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CHAPTER START---
Oberon follows the scent of freshly baked pastries up from his library, leaving his fully stocked treasure vault with the new special gifts he acquired from clients during his travels.
Stepping onto the ground floor, he walks over to the living room to see Laxus and Cana sitting on the couch, eating boxed lunches they bought in town. Standing beside them, enjoying her own lunch, Juvia Lockser snacks on a few pastries, wearing a long blue dress that matches her hair, while Laxus and Cana are wearing the usual combat-ready clothes.
"What'd you get me?" Laxus asks as Oberon floats a bag of pastries over to himself, moving to sit on the free couch.
"Catch," Oberon Requips a glowing prismatic Lacrima into his palm and tosses it over to Laxus. "Figured you'd get a kick out of some Primordial Lightning Magic, from a Titan I sealed up."
Laxus stares down at it for a moment, feeling the raw power from the Lacrima, containing lightning more refined than he thought could exist. "I'll play with this later," he stores it away with his Requip Magic.
"I brought more things, I'll bring them to the guild later," Oberon begins eating his lunch. "Anyway, how've you guys been, and why is Juvia just standing there? You can sit down."
"I shouldn't," Juvia says. "My Magic may make a mess, and I don't have the money to replace your furniture. It all looks expensive."
Oberon raises a brow at that, but before he can ask another question, Cana speaks up. "Her Water Magic is incredible. It causes the random rainfall above her, but since she's been actively training it, sometimes her body becomes water. Clothes too."
"Her affinity is that high?" Oberon asks. "That puts her affinity for Water Magic higher than Laxus's for Lightning Magic."
"Gramps said she's only second to your alignment with Cosmic, so don't worry, you're still our #1 weirdo! But check this out," Laxus flicks a metal spoon at Juvia, and before she can react to the impact, her body becomes water, allowing it to pass through.
She focuses her mind, resisting the instinct to become a puddle on the rug. "Please don't do that. If I spill here it'll ruin the—"
"Don't worry about that," Oberon says. "So, Master Makarov wants me to help you get that Magic under control. Should be easy enough. How've you been progressing, Cana?"
Cana summons a few glowing cards in her hands. "I learned a lot of new Card Magic Spells, and I'm even getting a handle of fighting with my Seal off."
"Just don't take that off around my things," Oberon mutters. "Already a miracle Gildarts didn't break my first library."
"Yeah yeah, I know."
"Anyway, Juvia, have a seat," Oberon pats the spot beside him. He sees the girl hesitate for a moment, at a glance at her sheepish stance, he could tell she was worried about being cast away because of her Magic, again. "I'm waiting. If I'm going to teach you, then you're going to have to trust me, and get over the fear of breaking things. It's kind of what Fairy Tail Wizards do…unfortunately."
Juvia nods and takes a seat beside him.
"Anyway. What's your strongest Spell?" Oberon continues eating, now enjoying a boxed lunch.
"Water Shot. I can also control small bodies of water, like a bath tub."
"I guess we're starting from zero," Oberon gets up and begins walking to the door, waving for everyone to follow him. "C'mon, let's start."
They all follow Oberon outside, onto the field in front of his home, overlooking the lake behind Magnolia Town.
"Is this where you train?" Juvia asks.
"Nah, I'm not allowed to train this close to…civilization," Oberon stomps on the ground, using Earth Magic to create four thick stone walls and an above-ground pool. He then turns around to where they're standing, still eating his food, and walks toward them. "Fill this with as much water as you can. I need to see what I'm working with."
"Really?" Juvia asks as Oberon stops beside her. "This is so simple. I was told you could help me best control my Magic Energy."
"I will, but we need to go through the motions. Now maybe you should spend more time following my instructions instead of questioning them. After all, I'm a Wizard Saint, and a better Water Mage than you," Oberon flicks her on the forehead, sending a jolt of pain through her and leaving a small red spot.
"Ah!" Juvia holds her forehead as he walks over to Cana and Laxus, using Wood Make Magic to create a table and bench for them to watch from below the trees. "How'd you do that? I didn't become water, how?"
"Magic," Oberon says before gesturing back to the empty pool.
---One Hour Later…
Juvia holds the edge of the pool, leaning over the side desperately trying to catch her breath. Barely a fifth of it was filled with clear water, reflecting the afternoon sun.
"Wow," Oberon mutters as he floats over to her. "When I scanned you earlier I knew your Magic Affinity for this was good, but to make this much water with your Magic Energy capacity. That's pretty impressive."
"Thank you. Master said my Magic Energy capacity was also impressive."
Oberon shrugs. "I can honestly never tell. When you recover you can show me that Water Shot."
"I can show you," Juvia tiptoes up and dips the tip of her fingers into the water, causing the water level to drop by an inch as she refills her Magic Energy, at the cost of mental fatigue. "I can't do this much, but…"
She raises her hands and points her palms at the lake, and Oberon's gaze shifts to the distant body of water.
Only for Juvia's blue Magic Circle to release a jet of water that barely reaches the other side of the pool, splashing harmlessly in front of them.
'Oh, right. I should really lower my expectations.' He thinks while fixing a smile before she can look over at him.
"That was great, a solid start."
"Your turn," Juvia says. "Master said you could do Water Magic, show me."
"Well, I'm not very good at it since my Magic Affinity is terrible, but…" Oberon points toward the lake with one finger and instantly releases a basketball sized jet of ultra pressurized water, cutting through a piece of the cliff and hitting the lake below. "I have a lot of Magic Energy to make up for it. It takes me a few hundred times the Magic Energy to do the same Spells you do. It really limits my ability to do high level Magics."
Oberon keeps talking for a minute, going on and on about Magic Energy conversion via Magic Affinity, along with a few other relevant things to their lessons. But Juvia barely hears him, only focused on the destruction and volume of the Spell he so casually unleashed.
Before the lesson could continue, a wave of Magic Energy washes over them. Juvia feels it like a steadily rising tide, flowing around and over her, a tsunami that she couldn't fathom, a depth of Magic Energy she didn't think was possible.
Oberon is oblivious to it, as always, but Cana and Laxus sit up as they recognize it. Laxus stares in the direction of the guildhall. "Jura is here, and he's angry."
"Doesn't matter. Master and my dad are at the guildhall," Cana says. "They'll send him here when it's done."
Minutes later Jura is walking along the path to Oberon's home, seeing everyone waving at him. His left hand holds Gray by the back of his shirt, while a boy of similar age that they don't recognize is in the other. Both boys are bickering like feral cats while the annoyed Jura holds them apart.
"Damn it Gray!" Laxus slams his hands on the table. "Did you start a fight with our allies?!"
"Stay out of this Laxus!" Gray yells as he tries to kick the other boy. "Lyon deserves a punch to the face!"
"I dare you to try it!" Lyon avoids the kick, and Jura pulls them apart before he can attack Gray.
"Enough!" Jura yells, his Magic Energy flaring up for half a second. "Oberon, we need to talk to you."
Oberon frowns. "So much for taking some time off. But honestly, I was already getting bored."
Jura drops Lyon on the grass and gently sets down Gray. "Want the long or the short version?"
"Just the Job relevant stuff, you know how I am," Oberon says as they all join Laxus and Cana at the table in the shade. "So, what's up?"
Jura gestures to Lyon. "This one's Master was Ur."
"Ur, the lady they considered for Wizard Saint, but they said she was too weak…which they were willing to overlook if she became a teacher for the Magic Council."
"Yeah well, she's…it's unclear of her current condition."
"You want me to track her?"
"No, we know where she is, but her state is, unclear," Jura says. "Lyon came to Lamia Scale to gain access to the Isgar Archive. He wanted info on a Ice Make Spell, Iced Shell."
"Never heard of it."
"Lyon will explain the details after. But, there was a demon, one of Zeref's. Deliora. It attacked, she used it to stop the demon, Lyon got away and came to Lamia Scale to better understand what happened."
"I made the right decision," Lyon glares at Gray. "Unlike this coward who just forgot about Ur and ran away!"
"I didn't forget her! I came to Fairy Tail, the strongest Wizard Guild in the world, the one with two Wizard Saints. If any place can make me strong enough to protect people from monsters like that, it's them!"
"So Gray was also her student?" Oberon asks.
"He wasn't much of a student," Lyon says, taking out a few documents from his coat and sliding them to Oberon. "I was more studious, took notes, and found all of this about the Iced Shell Spell."
"I was a great student," Gray says through gritted teeth.
"Is that why you can't animate your Ice Make Spells?"
"I don't need to mimic dumb animals to fight!"
Laxus snaps his finger, sending a small jolt through them to stop the bickering. He then turns to Oberon, who is already on the last page of the documents. "Anything?"
"It's a life force burn Spell."
Laxus and Jura grimace at that.
"These notes are incomplete, she didn't want anyone to know this Spell. Not surprised."
"Then how'd you figure it out?" Lyon asks.
"Ice Make Spell matrices are like colorful books, for slow children. No offense."
Lyon crosses his arms. "That means you can help us, right?"
"Yeah, but you won't like the answer," Oberon looks up from the notes, then casts a confused look at Gray, seeing the boy fully naked. "Why are you…what is wrong with you?"
"Damn it!" Gray quickly pulls his clothes back on. "It's a habit I have from training with Ur."
Oberon shakes his head. "Yeah, I'm not qualified to solve whatever that is all about."
"For the record, he's lying," Lyon says. "I had the same training for even longer, and I kept my clothes on. Gray is just a pervert."
Gray tackles Lyon into the grass, and both boys roll around in a brawl. Laxus moves over to break it up while Cana loudly cheers them on, and Juvia looks uncomfortable at the whole situation.
"Is Ichiya busy right now?" Oberon asks Jura, pulling his attention back to the meeting.
"Yeah, why?"
"It should only take a few days for The Christina to get to where Deliora is, we'll give Ichiya a call and see if he'll fly us there."
Gray and Lyon stop fighting and turn to Oberon.
Lyon pushes Gray aside and gets up, walking back to the table. "Are you saying you can save her?"
"That's now how life force burning Spells work. Permanence is the goal, everything else is extra. But I can at least deal with Deliora."
"That's crazy!" Gray slams his hands on the table. "She sacrificed herself to protect us, she sealed it away forever because she knew it was invincible. We shouldn't go bothering it. It destroyed entire cities, it killed my parents, we'd be causing that to happen all over again."
Cana and Juvia are shaken by his words, but those who have seen Oberon fight seriously, or in Lyon's case, have trained with Jura and heard his mentor's words, constantly praising Oberon, are far less worried about a mere demon.
Oberon leans forward, propping his head up on one arm, smiling at Gray. "You're pretty new to Fairy Tail, haven't been around for any of the big fights after the laws changed. But you really don't have to let thoughts like that haunt you. Fairy Tail will protect you. And while I'm here, nothing like that will hurt you. After all, I'm King of the Fairies, protecting you is just what I do…"
CHAPTER END---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]