Ikusazunaki? Eighteen Demon-Fighting Gods? Rhode pondered these two terms.
Among the gods, there seems to be a War God, standing alongside the Life God and the God of Time. Is this Fighting God related to them?
I remember the magic Minerva uses is called the Demon-Controlling Eighteen Fighting God Magic?
Because of the curse on the First Generation, Rhode always pays special attention to anything related to gods.
Who knows if this Fighting God is related to those gods... It stands to reason that such high-level gods wouldn't be summoned by someone incompetent, right?
"We should go take a look as well," Makarov said, "Rhode and I will go, while Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe stay here."
"Alright."
...
"Stop it! Why are you even killing your own companions?"
Natsu was gripping Yaloke's collar, shouting angrily.
He witnessed this falling giant stomp to death numerous members of the Black Magic Sect.
Wherever the crowd was densest, he landed his feet specifically there.
This was beyond indiscriminate; he was clearly considering his own people as enemies too!
To Natsu, evil people make him angry, but evil people killing their companions make him furious beyond endurance.
But Yaloke didn't care at all: "Hehehe... Companions? No, they're just sacrifices."
"What did you say?!"
"This is the Purification Plan." Yaloke, despite being gravely injured, felt that he had won this time,
"The souls I planned to sacrifice included them; only those with firm beliefs are high-quality sacrifices!
"As for the city's residents, they are merely low-quality souls, completely insignificant.
"As for you guys... hehehe... I thought those who noticed our actions and came would be the Council members, who would also have made excellent sacrifices — those people should have compensated for our lack in numbers.
"But... you're not bad either! Ikusazunaki will take the lives of everyone present, causing Zeref to appear! Even if you kill me, you can't stop him!
"Despair, then accept your fate, accept purification!"
"I won't forgive you!" Natsu furiously slammed the man into the ground.
"Idiot, do you really expect a lunatic like this to cherish companions?" Gajeel glanced at Natsu and cracked his knuckles, "You keep being angry, and I'll go take down that big guy."
With that, he rushed toward the giant without caring for Natsu's reaction.
As the giant's foot just landed, Gajeel dashed forward against the wind, lifting his head and opening his mouth at the big toe: "Roar of the Iron Dragon!"
It wasn't that he didn't want to hit elsewhere, but Ikusazunaki was just too tall, and even one toe was taller than him.
Ikusazunaki probably hadn't noticed a little ant crawling at his feet, but suddenly felt intense pain in the gap of his toenail, as if it was being lifted.
He glared downward, took a half step back, and swung the giant sword in his hand downward!
The blade reflected white light, slicing through like a thread of white light. Before it even hit the ground, Gajeel already felt a strong wind pressure.
He instinctively dodged to the side, but during his dodge, he saw a few companions mixed in with the Black Magic Sect members.
"Damn." Gajeel gritted his teeth and raised both hands, "Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Karma Demon Iron Divine Sword!"
The pitch-black sword blade extended from his forearm, not waiting for people to see how long it was before it was already slashing towards Ikusazunaki's blade.
Two giant swords, one black and one white, collided, sparks flashing between the blades, resembling a thunderclap.
"Ugh!" Gajeel clenched his teeth, the ground beneath his feet shattered, spiderweb-like cracks spreading outward.
Immediately following, with a resounding boom, Gajeel was smashed entirely into the ground.
Ikusazunaki's giant sword was also off course, landing on the ground more than twenty meters away from Gajeel.
Crack...
The ground was forcibly split open, a ten-meter-wide fissure spreading along the direction of the slash, obscured by dust, making it unclear how far it stretched.
"Gajeel!"
Reby rushed out from the crowd, and Li Li dived down from the air, peering over the edge of the pit.
"Phew, damn giant..." Gajeel cursed as he climbed out of the pit, his hair a bit disheveled.
Reby suddenly hugged his head, tears welling up in her eyes: "Idiot, you scared me!"
"Hey, let go of me, it's dangerous here..."
Though Reby's embrace wasn't suffocating, Gajeel still wanted to push her away and looked up to see what Ikusazunaki was doing.
But that one glance left Gajeel a bit dazed: "Who is that?"
Reby and Li Li looked up to see a nimble figure climbing along Ikusazunaki's sword blade.
That person was brawny and fast, in a blink passing the notch just cut out in the middle of the giant sword.
Reby, watching that furry big guy, puzzledly said: "That seems like the Beast King? Is it Elfman?"
Elfman appeared behind them: "A man hasn't had the chance yet, and the color isn't right either."
"You're here?" Reby blushed, realizing her recent actions were seen.
Li Li puzzledly asked: "If it's not Mr. Elfman, then who is it? I think I saw them wearing glasses."
The Beast King wears glasses? How strange.
"That guy, don't even think about getting ahead!" Natsu yelled upward, leaving Yaloke behind, "Hapi!"
"Aisa!" Hapi responded crisply, diving down to grab Natsu and fly upward.
Gajeel quickly added, "Sneaky guy, Li Li, let's go too!"
"No problem." Li Li followed and picked up Gajeel, flying towards the giant's head.
"Be careful!" Reby cautioned, deciding not to cause trouble and drawing closer to Erza's position.
Meanwhile, a pair of wings appeared on Elfman's back, and he took to the sky as well: "A man can't miss something like this!"
The figure initially climbing upwards noticed the people flying up and hurriedly exclaimed:
"I'm Uluvheim, leave this to me, you all should evacuate!"
Some Uluvheim, nobody knew the person, Natsu shouted: "Who's going to listen to your orders, this guy is mine to defeat!"
Gajeel followed closely, shouting: "I had my eye on him first!"
Elfman silently sped up his flight: "A man!"
Uluvheim had to shout again: "I'm an Evaluator of the Council! This operation is under my responsibility!"
However, no one paid attention to him; everyone was just focused on charging upwards.
"..." Veins bulged on Uluvheim's forehead, Fairy Tail, those willful guys!
How did that kid Rhode use to command these people in battle?
As he spoke, Uluvheim had already rushed up Ikusazunaki's arm.
Ikusazunaki noticed them, embedded the giant sword into the ground, smacked at Uluvheim on his body with one hand, and swatted at the few 'little flies' in the sky with the other hand.
The few nimbly dodged, with Natsu and Gajeel reaching eye-level with the enemy, while Elfman was level with the opponent's nose.
All three opened their mouths in unison:
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
"Roar of the Iron Dragon!"
"Rock Spirit Dragon's Roar!"