A Wizard's Grace (Solo Job)

Job Info:

There was a haunting beauty up ahead as the sun began to set over Beanstalk Village, a village known for its farming and contribution of food to the entire surrounding area. It was a place that Mitsuo Takahashi had visited earlier in his wizarding career and he remembered thinking that it was nice, but there was an odd aura that was visible to him from here. He had accepted a job to come and try to discover the cause of the wilted crops recently, something that would ruin this village if it was not taken care of, which Mitsuo simply couldn't allow to happen. He could see the black thorns and the haunting glow from outside of the village, and even as he approached it he could feel a dark power reacting to him, sending a shiver up his spine and causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. He ran his fingers through his medium length blonde hair and shook his head, moving the hair out of his piercing blue eyes as he examined the fields in the distance. He was fortunate enough to have his trusty weapons on him, his twin swords and the Blade of Atlas between the two of them on his back. The weight had become comfortable to him, and when it wasn't there he never quite felt right.

He had heard none of the villagers here were wizards, so the fact that there were magical crops was something that didn't quite make sense with him, and having noticed the dark aura coming off of the crops it was quite obvious to him that it was the work of a dark wizard. He was curious if it was someone in one of the dark guilds or just some kind of independent wizard who was just out to make chaos in the world. Mitsuo scanned the surrounding area, making his way towards a couple of the villagers who were milling about. He could tell that none of them were themselves as the last time he had been here everyone was so friendly and seemed quite happy going about their daily lives. These people were shells of what they generally were, all of the happiness seeming to have faded from them. Mitsuo didn't blame them for not being happy about what was happening in their village and their lives, everything seeming to be going downhill for this village, but he hoped that after today they would be able to start going on with their lives once again. He approached one of them, smiling and waving as he approached the man. His hair and beard were unkempt and his clothes had seen better days. Mitsuo knew that they generally looked like they worked constantly but they usually also took care of themselves a little better than this.

"Howdy there," Mitsuo's voice was gentle and caring, flashing a wide smile as he spoke. The man nodded to acknowledge him and Mitsuo continued. "I'm from the Fairy Tail guild, and I'm here to hopefully figure out what's going on with your village." The man seemed to perk up a little bit as he heard Mitsuo's words, but as he looked him over he frowned again and shook his head.

"Boy, you don't know what you're dealing with. You're still a young man, I don't want to see another mage killed trying to fix our problems for us." His voice showed off the hollow shell of the man who had formerly been a proud farmer. Mitsuo frowned briefly as he spoke, but he didn't let the man's word deter him.

"I appreciate your concern sir, but I have never been one to back down from a job. I've been a part of Fairy Tail for a while now, and we are not people who are known for knowing the meaning of the word quit. I'm going to figure out what's wrong and bring whoever is behind this to justice. Please don't worry about me, I will not allow anything to bring me low. I studied the lost art of Memory Magic for years, and even though I was told I'd never be able to do it, I persevered and was able to finally learn how to use it. I approach every situation with the same drive and determination as I approached learning my magic. You might not think I am up to the challenge, but you have no right to stop me from trying and I guarantee you that I will surprise you in the long run." The man seemed somewhat impressed with Mitsuo's answer. There was a bit more hope on his face than Mitsuo had seen in the village in general, which was something that caused Mitsuo to smile.

"Very well, I've heard stories of the wizards of Fairy Tail. You are certainly a determined bunch, I'll give you that, and you fought tooth and nail to get back to a place where your guild wasn't considered a dark guild." At the mention of Fairy Tail being a dark guild, Mitsuo grimaced somewhat. He didn't like that the guild that he was so proud of had fallen from grace, but he was also proud that they had fought to get back to where they once were. “I hope you’re right. I hope you don’t just end up being another in a lengthening line of wizards who have fallen trying to figure out this blight.” The man pointed towards the area and explained to him what he knew, or at least what he had seen, of what was attacking their village and Mitsuo thanked him with a simple nod of the head and a smile, making his way towards the wilted crops and the field of thorns and darkness.

Mitsuo was absolutely determined to free this place from the stranglehold of the darkness and oppression that it faced, and he would stop at nothing to do so. He gripped the Blade of Atlas in his hands and marched to meet the mastermind maniac behind the mutilation of this place.


1015/4000

As the young Fairy Tail wizard made his way towards the fields, he could feel the all encompassing darkness trying to pierce everything around him, seeping into his pores and attempting to pervert the light inside of him. He began to see shadows creeping along the ground, ominous shapes moving or things looking like claws and spikes making their ways towards him with malicious intent. The potency of the darkness was surprising and he couldn’t think of a time when he had ever been exposed to such a vicious presence. It was as though it was trying to claw into his mind and pull all of the happiness and light out of him and drag him into the dark abyss within himself. He had felt it before, and always knew it existed within him, which was one of the most difficult things about the type of magic he wielded. He could never forget the horrible things he had lived through and they haunted him in vivid detail, something that was being dragged up in front of him right now. The taint made him relive his most painful memories over what seemed like an eternity, even though he knew that it couldn’t have possibly been that long.

That’s it Little Fairy. You have seen much pain and darkness and you bear that cross every day, weighing down heavily on your shoulders.There is nothing that is not opened to me to see, and nothing is beyond my ability to heal either. I can take this pain away little Fairy, I can give you eternity.

Mitsuo watched his father’s drinking tear his family apart. He watched as he beat his mother before rounding his gaze towards young Mitsuo. He remembered the pain in vivid detail, every strike ringing across his flesh as though it was happening currently. The memory shifted and made its way through all of his traumatic memories as the voice continued to speak to him. He tried to push past the pain and focus on something that was less painful to think of, but it was difficult to bring up any of his happier memories, his abilities and knowledge of Memory Make Magic seemingly being interrupted by the magic of whoever was affecting him. Mitsuo fell to the ground on his knees, clutching the hilt of his sword and shaking slightly as he relived his worst memories.

You don’t have to resist me Little Fairy. I can give you everything you have ever wanted. I can help you live like a king among men, and unlock access to power that you never knew you had. I can bring you to the greatest source of knowledge of magic in the entire world. You will have more power than you know what to do with, and will become one of the most powerful wizards in the world, able to prevent any pain and destruction that you wish, and able to enact anything you wish as well. You would be akin to a god, and would rival and surpass the prowess of even the Ten Wizard Saints of Fiore.

The images shifted from bad memories to something more akin to visions, visions of what could be according to this voice in his head. He saw himself amongst a wealth of knowledge and watched as he stood in front of an entire army, his right hand raising to his temple. Mitsuo didn’t recognize the odd guild symbol on the hand, but it certainly wasn't the one he was used too. He watched as a magnificent spell laid waste to the entire army that stood before him, Mitsuo himself trying to bring a finger to his temple to remember this, but as soon as he did it was gone.

Mitsuo fought back as hard as he could, pushing and trying to focus on reality once again. He could hear odd noises around him, the voice continuing on him.

Little Fairy, stop resisting. There is no way you can stand up to a might so much greater than your own. My power is that of a god, and in your current state you are more akin to an ant.

Mitsuo was starting to be able to pinpoint the voice outside of his head, reality swimming back into view. He could hear the rustling of large heavy creatures and continued to push back harder against the perverted darkness inside of his head. He could feel the struggle and felt its grip loosening on him as he began to speak.

“You know, voice in the darkness, we Fairy Tail wizards are not so easily persuaded to the darkness. We are fighters, and we never give up. While you might have thought you could get me with promises of grandeur, all I have ever wanted is to protect my friends and my guild! You will never take me!”

He stood up and pressed back once more, pressing the darkness fully out of his mind and seeing around him for what it truly was. The thorns were wrapping up around his legs and there were massive creatures shambling their way towards him. They were quite odd to view, but they looked to be almost a dozen giant broccoli, which made no sense at all. It was possible, of course, since he was in a garden, that the magic of the wizard behind all of this was propelling them forward, but Mitsuo couldn’t really see any of them being a difficult fight. He had been told to eat his vegetables as a child, though he was never told he would have to fight them. As he tried to move forward, he could feel the thorns digging into his ankles and shins and causing him pain, not allowing him to move forward. He bit down on his lip and brought his sword down in a sweeping motion, the amazing speed of the Blade of Atlas being something that still shocked him to this day. The vines were severed easily, dropping from his legs and not restricting him anymore. He smirked and made his way towards the creatures, preparing to chop up a giant salad...

2038/4000

As he got closer to the shambling creatures making their way towards him, Mitsuo noticed that there were ten of them. He gritted his teeth as he charged towards them, the Blade of Atlas in his grip as he went. He dragged the tip quickly through the ground and in an upward slash, the speed seemingly impossible for a weapon of its size. It went cleanly through one of the monsters, slicing it in two as it fell away, the others closing in on his position. A couple of them wound up as though they were going to swat him, Mitsuo ensuring that he was away from those ones so he wouldn’t get hit by whatever they were trying to do. One of them threw what he would have to describe as a punch, as its head shifted towards him and tried to swat at him. He jumped up and kicked off of the creature’s head, flipping backwards and landing away from them again. The one that he had slices was still moving, Mitsuo cocking his brow as he wondered how exactly he was supposed to deal with inanimate objects that simply wouldn’t die. He was no stranger to weird situations like this one, but it still wasn’t ideal.

It was bothering him that he didn’t have access to his magic, as being a wizard without your magic felt as though you had been cut off from one of your limbs or one of your senses. It was something that you were constantly connected too, so when it was gone it made for a difficult time for the user. Fortunately Mitsuo had spent some time training with his sword, so he was never completely defenseless, preferring to use his magic in a more defensive manor anyway, but it was still certainly inconvenient. He dropped low, bringing his sword from where would be the right hip of a person to the left side of their waist, and then from the left chest across to the right again, causing it to fall and stop moving. He nodded, realizing that you were able to at least do enough damage to them to stop them, which made things a little bit easier. The first one with a gauge in it, Mitsuo brought another slice across it, cutting it into an additional four pieces and causing it to fall away, the damage from his artifact weapon more than a match for such a creature apparently when hit twice.

He brought a blade to a third opponent before feeling one of the broccoli slam its head into his shoulder, causing the young mage to spin around and feel a mild amount of anguish where it had hit. He gritted his teeth, moving back once more and bringing the tip of his blade to the ground, waiting until the remaining monsters were close enough to him before activating one of the signature abilities of his blade, the “Weight of Atlas” ability. Gravity increased all around him, dragging the monsters down to the ground as Mitsuo started going to work, taking his blade in both hands and using large quick slashes to slice through the monsters two or three at a time, quickly making them go from broccoli monsters to a massive broccoli salad on the ground around him, looking around and noticing there was still rustling, still darkness, still a problem that he had to deal with. He had fought some of his enemy’s minions, but he had yet to actually encounter or even see his enemy. He took another look around before hearing the sound of a projectile coming from the distance, turning just in time to have a large corn graze past his chest, feeling the impressive force coming off of the attack.

He could see a giant corn on the cob in the distance and made towards it, hearing more of the projectile attacks going off in the distance as his enhanced hearing made it easy enough for him to detect them before they got too close. He weaved his way through the projectiles, the corn in his path seemed to be grinning but Mitsuo wasn’t sure if that was actually possible. It began to run towards him, looking like it meant to ram him, something Mitsuo disagreed with as he took a step with his right foot and instead of shifting to his left, sprung forward once again to the right, making it so that instead of being straight on with the beast he was at the sie. As he did this he snapped the blade over his head, pulling back with his right hand and pushing forward with his left, creating a fulcrum and an incredibly quick strike that severed the corn beast's...head? Whatever it was the beast dropped mid charge, Mitsuo taking a chance to stab it once more for good measure before heading towards where the next one was shooting from.

The corn monsters were less tough than the broccoli ones, and Mitsuo was able to take them out fairly quickly, there only being five of them. They did manage to land one blow on the young wizard, causing a large welt on his left shoulder blade which made it somewhat uncomfortable for him to twist and move when he was attacking or dodging. He looked back towards the center of the field, seeing a figure clad in black standing there, mumbling as a magic circle appeared under him. Mitsuo imagined this was the one he sought, quickly making his way towards the dark mage. He knew that his enemy was unpredictable, but that didn’t stop him from charging in, not wanting to give him enough time to finish casting whatever it was he was attempting to cast. He dropped his shoulder and slammed right into the dark mage, causing him to stumble and fall as a projectile went off into the air. Mitsuo saw the magic make its way up, the dark perverted magic reminding him of the curse magic that he had read about in his books...

3048/4000

The man felt wrong under Mitsuo’s body as he tackled him, not seeming to be fully there as the young Fairy Tail wizard quickly got up and away from the odd man. “That’s right little fairy, run from me. Fear that which you do not understand. If you will not join me, then you shall die here today.” Mitsuo quickly stood up and backed away, the mage pointing at him and speaking the word Silence! causing Mitsuo’s words of defiance to be caught in his throat. He didn’t bother getting too upset by being hit with the silencing magic as he didn’t use audible magic anyway, but he was a little disappointed he couldn’t get a response into the dark mage. He instead responded by throwing a lunge with his blade, connecting it into the dark mage’s extended arm and cutting deeply into it, causing a cry of pain to escape its lips. Well it was mortal, or at least could feel pain, which was good to know for the young wizard. He would keep close, throwing in shots where he could as the dark mage would counter here and there and try to get back away from the young Fairy Tail wizard, attempting to escape his blade.

Mitsuo continued closing the gap whenever the dark mage would walk away, attempting to dodge the curses that were thrown at him as he did so. He landed another blow to the dark wizard’s side and then one to his leg before his own leg fell asleep due to a curse, slowing his advance and causing the dark wizard to get a little bit of distance on him. He gritted his teeth and moved as quickly as he could, rolling to hide behind a post until he regained use of his leg again. He could feel the restriction on his voice begin to fade as he heard the voice invade his mind once more.

You are weak little fairy. You stand no chance against one of my level of power. You should give up and surrender yourself to me so that I might show you what it truly is to be powerful.

“You know, for someone who claims to be so powerful, and who says I am so weak, I can’t help but wonder why exactly you want me to work for you? Wouldn’t it make more sense to find someone stronger than me to follow you?”

Mitsuo felt the movement come back to his leg, rolling out and slowly making his way through the field so that he could hopefully get around the dark mage, who seemed to be standing in one spot looking towards where Mitsuo had been. Mitsuo charged out at him when he got behind, moving as quickly and quietly as he could before drawing his blade across the back of the man’s legs, cutting deeply into the tendons as he fell to his knees. The scream he let out was inhuman as Mitsuo put his blade on the man’s neck.

“You are not as strong as you believe you are. You are one who had potential once, but your fall to the darkness has left you weak. You will never be able to accept the fact that there are those out there who are stronger than you, or whose determination allows them to surpass that which seems to be within their limits.The darkness has left you a shadow of the potential you likely once had, as you will never be able to face the fact that you are not perfect and that you may need to adjust.”

Mitsuo could see the man going to speak, but he didn’t care as he smashed the pommel of his weapon into the side of the man’s head, knocking him unconscious and pulling him towards the village. He gagged and bound him so that he couldn’t speak or cast spells and waited with him until members of the Runic Knights showed up to take him away. One of them shook Mitsuo’s hand, telling him he had done well before they took the dark wizard away, loading him into the back of a magical vehicle and driving off towards the capitol. Mitsuo shared a meal with the villagers, who were all quite happy with him and grateful for his assistance in removing the dark wizard from their village. He stayed over night and in the morning he got a good view of what the village looked like, the dark taint having vanished from the fields, and while much of it was still dead, there was also green and there were men and women working in the fields. Mitsuo imagined if they truly wanted to they could call in a green wizard, but it seemed unlikely as they seemed to take a lot of pride in their work. He thanked them for their hospitality before going to purchase a train ticket back to Magnolia.

As he sat on the train he thought of the words that the dark wizard had said to him. He didn’t quite understand why people fell into darkness, or who would feel low enough to accept such an offer, but he knew that it was a surprisingly common thing. He imagined many people felt useless or like they were simply not powerful enough, and resorting to dark magics and bullying the weak would somehow help them. It was a sad thing to think about, but Mitsuo didn’t allow it to get him down. He had no reason to think about such things, as he himself would never give into such temptations. There was nothing that a dark wizard could offer him to turn him away from protecting his friends and family at the Fairy Tail guild. Nobody was able to break the bonds that he had made with those people, and he would do absolutely everything and anything in order to protect those bonds.

{Exit Thread}
4034/4000 Job Complete~