot. "She should have stayed with George."
"George? Would that be George the Phantom of Silence?" Erza asked curiously. She had never met him before, but heard of his strength and swordsmanship.
"Yeah…" Naruto looked down dejectedly, although his pace never slowed.
"This may be a little personal, but why did Vivi react like that?"
"I guess I should tell you. This request is not as simple as we originally thought. That is obviously a forbidden type of lost magic. It is commonly referred to as Sacrificial Magic, however the more accurate name would be Complexion Carve Magic. It was created by someone who wished to reach the domain of Zeref."
"Zeref the Black Wizard? The strongest Dark Mage in history? If this magic is that strong why haven't I heard of it before?"
"Because he failed. The only way to know whether a magic circle will work is to test it, especially since every carving has a different negative effect. So he always tested it on others before applying it to himself. His carvings went from fortifying a body, to absorbing souls. He created a carving that would absorb the magic in the surroundings and power up a person. However the person he tested it on had an aptitude for magic, and used it to kill the man."
"How do you know all of this?" Erza still had her doubts but she didn't want to miss anything, just in case.
"The man who escaped wrote a memoir of sorts, listing every carving he knew of and what the man did to him. The creators name was never listed. Anyway, I got my hands on that book by finding a descendant of the man and making a trade. Not important. The carving on Olaf's back is one that creates a suction force which absorbs all of the human souls in a large radius. Then it gets absorbed by the person with a different etch."
"People's soul…" Erza was a little scared about this. "Why have they waited for every full moon?"
"That I'm not sure about, but the same thing happened to the village Vivi-chan lived in." Erza pieced together the next part of the story. But before Naruto could continue, Vivi stuck her head out of the tent. She had regained her happy attitude, but she couldn't prevent an occasional tremble.
"Are we there yet?" Vivi asked as if she was bored.
"No. Get back in the tent, you're making it difficult to run." Naruto complained with a grin. You would never be able to guess that what they had just been talking about.
"No." Vivi came flying out of the tent and planted both of her feet on Naruto's face causing Naruto to let go of the tent and Vivi. Erza stopped running at the same time so she didn't get ahead. She was still breathing as calmly as when she started running.
"Ouch!" Naruto started rubbing his face. "Why would you do that? That was just mean."
"I'm bored. Erza-san play with me." Vivi jumped at Erza.
"Um… play what?" Erza wanted to continue the conversation with Naruto, but couldn't do it in front of Vivi.
"Let's spar." Vivi took a fighting stance excitedly.
"You don't want to do that Vivi-chan." Naruto warned.
"A spar? Are you sure?" Erza was a little concerned about fighting a young girl.
"You seriously shouldn't do that. She's an S-Class." Naruto's warning fell on deaf ears.
"Yeah, ready set…" Before she said go she quickly dashed forward and entered Erza's guard. She was really fast. "go" Erza's eyes widened as a tiny fist was launched at her face. Erza quickly jumped back to avoid the punch, but was once again surprised by Vivi's speed as she entered her guard again.
Vivi jumped, throwing a punch for Erza's chest, but was easily blocked by Erza's open palm. Vivi used the momentum of her attack to flip up into the air. At the climax of her arc, Vivi smiled as she rocketed towards Erza's head. Erza once again jumped backwards gaining distance between the two of them. Vivi's kick hit the ground and created a small crater.
"I didn't expect that. I apologise for underestimating you. I thought the Phantom of Chaos would be someone else. The three of you are rather infamous." Erza smiled as a wooden sword appeared in her hand.
"The whole infamous thing is actually a misunderstanding. I'm going to kill that 'COOOL COOOL' bastard." Naruto grumbled to himself. He wasn't exactly fond of his title.
Vivi once again charged forward at Erza at an incredible speed. Normal mages wouldn't be able to follow this, but Erza was far from normal. She was just caught off guard the first time. So she swung her sword at the girl, who threw a punch at the sword sending shards everywhere.
"Hmmm… so that's what it is." Erza let go of the wooden sword and reached her hand out. Vivi jumped back trying to avoid it, but Erza caught her anyway. Erza was much quicker than Vivi. Erza threw the small girl as hard as she could into the ground, making sure to let go of her a metre above the ground.
"You figured it out that quickly?" Naruto was surprised. He watched as Vivi slowed then landed on the ground softly.
"It wasn't too hard. Is that enough for you, Vivienne?" Erza stepped back to make sure she couldn't take a cheap shot from the ground.
"You're like super strong." Vivi looked up with sparkling eyes.
"To be honest you're really strong for your age. When I was five, I couldn't use magic." Erza gently smiled as she reached her hand out to help Vivi up.
"I told you she was S-Class. But Erza, you threw a five year old towards the ground with full force. You didn't even hold back." Naruto honestly feared what this woman would be capable of.
"She's fine though. I knew that her magic involved accelerating and decelerating. She has Acceleration Magic." Erza spoke as if it was obvious.
"But what if she wasn't at a level where she could slow herself down."
"Then she shouldn't have challenged me."
"NARUCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! ERZA IS SCARYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
XxX
"Should we continue that conversation now?" Erza and Naruto sat on a bench pulled out of the tent. Naruto had found a giant pig, killed it, cooked it, and ate it in record time. Vivi and Erza both had a piece as well. Vivi was now in a deep sleep on Naruto's lap.
"Where should I start?" Naruto's face went serious. For some reason he trusted Erza.
"Vivienne's village. What happened to it, and how did she end up with you?"
"Hmmm…. I guess I have to start with Vivi-chan. Her mother died giving birth to her. This isn't exactly uncommon, but soon after than the only mage who lived in the village noticed that she had an unnaturally large amount of magic power within her. When she was 2, weird things started happening around her. Things would slow down or speed up. She had a natural affinity for Acceleration Magic. The mage helped her learn to control it, but it was too late. The village believed she was cursed or something. So the only person she had was the mage who cared for her. But he was incurably sick and died soon after. He kept it hidden from the rest of the village, so they also blamed that on the curse. Her life was a group of coincidences forming into a chain of bad luck.
"To further that point, on her 3rd birthday, a demon attacked. This was the first of monthly attacks that lasted eight months. Every month was a new demon. The only consistency was that a part of a carving was made into the village elders back. No one died but they started blaming Vivi-chan for it around the fifth month. And sometime between the seventh and eighth month they ran her out of the village.
"I just so happened to be nearby with George and we found her wandering in the middle of the forest, so I tried to talk to her. We couldn't leave her so I asked where she lived and we took her back to her village. It was actually a day's travel away, so we had no idea how long she had been walking for. We assumed she was lost, but when we got to the village we realised we were wrong. The village was burning to the ground and was filled with demons. The weird thing about these demons was that they were too similar.
"I soon realised that the people… no… corpses that the demons were munching on were empty. There was nothing left behind them, I don't know if you've seen a body, but you can still feel the person there for a month or so after. A residual life force. So the two of us killed every single one of them, without letting a single one escape. After that we searched for survivors and realised that there were none. But there was a large amount of magic power coming from a destroyed house. I fished through the wreckage and found a book.
"That mage I mentioned earlier kept a magical diary that wrote down everything that happens in the village. Not only that, but the book was a little special. The reason that the demons were different every month was because he had stored all of his power and mind in that lacrima to defend his village. He killed 7 different demons after death, but was jammed by someone for the last one. I read the book to find out what happened, and on the final page of the book he begged me to take care of Vivi-chan. As soon as I agreed the book turned to dust since there was no town to record anymore.
"Now this leaves three questions that I haven't yet answered. Who jammed the lacrima and is controlling the demons? How are they controlling so many demons? And what are these demons that should not exist?"
There was a long pause where Erza absorbed all of the information. Eventually she spoke. "Wow. How could they treat a child like that?" Naruto just shrugged. He didn't understand it either, but Naruto could tell that Erza was somehow relating herself to Vivi. "Are you absolutely sure that this magic works? Have you even seen it?" Erza's question was a legitimate one. "I had the same question after I did all my research." Naruto grabbed his white shirt at the collar and pulled it down enough to reveal his left pec. To Erza's surprise, on it was a carving. However it was different one to the one she saw on Olaf.
"You did it to yourself?" Erza was shocked.
"Yeah. This carving releases me from anything that imprisons me." With that Erza understood how he escaped from her grasp and the ropes. "This carving was something you can easily do to yourself. The downside to this is that I may be able to escape anything that imprisons me, but in order to escape from certain thing, my body bends to abnormal shapes which I do not have the flexibility for. This hurts… A LOT"
"Anyway, the plan for tonight is simple." Naruto decided to tell Erza his plan. "First we need to make sure that the villagers will be safe, so we evacuate them all to another place, except for Olaf. Since they will know where he is. Vivi-chan will go with the villagers, while you stay back with Olaf to defend him and kill the demons. I want to try and catch the mastermind this time, so I'll leave the demons to you."
"If the mastermind can control so many demons, then he will be strong. Will you be alright alone?" Erza had a valid point, but…
"I'm more worried about you. Can you handle all of those demons alone?"
XxX
It was night time. Olaf was told the plan and agreed to stay behind. He thought that he would be in danger but it was for the village so he didn't mind. Vivi was leading the villagers away.
Erza had exquiped into a different armour. Her blue skirt was replaced with a longer white skirt with metal plating around her waist. Her armoured chest plate, was changed for a smaller chest piece that barely covered her modesty, which left her stomach and neck revealed. She now wore armoured gauntlets and boots, and held two matching swords in her hands. Large wings sprouted from her back, which looked like they were made from individual blades. Her hair was shaped to cover her right eye, and there were a winged headpiece sprouting from it.
This was her Heaven's Wheel Armour, and in this armour she could exquip many swords and have them levitate. Olaf would have loved to enjoy the view, if an army of demons weren't approaching. Around twenty demons stood a hundred metres away from Erza and Olaf.
"Um… are you sure you'll be alright alone? I know that you said you would be enough…" Olaf was pale. These demons had been tormenting the members of his village for months now, but now he stood in front of them all as if he was welcoming them into his village.
"Naruto was right. These demons are real pushovers." Erza grinned slightly as she summoned eight swords to levitate around her. "I have seen much stronger demons."
"Yeah but they're still stronger than your average mage right? And there are a lot of them." Olaf was doing his very best to not run away. Contrary to his real emotions, his voice seemed to hold strong. Maybe he didn't want to sound pathetic at his end.
"I told you not to worry." Erza gripped her two swords tighter as she prepared to charge. "Are these all of the demons?"
"I… I think so." Olaf hesitantly answered. He wasn't exactly sure of their numbers, but it looked about right.
"Good." Erza spoke as she leaped forward. The distance between her and the demons closed very quickly. Rather than running, it looked as though Erza was hovering over to the demons. Olaf questioned whether he saw that right. He thought he might be seeing things and rubbed his eyes when Erza was a few metres away from the demons. When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised by what he saw.
"How the…" Olaf opened his eyes to see the army of demons flying flat on the ground riddled with swords. He had only closed his eyes for a couple of seconds.
"That was easier than I thought. This is hardly an S-Class quest." Erza turned back to see Olaf with a slack jaw. No one could blame him; the threat that was plaguing his town was defeated in a matter of seconds by a single wizard. Fairy Tail was not to be underestimated. "I wonder how Naruto's doing." Erza whispered under her breath as she requipted back into her normal armour.
"Wait. The large demon isn't here." Olaf commented.
XxX
Previous to the demons appearance, Naruto had thought about the ideal locations to watch the demons attack the village, and was currently standing on the closest cliff which was a five minute walk from the village.
[Whoever is controlling them needs to be close enough for them to control the demons, but wouldn't want to close so if they're caught and distracted, the demons would attack back. This place is the best to watch from.]
And just as Naruto thought, a man could barely be seen through the almost pitch blackness of the night.
"This is a nice place to watch." The voice was speaking to no one in particular. "I wonder what kind of show I'll see tonight."
"I'm hoping it will have a little question and answer. I'll ask and you answer." Naruto walked out to face the man. When the man turned around Naruto realised something was wrong. He couldn't see anything about the man. He knew the person was there but he just couldn't see him. It was like nothing Naruto did would make him able to see the person. It had nothing to do with the darkness either. "What are you doing?"
"Me? Sorry I'm not that kind of villain. I like my secrets." The man spoke. The only clear thing about him was his voice. It was like there was a natural aversion to looking at this man.
"Your magic prevents me from actually being able to see you, even though I know you're there." Naruto was blurring his eyes, looking from the side, and a bunch of other things to try and make out any feature of this man. "And If I know where you are. I can kick your ass, I may let you go if you stop the demons though."
"I have no desire to stop them. They are doing their job just fine." The man sounded like he was grinning, much to Naruto's annoyance.
"Fine. We'll do things the hard way." Naruto leapt forward to kick the man, however the kick went right through him, or so it felt. The man had ducked under the attack, and then launched an uppercut at the blond who didn't see it coming. As Naruto landed on the ground he thought of the many ways to beat this opponent.
XxX
"Dammit. I should have known." Erza was running in the direction of the evacuated villagers. Olaf was a fair distance back, but was running as fast as he could. "They need sacrifices, so they would be targeting the villagers."
"PLEASE SAVE THEM!" Olaf yelled after Erza. As long as she could protect the rest of the villagers, he didn't care what happened to him.
"Roger." Erza once again shined blue and exquiped a different armour. Although the term armour is used generously here. Her chest was barely covered by a cheetah print armour bikini, while her black shorts were incredibly short. Her left shoulder was covered with the cheetah print shoulder plate, which connected to a collar around her neck. Cheetah ears were also protruding out of her head. This was her Flight Armour.
"Is she an exhibitionist?" Olaf who could just see Erza's change had no choice but to question this. He had only seen two of her armours, but both of them showed off a lot of skin. But those words missed Erza's ears since she was running a lot faster than she was before.
"There they are." Erza's Flight Armour greatly boosted her speed. "Looks like they're alright."
"Ah it's Erza." Vivi jumped up and down as soon as she saw Erza. "Finished already?" The rest of the villagers were confused as to why she was back so soon.
"They were easier to defeat that I thought they would be." Erza stood in front of Vivi and Elana as she requipted back into her normal armour. "But the largest one that you mentioned wasn't among them, so I thought it would have come after you."
"Nope, nothing here." Vivi smiled energetically. Of course she would be happy, she had just helped (although not really) defend a village from the same threat that destroyed her own village.
"Where is grandfather?" Elana asked, and with that Erza understood.
"Oh no."
"Oh no indeed Erza Scarlett." A new voice appeared from the direction Erza had come from. She turned to see a woman standing on the shoulder of the three metre tall demon. However, Erza couldn't quite make out her features, or the fact she was actually there. Beside her, Olaf lying on the demons shoulder.
"You are the one controlling the demons?" Erza asked the person on the shoulder.
"Not me personally." The woman laughed at the red head.
"Hey Erzachi, who are you talking to?" Vivi tugged at the red heads leg concerned for her wellbeing.
"You don't see her on the demons shoulder?" Erza asked the girl.
"Erza-sama. There is no one there." Elana spoke. She couldn't hide the worry for her grandfather in her voice.
"Magic that averts people's sight. I assume the stronger your opponent the more likely they are to notice you." Erza exquipt the Flight Armour Swords, a pair of short swords with thorn-like handguards.
"Correct~ I am impressed Erza-san. Being able to see me is quite a feat, not that it matters. However you will not be able to stop me from finishing this carving." Erza could tell the enemy was grinning at her, even though she couldn't see it. It was then she felt something crawl on her back.
"Vivienne, get off me. You'll slow me down." Erza spoke harshly.
"Trust me Erzachi." Vivi's voice held confidence. "I can't see the enemy so let me help like this." Vivi then whispered into Erza's ear.
"You can do that? That makes this an easy fight." Erza grinned as she watched the three meter tall demon charge at them.
"Kakakaka. It's useless."
"Accelerate." Vivi whispered.
XxX
[Hey brat. Use my chakra and you'll be able to see him clearly.] Naruto could hear Kurama speaking to him from inside his head. Naruto quickly ducked as he felt his opponent charge towards him, he avoided the blow then lashed his hand out with a whip of Darkness Magic, aiming for as wide of a space as he could. The attack hit his opponent forcing him to jump back or take the full force of the blow.
[Remember that whole, I don't want to let you out and die part?] Naruto argued internally. As he took a quick breath before charging towards his opponent.
[Remember that whole, I don't want you die in this dimension part? Just use my chakra dammit!] Naruto punched the ground where he thought his opponent, he didn't mind as he released a wave of darkness all around him, which he felt hit his opponent.
"Dammit, you're good." The man spoke. Naruto heard it was behind him so used his finger like a gun and shot a bullet in that direction. "You're really good." The man blocked the attack easy.
"If I could guarantee catching you, you would be seeing a lot more." Naruto annoying replied. His opponent wasn't overly strong, he was just tricky.
"You say that like I haven't been holding back as well." The man confidently spoke. "You see, we have a plan, and in order to achieve that plan, I cannot show my strength here."
Naruto sighed. He expected something like this. This opponent had only been attacking with his body, yet if Naruto couldn't see him properly then he too had a large amount of magic which he has not been using. "So what now?"
"Honestly, I have enjoyed this little battle of ours. So I believe we should make a deal." Naruto shivered as he felt the man smile. "I will tell you the name of my guild, as long as you tell me something about that carving on your chest." Naruto's eyes widened. There were a guild worth of people using carvings like the one on Olaf, and this man could sense that Naruto had one too.
"Deal. You first." Naruto bared his teeth at the man causing him to giggle.
"We are Solomon's Children, it is a pleasure to meet you." Naruto felt the man bow. "Now how do you about the carving you used?"
"A book I found." Naruto vaguely answered. He thought the information on the guilds name was worth the mention of a book.
"Oh, well that is good news for me." Naruto realised he might have made a grave mistake, so he decided enough was enough.
"Our business is done." Naruto leapt high into the air. It was time to use what he knew would guarantee hit his target. But damn this was going to hurt in the morning. Naruto moved his hands in a circle form leaving behind a magic circle than waved his hands in the centre filling in the rest. "Please survive this so I can ask another question."
"You've got to be joking." The man dryly laughed at the attack Naruto was preparing. He couldn't get away from this if he tried. "Looks like I need to bring out my magic after all."
"Abyss Break." Naruto spoke as he finished his magic circle. A dark ball of energy formed around the magic circle, and a beam was launched directly where the man stood. The dark energy shone brightly as it crashed into the ground.
XxX
Erza waited for the perfect moment as the demon fast approached. The woman laughed from its shoulder as she bent down and prepared to finish the carving. What she didn't expect was Erza to suddenly disappear from where she was standing, and appear directly beside her.
"Wha…" Was all she got out before she was kicked off the shoulder. However Erza wasn't finished. She jumped high into the air with Vivi still on her back. The demon lashed its arm towards the duo.
"Decelerate." Vivi spoke as she raised her hand at the demons attack. The arm's motion physically slowed, giving Erza enough time to fall naturally. "Accelerate." When Erza started her fall, Vivi sped her up giving her an extra boost, so as Erza's blades hit the demon, it cut through with ease. With three quick strikes, both of the demons horns came off, and the final strike cut the demon straight down the centre. Vivi jumped off of Erza's shoulder during the fall, and latched onto Olaf. The two of them fell slowly to the ground as the now split in half demon crashed to the ground creating a small crater with Erza at the centre.
"Grandfather!" Elana and the rest of the village ran towards the unconscious old man the carving on his back remained incomplete.
"You… How are you so strong?" The woman asked as she picked herself up.
"I cannot take all the credit for this. I had help." Erza slowly walked towards the woman as Vivi grinned widely. "Now. I believe it is time you stop resisting."
"You think I'm alone? My colleague is watching over this and will help me!" The woman confidently spoke, that was until a large boom could be heard. Everyone looked over to where the beam of dark energy was somehow darkening up the sky.
"Naruchi…" Vivi silently spoke, as she once again climbed onto Erza. "We need to get there quickly."
"It can't be…" The woman spoke as she started running towards the light as well. That was where her colleague was supposed to be. Erza nodded her head as she understood, and followed the woman with Vivi used her magic to increase her speed. They quickly caught up to the woman, and Erza quickly requipt her armour into something that could guarantee hitting the opponent. The armour she now wore slowed her down greatly, but with Vivi's magic, was more than enough to land literally on top of the woman. She now wore her Adamantine Armour; a dark blue set which was Erza's bulkiest and heaviest. This is an ultimate defence style armour. There were two layers of chest plate, giant shoulder plates with three distinct spikes on each shoulder, gauntlets that would add extra force behind every bunch, a skirt lined with spikes and boots with flame like spikes on the top. This armour was the heaviest thing she owned, and when it landed on someone, it was safe to say they wouldn't be getting up easily. The woman Erza landed on was now unconscious, and her appearance cleared up so Vivi could finally see her.
"TIE HER UP!" Erza yelled back to the villagers, before exquipting back into her Heart-Kreuz armour and ran towards the light which she assumed was Naruto. When they finally arrived the light had long since died down. The ground where the attack hit was almost completely destroyed, a massive hole was made, except for a single patch that remained unharmed. In the centre of that stood someone Erza could barely see, and he was looking into the air where Naruto was falling to the ground.
"You got out of that unharmed eh? I was hoping you would at least take some damage." Naruto spoke just before he landed. The crash caused dust to fly out around him, but he had landed safely.
"You're the type of person to use Abyss Break on a single opponent." The man commented as he fell to one knee. "We're supposed to be the monsters."
"You're a group who uses carvings, and massacre villages. You are the monsters." Naruto spoke just before a rock smashed into his head from afar. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"You used a forbidden spell?!" Erza was outraged as she picked up another rock and threw in at Naruto. When I say rock, I mean a decently sized boulder. This is Erza after all. "What if you killed him?!"
"Then he would have got what he deserved." Naruto caught the rock this time and threw it towards the man. The rock appeared to smash into a barrier that was around the man. "Oh? Intereting."
"It appears the mission has failed…" The man spoke half annoyed. "I could beat you both and complete it, but I have more important information to return with. So farewell, we will meet again."
"Not a chance." Naruto leapt forward swinging a darkness whip at where the man was supposed to be, however the attack missed and the man was no longer in sight. "Dammit." Naruto spoke under his breath. Apparently the journal he thought wasn't important to anyway, was exactly what they were looking for. Deep in his thoughts, Naruto didn't see the fist come flying towards him from a really angry red head.
CLANG
