Fairy Tail Vs. Akatsuki; Part 5: He Lost His Will to Live

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia. 

August 12, x790. 

*Swoosh!* *Bang!* *Zap!* *Bang!* *Boom!* 

While Sasuke dealt with Itachi, Mirajane sent Deidara flying, Ur attacked Kisame, and Erza, Sun, and Saeko faced off against Sasori, Alfonzo faced off against the four remaining Paths of Pain. However, even though it was mentioned that he was fighting with four of them, he was currently only engaging with three of them, as the fourth, the Animal Path, was trying to take distance to perform a [Summoning Jutsu]. 

Yet, despite being surrounded on three sides, Alfonzo was able to interrupt the summoning every time with his speed, power, or use of magic. Despite that, he was completely unable to put any of the corpses controlled by Pain down for good. 

'That damned shared vision." Alfonzo muttered to himself as he dodged a strike from one of the control rods all the Paths of Pain could produce to use as weapons. He then followed up with a strong, electricity-clad punch to the Human Path's stomach. "With all of them spreading out like this, they have no blind spots. On top of that, they're on guard from sniper fire after the Naraka Path got its head popped." 

*Swoosh!* 

Just as Alfonzo finished muttering to himself, he was forced to tilt his body backwards to avoid a sharp blade that was growing from the Asura Path's back. 

"What makes it even worse, these seemingly metal weapons they're using aren't responding to my [Metal Magic]." Alfonzo muttered once again as he pointed a finger in the Asura Path's direction. "[Electromagnetism Magic: Spark Cannon]." 

*Zap!* 

In the next instant, a small orb of violet electricity formed on Alfonzo's outstretched finger. However, just as he fired it at the Asura Path, who had committed a little too heavily to its attack, the Preta Path used the [Body Flicker Jutsu] to appear in front of the Asura Path and absorbed the spell. 

A moment later, Alfonzo was forced to duck his head to avoid another attack from the Human Path. 

*Bang!* 

Alfonzo then countered by flicking his left arm backwards and tagging the Human Path with a backfist. He then vanished from where he stood, reappearing in front of the Animal Path with his hands coated in electricity as he tried to grab its arms before it could complete the hand signs for its [Summoning Jutsu] once again. 

Unfortunately, before Alfonzo could wrap his hands around the corpse's wrists, the Asura Path's bladed appendage wrapped around the Animal Path's waist before pulling it away. 

"This shit is getting fucking old." Alfonzo groaned after another failed attempt to get rid of the one who could increase the numbers on his opponents' side. "Fuck it, I'm just gonna use Riot and Bedlam and end this shit immediately." 

With that, Alfonzo reached his arms behind his back before grabbing the tonfa strapped to his lower back. Meanwhile, the four Paths of Pain went on high alert. They had seen the weapons on Alfonzo's back from the beginning. However, this was the first time he was drawing them. 

A few moments earlier, Deidara, who had been launched into the distance by Mirajane's [Darkness Stream] spell, finally got his bearing back. As soon as he did, he sank his hands into the pouches on his waist, which produced a strange chewing sound. Then, he pulled his hands out, in which, he held five clay statuettes. 

In his righthand was a statuette resembling a dragon. While he held four hornet-shaped statuettes in his left. 

"That damned wench." Deidara muttered to himself as he threw the dragon-shaped statuette into the air. "I'll make her pay for that. Oh yes, she's going to get an up close and personal glimpse of my art." 

*Poof!* 

As soon as Deidara finished speaking, the statuette he threw into the air exploded into a massive cloud of smoke. However, that smoke was quickly dissipated when the dragon, which had grown to approximately thirteen feet in length, flapped its wings. Then, with seemingly no input from Deidara, the dragon flew under him and caught him, before hovering in place. 

"That's a nifty little trick." Mirajane, who was still in her [Satan Soul Take Over], said as she approached Deidara through the air. "But it won't stop me from making you and the rest of your little cult pay for trying to hurt my Bianca." 

"Fighting on someone else's behalf, huh?" Deidara asked with a small chuckle. "Or to protect someone important to you? Sounds just like that of a do-gooder. Why can't you Legal Wizard types see that there's no fun in doing what you're told? Instead, you should live your life on your own terms. Take me for example. I live to spread my art to the whole world, no matter what anyone tells me." 

With that, Deidara threw the four hornet-shaped statues he was holding towards Mirajane, as if he were tossing them for her to examine. 

Naturally, Mirajane had no interest in seeing this rogue shinobi's art. So, she flapped the wings of her [Satan Soul] and moved herself to the left. Just enough that the statuettes would sail past her. 

"Not only that, though." Deidara said as his lips stretched into a sneer. "But to prove my philosophy on art." 

As he finished yet another sentence, Deidara raised his right hand in front of his chest with the index and middle fingers extended while the rest of his fingers and his thumb were curled. 

"That art is an explosion!" Deidara shouted in a manic tone. 

*Boom!* x 4 

In the next instant, just as the four statuettes passed by Mirajane, they all glowed before exploding, the blast engulfing Mirajane completely. 

"Ahahahahaha!" Deidara, after seeing Mirajane caught in the explosion, laughed in a mixture of insanity and glee. "That's it! That's exactly what I'm talking about. So, what did you think of my art? Tell me! Tell me! Oh… Wait… You probably can't talk right now, huh? It's kinda hard to do that when you've been turned to ash in an explosion, I guess. Ahahahahaha---" 

"Honestly, I'm not impressed." Mirajane said, her voice floating from the inside of the still burning explosion. "If art is an explosion like you say, then I can only give this a 3/10… 4/10 if I'm being generous." 

Hearing Mirajane's mocking words, Deidara's laughter came to a sudden stop. He then looked at the flames that were dissipating with bloodshot, seriously offended, eyes. 

When the flames were finally dissipated completely, Deidara was able to see that Mirajane was completely unharmed by his [Explosion-Style Ninjutsu]. Not even her strange upward-pointing, front ponytail had been ruffled in the slightest. 

"How dare you insult my art like that?" Deidara asked in a cold tone. 

At the same time, Deidara once again plunged his hands into the pouches at his waist. However, Mirajane had no intension of letting him do as he pleased. 

'I'm guessing Alfonzo meant that those statues can probably be stopped if I hit them with [Lightning Magic].' Mirajane thought to herself as she flapped her wings, hurling herself forward at high-speed while simultaneously using shave to increase her speed. 'But that doesn't explain why he said I should keep myself coated in [Lightning Magic]. I guess there's more to it than that. But I don't' think I wanna find out. Let's just end this now.' 

As soon as that thought ended, Mirajane was floating right in front of Deidara. And before he could pull his hands out of his waist pouches, she wrapped her hands around his wrists. 

"What are you doing?" Deidara screamed in surprise. "Let go of me!" 

"Sure… But I'll take these first.' Mirajane replied as she started to squeeze Deidara's wrists, clearly intending to shatter the bones so that he could not use his hands. 

"Argh! Damn you!" Deidara shouted. 

*Boom~~~~~~!* 

In the next instant, the flying dragon statue Deidara was standing on started to glow before exploding a moment later, engulfing both him and Mirajane in the conflagration its explosion created. 

A moment later, a figure came flying out of the flames. And based on the cloak that was still burning, it was Deidara who had escaped the flames of the explosion. 

*Bang!* 

Unfortunately, he was unable to do so gracefully, slamming into the ground a moment later before rolling for nearly fifty yards to bleed off the momentum. 

"Argh! My hands! My fucking hands are gone!" Deidara screamed in pain after he finally stopped rolling. 

And just as he said, everything from halfway down his forearms was missing. Although the explosion got him away from Mirajane's clutches, it was not enough to loosen Mirajane's grip. As a result, although most of his body was thrown away from the explosion, his hands and wrists stayed right where they were. 

"You bitch! I hope you survived that!" Deidara said. "If you did, I'll torture you for the rest of your miserable life! And that brat of yours, I'll make you watch as I make her suffer!" 

"That was the wrong thing to say." Mirajane's completely emotionless voice said as a powerful flap of her winds dispersed the flames from the explosion. As a result, Mirajane was once again revealed to be completely unharmed. On top of that, Deidara's hands were still in her grip. 

"It's one thing to threaten me." Mirajane said as she raised Deidara's hands in front of her. "But threatening to hurt Bianca is something I will NOT tolerate. And when I'm done, you think that losing your hands---" 

Mirajane's words came to an abrupt stop when she saw the palms of the hands she held in her own. 

"What the hell?" Mirajane questioned, completely losing her momentum to what she saw. "You had mouths grafted into your palms? What kind of degenerate are you?" 

Just as Mirajane said, on each of Deidara's palms, there was a mouth with lips, teeth, and tongues set in their centers. On top of that, at the moment, the tongues on each mouth were lulling out while a white, paste was dribbling from the corner of each mouth, as well. 

"You know what, I don't' wanna know." Mirajane said, continuing before Deidara, who looked like he would have an aneurysm, could respond. "Whatever you're into in your personal life is up to you." 

Mirajane then threw the hands she was holding up into the air. She then focused her magic power into the jewel on the tiara she was wearing before firing a blackish-red beam from it. Then, before Deidara could react, the beam hit his severed hands, disintegrating them to dust. 

"What? How?" Deidara spluttered. 

"You don't have to worry about that." Mirajane replied coldly. "I was going to make you regret ever being born. But I think you did that enough after doing that to yourself. So, instead, I'll just get rid of you. Luckily, there's a bounty for you from the Village Hidden in the Stones. And it wants you dead or alive. So, I don't have to try keeping you alive." 

Unfortunately, Deidara, after seeing the key to his art being disintegrated, was not even paying attention to Mirajane, only staring blankly into the sky where his hands were obliterated. 

"[Show the World the Power of Destruction, Bael]." Mirajane chanted the release command for her [Soul Armament]. 

Then, just as it always did, Mirajane's magic power spiked far above its usual amount. At the same time, her tiara glowed in a blackish-red light. A moment later, that light climbed down Mirajane's face, neck, shoulders, and arms, forming a pair of elbow-length dark red gloves that seemed to be made of silk. 

"Judging from that look in your eyes, you've lost the will to live." Mirajane said as she raised her hands above her head. "Well, I can help you with that. [Extinguished Star]." 

*Hum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!* 

With that, a spark of blackish-red energy, something that Mirajane had taken to calling the [Power of Destruction], appeared between her hands. Over the next few seconds, although the spark grew in size, it was disproportionate to the amount of magic power that was being channeled into it. And by the time Mirajane was done amassing magic power, the spark had grown to the size of a large marble. 

That marble then fell into Mirajane's raised hands. Then, after examining it for a while, Mirajane finally looked back to Deidara, who had not moved in the slightest. 

'Seriously, was his will really that weak?' Mirajane asked herself. 'After seeing me preparing such a spell, I expected the one down there to be a clone… Oh, right, without his hands, he couldn't form the hand signs needed to make a clone. Oh well… Whatever.' 

With that, Mirajane flew to a spot above Deidara, who finally turned his head to look at her. However, his blue eyes were completely blank, more than likely because of the fact that he would no longer be able to create his art. Then, he watched as Mirajane turned her hands over, allowing the [Extinguished Star] to roll off her palms and fall towards him. 

A moment later, with Mirajane's fine magic power control, the marble of [Power of Destruction] landed on Deidara's forehead. Then, it quickly expanded into a sphere only slightly bigger than Deidara was tall, completely engulfing the broken rogue shinobi. 

After a moment, the sphere of [Power of Destruction] dissipated. In its place, there was a shallow, spherical crater in the place where Deidara once stood, with no sign of Deidara to be seen. 

"*Sigh* I have to admit, that was a bit anti-climactic." Mirajane muttered as she turned away from the crater that used to be Deidara. "But he got what he deserved." 

["Indeed, he did."] Bael, Mirajane's [Armament Spirit] said from Mirajane's inner world. ["No one threatens our family and gets away with it. Even if I still think the name Rias would have been better than Bianca."] 

"I can't believe you're still bringing that up." Mirajane said with a chuckle. "It's way too late for that now. Anyway, I'm heading back, just in case---" 

Before Mirajane could finish her sentence, however, a powerful spike in magic power made her stop her words. 

"Never mind." Mirajane said. "With Alfonzo releasing Riot and Bedlam, there shouldn't be any issues." 

["Yes, I agree."] Bael replied. 

With that, Mirajane cancelled Bael's release. Then, she began flying back towards the original battlefield. However, part way there, she decided to check on Ur. It had been a while since she had been on the front lines. So, she wanted to see how fresh the former guild master was.