The progress Erza, Kagura, and Simon were making was nothing short of impressive. With the support of Noah's custom-made potions and the enchanted emblem magic unique to Fairy Tail, their growth could practically be seen with the naked eye.
Erza now had her own room filled with magical equipment, all provided by Noah, so she had everything she needed to train. Alongside her physical and magical development, she was currently focusing on speeding up her Requip Magic sharpening how quickly she could swap between weapons and armor mid-battle.
Of course, mastering her armory wasn't just about switching faster. She also practiced with each weapon and tested the limits of every piece of armor. Her favorite by far was the sword. Each day, she devoted time to perfecting her technique with it.
Kagura, too, preferred the blade. After finishing their individual training, she and Erza often paired up, sparring with unsharpened wooden swords, exchanging blows with precision and fire in their eyes.
Simon, in contrast, favored his fists. "The body is the best weapon," he would always say. Every day, he could be found striking a thick wooden stake, training his punches and kicks until sweat poured from his skin.
Once the basic routines were complete, it was time for combat practice. Their usual sparring order began with Erza against Kagura, Noah against Simon, and eventually, Noah facing all three at once.
Noah, of course, was vastly stronger than the others. His physical ability alone made him untouchable. Even when they fought with all their strength, they couldn't land a single clean hit.
But Noah wasn't just there to win he wanted to train. So, he began applying gravity magic directly to himself, compressing its effect to the surface of his skin. This way, his movements were slowed, his body weighed down, and only he was affected.
In this restricted state, fighting against the trio became a challenge. It allowed for more evenly matched battles, giving everyone a chance to improve their combat awareness and coordination.
A few days later, the group training expanded.
Ulu and her team returned from the snowy mountains. Spotting Noah back home, Ulu entrusted Ultear and the others to his care while she went off alone to complete a mission.
Now that everyone was training together, the courtyard buzzed with life sword clashes, spell flares, laughter, and the occasional shouting match between Gray and Ultear.
One afternoon, as the group finished up their usual practice, Noah stood up, clapped his hands, and called everyone over.
"Everyone, gather around!"
Erza approached, wiping sweat from her brow. "Brother Noah, is something up?"
Gray strolled over as well shirtless again, as usual. "You going on a commission or something?"
Noah gave him a flat look. "No. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying home to focus on training."
Behind him, Ultear arrived, towel draped over her shoulder. "Did you come up with a new training method?"
She was fully recovered now her health restored after months of training and care. She'd been studying Ice-Make Magic with Ulu and had trained in the snow-covered mountains with Grelio and the others.
Of course, there had been some... disagreements along the way.
Ulu, in keeping with her methods, had wanted Ultear to train wearing only her undergarments, just like Gray. Ultear, horrified, refused. She countered that a simple T-shirt and shorts were perfectly fine. Ulu refused to back down. Neither side yielded, so the debate ended in stalemate.
But Ultear drew the line when she caught Gray under her influence trying to remove even his underwear. From that moment on, she beat him every time she saw him strip below acceptable limits. Eventually, she managed to break his habit of fully stripping but couldn't stop his tendency to randomly shed clothing. In the end, she gave up trying.
As Gray approached, shirtless again, Ultear glared at him and pointed firmly at his clothes. Gray blinked, then sheepishly put his shirt back on.
"I noticed something during our training," Noah said. "We tend to spar one-on-one. But that's not how real battles work, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"In real commissions, it's common to be outnumbered or surrounded. That's why I want us to start training for one-versus-many situations."
"Do you mean we'll gang up on one person?" Erza asked, scanning the group.
Noah shook his head. "Not quite. I've found a better way."
He raised his hand.
A magical circle formed in the air.
Power rippled outward.
A bright light flashed then flickered and split, forming distinct silhouettes.
And one by one... they began to take shape.
When Erza saw several more Noahs standing around, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait... aren't these thought bodies?" she asked, stepping closer and narrowing her eyes. "But those require a ton of magic power. We can't use something like that yet, right?"
She wasn't wrong. The creation of thought projections was extremely taxing on the average mage.
Noah shook his head, smirking a little.
"Not quite. This isn't a traditional thought body. It's a spell I learned from an old man a personality phantom. They look and move like real people, and they can even interact with objects. But their strength is limited. They're not meant for fighting they're for training."
Everyone leaned in, curious.
With a wave of his hand, Noah created enough phantoms for each person present, molding their forms with magic until each one resembled a simplified version of the trainee they were assigned to.
Then, from inside his sleeve, Noah pulled out a set of vials filled with glowing paint.
"This is special magic paint," he explained. "The color sticks for about twelve hours. I'm going to mark the palms and backs of the phantoms' hands with it."
He dipped his fingers in the paint and dabbed it onto the illusions' hands. The goal was clear.
"We're going to practice dodging and blocking today no magic, no counterattacks. Just pure evasion and defensive movement. This is what you'd call a one-versus-many training drill. In real fights, you won't always get to duel one-on-one. Learning to protect yourself against multiple opponents is essential."
"And what happens if we get hit?" Kagura asked, raising an eyebrow.
"At the end, we'll count how many times each person gets stained. Whoever has the most marks... washes the dishes tonight," Noah said, clapping his hands with finality.
"You sure these phantoms aren't as fast as you?" Leo asked suspiciously. "This isn't just you trying to dodge dish duty, is it?"
Leo had changed a lot over the past half year. Since joining Fairy Tail, he'd seen more of the world, felt its warmth, and slowly loosened the icy grip of his obsession with power. He still wanted to grow stronger, of course but now, there was laughter in his voice, and mischief in his eyes.
He looked at Noah with mock suspicion.
"It's your turn to wash tonight, isn't it?"
Noah clicked his tongue.
"Fine, fine. If I really get hit the most, I'll wash the dishes tonight. But if someone else gets more hits, they wash tomorrow night too and everyone else's schedule moves forward one day."
Leo snorted. "You just want to push dish duty onto someone else."
"Hey, strategy is part of combat," Noah replied with a grin. "But I promise, I'm not cheating. The phantoms are neutral equal in power to you guys when you don't use magic. And you're not allowed to fight back. Just dodge, or block with your body."
"Sounds good to me," Erza said. "Let's begin."
Noah raised his hand again.
With another wave of magic, the personality phantoms floated into position, hovering just a few paces away from their respective opponents.
"Alright," Noah instructed. "Everyone, pair off. You'll each get two phantoms. Spread out so no one bumps into anyone else by accident."
The team obeyed, stepping out into the open field. As soon as everyone had taken position, the illusions sprang to life, launching into simulated attacks.
For the next hour, the air filled with the sound of sliding feet, shifting stances, and the occasional shout of surprise. Dodging and blocking required full focus and those phantoms didn't let up.
By evening, the sun was low in the sky, and everyone regrouped, sweaty and sore.
"Alright," Noah called. "Time to check who's covered in the most paint!"
The group looked around, laughing and pointing fingers. But two people stood out.
Gray and Leo were absolutely drenched in color.
"Wait," Ultear said, crossing her arms, "Why do you two look like you've been rolling in it?"
After a long pause, the truth came out.
The two had trained too close to one another. At some point, their phantoms overlapped. During the chaos, they'd started bumping into each other and then it escalated into a personal brawl, which led to both of them being thoroughly painted.
"So... are they both on dish duty?" Ultear asked coolly.
"No way," Noah said, smirking. "One person per night. But since we can't tell who got hit more, we'll just... make them take turns."
Gray groaned. "I knew this was rigged…"
Leo sighed. "We really are the clowns of the guild…"
Ultear didn't say anything. She just turned, satisfied, as the other members burst into laughter.
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