Erza held the demon blade Benizakura low in a reverse grip, her entire posture set for a draw slash as she sprinted toward the female alchemist Roy.
With every step, the pressure gathering around her blade climbed higher.
Roy struggled to push herself back up, but the instant her peripheral vision caught Erza's approach, a streak of crimson light was already before her eyes.
It was an impossibly sharp slash, pushed to the extreme in both speed and power.
A vertical crimson blade wave tore through the ground as it raced toward Roy, moving so quickly that she never even saw Erza draw her sword.
All she saw was that dazzling flash of red.
The blade light passed straight through her.
Roy's metal exoskeleton offered no protection.
Erza's slash carved upward from her abdomen to her shoulder, splitting her entire body cleanly in two.
Had there been blood inside her artificial body, the ground would have been drenched in it.
Even as a doll, however, damage of that magnitude was enough to put Roy down for good unless Viernes intervened again.
...
Elsewhere, Natsu ended his fight with Alex by driving a Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist straight through the muscle-bound doll's chest.
Flames blasted through him and burned a gaping hole in his torso, exposing the mechanical components within.
Natsu followed immediately with Fire Dragon King's Roar.
The torrent engulfed Alex from head to toe, scorching his entire body black.
White smoke poured from his mouth as the enormous man slowly collapsed.
At that point, only three battles remained unresolved.
God Serena against Ultear.
Athena against Athena II.
And Raizel against the Gold Dragon God Viernes.
Athena and Athena II had remained evenly matched for some time, but once Wendy and Lucy joined the fight, the balance rapidly tipped in Athena's favor.
Athena kept Athena II occupied from the front.
Wendy and Lucy attacked simultaneously.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Shattering Light: Sky Drill!"
"Leo's α-light and Virgo's α-radiance—Lion Maiden!"
A horizontal blue tornado screamed toward Athena II while brilliant golden light erupted from beneath her feet, tearing through the ground and swallowing her from below.
Caught between the two attacks, Athena II suffered catastrophic damage.
With Viernes's Dragon God power no longer supporting her and her power source already weakened, the light in her eyes finally went dark.
She collapsed.
...
God Serena, meanwhile, attempted one last trick against Ultear.
"Eight Dragons' Seal!"
Marks appeared across Ultear's limbs, and Serena immediately charged forward, intending to take advantage of the momentary restraint and force her into close combat.
Then something unexpected happened.
White Arc of Time magic circles appeared directly over the Eight Dragons' Seal.
The markings vanished.
"Gone?"
Serena froze.
Only then did he realize that the seal had never been placed on Ultear herself.
It had been imprinted onto an Ice-Make doll.
The frozen duplicate was so lifelike that for a moment even Serena had mistaken it for the real thing.
Ultear had used the decoy to block his line of sight while slipping away through Spatial Magic.
Then the trap closed.
One white magic circle after another appeared around Serena, forming a ring.
Additional circles formed above and below until they created a cylindrical prison with him trapped at its center.
First came the White Rose Garden.
Frozen roses erupted around Serena and bound his arms and legs.
Then spatial rifts opened.
Blades of distorted space shot from the cracks as though the air itself had been torn apart and weaponized.
Finally, dozens of magical crystal spheres converged on him from every direction.
And then—Boom!
The explosion was deafening.
Every white magic circle disappeared at once.
The White Rose Garden vanished with them.
What remained was God Serena.
His doll body was shattered almost beyond recognition.
His eyes had gone dull, while the final expression frozen on his face was one of fear and disbelief.
Serena's presence slowly faded.
And he was not the only one.
The false Duke, Gennai, Sai, Kotetsu, and the many other dolls created through Viernes's alchemy all began disintegrating as well.
The reason was simple.
Viernes could no longer sustain them.
...
Raizel's battle with the Gold Dragon God had reached its final moments.
He had already switched to [Take Over: Examon.], wings spread wide as he charged through the sky with his enormous lance in hand.
That lance had become an especially troublesome weapon for Viernes.
Because it was poisoned.
As the battle continued, Viernes grew increasingly exhausted. His speed, stamina, and physical condition were all deteriorating at an alarming rate.
His body might have been metallic in appearance, but he was still a living creature.
And there was only so much poison even a Dragon God could endure.
Raizel looked toward Viernes as the dragon forced himself into the air once more.
"I've had enough fun."
His grip tightened around the lance.
"Time to put you down, Viernes."
Raizel charged.
Viernes wanted to respond, but his body no longer had the strength. He forced his wings to beat harder, only worsening his injuries.
Examon became a streak of crimson light.
It flashed past the Gold Dragon God.
Viernes released a miserable roar.
A massive circular hole had been punched completely through his abdomen, blood pouring freely from the wound.
His life force began fading immediately.
The golden light in his eyes dimmed.
Then Viernes's body itself began slowly dissolving.
The Gold Dragon God was dying.
...
The Signario Sisters had already regained consciousness by then.
When Viernes's agonized roar echoed across the battlefield, Enny and Luso looked toward the sky in horror.
Raizel was flying back toward Gold Owl.
Ultear and the others paid little attention to the sisters. Most of them were too busy catching their breath and recovering their Magic Power after the prolonged battles.
Then a mirror-like spatial portal suddenly appeared nearby.
Selene stepped through first.
Irene followed behind her, leaning lightly on her antler staff.
Lucy's eyes immediately brightened.
"Selene! So you two were here after all."
Selene smiled.
"We were here the entire time. We simply chose to watch."
They had observed both Raizel's battle with Viernes and the fights involving Erza, Mira, Lucy, and the others.
At first, Selene had been particularly interested in seeing how Raizel would fare against Viernes.
But once it became obvious that the Gold Dragon God, still far from his prime, was no match for him, her interest quickly faded.
"You fought well."
Irene's lips curved into a faint smile as she nodded toward Erza.
Then she turned toward Wendy, who was watching her with obvious anticipation.
"You did well too, Wendy. The duration of your enchantments has improved, and you can maintain them across more targets than before."
Wendy's cheeks turned slightly pink.
She folded her hands neatly in front of herself and gave Irene a small bow.
"Thank you, Irene-sensei! I'll keep working hard!"
Erza was far less interested in the praise.
"You really were here the entire time?"
"Since your second visit to Gold Owl," Irene answered. "We've been watching from nearby."
Selene, meanwhile, had already turned her attention elsewhere.
She lightly tapped her folded fan against her chin and examined Athena with an openly appraising gaze.
Then she tilted her head slightly.
"You're really Athena? The weapon supposedly capable of exterminating the Five Dragon Gods?"
Athena looked utterly confused by the elegant woman who had suddenly appeared in front of her and begun inspecting her.
She glanced toward Lucy as though asking what she was supposed to say.
Lucy smiled and nodded encouragingly.
Athena finally answered.
"Yes. That was indeed the purpose Duke-sama originally created me for."
Selene's expression did not change.
"You're a little too weak."
Athena blinked.
"Your current strength isn't enough to kill the Five Dragon Gods."
Selene had always been brutally straightforward.
She paused, then turned away.
"Not that it matters anymore. There's no need for you to do that now."
And just like that, she lost interest in Athena and walked off.
Raizel soon landed atop the Gold Owl guild building and released his Take Over.
Happy and Carla had already finished evacuating the nearby residents and returned as well.
With the fighting finally over, everyone began discussing what they should do next.
Selene looked around at them.
"Are you really planning to have this entire conversation standing around outside?"
Ultear immediately opened a spatial portal and retrieved the guild's airship from storage.
Then she turned toward the others.
"Let's go somewhere more comfortable and talk there."