"No."
"Come on~! It would be so easy with you two." Eric whined, Guy just rolling his eyes as Bacchus chuckled & Warcry shook his head.
"You and Bacchus are more than enough for a simple S-Class job. Why the hell do you need us two as well?" Warcry asked, to which Eric just shrugged before answering.
"For man power."
"Exactly why I don't want to go. You and Bacchus are probably the strongest in the guild in terms of pure raw power, with Warcry just slightly behind you. You don't need anymore." Guy explained, to which Eric just sighed & nodded while Bacchus patted him on the back.
"Besides, I don't have any free time for that right now. I have 6 photo shoots today and another 10 tomorrow. I barely have time for a cup of nice jasmine tea."
"And that is why I never became a model. Too much work." Bacchus said with a shrug, making Guy roll his eyes as Eric chuckled before turning to Warcry with an expectant look.
"No. Last time I went on a job with you, I nearly had to fight a Wizard Saint level beast, so no thank you."
"Firstly, I had to fight the big boss and secondly, the beast didn't even get close to being unsealed."
"My point still stands. You've given me enough stress & excitement for the next year."
"Looks like it's just you and me, kid." Bacchus spoke with a grin and Eric smirked before he blinked at the redhead that sat down in his lap, looking at the expectant look in Flare's face before he sighed.
"You sure? This isn't going to be like the training trip or the few jobs we've went on together." He said and she just raised an eyebrow at that.
"Our training trip was us constantly fighting each other along with the beasts of the Deadman Badlands. I think I can help you hunt down a simple mage along with whatever mages he's allied with."
"Hah, okay then, but don't say I didn't warn you. It's a good thing I bought four train tickers in advance."
"Then I shall accompany." Bacchus, Warcry and Guy snickered as both Eric and Flare jumped at the sound of Screecher's voice directly behind them, Flare giving the smirking mage a silent glare as Eric groaned.
"Really? I've told you so many times to stop doing that, man."
"It's not my fault you make it so amusing. Now, what is this I hear about an S-Class job and you not inviting me on it?" Screecher asked with a raised eyebrow, Eric blinking at that before he gave a sheepish grin.
"I…kinda forgot about you being an S-Class if I'm being honest. And! I thought you were on a job."
"Firstly, I'm hurt. Secondly, I finished that mission yesterday while you and the others were at Fairy Tail's guild."
"Ah, cool. So…you want in?" Eric asked, smiling nervously as Screecher just stared at him before he smirked.
"Of course. I'm actually here to tell you that Master's has the information files you need for the job." Eric blinked at that before he grinned & nodded, Flare yelping as she was picked up & placed on the ground before Eric stood up.
"Come on then, Team Eric! Let's go catch a traitor and bring him to justice."
"That's not our name/ Call us that again and I'm leaving/ Eric…just…no."
"Zash Caine, the former Secretary of State of Fiore and a former S-Class mage for Twilight Ogre in his younger years before his promotion." Goldmine said as he tapped the interface on his table, the four mages of the job looking down at the image of a tall & burly middle-aged man with brown hair and two scars on the right side of his face.
Eric frowned as he looked at the lopsided moustache the man had as well as the rather crazed grin on his face as Goldmine continued speaking.
"Just a little under a year ago, Zash Caine along with a group of his most trusted soldiers had been declared traitors by the E. Fiore royal family after he tried to overthrow them. In the chaos of his men providing cover for him, Zash used some form of Eye Magic to manipulate the captain of the White Tiger group charged with protecting the artifact and forced her to kill her own men before taking off with both the captain & the artifact"
"Great, it's one of those hypnotist types." Bacchus muttered with a frown, unusual from his usual drunk smirk as Goldmine frowned with him & nodded.
"Yes, and that's not all. He's taken the artifact and used it for his coup'd'etat to take over the kingdom of Stella, a long-time ally of Fiore."
"And the Wizard Saints & Magic Council are not getting involved?" Screecher asked with a raised eyebrow, making Goldmine snort as he shook his head.
"The Wizard Saints are either too busy with their jobs, too lazy or too arrogant to think that they need to help. The Magic Council on the other hand believes that it's not a big enough threat for them to care about, so they left it for Fiore's guilds to retrieve the artifact."
"And how has that gone for the other guilds by the way? A mission of this caliber would have all of the guilds wanting to take it for themselves." Eric said as he looked up at Goldmine, who just sighed as he shook his head.
"You would think so, but no one can. He has an army of robotic beings he calls the Quartum Army, who patrol the capital of Stella, Altair, at every waking moment when he's there as well as accompanying him whenever he goes to a nearby city. The moment his army catches sight of even a single guild mark, they all distract the mages trying to catch him while he uses his Eye Magic to enrage every civilian that catches his eyes before disappearing from the map until they leave."
"And with the mages not wanting to kill innocent people, they are forced to stop their pursuit in order to make sure that the civilians are knocked out and safe from harm." Flare said with a frown, Goldmine humming as he nodded before he looked at Eric, who was staring intently at Zash.
"Something you'd like to say, Eric?" He asked, drawing everyone's attention to Eric, who just frowned at the picture before he shook his head.
"No. It's just…I don't know why, but that guy looks eerily familiar."
"You've met him before?" Bacchus asked with a raised eyebrow and Eric just frowned as he shook his head.
"Not that I can remember." He responded and Goldmine frowned at that.
"And what if you couldn't remember? The artifact he took is very powerful and according to the sources we have, he did move around the outskirts of Oak Town, which is also the same time when we found you after that gigantic burst of ethernano. The timelines match up as well." Eric's eyes widened at that before he frowned as he felt a burst of rage in his chest and shook his head.
"So…he might have been with the bastards that had me locked up as their slave?"
"Just saying. It might be coincidence that him stealing the artifact and that large pulse of ethernano we felt a year ago just happened at the same time… and it might not be."
"Great. You're just involved with every incident that happened in the past year, huh kid?" Bacchus asked with a smirk, to which Eric just rolled his eyes with a smirk before he looked at Goldmine.
"Does he have any other soldiers apart from the Army?" Eric asked and Goldmine nodded as he pressed a button near him, the image of Zash disappearing as it was replaced by the faces of three new ones.
The first was a dark-skinned man with green hair in dreadlocks that had stones at the ends, with black tattoos of an inverted triangle on his forehead and a regular triangle on his chin.
The second was of a beautiful dark-skinned woman with green eyes, silver hair that forms out with bunny ears protruding from her head, a yellow scarf wrapped around her neck and a black tiara with a star in the centre worn on the top of her head.
The third was another dark-skinned man, albeit a lot younger than the other two, with light blue spiky hair, black slanted eyes and a red scarf around his neck.
"Ooh~ She's hot." Bacchus spoke with a lopsided grin and while not saying it out loud, Eric had to agree as he looked at the bunny girl before looking back at the other two.
"These are the Three Stars, the top guards of the former King of Stella and now Zash' own guard dogs. The young boy is called Gapri. He uses a form of Clinging Magic that lets him keep himself adhered to any surface as long as he can touch it. The older man is Doll. His magic has not been shown but he has been shown with a pair of dolls floating around him, which indicates a usage of Curse Magic perhaps. The woman is called Swan and she uses the same type of Magic as Semmes: Spinning Magic."
'Hmm, I see. I vaguely remember there being three other people and this Zash guy along with Animus in the movie, but then again, I was more focused on the girl. Actually, the movie happened just before the Alvarez War and the girl & Animus used the Eclipse gate to get to this timeline from the past. So, would they still be there or is there going to be a new big boss?'
"I feel like if that was all, then most mages would have been able to beat them." Flare said with a frown, knocking Eric from his thought process as he turned to see Goldmine nod in agreement, swiping up on the table and showing the photo of an iridescent rainbow-colored crystal.
"This is Stellanium, a crystal unique to the specific climate of the Stella Kingdom and their most important trade resource. When exposed to any form of moonlight or starlight, the crystals will begin to absorb that light & harden. The more it absorbs, the stronger & more durable the crystal itself becomes over time. At first, it is merely as strong as a simple stone, but when fully charged, it is able to shatter diamonds with a hard enough strike. That is also why the armours of the Magic Council's Rune Knights are made from Stellanium-infused steel. Now with Zash as the King and making sure Fiore & any other country allied with it doesn't get any…"
"It's more of a loss to our military might than it is to their financial position." Eric finished, Goldmine nodding before he swiped once more & the pictures of the Three Stars & the Stellanium disappeared, replaced by a large map of the Stella Kingdom.
"This is Altair, the capital city where Zash, the Three Stars and his Quartum Army is currently stationed." The master spoke as he pointed at a city in the middle left section of the map before tracing a finger to the bottom right corner of the map.
"This is Krista, the former capital and now nothing more than ruins after Zash & his army destroyed the place. Right now, nothing lives there which makes it the perfect entry point. However, I'm sure Zash also knows this which is where you come in, Screecher." The Sonic Mage blinked at that as he looked up at Goldmine, who grinned before the man pointed at a small city just a short distance away from Altair.
"That village we don't know the name of as we never got close enough to it, but the other mages have heard rumours that that's where Zash is keeping Captain Riana hostage and in a state of hypnosis along with another important hostage. Most mages have tried to get to that position, Sabretooth included, but the Quartum Army has infrared sensors, night vision, x-ray vision and ethernano sensors to detect even the weakest mage or the weakest change in ambient ethernano. However, they never had a mage that can manipulate sound and hide himself & others from all types of sensors. That and a mage with the best pair of eyes you can find." The master of Quatro said as he looked at Eric, who smirked as he nodded before Screecher hummed and turned to Eric.
"And you forgot about me? How would you have infiltrated the castle then?"
"I had a few ideas…two of which included blowing up a castle tower or two as a distraction." Eric admitted with a shrug, making everyone sigh as Bacchus gave a proud nod before Goldmine shook his head.
"Now you know why I don't let you go on rescue missions on your own."
"Sure. So, the plan is enter the city with my Gravity Magic & Screecher's invisibility, use my eyes to scan for where the hostages are hidden, rescue the hostages quietly and then get information from the hostages to take back the artifact. Everyone understand the plan?"
"…The master's already broken it down. Why did you repeat?" Screecher asked with a raised eyebrow, Goldmine & Bacchus smirking as Eric grumbled while Flare pat him on the back.
"Now you know why I didn't pick you."
"Yes, because we both know I'm the more capable of us two."
"Go jump in a lake." Eric grumbled, Screecher smirking before the red-eyed dragon slayer focused his mind & nodded.
"Gather whatever supplies you believe you may need today. Tomorrow, we convene at the town's north-eastern exit. We'll have to figure out a way to fly through or around Bosco as they don't have a good relationship with us."
"Look at you, acting like a leader for once." Bacchus said with a smirk, Eric just rolling his eyes as the others smirked.
"I have to. This is my job and if I succeed, this could lead to a big boost in reputation for Quatro Cerberus."
"Maybe I should make you master." Goldmine joked, everyone shuddering as Eric gave him a nervous glance.
"Please don't."
"Hey, you ready for that date?" Eric asked as soon as the four of Team Eric left Goldmine's office, Bacchus & Screecher continuing on as Flare blinked in surprise.
"W-What?"
"Well, we're going to be busy for the next few days and I did promise you a date, so…want to go? I found a nice restaurant a few blocks away."
"S-Sure. Just…give me a few minutes to get ready. Wait here." Eric blinked at that before he smiled & nodded, watching as Flare quickly rushed towards their apartment before blinking as he heard Goldmine chuckling behind him.
"Ah, young love. Quite the mystical thing."
"Got nothing better to do than listen to others, old timer?" Eric asked with a smirk as he leaned against the second floor's railing, hearing Goldmine chuckle at his words while relaxing next to him.
"People tend to forget that when you're the guild master, all you get to do for the day is sign papers and make sure your guild isn't destroyed by trigger happy idiots that want to start a fight."
"Well, I glad to know that's not me because I didn't start a fight today."
"What about yesterday and the days before?"
"I regret nothing." Eric answered with a shrug, Goldmine snorting before a calm silence fell over the two as they watched the rest of the guild walking around & conversing with each other.
"…Do you regret your decision to join Quatro?" Goldmine asked, surprising Eric as the mage turned towards the guild master.
"Well, you have been a mage for only a year and tomorrow, you're going to be on your way to retrieve an important artifact & capture an S-Class Dark Mage, because I kind of forced you into becoming a mage." Goldmine spoke with a shrug, to which Eric just stared at him before the guild master was surprised to hear Eric chuckle.
"Nah, even if you didn't, I know I'm not the type to sit still and wait for someone to rescue me. If I tried to train my magic on my own or used it in a more…dangerous setting, I could have either destroyed my body or caused severe damage to whatever city I was in." Eric said with a shrug as he pushed off the railing & started making his way towards the stairs, Goldmine smirking before turning as Eric turned slightly to grin at him.
"Besides, we both know you wouldn't have let me go at all with my Lost Magic."
"…Yeah, that's true." Goldmine admitted bluntly with a nod, making Eric burst out with laughter as the mage made his way down whilst waving back at the guild master.
Watching his new S-Class mage walking out of the door while conversing with his fellow guildmates, Goldmine couldn't help but smile as he pushed off the railings and made his way back into his office, one simple thought flashing through his mind as he closed the door behind him.
'That kid's going to go places…and that means more money for Cerberus.'
'Wonder what's taking her long?' Eric thought with a curious smirk as he floated in front of the Quatro Cerberus guild hall, sitting cross-legged in the air while he waited for Flare to come back.
He knew that girls took a bit to get ready if it was for an important event or stuff, but it's been nearly thirty minutes since she left and despite how much he wanted to check on her with his eyes, he knew that if she found out, it would be the equivalent of unleashing fifty nukes worth of lectures.
That didn't stop him from continuously scanning the entire town every minute just to make sure if she was wandering around & talking to everyone like she usually would.
'Speaking of wander, I really let my mind wander and forgot all about the actual reason I tried to get strength: The Eclipse Gate.' Eric thought with a frown as he cancelled his eyes, focused on the dilemma that was now at his hands.
Since he didn't know which of the two timelines he was in, he couldn't create a concrete plan or figure out a way to stop the Eclipse Gate from being open.
'Or were there three timelines? God, this is why I hate time travel shit. It's gets too confusing.' Eric thought with a groan, burying his hands in his face as he took a deep breath.
'Calm down, Eric. You can do this. You just need to figure out a way to determine which timeline this is and after that, you should be fine. Please let this be the one in the anime, though. I don't think I have it in me to fight ten thousand dragons or the timeline where Acnologia becomes king. Wait, aren't those the same timelines?'
"What has you so depressed?" Eric blinked as he heard Flare speaking, chuckling as he shook his head and looked up.
"Just the mission and my own weird thoughts. Nothing to be…concerned…about."
"D-Do you like it? I bought it last week. With my own money, of course!" Flare quickly explained with a nervous smile and a blush as she stood in front of the floating Eric, who ignored the wolf-whistles & cheers from the guild mates watching through the window as he stared at his girlfriend.
Her usually braided hair was undone and left free, looking like a curtain of scarlet flames as it swayed behind her in the breeze while her right eye was partly covered by the bangs.
However, it was her crimson dress that stunned him. Eric didn't know how it was still keeping up despite having no shoulder straps, but he guessed it had to do with her bountiful chest keeping it up and the way it hugged her body just enough to be sexy while also being loose enough at the legs that it wouldn't look like someone just cut latex in the shape of the dress.
That along with the fact that the dress on the left side that had a slit going up to her lower left thigh and the crimson heels made him feel as if he was staring at the real-life copy of Jessica Rabbit.
"…I would ask you to marry me, but I feel that would be going too far right now." Eric answered with a truthful smile, turning Flare a deep scarlet that made the mage chuckle before he snapped his fingers.
In an instant, scarlet flames obscured him from view before they disappeared, Flare's eyes widening as Eric smiled at her whilst now dressed in a long-sleeved crimson dress shirt, black dress pants, a pair of black dress shoes and a black tie.
"Eh? Do you like it?" Eric asked while posing for Flare, whose blush died down as she giggled & nodded.
"I do, but you could have fixed your hair up a bit." Flare said while pointing at the unruly mane of hair that hung to his upper back, to which Eric looked affronted.
"I am a beast, my dear. This unruly mane is a symbol of my beastly pride."
"Of course it is." She muttered with a shake of her head, Eric chuckling before he smirked as the redhead linked their arms together.
"Now, come on. I figured out which restaurant you said we were going to and I always wanted to try their mango cream pie. Stop that thought." Flare quickly spoke as Eric opened his mouth, the dragon slayer grumbling as she giggled.
"Fine, wasn't even going to make a joke anyway."
A/N: Just a quick blatant promotion of my big P-Word(No, not the penis)
Pt. Tr**n. c*m/ KingCrimsonNova to read up to seven weeks ahead on this and ten weeks ahead on The Unholy Wolf.
And now...until the next time...
Ba-Bye~!