Diabolos was the strongest guild on Guiltina, its ranks filled entirely with formidable Dragon Eaters, and Suzaku stood among its very best.
Excluding the Guild Master, he ranked as the guild's third-strongest fighter.
Guiltina was also a continent where alchemy had developed to an extraordinary degree, with top alchemists standing shoulder to shoulder with its strongest mages.
Because of that, Suzaku might rank slightly lower if every powerhouse on the continent were considered together, but he was still unquestionably one of the ten strongest figures across the vast northern continent.
His Underworld Style: Sword Drawing Art could likewise be considered one of Guiltina's deadliest killing arts.
And Erza had just copied the swordsmanship he had spent years mastering after seeing it only a handful of times.
For Suzaku, who had grown accustomed to being one of the strongest wherever he went, that revelation was almost impossible to accept.
"So if I defeat you…"
He forced himself back to his feet as Magic Power erupted throughout his body.
"…then I'll have surpassed my own limits."
The dangerous gleam around his sword gradually condensed into the blade as he slowly slid it back into its sheath.
Erza frowned.
Suzaku lowered his body further and further, and the atmosphere around him changed.
There was something almost suicidal in the way he gathered himself, as though he intended to stake everything on the next strike.
He slowly exhaled.
"This technique is my own creation."
His voice was low and steady.
"I took everything I inherited from the Sword Saint Dragon and completely integrated it into my swordsmanship. I believed this strike had already surpassed even a Dragon Slayer Secret Art."
Suzaku tightened his hand around the hilt.
"If you can learn this too…"
His eyes sharpened.
"Then try."
Erza gripped Benizakura with both hands and answered without hesitation.
"Come."
"Underworld Style: Sword Drawing Art!"
Suzaku's closed eyes snapped open.
Crimson light burst from his pupils as all of his Magic Power converged around his waist.
Countless blades of sword energy gathered around his body, spiraling faster and faster until they formed a violent vortex of black and red.
"Abyss…"
The enormous storm of sword energy suddenly compressed toward a single point.
Suzaku twisted the hilt.
Then his entire body exploded forward like a crimson comet.
Erza's sword was already within reach.
Suzaku poured everything he had into one final draw, his blade leaving its sheath as he roared.
The strike carried the image of a demonic dragon plunging from the heavens into the depths of the underworld, and the Magic Power behind it erupted with enough force to tear apart everything before him.
"Underworld Black Purgatory Slash!!"
His ultimate strike closed the final distance.
Only inches remained between the blade and Erza.
For a fraction of a second, even time itself seemed to slow.
Suzaku saw that Erza still hadn't moved.
Joy had barely begun to rise in his chest when an inexplicable chill ran through him.
Because Erza wasn't frozen.
She was staring straight through the raging storm of sword energy—directly at his neck.
"I see it now…"
Suzaku's heart sank.
Erza tightened her grip on Benizakura.
Then, despite moving after him, she somehow acted first.
In a single instant, she reproduced Suzaku's iai stance perfectly.
No—she went beyond it.
A vortex of sword energy appeared around Erza as well, but unlike Suzaku's violent and murderous storm, hers possessed no obvious aggression at all.
It seemed almost gentle, like an open hand capable of containing everything within it.
Raise the hand.
Draw.
Cut downward.
The same movement.
The same principle.
The same technique.
Yet Erza had already incorporated her own understanding into it.
Brilliant crimson light gathered every strand of sword energy into one flawless point, like an immaculate jewel taking shape around her blade.
Then it swallowed Suzaku's blood-red strike.
His eyes widened.
A tremendous gash exploded across his chest.
Blood sprayed outward as his presence instantly weakened, and Suzaku was hurled violently into the distance.
BOOM—!
He crashed through a house.
When the dust settled, Suzaku lay amid the ruins, his clothing soaked red across the chest while his sword had fallen several meters away.
One strike.
That was all it had taken.
Through blurred, shaking vision, Suzaku saw the Fairy Queen approaching him.
"Cough…"
He struggled to keep his eyes open.
"That technique…"
His voice trembled.
"…wasn't mine."
He stared at Erza.
"What was it?"
Erza remained silent for a moment before answering.
"I absorbed the principles of your swordsmanship and developed them into a style of my own."
She looked down at Benizakura.
"I suppose I'll call it the Radiant World Style: Sword Drawing Art."
Her gaze returned to Suzaku.
"And that technique…"
"Radiant World: Crimson Jade Slash."
A faint smile appeared on Suzaku's lips.
Satisfied, he slowly closed his eyes.
"My Underworld Abyss…"
His voice weakened.
"…became a Radiant World Heaven."
He gave a quiet laugh.
"What a terrifying talent…"
Then his expression became more somber.
"But swords are meant to kill."
"War will never truly end."
"As long as dragons continue to exist, Dragon Slayers will never have a heaven waiting for them…"
Perhaps his wounds had finally overwhelmed him, because Suzaku began voicing thoughts he normally kept buried.
Erza didn't seem particularly moved.
She glanced toward Natsu and the others still fighting in the distance.
"Wherever your family is…"
"That can be heaven."
She returned Benizakura to her side.
"Bro said there's a good chance our sides may eventually work together."
"So don't worry."
"I didn't kill you."
Suzaku didn't answer.
Diabolos's third-strongest fighter had already lost consciousness.
Erza didn't dwell on it.
Given the current state of the world, Fairy Tail and Diabolos could certainly be considered enemies.
But that hostility was mostly the result of the war six months ago, and depending on how things developed, Guiltina might very well end up cooperating with Ishgar in the future.
The details were too complicated to predict.
Erza had long since decided on the simpler approach.
If Ankh believed cooperation was possible, she trusted him.
Her own battle was finished.
The others were nowhere near done.
Erza had defeated Suzaku so overwhelmingly because his greatest strength had happened to run directly into the worst possible opponent.
The rest of Diabolos didn't suffer from that disadvantage.
Every one of them was still an elite from the strongest guild on an entire continent, occupying roughly the same level of status as Fairy Tail's own top fighters.
Haku, the White Tiger Dragon Slayer, specialized in extreme-speed combat and possessed the terrifying ability to turn living beings into dolls.
Within Diabolos, Haku was considered the fourth-strongest member.
Wendy was having an especially difficult time against her.
Panther Lily and Carla had already been transformed into dolls, rendering them completely unable to fight.
Fortunately, Haku had no intention of killing Wendy.
She simply used her overwhelming speed to constantly circle, harass, and pressure her, never giving Wendy enough room to comfortably unleash the full power of Sky Dragon King Mode.
Wendy, wary of being caught by that speed the instant she committed to a large attack, couldn't afford to fight with complete abandon either.
Elsewhere, Madmole, the Armor Dragon Slayer, had become locked in a contest of sheer toughness with Gajeel.
Madmole's Dragon Slayer power granted him armor reputed to be nearly indestructible, and even Gajeel's iron body couldn't gain an obvious advantage when they collided head-on.
Naturally, that only made Gajeel more irritated.
He stopped bothering with elaborate techniques altogether.
Apparently, the two of them had silently agreed that the only question that mattered now was whose body was harder.
Erik was fighting Skullion Raider, the Corpse Dragon Slayer.
Compared with everything else happening across the village, their battle was almost refreshingly straightforward.
Skullion could reduce physical matter to ash, making Erik's poison liquid and poisonous mist largely useless.
So Erik simply entered Dragon King Mode and started beating him through brute force.
Surprisingly, it worked.
Skullion had spent years dominating opponents through the bizarre power of the Corpse Dragon, yet Erik's solution of ignoring the problem and physically bulldozing through him had genuinely left him struggling to adapt.
Gray, meanwhile, had originally intended to fight Skullion himself and restore the dignity of Ice-Make Magic after their previous encounter.
Somehow, that plan had completely fallen apart.
Natsu had suddenly shouted that there was a ghost beside Gray.
And then…
Gray started acting possessed.
He began calling himself Wraith, the Ghost Dragon, and immediately picked a fight with Natsu.
Natsu, naturally, took that personally.
Within moments, the two were beating the hell out of each other.
Wraith had appeared on the battlefield six months earlier in his ghostly form, and Erza had already heard about him from Ankh.
His ability allowed him to possess living bodies and attack souls directly, so his appearance was genuinely dangerous.
Natsu, however…
Natsu was probably using the possession as an excuse to settle personal grievances with Gray.
As for Lucy—
she was still desperately engaged in another clothing-destruction nightmare against the perverted Kiria.
Erza looked across the battlefield.
Almost nobody on either side appeared to be taking their fight entirely seriously anymore.
She sighed in exhaustion.
Then she lifted her sword, preparing to help Wendy and Lucy first.
At that moment, a familiar voice drifted in from the village entrance.
"Selene… are you sure those Dragon Slayers are here?"
A second voice followed.
"I can sense some familiar Magic Power…"
Selene?
Every Diabolos member still fighting Fairy Tail suddenly stiffened.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The Moon Dragon God was here?!
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