"Jura, take Lyon, Gray, and Sherry and make as much noise as you possibly can from the front. I want you to draw everyone's attention."
Jura nodded in agreement. Lyon and Gray exchanged a glance and raised no objection either.
"Ichiya, you'll take Karen, Jenny, and Yukino as the left flank. Ultear, you'll take Gajeel, Lucy, and Natsu as the right. Once Jura's group has drawn everyone in, the two of you move in together and box the trash in. As for Wendy, Sharuru, and Happy, you'll act as reserves, ready to lend support or backup at any time."
Ichiya struck several poses he clearly thought were dashing and answered with full confidence, "Leave a small matter like this to me."
Wendy, keeping her head down, gave a soft, mumbled "Mm."
Ultear glanced left and right before finally fixing Kabe with a suspicious look and asking, "And you? What are you going to do?"
"Me? I'll be overseeing things as a whole, and keeping an eye on Brain's group at the same time, so they don't catch wind of the commotion and bolt."
He offered a perfectly reasonable explanation, and no one else questioned it further, all of them voicing their approval of the arrangement.
"No time to waste. Let's move out!"
At the word, the group left the mansion together in an impressive procession, heading straight for the Dark Forest.
Elsewhere, the dark mages under the guilds serving the Six Demon Generals were still diligently combing the area for any sign of Nirvana.
In the territory overseen by the dark guild Bare Bandage, two enormous men, both built uncannily like gorillas, sat crouched on a large rock beneath the trees, looking thoroughly bored.
"These days are so boring, Bro Sart."
The golden-furred gorilla said this flatly, watching his subordinates diligently combing the area for clues. The afro-haired, black-furred gorilla known as "Bro Sart" answered in a resigned tone:
"Can't be helped, Bro Kat. It's the boss's orders, after all."
"It's the boss's orders, then there's nothing to be done about it."
With that, Kat fell silent for a couple of seconds, then suddenly lifted his head and repeated himself:
"These days are so boring, Bro Sart."
"Hey, hey, you already said that one, Bro Kat."
"Did I?"
"You did."
"Well, it really is boring though."
"Can't be helped, Bro Kat. It's the boss's orders, after all."
"It's the boss's orders, then there's nothing to be done about it."
The man was like a broken record, running the same two lines back and forth over and over. Finally, by around the seventh repetition, a new voice cut into their conversation.
"Since you two are so bored, why not join us for a fight? Think of it as some exercise."
The two brothers paused, then turned toward the voice and saw Jura, Lyon, Gray, and Sherry approaching. It was Lyon who'd spoken. He looked at the pair and beckoned to them with a provocative wave.
Scratching his head, Kat turned to Sart and asked, "Who are they? Friends of yours, Bro Sart?"
"Don't know them. Maybe they're adventurers who got lost, Bro Kat."
"Intruders, then. Well, that makes things interesting."
Once they'd confirmed the newcomers were strangers, the two brothers slowly rose from the rock. All around, the Bare Bandage members who'd overheard the exchange stopped their search as well, spreading out to close in on the group.
"I remember the boss saying strangers are to be killed on sight. Right, Bro Sart?"
"That's right, Bro Kat. Though it's rare that some toys deliver themselves right to our door like this. I say we keep them around a little longer."
Sart let out an eerie chuckle and raised a hand, signaling his men to attack. At once, the flunkies who'd already surrounded Jura's group lunged forward.
Jura swept one charging mage aside with a single strike of his staff, then turned and cautioned the other three:
"Ease up the pace. The point is to make noise, not to finish this quickly."
"Got it. This kind of thing is exactly what we Fairy Tail folks are best at!"
Gray answered with a cold smirk and, beating Lyon to it, was the first to unleash his magic.
"Ice Make: Giant Hammer Soldier!!"
A hammer of ice the size of a small hill came crashing down, shaking the ground and sending countless birds scattering up from the trees. The gorilla brothers and their subordinates all flinched at the sheer scale of the blow, but once they came to their senses, they realized that aside from two unlucky souls, most of the attack had landed on empty ground.
"What's this? Looks scary, but that's all it's got?"
One of the flunkies spat on the ground, quickly recovering his nerve, and raised a magic pistol, firing wildly at Gray.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The magic bullets were all stopped by a stone wall that rose up suddenly to block them. Still, after that display, the men around them had already begun to underestimate the group. Even though they couldn't bring the four down quickly, they kept up their frenzied assault regardless.
The stone wall shattered and dissolved. Jura lowered his hand, a faint smile crossing his lips.
"Keep this pace up. Attack freely!"
With that, Gray and Lyon moved in together, while Sherry used her Doll Magic to animate several large trees and sent them crashing through the crowd. Even so, though their spells all looked impressive, the actual casualties they inflicted were few, and far from intimidating the Bare Bandage members, it only stoked their fury. For a while, all manner of magic lit up the forest in a dazzling array, with roars and curses rising one after another.
As expected, the commotion soon drew the attention of the other guilds stationed nearby. The moment they sensed a battle underway, exactly as planned, they began signaling for reinforcements while rushing toward the scene. What none of them knew was that their every move lay within the reach of Kabe's senses. That let him calmly steer Ichiya and Ultear around the guilds converging to help, tightening the encirclement bit by bit as they waited for the moment to finally close the net.
As more and more enemies gathered, Jura and the others, serving as bait, gradually stopped holding back, and the pace at which they cleared out enemies picked up sharply. The first few guilds to arrive as reinforcements, seeing their comrades piling up on the ground at the four's feet, slowly began to realize something was wrong.
"Damn it, something's off. These guys are setting us up!"
Plenty of others, their faces filled with terror, pointed at Jura and shouted:
"It, it's Jura, third of the Ten Wizard Saints!"
"Damn, we're fighting a Wizard Saint? You've got to be kidding me!"
Once the first person recognized Jura, panic quickly spread through the ranks of the dark guild mages. The more faint-hearted among them had already started retreating toward the outer edges, turning to make a tactical withdrawal. But by then, it was already too late to run.
A blue orb of energy burst in the sky. Catching the signal, Ichiya and Ultear tore out from either side, boxing the whole lot of them in like dumplings wrapped in dough.
"Finally, it's my turn. I'm already fired up!!"