Thomas Prest: A Simple Magician

Since Natasha woke up from her coma, two more weeks passed and the girl was deep in her training once more. Now that her body and Life Energy were also somewhat attuned to the Concept of Destruction, her control over her Power of Destruction skyrocketed.

Nowadays, she was already capable of forming a sword or a dagger made purely out of Power of Destruction and holding it for a few minutes in that form.

It had to be said that this was a praise-worthy feat considering the Power of Destruction did not want to be 'tied down'. It wanted to be aggressive. To destroy. 'Creating' a construct out of it was a feat of control of its own.

Well, that's why Tom told her to train her control over it this way. Doing things with energy the energy does not want to do was always the best way to exert one's influence over it.

Other than control, Natasha also created her very first attack spell.

Tom was happy for Natasha. The woman seemed thrilled that she was no longer useless as far as supernatural combat went. She seemed to have fun devising new attacks but her meticulous personality didn't let her try her other ideas before he mastered her previous ones so she was still stuck on her very first idea for now.

Tom had no idea if he was happy about that or exasperated that some of her ideas were flat-out dangerous. Coating her fists with a thin layer of Power of Destruction? Sure, it will make her close-quarters combat capabilities a lot more effective but it sounded a tad bit too dangerous for Tom's tastes. He was still afraid for her safety. Two weeks was far too little time to start trusting her judgment when it came to her own well-being, in his opinion.

Natasha's first spell was simply a hail of magic 'bullets' made of Power of Destruction. These bullets were small. Too small to cause any serious damage other than a small bruise if they were made purely out of mana, approximately taking the size of black pepper. But Natasha could create as many as fifty of them at once with her current control and when she imbued the Concept of Destruction into them, these same harmless bullets became killing machines capable of making swiss cheese out of most things.

Of course, they were not unstoppable. The volume of energy in an attack still mattered. The Power of Destruction brought their destructiveness several levels up despite the small amount of mana spent for their creation but that didn't mean this spell was unblockable.

Once Natasha's mana reserves grew and became more compact and condensed, these same bullets will get only stronger as she would be able to pack more mana into the small bullets, causing their lethality to skyrocket but for now, as long as one channel ten times the mana Natasha used for the bullets into a shielding spell, her current destructive bullets could be blocked.

Even then... for magic bullets with barely enough magic to cast a small spark, they were damn powerful. The Power of Destruction was simply a cheat.

But Natasha was low-rank when it came to energy reserves right now. Her casting anything more potent than 'kiddy' spells was damn impressive. Especially since these bullets were perfect for assassination if utilized right.

The woman knew well why her first technique was small and inconspicuous like this. After all, she took Tom's advice of going the most destructive assassin route to the heart.

Fortunately for Natasha, Sarael came back with some important documents for Tom that will help her abysmal mana reserves.

"So they have finally relented." Tom sighed in relief, sitting in his office with Natasha dutifully standing behind him like a secretary.

Unlike a secretary, however, Natasha sported a small content smile as she slowly massaged Tom's shoulders, completely ignoring the funny looks Sarael was throwing in their direction.

"Yes. Three other Pillar Families are willing to sign the secrecy agreements. Once Sirzechs gave his recommendation and the older Gremory couple was shown awake, the others flocked with requests, demands, and pleas to cure their relatives too. Still, the outrageous amount of secrecy clauses in the contracts was not an easy pill to swallow for most of them." Sarael slowly nodded.

He felt quite disgruntled. Dealing with the complaining Pillar Houses was exhausting. Maybe outright telling them to either agree or fuck off was not the best course of action but... eh, it annoyed them so Sarael was happy.

Not that they could get the same service anywhere else so he knew they would eventually come crawling back.

"Still, since Sirzechs vouched for you, the worries of many families eased. They are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and trust that you will do nothing... nefarious with their unconscious relatives." Sarael snickered while comfortably leaning into his chair.

"Of course." Tom rolled his eyes with a small amused grin, "What could I get from some unconscious old geezers anyway? More importantly, the profit?" Tom eagerly leaned forward. He didn't set a price, leaving this fully up to Sarael.

Money was not all that important to Tom. He wasn't like other magicians who needed millions for their research. Tom was using his Sacred Gear that, more often than not, showed him the correct direction so he could skip most of the costly parts.

Because of that, his bank accounts were swelling, the money there staying mostly unused.

But Tom was curious what price tag would Sarael put on his curing services considering the old devil would get a twenty percent cut.

Sarael's lips stretched into a cut-throat smile, "Fifty million per person."

Hearing him, Tom involuntarily coughed and felt Natasha's hands momentarily stiffen on his shoulders. They both were surprised as heck at the ruthlessness of Sarael to his own race. Then again, some of these were his political enemies so...

"Two Phoenix Tears, huh?" Tom wryly mused, "It's kind of a fair price for curing something the Phoenix Tears can't cure, and yet, it is also overpriced as heck." He chuckled, his eyes almost sparkling with mirth.

Yup, letting Sarael decide the pricing was a good choice. Very good choice, indeed.

"Exactly! We are totally scamming them in a way that makes them happy! Isn't that just beautiful?" The delighted Sarael almost moaned from satisfaction surging through him at the thought.

Tom shook his head, putting his hand on Natasha's hand and inclining his head back to look at her with a tender smile, "Looks like we will be busy for the upcoming few months, eh?"

Natasha perked up, a genuine and large smile blooming on her face as her arms snaked around Tom's neck, resting on his chest while she leaned forward, hugging him from behind. "Mhm. I can't wait."

They both snickered as if enjoying some internal joke and Sarael was left hanging, furrowing his eyebrows at them.

They got a lot closer since he last saw them.

Natasha wasn't a usual part of their meetings so Sarael didn't get a lot of chances to see them interact but damn if they were not close. All those little gestures between them almost screamed that they were screwing.

And was it just him or did the woman's hair become a tad bit more crimson?

Weird...