The giant purple-scaled serpent coiled in midair, its scales grinding together with a teeth-grating hiss.
Standing atop the snake's head, Cobra glanced back over his shoulder.
On the ornate floating carpet behind him, Midnight was still curled up, snoring faintly, the sound so regular it was almost irritating.
Cobra couldn't help curling his lip, a trace of annoyance flashing through his eyes.
"Tch. Sleeping like a dead pig. And the boss actually told me to team up with a guy like this?"
Still, Cobra wasn't in any hurry.
He had always been arrogant by nature. Even without Midnight's magic backing him up, as long as he still had these ears—ears that could hear every thought and every hint of an opponent's intent before they acted—he was effectively unbeatable.
Even this so-called monster from the rumors wasn't beyond challenge.
Cobra bared his teeth in a feral grin, his sharp, beastlike ears twitching nervously as he tried to catch the ripples deep inside the mind of the man below—the one holding the bouquet.
Fear? Rage? Calculation? Or the desperate effort of figuring out how to launch the first strike?
And yet—
one second, two seconds, three seconds passed.
The defiant smile on Cobra's face slowly disappeared, replaced by the stiff look of someone who had just seen a ghost.
"What's wrong?"
Down in the snow, Shane still had the bouquet tucked in his right arm. But at some point, a short spear gleaming with cold light had appeared in his left hand, hanging loosely upside down.
He spun it lazily in one hand, then looked up with a half-smile at Cobra's darkening face in the air.
"That expression… means you can't hear any 'voice' at all, can you?"
"You…"
Cobra grit his teeth as a line of cold sweat slid down his forehead.
It was too quiet.
The inside of this man's mind was like still water—no, worse. It was like a mirror of ice polished to perfect clarity.
There were no distracting thoughts, no emotional fluctuations, not even the slightest hint of aggressive intent before action.
[Eternal Arms Mastery.]
At this moment, Shane's mental state had already sunk into the absolute clarity of a still, mirror-like mind.
"Judging by how tense you look, you've probably never once prepared for how to deal with an opponent whose thoughts you can't hear, have you?"
Carrying the short spear, Shane stepped slowly through the snow and mud, closing the distance toward Cobra.
"You know, I have a similar bad habit. Just like you did earlier—I tend to explain my own abilities to the enemy before a fight."
The spear tip slowly rose, pointing toward the sky.
"In my current state, my mind remains in absolute emptiness. Nothing external can disturb it. Naturally, that means I don't produce any extra thoughts in battle."
"So every attack I make is as natural as breathing. No omen. No clutter."
"In other words… your ears are useless against me."
"Don't bluff!"
Cobra's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly forced that brief panic down under a layer of savagery.
"No matter how steady your mind is, as long as you're alive, the moment your life is in danger, you will instinctively panic!"
As long as he bombarded Shane with a storm of attacks and disrupted his rhythm, then even the tiniest wavering would expose his thoughts again!
"Poison Dragon's… Wings!"
Cobra roared and slashed both hands downward in a cross.
Instantly, a sweet, nauseating smell spread through the air.
Two gigantic dragon claws made of thick poisonous mist formed in the air like massive executioner's blades and hacked down at Shane below.
"Poison Dragon?"
At Shane's back, the black wings spread in a light, elegant flick.
Empowered by For Someone's Glory, his whole body became as light as a fallen leaf. At the exact instant the poison claws crossed, he slid past the deadly violet light.
Ssshhhkk—
The poison claws struck the ground, corroding two pitch-black trenches so deep the bottom couldn't be seen, while toxic smoke rose from them in thick coils.
Shane landed steadily several meters away, his gaze sharpening.
In that instant of crossing, he had tried to use the dragon furnace heart inside himself to sense the other man.
"You're… a Dragon Slayer Mage?" Shane's tone carried a hint of surprise.
And yet, strangely, while it was undeniably a pure dragon aura, it was completely unfamiliar—not one of the five dragons he had seen before the Eclipse Gate.
"If you want the answer, then go ask in hell!"
Cobra gave Shane no chance to breathe. He sucked in a huge breath, his chest swelling dramatically as dark red magic gathered in his mouth.
"Cubelios, together now… Poison Dragon's Roar!!!"
Boom!
A thick purple blast of toxic breath erupted from Cobra's mouth like a volcanic explosion, fanning out toward Shane with enough corrosive force to destroy everything in its path.
And at the same time, the giant serpent beneath him opened its own maw and spat out a torrent of deadly venom, cutting off every escape route Shane could have taken.
Verbal provocation, followed by an utterly saturated attack with no blind spots.
"Your combat experience is definitely impressive."
Faced with that all-encompassing web of death, Shane didn't panic. If anything, something strange flashed in his eyes.
"Since you want so badly to hear something…"
"I'll let you hear something even better."
The instant he finished speaking, the deep azure magic around Shane vanished.
In its place, a tattered black hooded cloak had silently appeared over his body.
At once, an eerie, freezing presence spread from him, as though even light itself could be swallowed by it.
From under the deep shadow of the hood, Shane raised his head and showed Cobra a smile so chilling it made the skin crawl.
"Now then…"
"why don't you sharpen your ears and listen to my thoughts again?"
"What?"
Cobra's pupils shrank violently.
Something was wrong. His instincts were screaming like an alarm.
But for a mage who had built his entire fighting style around hearing the minds of others—who had turned that ability into pure reflex over years of habit—
the urge to listen when the enemy deliberately opened himself up was not something reason could suppress.
It was a completely involuntary response. Cobra's ear tilted ever so slightly toward Shane.
Boom—!!!
In the next instant, Cobra's world collapsed.
Countless shrill, piercing cries—thick with absolute despair and bone-deep hatred—burst into the depths of his mind like black floodwater bursting through a dam.
Mommy! Why?!
It hurts! It's so dark! Why didn't you want us?!
Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!!!
This was the hatred and curse of tens of thousands of abandoned infant souls who had died on the streets of London, the purest, most malicious despair dredged up from the abyss of endless cycles.
Jack the Ripper—Mental Pollution!
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
A scream so horrible it could tear the forest apart ripped through the dead silence.
Cobra's greatest pride—his unnaturally keen hearing—had now become the very thing amplifying his torment a thousandfold.
It felt as though his brain were being churned to pieces by tens of thousands of red-hot needles. His sanity shattered in an instant.
"You… you bastard… what kind of monster have you got in your head?!"
Cobra clawed desperately at his ears, his eyes bloodshot and bulging from the sheer agony.
Convulsing uncontrollably, he tumbled headfirst off the giant serpent's skull and hit the muddy ground with a dull thud, rolling through the snow like a madman.
"Interesting, isn't it?"
Shane walked forward slowly, looking down from above at Cobra as he writhed in the snow and mud.
"The cries and curses of tens of thousands of resentful children… it seems those ears you're so proud of really did hear them very clearly."
Even Shane himself hadn't expected Mental Pollution to have this kind of unexpected effect against an opponent specialized in enhanced hearing.
He shook his head and stepped past Cobra, whose mind was on the verge of total collapse.
Holding the short spear, Shane lifted his gaze past the sky toward the floating carpet.
Midnight was still there, curled up in sleep, breathing evenly, utterly oblivious.
"Your teammate is already rolling around on the ground."
"What? You still don't plan to make a move?"
Shane made as if he were about to finish Cobra off and drive the dagger into his chest.
And yet the black-and-white-haired man on the carpet remained perfectly still, not even bothering to lift his eyelids, showing not the slightest reaction to Cobra's condition.
"That idiot!! Didn't I warn him already?!"
Not far away, Angel—who was still facing off against Erza—couldn't help grinding her teeth and cursing.
Other people might not know, but she did.
Midnight's magic was the absurdly overpowered Reflector.
It was an absolute defense and counter type of magic that could distort space itself and bend away all physical and magical attacks.
Brian's original plan had been for Cobra's hearing to pin Shane down, while Midnight's nearly invincible Reflector handled defense and retaliation.
Even if they couldn't defeat the rumored Azurefall Shane who had beaten one of the Ten Wizard Saints, they were at least supposed to keep him tied down long enough for the others to crush the rest one by one.
And now look at this mess.
One genius had outsmarted himself and taken himself out almost immediately.
And the other was such an arrogant sleep addict that unless someone attacked him directly, he would never lift a finger even if the sky fell.
"Damn it! Fine then!"
Angel's face darkened. She spun toward the distance and shouted,
"Racer! Hoteye! Finish off your opponents and then come help pin down Azurefall!"
Then she clapped her hands sharply.
Clap! Clap!
From the dark forest around them, a sea of shadowy figures poured out—mages clutching weapons, their eyes feverish and mad as they swarmed toward Erza.
"So these are the pawns you gathered from all those cities while stirring up trouble?"
Surrounded by nearly a hundred mages, Erza's expression didn't so much as flicker.
Her cold eyes swept over them once, and she drew an immediate conclusion.
"They're not enough to beat me. You went through all this trouble to gather these followers… only to throw them away like this?"
"Hah! Don't act so high and mighty, Fairy Tail!"
The burly leader in front raised his battle axe and roared,
"Brothers! All together! Chop that woman into minced meat!"
"Kill!"
Dozens of mages attacked at once, a tide of weapons and multicolored magic crashing down on the blazing red figure at the center.
Erza didn't say another word.
She didn't even bother to change armor. She simply gripped the sword at her waist in reverse.
Shing—
A clear blade's cry split the chaos, and a blue sword flash bloomed through the forest.
Erza turned into a streak of red lightning and plunged straight into the densest point of the enemy formation.
There wasn't a single wasted motion.
Every swing of her blade was accompanied by a shriek and a spray of blood.
The dark mages couldn't even see her movements, let alone counter them. They fell in swathes like wheat before a scythe.
In less than five minutes, the ground around her was covered in howls of pain, severed limbs, and sprawled bodies.
After years of relentless training and sharpening—
and with talent so monstrous that even Shane had once called her one—
Erza's strength had long passed the point where numbers could bridge the gap.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Hovering in the air, Angel applauded lightly as she looked over the fallen bodies.
Far from angry, her smile only grew sweeter.
"That sword dance really is beautiful to watch."
"But if all those little toys can do is shave away even the tiniest bit of your stamina and magic…"
"then that alone is the value they were meant to provide."
As she spoke, a golden celestial key gleaming with brilliant light was already pinched between her fingers.
"Before I open the gate to hell for you, why not savor a little taste of a sandstorm first?"
"Open, Gate of the Scorpion—Scorpio!"
With that, Angel inserted the key into empty space and twisted it sharply.
A golden magic circle burst open in the air.
"We are great!"
A well-built man with a bizarre hairstyle, a bare upper body, and an enormous metallic scorpion tail at his back strode out of the gate with a flamboyant shout.
He glanced around at the bloodstained scene, then fixed his eyes on Angel.
"Yo~ Boss! Did you call me out for some big business this time?"
"Scorpio."
Angel pointed down at Erza and gave her order coldly.
"Take down that red-haired woman."
"Oh?"
Scorpio turned and looked Erza up and down, then couldn't help giving a loud whistle.
"Wow! What a beautiful girl! It's almost a shame to lay a hand on someone that pretty."
"But if it's the boss's order, then I won't hold back!"
He grinned, and the huge metallic scorpion tail on his back whipped forward.
"Sand Buster!"
The cannon hidden in the tail's tip lit up brilliantly.
The next second, a colossal tornado of dense, high-speed spinning sand roared forth, carrying enough force to tear everything in its path apart as it crushed toward Erza.