AN: Is this way too long overdue, yes absolutely. I did have to take time off writing to focus on school, but I'm now done with finals so I'm free all summer. This story isn't going to be left abandoned anytime soon, I do want to finish it. Without further ado, on with the show!
I only have a few hours to recover, so I'm going to make the most of it.
What happened to get me tired? Just a major battle and confrontation with the murderer of one of my friends. Before that, I slept on hard stone in an abandoned town-turned-dungeon, so being back in the comforts of the Golden Dawn base was satisfying— to say the least.
As much as I would like to have a bit of off time after that dungeon and battle, I knew I wouldn't get it. Vangeance called me in for a meeting, supposedly to discuss the next mission plans. With nothing else going on, I made my way straight into his office.
Unlike past mission announcements, we weren't in the main hall where the captain would stand at the top of a massive staircase with the Golden Dawn emblem in the stained glass glowing behind him. This time, we were in the captain's office room with Vangeance sitting behind his desk. My fellow teammates in Yuno, Mimosa, and Klaus were present, so they must also be involved in this.
"Good to see you in one piece, Lucy," Vangeance greeted me. "I've heard a bit about what happened over in Nean. Good to see you safe."
"I'm glad to be back too."
"Good, I'll get on with why I brought you four here. Julius has given Yami and me missions dealing with our two major enemies. While Yami's Black Bulls are in their next strike against the terrorists within our own kingdom, we are responsible for dealing with the foreign enemies, notably the Diamond Kingdom. As I'm sure you remember from your encounter in the dungeon, they have a history of attacks on the Clover Kingdom, and are getting more desperate to take even more property.
"From what you told me after that dungeon, they desperately sought quick gold, which isn't good. Diamond is known for their science and technology, yet they have never had great natural reserves and tend to trade for them. Now, they're trying to take resources by force.
"As if that wasn't enough, I've heard rumors that their king may not be in the best of health and may be acting irrationally, while the military does its own thing. Diamond's military is led by the 8 shining generals, the equivalent of our magic knight's captains. You've already met Lotus and Mars, two of the eight. The others will be there and are no doubt planning more attacks. Our mission, for now, is to discover where they will attack next and thwart them. After that, we can use any means, including spying and espionage, to remove Diamond from our enemy list. All of you will be on the mission along with myself."
"You're actually going with us?" we all exclaimed.
"Yes, it's been a while since I've been on a field mission, but this is major enough for even my involvement."
"Great, when is this going to happen?" I said.
"In three days. For this mission I'm planning to bring the entire squad, so I'll be giving the announcement a bit later. Get ready for an extended mission you four, I highly doubt this one will be easy."
With the meeting done, I left for a quick stop to my room. A mission like this would need a lot of stealth to pull off, and right now I don't have anything to help with that. Now, if I had Gemini's key that would all be different and the mission would become a ton easier, but where could that key be? Only one way to find out.
I kept a stack of paper exactly for this purpose. Opening my grimoire, I started the long chant for celestial search. The room glowed in a familiar golden light and the map illuminated the room. I took a closer look. This one's back in the heart kingdom, on its northern border with Spade. I threw the paper and let the spell die down before delving into thoughts.
This key, as important as it could be for the Diamond mission, is by far the farthest I could go for a dungeon, or for whatever was guarding it. Putting the ridiculous distance aside, there was still the issue of the border's strong magic region I'd have to get through, and right now I have no way of getting through that crazy natural mana. If I want any shot of making it back in time for the start of the mission, I have to leave now. I might as well check in with everyone else after the announcement.
Vengeance finished up much sooner than I thought, and the Golden Dawn was in pack-up mode. Others were enjoying the last few days before the mission. I decided to help Mimosa with packing, as I had nothing else to do.
"A key that far away! How important is it?" Mimosa asked.
"If I had that key, I could use transformation to look like anyone else, even copy their magic with the spirit. For a mission that's all about getting information from a foreign government, nothing would work better than transforming into a senior official."
"You have spirits that powerful still out there?"
"They're all powerful, especially the golden keys. Each one has some unique ability, but Gemini's is the most versatile. Nothing else really comes close to it for what we need."
"Honestly Lucy I could see the captain letting you get that key before meeting up with us in Diamond. It would work really well, and besides we'll have the entire squad with us. We'll survive a bit without you. I know how much you want to do this anyways, I've seen how you treat your spirits. It's really amazing."
"Still I don't like leaving the squad for this. Who knows what could happen to them, to you while there?"
"I can handle myself well enough Lucy. I'm a magic knight too, and I've been disappointed by what happened last time. I want to make it up to you here."
"There's nothing to make up, you know that," I responded sincerely.
"Where's Lucy Heartfilia!" A voice boomed out. The voice was loud, and angry, and headed straight toward us. I'm still wondering who that could be.
I didn't have to wait long for an answer. The door was kicked down with an unrelenting force that splintered the door to pieces on impact. In the doorway stood Mereoleona Vermillion, fire magic blazing all around her, raising the room's temperature.
"Uh, hi, Mereoleona …" Mimosa stuttered out. "What do you need?"
"Where have you been Lucy? I give you an offer to train with me and you don't show up. What the hell have you been up to? I even heard about your fight with Licht. A bit pathetic how he got away, isn't it? Maybe if you took my training earlier he'd be dead by now!" she roared.
Of course, she would mock me over this. Deep down I knew she was probably correct, but I can't imagine anything stopping Licht when unsealed. I steeled my resolve.
"At least I was out there fighting your brother's murderer. I injured him and won't miss the next time he shows up."
"Heh, that's the spirit. You want to kill him next meeting? Prove it to me! Turn all that anger into your own power. Pass my training so I can be sure. Don't think I'll let you come on your own terms this time, you're coming with me."
Her magic lashed out and a hand of fire grabbed me straight from the head, strong enough to lift me up. Mereoleona simply walked out of the room with me in tow. She dragged me past a startled Vangeance, a stoic Langris, and a somewhat disappointed Yuno. She just waltzed out of the base and dragged me with her fire hands for miles. We went over a mountain or two, through a forest, and finally ended up at the foot of a volcano. I remained in the grip of her fire hand the entire time. Not my best look ever.
This must be her training site.
"Welcome to the volcano strong magic region. I'm gonna put you through the toughest challenges until I'm sure you can defeat Licht in single combat."
"Great, what are you doing with me?"
"To start out we'll do something easy. You have until the sun goes down to reach the top of the volcano. Of course, you won't be able to just climb normally, the fire mana would burn you up. I'm sure you know about mana skin by now. Coat your body in a layer of mana for protection. Learn the technique and meet me at the top."
"Easier said than done. "Nothing on how to do it?"
"Should be pretty simple for you, just push out your magic like casting any other spell. Only difference is you're releasing the magic from everywhere at once in a controlled amount. Can you not do that?"
"I don't know if I can as a holder-type mage."
"Meaning? Don't give me some excuse."
"My magic is reliant on my keys to function correctly. I channel magic through objects to cast spells. So that means my magic isn't capable of being released without an item to cast it through. Without these keys I don't have any usable spells," I said, holding up my keyring for her to see.
"And has that ever cost you in a fight?"
"Plenty of times."
"There's no way you're making it up the volcano with a glaring weakness in your skillset like that."
"I'm sure I have a way up, I have to have something I can use."
"You think so? Then show me! Think a bit to every power you've ever used and think outside the box. Once you have your plan, meet me at the summit. We're doing this every day until you pass the test."
Saying the words was the easy part, now comes actually pulling it off. What all can I use? I have spirits that can easily make it up, but that won't get me up the mountain. There's Aquarius, who uses water magic, which could cancel fire, but not a whole volcano's worth. What else? I have a phoenix spirit that can use fire, but once again that doesn't help me. At least with water magic I can use it to some extent with star dress, but that only worked with gold keys. I don't think it's possible to star dress a silver key spirit, but if it could work, I'd have a way up. Ok, so spirits won't really work unless the impossible becomes possible. My only other spell is Urano Metria. I guess it is caster magic, so I could use it.
How would that work? Urano Metria takes concentrated energy from every constellation and attacks using it. The idea is that while I need a key to access energy from any individual constellation, I don't need one to take it from the stars as a whole. That could work, a very small-scale version of that spell which already coats my body in celestial magic would have the same effect as mana skin, only that I'm using magic from the stars to get the effect instead of my own.
"You've been sitting there for a while, do you have your solution?" Mereoleona asked me.
"I may have something, but I don't know if it will work. My magic is fundamentally about opening gates to another world, but unfocused I can take general stellar energy as my own. That will be my mana skin."
"Show me."
I opened my grimoire to an empty page immediately following Urano Metria. As if the book knew my intention, it filled in the page with the details I had just thought about. At the top of the page was a title for the spell. Focusing my magic directly into opening that path, I incanted the spell Urano Metria Minima . Just as I expected, the light from the sky came down in a smaller amount and coated my body. It wasn't enough to push away or defend me the way it could while I was casting the greater version, but it is enough for this volcano.
"Impressive. Not many can create a new spell on the fly, though it shouldn't take a spell to use a technique like mana skin. You still have a long climb ahead of you and not much time, so get going."
I started my climb up the volcano praying the mana skin would hold. For now, it's holding well. I can feel the heat from the volcano all around me, but nothing was really damaging. It feels almost like walking outside on a hot summer day, not walking next to lava. So far, it's been an ordinary walk. I was told there would be nasty creatures on the path, so I'm keeping an eye out for them.
The creatures started showing up the minute I crossed the first foothill. The path was still a straight line and didn't take much climbing, but it did run past pools of lava. The first set of monsters popped their heads out of the pool ready to attack. Usually, I'd go into a star dress form but that might disrupt the mana skin. If I move away from focusing stars in general to a specific constellation, the spell will break. Without water there is no summoning by best matchup, so there's really only one other good option for a general fight. Open, gate of the lion .
Loke appeared saying, "Been a while princess, I'll take care of these quickly." He did exactly that. The lava monsters were no match for the lion spirit, and I was back to walking up the path. "It's been really busy recently and I know I should be bringing you out more. I'll be better with that promise!"
None of the other monsters could lay a finger on Loke, and the next step of the climb was just a chance to converse a bit. With all the craziness going on, I haven't been able to spend time with my spirits as much as I'd like, so I might as well do that here. It didn't take long before we arrived at the next foothill of the mountain.
"Is that just going straight up?"
"Not quite princess, there's a path to your left." Indeed there was. Out of the way stood a path that could get up the face of the cliff. It will take a lot of climbing still but at least it's feasible. Might as well get started then.
One hour later and I was hurting a ton, only kept upright by Loke's support. I made it up the next part of the climb, which sapped most of my energy. Climbing mountains isn't something I've done before, and I've never been physically reliant. Yep, Mereoleona must be trying to fix that. At least I was at the top now. The fire magic kept blasting at my skin, but I'd forgotten I even had a shield up. Just off the one climb, I already could keep it up unconsciously.
A few more steps forward and I was standing in front of a hot spring.
"Heh, you made it up on the first day. That's pretty good. Don't think you can relax just yet. Mana skin is more than a shield against the elements. Mages use it to enhance their physical abilities in a fight, so you need to keep it up mid-battle. Let's see if you can concentrate enough." She didn't wait at all and immediately threw her fire punches at me, forcing Loke to step in to defend me.
"Are you alright Loke?"
"Should be, man her attacks are strong. I won't be able to take much more of that."
"Raw power won't work well, so I need a bit more finesse. Open, Gate of the sea goat ." Out stepped Capricorn in his standard three-piece suit, but energy was coating his hands. Capricorn has the best hand-to-hand technique of my spirits, so he's the best option. "Loke, Capricorn, follow my lead," I ordered.
We fought as we had done many times before back in Earthland. I had my whip in hand sending what was mostly distracting attacks, but the power in my strikes seemed to be much more than usual. Maybe that was the mana skin? Capricorn stayed on the front line avoiding Mereoleona's quick punches while Loke waited for me to create an opening. It was a tried and true strategy that would work against most mages. Against Mereoleona, any attacks that got through seemed to do nothing at all. She was a tank that bulldozed through every attack sent her way.
"What happened to that other spell of yours. You're not going to do anything until you start attacking for real."
There was the problem. I'm still unsure of if I can use a star dress in this state, and if it fails, I'm going to burn in the volcano. That's not a risk I want to take yet. Instead, I went for the safer option of charging Urano Metria. Since it used the same technique as my mana skin in greater amounts, I'll still be protected from the weather.
Mereoleona didn't fall for the distractions. "That trick won't work on me Lucy, Flame magic, Callios Brachiem ." Instead of my spirits, the attack was aimed directly at me, before I had the time to set up the attack. I landed on my back somewhat unhurt thanks to the energy I charged absorbing the attack, but that had drained my magic a ton. I won't be able to use that again, and I only have one more summon left to use.
"You're still not using it. Come on, attack me with an offensive spell." As if trying to bait it, she charged in at me again when I was still down, and knocked away my keys. Not this again.
"Now you can't rely on those summons as much, come at me with your own powers," she commanded.
Now I really have no choice but to use star dress. If I don't, Mereoleona might just kill me instead. I focused my magic on the nearby key ring and any star I could find in the sky, calling out Star Dress, Aquarius form . Immediately, the general stellar energy left me while water magic surrounded me, and I started feeling much hotter than before. Once the transformation was over, I quickly surrounded myself in water to douse the fire that had been about to erupt on my skin. As I thought the mana skin can't hold if I focus only one constellation's power.
"That won't work at all. You have to combine mana skin with that transformation, not only use one. We're done for today, get back to the spring before you burn alive," she said. I quickly followed her.
The sun set over the volcano, and I finally dropped all my spells, letting Leo return to the spirit world. Capricorn was forced back earlier at the hands of my trainer. Somehow, I found myself relaxing in a hot spring instead of in more intense training. The moon was up providing a small bit of light, creating a shockingly beautiful atmosphere for what had been a deadly volcano a few hours ago. It was relaxing.
"You know, you're really not as bad as I was making you look."
"Really? I didn't feel like I was making that much progress."
"Look at the rest of my squad. I did some sessions with the lions and most failed on day one, and that's without the restriction you have. You thought out of the box and found a solution. I wish the rest of my squad could do that."
"They can't be that bad. You're talking about the crimson lion kings, they're always a top squad with a great reputation."
"I wish I could say the same, but morale's been low recently. The squad has generally been run by the Vermillion family but we're falling apart fast. I've barely thought about Leo since he died. I did what I always do, retreat to the wilderness. Don't even know how, but Julius found me, made me the captain, even when I haven't worked in a team for years. I wish I could be doing what you're doing, fighting on the front lines against our enemies, against my family's enemies."
"I don't feel all that lucky. Someone's always getting hurt; at this rate it's only a matter of time until it's me. Is it so wrong to say I'd rather not die?"
"Not at all, but someone has to do it. This is what you signed up for when you joined the magic knights. I'm just getting you the ability to do what you need to do."
"I'm still thinking about my squad's mission. While I'm here, they're all together, fighting our enemies. I know I have a week before any serious battles begin but I still feel like I shouldn't be here, that I should be helping them."
"This is how you can help them best. Your magic is stronger than it looks at first, and by training it you will be that much more useful to them. All I want is three more days. After that, you can head over to Heart, get that key, and make it back for the big battles. Try to get some rest while you're at it, you're gonna need it."
I took that advice to heart. Right when we were done soaking in the hot water of the spring, we headed down to the camp Mereoleona put up at the mountain's base. I immediately went to a tent and fell asleep.
"Hit harder!" "Keep running!" "Too slow!"
These were the phrases I heard the most the next few days as the brutal trainer worked me to death. Running, whip technique, magic training, this woman had all the training methods. At least I could see myself becoming a bit better. I wasn't getting tired as fast on the runs. Holding two gates open at once felt less taxing, and allowed me more time to stay active in a fight. The last day was spent fixing my mistake from the first day, which was not holding mana skin while using star dress. Mereoleona became a lot more technical and less brutal today, probably because I need to work on learning a new technique.
"Still not it. Every advanced mage can hold a mana skin in battle, you're behind," she called out. Encouragement was still harsh as ever. Didn't make learning this technique any easier. Holding a star dress requires me to focus on one constellation and draw lots of energy from it, while a mana skin forces me to take small amounts of energy from the sky as a whole. This will force me to draw unequal amounts of stellar energy from different parts of the sky, which takes an ungodly amount of control I don't have right now. How could I make this any easier to do.
"Still not using all your tools Lucy. It's not that hard," she encouraged. Easy enough to say, but what else do I have. I have my keys, which act as a focus to one constellation. Maybe it's possible to try casting mana skin while using a key. How would that work? I'd be calling out to every constellation through the focus of one. Maybe that would get one constellation's power to be stronger than the others. I'm a holder mage, channeling magic through objects is what I'm good at. I should be able to pull this off.
I held out Loke's key while chanting Urano Metria Minima . I just have to push through and hope it works. Sure enough, I was in star dress while a barrier of magic was protecting me. I finally had a solution to keep up with the caster mages.
"Finally you figure it out. I always knew you weren't using all your tools. It would have been better if I could have more time to train you but you don't have that luxury. Do remember that using every tool in your arsenal is how you're going to win fights," she said.
"I'll remember that. It's time to go back to Heart and face whatever challenges are there. I think I'm ready now."
"I'd still say you aren't completely ready, but it's better than before. You'll have to surpass your limits even more to beat whatever's facing you there, and maybe then you'll have the power to face Licht. For now, I can help you get there faster, but you're on your own after this."
"Alright, and Mereoleona, thanks for the help."
She guided me on brooms and not long after, we were at the border. Standing tall, I walked in.
Far, far away in the Spade Kingdom, one certain devil-possessed mage was just now figuring out her curse was broken by some unknown means. This had her in a rage, and she was preparing a journey to check up on her target. This meant crossing borders, but for someone of her power, that would be an easy task. Maybe some extra punishment on the Hearts to torture her a bit more, just for fun. She was cackling with these thoughts in her head as she left the castle doors.
"Don't worry my widdle Loropechika, Vanica's coming!"