A Desperate Situation

"Ready to die?" the lanky man said with a grin.

Without a word in reply, Erza attacked first. Her longsword traced a graceful arc through the air as she brought it down on the lanky man's head.

"Requip—Western Shooter!"

Bang, bang, bang!

Three shots rang out in quick succession. Erza was sent flying backward, scattering blood through the air.

The lanky man had completely changed his appearance. After a ripple in space, he was dressed in a Western cowboy outfit. A magic revolver had appeared in his right hand, its barrel pointed at Erza, wisps of smoke curling from the muzzle.

"Requip?" Erza's pupils contracted. This was the first time she had seen someone else use Requip Magic. Of the three bullets he had just fired, she had blocked one with her sword and another had struck her armor, but the last had pierced straight through her shoulder blade.

Blood streamed from Erza's left shoulder, and she could barely muster any strength in her left arm. She gasped for breath, trying to subdue the pain.

"Heh, my magic is called Fireworks!" The lanky man seemed like a different person now. No longer violent, he held his gun and struck up a conversation with Erza instead.

"You can use Requip Magic too, little girl, can't you? Does your Requip Magic have a name?"

Erza ignored the lanky man's rambling, summoned a shield out of thin air, and held it with difficulty in her left hand before charging again.

"Requip—Assaulter."

The lanky man's outfit changed once more, becoming a dark green camouflage uniform. The gun in his hand also turned into a magic shotgun.

Boom!

The shot exploded, blasting the shield Erza held in front of her to pieces! Pellets flew, and countless fragments pierced her body, giving Erza the illusion that she had been blown apart. Blood gushed out and burst into a crimson firework in the air.

"Hahaha, beautiful, isn't it? My magic!" The lanky man seemed possessed as he stuck out his tongue, licked the blood splattered across his face, and laughed aloud. "Fireworks that bloom with the blood of my enemies!"

"It's magic that exists solely for slaughter!"

Rumble, rumble.

The mountain of flesh lumbered along, searching for Laxus, whom it had thrown off to parts unknown.

"Hey! Where are you? Come out! Come out!" Unable to find its target for so long, the monster grew extremely agitated and kept smashing the trees around it. It snapped countless towering trees in half, leaving the area in ruins.

Laxus, lying not far away, awoke from a brief spell of unconsciousness. His powerful survival instinct made him immediately suppress the groan of pain that threatened to escape him.

Laxus could feel that quite a few of his bones were definitely broken. His left leg, the one the monster had grabbed, was especially badly twisted and deformed. The piercing pain made cold sweat pour down his body.

Damn it, what kind of monster is that? Laxus secretly watched the monster from the shadows. When he saw it snap a tree as thick as a bucket with a single slap, a feeling of helplessness washed over him.

But if he didn't find a way to defeat the monster now, never mind rescuing Eleven—all three of them would die here.

At that moment, Laxus was no longer as impatient as usual. He became unusually calm, constantly thinking of a way to fight the enemy.

That monster is covered in fat. One look tells me it's definitely the type that can take a beating. I can't muster any strength now either. My only option is to use high-intensity lightning to deliver a killing blow.

Laxus went over his plan in his mind again and again, quietly beginning to circulate his magic power.

Meanwhile, Eleven, who was slung over the suited man's shoulder, slowly opened his pale blue eyes.

Whenever Eleven woke up, the first thing to act was never his body, but his Spiritual Power. Thus, without alerting the suited man, he instantly grasped his situation.

Although being bound by Magic Sealing Stone made Eleven feel weak and his Spiritual Power no longer flowed as smoothly, the stone sealed only magic power. Eleven could still release his Spiritual Power without magic power, and even though its strength was greatly reduced, he could still destroy the net around him.

The suited man did not notice anything unusual about Eleven. Still wreathed in mist, he ran swiftly through the rain. He wasn't worried about the battle behind him in the slightest; he was just a little annoyed.

He knew better than anyone what his two companions were like. Those two Fairy Tail brats were as good as dead. What he needed to consider now was how to deal with the trouble that would follow.

Just as the suited man was fretting, a bundle of hemp rope embedded with Magic Sealing Stone suddenly fell from his shoulder, nearly tripping him. Immediately afterward, an invisible force came crashing down on his head without warning.

Bang!

As Eleven watched in surprise, his blow smashed the suited man straight into a cloud of mist that drifted into the distance. Only after the attack had passed did the mist reform into the suited man.

The suited man was also greatly surprised to see that Eleven had suddenly broken free. He instinctively raised a hand to straighten his hair.

"Looks like I really underestimated you. I—"

Bang!

Eleven gave the suited man no chance to waste words. Another blast of Telekinesis struck at him, smashing him into a cloud of mist again.

"It's no use! Physical atta—"

Bang!

The suited man had no chance to speak. Eleven seemed to have made up his mind to end the fight quickly. Whenever the suited man showed himself, a merciless barrage of Telekinesis came crashing down, blasting him into mist time and again.

Eleven was frowning deeply. He didn't know whether the suited man could really ignore his attacks, but he truly felt no solid body when he struck. It felt exactly like attacking mist.

"Don't push me too far!"

The suited man could no longer bear Eleven's endless attacks. He stopped trying to take shape altogether, turning directly into a cloud of mist that floated in the air.

The rain that had been pouring down around them slowed to a drizzle once again. The rainwater was turning to mist.

Eleven was trapped in thick fog once more, having completely lost track of the suited man.

"My magic is Mistification. It can turn any liquid and my own body into mist. Brat, in a downpour like this, you can't possibly escape the fog. Give up. I don't want you to get hurt either."

The suited man's voice became indistinct again, making it impossible to tell which direction it came from.

Eleven ignored the suited man. Instead, he immediately formed a Telekinesis shield to protect his nose and mouth. He didn't want to fall for the same trick twice.

When the suited man found that he couldn't quickly suffocate Eleven with the mist, he paid it no mind and made the fog even denser.

"It's no use, brat. Even if you seal off your nose and mouth, how long can you last in mist this damp? You're already having trouble breathing, aren't you? In less than three minutes, you won't be able to breathe at all!"