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*Master Bob's Mansion Grounds - The Confrontation Begins*
The standoff lasted only moments before chaos erupted across the mansion grounds. Brain's cold smile never wavered as he gestured casually to his remaining subordinates.
"Scatter them," he commanded with the authority of someone accustomed to absolute obedience. "We'll handle them individually rather than risk a coordinated assault."
What followed was a deliberate tactical dispersion that spoke to Oración Seis's experience in handling multiple opponents. Each dark mage moved with purpose, drawing specific coalition members away from the group to create isolated battles where their individual advantages could be maximized.
**Natsu vs. Cobra**
"Come on, snake-face!" Natsu roared, his fists already wreathed in dragon fire as he charged toward Cobra with characteristic directness. "Let's see what you've got!"
Cobra smiled with predatory amusement, his enhanced hearing allowing him to detect not just Natsu's approach, but the Dragon Slayer's intentions before they were even fully formed.
*He's planning a Fire Dragon's Roar from the left,* Cobra thought, easily sidestepping the attack before it was launched. *Too predictable.*
"**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!**" Natsu called out, but Cobra was already moving, his body flowing like liquid as he avoided the strike with minimal effort.
"You're loud," Cobra observed with clinical detachment. "Both your voice and your thoughts. It makes this almost too easy."
"What the hell does that mean?" Natsu demanded, launching himself into another assault.
Instead of answering, Cobra opened his mouth and released something that made Natsu's eyes widen with shock. "**Poison Dragon's Roar!**"
A torrent of venomous energy erupted toward Natsu, who barely managed to dodge the devastating attack. Where the poison struck the ground, grass withered and stone began to corrode.
"You're a Dragon Slayer too!" Natsu exclaimed with a mixture of excitement and concern.
"Second generation," Cobra confirmed, his serpentine features showing satisfaction at Natsu's surprise. "Poison Dragon Slayer magic, learned from lacrima rather than a dragon. But unlike you, I don't limit myself to just one type of power."
**Gray vs. Racer**
"**Ice Make: Lance!**" Gray called out, creating multiple spears of ice that should have struck his opponent from several angles simultaneously.
But Racer moved through the attacks as if they were standing still, his body becoming a blur of motion that seemed to defy the laws of physics.
"Too slow," Racer taunted, appearing behind Gray with impossible speed. "Everything you do is too slow."
Gray spun around, creating an ice barrier just in time to block Racer's counterattack. But even his defensive magic seemed sluggish compared to his opponent's velocity.
"**Ice Make: Prison!**" Gray tried, attempting to create a cage that would limit Racer's mobility.
"Useless," Racer said, already outside the forming prison before it could take shape. "You can't cage what you can't catch."
What Gray didn't realize was that Racer wasn't actually moving at superhuman speeds. Instead, his magic slowed down the world around him, making everyone else appear to move at a fraction of their normal rate while he operated at regular speed. It was an insidious form of time magic that created the illusion of incredible velocity while actually manipulating temporal perception.
**Jura vs. Hoteye**
The battle between the two earth magic users was like watching geological forces clash. Jura's refined control met Hoteye's raw power in a display that reshaped the mansion's courtyard with every exchange.
"**Earth Magic: Rumbling Mt. Fuji!**" Jura called out, creating a massive stone formation that erupted toward his opponent with tremendous force.
"Money!" Hoteye responded with his characteristic battle cry. "**Liquid Ground!**" The earth beneath Jura's attack suddenly became fluid, causing the stone mountain to sink harmlessly into what appeared to be solid ground.
"Interesting technique," Jura observed with professional respect. "You're converting solid matter into liquid states. That requires considerable magical power and understanding."
"Money money money!" Hoteye replied, his obsession with wealth apparently extending even to combat situations. "**Earth Magic: Ground Fracture!**"
The battlefield became a maze of shifting stone as both mages demonstrated mastery over their element, though their approaches couldn't have been more different.
**Lucy and Wendy vs. Midnight**
"Stay behind me, Wendy," Lucy said protectively as she faced the youngest member of Oración Seis. "**Open, Gate of the Lion! Leo!**"
Loke appeared in a flash of golden light, his usual charming demeanor replaced by serious focus as he assessed the threat before them.
"Lucy, be careful," he warned. "This one's magical signature is... unusual."
Midnight stood perfectly still, his ethereal appearance giving him an almost otherworldly presence. When he spoke, his voice carried the lazy confidence of someone who had never faced a challenge he couldn't handle.
"Reflection Magic," he said simply. "Everything you throw at me goes right back to you. It's quite convenient, really."
"We'll see about that!" Loke declared, launching himself forward with a powerful strike.
The attack never reached Midnight. Instead, it reversed direction mid-flight, striking Loke with his own power and sending the Celestial Spirit reeling backward.
"Loke!" Lucy cried out in alarm.
"I told you," Midnight said with bored amusement. "Reflection Magic. Your attacks become my attacks. Your power becomes my power. It's really quite simple."
Wendy clutched Carla tightly, her eyes wide with fear as she watched the battle unfold. This was far beyond anything she had trained for, and the casual way Midnight deflected every assault made him seem invincible.
**Erza and Lyon vs. Angel**
Even without her Celestial Spirit keys, Angel proved to be a formidable opponent. Her mastery of Celestial Magic went beyond simple spirit summoning into more esoteric applications that caught even Erza off guard.
"**Celestial Magic: Urano Metria!**" Angel called out, stars appearing in the sky above as she began channeling one of the most powerful spells in Celestial Magic.
"**Requip: Adamantine Armor!**" Erza responded immediately, switching to her most defensive configuration as the stellar energy began to descend.
Lyon moved to provide support, his ice magic creating barriers to help deflect the incoming celestial bombardment. "**Ice Make: Shield!**"
The combined defensive efforts managed to protect them from the worst of Angel's attack, but the sheer power involved left both guild mages shaken.
"You understand Celestial Magic better than most," Angel observed with cold approval. "But understanding and mastering are very different things."
**Damian vs. Brain**
While the other battles raged around them, Prince Damian found himself facing the leader of Oración Seis in what was clearly meant to be the decisive confrontation. Brain's Archive Magic made him a living library of magical knowledge, while his tactical brilliance had kept his guild operating successfully for years.
"**World Magic: Combat Arena!**" Damian called out, creating a dimensional space around both combatants that would prevent their battle from interfering with the others.
Brain studied the shimmering barriers with professional interest. "Dimensional manipulation on this scale... You're even more dangerous than the reports suggested, Prince Damian."
"I prefer 'effective,'" Damian replied, already beginning to manifest multiple World constructs. "**World Magic: Gravity Storm!**"
The space around Brain suddenly became a maze of conflicting gravitational forces, each one designed to restrict his movement while providing Damian with tactical advantages. But Brain's Archive Magic allowed him to process and counter the dimensional effects with calculated precision.
"**Archive Magic: Tactical Analysis!**" Brain called out, his magic cataloging every aspect of Damian's dimensional constructs. "Gravity manipulation, spatial distortion, reality anchoring... I see."
"**World Magic: Lightning Field!**" Damian continued his assault, electrical energy crackling through the dimensional space as he layered multiple offensive constructs.
But even as Brain countered each attack with calculated efficiency, Damian could see that he was slowly gaining the upper hand. His World Magic was simply too versatile, too unpredictable for even Archive Magic to fully analyze and counter in real time.
"**World Magic: Pressure Convergence!**" Damian called out, creating zones of intense atmospheric pressure that began to restrict Brain's movement options.
Brain's tactical smile began to fade as he realized he was being systematically outmaneuvered. The prince's dimensional magic was unlike anything in his vast Archive of magical knowledge, making it impossible to predict or fully counter.
But then Brain's enhanced vision caught sight of something that made his expression shift from concern to cold calculation. Through the dimensional barriers, he could see the small blue-haired girl who was cowering behind Lucy during the battle with Midnight.
*The Sky Dragon Slayer,* Brain thought with sudden understanding. *She's the key we've been missing.*
His Archive Magic had cataloged every piece of information about Jellal's condition, and he knew that Sky Dragon Slayer magic—specifically healing magic of that type—was exactly what would be needed to awaken the sleeping former Magic Council member. And once Jellal was awakened, finding Nirvana would become possible.
"**Archive Magic: Information Overload!**" Brain called out, not as an attack against Damian, but as a distraction while he prepared his real gambit.
Damian countered the Archive assault with a **"World Magic: Null Barrier!**" but realized too late that the attack had been a feint.
"**Archive Magic: Tactical Withdrawal!**" Brain declared, his magic creating a complex displacement effect that allowed him to escape from Damian's dimensional arena.
"Cobra!" Brain called out as he emerged from the Combat Arena. "Poison the red-haired knight! Now!"
Cobra, who had been steadily losing ground against Natsu's relentless assault, immediately understood the strategic shift. "**Poison Dragon's Fang!**" he called out, launching a concentrated dose of his most potent venom not at Natsu, but at Erza.
The poison struck before Erza could fully react, her Adamantine Armor providing no protection against the insidious toxin that began coursing through her system. Within moments, she collapsed, her body wracked with the effects of dragon slayer poison.
"Erza!" Gray called out in alarm, momentarily distracted from his battle with Racer.
Brain used the chaos to his advantage, his Archive Magic allowing him to move with calculated precision toward his real target. Before anyone could react, he had reached Wendy's position and grabbed the terrified girl.
"No!" Lucy cried out, but Midnight's Reflection Magic kept her from interfering.
"The Sky Dragon Slayer comes with us," Brain announced with cold satisfaction. "The rest of you... try not to die while we're gone."
"**Archive Magic: Mass Teleportation!**" Brain called out, and suddenly all the remaining members of Oración Seis began to vanish in swirls of magical energy.
"Wendy!" Carla screamed, trying to reach her partner before the teleportation completed.
But it was too late. In moments, Oración Seis had vanished, taking Wendy with them and leaving the coalition to deal with Erza's poisoning and the realization that they had been outmaneuvered despite their numerical advantage.
"Damn it," Damian cursed, his dimensional barriers collapsing as he rushed to check on Erza's condition. "I had him. I was winning, and he just..."
"He got what he really came for," Tycun observed grimly, kneeling beside Erza to assess her condition. "This was never about defeating us. It was about acquiring the Sky Dragon Slayer."
As the coalition regrouped around their poisoned comrade, the full scope of Brain's tactical brilliance became clear. He had orchestrated the entire confrontation not to win, but to identify and capture the one person his organization apparently needed for their larger plan.
The real battle was just beginning, and Oración Seis had drawn first blood.
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*To be continued…*