She Said We Needed Peace

The man's manner was gentlemanly, but exaggerated and strange. He even took Maria's hand and gave it an air kiss.

After introducing himself, the man raised a hand to introduce the woman beside him. Once again, his movements seemed strange, yet somehow perfectly natural.

"This is my wife, Eleven's biological mother, Amanda Brain."

The man stared straight into Maria's eyes and smiled. "We were separated from Eleven two years ago because of an accident. May we take him back with us?"

"Oh, so you're little Eleven's parents! That's wonderful!" Maria was delighted. She had no doubts about what the two of them said and believed them at once.

"But I'm afraid you've come at a bad time. Eleven should be at the guild right now. Could you two wait? He should be back before dinner," Maria said happily.

"Guild? What guild?" The man frowned slightly.

"Fairy Tail, the wizard guild. Little Eleven is really amazing. He became a wizard at such a young age!" Maria was proud of Eleven and kept boasting about him to his biological parents.

"A wizard? How is that possible? He's..." Amanda suddenly grew agitated when she heard this, but Teng raised a hand to stop her.

Teng smiled again and rose to his feet. "In that case, we'll take our leave. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Wait, Eleven should be back any minute. Please, won't you..." Maria started to rise and ask them to stay, but Teng Brain's next movement cut her off.

Teng held out a hand, traced a strange arc in front of Maria, and suddenly clenched it. Maria immediately fell into a daze, her eyes becoming vacant.

"Would you please completely forget ever meeting us, beautiful sister?" Teng remained as suave as ever before Maria.

"Yes, Lord Teng," Maria replied mechanically.

The man and woman put their hoods back on, left the orphanage, and disappeared into the crowd on the street.

Before long, Maria came to her senses. She scratched her head, wondering why she was standing alone in the parlor.

"I declare the winner—Erza!"

Makarov used his staff to lift Erza's little hand and announced her victory.

Here was what had happened:

Eleven and Laxus's fight had grown fiercer and fiercer until both of them ran out of magic power and resorted to hand-to-hand combat. Though hand-to-hand combat wasn't Eleven's strong suit, Laxus's body had been pushed beyond its limits, and his reactions and strength were far below what they had been. As a result, the two ended up evenly matched again.

But Erza, who had been watching in shock from the sidelines, suddenly came to her senses. She was supposed to stop them from fighting!

And so Erza physically put an end to the battle!

Everyone really should get along! Erza thought, rubbing her aching fists.

Awooo!

Waaah!

In the guild infirmary, Eleven and Laxus lay on two neighboring beds, howling at each other like a pair of wild dogs defending their turf.

Bang!

Bang!

Erza looked at the two of them, each with a big bump on his head and unconscious once more. She was very satisfied with her skill at caring for patients. Wasn't it much better when they were nice and quiet?

Cana had already begun to admire Erza. She had actually managed to subdue both Eleven and Laxus at once. Though it was a bit like taking advantage of them when they were down... Big Sister Erza is amazing! Big Sister Erza is the best!

Erza modestly accepted Cana's admiring gaze, wearing an expression that said it was nothing.

With Gray trembling beside them, the scene was perfectly harmonious and peaceful.

When Eleven woke again, he looked over at Erza and Cana, who were learning how to peel an apple with a greatsword. His mind immediately grew much calmer.

He quietly began to consider how to deal with Laxus's lightning-form movement. There was no way he could keep up with that bug-like speed unless he could predict it in advance.

Predict it in advance...

But if Telepathy doesn't work, I'll have to focus on perception after all. If he could pinpoint Laxus the moment he started moving, he might be able to determine which direction he was going.

After all, Laxus still couldn't control his speed when moving in lightning form, so he definitely couldn't turn.

But that would place extremely high demands on his perception. Locking onto Laxus precisely in an instant was an impossible goal!

Eleven scratched his head and decided he still had to practice. He needed to put in some effort so he could beat Laxus up.

"I'll start by maintaining my perception over an area."

Lying in bed, Eleven closed his eyes and sent his Spiritual Power radiating outward. Before long, it covered the entire town of Magnolia.

The streets were bustling with people and traffic. The sights, sounds, and even colors all registered in Eleven's mind.

"But this is so hard. I can't do anything else."

Eleven realized that his current Spiritual Power simply couldn't process so much information perfectly. All he could do was lie in bed and concentrate on releasing it. The slightest movement would distract him.

With no other choice, Eleven steadily shrank the range of his perception until he stopped at a radius of about a hundred meters. The information he received within that range was just at the limit of what his Spiritual Power could process perfectly. Although a great deal of information still flowed in, it no longer interfered with his normal thoughts and activities.

"Phew... I'll try maintaining it like this for now." Eleven opened his eyes, let out a breath, and began his training plan.

"Eleven, are you okay? What have you been muttering to yourself about?" Erza came to his bedside to check on him, greatsword in hand.

With the help of his Spiritual Power, that greatsword looked even more dazzling.

That evening, Eleven left the guild with a face swollen like a pig's. It wasn't the first time he had looked like this, so he wasn't embarrassed.

On his way home, Eleven carefully took in the benefits of maintaining his mental detection. He could see what lay around every corner in advance, giving him a tremendous sense of security. His field of vision had also become extremely broad, as though he had switched to a third-person perspective. He no longer had to worry about being ambushed from behind.

Just then, he noticed two strange people standing in a secluded corner along the route he had to take back to the orphanage. They wore hoods that concealed their faces. They seemed to be waiting for someone.

Eleven didn't pay them much mind. He had seen plenty of odd people, and there were quite a few in the guild alone. So even though he had spotted them in advance, he had no intention of avoiding them and walked straight toward them.