Earth Land, Ishgar, Stella, Altair.
October 9, x791.
Like Ultear and Bonolenov, Cana and Hisoka were forced to relocate when Sun's and Phinks' battle triggered an explosion. As a result, they were both standing on rooftops as the two fights continued.
While the fights between Sun and Phinks and Ultear and Bonolenov were going on, Surprisingly, Cana and Hisoka had not started their own fight. Instead, they both just watched the ongoing battles.
Though, they both had different reasons for just sitting back and watching.
While Cana only watched because Hisoka had not made a move, thinking that she would keep him in check if he tried to interfere in the fights that she felt had no suspense, Hisoka only watched because he was intrigued by how strong the members of Fairy Tail were.
And all the while, Hisoka seemed to be wearing a perverted expression on his face. Honestly, Cana found it rather off-putting whenever she saw him lick his lips in anticipation. Still, she never made a move to wipe that look off his face.
But the two battles eventually came to an end. And just as Cana expected, Ultear and Sun came out victorious. She then turned her full attention to Hisoka.
"So, are you still going to fight after seeing that?" Cana asked curiously.
"Who among you three is the strongest?" Hisoka asked without answering Cana's question.
IN response, Cana only raised an eyebrow at Hisoka's question before shrugging her shoulders.
"Though I hate to admit it, Tear is the strongest among us." Cana replied casually. "But there isn't really that big a difference between the three of us."
"I see." Hisoka said with a nod. He then finally raised his head to look at Cana, who was standing on a roof across from the one he stood on. "Then, to answer your question, of course, I do. Why wouldn't I fight such powerful opponents? Mmm~. A fight to the death where I'm not sure if I'll live, or not? That's what I live for."
"*Sigh* So, you're one of THOSE, huh?" Cana asked in a tone that made it clear she was far too familiar with the fighting maniac type. "The only difference between you and Natsu is that you seem to enjoy the violence rather than just fighting itself."
"That's right... But wrong at the same time." Hisoka replied. "I enjoy killing people who are actually worthy of dying at my hands. I very rarely kill someone who WILL BE worth it. Not until they actually ARE worth it, anyway."
Cana could only shake her head at that. From what she could tell, Hisoka was not as indiscriminate when it came to killing as the other two members of the Phantom Troupe she had met. Still, she also came to the conclusion that the world would probably be a better place without him. And with that conclusion reached, Cana's hesitation when it came to killing was pushed way back into the depths of her mind.
At the same time, Cana took a step to the right, avoiding a shot of Hisoka's invisible [Bungee Gum Magic]. She then looked up to see that Hisoka had leapt from the rooftop he was standing on while the gummy magic stretched from his hand.
'Hmm... He was about thirty, or so, feet away when he threw that sticky stuff.' Cana thought to herself as she watched the [Bungee Gum] retract rapidly, pulling Hisoka towards her at high-speed. 'Does that mean there's some kind of distance limit? Or is he trying to trick me?'
"Just as I thought." Hisoka said once he landed on the roof where Cana was standing. "You really can see it. I wonder how you're doing it. It doesn't feel like you're using [En]. This is quite interesting."
"Yeah, why the hell would I tell you that?" Cana asked as she reached into her tarot card pouch with her right hand.
"Very true." Hisoka said as he stepped forward with three cards held between his fingers. "A magician never tells the secret of his tricks."
*Swish!*
As soon as Hisoka's words ended, his arm was already swinging, the cards between his fingers were sharpened by the magic power he coated them with, and they were aimed at Cana's throat.
However, Cana reacted very calmly, stepping back by half a step, the cards missing her throat by less than an inch. She then pulled a handful of cards from her pouch and slapped them onto Hisoka's abdomen... Or at least, that was what she intended to do.
"Oh, there's a layer of magic power coating your body." Cana said while raising an eyebrow in surprise. "It's not like the passive magic power defense most wizards have, though. It's actually pretty dense. Never tried using my magic power like this before. Feels like it would make long battles a hassle in resource management."
Despite the fact that she was analyzing Hisoka's technique aloud, Cana quickly pulled her cards back before taking a bit of distance. Also, she never stopped moving, easily avoiding the cards in Hisoka's hands, the ones he threw, and all of Hisoka's attempts to stick his [Bungee Gum] to her.
*Bang!*
Leaning away from a swipe of Hisoka's cards, Cana threw a powerful low kick at Hisoka's front leg. However, it did not do as much damage as she expected, only causing him to stumble slightly.
"Oh, good defense." Cana said with a smile. "That kick would have been strong enough to break most wizards' legs. But it only caused you to stumble a little."
Hisoka had no doubt about Cana's claim about the force behind that kick. In fact, had his [Ten], the defensive technique he was using to coat his body in magic power, been any weaker, he had no doubt that he would have ended up with fractures, at the very least.
"Anyway, let's test to see just how powerful this technique's defense really is." Cana said as she started flaring her magic power even stronger. "[Card Magic: Icicles]."
As she spoke, Cana once again reached into her tarot card pouch. She then activated the cards she drew. When she did, half a dozen icicles appeared around her and Hisoka before flying towards Hisoka at high speed.
*Shatter!* *Shatter!* *Shatter!*
Reacting quickly, Hisoka contorted his body at odd angles to dodge as many of the flying icicles as possible. Managing to dodge four of the projectiles, three of which flew off into the distance, he was struck by two, which shattered on his [Ten] while the final icicle, which was fired from above, shattered on the rooftop, creating a frozen spot on the roof.
As for how Hisoka was affected by the two icicles that shattered on this [Ten], while he was not affected by the physical impact, the force was transmitted through his magic power. As a result, two bruises, one on his right shoulder and one on his left thigh, appeared on Hisoka's body.
"So, that wasn't enough to break your defense." Cana mused aloud. "Alright, let's ramp it up a little more. *Sigh* I really just wanna finish this. But Fonzie will probably like it if I collect more information about this technique. Hehe, he might even reward me by letting me pick something from his collection."
Hearing that, Hisoka was finally realizing that things were not going the way he expected them to. Like he expected from the start, Cana was strong. Extremely so. And that was where the problem lay.
Being the battle junkie he was, Hisoka never feared facing a strong opponent. But that was under the condition that he actually had a chance of winning. Yet, with every missed swipe and throwing card, it was becoming clearer and clearer to Hisoka that Cana was completely out of his league.
And when those two icicles landed on his [Ten] and transmitted their force through it to his body, he knew that if he did not somehow escape, he would die here with no chance of taking his opponent's life.
Then, to add insult to injury, Cana was not even trying to defeat him. Instead, she was testing the power of his [Ten] so that she could report it to someone else in hopes of being rewarded. Meaning…
"You're not taking me seriously…" Hisoka said as his ever-present, creepy smile began to fade.
"No, you're wrong about that." Cana replied as she pulled another handful of cards from her tarot card pouch. "I take every opponent seriously. It would be embarrassing to be beaten by someone so much weaker than me, after all. Anyway, let's get back to the test. [Card Magic: Explosion]."
Like that, time passed. And as it did, Cana slowly increased her output as she attacked Hisoka relentlessly. And naturally, because she was not focused on defeating Hisoka outright, her battle took the longest, as Ultear and Sun were currently watching her basically slap Hisoka around in the name of science.
"Alright, if my calculations are correct, this should be the last strike." Cana said with a smile while holding a handful of tarot cards. "Your defensive technique should be able to break if I use my full power when I'm in my base state. That's actually pretty strong, you know?"
"I kinda feel bad for him right now." Sun said as she watched Cana's experiments alongside Ultear. "It feels cruel to keep going at this point."
"I can see where you're coming from." Ultear replied while nodding in understanding. "But she hasn't' even actually broken that strange layer of magic power yet. So, she hasn't actually hurt him all that bad."
Despite saying that, Hisoka, after nearly forty-five minutes of being beaten one-sidedly, was cover in cuts, bruises, burns, and blood. Yet, he was not seriously injured. Though, if he stayed in this state for too long, he would probably pass out from blood loss.
"Yeah, I guess." Sun replied in a somewhat uncomfortable tone. "Still, it kinda feels like she's torturing him unnecessarily."
"It might look that way, but she's really not." Ultear replied. "At least, she's not doing it intentionally. She's just trying to figure out that technique he's using. Or… At the very least, she's trying to get enough information about it so that Alfonzo and Lici can reverse engineer it."
*Clap!*
"Ah! Right, that makes sense." Sun said, her tone doing a complete one-eighty a she clapped her hands excitedly. "And if they can figure it out and teach it to us and the rest of the guild, everyone will be safer and stronger."
"Exactly." Ultear replied with a smile. "So, she's not doing this just to be cruel. Well, not completely. I'm sure part of this is just to make that guy pay for all the lives he's taken, too."
Unfortunately, Cana had no intention of letting Hisoka off that easy. After slapping the cards in her hands on to her exposed abdomen, her legs were coated in [Lightning Magic]. On top of that, her aura increased sharply in all other respects.
"[Card magic: Enhancement Cards: Lightning Dash, Power, Magic Power Density]." Cana chanted a string of spells in one go before she vanished from where she stood.
*Boom~~~~~~~!*
In the next instant, Cana reappeared in the spot where Hisoka stood with her right fist extended. At the same time, several buildings were penetrated in a straight line, the sounds of all the impacts sounding as if they happened at the same time.
And at the end of the damaged row of buildings, Hisoka, battered and broken lay in a pile of rubble. And based on the injuries on his body, not only did his [En] collapse, but he was also on the verge of death.
"Hey, Cana…" Sun said as she and Ultear approached Cana, who was returning to her normal state. "Weren't you testing how powerful his defense was? How are you supposed to tell if you knock him so far away?"
In response, Cana scratched her head sheepishly.
"You forgot about that, didn't you?" Ultear asked in a deadpan tone. "Let me guess, you were thinking about alcohol and forgot to regulate your strength, right?"
This time, Cana just looked away, clearly indicating that Ultear was correct.
"*Sigh* What are we gonna do with you?" Ultear asked while rubbing her forehead in exasperation.
"Hey, it's not my fault!" Cana shouted in an attempt to defend herself. "When I thought about Fonzie rewarding me with something from his private stash then having a drink together. Then, that would led to this and that, I couldn't help but get excited."
Seeing the way Cana began to lose herself to her fantasies of alcohol and sex, Ultear rolled her eyes in fond exasperation while Sun could not help giggling at Cana being Cana.
Meanwhile, Hisoka, who was still breathing, if only barely, was staring at the ceiling of the building he crashed into with a blank expression on his face.
"From the way I've lived my life, I know I deserve this ending." Hisoka muttered to himself weakly. "But I think I deserve a little more dignity than this, right? Couldn't she at least put me out of my misery instead of just leaving me here to die from my injuries?"
Luckily for Hisoka, he was too far away to hear the conversation Cana was having with Ultear and Sun. Because had he been close enough to hear it, there was a fair chance that he would end up dying from anger while coughing up blood.