The Jungle Book [Job / Mura]

Enca. The island rule of exotic forests, warmth, sweat, blood, tears - and some more positive things such as celebrities, parties, beaches, beaches, beaches… well, yeah, the Encan habitats were more saltwater than the more tropical areas of Joya. Nonetheless was Enca a paradise for fishermen and anglers, a true beauty with equally beautiful fish waiting to be caught by the best of the best fishermen from all around Fiore. The shaman was going to travel to this island nation on a mission - along with his new underclasswoman named Nessa. A white-haired beauty with an unsettling aura hidden within her wizard flesh, an aura that craved for something… all that upon first glance by his auric vision, yet he wasn’t satisfied with the knowledge gained. Whatever hid in her blood had to reveal itself soon… but that was for her to decide. Even now, all that Mura thought of was the change from temperate climate to subtemperate climate. It changed from approximately 20 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius in the blink of an eye, and the cloak above Mura’s usual gi was flung off due to the heat.

“Pheeeeeew… could need a good breeze here and now,” he reminded himself out loud. The breeze given to them by the swaying boat was mundane yet helpful.  Kyuken, the blue spirit head that was floating near Nessa, was all but aware of the situation at hand and gave all attention to the buxom lady. Zirconis would come ravaging as that other green dragon head - they were both ghostly figures whom only Mura and his guildmate could see for now - and in the struggle that they both had, Mura approached his partner. “Oh, about time,” he replied happily as he took a view himself from the side of the boat, eyeing the giant port five times the size of that in Hargeon. Yup, Enca was truly a fisherman’s paradise.

Upon docking, Mura would walk over the bridge and enter the island busily. Harusame was sheathed in its hilt as he held the sword on his left shoulder, turning his head to the left and to the right before waiting for Nessa. “What do you think of the island? Too distracting?” he asked her out of curiosity, “We can always take a dive in the water… after our mission. Say we hurry up and finish the day, hm?” Being new, she might not be used to the idea of travelling across all of Earthland like this - going on missions and jobs in several countries - so he smiled gently to show that it wasn’t that bad after all. In fact, it would benefit her with experience and a shield of knowledge to guide her in the future.

WC: 448

Word Count : 390

As Fairy Tail’s young Ace, Mura knew that he would have a role in how Nessa’s experience in the guild was. Maybe he should wreck everything and turn her against himself in order to make her into one of those avengers- did he never think. Why would he ever hurt his own guildmates like that? It would only seed distaste between the members in the guild, which would ultimately cause a poison. A poison that would be the end of the guild as a whole… may that never happen.

Although the title Ace was burdened with the guild on its shoulders and the Master to lead, ever since the shadow-seeking and hidden swordsman became one under Kanix’ mastership, the already existing fame of the havoc-bringing yet smile-rising guild’s abnormal reputation rubbed itself off on him. Sooner than he realized it, people called him by name before he got to greet himself - people took his words seriously, putting him as judge in certain affairs, accepted his words of advice and let him cut through the webs of dirty work. It was one step into the path that he couldn’t run from but only delay, because he didn’t exactly find the acknowledgement suitable in most cases - Nessa hadn’t seemed familiar with his name until now, and it had to stay that way. Bonds between guildmates shouldn’t grow out of envy or fangirling, but through experience…

This place was exotic. Yes, repeating his own thoughts earlier, but he was tasting the exotic aromas now. Perhaps it would be even better at Emerald Grass Village, their destination… but first, they would have to meet up with the Fangs. This island’s wizards were all classified as ‘Fangs’ to honor the wilderness of their vegetation, big cats that roamed the small jungles and highlands. Oh, and there they were - their clothes made of pelts from leopards and hooded fashions were clear to spot.

Mura would make his greetings with them as they also approached the white-haired lady. “And greetings to you, white flower,” they greeted passionately, expressing Enca’s code of showing affection to almost everybody, which was a trait that was similar in many tropical lands, “So it’s the two of you? In that case, let’s hurry. The elders are awaiting your arrival.” With that said, the group of four Fangs would lead the Fairy Tail Wizards to a ride driven by bulls. The giant basket behind the ride was filled with fresh, salty fish that they were about to deliver to the village.

Upon taking their seats, Mura and Nessa would approach Emerald Grass Village after sightseeing the vast wonders of this surprisingly vaster island… whilst some of the Fangs tried flirting with Nessa in the meanwhile. Despite being fishermen slash wizards, they were oddly... handsome.

"What a wonderful white rose I'm speaking to."
"Your hair is almost ghostly white... I'd be happy to have you haunt me for the rest of my life."
"Don't you think the weather is too hot? We could go for a swim later on; Enca's waves are divine..."

WC: 512 + 448 = 960

WC : 569
Total so far: 1266

This was an interesting side of her that Mura realized; apparently, her calm and sweet nature couldn’t apprehend the messages behind certain phrases. Then again, these Fangs were fighting a hopeless battle, and it was oddly amusing to watch. They were kind of… thrown aback by her response, some even having expected a more ‘hard to catch’ type from basically all kinds of women. However, what brought troubling feelings was her mentioning her and Mura’s later journey to the beach and the sea’s waves, a proclamation that suddenly changed the Fangs’ glances from her blanc beauty towards the accursed shaman who, apparently, already ruined all of their chances to create chemistry between them and Nessa. “.   .   .” It was clear that they had rather sour looks at the shaman during the rest of the ride, causing sweat pearls to fall off Mura’s face and Kyuken and Zirconis to laugh out loud… then again, Nessa here was still a free flower. And Mura already found his love in another white-haired maiden from their guild…

As they arrived at the village, there was a clear place filled with boulders and granite - the elders were to be found there. A small elder walked out in front of them and stated the issue to the two Fairy Tail Wizards; the sacred texts were stolen from them, an artifact in form of a book with a wild, lethal power stored in it… but nothing else was further elaborated about it. They would find their book in a waterfall nearby, and they would need the help of two young men to lead them the way.

“This book… I’ve heard of it.”
“You have? All the way from poor, little Midi-“
“N-No, wait, don’t say such dishonoring things about my country, you green pile of poo! I mean, I’ve herad of the Jungle Book back in Magnolia… I think it’s the same book that they’re talking about.”
“The Jungle Book, eh?”
“Yeah… it was kind of powerful given the speech from that old fisher. Perhaps it even rivaled our guildmasters… oh crap… it could turn pretty bad-“

“The strength of our Guildmasters?” Mura commented as he turned his head around, “… I guess we’re sufficient, then. We’ll just have to work efficiently.” He’d then face the elder man as he warned them against the forces that had stolen the book and their assumed intentions.

Once when they came upon a path, Nessa asked the shaman a question. Instantly reminded of some events back in history - the attack on Magnolia, for instance - he replied: “Mhm. It’s been a while, but Magnolia was under a siege by a dark guild before. It was a dangerous time… but luckily, we managed to bring an end to the attack.” Now that he thought about it, his memory about it was kind of blurred - was he damaged throughout the siege? Perhaps…

“A strong will fueled by something important, working together with a brilliant mind… you can get far in life with those abilities,” he mentioned. It was good to have it covered like that for his new guildmate - she would have to be ready for a lot of dangerous events in the future, and her magic power needed improvement as well. But he wasn’t exactly the strict teacher who welded their underclassmen with an iron hammer - his mere voice encouraged peace and relaxation. He just preferred it that way. One of the tribesmen then revealed the waterfall nearby, its size and beauty taking the breath from the two wizards. “… O-Oh, yeah, thanks,” the shaman replied to them as they were walking back to the village, “We’ll bring the book back, no doubt.” As the tribesmen disappeared into the shrubbery, Mura took a close look at the waterfall. “… The shrine is empty,” he suddenly spoke up randomly, “But I can feel their souls… they haven’t gotten far.” Upon saying that, his eyes narrowed down towards his leg where a boa had snuggled itself up on his shin. “Oh crap-“ he gasped until he lost balance and fell to the dirty ground.

“Hehe… poor, little snake scared me.” So much for trying to look cool and mature in front of his guildmate.

WC: 707 + 960 = 1667

WC: 529
Total so far: 1795

The member 'Nessa Cordelia Lux' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

To come here after such a long path of pain and prosperity… it was kin for every guild out there. Mura had been through so many ages, seen the guild shine in its golden age, seen the guild’s crown crumble and fall to the dusty ground, watched the dust particles move here and there - scattering to many directions only to regather and form a titanium crown. That would be the way that he would address the story of his guild in short.

The barrier around them would’ve warded off any intruders… whoever stole the book would be of quite high calibers. However, he was still trying to recover from the awkward fall earlier - the snake had merely slithered away in the process. It had surely scared Nessa too… but thankfully, no fatal damage was done. The snake had merely pranked the two Fairy Tail Wizards, and Mura recovered quicker now that Nessa offered a hand. “O-Oh well, snakes aren’t that bad…” he mumbled in flustered words as he pulled himself up thanks to her. It was then that his magical sensory caught the presence of wizards further ahead in the jungle. It was sudden yet frightening that they were that close yet.

Ice… he could fathom their affinities with ice magic. “Yup,” he replied quickly. Nessa would then approach the source fearlessly, mostly out of curiosity as it appeared. Mura would follow troop, watching her back and making sure that they couldn’t assault her from behind. A nasty thought that would strike worry in the hearts of any guildmate…

However, they decided to attack from up front. They were good at hiding their presences, because just as Nessa turned around, five wizards broke through the shrubbery and pushed her down. Mura would quickly lash out and grab her, softening her fall with his embrace. Prompting her to stand up immediately, the five ice wizards launched out a rain of ice shards sharp enough to cut through flesh - it was time to give Nessa some courage to fight if she didn’t have any. Those shards were impressive, reminding the shaman of his love, but they were simply slow enough to be tracked… and evaded. Moving like a feather, he maneuvered towards one of the ice wizards, swinging Harusame upwards in a vertical slash that not only rendered the one wizard flawlessly immobilized, but also released a light of slashes that cut through the ice shards and caused a cold, brilliant fog of shining dots to appear. The rest of the ice wizards were taken aback, feeling injured by the slashes despite no signs of blood.

In that very opening… Nessa had time to strike.

WC: 446 + 1667 = 2113

WC: 435
Total: 2230

These Ice Wizards were fairly easy to deal with, to be honest. Despite having a type of magic that is efficient at affecting a huge area instantly, they poorly utilized the true power of ice. They literally made it simple for the hyper-mobile fighting style of Mura’s to overwhelm them as he watched over Nessa. His body twitched midair to avoid incoming projectiles and shards, his katana was always ready to deflect or cut obstacles ahead of him, and Kyuken’s reflexes were otherworldly, giving him an almost omniscient sense of his surroundings. Time had surely passed from a time where Mura would struggle a lot against even opponents susceptible to his magic to now, where even adept Ice Wizards were pieces of cake. He liked it, he preferred things to be easy to handle… but he knew very well that anything could happen.

That was why he didn’t try to rush things often. It would surely invite chaos in some form. And while Nessa’s assaults were pushed by her bravery, her fists lacked in finishing power. He would aim his left hand towards her as a silvery metal covered her clenching fist, whilst his voice reached her: “Go forth! We can’t waste our time with them, the book is getting away..!” He would stand still for a second, not minding the ice dude appearing behind him as he didn’t expect the rock slab to shoot up from beneath him and knock his junk out, and himself inclusively. Mura really wasn’t going to waste time here, it seemed…

This island would surely only have public docks where boats would go off and all. But in the middle of the jungle, in the heart of Enca, it would take a while to even reach the coast… that meant that if they could hurry up here, then perhaps they still had a chance to stop the thieves and get the book before they even saw sand. It sounded like an idea - hurry up, get the book, beach time~. Mura quickly clapped his hands, summoning water from the lake where they came from that would grab the legs of an Ice Wizard and swing him towards the others near Nessa to cause confusion.

Now that he thought about it, this magic was pretty handy… he should build a house like this.

WC: 388 + 2113 = 2501

Monster Roll.

The member 'Nessa Cordelia Lux' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Whilst keeping these Scorpion Tail wizards busy, Nessa was set on chasing down those who left with the book. With her out of sight, he leapt around for a while longer, until she was a good distance away. One would think that rather reckless to let her chase the others down - especially when Mura was well aware of the presence of their leader. Judging on magic power, the guy with the strongest magic around here was with them…

He would have to hurry up and aid Nessa if she found herself in direct combat. Although, it would be smart for her to come up with a plan before engaging combat - or wield a sword… why didn’t he give her a sword? Damn it, Mura! You were way too late!

“Watch out for the sand, Mura!” Kyuken’s voice warned his fella as sand from the jungle bottom began to catch onto Mura’s shoes. A fight between the two benders, the Onmyōji and the Sand Wizard, each trying to gain control of the sand; it was but a decoy as an ice wizard shot a frost bullet towards Mura’s head. “Nope…!” he let out as he let go of the sand bending and lifted up the spirit-boosted katana of his, Harusame, in order to block said bullet. However, without holding back the sand beneath him, the Sand Wizard let the sand crawl up to Mura’s knees and hold him stuck, until he would be drowning in sand…

A blitz of light suddenly covered the entire area at once as the sand seemed to dissolve at its touch. When the light faded, the Sand Wizard was down, and the four Ice Wizards eyed the seemingly unharmed shaman. Mura was standing in a drawing stance, holding onto Harusame who was resting on his left hip. He stepped hard on the ground before dashing forward, swinging only once as he passed by the group of wizards - that one swing was enough to manifest thousands of small slashes of light, cutting deep into their bodies but leaving no blood spilled, and an emergence of trees would entangle them all without any resistance from their exhaustion.

“Where is she, where is she, where is she…” he mumbled, dashing around the forest until he heard the cracking sound of breaking trees. It must’ve been the wizard that he sensed before, the strongest among them! Hurrying up, he also caught sight of her too; in quite a trouble, Nessa was swiftly avoiding large logs that were flung towards her. Wishing to interfere, he jumped in but was repulsively forced back by an invisible wall. The Gravity Wizard held a hand towards him, merely indicating that it was his magic’s doing.

“Arh… uhm, Nessa, beat his ass! One punch is enough…!”

WC: 2501 + 464 = 2965

Man, gravity could take a vacation and never come back for all that Mura cared. With a barrier separating him from Nessa in that instance, it was up to her to catch the Scorpion Tail Wizard’s attention and hopefully push him back as well. The book was likely in his backpack given the magic power surging from it… but this was more than just a mission for the young shaman. Watching Nessa in action was also part of the thrill… he just hoped that she wouldn’t get too hurt or anything.

Shit, that bent tree got her good. He wasn’t fast enough to catch it himself, but the stupid gravity thing held him uptight like a ragdoll. Furiously shaking around, Mura tried to release himself from the grab, but nothing really helped. Perhaps if he rose the earth beneath all of them, then the ST wizard could lose his grab on him? Although, Mura never got to try as Nessa came charging at the Ace with a light wave that broke through all their barriers. Mura finally fell to the ground and charged at the gravity wizard whose half body was damaged rather intensely by the light wave from Nessa.

A greenish aura emitted from his skin upon his first melee blow on the ace. A rather distinguish roar travelled through the air as well, while burning mana escaped Mura’s back and head. Not hesitating, a left chop was dealt to the gravity ace, hitting him right at the right side of his torso that had been damaged earlier by Nessa’s attack. Mura had to break his magic down before taking the book, but another counterblow pushed the shaman back from the ace and caused him to charge through several trees and shrubbery.

In an instant, he came charging with a headbutt to the Ace’s forehead, getting some sweet payback for that one. For an instant, the gravity wizard was dazing off. “Nessa, the book! In his backpack! I’ll hold him off!” the shaman commanded as he picked up the gravity ace against his will, holding him for dear life, just waiting for Nessa to take the book so that Mura could end the battle.

WC: 365 + 2965 = 3330

The moment that Nessa spoke out that she got the book - through her possession of the Gravity Wizard’s backpack - Mura sighed in relief. Now, she just had to fend off any attempts from the Scorpions trying to regain the book again, and things would go smooth. Holding onto the Gravity Wizard was getting tiresome as he tried to push Mura off with the forces of nature; the gravitational pull felt even heavier this time, and it flung Mura to the ground in submission. His jaw hit the dirtied shrubbery rather heavily, his draconic teeth slightly exposed in pain. The voice inside his head, the green dragon Zirconis, was not happy with the situation right now.

“Argh, damn it, Mura! You’re giving him too many breaks!”
“I’m trying my best- wait, what do you mean openings?”
“Listen here, I’m not a samurai reject with the powers of ‘anticipating’ opponents and waiting for their turn like some gentleman; I’m a dragon, so damn act like it!!!”

Zirconis’ voice was filled with frustration over how Mura used his powers. Perhaps letting a little loose didn’t suit him… a boy grown and welded with the formalities of a patient fighter… but he always wanted to know how people like Haru, Arcadia or Althea fought. And he had the chance here and now with an actual dragon.

Slowly, Mura’s arms pulled him upwards, struggling against gravity itself. As the Gravity Wizard fought back, the gravitational pull increased and caused Mura’s handhold to crack the earth beneath his palms. And then, in the middle of nowhere, Mura opened his mouth and released a beam of green shards and excruciating mana at the enemy. It was a sudden burst of energy that managed to push the Gravity Wizard several tree crowns away through the wild jungle, crushing quite a good chunk of the vegetation. Finally free of his gravity, Mura stood up and wiped some saliva off his lip before approaching the thief. Whilst passing the destroyed vegetation, mana flowed everywhere, slowly returning the trees, bushes, vines and barks to their healthy states again. It was as if the forest grew wilder around Mura’s magic.

With so much mana around, Mura could see changes in the opponent’s attacks; waves of altering space was plunged towards him from afar, and Mura did smart in avoiding them by two, emerging wings from his back that flung him to the sides. “A little more…” he mumbled under his breath as he caught vision of the Gravity Controller. The man was… hurt, to say the least. His front clothes had been ripped around the torso by Mura’s roar, but he was still able to stand up on his feet after such an attack.

“Hey, Zirconis… your magic didn’t seem to properly dominate his.”
“W-What are you blabbering about?! He should clearly not be this enduring!”
“Maybe that Jungle Book did get a hold of him… look at his eyes.”

A single glance at the Gravity Wizard’s eyes revealed a key material in living organisms; an innate instinct to survive by all means necessary. An innate repulsion of strange organisms. An innate understanding and yearn for victory… all traits found in animals. Now, that was no good at all, was it?

They had been warned about the book’s powers… that was why Nessa didn’t physically contact the book directly, but through the backpack. That was a very smart choice of hers, after all… it meant that the book must’ve overcome the enemy’s own sense of reason. They could just leave the wizard here and let him drown in his own hostility… but…

Charging forth once more, Mura prepared a clockwise heel kick covered in a dome of hardened emeralds from Zirconis’ magic. Once when he was repelled by the gravity that the enemy used as a sort of shield, one of Mura’s dragon wings rushed on the other side and flung its claws on him, severely damaging the gravity wizard furthermore. He began losing it instead of calming down as Mura had planned him to… that called for a last resort.

All of a sudden, the entire atmosphere around Nessa and the Gravity Wizard changed into a pitch-black void. Mura was the clearest object in this space as magic pulsed around him, now in a new taint and color; dark-purple, almost black and yet not black, and filled with omens of the dead. It had been a while since Mura channeled this kind of magic… but he needed no more than a mere showcase, because it appeared that the senses had returned to the Gravity Wizard. He was sort of… crying?

… Quickly reverting to normal, turning the atmosphere into the jungle that it was before, Mura witnessed the Gravity Wizard simply falling forth in defeat. “… Huh,” he hummed, then returned back to Nessa and looked at the book, “Let’s return that back to its rightful place, shall we not?”

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Now, out at the beach, Mura had just stranded himself on the sand shore after a good duck into the ocean. After having returned the book, they had the rest of today and tonight to rest until their journey back to Fiore. Because of a promise, they’d spend their free time out at the beach - and whenever one of those annoying Fangs approached his dear underclasswoman, he’d channel that same magic from before and scare them off.

Finding himself lay on his back and enjoying the sunshine, he’d rest ever peacefully without a single worry about things.

WC: 919 + 3330 = 4249

[END OF JOB Rqm]