Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
August 5, x791.
"It's like she doesn't get tired." Cana said before taking a sip of water, to everyone's surprise, as she was not drinking alcohol at the moment.
Currently, all of the women living in the Mansion on the Lake, Yoruichi, and Retsu were in the training room on the lowest basement floor. While most of them were only watching, Yoruichi and Mirajane were flashing around at high-speed exchanging blows.
"Seriously." Marin said while shaking her head. "First, she fought Ultear. And that lasted for nearly an hour. And now, she's been fighting Mira for almost as long. How is she not out of magic power by now? Doesn't that [Shunko] spell use up a lot of magic power?"
"I kinda wanna fight her now." Sun said with her hand resting on her soul Armament, Kanade's hilt. "I'm not sure if I would be able to keep up, but the challenge would be great, ya see?"
"As would I." Saeko added. "I would like to see if her speed, or my speed when using the Flying Heaven's Sword-Style] is faster."
Hearing that, Retsu turned to look at Saeko with an interested gaze. And the reason for that was simple to anyone who knew about Retsu's past. Before she joined the Court Guard Squads of the Soul Continent's capital city, Seireitei, Retsu was one of its most heinous criminals. On top of that, she was arguably its greatest sword wielder, said to have learned and mastered all eight thousand swords styles used on the continent.
However, after hearing the mention of Saeko's sword-style, the [Flying Heaven's Sword-Style], Retsu found herself rather interested in seeing just what it was capable of. She was even tempted to challenge Saeko to a spar. A moment later, however, she refrained from doing so, afraid that her other, more bloodthirsty, personality might rear its head if she got too excited.
"Actually, I'm more surprised that she lost to Ultear and got right back to fighting." Elicia said. "I mean, if any of us fought like that, losing would make us at least take a break for an hour or so, right?"
"Well, that's because no one else would challenge us right after we lost." Rika pointed out.
"Plus, none of you would be able to last that long against Lici." Shizuka said absent-mindedly. "And if you fought each other, you'd both be too injured to keep going. Instead, I'd be healing you."
All of Alfonzo's lovers, other than Elicia, felt a stab to the heart when they heard Shizuka's innocent statement. Elicia, on the other hand, puffed out her chest with a bit of pride. As for Irene, she never spars with the others, so she did not care all that much.
"Either way, she's more tenacious than I expected." Irene said casually. "Maybe she's really not as bad as you girls say."
"Stop playing devil's advocate, Irene." Ultear said, still sounding a bit exhausted after her fight with Yoruichi. "We've all realized that over the years, with Cana being the last to do so. Still, we need to be able to hit her at least once before we can seriously put away the grudge."
"If it were me, I would have just killed her back then and got it over with." Irene replied with a shrug. "But I guess that's just me."
"If it were up to Cana, she would have done the same." Elicia said. "But back then, she wasn't strong enough. Even Erza lost to her back then."
"Indeed." Erza added. "Had it not been for Alfonzo, I would have ended up seriously injured at the end of that battle."
*Bang!*
Before anyone could comment any further, they all saw Yoruichi get sent flying and smash into the barrier surrounding the fighting area in the training ground. Meanwhile, Mirajane stood on the opposite end of the area with her right fist extended and covered in [Darkness magic] while the flames that engulfed her legs in her [Satan Soul: Sitri Take Over] were red with black tint and she wore a tiara on her head.
"Well, it looks like Mira won." Cana muttered with a shrug. "Does that mean that both Tear and Mira are stronger than Laxus now? I mean, he did lose to her in that one Grand Magic Game, right?"
"Not necessarily." Retsu replied in a serene tone. "Had she fought Laxus alone back then, Yoruichi would have lost, as well. But with Sui-Feng's help, she was able to claim the victory."
The other onlookers nodded in understanding after hearing Retsu's analysis.
"Okay… *Pant* *Pant* Who's next?" Yoruichi, after struggling to her feet, asked as she turned to look towards the spectators. "I know there are more of you that wanna beat me up, right? Well, come on."
Hearing that, the group of spectators fell silent while exchanging glances. Eventually, all the eyes fell on Cana, who finally made this whole situation possible by putting her own anger aside.
"Why me?" Cana asked.
"Because you're the one who had the biggest character development in this arc." Elicia said with a giggle. "So, let's keep the momentum going. I mean, you're not even drinking right now."
"Um... Actually…" Sun said while scratching her head. "That's only because she's out of booze. I saw her trying to sneak into--- Mmph!"
"Okay, that's enough, Sun." Cana said in a nervous tone while clamping a hand over Sun's mouth while her eyes swam around avoiding eye contact with the others.
Unfortunately, because she was not looking at anyone in particular, Cana missed the fact that no one was actually looking at her. Instead, they were all looking behind her, towards the entrance to the training room, where three people had just entered.
"What were you trying to break into this morning, Cana?" A male voice asked in a serious tone, though there was a playful undertone to it.
Immediately, Cana's entire body froze, allowing Sun to slip away from her grasp. A moment later, Cana slowly, very slowly, turned around. When she did, she saw Alfonzo standing there with his arms wrapped around Lucy's and Brandish's waists.
"Oh… Hey, Fonzie." Cana said, a bead of cold sweat dripping down her forehead. "Welcome home. How was the quest? Actually, I didn't expect you to be back already. I thought you would have stopped at the guild hall to report to the Master first."
"Oh, the quest was fine." Alfonzo said with a bright smile. "Fought and killed some demons, captured another, cooked for a princess and her noble friends… You know, the usual."
"They attacked you, too, huh?" Marin asked, though based on her tone, it was clear that she expected as much.
"Yeah, four of them appeared out of nowhere." Alfonzo replied with a shrug.
"Oh, there were five of them here." Irene said with a smile. "But the guild only had to fight four of them. That brute who fakes being gentle and caring took care of the last one."
"Pardon me?" Retsu asked, her gentle smile still on her face. Though, the pressure she was exuding was enough to make it hard for most of the people in the room to breathe.
"Oh my, did I say that out loud?" Irene asked while covering her mouth in faux-embarrassment. "My apologies. That was terribly rude of me."
"I see." Retsu replied, still maintaining her smile. "Well, it's fine, I suppose. Understandable, even. Someone who was little more than a beast for so long wouldn't have much in the way of etiquette or class, would they?"
"*Sigh* Every time they exchange words, I feel like we're gonna end up homeless until Fonzie builds a new house." Elicia said while shaking her head at the two older women in the room. She then turned to Alfonzo and narrowed her eyes playfully. "By the way, looks like the three of you had some fun last night."
Hearing that, both Lucy and Brandish showed hints of embarrassment. At the same time, the rest of the ladies turned their attentions towards them. And when they did, they realized that both women's legs were shaking. On top of that, Alfonzo was holding them tighter than necessary, making it clear that he was helping them walk rather than just holding them close.
"Hmm? Did the two of you get mouthy last night and challenge him, or something?" Ultear asked with a grin.
"Not everyone is like you, Tear." Cana said while rolling her eyes. "If they wanted it that way, they would just ask for it."
"Shut up, Cana." Ultear said in an exasperated tone. "I stopped that already."
In response, Cana laughed at Ultear. Though, it was clear that not all her attention was focused on the conversation. Instead, she kept stealing glances at Alfonzo. And with the nervous glint in her eyes, it was also clear that she was hoping that he would forget about what Sun was saying before he entered the room.
"Anyway, looks like we've got guests." Alfonzo said after noticing that Retsu and Yoruichi were both in the training room, as well. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
Though he asked the question, Alfonzo had an idea why Yoruichi was here. As for Retsu's reason, he actually had no idea.
"Oh, I just came with Master Unohana." Yoruichi replied with a shrug while she sat against a wall as Shizuka healed her. "But since I was here, I took the chance to talk to the girls about… Well… You know."
As Yoruichi said, after the fighting finished the night before and she was allowed to stay at the mansion, she spent most of the night talking to the women who were present for her incident with Alfonzo and Elicia. And to her surprise, most of them were willing to forgive her. Though, they were not willing to do so without being allowed to hit her at least once.
Luckily, she only had to endure punches from two of them, Marin, who wanted to hit her again, and Sun, who after hitting her, pulled her into a hug and told her how bad she felt that things could not have been resolved sooner.
As for the others, Elicia had already let go of all the negative feelings she held from that incident. Especially because she had been an accomplice. Then, there was Cana, who had been the most bothered by the incident. But after defeating Yoruichi in the Grand Magic Games last month, she had let her grudge go. Erza let her grudge go years ago after fighting Yoruichi in the training grounds of the old mansion, as well.
That only left Ultear and Mirajane who had yet to vent their emotions on the event from six years ago. And in classic Fairy Tail fashion, they both challenged Yoruichi to a fight. However, because of the Fairy Tail culture, they wanted to have their fights on different days. But Yoruichi, looking at it as some kind of punishment for her mistakes, decided that both fights would be held back to back, rather she won or lost the first one.
"I see. Then, I guess that means you're gonna want to talk to Lucy, too." Alfonzo replied with a nod of understanding. "Well, I don't know how long the two of you plan to stay, but you should probably give her some time to rest. We might have overdone it a little last night."
"Oh, my God, Alfonzo." Lucy squealed in embarrassment. "You don't have to say all that."
"I know." Alfonzo replied with a roguish smile on his face. "But you're really cute when you're embarrassed."
"I hate you sometimes." Lucy grumbled as she hugged Alfonzo and hid her face in his chest.
Seeing that, Alfonzo could not help but laugh. He then turned towards Retsu. However, before he could ask her what brought her to his home, he recoiled in surprise.
'What the hell?' Alfonzo asked himself dumbfoundedly. 'I didn't even notice the way she was looking at me like she wanted to cut me into a million pieces until I actually looked at her. And how the hell is there so much bloodlust leaking from that crazy woman, yet I don't feel any killing intent or sense of danger coming from her?'
["Do you really need someone else to answer that question?"] Bedlam asked with a smirk from Alfonzo's inner world. ["I thought it was obvious. She wants to fight you to the death. But she doesn't really care about killing you. Just so long as one of you dies."]
'Yeah, I kinda figured that.' Alfonzo muttered internally. 'Still, I didn't even notice any of that roiling bloodlust until I looked in her direction.'
["Stop being a pussy!"] Riot growled. ["It's obvious that you don't feel any danger because she's not strong enough to hurt you anymore. Especially if you completely release us."]
'I guess that's true.' Alfonzo thought. 'I guess she figured out that I reached that level during the GMG. But just coming to fight me isn't really her style. So, I guess I should ask what her surface reason for coming here was.'
"And Master Unohana, what brought you here this time?" Alfonzo asked.
It should be noted that Alfonzo was not the only one who noticed Retsu's strange behavior… Or rather, the bloodthirsty aura surrounding her. However, because most of them were aware of the reason Retsu came to visit, they did not really pay any attention to her, thinking it was just one of her quirks, as most powerful wizards have a loose screw or two.
Meanwhile, Retsu, after seeing the way Alfonzo recoiled in surprise, finally realized that she was letting her bloodlust leak. She then tried her best to reel it in. Though, thanks to her excitement at the prospect of having a good fight to the death, she did so very poorly.
"Oh, please excuse me." Retsu said as she raised her hand to cover the somewhat deranged smile on her face. "I was just so excited to see you. Now that you're back, I can finally get that maintenance on my motorcycle taken care of. And perhaps, if time permits, we could have a spar, as well."
'Why does it feel like she's actually more interested in the spar than the maintenance?' Cana, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Marin, Sun, Lucy, Saeko, Shizuka, Rika, Brandish, and Yoruichi thought to themselves at the same time.
As for Alfonzo, Elicia, and Irene, they were expecting an answer like that. So, they all just rolled their eyes. Though, they were all at least a little impressed that Retsu came up with a legitimate reason to come visit other than just fighting to the death.
"No problem." Alfonzo replied with a shrug." Alfonzo said nonchalantly. "I'll take a look at your bike tomorrow. For now, let me help these two get up to their rooms."
With that, Alfonzo nodded at the others in the training room. The, he turned around while guiding Lucy and Brandish to the door. However, before the trio left, he looked back over his shoulder with a playful smile on his face.
"But when I get back, I'm really curious to know just what Cana and Sun were talking about when I got here." Alfonzo continued while looking directly into Cana's eyes.
After that, Alfonzo left without giving Cana a chance to respond. Then, when he was finally gone, Cana turned towards Sun while pulling several [Magic Cards] from the pouch on her hip.
"Damn it, Sun." Cana growled. "Now I'm gonna get punished because of you."
Completely unintimidated by Cana, sun smiled excitedly as she once again gripped Kanade's hilt. She had already been wanting to fight with Yoruichi. But since she looked so tired, facing Cana would be just fine.