By the time Cana's group, Juvia, Elfman, and Evergreen, arrived at the town where Mr. Hog lived, night had already fallen deep.
Under the thin glow of moonlight, the town lay unnervingly quiet.
Doors were shut. Windows were dark. The streets were empty, as if everyone had vanished at once. Only a small cluster of lights flickered in the distance, concentrated in one narrow area.
Evergreen slowed, her gaze sharpening.
"Something's wrong."
Juvia nodded, clutching her arms. "Juvia feels it too. A very bad premonition."
Cana scanned the town and frowned. "Those lights. Unless there's a festival, there's no reason they'd all be gathered in one place."
Elfman suddenly raised a hand to his ear, listening intently.
"I hear something."
He stiffened.
"Stone… breaking. From the direction of the lights."
"Oh no!"
The four of them broke into a sprint.
After only a few steps, wings burst from Elfman's back. Without slowing, he grabbed Cana and launched himself into the air.
Evergreen didn't hesitate either, she lifted Juvia and took off behind him.
They reached the lit area in seconds.
And immediately froze.
The streets were carved apart by crisscrossing slash marks. Entire buildings had been sliced cleanly in half, some horizontally, others diagonally, as if cut by an invisible blade. Every surface was disturbingly smooth.
Light spilled from the ruined homes, though in several rooms, the lamps had already gone dark.
Cana's stomach sank.
"Are we too late?"
Bang!
A heavy impact echoed through the street.
"Ah!"
"Ah—!"
A scream, followed by a panicked cry.
"There!" Elfman shouted, diving down first.
Inside a house with its corner sheared clean off, a man lay motionless in a pool of blood. Nearby, a woman clutched a child to her chest, trembling violently.
"Bahahaha, die, human!"
A grotesque monster loomed over them.
Its skin was gray and rough. Four arms jutted from its torso, while six octopus-like legs supported its body. Its head bristled with jagged horns clustered together like a grotesque afro.
It casually swung one arm.
Invisible slashes screamed through the air.
The woman squeezed her eyes shut.
Clang!
A sharp collision rang out.
She opened her eyes in shock.
A massive man stood in front of her, blocking the attack, his hair wild and spiked, oddly similar to the monster's own.
"You, you are…?"
"We're Fairy Tail mages," Elfman said grimly. "Take your child and go. Now."
Pain rippled through his arms. The slashes were far sharper than he'd expected.
Even with Partial Take Over, he hadn't blocked them completely.
"Human magicians?" the monster sneered. "Hahahaha!"
"Water Lock!"
The laughter cut off mid-breath.
A sphere of water materialized out of nowhere, engulfing the monster and suspending it in midair like a trapped insect.
"My husband!" the woman cried.
"He's still alive," Evergreen said calmly. "But for injuries this severe, we'll need help from the guild."
She removed her glasses, forced the injured man's eyes open, and activated her magic.
Stone Eyes.
In an instant, his body turned to stone.
The woman gasped, instinctively pulling her child closer.
"Don't panic," Evergreen said, replacing her glasses. "This will stop the bleeding. I'll undo it once a doctor arrives."
Together with Cana, she lifted the stone statue and motioned for the woman to follow them out.
But Juvia's spell didn't last long.
With a violent burst; Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Four intersecting blades tore through the water sphere, shattering it completely.
The slashes didn't stop.
They continued outward, cutting through the air toward the group.
Elfman threw his arms wide, shielding his retreating companions.
Juvia stepped forward.
A slash cut straight through her waist.
Her body split cleanly in two.
Boom! Boom!
The already-damaged house finally gave way. Walls collapsed, and chunks of stone crashed down from the roof.
Cana and Evergreen hurried the family to safety, shielding them from the falling debris.
Behind them, water poured from Juvia's severed waist.
The liquid surged, reconnected, and sealed seamlessly, restoring her body as if nothing had happened.
Her clothes weren't even torn.
Fragments of stone shattered off Elfman's arm, clattering onto the ground. Two long red marks cut through his forearm, blood seeping out between the cracks in his Take Over.
He glanced sideways at Juvia.
"You really are convenient."
"Because Juvia's body is..." She stopped herself mid-sentence.
Someone had complained before that every time she finished that line, she got hit.
"Bahahahaha!"
The monster's laughter echoed wildly through the ruined street.
"Now this is better! Some decent characters have finally shown up!"
He rolled his shoulders, four arms flexing eagerly.
"Can I show off my skills now? Hm? Will you let me show off my skills?"
Juvia narrowed her eyes. "Who are you? And why are you attacking this town?"
The monster didn't seem offended in the slightest.
"I am Ezel, the Dojigiri of the Nine Demon Gates."
His grin widened grotesquely.
"I came here to kill an old man."
His gaze swept over them.
"And now, there are a few more people to kill."
Before the last word finished echoing, his four arms crossed in front of his chest, palms flattened into blade-like shapes.
"Five Swords of the Realm-Onimaru!"
The air screamed.
Four invisible slashes erupted at once, two tearing straight toward Elfman, the other two slicing toward Juvia.
"Rock Dragon's Fist!"
Elfman's right arm swelled violently, stone plates layering over each other until the limb was thicker than his torso. He stepped forward and punched head-on.
The massive stone fist collided with the slashes.
CRACK!
Stone exploded outward.
Elfman was forced back several steps as his reinforced arm shattered, fragments raining down like gravel.
At the same time...
"Water Stream Slicer!"
Juvia swept her arms forward, firing a barrage of seven or eight razor-sharp water blades toward Ezel.
They didn't even reach him.
Each blade was cleanly split in half mid-flight, bursting apart into harmless spray.
Juvia's eyes widened.
'Too late.'
A slash skimmed past her shoulder.
Rip!
Her clothes tore open, and a line of blood sprayed into the air.
"Ah!"
She grabbed her shoulder instinctively.
"To think you could..."
She stopped herself again.
Today's enemy was clearly another problem.
Elfman stared in disbelief.
"This guy's slashes can actually hurt Juvia!"
"Don't get distracted, Mr. Elfman!" Juvia snapped.
She raised her right hand sharply.
"Water Nebula!"
Twin spiraling currents erupted from the ground beneath Ezel, coiling together into a powerful vortex that wrapped around his octopus-like legs and forcibly lifted him into the air.
"Nice hit!"
Elfman kicked off the ground, leaping high above Ezel. His hands clasped together overhead as stone rapidly enveloped them.
"Rock Dragon's Hammer!"
A colossal stone fist, larger than a human torso, came crashing straight down.
BOOM!
Ezel was driven headfirst into the ground like a cannonball, the street collapsing inward under the impact.
For a split second, they thought they had him.
Then;
CRACK! CRACK!
Two crossing fissures tore open in the ground.
Slashes erupted upward from the cracks themselves.
"—!"
Elfman and Juvia both jumped back, barely avoiding being cut apart.
Behind them, the last two standing walls of the house were sliced cleanly and collapsed in a thunderous crash.
Ezel burst out of the shattered ground, landing lightly on his feet.
A thin line of blood trickled from his forehead.
His smile twisted into something feral.
"It's decided."
His voice dropped, thick with killing intent.
"I'm going to cut you into pieces and eat you all up!"
"Bahahahaha!"
His four arms blurred.
Slashes poured out like a rainstorm, completely sealing off every route of retreat.
Elfman moved without thinking.
He stepped in front of Juvia, crossing his arms defensively.
Stone formed. Stone shattered. Stone formed again.
Again and again.
Each impact sent vibrations through his bones.
Seeing that ordinary attacks weren't enough, Ezel crossed all four arms tightly, his muscles tensing as power condensed.
"Five Swords of the Realm- Juzumaru!"
His arms swung together.
They moved with the precision of legendary blades, forged by master craftsmen.
An X-shaped slash appeared.
And landed squarely on Elfman's crossed arms.
SHRRRK!
Stone parted like tofu.
Elfman's massive body was flung backward, blood spraying as deep wounds carved from elbow to wrist.
"Mr. Elfman!"
Juvia nearly lost her footing as he slammed into her. She barely managed to catch him, staggering under his weight.
Blood dripped rapidly onto the ground.
Bright red.
Evergreen's pupils shrank.
"You bastard..." she hissed, fury flaring.
"What did you do to him?!"
...
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