The hotel corridor was completely blocked, Vidaldus and Ikaruga at each end, while Fukuro waited in the room behind. Erza's room was right across from theirs, but Rhodes couldn't sense her magic. She was likely out.
The others were probably already playing downstairs in the underground amusement hall.
These opponents were no ordinary dark mages. Trinity Raven, an elite assassination unit of the Death's Head Caucus, was infamous even among assassins. Against them, this was not a mere skirmish, it was a battle for survival. Rhodes treated them as if facing three S-Class threats.
Two versus three, numerically outmatched.
The corridor ceiling was barely over three meters tall. Summoning larger beasts or causing wide-scale destruction would risk damaging the building and potentially harming innocent guests.
Fukuro—he was the one who had launched the surprise attack on Mira earlier. His jetpack suggested aerial mobility, possibly flight or burst charges, and the way he attacked in the dark hinted at some kind of dark vision or even Dark Magic.
Vidaldus stood out with his wild, floor-length black hair and electric guitar. Likely a user of Sound Magic, maybe even Hair Magic, given how he seemed to control the thick strands like weapons.
Ikaruga, poised and silent, wore a traditional kimono and held a red-hilted katana. As their leader, she was the most dangerous—a cold-blooded swordswoman known for slicing through even magical defenses.
Rhodes calmly assessed the situation, then tried to gain more intel:
"Why would Death's Head Caucus's Trinity Raven target the two of us? Did someone actually put out a contract on us?"
"The client said," Vidaldus rasped while strumming a distorted chord on his guitar, "'That demon girl and Fairy Tail's strategist might be trouble. Get rid of them before they interfere.'"
Ikaruga stepped forward gracefully, folding her hands into her sleeves. "Eliminating you is simply the most elegant solution," she said, her voice as delicate as falling sakura petals.
"Sounds like someone's trying to cover up something big. If you tell us what your client's after, we might just walk away." Rhodes kept his tone casual, but subtly moved one hand behind his back to shield it from Fukuro's view. He began tracing letters gently against Mira's back, communicating silently.
Ikaruga covered her mouth with her sleeve, chuckling softly like a court lady from an Eastern tale.
"Forgive me. A lady must keep her secrets. But rest assured… your blood will bloom like cherry blossoms in the spring breeze."
Rhodes raised an eyebrow. "Is that a haiku or just a poor attempt at poetic murder?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
The moment her sword shimmered with magical light, Rhodes and Mira activated their transformations, Mountain Dragon Soul and Satan Soul, respectively—and exploded into action.
In the blink of an eye, they were in front of Fukuro, fists raised. Their coordination was seamless—one strike from the left, the other from the right.
Their punches landed squarely on Fukuro's massive chest, each impact echoing with the sound of splintering bone. Their fists dug deep, nearly halfway into his body.
There was a moment of stunned silence before Fukuro's body launched backward like a missile, tearing through the hotel's outer wall.
He flew through the air and crashed hard onto the sandy beach below, leaving a long skid mark in the sand and spitting a jet of blood into the sky.
Most of Fukuro's body was buried beneath the sand, while his upper torso was soaked in blood.
An old strategist once said, it's better to take out a single threat completely than to fight ten half-heartedly.
Rhodes and Mira sprouted wings, stone and demonic—and launched into the sky like twin arrows fired from the same bowstring. They shot through the broken hotel wall, the hole Fukuro had left behind.
Curtains fluttered belatedly, and the small furnishings scattered across the room, caught in the violent gusts.
Just before their retreat, Ikaruga's katana gleamed in a lightning-fast draw. Her blade returned to its sheath with a whisper, the deadly flash barely visible to the eye.
Vidaldus, slower to react, struck a harsh chord on his electric guitar. His thick black hair surged forward like living tentacles, trying to snare the two escapees by the ankle—but the wind from their wings repelled it just in time.
Ikaruga's pink hair danced in the air as her wide sleeves rustled dramatically. If she had smiled, it would have made for an enchanting image.
But her face twisted in annoyance—clearly, she hadn't expected them to target the weakest link of the trio first and successfully break through the Trinity Raven's trap.
"Pursue." Her voice was cold and precise. She stepped lightly onto the windowsill and leapt into the open air.
Vidaldus followed a second later, launching himself after her with his guitar slung over his back.
But by the time they reached the street, Rhodes and Mira had already descended like comets, fists slamming down on Fukuro's head with crushing force.
BOOM!
The massive assassin's neck twisted at a grotesque angle as his skull was driven deep into the sand, nearly vertical, like a tent peg hammered into the beach.
The ground exploded with the impact—sand erupted in a towering column, engulfing the three figures entirely.
A shockwave rippled out from the point of collision, strong enough to roll the waves back. Tourists nearby were knocked off their feet as shrieks echoed along the shoreline.
Once the tremor faded, bystanders scrambled to get away, crawling and stumbling in the sand.
Many had noticed the strange shape crash onto the beach earlier and thought about getting a closer look, until now. No one needed to guess anymore. That was definitely a wizard battle. The only smart thing to do now was run for dear life.
Thankfully, Ikaruga and Vidaldus had no interest in ordinary civilians. Even as panicked tourists ran right past them, they paid them no attention, stalking straight toward the epicenter of the blast.
Above the shifting sand, Rhodes raised his hand.
"Summon, Blue Sentinel, Brambleback!"
With a flash of light, two towering elemental beasts appeared beside him, one a hulking azure golem pulsing with mana, the other a crimson beast with molten veins and burning claws.
Rhode's eyes lit up with power as the blue buff adorned his forehead. Mira, beside him, received the red buff, her aura burning with chaotic, demonic energy.
Rhodes pointed at Fukuro, whose body remained twisted and unmoving in the sand.
"Engage. Fight until the job is done."
These enemies were unlike any they had faced before. Cold-blooded killers, real assassins, with infamy that spread across the continent.
They were the equivalent of red-named monsters in a quest board: dangerous targets you could eliminate on sight with no repercussions, and sometimes, even collect a bonus for doing so.
With two of the three still standing, Rhodes did not have time to confirm whether Fukuro was truly out of the fight. In a battle where lives were on the line, he had no choice but to be ruthless.
"You're hurt." Mira's sharp eyes caught the thin trail of blood streaking down one of Rhode's stone wings.
Rhode's expression hardened. "That woman, she managed to get a cut in when I flew past. She's dangerous. Be careful."
Mira nodded. She knew better than anyone how durable Rhode's body was, especially after taking over the Mountain Dragon's Soul. If someone could bypass that defense and leave a wound, their attack power was no joke, possibly even rivaling her own Satan Soul: Halphas.
Ikaruga and Vidaldus had initially considered regrouping to save Fukuro, but the sight of the hulking owl being pummeled into the sand by Blue Sentinel and Brambleback made them hesitate. After a beating like that, even if he survived, he would not be contributing to the next round.
Rhodes clenched his fist. "Summon!"
A flurry of glowing portals opened around him and Mira as a host of magical beasts burst forth.
Some took to the skies with shrieks. Others burrowed into the sand or stayed nearby on standby. The beach became a wild zone of magical creatures, each one radiating battle-ready intent.
They had been lucky to take down one enemy with a surprise ambush. But with these two, there would be no second chance. Caution was everything now.
To avoid walking straight into any unknown instant-kill magic, Rhodes decided to use his summons as both attackers and testers.
"Raptors! Gromps!" he shouted.
Two large Raptors and ten smaller ones screeched overhead, their wingbeats slicing the air as they passed over Ikaruga and Vidaldus. A moment later, hundreds of crimson feathers rained down like daggers, sharp as steel and swift as a storm.
Meanwhile, two massive Gromps, swampy, bloated toads with warpaint-colored hides, bounced forward and spat twin jets of violet poison toward the enemies.
In a true fight, the summons did not care about collateral damage. Pollution? Environmental hazards? Who had time to think about that when your life was on the line?
Vidaldus strummed his guitar wildly, whipping his head back and forth as his long black hair writhed like sentient tentacles.
In the shrill screech of metal chords, his hair extended outward in thick, snakelike coils, lashing and twisting to intercept the venom mid-air.
"It's useless!" he laughed maniacally. "My hair absorbs all liquids! Poison? Bring it on! The only things that hurt it are oil and alcohol!"
Ikaruga, standing gracefully beside him, slid her katana from its sheath and danced into motion.
Her movements were sharp and elegant, slicing through the air in whirling arcs. Each falling feather was split, not vertically or horizontally, but flat. Shaved clean down the middle, the feather-knives fluttered to the ground in harmless ribbons of red.