Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Akane Beach.
June 1, x792.
Of all the battles between the defense teams and the Alvarez Empire's fleet of flying warships, Team Natsu's was the last to end. And that was because that fleet was the only one transporting a member of the Spriggan 12. As a result, most of the teams were able to see the light from Natsu's [Fire Dragon King's Purgatory] brightening the sky as if the sun decided to rise six hours early.
"Wow! Natsu must have gone all out." Elicia said while she raised a hand to shield her eyes as she looked towards the spherical explosion created by Natsu's [Fire Dragon King's Purgatory]. "He really is one of our guild's heavy hitters."
Currently, Elicia was standing on the pier of her and Alfonzo's villa on Akane Beach. Standing alongside her were Cana, Marin, and Sun.
While Marin and Sun nodded in agreement, Cana, after taking a look at the flask she was not allowed to drink from, rolled her eyes. Then, she looked out at the sea.
"Yeah, because you didn't take care of the entire fleet that came this way by yourself." Cana muttered while staring at the fleet of Alvarez Empire warships and soldiers that were wrapped up with Elicia's [Thread Magic] and tied to the dock.
"Huh?" Elicia intoned after hearing Cana's muttering. "Did you say something, Cana?"
"No, nothing at all." Cana replied while once again rolling her eyes.
"Okay...?" Elicia drawled while looking at Cana with confusion. She then shook her head and continued. "Anyway, Fonzie said the sea ships wouldn't be here until around dawn. So, let's go take a nap. We can take turns for a few hours each."
"Yeah, we should take turns on watch duty, ya see?" Sun added with a nod and a smile.
"Yeah, good idea." Marin said with a nod of her own.
"Can I have a drink?" Cana asked hopefully.
"Of course not~." Elicia replied in a sing-song voice. She then raised her hand above her head while ignoring Cana's disappointed expression as she continued. "Now, let's get some rest. We'll probably be fighting all day once the sun comes up!"
"Okay!" Marin and Sun chorused in unison as they followed Elicia away from the pier, Cana following in a dejected manner shortly afterwards. {Pic}
All the other teams had similar ideas to Elicia's. And because the battles ended so quickly, the defending teams were able to get a relatively good night's sleep. Just like that, the rest of the night passed quietly before the sun crested over the horizon.
But... Along with the sun, the ships from the Alvarez Empire also appeared on the horizon, just as Alfonzo predicted. Though, there were fewer ships than when Alvarez left Alakitasia. And the defenders could thank the merfolk for that, especially Lunar's father, who was secretly known as the Terminator.
By himself, Edomae managed to sink seventeen of the Alvarez Empire's warships relying on just his powerful body and [Enhancement Magic] while the rest of the merfolk forces were only able to sink three, bringing the total to twenty.
Yet, the number of soldiers who did not make it to shore was much higher than the number of soldiers who were lost in the shipwrecks. And that was due to Sun's friend and bodyguard, Maki the Conch, as she put her skills in assassination on full display during the assault on the Alvarez Empire ships.
"Wow! Lunar's dad is kinda insane." Elicia said after reading the message Alfonzo sent her about the war situation. "I mean, I knew he was strong... But he took out seventeen ships on his own. That's crazy."
"Lunar's Papa is one of the strongest of the merfolk." Sun replied with a smile. "He can go toe to toe with my dad, after all."
"If Gozaburo is so strong, why does he always loose in the first round during the Battle of Fairy Tail Tournament?" Marin asked curiously.
"Because he's faced either Fonzie or Laxus' teams every year since the tournament started." Cana replied. "Honestly, if that team faced anyone else, even mine and Tear's team, they'd probably win. I mean, they've got Gozaburo, Dad, and Masa. They could easily win all three one-on-one matches against everyone else."
"Oh, now that you mention it..." Marin said while tapping her chin with her right index finger. "I guess that's true. I mean, Fonzie and Lici can beat anyone on their team in a one-on-one. And they're two-on-two team, Maes and Macao can't beat Sun and I. So, there's no way for them to beat us, is there?"
"Um… Shouldn't we be getting ready for the fight?" sun asked innocently. "I mean, I like talking about guild stuff, but…"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Elicia said with a smile. "We can get back to talking about whatever we want once we've cleaned up our area."
"Alright then." Cana said as she reached down to her card pouches. "I guess I'll get things started, then. [Deal the Cards, Hoyle]."
"That seems a little like overkill, doesn't it?" Marin asked.
"Not necessarily." Elicia replied while shaking her head. "I can feel a magic power signature above S-Class. It's even more powerful than Jura was before Fonzie started selling training chambers."
"Are you serious?" Marin asked with her eyes wide open in shock. "That's Ten Wizards Saints level."
"Pretty much." Elicia replied with a shrug.
"In that case, I'll get started, too." Sun said as she drew Kanade from her sheath. "[Sing, Kanade]."
As Sun chanted her [Release Command] and Kanade transformed into a double-bladed tuning katana, Cana drew a hand full of cards from Hoyle. And when she saw the cards she drew, she couldn't help but click her tongue.
"Tch! Looks like luck isn't on my side today." Cana muttered as she drew a handful of cards from her tarot deck. "Oh well, [Three of a Kind] is good enough. Well then, let's get this party started. [Card Magic: Icicles]."
With that, Cana reeled back the hand holding the tarot cards while throwing the playing cards into the air. Then, she activated the [Icicles] spell and threw the tarot cards towards the three Jacks she drew from Hoyle's deck.
*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*
A moment later, Cana's [Icicles] spell actualized. However, instead One volley of three dozen [Icicles], the cast was tripled thanks to the [Three of a Kind] she drew, and the [Icicles] were sent hurdling towards the ships in the distance.
"[Voice Magic: Howling Voice]." Sun chanted as soon as Kanade's transformation was complete. She then channeled her spell into Kanade's blades. Then, she lowered her stance and started chanting again. "[Sword/Water Compound Magic: First Form: Water Surface Slash]."
*Swish!*
In the next instant, Sun made a horizontal slash towards the fleet of incoming warships. And as she did, a highly compressed blade of water was fired from the edge of her sord. On top of that, the soundwaves she imbued into her sword were compressed into the water slash, as well.
However, instead of leaking out of the water, the soundwaves continuously bounced around inside the dense blade of water, increasing its destructive power upon impact. {Pic}
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
Then, after a few seconds, both Cana's volley of [Icicles], and Sun's sound-imbued [Water Surface Slash] reached the frontmost ships in the incoming fleet. And with no suspense, they tore through the ships with no issue, sinking several ships as they did so.
"*Sigh* I really need to come up with a long range attack, too." Marin said while watching the two attacks sink several ships. "But the further away from me my weapons get, the less dense they are. And at this distance, they wouldn't' even be able to scratch those ships."
"It's okay, Marin." Elicia said as she started flicking her fingers. "I'm sure you'll come up with something. But for now, just wait until some of those soldiers swim to shore. You'll have your time to shine when they do."
With the flicks of Elicia's fingers, the threads tied to the pier, and the downed airships began to untied themselves from the pier. Then, the ends of the threads flew over to Elicia's outstretched hand.
When Elicia got a firm grip of the threads connected to a few of the warships, she flared her magic power. Then, to Cana's, Marin's, and Sun's disbelief, she jerked her arm up. And when she did, the ships were flung into the air.
Yet, before the three ships could start to fall towards the water, Elicia started swinging her arm in a circle, whipping the three ships around with the movement.
"Holy shit…" Cana muttered with her eyes wide open in disbelief.
"There's, like, no way she's that strong, right?" Marin asked in a dumbfounded tone.
Sun could not even muster a retort to what she was seeing. Instead, her mouth just opened and closed like the aquatic creature she was.
Meanwhile, Elicia continued spinning the downed airships until she had enough momentum going. Then, when she felt it was about right, she slackened her threads, letting the ships fly off towards the fleet in the distance, which was quite a few ships smaller after Cana's and Sun's attacks. {Pic}
"You didn't let go of them, Lici?" Cana asked while watching the ships fly through the air.
"Nope." Elicia replied with a smile as she flicked her fingers continuously.
"Ah! I get it!" Sun, finally regaining her voice, exclaimed excitedly. "You're correcting their flight paths, right?"
"Got it in one, Sun." Elicia replied. "I don't actually wanna hit any of the ships over there. That would kill too many people. So, I'm just gonna have them hit the water right next to them. Although some of them will die when the ships capsize, more people should live than if I smashed the ships into each other."
*Splash~~~~~~~!* *Splash~~~~~~~!* *Splash~~~~~~~!* *Splash~~~~~~~!*
And just as Elicia said she would, she let the warships she threw fall into the water between the approaching ships. And the damage they caused when they landed was catastrophic for the fleet. Though, not many soldiers lost their lives. The water wizards aboard were even able to save some of the ships with the highest ranking soldiers aboard.
Meanwhile, the water wizards who were unable to save their ships helped save the soldiers who were thrown into the water after all the attacks. Then, they followed the remaining ships towards the shore.
"Alright, I think that's enough." Elicia said while watching the ships approach. "If we do any more than this, the sinking ships might affect the shore. We don't need that many whirlpools near the beach, you know."
"Besides, the administration of Akane Beach will have a fit if they have to clean all those ships up." Cana added with a shrug. She then looked back at Marin, who did not get to help in this stage of the defense. "Besides, Marin might cry if she doesn't get to do anything this time, either."
"I wouldn't cry." Marin said while smiling wryly. "I'd just wonder why I was put here with you long-range monsters. That's all."
The quartet continued to chat while they watched the warships approach the shore. However, they were not able to just chat, as they had to defend against the spells the remaining soldiers cast towards the pier, the shore, and the villa. But as strong as the four ladies of Fairy Tail were, that was not much of an issue.
Eventually, the fleet got close enough that Elicia, Cana, Marin, and Sun, should they choose to, could jump onto their decks. And being the exemplary (reckless) Fairy Tail wizards that they were, they did just that.
"Alright, I'll handle the flagship." Elicia said as she bent her knees in preparation to leap. "You three can take the rest."
"No fair!" Cana complained. "The strongest guy should be there. The other ships will be filled with small fry."
"Yeah, that's why I'm taking that one." Elicia replied cheekily.
Then, before Cana, Marin, or Sun could complain any further, Elicia pushed off the pier and leapt straight towards the Alvarez Empire flag ship with her [Thread Magic] lashing through the air and deflecting or destroying the magic spells flying at her.
*Boom!*
When Elicia eventually landed on the deck, the force behind her landing sounded like an explosion. Though, with her exquisite body control, she was able to disperse the force upon landing, so she did not smash straight through the deck.
"Alright, boys and girls." Elicia said in a cheerful tone. "I'd suggest you all give up. Or at the very least, don't struggle after I beat you up. I don't wanna accidentally kill you, 'Kay~?"
Naturally, Elicia's well-intentioned advice was ignored, and the soldiers of the Alvarez Empire continued to fire spells of all kinds at her.
"*Sigh* I knew that wouldn't work." Elicia muttered while dancing away from and using her [Thread Magic] to defend against all the incoming spells. "But I had to try at the very least, right?"
After saying that, Elicia began to attack. And with no surprise, she was able to take down the rank and file soldiers with no issue. And with every soldier she took down, she would send a bundle of sticky threads at them, sticking them to the nearest solid surface to keep them from re-entering the fight. {Pic}
'Why haven't they come out yet?' Elicia asked herself while continuing to handle the soldiers on the deck. 'I know there's a member of the Spriggan 12 onboard. After seeing me beat up their men, shouldn't they come out and tell me something like, "You're stronger than I anticipated. But your rampage ends here now that I, insert name here, one of the Spriggan 12, is here".'
["You've watched too much anime."] Scylla muttered in response. ["Isn't it obvious they're just letting you tire yourself out before coming out to clean everything up easily?"]
'Hmm? Is that what you think it is?' Elicia asked while ducking under a punch from a close-quarters wizard. She then threw a kick that landed on his chin, sent him up into the air, wrapped him up with her [Thread Magic], and threw him towards the ships mast, which she stuck him to upon impact. 'Maybe you're right. Still, this is boring. Fighting these guys is too easy.'
["Apparently, Cana, Sun, and Marin are thinking the same thing."] Scylla added. ["I can feel how lethargic their magic power feels while they attack. Oh! He's moving!"]
As Scylla said, Elicia could feel the vastly more powerful magic power signature in the ships cabin moving towards the deck. And when she did, a bright smile spread across Elicia's face. However, when she saw the effeminate man with long purple hair wearing green armor over a frilly yellow shirt step onto the deck, her smile turned into a frown. {Pic}
"Great, why did it have to be this guy?" Elicia muttered. "He's gonna make me fight someone from the past that I really care about. And it's gonna be really hard not to kill him after that."