Magic in the air 20 - Montage
The sun was up, and our first day of training was about to begin.
We were far enough from the houses and other buildings that I was comfortable with starting her training, but we weren't quite in the forest either. I would like to remain in view of Wendy and Carla in case of emergencies after all, though they were still a couple of hundred meters away.
Flare stood in the sand squirming, fidgeting, fighting with her hair... literally, she was having trouble getting her magic under control.
"Alright Flare, lets start simple alright?" I began.
She nodded determinedly, "Yes."
"Now from what you told us on our first night here you weren't a Mage before this, correct?" I really needed some basic information, to know where I was staring.
She nodded in the affirmative.
"Alright, now how old are, you? I NEED to know so I know the condition your magical core might be in," I probably should have asked this before hand, but oh well.
"Umm," She look at her feet.
"You do know how old you are, right?" I questioned at the lack of answer.
"I- I don't know," Her voice was very quiet.
Okay, great, not good, her age would give me a good idea how much I could push her, regardless her core and reserves are new, but it would affect how the magic settles in her.
"Right, well you're taller than Wendy and Carla, but they're both small for their age," I sighed, "For now I'll say you're around seven, but I recommend getting an age test at a hospital, when you can."
The girl perked up, "They can find out how old I am?"
I nodded a yes at her, "They can, but the nearest hospital is nearly two weeks away, so I'm making an educated guess."
Why do I keep finding people that don't know their age?
"Right," She nodded back, a bit happier.
"Having said that, you HAVE to tell me if you're in pain, or well, let's get an understanding of magic first. Feeling and intent, are the most important, Shaping and power will come next," I lectured.
She stared intently, obviously listening.
"So, first is basic control, intent you've already experienced somewhat, your magic WILL respond to what you want. When you were stressed you latched on to me, when you were scared that you had hurt me you released me, get it?" My explanation was met with an embarrassed blush, but nodding.
"Right, feeling, how the magic feels to you helps you control it, mine for example feels like a constant stinging under my skin, it's warm and active. I can make it feel different too, such as making myself feel cool helps me temper my magic, with me so far?" I paused to make sure she was absorbing the information.
"I think so?" She didn't sound sure.
I bit back a sigh, so as to not discourage her, "Okay, maybe it would help some, if we just have you feel out your own magic first, so you know how it's meant to feel, okay?'
Red grinned at that "Okay! Umm, what do I do?"
I took a long breath in, this might take a while.
On the 4th day Flare could control her hair... kind of.
Whack!
My orange barrier flared in response to the whip like hair.
"S-sorry!" She panicked, and lost control completely.
I simply jumped back, "Your fine, Red, remember think hard rocky thoughts."
Her magic, as expected, was hot, malleable, and fluid in movement, like fire... No, more like Lava. Thoughts of stone and mountains, even metal, solid things in general, helped her control it.
The possible Hell Flame Dragon Slayer, was certainly doing her best to unintentionally confirm my thoughts that she was a Dragon Slayer, though.
Her hair was HOT to the touch and had burned me one or twice through shear proximity, before I got a shield up.
"Right I think you're getting it, excellent work," I praised as she regained control.
"Thank you," She smiled timidly.
Well, at least she had stopped stuttering, Wendy had already become the girls best friend, and was slowly bringing the girl out of her shell, which makes sense considering Wendy is much the same way, only more confident now.
Honestly Flare was doing well, though I only had myself to compare to when it comes to unlocking magic. I don't have the best understanding of how Dragon Slayer magic should settle either, if that was indeed the case.
"Alright, I think we can move on to shaping for a couple of days now. Don't worry we'll come back to this again before we start on your power building," I gave her a friendly smile.
I wanted to spend more time on this, but we were on a timetable, and building up her power was important if we wanted to get more than two hours of training a day.
Though at this point just using her magic could be considered a form of power training, and the fact she could ALREADY use her magic for 2 hours was insane.
That and I think her learning the basics of each of the basics bit by bit rather than one by one like I did would be better for her.
"Yes, blondy!" Flare smiled, and it was a big one, the bags under her eyes weren't as dark now either.
I rubbed her head, she liked that for some reason, so did Wendy actually, maybe its a Dragon slayer thing?
Mentally, I added yet another point for Dragon slayer on my list.
"Good girl, your doing great."
Hestia stood before me in my deamscape, grinning at me.
...
I twitched, "What?"
"I'm proud of you," She responded.
"That answers nothing," Not that I didn't appreciate her praise.
"Don't worry, you'll figure it out, I believe in you," The goddess chirped.
I sighed at her, "Can you please just tell me why my magic turned black?"
...
Oh, wait a minute, "Does this have something to do with this blessing of yours, you are a Goddess of fire, and the heat completely disappeared."
The Goddess perked up, "I'm not tellllling~."
My Goddess is a giant child in disguise , I just know it.
"Rude," she pouted.
...
That made me pause, "Hang on, can you hear my thoughts in here?"
"Maaaaybe," She teased.
I groaned and decided to ignore that for now, "Can you PLEASE just give me a clue?"
Hestia's teasing smirk became gentle once more, "Sorry, Salem, not yet. You still aren't ready, not physically or magically anyway, but you'll find out VERY soon."
I narrowed my eyes studying the Goddess.
...
"Fine," I relented, I trust her not to get me or my loved ones hurt, so she can have her blasted secrets... for now.
"I can still hear you~" She sing songed.
Well at least she was in a good mood.
"Speaking of hearing, why didn't you tell me you could hear my thoughts," I continued.
She grinned.
As night fell on the 7th day, Flares training was put on hold. Not that she could continue training, she was pushing herself too hard because she didn't want to disappoint anyone. Though, that could only last for so long, so for now, she was resting, teacher's orders.
I, however, had other things to attend to.
"So I just need to touch it?" I queried, indicating the runic array etched into the ground.
"Correct," Carla tiredly responded, after 7 days of trial, error and study, Wendy and Carla had managed to put the array together correctly... allegedly.
"Then just start pouring magic into it till it turns green," Wendy beamed proudly.
"Sure," I surrendered to their insight on the matter.
Placing a hand on the circle I slowly pushed enough magic in for a Blast Bolt, then a Back Blast... Nothing.
High yield Back Blast?
No.
Low yield High Impact?
No.
High Yield?
Nothing, seriously!?
Full Force?
The circle lit up, finally.
The energy for a Full Force at Low Yield was just enough.
"More or stay consistent?" I grit out.
"Stay like that," Carla ordered.
Oh, thank Hestia, anymore and I'd be stepping into Ground Zero territory.
But it was still a lot of magic and I'd burned through, roughly, just under a quarter of my reserves trying to activate it.
It wasn't as bad as throwing around my detonations, the drain while high wasn't taking a chunk of magic in one go like my explosive attacks. It was sapping me instead, simular to my barriers.
But none of my barriers needed this much power to maintain, unless they were under heavy attack, it was almost like trying to fend off Wendy's Sky Dragon Roar.
Yeah, guess who had volunteered for target practice on that one, still it had helped us both, and almost doubled my reserves in those months of training, the combat during the day on top of all that helped too.
But I wasn't the only one growing, Carla and Wendy's reserves had also grown as well. Though I still had the lowest reserves on the team, even if the gap wasn't as wide anymore.
Never had that been more obvious than now, around 20 seconds after starting, I was spent.
"Gah," I panted, slumping, my magic running dry.
Carla cocked a questioning brow my way.
"Don't look at me like that, you know my reserves are the lowest on the team, and it's not like I'm fresh, I've been sparing with Flare half the damn day," I half-heartedly threw my arms into the air in irritation.
Not that I'd really used much magic training Flare... Okay, so maybe I was a little annoyed.
I immediately realized what I had done, however, "Sorry, sorry, its been a long day."
It had been, Flare had learned how to shape her hair into sharp objects today, she was also giggling happily as we sparred, which was... disturbing, and more than a little concerning. Flare was... sadistic in canon, no doubt due in large part to Raven Tail, but she had to have an inclination toward it naturally in the first place for it to be that prelivent.
At current I was trying to nip it in the bud, so to speak, and it was... more difficult than I had first thought. The girl didn't really understand herself, then again how many children do?
Carla's glare lightened as I slumped, she nodded at me in acceptance.
Wendy just fidgeted a little.
"How'd I do?" I asked, despite having a good guess.
"Umm, well," Wendy hesitated.
"Poorly, 23 seconds," Carla was thankfully blunt about it.
"Figures," I forced myself to sit straight, "How'd you two do?"
"I was able to hold it for fifty-three seconds, Wendy held it for one minute forty-eight seconds," Carla's face scrunched up in thought.
That's insanity, that much magic, not for the whole spell but only for the circle.
No wonder Wendy needed her second origin unlocked to cast it fully.
"Well, how long can Wendy hold the actual spell while we power the circle then?" I asked, taking a deep breath and getting my breathing back under control.
"It's more complicated than that, Salem, the circle is the base of the spell, without it, the spell can't be preformed. The more magic we put into the circle the easier the spell, we need to find the most efficient timing and the optimal magic expenditure methods for this," Carla explained.
I had to pause for a moment to analyze what Carla had just said, "So the more magic we put in, the longer Wendy can cast for, but the less time we can actually fuel the circle for?"
"Essentially, yes," Carla nodded.
I sighed, it was still a better option than fueling Wendy directly, but that also meant we would have to coordinate together, and frankly, none of us knew what we were doing.
"Come on, we can do it!" Wendy declared, full of optimism and pumping her tiny fist.
"Well, we'll certainly try," I replied with a small smile at the girls enthusiasm.
On the bright side this was gonna be one hell of a boost to my reserves, hell it would boost to ALL our reserves for that matter.
It was day 13, and I think I might actually die today.
Why?
"Okay, so you have to gather it into your lungs and then breath it out really, really hard, watch, watch," Wendy was giving a demonstration on Dragon Slayer magic.
That's why.
Both girls were literally jumping for joy, training together for the first time.
Flare was desperate to get a handle of the magic that had been forced onto her, and Wendy was eager to 'play' with another Dragon slayer.
Needless to say, this would be chaotic.
Not in the least because Flares magic was starting to stabilize with her body now, and the fact it had taken 2 weeks for her magic to even BEGIN to stabilize spoke volumes. Her reserves were high, like off the damn charts, as in on par with Wendy, now.
She HAD to be a Dragon Slayer.
Flare had even been doing breathing exercises at night while out of magic, and again in the morning, courtesy of Wendy's coaching. And well, apparently that was a training exercise for Dragon Slayers, or at the very least one Wendy had been using to strengthen her lungs after first using the Sky Dragons Roar.
I'd even caught licks of flame at Flares mouth again, she HAD to be.
"Salem," Carla flatly requested.
"Got it, Barrier: Bastion," I raised my hand putting an angled wall reminiscent of a bunker in front of us us, only orange and translucent.
"Go ahead," Carla relented to Wendy with a sigh.
"Yes!" Wendy cheered, sprouting wings and flying to the top of the short wall.
Flare giggled happily at the sight, while Wendy took in an unnaturally long breath.
"SKY DRAGON'S ROAR!" She yelled, launching a tornado of rapidly twisting wind from her mouth.
FUUUSH.
CRASH.
Annnnnd there goes a good acre of forest, Wendy didn't even have the decency to look winded... winded ha, punny.
Let me cope.
"Whoooooa," Flare watched in astonished awe.
Wendy flew back down, "See!"
"Now you try!" Wendy gave her an encouraging smile.
Flare of course nodded in excitement, took in a deep breath, and, "Sky Dragon, roar!?"
Nothing.
Well, A, for effort.
"Sky Dragon'S Roar, and I don't think sky, or wind, in this case, is YOUR element," I corrected.
I released my Barrier, and it shattered away like broken glass, though thankfully they no longer detonated, unless I wanted them to.
Huh, that had gone surprisingly well.
Flare slumped dejectedly.
"A-ah," Wendy waved her arms frantically, "I'm sure you'll get it next time!"
"Really?" Flare questioned meekly.
"Yeah, definitely!" The Sky Dragon Slayer returned.
That perked the girl back up.
"Be that as it may," I interrupted, "It'll have to wait till next time, I'd rather she didn't stress her core because she can't control the output."
Wendy had been a Dragon slayer her whole life, but using the Dragons Roar had made it difficult for her to breathe. I was also very much aware of what had happened my first day in in this world when I'd used up all my magic.
I would rather not have a repeat, of either situation, but my knowledge on Dragon Slayers was... lacking, and Wendy insisted this was the best way to see if she was a Dragon Slayer.
Having said that, I wasn't completely clueless either, my exposure to the show gave me something to work with, but so to did the memories of this life, before MY arrival.
Nights spent with my mother and brother, reading her magic tomes by the fire.
I rapidly shook the thought away, not wanting to get stuck in a memory not my own.
"B-But," Flare begin.
"No but's Red, you're doing fine as is, but Dragon Slayer techniques take up a lot of energy, don't force yourself," I told her, with a pat of the head.
That soothed her disappointment.
I wasn't expecting her to get it, not yet, it was too early, she might have the magic for it, but not the control. Having said that, normal Dragon Slayer Magic is very destructive, so I'd rather if she tries it, she does so when there's another Dragon Slayer nearby, and safety precautions up, aka my barrier.
Wendy deflated at my order, then almost immediately straightened with a smile.
"Carla, you're next," Wendy declared, pointing at the she-cat.
Flare perked back up.
"What? certainly not," The Cat girl huffed.
Flare deflated, and Wendy pouted, "Pleaaaase Carla," The bluette continued in a begging tone.
Carla frowned but wouldn't relent, "There's no need for it Wendy, you've shown Flare Dragon Slayer magic, that's enough, we need to conserve our magic for practice not showing off."
Wendy looked at me, like she expected help, as did Flare for that matter.
I shrugged, "She's right you know."
Carla nodded in thanks.
"Awwww," Wendy pouted, unhappy I wasn't taking her side this time, or trying to compromise.
Flare actually pouted alongside Wendy, it was adorable, and nice to see her coming out of her shell more, she wasn't as shy around us, or closed off.
I could understand why she was upset, she had never seen my Detonation magic, or Carla's Exceed form, but knew of it from Wendy. Carla while happy to use her magic when needed, preferred her human form, after all.
In my case Detonation magic was just too draining for me to simply throw around, or at least anything impressive was.
All she had really seen of my magic thus far was my, literally explosive speed, and my Barrier: Blade, Armor, and Bastion, spells.
The Blade was, of course, blunt, but my actual dagger was too small and my hammer too heavy to use in sparing with the little girl's sharp hair.
"Come now, we shall take a quick break and then continue," Carla clapped her hands.
I knew Wendy showing Flare Dragon Slayer magic would be the death of me.
Not a day later, was the little Red head trying to replicate the technique, aiming at the ground between her feet.
And given the wisps of flame at her mouth, succeeding.
"FLARE NO!" I warned, but it was too late.
At the very least she'd looked up at my shout, but that made me the target for the attack in turn.
FUSH.
Fire.
Hell fire.
"BARRIER: ARMOR!" My magic responded just in time.
BOOOM!
The compressed flame detonated launching me high through the air.
SHIT, SHIT, SHIT.
My improvised flight was too uncontrolled for small course corrections, I was tumbling too wildly.
Well, no time like the present.
"BARRIER: WINGS," I all but begged my magic.
Two basic translucent orange wings formed on my back, reminiscent of actual wings, but very skeletal looking, more like several blades rigidly hanging vertically from a horizontal edge off of each of the 'wings'.
In layman's terms, they looked like bone wings, only replace the bone with sharp edges.
Best part?
It was working, because the Barrier was part of my magic and in a solid static shape, I had full control of the object. I could, for example, literally, fight a sword duel with no hands, but it was difficult and required a lot of concentration.
I like to think I was appropriately motivated to do so in this moment.
"Ha-ha, It works!"
My flight path had stabilized, I was- WALL!
"Detonate!" I full body tackled the wall with my detonation magic, practically turning myself into a living missile.
BANG!
Good news I was through the wall.
Bad news I was falling, I'd lost my concentration.
"Motherf-"
Splash!
I landed hard in some cool foamy water, "Blak, pah, kah," I panted, quickly resurfacing and grabbing a ledge.
Now where am I?
...
Oh.
"Morning Chief, err, sorry about that, training accident," I told the gaping giant, meekly.
I'd landed in his beer mug, his full beer mug.
Later that same night I was sat, being looked over by Wendy, while stroking Flares hair, to help keep her calm.
The Chief had been beside himself with worry, though he thankfully hadn't blamed me. Mostly because I'd stopped the worse of it, and was very much concerned for the girl in turn.
Though the, definitely a Hell Fire Dragon Slayer, was distraught. She had ignored her own burns in favor of breaking down crying under the belief she had killed me.
Luckily, Wendy and Carla were both on scene in seconds.
I'd blasted my way back to the training area on make-shift wings as quickly as I could, and much to everyone's relief, I'd arrived with help barely a minute later.
And then Flare had surprised me.
She'd glomped me in relief, with a cry of, "Big brother."
...
What?
How was I meant to respond to that?
I settled on carrying the poor girl back to her home, just reassureing her everything was alright.
The girl, I knew, had latched on to us all quickly, likely because we were 'small' like her. Wendy I could understand, but myself and Carla weren't as... open? I guess, is the word. We weren't unfriendly or anything, but Wendy wore her heart on her sleeve and was actively trying to make friends. Myself and Carla, not so much, we knew we'd be leaving after all. We'd been kind and polite to her, and that's not to say we didn't like her, but we'd only known her for just over 2 weeks.
Admittedly, I had spent a lot of time with her, training her, so I can sort of see why she might relate me to a mentor of sorts. But a Big Brother? I don't understand how I could have had THAT much of an impact on her. Being completely honest I was still a little sore at the relatively new memory of my dead brother, as well. Even if it wasn't as fresh anymore, it still had an impact.
"Are you okay, Salem?" Our Sky Dragon Slayer queried, worriedly, eyes downcast.
I patted the sleeping Flare's head as I responded, "I'm fine Wendy. You know I've had worse, and I got my Barrier up in time."
"Is she okay, any scars?" I indicated the sleeping girl, checking her face for any lingering burns.
Wendy relaxed slightly, "No, she's okay now, she's healing really fast too."
"That's good," Was all I could say, burns were bad, painful. But on the face, well, they could be disfiguring.
I'm glad Flare won't have to deal with that.
The red head, had thankfully only received light 2nd degree burns, her magical resistance having stopped the worst of it. However, while her magic had began to settled in, it was still adapting her body to her magic. So, she was still somewhat vulnerable to her own magic at the moment.
"I'm sorry," Oh, Hestia, now Wendy was tearing up.
"For what?" Was my gentle response.
"I-I-I shouldn't have shown her h-how to," She sniffed loudly interrupting herself.
I sighed heavily but hugged the girl with my free arm, "Not your fault, we ALL should have explained it better."
Carla, who had been rubbing her sisters back soothingly the entire time, spoke up, "Indeed, this isn't your fault, we all failed to impress that she shouldn't copy you."
"To be completely honest, I wasn't aware she even COULD," I stated, "Wendy, this was a training accident, I'M the one teaching her, this is on me."
I slumped, pissed off at myself.
It had been a bad idea to show her Dragon Slayer magic, but I had let it happen anyway.
"Wendy, you're exhausted, I think it's time for an early night," Carla pulled the girl up and toward her sleeping bag.
"No, I'm fine," She rubbed her watery eyes but tellingly couldn't resist Carla's fretting.
She wasn't fine, she had just spent an hour fixing Flare back up, and had just given me a check up to boot. Not that I had needed it, but it helped calm both her and Flare down.
Worse she had been working with that rune circle before hand, she was exhausted, plain and simple.
Carla, of course, knew this, and wasn't having it, putting the tired girl into her sleeping bag.
I was frankly glad Carla had taken it so well, she had been pissed, then horrified and then scared, and finally that finished with pitty toward the Red headed girl.
But she had remained composed, to an extent at any rate, thankfully the moment I had returned unharmed, she had gone full mother hen on the distraught Flare.
I don't think she had it in her to be mad at the red head considering her condition when they had arrived, she was just stressed at the situation.
"Big Brother," The girl mumbled, causing me to sigh at the reminder.
What the hell do I do about this?
"She could do worse," Carla told me stroking her sister's hair as Wendy faded into her dreams.
I looked up toward the Exceed turned human, confused and curious.
My feelings must have shown because Carla quickly responded, "Honestly, she's scared, Salem, her magic's extremely dangerous, like your's. Who better to teach her not to be dangerous, to keep her safe from herself?"
On the 16th day I'd brought the regressing Flare out with me again, she'd had a day of rest and physically she didn't even need that, mentally, however?
She was latched onto me like glue, and wasn't interacting much with anyone, she WAS responding, but was stuck in her own head.
"Alright Red, I think its time I showed you something," I stated firmly, but gently.
She was hunched over herself, but did look up at me.
"Look, Flare," I started softly, "I know what its like to be afraid of your own magic, I DON'T blame you, alright?"
The girl simply hugged my arm.
"Right, time for a demonstration," I nodded, more to myself, glad I'd warned Carla and Wendy ahead of time.
It wasn't hard to get Wendy to agree, concerned as she was, Carla had just given me a serious nod, trusting me.
I looked down towards the Red head, "You think you're dangerous, and you are, but so is a child with a knife, the only way to not be dangerous is to control it."
Shaking her off of my arm, she latched onto my side instead, but I brought both hands up and started calling on my magic, "I am very dangerous Flare, but only when I want to be."
I paused, however, and left the magic buzzing under my skin, instead routing around the bag I'd brought with me, bringing out a pair of ear muffs.
After what had happened at the first slaver camp, I'd made sure to have some back up plans, least I deafen the girls again.
"Here," I put the ear muffs on her head and pushed them over her ears, she didn't resist.
Alright show time, I retook my position.
Mentally I was so very glad I'd taken us to the opposite side of the village, away from Wendy and Carla.
This was the most powerful attack I had, that I could control, I closed the AOE by shortening my stance, both hands almost together chest height, then I shaped the magical charge again.
In essence, with this attack I'd finally done what I'd set out to do when I'd first used Ground Zero and tried to refine it, I could directed it.
It hadn't even been intentional, but what I'd done at that first slaver camp had scared me, and while practicing with Full Force, and adding properties from High Impact, I'd made this.
It wasn't quite as powerful as Ground Zero, it lost energy in transit to the target, but it was close enough, and more importantly could be launch away from my friends.
The name seemed both appropriate because of what it did, and because of how similar it looked to its name sake, only in orange.
"FULL YIELD, FINAL FLASH!"
The blow back was intense, the world shook, the air, the ground, the detonation magic screamed toward its target as the beam of energy vaporized anything in its path, until it found something hard enough to trigger it.
I mentally triggered the magic seconds before, saving the mountain's side.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Even at this distance it was loud, bright, the ground full on moved for a second, and then the pressure wave hit.
Phump!
Around 3 acres of forest disintegrated turning into shrapnel shredding everything around it.
A high yield was similar to Wendy's Sky Dragon roar, but I could only pull it off 3 times at once. This? This was everything.
I panted, and buckled slightly, spent, out of magic.
Rock and dirt fell back to earth.
Thats right, I can effectively use kai blasts, suck it, though I suppose high impact could count to.
Now granted it was EXTREMELY weak by those standards, and I'm 90 percent sure if Wendy put her all into a single Sky Dragon's Roar it would be thrice as destructive.
Nor was my attack as precise, for that matter.
But still, I could contend now, I was on the right path and getting into the right weight class for the coming fights at the start of canon.
I patted Flare on the head who stared in shock and awe, breaking her sight away from it, to look at me.
"So if I can hold all THAT back, what makes you think I can't teach you the same? Come on trust your big bro," I grinned at her.
What can I say, this IS Fairy Tail, and I couldn't just leave the poor girl to wallow in misery.
If a Big Brother is what she needs, a Big Brother she shall have.
It was the 20th day now and in just one more day it will have been 3 weeks. It would be time for us to help power Wendy's Milky way spell.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.
Flare was out of her funk now, desperate to learn to control her magic. Wendy had also begun helping more, her knowledge on Dragon Slayer Magic invaluable.
This time I had asked.
The bluette while still a little nervous at showing the red head again, and teaching her, was doing fine, well, mostly, I had helped.
It wasn't all that time consuming either we just sort of worked as a team again, training the girl come evening.
Why evening?
Because mornings were now spent working on the Milky Way spell. All of us needed the theory, and practicing with it was draining, so the afternoon was needed for recovery time.
Speaking of.
"Wendy?" I groaned slummed on the ground, "How was that?"
The Sky Dragon Slayer grinned tiredly, "It worked!"
"Hallelujah," I gasped out.
"Finally," Carla commented equally tired.
Flare just groaned, unable to comment.
The Red head was getting better, but when all was said and done she was still a novice, no matter how talented, plus she only had a couple of days practice at working the runes.
It had worked though, we had finally used the spell with all four of us powering it.
As a side effect, I had been right, all the strain on our core's had increased our reserves.
I was sitting at around 45 seconds powering the circle, Carla was at 2 minutes exactly, but Wendy was now at a full 3 minutes 20 seconds, which was nuts.
That still wasn't as crazy as Flare, even after only 3 weeks of having magic she could hold it for 50 seconds, on her first try.
That... is not fair.
I sighed pulling myself up, that was only as a base though, powering the rune with the spell active would be far more draining.
"How long will we have?" I questioned.
Wendy frowned for a moment tilting her head in thought, "Hmm, maybe a minute?"
"That isn't very long," I frowned back.
Wendy looked down saddly.
"Oh, err," Think dumbass, "OH! we could always explain what we're doing and ask our questions before hand, I mean, I assume they can hear us."
"Besides that we can always repeat the spell," Carla pitched in.
"Umm, yeah, I guess," She looked unsure, but after several seconds of pause, she nodded resolutely, "Yeah!"
"I wonder what they look like?" Flare panted out, still a little out of it.
"Don't know," Or at least I shouldn't.
Oh that'll work, "Well, Wendy, what did your mum look like, might give us an idea, yeah?"
The Bluette beamed, more than happy to explain.
A/N: I'm back, wedding went well.
Also, happy Halloween/Samhain depending on how you see it.
Now, on to business:
Lets be honest here even at the start of canon Natsu basically took out a city street BY ACCIDENT, and only a little later both Natsu and Gajeel ripped through what were effectively castle walls like tissue paper when it wasn't even their target.
Fairy tail characters have always been crazy strong, they just got even stronger as time passed.
Salem HAS to be this strong to even be a low ranked contender at MINIMUM, at least in his mind, and while he has the power to do that now, its with a massive amount of conscious effort.
Having said that he's still missing an important piece, combat experience against an equal, and against another wizard.
They will be getting that in the next mini arc but not now, because when all is said and done, while the team has made an impact in the desert, they've also been constantly on the move, and if Seven tried to deal with a couple of children attacking what are meant to be 'rogue' slavers, it could lead to war. The country Seven is already pushing it as is but sending full blown mage hunter units into Fiore would be too much. Theres other political red tape on there side, but ultimately theres not much they can do, but they ARE aware of them by now.
Comments:
@darkhero what must be done- Yes he is being dense about it, its more disbelief on his part, he has excepted that he's Hestia champion but at the same time is conflicted about it as you saw when he was in the church, Hestia is a pacifist, while he has a body count. Even then, he doesn't KNOW for sure what's going on, all he KNOWS is godly things usually have a black aura including their magic, so he knows its godly in origin, not so much what is it. Basically he isn't jumping to conclusions. On top of that he has other things to focus on right now, so he is actively ignoring it, for the most part, in favor of completing the mission.
@Guest E- I appreciate the explanation but I was being rhetorical and sarcastic in asking that question (I probably should have specified that) I am well aware of the atrocities commitment in the past and by those that hold such horrid beliefs today. "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" after all, I make a point to be aware of history.
But thank you, it saves me from explaining.
@Redburndragon- Definitely a link, Hestia IS a minor goddess of flame, and Salem is her champion.
@Carlmike94- Well they definitely have other issues to deal with now, but yes they are reaching the end of this journey, and it is a nice chance for them.
As for the black magic, yes you're not wrong, but it is more dragon vs godly magic, and the sheer amount of magic in the air that triggered it, that there the same element helps.
@RenegadeForLife- I'm glad your enjoying the story, they will always be haters, so I appreciate the support, it makes it worthwhile that some people get amusement or joy from this.