Assessments on Two Fronts

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

January, x781.

Around an hour and a half after Sun arrived at the Fairy Tail guild hall with Elicia and Cana, She, along with quite a few members of the guild were standing on the training grounds behind the guild building. While most of them were there to see how strong the new member is, Makarov was contemplating on who he should have test Sun's prowess.

"Cana, you do it." Makarov said after thinking for a few minutes.

"Whatever you say, Gramps." Cana replied with a shrug before walking from the group of spectators and standing in front of Sun. "I hope you're ready, Sun."

"As ready as I'm gonna be." Sun replied with a smile.

"Sun! Catch!" Gozaburo shouted at that moment.

Looking in her father's direction, Sun saw a sheathed Katana flying through the air. While Gozaburo was standing with his arms crossed and a proud smile on his face, Masa was in the position of having just thrown something.

A moment later, Sun snatched the Katana out of the air. Though the blade was of quite high quality, the handle and sheath were quite simple. On top of that, there was no handguard. In fact, it looked like Sun had only caught a wooden rod to anyone who did not know what was inside.

"Thanks Dad, Masa." Sun said with a smile. Then, she looked back toward Cana. "Now, I can show you everything, ya see."

"Good." Cana said with a smile. "I won't be going easy on you, then."

"Alright, you can begin!" Makarov announced loudly.

As soon as Makarov signaled the beginning of the assessment, Cana reached her hands into the two card pouches on her hips. Then, she swung her hands at high speed toward Sun, throwing several Cards at her.

"[Card Magic: Random Throwing]." Cana chanted as the cards approached Sun from several directions.

With cards flying at her from the front and arching toward her from the sides, Sun took a deep breath. Then, once the cards were in range, she unsheathed the katana in her hands, swinging it at high speed.

*Cling!* *Cling!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*

A moment later, without losing a single hair, all the cards were split in two, fluttering to the ground harmlessly.

Seeing that display, Erza's eyes lit up from the crowd.

"Not good enough to cross swords with Erza, my ass." Cana said with a pout.

In response, Sun only smiled sheepishly. A moment later, however, she put on a serious expression.

"Get ready, Cana, I'm coming." Sun said as she lowered her posture.

In the next instant, Sun dashed forward.

Instead of letting the fight go in Sun's favor, Cana drew several cards from one of the pouches on her waist as she backed away.

"[Card Magic: Wind Edge]." Cana Chanted as she combined two of the cards in her right hand.

After her chant, Cana swung her left hand in Sun's direction, causing a cyclone to rise from the ground just in front of her opponent. Sun, however, did not even slow down. Instead, she took a deep breath. Then, she exhaled that breath forcefully, causing a shockwave to disperse the cyclone.

"[Voice Magic: Howling Voice]." Sun Chanted as the destructive shockwaves cancelled out the cyclone.

Even though she was surprised at the power behind Sun's spell, Cana continued her attack. Combining three new cards, Cana held them toward Sun before chanting another spell.

"[Card Magic: Summoned Lightning]." Cana said as the three cards interacted with each other.

A moment later, Sun was forced to stop and dodge as several green lightning bolts were fired from the cards in Cana's hand. With graceful footwork, Sun seemingly danced around he incoming barrage of lightning bolts with ease.

"[Card Magic: Icicles]." Cana chanted once again.

Before the lightning bolts even stopped, Cana fired a volley of icicles at Sun, who, using her katana, was able to cut them down with no issue. Unfortunately, that was not the end of Cana's attack. Throwing the rest of the cards she was holding forward, the six or seven cards lined themselves up and floated in front of Cana.

"[Card Magic: Explosion]." Cana Chanted yet again.

With that, from each card, a small flame was produced. A moment later, all the flames were connected before being shot in Sun's direction as a much larger wall of flames, obscuring Sun's line of sight on Cana in the process.

Even so, Sun did not slow down her approach. Just like she did with the earlier cyclone, she took a deep breath and used her [Howling Voice] spell to disperse the flames. However, once the flames were no longer in play, she was met with an empty area in front of her.

Before Sun could locate Cana, however, her legs were swept out from under her as the back of her shirt was grabbed. Then, she was slammed back first into the ground. And before she could gather herself, Cana was sitting on her chest with a sharp card pressed against her neck.

"You lose." Cana said with a smile.

"*Pant* You're strong, *Pant* Cana." Sun said between ragged breaths with a smile of her own.

With that, Cana climbed off of Sun. The, after standing up, she offered Sun her hand.

Accepting the offered hand with a smile, Sun pulled herself up to her feet.

"Alright, With that, I think I have a pretty good idea of you abilities, Sun." Makarov said with a smile as he approached the girls. "I'll discuss a bit with the S-Classes and let you know by the end of the day… Once one of them calms down, anyway."

As he said that last part, Makarov looked over his shoulder. Following his gaze, Cana and Sun also looked in that direction. And when they did, they could not help but sag their shoulders with embarrassed blushes on their faces. At the end of their gazes, Gildarts and Gozaburo were snarling at each other with their foreheads pressed against each other.

"Isn't it obvious my Cana is better?" Gildarts said through gritted teeth. "Just look at the outcome of the spar."

"What are you talking about?" Gozaburo replied. "She only won because she has more battle experience. Just wait a year, my Sun will wipe the floor with that girl of yours!"

"I dare you to say that again!" Gildarts replied.

While most of the Fairy Tail wizards headed back inside after the spar was over, some of them stayed to see if the argument over whose daughter was better would devolve into a fight. Meanwhile, Cana and Sun looked away, ashamed of their father's actions.

*Bang!* *Bang!*

"Would you two overgrown children cut it out already?" An angry female voice shouted as both Gildarts and Gozaburo were struck in the head. "Can't ya see how uncomfortable you're makin' the girls?"

Naturally, this voice belong to Sun's mother, Ren. However, instead of her usual attire, a kimono, she was wearing a grey blouse, a black shirt, stockings, black heels, and a white lab coat.

"Mom?" Sun exclaimed as she rushed over to her mother's side. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I decided to take the position as the nurse in the infirmary." Ren replied with a smile as she patted Sun on the head. "Although I'm not as good at healing as Miss Porlyusica, I can tend to less serious injuries."

"Yes, your mother's assistance will be invaluable." Makarov added as he and Cana approached the mother-daughter duo.

'So, she became a nurse here, too.' Elicia thought as she approached with the group of young wizards she trains with.

"Sun, why did you not inform me that you were so good with a sword?" Erza asked with stars in her eyes. "We have to train together. And I'm looking forward to sparring with you."

"Well, Masa taught me." Sun said with a slight blush. "And he always told me that I have a long way to go."

Hearing that, Erza's shining eyes locked onto Masa, anticipating a spar with him as well. Meanwhile, Ren dragged Gozaburo away. Makarov and Gildarts following shortly afterward. They had to discuss Sun's rank, after all. Not long later, only those who intended to train were left in the guild hall's backyard.

Meanwhile, in the forest east of Magnolia, Alfonzo, with a large metal case in his right hand was approaching a house that was built into a huge tree. Once he arrived in front of the door, he placed the case on the ground. Then, he knocked politely.

A few moments later, the door was opened, revealing Porlyusica. To no one's surprise, she was wearing that scowl that is almost always present on her face. However, after she looked over Alfonzo, her scowl deepened at the sight of his missing left arm.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Porlyusica scolded. "get inside so I can take a look."

With that, Porlyusica turned around and walked deeper into the house. Smiling wryly in response, Alfonzo picked up the case he set down a few moments ago. Then, he followed Porlyusica into the house, shutting the door behind him. After a short walk, both Porlyusica and Alfonzo were in one of the examination rooms.

"Shirt off." Porlyusica ordered.

Placing the case down once again, Alfonzo reached over his head and grabbed the back of his own collar. Then, he yanked it over his head.

Wasting no time, Porlyusica got to work. First cutting off the bandages before she started examining the stump.

"The break is so jagged." Porlyusica commented. "How did it happen? What could have left your shoulder in such a terrible state."

"It was a Leviathan." Alfonzo replied. "Got some bad intel on my last quest."

"And you were dumb enough to get that close to its snout?"

"Well, I thought it was dead." Alfonzo replied. "I mean, I blew off like half of its head. Then, I went to magnetize it so we could tow its corpse back to shore. And it snapped at me when I got close to its snout."

"Unless you cut of a serpents head, you should never assume it is dead." Porlyusica said as she continued her examination.

"*Sigh* I know." Alfonzo said in a somewhat sad tone. "And if I weren't suffering from magic power exhaustion, I probably wouldn't have made such a stupid mistake. But Lici, Erza, and I were really exhausted after the fight, so I don't think any of us were thinking all that clearly."

"I see." Porlyusica said as she began wrapping the stump once again. "Just as I thought, you're still no better than any other stupid human. Always making this old lady worry."

Though Alfonzo did not speak, he smiled at Porlyusica's concern.

"So, is your severed arm in that case?" Porlyusica asked as she finished bandaging Alfonzo's injury.

"Yeah, was hoping there was a chance you could reattach it." Alfonzo replied. "The inside of the case is made of frost steel. I learned how to make this thing just in case someone lost a limb while on a quest with me. I made sure to use the temperature you told me about so that we don't have a repeat of Ur's leg."

"Well, based on the shape your shoulder was in, I wouldn't hold my breath." Porlyusica replied with a nod. "But I'll take a look anyway. Open it."

Following Porlyusica's instructions, Alfonzo opened the case. Inside was his mangled, pale, severed arm. Like his shoulder, the arm was broken unevenly. On top of that, there was torn skin all the way down to the elbow.

"It would seem the rumors about Leviathan were true." Porlyusica said. "On top of having rows of teeth like a shark, their saliva has minor corrosive properties."

"Sounds like you won't be able to reattach it." Alfonzo said in a tone that suggested he was expecting this outcome.

"Even if I could, I wouldn't." Porlyusica replied. "So much of the tissue is already dead, no doubt from the corrosive saliva. On top of that, it was torn away so roughly, connecting it just isn't possible."

"*Sigh* I saw that coming." Alfonzo said with a bit of disappointment in his tone.

Although he expected that Porlyusica would not be able to reattach his arm, he still held a bit of hope that she might be able to perform a miracle.

"Even though you can't attach it, can you preserve it? I mean, make sure it doesn't decay any further." Alfonzo asked. "With my mastery over sigils, I can try to restore it at some point."

"I can. But why would you go that far?" Porlyusica asked with curiosity. "Won't a prosthetic like the one you made for Ur be enough?"

"For now, yeah." Alfonzo replied as she struggled to put his shirt back on. "But with magic power, you can theoretically strengthen the body without limits. Eventually, the rest of my body will be stronger than any metal I can make or find naturally. I don't want that kind of weakness."

"Something like that could take decades." Porlyusica replied, approaching Alfonzo to help him with his shirt.

"Haha! Saying that makes it obvious that you've never seen me train." Alfonzo replied with happy laughter.

"Stop laughing like that!" Porlyusica shouted as a broom appeared in her hand out of nowhere.

Seeing the broom, Alfonzo stopped laughing immediately. He still was not in good enough shape to run away from Porlyusica yet, after all.

"Now, follow me. We need to measure your arm for the prosthetic." Porlyusica said as she left the examination room, still carrying the broom with her.