A Real Man

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Malba.

February, x782.

After using her [Take Over: Satan Soul], Mirajane charged at Elfman, intending to subdue him long enough for Elfman to take control over his magic. Unfortunately, Mirajane was very low on magic power. So, unlike the fight she had with the Beast, this one was quite one-sided.

'Damn it, If I had let Natsu come with us, things wouldn't be so bad.' Mirajane thought to herself as she flew into the air to avoid an incoming slash of Elfman's claws. 'No, there's no point thinking like that. Right now, the only thing I need to focus on is keeping Elfman and Lisanna safe.'

With that thought, Mirajane charged down toward Elfman once again. She had to keep Elfman engaged, otherwise, he would more than likely target Lisanna. And at this point, Lisanna was simply not strong enough to deal with Elfman when he was like this.

With her hands covered in [Darkness Magic], Mirajane evaded another slash. Then, she unleashed a barrage of punches on Elfman's chest and abdomen. Unfortunately, with her low magic power reserves, she was unable to deal much damage. Instead, her attacks seamed to anger Elfman even further.

*Roar!*

Elfman roared as he raised both arms over his head. Then, after locking his fingers together, he swung his hands down, aiming at the top of Mirajane's head.

Luckily, Mirajane was fast in her [Satan Soul] form, Effortlessly, she dodged Elfman's attack by flapping her wings and flying backward. However, just as she was about to charge back in, she was blindsided by Elfman's tail and sent flying through the air before slamming into the ground with violent force.

With the Beast's instincts in control of the body, Elfman did not miss the opportunity his sneak attack provided. With great speed and powerful footsteps that shook the ground, Elfman rushed toward Mirajane, who was struggling to stand with a bit of blood dripping from between her lips and bruises on her torso.

"Mira! Look out!" Lisanna shouted, worried for Mirajane's well-being.

Instead of panicking, Mirajane raised her right hand in Elfman's direction, causing a demonic rune to appear beneath him.

"[Darkness Stream]." Mirajane chanted.

As soon as the chant ended, a stream of dark energy rose from the rune beneath Elfman, engulfing him and putting a stop to his charge. Meanwhile, Mirajane was struggling to even keep her eyes open at this point. She was already low on magic power. And using a spell as powerful as [darkness Stream] did not help her current situation.

A moment later, just as the stream of dark energy was about to stop, Mirajane's [take Over] also ended. She had used up so much of her magic power that she couldn't even maintain her [take Over] spell.

However, just before the darkness energy dissipated completely, Elfman, even more enraged than before, charged out of the stream. Then, when he was close enough, he swung his arm, slashing Mirajane across the abdomen and sending her flying through the air.

"Mira~~~~!" Lisanna shouted as she rushed toward Mirajane's landing spot.

Meanwhile, from their vantage point, Alfonzo and Natsu were ready to make their move.

"Alright, Natsu, let's go." Alfonzo said. "This has gone on long enough. Hopefully, this will teach her that she's not invincible."

"Yeah, let's go." Natsu said as he dashed toward the Straus siblings.

Just as Alfonzo and Natsu started to move, Lisanna reached Mirajane, who was barely conscious. On top of that, her left arm was bent in a strange direction and blod was leaking from her abdomen.

"Mira, are you okay?" Lisanna asked as she knelt in front of Mirajane.

"What are you doing here?" Mirajane struggled to say. "Hurry up and get out of here."

"No, I won't leave you behind." Lisanna said, shaking her head vigorously. "Besides, Big Brother Elf won't really hurt us, you'll see."

With that, Lisanna stood up and turned around before walking toward Elfman with her arms spread wide open.

"Lisanna! What are you doing?" Mirajane shouted as loud as she could. "Don't go near him, he's not himself right now!"

Ignoring her sister's warning, Lisanna continued walking toward Elfman.

Elfman, on the other hand, after landing his last attack landed on Mirajane no longer felt threatened. So, he approached Mirajane and Lisanna slowly. However, the Beast, that was currently in control of the body, felt insulted when he saw that there was not an ounce of fear in Lisanna's expression as she started to approach.

"Come on, Elfman." Lisanna said in a soothing tone. "We both know that you're stronger than this. And we have no doubt that you'll be able to complete the [Take Over]. You just have to believe in yourself the way we believe in you."

Eventually, Elfman and Lisanna were standing in front of each other, staring into each other's eyes. While Elfman's eyes were void of emotion, due to the Beast's influence, Lisanna's were filled with love and trust. Unfortunately, that would not be enough to turn the situation around, this time.

In the next instant, a glint of cruelty flashed in Elfman's eyes.

"Lisanna! Run~~~~~!" Mirajane shouted with all her might after seeing the cruel glint.

Unfortunately, Lisanna could not react fast enough to evade. By the time she was ready to move, Elfman had already lifted his right arm and swung the back of his massive hand at the side of her head.

Seeing the entire scene in slow motion, Lisanna felt not an ounce of fear. Instead, she only felt sadness that she could not help her brother regain control.

In what felt like an eternity, Lisanna watched as the massive hand approached inch by inch. However, instead of feeling fear, Lisanna felt hope. Because in her sped up perception, she saw a black, metal rope with a spike on the end flying toward Elfman's approaching arm. And just before it could hit her, the rope wrapped itself around the arm, snapping taut in an instant and killing the arms momentum at the same time.

At that point, Lisanna's perception returned to normal. In the next instant, she was lifted from the ground. A moment later, she, along with Mirajane was carried away from the battle.

"Natsu?" Lisanna asked with confusion in her tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Alfonzo and I came here to make sure you three were okay." Natsu replied as he put Mirajane and Lisanna on the ground again.

While Lisanna was perfectly capable of standing on her own, Mirajane, thanks to the magic power exhaustion and her injuries could only sit on the ground and look back in the direction they came from.

What Mirajane saw was Elfman struggling to free himself from the metal rope that was wrapped around his forearm. At the other end of the rope was Alfonzo pulling on the rope to hold Elfman in place.

"Come on, big guy." Alfonzo said with a smirk. "I'm really disappointed. You're supposed to be the man of your family."

In response, Elfman growled angrily as he stopped pulling on the rope and decided to charge at Alfonzo instead.

Instead of facing the enraged Elfman head on, however, Alfonzo sidestepped the charge at the last moment. Then, as Elfman passed by, he swept Elfman's legs out from under him while retracting the metal rope into his gauntlet.

"Boom!*

"Olé!" Alfonzo said as Elfman slammed face first into the ground.

*Roar!*

*Bang!*

Furious, Elfman slammed a fist into the ground as he quickly got up and turned toward Alfonzo.

"Come on, Elfman, this isn't you!" Alfonzo shouted. "What happened to the man I know. The man that would never hurt his sisters? You're not a beast like this thing that's controlling you!"

Seemingly, Elfman did not hear what Alfonzo had to say. Internally, however, Elfman was struggling against the will of the Beast. Every word Alfonzo spoke resonating with him.

"You're kind to those who deserve it, Elfman." Alfonzo shouted once again as he dodged a claw swipe from Elfman. "And if you can take control of this beast, you'll have the power to protect what's precious to you."

*Roar!*

In response, Alfonzo was forced to dodge even more frantic attacks. Still, Alfonzo knew he was getting through to Elfman. The struggle in his eyes was growing in intensity with every word.

For the next few minutes, Alfonzo continued evading Elfman's attacks while taunting and tripping the Beast. At the same time, he also tried getting through to Elfman with his words. Over time, he could see that his methods were working. The fact that Elfman almost hurt Lisanna playing a significant role as well.

'Good, he's slowly fighting back.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'But I need to finish this before he runs out of magic power. Otherwise, the lessons won't hit home as hard. He needs to defeat this thing with his own will. Otherwise, he'll be scared of it like he was in canon.'

While Alfonzo as thinking, Elfman lunged at him, claws aimed at his heart. Then, at the last instant, Alfonzo ducked the attack, moved forward, and wound his gauntleted right fist back.

"Now, it's time to wake the fuck up, Elfman!" Alfonzo shouted just before throwing a punch at Elfman's face. "Stop acting like a little bitch! It's time to show the world that you're a real man!"

*Bang!*

'Damn it, I just fucked up…' Alfonzo thought as his fist landed on Elfman's face.

Elfman staggered back several steps after receiving Alfonzo's punch before falling down on his back side. Unlike every other time he fell, Elfman did not rise immediately. Instead, he rolled around on the ground while cradling his head in his hands.

*Roar!*

*Bang!* *Ban!* *Bang!*

Eventually, Elfman rolled over onto his hands and knees. Then, he started repeatedly banging his head on the ground, causing the ground to tremor with every strike. After doing so a dozen times, or so, Elfman's face was covered in his own blood.

Meanwhile, both Mirajane and Lisanna were in tears seeing the state their brother was in. At the same time, Natsu was clenching his fists, hoping that Alfonzo would succeed in bring Elfman back.

"*Roar!* That's right!" Elfman said in a much deeper, more bestial voice than usual. "I am no beast! I'm a real man! And I will not forgive you for hurting my sisters, Beast!"

*Bang!*

With that declaration, Elfman slammed his head into the ground one more time, crushing the Bests will in the process. Then, he stopped moving. After a moment of inactivity, Elfman rolled over onto his back. At the same time, his body began to reduce in size. Then, after a few seconds, Elfman was in his normal appearance, blood still covering his face, while staring up at the sky.

"Haha! I knew you were no bitch." Alfonzo said with a smile as he approached Elfman.

In response, Elfman could only smile back weakly. He was on the brink of magic power exhaustion, so even that small act was laborious.

"Elfman!" Lisanna shouted as she ran toward her brother.

A moment later, Lisanna jumped on top of Elfman and hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry… I almost… hurt you… Lisanna." Elfman struggled to say.

"No, you don't have to apologize." Lisanna said with tears streaming down her face. "I'm just glad you came back to us."

Not long afterward Mirajane, with Natsu's assistance, walked over to the group as well. Once they were close enough, Natsu sat Mirajane down next to her siblings. Like Lisanna, she also had tears running down her face. Unlike Lisanna, whose tears were from a mixture of happiness and relief, Mirajane's were a combination of guilt and relief.

"I'm sorry, Elfman." Mirajane said through her silent sobs. At the same time, she gently caressed Elfman's cheek. "If I hadn't been so arrogant, you would have never been put in such danger."

"Big Sis… Lisanna…" Elfman said, also feeling guilty for making his sisters worry.

While Lisanna cried loudly and Mirajane sobbed silently, even Elfman felt a few tears start to drip from his eyes as well.

"Well, it looks like everything ended well." Natsu said while wiping his eyes and turning away from the rest of the group.

"It's okay to cry, you know." Alfonzo said with a smile while patting Natsu on the shoulder.

"I'm not crying!" Natsu protested loudly. "It's just some of the dust that got kicked up during the fight got into my eyes."

At that moment, Natsu felt the hand on his shoulder start to grip it tightly. Thinking that Alfonzo wanted him to admit that he was crying, Natsu started to speak once again.

"Seriously, Alfonzo I---." Natsu started to protest even more strongly.

Before Natsu could finish, however, Alfonzo dragged him next to the Straus siblings. When they were as close as they could be, Alfonzo released Natsu. Then, he slammed his hands on the ground.

"[Metal Magic: Adamantine Sealing Barrier]." Alfonzo chanted.

In the next instant, Alfonzo, Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, and Natsu were covered by a dome of Adamantite with thousands of sigils carved into it. And every one of those sigils only had one purpose, to block the transfer of magic power.

'Shit!' Alfonzo cursed internally. 'Why is it happening right now? If this doesn't work, Elfman's gonna die. He doesn't have enough magic power to live through this.'

Just before Alfonzo dragged Natsu over to the others, he felt something pulling at his magic power. And when he looked up to the sky, the direction his magic power was being pulled, he acted swiftly.

In the sky was a large, swirling vortex that was drawing in ethernano and magic power from the surroundings.

'Fucking anima gates.' Alfonzo cursed internally. 'But then again, Mystogan is probably nearby as well. I wonder if I can catch up to him and get him to join the guild right away? Probably not. I don't even know how close he is to everything. Whatever, he'll join eventually. Hell, he even makes S-Class this year in the Canon timeline.'