"That 'Fairy Tail' really is hard to deal with."
Returning to his lavishly decorated home, Marco Darkning poured himself a drink while contemplating matters regarding 'Fairy Tail'.
That Magic Guild was quite famous throughout all of Edolas, especially after they became the last "survivors".
Nowadays, even the ordinary soldiers of the royal army were familiar with the members of 'Fairy Tail', even recognizing their appearances.
This increasingly squeezed Fairy Tail's living space, making their movements more dangerous.
Yet despite this, Erza Knightwalker still hadn't managed to successfully eliminate 'Fairy Tail'.
Marco Darkning knew it wasn't that Erza Knightwalker lacked capability, but rather that 'Fairy Tail' was too tenacious.
The reason he didn't take over this task wasn't because of any good relationship with Erza Knightwalker - in fact, their relationship was quite ordinary, even somewhat competitive.
Logically, given their relationship, he should have taken over Erza's mission to accomplish what she couldn't.
But Marco refrained precisely because he worried he might also fail.
That would essentially be helping Erza Knightwalker, clearing her of her previous incompetence.
"This is fine as it is. The longer 'Fairy Tail' drags on, the better. After all, they can't cause any real trouble - they can only annoy the king and irritate Erza. 'Fairy Tail's' existence is actually beneficial to me."
Taking a sip of the fine wine in his glass, 'Marco' smiled as he sat in his comfortable sofa, thinking of more strategies.
For instance, waiting until Erza Knightwalker had worn down 'Fairy Tail' enough, then he would step in to pluck this ripe peach.
"Hahahahaha!"
Thinking of this, and imagining Erza's expression at that time, 'Marco' couldn't help but laugh loudly, his boisterous laughter echoing through the vast, empty living room.
"Something good happen? You seem so happy."
A voice interrupted 'Marco's' laughter, the words sounding particularly jarring amidst the echoing laughter.
For a moment, 'Marco' felt disoriented, because the voice sounded exactly like his own.
Actually, the reason Marco had been immediately drawn to the conversation between Bairo and Marco Darkning earlier was also because of these extremely similar, nearly identical voice tones.
Of course, their speaking styles, word choices, intonations and such had certain differences, making their voices not completely identical when speaking normally.
But if one deliberately imitated the other, then the voice tones would be almost exactly the same.
That previous sentence had been Marco deliberately imitating him.
Watching the "Edolas Marco" who froze for an instant, seemingly wondering if he had misheard him, Marco spoke again.
"I'm asking you, why aren't you saying anything?"
This time, Marco Darkning finally confirmed it wasn't his hallucination - someone really was speaking using his voice.
"Who's there? Stop playing tricks." Marco Darkning's face instantly darkened.
He rose from the comfortable sofa chair while pressing a hand to his chest.
'Hum!'
A surge of magical energy erupted, and a magic circle appeared beneath Marco Darkning's feet.
The magical energy shot skyward, obscuring his body. In the blink of an eye, an exquisitely crafted silver armor materialized and covered him.
"This magical energy feels somewhat familiar."
Standing on the second floor of the large villa, Marco watched the scene unfold with a peculiar expression.
The magical energy used by that "Edolas Marco" was all too familiar to him—it was "Star Magic"!
"Who... who are you? Why are you impersonating me?"
Marco Darkning's gaze finally locked onto Marco.
With a grim expression and gritted teeth, he demanded an answer.
He had seen Marco's appearance—that face was almost identical to his own, with no discernible difference.
This bizarre phenomenon didn't frighten Marco Darkning.
He immediately assumed it was likely some kind of disguise-type magical artifact.
What truly shocked Marco Darkning was that this individual had somehow reached the second floor without his notice and was now standing at the corner of the staircase between the first and second floors, watching him with a mocking expression.
This was genuinely terrifying.
If the other party hadn't been hiding on the second floor from the start but had instead slipped past him right under his nose, it would be no different from a death sentence.
Under such circumstances, the other party could kill him at will.
There was no point in struggling—resistance would only lead to a more painful death.
"Impersonating your face?"
Hearing the words of that "Edolas Marco," Marco couldn't hold back a reaction.
Only people of a certain age would understand that reference, but he happened to have seen that commercial, making it particularly hard to keep a straight face.
"Is it possible that you're the one doing the impersonating?" Marco spoke up, his words causing the 'Edolas Marco' to grow even more furious.
"Stop playing tricks and spouting nonsense!"
Edolas Marco was growing irritated.
Was this strange fellow here to mock him? He had no patience for further nonsense.
Since this odd character had come seeking death, he would gladly oblige!
"Hum!"
Clad in silver armor, Edolas Marco's body surged with magical energy.
His figure flickered as he charged forward abruptly, drawing the greatsword from his back.
"You're overestimating your abilities."
Marco didn't even move, merely shaking his head.
This utterly arrogant attitude—treating him as completely insignificant—only fueled Edolas Marco's rage.
He charged even more fiercely, executing a soaring leap through the air to deliver a powerful overhead slash aimed at Marco on the second-floor staircase.
"Clang!"
"Boom!"
The leaping slash struck right in front of Marco, hitting an invisible wall before a tremendous force rebounded back.
Edolas Marco felt his hands go numb from the impact.
The recoil sent him flying backward, tumbling several times in the air before crashing to the ground.
'What kind of ability is this?!'
Edolas Marco was shocked, completely unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Gritting through the pain, he struggled to get back on his feet.
But before the dazed Edolas Marco could even stand up, another vicious kick landed on his chest, nearly knocking the wind out of him.
He was sent flying backward along the ground, smashing through several pieces of furniture before crashing directly into the wall.
'I underestimated him.'
By now, Edolas Marco finally realized that even though he had been vigilant enough, he had still underestimated his opponent.
He should have gone all out from the start instead of worrying about damaging the house.