"So this is your guild? I have to say I was expecting something better– from the way people are talking about you guys I was expecting something super grand. At least the town looks nice and well protected," Laxus muttered his breath as I, alongside Cana currently standing outside the guild hall.
I rolled my eyes, having gotten used to how every person who came over felt the need to bash our guild's look. "I get that a lot– the old geezer doesn't want to change it though so I can't do anything about it," I told him as Laxus shot me a surprised look at the fact that I heard his mutterings.
"I think it looks cute; it has its own unique charm," Cana spoke, stuttering slightly.I chuckled a bit at Cana's compliment, it was a rare occurrence after all, "I suppose you've got a point there," I replied as the three of us made our way through the door.
"Hey Zancrow, Ethan is back!" As soon as I entered the hall, Hisroshi for some reason felt the need to alert the blonde menace know of my arrival.
I sighed knowing that Zancrow would definitely come and issue me a challenge.
As I looked around I noticed that the guild seemed quite empty. Most likely since everyone was doing high-ranked missions. We all wished to boost our guilds' ranking.
I saw Sol walk up to us with a curious expression on his face, "Monsieur Ethan, did we receive some new members for the guild?" he asked.
"Nah; they're both members of Fairy Tail who came over to visit," I told him pointing to each one, "That's Laxus, and this is Cana."
"Ah, I see. Well then I must extend my welcomes to you two, I hope you enjoy your time here," Sol greeted as he shook hands with Laxus and gave a pat to Cana's head, earning a slight snicker from Laxus and me.
"It was certainly a delight meeting the two of you, however, I do have a mission to finish so I must bid you farewell," he smiled, twirling his mustache as he began walking away.
After saying our goodbyes to Sol we continued walking inside the guild before we were rudely interrupted by a shout.
"Ethan, there you are, you bastard!"
'And here we go,' I thought to myself with a slight frown, as Zancrow jumped down from the second floor holding the same invitation I received from the Magic Council.
'I was right, he got it as well,' I mused– it made sense honestly, Zancrow and I were two of the most popular rising stars in the continent so inviting one but not the other would raise some brows.
Zancrow shot me a savage grin, "Look at this Ethan; seems like I can finally prove that I'm stronger, in front of the whole world too," he told me as he shoved the paper into my face.
"Calm down," I told him swatting his hand out of my face, "And yeah I got the invitation as well," I informed him earning me a smirk from the crazy blonde.
His smirk lasted a few more seconds before it morphed into a questioning stare, "Who are those two idiots?" he asked as he shot a look at Cana and Laxus.
Laxus just stared at Zancrow unmoving while Cana hit behind my leg, which I don't blame her for, some of Zancrow's stares could unnerve even me.
"My name's Laxus– from the way you carry yourself you must be Zancrow, I've heard a lot about you from Ethan," Laxus replied, something which surprised me as when I had first met him he was quite the shy kid. It seemed like having someone his age around him helped get rid of his shell.
Zancrow for his part glossed over Laxus with a disinterested stare before turning to Cana.
"She's Cana, be nice to her, she's shy," I warned as I saw him nod seriously, "By the way, where's Magnus," I questioned, having him here would be helpful as he was around the same age as Cana.
He pointed toward the back of the guild, "He's in the training grounds with Kenny," he told me. "We should probably go there as well, can't ruin Cait Shelter's image."
I nodded at his words, it seemed he could say something useful once in a while.
As we began walking toward the training ground Laxus piped up, "I guess living does have some perks here, you can train in whatever place you want," he said, looking around at the forest in wonder.
"Nah, not really, no one is allowed to go too deep in the forest. Unless you want to be killed by an S-rank magic beast of course," Zancrow laughed ominously as Cana gulped in fear.
"Zancrow stop scaring them," I warned, holding Cana's hand, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that Laxus was trying to look confident but he was shaking a little as well. I suppose he hasn't fully gained confidence, but I suppose only crazy people wouldn't fear S-rank beasts.
"Fine, fine," he grumbled as he muttered something about ruining his fun.
After walking for a bit longer the four of us arrived at the training grounds, where Magnus could be seen with a green magic circle in front of him.
"Wind Magic: Storm!" he shouted releasing a small cyclone, shredding whatever was unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.
"Not bad," I praised, "However, you've got to control how much magic you're putting into it, you wouldn't want to run out of magic in a fight without knowing it now would you?"
Zancrow nodded in appraisal, "Not too shabby, but you've got to come up with a cooler name."
"Nuh-uh; storm is cool enough," Magnus refuted as he stuck his tongue out.
"It's not bad, but make sure the name fits the attack, saying the spell's name helps with the visualization of it after all. That's why mages shout out our attacks during fights." I explained to him as he pouted slightly.
"Okay, I guess I can do better," he mumbled as Kenny - who was in the background - laughed.
"By the way, Ethan, who are those two? New members?" Kenny asked staring at Laxus and Cana.
"Nuh, we aren't joining, we're members of Fairy Tail," Laxus replied proudly showing off his guild mark.
"You guys are here to train for the Arcane Summit right?" Kenny asked to which I nodded.
"In that case, I suppose as your most senior member I'll have to train you."
I hummed in disagreement, "I'll train Cana. You, on the other hand, can beat Laxus and Zancrow as much as you desire– good luck you two, you'll need it." And with that, I swooped up Cana and Magnus and speedily departed.
"So ugh when did you join Fairy Tail?" I heard Magnus ask Cana as the three of us arrived at our section of the training grounds.
"I joined two months ago, what about you?"
"I joined about four months ago, although before that the guild called me an honorary member because I was too young," Magnus replied, sulking as he recalled his time as an 'honorary member'.
"That's because you were too young and your mom wouldn't let you join a guild at five years old," I laughed much to his chagrin.
"So Cana, tell me what magic do you use?" I asked sitting down at top of a boulder.
"Uhm, I use Card Magic," Cana replied, pulling out a deck of cards from her small purse.
"What's that? Is it cool?" Magnus asked staring at the deck of magic cards. I could see Cana was a bit overwhelmed by Magnus' enthusiasm so I cut in.
"Calm down, Magnus. And yes it's a cool magic. It's holder-type magic as opposed to a caster-type magic, like the ones we use." I explained whilst taking a magic card from Cana with her permission. The card was all blue with a large ice spike in the middle,
"You see the difference between Card Magic and normal magic is that one doesn't need mastery of the magic the card has inside, watch."
I poured some of my magic into the card and held it in front of magic, and I let the card do the rest of the work as it summoned a blue magic circle, and out came a rather large ice spike that I unleashed towards a poor tree. The tree was instantly pierced and frozen as well.
'At this rate, we probably won't have a forest anymore.' I cringed, feeling bad for what we had down to the poor undeserving forest.
"It's even stronger than when I use it," Cana muttered in shock, as she stared at the damage.
"Of course, I'm way older than you and have more magic so my spells are going to be stronger than yours," I told her as I handed the card back.
"By the way, Cana can you make your own magic cards or do you have to buy them?"
Mages that could make their support items were a lot more in demand than those who would have to buy them. Since when you make them, you can add your own effects and spells.
"I can make magic cards but their effects are really weak," Cana answered showing off a card that had a fireball drawn on it, however, compared to the other cards it looked less professional.
"Not bad, not bad. Keep on practicing that and keep your bought cards to a minimum– I'm not saying don't buy them at all, but just make more than you buy," I advised knowing it would go a long way in the future.
"Now why don't you two have a little spar?" I asked since I wanted to get a good look at the current level of Magnus and what Cana can do.
"Yeah, come on, I go easy," Magnus said to Cana who agreed somewhat hesitantly.
Whilst the two started fighting somewhat awkwardly, I could hear Zancrow laughing and the sound of lightning going off in the back.
'Good luck, Laxus you're going to need it,' I thought, wincing slightly as Laxus cried out in pain.
{Location: Country of Seven - Land of Isvan}
(3rd Person POV)
[A/N: Seven is the country beside Fiore, and the Land of Isvan is where the Bureau of Magical Development is– the same place Ultear was experimented on.]
"So this is the Magic Council's newest plan? What fools, wouldn't you agree Crawford," A tall dark skinned man with long white hair sneered as he spoke to a holographic projection.
"Indeed, but that is of no concern to me. Instead, inform me, Brain, are the new batch of kids ready for my master to buy?" Crawford asked, showing no regard for the lives of the children in question.
"Don't worry, everything is prepared, Tartaros will receive what they wish," Brain replied, hiding his distaste for how Crawford was so willing to slave away for others. "Make sure the Council is off my back, however. My research is at the final stage, I don't need them to discover my location and this facility. You should know what would happen if that were to occur."
"Of course, I will keep them off your tail, what do you think I've been doing for the past two years?" Crawford sneered, forcing Brain to restrain himself from letting his anger be shown.
"Also, make sure you don't contact me until they are ready to be bought, Anos - that pest - has been staring at my back for some months ever since he noticed my research into Nirvana, and though I loathe him, he's sharp– one mistake and he'll catch us," Crawford added as Brain nodded.
"Very well, but by the time of our next chat, I will expect results on Nirava– you wouldn't want to disappoint your masters now would you?" Brain chuckled as he saw veins bulge on Crawford's forehead.
After flicking for a second, the projection was cut.
"Hmm, this Arcane Summit should be interesting, perhaps I will be able to compare the results of my… little experiment to this generation's prodigies," Brain added, almost as if it was an afterthought.
As he thought of his experiment, a cruel grin came upon his face as he yelled: "Activate the machine!"
And as he did so a young girl who seemed to be around the age of thirteen began crying out in pain.
"Someone save me…"
The girl muttered weakly, alas her plea went unheard.
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[A/N: I know it looks like Laxus is weak in this chapter, well that's because he is lmao. As a kid, it was stated Laxus was quite weak in strength. That's why his dad forced the dragon lacrima into his body. So until Laxus gets that, he's not even gonna be close to Ethan or Zancrow's level despite their age being somewhat similar.]
That's the end folks.
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