"Takeshi!!!" Erza shouted loudly.
Hearing Erza's shout, Takeshi turned his gaze toward her.
"Takeshi! The activation time for Face has been moved up! There are too many of them! If they aren't destroyed, every Mage on the continent will die!"
Takeshi's expression turned serious upon hearing Erza's words. He looked toward where Kyoka was, where a vast number of dots were displayed, each representing a Face.
"I understand! I will destroy all the Faces!"
Takeshi knew he couldn't delay any longer. If he didn't destroy all the Faces, he would also die.
"Hehe... it's useless. Do you know how many Faces there are? 3,000. A full three thousand, and they are distributed all over the continent of Ishgar."
"No matter how powerful you are, you can't destroy that many. The extinction of you humans is already a predetermined future. Stop your pointless struggling. Hahahaha!" Mard Geer laughed loudly.
"3,000, huh? That's a decent number, but not too many. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others can't."
Full Body Take Over: Minato Namikaze!
Takeshi's hair began to turn from black to yellow, and his eyes changed from black to blue. Next came the forehead protector representing a Konoha ninja, then the clothes on his body—the blue outfit, the green Jonin vest, blue pants, and finally the white Hokage cloak with the words 'Fourth Hokage' on the back and red flame patterns along the bottom.
Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Takeshi formed hand seals.
Bang... Bang...
Countless sounds erupted, and in an instant, three thousand Takeshis appeared at once, standing densely packed together.
"What?!!"
Mard Geer and the many demons of Tartaros were all terrified by Takeshi's Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu. Even the members of Fairy Tail were equally shocked.
"Ugh... so gross..."
Natsu felt a bit dizzy seeing so many Takeshis.
Happy quipped, "I thought you only got motion sickness from vehicles? How can you get sick from people?!"
"Go and destroy every Face!"
As soon as Takeshi finished speaking—
Swish... Swish...
All the Shadow Clones vanished.
"What happened?!"
"Where did they go?!!"
At that moment, one of Takeshi's Shadow Clones appeared in front of a white pillar. The pillar was pure white, and at the very top was a human face with a smile that felt somewhat disgusting.
"So this is the Magic Council's Magic Pulse Bomb, Face? To think they created such a dangerous thing."
Takeshi raised his right hand, and a Rasengan rapidly appeared in his palm. Immediately after, he added a Nature Transformation to the Rasengan.
Vroom... Vroom...
A piercing, air-cutting whistle rang out.
The Rasengan transformed into the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!
Takeshi slammed the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken into Face.
Boom!
Crack—!
Under the attack of the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, Face was violently shattered.
One had to admit, although Naruto seemed a bit dim-witted, the attack power of the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was definitely top-tier S-rank Ninjutsu.
Boom... Boom... Boom...
At this time, at the crash site of Cube, the light spots on the main core lacrima beneath Kyoka's feet began to disappear rapidly.
"This... what is going on?!!" Kyoka panicked a little.
Every light spot here represented a 'Face', and a disappearing spot meant that 'Face' had been destroyed.
The spots were disappearing too fast. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of spots vanished, meaning hundreds of 'Faces' were destroyed.
But how was this possible? 'Face' was spread across the entire Ishgar continent.
Erza couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, a reassured smile appearing on her face. "As expected of Takeshi, I can't compare to him no matter what."
"However, even if I can't match Takeshi, I will contribute with my own strength."
Mard Geer also noticed the rapid disappearance of the light spots.
He immediately contacted Kyoka via Telepathy in his mind. "Kyoka! What are you doing?! Hurry up and accelerate!"
"Yes! Tartaros-sama!"
Kyoka also knew there was no time to delay. That man named Takeshi was too terrifying to be able to do something like this, she had to speed up.
Blumenblatt!
Erza fired a large number of swords at Kyoka.
Kyoka's claws moved rapidly.
Crack...
All the steel swords were destroyed, though some fell onto the main core lacrima.
"Are you trying to destroy the main core lacrima? There's no need. The main core lacrima is useless now, it's just a display device. 'Face' has already been activated, and no one can stop it." Kyoka said.
"Is that so? If it's as you say, then what are you panicking about?" Erza said calmly.
"You..."
Kyoka's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Takeshi is the strongest Mage in Fairy Tail. Face might be a catastrophe for anyone on the continent, but not for Takeshi. He will stop Face."
Kyoka grew angry listening to this. "Don't be so arrogant! There are a full three thousand Faces! No matter how fast he destroys them, it will take time. During that time, I will significantly reduce the activation time, and you humans will still perish in the end."
"I see. Then thank you, because that gives me a reason to take you down."
"Take me down? Don't talk big! You can only stand here boasting because you haven't seen my true form as Kyoka of the Nine Demon Gates, Goddess of the Slave Planet, as an Etherious!"
Kyoka rushed toward Erza, her entire body undergoing a transformation.
Crack—
The armor on Erza's body and the sword in her hand were both destroyed.
"This girl..."
Erza's expression became serious, she hadn't expected the opponent's strength and speed to increase so significantly.
"Ooooohhhhhhhh!!!"
Kyoka roared loudly, and the time remaining for Face's activation began to drastically shorten. The time dropped from half an hour to twenty minutes.
"I can't let this woman continue!"
Requip: Black Wing Armor!
Erza requipped into her Black Wing Armor and charged at Kyoka.
Kyoka waved her hand, her claws rapidly extending and slashing the ground like sharp blades.
Boom!
A massive claw mark was carved into the earth.
"You cannot defeat me. My Curse is 'Enhancement'. My power increases every second. I am a demon with infinitely growing strength."
"I have already performed an Organic Link with the lacrima activating Face. When Face activates, my life will end, but I have no regrets. As long as this allows Master E.N.D. to be resurrected, as long as I can return to Zeref-sama's side."
Kyoka attacked Erza relentlessly, and for a moment, Erza could only dodge clumsily.
"Why would you go to such lengths?!" Erza was puzzled.
Why would these individuals do this, even at the cost of their own lives?
"We, the demons of the Books of Zeref, are destined from birth to return to Zeref-sama's side. Tartaros-sama says it's like a Homing Instinct. We were all created by Zeref-sama and we must return to him."
"Is that all you have? No will of your own?! How are you any different from puppets on strings?!"
"Shut up!"
"Aaaaaahhhhh!!!"
Kyoka roared, releasing a massive amount of electric current from her hands. The powerful surge swept through, destroying everything around.
"Guaaaah!!!"
Erza was struck by the electricity and immediately felt something was wrong.
"It hurts, doesn't it? I have completely exposed your sense of pain. Even a gentle breeze will make you feel agonizing pain."
As she spoke, Kyoka stepped in front of Erza and blew a soft breath. "Hoo..."
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!"
Erza immediately let out a scream of agony.