Chapter 375: Allied Force vs. Oración Seis (Part 3)
"You don't really have any attack power, do you!" Gray's voice echoed from within his armor.
The two of them had been taking a beating this whole time, but Racer still hadn't managed to land any truly effective attacks. Because of the defensive countermeasures Natsu and Gray had set up on their bodies, Racer didn't even dare to strike them directly with his physical body. At most, he could only hurl boulders at them, which inflicted very little damage.
"Hehe, but how long can you maintain this state?" Racer wasn't angered by their taunts; instead, he laughed.
Natsu and Gray's expressions turned highly serious, as they had already realized this exact problem.
The two of them were forced to passively endure their opponent's attacks, and maintaining their current defensive states required a significant amount of magic power. Gray was slightly better off; after constructing his armor, the magic power required to simply maintain it was relatively low.
Natsu, however, was a different story. Maintaining his current state required the continuous release of a massive amount of high-temperature flames. If this dragged on, he would collapse from magic exhaustion before they could even defeat their opponent.
"If only we knew the weakness of his magic," Gray couldn't help but mutter.
"Natsu! Gray! How are you guys holding up?" Lucy's voice called out from behind.
After being kicked away by Racer, by the time she scrambled back to her feet, she found that the situation on the battlefield had drastically changed. The four members of Blue Pegasus had been completely wiped out, and the area was now split into three separate battlefields.
First was the battle between the Lamia Scale trio and Hoteye. She wasn't very familiar with the Lamia Scale mages, and with Jura—one of the Ten Wizard Saints—present, she didn't need to offer her help there.
Then there was Ultear, Erza, and Sorano's side. Various explosive attacks were flying everywhere, creating a massive and terrifying spectacle. Lucy shuddered just looking at it. If she went over there, she'd likely get caught in the crossfire; not only would she be unable to help, but she might actually drag them down.
Finally, there was Natsu and Gray's battlefield. They were on the same team and were very familiar with one another. Furthermore, the fighting here didn't seem quite as chaotic as the other zones, so she figured she could actually be of some assistance.
Thus, when the battle between them and Racer momentarily paused, she ran over to Natsu and Gray's side—though she made sure to keep a bit of distance from them. After all, one was engulfed in raging flames while the other was covered in freezing ice. With Lucy's normal constitution, she couldn't handle such extremes of fire and ice.
"This opponent is a bit troublesome," Gray said, staring fixedly at Racer.
Hearing this, Lucy also stared intently at the enemy. The spot where she had been kicked earlier was still aching faintly.
"Ah! I've got it!" Natsu suddenly exclaimed from beside them.
"What did you think of, you bastard?" Gray asked.
"Lucy, summon that Celestial Spirit of yours that can copy other people!" Natsu ordered Lucy, ignoring Gray completely.
"Huh? Oh!" Lucy blanked for a second. A Celestial Spirit that copies others? Then it dawned on her who Natsu wanted her to call. She immediately reached for the Gemini key. Trusting Natsu completely, she prepared to summon the twins right away.
"That's right! That spirit can copy other people's abilities, which means they can figure out the weakness of the enemy's magic too!" Gray whispered excitedly, instantly catching on to Natsu's plan.
"Oh? It looks like you've thought of some method to defeat me. Although I'm not afraid, it's still best if I don't let you pull it off."
Seeing their excited expressions, Racer's figure flickered. Like a glitching image, he zipped toward Natsu's group in rapid, blurring flashes.
"Ice-Make: Rampart!"
Seeing the enemy charging at them, Gray slammed his fist into his palm. A massive, thick circular wall of ice instantly erected itself, completely enclosing the three of them within.
Racer's figure materialized outside the wall. He pressed his hand against the icy surface, finding it impossible to break through with brute force.
"Hehe, are you going to hide in there like cowards? If you don't come out, I'm heading to the other battlefields."
"Don't worry, we'll be right out to finish you off," Gray's voice echoed from within the wall.
"Open, Gate of the Twins! Gemini!"
Inside, Lucy pulled out the Gemini key and slashed it through the air. A golden magic circle expanded, and two little blue creatures materialized beside her.
"Piri, piri!"
"Turn into that guy outside!" Natsu instructed.
Lucy looked at Gemini. "Do as Natsu says."
"Piri, piri!"
Gemi and Mini instantly merged together. Following a flash of magical light, a perfect duplicate of Racer, formed by Gemini, appeared before them.
"Ooh! They look exactly the same!" Natsu circled the newly formed Racer, looking him up and down.
"Hurry up and tell us the characteristics and weaknesses of his magic!" Gray said, grabbing Natsu to hold him still as he questioned Racer (Gemini).
"His magic's effect is to lower the perceived speed of living beings within a certain radius. That is to say, he makes his enemies slower; he doesn't actually increase his own speed. Aside from this magic, he doesn't have any other means of attack," Racer (Gemini) explained after briefly searching through the copied memories.
"So that's how it is! That makes things easy. One of us just needs to step outside his range and use a long-distance attack to take him down," Gray declared immediately upon hearing this.
"No, we have an even faster method. Can you catch him?" Natsu asked Racer (Gemini).
"We can try," Racer (Gemini) answered after a brief thought.
"Perfect. Once you grab him, we'll use that opening to rush in and beat him up," Natsu told Gray and Lucy.
"Got it!" Gray and Lucy nodded. Natsu's method was indeed much more direct.
Gray waved his hand, and the massive ice rampart surrounding them vanished into thin air.
Racer (Gemini)'s figure flickered and vanished from his spot.
"What?! He's using the exact same magic as me?!" Racer, who was outside, had already been shocked to see a perfect copy of himself emerge. Seeing that the clone could even use his exact magic, he couldn't help but freeze in stunned disbelief.
Racer (Gemini) seized this momentary lapse in focus to rapidly close the distance. If Racer hadn't reacted at the very last second, he would have been caught right then and there.
Having narrowly escaped, Racer broke out in a cold sweat. Then, in the eyes of Natsu and the others, the two Racers became flickering, glitching blurs as they chased each other around the battlefield.
"Got him! Piri, piri!"
Suddenly, one Racer slammed the other onto the ground, pinning him down with his hands and body right in front of Natsu's group. The Racer on top spoke up. By relying on the memories copied into their mind, Racer (Gemini) had anticipated the real Racer's habits and successfully captured him.
"Alright! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
A wildly excited grin spread across Natsu's face. His fist engulfed in roaring flames, he swung fiercely toward the real Racer pinned on the ground.
Zap! Zap!
Suddenly, two green beams of magical light shot over from the side. One aimed directly at Natsu, and the other at Racer (Gemini).
"What?!" Natsu had no choice but to redirect his flaming fist, punching the incoming beam instead to neutralize it. Racer (Gemini) also leaped off Racer, dodging the beam aimed at them.
"Brain made a move!" Gray and Lucy ran up from behind, while Racer (Gemini) retreated to Lucy's side.
They stared intently at Brain, who was holding up his skull-decorated staff. Those two light beams had just been fired by him. Racer, meanwhile, fell back to Brain's side.
Seeing Brain intervene, the other two battlefields also came to a halt. Both sides backed away and regrouped with their respective camps.
"Erza, how were things on your end?" Lucy asked as Erza walked back over.
"Neither side could do much to the other for the time being. However, if given a bit more time, we should have been able to take him down," Erza said with a shake of her head.
After Racer had left them to fight Natsu and Gray, Erza, Ultear, and Sorano had engaged Cobra together. The three of them had simultaneously bombarded Cobra with wide-range attacks. Even though Cobra was still able to dodge every strike by reading their moves, he was forced into a highly disheveled and miserable state.
After all, none of the three girls were weaker than him. Facing their combined, relentless assault, he had no choice but to use all his strength just to evade. In this manner, Ultear's group traded blows with Cobra for quite a while.
More accurately, Cobra spent all his energy dodging their attacks. Even when he tried to command his giant purple snake to strike, Ultear and the others forcefully beat it back. If they had increased the intensity and density of their attacks, Cobra would likely have been defeated already.
However, there were still two Oración Seis members on the sidelines who hadn't made a move yet (Brain and Midnight). They needed to conserve enough magic power and stamina to deal with them. With Christina destroyed, they could only rely on their current numbers to defeat the enemy. As such, besieging Cobra together and slowly wearing him down was the best tactical choice, as it wouldn't consume too much of their magic or stamina.
Thus, by tacit agreement, the three women had held back their true strength, fighting Cobra until Brain intervened, at which point they retreated.
"Jura, what's the situation on your side?" Erza asked, turning to Jura after answering Lucy.
"The opponent's strength is not weak. I won't be able to take him down anytime soon," Jura replied with a grave expression.
The Fairy Tail members looked over at the area where the Lamia Scale trio had been fighting Hoteye. The terrain there had undergone a drastic transformation. Earth and mud jutted from the ground in various bizarre shapes, mostly taking the form of towering stone pillars and petrified tidal waves.
In the previous skirmish, Yuka and Sherry had basically been unable to help. Both Jura and Hoteye used magic that manipulated the earth on a massive scale. Yuka's magic couldn't handle such large-scale attacks for the time being, and any offensive moves he tried were blocked by the giant mud waves Hoteye kicked up. The dolls that Sherry created by manipulating earth, rocks, and trees were similarly buried instantly by the surging waves of mud.
Only Jura, relying on his enormous magic power and the opposing, hardening nature of his magic, was able to wrestle for control over the earth, engaging in a fierce, deadlocked battle with Hoteye.
Up until Brain intervened, the two of them were completely evenly matched.
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