While Jura was trying to deal with Hoteye by making sure that he was exhausted while the effects of Nirvana took place, Natsu was having a hard time dealing with Cobra—and both Happy and he realized it within a few moments.
"Karna didn't say anything other than to attack from long distance!" Happy cried while dodging the poison attacks from Cobra.
It took some time, but Natsu and Happy realized that Karna's info—that Cobra could read minds—might be true. Cobra was pissed when he heard that.
That asshole took me out in one move because he knew about my abilities beforehand. But how the hell did he even know about it? Cobra screamed in his mind as he continued fighting.
But something else confused Cobra even more.
What the hell is that timer in their minds? It seems to be some kind of rune, and they don't even know it exists. Is it some kind of Archive magic placed on their heads by that Blue Pegasus brat? But even then, why? What happens when it hits zero?
In another location…
"Damn it, how the hell do you know so much about my ability?!" Racer screamed as he was suddenly attacked by an arrow from outside the area of his magic. But instead of hitting him directly, it struck his coat and froze his entire outfit instead of his physical body.
The next instant, a well-placed kick from Lyon shattered it into fragments.
Racer froze. He realized they had found out about his jacket filled with explosives.
"How?" he asked with a horrified expression.
Lyon grinned.
"Guess I should give the Fairy Tactician more credit than I did before. The guy gathered enough information about you to conduct a psychological study, through which he told us there's a chance you'd try to use self-destructive methods if you came close to losing," Lyon replied as he froze Racer's body and used runes to restrain him. "So he told us to destroy your equipment or clothes first. Seeing the broken-down explosive pieces tells me he was right."
Gray managed to return by then.
"How do you like our Dress Break Arrow? Karna helped create it a few years ago, saying it would be useful when dealing with cursed armor that controls innocent people who get trapped in it—basically anything inorganic.
Finally, I managed to use it somewhere," Gray muttered as he reinforced the ice. Lyon raised his eyebrows as he learned the specifics of the arrow.
It's better he doesn't tell the specifics of that arrow to others. There might be some crazy ones who try to create imitations, Lyon thought as he saw Gray explain everything to the enemy.
"So Karna told us to beat him up without killing him, right?" Gray asked.
"If you ask me, I think it's better to take them out right here and now so we won't have any problems in the future," Lyon replied sternly.
"Oh really? Mr. 'Stupid Enough to Unseal Hundreds of Demons Just to Fight Them'—even though you weren't strong enough to battle one of them," Gray said, taking a deep breath after saying it all in one go.
Lyon blushed heavily with shame, trying to think of a retort but finding none. Thinking back, he couldn't believe how much of an idiot he had been to challenge multiple sealed demons at once. After he had been stopped, Ur found him and they had a rematch in which she beat him down effortlessly. After the battle, Lyon discovered that Ur still hadn't regained the prime condition she was in when she fought Deliora all those years ago. The cost of using the modified Iced Shell had still not been fully recovered. Even though she had her limbs back and had improved her skills by using less magic, it would still be nearly impossible for her to battle Deliora in her current state.
Learning this—and knowing that he couldn't even beat Ur in her weakened state—made him realize the truth of what he had done. He would never have been able to defeat Deliora alone, let alone all the other demons that would have been released. He would have brought a tragedy upon all of Fiore, beginning with the destruction and death of every innocent person on the island.
"Shut up… that was a mistake," Lyon muttered, looking away.
Gray shook his head in exasperation.
Idiot still can't be honest about things and always takes the most extreme route.
"So how should we handle this?" Lyon asked, trying his best to change the subject.
"Well, you still have the same timer in your head, right?" Gray asked as he checked his.
"Yeah, but I still don't understand its significance," Lyon said, sensing it inside his mind from where Hibiki had implanted it.
"Karna must be planning something with their leader, although the main details are still unknown."
"So we should beat him up?" Lyon asked.
"Yeah. Normally, magic is supposed to heal us, right? So we'll beat him up while making sure he stays conscious, and after draining him, we'll wait. When the timer hits zero, we knock him out," Gray concluded, and Lyon nodded.
At the same time, the last Oración Seis member…
Seeing that Karna had information about their group, Brain decided to send out all his members to slow the others down while he took control of Nirvana. That's why he sent out Midnight—whose full capabilities were only known to himself and Midnight. Not even the rest of the Oración Seis were aware of the details.
Midnight always had full confidence in his abilities when facing foes, since no one knew what he was capable of. That's exactly why his current battle with a red-headed woman wasn't making any sense to him.
"HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT MY ABILITIES?!" he screamed in anger and exasperation.
"What can I say?" Erza said with a grin "We have the most excellent tactician in all of Fiore"
A/N- hope you like it and every 100 powerstone gets extra chapter of Jason.