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The dark Magic Power shooting straight up into the sky from the north drew the attention of everyone on the street.
"That's scary. Mira really doesn't hold back when she fights~"
Bickslow, a member of the Thunder God Tribe, stuck out his long tongue and said to the magical puppets floating around him, "You agree, right? Babies?"
The five strangely dressed puppets bobbed up and down, seemingly ready to respond — but Gray, who had lost his shirt at some point, cut in first. "Bickslow, we're still in the middle of a battle. Focus. And when has Mira ever been gentle?"
Bickslow crossed his arms and glanced at the large man being steadily worn down by Freed and Evergreen. "We've got four people on one target. Does it really need to be this serious?"
"Also, Gray — your zone was West Street. Why are you over here stealing kills from the Thunder God Tribe? What's that about?"
Gray glanced at the dark mages already lying unconscious on the ground and didn't quite know how to explain himself. If he admitted he'd been competing with Natsu over a tally count, he'd never hear the end of it.
He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Let's go help Freed. That fat bastard is tougher than he looks."
Bickslow didn't argue. Their opponent was a huge, white-skinned man in a wide-collared robe who wore a permanently baffled expression — Kain Hikaru, one of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory.
That Hades had chosen Kain for the Seven Kin meant he was no pushover, regardless of appearances.
His raw physical strength and durability were well beyond that of ordinary people.
His magic, Ushi no Koku Mairi, worked by attaching a target's hair to a cursed doll, allowing him to control that person's movements however he wished. He could also use it on himself, altering the doll's material to change the properties of his own body accordingly, hardening it into cotton, smoke, or steel.
But even Kain couldn't withstand being surrounded by the three members of the Thunder God Tribe. Bickslow, well-versed in puppetry himself, had spotted the weakness in Ushi no Koku Mairi almost immediately. As long as no one gave Kain a strand of hair to work with, his magic was useless as a controlling tool.
Evergreen and Bickslow both fought at range. Freed could transform himself into a formidable dark knight. Not only could Kain not get his hands on any of their hair, he couldn't get close enough to try.
What he could do was transform his own body using his doll on himself — cotton, smoke, steel, cycling through them freely — and his already powerful physique combined with surprisingly quick movements meant the three of them couldn't finish him quickly. They could only grind him down.
That stalemate ended the moment Gray arrived.
With his awakened Magical Power, Gray froze Kain solid with Ice Devil Slayer Magic in an instant. No matter how tough Kain's body was in steel form, he couldn't break free — much like how Silver had once pinned Natsu in place at Sun Village.
What followed was a thoroughly one-sided pummeling. And even after all of that, Kain still hadn't lost consciousness, which said something about just how durable he was.
"This isn't fair! If you've got the guts, let me out and fight me one-on-one!"
Kain was buried up to the neck in near-unbreakable Devil Slayer ice, his bruised and swollen face the only thing sticking out, radiating pure indignation. He had never felt this humiliated in his life.
Gray slapped him on the head. "Look at you, so full of complaints. You seem very unconvinced. Alright, I'll give you a choice."
"Would you like to fight all four of us at once, or have all four of us fight you at once?"
"Is there even a difference?! You bastard!"
Kain's face twisted with rage. Even the Thunder God Tribe, technically his enemies, couldn't help glancing sideways at Gray. That level of shamelessness had to have been picked up from Noah.
Not that Gray was actually going to release a captured enemy for a fair fight. He was just having a bit of fun.
Evergreen adjusted her glasses, a faint light shifting behind the lenses. "Gray, how secure is that ice? Should I use my Stone Eyes on him as well, just to be sure?"
All three members of the Thunder God Tribe possessed a distinct form of Eye Magic. Freed's Dark Eye could push him into a powerful transformation, reshaping him into a formidable dark knight. Bickslow's Figure Eyes could momentarily seize a target's very soul, stopping them cold. And Evergreen's Stone Eyes could petrify a target outright, cutting through a certain degree of Magic Power difference to do it.
Gray agreed with Evergreen's suggestion. His ice was solid, but an extra layer of insurance never hurt.
Bickslow pulled off his helmet, and the force of his Figure Eyes hit Kain without warning, causing the man's gaze to go blank and unfocused. Evergreen seized the opening. She removed her glasses and opened her Stone Eyes, meeting Kain's terrified stare directly.
In an instant, Kain — clothes and all — turned into a three-hundred-pound stone statue, locked fast inside the ice prison.
Three of the Seven Kin of Purgatory had been defeated. Two were working undercover. One had switched sides.
Less than an hour into the offensive, only one of Grimoire Heart's core members remained in the field: Rustyrose, the self-styled "King of the Underworld."
Unfortunately, even that title was looking precarious.
In Magnolia's East District.
Rustyrose's face had gone from smug to sheer terror. Sweat and dust ran together through his silver hair as it fell loose from its pompadour. His fur-collared coat was caked with mud, his black-framed glasses sat crooked on his nose, and the eyes behind them held nothing but panic.
His Arc of Embodiment — the Lost Magic he was so proud of, the magic he had always claimed was invincible — was crumbling like wet paper in front of this red-haired woman.
Solid golden shields were crushed effortlessly. Conjured black blades were cut down without hesitation. The high-speed wings of a summoned Pegasus were stripped bare. A colossal sacred beast built entirely of steel was torn to pieces by her bare hands. Each creation Rustyrose poured everything into lasted mere seconds before being swept aside.
That mage — the one they called the "Fairy Queen" — armed with nothing but a plain knight's longsword, had torn his entire world of fantasy apart at the seams.
Against absolute power, imagination was just a dream.
Rustyrose had gone blank. His thoughts had scattered. His spirit had fractured. There was only one thing left in his mind.
Run.
He had to run.
Get as far away from this red-haired witch as possible.
He sprinted frantically through the ruined streets, stumbling over rubble and debris, not daring to look back. The cold, razor-sharp killing intent behind him clung to him like a second shadow, growing closer with every step.
She's a monster. That woman is definitely a monster.
Embody something. Anything. Just block her for a moment.
He screamed the thought in his own mind, but the fear had done what no opponent had ever managed: it had snuffed out his imagination entirely. The core of Arc of Embodiment — imagination and will — had already collapsed.
A blade cut the air just above his scalp. A few strands of silver hair drifted loose, and the wind from the swing stung his cheek.
The terror turned his legs to water. He scrambled to a half-collapsed low wall and pressed his back against the cold stone, looking up at the red-haired girl in knight's armor standing before him. His heart hammered so hard it nearly choked him.
"Your magic could have created beauty and hope," Erza said quietly. "Instead, you used it to satisfy your own desires. To create fear and destruction."
The sword in her hand rose slowly.
"Now, take your twisted fantasies and exit the stage."
As Rustyrose's desperate cry echoed over Magnolia's East District, it marked the complete withdrawal of the Seven Kin of Purgatory from the field.