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CHAPTER START---
---December 12th, X769, 9 AM…
Drinking a cup of coffee, Macao sits shirtless in the snow while looking at the small lake at the base of the mountain, far in the distance.
Focusing on the warmth of his drink he ignores the light snowfall around him, then takes out a Communication Lacrima from his bag beside him.
"Ahh, the beautiful Enno, just the woman I was hoping to see," Macao says as Enno appears in the Lacrima.
"Macao, this Lacrima is for official Fairy Tail use only, not for flirting," Enno says.
"I know, which is why I'm calling," Macao says. "How are things back there, any changes in the schedule?"
Enno sighs, "No, the S-Class Promotion Trial is still scheduled to start in five days, will the two of you make it back in time? Where are you anyway?"
"We're in the mountains up North, and yeah we'll be back with time to spare. We got here pretty late last night, and you know he's not much of a morning person, so I've been up, training solo for a while."
"I see, the other five candidates are away training too," Enno says. "Are you excited about finally getting a chance to compete?"
"Excited, sure, that's one way to put it," Macao sighs and sips his coffee. "I've dreamt about it, about being like Gildarts, but being one step from it really puts into perspective how much pressure it is, having the entire Guild looking up to you…it's a lot."
"Well, you can always drop out," Enno says. "Knowing when to back off to fight another day is important for a Wizard."
"Tch, I can't do that," Macao smiles at her. "Not with those beautiful eyes of yours watching me."
Enno rolls her eyes, "Just make sure to take care of him, alright, now is there anything else you need, customers are coming in now."
"Nope, that's all, I'll call before we start heading back."
"Good," Enno hesitates for a moment, then smiles at him. "Don't overwork yourself, I'd rather you not be hurt or tired before the challenges even start, alright?"
Macao smiles, "Just for you, I'll be sure to take care of myself."
"Ugh," she immediately ends the call.
Macao laughs as he puts the Lacrima away, "Yeah, I'm definitely going to marry that woman," he says before turning around, and looking back at the cave behind him.
In it, he sees Oberon comfortably asleep beside a small campfire, curled up in his sleeping bag
'Seriously, I know he likes to sleep in, but c'mon kid you agreed to come to help me train…'
After another twenty minutes of training ,-using his internal Magic Energy to warm himself against the cold weather-, Macao hears movement behind him.
"Have you been up long?" Oberon asks. "Man, I love this weather."
"Just a few hours, you really hate mornings huh?"
"It's nice being able to wake up on my own time for a change," Oberon says.
"Freedom is like air to a Wizard, at least in Fairy Tail, breakfast is by the fire, we can start when you're ready," Macao says. "I'm just doing a little exercise right now."
After a few minutes, Oberon walks beside Macao, wearing his boots, long pants, and a long-sleeved sweater.
"So, what are you even doing?" Oberon asks.
"Fire Magic Circulation," Macao says. "Fire Wizards can control their internal temperature, at least when it comes to warming ourselves."
"Yeah, that's why I want to learn some basic Fire and Ice Magics, especially since the less clothes I'm wearing the more comfortable my fighting style is."
"Huh?" Macao opens his eyes to give Oberon a strange look. "You aren't going to be some kind of fighting nudist are you?"
"That's just stupid," Oberon says. "It's because Cosmic Armor originates from my body, so the fewer layers of clothes it needs to cover the easier it is."
"Ahh, so you're going to wear spandex."
"That doesn't sound comfortable," Oberon says. "But there is a reason I'm not wearing my jacket when fighting a Fire Wizard today, I wouldn't always be able to protect every part of it."
"Yeah well, if you ever start wearing spandex body suits or leather pants, I won't be able to walk through Magnolia with you anymore, I've got a reputation to uphold."
"What reputation?" Oberon asks.
"Tch, I miss when you were new and nice to everyone."
"I still am, which is why I agreed to be your sparring partner," Oberon says. "Now, you ready?"
"Let's get started," Macao says as he gets up and walks to the opposite side of the clearing.
As he turns around he sees Oberon across from him, standing atop the snow while he is ankle-deep in it.
'So he's already flying, he's even more subtle than I realized,' Macao thinks.
"You plan to keep staring, or are we starting?" Oberon asks.
"Heh, let's go," Macao keeps both hands at his side, flexing his fingers as purple flames dance across his skin. "Purple Flare: Bullet!"
Macao quickdraws his hand as if it were a gun and fires a single condensed bullet of purple fire from his fingertips.
The projectile is fast, too fast for many Wizards, but Oberon quickly reacts.
'Huh?' Macao tries to understand what he just saw after Oberon grabbed the bullet out of the air, causing it to dissipate in his hand.
"What the hell was that?" Macao asks.
Oberon shrugs, "I caught the bullet."
"Seriously, so that's a thing now?" Macao asks. "And I thought you couldn't sense Magic Energy, how'd you even react to that?"
"I could see it, duh."
"Oh, right," Macao raises both his hands, fingers pointed at Oberon like guns. "Try this, rapid fire!"
He launches a volley of bullets at Oberon, and instead of trying to grab them the boy just stands there, unflinching as they crash against his Cosmic Armor.
Macao sighs, "You know, I was kind of hoping for target practice, against a moving target."
"Then make me move."
Macao narrows his eyes at Oberon, considering his options.
'If I keep up the ranged attacks I'll probably run out of steam before he does, and if I use a big attack to punch through that Cosmic Armor he'll just fly and dodge it, which means I wasted a lot of Magic Energy…best to use my close combat experience,' Macao smiles and shakes his head. 'Seriously, kids these days are so strong that I've got to use my brain against them. How ridiculous.'
"Try catching this!" Macao says as he launches another attack, this time like a whip of purple fire.
Oberon raises a brow as he catches it with his left hand.
"Gotcha!" Macao says as the flame snakes its way around his left hand and forearm, having already changed the properties of the fire to restrain instead of burn, making it much less draining on his Magic Energy, and act like a rope.
A rope which he pulls in, intending to yank Oberon over to him, within striking range.
But Oberon just grabs onto the flame tether and anchors himself in place with his Cosmic Armor.
"Ugh!" Macao grunts as he stumbles forward, failing to move Oberon with his pull. "Seriously?"
"I'm heavier than I look," Oberon says, jokingly.
"Yeah, well, I'm faster than I look," Macao says as he reels in the flame tether connecting them, quickly pulling himself toward Oberon.
Oberon's eyes widen as he barely ducks, avoiding a knee to his face.
"Ha, made you dodge!" Macao yells as he lands and pivots into a flurry of close ranged blows.
"Didn't expect that," Oberon says as he tries to dodge or parry Macao's strikes, failing to do so for most of them. But all the blows that land are unable to breach his Cosmic armor.
"I found your weak spot now!" Macao says as he keeps pushing Oberon back. "You can't handle close combat, or Spells you can't see… because…you can't sense Magic…so you react slower!" Macao says between attacks.
"Yeah, but.---" Oberon kicks Macao in the shin, making the man wince, and flinch. "Neither can you," he uppercuts Macao into the air, sending him a few feet off the ground as he grabs the flame tether and pulls him back down.
"Ugh!" Macao grunts as he opens his eyes, just in time to see Oberon's fist rapidly blocking his vision.
Oberon's fist connects with his face, knocking him back, and then the boy grabs the tether again to pull him in for more.
"You normal Wizards are too reliant on that Magic Sense guiding you!" Oberon says as he pulls in Macao and grabs him by the shoulder, throwing him.
In the air Macao uses his Purple Flame Magic to form small thrusters below his boots and lands on his feet, skating through the snow for a few feet while holding the tether.
"Holy crap," Macao says as he barely stops himself from dropping to one knee. "Feels like I got run over by a wagon…this is training you know."
Oberon looks at him, genuinely confused. "But, this is how I train with Laxus and Gildarts, and Master Makarov."
"Yeah well, guess that means I just need to step up my game," Macao says. "And I just found a chink in your armor."
After saying that he stands tall and grabs the flame tether with both hands, pouring more Magic Energy into the spell.
The flames wrapped around Oberon's left hand grow and snake their way around much of his body, tightening around him to lock him in place.
"Hngh!" Oberon grunts as he has to pour more Magic Energy into his Cosmic Armor so he can keep moving.
In response Macao grits his teeth and increases the binding strength of his Magic, seeing the boy struggling to move anymore.
"Ha, now I've got you," Macao says as he rushes in, rearing back with a fist aimed at Oberon who's still held in place.
"Hnn!" Oberon struggles to move his limbs, feeling that each time he tries to do anything, his Cosmic Armor weakens and the now burning flames get closer to his body, threatening to burn him. "Damn it!"
"Gotcha!" Macao says as he arrives directly in front of Oberon. "Huh—"
The boy opens his mouth, releasing a concussive beam of golden Light Magic directly into Macao's gut and knocking him a dozen meters away, pushing him through the snow and dirt.
The Purple Flare Spell dissipates immediately as Macao barely remains conscious.
"Oh my god…" Macao groans in pain as he lays in the cold snow.
"Are you alright?!" Oberon asks as he flies over to him.
"Yeah, I just need to think here for a while, thinking about how washed up I must be, to get beaten like that by a kid," Macao says.
"Well, you can do that out of the cold," Oberon says as he levitates Macao into the cave and rests him beside the fire. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"
"Yeah, but, I thought you couldn't do another Spell while using Cosmic Armor, when did that change?"
"Uh, just now," Oberon says. "Magic blooms under pressure, right?"
"Tch, yeah right," Macao says. "You've got talent kid, now I need twenty minutes before we can get started again."
"Sure thing, I'll try to get some reading done before that," Oberon says.
"Hey, you know, I can teach you some Fire Magic while we're up here, I'm sure you'd learn fast."
"Sorry, can't learn any other Magics until I become S-Class, but it is tempting," Oberon says.
"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Macao says as he looks over at Oberon. "Hey, if it takes me a few years, and we meet each other in the S-Class Trials, promise to go easy on me?"
Oberon chuckles, "When it's my time in the trials, I'll crush you and everyone else!"
END CHAPTER---
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]