章 366: The Offer

As they watched roughly half of the enemy forces suddenly collapse, Alex smirked as he took his seat once more before Grayfia hissed,

"I thought you were trying to maintain a sense of secrecy?" Alex nodded in agreement and replied,

"True, but I also said I'd help when the general started showing himself. That attack obviously came from him, so I needed to do something to balance out the favor he gave to his own troops. Besides, it's practically guaranteed that they'll learn about me before the end of the day, and even if we met face to face I doubt Conquerer's Haki would affect any of them too much." Realizing the truth in what he said, Grayfia remained quiet as she continued watching the battle unfold until Markarov approached them and asked,

"What was that magic you used? It reminds me of sleep magic, yet it's also different." Alex smiled wryly at the question, before gave Markarov a quick rundown of Haki and how it wasn't actually magic.

Meanwhile, back at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Darius, Alice, and Calvin were all deathly silent as they contemplated what they just saw.

Do you think it's really 'that'?" Calvin asked Darius, to which the emperor could only say,

"It might be, but then again it might not be. It won't do us any good worrying about something we can't change." Despite how impassive he seemed on the outside though, and what he had said to Hyato before, both Alice and Calvin felt a cold sweat go down their backs from how furious they knew Darius actually was. A reincarnator allying themselves with Fairy Tail now was the worst possible scenario to happen at the worst possible time, since it meant they could help the allied guilds gain the momentum needed to be an actual threat to them before they could leave Earthland.

The biggest problem though would be trying to get the reincarnator to join them.

The first other reincarnator Darius encountered he attempted to use his ability to absorb them and their cheats to add to his arsenal, only to learn that that particular ability didn't work on other reincarnators. Of course he quickly realized that it was understandable with how unbalanced things would be if he could simply take all of the cheats of the other reincarnator's for himself, so he simply killed him. It was then that he learned of the chance to gain one of the abilities that any reincarnator possessed after you kill them, but all he got at that time was a few levels instead.

It was then that Darius arrived at the conclusion that instead of just killing his competitors and risk losing their powers forever, why not force them to submit and make them join him? The friend function of the system prevented them from openly backstabbing each other whenever the opportunity presented itself, making it perfect for gathering a group of allies under him.

In the current situation though it was more than obvious that, if there was a reincarnator amongst Fairy Tail, they had already chosen to be their enemy to the end. Releasing a large sigh, Darius muttered to himself,

"This is why I can't stand wannabe heroes...."

***

As the battle continued the allied guilds steady gained ground as they used the fact that half of their opponents suddenly collapsing to their advantage.

"HOLD!"

Erza suddenly shouted out, her voice carrying unnaturally across the battlefield, making the rest of the fighters pause as she continued,

"REGROUP!"

As she commanded the allied mages gathered back around the opening in the wall, including Natsu and Gajeel once she gave them a death glare. As they regrouped the enemies forces similarly tried to reorganize themselves near their ships after half of their number suddenly collapsed, and Erza began,

"Those of you who are getting tired move back and take a rest, those of you can keep going move up!" As she ordered a few of the older mages started moving back to take a break, while a few that had yet to actually partake in the battle stepped forwards.

Though their numbers were severely lacking compared to their opponents, Markarov and the others weren't dumb enough to send their entire fighting force out at once to begin what would undoubtedly be a very long battle. Instead they kept several their mages in reserve to switch out with those that would get too tired or injured, despite Sun's songs, so that they could have a chance to rest while Wendy and Sherria tended to any wounds they had.

Then the final reserves for if things got too desperate were composed of the most powerful mages that would dominate the battlefield if they fought, such as the guild masters themselves and the most powerful S-class mages such as Gildarts and Jura. And for a final resort, if the need ever arrived, then Markarov was even prepared to use one of Fairy Tail's three supreme magics, Fairy Law, a powerful area of effect spell that would specifically target anyone the user considered an enemy in their heart. Incidentally, it was the original version of this spell that granted Mavis her curse, before she modified into the form that could be used today.

It was also at this moment that Lucy stepped forward alongside another young female Mage with short-cut white hair that look similarly to Lisanna, Yukino of Sabertooth. They weren't going to fight on the front lines themselves though.

Instead, both Lucy and Yukino reached for the keys on their belts before they held up four and two golden keys respectively, Lucy having already promoted to a 'Bishop'.

"Open the gates of the Goat, Lion, Archer, and Scorpion!"

"Open the gates of the Scales and the Paired Fish!"

At their commands there were six flashes of golden light, before it faded to reveal Loke, Taurus, and five new spirits. One was a dark skinned man with red and white hair split down the middle, wearing long red trench coat with a giant scorpion's tail protruding from under it with a gun in its tip. The second was a man who appeared to be wearing strange horse costume with a second horse head atop his own, and held a bow in his hands. Another was a beautiful dark skinned woman dressed in green and yellow dancer's attire, with her face hidden behind a veil and her hair tied up into two extended buns.

The last two were a mature woman and young man duo that made up the two fish Spirit, Pisces. The woman had long dark blue hair that almost appeared black, with a shirt that was left open in the front to expose an ample amount of her cleavage along with her stomach; while the youthful man, her son, had darker skin that was left mostly exposed due to him being shirtless, while his spiky light grey hair fell to middle of his back.

Glancing to the side at how Lucy was able to summon twice as many spirits as her without any discernible effort, Yukino looked forward once more before saying, "Go Pisces, and prevent as many people as possible from reaching the shores!"

As one, the mother-son duo suddenly changed into giant eel-like creatures as they set out to the waterline, before the ocean around the island suddenly started twisting and churning as most of the boats attempting to reach land suddenly found themselves being thrown about like they were small toys.

Meanwhile the dancer Libra used her form of gravity magic to make as many enemies as she could float into the air, before Sagittarius unleashed a storm of arrows onto them once they were clear of their allies. Of course Capricorn, Loke, and Scorpio all headed down into the thick of the fighting themselves to help act as a part of the relief.

With her spirits now participating in the fighting, Lucy took the chance to summon a series of glowing screens as her 'Archive' activated, projecting a giant map of the area that indicated not only the positions of their allies but their enemies as well.

"Gray! Macao needs some help now, he's about to be overrun!" She stated as she watched a group of red dots converge on the green one that indicated Macao. Though there was a brief moment of confusion in which Gray tried to figure out why he was suddenly hearing Lucy's voice in his head, the ice Mage didn't stop to think as he immediately went to assist Macao.

She then similarity proceeded to direct her allies to points where they were needed the most, or direct them out of situations where it seemed as if they were about to be overrun. As she did this her comrades that were nearby couldn't help but to watch her in both amazement and confusion, as they couldn't figure out when she had even managed to learn the magic.

Lucy didn't pay them any mind though as she continued directing people as best as she could through the fight, until a sudden notification caught her attention.

[NOTICE! Loke has leveled up! Sagittarius has leveled up! Capricorn has leveled up! Scorpio has leveled up!]

Not just Lucy, but even Alex and his girls showed some confusion when they heard the notifications coming across Lucy's 'Archive', before a page popped up that had an image of every one of the spirits she had summoned since becoming Alex's 'Pawn'. With the exception of the four spirits she had currently summoned, every image was greyed out to indicate that they currently weren't in use, and they all had a bar next to their name with the words EXP above it.

"Curious..." Alex muttered as he watched the bars fill bit by bit with every person that the spirits killed, recalling similar mechanics from games he had played in the past. Kuroka then muttered,

"Our familiars don't level up as well, do they?" Alex was silent for a moment before saying slowly,

"I think it has to do both with Lucy's connection to my system, and the fact that the majority of her powers rely on summons to begin with." As he said, none of them actively used their familiars to fight their battles for them, so it made sense that, similar to her having a job available specifically for taming, Lucy would be an exception.

"W-what is this?!" Loke exclaimed as he felt his strength increase out of nowhere after he defeated yet another opponent, while he noticed that both Scorpio and Capricorn seemed to feel similarly. Lucy's voice quickly entered his head though as she excitedly exclaimed,

"It's the power of my connection to Alex, the power to help those who fight with me to become stronger!" Naturally those around her looked at both Lucy and Alex in confusion when she mentioned her 'connection' to him, as the way she said it implied more than her simply becoming one of his women.

There was no time to think about it though, as the battle continued and those that had accumulated wounds that Sun's songs were unable to quickly heal arrived to Wendy and Sherria for treatment. Of course, Alex had Yue and Grayfia assist with healing any injuries the two sky slayers couldn't with Regeneration magic.

At that moment Alex suddenly looked up as something caught his attention, before he said, "Yami, Shizuku, we have some guests that decided to be more discreet about arriving on the island. Go, and figure out what their trying to do if you can."

The two girls nodded and turned to leave, but then Lucy suddenly piped up, "Wait! Take Gemini with you!" She then pulled out yet another of her golden keys, and then the Twins suddenly appeared after a flash of light, stunning everyone at how she had managed to summon a fifth zodiac spirit without seeming even the least bit fatigued.

Before they could think about it too much though, Yami and Shizuku suddenly disappeared alongside the Twins as they went to investigate the intruders Alex was talking about. They didn't have to wait very long for their return though, as, with their speed after Yami promoted to a 'Knight', the duo quickly returned with a man who was wrapped in dark cloths and had his face hidden.

Obviously he was Gemini transformed into one of the intruders, who Lucy then asked, "What was their purpose?" Gemini unhesitantly answered,

"They were trying to assassinate Wendy and Sherria to prevent us from being able to heal anyone who got injured. After that they planned to take as many of the guild masters and S-class mages with them as possible before dying." Everyone showed grim expressions when they heard Gemini's words, while Wendy and Sherria even turned a little green from the knowledge that assassins were sent specifically for them.

However a moment later both girls felt a large and heavy hand plop gently down onto their heads before ruffling their hair gently, as Alex said, "Don't worry. As long as I'm here you have nothing to fear, ok?" There was a brief pause after his words, before Wendy lightly slapped her own cheeks to perk herself as, and declared,

"You're right! I have to do what I can to help my guild mates!" She then resumed her work as if nothing happened, however this time there was a fire under her like there wasn't before.

Meanwhile Sherria hesitated for a moment as Alex continued ruffling her hair, before suddenly saying as if she just realized, "Ah! I have to go help too!" She then quickly tried to follow after Wendy, but ended up tripping over a root accidentally in her rush.

"Owee....." Sherria groaned as she tried to push herself up, while most of those around her chuckled lightly at her expense and Alex shook his head from the view that his 'Lucky Pervert' gave him when she fell.

For a moment you almost would have forgotten about the battle going on as Sherria quickly ran off to rejoin her friend, those who watched her chuckled lightly, and Alex's wives glared at him pointedly after he cheered the two girls up. Reality however was unforgiving, as a sudden explosion drew their attention back to the beach just in time for the dust to clear and reveal a figure that a good number of the allied mages didn't want to see.

"STIIIIIIIIING! WHERE ARE YOU YOU LITTLE SHIT STAIN?!"

Jiemma Orland, former guild master of Sabertooth, had entered the battle.

The moment he saw his former guild master's face, the current master of Sabertooth, the White Dragon Slayer Sting Eucliffe, shook with rage as he made to take a step forward to meet his former master in battle, only to be stopped my Markarov.

"I know you want to defeat him Sting," Markarov said slowly, "but you need to trust in your comrades if we are to have any chance of victory." Sting's clenched fist shook in irritation from both Markarov's words and Jiemma's appearance, but he forced himself to calm down before saying in resignation,

"Very well. I'll stay back, for now." Nodding in approval, Markarov and the rest of the guild masters turned back to watch the battle unfold, each one feeling more anxious than they'd ever let on.

Jiemma was strong to begin with, there was no point in denying that, but his strength had only increased even further after going through a demonification process in order to join one of the dark guilds making up the Balam Alliance, Tartarus. Even as this thought crossed their minds, a series of explosions rang out as Jiemma unhesitantly used his Blast magic on those around him, regardless of if they were friend or foe.

"That's quite enough, demon of Tartarus." Jiemma turned towards the one who spoke to him, and a nasty smile spread on his face when he saw them.

"Rogue Cheney. I've been looking forward to this almost as much as I've been looking forward to seeing Sting again!" Rogue stepped forward to face his former guild master unflinchingly, his one visible eye glaring at him.

Without a single word the shadows around them started convening onto Rogue, eager to do his bidding. Jiemma chuckled nastily when he saw that, before he suddenly made the entire area start rippling with minor explosions as he built up his own power.

For a brief moment there was no noise as even those around them anxiously paused their own fighting in order to witness the battle about to take place, before the duo suddenly rushed each other.

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAA!"

With a great shout they quickly closed in on each other, before Rogue suddenly disappeared right before they collided. Without missing a beat though, Jiemma immediately swung his fist around in a wide arc to impact Rogue as the Dragon Slayer appeared from the shadows behind him, resulting in an explosion that sent him flying back before crashing into a tree.

"Pathetic and predictable. I'm so disappointed that my guild has degraded to such a state under that brat's direction, but then again what can I expect from those who readily betrayed their own guild master instead of pursuing real strength?" Rogue spat out a small bit of blood as he quickly regained his feet before facing his former guild master, and spat back at him,

"We didn't betray you instead of pursuing strength, we just weren't as cowardly as you when you decided to beg the dark guilds to let us-" Whatever he was going to say was suddenly cut off when Jiemma suddenly appeared before Rogue faster than he could react, and sank his fist into his gut.

"WHO'S A COWARD YOU FUCKING SHIT STAIN?!" Jiemma roared in fury louder than even the explosion that sent Rogue flying back through several more trees.

What followed was a scene that made several of those who were watching unable to look away from either sheer horror, or pure glee, as Jiemma then proceeded to one sidedly beat Rogue even after he had activated his final trump card, Dragon Force. Naturally several other members of the allied guilds tried to intervene, especially those from Sabertooth, but Jiemma skillfully kept them at bay by using his explosions so that he specifically take his time torturing Rogue, promising that he'll get to all of them in due time.

This continued until there was a sudden crash behind Jiemma, prompting him to turn around to find Elfman Strauss standing behind him. With Lisanna getting him past Jiemma's explosive barrier with her bird form, Elfman directed a fierce glare at the ex-guild master before boldly declaring,

"What kind of MAN beats up on someone who's already lost? How PATHETIC!" Letting Rogue's limp and bloody body fall to the ground, Jiemma turned to face Elfman properly before asking with a sneer,

"And who exactly are you supposed to be little man?" Elfman's glare intensified as his body started enlarging as he assumed the same form he fought Shia with the day before, before roaring in challenge,

"Elfman Strauss, of the Take Over Siblings of Fairy Tail!" Once his transformation was complete Elfman slammed his massive hands against the ground before him in challenge, making the entire area shake from the impact. With Jiemma either not noticing or not caring as Lisanna then used her bird form to retrieve Rogue's body to take him back for healing, he sneered at Elfman before saying,

"Very well then, I'll take care of you before moving onto the rest of those little shits over there!" With the dark mages and mercenaries now working to keep any of the other mages from intervening in Jiemma's fight with Elfman, the duo glared at each other in silence before rushing the other similarly to how the fight with Rogue began.

Meanwhile, back at the area where Wendy and Sherria were treating the wounded, Lisanna arrived with Rogue in her clutches as the two girls immediately tried to see to him. Instead Yue forced her way to the front, before demanding,

"......Leave him to me...." Having already witnessed the miraculous power of Yue and Grayfia's healing magic, the duo could only nod as they returned to any other patients they had, while Lisanna returned to help her brother. Off to the side Alex frowned as he watched the ongoing fights, and started wondering if they should get involved earlier than he thought since Jiemma and other more powerful dark mages were beginning to make an appearance.

Before he could decide though, Alex noticed Mirajane standing off to the side by herself to watch the battle taking place below them. With a certain idea suddenly coming to mind, he stood and went to join her just in time to hear her say,

"Please, keep everyone safe..." Obviously he could tell that she was praying for everyone's safety, however who exactly she was praying to he couldn't say. Instead, he simply said,

"Kinda strange for the Demon to be praying, isn't it?" Startling slightly from not noticing Alex had joined her, Mirajane looked sad after a second and said,

"That's not who I am anymore, and I couldn't do more than this to help anyways, no matter how much I wish otherwise..." Alex nodded slowly at her words, as he also turned to see Jiemma pressuring Elfman as if he was simply playing around. With Mirajane's anxiety going up at the scene, he asked,

"If I said that I could save your siblings, would you ask me to?" The moment she heard that Mirajane looked to Alex with hope as she pleaded,

"Could you really?!" Alex nodded slowly, before he replied,

"Yes, but would you be happy with that?" Mirajane looked confused at his question, so Alex elaborated,

"Would you be happy relying on others for the rest of your life? To have to be the one protected by others, especially your own baby siblings, while you do nothing but pray and beg others for their safety?" Mirajane's fist clenched at Alex's words due to him hitting a sore spot, before she said,

"What else is there for me to do though? I can't use my magic to fight anymore, no matter how much I try..." Alex nodded slowly before saying,

"Indeed. But if given the chance, would you return to the battlefield to protect those you care about with your own two hands, or would you rather stay back here to be protected?" This time Mirajane turned to face him with angry tears in her eyes as she declared,

"Of course I would fight to protect my brother an sister if I could! I hate being stuck here while they endanger themselves!"

"Good." Alex said to her declaration, surprising Mirajane somewhat before he continued,

"But you seem to have forgotten something, you are a demon. Gods don't care about demons in the slightest, and would probably be more willing to harm them than ignore them, praying will never do you any good." Mirajane was again about to demand what Alex thought she should do instead, when he suddenly said,

"Instead, didn't a demon like you ever consider making a deal with the devil?"

The way he said that made Mirajane pause since it seemed as if Alex was trying to imply something, but before she could ask Mirajane thought she noticed something red flash between Alex's fingers.