10

Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned something like that?

Beta Reader: volfwildman

Warning: Bloody Fighting

It hadn't taken very long to get to my destination. After informing Mom, Cana, and Gray about the job and being given food from Mom I had went to the train station to head the city of Farson which was the last place the rogue mage had been seen.

After about three hours I was in the city. Fiore really was a small country, comparable to the size of one of the medium states from the USA. I didn't take very long to travel from city to city. The trains just speed lined the process.

It had been very interesting studying the continent of Earth Land. History had been a slight interest of mine and having a whole new world of history to look though had been a very enjoyable experience. It probably helped that the some of the nations of Earth Land had very weird names and thus weird origins for said names. Seriously who names a nation Iceberg or Seven?

It's unfortunate that there wasn't much info about what lay outside of Earth Land. Consequences of this world being in a weird in-between of the renaissance and the industrial age.

Once in the city, I made my way to the local Rune Knight station for information. Before I went into the building I had placed an illusion on me to look older. It really helped stop all the annoying kid talk most clients would give me.

I found myself in the office of the captain of the station where he proceeded to explain to me the situation. "The mage is believed to be a Requip mage. Dressed like a monk with a bald head too, don't know his name. From what info I could gather it seems he doesn't have any enchanted equipment on him or any armor for that matter. Guy just likes to use very sharp blades and making things bleed. He's a sicko in my opinion."

As the captain finished his explanation I was quick to ask some questions "Are you sure he doesn't have any enchanted gear?" I let out a relieved sigh at the Captain's nod, Requip mages could be very tough if they had a large selection of magic gear to work with.

"Am I the only one to accept the job or have others started working it to?" At my question, the Captain once again nodded "A few others have taken the job too but so far no one had any luck finding him."

"Can you give me any clues about where he might be?" The Captain pointed to a map to the side of the room. It was of the city and the surrounding area.

"He fled east from the reports. We believe he's hiding out in the wood that surrounds in that area." As I thought on the information I went to go out but as I was leaving the Captain spoke up once again.

"Be careful now. I wasn't lying when I said he was a sicko. The guy permanently scarred a dozen people and even killed a few before he fled." After he said that he picked up something from within his desk and handed it to me. It was a small rod with a hole in one end that lead to a hollowed inside.

"It's a flare rod. Just point the hole to the sky and push some magic in it and it should send a signal up. Don't hesitate to use it if you get in trouble." I nearly didn't take the rod, I would be fine. Chances are the guy wouldn't even get a hit in through my illusions.

In the end, I decided to take the rod if only to put the Captain at ease. Maybe I could use it after the rogue mage had been defeated and I wouldn't have to drag his body back. It would make my life easier.

I quickly made my way out of the city and out east to the slightly dense woods that lay in that direction. Before I entered the woods, I stopped to quickly throw up a "Vanish" and then was once again on my way to find the rogue mage. Hopefully, this wouldn't take too long.

About two hours into my search I had made a startling discovery. A dead body lay against a tree, its body have several cuts marks all over it. It appeared to be a male in his early 20's. I couldn't make out his face considering how disfigured it was from the many cuts that were made on it. It was a rather gruesome sight.

I felt magic being released from him, so I made a guess that he was one of the other mages that had accepted the job. Must have found and fought the blade mage but either got unlucky or was just not good enough to win the fight.

I cringed a little as I look away from the body before I quickly looked around to find anything of interest. After a few seconds of searching, I found a light trail of blood leading away from the body. After quickly memorizing the area I followed the trail. Once the job was done I could come back and retrieve the body.

I had followed the trail for a good few minutes before it stopped. I kept looking around to find anything to indicate where to go next when I heard humming in the air. After a few seconds, I was able to make out where it was coming from and soon found myself on the edge of a little meadow in the middle of the woods.

Sitting on a stump in the middle of the meadow was a bald man with black monk clothes on which was stained with blood. He appeared to be humming out a song as he cleaned some blood off a katana.

I had found the rogue mage.

(3rd Person Battle Pov)

Bishop slowly made his way to the humming mage with Vanish still up. He about halfway there when he summoned his saber from hammerspace and quickly applied some Blue Waltz poison to it. One cut and hopefully the rogue mage would find himself doing a little dance before blacking out.

Just as Bishop got about ten feet away from the mage the humming stopped. Just as the humming stop so did Bishop, wondering if he had been found.

The blade mage stood up and looked around the meadow. He had felt something while cleaning his blade and he knew he wasn't alone. "Come out little one." the mage said in a creepy light tone, a small but cruel smile adorned his face.

Bishop mentally cursed as he both wondered how the guy sensed him and thought up a plan. He spoke out another spell as Vanish blocked any sound from reaching the bald mage's ears. "Mirror Image" with those words spoken a fake Bishop faded into existence to the other side of the mage.

"Well, what do we have here? A little kid playing hero?" The mage spoke in a mocking tone as idly waved his blade. "No, just someone here to get rid of you." replied the false Bishop as it readied its sword. The real Bishop continued to stand still waiting for a good moment to strike.

The bald mage just let out a little chuckle. Before the false Bishop could do anything there was a flash and a dagger appeared in the mage's hand and quickly found itself being thrown. The projectile quickly past though the false copy but the only response from the blade mage was a raised eyebrow.

A plan in mind the real Bishop spoke out a spell that his false counterpart spoke too. "Multiply" soon several different copies of Bishop shoot out of the fake as they quickly ran across the meadow distracting the mage.

Several daggers flew out of the blade mage's hand, each one appearing in a quick flash before being thrown. All the sharp projectiles hit the copies of Bishop, but all simply went through the false clones. The mage pauses and lets out a little hum before closing his eyes, much to the real Bishop's surprise.

Bishop didn't know what the bald mage was planning but he would stop it before anything could go wrong. Bishop started taking a few steps forward before the blade mage quickly opened his eyes. He had been using his magic to sense out the surroundings, a skill most regular mages had. He felt the magic-making up the illusions and found a large magic source hidden behind an invisible magic barrier.

With a smile, the mage throws a dagger at his true target.

Bishop had paused when he saw the mage's eyes opened but before he could continue forward there was a flash and then a blurred image before he found a sharp pain emanating from his ribs.

The mage's dagger had struck true and found itself sticking out of Bishop's left side.

Fun fact about illusions. Most required the illusionist to have some level of concentration on them or else they ceased to be. Bishop had trained to keep his concentration but there had been a very big flaw in his training that was obvious in hindsight.

He hadn't trained to concentrate through any kind of pain.

As pain-filled Bishop, his Vanish and Multiply spells stopped. Despite the pain Bishop quickly grabbed the handle of the dagger and pulled it out before throwing it away. Just as he was about to start running and cast another Vanish spell he saw another blurred image heading for his face.

It was only because of years of training his reflexes that allowed Bishop to lean back from the katana blade quickly swiping at his face. Unfortunately, the rogue mage had even more training.

While the blade missed most of Bishop's face it did dig itself into the left side of his open mouth. The blade made its way through his cheek before existing halfway. Bishop stumbled away as his left hand cradled his mouth while dropping his saber. Blood was quickly filling his mouth and before long he was forced to swallow it to keep from choking on his own blood.

Pain filled his body as Bishop tried to calm his panicked mind and cast a spell. But before Bishop could regain his mind a kick to the leg from the blade mage force him to fall to his knees and then a kick to the back forced Bishop's whole body to the ground face first.

With his mind and body slowed from the pain and panic, Bishop didn't roll in time to prevent the smiling mage from stepping on him and thus keeping him in place. "My, my not only a kid playing hero but an illusionist trying to be a real mage too."

The bald mage let out a low chuckle before bringing his katana to Bishop's right shoulder and pressing down slightly. "Now be a good little boy and let me work in peace." with that said the katana slowly made it way diagonally across Bishop's back.

Sharp pain and the new emotion of fear-filled Bishop's mind and body as he tried to think of something to get out of his current situation. His eyes frantically searched the meadow, his left hand still cupping his slashed mouth. His eyes stopped on a dagger sticking out from the ground. It had been one of the daggers thrown by the psychotic mage.

Slowly a plan formed in Bishop's mind as he tried his best to ignore the pain. His right hand slowly pointed to the dagger with the ring of telekinesis on the pointing finger. With a quick flush of magic, the ring activated, and the dagger was lifted from the ground. Bishop turning his hand around and the dagger was soon pointing to the space above him and as Bishop quickly flipped his finger back and the dagger flew.

The smiling mage had been far too into his work to see what his victim was doing and as he just finished the diagonal cut over Bishops back he started to position his sword over the left shoulder when a dagger impacted his chest. The mage let out a curse as he stumbled back while his hand flew to the handle of the blade that had just barely missed his heart.

While the blade mage was pulling the dagger out Bishop made his way to his feet while ignoring the protest from his body to stop moving. The no longer smiling mage had just pulled the dagger out when Bishop threw himself toward the mage.

There was a flash from Bishop's hand as a small blue vial appeared in it as he smashed it into the wound on the mage's chest. "You little bastard!" the mage stated as he grab Bishop's shoulders before kneeing him in the stomach. The now scowling mage push Bishop away slightly before performing a mighty kick to Bishop's left arm.

Bishop was thrown through the air after the kick made contact and he found himself once again on the ground but this time on his back. Pain shoots through his entire left arm which had been broken from the kick. The mage regained his smile before picking up the katana he had dropped when the dagger had struck him and tried to make his way over to his victim.

Keyword here is tried.

After a few steps, the bald mage's body started to act up and he found himself doing a little dance to keep himself up. The Blue Waltz poison in a vial that had been smashed against his chest was finally starting up.

The mage strained to keep himself up with is dance but soon found he was having trouble staying awake too. The blade mage gritted his teeth as he forced his legs forward and with one last action before he fell to the world of dreams he tried to stab Bishop.

Luckily the blade missed Bishop's body by a few inches as the mage's body fell unconscious beside Bishop.

(Bishop's Pov)

Pain.

That's all I felt as I stared at the unconscious mage. After quickly gathering my mind I summon a vial of Stone Flesh and took a small swig of it. Immediately I felt my muscles tighten. That should slow down the bleed. It had been a tad bit hard to swallow with my now bigger mouth.

But even with the effects of Stone Flesh I felt my mind slowly losing consciousness with the lack of blood and fresh pain. I had lost far too much blood in the fight.

How had this happened? It was supposed to be easy but now I'm close to seeing that horrid White Void again. How had he sensed me at the beginning? How did he know where to throw his dagger? So many questions filled my failing mind.

In the end, one thing stuck out the most to me. I had been overconfident. All those early victories had swelled my ego and slowed my training. I had put too much stock in my abilities and paid the price. Doesn't help that I also underestimated a dangerous opponent.

I slowly reached into my pocket before pulling out the flare rod. The same one I had almost not taken. God, I was an idiot.

I slightly rose from the ground as I pointed it to the air before pushing some magic into it. A rainbow ball of light flew into the air before exploding in a display that should be seen for a good few miles. With that done I fully fell onto my back once again.

As my conscious mind was slowly filling with darkness I made a promise. If I survived I would once again go into train at full force and never let my ego get the best of me. A strong desire to not die filled my mind as I promised all the while my mind started to fade.

Strangely it was not just my desire to not die that filled that promise but another strange feeling. A feeling of not wanting to die because of something else. An image of Mom, Cana, and Gray filled my mind. All of them smiling, waiting for me to come back.

Despite everything that had happened a small smile found its way onto my face as my world was filled with darkness.

AN: Well I warned you at the beginning it would be bloody. So Bishop was always supposed to get beat up in this fight but I decide to leave it up to chance to see how badly he would be beaten up. So I rolled a 20 sided die and... got a 2. Lady Luck does not like Bishop.

Thanks once again to volfwildman for being a Beta. Again check him out if you got the time, great guy and an even better writer. Thanks for all the reviews and follows from you guys it means a lot.

I am going to answer two questions I've been getting a lot on this story. 1."Will Bishop's illusion become real?" No, they will always stay fake, I have a few ideas about making them more powerful but it'll be a few chapters before that gets shown. 2."When are we going to reach canon?" Still a bit more. I am trying to speed it up and get there but I don't want to skip all the important character development and just say it happened after the fact, it's looking like it be around chapter 20 before canon appears if not a little later.

In the fallout land of any help along the long road is much appropriated. Give reviews so that my story can drink and eat.

Have a great day.

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