— — — — — —
"Hahaha!"
On the other side, Hades burst into laughter the moment he heard what Renzo said. "Deal with me? You brat! Don't tell me you think taking down that little Deleora gives you the right to challenge me?"
"Do you even know who you're talking to? I am Hades."
In the next instant, a terrifying surge of dark purple magic exploded from Hades' body—so intense it made Deleora from a few days ago seem like a joke in comparison.
It swept across the area like a violent storm, snapping trees like twigs and melting away large patches of snow.
Only Ultear was spared, thanks to Hades deliberately shielding her from the blast.
But Renzo and Ur weren't so lucky. Even though they weren't directly targeted, the sheer pressure of that magic made the air feel like it had frozen. Both of them could feel their chests tightening with the oppressive weight.
Ur's eyes narrowed sharply at the overwhelming aura. She turned to Renzo and asked, "Who is that guy?"
Without missing a beat, Renzo replied, "He's the leader of the dark guild Grimoire Heart—formerly the second Guild Master of Fairy Tail, Precht Gaebolg. After falling into darkness, he took on the name Hades."
"A stubborn old fossil who lost himself to the dark."
As he said that, Renzo suddenly shot into the sky at high speed, heading toward a specific point far above.
At the same time, he used a transmission spell to speak to Ur: "Master! I'll lure that old man away! You need to force Ultear to leave this place—no matter what!"
"She's got a huge misunderstanding about what happened back then. You have to tell her the truth. Everything, no matter how painful."
"Don't hide a thing. Maybe that'll help her let go of the hatred she's been holding onto."
"If it doesn't work, just wait for me to come back. I've got another way."
Ur nodded slowly. But deep inside, she was confused. Can Renzo really make Hades chase after him just like that? And more than that—Can he even beat Hades?
The pressure coming off that man… it was way worse than Deleora.
Still, at this point, all she could do was trust Renzo.
"…Hmm?"
Just as Renzo flew toward a specific location in the sky, Hades' expression suddenly changed. Ur watched in shock.
"You brat… I admit I underestimated you! You're not getting away!!"
With that, Hades launched himself into the air and shot after Renzo like a missile.
He was clearly pissed. Furious, even.
As for Ultear? He wasn't worried.There was no way she'd escape from his grasp. No one he had his eyes on had ever escaped.
BOOM!!!
A loud explosion echoed through the skies as Renzo flew nearly a thousand meters high, then suddenly punched the air in front of him.
Ripples of magic shimmered through the sky. A magical barrier was revealed—one that had been hidden by stealth magic.
Inside it? A massive flying battleship loaded with magitek cannons.
At this point, Renzo stopped. He didn't attack the barrier any further. Instead, he turned around mid-air, arms crossed, hovering effortlessly.
He smirked at the approaching Hades. "Heh. I bet you do care a lot about this flying fortress."
"Let me guess… the thing inside—'Devil's Heart,' right?"
"Wow, wow, wow… that magic power is nuts. Saying it's unlimited might not even be an exaggeration."
"What do you think would happen… if I blew it up?"
Devil's Heart—the magic core inspired by Fairy Heart, created by Hades himself.
If that thing gets destroyed, his combat power would plummet by several tiers.
I mean, just look at the original story—after Happy, Carla, and Lily accidentally wrecked it, Hades went from beating the crap out of the Fairy Tail team to getting absolutely dunked on by Natsu's new lightning-fire combo.
The gap in strength? Massive.
Honestly, without destroying Devil's Heart, Renzo wasn't confident he could beat Hades. But with it gone? Totally different story.
Seeing Renzo suddenly stop and float there all confident, Hades lit up with wicked glee.
"You foolish brat! You shouldn't have stopped—now you're dead meat!"
"Dark Grimoire Chain!!"
Hades shouted as he launched eighteen dark magic chains straight at Renzo.
But Renzo just smirked and teleported, instantly dodging the attack.
He reappeared inside the barrier—inside the magic battleship—and looked at Hades with a calm, cocky smile.
"You really sure you wanna keep this fight going? Or do you want to find out if I'm bluffing?"
"You…!"
Hades' pupils shrank.
He hadn't expected Renzo to be able to teleport through the magic barrier.
No—he had completely forgotten.
Renzo had used teleportation before, but he hadn't paid it much attention then.
Now he finally understood why Renzo had dared to stop so confidently.
At this point, Hades had no choice but to halt as well. His face darkened as he glared at Renzo, growling, "Brat! What the hell do you want?"
"What do I want?" Renzo chuckled. "Simple—I want you to completely let go of Ultear. Stay away from her and her mother. If you even think of getting close again, I'll track down your hideout and blow up your so-called 'Devil's Heart.' Don't believe me? Try me."
He wasn't planning to kill Hades just yet. The guy still had some use.
"Oh?"
But did Hades look like someone who'd bow to threats?
Suddenly clapping his hands together, he let out a deep shout.
"Then take this instead!"
"Devil's Heart: Grimoire Law!"
In an instant, a terrifying surge of magic energy began swirling between his palms. A mysterious and powerful orb of energy started forming in the space between his hands.
Renzo's instincts screamed danger—real danger.
Without a second thought, he activated his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan Eye.
"Takamagahara Domain—Nullify!"
In the blink of an eye, he pulled both Hades and the entire magic cannon airship into his Takamagahara domain.
Inside the domain, he had full control over everything. He immediately activated his authority and tried to shut down the casting of Grimoire Law by force.
"Hmm?" But something was off.
The magic didn't vanish like he expected. Instead, it stalled mid-cast, locked in a tug-of-war. Hades, powered by that terrifying Immense Magic Power of the Devil's Heart, was actually holding his ground against the anti-magic field of Takamagahara.
Still, the spellcasting process slowed way down.
"Oh?" Hades could feel the interference too. He frowned and glared at Renzo, narrowing his eyes. "You're full of surprises, kid. To think you've mastered this level of domain magic… I'll admit, I underestimated you again."
"But don't think that changes anything! You're still going to die."
"Still, I'll give you credit—no one's ever dared to threaten me to my face before! Hmph."
He estimated it would take about 30 more seconds before Grimoire Law fully activated. And when that happened? Renzo was dead meat.
"Huh," Renzo muttered to himself, a little surprised. This might've been the first time any version of him had used Takamagahara's real form in battle.
With a thought, his shadow clone appeared behind him.
Then with a flicker, the clone vanished from sight and reappeared right beside the core of the airship—the Devil's Heart.
"Phew!" The clone let out a breath as it landed. "As expected, the magic barrier around this thing really blocks out spiritual perception… almost didn't make it in. Good thing Takamagahara included the airship in its range!"
If he hadn't pulled that move earlier, he probably couldn't have gotten in at all.
"Who's there?!"
The moment the clone arrived, dozens of guards inside the airship spotted him.
They saw a stranger pop up out of nowhere and immediately rushed in, weapons drawn.
"Raikiri!" The clone didn't even blink using the Lightning Cutter.
A thunderous bolt of lightning gathered around his right arm as he lunged forward and plunged his hand straight into the Devil's Heart.
The sheer force of lightning and vibration tore the heart apart. Its internal structure shattered, and wild torrents of magic began gushing out like a broken dam.
Just to be sure, the clone gave it a few more clean slices.
Only when the Devil's Heart was neatly split into eight pieces did the clone nod in satisfaction.
Then, ignoring the incoming guards completely, he dispelled himself.
As for Raikiri—that was a jutsu Uchiha Renzo had reverse-engineered from Kakashi's Chidori during one of their ability exchanges.
Honestly, it was even more refined than Kakashi's original.
And yeah, this technique was perfect for surgical strikes like this—clean, precise, and devastating.
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