51. On The Othersides

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Teams of people were working together to clean out a venue. Some were sweeping up popcorn, some pushing away cages, others folding up seatings and taking apart the large tent it was in.

In the centre of it all was a man, who was stretching and decompressing himself after one of his best performances of the season. Draping his red jacket over his arm, he left with a charming smile that drew a sigh out of those watching him and his toned thighs leave.

Wearing fish nets instead of pants during winter was worth it for reactions like those.

He listened to the bustling energy of the circus encampment around him as things were packed and ready for transport. He tried stifling his mirth over the sheer enormity of the operation, but it was near impossible.

Years of planning and hard work were coming together, and in just a few months time it would all finally mean something.

And if those who weren't working, instead choosing to take joy in drinking, smoking, drugs, and other forms of carnal passion meant anything they too agreed that it was something to celebrate.

Eventually, he made his way towards the outskirts of the camp and away from everyone giving cheery waves, bows, and overly flirty greetings towards him. He even had to go out of his way to give a quick piggyback ride to some kids, but he did somehow, miraculously escape.

When he did, a young man dressed in an acrobat's silks came out of the shadows behind him and bowed from the waist, "Master Walraven."

"Please, Tsun, there is no need for formalities between us," the circus ringleader said as he ushered the man up straight. His voice was dry, and his reply was automatic as if he had said this a hundred times before and this was just him acting on instinct.

"You never know when the flock is watching," the other replied with just as much practice before his face turned stony. "I have interesting news regarding Oni's attempts to steal the Etherion."

"So she actually acted, then? As expected, so eager to prove herself," Walraven stated matter of factly. "Did she miraculously succeed?"

"Quite the opposite. There were only a handful of casualties on both sides when she raided the train, and she ended up summoning the Etherious Demon in the end. Which was then promptly killed."

That managed to make the leader of Beestenbloed stutter before a scowl took over his calm expression. "How? It has a carapace that reflects magic and is harder than tungsten. It should have been impossible for a group of people who only use magic to kill it! We lost thirty-two people trying to translate that damned book to the demonic power used to write them and they just kill it!?"

"It was a demon that killed the Tarrasque. Brute force. She also managed to learn how to free those whom we used the collars enchanted with UDI on before handing Oni over to the Magic Council."

"A demon? Do you think…" he inquired before looking at his friend who had a small smile.

"She confirmed it herself, referring to herself as Aetna the Overlord."

"Perfect!" Walraven roared with a malicious smile.

"I do believe Doctor Ynia would like to hear about this, don't you?" Tsun said as he procured a small crystal orb from his sleeve. His compatriot took it with a smile as it glowed.

In the next instant, the voice of a middle-aged woman grumbled through the communication lacrima. "Eh? What do you want you sentient bag o' dicks?"

Walraven waved off the blatant disrespect while his partner stifled a laugh. "Doctor, as pleasant as always to speak with you."

"Try to kiss my clit another time, will ya? I was working," she chuffed, pointing over her shoulder to the dozens of vacuum-sealed packages hanging from the ceiling. Each one contained humanoids with colourful skin, horns, and tusks connected to breathing tubes, IV drips, and venipunctures.

Walraven's smile steadied itself before adopting the mannerisms of a proper leader.

"Do you remember that conversation we had a while back?"

—

"Lyssa Wisteria. Age: 14. Affiliations: Himura, formerly. Phantom Lord, currently. After having lived in Himura for two years and trained under their captain of the guard, someone who has actively rejected the title of Wizard Saint, she along with one other member of the guard joined Phantom Lord after the city's destruction," Ultear said as she read off the dossiers the wrote on the wizards involved on the train attack to the two people in front of her.

"What has she accomplished during that time?" Jellal said as he leaned on the table.

"Within the two years that she's been with the guild she has accrued quite a reputation. An alcoholic that can and has outdrink the entire guild. A recluse who rarely talks with the guild and instead prefers to either train or study inside of Phantom Lord's library."

"The same one that rivals ours."

"And has a track record for defeating dark guilds that very few in the country, let alone Fiore's biggest guild, can attest to rivalling. A ratio of about three for every month, but that margin has been rising in the past few weeks to a dark guild every handful of days. In terms of magic, she is known primarily for using Fire Demon Slayer Magic that incorporates other forms of fire spells, enough so to be considered an Arc of Flame practitioner. Witnesses have said that her just entering a room increases the temperature to a notable degree. She has also been noted for mastering transformation magic, enchanting, darkness, minor requip, telepathy, and other elements to a very small degree. Cantrips, practically. But considering the amount of time she's been noted for studying, that list is likely quite expansive."

"Even more so than you're presuming," Jellal said with a smile and a shrug. "She has an eidetic memory. A neat little thing that didn't help her much during our time in slavery, but in a library full of powerful spells that can be quite an asset."

"Interesting," Ultear murmured. "Well, the spells are one thing, but her own physical strength is another."

"Wizards having a stronger physique is not abnormal," Jellal responded brushing her off.

"Without the aid of magic, she's been able to win against Hulking Huscous in a weightlifting contest, the guild master of the Hammer Arm mercenary guild who prides himself on being able to carry a block of steel that weighs a ton up a mountain and down again in a single day with only his bare hands. And if my assumptions are correct, the demonic form increases this physical strength immensely."

Those in the room sat in silence as they contemplated that notion. On a larger scale, wizards were unfathomably more powerful by the nature of their abilities than mercenaries who relied purely on physical strength, techniques, and weapons crafted by alchemists. But the weaker wizards? Those who were too old to fight physically or too young and unstudied to fight a foe that specifically studies combat? The average mercenary stood far above the average wizard. Especially when you consider numbers, as mercenaries met wizards in a ratio of 10 to 1.

Alchemists and spirit artists met each other in a similar vein. Ethernano was more abundant than spiria, so the few spirit artists had a monopoly on what was there. Alchemists were on paper stronger than wizards and spirit artists as they didn't need to worry about running out of magic power, but unlike wizards, they had to dedicate their studies almost entirely to the principle of transmutation and people mostly go to alchemists for material production rather than for fighting prowess. As always though, exceptions exist.

Such as the one they were talking about now.

A powerful wizard to be as strong as a renowned mercenary without the need for magic was quite a daunting concept.

Still, though, the Wizard Saint candidate just lazily put his feet up on the meeting table and looked at the third party in the room, "Well, I bet you're pretty happy to see your lil' sis grow up big and strong, aren't you William?"

The twenty-five-year-old, dressed in the same white officer uniform as the other two, sighed as he planted his he waved his prints of the dossier at the others, "I don't care. What I'm interested in is whether or not the mind readers have made any progress in extracting information from the prisoner."

"No," Ultear replied instantly as she helped him ignore Jellal who grew annoyed at their lack of interest, "They've managed to gleam hints of her memories, but everything else at the forefront of her mind are, who we assume to be, Lyssa's memories. Specifically, ones where she had suffered injury or harm on her person, suggesting that she had somehow managed to transfer or share those memories with her and withdrew the information she herself needed. The oddity is that we can't sense any magic used in the method, suggesting she used another power that we have no experience in so we'll have to slowly carve through those memories or help her overcome the trauma those memories inflicted. Considering she's still catatonic, the former seems more plausible."

"I will have to offer my own assistance then," William added.

"Maybe Lyssa has the knowledge about their bases then?" the blue-haired fourteen-year-old piped.

"I thought the same, but we couldn't contact her. She's been a ghost the past two days and no one at the guild has seen her since she left to help with the convoy request, which she shouldn't have even been on by Phantom Lord's own rules which means even the guild master wants to speak with her."

"What do you mean?" William inquired.

"This was an SS-Class mission. She isn't even ranked as an S-Class wizard. If I had to wager it this was probably supposed to be her promotion trial."

"In just a couple of years with the guild? Seems she's giving you a run for your money, 'Siegrain.'"

"Pfft, as if. I'm a Saint candidate. S-Class means nothing."

"No, but the devastation she caused has drawn interest towards her," Ultear interrupted. "There were still seven kilometres between Era and the closest fires, and we could still see the purple light from how high the fires were. Add in the other eight kilometres of forest fire, the levelled hills and mountains, and the giant Etherious, it would be foolish to assume she hasn't gained some attention especially after having saved such a precious resource and a platoon of knights."

"Regardless, we need to find a way to get that information so we can begin figuring out the scope of Beestenbloed's reach and how to take them down," William interrupted before Jellal could begin discussing how he could match her in strength regardless. "I'll go see what I can do regarding the prisoner. Ultear, since she doesn't know you, you should be the one to try and make contact with her if anyone should."

"I'll begin an investigation regarding how to counteract an army of people forced to use Wolfhiem's Ultimate Destruction Incarnate," Jellal answered before William could try to tell him what to do, "With any luck we could also find a way to use scrying magic to track its magic signature."

"Sounds reasonable," Ultear said before packing her stuff, "Alright, let's reconvene in a week to discuss what progress we've made."

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A/N:

Sorry for the short chapter, the next couple-ish will be much bigger narratively, then we'll begin the real big push of the arc. Even bigger sorry for missing a chapter upload, but this time I come with two Star Wars based peace offerings:

For those that Love the Worm series and like Star Wars, this one is extremely good. It's taking characters from Worm with all the memories they have up until their death and putting them into Star Wars with all of their powers intact. And yes, it's gay. It also manages to ride that fine line of comedy and tragedy that I do not know how to write.

The Weaving Force by Ld1449: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43562967

For those that only want a Star Wars centred fic then this one is for you. It's taking Force Awakens Leia from the moment just after Han dies and sending her back into the body of her younger self just before Vader tortures her aboard the Death Star. One thing that the author is really good about, other than writing, is maintaining the status quo of Leia only knowing what she knows. She's not omnipotent and becomes fully aware that her actions can change the future from what she knows will happen.

Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns by chancecraz: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8543680

And for those that want another "Powers and Abilities" chapter for Lyssa, I'll be uploading on the final chapter of the arc before we head into the pre-canon interlude where things will be mostly lighthearted as she won't get any other big power boosts until the 7 Year Timeskip. Because yes, I've thought this out all the way to Alveraz so know I'm hell-bent on finishing this story.