The central plateau was a storm of viridian green light.
Brian, the master of the Oracion Seis, was desperate. His plans had crumbled, his generals had fallen, and now, Blake was walking toward him with the casual inevitability of a natural disaster.
"Stay back!" Brian roared, his face twisted in a rictus of fury. He slammed his staff into the ground. "Darkness Magic: Dark Rondo!"
A swarm of screaming, green ghosts erupted from his staff, swirling into a chaotic vortex aimed squarely at Blake. It was a spell that decimated entire guilds, a whirlwind of curses and magical impacts.
Blake was facing Brian, who was attacking him with his magic from long range. Blake didn't break his stride. He held Tensa Zangetsu in a relaxed, one-handed grip. He didn't block; he swatted.
Clang. Hiss. Crack.
Blake defends himself by deflecting the attacks with his blade. Every time a ghost or a blast of dark energy came near him, his sword moved in a blur. The Anti-Magic coating on the black steel didn't just parry the spells; it unmade them. The ghosts shrieked as they touched the blade and dissolved into harmless sparks.
"Is that it?" Blake asked, his voice cutting through the magical cacophony. "You talk about 'knowledge' and 'darkness,' but you fight like a frightened child throwing rocks."
"I am the intellect of the Balam Alliance!" Brain shrieked, backing away, his heels scraping on the stone. "I will not be judged by a brute! Dark Capriccio!"
He fired a piercing beam of drill-like energy. Blake simply tilted his head, letting the beam graze his cheek, leaving not even a scratch on his Haki-hardened skin.
"Boring," Blake muttered. Then, fed up with it, Blake starts moving towards Brain. His pace increased from a walk to a blur.
Brian's eyes widened. He tried to erect a barrier. "Wait! I can give you—"
"Divine Departure."
Blake didn't let him finish. He swung Tensa Zangetsu in a wide, horizontal arc. A wave of black-red Haki, compressed into a razor-thin crescent, tore through the air. It sliced through Brian's barrier as if it were paper.
Brian takes the attack. The shockwave hit him square in the chest. His eyes rolled back in his head, his staff clattering from his hands. He was lifted off his feet and thrown backward, crashing into a pile of rubble. He goes unconscious, slumping against the rock, defeated.
The battlefield fell silent.
---
Minutes later, the silence was broken by the sound of footsteps and weary voices.
"Hey! Blake!"
Natsu, covered in soot but grinning, emerged from the north. Hoteye walked beside him, looking serene.
"We did it!" Lucy cheered, limping alongside a battered Gray.
Erza, Sherry, Jura, Jellal, Cobra, and Racer converged on the central plateau. They were bruised, bleeding, and exhausted, but they were alive.
"Is that him?" Gray asked, pointing at the unconscious Brian.
"Yeah," Blake said, sheathing his sword but not relaxing his posture. "That's the leader."
Once everyone gathered after all of Oracion Seis were defeated, they sigh in relief seeing Brain, its leader, also defeated.
"It's over," Sherry said, collapsing to her knees. "We stopped Nirvana."
"An excellent battle," Jura nodded, clutching his injured arm. "The alliance is victorious."
Even Jellal allowed himself a small sigh of relief. "With the six generals down and Brain incapacitated, the threat is neutralized. We should secure him and—"
"Don't get comfortable," Blake's voice was sharp, cutting through the celebratory mood.
The group looked at him. Blake wasn't celebrating. He was standing perfectly still, his back to his friends, his eyes locked on the unconscious form of Brian. His hand was hovering over his sword hilt.
"Blake?" Erza asked, sensing his tension. "What is it?"
"Count them," Blake said grimly. "How many generals did we defeat?"
"Six," Hibiki said. "Scylla, Guignol, Malak, Phidias, Mortis... wait. Five? No, the sixth prayer... Brian himself?"
"The Six Prayers," Jellal whispered, realization dawning on him with horror. "The seal..."
But Blake was waiting for the arrival of Zero, who is the alternate personality of Brian, who is more dangerous. Blake knew the lore. Brian had sealed away his own destructive alter-ego using the members of the Oracion Seis as living keys. Once all six were defeated, the lock would break.
On the unconscious body of Brain, the black markings on his face began to vanish. One by one.
The First Prayer... fades.
The Second Prayer... fades.
The Third... Fourth... Fifth... Sixth...
The air temperature dropped. The birds that had started to sing fell silent. A low, guttural vibration began to emanate from the fallen leader.
"He's waking up!" Natsu yelled. "I thought you knocked him out!"
"I did," Blake said. "That's not Brian."
Then Brian—now Zero—gets up.
The movement was wrong. It wasn't the groggy struggle of an injured man. It was the fluid, jerky snap of a puppet having its strings cut. The man stood up straight. The dignified robes were torn away by a burst of raw magic, revealing a muscular physique covered in black markings. His hair, once styled, spiked up wildly.
But the worst part was the magic.
He was emanating a menacing magical aura. It wasn't the calculating, green magic of Brain. It was a blood-red, chaotic storm of pure killing intent. It felt sticky, heavy, and overwhelming. Even Jura stepped back, his face pale.
"Oh... oh my," Zero whispered. His voice was different—raspy, wild, and filled with a terrifying delight.
He looked at his hands. He looked at the sky.
"FREE!"
Zero threw his head back and screamed, a sound of pure madness. "THE PRAYERS HAVE FADED! I AM FREE! DESTRUCTION! I WANT DESTRUCTION!"
Then Blake draws his sword, ready to attack. "Get back!" he ordered the alliance. "Shields up!"
Seeing Brian wake up into this monster, every member of the allied guild tensed up, ready to defend themselves.
Erza requipped into her Adamantine Armor instantly. Jura summoned a rock wall. Jellal cast a protective heavenly barrier.
"Who... who is this?!" Lucy shrieked, hiding behind Natsu.
"I am Zero!" the monster roared. "And you... you are all just ants to be crushed!"
Then Zero starts using stronger attacks on allied members.
He didn't cast spells; he unleashed disasters.
"Dark Genesis!"
He waved his hand, and the very fabric of space seemed to scream. Thousands of green, screaming wraiths erupted from the ground, swarming the alliance.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu yelled, blasting the ghosts.
"Ice-Make: Shield!" Gray shouted.
The ghosts smashed into their defenses with the force of cannonballs. Jura's rock wall cracked. Erza was pushed back, her heels digging furrows in the stone.
"He's... he's stronger than the others combined!" Jellal grunted, holding his barrier. "We can't get close!"
Zero laughed, a manic, high-pitched cackle. "Yes! Suffer! Writhe! It's beautiful!"
His eyes darted around the battlefield. He saw the strong mages struggling. Then, his gaze landed on the smallest figure. The one person Blake had kept behind him.
Wendy.
"The sky child," Zero hissed, licking his lips. "Brain wanted you for Nirvana. I just want to see you break."
He pointed a finger directly at her.
"Dark Capriccio: Piercing Zero!"
A concentrated beam of death, far faster and darker than anything Brian had fired, shot across the battlefield. It bypassed Erza, bypassed Jura, aiming straight for the terrified girl's heart.
"WENDY!" Carla screamed.
Wendy froze, the green light reflecting in her eyes. She couldn't move.
But she didn't have to.
A shadow fell over her.
Blake was standing in front of Wendy, blocking the attacks.
He didn't use a shield. He didn't dodge. He stood his ground, Tensa Zangetsu held horizontally in front of his chest.
BOOM!
The beam hit Blake's sword. The impact was massive, kicking up a cloud of dust that swallowed them both. The ground beneath Blake's feet cracked and cratered, sinking a foot deep.
"BLAKE!" Natsu yelled.
The dust cleared.
Blake hadn't moved an inch. He was holding the beam back with his blade, his muscles tense, his Haki flaring black and red against the green onslaught.
"Is that all?" Blake asked calmly, looking over his blade at the shocked Zero. "I expected more from the 'ultimate personality.'"
"You..." Zero's grin fell. "You blocked it?"
"I'm not just blocking it," Blake said. With a grunt of exertion, he swung his sword upward. The Anti-Magic in his blade severed the magical beam, dissipating it into harmless light.
Blake turned his head slightly to Wendy. "Stay behind me."
He turned back to Zero. The playfulness was gone from Blake's face. He wasn't going to have a drawn-out battle. He wasn't going to risk his friends or Wendy.
He was going to execute him.
"You're dangerous," Blake stated, his voice devoid of emotion. "Brian was a schemer. You're a calamity. And calamities get put down."
"You think you can defeat me?!" Zero roared, his aura flaring to the size of a mountain. "I WILL ERASE YOU! GENESIS ZERO!"
Zero opened a portal to the Void of Nothingness, a black hole intended to swallow Blake whole.
Blake lowered his stance. He sheathed Tensa Zangetsu for a split second.
He channeled everything.
He pulled the Armament Haki from every cell in his body, condensing it onto the blade until it was a singularity of black steel.
He pushed his Conqueror's Haki to its absolute limit, the black lightning crackling so violently it scorched the ground around him.
And he flooded the blade with Anti-Magic, turning it into a weapon that rejected the very concept of existence.
He vanished.
He moved faster than sound, faster than sight. He flashed through the Genesis Zero void, his Anti-Magic carving a safe path through the darkness. He appeared directly in front of Zero, who was still mid-laugh.
Zero's eyes widened. He saw death.
Blake drew the blade.
"...Black Meteorite."
It was a single, vertical slash.
It wasn't a wave of energy. It was a cut that severed the world. A line of absolute blackness bisected the air, the magic, and the man.
The slash hit Zero.
Zero didn't scream. He didn't have time. The Anti-Magic disrupted his spell, his aura, and his physical form simultaneously. The Haki shockwave hit him internally, shattering every bone and scrambling his nervous system.
The sheer force of the blow blasted behind Zero, carving a canyon into the mountain range miles away.
Defeating him with one shot.
Zero stood frozen for a second. A thin line of blood appeared on his chest. His eyes rolled back, the white showing. The red aura vanished instantly, snuffed out like a candle in a hurricane.
He collapsed face-first onto the dirt.
The threat of Nirvana, the Balam Alliance's plan, and the monster Zero... were gone.
Blake stood over the fallen enemy, breathing out a long cloud of steam. He slowly sheathed his sword. Click.
He turned to the stunned alliance members, who were staring at him with jaws on the floor. Even Jura, a Wizard Saint, looked shaken by the display of power.
Blake adjusted his coat, walked back to Wendy, and patted her head.
"Safe," he said gently.
Then he looked at Natsu. "Now... who's hungry?"
The war was over.