Beta read by Shigiya and Darklord331
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-Magnolia-
Woosh!
It was not common for him to use his speed in order to go from one point to another. Not like he had not done so before, but because he rarely ever felt the need to do so.
There was a beauty to travelling around the world on foot. Discovering small details and breathtaking sights that he could have missed had he simply flown over. Not to mention, he simply enjoyed the process of travelling with someone by his side.
"Can you fly any faster?" His partner did not bother hiding her impatience. "At this rate, we will reach the place after the sun has already gone down."
The dragon in human form glanced sideways, keeping up with his pace steady rather than responding right away. Instead of taking on her true shape, the woman had created a flat platform of magic beneath her boots, letting it glide through the air beside him. The construct hummed faintly, reacting to every shift of her balance.
"I am making sure I do not go too fast," he said at last, his tone calm and honest. "Since you are not in your dragon form, I thought you might have trouble keeping up."
That turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to say. Her expression tightened, irritation spreading across her face as she turned her head toward him.
"I can literally mark you and teleport to your location from anywhere in the world," she snapped. "And being faster than me? I highly doubt that."
As if to test her claim, he leaned forward and pushed his speed just a little higher. The air resisted for a brief moment before giving way, and the distance between them began to stretch. Wind rushed past his ears as he left her with a single comment drifting behind him.
"Is that so?"
She answered with a scoff. Magic surged beneath her feet, the platform responding instantly as she accelerated harder than before. In a blink, she shot forward and reappeared right beside him, her posture rigid and proud, as if daring him to say anything else.
Something unfamiliar stirred in his chest at that sight. It was not tension or concern, but a light feeling that pulled a smirk onto his face. Without warning, he increased his speed again. She followed. He slowed slightly, then surged forward once more. Each time, Irene matched him, refusing to fall behind even by a small margin.
A thin layer of Ki wrapped around his body, allowing him to push himself further. The sky around them began to blur, clouds stretching into pale streaks as the world beneath shrank into distant shapes. For him, it was an easy adjustment, more like stretching his legs than anything serious.
For her, it was not nearly as simple.
The magic platform trembled under the strain, reacting to the amount of power she forced into it. Her jaw clenched, and while she kept her back straight and her gaze forward, the effort showed in the way her fingers curled at her sides. Still, she refused to slow down or acknowledge the growing difficulty.
"You know," he said casually, glancing over at her, "it would be easier if you just transformed."
"Shut up," she shot back. "I do not need to take on that form just for this trivial, childish competition you started."
He tilted his head, pretending not to understand her frustration. "Childish? I think you are the one being childish here. What is the point of holding yourself back just to prove you can fly at my speed in a human body?"
Her eyes twitched. He accelerated again, this time not by much, but enough. The distance between them slowly widened, inch by inch, no matter how much magic she poured into the platform. To anyone watching from the ground, their shapes would have looked no different from shooting stars cutting across the sky at impossible speed.
To Irene, it felt like a personal insult.
Power gathered in her palm, dense, ethernano swirling tightly as ancient symbols formed one by one above her hand. Her expression hardened, her glare fixed on him with clear intent. He noticed, of course, but it did not concern him in the slightest.
"Fine, you fool," she said through clenched teeth. "Let me show you what this human form can do, something others can only dream about."
The symbols glowed brighter, hovering just above her skin as she began to speak. "Enchantment mag—"
"We are here," Broly said suddenly.
He stopped in midair without any warning. The motionless pause came so abruptly that the air itself seemed to snap. Irene flew past him in a blur, her eyes widening in disbelief as she shot ahead before hastily halting herself. The spell collapsed instantly, the symbols vanishing as her concentration broke.
She hovered at a short distance, turned toward him, silent. Even without looking directly at her, he could feel her stare burning into his back, as if she were deciding how to tear him apart piece by piece.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅!!!"
That was all the warning he got.
For the second time in less than a month, a dragon rushed at him with clear intent to kill. The open sky vanished behind a wall of flame, fire spreading outward in a violent surge. Heat rolled in every direction, pressing down until even the land and water far below began to react, steam rising as the temperature climbed.
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-Greenside village-
Greenside Village, unlike Magnolia, was not a bustling town filled with crowds and constant movement. It stood as its opposite: a quiet, struggling settlement of fewer than a thousand residents who continued to endure a land plagued by growing dangers lurking beyond the horizon. In most cases were your typical monster migration, restless Vulcans, and occasional bandits.
Despite its size, the village still had a mayor, and these days, he had grown increasingly restless. He waited anxiously for a reply to the request he had sent out, fearing no one would answer their call for help. That worry finally gave way to cautious hope when a knock sounded at his door, and his assistant rushed in with news that two wizards had arrived. The relief of being heard was already enough, but learning they belonged to the Fairy Tail guild raised his expectations higher than ever.
Yet upon going over to greet his guests, the old mayor was taken aback by what was presented before him.
"Um… are you the Fairy Tail mages?" He asked with an uncertain tone, for one of its members resembled the famous Titania. This point was proven by her luscious crimson hair and overall presence, though he was a bit confused since the woman was described to be fully plated in armour. Yet this one was the complete opposite, wearing mage garbs and holding a sceptre. Then again, given how remote this place was, not all the information he got was reliable.
But as for the other one, he couldn't even see his face. Since the tall gentleman before him was covered head to toe with some black soot, His hair completely standing upright, and parts of his clothes singed by fire.
"Are you okay? Were you perhaps attacked on the way here?" The mayor asked with uncertainty, only to get an awkward chuckle from the man.
"Yes, it's nothing to worry about. I just encountered a feisty drag—ah!" The redhead next to him struck her elbow to the side of his stomach. Though the impact is doing little to nothing aside from just signaling him to keep his mouth shut. "I mean, a terrifying and powerful monster on the way that we managed to avoid."
From his current appearance, it did not seem like they even managed to avoid whatever it was. But seeing the kind of face the scary woman was making, the mayor just decided to back away from the subject and focus on the more important stuff. They were members of the fairy tale guild; the symbol on the man's body was proof enough.
"Please, come inside. We have much to discuss; our village is in grave danger."
{Break}
(An hour later)
"An unnatural demon infestation."
After a quick explanation from the mayor, who gave them all the details they needed for this quest, both Broly and Irene wasted no time in leaving the place and heading towards the source of this issue. The conversation itself ended up being mostly one-sided, with the mayor being the one talking the entire time.
"Unnatural?" While heading over, he couldn't help but question what she just mentioned.
"Not all demons are controlled by Zeref or by hive mind. Some of them are no different from humans, with just different physical traits. Those who usually avoid such places. As for those in the wild, they don't really get along well with each other, so you won't see an army of demons that often. They are solitary creatures who do not form a pack and tend to go about their own path. But according to the mayor, this particular group has been stubbornly attacking them… but that also makes no sense."
"How so?"
"You have powers to sense one's capabilities, don't you? Use it."
Curious about what she meant by that, he followed her advice and concentrated to sense the surrounding Ki signature. Perhaps one of the demons had infiltrated the village and manipulated others? But as his senses expanded, no such abnormalities presented themselves. "Nothing out of the ordinary. They are all normal people."
"Exactly. This place has no mage aside from a handful of men in the mayor's house who aren't even worth the weakest member in your own guild. How do you explain that this place hasn't been raised to the ground by the demons? As they do like to play with their prey and push them towards despair, this mostly will last a couple of days at most before they eventually get bored and kill everything on sight."
Now that she mentioned it, it did make sense for the most part; then again, he was not familiar with demons in general. Aside from the one his group encountered on the island.
"So someone is deliberately doing this to get our attention?" As soon as he said that, Irene gave him a look of pure surprise.
"I was not expecting you to reach that conclusion. You're not so lacking in intelligence after all."
"..."
At this point, he was practically getting used to the way she talked. Where's the ball? He knew she did not say that out of pure malice or contempt; her words sounded genuine, which confused them. How exactly did he give her such an impression? While he agreed that he was not the brightest bulb even amongst the members of Fairy Tail, that did not mean he was stupid by any means.
"To continue where I left off, yes, that is a possibility. It does work in our favour, since this more or less confirms that we may be dealing with Tartaros." After saying that, she proceeded to look back at him, more precisely at his hands, where the black spot continued to linger on top of his skin. "How are you managing so far?"
Broly looked down at his hand with a complicated expression. "It's weird. No matter how much Ki I try to push into it, it refuses to disappear. So I'm just constantly keeping it sealed off by using my energy. But I feel like if I let my guard down for even a second, it will spread much faster than before."
"I see. Funny, I am surprised how that human managed to stay alive for so long when inflicted with such a curse. You are one of the few anomalies I can see aside from Zeref, August, and a handful of individuals who can deliberately overwhelm such a complex curse by using pure power."
"But it did not infect you when you touched me?" This was a question he had meant to ask ever since she tried to treat him of this blight when he brought Jellal to her place. Removing the skin and healing it instantly did not work, along with several other spells.
"Because I did not touch it to begin with. I covered my hand with a thin layer of a particular spell that would have cut off any connection to my body had something started to encroach upon it." The detailed explanation of this particular spell went over his head, so he just accepted it as it was.
"Regardless, the one who is truly in danger is not me. We should hurry up, before it's too late for him." Flying off in the distance at greater speed, he kept his senses open and expanded them to their absolute limit. Coving as much ground as possible and detecting every single living soul around these parts. Some of them are mostly local wildlife, passing travellers, and even a few foragers.
The mayor gave them a general direction, but nothing precise.
"If you are trying to detect magic from those demons, then do not bother. They don't even have magic in the first place."
"No," he shook his head. "I am searching for a particular kind of life energy. Not magic. Every living being has one, and even demons."
"Curious. Something interesting to work towards and synthesise a similar working spell."
Ignored her and continued to scan her surroundings. With each passing moment, the further they went from the village, the more worried he started to become. If this entire thing ended up being a waste of time, then his chances of saving Jellal kept getting smaller and smaller. While Irene did mention she could spare his life, in exchange for completely cutting off his ability to use magic, he wanted to keep that option available as a last resort.
Fortunately, his worries did not come to fruition, and a faint spark reached his senses. "Found something." He exclaimed, changing the direction of his flight with Irene following along from behind curiously. The life force differed greatly from what he had seen so far in this world. The Ki being almost viscous in nature, unnatural, and going completely against everything and its surroundings. Different from the demons in Galuna Island and closer in nature to Prescht.
Soon enough, they reached a large clearing, where, upon arrival, both individuals came upon a group of demons moving across the wilderness. There are several kinds of different creatures amongst them, some humanoid, others resembling corrupted animals, and many more. Some of the humanoid entities even had armour on, other flying close to the ground with large black wings. Upon seeing them, Broly finally understood even further why Irene believed it was odd how the village remained standing. Even a tenth of these creatures would be enough to take down the place.
"I'll leave this up to you." The woman said, completely unbothered by what was going on, and instead took a backseat with a book appearing within her grasp. "I hope you did not forget why I came here in the first place and try to trick me into helping you, right?"
Broly nodded his head. "I know." Raising his palm and aiming towards the large group, the path they were taking suggested that these things were making their way to the village. There was no need to even guess their purpose; they were most likely going to end things today.
He still had the duty of protecting them and thus had to get rid of them.
"—!"
A single dense Ki blast fired off from his palm. Fired downwards, ended up impacting the group without them even having enough time to realise what was going on. The impact was no different from a bomb being detonated, killing off several dozen of them instantly. Though a few managed to survive the blast, several of them remained outside of the blast radius and wasted no time in finding their target.
"A human!"
"Oh?" Broly was taken aback that these things could actually speak human language, so they were not mindless beasts and creatures after all.
Seeing them rush towards him in droves, Broly stayed completely still without any worry. Some of them are holding weapons like swords and spears. Intending to slash him on the spot, the attacks that ended up being rendered useless with just a simple cake with his knees and using his elbow in a downwards motion — he easily snapped the closest weapon into pieces. This shocking demon, unable to do much, proceeded to grab onto his leg. Holding him firmly before starting to spin in the air at great speed.
"Waah!"
"Look ou—urgh!"
Don't get too close to him! Fire him at a distance!"
At least they were durable. Using the first humanoid demon clad in sturdy armour as a bat turned out to be a good idea. For he proved himself to be much better than any weapons the Saiyan used in the past. Ruthlessly pummelling his allies one by one, the shop ends of his armour practically act like the blades of a blender, shredding them apart.
With enough of the sky cleared, the poor demon ended up being thrown downwards, his body mangled with limbs twisted in several different ways.
Those who tried to fire spells at him were countered with several Ki blasts, negating every single attack. The few brave ones who instead tried to aim for Irene were instantly turned into ashes by the woman. "Is there a reason why you are being so lenient towards them?" She asked him, the latter grabbing another demon by the head and using him as a throwing ball. Heating several of his comrades in his exact pattern, all of them falling down like flies.
"I'm trying not defeat all of them too fast. We still need to ask questions and find the one responsible for that curse."
"Then just interrogate the leader over there." She said dryly.
"The leader?" Given the sheer number of demons, he had not seen anyone out of the ordinary amongst them, right as he turned his attention back to the ground. A flash of white and a searing heat suddenly filled his vision, his entire body becoming engulfed in a thunderous explosion that filled the sky with dark smoke and even took out some of the nearby demons.
As the wind cleared the smoke, Broly descended back to the ground, having used his arms to protect his face at the very last second. "Oh?" Looking at his forearms, that earlier explosion managed to inflict some minor damage upon him, with his already slightly charred clothes becoming even further damaged. "I… did not sense that?"
Whenever he fought a mage in the past, whenever they activated any sort of spell, he usually managed to pick up on that just from the change in their Ki. While it did not give him an accurate reading as to which spell they were going to use, he could just tell that they were about to do something early on.
Trying to trace back from where this explosion came from, his gaze finally descended upon a young muscular man in the distance who possessed a number of animal features; his dark blonde hair, reaching down to his shoulders and covering the left side of his face, perpetually hiding his left eye from sight. jutting upwards on top of his head in a pair of prominent protrusions shaped like ears.
Not to mention, the swinging yellow tail behind him that reminded Broly of the tail he used to have before Paragus cut it off. The man kicked away some of the demons who had fallen from earlier pride with a look of pure disgust on his face.
"Useless bunch. Can't even take care of a pathetic human. What's the point of keeping you alive?" Though Broly's earlier attack mostly incapacitated the bunch rather than killing them. What this individual did next wasted all of his efforts, or with a wave of his hand, several powerful explosions occurred all around him. Blasting the unconscious demons into smithereens, parts of their corpses flying into the air and landing a distance away.
This… felt wrong.
"Why did you kill them? They were part of your group." He asked out of genuine curiosity.
"Eh? What's the point of keeping useless pieces around if they can't even take down a single human? If they have no other use, then I don't see any point in keeping them around. Just like I hate that mug of yours, ruining the little surprise I had prepared for the village."
"So it was your doing." Looking at him closely, he did not give off much of a presence compared to Gildarts or Irene. Yet that alone did not mean he would lower his guard against him. "Are you… part of Tartaros?"
"Ha! So you're not that clueless, human. The name is Jackal. One of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros. Remember that in hell... as the name of the man that will end your life for ruining my fun." He said, grinning ear to ear, showing his jagged teeth. Both arms were completely black with several patterns visible on his body, along with a visible symbol around his shoulder.
"Take me to your guild. I'm searching for someone who put a curse on my friend like this one, and I wanted to remove it." He said calmly, showcasing the curse on his own arm, which only made Jackal raise his eyebrow.
Then the latter proceeded to let out a loud laugh. "Pft-hahahaha! Now this is pure comedy gold. Are you actually ordering me around? Alright, a quick death is not something you deserve anymore. I'll make it slow and painful."
Rather than answering his question, the demon proceeded to close the distance between them. Bringing his arm back to deliver a punch, I move so very choreographically that Broly managed to block it easily by just grabbing it with his own hand. Yet that did not seem to deter Jackal, for he just grinned and whispered. "Idiot."
Boom!
Another powerful explosion detonated practically point-blank. This one, sending Broly flying backwards, came off the ladder quickly recovering and observing his hand which were now smoking with the residual heat still clinging onto his skin. "Definitely not a spell… so a curse?"
"Ha!"
Jackal's Shadow reappeared above him, clasping both of his hands and then proceeding to hit Broly's head full force. The sheer force behind it sends chunks of rocks and dirt flying everywhere, trees getting uprooted, and the very ground starting to shake like a mini earthquake. "You're quite durable, aren't you? Guess I underestimated you, but that does not change much; it only makes the suffering last longer!"
Raising his hand, Jackal brought them down at great speed and repeated the motion again and again till his arms turned into a blur. Each punch is followed by a powerful explosion, one after the other. Causing the ground cave to go even further and for more of the surroundings to get completely annihilated. His crazed laughter echoed all around, finding pleasure and glee at the sight of his opponent getting turned into mush by now.
This went on for several minutes till he eventually calmed down and stopped his flurry of attacks. By now, the whole is deep enough to bury a house within. Broly being nowhere to be found beneath, leading the demon to let out a half-disappointed sigh. "Damn it, I got too excited there. Can't even bring back any trophy. Oh, wait, you're still here."
His attention turned towards Irene, the redhead simply sitting on top of a floating throne like a chair. Reading a book in her hand, her nonchalant attitude irked Jackal more than anything else. "That hat of yours will serve as a good trophy… or maybe I can frame that face of yours."
Irene once again paid him no attention and instead started writing something in her book. "At least this disproves that he is not immune to curses. Unfortunately, this won't be enough — you are far too weak to give me any accurate results of his limits." She said with clear disappointment in her tone, her face making it clear she was looking down on him entirely.
"The fuck did you just say to me, bitch!?"
His next course of action was clear. Jackal prepared himself to have this woman follow the same faith as the one who fought him earlier. This kind of arrogance rubbed him the wrong way entirely.
"—!"
Right as he was about to step away, the ground beneath his feet shook, and out of nowhere, a giant hand burst forth, grabbing his feet tightly. "What the fuck—urgh!"
With a great force, Jackal found himself pulled deep beneath. With the person under him using his body as leverage to pull himself back up. Broly came out, much to Etherious' dismay, looking perfectly fine. Dusting some of the dirt off of him, not being the pile of mush and charred flesh as he imagined earlier.
"Irene's flames are stronger."
Even though Jackal had no idea who this Irene was, the mere fact that he was being called weaker than someone else and looked down upon by not just one but two of these random humans he met in the middle of nowhere… The man could not accept this!
"You fucking bastard!"
A massive Ki fluctuation occurred from within the demon's body. Broly watched with surprise as the faint flame within this person suddenly grew twice its size and turned into a brazier. The viscous sensation is growing along with several changes happening on the outside. His human-like appearance changed, with thick golden fur starting to grow all around him, his face taking the shape of a natural jackal, and his overall figure becoming taller than even the Saiyan himself.
"Scared now? You should be, now rather than just turning you into charred bits of pieces, I'll rip you into shreds and eat you alive. Both of you!" With claws as big as swords, he certainly looked quite menacing to the eyes of many, but then again… compared to a dragon, there was not much to be afraid of.
"Irene, can you read minds?" He asked casually, having Jackal freeze up on the spot when he spotted a small green dot form in the middle of Broly's palm. Growing in intensity and giving the demon a dreadful feeling that he could not put into words.
"Depends, if you want the person to be unharmed, then no. If not, then sure."
At this point, he was pretty certain that getting any kind of information out of Jackal would be pointless. The latter was too stubborn for his own good and too arrogant, and given that he was not exactly in a position to waste too much time, he had convinced himself to resort to extreme means at the end of the day.
As long as it helped him to save Jellal, a bit of guilty consciousness was something he was willing to suffer through. And thus, His palms landed into the demon's abdomen, a layer of bright emerald light filled the area. The powerful explosion that came from coming into contact did not deter his touch whatsoever.
Boom!
In an instant, Jackal's entire figure got engulfed in a powerful blast that dwarfed anything yet created. A dome of pure emerald Ki spins into existence, encompassing both of them and tearing through its surroundings ruthlessly. Jackal's scream of pain got completely drowned out by the attack. Worst of all, his body remained in the centre, held in place with Broly holding on to his hand and keeping him locked in place. His shiny fur is getting shredded apart, revealing skin getting burned and living behind his red muscles exposed to the air.
"Aaaaargh!"
Soon, the dome dissipated, and at the centre of it all, the Saiyan rose in the air. Carrying Jackal's body, mangled beyond its prior state, making him practically unrecognisable. Parts of his left hand showed nothing but bones, with his flesh having been charred away.
Yet despite that, He managed to keep a sliver of consciousness. One eye opened and stared at Broly with disbelief and actual fear. "W-What… a-are… you…"
"Just someone who wants to know where your hideout is. The Tartaros guild. I'm searching for the one who cursed my friend and me to remove this curse from him. If they are willing, I will leave you all alone and leave." Seeing his current state, a hint of empathy managed to slip into his mind, and thus, he offered him another chance. "If I hand you over to Irene, I can't guarantee that you'll come out of this alive."
While he remembered Jellal's words on how dangerous this group was, from his fight with this one, he did not really get the impression that they were that dangerous. Even Hades felt more threatening, and while the cursed ability to cause explosions upon contact did seem powerful, it was not anything new, and he figured if in the future day we're trying to cause more problems — Then he could always just take care of them once and for all.
"That won't be necessary. Drop him." Out of nowhere, a melodious voice spoke to him. The sound of this newcomer's voice made his senses go momentarily dull, as if his very soul was being gently caressed by an intoxicating presence. Without him even wanting to follow this random order, Broly's body disobeyed him and let go of Jackal. The latter falls straight down, back into the crater with a loud thud. The fall itself nearly snuffed out what little life remained within him.
"What?" All the while, the Saiyan still tried to recover from what just happened. That strange sensation, managing to make his body move like that, felt very unnerving. And thus, he looked where this voice came from and finally saw the person ahead.
A woman whose beauty could be compared to Irene herself, wearing a rather revealing kimono, with two horns on her head, making it clear she was the same kind of entity as a jackal. Having a figure that was even more gifted than anyone he had seen so far, and her soul felt equally as strange, no… it felt far worse than Jackal.
'Ah, so this must be an actual Etherious.'
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On the other side of the continent, walking across a large expanse of nothing but shattered ruins and an endless wasteland that stretched on beyond what the eyes could see, a single hunchback figure could be seen walking through the area. "Now, where has that dragon run off to? Can't stay hidden forever, like that last one, hehehe~! Oh?"
The withered hands holding on to an old and dilapidated staff came to a halt, looking to the west, a large grin soon forced its way on his face.
"Ah, the same Ki… It's that Saiyan again." He stood there, pondering briefly for a moment before huffing out loud. "He's too close to that place… I should keep an eye on him. I still need to find out how he got here."
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Taimanin with 3, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.