บท 8: Chapter 8 - Using the Geass Again
The group of four traversed through the forest at a brisk walking pace. Before long, Jin spotted an animal that looked like a mix between a bear and a deer. It had a mostly bear-like body but also had hooves, a long snout, and antlers. He tried using his geass on it, but nothing happened. Due to the eye contact, however, the beast became agitated and charged toward them.
"Not working?" Jellal asked.
"Nope," Jin replied without caring about the approaching beast since his current companions could easily dispatch such a creature.
"In that case," Jellal calmly muttered, his voice trailing off. He pointed towards the creature, and a green magic circle appeared in front of him. Next moment, a sharp blast of wind shot through the air and instantly decapitated the beast. The headless body dropped and skidded to a halt not far from the group. Jellal then approached the carcass and opened a small pouch at his waist that sucked the entire body inside.
"These derebears taste quite good and can feed us for a while. Can't let it go to waste."
Jin nodded solemnly. Although the prompt act of violence didn't disgust him since he had seen far worse things in the past, part of him did not expect to see such a thing within the world of Fairy Tail. Inwardly, he reminded himself, 'Guess I need to cast away my rose-tinted lenses towards this world.'
"Also, here," Jellal said while pulling something else out of the pouch and handing it to him.
Raising a brow, Jin took it and realized it was a dark blue cloak identical to the ones worn by Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy.
"You can use it to obscure your identity somewhat."
"Thanks," Jin replied with a small smile. "You sure you won't need this as a spare later?"
"It's no problem. I've got dozens of them in here," Jellal replied, gently patting the pouch tied around his waist.
Blinking a few times, Jin smiled wryly and shook his head. He quickly unfolded the cloak and draped it over his shoulders. Although the weather felt too warm for such a thing, he figured hiding some of his features from criminals was a good trade-off.
After that, the four continued their trek through the woods until reaching a cliff face that towered over the dense forest. Head tilted back, Jin gazed up at the massive cliffside from under the rim of his cloak's hood.
Lips curling downward, he asked, "Is this the cliff where you said the Dark Guild was hiding?"
"Yes," Jellal answered while walking parallel to the jagged cliff face with a white magic circle spiraling in front of an outstretched hand. "They apparently hide in these cliffs using illusion magic."
Jin nodded understandingly.
While Jellal continued searching for illusion magic, Ultear approached Jin and asked, "For the sake of planning, what kind of magic or skills do you have besides that eye ability?"
Patting the handle of the bokken strapped to his waist, Jin answered, "I'm alright with a sword, but I only have this practice one with me for now."
"Any combat experience?"
Eyes flinching briefly, Jin sighed and quietly answered, "...Yes."
Noticing a heaviness in his tone, Ultear nodded and stopped talking.
After searching for a while, Jellal halted when his magic circle pulsated on an especially jagged portion of the cliff face.
"This should be it," He said. Then, he glanced at the others and said, "They are a bit weaker, so are you all fine with a head-on approach?"
Meredy calmly nodded while Ultear replied with a confident 'yes'.
Noticing some hesitancy from their otherworldly companion, Jellal asked, "Jin?"
"I'm fine with that if one of you is willing to stick with me for most of it."
"I'll do it," Meredy volunteered herself surprisingly quickly.
Jellal's lips rose into a barely noticeable smile. He nodded and said, "Alright, then. Let's make quick work of these guys."
He waved his hand, and the rocky cliff shattered into particles. Only a gaping tunnel remained. Two rough-looking individuals with thorn-like tattoos covering their necks and arms jumped up from some chairs posted a short distance into the tunnel. Strangely, neither of them had hair nor eyebrows. Their eyes that looked hollow and uncaring widened like saucers upon seeing intruders.
"What are you doing here? You dare to barge into someone's home like this?" The taller and more muscular of the two taunted. The second man nodded and cracked his knuckles.
"Beastly Earth Tomb," A calm voice echoed in the cave tunnel.
Earthen protrusions burst from the ground under the feet of the man who spoke like teeth of an underground beast. The man's face contorted into a look of horror, but the stone and earth covered his entire body before he could even scream. A sickening crunch echoed in the surroundings, and then the earth swallowed him. Only a disturbed portion of rock and stone left any evidence that anything had occurred there.
Brows furrowing slightly, Jin wondered if the man died, or if he was just trapped until Jellal noticed Jin's expression and said, "We'll grab that one later. He should have enough air for a while, and he won't be able to escape with broken limbs."
"So you don't kill them, but take them to the authorities or something instead?"
Nodding, Jellal replied, "Not always. Usually depends on the severity of their crimes or their bounties since the latter can fund all our activities."
Jin rubbed his chin and nodded.
The second man gaped at the sight of his comrade being sucked into the ground and dashed into the tunnel after hearing the conversation between Jin and Jellal. Unfortunately for him, he tripped over his own feet before he could run too far. He braced himself to hit the ground, but his face never smacked the dirt. Instead, his body halted in midair. Then, it flew towards the four intruders. His face paled, and tears streamed from his eyes.
"Telekinesis seems quite useful," Jin remarked while raising a brow at the purplish glow emanating from Jellal.
"It's really only useful against people who are a lot weaker than me."
"Which is most people."
Jellal shrugged before saying, "Well, are you going to test your eye ability?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
Jellal waved his hand, and the man rose into the air. His limbs flailed wildly, but he couldn't escape. Doing his best to ignore the cruel treatment of the Dark Guild members, Jin coldly stared at the flailing man, and a 'V' shaped symbol appeared in his right eye.
Before he knew it, Jin found himself in a flat, white, and empty field. He looked around and saw the man who had been held by Jellal's telekinesis a moment ago. Contrary to Jin's calm demeanor, the man whipped his head left and right with sweat dripping from his forehead.
'I didn't expect to end up here alongside him, but let's see what happens,' Jin thought.
The scenery around them slowly changed, which scared the bald Dark Guild member even further, but at the same time, he noticed that Jin was the only person standing near him. Standing to his feet, he hesitantly raised his hands and stammered, "I- If that scary dude isn't here anymore, then taste my whiplash magic, you freak!"
Tensing up and preparing for a fight, Jin narrowed his eyes, but then stopped. Nothing happened.
"Why isn't my magic working?!"
'Interesting,' Jin thought.
"If that doesn't work, then take this!" The man exclaimed, dashing toward Jin with obvious intentions to punch him.
Sighing, Jin casually swatted the man's punch with one hand since he could see it coming from miles away. Then, he backhanded him on the temple with the other hand. To Jin's surprise, the man flew quite far and landed in the middle of the scene that was slowly coming into view.
Within moments, a full village appeared, and the bald man widened his eyes and gaped at the sight before him. He pointed at a tall bald kid beating up another kid who looked small and malnourished. Pointing at the taller kid, he exclaimed. "What is happening? Isn't that me?"
For some reason, the bald man fell silent and lowered his hand. After a few minutes, the man blinked, and the scene changed again. This time, the kid was beating a woman who looked a lot like himself and yelling at her. As time passed, more and more scenes of the kid growing up and committing acts of violence, arson, and assault appeared one by one, but the man steadily fell into trance with a strange smile on his face, especially during the assault scenes.
Jin quietly observed the man with cold eyes. Everything he witnessed stomped out the already small amount of pity he originally held toward the men after Jellal buried the first one.
At the same time, however, he found the man's state to be strange. In contrast to Jin's experience when witnessing his own memories, this man gradually fell into a trance and attempted to take part in all of the scenes. Each subsequent scene made Jin's stomach churn, but he still observed in order to figure out exactly what effect his Geass would have on the man.
At one point, the scene shifted to the inside of the Dark Guild's base, causing Jin to raise a brow. He happily learned a good portion of the base's interior, but then froze upon seeing the Dark Guild selling children to a noble-looking person of some sort. In a strange twist of fate, he saw the bald man getting whipped by his boss for making a mistake in the scene directly after the one where they sold the kids.
Feeling that he had seen more than he ever wanted or needed to see, Jin pinched the bridge of his nose and decided he'd had enough, but then he saw the scene of Jellal, Ultear, Meredy, and himself appearing. Everything looped back to the beginning afterward.
All of a sudden, Jin felt a strange connection to the space around him as though he could now control it. As a test, he instinctively forwarded the memories with a mental command to the one with the man being whipped. Right when it was about to change, he looped it again. Each time he looped it, the more the bald man turned ghost-like, which Jin found interesting. The man also started screaming in unison with his counterpart in the memory. After a few times, the man basically turned translucent and floated in the air. His body fully mimicked his counterpart in the memory.
Following his instincts again, Jin clenched his fist, and the memory turned into an infinite loop. Then, he closed his eyes and wondered how could get out of this crazy Dark Guild member's head. A moment later, he opened his eyes, and instantly felt pain in his right eye, not to mention the change in scenery back to the cave tunnel which disoriented him.
Frowning, Jin closed his right eye and touched it. Upon pulling his hand away, he saw a few drops of blood on his fingers.
"Hm? Is something wrong, Jin? Did it not work?" Jellal asked, causing Jin to flinch slightly.
Jin looked at his companions with only his left eye. They hadn't moved an inch since he last saw them. When they saw the blood trickling from his right eye, each of them frowned. Meredy even stepped toward him while pulling out a bandage from her travel pouch and asked, "Do you need me to bandage your eye?"
"No. I think it'll be fine if I let it rest a bit. It just hurts a little."
Meredy's frown deepened. Then, she surprised him by invading his personal space and trying to force the bandage around his head.
Meanwhile, Jellal and Ultear paid no attention to their companion's shenanigans and focused on the Dark Guild member. Both of them curiously investigated the man who now seemed to be in a comatose state. His face had frozen in a pained expression as though carved there by a sadistic sculptor.
"Is he alive?" Ultear asked.
"Yes," Jellal answered. He then snapped his fingers in front of the man's eyes. Then, he slapped him. After that, he hovered a white-colored magic circle over the man's head. Finally, he concluded, "There's no reaction to anything in his head. Not sure what happened, but his mind is gone."
Ultear scratched her cheek and glanced over at Jin, her eyes trembling slightly.
"Whatever that eye ability is, it seems dangerous."
"Maybe. He did use it on himself and came out fine, though, so let's ask him what he learned about it," Jellal said. Turning his attention to Jin who looked like he was getting tortured by Meredy even though she was trying to help him, he smiled wryly and added, "I guess that can wait a minute."
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