Failure IS An Option

Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.

Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.

The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.

"Speech"

Time*

Arc 3 - Choices We've Made: Chapter 10

The next day*

Well, I'd already expected the Tartaros Guild to discover that I killed one of their members—an essential Nine Demon Gates Team member. So, seeing two other members of the Nine Demon Gates before me first thing in the morning and in my backyard as I step out for some fresh air.

The two Etherious are Kyoka and Seilah, two females who share a sexual relationship going by what I can remember. In addition, the latter worshipped the latter.

"Who are these two?" Karasuba yawned as she leaned on the doorframe while holding her sword casually.

"The one with the helmet almost covering her entire face save for her eyes and mouth is Kyoka, an Etherious of the Dark Guild Tartaros member and part of the Nine Demon Gates. She uses a different form of power called curse instead of magic. Her being Enhancement that effectively enhances the target's body in a myriad of ways." I introduced Kyoka first, causing her to narrow her eyes at me.

"And the other?" Karasuba raises an eyebrow at Seilah, who is gritting her teeth.

"That would be Seilah, an Etherious and part of the Dark Guild Tartaros. She uses Macro Curse that makes use of absolute control. In other words, she can take total control of something, defined as giving an 'order'. Whether they are dead, alive, or an inanimate object is irrelevant." I answered Karasuba's question.

Seilah looks at me with wariness and gives me a deep glare.

"You wouldn't happen to know why these two are here in our backyard, would you?" Karasuba didn't look away from the two Etherious. "Also, what's an Etherious?"

"Mostly come to interrogate me on how I'd killed one of them on one of my jobs yesterday. Then, afterward, kill me and highly kill everyone else in town to make an example of whatever reasons they could come up with." I shrug my shoulders as I get a weird look from Karasuba. Along with the others inside, I can tell by the feeling of their gazes. "Beyond Card."

Then, like that, Karasuba and the others understood right away as if that alone answered everything. Technically in a way, it does.

"And what about them being an Etherious?" Karasuba asks, causing everyone to perk up. Hell, even Kyoka and Seilah seem to wait to see if I truly know their race, or I'm just making things up and got lucky by guessing the name of their race.

"Etherious is the given name to the subspecies of the demon race that were created from the books made by the Dark Mage Zeref; all Etherious possess an inborn drive to kill Zeref, established at the genetic level, which is expressed consciously as a feeling to 'return to his side'. In addition, certain Etherious have the ability to enter a so-called Etherious Form, in which their appearance change and they gain access to an enhanced set of their already available abilities, something which is dubbed as utilizing the 'real power' of the race." I paused to see if Kyoka and Seilah would attack, but they stood where they were and waited to see if I was done or could continue.

What the fuck. Seriously? A big monologue, or in my case, finish explaining before a fight?!

"However, the activation of these Etherious Forms is somewhat different among them. For example, Seilah, over there, cannot freely enter the form like other members, but instead must turn her own Macro Curse upon herself to remove her own personal 'limiters'." I blankly stare doubtlessly at the two Etherious, who still have yet to attack after I finished doing a stupid monologue of explaining something when they had all the chance to attack. "That's the gist of what Etheriour are."

"This human sure knows lots about us." Kyoka finally spoke, giving me a deep look that I didn't like one bit.

"It's no wonder Keyes died by this human. He might have important knowledge that not many would know of." Seilah followed up with her input.

And I'm in an anime/manga world with a crossover of other characters in this world. Of course, I have important knowledge! What I can't believe my eyes is that we're not fighting yet! Or, for the most part, why the fuck am I not attacking either?

"So, who do you want to face, Renato?" Karasuba asks me while she isn't worried about two Etherious clearly coming here to kill me or after torturing me for information about how I'd killed Keyes and among other things.

"I'll face the first one." Miya walked out, barely dressed, with only a simple large oversized button-up purple shirt that barely covered her purple pantie. She already had her sword unsheathed and eyes filled with battle lust.

"Hey! You don't get to decide first!" Karasuba scowl, then she rushes at Kyoka with an overhead swing.

Kyoka scoffs, "Humans. Don't know better when they are facing a losing cause."

"Allow me to deal with these humans, Kyoka-sama." Seilah moves in front of Kyoka, glaring at the charging Karasuba. "Knee before me, human."

One would expect Karasuba to kneel; however, that didn't happen, and everyone could see the shocks on the two Etherious' faces.

Karasuba's sword nearly cleaves Seilah in half if she hadn't moved back in time, followed by a swift high kick counter. Sadly, that didn't work for someone like Karasuba as her natural speed isn't so slow that she could be so counter so easily and avoid it by ducking with barely any effort.

Seilah shouted, "Fall!"

This time, Karasuba is affected by the curse, causing her to fall against her will. However, that didn't last for a second before she got back up with an upward swing, inflicting a sword wound across Seilah's torso.

"How?!" Seilah shrieked in rage. "Heal!" Then, the wound on her torso heals instantly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Karasuba smirk. Then, she begins to move at high speed.

Seilah's body is covered in multiple sword wounds, splashing blood everywhere as she drops to her knees.

Kyoka moves in to stop Karasuba from delivering the finishing blow, only for her to be stopped by Miya, who launches a shockwave with a simple swing of her sword, blasting the Etherious into the sky. Then, Miya sends multiple compressed air blades at Kyoka, where each of these air blades locks onto Kyoka, clashing with her at all angles and causing explosions upon making contact.

Hm. So that's another reason why Miya picked Floating Magic. She somehow recreated flying slash attacks like in the One Piece series, and if I'm looking at this right. She made the shockwave bond to the air blades as well, making them even more deadly than just cutting things from a long distance.

I stopped paying attention to the fight, knowing that Miya and Karasuba would surely win and that without using my cheat to make it impossible for them to lose. I have faith in them. Also, because I can tell by how instead of doing a monologue while in mid-fight or allowing the opponents to power up to become stronger. The two Sekirei wasn't going to let that happen, not when they could end the two Etherious in their weaker form.

So, I head back inside and let those two have their fun. And going by the look of envy on most of the Sekirei's faces inside. Ten out of ten, they want to be the ones to fight those two Etherious outside.

"Juvia thinks we should all go out there to help Miya and Karasuba." Juvia said to everyone who are still indoors.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Juvia." Tsukiumi stopped Juvia before she could leave the house.

"Miya and Karsuba would get mad at us if we interrupted their fights." Matsu stated, shaking her head before returning to her daily info gathering with the Archive Card.

The sound of explosions going on outside in the morning. I made sure to use Failure Manipulation to make it so the noise doesn't disturb others, even if they are a few miles away. Furthermore, it is bound to bring more unwanted attention to us. Then I'll have to repeat using Failure Manipulation to make them leave as I did with the Magic Council.

"Ah, I'm so jealous!" Musubi whines as she stares outside with desire.

"Now. Musubi, you wouldn't want to get on Karasuba's bad side again. Would you?" Yume lecture Musubi, causing the latter to whine again, but her gaze contains more fighting spirit than ever—something everyone in the dining room noted.

"Don't worry, Musubi. More Etherious will show after these two. You can go face them once they show up." I pat Musubi on the head, causing her to smile brightly.

"How long do you think it would be until they show up?" Musubi asks me, eager to fight as soon as possible.

"If they were anything like those two outside. Maybe tomorrow." I shrug my shoulders.

I'm still confused about how those two Etherious found me in the first place.

A quick use of the Beyond Card and find out it's because a Curse Item detects whenever one of them is somehow killed. Weird. But, I guess there must be something to keep track of each Etherious' movement and their status while moving outside their hidden base.

Then another Beyond Card to see if more Etherious would show up once Miya and Karasuba are finished taking care of Kyoka and Seilah.

Yup, I guessed correctly. More will show up tomorrow once they discover what happens to Kyoka and Seilah. Honestly, I'd checked further, and it looks like the Fairy Tail Guild and the Magic Council won't have to deal with the Dark Guild Tartaros. Talk about having their problems fixed before they became a problem for them.

Then again, I bet the Magic Council already knew and had no idea how to deal with the Dark Guild Tartaros along with the other Dark Guilds made up of the Balam Alliance. Of course, the Oracion Seis are dealt with in the past, thanks to Juvia and me. As for the Grimoire Heart, Fairy Tail Guild should have already taken this Dark Guild down a year ago in the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, like in the canon timeline.

So overall, the three most powerful Dark Guilds in Fiore that formed the Balam Alliance as nothing more than a non-aggression pact among each other. Are going to be gone soon. All because of either plot armor or just bad luck for meeting me. At least they would have epic battles with the Fairy Tail Guild and other Mages in the scenes in the canon events if I wasn't involved.

"Of course, you got to persuade the others to give up their chances of facing the incoming Etherious tomorrow." I pointed this out to Musubi, who quickly began pleading the other Sekirei to allow her to fight tomorrow as it wasn't announced how many Etherious might show up tomorrow. Of course, I could get the exact number with Beyond Card, but I wasn't that curious.

I shake my head and head into the kitchen to grab some hashbrowns and eggs for breakfast. No need to wait until Miya and Karasuba are done. They can get their own share of breakfast still since there is always plenty enough for everyone to eat a third time, especially for those that eat a lot.

"Renato-sama, should we report this to Guild Master Bob?" Juiva asks me as she stands next to me as she grab herself a share of breakfast too, while she can before the rest of the Sekirei remember it's time for breakfast.

"Sure. No point in hiding this." I replied, grabbing two more hashbrowns as they were too good not to get extra. "We can do it after Miya and Karasuba are done."

Juvia nods, ignoring the shouts from the other Sekirei as they rush to get their portion of breakfast.