Chapter 151
"Lyon!"
"Gray!"
The two former disciples of Ur faced each other across the ruined temple grounds, and the instant Gray recognized the man standing opposite him, his expression darkened.
"Bastard! Do you even know what you’re doing?!"
Unlike Gray, Lyon showed almost no visible agitation.
He regarded his fellow student with an unnerving calm and said, "Long time no see, Gray. So the islanders finally posted a quest and somehow dragged you here?"
Apparently, Marshall had already supplied Lyon and the others with an appropriately villainous explanation for everything that was happening on Galuna Island.
Now that Gray had found them, there was no longer any need to pretend they were innocent.
As far as Natsu and Gray were supposed to know, Lyon’s group intended to destroy the village, sacrifice its inhabitants, and release the demon sealed beneath the island, eliminating anyone who tried to interfere.
At least, that was the horrifying version of events Marshall wanted them to believe.
"Sherry..." Toby glanced uneasily between Gray and Lyon before turning toward his companion. "Is this also the power of love?"
Sherry nodded with complete seriousness. "Yes~ This is the power of love."
Lucy, one of the few people present who knew enough to realize the situation was far more complicated than it appeared, felt a chill run down her back.
"These guys have reinforcements too?!"
Even she hadn’t been told exactly what kind of "surprise" Marshall intended to arrange for Natsu and Gray, so she immediately reached out to him.
[Marshall! Something’s happening over here!]
Gray, meanwhile, had already stopped paying attention to everyone else.
He drew a slow breath and kept his eyes fixed on Lyon.
"Natsu, Lyon is mine. You and Lucy deal with everyone else."
Natsu’s temper flared immediately. "Don’t order me around, ice bastard!"
Normally, that would have been enough to start another argument between them, but Gray didn’t rise to it.
He simply looked at Natsu, and the seriousness in his expression was so unlike their usual squabbling that even Natsu fell quiet.
"I’m asking you."
"...Huh?"
Natsu paused.
There was no challenge in Gray’s eyes this time, no childish rivalry and no attempt to prove himself.
Whatever had happened between him and Lyon was something Gray intended to settle personally.
After staring at him for a moment, Natsu cracked his knuckles and grinned.
"Fine. Just this once. I’ll take care of the rest!"
Flames surged around his fists as his grin widened.
"I’M ALL FIRED UP!"
Lucy’s terminal vibrated almost immediately, and Marshall’s voice followed through the telepathic connection.
[Lucy, grab Happy first.]
[Stay out of the fighting. I’m sending something over.]
Lucy blinked.
’Sending something?’
Before she could ask what he meant, an enormous pale-purple magic circle suddenly spread across the night sky, its light washing over the ruins and forcing everyone below to look up.
Seven figures descended slowly from the formation.
Every one of them was concealed beneath a black robe that covered them from head to toe, and each wore an ominous mask marked with a single word.
Pride. Wrath. Gluttony. Envy. Lust. Sloth. Greed.
Dense waves of sinister-looking "demonic energy" rolled around their bodies as they descended, the deliberately theatrical display creating such an oppressive atmosphere that the battlefield briefly fell silent.
Sherry’s eyes immediately lit up.
"Reitei-sama! Those are Aitei-sama’s subordinates—the Seven Sins Apostles! They’re our reinforcements!"
Lyon’s heart gave an uncomfortable jolt as he looked over the seven black-robed figures.
’...These people don’t look remotely heroic.’
Then an image of Marshall sitting in that ridiculous throne-like chair while everyone addressed him as the Emperor of Love flashed through his mind.
’Aitei-sama... he isn’t secretly some terrifying criminal mastermind, is he?’
Unfortunately, Gray gave him no time to pursue that thought.
"What did you say?"
Gray’s expression had grown steadily uglier as the supposed plan sank in.
"You’re really planning to release Deliora? And now you’re willing to sacrifice innocent people for it?! Lyon, we’re both Ur’s students! Have you completely lost your mind?!"
Whatever faint humor had remained on Lyon’s face disappeared.
"You really have forgotten everything, haven’t you, Gray?"
His voice hardened.
"Ur died because of you. And after getting her killed, you still had the nerve to run away and live comfortably all these years."
Gray’s jaw clenched hard enough for his teeth to grind.
"Shut up! I’ll stop you, Lyon. No matter what you’re planning, I won’t let you release Deliora!"
Lyon raised both hands, and frost immediately spread outward across the stone around his feet.
"Then come. Let me see what you learned while you were hiding from the past."
With that, the two students Ur had once trained together finally attacked.
...
A short distance away, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy found themselves facing the seven silent figures in black.
Pride stepped forward first. Without saying a word, she pointed directly at Lucy and then jerked her thumb toward the edge of the battlefield.
The message couldn’t have been clearer.
Get lost.
Natsu immediately moved between them.
"Lucy, stay back. Looks like these guys want me."
"Eh? But—"
Lucy was still putting on a convincing show of hesitation when Gluttony casually raised one hand.
A violent repulsive force exploded across the ruins.
"KYAAAH!"
Lucy was thrown backward, but because Marshall had already warned her and she knew he had no intention of actually hurting her, she went with the force instead of fighting it.
She twisted in midair, controlled her fall, and landed safely a considerable distance away.
Natsu’s eyes narrowed.
"What kind of Magic was that?!"
He immediately filled his lungs.
"Fire Dragon’s Roar!"
A massive stream of dragon fire erupted from his mouth and tore across the battlefield toward Gluttony.
Before the flames could reach their target, however, Greed merely pointed at her.
Gluttony vanished.
Natsu’s flames ripped through the place where she had been standing and continued harmlessly into the ruins beyond.
"Spatial Magic?!"
He had barely finished speaking when Wrath stepped forward.
Flames gathered over one of her palms while lightning crackled across the other.
She brought both hands together, forcing the two forms of energy into a single unstable sphere of blazing plasma, then hurled it directly at him.
Instead of dodging, Natsu burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! I can eat fire, idiot!"
He opened his mouth and swallowed the entire attack.
For one second, he looked extremely pleased with himself.
Then the lightning mixed into the flames discharged through his entire body!
"BZZZZZT!"
"GYAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Natsu convulsed as electricity raced through him.
His hair shot straight upward, smoke curled from his mouth, and his entire body twitched when the current finally subsided.
"Not... bad..." he managed, stubbornly refusing to admit how badly that had hurt. "Just a little... tingly..."
Pride raised a hand.
Greed raised hers as well.
Space above Natsu distorted.
A sword appeared.
Then another.
Then ten more, followed by dozens, hundreds, and eventually so many that the night sky above the ruins seemed to disappear behind a glittering forest of suspended blades!
Even Marshall, observing the battlefield from afar, couldn’t resist giving the attack a suitably ridiculous name.
[Gate of Babylon!]
Natsu slowly looked upward.
His confident expression faltered.
"W-Wait... that’s cheating, isn’t it?!"
The swords came down.
"WHOOOOAAAA!"
Natsu bolted.
Blades hammered into the stone everywhere around him as he sprinted through the barrage.
He threw himself left to avoid one, changed direction when another struck where his foot had been a moment earlier, then ducked under a sword that passed close enough to cut several strands of hair from his head.
Another forced him into a roll, and he came back to his feet already running.
There were simply too many weapons to evade them all.
A blade grazed his shoulder.
Another caught his side.
Natsu twisted away from a third, only for several more to force him back toward the center of the battlefield.
Before he could break free of the barrage, Lust lifted her hand.
Thick vines erupted from cracks in the ground and whipped around his legs.
Natsu tried to tear himself loose, but more vines immediately caught his wrists and yanked his arms apart.
"Crap!"
Pride moved her fingers.
Several swords changed direction at once and shot toward the immobilized Dragon Slayer.
They drove straight through his torso.
"GUAAAAAH!"
"NATSU!!!"
Lucy and Happy’s screams carried across the ruins.
Even Gray heard them in the middle of his fight with Lyon.
His head snapped around, and the color drained from his face when he saw Natsu suspended between the vines with several swords apparently buried through his body.
"NATSU!"
Whatever personal score he had been trying to settle with Lyon was forgotten at once.
"Damn it! Lyon, MOVE!"
Gray broke away and turned toward the Seven Sins Apostles. Ten spears of ice formed around him almost instantly.
"Ice-Make: Lance!"
The ice weapons shot across the battlefield, but before they could reach any of the black-robed figures, Envy finally joined the fight.
A massive wall of ice erupted from the ground.
Gray’s lances smashed into it one after another and shattered, sending fragments of ice scattering across the ruins.
"Tch!"
Envy swept one hand sideways.
Moisture gathered throughout the air in response, condensing into countless droplets before freezing into needle-like shards.
A wave of frozen projectiles immediately shot toward Gray.
Forced to defend himself, Gray had no choice but to stop trying to reach Natsu.
...
"D-Damn it..."
Flames began leaking from Natsu’s body.
The vines around his wrists and ankles blackened, curled, and rapidly burned away as the heat increased.
"There’s no way... I’m losing here...!"
Landing unsteadily on his feet, Natsu grabbed the hilt of one of the swords still protruding from his body and prepared to rip it free.
Pride lifted her hand before he could.
Every sword embedded in him abruptly withdrew at once and flew back through the air, returning to hover around Pride.
Natsu froze.
"Huh?"
Sloth lazily raised one finger.
Soft light settled over Natsu’s body.
The wounds left behind by the swords began closing before his eyes, torn flesh knitting together with astonishing speed until, only seconds later, there wasn’t so much as a scar remaining.
Natsu stared down at his completely healed body.
"...EHHHHHHH?!"
He looked from his chest to Sloth and then back again, clearly unable to decide whether he was supposed to be relieved or suspicious.
Pride answered that question for him.
She crooked one finger in his direction.
’Come on.’
Natsu’s eyebrow twitched as understanding dawned on him.
They hadn’t healed him out of kindness.
They had healed him because they wanted to beat him up some more!
His face twisted in outrage.
"You bastards... YOU’RE LOOKING DOWN ON ME?!"
Flames erupted violently from his entire body.
"DON’T SCREW WITH ME!"
He dropped low and launched himself forward.
"Fire Dragon’s Sword Horn!"
Wrapped in fire, Natsu shot across the battlefield like a living projectile, charging directly toward the seven Apostles.
He hit absolutely nothing.
Greed moved a single finger, and all seven black-robed figures vanished from his path at once.
Natsu tore through empty air and nearly went straight through the remains of a wall before twisting himself around.
"What?!"
Pride had already reappeared behind him and dozens of swords shot toward his back.
"GAH!"
Natsu threw himself sideways, barely avoiding the first wave, but Wrath was waiting on his blind side.
Electricity struck him before his feet had even properly touched the ground.
"GYAAAA!"
His muscles seized.
Lust immediately sent a vine around his ankle.
"HEY!"
Before Natsu could burn through it, Gluttony changed the gravity surrounding him.
His entire body was suddenly dragged downward with tremendous force.
Natsu hit the ground face-first.
"MMMPH!"
The pressure vanished just as suddenly.
Then it reversed.
"WHOOOOAAA!"
Natsu was hurled into the air.
Greed shifted positions again while he was still airborne, moving the Apostles into new angles before he could figure out where to attack.
Pride filled those angles with flying blades, forcing Natsu to twist in midair to avoid being skewered again.
Wrath added bursts of lightning whenever he committed too heavily to one direction, while Lust’s vines waited below to catch him if he tried to land somewhere predictable.
Natsu roared and blasted fire downward, using the recoil to change his trajectory.
He managed to avoid the vines and landed in a crouch, immediately spinning into another attack.
"Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!"
His flaming fist shot toward Pride.
She disappeared.
Natsu’s punch passed through empty space.
Greed had moved her again.
A repulsive blast from Gluttony struck Natsu squarely from the side and sent him tumbling across the ground.
He dug his fingers into the stone, stopped himself, and sprang back up almost immediately, only for another barrage of swords to force him on the defensive.
"Would you STOP RUNNING AWAY?!"
Pride, naturally, offered no response.
Another sword came at his face.
Natsu knocked it aside with a flaming forearm, ducked beneath the next, then punched a third hard enough to send it spinning away.
For a brief moment, it looked as though brute force might allow him to push through the barrage.
Then Greed altered the battlefield again.
Wrath appeared at his right.
Lust appeared behind him.
Gluttony shifted to his left.
Natsu’s eyes widened.
"Oh, come on—"
Lightning struck first.
"GYAAAA!"
A vine immediately cinched around his waist and yanked him backward.
Natsu grabbed at it and started burning through the plant, but Gluttony’s Magic multiplied the force pulling him toward the ground.
His knees buckled, and before he could recover, Pride sent another cluster of swords racing past him from several directions at once.
Natsu twisted desperately.
Most missed but one didn’t.
The blade sank into his shoulder.
"AGH!"
He tore it out himself this time and hurled it back toward Pride, but she vanished again before it reached her.
"GET BACK HERE!"
Natsu charged after her.
The gravity around him increased.
His next step suddenly weighed several times more than it should have, throwing off his balance just enough for Wrath to shock him again.
"GYAAAAAA!"
By then, Natsu was beginning to understand what made these seven opponents so infuriating.
None of them, taken individually, felt overwhelmingly powerful.
Pride’s weapon barrages were dangerous, but he could dodge or knock away many of the blades.
Wrath’s lightning hurt, but she wasn’t unbeatable.
He could burn Lust’s vines, withstand Gluttony’s strange force Magic, and keep attacking through injuries that would have put most other mages down.
The problem was that he was never fighting any of them individually.
Whenever he tried to close the distance, Greed moved his target somewhere else.
Whenever he adjusted to the new position, Pride attacked from range.
If he committed to dodging the swords, Wrath electrocuted him from the angle he’d been forced into.
If he tried to rush Wrath, Lust caught his legs.
When he burned the vines, Gluttony changed the gravity around him or blasted him away.
And all the while, Envy remained near the edge of the battlefield, using walls of ice, frozen projectiles, and streams of water to prevent Gray—or anyone else—from interfering.
Even worse, Sloth barely needed to participate.
She simply watched.
Whenever Natsu took enough damage that his movements began to slow, Sloth raised a hand and healed him.
Then the others resumed beating him.
The first time it happened, Natsu had been confused.
The second time, he became furious.
By the third, he was beginning to take it personally.
"QUIT HEALING ME!"
Soft light covered the burn on his arm and erased it.
"STOP THAT!"
A cut across his side closed.
"I SAID STOP IT!"
Sloth lowered her hand.
Pride immediately sent another sword at him.
"THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU START AGAIN!"
Natsu knocked it aside and charged, only for Greed to teleport Pride away and replace her with Wrath.
"Aw, crap."
Lightning exploded in his face.
"GYAAAAAAAH!"
Lucy watched from the edge of the battlefield with Happy clutched against her chest, her expression caught somewhere between concern and disbelief.
"They’re not even trying to defeat him."
Happy stared as Natsu was launched into the air again.
"Aye..."
"They’re just bullying him!"
"Aye!"
Natsu came crashing down, rolled across the ground, and immediately sprang back up with flames roaring around both fists.
"COME FIGHT ME!"
Pride answered with another rain of swords.
"NOT LIKE THAT!"
He sprinted through the barrage, blocking several blades with his arms while weaving between the others.
This time he anticipated Greed’s interference and changed direction the instant Pride disappeared, aiming for Greed herself instead.
For the first time, his fist came close.
Greed vanished.
Natsu missed by inches, his eyes widened.
Then a vine caught both of his ankles.
"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!"
Lust pulled and Natsu toppled backward.
Gluttony increased the gravity before he hit the ground, turning the fall into a violent crash that cracked the stone beneath him.
"GAH!"
Wrath leaned over him.
Natsu’s face went pale.
"Don’t you dare—"
Lightning engulfed him.
"GYAAAAAAAAAA!"
Smoke rose from the crater.
A few seconds later, one trembling hand emerged.
"I’m... still... fighting..."
Sloth healed him and Natsu shot upright.
"DON’T ENCOURAGE THEM!"
The Seven Sins Apostles remained completely silent.
That somehow made it worse.
There were no taunts for him to answer, no insults to shout back at, not even a smug laugh he could use to work himself up.
They simply coordinated with maddening precision, shifting positions and covering one another so efficiently that every attempt Natsu made to break through their formation turned into another opportunity for them to throw him around.
Pride kept him under constant pressure with flying weapons.
Greed ensured he could never reach whichever Apostle he chose to attack.
Wrath waited until his attention was elsewhere before sending electricity through him.
Lust restrained him whenever his footing became predictable.
Gluttony alternated between crushing gravity and violent repulsive force to ruin his balance.
Envy kept Gray occupied whenever he tried to intervene.
And Sloth calmly repaired enough of the damage to make certain Natsu remained perfectly capable of continuing the fight.
Together, they had created an absurdly efficient system for beating the hell out of one person without ever allowing him to stay down.
After being thrown across the ruins yet again, Natsu dug both hands into the ground and finally lost what little patience he had left.
"DAMN IT!"
He threw his head back and screamed toward the night sky.
"What kind of skill is ganging up seven-on-one?! If you’ve got guts, fight me one at a time!!!"
The Seven Sins Apostles stared at him.
None of them answered.
Natsu’s eye twitched.
Pride raised her hand.
"Oh, you bastards..."
The swords started appearing again.
"YOU’RE NOT EVEN LISTENING TO ME!"
Another round began.
Natsu charged, Greed moved his target, and Gluttony blasted him sideways.
He recovered just in time for Lust to catch one leg, burned through the vine, then immediately took a lightning bolt from Wrath.
When he tried to retaliate, Pride’s swords forced him back. When one of those swords finally caught him badly enough to slow him down, Sloth healed the wound.
Then they did it again.
And again.
And again.
Before long, Natsu’s furious screams could be heard across half of Galuna Island.
...
Far above the battlefield, Marshall floated silently beneath the night sky.
Through Information Magic, his mind remained connected to all seven Gugas at once.
He could follow their movements, observe Natsu’s reactions from multiple angles, and make small adjustments to their coordination whenever necessary without placing himself anywhere near the actual fight.
At that moment, however, very little adjustment seemed necessary.
He watched Gluttony reverse the force around Natsu and launch him skyward for what had to be the sixth time.
Greed immediately repositioned two of the others to intercept his fall, while Pride prepared another wave of weapons beneath him.
Marshall slowly shook his head.
"That’s it?"
He had expected considerably more resistance from Natsu.
’Looks like I seriously overestimated him.’
Below, Natsu’s outraged yell echoed across the island yet again.
Marshall watched for another moment before a smile returned to his face.
’Well... there’s still plenty of time.’