With a single strike, the precision of Ikaruga's swordsmanship was unmistakable.
This level of skill far surpassed simply slicing Lucy's clothes. Even Erza might struggle against it.
"There is nothing I cannot cut."
Ikaruga gently returned her katana to its sheath as countless crimson feathers drifted around her like falling petals.
Had the background music been a traditional ensemble rather than Vidaldus's screeching electric guitar, the scene might've carried a strange elegance.
"Krugs, Brambleback, Blue Sentinel, Murk Wolves!" Rhodes had no time to admire her theatrics.
At his command, thorny vines burst from the sand, slithering across the beach like a nest of vipers.
Before Vidaldus and Ikaruga could react, two Krugs erupted from the ground, clamping their rocky jaws around the enemies' lower backs.
The vines rapidly climbed up their legs, binding them from the ankles to the thighs in an instant.
Two Blue Floaters, pulsing with azure light, circled behind and fired concentrated mana beams at their backs.
Four Murk Wolves—two from the flanks and two from the front—lunged for their throats with ghostly growls.
But Ikaruga was a master of the blade. In a heartbeat, she unsheathed her katana and carved through every vine in sight, slicing them clean without effort.
Her blade danced again, splitting both Krugs in half. Their remains dissolved back into the ground with low rumbles.
Vidaldus, far from idle, let out a wild cackle and tore into his guitar strings with ferocity.
His floor-length black hair twisted and writhed like a mass of snakes. It lashed out, snatching all four Murk Wolves midair and hurling them like cannonballs at the Floaters behind him.
The wolves were pierced by the lasers mid-flight, but their momentum was enough to slam into the Floaters, shattering them on impact.
"So instead of direct sound attacks, you control your hair with music?" Rhodes narrowed his eyes, analyzing the rhythm of the guitar and how it influenced the black coils.
"Just in case... maybe I should block my ears with earth magic."
While earplugs couldn't fully negate sound, they could dull it enough to disrupt sound-based enchantments. It worked on a similar principle as wearing protective goggles against visual illusion magic.
It wasn't logical science—it was Fairy Tail magic logic.
But there was a downside. Dulling one's own hearing also reduced awareness and reaction time. Against even slightly weaker foes, it could make the battle drag on painfully.
"I'll handle the sound magic." Mira stepped forward to shield Rhodes, lifting her arms. "Take Over: Demon Lullaby!"
A burst of magic enveloped her. Her casual clothes vanished, replaced by a coarse, earthen-colored robe. Mysterious purple and indigo sigils shimmered across her exposed shoulders.
She stood barefoot on the beach, her face hidden behind a wooden mask of a three-eyed oni spirit, its expression unsettlingly serene.
"Sleep now~ rest well~ Dream beneath the rose-filled sheets~"
Mira's voice was a soft lullaby, laced with subtle magic. Her words floated forward like a drifting melody, brushing past the roaring surf and toward the enemy.
Ikaruga's elegant poise faltered. A wave of drowsiness hit her like a gentle tide, her eyes growing heavy as if invisible weights tugged at her lashes.
Ikaruga struggled against the creeping drowsiness, slicing through the descending razor-feathers once more, but this time, her swings lacked their former precision.
"You understand music too?!" Vidaldus rasped, his voice only slightly less grating than the chaotic screeching from his guitar.
"Then come and enjoy it… this is a concert straight from hell! DEATH ROLLAWAY!!!"
His fingers trembled with furious speed across the strings. Despite lacking any amplifier, the guitar shrieked out a deafening roar of sound that filled the entire beach.
"Hi-ah-AHH!!!" Vidaldus howled, headbanging with wild abandon. His massive black hair twisted into a spinning cyclone atop his head.
"Let's gooo! FUNKY-GIRL!!!"
If Mira's lullaby was the tender song of a loving mother, cradling a child to sleep… then Vidaldus's wail was like someone jamming a brass band into your ears and setting it on fire.
The peaceful magic of Mira's Lullaby was obliterated in an instant, drowned out by the madness. An explosion of rage and chaos followed—like someone had kicked open the door to a nightclub inside a volcano.
Even Ikaruga, who had been wavering under the effects of the lullaby, was now fully alert again. She calmly swatted away a pair of blue-and-purple Floaters as they lunged at her.
"Yihaha! I like your style!" Vidaldus cackled like a lunatic, his tongue lolling out as he slammed his fingers across the strings. "You're my nightmare date for tonight! Let's ROCK!!!"
"Rock Nightmare!"
With that battle cry, a screeching wall of noise erupted from his guitar, so powerful that even the sand on the beach began to ripple.
Rhodes couldn't let him finish the performance.
"Mountain Dragon's Roar!"
Opening his mouth, Rhodes unleashed a storm of rocky breath, fragments of stone and crushing force blasting forward like a cyclone.
Krugs erupted from underground without hesitation, hurling themselves at Vidaldus. One slammed into his side, the other bit down hard on his guitar.
Two Murk Wolves darted out next, one flanking Ikaruga to cut off her escape, the other lunging to tear at the guitar from the other side.
The Raptors, unable to unleash their feather knives became the blades themselves, divebombing from above like crimson comets.
Even the Gromps, those hulking, swamp-colored frogs, launched their bulky bodies like cannonballs, aiming straight at both Ikaruga and Vidaldus.
The Blue Sentinel and Brambleback, who had been pummeling the nearly-unconscious Fukuro, now turned and charged at full force toward Vidaldus, ready to flatten him like a freight train.
Every summoned creature had received the same top priority command: Protect the Boss Lady.
Yet even with that onslaught, sound traveled faster than teeth or claws.
The cursed rhythm from Vidaldus's guitar reached Mira first—two distinct streams of magical sound poured into her ears.
She winced, groaning under the mental pressure. The third eye embedded in her forehead flashed brightly beneath the wooden mask.
Then her face relaxed, and she steadied herself.
"It's mental magic," Mira warned calmly. "Sound-based mind control. Be on guard."
But her words came a moment too late.
The music had already stopped.
Faced with the barrage of savage attacks, Ikaruga couldn't fully shield Vidaldus this time.
First, she unleashed a precise, arcing slash with her katana, cutting straight through Rhodes's Mountain Dragon's Roar. The storm of rock and debris split into two distinct currents, howling past her sides and tearing twin trenches across the beach. Even the earth beneath the sand was exposed, while the fine grains from the "island" beneath their feet began to flow outward like a tide.
Twelve Raptors dove from the sky like crimson missiles, but Ikaruga's blade danced faster than sight, she cleaved each one down with terrifying precision, feathers and blood scattering into the wind.
She struck again, slicing through the pair of Krugs, but instead of disappearing, the shattered fragments morphed into swarms of miniature krugs. These scuttled forward and latched onto Vidaldus's ankles and behind his knees, biting hard into muscle and tendons.
One Murk Wolf lunged for Ikaruga, but she twisted, slashing through its neck in a blur. The wolf's body burst into magical particles before it even hit the ground.
The other Murk Wolf attacked Vidaldus, one head sinking its fangs into his shoulder, the other clamping down on the neck of his guitar. He screamed, flailing as his hair surged out to bind the beast, but even that couldn't stop the growing cracks running along the guitar's frame.
And then came the heavyweights.
Two Gromps dropped from above like giant poisonous meteors. Ikaruga and Vidaldus had no choice but to dodge aside, because right behind them, a stone golem's hammer-like fist and a Brambleback's burning claws came crashing down.
CLANG!
Ikaruga met the golem's fist with a slash so sharp and swift, it rang out like a bell. She cleaved through its stone knuckles in one clean cut. The severed chunk fell to the sand, the cross-section gleaming smooth and polished like a mirror.
Vidaldus's hair shot out to bind the Brambleback's claws—but the raging elemental beast overpowered the strands, slapping him backward and smashing him straight into the belly of one of the airborne Gromps.
Both staggered from the impact.
Two Gromps lashed out with their tongues, fat, muscular, and coated in dark purple venom.
One tongue caught only Ikaruga's sleeve. She slashed it off instantly, but the venom had already soaked through. She winced at the sting on her forearm and immediately severed the entire sleeve, tossing it away. Her arm tingled, already reacting to the poison.
The other tongue wrapped tightly around Vidaldus's neck.
His eyes bulged. The venom's acidic burn crept across his skin while the crushing pressure of the tongue choked the breath from his lungs.
...
Bonus @400 $tonks
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