Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Hargeon.

August 4, x791.

"He defeated Jackal so easily." Franmalth said while staring at Alfonzo, who just returned Riot's tonfa to its original form. "Jackal said that the only reason he lost last time he ran into this man was because he was caught off guard by the other woman who was with him."

"I don't even know why you took that at face value." Tempester replied coldly. "Do you really think Jackal would admit to his own incompetence?"

"I suppose that makes sense." Franmalth said, his usual cheerful grin stretching across his face. "I guess that means Jackal was just a fool. Jumping into a fight like that with no chance of winning is just like him."

While Tempester and Franmalth were discussing what just happened, Kyôka was thinking something completely different.

'It seems we've underestimated our opponents this time.' Kyôka thought to herself. 'I had spies present during Jackal's fight with Alfonzo Marcus and Elicia Taylor. And it was just as he said. Although they defeated him without much issue, neither of them would have been able to defeat him with one spell. But now, things are different. This man has grown so much. But how? Humans don't usually gain so much strength after they finish growing.'

After having that thought, Kyôka's eyes landed on the tonfa in Alfonzo's hand.

'Could that have something to do with it?' Kyôka asked herself. 'There's another one on his back, too. And what about her? We don't have much information on that green-haired woman. Other than the fact that she uses [Command T], she's basically an unknown. It looks like we will more than likely fail to kill either of them tonight. I'll report this to Lord Mard Geer when we return. He's probably the only one who can contest with this man.'

As her thoughts continued, Kyôka turned her attention to Brandish. And the amount of magic power she could feel flowing through her gave Kyôka pause, as well. Deciding that a new plan was in order, she resigned herself to the loss that would most definitely come at the end of this battle. Luckily, with the facilities on the Cube, she would not truly die when she was inevitably defeated, meaning she could report to Mard Geer and plan for another attack.

Unfortunately for Kyôka, she had no way of knowing that jackal's soul had been marked when Alfonzo defeated him. Meaning, before she could even start coming up with countermeasures to Alfonzo's new level of strength, the Cube would be receiving a group of visitors intent on ridding Earth Land of their presence forever.

"Well, that was fun." Alfonzo said as he turned to face the three Etherious once again with a smile. "So, who's next?"

Hearing that question and seeing the smile on Alfonzo's face, Kyôka, Tempester, and Franmalth exchanged glances, having a conversation with their eyes for a moment. Then, with wrathful expressions on their faces, they simultaneously looked back at Alfonzo and Brandish.

"Looks like their gonna come at us together." Alfonzo said as he glanced over his shoulder at Brandish.

"Yeah." Brandish said boredly while trimming her nails with Hecatoncheires.

Then, before the two wizards could exchange anymore words, the three Etherious burst into action.

"[Strength Enhancement], [Speed Enhancement]." Kyôka said, using her Curse to amplify the parameters mentioned as she placed a hand on both Franmalth's and Tempester's backs. She then named another curse after removing her hands from her companions, [Enhancng herself, as well. "[Per-Second Enhance]."

Then, Franmalth threw a punch from a distance. Yet, instead of sending out some kind of energy or projectile magic, his arm stretched, covering the distance between himself and Alfonzo in the blink of an eye.

*Smack!*

To his surprise, however, Alfonzo casually raised his left hand. And without even looking in Franmalth's direction, caught the Etherious' hand with ease.

"That was rude." Alfonzo said casually, still not looking at Franmalth. "Can't you see we were talking?"

At the same time, Tempester flash past Alfonzo, arriving in front of Brandish with his left hand extended.

"[Inferno]." Tempester said coldly as his palm began to ignite with flames at its center.

"[Command T: Reduction]. Brandish said in that same bored tone as she held the hand not holding Hecatoncheires towards the quickly intensifying flames.

To Tempester's complete and utter shock, the flames that were growing in front of his outstretched palm began to compress… No, shrink in front of Brandish's hand. At the same time, they did not surge forward as he was expecting.

Meanwhile, with Alfonzo and Brandish distracted, Kyôka flashed to the other side of Brandish. When she did, her hands were stretched out towards the green-haired wizard's neck.

"I'd rather you didn't touch me." Brandish said in her usual tone as she flung her outstretched hand back towards Kyôka. "[Command T: Expansion]."

"Ahh~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"

AS Brandish's arm swung, the ember of fire that was once Tempester's [Inferno], followed it. Then, as the ember faced Kyôka, it expanded violently, engulfing the female Etherious in searing hot flames before her hands could come in contact with Brandish.

As a result, the sky over Hargeon was lit up with the red and orange glow of an inferno while Kyôka's pain-filled screams echoed over the entire town, startling the people both inside and outside of the barrier Alfonzo set up over the battlefield.

"*Whistle* Not bad, Brandish.' Alfonzo said with a smile while batting Franmalth's punches to the side with ease. "I hope you didn't kill her, though. I was kinda hoping to bring her back for Mira."

"Oh…" Brandish said, completely uncaring of Kyôka's fate. "Well, we'll find out when she stops burning."

A moment later, Brandish wrinkled her nose at the smell of burning flesh.

*Swish!*

*Splatter!*

"But based on that smell, it's not looking good for her." Brandish added as she swung Hecatoncheires at Tempester's other hand, which was reaching out to touch her abdomen. "She then continued as she watched the demon's hand go spinning through the air while leaking a bloody trail. "Didn't I just say that I'd rather you all didn't touch me?"

"You damned human." Tempester growled. Then, without even cradling his amputated arm, he raised his left arm as if he was about to throw something while naming his next curse. "[Thunderbolt]."

In the next instant, Brandish was engulfed in a spherical barrier of static. At the same time, dark clouds quickly gathered overhead.

*Boom!*

"Ahh~~~~~~~~~~!"

A moment later, a massive bolt of lightning fell from the clouds. However, it never reached Brandish, who was surrounded by static with an opposite pole from the lightning. Instead, it was drawn to a tall metal spike that shot up from the surface of the barrier, through Kyôka's abdomen, and high above the top of the barrier.

Unfortunately for Kyôka, however, as the lightning traveled down the improvised lightning rod and down to the ground through the barrier, it fried her even worse along the way, another scream tearing from her throat and echoing over the town of Hargeon.

"Oops…" Alfonzo muttered as he closed the distance with Franmalth while weaving between his stretchy punches. "I guess that was too much for her. Oh well, since it doesn't seem like you folks stay dead for long, I'm sure I'll get another opportunity to find a gift for Mira."

Although Franmalth was obviously furious at the words coming out of Alfonzo's mouth and the fact that he had yet to be able to harm the cocky wizard in front of him, the cheerful grin never left Franmalth's face. And to be honest, that made him seem even more eerie than if he had been scowling or shouting in rage.

Even so, that did not seem to bother Alfonzo all that much. Instead, he drew Bedlam from the strap on his back and held his arms out to either side.

"[Metal Magic: Circular Cutter]." Alfonzo chanted as a pair of spinning saws manifested at the tips of his tonfa. An instant later, Alfonzo's arms began to spark with violet electricity as he made another chant. "[Electromagnetism Magic: Supersonic Dismemberment]."

*Boom!*

In the next instant, the sound barrier was broken several times over as the two circular saws, sparking with violet lightning, left trails of superheated air in their wake as they flew off into the distance. At the same time, Franmalth did not even seem to register the fact that he had just lost both arms until he saw them lying on the top of the metal barrier, still stretched out.

Though, the way Franmalth's body was still partially turning as if he were still throwing punches without any arms was quite comical in Alfonzo's opinion.

"Ahh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"

Yet, when Franmalth did register is missing arms, just like Kyôka, a pain-filled scream tore out of his mouth as his single eye turned bloodshot and he looked at Alfonzo with rage.

"Oh, good." Alfonzo said casually as he created a small metallic cube in his left hand before tossing it over his shoulder. "That creepy grin is finally gone. Honestly, you looked more like some kind of creepy uncle than a powerful demon while grinning like that."

"This isn't over, human." Franmalth hissed with venom. "We will be back. And we will have our revenge. And we'll relish the expression on your face when you see that everything you held dear has already been destroyed."

"So, you sent someone to Magnolia, too, huh?" Alfonzo asked, seeming to not care. "Well then, I guess there will be more demons dying tonight. Especially if they somehow managed to disturb her…"

That actually made Franmalth pause for a moment. He had no idea who the "her" Alfonzo was referring to could be. Especially since it was confirmed on several occasions that no one in Fairy Tail was stronger than Alfonzo.

"Oh well, whatever." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "We'll see you on that floating island of yours in a few days. So, I'll send you off now. [Electromagnetism Magic: Railgun]."

"What?" Franmalth exclaimed loudly.

*Boom!*

Yet, before Franmalth could get out any other words, the sound barrier was once again broken several times over as a small, conical metal piece was sent flying through his eye, finishing him off in an instant.

"Alright, we're all done here." Alfonzo said as he turned around to look at Brandish, who was holding the metal cube he created a moment ago.

"Yeah." Brandish replied with a nod. "And it looks like we'll have a gift to take home for Mira, after all.'

"I still can't believe he was so shook by seeing his lightning bolt get redirected and used to kill his teammate that he completely froze." Alfonzo said while looking at the box in Brandish's hand. "Either way, it seemed like he could control natural disasters or some shit. So, I bet Mira would love to make him into a [Take Over]."

As Alfonzo said, when he created the lightning rod that resulted in Kyôka's defeat, Tempester was completely surprised. So surprised, in fact, that he did not react to Brandish shrinking him with [Command T] until it was too late. And by the time he realized what was going on, he was already trapped in the metallic cube Alfonzo made. And the anti-magic sigils engraved on the inside of the box would keep him from being able to break out, as well.

"Probably." Brandish replied nonchalantly as she tossed the box to Alfonzo. "Anyway, we've still got a quest to complete. So, let's go back inside."

"Sure." Alfonzo replied with a shrug as he pulled Brandish over to his side, created a metal plate under their feet, and dispelled the barrier.

The two then floated back to the ground, reassured the citizens and knights that the threat was dealt with, and went back inside 8-Island to finish their work for the evening.

"*sigh* I should have waited until we got downstairs to take off my uniform." Alfonzo grumbled as he and Brandish headed up the stairs to Princess Hisui's private room. "Now, I have to go back up there to get it before I go back downstairs to the kitchen."

"Yeah, but I bet those noble ladies will leave a pretty good tip." Brandish said, a slight teasing smile curling her lips. "I mean, did you see the way they were looking at your muscles? I bet some of them will have a hard time sleeping tonight."

"And you would know, huh?" Alfonzo asked, firing back immediately. "Because everyone knows just how much you use your sleep aid."

As he spoke his last sentence, Alfonzo pointed at Brandish's right hand, causing her to blush immediately as she tried to hide her hand behind her back.

With Alfonzo laughing at Brandish's embarrassment, the two eventually reached the private room. However, they were surprised to hear a commotion going on inside of the room before they opened the door.

Exchanging confused glances with Brandish, Alfonzo eventually opened the door. And what they saw left both of them dumbfounded.

"No! Let me go!" Darkness shouted as she struggled against the three other knights in the room. "I have to help them. I'm a knight, that's my duty. *Pant* *Pant* And if things were to get dangerous, they could use my body as a shield. *Pant* *Pant* Things might even get too dangerous for them to handle, and they might have to escape. Unfortunately, that would problably end with me being sacrifice to save my comrades. *Pant* *Pant* And the torture I would have to endure… *Pant* *Pant*"

"That's right, my best friend." Virgo, who had summoned herself at some point, cheered for Darkness. "I'm sure the punishments you would receive if you were captured would be incredible."

Meanwhile, Hisui, Katarina, and the other noble ladies were looking on with confused and disgusted expressions, which were driving Darkness even crazier.

Then, there was Lucy, who was sitting in the corner of the room with despair written all over her face.

"Why does stuff like this always happen to me?" Lucy asked in a forlorn tone.