28 Chapter 28: Duel Part 1

Beta read by Shigiya and Darklord331

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-Alakitasia, Vistarion-

"You have been busy lately." Said an elderly man with blackish eyes and wavy, grayish-white white hair that roughly reached shoulder-length. Sporting a long, white and purple robe consisting of two major pieces: a long garment that reaches past his knees, with a tattered bottom edge and intricately designed linings on the ends of its sleeves, including a line of dark lozenges, and a shorter, more billowing garment above it, over only his chest area.

Within the halls of the palace belonging to the Spriggan 12, the elite group of elite guards serving the Black Wizard himself — Zeref. The elderly man known by the name of August walked inside a large room dedicated to one of the strongest and oldest members of the Shields. 

In retrospect calling the space inside a room would be an understatement, more of an expanding space of near infinite length, height and width which grew alongside the master's will. A niche form of olden magic that he had mastered many moons ago, one that he carried within his own working space. Yet from the outside one would only see a single palace when in reality dozens of such structures could be fitted here. 

Then again, he did prefer calling it an abstract form of dimension magic that stretched the fabric of space while keeping it stable enough to not collapse on itself and create a black hole… not that it would kill that woman in the first place. She found a way to further enhance it with Universe One, thus making it possible to make this inside an ever changing space where one could get lost for the rest of their lives without proper knowledge and luck.

"So the Wizard King has dedicated his precious limited time to visit me? What an honor." At the end of the room was a voluptuous woman with thickly braided, bow-adorned, scarlet hair with two front braids and wearing red lipstick.

Unlike him, she donned a risqué version of the typical witch's garb with a wide witch hat. Her black top had a diamond-shaped opening, exposing a portion of her under clevage, and a heart-shaped pattern around the borders. It extends down to the navel of her stomach. All in all, calling her captivating and even a goddess to some men would be an understatement, for she also bore nearly identical resemblance to Fairy Tail's Titania. 

"There is nothing to be honored with me when it comes to you, Irene." He spoke gently, his tone similar to a wise grandfather talking to someone from the younger generation, though it was the other way around with her and he knew it. "The turbulence of magic power that washed over from Ishgar all those years ago, you're still searching for the source." A statement more of a question on his part. 

It wasn't so hard to figure out what was going on with her, ever since the incident with the Tower of Heaven, an unusually powerful presence made itself known to the world. It wasn't their majesty who had been gone for a few years nor did it feel similar to Ethernano in the first place. But it was a form of energy nonetheless and August himself grew curious. Unfortunately, tensions between the two continents were high enough due to the war three years ago when the Alvarez Empire launched an invasion on Ishgar itself and he needed to remain here to keep the affairs of the empire sorted. Invel Yura possessed talent in management but still needed more time to grow and develop his repertoire.

"I heard you found an interesting child not that long ago, a wizard you wish to raise into a Spriggan I assume?" Instead of answering his question, Irene changed the topic immediately.

"Indeed, a young girl I discovered two years in the past, traveling the land with her mother. After further observation, I deemed her qualified enough to meet me, so we officially met a few months ago. She has immense potential as a Wizard and has great compatibility with Command T. I have ideas to expand her skill set and have her learn under my wing."

"I sense a 'but' in your following sentence." Irene mentioned without breaking her lecture.

"Hah, but… she lacks any sort of loyalty for Alvarez, any resentment against Ishgar or any desire to face them in the future. I came to learn recently that she even has plans to return to the other side of the world and reunite with a certain friend of hers." Brandish was a diamond in the rough, holding control of a powerful form of magic befitting a Spriggan and in the midst of awakening her secondary magical container without any assistance. "I can sense some wariness from her mother, she doesn't show it on the surface though it is pointless to hide such thoughts from me." 

The woman turned to another page, a smile gracing her face, "Hoh, there is an easy fix to your problems, August. I'm surprised that a wise wizard like you hasn't figured it out already."

"And pray tell of this solution you speak of." 

A strange light flashed by her eyes as her smile turned slightly crooked.  

"Just kill her mother and blame it on Fairy Tail."

"... I'd expect nothing less of the Scarlet Despair."

Her hands stopped midway of turning the page, a chilling aura emanated from her body which carried enough killing intent to render a normal person unconscious just from fear. But to him, it was no different than a harmless breeze of wind. 

"Humph, no need to show me such a sour face — that was just a small joke. And I do recall that I am not particularly fond of this nickname, it's not cute like my old one."

He somehow doubted that was the case, Irene's intentions were hard to decipher half of the time. Whether she was being serious or saying it was a harmless joke, no one could tell. This woman looked human, but that was it. Irene Belserion twisted nature along with her cruelty and lived up to her many titles, the most prominent being the Scarlet Death. He felt that using her old moniquer, Scarlet Angel, did not suit the person as dangerous as this dragon. 

"I very much would appreciate it if you do not use such tasteless jokes with me, I might take it seriously one of these days." She scoffed at his response, not looking the least bit offended by it. "Though I must remind you that as members of the Spriggan 12, it is our duty to lead the empire in the correct path and not let ourselves stagnate with endeavors that promise no result. We have investigated the source of power during the invasion yet our spies have found nothing, not even dust remains of the Tower aside the underwater crater that has long since been covered by nature. Going beyond our truce with Ishtar and may start another war — which also goes against our Majesty's wish to wait and expand our forces first."

"An Emperor who's been missing for years and is hardly ever present to discuss such matters should have foreseen a case like this. And if he really wanted to destroy Ishgar then the war would have ended before it even began. To my knowledge, the Spriggan were created to bring down the black dragon rather than deal with Ishgar."

August couldn't help but sigh, he knew where she was going with this. 

"I'm sorry to say this, Irene, but without the acquisition of Lumen Histoire, all of us combined still won't be enough to kill the symbol of apocalypse. You should know this better than anyone, after all, you did challenge our enemy and…"

"And I lost," she finished his words, having closed the book with a slightly irritated face. "There is no need for you to approach this matter with much caution, do not take me for an immature brat who refuses to admit when something is beyond me. I have already conceded how even if I could fight the black dragon head on, victory is still beyond me. I lack power, time will no longer suffice as he grows equally as fast, planning can only get me so far and using forbidden magic against a beast who can devour all magic is suicide."

"You can't mean," the old man's eyes widened when he started to put together her words. Realization dawned on him when he finally found out why she was so interested in this new power source! "This is madness, a fool's errand even. No matter how strong, it can't surpass the capabilities of Lumen Histoire, that I can guarantee you." 

"I know," she shifted her eyes towards him. "But I do not need or require an infinite source of power to take him down, if by nature this is different than magic then the black dragon won't be able to absorb it and I am not referring to the curse power of the demons. Don't look at me like that, I know you had similar thoughts as well." 

There was no use in lying, August reluctantly nodded his head at her claim. "Yes, I will not hide my past curiosity over such a matter. But, his majesty hasn't given any orders to hunt down this source of power yet, just like us, he must have felt it too. On top of that, there are just too many unknown factors and risks associated with this matter, unlike the Lumen Histoire of which we are not in the dark about."

"Maybe Zeref expects us to investigate this matter on our own. If I recall, no official order has been given by him to the Spriggan to not meddle with this affair. And I am myself very curious about it as well. If this is a physical object we can take back then all the power to us, but if it's a person… you know what that might entail." She smiled coyly, enhancing her already alluring beauty to another level. "I might get a new addition to my children." 

"So you plan to abandon your post and leave." He said coldly, releasing a baleful aura that twisted the space around him.

"Now now, don't make it sound like a betrayal. A few days, that's all I need to verify my theory and return — I have already sent a request to the Emperor with my magic. There should be an answer in the coming days." 

August narrowed his eyes, it seemed like no matter what he said, Irene was dead set on this search. He wasn't completely against it, the woman was loyal to the empire, of that he was certain about. Rather he feared her meddling to cause any unnecessary chaos in Ishgar which might displease Zeref. But if he gave her his accord, then there was nothing he could do but give the woman his blessings. He retracted his aura, returning to the image of a frail old man.

"Then so be it, I shall return for now. My student is waiting for me."

Her sultry chuckle spread across the room, both irresistible and addicting to hear. Though to August it sounded more devilish than anything else.

"See? I knew you were biased towards her, you're getting softer, child." 

"Humph!" 

Only she or Zeref had the right to call him as such, anyone else would be courting death. Nevertheless, she was right, Brandish just had too much potential to just let go so easily.

{Break}

-Fairy Tail-

"And then Broly came out of the floor with a loud bang! It happened so fast that I barely had any time to fight those two idiots from the mercenary guild! Kah! I wanted to fight them so bad!" In the halls of Fairy Tail, Natsu was retelling the story of their quest to anyone that would listen. They all grew used to his habit of becoming the main storyteller for such things even if he only concentrated on the battle more than anything. 

"What about the book?" Wakaba asked, smoking a cigar. "Don't tell me it got crushed by the fat maid chick and you couldn't get it out. Cause that would be hilarious." 

"Nah, Lucy was reading the book the entire time and refused to destroy it. Something about it being rare or something like that, didn't care much about it to be honest." Natsu said, scratching his chin while trying to remember what was the story around it. "Oh yeah, there was also a secret magic message inside the book which Lucy managed to de-deci… dessy…"

"Decipher." His ever reliable blue cat partner came to his rescue. 

"Right, she managed to decibel it and saw our client's father's last message. So we brought it back to him, he touched the book and woosh! The room was filled with letters and they all changed position inside the book to show the real story. It was honestly quite amazing, he was so happy that he didn't ask for compensation to repair the broken roof!" 

"That's because you turned down the reward!" Lucy shouted from the other side of the hall, still salty about not getting paid. If she had an apartment, she would have needed to burn through her dwindling savings just to get by this month. With a sigh, she returned to read the letter between her hands as it uplifted her mood immediately.

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Dear Lucy and Broly,

Sorry I could not write to you often these last few months, my mom and I have been traveling all around Alakitasia lately and finding someone who could deliver a letter to you was quite difficult. Fortunately, I met this really sweet old man near a library who agreed to help me out.

My mom is doing well, she is much more energetic than before and smiles more often, the guilt she had in the past turned out to be a bigger burden then I imagined. Now she is free and grateful, I honestly cannot thank you enough. 

The culture here and its people are vastly different from Fiore. Did you know that every guild belongs to a single person? The emperor to be more accurate, he can and has subjugated all of them through combat and made himself become their leader one by one till all 400 of them belonged to the Alvarez Empire. Yet I never got the opportunity to see his face, apparently it is quite rare to see him make any sort of public appearances. 

Aside from that, I hope you and Broly managed to join Fairy Tail. I promise you that I will keep my word and join you two sometime in the near future. The old man I talked about before, he is actually also a strong wizard! So I became his student. 

Not much else to say really, I will send another letter to you soon and I hope to hear from you soon as well. 

And Broly, I will bring you back a bag filled with exotic meats from here. I know you will love them!

With love,

Brandish

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"Looks like she's doing well, though I should write one soon." Lucy whispered while folding the letter and putting it inside her pocket. It was great to hear from her again every once in a while. "He'll be happy to hear about Brandish." She wondered where the Saiyan went as he was just here a few minutes…ago…

Just as she said that, Lucy spotted the man and to no one's surprise, he was hanging out with Erza in a table of their own filled with weapons of all kinds and… floating armors?

"Fufufu~♪ she's like a small child showing off to her elder brother." Mira came by with a plate of food Lucy ordered as she hadn't eaten much since this morning. "From what I heard, Broly asked her some questions about her powers and she just didn't stop talking the entire time." 

It was just so jarring to see two opposing reactions from a girl like Erza when she was with them and when talking with Broly. With them it felt like they stood in the presence of a suffocating powerhouse who could barely have any change in her expression. Even Natsu and Gray feared her! Yet at the same time, she had to agree that when with Broly, Erza acted like a child sometimes — as Lucy did the same from time to time. 

"I just want her to call him Onii-sama then I can record the moment and blackmail her for a few… favors." 

"Say what?"

"Nothing~!" The white haired wizard said mischievously before walking back to the bar.

It certainly wasn't 'nothing'! The way Mirajane said that line with an innocent face just threw Lucy off. 

Shaking her head, the blonde went to join Cana outside the guild, as the latter promised her to scout for an apartment they could rent. Cana's house was fine, but she wanted to upgrade her living space to something more modern and closer to the guild so she won't have trouble walking back when drunk. They still needed some funds but just looking around wouldn't hurt and Lucy wanted to spend some time with her. Cana, despite her severe alcoholism, was quite mature and knowledgeable. Plus she did want to make new friends.

{Break}

Broly watched as Lucy left the guild hall with plans to check out new houses with Cana, given he had already promised Erza to spend more time with her, he had to stay behind. Not that it mattered if he had joined or not, the man only cared about a nice comfortable bed and those magic boxes that kept fresh food cold to last longer, he discovered it in Cana's house and fell in love with it! 

"Are you listening?" Erza said, seeing that he wasn't paying attention to her and was looking at Lucy's back. The urge to pout grew, though she held it in and just frowned like usual. 

"Haha, of course I'm listening. You were talking about your most powerful armor, the Purgatory Armour and this mace." He picked up a large black mace with six spikes on its edge. Taller than Erza herself and incredibly heavy, it somehow fitted perfectly in his hand with how Broly was moving it around like it weighed nothing. "I like it! I can imagine you swinging such a big club around with ease and crushing your enemies. Even I am scared of it." 

The man couldn't help but grin widely when he saw Erza puffing up her chest with pride. She didn't show it on her face but even her nose flared up… how cute. 

"Yup, It's my last resort armor for most dangerous missions, though I generally just prefer using either the Heaven's Wheel armor or the Flame Empress one. Last month, I had a quest to take down a powerful dark guild called Eisenwald led by Erigor. An infamous dark wizard who was planning on using a flute to cause a mass act of terrorism and murder hundreds of people at a station." Her eyes grew cold when she remembered that disgusting bastard, just thinking about him made her sick as he reminded her of those people from the Tower. 

"How can a flute kill so many people?" As far as he knew, flutes were just music instruments he had seen in many of Lucy's books.

"It's one of Zeref's creations, Lullaby." Both of them were greeted by the sigh of Macao coming to their table with two mugs of beer. "Here, this for you, take it as a thanks for saving my ass… and not eating it. Wait, that sounded weird. I mean, this is for bringing me back to my boy alive."

"Thanks," the Saiyan wasn't a fan of beer, even if he beat Cana back then he still preferred the taste of juice and water. He just drank it occasionally with the card wizard to keep her company. "So, about this flute."

"Yeah, so the flute is a tool and a weapon, the Dark Wizard used it for mass murder. It has the capability of putting a death curse on everyone who hears its melody except for the Caster. Worst of all, in a last ditch attempt at survival it transforms into a large monster the size of a building." Macao said whilst shivering at the image. "I wasn't there mind you, it was Erza and Levy, if I remember correctly. The latter thought it was a good idea to record the battle and show it to the Council in case they tried to incriminate Erza with the destruction that happened that day to the neighboring town. As you may have guessed, we got the chance to view the recording and it was honestly frightening as hell."

"Which was why I used my Flame Empress set to burn the monster and slowly hack it away bit by bit. It nearly fired a large beam that would have destroyed the town so I was forced to use more drastic means and break its legs with my telekinesis. Hack its body to bits with Purgatory… I made sure nothing remained behind." 

"Which was why the Council had such a big fuss about it." Macao laughed, remembering the messenger's gaping mouth when Erza handed over a pile of dust. 

"Woah, that sounds amazing." Broly wasn't a stranger to fighting giant enemies and eating them afterwards — though they tended to rot given just how much meat there was. He alone and Paragus couldn't finish all of it. "I wish I was there too, then I could have tried to have a taste of it." 

"Pft-ahahahahaha!!!" The blue haired man burst out laughing. "Forget it man, it was made out of some kind wood. I'm afraid there was no meat." 

Seeing his dejection made Erza pity him a bit, she wanted to cheer him up. "Don't worry, next time I'm going on a quest to hunt down some giant monsters I'll bring you along!" 

"Heh, I'll be looking forward to it. But, will there be more of these, Zeref's creation?" 

"For sure! The Dark Wizard had an entire book filled with his creations, like seriously, hundreds of mass murdering sentient weapons is scary to think about. I'm glad I wasn't born in an era where that man is walking around, or else I wouldn't be able to imagine the disaster."

This Zeref sounded like quite the dangerous person, and a powerful foe. He still had yet to meet this Gildarts fellow Makarov mentioned about, but if this Black Wizard was even more powerful than him… then Broly felt some slight pity that he couldn't face the guy.  

After that, they chatted a bit more until Macao was called by his son for his daily training with magic. The man excused himself before leaving the two to return back to the previous topic about Erza's armory.

But at the corner of his eyes, he noticed a particular golden sword hidden amongst the rest and he grew curious. It wasn't the size or form of the blade that grabbed his attention, the weapon was a generic double edged longsword with gold coloring — but it was the three words written on the flat side that caught his attention. 

"Hm, this looks interesting." He picked up the sword, it was sturdy and quite bright, though it did confuse him a bit, so he read them out loud. "Come here boy?" 

"—!!!!"

Swoosh

Faster than anything he had seen in the past, the armored girl closed the distance between them and snatched the sword straight out of his hand before making it disappear before his eyes. She sat back down with a neutral face and acted as if nothing strange just happened right now. A prominent red blush started to creep up her cheeks, while her eyes averted his. 

"Uh… what was that all—"

"Nothing! I-It was just a fake sword, a toy I accidentally brought to the ta-table." 

That certainly didn't feel like a toy, Broly admitted that he wasn't someone too familiar with weapons like swords and staffs used by wizards — but calling that a toy didn't seem right. 

"Are you sure? Cause it h—"

"It's nothing!" 

He was cut off again, with Erza insisting on her previous statement. At this point, cracks began appearing on her calm exterior as she was having a hard time containing the embarrassment. That was part of her seduction set Erza bought recently out of… curiosity. 

"Oh my, what do I see here? A flustered Erza, what a rare sight~" Mirajane came to the table with a tray filled with cooked meat and various different dishes before putting it in front of Broly. The latter's eyes started to shine bright, Mira knew how to cook the best and after eating the lunch box she prepared for him — he wanted more. "Woah, slow down there, you might choke." 

It was hard to slow down, the food was just that good. Too bad Lucy went with Cana, he would have called her to have a bite. She started eating less because she was worried about gaining weight but he knew she was just overreacting. Nevertheless, he was taught about table manners by both Lucy and Gretel, so better not forget about them. "Sorry, I'll be careful."

Mirajane chuckled as she watched him struggle to slow down and try to use a fork and knife correctly. She found it adorable with the amount of concentration he put into his action. It hasn't been a week but he already gave her the impression of a giant teddy bear, having both the innocence of Natsu, a height rivaling Laxus and a gentle nature when it came both to people and animals. She joined the duo, sitting down next to Broly while Erza immediately shot her a suspicious glance. 

"What do you want, Mira?" The redhead was having a bad premonition, she knew this demoness for years and despite her current changes, she knew never to underestimate her rival. 

Mira's lips stretched into a bigger smile, having heard the previous conversation between these two along with the sword Broly picked up.

'There's no way I can let such an opportunity slip by.'

"What do you mean by that?" She exclaimed with a frown as if Erza somehow offended her. "I'm just so tired, being a waitress, barmaid, part-time cook and an older sister is no easy thing. I'm just soooo tired after a long day of back breaking work. You don't mind having me here, right?" Mirajane asked cutely, Erza almost gagged while Broly looked genuinely sad and immediately nodded his head. 

From morning till the evening, he only saw her working and working every passing second. Of course, having trained for a few days in a row without resting was a regiment quite common in his life, but having learned how people in this world were not a Saiyan like him and more fragile — he could imagine the exhaustion she must have been feeling currently.

"Eat this." He pushed a plate of steak in front of her. "You'll gain energy." 

"What a gentleman. But I made this for you, a short break will be more than enough for lil old me." Pushing back the plate, a slight mischievous glint flashed by her eyes. "By the way, if you're curious about the armor set associated with that sword, I can show you the real deal with a transformation~." 

"Oh? I want to see!" He didn't hesitate for a second, Mirajane's transformation magic was quite new to him along with so many other magic styles inside the guild. And given how Erza was acting weird about it, so if someone else wore it then it wouldn't be a problem.

"Oh my, how forward," she didn't miss the raging volcano on the other side of the table about to burst at any moment. 

One a single push…

"I can even use it for my modeling career, that's right! You can give me your opinion on my loo—"

"You're taking this too far, Mira!" 

Bam!

A loud bang came from Erza as she stood up and broke the table into thousands of pieces with a single punch. Broly watched in horror as his food fell to the ground. 'I couldn't even get to taste the chicken!'

"What are you doing! Are you trying to provoke me!?" She shouted, making the other guild members start shaking in their boots when they saw who she shouted at. No… the demonic duo couldn't return, right? Gray and Natsu retreated behind the bar counter for cover just in case those two started fighting and didn't target them out of nowhere. 

Mirajane kept up her innocent demeanor and acted clueless.

"Me doing such a thing? Now why would I ever do that? Erza, you're overreacting too much! I just wanted to show off some of your armor sets to Broly over here, what's there to be ashamed about?" 

"You know full well what that armor is and you're trying to embarrass me in front of him!" 

Erza pushed on but Mirajane refused to back down.

"Then you shouldn't have bought such an armor if you never planned to show it off. You can't blame me for wanting Broly to know what kind of taste dear little Erza has."  Mirajane said with a smirk on her face.

"W-Woah!" 

"H-H-Help!" 

"Wah!" 

Several people and furniture started floating in the air, everyone looked at Erza who was unconsciously using her magic on everything around her. 

"You're looking for a fight." Erza stated, cold eyes glaring at the white haired girl.

"But you know I can't do it." 

"..." 

Having no way to rebuke her, Erza could only grit her teeth and grab onto Broly's wrist before dragging him away. "We are leaving!" 

"Eh, where?" He was more than willing to follow her, even if his heart ached for the wasted food. 

"You don't remember? We also promised to have a match for you to measure my current level." Back on the carriage, they made a promise to have a small spar back in Magnolia so that each other can scope out the other's combat skills and magical power. This was partially the reason why Erza showed off her most commonly used weapons to Broly, because she didn't want him to get caught off guard by her swords with differing effects and win the duel fairly. She wanted to show off more but Mirajane had to come and ruin everything!

Seriously, what was her problem!?

"Did someone say fight!?" Natsu hopped onto the counter with his fists covered in flames. 

"Yup, Erza and I will have a small fight for fun." 

When Broly said this, the entire guild broke out into a loud cacophony of yells of shock and disbelief. 

"Yosh! Then I'll join as well!" Natsu ran up to them with a giant smile on his face. "Just you wait, today I'll not only beat Erza — but you as well big guy!" 

The Saiyan smirked, he liked the dragon slayer's enthusiasm. 

"Bring it on." 

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.