Angel and Brain both went still when Gemini delivered that warning.
Not because Gemini was being dramatic.
Gemini was scared.
Angel's mouth tightened, irritation turning into anger.
"What are you talking about?" she said loudly. "We already broke their formation. Most of them are on the ground. This is the perfect timing to wipe them out. Retreat? Why would we retreat?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"And since when does a Celestial Spirit make calls for us? Stop shaking and start talking. Tell me what you know. Everything."
Gemini still wearing Lucy's face swallowed hard. Their shoulders were stiff, breathing shallow, like their body wanted to reject the memory it had just touched.
"Kael… Fairy Tail… S-Class…" Gemini said. "Magic: Take Over. He changes forms. Every form comes with different rules."
Brain didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to.
"How many."
Gemini answered immediately.
"Seven. At least, that's what Lucy's memories confirm. He's shown several already—'Black-Winged Demon,' 'Sword God,' 'Tyrant,' 'Whitebeard,' 'Flame Emperor'… and the one he's using now." Gemini's throat bobbed. "There's one more. Unknown. Lucy's read on it is… that it's the most dangerous one."
Angel clicked her tongue.
"I don't care about his list. I care about the one in front of us right now. What does it do?"
Gemini's hands trembled. They forced the words out anyway.
"This form's core ability is called Limitless. It acts like an absolute defense. Anything that approaches him magic or physical attacks gets slower the closer it gets. Slower… and slower… until it looks like it stopped."
Brain's eyes narrowed.
"So it's spatial control."
Gemini nodded too fast.
"It's distance. He divides it into endless intervals. You feel like you're close. But you never finish crossing the gap."
Angel's voice rose, sharp with contempt, like volume could crush the unease.
"So what? You're telling me he's untouchable?"
Gemini's voice cracked.
"I'm telling you… if you treat him like a normal mage… you die."
"Curious about my power?"
The voice came from behind them.
Not from the front line. Not from above. Not from some opening in the forest.
Behind.
Brain and Angel both turned
And froze.
Kael stood a few steps away, relaxed, posture casual like he'd walked into a meeting late. The fact that he'd crossed an active battlefield without anyone tracking him was bad enough. The worse part was his expression.
Calm.
Too calm.
Gemini's face drained of color.
"He moved—"
Brain didn't blink.
"That's not just defense," he said. "That's mobility too."
Kael smiled slightly, almost polite.
"If you're that interested," he said, "I can give you a demonstration."
Angel's anger jumped again.
"Your allies are getting chewed up, and you're standing here acting bored," she said. "You've got nerve."
Kael didn't even look back.
"They rush in without thinking," he replied. "A beating teaches faster than a lecture."
Brain's patience broke. He raised his voice.
"Racer."
A blur moved.
Racer hit Kael like a knife of speed no wasted motion, no warning, a clean high kick aimed at Kael's head.
The kick didn't miss.
It didn't get blocked.
It didn't get parried.
It simply… stopped.
The moment Racer's foot entered the space around Kael, his momentum bled out as if the air turned thick and heavy. The closer he pushed, the worse it got—until he hung there, frozen mid-strike, eyes widening.
"What—?!"
Cobra reacted instantly.
"Cubellios!"
The massive purple snake lunged from the side, jaws wide, fangs bared to bite down on Kael's arm.
It didn't reach him either.
The snake's head slowed, slowed again, then locked in place a hair's breadth from contact, its entire body trembling with frustration like it was trying to force reality to cooperate.
Cobra's grin vanished.
"…Are you serious?"
Kael spoke like he was explaining something obvious.
"The logic is simple," he said. "You think you're crossing one step. I split that step. Again and again. You feel close because your senses say 'close' but you never actually finish the distance."
Then Kael moved.
GRAB.
He caught Racer by the ankle.
Racer's eyes snapped wide, panic finally breaking through discipline.
"Wait—!"
Kael swung him like a weapon.
Not a joke swing. Not a warning swing.
A violent, reinforced heave.
WHAM!
Racer's head slammed into Cubellios's skull with a crack that made Cobra's stomach drop.
"Cubellios!!"
Kael released Racer and tossed him forward. Racer's body flew straight toward Cobra.
Cobra caught him on reflex.
That reflex cost him.
Kael was already there.
One heavy, reinforced punch drove into Cobra's gut like a piledriver.
"GAAH—!"
Cobra doubled over, air torn out of him, and he went flying backward into the undergrowth, carving through brush and dirt before crashing hard.
Brain's expression darkened.
Two of his best movers gone in seconds.
Kael didn't give them time to breathe.
He lifted a hand. A small crimson sphere condensed at his fingertips, crackling with pressure.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
The projectile screamed toward Brain and Angel.
"Dark Capriccio!"
Brain slammed up a murky green barrier—dense, layered, built on instinct and experience.
BOOM—!!
The barrier fractured immediately.
CRACK—CRACK!
Angel's eyes widened. Brain yanked her hard and both of them threw themselves sideways
the barrier shattered
KABOOM!
The repulsive blast tore into the forest floor and gouged a crater deep enough to swallow roots. The shockwave threw dirt and splinters like shrapnel. Even the edge of it rattled their bones.
Angel hit the ground, rolling, coughing.
Brain rose fast, blood at the corner of his mouth, eyes cold.
"Retreat," he said, with no pride left—only calculation. "Now."
The remaining Oración Seis converged on him. Brain slammed his palm to the earth and a dark green teleport circle flared under their feet.
Kael tilted his head.
"Running?"
His finger lifted again.
A fresh Red condensed.
"You don't get to leave just because you feel like it."
He fired.
The moment the projectile neared the group, space in front of them warped—subtle, unnatural. The Red's trajectory twisted like it got shoved sideways by an invisible hand.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"Hm."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Red tore through the forest instead, grinding massive trees into splinters and carving a trench of destruction.
Kael didn't miss.
Something interfered.
Before he could fire again, the teleport circle completed.
FLASH.
The Oración Seis vanished.
Silence hit the battlefield like a punch.
"They… they got away…" someone from Blue Pegasus said quietly.
All around, coalition mages were scattered hurt, dazed, breathing hard. Except for Erza, Jura, and Kael, the field looked like a wreck.
Natsu tried to push himself up, fury carrying him further than his body could.
"Those bastards! They hit us and run?! Get back here—!"
Kael grabbed him by the collar and lifted him like he weighed nothing.
"Stop," Kael said. "You got your ass kicked. Learn something from it for once."
Jura stepped closer, expression heavy.
"Kael… thank you. If you didn't stop that airship strike and force them back, this would've been a massacre."
Kael's gaze tracked the fresh trench he'd carved through the woods. His jaw tightened, irritation cutting deeper than the fight.
"Yeah," he said. "And they still slipped."
He looked at the spot where the Red had warped away from its target.
He didn't say it out loud, but the conclusion was clear.
Someone some kind of magic had just interfered with space itself.
And that wasn't a detail.
That was a warning.
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