413 Rescue

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Takanosu.

October, x785.

"Alright, I think I got all of them." Alfonzo muttered as he pulled the Escalade up to one of the town's entrances. "Now, let's see what's going on in the town."

While Elicia was moving through Takanosu town and killing every zombie she came across, she also made sure to clear the area around as many citizens as she could, as well. Meanwhile, Alfonzo made a circle around the town killing all the zombies who managed to escape. Unfortunately, he had no way to know how far any of the zombies had gotten. So, there was a chance that some of them could have escaped his detection range.

Still, once he made a sweep of the surroundings, Alfonzo returned to the entrance where he dropped off Elicia. Then, he raised an adamantite wall around the entire town that also covered the Escalade. He didn't need someone planting another bomb on its engine, after all.

After that, like Elicia had done, he began investigating the town. Unsurprisingly, he found the exact same things that Elicia did. However, he also noticed the six higher than average magic power signatures that were surrounded by a horde of zombies.

"Looks like those people are in some deep shit." Alfonzo muttered as his body was covered in arcs of violet electricity. "I guess I should go help them. [Electromagnetism Magic: Lightning Enhancement]."

In the next instant, Alfonzo vanished from where he stood with a flash of violet lightning. Then, after a few moments, he appeared in the air above the group of six he discovered.

"Hmm… That's the main cast of HOTD, isn't it?" Alfonzo muttered as he watched Saeko, Takashi, and Rei fight off the horde while trying to protect Saya, Kohta, and Shizuka. "But things are definitely different. For one, Hirano doesn't have a weapon. I guess I should do something about that. No one should be unarmed while shit like this is going down."

["You can analyze the situation later."] Bedlam said from Alfonzo's inner world. ["If you don't hurry, one of them is gonna die."]

"I know, I know." Alfonzo replied dismissively as he shot down towards the ground at high speed.

*Boom!*

A moment later, Alfonzo landed on the street in the middle of the horde. As a result of his heavy landing, a shockwave was created, blowing away all the zombies surrounding him.

"What the hell was that?" Takashi asked while knocking a flying zombie aside with his cudgel.

"I don't' know!" Saya shouted. "But that will draw all the zombies to it.

"Then, we should start running." Rei said.

"[Metal Magic: Circular Cutter]." Alfonzo chanted before the conversation could go on for any longer.

A moment later, Alfonzo, with a pair of spinning circular saws attached to his forearms, could be seen removing the heads of every zombie within reach. On top of that, He was using his metal magic to fire at the zombies in his blind spot, as well.

"Holy shit!" Takashi exclaimed after seeing the speed at which Alfonzo dealt with the horde. "Is that guy even human?"

"Of course he is, you moron." Saya shot back. "He's a wizard… A powerful one."

"Yeah, but who is he?" Rei asked curiously.

"I don't know, but he's tall." Shizuka replied.

"And he's quite skilled in combat." Saeko added.

At this point, thanks to his many interviews in Sorcerer Weekly, Alfonzo was quite recognizable in Fiore. However, because of the arcs of electricity on his body, no one could see any of his defining features.

"He's probably at least an S-Class wizard." Kohta said.

"Yeah, that much is obvious, fat ass." Saya replied snappily while adjusting her glasses.

"Um… I do have a name, you know?" Kohta said hesitantly.

"Yeah, but I can't be bothered to use it." Saya shot back.

"We can discuss who he is later." Saeko said as she noticed more zombies closing in on them. "We still have incoming."

"Yeah, but our weapons have seen better days." Takashi said as he also noticed the approaching zombies.

"We'll just have to deal with it." Rei replied.

*Shing!* *Clang!* *Shing!*

Before the three fighters from the group of survivors could take a step forward to start engaging the zombies once again, a katana, a spiked mace, and a long spear fell in front of Saeko, Takashi, and Rei, respectively.

Surprised by the new weapons, they all threw their makeshift weapons away and picked up the metal ones.

"Metal weapons coming out of nowhere?" Kohta asked as his gaze repeatedly shifted between the new weapons and the glowing man in the ripping through the horde. Then, after connecting the dots, he shouted towards the man covered in arcs of electricity. "Hey, you're Alfonzo Marcus of Fairy Tail, right?"

"Yeah, that's me." Alfonzo replied without slowing down.

"Do you think you could make me a magic rifle.?" Kohta asked with anticipation in his tone. "Something semi-automatic and with a couple magazines?"

A moment later, without hearing a response, a silenced rifle similar in appearance to the SIG Sauer M400 and three thirty-round clips appeared floated in front of Kohta.

And when Kohta saw the weapon in front of him, his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. Then, when he got his hands on the rifle, his whole demeanor changed. Instead of the timid young man everyone had seen for all the time they were in school together, the aura of a veteran shooter was now exuding from the overweight young man.

"Fat a--- I mean, Hirano, are you okay?" Saya asked in a wary tone.

"Oh yeah!" Kohta replied as he checked the rifle in his hands. Then, once he was satisfied, he loaded one of the magazines. "I'm better than okay. With this little beauty in my hands, I'm unstoppable."

"Click!* *Pssp!* *Pssp!* *Pssp!*

Then, just as he finished speaking, Kohta cocked the rifle, aimed in Saeko's direction, and fired a burst of three shots, slightly adjusting his aim as he did so.

As a result, a zombie that was sneaking up on Saeko's blind spot, the one to its left, and one of the faster and stronger ones all lost their heads.

"Holy shit!" Saya exclaimed in surprise.

"Wow, Hirano shoots fast." Shizuka said in an impressed tone.

Despite receiving genuine praise from Shizuka, Kohta almost tripped over his own feet, despite the fact that he was standing still when he heard Shizuka's choice of words.

"Ahahahahahaha!" Alfonzo, having also heard Shizuka's praise, could not help but start laughing. "Damn, that's gotta hurt."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shizuka asked in a thoroughly confused tone.

"That's not important." Saya replied with slightly reddened cheeks. Then, she glared at Kohta. "Get it together. Otherwise, someone could die."

"Right." Kohta replied as his expression turned solemn once again.

The battle continued in that manner for the next few minutes, with Alfonzo doing most of the damage on the horde thanks to his superior speed and magical ability. Meanwhile, Saeko, Takashi, Rei, and Kohta did all they could to thin the numbers as much as they could, as well.

Eventually, however, the battle ended abruptly when all the remaining zombies heads flew up into the air with blood geysers shooting up from their necks.

"Huh?" Saeko exclaimed as her sword passed through where a zombie's neck should have been.

"What the fuck was that?" Takashi asked while supporting himself with the spiked mace in his hands.

"I don't' know, but I think we won." Rei said through labored breaths.

"Yeah, but how?" Kohta asked as he lowered his rifle.

At the same time, Alfonzo had created a thin metal shield to protect himself from all the spraying blood. Then, once all the zombies fell over, he lowered the shield and spread his arms.

"Good job, Lici." Alfonzo said with a smile.

A moment later, Elicia fell from above and landed in Alfonzo's arms in a princess carry.

"Thanks." Elicia replied with a smile. "Did you manage to get all the ones that got out of the town?"

"I think so." Alfonzo replied. "But if a bunch of those ones that can harness the magic power in their bodies got out of the town, I have no idea how far they would have gotten."

"Well, that's the best anyone can expect, I guess." Elicia replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, plus, I put up an adamantite wall around the whole town." Alfonzo added. "That way, there won't be any more of those things getting out."

"Wait! Doesn't that mean we're all trapped in here?" Saya asked, cutting into the conversation.

Hearing the question, Alfonzo and Elicia were brought out of their own world. Then, they finally realized that the six survivors had approached them.

However, before Alfonzo could reply to Saya's question, someone else beat him to it.

"Of course not." Kohta said while hugging the rifle in his hands like a lover. "That's Alfonzo Marcus, the Master of Metals. He could open a hole in that wall whenever he wanted to."

"Sounds like you have a fan, Fonzie." Elicia said playfully.

"It does." Alfonzo replied with a smile.

Before the conversation could go on any further, Elicia, who had been looking over the six people in front of her frowned when she saw Shizuka's skirt. A moment later, she hopped out of Alfonzo's arms and started walking towards her.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo could only smile wryly.

"Excuse me, Miss, but what happened to your skirt?" Elicia asked as she crouched down in front of Shizuka.

"I tore it so that she would have an easier time moving." Saeko replied before Shizuka could.

Frowning slightly deeper, Elicia stopped herself from glaring at Saeko. Rationally, she knew that was the right move in the situation they found themselves in. Still, she hated seeing her creations damaged. Eventually Elicia shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts.

"It's really a shame that this hit your town." Elicia said. Then, she looked at Shizuka's skirt sadly. "I only made two hundred of those skirts."

"I know…" Shizuka said sadly. "I actually stood outside of the Taylor Shop in the capital overnight to get one of them."

"*Sigh* Lici, that's not important right now." Alfonzo said as he approached Elicia from behind. Then, he looked at the six survivors in front of them with a solemn gaze. "Are all of you okay? Did any of you get bitten or scratched?"

Hearing that, Elicia looked at the group solemnly as well.

"No, I'm fine." Saeko replied.

"Same here." Rei added.

"Me, too." Takashi said.

"None of them ever got close enough to the three of us." Saya said, gesturing to herself, Shizuka, and Kohta as she spoke.

"That's good." Alfonzo said in a relieved tone. "I would have hated to have to put any of you down."

"Yeah, especially since all of you have so much magic power." Elicia added cheerfully. "Peak C-Class at the very least. Fighting a zombie with that much magic power would have been really annoying."

Hearing that, all six of the survivors wore solemn expressions. None of them had any doubt that Alfonzo and Elicia would have done what they said if any of them had been infected by the zombie curse. A moment later, however, Shizuka's expression changed into a surprised and elated one.

"Wait! You're Elicia Taylor, the owner of the Taylor Shop!" Shizuka squealed excitedly.

"Damn… That's a late reaction…" Takashi muttered.

Ignoring Takashi's comment, Shizuka stepped forward and grabbed Elicia's hands.

"I love your clothes." Shizuka said, continuing to squeal excitedly. "Especially this year's summer collection. I spent an entire two paychecks on it. *Sigh* But it wasn't enough to buy one of everything."

"Looks like you have a fan, too, Lici." Alfonzo said with a smile.

Elicia, on the other hand, could only smile wryly.

"Anyway, I think we should find a place to settle down for the night." Alfonzo said. "From what I know about zombies, they get more active at night."

"Yeah, but where should we go?" Rei asked.

"We need to find somewhere with sturdy walls." Kohta interjected. "And somewhere that doesn't leak much sound. Somewhere high up would be good, too."

"That's right." Saya said in agreement. "These things only react to sound."

"Well, I've never been to this town." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "So, I don't know anywhere like that. I could make a shelter with my magic, though. But it wouldn't really be all that comfortable."

"I could probably make things to make it more comfortable." Elicia added. "But I'd rather have somewhere where I can take a bath. Even if none of those things or their blood ever touched me, I still feel really gross."

The other women in the group nodded in response. Meanwhile, Shizuka released one of Elicia's hands and placed the index finger of her free hand on her cheek.

"Um… I think I know where we could go." Shizuka said. "My friend's apartment isn't too far away. And it's probably the best apartment building in the whole town."

"And you're just telling us about it now?" Saya asked in a dumbfounded tone.

"Uh… Yeah." Shizuka said while nodding in reply. "I kinda forgot about it."

"But you asked us where we should go while we were on the magic vehicle, didn't you?" Takashi asked in just as dumbfounded a tone as Saya.

"Um… Maybe?" Shizuka replied while tilting her head cutely.

"Wait, if you guys had a magic vehicle, why are you out here on foot?" Alfonzo asked while thinking he already knew the reason.

"It's because of that asshole Shido." Rei said angrily.

"Calm down, Rei." Takashi said as he placed a hand on Rei's shoulder. "Anyway, it happened like this?"

Takashi then went on to explain the chain of events and how they ended up surrounded by the earlier horde of zombies.

"Yeah, that guy sounds like a real piece of filth." Elicia said after Takashi ended his story.

"You have no idea." Rei replied angrily.

"Anyway, we can talk more about that later." Alfonzo said while also feeling disgusted by the slimy teacher. "If we get the chance later, we'll deal with him. For now, we need to get to that apartment… Um… What was your name again, Miss?"

"Oh, I'm Shizuka Marikawa." Shizuka replied.

"Right." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "We need to get to that apartment Miss Marikawa was talking about."

"Just call me Shizuka." Shizuka said with a smile.

"Sure…" Alfonzo replied while smiling wryly.

A moment later, Alfonzo's wry smile deepened when he saw the look on Elicia's face.

'She's gonna try and add her to the harem, isn't she?' Alfonzo asked himself.

["Probably."] Bedlam replied with a shrug.

["Just accept it."] Riot said, sounding happier than usual. ["Lici always makes great decisions when it comes to adding to the harem."]

["Is Yoruichi included in that?"] Bedlam asked with a sneer.

Riot could only fall silent, not having anything to retort with.

Meanwhile, the group of eight, with Shizuka pointing the way, started moving towards the apartment Shizuka's friend owned.