Chapter FOUR

The train ride was not too disruptive. Natsu knocked himself out the moment they got on, and with a half of their usual argument starter not present, things went as smoothly as Lucy could have wished.

They slept through the night journey, and arrived at the town the following day. After dropping their bags off at an inn, they immidiately headed out towards the house of their client.

The mayor, a kind looking man, welcomed them into his house the moment they revealed what they were here for, and soon they were seated in a comfortable looking livingroom with cups of tea in their hands.

"Thank you for coming," he said. "As said on the mission poster, this town has recently been having troubles with bandits. They appear to have set upup some base up in the mountains, and the come down to steal. A majority of them seem to be mages, and townsmen who tried to stop them have been injured."

Erza nodded solemly. "We will capture these bandits, so that they may face according punishment."

The mayor smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

Halfway into their climb up the mountain the mayor had pointed out to then, a sudden thought hit Lucy. "Uhh, guys? What was the plan again?"

She received four blank look.

"What are you saying, Lucy?" Happy asked. "We went through this already."

"We did?"

Natsu nodded. "Go in, beat them up, get out."

Three nods followed his decleration and Lucy sighed, mentally threw her arms up in exasperation, then followed her friends anyway when they continued their determined march.

Thankfully, everyone had the sense to stop before they stormed in.

"Ready?" Erza asked.

"Wait." Lucy dug through her key pouch. "I want to summon my new apirit," she said. "Testing combat abilities and all that."

Her teammates watched, suddenly eager, as she pulled out Kai's black key. She held it up, but before she could say anything she felt a presence directly behind her. Kai wrapped her arms around her in a brief hug before she danced nimbly around her to stand in front of her.

"Bandits, get in, beat them up, get out?"

Lucy smiled sheepishly. "Yeah." She tried to gauge the reaction of her friends. "Guys, this is Kai. Kai, these are-"

"Natsu Dragoneel, Gray Fulbuster, Happy, and Erza Scarlet."

Lucy nodded. "My teammates."

"Friends."

"Yeah."

"Do you need these...bandits alive?"

"Yes, no killing."

Natsu frowned. "You're the spirit?" He asked. "I want expecting someone more...more..."

Kai raised an eyebrow, but did not appear particularly offended. "Worry not," she said. "I am capable. I will protect Lucy." She turned around. "Am I to go in?"

"Are you okay by yourself?" She asked.

Kai nodded. "I am more than enough. If it makes you feel better, you may follow me in at your own judgement."

"How do we do that?" Gray asked. "We can't see inside."

"That will not be a problem," Kai said. "Are you ready?"

Lucy nodded uneasilly, still worried, and Kai slowly stepped towards the structure housing the bandits. She raised a hand, placed it against one of the walls, and, before their very eyes, cracks appeared from where her palm was pressed against stone.

It was as though the stone had suddenly gained tens of years of decay in the span of a second.

There was a small pause as the cracks spread to the furthest corners, before the entire things exploded, just as the table had at the guild the day before. The stone parts vanished in black smoke before they even hit the ground, and instantly the shocked cries previously nullified by the walls became audiable.

The grass right beneath Kai's barefeet withered in front of their eyes as she slowly began to walk towards the trembling bandits. One let out a shout and hurled a ball of water at her but the attack stopped meters before her. The transparent shield momentarily flickered a swirling black as the magic simply vanished.

More attacks came the spirits way, but nothing got close enough to even hope to harm her. A wave of black smoke shot out with Kai as the starting point. The half-sphere stopped just after all the bandits had been enveloped, and they all collapsed in a heap. When the thin barrier-like magic dispursed, Lucy could see how the fauna within it all looked half dead and dry.

Kai turned around and curtsied. "Is this to your satisfaction?"

Her teammates were dead silent around her. Lucy had been made aware of Kai's prowess, but she hadn't known what she had been expecting.

By the time they had trecked down, Natsu had recovered enough to loudly complain about how he hadn't gotten the chance to fight at all. He had demanded he fight Kai instead, but the spirit had escaped back to the spirit realm, and Erza and Gray both were very quick to hold him back. There was a certain wary look in their eyes as they watched the spirit vanish in a puff of black smoke and Lucy felt like she understood.

'The fight you will be helping me with is that between the Creator and the Destroyer of Worlds.' Kai's words sounded like a reminder. They cut through her thoughts, and Lucy smiled reassuringly when Erza noticed her jump of surprise. 'I apologize for scaring you.'

'It's okay.' Lucy tried to gather her thoughts. 'What you did, that was already limited power?'

Kai hummed an affirmative. 'I can bring endings to things at touch.'

'Is that what you did with the magic deflection as well?' Lucy frowned. 'Then what did you do to the bandits?'

'That specific form of magic is less effective on beings with a will, but pressure is a very powerful thing. Those humans simply lacked the will power to fight through it.' She felt a faint touch on her cheek, an affectionate gesture, but she knew she would not see anything even if she turned around. 'You, on the other hand, I do not doubt will be able to stand through it.'

Lucy smiled uneasily. 'Thanks.'

Kai hummed again. 'I will retreat for now,' she told her. 'Call me whenever.'

The cloud in her mind vanished with the last traces of the spirit's soft words, and Lucy found herself standing just a little away from the mayor's house. She turned around to see Erza toss the last of the unconscious bandits at the steps leading up to the doors.

"Looks like we will be able to receive the entirety of the pay this time around," the redhead said, proudly, and Lucy wondered if her friend had not only come to expect the damage but accept it as well.

Update, friends!

Darque: Sorry about the delay!

Raven: Next chapter is kind of on the way, ish, maybe, probably, hopefully...

Darque: Uni starts soon for me too D:

Raven: On a side note, we have a discord server (/bHw6Ddh) It's mostly stuff about our Naruto stories, but we'll be having polls and update alerts for all our stories, among other stuff, so if you're interested, please feel free to join us!

Darque: What he said :)

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