"Everyone, move out!"
[Take Over: Omnimon X.]
Raizel's body rapidly grew until he stood nearly ten meters tall.
The Grey Sword extended from his arm, and with one heavy step, he launched himself into the sky.
Selene and Kurnugi returned to their true dragon forms, while Irene transformed into the Sage Dragon.
Following Raizel's instructions, August joined the battle immediately, while Brandish and Gajeel remained on standby.
...
"Why did you have to think of Gildarts?!"
"I wasn't thinking about him! Those things invaded my mind on their own!"
Gray and Cana started arguing in the middle of the fight.
Of course, Fairy Tail members stopping halfway through a battle to bicker with each other was hardly unusual.
A tree soldier stretched out an arm toward Gray, interrupting them before the argument could continue.
Gray hurriedly dodged and broke into a cold sweat.
"This could get ugly. If one of them reads my mind, it might turn into Ur, Erza, or Mira. Gildarts alone is already enough trouble."
"Water Slicer!"
Juvia swept out her hand, sending high-pressure blades of water through the army and cutting tree soldiers in half at the waist.
"There are way too many of them!"
Now wearing her Taurus Star Dress, Lucy looked increasingly helpless.
"And no matter how many we defeat, more keep growing out of the ground!"
...
"What's with all these annoying tree people?"
Laxus entered Lightning Flame Dragon Mode and repeatedly unleashed Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar, wiping out entire groups of tree soldiers.
Yet new ones continued sprouting from the ground in endless waves.
"Gravity Formation!"
"Fairy Machine Gun!"
"Dark Écriture: Pain!"
The Thunder God Tribe also fought with everything they had.
...
"Evil Explosion!"
A massive sphere of black energy shot from the hand of Mira's Satan Soul form.
The darkness expanded into a hemisphere before exploding and erasing dozens of tree soldiers.
Mira had previously tried using Seilah's Command Curse to control them, but unfortunately, it had not worked.
"Purgatory Dragon's Blazing Hell!"
Red light glowed within Ultear's crystal ball, and a pulsing sphere of flame emerged before shooting outward.
In an instant, a hellishly hot inferno swallowed dozens of tree soldiers and burned them to ashes.
Ultear had also attempted to use Arc of Time, but that had failed as well.
Although the enemies looked like tree people, they were actually extensions of Aldoron and therefore counted as living beings.
Fortunately, her crystal ball contained the power of the Eight-Dragon Lacrima, and the Purgatory Dragon's flames were particularly effective against wooden enemies.
...
The city on Aldoron's back—
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!!!"
Flames poured endlessly from Natsu's mouth as he spun in a circle, sweeping away everything around him.
"I have seen the strongest person in your heart."
The God Seed facing Natsu began to change shape.
Natsu and Happy clutched their cheeks, already looking like matching reaction images.
"Why is it changing again?!"
"A God Seed manifests the strength of the most powerful person within the target's memories and uses it to eliminate them. That is correct—I will take the form of someone you could never defeat and ensure your death."
Then the smoke cleared.
Standing in front of Natsu was—Happy!
A crooked-smiling Happy with a tiny sapling growing from his head.
Even the God Seed itself froze for a moment as a question mark practically appearing above its head.
Happy and God Seed Happy stared at each other.
Then both cats shouted at once, "What the heck is this?!"
Happy pointed furiously at the sprout.
"That tree on your head ruins my hairstyle! Carla won't like me anymore!"
Natsu, however, planted his hands on his hips and nodded seriously.
"No, that's actually right."
God Seed Happy immediately lost his temper.
"How is any part of this right?!!!"
"Shouldn't there be someone stronger? An enemy you once fought nearly to the death?"
Natsu answered with complete sincerity,
"Well, I'm always with Happy!"
Unfortunately, that did not answer the question at all.
God Seed Happy's face twisted into an incredible display of disbelief.
"What goes on inside this idiot's head?!!!"
"This'll be the second time I've hit Happy today."
"Second time?"
Both the real Happy and the fake Happy tilted their heads in confusion.
"Sorry, Happy!!!"
Natsu launched God Seed Happy into the sky with a rising punch.
Happy suddenly remembered the unexplained pain in his cheek from earlier.
"I knew it! Natsu, you were the one who punched me before!"
Natsu wisely changed the subject.
"Heh heh... Let's deal with the tree people first."
"Eliminate. Eliminate immediately."
"These guys just keep coming. What a pain..."
Natsu suddenly bared his teeth in a confident grin.
"But thanks to you, I got a clue. I figured out how to defeat Aldoron."
"There are still way too many of you, though, so I'll burn you all at once!"
Natsu once again spun around while firing Fire Dragon's Roar, sweeping flames in every direction.
It looked as though he had left himself open.
Another tree soldier immediately reached out and grabbed him by the face.
"I will read your mind."
Natsu grinned through its fingers.
"Hehehe. I don't fall for the same trick twice!"
Although the tree soldier still held his face, Natsu showed no concern.
"Go ahead and read it before the others grow back!"
"!!"
"Did you see him?"
"I did."
The tree soldier seemed briefly stunned before bursting into arrogant laughter.
"You fool! You chose someone with such overwhelming Magic Power. You have no chance of victory!"
White smoke enveloped it.
When the smoke cleared, the person standing before Natsu and Happy was...
Natsu's true older brother.
The Black Wizard Zeref—with a sapling on his head.
Tree Zeref smiled gently.
"Natsu."
Other than the sprout growing from his hair, he looked exactly like the real Zeref.
Natsu grinned back at him.
"Yo. I can't believe that actually worked, big brother."
"Even if we are family, I am still part of Aldoron. Did you truly expect me to help you?"
"No. To you, I'm someone who needs to be eliminated. But Aldoron is different."
Natsu struggled to find the right words.
"He's someone you're supposed to protect. Someone important... What was the word again...?"
The tree soldier supplied it for him.
"Precious—"
That was exactly what Natsu had been waiting for.
After all, the Zeref in Natsu's mind was the one cursed by Ankhseram.
The more Zeref valued life, the stronger Ankhseram's curse became, and the farther its Death Hunt spread.
The curse activated around Tree Zeref.
Black energy of death erupted outward in an instant, destroying every newly sprouting tree and every fully grown tree soldier.
Even the natural trees growing from Aldoron's body withered away.
Happy grabbed Natsu and flew into the air.
As they escaped, Natsu looked back and shouted,
"It's because of that curse thing! The more he thinks life is precious, the more life it takes away—or something like that!"
Raizel, Zeref, and Mavis had explained the curse to Natsu several times.
He had never properly understood the theory behind it, but when battle began, Natsu's intelligence had a strange habit of shooting upward.
Tree Zeref stared at the spreading death in horror.
"Is this... Ankhseram's Curse?!!!"