While Erza and the other mages decided to stick together for now, Mirajane was fighting a fierce battle against Azuma, the cause of the weakness Fairy Tail mages were experiencing.
Mirjane chased after Azuma, following up her previous attack by clutching both her hands, raising them above her head, and violently slamming them down onto his back, sending him crashing into the ground. While gasping for breath, she didn't wait to see the results of her attack as she pointed her palm downwards, creating a sphere of darkness, from which a barrage of dark bullets shot out.
As the darkness, bullets pelted the ground like rain, two tree roots lunged out from the thick, obscuring smoke, heading right for her. Seeing the approaching attacks, she clicked her tongue and quickly flew upwards, propelling herself hundreds of feet with each flap of her wings.
Yet despite her immense speed, the tree roots still managed to latch onto her ankle. "Tch, shit-bastard!" Gritting her teeth, Mirajane grabbed her wrist and, while pointing her palm down, gathered a substantial amount of magic power before firing a powerful beam of darkness magic downwards.
However, several more tree roots shot upwards, meeting her attack head-on and even breaking through it. Closing the distance, Mirajane tried to fight the tree roots, destroying several, but there were simply too many, and they overwhelmed her. "D-Dam–" As the tree roots surrounded Mirajane, wrapping around her tightly, faint sparks of her darkness magic managed to escape from the slim gaps, yet before she was able to break free, the tree roots exploded.
As a small mushroom cloud formed from the intense explosion, Mirajane fell from the sky, leaving a trail of smoke as her body cut through the air, falling back into the thick overgrowth created by Azuma early in their battle. She fell through branches and leaves before crashing into a tree, smoke coming from her body as she lay in her true form, motionless against a tree.
"I used the magic power of Tenrou Island to cast that spell, yet to think you still live." Azuma, missing his shirt and holding his bleeding arm, clearly heavily injured, approached Mirajane, his body halfway absorbed into a tree; he looked down upon her, staring at her for a minute before looking away. "It was a good fight." As Azuma slowly turned around, leaving Mirajane alone, a rock was suddenly thrown at his head, stopping him, only to turn around.
As Azuma turned around, his eyes slightly widened as he gazed at Mirajane, who, somehow, against all odds, was standing on her two feet, glaring at Azuma through the curtain of her dirty-white hair; while her body may be on the verge of defeat, it was clear her will wasn't even close to being defeated.
"W-Where are y-you f-fucking going? T-This fight, o-only ends w-when o-one of u-us d-dies." Stumbling forward, Mirajane's gaze remained locked onto Azuma, who furrowed his brows, nodding. "Yes. You're right… Allow me to end this one final spell."
Despite his clear exhaustion, Azuma uses the last of his magic power to control several trees within the overgrowth, combining them to create a massive tree root in the shape of a fist. "It was a good battle; I will remember it for the rest of my life."
Clenching his fist, causing the massive tree-fist to copy his actions, Azuma threw a punch; as the tree-fist flew towards Mirajane with terrifying force behind it, she tensed her body, clenching her fist as she transformed back into her Halphas variant before lunging at the fist.
Coating her claws in darkness magic, Mirajane met the tree fist-on, slashing downwards as she cut through the attack, intending to continue directly to Azuma to cut him down. However, once she reached halfway through the tree-fist, it glowed before exploding into another violent blast.
As the smoke began to disperse, Mirajane's figure was seen standing at the center of the explosion, only for her to slowly fall backward, causing Azuma, who had completely exhausted himself, to softly heave a sigh of relief, finally defeating his opponent.
Yet just before she could fully collapse, she suddenly leaned forward, catching herself. "ARGRRRHHHH!!" Releasing a scream of raw emotion, Mirajane suddenly dashed towards Azuma, her bloody, injured body moving incredibly slow compared to before as she stared daggers at Azuma.
"You! How can you possibly still be alive!?" Shocked and slightly frightened, Azuma recoiled before thrusting his hand forward, sending a barrage of razor-sharp leaves her way, yet Mirajane transformed her arm and brought it forward, using it as a shield to block the leaves before leaping up to him.
Gnashing his teeth, Azuma clenched his fist, throwing a punch at Mirajane, who managed to tilt her head, dodging the fist while she thrusted her transformed arm, piercing his torso, taking a massive chunk out of his stomach just as her arm returned to normal.
Losing all strength, Mirajane collapsed, crashing into the ground as she violently coughed blood, before glancing at Azuma, whose injury was so severe that he was basically a dead man breathing. "How? How did you survive that?" Weakly, Azuma turned his head and softly questioned Mirajane in confusion, causing her to flash a smile.
"For my family. No matter what hardships I will experience, even if I need to go to hell and back, if it's for my family, I will. I always will." Sporting a bloody smile, Mirajane's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she finally fell unconscious, causing a pale Azuma to slowly nod, a look of dawning clarity returning to his face.
"I see… A family. I never knew such a thing could grant one so much strength… Maybe I, too, can experience a family… In my… Next… Life." Slowly, Azuma's eyes closed while his body went limp, the last bits of his life-force evaporating.
___
___
With Azuma's death, the constant weakness that afflicted every Fairy Tail member vanished, allowing them to operate at full power.
Bickslow and Fried, who were struggling against Rustyrose, suddenly felt their magic power surge, causing them to fiercely retaliate.
Manipulating his dolls, Bickslow made them form a circle as they released a powerful beam of magic, taking Rustyrose by surprise as he was flung into the sky. "Tch, the hell? Is that a desperate attack or something?" Clicking his tongue angrily, while in the air, Rustyrose summoned Tower of Dingir beneath Bickslow, yet it couldn't even reach a quarter of its height as a Fried donned in dark armor speedily slashed through it with his sword before continuing toward Rustyrose.
"What the!?" Shocked, he tried to defend, but Bickslow attacked him again, forcing him to shift his focus, allowing Fried to lunge close as he thrust his hand forward, arcs of lightning launching from his palm and striking Rustyrose, immobilizing him as he fell to the ground.
"B-Bastards! How did they suddenly get so strong? Dammit! I can't sense Azuma, did he lose!?" While Rustyrose was cursing to himself, he tried to sit upright, though two shadows covered his vision.
Bickslow and Fried stood beside each other, looking down at Rustyrose, causing him to nervously gulp. "C'mon, l-let's talk about these guys. Guys?" In response to his words, Fried merely raised his sword.
___
___
Bluenote, who had been continuously holding the advantage against Gildarts, was suddenly forced back from their clash, which had always resulted in his victory. Frowning, Bluenote, regained his footing and thrust his fist at Gildarts, who flashed a smirk and dived into his guard, dodging his fist before punching his stomach, forcing Bluenote back several steps.
"What happened?" Gritting his teeth, Bluenote suppressed his pain and glared at Gildarts, who raised an eyebrow before chuckling. "Hehe, what did you say? Wasn't it 'There is no point in me telling you?' That was it, wasn't it?" Tapping his chin with a thoughtful look, Gildarts furrowed his brows, causing Bluenote to scoff.
"Whatever. It makes no difference." "Oh, we'll see about that."
___
___
"Man, my cheeks still stings." Pouting, Natsu tenderly rubbed his cheeks while glancing at Lisanna, who folded her arms and averted her gaze. "You should be lucky that's all you got, I thought you were about to die." Whispering to Natsu, Lucy looked between Erza and Natsu, surprised he received so little punishment. However, while they were speaking, they suddenly felt a rush of magic power entering their body.
"Yes! I knew you could do it, sister!" Shouting into the sky, Lisanna leaped in joy, prompting an injured Elfman to join her in the celebration.
"Lisanna and Elfman, go retrieve Mira. Levy, Evergreen, Cana, and Gajeel, you four stay here. Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy, you three are with me… It's time to storm the Airship." Commanding the others like a soldier, Erza stood up, clutching her sword while pointing at everyone.
"Hehe, finally!" "Aye aye, Erza!" "Do I have to go?" "Wait, me too?" "This is foolish, we should wait for the others as well, someone stronger."
As Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla looked at Erza, each one reacting differently, they stood up, ready to join Erza despite how they felt.