Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Isvan, Unnamed Village.

August, x774.

While Deliora regenerated its chin, Gildarts turned back to look at the woman he had just saved. Surprised to see how beautiful she was, Gildarts quickly shook his head to get any untoward thoughts he was having out of his head.

Meanwhile, the woman, Ur, stared at Gildarts in disbelief. Although she found it unbelievable that the man in front of her could injure Deliora with a simple magic power infused uppercut, what she really found unbelievable was the sight of the little girl he was carrying on his back.

Though she had not seen her in several years, Ur knew immediately that the girl the man in front of her was carrying on his back was her daughter, who she had believed was dead for years.

"Ul... tear?" Ur muttered as she began to tear up. "But they said... you were..."

Unable to finish her sentence, Ur rushed toward Gildarts and pulled the little girl, Ultear, from Gildarts back and wrapped her in a tight hug.

Ur's daughter, Ultear, as previously stated, had been left in the care of the Bureau of Magical Development when she came down with a disease that none of the doctors in Isvan could find a cure to.

During their initial investigations into the disease, the scientists at the Bureau discovered that Ultear was not sick in the normal sense. Instead, they found that she was producing more magic power than her young body could handle.

So, in order to keep a promising test subject, the next time Ur showed up to check on Ultear's condition, the scientist that received her the first time told Ur that Ultear had died. Then, he refused to allow Ur to see the body. Making up an excuse of possible contagions.

So, Ur left the facility heartbroken. Meanwhile, Ultear was kept unaware of her mother's visit. Then, over the next few years, the scientists were able to strengthen Ultear's body enough to safely contain her large amount of magic power.

At that point, Ultear escaped from the facility forcefully, injuring many of the scientists and guards that tried to stop her. However, she did not kill any of the scientists or guards. But when Gildarts found her, she was in fact, going back to the facility to kill everyone there and destroy the facility to punish them for all the painful experiments they put her through.

Back in the present, Ultear was confused by the reaction she was getting from Ur.

'Why is she crying?' Ultear thought to herself. 'Didn't she forget me? Didn't she replace me with those two boys? Speaking of those two boys, where are they?'

Before Ultear could put her questions into words, however, Gildarts spoke up.

"I'm sure there is a really touching story here." Gildarts said with a doting, fatherly smile. "I know what it means to find a long lost child of yours. But things are about to get dangerous. So, I think the two of you should take some distance. I'll kill this thing, then we can talk."

Using one hand to wipe away her tears, Ur looked at Gildarts once again. Then, she nodded without saying a word. After that, she carried Ultear away and took refuge with Lyon and Gray.

When the mother-daughter pair arrived next to Ur's two pupils, Ultear looked at them with a combination of curiosity and hostility. Although she knew that Ur had not forgotten her as she had thought initially, she still thought that these boys were the reason why she never came to get her from the facility.

Once again, before she could put her thoughts into words, she was interrupted.

*Roar!*

After hearing that roar, all four of the onlookers snapped their heads in the direction of Deliora, who had finished regenerating, and the unfamiliar man who had just saved Ur.

"Ultear, do you know who that man is?" Ur asked in a tender, loving tone.

When they heard Ur's question, both Lyon and Gray turned their attention toward the girl in her arms. However, when they heard what Ur called the girl, they opened their eyes wide.

"Master, did you just called her... Ultear?" Gray asked in a shocked tone.

"Isn't that your daughter's name?" Lyon asked. "But you told us she died a long time ago."

Hearing that, ultear was confused.

'I died?' Ultear questioned internally.

"Yes, that's what I told you." Ur replied, turning her gaze toward her pupils. "Because that' what the scientists at the Bureau of Magical Development told me."

Hearing Ur's explanation, Ultear frowned deeply.

'I should have killed them all.' Ultear thought. 'If I ever see any of them again, I'm going to make them regret separating me from my mother.'

"But that's not important right now, we can talk about that later." Ur said, turning her attention back to her daughter. "Ultear, can you tell me who that man is? And how did you end up traveling with him?""

After hearing her mother say her name, Ultear shook off the dark thoughts that were invading her mind. Then, she looked into her mother's eyes and answered the question.

"He found me after I passed out on the road." ultear said, thinking it would be better to not tell her mother that she ran away after seeing her teaching her two pupils. "And when I woke up, he said his name was Gildarts Clive of Fairy Tail."

While Lyon, Gray, and Ultear did not know the weight the name "Gildarts Clive" carried with it, Ur, an experienced, retired S-Class wizard was more than familiar with it.

'Gildarts, huh? Time's really caught up with him. But if Gildarts is here, I wonder if the other two are nearby.' Ur thought with a fond smile on her face. 'I'm surprised he didn't try to hit on me like he did last time, though. I wonder what has changed over the last ten years.'

*Roar!*

Once again, as Deliora finally stood up, it roared again, causing the quartet's attention to snap toward the battlefield again.

While Ur, Lyon, Gray, and Ultear were talking, Gildarts stood still, allowing Deliora to regenerate. When he was approaching, he could sense the demon's strength. So, he knew that it posed no threat to him in terms of magic power. However, he did not know all of its tricks, so he did not think it was a good idea to just rush in. Even if Deliora had been knocked to the ground with a serious injury.

"So, you can regenerate, huh?" Gildarts muttered to himself after Deliora's last roar. "I guess that will make this a little more difficult. But I can handle it."

While Gildarts was muttering to himself, Deliora prepared yet another energy beam. However, unlike last time, it was conscious of Gildarts' presence. So, it would not be sneak attacked again.

Gildarts also had no intention of sneak attacking Deliora again. Instead, he waited for Deliora to fire its attack while channeling his [Crash Magic], a destructive Caster Magic that is able to breakdown both physical objects and magic, around his right fist.

Then, when Deliora finally fired the energy beam, Gildarts leapt toward it with his right fist cocked back.

"Crash Magic: Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Empyrean]." Gildarts muttered as he threw his fist forward just before he was struck by Deliora's attack.

As the two collided, the onlookers were shocked to see that Gildarts' punch was breaking down Deliora's attack as he neared the demon's face. Eventually, the entire attack was dispersed, and Gildarts' fist once again slammed into the demon's head, sending it flying.

This time, however, instead of just flying away, Deliora burst into hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller, doll-sized copies of itself that rained down to the ground.

Gildarts' attack was not done yet, though. As he fell toward the ground, Gildarts once again gathered his [Crash Magic] into his right fist. And once again, he cocked his fist back as he fell toward the area where all the small copies of Deliora had fallen.

"[Crash Magic: Mizuwari]." Gildarts said, chanting another spell.

With his hand imbued with his magic, Gildarts eventually slammed it into the ground where the Deliora copies were gathered.

*Boom!*

*Crack!*

When his hand hit the ground, a strong shockwave was sent out in all directions. This shockwave naturally struck all the copies of Deliora, many of which, were immediately disintegrated into dust. The rest were sent flying into the distance.

At the same time, cracks spread over the ground. Cracks that many of the Deliora copies that were sent flying fell into.

Wasting no time after he landed, Gildarts made sure to watch out for the cracks, so he did not lose his footing and began sending magic imbued punches into the small copies of the demon that remained on the surface.

In the next few minutes, Gildarts was able to destroy about half of the copies on the surface, his magic dismantling them into dust.

However, the effect of breaking a living being down into smaller copies of themselves was not only an involuntary one, but it was also a temporary one. And considering how strong Deliora was, it did not last as long as it usually would.

Eventually, all the still living copies of the demon began to gather. However, when Deliora was back to being just one being, once again, he was much smaller than he was at the beginning. Angered by this, Deliora once again gathered energy in its mouth, aiming the attack at Gildarts.

"*Sigh* You really are just a one-trick pony, huh?" Gildarts asked in an exasperated tone. "Whatever, I'm tired of this game. So, let's end this. [Crash Magic: All Crash]."

As Deliora fired another energy beam, Gildarts extended his palms toward deliora and fired his own beam of magical energy. Naturally, this magical energy was made of his [crash Magic]. And just like last time, Gildarts' attack broke down Deliora's beam as it traveled forward.

When the beam made contact with Deliora, instead of sending him flying or causing an explosion, the demon began to disintegrate, starting from the point of impact. Then, after thirty seconds or so, Deliora was nothing but a pile of dust that blew away with the wind.

Had Gildarts used that spell at the beginning of the battle, it would have injured Deliora at the most. However, since much of its total mass and magic power had been destroyed and dispersed earlier, this spell acted as a finishing move.

"That used up more magical power than I thought it would." Gildarts said as he began stretching his body. "I guess he was much more durable than I thought originally. Well, I guess that makes sense, I had to disintegrate him faster than he could regenerate, after all."

After he finished stretching, instead of looking back to see if the woman and girl were okay, Gildarts smiled a big, goofy smile.

"Whatever, it will all be worth it when I can see my princess again. Hahaha!" Gildarts said before laughing uproariously in a joyful manner.

"You've changed a lot since I saw you last, Gildarts." Ur said as she carried Ultear while leading Lyon and Gray toward Gildarts, who was laughing loudly.

"Huh?" Gildarts stopped laughing abruptly as he turned back to the approaching group. "Do I know you, pretty lady?"

"Never mind, I guess you haven't changed as much as I thought." Ur said while shaking her head. "It has been a while, though. So, I'm not surprised that you don't remember me."

Hearing that, Gildarts stared at Ur for a while as he searched through his memories. Then, in a moment of epiphany, he opened his eyes wide.

"You're Ur, right?" Gildarts asked with a smile. "Ur Milkovich."

"I guess Bianca was right." Ur said with a smile. "You're the kind of womanizer who will never forget a pretty girl."

Contrary to what she expected, Gildarts didn't shout about Bianca dragging his name through the mud. Instead, he wore a sad expression with an even sadder smile.

"You have no idea what I wouldn't give to hear her say that one more time." Gildarts said in a sad tone.

Hearing that, Ur opened her eyes wide.

"Does that mean she's...?" Ur asked.

"Yeah, she was killed by Zeref cultists almost four years ago." Gildarts said, answering Ur's unfinished question. "They got her and Orlando."

Hearing that news, Ur fell silent, a somber expression making it onto her face.

Although Ur had never been a part of any guild, she was a well-known independent wizard with quite the reputation. In the past, she had worked with Bianca, Orlando, and Gildarts on many quests. She eventually retired when she got married.

"They're kids survived, though." Gildarts said, trying to smile more happily. "And they joined Fairy Tail."

"I guess that's good news." Ur said, still sad to hear about her old friends' death.

"Hey, why don't you come back with me to magnolia." Gildarts suggested. "Even if you don't want to join the guild, it would be good for the kids you have with you. On top of that, I'm sure seeing Bianca and Orlando's kids will cheer you up a little. My little girl is there, too."

Hearing that Gildarts had a daughter was even more surprising than hearing about Bianca and Orlando's deaths to Ur, though not quite as impactful. However, when she saw the doting smile he wore on his face, she smiled involuntarily.

"I never thought I'd hear that you had a child, Gildarts." Ur said.

"*Sigh* It's not a story I'm proud to tell." Gildarts said with a wry smile. "But that girl means everything to me."

"Now that's a story I would like to hear." Ur said with a smile.

"Well, if you come back to magnolia with me, I'll tell you." Gildarts said with a crafty smile.

"*Sigh* Fine." Ur said. "Let's go back to my house first, though. Gray, Lyon, and I have things to pack."