Chapter 560: Do You Want to Join Fairy Tail?
"I completely understand," Noah smiled, leaning against the rocky wall of the canyon. "If the military knew how talented you were, they would absolutely drag you into the Imperial Army. You'd be forced to deploy on missions constantly."
"Exactly!" Brandish nodded vigorously, genuinely annoyed by the mere thought of it. "Once you're in the army, you have to follow strict protocols, wake up early, go on stupidly dangerous missions... you can't even take a nap when you want to! It's way too much trouble!"
Her current lifestyle was infinitely better. She just lounged around the house, occasionally helped Grammi at the shop, did a bit of training when she felt like it, and spent the rest of her time sleeping or eating sweets. That level of absolute freedom simply did not exist in a military dictatorship.
When weighing the two options, Brandish obviously chose the path of least resistance.
"The military is definitely not for you. You belong on a couch," Noah laughed.
"I couldn't agree more," Brandish nodded solemnly.
"Alright, break time is over. Time for the next phase of the assessment: close-quarters combat," Noah announced, stepping away from the wall and walking toward her.
"Wait, what?! No! Let's talk some more! I need a longer break!" Brandish shrieked, instantly scrambling backward.
Her massive environmental manipulation had drained the vast majority of her magic. She had only agreed to chat to buy herself some time to recover a sliver of stamina. The idea of fighting Noah in hand-to-hand combat while she was practically running on fumes was terrifying.
"We can't wait. The whole point of this assessment is to see how your combat reflexes hold up when you're exhausted and cornered. That reveals your true baseline," Noah shook his head, completely ignoring her protests as he picked up his pace. "Besides, the sooner we finish this, the sooner we can go home and eat."
Brandish knew he was right. Complaining wouldn't change anything, and the promise of dinner (and more parfaits) was a strong motivator.
"Ugh... fine," Brandish exhaled a long breath, forcing her exhausted body into a defensive stance. She locked her eyes on Noah, hyper-focusing her remaining energy.
Noah closed the distance in a blur of motion. The moment he was in range, he threw a fast, straightforward left jab directly at her face.
Brandish's reflexes flared. She immediately raised her right forearm to deflect the strike, simultaneously pivoting her hips to throw a sharp right cross at Noah's ribs.
Noah casually opened his right hand, catching her fist in his palm. Brandish instantly abandoned the punch, retracting her arm and throwing a vicious roundhouse kick aimed squarely at his waist.
Noah smoothly swept his right arm down, blocking the kick with his forearm.
For the next ten minutes, the two of them engaged in a rapid, fluid exchange of blows.
Noah played strictly on the defensive, effortlessly blocking, parrying, and dodging every single strike Brandish threw without launching a single offensive counterattack.
Brandish quickly realized what he was doing. He was giving her a completely free opening to unleash her full martial arts arsenal without fear of being instantly knocked out. If he actually fought back, the spar would have ended in seconds.
Taking advantage of his mercy, she abandoned her guard entirely, channeling every last ounce of her physical stamina into a relentless, aggressive barrage of punches, kicks, and sweeps.
"I know I said I wanted you to go all out, but you really don't need to resort to those kinds of tactics against me," Noah deadpanned, effortlessly blocking her third consecutive attempt at a low blow to his groin.
"Hmph!" Brandish scoffed.
She knew a cheap shot wouldn't actually hurt him, but she was exhausted, sweaty, and deeply annoyed that she had to do cardio instead of taking a nap. Throwing a few dirty strikes was her petty way of venting her frustration.
However, after Noah called her out, she dropped the cheap shots and focused on proper, technical martial arts.
Finding a sparring partner who could effortlessly absorb her attacks without taking damage was incredibly rare. For years, she had been forced to train alone, meaning her actual combat timing and flow had become slightly rusty.
Now, with Noah acting as an immovable training dummy, she began to find her rhythm. The more they fought, the more fluid and precise her movements became. The rust peeled away, revealing a sharply honed, dangerous martial artist beneath the lazy exterior.
Seeing that she had entered a state of profound combat flow, Noah perfectly synchronized his parries to match her rhythm, actively nurturing her momentum to maximize the effectiveness of the training. He wanted to push her potential to the absolute limit.
However, stamina was still a massive issue.
After several minutes of intense, unbroken combat, Brandish's movements began to noticeably slow down. Her breathing grew ragged. Ten exchanges later, her strikes lost their sharp snap, and the profound state of combat flow abruptly shattered.
The moment the adrenaline spiked and the flow state broke, the crushing weight of absolute physical exhaustion slammed into her.
Her legs instantly turned to jelly. She gasped, her knees buckling as she collapsed toward the dirt.
Noah smoothly stepped forward, catching her by the arm before she could hit the ground. Simultaneously, a smooth, comfortable stone chair seamlessly erupted from the earth right behind her. Noah gently guided her down into the seat.
"What... what just happened?" Brandish panted heavily, slumping completely against the stone backrest. Her entire body felt like lead.
"You entered a state of hyper-focused combat flow. While you were in the zone, your brain essentially muted your physical exhaustion so you could maintain the rhythm," Noah explained, letting go of her arm. "But eventually, your absolute physical limit was reached. Your muscles simply didn't have the oxygen to continue, causing your movements to slow, which broke the flow state. The sudden wave of exhaustion you're feeling is your brain finally registering how tired you actually are."
Noah reached into his spatial pocket, retrieved a small glass vial filled with glowing green liquid, and handed it to her. "Drink this. It will drastically accelerate your recovery."
Brandish took the vial with a trembling hand, popped the cork, and downed the liquid in a single gulp.
Almost instantaneously, a warm, soothing energy flooded her exhausted muscles. Her heavy, ragged breathing steadied, and the agonizing ache in her limbs vanished. Her magical reserves, which had been completely bone-dry, rapidly began refilling.
"Woah. This potion is incredible," Brandish gasped, staring at the empty vial in shock.
"Naturally. I specifically engineered it for my friends and family to use after extreme training," Noah replied casually. He opened his Archive interface, rapidly inputting the biometric and combat data he had gathered during the spar.
"For your friends and family? Does that mean it's different from the ones you use?" Brandish asked, tilting her head curiously.
"Significantly," Noah nodded. "My physical constitution and magical density are drastically higher than a normal human's. The recovery potions I brew for myself are exponentially more potent. If a normal person drank one of my personal potions, the sheer, violent influx of Ethernano would literally cause their internal circuits to explode."
"Honestly, calling your constitution 'drastically higher' is the understatement of the century. You're a literal monster," Brandish deadpanned, crossing her arms. "When you blasted out of that sinkhole earlier, you didn't use a massive explosive spell. You literally just punched your way through a hundred meters of solid bedrock using pure physical strength, didn't you? I didn't feel a single pulse of offensive magic."
"Yeah, I just punched it," Noah confirmed casually, not looking up from his Archive screen. "It wasn't that deep. One solid uppercut was enough to clear the debris."
"And you have the nerve to say you're only 'slightly stronger' than a normal person," Brandish muttered, rolling her eyes in absolute disbelief.
"I really don't think I'm that strong. My physical parameters are still severely lacking compared to where they need to be. I've got a long way to go," Noah replied naturally, his tone completely serious.
Brandish stared at him, absolutely speechless.
He could casually shatter a hundred meters of solid bedrock with a single, un-enhanced punch... and he thought he was lacking?! What kind of apocalyptic gods was he comparing himself to?!
"Anyway... how did I do? I did pretty well, right?" Brandish quickly changed the subject, eager to hear his evaluation.
"You did excellently. Significantly better than I anticipated," Noah smiled, closing the Archive screen and looking at her.
"Obviously! I told you I put a lot of time into my training!" Brandish beamed, incredibly proud of the praise.
"I suspect a good portion of that progress is thanks to Aunt Grammi constantly nagging you to train, isn't it?" Noah chuckled.
"Well, mom definitely pushed me... but the actual hard work was all me!" Brandish immediately defended herself.
"I know," Noah nodded gently.
He had seen the data. External nagging could only take a person so far. The sheer depth of her magical reserves and the precision of her combat flow proved that she had genuinely dedicated herself to the grueling, repetitive grind of magical conditioning.
"Your foundation is incredibly solid. Keep up your current training regimen, and you'll be fine," Noah summarized. "I'll leave you a stockpile of advanced recovery potions to optimize your training cycles.
"However, there is one major glaring issue: you don't have a suitable sparring partner. Because of that, your close-quarters combat skills are beginning to rust, and your tactical adaptability is stagnating.
"I have a proposed solution for that, but I'll need to discuss it with you and Aunt Grammi to see if you're open to the idea."
"What kind of solution? Can't you just tell me now?" Brandish asked, leaning forward with curiosity.
"I can," Noah nodded. He looked directly into her eyes. "Brandish, do you want to join Fairy Tail?"
"Fairy Tail?"
Brandish blinked, slightly taken aback. She recognized the name immediately; Noah had told her stories about his guild back when he taught her in Ishgar.
"Yes. Do you want to join us?" Noah repeated.
"But... Fairy Tail is located in Ishgar, isn't it? Do you guys have a branch guild over here in Alvarez?" Brandish frowned in confusion. "Wait, no, that's impossible. Every single independent magical guild in Alvarez was forcefully assimilated into the military years ago."
"Fairy Tail has no branch guilds. There is only one Fairy Tail, and it is in Magnolia," Noah confirmed.
"Then why would I..."
"I have two primary reasons for asking," Noah interrupted smoothly, holding up two fingers.
"First, your lack of suitable sparring partners is actively bottlenecking your potential. Fairy Tail is home to dozens of incredibly powerful mages who are roughly around your skill level. Sparring and competing with them on a daily basis will forcefully shatter your bottleneck and rapidly accelerate your growth.
"Second, the Alvarez Empire is a militarized dictatorship that is constantly expanding its borders through violent conquest. It will never stop fighting. Neither you nor Aunt Grammi enjoy war or conflict. Remaining in this environment will only bring you stress and anxiety.
"Furthermore, as your magical power continues to grow, it will become increasingly difficult to hide your signature from the Imperial Guard. If they discover a mage of your caliber living as a civilian, they will forcefully conscript you. If you refuse, they will execute you for treason.
"Since staying here only leads to forced military service or death, why not leave? Moving to the peaceful nation of Fiore and joining a guild that treats its members like family seems like the most logical, beneficial choice."
"When you put it like that... leaving the Empire and moving to Ishgar actually sounds like a fantastic idea," Brandish admitted, nodding slowly.
Everything Noah said was completely rational. She hated the Empire's obsession with war, and she dreaded the day the military finally noticed her. Escaping to Fiore and joining Noah's guild solved all her problems.
"But... my mom has lived here for years," Brandish sighed, her enthusiasm dampening slightly. "She owns her shop, she owns our house, and she's built a comfortable life here. I don't know if she'd be willing to just abandon all of that and move across the ocean."
"We'll have to see if we can convince her," Noah smiled gently. "Honestly, I suspect Aunt Grammi has wanted to return to Ishgar for a long time, but she felt trapped here due to the closed borders and the logistics of moving."
"Now that you mention it... mom has looked incredibly depressed and stressed out sometimes when she thought I wasn't looking," Brandish frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe being stuck here is the reason."
"We'll ask her when we get back. We can figure out the logistics later," Noah said, clapping his hands together and standing up. "Now then. You should be fully recovered by now. Let's start the actual training."
"Wait, WHAT?!" Brandish shrieked, her eyes widening in sheer horror. "The assessment is over! Why do we have to keep training?!"
"The assessment was just to determine your current baseline. The actual daily training is mandatory to ensure progress. Now get up," Noah smirked, clearly enjoying her misery.
"No way! I haven't recovered at all! My body still feels super heavy and my magic is completely empty!" Brandish protested immediately, slumping dramatically against the backrest of the stone chair, pretending to be on the verge of fainting.
"Brandish, I literally invented the potion you just drank. I know its exact absorption rate and regenerative output," Noah deadpanned, shaking his head. "Combine that with the biometric data I just gathered during our spar, and I know exactly how fast your body processes Ethernano. You have been at 100% capacity for the last three minutes. Stop faking."
"Damn it! I really hate how ridiculously smart you are sometimes," Brandish grumbled, her fake weakness vanishing instantly as she scowled at him.
Since her lie had been brutally exposed, she had no choice but to stand up. The moment she was on her feet, the stone chair she had been sitting on seamlessly melted back into the earth.
For the rest of the afternoon, Noah ruthlessly drilled her, running her through a grueling, highly customized training regimen designed specifically to target and eliminate her combat flaws.
~~~
Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn