While Ben fought Hades elsewhere, the other Fairy Tail mages found themselves under attack by some of Grimoire Heart's mages. They are the Seven Kin of Purgatory and each of them is really strong. Hades sent them to take care of the Fairy Tail mages and he was convinced they would win easily.
Only 4 of them attacked the camp though. Kain, Rustyrose, Zancrow and surprisingly a Celestial Spirit, Capricorn. They searched for the Fairy Tail mages all over the island and eventually found them here.
"HA HA HA, they were gathered up here. Now we don't need to bother searching for them one by one. We can just kill them here." Zancrow laughed wickedly.
"Yeah, this job is a lot easier now. However, I don't remember there being quadruplets among the targets." Rustyrose said as he looked at 4 of Ben's clones.
These clones stayed here while the other clones were doing different jobs. Pride was infiltrating Grimore Heart's airship, Greed watched the Council's movements and Lust tried to find the other enemies. So out of 7 clones, 4 stayed at camp.
"Ben, do you know who they are?" Makarov asked the clone.
"Hmm, I haven't gathered enough information, but odds are they're the Seven Kin of Purgatory. My main body ran into one while fighting Hades and there are 4 right in front of us. So there are 2 who haven't made their presence known. Also, there's another enemy still on the airship. He should be stronger than these guys." The Gluttony clone explained while eating snacks.
"So we don't know how powerful they are, huh?" Makarov noted.
"Wait! That goat-like guy, I know him. He's a Celestial Spirit, Capricorn!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise.
The others were surprised to see a Celestial Spirit among the dark mages. They are usually summoned, not one of the mages. But Fairy Tail has a Celestial Spirit who's also a member of their guild, it's Loke.
It was quite strange, but there's no time to ponder it because they are enemies. They need to think of a way to fight these 4 dark mages and defeat them. None of them knew how strong these 4 were, so their number advantage won't mean anything if the enemies were really strong.
"Ah, Ben clones, why don't you fight them? There are 4 of them and 4 of you, so it's good right, you can test them out." Gildarts said with a smirk.
"Damn old man, you want us to test them because it doesn't matter if we lose? We might be clones, but we don't want to die pointless deaths." The Sloth clone replied.
"Yeah, why don't you fight them yourself? I'm sure you can beat them with a single punch." The Wrath clone asked.
"Come on, it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, they are good opponents for you young mages. Strong opponents are important for their growth. Also, they should have someone strong enough to fight me if they wanted to attack us." Gildarts noted.
"Well, you're right. There's someone on the ship that might be a good challenge for you. Why don't we split up then? Fighting in groups like this will make it difficult because our magic might hit each other. They might work well together too, so it's better to split them up and fight them alone. We have a number advantage, so we can fight one of them with a few of us." Ben advised.
"That's a good idea." Lisanna said.
But suddenly, the enemy's number increased because a humanoid goat and chicken joined them. So now it was 6 vs 25.
'Hmm, we have Master, Gildarts, Erza, Mira, Natsu, Gajeel, Levy, Cana, Lucy, Gray, Loke, Juvia, Lisanna, Elfman, Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow, Wendy, the 3 cats and 4 clones. It will look like we're bullying them. But their magic power alone is as strong as S-Class mages, so our numbers don't matter.' The Greed clone thought.
While they talked, the enemies attacked them first. A lot of roots suddenly came out of the ground and attacked them, forcing them to leap out of the way. Ben's clones were surprised to see this magic because they knew exactly who was responsible.
"You're still alive?" The Wrath clone asked.
"I won't die that easily." Azuma responded as he emerged from the tree with a pink-haired girl.
The Wrath clone looked at Azuma's stomach which had 5 claw marks on it. But the claw marks didn't have any blood coming out of them. It seems Azuma was extremely durable or he defended himself when Ben attacked him before.
"You are his clones, huh? Your main body's power is ridiculous. I defended myself with the best wood armor, but it still broke and the claws scratched me. If I didn't have a strong body, I would have been gravely injured from the impact." Azuma admitted.
"Heh, you're good. It seems I can expect something great from Hades." The Wrath clone smirked.
"Don't underestimate Master or you will regret it." Azuma said before he used his magic again.
Azuma controlled the giant roots to push everyone away and split them up. Then his comrades will pursue the groups to fight them. The enemies also intend to fight the Fairy Tail mages one on one or in groups rather than fight them all at once.
They know that their chance of winning is low because Makarov and Gildarts were there. These 2 are the most dangerous mages in Fairy Tail and they know it. Only their master and ace can handle these 2, so they can't fight them.
Zancrow chased Natsu for an unknown reason but Ben's clones can feel something from this Zancrow guy. So the Wrath clone went after them to find out what Zancrow is up to. He feels that it would be a good thing to follow them, so he did.
Rustyrose chased after Elfman who carried Evergreen in his arms. Kain chased after Freed and Bickslow while Capricorn chased after Lucy and Cana. As for Kawazu and Yomazu, they went after Gajeel and Levy.
The pink-haired girl, Meredy, pursued Juvia and Lisanna. Then Azuma who moved last chased Erza and Mira who moved together. No one pursued Wendy, the cats, Makarov, Gildarts, Gray and Loke. That honor was given to the roots.
The Fairy Tail mages have moved in their S-Class exam groups without the intention of doing so. But then, Loke changed direction to go after Lucy because he is her Celestial Spirit and needed to help her.
The Sloth clone then approached Gray.
"Gray, help me protect Wendy and the cats. I can't use my full power because I'm just a clone, so I need your help." The clone said.
"Alright. I'm also worried about them because they don't have good battle prowess." Gray agreed to the request.
The Sloth clone then teleported Gray to Wendy and the cats' location. The 4 of them were moving together by flying through the air and the Envy clone was accompanying them. But then the Envy clone left after the Sloth clone appeared with Gray.
"Where did he go?" Happy asked.
"To the other battle locations. We might not have good battle prowess, but we can help when it comes to an emergency. The enemies are strong and our friends might need help. So the other 3 clones will spread out to help in an emergency." The Sloth clone exclaimed.
"You're really working hard, aren't you?" Gray asked.
"It's normal. I won't reach this level without hard work." The Sloth clone replied.
"Hard work, huh? I also work hard, you know." Gray bitterly responded.
"I know. But just working hard won't take you anywhere." The Sloth clone told him.
They start a conversation while walking to find their friends. Well, it's mainly the Sloth clone giving Gray advice to become stronger. The roots have stopped moving, so they can walk and talk calmly. But they were far away from their previous location.
While they walk and talk calmly, the others were facing their opponents. They still haven't engaged in battle, but that would happen soon enough. The battle between Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart had finally started.