Bart stood on a small patch of water beneath his feet, drifting backward as he looked at the two figures inside the water sphere, their bodies already struggling for air as the seawater drowned them. A cold laugh slipped from his lips.
"Hehe, idiots. The moment you stepped onto my magic, you were already in the palm of my hand."
The act of laughing tugged at the burns around the corners of his mouth, making his voice catch. All his smugness instantly turned into raw anger.
"Damn it, to think you actually hurt me this badly. Just wait... I will savor that desperate, terrified look on your face when you suffocate."
Bart's confidence in his own magic was absolute.
That water sphere did more than just cut off air. It carried pressure like the deep sea itself.
A weak-bodied woman like Karen would have her organs crushed within half a minute and die in agony.
After silently reveling in this for a couple of seconds, Bart forced himself to calm down and shouted behind him.
"Wright, stop playing dead and get that girl back here, now. A Celestial Spirit summoned by a mere brat will not last long. Once her magic runs out, that Spirit will be forced back to the Spirit World."
Wright, lying on the water platform, had taken a serious hit from Aquarius and was still bleeding from his nose and mouth.
But at his brother's words, he did not dare hesitate. He wiped the blood from his lips and struggled upright.
"I... I got it, big brother."
This time he did not dare underestimate anyone. While he took full control of the water platform beneath him, looping around Aquarius to chase after Lucy, several magic circles flared to life around him. He began firing off various low cost spells from a distance, constantly wearing down Aquarius's magic power.
Seeing Wright carrying out the plan in an orderly way, Bart let out a quiet breath of relief and turned his gaze upward, eyes sharpening as he looked at the two brats who had been watching from the sky this whole time.
Then, suddenly, he put his gentle smile back on, spread his hands, and said in an innocent tone:
"Little brother Kabe, you saw it just now. That woman attacked me first. I only struck back because I had no choice. Someone who harms her companions in the middle of a mission deserves this. You can understand my way of handling her, right?"
In midair, pressed close against Kabe's chest, Mirajane was already completely lost.
That woman she had found so annoying from the very beginning had actually turned on their enemies at the critical moment. Mirajane had just started to change her opinion of her, if only a little.
As for Kabe, he had been enjoying the show the whole time.
Hearing Bart's explanation, he even had the mood to nod and join in.
"Yeah, no problem. You did the right thing, big brother."
Inside the water sphere, Karen's eyes had already rolled up in the back of her head. If she could have heard that, she would definitely have clawed her way out just to curse Kabe out before dying.
But Bart was not so easily reassured. He continued to test the waters.
"In that case, why not come down here and help me deal with that troublesome mermaid first?"
"I will pass on that. However, my partner would be delighted to lend you a hand."
Mirajane blinked.
"Eh... me?"
Before she could figure out what he meant, she suddenly felt the arm around her waist loosen. The support under her vanished, and she plummeted straight down.
"Go, Mira. Use Crazy Claw to tear that water sphere apart."
"Ahhh! Kabe, you bastard!"
Her panicked scream was cut off by a crisp splash as she hit the sea.
The scene froze for a moment.
Kabe rubbed his head in embarrassment.
"Whoops. Still cannot sprout wings yet, huh? Miscalculated."
Seeing Mirajane float to the surface on her back, eyes spinning in circles, he gave an awkward smile, silently apologized in his heart, and decided to handle things himself.
He raised a hand toward the water sphere and spoke in a low voice.
Without any warning, the sphere exploded with a loud bang.
Karen and Leo dropped straight out of the air and plunged into the ocean.
Bart stared, stunned, watching his carefully crafted spell get shattered so effortlessly. For a moment, rage and fear tangled together in his chest.
"You little brat... how dare you!"
On the bow of the ship, Babitt watched the tide turn in an instant and could not help grabbing the railing as he shouted anxiously.
"Bart, what are you doing? Hurry and get rid of that brat and those other two troublemakers!"
"Shut up, you idiot. You are not in a position to order me around."
Face dark as storm clouds, Bart snapped back at him. Babitt trembled with fury, finger shaking as he pointed at him.
Listening to the two of them drop all pretense like this, Kabe finally got the last piece of confirmation he needed.
"So it really was premeditated between the two of you. Although I still do not get one thing. With skills like yours, you could have done this yourselves. Why bother issuing a job request and recruiting mages from legal guilds like us?"
He shook his head before Bart could answer.
"Forget it. Once we have you tied up, everything will come out anyway."
He lowered his head and glanced down at Karen, who had already been pulled from the water by Leo, and at Mirajane, who was finally recovering from her dizziness.
Once he was sure they were safe, he turned away and fixed his eyes on Bart, who was glowering beside Aquarius.
Kabe stirred the ki inside his body and shot forward like a missile, streaking straight toward the shore.
Bart flung out a hand, firing a high pressure jet of water in a panic, trying to stop him, but the blast did not even graze the hem of Kabe's clothes.
Shocked and furious, he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Watch out, Wright. The enemy is coming your way!"
Wright, completely focused on draining Aquarius's magic, did not even have time to react to the shout before a brutal impact slammed into his back.
Kabe stepped on him as if he were a stepping stone, stomping him straight out of the air.
The two of them crashed heavily into the sand, kicking up clouds of grit.
"That is one."
His light, casual voice floated out of the dust.
He ground his heel into Wright's back, pressing down until the man coughed up a mouthful of blood and finally lost consciousness. Only then did Kabe kick him aside like a broken toy.
Aquarius, whose magic was almost completely exhausted, eyed the boy warily. He looked to be about the same age as Lucy, yet his strength had just crushed Wright like nothing.
"Brat, who are you?"
Kabe turned to face the blue haired, mermaid shaped Spirit.
His gaze was instantly locked onto the generous curve of her chest.
"Tsk. What a terrifying amount of evil."
"You little punk, where do you think you are staring?"
A vein bulged on Aquarius's forehead. She clenched her fist with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
Only then did Kabe reluctantly tear his eyes away. He cleared his throat and pointed his thumb back at the merchant ship.
"Ma'am, I am an undercover mage planted inside that criminal group. I will have a few questions for you later, so please do not run off. Wait here while I finish dealing with the rest of them."
"Undercover?"
Aquarius tilted her head, puzzled.
But a moment later she shook it and turned her gaze back toward Bart out on the water, her expression hardening again.
"Whatever. As long as you are not an enemy, that is enough for me."