That degree of cold-bloodedness sent a chill through Briar even as she stood there.
But the Purification Plan was already in motion, and she had no thought of turning back. Whatever Arlock's methods, she told herself it would not touch her. She pushed the feeling aside and said, "It seems the plan has been fully exposed. Should we adjust the timing?"
"No need. They make excellent sacrifices as well." Arlock's voice carried no inflection. "Continue forward. Anyone who stands in our path, kill them."
"Yes, my lord."
"It didn't work," Lucy said, frustrated. "Gemini was spotted the moment they got close to that priest."
Rhodes couldn't work out how they had been identified and shook his head. "Forget it. I was going to give you a chance to handle this, but we'll have to go in and take it from them directly."
"Take it?"
He pointed toward the road ahead.
Lucy looked. Nearly every one of their companions had already crowded together at the front.
"Out of my way, I'm going first!"
"Don't even think about it!"
"A real man leads the charge!"
With Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and Gajeel at the center, the group was shoving and complaining simultaneously, every one of them trying to get to the very front. If the enemy hadn't been approaching and Erza hadn't been watching, they almost certainly would have started fighting each other just to settle the question of order.
Lucy stared at them. "Weren't we supposed to be doing an ambush?"
Rhodes said, amused, "Someone with a quick mind pointed out that one person needed to step forward and draw the enemy's attention, allowing the rest to ambush from the flanks."
"And then everyone volunteered to be the one drawing the attention."
"Sounds about right." Lucy was surprised, but not shocked.
"You can go too if you want."
Rhodes let it go. The plan could go however it wanted. There was coverage in place regardless.
Lucy said weakly, "I'll stay with the ambush. Though, why is Wendy out there?"
"She got swept up in the current." Rhodes had watched it happen and hadn't been able to do much about it. Though beyond worrying about disrupting the formation, Wendy herself hadn't resisted very hard. He hadn't intervened. In terms of raw combat ability, Wendy was already stronger than most of the guild. She didn't need him standing guard over her constantly.
Two sharp cracks rang out from somewhere behind the line. The commotion at the front went quiet for a moment.
Then erupted louder than before.
"The enemy is here!"
"That's Alzack and Bisca!"
"They fired from that far out? That's ruthless!"
"They aren't going for the priest directly, are they?"
Two beams of light crossed the sky at high speed, arcing toward the figures that had just appeared at the edge of their field of view. The trajectories left no doubt about the intended targets.
Nobody held back after that. The whole line moved forward at once.
Bisca tracked the result through her scope. "Blocked. What a waste of a shot."
Alzack said, "He's leading over a thousand people. It was never going to be that simple."
Bisca sighed. "I should have just quietly used Jupiter."
"You can't use Jupiter quietly."
This operation was coordinated with the Council. The priority was to take people into custody. Hitting them hard was acceptable. Jupiter, however, had a tendency to stop being people's problems permanently, and in large numbers.
The blue barrier in front of the priest faded. He lowered his staff calmly and looked ahead.
Briar, who had been the intended target, felt no panic. She said with genuine interest, "A sniper, and with that level of power. This isn't some minor guild."
D-6 said, "Even so, charging at us with a few dozen people is foolish."
The ordinary members nearby caught up to what was happening and raised their voices.
"Nothing they have can get through Lord Arlock's barrier!"
"Quit letting the Priest carry everything! Get out there!"
The front line heard it, took it to heart, and charged. The rear line received the word and pushed past Arlock's position in a wave, rushing forward alongside them.
From above, the Exceed scouting unit looked down at thousands of black-robed figures moving as a single mass. The sheer scale of the black pressing across the ground had a weight to it.
Their own side, by contrast, was a scatter of colors moving in what could be generously described as a loose formation.
Panther Lily, who had once served as a military captain, said thoughtfully, "In conventional military terms, a charge formation this disorganized should have no meaningful combat effectiveness."
Carla said, "You don't look particularly worried."
Panther Lily smiled. "Because they aren't a conventional army."
"Aye! Fairy Tail never loses!" Happy shouted down from above. "Go, Natsu!"
The two forces closed to within a hundred meters of each other. More than half of the Avatar cult members stopped, raised their staves, and began to chant.
Hundreds of beams of magical light arced over the heads of their own front line and came down on Fairy Tail like a volley of artillery.
The charging footsteps didn't slow.
Just before the barrage landed, Gray moved.
"Ice-Make: Wall!"
A towering wall of ice surged up from the ground, covering everyone behind it. The magical shells hit and detonated across the surface in bursts of brilliant color. The sound rolled out across the field like thunder. The face of the wall cratered and splintered, but it held.
The Avatar cult members reaching the base of the wall pulled up short.
"Molding Magic!"
"How did something that large form so fast?"
"And it's solid as stone!"
"Doesn't matter how solid it is. It's still ice. Push through!"
They rallied each other and began bringing their various abilities to bear on the wall.
Before they could make a dent, the wall came down on its own.
Through the cascade of falling ice, three figures emerged almost shoulder to shoulder, voices carrying over the crash.
"You're in the way, Gray!"
"Stop meddling, ice block!"
"A man charges forward!"
Natsu, Gajeel, and Elfman broke out of the wall in a single surge, shattered ice scattering in every direction. The three of them walked straight into the crowd without breaking stride.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
"Iron Dragon's Club!"
"Partial Take Over: Beast Soul Arm!"
Three people. Dozens down in an instant.
And behind the wall, more were still squeezing through.
"Wonderful," Gray said flatly, dispelling the magic to a chorus of complaints from everyone else who had been waiting behind it.
The two sides locked together.
Somewhere in the Avatar cult's ranks, a voice rang out. "I know those people! That's Fairy Tail!"
"Fairy Tail?!"
"What are they doing here?"
"It doesn't matter! We have over a thousand people! They don't even have a hundred!"
A beat of silence.
"Well. We have a little over nine hundred now."