World Slayers

by SoImAWriterSoWhat

With the disappearance of Fairy Tail's strongest members, there has been an increase in the activity of criminals and dark guilds, however the legal guilds can't keep up with this wave of evil, so the Magic Council decides to resort to one of their secret weapons: World Slayers, a secret guild composed entirely of mages with a form of Slayer Magic! [ SLAYER SYOC - CLOSED ]

5. A town of illusions

"Slayers!" - Talking

'Slayers!' - Thinking

"Slayers!" - Communication via Lacrima / Telepathy

"SLAYERS!" - Screaming

"Slayer Attack!" - Spells

Slash! - Sound Effect

[ Here / Now ] - Place / Time

Chapter 5: A town of illusions

[Near the Bosco-Iceberg Border/ 20th July X786]

At about the same time that a certain Zombie Slayer and her team had finished their mission on the other side of the country, a canvas-covered wagon was moving at marching speed towards the country of Bosco. The two horses that were pulling it had evident muscles in their legs, being used to moving through deep snow but strangely the path in front of them was completely covered in mud instead of snow.

"I have to say boy, you really surprised me." said the coachman, looking at the young boy sitting next to him "I didn't expect you to be able to clear all that snow."

"You are welcome! I'm glad I could help!" was the immediate response of the boy who twirled a particular silver spear between his fingers before placing it on his left shoulder, covered by a dark blue jacket and a white shirt, with a blue bubble pattern, under the jacket. His round sky blue eyes lingered on the road ahead of them "Furthermore, by doing so we will arrive earlier at the village where we must carry out our mission!"

The coachman ran a hand over his thick moustache "Well that's actually true. Due to the heavy snowfall of the past few days I was afraid I'd have to go very slowly but with your help I think we will reach our destination by evening, instead of tomorrow."

The boy flashed him a broad smile before pulling aside the wagon canvas and leaning inside "Did you hear Rad? We will arrive earlier than expected!"

"Yes, I heard that, Mako."

Currently sitting on one of the two internal benches of the wagon with his eye closed was Radogan, still impeccably dressed as at the party the night before, with the only addition of a sheathed sword, currently leaning next to him, and headphones from which pop music could be heard. The Dragon Slayer had his arms folded, and while it looked like he was sleeping, he was actually just thinking about how he ended up on a mission with someone like that boy, who had been with them barely two weeks.

'I guess this is also my fault for not asking anyone during the party, but I'm pretty sure Katharina pulled some strings to get Mako to come with me.' thought Radogan, thinking back to when, a few hours earlier, the guild master had shown up at his house with Mako behind her to see them leave for the mission.

'Well he seems quite willing to me, hopefully he will carry out any heavy tasks.'

"Err…" the coachman looked at Mako for a moment "Are you sure your partner is a mage? He doesn't seem very enthusiastic to me."

Mako let out an amused laugh, running a hand through his medium-length, white hair with blue streaks on the side "I haven't worked with him yet and he seems a little antisocial to me, but Katharina said he can teach me a lot! Although she advised me not to pester him with too many questions!"

"Is that so? Well if Katharina told you, you better do as she says. I've known her for many years and even though she can seem a bit invasive at times…" both heard a cough coming from inside the wagon but the coachman ignored it "…she knows what needs to be done in many situations."

"How did you get to know her?"

"She saved my life about fifteen years ago, and my wagon has been available to her guild for journeys like this ever since. Name's Mathias by the way." said the coachman with a smile which, however, soon became a frown "Ah, looks like we have company."

Mako looked ahead and saw a pack of a dozen great white wolves watching the approaching wagon, baring their teeth and snarling at them. Without any hesitation, Mako jumped off the car, ignoring the mud that stained his boots, paired with blue baggy pants, and took quick steps to get in front of the wagon, holding his spear in one hand "Don't worry Mathias, I'll take care of them!"

The wolves started to come forward, but Mako simply puffed out his cheeks before releasing his attack once they were close enough "Water God's Bellow!"

A gigantic whirlwind of black water slammed into several wolves, sweeping them and digging a furrow into the ground for a few dozen meters. The few animals that had avoided the attack stopped in order to watch the destruction caused by Mako, who aimed his spear at one of them but the remaining wolves moved back before scurrying away into the forest. With the smile still on his face, Mako sat back down next to Mathias "You solved the situation again, boy. Too bad for those wolves, there are few of them around now."

"Ah I didn't kill them!" said Mako while pointing at the far edge of the furrow, where the wolves hit by his attack were slowly getting up before heading off the road "My mom once told me that most animals can sense danger coming from a mage, but these wolves still decided to attack us, most likely because they were hungry. There was no point in killing them!"

Mathias smiled at him "You are very wise despite being a child!"

Mako immediately glared at him "I'm not a child!"

Another cough came from inside the wagon and Mako moved his glare to the cloth that separated him from Radogan, but then a soft laugh escaped Mathias's lips "Just kidding, boy, but the point stands. You are very wise for your age, and powerful too judging by the road damage."

"And that's nothing!" replied Mako, again with a smile on his face "Want to see what I can do with my trident?"

"Trident…?" Mathias looked at Mako's weapon "Isn't that a lance? Although, it looks almost broken at the base of the blade…"

"Because it was a trident but had two of its prongs removed, it's called Trishula!" explained Mako raising his weapon "Anyway! If I do this after doing that and then-!"

Inside the wagon, Radogan reached for his headphones to turn up the volume so he wouldn't hear the full explanation, and probably demonstration, of Mako and his magic. In fact, it was a good thing that they would arrive at their destination sooner than expected, because the journey already seemed endless for him.

---

[South-West of the Kingdom of Fiore/ 20th July X786]

Peace and tranquility reigned supreme in that path that crossed the mountains, the only way to access that small region of the Kingdom of Fiore. The chirping of birds and the rustling of tree leaves were the only sounds that could be heard in the trees, or at least they usually were, and just then, the voice of a young man echoed through the trees, scaring off most of the local wildlife.

"Why the hell can't we fight?! We've been on the road for five fucking days and we haven't encountered anything remotely dangerous or interesting to deal with!" shouted a tall boy with a muscular body and particular dark-orange wavy hair pointed upwards with spiked ends, giving it the shape of a flame, with a single strand of hair hanging down on the left side of his face.

"We would have arrived in two days if you hadn't balked at traveling in that wagon, Lugh."

"You are a crazy woman if you think I could ever ride on something like that! Also why did you choose me for this fucking mission?! I didn't arrive at the guild yesterday so you know very well that I find such missions extremely boring!"

"You are warm."

A pair of yellow eyes widened in shock "THAT'S IT?! That's the whole fucking reason?! Aren't you a Fire God Slayer yourself?!"

The young woman, whose complexion was slightly tanned, looked at him with her bored green eyes "And…?"

"Are you fucking serious? Is that all you can say?! What did you take me for, your personal stove?!" the girl didn't dignify Lugh with an answer and kept walking, making her long, dark red hair, which was tied in a high ponytail, sway with each step, which made her companion even more irritated "Oi! At least answer me, Bridget!"

When he still received no response, Lugh let out a long exasperated sigh before looking around with an irritated expression on his face, occasionally glancing at his traveling companion. Honestly speaking, the two of them couldn't have been more different, especially about their personalities. At first glance it was easy to imagine that he was some kind of brute who just wanted to fight, in contrast to Bridget's cold and detached manner, and Lugh wasn't exactly against that idea that others might form of them, since she hadn't agreed to face him even a single. Fucking! TIME!

'What's the point of dressing up as some kind of knight if you'd rather not fight?!' thought Lugh, staring at her peculiar clothing, consisting of a dark red leather cuirass, bronze armor on her left forearm, a scaled skirt of dark green leather on steel, and black gladiator sandals reaching right below her knee, as well as a bronze longsword which she kept at her waist. In contrast to her, he had some pretty normal clothes, as he wore a dark-red sleeveless coat that reached his knees, with yellow edges and a fur collar, brown trousers with a black belt and black combat boots, and lastly a sleeveless red muscle shirt underneath the coat.

When he had arrived at the guild a year ago he had also thought that they might have several things in common, as he had immediately noticed a similarity in their tattoos: as he had the guild mark on his left shoulder and a tattoo of a distinctive spiral with several triangles along it on his right shoulder, both being dark red in color, he also had black flames tattooed on both forearms, while Bridget had a sleeve-tattoo of green flames and mystical writing on her right arm, with her guild mark being bright green and in the center of her midriff.

Unfortunately for him, their similarities had stopped after he discovered that they both used flames to fight, otherwise they were like water and oil, and that mission, which was a simple reconnaissance mission, that is the kind of mission he hated, was trying his patience, since he hadn't had any way to release the stress, except with some exercise along the way.

"Can we at least spar? You owe me for agreeing to go on this fucking mission with you!" he said while releasing flames from his right hand.

"It would be a waste of energy. We are close to our destination." replied Bridget without looking at him before hearing a very deep voice "Fight him, and burn him down to ashes."

The young woman looked down at her sword, pulling it out of its sheath by a few centimeters, before whispering "Stop it Prometheus, I can't do it and you know it well."

Behind her, Lugh rolled his eyes 'There she goes again…talking to her sword as if it were a person. I'm pretty sure Boss Lady told me she's perfectly sane...not to mention she's an S-class mage and I doubt she would promote a crazy woman who talks to inanimate objects…'

"He did nothing but complain constantly throughout the trip. Plus his flames are inferior to mine, he's useless."

"I can't deny that his flames are inferior, but I can't kill my guildmates."

'Did this bitch really just insult me while talking to her sword?' thought Lugh with several veins pulsating on his forehead and a glare directed at Bridget's head.

"Then tell him to shut up or give him something to stop him from talking."

A brief, tired sigh escaped her lips "I'm not his mother."

'...that's it! Now she gets a fucking punch in the face!' Lugh moved towards her, flaring his right fist in preparation to strike her. Bridget sensed him approaching and prepared to react, but then she heard Prometheus' voice once again.

"Stop. Someone is watching you. Someone with the powers of a god."

She immediately raised her right hand to signal Lugh to stop, then began to look around. The boy eyed her confused for a few seconds before focusing on the trees around them "What is it?"

She didn't answer him right away, first bringing her right hand to the hilt of her sword, then whispering "We got company."

Lugh narrowed his eyes, letting his senses search for their eventual enemy "Where? I can't hear or smell anything other than the forest."

That tidbit of information didn't sit well with Bridget, who had learned over the years that it was very difficult to escape a Dragon Slayer's enchanted senses, yet anyone observing them was able to stay completely off the radar. The two wizards were on their guard for several seconds, and now that she'd been made aware of someone lurking in the shadows, Bridget couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching her.

'Prometheus said it's someone with the powers of a god...a God Slayer perhaps?'

"We could try setting fire to some trees to flush out anyone hiding around here, but I wouldn't want to destroy a forest unnecessarily." said Lugh, moving so that he was back to back with Bridget.

"For once he said something sensible. Set fire to the forest and burn this unknown mage; whoever it is just tried to get inside your mind but I blocked it."

As soon as those words were spoken, the girl started running forward as fast as possible "We are moving!" and after an initial moment of surprise, Lugh followed close behind, reaching Bridget with a few strides since he was taller than her.

"Why the fuck are we running away?!"

"Whoever's looking at us just tried to get inside my mind. I can handle certain attacks, but you?"

Lugh narrowed his gaze before looking over his shoulder as a menacing growl rose up his throat "First possible opponent in days and they try to fight while staying hidden, fucking awesome! Best mission in the world! For real!"

Bridget said nothing, just shook her head and kept running, hoping that whoever had tried to enter her mind hadn't been able to access Lugh's, but as the two mages drifted further and further away, heading towards the small town now not far away, neither of them could see the small solitary figure who had been sitting behind a tree the entire time.

"Oh did you see that? I couldn't read that girl's mind!"

"Ooooooooooo!"

"Maybe…maybe I'm just weak…?"

"Ooooooooooo…"

"No no! That's not the case! I could read the big guy mind after all! It was actually very funny! He wanted to fight and nothing else!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa."

"But that name…World Slayers? Sounds like an interesting place! Don't you agree?"

"Ooooooooooo!"

"I wonder why they are here...oh well if I'm lucky I'll find out!"

After standing up, the small, completely white-skinned figure walked into the forest, vanishing into the shadows of the trees and leaving behind only an amused, distorted laugh that echoed for several seconds…

---

The mayor of Antirrhinum Town was an elderly man with a thick gray beard who had seen many things over the years, and yet could only be confused by the sight of a couple of young people trying to catch their breath in front of the door of his house, after knocking several times to get him to open.

"Err…may I help you…uh…"

"Bridget…Kaelan…"

"Lugh…Atlas…" the young man threw a glare at his guildmate "Close to our destination my ass…we sprinted non-stop for something like ten miles!"

Ignoring him, Bridget took a deep breath before turning to the mayor, all the while pulling a sealed letter from a pocket hanging behind her skirt "We're here on behalf of the Magic Council regarding some off-scale magical readings reported two weeks ago."

The mayor was surprised by the news but then went back to his house, gesturing for them to follow him. A few minutes later, the old man, Bridget and Lugh were sitting at his kitchen table, with the mayor reading the letter sent to him by the Magic Council "You'll have to forgive me as I'm not a mage, but what do you mean by off-scale magical readings?"

"The way Boss Lady had explained it to me, it means there is something magical about this place, and when the Rune Knights did their routine checkup, they detected something strange." said Lugh while shrugging "Do you happen to have any artifacts or magical item here? Or is your deity here somewhere? Or did something strange happen?"

"Deity?" the mayor blinked at his words "No, nothing like that. We don't even have a magical shop here, and the strangest thing that ever happened was the attacks of some beasts and monsters over the years, in fact in the last two years the number of attacks has increased a lot but about six months ago after a huge horde of monsters, we weren't attacked anymore." when he looked up at the two mages again, the old man saw that Lugh seemed particularly interested in the idea of having to face monsters, while Bridget seemed more interested in the hot chocolate which she had requested of him when he had asked them if they would like anything to drink (even if it was mid-July).

"The influence of a god hangs over this place."

Bridget looked at her sword "What kind of influence?"

The mayor blinked a couple of times, as he was certain he had just seen and heard Bridget speaking to her weapon. Glancing at Lugh, he saw the boy raise a hand and create three words made of fire on his fingertips: DO NOT ASK.

"Deception, lies and illusions."

"Do you happen to have a mage in this town? Someone capable of creating illusions."

"Uh no…or at least not anymore. There was this young man, his name was Sava Erunant and he was the only wizard in town; he has helped us many times against the monsters even if there have been episodes where other wizards have come to support him. I haven't seen him since that day when the huge horde of monsters attacked us. Despite having defended us again, he decided to leave the town out of the blue, and strangely his parents didn't seem against it…even now when I meet them they say their son is fine, wherever he is."

"Isn't that strange…" noted Lugh "Was this Sava behaving in a particular way before he left?"

"No, not really…he looked confused and, I know it will sound crazy, but his skin had turned completely white and two mouths had appeared on his body: one under his Adam's apple and one on the back of his left hand. I still remember the scream my wife let out when she saw him." explained the old man, recalling the day like it was yesterday.

Lugh and Bridget exchanged a look before standing up, with him asking the mayor "Where is Sava's parents' house located?"

---

"So that's his family house?" asked Lugh, looking at a rather ordinary house while sitting outside a bar with a cold drink in hand "The two people I saw entering a while ago should be his parents then."

"Pretty much."

Lugh wasn't exactly happy with the situation they were in, as his enchanted senses seemed useless. For him that was a very normal house and there was nothing strange; even when Sava's parents arrived he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, since he could hear their heartbeats very well. Standing up, he left some jewels on the table and walked towards the house, followed by Bridget, and when they were beside the building, in a small alley, he told her "Make sure no one sees me."

She arched an eyebrow but said nothing and stood at one end of the alley to observe the surroundings, while Lugh flared up the tip of his right index finger before resting it against the wall of the house for a few seconds. When he removed it, he narrowed her gaze Well, this is strange."

Bridget approached him and looked at the wall, noting that there was no sign of burns, despite being a normal brick wall.

"I told you his flames are inferior."

The swordswoman chose to ignore the comment "I don't sense anything particular in this house, so the illusion must be very powerful."

"Shouldn't illusions break once touched or spotted?"

She shrugged "I don't know, but if we're going to settle this, we need to get back out of town."

Lugh grinned in satisfaction, his fists flaring for a moment "Finally we can fight with someone!"and with a quick step, he set off towards the road by which they had arrived. They took a few more minutes to arrive than before, as they didn't want to run out of breath, but when they were sure they were alone, Lugh took a deep breath before shouting "Come out now! We know you're around here and you can create illusions and enter other people's minds! Personally I'd like to fight a bit but if you're not a bad person we won't hurt you!"

No one answered him and it annoyed him quite a bit but when he started to look around, he almost jumped back in surprise because, if there was nothing in front of him first, the next moment there was what looked like a child with short, black hair standing in the middle of the road a few meters from him. Standing at just one meter and forty-seven centimeters tall (4'10"), that child must have been Sava judging by his all-white skin and, strange to say but true, the two extra mouths he had: one on the back of his left hand and one under his Adam's apple, visible above the collar of his dark blue shirt, combined with gray, low hanging pants and a pair of light brown, lace up riding boots, complete with a special bandolier around the waist with twelve small daggers inserted into it.

His bright violet eyes were watching the pair of wizards while a cheerful smile was visible on his lips, in fact all three of his mouths were smiling.

Lugh was silent for a few seconds before asking him "Are you by any chance Sava Erunant?"

"Yep! That's me! How do you know my name?" asked Sava before tilting his head to the side "Oh you asked the mayor about me? It was a great idea! He always knows a lot! Once we asked him to help us with some hornet stings and-!"

"Oi oi! You just read my mind right? Could you please not?" said Lugh with a scowl on his face "I don't like knowing that someone can easily read my mind."

"Oops sorry! I didn't know that was a problem!" Sava said with a completely shocked face before smiling again as if nothing had happened, looking at the mouth on the back of his left hand "Years ago it was a very fun game, you know?"

"Ooooooooooo!"

Both Lugh and Bridget couldn't help but be slightly disturbed to hear both mouths making a strange sound, but then they were confused to see Sava's expression turn into a mask of sadness and sorrow "But then Fletcher told me it was boring and we didn't play anymore…" to then come back smiling again and look at the two wizards of World Slayers "Maybe we can play right?"

"No…no, I think I'm good, kid…" said Lugh slightly taken aback by those sudden changes of mood, since Sava didn't seem to be pretending 'Luckily I'm used to Kiro and his third eye otherwise I would have been much more disturbed by those mouths.'

"You know someone with a third eye?! It must be amazing to have a third eye, I wonder if he has to use more eye drops than a normal person! There was the old baker who, however, had only one eye and therefore-!"

"Didn't I just tell you not to read my mind?!"

Sava smiled even more at him "But it is fun!"

'Fucking brat…'

"Oh I'm not a brat!" said Sava chuckling together with his extra mouths "I'm just very short!"

Lugh arched an eyebrow "I find it hard to believe, I'm nineteen and twice your height. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-eight!"

A record came to a screeching halt in Lugh's mind "What…?"

"That means I'm older than you!" Sava then looked at Bridget "What about you?"

She preferred not to answer him but when Lugh, without any hesitation, said "She is twenty-six." she shot him a glare which he ignored without any remorse.

"Oh…so I'm older than you…"

"And why the fuck were you laughing when you found out you're older than me but you're sad with her?!"

Sava was smiling again "I don't know!"

"Are fucking with me?!"

"Nope!"

"Kill them. Please."

Bridget again ignored the voice of her sword even though she was rather tempted to go off on her own and leave those two to talk. The only thing she was happy about was that they had quickly discovered the architect of that situation, or at least she hoped "Are you by chance a God Slayer?"

Sava blinked at her with surprise clear in his eyes "That's correct!"

"So are you the one who cast the illusion in that city?"

The shortest of the three cocked his head slightly to one side "Illusion? There's no illusion there."

"We got to see with our own eyes the illusion that surrounds your home." continued Bridget, not understanding whether Sava was lying or not "Unless there are other mages in town who can create illusions, you created it."

Sava quickly waved his hands in front of him "No no, I didn't create any illusion! I haven't actually used many of my powers since the monsters stopped attacking the city."

Lugh sighed before looking at his traveling companion "Look, it's clear that this…guy isn't exactly sane but since he's a God Slayer, or so he says, we might as well do what the Boss Lady told us." he then looked at Sava "We are both members of World Slayers, a guild made up entirely of slayers. Would you be interested in jo-?"

"YES!"

Lugh winced at Sava's sudden scream that even surprised Bridget for the speed with which he had accepted the proposal "Are you really sure? Don't you live here?"

"Yes but I have been wandering in these mountains for several weeks now and I've been looking for a new family since my parents…" both Lugh and Bridget saw Sava's face twist for a few seconds, as if something was wrong or he was trying to remember something, but then he shook his head and smiled at them "No, my parents are fine and I'm sure they would be very happy for me!"

Bridget and Lugh exchanged a long look and the younger boy looked at Sava, crossing his arms over the chest "If you don't mind me asking, how come you were wandering around this fucking mountains instead of staying at home?"

"I...I'm protecting the city from monsters!" replied Sava after flashing that frown again "Monsters roam around here all the time after all!"

'So he's probably the reason why the city hasn't been attacked in six months.' thought Lugh with a small grin, figuring that Sava was currently strong but the idea of facing a mage with the features of a child wasn't exactly appealing to him. However, there was something that didn't add up. The mayor had told them that six months ago a large horde of monsters had attacked the city, Sava had protected them like many other times but then his physical appearance had changed and since then he had done nothing but roam the mountains. There was something decidedly strange, and Sava's behavior only reinforced that idea, however Lugh didn't have a chance to think about it for long as he saw the other boy shiver a little before focusing on the city on the horizon with confusion in his eyes.

"Something's wrong?"

"Uh no, not really…it is as if I had just experienced a strange sense of itching but without having the opportunity to scratch as I wanted. I once fell into an anthill and was bitten by dozens of ants, I was itchy for days and had no way to scratch anywhere, so I-!" while Sava continued with his story and Lugh tried to make him give up, Bridget decided to ignore them and slightly draw her sword.

"This god's lies are falling apart but not at the hands of this man-child. Someone or something is interfering with them."

Bridget looked at Sava again 'He must have been looking towards the city because he sensed his illusions were being attacked; this confirms that he created them even if he says he didn't …is it possible that he doesn't remember?' she then looked at Lugh "Something is happening in town. Someone or something is interfering with that illusion."

Lugh looked at her confused, wondering how she knew, but still decided not to ask her anything and just ignited his fists for a moment "If so, I'll go check!" and without waiting for an answer he ran in the direction of Antirrhinum Town while two jets of flame exploded from his back "Hell Flame Dragon's Fierce Wings!"

With a mighty leap, Lugh jumped up and thanks to the two huge wings of fire created by his spell, flew quickly towards his destination, leaving Bridget with Sava. The girl was about to follow him on foot when she felt a hand grab her own and, looking down, she saw Sava holding her right hand with uncertain eyes "Are you both going to town?"

For just a moment, Bridget looked at him with total indifference, freeing her hand from the boy's grip before walking down the road "That's the plan."

"Kill him. He's a lowly God Slayer. He's a nuisance!"

She shot a quick glance at Sava, who seemed torn between following her and staying where he was, and as her hand approached the hilt of her sword, the words that echoed in her mind were very inviting.

Far too tempting…

---

Lugh landed just outside the city so as not to scare anyone and then started running towards Sava's house, noticing from a distance that there were many people gathered near it and that one side of the house was badly damaged. As he got closer, his nose was suddenly assailed by a strong stench of highly decomposing flesh, and thanks to his height, he was able to see what was going on while staying behind the other people.

The town mayor was in the front row and, like everyone else, was looking in shock and fear at the two decomposed corpses near the damaged house; both corpses were missing their heads, as if they had been blown off judging by the wound on their necks, and with them was also the decomposed corpse of a monster slumped against the damaged wall of the house. Still, looking at those bodies, Lugh could only sense a feeling of familiarity, as if he had already seen the clothes they were wearing…

"Marceli…Eliza…w-what happened to them?!"

A young female voice answered the mayor's question "I'm sorry to day that they've been dead for a long time. Everything you have seen to date were just illusions created by a mage."

Looking in the direction from which the voice was coming, Lugh saw a young woman with long dark-blonde hair and bright, light blue eyes. Her complexion was tanned, giving her an almost bronze color and this highlighted the particular light blue nurse attire she wore, combined with simple boots, although the thing that most clashed with her appearance were the sword hanging from her waist and the small round shield strapped to her left forearm.

'Those are some strange tattoos…' thought Lugh, focusing on the bright red tribal tattoos which covered much of the girl's visible skin. He then saw the girl draw her sword and move it slowly with the point close to the ground. She did so for a few seconds, even taking a few steps in the process, and when she stopped, out of nowhere appeared the decomposed corpses of what must have been two girls and a boy, all three with their heads exploded.

"W-What is this?!" yelled the mayor as some of those present backed away in fright, hiding the children to prevent them from seeing the macabre sight while the young swordswoman looked on sadly.

"These are just parts of a big illusion, but sadly I'm not able to dispel it completely." she then moved her gaze to the mayor "I have to find the mage responsible for all this so I can undo the spell."

"W-Wait…that bracelet…it can't be!" a woman in the crowd pointed to a bracelet on the wrist of one of the two dead girls before looking at a young woman beside her who had the same bracelet and, Lugh noted, the same skirt as that corpse. Before anyone could react, the swordswoman stepped in front of the two and made a small cut in the girl's arm, which dissolved like an illusion under the shocked and horrified eyes of the townspeople.

"She was an illusion too…I'm sorry about this."

Within moments total chaos erupted as that woman, along with her husband, wept in despair while the others wondered how this could have happened, but it all got worse when a man screamed "It's Sava's fault! Only he could do such a thing! His powers have always been sick and absurd!"

"Yes he protected us but it was dangerous! He must have killed his parents and his friends!"

"Didn't he disappear the day after that massive monster attack?! Do you remember how he changed?!"

"He fell victim to that god whose powers he used! He fooled us all! He ran away leaving behind an illusion of our loved ones!"

'This isn't good.' thought Lugh looking around 'Now everyone thinks it's his fault and I can't really blame them but…'

"You there." Lugh returned his attention to the swordswoman, who was now looking at him with cold eyes "You don't look like a local to me and you're not fidgeting like everyone else, plus I sense magical power coming from you. Who are you?"

Before he could answer, the mayor stepped forward, having recovered from his shock "He is an emissary of the Magic Council. He just arrived with a girl to investigate something magical that is apparently causing problems."

The girl's gaze seemed to grow less cold "So they too have sensed the presence of this illusion. In that case, I'd propose a temporary partnership to find the perpetrator of all this and have him undo his spell."

'Fuck this shit…it is clear that she wants to kill Sava. You wouldn't tell from the voice but I sense some killer intent coming from this girl, also directed at me for some strange reason.' he sniffed the air a couple of times 'It's different, but her smell is remotely similar to Nox and others at the guild…could she be a slayer too? However, I cannot agree to help her without making the situation worse.'

"Ah so you have already found him by chance?" asked the blonde girl, surprising him "You hesitated when I asked you to find him and you are reacting minimally to my presence, seeing me as a threat…which means that you have probably already found the one who cast this illusion."

As one, most of the crowd turned to Lugh and dozens of questions and demands rained down on him, asking him to capture or kill Sava, tell them where he was, and more, but he didn't mind too much (even if all those voices were starting to bother his enchanted hearing), still keeping his gaze fixed on the swordswoman "What do you want to do with him?"

"Kill him, of course." said the swordswoman with a cold tone of voice "Deluding an entire town, making someone believe their daughter is still alive…killing the one responsible seems to me the only solution."

Lugh said nothing for a few seconds, but then a hungry grin formed on his lips and his body was completely engulfed in flames, causing the townspeople to flinch back "Well it looks like I'll finally be able to fight someone. I'm sorry for you, but Sava has already agreed to join our guild and Boss Lady would fucking kill me if I let a new member die before I've even introduced them to her." he took a few steps forward, stopping a meter away from the swordswoman "And it's clear that you're not going to leave with just an invitation, which is perfect for me!"

"As I thought…" she hissed, gripping her sword with strength "You mages don't deserve to exist in this world."

Lugh didn't seem at all bothered by her words and nodded towards the nearby mountains "Fighting in the city doesn't seem right to me if I want to let loose a bit." and without waiting for an answer, he again created two large wings of fire before leaping up and soaring in the air, heading for the edge of the city.

The swordswoman saw him fly away before turning to face the citizens "I can't bring your loved ones back to life, but I promise you I will find and kill Sava for what he did…" then sprint at superhuman speed in pursuit of Lugh, letting her last words be blown away by the wind "…and the same goes for any mage who tries to defend him."

---

Lugh had landed for a few seconds when he heard the girl coming and was pleasantly surprised to see her emerge from some bushes before stopping abruptly a few meters from him, the sword already held in the right hand.

"You are fast!" said Lugh with a grin on his face, cracking his knuckles "Very good! Finally a fight where I can have some fucking fun!"

"If you face me, I will kill you. No one will mourn the passing of a mage."

"Not a fan of mages huh? Eh not that I give a shit. You want Sava and this seems to me a more than reasonable assumption to make our fists speak for us!" said Lugh before wrapping his fists in powerful flames "But before that, I think it's fair to introduce myself. Name's Lugh Atlas, the Guardian of the Sun Village!"

The girl didn't answer for several seconds but then assumed a fighting pose without losing her cold gaze "I will indulge you before killing you. Momonary Sachie, the Mage Hunter."

The grin on Lugh's face seemed to grow fiercer "Good, now that I know who I'm fighting…LET'S FUCKING GO!" and with a violent burst of speed, he was immediately in front of Momonary, with his right arm drawn back and ready to strike "Hell Flame Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Momonary immediately raised her left arm to protect herself with the shield, her eyes widening in shock as she felt the power of Lugh's attack. Upon impact with her shield, there was an explosion of flames and she was thrown back several meters, digging two furrows in the ground with her feet, but she still managed to stand without losing her posture, although her left arm was slightly numb.

"Interesting, a shield that is immune to magic huh?" said Lugh looking at Momonary's shield, completely free of dents or burns. Wanting to try a different approach, Lugh arched his back and puffed out his cheeks after inhaling deeply "Hell Flame Dragon's Roar!"

A huge stream of flame was released from his mouth towards Momonary, destroying and burning everything in its path but his opponent didn't move from where she was and raised her sword towards the sky. Gripping her weapon tightly, she lowered her sword with all her strength when the jet of flames hit her, obscuring her from Lugh's vision who, after a few seconds, broke off the attack, carefully observing the curtain of black smoke in front of him. His enchanted ears immediately heard a heartbeat ahead of him, and as the smoke cleared, he saw his opponent still alive and with only a few light burns to her limbs and clothing.

'Now I know that sword can also neutralize magic, it seems that her title is not just for show.'

Setting ablaze his fists, Lugh lunged at her again and tried to strike her in the face but Momonary raised her shield and blocked the attack while deflecting his arm upwards, then trying to slash him sideways. The Dragon Slayer took a quick step back to avoid the blade before attacking his opponent on her exposed flank but Momonary spun quickly and managed to intercept his second attack with her shield as well, however this time Lugh didn't get off balance and put more pressure into his attack. However Momonary didn't back down and managed to hold her ground, surprising him.

Now, Lugh was more than certain that in terms of physical strength, he was among the strongest in the guild without a doubt, yet this smaller girl (he was at least a head taller than she was after all) was able to stand up to him. Taking advantage of that brief moment of stalemate, Momonary tried to hit him in the abdomen with a front kick to make him recoil but was surprised when her leg penetrated Lugh's body, now entirely composed of flames. Her leg was engulfed in flames but she managed to retract it immediately, suffering only a few burns, and then leaped backwards, but Lugh didn't give her a chance to catch her breath and started pressing her with a quick series of flaming punches.

For a few minutes, the two opponents faced each other in an incessant hand-to-hand fight, where Lugh remained almost always on the offensive, forcing Momonary to use her shield most of the time even if she managed to wound the Dragon Slayer on the arms thanks to her sword. Lugh then attempted to side kick her and she swung her shield to protect herself but was knocked up by the angle of the blow and, finding herself in mid-air, she was unable to resist another attack from Lugh, who crashed her violently to the ground.

Lugh was pleased to see Momonary get up almost immediately, albeit with a few more scratches "By using only sword and shield you have given me more satisfaction than many of the wizards or monsters I have faced in the last few weeks! You made my fucking day! Looks like you're worthy of that title of yours!"

"You are not the first mage I face." said Momonary with a cold tone of voice "Nor the first Slayer."

That particular piece of information piqued Lugh's curiosity "Oh really? What kind of Slayers?"

"An Ice Dragon Slayer and an Earth Devil Slayer." explained her without moving a muscle, her sword still ready to strike "You mages who possess this kind of magic overestimate yourselves too much and boast of having a unique magical power, but in the end you die like everyone else."

Lugh chuckled for a few seconds, his muscles just barely relaxing "Well I can't speak for the others, but I don't feel that strong. After all I'm just a simple village kid you can find anywhere." the next instant, he was again in front of her, ready to strike "Now enough talking! Give me your fucking best shot! Hell Flame Dragon's Claw!"

Spinning around, Lugh hit Momonary with a roundhouse kick made even more powerful and fast by his flames. She managed to protect herself with the shield but was unable to withstand the force of the attack as before and she was thrown through several trees before impacting against a large rock, opening several cracks in it. Spitting some blood, Momonary then fell to her knees, driving her sword into the ground for support.

'He doesn't feel that strong huh?' thought the swordswoman while gripping her weapon 'Of course he was lying about his true abilities, but it's undeniable that he's much stronger than most of the mages I've hunted.' she got up, staggering slightly and saw Lugh rushing towards her to keep fighting 'I hate doing this, but if I want to kill him, I can't do otherwise.'

"Oi oi oi! Don't tell me you've already lost the will to fight!" shouted Lugh before leaping at her and aiming at her face with a punch. Much to his confusion, Momonary didn't try to block or dodge him but simply took a step forward and the next instant, Lugh's fist impacted her face making her head literally explode in a black goo.

'What the fuck?! I didn't put so much force into that punch that it could smash a human skull!' he thought with shocked eyes before noting that Momonary was still standing 'Wait. That ain't blood, it's-!'

Stab!

Feeling a twinge of pain in his left leg, Lugh looked down and saw Momonary's sword thrust into his thigh but then he realized that the black liquid was fast reforming her head and…why were her cheeks swollen?

"Ink Devil's…!"

"Oh you gotta be fucking kidd-!"

"…Rage!"

A powerful jet of hot ink was released from her mouth, striking Lugh point-blank and sweeping away trees and rocks behind him. Taking a deep breath, Momonary looked at the expanse of ink in front of her and saw Lugh trying to get up, spitting a lot of ink as he did and cursing like a sailor due to the bad taste.

"I can let you do that." she said before waving her left hand, hardening all the ink on the ground, thus locking the Dragon Slayer in place "With this, the battle is over."

However, instead of looking worried, Lugh laughed but Momonary knew how to recognize an amused laugh and the Dragon Slayer didn't look happy, but rather extremely exalted "So that's why you smelled like Nox, you're a Devil Slayer! This fight suddenly got a lot more interesting!" in a burst of flame, the ink that held him in place was completely destroyed and he scrambled to his feet "But something doesn't add up to me. It is clear that you hate wizards…and yet you are a Devil Slayer! Are you fucking kidding me?"

"That's none of your business." replied Momonary with a low growl before sprinting toward him while creating a magic circle in front of her "Ink Devil's Needle Storm!" before hurling hundreds of ink needles at Lugh, also making use of the ink left around him from the previous attack.

"Hell Flame Dragon's Intimidation!" after generating a massive amount of flame in his hands, Lugh slammed them to the ground generating a flaming shock-wave that destroyed all incoming needles. Taking advantage of her sword, Momonary managed to open a gash in the shock-wave and zeroing the distance with her opponent, who was already ready to strike her with his right fist while she had already pulled her left arm back.

"Hell Flame Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Black ink wrapped around her left arm, taking the form of a piece of armor, and she immediately counterattacked "Ink Devil's Smasher!"

At the moment of impact between their two attacks, the ground beneath their feet cracked before a powerful explosion hurled them both back several feet. Both Slayers quickly got up and Lugh was the first to attack again. Momonary started to intercept him but just as her sword was on just the right trajectory to intercept his arm, Lugh's entire limb exploded into a myriad of snakes made of muscle, sinew, and blood, their teeth formed from shattered bone.

The shock at the sight of such a grotesque sight was such that she did not react immediately when the snakes tore part of her right arm with their fangs, thus ending up the victim of a punch to the face that crashed her again against the rock behind her, destroying it completely. Shaking her head from the blow, she looked up to see Lugh's belly become entirely aflame, with countless ghostly faces trying to get out, screaming her name.

"YoU kIlLeD mE!"

"CuRsE yOu!"

"YoU aRe A mAgE tOo! WhY aRe YoU sTiLl AlIvE!?"

'W-What is this?!' thought Momonary, looking at those faces with clear shock on her face until she spotted the face of a young girl, looking at her with anger 'T-This can't be-!'

"WhY?! wHy DiD yOu KiLl Me?!"

"This is not real! This is not real!" shouted the swordswoman before releasing a burst of magical power that cracked the ground underneath her. When she was done, she looked back at Lugh and saw him, completely normal, albeit with a confused face, as well as her arm.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" asked Lugh with an arched eyebrow "Why did you stop in the middle of the fight?!"

Momonary didn't answer him but looked to the right "Illusions don't work on me directly, I had to expect someone like you would use such a tactic."

Not immediately understanding what she meant, Lugh looked in the same direction and saw Bridget with Sava at her side "You? What are you doing here? Wait…Sava, you used your magic against her?!"

"Yes! I stopped her from attacking you! Although it's quite hard to resist my powers and yet she broke free right away!" Sava nodded with a happy smile on his face while Bridget was keeping her eyes on Momonary "If we face her all three together we can easily defeat her since she is not-!"

"STOP TALKING BULLSHIT!" shouted Lugh, making Sava flinch due to the sudden outburst "Face her all three together?! Using illusions to get me a lucky shot?! Are you looking down on me?!"

Sava blinked a couple of times "…but I'm shorter than you?"

"That's not the fucking point! Don't get involved in my fight! I want to face her alone since this is the first real fight in a while!" explained Lugh with a low growl "Attack her again and I'll turn you into ashes!"

Sava looked at Lugh with sad eyes but nodded anyway before shifting her gaze to Bridget "Do you think he hates me?"

"Don't know. Don't care."

"Oh…are you okay though? Are you hurting somewhere? Once a friend's mom was like you for a few days every month and we scrambled to find out what she had and then-"

'Maybe if I ignore him, he'll stop talking.' thought Bridget, before saying "Make it brief, Lugh. We don't have much time to waste."

"Tch, spoilsport." huffed Lugh while looking back at Momonary who was still staring at him, though occasionally she sent quick glances at Bridget and Sava "Oi, your opponent is me!"

"And who's to say he won't try to mess with my head again?" she asked while pointing her sword at Sava who was now talking to his extra mouths "After everything he's done to the city, I can't trust him."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Sava, looking at her with confused eyes "I've done nothing wrong except kill the monsters around here!"

Momonary glared at him "Do you want to lie to the end? I undid your illusions, now everyone knows what you really did."

"What illusions? I created no illusions! Everyone is happy in town!" Sava shouted back "My parents are happy! Penny, Fletcher and Desna are certainly helping their parents!"

Shaking her head, Momonary looked back at her opponent, who had watched the exchange between them in silence "Maybe he's not exactly sane, but didn't you hear me? I told him not to intervene."

Momonary narrowed her eyes "As if I could trust the promise of such a barbaric mage who burned so many trees without any care."

Lugh's excitement for a good fight faded away "What the fuck is your problem? You've destroyed trees before too! What is it, would you rather face all three of us together and lose? Because in that case I'd rather go out for a bite to eat than stay here wasting time!" he then snapped his fingers "Wait, you are a Devil Slayer! Why don't you join our guild?"

"I will never join a mage guild." was the cold reply of Momonary "My goal is a world without magic, joining you would be a sick joke."

"Then we'll kill you now." said Bridget walking toward her after drawing her sword "It is clear that you are our enemy and wasting any more time would be useless."

Momonary turned to prepare to face her, but Lugh stepped between them, towering over Bridget with wild flames dancing around his body "Didn't you hear me? I'll fight her on my own."

"I don't have time for your attitudes, Lugh." said Bridget, black flames erupting from her sword "We found out what we had to, now we may as well leave. You'll have time to fight when we get to the guild, but she's a threat you're not taking seriously."

"This is my fight, Bridget." hissed Lugh "Let me handle it, and I'll take care of her."

"There's an easy way to solve this, Bridget. You know right? You just need to kill them all. It is the easiest and safest solution. A crazy God Slayer? A Devil Slayer who longs for a world without magic? A Dragon Slayer who just wants to fight? The whole world would be better off without such people. Kill them. Kill them now."

Bridget tightened the grip on her sword and swung to the side, creating a gash in the ground with powerful black flames "I said that I don't have time for your attitudes. Need I remind you who's in charge here?"

The two fire mages continued to glare at each other for several seconds, until Lugh put out his flames, and then set off towards Sava "Still wonder why Boss Lady made you an S-class mage."

Bridget wasted no time in answering him and focused on Momonary, who felt a strong wave of blood-lust coming from the other swordswoman who then pointed her longsword at the Devil Slayer "Now, prepare to die. Fire God's Spear!"

A huge torrent of black flames exploded from the tip of the sword and headed towards Momonary, who used her sword to defend herself but due to the fatigue accumulated in the fight with Lugh, her slash was not as effective as before and she suffered many more burns from Bridget's attack. Seeing that Bridget was preparing to attack again, Momonary thought quickly before puffing out her cheeks "Ink Devil's Dark Mist!" and release a thick cloud of black ink that immediately blocked Bridget's vision, but she still unleashed another attack of flames.

The cloud of ink was easily swept away, but there was no longer any trace of Momonary. Looking around, Bridget tried to locate her but without success, so she turned to Lugh "Where is she?"

"Hell if I know. Why don't you ask your fucking sword?"

Bridget shook her head, knowing she wasn't going to get anything from him. Perhaps choosing Lugh as a companion for this mission had been a really bad decision. Realizing now that Momonary was gone, she sheathed her sword and approached the other two "Let's go home."

"What about the town? They want answers." asked Lugh in a neutral tone of voice, even though it was clear he was angry with her "I saw that girl use her sword to dispel some illusions, and they weren't exactly happy with what they saw."

Bridget shrugged at him "Katharina will take care of this with the Magic Council, it is obvious that the cause of everything is Sava."

"Again with this story? I created no illusions!"

"Yeah yeah we know." Lugh waved him away "Well we might as well head towards the guild, it's a fucking long road."

"How long?"

"We need to reach the country of Iceber, so…very fucking long."

"Neh Lugh…" said Dragon Slayer looked down at Sava "Are you angry at me?"

"…nah, not really. Just don't mess with my fights and we are good."

"I'm glad to hear that!" said Sava with a happy smile on his face before floating on Lugh right shoulder, sitting on it.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"I'm small! I can't walk that much!" explained Sava without losing his smile "I mean, once I went around all the mountains but it took me a week, but I was able to face a gigantic hungry bear and-!"

"My suggestion to burn them both to ashes still stands."

Bridget looked at her sword "I know, but Katharina will be mad with me if I do that."

"Hey did you just talk to your sword? That's so cool!" said Sava, looking at her from his perch "And you're also a God Slayer! What's your god's name? Did you find a special stone tablet too? How long have you been using his magic? Is it a strong or weak god? Weaker than mine by any chance?"

"I command you to kill this impertinent man-child right now!"

'Just ignore him…ignore him…'

While Sava bombarded Bridget with questions and she ignored him without deigning an answer, Lugh could only put a hand on his face and drag it down with a desperate look.

'I fucking hate my life…'

---

[North of the country of Bosco/ 20th July X786]

"Here we are." said Mathias, stopping the cart a few yards from what looked like a small village surrounded by wooden walls with a large wooden door to enter. Most of the trees near the walls had been cut down, most likely to build buildings and the aforementioned walls, and Mako could also hear the sound of a nearby river.

"This village seems too small to me, is it new by any chance?"

"Well I can't say for sure since I don't pass by here often, but on my old map it's not marked so I'd say yes." answered the coachman, getting off the wagon with Mako and Radogan. The trio then approached the wooden door and Mathias knocked a few times, after which they only had to wait for a few seconds before a peephole opened, from which the face of a young boy peeked out.

"Who are you?"

"Hello! We are for the job!" said Mako with a smile "We are from the World Slayers guild!"

The boy on the other side of the door watched them carefully "Wait here, I'll go get the boss." and closing the peephole, they heard him running off. Fortunately they had to wait only a few minutes before the door opened and two boys equipped with leather armor and spears came out, together with a man with a short black beard and dark hair tied in a low ponytail.

"Welcome to Maple Village! I'm Arnold Kottige, the current leader of this place. You can think of me as the mayor of this village even though it's not complete yet." the man introduced himself offering his hand to Mathias, who shook it nodding at his words "So, Kyte told me you're here on a job?"

"They are." said Mathias gesturing toward Mako and Radogan "I am only the coachman who brought them here and will bring them home."

"Hello mister! Name's Mako Maverick and he's Radogan Elgrave! Our guildmaster told us you need guards!" said the shortest of the three, handing Arnold the letter in which the mission was marked together with the seal of the Magic Council and the guild.

"Well I didn't think the Magic Council would act so quickly but it's a pleasant surprise!" nodded Arnold after reading the letter "May I see your guild mark please?"

Mako unbuttoned some buttons on his shirt and showed his blue guild mark placed on the left side oh his chest, at heart level; Radogan simply raised his right arm to show the guild mark on the back of his hand and Arnold nodded at both of them "Well, then I'd say we can start! Before explaining in detail what you have to do, and don't worry it's nothing difficult, I'll show you a little bit about the village." he then looked at Mathias "You can also bring your wagon inside, we have already completed the stables and there is also room for a couple of wagons."

Mathias thanked him heartily before going to retrieve his wagon, while Mako and Radogan followed the village chief inside, immediately noticing that several buildings were still under construction, and although there were mainly workers and builders, there were also women hanging out the laundry, children playing and even a couple of elderly people sitting in front of what must have been the village tavern.

"If you were wondering, this village is relatively new. We started building it about six months ago and we've made a lot of progress." explained Arnold while also pointing at several building and explaining what they were "The main reason we started this village is because of the bandits and slavers who continue to infest this region. Many wayfarers or merchants have been attacked in recent years, yet the council that governs Bosco does nothing about it. Sometimes I'm still surprised that they gave us the green light to start building the settlement, even though they obviously didn't make it easy for us."

Radogan looked for a few seconds at some builders who had swords on their hips, who were moving some wooden planks together with Mako, who had moved away to help them without saying anything to his guildmate or Arnold "No soldiers, just amateurs."

"Correct." Arnold nodded with a sigh "They didn't give us any soldiers to defend us and they certainly didn't give us a hand with materials, but if we can build a village properly, it could eventually become a small city, where people can feel safe and use it as a point of rest during their travels." he then raised an eyebrow when he saw Mako running past him with a basket full of logs on his back, setting it down next to some women who needed it.

Eventually they came to a house that seemed slightly larger than the others and Arnold ushered them to a table before serving them fresh juice "I apologize if you had a desire for beer or alcohol, but at the moment we have relocated all the supplies to the tavern, so at home you will only find water or fruit juices, made by us. If nothing else this area is full of fruit trees and game."

"Oh no problem! It's fine with me!" said Mako before drinking his juice in a few gulps.

"I have to say though I didn't expect that the mages sent to help us would be a child and…a gentleman of the city." noted Arnold, immediately getting a glare from Mako, who was quick to tell him that he wasn't a child. The village leader quickly apologized for his manners and offered him more juice to calm him down, after which he went and sat down in front of them.

"Now that we are calmer, let's get down to business. Your job is to guard the two gates of the village at night." explained Arnold, with a serious face "We have a rotational method of patrolling and guarding so everyone can have a day off and work alternately, however some of my men have had to go off to buy new equipment and materials and i also have two young men who were injured by some wolves. Simply put, we are understaffed."

"Well that sounds easy enough, right Rad?"

"How long will our help be needed?"

Arnold scratched his chin in thought "About a week according to the last letter I got. You will only have to work three or four nights, and as indicated in the mission, in addition to paying you, we will also provide you with room and board, and during the day you will not be required to help us or anything else."

'Sounds like paradise.' thought Radogan while remaining impassive "Should we expect anything besides wolves and bandits?"

The village leader shook his head "No, not that I know of at least. Wolves only bother us when we go hunting, while bandits stopped attacking us about two months ago."

Radogan nodded at him and, after explaining a few more things to them and showing their lodgings, Arnold returned to deal with other matters while Mako immediately went to help some builders together with Mathias; Radogan, on the other hand, went to find an isolated corner and after lying down on a small patch of grass, he closed his eye and began to doze, knowing that no one would disturb him.

Since the sun was already setting when they arrived, they only had to wait a couple of hours before being summoned by Arnold along with two other guards, both armed with a spear and simple leather armor.

"There are two gates that allow access to the village, and we ensure that there are always two guards per gate, along with a fifth guard who stands by in the center of the village, near the alarm bell." explained Arnold, while gesturing to the metal bell near them "There are also some smaller bells placed outside the gates: three slow tolls means that there is something harmless that requires opening a gate, three fast tolls means that I'm needed, a long series of fast tolls means that we are under attack. Everything is clear?"

Mako raised his hand "If we can deal with any enemies ourselves, do we still have to ring the bell?"

"Well…" Arnold scratched the back of his head "You two are mages so you can take care of yourself I guess, but please ring the bell if anything happens. I know you're not from here, but this place is very important to all of us. If necessary, I ask you to defend it with all you have."

"Leave it to us! We'll protect your village! Right Rad?"

Radogan looked at Mako then at Arnold "Sure, we'll keep this place safe."

The village leader smiled at them "Thank you, for everything." and as he walked towards his house, the other two guards went towards the gate by which the wizards of World Slayers had come just before, while Mako and Radogan went towards the other.

After a few steps though, Mako looked behind "Hey Rad, wouldn't it have been better to split up?"

"If something happens I can hear it, plus the village isn't big and, running along the walls, you can get to the other gate in less than a minute." explained Radogan while leaving the village and sitting down on one of the two wooden chairs placed on the side of the gate "Do you think you can go to them if something happens?"

"Sure! Just tell me when and I'll be there in no time!"

"Good." Radogan then removed a small book from his coat and thanks to the light of the torches placed above him, he began to read while Mako began to do some simple exercises with his weapon.

The two Slayers remained in peace for a few hours, with Mako occasionally asking Radogan some questions without always receiving an answer but when the moon was high in the sky, the older of the two suddenly closed his book "Mako." the other mage looked at him "Go."

In the blink of an eye, Mako was already running at breakneck speed towards the other gate and Radogan was left alone in the silence of the night, but after putting the book away he carefully observed the forest in front of him 'If they don't want to come out, I certainly won't call them, but I'm afraid they won't let me be in peace.'

As expected, an arrow aimed at his head shot out from the darkness of the woods ahead of him, but Radogan cocked his head slightly to the side to avoid it, letting it stick into the wall behind him. Thanks to his enchanted hearing he heard someone cursing softly but said nothing, and after a few seconds he saw some figures walking towards him. In a matter of minutes, eight bandits armed with various weapons appeared in front of the Dragon Slayer, trying to intimidate him but Radogan didn't bat an eye.

"You are not from the village, are you?" asked one of them, pointing his axe at him "I've never seen you before."

"I'm just a simple guard." replied Radogan, looking at each one of them. At first glance they looked like mere bandits and he sensed no magical power from any of them.

"Well I'm sorry for you but you're an unlucky guard, you're also alone!" said the bandit, laughing with the other at Radogan's misfortune.

Radogan, in response, shrugged "He will take care of the other group of bandits that are coming from the other side of the village." the bandits' laughter ceased as soon as they heard those words "Since your plan of attack fell through, why don't you just walk away?"

"We can not do it, pretty boy. In that village there are several workers, women and children, which means money. They'll bring in a lot of jewels when we sell them as slaves." said a bandit with a lance in his hands "In fact you don't look bad at all and you're dressed quite well, I'm sure some noblewoman will buy you as a sex toy despite those bandages."

"So you are bandits and slavers. I guess you can always fall lower." said Radogan before standing up, in the meantime taking off his glasses and placing them in an inside pocket of his coat, which he then removed and, after folding it, placed it on the chair.

"Oh? What's this? The pretty boy wants to fight?"

"I promised to protect this village, so I can't let you through." said Radogan while pulling up the sleeves of his shirt "However, you can still leave without a fight."

"Fat chance, pretty boy!" shouted a bandit before attacking him with a side slash using his axe.

"You swing is too wide." taking a quick step forward, Radogan slammed his left shoulder against the gunman's arm, preventing him from completing the attack, before hitting him in the pit of the stomach with his right fist. The bandit let out a silent scream and his eyes rolled up before he fell to the ground, unconscious. After observing his handiwork, Radogan looked at the others "Had enough?"

Letting go of wordless battle cries, two bandits tried to attack him in the flanks with their swords but Radogan quickly moved his arms and grabbed the hands holding the weapons, before crushing them, breaking all the fingers and the handles of the two weapons. The two bandits fell to their knees screaming in pain but Radogan paid no attention to them and concentrated on the big bandit who tried to hit him from above with a war hammer but, much to their shock, the Dragon Slayer caught the head of the weapon with his left hand without taking any damage.

"H-How-?!" the bandit had no way of understanding how it was possible that Radogan punched him in the stomach and, like the first bandit, he too fell to the ground unconscious.

"What the hell?! How can he be so strong?!" shouted one of the four remaining bandits "He should just be a city pretty boy!"

"Tch! The boss won't let us get away with it if we fail tonight! Might as well use those damn puppets!"

Radogan watched one of the bandits pull out a strange device on which a spherical Lacrima was visible and, after the bandit pressed it, his enthralled senses became aware of movement behind some trees. Within seconds, three figures wrapped in large black hooded cloaks peeked out from behind the bandits and Radogan narrowed his gaze slightly 'I thought they were just some bandits who stayed hidden since I could smell similar to the others, but I don't hear any heartbeat.'

When the three figures were in front of the bandits, a blade pierced their cloaks and tore the cloth to pieces in a few seconds, revealing what appeared to be mannequins, completely white, with a humanoid shape and two circular Lacrima instead of eyes. Radogan also noticed that, from the elbow down they had only two large blades, while from the knee down they had two large spikes that left holes in the ground with each step.

"Kill him!"

As the three dummies lunged at Radogan, a single thought crossed the Dragon Slayer's mind.

'Why do I have a feeling that Katharina knew it would end like this?'

---

"Water God's Bellow!"

A swirling jet of of black water easily swept away four bandits, making them end up in the branches of some trees, while Mako stood still in front of the village gate together with the other two guards. The God Slayer had been there for less than a minute, just as a dozen bandits had appeared near the village, and he had already defeated eight of them without any difficulty. The other two guards had been tempted to ring the bell right away, but it was clear that Mako was much stronger than those bandits.

"B-Boss! What do we do? Nobody told us anything about a mage!" wined one of their enemies, looking at large man with a round belly and several chains wrapped around his arms. He was a huge man, about two meters tall, completely bald and with several scars on his face, and it was clear that the other bandits were afraid of him.

"What do we do? We kill that brat and then we think about the village! Doesn't seems too hard!" barked the man while glaring at Mako, who glared back at him.

"I'm not a brat, and it seems to me that you are not making much progress!"

"That may be true, brat." said the boss, grinning when he saw Mako get even angrier "But let's see what you will do against them." and after showing him a strange device, he pressed the Lacrima upon it. Three figures wrapped in large cloaks approached the bandit boss before sharp blades tore the cloaks apart from the inside, revealing the bodies of three mannequins identical to the ones that had just appeared before Radogan.

The boss grinned at Mako "Now let's see how these Dolls fare, since we have been assured that they will be very useful to me."

The God Slayer eyed the three new opponents, holding his weapon at the ready "And who is it that assured you that?"

"Ah, you don't need to know, after all these three Dolls will tear you apart in seconds." chuckled the huge bandit before pressing the Lacrima once again "Kill him!"

The three Dolls immediately lunged at Mako, preparing to strike him with the blades they had instead of arms. Mako blocked an attack from above with his spear, but when the other two Dolls tried to attack him from the flanks, he leapt back before attacking all three of them with the same attack he'd used to wipe out several bandits. The vortex of black water hit the three opponents but when they were on the ground it didn't even take them three seconds to get up.

'They are definitely more resilient than a normal person.' thought Mako before side-stepping a lunge from a Doll, he then used his spear to attack it, but before his attack could land, he was forced to use his weapon to block another Doll. The third mannequin came up behind him and tried to pierce him with a spike but Mako managed to twist his torso just so that he received only a flesh wound before leaping on top of the first Doll and putting a few feet between them.

Mako immediately realized that he couldn't hope to beat those three Dolls by facing them at the same time, so he prepared to separate them when one of the two guards flanked him "We'll help you! Those things look very dangerous!"

"No! Stand back!" barked Mako, looking at the guard with firm glare. When the soldier of fortune tried to argue, the God Slayer shook his head "They're too dangerous for someone like you, plus there are still bandits out there and they might take advantage of them." and to make his point even stronger, he moved his head towards the leader of the bandits and his underlings, who were still on the road, intent on observing the fight. The guard looked reluctant to stand aside, but finally nodded and walked over to his companion, who had one hand ready to ring the alarm bell.

Mako refocused on the three Dolls and darted towards them; they mimicked him immediately but the God Slayer wrapped his left arm in a large amount of black water "Water God's Slinger!" before hurling dozens and dozens of water bullets the size of golf balls. The two Dolls on either side avoided the attack by leaping aside while the one in the center crossed its blades to protect itself, being slowed by the flurry of blows.

The mage of World Slayers immediately took the opportunity to throw his spear, with all his strength, against the Doll on the right, managing to pierce its chest and make it fall to the ground. Turning then to the left, he avoided being decapitated by the third Doll before hitting it point-blank with a jet of water from his mouth that hurled it several meters away from him.

'That one will take a few seconds to get up and the other one is still down so I just have to face one!'

Focusing on the Doll that had tanked his previous attack, Mako ran up to it just as the dummy was about to attack and crouched to avoid both enemy blades, before looking up and puffing out his cheeks.

'Lugh showed me this attack last time we sparred! I should be able to replicate it! Water God's Blade of the Depths!' and releasing his attack while keeping his lips much tighter, Mako fired a compressed jet of water that easily pierced the Doll's left shoulder, whereupon he quickly swung his head down and the blade of pressurized water sliced diagonally through the Doll's body, splitting it in two. Both parts of the Doll fell to the ground and Mako could see a particular Lacrima placed inside the mannequin's chest, even though it was now extinguished having been cut in two.

'Uh...I wonder if Rayleigh has something like that inside of him too.'

"B-Boss! He destroyed the Doll!"

"I can see that, you fucking fool!" growled the leader of the bandits, glaring at Mako "These Dolls were supposed to be indestructible but it turns out that's not true. It doesn't matter, the brat no longer has his weapon! Kill him now!" and pressing the Lacrima again, he made the other two Dolls immediately stand up.

Mako didn't hesitate for even a second to extend his right arm towards the Doll to his right and the next instant, Trishula was forcibly removed from its body before flying into his waiting hand. As soon as he had the weapon in his hands again, Mako used it to deflect a few slashes from the other Doll before thrusting it between its legs and using it to knock his opponent to the ground. The God Slayer was then quick to pierce its chest, where he now knew the Lacrima was, and to destroy it, completely neutralizing the Doll, after which he turned to face the last remaining one which tried to hit him by quickly rotating its entire torso, becoming something akin to huge circular saw.

Mako immediately raised his spear to protect himself and several sparks flew from the continuous impact between the Doll's blades and his weapon, until both enemy blades shattered on the shaft. The Doll stopped instantly as it saw that its blades had been destroyed and Mako was quick to stab his weapon through its chest, a little higher than where he'd hit it before, destroying the Lacrima inside.

Drawing a long breath, Mako then looked at the bandit boss with a smirk on his face "Now it's your turn!"

"Tch! Useless Dolls! This is the last time I'll let that woman fool me." said the boss of the bandits before snapping his finger. Behind him, one of his underlings took a scroll out of a bag and spread it on the ground, creating a magic circle under them. In a dazzling purple flash, the bandit leader and his minions, both conscious and unconscious, vanished into thin air, surprising Mako and the two guards.

"It's the first time I've seen a scroll with a teleportation spell inside." said one of the guards while Mako frowned at the spot where the bandits had vanished "Is there any problem?"

Mako shook his head before smiling at him "Everything's fine! Stay here while I go see how Rad is doing! I will come back as soon as possible!" and without waiting for an answer, he moved away to go towards his guildmate, without realizing that the eyes of the Dolls on the ground were still lit and intent on observing him…

---

Radogan dodged a blade, losing a small strand of hair, before spinning around and punching the Doll that had attacked him with a punch to the chest that knocked it away without destroying it. There were some cracks along its body, due to the blows suffered by the Dragon Slayer, and the same was true for the other two Dolls, one of which had also lost its left arm.

'Their body is definitely made of enchanted metal, otherwise they should have already fallen apart after all those blows.' thought Radogan while also keeping an eye out for the remaining bandits, two of whom were carrying bows. Thanks to his hearing he had heard the end of Mako's fight and could hear him running towards his position, so soon he would have someone to lend him a hand. Two Dolls tried at that moment to pierce him with quick kicks but he backed away to get out of their range. One of them, the one with only one arm, then lunged forward and forced him to take a side step towards the Doll he had just struck but which was already ready to attack him from above with a blade.

Momentarily cursing his lack of attention, Radogan twisted his torso and raised his left arm to protect himself; when the blade came down, it bounced off his limb but the Doll immediately tried again three times in rapid succession until its blade broke, falling to the ground. For a single instant the Doll observed its arm and then that of Radogan, still covered by bandages albeit slightly torn in some places.

For his part Radogan, as if to understand what the doll was thinking, gave it a small nod "Yeah."

The Doll had no way to react before his arm moved at quick speed and Radogan's left hand closed around its head, crushing it instantly. The Dragon Slayer then easily lifted the dummy and used it to crush the Doll with one arm to the ground, before throwing it at the other Doll and hurling them towards the group of bandits. The Doll left on the ground tried to get up but a spear stuck in its back and immediately after Mako landed on its head, crushing it "Hey there Rad!"

"Oi, but hadn't that brat gone before?" asked one of the bandits.

Mako heard this and, after drawing his spear, grinned at the remaining bandits "If you were wondering what happened to your boss, he just escaped using a magic scroll!"

"Impossible! He had three Dolls with him!"

"Crushed them." chuckled Mako before looking at the lone Doll who was now advancing toward them despite being at a numerical disadvantage. Without even waiting for Radogan, Mako lunged forward and after avoiding a slash from his opponent, he used his spear to pierce through the Doll's chest, defeating it. When the mannequin fell to the ground, Mako saw the other Doll with its head smashed and, just to be sure, he stabbed that one through the chest as well before looking at the bandits, but he was especially disappointed and offended when he saw that they were already running away, taking with them the four defeated by Radogan.

"Are all bandits cowards these days?" he then looked at Radogan "Are you okay?"

Radogan looked at his clothes for a moment and had to admit that he was not happy with the cuts suffered in his fight with the Dolls, at least he had spared his coat. Shrugging, he sat down beside the gate "I'll live. You may go now."

"Huh? You say they will try to attack the other gate again?"

"Something like that."

"Oh! If so, I'll go check! If you need help, ring the bell!" before walking away again, leaving Radogan alone, who didn't wait even a minute before pulling out the book and starting again, ignoring the bodies of the three Dolls in front of him and basking in some healthy peace and silence.

---

[Maple Village – North of the country of Bosco / 27th July X786]

Exactly one week had passed since Mako and Radogan had arrived and, apart from the clashes of the first night, nothing had happened. Both had done their night work as required, and Mako had also helped out in the village with Mathias, while Radogan had mostly isolated himself somewhere to read or sleep, if he wasn't eating or drinking. The sun was already setting and the two mages were inside the tavern, where Arnold had decided to offer them a hearty meal to thank them for their help.

"So you're going back to your guild right away?" asked Arnold while sipping his beer.

"Yeah! I want to try to go on a mission with everyone before the end of the year!" said Mako, eating a slice of watermelon with a very satisfied expression on his face "Also I would like to see other places in Ishgar."

Arnold chuckled a bit "Wanting to explore the world is always a good thing. Now that we have new materials and all the farmhands are back we can go even faster and finish the settlement. Maybe one day I will travel too."

The tavern door opened at that moment and a young man very similar to Arnold, but with short hair and slimmer physique, entered. The newcomer immediately saw the headman and waved at him "Brother!"

"Gabriel!" the man stood up and went towards him to embrace his brother "What are you doing here? You told me you'd be spending at least three months up north!"

His brother scratched the back his head with a nervous laugh "Yeah, that was the plan, but I guess fishing is not my forte, not when I almost got caught by sirens."

"You have been attacked by sirens?!" Arnold grabbed his brother by the shoulders, looking at him with worried eyes "Are you okay? Were you injured? How did you survive?!"

After calming down his brother, Gabriel began to tell him what had happened "Well I was off in my boat when I heard a melodious voice coming from the water. As you can well imagine I went overboard and found myself surrounded by several sirens, and just when I thought I was doomed I heard a very loud sound! The sirens immediately ignored me and moved away before a girl with long dark hair pulled me to safety, I swear I would have mistaken her for another siren if she didn't have legs. I owe my life to that sorceress."

Arnold breathed a sigh of relief before looking at his brother with a raised eyebrow "Wait…how can you tell she was a sorceress?"

"Oh because while she was taking me to shore, a siren tried to attack us, but this girl turned around and even though we were underwater, I heard her screaming Siren's Cry or something. Maybe I heard wrong since we were in the middle of the sea and I was quite shaken by what was happening, but you can be sure that her magic was incredibly effective against mermaid!" Gabriel admitted before speaking of something else, not having noticed that Radogan had remained motionless with the pint of beer inches from his lips.

'Calm down, the tavern is, unfortunately for me, quite noisy and there are several people talking. Mako is eating and I have the Lacrima to communicate with Katharina, so there's no risk that-'

"Hey master! You won't believe what I heard! Apparently a man was saved by a Siren Slayer up north!"

Stiffening, Radogan glanced slightly to the right and saw Mako holding a spherical Lacrima in his hand, in the center of which the excited face of Katharina was visible "Really? I didn't know that kind of magic even existed! Great find Mako!"

"Mako." the younger boy looked at Radogan "Why do you have that Lacrima?"

"Oh! I took it yesterday while you were taking a bath to ask the master a few things! I forgot to give it back to you, sorry!"

"Luckily you forgot, because I'm sure otherwise I wouldn't have known about this possible Siren Slayer so soon." said Katharina, staring at Radogan with a knowing look "Well never mind, now that we know we have to intervene! Before returning home, go north and try to find out something about this Siren Slayer, they could be a great addition to our family! As long as you agree Mathias."

"No problem, Katharina. My carriage is at your complete disposal." said Mathias with a wide smile.

"Perfect! Good luck with your search, guys!" and with those words, the communication ended.

Mako looked at his guildmate with an excited expression on his face "Aren't you excited Rad? We will meet a new Slayer!"

The two Slayers stared at each other in silence for several long seconds until Radogan returned his attention to his beer.

"You don't want to know my answer."

---

[Country of Sin/ 27th July X786]

The moon was high in the sky when a figure entered an elegant office decorated with furniture of exquisite quality and with precious paintings hanging on the walls. He was a middle-aged man, with gray hair pulled back in a low ponytail, a finely trimmed goatee and bright blue eyes, dressed in finely crafted black and gold clothes.

"Is it done?" asked a woman sitting behind a dark oak desk, busy signing papers. It was impossible to see even a hint of her face, as the moonlight, thanks to the silk curtains, cast a shadow that cut perfectly into her image, giving her an air of mystery.

The man raised a black-gloved hand to his heart, then bowing his head "Everything went according to your orders, Lady Superbia. That group of bandits has been completely silenced."

"Very good, Gregory." she seemed pleased with the results "Now we have one less worry."

Gregory nodded before looking at her "Did you find out anything about it, My Lady?"

"Yes, indeed I have." she moved a large spherical Lacrima in front of her and in a few seconds he saw the faces of Mako and Radogan, intent on fighting the Dolls, sometimes as if in first person and other times from an external point of view "The boy with the blue and white hair is a God Slayer, while the other has shown no signs of magic other than his superhuman strength and stamina."

"I see. Do I need to find and kill them?"

"No, not yet, my dear. However I can't help but think how strange it is that there are all these Slayers on the loose, and even stranger is that I don't recognize this mark." the image in the Lacrima changed again, showing the symbol on the back of Radogan's hand "It's likely a guild mark, but I haven't heard of newly founded guilds."

Gregory was silent, waiting for his mistress to tell him what to do but his eyes were fixed on that symbol: a human skull pierced from above by a dagger.

"Be a dear and find me what you can about it, but don't take more than three days. You will also need to attend the next meeting, along with the other Sin Slayers." said Superbia before moving the Lacrima to the side.

"Is it time to train the Wrath Sin Slayer properly, My Lady?"

She let out a sigh "I'm afraid so. Lord Ira has already sent me a letter, requesting for you to tutor him in the early days. Apparently he is unable to control his anger."

"It shall be done, My Lady." nodded Gregory before moving toward the door.

"Gregory?"

"Yes, My Lady?"

"What's in your pocket?"

The man stood still for a few seconds before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a coin-like object, flicking it with a single finger on Superbia's desk.

Thanks to the moonlight, she could see in detail the medallion belonging to one of the Ten Wizard Saints, completely covered in blood.

"I sincerely hope this investigation yields promising results, My Lady." said Gregory, a smile hidden in his voice "Otherwise I might have to hunt even bigger targets just to not get bored. These days, I can't find anyone worthy of me."

An amused laugh echoed through the office before Superbia spoke "You really are a huge mass of pride and arrogance, you know that right?"

Gregory chuckled back before walking out "That is my Sin, my dear teacher. That is my sin."

TO BE CONTINUED…

---

Here we are with a new chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! I apologize for the long wait but between work and family problems I had less time than expected to write! I sincerely hope you are enjoying the story and, for those who are participating, I hope I have done justice to your OC! Unintentionally this has become the longest chapter so far!

In this chapter we got to know some rather particular Slayers and we also got a hint of the Pride Sin Slayer!

I still hope you enjoyed the chapter! As always, the discord invitation is always active on my bio and currently registrations are still open, even if there are few spots open left!

With that said, I hope you have a good weekend!

See you next time!

OC list (created by you!):

- Radogan Elgrave, created by: alucard deathsinger

- Mukuro Murasaki, created by: Lezusia

- Kris Bliviah, created by: Singofffan

- Kiro Jarndyce, created by: theotakureader101

- Rayleigh Whitlock, created by: pricefree

- Palomita Alvarez, created by: JackHammerMan

- Brigid Sorren, created by: News Boss

- Mako Maverick, created by: Sweet brisk

- Bridget Kaelan, created by: Wolf0830

- Lugh Atlas, created by: King0fP0wers

- Sava Erunant, created by: Deadly Animals Are Cute

- Momonary Sachie, created by: klbubblepop786