Buy time! That was the single most crucial task Achill had given Erza and the others! It mattered far more than even finding Gerard!!
The reason was simple: Gerard was still somewhere inside the Tower of Paradise. Even in the worst case, if they failed to find and kill him before Etherion descended, it would not matter all that much. At most, Gerard would only have completed half of his plan to resurrect someone.
But successfully resurrecting someone required more than the immense magic power needed to activate the R System! A body comparable to that of a powerful mage among the Ten Wizard Saints was also an indispensable part of the ritual!
With magic power but no sacrifice to sustain the resurrection, the Tower of Paradise might as well not exist. Conversely, if any of them encountered Gerard and died trying to fight him head-on, Achill would still feel guilty—even if it were someone he cared nothing about, like Gray or Lucy. Though that might only have been for Erza's sake... Ugh.
That was why Al had specifically stressed that none of them should try to fight Gerard head-on. They only needed to stall until he could arrive!
Once he finished giving his instructions, everyone immediately split up and headed toward the top of the Tower of Paradise along different routes. With Simon and Shou, who knew the place well, guiding them, their separate routes would allow them to search almost the entire tower from bottom to top! That way, they could avoid overlooking anywhere.
Of course, that also meant one of those groups was bound to encounter Gerard! To minimize losses and give each party a better chance of buying time, Achill decided to divide everyone into teams!
At Shou's request, Erza naturally paired up with him. Achill