3rd POV
While Tenrou Island was experiencing a code red, with Cooper facing down the infamous Black Wizard, out at sea, not too far away, a large black airship flew overhead. Inside the airship, specifically the bridge, several people stood, showing obvious deference to the old man sitting down at the throne.
"Guild Master, the Black Wizard's location has been verified… Tenrou Island." Ultear, standing beside a lacrima-powered device, looked at the throne, causing him to nod faintly. "Tenrou Island? What surprising luck; we can kill two birds with a single stone."
"Only about half their guild will be there." Folding his arms, Bluenote, the same man who had happened to face down Cooper while retrieving Ultear a little over a month ago, glanced at the guild-master. "The report states their strongest members are currently present; if they die, the others are of no concern." Rustyrose, a dramatic man with silver hair, faintly smirked at Bluenote, who scoffed.
"Whatever. If any of you encounter Cooper or Gildarts, send a signal and flee." At Bluenotes advice, a large, almost sumo-like pale-skinned man spoke. "Giving us a warning, I didn't expect that from you, Bluenote." Kain glanced at Bluenote, who briefly narrowed his eyes, causing Kain to lightly flinch.
"Warning? I couldn't care less for your lives, I merely wish to have a good fight." Raising his head, Bluenote flashed a feral grin, though suddenly, a massive amount of purplish magic power slammed into Bluenote. "No. Leave Cooper to me." With long pointed ears, deep black eyes, blackish lines covering his body connected from his heart, and a hole in the middle of his forehead, Jiemma Orland stood.
"Are you ordering me around, you experiment!?" Angry, magic power erupted from Bluenote, pushing back and matching Jiemma's magic power; the two entered a power struggle, neither stepping back, forcing the others to take a few steps. However, before things could further develop, the guildmaster stepped in, stopping them from destroying his airship.
"Stop it." His stern voice echoed off the walls as he glared at the two, causing Bluenote to click his tongue as he backed down, while Jiemma shifted his focus. "I'm taking Cooper's life, Hades." Hades, the guild master, just raised an eyebrow, unbothered by the powerful magic power that repeatedly swept over him.
"Go ahead. Jiemma will deal with Cooper. Bluenote can take Gildarts." With Hades giving the command, Jiemma finally eased up, restraining his magic power while the others nodded, none daring to argue against his words. "Haha, I don't care who I fight, they just need to be strong!" Zancrow, a wild, arrogant man with long, blonde hair, grinned maniacally as blackish fire erupted from his hands.
"In due time."
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Cooper POV
Twitching at the man's every movement, I followed him, keeping a good ten-meter distance as I trailed him while he walked through the forest. Other than that blackish wave erupting from him that one time, it hasn't happened again, not to mention he hasn't done anything; he hasn't tried attacking me, nor has he headed in the direction towards any of my guildmates.
'It's like he's just taking a stroll.' Although that's what it seemed like, I didn't let my guard down for a second; I had no idea why he was here, but honestly, I doubted it was for us. He was just so strong; we've never dealt with anyone this powerful. My best guess was that he really was just taking a casual stroll.
'Why would he cause that destruction then?' It really made no sense to me; he was being so harmless right now that one could easily mistake him for a normal person. 'Dammit, where are the others!? Gildarts and Gramps!?'
It's been several minutes since I sent the signal, and the fact that neither of them has arrived yet was a bit concerning; though not like it mattered, what's the difference between one and three ants to an elephant?
While trailing the man, watching him stop and sniff a rose, I suddenly felt the ground tremble, which wasn't enough to break my focus, but when I sensed Gramps gathering a bunch of magic power, I finally looked away.
"Gramps!?" Looking into the sky, there he was, his enormous figure dwarfing even giants as he surpassed the Great Tenrou Tree. "Oh, seems like you have guests." Snapping my gaze back to the man, I stared at him in confusion, only for Gramps to attack; following it, I spotted a sleek black airship in the distance.
"That symbol… Grimoire Heart. Fuck! We've already got our hands full!" Cursing quietly, I watched as the airship exploded from Gramps' attacks, causing me to raise an eyebrow. 'No way it was that easy, right?' Of course, it wasn't that easy. The airship's debris suddenly froze in mid-air, then, before converging back together, no, it was like they were going in reverse.
"Tsk, Ultear." In a matter of seconds, the previously destroyed airship was reconstructed, having reversed time to the point where the airship had never been destroyed.
Gramps attacked a few more times, but this time, the airship nimbly dodged out of the air while continuing to close the distance; eventually, the airship retaliated, using a Jupiter Cannon, forcing Gramps to block it.
"Dammit!" I wanted to go help, but I couldn't leave this man alone; it didn't matter how many Grimoire Hearts attacked, the man ten meters in front of me was by far the biggest problem.
Having blocked the Jupiter Cannon, receiving a deep scorch mark on his forearms, Gramps seemed to grab the very air before him, causing my eyes to widen slightly. 'Fairy Law.' The fact that Gramps was using Fairy Law so quickly was a bit of a shock; Fairy Law wasn't just a normal form of magic.
As Gramps gathered enough magical power, I noticed an old man with a long beard atop the airship deck performing a spell almost identical to Fairy Law, only it was black. When Fairy Law exploded, releasing an almost blinding amount of light, the old man did the same, matching the intense white light with blackness, painting the sky above Tenrous half white and half black.
When the lights began to fade, Gramps was still standing, a little exhausted, but the airship was still present, flying ever closer, and the man looked completely fine. 'No wonder Gramps always stopped me from attacking Grimoire Heart; he's stronger than Gramps.'
As if to further the difference in strength, the old man attacked, creating several chains from magic, shooting them at Gramps, who went to block, but the chains wrapped around his arms and sent him flying, causing Gramps to withdraw his giant magic lest he destroy the Great Tenrou Tree.
With Gramps being pushed back, Grimoire Heart was able to enter Tenrou Island's airspace, where numerous mages emerged from, disappearing into the Island's forest; however, among the numerous enemies, nine stood out with exceptional magic power, S-class levels of magic power.
Yet, even among those nine, two were striking; one was the old man, who chased after Gramps, and the other was a demon.
As I watched those people invade Tenrou Island, I clenched my fist, shifting my gaze back to the man. 'That old man, the demon, and the person I faced during Ultear's failed trap… This doesn't look good.'
There were too many heavy-hitters among Grimoire Hearts; the seven were already somewhat of a threat, but those three, specifically, one not even having made an appearance yet, were truly a problem. 'Gildarts can handle the old man. So I'll have to handle that one person and the demon?' I shook my head; even I wasn't arrogant enough to think I could deal with both of them.
Even if I managed to kill one of them, I'd be out of commission; I'd at most be able to briefly stall the other one by offering my life. 'It should help the others at least escape off the Island though… Fuck, why aren't you ever here when you're needed, Laxus!?'
There are a whole bunch of problems with my plan, but it all boils down to one thing: if I leave this man alone, which I can't.
"If you do nothing, your guild will perish." Hearing the man speak while rubbing a tree's bark, I narrowed my eyes. "You're still the most dangerous one here." he didn't further elaborate, seemingly having little care for what was occurring on the Island, causing me to grit my teeth.
'Dammit! What the hell am I supposed to do!?' Unable to come to a solution, I was forced to follow the man, keeping tabs on him, never letting him out of my sight as distant and near sounds of fights occurred throughout the Island; occasionally, the Island would tremble, the intensity of Gramps fighting the old-man spreading through the ground.
After some minutes, the trembling stopped, while I saw the old man flying through the sky, heading back to the airship. "Gramps lost? I can't sense his magic power! Dammit!" Thinking the worst might've happened, I flexed, my muscles bulging as I tried to stop myself from lashing out.