Chapter 366: Subjugating the Oración Seis
Not only did he learn a new magic just by observing his opponent casting it, but he even improved upon it.
Lucy could be said to have witnessed this entire process with her own eyes, so she naturally understood exactly how incredible this was.
"Noah is naturally amazing!" Happy agreed immensely from the side.
"Erza, help me test out how effective my magic is?" Noah said to Erza, who was standing beside him.
"Sure, what do I need to do?" Erza nodded and asked.
"Hmm, just stand right there and don't move," Noah told her.
Erza naturally stood there motionless. Beneath Noah's feet, a golden magic circle appeared, constantly rotating.
It didn't take long, not even half a minute, before Noah said to Erza, "Alright, let me test it out now. Requip!"
A longsword that Erza most commonly used appeared in Noah's hand, and he then said to her, "Let's have a contest of sword skills!"
"Alright!" Hearing Noah's words, a look of fighting spirit appeared on Erza's face.
Noah usually never practiced any sword skills, so his desire to spar with her now was naturally due to the effects of his magic. Hearing the conversation between Noah and Erza, the other guild members immediately backed away to clear a space for their spar.
"Requip!"
A longsword identical to the one in Noah's hand appeared in Erza's grasp, and the two stared at each other. Then, they both swung their swords at the same time, engaging in a clash of ringing steel, clashing wildly against one another.
"Noah's sword techniques are exactly the same as Erza's," Mirajane commented from the side after watching for a while.
"Of course they are the same. Isn't the magic Noah learned just copying the opponent's magic? I remember Noah saying he would copy the opponent's experience as well, but in the form of instincts," Sorano chimed in.
"Noah's movements have become more fluid. It looks like he's no longer just swinging his sword based on instinct," Mirajane suddenly observed as she watched the two fight.
Everyone immediately looked over and found that it was exactly as Mirajane said. Noah's sword swings were much more natural, with more variations; he no longer seemed like he was fighting driven purely by instinct.
The two continued to spar for a while longer before Erza leaped backward, and Noah took the opportunity to sheathe his sword.
"You've learned my sword techniques..." Erza's expression was a bit complicated. She had spent a very long time training her sword skills. But evidently, in a very short amount of time, Noah had learned a massive portion of them.
"I could only learn so quickly by relying on the instincts formed from copying your experience. But I don't study swordplay. Even if I learned all of your techniques, I'm only learning them at your current level. Going any further than that is impossible for me. Because these are your sword techniques, forged by you, for yourself, not mine. I will never be able to bring out the true power of these techniques, because I am not you. Besides, you can continue to improve. But after I learn your swordplay, I'll just be trapped within the confines of your techniques. Trying to break through would be harder than learning from scratch," Noah quickly reassured her, seeing that Erza seemed a bit disheartened.
Erza's true strength didn't lie in her various armors, but rather in her combat wisdom to quickly swap to the appropriate armor based on the battle situation, along with the weapon proficiency she diligently practiced every day. Especially her swordplay—that was something others couldn't just copy.
Hearing this, Erza took a deep breath, and her expression calmed down. "I understand. My training is still insufficient if I let myself be shaken so easily."
"Don't blame yourself. After all, if someone right in front of me quickly learned something I spent a long time studying, I would feel pretty uncomfortable too," Mirajane shook her head, comforting Erza. Then she turned her head to look at Noah and asked, "You already learned Take Over magic early on. If you copied my experience, wouldn't you quickly learn my experience in using the magic too?"
"Of course, but I can't take over demons. Even if I learned it, I'd have no way to utilize your experience," Noah nodded and said.
"I still feel pretty annoyed about it," Sorano said from the side.
Her magic was also taught to her by Noah after he modified it, which meant Noah knew her magic as well. If he copied her experience, he could very quickly master her application techniques for Angel Magic.
"Is there a problem? Because I already knew your magic to begin with. The user's experience just allows me to utilize the magic better. But if I hadn't learned the magic yet, it would take quite a bit of time just to learn it," Noah said with a bit of confusion.
"It just feels really annoying." Sorano sized Noah up with a malicious glare, making a chill run down his spine.
"By the way, what's drawn up there are the names and relationships of the Dark Guilds, right? What is this for?" Noah hurriedly changed the subject, looking at the image floating in the air nearby that had been there from the start.
"It looks like an organizational chart of the Dark Guilds," Mirajane went along with his words, seeing Noah changing the subject.
Seeing this, Sorano glared at Noah and also turned to look at the floating drawing.
"Ah... I drew this," Reedus said from the side, holding a drawing board in his left hand and a paintbrush in his right.
"Then why draw this?" Erza's mood had already calmed down as she spoke up to ask.
"Because recent news from all fronts indicates that their movements seem to have become more active. Because of this, it won't do if we don't strengthen the cooperation between guilds," Laxus said as he walked over from behind the counter.
"Then what is this big circle?" Lucy asked, pointing at the largest circle in the air.
"Juvia knows this one. It is the Balam Alliance, the largest power among the Dark Guilds. The Balam Alliance is formed by three guilds, making up the ultimate force of darkness. They each control several subordinate guilds, ruling over the dark world," Juvia explained from the side.
"Ah! It says 'Eisenwald' inside!" Lucy took a look and spotted a familiar name.
"That's right, it's the guild Erigor belonged to," Erza nodded beside her.
"So it was under the umbrella of the Dark Guild known as the Oración Seis?" Gray said, looking at the chart.
"The Ghoul Spirit guild that the Thunder God Tribe crushed earlier was also under the Oración Seis," Laxus told everyone.
"When Juvia and Gajeel were still in Phantom Lord, we crushed quite a few Dark Guilds, and all of them were under the Oración Seis too!" Juvia told everyone with a bright smile on her face.
"Don't say that with a smile," Gray couldn't help but say.
"Gray, where are your clothes?" Sorano noticed that at some unknown point, the clothes on Gray's body had vanished, leaving him in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.
"Ah?! Where are my clothes!" Gray panicked, looking around frantically for his clothing.
"Gray-sama is so bold!" Juvia stared unblinkingly at Gray's bare back, a blush spreading rapidly across her cheeks.
"Waaah... I just hope we don't end up pissing them off," Lucy said with a panicked expression.
"We won't," Noah said from the side.
A happy smile had just appeared on Lucy's face, only for her to hear Noah continue, "As a legal guild, we'll clash with them sooner or later anyway, so there's no need to worry."
"Ahhh, that makes me worry even more!!!" Lucy couldn't help but clutch her head and scream.
"Lucy, you're leaking a lot of juice!" Happy noted from the side.
"It's sweat! It's sweat! You stupid cat!" Lucy grabbed Happy and rubbed his head vigorously.
"There's no need to care too much about them... It's said that they only have five members."
"How could there be such a small guild?" A guild member nearby murmured.
"Think about it the other way around. If a mere five people can become one of the largest powers among the Dark Guilds, just imagine how terrifying those five must be," Mirajane told them, and they were instantly stunned.
"Wah... It sounds scarier the more you talk about it!" Sweat began to form on Lucy's forehead.
"That Oración Seis will be subjugated by us!" Makarov's voice came from the guild doors.
Everyone immediately looked over, only to see Makarov and Ultear standing at the guild entrance.
"Ah, welcome back, Master, Ultear!" Mirajane smiled and said to Makarov and Ultear.
"That's not right! Now isn't the time to be saying that, is it?!" Lucy couldn't help but shout loudly from the side. She felt completely dizzy right now; it was as if she had just heard some unbelievable news.
"Master, what exactly is going on?" Erza asked Makarov with a calm expression.
"At the regular meeting a while ago, the matter of the Oración Seis taking action was brought up as a topic of discussion. Because we couldn't just turn a blind eye to this, it was ultimately decided that a guild had to deal with them," Makarov explained with a serious expression.
"Old man, you drew the short straw again!" Gray couldn't help but say.
"Fairy Tail is going to take on that job?" Juvia asked with a look of surprise. Having previously destroyed dark guilds under the Oración Seis, she naturally knew how incredibly strong the enemy was, so she was understandably shocked.
"I didn't expect the Master to draw it straight away during the lottery either, even though there were so many guilds present..." Ultear couldn't help but add from the side.
Makarov glared at her. He hadn't wanted to draw it either, but with his terrible luck, he just happened to pull it directly. Perhaps if he had let Ultear draw it at the time, they might not have been selected.
Makarov shook his head. The matter was already set in stone, and overthinking it wouldn't help. He spoke with a serious expression: "Because the enemy this time is far too powerful, if we were to face them alone, we would be the only ones to suffer retaliatory attacks from the Balam Alliance afterward. A situation like that would be far too disastrous, so we will be forming an Allied Force."
"An Allied Force?" Everyone echoed in surprise.
"That's right, an Allied Force. Members will be selected from three guilds—Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and Lamia Scale—to combine our strength and defeat them," Ultear explained from the side.
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