Seeing Chen Fan's overwhelming power for the first time, both Wendy and Carla were stunned. Carla, in particular, was shaken; she had spent so much time mocking Chen Fan and suspecting him of having ulterior motives. Natsu and Happy's jaws were practically dragging on the floor.
"Aye...! Natsu, I think I'm done making fun of Chen Fan from now on," Happy muttered. "Next time you pick a fight with him, I'm siding with him."
"You traitor!" Natsu shouted, grabbing Happy and shaking him back and forth.
"I had no idea Brother Chen Fan was this amazing!" Wendy said, her hands over her mouth in surprise.
"I can't even tell what kind of magic he uses," Gray added, eyes narrowed. "His body looks so fragile, like he'd break in one hit, yet..."
"Talk to me when you can actually land a hit," Chen Fan said, turning his head toward Natsu. Then, he looked at Wendy. "Wendy, cast that Troia spell on him. This guy's brain doesn't work right, so he gets motion sickness on anything that moves."
"What did you say?! Who are you calling a birdbrain?" Natsu struggled to pull himself up.
"Hmm...?" Chen Fan's expression darkened slightly. "Do you want to be flown like a kite? I could always tie you up with a rope and dangle you in mid-air."
Natsu jumped in fright. "Aye... My brain doesn't work right!"
He cave in immediately! Everyone thought simultaneously.
Suddenly, Lucy's voice rang out. "Natsu! Happy! Are you guys okay?"
Lucy, Gray, and Juraone of the Ten Wizard Saintsrushed toward them.
"I heard the sounds of battle! What happened? Where's the enemy?" Lucy asked breathlessly.
"Uh, he's down," someone answered.
"Whoa... so cool! Who beat him? Was it Natsu? I heard Natsu's voice just now," Lucy said.
"It was me," Chen Fan whispered, appearing behind Lucy like a ghost and tapping her shoulder.
"Eek! A ghost!" Lucy shrieked, her face twisting in terror.
"You're the ghost! Your whole family is a bunch of ghosts! I'm a giant living person standing right here, and you didn't even notice me," Chen Fan grumbled.
"Sir Chen Fan," Jura spoke up, "was it you who defeated the leader of the Oración Seis?"
"Yeah, more or less," Chen Fan waved a hand dismissively. "He was pretty weak. It was no big deal."
No, it's just that you're too strong, okay?! Everyone yelled internally.
"So, where is he now?" Jura asked.
Chen Fan's eyebrows twitched as he gestured to the side. A human-shaped tunnel had been smashed through the nearby buildings, leaving a clear trail of destruction. The trio broke into a cold sweat. Even if the leader of the Oración Seis wasn't dead, he had to be halfway there.
Natsu, having been refreshed by Wendy's Troia spell, was full of energy again. "Where's that guy who doesn't respect his comrades? I'm gonna finish him off!" He sprinted toward Brain's location.
"Natsu!" the others cried, following close behind.
Natsu reached Brain and raised a fist to strike, but stopped mid-air when he saw Brain's pathetic state. The man was completely incapable of resisting.
"Heh... heh heh... Are you here to kill me?" Brain gasped, struggling to speak. "Don't bother. I'm finished. I never expected Chen Fan to be so... so powerful. Sir Chen Fan, you truly are extraordinary. I thought your magic was Reflection magic, but it seems I was wrong. Cough, cough!"
Brain continued with effort, "From that brief contact, I realized... you aren't using magic at all. I don't know what it is, and I truly regret that. If I had enough time, I would have unraveled the secret of your ability. I can't believe I was defeated. Midnight... I leave the rest to you. The Oración Seis must not fall."
Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes closed, and he collapsed. One of the markings on his face vanished.
Rumble...
Nirvana shook violently. Everyone struggled to keep their balance. Even though Brain had fallen, Nirvana was still operating, continuing its march in a fixed direction.
"What's happening? Brain is down, so why is Nirvana still moving?" Lucy cried.
"Because it's a chain magic," Chen Fan said calmly. "As long as even one member of the Oración Seis remains undefeated, this thing will keep moving forward."
"What do we do? There are civilians up ahead! People will get hurt! we have to stop this thing," Lucy said urgently.
Chen Fan remained silent. There were some things these people needed to handle themselves, or they would never grow. Besides, he didn't want Nirvana to stop just yet. He wanted that old fool to see the destruction of Nirvana with his own eyes.
"Stopping it is one thing, but we have no idea how," Happy noted.
"Should we just destroy it?" Natsu suggested bluntly.
"There you go again with that!" Lucy said, exasperated.
"How are we supposed to destroy something this big?" Gray asked, looking at the massive structure around them. "Maybe we should just have Chen Fan use his most powerful move to blow it up."
"Where is Chen Fan?" Lucy looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"You guys only think of him when you need something," Happy muttered.
"Sir Chen Fan said he was going to look for Erza," Jura explained. "He's leaving this part for us to solve."
"Typical! He runs off when we actually need him," Lucy complained.
"You should be asking why you only remember him when you're in trouble," Happy retorted.
"However," Jura continued, "Sir Chen Fan did say that there is a central drive core inside Nirvana. If we destroy that, it should stop."
"What?! Why didn't he say that sooner?!"
"He saw how seriously you were all discussing it and didn't want to interrupt," Jura said.
Natsu slammed his fists together. "Fine! Then we find the core and smash it!"
"Why aren't we finding Midnight first? You just want to break stuff, don't you!" Lucy yelled at Natsu as he ran off.
The group concluded that they either needed to find and defeat Midnight or destroy the central core to stop Nirvana.
"So, who's going after Midnight?"
"No need to worry about that," Jura said. "Sir Chen Fan said he'd handle Midnight himself."
"That guy... I knew he wouldn't just ignore it," Gray said with a smirk, knowing Chen Fan's character well.
Meanwhile, Midnight was standing over a deep pit where Richard had been knocked down. "Surrender. You cannot defeat me. Your movements cannot escape my Heaven's Eye," Richard had said earlier.
"I had a dream," Midnight's voice suddenly rang out. He slowly stood up. Richard was shocked that Midnight could even stand after that assault.
"And you shall have a dream as well... in the middle of the night."
As Midnight spoke, Richard was suddenly struck by an invisible force. The attack was instantaneous.
"Magic cannot hit me," Midnight declared.
Richard stared in disbelief. Not only had his magic failed to touch Midnight, but Midnight didn't have a single scratch on him.
"I am the strongest wizard, one who has surpassed even my father."
"Agh!" Richard screamed as the attacks intensified, finally collapsing before Midnight. At the same time, another marking vanished from the fallen Brain's face.
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