Crashing through the villa's roof were five figures. Together with Angel, all six members of the dark guild Oración Seis were now present.
"How useless, Angel. You got found out," sneered the man with a large snake coiled around him.
"Shut up!" Angel snapped back, clearly irritated.
At the center, a dark-skinned man tapped his skeletal staff against the ground and said, "Enough. There's someone troublesome among them. Now's not the time for infighting. It seems the guild sent more than just a bunch of insects."
Hibiki quickly identified him for everyone. "That's Brain, the leader of Oración Seis and our primary target!"
Natsu immediately became fired up. Flames wrapped around his fists as he charged forward.
"I'll take the big guy's head for myself!"
The snake-wielding man intercepted him, his hand shrouded in a purple mist that blocked Natsu's punch.
"You think we'd just let you take down our boss right off the bat?"
"Damn it!" Natsu flipped and launched a Fire Dragon's Talon kick, but the man easily dodged in advance, and his snake nearly bit Natsu.
"I can hear them… all your thoughts," he said coldly.
This man was Cobra, a Second Generation Dragon Slayer like Laxus. He had a Dragon Lacrima of Poison embedded in his body, making him the Poison Dragon Slayer.
In addition to his Dragon Slayer Magic, Cobra possessed a unique ability—his hearing was so sensitive that he could pick up on footsteps, breathing, heartbeat, and muscle tension.
He could even read minds, allowing him to anticipate every move in combat.
That's how he had seen through Natsu's attack earlier and dodged before it came.
Just like Natsu, someone on the enemy's side had the same idea: to take out the opposing team's strongest. That someone was aiming for Charles.
Although the intel said Jura of Lamia Scale was the joint force's commander, the person who radiated the greatest threat to Oración Seis was Charles.
So Racer lunged directly at him.
With a mohawk, glasses, and chin guard, Racer wore a smirk as he sprinted toward Charles.
He considered himself the fastest man alive, confident that he'd take Charles down before he even had time to react.
But as he ran, he saw Charles turn his head toward him.
Startled, Racer backed off immediately, warily eyeing Charles.
"No way! Did my magic fail?"
Racer's speed didn't come from acceleration. His magic altered perception: he slowed his opponents' movement and reaction speed, giving the illusion of unmatched speed.
He had cast this spell on everyone present—but Charles still noticed his approach.
Charles shook his head. "Your magic is pretty interesting. It did work. But even slowed down, I'm still faster than you."
With that, Charles closed the distance in an instant and delivered a brutal kick to Racer's chest, sending him flying.
"You're way too arrogant."
Brain's expression darkened as he looked toward Charles, who had charged into the middle of Oración Seis's formation.
"Dark Rondo!"
Brain unleashed a torrent of overwhelming dark magic toward Charles, but Charles incinerated it with a single punch of dragon fire.
At that moment, the other members of Oración Seis scattered away from Charles.
"Angel, do something with your Celestial Spirits!" Racer barked after retreating.
Angel snapped, "I already tried! That guy… can't be copied!"
Her Celestial Spirit, Gemini, was incredibly powerful—able to replicate a target's appearance, memories, and abilities.
But no power was absolute. Otherwise, she could just use Gemini to copy anyone they fought.
Gemini's limitation was in the magical energy required. The stronger the target, the more magic it drained from the Celestial Spirit Mage.
Angel had already attempted to copy Charles, but the process nearly drained her dry, forcing her to abandon it—thus confirming just how powerful Charles truly was.
Charles increased the intensity of his attacks, launching a Fire Dragon's Radiance Flame that pierced through Brain's dark magic and shot toward him.
However, a young man seated cross-legged on a flying carpet floated in front of Brain to intercept the flame.
Despite having his eyes closed and seemingly asleep—his breathing slow and steady—he completely blocked the attack. Strangely, the fire curved around him as if diverted by some unseen force.
Charles's eyes lit up with interest. "Spatial distortion magic? Intriguing. I wonder what its limits are."
This man was Midnight, another member of Oración Seis. He wielded spatial-distortion magic—a kind of space-type magic that was said to be nearly impossible to counter. Charles wanted to test whether his strength could shatter such magic.
Just as he prepared to attack again, the ground beneath him shifted.
"Money's the most interesting power, isn't it?" said a square-faced man in the distance.
Hoteye—another of the Six—used Earth Magic, capable of softening the ground and manipulating it freely.
He tried to bury Charles by folding the earth around him, but a rock pillar suddenly rose beneath Charles and lifted him up.
Jura raised a hand. "Charles-san isn't the only one here. Don't underestimate us!"
"Well said!" Erza leaped into the air and switched to her Heaven's Wheel Armor, launching a storm of swords at Oración Seis.
While the Six dodged the blades, others began their assault.
"Ice Make…!"
"Ice Make!"
Gray and Leo moved in tandem, casting their magic simultaneously.
"Lancer!" "Eagle!"
Spears and icy birds soared toward the enemy, unleashing a bombardment upon them.
The five who were targeted scattered from the explosion. Lucy then opened the gate of Sagittarius, summoning the horse-costumed archer who fired a magic arrow at Brain.
But Brain's overwhelming dark magic deflected the arrow with ease.
Just then, a massive stone golem rose and smashed its enormous fist down.
The blow's range covered both Brain and Lucy—clearly a personal vendetta.
Atop the golem's head, Sherry looked completely unrepentant as Lucy shouted at her.
Of course, Brain wasn't taken down so easily, and the other members of Oración Seis also avoided damage.
Originally, Brain had intended to give the allied guilds a crushing opening defeat—perhaps even wipe them out entirely.
But things hadn't gone according to plan. They only managed to take down Ichiya, and their ambush had been completely exposed by Charles.
Six versus twelve—the numbers and strength were not in their favor.
So Brain said, "Let that serve as our greeting. In the end, once our goal is achieved, everything will fall into our hands. If you think you can stop us… go ahead and try."
With that, Brain raised his hand and conjured a massive magic circle. A torrent of ghostly dark energy surged toward the team.
Everyone used magic to defend themselves from the blast, but when the smoke cleared—Oración Seis had vanished.
"Fast escape," Charles muttered as he waved away the smoke.
Jura frowned. "What did Brain mean by their goal? What exactly are they after?"
Hibiki stepped forward. "According to our intel, Oración Seis's objective this time… is the legendary forbidden magic—Nirvana."
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