Looking at Marco—looking at that bright, spirited young man who seemed to radiate confidence from head to toe—the flames of jealousy kept rising in Brain's heart.
Once, he too had been a genius among geniuses.
He had served as the director of the Magic Development Bureau for the Magic Council.
He had once been a true winner in life.
But all of it had been destroyed—destroyed by the evil in human hearts.
Ever since his family had been torn apart, Brain had walked down an extreme path.
He wanted to completely destroy this rotten world, completely destroy sinful humanity, and wipe out everything he saw.
Simply put, he had completely fallen into darkness, becoming a terrifying anti-social fanatic obsessed with destruction.
And the kind of person Brain hated most was, without question, someone like Marco.
Just standing there, Marco seemed to shine, as if illuminating the people around him.
It was like he carried an aura with him naturally, as though he embodied the finest hope this world had to offer.
Though, to be fair, that was partly Brain's hatred filter at work—plus the glow effects of the Gold Cloth.
Marco wasn't actually that righteous or glorious.
He wasn't deliberately putting on a show either. He was just standing there normally.
It was just that, perhaps because the way he looked at Brain was the same way he looked at a Gold Cloth—or at a Cosmo—Marco's smile was probably... just a little too sunny and brilliant...
"Enough talk. Are you surrendering, or do I have to beat you into the ground first?" Marco spoke impatiently, already too lazy to waste any more words on Brain.
The level of Oración Seis really was just average.
They simply weren't worth mobilizing everyone to this extent.
At best, all this proved was that the old men in the Magic Council had really wanted to save their dignity and had turned what should have been a fairly ordinary matter into a major battle.
"Fine! Then let me see just how strong you really are!"
Marco's bluntness, and the contempt hidden in his words, stirred anger in Brain as well.
Just because this man had beaten the other members of Oración Seis, did he really think that meant he could definitely defeat him too?
There was a reason he was the leader!
Bzzzz!!!
Brain swung his staff, sending wave after wave of green light blasting toward Marco in a dense barrage.
The sight of it was eerie.
Those green energy waves carried a sinister aura, as if they had come straight from the depths of hell.
Marco waved a hand, and a Crystal Wall appeared, blocking the green energy waves.
"I told you already—your Oración Seis abilities are flashy and varied, but your raw strength is honestly pretty mediocre. Against ordinary mages, maybe that's enough. But running into Fairy Tail just means you were unlucky, because raw strength is exactly what we specialize in."
From that brief exchange alone, Marco immediately made his judgment: Brain's strength was also fairly average.
He completely lacked the level of power someone with the title of "leader" or guild master of Oración Seis should have had.
To put it bluntly, they might not even truly measure up to the level of the Ten Wizard Saints.
Even if Jose Porla came over, he might not be any weaker than they were.
After all, he had at least been one of the Ten Wizard Saints for years.
Earlier, when Marco said that if Jellal went all out, he could take on those five members of Oración Seis by himself—even if he had to suffer some injuries—he had not been trying to humiliate them on purpose.
And now, even adding Brain into the mix, if all six of them attacked together, Jellal still might have been able to drag them down with him in a mutual kill.
"How boring. I'm honestly starting to think you lot don't even deserve this mission reward." Marco sighed.
His figure vanished, and in the next instant he appeared beside Brain, chopping down with a hand-blade.
Faced with Marco's attack, Brain swung up his long staff to block.
He had sensed the danger, but his staff was sturdy enough that it shouldn't have been cut in half by a single hand strike—not with both his own magic power and Klodoa's magic reinforcing it.
In mage combat, everything came down to magic power.
With enough magic reinforcing them, a mage's physical durability could far surpass that of ordinary people.
At the very least, they would not be casually crushed to pieces, frozen, burned, or pierced so easily.
Which only made it all the more impressive that Marco had been able to obliterate Midnight so quickly.
That represented total domination—Midnight's magic power simply had not been able to hold back Marco for even a moment.
"Ahhhh!!! No, don't!!!"
Brain didn't care, but Klodoa felt overwhelming danger—because the one actually taking the damage was its body.
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!!!"
The skull-headed Klodoa screamed wildly as it frantically released every bit of magic power it had stored up.
Thanks to Klodoa's panic, Brain also realized something was wrong, and decisively let go of the staff.
Crack!
Klodoa's staff body was split clean in two by Marco's strike.
The terrifying magic power carried on slashing into the distance, and if Brain hadn't let go fast enough, he would have been cut in half at the waist as well.
Thud.
The two halves of Klodoa's body fell to the ground. The staff bounced twice, then went completely still.
The magical glow covering it gradually dispersed until not a trace remained.
It was truly dead.
This strange lifeform had turned out to be surprisingly fragile—perhaps because it had been struck by the conceptual Excalibur, which had directly severed both its body and soul.
"...Gulp..."
Watching that scene, Brain involuntarily swallowed.
Klodoa had been with him for a long time.
This staff should not have been so fragile. Ordinary mages could not even beat the staff itself, and Klodoa had always called itself the "Seventh Members."
"You sure gave up on it fast enough."
Marco clicked his tongue.
Brain really had abandoned his teammate without hesitation, treating the staff as if it meant nothing.
"N-no... at this rate, this won't work..."
Brain's face had grown flustered.
Marco's strength really was absurdly overwhelming.
No wonder he had been able to completely destroy Nirvana.
So that giant crater really had been made by this guy!
"If I don't let him out..."
Grinding his teeth, Brain knew very well that relying on himself alone was hopeless.