Fighting a Homunculus

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

February, x785.

Shortly after he was wrapped by the threads and vanished from sight, Maes Hughes found himself being pulled through the city of Crocus at high speed.

'What the hell is going on?' Maes thought to himself as his mind raced to make sense of what was happening. 'What was up with that woman in the HQ? How did that woman change into my wife? What was that thing that saved me? And most importantly, where am I being taken?"

Unfortunately, because he was wrapped up so tightly, Maes was unable to scream or shout to draw attention to himself, not that it would have made a difference.

Instead, all he could do was watch the scenery pass by while letting his mind work.

Eventually, he noticed that he was being pulled towards a rather well-known hotel. However, he was being pulled straight towards the closed front entrance.

'Seriously, is this the way I'm going to die?' Maes thought in a panic. 'Smashing head first into a building was not the way I thought I'd go.'

Before he could smash into the doors, however, Maes rose into the air, quite sharply. Then, he was smoothly pulled through a window that opened just as he reached it, before being closed a moment later.

"Well, that went well." Elicia, the one controlling the threads that bound Maes, said with a smile once the Lt. Colonel was on the floor of her hotel room. "Now, the rest is up to you, Fonzie."

At the same time, the threads binding Maes dispelled, allowing him to move. And just as he regained his mobility, Maes scrambled to his feet with a throwing knife gripped in his uninjured hand.

"Though I'm happy that you saved me, who are you and why did you bring me here?' Maes asked while scanning the room.

A moment later, after regaining his senses, Maes realized who was in the room with him.

"Elicia Taylor, an S-Class wizard from Fairy Tail?" Maes asked without lowering his guard. "Why did you bring me here?"

"To save you." Elicia replied with a smile. "I don't know what those things that were attacking you were, but they had no magic power signature. More precisely, they had no magic power in their bodies."

"Impossible." Maes denied immediately. "Every living thing on the planet has magic power running through it."

'That should be true if not for the homunculus.' Elicia thought without losing her smile. 'But if Black Clover somehow appears in this weird world, there would be one human with no magic power, too.'

"Well, as a regular person, there's no way you'd be able to tell for yourself." Elicia replied nonchalantly. "And you seem like a real pragmatist, so I doubt you'll believe me, either way. Unless you were to see it for yourself, or someone you trust tells you the same thing."

Hearing Elicia's words, Maes deflated a little because he knew what she said was true.

"*Sigh* The worst thing is, I really wanna believe you." Maes said while putting his throwing knife back in his sleeve. Then, he reached for the inner pocket of his uniform. "Especially since you have the same name as my cute daughter."

As he spoke the last part, Maes' expression changed to that of a doting father. Then, he pulled a family photo out of his pocket that showed him standing with his wife and daughter.

"These are my wife and daughter, Gracia and Elicia!" Maes said, gushing over his family. "Isn't my wife beautiful? And isn't my daughter the most precious thing you've ever seen?"

'I was wondering when this was gonna happen.' Elicia said while still maintaining her smile.

Meanwhile, back in the deserted part of the city where Elicia whisked Maes away from, Alfonzo and the woman were having a standoff.

'So, my first fight with a homunculus, and it's Envy.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'Well, at least it's not Pride, I guess.'

"Who are you?" The woman… or rather, Envy asked with her pistol raised. "And where did you take him?"

"Didn't we already introduce ourselves? Alfonzo replied while tilting his head in confusion. "We are Venom. And who are you? Or rather, what are you? Because you're clearly not human. Otherwise, we would be able to feel your magic power."

Hearing Alfonzo claim with such confidence that she was not human, Envy quickly pulled the trigger several times in succession. Unfortunately for her, Alfonzo deflected all the bullets with little effort.

This time, however, Envy was able to see what happened, since all her focus was on Alfonzo. And what she saw a number of thin tendrils that grew from the surface of the man's body before deflecting the bullets.

"Hmm… That's an interesting magic." Envy said while licking her lips as she was once again covered in red lightning.

A moment later, Envy had transformed into an androgynous young man with a lean, muscular build, long, wispy black hair, and violet eyes wearing a black crop top, black shorts, black, fingerless, elbow-length gloves, and black, stocking-like footwear that exposed his heels and toes, with a matching headgear.

"Ahh~, it feels good to be back in a familiar body.' Envy said while stretching lightly. Then, he put on a sadistic grin as he continued. "Anyway, even though that magic seems quite interesting, how much will it help you against someone like me?"

With that, Envy dropped the pistol before rushing forward at high speed. In fact, he put so much force into his dash that the ground under his left foot cratered.

'He's pretty fast.' Alfonzo thought to himself while tilting his head to the side to dodge a right straight.

Meanwhile, Envy, as soon as his punch was dodged, opened his palm and wrapped his fingers around the back of Alfonzo's head. Then, he began squeezing as if he wanted to crush it in his palm. At the same time, he pulled forward and raised his left knee in an attempt to smash it into Alfonzo's face.

'Pretty strong, too.' Alfonzo thought as he raised his hands to block the knee strike. 'That grip strength would be enough to crush most A-Class wizards' heads even while they're strengthening their bodies with magic power.'

*Bang!*

The collision between Alfonzo's hands and Envy's knee produced a loud sound that echoed through the area while simultaneously creating a small shockwave. A moment later, however, Envy quickly released Alfonzo's head and pulled his bloody hand away.

Taking advantage of the fact that Envy could no longer use his head as leverage, Alfonzo retracted the spikes he formed on the back of his head. At the same time, he let the Techno Organic Metal on his hands wrap around Envy's leg.

"Now it's our turn." Alfonzo said as the Techno Organic Metal formed spikes that pierced Envy's leg.

At the same time, Alfonzo raised Envy off the ground before smashing him down, back first.

*Boom!*

Despite Envy's small frame, the street under him and Alfonzo collapsed. As a result, they both fell down into the sewer system.

'Hopefully our fight won't cause so much damage if it's down here.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he spun in place after regaining his footing. 'But damn, this son of a bitch is heavy as a mother fucker.'

"Let go of me you insect!" Envy shouted while being spun around.

As soon as his shout ended, Envy used his free leg to throw a powerful kick at Alfonzo's chest. Alfonzo, on the other hand, simply released his hold on Envy's left leg before the kick could land. But he left the metal that pierced Envy's thigh and knee in the wounds.

*Bang!*

*Splash!*

As a result, Envy was sent flying into a nearby wall. However, because of the angle that he made contact with the wall, instead of punching a hole in it, he bounced off before falling into the flowing sewage in the center of the corridor.

"Looks like someone's gonna need a bath." Alfonzo said as he covered the hole, he and Envy fell through, with Techno Organic Metal.

'Although I'm confident I could fight one or two of the homunculus, I'd rather not have Pride's shadows show up.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he also extinguished all the lights in the surrounding area. 'Especially when I'm not sure if [MPD] will pick up the moving shadows like it does when Lust and Envy used their powers.'

*Splash!*

"I'll kill you!" Envy shouted as he leapt out of the flowing sewage.

"Eww~!" Alfonzo exclaimed while waving his hand in front of his face. "How about you go get cleaned up before we continue?"

"Rah~~~~!" Envy roared angrily as he rushed towards Alfonzo once again.

With that, Alfonzo spent the next ten minutes, or so, dodging Envy's attacks that were devoid of any technique. Though, he was unsure if that was due to the fact that he was so angry. Or because his physical parameters were so far above those of a human that he never trained in martial arts.

However, Alfonzo did much more than just dodge. In fact, whenever the opportunity presented itself, he would land a devastating counterattack. And every time he did so, he would create a spike on his fist, foot, knee, elbow, or even head just before his attack landed.

Then, after pulling away, he would break off a small piece of Techno Organic Metal that he would leave in Envy's body.

'I wonder how the Techno Organic metal will affect the homunculus' regeneration?' Alfonzo thought to himself as he noticed that Envy was beginning to slow down. 'I mean, since it's technically healing their injuries. Oh well… It's too bad I won't be here long enough to find out.'

"What have you done to me, you insect?" Envy roared angrily as he also noticed that his movements were getting stiffer by the second.

"That's for us to know and for you to find out." Alfonzo replied mockingly.

"Rah~~~!" Envy roared in irritation.

At the same time, Alfonzo rushed forward. Then, once he was close enough, he ducked under a swipe of Envy's arm. In the same motion, he landed a left uppercut into Envy's unprotected abdomen, with spikes growing from his knuckles. A moment later, he avoided a swipe from Envy's other arm, before he threw a right uppercut into the homunculus chin, also with spikes extending from his knuckles.

Then, he swung both of his arms, which were still in contact with Envy's body, throwing him away. However, the two remained connected by Techno Organic Metal tentacles. And using these tentacles, Alfonzo whipped Envy around the sewer, smashing him into the walls, floor, and ceiling repeatedly.

'Well, I think it's time to call it a night.' Alfonzo muttered internally. 'I can feel Lust trying to cut through the cover I made over the hole in the street.'

With that thought, Alfonzo smiled deviously under his mask.

'Well, if she really wants to get Envy back so badly, what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't help her?' Alfonzo thought to himself as she started swinging Envy around with even greater force.

Then, once Alfonzo was satisfied with the speed at which Envy was moving, he released him in the direction where he could feel Lust damaging his metal.

A moment before Envy crashed into the cover, a hole opened up in it. As a result, Envy slammed into Lust before they were both sent flying into the sky.

Then, as the two homunculus flew away, Alfonzo hopped out of the hole in the Techno Organic Metal and landed on an undamaged part of the street. He then looked in the direction where Envy and Lust were flying while pretending to shield his eyes from the sun.

"They're blasting off again~~~~~~!" Alfonzo shouted while watching the two homunculus fly past the city limits.

A moment later, Alfonzo sucked all the Techno Organic Metal used to cover the hole in the street into his suit. Then, he simply vanished from where he stood as if he had never been there.

Meanwhile, outside the city…

*Boom!*

A dust cloud was raised as Lust and Envy crashed into the ground. However, it was quickly blown away by the swing of what appeared to be a tail, revealing a large, green, serpentine creature with multiple pairs of legs, long human-like hair, a dog-like head, and six pupils in its left eye.

"Damn that insect!" The chimeric creature, Envy, shouted angrily. "The next time I see him, I'm going to rip out his intestines and feed them to him."

"I'm sure you will." Lust replied dryly. "But could you get off of me for now?"

Hearing Lust's voice, Envy instinctively looked down at one of his feet, where he saw red lightning constantly sparking. Then, when he lifted his foot, he saw a mostly crushed head and torso that was quickly regenerating.

"Oh…" Envy muttered as he put his foot down somewhere else. "Then, he transformed back into his human form. "We need to get back! We can't let that insect get away."

"It's probably already too late." Lust replied as she finished regenerating. Then, she continued as she picked herself up from the ground. "Instead, we should go and report this to Father."

"Tch!" Envy clicked his tongue. "Fine, but I'm gonna kill that human the next time I see him."

With that, Lust and Envy left the sight of the crater and made their way back to the homunculus base under Crocus. However, their trip was much slower than usual as Envy's body became stiffer and stiffer as time went by.