Brain has been taken over by Zero, his other personality. Alex doesn't really remember how Zero's personality can show up, but it doesn't really matter now. Be it Brain or Zero, they are just personalities of the same person.
While Zero is more cruel, it doesn't change the fact that Brain also has done similar levels of atrocities. If anything, Zero is actually more honest with his cruelty by using more open methods while Brain does it more secretly.
After all, the one who led those inhumane experiments done in that facility was Brain instead of Zero. It's just that Alex never saw Brain tormenting the people used as experiment subjects.
But he has seen Zero torture some people with cruel methods and some of those were just for his entertainment instead of for his research. Brain never did it himself, but it's a fact that he was the one who ordered those damn researchers.
So Brain and Zero are just the same psychopaths who have different methods. Neither of them is better than the other. Both of them are just trash who can't even be called humans, so Alex doesn't care which one he'll handle now.
"Hmm, I wonder if Brain also feels the pain you feel. It will be better if both of you can feel the pain I'm about to give you. Well, you are free to switch between yourselves if you think the pain is too much. I want both of you to feel a fraction of the pain that we felt in that facility."
Zero's mouth is still covered with sand, so he can't say anything back to Alex. He tries to break free from the sand that wraps his body, but it doesn't budge. Surprisingly, Alex doesn't absorb Zero's magic power at all, yet Zero can't break free from Alex's sand.
"For starters, let's remove your ability to use magic." Alex doesn't mean to absorb all of Zero's magic power for this. He has another method.
He clenches his right fist and suddenly Zero screams in pain. His mouth is closed with sand, but his scream can still be heard, though it sounds more like a loud hum.
Zero is screaming in pain because Alex crushes one of his fingers by tightening the sand that wraps around that finger. Alex waits until Zero stops screaming before crushing another finger. He does it again and again until he crushes all 10 of Zero's fingers.
Tears flow down from Zero's eyes, but he persistently holds on while still trying to break free. Alex really commends on his persistence but Alex is also happy by it because it means he can torture Zero to his heart's content.
After crushing Zero's fingers, Alex snaps Zero's hands and feet one by one like before. Then Alex snaps Zero's legs and arms, all the lower and upper parts. The pain from all these bone breakings finally makes Zero give up and he forcefully switches with Brain.
When Brain comes out, he immediately screams in pain too. He knew what happened, but he couldn't feel the pain when Zero was in control of their body. But now he can feel all the unbearable pain coming at once.
"Hmm? Are you wetting yourself? The sand between your legs feels wet." Alex smirks while looking at the sand around Brain's crotch that becomes quite damp on the outside.
"We haven't even started the main show, so it's too early for you to be like this."
"Don't you think it's enough, Alex?" Suddenly, a girl's voice is heard from the woods behind Alex.
Alex looks back and sees a little girl with blonde hair walking out of the woods. She walks barefoot but it doesn't seem like the pebbles hurt her soles.
"Why are you only showing up now, 1st Master? You didn't even show up when I fought your former teammate and even killed him." Alex isn't surprised to see the girl which is none other than Mavis.
This is not the first time Alex met Mavis. He first met her 2 years ago after Mystogan's S-Class exam. At that time, he returned to Tenrou Island a while after the exam to clean up the damage he caused from going out of control when Kurama was unsealed.
Alex came alone at that time. He cleaned up the destroyed trees, grounds, and rocks before planting new trees. He will need to do the same after this if Acnologia doesn't show up to destroy the whole island because the battle with Grimoire Heart caused more destruction.
Mavis showed up when he was planting the trees in the destroyed area. She was very curious about his strange transformation that caused him to rampage after Mystogan's exam.
So she approached him to talk about it because she also felt something strange from Alex when he transformed. She said she felt an ominous presence coming from the transformed Alex, more dangerous than anything she has ever felt in her life.
But that presence suddenly disappeared, so Mavis was very worried. That presence overwhelmed her so much that she was stunned in place. That's why she couldn't approach Alex right after he transformed and so she decided to talk to him when he returned to Tenrou Island.
After they talked, Alex knew that what Mavis felt was the 10-Tails' consciousness. She was on Tenrou Island, very close to him when he fought the control over his body and soul against the 10 Tails, so it wasn't strange that she felt something.
Alex explained about what Mavis felt to her and they ended up talking about a lot of things, especially about Fairy Tail. They also talked about the Fairy Glitter that Mavis gave to Cana. Alex was curious about her reason to give it to Cana because it was much earlier than the series.
Surprisingly, Mavis reason was because she felt Cana's great latent potential. She always observed the S-Class exams and obviously she also watched how Cana used her magic.
Mavis knew that Fairy Glitter is a very difficult spell to use, mainly because it requires a lot of magic power. She always wanted to pass down the spell, but no one has ever managed to master it after her because of that reason.
That's why she was happy to find Cana in the previous exam when Cana failed. She couldn't just pass it down. She observed Cana to judge her character during the next exam and decided to pass the spell to Cana after concluding that Cana is worthy to succeed the spell.
There seemed to be a personal reason too. Like Mavis can use the mark of Fairy Glitter on Cana's arm as a medium for her soul to stay so she can roam around near Cana. She must've felt lonely staying alone on Tenrou Island for years, after all.
Well, it doesn't really matter to Alex what Mavis's reason was. After all, Cana learning the spell much earlier is better too. This way, she will have much better mastery over the spell when Alvarez attacks Ishgar.
After that 1st meeting, Alex always talked with Mavis every time he came to Tenrou Island. She has yet to show up in front of others, so only Alex knows about her existence currently. They've become quite close even though they don't meet and talk that often.
"You should've stopped now. After hearing everything you said to him before, I know that he was the one responsible for your suffering in the past. But what you do now is the same as what he did. You will just become like him if you continue." Mavis looks very concerned now.
"Become like him, huh? 1st Master, I will never be like him. I have my own principles and one of my principles is to give evil doers what they deserve. It's only fair if they suffer the same thing as their victims. They dare to do those cruel things, so they should dare to get those back at them. I actually have shown mercy to Hades and the other Mages of Grimoire Heart by killing them quickly. But I can't do it to Brain and Zero. My personal reason is mixed in it, but it's also because I saw it myself what they've done, so I can make a better judgment about their punishment. Also, I feel like this is an obstacle I need to break to move forward."
Even after all these years and gotten this strong, Alex feels that his past is still dragging him down. He needs to destroy it completely and he feels that this is his chance to destroy his lingering feeling about his traumatic past.
"But well, maybe you're right. I need to end this now and move on."
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Ch. 195. Ultear vs Lyon