Fairy Tail Vs. Akatsuki; Part 6: The Red Sand Scatters

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia. 

August 12, x790. 

{"[Run Wild with Destruction on Your Fingertips. Usher in Pandemonium with Creation in Your Hands, Riot, Bedlam]"} Nagato, the one controlling the Paths of Pain, a gaunt, tired-looking man with faded, crimson red hair that hung down to his shoulders with bangs that fell over his face, obscuring his right eye and purple, ripple-patterned eyes sitting topless in a mechanical walking contraption with black metallic rods sticking out of his back, heard through his connection with the Paths of Pain. 

"What is this?" The man, Nagato, the true leader of the Akatsuki, asked himself in an irritated tone. "No, it doesn't matter. No matter what tricks he has, his power is nothing before that of a god." 

Unfortunately, what happened next had Nagato rethinking that statement, as Alfonzo's magic power spiked by nearly eight times its usual amount. The feeling of which made Nagato shudder unconsciously. At the same time, through the eyes of the Paths of Pain, he could see the tonfa in Alfonzo's hands seem to melt down into a liquid metal substance that climbed up his arms and covered everything from the tips of his fingers up to his elbows. 

However, instead of just covering Alfonzo's arms, the liquid metal gave them a beastly appearance, as his fingers now sported sharp claws. On top of that, the same patterns that were on the tonfa were now adorning his arms and hands. 

"Why... Why can I see souls residing in his arms?" Nagato asked in a confused, somewhat fearful tone. "No, those were always there. They just resided in the weapons before this transformation. But what are they, exactly? Are they Tailed Beasts, or something similar?" 

When his monologue reached that point, Nagato noticed that Alfonzo was looking directly into the eyes of the Human Path. And when he saw what he could only describe as a devilish grin on the Fairy Tail wizard's face, he once again shuddered involuntarily. 

{"I found you~."} Alfonzo said in a sing-song tone. {"Tracing the signal that you use to control these little puppets was more difficult than I expected. But now that I got your location, I'm coming for you. And I'm going to make you regret trying to hurt my kids. So, just sit there and wait for me."} 

In the next instant, Nagato's view of the battlefield, transmitted from the four remaining Paths of Pain, was cut off, all four views cutting off near simultaneously. 

"What just happened?" Nagato asked himself. "Did he just take down all four Paths at the same time?" 

As Nagato worked through what he just saw and heard, his confusion slowly morphed into another emotion. An emotion that he had not felt in more than twenty years. 

"What is this...?" Nagato asked himself as he looked down at his hands. "My hands... Are they trembling...? What is the meaning of this...?" 

Along with the trembling of his hands, Nagato noticed another thing, his voice was trembling along with them. And when you consider what he had been doing for so many years, he knew what these involuntary actions meant. Though, he was loathed to admit it. 

"Is this... fear?" Nagato asked himself. "No! That's impossible! There is no way that a mere mortal could cause a god to fear!" 

Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth after that outburst, Nagato pushed down the fear he was feeling. He then raised his head and looked towards the place where his Paths of Pain were confronting Alfonzo, his gaze seeming to see through the hiding place Konan created for him with her [Paper-Style Ninjutsu]. 

"For a mortal, you are definitely powerful, Alfonzo Marcus." Nagato muttered, while trying to control his emotions. "You'll make a perfect replacement for Yahiko as my Deva Path. I'll be waiting for you to deliver yourself to me." 

Meanwhile, two women, Elicia and Konan were dashing across the countryside, Elicia on the ground and Konan flying with the wings she produced with her [Paper-Style Ninjutsu]. All the while, Elicia tried her best to ensnare Konan, who, with acrobatic movements, avoided all her attempts before cutting her threads with [Paper Shuriken]. 

"This is a lot harder than I thought." Elicia muttered to herself. "Flying is cheating. And even when I manage to trick her with my [Camouflage Magic], it's like hitting a Logia Devil Frit user. This is ridiculous." 

Konan, on the other hand, was getting frustrated, as well. Thanks to the same [Camouflage Magic] Elicia mentioned, she had been completely unable to hit anything but illusions of Elicia with her [Paper-Style Ninjutsu] counterattacks. 

'What should I do?' Konan thought to herself as she spiraled away from a cluster threads. 'I I'm not aiming to defeat her. Honestly, my instincts are telling me if I tried to fight her outright, I'd lose. But I can't run, either. She's just too fast. And I can't chance leading her to Nagato. He's in no condition to fight with his real body.' 

Like that the game of cat and mouse between Elicia and Konan continued. However, despite the fact that Elicia outclassed Konan in nearly every physical and magical statistic, she was unable to land a decisive blow because of Konan's Kekkei Genkai. 

At the same time, with Erza, Sun, and Saeko surrounding him, Sasori was stupefied by the amount of magic power Alfonzo released after unsealing Riot and Bedlam. Frozen in shock, he almost reacted too slowly when the three moved. 

"[Water/Sword Compound Magic: Seventh Form, Drop Ripple Thrust]." Sun chanted as she burst forward with Kanade drawn and primed to thrust. 

The sun glinting off the water clad blade pulled Sasori out of his daze. Quickly, he titled his body to avoid the tip of Sun's blade, its tip brushing past the left side of his torso. 

'Did they pinpoint the only organic part of my body?' Sasori asked himself as he unrolled the scroll in his hand and pushed magic power into it. 'But how is that possible? They shouldn't even know that my body is mostly a puppet at this point.' 

Although Sasori had no way of knowing, [Magic Power Detection] made it simple for the Fairy Tail wizards to know such things with ease. And because of how much time they spent training together, it did not take any serious effort for Erza, Sun, and Saeko to coordinate their attacks. 

And Erza's next move made that quite obvious. 

"Not so fast." Erza said as she, in a burst of speed provided by her [Black Wing Armor], appeared right behind Sun. 

*Swish!* 

In the next instant, Sun dropped to one knee to avoid what she knew was coming. Meanwhile, slashing diagonally upwards, Erza slashed through the [Storage Scroll] in Sasori's hands, her blade cutting through it just as the item [Sealed] inside was summoned. 

"Impossible!" Sasori shouted in a tone filled with disbelief. 

What was summoned from Sasori's [Summoning Scroll] was a puppet that appeared much more human than most puppets used by the puppet masters of the Hidden Sand Village. And there was a good reason for that. 

"Is that the Third Kazekage?" Saeko asked while watching Erza and Sun engaged with Sasori. "After my first trip to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, I found their history interesting. So, when I could, I looked up information about the other villages. And I once saw a picture of him in a history book." 

"The Third Kazekage?" Sun asked as she leapt to the side to avoid getting in the way of the onslaught Erza was unleashing on Sasori, who was dodging and parrying with surprising skill. "But Alfonzo said that those [Storage Scrolls] can't store living people." 

At that moment, Sasori raised his right hand after narrowly avoiding a slash that would have split him from his right hip to his left shoulder. Then, a hidden panel on his palm opened, revealing a thin nozzle that he pointed directly at Erza's heart. 

"Erza, get down!" Sun cried as she rushed back into the fray. 

*Whoosh!* 

Not questioning Sun's order, Erza quickly lowered her body as close to the ground as she could. In the next instant, a high-pressure jet of water shot out of the nozzle hidden in Sasori's hand. Had she been any slower to act, Erza, although she probably would not have lost her life, would have at the very least ended up seriously injured by the piercing jet of water. 

"Tch!" Sasori clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Of course, living beings can't be stored in [Storage Scrolls]. But that was no living thing." 

As he spoke, Sasori quickly jumped away from where he stood as Sun dashed forward to cover Erza. At the same time, he could not help glancing at the puppet lying on the ground that had been cut into two pieces. 

"That was my greatest piece of art." Sasori said, his tone becoming much more dangerous as he glanced at the puppet Erza had split in two. "That was what I called a human puppet, created after I killed the Third Kazekage. It even had all of his abilities in life. But now…" 

Sasori then sharply turned his head away from the puppet and glared at Erza with copious amounts of killing intent in his eyes. 

"… you've ruined years of hard work." Sasori continued. "And for that, you'll become my next piece of art. No, all three of you will." 

Then, at his fastest speed, Sasori reached into his Ninja Backpack to grab another scroll. Yet, before he could pull the scroll out of the Backpack… 

"[Flying Heaven's Sword-Style: Kuzuryūsen]." Saeko chanted as she appeared behind Sasori with her sword stabbing at nine vital points. 

"What?" Sasori, who felt the breath of death coming from behind, would have widened his eyes if most of his body were not a puppet, exclaimed in surprise, realizing that there was no way to avoid being struck in the only fatal location on his puppet body, while simultaneously having all of the body's functions disabled by the other eight strikes. 

In the next instant, Sasori's puppet body came to a complete stop, just as his hand left the bag with the scroll. 

"Sorry, but I will be no one's puppet." Saeko said in acold tone. "Whether in life or death. Too bad the same could not be said for you. For you have become a puppet to your own fear of mortality." 

"It would seem you are right." Sasori said quietly as he looked back on his life. "I suppose losing my parents in the Third Great Ninja War was the catalyst for everything that I've done. Fearing to join them in the afterlife was my reason for everything." 

With that, Sasori, with the last of his strength, controlled his puppet body to finish pulling the scroll in his hand out of his Ninja Backpack. Then, he allowed the scroll to unroll. And with the very last of his magic power, he released what was stored inside. 

*Poof!* 

With that, from a cloud of smoke, a pair of puppets, designed to look like a man and a woman, fell to the ground on either side of him. Then, with no energy left to remain standing, Sasori's body fell between the two puppets. And when it did, it looked as if the two puppets were hugging his shoulders from behind while the three stared up into the sky lifelessly. 

Mother, Father, it looks like I'll be coming to see you, after all." Sasori muttered as the light in his puppet body's eyes dimmed. 

Meanwhile, Erza and Sun approached Saeko, who was still standing over Sasori and sheathing her katana. 

"I kinda feel bad for him." Sun said softly. 

"I feel bad for his circumstances." Erza said. "But that was no reason for him to take the path he did. He's killed so many. I think this was a fitting outcome for someone who had given up on doing the right thing." 

Saeko, on the other hand, did not say anything. Instead, she only stared down at the family of three. Then, she, like the puppets, turned to look up at the sky. 

'Father, I haven't seen you since before the tragedy in Takanosu.' Saeko muttered internally. 'I wonder what you've been doing since that day. Have you been well?' 

Unfortunately, Saeko would never get to find out that her father had been inducted into a certain sword-wielding organization on another continent in the hopes of pushing his swordsmanship to another level. Though, she would be surprised to know that he had passed the training and been granted an Asauchi and was still in the process of learning its name and transforming it into a Zanpakuto.