Everyone in the Cube can hear the explosion and feel the strong vibrations it caused. They don't know what it is, but now they need to focus on their jobs.
Except for Mira and Elfman who already finished and are now guarding the captured Demon Gates, everyone else is still fighting.
They are fighting demons weaker than the Demon Gates, but they fight so many of them. There are also half-demons, human Mages that are transformed into demons by Tartaros through experiments.
Tartaros actually has created a lot of them now, not just a few. But only some of the half-demons have decent power. The clearest examples are Jiemma and Minerva who were recently captured by Tartaros and transformed into half-demons.
Most of the other half-demons are members from their sub-Guilds, so most of them are Zeref Worshippers. But in the early experimental stage, they used Mages or even civilians they captured.
There were many deaths in the early stage, but now they can successfully demonize any humans even if they aren't Mages. But the power they get still varies depending on their compatibility with Curse Power.
Jiemma and Minerva have surprisingly high compatibilities, especially Jiemma. Curse Power is made of negative emotion and Jiemma is just straight evil. That's why he is very compatible with Curse Power.
He becomes very strong and gives the Twin Dragons a hard time. Sting and Rogue had fought Jiemma before. After Jiemma lost from Alex, he unleashed his rage on Sabertooth.
Jiemma didn't want to honor his bet with Alex to leave Sabertooth if he lost. He actually wanted to just change Sabertooth's name so he would basically leave Sabertooth although it would still basically be Sabertooth, so it wasn't the bet's intention.
Alex has told Sabertooth members that Jiemma would try to do this trick. Mira told him that possibility, so he told Rufus and Orga who then relayed it to their Guild Mates, and it turned out to be true.
They obviously didn't want to stay under Jiemma's tyranny again. Even though Alex has told them to call him if Jiemma used this trick, they could call him to beat him up again.
However, they decided to fight for themselves and only called Alex if they couldn't handle it. They don't want to give up without fighting and they need to overcome their fear of Jiemma if they want to grow.
The fight was... not intense. They actually defeated Jiemma pretty easily. After all, not only was he injured, they were also fighting him together. He was also alone because Minerva didn't help him.
She was shocked by how everyone could suddenly band together against her father. Just like them, she was also afraid of her father before. But then Alex shattered everything by defeating Jiemma very easily, making her think if her father was really as strong and fearsome as she thought, so she was quite confused.
After Jiemma got defeated easily by Sabertooth, he could only leave. Minerva also left with him because she knew she didn't have any place in Sabertooth. She knew they hated her as much as they hated Jiemma.
Unbeknownst to her, they actually don't think too badly of her. They knew she suffered the most from her father's abusive parenting. She might have hit them many times, but she also had saved a lot of them too.
Jiemma would leave them to die in a mission or even kill them himself if they couldn't pull their own weights, but Minerva would still help her teammates even if she would beat them up later. For them, she's just a girl who doesn't know how to be kind because of her father even though she also has kindness in her heart.
The reason they join Alex to attack Tartaros now is also because of Minerva. They want to take her home and give her a chance to live a normal life. But to do that, they need to separate her from Jiemma.
If Rufus and Orga weren't on quests, they would also join Sting and Rogue. The other members are not that strong, so it will be too dangerous for them to join, that's why only Sting and Rogue come.
Thankfully, this is not a tournament. They can kill Jiemma without being punished because the guy is already a Dark Mage and a half-demon at that. Killing him is allowed by the law and it will even help Ishgar if a member of Tartaros is killed.
The problem is, Jiemma isn't alone. He is together with many lesser and half demons. They need to defeat them and Jiemma, but their number is really high.
These demons might be as strong as the B and C Class monsters in the Pandemonium event and there are more than 100 demons here. Yet they need to defeat them all with just 2 of them.
To their surprise, Jiemma actually stands on the back, just watching as they fight and defeat the other lesser and half-demons. He watches arrogantly as they spend their magic power killing the demons.
Sting and Rogue don't hesitate to use big attacks to kill the demons faster. The good thing is they are fighting all of them in a really big room. So they don't need to search in different rooms like the Pandemonium event.
They can also destroy anything here and kill every demon. So they don't need to hold back like in the tournament where they can't kill people. It makes things easier and they kill the demons faster.
But they spend a lot of energy killing those lesser and half-demons. They already feel tired when it's finally time to fight Jiemma who keeps standing on the back without trying to fight earlier.
Now, he finally makes his move after the other lesser and half-demons are dead. Jiemma uses his Blast that has gotten much stronger because of his Curse Power. It's nowhere near Jackal's Bombs, but it's still stronger than what he could use before.
Sting and Rogue are pushed back. They are fighting back, but Jiemma knows most of their skills and patterns when fighting. Even when they activate Dragon Force, Jiemma who has gotten much stronger can handle their combined attacks.
They got hit by Jiemma's Blast Curse many times, but they keep standing up again and again. One thing they learned from the Grand Magic Games is to not give up until the end, until it's truly over.
Their synchronized attacks keep getting better. They get stronger and faster as the fight goes on, which surprises Jiemma because they should be tired already by now.
But they have grown too since the Grand Magic Games. They've sparred with Natsu, Gajeel, Laxus, and even Alex a few times after that tournament, which taught them a lot of things and made them stronger.
They quickly overwhelm Jiemma and finish the job with their famous Unison Raid. Jiemma can't stop it with his Blast Curse and gets hit. This attack has become so strong that it disintegrates Jiemma's body completely.
Sting and Rogue flop on the floor because they are too tired. That attack spent all of their energy, so they really hope no demon will appear again.
"Huft! Huft! Do you think we can defeat Alex with that attack?" Sting looks at the ceiling while imagining using that Unison Raid on Alex.
"Impossible. It might not be enough to even defeat Natsu or Gajeel." Rogue shakes his head, followed by Sting's defeated sighs.
"Fairy Tail is really full of monsters."
Those said monsters are also fighting the demons in different locations in the Cube. They actually prove that they are monsters by defeating the demons with less effort than Sting and Rogue.
Laxus who's teamed with Wendy and Carla is on a killing spree now. He has just started to fight seriously because he was letting Wendy and Carla fight the demons on their own to let them gain experience.
They fought well, but they eventually ran out of power. So he takes over and kills the demons at a much faster rate than them. There's no problem they face and Laxus eventually kills all the demons.
Natsu, Happy, and Lucy also don't have any problem except for Natsu being too fired-up. Lucy needs to keep him under control very often because his wild attacks almost hit her and Happy many times.
Gajeel and Lily also don't encounter any problems. They work well together and kill the demons quickly even though they lack long-range attacks.
Erza and Lisanna also can kill the demons well. Their only problem is the demonized Minerva who proves to be a challenge for Erza to defeat. Minerva uses her surroundings well. She uses the mindless demons to help her, which makes things difficult for Erza and Lisanna.
But Erza is too tenacious and strong. Lisanna also has grown a lot. They fight greatly and eventually defeat the demons and Minerva who is captured because of Sabertooth's request.
As for Ultear and Gray, they seem to have an easy time. Ultear's Water and Ice God Slayer Magic is too destructive and Gray's Ice Devil Slayer Magic is very effective against demons.
But during the battle, Ultear keeps criticizing Gray and gives him advice. They look more like a teacher and a student fighting together rather than friends. Gray keeps complaining, but Ultear's advice actually works, so he still does them even when he keeps grumbling.
Mira and Elfman are still guarding the Demon Gates after Mira succeeds at Taking Over 3 of the 8 Demons. So right now she is trying to conquer their souls and power while waiting.
Meanwhile, Mard Geer has come out of the Cube after detonating the giant thorny vibe ball with Alex in it. He looks at the smoke while smirking, but that smirk disappears soon.
A dark red ball is floating in the air as the smoke disappears. The ball opens up like a flower bud and shows its real form. It's actually Alex who protects himself from the explosion using his 9 long tails and many mechanical tails that were destroyed.
The mechanical tails might be destroyed, but he comes out of that explosion relatively unharmed. He looks at Mard Geer with a wide grin. Their battle will continue.
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Ch. 269. S-Class Wendy