Chapter 15
It is now Tuesday, September 1st, X783. We no longer have the Luck bonus from Cana.
We returned home in the middle of the night, and Cana went to bed after giving me one last kiss. She then pulled Levy, spooning her from behind. The smaller girl blinked her eyes and mumbled, "Welcome back."
I leaned down to kiss her on the forehead as she snuggled closer to Cana. Levy smacked her lips and smiled back at me before she closed her eyes. I left the two to sleep in peace and went over to check up on my garden and gather more of the Apples and Peaches.
Doma was physically present at the headquarters of the Magic Council for once as he wanted to personally look through the information they had gathered about a certain someone. The document on him was slowly filling up with information, each new discovery being that much more astonishing than the previous.
Leon, age around sixteen. Dropped off by an unknown man–presumably a Mage–in Loya about sixteen years ago and was believed to be cursed due to the words of said man, though there was no confirmation if the latter was true. The only evidence the villagers had was a monster appearing shortly after he was left there.
He lived there for sixteen years, displaying no special qualities during that time, until he was found bleeding heavily with a corpse of a monster–confirmed to be a young Grass Wolf–next to him in the nearby forest. Afterwards, he displayed a remarkable healing ability as he recovered in two days from injuries that should've permanently crippled him for life.
That was the last and only time he had ever been wounded or even hit in front of others.
After his impressive recovery, Leon displayed an unparalleled ability in learning new things. A direct quote from one of the villagers is, "He picked up everything we know and practiced for decades in less than a week."
The only displayed type of Magic at that time was the ability to create a small ghostly wolf, in addition to some form of Space Magic, which allowed him to shove objects out of existence. Possibly a variant of Requip, due to future actions as the entire mansion of the traitor known as Duke Everlue disappeared overnight, and he is the only possible suspect.
The wolf is now confirmed to be a large two-headed and winged beast after he was last spotted in Bosco. This proves he has the ability to improve his Magic at never before heard speed.
After clearing the nearby forest of every single monster, Leon left the village before making his way to Magnolia, only stopping at Clover Town for a couple of days. It's unknown why he made that decision to travel to Magnolia or what happened during his journey, however he joined Fairy Tail upon reaching the town.
Leon has completed numerous Jobs after joining the Guild, including the subjugation of numerous Dark Mages. The last being the Dark Guild known as Daylight, which was taken down the very same day he was spotted in Bosco despite them successfully avoiding capture for over a month.
The people who had requested those Jobs had nothing but good things to say about Leon. A farmer near Magnolia even stated that he sometimes visits his farm and uses Green Magic to speed up the growth of his plants for free, requesting absolutely nothing in return.
It's also confirmed that Leon had visited the farm with one of the Wizard Saints, Warrod Sequen. The two had spent numerous hours there, presumably working on their Green Magic. That's almost a confirmed fact due to the ability displayed near Srita.
It's also apparent that Leon is very generous as he spends at least a few hours a day cooking in the Guild and giving away the food for free, even to people not part of Fairy Tail. According to the citizens of Magnolia, his food is divine in taste, which is why they have started referring to him as the Cooking God, to the point that some believe he uses Cooking Magic, something which was confirmed to be false.
His knowledge about Magic is considered one of a kind. It's confirmed by Gran Doma that his lectures are useful to both young and old. In addition, he has proved he could recreate lost types of Magic in less than a month, confirming that his talent with Magic is practically unheard of.
Leon's displayed feats have proved that he's an extremely powerful Mage as he has defeated the Salamander, a user of a Lost Magic known as Fire Dragon Slayer without even getting hit.
He defeated one of the most promising Mages working for the Council and a possible Wizard Saint candidate, Siegrain, again without even getting hit while also displaying an ability that could completely negate the Magic of his opponent.
In less than a minute, he defeated a powerful Demon, an Ifrit, without even getting hit and showed an effortless use of Take Over, Satan Soul. After the fight, he displayed yet another Lost Magic in the form of Healing Magic, which he used to heal all the injured Rune Knights at the scene.
He has also confirmed to have defeated one of Zeref's Demons, Lullaby the Mass Murder Curse Magic. It's very likely that he has used Take Over on this Demon as well, however, he is yet to use its abilities in front of others.
Lastly, he defeated Laxus Dreyar, an S-Class Fairy Tail Mage, again, without even getting hit once. He displayed masterful swordsmanship in the fight with the Lightning Mage including a monstrous Green Magic Spell that can destroy a village in one hit.
According to his words, Leon knows at least eight different types of Magic, and the following have been confirmed: Archive, Green Magic, Healing Magic, a variant of Requip, Storm Devil Slayer, Take Over Beast Soul and Satan Soul, and the unknown Magic that allows him to summon a winged two-headed wolf.
In conclusion, Leon is one of the most powerful Mages in Ishgar, and he is a likely candidate for becoming a Wizard Saint due to his strength and due to how loved he is by the general population.
"This is not normal," Siegrain with a frown. "He must be using some type of Forbidden Magic to quickly grow in strength!"
"He is not!" Doma defended him without hesitation. "I have personally heard and seen his methodology about Magic, and I can tell you with certainty that his achievements are due to both talent and sheer hard work."
"I refuse to believe this," Siegrain replied with a twisted expression.
"Siegrain, I have high hopes for you, I truly do. However…" Doma's expression darkened. "You are starting to cross the line. Your fight with him was a misunderstanding caused due to misinformation. Do not hold a grudge against Leon when you were the one at fault!"
"I… I understand," Siegrain replied after a moment, his hands balled into fists. "I will spend some time thinking about how I could've handled the situation better."
"Good." Doma nodded with a smile, pleased by the response. "You are better than this, and you have a bright future ahead of you. Focus on yourself, and I'm sure you will achieve great things."
"I understand, sir," Siegrain said and bowed his head. "I'll take my leave now."
Doma dismissed him, and he left the office, his expression turning darker by the second.
"Soon… soon you will die," he quietly whispered to himself. "It might not be by my hands, but you will die."
Ultear emerged from the shadows in the hallway, quietly staring at Jellal's back. He was a tool that was starting to dull and lose its edge. Perhaps it was time to dispose of him. That seemed very likely to happen, especially after Jellal contacted the Oracion Seis to place a hit on Leon.
Her eyes narrowed, considering how to quietly take care of Jellal without causing too many issues for herself. She almost killed him the moment she figured out what he had done, but she managed to stop herself from acting out. Still… Leon was not to be touched!
Ultear took a deep breath, this could perhaps work in their favor. They could finally get to see what Leon was truly capable of doing, and Ultear just had to make sure she was nearby to offer assistance if the Oracion Seis proved to be too much of a problem.
Right, she calmed herself by imagining how she would rescue Leon before recruiting him to her cause. Though she doubted he'd need help. Even Master Hades agreed as much after he heard about Leon, and he even showed a lot of interest in the young man, after hearing about his appearance, though she wasn't sure why.
Ultear stayed outside for a couple more minutes before she entered Doma's office with a pleasant smile on her face. She had to up her game as it was very likely that they would have to dispose of Jellal, and she would have to fully take his spot on the Magic Council. For that to happen, she needed to display a bit more of what she was capable of doing, but that was fine.
I sat down on the ground with a hand on my chin. There wasn't anything important that I had to do in the near future, which meant that I could focus on improving my Healing Magic until it was good enough to restore Erza's eye. That was my current priority. and I had a few ways to do that.
I could travel around the continent and visit any medical facilities to heal everyone there. Yeah, that sounded like a lovely idea, but I wanted to improve my Magic as quickly as possible. That's why I conjured one of my wolves and apologized to it as I had no other option than to use it for practice.
Rank 70 Passive Bonus: All attacks now ignore 50% of the Armor of Gods.
Rank 80 Passive Bonus: Major Flora Control.
Medicine Perk: Human Biology Expert: Add Biology modifier to Medicine rolls when healing a Human
The wolf might have been a simple Mana construct once upon a time, but I had spent countless hours improving it and making it that much closer to a real being. Before, its body was made of nothing but energy, but now it has substance to it, and it was almost an actual living being. And that was good enough for me.
I spent hours snapping limbs or cutting them off entirely before healing it back to full Health with my Spell. Unfortunately, I couldn't restore its limbs with my current capabilities, but I felt like I was this close to achieving my goals. Just a few more hours of working on my Magic would be enough to get me there.
Of course, I didn't forget to use my self-healing Spell, seeing how it healed me and trying to replicate the same process with Heal.
Combining the two was a great idea as it allowed me to improve both at the same time as I took what I learned from one of them before applying it to the other and vice versa.
By the time the sun was up, I felt like I could heal myself to full health in less than a few seconds. My Status confirmed as much, and I returned inside with a satisfied smile. Soon, I would be capable of restoring Erza's eye and that thought brought a smile to my face.
To celebrate this occasion, I decided to prepare a breakfast with the two special fruits and share it with Cana and Levy.
"I love this so much," Cana muttered as she closed her eyes and leaned back against her chair. "The only complaint that I have is that this food makes me want to lie down and relax and run around in circles at the same time."
"I agree." Levy nodded with a pondering expression. "But I do feel myself growing stronger, so I can't complain too much."
"Same," Cana replied, looking at her arm as she flexed her muscles. "Even though it doesn't really look like it."
"I never bulked up from the Peaches no matter how many I ate," I told the two, fondly recalling my time in the forest near Loya when I first ate a Peach. I felt strong enough to take on the world back then even though I was still a weakling. I snorted just thinking about that and told the girls about that.
"Yeah, but look at what you've achieved since then," Levy said with a proud smile, and I felt my heart speed up at the sight.
"Mhm." Cana nodded. "You even beat Laxus without getting hit!"
"Wait, what?" Levy's eyes opened wide. "You beat Laxus?!"
"Oh, he did!" Cana laughed with a grin. "He beat the shit out of him in front of an entire city!"
"Show me!" Levy said with shining eyes, and I used Archive to show her my point of view of the fight. We spent some time watching the fight and discussing it, including some of the mistakes I made, like using Root Manipulation for example even though I knew he could easily avoid the attack with his Lightning Body.
Cana left shortly after, stating she wanted to go and practice her Magic due to how energetic she felt after eating my food, leaving me alone with Levy. I picked up the smaller girl, and she melted in my arms as I carried her over to the couch before lying down with her.
"Feel like doing some reading with me?" I asked while kissing her gently. "I don't really feel like leaving the house today."
"Mhm." Levy nodded with a peaceful expression. "That sounds lovely."
Votes Alchemy Perk: Potion Specialist: Gain 10xAlchemy rank when creating Potions.
Votes Mathematics Perk: Calculate the Future: With enough time and the right equation, we can predict minor future events.
Votes Engineering Perk: Magical Construction: Can quickly create simple structures by using specific types of Magic like Green or Earth Magic.
I quickly read through the Mathematics and Engineering books while Levy studied the Alchemy one with great interest.
While that was happening, I had my Clone form in the Guild library and greeted Mavis through it. We had a small talk while cuddling, and I fed her some sweets from the chocolate tree before I left and made my way to Makarov's office. He directed the Clone to the paperwork, but I controlled it and made it sit.
"Oh!" Makarov exclaimed, quickly realizing I was directly controlling it. "Good job, you two!"
"Thank you, Master," I replied through the Clone.
"The Magic Council have been singing your praises, though they have been inquiring more and more about you specifically," Makarov said as he lounged on his luxurious chair.
"That shouldn't be a problem, right?" I asked, not too worried about it. Though… I did end up taking an entire mansion for myself.
"Nah, but you've really caught their eye after everything you've done." Makarov replied as he lit up a pipe. "You've taken down two Dark Guilds in less than a month and even discovered a traitor. Seems like they really are planning on naming you as one of the Wizard Saints. Though I'm not sure if you are quite ready for that."
"Why not?" I asked through the Clone.
"Don't get me wrong. You are strong, my boy, but the Saints are all extremely powerful individuals," Makarov said while inhaling from his pipe before grinning at me. "I would know since I'm one of them,"
'Well, I did beat Laxus, so I think I'm well on my way to becoming strong enough to qualify as one of the Saints." I controlled the Clone to grin back at him, and his eyes opened wide and the pipe fell out of his mouth.
"You beat Laxus?!" Makarov asked, his jaw hanging loosely.
"I did, I did." I nodded with the Clone while still making it grin. "I beat him so hard, he was too ashamed to even return to the Guild with us, saying he'll come back in about a month."
"That checks out," Makarov chuckled before his eyes comically opened wide as he hopped down and started stomping on the carpet. "Ah! Almost ruined the nice carpet you got me."
"No worries," I said and took out a new one for him since I had plenty thanks to Everlue's donation.
"Ooo, nice," Makarov replied with a clap as I stored his old one and replaced it with the new one. He cupped his chin after that, staring in the distance. "But you really beat Laxus, huh?"
"I sure did," I replied, confirming with a nod.
"Hmm." He turned towards the Clone, intently staring at it.
"Yes?" I asked, making it tilt its head.
"Nothing, nothing, just thinking," Makarov replied with a shake of his head before pointing at the stack of papers. "Anyway, mind helping me with some of this?"
"Sure, I will leave the Clone with you," I replied before releasing my direct control, allowing it to work on the paperwork on its own. I had done my best to make it as smart as an adult, plus I improved it so it could draw upon a bit of Skills. That should be more than enough to handle all the paperwork here, allowing Makarov to have a nice and relaxing day instead of fighting with this monster.
My attention returned back to Levy, and I joined her in reading the Alchemy book. It was mostly about creating various types of Potions, Poisons, and Salves, but it did mention that an expert Alchemist could transmute one object into another. That greatly interested us both, and we spent some time talking about how that was possible.
The obvious answer we came with was that it was a type of Magic. However, according to the book, one could transmute objects without using any Magic at all.
We spent some more time trying to theorize how exactly that was done, but we couldn't come with a concrete answer. For the rest of the day, we just lied there on the couch just cuddling with each other. Though I did also get to show her how much I had improved with my Telepathy.
"Soon," I said, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "Soon, I will figure out a way to teach you Allspeak."
"Have I told you how much I love you?" Levy asked with a hot breath.
"Yes, but you can do it again," I replied cheekily.
She snorted before she got up and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the bedroom. "Well, let me show you exactly how much I love you."
We had some fun together before Cana came back, and I cooked us all a nice dinner. Both went to bed after that, and I considered joining them, but I still had things to do.
First, I took care of my garden, getting quite a bit more fruits from the trees and plenty of ingredients I could use for both cooking or even Alchemy. Afterwards, I sat down on the ground and summoned my wolf, planning to improve my Healing Spell, so it was good enough to restore lost limbs or body parts.
Earth Dragon Rank 20 Passive Bonus: Massively improves senses. Increases Observation modifier by Magic Rankx2. Can no longer ride on a vehicle without getting motion sickness.
Fairy Tail Mage? has been upgraded due to recent actions.
Oberon, The King of Fairies: Gain +50 to Luck rolls. EXP is quadrupled for a week after suffering a defeat, though this will result in the loss of the title. Hated Loved by the Magic Council.
Gained another new title.
The Enemy of all Men: +50 to Seduction rolls with women. Men… or women enamored by Mirajane might challenge you to a fight for her hand.
'Magic is a combination of energy in the form of Magic Power, knowledge of the world and its laws, plus the willpower to make your desired effect a reality.' That was my view on Magic.
I had the necessary Magic Power and knowledge to make what I wanted to. As for my desire, that was fueled by how much I wished to heal Erza's eye, to make her happy and see her beautiful smile. I was determined to make that a reality and there was nothing in this world that could've stopped me from achieving my goal at that moment.
So I ripped apart the limbs and body parts of both my Clone and my wolf, healing them over and over until I finally had what I wanted. My wish was so strong that I might've ended up overdoing it, but that was fine as I was now assured that I would be capable of perfectly healing Erza.
I rushed out of my home the second I was done, quickly running over to the Guild. It was still early in the morning, so there were only two people there. Virgo was cleaning up the place and setting up the furniture while Mira was reading a magazine and giggling to herself.
"Morning, Mira," I greeted her with a quick kiss, but she surprised me when she got up and bowed.
"Morning, your Majesty," Mira said with a teasing smirk.
"Huh?" I tilted my head in confusion, and she pointed at the cover of the magazine. It was the photo we took in the park, which made me smile since we looked so good together.
"What?" However, what surprised me was the text after that as it proclaimed me to be the strongest Fairy Tail Mage, naming me as Oberon, the King of Fairies.
"I…" I wasn't sure what to say about that, but I shook my head. As cool as that was, there were more important things at the moment. "Is Erza in town? I finally figured out how to restore her eye."
Mira's eyes softened as she wrapped her arms around me. "You did, huh? And she isn't here at the moment, but she should return by the end of today."
I nodded my head as I hugged her back. I was slightly disappointed that Erza wasn't here at the moment, but she'd be back later, so that was fine.
We stayed like that for a moment until we were interrupted by a cough. Virgo stared at Mira expectantly and turned around once we looked at her. She wiggled her butt and said, "I'm finished, Mistress."
Mira took my hand and walked over to Virgo before she lifted her dress, displaying her round butt that she hid underneath it. She gently rubbed it at first, causing the maid to pout at her.
"Right here," Mira said, lightly patting her butt. "Slap her right here."
Virgo gulped as her eyes moved over to me with an expectant look. She bit her lips and continued staring.
"Come on," Mira urged me and patted Virgo's butt.
"Well, alright then," I said and my hand shot out, slapping Virgo on her perky ass, making it jiggle enticingly.
"Ohh." Virgo moaned, taking a deep breath before she composed herself. She turned around and bowed to both of us. "Thank you, Mistress and Master."
I just blinked my eyes as I watched Virgo walk away. Mira giggled and took my hand, leading me towards the kitchen. "That was fun, wasn't it?"
"It was something, alright," I replied with a chuckle and shook my head as I squeezed her hand. "Want to have some breakfast with some of those special fruits?"
"I wouldn't say no to something made by you," Mira replied back with a lovely smile, I was ready to blow her mind with my food.
Physique Perk: Devil Body: Health gained from physique is increased by 50%
I saved a few slices for Levy and Cana, leaving it for them in the dining room with my Clone. They both loved it, so I couldn't not save a slice or two for them. Plus, it obviously made us all stronger, and I felt better knowing that they would be safer thanks to my food.
"Can you keep this one for Loke?" I asked Mira after we had our share.
"For Loke?" Mira asked in surprise, but she still stored it in the fridge.
"Mhm." I nodded. "I promised to save him a piece every now and then."
"That's fine with me," Mira replied with a little shrug before walking over. She placed a hand on my chest and began lightly pushing me. I followed along with a chuckle until she forced me to sit down on a chair before climbing on my lap.
Mira grinned and wrapped her arms around me before snuggling against me, placing her head on my chest. "Let's stay like this for a bit."
"As you wish, my lady," I whispered in her ear and felt her body shiver. She licked her lips with a look that promised something great in my future, but she didn't say a word of what it was.
I brought out my Clone and started cooking through it while I enjoyed the moment with Mira, lightly squeezing her soft body with my wandering hands. She chuckled and even snuggled closer, allowing me to have my fun.
Her soft thighs were incredible and I kneaded them for a moment before moving to her amazing butt. Mira wiggled with a grin, giving me an even easier access to her firm and perky cheeks. She raised her head and pulled me down, hungrily seeking out my lips.
The situation was starting to heat up, but we were interrupted by Virgo, who stared at us while panting. "The… other members have started arriving…"
"We will continue this at another time," Mira whispered while caressing my cheek. I smiled, gently brushing her own, and she smirked as she caught my hand before pulling to her mouth. Her tongue wrapped around my finger as she sucked on it, staring in my eyes the entire time, reminding me of that time in the clothing store.
"Later~" Mira smirked as she pulled it out and got up, fixing up her dress a bit before returning to her work.
I pouted, but I still ended up helping her out before meeting with Cana in the main hall. She thanked me for the breakfast, and we idly talked for a bit before we went over to the Job board to see if there was anything interesting. There were quite a few that grabbed my attention, but the one that stood out the most to me was a request from Loya, the place I grew up in.
"Huh…" I muttered as I looked at the Job. Apparently, monsters have ended up gathering in the forest near the village, and they were offering five hundred Jewels for someone to hunt them down.
"What's this?" Cana asked as she looked over, checking the Job I held in my hand.
"Five hundred to hunt a bunch of Vulcans?" Cana raised her eyebrows. "That's cheaper than usual."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised. The village doesn't really have that much money," I replied, wondering if I should even bother with this. On the one hand, there wasn't any reason for me to go back. On the other hand, I could do the job just to show those fools how much I had grown ever since I left that stupid place.
"You know them?" Cana asked in interest.
"I grew up there," I replied, frowning a little.
"Let's go then," Cana said, snatching the Job. "I want to see where you grew up."
"There's… nothing really to see there…" I replied, though I followed along as she marched out of the Guild. There really wasn't anything left there for me, but I could return just to show them how strong I had become.
"So, what can you tell about that village?" Cana asked as we hopped on the wolf before it took to the skies.
"It's just a regular village." I shrugged. "There's nothing special about it."
"Really?" She raised her eyebrows before leaning against me. "Well, you grew up there so at least one good thing came out of it."
"I guess so." I scratched my head before snorting.
"Cheer up," Cana said as she licked her lips. "Or would you like for me to cheer you up?"
"I can't say no to that." I grinned while ordering the wolf to slow down, allowing us to have a bit of fun on the way with Cana displaying the new tricks she had learned from Levy.
Soon enough, we arrived at Loya, and Cana popped a candy in her mouth as she looked around the village. I spotted a few people I recognized, including the three hunters who were staring at us with wide eyes.
"Leon?" Rorak asked, rubbing his eyes in disbelief as I waved my hand, making the wolf disappear.
"Yeah…" I replied, watching as the three stepped closer.
"Are you here for the Job?" He asked, sounding slightly worried.
"We are." Cana nodded at him.
"What's going on here?" The village elders arrived at the scene after hearing the commotion, and their eyes soon landed on me.
"You!" Goran snarled. "It's all your fault! If you hadn't killed all the Grass Wolves, we would've still been safe!"
"My fault?!" I asked, burning with righteous anger inside me. They wanted the monsters dead after I killed the first Grass Wolf! They even wanted to hire a Mage to do it, and now they blame me.
"Goran–" Rorak tried to intervene.
"Yes, it's all your fault. You have been nothing but a plague–" Cana stepped up, and Goran's eyes comically widened as she cocked her fist back before punching him right in the face. The old man tumbled on the ground and stayed there unmoving, though I noticed he was still breathing.
"You!" One of the older women pointed at her. "You attacked him!"
"Yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?" Cana shot back, angrily staring at her, and my heart sped up seeing that.
"We… will report you to the Council!" The old woman shrieked back.
"Go ahead," Cana replied without hesitation. "Do it. I dare you. See how much I care about that."
They all froze on the spot, realizing how futile their threats were. I took a deep breath and sighed before walking over to Cana to place a hand on her shoulder. "They aren't worth it."
"Tsk." She clicked her tongue and shot them one last angry look. "Idiots."
The villagers quickly began walking away, fear clear in their eyes as she worriedly looked back at us as if we were about to go after them. Only the three hunters remained, though they were visibly scared as well.
"Is my shack still around?" I asked as I grabbed her hand.
"It is, but–"
"Come, let me show you where I used to live," I said to Cana and began dragging her away. I didn't care about that old building anymore, especially after I bought my own house, but I wanted to destroy it myself before it fell apart on its own. Once it was gone, there would be nothing of mine left in this stupid village.
We reached the shack–which looked as if it had been repaired recently–a moment later since Loya wasn't that big, and I narrowed my eyes as I felt a presence with tremendous Magic Power inside. Before I could even do anything, a pulse of Magic Power erupted from the building, and I tensed up. However, the energy wasn't aimed at us, but rather the shack, and it fell apart on top of the person inside it.
"Damn it! Not again!" A voice yelled from beneath the rubble.
We shared a look with Cana before we quickly went over to help the person. Both of us froze once we threw away the wood as we found a disheveled man, who was missing an arm and a leg.
"Fa… Gildarts?" Cana asked, her eyes wide in surprise,
"Gildarts?" I tilted my head, remembering that Levy informed me that was the name of Fairy Tail's Ace.
"Ahhh." The man grumbled as we helped him out and then looked at us oddly after we mentioned his name.
"You know me?" He asked with narrowed eyes and focused on Cana. "Oh! I remember you! You're part of the Guild."
"What… happened to you?" Cana asked with a trembling voice.
"Ah, well." He rubbed his hand with his one remaining hand and sheepishly chuckled. "I had a bit of an accident. Happens all the time."
"Leo." Cana turned to me with an intense gaze and gripped my hands. "You can heal him right?"
I nodded and looked at Gildarts. "You are unbelievably lucky, old man."
"I am?" He asked, and his eyes opened wide as I began using Heal on him. He laughed loudly and nodded his head. "I guess, I am!"
"Are you a new member of the Guild?" He asked as he watched his hand slowly regrow itself in front of our eyes.
"I am." I nodded, focused on using the Spell and ensuring that I healed him properly.
Gildarts leaned closer, wiggling his eyebrows at me, and despite his situation, he asked with a teasing voice, "So, you and Cana, eh, eh?"
"Be quiet!" Cana ordered, pursing her lips as she stared at him. Gildarts mimed zipping his mouth shut, but the grin still remained on his face.
"Hey, Leo." Cana said, taking my hand and pulling me to the side after I finished healing him. Meanwhile, Gildarts was stretching his limbs, moving them in various ways to ensure that they had properly healed.
"Yes?" I asked, wondering what was going on.
"Can you… can you give me a moment with him?" She asked, looked extremely worried and hopeful at the same time.
"Is everything alright?" I asked, taking her hand in mine and gently squeezing it.
"Yeah, it's just…" Cana looked past me, staring at Gildarts for a moment. "I love what we have going on. I don't even mind the other girls because we are like one big family. And… I've realized how important that is to me."
I leaned down to kiss her, using my actions to show her I cared about her just as much as I did for the other girls. I was incredibly lucky to have the chance to be with all of them, and I'd do everything in my power to make them all as happy as possible.
"And… well, there's no easy way to say it." Cana paused and took a deep breath before whispering. "Gildarts is my father."
I froze on the spot, remembering his earlier words, how he referred to her as someone from the Guild rather than his daughter. Anger burned inside me as I was about to turn around to teach him a lesson.
Cana held my hand, stopping me from walking over to him and whispered. "He doesn't know. I plan… on telling him now."
"Oh," I muttered, though I was still angry at him. How could he possibly not know that he had a daughter?
"I… can go and quickly take care of the Vulcans while you speak with him?" I offered before adding. "Or I could stay with you for support?"
"I think I want to speak with him alone," she said after thinking about it.
I nodded and gave her a kiss as I left a wolf with her, to ensure no one interrupted them. Then I formed wings on my back and flew into the forest, searching for the Vulcans that were supposed to be there.
Observation Perk Magical Radar: Can accurately detect magical signatures from a far distance. +100 to Observation rolls when searching for Mages,Magical Items, or Magical Beings.
Interestingly enough, I couldn't sense any monsters in the forest at all. However, I did spot six others, five humans and a snake with an unusual presence lurking around. At first, I thought they were here for the Job, but one of them, a man with purple hair, stared right back at me with a frown.
"The jig is up, he knows we are here," he told the others as they all followed his gaze, seeing me floating just above them.
"He never mentioned that the guy was a hottie…" the white-haired woman quietly whispered.
"You're here for me?" I asked as I dropped in front of them, wondering why they were after me.
"Oh, you know how it is." The purple-haired man grinned. "Someone places a hit on you and we get paid a nice amount of money to kill you and everyone you care about… like that village you grew up in."
I didn't care about the villagers at all, but Cana was there and she had just reunited with her father. My eyes narrowed as I stared at them while I burned with anger from inside.
"Oh?" The purple-haired man titled his head. "Cana, the Card Mage, is in the village?"
"Leave her to me." A man with a blonde mohawk and glasses licked his lips. "She has a nice body, and I will enjoy my time with her."
"Will you now?" I asked with a calm voice as black markings began appearing on my body.
"You bet, I will." He grinned, and I felt a wave of energy harmlessly wash over me, his Spell failing to do anything to me.
"Shit…" The purple-haired man cursed. "That didn't do anything to him."
The rest of the group tensed up, and I pulled more and more from my Storm Devil Magic. They dared threaten Cana in front of me? Did they think I'd let them go after that? I snorted in response. Those two were as good as dead in my eyes.
'This is such a shame,' Angel thought as she watched the hot guy somehow become even hotter, the black markings giving him a juicy bad boy look that was right up her alley.
"I can't hear his thoughts anymore!" Cobra yelled in panic as Leon took slow steps towards them, his appearance changing just a little bit into a more feminine one.
"I don't know who sent you after me," Leon said as a wide grin formed on his face, making her all hot and bothered. "But they must've really wanted you dead, huh?
Angel felt something wash over her, forcing her to stay and fight until her last breath. She took out her Keys in a hurry, while the rest of her team prepared for a tough fight, realizing that the guy was stronger and trickier than they believed.
Hoteye burst into action, placing his hands on the ground, liquefying the area around him, but he just walked through it as if it had no effect on him. Midnight and Cobra fired their Spells at him, though they couldn't even go through the shields that appeared in front of him.
"Futile." Leon shook his head before opening his mouth, and they tensed up, but they weren't prepared for the loud screech that came out of him.
"AGHHH!" Angel screamed in pain, fumbling her keys as she grabbed her ears, blood gushing out of them like a river. She fell to her knees, but she managed to get up shortly after, only to see Leon standing in front of Cobra, who was in much more pain than the rest due to his sensitive hearing. The Poison Dragon Slayer was just standing on his knees, arms listless hanging beside him while his eyes were rolled back.
Two swords appeared in Leon's hands, and before she even realized what was happening, Cobra's head flew out, cleanly separated from the rest of his body. His corpses disappeared a moment later as Leon turned towards the rest of them, mouthing what looked like, "One down."
Cobra's pet flew towards him, but he just pointed his hand at it, firing a massive lighting bolt that left the animal twitching in pain. They all scrambled, trying to regain themselves, and Angel reached towards her Keys on the ground. Racer shot forward while summoning his vehicles, sending them all towards Leon.
"Pathetic." He mouthed as he turned his body into lightning and appeared beside Racer, his weapons cleanly separating their team member in two halves, and his body disappeared before the two halves even fell on the ground.
"Two down." Leon mouthed again, just as the rest of the team recovered.
Angel breathed hard, thinking they had a chance as long as she got Gemini close enough to touch him and turn around the fight. However, they all paused as Leon looked in the air before smirking at them.
They all gulped as they looked up, finding ten two-headed wolves floating in the air with a massive amount of Magic Power gathered right in front of their mouths. Distracted as they were from the sight, they didn't realize that massive roots had appeared all around them before tightly wrapping around them, keeping them in place with massive thorns digging in their flesh and carving out chunks of meat as they fruitlessly tried escaping.
"Good luck." Leon mouthed as he smiled at them right before the beams of death rained down upon them.
Angel screamed in pain, just like her two other teammates, and she cursed Jellal for sending them to this monster right before her consciousness faded.
I stored my swords in my Inventory and mechanically picked up the rewards that formed from the light while thinking over what I had just done. Two people died by my hands and… I didn't feel anything. No, that wasn't right.
It's just that I didn't feel bad or disgusted about it. Instead I felt relieved, knowing that they were gone and wouldn't go after Cana. She was strong, I knew as much after everything I had seen from her, but I wasn't sure she could've handled them on her own. Granted, Gildarts was with her, but I had no idea what he could do, only that he was supposed to be Fairy Tail's most powerful member.
My attention snapped to the side, sensing the vibrations of the ground as the trees in the forest were dropping one by one. Gildarts and Cana appeared, stopping as they saw the unconscious Dark Mages.
"What happened here?" Cana asked as she walked over with Gildarts. "We rushed over as soon as your wolf disappeared, and we heard the explosion."
"They were apparently sent after me," I said, pointing at the downed figures.
She peered at them, narrowing her eyes before she said, "The Oracion Seis? There should be at least two more members."
"They… didn't make it," I replied, refusing to hide that fact. Cana quickly hugged me in response, and Gildarts placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Things like that happen." Gildarts squeezed my shoulder lightly. "Don't worry about it."
I stayed quiet since that didn't really worry me. Doma, a member of the Magic Council, had even said that Dark Mages were better off dead, even encouraging me to end their lives if I had the chance. And so I did, and I didn't feel bad about it, especially after they threatened to hurt Cana.
"I want to question them before handing them over to the Magic Council," I said, right before Cana captured them with her cards.
"Alright." Cana nodded, and I walked over to the guy with purple lipstick and mascara first. I used a weak Heal on him, enough to wake him up but not enough to fully heal his injuries. He shot up, his eyes panicked as he saw me and began shuffling back, only to end up hitting against Gildarts, who had positioned himself behind him.
"Who sent you after me?" I asked, staring at him with a deadly serious expression.
"Wha–"
"Who sent you after me?" I repeated again with a bit of an edge to my tone.
"Jellal!" He replied quickly after that. "It was Jellal! He ordered the hit on you!"
"And who is this Jellal and why does he want me dead?" I continued questioning him since I had never met anyone with that name.
"He's the one responsible for the Tower of Heaven," the guy replied, eyes darting left and right, searching for a way to escape.
"That doesn't mean anything to me. How does he look?" I continued asking.
"Blue hair with a red tattoo over his right eye," he described the man, and I narrowed my eyes as that was a perfect description of Siegrain, that one guy from the Magic Council that attacked me.
"Huh." I cupped my chin, and the guy tried escaping but… Gildarts was having none of that. A massive amount of Magic Power was channeled in his hand and he slammed it into the guy, creating a crater beneath him from the force of his punch. The Dark Mage spewed out blood and his eyes rolled back, but he was still left breathing.
Gildarts shot me a thumbs up with a wide smile as I moved onto the other two people. I got the same answer from them as well, all stating that Jellal, blue hair with a red tattoo over his right eye, was the one that paid them to kill me. Cana then proceeded to capture them with her cards while I was left thinking how the situation became a lot more complicated with Siegrain's–or Jellal as they knew him–involvement.
"One second, dear," Gildarts said to Cana with a large smile before wrapping his arm around my shoulder, pulling me away from her. She raised her eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything in response, just watching as we walked a short distance away from her.
"Hehehe, so you are together with my daughter, eh?" Gildarts asked with a friendly smile before he leaned in, his expression turning deadly as he stared me in the eyes. "I will crush you if ever, and I mean ever, make her cry. Got that?"
"You don't have to worry about that," I replied with a snort. "She means too much to me."
"Good!" He clapped his hands, a smile growing back on his face. "Then I believe we will get along nicely!"
We started walking back, and I couldn't help but quietly say right before we returned. "Except when in bed."
"What?!" Gildarts stumbled in his steps, falling down and creating a massive earthquake that broke apart the earth around us as he stopped himself from faceplanting on the ground.
"What did you say?" Gildarts asked as he quickly got back up.
"What do we do with them?" I asked instead, ignoring him for the moment. "If their story is to be believed, then the one that sent them after me is a member of the Magic Council."
Cana bit her lips in thought, but Gildarts–having recovered his composure–only snorted in response and rolled his eyes. "How surprising."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked with a tilt of my head.
"It means I'm not surprised," he replied before narrowing his eyes. "Now back to the previous topic."
"Then what should we do with them?" I asked, skipping his questions.
"Hey, don't ignore me!"
"We should probably talk with the Master before deciding on that," Cana said, completely ignoring him with a smirk.
"That's a good idea, but before that," I said, turning to the snake that was with the group of Dark Mages, noticing that there was something very off with its presence.
"Yeah, before that," Gildarts tried pushing himself in my face as I dodged around him, eyes focused on the snake. "Let's return to what you just said."
"Go away, old man," I said while darting around him, doing my best to analyze what was the thing that made the animal feel odd to me. "There's something weird with the snake."
"There's gonna be something weird with your face if you don't answer–"
I finally realized what it was, figuring out it was some sort of Spell, or more like a Curse, that forced the target to take the shape of a snake. Kind of like a forced Take Over without the target being able to turn back. That was extremely easy for me to solve, and I dissolved the Curse with a wave of my hand.
All of us froze on the spot as we stared at the naked girl, and I should've realized something like this could've happened after I dispelled the Magic keeping her in the form of a snake.
"Nice…" Gildarts muttered, and Cana shot him a disgusted look.
I quickly took out a blanket from my Inventory and threw it over the girl while Cana went over to tightly wrap it around her. She raised her head, looking at us oddly before she realized her situation and quickly hid behind Cana.
"What's going on? Who are you people? Where am I?" She asked, voice clearly distressed.
The situation was becoming more and more complicated by the moment. Cana looked at her for a moment, staring the girl in the eyes before nodding to herself. She then shooed us away, forcing us to give her a moment with the girl.
"So about what you said earlier," Gildarts said, cracking his knuckles.
"I said what I said, and I will stand by it," I replied without hesitation, and he faltered, staring at me with a dumbfounded look.
"Huh?" Gildarts didn't seem like he expected my response and had no idea how to reply back.
"What are you gonna do about it?" I asked, though I might've pushed a bit too hard with that one.
"I'm gonna smash your face in! That's what I'm gonna do!" He slammed his fist into his palm, Magic Power crackling around him waves.
"Stop it, you two!" Cana called out, staring daggers at us,
"Sorry," both of us replied at the same time before angrily looking at the other.
"Hmph." We snorted and looked away while crossing our arms.
We stayed like that for a moment, just waiting for Cana to finish talking with the girl. Meanwhile, I looked at my Inventory, noticing that I had two more Dragon Lacrimas, a Poison and Law ones. The second one I got as a reward from Boss Battle, but the first came… from the body of the purple-haired guy.
I shook my head and looked at the rest of the stuff I gathered after the fight. There were a dozen motorcycles, though a few of them were broken, three Golden Celestial Keys and one Silver one, and the last thing was something called the Quake Quake Fruit, which would grant natural Tremor Magic to whoever ate it. That was interesting, but I wasn't sure I wanted it for myself as I believed I could achieve similar results with my Earth Dragon Magic as long as I trained with it more.
I tensed as I felt Gildarts place a hand on my shoulder and looked at him. He offered me a smile and said, "You're alright in my books."
"You too, old man," I replied, watching as he grabbed his hair.
"I'm not that old, am I?" He worriedly asked. "My hair isn't even gray yet."
"Keep telling yourself that," I replied back.
"Hey–"
"Alright, let's get back home," Cana said, interrupting him as she walked over with the girl hiding behind her. "Though we should give Kinana some better clothes first."
'Is she alright?' I asked over Telepathy while searching my Inventory for something I could give away.
'Yes, she doesn't remember anything from the past few years. Doesn't even know she used to be a snake,' Cana explained, and I trusted her words. Shortly after, I found something that could probably fit the girl and took it out. Kinana got dressed with Cana's help, who stood protectively in front of her, ensuring that Gildarts didn't get to peek on her more.
I summoned my wolves after that, and all of us hopped on top of them, with Cana sliding in front of me. Gildarts shot me a look, but he didn't dare say anything as we flew off.
Take Over Rank 50 Passive Bonus: +100 to all will fights. Plus most Souls get the chance to evolve.
Nature God Rank 90 Passive Bonus: Major Control over animals and monsters related to nature.
I turned to look at Gildarts while we were flying back. From what I could feel, he had the most Magic Power out of everyone I had ever met. Granted, some could've kept theirs hidden, but that didn't change the fact that he was definitely the strongest person I knew. Not to mention how he caused a small localized earthquake by just stopping himself from falling face first on the ground. Right, he was definitely monstrously powerful.
And yet despite that, Gildarts had somehow ended with two missing limbs and serious internal injuries. What kind of monster did he fight against? A monstrously strong Beast? A Demon? Or something even more dangerous?
"What?" He asked, still glaring at me due to how Cana was smugly snuggling against me, which I was sure she was doing on purpose.
"How did you end up in that state?" I asked, and Cana turned to him in interest as well.
"Ah, well." He scratched his head with a sheepish smile. "I was on a century-old Job, and I got a little lost on the way there. Whoops."
That… didn't answer my question, though. If anything, I had even more questions now as I had no idea what a century-old Job was. I mean, I understood what it was from its name alone, but how could a Job last for that long without being completed? Who would even pay for it once someone dealt with it? Most people didn't get to live that long, after all.
"But what kind of monster did you fight?" I asked him.
"A big one with black scales. I recommend running away if you ever encounter it," Gildarts answered with a more serious expression, though he still avoided the question. His answer didn't even help me narrow it down since there were so many different monsters that had scales.
"Wait! You lost?" Cana exclaimed with wide eyes, clearly shook by his answer.
"Ah, I guess I did," Gildarts replied, staring at the distance. "My first loss in decades, huh? Heh, just means I have to get better at crushing before trying again."
Seeing that he didn't plan on revealing what he fought, I figured I could ask him something else instead. "What kind of Magic do you use?"
From what little I had seen, I knew it was something heavily focused on destruction. In fact, it might be similar to the Tremor Magic that the Quake Quake Fruit gave to whoever ate it.
"Crush Magic!" Gildarts declared proudly.
"Crush?" At least that explained his fixation with crushing things, though… "What exactly does it do?"
"It smashes everything apart." He grinned. "Everything."
"Huh." I nodded and stared at my Inventory,looking at the fruit I got earlier. "I might've gotten something similar."
"Wait, what?!" Both Cana and Gildarts asked at the same time, watching me with wide eyes.
"Yeah." I nodded and took out the weird looking fruit with blue swirls. "I got this fruit that's supposed to give natural Tremor Magic to whoever ate it. Well, it's not exactly the same, but I'm assuming this one is based on vibrations and possibly earthquakes, which should produce similar effects to what I've seen from you."
"Huh…" Gildarts mutely nodded while Cana was staring at the fruit with hunger in her eyes.
"Do you want it?" I asked, offering it to her. I really didn't care about it, especially since I could probably just learn it from her if I was actually interested in Tremor Magic.
"I…" Cana nervously licked her lips.
"You can take it now, or I can prepare a dish with it later," I continued after seeing her hesitation.
"Leo…" Cana pursed her lips before pulling me in for a kiss.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Gildarts snapped his fingers while calling out to us. "No funny business!"
"Be quiet, old man, we are having a moment here." Cana shooed him away, and he began sulking as he looked at Kinana, who was just enjoying the ride, staring at everything beneath us with fascinated eyes.
"I'm not old, am I?" Gildarts asked the purple-haired girl.
"Um… no?" She uncertainty replied, fidgeting a little under his gaze.
"Leave the poor girl alone," Cana chastised him, and he looked down, silently sniffling.
"Can you prepare it for me later?" She asked after that, and I nodded.
"Thank you." Cana snuggled against me, and Gildarts shot us a look, but he didn't dare say anything. I just smugly grinned at him. He narrowed his eyes with a grumble, though he kept his mouth shut.
Soon enough, we reached Magnolia and descended in front of the Guild. A lot of the people that saw us greeted us with a friendly wave before their eyes widened as they noticed Gildarts. We entered the Guild, and the members there reacted in the same manner, first greeting us before noticing the extra person with us.
"Gildarts!" They all exclaimed in shock, surprised to see him here as he waved at them with grin.
"Fight me!" Natsu wasted no time at all, immediately jumping Gildarts the second he saw him.
"Pipe it down, you brat." However, Gildarts just punched him once before sending him crashing through the building.
"What's going on here?" Makarov popped his head out of his office before his gaze zeroed onto us. His eyes narrowed as he beckoned us up the stairs, and we soon found ourselves in his office.
"I thought you were doing that century-old Job?" The Master asked as he stared at him, noticing his ruined clothing.
"Ahaha." Gildarts sheepishly laughed. "You know how it is."
"No, I don't," Makarov replied, still staring at him with narrowed eyes.
"Well, I got into a little accident, but this young one here fixed me right up," he explained, placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing hard. The smile on his face disappeared as he turned towards me in surprise, squeezing just a little bit harder. I just smiled back in response, feeling barely anything from his grip.
"We'll talk later," Makarov said and asked us what else happened. We told him about how we found Gildarts in a very rough shape before I ended up being attacked by a Dark Guild due to someone placing a hit on me.
"The Tower of Heaven…" Makarov trailed off after we told him about what the Dark Mages had told us.
"Do you know of it, Master?" I asked, focused on his response.
"I've heard of it before," he replied, nervously biting his lips.
"Do you know where it is?" I continued questioning him, eager to go and find the place to deal with this Jellal as quickly as possible. Otherwise, my only other option was to go straight to the Magic Council and confront him there. The issue with that was that I didn't have any evidence of him placing the hit on me, other than the words of the Dark Mages.
"No… unfortunately, I do not," Makarov replied with a tired sigh.
"Perhaps I can help?" Cana offered, taking out her deck of cards, and I immediately took out a map of the continent before offering it to her. She shuffled her cards and focused on the map.
"It's… somewhere in Caelum or near it," Cana said with a frown, not satisfied with her results.
"Then it should be somewhere around here," Makarov mused, using his fingers to trail around the part of that nation that bordered Fiore, which also included a few islands that were part of Caelum.
"You're sure of this?" I asked, staring at the map and burning it into my memory.
"Yes." Makarov nodded without hesitation.
That's all I needed to hear. Now I just had to decide whether I should go after the place at that very moment, or if I should wait for a day or two first. I felt like I was strong enough to deal with it on my own, and I knew I could find it with the assistance of my wolves. Though it was better to be safe than sorry as Makarov once told me.
"Before you make a decision, you should probably inform Erza about this," Makarov said as if he knew what I was thinking. Perhaps he did as I learned earlier that there were people that could read or hear the thoughts of others.
"I can wait for a day or two, but no more than that," I said, nodding to myself. I truly felt like I was strong enough as I was, especially after I already beat him once before, but there were a few things I could do to better prepare myself.
"Good." Makarov nodded before he shooed Cana and I out of his office as he wished to speak with Kinana and then later Gildarts without us there.
"I'll see you later," Cana said, giving me a kiss before she left the Guild, making her way to our home.
While I stepped towards Erza, who grew more and more nervous with each step I took, and her face turned visibly red when I finally reached her. I leaned down, placing a quick and gentle kiss on her lips. "Hey there."
"Mhm." Erza replied with a weird noise, having trouble forming words. I grabbed her hand, pulling her up as she tilted her head in question.
"There's something I want to talk with you about," I said quietly while leading her out of the Guild, and she followed along, her hand tightly holding onto mine. Once outside, I quickly picked her up like a princess, and Erza gasped before I flew in the air.
When we reached a high enough distance, I summoned a Data-Shield and had us land on top of it. I took out a nice and comfortable luxurious chair and placed it down before pulling her in my lap. Erza was a bit nervous at first, but she calmed down and leaned against me soon after.
"What did you want to talk about?" She asked, eyes staring into my own.
"For one, I can now heal your eye," I said, her breath hitching the moment those words came out of my mouth. Her hands tightly grabbed onto my arm as she gulped.
"So whenever you are ready, just let me know," I gently said, giving her a large smile.
"I… I will need some time to prepare myself," Erza replied, taking deep breaths.
After she calmed down a bit, I moved onto the other topic. "The other thing is, well, the Master wanted me to inform you that I plan on going after the Tower of Heaven."
Erza's entire body froze for a moment, her eyes opened wide, and she started shaking.
"What? Why?" She worriedly asked before she shook her head. "No! You can't!"
"Why?" I asked, confused about her response. "What's the problem?"
"You just can't." Erza just shook her head, fear visible in her expression, making me worried.
"Erza," I said gently as I pulled her closer and started stroking her hair. "I was attacked by a Dark Guild earlier, one sent by a guy named Jellal specifically to take me out."
"No!" Erza was visibly shaken by my words and her lips trembled as she continued with a whisper. "He said he'll leave my friends alone."
"You know him?" My eyes narrowed in anger, not at her, but at this Jellal, the one responsible for her current state. I already planned my vengeance, but now…
"He…" She paused, lips pursed as she looked away.
"It's okay," I said, continuing to gently stroke her hair to calm her down. "He cannot and will not hurt you. I can promise you that."
Erza stayed like that for a long moment, just cuddling against me, refusing to move from her spot. "I… I used to be a slave in that place."
I kept my anger within me, doing my best to stay put and not immediately rush to the Tower to destroy it at this very moment. Instead, I just hugged her closer and whispered. "It's okay."
"That's… the place I lost my eye, but managed to escape a long time ago… my friends… they weren't as lucky." Each word that came out of her mouth visibly hurt her, and I promised to myself that Jellal would pay for this, that I would carve those words in his body, repaying him for all the pain he had caused her.
"He… Jellal was one of my friends, but…" Erza paused, staring at the distance as her eye began tearing up. "He changed one day. He used to be nice and kind, one of my best friends. Then… then he turned into an entirely different person out of nowhere."
I pursed my lips, wondering if he had tricked her or if there was something else at play here. I couldn't decide at the moment, so I moved on, asking something else. "What about the rest of your friends?"
"They are still there," Erza replied, tears dripping down her cheek as she turned to look at me. "That's why we can't go there! He will kill them all!"
That was a problem, and I understood why she was so hesitant and afraid as Jellal was using her friends as a shield, preventing her from rescuing them. Yes, this was a problem, but I wasn't someone that would give up this easily.
"Do you think we can rescue them all before he realizes what's going on?" I asked.
"What?" Erza stared at me in confusion.
"Do you think we can safely get them out before he notices?" I asked again. "Though one of us might have to delay and fight him while the other brings out your friends out of that place. We can maybe even bring Cana, so she can safely grab them with her cards."
Erza stared at me, hope beginning to shine in her expression. I took her hands in mine, showing her a bright smile. "We will rescue them, and we will do it together. I can promise you that."
"We will?" She asked with a shaky voice.
"We will." I nodded confidently. "And I can guarantee you that they will all be safe and healthy. I learned Healing Magic just so I can heal you, but that doesn't stop me from using it to ensure that all of your friends will be safe when we get them out."
Erza tensed up as she tightly grabbed onto me. Her expression returned to something I was more used to as determination filled her eyes. "We will!"
"Yes, we will." I nodded with her. "We will save them together."
"Thank you," she whispered as she leaned her head against my chest. "Can you… can you heal my eye after we save them?"
"Of course," I gently said, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I will heal you whenever you want me to."
"Thank you." Erza took a deep breath as her arms tightened around me. "Can we stay like this for a bit?"
"For as long as you wish," I told her without hesitation.
We stayed on the Data-Shield above Magnolia for a long while, just hugging each other while I stroked her hair. Erza seemed to have calmed down and was now filled with determination, resolved to rescue her friends no matter what.
She looked at me, wrapping her arms around my neck before she roughly pulled me towards her, taking my lips with force. I kissed her back gently, and she practically melted against me. Erza pulled back, taking a deep breath before she thanked me again.
I dropped us down, and she kissed me one more time before she left, stating that she needed to prepare herself for this, both physically and mentally. I watched her walk away with a determined stride before I returned back to my house. There were a few more things I needed to do today, and one of them was cooking a meal with that weird fruit for Cana.
This was a bit trickier than I expected since I had the feeling that the fruit… didn't taste good thanks to my Nature God Magic. Thankfully, I knew quite a few tricks to make it taste better, one of them involving me injecting my Mana into it. I also sprinkled it with some spices and added a few extra ingredients from my garden before I served it to her.
"Thanks, pretty boy," Cana said with a wink as she dug in, letting out a moan after the first bite. "Damn! This is really good."
I puffed my chest, proud of my cooking ability. I might have started as an amateur, but I was one of the best, if not the best cook in the world now. Cana finished the fruit salad soon after, and we stared at her in anticipation with Levy, both of us interested to see how this would work out.
"Oh?" Cana muttered as she raised her hand, staring at in fascination. Then the air around it cracked as if it was made of glass, causing the entire dining room to shake from the force of her clenching her fist. "Oh! I like this!"
"Wait!" I called out as she prepared to punch the air. "Not in the house!"
I paid good money for this building, and all the furniture here was really expensive. There was plenty more of it in my Inventory, but I didn't want to waste it all.
"Sorry." She sheepishly rubbed her head. "I got a bit excited."
"That's fine, that's fine," I replied before noticing Levy was staring at her with a slightly jealous expression.
"Hey," I said as I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I have something for you as well."
"Oh, I don't need anything," Levy replied with a shake of her head before pausing. "Unless it's another book?"
"Maybe it's something even better," I told her as I took out the Lacrima I got.
"A Lacrima?" She questioned, cutely tilting her head to the side.
"A Dragon Lacrima," I corrected. "One that, if I'm not wrong, is somewhat based on Archive."
I wasn't completely sure about that, but that's the feeling I got from it. "According to my ability, it's called Law Dragon Magic."
"I…" Levy paused, considering it for a moment. "Wouldn't it be better for you then?"
"I already have Archive, and I'm happy with it." I shook my head. Worst case scenario, I could always work on improving my Magic if I really wanted to as I already proved I could learn and form Slayer types of Magic on my own.
"I'd much rather you take it," I continued with a smile. This would make her safer, and I truly believed that it was a great fit for her. "Plus, if it really works as I believe it will, then this would give you all of the abilities of Archive and then some."
"Are you sure?" Levy asked, looking away from the Lacrima to stare in my eyes.
"Absolutely." I nodded without hesitation. "Plus, I have another one for myself, so I really don't need this one. You can have it."
"Well…" She paused, reconsidering my offer. "I wouldn't mind then…"
"Would you like to implant it now?" I asked with a grin. "I can guarantee that even a scar won't remain after I'm done."
"Leo…"
"Yes?"
"Love you." Levy hopped over to pull me in for a kiss before lovingly looking at me in the eyes. "Let's go do it then!"
The operation was a complete success, and just like I promised, there wasn't even a single scar on her body after I was done. That was thanks to me using Heal to ensure it perfectly healed up and not my medicine Skill, but that didn't change the results.
"How are you feeling?" I asked as I helped her up.
"A bit woozy," Levy replied as she settled on her feet. "But also full of energy. I'm still getting used to it, though… I can feel how my thoughts are that much faster now."
"That's good, that's good." I nodded my head, letting out a sigh of relief knowing that everything was fine, and an idea came up to me at that moment, leading to me creating one of my Data-Shields."Hey, can you try eating this?"
"I guess," Levy looked a bit uncertain, but she knew how Slayer types of Magic worked. She leaned in and took a bite from the Data-Shield, easily crunching my shield as if it was made out of paper. Her eyes opened wide as a loud moan escaped her mouth.
"This is so tasty!" Levy exclaimed as she gulped before she proceeded to eat my Spell in seconds.
'This is so good!' Her voice rang in our minds, and we shared a look with Cana. It seemed she got at least one of the Spells I knew, though it didn't look Iike she had the same restriction as my own. Then again, I felt like I could improve my Telepathy to remove its restriction with a little bit of effort.
'Are you enjoying yourself?' I asked, and she paused, realizing I spoke in her mind through the mental connection that she formed.
"Oh… I will have to get used to this," she thoughtfully said out loud.
"You'll get it in no time," I confidently said before taking out my last remaining Dragon Lacrima. This one appeared in my Inventory after… the death of the purple-haired guy, so it was very likely that he had it implanted inside his body.
I stared at it for a moment before making my decision. It disgusted me a little, but this would provide a nice boost in power to myself, and I thought it was worth it.
"Alright then," I said. "Just need to implant this in me, and we will be done for the day."
"Wait!" Both girls called out at the same time.
"You're not thinking of operating on yourself, are you?" Levy asked with narrowed eyes.
"Technically, I plan on doing it through my Clone…" I sheepishly replied.
"Leon!" They both frowned at me.
"It will be fine, I promise!" I quickly defended my decision. "Not only do I have a Healing Spell, but I also have Health Potions as well."
They still seemed unconvinced, but I managed to persuade them, telling them that nothing could go wrong. I mean, I already proved I had the ability to successfully implant a Lacrima into someone else, but I also had so many ways to save myself should something go wrong.
Poison Dragon Magic (0)
Rank 1 Passive Bonus: Immune to poison damage(can be bypassed by Magic of a higher quality). Can eat poison to restore Mana.
My own operation was just as successful, though a lot more painful than Levy's as I had to stay conscious during the entire time unlike her. I healed myself afterwards with my self-healing Spell, and even though it wasn't as effective as it would've been during the day, it still perfectly healed my body, without even a single scar remaining after the operation.
The girls then dragged me to the bed and pulled me between the two. I honestly wasn't feeling tired or sleepy–haven't felt like it in a long while at this point–but I remained put, just wrapping my arms around the two, allowing myself to have a moment of peace.
Though that didn't mean I wasn't doing anything else at the same time. The wolves, for example, I sent off the coast of Magnolia to train my breath attacks while I took direct control of my Clone, cleaning up the room we used for the operations first before sending it outside to my garden.
Once I took care of my plants, I considered what else to do. I could work on my Magic for a bit and try to improve some of my Spells. Or perhaps I could do something with my Take Over Souls, which had become stronger during the previous day. None of them had attempted to resist my control, and some of them even fully submitted without me really doing anything substantial to earn that.
Either way, I could perhaps feed the Griffin to one of my other Beasts as the monster didn't seem like it had grown any stronger even though it was the weakest among all of my Souls.
There were a few things I could do, but the first thing I wished to do was to quickly deal with the Griffin. It was a great monster and had served me well in the past couple of months, but it was heavily slacking behind the rest of my Souls at this point. It was better to feed it to one of my other Beasts, one that would greatly synergize with it like the Chimera, for example.
Physique: 350
Soul: 320
Abilities: Great Poison resistance. Flight. Set Observation to 3 if lower when used. Multitask 3. +200 armor to magical and physical attacks.
Poison Breath: Deals 3d200+400 damage. Poisoned enemies take 100 damage per round. Costs 300 Mana.
Fire Breath: Deals 1d1000+1000 damage. Costs 300 Mana.
Passive: Chimera: +2 Multitask, +60 to Observation
I should've expected as much, but the Griffin really wasn't that strong, and the Chimera didn't gain that much from eating its energy. On the bright side, at least it gained wings. That was good, right? Right? At least I didn't have to deal with the Griffin anymore, so there was that.
With that out of the way, I figured it was time to look into another form of Enhancement Magic, one that took my interest from the first time I saw Makarov use it. His Giant Magic was something to behold, and I wanted to see if I could replicate it on my own.
—Giant rank (0/50): Increases base Physique Stat(works with Take Over forms) by 30%. Grants +30 to combat rolls and +30 Armor against magical and physical attacks. Currently can only enlarge the body up to two times in size. Costs 30 Mana per round to sustain.
I believed I managed to get it down, though I did almost end up waking the girls with my experiments. Thankfully, I could control exactly how much I wished to increase in size, so I managed to stop myself from pushing them out.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I took direct control of my Clone again before walking it over to my kitchen to prepare a breakfast with the fruits I gathered from the trees in the garden.
Levy was the first to wake up, her eyes blearily blinking as she stared at me. She let out a cute snort before snuggling against my side.
"I like this, waking up next to you" she said, letting out a quiet yawn. "Should do this more often."
"We will," I promised as I pulled her closer as she nodded.
Soon after, Cana woke up, smacking her lips as she tossed and turned. I felt a small amount of Magic Power from her before the air cracked, followed by our bed breaking apart. Quickly, I summoned a Data-Shield right beneath us, reacting in time from falling on the ground.
"What?!" Cana jumped up, looking left and right. "Are we being attacked?"
"Yes." Levy deadpanned at her. "By you."
"Oh…" Cana muttered in a moment, realizing what had occurred. "Whoops?"
"It's fine," I said as we got up, storing the broken bed in my Inventory before pulling out a new one to replace it.
Cana blinked, staring at me for a moment before tilting her head. "How many beds do you even have?"
"Twenty-two more," Levy answered instead of me as she got up, seductively stretching her body.
"Enough," I added, and we left the bedroom, quickly passing through the bathroom before walking downstairs, where I had already served our breakfast through my Clone. We finished the food in no time, and I even saved some for Erza and Mira, keeping their share in my Inventory.
Today… today I planned on going after the Tower of Heaven to deal with that issue as quickly as possible. Erza's friends were still there as slaves, forced to work on whatever that place was. She obviously cared about them, and I was going to ensure that they would all get rescued from the place. I informed the girls of my plans and even asked if they wanted to assist us.
"I don't think I will be very useful for this," Levy said with a sigh. "If I had a better grasp on my new Magic… maybe I could've done something."
"That's okay," I replied in understanding. Levy was probably the most versatile among us, but she was, well, there was no easy way to put it, she was the weakest.
"Count me in," Cana stated without hesitation, the air cracking around her hand as she clenched into a fist. "I want to see if I can break this tower with my Magic."
"Let's save everyone first before we think about destroying it, alright?" I replied, trying to calm her down.
"Please." Levy rolled her eyes as she smirked at me. "You just want to grab it all for yourself.."
"...no." I tried denying her accusation, I really did.
"Oh, you definitely are," Cana said, pointing a finger at me. "I haven't forgotten about our talk in Srita… shit, we forgot to check if they had any fancy alcohol!"
I pouted as the two teamed up against me, especially because they were right. I mean, I wanted to save Erza's friends, but I also really wanted the Tower of Heaven as well. With a name like that, it was surely something special, right?
We made our way to the Guild after that, finding that there were more people than usual this early in the morning. Mira was a given as she was the one that fixed everything up, and Virgo was naturally with her.
I wasn't surprised to see Erza there as well, and she had a determined look on her face while speaking with Makarov and Gildarts, the two I wasn't expecting to see so early in the morning. Both were old men, after all, and they needed their rest.
Kinana, the girl I saved from her curse, was in the building as well, helping out Virgo as they prepared the place.
"Morning," I greeted them, giving Mira and Erza their breakfast with a quick kiss.
"Huh?" Gildarts froze, hand weakly pointing at me. "What?!"
"Morning, dad," Cana said with a grin.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Gildarts shot up, eyes glaring at me. "Did you not see that?"
"Yeah, and?" She grinned back at him.
Gildarts clenched his fists with a snarl, Magic Power oozing out of him in waves as the furniture around him began breaking down. "Oh, I will…"
Cana flashed in front of him, hand cocked back before she punched him, her fist cracking the air due to her Magic. Gildarts' eyes opened wide before he was sent tumbling on the floor, and Cana watched him with a smirk. "Calm your tits, old man."
"But… but…" He got up, looking perfectly fine. Though he was utterly confused at the situation.
"But nothing." Cana rolled her eyes before sitting down, staring at him with a challenging expression, daring him to say something back. Gildarts sighed as he walked over, shooting me an angry look without saying a word.
Erza and Mira ate their meals, and I smiled as I saw Erza calm down a bit, her shoulders no longer as tense as they were a moment ago. Once she finished with her meal, she got up, her posture confident and determined.
"Are you prepared to do this?" I asked, taking one of her hands for support.
"Yes." Erza nodded, squeezing my hand once as she took a deep breath. "Let's do this."
"Be careful," Makarov said before we could leave.
"Don't worry, Master," I replied with a smile. "We won't be the ones getting hurt today."
"Let's go kick some ass!" Cana slammed her fist in her palm with a laugh, the air around her cracking, which made her even more excited. She really loved her new Magic, and I was happy I chose to give her the fruit.
"Thank you." Erza slightly bowed her head in Cana's direction.
"Nothing to thank me for." Cana wrapped her arm around Erza's shoulder, showing her a big smile. "We are family, after all."
Erza's lips trembled, but the gratitude in her eyes was clear to see for everyone there. She nodded again, and we left the building, jumping on top of my wolves before we took off towards Caelum. We knew the general area of the Tower thanks to Cana, and Erza even knew roughly where it was, so it shouldn't take us long to find it, especially with my enhanced senses.
Finding the place was extremely easy since we already knew roughly where it was. Not to mention that my sense, which has only grown stronger after implanting the Dragon Lacrimas, picked up on the Tower's Magical signature from a large distance away.
I hid our group with a few clouds and even used Lord'oran's illusions just to be extra safe before we approached it. We moved slowly to ensure we weren't spotted despite all of my precautions, and soon enough, the Tower was in our sight.
It was an incredibly tall and lean structure that pierced the skies and… were those roots wrapped around it, holding it in place? This… well, I knew how I could easily destroy the entire structure with just a snap of my fingers. Though we still needed to rescue the people inside first.
Cana whistled as she saw it and chuckled. "It looks like something alright."
Erza just stared at the place with pursed lips, eyes intently focused on it. I directed my wolf to stand beside hers and reached out to hold her hand. She gave me a thankful nod before her gaze returned to the Tower.
"So, how are we doing this?" Cana asked the important question.
"We must save the people there!" Erza declared with pleading eyes.
"We will," I replied with a smile. "I promised you as much."
"I believe I can easily sneak inside, and I have a safe way to knock them out," I said as I turned back to the tower. "The only issue is getting them out of there safely."
"Leave that to me," Cana confidently said.
"Your cards?" I asked, which she nodded to in confirmation, though. "How will you get inside?"
"Easy." She winked at me. "Just trust me."
"Alright," I replied without thinking about it too much as I trusted Cana. "That settles that part of the plan."
Erza gratefully nodded at both of us before her expression turned serious. "Leave Jellal to me. I will take care of him after you save my friends."
"That's fine by me." I nodded, and Cana jumped over to my wolf and hugged me from behind.
"Let's go. Get us down there, pretty boy," she said in my ear.
"I will keep in touch with Telepathy and bring you over once we are done," I told Erza before we descended down to the water.
Cana squaked as we plunged inside the ocean and struggled a bit, though she realized moments later that she could breathe due to the air bubble around us.
"I'll pay you back for this," she promised as I turned into my Underwater Panther, and she settled on top of me as I quickly swam towards the Tower.
I circled around the island for a bit before I found a nice place to get out of the water. Once outside, I quickly transformed into my hybrid Shadow Panther form while putting on my dark clothes. Meanwhile, Cana summoned a weak monster before sacrificing it for the Shadow Ghoul.
Nothing unusual there as we had done the same back in Oshibana. However, she surprised me by what she did next.
"Watch this." Cana winked as she stepped beside her monster before the two merged together, reminding me of my own Take Over Magic.
"Let's go," Cana said with a raspy voice before she merged into my own shadow on the ground, while I just stared in surprise for a moment. I shook my head and used Telepathy, praising her for her achievement before I turned towards the Tower, looking around for a place I could use to sneak inside.
Stealth Invisible Presence: Perfectly hide Magic signature, massively reducing the chance to be sensed by people relying on that.
There weren't any obvious places I could use to get inside, so I was forced to use the front entrance. Thankfully, the door wasn't air tight, and there was enough space for a sneaky shadow or two to pass through.
I melted with the ground, with Cana in the form of the Shadow Ghoul next to me in the shadow space. That somehow made it even worse than before as she tried fondling me in that state.
'Stop that!' I said over our connection.
'But it's so fun seeing you squirm,' she replied with a chuckle, though she stopped her actions, allowing me to focus on finding our targets while she just followed along.
There were plenty of people here, ones that Erza didn't even recognize. Since we weren't sure if they were willingly part of this plan or if they were forced into this, we decided to silently knock them out and capture them in Cana's cards.
Our operation went smoothly, albeit slower than we would've liked as we had to patiently wait for them to separate before I jumped out of the shadows to wrap my arms around their throat and mouth to quickly knock them out. Cana would jump out after that and capture them before we merged back into the shadows to go after the next target.
Slowly but steadily, we knocked out multiple people before we finally found someone that Erza immediately recognized.
'That's Simon!' She said with clear hope in her tone. 'We… we grew up in the same village together before… before this.'
'How do you want us to do this?' I asked, giving her a moment to decide before we jumped the guy like we did with everyone else.
'Can you try talking with him first?' Erza hesitantly asked.
'Alright, but we will quickly take him out if he starts causing a commotion,' I told her and felt Cana was prepared to act should she need to.
'That's… fair,' Erza reluctantly said. I didn't want to hurt her friends, but we might need to do exactly that if we wanted to get them out before Jellal could use them as hostages.
Once I was ready, I exited the shadow and immediately turned into Lord'oran, using his abilities to ensure that no sound left the room we were in.
Simon turned towards me, his posture guarded and ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice. "Who are you?"
"I'm Leon, a friend of Erza," I calmly explained, doing my best to present myself in a friendly manner. "We are here to get you all out of the Tower before confronting Jellal."
"And you expect me to believe that?" Simon asked, his eyes darting to the door in the room.
"I can assure you that we are here to help," I said, noticing that he wasn't fully trusting my words. "In fact, I can prove she is here."
"Do it," Simon replied without hesitation, though his posture remained defensive. "And do it quickly or…"
I raised my eyebrow at his threat, but I didn't comment on it. Instead, I contacted Erza and told her of my plan before I summoned a screen with Archive.
"Erza!" Simon yelled with wide eyes as he saw his childhood friend on the screen.
"Simon!" She replied just as excitedly. "I'm… so happy that you are still safe."
"You…" Simon clenched his fists, staring at the screen. "This is real, isn't it? It's not just a dream?"
"It is." Erza nodded as she hardened her expression. "We are here to save you all."
I walked away, standing near the door and giving the two some private time while ensuring that no sound left the room. They talked briefly, and he asked her some questions only she would know the answer to prove that that truly was Erza.
Once he was satisfied, Simon nodded to her, agreeing to help us with our plan. However, he did mention that the rest of the people here, her friends included, were apparently fully on board with Jellal's plan. That shocked Erza, especially because they all thought that she was a traitor and had betrayed them, escaping all on her own while blowing the ship they planned to get away with.
"That's not what happened!" Erza exclaimed, both hurt and angered by that.
"I know… I know…" Simon said with a pained expression. "You would never betray your friends."
"I need to talk to them," Erza said to both of us.
"It might be better to do that after we get them out," Simon quickly replied, and I had to agree with him. We got lucky with him, but the rest might cause a commotion, ruining our plans just before we saved them all.
"Right… right." Erza took deep breaths, realizing this was the better option here.
"Once they are all safe, and we've dealt with Jellal, you can speak with all of them," I said, and she nodded.
I dismissed the screen shortly after, and we quickly discussed with Simon about how to continue from here. He offered to lead us to all the remaining people while we hid in his shadow, allowing us to easily ambush and capture everyone else.
The plan worked perfectly since no one suspected Simon, and we managed to grab everyone else, capturing them in Cana's cards. Sho, Milliana–a girl strangely obsessed with cats–and Wally–a guy that strongly resembled one of the members of Oracion Seis–were Erza's friends, and the people she recognized on sight. Since Simon told us that they were fully on board with Jellal's plan, trusting his words that Erza had betrayed them, we were forced to knock them out despite Erza's weak protests.
"You're the last one here," I said, turning towards Simon.
"I will willingly come along," he said as his eyes turned serious. "But I want to meet Erza first, face to face."
"That's fine, she's already on her way." I shrugged, knowing that she just landed on the island and was already rushing up the Tower.
"Simon!" Erza yelled the second she reached us, immediately rushing over to hug her childhood friend, tears dripping down her eye.
"Erza!" He hugged her back with relief as he now knew for sure that she was really here.
"Only one more person remains here," I said once they separated. I could sense only one more distinct Magical signature in the Tower, and it was right at the top.
"Let's go," Erza said with determination while Cana stored Simon in her card. She then led the way as she marched on to finally confront Jellal. The closer we got to the top, the clearer it was that the Tower was still under construction, and we finally reached the peak, an open platform that rested at the top.
Jellal was there, walking back and forward with disheveled hair and bags under his eyes. The man spotted us the second we walked up the stairs, and he immediately pointed at us, at me specifically. "You! YOU! It's all your fault!"
"What happened to you?" Erza asked as she stepped forward.
"What happened? What happened?! I saw the truth! That's what happened!" Jellal yelled back with a mad expression. "This is a wretched world that will only know peace once HE is resurrected! Unfortunately for you, you will not get the chance to bask in his greatness."
He stared at us with a manic look on his face as Magic Power oozed out of him in waves. Jellal seemed stronger than when I last fought him, but I wasn't too worried about it because he was still weaker than Laxus. Not to mention that Erza was here, and I doubted she would lose to him as she matched his Magic Power and even came out ahead.
'Don't interfere,' Erza's determined voice came through our telepathic link. 'I can do this.'
'I will not let you die,' my reply was firm. I would let her fight him as I fully trusted her, but I wouldn't stand by if her life was in danger.
"Die!" Jellal flashed forward, covered in that yellow light of his as he rushed toward us.
Erza jumped in his path while replacing her armor in a split second with a spiked black armor that came along with a massive spiked mace. She met him head-on, swinging that oversized weapon with ferocity.
Jellal darted away at the last moment, her mace crashing down and crushing the ground, making the entire platform shake from the force.
"This is my Purgatory Armor," Erza said, taking slow steps in his direction. "So far, no one has seen this armor and stood to fight again."
"And you think that piece of junk will stop me? Hahaha!" Jellal laughed madly, his manic grin stretching from ear to ear.
Erza took a step forward, crushing the ground beneath her as she rushed at him with blinding speed. She was really fast, I could see as much, but Jellal was someone that specialized in speed. He avoided her attack with relative ease before appearing beside her, hand placed her on armor.
"Argo Navis!" Jellal yelled as a massive blast of Magic Power erupted from his hand, blasting Erza at point blank range. I almost interrupted the fight at that moment, but there was no need for that as I saw she was perfectly fine after the smoke cleared.
"What?" Jellal's eyes widened, and he wrapped himself in his yellow light in an attempt to escape, but it was already too late. Erza was mid swing, and her massive spiked mace slammed into his side, his body twisting before he was sent flying.
"Nice!" Cana pumped her fist, though I was slightly worried as I saw the direction he was sent flying.
Now, I had to act, and I summoned Data-Shields all around the platform, ensuring that he wouldn't escape by being blasted out of the Tower.
Jellal slammed against my Spell, blood trickling down his mouth. Despite the pain he was feeling, he still got up, face twisted into an angry snarl.
Erza stood tall and proud, facing him with no hesitation. He bared his teeth before using his speed enhancing Spell, flashing around her as he prepared his next attack. I felt him build up momentum, gathering a massive amount of Magic Power that reminded me of the Spell I broke apart when I beat him.
'Be careful,' I warned her in worry after seeing the large Magic Circle that formed in front of her.
"I can do this!" She yelled, meeting the powerful Spell head on as a massive blast of Magic fell upon her
"Erza!" Both Cana and I yelled, our eyes widening in worry as we saw her armor and weapon break into pieces.
"Hahaha!" Jellal laughed, and my eyes narrowed as I prepared to kill him on the spot. "One down, two more to go."
"I… am not… done yet." Erza got up, her armor falling off her body before she stored it with a flash of light, replacing it with a simple cloth over her breasts and completely normal red pants.
"I thought my armor will protect me," she continued, taking a deep breath. "But I was wrong."
"And you think you can defeat me without it? Hahaha, how pathetic are you?" Jellal laughed at her, completely sealing his fate in my mind.
"All my armor actually did.. was to get in the way of what connects one human heart to another." Erza looked at me, showing me a bright smile before turning back to Jellal, a fire of determination burning brightly in her eyes while a normal katana appeared in her hands. "And I've recently learned that it's very warm when you shorten the distance between you and the people you care about."
"You should've stayed down." Jellal snorted as he surrounded himself with his Magic before shooting towards her while forming blades of yellow energy around him.
"I will take everything I have, make it my strength and strike!" Erza's sword moved faster than I could even track with my eyes, slashing apart his Magic as if it was made out of paper, before descending upon Jellal, striking him across the chest, opening a large wound going from his right shoulder down to his waist.
"GAHHH!" Jellal yelled in pain as he dropped to his knees, blood falling out of his wound.
"You will not hurt my friends!" Erza's blade crashed onto him, though she turned it around at the last moment, hitting him with the blunt edge of her blade. He dropped down with his eyes rolled back.
She then turned towards us, a bright smile on her face. "I did it."
"You did," I said as I rushed over, quickly wrapping her in a hug before healing her injuries. "You did."
Cana meanwhile went ahead and captured Jellal in a card, ensuring he didn't somehow escape. Now only the tower remained, and we planned to destroy it all. Though I figured I could grab all the valuable stuff around, including any building material.
Cana got to use her new Magic, laughing loudly as she began breaking apart everything in sight while I did my best to keep up with her, gathering everything that seemed valuable. Which turned out to be a lot as the entire tower was built with Lacrimas underneath it all. That made us pause, staring at it in astonishment, just wondering how many Lacrimas were used to create something this big.
We increased the speed at which we were breaking it apart white Erza fondly watched us destroy it all, happy that it would soon be gone. Cana even brought out Simon, so the two could see the Tower get fully destroyed by us. Of course, I made sure to store everything valuable in my Inventory.
By the time we were done, nothing remained on the island, and we got on my wolves before flying a short distance away.
"Leo?" Erza asked as I stopped them in the air, turning towards the island. The Tower was gone, but this was still the place that had scarred her both physically and mentally, and I wanted it gone for good.
I narrowed my eyes, thinking of a way to completely destroy it all.
The clouds gathered above them, and Simon silently stared, wondering what this Leon was up to as this was obviously his doing. Erza and her other friend also watched in interest as lightning began surging in the clouds.
Simon his body shaking as he felt the absolutely massive amount of Magic Power in the air as the lightning gathered, forming a massive beast–even bigger than the island –that opened its mouth, which was followed by the booming sound of thunder, making it look as if it was actually roaring.
"Storm Devil Secret Art," Leon quietly whispered, yet his voice was clearly heard by everyone next to him. "Kirin."
The creature made of lighting fell on top of the island with the booming sound of thunder as it turned into a beam of light that disintegrated everything in its path. Simon was forced to cover his eyes, and when he opened them again, all he saw was a massive hole in the water, the island where they suffered for years nowhere to be seen.
'What a monster,' he thought as he watched with wide eyes. 'To think that I thought of fighting him earlier…'
"Since when can you do that?!" Erza's other friend asked, turning towards Leon in surprise.
"Since now." He smirked at her before lovingly looking at Erza. "Let's go home."
"Let's go home," Erza repeated with the same loving look on her face, and Simon felt his heart break into pieces.
'It was not meant to be,' he told himself as they departed, flying on top of those two-headed wolves as they made their way towards Fiore.
Storm Devil Secret Art, Kirin: Form a massive beast made of lightning that deals Storm Devil rankx500 flat damage. Can only be used three times per day.