Earth Land, Ishgar, Bosco, Unnamed Mountain Range.

August 17, x791.

Standing in an area free of debris from the collapsed Cube, Laxus, Fried, Alzack, Gray, Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, and Gajeel were all looking towards the sky in the northern direction with apprehensive expressions on their faces.

"Looks like Alfonzo's done." Mirajane said solemnly. "Just in time, too."

"Indeed." Erza replied with a nod with Astraia drawn and held tightly in her right hand. "I fear fighting Acnologia without him would be nothing more than an exercise in futility."

"Hey, why not have some confidence in your training?" Laxus said with feigned disdain in order to hide his own apprehension. "We've all gotten a lot stronger than we were back then. We're all definitely stronger than Alfonzo was seven years ago. And he was able to hurt that big bastard. So, why can't we?"

"Laxus is right." Fried replied with a nod of his own as he tightened his grip on Thoth.

"Damn right!" Natsu shouted with a plume of fire shooting from his mouth. "This time, I'm gonna make that guy pay! Aw man! I'm all fired up!"

"Keep it down you fiery mouth breather!" Gray said in an annoyed tone.

"Shut up, Salamander!" Gajeel shouted while covering his ears.

"What was that?" Natsu asked indignantly. "You two trying to pick a fight?"

"So, um... I wasn't there last time." Alzack said while gripping his pistols as he turned towards Mirajane. "Was that Acnologia really that strong?"

"Undoubtedly." Mirajane replied. "Even with Master Makarov, Gildarts, Alfonzo and Elicia working together, we could do little more than just crack his scales. And that was mostly because of Alfonzo's spell, [Linear Cannon]. As for everything else, the only thing that did any damage was Alfonzo and Elicia's [Unison Raid]."

Alzack sucked in a sharp breath when he heard that. Having trained with Alfonzo and Elicia since he was a child, he could not imagine someone that could take all their attacks while barely getting injured at all.

"This is gonna suck, isn't it?" Alzack muttered while smiling wryly. "*Sigh* I guess I'll try out that experimental ammo Alfonzo came up with this time."

"Experimental ammo?" Erza asked with a curious glint in her eyes.

"Yeah, the type of rounds that you don't use against other wizards." Alzack said while nodding once again as he replaced the magazines strapped to his thighs with bright red, green, and blue ones. "Like plasma rounds, rounds filled with neurotoxins, and even ones that use gamma radiation. Those last ones are real last resort types, though. I wouldn't even use them in a last resort if Alfonzo wasn't around to manage the fallout."

While everyone had been present for one of Alfonzo's lectures on the Electromagnetic spectrum in the past, none of them truly followed. However, most of them, with Natsu being the exception, understood just how dangerous gamma radiation was to the environment. They also had some idea of how dangerous being exposed to that kind of radiation could be. So, they really hoped it would not come to a point where Alzack had to use those rounds.

"You don't have to worry about Alzack using those rounds." Alfonzo said, his voice floating down from above. "If it gets to that point, I'll be the one doing it. But it will be on a much bigger scale. So, if you hear me shouting anything like [Eraser Cannon] or [Gamma Ray Stream], I'd suggest you start running towards the blackbird so you can get into the barrier before shit goes to hell."

Looking up upon hearing Alfonzo's voice, everyone was greeted to the sight of Alfonzo, Riot and Bedlam still coating his arms, floating in the air with his arms stretched out in front of him.

A moment later, an enormous, conical shell materialized in front of his outstretched hands. Then, only an instant later, Alfonzo's entire body was cloaked in arcs of crackling, violet electricity that extended forward creating an electromagnetic barrel that surrounded the giant metal shell.

"You guys should brace yourself." Alfonzo said without looking down. "That big mother fucker just entered my [MPD] range. And I'm gonna put as much into this one shot as I can without losing my aim. So, the shockwave's probably gonna be a real bitch."

Hearing that, everyone's expressions tightened. Then, everyone with a weapon long enough to do so, stabbed them into the ground. Though, Erza was an exception.

"[Requip: Adamantine Armor]." Erza chanted as she switched armor in a flash of magic power light.

As soon as Erza's transformation was complete, now holding a pair of large shields, she stepped forward and connected the two shields, creating an additional magic barrier. And once the barrier was set up, those without weapons, Mirajane and Natsu, braced themselves behind Erza.

"[Electromagnetism Magic: Linear Cannon]." Alfonzo chanted as he flared his magic power to the limit his partial release could provide.

At the same time, the arcs of electricity crackling across Alfonzo's body flared wildly, shooting up high into the sky and illuminating the surroundings for nearly two miles while the light could be seen for many miles in all directions.

Naturally, that also included the direction from which Acnologia was approaching. And when the large, black dragon with white, feathered wings saw that light, he snorted disdainfully. The fact that someone was challenging his power causing him to flap his wings to gain speed so that he could destroy the arrogant fool.

*Shatter~~~~~!*

A moment later, Acnologia's eyes widened. However, before he could even open them all the way, the dragon instinctively tilted his head to the side before pain exploded through the base of his neck and right shoulder while the scales covering those areas shattered and splintered. On top of that, because of the force, Acnologia's entire body was sent flying backwards.

*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*

Then, just as Acnologia regain his balance in the air, the sound of the sound barrier being torn apart dozens of times over thundered through the sky.

"Roar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!" Acnologia roared in return, angered by both the pain he hadn o experienced for so long and the audacity of the fool who attacked him.

At the same time, back where the Fairy Tail wizards were gathered, Alfonzo floated down to the ground, landing among the rest of his guild mates, looking visibly drained from such a powerful spell.

"Are you okay, Alfonzo?" Mirajane asked as she approached to support him.

"I'm good." Alfonzo replied with a grin. "Just used up too much magic power at once. My reserves are still high, though."

"Well, that must have done some damage, at least." Laxus said with a smirk as he slung Elexion over his shoulder. "Hell, we can hear that big son of a bitch roaring from here."

"Yeah, but it sounds like he's really pissed off, too." Gray added.

Hearing that, Alfonzo's grin spread into a full-blown smile.

"Well, when he starts feeling the after effects of that spell, he's gonna be really..." Alfonzo began to say.

*Roar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*

"Oh, there it is." Alfonzo said giddily. "Yeah, he's really pissed off, now."

"Just what did you do, Alfonzo?" Alzack asked in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Well, let's see." Alfonzo said while cupping his chin with is right hand. "First, the shell I used was created from Adamantite. So, it was hard as all hell. But that's not all. Nearly the whole front half was hollow. So, it most likely shattered on impact, sending shards of adamantite flying in all directions."

"Damn... That sounds so devious." Gray muttered while shivering at the mental image of such a shell hitting him.

"It sounds delicious, too." Gajeel added while almost drooling.

"That's not all there was to it, though. Was it?" Erza asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course not." Alfonzo replied, his smile looking just as devious as Gray thought the shell was. "That hollow part was filled with Techno Organic Metal."

This time, it was not just Gray who shivered. Because everyone had tried Alfonzo's strengthening method using Techno Organic Metal at least once and knew just how painful it was to have your body start to take on metallic properties, they all shivered.

'Now that I think about it, why did that shit hurt Gajeel so much?' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'I mean, he's supposed to be immune to damage from metal, right?'

["It probably didn't hurt that moron at all."] Bedlam interjected. ["The only reason he probably looked like he was in so much pain was because he would have rather eaten the metal instead of having it injected into him."]

'Ah! That makes sense.' Alfonzo replied while mentally nodding his head.

"Anyway, you guys should get ready for battle." Alfonzo said, ending the conversation right there. "Even if he's hurt, he's still a heavy hitter. And if we're not careful, everything's over for us."

"But what if he uses a breath attack like he did on Tenrou?" Alzack asked. "Are you gonna use [Fairy Sphere] again?"

"Nah... Besides, I doubt that would work a second time." Alfonzo replied. "First of all, I didn't set up the battlefield beforehand like I did on Tenrou. And second, he might not recognize our magic power signatures right now. But when Acnologia sees us, he definitely will. And unless we can drive him off, there's no way that mother fucker will make the same mistake twice..."

Alfonzo then dragged his gaze across the three Dragon Slayers, Laxus, Natsu, and Gajeel, before continuing.

"Not with three Dragon Slayers that he thought he killed last time still walking around." Alfonzo said in a solemn tone.

Understanding just how serious the situation was, everyone nodded their heads as they turned back towards the direction where Acnologia was approaching from. Then, they all flared their magic power in preparation for the battle.

"[Bow Down to the King of Lightning, Elexion]."

"[Overwrite, Thoth]."

"[Make it Stylish, Dante]."

"[Freeze All Creation, Ymir]."

"[Deliver Justice as Swiftly as the Wind, Astraia]."

"[Show the World the Power of Destruction, Bael]."

"[Burn Everything Before You, Igneel]." {A/N: Thanks, Charles_X_Flare.}

"[Crush Them with Claws and Fangs of Iron, Metalicana]."

*Voom~~~~~~~~!*

With eight release commands chanted simultaneously, the magic power pressure in the area skyrocketed to a point where the air felt heavy. On top of that, any loose stones in the area began to float without any external interference before they were ground to dust by the magic power pressure.

"Well damn... This is kinda sick." Alfonzo said with a smile as he looked at his guild mates. "When we get back, you all should fight me while I'm using my [Bankai]. Should be some pretty good training."

While Natsu looked as if he was all for it, the other seven just rolled their eyes before focusing on the northern horizon.

"Well, we can talk about that later." Alfonzo said with a smile. "For now, we've got a dragon inbound."

Then, as if on cue, the clouds in the sky parted as Acnologia descended through them. Yet, as expected, he was not in pristine condition. It was clear to everyone present that Alfonzo's [Linear Cannon] did some real damage to the enormous dragon. Even so, that amount of damage did not look like it was enough to turn the tide in their favor.

"By the way, Alfonzo." Laxus said while spinning one of his halberds by the connecting chain. "Why didn't you use [Bankai] before you shot that attack at him."

"Because if he had felt that much power, he would have been on guard." Alfonzo replied while looking up at Acnologia, who's eyes made it clear that he was thoroughly pissed off. "And that would have made sneak attacking him impossible."

"[Eternal Flare]." Acnologia chanted in a deep, reverberating voice that was filled with wrath and malice.

With that, dozens, then hundreds of stars formed from [Arcane Dragon Slayer Magic] formed around Acnologia's outstretched wings before falling towards the group. Then, without even waiting to see if the [Eternal Flare] did the job, he opened his snout and began forming an orb of [Dragon Slayer Magic] between his jaws.

"Shit! He's not fucking around this time." Alfonzo groaned. "You all take care of the falling stars. I'll handle the breath attack. [Bankai, Upheaval]"

A moment later, Alfonzo's aura spiked noticeably. The surge in magic power was so high in fact, that even Acnologia raised an eyebrow in surprise. Though, it was not enough to make him stop his attack. Though, he did watch in interest as Alfonzo was covered in liquid metal and his height increased.

Meanwhile, the others sprung into actions, using everything at their disposal to destroy all the falling stars. Unfortunately, because of Acnologia's power, they found their own magic power depleting rapidly with every falling star they destroyed. But in the end, all the falling stars were destroyed, though the eight Fairy Tail wizards were nearly drained completely of their magic power.

"Damn... That bastard really was just playing with us last time." Laxus said while gritting his teeth in frustration.

"Alfonzo, are you sure you can handle this?" Mirajane asked with worry, not for herself but for Bianca, who, if things went wrong, she would never get to see again.

"Please don't talk to Us right now.' Alfonzo replied, his voice strained from effort.

While the others were dealing with the [Eternal Flare], Alfonzo did not move from his spot. Like he said, he had been preparing to defend against Acnologia's breath attack. And the way he chose to do so was to create as many Vibranium/adamantite alloy barriers as he could that floated between him and Acnologia. On top of that, each one was etched with the [Reflection] sigils that were used in the barrier surrounding his mansion. But since Acnologia was so powerful, the amount of magic power he pumped into the barriers was so immense that even he was starting to run low on magic power, despite using his [Bankai].

"[Giga Flare]." Acnologia chanted with quiet menace, interrupting the conversation below.

In the next instant, Acnologia released his [Roar Spell].

*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*