Chereads / God succession system / Chapter 368 - Joining the Battle

Chapter 368 - Joining the Battle

*A few minutes ago*

As Jiemma's body turned to ash from the divine power of the True Longinus, Alex and the girls quickly rose to their feet in shock.

"I always knew it was possible, but I didn't think I'd actually see one..." Alex muttered as he got his first look at the reincarnator, who was wielding five different Longinus sacred gears. However, while he was at most more than a little annoyed that one of them was the Boosted Gear, his skin started prickling as Rias, Grayfia, and Kuroka started radiating dangerous levels of murderous intent.

"To think that bastard dares to copy my mate!" Kuroka practically growled, her verbal tick forgotten in her anger.

"Someone needs to go and teach this little shit a lesson." Grayfia said in a deathly clam tone, which, combined with the fact that she actually just swore, made anyone around her slowly edge away out of fear.

As for Rias, well currently she was glowing Crimson red from her surging demonic power, which was making her clothes and hair flap from the output as she stood there, silently seething. Even within him Alex could feel Ddraig stirring from the knowledge that there was a 'fake' Red Dragon Emperor running around.

Well, it wasn't as if Alex couldn't understand their reaction. His entire identity in the DXD world was based off of his status as the Red Dragon Emperor, though he was now the Dragon Emperor after making Vali submit to him. Someone else trying to be the 'Red Dragon Emperor' was nothing short of an incredible insult, just like if someone else tried calling themselves the 'Crimson Haired Ruin Princess', or the 'Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation'. If Vali, Sairaorg, Cao Cao, and Tobio were all there though, Alex had no doubt that, rather than being offended or angry, they would all be more interested in fighting someone who could use the same sacred gear as them.

Alex himself couldn't deny having a similar feeling himself though, so, instead of wasting time and energy being upset about another Boosted Gear user, he went to step forward to challenge the newcomer himself, only for a hand to appear before him.

"Let me go first." Gildarts said as he looked at the general with undisguised excitement, while also flexing the muscles in his left arm in anticipation. Alex smiled wryly while gesturing forward and saying,

"Go right ahead, but be especially careful of that lance of his." Gildarts nodded seriously despite his excitement, before rushing down the hill to help Mirajane out. Alex then sent her a telepathic message that help was on the way, right before none other than Erza herself showed up as well. When he saw her Alex frowned slightly, before turning to Kurumu and asking,

"Can you use your illusions to send a message to Erza without the reincarnator finding out?" When she heard him Kurumu smirked confidently and said,

"Can I?"

***

As the three of them prepared to face one of the most infamous people in the entire world, Erza was slightly startled when a string of words suddenly began floating in front of her face out of nowhere.

MAKE SURE THAT LANCE DOESN'T GET ANYWHERE NEAR MIRAJANE. IT'LL KILL HER INSTANTLY.

Though her expression otherwise didn't react at the message, Erza's eyes did widen slightly as she resisted the urge to glance at Mirajane nervously. Their minor rivalry aside, there was no way she'd let one of her comrades face such a dangerous weapon when it was obviously such a bad matchup.

She never even got the chance to worry about such a thing though, as something happened that Erza, Gildarts, or even Hyato couldn't have predicted.

"PROMOTION-" Mirajane cried out as she recalled one of the new abilities Alex said she'd have, which neither Erza or Gildarts knew about, while Hyato's eyes widened in pure shock under his helmet.

'It can't be.....' He thought to himself in denial, before she finished,

"-QUEEN!"

It was.

As power suddenly filled Mirajane once more, none of them were prepared for what happened afterwards.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Before any of them could react, power surged through Hyato's body as he shot forward and pinned Mirajane to a nearby tree, despite the strength she gained from her recent promotion.

"HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT ABILITY?!" He roared at her while Mirajane was still trying to process what was happening.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Gildarts demanded as he tried to help Mirajane, only for the giant golden battle axe that Hyato had been carrying only seconds before to start glowing.

"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!"

As the light dispersed it revealed that the axe had changed into a giant metallic golden lion, which loudly challenged Gildarts while simultaneously baring its lethal fangs.

"MIRAJANE!" Erza cried out as she tries to rush to her comrade's aid, only to have her path blocked by a great black dog.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-" The dog released a thunderous guttural growl as it blocked her path, while several blades began forming along its body. With her and Gildarts both occupied with fighting weapons that were capable of allowing one to fight on par with gods, Hyato remained unmolested as he demanded once more,

"HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO USE PROMOTION?! WHO GAVE YOU THE EVIL PIECE?!"

When Hyato mentioned the evil piece Mirajane's eyes widened in surprise, as she accidentally glanced in Alex's direction for the briefest of seconds. Of course Hyato noticed this tiny slip, and immediately turned his attention in the same direction Mirajane glanced at, only to feel as if everything stopped around him.

Her crimson red hair was flowing lightly in the wind, and her posture radiated both elegance and confidence. Her sharp green eyes were staring down at him intensely, watching his every movement.

"Rias....." Hyato breathed out in awe and disbelief, not yet accepting the fact that the very person he'd looked for for over twenty years was right before him. However he quickly realized that this was reality when he noticed some minor movement right next to Rias, and he saw who it was.

"YOU!!!" Hyato cried out in grief and rage when he saw Alex's figure standing right next to HIS waifu, knowing that this scum had long since been defiling her and any other woman unfortunate enough to fall into his clutches.

Alex however looked confused at the other reincarnator's shout, and awkwardly looked to the left before looking to right, and then when he didn't see anyone else he'd be shouting at he pointed at himself and mouthed 'me?' Under his helmet Hyato's expression contorted into complete rage as he completely forgot about Mirajane, and sent his True Longinus flying at Alex faster than the speed of sound.

Without batting an eye Alex watched at the divine lance approached him at sonic speeds, before it suddenly stopped less than an inch away from his heart. Ignoring the burning pain he felt in the two fingers that had stopped the deadly lance right before it skewered him, Alex cocked his head to the side in confusion as Shia asked,

"He looks really mad...what did you do to him?" Alex simply shrugged and said,

"Who knows. I saw him mouth something earlier, but it was so quiet that I couldn't even hear it through my 'Domain'." The rest of the girls then shrugged alongside him, while Rias suppressed a random chill that she felt.

A tugging sensation drew Alex's attention back to the lance he currently gripped between two of his still burning fingers, as its owner frustratedly tried to recall it. Instead of just letting it go though, Alex slightly adjusted his grip on the divine weapon before lightly 'tossing' it so that it flew faster than it was when he caught it.

KABOOOOOOOOM!

The next thing anyone knew a massive explosion rocked the entire island as the True Longinus impacted one of the airships surrounding them, and sent it crashing into the waves below. For several moments there was complete silence as everyone took in what just happened, while Alex casually rolled his shoulders before saying,

"I guess that's our cue to join the fun." When they heard him the girls showed various levels of excitement at finally being able to join the fight, instead of simply watching from the sidelines. He then turned to Grayfia and said,

"I want you to focus on helping the allied mages retreat while also treating any serious wounds they might have. After that defend the line at the wall they created to prevent any stray dark mages or mercenaries from coming after them." Nodding her head in understanding, Grayfia then promptly went up to Markarov and the other guild masters before saying,

"I need you to sound the retreat, from here on out all any of you will be is in the way." The response she got for saying that was several looks of outrage and protests as the guild masters lambasted her for completely disregarding their mages.

While Grayfia tried to talk some sense into them, and Alex told the rest of the girls what he wanted them to do, another discussion was taking place in a place far away as the other reincarnators watched the events unfold.

"You're shitting me...." Calvin muttered in disbelief as Hyato focused on the destruction of the airship, that Alex caused with barely a twitch of his wrist. While he was looking on disbelief though, Alice's eyes were practically starry as she recalled the newcomer's figure in her mind, before it was filled with thoughts of all the hot sex they'd do once he inevitably joined them.

Darius's expression was the hardest to read though, as, of everyone they knew to be out there, he never expected that they'd see the same exact reincarnator that Hyato wanted to find so badly so soon. The biggest downside to this though was that Hyato wanted to kill him for 'stealing' his 'waifu' before he could try and woo her himself.

Of course Darius didn't actually believe that was the case, as every magical recording of his 'nemesis' that Hyato had brought with him from that world showed that he wasn't actually that bad a person, unlike Alice who used her powers to ensnare whoever she wanted. That didn't mean Darius wouldn't keep his promise to help Hyato be with his 'waifu' though. Instead, they'll have to give her to Alice to work her 'Bewitchment' on for a few days until she was the perfectly loving girlfriend he wanted.

The main thing on Darius's mind though, was an idea he had formed shortly after he first met Alice, which he quickly dismissed due to how impractical it was at the time.

Breeding a Saiyan army.

Yes, it did sound stupid. However saiyans had the potential to become some of the strongest fighters in the entire universe before they were even ten years old. That meant he wouldn't even need to wait until they reached full maturity before sending them out to battle.

The reason he originally dismissed this idea though was due to the fact that all they had was a Saiyan woman who would only realistically be able to give birth to one child a year, if they could even convince Alice to do such a thing. Now however, there was a perfectly good breeder right in front of them. A Saiyan that Darius believed wouldn't mind having any beautiful woman they could possibly want brought to them to be bred, including maybe the women of Fairy Tail.

However, trying to recruit the newcomer would become increasingly difficult if the first person of their group they met tried to seriously kill them based on imagined offenses. That was why he didn't hesitate to to activate the chat function of their systems and say,

"Hyato! Use the stone I gave you and return right now! We'll leave the reincarnator and Fairy Tail for another day, but we don't need to lose one of our own here and now!" All he received for his warning though was Hyato shouting out loud,

"SHUT UUUUUUP! I'LL KILL HIM! NO MATTER WHAT!"

By this point Hyato had completely forgotten Mirajane, Erza, and Gildarts, every single bit of his attention and focus on destroying the man who 'stole' the woman he 'loved' from him. His declaration though drew Alex's attention back to him right as he finished giving Kuroka her job, making him look down at Hyato incredulously while the nekomata deadpanned at him behind his back.

Having heard what he said this time Alex was again confused on why this reincarnator seemed to hate him so much, yet he was even more concerned about something else. The fact that there was no one else around the reincarnator meant that he was obviously talking to someone else through some kind of communication device, or his system.

If that were the case then he needed to be careful about fighting this guy since the others would obviously be able to watch and learn more about him the entire time, and it complicated his plan to try and use this guy to get more information about the other reincarnators. With these two thoughts in mind Alex went to take a step forward before his figure disappeared and he instantly reappeared right in front of his opponent.

"Wha-" Hyato had just enough time to barely begin saying something, right before Alex 'gently' pressed his open palm again his armored chest.

BOOM!

Without being able to do anything, Hyato was suddenly sent flying backwards out over the ocean while the armor that covered his chest started fragmenting and peeling off of him.

"Gah!" Hyato spat out mouthfuls of blood as he skipped across the surf before finally falling into the water. Alex watched this happen impassively before turning to the stunned Mirajane and saying,

"The allied Mage guilds are retreating and we're taking over the battle, I want you to keep fighting with us though to gain some more experience." With Alex's tone leaving no room for argument, Mirajane could only acquiesce and trust her siblings were alright after he left with them.

Thankfully she listened to Alex's explanation of the evil piece's abilities before actually accepting it and joining the battle, so she already knew about the jobs and gaining experience for them. However, she had been in such a hurry that she still didn't know what the 'price' was for the evil piece, and she didn't care as long as she could keep her family and guild members safe.

"Very well, but I trust my siblings are safe?" Alex nodded and said,

"They're both resting now after I treated their wounds, don't worry." Mirajane sighed in relief before turning her attention to the dark mages and mercenaries left on the island.

"Now you will personally experience what happens to those who mess with Fairy Tail!" She cried out while simultaneously powering herself up, before launching herself at them. Meanwhile the living sacred gears of Regulus Nemea and Canus Lykaon turned away from their own battle with Erza and Gildarts, and went into the surf to rejoin their master.

"I won't make the two of you go back with them others, but make sure you don't get in our way if you stay." Alex said to them before he took off to continue his fight with the general, leaving them down there to watch his departure.

"He seriously thinks we'd be in the way?" Gildarts asked incredulously, while Erza also frowned at Alex as he departed.

"...Excuse me..." A new voice suddenly said, making both Erza and Gildarts turn to the speaker only to find no one there.

"...Down here..." The same voice said with obvious tones of irritation, making the duo look down to see none of there than Yue looking up at them, annoyance in her blood red eyes. The petite vampiress then pushed past the duo as she approached the oceans edge, before pointing her hand at the next wave of ships approaching them.

"...'Ice Age'..." In an instant the entire portion of ocean with ships still on it froze over, simultaneously coating the trapped ships in ice and frost while even some of their passengers froze in their place. For a moment the duo could only stand there and gape at the the scene, until they noticed the rest of the girls fighting.

Shizuku was seamlessly disappearing and reappearing at random points across the battlefield to deliver a single killing blow to those around her, before disappearing once more for another target. Meanwhile Yami was akin to living whirlwind of death and destruction, as her hair came alive to form almost any weapon imaginable to kill any that came too close.

Then there was Lala, who was bringing out one contraption after another to deal with anyone around, in increasingly ridiculous ways.

In comparison the ones creating the most noise were Moka and Shia, the former of which was dashing around the battlefield to take out entire sections of opponents with her swift and destructive kicks. The latter on the other hand was on the beach looking out over the water, with her giant hammer casually slung over shoulder while she hummed a tune that Alex would recognize as 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'.

She then proceeded to remove a metal ball from her own storage ring that was about the size of a fist, and was made of the densest metal they had yet to encounter, Azantium. Shia then tossed the ball high up into the air while she readied her hammer, and when it came hurdling down at high speeds due to being enchanted to weigh several tons, she swung with all of her might.

GOOOOOOOOONG!!!

A great sound rang out as the hammer impacted the ball, before it was sent flying across the water towards the first of a line of ships.

KABOOOOOOOOM!!!

As the ball impacted it the ship exploded into a ball of fire as the ball continued through it and onto the next one, and the one after that.

"Who are these people...?" Gildarts muttered in amazement as he watched the girls deal with the entire army with ease, and understood why exactly they hadn't gotten involved until now, because if they had there would have been nothing left for them to do.

This fact was hammered into the duo once again as they watched Rias approach another section of beach before holding one of her hands out in a similar way that Yue had. "Disappear..." Rias muttered quietly, before a gigantic mass of reddish-black magic power shot out from her hand towards the ships, erasing everything in its path without leaving a single trace.

Meanwhile, high above them, the crews aboard the airships were hurrying too and fro as the captain shouted at them to go even faster. Their job was to prepare their magic cannons for when the time came to rain fire and destruction upon the island, but, as they watched the battle suddenly turn below them, the captain was now trying to ready what could be considered their only defense/weapon against those monsters below.

"Whatcha doing?" A cutesy voice suddenly asked, making the captain tense noticeably as he slowly turned around, only to see what was perhaps one of the most beautiful women he'd ever laid eyes on sitting on the railing.

Kurumu giggled as the man prepared to attack her, before adopting a slight pout and saying, "Please don't attack me..." Though he hesitated for the briefest of seconds, the captain quickly canceled his magic and asked,

"What do you want?" Kurumu smiled innocently at him, and said cutely,

"I want you to kill the rest of your crew." Without any trace of hesitation the captain turned back towards his crew, and fired a bolt of magic directly at one of them, killing them instantly.

"What the hell are you doing captain?!" One of the men shouted as they gathered at the source of the commotion, and found their own captain killing them.

"She needs you all to die." The captain said with a weirdly blank yet fierce look in his eyes. Kurumu however then turned her gaze on the rest of the crew, and said,

"Can you all kill each other for me please?" As her 'Charm' took hold the deck of the ship immediately became the scene of an indiscriminate slaughter, and the crew that had sailed and flown alongside each other for years began to kill each other.

Kurumu giggled again at the scene before she sprouted her succubus wings and proceeded to the next airship, all of which Alex had told her to capture while minimizing the damages to ships themselves as much as possible. All of course, except one.

On their last airship, the one Alex told her not to worry about, Hades and the rest of the members of Grimoire Heart watched in horrific awe as their entire army rapidly dwindled in number, from a mere handful of women. Of the original forces that they had been fighting, only Mirajane, Lucy, Erza, Gildarts, and a couple of mages that refused to retreat like Natsu and Gajeel remained.

"I think we need to sound the retreat..." Minerva said grimly, not even remotely concerned with passing of her father. Of course Zancrow sneered and immediately replied,

"Why? Because a bunch of weaklings are getting their asses kicked?" Rather than Minerva though, this time Hades responded,

"No, because those women are powerful enough to eliminate hundreds of mercenaries AND dark mages within seconds, and the man leading them is strong enough that he's going toe to toe with one of the Emperor's generals, and seemingly hasn't even broken a sweat doing so. There's no point staying here just to join the rest of them."

"It's too late for that though~Nyan." The new voice made everyone tense up as they slowly turned and saw a newcomer on the bridge, one of the very same women that was part of the group that was now eliminating their army.

While everyone else tensed up noticeably at the intruder's appearance, Hades instead approached her and asked, "Are you sure about that young missy? Because that would mean that you think you alone could take us all on." Kuroka smirked at him and replied,

"I'm not the one overselling myself you know~Nya." Hades smiled wryly at Kuroka's attitude, but before he could saying anything else the view outside their airship suddenly changed completely.

Instead of being in the air above an ocean with an island nearby, they were now suspended in the middle of a dark space. Around them floated dozens of larges objects that appeared to miniature planets, while in the center of them was a ball of fire like a miniature sun to go with the planets.

"W-what is this?" One of the mages demanded while everyone else tried to figure out where they were. Kuroka smiled widely and sadistically at their reaction, even as Zancrow immediately turned towards her.

"Whatever it is it's her fault, so let's take her out!" He declared as his hands lit with eerie black flames. Rather than seem worried though, Kuroka just shook her head as if she was disappointed, before pursing her lips and blowing as if she was blowing out some candles, extinguishing Zancrow's flames instantly.

"Eh?" The god slayer exclaimed in confusion, not understanding why his flames suddenly went out, before Kuroka tiredly started explaining,

"This is my own personal realm, meaning I literally created everything here and rule it based on my whims~Nya. You can't use magic unless I even LET you~Nya." When they heard that Minerva and the members of Grimoire Heart paled as they hurriedly tried to use magic, only to learn the truth of Kuroka's claims.

The only exception was fairly chubby man with oddly grey skin that tried to sneak up on Kuroka, only for her to turn and face him directly before asking, "What do you think you're doing~Nya?"

The man jumped in surprise when Kuroka talked directly at him before he awkwardly shuffled away and said, "I just thought that I'd try to take one of your hairs to use Mr. Cursey on you..." As he said that the man gestured to a doll he held in his hands, making the rest of his guild mates face palm at him directly explaining what Mr. Cursey was to her.

Kuroka however lit up when she heard his explanation, and asked, "Is that what I think it is~Nya?" The man lit up when she asked about the doll, and happily explained,

"It's a lost type of magic that lets you control someone when you put on of their hairs on its head! Here, try it for yourself!" The man then eagerly pulled out one of his own hairs and stuck it onto the doll, before handing it over to Kuroka to try out.

As Kuroka excitedly tried out the doll, by making the man perform a series of acrobatics that he never otherwise would've been able to, Hades demanded, "Well, you've got us trapped here and unable to use magic, what now?" Kuroka didn't even look up from her fun as she said,

"Now I torture and kill all of you one by one for information, and if I think you're holding out then I'll just repeatedly kill and revive you to get the information I want~Nya." Dead silence greeted her words until Kuroka looked up as if she just recalled something, and she pointed at the three women present, Minerva, Ultear, and another woman at Ultear's side with long light purple hair, Meredy, and continued with some irritation in her voice,

"Except for you three~Nya. My mate wants the three of you for something~Nya." Kuroka then decided it was probably time to get started, even though she had adjusted the flow of time in case the extraction of information took several days. And throughout the process many of those aboard the airship would try to resist and attack her, only to realize time and again how fruitless their efforts were.

***

Right after Kuroka disappeared with the Grimoire Heart airship, Alex was floating above the great sea of ice Yue had created, waiting for his opponent to resurface so they could resume their fight. Despite assigning Kuroka to information gathering, he still needed to find a way to use this reincarnator to increase his understanding of the other since only they were likely to know the specifics of each other.

He was still thinking of how to do so when the ice suddenly exploded below him and the newly armored figure of his opponent flew up opposite him. Though he couldn't see him under the armor, Alex could tell that his opponent was seething in rage to the point that he was slightly surprised he wasn't breathing fire.

With the True Longinus, Canis Lykaon, and Regulus Nemea all surrounding him, Hyato tuned out Darius's voice in his mind as he continued telling him to escape, and charged forward while yelling at the top of his voice, "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!"

Alex didn't even bother trying to figure out what he did to earn the copycat's wrath, as he casually dodged the quick thrust with the lance and the follow up as the large black dog summoned numerous blades from any and every shadow available to try and skewer him. With his own instincts combined with Observation Haki, avoiding every attack was practically child's play for Alex before he then used a single finger to block the great golden battle axe that was Regulus Nemea.

KABOOM!

Despite stopping the axe with his finger, it's affects were still felt as the ocean below them parted in a seemingly never ending jagged crack. Alex couldn't help but let out a low whistle when he saw it, as Ddraig's voice suddenly chimed in,

Alex frowned when he heard that as, at least in his current mindset, it seemed all too likely that his opponent would do exactly that without even a second thought if it might help him win. Instead of letting that happen, Alex used the brief pause in attacks to try and disarm his opponent.

First he used his current situation with the axe to flick it away, ripping it from his opponent's hand and sending it back into the surf below. Then, in the same millisecond, Alex turned and placed his hand on the entirely bladed body of Canis Lykaon, which was able to sprout blades anywhere on its body and from any shadows around it, and sent it flying off into the distance with a howl. He then grabbed the shaft of the True Longinus, and, ignoring the burns the divine powers inflicted on his hands, proceeded to hurl it as far away from them into space that he could.

Once that was done Alex placed his foot against his opponents chest, and, using just enough force that he wouldn't injure him too much, sent him flying away as well, back to the island and in a different direction than where he sent his sacred gears of course. With his impact creating a large crater in the sand of the beach, everyone now focused on Alex and the general since almost the entire army was already destroyed despite it only being a few minutes since Alex and the girl joined the fight.

Hyato however gritted his teeth as he activated the healing stone Darius had given him before leaving, which began healing his internal injuries for the second time within minutes.

"DAMN IT HYATO, LEAVE NOW!" Darius roared at him through the system for what seemed like the umpteenth time, to which Hyato promptly replied,

"NO! I WILL KILL HIM AND PROVE MYSELF TO BE THE 'REAL' RED DRAGON EMPEROR! NO MATTER WHAT!" As he said that Hyato crawled out of the crater and watched as Alex slowly descended to join him on the ground. Hyato then took in a deep breath to steady himself, before the red segments of his armor shouted,

At once Hyato's strength and power skyrocketed beyond any levels he had ever pushed himself to before, while a series of miniature white wyvern type things began separating themselves from his armor. As he landed in front of him though, Alex didn't seem particularly worried about the sudden increase to Hyato's strength as he instead asked,

"Why not use 'Divide' to take my energy and weaken me instead of using 'Boost' to try and get on my level?" To him that was the fist obvious solution to fighting someone stronger than you, however the reply he got was something so stupid he never expected.

"Because, my goal is to remove a filthy 'fake' like you and become known as the 'real' Red Dragon Emperor. It'll be counterintuitive if I use the powers of the White Dragon Emperor to do so!" He snarled as if it was obvious, and Alex was an idiot for asking such a thing. Alex however simply shook his head slightly at Hyato's words and actions, still thinking there was more to his actions besides simply wanting to be the 'real' Red Dragon Emperor.

Instead of mulling over the intentions of someone who clearly wasn't all there in the head, Alex prepared as the general charged him while kicking a massive cloud of dirt and sand. This time Alex didn't even need to use his instincts or Haki to tell exactly where the punch was coming from as his opponent's fist approached him, as his gauntlet shouted just to fly right by him.

Resisting the urge to shake his head at his opponent's rough and sloppy movements, showing that all his might came from his power ups and not actual skill, Alex grabbed onto the general's wrist and shoulder before giving it a tug.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Hyato screamed bloody murder as Alex proceeded rip his entire right arm off at the socket, spraying the ground with his blood as the armored man fell to his knees in agony. Resisting yet another urge to smack the man with his own severed arm, Alex swatted away the miniature wyverns that were trying to attack him before grabbing the enemy by the back of the neck and planting his face into the ground.

He then leaned down, and whispered to him, "I just wanted to thank all of you for this gift." Not just Hyato, but Darius, Alice, and Calvin tensed when they heard what Alex said, even before he continued,

"Thank you for handing me the perfect source of information I needed before coming for you. And make no mistake, WE. ARE. COMING."

His words sent a realization through all four of them at once. The worst Darius and the others considered was Alex killing Hyato and them being out one of their reincarnators. However they just realized that what he intended was a lot worse, he was going to use Hyato to get all the information he needed off of him.

Their plans, powers, numbers. Everything.

Anything that he might only suspect due to rumors or speculation could be either confirmed or denied in a second, and he could use the item Darius gave him to infiltrate their base of operations without a moments notice.

Without any hesitation Darius stood and drew on his connection to Fairy Heart, and the power of Arc of Embodiment that he gained when he absorbed Rustyrose.

"Hyato get him off of you, I'm going to transfer you straight to us right now!" Though he would normally try to argue, in his current state all Hyato could think about was the pain and getting Alex off of him. Surprisingly though, when he started thrashing and flailing to escape, the elbow of Hyato's remaining arm caught Alex right in the face, stunning him and getting him to release his hold on him.

Hyato then shakily tried to get to his feet as he felt the space around him start to distort, and Darius tried to force him back to their side. Alex on the other hand rolled onto his back crying out in pain as he covered his bleeding nose, raising his hand to it to cover his smirking mouth.

His plan was to let Hyato 'escape' via some form of teleportation, which he assumed he'd have since he'd been arguing about escaping earlier, and then have Kuroka send one of her familiars through the lingering distortion in space to spy on them at their leisure later.

What Alex didn't expect though, was for two figures to run up right before the enemy escaped as one cried out,

"HE'S MINE!"

"BACK OFF SALAMANDER, HE'S MINE!"

Both Natsu and Gajeel tried to use this chance when Alex was 'down' to rush at the enemy general and prevent his escape, and, before he could even try to say anything to them, all three of them vanished in a flash of green light.

"Gajeel...?" Levy uttered in disbelief, as other members of Fairy Tail stared at the spot where two of the comrades just vanished, while Alex also looked on before muttering,

"Well shit..."