Retreat to Fiore (Fairy Tail)

4 - Scars from the past

Lucy brought her palm to her mouth and made no sound when she saw what was hidden below her friend's red hair, her eyes wide in shock. Gray made an expression of pure hatred, as if he would go to hunt down whoever or whatever was responsible for this right this moment. Happy also stopped fanning Natsu and just stared blankly at her back. Even Natsu managed to suppress his state and had murder written on his face.

Three lines of deep, wide and nasty vertical scars were smearing their friend's back. Her otherwise smooth and unblemished skin only made the contrast worse. It was as if someone dug out three wide rows of earth in a meadow full of beautiful flowers and just left it like that, desecrating the view, yet still leaving enough intact so it is easy to imagine how beautiful it used to be.

Since he was not so familiar with the scarlet mage, Elrion was not as affected as others, yet he was also angry seeing the scars in front of him. From what he has seen during his few interactions with the knight girl so far, she had a noble character and certainly didn't deserve these. And that depth and size... These would be difficult to work on.

"How did you get these!?" Lucy couldn't help herself but to ask. The next second she realized this might be uncomfortable subject, so she quickly added: "I mean, if it is okay for us to ask?"

After a few seconds of consideration, Erza decided to share the story behind her scars. For a moment she considered refusing because she was embarrassed by her actions which lead to the wound, but quickly dismissed the idea. Instead, she has decided to turn it into a lesson, in hope it would stick and prevent her friends from making the same mistake she did. She flipped her hair back, hiding the scars again and returned back to her seat before starting the story.

"It happened during my first battle with an A+ rank monster, about two years ago. Back then I was, inexperienced, and very prideful. Around that time, my power had broken through the S rank threshold and Master had already announced I would take my place in the next S rank exam. Until that point I was fortunate enough to overcome all my foes without a significant injury, so I started to drop my guard and overestimate my strength, while underestimating my opponents. A nearly fatal mistake."

Lucy was interested in Erza's story, but she was quite surprised to see that even Gray and Happy, who knew Erza for over a dozen years, were displaying interest. Could this be the first time she is talking about this? Her suspicions were confirmed when Gray asked in a serious voice: "What were you fighting against?"

Erza continued with a downcast look on her face. "It was a whip-ape, an A+ rank monster, which is nearly in the S- rank. It is a menacing mass of muscles, standing on all four limbs like a gorilla. They have green eyes, elongated skull like a crocodile filled with overgrown teeth, and yellow fur. They can use thunder magic, but their most dangerous trait are several whip-like appendixes on the back of their head, which can move like tentacles. Not only are those hair tentacles fast, strong, very resistant to injuries and extendable, they also end up in blades almost as big as shortswords."

Lucy shuddered. "What a monster..." She was already certain she would prefer to never encounter one by herself, and it was at this moment that Erza just began describing its true capabilities.

"While attacking, whip-ape intuitively use thunder magic from their mouth and hands, they constantly try to rush their opponents to smash them with their front limbs and snap at them with their jaws if they get too close, while hair tentacles try to impale opponent by stabbing from multiple sides. It is a very troublesome monster, which tries to use all of its strengths at the same time."

Just listening to the monsters description, Elrion was on edge. He wondered what would be the first way he would die if he ever crossed his way with one of these monstrosities. And that was with his old B rank battle-suit.

Happy was also invested into the story. "So what happened?"

Erza closed her eyes and got more tense as she remembered the battle in which she nearly lost her life. "In the beginning I was careful, as I should be. After all, this was my first duel against an opponent of such strength. Never before had I confronted such an enemy alone. I used my Thunder Empress armor to block its magic and bid my time, getting more and more adapted to its attack patterns. Once I saw a hole in its defense I rushed in.
The monster was twice taller than me even while crouching, so I had to jump to reach its head. Despite using one of my strongest swords and all of my speed, monster still managed to catch my sword in its teeth in the middle of my airborne strike at its neck. Still, this was something I predicted.
My first strike was just a distraction and a successful trap. I smirked as I let go of my captured sword and continued to fly for another moment until I flew past the monster's head. Once in position, still airborne, I summoned another sword and immediately swung it upwards and behind ape's head, cutting away all of its head tentacles in one move."