While Ben is fighting Hades, the other Fairy Tail Mages are attacked by some Grimoire Heart's Mages too. They are the Seven Kin of Purgatory and each of them is strong. Hades has sent them to take care of the Fairy Tail Mages and fully believe that they can win easily.
There are only 4 of them that attack the camp though. They are Kain, Rustyrose, Zancrow, and surprisingly a Celestial Spirit, Capricorn. These 4 searched the Fairy Tail Mages on the island and finally found them here.
"HAHAHA, they are gathered here. Now we don't need to bother searching for them one by one. We can just kill them here," says Zancrow.
"Yeah, this job has become easier now. However, I don't remember that there are quadruplets among the targets," says Rustyrose while looking at 4 of Ben's clones.
These 4 clones stay here while the others do other jobs. Pride clone infiltrates the Grimoire Heart's ship, Greed clone watches the Council's movement, Lust clone tries to find the other enemies. So from 7 clones, there are 4 who stay in the camp.
"Ben, do you know who they are?" asks Makarov.
"Hmm, I haven't gathered enough information, but they should be the members of Seven Kin of Purgatory. My main body has met one before while fighting Hades and there are 4 here. So there are still 2 more that haven't appeared. Also, there is another enemy that hasn't made his move and still stays on the ship. He should be stronger than all of these guys," says Gluttony clone while eating snacks.
"So we don't know their power yet, huh?" asks Makarov.
"Wait! That goat-like guy, I know him. He is a Celestial Spirit, Capricorn," says Lucy in surprise.
The others get surprised to see a Celestial Spirit being one of the Dark Mages. They are usually summoned, not being one of the Mages. But Fairy Tail also has a Celestial Spirit as a member before, it's Loke.
It's quite strange, but there's no time to ponder over it because they are enemies. They need to think of how to fight these 4 Dark Mages and defeat them. None of them know the strength of these 4, so their advantage in number won't really matter if the enemies are very strong.
"Ah, Ben clones, why don't you fight them? There are 4 of them and 4 of you, so it's good, right? You can test them out," says Gildarts while smirking.
"Damn, old man, you want us to test them because it doesn't matter if we lose? We might be clones, but we don't want to die pointlessly too," says Lazy clone.
"Yeah, why don't you fight them yourself? I'm sure you can beat each one of them in one punch," says Wrath clone.
"Come on, it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, they are good opponents for our young Mages. Strong opponents are important for their growth. Also, they should have someone strong enough to fight me if they wanted to attack us," says Gildarts.
"Well, you're right. There's someone on the ship that might be a good opponent for you. Sigh, why don't we split them? Fighting in groups like this will make it difficult because our magic might hit each other. They might have good teamwork too, so it's better to split them and fight them alone. We have an advantage in number, so we can fight one of them with a few of us," says Ben.
"That's a good idea," says Lisanna.
But suddenly, the enemy's number increased because Capricorn summon 2 Celestial Spirits, Kawazu & Yomazu. Now there are 6 enemies against 25 of them.
'Hmm, we have Master, Gildarts, Erza, Mira, Natsu, Gajeel, Levy, Cana, Lucy, Gray, Loke, Juvia, Lisanna, Elfman, Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow, Wendy, the 3 cats, and 4 clones. It will look like we bully them. But their magic power alone is as strong as S-Class Mages, so our number doesn't matter,' thinks Greed clone.
While they talk, the enemies suddenly attack them first. A lot of roots suddenly come out of the ground and attack them, forcing them to split. Ben's clones are surprised to see this magic because they know who uses it.
"You're still alive, huh?" asks Wrath clone.
"I won't die that easily," says Azuma who comes out of a tree with a pink-haired girl.
Wrath clone looks at Azuma's stomach which has 5 claw marks in it. But the claw marks don't have any blood coming out of it. It seems Azuma has high durability or he has defended himself when Ben attacked him before.
"You are his clones, huh? Your main body's power is very ridiculous. I have defended myself using the best wood armor, but it still broke and the claws still scratch me. If I don't have a strong body, then I would surely get injured gravely by the impact," says Azuma.
"Heh, you're good. It seems I can expect something great from Hades," says Wrath clone.
"Don't underestimate Master or you will regret it," says Azuma before he uses his magic again.
Azuma controls the giant roots to push everyone and split them. Then his comrades will chase the groups to fight them. The enemies also intend to fight the Fairy Tail Mages one by one or in small groups rather than fighting them at once.
They know that their chance is low because they see Makarov and Gildarts. These 2 are the most dangerous Mages in Fairy Tail and they know it. Only their Master and Ace can handle these 2, so they can't fight them.
Zancrow chases Natsu for an unknown reason but Ben's clones can feel something from this Zancrow guy. So the Wrath clone chases after them to know what Zancrow is up to. He feels that there will be a good thing by following them, after all.
Rustyrose chases after Elfman who moves with Evergreen in his arms. Kain chases after Freed & Bickslow while Capricorn chases after Lucy & Cana. As for the spirits that get summoned by Capricorn, Kawazu & Yomazu chase Gajeel & Levy.
The pink-haired girl, Meredy is chasing after Juvia & Lisanna. Then Azuma who moves late chases after Erza & Mira who move together. No one chased Wendy, the cats, Makarov, Gildarts, Gray, & Loke except the roots.
The Fairy Tail Mages have moved in their S-Class exam groups without the intention to do so. But then, Loke changes his direction to chase Lucy because he is Lucy's Celestial spirit and needs to help her.
Lazy clone approaches Gray and says, "Gray, help me protect Wendy & the cats. I can't use my full power because I'm just a clone, so I need your help."
"Alright, I'm also worried of them because they have the lowest battle powers now," says Gray while nodding.
Lazy clone then teleports Gray to Wendy & the cats' location. The 4 of them are moving together by flying and Envy clone is also with them. But then Envy clone leave after Lazy clone comes with Gray.
"Where does he go?" asks Happy.
"To the battle locations. We might have low battle powers, but we can help in emergencies. The enemies are strong and our friends might need help. So the other 3 clones will spread to help in an emergency," says Lazy clone.
"You're really working hard, aren't you?" asks Gray.
"It's normal. I won't reach this level without hard work," says Lazy clone.
Gray has a rather bitter expression and says, "Hard work, huh? I also work hard, you know."
"I know. But just working hard won't take you anywhere," says Lazy clone.
They have a conversation while walking to find their friends. Well, it's mainly the Lazy clone that gives Gray advice to get stronger. The roots have stopped moving, so they can walk & talk calmly. But they've been pushed very far from their previous location.
While they walk & talk calmly, the others have faced their opponents. They still haven't engaged in battles, but it will happen soon. The battle of Fairy Tail & Grimoire Heart has finally started.
______________________________________________________________
You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Voting for this book is highly appreciate.
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 236 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 247 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)