Fairy Tail Rising 6

Thankfully, the noble daughter, you'd never met her before, and her university was actually in Magnolia.

It was simple enough to meet up with your client with Kinana sending a message in advance that you were taking the quest.

When you got the the western area of Magnolia, where she was staying, you already found a carriage loaded up, with a guards around it.

"Hello," she greeted you with a polite bow as the guards let you into the carriage, "You are Cobalt, yes?"

"That's me," you replied, sitting down when you felt the carriage begin to move, "Guess I'll be looking out for you for the next few hours." The journey was just to Era, which was only a four ways journey away thankfully.

"Thank you," she bowed her head again, "My name is Aceto, it's nice to meet you." when she raised her head again, you noted her eyes lingering on the Fairy Tail crest on your jacket.

"Yeah I'm a Fairy Tail mage," you said, predicting what she was going to ask at some point, "A new one, just joined recently. That's not a problem is it.

"..No, not at all," Aceto replied, shaking her head, "I've just not seen an honest to goodness Fairy Tail mage in a long time now."

You grinned, "You'll probably see a lot more from now on," you boasted proudly, "I'm a God Slayer and with my power I'm gonna drag Fairy Tail back to the top again."

That actually drew a clap out of Aceto, "Ara ara, you certainly aren't lacking in ambition are you?" she giggled.

"No way," you laughed yourself, punching a fist out, "Go big or go home! There's no point in aiming low."

"I suppose so," the older brown haired girl mused, looking out of the window, a sad look appearing in her eye, "It sounds fun..."

Ugh, that look irritated you. You used to see it in the mirror every damn day before you ran into Makarov Dreyar once upon a time and learned about Fairy Tail.

About three hours into your carriage journey, one of the guards checked in with you to let you know you were just coming up for the group of Rune Knight's that would continue guarding Aceto from Era onwards.

You got out of the carriage and climbed up top for the last stretch. This point in journeys was usually the best point for an ambush.

But, as the minutes dragged on, you saw nothing, nor felt anything. and ten minutes later, you approached the gates of Era without hassle.

Where a group Rune Knight's stayed in wait, spears in hand.

Something was off though. The lead Rune Knight, the captain of the squad. You'd seen him before, and yes his magical power usually overshadowed the normal mooks in his squad.

But...it was vastly larger than it was just a week ago when you last passed him by.

A disguise then? Someone had infiltrated the Rune Knight's and you were willing to bet it was your target.

Now, how should you play this? From what you know, Velvano couldn't drain and copy your magic without physical contact with you.

Well, while you'd love to just crush him outright. He was in amongst your former comrades and you'd most likely end up hurting a bunch of them in the attempt with any of your bigger spells.

He might have taken the captain's face though, but let's see what he knew of how the knights operated in the first place. You stood up, making sure everyone could hear you, "Former first division commander Cobalt Ray stands here, a-ten hut!" you called out over to them, and smirked as almost instantly, everyone besides the captain snapped to attention, he followed their motions a moment later though, "Charlie Foxtrot! Ten paces Beta formation!" you bellowed loudly to follow up.

As one, the rune Knight's, sans the disguised intruder began to take large, quick steps backwards as a group, forming into a circular formation to watch each others back, magical spears at the ready

Beta Formation was simple. It was a fall back formation to get some distance and guard each other.

The disguised Velvano looked back in surprise at them, and you took your chance. You thrust your hands out, "Sea God's Prison!" you declared, and black sea water spiralled out of hands in massive volumes, sweeping up around him in the time it took to blink.

He barely had time to whirl around in surprise before a sphere of black water compressed around his form and trapped him. You shaped your fingers into claws and held the water prison technique tightly so he couldn't escape, "Waste him lads!" you barked another command.

"Yes sir!" they cried out. The rune Knight's weren't the strongest out there, but they were trained as well as they could be despite their lacking magical power.

The heads of their spears lit up with magical power, and as one, the group began to fire on the imprisoned Velvano. Thick bullets of light magic barraged him, and the imprisoned dark mage couldn't even scream in the water imprisoning him as he was gunned down.

A minute later, you let the water prison drop, and the body of the criminal dropped to the ground limp. Bloodied, and his disguise having worn off to show quite the ugly man.

"W-why?" Velvano spluttered, torso riddled with holes from the magic bullets that tore through him. His natural magic resistance couldn't protect him well while it fought against your magic imprisoning him.

"You're a filthy criminal who broke out instead of serving your time, and killed members of the Rune Knight's in your escape Velvano," you spat, stepping up to him, raising your finger, "Go to sleep." you ordered him.

"Wha-?" he spluttered again.

"Sea God's Pistol!" you snarled, releasing a lance of thin, highly compressed water from your finger that drilled a hole right through his head.

You looked at at the tense Rune Knight's, "At ease boys," you ordered, and they relaxed instantly, "Any idea where he could have stashed the real captain?" you asked.

It was a minor hope at best, but you'd get them to follow leads as best they could regardless. Velvano was known to have killed guild mages before he was caught the first time, and he had killed a few Rune Knight's on the way out.

Killing mages was one thing. They signed up for jobs that could get them killed. But killing a Rune Knight? He was lucky to just have you execute him like the trash he was.

"Sir!" they saluted, and one stepped forward.

"No idea sir!" he reported, "We were with the captain for the past week for the most part! He was only apart from us when he was in his room or the bathroom!"

You nodded. "Right then, you, you and you!" you pointed out at him and two others, "Go check out those places! And you three, take this trash's body and have the bounty issued to the Fairy Tail guild!"

"Sir!" they snapped off a six folded salute and jumped into action. The first three ran off, while the other three grabbed Velvano's body first and followed behind them.

You then turned to the last three, "You three will escort my client into the base, my mission ends here." you told them.

"Yes sir!" they agreed.

You noted though, that they were all smiling. "What are you idiot's grinning about?" you demanded.

"Nothing sir!" the one in the middle reported, "Just glad to see you haven't changed at all despite leaving us sir!"

"It's been a few days private!" you barked, "If I turned soft in that short amount of time my insides may as well be made out of jelly!"

Shaking your head, you jumped off of the carriage, peeking your head inside. "Aceto are you alright?" you asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," she nodded, "What was all that noise though?" she asked, placing a dainty hand to her cheek in worry.

"Don't worry, it was just the mage your father was afraid was targeting you," you explained and her eyes widened in fear, "But I've already taken care of him, the Rune Knight's are already in custody of his body."

She sighed in relief, "Oh thank goodness," the brown haired woman turned to you then and smiled brightly, "I guess you weren't kidding about how strong you are then huh?"

"I'm not one to brag without a way to back up my words." you winked.