Systematic Shinobi: Multiverse Mayhem - Chapter 5.2 (Patreon)

Today had been an odd day for Mirajane Strauss.

It started with her coming to open up the guild first thing in the morning, only to see that it had been demolished by dozens of massive iron pillars.

Courtesy of that bratty Iron Dragon Slayer that belonged to Phantom Lord.

To make matters worse, he'd managed to hit the larder where they stored all their food in the guild. So even after spending hours alongside master trying to calm everyone down, she then had to go shopping to stock up on supplies for everyone at the guild.

And of course nobody wanted to help because they were too busy roaring with rage and wanting to pick a fight.

If it were two years ago, before everything that happened on that dreadful day? She would have been right there with them, she'd actually probably have been one first gnashing her teeth and demanding to go kick down Phantom Lord's doors and give them a beating.

Alas, she wasn't much for fighting these days. Though she did feel that old violent streak of hers simmering within her blood.

On her way back from her second trip of picking up supplies, she found a young man, boy actually as it turned out admiring the wreckage of their guild.

Daiki he'd introduced himself as.

And he'd proceeded to drop bomb, after massive bomb on her and master both. Crazy things that shouldn't have been possible, only to be clarified as real by master.

And then there was the biggest bomb of all.

Lisanna…was alive.

She'd been stolen from them that day and they'd suffered for two years thinking she was dead. But she was blessedly alive all this time. And according to Daiki, she was actually living happily.

Despite how much Mirajane wanted to tear her way into this Edolas world with her bare hands and see her right this very moment, it was okay. As long as she was happy, healthy and safe she couldn't ask for more right now.

That was why there was a skip in her step as she walked down the streets of Magnolia, heading to pick up more supplies, with her newest guild mate walking by her side

"So, what exactly are dragons like?" she broached the subject as they walked, "Natsu wasn't very helpful in explaining beyond how strong and amazing Igneel is."

"Well he's not wrong in that regard, Igneel used to to be the strongest dragon alive, he's still overall the second strongest dragon," Daiki shrugged, arms folded behind his head, "As for what they're like, you'll need to be more specific. Dragons are just as intelligent if not more so than most humans, and vastly more powerful. Though pretty much all the dragons are dead now, have been for four hundred years."

"I'd think so, otherwise we'd have seen one by now with how doggedly Natsu is searching for Igneel," Mirajane chirped, though that was interesting to know. Igneel was really that amazing huh? No wonder Natsu was so proud of his dad, "I mean though like what did they think of as humans?"

"That's why they're all dead," Daiki replied making her blink, "The vast majority of dragons saw humans as below them, because no human could ever hope to beat a dragon in a fight. It's impossible. Dragons are literally outright immune to magic unless its from another dragon. So the only way to hurt them is with physical attacks, but dragons are also far far physically stronger than even the strongest humans around."

That…was new. Natsu didn't say anything like that at all about dragons. "Then what about dragon slayers?" she asked.

They were humans, right?

"Some dragons liked humans and wanted to protect them like how Igneel adopted Natsu Dragneel, and it lead to a big war breaking out between the dragons," Daiki pointed out, "But the ones who were protecting humans, were vastly smaller in number and losing. So they came up with an idea, to bestow their magic upon humans. And there's where Dragon Slayers come from. From what I know, there were tens of thousands of dragon slayers back in the day, and they became stronger both physically and magically by bathing in the blood of dragons. Originally, they were gnats compared to the dragons, I mean, even the weakest and most pitiful of dragons would have more than ten times the magical power you do."

"More than ten times?!" Mirajane's eyes widened in shock and she gaped at the boy. Not to brag, but out of everyone at the guild, the only ones with more magic power than her were Master Makarov and Gildarts, and Laxus she supposed but not by much!

But, ten times the amount she had? Would dwarf even the master and Gildarts put together! And that was the kind of power even the weakest dragons had? And on top of that were immune to all magic except that of another dragons?

That was crazy!

"Yup," Daiki grinned, he seemed to like her shock the precocious little flirt, "But yeah basically, even when an ally of theirs were killed, the dragon slayers could use them to become stronger and before long, because of all the dragons dying around them during the war, they rose up to the point where they were just as strong as the dragons themselves."

So back then dragon slayers ended up like that huh? There was a vast difference between them and the likes of Natsu, huh?

Not that Natsu was weak or anything, but not even Gildarts could compare to that, never mind Natsu. He had a long time to go before he could hope to match his predecessors huh?

"So then, does that mean the good dragons that liked humans won the war?" Mirajane asked next.

"Nope, neither side won," Daiki shook his head, "Back in the day, there was this crazy strong dragon slayer. His name was Acnologia. He was the very strongest dragon slayer, and he hated dragons. He killed so many dragons and bathed in so much of their blood, he ended up turning into a dragon himself, and he hunted every single dragon in the world he could find and slaughtered them all, he didn't care what side they were on. Hell, he didn't just stop there, he slaughtered the dragon slayers as well."

Oh…well-

"Hell, that guys still around to this day," Daiki mused, "But yeah that's pretty much what happened to the dragons. Atlas Flame was actually already dead when I met him and was lingering around as a soul."

Well, that was horrifying. Such a being was still out there? And had been alive for over four hundred years?

What a monster.

But if what he said was true…

Mirajane stopped walking and bit her lip, she was afraid to ask, but she had to know, for Natsu. "Daiki, do you know what happened to Igneel?" she asked, "Do you know why he disappeared?"

Daiki paused himself and looked her in the eye, "Igneel didn't disappear, he's actually a lot closer to Natsu than he realises," he said bluntly, "Acnologia killed Igneel over four hundred years ago. But like Atlas Flame, his soul stayed in this world, he was simply too powerful for mere death to take him."

Oh.

Mirajane wasn't sure how to react to that. Natsu's father, whom he'd been desperately searching for…was already dead? Poor Natsu.

Wait.

"What do you mean Igneel is a lot closer than Natsu' realises?" she asked.

"I mean it literally, Igneel is inside Natsu's body bolstering his strength," Daiki shrugged, "It's through a technique called the Dragon Soul technique, it lets a dragon seal themselves inside a humans soul more or less. Igneel wants to kill Acnologia. He knows Acnologia will one day sniff out Natsu Dragneel and come to kill him because he can't stomach the existence of dragons in any shape or form. When he does, Igneel plans to take the chance to take him out himself."

Today sure was full of revelations, she opened her mouth to speak, but Daiki cut her off before she could, "Don't tell Natsu about Igneel," the young boy told her, "If he wanted him to know, he would have told him about it. It's best not to let him worry about guys like Acnologia anyway, if he does learn about it he'll probably spend all his time thinking about it and worry himself into an early grave."

Despite the heavy topic, Mirajane felt her lips curl up into a smile, "You're considerate in your own way, huh Daiki?"

"Nope, not at all," he denied, "I'm just trying to get into your panties and rock your world. I'm totally evil."

She laughed, "Couldn't you just look through my clothes with those special eyes of yours?" she teased.

Well, for all she knew he already had.

"I could, but that would defeat the point, only losers like Jiraiya peep." Daiki snorted, "I'd rather you just happily show me."

She had no idea who Jiraiya was, but it seemed he was a pervert of some kind. And Daiki had standards.

At least as far as peeping on girls with his eyes went,

Not quite the attitude she'd expect of a boy so young, but considering he was apparently some super child soldier and next in line to be a leader of an entire state of mercenaries….well it was unlikely he was a virgin despite his age.

"Well, who knows what the future holds, I just might," Mirajane giggled, before reaching over and grabbing him by the arm, "Come on, let's go grab the stuff we need and we can go back and introduce you to everyone."

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Introducing Daiki to everyone properly, went pretty well as far as Mirajane was concerned.

Though he spent quite a disconcerting amount of time with Cana after she invited him to drink.

Despite his age, which she had stressed.

But then, when had Cana ever cared at all about listening to anyone when it came to guzzling alcohol.

That girl was never going to get a man at the rate she was going.

Though as it turned out, it wasn't long before Daiki after being the centre of attention for an hour, bid off claiming he was going to the bathroom.

Though instead of returning back to the basement afterwards, she found the young boy sitting up in the main hall of the guild, alone and kind of staring up at the ceiling with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Mirajane asked as she approached him, "Is something bothering you?"

"Not really," the boy shrugged, "I'm just feeling kind of antsy."

She blinked, "Why?" she asked, "You looked like you were having fun."

"I was, that's kind of the problem," Daiki sighed, "I don't know how long it'll take me to get back, and sitting having fun with you guys, I could feel it more, how peaceful it is there compared to back home."

Ah.

"You're planning on leaving, huh?" Mirajane pointed out knowingly. She already knew he was going to in the coming days, he'd said as much. But it was sad, that such responsibility was on the boys shoulders.

Incredibly strong or not. Incredibly informed and confident or not. He was still just a young boy, the same age she was when she joined Fairy Tail. She could barely look after her siblings back then, never mind be responsible for an entire military state.

Despite the cocky flirty personality the young teen had, she could see a dip pit of shadowy sadness in his gaze.

"Maybe in a few days after this stuff with Phantom Lord blows over," Daiki shrugged, not denying it, "It would be ungrateful of me to leave after just joining when there's a possible fight coming."

"Don't worry about that," Mirajane immediately assured him before her brain even realised what she was saying, "Fairy Tail is strong, we don't need you to fight our battles for us, actually we don't want you to. As a member of Fairy Tail, it's not your power we care about, it's you. If you feel the need to to leave to take care of things, then do so, don't hold back because of us."

Daiki gave her a weird look, "…And that's…alright?" he asked, the concept seemingly utterly foreign to him.

"Of course it is, Fairy Tail is home where we all come together to live, not somewhere you're bound to," Mirajane shook her head, before wagging her finger at him, "But you definitely need to come back every now and then okay? You might have just joined today, but from now on, you're a Fairy Tail wizard."

He stared at her, looking his age for a moment, before that familiar cocky grin appeared on his face, "Are you kidding?" he snorted, "Of course I'm coming back. Why wouldn't I when a babe like you is here?"

"Exactly!" Mirajane nodded, "I am pretty damn hot, right?" she giggled, cocking her hip to the side teasingly and crossing her arms under her chest in just the right way that pushed her cleavage up within her dress but didn't make her breasts spill out of it.

"Like so hot," Daiki laughed, "I'm immune to fire now, but your looks even burn me up inside."

"Cheesy," Mirajane snorted, "But well, play your cards right and next time you're here I might let you take me out on a date." she winked at him.

"Bet," he grinned, hopping off the bar, "That's definitely worth coming back for alone. Hell that's tempting enough for me to think about just staying and forgetting about everything else."

"I'd like that, but you won't." Mirajane shook her head. She'd only known the boy a day now, but she had a decent grasp on him she thought. He was cocky and flirty, boldly and unrepentantly checked her and other girls out, but a lot of it was a facade. Not all of it, but with his strength and his knowledge, with his position and responsibilities, he pushed back any doubts and smothered them never allowed to be seen. But he couldn't hide the fact he cared.

She was just a stranger to him before really, but he'd still specifically went out of his way to let her know about her sister and more, when it would be far more to his interests to have just left already.

It was cute and a little bit charming.

"Yeah, it sure does suck not being a complete asshole," Daiki pouted, "Well whatever. Where should I leave my beacon to come back with?"

"You can just leave it with me." Mirajane shrugged and held her hand out.

"Gotcha, fine with me." Daiki nodded and smirked.

And then he just, disappeared.

One moment he was there, the next he was just gone.

But just before confusion could settle in-

"Eep!" Mirajane squealed as she felt a hand impact her backside in a quick spank, before she felt fingers and palm take a great big greedy handful of her ass, "Daiki?!"

An arm wrapped around her waist and she was pulled back into a solid chest, "Thanks for the pep talk Mira, I'm taking a feel for the road and i'll be seeing you real soon." Daiki whispered in her ear.

And then an unbidden breathy moan of surprise left her mouth as he pressed a kiss into the back of her neck.

And then suddenly, the hold on her was gone and Mirajane found herself standing alone in the guild hall.

She stood there for a moments in the quiet hall, the only sounds being the partying from down in the basement floating up. Cheeks red, Mirajane reached back to rub her backside where he'd spanked her and felt her up, "That…little perv." she couldn't help but giggle.

Had he left his beacon to return to their world on her butt of all things?

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Right, well, Fairy Tail left behind for now, but it won't be the last we see of it. I'm planning on it more or less being a kind of rest world for Daiki that he jumps back to every now and then. Next world up will be either Rwby, Danmachi or Familiar of Zero.

The proper main Systematic Shinobi, I'll be working on the next part of on the 20th.