Chapter 434: Eternal Magic
"Mmm—well about that..."
Sugarboy raised his right hand, cupping his chin as if in deep thought.
After a brief silence, seeing that the Fairy Tail members were glaring at him with growing impatience—and Natsu looking completely ready to punch him—Sugarboy finally spoke:
"Naturally, it is so we can obtain eternal magic."
Seeing the group's glares turn even more hostile, with some looking ready to charge right at him, Sugarboy hastily continued:
"You all know that the magic in our world is limited. To ensure that magic remains in our world, we have brainstormed countless methods..."
"Cut the crap. If you aren't going to get to the point, then don't speak at all. We will just destroy that thing," Ultear said, looking sternly at Sugarboy. Chilling frost radiated from her hands, clearly showing she meant to attack the Dragon Chain Cannon just as she threatened.
"Mmm—now, don't be hasty," Sugarboy quickly said upon seeing Ultear's movements.
"We searched for so many methods, and finally, we found a way to solve this problem."
Sugarboy paused for a moment before continuing:
"And that is to use the massive Lacrima obtained from Earth Land to crash into Extalia! When the Lacrima collides and fuses with Extalia's magical power, eternal magic will rain down upon our country!"
His expression was utterly fanatic as he shouted their grand plan.
"What?!" The Fairy Tail members gasped in shock, glaring furiously at Sugarboy and the others.
"How dare you!" Natsu roared. Unable to hold back his anger, he dashed forward and punched Sugarboy, sending him flying straight up into the air.
Sugarboy spun a few times mid-air before face-planting onto the ground, his face completely swollen from Natsu's blow.
"Edolas has quite a few floating islands suspended in the sky, and it seems they float using the magical power of Extalia. The books mentioned this was to maintain the magical balance of this world. In other words, you intend to use this Dragon Chain Cannon to accelerate the island holding the Lacrima, causing it to crash into the sky island where the Exceeds live—Extalia. Then, the magical power of Extalia and the magic of the Lacrima will collide, shatter, and fuse together, bringing eternal magic to this country?"
Even through her anger, Lucy subconsciously deduced the physics and logic behind his words.
"Exactly! We must obtain eternal magic, no matter what methods we have to use!" Sugarboy shouted loudly at Fairy Tail from the ground, even with a swollen face.
"We are risking our lives for this! No one will stand in our way! You should be proud that your comrades get to become our eternal magic! Hahaha!!!" Hughes yelled at the Fairy Tail members from his spot on the ground.
"Our comrades?" Mirajane asked in confusion.
"Yes, your comrades! Weren't they turned into that Lacrima? Didn't you launch this assault on us just to save them—to draw our attention so a Dragon Slayer could go rescue them? It's too late! One of our Captains has gone to intercept him. With him in the way, your Dragon Slayer definitely cannot save them in such a short amount of time. Now that the Dragon Chain Cannon has successfully fired, everything is set in stone. Your comrades are the living sacrifices for us to obtain eternal magic!" Hughes shouted loudly.
"Damn you!"
Hearing his words, the faces of the Fairy Tail members filled with rage. Natsu yelled at him at the top of his lungs:
"For the sake of your so-called eternal magic, you are going to murder our comrades and the Exceeds?! Don't screw with me! Our friends and the Exceeds are still alive! Whether they have magic or not doesn't matter, what matters is that they are alive! They are living, breathing lives!"
Natsu's furious voice echoed far and wide, reaching the ears of the surrounding Royal Army soldiers and causing a wave of unrest among them.
"Tch..." Hughes scoffed flatly. Erza Knightwalker and Sugarboy wore similar expressions of indifference.
"By the way, judging from what you just said, there is something you guys don't know yet, right?" Sorano spoke up, addressing Erza Knightwalker and the others.
"And that is, the Lacrima you obtained is not made out of our comrades. When you activated the Anima, we knew about it in advance. Naturally, we wouldn't just let your attack hit us." Sorano said with a smile.
"That is impossible! If it wasn't an entire mage guild plus the population of a whole city, how could there be enough magical power to form such a massive Lacrima?!" Erza Knightwalker and the others froze upon hearing Sorano's words, and Hughes loudly retorted.
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that you didn't just target our guild, but also included the entire population of Magnolia in your blast radius. Truly deranged," Noah said, shaking his head.
"You have no idea, do you? The Lacrima you obtained is entirely composed of Noah's magical power. Our comrades and the citizens of Magnolia are perfectly fine, living peacefully back in our world. They weren't turned into a Lacrima and brought here," Sorano told Erza Knightwalker's group with a smile.
"How is that possible?! Such a colossal amount of magical power... provided by a single person?!" Hughes shouted. His face was filled with sheer disbelief, and the other two shared identical expressions of shock.
They had never once imagined that the magic power capable of sustaining a country for years was supplied by just one individual.
"Providing that much magical power drained me quite a bit too. Thankfully, it wasn't extracted all at once, giving me time to recover," Noah said, shaking his head.
"If one person can provide that much magic, then if we capture him, wouldn't he be an endless supply of magic for us?" Hughes muttered to himself. He then shifted his gaze toward Noah, who was still maintaining his spells, greed flashing wildly in his eyes.
"Hmph!"
Seeing that greedy gaze fixed on him, Noah scoffed coldly. The vast magic within him moved at his command, violently surging outward and blasting Hughes away.
Bang!
Hughes smashed into the wall once again before crumpling to the ground. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his energy and spirit drastically sapped.
"Aren't you thinking a bit too highly of yourself? You actually think you can capture Noah to serve as your endless magic battery? Talk about a wild fantasy," Sorano said in complete astonishment.
She had no idea where he found the audacity to even entertain such a thought. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen Noah single-handedly maintaining an enchantment that covered the entire battlefield. He had just learned that the entire giant Lacrima was formed from Noah's magic alone; with that kind of unfathomable strength, there was absolutely no way they could capture him to serve as an infinite power source. She could only conclude that their desperation for magic had rotted their brains.
"Carla, are you worried about Extalia?" Wendy asked, noticing the deeply anxious expression on Carla's face.
Carla nodded. After all, it was the homeland of her race; it was only natural for her to be worried. Furthermore, there were still many unanswered questions, and she wanted to ask her people about them personally.
"Noah, please send us up to Extalia," Meredy said to Noah.
Though Carla possessed Aera magic and could carry one person in flight, they were a squad of three. Right now, the only one with a method to transport them all there quickly was Noah.
"You want to go up and help the Exceeds?" Noah asked, looking at Meredy.
"Yeah. Since the attack has already been launched from down here, we should go to Extalia and see if we can find a way to stop it from that end," Meredy explained. Wendy and Yukino nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I will send you up right now."
With that, Noah manifested a Thought Projection that stepped out of his body and walked over to Meredy and the others.
"I will go too. I am worried," Sorano said, taking two steps forward to stand beside Yukino.
"I want to go too," Happy chimed in. Knowing his homeland was in imminent danger, he couldn't help but feel terribly worried as well.
"Go on! Leave things down here to us!" Natsu smiled and told Happy, noticing his friend looking at him.
Hearing Natsu's reassuring words, Happy nodded firmly.
"Alright, let's go," Noah nodded. The Thought Projection raised a hand, and in an instant, it vanished from the spot along with Sorano, Meredy, Yukino, Wendy, Carla, and Happy.
"Hahaha! Too late! You cannot stop it! Cough, cough!" Hughes shouted loudly, aggravating his injuries as he spoke and falling into a violent fit of coughing.
"Is that so? Then watch me stop it right in front of you," Noah glanced at Hughes.
A colossal wave of magical power surged from his body, sending shockwaves rippling out in all directions.
"Decelerate!" Noah commanded in a deep voice.
Numerous magic circles materialized in front of him. A massive amount of magic began channeling through these circles, directly acting upon the Dragon Chain Cannon and the chained Extalia it was pulling.
"Don't even think about it!" Erza Knightwalker snatched up a standard magic staff dropped by a Royal Army soldier and rapidly fired magic blasts right at Noah.
Though she didn't fully comprehend what Noah was doing, she knew she had to stop him at all costs.
Clang!
Before the magic blast could even reach Noah, Earth Land Erza shattered it with a swing of her sword. Holding her twin swords, she glared at Erza Knightwalker. Unwilling to give up, Erza Knightwalker fired a few more shots, but Erza effortlessly intercepted every single one.
"Hmph!"
Without her magical spear, the Ten Commandments, Erza Knightwalker's current strength posed absolutely no threat to Erza. She could only scoff coldly, abandoning her futile attacks.
Hummm...
As the magical power continuously worked through the magic circles, the chains of the Dragon Chain Cannon rapidly took on a glowing golden hue. Soon enough, everyone could visibly see the rapidly moving chains slowing down, and the tiny black dot at the end of the chains—Extalia—began to decelerate as well.
"How is this possible?!"
This scene left Erza Knightwalker and her group horrified. Sugarboy gasped in shock. To think someone could actually slow down a rapidly moving island from such an extreme distance!
"Next, we just need to shut down the Dragon Chain Cannon. If that doesn't work, we will just destroy it entirely. Extalia will be fine," Noah said, looking up at the cannon after confirming that the chains and Extalia had slowed down.
He had made two preparations. Sending his Thought Projection up with Meredy and the others was his backup plan. If they couldn't shut down the Dragon Chain Cannon from the ground, his Thought Projection would simply annihilate the island housing the Lacrima, ensuring it could never crash into Extalia. After all, mere destruction was infinitely simpler—it would only take a single blast.
Of course, he wanted to preserve the Lacrima if possible, as it would be highly useful for his subsequent plans. Losing it would make his future actions much more tedious.
"Got it!" Everyone replied in unison, their eyes locked fiercely onto the Dragon Chain Cannon in front of them.
"We won't let you succeed," Erza Knightwalker said, raising the magic staff in her hands. Hughes also struggled up from the ground to stand beside Sugarboy, positioning themselves stubbornly in front of Noah and the others.
"You still want to stop us in that state?" Lucy asked in disbelief.
"For eternal magic, I absolutely will not let you succeed! Cough, cough!" Hughes shouted.
He was barely able to stand, heavily relying on a magic staff he picked up from the ground just for support, but his eyes were still fiercely locked onto Noah's group.
"You're making us look like the villains here. Don't act so tragically heroic—you guys attacked us first," Noah retorted, before shouting loudly:
"Send them flying! Break through and shut down the Dragon Chain Cannon!"
"Yeah!" The group roared in unison. Natsu took the lead, charging aggressively forward.
Hughes raised his command baton with a trembling right hand, but before he could even cast a spell, Natsu sent him flying with a single punch. This time, he crashed hard onto the ground and instantly blacked out.
Beside him, Sugarboy was sent flying by an incoming punch from Gray, rolling across the ground several times before stopping. Though he wasn't knocked out cold, he was entirely drained of the strength to get back up and fight.
"Damn it!" Erza Knightwalker raised her magic staff, continuously firing magic blasts.
Even a standard Royal Army magic staff unleashed far greater power in her hands. Her rapid fire and pinpoint accuracy were testaments to her formidable strength. However, it was a far cry from the power of her Ten Commandments, and the Fairy Tail members easily dodged her attacks.
Erza, twin swords in hand, casually sidestepped the magic blasts. With a blur of motion, she appeared right in front of Erza Knightwalker and cleaved the magic staff in two with a single strike. Then, before Erza Knightwalker could evade, Erza drove the pommel of her sword violently into her stomach.
"Ugh—"
Taking the heavy blow to the gut, Erza Knightwalker's legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground. She clutched her stomach with both hands, her body going limp as she fell onto her side.
She had already suffered massive magical and physical exhaustion, on top of severe sleep deprivation; her body was in terrible condition. Under Erza's heavy strike, all her accumulated injuries and fatigue erupted at once, completely sapping away any remaining strength she had to stand back up.
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