Chapter 74: Going Home.

Chapter 74: Going Home.

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[Adam C. POV]

[4 Months Later.]

[December. Year x776.]

The sun cast a warm glow on the training grounds as I stood, poised and ready to spar with Warrod, like every morning after breakfast, and our daily meditation.

As one of the Wizard Saints, his magic was unparalleled, and I could sense that much.

Around me, the air was thick with the scent of foliage, and I could feel the life and magic of Warrod pulsating within every leaf and branch, it seems he would give me quite a workout today.

Smiling, I gripped my blade tightly, preparing myself for the inevitable clash.

Seeing me ready, Warrod wasted no time, and with a flick of his wrist, towering trees erupted from the ground in a bid to trap me.

I moved swiftly, using Shunpo to blur in and out of sight, slicing through the timber with ease. And unsurprisingly, despite the speed I was showing, Warrod's keen eyes followed my movements with ease, sending plants and trees to obstruct my path and counter any possible attacks, both actions a testament to his wisdom and experience.

I really had no chance of winning this.

I didn't care though.

I was learning.

Fighting one of the strongest mages this continent had to offer, that alone was worth more than I could express.

A smile crept onto his face as I cut down one of his trees. "Excellent form, my young student," he complimented, clearly amused. "I can see you've been practicing."

I grinned back, before pointing my index finger at him, releasing a thin beam of pure concentrated magic power, aimed straight at him.

Unfazed, Warrod quickly conjured a shield made of a beautiful, blooming rose, its petals shimmering with magical energy. The beam of mana struck the rose, dissipating harmlessly.

His spell had absorbed mine.

Fitting for this type of magic if you think about it.

"Your control has improved a lot," Warrod noted, a twinkle in his eyes, before snapping his fingers, summoning thousands of vines that erupted from the ground, twisting and writhing as they sought to ensnare me.

I leaped backward, using my blade to dance around the battlefield, cutting through the vines as they approached.

But in the heat of battle, as I focused on the vines and Warrod, I failed to notice the ground beneath me crack and shudder, giving way to a massive wooden dragon that burst forth with a deafening roar, before lunging forward, its jaws wide open, swallowing me whole.

"You could say that... what quite a bite?" Warrod chuckled at his own pun, watching as his draconic creation roared triumphantly.

That one was on me.

Taking a deep breath, I mustered all the strength I could in a short moment, before slicing through the wooden dragon, shattering the beast into thousands of splinters, emerging at the other side, panting and covered in sweat.

It seemed... The dragon had absorbed some of my power while I was inside.

Warrod's eyes widened in surprise, but his smile never wavered. "Impressive."

"What I find impressive is that you used a different joke, instead of the usual one," I chuckled, feeling a sense of accomplishment despite the exhaustion that was creeping in.

Warrod laughed heartily, the sound echoing throughout the vast training grounds. "Well, you said I have just the one joke, and I have to keep you on your toes somehow," he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

I chuckled. "Well... time to get serious."

I had no hopes of actually defeating him... but I would not waste this opportunity to go all out.

"That won't be necessary, you completed your quest," Warrod said, his smile faltering for a moment. "The reality of things is, I have nothing more to teach you."

Surprise washed over me, halting the release of my Shikai as I almost tripped over. "What?"

Warrod chuckled, finding my confusion apparently amusing. "You have surpassed all of my expectations. You have learned everything I wanted to teach you. From this point forward, there's nothing I can teach you, especially seeing how different our magic types are. In short, it's time for you to move on and continue to forge your own path."

"But... I thought we were just getting started.... you said that yesterday!" I protested, feeling a sense of loss.

I mean.

I remembered very well his words while we were making dinner last night, and he said we were just beginning! There's no way I changed his perspective of how far I was in my training in the span of ten hours.

"Oh that, that was a joke, hehe," Warrod said, scratching the back of his tree-looking head. "Adam, the main reason why I wanted to teach you, was not to... train so to speak, because I can't train you, not as you should be trained, but to have you improve your control over your own magic power. And you have, a few months ago you wouldn't have been able to escape my wooden dragon cage, a few months ago that spell would've defeated you."

I frowned.

I chuckled.

Same old joke.

I nodded and smiled as Warrod's shoulders slumped slightly as he spun around, shuffling his feet slowly toward his house without looking back.

Warrod out of sight, Mavis flipped through the air; her blonde hair bouncing with each movement. She stopped in front of me and hung upside down, her eyes shining mischievously as she flashed a grin. "Ready to go back to our neck of the woods?" she asked, her face inches away from mine.

I smiled at her. "I am."

"Then follow me my dear friend, for I! Mavis shall be your guide!" Mavis exclaimed, pumping one of her petite fists into the air.

I chuckled at Mavis's energy and without a word followed her out of Warrod's estate, feeling eager to go back home, and see how everyone was doing.

I had much to do.

Friends to see.

Family to return to.

I wanted to see Cana.

Gildarts.

Cordelia.

The Old Man.

Laxus.

Erza.

Lilia.

And everyone else, even the annoying Ice Making gal, Ur.

I sighed, the memory of her name bringing a bad taste to my mouth, not because I didn't like her, but because I had been keeping a big secret from her.

Ultear.

I had kept things as they were for this long for multiple reasons, one of them being that I wasn't nearly strong enough to rescue her daughter from the hands of Hades, no one in the guild was for that matter, at least right now.

On that note, I also wasn't sure Ultear was even alive, to begin with.

It is said that the flap of a butterfly's wings can change everything in a world already written, so for all I knew, she could be dead, but if she wasn't, and I hoped she wasn't, she was in the best possible hands when it came to Dark Guilds.

Hades was evil, but not unnecessarily cruel. He was evil and strict, which compared to the alternatives was a day in the spa.

That being said, the main reason remained, Fairy Tail wasn't strong enough to deal with Grimoire Heart, if we waged war as we were right now, we would lose.

Telling Ur about what I knew, could very well ignite a chain of events that none of us was ready to face, at all.

Tartaros.

Grimoire Heart.

And... if we weren't lucky, Acnologia.

We still needed time to grow, I needed time to grow.

Perhaps it was selfish of me to keep this information to myself, but there was far too much on the table for me to risk, and I wasn't even talking about my life.

I would not risk Cana's life, or her chance of having a normal, loving upbringing for a war I knew we weren't ready to face.

I would face the consequences of this decision later, I knew that.

I would tell Ur what I knew about her daughter, eventually, when the time was right, and if she hated me for it, I would accept it.

That was my cross to bear.

"I can't wait to get back to the guild," Mavis said, breaking the silence that had settled between us.

I nodded, pushing my thoughts aside for the moment. "Yeah, me too."

Mavis tilted her head, studying me closely. "Is everything okay, Adam?"

"Yep," I lied.

I don't even know why I lied, I knew Mavis could tell when I did so, perhaps it was because she wasn't one to push me to talk when I didn't want to.

I liked that about her.

Despite how... nosy she could be at times, she respected my boundaries when I needed her to.