Choosing a Mission

Night fell.

Chiba created a Shadow Clone to practice Ninjutsu. He had already used it while fighting Ultear, so it was no secret anyway.

Ultear sat on the bed, watching him practice Ninjutsu with interest. After watching for quite a while, though, she grew bored and went to study Time Magic.

The next day.

Chiba woke after sleeping on the floor all night and found no blanket over him, contrary to his expectations. He silently grumbled about Ultear, then found a toothbrush and towel and washed up.

He had used Chakra and practiced Ninjutsu until the middle of the night. When his Shadow Clone finally dispersed, all the information flooded into his head, nearly making him pass out from shock. As expected of B-Class Ninjutsu, though, Earth Dragon Bullet and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet would take time. By his estimate, it would take more than half a month to learn even one of them.

In the meantime, he could put more practice into Ninjutsu like Great Fireball. Once his proficiency improved, their power would be considerable too.

Hmm... Fire Style, the art of not burning anyone to death.

As for the old man's Heru body-tempering method, he had only scratched the surface.

To put it another way, if the entire first stage of the method was one hundred percent, he had only trained five percent of it.

That five percent was the normal method of tempering the body with energy.

The remaining ninety-five percent was an inhuman method.

How was it inhuman?

If the direction in which energy circulated in the first five percent was the correct direction and would not harm the human body, then the remaining ninety-five percent went in reverse.

Chiba did not dare practice it late at night. He was afraid he would suddenly cry out and get smacked by Ultear.

Emmm... I can only go outside and practice this during the day.

At that moment, Chiba finished washing up and turned around, only to find Ultear standing in front of him, her hair still in twin tails.

"Which toothbrush did you just use?" The girl's tone was slightly chilly.

"This one. Isn't there only one?" Chiba answered instinctively.

But as soon as he said it, he sensed something was wrong. Only one... uh...

Sure enough, Ultear's face darkened.

And then...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Don't use the wrong one next time, understood?" The girl sat back down on the bed and crossed her long, snowy legs as she spoke calmly.

"Understood," Chiba said, his face bruised and swollen.

Ultear glanced at him. "Change of plans. I have a mission to carry out, and you're coming with me."

She was not asking for Chiba's opinion. Her tone was a direct order.

Chiba was taken aback. "I still have to train..."

"Hmm?" Ultear smiled. Chiba stared at her in a daze for a moment, then immediately shuddered.

Though her smile was indeed captivating, he knew he was in trouble whenever this woman smiled.

"Are you coming or not?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm coming! Of course I'm coming! Missions are a form of training too!" Chiba said with a resolute expression.

"So obedient." Ultear stood up, her slender, fair finger trailing over Chiba's face before finally stopping at his chin.

"Gulp!" Chiba swallowed.

Ultear suddenly giggled, her whole body shaking with laughter.

"Are you that afraid of me?"

Chiba nearly cursed. You beat me like I'm a little chick. What if you take it into your head to kill me?

"I'm afraid..."

Ultear smiled in satisfaction. "You should be."

She added, "Orders came from above. I'm to carry out one of two missions, and they told me to choose."

"Which two missions?" Chiba asked.

"First, go to a base in a small town in the eastern mountains and deal with some traitors. Shadow Skull, one of the three members of the Balam Alliance, has always had friction with our Grimoire Heart. This time, they even bought off a dark guild under us and seized a large portion of our territory. We happen to be the closest, so the guild master specifically told me to deal with them."

Chiba was somewhat stunned. The Balam Alliance... wasn't that Tartaros, Grimoire Heart, and Oración Seis? What the hell is this Shadow Skull that suddenly appeared?

But on further thought, it made sense. According to the timeline, the six members of Oración Seis from the original story were still tiny kids, and the guild probably had not even been founded yet.

Then... is this Shadow Skull the dark guild that was one of the three members of the Balam Alliance before Oración Seis?

"What's the second mission?" Chiba asked.

"The second mission is easy." Ultear smiled, then said, "Take a small town in the south and kill everyone."

Chiba frowned.

"The first one," he said.

"First, I have to tell you something," Ultear said calmly. "You're just one of my pawns. If you hold me back, I'll abandon you without hesitation. Putting down the rebellion won't be much trouble for me, but it's a different story for you. The enemy has no shortage of B-Class mages, and there are quite a few A-Class opponents as well."

"Going to put down the rebellion would be extremely dangerous for you. Attacking an ordinary town, on the other hand, would be a very easy mission."

"So... are you really choosing the first mission? I'm giving you the choice." Ultear spoke with a smile that was not quite a smile.

"The first one," Chiba repeated evenly.

Ultear looked into Chiba's pitch-black eyes.

He said, "I can't stop you from doing that kind of thing, but I have my own bottom line. I don't fear killing. I can kill evil people and people who threaten my friends, but I can't kill a group of unarmed ordinary people."

"Heh, many of the people who were first brought to Grimoire Heart said the same thing at the beginning. But over time, they lost themselves in killing and became thoroughly dark people."

"Oh." That was Chiba's only, indifferent response.

He added, "You let me choose the mission to test me?"

"The abyss isn't something you can touch casually. Once you touch it, you must be prepared to be swallowed by darkness. Your declaration... is nothing but a joke in my eyes."

"Are you trying to reason with me?" Chiba asked.

"No." Ultear smiled. "The look in your eyes just now was a lot like the look in mine back then..."

"I'm wondering... how far you can go without being a mage, and how long you can hold out."

"Power... is a sin in itself..."

"Do you want to turn me dark?"

"I've considered it."

"Heh!"

Ultear smiled without answering, because she had once had the same attitude in front of Guild Master Hades.

But in the end, she had still walked into the darkness.

She did not regret it. Everything... was for the Great Magic World...

To return to the past, to return to her mother's side, and to cast aside this sinful self, she had already abandoned this false world.

Everything was for Zeref!