Sherry staggered to her feet, her gaze somewhat vacant and dark as she stood behind the protective Jura.
She slowly raised her hand, gathering magic power.
"Die..." she whispered.
Preparing to launch a magic sneak attack directly at Jura's exposed back...
"Don't even think about it! Men~"
Just then, a charmingly exaggerated shout came from nearby.
Boom!
The flamboyant Ichiya, his body enlarged to giant proportions with muscle-enhancement perfume, leaped from the bushes.
With Hibiki weakly clinging to his back, Ichiya tackled Sherry, pressing her to the ground before she could cast her spell.
"Ichiya? What are you doing?!"
Jura, who had been confronting Hoteye, hadn't noticed Sherry's abnormality and shouted in surprise at Ichiya for attacking an ally.
Ichiya struck his signature pose even while pinning her down, his homely face serious as he said:
"The Oración Seis might be using Nirvana Magic! Sherry, and Hibiki earlier, were acting very strange!"
Just moments before, Ichiya had been searching for their scattered companions when he happened upon Hibiki.
To his surprise, Hibiki seemed like a completely different person, attacking him mercilessly without any regard for their friendship.
Fortunately, as a support-type Mage, Hibiki (who was weak in direct combat) was no match for the S-Class Ichiya at all and was quickly subdued by him in just a few moves with "Pain Parfum."
Jura noticed a dark glow emanating from both Sherry and the unconscious Hibiki on Ichiya's back.
He said with a grave expression, "Is this the Magic Power of Nirvana? It's truly terrifying... turning allies into enemies."
"Ahem..."
Hibiki suddenly let out a dry cough as his rationality slowly returned, the distance from Nirvana's core helping.
He gradually opened his eyes and looked at the two men before him:
"Ichiya-sama, Jura-san, be careful..."
Hibiki gasped, clutching his head. "I was ambushed by Racer. He used my trauma about my late girlfriend to provoke me and took the opportunity to attack me with Nirvana's Magic Power. You two must be cautious."
"Nirvana has the power to invert light and darkness," Hibiki explained breathlessly. "Anyone caught between good and evil, when struck by the Magic Power emanating from the Oración Seis, will have their alignment completely reversed!"
Jura turned to look at Hoteye and suddenly understood. "No wonder Sherry started acting strangely after being hit by his black Magic Power earlier! She was grieving for her love, Lyon, and that despair became darkness."
...
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Jura tilted his bald head in confusion as he looked at Hoteye and asked.
Hoteye, who had been silent all this time watching the scene, suddenly dropped his guard.
He crouched down, clutching his head while breathing heavily with a twisted expression.
What was he doing?
Jura hadn't even made a move yet!
Ichiya and Jura shielded the group of injured behind them, then cautiously approached Hoteye to prevent him from suddenly lashing out and harming others.
"Money! Money! With this, we'll be rich!" Hoteye muttered, his voice shaking.
"With money, I can buy everything in the world! My brother... I can find him!"
"Money!!"
Hoteye's entire body trembled uncontrollably as if convulsing.
He began shouting his desires frantically.
His wish was to find his younger brother (Wally), and for that, he believed he needed a vast amount of money, even if it meant becoming a miser and joining a dark guild.
Jura and Ichiya assumed defensive stances, magic gathering in their hands.
But then...
Hoteye suddenly quieted down.
He stood up straight.
A gentle and peaceful smile spread across his blocky face, replacing the greed.
"I don't need that kind of thing anymore~" Hoteye crooned.
"Huh??!"
The two nearly strained their backs from Hoteye's abrupt change, involuntarily letting out strange exclamations in unison.
Tears streamed down Hoteye's face as he passionately expressed his inner feelings to the confused mages:
"I desperately wanted to meet my younger brother, whom I've been separated from since birth. I thought having money would help me find him, but... but! I now realize that this idea was completely wrong!"
"Truly, let's stop arguing over such trivial matters like money and war. This world is filled with love everywhere. Love~ what a sweet and compassionate word!"
He opened his arms wide.
"As long as there is love, nothing is impossible! Oh, Brother!"
After fervently sharing a series of thoughts about love, Hoteye pulled the two stunned men before him into a tight embrace.
Squelch.
His tears splashed all over Jura's bald head.
Jura and Ichiya stared at each other in bewilderment over Hoteye's shoulder, unsure how to react.
Nearby, Hibiki struggled to suppress his dark thoughts while thoughtfully observing Hoteye's sudden reformation.
It seemed the Oración Seis had also been affected by Nirvana.
This was actually a good thing for our side...
Anyone caught between light and darkness would inevitably be influenced by Nirvana's Magic Power.
Just like Hoteye now—he had joined the Oración Seis out of necessity to find his brother, so his evil intentions weren't pure.
His goal of amassing wealth was for the sake of reunion, a noble cause, which made him a target for Nirvana's influence to flip him to "Good."
Except for Hoteye, Hibiki analyzed, the other members of Oración Seis probably wouldn't be so easily swayed.
Each of them seemed like people who wouldn't be troubled by moral dilemmas. They are pure evil.
On the other hand, his own side was full of emotional individuals.
And then... Fairy Tail... With their chaotic way of doing things, could they be considered people caught between good and evil?
Leaving aside the concluded battlefield here, elsewhere in the ruins, the individuals Hibiki was concerned about were engaged in a peculiar battle.
Natsu: "..."
Gray: "..."
Cobra: "Pfft—"
Natsu turned pale with shock, pointing at Cobra across from him.
"This is bad! That guy really can hear people's thoughts! He laughed at my joke!"
Gray responded with a grim expression, wiping sweat from his brow. "Yeah, I just recalled an embarrassing childhood story about Lyon in my mind to test him, and sure enough, that guy couldn't hold back his laughter."
Lyon, who was fighting alongside them, felt his cool prince facade shatter.
He yelled at the two idiots beside him, veins popping in his forehead.
"You fools! We already knew this! Stop thinking about stupid things!"
"And you, Gray! Focus on the battle! Don't start playing around with the enemy, you two bastards!"
Happy couldn't contain his curiosity.
He flew over to Gray.
"Hey~ Gray, what was Lyon's embarrassing story? Tell me!"
Gray smirked. "Ah... It's about how Lyon used to strip naked freely as a kid and once there happened to be a little bird passing by that mistook something for a worm and accidentally pecked..."
"SHUT UP!!" Lyon flew into a rage.
Smack!
He grabbed Happy by the tail and sent the cat flying, while putting Gray in a headlock with his other arm.
"Die, Gray!"
Natsu shouted discontentedly, "Hey, white-haired guy! Let Happy go! Fight me!"
While the three humans and one cat inexplicably started fighting among themselves, Cobra on the other side stared at them with exasperation.
He lowered his guard slightly.
"Do they even realize this is a battlefield?" Cobra muttered. "I can hear everything, and it's all idiocy."
"Hiss—"
Cobra sighed helplessly, and the purple snake beside him hissed in sympathy.
Racer, watching the spectacle from a nearby rock, commented approvingly behind his sunglasses.
"Being fast has its advantages. That quick-acting white-haired guy clearly prevented his own embarrassing story from being exposed. Good speed."
"Hey, hey, hey... you..." Cobra groaned. "Are we fighting or not?"
A three-against-two situation formed.
...
Meanwhile, Midnight, the strongest fighter of the Oración Seis, unsurprisingly fixed his attention on Erza Scarlet.
"Still not giving up, Fairy Queen?" Midnight yawned, floating on his carpet.
From the rubble of countless collapsed buildings and walls, Erza leaped out.
Her armor was cracked.
Having broken one piece of armor after another in failed attempts to hit him, Erza was breathing slightly heavily while her mind raced rapidly.
'My attacks pass through him... or rather, they are twisted away.'
'There might be powerful Magic in this world, but there was no such thing as unsolvable Magic.'
Erza calmed her breathing and focused her spirit, rapidly reviewing every detail from their previous exchange in her mind.
He twists space.
He twists light.
He twists armor.
Then, her red lips curved into a slight smile.
"My brother once said: 'In battle, one must remain calm. Boiling water only meets the fate of evaporation.'"
Confidence shone from Erza's beautiful face as her entire body began to glow once more with sheer magical pressure.
"I've seen through it all. Your magic is Reflector. You can twist anything... but you can't twist two things at once, and you can't twist a human body directly."
She raised her sword.
"Now, let's end this battle!"
"Requip!"