Six months of continuous hard work came down to one quiet morning in the nearby forest.
Erza stood alone in a wide, empty dirt clearing surrounded by tall trees. The air was cool. She took a slow, deep breath, her single brown eye filled with focus.
Relax the shoulders. Keep the jaw steady.
She looked down at the plain steel short sword in her hand. For six months, she had broken her teeth on this forgotten language. She knew the sounds now. She understood the meanings behind the geometric characters. It wasn't just random noise anymore.
Erza gripped the hilt, her posture locking into place. She drew the Ethernano straight up from her massive magic container, guiding the power to the very back of her throat.
She swung the blade downward with absolute force. Mid-swing, her mouth moved in a supersonic blur, a heavy line of ancient Greek barking out into the quiet woods.
"ππͺππ π‘π©ππΏ πππ ππ«ππ!"
BOOM.
The plain steel blade was instantly engulfed in roaring, red-hot fire. A massive, violent arc of flames erupted straight from the edge of the sword, tearing through the open air. The heat slammed into the dirt, carving a huge, smoking trench through the clearing. The blast cleaved the ground up to thirty meters long and fifteen inches deep.
The fire vanished into thin air. Erza lowered her sword, looking at the steaming, blackened line cut through the grass. A genuine, satisfied smile bloomed across her face. She had finally done it.
A sudden rustle came from behind a large oak tree.
Natsu and Gray were crouching in the bushes, their jaws dropping straight to the ground. Their eyes were wide with absolute panic. They looked at each other, their faces turning completely pale, and immediately scrambled backward. They spun around and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them, completely terrified by the destruction.
Laxus Dreyar stood further back in the deep shadows of the tree line, watching the entire spectacle. His jaw tightened, his face locking into a bitter scowl. Seeing a twelve-year-old girl guide that much raw power through a spoken chant made him seethe with pure jealousy.
Laxus clenched his fist so hard his knuckles turned white. He let out a sharp, angry snort, turned his back to the clearing, and stomped away into the trees.
Thousands of miles away, the sky was dark over a remote, isolated village.
Inside a tiny, tattered wooden house, the air was completely freezing. The three Strauss siblings were huddled together in a dark corner, shivering. Mirajane sat in the center, her breath ragged. She was twelve years old, her face full of terror as she stared down at her own arm.
Her right hand was completely gone. In its place was a massive, terrifying demonic claw caked in sharp black scales and long talons. Her body had subconsciously absorbed a local demon using Take-Over magic, and she couldn't turn it back.
Ten-year-old Elfman and eight-year-old Lisanna held her tight, crying into her shoulders.
Outside the thin wooden walls, the sound of an angry mob was roaring. The local villagers were marching down the dirt road, carrying torches and pitchforks.
"Get out of here, witch!" an old man screamed from the front yard.
"Monster!" a woman yelled, throwing a heavy rock straight through the front window. The glass shattered violently, sending sharp pieces raining down onto the floorboards. "Demon spawn! Get out of our village before we burn you alive!"
"We have to go," Mirajane whispered, her voice shaking as tears spilled down her cheeks.
The three siblings threw heavy black cloaks over their shoulders, pulling the hoods low to hide her demonic claw. They kicked open the back door, running straight out into the freezing mud.
"There they are! The monsters are running!" a villager shouted from the side aisle.
The angry mob chased them down the dirt road, hurling curses and throwing heavy stones at their backs. The three kids sprinted into the dark forest, crying and bleeding as the stones hit their shoulders, leaving everything behind.