Earth Land, Ishgar, Bosco, Unnamed Mountain Range.
August 17, x791.
Just after the other three battles started, Alfonzo and Mard Geer were standing about thirty feet apart wile staring at each other. Meanwhile, Happy, Wendy, Carla, and Panther Lily stood on the ramp leading to the Blackbird while holding their breaths in anticipation.
"You are quite the brave human." Mard Geer said in his usual gentle, yet disdainful, tone.
"Not really." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head.
"Really? You don't think so?" Mard Geer asked, a hint of interest making it into his tone. "But you're the first human I've ever seen who does not cower in terror in front of me."
"Well, in my opinion, bravery is not the absence of fear." Alfonzo replied casually. "Rather, it's when someone experiences fear and pushes through it. But you see... You don't have what it takes to make me feel afraid. So, there's no reason to be brave."
As he spoke, Alfonzo held his hands out to his sides with an expression of "what do you want me to do?" on his face.
Seeing that, Mard Geer's smile cramped slightly as his curse power surged in anger.
"I see..." Mard Geer said in a menacing tone. "Well then, you are right. You're not brave. Instead, you're simply a fool."
Alfonzo could not help but chuckle at Mard Geer's reaction.
At the same time, Wendy and the Exceeds were watching this with interaction with bated breath.
"Why is Alfonzo antagonizing him?" Wendy asked.
"He's just trying to get under his skin." Carla replied.
"Yes, Alfonzo is rather good at getting into his opponents' heads." Panther Lily added while gritting his teeth at the memory of his first meeting with Alfonzo back in Edolas.
"Yeah, he's got trash talk down to a science." happy said while nodding vigorously. A moment later, he pouted. "But if you try talking trash to him, he threatens to stop making yummy fish. He's such a hypocrite."
As soon as his words ended, Happy darted behind Panther Lily while ducking his head.
*Crack!* x 6
At the same time, taking advantage of the fact that Alfonzo had turned away to glare at Happy, a half dozen thorny vines burst out from the ground at high speed while moving to entangle Alfonzo's limbs, torso, and neck.
*Clang!* x 6
Yet, before the vines could get close, they slammed into a metal barrier that rose from the ground around Alfonzo. And thanks to the force behind their movements, they were bounced off the barrier and snapped shortly afterwards.
"Oh! Not a bad sneak attack." Alfonzo said with mock praise in his tone. "But you'll have to try a little harder than that to catch me off guard, Bruh."
*Crack!*
*Shatter!*
After saying that, Alfonzo tapped a spot on the barrier. From that spot, cracks spread throughout the metal making up the barrier. A moment later, the entire barrier shattered. However, instead of just falling to the ground, the shards of metal shot outward, slicing through the remaining pieces of the vines.
Yet, the vines were not Alfonzo's only targets, as a fair amount of the shards hurdled towards Mard Geer, as well.
"Petty tricks." Mard Geer said as more vines broke through the ground in front of him.
*Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!*
The new vines, meant for defense, were much thicker than the first ones Mard Geer produced. As a result, although the metal shards pierced more than halfway through the vines, they were eventually stopped without Mard Geer having to take a single step to avoid.
Unfortunately, because the vines were so thick, and so intertwined, Mard Geer lost sight of Alfonzo for a moment.
*Zap!*
So, when he spread the vines to see Alfonzo, the Fairy Tail wizard was no longer standing there. Instead, the only thing left in his place was a flash of violet light. At the same time, Mard Geer caught a second flash of violet light out of the corner of his eye.
*Bang!*
And when he turned his head to look at the second flash, the only thing mard Geer saw was the shaft of a tonfa enlarging in his vision right before it slammed into the left side of his face.
"Argh!" Mard Geer grunted loudly as he was sent flying.
Despite the force behind the attack, Mard Geer did not take much damage. On top of that, he righted himself in the air before landing on his feet and sliding back to bleed off the momentum.
"Hmm...?" Mard Geer hummed as he raised his right hand to rub the side of his face where he was hit, a somewhat nostalgic expression on his face as he looked at Alfonzo who was gripping the unreleased Riot and Bedlam in his hands. "When was the last time I felt pain? Such a curious feeling. Honestly, I never expected to feel it again before completing my goal."
"Oh, you mean reviving E.N.D., right?" Alfonzo replied casually. "So, that dusty old book wasn't destroyed in the explosion, huh? What a shame. I was hoping I'd manage to get that with all the damage I caused. I have to have a good reason to cause so much damage, after all."
Hearing that, Mard Geer frowned. No human should know Tartaros' true goal.
"It seems you know more than you should." Mard Geer said, his smile completely dropping from his expression. "It seems there is more than just one reason to have you die here."
"Dude, you're sounding like the guild master of a common Dark Guild." Alfonzo said in a mocking tone. "Come on, I know you have better lines than that, right?"
Instead of responding, Mard Geer only flared his curse power. A moment later, nearly a hundred roses sprouted and bloomed around Alfonzo before...
*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
... they exploded, kicking up a mushroom shaped cloud of dust and debris.
*Bang!*
Yet, before the smoke even started to settle, Mard Geer was once again sent flying by a blow to the face. On top of that, the strike was an exact mirror of the hit he took on the left side of his face.
"Damn... I guess I didn't hit you hard enough." Alfonzo muttered while standing in the spot Mard Geer used to occupy. "Neither of those hits left bruises on your face. The art I envisioned will never be completed at this rate."
Shaking his head in mock disappointment, Alfonzo kept an eye on Mard Geer's expression. And just as he expected, after regaining his footing, Mard Geer, despite not being injured, was growing angrier from both humiliation at being struck by a human and disrespect.
"I've heard enough.' Mard Geer said as he flared his curse power even harder. "[Prison Flower]."
With that, a monstrous flower grew from the ground between Alfonzo and Mard Geer. And the thing that made this flower so monstrous was not just its grotesque appearance. It also had something to do with the large, sharp thorns growing from its vines and the chains hanging from its bulb.
"What kind of flower is that?" Wendy asked with her eyes wide open in astonishment.
"I have no idea." Carla replied with disgust in her tone. "But it's hideous."
Happy and Panther Lily nodded in agreement, not knowing what words to use to describe what they were seeing.
"The prison flower which blooms in the Underworld." Mard Geer said, replying to Wendy's question without even looking in her direction. "Seeing this flower is an omen that a human has reached the end of their life."
*Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!*
Then, without giving anyone a chance to respond, Mard Geer controlled the [Prison Flower] to attack, a flurry of vines and chains flying at Alfonzo from all directions.
"[Metal Magic: Circular Cutter]." Alfonzo chanted as the shafts of Riot and Bedlam transformed into a pair of circular saws that spun at high speed.
*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*
Alfonzo, with a pair of spinning saws in hand, began to dance through the flurry of vines and chains. And with every swing of his arms, one of the [Prison Flower's] vines or chains were severed. All the while, he steadily moved closer to the [Prison Flower's] stem, clearly intending to cut it down.
All the while, as if he was completely unbothered by how easily Alfonzo was dealing with the [Prison Flower], Mard Geer simply watched in silence. Then, after nearly a minute, Mard Geer raised his right hand, palm pointed at Alfonzo, who was about to cut through the [Prison Flower's] stem.
"[Dea Yggdrasil]." Mard Geer chanted coldly as a spinning sphere of curse power formed in front of his outstretched hand.
Just as Alfonzo cut through the [Prison Flower's stem], Mard Geer fired an immense wooden pillar from the sphere. Naturally, its target was Alfonzo.
"You didn't really think such a low-level sneak attack would work, did you?" Alfonzo asked as he rode the momentum from slashing through the [Prison Flower's] stem to point Bedlam at the incoming wooden pillar. "[Electromagnetism Magic: Railgun]."
With Alfonzo's chant, several things happened in quick succession. First, both Riot and Bedlam reverted to their original shapes as tonfa. Second, a conical chunk of adamantite materialized at the tip of Bedlam's shaft. Third, an electromagnetic field formed around both Bedlam and the chunk of metal. Lastly, Alfonzo pulled Bedlam back slightly before tapping it against the flat side of the conical chunk of metal.
An instant later, the wooden pillar was splintered into wood chips and Mard Geer's right arm had been vaporized. Then...
*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
... the sound barrier was broken several times over as a line of superheated air ran from Bedlam into the distance where a crater was carved into a mountain and rubble rolled down the same mountain's slope.
Meanwhile, despite just losing an arm, Mard Geer seemed completely unphased as he looked down at the stump.
"It would seem you're nothing like the rest of those worthless humans." Mard Geer said while examining the place where his arm used to be. "Perhaps I made a mistake underestimating you."
Reaching that point, Mard Geer looked away from his missing arm and made eye contact with Alfonzo, who was lowering his tonfa.
"This is the part where I should ask for your name. But I think I'll skip that. It's not like I'll remember it, anyway. Especiallysince there's no need to remember the name of someone who will be dead soon." Mard Geer continued in the same tone.
As he spoke, spiky vines grew from Mard Geer's shoulder before weaving into the shape of an arm. A moment later, the vines fused and took on the pale color of Mard Geer's skin. By the time all the changes were complete, Mard Geer's arm looked as if it had never been lost. Though, the sleeve of his clothing was no longer covering it.
"Regeneration, huh?" Alfonzo said with a shrug. "Not bad."
"Although you've been an entertaining diversion from the norm, I've grown bored with this altercation." Mard Geer said as he flexed his fingers. "Now, it's time for you to die. [Memento Mori]."
As he chanted the name of his curse, Mard Geer raised his hand, looking as if he planned to wave it at both Alfonzo and the Blackbird.
*Zap!*
However, before he could even start the motion, Alfonzo vanished from where he stood before appearing next to Mard Geer in the next instant. On top of that, he held Mard Geer's wrist in his hand, not allowing it to move.
"Yeah, I'm not really into letting the bad guys just use their big move." Alfonzo said casually while holding Mard Geer's arm in place. "Plus, if I'm translating the name of that curse correctly, it translates to Memory of Death. If I'm right, I'm not really cool with letting you cast it. You know what I mean, right?"
"Unhand me." Mard Geer said, his anger starting to overflow.
"Okay." Alfonzo replied as he flung his arm upwards, sending Mard Geer flying.
*Zap!*
An instant later, before Mard Geer could even right himself, Alfonzo appeared to his right, Riot, wreathed in arcs of violet electricity, swinging towards his abdomen.
*Bang!*
"Urgh!" Mard Geer groaned as he was sent flying higher into the air.
"[Electromagnetism Magic: Flash Point]." Alfonzo chanted as a pair of electromagnetically charged rails appeared on either side of him.
*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
A moment later, Alfonzo, having shot back and forth past Mard Geer three hundred sixty-five times in the blink of an eye, was floating in the air while Mard Geer, most of the bones in his body completely shattered, fell towards the ground.
"Well, it was fun." Alfonzo said as he put Riot and Bedlam back in the strap on his lower back. "But I think it's time to bring this game to an end."
With that said, Alfonzo spread his arms wide. Then, he began gathering waves from most of the electromagnetic spectrum on his palms. Though, he purposefully left out gamma waves. And as the waves gathered and fused, they began sparking like electricity.
"[Electromagnetism Magic: Final Flash]." Alfonzo said as he brought his hands, and the fused form of EM waves together.
As soon as the two crackling orbs of EM waves came together, Alfonzo fired a column of energy down at Mard Geer, who was just about to slam into the ground.
Looking up, Mard Geer realized that if he did not do something, his life would end and his goal to fulfill Zeref's dream would end with it. Angered by the thought of failing his creator, Mard Geer gritted his teeth. Then, he flared his curse power to its limit.
"You wretched human!" Mard Geer shouted as his appearance began to change. "I've had enough!"
With his shout, Mard Geer's skin darkened and took on a texture similar to his tattered cloak, bat-like wings sprouted from his back, his ears elongated and turned pointy, he grew claws from his fingertips, long horns grew from his forehead, and feathers sprouted from his wrists and collar-area.
On top of changing his appearance, Mard Geer's injuries were healed. Then, just before he was hit by Alfonzo's [Final Flash] spell, Mard Geer spread his wings. And with one powerful flap, he vanished from where he was.
In the next instant, the [Final Flash] hit the ground. However, instead of causing an explosion, it simply dug into the ground. And because Alfonzo could sense that Mard Geer was no longer in the line of fire, he cancelled the spell.
As soon as the light vanished, everything in the path of the spell was gone, leaving a hole so deep that the bottom could not be seen.
*Thud!*
Shortly after Mard Geer vanished from in front of the [Final Flash], he reappeared to Alfonzo's left, clawing at the Fairy Tail wizard's heart. Yet, before his claws could get within an inch of Alfonzo's skin, Alfonzo raised his arm and put his forearm in the path of Mard Geer's stopping the Etherious' arm in its tracks.
Then, without exchanging any words, both Alfonzo and Mard Geer both vanished from where they floated in the air.
*Boom!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Boom!* *Bang!*
The sounds of heavy collisions sounded repeatedly in the air. The two combatants moving so fast that Wendy and the Exceeds were unable to follow their movements with their eyes.
"Is that demon really so strong that he's even with Alfonzo?" Carla asked dumbfoundedly.
"No." Wendy replied while shaking her head. "Alfonzo hasn't even released his [Soul Armament] yet. That demon is strong, but he's not Alfonzo's match."
"But why isn't Alfonzo just finishing him off?" Happy asked curiously.
"He's just playing around." Panther Lily replied with a huff. "Then again, this is good training, I guess. Still, he should just---"
Before Panther Lily could finish his sentence, he and the others all snapped their heads in the direction of the northern border.
At the same time, Alfonzo did the same. And seeing that, Mard Geer decided that now was the perfect time to end things.
"*Smack!*
Yet, just like the first time he attacked after taking on his Etherious Form, Mard Geer's attack was stopped. However, instead of just blocking, Alfonzo caught his arm, his fingers tightening around mard Geer's wrist like a vice grip.
"*Sigh* Looks like playtime really is over." Alfonzo said wistfully. "I don't know what we were thinking sending all four of our Dragon Slayers out on this mission. Of course, that big bastard would show up. Oh well, we'll just have to do our best to drive him off. I'm still not strong enough to take him down for good."
*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*
Reaching that point, Alfonzo turned to look at Mard Geer, who was throwing punches and kicks in an attempt to free himself from Alfonzo's grip. However, Alfonzo in a show of precise control, materialized slabs of Vibranium in front of every one of Mard Geer's strikes. As a result, the sound of clanging metal echoed over the area while the kinetic energy from Mard Geer's blows was absorbed by the metal before each slab dematerialized.
"[Run Wild with Destruction on Your Fingertips. Usher in Pandemonium with Creation in Your hands. Riot, Bedlam.]" Alfonzo chanted as Riot and Bedlam liquified before crawling up from his lower back and coating his hands, wrists, and forearms in liquid metal.
Then, without another word, Alfonzo rammed his free hand into Mard Geer's chest, crushing his heart. After that, he pulled his hand out of the gaping hole in the late Etherious' chest and reached into his cloak. However, before even a second passed, he froze. Then, he exhaled an exasperated sigh.
"How did that son of a bitch even know we were fighting them?" Alfonzo muttered under his breath. "The damn Book of E.N.D. is already gone. Fucking [Time Magic]..."
Shaking his head at the loss, Alfonzo released Mard Geer's wrist, letting his corpse fall to the ground below. Then, he turned to look at Wendy and the Exceeds.
"Wendy, take the cats inside." Alfonzo ordered. Though, his tone was not all that harsh. "Close the ramp behind you when you go in. Then, go to the rear cargo bay and hit the big green button. That will create both a protective and isolation barrier. That should be enough for the big, black, fuck-off dragon to ignore your presence."
"The big... What?" Wendy asked, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment from almost repeating such crass language.
However, Alfonzo did not stop to explain. Instead, he turned in the direction where the others were gathered and started flying towards them. Meanwhile, Carla started tugging at Wendy's dress.
"Let's go back inside, Wendy." Carla said in a frantic tone. "He was talking about Acnologia. We have to get inside and put up the barrier."
"But I can't just leave them alone." Wendy protested.
"Carla is right, Wendy." Panther Lily said sternly. "We have to make sure that we survive. That way, we can tell the guild what happened here if things go wrong."
Biting her lower lip with tears forming in her eyes, Wendy eventually turned around and ran inside to follow Alfonzo's directions. All the while, she was lamenting her lack of strength, despite being even more powerful than most wizards at her age could hope to be.
"Next time I'll fight with them, too." Wendy said to herself in a determined tone as the isolation barrier went up. "I'll never leave my guild mates to fight alone while having to protect me ever again."