Aliya's hands formed palms, hovering above Rhode's shoulders, and a special Air Domain was instantly formed.
"Receiving..." Rhode was startled in his heart, the magic couldn't activate!
The air around seemed to be suppressing him, and the Magic Power within him was uncontrollably trying to 'escape' outside.
"Rhode!" At that moment, Rhode saw the panicked expressions of Erza and Mira, and even his skin began to feel a prickling pain.
Without thinking further, Rhode's right index finger barely moved, hooking into his pants pocket.
A small Bursting Magic Crystal in his pocket was triggered, exploding with a bang.
Rhode, hit at zero distance by the explosion, only felt a pain in his hip and the right side of his buttock, and his whole body flew to the left.
This little gadget was originally prepared to interrupt enemy skills in an emergency, but now it was put to use in such a way.
It was supposed to be something thrown out when there wasn't time to activate magic...
What a pity for a good pair of pants.
In midair, Rhode completed Receiving Magic, transforming into his werewolf form, covering all that needed and didn't need covering with a lush coat of wolf fur.
Even his blushing old face couldn't be seen.
Aliya's towering body merely swayed slightly, but that was enough.
The Tree Monster originally in front of Rhode became belatedly aware that its master was attacked, turning around and slapping forward.
Aliya, who had just withstood a small explosion, had no time to activate magic, raising his arm to block the move.
Unexpectedly, the seemingly ordinary move had quite some Power, and the red claw tips tore through his sleeve, leaving four bloody marks on his arm.
A scorching pain came from the wounds, clearly not that deep, yet making Aliya feel as if his arm was about to break with intense pain.
"Void·Scatter!" Aliya fired a powerful shockwave at the Tree Monster intending to continue its attack.
The same magic, when used with open eyes versus closed eyes, had completely different Power.
The gigantic Tree Monster was overturned in one move, gliding backward on its back for quite a distance.
In the little time Aliya took to make his move, Mira had already arrived by his side, vastly different in form from before.
Her revealing red clothing was replaced by a blue and white long robe, draped with a black cape, and Hellfire burned at her feet.
Aliya sensed the powerful Magic Power on Mira and was about to use 'Void·Scatter' to evade when a fist landed on his face.
"Ugh... ah!!!"
Aliya's body leaned backward, but he was immediately subjected to a continuous barrage of attacks.
As if in retaliation for Aliya's sneak attack, Mira's every strike landed on Aliya's back shoulders, back, and waist.
Aliya was like a human sandbag, every hit sinking into him as if his bones were breaking.
She beat him until his clothes were tattered and his entire body was engulfed in Hellfire, with the final kick sending him crashing into the ceiling, knocking a hole and then falling back down.
With Demon Hutley's inherent Power and the effect of the Crown of Embers, when Aliya hit the ground, he twitched his fingers but could move no more.
Throughout the fight, Mira didn't make a sound, but anyone could see she was angry.
The defensive stance Erza had taken in front of the others became meaningless, and her armor returned to its normal state.
Mira hurried towards Rhode with quick, small steps, and Rhode also took a few steps forward to grasp her hand with a wolf claw, using the paw of his other hand to pat her head.
"I'm fine, don't be angry, okay?" Rhode soothed Mira, calling out for the Golem to give her a Crown of Insight.
"Mmm." The worry and anger on Mira's face vanished, and she asked, "Why haven't you changed back?"
"I'll do it once I find a place to change my pants." Rhode withdrew his hand, holding his hip, "Ah, my hip..."
Gray enthusiastically revealed a hand emitting cold air: "Want an ice pack?"
Rhode stared incredulously at Gray, confirming he was serious, then politely declined: "No way."
Natsu, pulling Hapi along, whispered, "Never make Mira angry in the future."
"Aye." Hapi thought, at a time like this saying "got a leg" should be okay, but that would make the line unfun.
Better seize an opportunity to tell Lucy.
Rumble~
The ground suddenly tilted sideways slightly, followed by a massive tremor.
The walls and holes in the ceiling damaged in the recent battle shook loose stones.
"What's happening?" Natsu, Gray, and Hapi were clueless.
Rhode and the others guessed that it was probably the worms who hadn't participated in the battle gnawing through a corner of the castle, causing a tilt from excessive damage.
Yet the actual situation was even more severe.
In some rooms that they couldn't see, parts of the walls suddenly collapsed, ceilings crashed down, and floors caved in.
This castle-like building suddenly went into a chain reaction, breaking and collapsing everywhere.
In a hidden corner, Balrog, who had just punched a hole, looked dumbfounded as a small stone hit her on the head.
Watching the stone roll across the floor, she said with a hint of regret, "Pity it wasn't the princess's punishment."
Balrog didn't care if the ground was shaking; since it wasn't strong enough to knock her over, she continued her work.
Lucy's Magic Power couldn't support her for too long, so she needed to hurry.
...
Joseph did not expect that, after sending so many Ghost Soldiers out, they not only failed to eliminate the few youngsters who had sneaked into the Guild but were held at bay by a swarm of strange worms.
For a time, both sides were actually evenly matched?
Mere worms possessing such combat strength—what did that make his painstakingly crafted Ghost Soldiers?
"All Ghost Soldiers... Power enhancement!" An overwhelmingly evil Magic Power erupted from Joseph, channeling through Living Connection Magic onto the Ghost Soldiers.
The Ghost Soldiers, embroiled in a tough fight, emitted a red glow from their eyes, leaping into the air as if flying.
No, not flying, just extremely fast and with incredible air time, each jump making it look as if they were gliding so close to the ground.
Moreover, during their glide, they launched attacks, dislodging worms clinging to them, leading to the loss of ground worms accelerating.
Not only that, but they also bypassed the worms, pouncing towards the few people behind them.
Elfman calmly received the Iron Bull Arm, punching the Ghost Soldier lunging at him; even fortified, it wasn't his match, though the numbers might pose a challenge.
Kana, seasoned in combat, was able to handle it for a while, even sparing attention for Loki beside her.
Lucy, however, was struggling; faced with the oncoming Ghost Soldiers, she instinctively whipped out her whip, but it merely brushed past them ineffectively.
Seeing an enemy sword swinging towards her, Loki dashed forward to push Lucy aside, his arm slashed, blood dripping profusely.
Lucy turned pale with shock: "Loki!"
Loki kicked the Ghost Soldier who slashed him away, enduring the pain to reassure: "Just a minor cut, not even as bad as a normal scrap injury."
Kana felt it necessary to report: "Rhode, the Ghost Soldiers have suddenly strengthened, and Loki's hurt. The worm swarms seem hard to handle too."
"Don't worry, a team of super-reliable people has arrived."
"We're here!"
"Charge!"
"Take this, Ghost!"
Comrades have arrived!
Everyone's faces relaxed; Rhode was right, no need to worry because a team of super-reliable people had arrived!
At this moment, Joseph's face turned exceedingly unpleasant as a green-glowing Magic Crystal in the control room extinguished.
It was the Magic Crystal connecting Living Connection Magic to Aliya.
Beside it, three red, yellow, and blue crystals were similarly dark.
Those were prepared to draw on the Four Elements' Magic Power to activate Purgatory Shattering; one crystal extinguishing meant one person couldn't provide Magic Power.
This meant that Aliya had been defeated too?
Joseph could not accept such a result: "Four Elements... all Four Elements and Gajeel were beaten by those Fairy Tail wretches?!"