章 391: Battle Under Crocus; Part 2

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

July, x785.

As Father continued to walk towards Alfonzo, with no preparatory movement, he touched one of the pillars supporting the caves ceiling. Then, in the next instant, a spike extended from the pillar and shot towards Alfonzo, aimed at skewering him through the heart.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that, Dick Head." Alfonzo said without even moving.

As soon as Alfonzo's words fell, the metal spike, though it continued to grow from the pillar, suddenly curved back, aiming at Father's heart, instead.

"It would seem your epitaph is not mere hyperbole." Father said as he raised his left palm in front of the incoming adamantine spike.

Then, seemingly unbothered, Father allowed the spike to pierce his palm. However, instead of drawing blood, the spike's sharp tip began breaking down as soon as it came in contact with his hand.

However, this phenomenon was not limited to just the tip of the spike. Instead, the entire spike, and eventually the entire pillar was broken down into fine particles of sand.

"Are you trying to help me out, or something?" Alfonzo asked with a manic grin on his face. "Either way, thanks, Asshole. [Metal Magic: Metal Sand Coffin]."

A moment later, all the adamantine sand began to float off the cave floor. Then, it created a large dome around Father, before quickly shrinking in size. Then, when the entire pillar's worth of adamantine sand was compressed to a size only slightly larger than Father, Alfonzo shook his head.

'I knew that wouldn't work.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'But I didn't expect him to burrow underground to escape.'

In the next instant, all the adamantine sand Alfonzo controlled shot downward into a hole that was left in the place where Father once stood.

"That's enough!" A bestial roar sounded throughout the cave. "I'm going to tear you apart!"

Turning his head in the roar's direction, Alfonzo saw Erza with her foot on Envy's chest and her sword aimed downward, undoubtedly targeting Envy's Philosopher's Stone. Before she could thrust her sword into the stone, however, Envy's body began sparking with red electricity as it grew.

Leaping backwards, Erza readied herself for whatever Envy was about to throw at her.

Eventually, Envy took on his true form, a large chimera with multiple legs, a canine head, stringy black hair, and numerous faces all over its body.

"Such an ugly creature." Erza said sternly. "To think you actually call yourself a homunculus. How do you qualify as an artificial human?"

"*Roar!* I'll crush you!" Envy shouted in rage.

Before he could charge forward, however, a large man, Sloth, was slammed into Envy's side. On top of that, thin, multi-colored bands were binding Sloth's wrists to his ankles.

Following the bands, Alfonzo saw Marin holding the hills of her kodachi and standing in apposition that would suggest she just swung Sloth into Envy.

"It looks like I don't have to worry about those two." Alfonzo said as he sidestepped to the left. "I guess that means you get my full attention, Cock Sucker."

Just before Alfonzo stepped to the side, a hole opened up behind him. A moment later, Father rose from that hole and extended his hand to touch Alfonzo's back, undoubtedly aiming to use his Philosopher's Stone powered [Alchemy] to destroy Alfonzo's body.

Unfortunately for Father, ever since he sank into the ground, Alfonzo had been using radar waves to track his position.

"[Electromagnetism Magic: Zap Cannon]." Alfonzo chanted as he turned around to face father.

At the same time, Alfonzo raised his left hand, which was accumulating a large amount of violet electricity into a sphere on its palm. Then once his hand was raised, Alfonzo fired it at Father.

Though the heat and the impact from Alfonzo's spell was enough to blow Father away into the corridor leading to the Dragon Graveyard, damage his robes, and even burn away a large amount of the flesh on his chest, Father still managed to pick himself up as if he had not been injured.

There was one thing to note, however. Instead of the burned away flesh revealing the muscles, bones, or organs behind it, there was a black mass with a large eye in their place.

"Father!" Envy shouted as he ignored Erza, Marin, and Sloth to help Father. Then, after a few moments, Envy stopped in front of the place where the door used to be and glared at Alfonzo.

"Erza was right." Alfonzo said while looking over Envy with disdain. "You really are an ugly mother fucker."

Being called ugly for the second time in less than two minutes, Envy's anger spiked to new heights. Then, he lunged at Alfonzo, intending to crush him under one of his front feet.

"You're not very smart, either." Alfonzo said while shaking his head.

A moment later, an adamantine pillar with a pointed end rose from the ground at high speed, skewering Envy through his torso.

"Argh!" Envy shouted in pain as copious amounts of blood fell from the wound in his torso.

A moment later, Sloth was once again flung into Envy's side. Then, before he could fall away, Erza, in her [Black Wing Armor], flew forwards Envy and Sloth at high speed.

"[Tempest]." Erza chanted as she flew past the two homunculi.

Then, once Erza was clear of the two, an innumerable number of cuts appeared on their bodies. Then, they both fell apart into chunks of meat. On top of that, the Philosopher's Stone in Sloth's chest evaporated before it could hit the floor. Apparently, many of Erza's slashes landed on it as she flew past.

At the same time, Alfonzo was forced to dodge to the side, as a stone hand grew from the floor and tried to crush him in its grasp.

"I'll make you pay for what you've done." Father said angrily, his red eyes glowing ominously as he spoke. "Because of you and your guild, my plans have taken much longer to complete than they should have."

Although unintentional, many times over the last hundred years, ever since Fairy Tail was founded, many of their overly destructive fights have destroyed parts of the [Transmutation Circle] Sloth had been digging for the sake of the homunculi's plan. Which actually led to the Magic Council's strong dislike for Fairy Tail. Since many of its former members were enthralled by the homunculi's promise of immortality, should Father's plan succeed.

As soon as Father's words fell, a pair of stone hands rose on either side of Marin, intending to crush her between them. However, before they could even move, Marin jammed her kodachi into them. Then, the two stone hands turned into chains that connected a spiked ball to each of the hilts of Marin's kodachi.

"We'll see about that." Marin replied as she swung her arms towards Father with all her strength.

In the next instant, the two spiked balls were whipped towards father. Then, when they were lined up properly, Marin manipulated the stone to disconnect from the chain, resulting in the two stone, spiked balls flying in Father's direction.

Unbothered by the two incoming projectiles, Father stomped his foot. As a result, a wall of stone rose from the ground in front of him, blocking the two spiked balls. As a result, both the wall and the spiked balls crumbled on impact.

"[Echo Step]." Erza chanted, appearing just behind Father as she did so.

Hearing the voice coming from directly behind him, Father did not panic. Instead, he tapped the ground with his foot once more.

"[Squall Thrust]." Erza chanted as she aimed the tip of her sword at the location where Astraia told her she could find Father's Philosopher's Stone.

At the same time, a column of stone shot up from the ground between Erza and Father, knocking Erza's sword off course. Simultaneously, Father swung his hand back, intending to touch Erza and use his [Alchemy] to destroy part of her body.

Before Father's hand could reach her, however, Erza was forced backwards, as the metal in her armor dragged her away.

"You have to be careful, Erza." Alfonzo said. "With just one touch, he can end this fight for any of us."

"You should take your own advice!" Envy shouted, having healed all the wounds Erza inflicted with her [Tempest].

A moment later, Envy, while still impaled on the adamantine spike, forced himself towards Alfonzo, allowing nearly half of his body to be torn apart. Then, with his mouth wide open, he attempted to bite Alfonzo in half.

"I don't' know why everyone screams at the top of their lungs before performing a sneak attack, but I guess I should be happy they do." Alfonzo muttered as he extended his right hand towards Envy's open mouth.

A moment later, just as Envy was going to close his mouth, tendrils of the metal coating Alfonzo's right hand and forearm shot in all directions. On top of stopping Envy from closing his mouth, they began shredding it apart as well. And as the tendrils inched closer to the base of Envy's tongue, Alfonzo could feel his level of panic increasing in real time.

"Looks like I've almost found your Philosopher's Stone, huh?" Alfonzo said with a malicious grin. "I guess you won't get the chance to make any of your threats come true, will you?"

Unfortunately, Alfonzo never got the chance to reach Envy's Philosopher's Stone. Even though he had not slowed his attack to make Envy despair, Father was not ready to see another of his creations destroyed.

So, just before Alfonzo could finish off Envy, a giant stone spike shot up from below Envy's regenerating body. Then, it bloomed into a large number of smaller spikes, ripping Envy into pieces in the process. On top of that, Envy's Philosopher's Stone was shot away, as well.

"Huh, I guess your daddy does care." Alfonzo said condescendingly. "Not that that will be enough to save you, though."

Just as Alfonzo finished speaking, a number of threaded golden needles shot out of another corridor leading to the Dragon Graveyard. Then, all the needles pierced into the flying Philosopher's Stone. And before anyone could react, the souls in the stone were released before it evaporated into the air.

"Damn it!" Father shouted angrily as he stomped his foot and fired stone shrapnel in all directions, causing all those in the cave to dodge the projectiles. "Where is Greed? There's no way he can't feel all the rumbling beneath the city."

And Father was correct. Not only Greed, who had entered the city after Father ordered him to find the Fairy Tail wizards before the attack began, but all of Crocus could feel the city shaking thanks to some of the impacts from the fight underground.

However, after Greed realized that Pride had not used his shadows to call him back to the Dragon Graveyard, he figured out that Pride must have been killed. So, he did not waste any time running away from the city, intending to never return. And after that day, no one ever saw Greed on Ishgar ever again.

"Looks like one of your kids ran away, Father." Alfonzo said in a mocking tone. "So, I guess that means you have no one left to help you, right?"

"Do you really think I need help to deal with a group of humans?" Father asked in an enraged tone as the human flesh he wore as a container was shredded away.

Now, instead of a handsome middle-aged man, Father had the appearance of a black, humanoid silhouette, with narrowed, beady eyes all over his body and a wide toothy grin that covered most of the lower part of his head.

"Yeah, I do." Alfonzo said as he appeared in front of Father in a burst of speed. Then, with his right hand covered in violet arcs of electricity, he continued. "[Electromagnetism Magic: Chidori]."

In the next instant, Alfonzo thrust his arm into Father's chest, gripping his Philosopher's Stone before his hand shot out of the First Homunculus' back. Then, he watched as Father's body slowly crumbled into dust.

"How is this possible?" Father asked in a horrified tone as his body crumbled away. "I was going to be a god… I was going to be perfect… I was going to gain all the knowledge this world had to offer…"

"Seeing you up close like this, it's no wonder Envy was so ugly." Alfonzo said, interrupting Father's dying monologue. "And as for you becoming perfect, you're naïve. Nothing in this world is perfect. If it were, it would be boring. The ability to grow and improve is what makes life worth living."

Hearing what Alfonzo had to say, Father's eyes, which were dimming quickly, turned to meet Alfonzo's. And he could not help but scowl.

Before Father could say anything, however, a large, black gate with [Alchemic] patterns engraved on it appeared behind father. A moment later, the gate opened. Then, a number of two dimensional hands shot out of the gate and snatched Father's Philosopher Stone from Alfonzo's grasp before returning to the gate. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the gate closed before vanishing from sight.

'Is that the Gate of Truth?' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'But can it just appear in the real world like that?'

"What the heck was that?" Marin asked as she approached Alfonzo.

"Indeed, it felt other worldly." Erza said apprehensively. "Divine even."

"I don't' know." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head. "But it seems like something people like us shouldn't mess with."

In response, Erza and Marin nodded their heads in agreement.

"Fonzie~~~~!" Elicia shouted as she sprinted into the Dragon Graveyard.

As it turned out, the elevator leading down from the Bradley residence was not very close to the Dragon Graveyard, at all. So, Elicia spent a long time traveling to the battle. Luckily, her [Magic Power Detection] was able to stretch that far, even with the obstructing cave walls. On top of that, her threads could travel a lot faster than she could. So, she was able to intervene before Envy could be rescued by Father.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up to the party." Marin said in a teasing tone as she, Alfonzo, and Erza turned back to see Elicia running through the Dragon Graveyard.

Instead of responding to Marin's teasing, Elicia, when she was close enough, flung herself into Alfonzo's arms with enough force to knock him to the ground. Then, once his arms were wrapped around her, she began crying uncontrollably.

"That's right, Lici." Alfonzo said in a gentle tone as he combed his fingers through Elicia's hair. "It's okay to let it out. It's finally over. We finally got our revenge. Our parents and all the people sacrificed for their fucked up plans can finally rest in peace."

After seeing Elicia's actions and hearing Alfonzo's words, Marin could only smile at the two warmly. Meanwhile, Erza realized that the original villagers of Rosemary village had also been avenged, and she could not help but begin tearing up as well.

Eventually, Erza joined Elicia in hugging Alfonzo. And shortly after Erza, Marin joined the group hug as well.