Sore (As Fuck) Limbs [Private | Vandrad]

It was a painful walk back to Magnolia after the climax to that mission… a climax that he had experienced quite a handful of times, rarely in comparison to something else. Here’s why…

Battling a sea monster of that size today just begged for him to merge with Zirconis, but once again, he was reminded of how incompatible his fragile human body was with the soul of a previous pseudo-Elder Dragon. It was sooooooooo much easier to merge with the soul of another human like Kyuken, but Mura could still feel his muscles left a tiny bit sore after performing the spell that allowed them to fuse.

With Zirconis, however, his muscles crackled for a few days afterwards…

And in this fine morning, he stood in front of the mirror at his home, eyeing himself while Mythica was out for the time being. His tired face was a trademark at this point, but his arms… they were rather mediocre to look at. Mind you, this was all from his own perspective, and he was starting to loath his lack of clearly-contoured grenades sealed between his bicep bones and skin, just emitting with masculine energy…

Maybe the image in his head was over the top, but his arms were thinner than the ice he walked on every time he talked with another woman near his wife. Despite his position as a Wizard Saint, his role as Guildmaster of Fairy Tail, his magical prowess and skills with his ninjaken, he developed quite slower than most around him - before, he rarely noticed it, but now that the guild was starting to fill up with taller, more handsome nuclear sites, Mura couldn’t help but feel somewhat self-aware. Maybe he should just ignore it… maybe…

Or maybe he was starting to think of all of this because of Zirconis. There was a practical reason to try and get gains, right?

Yeah, that would likely be for the best.

Therefore, the next day when he went to the guild hall, Mura grabbed a piece of paper and a pen as he wrote his request:

I’m in need of training aimed to increase muscularity for combat reasons. If you can aid me efficiently, I’ll highly appreciate it. Consider this a more personal plead, but I’ll still compensate from my personal treasury. Dearly, Mura.

Then he smacked the paper on the job board like any other quest. He would glare at it for a while, awkward as this was his first pleaded request ever.

WC. 417

Mura barely got to step away before one particular Fairy Tail Wizard had his eyes on the shorter Guildmaster’s request. He turned his head to spot Vandrad who didn’t waste a second to explain the very true meaning of increasing muscle. At that point, it was clear to the shaman that Vandrad wanted to fulfill his request, and merely by being reminded of said Energy Mage’s build, Mura’s eyes began to shine softly. A light of hope beamed through him with Vandrad as his savior, his guide to an evolution.

… He made it sound a lot. Like a lot. Mura would have to transform not only his body, but also his mind to grasp the fruits of such a drive. How long would it take, then? Or would that matter?

No, no, no! He shouldn’t ask questions like that! He clenched his fists terribly harsh, for he tried to shake away quite a habit of his - not taking routine-like things as seriously at first. Man, he felt like a 13-year old again in this state. His gaze was locked onto Vandrad all the time, his eyebrows sharp and his face pointy with will, willing to accept what was going to happen and what he had to do in order to break out of his shota-like identity. Hearing that Vandrad would willingly train him out of gratitude for what the guild had done for him only fueled the shaman’s desire to begin right away. While Vandrad may have talked to him from a professional standpoint, Mura took everything he said to heart as he would any Fairy Tail Mage.

“… Yessir!” Mura replied, a phrase he had previously only said to none other than the late, previous Guildmaster Heero. Man, this feeling brought him back to his novice days in the guild, constantly put on a table with past guildmates to learn about Fiore, the country’s cultures, currencies and other practical things like how to approach and take requests from people and papers, on top of all the physical and spiritual training that he received under Master Kanix, Eris, Ezreal and the others. Mura followed Vandrad intently while thinking back to those days.

… Dietary plan? Wait, did this mean that Mura would have to, perhaps, take a break from sashimi? Pempura? Udon? Ramen? Yakitori? White rice? Rice balls? Unagi? That would be a difficult habit to break… but hey, old habits were best broken by substitution with new habits. He just hoped that… well, that he would stick to it. While he thought that, who knew what his subconsciousness would do.

At the training room upstairs, Vandrad made it clear to him that this was going to be rough and that he wouldn’t hold Mura’s hand like a pedagogue. Morning training was set at seven in the morning, and evening training was - clear to Mura’s deduction - at seven in the evening. He could remember that by heart - if he didn’t have that ability, then he wouldn’t be a shrewd Guildmaster, would he? He felt confident that he could push through and gain from Vandrad’s training schedule, reminding himself that it wasn’t the first time that he had trained ever. It was still the same core principle.

Push through the pain and ache, and you will be rewarded.

As Mura was pointed towards the center of the training room, he walked towards it obediently. Vandrad informed him that they would spar at one point to check his development, but the first work that Mura was going to do was… a hundred push-ups. Something he hadn’t done before, shockingly.

“Ooooooooooooooooooooh! This brings back memories~!” Kyuken’s ghostly, samurai voice echoed as the blue spirit ball head dazzled around Mura, “I almost want to join, but… I think it’d be cheating if we merged bodies. You’re training your body, not your magic.”

“And you’re also a ghost…” Mura replied before laying on his stomach and planting his hands on the floor to push himself up. The first ten push-ups took way less than a second per push-up, while the next batch of 10 push-ups took about half a second. The next 20 push-ups took about a second per push-up.

“Wait, Mura, aren’t you faster than thi-“

“Magic, Kyuken!”

“O-Oh, yeah, that’s right! By the gods, how reliant you’ve been on that… barely noticed it.”

“Hrrnng…”

He wanted to look like an adult now. He wasn’t going to be a short manboy any longer. He was going to put effort into upping his compatibility with Zirconis. All of those reasons backed him up along the push-ups, motivating him to continue. Sweat began slowly trickling down as the last 40 push-ups required a little while. It was starting to go slower and slower… around the 60th push-up, Mura felt his arms lock. It was as if they begged him to take a break-

They wouldn’t take a break when fighting demons and monsters! They would never take a break when the guild was under attack, or when he was swinging Harusame! They hadn’t taken a break before, so they weren’t going to take a break now!

His teeth grinding against each other could be heard as he pushed on, excruciatingly. The few drops of sweat became lines of bodily liquids escaping his skin like a shower, but he pushed on. At that point, he had forgotten to count, but he kept on and didn’t want to shockingly disappoint himself. He was more willing to go beyond the 100th mark than stop at, like, 99.

Down there he was, the Wizard Saint of Fortitude, without aid of a drop of magic, clinging to life and to the pride he held dear to himself.

WC: 951
TWC: 1368

Yup, this was Mura’s little battle, something that he rarely faced - in the past, Mura had dealt with every obstacle in his way alongside Kyuken, and when Zirconis joined the equation so many years ago, it only helped in pushing him for new heights, but he always had their aid behind his back in one way or another. This physical training regime was a battle that he had to undergo on his own, with his own two hands, and frankly, the difference in that and a classic spell bout was clear. Mura didn’t know what Vandrad’s view on him was during all of this, so he hoped from the core of his heart that he wasn’t making an embarrassment out of himself… oh boy, that would hurt more than his muscles at the moment.

To hear that he already possessed a decent amount of strength was a carpet of relief to the shaman. At least, he wasn’t shockingly bad… y’know… but damn, he could feel that this would be one, long path through hell to get to his vision. A vision of his future self with a build that didn’t make anyone question his age. A build that Mythica would be heavily attracted to. A build that would make him flutter just by looking at himself in the mirror… stuff like that.

It was strange to hear it out loud, but Mura had been aware of his magic’s role in his life. As a part of him, though… he agreed with that, but wasn’t magic treated like a tool? An extended object or weapon for yourself? If it was treated that way by him, then wouldn’t that be detrimental to its true purpose of being… say, an extra arm or something? Usually, Mura felt that his magic had its source way deeper than just in his arm, though. Magic flourished in the core of his being, somewhere deeper than his soul…

There was no doubt that this kind of training would also affect his magic in some way. Mura usually treated his magic like a channel to project himself through - when he created new spells, he simply imagined himself passing through this channel and coming out as a new manifestation - that was how he cast his spells. He might’ve forgotten that his flesh and blood, too, was a channel for his magic to pass out through, and that a heightened quality in physical strength could make it thus a greater channel. Magic sure worked in funny et convenient ways.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand he fell on his face once he heard the ‘good’ from Vandrad, his arms’ biceps contracting due to the stress they had been pushed through. It was slightly painful, but it was more the feeling that there was invisible boxes squeezing his arms into dust that tired him out. When Vandrad noted that he hadn’t invoked any magic power, Mura turned his face to rest on his cheek and glare at Vandrad in confusion… usually, people could accidently release magic in a pinch, right? Was that not a factor in his case?

Today, it might’ve worked for the better, but it sure said a lot about just how much conscious control Mura had over his magical prowess…

“*huff*… H-Heeh?” the shaman chuckled, “*huff*… Lucky me.” It made him smile, despite his exhaustion - this was pleasant in a way… not in a masochistic way, but it brought back memories. Mura had been the Guildmaster of Fairy Tail for a long time now, so he had mostly been the one to train and push people to their limits. He had to travel a long way back in time to find himself under the tutelage of a more experienced tutor.

And hey, the good thing about being in the average section was that he didn’t need to be put on some strict protein diet. Maybe he could keep nourishing from sashimi and yakitori… or maybe onigiri. Onigiri could be considered a protein-rich diet, right?

Mura had spotted how Vandrad was typing something on the desk… wait, when did they get that? That wasn’t the old lacrima desk that Mura had used for notes back in time, that was-

Okay, Vandrad sure had a thing or two to inform Mura - without any background info on the technology behind this, the room had suddenly changed atmosphere and look, so it appeared as if they were outside in a rocky sandstone valley. “S-Since when was the Dōjō able to do this?” he asked mildly.

“Is this Vandrad’s magic’s doing?”

“No, I don’t sense anything emitting from him.”

“So it must be a new thing with the table-… Since when were you able to sense magic?”

“Oh, uh… about, uh, a while ago, actually. What, you jealous? Jealous of my brand-new, out-of-nowhere ability? Yeah, I’m quite the talented poltergeist, aren’t I?”

“Why should I be jealous of a clown like you…?”

“Just who are you calling a clown, you brown-nosed gecko?”

Yeah, Mura decided to let them be for now and approached the slope where a desk-shaped boulder was waiting for him. Vandrad held it up on the slope and asked him to lay down and press his feet against the boulder, in which he did so. His feet were surprisingly average, for the size in his sandals often made the optical illusion that they were bigger.

“Roger that, I’m re- hnng-“ Mura was about to signal his preparation, but Vandrad let go of the boulder before he expected it, and now he was trying to hold it up with his legs while having forgotten for a second what Vandrad actually told him to do.

…

It came to mind now, so he slowly bend his legs and let the boulder slide down along with his feet, then reached a point where his legs were bent and the boulder was almost resting on his butt. He then pushed the boulder up the slope, which was waaaaaaaay harder than the latter action, and he wasn’t just sweating profusely from that… but it was a rock. One of Mura’s favorite elements to bend to his will was earth.

He really had to bite his lips in order to prevent from accidently sliding in some Onmyōdō here and there.

… “Listen, at the end of the day, Zirconis - and by the way, I’m just notifying you - I’m not actually a 600-year old virgi- how you doing, Mura? How many you up to?”

“S-Seven… eeiiight… ni-nine… m-my legs are burning-”

“… I-I’ll just wait over here, then.”

“You shouldn’t be so rude to interrupt his training, Kyuken.”

“I-I’m sorry, okay?! Me and Mura have a strong bond, we’ve basically lived together for his entire life! I don’t expect you to understand that I feel fidgety not being around him; you barely have 7 years of experience alongside him, anyway-“

“Oh ha ha, a difference of 2 YEARS! Are you a child?!”

WC: 1157
TWC: 2525

Maybe it would’ve been more bearable if he had some motivating music running through his ears… but he left his headphones at his office. Damn it. Guess there was no other way other than the hard way through this excruciating exercise… but he was sure that results would show overtime. He wasn’t doing any of this for naught - he knew how training actually worked. However, it was quite a shock to notice how big a strain that his legs had been given by the huge boulder. His breath had grown dry from the core of his throat, and he was running out of steam in a steady pace.

Just before he couldn’t see his legs continuing anymore, to which they would’ve stopped flat by resting the boulder on his butt, Vandrad had grabbed said boulder and lifted it off of the support of his feet. His legs embraced the freedom and ached a little, demanding a few moments from Mura to recover from that. Vandrad had noticed that his legs hadn’t followed up that much with the rest of his body, so he had to focus on them to let them catch up. At first, it sounded fine and all, nothing too extraordinary - he just needed to never skip leg day again - but…

“… W-Wha, what?” The word of his growth being stunted made him assume that Vandrad meant his height, which shot through his head like a bullet. His eyes lost life for a moment, but if he began focusing on his legs as Vandrad noted earlier, then he could be able to grow, perhaps, a few inches taller? Please? Mura would love some extra height, for God knew how many people had assumed him to be a younger age - it had honestly gotten to him at this point.

While he speculated over this, Vandrad had typed something on the tablet. Mura suddenly felt his back being supported by a surface of soft grass with a strong breeze travelling by him, originating from the storms raging across the ocean that he could hear. He quickly rose up to the new scenery that he found himself in, simulated by the Dōjō; a huge thundercloud roamed above the sea, and Mura quickly realized that they were standing right at the edge of a cliff ranging high up above the water’s surface.

“W-Woah… I never had a clue that the Dōjō could transform like this,” he expressed himself to the other Gold Member. He must’ve been busy as hell to miss out on a training schedule under these circumstances - just how many sceneries could the system simulate? He had to try this out more! Did the other guildmates know of this? He should’ve invited them!

His focus was taken by the large, elemental creature that spawned from the ocean, donning a humongous body of water, wind and electric bolts. As it was approaching them, Vandrad revealed it to be one of his quote ‘harder training protocols’, which just bugged Mura out; how was the room able to simulate such a huge monster? Just where was this place’s limits?!

Oh well, he was meant to take it out - no holds barred, all out. Mura didn’t assume that Vandrad would want him to take the monstrous creature down without using magic - that just seemed like such a hassle, almost redundant…

Sizing it up with a few glances, Mura then equipped his white, short ninjaken Harusame in his right hand. His left hand equipped the red stone dagger, his priced antiquity, but before he could channel magic through them, Kyuken flew up to him. “Hey, hey, Mura! Remember that spell you wanted to test out against Johann?” the samurai ghost reminded him with enthusiasm bubbling through his voice, “Let’s give it a go now! I think you’ve gotten used to it, now…!”

“… W-Wouldn’t that be too much?” Mura softly asked back to the ghost, lowering his head in displeasure, “I mean…”

He went silent for a moment as it was something to think about. That spell… he had been spending months to use it to its full potential, but he didn’t know how long it lasted. He also didn’t know just how destructive it was when used against an active, living enemy. It would be the perfect time to test that out, but he liked having surprises up his sleeve for his guildmates; Mura rarely showed everything he got, which he rarely ever even thought about. Was it selfish of him? Or was he just being too cautious of his techniques? At the very least, he would show them when he had reached a level of magical prowess that astonished them - y’know, make them proud of him and all, that was his original plan. But he was training right now, and Vandrad was a reasonable man.

…

He exhaled a moment later and crossed his arms, holding tightly onto his two swords. That was when a dark-purple mana escaped his skin like leaking goo, soon dancing around him like a soft, gooey fire. Its surface had strange, outlandish architecture imprinted on, but it didn’t last for too long before its gooey bubbles of Dark Magic began popping in slow fashion, leaking sudden bursts of golden fires. It looked like his entire body was incinerated for a moment before the fires settled, brightening up to a completely white blaze with dark-grey tones underneath the veils of burning magic. Mura’s eyes were hidden - reduced to two, red orbs behind this veil of magic that burned up in the air, pushing away the wind and causing the flora underneath their feet to blossom. It felt like Holy Magic, Dark Magic, Spirit Magic and Nature Magic, all mixed and thrown into a fire as fuel. Even the waters from the sea further away below them from the precipice began to be pushed back softly.

The giant elemental would likely brake its advance for a moment to this change in the atmosphere. This was Mura’s inner pools of magic being mixed together and lit aflame, burning brightly and pushing him to whole new heights - a flame… reminiscing of the title for his late team of Fairy Tail Wizards from days old. While it held little relevance to the actual entity behind the name, he would still name it that in honor of his fallen siblings.

Sorano, Hana, Julius, Gamon… something inside of him hoped that they were out there somewhere, watching… a Flame of the Phoenix.

His breath suddenly escaped his lungs sharply through his gritting teeth, creating a lined fog out of his mouth as the magic began to be sucked into his skin in rapid haste. Once, when all the magic had gathered inside of him - only leaving steams evaporating from his contour, his eyes being the only mirrors into this source of burning magic - he raised both swords up and prepared to strike in an X-formed move.

Okunoin!, the Inner Sanctum, gathered all of his magic and focused it all inside of his body, not letting it leak out into the air. His move was intensified by what felt like a hundredfold if not more - the shockwave from his X-cut scattered the ocean in front of them, blew away some of the clouds nearby, and aimed to cut the giant elemental in four pieces only to be pushed away by the scorching aura that followed afterwards.

If he didn’t know any better, this was Mura at his best… his strongest level of combat.

WC: 1260
TWC: 3785

Hmh…

Mura caught his breath quickly. That spell of his always sent such a thrill through his skin and bones, and even several seconds after he had cancelled the spell and allowed his magical prowess to flow naturally, he still felt a little windy all around him. The elemental monstrosity was more than vanquished, clearing the way for a sudden calm to engulf the precipice as the waves hitting its foundation grew softer. There was such a low pressure around the area from his spell that it made his head feel airy…

A little detached from the surface, he felt… he even floated a little.

“… O-Oh, uh, hehe, glad to hear that from you,“ he quickly responded to Vandrad who pulled him back to reality with his words of approval. Mura landed on the ground again, his sandals grabbing the surface firmly as always, while he grinned confidently. He was ready to keep on all day with this much confidence bubbling in his heart, buuuuut the day was starting to come to an end, and Vandrad had one last test to go through before today was over.

It concluded the beginning of his training, in a way… yes, one test left, but now Mura had an idea of the training that he needed. That relieved him.

While the room transformed back into the open hall from the beginning, Kyuken flew around with a smug look on his face as most of the time. “Did you see that display of magic and skill, Zirconis? Huuuuuuuh? Quite otherworldly, I’d say! Even with our differences and the likes, when Mura and I stand together, we can tear even the gods asunder-“

“Yeah, yeah, mighty nice of you, candyfloss,” Zirconis replied rather passively, “If not for the determining fact that I and Mura can’t fuse 100% like you means that I’m letting you bask in the glory of what is essentially Mura’s own achievements… just you wait; once we go 100% one day, we’ll blow anything you’ve ever done out of the water-“

“O-Oh, as if! You may be a huge dragon, but there aren’t no Human Slayer Magic around, is there, huh?!”

“… Are you trying to tell me something?”

The aura between them quickly grew hostile, but at the moment, Mura paid them no mind. Spirits needed their individuality to flourish, and what was the worst thing that they could do - besides possessing him and fornicating with strangers…

A simple test was running the border of the room, and as soon as Vandrad gave him green light to start whenever, he dashed off. He had caught his breath a while ago, so he could push himself to go at quite a speed… that must’ve been, at most, a hundred meters in a second, but already after 5 seconds did he begin to slow down a little. It didn’t look like slowing down from a newbie’s perspective, but Vandrad would be able to spot it… he had shown his fastest, so it was time to show his toughest.

…

…

He kept up the pace, and time flew by like the wind on his face. Since his endurance and lung capacity was being tested, no magic was used, but to be honest, he almost felt like slipping in-

No! Vandrad wouldn’t want that! You would ruin his attempt to help you, Mura! So bite it!

… Now, just focus and do your best. Think of something, maybe; getting your mind occupied while running could work wonders. Maybe Mythica was home tonight? She often found herself on business for days on end with only a few brief visits this year… it was like she was too busy for him. Painful as it was, for he kept making time and time for the two of them to hang out, but she was also enigmatic and unpredictable. He never knew when she would show up, but she just would… what a mysterious lady he’d gotten married with.

… Oh yeah, that too. They would have to pick a date; maybe next month… unless if something huge got them too busy with other labours. A blessed wedding should take place under peaceful times, y’know.

…

Mura had forgotten how time worked and began feeling his lungs collapsing at a slow rate. “H-How long has it…?”

WC: 720
TWC: 4505

Ah, at last. Mura was panting, so hearing that he had un long enough was thrilling. He braked in his lap and clapped his knees as he bent down for a second, catching his breath before stretching his back. He knew very little of the overall quality of his run - he rarely gave much attention to his movements, as shocking as that must’ve sounded. He moved just what was necessary of him, like in his battles. He rarely miscalculated, too.

It was awesome to hear that he was in relatively good condition. The next few months would be harsh, but Vandrad made it clear that he wouldn’t slack off until Mura had a physical strength that he had only dreamt about before. Stars glistered in his honey-gold eyes, impatient but enduring to reach that form. Vandrad then handed him some notes, to which Mura expressed his surprise that his diet consisted of chicken and veggies six times a day. He only ate, like, four times a day on average, but his diet would consist solely of this dish as well as secondary supplements and what he called ‘protein shakes’. Whatever the hell a protein shake was - was it like a mana vial or something - it was stated to heal his body faster and boost muscle growth, so he might as well implement it into his daily cost.

The list and demands were long… gaining muscle was no joke. The road he had to take to reach that state was going to be hellish, weary and leave him sore for weeks… thankfully, he wasn’t alone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


…

It had been a few months now. It was snowy outside, but the inside was isolated and provided warmth for the guild members. Oh yeah, speaking of members…

It was news to him that Mercury was one of Silver Wolf’s Aces. He didn’t remember any issues in the Sorc. Mag., but he should take some time to visit Leona again. They hadn’t talked since the last Fairy Festival… damn.

Also, to think that this feisty Mercury was so close to Vandrad was shocking too. Mura minded it very little and even blessed their relationship… despite it looking a bit one-sided.

But enough about that; look at him! Mura bent his fingers, feeling pure strength and vitality rush through them. They weren’t sore or cracky, and they didn’t freeze. Not to mention, he could actually press out an impressive bicep! His belly was reinforced with a proper sixpack, too! He could feel it even through his tank top! In all the right places, he looked like a freaking model…

And holy shit, his sharp beard! He really did inherit his grandfather’s goatee! Never in a million years did he believe that he could pull off such a stylish beard, but look at him now! Damn!

It all happened so discreetly, too… he barely noticed the changes until now. Vandrad, too, was impressed with the results, and Mura threw a big thumbs-up to his coach in response. “Damn yes, I am! I look a lot more like an adult…!” he expressed.

The room changed again, this time into a flat, grassy plane stretching out to infinity. It seemed that Vandrad wanted to test his strength himself, to which Mura smirked. “Fine by me. Zirconis!” he called to his draconian ghost pal, whose compatibility with Mura’s body was a catalyst for his entire training scheme, “Let’s see how synced we can be now…!”

Vandrad’s aura rocketed in front of him, bluish mana eating him up like a wildfire. That was his magic, huh… what he called ‘Energy Monarch’. It was visually pleasing, in all honesty - even his hair turned bright-blue, but it looked nothing like just aura, but like an actual change in hair color - and it was a devastating weight to carry all that mana. Vandrad didn’t play around.

The dragon waited no longer and flew straight into Mura’s chest, fusing their spirits together and causing green scales to grow out of his skin. His jaw also grew in size along with his canines, and his brows grew bulkier and sharper. He got many traits of the dragon expressed on his face and body, but… he felt much less strain. As a matter of fact, he felt like he could draw a little more power from Zirconis, resulting in a green burst of mana to rival that of Vandrad’s. A pair of sharp, straight, dark-green horns emerged from his skull for a change, and huge wings clawed out from his back. He was channeling much more of Zirconis now… while his previous sync could’ve been at around 15%, this had to be at around 45%. It was a huge change.

“I’m ready-“ Mura expressed, but the moment he did so, he felt an irresistible rush charge through his back that launched him forward. It must’ve been Zirconis… yes, the more synced he was, the more influential his spirits became to his own psyche. Right now, his face contorted into that of what looked like a maneater, a monster, and a bellowing roar echoed from his track as he charged straight towards Vandrad with a hammer arm and appeared to hold nothing back… as if… as if he tried to decapitate his coach with his own arm.

WC: 885
TWC: 5390

Despite his sudden approach, Vandrad didn’t evade his attack but rose up his arms and took his arm’s blow head on. Once impact was made, the two were charging ahead and Vandrad was surely pushed, but he held his ground in tenacity despite the shaman’s attempts to put as much pressure into his thrash as possible. His arm didn’t leave the spot where he hit his coach’s arms, even when they braked. A long trail of shattered grass and earth was left behind him along with a few clouds of dust rising…

In his state, though, he barely made out Vandrad’s remark. The next thing he registered was a sudden foot planted into his belly at mach speed, sending him back off from the energy brawler. A heavy grunt escaped the shaman’s mouth, surprised at just how heavy that swift kick was. Even more so, given that Vandrad unleashed a series of strikes without a second’s hesitation; he held his own ground and started blocking his strikes with his own arms, knees and even legs, but they all felt the full weight of Vandrad’s ridiculous strength and ached at every impact.

T-Tch! What’s with this assault, my limbs feel like breaking down already…!

You always fuse with me when fighting utter monsters, so get used to it!

He had to get used to the punishment sent his way, for he had to know just how far his body could go. Vandrad’s attacks only increased in speed, which worried Mura enough to go for a counterattack. He would have to intercept the next punch with a punch of his own to throw Vandrad off guard, and just as he went on to do so…

Vandrad’s entire body flickered away. It was some kind of… illusion?

No! That meant-

Mura immediately felt the result of his distraction on his back as a searing pain travelled through. Vandrad must’ve teleported away and left him open to illicit that blow, so Mura leapt forward to make space between them both. He couldn’t be left open like that again, but he had another issue heading straight at him in form of magic orbs released from his coach’s hand. They were numerous and kept charging at him despite the distance…

And they did make contact. Spheres upon spheres of Ethernano expanding from the impacts rose in the field from Vandrad’s view, and it looked like the explosions kept coming closer and closer to him. If looked at carefully, one could see Mura with his arms raised in a defensive position as he charged through them. Dark-green scales trickled off of him as a result, absorbing some of the blows so that he could keep on approaching his opponent.

“WWWWRUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

A loud, deafening roar escaped his lungs, followed up by a ray of green energy. Mura was unleashing a lot of Zirconis’ emerald-like magic through his roar, covering the rippled land around him in a smooth layer of jade and sending off hurricanes of shards and rapturing magic into the air, aimed straight for where Vandrad was flying. The launch of magic was wide enough to coat villages in emerald glass, burning into one’s psyche and spirit with no mercy…

WC: 533
TWC: 5923

From the looks of it, Vandrad had been directly hit by the deafening roar, and yet he had stood his ground in a similar manner to Mura’s own act of defense earlier. Despite the land taking severe damage from the spell earlier, Vandrad was already on the move with a magical blast of his own, and Mura had only but a sliver of an opening to up his own guard after roaring so loudly.

At least he actually took damage now…
Are you actually trying to kill him?!
Please, this wouldn’t be enough to do him in. You’re too paranoid!

A blitz illuminating his retinas made sure to remind Mura of the blast of Ethernano heading his way. His arms were still sore from the barrage earlier, and while dodging out of the way could be viable, he wouldn’t be fast enough… but he was fast enough to flap a fleshy, leathery wing over his own back and up to the front to use as a shield. It looked quite grotesque, as if a dragon’s wing forced to build itself from Mura’s very humanoid body and tissue. Reinforced with Zirconis’ Emerald magic, Mura had to take the blunt of the blast up front, immediately groaning at what felt like placing your entire palm right on a glowing stove.

But he somehow persevered… to his own detriment. Dodging really was the better idea, for Vandrad hadn’t waited for his own spell to subside. Instead, while the shaman still awaited the big spell to die out, Vandrad had reappeared behind him! He likely teleported while Mura was busy with the first attack, and while the dragon-fused mage tried to grow out a second wing to counter with, Vandrad’s punch had already made contact with his back. That was when both blasts appeared to merge together with poor Mura in the middle of the destructive energies.

In the midst of it all… Mura was still able to grow something else out of his body. It looked like large boulders of emerald were protruding from his skin, accompanied by the sound of burning, sizzling tissue, while Vandrad’s blasts clashed together. And from the aftermath of the two blasts were plenty of floating debris and smoke… but also a large cluster of gemstone, all green in color with a humanoid figure embedded within them.

Mura had to force his way out of the gem grave that he had carved out for himself. Still, his skin was reddened and bruised to the point where blood trickled down his face, chest and arms. And by the view of green smoke escaping his skin, this was the end of Zirconis’ round. Mura’s body couldn’t continue using the dragon’s power like this. “… Forgive me, I…” Zirconis mumbled bashfully, “I overdid it.”

“… Usually… we couldn’t sustain our fusion after one or two spells, or even after one hit. Don’t be sorry…”

Regardless, Mura’s body too possessed an ability to repair wounds – this time, the magical aura that escaped his skin was a purplish vapor. It closed off his wounds and stanched his bleeding, and flexing his muscles no longer pained him… which meant that he could still continue the spar.

“Mura! I’m on my way, just give me a second!” Kyuken roared as what appeared to be a possessed sword came floating towards the shaman, “I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t waaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiit! Your body looks a lot more like mine from days past, old friend!” Kyuken, who relied on his physical strength alone back when he was alive, could likely benefit more from Mura’s training results than Zirconis… swinging a katana, after all, required complete mastery over one’s body.

Kyuken would emerge from the floating, sheathed katana and throw it towards Mura before flying over to his side himself. Once the shaman had grabbed the sheath, Kyuken flew right into Mura’s chest and began merging. The changes in Mura’s body were so minor – other than the silver coloring of his irises, his body didn’t undergo any noticeable transformation like earlier.

Instead, his entire fighting style had changed. Wielding a katana was as natural to Mura as breathing, after all, and Vandrad would immediately be able to tell from the atmosphere alone. There was no stress, no straining of one’s resources, no chaotic struggle, no pain or frustration… instead, there was a regenerated swordsman moving his katana in a circle in front of himself. One, single circulation, and with the last end of the travelling, the blade accelerated at an unreal pace, pushing away the air and… shattering the entire precipice further ahead.

The swing of his blade in that circular trajectory had transformed into a spiraling blast of air that shot straight towards Vandrad – what Mura didn’t anticipate was that it was several times larger and faster than he had ever accomplished. Large enough to engulf the cape that they were standing on, and strong enough to push back the waves of the ocean further away. And what was more impressive was the minimal use of mana – all that Mura had done was fuse Kyuken’s soul with his own. The attack itself… was fully physical.

WC: 859
TWC: 6782