Mira pouted and muttered, "You really didn't co because you overslept? I waited for so long..."
Rhodes glanced at the lunchbox she was holding and shalessly asked,
"Is that for ?"
"No!" Mira huffed.
"Oh," Rhodes replied casually.
"Oh"?
Mira nearly exploded.
'Where's all that boldness you had yesterday? Why aren't you opening it yourself and checking?!'
Rhodes, sensing the atmosphere shift, quickly reeled himself in.
He recognized the lunchbox, it was enchanted to keep food warm.
And frankly, who else would Mira bother bringing breakfast to?
Elfman?
Yeah, right.
Feigning innocence, Rhodes picked up the mission registration book and moved closer.
"Did I write this wrong?" he said casually. "Do you rember Natsu and Happy's last mission?"
Mira instinctively turned her attention to the log:
"I rember it was..."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rhodes' hand sneak toward the lunchbox.
She caught his wrist midair, barely holding back a smile as she narrowed her eyes.
"And just what do you think you're doing?"
Rhodes stayed calm:
"I saw a hair strands on it. Thought I'd help you remove it."
"Really?"
Grrrgggle...
Betrayed by his own stomach, Rhodes could only look helplessly at the ceiling.
He had burned through an enormous amount of magic yesterday and had skipped breakfast too.
Mira burst out laughing and opened the lunchbox herself, sliding it toward him:
"Eat up."
Inside was a simple but carefully prepared al:
A fluffy olet, slices of ham, a hearty vegetable porridge, and a small side of pickled vegetables.
It wasn't anything fancy, but sohow, seeing it made him imagine her, wearing an apron, busy and cheerful in the kitchen.
Overwheld with emotion, Rhodes pulled Mira into a hug first, then obediently sat down to eat.
"Delicious!"
Mira perched nearby, watching him intently as he ate every last bite.
Then, just as he finished the last sip of porridge, she casually said: "Actually, Elfman made it. And he didn't wash his hands before cooking."
"Cough cough cough!!"
Rhodes almost choked to death on the spot.
Mira giggled sweetly and patted his back gently.
"I'm kidding," she said, her voice light and teasing.
'She totally got ... I'll get my revenge soday...' Rhodes thought, grumbling internally.
At that mont, Elfman approached hesitantly.
"S-Sister...?" he mumbled. "I want to go out on a job."
"Let's take a look," Mira said, flipping through the mission board.
anwhile, Rhodes noticed sothing odd. He leaned closer, scrutinizing Elfman's face carefully.
"Why is your face swollen?"
Elfman rubbed his cheek awkwardly.
"I... I accidentally fell."
"Accidentally fell? Does that even happen to soone as sturdy as you?"
"M-Manly!" Elfman shouted, trying to save face.
Rhodes turned to Mira suspiciously. She definitely knew sothing.
Mira simply smiled, her voice innocent as she explained:
"He really did fall. Fell into... a very hard object."
She added cheerfully, "But don't worry. I already treated him with dicine."
"I see." Rhodes nodded solemnly. "You're lucky to have such a wonderful sister looking after you."
"Really?" Mira bead, her violet eyes curving into a brilliant, bashful smile at her boyfriend's praise.
"Manly!"
Elfman felt truly lucky. His sister even helped him apply dicine after training him so intensely, he was so moved he nearly cried.
Though the task he picked wasn't particularly difficult, Rhodes still gave him a few careful instructions, just like always.
"Don't worry! A real man is always prepared!" Elfman clenched his fists with determination and quickly set out on his mission.
A little while later, Makarov ca downstairs, dressed in a proper formal suit and carrying a thick stack of papers.
"Master, are you heading out?" Mira asked.
Makarov nodded seriously.
"I'm going to apologize to the mayor... and send these."
It was all the self-criticism reports he had written over the past few days.
Rhodes imdiately felt a pang of guilt.
"Should I take care of it for you, Master?"
"No need!" Makarov said firmly, waving his hand. "Just focus on looking after the guild. Things like this are a Guild Master's responsibility."
He looked slightly uneasy, as if worried they'd take the chance to sneak off on another vacation.
He could already imagine it: 'Oh no, mailing the reports isn't sincere enough, we must deliver them personally!'
'And of course, not just to the branch in Fiore, it has to be hand-delivered all the way to the Council headquarters abroad!'
No, after finally getting a few days of peace and quiet, Makarov absolutely refused to go through that madness again.
Rhodes could only sigh. He genuinely just wanted to help, not run off sowhere... but if the Master didn't agree, there was nothing he could do.
"Mira," Rhodes said slyly, "maybe you should hang onto those two bottles of good wine we bought."
"Okay~" Mira smiled, understanding imdiately.
"I'll give them to the Master once he cos back."
While they were traveling, besides bringing back so rare herbs for Grandma Porlyusica, they'd also picked up so excellent bottles of wine as a gift for the Master.
But when they first returned, Mira, after believing so nonsense Rhodes had spouted, had gotten stricter about the Master's drinking and hadn't given him the wine yet.
Now, Rhodes was feeling just a tiny bit guilty.
He had also made sure to ask Porlyusica about Makarov's health during their visit. Fortunately, the Master's old illnesses hadn't flared up recently, so Rhodes felt a little more at ease about letting him enjoy himself.
Porlyusica grumbled about how Rhodes picked herbs like an amateur, but... Rhodes could tell she secretly appreciated the thought.
...
Later that afternoon, Erza ca to the guild, her expression bright and determined.
She had co to accept a mission, the one Mira and Rhodes had helped her pick out just yesterday.
The reward for the mission is 500,000 Jewels, just enough to cover the rent for her five rooms. It wouldn't take long either. By the looks of it, she could probably finish the job with just a single good fight.
"This one's perfect." Erza nodded in satisfaction. "By the way, Rhodes, can you wait until I get back for that sparring match?"
"No problem," Rhodes replied with a smile.
Anyway, Erza's mission wouldn't take more than a few days. In the anti, he could focus on training with Mira.
...
"Take over: Mountain Dragon's Soul!"
In a flash of ochre light, Rhodes' arms and legs transford into sturdy, earth-colored dragon claws. Massive wings sprouted from his back, and a few tough-looking scales appeared along his cheeks.
An overwhelming surge of magic burst out from him. His presence now was almost on par with Mira's Satan Soul.
When he opened his eyes, they had changed into deep, earthy brown dragon pupils. The sharp lift at the corner of his eyes and the faintly visible fangs at the edges of his smile gave him a much more primal, wild aura than usual.
"Rhodes?" Mira called out tentatively.
Rhodes imdiately understood what she was worried about. He grinned, revealing a slightly mischievous flash of his sharper canines.
"Don't worry. I'm still . My will hasn't been affected."
Hearing that, Mira let out a soft sigh of relief.
The greatest danger of Take Over magic was always the risk of losing control to the being you were trying to rge with. But seeing Rhodes so calm, so naturally himself, put her heart at ease.
'Still...That smile, the wildness lingering in his eyes and his slightly rougher edge, it wasn't the usual gentle or sunny Rhodes she knew.'
It was dangerous. It was thrilling.
Mira's heart thumped wildly in her chest.
Now she finally understood how Rhodes must have felt when he first saw her Satan Soul form.
"Although the magic cost is pretty high," Rhodes said thoughtfully, stomping his dragonized foot into the ground, "this feels seriously strong. Plus—"
The ground around them rumbled. Thick, circular stone walls suddenly erupted upward, surrounding both him and Mira in a tight ring.
It was just like the mountain dragon's magic that day, the earth itself responding to his will.
In this form, he could wield earth magic!
Rhodes leaned forward. His dragon claw braced against the stone wall behind Mira's shoulder, trapping her between his arm and the stones.
His forehead pressed gently against hers.
"Now you can't run away," he said, his voice low and teasing.
Mira's cheeks flushed red. "Satan Soul: Take Over!"
Dark wings unfurled from her back as she transford in an instant.
She looped her right arm around Rhodes' neck, pulling herself close, her lips curving into a smirk.
"Who said I was trying to run?" she whispered, her tongue flicking playfully across her lips.
They smiled at each other.
Without another word, they moved simultaneously, and the battle began.
The stone walls surrounding them cracked and shattered under their first few blows.
Punches and kicks flew between them, sharp and fast, neither of them holding anything back.
Rhodes pushed forward, Mira spun and countered. They traded more than twenty lightning-fast rounds before Mira leapt into the air, her dark wings slicing through the air like blades.
High above, Mira ford a swirling purple-black sphere between her palms, magic crackling at its core.
Not backing down, Rhodes launched himself skyward, opened his jaws, and unleashed a roaring breath of dragon magic, a blast of countless spinning, razor-sharp stones.
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