บท 390: Battle Under Crocus; Part 1

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

July, x785.

Around the time Elicia spotted the mail currier outside the Bradley residence, Alfonzo, Erza, and Marin had just been spotted by the innumerable chimera that roamed the caves leading to the homunculi's hideout.

"There sure are a lot of these things." Marin said, looking slightly disgusted by all the amalgamations of animals and magical beasts.

"Indeed, to treat life like this, even if it is non-intelligent life, shows just what kind of people these homunculi are."

"I guess that means we should put them down quickly." Alfonzo said as he spread his arms to the side, dropping down into his combat stance in the process. "Living as these fucked up abominations must be torture in and of its self, huh?"

With that, the three Fairy Tail wizards exchanged glances. Then, with a nod, they all took the same action simultaneously.

"[Run Wild with Destruction on your Fingertips. Usher in Pandemonium with Creation in Your Hands. Riot, Bedlam]." Alfonzo chanted quietly.

"[Deliver Justice as Swiftly as the Wind, Astraia]." Erza chanted as she lifted her sword over her head.

"[Bend All Creation to My Will, Nova.]" Marin chanted as she held both her kodachi forward.

In the next instant, all three Fairy Tail wizards' magic power skyrocketed as their weapons underwent a change. While Alfonzo's tonfa liquified before covering his hands and forearms, the two pairs of fairy wings that acted as the hand guard of Erza's sword spread. Meanwhile, Marin's multi-colored kodachi began cycling through the colors on their blades.

"Alright, let's get this shit started for real." Alfonzo said just before charging forward into the group of chimera. "[Metal Magic: Circular Cutter]."

With his chant, a pair of circular saw blades grew from his arms, settling themselves on the backs of his hands. Then, those blades immediately began spinning at high speed. A moment later, when Alfonzo reached the first of the chimera, he swung his right arm at the open mouth of a chimera with a large, reptilian head, cutting off its lower jaw in the process.

*Growl!*

In the next instant, with blood spraying, minced flesh and bone fragments flying everywhere, and a growl of pain, the chimera fell to the ground and writhed in agony. Then, before it could regain its senses, Alfonzo swung his left arm down at its neck, decapitating it.

At that moment, Alfonzo could feel movement from his [Magic Power Detection]. In fact, it was the shadows that began to move. However, before they could spring into action, they returned to normal. Then, the magic power that was causing them to move was dispersed.

'I guess Lici was able to take care of Pride.' Alfonzo thought to himself briefly.

"[Gale Cutter]." Erza chanted before swinging her sword down from a distance.

At the same time, a second chimera lunged at Alfonzo, not giving him a chance to defend himself. Before it could sink its claws into his back, however, it was split in half vertically by the wind blade Erza's attack produced.

Then, in a burst of speed, enhanced by the wind, Erza shot past Alfonzo with her sword coated in a layer of rotating winds.

"[Hurricane]." Erza chanted as she swung her sword horizontally in front of the group of chimera.

With her slash, the spinning winds were dislodged from around Erza's sword. Then, those winds enveloped a group of chimera, lifting them off the ground while simultaneously inflicting slashes upon them.

Meanwhile, Marin, with her kodachi pointed at the group of chimera on either side of the vortex Erza created, chanted her own spell.

"[Pierce]." Marin chanted quietly as Nova's blades flattened against their handguards.

In the next instant, half a dozen thin spikes shot forward from the now flattened blade. Then, despite the fact that the chimeras were moving to avoid them, the spikes pierced into all of their heads, bending with each of their movements to stay on target.

Then, with the opposing force's front line taken care of, Alfonzo cloaked himself in violet electricity and charged through Erz's [Hurricane]. Then, once he was on the other side, he flung his right arm forward.

"[Electromagnetism Magic: Supersonic Dismemberment]." Alfonzo chanted as the saw blade on his right arm was fired at the speed of a railgun.

In the next instant, the saw blade shot through more than a dozen chimeras before slamming into the large metal door at the end of the cave. Before it could impact the door, however, the mostly melted chunk of metal that used to be the saw blade was dispelled. Though, the heat from the air friction did manage to superheat the door.

"Grah~~~~~~~!" A high pitched, pain-filled scream could be heard from the other side of the door, just as its temperature reached its melting point.

Then, in a burst of speed, Alfonzo, who completely ignored all the chimera that tried to fill the gap his [Supersonic Dismemberment] created, appeared in front of the superheated door with the saw blade on his left arm dispelled and the palms of his hands on the nearly molten door.

Meanwhile, with their attention focused on Alfonzo, who just rushed past them, the chimeras were left defenseless when Erza and Marin tore through their ranks from behind.

"[Metal Magic: Iron Maiden]." Alfonzo chanted, believing that Erza and Marin would keep the chimera off his back.

In the next instant, the superheated metal door distorted before engulfing the one behind it who just let out that ear-piercing scream. Then, although no one could see the inside of the clump of metal, a large number of iron spikes impaled the one who was trapped inside.

With the door removed; Alfonzo could see the cavern where the homunculi gathered. And to be honest, he was thoroughly surprised.

'So, they actually set up shop in the Dragon Graveyard, huh?' Alfonzo thought to himself as he scanned the cave behind the door. 'And is that Zirconis' skeleton Father is sitting on top of? Oh, it looks like Sloth came back, too. Well, with the two sections of the [Transmutation Circle] that Lici and I completely fucked up, I guess there was no point of him continuing to dig for now. Oh, and Greed's not here. Did he already defect? Then, I guess that means Gluttony is the one stuck in my [Iron Maiden].'

"To think you would come to us instead of us having to find you." Father said from atop his throne. "That saves us a lot of trouble. Now, remove the metal that has clogged our caves and tell that girl of yours to dispel whatever she has done to Gluttony. Then, I will allow you a quick death for disrupting our plans."

"Nah, I don't think so." Alfonzo replied after refocusing his attention on Father. "Especially since I got a few bones to pick with you mother fuckers."

"And that's another reason for me to kill you!" Envy shouted as he rushed at Alfonzo with his fist reeled back, ready to strike.

"Oh, we are surprised you figured out it was us who defeated you last time." Alfonzo said mockingly in the tone he used when he acted as Venom.

"Damn you!" Envy bellowed angrily.

Before Envy could land his punch, however, Erza appeared between him and Alfonzo. Then, with two fluid slashes, she cut off his right arm, at the shoulder, and his left leg, below the knee.

"Argh~~~~~!" Envy screamed in pain as he fell to the cave floor. "I'll kill you and all those whores you call your girlfriends!"

"You dare threaten those I care about?' Erza asked with a frown. "Allow me to show you the folly of speaking without thinking."

In the next instant, Erza thrust Astraia, with winds concentrated on its tip at Envy, who was on the ground, regenerating his lost limbs.

"[Squall Thrust]" Erza chanted as she thrust her sword.

Immediately. Envy rolled away from the thrust, doing all he could not to be hit by the swirling winds on the tip of the blade.

*Boom!*

Luckily, Envy reacted quickly enough, just barely avoiding the sword's tip, however, thanks to the winds that were discharged when the blade made contact with the ground, he was blown away, slamming into the nearest wall a moment later.

On top of that, the entire cave shook as the winds drilled into the cave floor.

"If you think that will free you from my blade, you are mistaken." Erza said coldly as she dashed towards Envy, swinging her sword once she was in range.

*Boom!*

Once again, the cave shook as Erza's blade impacted the wall Envy slammed into after he barely avoided Astraia's blade for a second time. This time, however, he was able to evade more cleanly with his arm and leg regenerated.

"That guy… or is it a girl?" Marin said as she, too, entered the cavern and took a position next to Alfonzo. "Eh, whatever. He must have really made Erza mad if she's chasing him around like that."

"Yeah, he threatened to kill me, you, Lici, and all the other girls." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "Still, I guess I better do something before Erza collapses this entire cave on us."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Marin replied with a nod.

*Clap!*

"[Metal Magic: Support Pillars]." Alfonzo chanted as he clapped his hands together forcefully.

In the next instant, several adamantine pillars grew from the ground around the cave to support the walls and ceiling while Erza continued to unleash destructive slashes in pursuit of Envy. On top of that, one of those pillars appeared beneath Sloth, raising him to the ceiling to crush him against it.

"What a pain…" Sloth said lethargically as he jumped off the top of the pillar before he could be squashed.

"By the way, who's inside this glowing chunk of metal?" Marin asked while fanning herself from the heat the superheated metal was giving off.

"Oh, if I had to guess, that's probably the one who tried to eat Lici that one time." Alfonzo said as he patted the hot metal.

Meanwhile, Father, who had yet to stand from his throne, felt his eyebrows twitching at the fact that he was being completely disregarded. However, he did his best to maintain his demeanor.

"You say you have a bone to pick with me… Or rather, us." Father said. "For what reason do you take issue with us?"

Hearing Father's voice, Alfonzo and Marin turned their attention to him.

"Besides the fact that you sick fuckers want to sacrifice so many people to make a Philosopher's Stone?" Alfonzo asked with an eyebrow raised.

A moment later, Alfonzo's killing intent exploded, washing over the entire cave, while his expression morphed into something malevolent. Though, Erza and Marin seemed to be completely unaffected by the billowing killing intent.

"It's because of you sons of bitches that mine and Lici's parents were killed by those mother fucking Zeref cultists." Alfonzo shouted angrily. "Not to mention, Erza's village was once destroyed, and she ended up as a slave, because of you sick fuckers, too."

Hearing that, while seeming to be unaffected by Alfonzo's killing intent, Father began to stroke his beard.

"If I'm not mistaken, the parents you are referring to are Bianca Marcus, formerly Bianca Rollen, and Orlando Taylor, correct?" Father asked calmly. "Unfortunate it may be that they could not be sacrificed in the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, their deaths were necessary. Or rather your mother, Bianca's death was necessary. Her [Dispel Magic] was a threat to my plans."

Hearing that, Alfonzo's anger spiked to a whole new level. Then, while glaring into Father's eyes, he thrust his hands into the glowing, superheated, mass of metal trapping Gluttony. And as he did, the tips of his fingers, coated in liquid metal, sharpened.

A moment later, Alfonzo pulled his hands out of the metal. And impaled on the tip of his right ring finger, a rapidly dimming Philosopher's Stone could be seen.

"Well, now that his body has been destroyed, I think Lici's spell binding that weird eye inside his chest should have been dispelled." Alfonzo said, basically growling at this point. "But I really don't think that fucking matters anymore."

In the next instant, before Father could reply, Sloth, a large, muscular, pale skinned man with stringy black hair that runs down his back, a blank, white left eye, a red pattern running from where his right eye should be to his right palm, and sharp teeth wearing black pants and shoes, appeared in front of Alfonzo in a burst of speed with is arm cocked back, ready to throw a punch.

"Restraint]." Marin chanted from Alfonzo's side.

In the next instant, the kodachi in Marin's left hand elongated into a thin band. Then, it wrapped itself around Sloth's arm. However, thanks to Sloth's physical strength, his punch was barely slowed down, at all.

"Can't you see they're having a conversation?" Marin asked as the blade of her kodachi thinned into a thread as it spiraled around Sloth's arm at high speed. "[Cut]."

In the next instant, Sloth's arm was removed completely. On top of that, the severed arm was diced into slices of meat and bone. As a result, the only thing that happened was blood spraying from Sloth's shoulder.

Luckily, Alfonzo was able to see the sneak attack coming. So, while Marin moved to stop Sloth's attack, Alfonzo raised a barrier of adamantine between himself and Sloth's fist. As a result, all the blood that sprayed at him was blocked by the slab of metal.

Meanwhile, Sloth looked down at the spot where his arm used to be with a frown that showed off his sharp teeth.

"Such a pain." Sloth grumbled. "Regrowing limbs is such a pain. Fighting with wizards is such a pain."

"If it's such a pain…" Marin said, having leapt into the air with her magic power saturating her right leg, why don't you go over there and take a nap!"

*Bang!*

With that, Marin swung her leg at Sloth with all the power she could muster. Then, when her foot connected with the side of Sloth's face, half of his skull collapsed while he was sent flying into one of the pillars Alfonzo raised to support the cave's ceiling.

"Geez, these homunculi don't' have any manners." Marin said as she landed next to Alfonzo. "They don't even know how rude it is to interrupt someone's conversation. Anyway, I'll take care of the big guy, Fonzie. You just worry about their leader."

"Thanks, Marin." Alfonzo said without taking his eyes off of Father. Then, as Gluttony's Philosopher's Stone evaporated into particles, he continued. "He's not gonna live for much longer if I have anything to say about it, though."

Hearing that and seeing how easily his creations were being dealt with, Father finally stood from his throne. Then, with calm, assured steps, he walked down from atop the dragon's skeleton.

"It would seem I've made a mistake allowing you the chance to grow." Father said with his hands clasped behind his back once he reached the cave floor. Then, with his expression turning vicious, he continued. "A mistake I'll have to rectify, it would seem."