Earth Land ,Ishgar, Desierto, Ardeshir.
July 13, x790.
The haze surrounding Gildarts slowly thinned over the next thirty seconds. At the same time, magic power pressure in the area lowered proportionally. Then, when the haze was finally gone, Gildarts was once again revealed. However, his Automail left arm now looked different.
Instead of a simple, if not sleeker than average, silver-colored Automail arm, now, Gildarts arm had grown in size. On top of that, there were protrusions sticking out of his shoulder and around his elbow. Plus, the color had changed from silver to a dull golden color, like that of orichalcum.
That's right, after Gildarts finished nurturing his [Soul Armament Embryo] and it completed its first shift, it took on the appearance of an Automail arm. Yet, instead of having to undergo surgery to have it reattached after taking off the old one, as soon as he touched his [Soul Armament] with his Automail arm, the two arms fused.
Naturally, this freaked Gildarts all the way the fuck out when it happened. So, without thinking, he sprinted through Magnolia, destroying several houses along the way, and headed straight for Alfonzo's mansion. However, just like it usually did when Gildarts arrived unannounced, the [Reflection Barrier] sent him flying. And because it was much more powerful than it was back when Alfonzo first created it, combined with the fact that Gildarts was running at full speed due to panic, by the time Gildarts calmed down, he was able to admire the view of the town while sailing right past it at an altitude of about three hundred feet.
"Damn... I really need to practice using this more." Gildarts muttered while raising his left arm to take a good look at it. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to unseal you in any of the training rooms at the guild hall, Calamity. And when I'm not training in the training chambers, I kinda forget."
After he finished speaking, which was strange to Kakuzu and the young woman, because it looked like he was talking to his Automail, Gildarts flinched, as if it shouted back at him. And while the mint-green-haired young woman only tilted her head, as if she was thinking about something, Kakuzu's expression turned incredibly blank.
"I've been around for over a hundred years." Kakuzu muttered. "And I've taken a few bounties on Fairy Tail wizards in the past. And I knew they were all weird. But he's talking to his damn arm. I think this guy takes the cake. It will probably be a good thing if I kill him."
'But where did all that power come from?' Kakuzu asked himself. 'Was he holding back the whole time he was fighting that moron? Never mind, of course he was. With out his enemy's blood to use in his [Death Controlling Possessed Blood Curse], Hidan is only a little better than your average Jonin.'
"I think I just heard something interesting." Gildarts said as he shifted his gaze over to Kakuzu. He ten continued with his voice taking on a more gave tone. "You said you've killed a few of my seniors in the past, didn't you? I think we need to sit down and talk about that."
"There's nothing for us to talk about." Kakuzu replied coldly. "You'll be joining them in the afterlife soon enough."
"Wrong answer." Gildarts said as he lowered his stance and raised his left arm into a position to throw a punch.
At the same time, the tips of the protrusions on Gildarts' elbow began to light up with the light of his magic power. Meanwhile, the protrusions on his shoulder turned to face the same direction as the ones on his elbow before lighting up, as well.
"[Fissure]." Gildarts said quietly in an intense tone.
*Boom!*
In the next instant, magic power shout out of the glowing tips of the protrusions on Gildarts' arm. Then, he shot forward even faster than before when his movements were kicking up sand as he approached. At the same time, the ground along Gildarts path fissured behind him.
"What the...?" Kakuzu exclaimed when he saw how fast Gildarts was moving. At the same time, he started flying through hand signs. "[Earth-Style: Rock Trail], [Fire-Style: Intelligent Hard Work], [Wind-Style: Pressure Damage], [Lightning-Style: False Darkness], [Water-Style: Water Formation Wall]."
At a speed that even surpassed his peak, Kakuzu formed hand signs at a blinding speed. Managing to perform five Jutsu before Gildarts could cross half the distance. At the same time, two more masks were detached from his back, supported by the tendrils of the [Earth Grudge Fear]. Then, each mask opened its mouth before spewing magic power of its element. Meanwhile, Kakuzu dropped to one knee and slammed his palms on the ground.
In the next instant, the fire mask once again fired a small fireball towards Gildarts while the wind mask began condensing [Wind Magic] in its mouth. Meanwhile, like the fire mask both the lightning mask and the water mask also spat magic power of their element. However, while the lightning mask fired a spear of [Lightning Magic] that was condensed into a laser, the water mask spat a blob of water to the ground that circled around Kakuzu before rising up to create a [Water Barrier].
On top of that, with Kakuzu's hands slamming into the ground, the sand, in a straight line between himself and Gildarts, hardened into stones that rose up and tried to crush Gildarts.
"Impressive casting speed." Gildarts said without any fluctuation in his expression. "Still, it's useless. [Crash Magic: Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Empyrean]."
With his chant, Gildarts slightly adjusted the speed of his approach. And with that slight adjustment, the four offensive Jutsu Kakuzu cast, which would have hit Gildarts from different angles thanks to their relative speeds, ended up in a straight line after a moment. Then, Gildarts sped up to his max speed as he threw his fist forward.
*Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!*
In the next instant, Gildarts' fist, coated in his [Crash Magic], dispersed the lightning spear, fireball, wind sphere, and protruding rocks into motes of magic power one after the other. A moment later, that same fist slammed into Kakuzu's [Water Barrier], dispersing it as well.
"This is for those Fairy Tail wizards you killed over the years." Gildarts said just before his fist slammed into Kakuzu's chest.
"Damn it!" Kakuzu shouted as more tendrils extended from his body and wrapped around him defensively.
*Boom!*
Yet, as soon as Gildarts' [Crash Magic] came in contact with those tendrils, they broke down into dust. Then, Gildarts' fist finally struck Kakuzu. When it did, the old shinobi was sent flying into the distance, the mask covering the bottom half of his face turning red from the blood he coughed up.
On top of that, as Kakuzu disappeared over the horizon, Gildarts could see the four strange masks that were connected to him via those tendrils crumbling away, a well.
"Ahahahahaha!" At the same time, Hidan started to laugh uproariously. "Look at him go! Ha! Who's the idiot now, Kakuzu? Hahaha!"
"*Sigh* He used so many different kinds of magic all at once... I can see why he would have been able to take out wizards in the past." Gildarts said as he turned towards the laughing maniac, who should, by all accounts, be dead already. "The real question is... What should I do with you?"
Hearing Gildarts' question, Hidan's laughter stopped. Then, he, with his entire body burned and bleeding, glared at Gildarts angrily.
"It doesn't matter what you do." Hidan said wrathfully. "Even if you crush me to dust, cut my head off, or pierce my heart, you can't kill me. And because I can't die, I will, sooner or later, sacrifice you to Lord Jashin. But because you pissed me off, it won't be just you that I sacrifice. No! I'll sacrifice everyone you hold dear. And I'll make you watch as their lives end in the most pain-filled way that I can."
"Well, for your sake I hope we can find a way to get rid of you." Gildarts said after staring into Hidan's eyes for a few moments. He then shook his head, seemingly pitying Hidan for thinking of doing something exceedingly stupid. "Because if you ever try to hurt my little girl, the Kid's gonna make you regret that immortality of yours."
In response to Gildarts' warning, Hidan simply continued to laugh maniacally. Seeing that, Gildarts only shook his head once again. Then, he walked over to Hidan's body and did something that he would never do in most situations. Or rather, he would never have to. He straightened the fingers on his left hand into a spear hand. Then, he...
*Swish!* *Splatter!*
... swung his left arm, his hand passing right through Hidan's neck, and sending his head rolling away as the blood gushed from the stump. A moment later, he placed his hand on Hidan's chest and flowed his [Crash Magic] into the headless body, atomizing it in the process. He then stood up straight and released Calamity's partially unsealed state.
"Ow~~~!" Hidan screamed in pain. "Damn it! I'm really, really, really, gonna make it hurt when I eventually sacrifice you. Holy fucking shit! This really fucking hurts!"
Seeing the talking head cursing and complaining about how much pain it was in, Gildarts could only stare blankly for a while. A moment later, he shook his head. Then, he finally turned to the tan-skinned young woman he just rescued from the two members of Akatsuki.
"So, you alright, little lady?" Gildarts asked as he took a step forward before picking up Hidan's head by his hair. "Got any injuries?"
Unfortunately, the young woman was too dumbfounded at the sight of a talking, decapitated head to answer right away. Yet, she finally snapped out of her daze when Gildarts started walking towards the other, much larger, head he had discarded before the fight began.
"Uh... Yes... I'm fine." The tan-skinned woman said in an uncertain tone. Yet, only a moment later, a smile spread over her face as she skipped over to Gildarts and started inspecting the large beasts' head. "Hey! Hey! What's that? Did you hunt it? Where's the rest of the body? Do you think it would taste good?"
Slightly taken aback by the girl's change in demeanor, Gildarts could only smile wryly when she started bombarding him with questions.
"Well, this is the head of the monster I was tasked with taking down on my quest." Gildarts said. "As for the rest of the body, I don't know what it would taste like. But I left it behind. It was too big to bring back."
"Oh, I see.' The young woman said while nodding in understanding. "By the way, they said your name was Gildarts Clive, right? Mind if I call you Gil? Okay, Gil. So, are you from Desierto? If so, do you know how to get to Stella? I need to go home. I'm sure Shibuki is waiting for me."
Reaching that point, the young woman's mood dipped once again.
"Unfortunately, the two shinobi who were sent to protect me died when those guys attacked." The young woman said. "And they're the ones who knew the way home. This is my first time out of my village, you see."
"Slow down, young lady." Gildarts said, wanting to place a hand on the young woman's shoulder. Unfortunately, his hands were full with the two heads he was holding. "Before we go any further, why don't you start with a name?"
Gasping in surprise, the young woman looked as if she just remembered that part.
"Right! How could I forget?" The young woman said. "I can't make a hundred friends like Shibuki said if I don't introduce myself, can I?"
The young woman then put on a more serious face, though, the smile she had been wearing for most of the time since the fight ended, was still present.
"My name is Fū. It's nice to meet you, Gil." The tan-skinned woman, Fū, said cheerfully. "Would you be my friend?"
Smiling in response, Gildarts did not know how to react to Fū's friend request. He was forty-four years old this year and this girl seemed to be even younger than Cana. Even so, he did not reject her.
"Sure." Gildarts replied casually. "As for your other question, yes, I know how to get to Stella. But I don't know if it would be a good idea to send you back right now."
"Huh? Why not?" Fū asked while tilting her head in a confused manner.
"Because of these guys." Gildarts replied while lifting Hidan's head.
"Damn it! If you're gonna carry me around like this, at least find a better way to do it you asshole!" Hidan shouted. "Do you have any idea how much it hurts to be hanging from your hair?"
"There are at least six more of them." Gildarts continued while ignoring Hidan. "And they're goal is to hunt down all the Jin... Him... Jin-something like you."
"It's Jinchuriki." Fū corrected happily. A moment later, however, she put on a troubled expression. "But if I don't go back right away, Shibuki will be worried."
"Hmm... Well, we don't want your friends to be worried about you, do we?" Gildarts asked rhetorically while lowering his head to think. However, when he did, he did not notice the hint of sadness in Fū's expression when he mentioned her friends. Unaware of that, he continued. "How about this? Why don't you come back with me to Fiore. I'll protect you if any more of those guys show up. And when we get there, we can send a message to this Shibuki you've been talking about. Then, we can set up a time and place for you two to reunite."
"Really? That sounds like fun." Fū replied, snaping out of her momentary sadness before Gildarts could notice it. "Will there be people to make friends with in Fiore?"
"Of course, there will." Gildarts replied as he turned to start walking towards Ardeshir. "In fact, I've got a whole guild full of people who wouldn't mind being friends with you."
"Great! Then what are we waiting for?" Fū asked energetically. "Let's go!"
And with that, the two went on their way. However, they were unaware of the figure that climbed out of the sand nearly thirteen miles away from where the battle took place.
"Damn it..." Kakuzu grumbled as he pulled himself out of a sand pit that was created when he landed after Gildarts' punch. He then continued while ripping off his blood-soaked half mask. "In just one attack, he destroyed my fire, wind, lightning, and water hearts. Now I'm going to have to find replacements. This is such a pain. *Sigh* I'll have to report that idiot got captured, too. It's starting to look like staying with the Akatsuki isn't worth the trouble anymore. But I'm sure they won't take my betrayal well. Well, when I find a good opportunity to get out, I'm leaving. But for now, let's head to the hideout and report what happened."
Like that, Kakuzu traveled in a direction different from Gildarts to reach the closest Akatsuki hideout. Meanwhile, other than his hood, mask, and cloak that were destroyed, no one would even be able to tell he had been injured if they were to see him now. Though, there were a few more visible tendrils holding his body together.