I don't need to read to destroy! Again!

Lucia had not been at all impressed the last time Magnus had visited her. She'd read a letter for him that requested he slay a gargoyle at some ancient ruins and had strictly told him not to go. Naturally he'd gone, killed the gargoyle and then returned only to find a rather ticked off Lucia when he got back to Hargeon afterwards. But the Passport lady was even less impressed that Magnus had come back with a second letter. "No way! I'm not reading it Magnus! You'll just go out there and fight this monster again and I'm not letting you do it!" she'd argued. Magnus had not relented though, turning up every day for a week before finally she caved. "Fine. But only because you'll find someone else otherwise who might feed you false information." she sighed before taking the letter and reading through it. After a moment she looked up and handed the letter back. "It's a Minotaur. You can find them in the Mysterious Canyon. I don't know much beyond that apart from the fact that they're big. REALLY big. And powerful. So don't get cocky."

And that was how Magnus had come to be here, in the Mysterious Canyon, with the letter in his hand and looking around for a creature that matched the picture he'd been given. It was eerily quiet here, the only sounds being the wind howling from time to time as it blew through the ravines narrow corridors. He was about halfway down the canyon at this point in time on a naturally carved path just wide enough that another could walk alongside him without fear of being knocked into the abyss below by strong winds. The path ahead though looked more narrow, and seemed to branch out into various caves along the way. It made sense that, assuming that there was a minotaur here, it would be sheltered somewhere or at least somewhere less open than the cliff-edge. With this in mind, the Fairy Tail mage continued his walk, rolling the letter back up and tucking it into his belt so that the wind wouldn't catch it and take it away.

It didn't take long to reach the first cave, and any sound made would echo in these canyons, but nonetheless Magnus remained alert until he got there. As he arrived at the first opening and ducked inside he stopped, a strong odor catching him off guard. Looking around for the source of the smell, his eyes stopped upon a large brown mass in the corner of the cave that a swarm of flies were particularly interested in. So it was here...but where is it now? he thought to himself, now scanning the rest of the cave. There were two different routes from here, one that led further into the cave and one that led back out into the open. The first didn't seem to deep, but walking in there blind would likely result in being gored by the beast's horns before he even got a chance to defend himself; he knew from experience how territorial wild beasts were and he assumed the minotaur to be no different. Yet he couldn't leave it unchecked in case he missed his chance.

After a moment of thought, the big man picked a small rock up off of the ground beside him and threw it down the first path, the idea being that the noise would lure out the beast if it were in there. The rock hit the wall of the tunnel and then the floor, knocking a few other pieces of rock and stone loose in the process and echoing further through. Silence. A few more seconds and still silent. It wasn't here. Magnus sighed and cursed his luck - finding it here and fighting it in an enclosed space would've been quick and arguably less dangerous due to the lessened risk of plummeting to his death. No such luck. So that left the second, open route. He headed out, peeking his head out first to check for dangers before stepping out and beginning his walk along the new path - one that was considerably narrower and more treacherous than the one he'd taken to get this far.

The Chaos mage hadn't been walking down the path long when a bellow rang out across the canyon. It was hard to gauge where the bellow came from, but judging by the sound of the echo, it wasn't too far ahead. Magnus opted to duck into the next cave he came to, which wasn't too far from where he was. He reached it a few moments later...

...and immediately had to lean forward and catch the horns of the beast before him. It had obviously heard him coming and had charged the second it caught sight of the man. His back foot was barely on the pathway still and the minotaur was pushing him with immense force, so much that he wouldn't be able to hold the beast here for much longer. He had to do something quickly, and that something was to turn the beast's head to one side, cause its weight to shift. It hit the ground and its pressure on Magnus subsided enough for him to switch positions, now being at the entrance to the cave and thus giving him room to back away and move around.

The beast recovered quickly and its eyes darted from Magnus to the wall behind him, and then back again. Clearly there was something behind the mage but he didn't dare look away. It was fortunate he didn't too, as the beast lowered its head and charged again. This time though Magnus could see it coming and he sidestepped, the beast shuttling past him at immense speed. It crashed into the wall behind where Magnus had been stood, but not with enough force to harm itself. And then Magnus realised what the beast had really been after - rested against the cave wall was a large battleaxe, the head of the weapon as wide as Magnus' chest and with a blade that the mage didn't need to touch to know it could most likely cleave him in two with ease. This just became a lot more difficult. The Chaos mage had options of course, but a lot of his magic would be dangerous to use here; if he missed he could cause a cave-in or a landslide. Or both. In either case he would struggle to get clear and would likely perish. He had to think fast, because the minotaur wasn't giving him much time to do anything. As soon as it had grabbed its axe it began another charge, this time bringing its axe up with the clear intention of dismembering Magnus where he stood.

The beast swung and Magnus ducked just in time to avoid losing his head. But the beast continued its momentum, swinging a full 360 degrees and bringing the axe lower, this time aiming around Magnus' torso. The mage rolled clear of the attempt, barely avoiding it as the axe brushed against his belt, slicing it clean and causing his trousers to fall to his ankles. He didn't notice it until he was back to his feet though and they fell around his ankles. "...well this isn't good..." he muttered as he tried to quickly kick them off, to no avail. With a sigh he grabbed them and simply tore them clean off, throwing them aside and leaving himself in just his underclothes and his boots. The minotaur cared little for his opponents sudden nakedness and was already charging again, this time hoping to hit flesh.

Its swing this time was true, and Magnus had little option but to try and stop the attack by any means necessary. He was about to cast Chaos Control, but he didn't have the time. Instead he simply brought up his arms and waited for the inevitable pain - losing a limb was acceptable if he could retaliate fast enough. But the pain never came. Instead there was a loud clang as metal hit metal and he heard a bellow and a stomp. Looking up, he saw the minotaur looking at its axe and was momentarily stunned - the axe-head had split clean in half. How had he done that? He looked down at his own hands and his eyes widened. He was stunned to see that, upon his left arm, was a shield. Furthermore, the skin on his arm had turned completely white with a silver gauntlet. What was this?

Before he could question it further there was another bellow. The beast had thrown its axe aside and was now charging him again, this time with its horns. He brought the shield up once more - it had worked before and he hoped it would work again - and balled his right fist up. Could he do something with his right hand too? He needed something to lay the beast low. As the beast approached he held the shield tight and closed his eyes. Then, as soon as he felt the beast clash into his shield, Magnus thrust forward with a fist as if holding a weapon in his right hand. As his fist made contact he felt something unusual - the impact was almost dulled, and the sound was not quite right, sounding less like the thud of a punch and more like something sliding against another object. He opened his eyes and they widened again. In his hand was a sword of silver and it had impaled straight through the middle of the minotaur's chest.

Magnus looked up at the beast and it simply snorted, its breath becoming laboured. With one swift motion he pulled the blade free and the minotaur slumped to the floor, a low growl passing from it before the light left its eyes. But he was less interested in that and more interested in what was happening to him. He looked down at both of his hands as the weapons dispersed into silver dust; both hands were pure white, both with those same silver gauntlets. But as he looked down he noticed his entire body was the same - pure white, with silver sabatons, silver armour pressed against his torso and silver shoulder plating. As he took a step forward he felt something brush against him, yet not against him at the same time, as if he'd grown in stature or grown extra limbs. He looked up and over his shoulders and let out an audible gasp...

"WINGS?!"

His voice would echo over the canyon. Fortunately he would have a long journey back to try and come to terms with this.