Salem's Pov
Right now, Kagura and I were in the woods away from town getting ready for our sparring match. She got in a stance and I also got ready as neither of us said a word as we had our stare down than quickly rush forward at each other.
She tried diagonally slashing me but sidestepped the attack and delivered a hard kick to her stomach which she blocked using her sheathed sword. I quickly used my cat tail to conduct a sweep to her legs making her temporality lose balance and gave her a hard punch that sent her a few feet away.
I wasn't going to give her room to breathe though as I went after her. She regained her bearings fast and dashed for me and my fist connected with her sheath making a shockwave and breaking the forest beneath us. We locked in this position and began a barrage of attacks. Kagura used her sword and it quickly my switched to my dinosaur arms to have more of an advantage. She got the upper hand and kicked me into the air.
I flipped and landed on the ground but Kagura zoomed past me and I felt a sharp pain across my body and kneed to the ground. She came at me again ready to deliver a downward slash but I rolled out of the way, making cracks on the ground. I performed a quick backspin and got myself on my feet and dodged a long-ranged slash from Kagura cutting down multiple trees.
We locked in close combat once again. I got the upper hand by getting a solid punch to her stomach, making flinch. I followed it with another punch to her cheek, then finished it with a hard kick to her stomach, knocking the air out of her. She crashed into a large boulder breaking it on impact. She came out of that dust cracking her neck with a small smirk on her face and I gave her a bring it on gesture.
She got into her slashing form stance and rushed at me fast. I was about to respond but I felt my body get really heavier all of a sudden. I quickly realised she used her gravity magic on me and she got a direct hit on me remaking me feel the pain from the quick slash plus with the gravity all heavy I face planted into the ground hard.
I could tell another attack was coming and her magic was affecting a good part of the area so I quickly transformed into my demi-rabbit form and burrowed into the ground. As I was on the ground, I felt a strong shockwave, likely due to her missing attack. Good thing her magic isn't affecting the underground.
"Fuck she sure hit hard." I flinched in pain as those two direct attacks did a number on me. "A few more of those and do for." I spat out a little blood and got my next attack ready.
I grabbed a good chunk of the underground and borrowed upwards to the surface near Kagura's location and flung it out while I quickly borrowed behind her and good thing her spell was off, probably to conserve energy. As expected, she took the bait and cut the and I came out and sneak attacked her with a strong kick to the abdomen sending a few feet away but she landed on her feet skidding along the ground clutching her abdomen in pain.
I turned just my head into that of the Rathalos. "Inferno Breath!" I released a huge blast of fire magic from my mouth straight at the sword mage.
"Gravity magic: Sky!" She quickly chanted as she and I flew up, making my aim off and completely miss her and doing a good amount of damage to the forest. But I turned into the Hybrid form of the Rathalos so I could fly properly.
"Flame Bombs!" I chanted as spat multiple fireballs at her and she kept batting them away using her sword.
"Gravity magic: Earth!" It got really heavy and I did a good job fighting it this time but Kagura increased the Gs and rocketed to the ground not before I quickly went back to normal with the Ankylosaurus tail.
I crashed to the ground and with my tail slamming hard on it, making a rock pillar directly hit Kagura, sending her to the air. I switched again but I had the Rathalos head and smirked.
"Hellzone!" I chanted and all the previous fireballs all came back and attacked Kagura making a huge explosion in the sky.
Suddenly Kagura launched at me with meteor speeds from the air with her strong form and I reacted fast by jumping out of the way, making her destroy a huge sum of ground. She was panting a bit with burn marks and her clothes ruined and I did stare a bit which she noticed and so she quickly attacked using her slash form but I dodged and my hair and feet transformed into that of the Zinogre.
I delivered a lightning kick to the side electrocuting her but she powered through the pain and the tip of her sword sheath hit my face, knocking me away far giving me a bloody nose.
But she wasn't done as she quickly rushed forward and made multiple slash forms and I quickly went to my Ankylosaurus hybrid form to help ease the damage. Once I landed and she was a few feet away I felt multiple pains but thanks to the transformation they were lessened but it still hurt and I was knocked out of the form.
Kagura increased the gravity around us again and I was on my knees. She rushed at me with the finishing blow but I made my hands into the glacier wolf's and froze and a good proportion of the ground made her slip and slide towards me and lose concentration with her spell which was a good opening for one last attack.
"Beast arm: Teostra!" I right hand morphed into the Teostra and it consumed a good amount of magic. "Fire dragon's Blazing Fist!" I chanted as dragon fire covered my arm and launched the girl.
She noticed this and was about to recast are spell but it was too late as my attack landed hard on her face making a fiery explosion as I slammed her to the ground. When the dust cleared, I was panting as I pinned her to the ground and kicked her sword away from her with the girl barely conscious.
"I-I win." I declared as I refrained my breath.
"I-I accept defeat." She admitted. "N-Now I w-would a-appreciate it if you got off me you l-little pervert."
"Seriously." I said as I got her and sat beside her.
"Don't think I know where your eyes are wandering off too." She pointed out as she also sat up.
I whistled and looked to the side after that comment. "But great spar Kagura. So, what is it now 3-1 with me leading~?"
"Hmph a minor setback I will catch up to you soon." She said with determination. "But I really hate your magic sometimes. Always switching from one creature to the next and each of them having unique magic." She huffed a little.
"That's what I love about it." I snickered. "But it's not like gravity is easy to deal with either. By the way Kagura, why don't you use your magic all that much in a fight anyway." I asked her.
"Well, I normally just use it for utility as it's not my main fighting style as I am a swordswoman first." She answered and she looked at archenemy. "Plus, my sword would be the key to achieving my ultimate goal so I need to train in sword play as much as possible." She finished darkly.
I hummed as I knew that she was a woman on a mission, a mission to kill Jellal. Now he understood Kagura's point of view in this whole story. If someone had killed his elder sister in his past life, I would want that person's blood too manipulated or not, and even if we reconcile somehow, I would never look at that person in a positive way ever again nor be anywhere near him/her without things going south. I can also see that Jellal is pretty much the biggest victim in this complicated case.
The problem here was Jellal is a wizard saint level mage and only got stronger with time. If Kagura were to face him she would get her pretty ass beat hard, well if Jellal decides not actually fight her that is and not just let her kill him. From what I've seen from the show the latter is most likely.
"Look Kagura. I don't really give people advice on how to live their philosophies but maybe you should work on your magic a little bit more if you want to get this strength you're looking for." I said and she just looked at me curiously. "Look, gravity is one of the four fundamental forces which make up the universe and there is so much more you could do with it than just making the area lighter or heavier hell a lot of them would actually help with your sword skills."
I thought about all the badass gravity users in media from Shiki Granbell from Eden zero, Chuuya Nakahara from bsd, Franklin Hall from marvel, Dante from black clover and hell Kagura can literally become this worlds version of Fujitora from one piece.
"Hm if it makes me stronger then I'll give it a shot and I take it you know a thing or two." She raised her eyebrow.
"Yep, I can help you for a price if you help me with my magic too."
"And what can I help you with?"
"You see there are two transformations I can't really control well." I thought of the Teostra and Quetzalcoatl. "Every time I pass a certain limit of time and end up going crazy and running out of magic. So, I want to find a way to use their power in small percentages so I could have better control. And since you can properly control the amount of gravity in your attacks, I figured you might have some pointers in that area." I finished.
"Hmm okay then it's a deal then." She gave me a small smile and nodded.
"Sweat." I gave a thumbs up then suddenly my phone started ringing. I found a way for it to link up with other lacrima.
"Junior." Morrigan appeared on the screen after I answered. "If you're done with your little playdate I need to get your ass to Mermaid Heel Marella has news for us." She instructed.
"Okay be right there." I replied and she cut the call. "Alright Kagura get your sword and let's go." She grabbed her sword and tried but was wobbly. "Want me to carry you~." She swung her sheath at me which I dodged. "Sheesh can't take a little joke huh."
She huffed and walked with me following beside her.
Sometime later
In Marella's Office at Mermaid heel.
"Honestly you two don't think you could go a little easier on each other." Marella sighed as she healed Kagura and I up with her water magic.
"I think it's cute that the junior found such a sexy little rival~." Morrigan teased.
"Miss Morrigan please refrain from such lewd comments." Kagura said, trying to keep a stern face.
"Aw~ don't worry kid I won't touch you I know my boundaries." Morrigan laughed a little but she was sprayed by water courtesy of Marella making me laugh a little at her.
"Morrigan-senpai please don't start this." Marella sighed. "Alright Kagura-chan my you please leave. I have important business to discuss with senpai and Salem here."
"Master I know this might be very sudden but I ask for your permission to stay but if you deny than it is very much okay." She bowed as she requested.
"Why Kagura-chan?"
"Please don't see this as eavesdropping master but three days ago, I heard you discussing details about the Taiyo country and about a special mission. The Eastern continents was my mother's ancestral home land so I'm very curious about the problems it's currently facing." She finished.
'Huh so she's just curious about her place of origins.' I thought.
"Okay fine permission granted." Marella agreed.
"Seriously?" Morrigan and I asked.
"Yes, I don't see any harm in allowing her to hear this plus Kagura is one of the most responsible members of the guild so it will be fine."
"Wow you really have a soft spot for this girl you." Morrigan raised her eyebrow.
"Not now senpai." Marella sighed. "Now Kagura-chan, to give a brief summary, we've been having demon troubles."
"D-Demon." Kagura muttered in surprise. "Like demons from the book of Zeref?"
"No Kagura-chan this is a real demon called a Cerberus straight from the underworld which is a realm which demons inhabit and were sealed away for thousands of years."
"But if they sealed away, how is it possible there's one lurking around?"
"Well mostly very weak demons have managed to cross to our world but stronger ones can find other means to temporarily crossover an example would be through passion. This one though is a unique case as it seems to be freely travelling between worlds." She finished explaining.
"I understand and one of it's main targets for travel is the Taiyo country?"
"Correct." Marella then turned towards me. "Salem-san, where is the Cerberus now?"
"Let me check." I checked my phone and it was still in Taiyo and has been there for like three days now." I answered and Kagura looked at me and then at my phone.
"Excellent, that brings me to what I wanted to tell Senpai and you. A little hiccup happened when making the final call for the mission."
"Of course. So what's going to happen now." Morrigan clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"After Acnologia attacked the fairy tail guild and destroyed their island it caused a lot of complications. For one, ships are very terrified to travel into and out of Fiore pass out of fear, so there's no available transportation. They estimated this will be a problem for 2 months."
"Wow, that dragon really sent ripples through this country." Morrigan hummed.
"A lot. Since ships aren't travelling in or out the country there is a huge decrease in trading leading to a slight economic recession. But on the political side." Marella shook her head.
"So, what now?" I asked.
"Well, I spoke to one to the four keys Raiden and she said she was experiencing some strange events." She then took out a lacrima. "Salem-san do you know what this is." A picture of a monster came up.
It somewhat resembled a woman but with a snake-like appearance on its lower body.
"Hang on." I took out my phone and went to the Taiyo anomalies. "Oh, it's a demon called the Viper queen." I said its name and it came from a dimension called Toukiden. I've never seen it if it was an animation, anime, manga or comic. Hell, if it was a game, I never played it.
"Well, Radian-san said she had fought this thing and it keeps coming back and spreading dangerous illnesses around most villages. I told her about you and she said she would like to know if you two could help with this case."
"I never thought the Shogun of lightning would be okay with my help." Morrigan snickered.
"Wait if transport isn't going to be available for 2 months so are we going to wait for that time or…?" I asked.
"If you accept the mission, I'll personally organise transport for the both of you ready in about a week." She smiled. "Well, Senpai, Salem do you too accept the mission?"
Morrigan and I looked at each other and nodded. "We are getting paid right."
"Yes, you two money hungry shapeshifters."
"Then okay." We nodded.
"Great. As for the Cerberus, Raiden had been put in charge of that by the magic council in Taiyo but I am sure you two could still help." Marella smiled then turned to Kagura. "Kagura-chan what's the matter?"
"It's just I'm just surprised as I didn't know Morrigan-san and Salem-san were given important missions." Kagura answered.
"So Junior are ready to explore a different continent~?" Morrigan asked.
"Hell yeah~."
A week later
It's been a week and some days since the conversation with Marella for a mission to the east. Morrigan and I were just still in sunspot town and she was just relaxing while I worked on my magic. I was working on putting percentages on two of my forms so I didn't go crazy every time I used them. Kagura helped me out a lot in that area and I helped her with new ideas to use her gravity magic.
Though we did train together often she was busy for about 4 days dealing with Millianna who was upset about the 'death' of Erza. Though I couldn't help at wonder which level I could be at when it comes to the main cast
Now I was just in the forest to see if my hard work had paid off at least
.
"Animal Soul: Quetzalcoatl 15%!" I chanted and I felt the power coming in but I had to focus hard to keep the magic output at a low. I saw the image of the Quetzalcoatl glaring at me before disappearing.
I opened my eyes and felt the power of the Quetzalcoatl but not to its full extent but still gave me a boost. I got up and stretched and did feel much of my magic being drained. I re-quipped my phone to see what I look like now.
I had the snake like green eyes, a little scale on my face and hand, and finally the Aztec headdress on.
"Wow funciono!" I said excitedly. "Dulce I can actually properly train in this form." Even though some key elements were missing like the feathers and wings this was just 15% of the power.
I breathed in and out when a large quantity of air started to gather around me since I was more used to using wind-based attack, I wasn't that much of an issue controlling. A mini tornado formed in my hand then I fired a big tornado-like attack blowing away a lot of trees. I smirked and nodded to myself as I felt like a certain air bending avatar.
I was about to continue experimenting when suddenly my phone began to ring much to my annoyance as I was going to try more wind magic and test this form's unique fire magic.
"Hola." I answered.
"Hey kid, stop playing around, it's time to leave so hurry up and get to the beach." Morrigan told me.
"Hijo de puta." I sighed. "Okay senora mayo I'll be there soon."
"Are you in that giant hybrid feathered snake form of yours again and why do I feel like you just insulted me!?" She yelled and I quickly cut the phone.
I switched to my giant sparrow form and fly off to the beach and when I got there I saw only Morrigan. She was wearing a white shirt tied upper showing off her stomach, white shorts, a straw hat and white shoes.
I landed and transformed back to normal.
"Yo where's our ride." I asked her to look around.
"Marella will be here soon." She answered.
"Anyway, what were you doing using that form of yours? I thought I told you not to do anything dangerous this week." She put her hips and chopped my head.
"Ow easy woman." I rubbed my head.
"Remember that percentage thing I've been working on all week."
"Yeah, so finally did it.?"
"Yep." I said proudly.
I then saw Marella walking over to us wearing some sexy water theme armour.
"Kid your hormones in check you thirsty boy." Morgana pinched my cheek.
"Good I see your both here don't worry your method of travel will arrive shortly." Marella stopped in front of us. "In the meantime I want to discuss matters concerning the mission."
"Oh boy what is it this time." Morrigan had a deadpan expression.
"Oh nothing major, just Kagura-chan is coming with you."
"Wow hold on there little mermaid shouldn't you have a senior mage come with her because i'm not going to be babysitting her." She shook her head.
"I know senpai that's why Raiden-san will be the one in charge mostly as she was the one who requested you two." She waved it off.
"Good because looking after one kid is bad enough."
"Man it's not like we're around each other 365." I rolled my eyes. "But why though." I asked.
"Yeah, it seems a little last minute." Morrigan added.
"Well to be honest I want her to gain more experience as the missions were receiving haven't been really been her pushing much." Marella sighed. "It was a challenge to get her to accept this mission though she could be so angsty sometimes despite how mature she tries to be."
"Why does that matter?"
"Five years ago me and the previous master found Kagura while searching for her brother who went missing after he went missing when her village got raided by the followers of Zeref. Recently she just found out he was killed by a very powerful man and now she is obsessed with killing him."
"A revenge take huh. I thought you would support it."
"Believe me I don't but I can understand her situation. Her target of revenge is a very powerful man and she's been stagnating with her strength so this would be a way for her to gain good experience."
"Okay she's your subordinate so I don't really care." She shrugged her shoulders. "Speaking of wish, where the hell is she?"
"Millianna and Bertha are helping her pack."
I hummed at that. Now over our stay here I didn't really make an effort to get to know the mermaid heel guild as I was busy with my own stuff. While Kagura and I are friends I barely met Millianna especially after the demise of 'Fairy tail'. I think she got better and while we were still friendly with each other it was more of that friend of a friend situation.
Suddenly we saw something coming out of the water. A similar comparison I could make was the it was similar to those ships used in Aquaman. It looked really cool too.
The door began to slide open revealing a male. He was tall, dark skinned, muscular, hand long smooth hair, brown eyes, and fin like ears. He wore a golden armour.
"Hot damn.~ I heard Morrigan whistling.
The man walked over to Marella and bowed, then they started speaking to each other in another language which I couldn't understand.
"Morrigan-senpai Salem- San this is Tristan. He will be your escort on your journey to Taiyo." She introduced him.
"Hey it's nice to me yo-HEY!" Morrigan shaved me out of the way.
"Hey there handsome it's great to me you too~. She said flirts and touched his chest plate using her finger the guy looked like he was fighting a losing battle. "Oh my~ impressive material you have here handsome~." She said getting closer to him but she was splashed with water.
"Senpai please behave yourself." Marella lectured.
"Oh can't a girl can't have a little fun." Morrigan pouted.
"Pft and you called me thirsty, maybe you should listen to your own advice." I joked.
"Quiet punk." She hissed while pinching my cheeks.
"Ow hey stop that!" I tried to get her off me.
"I'm flattered, Mrs. Morrigan but it's inappropriate to do such things in front of your son." Tristan commented.
"The fuck we're he'/she's not my son/mom." We said the same time while we continued pulling each other's cheeks.
"Oh my apologies." He apologised.
"Don't worry if I didn't know senpai I would have thought they were mother and son too." Marella joked a little.
"Why am I not fit for motherhood or something?" Morrigan asked, offended.
"No, that's not what I meant."
I finally got her hands on my face and turned to Tristan. "So Tristan out of curiosity where are you from?"
"I'm from Atlantis." He answered much to my surprise. "Surprised huh?" he chuckled.
"Yeah man this is my first time meeting someone from Atlantis. I have so many questions!" I said I was a little excited.
"I would be happy to answer them but you've met another Atlantian." He said amused and I was just confused a little and I saw Morrigan looking at a non-existent wrist watch and Marella just looked amused.
"Wait Marella is also an Atlantean." I realised.
"We have a winner~." Morrigan said sarcastically.
"Yes Salem-san I'm from Atlantis" She confirmed.
"Wait, why didn't you say anything? I have so many questions about your civilization. Your culture, your language, your city structure and…"
"Alright cool it junior you can ask Tristan while on the trip if he is not busy with other things~ ." Morrigan winked at the poor guy.
Suddenly Kagura showed up with a suitcase in hand with a grumpy look on her face.
"Kagura you're late, that isn't like what happened to you." Marella asked.
"I apologise master but Milliana and Bertha wanted to help shop for new outfits so they got carried away so I quickly ran back to my room and just selected myself and ran here." She explained.
"I see well I'm glad you're here, this is Tristan, he will be escorting you to Taiyo."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Tristan-san." Kagura greeted him.
"The pleasure is all mine." He returned it.
After that we said our goodbyes and entered the ship and it looked as good on the inside as it did on the outside.
A day later.
I couldn't keep track of time down here but Tristan told us that it has been two days of travelling.
I got to know the guy better and he was a pretty nice dude. He was a little professional but not too much as he cracked a joke frequently.
I asked him some questions on Atlantis as I didn't want to ask personal questions which Kagura also got into as she was also interested to know about it. I recorded and wrote down everything he told me.
Morrigan on the other hand just wanted to get into his pants which she actually succeeded. Yeah there were fucking on the first day.
"Okay this is the place my lady said I should drop you three off." Tristan said as the door opened. It was a river basin area.
"Thank you for escorting us Tristan-san." Kagura thanked him.
"Yeah man, thanks a lot."
"Its not a problem at all I enjoyed your company." He smiled at us. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay a little longer I have to get back to take care of stuff back at kingdom."
"Oh I was hoping we could get a little more time together~." Morrigan purred.
"Move!" Kagura and I pushed her out and the woman made a 'call me sign'.
We got out of the ship and Tristan left, leaving us in the area.
"The country of Taiyo. Got to say I didn't think I would be coming here so soon." I looked around.
"You were planning on coming here?" Kagura asked.
"Yep." I nodded.
Suddenly a flash of purple lightning blinded me a little and I caught a beautiful woman. She was about in her late twenties, creamy white skin, long purple in a hime-cut and tied as a braid at the end, striking purple eyes. She wore a purple battle kimono I think with a katana strapped to her waist.
'Huh she looks like that chick from genshin impact.' I thought.
"Wow" I heard Kagura mumble and I when turned to her she was looking at the woman in awe.
"Hey there Haru, good to see you." Morrigan cheekily greeted.
"Morrigan-san please show a little more respect." She said sternly.
"Oh sorry hello Raiden-sama." Morrigan jokily corrected her.
"Do you know everyone?" I raised an eyebrow at my mentor.
"So you two must be Shupiwa-san and Mikazuchi-san. It's nice to meet you. I'm Raiden Harumi or Harumi Raiden in your case." She introduced.
"Hey it's nice to meet you." I offered my hand which she took.
"Hello Raiden-sama, it's an honor to meet you."
Kagura bowed. Raiden eying something off of Kagura.
"Impressive sword you have there Mikazuchi-san." She commented.
"Oh thank Raiden-sama, it was given to me by the previous master of my guild." Kagura rubbed her sword.
"So she was the one who taught you how to use it too." Kaguara nodded her head. "Interesting I can sense the power oozing off it. Please can you all grab on to each other."
We followed her instructions then a magic circle appeared below her. I felt something similar to Laxus lightning body but faster.
We suddenly found ourselves in rich Japanese estate but unlike the Shirukus this one matched the ones I've seen Lord's in anime have. Hell even like trees with purple leaves on them.
"Damn Haru you've really been doing well for yourself huh. Maybe I should just move here with you." Morrigan chuckled.
"Gold-digger~." I sang, earning a snack to the head. "Ow bitch." I mumbled. "But she is right though this is a nice place, Raiden."
"Your home is incredibly beautiful, Raiden-sama." She commented.
"Thank you for your compliments." She smiled a little. "This way please." She directed us.