Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Hidden Leaf Ravine.
November, x784.
While Bacchus fought Kimimaro, the five remaining wizards of the alliance continued searching through the enemy hideout. And shortly after Bacchus finished his battle, they came across the first room filled with kidnapped civilians. And what they saw left them all feeling a little sick to their stomachs.
In a large cave, a portion of the kidnapped individuals, consisting of only women, were held in cages. Dressed in little more than rags, the evidence of the numerous experiments they were subjected to was visible at a glance.
Covered in marks from incisions and injections, many of the women's gazes were devoid of hope and emotion.
"This is horrible." Marin said with her hands covering her mouth and a sad look in her eyes.
"They don't even see these people as human, do they?" Kagura asked, a rare hint of emotion, anger, flashed across her expression as she spoke.
"Of course, they don't." Yoruichi replied in a tone filled with disgust. "To people like them, they were only test subjects."
Although he did not speak, even the ever optimistic Guy's expression had turned grim while he repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists.
"Yeah." Alfonzo muttered as he scanned the room, his gaze growing colder as time went by. "And this is only the first room we came across like this. I can only imagine how many other people are in similar, or even worse, situations."
Hearing that, the rest of the group nodded in response with grim determination flashing in their eyes.
"First things first, let's get these people out of those cages." Alfonzo said in a solemn tone as he raised his hands.
Then, using his [Metal Magic], Alfonzo ripped the doors off all the cages in the room.
"Alright, people, we need to check the conditions of all these women." Alfonzo said, striding towards the nearest cage. "While Guy and I can check their general conditions, I need you ladies to check for any signs of sexual abuse."
"Got it." Marin, Yoruichi, Kagura, and Guy replied in unison as they all started moving.
Moving quickly, the five wizards started moving the women from their cages. And what they noticed made them grow angrier with every victim they checked. Though there were no signs of sexual abuse, seeing so many people who've lost the will to live was disheartening.
And after about an hour, they had finally checked the health of nearly one hundred fifty imprisoned women.
"At least they weren't being used to sate anyone's lust." Yoruichi said, a hint of relief making it into her tone.
"Still, this is unforgiveable." Kagura replied.
"It is." Guy said, a resolute expression on his face. "And they'll pay for what they've done."
In response, everyone nodded in agreement.
"No doubt." Alfonzo said. "But for now, Yoruichi, I need you to focus on getting them out of here."
Before Yoruichi could reply, however, a commotion could be heard approaching the cave they were in. A moment later, about twenty-five dark wizards, none of which were named in the reports they received before starting the quest, appeared at the entrance of the cave.
"Hey, we found them!" One of the dark wizards shouted. "Lord Orochimaru promised a reward to anyone who could kill or capture them."
That statement was enough to light a fire in the group of dark wizards' eyes.
"*Sigh* They really chose a bad day to follow orders and hunt for rewards." Alfonzo said while staring coldly at the unfortunate dark wizards.
Then, before any of the dark wizards could react, Guy rushed forward, appearing in the middle of the group of dark wizards an instant later.
"[Leaf Whirlwind]!" Guy shouted as he began to rotate at high speed.
Less than a second later, Guy had thrown a series of three spinning kicks. The first landing on a jaw of a male wizard, accompanied by the sickening sound of broken bones. The second swept a female wizard's legs out from under her with so much force that the back of her head slammed into the cave floor, cracking it on impact. And the third slammed into another male wizard with such force that he and the two wizards behind him, who he slammed into, made a crater in the cave wall after being sent flying.
Following that attack, guy continued to rampage through the crowd of dark wizards. Although he was the first to act, he was not the only one to move. In fact, both Marin and kagura were quick to follow.
"[Gravity Magic: Earth]." Kagura chanted as she dashed forward.
At the same time, a group of five wizards felt the gravitation force acting on them increase by ten times, resulting in all five of them being forced to their knees.
"What...? How...?" A female wizard asked while trying her best to stand again.
"You can ponder those questions in prison." Kagura replied as she drew her sheathed katana back to thrust. "[Strong Form]."
Then, with great force, Kagura stabbed her sword into the sternum of the dark wizard who just spoke. As a result, she was knocked backward, losing consciousness before she hit the ground. Then, following the first stab, Kagura repeated the attack on the other four immobilized dark wizards. And as soon as she was done, she turned to raise the gravity in another area.
Instead of rushing forward to attack again, Kagura flinched and prepared to retract her [gravity Magic] because she did not realize that an ally was present among the group of wizards she targeted until it was too late.
To her surprise, however, her ally, Marin, seemed to be completely unaffected by the sudden change in gravity. Instead, she took advantage of all the enemies falling to their knees.
"[Transformation Magic: Claws and Fangs of Violation]." Marin chanted as she began to spin in the center of the downed dark wizards.
Then, while she was spinning, with great precision, Marin began extending and shortening her daggers. As a result, all the tendons in the immobilized dark wizards arms and legs were cut cleanly.
"Thanks for the assist, Kagura." Marin said with a smile.
Meanwhile, Kagura could only nod back blankly, surprised that Marin was unaffected by her [Gravity Magic].
Luckily, in the time it took Marin and Kagura to deal with ten dark wizards, Guy was able to incapacitate the rest.
"Good job, everyone." Alfonzo said as he approached Marin, Kagura, and Guy. Let's get going. Yoruichi has already started taking those women outside to the shelter. She'll probably be done by the time we find the next room full of captured civilians.
"Indeed.!" Guy exclaimed as he raised his fists into the air. "Now is the time to let my youth explode."
And just like that, Guy ran out of the cave.
"and there he goes..." Marin said as she watched Guy go.
"Yeah." Kagura added. Then, she glanced at Marin for a moment before shifting her attention to the incapacitated dark wizards. "But what do we do with them?"
"This." Alfonzo said as he stomped his right foot on the cave floor. "[Metal Magic: Anti-Magic Cellblock]."
A moment later, several adamantine cage's materialized around the unconscious dark wizards. Then, the ceilings, floors, and bars of each cage were inscribed with miniscule sigils that negated magic.
"Alright, let's follow Guy." Alfonzo said as he also dashed out of the room with Marin and kagura following closely behind.
It did not take long for the trio to catch up with Guy, who had stopped to dismantle a trap.
While waiting for Guy to finish dismantling the traps ahead of them, Kagura could not help but glance at Marin a few times with confusion swirling in her eyes.
"Huh?" Marin hummed while tilting her head after feeling one of Kagura's glances. "Kagura, is something wrong?"
"No, I wouldn't say anything is wrong." kagura replied. "But there is something I don't understand."
"Oh, okay." Marin replied with a nod. "What's up?"
"She probably wants to know why her [Gravity Magic] didn't affect you earlier." Alfonzo said, cutting into the conversation.
Although Kagura frowned at being seen through so easily, she nodded in agreement with Alfonzo's statement.
"Actually, I'd like to know the answer to that question, as well." Yoruichi said, appearing next to Alfonzo with a smile on her face. "If I'm not expecting it, even I can be stopped for a moment when Kagura raises the gravity around me."
"That was even faster than I expected." Alfonzo said in a surprised tone. "It's hard to believe that someone could be that fast."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fast." Yoruichi said, dismissively waving off Alfonzo's surprise. "Now, get back to the matter at hand. Why didn't Kagura's [Gravity Magic] affect you?"
"Oh, that!" Marin exclaimed excitedly. "You can totally thank Alfonzo for that. I don't know how he did it, but all the training rooms in our new guild hall can raise the gravity in the room. And one of the settings changes the gravity at random intervals so we can get used to sudden changes in gravity."
Hearing that, Kagura's eyes widened in surprise, showing the most emotion since the alliance gathered at the hotel the day before. And she was not the only one. Yoruichi was also surprised at the revelation. Even Guy, who was just about to finish dismantling the trap he was working on, had his eyes light up in anticipation.
A moment later, Guy finished his dismantling. Instead of running forward, however, he stood up and turned towards Alfonzo with his eyes shining.
"Say, Alfonzo, since our guild masters are old friends, would it be possible for me to take a tour of your guild hall?" Guy asked excitedly.
"You just want to try the gravity chambers, don't you?" Alfonzo asked with a wry smile.
"Indeed." Guy replied without hesitation. "Something like that could intensify my training by several folds."
"We can talk about that later." Alfonzo said while maintaining his wry smile. "For now, we've got a job to complete."
In response, the other four wizards nodded their heads before they all dashed forward once again.
"By the way, how are Mira and Bacchus?" Alfonzo asked Yoruichi as the group ran forward.
"Well, other than being a little low on magic power, the She Devil seemed to be fine." Yoruichi replied casually. Her expression changed slightly before she continued, though. "But Bacchus' arms got pretty messed up. Something about getting stabbed by bone spikes while landing the finishing blow. He had a few other, much shallower, cuts all over his body, too."
"So, he won, huh?" Alfonzo muttered. "Well, as long as he's alive, I really couldn't care less. As long as he doesn't start spouting shit about Lici again, those will be the only injuries he'll get on this quest."
Meanwhile, in one of the deeper rooms in the hideout, Mayuri and Orochimaru were monitoring the progress at which the allied wizards were making their way through the hideout.
"We need to stop them." Mayuri said with a frown. "At this rate, they will free all our test subjects."
"Cucucu." Orochimaru chuckled in his usual creepy manner. "There's no need to worry. If they continue on this course, they will run into my most useful underling."
Though he did not reply verbally, based on the fact that his frown deepened, it was clear that Mayuri had very little faith in the young man Orochimaru was referring to.
"Nemu." Mayuri said, not taking his eyes off the monitoring devices. "You go and slow them down, as well. Hopefully, we can separate them enough that the two of us can quickly dispose of their strongest wizard together."
"Yes, Master Mayuri." Nemu, a beautiful, well-endowed, young woman with green eyes and long black haired tied into a long braid wearing a short, black kimono that reach the middle of her thighs with a white obi tied closed with a red cord and a pair of white gloves on her hands, said with a polite bow of her head.
Then, without another word, Nemu made her way out of the monitoring room to assist in, at least, stalling the intruders.
"And what do you plan to do with that other one?" Orochimaru asked as he glanced at the retreating Nemu. "It would be a shame to not allow it to get some battle experience. The data we could collect would be precious as well."
After finishing his speech, Orochimaru ran his abnormally long tongue over his lips with a thirst for knowledge glinting in his eyes.
"I plan to use him to implant a sense of despair in them." Mayuri replied with a chuckle. "Oh, how distraught would they be if all the livestock they rescued were to be killed?"
"Cucucu." Orochimaru chuckled. "Indeed. Perhaps we would be able to witness the moment when they lose hope in this world."
About three hours later, Alfonzo, Marin, Yoruichi, Kagura, and Guy had continued their search for surviving victims in the headquarters. And when they reached the next room, unlike the others, it was not a room where a number of kidnapped civilians were being held. Instead, it was much more sinister. In fact, it was so bad that Marin, the most carefree of the group had to do everything she could to not vomit all over the floor.
Meanwhile, the expressions of the others showed varying levels of both anger and disgust, with Alfonzo's reaction being the most extreme. As a result, nearly half of the hideout was bathed in both Alfonzo's magic power pressure and killing intent.