章 479: Brandish's Hatred

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

May, x786.

The day after Alfonzo, Elicia, Marin, and Ikaruga returned from their visit to Quatro Cerberus, Alfonzo opted to not train with everyone at the guild hall. Although he did not intend to skip training all together, he did intend to increase the intensity of his work out. Meaning, he wanted to increase the gravity he trained under.

Unfortunately, that meant he would need to train alone, as the wizard with the strongest body in the guild, and quite possibly on the continent, no one would be able to handle the gravity when he reached his limit.

So, Elicia, leading Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Marin, Sun, and Lucy, headed to the guild hall with their guests from last night, Saeko, Saya, Shizuka, and Rika, to the guild early in the morning. Meanwhile, Ikaruga also stayed at the mansion to clean up after beign away for six weeks.

"I thought he forgot." Rika said while walking with a weapon case in her right hand. "But to think, he made it for me before he even came back from Era. I can't wait to put this pretty little girl through her paces in training this morning."

As previously mentioned, Alfonzo agreed to create a Mechashift weapon for Rika, if she could get to A-Class and complete a few quests, all without causing collateral damage. And Rika, who was intrigued by the thought of a weapon like that, jumped at the opportunity. As a result, she became only the fourth wizard in the guild to have a career without causing excessive damage to her surroundings on quests. The other three being Alfonzo, Elicia, and Levy.

And last night, after reaching the mansion with the others, Alfonzo finally gave her the promised reward. And although she was expecting a sniper rifle that could change into a spear or a scythe or something like that, she liked what she received, nonetheless.

In the case was a pair of pistols. However, these pistols were special in the way that they both had a bayonet attached to their barrels. On top of that, their barrels were a bit longer than normal. To be honest, when Ricka saw the weapons, she was more than a little disappointed. However, when Alfonzo showed her the gimmick behind them, Rika's eyes sparkled like a child who just received the toy of their dreams.

By inserting the blade of one of the bayonets into a slot on the back of the grip of the other pistol, it would activate a mechanism. As a result, the two pistols would be fused into one weapon, a rifle. On top of that, there was an accompanying scope that could be attached, as well. Although Rika was not interested to understand the mechanics of such a weapon, Alfonzo explained that it had something to do with his [Metal Magic] and a whole lot of sigils.

Regardless of how her new weapon/weapons worked, Rika loved them. And to show her appreciation, she wrapped her arms around Alfonzo's neck and kissed him passionately, surprising the other ladies greatly. On top of that, Rika noticed the pouts from both Saya and Shizuka, who were clearly jealous that she kissed Alfonzo.

"Yes, they're great weapons." Saya said with a huff. "But why did you kiss him. I mean, it's clear he's not a better shot than you. So, that means you can't possibly have feelings for him, right?"

"Oh, is little Saya jealous?" Rika asked in a teasing tone. "You must really like him a lot to be so upset."

"What are you talking about? Saya asked with an embarrassed blush on her face. A blush she tried to hide by adjusting her glasses. "I don't like him. I was just curious. I mean, you made it quite clear that you would only be with a man that could shoot better than you, or was I mistaken?"

"No, you're absolutely right." Rika replied with a smile. "Unfortunately, I think I might have set the bar too high."

As she reached that point, Rika flicked the bangs on her left side out of her face before continuing in a tone that suggested she was carrying the weight of the entire world.

"*Sigh* Being such a talented magic gunner can be a curse at times like these." Rika said theatrically. "And that means that unless I lower my standards, I'll end up dying alone. However, instead of lowering my standards, I decided to change the criteria."

Reaching that point, Rika's expression changed again. Now, she was wearing a very cheeky smile.

"So, instead of finding someone that can outshoot me, I decided that a man who can make weapons that complement my brilliance are just as good." Rika said while winking at Saya.

Hearing that, Saya gritted her teeth as she glared at Rika. Although part of her thought Rika was just messing with her and that kiss happened just because her emotions spiked at receiving the perfect weapon for her skill set, the other part thought that Rika was hiding genuine interest behind eh playful demeanor.

Unfortunately, not even Rika was sure at this point. While she enjoyed Alfonzo's company and loved his sense of humor, she has not been able to spend any significant amount of time with him since they left Takanosu. And she understood why that was.

As soon as they got to Magnolia, they had to prepare for the Harvest Festival. After that, Alfonzo made the promise with Rika to make her weapon. So, she spent almost all her time completing quests to gain the reward she was promised. However, before she could finish that, Alfonzo left for Lamia Scale. Then, he left for Quatro Cerberus while she was on a quest with Alzack, Bisca, and Kohta.

"Rika's so lucky…" Shizuka muttered while Rika teased Saya about having a crush on Alfonzo. "I wanna try kissing Fonzie, too. Everyone looks so happy when they do it."

Shizuka's muttering caused Rika to look at her with a wry smile on her face. In fact, Shizuka's interest in Alfonzo is one of the reasons for her own interest. Especially since the two of them have shared just about everything since they were children. And seeing that Alfonzo had a harem, it made the thought of sharing a man with her best friend sound quite appealing.

"But if you do that, Rika, what will you do if you find a better shot than you after getting together with Fonzie?" Marin asked, deciding that adding to the chaos would be fun.

Once again, Rika swept her bangs out of her face, this time from the right side. And once again, she put on that expression as if she were carrying the weight of the world.

"*Sigh* That would just be the other man's bad luck." Rika said in a forlorn tone. "I guess it would be my bad luck, as well. *Sigh* Missing out on something after searching for it for so long would truly be a pity."

While the other girls laughed at Rika's act, Saya continued to grit her teeth and Shizuka continued to daydream about kissing Alfonzo. Meanwhile, Elicia, without even needing her [Magic Power Detection], had located Brandish, who was wearing a black bikini with gold accents, a black overcoat, and black, high heeled sandals.

'Man, these chicks are really bold.' Elicia thought to herself while glancing at Brandish from the corner of her eye. 'They just sit out in the open and watch the guild. What would they do if we found them suspicious?'

["You know, I don't really think they care."] Scylla replied. ["I mean, without releasing my seal, you're weaker than she is. And I doubt they know that you can power up like Fonzie did against the dragon traitor. So, they think they can run wild in our town."]

'*Sigh* You're probably right.' Elicia replied while pulling her gaze away from Brandish. 'Still, even if they aren't up to something… And let's be honest, we all know they are… The whole guild would be on alert because of the way they act.'

["I know."] Scylla replied. ["But you know how arrogant the strong can be. And considering the fact that she's on par with the dragon traitor, it's no wonder she doesn't put anyone in her eyes."]

'Yeah, and with magic like [Command T], she's got pretty good reason to be arrogant, I guess.' Elicia muttered internally. 'I just can't remember if she needs to touch something to manipulate its mass. Because that will make a big difference in the way I deal with her.'

["Right."] Scylla replied with a nod. ["She didn't really show much in the way of hand to hand combat in the canon. I mean, she beat up Lucy that one time. But Lucy wasn't exactly a martial artist. Either way, if she needs to touch you with her hands to use her magic, I think you'll be fine."]

Nodding in agreement with Scylla, Elicia continued to head towards the guild with the others. Meanwhile, Brandish, who had been observing the group of women frowned minutely.

"He's not with them." Brandish muttered while reading a book.

On a side note, the book Brandish was reading was the same one she was reading when Irene returned to the hotel room last night, Saint Slippery's Academy for Girls. And she was almost done with it. So, she also had a copy of Saint Slippery's Academy for girls 2 in the pocket of her overcoat.

However, because she was unwilling to go through the embarrassment from last night a second time, this time the outside of the book was covered with a book cover. And the same was true for the sequel.

"I wonder what that Alfonzo is doing that he did not accompany his wife." Brandish continued to mutter as she turned a page. Then, she glanced at the group of women again. "And why are those two women looking at me like that. They're eyes are sparkling like they found a like-minded individual. But why?"

Naturally, the two women Brandish was talking about were Erza and Marin, who thanks to their instincts knew that Brandish was reading the same kind of book they were into. However, when Brandish glanced at them, she noticed something about Erza.

"That woman looks an awful lot like Irene." Brandish muttered quietly as she returned her attention to the book in her hands. "She's got the same hair and eye colors, and a lot of her facial features are similar, too. Then, there's that explosive figure. Are they related in some way?"

Before she could think about it any further, however, Brandish's head shot up. This time, however, her attention was focused on a different woman. This time, her eyes were locked onto a woman no less voluptuous than herself, perhaps even a little more with blond hair hanging loosely to her shoulders with a side tail on the right side of her head and brown eyes.

"It's her!" Brandish hissed out through gritted teeth. "The daughter of the woman who murdered my mother!"

Immediately, Brandish's magic power began to leak due to her unstable emotions. Naturally, this drew the attention of the group of women, who all looked at her in surprise. What surprised them even more was the level of hatred swirling in her eyes.

"That's one of the two people who entered the town by tampering with Fonzie's barrier, isn't it?" Marin asked, though her question was more of a statement.

"Yeah, but what's wrong with her?" Sun asked in a slightly concerned tone. "She looks really mad."

"Indeed." Erza replied with a nod while also drawing Astraia from the sheath on her hip.

"But why now?" Ultear asked as she put Kinsi on. "Those two have been so peaceful since they got here."

"It looks like she wants revenge for something." Rika said as she opened the case she was carrying and took out the two pistols. Then, she filled each of the magazines with her [Bullet-Make Magic] as she continued. "I've seen that look too many times in my time as a knight. She's definitely out for blood."

Meanwhile, the other ladies prepared for battle, as well. It had already been explained that this woman's magic power was on par with the first seat of the Ten Wizard saints, God Serena, so they knew this would be a tough fight. And more than likely, more than a few of them would end up injured… Or worse.

'Oh, crap.!' Elicia exclaimed internally. 'She saw Lucy. And I'm sure she wants revenge because Grammi died. Unfortunately, if we don't' defeat her, we won't get her to see reason. But Fonzie told us to keep the fact that we can release the first seal on our [soul Armaments] a secret so that we don't give away too much information to the Alvarez Empire. But what should we do? WE can't let her hurt Lucy.'

["Stop panicking."] Scylla said in a harsh tone. ["Fonzie has probably already noticed what's going on here. So, he won't let things get out of hand."]

'That's right.' Elicia replied with an internal nod. 'I didn't think of that.'

["On top of that, we just talked about you being able to beat her without releasing my seal, remember?"] Scylla asked while rolling her eyes. ["I swear, if it's not something Fonzie says, you don't even bother listening."]

'Tee-hee.' Elicia giggled cutely.

["Besides, if they're really up to something, Irene won't let her ruin their plans, either."] Scylla added after rolling her eyes again. ["Oh, and they're both starting to move."]

"Lucy Heartfilia!" Brandish shouted, interrupting the conversation between Elicia and Scylla while simultaneously surprising the other ladies.

"Huh? Me?" Lucy exclaimed in confusion while pointing at herself.

"I'll make you pay for what your mother did to mine!" Brandish said as she flared her magic power to the limit, putting pressure on everything in her surroundings.

"For what Mom did?" Lucy asked, her confusion growing even further. "And who is your mother? And what did my mom due to her?"

"Your mother, Layla Heartfilia killed my mother, and her most loyal servant, Grammi!" Brandish shouted in a tone filled with hatred and sadness. "So, I'll do the same to her daughter!"

"Huh? No, that's impossible." Lucy said while taking a step backwards.

Unfortunately, Brandish had no intension of listening to Lucy, as she had already burst forward. And while Lucy was too surprised to react, the other ladies were ready to fight for their friend/sister/guild mate.