Chapter 382: Vengeance Fulfilled
Compared to Ur and Ultear, Gray was the weaker link. Brain figured that if he used the boy as a breakthrough point, his chances of turning the tide would be much higher.
"Dark Rondo!"
Brain didn't waste time talking. He aimed his staff and immediately launched an attack straight at Ultear and the others.
"Ice-Make: Shield!"
Gray was the first to react, instantly conjuring a massive shield of ice to cover their front.
"Ice-Make: Ape!"
A gigantic ice ape materialized behind the frozen shield. Grabbing the barrier with both of its massive hands, the ape charged directly at Brain.
Gray cast a confused glance at Ultear beside him.
"His attacks include armor-piercing magic. Be careful," Ultear warned Gray.
Gray nodded in understanding, instantly shifting his focus as he and Ultear engaged Brain together.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A relentless string of explosions echoed across the battlefield as the three mages traded dozens of blows in the blink of an eye.
During the chaotic exchange, Brain focused all of his offensive might on Ultear, choosing only to defend against Gray's strikes. But the moment the two ice mages let their guard down slightly, Brain suddenly shifted targets. He fired several blasts of Dark Capriccio squarely at Gray. The armor-piercing magic drilled straight through Gray's defenses and nearly impaled him.
Thankfully, Ultear reacted just in time, erecting a thick wall of ice that gave Gray the split-second he needed to dodge the fatal strike.
A look of visible disappointment flashed across Brain's face, while Ultear and Gray adopted an even more cautious stance.
Suddenly, Brain froze. He clamped a hand over his face.
"Cobra has fallen too..."
"Now's our chance!"
Ultear and Gray capitalized on his momentary distraction, launching a fierce, synchronized assault.
"Ice-Make: Rosen Krone!"
"Ice-Make: Ice Cannon!"
A thicket of frozen vines blooming with intricate ice roses erupted in front of Ultear, whipping violently toward Brain.
Beside her, Gray raised both hands and pulled his arms back as if drawing a heavy bow. A massive ice cannon materialized in his grip. With a brief charge, he fired a devastating torrent of highly pressurized ice and snow from the barrel.
When Brain finally looked up, he saw two overwhelming attacks hurtling right at him. Panicking, he raised his staff and hastily erected a deep green magical barrier to protect himself.
An instant later, Ultear and Gray's combined magic slammed into the shield.
BOOM!
A colossal explosion shattered the barrier in a single hit. The sheer force of the blast sent Brain flying backward until he violently crashed against the magical boundary wall sealing the area, before slumping heavily to the ground.
"Gwah!"
Brain cried out in pain, a trail of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Taking the brunt of two high-tier spells and slamming into the barrier had dealt him severe damage.
"Phew..."
Seeing Brain's pathetic state, Ultear let out a long breath. Her mood instantly brightened, and a radiant smile blossomed on her face.
"Damn you! You wretched scum deserve to die!"
Realizing just how badly he had been injured, Brain's face turned completely black with rage. He had spent the entire fight keeping an eye on Ur, waiting for her to strike, and hadn't taken the two actually fighting him seriously enough. Being wounded by them filled him with humiliating fury.
"Disappear, you maggots!"
He hoisted his staff into the air, drawing a terrifying amount of magical power into the skull-topped weapon. If they managed to survive this next strike, then he would worry about taking hostages.
Seeing Brain snap, Ultear and Gray immediately went on high alert. They gathered their own magical energy, preparing to intercept his ultimate attack.
"Dark Capriccio: Roar!"
A beam of dark magic several times larger and more condensed than before roared toward Ultear and Gray, tearing up the ground in its wake.
Just as the two prepared to defend themselves, a calm voice rang out beside them.
"Ice-Make: Chain Shield!"
Over a dozen thick, overlapping ice shields materialized in front of Ultear and Gray, slamming into the earth and absorbing Brain's devastating attack.
Crack!
The first ice shield didn't last long before shattering under the pressure.
"Mom?" Ultear looked at Ur in surprise.
"You two have been fighting for a while. It's my turn to get some hits in and claim my revenge," Ur explained casually, maintaining the stream of magic fueling the shields. "Besides, the others are almost done with their fights. We need to hurry up and finish ours."
Hearing this, Ultear and Gray glanced over at the other battlefields. Just as Ur said, the remaining generals of the Oración Seis were being completely suppressed by the Allied Forces. They were on their last legs. It was definitely time to wrap things up.
"Alright, Mom. You're up."
Since Ur wanted to personally exact her vengeance on Brain, Ultear naturally wouldn't stop her. She and Gray took a few steps back, allowing Ur to take the vanguard.
"Damn it!"
Seeing them act as if his defeat was a foregone conclusion infuriated Brain even further.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Several more of Ur's ice shields were pierced and shattered by Brain's magical beam. A sinister, victorious smile spread across Brain's face.
"It's useless! Dark Capriccio is an armor-piercing magic! Your defenses can never stop it!"
"Is that so?" Ur replied, smiling warmly. There wasn't an ounce of panic on her face.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
More shields shattered into glittering dust. Only a few layers remained between Brain's attack and Ur. Brain's smile grew even wider.
At that exact moment, Ur casually maintained the shields with her right hand while raising her left hand. Forming a sword gesture with her index and middle fingers, she pointed directly at Brain.
Instantly, a massive jagged glacier erupted from the ground directly beneath Brain. Before he could even register what was happening, the ice swallowed him whole, freezing him entirely solid.
With Brain completely immobilized and his magical flow severed, his roaring Dark Capriccio vanished into thin air.
"Did you really think my strength was exactly the same as it was ten years ago?" Ur asked, staring at the frozen Brain.
After a decade of relentless training, her power was on a completely different level. If she hadn't wanted to give her daughter a chance to vent her frustrations, she would have crushed Brain the moment the fight started.
"Let's deal the final blow together," Ur said, looking back at Ultear and Gray.
"Right!" Ultear and Gray answered in unison.
In perfect synchronization, all three of them stepped forward with their left foot, dropped into a half-crouch, and slammed their right fists into their open left palms—the signature stance of their Ice-Make lineage.
Inside the ice block, Brain was still conscious. Seeing the three of them preparing to strike, he frantically flared his magic, desperately trying to break out of his frozen prison. Unfortunately, he only managed to crack a tiny layer of the surrounding ice. Breaking completely free would take time—time he simply didn't have.
"Ice-Make: Ice Cannon!"
Gray pulled his arms back, manifesting his massive heavy-artillery cannon, and fired a devastating, highly pressurized blast of snow and ice directly at the frozen Brain.
"Ice-Make: Rosen Krone!"
Ur and Ultear cast the exact same spell in unison. A massive thicket of thorny ice vines blooming with frozen roses erupted in front of them, spiraling forward like a pair of beautiful, deadly drills.
BOOM!
The block of ice shattered instantly as the combined attacks of the master and her two disciples slammed squarely into Brain's body.
"Gwaaah!"
Brain spewed a massive mouthful of blood. The sheer kinetic force launched him backward, slamming him violently into the magical barrier once more.
"Blergh!"
Another spray of blood erupted from his mouth as his face turned deathly pale. He peeled off the barrier, hit the dirt with a heavy thud, twitched twice, and then passed out completely.
"We finally took down this bastard," Ultear said, a brilliant, unrestrained smile spreading across her face.
This monster who had deceived her mother and used her as a guinea pig all those years ago had finally been defeated by her and her mother's own hands. She felt incredibly refreshed. The emotional release even caused the magic power within her body to surge and refine itself.
"Yeah, it feels wonderful," Ur smiled.
Her face was glowing with relief, and an aura of profound peace radiated from her. In that moment of closure, Ur also felt her magical strength take another significant leap forward.
Gray stood off to the side, grinning from ear to ear. Seeing his master and his senior sister finally get their revenge naturally made him incredibly happy.
"Did some more of the markings on his face just disappear?" Ultear pointed at Brain's unconscious body on the ground.
"Yeah. Is it some kind of magic?" Ur followed Ultear's finger and nodded. She had observed Brain meticulously during the fight and memorized the intricate patterns on his face. There were definitely fewer tattoos now than there were a few minutes ago.
"You guys finished up over here too?"
Noah and Happy walked over. Floating in the air behind them were the magically sealed bodies of Racer, Cobra, and the giant purple snake. Reaching the group, Noah unceremoniously dropped the two mages and the snake onto the ground.
"Noah! I got my revenge!"
Seeing Noah arrive, Ultear sprinted over excitedly and threw herself into his arms. She buried her face into his chest, laughing joyously—but the laughter quickly dissolved into tears. She cried freely, the emotional weight of a decade finally lifting, her tears soaking the front of Noah's shirt.
Noah gently wrapped his arms around her and softly stroked her back. He didn't say a word, just holding her securely and letting her vent all of her pent-up emotions.
Seeing this, the others remained completely silent, standing respectfully to the side.
Gray looked around at the remaining battlefields. Ur watched Ultear's shaking shoulders, a pained expression crossing her face. She glared back at Brain's unconscious body, seriously contemplating walking over and kicking him a few more times. But knowing her own strength, hitting him again might actually kill him. That went against Fairy Tail's deep respect for life, as well as her own core beliefs, so she forced herself to let it go.
After a while, Ultear's sobs finally began to subside.
However, she didn't pull away, keeping her face buried in Noah's chest. Noah continued to gently rub her back. Since Ultear wasn't in a hurry to get up, he was more than happy to keep holding her. Embracing the soft, warm body of a beautiful woman was definitely comfortable.
"We won on our end!"
Erza, Sorano, and Lucy walked over to join the group, followed by Natsu, who was casually hauling an unconscious Midnight over his shoulder. Reaching the pile of defeated enemies, Natsu tossed Midnight onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Hearing the others arrive, Ultear realized she couldn't stay in Noah's arms any longer. She rubbed her face affectionately against his chest a couple of times to wipe away her tears, then stood up straight.
Erza and the others immediately noticed Ultear's red, puffy eyes, then glanced over at the defeated Brain. Knowing the tragic history between them, they tactfully didn't mention it.
With Ultear stepping back, Noah crouched down and began applying a magical seal to Midnight, grouping him neatly with Racer, Cobra, and the purple snake.
"Huh? Is that staff moving?" Natsu suddenly pointed into the distance.
Laying near Brain's unconscious body, the skull-topped magic staff was twitching slightly, trying to discreetly inch its way away from the Allied Forces.
"That thing looks pretty interesting. Go grab it for me," Noah said, looking up at Natsu.
"Looks fun! I'm on it!" Natsu cheered, his face lighting up with excitement.
"I want in on this too," Gray added, his curiosity instantly piqued.
"Let's go!"
Natsu and Gray both dove for the creeping staff at the exact same time.
Sensing imminent danger and realizing its cover was blown, the staff stopped playing dead and suddenly rocketed into the air. Natsu and Gray lunged right past it, grabbing nothing but air before slamming their heads together with a loud THUD.
"Bastard!"
"You wanna go?!"
Instantly forgetting about the staff, the two hotheads glared at each other, ready to start a full-blown brawl right then and there.
Meanwhile, Sorano's Strength Angel materialized behind the floating staff and snatched it right out of the air.
"What is this thing?" Sorano didn't touch it herself, letting the Strength Angel hold it out as she circled around, examining the bizarre object with intense curiosity.
"Damn it! Brain is completely useless! He couldn't even take down a single person!"
A shrill voice suddenly shrieked directly from the staff, making Sorano jump. The staff wriggled frantically, but realizing it couldn't escape the Strength Angel's iron grip, it eventually gave up and stopped moving.
"The walking stick is talking!" Happy screamed in a panic.
"You talk too, and you're a cat," Lucy pointed out deadpan.
"Aye, that's true," Happy instantly calmed down.
"That's the staff Brain was holding earlier," Gray said, abandoning his staring contest with Natsu to walk over and inspect it.
"Seriously, what is the deal with this thing?" Lucy asked, staring at it in total disbelief.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Natsu silently walked up to the staff and started aggressively poking and knocking on its skull with an expression of intense curiosity.
"W-Wait a minute! We don't even know what it is yet!" Lucy yelled, startled by Natsu's total lack of caution.
"Damn brat, get away from me!" the staff yelled angrily.
Natsu completely ignored it, continuing to poke and prod the skull.
"I am the Sixth Member of the Five Demon Generals! Show some respect, you pests!" the staff shouted furiously.
Natsu still didn't stop poking it.
"What? Shouldn't the Five Demon Generals only have five people?" Lucy asked, completely baffled.
"Aye, that is really weird," Happy nodded thoughtfully.
"Right? It literally says 'Five', so why is there a sixth person?" Lucy agreed.
"Say, are we just going to completely ignore the fact that the walking stick is talking?" Gray asked, his face twisted in annoyance as he looked between Lucy, Happy, and the staff.
"Sigh, there are just too many things to point out, it's hard to keep up," Happy sighed dramatically.
"Damn little girl, let me go right now!" The staff, realizing it was immobilized by Sorano's magic, directed its anger at her.
"No way. You're way too interesting. Noah needs to study you," Sorano refused flat-out. She directed the Strength Angel to carry the struggling staff over to Noah. "Here, the thing you wanted."
"You damn little girl—!"
The staff's curses were cut short as Noah raised his left hand and tapped it. Several intricate magic circles materialized around the staff. Instantly, the shrieking stopped, and the staff's frantic wiggling ceased. It reverted completely to the lifeless, inanimate object it had been pretending to be earlier.
~~~
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