After deciding that he will let Deliora gets unsealed and fight the Etherious, Ben goes to prepare a few things. He has sensed Deliora's power and that Demon is strong, so he needs some preparations.
Ben finished his preparations before morning and he's ready to fight Deliora tonight. The only problem is those people who try to unseal Deliora. But he will leave them to the Fairy Tail Mages, he will focus on Deliora.
He wants to train at the day like what he usually did, but he needs to hide so he can't do it. His hiding place is a small cave located a few hundred meters from the temple. It's not too far or close, so it's a perfect hiding location.
To kill time, Ben read the magic books that he has scanned in the library. There are a lot of them, so he'll be able to read for a few hours. It'll also help him understand the magic more thoroughly.
Just when he's about to read the first scanned book, he gets a message. It's from the Lazy Clone that he sent to stalk the masked man, Zalty. The clone sends a surprising message to Ben and he grins after receiving it.
"A council member, huh? This will be interesting," says Ben.
Ben makes another clone and Lust Clone comes out. He gives the clone a lacrima crystal ball and the clone nods in understanding before leaving.
"This will be a good weapon to be used against the council in the future. Corruption is everywhere, even in Magic World," says Ben before he starts to read.
Time passed and night finally came. Ben goes to the temple and enters it stealthily to not alert anyone. Inside the room where Deliora is kept, Ben sees the Fairy Tail Mages & the enemies have finally met.
'Titania is still not here? Does she get lost or something?' ponders Ben.
Ben ignores it and eavesdrops on the Mages' conversations. Now he finally knows their names that he doesn't bother to learn before. It's not like he needs to know their name, after all.
The pink-haired Dragon Slayer is Natsu, the black-haired guy is Gray, the blonde girl is Lucy, and the blue cat is Happy. As for the enemies, the helmet man who has opened his helmet is Lyon, the dark pink-haired girl is Sherry, the short guy is Yuka, the dog-eared guy is Tobi, and the masked man is Zalty.
Ben hears their conversation and now knows why Lyon's group takes Deliora here. They are the victims of Deliora's brutality in the past and want to kill the demon. They believed that Lyon can kill this thing after releasing it.
On the other hand, Gray can't let that happen as he believes no one can kill Deliora. Even his & Lyon's teacher, who is the same person, couldn't do that and needed to use Iced Shell. He is filled with guilt because he was the reason why their teacher, Ul, sacrifice her life.
Ben watches in amusement as both pupils start to have a debate. On one side, Gray is very pessimistic and filled with guilt. On another side, Lyon is too arrogant and overconfident that he can kill Deliora & surpass Ul.
'They're just brats,' thinks Ben.
Both sides want to start fighting, but suddenly they hear a loud cracking sound. Everyone looks at the source, which is the Iced Shell. A big crack is formed on the top and it spread everywhere.
"Finally! You can't stop it now, Gray!" says Lyon.
"I can," says Gray as he extends his hands and crosses them.
"Iced Shell? Hah, you're bluffing," says Lyon.
Lyon thought Gray is bluffing about using Iced Shell to scare him. But then a magic circle appears below Gray, showing that he is serious to use Iced Shell.
"I will stop that nightmare, like Ul. This will be my atonement," says Gray.
Gray is just about to execute the spell when suddenly a hand grabs his head and throws him to the wall. Ben has moved to stop the guy from doing something stupid. But Natsu has also made a move to punch Gray to stop him.
*BAM*
Natsu can't stop his punch and it hits Ben's left face.
"Hoo, you have a good punch there," says Ben as his head gets pushed a little.
Everyone is surprised at his sudden appearance and looks at him warily.
"Who're you?" asks Natsu.
"Hmm, let's just say that I'm a hunter, a demon hunter," says Ben.
"Demon hunter?" asks Happy.
"I'm here to kill this thing, so I ask every one of you to leave this place," says Ben.
"DON'T JOKE WITH ME," shouts Natsu, Gray & Lyon at the same time.
Ben raises an eyebrow and they start to shout that they will be the ones who kill Deliora. They are too focused on it that they don't realize Deliora's ice prison has started to crumble.
"ROAR!"
A roar is heard as Deliora finally gets freed from the ice. Everyone looks at it and has different reactions. Some are scared, some are excited, and the rests are calm.
'These little Mages who are too full of themselves need to be taught an important lesson,' thinks Ben.
"Alright, I will let you try to face it. This is your job, after all. But if I deem you're not up to it, I will take it over and face this guy," says Ben.
No one hears him and they just start to use their magic. Natsu uses a fire dragon roar, Gray uses Ice-Make: Lances, Lyon uses Ice-Make: Dragon. They attack at the same time as if they're a team, but they're not.
Their attacks hit Deliora and create a big explosion. They anticipate the result as smoke is covering Deliora now. Suddenly, a lime light is seen through the smoke, and a beam is shot through it toward them, it's Deliora's attack.
The Mages are surprised and try to defend themselves from it. But the beam is too fast and they haven't finished their defenses. Then suddenly, a black-cloaked man appears in front of them.
"Sun Devil's Scream!"
Ben shoots strong solar energy from his mouth to counter Deliora's attack. The clash creates a big explosion that destroys the ancient temple. It alerts everyone in the village and also a scarlet-haired girl who has just arrived.
"That must be them. Just wait for me, I will punish those who break the Guild's rules," says Erza before she runs to the temple.
In the destroyed temple, the Fairy Tail & enemy Mages come out of the ruins. They all are surprised by Deliora's attack power. They are sure that they can't take that attack even if they use all their power.
Even Lyon who was very sure he could defeat Deliora has wavered now. That attack is very strong that they're sure they will die once they get hit. So Ben who can counter that attack with an equally strong attack must be very strong.
They all now look at Ben who stands in front of Deliora without any fear. His black cloak waving because of the wind and his white mask looks bright because of the moonlight. They all are wondering about his identity, especially Zalty.
"You've seen his power, now leave before you get killed for real," says Ben.
"Tch, I will still fight him," says Lyon.
"This is our job, so we will do it," says Natsu.
Ben gets rather pissed and uses his Gravity element on them. He increase the gravity around them 20 times and make them fall on the ground.
"I don't care if you still want to fight him, he is my prey. And your job is helping the villagers with their curse, not fighting this demon. They're the ones who caused the curse, so take care of them," says Ben as he makes clones.
The clones pick the Mages and teleport them out of the destroyed temple. Then suddenly, a big transparent dome is created after the Mages left. It is the preparation that Ben made last night to prevent Deliora from escaping and destroying the island.
"Now, let's start this. It's been a long time since I fought with an Etherious. I hope you're not disappointing," says Ben as he cracks his neck and grins at Deliora.
The Devil Slayer will finally fight with the Devil.
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You can read up to 35+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Clicking that power stone/like also seem to be a good choice, hehe.
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 175 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 186 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)