Wendy and Jellal

The only drawback was that keeping Lava Armor active consumed a great deal of Chakra.

In fact, Chiba's total Chakra reserves had not increased all that much compared to three months ago. He had spent all those days training his body, so the improvement in his mental strength was very small compared to the improvement in his physical condition.

His strength, however, had grown considerably.

Just as Hodrian had said, once Chiba mastered the first stage of Shadow Flame Splits the Heavens, he would have no match below A-Class. Even now, it seemed the old man had been somewhat modest.

Chiba had yet to train to the point of leaving afterimages, but he already felt he could kick a B-Class mage to death.

If he really mastered it, how formidable would he be?

One kick would probably leave even an A-Class mage howling.

Over those three months, his control over Chakra had also improved considerably.

For example, Feiyin would ask him to make an artificial hot spring.

Or she would want to play on a swing.

Then she would want toys.

Chiba made them with Wood Release.

Even worse, she now wanted Chiba to use Wood Release to make her figurines from their previous life!

Yae Sakura, Theresa, Kiana, Luffy, Zoro, Naruto, Sasuke, and the like.

Chiba nearly shut down.

Just how far are you trying to push my Chakra control?!

But through training like that, his Chakra control had improved greatly.

A little over two more months passed...

Midsummer...

After five months of training, they had gone from the depths of winter to midsummer in July. Chiba had changed back into simple coarse clothes. Though they looked a little shabby, he was full of vigor after all that training.

After more than five months of training, Chiba had fully mastered the Shadow Thirty-Six Forms. His control over Chakra had also become extraordinarily precise.

As for just how precise... he had made every figurine Feiyin requested using Wood Release.

Wood Release: Figurine Jutsu?

Over those five months spent with Chiba, Ultear had become noticeably more "normal" than before, and her temperament had grown much gentler, though... her magic power still had not recovered.

Then they prepared to leave.

Chiba felt... it was time for him to head to Fairy Tail.

Chiba and Ultear walked side by side through the forest.

Feiyin had said walking was too tiring, so she had gone inside Chiba to sleep. She told them to wake her when they reached a human town.

As they walked over the grass, a sudden commotion came from up ahead.

"Little girl, come with us. How about we take you to a human town?"

A middle-aged man's voice rang out, sounding extremely sleazy. Chiba and Ultear exchanged a glance, then carefully made their way over.

Ahead, two middle-aged men in mage robes each held a magic staff. A small girl stood in front of them.

"...I'm waiting for Jellal to come back, so... I can't leave with you..."

A thin voice sounded nearby, carrying a little girl's timidity.

Chiba looked over and saw a little girl with short blue hair. Her face was delicate as porcelain, fair and flawless. But fear and timidity were plain on it.

Wendy???

Her appearance, and the "Jellal" she had mentioned—wasn't this obviously little Wendy?!

It was now mid-July, and Wendy had arrived in this era on July 7, X777. It made sense to encounter her in the forest now.

As for Jellal...

Chiba clearly saw Ultear's beautiful eyes narrow slightly beside him.

This world was called Earth-land, a world filled with magic.

Beyond this world was another called Edolas. Almost everything there was the opposite of this world. Everyone had another self in the other world.

Ultear had used magic to control the Jellal of this world, while the Jellal Wendy had met was the one from Edolas. But the important thing was that neither of them knew that; both thought he was that Jellal.

Chiba didn't know what Ultear was thinking right now. He guessed there might be ten thousand grass-mud horses stampeding through her mind.

At that moment, the two mages were already preparing to take Wendy away by force.

"Chiba, go kill them."

At that moment, Ultear suddenly said those words on impulse.

Chiba gave her a somewhat surprised look, but stepped forward all the same.

She'll be one of the main cast in the future. How could I let these sleazy uncles take her away?

"You two over there, let go of that girl and let me do it!"

The idiot pointed straight at them and shouted.

Ultear: "..."

Hearing the voice behind them, the two mages turned around instinctively. When they saw it was just two children, they couldn't help laughing.

"A brat like you wants to play the hero and save the beauty?"

"Hahaha, you're killing me! Two little brats, tsk, tsk, tsk, and one of you is such a pretty little girl. You want to ruin our fun too?"

The two mages roared with laughter.

Chiba: "..."

Weren't you trying to trick and kidnap her? You confessed that quickly?

He had seen stupid villains before, but never ones this stupid.

"Which mage guild are you from?" Chiba was curious what kind of guild could produce these two idiots.

"Hmph! I'm a mage of Frog in the Pond, kid. You think you can take on a 'mage'?" One of the mages pointed at his nose as he spoke.

"Never heard of it... Have you?" Chiba asked Ultear beside him.

The girl snorted disdainfully. "Apart from Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, the other mage guilds... are all just a bunch of trash. Frog in the Pond is a guild that's worse than trash, and you still have the nerve to show it off."

The two mages flew into a rage on the spot. "You looking down on us?"

Ultear glanced at them.

"Heh~"

Her tone was dripping with mockery.

Chiba couldn't help secretly giving her a thumbs-up. Experience really did count. Her taunting skill was probably maxed out.

"Brat, you're asking for death!"

One of the mages reached straight out toward them.

Chiba's gaze turned cold. He grabbed the man's arm with one hand and hurled him away.

"Bang!"

His body slammed into a large tree like a cannonball and became embedded in it.

"You!"

The other man looked horrified. Then a palm wreathed in a gale entered his field of vision.

Wind Release: Gale Palm!

"Bang!"

A violent wind erupted against his chest, blasting him away.

Gale Palm originally required only one hand seal, and over the past five months, Chiba had trained it to nearly the same level of proficiency as Great Fireball. With the help of simplification, he could even use Gale Palm without Hand Seals.

A mobile, high-powered hair dryer: Uchiha Chiba.