Chapter 433: Dragon Chain Cannon
"Are you saying the space here has been sealed?" Noah said with a smile.
"How did you know?" Erza Knightwalker gasped in shock upon hearing Noah instantly call out their exact setup. A bad premonition welled up in her heart.
"You already admitted I have the ability to manipulate space. Naturally, I would be the first to know the moment the space here was sealed off. Indeed, your spatial confinement is quite impressive. If I were just an ordinary person, you might have actually succeeded. Unfortunately, I am no ordinary person. You underestimated me far too much." Noah said with a smile.
"Quick, open fire!" Erza Knightwalker shouted at the soldiers behind her.
Upon hearing Noah's words, she knew things were about to go terribly wrong. Now, she could only hope that these cannons would prove somewhat effective.
The soldiers of the Royal Army hurriedly activated the artillery, and the barrels began to charge with magical energy.
"Begone!" Noah shouted, keeping his hands clasped together.
At the same time, golden magic circles appeared beneath each of the cannons.
"Don't even think about it! Sealing Spear!" The spear in Erza Knightwalker's hands transformed. She quickly thrust her weapon, striking at the magic circle beneath a nearby cannon.
The color of the magic circle struck by her spear instantly dimmed significantly, but it rapidly regained its radiant glow.
Simultaneously, protective magical barriers materialized, enveloping all the cannons and their magic circles within.
Seeing this, Erza Knightwalker fiercely lunged again, striking the protective barrier, but she was completely unable to break through.
She wouldn't get another chance to try and shatter the shields, as all the cannons inside the barriers vanished from their spots at almost exactly the same time.
"Damn it! Silfarion!" Erza Knightwalker watched helplessly as their cannons were teleported away by Noah. Consumed by rage, she gripped her spear with both hands and thrust it violently straight at Noah.
Clang!
Erza wielded her sword with both hands, perfectly blocking Erza Knightwalker's spear.
"Are you treating me as if I don't exist?" Erza pushed forward forcefully with both hands, shoving Erza Knightwalker back.
"Mmm—this is troublesome." Sugarboy looked on helplessly at the members of Fairy Tail opposite him. The weapons of war they had prepared were just snatched away by the enemy.
Of course, they had prepared other armaments, but none possessed the devastating firepower of those cannons.
Furthermore, their opponents were no longer going to give them an opening.
"Everyone, let's go!" Noah yelled loudly. Simultaneously, magic circles appeared beneath everyone's feet. Just like before, but this time with an even more potent effect, Noah bestowed a powerful enchantment upon all of them.
"Oh yeah! I am all fired up!" Natsu's entire body erupted in massive flames, sending a gigantic pillar of fire soaring into the sky. He stomped fiercely on the ground and charged straight into the Royal Army.
"You bastards!" Hughes roared in anger. Swishing his command baton, various weapons rose from the ground and shot directly toward Natsu.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu's flame-wreathed fist smashed into the incoming weapons. The surging fire annihilated every single piece of weaponry. At the same time, he dashed right in front of Hughes, his fist connecting squarely with Hughes's face.
Bam!
Hughes was sent flying entirely, crashing through countless soldiers before deeply embedding himself into the castle wall, instantly falling unconscious.
"Mmm—" Before Sugarboy could even utter a word, he felt an intense cold seize his feet, rapidly spreading upwards. He hastily looked down, only to see that his feet had been frozen solid to the ground. Glancing up, he realized the ice trailed all the way from Ultear's feet.
He tried to raise his sword and tap the ice to soften it and free himself.
But it was already too late. The speed of the freezing far exceeded his imagination. Except for the sword in his hand, his entire body was encased in solid ice. A few seconds later, the block of ice shattered, and Sugarboy collapsed directly onto the ground.
Clatter!
He was so freezing cold that his entire body trembled uncontrollably. Unable to maintain his grip, his sword slipped from his hands and fell to the floor.
"Damn it all!!!" Erza Knightwalker cursed furiously upon seeing two of her colleagues defeated in the blink of an eye.
She watched as Laxus and the others charged forward, unleashing their attacks on the Royal Army.
Before the greatly buffed members of Fairy Tail, the Royal Army soldiers had absolutely zero capacity to resist. Every single strike and spell from the Fairy Tail mages sent several—or even dozens—of soldiers flying into the air before crashing back down to earth.
As those soldiers fell to the ground, golden magic circles simultaneously materialized beneath them. Instantly, those soldiers vanished without a trace. Noah was no longer hiding his actions; his deliberate moves clearly communicated to the enemy that anyone who collapsed unconscious would be teleported away.
Erza Knightwalker raised her head, locking eyes intensely with the Erza standing before her. Because she was being cornered by the woman in front of her, she had no opening whatsoever to deal with the other enemies. Moreover, this was the absolute critical juncture. If she didn't unleash her full power right now, there would be no more chances.
Thus, the spear in her hands began to change its form, the spearhead shifting into the shape of a short sword.
Seeing her opponent's weapon adopt a form she hadn't encountered before, Erza grew serious; an unseen weapon meant an unknown ability.
"Holy Spear: Ravelt!! This is the ultimate form of the Ten Commandments! It is a sacred spear forged by the most exceptional blacksmith in Edolas. A single strike from it carries an ultimate destruction that can make the entire world tremble!" Even at such a pivotal moment, Erza Knightwalker could not resist introducing her weapon to the enemy. It was incredibly obvious just how much she cherished her spear.
Hearing her opponent's words, Erza remained silent for a moment. The armor on her body began to change. Tremendous magical power surged out from her, kicking up a fierce gale that forced Erza Knightwalker to squint her eyes.
By the time she reopened them, the Erza before her had requipped into a set of pink armor.
"The guardian fairy, the Fairy Armor! Since this armor bears the name of my guild, I do not think I need to explain any further." Erza said, staring intently at her opponent.
"Are you trying to say this is your strongest magic?! Bring it on!" Erza Knightwalker raised her spear and charged wildly at Erza.
"Raaaaaah!!!" Erza raised her sword and charged forward to meet her. The spear and sword violently clashed in midair.
Boom!!!
A massive explosion instantaneously erupted at the point of impact. The blast gouged a gigantic crater into the ground. Thick clouds of smoke and dust billowed upwards, and both Erzas were blown backward by the shockwave of the detonation.
Erza slightly adjusted her posture mid-air and landed steadily on her feet. Aside from being covered in some dust from the blast, she bore no other injuries.
On the other hand, Erza Knightwalker ended up in a far more miserable state. Her clothes had become shredded and torn from the explosion, and worse still, the spear in her hands had completely shattered to pieces.
"Ra... Ravelt..." Erza Knightwalker stared at the remnants of her spear in utter disbelief. She had never once imagined that her holy weapon could be broken.
"The battle is over." Erza requipped back into her standard combat armor. Shaking her head, she spoke to Erza Knightwalker.
With her opponent's weapon shattered, she had lost all capability to fight back.
"Even so! I will still defeat you!!" Erza Knightwalker violently forced herself forward, lunging at Erza and throwing a desperate punch.
Erza was in vastly better condition. Reacting swiftly, she sidestepped the blow. Then, putting away her sword, she seized the perfect opening to grab Erza Knightwalker's wrist. With a forceful pull and press, she pinned her firmly against the ground.
Erza Knightwalker struggled furiously, but Erza held her down tightly and asked angrily:
"You still want to fight even in this state? You have already lost! Look around you!"
Hearing this, Erza Knightwalker glanced at her surroundings. Besides Noah, who remained standing in place to maintain his magic, the other members of Fairy Tail were actively engaging the surrounding Royal Army.
Every single attack sent countless Royal Army soldiers flying, only to hit the ground and immediately be teleported away by golden magic circles.
The number of Royal Army soldiers on the battlefield had already decreased drastically. Right after their brief respite, there were probably tens of thousands of them, but now only slightly more than half remained, and their numbers were dropping rapidly.
The morale among the remaining Royal Army soldiers was incredibly low. Their movements were devoid of courage; many soldiers simply held up their magic staves but lacked the will to launch an attack.
"Damn it!" Seeing this miserable situation, Erza Knightwalker grew unimaginably furious, and her struggles became even more violent.
"I will absolutely defeat you! For the sake of eternal magic!" Erza Knightwalker screamed loudly.
"Eternal magic? What do you mean? As far as I know, even the magic converted through Anima is limited. What other plans do you have?" Erza quickly interrogated her after hearing those words. This was something they had never heard of before.
Erza Knightwalker refused to speak further. Clenching her jaw, she continued to thrash wildly, forcing Erza to apply even more pressure to keep her pinned down.
Suddenly, a violent tremor shook the earth. Erza lost her balance for a split second, allowing Erza Knightwalker to break free from her restraint. After rolling twice across the ground, she sprang back up to her feet.
"What is happening? Is the entire castle shaking?" Erza quickly scanned her surroundings, realizing that the whole castle was trembling ceaselessly. The intense vibrations forced everyone else to halt their battles as well, as they all regrouped with one another.
"Look, it looks like the castle is transforming." Meredy said in astonishment, pointing directly at the castle's exterior walls.
Hearing her words, everyone quickly turned to look. Just as Meredy had said, a massive wall was elevating from the castle's exterior.
"The center of the castle has caved in!" Carla said, completely stunned.
The group turned around to see a significant portion of the castle's center had sunken inward, and a colossal pillar of magical light shot straight up into the sky.
Then, a massive device resembling the head of a monstrous beast slowly extended upwards.
"What in the world is that thing?" Lucy asked, staring at the mechanical contraption in shock.
"To think the plan is being activated at this exact moment? But I suppose it makes sense. If they don't launch it now, there won't be another chance." Erza Knightwalker could not help but mutter as she watched the device emerge.
"What plan?" Lucy couldn't stop herself from asking.
"The plan to grant us eternal magic." Erza Knightwalker replied, her face filled with fanatic zeal.
"Cough, cough... That is correct, to obtain our eternal magic." Sugarboy said as he moved to stand beside Erza Knightwalker.
He had managed to catch his breath for a moment, recovering just enough strength to stand. But his body was still shivering violently, and he had to use his longsword as a makeshift cane against the ground to keep himself from collapsing.
"Cough, cough... The eternal magic is on the verge of success!" Hughes declared fanatically, laying on the ground near the castle walls.
The violent tremors of the castle had shaken him loose from the wall, and the harsh fall to the ground had knocked him back awake. Entirely sapped of his strength, he could not stand back up, left with no choice but to speak while sprawled out on the floor.
Ultear and the others were just about to interrogate them further when they watched the colossal device ascend rapidly, trailing a massive chain of links behind it as it launched straight toward the heavens.
"That direction..." Ultear murmured, staring intently at the trajectory of the launch. She felt an eerie sense of familiarity with that specific direction.
"Isn't that the exact location of the Lacrima Island?" Mirajane asked, voicing her suspicion.
"That's right! That thing is firing straight towards the Lacrima Island! Gajeel is still up there!" Upon hearing Mirajane's observation, Ultear fully recalled the map and quickly shouted out.
Realizing that the mechanical device was targeting the Lacrima Island, the expressions of the entire group shifted drastically. Natsu spoke up immediately:
"Let's go smash that thing to pieces!"
"Mmm—that thing will not be broken so easily. That is the Dragon Chain Cannon." Sugarboy spoke up after hearing Natsu's remark.
"Dragon Chain Cannon? No wonder the top of that device looked so much like a monster's head. It turns out it's carved in the shape of a dragon head." Lucy realized out loud.
"The Dragon Chain Cannon actually requires the magic of a Dragon Slayer to unleash its maximum potential. Originally, we intended to capture those Dragon Slayers and extract their magic power to fuel the cannon. Unfortunately, we never got the opportunity." Wanting to stall for time, Sugarboy deliberately began to explain the mechanics of the Dragon Chain Cannon.
"You wanted to extract our magic power? But why?" Wendy could not help but ask.
"The magic of a Dragon Slayer possesses a massive utility for us on this side. To truly unleash the destructive force of the Dragon Chain Cannon, it requires the infusion of Dragon Slayer magic. Forcibly activating the cannon right now has consumed an entire half of the kingdom's magical reserves. It is far too wasteful. However, in order to manifest our grand plan, there was simply no other way." Sugarboy stated, shaking his head in pity as he spoke.
"Spending half of the kingdom's magic reserves just to activate this device... What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" Erza demanded coldly.
Half of an entire kingdom's magic reserves was absolutely no small sum. It was safe to say that this maneuver was an all-or-nothing gamble. If the enemy was willing to pay such a horrific price just to activate this weapon, the payoff they sought had to be vastly greater. Even though it was highly probable the enemy wouldn't answer, she still had to press for the truth.
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