(Edited 04/12/24)

I do not own Fairy Tail Hiro Mashima does.

Decimation

*POTD*

'That Teleportation Magic of his is going to be a serious problem,' Wendy thought to herself as she dodged multiple long ranger sniper shots from Aster.

Looking to her right, she watched Jason blindly charge the Leichart Officer, a foolish endeavor considering his ability to instantly Teleport. But then again, he had an advantage she didn't in that he could tank theoretically a near infinite amount of his shots.

'But none of that matters if we can't catch him,' the Dragon Slayer hummed internally, biting her thumb as Aster appeared on a nearby rock, smoke billowing from the barrel of his sniper rifle, lazily sitting atop a nearby rock formation.

"Heh! Ya'll are somethin else, let me tell ya! Ain't never seen anyone fight so reckless, yet you three pull it off like pros," Aster teased, his Magical Power steadily rising in preparation to fire once again. "Kinda gotta admire the tenacity, even if ya'll are stupid."

"Screw you Alvarez scum," Jason spat in response, his whole body becoming engulfed in dark blue flames. "We'll show you just how wrong you are!"

"Kehahahaha! Tell me Miss, how'd ya'll be dealin with this retard up until now," Aster crowed, firing off four shots in a matter of moments, all of which connected with Jason as the teen was blasted back into the forested area nearby. "He left his brain back in Alvarez or what!?"

"At least he's willing to stand up and fight for what he believes in," Wendy replied firmly, her own form becoming coated in powerful gusts of wind. "Knowing that he fears the Spriggan and Leichart Twelve, he still chose to fight! That says a lot about his character, knowing he could even die doing this!"

"All it tells me is that the boy is about as smart as a dog missy," Aster scoffed in response, warping off to her immediate right. "What good does getting shot to shit do for ya'll? That's all the brats good for!"

"This is exactly why Alvarez will lose… The leaders of Alvarez think they can just roll over nations and force everyone in line, because they think no one is strong enough to rebel against them," Wendy began, as a Magic Circle appeared beneath her feet. "No one started out strong, but circumstance brought them to where they are! Jason might not be the strongest right now, but he has the potential to surpass you one day!"

"Peh! Sure he does!"

"And even if he's not strong enough to face you all right now to get revenge for what you all did to his home… He's got allies like us!"

Aster's senses screamed for him to dodge, as he narrowly avoided a jab to the neck by Wendy's fingers. In less than a second, she had cleared almost forty meters, seemingly teleporting herself to his location, and narrowly missed killing him.

Immediately using Teleportation Magic, he was shocked to find Wendy almost catching up to him at his intended point of arrival. Teleporting once more, the same result occurred, as he began rapidly warping across the battlefield, just barely avoiding the Dragon Slayer each and every time.

"What the heck kinda Magic is this!?"

"Caster Magic: High Enchantment – Vernier Tria!"

"You've gotta be shitting me!? That's the same kinda Magic Irene uses," Aster snarled, immediately recognizing it as he began firing off multiple rounds in an attempt to impede her progress. "She's tripled her base speed!"

Realizing his sniper rifle wasn't going to yield great results at close range, the sharpshooter teleported away whilst his hands were engulfed in a bright white light.

"Requip: Magitek Arms Model 422 – Bull Gatling!"

The light faded to reveal a pair of silver revolvers, the barrels shining brightly with raw Magical Energy. Wendy also noticed the loading chamber had six different Lacrima fitted into them, six very familiar Lacrima as a matter of fact.

"Six Lacrima. Six elements to choose from," the Dragon Slayer muttered, as Aster twirled the revolvers in his hands, seemingly loading them for use.

"Let's see how ya'll are gonna handle this one!? Unlike before, I ain't gonna be so easily outmaneuvered, ya hear!?"

Wendy vanished as Aster pulled the trigger on his left revolver, firing off a colossal blast of raw Fire Magic in her direction. Reappearing nearby, she immediately vanished once again as Aster fired the right revolver, firing off an identically sized blast of raw Lightning Magic before abruptly teleporting away.

The pair seemed to warp across the area, as Wendy started firing high powered gusts of wind in the sharpshooter's predicted direction. The landscape was quickly trashed further than it already had been, as a raging wall of fire flared up around Aster, startling him just long enough for Wendy to close that minuscule amount of distance she needed.

"Sky Dragon Monarch's Gale Claw!"

Slashing Aster across the face, the sharpshooter fired off a round of fully charged lightning that pierced directly through her stomach, both combatants collapsing to their knees simultaneously, as the fiery wall reformed into Jason, who lunged straight for Aster.

"You'll pay for doing that to Wendy you bastard!"

"Gimme a fucking break," Aster spat, aiming right at Jason without even looking in the teen's direction and firing off a massive blast of raw Wind Magic. "Piss off brat, and let the adults fight it out!"

"Shit," Wendy hissed, vanishing and reappearing in-between Jason and the attack, catching it in her right palm, before throwing it right back.

Aster smirked, vanishing at the last moment before impact, reappearing nearby as he clutched his face with his left hand, blood pouring from the wound she'd left.

"Heh… Well shit, guess Varnik wasn't lying bout you after all? Ya'll got strength in spades, a bit of a rough match up…"

Aster Lucile (Magitek Arms Full Power) – 312 Billion MPI

Wendy landed nearby, dropping down to one knee as she applied Healing Magic to her stomach. Looking back toward Jason, her glare let him know he messed up, and she'd thoroughly scold him for it later.

"He could've killed you with that one. You, a fire entity, being struck by Wind Magic like that…"

"I-I'm sorry Wendy-!"

"But then again, he's got my number too," the Dragon Slayer hissed, slowly rising to her feet as she cracked her neck to relieve some pressure. "I might be the more powerful of the two of us, but he's a hax based fighter like Bisca. Teleportation Magic, Requip Magic and access to multiple elements… I can see why he's a member of the Leichart Twelve alright."

Wendy Marvell (Base Form Second Origin Sealed Full Power) – 452.8 Billion MPI

"Seems like you're gonna get me down and out if I don't pull out all the stops," Aster spoke up, dismissing his revolvers in a surprising move. "Woman like you, I can tell ya'll ain't about to let up till the last blood drop spills!"

"Wendy quick! Aster's about to use Bullet Magic-!"

"Bullet Magic: Armor P Full Gatling!"

Wendy immediately began spinning on the spot, kicking up devastating winds that sent Jason skidding backward across the battlefield, right as Aster raised both hands in the shape of finger pistols, opening fire upon her with a devastating barrage of Bullet Magic.

"No way," Aster grinned savagely, genuinely surprised as he slowly walked backward whilst firing. "Ya'll are too much!"

Unbeknownst to Jason, Wendy was actually deflecting every single individual shot from Aster's Bullet Magic attack using nothing more than her own hands coated in powerful Wind Magic, slicing through them like butter.

As she sliced, her form steadily approached Aster, who in turn was slowly attempting to clear some distance by walking backward whilst maintaining suppressing fire upon her. He knew that should he let up, the Dragon Slayer would be upon him in a matter of moments.

'I hate to admit it, but I can't keep this up forever. These are Armor Piercing Rounds with enough force to punch through even Erza's Adamantine Armor given enough time… I've got to move, and quick!'

Wendy's speed seemed to increase, throwing off Aster as he stumbled slightly in genuine surprise. Within the second of that tiny stumble, Wendy was upon him, her right arm cocked back, eyes cold as ice as black wind coated her straightened right hand.

"Shit-!"

"Sky Dragon Monarch's Destabilizing Piercing Claw!"

"Bullet Time: Split Second A!"

Before Wendy even had a chance to follow through with her attack, her eyes just faintly registered movement in Aster's fingers, her own twitching as she threw up a hasty Crash Barrier.

In a matter of moments, she's been belted across the ruined landscape, thousands of tiny cubes orbiting her form as Aster fell onto his rear, a panicked laugh escaping him.

'What the fuck was that… A hundred-no, that was over a thousand shots in a single second,' Wendy gasped internally, processing the cubes now orbiting her Crash Barrier. 'If I hadn't trusted my gut and thrown up this barrier and decided to follow through, I'd be less than meat chunks right now!?'

"Hehe…Hehehahahahahaha! Well, guess it's time ya'll learned why they call me the Split-Second Shogun," Aster laughed, slowly getting to his feet whilst maintaining his aim on Wendy. "See, I'm all about firing faster than anyone else. One shot? Easy. A hundred? No problem. A thousand… You betcha. I can drop all of em in a split second. Easy."

Wendy quickly realized just how broken Aster's Magic truly was. To be able to fire however many rounds he wanted in a split second practically guaranteed his victory against almost anyone who could be wounded by them.

Her Crash Barrier saved her this time, but would it be able to withstand several seconds worth of that sort of punishment? If it were her Dad's Crash Barrier, maybe… But her own…?

"Fire Phoenix's Twin Flame Barrage!"

Wendy was suddenly snapped out of her worried musings as Jason appeared behind Aster' his arms morphed into fiery blue wings, as his talon-like feet lobbed two sizeable spheres of flame at the sharpshooter.

"Heh!"

With no effort, Aster split the attacks cleanly in half with two precise shots down the middle. He then struck Jason with the same attack she'd barely blocked, with Wendy watching his body be reduced to a few tufts of blue fire.

"Lookin fierce and actually backing it up are two wholly separate things boy!"

"…I know-!"

"Hn-!?"

Suddenly, the small tufts exploded, generating a massive pillar of fire around the startled Aster, as Jason's body reformed, grabbing the Leichart members arms and pinning them behind his back.

"Wendy! Don't let him shake you," Jason ground out as Aster tried to shake him off. "That's what these bastards do! They get in your head; make you think you can't win! He's not unbeatable Wendy, you can kill him!"

"Y-Ya'll can keep saying that all ya'll want, but ya ain't landed more than one hit," Aster snarled, slowly beginning to free himself from the teen's grip. "This ain't a game boy! This is a war! And ya'll are BOTH gonna die here!"

Wendy shot toward Aster right as the sharpshooter freed himself from Jason's grip, throwing the teen into Wendy before warping away.

Jason dispersed into raw blue fire, wrapping around Wendy's arms as high-powered gusts of wind sucked his form in, scales manifesting along Wendy's form as she entered the Dragon Force. The fire reacted to her Wind Magic, setting off a sizeable explosion that narrowly managed to clip the Leichart Commander.

"Argh-!"

"Let's get him," Jason cried, rising up out of the flames surrounding Aster as the man began blindly firing all around him in an attempt to take the pair out.

"Damn… Seems that the two of ya are gonna make me really work for it," Aster huffed, as he tried to teleport out of there, only to suddenly come crashing back down as a fiery tornado sprung up around them, orange sparks crashing down all around him, reducing everything they touched into tiny cubes. "Well shit…"

"Keep up the attack Jason, don't even stop to second guess yourself," Wendy roared, speed-blitzing the Leichart Commander as she appeared in front of him in an instant, delivering a brutal uppercut that sent him skyward.

Being launched over twenty meters in an instant, he barely had time to recover before Jason appeared above him, delivering a brutal blazing kick to the center of his chest that sent him careening back to the ground.

The moment his body struck the earth, it generated a sizeable crater before bouncing back up. Before the man even had a chance to process what was going on, a fist to the face forced him straight back down into the crater, as scaled fingers grasped his face, lifting him out a second time.

"Tch-!?"

"You aren't as strong as you think," Wendy spoke, her much deeper, more gravelly voice a stark contrast to her usual self, as the titanic Dragon humanoid towered over her prey. "At range, you are strong. But up close, you're nothing to me. How dare you even think to try killing me, killing Jason…"

Said teenager appeared next to Wendy, flapping his wing-like arms as her height was over triple his own in her current form, and he wanted to be up close to the action. However, looking between their enemy, and the almost psychotic look in Wendy's slitted eyes, he had to admit, he was having second thoughts…

Raising his left hand, Aster pointed at Wendy and fired off a powerful blast of Bullet Magic at her. The attack set off a colossal explosion, one that would have surely harmed her, along with the man himself…

"Ghk-! The fuck-!?"

The smoke was immediately dispersed by powerful gusts of wind, revealing Wendy was utterly unfazed by the attack. The only sign it had even struck its mark in the first place was a slight smoke trail originating from her scaled forehead, which slowly fizzled out.

"The fuck are you-GARGH!?"

Applying pressure to his skull, Wendy smirked as her clawed fingers sunk into his flesh, the sounds of cracking bone and the squelch of meat causing Jason to slowly back away. Now rather fearful of the Dragon Slayer as she brought Aster closer so that the pair were face to face.

"Leichart, Spriggan, Demon, Dark Mage… I hate you," Wendy hissed, her free hand gently tracing a clawed finger over his throat.

Her movements were just gentle enough so that it didn't slit it the man's throat, but hard enough for him to feel the razor-sharp claw that could end his existence in a blink. It was a feeling designed for naught but intimidation, and Aster knew it, as he didn't entertain the notion she would let him walk free.

"I'm going to play with you, little Human," Wendy hissed, the grip on Aster's face tightening as he screamed in agonizing pain. "I see you're ready to get started… I'll go first."

*POTD*

An hour had passed since Natsu had saved Erza from Azhrukhal, the small group sitting around Erza as she recovered from being possessed.

Though he hadn't spoken aloud, he had sensed the end of Wendy's fight with Aster, and even he had to admit that it didn't in the direction he thought it would. Looking toward Elise, he could see the God Slayer had paled considerably, having also seen what happened, though her response was markedly more…Human, than his own.

The small group fell silent as Wendy approached, with Jason trailing behind looking extremely uncomfortable. The Sky Dragon Monarch was tossing Aster's severed head up into the air and catching it with her right hand, whilst dragging a badly mutilated headless corpse by its mangled foot.

Her body was covered in blood, her eyes as wide as they could possibly go, her posture rigid, near stone-like in nature. The closer she got, the worse the whole sight looked, with Mira stifling a gasp and looking away, whilst Seilah merely hummed in interest, examining Wendy's work with naught but silent curiosity.

"Hi Daddy," Wendy chirped, a bloody, fanged smile on her face as she unceremoniously dropped the mutilated corpse next to him. "I got you a present!"

Natsu slowly rose to his feet, silently looking toward Jason as the teen's mortified look of sheer terror told him basically everything he needed to know. Reaching out, he gave her a gentle pat on the head, which instantly brought life back to her rigid form.

"Wow, great job Wendy. You know, you really came through for us," Natsu smiled warmly, as he watched the girl slowly exit the Dragon Force. "I'm so very proud of you…"

The moment he finished speaking, Wendy was unconscious as he gently place her on the grass next to Erza. The moment he stood back up, the eyes of everyone else were upon him.

"I can't fix that you know? It's just how she is now…"

"You mean she's gonna be a savage the rest of her life," Elise asked curtly, arms crossed as they all looked down at Wendy's blood-soaked form. "Surely there's got to be something you can do to stop her from being this bloodthirsty and violent?"

"There's not," Natsu replied sharply, his tone clearly brooking no argument or debate, as he set his sights on Jason. "You're not in trouble, just tell me what set her off?"

"Uh… Well, we were fighting that Aster guy and initially we were having trouble with him because he could use Teleportation Magic. But then we started making a comeback and I thought we were gonna wail on him, but then she grabs him and next thing I know she's gone fully psycho, starts ripping into his face and…and-!"

"Hmm…So she can be set off by things other than feeling like a burden then? But why…?"

"Ever thought about the idea that she's just that mentally scarred that she's liable to go into bouts of psychotic rage over the slightest thing," Igneel asked, which Natsu wanted to refute, but honestly couldn't. "At any rate, now definitely isn't the time to be wondering about Wendy. We still have a job to do here, remember?"

"A job… Yeah, I know," Natsu sighed, taking another look down at both Wendy and Erza. "I really am a failure…"

To that, Igneel made no comment.

*POTD*

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ruined island, Jacob had finally managed to escape the smouldering wreck that was once his transport. The man had multiple severe burns across his body, his suit tattered and singed, dried blood caking his face as he lay up against a piece of debris that had embedded itself at the end of a small cliff that overlooked the ocean.

"So, Aster and Karliah are dead… And I'm to follow suit," the assassin whispered, before coughing up some blood. "Not how I thought this'd go… I actually didn't think this'd go well regardless actually, E.N.D."

Shifting his head slightly to the right, he saw Natsu standing there in his peripheral vision. He could tell right away that Natsu wasn't in a good mood, and the Spriggan honestly couldn't blame him.

"Are you surrendering, Jacob Lessio?"

"Of course not… I'd sooner kill myself than commit to such a traitorous action," Jacob laughed bitterly, eyeing his broken left hand. "No… I simply planned on waiting here, for the right moment."

"You do realize you literally stand no chance whatsoever against me, don't you?"

"Would you deny a man the chance to defend himself?"

"Once, I would have answered that with an affirmative no," Natsu replied coldly, as he crossed his arms, staring down at the man with his Hybrid's Aura active. "But I've lost much over the course of my life thanks to Alvarez. Friends, family, a nation I actually liked… Despite all I've become, you lot seem to just keep taking and breaking everything I hold close."

"Heh… Well, you certainly aren't the first to say that," Jacob chuckled, his tone one of resigned understanding. "You don't become the strongest nation on Earthland by showing kindness and empathy to your enemy…"

"On that, we most certainly agree," Natsu replied, as Natsu sensed his own shadow rising up behind him.

Raising his right leg, Natsu stomped down hard on his own shadow, which both severed Jacob's connection to it, as well as causing the Spriggan to suffer feedback damage as a result.

Whilst Jacob lurched forward, Natsu's stomp also had the added effect of shattering the earth behind him. The cliff they stood on fell, both Natsu and Jacob remaining atop it as the Spriggan waved his hand out in front of him.

"Shadow Nail Barrage!"

Firing a barrage of shadow nails at Natsu, the Hybrid simply raised his right arm, blocking them effortlessly, before slowly advancing toward the crippled assassin. Feeling the rapid descent of the cliff, whilst watching Natsu's slow and intimidating approach, Jacob could only smirk.

"So, that's how it is? I either die falling, or…"

Right as Natsu reached Jacob, everything around the pair froze, as a strange grainy filter seemed to overtake his vision. Jacob's physical form immediately vanished, leaving Natsu to slowly rise back to his full height, still completely unbothered by the situation.

"Shadow Space!"

"It's about time Jacob," Natsu sniffed, looking around the grainy version of the falling cliff they were on. "Where's Mavis?"

As if on cue, a shadowy cage slowly faded into existence before him, along with the chained and seemingly unconscious form of Mavis. His eyes surveyed her form, pleased that she didn't appear harmed.

"Oi, Mavis-?"

Don't even bother trying to speak with her, for she is under the will of the shadows, and cannot respond to you…

Ignoring Jacob, Natsu walked over to the cage she was trapped in and ripped it open with Aura laced hands. He then tore the chains off, careful not to harm her, as he caught her spiritual form in his arms.

"Sorry Jacob, but I'm not playing games with you anymore," Natsu replied coldly, as the spiritual form of Mavis stirred in his arms.

"Ngh… Natsu? Where are we…I don't-why are you all black and white?"

"It's a long story Mavis, and one I probably won't have the time to explain to you myself," Natsu sighed in reply, as she quickly noticed his glowing eyes, the only things that appeared to have retained their color in the otherwise technicolor space they were in.

"Y-You have the Hybrid's Aura!?"

"Like I said, long story. For now, just rest in my arms," he replied gently, eliciting a blush from the First Master, who did as he instructed. "You've been through more than enough."

So, it has come to this…

"You lost the moment you made me your enemy, Jacob," Natsu replied firmly, his entire body becoming coated in Hybrid's Aura as he suddenly shot straight upward. "For my last insult to you, I'll shatter your pathetic world space!"

Striking the ceiling of Jacob's Shadow Space, the entire domain shattered, sending everything in the local area back to the real world. The cliff struck the rocks, as Jacob was pierced through the back and out the stomach by a particularly sharp one.

"C-Curse you…!"

Carefully repositioning Mavis in his arms, Natsu landed atop another piece of rock, dropping into a crouch as he eyed the world's former greatest assassin.

"So, it appears…that you were successful," Jacob gasped, clutching at the rock piercing through his body. "A-Aha… It appears that…Alvarez…Alvarez is in for a real fight…"

"This fight was a long time coming, and you've had it coming far longer than most of your colleagues I'd suspect?"

"Heh… Y-You know… I look at you now, with the black hair…and those eyes… All I can see…I see Lord Zeref…"

Raising his right hand, Natsu pointed his index finger at Jacob, who attempted to sit upright, despite having been impaled.

"It's a real shame…that I won't…be around to-to see the results of the war," Jacob gasped, as the two men locked eyes, as time seemed to slow down around the pair. "Go on and end it…"

Natsu's index finger instantly morphed into a black tendril, which abruptly shot toward Jacob, piercing him directly through the front of his skull, slicing his brain clean in two. Retracting the finger almost immediately, he leaped back up to where the remainder of the cliff was, not looking back as he surveyed the damage to the rest of the island.

"You've changed, I can tell right away," Mavis murmured, gently placing a hand upon his cheek, forcing his eyes onto hers. "You've been through much since I was taken it seems?"

"Too much."

"It is good though that you killed that man. Jacob Lessio was a man who would have never surrendered or switched sides," Mavis continued, trying to distract his mind from whatever appeared to be plaguing his thoughts. "He was one of the greatest weapons Alvarez had, but no longer. You've done Earthland a great service."

"Alvarez will surely retaliate in force for this. We killed three of their high-ranking officers today," Natsu replied quietly. "There's much to do, and so little time…"

"Then we'd better not stand around here, should we," Mavis replied, gently shaking his shoulders to bring him back to focus once again. "Are we going back to the Guild?"

"Funny story about that… Well, I suppose it's the furthest thing from funny, but it's a story nonetheless," Natsu replied, the smallest tinge of amusement creeping into his voice for the moment, as he placed her on his shoulder. "Long story short, the Guild ended up going through a really rough patch, then it became a Dark Guild of sorts, now I'm the Guild Master and there's a good chance most of the Guild won't want to rejoin… So yeah."

"…I think I'd better just see all this unfold for myself?"

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't crack a joke at that?"

"Even I have my limits Natsu," Mavis replied sadly, as she rested against his head. "Plus, I'm tired."

"Fair enough. The whole Guild issue is getting resolved for good or ill soon, so maybe its best that you just see it all play out?"

"Is the Guild Hall at least still standing?"

"Yeah, it is. Don't worry, your real body is safe," Natsu replied casually, though Mavis didn't even react to the fact he held that piece of forbidden knowledge.

"Good. Let's go home then."

"Hold up, we've got to go and grab the others before we head back to Magnolia," Natsu replied quickly, as he opened a portal up to where the others were located. "That'll only take a moment."

"You came here with others? Well, its good to know you weren't alone this whole time," Mavis sighed, silently relieved that he had some friends beside him.

"Well, they took the long road after I died and all, so-."

"Wait WHAT!?"

*POTD*

"It appears that they've fallen, Lord Zeref. The damage to the island is catastrophic, and our forces were slain to the last."

Zeref nodded stiffly as he surveyed the devastated island, agreeing with Invel's assessment of the situation. He watched as a small contingent of Alvarez troops collected the bodies of their fallen comrades, his mind processing all that they had learned from this first battle.

"The loss of both Jacob and Aster will hit us hard, but they aren't losses we can't recoup given time."

"And what of that Etherious Demon Karliah created," Invel asked curiously, adjusting his glasses with his index finger as the pair watched some Alvarez troops load what little remained of the Demon into crates. "Azhrukhal, I believe it called itself?"

"I'm still processing that Demon. An unexpected creation, but one that could have proved a powerful asset given time and training. A shame, but given their opponents, I can't say I'm surprised they were defeated."

"Do we know how E.N.D and his allies discovered the whereabouts of Jacob and the others?"

"I can only surmise he had help of a higher nature," Zeref mused, a small smile on his face as he thought about it. "Although, it was an inevitable outcome that Natsu would find and kill Jacob at the very least. His abilities as a Hybrid have been steadily growing from the moment of their awakening. Soon, he shall match even August and Sentomaru in power."

"He's that powerful already!?"

"Of course. Even now, he isn't receiving the full amp from Hybrid's Aura that he should," Zeref replied, as if this were obvious information. "Base Hybrid's Aura takes the full power of an individual, and multiplies it by four hundred times. Natsu currently isn't receiving that kind of power boost from it yet, and he still stands leagues above most…"

"Just like you, Lord Zeref…"

"Indeed. Just like me," the Black Wizard smiled, his eyes flickering for the briefest of moments.

"By the way, Lord August and Lord Sentomaru have almost arrived at their designated location," Invel noted, as Zeref slowly turned to face his Chief of Staff. "If Fiore have made the first move, then it is our turn to retaliate, no?"

"You already know the answer to that question Invel, though, I'm surprised you even asked? It isn't like you to question my commitment to a plan?"

"Ordinarily I would agree, my Lord. However, given your orders to Lord August and Lord Sentomaru were to annihilate the entire nation of Bosco in one day, even I must ask if you wish to follow through on such a plan? You know Bosco is one of the largest countries on Ishgar, possessing a population of no less than nine hundred and twelve million…"

"The opening shots have been fired, Invel," Zeref replied gently, as he slowly turned to look up at the sky. "Natsu has won back Mavis for the moment, though we'll have her back soon enough. To delay now after all we've committed to this campaign would destroy the Empire, Invel, and only allow our enemy time to further gather strength. For you see, there is something we've learned from all this that I don't doubt Natsu has too…"

"And what would that be, Lord Zeref?"

"Natsu might be ready for this war, but his allies aren't. Their performance here was far from ideal, with maybe the exception of the Sky Dragon Monarch Wendy Marvell. Natsu is likely concerned about their ability to fight in the war, and we need to capitalize upon that fear immediately if we want our plans to unfold as we've previously discussed."

"I see… Yes, you are correct as always, my Lord," Invel nodded sharply, adjusting his glasses as he turned to survey the ruined island. "Dragneel's allies struggled with Azhrukhal. How could he not fret knowing some of the others within the Spriggan and Leichart Twelve that they shall be forced to face?"

"Precisely," Zeref smirked, as the ring on Invel's index finger began to glow a faint blue colour. "Is that them?"

"Yes," the Chief of Staff nodded, as a shadowy image was projected from the ring. "This is Invel. Lord Zeref is with me."

"We're ready to proceed with the plan at Lord Zeref's word," the aged voice of August ground out, though his form could scarcely be seen in the darkness. "Visibility is low, but that will only strengthen our position. Apologies for the poor connection."

"It is no bother," Zeref replied dismissively. "Execute the operation at once! Wipe out Bosco, and slay its people to the last!"

"…By your command," August replied neutrally, as the connection shimmered, before abruptly cutting out.

"Now then, let's see what Natsu plans on doing next," Zeref smirked, his Hybrid Eyes active as the entire world seemed to feel a minute shift in the flow of Ethernano. "Enjoy your victory, for it shall most certainly be your last!"