"So, you guys got the gist of the plan at least?" Karna asked out loud.
"Yeah, got it," each one affirmed. But Karna turned towards Natsu.
"You got the plan right, Natsu?" Karna asked once more.
Natsu became a bit angry as he was singled out.
"Hey, don't think of me as an idiot. I remember your plan very well!" Natsu shouted indignantly.
"Really? What is it again?"
"Uh... find the poison guy and punch him to the ground?" Natsu declared with full confidence and a grin. But all it earned were groans and a few of them slapping their own foreheads.
BAM!!
Erza immediately punched Natsu down.
"He is a Poison Dragon Slayer, Natsu, so you cannot touch him directly. You must use long-range attacks. You would have known this if you had listened clearly to Karna," Erza said in a strict manner.
"Eh… Erza, Natsu's been knocked out," Lucy said with an awkward smile.
Everyone turned to find Natsu knocked out on the ground, with Happy using a stick to poke him.
Karna sighed.
"Just take him and go to the location, Happy. Instead of telling him what to do, Natsu will figure it out during the fight. Unlike normal times, the idiot's a genius when he fights." Happy nodded and carried him towards the location where they saw a bright pillar of light shining in the sky.
The rest also nodded at each other as they split off into different teams to fight their respective opponents. Some were targeting the wizards of other dark guilds in large numbers, while others were tasked with handling the members of Oración Seis. Only after that would they be allowed to deal with the other weaklings.
Within moments, everyone disappeared into the forest, leaving Karna and Cana as the last two people in the clearing.
Karna turned towards Cana and saw that she was still a bit mad because of the earlier problems.
"We need to talk," Karna started, scratching his head nervously.
"Yeah, we do," Cana said in a strict voice.
They sat in the clearing while Karna explained most of the information he had recently gotten from the system, including the difficulty of the final battle, as well as the forthcoming battle after dealing with the Oración Seis.
It took some time, but he was finally able to convince her about him taking dangerous steps given by the system to grow stronger.
"It's not that I don't understand that you have to complete the quests to become stronger for the future, Karna. The problem I have is that you are really reckless with the way you try out these quests.
I still remember the time you took on the entire Thunder Palace by yourself to complete the quest that day. If you had told me about it, I would have been reluctant but would have made sure to be close by to heal you with the Horse Talisman if something had gone wrong.
But instead of that, you just vanished from our sights and suddenly got struck down by an attack that would have taken care of an average Wizard Saint. Now you tell me—am I supposed to just let it go and say that it's normal?" Cana asked, and Karna was able to clearly hear the pain she felt when she voiced it.
He just went near her and pulled her into a hug.
"All right. I promise I'll inform you if I'm going to do anything dangerous to myself before I do it next time, okay?" Karna said, which earned him a small grunt from Cana.
"All right, now let's go. I need to beat Brain using only archery and destroy Nirvana with my bare fists," he said involuntarily. But suddenly, he stopped.
'I sense I made some mistake of some kind,' was his last thought before he felt a hammer fall on his face.
A few minutes later...
Karna was walking with Cana through the forest toward the direction of Nirvana that they had seen earlier. By now, Brain had managed to raise it, and it was heading toward Cait Shelter. Brain believed that the weapon should be used on guilds to turn them toward darkness, but he had no idea that the entirety of Cait Shelter was filled with illusions—except for a single person.
Karna slightly winced as he still felt the sting on his cheek, where Cana had slapped him while enhancing her strength with magic. Even though he got hit, he was surprised it ended with only one.
"You know, I'm not complaining about it, but I'm surprised you stopped at just one hit," Karna said as both he and Cana slowly began increasing their speed toward Nirvana.
"Let's just say that our friends in Blue Pegasus were really good at calming emotions. They were welcoming to the idea of me venting my anger on them," Cana replied with a smile that sent shivers down Karna's spine. He silently offered a prayer and thanked them for taking the anger she had kept for him.
"But Karna, what were your plans when you sent them to specific targets of the Oración Seis?" Cana asked.
"The thing is, Cana, if I'm right, the last battle will require us to fight multiple enemies with power levels similar to the strongest members of the Ten Wizard Saints. So it's better for everyone to grow stronger along with me so that they can survive the future fight.
Plus, I made sure that they are matched up against opponents who can bring out their potential as well as make them stronger by pushing them to their limits. Most of the Oración Seis are strong not because they brute-force their battles, but because they are smart in the way they use their abilities. Most of the members of our guild need to learn how to use their brains so that they can become better than they are now."
"Then what do you want me to do?" Cana asked. "I'm pretty sure you don't want me to interfere in your battle with Brain—or Zero, as you call his real personality."
"Your job will be to get information from within Nirvana," Karna said as both he and Cana began to climb one of its legs. "At first, my idea was to use it to gain a special ability I'm planning on. But my recent investigation made me find a few things that made the act of gathering information even more important," Karna said in a serious tone.
"What kind of information?" Cana asked as she sensed his seriousness.
"There might be a relationship between Nirvana and the curse of Ankhseram infecting both Zeref and Mavis.
But if my worries are right... Nirvana might be related to the fictional god of death—Ankhseram."
A/N- hope you like it and every 100 powerstone gets extra chapter of Jason