"HAAAH!"
Dragon scales covered Natsu's determined face as he maintained Dragon Force and relentlessly pursued Franmalth.
Franmalth cackled in his strange, grating voice, moving with surprising agility as he dodged the flames attacking him from every direction.
His appearance had changed completely.
With long white hair, one aged eye, and that unmistakably pure dark Magic Power, he now looked exactly like the man who had once come closest to reaching the abyss of magic—
Hades.
By absorbing the deceased Second Master's soul with his Curse, then combining it with his own ability to devour magical attacks, Franmalth had obtained power nearly equal to the former Hades.
Natsu tried again and again to break through with his flames, but Franmalth absorbed every attack before retaliating with Hades's Dark Magic.
Without Ankh there to render their Curses useless, the demons of Tartaros had finally regained their advantage on the battlefield.
In their previous encounters, Tartaros's members had always been forced to fight several opponents at once—or suffered overwhelming attacks from monsters like Ankh and Laxus.
This time, the legal guilds were the ones outnumbered.
For a while, the balance of the battle seemed to tilt in the demons' favor.
...
Gray carved his way through the demonic army and soon found the man he had been searching for—Silver of Absolute Zero.
The two finally clashed for a third time.
Gray was still inexperienced with Ice Devil Slayer Magic and remained at a disadvantage.
But then Silver suddenly revealed that he was Deliora, the demon Ur had once killed, now brought back to life.
The nightmare of Gray's childhood came crashing back.
For a moment, fear seized him.
Then it was swallowed by rage.
When Lyon heard the revelation, he was equally furious.
He immediately abandoned his original opponent and rushed over to join Gray, allowing the two boys to gang up on Silver together.
Unfortunately, Lyon's change of target left his previous enemy free.
That opponent was Ezel, who had been killed by Jellal and subsequently resurrected.
Wendy, who had originally come as a healer, was forced to step forward and take his place.
Thankfully, Sherria immediately joined her.
The two adorable young girls faced off against the grotesque blade demon together.
Ezel was undeniably powerful. In a one-on-one fight, he had even managed to corner Sawyer.
But Wendy and Sherria were among the brightest talents of the generation following Natsu and Gray.
Together, they frustrated Ezel so badly that rage practically poured from his body.
Aside from those two young prodigies, Lucy—the legendary queen of surviving beatings—also lived up to her reputation by drawing one of the most offensively powerful enemies on the battlefield.
Jackal.
Apparently still furious over the beating Natsu had given him, Jackal immediately targeted Lucy when the battle began, likely because she appeared especially close to the Fire Dragon Slayer.
Yukino came to Lucy's aid.
The two Celestial Spirit Mages continuously summoned Spirits to surround and harass Jackal, leaving him trapped in a constant one-against-four—or sometimes even one-against-six—battle.
Every now and then, Lucy's whip or one of Yukino's martial-arts strikes would also land squarely across his face.
Their plan was to wait until the Celestial Spirits had completely tied him down, then finish him with a combined Urano Metria.
...
While those groups struggled through evenly matched battles, several of the strongest women on the field also found opponents of their own.
Keyes, the necromancer, kept muttering curses and wishing for Silver to kill Gray and Lyon.
An enraged Juvia decided to deal with him personally.
Erza immediately clashed head-on with Kyoka, the strongest of the Nine Demon Gates.
Mirajane had intended to destroy the Hell's Core first, only for her old opponent Seilah to block her path.
Kagura had followed them with her sword, planning to use the opening to cut apart the vessel that resurrected Tartaros's demons.
Before she could reach it, however, a familiar figure suddenly emerged from one of the Hell's Core cultivation chambers.
Minerva.
Kyoka had modified her, transforming half of her body into that of a demon.
The sight of Minerva's new form shocked Kagura badly enough for Minerva to knock her back.
Kagura quickly recovered, drew her blade, and sent Minerva flying away from Erza before she could interfere in that battle.
The two women had encountered each other during the Grand Magic Games, but they had never truly fought face-to-face.
Kagura had lost her challenge against Erza, only for Minerva to ambush her afterward and steal her points.
It was not a great grudge, but it was certainly enough to make this personal.
With Archenemy in hand, Kagura clashed against Minerva's spatial magic, Territory, and the two were quickly locked in a fierce, evenly matched battle.
...
Most of the advance force had entered combat.
While cutting through the demonic army, Sabertooth's four fighters accidentally forced their way into the chamber belonging to the Underworld King, Mard Geer.
Before they could even begin provoking him, Mard Geer contemptuously summoned his own fighters.
The recently resurrected Tempester—
And Jiemma, the former master of Sabertooth, whom Mard Geer had transformed into a new demon.
With those two blocking their path, Sting and the others soon lost track of the Underworld King.
"Such energetic humans…" Mard Geer muttered while heading toward the secret chamber to inspect Crawford's progress.
The Book of E.N.D. remained tucked beneath his arm. "Let us see whether you can maintain that arrogance once Face is activated."
The more he thought about the battlefield, the angrier he became.
Hidden in the shadows nearby, Bloodman and God Serena mocked him without mercy.
"It seems your subordinates are about to be defeated by humans."
"Silence!"
Mard Geer could no longer suppress his fury. He spun around and glared at them as Curse Power erupted from his body.
Bloodman responded by releasing his own Curse Power, looking entirely prepared to teach the Underworld King a lesson.
God Serena stood beside them with an enormous grin, happily encouraging the conflict like the most irritating spectator imaginable.
Just as Mard Geer and Bloodman seemed ready to fight, Serena's ears twitched.
He looked toward a nearby corner and smiled.
"Someone's come looking for a hard fight."
Bloodman and Mard Geer immediately stopped arguing and turned toward the two reckless humans approaching them.
"Two against three. We're outnumbered, and one of them was once considered the strongest of the Four Gods of Ishgar."
A calm voice echoed through the dim corridor.
Loose monk's robes fluttered around a broad figure, while his potato-shaped bald head somehow reflected light even in the darkness.
A younger, indifferent voice answered him.
"Old man, if you're scared, I can take two of them."
"I keep telling you, I'm not an old man…"
Jura, who had not even reached thirty, rubbed his smooth head with a helpless smile.
That smile soon disappeared as his expression turned grave.
"Looks like we'll have to risk our lives, Laxus-dono."
Laxus stared coldly at the three enemies ahead.
"If it means winning, I don't care what we have to risk."
God Serena looked at them with amusement.
"Jura, ranked fifth among the Wizard Saints, and Fairy Tail's ace mage…"
"You truly believe the two of you can stop us?"
He smiled mockingly.
"Do you even understand the difference between our strength?"
Before he could finish speaking, enormous pillars of stone and a raging sea of lightning surged toward him.
Laxus's arrogant voice thundered along with them.
"Of course we do, you clown who nearly got killed by Ankh!"
God Serena's expression instantly darkened.