"What? Midnight actually lost?"
As Midnight was defeated by Erza, Brain on the other side of the battlefield quickly sensed it through the biological connection magic—the Face Seals.
Another line on his face vanished, dissolving into particles of light.
Ultear seized the opportunity of his momentary distraction.
"Ice Make: White Rose Garden!"
A massive explosion of ice erupted, forcing Brain to retreat defensively.
...
Elsewhere, Lucy and Gray were stalling Racer head-on in a desperate struggle against his speed.
Sagittarius, using the ruined buildings of the moving city as cover, found a suitable sniping spot high above and continuously gathered power, drawing his bowstring taut.
"Now! I've got you!"
Enduring Racer's flurry of high-speed kicks, Gray threw caution to the wind.
He lunged forward, grabbing Racer's arm as it struck him.
Ice spread instantly from Gray's grip, freezing their limbs together to prevent the speedster from escaping.
"Lucy! Now!"
"Open! Whip of the Stars!"
Lucy cracked her whip, the golden cord extending like a viper to tightly bind Racer's legs, completely immobilizing him.
"Now!" Gray, who was holding Racer in a death grip, shouted toward the ruins.
"Moshi, moshi!"
Even without Gray's reminder, Sagittarius, being a master archer, had top-notch timing.
Before Gray even finished shouting, the arrow was already released.
THWIP!
The arrow tore through the air with a sonic boom.
Racer desperately tried to break free, revving his magic to accelerate time, but unfortunately, he couldn't move his frozen arm or bound legs.
He could only watch helplessly as the arrow struck his chest with pinpoint accuracy.
BOOM!
The impact was tremendous.
The upper part of Racer's clothing was blown to pieces, revealing a metallic device strapped to his body.
However, the arrow was embedded deep in the device, shattering its core and rendering it nearly unrecognizable.
"What's going on? What is this thing?"
Gray frowned, panting heavily as he thawed the ice to release the unconscious Racer.
He looked at the smoking device on the enemy's body.
"I think it's probably some kind of self-destruct device or something... a Lacrima bomb?"
"Nani!"
Gray and Lucy were both startled and retreated very quickly, fearing an explosion.
"It's useless now. Its completely destroyed."
If it weren't for the device blocking the arrow, Racer would have been either dead or severely injured from that shot.
As it is, he's just unconscious from the impact shockwave and has lost his combat ability.
...
"Only Ultear and Kagura are left. Let's go over there."
Raizel said to Erza, who had just arrived to regroup after defeating Midnight.
They moved toward the sector where Kagura was fighting.
"Archenemy: Slash Form."
By the time Raizel and the others arrived, the battle was already over.
Kagura stood calmly, slowly sheathing her blade, Archenemy.
She had already defeated Cobra.
Hiss!
Cubellios, the giant violet snake, kept hissing and coiling around the fallen Dragon Slayer, trying to intimidate Kagura and protect its master.
It was completely ineffective.
For Kagura, Cubellios was just one more slash away from being diced.
Kagura understood—Cubellios was protecting Cobra out of loyalty.
"I don't intend to kill him." Kagura suddenly felt that Cobra might not be as evil as she thought, seeing the bond between him and his pet.
"Only the leader remains." Kagura looked up at the high platform where magical explosions were lighting up the sky.
"Then let's hurry and help her!" Natsu finally woke up at this point, shaking off the last of his motion sickness.
...
Fighting Ultear, Brain didn't dare to let his focus waver, but the entire ancient city of Nirvana was still moving toward its target in the center of the Worthwood sea.
If it stopped moving, Natsu might not consider Nirvana as just some means of transportation and get sick again.
"No, this is a grudge between her and Brain."
Raizel grabbed Natsu by the scarf, stopping him as he was about to dash off.
"What! I'm the only one who didn't get to fight!" Natsu sat down angrily, sulking with crossed arms.
Everyone else got to fight—Gray, Lucy, Erza, even Kagura—but he was the only one motion sick from the transportation.
He only briefly clashed with the Oración Seis at the very beginning and even got kicked by Racer—it wasn't satisfying at all.
"There will be something for you to do later."
"Nirvana".
"Everyone's safe, that's great!" Wendy was overjoyed to see everyone arriving here unharmed.
"How's the situation?" Raizel asked Wendy, who had been observing the entire battle from the side.
"Ultear should have the upper hand, I think." Wendy wasn't entirely certain, as both sides were exchanging blows evenly.
On the platform, the magical duel was growing intense.
"Dark Rhapsody!"
A dark green magical power entwined with red energy shot violently toward Ultear, tearing up the ground as it moved.
Ultear sidestepped gracefully to avoid it, but the magical energy was sentient—it curved around in mid-air and came at her again from behind.
"Ice Make: Quintuple Ice Shield!"
Not daring to be careless against this high-level Dark Magic, Ultear quickly slammed her hands together, creating five layers of exceptionally thick, diamond-hard ice shields in front of her.
CRASH!
Ultear's intuition was correct—Dark Rhapsody quickly pierced through the first three ice shields.
At the last moment, Ultear used Ice Geyser to launch herself high into the air.
The Dark Rhapsody smashed through the final shields and crashed into the building behind where she had been standing, obliterating it.
"What formidable power."
Gray, watching from below, was inwardly shocked that five of those heavy ice shields could be pierced so easily.
The power of Dark Rhapsody was sufficient to penetrate reinforced steel, but he hadn't expected Ultear's combat intuition to be so sharp that she managed to dodge it.
As expected of the Ice Mage's daughter.
...
"Members of Fairy Tail!"
Jura and Hoteye arrived in haste, panting.
"Huh?"
Natsu, Gray, and Erza immediately assumed combat stances upon seeing the Oración Seis member, Hoteye, standing freely beside Jura.
"Wait, I'm on your side now, really. Yes!"
"Yes, Mr. Hoteye is indeed our ally now." Jura vouched for him firmly.
"All of this is for Love, really."
"These lines... I really want to complain about them." Lucy and Happy both felt their complaining spirits stirring at the sudden change of character.
The group eventually accepted Hoteye as a temporary ally, though they kept some distance.
...
On the platform, Ultear was ready to end it.
"This will be the final strike, and the strongest one!"
Brain sneered, raising his staff. "Dark Rhapsody: Lament!"
"Ice Make: Rose Garden!"
In an instant, the entire platform transformed.
Countless massive ice thorns and blooming ice roses erupted from the ground, tightly enveloping the building housing Nirvana's main control room.
Numerous roses assaulted Brain, knocking him down and pinning him.
However, Brain's Dark Rhapsody wasn't actually aimed at Ultear—his target was the traitor, Hoteye, standing nearby with the Fairy Tail group.
"You traitor!"
Brain's attack was too sudden.
Hoteye failed to defend against the dark blast, and even Jura beside him couldn't react in time.
BOOM!
Hoteye was struck squarely in the chest.
Both Hoteye and Brain collapsed to the ground at the same time—Brain encased in ice, Hoteye blasted by dark magic.
"What's going on! Why would he attack his own ally?"
Natsu was furious about Brain suddenly attacking his companion.
In his view, weren't they supposed to be comrades? Even villains should have standards!
"He'll be fine, though he's quite seriously injured." Jura checked Hoteye's breathing and confirmed he was still alive.
"Let me heal him." Wendy raised her hand and offered.
"Wendy!" Carla beside her was somewhat helpless against Wendy's inexplicable kindness toward an enemy.
"But didn't Mr. Jura say Mr. Hoteye is our companion?" Wendy countered Carla with innocent logic.
"Go ahead." Raizel nodded to Wendy.
"Mm." Wendy smiled and nodded vigorously, happy that Raizel supported her idea.
She began casting her Sky Dragon healing spells.
"The markings on his face! They're fading!" Gray pointed at Brain lying on the ground, encased in Ultear's ice.
The last two markings on Brain's face began slowly disappearing, dissolving into particles.
RUMBLE...
The massive city shuddered and ground to a halt.
"Huh, it stopped?" Gray didn't feel Nirvana moving anymore.
Nearby, Hoteye, who had been lying on the ground, finally woke up after Wendy's treatment and answered Gray's confusion.
"Nirvana relies on Biological Link Magic as its source of power regulation. Since all of us—the Oración Seis—have been defeated, Nirvana naturally stopped moving."
...
Slight spoiler, there will be no 7 year time skip!