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CHAPTER START---
Aboard The Christina, Oberon hovers in place above the deck while Juvia practices her Water Magic. She scrunches her face, focusing her Magic Energy into the small sphere of water floating above her hands.
It was barely the size of a baseball, but the glowing blue Magic Energy at the core was already a clear sign of her progress. After a few days aboard the airship, she's already made a great improvement in controlling her Magic Energy.
Before Oberon could give the next instruction, the sphere shakes apart and drops to the deck, forming a small puddle at Juvia's feet.
"You need to maintain it longer," he says, but the girl walks to the railing, ignoring him.
"Don't you sense that?" She looks over the side, peering over to see ahead. "All that Magic Energy."
Oberon frowns and floats higher, above the airship. There he sees it, in the biting night air, illuminated by the full moon and clear skies above. A 200ft -60m- wide sphere of translucent blue ice, nestled in the middle of a ruined city along the northern coast of Ishgar.
Around it is a thin layer of snow, while farther away the summer weather is acting as they'd expect for this region, green grassy fields leading into the mountains that surround the region.
With a thought, he casts Telescopic Lens and peers through it. Even from miles away, the large bipedal creature trapped within the ice could be seen, towering over the city, almost as tall as the ice itself.
Before he can fully analyze what he's seeing, Jura's voice snaps him out of his thoughts. "How does it look?!"
Oberon looks down to see everyone gathered on the deck, including Ichiya and his Blue Pegasus crew. He descends back to the deck as the airship descends toward the area outside the destroyed city.
"Looks like a big ball of ice, bigger than I expected though. That's not good."
"Why not?" Lyon asks. "Is it too powerful for you?"
Oberon sighs and massages the back of his head. "Nah, but usually the bigger monsters like this don't have any interesting Magic. From what I can tell Zeref made these earlier when his process was less refined, so they mostly just throw around Magic Energy…so lame."
Ichiya shakes his head. "Something tells me this is going to get added to the list of reasons I don't go on Jobs with you anymore."
"Hey, we were always fine at the end."
"You play too much when you see new Magics, it's not good for my delicate heart," Ichiya says, and Jura nods in agreement.
They quickly land the airship and walk into the city, ruins and rubble are all they see along the path. The abandoned city gets colder with each step toward the Iced Shell. At the back of the group, Gildarts has Cana sit on his shoulder, keeping an eye on the ruins, eventually noticing something strange.
"Looks like these people didn't grab everything," he says. "They left valuable stuff back here. Must have been in a real rush, scared Deliora would break out. The Magic Council quarantines this area, right? It'd be nice to know they can all just come back and get their stuff."
Jura nods. "As far as I know, yes. They relocated everyone to the east of here. It's only been a few months so I'm sure most people are still in the temporary camp, the Magic Council should be able to let them know it's safe to return."
They arrive a few hundred feet from the Iced Shell, stopping in the middle of what was the main road, looking up at the almost glowing translucent ice. Sealed within is the massive bipedal demon with deep blue skin and large claws, its muscular build sending a chill through the less experienced members of their group.
"Damn," Gildarts says. "This could have been an interesting fight."
Jura glances back at him. "More interesting than the horde you were fighting when this happened?"
"Probably not, those guys were…unique."
"So I've heard," Jura turns to Oberon. "What's the plan?"
Oberon shrugs. "Won't know until I touch it. I read the theory about the Spell, but there is really only one way to find out what it does."
They all stand back while Oberon flies ahead. Jura, Ichiya, and Gildarts stand at the front while everyone else takes cover behind them. Everyone looks on in anticipation as Oberon places a single bare hand on the Iced Shell, closing his eyes and releasing a steady stream of his Magic Energy.
The air around him shifts and distorts as the ground cracks. The gentle wind they'd been feeling picks up, now ruffling their hair and pushing the gentle snowfall away from Oberon. Eventually he releases more Magic Energy, enough that his body is outlined by white light for a moment, then it suddenly stops.
He floats away from the Iced Shell, and they all hold their breath for anything to happen. Then a small crack appears at the front of it, only twice the height of Oberon.
"He actually did it!" Lyon and Gray yell in unison, eyes wide as Oberon flies back to the ground.
"I understand the Spell a lot better now," Oberon says. "I let it crash into Cosmic for a while. It's pretty well made, draining Magic Energy from anything that tries to break it, or anything trapped inside."
"So my Crash Magic can't break it," Gildarts says. "That is a powerful Spell indeed. But that's expected considering the cost."
"Yeah. The life force burn part of it is…permanent, so we can't revert Ur. If that were an option the Spell wouldn't have worked this well in the first place."
Gray and Lyon fall silent at that, and everyone casts apologetic looks at them.
"But there is good news. You should be able to use Ice Make Magic to connect with it, since you were taught that Magic directly by her," At Oberon's words, both boys look up at him, more hopeful than before. "I'd like to break or melt the Iced Shell and destroy the monster, ideally the Book of Zeref is in there so we can get rid of it forever. Otherwise it'll just keep appearing in the future. But since your teacher is the Iced Shell, I'll let you explain it to her."
"Wait," Lyon's sad expression is replaced by confusion. "Are you saying she's alive as the ice?"
"Something like that. Both of you should be able to flow your Ice Make Magic into it to talk to her, give it a try, we'll wait here."
Gray and Lyon share an uncertain glance before they nod and slowly walk to the Iced Shell, leaving everyone a few hundred feet away.
Ichiya is the first to break the silence, frowning at the sight, carefully observing the destroyed city around them. "There aren't enough powerful Wizards in the world."
"There will never be enough," Gildarts says. "The monsters will always outnumber us. The best we can do is keep the side of good in the fight. The world is simply too vast for us to do anything more."
"The era is changing," Jura says, his voice low and serious. "My mentor will pass soon, and I'll be made a Wizard Saint. He's been teaching me more advanced things about how this world operates. Each era of Magic is heralded by someone exceptional. It seems I was born at the tail end of one era, and the next is going to be even more dangerous."
Oberon nods. "So someone powerful is going to kick off the next era, sounds intense."
They all give him a bored look, allowing the silence to hang in the air.
"Oh, right. Sometimes I forget how strong I am," Oberon shrugs. "But at least we should have a few more S-Class Wizards in the future. Gray, Lyon, Laxus, Cana, and Juvia."
"Hopefully many more," Jura says. "Also, would you join me at the monastery after this? I do believe the funeral will be held there, and it'll be sooner than we'd like."
"Yeah. I was hoping to get some time in Magnolia after my trip, but some things came up that need my attention." He turns to Juvia. "Do you want to join me on the road and continue training, or head back to Magnolia and wait for me?"
The girl looks up at him, speaking in a quiet voice. "I'll go with you. I want to control my Magic as soon as possible."
They speak for a few more minutes before Gray and Lyon return, fresh tears in their eyes and water stains on their cheeks. Lyon walks over to Jura and silently stands beside him, looking down at his own feet, but Gray looks up at Oberon and nods.
"She'd prefer you melt it, so she can return to the world," he says before moving to stand beside Gildarts.
Nobody asks what the pair spoke about with Ur, understanding that the bond between Master and student is sacred, so in silence Oberon floats out in front of them.
Wearing his casual clothes, he raises his right hand, his short sleeve falling back to reveal the complete marking on his arm.
With a thought, the stylized Fairy Tail Emblem on his forearm glows golden. The glow then flows up the intricate marking on his arm and down to his wrist, but the other two Fairy Tail Emblems -bicep and shoulder- remain jet black on his fair skin.
He floats forward and focuses his Magic Energy, closing his eyes to deconstruct, alter, and reconstruct the Matrix in his mind. In real time, they see a golden Magic Circle appear above the emblem on his arm, the concentric rings empty, slowly being filled by Runes as he constructs a new spell in front of them.
The sight is not lost on them, and would be hailed as an act of divine talent by the entire world from this day onward.
"Iced Shell exists to contain Magic threats. It burns away the users life force to massively increase the power. But there is no such thing as a Magic without weakness. The weakness of this Spell is Nullification Magic, or more accurately, ritual based Nullification Magic, a primordial one that cannot be resists.
The ritual takes years of diligent work, and hundreds of Mages. You need to create a Magic Circle in the night sky to gather and compress moonlight, that is how this Spell can be undone, and the ice can be melted.
The Moon Drip ritual isn't something I have the time or patience for, so instead of altering Fairy Glitter. Fairy Glitter is a blast of pure Magic Energy, but it converts part of the user's Magic Energy into sunlight, which amplifies power, into starlight, which gives it the absolute destruction property, and moonlight, which allows it to bypass defensive Magic.
This Spell is only using the moonlight aspect, and with my Magic Energy, we should have no problem getting it all done tonight," Oberon smiles as he raises his arm to the sky, performing the Fairy Tail salute.
The glow of his markings and Magic Circle disappear, then a moment later a massive golden Magic Circle appears in the clear night sky. It extends far enough that they could just barely see the edge from where they stood in the middle.
The immense light descends on the world as if it were midday sunlight, brightening the world and startling everyone who sees it, but people breathe a sigh of relief when they either see the massive Fairy Tail Emblem in the middle, or the many floating in the runes within the rings.
Gildarts squints while shading his eyes, remaining focused on the rapidly melting Iced Shell. "I should have brought shades," he mutters.
Jura and some of the others keep focused on the Demon, but Juvia stumbles back, amazed at the sight above. Having heard many stories and even seen pictures of Oberon's great feats, he's left in awe at the casual display of phenomenal magic power.
She looks down at her own hands, the hands that struggled to make a small and basic Magic Circle to perform simple Water Magic.
Ichiya gently pats her back, speaking in a hushed tone. "I know what you're thinking, and trust me, it's not worth the worry. You don't have to compete with Oberon, just enjoy that someone like him is on your side, especially since he's your teacher."
Juvia turns to the man and nods. "Thank you. And I guess you're right, my teacher is really strong, and that is exactly what I want."
Ichiya turns back to the Demon. "Just keep in mind Oberon doesn't know what its like to be one of us normal people, he tends to lower his guard a lot, so remain vigilant when you're on Jobs with him."
"What do you mean?"
"Look," Ichiya nods toward the Demon, that's no waking up after all the ice melted away.
Deliora roars, releasing a wave of immense Magic Energy. The familiar feeling sends a surge of fear through Gray and Lyon, paralyzing both boys, shattering the promises they made of standing up to the monster now that they were in front of it. But what they see next reinforces their desire to grow stronger and surpass their Master.
Oberon flies up to the monster's head, allowing its eyes to focus on him for a moment before he puts his back to the ocean. It keeps focused on him, swinging one of its massive arms to swat him aside, but he simply remains in place.
The hand hits him, and his Cosmic Barrier not only protects him but also anchors him in space, causing the monster's hand to tear around him, leaving a hole in it and spilling blood onto the ground. Deliora reels back in pain, roaring loudly while gathering green Magic Energy into its mouth.
Oberon's bored expression shifts slightly, a single brow raising as the Magic Energy is condensed and fired directly at him. A two story tall beam of destructive green Magic Energy hits him, engulfing him completely before Deliora turns its head, moving the beam to slice through the ocean behind Oberon and trigger a massive explosion.
"Should we step back?" Gildarts asks as they see Oberon in the same spot, completely unfazed by the attack.
"I doubt it has anything more than that," Jura says. "He'll get bored any second now, then we can head home."
Deliora swings at Oberon with its other hand, only for the boy to casually raise his hand, pointing a single finger at the approaching limb and releasing a beam of golden light from his fingers. The Light Beam moves upward with his hand like a sword, slicing the monster's arm at the wrist, sending the hand to the rubble below.
The Demon completes its swing, spilling purple blood on the ruins of this city, melting and corroding everything the blood touches.
'That's new,' Oberon thinks as he sees the blood melt large stone slabs in seconds.
Deliora stumbles back in pain, opening its mouth to fire another green energy beam at Oberon.
"I can't learn anything from your Magic," Oberon says. His right hand, hanging casually at his side, suddenly raises to the sky, firing a beam of light from his fingertips in the process. The beam easily sliced Deliora in two, perfectly in the middle.
The Demon pauses for a moment, then suddenly becomes dust and scatters to the winds. Oberon frowns and returns to his allies, floating cross-legged in the air, propping his chin up with one hand as he leans forward, thoroughly disappointed.
"This one was weak and the book wasn't even here, let's just head back to the ship."
His words, spoken in such a certain and casual manner, sent a jolt through Gray, Lyon, Cana, and Juvia. For the girls, it was the spectacle of what an S-Class like their father or teacher could do.
But for Gray and Lyon, it was the realization that they cannot fathom how high the ceiling of this world can go. Their dream of destroying Deliora, of surpassing their beloved teacher, a feat they thought would put them at the top of the world, was completed in mere moments.
Now they realize there are people far beyond what Ur could have ever reached, that the summit of the world is not something they could even imagine at their current level.
CHAPTER END---
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
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