— — — — — —
The battlefield was chaos — one hundred Fairy Tail mages against an endless tide of Gastrea monsters.
The fight had raged for what felt like forever. One by one, the girls collapsed, their magic spent, yet the monsters kept coming, flooding the field like a living ocean.
"That one — that Stage IV Gastrea called Aldebaran — its regeneration is insane!"
"We've blown its head apart more than once, but it just won't die!"
"And those damned mercury beams from the sky keep raining down on us!"
"Every time we're about to land a killing blow on that beast, the other Gastrea throw themselves in front of it — they're literally dying to protect it!"
"At this rate, we'll be wiped out! How's the magic circle repair coming?!"
All eyes turned to Kayo — their last hope. If she could get the barrier array running again, maybe they had a chance.
But her face told them everything before she even spoke.
"It's no use. That Aldebaran's not just strong — it's smart."
Her voice was tight with frustration.
"The acid it spits can corrode the ground. Every time we patch the array, it melts through again. The damage is too deep now. It's impossible to finish the repairs."
She glanced around at the swarming monsters closing in from every direction.
"We're surrounded. Even if we wanted to retreat, it's too late."
Kayo exhaled and finally joined the fight, looking toward the guild hall where the wounded were being carried back. Seeing the little ones who could no longer stand brought a hollow ache to her chest.
Running wasn't an option anymore. The only way out was through.
"So that's it? We're really out of options?"
Enju's clothes were soaked with blood — hers, the monsters', it didn't matter anymore. She couldn't even count how many Gastrea she'd taken down. For every one that fell, two more took its place.
There was no end. No pause. No mercy.
And Kazuma wasn't responding in the guild chat.
"There is still a hope," Kayo said quietly. "One last shot."
Everyone turned toward her.
"All of these Gastrea are under Aldebaran's control. If we can take it down, the rest will fall into chaos. During that confusion, we can draw most of them away. The few that remain — we can handle behind the guild shield."
It wasn't much, but it was something. The final gambit.
"How do we do it?" Kayano asked, already bracing her weapon.
"Aldebaran's direct combat ability isn't the real threat — it's that regeneration. We need to kill it from the inside out."
She pointed toward her hovering drones.
"Someone has to drive one of my floating cannons straight into its body. Once it's inside, I'll detonate every surrounding bomb after pulling all the shrapnel into it using gravity mode. The cannon and the shrapnel will fuse and blow together — that should destroy its core completely."
"But…" she hesitated, "getting that close means breaking through its entire guard, and dodging those mercury beams at the same time."
Her voice was steady, but her hands were trembling.
"So we just need to get the cannon inside it?" Rita stepped forward. "I'll go."
No one argued. She was the strongest among them — and the only one fast enough to pull it off. Grabbing the floating cannon, she sprinted forward without hesitation.
Every second wasted was another inch toward defeat.
"Enju, you're the fastest. Go with her."
"Tina, cover from range. Everyone else — clear a path and take out any Gastrea in their way! And block those beams from the sky!"
Kayano shouted as she launched another wave of spells. This was it — their last chance. If they failed now, there would be no next time.
Rita and Enju charged straight into the heart of the swarm, while the others fought desperately to hold the line.
Kayo steadied her breath, pushed her mind to the limit, and sent one final transmission.
"Please hurry, Guildmaster… or there won't be anyone left to save."
...
The operation began.
"Enju! Kick me. As hard as you can!"
Rita's eyes were cold, locked on Aldebaran as it began to retreat, sensing danger. She knew then — they'd never reach it through normal means. They'd have to strike in one, impossible move.
Enju didn't hesitate. She charged the floating cannon's repulsion threefold, her limit.
Then she kicked.
The sonic shock cracked the air.
"Gah—!"
The impact hurled Rita like a missile. Pain exploded through her body; she could feel her insides tearing. Blood filled her mouth, but she swallowed it down, clenched her fist, and swung.
Boom!
Her punch struck the cannon, launching it faster than sound — the thing spun like a drill and slammed straight into Aldebaran's chest, burrowing deep inside.
At that exact moment, Kayo moved.
Her brain screamed under the strain as she rewired her magic mid-cast, splitting her gravity field into dozens of independent threads.
Fragments of shrapnel — thousands of glittering pieces of metal — curved through the air like a meteor storm, all converging on the monster.
"Now!" she screamed.
Blood streamed from her eyes, her nose, her ears — every pore of her face. But she didn't stop.
The others heard her cry and unleashed everything they had left.
The explosion tore through the battlefield. Aldebaran's massive body crumpled, crushed beneath a surge of gravity until it was nothing but red pulp.
"...why?"
Kayo fell to her knees.
In the last instant, a mercury beam had fallen from the sky — not on them, but on Aldebaran itself. The monster had sacrificed a piece of its body, blasting away the embedded cannon before detonation.
Without the cannon's core, the gravity field lost cohesion, and the shrapnel never fully penetrated its body.
The attack had crippled it, but not killed it. Parts of its flesh were already knitting back together.
That was regeneration level four — maybe even close to five. A monster that could come back from paste. Unless they erased it completely, it would never die.
And the girls…
Enju, drained from the triple boost, couldn't even stand. She collapsed just as the next wave of Gastrea swarmed her.
Rita, deep inside enemy lines, was surrounded — her internal injuries too severe to keep fighting.
Kayo's mind had burned out; her magic circuits were dead. The others weren't in much better shape.
The battle — for all its fury — had lasted only moments.
Too short. Too brutal. Too cruel.
"So this is it, huh? I'm gonna die… weird, I don't wanna die."
Rita stared up at Aldebaran's massive foot as it loomed over her. She knew she should've been numb.
Tools didn't feel — and that's all she was raised to be.
But somewhere along the way, something had changed.
She wanted things now. Silly, human things. She wanted to eat more snacks. Watch more anime. Play more games. Hang out with everyone just a little longer.
Those simple desires made dying feel… wrong.
"I was even planning to give Guildmaster a special present…" she whispered, her voice steady despite the tremor in her chest. "Guess that's not happening anymore."
Even as the killing light fell from the sky, she didn't flinch. Her face stayed calm, her eyes only soft with regret.
"Ritaaaa!"
Kayano's scream cut through the chaos. She pushed forward, carving a path through the monsters, ignoring the blood streaming down her arms and legs.
Every step left a wet red print behind her. One footprint after another, forming a trail of blood leading toward her sister.
She didn't care about the pain. Didn't care if she lived. All that mattered was reaching Rita.
"Kayano… Rita… Enju…"
Kayo's world was red. Blood filled her eyes, blurring her vision until everything melted together. She tried to stand, her hands digging into the broken ground.
Her head felt like a blender was spinning inside it. Every thought, every twitch of concentration sent knives twisting through her skull.
But she stood. Somehow, she stood.
Her eyes couldn't see. Her ears rang so loudly she couldn't hear. But she forced her remaining drone to respond — desperate to help, even one last time.
"Thank you. I had a life because of you."
Rita looked at Kayano — battered, bleeding, still running toward her. She looked at Kayo — broken, blind, yet still fighting to rise.
And she smiled.
For the first time in her life, she smiled.
She finally understood what family meant. What it felt like to be cared for — to be wanted.
For the first time, she felt alive. That feeling… was worth everything.
She turned toward the oncoming attack, wanting to remember their faces in her final moment.
Then, suddenly, someone grabbed her by the collar and yanked her backward — hard.
"You idiots…"
A familiar voice. "How many times have I said this? If you can't win, you run. What's so hard about that?"
"And seriously, this garbage system — I had to jump back from Miko's world to Fairy Tail before I could even get here! What kind of broken cross-world travel is that? Total junk."
Kazuma had arrived.
In the blink of an eye, an army of shadow soldiers materialized behind the girls, grabbing them and pulling them back under the safety barrier.
When they saw him standing there — alive, real — the girls broke down crying. Like children who had finally found their parent.
"Guild Master!"
Kayano caught Rita midair as Kazuma tossed her back toward safety. Tears streamed down her face like rain. She held her sister tight, then reached out to pull Enju, who'd been carried by the shadows, into her arms as well.
They were alive. Hurt, but alive. That was enough.
"Onii-Chan!"
Kayano looked up at Kazuma, her chest overflowing with grief and relief all at once. The shout tore out of her before she could stop it — raw, desperate, human.
"Save the crying for later," he said softly. "When this is over, you can cry all you want. I'll even hold you while you do."
"Right now… it's still a battlefield."
His voice was calm, cold even — but behind that stillness, emotion churned like a storm.
"I'm sorry I was late. But luckily not too late."
Blood for blood. No mercy. No forgiveness. Only vengeance.
A faint red glow burned in his eyes.
Observation Haki — future sight — fully awakened, amplified by the serum coursing through his veins.
"There are too many, Guild Master, let us help!"
The injured girls tried to step forward, but the shadow soldiers barred their way.
"Too many?" Kazuma tilted his head slightly. "Doesn't look like it."
Before anyone could reply, Aldebaran lunged.
BOOM!
Kazuma's fist met the monster head-on — a single, devastating strike packed with pure, honed power.
The blast sounded like thunder tearing the world apart.
Aldebaran — fifty meters tall, weighing tons — simply vanished.
The earth split open beneath the impact, a crater stretching for miles.
Kazuma stood in the center, his shadow stretching out, spreading, swallowing the entire battlefield.
From that darkness, thousands of shadow soldiers rose — on rooftops, from rubble, behind shattered walls — each with blood-red eyes burning with the same fury as their master.
The sky itself seemed to crack open, the smoke above clearing just enough to reveal a storm of floating cannons. Each glowed a dangerous crimson, humming with deadly energy.
Then, the air shimmered beside him — magic rifles and cannons forming out of thin space, all locking onto their targets.
"Those girls," Kazuma said quietly, "they can't even bring themselves to hit me when I tease them… and you dared to hurt them like this?"
He raised his hand.
"You know, I've heard Gastrea can't feel pain."
"You'd better pray that's true."
A silver beam from the sky shot toward him but he fired first.
The cluster cannon vaporized it midair and then swiveled, locking onto the Zodiac beast in the distance.
He didn't finish it in one blow.
Instead, he riddled its body piece by piece, letting it feel the agony of dying — without the mercy of death.
All across the field, the same fate met thousands of Gastrea. The floating cannons crushed them under gravity, leaving only twitching heads to die slowly.
The shadow soldiers moved with silent precision, slicing monsters apart and burning the remains alive.
In moments, it was over.
Absolute firepower washed the land clean.
The attacks spread outward, consuming everything from the city edge to the ruins beyond.
Every Gastrea disintegrated. Even the Zodiac was erased without a sound.
Not even its legendary regeneration could save it. It was annihilated.
A battle fierce enough to wipe Tokyo off the map ended in under ten minutes — the moment Kazuma arrived.
.
.
.