"Did you just say Etherion?" Doranbolt turned sharply to look at Laharl, his eyes wide with terror.
The satellite weapon, Etherion, had been completely destroyed by Jellal during the Tower of Heaven incident years ago, but the core blueprints remained.
With enough funding and resources from the Magic Council, it was entirely possible they had secretly rebuilt it.
"What else can we do besides obeying the extreme decisions of the higher-ups?" Laharl muttered, his hands trembling.
"W-Wait a minute! I understand the Council sees Fairy Tail as a massive thorn in their side! But they absolutely shouldn't be equated with Grimoire Heart and Zeref!" Doranbolt yelled, looking at Laharl as if he were a madman.
"And on that island right now, there are two of the Ten Wizard Saints! You can't just wipe them out!"
"This isn't something the two of us can decide, Doranbolt," Laharl sighed miserably.
Doranbolt remembered Wendy's gentle kindness towards him.
He remembered Raizel suddenly dropping from the sky to save his life when he was severely injured by Azuma.
Whatever this new Etherion strike was, he absolutely would not allow it to happen!
Although he had impersonated a member to infiltrate the S-Class exam, after interacting with them for days, Doranbolt found that aside from being a bit rowdy and having a terrifyingly strong destructive streak, the members of Fairy Tail didn't have any malicious ill intentions.
They were just a chaotic family.
"Alright. You should go report to headquarters now," Doranbolt said quietly, his eyes darkening with resolve.
...
High ground of the Tenrou Island ruins—
The intense battle between Kagura's group of four and Zubal had reached a temporary pause, currently ending in a tense stalemate, though Lucy's magic power was almost completely depleted from the constant dodging.
"To be completely honest, I don't truly understand Master Hades's ultimate intentions either," Zubal mused, adjusting his crown.
"I believe only those who fully comprehend the dark abyss of magic can reach his state of mind. Zeref is currently on this island. As long as we successfully obtain him, the world will be enveloped in pure magic and be reborn."
"How utterly boring," Gray scoffed, dropping into a low Ice-Make stance. "But since you've arrogantly come to someone else's home to cause such a ruckus, I believe you've already prepared yourself for the painful consequences."
"We only have two main tasks today," Zubal stated, raising his hands as he saw Gray's movement.
"One is to capture Zeref and hand him over to Master Hades. The other... is to completely annihilate Fairy Tail."
"Annihilate us all? You can certainly try," Kagura narrowed her eyes slightly, slowly and deliberately unwrapping the white bandages from her sheathed sword, Archenemy.
"Wait." Loke stretched out his arm, firmly stopping Gray and Kagura, who were just about to attack.
"Loke?" Lucy asked, puzzled by her spirit's sudden action.
"Let me handle this guy alone," Loke said seriously, adjusting his glasses. "There might be other guild members still locked in difficult battles against the Seven Kin across the island. You three should go help them."
"What are you talking about, man? This guy is so strong that the four of us fighting together for so long still haven't managed to defeat him," Gray frowned, entirely unable to understand why Loke was being so stubborn.
"That's exactly because of this guy's magic," Loke explained. "He uses Human Subordination Magic, one of the Lost Magics. It is an aura-based magic that temporarily reduces a human's combat ability and magical power. It's also known as the King's Magic."
Loke smirked confidently. "However... this magic is completely ineffective against me. Because I am a Celestial Spirit."
As soon as he finished speaking, a blinding golden light flashed around Loke and his casual clothes transformed back into his true elegant form as the Celestial Spirit Leo the Lion, dressed in a sharp black suit.
Human Subordination Magic generally serves two main purposes: one is literal, physical control over humans to use them as pawns, and the second is the passive, weakening aura Loke had just identified.
"A Celestial Spirit? And the strongest Zodiac of them all, Leo?" Zubal asked, quite surprised by Loke's sudden transformation.
He had entirely assumed Loke was just an ordinary human mage who used ring magic.
"You are truly worthy to be my opponent."
"If we humans keep having our magical power suppressed by that guy's aura, we won't be able to fight back at all. Let's leave this to him," Gray realized, finally convinced by Loke.
Staying near Zubal had physically prevented Gray from using his full strength.
"Loke..." Lucy murmured, still deeply worried.
After all, Loke was facing a monster alone.
"You realized it during the earlier fight, right, Lucy? Humans have an incredibly hard time defeating this guy. Leave it to your reliable knight with confidence," Loke turned his head and smiled charmingly at Lucy.
Lucy knew Loke's assessment was correct—Gray, Kagura, and Loke were no ordinary fighters.
Though she had grown immensely through her own battles, the sheer fact that all four of them couldn't even touch Zubal proved Loke's point about the weakening aura.
"You and Gray head back to the beach camp first. I will stay behind to provide support for Loke," Kagura said, keeping her hand on her sword hilt as she stepped away from the immediate combat area.
Kagura didn't plan to intervene immediately, but if Loke couldn't handle the dark mage, she would step in to ensure his safe retreat.
"I'm counting on you, Kagura!" Lucy said, feeling immensely relieved seeing the swordswoman stay behind.
Leaving Loke completely alone to face Zubal would have weighed far too heavily on her conscience.
"Alright, both you and Loke be careful," Gray nodded. With that, Gray turned and sprinted into the jungle with Lucy.
"O light of the king, grant me strength!" Loke chanted.
He clenched his right fist and raised it high, blinding golden light violently gathering around his knuckles.
The dazzling glare momentarily disrupted Zubal's vision, allowing Loke to swiftly close the distance and deliver a devastating, heavy right punch directly to Zubal's face.
Zubal's body flew backward uncontrollably, crashing hard against the stone ruins.
But as an elite member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, Zubal wasn't so easily defeated.
He quickly kipped up from the rubble, dusted himself off and calmly pulled out a pair of sunglasses to put on, shielding his eyes from the glare.
Zubal fired a dense, dark energy bullet from his fingertips to intercept Loke's advancing momentum.
Loke smoothly sidestepped the projectile, took several quick, gliding steps forward, and struck Zubal's wrist with a horizontal palm block, immediately following it up with a vicious, straight palm strike to the dark mage's chin.
Zubal shook his head, instantly recovering, and threw a heavy left hook.
Loke retreated just enough to dodge the fist, but Zubal smoothly followed through with a mid-level roundhouse kick.
Loke quickly raised his knee and crossed his arms to block the blow.
However, Zubal's kick carried immense, superhuman force, shattering Loke's guard and sending the spirit flying back into a rock wall.
Zubal ruthlessly pressed his advantage, charging forward again.
As Zubal approached, Loke dropped low and used his hands to support a rapid sweeping leg motion, knocking Zubal off balance and sending him crashing to the dirt.
After this initial, lightning-fast exchange, both combatants had switched positions across the clearing.
Zubal snorted coldly before advancing again, throwing rapid left-right punches culminating in a brutal whip kick.
Loke expertly deflected the punches with alternating left and right parries, raised his knee to defend against the low attacks, and blocked Zubal's rising uppercut with a framed arm.
Using the opening, Loke countered with a lightning-fast rear straight punch directly to Zubal's abdomen.
However, Zubal's metallic soft-armor hidden beneath his clothes mitigated the impact, he merely brushed the dust from his stomach and smirked.
Loke gritted his teeth, parrying Zubal's next wild swings with left and right hand blocks, then forcefully stopped Zubal's incoming whip kick with a right leg interception kick.
Pivoting smoothly on his left foot, Loke executed a flawless spinning back kick that caught Zubal firmly in the chest, sending the dark mage reeling and leaving him wobbling unsteadily on his feet.
Seizing the golden opportunity, Loke followed up with a flurry of alternating left and right hooks to Zubal's temples.
With a brilliant flash of Lion King's Radiance, his fist wreathed in blinding light struck Zubal's abdomen with the force of a meteor.
The hidden golden armor covering Zubal's body shattered completely, the sheer force of the magic-infused punch penetrating straight through the metal to strike his internal organs directly.
Clutching his stomach, Zubal broke out in a cold sweat, his face finally contorted in pure agony.
Loke seized the moment and delivered one final devastating spinning back kick, sending Zubal flying backward to crash violently against the rocky wall.