And we reach the final training chapter! Just to let you guys know, this is less of a training chapter and more of a 'drive the plot forward' type chapter. Very little actual training takes place.
Enjoy!
"Good, now come back and keep level!" Damien back flipped in mid-air and soared back towards his mother, who was waiting for him near a rock. As he got close to her, he smelled ozone.
Shit!" He yelled as he veered to the right away from the lightning strike. He flipped and landed upright, watching as his father stood in his way.
"Almost got to her that time." He replied. Damien's training sounded simple in and of itself. All he had to do was make it past his father and to his mother, who tried her best to give him pointers mid fight.
Now of course enter the fact that his father was the Master of the guild and easily one of the strongest men in all of Fiore, and the task seemed much more daunting. Damien had yet to complete this very simple task, but that did not bother him. First;y, he did not expect to be able to complete it anyway. Secondly, he had vastly improved in the time he'd been trying. His reflexes were incredible, along with his speed and strength.
Of course this all only applied to his human and basic demon forms. Damien didn't dare attempt a Demon Lord takeover. Either of them, for that matter.
Damien was still not accustomed to the fact he had two Lord takeovers. Vantros had explained it well enough, Damien's way of defeating Taisho had gifted it to him, but it was still a little surreal. Especially since he could control it well enough.
But he didn't intent to share that with his parents. Both of them were, obviously, dead set against him ever using the one they knew he possessed, let alone one he stole from a dead man. As Damien watched his father wait for him to make a move, he thought about the reason he was here: The Grand Magic Games. Ultear and the others had wanted to enter and truthfully, he did as well. It sounded like it might be a fun beak from the constant life or death situations they constantly found themselves in. Of course he did not feel like he needed to try all that hard, he was plenty strong, but it couldn't hurt.
"Still thinking it over, princess?" His father taunted, snapping Damien out of his stupor. He grinned.
"Nah, just waiting."
"For what?"
"An opening."
"Good luck with that."
"I believe in you, Damien!" His mother shouted from her rock seat. Damien rolled his eyes with a half hearted thanks. She was trying to help, just not very effectively. Deciding it was time to take action, Damien rocketed towards his father, but was fended off with a single arm coated in lightning. Switching his tactic, Damien rose into the air and started to blast at his father with beams of darkness, but they didn't do anything. All were either deflected or missed.
Damage was not his point.
Using the smokescreen thrown up as a distraction, Damien flew towards his mother, his way wide open. He got close enough to grab her hair when he felt a hand grab his wing. He turned in surprise to find his father next to him.
"Too slow." he reported, using all the upper body strength he possessed to thrown Damien downwards. Nothing he could do would slow the descent, so Damien let himself form a crater.
"Almost Damien!" His mother shouted. "Try a little harder!"
"Not helping, mother dearest." Damien hissed. Standing and dodging the lightning strike that drove him farther away, Damien stopped and once again searched for an opening. There wasn't any though, which was the problem. In the almost three months he'd been looking for one, Damien had learned that hard truth. No matter how hard he looked or how hard he tried, there was never an opening. Bolting forward and getting stuck in a grapple fight with his father, Damien tried to aim an open palm at him and blast away with darkness. This however came to an end when Damien saw lightning crackle from his fathers hands, which were holding him by the wrists.
Boom!
The electrocution followed by the small explosion send Damien flat on his ass. He groaned as his body asked for him to stop.
"Alright..." Damien whispered, his demon form fading. "I...I surrender...Consider the white flag waving."
"Already?" he heard his father ask as he rolled over in an attempt to sit up. "I thought you would've been lasting longer lately."
"Not if I keep getting ten thousand volts in the face regularly." He retorted. As he stood, his mother smiled.
"You still did really good Damien!" She praised. It was nice to hear it from someone, at least. Even if that someone had been doing it for almost three months straight with no basis behind it.
Damien knew his mother liked to be supportive, but her words had really lost their weight.
As he stood and walked behind them slightly back to their camp, Damien pondered when they would return to go to Crocus for the Games. They had predetermined to just meet up there with the others and the rest of the guild, so it was just a matter of when. How were the others? Although he'd done it for a long time, Damien had grown accustomed to having five people with him at all times. Five people in particular as well. He'd see them soon enough though, so no need to dwell on it. As they reached base camp again, his mother turned to smile at him.
"Alright, now it's time for dinner!" she announced.
"Alright well, I'm beat. Make sure you go to bed soon, Damien." Damien nodded at his fathers words as he poked at the fire with a stick. Watching his father retreat into his tent left Damien by himself. A few minutes past, which was filled by the sound of the fire crackling as Damien played with it. Twenty minutes past, and then thirty. After forty-five minutes had past, Damien was playing with embers.
That was his cue to go.
He got up and slowly made his way away from the campsite, doing his best to avoid stepping on anything that would alert his parents to his leaving. If it did happen, he'd just saying he went for a piss. No big deal.
As he reached a rock face near the camp, Damien took over into his demon form and used his wings to climb to the top, coming up to the ledge. As he landed and returned to his human form, he sighed. This would probably be the last night he got to do this, given how long it might take to get to Crocus.
"I'm ready." he said. At first silence replied to him, but before long, he felt the second presence.
"Are you?" Xisplate asked. Damien nodded and turned to face the demon who stood right on the edge overlooking the rest of the forest. "Perhaps you should slow yourself down with this control training Damien, it can really take a toll."
"I need this." Damien replied. "If the day comes where it's inevitable, I need to be able to control you." Xisplate sighed.
"I know that, but why try so hard? Surely if it comes down to it, Vantros would be enough." Damien clenched his fists.
"What about when the GMG ends and the seven months is up?" He asked. Both knew what that meant. Xisplate had said, almost seven months prior at Steph's grave, that one of Damien's friends would die. Neither knew who, and neither knew why. But if it came to pass, Damien was prepared to go to hell and back to make sure it did not. Xisplate did not physically react to this question, but Damien knew he didn't like it.
"And what about it?" He finally asked. "It was foretold one of the seven was to die, I told you this."
"By who? Who foretold such bullshit?"
"That does not matter" Xisplate replied, shutting Damien down so quickly it was like a blur in the conversation. "It was foretold, Damien. You and I do not have a grasp on the reins of fate, at least not a tight enough one to make a difference."
"But who?" Damien pressed. Surely you must know that." At this, he saw it. Clearly. A ripple of irritation crossed Xisplate's face.
"Have you ever heard of the Three Laws, Damien?" The demon asked suddenly. Damien shook his head. "They are the three immutable Laws I as a Demon Lord must follow. One, A living being may never possess my full capability. The power you call upon is only a fraction of what I can truly be capable of. Two, I am never to trespass into the land of the dead within the 12th Circle and raise a soul back to the living. Can you guess the final law, Damien?" Damien shrugged.
"Amuse me." He replied. Xisplate's gaze narrowed.
"I must never, under any circumstances, reveal forbidden knowledge. Fate qualifies, my boy. I cannot tell you." Damien looked past the demon with a sigh.
"And if the laws are broken?" he asked.
"I dare not find out." That was obviously Xisplate's way of shutting the conversation down, so Damien sighed again.
"Alright, let's just get on with this." Xisplate nodded, and Damien took a cross legged seat, closing his eyes.
"Feel it, Damien." Xisplate said, walking near him. "Feel the cold grip of death." Damien focused and, soon enough, felt his body temperature lowering. This was a way to enter Xisplate's form quietly and exit it should he feel his control loosening. "Now, grasp the power in your fingertips, boy. Feel the power of death in your grasp."
Cold sweat was trickling down his neck, but Damien payed it no mind. He focused on holding control of the takeover, but coupled with the assaulting voices of the damned and how cold he was getting, it was rather difficult.
"You're doing just fine. Now, open your eyes." Damien slowly did so, seeing the world around him distorted weirdly. A growl escaped his lips, and Xisplate placed a hand on his shoulder. "Lose it, that's enough for tonight."
"Are you kidding? I can still..."
"Damien." He wasn't being given an option. Damien ceased the takeover and starting panting. Xisplate's takeover used a lot of his magic, and he was already exhausted from that day. "We won't be doing this anytime soon, so go get some rest." He then started to walk away.
"...No ones going to die." The demon ceased walking away at this. Damien looked up at him through cold sweats and labored breathing. "I going to make sure of it...No one is going to die." Xisplate looked back, and Damien jumped a bit.
He looked sorrowful.
"We shall see, Damien."
"Damien, wake up!" Damien jumped in his cot at this, seeing his mother smiling at him.
"Wah? What happened?" He asked, yawning.
"We're going."
"Huh?" Damien felt excitement wind up in him as his mother grinned even wider.
"We're going to Crocus."
Keita had only just gotten back to town when he spotted one of the others. Juno was standing with her mother and talking quietly. Keita followed his father quietly as he walked over to them. The two woman looked up at they approached.
"Rogue." Juno's mother Minerva said with a smile.
"Minerva." Keita's father answered. Juno Orlando smiled at Keita, who did his best to return it.
"Hey Keita!" She greeted happily. "How'd your training go?"
"Alright." he replied quietly. "I think I'm good for the Games." Juno nodded and twirled a stand of her jet black hair around her index finger, a habit she'd had for a long time. "Where's everyone else?"
"Coming, as far as I know." She replied. Keita took his pack off and sighed in contentment as the weight was lifted from his shoulders. He'd carried that thing way to long. "I think I see Rina on her way." Keita followed Juno's gaze, but could not pinpoint their friend.
"Where?"
"I can see her dads hair from here." Upon closer inspection, Keita could indeed see Orga's wild hairdo from where he was. and besides him, stood his daughter Rina Nanagear. While she had the same hair color as her dad, it was much more tame.
Not much, but some.
"Damn it Dad!" Rina shouted, her loud voice reaching Keita and Juno. "They beat us here!" Orga rolled his eyes and pushed his hand down on Rina's head.
"Third's not bad, kid."
"Shut up." Rina glowered at her father as the big man laughed before she made her way over to Keita and Juno. "Hey guys."
"Hey Rina." Juno greeted. Keita only nodded. His friends knew he was a quiet guy. "How'd your training go?"
"Awesome! I totally got a hang of this new spell I've been meaning to try out."
"Cool." Keita listened in on the ladies small talk, looking around desperately for either of his male companions. He didn't dislike the girls in the slightest, but he really needed the company of a man his age in this moment. Thankfully, he could see one coming in the distance.
"He could see Kyoko Lore on her way, Blake by her side. Blake had decided to go with Kyoko and her dad Rufus to train, but Keita had no idea why. Juno suspected the tan mage liked her, but Keita cared not for such matters.
"The gangs all here, then?" Kyoko asked as her dad went to chat with the other adults.
"Save one dummy." Blake replied with a smile. Keita nodded.
"Seems he's late, like always." He said. Rina shook her head.
"Seriously that guy is crazy." She said. Juno shrugged.
"His Dad is Master though, so the training was probably brutal on him." She suggested. Rina made a face.
"Doesn't mean he gets to pander around like he's more important." She said.
"I never said that, he's just a little late..."
"Oh hey guys!" Everyone turned to find none other than Master Sting approaching them, a big smile on his face. "We all ready to go?"
"Basically." Keita's father replied. "Where's...?"
"He's..." Sting turned to find no one next to him. "Oh God damn it. Hey! Hurry up!" A groan came from the crowd. Soon enough, Sting's wife Yukino appeared through the crowd, dragging someone behind her.
"He was busy getting a coffee, Sting-sama." She said with a small smile. Soon enough, Yukino dragged a man through the crowd. That man had grey pants on, a white jacket with a red undershirt, and spiky blonde hair. He also had a coffee cup in his hand and bag slung over his shoulder.
Micheal Eucliffe looked at his mother in dismay.
"That barista was kind of cute." he complained. "I wanted to talk to her." He was, of course, ignored. Micheal sighed and sipped from his cup as he made his way over to Keita and the others. "Hey guys." he greeted. Kyoko smiled.
"Micheal. How did your training go?" She asked. He shrugged.
"Alright." He replied. "Didn't really need it, but..."
"Are you serious?" Everyone stopped and turned to look over at Juno's mother, who had spoken. Sting nodded vigorously.
"Natsu-san told me himself!"
"Wow...Of course they would." Keita's father said. Sting nodded.
"Yep! Fairy Tail is entering the Grand Magic Games!"
Just like that, Keita Cheney, Juno Orlando, Rina Nanagear, Kyoko Lore, Blake Hunt, and Micheal Eucliffe learned just how interesting the Games would turn out to be.
Sabertooth reveal! And Who is this Blake we've met? More to come! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get eight!