Chapter 365: Song of Vi tory
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As the sun started climbing in the sky the ground on the island below was buzzing with activity after the lookout had sighted the massive fleet of sh.i.p.s in the distance, except this time the same sense of urgency wasn't there as before. Since they already knew that the fleet would arrive that day, and had spent the previous day erecting their defenses, the people on Tenrou Island were mostly just trying to organize themselves while also adding any finishing touches to their defenses before the fleet arrived.
Among them was Mirajane as she made her rounds waking people up and spreading word about the fleet being sighted, until her rounds brought her to the house she had watched instantly appear two days prior. After hesitating for a brief second, Mirajane made herself knock on the door before calling out though it,
"Excuse me, but is anyone awake in there?"
"...."
Only silence answered her, making Mirajane consider what the best course of action was for several seconds since Alex and the other were evidentially still sleeping. Eventually she just grabbed the door handle to see if it was locked, before throwing the door open and hurriedly making her way inside to wake them. The second she took a couple steps inward though and left the entryway, Mirajane was greeted with the sight of n.a.k.e.d Alex and Shizuku, along with the sound of flash smacking and the two panting and m.o.a.ning.
With her long black hair falling in front of her face due to being out of its usual ponytail, it took Shizuku a moment to notice Mirajane standing there staring at them in sheer shock. "W-wait...stop!" Shizuku cried out in alarm as Alex continued to pound her, and she reached down to grab one of the couch cushions to cover herself with. Alex on the other hand continued to f.u.c.k her as Shizuku's inner walls squeezed him harder due to someone watching them, while he also turned towards the still shell shocked Mirajane and asked as if nothing was wrong,
"What's up? Did you want to join in?" Finally recovering from the shock of the scene she had inadvertently stumbled upon, Mirajane immediately turned and fled while crying out,
"Please excuse me!" Completely forgetting what she had come to say to begin, the front slammed behind her as Alex continues to thrust into Shizuku as if nothing happened.
"You're horrible..." Shizuku groaned as she struggled to regain her grip on the back of the couch, letting the cushion fall back onto the couch after Mirajane fled. Alex smirked and whispered into her ear,
"And who was it that decided to try and seduce me before everyone got up this morning, my naughty little Kunoichi~?"
"Th-that wasn't my intention at all...." Shizuku muttered in protest, but she was unable to put any real effort into refuting Alex's question as, if she was truly that against him attacking her, then she would have just gotten completely dressed instead of going to start making breakfast in nothing but an apron, which was now laying forgotten on the floor behind them.
Alex then gave her even less room to fight back, by suddenly grabbing Shizuku's left leg and bringing it up so that her ankle rested on his right shoulder, putting her in a perfect split as he continued to pound the tight little slit in the middle. With all of her balance now being on her right foot, all Shizuku could do was hold onto the couch as tightly as possible while Alex brought her closer to her inevitable climax, during which he also made sure to cream pie her as much as possible.
With both of them glistening a little after their morning exertion, Alex put Shizuku's leg back down before gently wrapping his arms around her and rolling over the back of the couch with her. Together the duo just laid there contently while enjoying the other's presence, until Shizuku absentmindedly said,
"I wonder what Mirajane wanted..." As she recalled the scene from earlier, her cheeks became slightly red once again at showing such a thing to someone they had met just a couple days prior. Alex however didn't mind it as he said,
"She probably came to let us know that they spotted the enemy in the distance, and are getting ready for the battle." Shizuku was silent for a few minutes after she heard this, before saying,
"We should probably get up and ready then...." Alex only nodded slowly while saying, "probably...", but neither of them made to get up from the other's embrace. Instead they continued laying there together on the couch until someone else woke up and went to get something to eat, Moka, wearing nothing but a lacy black thong.
The moment she saw the duo on the couch she c.o.c.ked an eyebrow and said, "Really? After everything in the baths and spending most of the night with that masochistic maid, you're still going at it?" Alex smirked at her question and grabbed both of Shizuku's asscheeks while saying,
"When I'm presented such a nice piece of ass first thing in the morning, how can I possibly refuse?" Moka just rolled her eyes at him before saying,
"In that case then you won't mind if I have a 'bite' then, right?" This time it was Alex's turn to role his eyes, since he knew that both Moka and Yue would want to feed on him in preparation for the coming battle. Instead of answering he just simply tilted his head to the side to expose his neck, allowing Moka to sink her greedy fangs into him while he absentmindedly continued playing with Shizuku's butt.
This went on until they heard a sudden commotion from the other room, and a half n.a.k.e.d Lucy appeared in complete panic as she cried out,
"It's morning already?! There's so much we have to do!" She then began to run too and fro trying to get ready without even seeming to notice the presence of Alex, Moka, or Shizuku. Eventually Alex motioned for the two girls to let him up, before he went to the frantic Lucy and lightly chopped her on the top of her head.
"Ow.. What was that for?" She asked with slightly tears eyes, to which Alex only said,
"Breath Lucy. In, and out. In, and out. Better?" After over a minute of her taking in slow and steady breaths, Lucy finally seemed to calm down as she slowly nodded her head. Alex smiled and quickly stole a kiss from her before saying, "Good."
He then glanced back to Moka and Shizuku before asking, "Can the two of you go and make sure everyone else is getting up? We should probably start getting ready." The duo nodded and headed back to their room, while Alex looked back to Lucy and said,
"Can you go and tell Markarov and the others we'll be out shortly?" Lucy nodded slowly and went to leave, but before she could Alex gently grabbed her hand and said, "Hey..." Lucy turned to look back at him curiously and he continued,
"I won't let anything happen to any of your guild mates, understand?" Lucy paused slightly when he heard him, before a large smile appeared on her face as she said,
"I know!" Lucy then turned and left the house to help her comrades, while Alex smiled affectionately after her departure.
A little over an hour later, everyone filed out of their temporary home to find almost every other person on the island buzzing around like a bunch of bees as they prepared for the inevitable battle. Of course when Markarov noticed them he immediately made his way over and said,
"About time you all decided to join us! Now we need to know, how exactly did you intend to participate in this battle?" They needed to know exactly what kind of help they could expect from Alex and his comrades during the upcoming fight, so they could plan their own movements accordingly. What he didn't expect was for Alex to say,
"Actually we're going to mostly stay out of this battle. We'll help with healing and other magical support, but for the most part this is your battle, not ours. You can expect me to wait until one of the generals show up before I myself move, unless the situation is just that dire." Though Markarov initially frowned and furrowed his brows when he heard that, he eventually sighed in acceptance since they couldn't honestly expect Alex and his girls to do all of the fighting for them.
Of course his acceptance was then tested as Alex proceeded to go to a certain shady area that overlooked the beach that would become the battle ground, before producing an entire dining table set large enough for Alex and each of the women accompanying him. Afterwards he summoned enough cutlery and dishes to cover the entire thing, before Rias, Grayfia, and Shia all started piling some of the food they had been preparing onto it.
"Help yourself," Alex said as he started loading up his own plate with food.
"What is all this?!" Markarov asked incredulously, even as more people started looking at them curiously. Alex however simply shrugged and replied,
"I thought it was obvious, we're having our breakfast." Markarov's brow twitched in irritation as he fought the temptation to go off onto Alex and the others, and instead he tried to focus his attention on the more important matters, only for Natsu to suddenly arrive and say,
"Don't worry master, we can beat all of our opponents even without their help! I'll bet I can even take on the general by myself!" As he declared so Natsu punched his open palm with his other hand, releasing a small burst of flames as he did so. Suddenly, another new voice cried out,
"What are talking about Salamander?! If anyone's gonna beat the general it'll be me!" Gajeel announced as he entered the conversation, making Natsu glare at him menacingly before challenging,
"Wanna bet metal head?" The two then began butting heads and looked as if they were about to come to blows, before Markarov's own head suddenly enlarged as he activated his Giant magic and shouted,
"GET TO WORK YOU TWO IDIOTS!"
Without another word the dragon slayer duo immediately took off to escape Markarov's wrath, leaving Alex and co to chuckle at their expense as they watched them flee. As for Natsu or Gajeel being the ones to try and fight the general, he didn't really care. Either they saved him a fight with a troublesome opponent, or he'd be able to get a chance to see what kind of powers this particular general had before he inevitably stepped in to save them.
The day then slowly passed as those on Tenrou Island anxiously awaited the start of the battle, while the line of sh.i.p.s on the horizon grew ever larger and ever darker from their numbers. Despite his carefree attitude as he ate and relaxed through the day, Alex kept his eye on the horizon as he wondered at the sheer numbers of the force they were about to fight.
As he watched the sh.i.p.s appear Alex couldn't help but recall the one fight that still left a bitter taste in his mouth, his slaughter of of the remainder of the followers of Ehito. Over ten thousand people had died to his hand that night, not that Alex regretted it. Instead the part that haunted him was that they had burned and slaughtered their way through several villages before he had put them down, capturing and raping the women as they pleased in order to insult the new 'goddess' he had tried to introducers their world, Gabriel.
"What's wrong?" Anne asked him suddenly, shaking Alex from his thoughts as he looked back over the water and said,
"Nothing, just trying to figure out why they haven't attacked yet." Though the first of the sh.i.p.s had been sighted right as the sun rose, they hadn't yet made landfall despite it already being past noon. Instead they were apparently waiting for the entirety of their forces to gather and recuperate to attack at once, rather than to steadily fall upon them like a great unending army.
When their airship at their head did in fact start moving, Alex sat up noticeably as he stared out over the water. "They're coming." He said out loud, alerting all of those around whim who hadn't noticed yet.
"Finally!" Natsu declared as a hint of flames danced across his skin, while the other mages started moving.
"GET INTO YOUR FORMATIONS!" Erza cried out as she led the way to the stretch of land between them and the water that would serve as their battleground.
In the forefront were the mages like Natsu, Gajeel, and Erza, those who were experts in close quarters combat that seemed more like magic warriors than mages; while the rear lines would be those like Lucy who weren't good at close combat, but could support or cover those ahead of them. Meanwhile the towers that dotted the areas around them and the wall had any mages that were skilled with long range magic such as marksmanship, like Bisca and Alzack.
While they were getting into position, the endless wave of sh.i.p.s steadily approached as they dyed the blue expanse black and brown. Once they got close enough a volley of fire, ice, wind, lightning, and even earth went up from them towards the beach, but never even made it to the impromptu wall. Instead they collided against a previously invisible wall that shimmered with runes in each place it was struck.
"'No magic cast by our enemies shall pass here.'" Said a noble looking man with light green hair flowing past his shoulders, Freed Justine of the Thunder God Tribe, as he simultaneously pulled out a rapier.
With its tip glowing in case he needed to draw more runes, Freed carefully scrutinized his walls for any signs of damage as they endured attack after attack without faltering, while the first of the sh.i.p.s started unloading their passengers. The second the dark mages and mercenaries felt solid ground beneath their feet, they shot off towards the wall with malicious grins while shouting all manner of vicious jeers and insults. However they quickly encountered the first sets of traps as walls of runes suddenly sprung up around them to seal entire groups in.
"'To exit only one must be left standing.'"
"'Once activated all oxygen will be removed for ten minutes.'"
As the traps activated one after another entire groups of people either started fighting to death, or fell to their knees as they desperately tried to take in a breath. Those who somehow managed to avoid the traps, quickly found their way to the invisible wall that was stopping their attacks.
"'None who do not bear the marks of Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, or Mermaid Heel may pass!'"
As Freed declared, anyone who didn't have their respective guild marks was unable to get past the rune wall, resulting in a bit of a pileup of bodies as they tried to force their way through. It was at this point that Erza, who was now equipped with a silver armor that's top was akin to a metallic bladed bikini, with a long blade and cloth skirt and had what appeared to be metallic blade-like wings on her back, shouted,
"THIS IS WHERE WE FIGHT! CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!"
On her command wave after wave of magic attacks were unleashed upon the sitting ducks that were piled in front of the wall, while Erza herself led the charge with a storm of swords swirling around her to cut down her foes. The plan was for her to lead the close combat fighters, like Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, Leon, Elfman, Lisanna, and so on, just past the wall that Freed had created to directly fight the opponents while the mages in the rear spammed as many attacks as possible since their magic could pass through the wall.
As he watched the mages surge forward and magic start flying everywhere, Alex turned towards Sun with a meaningful look, making Sun nod in acknowledgment as she stood and stepped forward. She then summoned her white feathery wings as they spread wide, and opened her mouth to produce the most beautiful sound any of them had ever heard.
"W-what is this?!" Markarov and the other guild masters asked in astonishment nearby, as they suddenly felt as if they were overflowing with magic power and energy. Meanwhile out on the battlefield the effects of Sun's song were even more noticeable, as she used her 'Vocal Layering' skill to sing several songs at once to best benefit them. Among them was her 'Healing Hymn', to heal any damage the mages might take, 'Melody of Mystery', to boost their magic, and 'Battle Cry' to boost their strength.
Mixed in with these songs was also her signature 'Siren in the Dark', a song that was secretly dealing minute amounts of damage to the interior of the opponents bodies. With her song slowly but surely weakening their opponents bodies without them knowing, it was that much easier for the allied mages to defeat them when they actually fought them.
As Sun sang her songs, Kurumu also stood as she began setting up a powerful illusion around them, preventing anyone from being able to spy on them either normally or magically. With them cloaked from any prying eyes, and Sun providing more than a little assistance, Alex and the other sat back and watched the battle unfold with sharp eyes until,
SWOOSH!
KABOOOOOOOOM!
An mass of dark energy zipped at them from the the flagship airship, making the entire battle pause as the rune wall that Freed spent hours building the day before shattered almost instantly. Silence settled over the battlefield as everyone took in what happened, before a resounding cheer went up from the attackers as Freed muttered in disbelief,
"Th-that can't be...!"
He and the rest of the allied Mage guilds didn't have the time to be distracted though, as the attacking dark guild members and mercenaries immediately seized the momentum of the battle after the annoying barrier blocking their way was destroyed.
"That won't do." Alex muttered suddenly as he stood up, surprising those around him as he closed his eyes and took in a slight breath.
***
Shortly before the battle began, hundreds of miles away from it, a trio of individuals sat in a lounge as they awaited a certain moment. The only movement was when the person sitting in the middle of a luxurious couch lifted his hand to inspect it, as it shifted from a normal persons to the pitch black scales and claws of a dragon.
Changing it back again, Darius muttered to himself, "Interesting..." As there was nothing else to be heard in the room except silence as they waited, Alice couldn't help but to look over at him and ask,
"What's so interesting?" Releasing a sigh of annoyance, Darius considered ignoring the s.l.u.tty Saiyan until he figured that she'd just keep annoying him until he gave in and answered.
"What I find interesting is that now I not only possess the knowledge and magic of Zeref himself, but even his Curse of Ankhseram and the immortality that comes with it. Not only that but I also acquired Fairy Heart and, with Zeref's knowledge, am able to use the infinite magic power within to fuel myself. On top of all that I now possess the strength and power of the most disastrous being to ever exist in this world, Acnologia. Now I can't help but wonder at my own strength, and how I'm supposed to best improve on it."
After he managed to defeat and absorb Acnologia, Darius had reached the next milestone to acquire a brand new power from the system, but he was having a hard time trying to decided what to get due to how powerful he already was. A notification stating that Hyato was trying to contact him put the thought on hold though, as he immediately answered and asked,
"Are you ready to begin?" Hyato nodded in the image he was projecting to them, and stated,
"We waited so that our men could regroup and recuperate after working so hard to get here so soon, but now they're all rearing and ready to go."
"Good." Darius said after a moment of contemplation, deciding that it was better for the army to fight at its peak than to rush immediately into battle with those who typically bullshitted their way through battles with the 'power of friendship'.
With nothing else said, Hyato then returned from his private quarters to the command room of the airship where Hades and the others were waiting for him. When they saw him arrive, Jiemma, the former master of Sabertooth, eagerly asked,
"Is it finally time?" Hyato nodded slowly and said,
"It's time, begin the attack." At his command those in charge of communications sent out the word to attack, through magic artifacts that Darius had created and distributed, and even a user or two of Archive, and shortly after dozens of sh.i.p.s that were heavy with their soldiers started moving forward. As they did Jiemma's daughter, Minerva, stepped up to Hyato's side and asked curiously,
"I thought you aid you'd be leading the charge yourself? Pray tell what changed?" Hyato's brows twitched in irritation at her obvious implication, before he stated,
"Only a fool would willingly be the first to step foot onto a battlefield in which the enemy has had enough time to set up numerous traps for us to fall into, especially so when those traps were undoubtedly set up by none other than Fairy Tail's Freed Justine. Not even you or your father would be able to easily escape from them." With both the father and the daughter appearing more that little miffed at his words, Minerva snorted while saying,
"They're just a handful of those pathetic little Mage guilds, I'll never understand why you or the Dark Emperor seems to take them so seriously." With roughly everyone within the control room, including the present members of Grimoire Heart, nodding or murmuring in agreement, Hyato just shook his head without saying anything. This was the biggest problem with working with people from dark guilds, as they were all exceedingly arrogant and didn't realize the drive people could have when they were forced into a fight for their life. The best example of this was Natsu and Erza, the former of which was largely considered the weaker between the two, yet he regularly surpassed her whenever he needed to fight any 'final bosses' that had appeared, aka plot armor.
Without bothering to either explain this or argue with Minerva, Hyato simply turned back to watch the events unfold before them. With the giant windshield of the airship acting somewhat similarly to a magical computer monitor, they were able to use it to zoom in and watch the battle as if they were a lot closer than they actually were. What they saw was, as Hyato predicted, their men getting trapped in various traps placed by Freed, as well as a few other more rudimentary traps such as pitfalls and such. What surprised Hyato was that when some of their men tried to go around the traps, and the giant magic wall preventing them from attacking properly, they were then attacked by a multitude of plants of all things, giant Venus flytraps, vines that constricted them and slowly squeezed them to death, and even a few poisonous plants or fungi that kill them almost instantly.
Hyato frowned as he watched their people either kill each other, suffocate, fall into holes that had who knows what at the bottom, and even collapse while bleeding from every opening in their face from whatever toxin they touched or breathed in. While he wasn't particularly worried about deaths on their side, the fact that they were dying without gaining any ground was worrying. With the mages of the allied guilds now cutting through their ranks like they were nothing, Hyato decided that they needed a push to gain at least a little bit of ground before he personally entered the battle.
"Balance Break!" He muttered to himself, summoning both his Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing armor at once. Covered head to toe in a mixture of deep red and brilliant white armor, along with a pair of blue and white wings, Hyato solemnly stepped out onto the balcony of the airship where the winds were howling at him. He then summoned a magic mass of dark magic power in his outstretched hand, before his armor suddenly shouted,
The mass of black magic suddenly started swelling in size until it was several times larger than when he first created it, before Hyato suddenly sent it flying past the point where the fighting was happening, into the great magical wall preventing them from advancing. In an instant the wall shattered, and the moral of their troops went through the roof before they once again began their rush forwards.
Satisfied with his work, Hyato returned to the interior of the airship before smugly saying to Jiemma, "You can join the troops now if you want, since I went ahead and cleared the way for you." The former master of Sabertooth snorted before responding,
"I could have done that myself if I was out there, but now I'll finally get the chance to show those shitty brats what for!" Without another word Jiemma left to go join the fight, making everyone present, his own daughter included, let out a sigh of relief that he was finally gone.
Their relief was short lived though, as everyone suddenly felt what seemed like a wave of energy pass through them from the island that continued until it had passed by each of their sh.i.p.s.
"What was that?" Hades asked in confusion, before everyone went wide eyed as the lower grunts that were in the room suddenly collapsed while foaming at the mouth.
"Is this some kind of wide range sleep spell?" Ultear asked incredulously as someone went to examine those who were unconscious. However Hades quickly said,
"I've never seen a sleep spell with these effects before, let alone covering this wide of an area and affecting this many people..." While Hades discussed the phenomenon with the other members of Grimoire Heart, Hyato felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
'Impossible! Here?! Now?!' He mentally shouted at himself in shock at the sudden event, as never in his wildest dreams did Hyato imagine that another reincarnator would have already met up with Fairy Tail, especially right as they prepared to wipe them all out. The worst part was that their goal was to recruit any reincarnators they encountered to their cause, meaning that Hyato couldn't just mindlessly grind experience on the people here.
'That's not necessarily the case.' A voice suddenly said in his head, making Hyato look up instinctively before he realized it was Darius speaking to him through the system.
'This could just be type of magic with a similar effect as Conquerer's Haki, there's no need to immediately jump to conclusions about something like this. Continue as you planned unless another reincarnator does appear.'
With his emperor having spoken, Hyato could only follow his decree as ordered his men to redouble the attack, and for those who hadn't fallen unconscious to also join the fray.
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As the sun started climbing in the sky the ground on the island below was buzzing with activity after the lookout had sighted the massive fleet of sh.i.p.s in the distance, except this time the same sense of urgency wasn't there as before. Since they already knew that the fleet would arrive that day, and had spent the previous day erecting their defenses, the people on Tenrou Island were mostly just trying to organize themselves while also adding any finishing touches to their defenses before the fleet arrived.
Among them was Mirajane as she made her rounds waking people up and spreading word about the fleet being sighted, until her rounds brought her to the house she had watched instantly appear two days prior. After hesitating for a brief second, Mirajane made herself knock on the door before calling out though it,
"Excuse me, but is anyone awake in there?"
"...."
Only silence answered her, making Mirajane consider what the best course of action was for several seconds since Alex and the other were evidentially still sleeping. Eventually she just grabbed the door handle to see if it was locked, before throwing the door open and hurriedly making her way inside to wake them. The second she took a couple steps inward though and left the entryway, Mirajane was greeted with the sight of n.a.k.e.d Alex and Shizuku, along with the sound of flash smacking and the two panting and m.o.a.ning.
With her long black hair falling in front of her face due to being out of its usual ponytail, it took Shizuku a moment to notice Mirajane standing there staring at them in sheer shock. "W-wait...stop!" Shizuku cried out in alarm as Alex continued to pound her, and she reached down to grab one of the couch cushions to cover herself with. Alex on the other hand continued to f.u.c.k her as Shizuku's inner walls squeezed him harder due to someone watching them, while he also turned towards the still shell shocked Mirajane and asked as if nothing was wrong,
"What's up? Did you want to join in?" Finally recovering from the shock of the scene she had inadvertently stumbled upon, Mirajane immediately turned and fled while crying out,
"Please excuse me!" Completely forgetting what she had come to say to begin, the front slammed behind her as Alex continues to thrust into Shizuku as if nothing happened.
"You're horrible..." Shizuku groaned as she struggled to regain her grip on the back of the couch, letting the cushion fall back onto the couch after Mirajane fled. Alex smirked and whispered into her ear,
"And who was it that decided to try and seduce me before everyone got up this morning, my naughty little Kunoichi~?"
"Th-that wasn't my intention at all...." Shizuku muttered in protest, but she was unable to put any real effort into refuting Alex's question as, if she was truly that against him attacking her, then she would have just gotten completely dressed instead of going to start making breakfast in nothing but an apron, which was now laying forgotten on the floor behind them.
Alex then gave her even less room to fight back, by suddenly grabbing Shizuku's left leg and bringing it up so that her ankle rested on his right shoulder, putting her in a perfect split as he continued to pound the tight little slit in the middle. With all of her balance now being on her right foot, all Shizuku could do was hold onto the couch as tightly as possible while Alex brought her closer to her inevitable climax, during which he also made sure to cream pie her as much as possible.
With both of them glistening a little after their morning exertion, Alex put Shizuku's leg back down before gently wrapping his arms around her and rolling over the back of the couch with her. Together the duo just laid there contently while enjoying the other's presence, until Shizuku absentmindedly said,
"I wonder what Mirajane wanted..." As she recalled the scene from earlier, her cheeks became slightly red once again at showing such a thing to someone they had met just a couple days prior. Alex however didn't mind it as he said,
"She probably came to let us know that they spotted the enemy in the distance, and are getting ready for the battle." Shizuku was silent for a few minutes after she heard this, before saying,
"We should probably get up and ready then...." Alex only nodded slowly while saying, "probably...", but neither of them made to get up from the other's embrace. Instead they continued laying there together on the couch until someone else woke up and went to get something to eat, Moka, wearing nothing but a lacy black thong.
The moment she saw the duo on the couch she c.o.c.ked an eyebrow and said, "Really? After everything in the baths and spending most of the night with that masochistic maid, you're still going at it?" Alex smirked at her question and grabbed both of Shizuku's asscheeks while saying,
"When I'm presented such a nice piece of ass first thing in the morning, how can I possibly refuse?" Moka just rolled her eyes at him before saying,
"In that case then you won't mind if I have a 'bite' then, right?" This time it was Alex's turn to role his eyes, since he knew that both Moka and Yue would want to feed on him in preparation for the coming battle. Instead of answering he just simply tilted his head to the side to expose his neck, allowing Moka to sink her greedy fangs into him while he absentmindedly continued playing with Shizuku's butt.
This went on until they heard a sudden commotion from the other room, and a half n.a.k.e.d Lucy appeared in complete panic as she cried out,
"It's morning already?! There's so much we have to do!" She then began to run too and fro trying to get ready without even seeming to notice the presence of Alex, Moka, or Shizuku. Eventually Alex motioned for the two girls to let him up, before he went to the frantic Lucy and lightly chopped her on the top of her head.
"Ow.. What was that for?" She asked with slightly tears eyes, to which Alex only said,
"Breath Lucy. In, and out. In, and out. Better?" After over a minute of her taking in slow and steady breaths, Lucy finally seemed to calm down as she slowly nodded her head. Alex smiled and quickly stole a kiss from her before saying, "Good."
He then glanced back to Moka and Shizuku before asking, "Can the two of you go and make sure everyone else is getting up? We should probably start getting ready." The duo nodded and headed back to their room, while Alex looked back to Lucy and said,
"Can you go and tell Markarov and the others we'll be out shortly?" Lucy nodded slowly and went to leave, but before she could Alex gently grabbed her hand and said, "Hey..." Lucy turned to look back at him curiously and he continued,
"I won't let anything happen to any of your guild mates, understand?" Lucy paused slightly when he heard him, before a large smile appeared on her face as she said,
"I know!" Lucy then turned and left the house to help her comrades, while Alex smiled affectionately after her departure.
A little over an hour later, everyone filed out of their temporary home to find almost every other person on the island buzzing around like a bunch of bees as they prepared for the inevitable battle. Of course when Markarov noticed them he immediately made his way over and said,
"About time you all decided to join us! Now we need to know, how exactly did you intend to participate in this battle?" They needed to know exactly what kind of help they could expect from Alex and his comrades during the upcoming fight, so they could plan their own movements accordingly. What he didn't expect was for Alex to say,
"Actually we're going to mostly stay out of this battle. We'll help with healing and other magical support, but for the most part this is your battle, not ours. You can expect me to wait until one of the generals show up before I myself move, unless the situation is just that dire." Though Markarov initially frowned and furrowed his brows when he heard that, he eventually sighed in acceptance since they couldn't honestly expect Alex and his girls to do all of the fighting for them.
Of course his acceptance was then tested as Alex proceeded to go to a certain shady area that overlooked the beach that would become the battle ground, before producing an entire dining table set large enough for Alex and each of the women accompanying him. Afterwards he summoned enough cutlery and dishes to cover the entire thing, before Rias, Grayfia, and Shia all started piling some of the food they had been preparing onto it.
"Help yourself," Alex said as he started loading up his own plate with food.
"What is all this?!" Markarov asked incredulously, even as more people started looking at them curiously. Alex however simply shrugged and replied,
"I thought it was obvious, we're having our breakfast." Markarov's brow twitched in irritation as he fought the temptation to go off onto Alex and the others, and instead he tried to focus his attention on the more important matters, only for Natsu to suddenly arrive and say,
"Don't worry master, we can beat all of our opponents even without their help! I'll bet I can even take on the general by myself!" As he declared so Natsu punched his open palm with his other hand, releasing a small burst of flames as he did so. Suddenly, another new voice cried out,
"What are talking about Salamander?! If anyone's gonna beat the general it'll be me!" Gajeel announced as he entered the conversation, making Natsu glare at him menacingly before challenging,
"Wanna bet metal head?" The two then began butting heads and looked as if they were about to come to blows, before Markarov's own head suddenly enlarged as he activated his Giant magic and shouted,
"GET TO WORK YOU TWO IDIOTS!"
Without another word the dragon slayer duo immediately took off to escape Markarov's wrath, leaving Alex and co to chuckle at their expense as they watched them flee. As for Natsu or Gajeel being the ones to try and fight the general, he didn't really care. Either they saved him a fight with a troublesome opponent, or he'd be able to get a chance to see what kind of powers this particular general had before he inevitably stepped in to save them.
The day then slowly passed as those on Tenrou Island anxiously awaited the start of the battle, while the line of sh.i.p.s on the horizon grew ever larger and ever darker from their numbers. Despite his carefree attitude as he ate and relaxed through the day, Alex kept his eye on the horizon as he wondered at the sheer numbers of the force they were about to fight.
As he watched the sh.i.p.s appear Alex couldn't help but recall the one fight that still left a bitter taste in his mouth, his slaughter of of the remainder of the followers of Ehito. Over ten thousand people had died to his hand that night, not that Alex regretted it. Instead the part that haunted him was that they had burned and slaughtered their way through several villages before he had put them down, capturing and raping the women as they pleased in order to insult the new 'goddess' he had tried to introducers their world, Gabriel.
"What's wrong?" Anne asked him suddenly, shaking Alex from his thoughts as he looked back over the water and said,
"Nothing, just trying to figure out why they haven't attacked yet." Though the first of the sh.i.p.s had been sighted right as the sun rose, they hadn't yet made landfall despite it already being past noon. Instead they were apparently waiting for the entirety of their forces to gather and recuperate to attack at once, rather than to steadily fall upon them like a great unending army.
When their airship at their head did in fact start moving, Alex sat up noticeably as he stared out over the water. "They're coming." He said out loud, alerting all of those around whim who hadn't noticed yet.
"Finally!" Natsu declared as a hint of flames danced across his skin, while the other mages started moving.
"GET INTO YOUR FORMATIONS!" Erza cried out as she led the way to the stretch of land between them and the water that would serve as their battleground.
In the forefront were the mages like Natsu, Gajeel, and Erza, those who were experts in close quarters combat that seemed more like magic warriors than mages; while the rear lines would be those like Lucy who weren't good at close combat, but could support or cover those ahead of them. Meanwhile the towers that dotted the areas around them and the wall had any mages that were skilled with long range magic such as marksmanship, like Bisca and Alzack.
While they were getting into position, the endless wave of sh.i.p.s steadily approached as they dyed the blue expanse black and brown. Once they got close enough a volley of fire, ice, wind, lightning, and even earth went up from them towards the beach, but never even made it to the impromptu wall. Instead they collided against a previously invisible wall that shimmered with runes in each place it was struck.
"'No magic cast by our enemies shall pass here.'" Said a noble looking man with light green hair flowing past his shoulders, Freed Justine of the Thunder God Tribe, as he simultaneously pulled out a rapier.
With its tip glowing in case he needed to draw more runes, Freed carefully scrutinized his walls for any signs of damage as they endured attack after attack without faltering, while the first of the sh.i.p.s started unloading their passengers. The second the dark mages and mercenaries felt solid ground beneath their feet, they shot off towards the wall with malicious grins while shouting all manner of vicious jeers and insults. However they quickly encountered the first sets of traps as walls of runes suddenly sprung up around them to seal entire groups in.
"'To exit only one must be left standing.'"
"'Once activated all oxygen will be removed for ten minutes.'"
As the traps activated one after another entire groups of people either started fighting to death, or fell to their knees as they desperately tried to take in a breath. Those who somehow managed to avoid the traps, quickly found their way to the invisible wall that was stopping their attacks.
"'None who do not bear the marks of Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, or Mermaid Heel may pass!'"
As Freed declared, anyone who didn't have their respective guild marks was unable to get past the rune wall, resulting in a bit of a pileup of bodies as they tried to force their way through. It was at this point that Erza, who was now equipped with a silver armor that's top was akin to a metallic bladed bikini, with a long blade and cloth skirt and had what appeared to be metallic blade-like wings on her back, shouted,
"THIS IS WHERE WE FIGHT! CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!"
On her command wave after wave of magic attacks were unleashed upon the sitting ducks that were piled in front of the wall, while Erza herself led the charge with a storm of swords swirling around her to cut down her foes. The plan was for her to lead the close combat fighters, like Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, Leon, Elfman, Lisanna, and so on, just past the wall that Freed had created to directly fight the opponents while the mages in the rear spammed as many attacks as possible since their magic could pass through the wall.
As he watched the mages surge forward and magic start flying everywhere, Alex turned towards Sun with a meaningful look, making Sun nod in acknowledgment as she stood and stepped forward. She then summoned her white feathery wings as they spread wide, and opened her mouth to produce the most beautiful sound any of them had ever heard.
"W-what is this?!" Markarov and the other guild masters asked in astonishment nearby, as they suddenly felt as if they were overflowing with magic power and energy. Meanwhile out on the battlefield the effects of Sun's song were even more noticeable, as she used her 'Vocal Layering' skill to sing several songs at once to best benefit them. Among them was her 'Healing Hymn', to heal any damage the mages might take, 'Melody of Mystery', to boost their magic, and 'Battle Cry' to boost their strength.
Mixed in with these songs was also her signature 'Siren in the Dark', a song that was secretly dealing minute amounts of damage to the interior of the opponents bodies. With her song slowly but surely weakening their opponents bodies without them knowing, it was that much easier for the allied mages to defeat them when they actually fought them.
As Sun sang her songs, Kurumu also stood as she began setting up a powerful illusion around them, preventing anyone from being able to spy on them either normally or magically. With them cloaked from any prying eyes, and Sun providing more than a little assistance, Alex and the other sat back and watched the battle unfold with sharp eyes until,
SWOOSH!
KABOOOOOOOOM!
An mass of dark energy zipped at them from the the flagship airship, making the entire battle pause as the rune wall that Freed spent hours building the day before shattered almost instantly. Silence settled over the battlefield as everyone took in what happened, before a resounding cheer went up from the attackers as Freed muttered in disbelief,
"Th-that can't be...!"
He and the rest of the allied Mage guilds didn't have the time to be distracted though, as the attacking dark guild members and mercenaries immediately seized the momentum of the battle after the annoying barrier blocking their way was destroyed.
"That won't do." Alex muttered suddenly as he stood up, surprising those around him as he closed his eyes and took in a slight breath.
***
Shortly before the battle began, hundreds of miles away from it, a trio of individuals sat in a lounge as they awaited a certain moment. The only movement was when the person sitting in the middle of a luxurious couch lifted his hand to inspect it, as it shifted from a normal persons to the pitch black scales and claws of a dragon.
Changing it back again, Darius muttered to himself, "Interesting..." As there was nothing else to be heard in the room except silence as they waited, Alice couldn't help but to look over at him and ask,
"What's so interesting?" Releasing a sigh of annoyance, Darius considered ignoring the s.l.u.tty Saiyan until he figured that she'd just keep annoying him until he gave in and answered.
"What I find interesting is that now I not only possess the knowledge and magic of Zeref himself, but even his Curse of Ankhseram and the immortality that comes with it. Not only that but I also acquired Fairy Heart and, with Zeref's knowledge, am able to use the infinite magic power within to fuel myself. On top of all that I now possess the strength and power of the most disastrous being to ever exist in this world, Acnologia. Now I can't help but wonder at my own strength, and how I'm supposed to best improve on it."
After he managed to defeat and absorb Acnologia, Darius had reached the next milestone to acquire a brand new power from the system, but he was having a hard time trying to decided what to get due to how powerful he already was. A notification stating that Hyato was trying to contact him put the thought on hold though, as he immediately answered and asked,
"Are you ready to begin?" Hyato nodded in the image he was projecting to them, and stated,
"We waited so that our men could regroup and recuperate after working so hard to get here so soon, but now they're all rearing and ready to go."
"Good." Darius said after a moment of contemplation, deciding that it was better for the army to fight at its peak than to rush immediately into battle with those who typically bullshitted their way through battles with the 'power of friendship'.
With nothing else said, Hyato then returned from his private quarters to the command room of the airship where Hades and the others were waiting for him. When they saw him arrive, Jiemma, the former master of Sabertooth, eagerly asked,
"Is it finally time?" Hyato nodded slowly and said,
"It's time, begin the attack." At his command those in charge of communications sent out the word to attack, through magic artifacts that Darius had created and distributed, and even a user or two of Archive, and shortly after dozens of sh.i.p.s that were heavy with their soldiers started moving forward. As they did Jiemma's daughter, Minerva, stepped up to Hyato's side and asked curiously,
"I thought you aid you'd be leading the charge yourself? Pray tell what changed?" Hyato's brows twitched in irritation at her obvious implication, before he stated,
"Only a fool would willingly be the first to step foot onto a battlefield in which the enemy has had enough time to set up numerous traps for us to fall into, especially so when those traps were undoubtedly set up by none other than Fairy Tail's Freed Justine. Not even you or your father would be able to easily escape from them." With both the father and the daughter appearing more that little miffed at his words, Minerva snorted while saying,
"They're just a handful of those pathetic little Mage guilds, I'll never understand why you or the Dark Emperor seems to take them so seriously." With roughly everyone within the control room, including the present members of Grimoire Heart, nodding or murmuring in agreement, Hyato just shook his head without saying anything. This was the biggest problem with working with people from dark guilds, as they were all exceedingly arrogant and didn't realize the drive people could have when they were forced into a fight for their life. The best example of this was Natsu and Erza, the former of which was largely considered the weaker between the two, yet he regularly surpassed her whenever he needed to fight any 'final bosses' that had appeared, aka plot armor.
Without bothering to either explain this or argue with Minerva, Hyato simply turned back to watch the events unfold before them. With the giant windshield of the airship acting somewhat similarly to a magical computer monitor, they were able to use it to zoom in and watch the battle as if they were a lot closer than they actually were. What they saw was, as Hyato predicted, their men getting trapped in various traps placed by Freed, as well as a few other more rudimentary traps such as pitfalls and such. What surprised Hyato was that when some of their men tried to go around the traps, and the giant magic wall preventing them from attacking properly, they were then attacked by a multitude of plants of all things, giant Venus flytraps, vines that constricted them and slowly squeezed them to death, and even a few poisonous plants or fungi that kill them almost instantly.
Hyato frowned as he watched their people either kill each other, suffocate, fall into holes that had who knows what at the bottom, and even collapse while bleeding from every opening in their face from whatever toxin they touched or breathed in. While he wasn't particularly worried about deaths on their side, the fact that they were dying without gaining any ground was worrying. With the mages of the allied guilds now cutting through their ranks like they were nothing, Hyato decided that they needed a push to gain at least a little bit of ground before he personally entered the battle.
"Balance Break!" He muttered to himself, summoning both his Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing armor at once. Covered head to toe in a mixture of deep red and brilliant white armor, along with a pair of blue and white wings, Hyato solemnly stepped out onto the balcony of the airship where the winds were howling at him. He then summoned a magic mass of dark magic power in his outstretched hand, before his armor suddenly shouted,
The mass of black magic suddenly started swelling in size until it was several times larger than when he first created it, before Hyato suddenly sent it flying past the point where the fighting was happening, into the great magical wall preventing them from advancing. In an instant the wall shattered, and the moral of their troops went through the roof before they once again began their rush forwards.
Satisfied with his work, Hyato returned to the interior of the airship before smugly saying to Jiemma, "You can join the troops now if you want, since I went ahead and cleared the way for you." The former master of Sabertooth snorted before responding,
"I could have done that myself if I was out there, but now I'll finally get the chance to show those shitty brats what for!" Without another word Jiemma left to go join the fight, making everyone present, his own daughter included, let out a sigh of relief that he was finally gone.
Their relief was short lived though, as everyone suddenly felt what seemed like a wave of energy pass through them from the island that continued until it had passed by each of their sh.i.p.s.
"What was that?" Hades asked in confusion, before everyone went wide eyed as the lower grunts that were in the room suddenly collapsed while foaming at the mouth.
"Is this some kind of wide range sleep spell?" Ultear asked incredulously as someone went to examine those who were unconscious. However Hades quickly said,
"I've never seen a sleep spell with these effects before, let alone covering this wide of an area and affecting this many people..." While Hades discussed the phenomenon with the other members of Grimoire Heart, Hyato felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
'Impossible! Here?! Now?!' He mentally shouted at himself in shock at the sudden event, as never in his wildest dreams did Hyato imagine that another reincarnator would have already met up with Fairy Tail, especially right as they prepared to wipe them all out. The worst part was that their goal was to recruit any reincarnators they encountered to their cause, meaning that Hyato couldn't just mindlessly grind experience on the people here.
'That's not necessarily the case.' A voice suddenly said in his head, making Hyato look up instinctively before he realized it was Darius speaking to him through the system.
'This could just be type of magic with a similar effect as Conquerer's Haki, there's no need to immediately jump to conclusions about something like this. Continue as you planned unless another reincarnator does appear.'
With his emperor having spoken, Hyato could only follow his decree as ordered his men to redouble the attack, and for those who hadn't fallen unconscious to also join the fray.
As the sun started climbing in the sky the ground on the island below was buzzing with activity after the lookout had sighted the massive fleet of sh.i.p.s in the distance, except this time the same sense of urgency wasn't there as before. Since they already knew that the fleet would arrive that day, and had spent the previous day erecting their defenses, the people on Tenrou Island were mostly just trying to organize themselves while also adding any finishing touches to their defenses before the fleet arrived. Among them was Mirajane as she made her rounds waking people up and spreading word about the fleet being sighted, until her rounds brought her to the house she had watched instantly appear two days prior. After hesitating for a brief second, Mirajane made herself knock on the door before calling out though it, "Excuse me, but is anyone awake in there?" "...." Only silence answered her, making Mirajane consider what the best course of action was for several seconds since Alex and the other were evidentially still sleeping. Eventually she just grabbed the door handle to see if it was locked, before throwing the door open and hurriedly making her way inside to wake them. The second she took a couple steps inward though and left the entryway, Mirajane was greeted with the sight of n.a.k.e.d Alex and Shizuku, along with the sound of flash smacking and the two panting and m.o.a.ning. With her long black hair falling in front of her face due to being out of its usual ponytail, it took Shizuku a moment to notice Mirajane standing there staring at them in sheer shock. "W-wait...stop!" Shizuku cried out in alarm as Alex continued to pound her, and she reached down to grab one of the couch cushions to cover herself with. Alex on the other hand continued to f.u.c.k her as Shizuku's inner walls squeezed him harder due to someone watching them, while he also turned towards the still shell shocked Mirajane and asked as if nothing was wrong, "What's up? Did you want to join in?" Finally recovering from the shock of the scene she had inadvertently stumbled upon, Mirajane immediately turned and fled while crying out, "Please excuse me!" Completely forgetting what she had come to say to begin, the front slammed behind her as Alex continues to thrust into Shizuku as if nothing happened. "You're horrible..." Shizuku groaned as she struggled to regain her grip on the back of the couch, letting the cushion fall back onto the couch after Mirajane fled. Alex smirked and whispered into her ear, "And who was it that decided to try and seduce me before everyone got up this morning, my naughty little Kunoichi~?" "Th-that wasn't my intention at all...." Shizuku muttered in protest, but she was unable to put any real effort into refuting Alex's question as, if she was truly that against him attacking her, then she would have just gotten completely dressed instead of going to start making breakfast in nothing but an apron, which was now laying forgotten on the floor behind them. Alex then gave her even less room to fight back, by suddenly grabbing Shizuku's left leg and bringing it up so that her ankle rested on his right shoulder, putting her in a perfect split as he continued to pound the tight little slit in the middle. With all of her balance now being on her right foot, all Shizuku could do was hold onto the couch as tightly as possible while Alex brought her closer to her inevitable climax, during which he also made sure to cream pie her as much as possible. With both of them glistening a little after their morning exertion, Alex put Shizuku's leg back down before gently wrapping his arms around her and rolling over the back of the couch with her. Together the duo just laid there contently while enjoying the other's presence, until Shizuku absentmindedly said, "I wonder what Mirajane wanted..." As she recalled the scene from earlier, her cheeks became slightly red once again at showing such a thing to someone they had met just a couple days prior. Alex however didn't mind it as he said, "She probably came to let us know that they spotted the enemy in the distance, and are getting ready for the battle." Shizuku was silent for a few minutes after she heard this, before saying, "We should probably get up and ready then...." Alex only nodded slowly while saying, "probably...", but neither of them made to get up from the other's embrace. Instead they continued laying there together on the couch until someone else woke up and went to get something to eat, Moka, wearing nothing but a lacy black thong. The moment she saw the duo on the couch she c.o.c.ked an eyebrow and said, "Really? After everything in the baths and spending most of the night with that masochistic maid, you're still going at it?" Alex smirked at her question and grabbed both of Shizuku's asscheeks while saying, "When I'm presented such a nice piece of ass first thing in the morning, how can I possibly refuse?" Moka just rolled her eyes at him before saying, "In that case then you won't mind if I have a 'bite' then, right?" This time it was Alex's turn to role his eyes, since he knew that both Moka and Yue would want to feed on him in preparation for the coming battle. Instead of answering he just simply tilted his head to the side to expose his neck, allowing Moka to sink her greedy fangs into him while he absentmindedly continued playing with Shizuku's butt. This went on until they heard a sudden commotion from the other room, and a half n.a.k.e.d Lucy appeared in complete panic as she cried out, "It's morning already?! There's so much we have to do!" She then began to run too and fro trying to get ready without even seeming to notice the presence of Alex, Moka, or Shizuku. Eventually Alex motioned for the two girls to let him up, before he went to the frantic Lucy and lightly chopped her on the top of her head. "Ow.. What was that for?" She asked with slightly tears eyes, to which Alex only said, "Breath Lucy. In, and out. In, and out. Better?" After over a minute of her taking in slow and steady breaths, Lucy finally seemed to calm down as she slowly nodded her head. Alex smiled and quickly stole a kiss from her before saying, "Good." He then glanced back to Moka and Shizuku before asking, "Can the two of you go and make sure everyone else is getting up? We should probably start getting ready." The duo nodded and headed back to their room, while Alex looked back to Lucy and said, "Can you go and tell Markarov and the others we'll be out shortly?" Lucy nodded slowly and went to leave, but before she could Alex gently grabbed her hand and said, "Hey..." Lucy turned to look back at him curiously and he continued, "I won't let anything happen to any of your guild mates, understand?" Lucy paused slightly when he heard him, before a large smile appeared on her face as she said, "I know!" Lucy then turned and left the house to help her comrades, while Alex smiled affectionately after her departure. A little over an hour later, everyone filed out of their temporary home to find almost every other person on the island buzzing around like a bunch of bees as they prepared for the inevitable battle. Of course when Markarov noticed them he immediately made his way over and said, "About time you all decided to join us! Now we need to know, how exactly did you intend to participate in this battle?" They needed to know exactly what kind of help they could expect from Alex and his comrades during the upcoming fight, so they could plan their own movements accordingly. What he didn't expect was for Alex to say, "Actually we're going to mostly stay out of this battle. We'll help with healing and other magical support, but for the most part this is your battle, not ours. You can expect me to wait until one of the generals show up before I myself move, unless the situation is just that dire." Though Markarov initially frowned and furrowed his brows when he heard that, he eventually sighed in acceptance since they couldn't honestly expect Alex and his girls to do all of the fighting for them. Of course his acceptance was then tested as Alex proceeded to go to a certain shady area that overlooked the beach that would become the battle ground, before producing an entire dining table set large enough for Alex and each of the women accompanying him. Afterwards he summoned enough cutlery and dishes to cover the entire thing, before Rias, Grayfia, and Shia all started piling some of the food they had been preparing onto it. "Help yourself," Alex said as he started loading up his own plate with food. "What is all this?!" Markarov asked incredulously, even as more people started looking at them curiously. Alex however simply shrugged and replied, "I thought it was obvious, we're having our breakfast." Markarov's brow twitched in irritation as he fought the temptation to go off onto Alex and the others, and instead he tried to focus his attention on the more important matters, only for Natsu to suddenly arrive and say, "Don't worry master, we can beat all of our opponents even without their help! I'll bet I can even take on the general by myself!" As he declared so Natsu punched his open palm with his other hand, releasing a small burst of flames as he did so. Suddenly, another new voice cried out, "What are talking about Salamander?! If anyone's gonna beat the general it'll be me!" Gajeel announced as he entered the conversation, making Natsu glare at him menacingly before challenging, "Wanna bet metal head?" The two then began butting heads and looked as if they were about to come to blows, before Markarov's own head suddenly enlarged as he activated his Giant magic and shouted, "GET TO WORK YOU TWO IDIOTS!" Without another word the dragon slayer duo immediately took off to escape Markarov's wrath, leaving Alex and co to chuckle at their expense as they watched them flee. As for Natsu or Gajeel being the ones to try and fight the general, he didn't really care. Either they saved him a fight with a troublesome opponent, or he'd be able to get a chance to see what kind of powers this particular general had before he inevitably stepped in to save them. The day then slowly passed as those on Tenrou Island anxiously awaited the start of the battle, while the line of sh.i.p.s on the horizon grew ever larger and ever darker from their numbers. Despite his carefree attitude as he ate and relaxed through the day, Alex kept his eye on the horizon as he wondered at the sheer numbers of the force they were about to fight. As he watched the sh.i.p.s appear Alex couldn't help but recall the one fight that still left a bitter taste in his mouth, his slaughter of of the remainder of the followers of Ehito. Over ten thousand people had died to his hand that night, not that Alex regretted it. Instead the part that haunted him was that they had burned and slaughtered their way through several villages before he had put them down, capturing and raping the women as they pleased in order to insult the new 'goddess' he had tried to introducers their world, Gabriel. "What's wrong?" Anne asked him suddenly, shaking Alex from his thoughts as he looked back over the water and said, "Nothing, just trying to figure out why they haven't attacked yet." Though the first of the sh.i.p.s had been sighted right as the sun rose, they hadn't yet made landfall despite it already being past noon. Instead they were apparently waiting for the entirety of their forces to gather and recuperate to attack at once, rather than to steadily fall upon them like a great unending army. When their airship at their head did in fact start moving, Alex sat up noticeably as he stared out over the water. "They're coming." He said out loud, alerting all of those around whim who hadn't noticed yet. "Finally!" Natsu declared as a hint of flames danced across his skin, while the other mages started moving. "GET INTO YOUR FORMATIONS!" Erza cried out as she led the way to the stretch of land between them and the water that would serve as their battleground. In the forefront were the mages like Natsu, Gajeel, and Erza, those who were experts in close quarters combat that seemed more like magic warriors than mages; while the rear lines would be those like Lucy who weren't good at close combat, but could support or cover those ahead of them. Meanwhile the towers that dotted the areas around them and the wall had any mages that were skilled with long range magic such as marksmanship, like Bisca and Alzack. While they were getting into position, the endless wave of sh.i.p.s steadily approached as they dyed the blue expanse black and brown. Once they got close enough a volley of fire, ice, wind, lightning, and even earth went up from them towards the beach, but never even made it to the impromptu wall. Instead they collided against a previously invisible wall that shimmered with runes in each place it was struck. "'No magic cast by our enemies shall pass here.'" Said a noble looking man with light green hair flowing past his shoulders, Freed Justine of the Thunder God Tribe, as he simultaneously pulled out a rapier. With its tip glowing in case he needed to draw more runes, Freed carefully scrutinized his walls for any signs of damage as they endured attack after attack without faltering, while the first of the sh.i.p.s started unloading their passengers. The second the dark mages and mercenaries felt solid ground beneath their feet, they shot off towards the wall with malicious grins while shouting all manner of vicious jeers and insults. However they quickly encountered the first sets of traps as walls of runes suddenly sprung up around them to seal entire groups in. "'To exit only one must be left standing.'" "'Once activated all oxygen will be removed for ten minutes.'" As the traps activated one after another entire groups of people either started fighting to death, or fell to their knees as they desperately tried to take in a breath. Those who somehow managed to avoid the traps, quickly found their way to the invisible wall that was stopping their attacks. "'None who do not bear the marks of Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, or Mermaid Heel may pass!'" As Freed declared, anyone who didn't have their respective guild marks was unable to get past the rune wall, resulting in a bit of a pileup of bodies as they tried to force their way through. It was at this point that Erza, who was now equipped with a silver armor that's top was akin to a metallic bladed bikini, with a long blade and cloth skirt and had what appeared to be metallic blade-like wings on her back, shouted, "THIS IS WHERE WE FIGHT! CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!" On her command wave after wave of magic attacks were unleashed upon the sitting ducks that were piled in front of the wall, while Erza herself led the charge with a storm of swords swirling around her to cut down her foes. The plan was for her to lead the close combat fighters, like Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, Leon, Elfman, Lisanna, and so on, just past the wall that Freed had created to directly fight the opponents while the mages in the rear spammed as many attacks as possible since their magic could pass through the wall. As he watched the mages surge forward and magic start flying everywhere, Alex turned towards Sun with a meaningful look, making Sun nod in acknowledgment as she stood and stepped forward. She then summoned her white feathery wings as they spread wide, and opened her mouth to produce the most beautiful sound any of them had ever heard. "W-what is this?!" Markarov and the other guild masters asked in astonishment nearby, as they suddenly felt as if they were overflowing with magic power and energy. Meanwhile out on the battlefield the effects of Sun's song were even more noticeable, as she used her 'Vocal Layering' skill to sing several songs at once to best benefit them. Among them was her 'Healing Hymn', to heal any damage the mages might take, 'Melody of Mystery', to boost their magic, and 'Battle Cry' to boost their strength. Mixed in with these songs was also her signature 'Siren in the Dark', a song that was secretly dealing minute amounts of damage to the interior of the opponents bodies. With her song slowly but surely weakening their opponents bodies without them knowing, it was that much easier for the allied mages to defeat them when they actually fought them. As Sun sang her songs, Kurumu also stood as she began setting up a powerful illusion around them, preventing anyone from being able to spy on them either normally or magically. With them cloaked from any prying eyes, and Sun providing more than a little assistance, Alex and the other sat back and watched the battle unfold with sharp eyes until, SWOOSH! KABOOOOOOOOM! An mass of dark energy zipped at them from the the flagship airship, making the entire battle pause as the rune wall that Freed spent hours building the day before shattered almost instantly. Silence settled over the battlefield as everyone took in what happened, before a resounding cheer went up from the attackers as Freed muttered in disbelief, "Th-that can't be...!" He and the rest of the allied Mage guilds didn't have the time to be distracted though, as the attacking dark guild members and mercenaries immediately seized the momentum of the battle after the annoying barrier blocking their way was destroyed. "That won't do." Alex muttered suddenly as he stood up, surprising those around him as he closed his eyes and took in a slight breath. *** Shortly before the battle began, hundreds of miles away from it, a trio of individuals sat in a lounge as they awaited a certain moment. The only movement was when the person sitting in the middle of a luxurious couch lifted his hand to inspect it, as it shifted from a normal persons to the pitch black scales and claws of a dragon. Changing it back again, Darius muttered to himself, "Interesting..." As there was nothing else to be heard in the room except silence as they waited, Alice couldn't help but to look over at him and ask, "What's so interesting?" Releasing a sigh of annoyance, Darius considered ignoring the s.l.u.tty Saiyan until he figured that she'd just keep annoying him until he gave in and answered. "What I find interesting is that now I not only possess the knowledge and magic of Zeref himself, but even his Curse of Ankhseram and the immortality that comes with it. Not only that but I also acquired Fairy Heart and, with Zeref's knowledge, am able to use the infinite magic power within to fuel myself. On top of all that I now possess the strength and power of the most disastrous being to ever exist in this world, Acnologia. Now I can't help but wonder at my own strength, and how I'm supposed to best improve on it." After he managed to defeat and absorb Acnologia, Darius had reached the next milestone to acquire a brand new power from the system, but he was having a hard time trying to decided what to get due to how powerful he already was. A notification stating that Hyato was trying to contact him put the thought on hold though, as he immediately answered and asked, "Are you ready to begin?" Hyato nodded in the image he was projecting to them, and stated, "We waited so that our men could regroup and recuperate after working so hard to get here so soon, but now they're all rearing and ready to go." "Good." Darius said after a moment of contemplation, deciding that it was better for the army to fight at its peak than to rush immediately into battle with those who typically bullshitted their way through battles with the 'power of friendship'. With nothing else said, Hyato then returned from his private quarters to the command room of the airship where Hades and the others were waiting for him. When they saw him arrive, Jiemma, the former master of Sabertooth, eagerly asked, "Is it finally time?" Hyato nodded slowly and said, "It's time, begin the attack." At his command those in charge of communications sent out the word to attack, through magic artifacts that Darius had created and distributed, and even a user or two of Archive, and shortly after dozens of sh.i.p.s that were heavy with their soldiers started moving forward. As they did Jiemma's daughter, Minerva, stepped up to Hyato's side and asked curiously, "I thought you aid you'd be leading the charge yourself? Pray tell what changed?" Hyato's brows twitched in irritation at her obvious implication, before he stated, "Only a fool would willingly be the first to step foot onto a battlefield in which the enemy has had enough time to set up numerous traps for us to fall into, especially so when those traps were undoubtedly set up by none other than Fairy Tail's Freed Justine. Not even you or your father would be able to easily escape from them." With both the father and the daughter appearing more that little miffed at his words, Minerva snorted while saying, "They're just a handful of those pathetic little Mage guilds, I'll never understand why you or the Dark Emperor seems to take them so seriously." With roughly everyone within the control room, including the present members of Grimoire Heart, nodding or murmuring in agreement, Hyato just shook his head without saying anything. This was the biggest problem with working with people from dark guilds, as they were all exceedingly arrogant and didn't realize the drive people could have when they were forced into a fight for their life. The best example of this was Natsu and Erza, the former of which was largely considered the weaker between the two, yet he regularly surpassed her whenever he needed to fight any 'final bosses' that had appeared, aka plot armor. Without bothering to either explain this or argue with Minerva, Hyato simply turned back to watch the events unfold before them. With the giant windshield of the airship acting somewhat similarly to a magical computer monitor, they were able to use it to zoom in and watch the battle as if they were a lot closer than they actually were. What they saw was, as Hyato predicted, their men getting trapped in various traps placed by Freed, as well as a few other more rudimentary traps such as pitfalls and such. What surprised Hyato was that when some of their men tried to go around the traps, and the giant magic wall preventing them from attacking properly, they were then attacked by a multitude of plants of all things, giant Venus flytraps, vines that constricted them and slowly squeezed them to death, and even a few poisonous plants or fungi that kill them almost instantly. Hyato frowned as he watched their people either kill each other, suffocate, fall into holes that had who knows what at the bottom, and even collapse while bleeding from every opening in their face from whatever toxin they touched or breathed in. While he wasn't particularly worried about deaths on their side, the fact that they were dying without gaining any ground was worrying. With the mages of the allied guilds now cutting through their ranks like they were nothing, Hyato decided that they needed a push to gain at least a little bit of ground before he personally entered the battle. "Balance Break!" He muttered to himself, summoning both his Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing armor at once. Covered head to toe in a mixture of deep red and brilliant white armor, along with a pair of blue and white wings, Hyato solemnly stepped out onto the balcony of the airship where the winds were howling at him. He then summoned a magic mass of dark magic power in his outstretched hand, before his armor suddenly shouted, The mass of black magic suddenly started swelling in size until it was several times larger than when he first created it, before Hyato suddenly sent it flying past the point where the fighting was happening, into the great magical wall preventing them from advancing. In an instant the wall shattered, and the moral of their troops went through the roof before they once again began their rush forwards. Satisfied with his work, Hyato returned to the interior of the airship before smugly saying to Jiemma, "You can join the troops now if you want, since I went ahead and cleared the way for you." The former master of Sabertooth snorted before responding, "I could have done that myself if I was out there, but now I'll finally get the chance to show those shitty brats what for!" Without another word Jiemma left to go join the fight, making everyone present, his own daughter included, let out a sigh of relief that he was finally gone. Their relief was short lived though, as everyone suddenly felt what seemed like a wave of energy pass through them from the island that continued until it had passed by each of their sh.i.p.s. "What was that?" Hades asked in confusion, before everyone went wide eyed as the lower grunts that were in the room suddenly collapsed while foaming at the mouth. "Is this some kind of wide range sleep spell?" Ultear asked incredulously as someone went to examine those who were unconscious. However Hades quickly said, "I've never seen a sleep spell with these effects before, let alone covering this wide of an area and affecting this many people..." While Hades discussed the phenomenon with the other members of Grimoire Heart, Hyato felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest. 'Impossible! Here?! Now?!' He mentally shouted at himself in shock at the sudden event, as never in his wildest dreams did Hyato imagine that another reincarnator would have already met up with Fairy Tail, especially right as they prepared to wipe them all out. The worst part was that their goal was to recruit any reincarnators they encountered to their cause, meaning that Hyato couldn't just mindlessly grind experience on the people here. 'That's not necessarily the case.' A voice suddenly said in his head, making Hyato look up instinctively before he realized it was Darius speaking to him through the system. 'This could just be type of magic with a similar effect as Conquerer's Haki, there's no need to immediately jump to conclusions about something like this. Continue as you planned unless another reincarnator does appear.' With his emperor having spoken, Hyato could only follow his decree as ordered his men to redouble the attack, and for those who hadn't fallen unconscious to also join the fray.
