Ankh's pursuit had carried him hundreds of miles across the sea, and he finally caught Mard Geer just before the Underworld King could slip back into the Alvarez Empire.
It hadn't exactly been difficult.
Mard Geer might have carried the title of Spriggan 12, but his raw combat ability had never truly measured up to the stronger members.
Aside from the troublesome versatility of his Demon Seed Curse, he was considerably weaker in a direct fight than even God Serena.
After returning to Fairy Tail, Ankh had heard something interesting from Laxus.
According to intelligence gathered by secret Magic Council agents operating on the Western Continent, the final seat among the Spriggan 12 had originally been intended for God Serena, who had already defected from Ishgar.
That plan fell apart during the Tartaros conflict, when Laxus erupted with far greater strength than expected and defeated Serena by himself.
Strangely, however, when the Magic Council later searched the battlefield, they never actually found God Serena's body.
Apparently Laxus might not have finished him off completely.
Ankh could only sigh at the thought.
'That guy really needs to learn to confirm his kills…'
After thoroughly examining the remains of the battlefield and making absolutely certain that Mard Geer and his followers no longer possessed so much as a surviving soul, Ankh finally turned back toward Altair.
Meanwhile, the battle inside Stella's capital had reached a stalemate.
Brandish wasn't particularly shaken by Mard Geer's betrayal.
She had never trusted him in the first place, and the main reason she remained attached to the Western Continent was because several people she cared about still lived there.
After everything that had happened today, though, her chances of casually returning home were probably close to nonexistent.
Animus, now completely transformed into a demonic dragon, rampaged through the underground palace with no concern for his surroundings.
As the enormous chamber began collapsing under his attacks, Brandish immediately enlarged herself, grabbed Lucy, and leaped toward the surface.
A giant woman and a giant dragon erupted from beneath the ground.
Altair, already drowning in chaos, somehow became even worse.
Brandish was forced to resist the demonic corruption spreading through her body while simultaneously exchanging blows with Animus, and the strain quickly began wearing her down.
Under normal circumstances, the Nation Destroyer would have been perfectly capable of smacking the dragon around hard enough to remind him exactly why she held that title.
In her current condition, however, things were considerably harder.
Black demonic scales had already spread across nearly half her body.
"Bran, we should pull back!" Lucy shouted anxiously. "You're getting worse!"
Brandish rapidly shrank herself to evade Animus's descending claw before landing beside Lucy.
"The core of this array has to be somewhere inside the royal palace. Once we destroy that thing in the sky, I'll be able to deal with this overgrown lizard properly."
"But…"
Lucy looked toward the palace in the distance.
Demonized guards were slaughtering one another throughout the grounds, while large formations of heavily armed Quartum soldiers continued pouring into the streets.
Getting inside would be easier said than done.
"Lucy!"
A familiar voice suddenly cut through the battlefield.
Crimson-gold dragon fire streaked across the sky as Natsu came hurtling toward them in Fire Dragon King Mode, wings spread behind him and scales blazing across his body.
Lucy's face immediately brightened.
Brandish glanced at her expression, then casually asked,
"Ooh. Your boyfriend?"
Her tone had the exact energy of an old childhood friend meeting someone's crush for the first time.
"Wha—no! He's not!"
Lucy's face instantly turned red.
Brandish stared at her with her usual deadpan expression.
"Right. Someone as dense as you probably wouldn't even know."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Forget I said anything."
Natsu dropped beside Lucy and immediately stepped in front of her, shielding her with practiced ease. His face hardened as he glared like an angry guard dog at—
Brandish.
Brandish stared back, unimpressed.
Lucy hurriedly grabbed Natsu's arm.
"Wait! Bran isn't an enemy. We had a misunderstanding before, but it's cleared up now. She's my friend."
"Oh!"
Natsu's hostility disappeared instantly.
He broke into a huge grin and slapped Brandish enthusiastically on the shoulder.
"So you're one of us now! Great! Then I don't have to beat you up!"
Brandish silently studied him.
And kept studying him.
Eventually even Natsu began to feel uncomfortable under her stare.
Only then did Brandish turn toward Lucy and lazily remark,
"Overall? Pretty good. Your taste isn't bad."
Natsu scratched his head.
"What does that mean?"
Lucy's face turned even redder, but she couldn't think of anything to say.
Before the conversation could continue, a freezing mist rolled through the area.
Purple ice spread across the surrounding streets as Erza, Gray, Wendy, Happy, and Carla finally arrived.
"We've frozen everyone in the streets," Gray reported. "The only ones still moving are the people actually trying to hurt others."
The newcomers immediately noticed Brandish and reacted much like Natsu had, preparing for another confrontation until Lucy hurriedly explained what had happened.
Within moments, the group had reluctantly accepted the former enemy as an ally.
"Where's Bro?"
Erza scanned the battlefield but found no sign of Ankh, and tension immediately entered her voice.
Brandish studied Erza for a moment, clearly distracted by how strongly the red-haired woman resembled Irene.
"He went after Mard Geer."
While the others spoke, Natsu and Gray were already staring at Animus with growing excitement.
A creature that combined the power of a dragon and a demon?
That was an opponent neither of them got to fight very often.
"Move aside, flame-brain," Gray said. Half his body had already darkened into his demonic form as bitter cold spread around him. "My Devil Slayer Magic is a way better match for this thing than your Dragon Slayer Magic."
Natsu spread his draconic wings wider and snorted smoke from his nose.
"It's still a dragon! If we're talking about killing it, that makes this a Dragon Slayer's job!"
Gray glanced sideways at him through one eerie demonic eye.
Then he grinned.
"Wanna bet?"
Natsu raised one clawed hand, equally delighted.
"You're on!"
Gray immediately brought his hands together in the familiar stance of Ice-Make.
"Ice Brilliance!"
Black ice began spreading across the ground and climbing into his body.
This was another new technique Gray had developed: combining the black ice of the underworld he used through Ice-Make with the power of Ice Devil Slayer Magic.
The purple icy mist surrounding his transformed body gradually turned black.
Gray flipped one hand.
A beautifully crafted black ice blade appeared in his grip.
"Ice Devil: Zero Longsword!"
Pitch-black cold erupted from the blade.
Animus threw back his head and roared in pain as an enormous spike of ice suddenly burst outward from his hardened body, marking the path of Gray's nearly instantaneous slash.
Natsu refused to be outdone.
He pushed Fire Dragon King Mode to its highest output and began whipping both arms around at tremendous speed.
Pillars of flame erupted from the ground beneath him, blooming outward into the shape of a gigantic crimson flower.
"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"
Natsu had already developed stronger Dragon Slayer Secret Arts over the years, but when it came down to instinct, nothing felt more natural than the techniques he had been using since childhood.
A spiraling tornado of red dragon fire engulfed Animus.
Its destructive force was every bit as terrifying as Gray's lightning-fast slash.
Ice and fire erupted across the demonized dragon at almost the same time, and Animus—having finally returned to the world after four hundred years—immediately found himself suffering another brutal beating.
Wendy stared at the two older Dragon Slayers with open envy.
"They're terrifying…"
Her gaze lingered especially on Natsu, who was using Dragon King power as naturally as breathing.
Brandish narrowed her eyes toward the distant royal palace and pointed.
"Leave the dragon to those two."
She glanced down at the demonic scales spreading across her own body.
"The rest of us who've already been infected should stop getting in their way."
Her finger remained fixed on the palace.
"We're going to destroy the core of that magic array."