Harry found himself faced with a pair of squinting green eyes, sizing him up without the slightest attempt at subtlety. The woman in question eventually leaned back, her hands on her hips, blinking eyelids coated in blue eye shadow.
"Unless my eyes deceive me, you aren't Jura Neekiss," she said, hands resting on her wide hips.
There was another woman not far away, with dark purple hair crowned by a white bow. This woman was sitting on a fallen tree, cleaning a long katana until it reflected her face and caught the glint of the sun.
She sheathed the sword. "The plan must have changed."
"Clearly," said the first woman.
"Harry Potter." Harry extended his hand. "I look forward to working with you."
The woman looked at it. She let out a faint sigh. Finally, she shook his hand, gripping it lightly with a minimum of contact.
"Minerva Orland," she said, her tone telling him he should've heard that name. "Your guild, please?"
"Fairy Tail."
The woman sitting on the tree tilted her head, glancing at Harry, sizing him up again.
Minerva laughed.
"Truly?" she asked. "Well, I suppose that Jura knows best."
The third member of their team stood up, fastening her scabbard and sword to her hip. She had very serious and wide, somewhat slanted eyes.
"Kagura Mikazuchi. Mermaid Heel," she said.
"And I'm from Sabertooth," Minerva said. "You at least know what we're here to do, don't you Harry?"
"Jura explained it all," he said. "We're cutting off the best mages of Death's Head Caucus, giving the main group the chance to attack the Guild Hall."
"An isolated battle against extremely powerful mages. Mages who have killed dozens to hundreds of times before," Minerva said. "Despite the considerable skills we wield, once the fighting begins we will not be able to offer a safety net, should you fall behind. You understand this?"
"I wouldn't expect any more from you," Harry said.
Minerva squinted at him. She turned around, walking the other way. "Good. We leave in five minutes. Make whatever preparations you need in order to travel. Should you end up lost during the trip, you will not receive credit for this mission. Remember that."
"I don't think about credit until a job is done. I consider it a bad habit to build."
Kagura's eyes had drifted off of him, but she looked back now, nodding in agreement. Minerva looked back too, though her smirk was unchanged. There was a glint in her eye.
"Do as you wish," she said airily.
O-O-O
Harry held the groove-less wood of his broom with both hands, flying low enough to kick up dust from the red soil. The landscape was full of clay, including monuments of orange rock and eroded cliffs full of narrow canyons.
To Harry's right, Kagura ran at the speed of a car. She had been holding that pace for half an hour, and she didn't even look to be out of breath, let alone exhausted. Minerva stood still, checking her nails while her left arm lay crossed beneath her bust. Every minute or so, she would look up and send out a pulse of shimmering blue, green, and purple energy. When the energy caught up with Kagura and Harry, Minerva would reappear next to them, still examining her nails.
Apparently, this was considered a mean feat for her magic, because Minerva had stressed not to exert themselves while traveling, reminding them that they were headed for a fight.
Harry stroked the tip of his broom. He knew hiring former Nimbus engineers to give him lessons would someday be worth the astronomical price he paid for it. The tool carrying him was no Firebolt, but it offered him all the speed he needed, and most importantly he'd nailed the Cushioning Charms. He considered that a win.
Harry veered around a tower of sandstone in their way, his foot coming close enough to make a lizard scramble to safety. According to what Ultear had explained, the mission was taking place along the border of Bosco, Fiore's eastern neighbor. Clearly, the region was arid.
Abruptly, Harry pulled the tip of his broom up, slowing to a stop and dismounting. Kagura dug her heels into the ground beside him. Minerva appeared a moment later, casting her eyes forward.
The ground fell away sharply for around fifty feet before leveling out in a mesa as wide as the grounds of Hogwarts. Slicing through the center was a winding river which flowed straight over an abrupt lip, tumbling out of sight in a roaring cascade. The impact of the water against the bottom far below was audible hundreds of meters away.
"There's the road," Harry said, shielding his eyes.
Sure enough, like a yellow snake through the red background, a line could be seen. It ran close enough to touch the river's bank, before curving away, ultimately following the lip of the cliff out of sight, no doubt leading to a place where descent was more feasible than the straight-drop the water took.
"We have good visibility here," Harry said. "What's the range of your teleportation spell?"
"Far enough," Minerva said.
"I can match it. When we have a visual, the two of us will engage, delaying them until Kagura arrives. If there's any kind of ambush prepared, she can act as an ambush of our own."
"Denied," Minerva said.
Harry bit his cheek.
"For what reason?"
Minerva leaned toward him, poking his chest. "Kagura, I'm familiar with. We haven't worked together, true, but I've competed against her in the past. I'm aware of her skills. I know my own skills, and I have the utmost confidence in them. You, Harry, are an unknown. For all I know you're a pity case from a dead guild. Jura's heart has always been softer than his magic. I do not trust you to watch my back, not even for a handful of minutes. And I cannot fathom why we would make you the leader."
Kagura dropped into a crouch, resting her katana against her shoulder, watching the road like a hawk. "Decide this between yourselves."
Harry looked down at the fingers Minerva had poked him with, eventually lifting his gaze.
The operation was flawed. As much as he appreciated Jura's invitation, too much had changed at the last moment. In the same way that Harry slid into a leadership role without thinking, his time in the Aurors told him that altering a plan this way was a generally bad idea.
She could have phrased it more kindly, but he couldn't say that Minerva was wrong, exactly. He was an unknown. Those were dangerous.
"What do you propose?" Harry asked.
Minerva turned her back on him, walking to the cliff wearing a smile. "We'll take the road ourselves. Travel east and we're bound to meet them soon. Once we've closed as much distance as we can we'll launch our attack, crushing them."
"And if they're ready for that?" Harry asked, watching as Minerva stepped onto nothing but air.
Magic enveloped her body, allowing her to stand weightlessly in the air.
"Then we crush their plans like the tricks that they are."
She quickly floated out of sight. Kagura stood up, glancing at Harry briefly before jumping, sliding down the cliff on her heels.
He stood by himself for a moment, then climbed onto his broom and flew after them.
Soon, the trio was walking with the roar of water just to their side. Harry had swapped his broom out for three threadbare cloaks, conjured to look like they were about to fall apart. Minerva wrinkled her nose when he'd handed one to her, but donned it anyway.
They were travelers. Merchants, maybe, or pilgrims. At least, that's what they wanted to appear as. Traveling through the arid landscape was noticeably solitary. Harry imagined that there must be more-traveled routes into Bosco, because this seemed remote to the point of being abandoned.
"Spotted," Kagura said.
Her eyes were better than Harry's. He had to activate an enchantment on his glasses in order to see them. He blinked as they came into focus. Garbed in cloaks not dissimilar to the ones he and his teammates wore, they were striking a slow pace, each carrying a bag filled with — presumably — the wealth won through their most recent contract.
One of the two in front had a sword on their back. All three's faces weren't visible. Quickly, Harry's eyes were drawn to the one at the back.
There was something about the way that one was moving… It was too smooth. The head was supposed to bob at least a little bit. The closer they got, the more sure he became.
"The one in the back is a fake. It's not walking right."
"Team of two?" Kagura asked.
"Can't be. There's three bags. Unless those are fakes, too."
Minerva smiled. Magic began swirling around her fingertips.
"It seems they have a trick up their sleeve," she said. "Do you know the thing about tricks?"
Harry got a bad feeling. He canceled the vision enhancement on his glasses, looking at Minerva instead as the two groups came within a hundred paces. "Don't—"
Too late.
"In the face of true power, they're a waste of time!" Minerva said.
Her cloak flew back as she created a ball of magic in the sky, like a multicolored second sun. Minerva's face split in a frenetic grin. As the group facing them stopped, Minerva's body disappeared, only to reappear from the ball she had created.
"Territory: Bombardment!"
As many as a hundred smaller kaleidoscopic balls struck the enemy's position, creating a plume of smoke as tall as the cliffs surrounding the mesa.
Kagura detached her sword from her hip, holding it in a 'draw' position, scabbard and all. Harry briefly saw her top speed as her body became a flicker, then disappeared entirely. He could trace a blur flying at the dust Minerva had created. All the while Minerva hung in the air, laughing wildly.
Harry cursed.
"This is why I hate working with elites!" he said. "They're so overconfident!"
While powerful, Minerva's attack had created a smokescreen, making it impossible to see their response.
As she charged, Kagura abruptly dug her heels into the ground, holding her sword out vertically in front of her.
The only warning was a brief glint from within the cloud. A figure shot out, moving just as fast as Kagura while wielding a far longer curved blade.
The blade's edge clashed against Kagura's scabbard. During her charge, the enemy's cloak had been thrown off, revealing a pink haired woman in a kimono with dots under her eyes.
"And here I thought that we were almost home," the woman said. "It seems this job still holds one last challenge."
Behind her, a burst of wind, dispelled the dust that had drifted up, replacing it with a flood of dark figures. They were in the same cloaks as the dark mages, but there were no bodies beneath these exteriors— nothing but shadows.
Harry's eyes landed on a man beneath the army of darkness. He had a wrinkled face, long ponytail, and wore a layer of dark lipstick. A distinctive appearance matched by his distinctive cackle.
"It seems the legal guilds have tracked us down, Ikaruga!" he said. "Let's show them what a dangerous opponent they've picked!"
The woman crossing blades with Kagura smiled. "Yes, let's."
She adjusted her grip, driving Kagura's sword to the side. Kagura grimaced. As Ikaruga's blade skidded off of her own, Kagura prepared a counterattack, but her swing only met air. Ikaruga had fled.
"The one in the back stays there for a reason," she declared, bearing down on Harry.
Kagura spun, taking one step toward Ikaruga, before Minerva stopped her.
"Support me!" Minerva demanded.
She had created a sphere of magic around herself, but the shadowy men were slowly eating away at it. Minerva gritted her teeth, holding their assault at bay.
Instead of chasing Ikaruga, Kagura charged the man with dark lips, looking to engage him in direct combat.
That left Harry to face the swordswoman she abandoned.
Ikaruga held her katana next to her hip, ready to slash with it the moment she came into his range. Harry had no interest in letting that happen. He created a shield as she unleashed her first slash. The half-dome of blue light deflected Ikaruga's attack. With an empty smile, Ikaruga swung again, her weapon and arms turning to a blur. With ten attacks in under a second, she shattered Harry's defense, by which point he had prepared a spell.
Harry's wand stabbed out, shooting a Conjunctivitis Curse at close range. Ikaruga bent back, dodging so narrowly that it brushed the tip of her nose, leaving reddened skin.
She tried to snap forward, slashing at Harry, but he had already transformed the ground beneath her feet into ice. Without traction, her feet shot out from under her, and she hit the ground. He rained curses down on her, but she managed to roll aside. Harry sensed danger in the way she was holding her sword and Apparated, leaving his shoddy traveling cloak behind.
"Empty Flash," Ikaruga intoned.
At the moment she struck, her eyes were closed.
The cloak Harry left behind was split into ten pieces. A second later, those pieces split again, bringing the total number up to twenty.
Ikaruga paused, calmly orienting toward Harry again, glancing between the spot he'd been and where he was now.
"Fascinating. Teleportation. Precise attacks as well as more wild explosions. You can even create defenses," Ikaruga said. "It's similar to a form of Make magic but I truly can't find a theme. Except for that little tool in your hands."
"No offense, but your magic doesn't make much sense either," Harry said. "It seems like you're just good with a sword."
"Correction," Ikaruga said. "I'm the best with a sword."
An explosion shook the ground. Looking back, Harry spotted Kagura shielding her face with her weapon as she was hurled back. Minerva had her feet back on the ground, but had been reduced to one knee, shielding herself with magic. Those strange dark figures continued swirling around the mage they were fighting, who was still laughing. He extended his hands and shot beams of darkness at the two female mages, keeping them on the defensive.
"He's a bit of a freak," Ikaruga said, smiling, "but he's really quite powerful. Perhaps you've heard of Jose Porla? He even held the title of Wizard Saint that you legal mages are so obsessed with. Do you think your allies stand a chance?"
Harry smiled back.
"I just met them today," he admitted, "but they come highly recommended. Even if they're rough around the edges, I have confidence in their magic."
Kagura turned her sword, redirecting the beam that was pushing her back, channeling it into the ground. Minerva turned her hands like she was cranking a steering wheel. "Territory: Flawless Reflection!"
The beam turned into the shape of a U, flying back at Jose. His laughter paused as he canceled the attack. The energy bearing down on him broke apart into dozens of his shadow servants, reforming into a writhing shape covered in tentacles. The mass started to launch an attack, only for Kagura to fly out of the dust surrounding her, cleaving it into two. Minerva Minerva ran forward, her hands sheathed in magic, joining Kagura in close-range combat.
"My," Ikaruga said. "It seems that the Magic Council means business this time, looking at who they've sent. They'll be terribly disappointed to discover your corpses."
She tilted her head, her eyes closed as she smiled brightly. The moment he saw her eyelids shut, Harry whipped his wand up.
He created a superheated chain extending from the tip of his wand, wrapping it around Ikaruga's blade to disrupt her slash. Ideally, he would have liked to melt the metal, breaking her sword in half, but whatever it was made from shrugged off heat on the level of a blacksmith's forge.
Ikaruga repurposed the heat for her own purpose. Flames appeared all along the blade. "Garuda Empty Slash," she intoned.
The burning sword cut the chain Harry had created into pieces. The attack extended forward, threatening his wand, forcing him to Apparete again. He created distance, which Ikaruga immediately began to close. He looked to slow her down by raising walls of earth in her path. She cut them down. He conjured walls of metal. She cut these down too. He attacked instead, firing curses at her that he followed up with even more, staggered to prevent her from dodging.
Ikaruga danced gracefully between the first barrage. When Harry cast so many spells that the gaps closed, she sliced the ground. Ikaruga managed to propel a massive slab of earth into the air between them, acting as a shield.
Harry's spells decimated the rock, but Ikaruga burst out of the rubble. Harry Apparated right before she reached him.
A slight breeze led him to look down, watching as a cut opened in the cuff of his sleeve. She was targeting his wand.
It was a bad matchup. She thrived fighting at a close distance, while Harry wanted to maintain a gap. He would keep fleeing and she would keep chasing, which was sure to drag things out. Although he was confident he would eventually wear her down, Ikaruga's style had no obvious weaknesses for him to exploit.
By contrast, although he was likely more powerful, her partner Jose had one exceptional trick. He used those shadows, which seemed to be a unique form of Darkness Magic. That, Harry could counter.
Maybe he could still exploit it.
Harry held his arm out to the right, twisting his wrist to perform the circular casting motion. "Expecto Patronum!"
The stag that ran forth from his wand charged into the sky, shining with ethereal light. It ran straight toward the shadows Jose wielded, which scattered when they saw the buck coming. Harry grinned. "I knew you buggers looked too much like Dementors!"
The opening he created allowed Kagura to get directly into Jose's face. Harry saw her land at least one hit, bruising his cheek badly. Hopefully that fight would soon end, but he couldn't spare the time to watch.
Ikaruga slashed at him from afar as the fire sheathing her blade turned to crackling lightning. A bolt shot at Harry, who merely applied an insulation charm to his clothes, dissipating the electricity. As Ikaruga charged him, he pointed his wand at a nearby rock. Moments later, his magic instilled the little stone with an intense magnetic charge. Ikaruga's sword shot out of her grip, flying toward the stone.
Any satisfaction at having disarmed her was short-lived. Ikaruga bent her knees, throwing herself forward so quickly that the kick-off left a deafening noise behind.
She caught up with her sword just as it reached the magnetic stone. Grabbing the handle, Ikaruga twisted, bringing the sword down in a deadly arc at Harry's head, the base of her kimono fanning into a wide circle.
Harry just moved his wand. The trajectory enchantment on his glasses activated. He conjured a small metal ball like the ones Dyst used, hovering in the air about ten feet to the side. As Ikaruga's blade came down on him, he Banished the metal ball so that it would fly just above his head, pouring magic into the spell to maximize the projectile's speed.
The timing and trajectories lined up. Instead of cleaving him, Ikaruga's sword was hit by the metal ball, knocked off-course, where it sliced into the dirt. She found herself staring into the tip of Harry's wand, who without wasting time spoke the first half of a Bludgeoning Charm strong enough to leave her concussed and unconscious.
The explosion threw a wrench in that.
It carried enough force to knock Harry forward. Ikaruga was thrown as well. In mid air, she seized on her chance and slashed at Harry. He raised a shield, slowing down her blade, but Ikaruga cut through it. There was too much going on to Apparate safely, and a Splinching could prove fatal in this situation, so he conjured a powerful wind to push his body away.
The tip of Ikaruga's sword still bit into his side. Harry rolled through his landing, muttering, "Episkey!" to close the wound.
Jose's laughter was back. He wasn't standing alone anymore. A tall blindfolded man had come out of nowhere. His arms were held in front of his chest, and he was smiling. Harry could see motes of golden light disappearing. A moment later, Harry spotted Kagura and Minerva.
Both of them were flying through the air, smoke curling off of their bodies. When Harry's glasses enhanced his vision, he saw that their eyes were closed.
Harry spat a curse. "I knew there was a third!"
"As punctual as ever, Aria!" Jose cackled. "Take that!"
The blindfolded man started to bawl. Tears streamed down his face.
"A sneak attack! How sorrowful!" he said. As if he wasn't the one who launched it.
Kagura and Minerva were thrown into the river where the rushing current swept them away. Harry cursed again. He could feel all three turn their attention onto him.
"One rat left," Jose said. "Legal, illegal, it makes no difference! Jose Porla always rises to the top! Go, my shades!"
The shadows poured out in such numbers that Harry's Patronus was overwhelmed. No matter where the stag charged, it couldn't make a dent. Aria held his hands out toward Harry and launched some kind of invisible projectiles Harry could only spot by the dust they displaced. Ikaruga charged. Her smile was gone after her near-defeat. She couldn't have been more serious as she closed in on Harry. Throughout it all, Minerva and Kagura were being swept toward the violent waterfall at the end of the river.
Harry's face grim as he stuck his wand over his head, holding his arm straight up. On his palm, his fresh new red guildmark was shown off.
Jose jerked forward, his good humor turning to rage. "That guild!"
He immediately went for the kill, absorbing half of his soldiers to condense them into a tremendous attack. As the beam fired, Harry shouted, "Lumos Maximus!"
The light was utterly blinding. Ikaruga was forced to shut her eyes. Jose's attack hit a barrier it couldn't surpass, forced back by the sheer brightness of Harry's spell. Aria's blindfold prevented him from being affected, but the spell itself was only step one.
A hundred mirrors appeared suspended in the air around them. Every single one was positioned precisely. The light of Harry's spell was picked up, traded between them, forming webs of intensely-heated beams.
It was at this point that Harry swung his arm down, causing it all to spin.
The mirrors turned, still trading the bright light so quickly that it formed lasers, only now they weren't stationary— the whole thing moved.
Jose had to protect himself with a solid sphere of his darkness magic. Aria was hit in the stomach by a laser and burnt badly, after which he fled, escaping the web at the cost of temporarily leaving the fight.
Ikaruga displayed her tremendous dexterity, vaulting and cartwheeling through the beams of light. She screamed with frustration, because there was nothing to cut. When she lashed out and sliced mirrors, the halves did the work of two, increasing the threat.
Harry was long gone.
He Apparated to the bank of the river, his eyes picking out Kagura and Minerva. The latter was unresponsive, while the former was doing her best to swim, holding Minerva's collar in her teeth to keep her from drowning.
Harry dove in.
A Bubble-Head Charm surrounded his head. With powerful strokes, he swam to his teammates, surrounding their heads with the same spell.
Kagura blinked as the ability to breathe comfortably returned. She looked at Harry, recognizing his arrival just as the three of them went over the lip.
In freefall, time seemed to slow down. A shadow fell over them. Ikaruga hovered there, a scowl on her face and burns darkening patches of her skin. She brought her sword down with the intent to kill.
On the other side of them, Aria flew close by, carried by his wind magic. A magic circle fired invisible bullets at the speed of a machine gun.
Much further away, Jose had turned his body sideways. One arm was extended, with a finger pointing directly at Harry. The ex-Wizard Saint's face showed no mirth, only fury and determination. He spoke a spell that was too distant to hear.
From his finger shot the fiercest, most potent attack yet.
For a moment, as it traveled, day flickered to night. The magic fought against the sun itself, on principle, as a writhing mass of light's opposite. The beam came forward and Harry knew, to be struck by that without defenses was a death sentence. All that would be left behind was the shadow of what they'd been.
"Protego Maxima!" Harry bellowed.
He fed it everything that he had. Pouring his magic into the world, Harry hardened the shield until it became layers thick. Aria's bullets and Ikaruga's blade struck at nearly the same time. This shield, unlike its weaker cousins, kept her blade at bay, repelling the Wind Magic just as easily.
Jose's beam struck next.
The explosion of its impact shook the entire mesa. It briefly diverted the flow of the river, scattering the falling water in every direction. Had the collision occurred on solid ground, Harry had no doubt a plume of smoke and dust would already be billowing into the air.
Harry's shield disappeared.
Because they no longer needed it.
He canceled his resilient spell and allowed gravity to pull himself, Minerva, and Kagura toward the ground far below, escaping their pursuers with the speed of their fall, plummeting toward whatever laid below.