Bully the Bully [Job: Pyrophobia, Nine]

A bully, hm? It was Aven's first job, so he'd decided to start off simple. The job was simple enough, he supposed: intimidate one young man, how hard could it be? He paced around the tree in the park nervously, knowing the answer all too well, which was, of course, extremely hard. Aven was not an intimidating figure, with his gentle emerald eyes, light brown hair, and demeanor that couldn't put a kitten on edge. Perhaps it would've been wiser to take that boar hunting job in Era? He'd probably have a better chance taking down hogs than scaring... well, anyone, to be frank.
That was exactly why he was grateful for the help that he'd been told was arriving. Apparently, he hadn't been the only one interested in the job, and the client had hired two others to assist. Maybe they held the traits he lacked? Aven could only hope, and thus he found himself pacing ever faster around the park. It wouldn't bode well to fail his first job, but he'd been so terribly excited to start that he'd forgotten himself, and bitten off more than he could chew; or, more accurately, he did not have the correct teeth.

There was a pitter patter along one of the walls of the southern gate. The pitter was coming from a rather large looking house cat. The sun was hitting the red fur of the feline just right for it to shine and show off the ruby like luster. It’s golden eyes slit to restrict the light coming into her sensitive pupils. Her tail flicked with each step she made, ensuring to keep her balance even with every step. Though as those that notice her tilt their head at her, often wondering why a cat of that size, and odd look moved through the town like it was. It was rather exotic, thus one that would’ve been kept indoors, and hidden away. Though, for those that own cats, thats never a good idea. Regardless, Syn wasn’t a normal cat. No instead she was there today to do something meaningless.

Earlier that day, she was ‘summoned’ of sorts by a child. How this child had found a way to call her was something that bothered her, but a job was a job. A job also let her drag the new acquisition of the guild with her to do something, though she was currently wondering where the new one was, but it wasn’t a big deal. She was aware that the mage she was too meet that had came with the job was at the gate she was approaching, part of her knew that this would take more time than was needed if she tried to stay in her natural form, and explain she was. As the gate came into focus, Syn did something rather unlady like. If anyone would’ve seen this, she would deny it being an accident forever, and say it was a purpose maneuver. She tripped. Her mind slipped for a second, and where she should’ve zagged, she zigged. Her body went sideways, leaving her falling off the wall to the side outside the city. Though like a cat, she began to rotate her body and kicked off the force so that she landed easily on the other side of the wall. A growl left her lips before her form was covered with lava, and began to expand till she stood at her full human height. Having decided to keep with the tail, it went blond instead of staying red, as to match her blond pigtails. Her body was clad in it’s normal red latex suit that for those that cared, it left nothing to the imagination. The upper part of her face was covered in a hard red ceramic mask that resembled that of a cat, with two eats at the top. Around her throat was a rather large scarf like article of clothing that hung around her face, and near her thighs. It clashed with her wardrobe, but it bore suns on each side of the scarf.

Many would describe how she moved out of the woods as a predator getting ready to stalk prey, and like a predator looking to pounce. She slipped into the park, and tilted her head at the boy, or well man, male. Whatever he was. ”’Ello there” Slipped from her naturally pink lips with a bit of what could be considered a purr almost. Might as well get ready to meet her job partner. She was still having to wait on that hunk of useless metal.

1/5

Those walking near the Southern Gate of Magnolia were in for a surprising treat when they saw what was not an average sight. Sprinting through Magnolia was a woman clad in a green maid's uniform, going at a speed that could seem like she was being chased by the Rune Knights or something. The maid herself had something to do, although visiting a new city had called something else upon her mind, one that wasn't even entirely related to the job at hand.

Once she reached the town, Magnolia, the maid - whose name was, oddly enough, Strawberry - forgot entirely about her goal at hand. Strawberry was tasked with intimidating this bully of sorts, to not allow him to continue his normal bullying ways. This was an amazing task for Strawberry, as the maid wasn't one to actually try to harm someone, but intimidating is well within her boundaries. She was, however, far from intimidating but the thought never crossed her mind. She had plans for what she was gonna do.

"I know! I'll just whip his attitude into shape with some old-school hefty housework. These humans all treasure their maids and stuff but they don't know how hard we actually work! Watch...
I can see it now. 'No, Strawberry, don't make me dust the ENTIRE bookcase! I swear I'll never bully anyone again!"

The maid grinned a devilish grin, as though that plan had substance to it. Regardless, she now trotted forward until she realized, she was in a city that she had never been in before.

Instantaneously, the maid started spontaneously running around Magnolia, asking people for the various different locations that were available to see. Strawberry even came to a soup kitchen, where instead of soup, she cooked them up what would be described as the best meal of their lives. Once she was leaving the soup kitchen, she noticed the time. It had been an hour and a half had past since she originally got in Magnolia.

"Huh... I was here to do something..."

She traveled into her memory files, and then recovered the memory of getting told to come on a job with a feline partner of the guild.

Sonic. Mode. Activate.

The maid burst out of the soup kitchen, running at her maximum speed towards the Southern Gate. Half way there, her bandana fell off due to the speed that she was going at, and she halted immediately, but carried so much force with her that she went sprawling forward, the sound of metal crashing against concrete now filling the area. She got a bunch of strange looks, as most didn't know that she wasn't human... But if they didn't they did now. The maid - robot maid to be particular - walked over to the bandana, put it back on her head, adjusted it, then BOLTED again. Once she finally reached the Southern Gate she saw one of her partners, the one from her guild, talking to a young man. She racewalked over to the pair, bowing her head in shame before the feline.

"I'MSORRYLADYSYNPLEASEFORGIVEMEFORBEINGLATE!!!"

She said in a bumbling mess of words.

(WC: 522)

Aven was at a loss for words. He'd heard that wizards erred on the eccentric side, but he hadn't been nearly as prepared as he should have been for a buxom young woman fully garbed in tights to galavant up to him. He stammered, his usual confident visage wrought with nervousness. Before he could respond in any measure, however, an even stranger individual powerwalked up to the two of them: a seemingly metallic maid in green, apologizing profusely to the cat-like vixen in latex.
At that point, Aven had little idea what was going on, but he gave his best attempt to roll with the punches. He swept his hand across his torso, bending down in a proper bow. "It's a pleasure to meet the two of you. I presume you are also here to resolve a Bully predicament?" As he spoke, it could be seen behind him that a rather large young boy was harassing a few children on a bench, making them cower.

There was asigh that left the lips of the blond haired female. Her eyes drifted slowly, and I do mean slowly. They were covered with her eye lids before opening again to open as she found her staring down at the bucket of bolts and scrap metal. There wasn’t anything that left her lips at first, but as he bowed, her lips turned to a grin. ”Ahh yes. We are here for a certain brat. He seems to be rather bulbous in terms of shape. A fatter older kid using his size to bully kids. Rather stupid.” She muttered as her eyes flicked sharply back to the boy. It was with the same speed a cat reacted when someone moved a piece of string. Her eyes gazed over him. There was nothing sexual about this gaze, but mearly one of curiosity. Her aim? Simply curious if he would be worth being around after this, or if she should go back to the castle. ”Strawberry” Left her lips sharply without gazing at the girl. ”I’m going to sit back here, and watch for now to see if I need to step in. You know I get...heated in these situations.” Her voice was arrogant, and somewhat mocking in certain parts.

2/5

Strawberry couldn't tell if she aggrivated her feline guild member because she was late, because she had to be taken on this job... Or if she was just aggrivated to begin with. Regardless, the robot seemed to not improve, but instead lessen the cat's state of mood at the moment.

"I mean, I wouldn't call it stupid... I mean, it's rather smart, right? If you had size and power over the children, wouldn't you use it? O-Oh! You meant... The job... I'll uh, I'll stop talking. Apologies, Lady Syn."

She remained silent for the next few moments, until her name was called. Her head perked up, and she then listened to her guild mate clad in red. Was Syn asking her to do this job alone? Wasn't the point of them going together that they would do it... Together? Regardless, she had to follow the presumable order, as she physically COULDN'T deny it.

"I'll be sure to make sure you don't have to do a thing, Madame."

She once again bowed before turning, and walking towards the somewhat large child. She stood inbetween the bully and the bullied, before opening her arms out wide, being their shield.

"Hey you! Don't you have any manners? Don't you know how these others feel when you terrorize them like that!? You just seem to pick on them with no remorse, probably because you're even more insecure than them, huh? Well stop this bullying or else!"

Strawberry's arms went to her waist, and she tried her hardest to give her most intimidating face. After a few seconds, the boy behind her began to look up at his savior, and the bully in front of her began to burst out in laughter. This wiped the "intimidating" look off of Strawberry's face, and replaced it with one that was more so agitated. The bully gave the obligatory "or what?" in this situation, and tried to push Strawberry aside. Little did he know that this would be a futile effort, as her sturdy body wouldn't be pushed aside that easily. He'd need way more force than that. So the bully tried again, then again to push her - he wasn't that smart of a kid, and then he punched her square in the stomach, creating a loud metallic bang. The kid grasped his hand, and Strawberry turned to the group of two back at the original meeting point, waving frantically towards the male. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place - Strawberry wasn't intimidating in any way, so the kid was determined to continue his bullying ways. However, he couldn't continue until Strawberry was gone, and Strawberry wasn't leaving until he announced his retirement from bullying entirely. And as such, the robot needed help. She wasn't going to ask Syn however. That, could end badly.
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472

Aven watched as the bulky kid brushed off- Strawberry, was it? He'd heard the small metallic maid called such- Strawberry's efforts like a ball of lint, though from the painful clang resounding from the bully's punch, her body wasn't so easily moved. The job was turning out to be more than a little difficult for them, though only two of the three wizards hired were inclined to help. He couldn't help but feel the cat-like woman's gaze upon him, almost as if she were judging his actions. Or, perhaps judging wasn't the correct word: evaluating seemed to fit the situation better. Regardless, he couldn't shake the words "Lady Syn" had said about becoming "heated" in these situations. That could mean she was abstaining to keep from hurting the bully, and spoiling the job. He could respect that, if it truly was the case. However, the sentiment didn't solve their predicament. The only one of the three of them intimidating enough to scare a bully was Lady Syn, unless...

Aven sighed. All it left was his last resort, a trump card he was always reluctant to play. The situation, however, begged for it, his gentle face and mannerisms hardly enough to intimidate someone like that bully. As Aven strode over toward the Bully, Strawberry, and the child being bullied, his form began to shift. The silky white suit he wore slowly turned black, becoming skin-like, almost leathery. The muscles throughout his body bulged and twisted, and with a flick of his wrist, the cane in his hand was buried halfway into the ground along his path. Emerald green engravings sparked and twisted along his shoulders, face, and chest, while horns grew and curled out of his skull, his clothes all but vanished save a pair of pitch dark pants.

In the place of the gentlemanly Aven Alveron strode a terrifyingly muscular demon, at lest six inches taller than Aven himself, drawing the attention of the bully within milliseconds, freezing him in his tracks. The pain in the bully's hand faded as his terror grew, churning and increasing by the second. The icy hand of dread grasped the large boy's heart at the same time the Demon grasped his collar, lifting him like a ragdoll several feet into the air. Aven, the demon, spoke, his voice recognizable, but amplified with a deep, magical echo. "As you can see, I am much stronger than you, I could easily replicate the abuse you've inflicted on others a hundredfold. While contemplating that act, however, a query crossed my mind: should the strong really prey on those weaker than them? It's such an INTRIGUING concept, I was wondering what you thought."

A small bit of liquid could be seen staining the pants of the bully, and after a few seconds of pure, unadulterated horror, he squeaked out, "N-n-n-no." With that concession, Aven set the boy down- only for the boy to collapse in a terrified heap, of course- and his form reverted, becoming his normal self as if nothing had occurred. As bright smile spread over his face. "Excellent! I'm ecstatic that you feel that way, because that's exactly what I was thinking! Be sure to keep that in mind from now on, young man." With that, he turned and strode back to where he'd left his cane, pulling it casually from the ground and brushing the dirt off. "Miss Strawberry, I believe that's all that is required of us. Excellent work, by the way!"

[3/5, 948 words.]

She watched. Her eyes skimmed across the form that the man had taken. Her tongue actually left her mouth for a moment it skipped across her lips. Now her eyes were skimming across the large man for another reason all together. This, this is a good acquisition for the guild, but how? A grinned slipped onto her face, and her lips let out an airy whisper. ”I hope you can see this Mi’lady Eris.” Her voice was loud enough for those with enhanced hearing to pick up her words. For a moment, the black mark of the guild slipped across her face before fading back off.

Though her mood shifted. He scared the boy. There was no pain, there was nothing to teach him from doing it again. ”You’re a fake. That was not a demon, that was the work of a coward/” Left the lips of the blonde woman as a frown found her lips. The tail that traveled behind her twitched periodically as she traveled towards them. Before her steps were silent but now they were loud, and fast. She moved with a purpose as she closed the space. A twitch came from her tail before pure molten lava began to form off behind her. What seemed to be a large house cat made of lava formed before jetting off with a mission. With each stepped left behind the cat, hot, melted foot prints were left in the stone pathways. It ran off to the side of the large demon man before it would’ve landed on the boy. For those that don’t know, at it’s lowest point lava sits at a temperature of 700C. It did nothing as it landed on the boy. The molten temperature alone was doing the damage as it would’ve began to first melt through the fat below the skin. Leaving nasty burns that would scar forever. Screams left the lips of the bully.

The children that witnessed this act began to scream and run. Adults began to step forward to try and help with the cat, but damage was done already. He was due to die. ”Back up mortals. Take another step, and you’ll join him. I had been perfectly fine with not lifting my hand, but no! You pitiful excuse for a demon decided just to make him piss himself. Where is the sadist in you? Let me show you.” There was a change in her with this. Her tone was far from the purr for play as before. It didn’t even hold the sharpness as before. It was harsh. She was going off the ledge. Here came her wrath.
3/5

It seemed as though Aven, the male by Syn was bound to help the maid, as Strawberry alone was making no headway to getting the fullfillment of the job. However, what occured next could have been no short of paralyzing for the maid. She stood there, frozen in place, wide-eyed as the man changed into a demon. It wasn't that Strawberry was afraid of demons - she was actually quite used to them in her life, but such a calm, supposedly "normal" person like Aven just couldn't succumb to that sort of power... Could he?

Once Aven changed back from his demonic form, Strawberry's body acted before she could think. A pocket dimension was opened, pulling out her trusty rusty - well, that'd be a lie as it never rusts - cast iron frying pan. With a yell, the heavy cooking tool connected with Aven's head with an even louder metallic clang than when the boy punched her stomach. Finally, when Strawberry regained her train of thought, she franctically checked to see if her job partner was alright.

"Oh my! I hope I didn't hurt you! I in no way intended for that to happened - I, uh, just somewhat went into... How to say... 'Auto-pilot?' Please, forgive me sir I would never harm you EVER!"

The pan vanished as it was now that Syn was unleashed onto her prey. This was precisely what Strawberry wanted to avoid, as now the child was in dire danger. However, this was the point of no return. Although Strawberry wanted to step in before things got too painful, her legs would not move. Her voice would not let her call out to stop. She had to sit by and watch as the boy was burned, painfully to his impending doom. Strawberry's programming stated blind obedience, except with one specific circumstance. No matter how long she tried, the heavy body of hers couldn't do a thing, and instead stood there with a morbid look on the maid's face.

Turning to the young boy that was getting bullied, she could safely walk over to him effortlessly, even though she struggled to face Syn.

"Young Master, I suggest you run for now. Do not ever state you saw this happen. Trust me, it is for your better good. You wouldn't want to miss out on living a life free from bullies, would you?"

Strawberry nodded to the boy, whom was still mortified, but he returned the nod, and ran away from the scene of the brutal killing of this child.
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425

The lights in Aven's head went out for a moment as a loud clang temporarily stole his consciousness. He staggered, then opened his eyes.

A mistake.

Aven was at a loss. He could barely comprehend what was happening: Lady Syn was suddenly livid, and before he knew what had happened, she'd begun to burn the bully alive. No... not begun. With a single horrified glance, he could see the light draining from the young boy's eyes, a plead escaping his lips in the form of agonized screams, begging Aven, begging anyone, to save him from his inevitable fate.

It was too much for Aven to process: sure, he'd been a bully, he'd hurt others in his time, but to kill him for childish folly? How could someone justify those actions? How could SYN justify her actions? As his thoughts quickened, running through scenario after scenario, page after page of knowledge, he came up empty. There was nothing: no justification, no reason, no hope, no survival for that young boy. Only death. In the blankness of his mind, Aven's psyche battled for control, to make his muscles move, to try in futility to save the young man, but another voice spoke up. Who will pay? Who, indeed? Wait, what? No, violence only begets more violence- Yes, that's right, wizards should only use their powers for- Revenge, slaughter, VENGEANCE! Aven's vision blinked out, and he was faced with a demon, the same demon he'd always become when he called upon his latent ability: however, this demon's eyes and etchings were the color of fresh blood. It spoke, the words reverberating through him. This world does not cater to the weak, nor does it forgive those who abuse their power. The justice you speak of exists only as a veiled lie invoked by those who refuse to take responsibility for their actions. In the end, only those who fight will survive, and that's all. There. Is. To. It.

Aven's vision returned, and he could see much clearer now. Lady Syn, distributing punishment on the boy who reveled in false power. The small, weak child running from the chaos he invoked, trying to forget his responsibility, trying to flee from his crime as if he hadn't hired them. Aven's hands shone as two circles appeared on the knuckles, one blue, one bright yellow. Aven's body shifted much more rapidly this time, the color of the etchings over his skin changing from his old emerald green to crimson. His eyes opened, sporting the same color, and he leapt at incredible speed toward the boy who was fleeing. Grabbing the child by the neck, Aven's wings unfolded, and he flew the child back to watch the bully's skin boil. "See this? This is the result of weakness, the result of not taking action. Burn it into your memory, child." With that, he dropped the boy, and turned his eyes toward Syn, advancing on her, dark energy swirling around his hands and the magic circles. "You, Cat woman. Who gave you permission to attack? I know that I didn't."

Pride and Wrath In situation, these two parts of her had been stroked several times. Mostly it had been wrath. Syn’s temper can be compared to a volcano most of the time. When she’s been poked, it’s like lava swelling up to the top. After while it explodes like a volcano, and just as violently. This is exactly what had happened here. Though now, her pride had been touched. ’Catwoman’ that phrasing. It struck a nerve with her, and she didn’t really understand why. It wasn’t like it was wrong. She was a cat, but at the same time it just poked at her. Her head began to tilt before things began to shift and change. Her lips lost their frown and turned to a quick grin. The wind blew by her before the weather changed suddenly. The large scarf that hung down from her neck fluttered before settling. Suddenly Sand. This was no joke. A sandstorm suddenly appeared, and quickly began to disrupt the visibility of those within that section of Magnolia. In that very moment it became clear to Syn who was what.

Ally for her was obviously Strawberry, as the scarf would’ve allowed her to retain her clear vision through the quick moving sands in the air around them. Though for the mage that had been with them on this would find that he was going to have issue seeing through the thick sandstorm that had moved through them. She took a few steps back to let her form become hard to see, but that wasn’t it. She came to slide her foot towards him as a half dome barrier of lava separated them. Entirely blocking his sight of Syn before she decided to take it upon herself to change up how she was going to play this game.

Without a sound her body began to melt and quickly compact into a large house cat like form and took it upon herself to run to hide in a nearby stall so she wouldn’t be seen. The sandstorm would’ve persisted, but not to long after she hid.

4/5

Knocking the male unconscious bred more uneasiness within Strawberry, but once he awoke she felt much safer. However, what he went to do next caught her entirely off guard. Strawberry was going to feel relieved that the small boy made it out alive until the giant demon flew up to him, grabbing him and snatching him back towards the area where the feline was. Thankfully, and only thankfully did Aven not kill the boy and had more mercy than Syn did, but this seemed to really change something within him. The maid couldn't tell what it was from - she didn't get humans that much... They were mysteries in and of themselves. But alas, the boy was alive, that was all that mattered.

"Run, and don't look back, I swear I'll stay back to defend you. I'm a black belt in kitchen-utensil fu."

Strawberry brandished the Pan once again, although it'd be nothing more than an empty threat towards the demon. However, she had to try, right?

"Alrighty, Ugly, unless you want another bonk on the head, just surrender! It won't need to get ugly this way - BECAUSE IT ALREADY IS WITH YOUR FACE! ...yeah, that sounded good. I think he'll turn tail and run now!"

Impressed with her own insult, Strawberry was going to take a moment to pat herself on the back until a massive sandstorm kicked up, most likely from her guild mate. At least this way she could assure the kid got out safely, and with that the frying pan returned to its pocket dimension. She wasn't gonna do anything with it anyways, but she had to feel intimidating in SOME way, right? Regardless, taking the advantage of the sand, she stepped back more and more through the sand, trying to broaden the space between them so that Strawberry would be less likely to be a target. Why attack someone who can't fight back? Well... Maybe it's because they threatened you... And insulted you....

Crap...

Aven's crimson eyes squinted in the onslaught of sand. He glowered back at the maid who'd hit him, and was then insulting him. How foolish could she be? That pan of hers had caught him off guard, as he'd considered her an ally before, but such a hefty weapon would never make contact in an actual fight. "Ugly this form may be, but if you think I'll surrender to a backstabbing traitor, you're more foolish than I took you for." He could have gone after the maid, but there was no point. she wasn't a threat, nor was she a target now. The sandstorm began to die down, and Aven spotted a wall of lava, sanded down and cooling from the storm. "Come out, Syn! You will answer to me!"

His brow furrowed. It was obvious that she wasn't behind the wall, it was merely a decoy, as was the storm. She hadn't shown any large amount of comradery to the maid, so Aven could assume she had no qualms leaving the small metallic girl to fend for herself. Infuriating.

He bellowed out into the quickly emptying square. "If you do not want another death today, you'll come out and face me, Syn! I'll dismantle that maid just as fast as you murdered that bully!"

This mortal was utterly stupid. There was obvious fact with her actions alone that she cared not for the maid. In fact, he could, for all she cared, rip her apart, and toss her away. Syn cared little. Though he was interesting to her. With his suddenly shifted personality he pushed more into the possible acquisition category than goose chase. Her eyes sat on the figure from the holes in the stall. She began to consider her path from here. It would simple enough for her to get out of there, and she knew strawberry would be fine, at least for the time. Other than trying to deal with his breaking point, nothing bad had come from her. So again, she had no reason to do anything to help the poor bucket of scrap metal.

There is no lie, Syn would love to see this man in the future under the teachings of Eris. To see him embrace, and use his demonic side would be most lovely to see. A thought came to her mind before she slipped gracefully from stand to stand till she was a top a building. She took it upon herself to shift herself back into her human form, her suit somewhat unzipped to allow her chest to breathe. The scarf again hung down around her neck, the suns slightly glowing on the ends. ”I answer to one, and that is not you. If you ever want to know why I did what I did here today young man, then try using this. Try asking the right people around.” She said before an old coin like object appeared in her hand. She quickly tossed it down to the young man before turning away to leave the area. She was done. Maybe she’d run into him again somewhere.

[5/5]

---

Syn left

Strawberry was heavily relieved when it appeared that the giant demon fellow wasn't going to attack her, or at least not yet. So she began to slip away, until she heard the voice of Syn, whom did what the robot couldn't have predicted. Gave up her talisman for this one person... Did she have a wish for him to somehow find their guild and... Maybe even join it? Regardless, the coin was now his and Strawberry couldn't do a thing about it. However, should he actually manage to join Grim Heresy - well Strawberry knew who to avoid in that instance. Regardless, the cat woman was leaving without much care for Strawberry, so that was probably her cue.


"Uh, Lady Syn!? I'm coming with you right? Lady Syn? LAAAADDDYYY - Oh... Poo... Uh, hey there Mr. Demon fellow whose name I never learned! I'll just be uh... Taking my leave, okay? Water under the bridge? I'll go now..."


Strawberry began stepping back slowly until she burst out into a run, trying to catch up with the feline friend - if she could even call her that - that was Syn. It was too late, she was gone and stranded Strawberry. That wasn't too much of a problem, as the maid could always return to the guild and this gave her the chance to hang out in Magnolia for a time. Not like anyone would consider her a villain in this scenario anyways, as she was the only one that was well... Not trying to hurt people. So, she returned to the streets and began humming, intent on forgetting about this day in every way.
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276 (End topic)

Aven caught the strange coin in his demonic palm, one eyebrow raised. Syn had gotten away without a word of her intentions, but the coin... he felt his anger fade, replaced by a burning curiosity. He'd never taken the time to research Dark guilds, or their motivations, perhaps because he was afraid of what he'd find. Maybe his younger self didn't want to believe that wizards could do bad things with their magic, that not every mage held goodwill for others in their heart. His current self, however, could accept that truth; in fact, he realized it was necessary to understand that truth in order to become the kind of wizard he strove to be. In his mind, the dream of joining Fairy Tail became ever distant in his plans, as a new goal blinked into existence before it: understand dark guilds.

[End topic]