398. Provoking

The Spriggans' shields block Ben's massive attack, but not completely. Ben still has full control of his attack and he moves it across the shields instead of forcefully trying to break them. The black-red-gold solar energy runs on the shields and reaches the backside.

Of course, the Spriggans notice it and they try to extend their shields to the back. But they can't do it fast enough and they are too late anyway. Ben's 3-colored solar energy attack reaches his enemies from behind and he crashes it onto the soldiers at the back.

They try to block Ben's attack, but none of these Mage soldiers are strong enough to block Ben's attack. Lucky for them, Ben doesn't use all his attacks for them. He only uses a quarter of its power for them while he uses the other 3 quarters to break the shields and make the Spriggans occupied.

Also, he needs to make sure the clash keeps happening for his plan. This clash causes strong turbulence in the atmosphere and changes the quality of magic on this whole battlefield. The ethernano in this area will flare up and powerful beings with magic will notice it.

"I know you still want that Lumen Histoire, Zeref. But I've told you, the battleground is Alvarez, not Ishgar. So let's invite all involved parties here. No one will mess my home," says Ben while pointing his right palm at his massive attack.

Ben makes a motion as if he is rotating something using his open hand. The thing he rotates is his black-red-gold solar energy attack. It rotates at a very high speed like a circular saw or spinning grinder and it grinds the shields, chipping them at a fast rate while creating turbulence.

But then a spinning black energy shield that moves in the opposite direction appears on the shields that almost break. Ben grins when he sees that because he can feel the energy of death in that black shield. It's very contrast to his solar energy that full of life force.

"You finally decide to appear now?" asks Ben as the black death energy shield and his solar attack break each other.

"I can't stay silent after knowing what you are planning," says Zeref.

"Eh? Plan? I don't know what you're talking about," says Ben with a mocking tone.

"His Majesty, what do you mean by the plan?" asks August.

"He is trying to call Acnologia here. That big clash will attract Acnologia's attention," says Zeref, surprising the Spriggans.

"Using a big-scale attack at the beginning of the war was not his style already. He did that to force you to create a big-scale defense too. The clash of your magic would surely cause a big impact that can be felt from far away. A being who likes chaos like Acnologia will surely get attracted by that," says Zeref seriously.

Ben has fought against Acnologia twice, so he knows why that thing appeared. Big-scale war will attract him and he knows if it's a real war or not because he never showed up when it was just sparring even though the clash is strong. It's like he can sense the chaos of war, the hatred, and the fear in it.

What Ben did 4 days ago was a setup for today's war. He spread chaos and fear while making people hate him. All just to increase the scale of this war from the 1st day. Alvarez took it seriously and sent all their forces, which was just as Ben wanted because it meant they could make big clashes that would attract Acnologia.

"That should be enough to attract his attention, now let's call him here," says Ben while coating his feet with solar energy.

Ben suddenly shoots himself like a rocket toward the enemies using solar energy on his feet. He passes by Zeref & the Spriggans who can't respond to his speed. Then he lands in the middle of Alvarez soldiers who look much stronger than Ishgar soldiers.

"Human, Machias, and even Etherious, huh? This will be fun," says Ben after he slammed some soldiers upon his landing.

Alvarez soldiers are composed of 3 races which are humans, Etherious demons, and a mechanical race that possesses magic power called Machias. The variety extends to the Spriggans because Larcade & Bloodman are Etherious, while Wall is a Machias.

Ben is excited to fight these soldiers with high magical abilities. They are also equipped with strong weapons like lacrima-tipped spears, powerful magical staffs, high-quality blades, high-quality armor, etc. There's no nation in Ishgar that has such power and can equip its troops like this.

"Then, let's increase my power first," says Ben while grinning before he dashes toward the Etherious Demons.

Ben covers his hands and feet with his Sun Devil Slayer Magic solar energy. Then he starts attacking the Etherious demons using his fists, palms, elbows, feet, knees, etc. He does his usual close combat game to warm up and have fun in a serious situation like a war.

The number of these Etherious is very high, so Ben is excited. Even if they are small fries, they'll still give him some power after he slew them. Every bit of power will help him fight all these enemies and Acnologia.

Ben slays an Etherious in every attack and receives some bits of power each time an Etherious dies. He is increasing his power instead of spending it to fight. It makes him feel like a phone that is used to play a game while being charged.

Many Etherious demons get slain just a few seconds after Ben started attacking them. He is utterly fast, after all, and they can't react to his speed at all. To them, it looks like Ben is just moving around, but everyone he passed just died.

But the Spriggans are different because some of them can see him at that speed. They can't chase him, but they can follow his movements with their eyes. Then someone is finally making a move and trying to attack Ben.

Ben senses this and grins before he purposely stops his attack. He moves his left hand to the back and catches a fist aimed at him. The fist comes from Bloodman who decides to attack him first.

"Heh, are you trying to save your Etherious friends? How cute," says Ben while smirking.

"Hah, as if. I just think this is the best time to attack you," says Bloodman.

"Well, if you think so. But you sure are smelly. When's the last time you clean yourself?" asks Ben genuinely.

Ben is a Devil-Dragon-God Slayer, so his nose is very sensitive to smell. He genuinely asks Bloodman because this guy really stinks. Ben even needs to make a fire mask that filters the air because of how smelly Bloodman is.

But then Ben realizes that Bloodman is releasing poisonous magical barrier particles from his body. Even so, this stinky smell won't just come from these particles. Ben is sure that Bloodman really hasn't cleaned himself for days, weeks, months, or even years.

"Ugh, damn, dude, you must be full of germs," says Ben while releasing Bloodman's fist which now looks disgusting.

Ben covers his hand with a very hot fire to sterilize it from germs. He never felt this crazy about cleanliness in both of his lives.

"Now I'm really glad you didn't come to Ishgar because you will be the source of the pandemic there," says Ben while wiping his hand with a wet tissue before throwing it away.

Bloodman's blood boils and he gets very angry at Ben's insult. Indeed, he hasn't washed for a long time, but he is sure he doesn't smell and he is clean. He won't get angry by such an insult in the past, but Ben's way of talking is just too irritating.

"I'll fucking kill you, dammit! Second Seal!" says Bloodman angrily.

The soldiers who have gotten away before move away even further. They don't want to get caught in Bloodman's attack because they know how dangerous it is. Meanwhile, Ben frowns even deeper because the smell is getting worse.

"So it's his Curse that smells really bad, huh? But I'm sure his body is also smelly," says Ben, still persistent about Bloodman's smelly body.

Suddenly, numerous skulls covered by dark particles appear around Bloodman & Ben. Ben can feel the skulls try to pull his soul even before attacking him. Then they start moving to attack him from all sides.

Ben covers his hands and feet with Sun Devil Slayer Magic again. He attacks those skulls back and breaks using his magic because he doesn't want to touch these smelly skulls. Bloodman has expected this, but he is still surprised that Ben's soul isn't affected at all by the skulls.

"Damn, these smelly skulls are annoying. I need to breathe fresh air," says Ben angrily before he covers his right foot with Sun Devil Slayer Magic and stomps the ground strongly.

A massive amount of dark red Sun Devil Slayer Magic's solar energy comes out of Ben's stomp. It spreads everywhere like a tsunami of dark red flame. The skulls get caught by it and it even reaches the Etherious demons nearby.

Bloodman moves back quite far to avoid the dark red solar energy wave that broke his skull instantly. He clicks his tongue and intends to activate his Third Seal. But then August grabs his shoulder and tells him to stop for now.

"What do you want, August?" asks Bloodman pissedly.

"You can't do it alone, we need to attack him together, that's the only way. I'm sure you know he was just playing around with you," says August.

Bloodman is pissed, but he knows August is right. So he agrees to attack Ben together with all the Spriggans. Ben grins before he looks far to the horizon. His grin gets wider while Zeref's face doesn't look good now.

______________________________________________

You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

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