“Raaawwwrrr—!”

When Noah heard the roar again, he saw the owner of the sound.

Rushing as fast as he could, he saw a 3 meter tall life form with a cow’s head and a humanoid torso. It’s a bipedal minotaur holding a large tree trunk in one hand and a screaming kid in the other. It bellowed towards the sky.

In front of the minotaur is a pair of white haired kid, 1 male and 1 female. One of them had a terrified face as he sat on the ground while another stood there confronting the minotaur with an anxious face.

The screaming kid caught by the minotaur is Lisanna! Meanwhile the one sitting on the ground is Elfman and the one gnashing her teeth while facing the minotaur is Mira!

It’s a creature as savage as it is infamous, it is a brutal magic beast with no sense of rationality.

In the forest of Magnolia, Noah would sometimes inadvertently encounter this particular type of creature while being led around by his guild mates. It’s a magic beast that scares normal magicians!

Why is something of this level in this forest where only wild beast should appear?

Noah probably couldn’t find the answer to this question nor does he have the curiosity to find it.

“Mooooo—!”

“Mira-nee—!”

“Lisanna!”

The minotaurs loud mooing, Lisanna’s cry for help and Mirajane’s distraught shout all mixed together. Noah’s pupils that are deep as the stars shrank as he sped up to the max.

But even so, at his current speed, it would still take a brief moment before he can reach the trio.

During this time frame, should the minotaur even just tighten its hold on Lisanna’s, the cute and young little girl would suffer death from getting crushed.

There’s no time!

I won’t make it!

Noah’s heartbeat accelerated and he grabbed the rod shaped cloth bag behind his shoulders without hesitation as he pulled it.

The next moment, the hilt of the arming sword revealed itself and Noah grabbed it.

Noah didn’t unsheathe it at once. Instead, he channeled the gargantuan magic within him and willed them into the arming sword through the point of contact between hilt and hand.

weng (vibration sfx)

The arming sword still in its sheathe pulsated and released a dazzling light.

Schinggg

Mirajane was planning on risking her life and do a reckless abandon assault against the minotaur to save Lisanna. But before she could act, the sound of a sword slash filled every corner of that area and turned into an echo within the forest.

The next moment, the Lisanna who is held captive by the minotaur, Mirajane who’s confronting the minotaur or Elfman who collapsed on the floor out of fear, the trio all saw the same thing.

A brilliant trail of light.

It shot out from a corner of the forest like a comet in its motion, leaving behind a radiant trail of light.

The light appeared so suddenly, it passed them in a dizzying speed leaving only the quaking air and sonic boom as it passed through and hit the minotaur like a meteor from the sky.

pssshhh

A tearing sound came and what followed was a blood rain.

The minotaur didn’t even get the chance to cry out as a large trauma appeared starting from the center of its waist. The minotaur got horizontally bifurcated!

spppssshh

The blood still rained down turning that particular area into a bloody ground.

Thud

The minotaur’s upper half and lower half hit the floor at the same time, making blood splatter everywhere along with its loud thud which shook the ground slightly.

Mira, Elfman became dumbfounded.

The look of startle turned into one of terror as they screamed.

Can’t blame them, the scene is truly gruesome.

At the scene where a dead minotaur lies split in two in its own pool of blood with its eyes still wide open, Mirajane recovered while Elfman is still screaming in shock.

“Lisanna!”

When she shouted that another calm voice called out from the other side.

“Over here.”

Mirajane looked over.

At the other side of where the minotaur lies dead is Noah holding Lisanna who fainted from shock. He is holding a icy crystalline arming sword with brilliant magic power coursing through it. He glanced at the minotaur with a very disgusted face.

“Perhaps the output was too high?”

Mira instantly understood that the one who split this minotaur in half is someone who is of the same age as her and who, she until sometime ago, looked down on!

And what’s more, the weapon he is using, gives one an impression of beauty more than the power it contains!

She never had one but that doesn’t mean Mirajane hasn’t heard of it.

In this world, there are a lot of wonderful and mystical weapons where its own abilities and effects could sometimes even qualify as a magic all on its own.

Some people call this a magic weapon while some calls it magic circuit. They are all very precious items.

Each and every one of these magic weapons has a universal similarity in that they all require supply of magic from the user to successfully trigger its effect and function.

Judging from the radiance of the magic power and the blade, no doubt about it, the weapon in his hand cann’t be anything other than a magic weapon!

Recalling the scene where the minotaur got slashed in half replayed constantly in Mirajane and Elfman’s head. The two froze in place and couldn’t say a word for half a day.

Noah is had the same expression but it’s not because of the fact that he split the minotaur in two because of excessive force under duress but because of what he saw looking at Mirajane.

He kept staring at one of her hand with a serious face.

That’s because Mirajane’s arm which should have looked like a human has now warped into something that looks like it belonged to a wild beast or demonic beast. It is giving off a dark aura that can chill anyone’s heart.

It’s an arm only demons would have!

Noticing his gaze, Mira’s face shifted and she seemed to have remembered how she looked like as she hid the demonic looking arm behind her. A fraught expression appeared on her face.

The place fell into silence.

.....

At the cave where Noah, Wendy and Jellal stayed at three days ago.

At the moment, Wendy and Jellal is no longer here with him but the numbers in this cave didn’t decrease instead it increased.

Lisanna already woke up and is waiting at the side of the fire with Elfman. She glanced at the direction wherre Mira and Noah are together with a worried and solemn expression.

Standing to either side of the cave walls, Noah and Mira looked at each other from a tacitly agreed distance apart with their back against the wall. They remained silent.

Noah already sheathed his sword and placed them back in the cloth bag. He already placed it at the side of the wall, he kept his eyes on Mira while his eyes showed that he is ruminating something.

Mira had another expression on her.

Completely different from the haughty and flamboyant self he met 3 to 4 days ago, Mirajane is now donning a cloak while exposing every part of her except for the demonic looking hand which she hides ever so fervently behind her cloak. She looked dim as she didn’t look like she’s going to reveal it anytime soon.

Under this kind of status quo, the atmosphere within the cave became more and more tense. So tense that Lisanna and Elfman almost couldn’t breathe.

Noah took the initiative to disperse the air.

“Isn’t it about time you tell me what’s going on?”