Chapter 5: Apprenticeship
"You're going to travel?"
"I want to become stronger," Ichigo replied to Makarov while Laxus slept to the side of the old man's office with his new yellow overcoat.
"But you are already strong enough, Ichigo," Makarov frowned as he said so. "You can probably best me, one of the Ten Wizards Saints."
Ichigo blinked and he scoffed.
"What's so funny?" the old man asked, a bit hurt with Ichigo's lack of respect for his status as a member of the Ten Wizards Saints.
Ichigo scratched his head before sighing. "I'll put it bluntly: it is not a probability but a impossibility for me to lose to you should I decide to use full extend of my true power."
Makarov raised an eyebrow. "You seem confident of your abilities."
Ichigo shrugged. "I've fought in a war with those who were considered gods in ancient history. Those who have lived for centuries. You kind of have to be strong to win against them."
"I see..." the guild master nodded, not really sure of how to take that sentence. "But why do you desire to be stronger?"
Ichigo stared out of the window behind Makarov. "... So I can better protect this guild," he replied before he rose up. "Anyway, I'm going to be gone for a year or two."
"How do you intend to become stronger?"
Ichigo stopped and stared at Makarov before sitting back down. He knew what the old guy was asking of him. In this world of magic, there were darker ways of becoming a very strong magician or even a fighter without magic. Ways that would make Ichigo monster in the eyes of the public. Makarov wanted to have some sort of assurance that Ichigo won't be dabbling in those dark arts.
"Well... Let's start by naming some of the things I know about the world and how our bodies can interact with the world." Ichigo reached into his leather jacket and pulled out five chess pieces: a black pawn, a black queen, a black king, a white bishop, and a white knight. He lightly tossed them in the air before activating a magic he learned during his stay. "Education Projection."
The chess pieces stopped midair before forming a pentagon between themselves. The pentagon then became a 3-D shape before the entrirety of the magic casted upon the chess pieces turned the chess pieces into dust, and a flat board projection appeared between the two men.
"First, there is magic in this world that uses the Eternano, the easiest and the most widely researched form of power. I have no interest in this power anymore."
That caused Makarov to be confused. "What are you talking about, boy? Magic is the only power aside from demonic powers-"
"Contrary to what most people believe," Ichigo said as he reached back into his leather jacket and this time pulled out a clear glass jar with rune trips running in multiple direction. Inside the jar was a creature shrouded in darkness. "Their demonic power is derivative of Eternano-based magic. It is simply much more fine-tuned for those whom you call demons to use."
Makarov nodded.
"Second type of power is the shamanism," Ichigo said as the English word Shamanism came up on the projection between himself and Makarov. "This type of power is used more as a relay between two or more different set of powers and support usage via reinforcing the body. Eternano is inferior compared to shamanism, but there are only few methods that shamanism can help others. It is, however, great for medical use.
"Third type of power is spiritual power, one that I am very familiar with. It uses the power of one's spirit to power any sort of performance. This power has the potential to be the strongest and the weakest due to the wide frequency of different spirits' level of power.
"The fourth type of power is the god powers. The closest magic to god powers are the god slayer magics that are considered to be Lost Magic. This is, on average, the strongest power, but also the most inaccessible power.
"Fifth type of power is the power of physical power. It is not the strongest due to the harsh training it requires, but it was a worthy power nevertheless."
"And the last power is the power of darkness."
"Power of Darkness? That sounds oddly like something that's going to end up bad, boy," Makarov interjected before Ichigo could explain.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "The dark arts of Eternano-based magic are imitations of the power of darkness. The base for the power of the darkness is the power of the Nether World, a world that was briefly recorded by one of your own magicians. The author's name was erased with history, but I was able to gather all of his research materials." Ichigo pulled out a dirty leather-bound book. He placed the book on the table before Makarov. "Read it."
"…" Makarov picked up the book and began reading. "And exactly how would you all of these powers…?"
"I can't."
Makarov stopped reading and gave the swordmaster a confused look.
"At least not within one or two years," Ichigo said as he looked at Makarov. "The best I can probably do is complete my training of Eternano-based power. I intend to mostly use my dragon slayer magic, which is far from complete just like the fire dragon we have. I actually think that he's closer to completing his training than I am of mine. But I could attribute it to the years of experience the boy probably has with his own magic…."
The guild master, however, wasn't listening by the point where Ichigo was talking about Natsu. He was engrossed in the book's content about the Nether World.
Abruptly, Makarov threw the book at Ichigo, who caught it before it struck his face.
"I better not see that book again, Ichigo," Makarov said lowly as he glared holes into Ichigo's own indifferent eyes. "The contents of that book are even worse than some of the darkest magic I've seen and heard… How did you even get that book in the first place?"
Ichigo merely flipped the book to the very last page.
"'I trust this book to you, Marvis'," Ichigo read the small lines in the center of the last page. "The name below has been scratched out by someone."
"That book was entrusted to our first guild master…? Wait, how did you find it in the library? It shouldn't even be in there," Makarov asked.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "I kind of dug around everywhere. Forgive me, though, I went to some of the restricted sections down there."
"There's a restricted section in the dungeons?" Makarov asked.
Ichigo sweatdropped. "Yeah…"
"..As long as you don't break the rules that the legal guilds follow, I'll allow you to go on this trip of yours, Ichigo."
"Thanks old man," Ichigo replied as he resumed his walk out of Makarov's office. He stopped underneath the doorframe and glanced over his shoulder. "When you say legal guild, you mean Fairy Tail, right?"
Makarov grinned. "Of course, boy!"
Ichigo gave the old man a wave of his hand beore leaving the office completely and disappearing from the man's view. And it was only then that Makarov looked down at the tome that Ichigo left behind on the guild master's table, and frowned deeply.
"Power of Darkness," he whispered to himself as he began to think about the implications of the said power and the other powers that Ichigo told him about would have on the kingdom … perhaps even the world.
:AoL:
Ichigo walked into the guild lounge, where everyone was having fun, drinking, talking, and playing with each other.
"Fight me, asshole!"
Ichigo sidestepped to far right just as the floor he had been previously standing on caved in. He looked up and gave the attacker a 'LoL' expression. "Too slow, electric eel," he told the grandson of the guild master.
"I am not an eel!" Laxus growled as he jumped down from the second floor and threw a Lightning Dragon's Claw at Ichigo, who parried the blow with a simple strike to Laxus's inner shoulder. The lightning surrounding the teenager's arm dispelled, and Ichigo caught the now less harmful fist and threw it back to Laxus's own face. The blonde teenager got hit by his own fist, and flew back into the counter of the bar. He laid there for a while, trying to get a grasp of himself before he shot up. "Damn it! Why can't I hit you!"
Ichigo gave the blonde dragon slayer a chuckle. "Because you're too slow, eel," he said as he walked over to where Acnologia was; right next to where Laxus struck the counter of the bar. She didn't pay much attention to the duo, still drinking the strong beer that she had Mirajane get her.
"Come on, we're going out again," he told her.
"Already?" Acnologia asked as she flopped off of her bar stool. She handed him the drink that she had been drinking, and he took it without protest before completely downing it. "By the way, you got another visitor, and he had this with him." She handed him a envelope with the insignia of the Magic Council and the Rune Knights.
It has been roughly a week since Ichigo sparred with Erza. During that time, the guild and the magic world of Fiore has been astounded by the easy victory that Ichigo gained over Erza, courtesy of the stalkerish self-proclaimed, #1 fan of Fairy Tail, Jason. Erza's popularity hadn't decreased nor the respect most magicians and civilians held for her; people just became more curious about the orange haired man and the beautiful, black haired escort by his side. People came from all over the kingdom to see him. He was like a celebrity... except he didn't want to be a celebrity.
Apparently, the Rune Knights wanted to recruit him.
Or something.
Ichigo opened the envelope in his hands, and pulled out a single sheet from within.
"'Dear Ichigo Kurosaki, A-rank mage of Fairy Tail...'"
We, the Magic Council, would like to invite you to a public demonstration in which many mages will be allowed to progress into the S-rank without the necessary procession that occurs in each legal and independent guilds. Those invited may bring along friends and/or families to watch the demonstration.
However, only those who were invited may participate in the demonstrations.
There are three events that will occur in this public demonstration:
Event 1: Magic Chart Event
Event to show off your raw power!
Event 2: Mob-Dungeon Tournament
Event to show off your or your guild's reliability!
Event 3: Spar Tournament
Event to show off that you may be the top dog!
Should you choose to accept our invitation, you shall be included in either the Spar-Tournament or the Mob-Dungeon Tournament. This will be of your choice when you come to the city of Crocus to check-in at the new Fiore Magic Colosseum.
Once again, we of the Magic Council would like to invite Ichigo Kurosaki to represent the Fairy Tail in the First Bi-Annual Grand Magic Tournament of Fiore.
This event will take place in Crocus, the Imperial City of Fiore, two years from the day this invitation letter was sent from Era, the headquarter of the Magic Council and the Rune Knights.
Keep in mind that you were the first to be invited along with nine other mages outside of the Ten Wizard Saints and the Magic Council.
Signed...
"'Org of the Magic Council'," Ichigo finished out loud. Then he looked up and saw the glistening eyes of the guild members. "Okay, now wait a minute-"
"There will be no objection to this invitation, Ichigo," Acnologia grinned evilly as she gripped his arm tightly. "You will participate."
"Hey, this thing is too troublesome! It also interferes with what I was going to do!"
Natsu jumped right in front of him with a huge grin on his face. "Come on, 'chigo! I know you can beat the crap out of all those guys who're going to come!"
Ichigo scowled as he tried to pry Acnologia off from him. "It's none of my business," he growled.
The black dragon frowned at Ichigo's obvious want to get away. She knew that this would've been his reaction halfway through the invitation letter. But she wanted to see how strong he was, or otherwise, she wouldn't be able to decide whether or not Ichigo was worthy of being her mate-
Her cheeks blushed and she shivered. 'How can I think of mating with a anything that resembles a human? I must have been corrupted a lot to be thinking like this.' She shook her head. "Ichigo!" she shouted.
"What?!" Ichigo shouted back, feeling frustrated from all of the 'do it!'s and the steel-tight grip Acnologia had on him.
She smiled slyly before leaning into his ear.
Ichigo, not wanting Acnologia to do anything weird, scooted back, only to be met by the counter of the bar, allowing Acnologia to bring her lips to his ear.
Everyone stopped, watching what was happening between the two.
She began to whisper something to him.
At first, Ichigo's scowl was heavy set unto his face like it was never going to get erased off of the said face. Then slowly, his expressions relax and finally turned into a look of determination.
"So!" Acnologia exclaimed as she jumped back, letting go of his arm since she was sure that with her offer, she was going to have Ichigo participate in the tournament. "If you prove to me that you're strong enough to own that entire tournament, then I'll give you waht I promised! Otherwise, I'll be chasing after your ass in Dragon Force throughout whatever you were planning to do otherwise."
Ichigo's look of determination faded into one of a scowl once more before he sighed in defeat.
"Fine...I'll go..."
Acnologia pumped a fist of victory in the air.
It wasn't everyday she got a demi-god to do what she wanted him to do.
"But!" she shouted at him, catching everyone's attention again.
"W-What?" Ichigo stuttered, not sure to take that 'but' as a good or a bad thing.
"You can't use any magic! Pure physical strength and endurance! You can't get heals from anyone in any form!"
That got a really good attention from the rest of the guild.
"That's a rather harsh handicap," Natsu muttered. "I doubt even the old man can go through such tournament without magic." Gray, Mirajane, Laxus, Erza, Elfman, Levy, and the others nodded at this.
"Bah," Ichigo replied back, the scowl still in place. "Fine, but I better get something good in return when I'm done with that damn tournament."
Acnologia gave him the thumbs-up. "Alright. Good. Good." She then spoke up again after a while. "What were you trying to do anyway that would interfere with something that takes two years from now?" she asked him.
"Training."
Laxus immediately ran up to Ichigo's face. "Take me with you!" he shouted at Ichigo.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Cuz I know I can become stronger if I go on a training with you!"
Natsu and Gray shot forward as well. "Hell no! You ain't getting stronger just by yourself!" Gray growled.
"Take us with you too, Ichigo!" Natsu shouted along with the ice make mage.
Ichigo growled before he shunpo'ed out of the crowd formed by the three different element mages. "I ain't training anyone!" he growled before a set of memories struck him like a wagon.
Get my hat...
You'll die if you can't use your zanpakuto.
Survive...
Ichigo blinked. "Actually," he said as he turned to the three who asked to be with him on his training trip. "I'll give you three a test."
"A test?" Elfman repeated.
"Yup!" Ichigo said as he pulled out Zangetsu, causing the three mages before him to shrink a little. "We'll go to the sparring grounds, and you three will fight me. I will hold back, of course. But the objective of the spar is this: you must put a scratch on me."
Laxus, Grey, and Natsu grinned. "Hell yeah we can do that!" Natsu roared as he breathed fire.
Laxus just grinned. "Finally, I can spar you!"
Cana popped out of nowhere.
"I'm taking bets again!" she shouted as she pulled out a pair of basket and a scoreboard. Many members of the guild roared in approval before following the gambling manager of the guild out to the sparring ground.
Ichigo just shook his head.
Natsu and Gray were up in each others' face. "And I say this is impossible!" Gray shouted. "We can't even beat Erza when she goes along with us for a spar! How the hell are we going to beat someone who beat her like a child?!"
"Well, I'm gonna whether I can win or not! It's a mere scratch!" Natsu shouted back. "And with that scratch, we'll be able to get training that'll make us S-rank mages!"
Laxus simply grunted as he thought about ways to put that scratch on Ichigo.
Unlike the two hotheads behind him, Laxus knew that the scratch that he had to put on Ichigo will not be as easy as Natsu thought it would be. Laxus himself had been after Ichigo day after day since the man's spar with Erza. Yet, he had been parried, blocked, flung back, crashed, dodged, rolled over, thrown, toyed, and humiliated by the very same man.
'I just hope he goes as easy as he did when he was dodging me...' Laxus thought with a sweatdrop as he walked slightly ahead of the two younger mages. He knew it was going to be a asskicking of likes he hadn't received in his entire life, just like how Erza did, but he knew that even if he lost, this spar will be a great experience for him. Ichigo may even give him some pointers.
But all in all, Laxus had become truly curious of Ichigo. The mysterious Scowling Prince of Fairy Tail had appeared literally out of nowhere. He used Black Dragon Slayer magic, which seemed to be different from element based dragon slayer magic both he and Natsu used, yet same anyway. He also used other magics as well, which made him a Jack of All Trades, but not one that didn't have masteries.
The woman, who called herself father's daughter of the black dragon of Apocalypse, Acnologia, and named herself as Acnologia as well, seemed to be strong. She was not on Ichigo's level, Laxus could easily tell. But at the same time, he knew that he was nowhere on the heavenly figured, black hair beauty's power level. Hell, he'd be crying in happiness if he was on that level; it was the level of guild masters and Rune Knight's best soldiers.
He balled his hands tightly in anticipation and determination.
In this spar... he would give his all. HE had nothing to lose and whole lot to gain.
Ichigo had been silently glancing over his shoulder to stare at the three mages that had accepted his challenge.
Laxus seemed to have grasped the determination Ichigo wanted to see, but the other two didn't seem mature or intellectually capable enough to realize some of the things that they could have realized simply by sitting down and thinking.
'Laxus may be able to become my student, but the other two...' He shook his head.
"Laxus?"
Ichigo glanced at Acnologia who said that. "Yes," he simply replied.
The dragon girl simply grinned. "Oh good. Now I have a legitimate reason to have a decent human servant around."
Ichigo frowned. "He's not going to be your slave, Acnologia."
"I decide. Not you."
"Well, I'm going to, whether you like it or not," he replied with his tongue sticking out.
A vein popped up on her forehead before she decided to smash her fist into his face, tongue being squashed between her fist and his jaw.
"Aoh!" he shouted in surprise. "That hurtz!"
"It was meant to hurt," she replied with her own tongue sticking out.
Ichigo just scoffed at her and they continued along towards the sparring ground.
Ichigo stood in the sparring ground facing the three elemental mages.
"Well," Ichigo said as he pulled out Zangetsu from his back, immediately causing the other three to tense up. Even if that blade had yet to be turned against them, the size of that blade just made their bodies shiver.
Ichigo grinned evilly at their reaction. He gave his cleaver a glance before he lightly tossed it up in the air.
The giant cleaver flew up, but before it could come to a stop midair, Ichigo roughly grabbed and pulled on the chain attached to Zangetsu. The giant blade reacted to the pull, and began to spin forward.
It was slow at first, but it picked ups speed... Winds were generated, the blade itself became a fan of black blade.
It was like watching a tornado form around him.
Gray just paled. He was no fight loving idiot like Laxus and Natsu. OF course, those two were just grinning mad staring at the vortex before them.
Makarov sighed as he looked on from the benches. He raised his hand up, and brought it down swiftly. "Begin!" Then he just sat down, just as Laxus shot forward like a lightning towards Ichigo.
Ichigo watched Laxus come at him and narrowed his eyes. "Too early to face me head on, Laxus!" he shouted as he unleashed a wave of his reiatsu. The spiritual energy turned into a shockwave of sort, and quaked the world around him. Then the shockwave was released like an expanding horizontal disc. Laxus jumped over the horizontally moving shockwave before he brought his hands together.
"Lightning Dragon's-!"
"Too slow!" Ichigo shouted as he hurled Zangetsu at Laxus.
The lightning dragon slayer's eyes widened. Forgetting about the attack, he refocused his magic into forming dense electrical field around himself. Then when Zangetsu entered the field, he used all magic he could pump out to change its course with a dramatic swing of his arms to his right. Laxus's eyes widened, however, when he realized Ichigo's blade just kept coming. "Oh shit-" he muttered before the blade sailed by his cheeks like a massive crossbow arrow.
It was by then that Laxus began his descend and landed on his two legs on the ground, away from Ichigo, and on the other side of Natsu and Gray.
His hand shot up and caressed his cheeks. Then he pulled the hand back and stared at the blood on it.
Ichigo gave Laxus a expressionless look. "Told you I'd be holding back," he said as he disappeared.
Gray immediately put up a spiked ice ring around him for defense. But Ichigo wasn't going for him.
Natsu whirled around just in time to see Ichigo bring his fist into his abdomen. The teenager gasped in pain as he was flung back towards Laxus's direction. In midair, he got a hold of himself, and flipped around and landed on his foot not too far from where Laxus was.
Just as Ichigo's Zangetsu came down where his head had been in the air a second ago.
Natsu paled as he watched the sunlight glisten off the blade of the Scowling Prince. 'I was almost struck by that!' he mentally screamed, and it was only then that he knew that he had to take this seriously with all the juice that he can manage. "Crap..." he muttered.
Ichigo appeared in front of Gray with another shunpo, standing just outside of the multiple ice thorned rings. He grabbed the rings surrounding Gray. He stared right into Gray's eyes with his expressionless eyes, and Gray's fearful eyes stared back.
With a twist of his hand, the ice rings broke.
"I-Ice Make: Spear Hail!" Gray shouted in panic. Ice spears formed all around him and shot forward.
Ichigo dodged them easily and ended up within Gray's defense again. "Zangetsu!" he shouted.
The sword that had been still in front of Natsu trembled before dislodging itself from the ground, and flew straight towards Ichigo.
When it came to him, Ichigo took the sword and gave a swing, pointing at the ground.
The effect was instantaneous. Once packed dirt was cracked and sliced into, and what didn't get sliced and diced were thrown into the air like multiple, giant masses of clay dough. In essence, Ichigo just made a crescent shaped crater surrounding himself and Gray with a swing of his sword.
Gray was not left unharmed. The shockwave of the swing blasted at him like nothing else but the coldest blizzard could, and sent him flying back. He flew out of the sparring grounds and struck one of the empty bleachers.
"I gave you a chance to hit me, Gray!" Ichigo shouted to compensate for the distance between him and the subject of his attention. "But you panicked and let me through! Try again next time!"
With that, he turned to Natsu and Laxus. Despite knowing this was going to be the worst beating they may yet receive, they had grins on their face.
Not even A-rank missions offered something of this level to fight against. To risk against.
Ichigo, that day, had become the ultimate goal to surpass for the two dragon slayers of Fairy Tail.
But Ichigo also had plans.
He grinned at them.
"Don't blink, or you'll be on the ground," he said before disappearing.
The crowd was cheering on the three sparring mages still within the sparring ground. Of course, they all knew that Laxus and Natsu were no match for Ichigo. However, it was still a good match to watch.
Makarov, however, was at unease. Why was that? It was simple: he was scared.
Though he didn't show it, he didn't trust and was scared of Kurosaki Ichigo, who claimed to be the dragonslayer taught by Acnologia, the black dragon of Apocalypse, itself. The fact alone made him look like a bloodthirsty monster to many. Perhaps such was the reason why the Magic Council invited him to their tournament- to keep an eye on him.
Makarov wanted to trust Ichigo, but the boy has yet to act on the beliefs of the guild. He was always alone, sparring on occasion with others (mostly the girl that came with him). He even had a house so far away from the guild.
Indeed, Ichigo was a mystery, and this fight was the closest Makarov was going to get to observing him unless he outright stalked Ichigo.
And no, he refused to stalk his children.
Ichigo sidestepped just as the wisps of Natsu's red flames passed by him. He whirled around, keeping the momentum of the movement and landed a solid kick to Natsu's back. Natsu tumbled away, and flipped while tumbling. He struck down, and got himself to stop rolling.
"You're out as well," Ichigo replied as he turned to Laxus.
"What?! I'm not! I'm still standing-!"
Then as if on cue, Natsu fell down.
"Eh?"
"As I've said, you're out."
Mirajane quickly walked over to Natsu and helped him back up. "Let's go," she told him quietly. The red dragonslayer nodded hesitantly, shocked by how easily he had been beaten.
Now, Ichigo's sole focus was on Laxus, the S-rank mage of Fairy Tail.
Ichigo cocked his head back. "Well, this was disappointing," he told Laxus. "I was sure that the other two would get out easily, but I expected you to have at least acted on my lack of focus on you."
"I don't strike others when their back is turned," Laxus growled.
"Then you're not ready as well."
Laxus's eyes widened, and he ducked, just as Zangetsu passed by the space where his neck had previously occupied. 'I-I was almost just killed...'
Ichigo then proceeded to kick Laxus on the ass. Laxus shot forward and rolled in the dirt before he shot back up. "Lightning Dragon's Roar!" he shouted, and hte magic formed and shot forth from him in the form of electricity. Ichigo stared at it before he swung his blade in front of him, where the Roar was coming at him. Like before, the swing of his blade ripped apart the earth and this time, the Roar of a dragonslayer as well.
"HA!"
Ichigo raised his eyebrow. "What is it, Laxus?"
"I put a scratch on your leather jacket!"
Ichigo looked over himself. "Where?" he asked, confused by the statement. He looked back up, just in time to see Laxus with a wordless Lightning Dragon's Claw in his hands striking down with a determined look in his face.
...
And he made a scratch just as Ichigo struck him in the side with the flat side of Zangetsu.
Laxus flew away further and faster than the other two mages who were disqualified earlier, and struck the trees surrounding the sparring ground harder than Gray had.
The crowd was silent, waiting for Ichigo's verdict on Laxus.
Ichigo on the other hand stood frozen in the position he had struck Laxus. "Well, damn," he said as he sheathed Zangetsu on his back. "He actually did it," he said as he turned to towards the silent crowd, and some of those present gasped.
Laxus had struck well with his Claws. Ichigo's leather jacket had a crisp leather shoulder.
Makarov grinned. "Well, someone finally managed to hit ya!" he stated loudly.
The guild laughed.
Ichigo shrugged. "Yeah..." he said as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, damn. I go a apprentice to feed now."
His eyes fluttered open, and it was acompanied by a sore bottom and a constant sound of something being dragged.
Then he realized what had happened.
He had been knocked out of the ring.
He sneered before grumbling.
"What're you grumbling about?"
Laxus almost whipped his head around to see Acnologia and Ichigo, the latter who was dragging him. He just stared at the couple.
"What, something on my shirt?" Acnologia asked as she looked at herself.
"...Why am I here?" Laxus asked. "I got knocked out of the sparring grounds."
"But you manged to put a scratch one me first," Ichigo responded without looking back. He glanced over his shoulder. "And start walking. I'm tired of dragging your ass."
"O-Okay.." Laxus said as he stood up. "Where are we going?" he asked, though on the inside, he was secretly happy about this. He was going to become stronger.
"A demon stronghold. I'm low on some of the demonic essences," Ichigo declared as he pulled out a large glass bottle that had blackish red liquid at the bottom. "I need my spirits, you know?"
Laxus blinked. "What?"
Ichigo gave him a raised eyebrow. "Spirits. You know, alcohol and stuff," Ichigo said as he swished the bottle in his hand. "I got a magic that can make it, but I don't have the ingrediants for the damn thing I want the most..."
"You drink a lot?" Laxus asked as he began to follow them.
"Oh yeah," Acnologia replied. "We both do. Especially Demon Essence Spirit. That thing hits like nothing else. Vodka is just too much alcohol in it, but that thing in Ichigo's hand is just~ right," she said and stressed the 'just.'
"Okay... But how is this your training?" he asked Ichigo.
Ichigo gave a brief longing stare at the alcohol in his hand before he used Requip magic to stash it away. "The demon fortress I'm going to is actually the size of a labyrinth about seven or so times bigger than Magnolia. The walls are composed of dark magic-absorbing substance that I've yet to properly identify. I went there once before with Acnologia here. I also got the essence there as well."
"But... it's a demon hive," Laxus replied a bit hesitantly.
Ichigo gave him a grin. "Oh, is the big bad lightning dragon of Fairy Tail scared of demons?"
Laxus growled. "Of course not!"
"But you should be," Ichigo replied as his face became serious. "Most demons in it are A-rank or higher."
Laxus stiffened in his walk. "What?"
"I think about half of the demons there are S-rank or higher. Ooh! The strongest demon essence lacrima came from that big horned demon!" Acnologia remarked. "But you said it was a Ten Wizard Saint level, so you only killed one of them.
"W-Where is this demon fortress?" the lightning dragon asked, now truly realizing who he was walking with.
A powerhouse that makes him look like a child.
Ichigo hmmed. "Somewhere deep underground," he said as Acnologia snapped her fingers. They came to a stop. "We're here."
Laxus blinked, and looked around. He was still in a regular forest. Actually, it was middle of nowhere. "We are?" he asked.
"Yup!" Acnologia grinned as her arms were soon covered in black dragon scales. "Get ready, I'm going to activate the teleportation magic!"
Ichigo's arms were also soon covered with black dragon scales that seemed to grow out of him. He unsheathed Zangetsu off his back.
Laxus panicked a bit before he also surrounded himself with lightning.
Ichigo gave the boy a tap.
"What?" the dragonslayer asked.
"No magic."
"WHAT?!"
"Magic attracts them at too fast of a rate for you to survive. Do magic enhancements."
Laxus blinked as he looked at the two. "Magic enhancements? I haven't heard anything like it. You mean like those scales of yours or armors?"
Ichigo shrugged. "The scales, sure. Armors are just waste of money..." he scratched the back of his head. "Maybe a pair of gauntlet will do," he said as he used Requip magic. With a poof, a pair of brown leather gauntlets with multiple runes inked in rings around where wrists were, and he handed them to Laxus. "Consider this a welcome gift to the apprenticeship of the duo Black Dragon Slayers," he grinned as a ring of magic appeared around them.
Laxus quickly put them on.
"Let the fun begin."
Laxus just gulped. What the fuck he did get himself into?
AoL
"What happened after?" Mirajane asked Laxus.
Laxus, now two year older and adorning more scars along bot of his arms, grumbled. He had grown as well. From a old teenager, now he was a tall man who seemed to have these hard eyes. It made him look like a veteran mage despite his age. "We fuckin' stormed the fortress's entrance and first few gigantic rooms. Ichigo and Acnologia went through them like butter while I ... I was being an hindrance," he grumbled as he downed the drink he had in his hand.
"Wait, seriuosly?!" Natsu grinned as he jumped around Laxus. Gray stood still, just watching and listening. "I want to go there too! I wanna beat the crap out of those demons!"
Laxus glared at Natsu. "Shut the fuck up, you idiot!" Laxus roared.
Natsu staggered back from Laxus's sudden outburst.
"That 'expedition' was the hardest fuckin' thing I've ever been. I had my arm ripped from me from a low-class demons!" he growled as he rolled up his sleeve to show a thick scar that went all the way around his shoulder. "If it wasn't for Ichigo, I would be armless right now... Don't even joke about going there. You won't last as much as a second!"
Everyone blinked before Cana decided to ask her question.
"So... where are they now?" she asked.
Laxus looked at her with a glare before he shrugged and went back to drinking. "He said he's going to camp that fortress before going to participate in the Grand Magic Tournament," he replied as he took another swig. "...Told me to fuckin' get back to the guild on my own. Fuckin' told me to 'go babysit the others and invite them to the tournament'... I'm not his fuckin' babysitter..." he muttered and took another swig.
"That's a lot of fucks there," Gray commented.
"Well, I don't fuckin' care! You wouldn't fuckin' care too if you went along and got your ass handed to you everyday!"
"So ... "
Laxus reached into his jacket and pulled out a envelope that bore the mark of the Magic Council and the Rune Knights. "I get to invite you all, since he won't be there before the tournament begins. But it says something about invite limit here..."
Natsu grinned. "Don't worry about inviting the guild, Laxus!" he said as he, Erza, Mirajane, Elfman, and the members of the Thunder God Tribe, which Laxus formed before being kidnapped by the Black Dragon Slayer duo, pulled out their own envelopes. "We got enough to invite the whole guild and then some!"
Laxus grinned before he took another swig.
The Demon Fortress, 1st Circle of Hell
Ichigo burped as he threw away a large bone over his shoulder.
"Ichigo, stop fucking burping," Acnologia growled in her dragon form as she chewed on one of the larger bull-like demon.
"Not my fault that gas builds up," Ichigo complained as he stood up from a hundred meter high pile of demons. "Good thing this room is so big. I would've had some trouble otherwise," he said as he looked up to the ceiling, which was about another 200 meters away.
Acnologia scoffed. She took another bite before she returned to her human form. "Alright, you know what this means now, right?" she asked him. "Since we got to do this, as per my request, we get to go participate in that tournament and see your fucking human guild."
Ichigo chuckled. "I don't get why you still hate humans. But let's go!" he replied enthusiastically as a magic ring formed around the two of them. "'Time to learn those new dragonslayer moves you mentioned!"
And cut.
This is the end of the 5th chapter, eh? And a large time skip too. This chapter is slightly longer, too.
Now, I just literally skipped the time skipping because that's what it is for. Also, writing how Laxus trains isn't that fun. While he may object to some of the more intense and suicidal trainings like visiting Hell, the demon fortress, he's the one to just do the training Ichigo and/or Acnologia assigns him. So I skipped, since it's boring.
This also means that there were changes to characters' personality. Namely Laxus and Acnologia. I didn't make them say fuck every other word before, did I? And Laxus now has a harder look at reality.
This chapter marks the end of the first arc of the remake, the New Family
Next Chapter: 6
Let the Tournament Begin!
Next Arc: 2
Grand Magic Tournament I