"Good. It seems your future-prediction ability isn't just empty boasts."
Queen Shagotte's response satisfied Laxus.
His expression softened, losing its initial aggressiveness.
"All of this is my fault. Ruling over humans was nothing but a lie I relied on. In truth, I possess no great power and could never defeat humanity."
As she spoke, Queen Shagotte removed her disguise.
She took off her extravagant attire and detached the wings from her back—they weren't her real wings.
She wasn't tall or imposing either, just an ordinary Exceed, her figure even appearing somewhat frail.
In that moment, Shagotte transformed from a lofty queen into a pitiable Exceed, looking so vulnerable that Erza and Mirajane immediately felt their hearts soften.
"No, Your Majesty! This isn't your fault!"
Queen Shagotte stepping forward to take all the blame prompted the elderly Exceed to intervene one after another.
Their faces showed deep shame, as if embarrassed they hadn't taken responsibility sooner.
"This was all our idea. How can you bear the blame alone?"
An aged Exceed stepped forward and spoke.
"The act of pretending to be gods was something we all participated in. We did it only to escape human persecution, only to ensure the survival of the Exceed race..."
The elderly Exceed recounted their hardships.
Before Shagotte became a "god," the living conditions of the Exceed were dire.
Humans didn't fear them as divine messengers like they do now; instead, they viewed them as harmful magical creatures and mana-draining beings.
It made sense—if King Faust couldn't even tolerate human Magic Guilds, how could he possibly accept the Exceed?
In fact, even after they became the "God," King Faust likely had no intention of sparing them.
Both Shagotte, with her future vision and the elders who knew the truth understood this.
They all knew what awaited them.
"Don't play the victim card. You were all well aware of King Faust's use of Anima, weren't you? In fact, you even supported it, right?"
Marco interrupted the Exceeds' attempts to gain sympathy, stating the facts directly.
This was undeniable - the Exceeds had never intended to stop Anima.
"That's right, we never tried to stop his actions. But we couldn't have stopped him even if we wanted to. We didn't have the capability. If we had forbidden him from using Anima, it would only have forced him to take desperate measures, making us exposed even sooner."
Shagotte's expression was complicated.
In this chess game, they Exceeds were nothing.
Though they stood behind the Edolas Kingdom appearing steady and secure, they had actually already played all their cards and could only watch as the situation deteriorated day by day, waiting for the day of destruction to arrive.
"Your arrival should be the best outcome for us."
Shagotte's expression turned sorrowful, because even in this best-case scenario, their homeland couldn't be preserved.
Just as she had foreseen, all of Extalia would eventually fall, leaving their Exceed race completely homeless.
"The ordinary citizens are innocent. They were forbidden from contacting humans and never did anything to threaten humanity."
Shagotte continued speaking, her gaze turning to the stiff-faced Pantherlily, her eyes filled with obvious apology.
"The reason Extalia prohibited Exceeds from contacting humans and portrayed humans as terrifying was to make the Exceeds accept the reality of living only in Extalia, and to prevent more interaction and conflict between the two sides."
Shagotte looked at Pantherlily, explaining the deeper meaning behind some policies.
Avoiding contact with humans reduced the possibility of their plan being exposed, and prevented the Exceeds' true situation from being seen through.
"Pantherlily's exile was actually taking advantage of the situation. He was a freak among Exceeds, a special individual born exceptionally powerful. Exiling him to the Edolas Kingdom could create the illusion that every Exceed was powerful..."
Shagotte's voice grew softer and softer, as this manipulation was clearly very unfair to Pantherlily, who had been completely kept in the dark.
"So... so that's how it was..."
As expected, Pantherlily looked utterly shocked upon learning the truth.
He never imagined he had been part of this plan all along.
"Hey, don't be sad."
Gajeel reached out and patted Pantherlily's shoulder, comforting the Exceed.
This made Pantherlily look at the Iron Dragon in surprise, wondering how familiar they actually were.
Why was this guy comforting him?
'And when did you even follow me in here?!'
"I slipped in right behind you."
Gajeel gave an awkward smile.
He had been following closely behind Pantherlily when he entered, making him seem like some kind of stalker.
Pantherlily would never have guessed that Gajeel had always wanted a "cat" of his own.
Because Natsu and Wendy each had their own cats, Gajeel felt that all these Dragon Slayer Mages taught by real dragons should have a cat by their side.
Laxus was excluded because he became a Dragon Slayer Mage through the Dragon Slayer Lacrima, which is a different system from the other three, so it's not surprising that he doesn't have a "cat."
Clearly, Gajeel had taken a liking to Panther Lily, a highly capable cat whose combat prowess far surpassed that of the two Exceeds, Happy and Carla.
With Panther Lily by his side, Gajeel believed he could easily overpower Natsu and Happy.
As for Wendy and Carla, they weren't even worth considering at the moment—hadn't they been left out of this major operation?
Since they didn't grow up in Edolas, they couldn't contribute much and this time, even Happy wasn't brought along.
"You've had it tough..."
Shagotte's account left everyone in silence.
Putting themselves in the Exceeds' shoes, they realized there truly was no better solution.
The Exceeds were facing what seemed like an inescapable dead end, and all they could do was delay the inevitable as long as possible.
"What about the Exceeds sent to Earth Land?"
After a moment of quiet, Marco spoke up to ask, though he already had an idea of the answer.
"To ensure the survival of our race, we sent out seeds of hope, praying they could live peacefully there."
Just as Marco suspected, Shagotte's response confirmed his thoughts.
Those Exceeds weren't some "Saiyans" dispatched for conquest, they were merely the Exceeds' desperate attempt to avoid extinction.
"My child... was sent away as well."
Shagotte continued, her expression sorrowful.
Though it pained her deeply, she had to lead by example and send her own child away for the sake of their race's survival.