"What's happening?!"
Lucy was still fighting Jackal alongside Yukino when the entire island suddenly began to shake, knocking her flat onto her backside.
Yukino struggled to brace herself against the ground as the surrounding structures began to warp and shift.
"Something's happening to Cube…"
Jackal, still in his demonized form, was breathing heavily.
He stared strangely at the transforming island in the distance and murmured,
"So the Underworld King has finally made his move."
He turned toward the two alarmed women, a mocking smile spreading across his monstrous face.
"You two are certainly strong. Unfortunately… you still aren't strong enough to bring us down."
Both Lucy and Yukino could open two Celestial Spirit Gates simultaneously, and Lucy already understood Jackal's fighting style thoroughly.
As a result, the demon had suffered throughout the entire battle.
Lucy might have spent most of her journey getting beaten senseless, but all those beatings had also driven her strength upward at an astonishing pace.
She only seemed unimpressive because Fairy Tail was packed with monsters who made almost everyone else look ordinary.
Against an officer like Jackal, Lucy had every confidence that she and Yukino could defeat him together.
Jackal spread his arms and laughed arrogantly.
"But you've run out of time! Alegria has begun!"
"Alegria?!"
Lucy's eyes widened.
She whipped around and saw the earth and buildings turning into something resembling a swamp of flesh, dragging Yukino deeper by the second.
Everything around them was becoming bloodred.
The revolting crimson substance, thick as raw flesh, was swallowing every human aboard Cube.
"Yukino!"
Lucy desperately reached toward her, only for something to catch around her feet.
Before she realized it, she too had sunk into the pulsing mass.
The two women struggled to grasp each other's hands, but the bloody substance kept tearing them apart before hardening around their bodies like grotesque human-shaped statues.
The same thing was happening to every team across the island.
Gray and Lyon tried to escape while carrying the unconscious Gajeel, but the flesh beneath them mercilessly dragged all three underground.
Erza, still battling Kyoka, was caught completely off guard and engulfed by the unknown substance.
Almost simultaneously, every human on Cube was swallowed by the island.
"Damn it! Let them go!"
Flying above the island with Happy, Natsu watched Cube transform before his eyes into a colossal demonic beast.
When he saw Sting and the others being absorbed into Plutogrim's body, he immediately tried to rush down and save them.
The disgusting flesh covering the beast seemed to possess eyes of its own.
It shot into the air and swallowed Natsu before he could dodge, refusing to burn away even beneath his flames.
"Damn it! What is this stuff?!"
...
"Laxus… dono…"
On Plutogrim's back, Laxus stared at the red flesh steadily engulfing his body and desperately released his lightning, trying to blast it apart.
After the battle he had just endured, however, he no longer possessed enough Magic Power to break free from Plutogrim's absorption.
Nearby, the defeated Jura lay on the ground, staring toward Laxus with bitter frustration.
The battles of the advance force's two strongest fighters had temporarily ended with one victory and one defeat.
Jura had ultimately failed to defeat Bloodman.
Bloodman's original body had been composed entirely of Magic Barrier Particles.
Yet after Jura destroyed that form, the demon began cycling through the Curses of every member of the Nine Demon Gates.
With absurd abilities such as Macro and Kyoka's pain amplification at his disposal, even Jura's tremendous Magic Power could not keep him from being overwhelmed.
Still, he had lasted long enough to witness Laxus's victory.
The miracle Jura had scarcely believed possible had truly occurred.
God Serena, once hailed as the strongest man on the entire continent of Ishgar, had been defeated head-on by Laxus.
Jura knew he would never forget that fleeting burst of crimson lightning—powerful enough to make even space itself tremble.
Caught completely off guard, Serena had been struck unconscious by the red lightning.
Afterward, Laxus took over Jura's battle and confronted Bloodman.
Before either side could achieve victory, however, Plutogrim began feeding through Alegria.
Laxus glared furiously at the terrifying Bloodman in the distance, but his body could not resist being drawn into the demonic beast.
A few moments later, the battlefield fell utterly silent.
The tremendous Magic Power and Curse Power that had raged there moments before seemed never to have existed at all.
Bloodman returned to his first form and coldly studied the spot where Laxus had vanished beneath the crimson flesh.
"A worthy opponent. What a shame…"
That unusual scarlet lightning had completely ignored the resistance granted by Serena's Lightning Dragon Lacrima.
Even Bloodman doubted he could withstand power that transcended ordinary lightning without entering his third form.
"Compared with him, you truly are worthless."
Bloodman turned toward the unconscious Serena, who was also being absorbed after Plutogrim identified him as an enemy.
Disgust filled his voice.
"Forget it. Trash like you isn't worth any more of my time."
After a moment of consideration, Bloodman made no attempt to save him. He simply turned and abandoned Serena.
With strength like that, Serena was utterly unqualified to become one of the Twelve Spriggan.
Surely His Majesty and August would not blame Bloodman for leaving him behind.
With that thought, Bloodman faded from the battlefield like a ghost.
His assigned mission was already complete.
There was no reason to remain and watch that foolish Underworld King's performance.
...
Meanwhile, the "foolish" Mard Geer was addressing the only three officers he had left.
"To lose against humans… What a disgrace for the Nine Demon Gates, the elite of demonkind."
"My apologies, Lord Mard Geer."
Kyoka immediately dropped to one knee and accepted responsibility.
The mask she had worn during her battle with Erza had been shattered, exposing her beautiful yet battered face.
Tempester's body was covered in countless wounds, and he was relying on his tremendous regenerative abilities to recover.
Jackal looked even worse, soot-covered and bruised as though an entire mob had beaten him senseless.
The sight of them instantly soured Mard Geer's mood.
He was about to activate his Curse and punish them when he suddenly stopped.
Through his control over Plutogrim, Mard Geer could perceive everything occurring anywhere on the island.
And at that very moment…
A young blonde woman had escaped from the crimson substance meant to absorb her.
More precisely…
She had crawled out of a clock?
Mard Geer straightened in surprise.
A human had avoided being assimilated by Plutogrim!
The odds of that happening should have been less than one in ten thousand.
Should he call her fortunate…
Or unfortunate?
...
On the now-empty island, amid an endless landscape coated in bloody flesh, Lucy struggled out from inside Horologium's clock body and climbed unsteadily to her feet.
She stared blankly at the crimson world surrounding her and whispered,
"What in the world… happened?"
---------
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