Phoenix

Camp

"If we had to sleep in the forest anyway then why did we bother to take the train," Sting complained.

"Because," Kira snapped back, "we needed to get to the closest town in order to get the details of the request. The actual job is in the forest."

"Why couldn't we have just stayed in an inn in town and started in the forest in the morning? There was a great bar in town that I wanted to try."

"Yame, all you think about is booze. Hey newbie, you're the only one not complaining. How come?"

Emi was walking behind them all, reading a book. They all looked back at her and sweatdropped. Kira drew her attention by clapping her hands.

"Sorry. I was just reading about earth magic. I'm not complaining because I'm used to traveling a lot and sleeping outdoors. Plus I have this book."

"Aren't you leaving yourself open for a surprise attack? You're not even paying attention."

As if on cue, a group of bandits jumped out of the trees. They grabbed Lector and told them that they would kill the exceed if they didn't hand over all their money.

"Lector!" Sting shouted. "Don't worry buddy, I'll get you back. Give back Lector."

Emi had harshly shut her book, making an echoing sound through the forest. With one quick motion, all the bandits were laying on the ground. Everyone looked towards Emi's feet to see that the ground had formed a snake trail underground that threw the bandits off balance.

"Did you like that?" Emi questioned the bandits. "It's a spell called Earthworm. It's a type of earth magic that I've been reading about in this book. Would you like to see another one?"

Lector flew behind Sting and hid. Emi slowly walked closer to the bandits as she smirked.

"Fissure!"

Just like in her battle with Lust, the ground broke apart, causing the bandits to fall into the large crack that had formed.

"Holy shit!" Kira and Ayame yelled.

Sting smiled wide as he watched the cloaked wizard, completely mesmerized. Emi slowly walked over to a cowerding Lector and leaned down to his level.

"You okay?"

Lector looked up at her before the tears left his eyes and he put on a confident and brave facade.

"Of course I am! I wasn't afraid at all!"

Lector flew to Sting, who was still looking at the crack. He landed on his head, making Sting jolt and turn up to his friend. He said that he was glad that the exceed was safe before looking back down at the fissure.

"Hey dragon boy, your mental boner is showing."

"Huh?"

Sting looked back to see the three girls staring at him, Kira with a smug smile on her face. The dragon slayer blushed a little before giving a snide comment to the wizard with purple hair. Ayame decided to question Emi about how she was able to use such a powerful spell. Emi shrugged and said that she had read it in a book a while back.

"So," Sting wondered as he finally was able to pay attention again, "you just read about it and decided to do it?"

"I study all types of magic. My creation magic enables me to form what spells I read about. I just have to practice them or else they won't work or won't hold for very long. So for instance," Emi walked over to an empty section of the forest and conjured her Asteroid spell.