As Aelius ran, everything layered on top of itself until it stopped feeling like separate problems and more like one massive, suffocating pressure closing in from every direction. His daemon was losing, not destroyed yet, but close enough that he could feel the strain through the tether like something grinding its teeth down to the root. That alone would have been enough to irritate him on a normal day, but right now it just added to the list. The thing wasn't exactly weak; he didn't want to risk putting something too strong into the ring, in case it broke the ring or his control, but it was something stable, something that should have at least stalled whoever Levy had run into. The fact that it was being pushed back meant whoever she was facing was actually able to be considered a threat.
The next thing was Makarov's magic spiking. He could even see it in the distance, even through the trees, the massive silhouette of the Makarv's full titan form, towering above the canopy, the air around that part of the island warping under the pressure of it. The old man didn't do that lightly. Ever. If he'd gone that far, then whatever he was dealing with wasn't something the others could handle alone, not even close. The sound of his voice still echoed faintly through the forest, delayed from a distance but heavy enough that it made the ground feel unsteady under Aelius' feet with each step.
His senses stretched further, pushing past what was comfortable, just beyond the guild master. He couldn't grasp the exact number, but each one was strong enough to stand out even through the chaos of the trials. One of them made his focus snap for half a second, not because it was violent or erratic, but because it was powerful. It sat just under Gildart's level, maybe brushing against it depending on how much it was holding back. Aelius' jaw tightened as he adjusted his direction slightly without slowing down. If that was the leader, then fine. That was manageable. If it wasn't, if that was just one of them, then this entire situation was about to get worse in a way he didn't have the patience to deal with.
His magic flared harder as he pushed himself faster, and this time he didn't bother trying to keep it contained. The ground beneath his feet blackened with every step, grass collapsing into itself as if it had been rotting for years instead of seconds, roots shriveling, soil loosening and breaking apart under the sudden decay. Branches snapped as he forced his way through them, the wood turning brittle the moment it touched him, crumbling at the edges like ash before falling apart entirely. Smaller plants didn't even get that much; they just disintegrated outright, reduced to dust that scattered behind him in uneven trails. It spread further than usual, not controlled, not precise, just leaking out in response to the pressure building in his chest and skull.
The buzzing pushed back stronger in response. Not the faint, mostly ignorable kind he'd been dealing with earlier, but sharp, invasive, like something digging into the back of his head and refusing to stop. It rang in his ears, warped his sense of distance for a split second before correcting itself, then hit again, harder this time. His vision didn't blur, but it felt like it wanted to, like it was just waiting for him to slip enough to let it. He grit his teeth and pushed through it without slowing, breath steady even as his pulse picked up just enough to notice
"Of course," he muttered under his breath, voice low and irritated despite the situation. "Perfect timing."
Levy was in danger, Makarov was already engaged, and there were multiple unknowns moving across the island. And those were just the three he knew about.
His thoughts flickered briefly, unhelpfully, to Vanessa. She would have already handled half of this. Found the scattered members, dragged them back to camp whether they liked it or not, probably yelled at half of them on the way for good measure. Even he struggled against her sheer speed. Exactly what this situation needed. Instead, she was back in Magnolia, miles away, completely unaware that everything here was starting to fall apart all at once. There was nothing he could do about that. No point dwelling on it.
Aelius leaned forward slightly as he ran, pushing himself faster despite the protest in his head, ignoring the way the buzzing spiked again in response. The magic leaking from him intensified for a moment, the decay spreading wider and more aggressively. Trees behind him left half-dead where they stood, bark darkening, leaves curling in on themselves as if the forest was recoiling from his presence.
Everything else was pushed aside the second he broke through the treeline and actually saw what was waiting for him. It wasn't what he expected, which at this point was almost expected in itself. A humanoid chicken stood off to one side, white feathers clean in a way that didn't match the situation at all, posture upright, controlled, dressed in armor that looked almost ceremonial if not for the way it carried itself. Opposite it, something closer to a dog, or maybe a goat, he couldn't quite place it at a glance, but it didn't matter; the shape was wrong in the same way, anthropomorphic, armored, still. Both of them faced inward, attention locked on the center of the clearing like this was a duel they had every intention of finishing.
And in the middle of it, Gajeel. 'Beat up' didn't really cover it. His stance was still there, but everything else told the story. Bruises already forming, breathing heavier than he should have been, shoulders tight, from holding himself together.
The fourth figure made Aelius' eyes narrow slightly. Green-skinned, vaguely humanoid, wrong in all the ways that mattered. Roughly six feet, maybe a bit more with the way it held itself, its frame lean but dense, like it had been built for endurance instead of speed. The sword in its hand looked like it was grown, bone twisted into shape, the edge uneven and wet with something that wasn't just blood. Pus clung to it in slow, shifting layers, semi-liquid sickness that slid along the surface and dripped without ever fully falling away. It pulsed faintly, like it was alive.
He recognized it immediately. Of course he did. It was his daemon. And it was losing badly. Now that he was closer, he could feel the strain in it, the instability creeping in at the edges, the tether between them stretched thin and fraying under the pressure. It had done its job, though. It had stalled. That was enough to consider it a success in any case.
Aelius didn't hesitate as he moved forward. He broke the tether without ceremony, a sharp, clean severing that snapped through the connection before the daemon could collapse on its own. The creature didn't even react, not really. One second it was there, the next it simply came apart, dissolving into nothing like it had never existed in the first place, the sickly residue of its presence vanishing with it. The clearing shifted slightly with its absence. Aelius slowed with it, not stopping, but no longer barreling forward either. His pace evened out into something controlled as he crossed the remaining distance toward Gajeel, eyes already moving, scanning the two enemies.
Both were more or less fresh or at least appeared that way, minor wounds that wouldn't really count as damage, but he did note a few actual ones, aimed at places meant to hinder them. The most notable ones involved the chicken's left wing being bent inward more. And the goat's stance was favoring its left side.
The only thing missing was Levy. "Where is she?" Aelius asked, voice low, but carrying something underneath it that hadn't been there a moment ago.
Gajeel didn't look at him right away, but the shift in his stance told Aelius everything he needed to know. He'd held the line. Bought time. Let her get out. It was the right call, even if he'd never say it out loud. Levy would have been a liability here because this wasn't a fight built for anything less than brute survival and instinct. Gajeel had chosen correctly.
Aelius exhaled once through his nose, filing that away as he stepped fully into place beside him.
"Oh? Another Fairy weakling, come to save this one?" the goat said, voice thick with that specific kind of arrogance that came from not being punished yet. Aelius didn't even need to look at it fully to know what kind of opponent it was. Loud and confident. Probably strong enough to back some of it up, which made it worse. "Not like it matters," it continued, rolling its shoulder slightly, armor shifting with a dull scrape. "The rest of Grimoire Heart is already here. You'll all die soon enough."
Aelius had just reached Gajeel when the words finished. He paused and looked at the two animals. "…well," he said quietly, almost under his breath, eyes narrowing just slightly as the irritation in his expression flattened into something colder. "That makes this easier."
His head tilted a fraction, just enough to let them see his eyes narrow in annoyance, not as obstacles, but as targets.
"You can die now." He didn't raise his voice. Just lifted his hand slightly and muttered under his breath, "Plague God Bloom." Flowers tore through the skin of his arms in uneven clusters, blooming violently along his forearms and shoulders, petals pale and sickly, veins dark and pulsing beneath the surface. They opened all at once, and the spores came with them, a dense, choking cloud that spread outward in a sudden burst, thick enough to obscure vision for a moment as it surged toward the two.
Both of them moved the second the flowers opened, not when the spores hit, not when the cloud expanded, but the moment Aelius' magic shifted. The chicken stepped back and to the side in a smooth, practiced motion, armor barely making a sound as it cleared the main spread, while the goat twisted sharply, boots digging into the ground as it pivoted out of the direct path.
"…right," Aelius muttered, lowering his hand slightly as the spores settled into the ground behind them, the vegetation it touched immediately beginning to blacken and collapse in on itself. "You're not idiots."
The goat snorted, chin lifting slightly under the weight of its armor, clearly pleased, clearly taking the bait in the worst possible way. "Of course we aren't, what kind of mor—"
"I'm in a hurry," Aelius cut in, voice flat, not raised, not sharp, just final. He didn't give it room to finish, didn't give it space to build momentum. "So if you tell me what I need to know, I'll spare you. Mostly."
His arm stayed extended, not threatening in the obvious sense. The spores continued to creep along the ground in thin, uneven trails, subtle enough to pass as leftover spread, slow enough to look like they were dying out instead of advancing. A lie, but a convincing one.
"Pfff," the goat scoffed, shifting its stance slightly, weight rolling forward like it was preparing to move. "You really think we'll lose to someone like you?"
Aelius tilted his head a fraction, like he was actually considering the question, his expression unreadable, eyes half-lidded behind the weight of everything pressing down on the clearing. "No," he said after a second. "I think you already have."
At his will, the ground itself seemed to exhale, yellow first, a dense, choking bloom that surged upward instead of outward, cutting off escape before the movement even registered. The two animal-like figures at the edge of the clearing reacted on instinct, muscles tensing, bodies shifting to bolt, but they were already too late. The moment the yellow touched them, it was over. Their limbs locked mid-motion, momentum snapping to nothing as if the air had turned solid around them.
Then the blue followed, it crawled across their skin, seeped into the lines of muscle frozen in place, slid along nerves that could no longer respond. There was a brief, strangled attempt to resist, something primal pushing against the paralysis, but it didn't matter.
Their bodies gave next, its structure failing without resistance. What had been solid moments before began to lose definition and began to sink into itself. There was no scream, no thrashing, just the slow, inevitable breakdown as their forms melted into the ground beneath them, absorbed into the same damp, corrupted earth Aelius had already claimed. He had wanted this over quicker, but their deaths weren't exactly slow; they had laughable magic defence, likely pouring all their power into offence, meaning Aelius was the worst possible match-up for them.
Aelius didn't watch the end of it. He had already turned. "Come on, Gajeel, this whole island is under attack, and those two were the weakest ones I felt."
Gajeel turned and fell into step beside him without hesitation, some of the tension in his form easing as he cast one last look over his shoulder at what was left behind. "Of course they were," he muttered, like anything else would've been disappointing.
"Was I wrong in my guess that you sent Levy away?" Aelius asked, voice even, already moving through the trees like he had somewhere specific in mind, even if he hadn't said it out loud.
"No," Gajeel replied. "Told her to run." He snorted faintly. "No offense to her guardian, plagued angel, but the girl ain't exactly competing for strongest in the guild."
Aelius huffed under his breath, something almost like amusement slipping through despite everything. "Plagued angel?" he repeated, glancing at him briefly. The name sat wrong with him, stuck somewhere between mockery and something a little too close to the truth. He didn't comment on that part, just looked forward again. "I guess you aren't wrong. But you were right to send her away. She's smart, and she's strong, just… not in combat."
They moved deeper into the forest, the air feeling heavier the farther they went, like the island itself was holding its breath. The earlier adrenaline was starting to wear off, and with it came everything Aelius had been ignoring. The ringing in his ears pushed back in, louder now, not something he could shove aside as easily. It throbbed, uneven, pressing into his skull in a way that made his jaw tighten slightly. Along with it came a new, faint, rolling nausea, low at first, then creeping higher the longer he let his magic sit active under his skin. His breathing shifted slightly in response, more forced, like he was keeping something contained rather than just moving forward.
Gajeel noticed anyway. "You look worse than before," he said bluntly, eyes flicking sideways for half a second.
"I'm wearing my cloak, you can't see how I look," Aelius replied without missing a step.
"Not the point."
Aelius didn't answer right away. His focus stayed forward, gaze narrowing faintly as something brushed against his senses again."Erza, Juvia, and Levy are up ahead," he said after a moment, adjusting his path without breaking stride. "I guess she didn't realize I could feel the demon in her ring. It's fine. Makes the rest easier."
Gajeel let out a short breath through his nose, somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. "Right, that thing," he muttered. "Made that whole fight a bit easier, but I could've handled them without it. Or you." The words came out a little too quickly, like he was trying to reclaim something that had slipped during the earlier fight.
Aelius rolled his eyes, not even bothering to look at him this time. "Maybe," he said flatly. "But it doesn't matter now. When lives are on the line, I'm not interested in gambling on pride."
Gajeel clicked his tongue but didn't argue further, falling back into step as the two of them pushed forward. The forest shifted around them as they moved. Aelius could feel them more clearly now. It didn't take long, maybe a minute at most, before the forest ahead shifted and the distance between them and the others collapsed all at once. One second, it was just trees, and the next, Aelius stepped through a break in the brush and nearly walked straight into Erza.
She stopped just as sharply, boots digging into the ground as her hand went halfway to a weapon before she registered who it was. The tension didn't leave her posture even then; it just changed shape, redirecting instead of fading. Juvia stood just behind her, pale but steady, and Levy was off to the side, catching her breath like she had been moving fast for longer than she should have.
For a moment, no one spoke. Then Aelius exhaled quietly. "You're all alive," he said, like he had expected otherwise.
Erza's eyes narrowed slightly. "So are you," she replied, though her gaze flicked past him briefly, taking in Gajeel before returning. "What happened?"
"Multiple presences," Aelius answered without hesitation. "Spread across the island. We dealt with two." He didn't elaborate on how. Partly because he was sure Ezra would lecture him on appropriate force.
Gajeel snorted faintly behind him. "Barely worth mentioning," he added, though the way his shoulders still held tension said otherwise.
Levy looked between them, then at Aelius specifically, like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure where to start. He didn't give her the chance.
"The two we fought said they were part of Grimoire Heart, just like the Oración Seis," Aelius continued, already shifting the conversation forward. "There are more. And one of them…" He paused, just slightly, eyes narrowing as that distant presence brushed against his senses again, heavier than the rest. "…one of them is on a different level." Erza didn't interrupt. She just waited. "Gildarts' level, if just below," Aelius said plainly.
That got a reaction. Juvia stiffened slightly, and Levy's expression tightened, while Erza's grip flexed at her side like she was already preparing for what that meant. "…where?" she asked.
Aelius tilted his head slightly, taking a second to line up what he was feeling against the island itself before he lifted a hand and gestured deeper inland. "It's still. Just past the edge of the island. In the air, not sure if it's flying or on a ship of sorts."
"Can you fight them?" Erza asked immediately. Her eyes locked onto his, and there was something in them that didn't show up often when she looked at him. Hope.
Aelius paused, actually considering it instead of brushing it off. "Depends," he said after a second. "If it's like crush magic, like Gildarts, then no. Best I can do is slow it down." His gaze shifted slightly, distant for half a moment as he recalled that brief brush of something deeper. "If it's something closer to normal magic, then yes."
That was all Erza needed. Her stance shifted, weight settling, already moving before the moment could stretch any further. "That'll have to be enough," she said, voice firm, decision made on the spot. She turned, already stepping away as she called over her shoulder, "Juvia, with me." Juvia nodded without hesitation, stepping forward despite the lingering weakness in her posture.
Levy took a half step forward. "Wait, what about—"
"You're going back to camp," Erza cut in, tone firm but not harsh. "With them."
Levy hesitated, clearly not liking it, but the look Erza gave her left no room to push.
Aelius didn't comment on the decision. It was the right one. He did, however, add one thing before they split. "Don't engage them solo," he said, voice quieter now, but carrying enough weight to make both of them pause. "Not unless you have to."
Erza glanced back at him, something unreadable flickering in her eyes for a second before she gave a single, sharp nod. "We'll handle it," she said. Then she turned, and just like that, she and Juvia were gone, moving fast enough that the forest swallowed them within seconds, their presence fading into the background noise of everything else wrong with the island.
That left three. Aelius, Gajeel, and Levy. For a brief moment, the silence settled again, heavier this time, like the absence of Erza's presence made everything feel just a little less stable. Levy shifted slightly, glancing between the two of them. "So… camp?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Camp," Aelius confirmed, not slowing as he pushed ahead through the brush, the undergrowth bending and parting just enough for them to pass without losing pace. They moved fast, not quite running, but not far from it either. Gajeel kept pace easily, boots digging into the soil with solid, heavy steps, while Levy stayed just behind him, her breathing controlled but strained. She wasn't built for this kind of sustained movement, let alone through terrain like this, and it showed in the way her steps occasionally hit just a fraction off before she corrected herself.
After a minute, maybe a little more, the silence stretched just enough that Levy filled it. "Thank you, Aelius. That… thing in the ring… it saved me."
Aelius didn't respond right away. His attention stayed forward, eyes scanning, senses stretched just enough to keep track of the distortions in the air without letting himself sink too far into it. The ringing hadn't stopped. If anything, it had gotten worse, a low, constant pressure sitting behind his ears, like something trying to push its way out from the inside. He ignored it.
Gajeel snorted beside her, not even looking back. "Maybe don't run off next time," he muttered, but there wasn't any bite to it. Just a rough sort of concern, he didn't bother dressing up.
"Well, yes, but it still saved me," Levy shot back, a little breathless but steady. Then she looked toward Aelius again, more focused this time, like she'd pushed past the immediate panic and settled on something she actually wanted to say. "So… thank you. I honestly kinda forgot about the ring."
"It was experimental," Aelius muttered, not looking at her at first. "Not like I didn't get a new mildly useful thing out of it."
The words came out dismissive in the way he always defaulted to, but the shift in his posture gave him away. His shoulders tightened just slightly, his gaze drifting off to the side instead of meeting hers, like the thanks had landed somewhere he didn't quite know what to do with. It was just a kind of quiet discomfort, like being acknowledged for something he hadn't done for recognition in the first place.
Her expression softened a little, not pitying, just understanding in that way she had when she chose not to push too hard. "Still," she said, a bit quieter now, "you made it. Even if it was experimental."
Aelius exhaled slowly through his nose, the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth that didn't quite become a smile. "If you start making a habit out of thanking me, I'm going to assume you hit your head harder than I thought."
Levy huffed lightly at that, a small laugh slipping out despite everything. "I'll keep that in mind."
Aelius shifted his weight slightly, "We're not done," he said, tone returning to something more neutral, grounded. "So if you're both finished with the emotional moment…"
Levy rolled her eyes a little, but there was a small smile there now. "Yeah, yeah. Back to almost dying."
"Preferably less of that this time," Aelius replied dryly, already turning to move.
He didn't get far. One step, maybe two, before his body just… stopped. Not a stumble, not hesitation. It was abrupt, like he hit something that wasn't there. His foot set down slower than it should have, shoulders tightening as his head tilted just slightly, eyes unfocusing for a fraction of a second as his senses pushed outward.
Then everything crowded in at once. It wasn't clean. It wasn't like before, where he could pick people out, track them, recognize them. This was more like white noise, Loud and everywhere pressing in from every direction until it blurred together into something almost useless. Hundreds of signatures, weak, barely worth noticing on their own, but there were so many that they drowned everything else out. It was like trying to hear a single voice in the middle of a storm.
Levy's smile dropped. "What?"
"More just dropped onto the island," he continued, voice flattening as he focused harder, trying to force some kind of clarity out of the mess and getting nothing but static for it. "I can't feel anyone else. Too much interference." His jaw tightened slightly. "They're weak. Most of them are nothing. But there's so many that it doesn't matter."
Gajeel's expression shifted immediately, the casual edge gone as he stepped forward a fraction, eyes scanning the trees like that would somehow make them appear. "How many is 'so many'?"
Aelius didn't answer that immediately. Still trying to feel for any signatures, but he couldn't even grasp Ezra's anymore; the noise was so loud. "…enough," he said instead, dismissive but not wrong. Then, after a second, "But that's not the problem."
That got both of their attention. "I felt nine," he went on, slower now, more deliberate. "Maybe ten. Strong ones."
Gajeel scowled. "How strong?"
Aelius exhaled once through his nose, eyes narrowing faintly. "It was brief," he said. "And I couldn't get a clean read, but the weakest one felt stronger than the group we just left."
Levy went quiet. Gajeel's jaw set. "…combined, if that wasn't apparent," Aelius added, almost as an afterthought, though it didn't sound like one. For a second, no one said anything. The island felt heavier now, even without them understanding why.
Aelius didn't move right away. His focus hadn't pulled back in yet, still stretched out too far, still brushing against that mess of signatures, whether he wanted it to or not.
And then there was something else. It was faint, not because it was weak, but because it wasn't pushing outward like the rest. It sat under everything else, buried beneath the noise. For a split second, it shifted, not enough to really reveal itself, but enough to brush against Aelius's dying senses, and for him to tell it was off. It was either someone extremely strong or someone with a unique magic ability to suppress their power, if not both.
"This is going to suck," Aelius muttered, dragging in a slow breath that didn't quite fill his lungs the way it should have.
"Why do I get the feeling you've got a trick up your sleeve?" Levy muttered behind him, eyes narrowing at his back, already reading the shift in him even if she didn't know what it meant yet.
"Something like that," he said, letting the breath out in a long, controlled sigh. "More like evening the playing field." Then he spread his arms. "Forgive me for polluting your resting grounds, Mavis," he said as he began to mutter, "Plague God's Call," he said quietly, like it wasn't anything special. "Giggling Tide."
The ground answered immediately. It didn't crack or split like normal magic. Instead, it swelled, and the earth itself turned soft, distending outward in uneven pulses as something underneath it pushed up. The soil darkened first, black bleeding through the natural browns in slow, spreading veins before it ruptured completely.
Cocoons forced their way up from the dirt. Dozens at first, then more, then too many to count without trying. Green and black, slick and uneven, twitching like something inside them was already awake and impatient.
One burst. Then another. Then all of them. They didn't hatch cleanly. They tore open from the inside, splitting with wet, tearing sounds as small shapes forced their way out, causing the cocoons to collapse almost immediately, dissolving back into the corrupted ground they had just come from.
And then they did it again. The next wave pushed just as fast, and more and more things crawled out from the corruption.
Dozens quickly became hundreds. They were small things. Barely a foot tall. Crooked limbs, swollen bellies, mouths too wide for their faces, and filled with uneven, jagged teeth. Their skin shifted between sickly green and bruised black, pulsing faintly like something underneath it wasn't done growing yet.
They giggled instead of using normal speech. High-pitched and constant. Like children who didn't understand why they shouldn't be laughing.
Thick strings of drool hung from their mouths, hissing softly as it hit the ground, the grass beneath them blackening, curling in on itself, dying faster than it should have. The smell followed a second later. Rot and something sharper mixed together into something that sat heavy in the back of the throat.
Levy didn't move. Gajeel didn't speak. Because there were too many of them. They filled the space around the trio in seconds, crowding in without actually touching them, circling, twitching, shifting in place like they were waiting for something. Waiting for him.
Aelius lowered his arms slowly, the movement enough to draw their attention all at once. Hundreds of warped little faces snapping toward him in perfect, unnatural unison, giggling never stopping, only getting quieter, sharper, like they were listening.
"Go," he said. "Kill everything that doesn't bear the mark of Fairy Tail." For half a second, nothing happened. Then the giggling spiked. Louder and higher, filled with excitement. And the swarm broke as the creatures moved like a wave, aiming to cover the whole island in plague, disease, and death.