"I'll take you on!"
Gray slammed his hands together, freezing the swamp on the ground solid with ice. Using the surrounding ice as support, Leo also leaped out of the mire.
"Ice-Make Magic, huh? That's a bit troublesome."
Seeing Gray instantly seal the swamp he had created in ice, Hoteye's expression turned serious.
That meant the other man's magic power was excellent—at the very least, not much weaker than his own.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have frozen the swamp so directly.
"These guys are even stronger than I imagined..."
Looking at Natsu, Gray, and the others, as well as Erza and Mirajane standing a little farther back—and Marco, who still wore a smile on his face—Racer could already feel sweat forming on his forehead.
The situation outside seemed a little different from what Oración Seis had understood.
No, more accurately, Fairy Tail—and the world they knew—seemed to be completely different from what they had expected.
Before this, the members of Oración Seis had never really crossed paths with Fairy Tail.
They also hadn't often operated near the Kingdom of Fiore, which was why they had developed the bad habit of looking down on legal wizards.
All this time, whenever Oración Seis faced legal wizards, they had always crushed them with ease.
No wizard had ever managed to cause them any real trouble.
Even though Fiore was famous for its flourishing magic culture, its many wizard guilds, and the rumors of countless powerful mages, they had never been worried.
Hadn't that Karen girl been easily dealt with by Angel before?
But the facts proved that Fiore really was different.
There truly were many powerful people here, and among them, the most special was naturally the guild called Fairy Tail.
There were simply too many powerful wizards within Fairy Tail.
At that moment, Racer, Hoteye, Angel, and Cobra all couldn't help but look toward Midnight, their eyes full of expectation.
Among the members of Oración Seis, Midnight was unquestionably the most special one.
He was usually asleep.
No matter the mission or group activity, he rarely participated, and even their "leader," Brain, usually wouldn't wake him.
But whenever something difficult had to be handled, Brain would wake him and leave the matter to him.
As long as it was a problem that could be solved through fighting or killing, Midnight had never failed.
Although Racer, Hoteye, Angel, and Cobra had never actually seen how Midnight solved those problems, they could easily imagine it.
Midnight had a violent temper, especially when he was woken up.
If Brain woke him, he wouldn't lose his temper at Brain—but when facing enemies, he would never hold back.
In fact, being awakened only made him even more irritable.
Actually, even though Midnight looked hot-tempered on the surface, if anyone in Oración Seis ran into trouble and sincerely asked for his help, he wouldn't refuse.
He did care about the bond they shared.
"This farce ends here." Midnight finally spoke.
His gaze locked tightly onto Marco, because his instincts were telling him that this smiling man was extremely dangerous—far less harmless and sunny than he appeared.
"Well said. This farce really should end."
Marco smiled and answered back.
His gaze was also fixed on Midnight. Marco could tell that among all these people, the real trump card was this slightly effeminate-looking Midnight.
"Then let's test that!"
Midnight smiled as well, his grin wicked and sinister.
"Speed Multiplication!"
The instant Midnight spoke, Racer used his magic, pulling the curtain open on the battle.
This time it was a melee—everyone charging in together.
Racer's magic spread over all the nearby wizards, except for the members of Oración Seis themselves.
Bzzz!
The moment the spell was activated, Racer's figure shot toward Natsu, leaving afterimages behind.
Everything around him seemed to slow down, and only Racer remained unaffected.
"So... fast..."
Beside Marco, Erza slowly opened her mouth, the expression on her face gradually shifting into surprise.
The whole scene looked oddly comical, like someone had changed the playback speed, but Erza herself didn't notice anything strange
She truly thought Racer was just unbelievably fast.
"Is it... speed-type... magic?" Mirajane spoke in the same astonished tone, just like Erza.
Both of them seemed as though their speed had been turned down.
"It's Slow Magic." Marco understood it immediately.
This wasn't any kind of "speed magic" at all. The name "Speed Multiplication" was just a smokescreen.
Or rather, multiplying by a negative number was still technically "multiplication," so the name could still be considered fitting.
Speed didn't necessarily mean speeding yourself up—it could also mean slowing your enemies down.
It was just that people's first reaction would always be to think, The opponent is so fast, instead of realizing that their own side had been slowed.
"Mar... co... you..."
However, the moment Marco spoke, both Erza and Mirajane realized what was going on—because Marco's normal speaking speed seemed fast to them too.
The concept of speed only existed by comparison.
If Racer alone was fast, everyone would naturally assume that he really was just incredibly quick.
But once there was a comparison—and Marco clearly hadn't even used any magic—it became obvious where the problem lay.
They had definitely been hit by some kind of spell.
"He slowed all of you down," Marco said, stating the truth.
Actually, if Marco himself had just been moving quickly, Erza and Mirajane could have understood that.
They both believed Marco could be even faster than Racer.
But Marco was standing still—only his speaking speed was faster than theirs.
That strange mismatch immediately made them realize that it wasn't him being fast, it was them being slowed.
"This guy should only be able to slow your movement speed, not everything... or maybe he just can't control it that precisely?"
As Marco spoke, his eyes gleamed with curiosity, full of interest.
He had to admit, the abilities of these Oración Seis members were pretty fascinating.
The Gemini Spirit's transformation ability, and Racer's Slow Magic, were both very interesting—much more interesting than Cobra's Poison Dragon Slayer Magic and Hoteye's Earth Magic.
"Purification!"
Hearing this from the side, Freed immediately wrote the word Purification on himself.
He instantly broke free of the effects of the Slow Magic.
That was the power of his magic, Dark Écriture.
"No Slow Magic may take effect within this area!"
After returning himself to normal, Freed drew another circle, enclosing Erza, Mirajane, Lucy, and Hisui within it.
As his spell took effect, the Slow Magic on all four of them instantly stopped working, restoring them to normal.
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