Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Tenrou Island.
December 15, x784.
While battles were waged on different parts of Tenrou Island, Erza, with her [Soul Weapon] stabbed into the ground in front of her, and her hands resting on its poml, waited in front of the giant tree at the center of Tenrou Island.
Though it seed as if she was simply standing in place, if one were to look closely, they would be able to see her eyes darting from one tree to another.
"I think this waiting ga has gone on for long enough." Erza said in her uniquely authoritative tone. "But if you would rather hide and see if my patience will give out, I have no problem cutting down all the trees in this stretch of the forest to take away all your hiding spots."
After Erza's speech, silence ensued for a few seconds. Then just as Erza pulled her sword from the ground, the tree closest to her began to distort as a tall, heavily muscled, tan-skinned man with ssy, thick, dark brown hair that jutted out in all directions erged from its trunk.
With his form now completely visible, it could be seen that he had brown eyes and long sideburns that connected his hair and goatee, which looked like three triangles hanging from his chin as well as an upward pointing triangle that grew upwards. On top of that, he had a long, straight scar that ran over his left eye reaching from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his cheek bone. He also wore an earring on each ear in the shape of a crescent moon.
As for attire, He wore what appeared to be an orange bodysuit with a tribal motif. On top of that, covering his upper body, he wore a light green leather armor that highlighted his muscular abs and pecs. There were also a pair of dark gray shoulder pads that extended down to his elbows with lighter accents.
"It would seem you truly could detect , woman." The man said in a stoic tone. "It would seem I've underestimated you. Though, I would rather not fight a woman. The lack of strength inherent to the gender does not interest …"
*Swish!*
Before the man could speak any further, however, he was forced to take a step back, rging into the tree he had just erged from, when Erza appeared in front of him with her sword slashing at his neck.
"Underestimating simply because I am a woman is a mistake you may not survive long enough to regret." Erza said as she looked towards another tree.
"I see." The man said as he erged from the tree at the end of Erza's line of sight. "It seems I've found exactly what I'm looking for. A battle that I will rember for the rest of my life."
As the man finished speaking, the tree that he had just rged into to escape Erza's slash began sliding apart diagonally, as Erza had cleaved it in two with one slash.
"I am Azuma of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory." The man, Azuma, said, introducing himself with a battle thirsty grin. "May I ask your na, Warrior?"
"You may refer to as Erza Scarlet." Erza replied while pointing her sword at Azuma with a stern expression on her face. "Now tell , why have you co here?"
"That's quite simple." Azuma replied. "Our master made it clear that the wizards of Fairy Tail would be weakened significantly if I were to topple the tree at the center of this island. But now, none of that matters. As I have found sothing much more interesting. Now, fight , Erza Scarlet. Let feel the exhilaration of a good fight."
With that, Azuma raised his right hand in Erza's direction. At the sa ti, he reached his left hand back and placed it on the tree behind him.
"[Bleve]." Azuma chanted.
*Boom!*
In the next instant, the area surrounding Erza exploded, engulfing her in flas. However, before too much ti could pass, Erza burst out of the explosion clad in her [Fla Empress Armor] with her [Soul Weapon] engulfed in [Fire Magic].
"Excellent!" Azuma exclaid in excitent. "Now, don't disappoint . [Burst Claw]."
Before Erza could get too close, she was forced to a stop when a tree root swiped at her from underground.
*Shing!*
"So, you have control over trees." Erza said as she cut through the root, and it caught fire due to the [Fire magic] on her sword. "I suspected as much---"
*Boom!*
While she spoke, the root she cut through exploded, cutting of what she had to say. Still, just like before, Erza simply charged through the explosion and shortened the distance between herself and Azuma.
And Erza's deductions were correct, despite being interrupted. Azuma used a type of Lost Magic] known as [The Great Tree Arc]. This magic allowed Azuma to grow and manipulate trees not to ntion creating explosions from the fruit that grew on those trees. But the most powerful ability of this magic was the ability to control the energy in the earth. Which was what he used to create the first Explosion he used in the fight.
"Even if you can sohow make the trees you control explode, you won't break through my [Fla Empress Armor]." Erza declared as she slashed her sword at Azuma once again.
This ti, however, instead of rging into the tree behind him, Azuma evaded the slash with minimal movent. Then, with his magic power concentrated on his right fist, he threw a punch at Erza's abdon.
Reacting quickly, Erza raised her left leg. Using her grieve, she knocked Azuma's fist to her left. Then, she slashed her sword upward along the previous trajectory.
In response, Azuma, following the montum of his deflected punch, swung his body and threw his right foot at the tree behind him. Then, as soon as his foot made contact with the tree's trunk, a root burst from the ground and pushed Erza's sword off course.
*Boom!*
In the next instant, the root exploded. And although Erza took little damage from the explosion, due to her unstable posture, she was blown backwards from the explosion's force. At the sa ti, Azuma escaped the explosion by rging into the tree, once again, just before it was destroyed in the explosion.
Then, before Erza could regain her balance, Azuma's upper body extended from the bottom of a tree branch with his right hand extended towards Erza.
"[Linear Explosion]." Azuma chanted as he used the earth's energy to create a linear shockwave from his outstretched hand to the ground directly below Erza.
*Boom!*
Yet another explosion was triggered when the shockwave impacted the ground. And when the dust settled, Erza was revealed laying in the bottom of a crater. Surprisingly, her [Fla Empress Armor] had been shattered by the force of the shockwave. Though, it would appear that she had not suffered much damage from the explosion, despite the fact that her hair was disheveled, and she was covered in soot.
"[Chain Burst]." Azuma chanted before Erza can regain her bearings.
Imdiately, roots, one for each of Erza's limbs, burst through the ground and wrap themselves around the scarlet-haired wizard's arms and legs. Then, from their bases, they begin exploding.
"Enough." Erza muttered. "[Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor]."
In the next instant, Erza was covered in the light of her magic. Then, she reappeared in the [Heaven's Wheel Armor] with two dozen swords floating around her.
Controlling four of the swords telekinetically, Erza cut the roots wrapped around her limbs and quickly flew upward, avoiding the ensuing explosion. At the sa ti, she sent another four swords in Azuma's direction.
Reacting quickly, Azuma rged back into the tree just before the branch he had erged from was severed.
Like that, Erza and Azuma engage in a ga of cat and mouse for the next fifteen, or so, minutes, with Azuma trying to erge from a tree and send an attack Erza's way, only for a group of at least four swords to swarm his location. Then, before he can launch his attack, he retreats into the tree he was using to hide.
As a result of this ga, many of the trees in the area were heavily damaged with most of them being cut down. Still, neither combatant was able to land a powerful attack on the other.
There were only a few exceptions to the destruction Erza's swords have brought to this part of the forest. And that would be the three trees closest to Erza. As Azuma felt that they were too close to the sword wielding wizard to chance erging from them. Until now, that is.
Understanding that Erza had a way to track him while he moved through the trees. Though not knowing to what extent. Azuma sent a pulse of his magic power into several trees in the distance. anwhile, he slowly erged from the tree behind Erza.
Then, once he had fully erged, Azuma spread his arms in grandiose fashion.
"[Tower Burst]." Azuma chanted.
"Finally." Erza said at the sa ti. Then, she spun on her heels and summoned another dozen swords around her. "[Blunblatt]."
As the two chanted simultaneously, a number of things happened in short order. First, Erza, along with her swords sped towards Azuma at speeds neither she nor her swords had reached since the battle started. Second, the area in Azuma's imdiate surroundings erupted into a pillar of flas that reached above the crown of the tallest tree in the forest, not including the Great Tenrou Tree. Third, Erza sped out of the flas before she was engulfed for too long. And lastly, Erza continued speeding forward as the pillar of flas turned into a huge explosion.
A few monts later, the explosion died down, and Erza returned to the spot where the last confrontation took place. And when she arrived, she saw that there were no longer any trees standing in that section of the forest. On top of that, she found Azuma lying in the middle of the crater created by that giant explosion.
Saying that Azuma had seen better days would be a vast understatent. Though he was unaffected by the explosion caused by his magic, he was still covered in burns. Or rather, burned wounds that were cauterized after Erza's swords sailed past him. Plus, there was a large X-shaped wound that covered his entire torso. And lastly, the light in his eyes had diminished, though his corpse was wearing a satisfied grin.
"*Sigh* It would seem that the only thing you desired was a good battle." Erza said, regret in her tone. "I wonder how things would have turned out if there was a platform for you to test your skills and strength against others at a similar level"
With that said, Erza could not help but shake her head. Still, she had no pity for the man as he had attacked her guild. And those who attack Fairy Tail would rarely receive rcy.
anwhile, back on the island's shore, Makarov was watching Alfonzo battle Hades with relative ease. Despite Hades vast array of magic spells, Alfonzo seed to have a counter for them all.
If Hades used his [Chain Magic], Alfonzo would deflect the chains with his tonfa while occasionally sending electric shocks through the chains to keep Hades on his toes. If he used his [Amaterasu Formulas], Alfonzo would simply create a blob of Techno Organic tal, and have it throw off the formulas. And if Hades used his [Bullet Magic], Alfonzo would simply create small chunks of tal and hurl them to intercept.
Alfonzo even managed to negate [Grimoire Law] by creating an adamantine do whose inside was lined with anti-magic sigils. around Hades. While he did the sa for a spell Hades called [Katsu]. Except the adamantine do was placed around himself and the anti-magic sigils were on the outside of the do.
All the while, seeming just to get under Hades skin, Alfonzo did not forget to call out the outco of a fight every ti the wizards from Fairy Tail defeated their opponents.
"Has that boy really grown so much?" Makarov asked as he rembered everything he had seen Alfonzo do over the last hour, or so. Then, he shook his head as he continued. "I really am getting old. I think it's ti that I stepped down as the guild master. The only question is who is suitable to take my place."
anwhile, as Alfonzo casually avoided Hades' attacks, he was starting to get bored of the repetition.
'Seriously, Lici finished like forty minutes ago.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'Why's she taking so long to get here?'
"Hey, Fonzie, did you miss ?" Alfonzo heard Elicia's voice as a thin thread wrapped around his waist. "Sorry I took so long. I've already checked the inside of the ship and found the [Demon's Heart]. Now that you're connected to with my [Hiding in Plain Sight] spell, you should be able to feel my threads that were wrapped around the pedestal it was sitting on, right?"
Checking the scan from [Magic Power Detection] once again, Alfonzo could, indeed, feel Elicia's threads wrapped around a tal pedestal aboard the Grimoire Heart airship.
"Good work, Lici." Alfonzo whispered with a smile. "And did you manage to get any other goodies from the ship?"
"Yeah." Elicia replied with a smile of her own. Then, Alfonzo heard the sound of Elicia patting sothing vigorously. "I took every magic book I could find. I didn't have the ti to see what they were, though. So, we have no idea if they'll be useful or not. I don't know if I missed anything, either. I an, I was running on a ti crunch, after all."
"Well, since I plan on taking the airship for myself, I think we can take our ti to look for any hidden compartnts later." Alfonzo whispered as his smile widened. "And what about Bluenote?"
"Choked him out, wrapped him up with my threads, and slapped a pair of anti-magic cuffs on him for good asure." Elicia replied.
"Nice." Alfonzo whispered, his smile growing as wide as it could.
At that mont, Alfonzo felt Erza's opponent's, Azuma's, magic power signature disappear completely.
"Oh, and that's seven, Old Man." Alfonzo said in a mocking tone. "I guess those Seven Kin of Purgatory of yours weren't all that great, huh?"
"I grow tired of your mockery, Boy!" Hades shouted angrily.
"Really?" Alfonzo asked disdainfully. "Then, why don't you stop holding back and use that shitty little eye you've got hidden under that fucking patch? Since, it seems like you're the one mocking if you won't even use everything you have in our little fight."
"You should be careful what you ask for, Boy." Hades said angrily as he reached for the patch covering his right eye. "But since you've, indeed, asked for it, I will let you see your demise."
With that, Hades ripped the patch off of his right eye. At the sa ti, Alfonzo used his [tal Magic] to control the pedestal where the [Demon's Heart] sat. Then, he controlled the sa tal to pierce the [Demon's Heart] before ripping it to pieces.
"Now, behold the beginning of your end… Urgh." Hade said in an imposing manner before he grabbed at his heart. Then, when he noticed that his heart was no longer connected to the [Demon's Heart] on the airship, he looked at Alfonzo with fury. "What have you done?"
"You shouldn't worry about what I've done and focus on what I'm about to do." Alfonzo said with a grin as he lowered his stance. "And that's…"
Before he finished, however, Alfonzo vanished from where he stood in a burst of speed. Then, he reappeared in front of Hades and used his tonfa to knock him into the sky.
"[Electromagnetism Magic: Flash Point]." Alfonz chanted as a pair of electrically charged rails appeared on either side of him.
Alfonzo was then shot into the sky, smashing his tonfa into Hades' head and torso as he passed by. Then, before his montum could die out, another pair of rails appeared around him and shot him back towards Hades as he once again struck the elderly mage with his tonfa.
The process repeated itself nearly twenty tis before Alfonzo ceased his attack and allowed the heavily injured Hades to fall to the ground again.
"… kick your ass." Alfonzo said, finishing his earlier sentence as he landed next to the unconscious Hades.
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