บท 22: Gunbai

It's been five months since Madara started going back to Hage village. Seeing how Asta, Yuno, Sister Lily, and Orsi didn't look at him differently after he told them he killed Reiner. This made him a little more open toward them. This also made the children of the church not fear him as much, but how he looked scared them a bit.

When Asta went off for a while to learn how to use a sword, he and Yuno would often spar using magic. Something that Yuno noticed was that Madara was versatile when it came to magic.

No matter what he did, Madara would find a way to cancel it or simply dodges it. Every day, Yuno would get better, but Madara didn't train with him every day.

Madara wanted Yuno to know that he wasn't a mentor nor was he babysitting someone. It became clear after a while, and Yuno understood that. He understood that he couldn't be relying on Madara for everything.

Madara also made drastic improvements to his skills. By using the flying thunder god as transportation, he has come to near mastery of the technique.

Something else that made Yuno see that he wouldn't be a match for Madara anytime soon was the weapon he used.

The weapon he used was not the katana on his lower back, but a large fan. It is a wide fan with tomoe on it and has a long handle with bandages wrapped around the base, as well as having a long chain attached to it. It was brown with a black border, with a red tomoe.

While training with Yuno one day, Yuno was getting aggressive with attacking with his wind magic. Madara was effortlessly dodging when he was caught off guard. Not by Yuno doing something miraculous, but one of the kids who walked where they were training.

The attacks Yuno we're dishing were meant to cause damage. Madara told Yuno every time they sparred, he wanted Yuno to at him with the intent to kill. While Madara could easily dodge or cancel, but everyone wasn't like him.

"Madara! Yuno! Are you guys thirsty?!" Nash shouted with his eyes closed not seeing the wind blades coming toward him at high speed.

"Nash! Get out of the way!" Yuno yelled to Nash as he opened his eyes to see many blades made of wind coming toward him.

A look of horror quickly spread across his face, as he closed his eyes bracing for impact.

Seeing this, time seemed to stop, as Madara saw the scene before him. Without any hesitation, Madara rushed toward Nash. Madara successfully reached Nash, but the wind blades were too close. He then positioned Nash to where he wouldn't get hit.

Just when the wind blades were about to strike Madara, his grimoire opened with a handle wrapped in bandages. He instantly knew what this was, as he pulled it out, and swung it in the direction of the forest.

The force of his newfound weapon caused the wind blades to redirect. It was then Nash waited for the pain to come, but it never came. He opened his eyes to see Madara standing in front of him with a fan in his hand, and the other just below his shoulders.

"Madara? What happened? I for sure thought I was a goner," Nash said as he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Oh, yeah, If those hit you, you were going to die," Madara said sending chills down Nash's spine.

"Are you alright?" Yuno asked as he approached Madara and Nash.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, to Madara." Nash said as he looked up to Madara and smiled at him.

For the first time in a while, Madara smiled back. Seeing this, three people were surprised, but the third person's heartfelt warmth after seeing him smile.

The third person was Sister Lily. Ever since that day a few months ago, she and Madara have been sneaking to have time to themselves. While spending more time with Madara, her feelings became clear.

The more she was around Madara, she felt as if she could open up to him. She smiled more. She felt nervous when he came around but still enjoyed his company.

All in all, she knew she felt something toward him, but her being a nun made it difficult for her. But after seeing him jump to save Nash without hesitation, made her feelings grow stronger.

"What is that thing?" Yuno asked pointing to the fan in Madaras' hand.

"I call it the Gunbai!" Madara said pointing the fan to the sky.

"When did you get it? I've never seen you use it before." Yuno said admiring the unique qualities of the weapon.

"When Nash was about to be mutilated by you're wind blades," Madara said sensing chills down Nash's spine and a wave of guilt over Yuno.

"It's fine. You may have almost diced up Nash like as vegetables." Madara said leaving Yuno confused.

"That's all?! That wasn't encouraging at all. Why didn't you give a speech about how it wasn't my fault and I can stop that from happening in the future by bettering my control over my magic?!" Yuno said giving Madara a confused look.

"If you knew this already, what would that do for us? Other than waste both of our time with useless information and a useless speech." Madara said as he left Yuno dumbfounded as he walked to the church to get something to drink.

Yuno knew by now that everything Madara told him had value or a deeper meaning to it. Yuno couldn't deny that he was a little thirsty as well so he joined Madara.

When Madara got his drink, he saw Sister Lily who had a new expression. Any other time, Sister Lily would have a complicated look on her face. Now it looks like the world was lifted off her shoulders.

Madara had a clue as to why she didn't have that complicated look on her face. He wanted to say something, but he knew he had to be patient, and wait for her to come to him.

"You seem to be in a good mood," Yuno said to Sister Lily.

"Recently, I've had to think about something, now I have decided as to what I am going to do!" Sister Lily said with a smile as she glances at Madara. Madara could only wait for what was about to happen next.