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CHAPTER START---
After two days of sailing, Oberon is sitting on the deck of the lead ship. Legs crossed and relaxing on a small crate around a lit brazier, eating a bowl of stew with a few older men, who were each having dinner.
One of the men is a well-dressed soldier, wearing the uniform of the Fex Kingdom with a staff at his side. The other is a monk, carefully adding rare spices to his mug of ale, and the final two are dressed in plain combat wear, Rune Knights.
The monk sips his ale, smiling as the flavor invades his mouth. "Yeah, this'll do it."
Each of the men then present their much smaller cups and he adds a touch of spice to them. After a single sip, they sigh, satisfied.
One of the Rune Knights nods while the other continues eating. "Yeah, I see why being an adventurer is so alluring. We'd get punished for even a sip of ale on the job."
The monk chuckles. "Lifting spirits is part of what we do, and ale is a quick way to do that…when spiced properly."
Oberon frowns. "Jura gave me a taste of his ale with that stuff, it's even worse than regular ale, ugh."
The soldier laughs. "It's an acquired taste, you'll get it when you're older."
"No thanks, tastes stale."
They all share a laugh at the sight of his grimacing face. 'Wizard Saint's power…but still a child.'
"Jura always uses the strongest spices," the monk says. "His taste buds are likely defective to need such strong flavors. That's the only explanation."
"I was surprised to see he wasn't here," one of the Rune Knights says. "He was the first to join the last expedition."
"It can't be helped. He's dealing with a critical matter with Elder Etis. He's also his successor, and Elder Etis's health has been declining lately…" the conversation turns bitter for a moment, and the Fex Kingdom soldier changes topics.
"What's with the Magic Council?" he asks, more curious than accusatory. "How come you guys aren't in uniform like usual?"
The Rune Knights turn to each other, then the one who was eating speaks up. "Technically, we're former Rune Knights…maybe."
"You don't know if you have a job?" the soldier asks.
"The Magic Council is in a tight spot. If this expedition fail then they've just sent more people do die, while Ishgar has barely recovered from many Wizard Guilds becoming Dark Guilds. If it works, well then the public sees them as people who abandoned Hacot when they needed help most. Even if Hacot is independent of the Magic Council, hearts sway minds."
"So you quit?" Oberon asks.
"No. Knight Commander Gran Doma argued that we should help, since the new intel gave a better look at the situation on Hacot. He also couldn't sit idly while people needed help, even if it didn't benefit us.
But the Magic Council didn't approve. So we handed in our resignations to him and left. Around now, he should be explaining the situation to Chairman Seam and the other council members. They'll be pissed, and we may get arrested if he fails to convince them.
But that new council member, Yajima, he's helping Gran Doma. Actually, it was his idea for us to steal that high-level Communication Lacrima. A Lacrima that can communicate from a country away is rare and expensive, and I suspect that's what they'll really hold our feet to the fire about."
The other Rune Knight sighs. "We won't know until we get it up and running. Hopefully Gran Doma and Mr. Yajima were able to convince them. I'd rather not get arrested when we get back."
"You won't be arrested," the soldier says. "My king would never allow people to be punished for joining us. The Fex Kingdom and its friends will be on your side. And that includes other Wizard Saints and kingdoms as well."
"Yeah, I know that much," the Rune Knight says. "It's still stressful. I've been a Rune Knight since I was eighteen. Twenty years of my life, it's a lot."
"This is all assuming we survive," the monk says before finishing off his ale. He then lifts the small barrel at his side to refill the mug. "I'd be a lot more comfortable if God Serena was with us again."
"I was hoping he'd be here too," Oberon says. "I've always wanted to meet him. Master Makarov always says he's more powerful than all the other Wizard Saints combined."
"He is," the soldier says. "He's in the Fex Kingdom quite a bit since he's great friends with King Osian. We've seen him practice his Magics. It takes a lot of Magic Energy to survive having a Dragon Lacrima implanted in you. Not to mention the compatibility requirement, that process is near impossible to survive.
A man who survived it eight times, with Dragon Lacrima's of different elements, while harmonizing all of them to bend to his will. 'Monster' doesn't even begin to describe his power."
The monk nods. "If only his personality wasn't so…ugh."
All but Oberon laugh at that, having met the man before.
Oberon isn't sure what they mean. "Well, Master Makrov says you have to be weird or crazy to get to the summit of Magic. No powerful Mage is normal."
"You're pretty normal," the soldier says. "Well, aside from. Uh, you know…"
Oberon gives a confused look. "What?"
The man gestures to all of him. "You're kind of, terrifying. Not personally, at least not that I've seen. But the fact that you exist begins a very dangerous precedent of kids with the power to destroy cities."
"I'm not a kid anymore. I'm S-Class. And I'll be thirteen in January, right at the start of next year."
"In nine months huh," the man nods. "Just proved my point."
"You are actually terrifying," one of the Rune Knights says. "I was in charge of transporting a few Dark Guilds you took down. I promise those guys never want to see your face again."
"Well, sometimes I get a little excited when people have interesting Magics…so maybe I take the fight a bit too far."
"You punched his arm off…"
"..."
"He had a green mohawk."
"Ohhh! That guy! Yeah his Heavenly Body Magic was cool…turns out it was a total waste of my time learning it though, damn thing is useless for me."
They all give him a genuinely horrified look before schooling their expressions, then the soldier speaks up. "No such thing as a normal Wizard Saint. You're the youngest to be offered the rank, and God Serena is by far the strongest, of course you two would be the most strange."
"That reminds me," the monk says. "God Serena sent some alchemy mixes from his personal storehouse on Ishgar for us. They're on the other ship, but this morning I got a message that they should help treat infections, burns, and a host of other magical and non-magical effects. That man's research into making true healing potions may not have reached the final goal, but he made quite a collection of useful items along the way."
"Healing Magic is Lost Magic for a reason," one of the Rune Knights says before turning to Oberon. "Rumors say you have that. Is that real? Would be helpful if we have to fight on this trip."
"It's not Healing Magic. My Magic Energy just heals myself a lot faster, doesn't work on others, also it's passive, not a Spell."
"That's cheating," the soldier says before the conversation meanders through a few different topics.
One meal and a few drinks later, the small group is playing a game of cards while Oberon reads a new Grimoire, and both King Osian and Prince Rixian step onto the deck.
Rixian walks to the front of the ship while King Ixian slows his pace to call out to Oberon. "Oberon, you should join us."
Oberon follows them to the front of the ship, floating behind the men and sitting on the front railing, leaning forward to see the water breaking in front of the ship. The ocean is shimmering under the moonlight, and everyone but King Osian and Oberon are wearing their coats.
The man and his son stop beside Oberon, looking out at the water.
"We're almost in the quarantine zone," King Osian says. "When we get there I'll enchant the ships. It should only be a day of sailing to Hacot after that. I can just about handle enchanting this much material for that long."
"So, what do you need me to do?" Oberon asks, turning to the man.
"Makarov always boasts of your ability to understand Magics, can you take a look at mine?" The man raises his hand, creating a gentle white flame in his palm. "It's innate to me, and unfortunately I'm better at using it than teaching it. I'd like to pass this down my family line. The purifying attributes make it unique among Fire Magics, it'd be a shame to lose it to the ages."
Oberon carefully Observes it and then nods. "I can try to break it down into a formula. But I'll need to crash it into Cosmic to better understand it."
"What does that mean?" Rixian asks.
"Just hold still," Oberon reaches out, and as he closes his hand against the flame, he opens his Magic Container just enough for the Boundless Cosmos to smother the flame.
But even that fraction of a second is enough to wake up everyone on the three ships, and make the deck of the main ship creak. The ship's front pushes slightly deeper into the water, as if trying to retreat from Oberon, but before it can shake too much, he reseals his Magic Container.
"Got it," he says, ignoring the startled and amazed people all around him while summoning a screen with Super Archive. On the screen, dozens of runes are rapidly organized into a formula. "Purifying White Flame Magic…interesting. Even if I solve it, I don't have the fire affinity to use it. You'd need at least as much as Master Makarov to even try it."
"My Fire Magic affinity is fairly high," Prince Rixian says. "Perhaps you can teach it to me after you've solved it."
"Sounds like fun. It'll take me a week or two to figure out the specifics. I can superimpose the Radiant Attribute from my own Light Magic's formulas onto it to start, that'll cut down the time."
"That quick," Osian doesn't bother hiding his amazement. "You truly are an absurd talent. Now, what was that sensation with your Magic Energy earlier?"
Oberon looks up from the screen and shrugs. "It's not something I really go around announcing. But I can't sense Magic Energy, or be affected by invasive Magics without inviting it in."
"Invasive Magics?" Rixian asks.
"Like Telepathy and stuff."
"And how have you survived this long without sensing Magic?"
"I have a permanent passive invisible barrier around my body and clothes. I also heal really fast."
"Well, we'll keep this to ourselves," the men agree, and chat for a few more minutes before the ocean ahead of their ships becomes void black.
"I guess we're close," Oberon says.
"Are you sure it won't affect you?" Osian asks one more time.
"If it's magical in origin, I'll be fine. But I'll go check," he flies from the railing and moves ahead of the ships. Many of the passengers move to the front of the deck to see what's going on, giving him an audience from the three ships, and more come up from below deck.
Floating above the black water, Oberon takes out a Storage Card and removes a small empty wooden box. He then gently touches one corner of it to the water with Gravity Magic.
The black plague-like effect spreads up the wooden box, withering the item into dust before his eyes. Through their parascopes, the people on deck relay his actions to everyone, causing a slight panic to arise as the wooden ships continue sailing forward at a slow pace.
Oberon then releases a burst of raw Magic Energy, exposing the black water to Cosmic in the most primal form, and when he's done the water beneath him is purified. But within seconds the darkness consumes it once more.
He nods and rockets back to the main ship, landing on the railing. "Yeah, I'll be fine. But it's definitely Death Magic. Feels similar to some of the Books of Zeref. Really can't go five minutes without running into one of his weapons."
"So we're likely fighting one of his creations," Osian sighs and stretches his arms to both sides. "At least I'm now sure my Magic can protect us."
He releases two thin beams of fire from his palms, hitting the ships to their right and left simultaneously. The white purifying flame spreads harmlessly across the ship, temporarily painting it white with soft flickering flames, and a barrier of gentle white light that rises up and over the sails and masts to form a dome.
From his feet, the main ship receives the same protection enchantment before he opens his eyes once more. "That should protect us, even from whatever Death Magic is supposedly carried by the winds."
"I doubt we'll have to deal with that out here," Oberon says. "This Death Magic isn't like his usual set. Seems more like it makes particles than spreads out as Magic Energy. But notice how it never breaks from the mass of black water."
Osian and Rixian look to either side of the ship as they begin sailing through the black water, carving a path and negating the Death Magic that touches the ships along the way. They see that the black water has a clear area of influence, and not even a few globs of Death Magic float out beyond it.
"So it requires a constant or frequent connection," Osian says. "We can use that to more easily find the source."
"Yup. Should make it a lot easier. And I've got a day to figure out the specifics of this Death Magic. By the time we get there I'll better understand how to take it down."
CHAPTER END---
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]