Chapter 429: Battles Across the Field
"Attack!"
The Royal Army soldiers roared in unison. They simultaneously raised their magic staves toward Noah, unleashing a massive, synchronized barrage of magical projectiles directly at him.
Noah maintained his posture, his hands clasped firmly together while the golden magic circle beneath his feet rotated continuously.
While sustaining his primary support spell, he casually divided a fraction of his focus upon seeing the incoming assault and cast a secondary spell. "Light Funnels!"
Sixteen golden, fist-sized spheres of light instantly materialized around Noah. The moment they appeared, they began orbiting his body at high speeds. Simultaneously, they fired rapid, precise, needle-like beams of light at the surrounding Royal Army soldiers and their incoming magic projectiles.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Waaaaahhhh!"
The incoming magic projectiles were perfectly intercepted and detonated in mid-air. When the tiny light beams struck the soldiers, the sheer kinetic force sent them flying backward. Crashing into the men behind them wasn't enough to halt their momentum; they bowled over several rows of troops before finally coming to a painful stop.
A massive radius around Noah was cleared in the blink of an eye. Every single soldier in his immediate vicinity had been blown away, leaving only a chorus of agonized groans echoing across the plaza. Seeing this devastating, effortless display of power, the troops further back completely lost their nerve and dared not advance a single step closer.
Having cleared his immediate surroundings, Noah paid the terrified stragglers no further mind and continued to focus on maintaining his primary enhancement spell.
His Light Funnels only required a steady supply of magic power to operate. They would automatically scan and identify any approaching entity lacking a Fairy Tail guild mark. If an enemy drew too close, the funnels would autonomously open fire and neutralize the threat.
The battle raged on relentlessly. Ordinary soldiers were utterly incapable of standing against Mirajane and the frontliners.
Even the youngest among them, like Wendy, Meredy, and Yukino, were exceptionally outstanding Mages in their own right.
Furthermore, with the myriad of beneficial enchantments Noah had stacked upon them, their combat prowess had reached absurd heights. Not a single soldier could even slow their advance.
Led by Mirajane, Gray, and Lucy, the Fairy Tail Mages plowed directly into the heart of the massive army, sending every soldier in their path flying like bowling pins. Laxus and Sorano flanked Wendy, Happy, and Carla, neutralizing any enemies attempting to ambush from the rear while ensuring the younger Mages remained completely safe.
They rampaged through the colossal army, an unstoppable force meeting no immovable objects.
Meanwhile, the Magic Warfare Unit Captains—the only ones who theoretically possessed the power to stall them—were being completely overwhelmed by their respective Fairy Tail opponents.
After being crushed under Ultear's massive iceberg once, Sugarboy didn't dare stay in one place. He began sprinting frantically across the battlefield.
He used the constant movement to keep his blood pumping, desperately trying to warm up his freezing, stiffened muscles.
After casting the massive iceberg, Ultear deliberately refrained from using similarly high-drain spells.
Even though Noah's enchantments had massively boosted her magic reserves, conserving energy on a chaotic, large-scale battlefield was a fundamental rule of warfare.
Instead, she pivoted to conjuring small, highly efficient ice constructs, such as throwing darts and daggers.
These ice constructs were small, required minimal magic power, and traveled at blistering speeds.
Ultear manifested these icy projectiles from every conceivable angle around Sugarboy, launching a relentless, omnidirectional barrage.
Assailed from all sides, Sugarboy was left completely battered and frantic. He swung his rapier, Rosa Espada, at dizzying speeds, desperately trying to parry the hail of ice darts.
At the same time, his feet never stopped moving as he sprinted erratically across the plaza.
However, because he had been severely chilled earlier, his physical reactions were notably sluggish. As a result, several icy projectiles slipped past his guard and struck his armor.
While they didn't inflict deep physical wounds, they prevented his freezing body from recovering its warmth. In fact, his frostbite was showing dangerous signs of worsening.
He attempted to use his softening magic on the ground to disrupt her footing, but with Ultear's equilibrium perfectly enhanced by Noah, the shifting terrain didn't hinder her in the slightest.
Instead, the brief openings Sugarboy left while casting his magic allowed Ultear to land even more hits, causing his body to grow increasingly stiff and unresponsive.
Sugarboy desperately tried to close the distance, but the closer he got, the denser the icy barrage became. He simply couldn't break through Ultear's perimeter.
He was reduced to purely evasive and defensive maneuvers, entirely stripped of his offensive capabilities.
And as time dragged on, his condition was only going to deteriorate further.
He continuously tried to think of ways to break the stalemate, but Ultear ruthlessly shut down every single attempt before it could even begin.
Elsewhere, the two Erzas were locked in a ferocious, high-speed melee. Sword and spear clashed repeatedly in the air, emitting deafening, metallic thunderclaps.
The concussive shockwaves generated by their colliding weapons blasted outward, carving deep, jagged fissures into the stone floor beneath them.
There was absolutely no one else in their immediate vicinity; every soldier had scrambled away, terrified of being caught in the crossfire of their monstrous duel.
"Belserion!" Erza Knightwalker gritted her teeth, the veins on her arms and neck bulging prominently.
She swung her spear with both hands, using every ounce of her strength to block the heavy twin-sword strike aimed at her neck.
"Knightwalker." Earth Land Erza's voice, by contrast, was perfectly calm. The moment her right-hand sword was blocked, she instantly retracted it, immediately following up with a vicious strike from her left-hand sword. The blade slammed heavily against the shaft of the spear, the sheer kinetic force driving Knightwalker backward several steps.
"Huff... Huff..." Knightwalker gripped her spear with both hands, panting heavily as she glared at her counterpart, her face contorted with intense frustration and unwillingness to accept defeat.
Before this Earth Land Mage had been heavily buffed by Noah's enchantments, Knightwalker had been able to trade blows evenly with her.
But now, she was being completely suppressed. Every counterattack she attempted was effortlessly deflected, parried, or swatted aside.
"You rely on your soldiers and your fellow Captains for support, just as I rely on my comrades to watch my back. We are exactly the same in that regard. Unfortunately for you, your soldiers and colleagues are currently in no position to help you," Erza stated, accurately reading her counterpart's frantic thoughts.
She cast a brief glance around. The surrounding Royal Army soldiers were too terrified to even approach their dueling perimeter.
Even when they had attempted to launch ranged magical attacks from a distance, they failed to hit Earth Land Erza and nearly struck Knightwalker in the back instead. After two such friendly-fire close calls, the soldiers had completely ceased their supporting fire.
Knightwalker also surveyed the battlefield. It was true; her soldiers were utterly useless here, and the other two Magic Warfare Captains were bogged down in their own desperate struggles against the Fairy Tail Mages, both faring extremely poorly.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Fairy Tail guild was rampaging through the Royal Army ranks completely unopposed.
The overall situation for the Royal Army was disastrous. Knightwalker's heart burned with a mixture of immense fury and deep anxiety.
Taking a deep breath, Knightwalker forced herself to remain calm. The enemy directly in front of her was her most pressing concern.
Only by defeating this Earth Land counterpart could she free herself to assist the others.
Even if she was currently outmatched, she had to keep her opponent pinned down right here.
If she allowed this monster of a swordswoman to turn her blades on the regular soldiers, the slaughter would only accelerate.
"Bring it on, Belserion! As an Erza, to actually dare raise your blade in rebellion against the King... I will absolutely strike you down!" Knightwalker roared, gripping her spear tightly, its tip pointed squarely at Erza.
"Even though you bear the name Erza, you dared to inflict such grievous harm upon my Fairy Tail! I will absolutely not forgive you!" Erza retorted, dropping her left sword to her side while raising her right blade to point directly at Knightwalker, her voice thick with righteous anger.
Knightwalker took another sharp breath and lunged forward, thrusting her spear with blinding speed.
The two Erzas clashed violently once more. The explosive shockwaves generated by their colliding weapons continuously battered the surrounding area.
The fissures in the ground expanded and deepened, accompanied by a growing number of blast craters from their magical impacts.
Dust and debris were thrown high into the air by the explosions, only to be immediately blown away by the subsequent shockwaves.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Natsu sprinted forward at a blistering pace, continuously lashing out with the blazing whips of fire extending from his arms. He swatted away every single weapon hurled in his direction with casual ease.
Simultaneously, he used the fiery whips to blast away any Royal Army soldiers foolish enough to approach, while detonating incoming magic projectiles in mid-air.
Opposite him, Hughes was rapidly retreating backward. As he backpedaled, his conductor's baton drew continuous, frantic arcs in the air, telekinetically launching a relentless storm of bladed weapons at Natsu.
However, this metallic tempest merely slowed Natsu's advance slightly; it was completely incapable of stopping him.
By nature, Hughes was a long-range fighter. He relied entirely on his baton to command his surroundings to attack on his behalf. His personal close-quarters combat skills were severely lacking.
After observing Natsu's fighting style for just a few moments, Hughes knew with absolute certainty that his opponent was a close-combat monster.
Watching Natsu punch a fully armored soldier halfway across the plaza only cemented Hughes's realization: if he let Natsu get within striking distance, he was dead meat.
Consequently, Hughes didn't hesitate to burn through the magic power stored within his baton, commanding an ever-increasing volume of weaponry to intercept the fiery Mage.
Unfortunately, the results were lackluster, barely hindering Natsu's relentless charge.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Seeing the seemingly endless swarm of weapons flying at him without pause, Natsu finally grew annoyed.
He took a massive breath and released it with a deafening roar. A colossal pillar of roaring flames erupted from his mouth, instantly incinerating and melting every weapon in its path, clearing a direct, blazing tunnel straight toward Hughes.
Hughes panicked and threw himself out of the way. The fiery breath slammed into the ground just behind him, triggering a massive explosion.
BOOM!!!
A massive crater was blasted into the stone floor, and a powerful shockwave swept outward, violently launching several nearby Royal Army soldiers into the air.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Seizing the opening, Natsu closed the distance in a flash. His fist, wreathed in roaring flames, rocketed straight toward Hughes's face.
"Waaaaahhhh!"
Hughes frantically waved his baton, desperately trying to pull surrounding weapons to form a makeshift shield, but he was far too slow. Natsu's flaming fist connected solidly, sending Hughes rocketing backward through the air like a cannonball.
Natsu stomped hard on the ground and leaped after him, his fists primed for a follow-up barrage.
Despite being airborne and reeling from the concussive blow, Hughes managed to regain his wits. Fighting through the agonizing pain radiating from his jaw, he waved his baton wildly. He commanded a volley of weapons to shoot toward Natsu, specifically manipulating several blades to ambush Natsu from behind.
Forced to deal with the ambush, Natsu spun around, punching and swatting the incoming weapons away. Hughes used this precious window of opportunity to scramble backward, successfully re-establishing a safe distance between them. He collapsed to one knee, leaning heavily on his baton, panting raggedly.
Taking a direct, enhanced punch to the face from Natsu was excruciatingly painful.
Having cleared the ambushing weapons, Natsu immediately re-engaged, charging at Hughes once more.
Hughes hastily retreated again, forcing the engagement into a desperate, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.
But Hughes's situation was incredibly dire. Natsu didn't look the least bit fatigued, his stamina seemingly bottomless. It was only a matter of time before Hughes fell for good.
"Ahahahaha!"
Mirajane laughed maniacally as she continuously hurled spheres of dark magic in every direction, blasting away squads of Royal Army soldiers with devastating force.
Her laughter echoed endlessly across the battlefield, and every Fairy Tail member nearby could clearly see the bright, euphoric, and slightly terrifying smile plastered across her face.
"Is... is Mira okay?" Lucy asked, severely spooked by this aggressively gleeful version of Mirajane, which was entirely at odds with her usual gentle demeanor.
"She's fine. This is how she used to be all the time. She's only mellowed out over the last couple of years. Honestly, it's been a long time since I've seen her let loose like this," Sorano explained casually, directing her massive Sunlight Angel to swat away a group of approaching soldiers.
"Exactly. This is Mirajane's true nature. Her usual sweet persona is just her suppressing her actual temperament," Loke added, adjusting his glasses after casually punching a soldier who had tried to sneak up on Lucy.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Loke involuntarily shuddered.
"Did you do something terrible to her in the past?" Lucy asked, eyeing her Celestial Spirit suspiciously.
"N-No! Of course not!" Loke shook his head in frantic denial.
"Oh, him? Shortly after he joined the guild, he tried to hit on Mira. She pinned him down and beat the living daylights out of him. He hasn't dared to hit on her since. Naturally, I also beat him up back then," Sorano chimed in with a sickeningly sweet smile.
Hearing Sorano's words, Loke visibly flinched.
Neither Mirajane nor Sorano had held back when they beat him up. Just thinking about it made his body ache with phantom pain.
Well aware of Loke's incorrigible playboy habits, Lucy could only sigh in exasperation.
"Don't get too relaxed. We're still in the middle of a battlefield. Stay sharp and keep your eyes on your surroundings," Laxus cautioned loudly, turning his head back toward them after electrocuting a massive swath of soldiers with a burst of lightning.
"Understood," Sorano and the others nodded in agreement.
Because the Royal Army grunts were utterly incapable of posing a real threat, they had indeed let their guard down a bit.
Refocusing their attention, they turned their eyes back to the surrounding chaos and resumed their magical assault.
"Meredy, you three coordinate incredibly well. It's obvious you've put a lot of effort into your teamwork," Laxus praised, observing Meredy, Wendy, and Yukino.
He had noticed their seamless synergy—they advanced and retreated with perfect timing, covering each other's blind spots effortlessly. The combined combat effectiveness they displayed easily surpassed the majority of the guild's standard members, placing them just a step below the S-Class Mages and a select few elites.
"Hehe! We're a team, after all! We naturally have to put in the hard work to perfect our coordination!" Meredy replied with a bright smile.
Wendy and Yukino nodded vigorously. They had spent countless hours grinding through grueling training sessions together.
Being able to display such impressive results on a real battlefield was the ultimate payoff for all the sweat and tears they had shed.
"Excellent work. Keep it up!" Laxus smiled approvingly.
"We will!" Wendy and the girls shouted back cheerfully.
Laxus nodded. With a casual wave of his hand, he unleashed a bolt of lightning that incapacitated several more Royal Army soldiers trying to flank them.
He then took a moment to scan their position, realizing that they had nearly carved their way through the entirety of the enemy vanguard.
The surrounding soldiers were completely traumatized by their sheer destructive power. The moment Laxus merely glanced in their direction, the troops scrambled backward in terror, several nearly dropping their magic staves in their panic.
"They're completely terrified," Sorano giggled, noting the Royal Army's pathetic display.
"Naturally. They haven't been able to slow our advance in the slightest. After seeing firsthand that their attacks can't even scratch us, it's only normal for them to feel fear. This kind of reaction is exactly what we want. It means their will to resist is crumbling, making our battle much easier," Laxus analyzed objectively.
"Yeah, this is the best-case scenario," Gray agreed as he walked up to join them.
Having left Ultear to handle Sugarboy on her own, Gray had pushed forward to regroup with Lucy, Laxus, and the girls, fighting alongside them once more.
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