All across Tenrou Island, the Fairy Tail forces clashed fiercely with Grimoire Heart's invading members. The Grimoire Heart mages who'd arrived were skilled, but those they faced were the elite of Fairy Tail, so the dark guild's ordinary fighters posed little challenge.
Suddenly, a crisp clapping sound resonated near Gray, Lucy, Loke, and Cana. In an instant, the enemies surrounding them vanished.
"Huh? Where'd they go?" Gray muttered, glancing around.
Lucy frowned. "They were just here a second ago—dropped out of the sky, then disappeared? Feels like we're spinning in circles."
A voice echoed from above them. "Those small fry can't handle you, so you get me instead."
They looked up. On a broken beam stood a monster with a goat's head, clad in a tailored suit.
"A goat?!" Lucy blurted in confusion.
At first glance, Loke's expression tightened, immediately recognizing him. "This might be bad news," he murmured under his breath.
Elsewhere, Erza and Juvia had also mowed down any Grimoire Heart underlings in sight. The two S-Class mages were unstoppable against such lesser foes.
"Whew…," Erza said, checking their surroundings. "If we see any more enemies, we'll eliminate them quickly. Our priority has changed—this is an outright battle now."
A new voice spoke from nearby: "If that's how things are, I'll just have to fight you both. I don't care if you're S-Class or not."
A pink-haired girl emerged, her aura unsettling. Juvia blinked in surprise. "A child…?"
Erza tensed, focusing. "Don't underestimate her, Juvia. Her magic feels strange."
On the other side, Elfman and Evergreen similarly fended off waves of dark mages. A lone figure strode forward, ordering the rest to stand aside.
"In this hushed forest, devils and fairies will do battle," he intoned dramatically. "Now it's your turn to face me."
He was a man in a flamboyant outfit, calling himself Rustyrose.
Evergreen sighed. "This guy…some kind of idiot?"
Elfman also couldn't help but wonder if the man was half-pretentious, half-foolish.
Not too far away, Kain Hikaru had crash-landed headfirst into the earth, glancing around in disarray. "Huh? Everyone? Where'd they go?"
After Ultear landed, she surveyed her surroundings alone. "Do as you please, all of you. Kill or be killed—it makes no difference. I only want Zeref. Now…where are you, Zeref?"
Meanwhile, Natsu and Azuma's fight raged on. Azuma bombarded Natsu with blasts that weren't purely flames, causing some wounds—but ironically fueling Natsu whenever any part of them contained heat.
"Tch," Azuma growled upon realizing the problem. "So you can feed on certain explosions, Fire Dragon. Very well, I'll shift tactics." He raised an arm. "Sword of Leaves!"
A swirl of razor-sharp leaves slashed toward Natsu.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!!"
Natsu's flaming breath incinerated the leaf-blades in a flash. Azuma conjured thick wooden pillars in front of himself, but the roaring flames reduced them to embers, and Azuma cried out as he was blasted back.
Azuma wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, adrenaline sparking in his eyes. "Hah… a ferocious flame indeed. Worthy of Fairy Tail's 'Fire Dragon.'"
Natsu grinned, fists blazing. "You're not half-bad yourself."
High above, a colossal purple palm formed from Conqueror's Haki pressed down against Hades. The Grimoire Heart master braced himself.
"Eternal Darkness: Shadow!" he snarled, erecting a black barrier to devour the blow.
Boom—!!!
The impact rocked the landscape, uprooting trees. The ground under Hades caved, waves of force surging outward. He groaned, holding it back with both arms.
"Nngh…!"
Yet he endured, though cracks spread across his magic shield. Black-red arcs of energy sizzled around the barrier.
Far off the island, a tattered ship belonging to the Magic Council floated. Though it had been heavily damaged, the mages aboard struggled to keep it from sinking outright. Tremors from Tenrou Island's battles sent massive waves across the sea, hampering any rescue attempts.
"It feels like there are two monstrous mages clashing," said Lahar, a council member. "These waves are just the aftershock of their power."
"What insane strength must they have for it to reach us here?"
Doranbolt—also known as Mest—suddenly appeared on the deck, wearing a grave expression. "It's Su Yan of Fairy Tail and Hades of Grimoire Heart. They're fighting on Tenrou Island."
"Doranbolt?!"
He nodded. "I managed to escape there just in time, but the battle might destroy everything."
On Tenrou Island, Hades's magic barrier cracked further under Su Yan's titanic assault. Cracks spiderwebbed across the black surface.
In the face of Su Yan's unstoppable power, Hades, once the terror of Makarov and all Fairy Tail, found himself being rapidly overwhelmed.