Rubbing the back of my neck, I approached Mira and Erza, who were lying together in a small crater, covered in numerous injuries from our spar, though I was the same as well. 'Tsk, this bump won't heal for at least a day!' Touching the red bump on the top of my forehead, making me resemble a unicorn, I inwardly cursed Erza's mace, which was lying off in the distance, coated in my blood.
We ended up fighting for several hours, and although I refrained from using magic, which earned me an excellent workout, my lovely siblings were unable to defeat me. However, it wasn't because they were weak; they just had an unfortunate matchup. Both Erza and Mira were primarily close-combat mages; Mira was a master at hand-to-hand combat, and Erza's swordsmanship was arguably the most impressive in all of Fiore.
'Granted, she used a mace to fight me, but she used it similarly to a sword.' It was just when it came to close-combat, I've never lost, and to top it all off, I'm accustomed to fighting multiple people at once, so even against two, it didn't make much of a difference; of course, beating the two of them wasn't easy without magic, but it wouldn't be training if it were.
Standing at the edge of the crater, I looked at my two little sisters, who were too exhausted to even argue with each other. "How come the only time you two get along is when you're beaten senseless?" Other than a pair of annoyed gazes, I got no response, causing me to smirk as I landed beside them.
Lying between them, I quietly yawned and gazed up at the red-tinted sky alongside Erza and Mira while they recuperated; befitting of their S-class mage status, it didn't take them more than ten minutes for them to recover somewhat. "Better?" "No thanks to you, big bro." "Heh, don't be such a sour loser, Mira." "Oh, just shut it." Laughing, I sat upright and aggressively rubbed Mira's head, causing her to swat my hand away while scoffing.
"I heard from Cana that you were the one who attacked the Magic Council carriage containing Jose Porla." Snorting, I made a mental note to punish Cana in the future for spreading false information. 'It's true I killed Jose, but no one knows I did, so she's just framing me!' I've always been a good liar, not the best, but I was confident most wouldn't notice, yet Cana could read me like a book sometimes. "Tsk; I wish, though, do remind me to punish Cana when we return to the guild."
Standing up, I pulled both Erza and Mira to their feet, prompting them to use clean magic, which erased the aftermath of our battle from their bodies. Except for their injuries and ruined clothes, they looked spotless. "Tsk, such a useless magic." Unfortunately, my words earned the ire of both of them as they glared at me while pointing their fingers at my cheeks. "Hmph, maybe for a MAN, but for us, it's a necessity!" "Yes, I agree entirely." Seeing how the two opposites were siding together, I rolled my eyes and nodded, not wanting to further anger them over something so pointless.
"Also, big bro, we're not children; you don't need to lie to us." With an endearing expression, Mira smiled my way. "We're both mages; we've killed more than our fair share of people." Nodding sternly, Erza folded her arms and walked to my left. "Hmph, I'm not lying." "Fufu, yes, whatever you say, big bro." "Let us return to the guild."
Taking the lead, the three of us walked through the forest, heading back to Magnolia, only now that Erza and Mira had recovered somewhat, they went back to their usual ways and started fighting, yet it wasn't the typical kind. For the next half-hour, they spent it fighting for my attention while constantly attempting to seduce me, which was more exhausting than arousing, though I did find Erza's poor attempts at seduction rather cute, so it wasn't a complete waste.
Once we arrived at the guild, instead of the usual cheerful atmosphere, it was a bit dull, which was unfortunate as it meant there was no one to tease the blushing Erza; however, not only was the atmosphere low, but there was a group of girls I'd never seen before. 'Wait, no, I think I might've seen that girl… Maybe not?' Freeing my arms, which Erza and Mira had locked within their own, I approached Laki, who was conversing with the group of women.
"Laki, what's going on?" Tapping Laki's shoulder, breaking her away from her conversation, she gave me a troubled expression before sighing, causing me to raise an eyebrow. "Haa, for some reason, Loke broke up with all his girlfriends and has officially left Fairy Tail." 'Now I know why the atmosphere is a little dull; a guild member leaving, especially one as long as Loke, isn't a fun moment. Still, it's weird; why would Loke suddenly leave like that?'
Furrowing my brows, I could do nothing but rub my chin in confusion. "Eh, Loke left the guild?" "Why would he do that?" "Haa, I don't know. Lucy said she'll check on him; speaking of her, she's been gone for a few hours now." "Tsk, knowing that womanizer, he probably already seduced Lucy with his glib tongue." I couldn't help but lightly chuckle at Erza's words, as it was a possibility, considering it was him.
"Ha, relax, Erza; you can badmouth him after he returns." Pushing off the bar, I gently patted Erza's shoulder, causing her to sigh and nod while Mira poured herself a shot. "I would like it if Loke returns, but he's left Fairy Tail." With a shake of her head, Mira downed the shot while faintly sighing, causing me to grin as I slammed my hand onto the bar and grabbed the bottle of liquor. "Loke left Fairy Tail? Says who? Fairy Tail is a family; you can't come and go as you please in a Family…"
Pouring the entire bottle of liquor into my mouth, I smashed the empty bottle onto the ground while exposing my bloodlust that's grown from the countless mages, enemies, and beasts I've killed, causing everyone within the guild, even Mira and Erza, to be scared stiff. "Unless said person in question defeats me, NO ONE can leave Fairy Tail!" Unluckily for me, my display of force awoke a grumpy man from his slumber, causing me to be smacked to the ground.
"Rein that bloodlust in you, brat! You're scaring everyone!" Hearing that obnoxious voice, I grumbled under my breath and rubbed my head as I raised my head, eyeing Gramps standing on the bar while pointing at me with his enlarged fist. "Tsk, this is why Laxus calls you an old fool, Gramps." "Why don't you let this 'old fool' teach you some lessons then?" Sadistically smiling, Gramps enlarged his entire body until he was a miniature giant, completely towering over me.
I wasn't foolish enough to challenge Gramps; well, to be honest, I might've been stronger than Gramps, but he was pretty much like my father, so… "Tch, I'm going to drag Loke back; don't try to stop me, either." "I had no intentions of doing so." Waving my hand, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and exited the guild, sighing in relief as I managed to escape punishment. 'Alright, since Cana isn't with me this time, it looks like I've got to do things myself.'
Bringing out a lock of Lucy's blonde hair, which she sheds a lot of, by the way, I used my magic to enhance my senses as I inhaled Lucy's scent before taking a few moments to sniff the air. "What's that man doing? He looks like a creep sniffing that hair." "Yeah, but he's sexy." "Ahh, that is true. I wish he were sniffing my hair." Ignoring the comments I've gotten all too used to, I locked on Lucy's scent and swiftly chased after it. Leaving Magnolia, I took the dirt path that Lucy took, though halfway through, a bright light from my right illuminated the sky, causing me to stop as I covered my eyes. "God dammit, who did this?"
Cursing, I opened my eyes when the light vanished, only freeze in place when I stared wide-eyed at a massive floating dude in a suit of armor; at first, I thought I was seeing an illusion, but I quickly ruled out such a possibility as I would've seen right through it with my enhances senses. "Fuck me." Although I wanted to continue chasing after Lucy and Loke, there was no way I could just ignore this crazy phenomenon, especially when it occurred this close to Magnolia.
"He looks like he would be a fun opponent to fight." Licking my lips, I enhanced my body partially and dashed towards the large dude floating in the sky, tearing across the ground as I neared him in excitement. It didn't take too long to reach the area where the large dude had appeared, probably only a few minutes; when I leaped down from the top of the waterfall, I was briefly stunned when I saw Lucy, all of her Celestial Spirits, and Loke.
'Okay, what the hell is happening here?'